The Coming Dawn Trilogy

by Austen Knowles

  “It has been a long time.” Cobaaron chuckled under his breath as he said, “But I’m sure you knew when we’d meet again.”

  “It’s a greeting, more than truth.” The blue Star smirked. “I’ve had a son since I last saw you. He’s five now and he’s built like a warrior. I’m hoping he will join your forces once he’s of age. I tell him he will. I like my son looking forward to the future. Goals make people happy. I want my family content.”

  “It’s always good news to learn of a child, but a son...Wyt that is great. I’m thrilled for you.”

  “Yes. Yes. We’re overjoyed.” Wyt glistened. “Come in. We will of course serve you a great meal tonight. You must stay and rest while the Ash of Gorgeon falls. I’ve taken the liberty of preparing everything ahead of time.”

  “Thank you. My men are hungry, and my women are tired.”

  Wyt looked at Ky. At least, she thought he studied her, but his eyes never seemed to be directed on her. He stepped toward her. “So, this is your Star partner.”

  “Yes, she’s my wife. Her name is Ky.”

  “Wife?” Wyt asked.

  “Yes, that is what women call themselves while in a union. It’s a word from her dream world. I’m her husband.”

  “Ah. Where I’m from unions are called flairs. But I always wondered where the futuristic word wife came from. Interesting…” Wyt continued to face Ky. “You have a protector.”

  Ky supposed protector meant “husband” from where he called home, and she beamed at Cobaaron. “I know.”

  “Do you?” Wyt asked.

  “Um.” Ky was suddenly unsure, because he confidently believed her mistaken.

  “Well, I suspect you want a word with me, Cobaaron.” Wyt ushered them away from the city center, while everyone mingled. “I’ll tell you now; I will refuse. But let’s send your message boats while we talk. I’m curious how you defeated the king. I glimpse pictures, clips, and sometimes I piece them together, but I truly never know the correct order. I like to guess, of course, but I always want to know how close I came.”

  “Wyt has visions of the future,” Cobaaron explained, too little, too late. Ky remembered Cobaaron mentioning his visions, and being the best seer he’d ever come across.

  “As do you and your wife. But Ky’s gifts are not as strong as mine, and now fade. Soon, she will only have occasional visions in dreams. Sad her ceremony was in the City of Sterlings. The City of Amber has powerful Stars. She might have received gifts there.”

  “I don’t have visions. Neither does Ky,” Cobaaron corrected.

  “So, you think your gut instinct fought off the king’s weapons in the sand, do you?” Wyt asked.

  “I didn’t know how I saw the magical instruments while I was surrounded by the sand, but I guess I did know how I’d defeat them.” Cobaaron laughed, cursed, and then laughed again. “Alright, well, what about Ky. She hasn’t seen anything.”

  “She’s had three visions,” Wyt contradicted.

  “One,” Ky corrected Wyt. Cobaaron looked at her curiously. “I saw the ship of Tigrinia go down before it happened when we were crossing the sea. I forgot to tell you.”

  “Ah, yes, well that vision was obvious. We should send the message boats, and then you’ll understand. Before we’re finished, I’ll show you to the smithy Cobaaron.”

  They followed Wyt by crisscrossing long rope bridges that felt more solid than they appeared. Cobaaron set Huntra down when they were far away from the crowd. Huntra followed behind as they wound down a long tunnel covered in red vines and tiny, purple flowers that smelled like sweet fruit. Hanging from the ceiling of the cave were thousands of blue silkworms with long strands of sticky strings dangling from their open mouths. The strands were glowing blue, like the fibers of Wyt’s clothes, and Ky wondered if the locals’ garments were made of the silk material.

  Cobaaron touched Ky, getting her attention, and then asked her what she meant about seeing the ship sink. She explained her vision with as much detail as she could remember, and how not an hour later it happened exactly how she had seen.

  “The stronger the prophetic power,” Wyt said, “the farther out they can see, lifetimes even. The gifts given to you were from weak Stars. No gift given was strong enough to pass on. Although gifts are always weaker if the Star inherits the power, instead of acquiring the skill when stricken blind. In your case, you were given visions, but now that your eyesight is back, you will lose the ability. You’ll stop hearing people talk about you and cease seeing visions, except maybe in your dreams. After all, with your sight, why would you need foresight?”

  Ky was thankful she could see, and wouldn’t wish it away for a few visions now and then. She looked at Wyt guiltily, and hoped he wasn’t sensing her relief. She did not reply to his rhetorical question, and the conversation died.

  They walked through a long network of tunnels before entering a beautiful marsh. There were echoing frog calls, and bright red lilies in the water. Wyt took them to a bushy climbing fern with bowl-like flowers. He plucked several of them, and with each pull, the bush shivered. Wyt made a small pile on the ground.

  “Scratch your message on a petal. It will bleed like ink. Then place it in the water.” Wyt gave Cobaaron a long thorn for writing. Then Wyt sat near the pond, and motioned for Ky to do the same. Once comfortable, she watched Cobaaron send out message boats. Each time he set a bowl in the water a frog would swim to it and push it downstream. “Now is a good time to talk, Cobaaron. When we’re done we will have time to relax before getting ready for a feast.”

  “Yes, well, you said you’re going to say no. I’m wondering if you’re going to say it, or have you seen that you aren’t coming?” Cobaaron asked. Wyt didn’t reply other than with a chuckle of amusement. “Very well, keep your secrets. I came here to ask you to join me in the City of Lights. I’ll need you.”

  “No. You will not need me in the city. There isn’t much I can tell you, either. You know I never divulge more than I should. No one wants to see the future I glimpse.” Wyt’s cheerful guise became rigid, and for a long moment he expressed the heavy burden with a frown, which was unmistakable grief. “The kings will not come for a long time. They seek to surprise you when you least expect it. So, they wait years. Meanwhile, a witch will approach you with a great offer. It would be the end of the kings, by her hand. She is honest about that. She will introduce herself as the witch who created the four kings, but it’s an obvious lie. This is how to recognize her. You will know this lie, but she will not know how you are certain. Nevertheless, she will seek to destroy the kings, but like all gifts from witches, it’s at a great price. Never tell her, or any witch, the name of your child until she is born. The name will protect the child with divine protection.”

  “I’d never take any offer from a witch,” Cobaaron stressed.

  “We will see. That future remains unseen. The infant’s future goes dark. I’m not sure what it means. But I have seen it born,” Wyt said, and then fell silent.

  “Is that it?” Cobaaron asked. “Is that all you can tell me.”

  “It’s all I’ve seen.” Ky could see Wyt was lying. Wyt shrugged, refusing to say anything else on the subject. “The time around the end, before the sun returns, is hazy. I only see glimpses. It would do more harm than good to tell the future at this point. Rain, shadowed faces, a witch, and a strange box. It’s all very muddled, and probably means more to you than it does me.” Another lie and Ky was sure of it, because he rubbed his hands together as if he didn’t like the actual future. His expression was too heavy with sorrow for him to be ignorant.

  “You mean that is all you’re willing to tell me,” Cobaaron said, “because you don’t want to influence me or you’re waiting for the opportune time to tell me something after certain future events unfold.” The Star smiled, but once again said nothing. Cobaaron set another boat in the shallows before he continued, “I still want you to come to the city. I need all the Stars there.”

  “This entire city
looks to me for answers. Here I’m a king and safe. But you want me to leave my position to be a councilmember, and not even to be the prime councilman. As I said before, my answer is no.”

  “What do you want?” Cobaaron asked.

  “What I want, you cannot give me, Cobaaron.” Wyt sighed heavily. “Especially not you…”

  “Can I do something for your son? I’d see to it that he started out as a warrior overseeing a thousand men. It would be a great honor starting out at fifteen years of age, but he wouldn’t be killed for so low a rank.”

  “There is a thought. I like my son looking forward to the future. I honestly can’t say I didn’t plant that thought by mentioning him.” Wyt stood and watched Cobaaron inscribe onto a petal. When Cobaaron was done, Wyt took the boat, and handed it to Ky. The moment she touched the bowl her mind took her back to a dream that felt familiar.

  She was on a boat with symbols on the sails. There were several ships floating out of the glowing marsh, and a moment later, they were speeding down tunnels. The splashing waves knocked the vessels around, and pushed them into different tunnels until Ky was on the only floating craft left. The waves calmed and she found herself in a slow-moving stream. The boat floated up to a bank, and slowly circled in the water. Then King Verellis snatched the flower to read its message.

  Ky gasped, dropping the message boat. She looked at Wyt in horror. “The king gets it.”

  “Not today. We will not send this boat.” He tossed it near the plant, sat back down, and said, “That would have given the king an advantage, and he would have struck before Cobaaron rebuilt and occupied the City of Lights. However, now, the wait will be long. It’s a better set of events, although, the future isn’t pretty.”

  “I thought prophecies are set in stone,” Ky said. “You talk of possibilities and consequences to actions.”

  “Yes, prophecies are inevitable. The future will always remain the future,” Wyt explained. “But visions either show how to avoid danger or they show what will happen. Deciphering prophecies from visions is much harder to discern. A prophecy is usually seen by various men or women, and written out by a collaboration of seers.”

  “How do you know which is which?” Ky asked.

  “Trial and error.” Wyt winked, and then grinned. “You have to learn. It helps if you have many similar visions, then you know it will come to pass. The rest is guesswork. You try to piece together what you have seen but it’s a mess and takes years of practice to understand how to arrange them together. Your visions are not prophetic. You are not strong enough to see the future, as it will be. You see what is most likely to occur if circumstances don’t shift. The ship you watched snap like a twig could have been avoided if you never went on deck. Sometimes, shifting the smallest of things sets our course. With luck, seers have enough time to figure out what you need to do. An hour isn’t usually adequate. There is no way you could have prevented the ship from sinking with such little information, and you were supposed to distract the warriors with your presence. Before your light matured so you could take the army to Siphrise in that contraption, you needed to complete the union.”

  “Okay, if the prophecies say all the Stars return to the City of Lights, that is the inflexible, unyielding future. How is it that you’ve seen you’re not going?” Ky asked. Cobaaron laughed loudly, momentarily stopped scribbling his message, and waited for Wyt’s response.

  When Wyt didn’t reply, Cobaaron said, “My wife is as clever as they come, Wyt. Why not tell her another piece of the puzzle and let her figure you out?”

  “Alright, what if I die?” Wyt asked calmly.

  “No.” Ky clapped her hands over her mouth. “You die? You’ve seen your death? That is...terrible.” No wonder he didn’t reveal the future if it was that bleak.

  “Ky, he’s jesting,” Cobaaron said and stared at Wyt; clearly hoping more than believing it wasn’t true. “Right?” Wyt didn’t reply. “My wife takes death hard. Please, speak of it no more in front of her.” Cobaaron came to Ky, squeezed her shoulder affectionately, and then placed another message boat in the marsh. Again, frogs steered the bowl out of their sanctuary to rid the clutter.

  “When you leave, I request that you take all three of us, my son, my partner, and me. I want him trained when he’s old enough. And I want Yulley to be a member of the council. I want my family to have the same life of ease as we do here. She should have a large salary of gold so she is in need of nothing, and enough she never worries about having a sufficient amount to pass down to our son. A warrior is by no means wealthy at a thousand men.”

  “Warriors have no use of gold, Wyt. He may not even choose to be a warrior. If his heart isn’t in it, he will die.”

  “His heart is in it now. That is all that matters to me. I want my family content and merry, or I will not leave my city. I want them happy in these hard times, as much as I can control their wellbeing. This is very important to me. That is all I can say of this matter.”

  “But Wyt, you know it’s the quill that determines the council. If you know she will prove loyal, of course the position is hers. But only the quill elects people to office.”

  “She will make it,” Wyt stressed. “So, is it a deal?”

  “I’ll make sure it’s done for your son. Is there anything for you?”

  Wyt stood and took another boat from Cobaaron, and tossed the boat into the bushes. “I never reach the city. But that information is to never leave this chamber. I don’t want my family to know what I see.” Wyt bravely continued without a pause: “I’ll tell my people that I leave, and it’s their decision if they want to go. Some women will accompany us, but not many. The mountain is bright and warm with foliage. Stars don’t need to warm this region. The outside would slowly freeze without my presence, but in here my people would be safe. Truly, it’s for the best my citizens’ stay. The journey to the City of Lights will be treacherous, and it would be worse with hundreds more people.”

  “So it’s settled.” Cobaaron placed a flower boat into the water, and held out his hand for Wyt to shake. Amazingly, Wyt reached out and shook it with no trouble, and the deal became solidified. “You should tell your partner and son that we leave after the ash settles. My men and the women will have plenty of rest by the time the heavy ash hardens by week’s end.”

  “I’ve already told them, but I’ll tell my people tonight after the feast. I ask that nothing be said until then,” Cobaaron agreed to Wyt’s request. Wyt nodded but was silent for some time as Cobaaron wrote more messages and put them into the water.

  “I don’t know if I should warn you. But you already suspect...” Wyt glanced at Ky, “Your partner is in danger. Your men plot to kill her.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

  “Yes, but your brother…” Wyt began but stopped when Cobaaron growled and narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t paying attention and crushed a message boat.

  “What about my brother?” Cobaaron demanded. “What do you know?”

  “He fears witches.”

  “So he betrays me? Is this what you’re saying?” Cobaaron’s face was flushed with anger. Ky hadn’t seen him that angry in some time. “Tell me what you have seen! Is he plotting to kill my wife? And don’t give partial truths on this matter, Wyt. Tell me everything you know! This is my wife! I promised her I’d protect her, and I take that vow very seriously.”

  “I’ve seen nothing; I assure you, I’ve seen nothing. But he suspects Ky is more than a Star.” He paused as if he was searching for words. “He...he thinks she’s influencing you and Octavos. He thinks she changed Octavos who has stepped down as your second to the army for love. For Noxis, it’s proof Ky is meddling in unnatural dark magic. Both of you changed in a most unexpected way. Noxis doesn’t believe in love; he never believed in anything except the warrior’s way of life, and protecting you as a beloved brother. He thinks you two are under subtle persuasion by a witch. He watches her very closely.

  “There is nothing you can do to change h
is mind about Ky. His thought, the seed, has been planted there too long. He loves you, Cobaaron, and had one brother die from a witch’s hand. Remember that he feels a powerful urge to protect you, because he’s older. There is much he says when you’re not around, that is unswerving loyalty. But he will strike her when the moment…presents itself. Remember that he truly will believe she’s a witch, and you’re his only remaining brother. My warning: don’t hate him.”

  “He harms my partner,” Cobaaron growled. “Of course, I’ll hate him. You must tell him she isn’t a witch.”

  “I fear that wouldn’t be helpful. He will think she persuaded me to talk to him. It will only make him think Ky is more powerful than previously suspected. You mustn’t do anything. Try to see where his mind is leading him. Don’t retaliate or you’ll regret it.”

  “You’re a healer, Wyt. Tell him...something,” Cobaaron pleaded. Ky froze and stared at Wyt. Now she was uneasy around him, and shifted closer to Cobaaron.

  “I can’t,” Wyt said. “I know too well that it won’t work. He has seen her do powerful things.”

  “Then don’t tell me any more of your visions unless I need to know it. You know I detest the confusing mess you portray. Why tell me? How am I supposed to face him knowing this? You stress his loyalty but he tries to take the only thing I’ve ever come to truly cherish. An attack on Ky is an attack on me.”

  “At least now you have time to prepare, and my hope is that you don’t kill him. He wants to protect you! I don’t want you to hate him. This is my goal. That is why I tell you.”

  “I would never murder my brother if that is what you’re insinuating.”

  “Well, his future is blank the night it happens. You have a temper of a dragon at times,” Wyt said. Ky covered her grin with her hand. She knew too well how growly Cobaaron could be. “Anyway, that is all I had to say about that.”