Shadows

by Terry Schott

  A man sat at a table in the very centre of the room. He stood and smiled as they approached. He looked under forty, with short, immaculately groomed hair atop smooth, handsome features. He wore a deep red coat and jet-black pants, the collar of the red jacket nearly reaching his chin and covered with ornate gold patterns. He radiated supreme authority.

  Dawn suppressed a frown and looked at William. "Uncle, I thought we were coming here to meet our Grandfather."

  "That is why you are here," the man answered in a rich deep voice that sounded soothing yet powerful. "You look confused."

  "Sir, you're much too young to be our grandfather. You don't look any older than Uncle William does, and he's likely only thirty-five or so."

  "I don't hear a question." The man's eyes twinkled with amusement.

  "Who are you?" Dawn asked, "and when do we get to meet our grandfather?"

  The man chuckled softly, a rumbling sound that seemed to bounce off the nearby walls like the distant thunder of an approaching summer storm. "I am your grandfather, child," he said, "and I am much older than I appear. Now come sit with me." He swept a hand to indicate the seats at his table. "I have been waiting a very long time to meet the both of you."

  "Samson and Dawn Thorne," William said. "Allow me to introduce you to Arthur Darrington Thorne. He is the twelfth Thorne of this name, first in line to rule the Thorne Family, and leader of the North American territories." William smiled. "You may address him as 'Grandfather.'"

  With a flourish of his right hand, Arthur bowed from the waist, then stood erect and smiled at his grandchildren. "Thank you for the introduction, William. If you would be so kind as to leave us now."

  "Absolutely, Father. I will see you all at dinner," he said, over his shoulder. William closed the library doors behind him.

  Arthur pointed to a small table close by. "Please join me for a refreshment and some discussion," he said. "I am certain that you have questions for me, and I would like to get to know the both of you. We have a lot of time to make up for."

  They sat down and waited patiently while a servant filled their glasses with dark red juice. Sam recognized his sister's body language. She's all but twitching to start asking about everything, thought Sam. And she knows I'll let her go first.

  "A toast," Arthur raised his glass. "To Family, and new beginnings."

  "To Family, and new beginnings," brother and sister said in unison, clinking glasses together and sipping.

  Arthur gazed at each of his grandchildren and chuckled. "You are the brash one, Dawn. Yes, you may ask me another question. I can see how holding your curiosity in eats at you."

  She smiled. "Thank you, Grandfather. How is it that you don't look any older than my dad?"

  "Good living," he replied. "We understand what most people do not, or have forgotten. Our bodies are simply machines, avatars that house our consciousness and the essence which makes us who we are. If maintained properly, the average person can live to be well over a hundred years old while retaining their vibrance, energy, and mental faculties."

  "Then how come people don't?" Sam asked.

  "There are many answers to that question; I will give you the simplest." Arthur took another sip from his glass. "Humans are creatures of desire and decadence. The more something is bad for us, the more we seen to gravitate toward it. Unhealthy foods, lack of proper sleep and exercise, and a few other key detrimental maintenance habits, result in the average person treating their bodies so poorly that they age prematurely and wither away before they should."

  "Not you, though?"

  "Not us," Arthur said. "I know how you were raised, even though I wasn't present to see. No junk foods, or nearly none. Daily exercise, proper nutrition and sleep, adequate mental stimulation. These are the basic keys for living a long, healthy, and enjoyable life."

  "You sound like Dad," Dawn said.

  Arthur smiled. "And he sounds like me, who sounds like my father, and his father before him. There are many advantages to retaining and passing down wisdom from one generation to the next."

  "It's a shame more people don't," Sam said.

  Arthur shrugged. "The ones who matter, do, and everyone else does the best they can to survive and be happy."

  Sam frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

  "Nothing." Arthur waved his hand. "Come now, tell me all about your lives. I am so excited to hear about the both of you."

  Sam snorted. "That's surprising to hear. If you were so interested then why haven't we met or heard about you until now? We've been alone with only our mom and dad our entire lives, when the whole time, we could have been part of what Dad says is a huge powerful Family."

  Arthur nodded and looked at both of them. "Did you have a terrible time?" he asked. "Being alone with just your mom and dad and no other Family?"

  "No," Sam said. "It would have been nice to be part of something bigger, is all."

  "Trust me: you have always been part of something bigger, regardless of how few Family members came to your birthday parties. If you harbour any anger or resentment, don't focus it on us. It was your mother and father's idea to shelter you from all of this, and we simply honoured their wishes."

  "I'm not angry about it," Sam said. "It's been a question on my mind since I learned about all of you, though. Dawn nodded.

  "That's understandable," their grandfather said. "Trust me, once you've spent some time with the Family, you may wish for the peace and quiet back."

  "Dad said the same thing," Dawn replied.

  Arthur chuckled. "I imagine he did. Now tell me all about your lives. Don't skip the small details. I want to hear everything you can remember."

  "You don't seem as frightening as Dad led us to believe you were," Dawn observed.

  Arthur laughed. "I'm afraid that comes with the territory of being a rich and powerful Family leader," he said. "In addition to that, I am your father's father; kids always think their dad is an ogre at some point. But I'm your grandfather, and Family is the most important thing to a Thorne. When we leave this room, I will become more stern and imposing, but that's why I wanted to meet you first in private. I am not a horrible man, even though I am forced to play the part of one most of the time. No matter what happens going forward, I hope you can remember that."

  Dawn stood up, walked over, and gave her grandfather a warm hug. "Thank you for showing us this side of yourself, Grandfather," she said. "I hope we don't end up hating you later on."

  Arthur laughed softly into her ear as he returned her embrace. "You possess incredible maturity for your age, dear girl," he said. "There will be times that you do end up hating me, but I hope you eventually realize that the things I may ask of you are for the good of all of us."

  They sat down and Arthur refilled their glasses with juice. "Now tell me all about yourselves, and then I shall tell you all about the rest of your Family."

  35

  The hour with their grandfather passed very quickly.

  Sam and Dawn took turns sharing key moments in their lives. Once they had begun to talk, the information flowed quickly. Their grandfather interrupted only to ask enough questions to amplify and stimulate disclosure. For the majority of the time, Arthur Darrington Thorne merely nodded, smiled, and listened.

  A sharp knock at the library door cut Dawn off in mid-anecdote. She looked down at her watch. Ninety minutes had flown by.

  The door opened and William poked his head in. "It's been over an hour, Father," he said.

  Arthur nodded. "We need more time, William, but thank you for the update. Please come back in." He reached into a small jacket pocket and removed an ornate pocket watch, then pressed a button which caused the lid to flip open. "Forty-five minutes."

  William nodded and closed the door. Arthur looked back at Dawn and Sam with an encouraging smile. "Well, you have updated me to the present time. Thank you both for all that you've shared with me. I should like to return the favour by taking a bit more time to tell you as much as I can about your Family.
"

  Dawn and Sam sat forward eagerly. Arthur laughed. "Oops," he said, "With the caveat that forty-five minutes is not nearly sufficient."

  "Tease," Dawn said.

  Arthur's youthful grin carried a hint of mischief. "The spoken word can be extremely entertaining. What I meant to say is that I would like to help fill in some of the gaps in your story."

  "Fill in gaps?" Sam asked.

  Arthur stood and raised his arms above his head, stretching gently and then rotating his arms behind his back as he walked behind the bar. He reached under the countertop and opened a small refrigerator, from which he withdrew a dark, dusty bottle and set it on the bar. Its glass was a dark purple, almost black, with ancient-looking runes scrawled along the exterior in raised gold. Arthur produced three clean shot glasses and placed them beside the bottle. "Your father has already introduced you to the Thorne Family, the basics of how old we are, and the other ancient clans that exist and compete with each other for supremacy."

  "He's told us about the Thorne and the Hearthkin Families," Dawn confirmed, "but he didn't say much about a battle for supremacy."

  "He kind of did," Sam looked at the bottle with curiosity. "He said that our two Families have been around for centuries, and that we spend most of our time, energy, and resources fighting with each other."

  "Playing games," Arthur said.

  "It sounds more serious than that," Dawn said.

  "Games can be serious. I would argue that most of them are."

  "SHEPHERDS is a serious game," Dawn said. "Especially the money involved."

  "Yes," Arthur nodded, "Your father's invention has certainly proven to be much more than we expected."

  "It's kind of weird to find out that Dad is such a big deal in the Family."

  "You will continue to discover, during your stay, that he is a large contributor to the Family fortune, which puts him in good standing with all of us. Did he tell you about any of the other powerful Families?"

  "No," Sam said. "How many are there?"

  "We will get to that later." Arthur removed the cork from the bottle with a soft popping sound. "What did he tell you about your mother? From listening to your story, it's clear that both of them did an excellent job of appearing normal while they raised you."

  "Mom was awesome," Dawn said. "She spent so much time with us, just loving us. When I think of her, and I do a lot, the memories are full of smiles, hugs, encouragement, and fun. She was everything a kid could wish for in a mother."

  "She was," Sam agreed, "although it would have been cool if she'd shown off some of her ninja skills once or twice."

  "I didn't speak with your mother very often," Arthur said. "By the time I discovered that your father was in love with her, it was too late to prevent it."

  "Would you have prevented it?" Dawn asked.

  Annoyance flashed briefly across Arthur's face, then fled. "At the time it was occurring, I certainly would have. Now that I have met the two of you, I'm glad that they fell in love."

  "Perhaps it's easier to accept what happened because she's dead and no longer a threat to you," Sam said.

  Arthur's face was blank as he poured a dark golden liquid from the bottle into each of the shot glasses. By the time he looked up, his pleasant look had returned. He placed the three drinks on a tray and brought them back to the table, setting one down in front of each seat. "Please, children, don't look for reasons to hate me. I am certain that, over time—and despite my best efforts to avoid it—you will end up harbouring considerable ill will toward me without trying." He smiled sadly. "An unfortunate consequence of leading a large Family that has plans which span well beyond our lifetimes and must be executed to the best of all our abilities, regardless of personal feelings at times."

  "Uncle William said you were first in line to lead," Dawn said.

  "He also said that I lead the North American group," Arthur said, "which is a vast and active part of the world during the last couple centuries."

  "I guess it makes sense that you are not a fan of our mother," Dawn looked at the shot glass in front of her, wondering what was in it. "She was an enemy, and almost took one of your best assets out of play."

  "Thank you, Dawn," Arthur said. "I'm glad that you're old enough to understand that. Desdemona struck a crippling blow to the Thorne Family when she fell in love with your father. I don't think she did it on purpose; love has no brains or common sense, especially young love. After meeting the both of you, however, I think that perhaps she did us a great favour by loving your dad. The two of you are remarkable children, and you appear to have inherited the best qualities of both Families. I will admit, in complete private candour, that the Hearthkins possess many desirable traits. Your genetic codes both contain many of those attributes. I am intrigued to see how that plays out over time."

  "You have plans for us," Sam said.

  "This drink in front of you was brewed over six thousand years ago," Arthur said. "Only a few who are born into our Family get the opportunity to touch even a drop of it to their lips. It contains alcohol, but it also possesses much, much more." Arthur raised his shot glass toward them in salute. "This liquid contains powerful magic, and it is offered only to those that we feel will benefit most from drinking it. I have tasted it once, when I was your age. After this second drink, it is unlikely that I shall taste it again in this lifetime. Raise your glasses and drink deeply, my grandchildren. I do, indeed, have plans for you. My spirit assures me that, before your lives have ended a very long time from now, you will do many great things to change this world. May the majority of those great things impact and change this world for the better."

  36

  The meeting with Arthur Thorne concluded by the time William returned. The facts he divulged to Dawn and Sam surprised and fascinated them.

  "I would like to thank you both for this meeting," Arthur said. He stood up and leaned forward to touch both of his grandchildren, who had risen as well. "So much of my life is spent being the beast, the heartless leader who commands everyone with a sharp voice and iron stare. I rarely get the chance to let my guard down with anyone. This has been a rare treat for me."

  "Does this mean you won't be as pleasant from now on?" Dawn asked.

  "Sometimes I will be less charming," their grandfather said with a half smile.

  "That's too bad," Sam said. "You seem like a very nice man."

  Arthur laughed. "I am, Samson, but being a nice man has never been in the cards for me."

  "Why not?"

  "Do you believe in fate?" their grandfather asked.

  "I don't know," Sam said. "I like to think that we have choices, and that we can make a difference despite what others may think is preordained."

  "That's an admirable thought, but when you have seen as much as I have, you will realize that the average person, when left to their own designs, will ruin things horribly. Being born into a rich and powerful Family has many perks, but it also carries with it many serious and grave responsibilities." Arthur removed the glasses from the table and took them to the bar. "For example, one Family plan was started over seven hundred years ago. It is still on track and moving forward. When the time comes for Family members to do their part to advance this plan, it doesn't matter what their personal feelings are; they must step forward and do what is required for the benefit of all of us. We live like kings and queens, but there is a price for such luxury. When the moment arrives, a Thorne stands up and offers to pay their portion of the price gladly. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

  "Yes," Dawn said. "Are you asking us to pay a price now?"

  Arthur's eyes softened. "No," he said. "I am getting to know the both of you and welcoming you formally to the Family. Your father raising you away from the rest of us was part of the price he was asked to pay. Now that you are older, and we see exactly how you have developed, it is time to bring you home and begin the next part of your preparation."

  "Well, it was good to see this side of you, Grandfather," Dawn s
aid. "Knowing what lies beneath the terrible tyrant will help make it easier to understand things when you ask us to do our part."

  "No, it likely won't." Arthur chuckled. "The odds are very good that you will join many others and hate me for eternity when I ask you to do what must be done."

  "Do you know what that will be?" Sam asked.

  "Not exactly," Arthur said, "but I have a general idea of which strategies and plans you will fit into."

  "What do we do now?" Dawn asked.

  "After dinner tonight, I will announce to the Family that both of you will come live with us in order to complete your training."

  "Complete?" Dawn asked. "I don't think we've even started any training. None that I can think of, anyway."

  Arthur chuckled. "Your father has been training you for your entire lives. We will continue to build on that foundation until we turn you both into masters of your fields. Dawn, your skill set seems to lie in the martial arts, much like your mother. Sam, your skills with computers and business are formidable; I daresay you might be a prodigy unlike any born into our bloodline." Arthur rejoined them at the table. "Both of you will move into Wallaceton immediately, and spend the next two years further developing your skills here."

  "What about the Game?" Sam asked. "We've built so much, an entire line of immense influence that needs to be maintained."

  "You can do that from here just as well as from the city," Arthur said. "Don't worry. The network that you have built in SHEPHERDS will be maintained. I'm simply going to allow the both of you to work the game in more...depth, moving forward. Computer skills and martial arts are required to advance in levels from now on."

  "Is someone finally going to tell us why people are getting paid big dollars to play SHEPHERDS?" Dawn asked.