Destiny (The Keeper's Trilogy Book 1)

by Olivia Ali

  I see something to catch my eye, just as it seems it has caught yours too. There is a man stood at the doors now and looking closely I realise it is a brother of ours. A fellow returned. You look curiously at him but seem to shrug it off quickly. I can see the torment it causes you though; how it makes you more nervous and sends thoughts sparking through your mind. It sends shivers up my spine let alone what it will be doing to you. I follow you into the estate and down the steps into the ballroom where I lay my eyes on a sight of beauty worth my attention. I had always had a thing for blondes, they seemed feistier than most women and more outgoing too. I like a woman who can speak for herself. This blonde is different from most though, her eyes are down to the ground and her brow furrowed as though she had seen someone she didn't like the look of. Perhaps she had recognised our brother, even with his basic disguise. He clearly didn't try very hard, but what did he want here, with you?

  After a berating from her companion, she looks up properly and my eyes are scarred. She was mine, my dear Myrina, my love so pure in all her effervescent beauty. To be honest I think I'd forgotten just how beautiful she was. Our romance had blossomed beautifully in the first few months to a year, it was like a whirlwind and everything happened so fast. I had proposed by eight months of courting but by ten we had been ripped apart by a jealous party and she had thrown the ring at my head. Heck if it wasn't for you dear brother, I probably would've killed the man who caused it. Strangely enough, that was the man she was stood with now. Hagen was the very man that had torn us apart. His constant taunting of me and her was what had fuelled my rage. I never had been very good at controlling my anger. It was that fit of rage that made me name him by his true name; Dharstan brother of Tabacious by blood. He hadn't changed one bit now that I looked at him, his hair was greyer yes and his face was now bearded but I still saw the red glint. He was still the black hearted evil bastard he had always been. Just then, I became aware that you my brother were looking straight at me and then all around. I must've been speaking out loud my thoughts without even realising, my anger obscuring my control. But then, how is it that you could hear me. Your companion doesn't seem to be able to. And I have spoken around you several times and you've never even turned your head so much as once. But now...I didn't understand it. I remained silent as you tried to shut me out of your mind, I didn't want to unsettle you further especially when you were trying to keep your cover perfect.

  As the night progressed onwards, I stayed by your side, my eyes focused on my sweet Myrina. It is then that I sense your unease and look over to see you talking with Zhaine. Does he even recognise you? Or is that why he is talking to you - he must know what happened and is perhaps trying to get you to remember him. But then why is he even back if you don't yet remember him? As Dante comes over, you make a break for the courtyard and I follow having lost sight of Myrina. When I finally catch up to you, she is there with you and you are talking about how she came to be here in this place. I don't know if I believe her reasons though. Even if Hagen was the last man on earth and she didn't detest him she would never go with him anywhere. She wouldn't make herself dependable on any man.

  As I decide to focus on your conversation, I notice the way she looks to you, like she recognises you but can't place the face. Or maybe she was even doubting who she thought you were. I see the look on your face too, how pale it suddenly goes as your head begins to lull to the side. Something is happening and I needed to help you, motivate you to help yourself.

  "Get up and get out!" I leant in close to your ear and whispered, begging you to hear me.

  You snap back into focus; it appears to have worked and as you leave, she calls after you and I am sure Zhaine hears your name as he rounds the corner hitting straight into you. But luckily you do as I say and storm off to find somewhere safe to sort yourself out. I chose to stay though, watch how things progress with Myrina. A big part of me wanted to stay with you and make sure you were okay but I realise that even if I were to be part of your world there would be nothing I could do to help you. No. I had to get to the bottom of why Myrina was here and what Zhaine wanted with her.

  "Do you know who I am?" Zhaine asks, half expected her not to recognise him. I watch as Myrina pulls a face as if she thinks he is being stupid.

  "Of course I know who you are Zhaine, you've not changed that much over the years."

  She folded her arms across her chest and stared at Zhaine waiting for his response. She truly was as feisty as I remember her being, if not then more so.

  "Well you never know, I mean you didn't recognise Tristan."

  "So it is him then?" Zhaine nodded. "It can't be, I mean he didn't even recognise me so I think you are mistaken."

  "You don't know what happened to him do you?" A confused look appeared on her face. "He forgot everything. The Keepers, us, Dagnen...even Evie."

  "But how?"

  "I don't know, no one really does. When they found him in the wreckage, they took him to the infirmary. When he woke up, he didn't remember anything."

  "So does he even know that Evie is dead?" Zhaine shrugged his shoulders. It seems the elaborate story that Cedric had let everyone believe about both of them was credible enough even those closest to him believed it. "None of that explains what you are doing here though."

  "That's the funny thing about the Land of the Faded, apparently it's easier to escape it than you think."

  "So Tristan has remembered you?" Again he shrugged - his casual attitude hadn't changed one bit.

  "When I came back, whispers told me you were here with Hagen of all people so I figured where better to go…"

  "If you've come here to rescue me..."

  "Oh no I wouldn't dare! I know you could quite easily get yourself out of here without any help from anyone. You're good like that." That comment made her smile. "I just came to talk and help out if that's what you wanted."

  "Well aren't you chivalrous."

  "I do try!” A moments silence passed. “So anyway, why are you here? And don't give me that I had no choice crap because we all know its bullshit."

  "You dirty little eavesdropper! If you must know I really didn't have a choice and that was my own fault."

  "I'm not sure I follow."

  "I made Hagen a promise. After Tristan ran into the Compound Hagen appeared. He didn't realise I'd seen him and went to go in after him but I made him tell me what was going to happen. I made him promise that he would keep Tristan alive and in return I would go with him wherever he went as a companion. He never asked anymore of me, just my company. I swore on Romeo's grave that's what I'd do and so I've done just that."

  "Fair enough." Zhaine nodded vacantly. "Of course you know Romeo doesn't have a grave don't you?"

  "If you're trying to be clever then don't bother. It’s obvious he doesn't technically have a grave; his body was never found. He's just got a memorial."

  "Oh no that's not what I mean."

  "Then what do you mean?"

  "If I tell you, you won't believe me…but if someone else does..." Myrina looked at Zhaine quizzically. Not even I knew who he was talking about and was very intrigued as to where this was all going. "In the dungeons of the estate you'll find a Keeper and he will tell you everything you need to know."

  "A Keeper? Why would Hagen have a Keeper in the dungeons, we don't even have dungeons in the estate."

  "Of course there are dungeons Myrina. Hagen is not as harmless as you think, he's a vile human being - why do you think Romeo hated him so much? He's Dharsi Myrina, our sworn enemy and don't play dumb with me I know Romeo told you all about us. It kind of came with the territory the mess you got us out of half the time."

  "Romeo never told me that Hagen was Dharsi."

  "Well, he should have. Hagen is a dangerous sort, he and his brothers."

  "Even if what you're saying is true how do I get into the dungeons?"

  "Give me your hand."

  Reluctantly, Myrina placed her hand within his, palm up. What he was about t
o do I did not know but he was right, I should've told her about Hagen. If I had, none of this would've happened. Closing his eyes, Zhaine began to chant in unheard whispers, a glyph appearing on Myrina's palm as he finished.

  "This mark will make you temporarily able to see Keeper glyph doors and I'll bet that estate is littered in them." Zhaine explained.

  "Myrina!" A voice began calling over the hedgerow, it had to have been Hagen. Without uttering another word, Zhaine disappeared, even from my sight leaving a confused look on Myrina's face.

  "Ah, there you are my lady," Hagen came round the corner, a sly smile appearing on his face. It made the anger within me boil. I felt the rage build up until I was unable to contain it, if it wasn't for the fact that there was nothing I could do to him he'd be more than dead by now. "Who were you talking to my sweet?"

  "Just myself," Myrina stuttered. I saw the fear that built up in her eyes as though she'd suddenly seen Hagen for what he was. "You know how I get on this stuff." She shook her wine glass as if to indicate she was tipsy. She was quick thinking like that but he seemed to fall for it.

  "The guests are starting to leave now so I thought it would be nice to bid them adieu together." Myrina nodded and Hagen took her by the hand. "Maybe leave this here though." He took the wine glass from her hand and left it on the bench, leading her back into the ballroom to say goodbye to their guests.

  Looking around, I could not see Zhaine anywhere. The best thing for me to do was to follow Myrina and Hagen. I didn't even know where you were brother, so the choice of what to do next was pretty obvious. And so I watch and follow as she vacantly said goodbye to the guests with him. A passive smile masked his face and my sweet hung from his arm as though it were a chore, a responsibility. After all the guests had left, I follow behind you both as he escorts her, leaving her at her room with a guard remaining by the door. I wait a while before passing through the wall, figuring she’ll probably change first and although she wouldn't see me it would be wrong to pry. You dear brother would probably think differently but then she wasn't yours to hold.

  After a while I stepped through the wall to see Myrina brushing her hair at a walnut veneer vanity table with a large mirror. Sprawled across the table were various combs, powder pots and perfumes. Up against the other wall was a four-poster bed of the same wood with pink thick sheets and an animal fur blanket at the bottom. A large wardrobe stood by the door and a clock rack on the other side of it. Ahead of me was a doorway with golden handles that lead out into a balcony that overlooked the courtyard we had been in earlier.

  A humming reached my ears and I look back over at her as she brushes out the knots in her long blonde hair. She had draped herself in a green smock dress ready for bed with a beige shawl wrapped around her arms. She was humming a tune I recognised, a sweet tune like a lullaby. I remember she would hum it to Evie to get her to sleep while we were staying at the Tavern her and her father owned back in Hasaghar. She continued to hum as she placed her brush down on the dresser, catching sight of the mark on her hand. She stared at it thoughtfully as she rose from her stool and wondered over to the bed, slumping herself down on it. Her gaze remained in the mark and she frowned at the brilliance of it.

  She was probably wondering if it would even work but of course it was working. There are Keeper doors all over the estate, she just had to look beyond what was there. If only there were some way I could help her do that. Perhaps if I could gather the strength, I could make myself visible or even physically part of her world in some way. I just had to figure out how? But first I had to find the door. Looking around the room I focused on what was there, trying to see beyond it somehow. I admit I was a little rusty, it was a lot harder than I remembered. Perhaps all I needed to do was make it simpler for myself. There was something about the wall on the other side of the bed, like it called out to me; something was beyond it and I saw it appear on the wall - a Keeper port key.

  Now I just had to make her see it as clearly as I could. Wondering over to the other side of the bed, I tried to touch things as I walked past, my hand sweeping right through the bed posts as I went. I was going to have to try harder if she was going to notice the door. Then, an idea struck me as clear as the daylight sun. Focusing on the door handle to the balcony, I reached out, my fingers gracing the smooth surface as I grabbed it and pulled it down, the door swinging open. The sudden breeze stirred Myrina and she turned to see the open door, a confused look on her face. She got up and came and shut the door, sighing and shaking her head as she did so. The moment she had turned around, I opened it again. This time when she turned, she didn't shut the door again straight away, she just stared around trying to see something or someone that wasn't really there. "Look beyond what is there!" I heard myself yelling and a smile graced her lips as though a memory of words I had once said to her settled in her mind. It must've been nothing more than a whisper to her so I repeated the words, this time with a bit more feeling.

  Closing the balcony door, she looked to the wall I was stood by, a focused look sprawled across her face. She recited the phrase over and over again to herself until her eyes lit up and she saw the mark for herself. Using the hand on which Zhaine marked her, she reached out to touch the mark, placing her palm firmly on it making the key shine ever brighter. Shielding her eyes with her other hand, she kept her touch true as the wall began to part ways; each individual brick subsiding in its place to reveal a doorway. The feeling of the wall behind her hand disappeared leaving just the air before her as the mark itself disappeared too.

  A dark passageway formed before us and she reached for a torch from the wall, holding it before her so that she could see into the passageway. Warily, she stepped into the darkness, the torch lighting a couple of steps in front as she walked. Pulling the shawl tighter around her, we followed the passageway a few steps forward before it descended a spiral staircase that seemed to go on forever. We walked the steps, with each turn hoping to reach the bottom but never quite getting there. After what must have been about five minutes, we began to hear voices. But they weren't voices of a calmed nature: a man was shouting and another grimacing in pain as a whip cracked. The sound made Myrina flinch and she stopped in her tracks before a wall, another glyph appearing upon it.

  "Stop!" Another voice shouted, this one distinctly sounding like Hagen. "You know this would be far less painful for you if only you told me what you knew." There was silence. "We don't have to do this the hard way," the voice was quieter now, as though he were talking to only the man for which the whip was meant. "All you have to do is tell me what I wish to know. All this can stop! We were friends once..."

  "You were a fraud," the man croaked in response. The voice was another which I recognised and as my curiosity got the better of me, I stepped through the wall without my dear Myrina. "You filthy traitor!"

  I couldn't believe my eyes. The very man who was knelt before me chained to the walls was my former idol, a man I professed to be as wise as once. This man was a hero to me, an ancestor to my cause.

  "So be it then brother. Any last words, I doubt you will last this torture much longer."

  "Once a traitor...always a traitor!"

  Hagen scowled and left the room, sweeping his cloak behind him as the door slammed shut. The guard continued to strike at Felix, his face in a mad screw as he laughed menacingly, striking down on Felix's bloodstained body only ripping his clothes further and staining them in fresh blood. I squirmed, but I could not leave him here to face this alone so I stood strong. Why wasn't he doing anything? Had he given up? The Felix I knew would be able to stop all this in a matter of seconds with the magic that was in his grasp. He could smite the beater down as though he were an ant but no. He just took it. Perhaps the Felix I had known had changed since the last time. He disappeared from our midst and left Charles to take his position as First Keeper. He abandoned us!

  "Do something!" I heard myself yelling.

  I wanted answers from him. If he had never have left none of this
would have happened. His sweat ridden head looked up as the words left my mouth, even his tormentor paused looking around to see the source of the sound. But he shrugged it off quickly and readied his arm high above himself ready to strike down again and again until his thirst for blood was quenched. But I could not watch this any longer and as I planned to do something he struck, his own force stopping in mid motion. Suddenly he fell back as though carried by some great wind. When he rose from his feet a scared look now rendering his face fearful. Staggering to his feet he fled the room, leaving his whip on the floor where he had fallen.

  "You can come out now," Felix sighed heavily. I wasn't sure if he were talking to me or to somebody else, he didn't really make it clear who he wanted to come out of the shadows. Moments later, the wall subsided and Myrina stepped into the dungeon, gasping at the sight of Felix, a single tear running down her pale gentle cheek.

  "First Keeper?" she whispered, her voice full of pain and doubt.

  "I am no First Keeper...not anymore." Felix's voice was taunt, as though every word was a huge effort for him to muster.

  Myrina dropped to the floor for the bowl of water that was in the corner with a ladle to torment Felix further. Carefully, she filled the ladle with the water and helped Felix to drink it.

  "What happened to you?" she asked when he finished drinking.

  "Dharsi were blackmailing me. Even a First Keeper has his secrets and they wanted to use them against me. But I would not let them so they sealed me away. Even now I do not know where." He paused to take more water and I felt a tear leap from my own eye as my answers were sought. "You must know, it was not my choice to leave. It was never my choice to abandon the Keeperhood."

  "I know," Myrina consoled. "But how did you come to be here?"

  "I don't know. I woke up chained to these walls about three days ago."

  "What does Hagen want to know?"

  "He wants to know of Tristan's whereabouts and state of mind. But I will never tell him...never."