“My God!” she whispered aloud as she saw four bodies strewn across the tiled floor. Quickly she stepped out onto the courtyard and ran over to the bodies. When she stopped she cried aloud, before her lay the body of the Queen, her throat slit, blood pouring from either side. Eveline crushed her fingers into the palms of her hands such was the shock. The Queen’s eyes were wide open and her golden gaze looked upwards into the stormy skies. Before her were the strewn bodies of three grown men, all similar in looks and attire. They each of them were wearing great copper breastplates over beautiful tunics of gold, silver and copper. Grand swords lay close to their dead bodies, which were pierced with smaller swords. Eveline felt herself retch at the sight of the fallen men who she had guessed must have been protecting the Queen from enemy soldiers. The rain fell hard upon her and the bodies before her and when she found herself stepping backwards with nausea, a pitiful cry rang out close by and she turned, her eyes scanning the further most corridor. Without thinking she began to run quickly, through the columns and down the hall, the tiled floor now moist with water. At the far end of the corridor lay a room, the door opened and wide. As Eveline drew closer to the door, the cries became louder. Soon she found herself upon the fringe of the doorway, her eyes scanning a large and beautiful bedroom. A large bed lay in the centre of the room, shielded with voile curtains. The rest of the room was made up with a beautiful floor mosaic, statues, books and large cases. As she entered, she was made aware that the crying came from the bed and cautiously stepped forward, her heartbeat heavy. She stepped up the three tiled steps and with shaking hands pulled back the see through curtains, revealing the crumpled figure of a young woman. The young woman lay in the foetal position, her ivory sheets covered in blood and her gown torn revealing the length of her legs and abdomen. Eveline knew at once what had happened to the woman, who rocked herself whilst crying, her long auburn hair strewn around her body as she wept loudly. Eveline felt a bud of hot water fall from her eye and onto her pale cheek as she watched the young Unyae cry aloud. Slowly she made her way round the bed until she faced the princess, whose face was unrecognisable, covered in blood and cuts.
She knew that she was engulfed in a vision, knew that those around her could not see her but still she got up onto the bed and touched the woman’s cheek, tears strolling down her own cheeks. At her touch the woman stopped crying and opened her eyes, searching the air before her. Eveline held her hand still, wondering if the woman could feel her. After a moment of searching she resumed her crying and once more closed her eyes. As she sat with Unyae a roll of thunder shook the house and the sound of doors opening reverberated throughout the large villa causing Eveline to stop what she was doing and shake. Silence ensued for a moment before an almighty roar erupted, a man’s voice booming so loudly that it caused the villa to shake. Eveline watched as Unyae stopped her crying and sat up, looking directly out of her curtains, towards the door. The hairs on Eveline’s body sprang to life as the most painful and guttural cry filled the villa. Unyae crawled to the end of her bed and slowly let her feet fall over the side, touching the steps below. Eveline followed her as she cautiously made her way out of the room, the back of her robe stained with blood, blood that dripped down the insides of her legs.
Unyae limped down the corridor, pressing her right hand against the inside wall in order to keep her balance. Eveline stayed close to her side, until the young woman stopped and raised her gaze to the courtyard, where her father lay kneeling upon the tiles with his dead wife in his arms, crying so painfully that the tiles shook.
“No,” Unyae whispered aloud as she hobbled over to a column and pressed her body against the stone.
“My wife!” the King cried out to the sky above. “My sons!”
“No!” Unyae whispered again, this time her body falling to the ground as she took in the scene before her. Guards stood away from the King, watching on in horror as he laid his wife down and turned to his sons, picking each of the up one by one into his arms, kissing their faces and hugging their bodies close to him. Eveline knew of this day, Galean had spoken of it. This had been the day in which Lagman the son of Lagmar had killed the wife and sons of the Heiden, also killing Galean’s daughter and wife. Eveline knelt down beside Unyae and wiped her face with her bare arm. As she knelt beside the princess she saw the King turn his eyes to his wounded daughter. He cried out as if in relief and brought himself to his feet, striding over to Unyae who had her arms outstretched, unable to lift herself from the ground.
“Unyae!” the King cried out as he came to her, falling to his knees before her and cupping her face. He looked down at her torn dress and bloodied body and his face turned from one of grief to one of anger. “What did he do to you?” he demanded loudly, a streak of lightening piercing the sky above.
“Nothing father,” Unyae cried out much to Eveline’s shock for she was quite certain the young woman had been raped.
“You lie!” the King said loudly as he traced the bruised and bloody face of his daughter, his last and only living child.
“I don’t lie father, they beat me that is all,” Unyae urged, her hands cradling the face of her father, broken and spent. The King bent his forehead forward until it met with Unyae’s and closed his eyes. Eveline cried as she watched the King and his daughter wrap one another in a hug, holding onto each other tightly as the rain fell upon them like small daggers of pain. After several minutes of embracing one another the King let go of his daughter and looked into her swollen eyes.
“I will have my revenge,” he whispered darkly as another flash of lightening filled the darkened skies above. “I will search the valleys of Hell and bring forth the serpent and break his body.” Unyae simply nodded as her father rose from the ground, lifting her up into his arms. Eveline rose also from the floor and felt a warm touch upon her back. Knowing that touch she turned to find the ball of light before her, hovering near to her stomach. She wiped her eyes and waited patiently until the ball of light began to move. Quietly she followed the ball of light which floated back into the corridor and down towards the smaller hall. When she reached the hall she turned to find a golden door hovering above the pool of water, the door open and ready for her. The ball of light moved slowly until it entered the dark abyss within the door and Eveline followed loyally, stepping through the water and into the darkness that awaited her.
*
A large knock penetrated the abbey doors arousing the quiet angels from their thoughts.
“Who is it?” Michael asked Gabriel, both of them standing guard over the bodies of Eveline and Belle.
“Lagmar and his legion of shadows,” Gabriel replied, his eyes upon the large doors which shook every time Lagmar knocked.
“He awaits Galean,” Michael said gravely, turning his eyes to Gabriel. “I saw him at the mortuary.”
“He is gone,” Gabriel said with stern eyes. “Lagmar is wasting his time.”
“Let us hope your descendant will not return then,” Michael replied, turning his gaze to the lonesome figure of Theodore who sat before the alter railings quietly. “I fear his return will only bring more bloodshed.”
“Galean knows and understands the threat that faces Celestine,” Gabriel said with certainty, he was greatly fond of his descendant. “No matter the prophecy.”
“The King is not happy that Celestine has married Cael,” Michael admitted quietly so that the angel could not hear. “He has summoned a high council.”
“It is my failing, the spell I cast over him was too strong, it is my fault that he remembered not the oath he had taken,” Gabriel said with sorrow. “He is not to blame. I am.”
“Has he called you to the council?” Michael enquired with friendly eyes.
“Yes.”
“Will you attend?”
“He is my King, I must attend and stand judgment for my part in this,” Gabriel said as he folded his arms in front of him. “If the prophecy is true then we are in trouble.”
“I agree, for aware o
r not, Cael has become a threat,” Michael said seriously, taking pity on the broken angel. “He has altered.”
“He has not altered so that he cannot be redeemed,” Gabriel argued quietly. “We must have hope in him. Prophecies are not always legitimate you know this.”
“Even so, he must be watched,” Michael said, shadows growing in his eyes. Both angels stood in silence as another knock shook the abbey doors.
“When she awakens she will find her world greatly changed,” Gabriel said as he rested a hand upon Belle’s lifeless hand. “And she greatly changed.”
“Lagar has left his mark upon her I fear,” Michael admitted as Theodore looked up at them both with suspicious eyes. “He may not have killed Galean, but he by possessing her has killed her mother and friends. This I fear the most.”
“It was not of her doing,” Gabriel muttered under his breathe. “She had no power over Nathaniel and Lagar, it could not be helped.”
“Even so, how she will deal with her actions will greatly impact on all of us.”
“She will not fall into darkness,” Gabriel tried to tell himself aloud. “She cannot.”
“A great war beacons, in both her world and our own. If she falls to darkness then so do we.”
“She will not,” Gabriel said firmly. “We will not let her.”
“Blood is upon her hands, blood that she cannot so easily wash away,” Michael whispered with his eyes upon Eveline’s body.
“She will have to bear it then for the greater good of the cause she represents,” Gabriel turned to his master. “If she is in the likeness of her parents and grandparents then she will overcome.”
“Let us hope that she will my friend.”
“If we give up on her now then we have already lost,” Gabriel said with emotion. “Everything that we are, everything that we represent will be cast to the wind as dust. We cannot allow that to happen, whatever comes, whatever passes.” Michael held Gabriel’s gaze and nodded in agreement. “She is the reason we must prevail,” Gabriel turned his eyes downwards to the sleeping child. “Even if man may hate us, even if they despise us, we do not give up.”
“I won’t allow it and neither will Heiden,” Michael uttered with a faint smile. “Whilst life still lingers and children still walk the plains of this earth and many more shall we fight on, to protect and guide them so that they may eat from the tree of life and walk with the rays of light upon their backs. To that I hold.”
“I too.”
*
Eveline spun through darkness and time until she fell through another open door, her body falling gently onto moist grass. For a moment she tried to hold herself, controlling the urge to vomit as nausea swirled within her stomach, reaching her bones and touching every corner of her body like the plague. She was on her hands and knees as she tried to stop herself from retching, closing her eyes and concentrating on her breathing until the wave of nausea passed and she felt her body come back to life once more. When finding herself back to rights, she fell back onto her bottom and cradled her head within her sweating palms and began to cry heavily at the scene she had just witnessed. She curled her toes into the blades of grass and dug her fingertips into her scalp as she cried. It was not until she heard the buzzing of an insect did she open her eyes to the world around her. She knew not why she was engulfed in these visions, knew not why she had been shown the royal family of Heaven and knew not why she was connected to the royal princess, Unyae. She however after witnessing the terrible cruelty of Lagar and Lagman, better understand the pain Galean must have felt when he returned to Aurelius to find his wife and daughter dead. She felt the pain of Heiden as he cried out aloud, all of his anger seeping into the physical area about him. His cry still echoed within the depths of her mind as well as Unyae’s pitiful crying.
From the buzzing of a flying insect came the singing of birds nearby, and as the world around her began to come to life, she dropped her hands from her exhausted face and looked around her. Beautiful trees, ancient and tall dotted the land, all of them bearing sweet flowers, flowers she had only ever seen in her dreams, when she walked through her minds figmentation of a garden. Sweeping her long locks behind her she gently rose to her feet and slowly turned around, beautiful sounds filled the air as birds flew from tree to tree and creatures alike to butterflies danced about the flowers that sprouted up upon the earth. She knew this garden, she visited it often in her dreams and now she had been brought here, to her garden, her imagination. Eveline began to feel disorientated, she was unable to connect the dots, none of what she had seen made sense. As she began to wonder through the trees she heard the sound of raised voices nearby and stopped moving, seeing two figures striding through the trees near to her. Quickly she ran behind one of the ancient trees, hiding behind, her chest rising and falling heavily as the sound of two people became louder.
“Heidan stop!” a familiar voice cried out. Eveline looked around the tree and spotted the source of the voice and was astounded to see before her the beautiful Unyae, chasing after a young and handsome man, who was striding through the trees with purpose, his brows thunderous as he waved away the woman with frustrated hands.
“I will not be bound to this garden anymore!” Heidan replied loudly, the princess’s face etched with pain. “I was not born to be a prisoner.”
“Heidan if you leave this garden you will only make yourself vulnerable to those who wish to seek us out!” Unyae said loudly as she ran to the young man and grabbed his arm only to be swung away with violent anger. Heidan stopped and turned to the woman, his beautiful face so alike the woman’s dismantled with anger and arrogance.
“Every year you tell me that he will come that he will bring us back to Heaven, and still we linger within these walls! I will not be bound by them any longer,” Heidan stormed. “Do as you please mother, I am freeing myself of you and your delusional hopes!”
“Where will you go?” Unyae cried out, trying to touch her sons arm.
“South to Ruarr, to serve under Islaer,” Heidan said as he ran his long fingers through his dark hair.
“Heidan I beg of you to re consider, please you know Islaer serves Lagar,” Unyae urged, her long dove grey gown swaying in the light gust of wind that coursed its way through the garden, causing the leaves and flowers to rustle gently.
“He is my father as you so diligently told me last week,” Heidan spat.
“He is bad and corrupt, stay away from him Heidan!”
“I have a right to know him,” Unyae’s son said angrily. Eveline clutched her stomach tightly at the realisation that Unyae had been raped by none other than Lagar himself. The complications from such an act where unthinkable. Now she understood why she had refrained from telling her father.
“Have I not made myself perfectly clear where your father is concerned? Does it not bother you that he is the arch enemy of my father? That he killed my mother and brothers and raped me?” Unyae said darkly, letting her arms fall from her son as she looked up into his face. “Do you believe that he will call you son? That he will welcome you with open arms?”
“My powers are becoming too strong for me to control mother,” Heidan said with an air of coldness. “I linger in the sun when I wish to linger in the shade, and with every day that passes I find myself becoming sick for the shade, sick for the darkness, like an unstoppable force within me. The sun carries no joy, it does not feed me like the night does. You do not serve me in the way I wish, you only repel me with your constant whimpering and lecturing. Have you not considered what I need? That my needs are greater than your own? Your life is done, spent and over. Your father will not come for you and that in itself says enough, my father knows not where I am. Who knows if he will welcome me with open arms, but I must try.”
One Crown & Two Thrones: The Prophecy Page 40