by Petra Landon
Atsá had hit the nail on the head, Sienna realized. The timing of this foretelling was important. If Da had taken the time to make this prediction on the night the Wizards were facing an alarming future, it had been for a reason.
The First Wizard’s eyes flashed to Sienna. “What?” she asked. “What are you thinking?” Her eyes moved from Sienna to Atsá and back to Sienna again.
“That the timing of The Prophecy is critical, or at least, it was to the Oracle.” It was Duncan, catching on immediately, who laid it out for her.
“What is it about this prophecy?” There was a note of frustration in the First Wizard’s voice. “It’s vague and doesn’t seem to have any bearing on Wizard troubles then, or this matter of Bethesda now.”
“Yet, Da believed it to be important enough to put on record that night, Aunt Minnie” Sienna reminded her.
The First Wizard sighed but did not contradict Sienna. “Yes, he did. But why?”
“Perhaps, he knew that the events that night would set his wife on a course that would isolate her from all Chosen?” Atsá suggested.
“But it didn’t stop her, Atsá” Sienna countered. “For all we know, that is what set her on this path. Perhaps, if there had been no prophecy to set her ambitions on, she might have gone down a different path.”
“Perhaps, she might even have stayed home with her husband and daughter” the First Wizard said softly, her eyes on Sienna.
“No.” Sienna shook her head, her expression hard. “If not The Prophecy, Aunt Minnie, she’d have found something else to hang her hat on. I don’t believe her ambitions ever needed a crutch.”
The First Wizard said nothing, but there was something in her expression as she gazed at her niece that reminded Raoul forcibly of Jason’s confidence that the First Wizard would never allow any harm to come to Sienna.
“There’s a simple way to confirm whether the timing of this prophecy holds any significance or is merely a coincidence” Duncan interjected into the silence.
As all eyes in the room flashed to him, it was Faoladh who put it into words.
“The Oracle would take the time to put his interpretation on official record, if he believed it to be important enough.”
The First Wizard straightened slowly, seemingly struck by Faoladh’s words.
“There’s something you should know about Chicago” she said abruptly. “He was not one of the ten chosen to confront Bethesda in Chicago.”
“What do you mean, Esmeralda?” Faoladh narrowed his eyes at her.
“He was her husband, Faoladh. Under GCW rules, he would never have been sent to bring his wife in.”
“Then, how did he end up on the contingent?” Jason asked as Sienna sat frozen.
“At my request” she admitted. “He came to see me the night before Chicago and asked to be included in the party. Said it would give him a chance to talk to Bethesda and bring her to her senses.”
She flashed a glance at Sienna. “I thought he deserved a chance. If anyone could bring her to her senses, it was him. I didn’t think anything of his request then, Sienna. But now …” Her voice trailed off unhappily.
“He knew something was to go down in Chicago.” The words seemed dragged out of Sienna.
“Or that Chicago had something to do with The Prophecy.” Duncan, as ever, attempted to be the voice of reason.
“There’s only one way to be sure” Faoladh reiterated again.
“The official record of The Prophecy” the Alpha stated. “Anything the Oracle considered important, he’d have made sure to put on record before he set out for Chicago.”
“How do we get access, Esmeralda?” Faoladh asked the Wizard bluntly.
“The GCW will not give me access to that prophecy, Faoladh” she sighed. “I’ve no bargaining chip with them right now.”
“Okay. How about we go at it from a different angle. Can we at least find out if the official record includes the seer’s interpretation, First Wizard?” Raoul pressed her. First things first. Once they had confirmation that there was something worth seeking in the records, he’d figure out a way to get access.
She glanced at Jason, her expression inquiring.
“I might be able to swing that” Jason said slowly. “But it’ll take time.”
“Whatever it takes, LaRue. Lady Bethesda seems to know something about this prophecy that we do not, and that might prove crucial to stopping her.” The Alpha was blunt.
“We’ll do our best, Alpha.” It was the First Wizard who gave him the assurance this time, “to get you what we can.”
“Do you remember the Ancient term the Oracle used for this event or catastrophe meant to unite the three siblings, Esmeralda?” Faoladh, well versed in nearly all the Chosen tongues, inquired. Amongst all the Chosen present, even more so than the First Wizard, Faoladh understood the significance and importance of nuanced interpretation when it came to a Chosen prophecy.
“Chetariki” she said promptly.
“Hmm, facilitator or perhaps a …”
“Catalyst” Tasia said under her breath, before she could stop herself.
This was a room full of Shifters. While the others did not hear her, the Shifters certainly did. Faoladh’s gaze flashed to her, an expression of astonishment on his face, just as the Alpha’s eyes telegraphed a silent warning. But the Alpha’s warning came too late. Tasia had already slipped up.
“You’re versed in the tongue of the First Ones?” Faoladh’s voice held a subtle note of query, mingled with incredulity. Very few Chosen were well-versed in the language anymore, even those with Ancient heritage.
“A few words” she acknowledged, flushing a little. “My father was a proponent of Chosen languages.”
“Is she right, Faoladh?” Duncan changed the subject adroitly. “Could the word signify an event that acts as a catalyst to draw the siblings together?”
“It could” Faoladh acknowledged, his eyes still on Tasia.
“It seems to imply that the siblings require a qualifying event to bring them together. Perhaps, even that they’re fated to remain apart without this catalyst” Duncan asserted thoughtfully.
“That would make it the most important aspect of this prophecy, as important as the half-sisters” Raoul murmured.
His statement had the effect of drawing everyone’s attention to the Alpha. Even Faoladh’s eyes flashed away from Tasia, struck by the acute observation.
“This changes everything.” Luis articulated what everyone else was thinking.
“If that’s the case, you can bet Bethesda is aware of the significance of this” Faoladh interjected.
“I’ll work on the records, Merceau” Jason promised. “I just can’t help wondering what she’s planning. I don’t see how she orchestrates an event that not only brings her daughters together, but also makes them band together to help her cause.”
The First Wizard’s eyes swung to him, an arrested expression on her face as the subtext of Jason’s remark dawned on her.
“If my sisters are anything like me, they’ll not be willing to do her bidding, not under any circumstances” Sienna said bluntly, her words directed at the First Wizard. “We have to find out how she plans to get her children to do what she wants.”
“It has always puzzled us that she picked this particular prophecy to drive her grand plan” Duncan said thoughtfully. “On the face of it, all the power lies with her daughters, not her. Well, now it sounds like this event controls The Prophecy. She could use it for her own ambitions.”
Faoladh agreed. “Having her daughters be recognized as harbingers of change does not wipe away her crimes or help her cause in any way. She knows that. I bet she has plans to mitigate it.”
“If we know how she plans to control the siblings, we might be able to sabotage it to disrupt her plans” Luis remarked.
“This Wizard you’ve accepted into your Pack, Raoul” Faoladh opened. “Where does she come from?”
The Alpha settled back in his chair, the picture
of ease, to answer Faoladh’s query. Perception, Raoul knew, was often more important than reality. He’d known that the powerful Shifter would not let this go easily, not once the witchling had, in a momentary lapse, unwisely raised Faoladh’s suspicions.
“A rural backwater in North Dakota, from what I hear” he said.
Raoul trusted Faoladh implicitly with Shifter affairs. There was no greater champion in their world when it came to defending Wyr interests. But the witchling was different. For one, she was no Shifter. Faoladh’s benevolence would not extend to her. Secondly, the kind of secrets she harbored, especially her unique and remarkable powers, separated her from an average Chosen. Where Faoladh would easily ignore an L2 Wizard, the powerful Shifter would not hesitate to exploit Tasia’s powers, for his and his Wyrs’ causes. Raoul, who respected Faoladh immensely, could not allow that. Not only because he’d given her his word to protect her from precisely this type of situation, but also because of his own horrendous experience of being singled out for being different. His only crime had been to be his father’s son, and not a full-fledged Wizard. It had sentenced him to ten months of torture, agony and suffering, and a lifetime of nightmares. He would not allow that fate to befall the witchling. Not on his watch, and not to her.
“She’d been in San Francisco for three months when she was targeted by Anderson’s mercenaries. If she hadn’t come to the aid of one of my Shifters, she’d have been done for.”
“Hawk?” Faoladh raised an eyebrow.
Raoul nodded. Faoladh had never been one to miss any trick, he knew.
“Hawk requested that she not suffer any consequences for him, and I acceded to his request. She deserves Pack protection for doing us a favor.”
“I confess that I’m somewhat puzzled by the situation” Faoladh remarked. “I don’t buy into the general consensus about your deep-seated Wizard issues, because I know better. But you’ve surprised me on this, Raoul. I didn’t expect you to tolerate a Wizard for this long, especially after all legitimate threat to her had been removed.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision for me” Raoul admitted frankly. “She’s walked away from us once, and I have almost abandoned her a couple of times. This association is an uneasy one at best. My word to her is the only thing holding the Pack back from making her life at the Lair miserable.”
“Then, why keep it going?”
Raoul sighed softly, ready to mollify Faoladh with half-truths. “She possesses very little magic. When Hawk met her, she was barely making ends meet. This city can be deadly for a Chosen without power, as you know, Faoladh.”
Faoladh’s shrewd eyes searched his face. He was privy to some of the unfortunate events that had driven Raoul away from Chosen and civilization alike for a few years.
“You see something of your situation in her circumstances” he stated.
“A little” Raoul acknowledged wryly. “I also appreciate that she went to Hawk’s aid, at great personal risk. But mostly, it’s the investigation you tasked me with.”
Faoladh looked surprised. “What role does she play in the investigation? You say she has little power, and a Wizard’s perspective can now be offered by many others on your team.”
“We don’t require power in the investigation, Faoladh. If that was the requirement, the First Wizard and the GCW would’ve solved this problem years ago, without allowing it to fester into the messy situation it has.”
“You can always depend on the GCW to make any situation go from bad to worse.” Faoladh was not exactly unsympathetic to Raoul’s dislike of Wizards. He wasn’t as dogmatic about it, because his wasn’t an opposition based on principle, but rather one based on observed behavior and his own experiences with them for centuries.
“This investigation requires grit, perseverance, a willingness to go where the evidence leads without any fear of treading on the wrong toes, and the ability to see it to the end, irrespective of who tries to influence us. That is why you chose me” Raoul reminded his Alpha gently.
“Yes, I did” Faoladh admitted readily.
“We have all of that in spades. What we did lack before was a Wizard perspective. Without that, we might’ve gone around in circles before we reached the right conclusions. She brings that perspective. If she hadn’t already been present at the Lair, I would’ve ignored that aspect, because as you know, I’m not keen to work with Wizards. But she was. And she has been surprisingly good at getting into Lady Bethesda’s head. For example, even before Jason LaRue and Sienna joined the team, I had a surprisingly realistic view of how close to tearing themselves apart the Wizards came while picking the First Wizard. She knew about the old history because her father, by all accounts, has given her a solid grounding in Chosen matters to help mitigate her lack of magic.”
“Clearly, he’s also given her a decent grasp of the Ancient tongue” Faoladh said, some of his suspicions mitigated.
“Certainly seems so” Raoul assented. “We don’t need her perspective on the investigation as much now, not with LaRue and Sienna on the team. However, I’m loath to cut her loose simply because she’s outlived her worth to us. We Shifters have always placed a high value on loyalty.”
“Yes.” Faoladh did not disagree with Raoul on this. It would be disgraceful to cut the young and seemingly vulnerable Wizard off, once the Pack had no further use of her.
“I’ll admit that LaRue has been a team player — he’s played his part very well” Raoul remarked, happy to have navigated the minefield well.
“Esmeralda has her heart in the right place, Raoul. That’s why I choose to work with her. She might make mistakes in her inexperience, but she truly does want to get to the bottom of this mess, and close this chapter on the past, once and for all. I believe that’s why she chose Jason LaRue to assist you. I also believe that is why she will always do the right thing, if you press her to. She’s also grateful to you for your assistance to Sienna” he added. “Even though her stance has made her relationship with the Guardians more precarious.”
Raoul, aware of it, frankly didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, the Wizards had made their beds and now needed to lie in them.
“There’s another reason why she chose LaRue for this investigation, Faoladh.” Raoul figured that it was time Faoladh knew about this. Jason had made the startling confession to him on a night in Chicago in the early days of working together.
Faoladh arched an eyebrow inquiringly. He’d assumed that Esmeralda had picked the young Guardian for his loyalty to her. In the high-risk game of one-upmanship the First Wizard was engaged in with the GCW, she needed Guardians whose loyalty she could trust.
“Jason’s parents were both Guardians who perished at the Chicago Registry.”
Astonishment flashed across Faoladh’s face. “How do you know this, Raoul?”
“LaRue told me himself, in the early days. His way of letting me know that his interest in the investigation is not academic or one of duty. He’s invested in this personally, like Sienna, and is determined to get answers, come what may.”
“I don’t blame him” Faoladh murmured.
“Neither do I” Raoul concurred. “He’s turned out to be quite an ally. As you know, Durovic has expressed an interest in working with us. I’m hoping he’ll prove just such an asset to the investigation.”
“He’ll be a huge asset, Raoul. TorElnor’s successor enjoys enormous influence over the Setik.” Faoladh pursed his lips in thought. “We might need his considerable influence over them, if Bethesda starts wreaking havoc.”
“I hope to stop her before she starts wreaking havoc, as you say.”
“I have confidence that we will, Raoul. But the more people we have invested in this investigation, the harder it gets for Bethesda to persuade new allies to her side. The First Ones can be formidable and wily adversaries, if we can convince them to give a damn.”
Faoladh glanced at his watch. “Aah, it’s time for my call with SivoTar. I’ll try and get you access to Bethesda’s daughter,
Raoul. What did you say her name was, again?”
“Nandini.” Raoul got up to exit the room. “The room is all yours, Faoladh.”
Outside in the Pack Room, the First Wizard was engaged in animated discussion with Jason and Sienna, while Duncan, Luis and Hawk were gathered by Roman Durovic. Of the witchling, there was no sign. A palpable glow of happiness and excitement hung over Sienna. News of her half-sibling in Portland had obviously reached her ears.
At the Alpha’s entrance, Durovic, listening to Hawk with an appreciative grin on his face, excused himself to his companions to join Raoul.
“I’ve some work up north that I had to abandon midway, at ElThor’s request, Merceau” he remarked. “If you don’t need me along for Portland, I’ll head up north.”
Raoul studied him. “How did you meet the girl, Sienna’s half-sister?”
This time, Roman answered more easily.
“When the grapevine buzzed with rumors of a Naga envoy’s trip, we were curious. I was tasked with keeping tabs on her. We wanted to find out why she was here.”
Raoul nodded. He understood such things. TorElnor had asked Durovic to dig into the envoy. The two Ancient blocs weren’t exactly warring, but they liked to know what the other was up to.
“What happened?” he asked.
“There was someone at the airport to meet her. I was tailing them, when something went wrong. She jumped out of the car to make a run for it. The driver followed her. I went to her aid and she mistook me for a good Samaritan. In all fairness, I didn’t exactly disabuse her of the notion.” Roman shrugged.
He’d spent considerable time revisiting his engagement with her, deeply regretting not telling her the truth when he had the chance. Roman was not a man to live with regrets, but this particular matter seemed to have a mind of its own. No matter how hard he tried to shake it, his regret over deceiving her continued to haunt him.
“I should’ve told her the truth at some point, but I was in too deep by then.” His voice was sober. “I didn’t see my way to abruptly announce who I was and why I had been tailing her. Maybe, I should have tried harder. Let’s just say that once she discovered the truth, she wanted nothing to do with me.”