“Is he telling the truth?” Cal asked Meaghan.
“I think so,” she told him. “He has no animosity toward me and he holds no deception when he speaks. Guilt seems to be his dominating emotion.”
“So why the guilt?” Cal asked and faced Darvin again. “If what you say is true, and you did no wrong, why do you feel guilty?”
Darvin sighed and rested his chin on his hands. Élana sat on the arm of his chair and took his hand in hers in a show of support.
“Tell them,” she said. “They need to know everything.”
He nodded. “What do you know already?”
“Not much,” Cal responded. “Nick sent us a message. A traitor in one of the villages confessed to being a member of the Guard. All he learned is that they're after Meaghan because of some sort of prophecy that predicts the destruction of Ærenden at her hand.”
“That's partially true,” Darvin confirmed. “Meaghan is their target now, but this isn't about her. It's about a power.”
“What power?” Meaghan asked.
“I don't know. I've never seen the prophecy. As far as I'm aware, few people have, though I've only met three other Shadow Guards in my life.”
“Then how do you know about the prophecy?” Meaghan asked. “How did you learn about the Guard?”
“From my father. The Shadow Guard legacy is passed from parent to child, but only one child is allowed to know the secret. It's typically the oldest child, but not always.”
“So Alisen never knew about it,” Cal said. “I wondered if her brother's involvement in the Guard was a secret she kept from me.” He nodded toward Malaki. “It also means he's lying. Eudor didn't have any other children.”
Malaki shook his head, but spoke no words of protest in the face of Cal's conviction.
“He may not be,” Darvin said. “Not everyone trains their children from birth like my father did. One of the other Shadow Guards I knew was a woman whose mother waited to tell her until she was in her thirties. It's possible Eudor hadn't told Malaki yet, or he knew Malaki would be a threat to the Guard. If there's any chance a child might be, the Guard is required to let his line run out rather than risk the success of the mission.”
“They work with Garon,” Malaki whispered.
“What?” Cal asked.
“They work with Garon,” Malaki repeated and sat back in his chair. Disappointment seeped through his emptiness. “The Shadow Guard does. That's why Dad didn't tell me. I doubt I would've been willing to kill Meaghan, but my father couldn't be certain of that before my family was murdered. He could be after.”
Darvin leaned toward Malaki and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Not everyone who's lost someone to Garon is unwilling to work with him. Your father lost his sister, after all. And many in the Shadow Guard would sacrifice their parents or their children to stop what they feel would be the destruction of the kingdom.”
“But if the Shadow Guard works with Garon at all, I couldn't have anything to do with them. After what I saw, what I heard his Mardróch army do to my village, I can't imagine any worse evil than him.”
“Neither can I,” Darvin said and released his grip on Malaki. “But the Shadow Guard believes differently. The power they aim to stop is said to be the most destructive ever to exist.”
“My powers can't hurt anyone,” Meaghan protested. “They're passive.”
“Their need to assassinate you isn't necessarily about your powers,” Darvin told her. “The Guard has been passing down its legacy since shortly after the kingdom was formed. Their secrets are kept by three Guards known as the Tribunal. They know the names of every Shadow Guard member and they know the full history of the Guard. The members can only know their duties and an abridged version of the directive, which they share by word of mouth. Many think the directive is the same as the prophecy, but since only the Tribunal has seen the prophecy, we can't know for certain.”
“What is the exact directive?” Cal asked.
“The first part is that the Shadow Guard must stay intact until the power has been destroyed. Until recently, that was all the Guard had to do. Once they received the prophesied sign, though, that changed.”
“What was the sign?” Meaghan asked.
Darvin looked straight at her. She felt empathy from him, and sorrow.
“A wedding,” Darvin answered, “brought about between two strangers for purpose instead of love, the first in over a thousand years.”
Meaghan gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Your parents unknowingly triggered the Shadow Guard's awakening, and I was the one assigned to assassinate them.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MEAGHAN STARED at Darvin and could not understand what he meant. If he had tried to assassinate her parents, why was he sitting here, declared innocent by the Elders? And why did Ed's sister not only accept his treachery, but support it? Meaghan dropped her hand, but could not speak. Cal did not seem to be as bothered by Darvin's words.
“You couldn't do it,” he said, and Meaghan realized he knew something she did not. “You didn't even try.”
“I thought they would kill me for my insubordination,” Darvin confirmed. “I wasn't the first to fail at the assignment. Another Shadow Guard was supposed to kill Ed soon after the wedding. The Tribunal allowed the Guard enough time to ingratiate himself with the King, but then he lost access somehow. It was around the time you became Ed's Guardian, so I can only assume they found you more capable of protecting the King than his old Guardian.”
“Or the traitor was his old Guardian,” Cal offered. “I always found Malven to be a little weaselly.”
“It's impossible to be certain. As I said, members don't typically know each other. Sometimes they have assignments together and they discover each other's identities that way, but they mostly communicate through commcrystals. No one is allowed to use names.”
“Then how do you receive your assignments?” Meaghan asked. “And how did you come to meet the other Guards?”
“When members have new assignments, commcrystals are delivered to their doors during the night. The Tribunal then tells the members their tasks. Once the assignments are complete and the final reports are given, the commcrystals turn black so they look no different than coal.”
“The Tribunal revokes the crystals' power,” Cal said. “That way the crystals can't be used as evidence against the Guards.”
Darvin nodded. “In answer to Meaghan's second question, the first Guard I knew was my father. The second was another Healer who I met on my first assignment. She and I helped May cure Ed's tribe of the Famine Curse. We were to report everything we could discover about the King to the Tribunal. Of course, few people were well enough to talk about him, and the healthy in the tribe kept the one secret hidden that might have helped. They loathed the idea of trusting us, even though Ed escorted us to them.” He looked up at his wife and Meaghan sensed muted fear from him. The possibility he might have betrayed her, even before he knew her, still frightened him. “I remember Élana from my visit to the mountain, but she was too delusional from starvation to remember me. I helped May heal her.”
Élana brought her hand to his cheek and smiled. “A man can be judged by the actions he takes, as well as by the ones he chooses not to take.”
“I can't say what I might have done if I'd discovered your identity. I might have—”
“No, love, you wouldn't have. You already had doubts about the Guard by then. It's in your nature to save lives, not to take them without cause.”
Darvin lifted her hand from his face and pressed it to his lips. “You're right,” he said. “You and your brother have similar features. I wondered back then if you were related somehow.”
Élana smiled at him, and in his words, Meaghan knew the truth. Darvin had made a choice that day, even though he felt he had not. He could have easily reported his suspicions to the Tribunal, alerting them to the possible relationship. If he had, Meaghan had no doubt his report would
have led to Élana and Ed's deaths, but Darvin had chosen not to divulge the information the Shadow Guard wanted. He had chosen to align himself with the King instead of with the doctrine his father had raised him to believe.
“And the third Shadow Guard?” Cal asked, leaning forward in his chair. “When did you discover that person's identity?”
“When Élana saw her in my history,” Darvin answered. “I had a feeling prior to that, but Élana confirmed it for me. After I was told to assassinate the King and Queen, I was given time to position myself so I wouldn't give my mission away. They didn't want the Shadow Guard to be discovered in case I failed. I was promoted to the throne room shortly after that, which led me to believe the Shadow Guard had infiltrated the worst possible place.”
“Of course,” Cal said, his voice laced with anger. “The third Guard was an Elder, which is why you were assigned to heal Ed's tribe and why you were promoted. I always wondered how that happened.”
“He couldn't have earned the promotion?” Meaghan asked.
“It's possible,” Cal answered, “but highly unlikely. Guardians earn throne room positions by performing extraordinary duties or leading lives of exemplary service. Darvin wasn't old enough to qualify for a service promotion, so I assumed he'd performed an amazing feat, but I was never able to find out what it was. No one had heard of him.”
“I still don't know how the Shadow Guard convinced the other Elders to promote me,” Darvin said. “At the time, I wasn't certain which of the Elders it could be, but when I went through my trial, it became obvious. Solacía wanted me executed, even before she had heard any evidence. In the end, it was four votes against one, and she had no other choice but to release me.”
“Solacía,” Cal echoed and brought a hand to his beard. “That explains a lot. We all thought the war drove her crazy.”
“What do you mean?” Élana asked. “The only history I've seen for her is connected to Darvin's trial. What happened?”
“She killed nearly all of the other Elders,” Cal answered. “It's why the council was different when Darvin contacted them again. Shortly after he left, Velos passed away from old age and Sam took his place. The remaining Elders must not have told Sam about the Shadow Guard or he would have told the new Elders.”
“Are you certain?” Darvin asked. “It's possible he could be a member of the Shadow Guard. He could have kept the secret to protect them.”
“I'm certain,” Cal said. “When Miles became Head Elder, he shared Meaghan's location with the rest of the council. Before his promotion, only he and Vivian knew.”
“So Sam could have killed her at any time,” Darvin decided.
“He could have, but only one Elder tried to use that information to his advantage. As it turns out, he had other motives in mind, but the result is the same. Angus has aligned with Garon now.”
“I never did care for him,” Darvin muttered. “How soon after I left did Solacía kill the other Elders?”
“A few years,” Cal answered. “From what you've said, it sounds like the Tribunal didn't want to expose her until they were certain the Shadow Guard was in danger. Once the main Guardian village was reestablished, they had reason to worry. She succeeded in murdering three of them while they slept, but Sam survived. She took poison soon after.”
“A suicide mission,” Darvin said dryly. “She would have felt honor in her death. They're the most highly coveted missions.”
A spike of anger came from Malaki. Surprised by the sudden surge of emotion, Meaghan turned to look at him. He failed to see her. His eyes locked on Darvin's face.
“You mean a suicide mission like my father's,” he said.
Darvin took in a deep breath as he studied Malaki, then slowly let it out and nodded. “I suspect his was intended to be. Although he may have thought he could position himself to kill Meaghan without anyone knowing.”
“If he thought that, he wouldn't have attacked Talea and Talis.” Malaki slumped forward and sorrow filled the hole his anger had left. “He wouldn't have attacked me.”
Darvin lifted a hand to Malaki's shoulder. Malaki shrugged him away.
“I'm sorry, son. I truly am,” Darvin said. “What your father did wasn't right, and it wasn't fair to you, but he was a typical Shadow Guard. He was a true believer in the directives, the last of which is that all actions are authorized for success. Shadow Guards believe that lives sacrificed now will save many more in the future.”
Malaki's eyes filled with tears and he closed them. Meaghan realized he felt betrayed, and wondered how she would react in his position. He had lost everything, including what little hope remained in the comfort his father had provided.
“What are the other directives?” Cal asked.
“Once the wedding took place, the couple and any children they had would be killed to ensure the power died with them.”
“So your assignment was also to kill me,” Meaghan said.
“Yes. The Tribunal thought it would be easy once I started serving in the throne room, but I always found excuses for why I couldn't accomplish the mission. By the time you were born, I had lost all faith in the directives. My father couldn't give me any concrete proof that a prophecy existed. He only spouted the same story over and over like he had swallowed a potion that erased logic from his mind. Ultimately, I realized that Ed and Adelina were doing more good for the kingdom than the Shadow Guard ever had, so I pretended to believe in my mission and protected you in the best way I knew how.”
“You put them off for years,” Cal pointed out. “With a traitor sitting as an Elder. That should've been impossible.”
Darvin sat back, leaning into his wife's body and smiled with the pride Meaghan felt in him. “They would have caught on to me eventually, I have no doubt, but you made the excuses easy for a year or so. Then May proved to be an equally formidable Guardian. I had to kill Meaghan and her parents at the same time to ensure the job could be done, and when all three of them were so well-protected, the task could be made to seem extremely difficult.”
“Seem?” Cal scoffed. “You wouldn't have gotten close.”
“The night Guardians weren't as talented as you and May,” Darvin told him. “I caught one asleep a few times. I framed him for stealing a piece of Adelina's jewelry so he would be removed from duty.”
Cal's eyes widened. “Reise was confined for three years for that crime.”
“I hated to do that to him, but if Solacía had caught him sleeping, it would have been my life on the line, as well as the royal family's. I didn't know what else to do. I had to have a strong Guard at night.”
“You could have told me,” Cal said.
“Although I suspected you weren't part of the Shadow Guard, I couldn't be certain enough to take the risk. For all I knew, they could have positioned you to take the assignment once I failed.”
Cal sighed and leaned forward again. Resting his elbows on his knees, he clutched his hands together between them. “So you protected the three of them as long as you could. Then after Garon came along, you confessed to the Elders. Once they determined your innocence, why ask to have your Guardian powers revoked? You could have helped the Elders locate and destroy the Guard. That would have released you, as well.”
Darvin shook his head. “I would've been dead within a week. The Tribunal tracks the Guard members by their Guardian powers. Since I had no idea who my enemies were, I gave up that part of me and ran as fast and as far as I could. I was afraid to stop. I didn't eat or sleep for days, and once I grew exhausted, I sought solace in the gorge. I'd heard it was dangerous, so I thought it might provide protection. Élana found me soon after.”
Cal nodded and sat up. “They're probably still looking for you. The good news is that Eudor wouldn't have known your connection with the Guard any more than you knew his, so he's not likely to have reported your location. You'll be safe here.”
“I don't want to be safe,” Darvin responded. His eyes trailed to Meaghan. “I want to finish what I s
tarted. I protected her from the Shadow Guard from the moment she was born and now that I know they're after her again, I want to join you.”
Élana hissed in a breath. Her eyes grew wide as her fingers tightened on Darvin's shoulder. He looked up at her.
“I'm sorry, love. I should've talked to you about this first, but there was no time.”
“I know,” she whispered, and closed her eyes. “I know,” she repeated. “Just come back to me.”
“Always,” he promised and turned his attention back to Cal. “So what do you say?”
Cal did not respond immediately. He took his time studying Darvin as silence stretched between them, and then he cast a glance in Meaghan's direction.
“He's only told the truth,” she answered his unspoken question.
“All right.” Cal addressed Darvin. “We leave in the morning. Talea will need to stay here, if it's all right with you, and Artair belongs with her, which leaves us four men short from our original eight.”
“Four,” Malaki echoed. Meaghan felt his panic rise again, pushing everything else from his mind and hers. “Cal—”
“I'm sorry, Malaki. I don't believe you've done anything wrong, but I can't be certain.”
“I need to get into Zeiihbu. I need to—”
“Follow orders,” Cal told him. Malaki sank into his seat. “You said you'd set aside your need for revenge for the good of the mission. Now is the time to prove you meant it.”
Malaki's emotions faded again. He nodded. “Just get Meaghan and the boy out safely. In the end, Garon will be destroyed.” He sat up again and looked at Meaghan. “And so will the Shadow Guard. My allegiance is to the Queen.”
Meaghan smiled at him, acknowledging his promise, but did not get the chance to respond before a cough alerted her that someone else watched. She turned to find Mycale and Faillen standing at the foot of the stairs. Their shock and fear told her they had heard most of the conversation, if not all of it. Mycale traced his eyes from Meaghan to his father, and then to Cal.
Aerenden: The Zeiihbu Master (Ærenden) Page 29