The Crystal Keepers, An Overseers Novel
Page 7
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Gwynn and Loki stopped for the night in a group of trees that provided cover. The sun was just dipping over the horizon; its golden rays frosted the tips of the trees and left dim shadows on the ground.
Loki observed Gwynn. Even in the fading light, the bruise on her face had turned more colorful with shades of bluish purple, red and black.
“Why did father poison himself?” Loki asked.
Gwynn shook her head, like she was still in disbelief over what had happened. “He woke up quite agitated, as you know. Of course, the darkness only amplified it further. After you left the house, he told me that he was going to demand that you join the Brethren now, instead of waiting for you to come of age. Through Elwyn, he planned to make a deal with them. I told him that I wouldn’t allow it. He could no longer control his anger. The dark force played him like a pawn.” Gwynn touched her cheek. “After he hit me, I could tell by the look on his face that he immediately regretted it. He went out to the kitchen and I stayed in the bedroom. I didn’t see the point in talking any further. Then I heard him rummaging in the kitchen and I figured he was going for the ale again. I wanted nothing to do with his drunkenness anymore. But then I felt it, the energy changed, the darkness returned. I walked to the doorway and saw him slumped over at the table. As soon as I saw the dark force, I knew what he had done. It came because he was already dead.”
Loki said nothing. She had been disappointed in her father, that he let himself be controlled by the negative forces. Somewhere inside, she thought she had cared about him but she didn’t like the person he became when he drank. In reality, she had to admit that she hardly knew him. From her viewpoint, all she saw was his misery and how he tried to hide from himself by drinking. That’s the illusion of the ale and, now, he was gone. The darkness won. How ironic, she thought, he basically got what he wanted except that he got it in death, instead of during his life. He was now with the darkness.
Gwynn sat on the ground with her arms around her knees and her eyes were closed. Loki studied her face and thought she had a calm look about her, as if she had just retreated to a secret place inside where she found peace. Then, as if Gwynn felt her daughter’s gaze, she opened her eyes and looked at Loki and grinned slightly.
“Where will we go, I mean, after we see this friend?” asked Loki.
Gwynn looked north toward the Great Mountains. She took in a breath and slowly let it out. “It depends.” Then, in the last remaining light, she gazed into her daughter’s eyes. “What do the ‘tweenlings say about things?”
Loki thought back to the message she heard that morning. “Change is coming.” Then she added her own thoughts on it. “But it already has, with father gone.”
“Mmm.” Gwynn nodded her agreement on that statement and then added, “I think there is more to come, Loki.”
Rest, miss. You be need’n to rest.
Hearing those words suddenly made Loki aware of just how tired she was. She had never sat on a horse for that long, and now noticed the aches quickly surfacing in her body. She also felt drained from the day’s events. Suddenly, all she wanted was to sleep. She grabbed her bed roll, bid her mother goodnight, and snuggled under the pale sky.
SIX
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Great Mountains