Daegan was left standing, rooted to the spot. He was speechless. A throbbing ache began in his upper left arm just as pain began to split his skull and he gripped his head. It began to subside almost as quickly as it came upon him. Taking a deep breath and running his hands through his dark mangled hair, he walked over to the mountain to try to feel the pulse of its magic once more, only to find it cold and lifeless to the touch.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As Daegan strode back up the hill toward the castle, he absent-mindedly rubbed his forehead where the pains had begun occurring as of late. He tried to think when they started, but could not remember it happening before he had reached his maturity as a Ferrishyn man. That must have something to do with it. He felt the troubled chaos growing within him.
Looking around at the beautiful land before him as he emerged from the forest near the mountain, he was never dulled to how captivating the scenery in Alandria was, especially this part of it. He had traveled extensively across borders, sometimes sent as a spy, sometimes as an ally, but always he went as himself and never as Maleina’s man—even though to many, that was what he was.
There was tragedy happening throughout Alandria, especially in the territory of Lumari and the city of Adettlyn. It had gone into ruin ever since King Ryek and his son had disappeared many years ago. He had never had the chance to meet the king—that he remembered—but from what he had heard whispered in the streets and the country, he had been a good man.
Alandria was broken into different territories with different rulers since its inception; however, its people were able to live wherever they had felt comfortable enough to call home. Some remained with others of their own kind, but some liked to be a part of the more diverse areas. Daegan enjoyed the diversity of the many races together even though, to others, he appeared to keep to himself. Maleina had taught him very young that others would not understand his position and would resent him for it. He was already a quiet lad, but she made sure he knew he was different. She reinforced his feelings that, as an orphan, people would not look favorably upon him. However, when he was out, he found most people were generous toward him and so he began quiet friendships with many of them.
As he walked, many faces flashed before his eyes, but when he looked up quickly out of the corner of his eye, the scenery shifted. He remained calm and kept walking not to give anything away. There was no preparing for what he was about to see.
Daegan looked back at the forest behind him, and gasped. The vibrant forest that he had just walked through was sickly and decaying. The leaves were brown and branches hung limply, while some of the trees didn’t even bother to try to remain upright. Confused, he turned slowly in a full circle. Up the hillside was more of what he had just seen... all desolate and sick, lifeless, dying and spreading to encase all of the lower areas of Feraánmar—everything but the top of Elnye where the castle and his home rested.
Then, as he turned back to the forest, it looked as it originally had: full of life, vibrant, green. Same with the lands of his territory that he could see... all normal, beautiful as ever. Daegan squinted, shaking his head, trying to get his vision right. What was he seeing? Was it all a glamour? It could not be. That would take an immense amount of magic and energy that no one he knew, not even Wren and Maleina together, could maintain. Was he seeing hallucinations? Suddenly, the words that came through Rheina echoed in his head about really seeing... could this be what she was saying?
Raking both his hands through his hair, gripping the top of his head, and even tugging at his hair for clarity, Daegan took a deep breath. He needed to focus. There was much happening here and he needed to understand what it was in order to properly fight it. But, having just seen Feraánmar in such a state of death shook something deep inside him. This was his home and he could not let the darkness destroy it. Even if that darkness was from him.
Checking his vision once more to ensure he was seeing properly, he continued back up the hill toward the castle and the only home he remembered.
✠✠✠
Daegan took his time as he entered Elnye—they often commonly referred to the castle itself as “Elnye.” Growing up, Halister felt that their home should have a name but they could never agree on one. So they settled on simply calling it “Elnye.” It seemed most of those living in the village did as well.
Daegan spoke soft and simple greetings to those working in the kitchen, nodding to those coming and going quickly about their business. So much had happened since he had so abruptly left earlier that morning, but he did not want to disrupt the daily happenings around the castle to alert anyone yet of anything wrong. As he may, in fact, be the only thing wrong. It was his burden and he would bear it to whatever end necessary.
Walking purposely down the hall so not to draw attention to himself, he wandered the castle a bit before retiring to his own suite. One of the few places within the castle that he enjoyed spending time in was the library at the end of the lower level east wing. Part of that wing had begun to fall into ruin, but it was sealed off and mostly on the outside, so the family had simply left it.
Looking out the window opposite the large stone fireplace that rose from the floor to the high ceiling, Daegan could see parts of the original castle left as a tribute to its ancestry. Daegan actually enjoyed looking at the ruins that were once a part of this very old place. He would imagine what it once was like in its beginning stages. In his imaginings, Daegan could see the beings of Feraánmar dwelling peacefully together and living in harmony with the land, not demanding of it. There would be Ferrishyn on guard as they were now, but not against its own people. Elnye would be a place of strength and freedom as opposed to its current constant state of fear and agitation. He did not have the time to dwell on his personal thoughts of the past or what he hoped for the future.
Daegan sighed and stepped in to the library briefly to check on its state only to find Master Wren—his uncle—sitting in one of the large high-back chairs that were normally by the window, but had been pulled up in front of the fire. Wren favored that chair. It had become quite worn over the years. Daegan did not understand why he constantly replaced it by the window after each time he used it simply to appease Maleina. She rarely visited the library these days. It used to be a place for family gatherings, but no more.
If he was honest with himself, he had seen changes in Maleina as of late. She had grown further away from the family and always seemed to carry an air of supremacy upon her that had been growing immensely. He had even seen her be cruel to some of the staff. Daegan did not understand how Wren had stepped back and allowed her to take reign of the land. Daegan was not of the mind that a woman could not rule, but they had started together and Wren was once a powerful man in his own right--now he was complacent and absent. Both Hal and Rheina suffered from it, he could see it.
Daegan walked silently toward the tall library window, so as not to disturb his uncle from his reading.
“Fine day today, Daegan?” his uncle asked.
“Not particularly, sir. You?”
“One more of the same,” he sighed. Daegan turned partially back to see his uncle’s face as he waited for him to continue. “Meetings and noise around here, it never ends. I feel much older than I am, lad. So very tired... She used to enjoy my company, used to laugh at my jokes,” he trailed off quietly. “Ignore me, my boy.” He smiled at Daegan. “Enough about me...” Wren looked at Daegan again, really looked at him, then stood and approached him slowly. “Are you well? You seem distraught, sad even. This is not like you.”
Daegan thought for a moment that he would tell Wren everything that had happened to him. All the strange things, everything at the shifter camp, and how he thought the darkness was taking him over. He wanted to hear his dad tell him he was not going to give in to the darkness... that he was strong enough to defeat it and to protect his home. But this was not his dad, and it was not going to happen that way. At one point, Daegan would not have questioned the relationship, but now his un
cle had his own weights to bear and he did not need Daegan’s as well. Daegan looked his uncle in the eyes, seeing the weariness that lay underneath his strong exterior, and nodded.
“I will be well. It was a rough day training.” He left it at that. Wren seemed to see through his words or lack of words and with a spark of sadness in his own eyes, he turned and looked distantly into the fire, leaving Daegan to his own thoughts.
“Goodnight, Uncle Wren.” Daegan bowed his head slightly toward his uncle as he turned to leave the library.
“Goodnight, my boy,” he heard his uncle say as he began to head down the corridor toward the main staircase to his room.
Before he went too far down the hall, he felt something compel him from the opposite direction. There was not much down the opposite direction except the end of the hallway and the rarely used servants’ staircase leading upstairs. There was a pull drawing him closer. He was not sure if he should let it lead him or not, but his curiosity was piqued. It was a similar pull to what he felt drawing him to the mountain earlier, but this felt dark and dirty... sinister even. He had to find out what could have this feeling in his own home.
It was leading him to the staircase. It was an old gray stacked rock wall at the end of the hall with an outcrop that went out several feet to encase the spiral rock stairs that were built to be a part of it. What he had not seen before was the dark doorway hidden behind the staircase. How could he not have seen this before? He and Halister had explored and played all over the castle as they grew up.
For whatever reason, the darkness in the doorway was calling to him, beckoning him to enter. He did not feel the compulsion as before, but he needed to know what he was dealing with and so he got as close as he could without actually entering it.
Daegan felt around the wall next to the entrance to see if he could feel anything unusual, but nothing stood out. He studied it. He listened carefully with his extra-sensitive hearing, and still nothing. Daegan took a deep breath, gripped the hilt of the dagger at his waist with one hand, and held out the other to guide him along the wall as he walked into the darkness.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cautiously, Daegan stepped into the darkness. Only a couple of steps in, the stairs began leading him downward. Daegan pushed his magic out from his core with the thought “light.” Fire sprung to life on torches every five yards or so along the wall following the curve of the wall as it spiraled downward. He did not know a lower level of the castle existed in this wing. There was one in the other wing under the throne room that had been used as prison cells at one point. Though he had not been down there in quite some time, he was sure Maleina did not keep prisoners in the castle for fear of Halister finding them and setting them free. He was precocious like that as a child.
The thought made Daegan smile as he took step after step down the spiral stairs much further than he thought it should have needed to go. It was dark everywhere outside of the sphere the light from the torches graced. The temperature had also dropped significantly, not freezing, but definitely chilly. Breathing deeply, he could see his breath on the exhale. Scrunching his nose, Daegan reacted to an abrupt smell. The musty scent of rot mixed with cold moisture created an unpleasant surprise.
Finally, reaching the bottom where the steps came to a stop, Daegan held out his dagger unnecessarily. There was no one else down there. Still, he kept it ready. Additional torches sprang to life, lighting the dark cellar that was not as large as he would’ve thought, considering the great expanse of the floor above it. There was a noise, subtle but there, underneath the deafening silence once his ears got used to it. He spun around to see what was behind him. Nothing. He turned again slowly, listening.
A low, consistent noise... a beat... a thump over and over again. He was drawn to it, extending his senses, especially the extra sense that he tried not to use—his parents had told him to keep that gift hidden, so he did. Daegan focused his energy, pushing outward from himself into the small expanse. It pulled him to a far wall off to the side. To his eyes, it appeared to be a wall in the lower levels of the castle just like any of the others, but then he touched it against his better judgment. It felt wrong. Daegan jerked his hand back.
The wall shifted and groaned as it broke apart, sliding to either side like a door. He took a step back, his dagger at the ready. Opening several feet, it revealed another wall behind it. This wall, however, was different, made of different colored stones, yet similar in the smooth texture of the other walls. These stones appeared to be porous and even had mosses of light-deprived green growing on them. It was humid in there and had the same musty smell that he had smelled first entering the room, but stronger... much stronger.
There was what looked like a spindly tree growing against, and lightly attached to, the stones of the wall. A very narrow branched tree, rooted into the ground through a crack in the flooring between it and the wall, and extending all the way up to and through multiple smaller cracks in the ceiling. It was more like a vine, though it had no leaves, but upon closer inspection Daegan realized that it was, in fact, not.
He could feel the beat of the sound he had heard. The branches were not brown like he thought, but a deep red. This was no plant at all, but it was alive. In fact, it was life itself. It was a vein and in it, blood flowed. A chill ran down his spine. There was a darkness that radiated from this monstrosity that grew under his home. He was tempted to slash the red veins wide open and see what happened; however, the expanse and thumping sound of this thing were enough to make him think twice.
Did anyone in the family even know this existed? What was to be done about it? Unsure of what else he could learn staring at it, he walked away from it sideways, unwilling to turn his back on it completely until he got to the stairs. He did not know whether it could remove itself from the wall or what its power was, if any.
Daegan turned and took the steps several at a time, the flames of the torches extinguishing one at a time as he passed them on his way up. He arrived at the top much quicker than he had arrived at the bottom. Once at the top, he strode down the hall only to find Rheina slinking out of the shadows of a corner where she could easily go unnoticed. Not about to stop, he briskly began to walk past her. He would find Wren—he had to know something about that abomination in the basement.
Rheina spoke softly but intently. “Wait, Daegan.”
“I do not have time for this now, Rheina.” But he paused for her.
“I know what you saw. You do not understand.” She looked up at him, her eyes big and pleading. His scowl and locked jaw should have been enough to send her back into the shadow she hid in, but she didn’t waver. Looking forward, he took a slow, steady breath.
“True. I do not understand. Enlighten me.” His voice began to escalate. “What do you know about the giant vein spidering through the castle that carries within it the scent of blood? What is its purpose and who does it belong to?” He faced her head on, piercing her with the inquisition within his stare.
Rheina dropped her eyes only a fraction before she took a slight step back from him. He did unnerve her, but knowing he would never harm her, she held her ground. She steeled her gaze back to his to convey the truth in her words.
“I cannot explain the depths of it right now. There is darkness in this castle. How long it has been here, and how it began, I do not know yet. I do know it must be left alone for now. She told me so—the other voice inside me.” Rheina paused, taking a shaky breath that hitched as she breathed deeply. Her eyes suddenly went wide and a storm passed over them, turning them back to that shade of grey that Daegan had seen before. Apparently, the other voice desired to be heard.
With a wispy tone she spoke. “My dear boy, this darkness you will need to confront, but that time has not yet come. All you need to know, at this time, is that it feeds the magic of this place. Dark or light, magic must be filled with energy. Everything has a proper time, and it is not now.” Her voice took on an almost hypnotic quality and Daegan found himself softenin
g to the words of the voice spoken through Rheina. He needed to leave this alone... for now, he thought.
Anger surged inside him. He shook his head to clear it. “Who are you?” His demand was given with barely a whisper. Rheina inclined her head to him in submission in a way that the real Rheina would never have done. He was still speaking to the other. “I do not know what you are or why you are doing this to Rheina, but I will not be used by you. I will not advance on what is in the basement at this time, but I will not forget either.”
“Good. That is all I ask at this time. We do not want you to forget.”
We?
With that, the storm cleared from Rheina’s eyes and returned them to her normal shade of green. Rheina shook her head and blinked several times.
“Don’t be angry, Daegan. Please listen to her,” Rheina pleaded quietly and a bit weak.
Daegan stared at her curiously, trying to figure out what was happening with the girl in front of him who had now become a woman carrying her own burden. He simply nodded with care in his eyes and gripped her hand, placing it around his arm and escorted her through the castle. Neither said a word. He left her at her bedroom door with her hand on the handle.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Without turning toward him, she added, “Your part in this is about to be revealed. Don’t let it break you, Daegan.” She went inside, leaving him alone in the dark hallway.
“Too late.”
CHAPTER NINE
Daegan (The Age of Alandria: A Companion Novella) Page 6