by A. E. Wright
Chapter Twelve - Revelations
IDRIS HELD OUT the Scythe before passing it to Bettery who then swayed awkwardly trying to handle the tall and heavy weapon.
"Go to the sitting room dearies, I'll be back in a moment I will." Bettery called before heading upstairs dragging the Scythe with her. Rosamaylind and I looked at one another, the tension that had permeated the air just moments before had evaporated with our new arrival.
"I must go to Cadalin, I must try to find her." She said desperately. Idris looked confused at first and them decidedly unconcerned as he shouldered his way past and went to take a seat in Merl's sitting room.
"When I was small if something bad happened to me the first face I would want to see before anyone else's was my mothers. If you go now there's a good chance that you might not return and when Merl brings Cadalin back how do you think she will feel if you're not here?" I asked. "How do you think she will feel if something happened to you whilst you were searching for her?"
"How will she feel if confronted with Agrona?" Rosamaylind reasoned. I knew the answer. She would feel the same as I felt when Agrona and I had touched on that day in the chamber. I shook my head. It was kinder to Rosamaylind if I didn't answer that question.
"Merl will bring her back and she will need you." I had to believe it because the alternative did not bear thinking about. Rosamaylind considered me for a moment before dropping her bag of provisions and heading back into the sitting room. I followed her in, noticing that Idris had taken Merl's seat. I could not help but feel a now familiar sense of rising anger. My palms grew hot, sparks spitting from them. I flexed my hands in an attempt to dispel the irrational onslaught of sudden emotion. Idris eyed me speculatively, a smug smile growing on his narcissistic face. If Rosamaylind were not in the room I was sure I would have hit him with a spell, or just hit him, any kind of pain to reflect the pain he had given to Dahlia would make me feel better.
"To whom does the flying rat belong?" He said, eyeing the leathery brown shape on the ceiling. Ambrose! So much was happening all at once, I hadn't even noticed him there. Curled on the ceiling in his usual spot, his wing visibly damaged with huge scratches that had torn all the way through. I felt both relief and sadness, at least he was home and safe but what price had he paid delivering my message? "Yours I presume, it seems like the type of pet you might keep." He said, trying to insult me.
"No he's Merl's, his name is Ambrose. He's a bat not a rat and he's got more courage in his left ear than you'll ever have." I said trying to keep my voice even so that he wouldn't realise he was getting to me so much. Idris simply smiled his spider smile in reply, obviously deciding that, in company at least, arguing with a young girl like me was below him.
Bettery entered the room with her usual smile back on her face although I could tell by the look in her eyes that nerves were beginning to set in because of the length of time Merl had been away. I knew I should have gone with him.
"I don't know what he's brewing in that bedroom of his but I didn't fancy going in there I didn't, I've left the scythe?somewhere safe." Eyeing Idris, Bettery finished her sentence more cautiously than she might have if he wasn't in the room.
"You are aware that I was the one who brought the Moonstone Scythe here aren't you?"
"We're aware of a lot of things about you." I said stormily.
"Then I'm sure you're aware by now?" The sound of the front door creaking to a close and then a tussle breaking out in the hallway interrupted Idris, we all rushed to see what the commotion was all about.
In the hallway sprawled out in opposite directions were the two ragged figures of Merl and Madge, both kicking at each other with their thin aged legs. Stood in the centre of the two warring warlocks was a very frightened and tired looking Cadalin, her cheeks stained with dry tear lines. Rosamaylind pushed her way through from behind Bettery and I to scoop up Cadalin in her arms. Holding her close and breathing in the scent of her hair, she whispered promises to the little girl that were indecipherable to foreign ears.
"I'll wager you'll want to rest my dearies, why don't you take her to the B room?" Bettery was referring to the room that Rosamaylind was already staying in.
"No." Rosamaylind replied sharply. "We will find somewhere else to go tonight." She insisted, eyeing Merl angrily as he rose from the ground. I was now wishing I hadn't said anything about Merl choosing to save me over Cadalin. Luckily, Merl was too busy in a glaring match with Madge to notice the accusation in her eyes.
"Okay dearies, then why don't you take Cadalin to my home, it isn't far from here it isn't. Follow the winding cobble pathways through the village and carry on a little way further. You will come to a cottage with Petaldopper on the door. That's mine it is." Bettery offered kindly.
"We couldn't impose on you Bettery. You have done so much for me in this awful time already." Rosamaylind warmed. Bettery's heart was so big it was impossible to speak to her with anything but kindness.
"You couldn't impose if you tried you couldn't." Bettery smiled. "I'll wager Balthus will have finished the carrot broth he was making for Cain and Delpha by now and I'm sure Cadalin is hungry after her rough day she is." Cadalin nodded as did Rosamaylind in acceptance.
"Thank you." Rosamaylind said as she took the little girl tightly by the hand and went to push the door. Cadalin pulled her mother's arm backward in fear.
"No, no I don't want to go outside." Cadalin pleaded, bursting into tears at the prospect. My heart ached. I couldn't help feeling that I was at least in part responsible for her fear. Rosamaylind eyed her daughter with pity. Bettery approached the little girl, putting her small hand on Cadalin's arm reassuringly.
"Don't you worry yourself my little deary, Blossomdown is protected by very powerful magic, very powerful it is. Not a creature on earth could break through the love that surrounds this place they couldn't. And do you know deary that now you are here that love is protecting you too. It's all around you, keeping you safe. You know you're safe here don't you deary?" Cadalin nodded.
"Good girl, now go with your mummy deary, she's going to take you to play and eat some lovely broth she is. Would you like that?" Cadalin nodded again. Rosamaylind observed Bettery with the same awe on her face that I was inwardly feeling. This time Cadalin led the way through the door, giving Bettery one final glance, searching for reassurance. Bettery waved softly as they passed over the threshold.
"Get lost!" I heard Fizzlesnap shout from the other side of the door.
As we entered the sitting room, Merl took back his seat and Idris shuffled off into the shadowy corner like the spider he was.
"You! I nearly had the Centaurs agreement to fight at Violet's side before you rudely interrupted me." Madge poked a bony finger at Merl.
"I interrupted you? How very silly of me I had assumed it was the group of rampaging Gnarls that saw the Centaurs off." Merl shot back. "Next time I am in the process of saving an innocent child from Agrona, I will consider that it might interrupt your flirtations with the Centaur kind. Is that to your liking you old goat?" He snapped.
"You scared my little Herborg you ninny." Madge spat.
"Scared him? Scared him? I ruddy-well carried the wriggling hog-roast all the way back to Blossomdown. How has he repaid me? By eating my flowers that's how." Merl countered. I glanced through the small window observing Herborg as he uprooted some of the nettles that were spotted around the front lawn. Trust Merl to think of them as 'flowers'.
"Hog-roast is it, how about wizard-roast instead?" Madge was infuriated as she took a deep breath to suck air into her lungs expelling it as flames that set the bottom of Merl robes on fire. An extra wrinkle graced Merl's forehead as his eyebrows raised in both surprise and anger. With a wave of his hand he quickly expelled the flames.
"Stop this you two, the most important thing is that the babe is safe and with her mother it is." Bettery interrupted.
"What happened?" I asked Merl.
"I utilised my moth wings once again, it has to be
acknowledged that they are quite an asset when used in the same manner as bird wings." Merl said to me appreciatively. "I caught sight of the group of Gnarls as they were nearing the edge of Loch Du."
"That's when I caught sight of Merl, swooping above our heads like a bemused butterfly, no wonder the Centaurs scarpered, with the look of that ugly mug, they probably thought he was a Reaping Bird." Madge laughed.
"As I was saying, there was a group of Gnarls searching for a way across the Loch. I circled over them and noticed Cadalin, thrown over the shoulder of one of the smaller ones. The Gnarls were dispatched easily enough but this one, I just cannot seem to rid myself of." Merl pointed at Madge who huffed in annoyance.
"Those Gnarls were dispatched easily enough because I was there to assist you." She snorted a wisp of smoke escaping from the side of her mouth as she spoke.
"I did not need your assistance and I did not need to carry your obese pig all the way home."
"I carried the girl for you!" Madge was indignant.
"How very kind of you." Merl said sarcastically. "We couldn't have left the little girl behind in favour of your pig now could we?"
"I didn't say that. You're twisting my words you odious old toad." Madge moved to kick Merl in the shin but I stood between them. I was beginning to worry that this little spat might escalate into a full on magical duel or possibly physical. Merl didn't react to Madge. Instead he turned his head in the direction of the doorway, obviously hearing something the rest of us could not. I turned to look in the same direction jumping as Balthus burst through the door, smelling of ale and pointing accusingly at Idris.
"You! What are you doing here? Don't think I don't know that you had something to do with all of this. What's happening to all our kinsmen and women is on your shoulders." He roared in his booming voice.
"Now, now Balthus it was not Prince Idris that betrayed you. If I recall correctly, it was your lovelorn brother was it not?" Merl reasoned, looking in a confused manner at Idris as he'd been so busy with arguing with Madge he hadn't even noticed him there before now.
"Although I'm grateful for your valiant defence of my character, it is somewhat misplaced." Idris said as arrogantly as ever.
"I beg your ruddy pardon!" Merl replied in surprise as he rose from his chair.
"I knew it." I added.
"Bring him to me, bring him now, I'll rip his head off." Balthus's skin went from an angry rouge to purple with rage. He lunged forward in anger but, having drunk a little too much ale, he toppled over. His silver leg detached and landed at Madge's feet as he rolled across the sitting room floor like a boulder. Madge picked the leg up quickly and went over to the fallen Balthus to reattach it. Embarrassed, Balthus propped himself up against the wall in a sitting position to attach it properly, thanking Madge quietly under his breath.
"So why are you here? And why have you brought the Scythe?" I asked suspiciously.
"No doubt he's here to gloat." Madge pointed out. I found myself nodding my head in agreement with her.
"I don't believe the prince to be that foolish." Merl stated.
"I am here to offer an explanation and to ask for redemption." Idris said, although he couldn't seem to dispel the sound of disinterest from his voice.
"We don't want your explanation, get out of here." Balthus muttered.
"Let's hear him out, he has brought us the Scythe he has, he wouldn't have done that if he didn't want to help." Bettery offered.
"If it's even the real Scythe." I pointed out.
"The Moonstone Scythe?" Merl was confused again.
"Yeah, supposedly Idris here has brought the Moonstone Scythe with him, supposedly." I explained.
"Rosamaylind saw the Scythe." Idris pointed out, rising from his seat angrily. "If it wasn't the real Scythe a Banshee would have spotted that instantly."
"Well, that is one less thing for us to worry about." Merl sounded somewhat relieved.
"Dragons scales and Merrow bones." Balthus cursed in frustration.
"Let's string him up in a cage outside and prod him with fire pokers." Madge offered her opinion. She looked down to Balthus eagerly searching for his approval. She certainly had mine.
"Let's hear what he has to say first, he deserves a chance he does." Bettery reasoned.
"I agree." Merl added, "However, we should reserve judgment on the fire pokers until the end."
"As you wish." Idris stated coolly.
"I'm going to need more ale." Balthus interjected. I went to a small wooden cabinet that sat indiscreetly in the corner. It wasn't decorated with anything. A simple plain oak wood cabinet but inside was a large decanter of amber ale that smelt of fire whenever Merl opened it to have a drink.
"What the ruddy hell are you doing with my best spiced ale?" Merl said. I didn't reply, instead I tipped a thimbleful into the lid and drunk it down. It felt like fire as it slipped down my throat. Taking another thimbleful, I passed it To Balthus as I lowered myself to sit at his side. Madge and Bettery sat together on the cushioned bench and Merl hovered over Idris who was once again seated in Merl's chair.
"Three summers have passed since my father came to me with a proposition. He said he needed to find a way to open the gate, that there was something important he needed to do in the old world, something he didn't want anyone else to know about. I asked what that was of course but he was never forthcoming with an answer. What he offered instead was a bargain, promising that if I could open Merrydian's gate for him, he would abdicate the throne of Forge Gate, ensuring that I as rightful king, would take his place. It was all I had ever dreamed of, being king in my own land, ruling over my people but try as I might I could not think of a way to get close enough to the elusive Merrydian to open the blasted gate. He wouldn't even entertain the idea of having me as a guest and replied to each of my requests to visit him with an envelope sealed with nettle wax so that I would prick my fingers when I went to open it. None of the envelopes ever contained a letter. It seemed hopeless.
Frustrated with my lack of success my father promised that I would never take the throne. As his disappointment deepened he vowed to reveal a secret that would void my claim altogether and his mood became most sour for a long time. That was until word spread to Forge Gate that an heir had passed through the gateway and they were on their way to Thistlewick. Upon hearing this news, my father sent me immediately to Thistlewick, instructing me to try to secure the Moonstone Scythes whereabouts from Queen Evangelista.
His spirits had been so lifted I chose not to argue this request no matter how ridiculous it may have seemed at the time. It was only as my coach pulled into Thistle Castle that I found the message he had slipped into a tear in the seat cushion. The small piece of parchment sealed with a royal crescent moon and fang. It explained that I must obtain the blood of the heir and have it sent to him by messenger at the edge of Galdur Wood. I did as my father had bid, whilst also taking the necklace I found in your room and planting it on my brother in order to breed mistrust between the both of you. I did that for two reasons, the first being that I don't like you and the second that I don't like him. Having accomplished my task there was only one minor thing left for me to do, secure the hand of the gullible Halfling princess. That way if my father reneged on his word then I would still secure a kingdom of sorts, although it was not the one which I desired."
Idris looked around the room. Waiting for some kind of reaction but all any of us could muster was shock as his candidness. Merl was the first to speak.
"Well, in light of this and your obvious contribution to the rising of the witch Agrona. I must ask you Idris, what game are you playing now?"
"I'm not playing any game." Idris answered, annoyance breaking through his usual nonchalant exterior. "Don't forget wizard that my mother died the night the witch awoke, no doubt she was killed by my own father. I have no allegiances to that man any longer. Neither do I want to see my kingdom in ruin." He argued.
"Don't forget that the night you helped to let the Gnarl
s through the gateway Dahlia's father was murdered, no doubt by your father." I spat back.
"An inconvenient casualty, that is true." Idris said, clearly he didn't apply much importance to the tragic death of Solomon Dixon. I was the one turning purple now.
"We can't trust him. Who's to say he not acting on Agrona's orders?" I said.
"I'm to say." Idris said, as if his word should be sufficient proof.
"Bah!" Balthus laughed.
"Well he brought the scythe here he did." Bettery argued. Merl stroked his long beard in contemplation.
"What if Idris were to be tamed?" Merl said. "Of course it would require his consent but I'm quite sure I could do it."
"Tame him! Merl, how will the boy protect himself if he's attacked? That would be very dangerous for him it would." Bettery pointed out.
"Good, tame the boy and let's hope a Gnarl gets at him." Balthus said.
"I will consent, if I'm allowed to stay under the protection of Blossomdown." Idris agreed.
"What is taming?" I interjected. Nobody answered my question.
"You will be allowed to make your home anywhere in Blossomdown or in the surrounding woodland, provided you are tamed." Merl agreed.
"In that case, I consent." Idris said, seeming unafraid. Merl did not wait for Idris to change his mind, he shot a blast of red light that flew at Idris, wrapping around his neck and forming a collar.
Idris's eyes glowed with amber light, his muscles contracted and his bones snapped out of place. He was making the change from man to wolf or so I thought. The collar around his neck changed from soft scarlet to a blood red as Merl shot another bolt of light in his direction for good measure. The collar was tightening, restricting Idris's change at first and then reversing it completely. The magic soaked into his neck, scolding the soft skin as it did. Idris cried in pain but there was little sympathy for him in the room. Only Bettery went to his side, offering him a thimble full of Merl's spiced ale to numb the pain.
"Good." Merl said once the spell was over. "Now for your accommodation, might I suggest?"
"NO!" Balthus who already seemed to know what he was going to say cut him off.
"Be reasonable Balthus, if he stays with you, you can keep an eye on him." Merl said.
"And the young princes might be glad of the company of their older brother they might deary." Bettery soothed. Balthus considered this for a moment, the internal battle playing out on his face. Although he clearly did not want Idris in his newly built household, neither did he want him to have the freedom to plot and scheme during his time here.
"Fine, but I will not carry the scoundrel home." Balthus said reluctantly.
"I don't need carrying." Idris objected as he pulled himself upward weakly only to fall back into wall. Bettery's face was awash with sympathy.
"I'll carry him." I said. "But I'm only doing it for Bettery." I pointed out. I didn't promise not to drop him either.
Idris's face creased with disgust as his arm rested over my shoulders. We trekked past Merl's twisted house in a southerly direction out of the village and toward Blossom Wood. Pulling my hood up over my head like I usually did when out and about around Blossomdown, I felt a prang of guilt as we passed Mayor Wilmot's manor house knowing Dahlia was in there now and here I was propping up the man who had abandoned her. I felt like a traitor.
"Did you ever love her?" I asked Idris not having the will power to stop myself.
"Love whom?" He stated.
"Dahlia, you know your wife, the girl you married, and the one who is now carrying your child." I was annoyed at his response.
"I didn't until recently, I have found a new affection for her but I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as love." He answered. Balthus eyed him in revolution.
"If your mother could hear you now she would be ashamed." He stated. The remark seemed to penetrate Idris's icy exterior. This was the first time I had ever seen him look emotionally hurt.
"You would know ALL about my mother now wouldn't you Balthus?" Idris shot back.
"I know that your father was right when he said you had no rightful claim to the throne and so do you." Balthus retorted. The midnight air was exasperating Balthus's inebriated state.
"Be quiet you drunken fool, don't you dare bring shame to the memory of my mother." Idris countered.
"The only person that brought shame to your mother was your father when he forced her to marry him." Balthus roared.
"I already know and I don't think anything your mother did for love was shameful." I said, assuming they were arguing about the fact that Jestin and Elba were Balthus and Queen Deltrina's children. We hobbled down a newly cobbled pathway that led to a cosy smattering of wooden cottages. The centre point of the small settling was a stone well in the middle of the inner most group of houses. On top of the well sat a stonework statue of the late Worlen queen. Exactly her likeness, she was smiling radiantly with her legs crossed easily and her hair cupping her soft face. No doubt it was Balthus who had carved this statue from memory, it exuded love. I felt sad for a moment, recalling my own memory of the pain on Jestin's face when he recounted his mother's death.
"I loved her." Balthus said, speaking mostly to the statue "That treacherous little rat Alphus promised that if I allowed him to take my throne he would change tradition and allow me to marry her."
"What do you mean take YOUR throne?" I said shocked.
"Be quiet." Idris hissed. Balthus swung at him drunkenly and missed but it did enough to shut the cowardly Idris up.
"The Worlen throne is mine by the right of birth, I was born two minutes before Alphus, and I should have been king."
"Then why aren't you?" I asked.
"Because my brother was weak from birth and cowardly, like his eldest son. He wasn't equipped to be the General of the Worlen army, he would have been killed before sunrise if he ever ventured onto the battlefield. I on the other hand, found the politics and intrigue of court bemusing and boring. My father noticed the flaws in the both of us and offered to have the royal birth records changed so that Alphus was recorded as the first-born. My father thought I would have leapt at the opportunity but I was cautious. I was in love with an Innkeepers daughter named Deltrina, the girl that would grow into the most beautiful queen that ever graced the grasslands of Forge Gate. She should have been my queen, I should never have agreed to that cursed bargain."
"Yes but you did, now which cabin is yours? I would like to soothe my burns." Idris said as he rubbed the angry red marks around his neck. Balthus pointed to the cabin that faced the stone statue of the former queen. It was larger than most of the others, with green ivy twisting up the wooden posts that held up a small porch attached to the front. It was dark oak in colour and made almost entirely of wood other than a stone chimney that ran through the middle. Like most of the other cabins, its windows were alight with the yellow light from the fire within. "There?" Idris curled his lip again in distaste.
"Yes there, or you can sleep out here on the cold ground. Either suits me fine." Balthus said. Idris went to the well, hoisted the bucket out of the water and took it to the porch standing in the moonlight, he tipped it gently onto his neck and chest area. I turned back to Balthus who was once again gazing lovingly at the statue.
"So what happened?" I asked Balthus.
"My father lived a long time, more than a thousand years and he was a good king. We Worlen age, much slower than you humans but we age nonetheless. In his final days, when he began to grow weak, Alphus asked for my decision. He promised that if he became the king, he would base the army at Castle Crag and allow me to take a wife."
"So why didn't you speak out when he married Deltrina?" I asked.
"Because Alphus had sent me out of the way, clever little demon that he is. He knew that I'd always been fascinated by the legend of the sword of Cali and instructed me to secure it for the Worlen people. He vowed that by the time I returned the law would be changed and I would be free to marry Deltrina."
"So h
e sent you on a wild goose chase to get you out of the way?"
"Oh, it was no wild goose chase Violet. I found the sword, it took me longer than I thought but I found it. After the ugly little Goblin tried to take it from me, I didn't think it safe to keep it on my person. I left it at Castle Crag where it remains hidden to this day in the very highest room. It has only ghosts to guard it now. The Castle was abandoned long ago."
"Wait you're saying the sword of Cali actually exists?"
"Yes, as I told you it resides at Castle Crag. I pulled it from the depths of Loch Du myself." Balthus said, shuddering at the memory.
"And you just left it there?" I was astounded. When Merl and Grogog spoke of the sword they both talked as if it were a fairy tale and here Balthus was telling me exactly where it is!
"I returned to Forge Gate intending to inform my brother of my triumph but when I found he had married Deltrina in my absence, I was too enraged to tell him anything. I wanted to rip his head away from his scrawny shoulders but Deltrina warned me that he threatened to have her charged with treason if she continued to keep my company. Fearing for her life, I played the role of the good and obedient General and I only openly went against Alphus's command once during my time in charge of the Worlen army."
"That must have been terrible for you." I said, trying to imagine the sense of betrayal and loss he must have felt.
"It was, when I discovered that Deltrina was carrying his child that was the worst day of my existence. I very nearly jumped from the cliff tops at Cragsley. All I wanted was to disappear into the vast blue ocean and let the waves take me to oblivion." A tear ran down the edge of Balthus's nose. He brushed it away with his heavy hand.
"But you didn't and I'm glad." I smiled.
"So am I, not long after Idris had cut his first tooth Deltrina bore my children. Beautiful babes they were, my Jestin and Elba. The king didn't pay much note to them. He didn't even visit the queen the night they were born. His coldness worked out well for me. Worlen people were informed that one of the babies had been born asleep but that wasn't true. The night I found Elba on my doorstep was the same night she was born. So little and pink and wrapped up warm in the finest royal silks. She came with a message from her mother it read 'Two separate hearts yet always as one.' It was her way of telling me that if I raised Elba whilst she reared Jestin, we were always together as a family in our own way." Balthus smiled up at the statue. I smiled at her too.
"She was very brave to sacrifice everything to protect the people she loved." I said.
"That she was." He agreed, "You remind me of her a little."