by Mary Coffin
~~~
Tannis took his time getting to Noya’s room. In fact, on the way, he debated about simply walking out of the compound, never to be seen again. The only thing that stopped him was that he really didn’t know where to go. He decided that he might as well face her. He didn’t care what she did to him. He had nothing to lose.
The hallway leading to her room was empty and he heard no voices from the other rooms along the way. I can’t stand this. There’s no sounds of life; no purpose anymore.
He tapped on Noya’s door. There was no answer. He knocked louder. This time she answered and Tannis thought her eyes looked bloodshot. Hmmm. Maybe she does have feelings.
She motioned for Tannis to enter. “Have a seat.”
“No thanks. I’ll stand.”
Noya held the door open a moment longer and seemed unsure of whether to close it or leave it open. She closed it most of the way and then walked farther into her room. Tannis stood in the middle of the room. His arms were crossed over his chest as if he were protecting himself from the blow he was about to receive. Noya looked at him and seemed unsure of what to say. Then she walked to the window and glanced out. Her back was to Tannis.
“When Markus ordered us to find the crystal, I didn’t want to go because I’d had a premonition that he was going to die. I thought that if I stayed here, I could somehow prevent it from happening. That’s why I stayed by his side so much. I tried to keep him from getting too excited or upset. I tried to get him to end the search for the crystal and focus on other things that would allow the Guardians to have a stronger presence and influence in this region. I wanted him to form a stronger relationship with the people in the villages and create projects that would help them. I thought that would be better for the Guardians in the long run. He wanted that darn crystal so badly…”
Tannis couldn’t keep the contempt from his voice. “Well, now that you’re in charge, you can forget it as much as you like.”
Noya continued gazing out the window. “I never wanted this. I never wanted to be in charge.”
Tannis was surprised. He had assumed that Noya was power-hungry, and would relish the day when she became the leader of the Guardians.
“I don’t know for sure but I have to assume that it was the Brethren who took the journal.” She turned to look Tannis in the eyes. “Is there anything that you read in the journal that you didn’t tell Markus and me?”
Tannis thought back to what he saw in the journal and what he felt from its author. He debated about whether to say anything at all. He didn’t feel like giving Noya an inch but then he decided he didn’t really care one way or another.
“There was a type of all consuming power that the author felt when he touched the crystal. He planned to devote his life to finding it again. But at one point, while in the trance, there was a strange edge, as if the power was also destructive…like it was eating away at the man, causing him to be unstable in mind. At least, that was my sense about it.”
Noya nodded slightly, as if this confirmed what she already thought. “I’ve suspected the same thing.” She turned to look out the window again. Then she walked over to her desk and sat on the edge of it, facing Tannis.
“I know you and I haven’t been on the best of terms but I hope that you can appreciate the position I was in, with my concern for Markus.”
Tannis looked at her but said nothing.
“I have a proposition for you,” she said.
Tannis maintained his position, in the middle of the room with arms crossed over his chest. “I’m listening.”
“Find the crystal. Prove to me that its power isn’t sinister.”
“How can I prove that?”
“You’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I need to teach you how to use the light to block your thoughts better so that your sister, and the Brethren, can’t easily get this information from you.”
FORTY FIVE
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Brethren of Darkness, Desert
As Bortundo talked, Draevil’s eyes grew more intensely black with rage. Bortundo rubbed his hands together, underneath the table, aware of how sweaty his palms had become. He desperately hoped that Draevil wouldn’t take the failure out on him but, even though his fear was real, he knew the best approach was to tell Draevil everything.
“Where are the others now?” asked Draevil from across the table.
“I don’t know. Carlos and I waited overnight for them to return from the Northland but they never did. We gave them more than enough time. We wondered whether they had, somehow, made it back here…even though I asked them to meet us.”
“And, Elwyn. Who took care of that simple matter?”
As Draevil asked that question, it sounded like he made a hissing sound when he pronounced the s in simple. Bortundo involuntarily swallowed to get rid of the lump in his throat. For the briefest of moments, he considered lying but knew it was futile.
He gazed at the table in front of Draevil and couldn’t look him in the eyes when he responded. “I don’t know.”
“Explain yourself.”
Again, Bortundo heard the hissing sound in Draevil’s words. He cringed.
“She was holding us up with her…relieving herself. She said she was sick and would catch up with us. I was anxious to find out whether the crystal was in the Great Mountains and get back to our meeting place before the others returned from the Northland. I figured I would take care of her on the return trip. We never saw her again.”
Bortundo felt Draevil’s stare and was afraid to meet his eyes. Draevil held it longer, knowing it was having its intended effect. Then, he stood. He turned from the table and slowly paced, with his hands clasped behind his back, while he thought things over. The silence in the room felt like a heavy weight, pressing Bortundo down into his chair. He snuck a glance at Draevil and knew he was deep in thought.
“Tell me again about this fog. You said it came out of nowhere.”
“Yes. It was a clear day. It appeared suddenly and surrounded us. The sounds were different, too.”
“What do you mean?”
Bortundo’s eyes shifted back and forth as he recalled the experience. “There was no sound. I couldn’t hear my horse. And, Carlos, holding his hand crying in pain but there was no sound with it.”
“How do you know that the Guardians didn’t create it?”
“I guess it’s possible but the man we fought was clearly as surprised as we were. Carlos thought the woman he encountered was also spooked by it. It doesn’t make sense that she would create something and then get trapped by it herself.”
Draevil stopped pacing and stared at the floor. Bortundo noticed a shift in his eyes and watched as his head nodded, almost imperceptibly. Bortundo thought that if the intense energy in Draevil’s eyes increased any more, it would crack the stone tiles that he gazed upon.
Then Draevil looked up at the ceiling and raised his arms. His fists shook toward the heavens and his voice bellowed deeply. “Aaaaarrrgh!!!” Then he spun to face Bortundo. “You imbecile! It was Elwyn! I have always suspected that she knew more than she let on. It makes perfect sense! She’s out there and she may even have the crystal!”
“But…but I don’t see how. There wasn’t time to get the crystal. It all happened so quickly and she was left way behind. Even if she had caught up to us, there wouldn’t have been time to get it. Besides, we don’t know whether our brothers found it in the Northland and maybe had to fight the Guardians there. We still aren’t certain which mountains have the crystal.”
“The panther will show me what happened. And, say your prayers Bortundo. If you lied about anything you told me, I will know.” Draevil walked out of the room.
Bortundo sat in the silence. He told the truth so why was his body shaking? He wiped the palms of his hands on his pants and took a deep breath to try to calm his nerves. He knew he hadn’t lied to Draevil but he c
ouldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t going to make any difference.
FORTY SIX
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Loki, Overseers
Great Mountains
Loki stood with Morten, Waysu and Adele, watching a horse with two riders approaching Adele’s cottage. It was Silas who was holding Gwynn on his lap but she was slumped against his shoulder and looked like she was asleep or… Loki didn’t want to consider the other option.
As he came closer, she saw the blood stain on her mother’s shirt and felt Waysu’s hand cup her shoulder. She knew Waysu had seen it as well. Loki was barely aware of the tears running down her cheeks. When Silas got close enough, Morten asked the question.
“Is she alive, Silas?”
Silas stopped his horse and gently slid Gwynn down to meet Adele’s arms. “She barely has a pulse,” he said.
Loki dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she quietly sobbed. Waysu knelt beside her and wrapped her arms around Loki.
Waysu knew what it was like to lose a mother. She recalled what it was like to hold her mother in her arms and feel her mother’s spirit leave her body. She would never forget that experience. She was torn up emotionally but, at the same time, it was reassuring. It felt as though her mother’s essence had passed right through her, on her way to the other side, and it gave Waysu a strong sense that her mother was more than the lifeless physical form that lay in her arms. It confirmed what she had always suspected, that the spirit lives on. She had tried to tell her father about her experience, hoping to ease his suffering but instead, he chose to drown his sorrows in the ale.
Adele carried Gwynn into the cottage. Silas dismounted his horse and he and Morten followed.
“The knife wound isn’t that deep. I suspect that she has been poisoned,” explained Silas.
“Poisoned? Why would someone poison my mother?” cried Loki.
They stopped and turned.
“Come inside, Loki. We’ll talk,” offered Morten. “I need to check on Gwynn.”
Loki wiped the tears from her face and she and Waysu stood. Loki’s lip quivered as she said it again.
“Poisoned!”
Waysu realized that Loki was stunned so she gently took Loki’s hand and guided her inside.
In the cottage, Gwynn was lying on a mat in the main room with Morten on his knees beside her. Silas and Adele stood off to the side and watched. Morten’s lips quietly moved with his hands in the air, above Gwynn, palms facing downward. A few minutes passed and then the air around and above Gwynn changed, encasing her in an oblong bubble of blue light. Inside, specks glistened, like thousands of tiny stars. Initially the specks gathered above the knife wound in Gwynn’s side. After several moments, the specks drifted outward until they were evenly spread over her whole body.
Morten sat back on his heels and sighed. He watched the sparkling light. “It seems she was poisoned, after all. It has already spread throughout her body.”
“How do you know?” Loki asked.
“The fragments are covering her whole body. When there are no more flashes, she’ll either be healed or…” He didn’t have the heart to state the other condition, which was dead.
Loki knelt beside her mother, across from Morten and stared at the blue light. More tears rolled down her face.
“The Brethren must have had poison on his knife,” Morten said.
Loki glanced at him with moist eyes. He met her gaze above the bubble. His eyes were filled with compassion.
“This was meant for your sister, Loki. It was in the dark of night and the man who did this thought your mother was Elwyn.”
Loki’s mouth moved to utter something but no sound came out. She couldn’t wrap her mind around these events. She was too shocked to understand.
Morten’s face was solemn. “Draevil, the Lord of the Brethren of Darkness, wants your sister dead.”
FORTY SEVEN
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Tannis, Guardians of Light
Northland
“You haven’t told anyone yet, have you?” Noya sat at her desk and studied Tannis, who was in the chair opposite.
“No, not until I’m done with the plans, like you said.”
Tannis was pleased with his new project. Noya had spent several days training him to be more disciplined with his thoughts so that he wasn’t so easily read, like an open book. She had instructed him to do more research and then come up with his plan of attack for finding and obtaining the crystal. Once he was ready, and only when he was ready, was he to choose the members that would join him. She wanted there to be a total of six members, Tannis and five others. It was all to be kept confidential. Even the various members wouldn’t know who else was chosen until the day they departed.
“I want Katarina to be one of the members.”
“But you said I could choose the five that I wanted.”
“You can choose the other four. I want Katarina to go.”
For the first time in several days, Tannis felt that old familiar feeling of Noya’s distrust. He thought they had gotten past it, that she was giving him all the room he needed to prove himself. And he was confident that he had gained her trust but her new orders were a slap to his face.
“What? To be your ears and eyes?” He allowed the irritation in his voice to be heard.
Noya stared at him and checked her own reaction to be sure it didn’t surface. Why did Tannis so easily provoke her? Why did she let him get under her skin so easily? She had full command now. She needn’t let him get to her like this.
“She’ll be your back up, in case something happens. And, if the group needs to be split in different directions, she can lead the other half.”
Tannis thought about it for a moment. Part of him wanted to tell her to forget the whole thing. He could walk out right now…but he didn’t. He sat there, thinking about Markus, thinking that he still wanted to honor Markus’s wishes.
“Fine,” he said. Then he stood and walked out of her room.
As he walked, he gave consideration to the four people that he might choose. He already knew that he wanted Simon in the group. So, that left three more people. He thought briefly about Jacob, the record keeper. He appreciated Jacob’s brains and cleverness but he had no brawn. He could consider his roommate, Anton. He certainly had thirst for a good fight at times but Tannis wasn’t sure who he’d select. There was more work to do before his final decision.
He decided to take a walk before he returned to the records’ room to study the maps again. He had been enjoying daily walks outside lately. It helped him relax, get some fresh air and clear his head. Some days he simply walked the perimeter inside the compound. Other days he ventured beyond the gate and today was one of those days.
He enveloped himself in a field of light, as Noya had taught, so that his thoughts weren’t as easily breached by his sister or anyone else, for that matter. It must be working because it had been weeks since he had a dream about her or gave her much thought during his waking hours.
Tannis walked up to the sentry on duty, a young man by the name of James. “I’m just going out to stretch my legs. I should be back in about half an hour.”
James reached out to open the gate for Tannis. “Yes, sir.”
Tannis heard the gate latch behind him. West of the compound was a short hill, with a trail that led to an open meadow on top. It would give him just the break he needed before returning to work.
He reflected on how things had been going with the Guardians since Markus died. He missed Markus and his style of leadership. It certainly was different with Noya in charge. Markus strived for broader ideals, like finding the gem of all gems and using its power to bring the people together and rid the world of the Brethren’s negative influence. Noya, on the other hand, took a more practical approach. She wanted the Guardians to involve themselves with the villages throughout the Northland,
to create stronger allies that would eventually band together as a unified force to stand against the darkness.
Tannis wondered what Noya planned to do if, and when, he found the crystal – assuming its power wasn’t sinister. He still wasn’t sure how to prove it to her but he’d cross that bridge when the time came.
At least he appreciated her willingness to pursue the crystal, and was pleased with the skills that she had taught him since Markus died. He certainly felt more confident with his own abilities.
Enough thinking, Tannis told himself. It’s time to just relax and enjoy the walk. He picked up the pace and lengthened his gait so that his legs got a good stretch. Soon he found a new rhythm and his mind began to relax.