Carvael glanced down at the fertile ground and was silent for a few moments. When he did speak, he was less hardened. "Jaylen lost in the slave games then was sent into the Crypt, the woods on my island. Everyone who enters that forest dies. That is the one place on the island that I don't know what is going on all the time. If Jaylen has indeed died, then Zeriel's body will be shutting down in response."
"I need to know if there is anything I can do to stop it."
"If Zeriel refuses to break his bond with Jaylen, then there isn't anything I can do. I warned him about getting too close to Jaylen. I knew this would happen."
"If you knew it would happen, why take out your frustrations on Jaylen?" Oviel asked. "He's an innocent boy. Can't you see that? Even through all of the abuse, he still clings to his vows. He wants to be holy and pure."
"Because wanting to be pure and actually being pure are two different things. Jaylen should never have been born. I am making sure that the Corrifus bloodline ends with him."
"But Talyn Corrifus is the king of Vilyron. He has children."
"So?" Carvael grinned darkly. "Little steps. The mistakes that Doran Corrifus made had a direct impact on my son. Zeriel is better off dead than bonded with that unholy abomination's son. I believe we are done with this conversation. Let me know once Zeriel dies. I will have him a decent funeral."
Oviel raised his wings threateningly and tightened his fists. "How dare you? You are a poor excuse for a father. On top of that, you parade around with your prestige and power, claiming to be the protector of children. But what do you do? You enslave them, buy them, and make them fight each other. You abuse them. And what about little Sammy, the infant? You sent him to the Divinity Trial?"
"That didn't go well."
"He's dead?" Oviel asked. "Sammy died?"
"I didn't say that. I only said that the Divinity Trial didn't go as planned. That is none of your business. I treat children how greedy, misbehaving, evil children should be treated. I did Jaylen a favor."
"A favor? How dare you? What all have you done to Jaylen?"
"Let's just say that he's lost quite a bit of weight and should be broken. If he is alive, he will be putty in the hands of anyone with a whip. I broke him."
Oviel's heart sank. "You say that like it's a good accomplishment."
"Oh, but it is. If I had trained and dominated Zeriel like that when he was a child, then none of this would have happened. Children must be beaten down and stripped of any pride. If not, then they become ambitious. Ambition is dangerous, don't you agree? I'm sure Gawain would have agreed with me."
Oviel was taken aback. He didn't think that even Carvael would go that far. "No. Gawain loved children. Don't try to twist my memories of that great man. It won't work. I paid for my relationship with him. I've served my sentence and atoned. Let it go. This isn't about him, so don't sully his memories by blaming him and claiming that he was something he wasn't. Gawain was ten times the man you will ever dream of being."
"And yet you killed him. You slit his throat like an animal."
"Because I believed that The Cleansing had to be fulfilled. That's the only reason. I didn't have the bravery that Zeriel did when he saved Jaylen from that same fate. And yes, call me a traitor. Call me a heretic. I don't care. I admire Zeriel for standing up for his paladin. I aim to ensure that no more innocent lives are cut short for an antiquated and useless ceremony. Sacrifices are murder. Two years ago, I would have said otherwise. But not now. I see the truth behind it all and I'll be damned to Hell if I let one more paladin die for nothing. Their lives have meaning! Every fifty years, they are rounded up and cut down, no matter their age. Then more young men join the Holy Order, thinking that they have to give their lives to bring the sun back. But the truth is, no one but Sola knows why the sun vanishes or reappears. Even you don't know. I am a firm believer in Sola. How could I not be? I am devout, but all the devotion in the world doesn't make this all right. Nothing will ever make this right." Oviel turned his back on Heaven. "I'm leaving now. If you change your mind and decide that your son's life matters, you know where to find me. I'll be in Ilyan every day this next week. Find me in the temple gardens. I'm ashamed that you had to see me in this flustered state. I try my hardest to maintain solidarity and tranquility in every action, but sometimes even I can be overwhelmed by my emotions."
"Oviel . . ."
"No. Forget it. You used to be my confidant, my best friend. Then you changed. I'm not the one who changed, Carvael. Don't you remember that I was the one who raised you once you were born as an angel? Now you have the gall to disrespect me like this? I have always been proud of you. When you were crowned archangel, I was ecstatic. But now, that pride has faded and tarnished. I haven't told anyone that I raised you because I am ashamed of what you have become. I don't want to admit that I had anything to do with raising you. You have disappointed me, Carvael. I once called you my son. Never again."
Chapter 9
"Look at him bawlin' like a baby!" Liam wiped Jaylen's blood from his knife on his pants. "Shut up and stop blubberin'. I didn't take your manly bits."
Leader stepped out of his tent and pointed at Liam. "What is going on here? Untie him immediately. Where are his clothes?"
"In the fire." Liam quipped.
"Why? Sola's rays. He's bleeding. What did you do?"
One of the others shrugged his shoulders. "We were just playing."
"I said to untie him!" Leader screamed.
The boys untied the leather straps then Liam kicked Jaylen in the side. "How does it feel, Wingless?"
Jaylen coughed through his tears as he weakly crawled away from them. He reached out to touch Leader's leg as he whimpered. "Help me. I'm hurting."
Leader wrapped Jaylen in a blanket then stormed up to Liam and punched him with all his strength in the face. "Just because some paladin did that to your friend doesn't give you the right to do it someone else."
Liam was sprawled on his back on the ground as a trickle of bright blood leaked from his busted lip. He wiped it on the back of his hand. "I wasn't actually gonna go that far."
"But he thought you were going to. He thought he was going to die. Inexcusable! You cut him. You terrified him. Shame on all of you. Maybe I should bind you up, strip your clothes off, then hold a knife to your family jewels. You wouldn't like it very much, would you? Then don't do it to one of the other boys here. We are brothers now. Don't you understand that?" Leader looked around at their sullen faces. "Where is Xair?"
One of the other boys helped Liam to his feet. "We don't know. Check his tent."
"No. You all go check his tent and clean this up. When I get back out here, you all better be in your tents and awaiting punishment. I will be around later to discipline each and every one of you for your parts in this. Now, go." Leader turned back to Jaylen. "Jaylen, can you stand?"
Jaylen took Leader's hand and shakily rose to his feet. "Yes."
"Come with me." He led Jaylen into the tent where a candle had already been lit on a small stump that Leader used as a table. "Lie down on my bedroll."
Jaylen obeyed, still clutching the blanket around himself, partly from embarrassment of his nudity and partly from fear of how bad he had been injured.
"You're trembling. Remove the blanket. I need to see how much blood you've lost."
With a shaking hand, he opened the blanket then closed his eyes as Leader's hands touched him.
"Hmm. Let's see here. I'm going to touch you now, okay? It's just to get a full picture of what is going on."
Jaylen nodded his head and gritted his teeth. He tried to mentally escape and block out the pain and humiliation. For some reason, he thought about Zeriel. He wouldn't mind if it was Zeriel tending to his cuts. He was the one and only man Jaylen could trust to touch him there and not mean anything by it. He trusted Zeriel with everything.
"You have some deep cuts, but nothing has been damaged beyond repair. Let me put some stitches in like I did to your face then you shou
ld be on your way to recovery." Leader spread Jaylen's legs and dug the first needle deep into the tender flesh, eliciting an agonized moan from Jaylen. "I warned both of you that there was to be no fighting. I realize you couldn't do anything to stop it, but rules are rules. Once I get you bandaged up, you are going to go back out there and prove yourself. Don't let them see you weak. They're like sharks. One drop of blood and they think it's a feeding frenzy. Prove your courage. Confront Liam and challenge him to a fight directly."
Jaylen winced as the string was pulled through the other side and repeated. "But you said no fighting."
"Think of this like a duel for your honor. Don't kill the kid, but put him in his place. You're a paladin. You can swing a weapon, right?"
Jaylen gasped and twisted his hand in the blanket. He panted as he writhed through the pain. He grunted as he spoke. "Yes. I was trained for years with a longsword."
"Perfect. He cut you up, so you get to cut him up."
"I don't want to fight. It's okay."
"No, it's not okay." Leader's fingers scratched across the sensitive wounds. "I know you're a paladin and you are supposed to conduct yourself in certain ways. You're supposed to be passive and merciful to innocents. I get that. But Liam isn't an innocent, is he? I don't think you quite understand what almost just happened to you."
"It's not that big of a deal. I don't use it anyway."
Leader applied some oily ointment to the cuts."That is the worst excuse I've ever heard. You might change your mind in the future. I know I did."
Jaylen opened his eyes. "What?"
"I was training to become a paladin when I was younger. Bet you didn't know that. I understand why you hold onto your vows so tightly. I get it. That's fine. But once you get away from the clergy and the pressure they put on you to remain what they call pure, you start to wonder if their version of purity is different from what purity truly is. How can they deem something natural to be bad?"
"I choose to not think about it. I have my faith and my vows. They are enough for me to remain strong."
Leader smiled as he wrapped gauze around Jaylen's groin and hips. "You are strong. I'll give you that. Well, that's about all I can do for you now. Let's get you dressed. In the bag over there, there are all sizes of pants and shirts as well as socks, underwear, assorted things I've collected over the years. Find some that fit then meet me outside by the fire."
* * *
With some difficulty and pain, Jaylen managed to dress himself. He was starting to become more proficient with daily life using only one hand. Once he was dressed in simple cotton pants and a buttoned long-sleeve shirt, he stepped out of the tent to see all of the boys who had attacked him earlier on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs in front of the fire.
Leader was pacing back and forth yelling all sorts of insults at them and slapping their bare backs with a leather belt as he went down the line. "Insubordinate, greedy, heartless, dishonorable, shameful!" He caught a glimpse of Jaylen out of the corner of his eye. "Here he is now. Listen well, my disobedient brats. Turn around and remain on your knees. Show your victim the stripes on your backs and let him decide if you have each been beaten enough for what you have done."
Jaylen watched as they turned around silently. He grimaced when he saw the red welts covering their backs and shoulders. Liam had it the worst. The boy's back was crisscrossed with bleeding gashes and what appeared to be burns. "Please stop it. I don't want them to hurt because of what they did to me. Leader, please stop hurting them. Liam is young. He needs help. Don't let him suffer."
"You think they have paid for their crimes?" Leader asked.
"Yes. Please help them."
Leader forced Liam to his feet then pushed the boy's messy brown bangs out of his eyes. He had been crying. "Don't like how it feels, do you? Now, it's Jaylen's turn."
Liam whimpered quietly as Leader removed the bindings from his wrists.
"I don't want to fight." Jaylen said. "It's not right. He's already hurting. I don't have a sword."
"If you can swing metal, you can swing wood." Leader ripped a low hanging branch from a nearby tree then thrust it into Jaylen's arms.
For a few minutes, he stared into the obnoxiously green eyes that looked out between the messy brown bangs of the boy who had attacked him earlier in the night. He saw the sadness and how broken the boy had become after the vicious beating Leader had given him. Jaylen tightened his hand around the rough tree branch until he thought back to that first week of being a paladin. That is when he realized that he deserved everything Liam could have done to him. He tossed the branch onto the ground. "I can't do it. I'm not going to fight."
Xair emerged from his tent, still hiding behind his large purple hood. "Jaylen, stay."
"Don't tell me what to do. I'll go. Okay?" Jaylen started walking out into the thick underbrush. "If staying here means that I have to fight like an animal, then I'll leave. I know I'm not wanted here. Everyone here hates me. I would rather die in the forest on my own."
"Jaylen!" Xair called after him.
But Leader stopped him. "If he wants to go, let him. He'll be back."
* * *
The cold night dragged on as Jaylen walked through the thick forest. He wasn't going anywhere specific, but he continued on while his mind stirred. Jaylen wanted to run, to hide from the past that had been dredged up by the events of the past day. Staying there in the camp with those boys wasn't an option. They had been hurt by paladins like him. And he fully understood why they hated him.
Just as he pushed through a row of willow trees and stumbled out to see a pond surrounded by cattails and fireflies hovering in the cold air, he heard something crunching in the frost-covered leaves. He spun around to see a brown-haired girl shivering underneath a rocky outcropping. "Reya? Reya!"
She looked up with a bright smile. "Jaylen!"
Jaylen raced to her as best as he could with the bandages then took her in his arms and held her close to his chest. "Oh, Reya. How did you get here?"
"I followed some trails. I ran away from the library when Zirla tried to assign me to another scribe." She delicately touched the long scar that stretched from Jaylen's hairline to his jaw on the right side of his face. "What happened to your face?"
"Stitches. I cut my face when I fell into a pit in this forest. Oh, that doesn't matter. You're safe. I saw when Carvael hit you. I was so worried about what would become of you without me there, especially after you tried to save me." Jaylen leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away. "What's wrong?"
Reya took a few steps towards the icy banks of the pond. "We can't be together anymore, Jaylen. I'm sorry. It's for your own good."
"My own good? Why?"
"Trust me. You don't even really know me. I can't . . . I can't do this. I can't lie to you anymore. At first, I thought I could trick you and make you love me. It's true, I was trying to hurt you, to seduce you and do all the evil things that succubi do. But then when we were together in Cilona, I knew I truly loved you. I didn't want to hurt you anymore. That's why I can't keep lying."
What was she talking about?
"Promise me that you won't hate me."
"I could never hate you, my love."
"Use your spirit sight, Jaylen. You should still be able to do that. Just concentrate a little more."
Jaylen tried for a few minutes until he finally slipped into his spirit sight. A very dark shadow danced around Reya's body. "You . . . you're a demon."
Slowly, Reya changed appearance until a purple-haired demon with orange eyes and pointed teeth was standing in front of him. "It's me, Jaylen. I'm Liaxa."
Jaylen stared at her as she summoned a ball of glowing shadows. How could he not have seen it before now? "How long?"
"How long what?" Liaxa asked.
"How long have you been Reya?"
"Jaylen, Reya isn't real. She never was. I changed my appearance and altered the memories of Zirla so she believed that I was just a slave girl. Don't ha
te me. You swore that you wouldn't hate me."
"I don't hate you."
"Why not?"
Jaylen clenched his fist and turned to face the succubus. "Because I keep my vows, no matter what happens. So tell me. Can you get us off of this awful continent and back to Vilyron?"
"I don't have a gryphon like my father."
"Then that's a no?"
Liaxa sighed and stepped closer to him. "It's a no. I'm sorry, Jaylen, but we are stuck here until I can find a way to contact my father and have Stephan come get us. He is one of the only demons who can pass through Carvael's barrier."
"I know. He was one of the men who set the Haunted Library on fire."
"Wait. No, that can't be right."
"I swear." Jaylen kicked a pile of decaying leaves into the dark water. "It was him and Aiden of Wolfekin with some others. If Brinx hadn't been there to save me, Stephan would have killed me."
"I . . . I don't understand. Stephan hardly ever leaves Gavin's bedroom."
"Well, he obviously left and came to Cilona in order to destroy something hidden in the Haunted Library with Aiden's help."
Liaxa tapped her clawed fingers against her lips. "I remember my father saying something about a group called Eternal Eclipse. He mentioned it in passing then quickly changed the subject as if it was something evil. I've been trying to research the group for years, but nothing has turned up. I wonder if those men in the black robes weren't simply impersonating the library mages . . . but were actually some sort of assassins."
"Then Aiden and Stephan are both members."
"And you said that Brinx saved you? Who is Brinx?" Liaxa asked.
"Brinxael. She is Carvael's daughter. He believes that all female angels are deformed, so he banishes them from Heaven."
"An angel stood against Stephan and lived?"
Angel of Darkness Books 1-5 Page 32