The Haret (The Haret Series)

by Denise Daisy

  Felicitas eyes widened in shock. She had seen him earlier today in the store, right before he threw a rock at the plate glass window allowing her to escape.

  “Oh my God it’s you!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Damn boy, be a man, why are you yellin’ like a girl? Not afraid of a little firewood are you?” Uncurling his left arm the unshaven man dropped three large logs to the floor. He placed the axe against the wall, wiped his hands on his jeans. David’s face went from pale to crimson as he watched the unshaven man toss a log on the fire and leave the room.

  “I feel so gay.” He collapsed on the couch again. Felicitas didn’t sit. She still stood wide eyed watching the unshaven man disappear around the corner.

  Rosie entered the living room with hot coffee, cider and homemade muffins on a tray. She placed the treats on the hearth and then poked at the fresh log stirring up the embers.

  “I heard you met Grant.” She said winking at David. “He’s washing up. He’ll be in shortly. Better get comfortable I got a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”

  David sighed when he realized there would be no escaping anytime soon he nodded his head toward the telephone sitting on the end table.

  “Do you mind if I use your phone? I don’t have any cell reception here.”

  Rosie eyed him suspiciously. “Who you gonna call?”

  David cleared his throat, “My mother. She’ll be worried if I don’t come home. I’m going to tell her I’m stayin' the night at my friend Danny’s. Then I’m gonna call Danny and tell him if anyone asks that I’m with him.”

  Rosie thought a moment; a characteristic Felicitas noticed was common practice before she responded to any question or situation.

  “You sure you want to stay and hear this? Because once you do, you will be marked. They will know that you know.”

  Shaking his head in disbelief, David picked up the receiver and began dialing the old rotary phone

  “I’m not leaving Taz, so it looks like I’m stayin'. If that marks me then so be it. Besides I’ve endured this much, I can’t wait to hear the rest.”

  The twinkle in Rosie’s eye relaxed Felicitas until Grant entered the room and took a seat in the plush arm chair across from her. She took in a deeper inspection of him than she was allowed at the convenience store. He seemed younger than she first anticipated. She guessed him to be in his late thirties or early forties. It was always hard for her to guess the age of adults. He stared back at her through the sandy brown hair that hung in his eyes. The fact that he was quite attractive relaxed her some.

  “So how long have you known my grandmother?” Felicitas decided to take control of the conversation.”

  “A long time.”

  His answer was short and he offered no more information. Felicitas concern returned.

  “Are you two dating?”

  Rosie let out a loud cackle. “Land sakes child you do flatter me. But I do like the way you think.”

  Felicitas continued her interrogation of Grant wanting more information on the man who had obviously followed her into the store this afternoon and then lured her here with his mysterious note.

  “Who are you and how do you know where I was last week?” Rosie reveled in the sound of Felicitas calling her grandma again after all these years.

  Grant didn’t answer her instead he relaxed in his chair and sipped his coffee all the while starring at her over the rim of his mug. His inspection made her uncomfortable and she shifted on the couch hoping he wouldn’t notice. Then a flash, as an image of his face flickered in her head but as quick as the memory surfaced it faded. She gasped and he noticed. Her stomach dropped with the distinct feeling that maybe this man knew where she was all week because he had been with her but before she could ask Rosie spoke up.

  “I followed the story of your disappearance in the paper. Needless to say I was worried sick but not at all surprised. I’ve known this would happen for some time. I tried to warn your parents years ago but your father wouldn’t listen and I am afraid my persistence in the matter resulted in the alienation of your family.”

  Felicitas was intrigued.

  “How could you know I was going to disappear for a week?” She glanced over at Grant, suspicion showing in her eyes. “Unless you had something to do with it.”

  Grant leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He tossed his head shaking away the hair hanging in his eyes.

  “Ever hear the name Chowilawu?”

  Felicitas shook her head.

  “Didn’t think so. He was adopted by the Shawnee sometime around 1790. His name means joined together by water. He was given the name because the Indians found him when he was an infant lying in an old well.”

  Felicitas shifted again at the mention of the well and her thoughts went back to last night at the hospital when Esther described the spine-chilling landmark. Again she could tell Grant was aware of her discomfort. He eyed her close and continued.

  “The chief of the tribe said the spirits told him that Chowilawu was a prince and the heir to a throne in another world. Said the spirits told him that his tribe had been chosen to protect the child. They raised him as one of their own. The tribe thrived after that and they considered Chowilawu a blessing from God.”

  Grant stopped for a moment sipped his coffee and then removed his eyes from Felicitas and starred into the fire.

  “When he was twenty he met a young white girl by the name of Velma Truitt; they fell in love. Velma’s father was a powerful affluent man and forbid her from loving a savage so Velma ran away with Chowilawu. Velma’s father James Truitt spent a fortune chasing them and put a rather large price on Chowilawu’s head. To protect the tribe they fled and settled somewhere in the hills of Tennessee. They had two children Ruby and Cornelius. When Ruby was five and Cornelius two, Chowilawu disappeared. Velma searched for him, even went back to the tribe but he was nowhere to be found. She feared her father’s men had found him and put a bullet through his head. Heart broke she returned to their home hoping someday he would come back. Fifty years later he shows up but he hasn’t aged a day. Velma is now an old woman and his kids are grown and gone. He tells her a story of where he’s been and she writes it down and makes two books. He instructed her to pass it on generation after generation giving it to the firstborn child. By that time Velma was seventy three years old. She had lived long enough to see her daughter Ruby’s great great granddaughter Joanne. She gave one of the books to her. The other she gave to Cornelius’s grandson. The books were passed on just as Chowilawu instructed. By the year 1940 one of the books was in the hand of a woman by the name of Myrtle. She gave birth to a daughter named Rosie and gave her the book for her sixth birthday.

  Rosie stood and smoothed out her cotton dress. She lifted a heavy brass candlestick from the mantle and pulled a key out from under the bottom then placed it in the antique lock of a small trunk and continued Grant’s story.

  “I gave the book to your mother and she tried to give it to you on your sixth birthday. You were celebrating here. Your father became angry and didn’t want you to have the book. A fight erupted and he threw it into the fire.”

  Rosie opened a small wooden chest and removed a bundle wrapped in a soft cloth. She carried it over to Felicitas and placed it in her lap. It was then Felicitas realized Rosie must have gotten the burns on her hands by trying to save the beloved heirloom. Untying the wrapping she uncovered a small book. True to Rosie’s story it was partially burned. She thumbed through the pages being careful not to destroy the aging parchment any further.

  Immediately intrigued she wanted to curl up near the fire and read what was hidden in the pages, the story that would reveal where Chowilawu had been and possibly where she too had spent last week.

  “So Reed’s legend of the disappearing man is actually true.”

  Grant became suspicious. “Who the hell is Reed?”

  “Reed’s heard this story too?” David was shocked.

  “Who the
hell is Reed?” Grant persisted.

  “He’s a friend. I was at his place the night I disappeared. He told my friend Esther a story about a disappearing man and about some well that he thinks is the gateway to the afterlife.”

  The room fell silent except for David’s nervous laughter. Felicitas knew she had said something vital.

  Grant narrowed his eyes.

  “Did your friends actually see the well?”

  “Yes, Esther told me he took her there the night I disappeared.”

  Grant sighed.

  “These friends of yours, Reed and Esther, must be the two I spooked in the woods the night you showed back up. I might need to have a talk with them.”

  Felicitas stomach turned. She had no desire to draw anyone else into this bizarre turn of events than necessary. There were still questions her grandmother hadn’t answered but before she could ask them David beat her to the punch.

  “So you never told us who wants to kill Taz’s baby.”

  Rosie took a bite of her muffin and nodded her head toward the couch.

  “The book will tell you.”

  Felicitas stroked the heirloom and opened the cover.

  The words were handwritten. She read the first page out loud:

  “These are the words of Sargon, grandson of King Uriah. On earth I am called Chowilawu. I bear witness that the story told to me by the Guardian upon my returning to the Haret is a true accounting of what transpired and what will soon come to pass. The keeper of the books holds the destiny of all that is virtuous.”

  Felicitas hands trembled to the point of almost losing her grip.

  For the next hour she read aloud about two kingdoms; both inhabiting another world called The Haret. For centuries the rulers of these two kingdoms each governed an equal half of Haret. Their rule was one of benevolence and goodwill. Life on Haret was ideal, everyone lived harmoniously with one another until the wicked Drakes infiltrated and contaminated the chaste lineage of King Uriah.

  King Uriah had two virgin daughters. Both fell in love; one with a noble man and the other secretly seduced by Draco, ruler of the underworld kingdom of the Drakes. Both daughters became pregnant. When the women gave birth, Draco set off a rebellion bringing an end to the two kingdoms of light. He announced the rise of his new kingdom, the kingdom of Shadows, and proclaimed his newborn son Savas as the heir. He ordered the end to the pure lineage of King Uriah by having the other child and his mother killed. A guardian of Haret intervened and swept the child away, bringing him to earth and giving him to the Shawnee. His name was Sargon which means true king. The Indians called him Chowilawu.

  An oracle was put into place that one day a virgin from the line of Sargon would marry a prince from the uncontaminated lineage of King Pranay ruler of the second kingdom. She would conceive and give birth; the child would return to Haret and reunite the two kingdoms of light. This would put an end to the kingdom of Shadows and Draco’s rule.

  The sole purpose of the Drakes is to destroy the baby, preventing his return to Haret and uniting of the two kingdoms. Despite their malicious ways they are bound by two rules set by the oracle. The first rule being they cannot destroy the child while it is still in the womb. Neither can they kill the virgin while she carries the baby.

  The second; they can never force themselves upon the virgin to contaminate the pure lineage. They are free to seduce but the sexual act must be consensual.

  The oracle also stated that a great abyss will separate the prince from his true love, making it almost impossible for him to find her. Her purity will lead him and once he finds her their spirits will meet in another level of their consciousness. If their love is pure enough then a child will be conceived. Once the child enters the womb then the Prince will be granted permission to enter the stirring waters and join his love on the earth to protect her from the attacks of the drakes. However, a guardian will also be established on earth to protect the young virgin and her baby. The guardian will be the defender of the royal line and the only one who will know the way to lead them safely home.

  Felicitas gently closed the cover. The room fell silent except for the snapping and crackling of the small fire. The story brought peace but on the other hand frightened her terribly. The legend may have confirmed her pregnancy experience but gave no instruction past that. According to the story Raine should be here; so why wasn’t he? And still it did not answer the stirring question of her whereabouts for an entire week. There were so many unanswered questions. Rosie was the first to offer a bit of hope.

  “Grant believes he is the prophesied guardian. I tend to agree with him.”

  David let out a soft chuckle that did not go unheard by Felicitas; however, she chose to ignore it.

  “So what’s next?”

  “You’re seriously not buying into all this are you Taz?” David was still laughing. “This is insane. It’s an old fairy tale, folklore, some stupid legend and you guys are discussing it like its real!”

  “Look boy,” Grant eyed David. “Mock all you want but you’ve been led here too and you’re marked whether you like it or not.”

  David leaned his head back against the sofa and laughed. “Marked, marked for what?

  “Death.”

  David continued to laugh.

  “I do applaud you for your efforts but come on…you seriously think you can pull this off? People aren’t stupid Taz, they’re not gonna buy this. Just admit that you‘ve been having a secret rendezvous. We all know about your nocturnal escapades, come on you’re human, it‘s normal.”

  “What do you mean everybody knows? Only the police and my family know about my journal.”

  “No way, not anymore. Ian made a copy for himself. Said he was out to find the perv who seduced and drugged his girl. He said if the cops weren’t going to do anything about it he would take matters in his own hands. He was interviewed last night at the candlelight vigil and showed the reporter the whole thing. Sorry Taz but it’s kind of been on the news all day.”

  Felicitas jumped from the sofa and headed for the door. She needed air; the room had suddenly become small and claustrophobic. David’s words more than humiliated her. They angered her. Why would Ian do such a thing before talking with her first? He had yet to hear her side of the story. Did he do it just to save his own ego and to disgrace her because he thought she had cheated on him? For a fleeting moment her thoughts tormented her. Everyone would know her private thoughts and intimate moments? Her stomach churned, she felt as if she would vomit.

  The cold October air hit her face and brought some sense of calm. She didn’t know why she took to running down the small path or where she was going. She simply felt the need to run. She sprinted around the corner arriving behind the diner. It was dark and empty now. David’s’ truck was the only vehicle left in the parking lot. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, her lungs burning from inhaling the frigid air.

  “Damn girl you run track or something? Where you headed off to?”

  Felicitas leaned against the railing of the steps and panted. Tears burned at her eyes.

  “I can’t believe he did that? Why?”

  Grant sat on the porch steps and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket but before lighting up he remembered Felicitas pregnant state and placed the pack back in his shirt.

  “Damn it.” he muttered. “He’s hurt and getting’ some revenge. You never gave yourself to him and then he finds out you’ve been with someone else. Some guys will do anything to protect their egos. Love quickly turns to hate. Besides, why do you care; I thought you were in love with someone from your dreams?”

  Felicitas set down on the steps next to Grant. Her mind spinning, grasping for any possible piece of sanity she could pull from this new revelation. She didn’t want to give credibility to what Grant was saying. Ian was a nice guy and had told her more than once how much he loved her. He wrote her cheesy love songs, quoted poetry, cried at sad movies and tries wearing guy liner ever now and then. She couldn’
t see him intentionally humiliating her. She guessed it was his way to deal with it, protecting his ego, making it look like she had been drugged and taken advantage of so no one would think she preferred someone else over him.

  “Well?” Grant pressed the matter. Are you or not?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Are you in love with your dream man or not?”

  “When I am asleep yes. That’s when he is real and everything makes sense, but then after I wake up it begins to fade and it’s sketchy and I can barely remember it. Then it becomes a dream, a great dream but a dream none the less.”

  “But you’re pregnant and the baby inside of you is real and you’re not dreaming about that.”

  She shuddered.

  “I don’t know what to think. I am a victim in this whole ordeal. The dreams came to me and now I am pregnant and homeless and this amazing dream guy named Raine is nowhere around to help and the one guy on earth who said he loved me just allowed me to be publicly humiliated and right now I feel sick inside and I don’t want to think or talk about this any longer. I am exhausted, freezing and now publicly degraded.”

  Grant’s lips curled into a sympathetic smile then he suggested they

  head back to the house, saying he wasn’t too keen on being out so late after dark anyway. Then he mumbled something about not wanting an altercation with the shadows. The statement caused a chill to pass through her and she was curious as to what he meant but decided to ask him about it tomorrow. She had no desire to hear anything else tonight. She feared her mind wouldn’t be able to handle it.

  When they got back to the house David looked a bit sheepish and apologized to Felicitas for his insensitivity in blurting out the whole story like he did. She accepted his apology then suggested they both get a good night’s rest because things always looked better in the morning light. David agreed but thought he’d sleep much better in his own bed and if she was sure she’d be okay he’d head on home.