Morning came and everyone was up and ready for breakfast in the large hall. They prepared no provisions except water, knowing that there would be plenty of food to be eaten when they reached the glass building. There was an electric excitement in the air, although no one said much. They all knew something wondrous awaited them at the top of the falls. So when they had finished breakfast and bid Sauron goodbye, they mounted their horses and rode toward the falls. They were all eager to get there and so they rode more quickly than normal and soon could see the mist that came from the thunderous crash of water at the bottom of Brickens' Falls. They staked their horses and once again entered the mist, found the ledge and the secret door, and entered the room behind the falls.
Rebekka spoke with her mind to Andronicus and informed him they were at the bottom of the falls and would be arriving in a few minutes. They entered the small room and Andrew pressed his ring to the panel with its inverted crests and the room started to move upward. Reaching the top, the doors opened and the four stepped out into the glorious surroundings of the garden that took their breath away. They all were once again absorbed in the beauty that surrounded them and were only shaken from its soothing peaceful effect by the approach of two figures coming to meet them on the path. One was Andronicus; the other was wearing a robe. Hooded but feminine features showed through. The four turned to face the approaching two with silence, frozen in place by the fear, happiness, and wonder of the moment.
Joanna Kallestor walked purposefully forward, looking at the four young people standing there facing them a short distance off. Two were her own children and the other two were now her son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Part of her wanted to run to them, her heart aching and yearning to see her daughter and son again. But the other part of her was angry, a little bitter of all that she had been deprived of for more than two years. Andronicus had related to her all that he could gain of the events as they unfolded during the past two years in the kingdom, and of any additional events that he had learned of from the first visit of Raven, Andrew, Rebekka, and Lorriel. From this she had surmised a great deal, but still had many questions.
The two stopped a short ways from the four young people. Joanna Kallestor reached up and pulled back the hood revealing her whole face and looked at Raven and Lorriel. Lorriel could hold back no longer. She dashed forward and embraced her mother, and they both broke into heartfelt crying. Raven stepped up to them, not knowing what precisely to do, so he enfolded them into his arms and held them both until their sobs subsided.
Joanna looked up into Raven’s eyes and hugged Raven tighter. “My how you have grown and changed,” she said.
Raven spoke then, “Mother, I want you meet my wife, Rebekka, and your son-in-law, Andrew Crestlaw.”
Rebekka and Andrew now came forward and joined the embrace of the others.
Joanna looked at all of them and said, “So much has happened. I have so many questions. Please come with Andronicus and myself to the feast we have prepared for you at the glass building, and then we can talk.”
They all started off down the path toward the glass house, Lorriel and Joanna holding hands with Andronicus leading the way, Andrew following beside Lorriel.
Raven intentionally slowed and let the others get ahead as he walked slowly with Rebekka.
Rebekka looked at him and said, “What is it, Raven? Something troubles you about all of this.”
Raven nodded, “Even though it has been more than two years since I have seen Mother, I know there is something else that is bothering her, something she has not yet told us.”
“Yes,” Rebekka acknowledged, “there is something else she is holding back from us.”
“Did you read her mind?” Raven asked.
“No, no,” Rebekka said quickly, “it would be wrong to do so, but I sensed other emotions besides the joy of a reunion. Those were too obvious to hide as you yourself noticed.”
“I believe we shall find the answers to our questions after we have eaten,” Raven stated.
Rebekka nodded and reached out and took Raven’s hand in hers, and together they followed the others into the glass building.
The meal was wonderful. It had all of the touches of his mother’s cooking, even though he knew Andronicus had done most of the preparations.
When they had eaten until they were all very full and satisfied, Joanna spoke, “Tell me Lorriel, all that I have missed since I supposedly died. Please, leave nothing out.”
Lorriel looked distressed and said, “I do not wish to tell you everything. That is why I had you brought here, to spare you the pain of what has happened since your supposed death.”
“I know of the war,” Joanna said, “and of Edward and Mollen dying. What I want to know is why and how.”
Lorriel looked to Raven with pleading eyes, but Raven shook his head sadly and said, “We must tell her the truth Lorriel. She is our mother. She is family and she deserves to know everything.”
Lorriel looked away and did not say any more so Raven began himself to tell of the events of the past two years. He gave a condensed version of the history but left nothing out concerning the king’s misplaced suspicions and how that led to the war, the assassin, and finally Raven’s confrontation that led to the king taking his own life.
After he had finished, his mother stared intently at Andrew Crestlaw and asked, “How do you feel about all these events and the Kallestor’s trying to destroy your family?”
Andrew answered without hesitation, “It was only one Kallestor that sought us harm, and even then we would have forgiven and not sought retribution. I love your daughter more than life itself and I love King Raven. He is my best friend, and our family pledges to serve him as long as we live. I do not believe there has been a finer king in the land these past centuries, My Lady, than your son. He has made sacrifices over and over for the kingdom and its people. I follow him, the other dukes follow him, and the whole kingdom follows him because they have seen his heart.”
Raven could see that his mother was satisfied with Andrew’s answer for she now shed tears at the heartbreaking news Raven had given her.
Her sobs brought Lorriel out of her reclusiveness and she tried to console her but her mother spoke forcefully to her through her tears, “What gave you the right to decide what I should and should not be spared? I see now that Raven had to bear a heavy weight and I might have been there to help him bear it, but, instead, by your choice he bore it alone. I might have been able to persuade your father from his madness in believing a conspiracy existed. In fact, before my death he mentioned his fear of the Crestlaw’s power and I would have done something if I had the chance. Do you think it was not painful for me to be up here while the war raged? When Edward died, my heart almost broke, first for his death, but then more so for not being able to comfort all of you and share your grief. My heart ached to share in the joy at the double wedding you both had. To miss the joy brought me more pain, and finally, when you came here the first time I was forbidden by your command, Lorriel, from seeing you. Do you know how much that hurt? I wanted so badly to tell you I was alive and bring some joy to you, but I was denied. You have no idea how painful this has all been to me.”
“Tell them, Andronicus, tell them.”
All eyes turned to Andronicus. He did not flinch but spoke unemotionally, “There were times Joanna wished she had not been saved but left to die of the plague.”
Everyone was quiet and somber until Lorriel could take it no longer, “I am so sorry, Mother. I never meant you pain, only to spare you from it. Perhaps I can even now change things the way you want. I will just go back...”
But before she could finish, everyone yelled, “No!” in unison.
Lorriel crumpled back in her chair, defeated and crushed by the overwhelming majority of opposition to her plan.
Her mother’s features softened as she now spoke with love and affection to her daughter, “Lorriel, I know you did what you thought best for me
at the time, and I am glad you did save me from death. I have had two years to think of this so I had to get it off of my chest, but let the past be. It is behind us.”
“The past is a closed door for all of you,” spoke Lorriel, “but not for me. What is wrong with trying to change things for the better?”
Now Raven spoke, being the leader he was, “Lorriel, what if you went back and changed things again and it had a worse consequence than what has happened here? What if your changing things somehow allowed Father to succeed in killing Andrew? Could you live with that kind of action? Would you have me to die and Edward to live?”
“I do not know, I do not know,” blurted out Lorriel as she began to cry.
Raven walked over to her, knelt beside her, and took her hand in his, “That is why you should be careful of changing the past. You are not God and cannot see all the consequences your actions will have for the future.”
Then Raven looked at Andronicus and his mother, “Come, give me some help in this matter, can you?”
Andronicus and Joanna came to Lorriel’s side and Andronicus began to speak, “What you did probably had less affect on the future than any other action you could have taken in saving your mother, even though it was hardest on her. Even I do not know the parameters of time shifting, and I do not think the ancients did either. None of them considered the fact that some of their descendants would become their own ancestors. Like you, they did what they did without considering the consequences in full. No human can, nor,” he paused, “a machine.”
Lorriel pondered all of this and then spoke, “I have this great gift but I cannot use it with certainty. Is that what you are telling me?”
“Now I think you are beginning to understand,” her mother said lovingly.
Through her tears Lorriel spoke, “I will never shift time again.”
Rebekka who had kept silent through all of this now spoke up, which caught everyone’s attention, for they now noticed how quiet she had been. “Have you ever, Keeper, considered why so many of our ancestor’s abilities showed up in this generation, at this time with the four of us? It does not make sense except for one fact: There is a greater purpose to be served. What, I cannot tell, but there must be a reason.”
“Yes,” the keeper said, “the odds negate this happening by chance. There is no such thing as astronomical coincidence.”
“Then,” went on Rebekka, “our gifts are meant to be used for some purpose, and that means you as well, Lorriel. We should form a time conference, a gathering to weigh the possibilities before Lorriel ever shifts time again. That way, we can minimize the risks of any disastrous outcomes.”
Lorriel nodded, “With you as councilors I would have the guidance needed to travel with wisdom.”
“We shall call ourselves the Keeper’s Council and agree to meet here if great need arises,” added Raven.
They all agreed, forming a circle around Lorriel.
She felt better and stood and hugged her mother who in turn returned the warm embrace and said, “You promise not to time shift unless you call a conference first?”
Lorriel nodded, swearing to never do such a thing alone again. With that, they all began to visit, the pain of the past behind them, sharing only the good things that took place in their mother’s absence. Joanna also took joy in getting acquainted with her new son-in-law and daughter-in-law, proclaiming her children could not have made better choices. Rebekka and Andrew in turn fell instantly in love with their mother-in-law. Having only known her as the queen, they now saw her as the person she was. Time passed so quickly that no one noticed the sun getting lower until the keeper brought out more food. They ate quickly and prepared to depart, walking down the beautiful pathway that led back to the waterfall. A sadness settled over Joanna as she realized the day was coming to an end.
“I wish I did not have to stay here. I wish I could come with you,” Joanna said.
Lorriel sadly said, “That is my doing. I am sorry, Mother.”
Raven smiled and said, “Maybe we can take care of that.”
He took the keeper aside and began to explain his plan.
“A great aunt, you say,” the keeper said thoughtfully, “one who left the kingdom long ago whose daughter, which by the way looks very much like your mother, has come back to the kingdom to live with you? Hmm,” the keeper smiled.
Then turning to Joanna, he said, “I think Aunt Jessica looks very much like your mother, don’t the rest of you?”
They all smiled and nodded agreement.
Epilogue:
Raven Kallestor stood by a fresh grave on this crisp fall day. The funeral had just finished. Everyone else had left. Only five remained at the grave: Two young men, a young lady, and two older men weathered by time and the trials they endured. One had been blond but now was mostly white, and the other once had black hair but now it was peppered with gray, accenting the gray beard the king wore.
Raven turned to Andrew and said, “I am sorry. I know how you feel to lose someone so close.”
“Do not be,” replied Andrew, “you gave me the best years of my life, making it possible for me to marry your sister.”
The two young men were Raven and Andrew’s sons and they were the best of friends. The young lady was Lorriel’s daughter, who, like her mother possessed an extraordinary gift. Raven had just finished telling them how it all started, the Crestlaw and Kallestor friendship, and why they should be friends forever, like their parents. Soon they would give their sons the rings they each wore. For now, they waited patiently with tears in their eyes for this chapter in their lives to close.
The king knelt down and placed a single white rose on the grave and thought, “When my time comes, will anyone place a single white rose on my grave? I hope it will be so....”
Here is part of book two coming soon.
The King’s Ancestors
Book Two of the Kingdom of Glenfair
“Is everyone here?” Daniel asked. Uriah nodded, they were both appalled at the number of people who secretly came to make the leap in time. There were over forty people who had found out about something that was supposed to be a secret.
“This cannot work,” Uriah said. “Surely with all these people here, someone has made a mistake and Layton Teal will find us, and then we are all as good as dead.
“I would rather die than live a moment longer under a tyrant as cruel as Layton,” Daniel echoed. “And it seems that everyone else who has gathered here feels the same way.”
The scientist, Samuel came over as Daniel spoke, followed by Merry Sheldon.
Looking at the scientist Daniel asked, “Are you sure the stones will work?”
Samuel frowned, “In theory yes, but we have never tried to move this much mass with the isolinear resonating stone before. Everything now depends upon Merry.” All three of them looked at Merry Sheldon, the woman who possessed a very rare ability to shift time. All of their plans and hopes rested on her ability to take them and their equipment far away from the iron grasp of Layton Teal.
Daniel gathered the people around the equipment and raised his hand to speak. “If any of you has a doubt about going, now is the time to leave.” No one said a word so Daniel continued, “Then it is time for us to go.”
“Where are we going?” someone from the back shouted.
Daniel smiled, “We are going back in time, back to where history begins.” Then looking at Merry Sheldon he said softly; “Go ahead, take us there Merry.”
Merry Sheldon concentrated with all her might on the time and place so far back in time. The isolinear stone glowed and their surroundings began to shimmer and fade. Just when everyone started to feel frightened and lost, their surroundings began to take shape once again. Everyone found themselves standing in the middle of a beautiful, green valley beside a lake, four thousand years in the past. Cheers arose from the people as they realized their dreams of being free had come true. Daniel was congratulating Samuel, and Merry
threw her arms around Uriah, hugging him tightly.
“We are free of Layton Teal forever!” she said. Uriah smiled as he held Merry, but the joy was not there. Was it possible to really be free from Layton Teal? Somehow he did not think so....
The King's Folly Page 32