by kubasik
"J'role, what is it?"
"They can't be his life. That's wrong. Wrong. People can't ..."
He felt silent. The Therans charged. I cast a fireball, and it caught the first two full in the chest. They fell back as the trolls by my side rushed up and engaged the others. I thought the fight would be ours, but then more Theran soldiers arrived. "Get them! Kill them!
Find the boys. We will not leave the ship until we have them!" The soldiers seemed about to argue, then pulled the words deep into themselves and charged us. A magician was in the group, and he cast a spell to overheat our weapons. I cast a spell to manacle the Therans.
Swords and spells clashed until the trolls were dead, only a few Therans had fallen, and Wia and I lay bleeding on the floor. The Overgovernor walked up to us. "You see? The boys and I are bonded. I am safe." To his remaining soldiers he said, "Kill these two, and find the boys."
The Stone Rainbow groaned heavily once mare, this time not from collision, but from the damage already taken. Thick cracks ran through the ceiling, and bits of stone rained down upon us. In the floor between the Therans and us a huge fissure opened — five feet wide
— and the two sides of the corridor tilted down toward the opening. The corpses on the floor slid down through the blood and dropped out through the hole. The rest of us scrambled to keep our footing, and Wia and I worked desperately to pull ourselves further up the corridor.
The Overgovernor did the same until one of the trolls from our crew, now dead, began to roll down toward the hole. The body struck the Overgovernor in the back of the legs, and the two of them, their limbs tangled, tumbled out through the hole. The Overgovernor's fingers clutched at the edge of the hole for just an instant, then vanished from sight. All that was left was the Overgovernor’s scream, and then we could hear it no more.
The soldiers on the other side of the crack took the opportunity to retreat, racing back up the stairs and back onto The Preserver. The castle sailed off and still threatens Barsaive today.
Wia and I took the time to breathe a sigh of relief, then stood up carefully, gripping door jambs to make sure we didn't slip and meet the Overgovernor's fate.
"How long do you think the ship will last?" she asked me.
"I have no idea." I called out for the two of you, but received no answer.
"It looks like the Overgovernor's luck wasn't tied to the boys after all."
"Yes," I said numbly as we continued climbing up the corridor, then suddenly fear came at me with icy claws. "Where's J'role?"
Wia looked around. "He didn't ...," she began, with a glance toward the hole in the corridor's floor.
"No. He's been gone ..."
I moved faster now, every part of my body and mind screaming to me that something was terribly wrong.
27
I tell you this now because you asked me about your father. Neither of you has memories of what happened, too horrible were they for any child to bear. I have never brought them back to your attention, for there never seemed any need. Now your father wants to see you again.
Now there is need.
I pushed one door after another open until I found the room where the two of you were hiding.
Blood was everywhere. J'role whirled around, streaks of blood across his face, a blood stained knife in his hand. The two of you lay on the bed, bunched up against the wall because of the tilt of the ship. The bed's blankets were soaked with blood.
"What ...?" I asked, just a gasp, unable to get out another word.
"They're safe now," your father said, almost like a boy looking for approval. "See?" He grabbed you, Samael, and turned me so I could see you.
Your once beautiful face ran with ragged, bloody cuts. Across your cheeks, down your neck, and into your shoulder. No magic could possibly heal all the damage done. Your eyes were closed, and your breathing shallow.
Very softly, I said, "You're insane."
He looked down at the ground, then at the ceiling, and then finally said, "Yes, I think so."
I thought he might cry then, but instead he gestured to your bodies and said,
"He's scarred now, you see? He's got his scars now. Our scars make us who we are. The Overgovernor won't want them anymore, and they've got their scars."
I screamed. I continued to scream as I knocked your father to the ground and rushed to the two of you. You might die without help from Garlen now. I didn't know for sure. But both your faces ... So much blood.
I whirled on your father, dagger drawn. I wanted to kill him. The passion for violence rose up in me. Seeing it, he became filled with anger. "Don't you know what I've done?"
he spat. He whirled, grabbed his sword from the floor, and placed its tip against my chest.
I might be able to kill him, but it would be difficult. We faced each other, frozen.
Garlen and Thystonius appeared.
Mirror images of each other, eight feet tall, in silver armor. I could only tell them apart by a slight difference in expression. Garlen, her eyebrows creased in concern, Thystonius, her eyes gleaming with a hunger for energy.
"Save the children," said Garlen.
"Conflict is all you have left," said Thystonius.
I wanted both, but the Passions did not leave me that option. Both pulled me so strongly.
But I thought this: What would I want to be able to do tomorrow?
I turned toward Garlen and lowered my head. "Please. I will follow your ideals until I am done with my life."
She touched my head and I felt her powers rush through me.
The Stone Rainbow, which had been in a slow descent from the moment the huge crack appeared, slammed into the ground, sending us flying around the room. More chunks of stone, large this time, fell to the floor. Huge fissures raced up the wall. Light spilled in. I scrambled up fearing what J'role might do.
But he was already gone, vanished through the hole in the wall. I could only see thick, dim jungle and gray mist outside.
You boys lay bleeding. Kneeling beside you, I wielded the healing powers Garlen bestowed upon me.
28
The Therans retreated to a small portion of southeastern Barsaive, their presence but a shadow of its former power. Both of you lived, but would always carry the scars of your father's action. Some of the alliances formed during the Theran War have held, and the might of Throal is growing. Vrograth's son, Kerththale, is the chief supporter of King Varulus among the crystal raiders.
You asked me to tell you about your father, and I have done so. After healing you, I discovered that you had no memory of what had happened with your father in the cabin, and I decided it was best that way. And later I learned that you had only dim memories of your encounters with him in the previous months.
He never came to see us again, nor have I heard from him since. Until these recent letters.
I have been true to Garlen these many years, but the one healing I have never attempted is that of healing your father. I think if I tried, he would destroy me.
Even now fire consumes the letter from Mountainshadow. I do not want to read it, I do not want to be drawn near J'role. I become weak when I am near him, my sensibilities confused.
I tell you this, I do not think either of you should go to see him, if that is what he has asked of you. I am afraid because he has renewed his interest in me. I am afraid for he has renewed his interest in you. And I am afraid for him, because there are things inside him, horrible things, that I do not believe he can defeat.
I wish so much I could be there for him. But there are some things we cannot do.
Even for people we love.
May the Passions remain true within you no matter what choice you make.
Love, Mother
Document Outline
section 1.doc
section 2.rtf
Section 3.doc
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