Behind the Third Door: The Innocence Cycle, Book 2

by J D Abbas

  In the end, Elena was so weary, she fell asleep leaning against Celdorn’s chest, though the day had just begun.

  Chapter 5

  Elena, startled awake by two birds twittering angrily in a nearby tree as they fought over a nest, pushed away from Celdorn’s chest. She sat upright, trying to clear her muddled, aching head. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Perhaps an hour.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked, embarrassed she’d forced him to sit there for so long.

  “I didn’t want to. You were weary from your restless nights and had a difficult morning. It was a pleasure to hold you while you slept.” He stroked her face as she gazed up at him.

  She glanced around. “Where’s Elbrion?”

  “He went to tend to some business.”

  “I’m sorry, Celdorn. I’m keeping you from your own duties.”

  He smiled down at her. “As Lord Protector, I’m free to choose where my time is spent and with whom, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now.”

  Elena blushed and looked away, still uncertain how to handle his kindness. A sudden wave of grief and agonizing loneliness rose like a flood and threatened to overwhelm her. Though startled by their intensity, she forced the debilitating feelings into a quiet corner of her soul, secured them and refocused.

  “It’s a beautiful day.” She gazed up at the inviting summer sky, letting her mind drift along with two hawks who rode the turbulent air currents. The wind gusted, shredding the clouds until they looked like cloth whose edges were tattered and frayed. “I love the wind,” she said in a far off voice that lapsed into silence, watching as the clouds moved rapidly eastward… so free.

  Celdorn eyed her sideways but allowed her the diversion without comment. He seemed content to share the silence with her as they sat in the late morning sun.

  Elena broke out of her reverie. “Celdorn, may I ask you something?”

  “Certainly,” he replied lightly.

  “We’ve talked a lot about my life and my family, but I know little about yours. I was wondering how you ended up the Lord Protector and how it was that Elbrion came to be your constant companion, especially since the Elrodanar no longer leave Queyon.”

  Celdorn’s face sobered. “It’s a long story, little one.”

  She blinked and looked up at him as his grief doused her like a sudden spring deluge. “And a sad one.”

  He returned her gaze. “Yes, a sad and difficult one…” He turned his eyes to the sky, letting them drift with the clouds. Elena wondered if he was debating how much to disclose. She waited, feeling the prickle of fear.

  With a heavy sigh, Celdorn pulled his gaze down and began. “My father was lord before me. As was the custom, the Elrodanar had chosen him from among his many brothers when his father, Malgion, passed from this life. He was lord before he married my mother. Though he worked out of Marach, they chose to live in Shefali, a village near Queyon.

  “My mother loved Queyon, having spent many years there. She was a student of the lore and the songs of the Elrodanar. She would often sing them as she put me to bed. Because of her, the music of Queyon is in my very bones.” His voice grew soft. “I often hear her singing in the night.”

  “Where is she now?”

  A shadow passed over him. “She’s dead.”

  “I’m sorry, Celdorn.” She touched his chest. “I can feel the hole in your heart.”

  He startled and looked down at her with a wrinkled brow. “At the time, I didn’t appreciate what I had.” Celdorn focused on the mountains and distant times. “I was the oldest of four. I had two brothers and the youngest was our sister. There was a fifteen-year span between my next brother and me. I suspect it was because my father was away in battle to the north and traveling to fortify our strongholds in the south during those years. He was a devoted and valiant leader. His men loved him.”

  Elena noted that he referred to all of his family in the past tense. She was afraid to interrupt to ask why. She had a profound sense she was treading on sacred ground.

  “My mother and I lived in Queyon when he was gone for long periods of time. Most of my earliest memories are among the Elrodanar. It’s an amazing place for a child to grow up.” Celdorn paused for a long time, focused on the mountains, a faraway look on his face.

  Finally he continued, his expression darkening. “When I entered my twenties, I started spending time with my father and training with the Guardians. I was willful and undisciplined. I was more interested in playing than working. My father and I had many arguments during those years. How I wish I could take back my hurtful words.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

  “When I was close to thirty, I traveled with him to the south for the first time. We stayed in Kelach for several months. I fell in love with the Ilqazar immediately; that was when my stallion, Malak, chose me. We spent days on end traveling together through the mountains and ravines, finding hidden places to explore.

  “I was content to spend much of my time alone until I met Kyola.” When Celdorn paused, a sharp pain stabbed her chest. “A Wallanard girl from Proso.” Elena looked up in surprise. “The most beautiful creature I had ever encountered, but she was smart and sweet as well.

  “My father discouraged me from the relationship because of the difference in our races. Being Wallanard, she would live only seventy or eighty years; I would most likely outlive her by at least a hundred. I know now that my father was concerned for my welfare, wanting me to find a partner who could share my long life, but I didn’t see it that way at the time.

  “When my father was ready to return to the north, I refused to go with him. We had a terrible fight. In the end, I chose Kyola over my family and my duties as a Guardian.” Celdorn’s voice filled with remorse. “It was a poor choice. Within a month, I found her lying in the bed of another man and was informed that she had been doing so all along.”

  Elena closed her eyes, her chest throbbing with the pain of his wound.

  “I immediately set off for home, my heart shattered. It was a long, lonely journey. I knew that I would have to beg my father’s forgiveness when I returned, and I wasn’t accustomed to humbling myself or admitting my error.” He paused again, sighing deeply.

  “As I climbed over the summit of the Pallanor Mountains and descended into our valley, I noticed plumes of smoke rising from a dozen places near our village. An urgency gripped me, and I pressed Malak to fly.

  “When I approached Shefali, I was horrified to find most of the village razed to the ground with many of the structures still smoldering. Bodies were strewn everywhere. There was only a handful of people wandering about, digging through the rubble.

  “I rode with all haste to our homestead, panic rising in me…” Celdorn faltered and stopped.

  Elena’s skin turned to gooseflesh. She laid her hand on his arm. “What did you find?”

  Celdorn looked down at her, eyes brimming with tears. “Our home and every outbuilding were completely destroyed, burnt to the ground. I jumped from Malak and ran toward the house. I was stopped cold when I found”—his voice broke—“the body of my father, sword in hand, lying near my mother’s.” He put his head in his hands, his body racked with sobs. Even after all these years, the pain of that moment seemed to strike him full force.

  “Oh, Celdorn…” She wanted to say more, say something soothing, but she couldn’t find any words that seemed sufficient.

  He gazed at her from glazed, tormented eyes. “Their bodies had been hacked into pieces.” He swallowed hard. “I had seen bodies injured in battle, but I had never seen the likes of this. I stumbled to the remains of the house and searched for the rest of my family. I found my baby sister’s body in the rubble. She died in her cradle, consumed by the fire. My brothers were nowhere to be found.”

  Celdorn grew quiet, lost in a labyrinth of memories. Elena sat still, her hand over her mouth, allowing him the silence he needed to gather himself and trying not to get lost in the images that expl
oded in her mind.

  After a time, Elena’s brow furrowed. “Celdorn, is this the same attack in which Mikaelin’s parents were killed?”

  “Yes. Mikaelin was just a boy. Had his mother not been so quick to hide her sons, they would have been lost as well.”

  Her frown deepened. “Was Shefali where Haldor once served as priest?”

  Celdorn shook his head. “He worked in one of the other villages, but they were attacked at the same time. From what he has told me, it was equally horrific. The raiders seemed to take special pleasure in defiling a holy place and those who lived there. Everyone he loved and served with was killed or taken away. He still can’t forgive himself for not being there. That is a grief we share.” Celdorn stared off at the mountains.

  “Haldor told me about the raid, just not the details. He said it was for others to tell. Perhaps he meant you.”

  Celdorn rose and leaned on the balustrade. “I should have been there,” he said, his voice etched with an agonized regret. “So many times I have replayed in my mind how things would have been different had I come home with my father. Even if I had died, I would have died valiantly, beside my father, nobly defending my mother and sister, rather than pledging my fidelity to a faithless wench.” He pounded the railing as a guttural cry erupted. “Ah! I was a fool.”

  Elena gave him a few minutes before she joined him at the balustrade, his pain twisting in her belly. “What happened to your brothers?”

  “I found out from some of the survivors that most of the boys were taken captive.” His body sagged as if weighted.

  “By whom?”

  “The Ice Men from the north.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Ice men?”

  “We have no other name for them. They are called that because, according to lore, they live in a place covered with snow and ice most of the year. Their land is harsh with waterways woven through it, so they travel most often in strange boats. Because the mountains to the north of Marach are impassable, the invaders came to Shefali by sea then through the Tralori Valley as they had thirty years earlier.

  “When I returned to Shefali, I had missed them by only a day,” Celdorn said, shaking his head. “I immediately went to Marach, wondering why the Guardians had not responded to the attack. I found them under the influence of some sort of enchantment. The entire keep was asleep, and it appeared they had been for days. I roused them, and we gathered a hundred Guardians to pursue the Ice Men. We rode relentlessly for three days and arrived at the sea in time to see their sails fade into the horizon. We could pursue them no farther.

  “Devastated, I returned to my village to do what I could—to bury my family,” he sighed. “It was then I met Elbrion, wandering through Shefali, helping wherever he was needed. He assisted me in digging graves for my family and gathering the parts of their bodies, a most gruesome task. He was a great comfort to me.

  “After we finished, I went to stay in his home in Queyon for a time. He told me what he knew about the things that had happened to Shefali and the two other villages in the valley.

  “The Ice Men had appeared four nights before I returned. There were nearly five hundred of them. They went from home to home killing the men and raping the women and girls. When they were through using them, they were killed as well. The boys who were old enough to work were taken captive; the others were raped, mutilated, and eliminated. They pillaged the homes and burned what was left. Worst of all, they seemed to take sadistic pleasure in dismembering those that had fallen. Except for the children. They preferred to leave them whole and their bodies posed in such positions as to make it quite clear how they had been defiled.” A shudder ran through Celdorn’s body.

  “Elbrion was near our village when they first attacked. He tried to stop some of them using what skills he had in manipulating the Jhadhela, but he was unarmed and no match for their numbers. They bound him and made him watch as children were raped then sodomized with their weapons when the raiders could perform no more. Finally, they beat him and left him for dead. They knew enough of the Elrodanar that they dared not set a blade to him, knowing it would release a fearsome power.”

  Elena stared at Celdorn, horrified, wishing she could weep the empathetic tears that burned her eyes.

  “Elbrion survived, however, and was able to make it back to Queyon. He begged the elders to send out the Elrodanar to defend these helpless people. They refused. They told him they no longer engaged in warfare and were neither willing nor equipped to do battle.

  “He rode to Marach to plead for assistance, but as he passed the villages, he realized the Ice Men had already departed. He arrived at the keep just after I had left with the detachment of Guardians to chase the pillagers to the sea. He went back to the villages to offer assistance to whoever had need, and when I returned a week later, he was still there.

  “Elbrion and I were both devastated by what happened in Shefali—in different ways, but we both felt a great sense of failure. Neither of us had any family left, so we became family to each other. We shared a common resolve to become as proficient as we could in all disciplines of warfare and the gifts of the Jhadhela. We trained diligently at Marach and studied with the masters in Queyon.

  “When it came time for the Elrodanar to appoint the new Lord Protector, I was mystified when they chose me. It certainly wasn’t due to my past record; I was notorious for my rebellion. They could have selected anyone. I had assumed it would be Zarandiel, a great man, a faithful man. The council simply said the Jhadhela had chosen; it was my destiny. They were convinced I would rise to the calling.

  “I resisted it at first, refusing to believe they could be right. My shame would not allow me to receive such an honor and my fear of failing my people kept me from wanting to take on the responsibility. It was Elbrion who changed my mind and helped to turn my will.

  “He told me that our hearts had been refined by the fire we had passed through in Shefali, which had strengthened our wills to serve the Jhadhela with true devotion. He saw a depth of compassion in me for those that suffered that he felt was essential to any leader.

  “One night he placed his hand on my heart and told me he felt the heart of a lord—the heart of my father—beating in me. That very night, he vowed to stay ever by my side to serve and protect me, to strengthen me in my hours of weakness, and to believe in me when I lost all faith in myself, until death would part us.

  “He has done this faithfully for twenty-four years. Now I can’t imagine life without him. He knows me better than I know myself most of the time.”

  “What happened to his family?”

  Celdorn pulled her in to a sideways hug and kissed her head. “That’s for him to tell.”

  Elena was quiet, pondering what he had shared. “Some of the things you saw at the encampment must have stirred up your own pain.”

  “Yes, little one. As did seeing your body after what the Farak had done to you, and then that animal here in the keep.” He looked at her through his tears. “When the helpless are so badly mistreated and defiled, it brings up that overwhelming torment in my soul, but it also strengthens my resolve.” The fire returned to his eyes. “We can’t give up. We have to keep fighting, especially for the innocents.”

  “And I’m so thankful that you have, or I would still be living in the torment of the shadows.” Elena longed to weep as she put her arms around him, but her tears were locked away at the moment. “I’m truly sorry for what happened to your family.”

  He returned her embrace and let his own tears flow freely. Elena reached up and laid her hand against his heart. She felt his chest shudder, and his tears increased.

  Neither of them noticed Elbrion step onto the balcony. When Elena glanced up and saw him standing by Celdorn’s door, she wanted to go to him but didn’t want to desert Celdorn.

  He must have felt her ambivalence. “Yes, go,” he whispered, releasing her.

  Elena ran to Elbrion and threw herself into his arms, expressing a thousand silent words of than
kfulness, of sorrow, of shared pain, in the ferocity of her embrace.

  Chapter 6

  That night, Elena fought sleep. She had invited an overjoyed Sasha to share her bed, not wanting to face the dark alone. Even though Haldor was guarding her, he seemed a million miles away; the dog was so much nearer and warmer—and didn’t ask questions.

  Images of Shefali filled her mind. She relived Celdorn’s shock when he found his parents’ bodies and Elbrion’s horror at the things he was forced to watch. She wondered if Anakh had been there, prodding the Ice Men, demanding the worst evil she could imagine. Elena was afraid if she closed her eyes, these thoughts would devour her. She wrapped her arms around Sasha’s neck and buried her face in the dog’s soft fur.

  As much as she was disturbed by these thoughts, far worse was the dread of going to sleep and dreaming about her babies again. On the other hand, staying awake meant worrying about what Anakh might do to her children or what she’d already done to them. Elena cuddled into Sasha and whispered thoughts of love, praying they would reach her children’s hearts.

  ~

  When Elena finally slept, Haldor, who was her guard through the night watch, heard her struggling and sobbing almost continuously for hours. In spite of his skills in blocking emotion, he could not stop her pain from pummeling him. He grieved that she was assaulted by such agony.

  Suddenly, Elena sat bolt upright, gulping in mouthfuls of air. She glanced around the room as if expecting to find someone or something there. After a few moments, she laid her head on Sasha’s back and wept uncontrollably. Even his presence wasn’t enough to stem the flow of these tears.

  Haldor approached her with caution. “Elena, are you well?”

  She shook her head.

  He knelt by the bed. “Is there anything I can do to help?”