One Crown & Two Thrones: The Prophecy

  “Eveline please, you must return to Theodore!” Galean begged. Eveline shook her head and did not turn her gaze to him.

  “No! You shall not leave me do you understand?”

  “If I die this night, then let it be so that you can live,” Galean whimpered as he placed his free hand upon her back. “I came here knowing that I could face certain death.”

  “Then why did you come?” Eveline cried out as the dark clouds above her began to separate.

  “To see you,” Galean whispered softly, grabbing her roughly and turning her away from him. “Go Eveline! Do not let my death be in vain.” Eveline shook her head again, her movements of determined will stopping as she caught a glimpse of something weaving its way through the crowd of entertained shadows. Galean followed her gaze. “No..,” he breathed out heavily as the slithering form of Nagtium emerged from the crowd, closely followed by Lagar.

  “I am not afraid,” Eveline said, placing a hand upon Galean’s sleeve. “I am enlightened.”

  Without waiting for an answer Eveline charged forward with her sword raised high in the air. A great clash sounded out as light met with fire. Galean stumbled forward trying to separate Eveline from Lagmar as they fought viciously before the silent and amused Lagar, who stood patiently observing the scene, Nagtium now sitting upon his shoulders.

  “She is mine!” Lagar hissed loudly to Lagmar, who had now thrown Eveline to the ground. Lagmar looked away from Eveline and nodded to his master, walking away from Eveline as she rose to her feet once more, finding Theodore’s sword. Lagmar lunged at Galean who struck the demon with his knife, wounding the shadows face. Lagmar let out a loud cry as he clutched his wounded face. Eveline seeing a chance for attack ran towards the demon, suddenly stopping with such a force that she was winded. She could not move forward, separated from Galean by an invisible wall. She turned to face Lagar, whose gloved right hand was raised in her direction. With urgency she closed her eyes and called forth her powers, raising her own free hand and directing it in Lagar’s direction. Opening her eyes she felt the heat of her power run down her arm and out through her fingertips. The invisible power hit Lagar with no reaction. Eveline blinked twice not quite understanding how he could withstand her magic. As if hearing her thoughts, Lagar spoke aloud. “You cannot move me girl, I am greater and more powerful than you shall ever be.” Eveline began to tremble as a dozen or so shadows made for her. Turning she tried to move but found her feet cemented to the ground. As fear gripped her she felt her head turn and her gaze fell upon Galean and Lagmar who were now both entwined in each other, fire and metal enveloping them both. A tear fell from her eye as she watched Galean fall to the ground before Lagmar.

  “Galean!” she cried out as his body slumped upon the ground lifeless before the invigorated Lagmar who turned to his master with raised arms, his bloodied face filled with glee.

  “He is dead!” he exclaimed loudly a great cry of victory ringing out from the shadows.

  “No!” Eveline mumbled in disbelief. As she felt her body weaken she saw a great light from the abbey entrance. The great and terrifying archangel Michael ran out of the building, followed closely by Gabriel, Theodore and a great mass of fellow guardians. At once the invisible wall that had kept her from aiding Galean had faded and she fell onto her knees, her sword falling unceremoniously from her hand. She turned her gaze to Lagar and watched as he disappeared before Michael. Never had she seen such a terrifying angel before as she watched Michael strike down shadow after shadow with a growl so fierce it shook Eveline. With her hands plastered to the stone ground, Eveline forced herself up, drenched and disorientated. As she stood, she found Theodores gaze and held it for a moment before stumbling across the stones to Galean’s body which lay in a puddle of blood and water.

  “Eveline no!” Gabriel cried out as he came to her and forced her away from Galean. “Go! Get out of here now!”

  “I cannot leave him!” Eveline vowed as her husband came to her.

  “He is gone Eveline,” Theodore whispered clearly, taking one of her hands and forcing her to step away. Without a word she felt her body fold itself into Theodore’s embrace. Glancing over the curve of his shoulder she watched on as Gabriel enfolded Galean into his wings and disappeared before her. Eveline felt herself crumble into her husband’s embrace as a wave of grief and sickness took a hold of her.

  *

  “Here drink this,” Theodore ordered the quiet Eveline as he sat beside her. Eveline looked up from the ground and without smiling took the small cup of tea and began to sip it. The residents of Bath were in a daze as to how their most prided church had fallen to ruins and as Theodore and Eveline sat upon the platform of the train station they listened on to passengers shocked conversations. There had been no time for Eveline to simply digest all that had happened during the night as she was forced to leave the abbey grounds as quickly as possible by Michael. Together Theodore and Eveline returned to the ghost riddled house of Mary that had been cleared and cleaned by the guardians during the last week. When they had entered the house at first, Eveline had found her feet unable to move as the memories of that night began to rain down on her like the heavy droplets of rain that had battered her skin. With Theodores silent help, she was seated in the day room where she waited for Theodore to pack up their belongings. It had not taken her husband long to return to her.

  “Find some clothes and put them on,” Theodore whispered sensitively to Eveline. Still quiet and slightly dazed Eveline nodded and with a pale face opened her leather suitcase. “I shall go out for a few minutes whilst you dress.” When the door of the room softly clicked, Eveline stood up and slowly pulled off her drenched and dirtied gown, letting it fall into a bundle about her bare feet. She cared not that she stood naked close to the bay windows as she rummaged through her clothes. In fact she felt nothing, all of the determination, hope and courage had all but gone with Galean in that briefest of moments. She had awoken from her sleep already grief stricken by the events of the previous week, but any of the remaining remnants of strength had simply been exterminated, leaving her empty and without emotion. Her bones felt weak, her heart heavy and her body drained of energy. Silent tears fell from her eyes as she dressed herself, memories of the moments spent within the day room flooding her mind. When she eventually dressed herself she heard a knock on the door. Theodore now too re dressed entered with a sombre face. He came before her and laid a gentle hand over her own shaking hand.

  “Let me,” he soothed, lifting her hand away from her shoe and tending to her feet himself.

  “Where is Wordsworth?” Eveline whispered through tears as her husband tied her laces.

  “I don’t know,” Theodore replied gently, lifting his eyes to her own. Eveline not quite able to look at him turned her gaze away. “There has been no sign of him since…, since…”

  “Since I slaughtered everyone?” Eveline said coldly without blinking. Theodore stopped tying her laces and froze.

  “Eveline…, don’t say such things.”

  “Why, it is true is it not?” Eveline whispered plainly, her eyes glazed and unmoving. Theodore gazed up at his altered wife and let out a sigh, now was not the time for truth telling. Instead he simply returned to her shoe without answering. “Why are you helping me? I killed Jophiel and your friends?”

  “I am your husband,” Theodore said. “And you didn’t kill anyone.” Eveline’s body stilled at her husband’s words. The room fell to silence once more as Theodore placed her left foot into her shoe and tied her laces. When her shoe had been tied he took out a small comb from his pocket and came to sit beside her. Clasping both her hands together tightly upon her lap she trembled slightly as he began to brush her partially dried and unwashed hair.

  Theodore kept his eyes on Eveline as their train came into sight, a great mass of steam enveloping it. About them the platform was filled with a range of people, many of them women and children. Eveline kept her face shielded with a felt hat and when she had finished si
pping her tea, she placed the cup and saucer down on the ground.

  “Where are we going?” she asked Theodore, keeping her gaze averted, letting it settle upon a small child who was huddled close to her mother. The child’s blue eyes found her own and she smiled at Eveline, a slight frown forming upon her brow.

  “Home,” Theodore replied as the train finally reached the platform and stopped.

  “And then?”

  “We don’t need to make any rash decisions right now,” Theodore said kindly as a great wave of passengers disembarked from the train and weaved their way in and out of the crowd of awaiting passengers. “Let us simply go home.”

  “It feels wrong to go home without her,” Eveline whispered as a tear fell upon her cheek, her gaze still upon the small blonde hair girl. “Everything feels wrong now.”

  “Eveline we will get through this, okay?” Theodore asked her urgently, placing a hand upon her own clasped hands.

  “How can you be so kind to me?”

  “I have told you why,” Theodore murmured as he placed his fingers upon her chin and lifted her golden gaze to his own blue. “Because I am your husband and friend and right now you are all I have.”

  “I arrived here with all the hope of spring in my blood,” Eveline groaned as a loud whistle rang out. “Now I leave with the ice of winter in my heart.”

  “Spring will come again and the ice will melt away,” Theodore whispered tenderly.

  “Spring is no more.”

  Theodore felt her hands tremble beneath his own and tightened his grasp.

  “I cannot return to my world,” Eveline whispered so quietly Theodore had to strain his ear. As the words transcended upon him, he felt a smile upon his lips. “I am not what they need. I am not worthy of a crown, nor am I worthy to sit upon two thrones.”

  “Eveline…”

  “Can we not just return to our normal lives? As husband and wife?” Eveline asked with pleading eyes.

  “I’m afraid our lives will never be normal again,” Theodore answered as he rose to his feet, bringing Eveline with him. Eveline stood before him, her head bent. “Look at me Eveline.”

  “I can’t, I can’t look into your eyes,” Eveline cried, her words laced with sorrow. Theodore, his hand still upon her chin, lifted her face to him.

  “They will never stop haunting you.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you sure you do not wish to return to your people?”

  “Do you want me too?” Eveline asked breathlessly, her eyes searching his own for an answer.

  “I will follow you wherever you choose to go.”

  “This is my world and my home is with you,” Eveline lied to herself, seeing the pleasure in her husband’s eyes as she spoke. All that she had loved had died and with Galean. A soft breeze swept about her as Theodore smiled weakly. “If you still want me.”

  “Always,” Theodore tried to say with convincing eyes. Eveline saw the flicker of doubt pass in her husband’s eyes and sighed deeply. He would never forgive her and they in turn would never be the same again. All of their precious memories had faded into a distant memory, never to arise again. “Come it is time we leave.” Theodore picked up their suitcases and together they walked to the first class carriages. “Let’s go home.” Eveline stopped for a moment and let her eyes run over the station and Bath before turning and following her husband into the carriage, closing the door firmly behind her.

  Part Three

  †

  The Choice

  XIX

  A Life So Changed

  February 1941

  Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken…

  Frank Herbert.

  Theodore wrapped at the reverends door loudly as the rain poured from the heavens above. It had rained for three weeks endlessly and with it the world had grown dark not just the greater world outside of Keswick but his world, the world he co shared with Eveline. Since their return some four weeks previous, all that he had hoped would return had yet to arrive for Eveline had taken a turn for the worse and had crept into the covers of her own bed upon the day of their return and had not since arisen. Theodore had himself been fighting a downward spiral of shock, grief and an unspoken joy at the death of Galean, once one of his greatest of friends. Galean’s death brought with it a new re kindled hope. A hope that Eveline would finally be his and his alone and a hope that maybe it would indeed be possible now for her to return to Unas where he would find no threat from the dead prince and heir. But despite his optimistic stance he still could not find it within him to look into the eyes of his wife, her betrayal and her actions still to bitter to induce honest kindness and care. He was no beast, he was a good man who simply wanted to protect his future but within the complicated mechanisms of his soul and heart he could not still quite believe that Jophiel had gone never to return and when his mind was reminded of this fact he found his heart turn dark. A sinister and disturbing corner of Theodore’s heart found satisfaction in Galean’s death, found contentment in the pain that now consumed his wife and found himself not struck by his own bad thoughts but comforted by them.

  Still a great part of him was good and he did not wish to see his wife and friend wither into nothing. When faced with his corrupt self, Theodore simply drank it away so that it became paralytic and unresponsive. He wanted his wife to live so that they may return to their normal life, for he loved her greatly and knew that she too loved him.

  “Cael?” a tired and bemused Reverend Matthew opened the door of the parsonage and looked down into Theodore’s face as the rain poured heavily. “You have returned?”

  “I need your help,” Theodore asked aloud. Matthew saw the desperation in the young angels face and stood away from the door beckoning him to enter the sleeping house.

  “Come in.”

  Theodore stepped into the homely parsonage and took off his hat.

  “Here give me your coat and hat, I will place them near the fire to dry,” Matthew said closing the door behind him as Theodore shrugged off his wet coat, handing it to the reverend with a weak smile. “Come in and sit by the fire.” Together they entered a small and comfortable room in which a small fire burned away. Two leather chairs sat before the fire and upon one of them lay an open book and a pair of glasses. “Forgive me, I have been absorbed in a little late night reading,” the minister smiled as Theodore made to sit upon the other red leather chair. “Now what is it I can do for you Mr Sampson?”

  “It is my wife,” Theodore began as he sat forward with quizzical brows.

  “I will not pretend I am ignorant of what had occurred these last few months Cael but you should have come to me straight away when you returned so that I may have initiated some system of security,” the reverend said with a stern glare as he laid his open book down upon a small foot stool. “You are both in great danger, now more than ever.”

  “I know and I am sorry,” Theodore muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair. “When we returned I thought it better that nobody knew of our presence in Keswick in case there were any spies or indeed shadows awaiting us.”

  “Do not worry yourself young man, I have had the town infiltrated with guardians and those of my masonic lodge, it is well secured,” Matthew smiled warmly. “I am sorry for you losses your mother in particular was a great woman.”

  “Thank you for allowing her to be buried within the grounds of your cemetery, that was indeed very kind of you,” Theodore returned with a gracious nod of his head.

  “As I said she was a great woman and she gave up her life to protect both you and your wife,” Matthew replied humbly. “How is Eveline?”

  “It is on behalf of my wife that I come seeking your aid,” Theodore said with a heavy sigh as he rested his hands upon his strong thighs. “Since our return she has not been out of bed these last three weeks and barely eats. I am worried about her, she has fallen victim to great grief and depression and with each day she falls deeper int
o the abyss.”

  “I am not shocked at all that she has indeed succumbed to the consequences of all that has befallen her,” Matthew replied quietly, placing his fingers upon his chin. “But in due consideration of all that has occurred and the danger you both now face I am glad you have come seeking my help.”

  “She will not speak to me and at night she groans like an agonised animal, her cries deep and guttural,” Theodore explained with a worried gaze. Matthew looked on with concern as Theodore dramatically placed a hand about his throat to emphasise his worry. “I will be sitting downstairs occupied and then she will start to scream out, it is a wonder nobody has yet heard.” Matthew could smell the brandy on Theodores breathe and nodded. “And when I try to comfort her she simply pushes me away.”

  “I am not entirely shocked by your admission, however I am worried that Eveline will slip away from herself unless we try to bring her comfort,” Matthew said, the embers of the fire glowing in his brown eyes. “Would you like me to come over and sit with her for a while? I could bring my housekeeper with me as well to help with domestic matters if you would like?”

  Theodore sighed long and deep, his head nodding in tune with his heartfelt thanks.

  “I would be eternally grateful if you would.”

  *

  Eveline curled her body under her warm sheets and placed her hands under her face as the sun began to rise over the lake which could be seen from her window. Her bones were weak and lifeless and her stomach growled with need of food but she bite down on her lip waiting until the trueness of her pain that often swept over her passed. Everything that bound her to this world, which bound her to life had begun to slip away with the death of Galean and her mother. A terrible and deadly plague of depression, anxiety and profound grief had crippled her so much that she could not find the strength within her to simply sit up. Her mind had turned in on itself, it had become her captor, teasing her with vivid and tormented memories that gnawed away at her like woodworm, slowly and painfully digesting all the light that had once radiated throughout her. Outside she heard the larks singing brightly and sensed that spring was around the corner. It seemed that every minute detail brought with it despair and she had become so sensitive to all the little details that swamped her burdened mind. Night brought no comfort either, only nightmares. If she dared to open her eyes she would find them resting on the figures of those who wished her harm, especially Lagar and her half-brother. With beads of sweat covering her feverish skin she would begin to wail, all the pain and anxiety rushing over her like a freak storm of water rushing down the hills. It seemed that nothing could bring her comfort not even the kind words of her husband nor the words of her mother. With anger she had forced her meeting with her grandfather from her mind, refusing to acknowledge anything, unable to see past the darkness that wrapped itself about her soul, sucking the life from her. With her right hand she felt for her jewel and touched it lightly.