I turned my back on her. I couldn’t look at her another minute. “You need to go, Emma. I won’t hear this. I must make amends for my trespasses, and I won’t add to them by listening to your wild accusations.”
“So you’d rather kill me than trust me?” Her words came out in a ragged whisper.
I didn’t respond. I didn’t even turn around until I heard the door close behind her. Emma’s words buzzed in my head like a cloud of angry hornets. She was trying to take away my faith, my belief, my family. It tore up my insides because I could not deny that I was completely, undeniably, irrevocably in love with Emma. Yet it did not change that she would have to be shown the Light. That she was destined to die to save the world, just as my destiny was to hold her hand to that end.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I stood before the four Masters of Luxis in the main hall, their high backed, wood-carved chairs arranged in a semi-circle around me. They all donned the same indigo-colored, velvet robes with intricate gold stitching. Patchouli and sandalwood incense burned aggressively from the corners of the room.
My Masters’ faces shifted between disbelief and concern as I related the events of the last three days. Yet again, I left out details of my relationship with Emma. I wanted to disclose everything, yet something held me back. At the end of my report, I bowed my head as they conversed, leaving me to struggle with my inner contradictions.
Master Violetta spoke first. “The actions by the Order of Veritas are outrageous.” Her white and gray streaked hair was pulled back into a tight bun, making her face severe. “Now that they know we have the Propheros in our possession, they will do anything to intervene.”
Master Wu pressed his fingertips together. “There is no telling the war that could break out if the other three Orders find out.” His eyes always reminded me of two small black pebbles struck by harsh sunlight.
Master Ilsa thoughtfully propped her knuckles under her pointed chin. “The war could be brief or drawn out for decades. The Propheros has been named, but the matter of when her role shall be played is yet to be determined.”
Master Violetta waved her hand, and closed her eyes, calling upon the memorized text she carried with her. “When the night sky becomes ill, we shall know the time has come. Where the earth breaks, the dark lord shall journey in a fortnight’s time to set his deathly foot upon the soil of the earth.”
“That is not of importance yet, we cannot anticipate the event,” Master Ylang interrupted. “What is of importance is that we have the Propheros. Our only concern now is how to best protect her.”
“We should keep her here, of course,” Master Ilsa, the youngest of my Masters, though I’d never known her without deep age lines in her face. Her ice-blond hair was plaited into two long braids and her eyebrows arched dramatically even when she made no expression at all.
Master Wu sat up. “No, we cannot. The other Orders will surely come to take what they wrongly believe is theirs. It is only a matter of time before the agents of Veritas come, since the Chevalier did not slit their throats as he should have to silence them on this issue.”
A ripple of unease shot through me. It was my job to protect the innocent. While the agents spouted lies of my heritage, it surely did not warrant their deaths.
Never before had I questioned my Masters. I kept my head bowed and attempted to clear my mind until they deemed appropriate action for me fulfill.
I felt Master Wu’s eyes on me. “We must also choose the appropriate Chevalier to assign to the Propheros. Someone who knows what is necessary to best serve the Light.”
“The text says the Chevalier will be chosen by the Propheros,” Master Violetta said in her slow drawl, conjuring the text from memory again.
Four sets of eyes fell on me. I resisted the urge to lift my head, waiting for instructions.
“My ward,” Master Ylang called, beckoning me to join the conversation.
“Yes, Master?” I gave a short bow.
He stroked his long, stringy mustache for a moment, then straightened in his chair. “We are about to share the sacred text with you.”
I bowed deeply this time and replied, “Blessed be the word of the Light.”
Everyone turned to Master Violetta who closed her eyes. “And the Propheros shall choose Chevalier. Where truth meets power, a bond to bind, where the wind meets the mind, the Propheros shall instill its being to Chevalier.”
When she was done, Master Ylang asked, “What say you, Calan?”
He had never asked me to interpret text before. The words crowded and cluttered each other up in my head. Normally I would release them as easily as they came but for once I tried to sort and sift through the words until they made sense. But I knew better than to admit such a thing out loud. “I am not one to translate the Light, only to do its bidding.”
Master Ylang nodded as if he was pleased I had confirmed something. “We believe the texts refers to a bond that the Propheros will make. Perhaps psychic in nature. Maybe some kind of alarm to warn the Chevalier that the Propheros in danger so that he may better protect her.”
I stifled my reaction, maintaining a blank face.
Master Wu leaned in with a thin black eyebrow raised. “Have you experienced such a bond with the Propheros while she has been under your protection?”
I paused. “I believe I have.”
Surprised mumbles were exchanged.
“Explain,” Master Violetta said simply.
“In times of extreme emotion, I have felt a shared fear that has allowed me to better aid the Propheros when she has been in danger.”
“And when you first felt this bond,” Master Wu said, “what did you think it was? My understanding was that you thought the long haired mook you brought with you was the Propheros. Did you also form a bond with him?”
“No, Master. It has only been formed with the true Propheros. I cannot say what I interpreted it to mean.”
“You are withholding something from us,” Master Ilsa said sharply. “I won’t stand for this insubordination. Speak it immediately, Chevalier.”
This is what I had feared most. She was right. I was lying by omission and it was a transgression that would further prevent me from regaining my soul. “I have felt the bond to the Propheros through many extreme emotions.”
“Such as?” Master Violetta asked patiently.
“Fear. Fear and lust,” I said it before I could think about it too much.
Master Ylang closed his eyes, disappointment radiating from him. I pressed my hands into the sides of my legs.
“Lust?” Master Ilsa repeated. “Lust for others, or lust for something in particular?”
My heart beat so hard it felt like it would break my chest into a million splinters. “Lust for me.” I couldn’t help the heat that no doubt stained my cheeks with flush.
The collective gasp confirmed my fears. Master Ylang looked at me with pity in his eyes, which was worse than if he’d taken the staff to my palms. I should have told him at our first interview, yet I withheld it.
“Did you redirect the child on how preposterous these feelings were?” Master Ylang asked.
I kept my stare focused on the knot of wood in the chair, just above Master Ylang’s head. “Yes, Master. I have made many attempts to illuminate her on the natural order of the Light, and how I am far from it.”
“There you see,” Master Ylang said, turning back to my other Masters with satisfaction.
Yet I could feel the burn of one of their stares boring a hole into me. My stomach felt like there was a hill brimming with skittering ants in it.
It was Master Violetta who spoke. “And you, Chevalier, ward of Ylang, do you return such… lust to the Propheros?”
My tongue felt heavy. My heart pounded erratically. The words felt thick but they had to be said. “To lie would be to turn away from the Light. Yes, I also share in this feeling of… lust.” The word came out husky where I meant it to ring clear as a bell. Lust was such an underwhelming word for w
hat I truly felt. Emma was so much more than an object of lust. She bore confidence and strength, tempered by compassion and heart.
“This won’t be borne,” Master Wu insisted. His voice reached a near-screech when he addressed me. “We must assign a different Chevalier at once. Have you soiled our Propheros?”
I shook my head and the words came out in a stutter. “I cannot deny there was opportunity to turn away from the Light and give in to the temptation she presented, but the Propheros remains a virgin.”
Thoughts of my tongue lapping between her thighs as she orgasmed on my fingers sprang to my mind and the instant arousal was weighed by guilt and sin.
I should have kept silent but suddenly I couldn’t help myself. “I would never compromise the Propheros. My feelings for her only ensures my dedication to her protection.”
“Oh gods,” Master Violetta sighed with a frown.
Master Wu’s mouth tightened as he glared at me.
Master Ilsa seemed uncomfortable with this progression, and looked away from me as if I could taint her simply by laying her eyes on me.
“Master Ylang tells us you lost your powers temporarily,” Master Wu accused, a bony finger shaking in my direction.
“This is true. For almost two days I could not call on the Light to bring us to the Temple.” My brows furrowed. “I cannot say why, but it did return.”
Master Violetta said quietly, “You broke your faith.”
My heart skipped a beat. “No. That cannot be so. I am faithful to the Light, to the mission. It is all I am.”
Master Violetta continued, “Your power is fueled by your belief, your faith. The only reason you may lose it is to subverted faith.” She looked at me curiously.
Master Wu addressed Ylang this time. “He broke the faith. He is not fit to serve our Temple anymore. I told you this would happen. You coddled your precious golden boy.” The last words were said in a sneer.
Master Ylang’s voice cracked through the room. “My ward has gone through the trials as every Chevalier has and at each turn excelled past expectation.”
Hope sprung inside me. Master Ylang could make them see how dedicated I was. My life was theirs. I did not break the faith. I’d make them see that.
My Master’s cloudy eyes froze over. “Yet my ward has turned his back on his Order and against the Light. Chevalier, you are to stay confined to your quarters. Until further notice, you are to no longer have any contact with the Propheros. Do you understand?”
My jaw tightened but I bowed deeply then turned on my heel and left. Before the door shut behind me, I heard Master Violetta call in a servant to the Order and say, “Call for my ward. Bond or no bond, Ylang’s ward is no longer fit to protect the Propheros.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
It didn’t sit right.
In my quarters, I tried to push away the blasphemies Emma had spoken and focused on my faith in my Order. Counting out thirty pushups, I moved to doing them one-handed in an attempt to expel the harmful thoughts from my mind.
It just wouldn’t sit right though. My thoughts and feelings couldn’t be tamed. There was so much I didn’t know. Before I could give my actions too much thought, I pulled on my usual mission clothes and slipped from my room and made my way to the sacred reading room. Silently, I closed the door behind me, knowing if I was caught, my Masters would flay the skin from my body. Which would be ridiculous as I’m unable to read and thus, as helpless as a babe in here.
The circular room was small but at least four stories high, packed with books. The mustiness, tinged by the vanilla of aged papers, was cloying in the small space. Many books were pulled regularly, but most were buried in blankets of dust, especially those several rows above my head. The ladders were impossibly tall and looked precarious at best. Of course, my Masters had bird-like frames, so their weight wouldn’t jeopardize the stick-thin ladders crawling up the walls.
In the center of the room sat a podium displaying a large, leather bound book. The skylight twenty feet up filtered rays of late-afternoon sun down onto it. The sacred text of the Light. Casting my eyes upon it sent a shiver of fear through me for my irreverence. What was I doing? Even with the scant few words I’d learned for navigation purposes, I didn’t stand a chance at reading what the book said about Emma. I could sneak Emma in here to read the book, but I didn’t want her to see me break my faith. If I were to bring her in here, the betrayal would be sealed. It would be confirming to her that I no longer trusted the people who made me what I am.
“I do trust them,” I insisted to myself, my words swallowed up by the stacks of books. I just… also needed to prove it for myself. My face dropped into my hands and I let out a frustrated sigh.
Then an idea struck me. I slipped back out of the reading room as quietly as I came in. It didn’t take long to find Travis and bring him back with me.
“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” he protested as I shoved him inside and shut the heavy door behind us. He had bathed and been provided with light linen pants and matching shirt, but earlier I had heard his voice carry down the halls demanding to know where his Metallica shirt had gone. It appeared as though they got it washed and returned because he wore the billowy pants but with the freshly washed, still-damp Metallica shirt. I wondered briefly whether it was a family heirloom like Emma’s necklace.
“Shh,” I cautioned, speaking in a low voice, hoping he would follow suit. “I need your help.”
He crossed his arms. “Why should I help you? Since I met you, it’s been nothing but a crazy train, man.”
“Because if I hadn’t been there at the liquor store, your soul would have been consumed by that malevolent spirit.”
His arms dropped as did his mouth as he tried to formulate a fitting retort.
“Please, Travis.” I begged.
With a sigh and slump of his shoulders, I knew he would help. I turned for him to follow me to the book. “I need you to tell me what the book says.”
“What makes you think I can read some archaic word of your gods?” he groused but followed me.
“I believe it is in text you can understand.”
“Then why don’t you read it?” he asked, still petulant.
“Because no one ever taught me to read.”
That seemed to shut him up and take some of the sulk out of him too. “Oh.”
I opened the book up to where I remember Master Ylang reading to me about the Propheros. I remembered about how many more pages were weighted to the left side from my vantage point.
“Read this, please,” I added. “If you can.”
With a shrug, Travis looked at the script and muttered, “Fancy writing but you’re right, it’s English.”
“What does it say about the Propheros?” I urged him on.
He flipped through some pages until he found it. “The darkness shall cross the threshold to harken the Propheros is near. And with it, the dawning of a new age. Well, that’s heavy.”
It was the same thing the agents of Veritas had said.
“The soul eater, when he became solid and stepped onto our plane,” I said, then urged him to continue, not sure how much time would pass before he was missed. The Order did not trust having strangers in their midst and would keep a close eye on him.
He spoke slowly as he made out the words. “The Propheros shall be a tide against the coming darkness. When the dark lord of Stygian passes through the gate and sets foot on the earthly realm, the Propheros shall make the greatest sacrifice to destroy the dark lord and save the fertile lands of the living.”
Looking over his shoulder, though I could not read what it said, I asked, “Does it say anything more about the sacrifice?”
But Travis had stopped. After a moment, he asked in a quiet voice, “Does this mean Emma is going to die?”
I ignored his question. “Does it say anything else, Travis?”
“Yes, Travis, does it say anything else?” Another voice joined us from the shadows.
&nb
sp; I jumped forward to put myself between Travis and whoever else had snuck into the reading room but the intruder was invisible to my eye. The room was so small, we would have noticed if they had come through the front door. How did they get in?
“Gatsby,” I said, recognizing the voice though I could not see him.
“Did you miss me?” Gatsby asked drolly. My gaze moved upward as I realized he was shrouded in the shadows, several ledges above us.
“Yes,” I replied automatically.
He let out a dry laugh. “That’s Calan for you. Polite to the end. Don’t worry, I’m not happy to see you either, brother. I was called back and I see why now.” He leapt from the ledge, landing silently on his feet before straightening.
He looked the same as when I had seen him five years ago. The same sharp eyes, the dark blonde hair pulled back in a low, short ponytail. There was still the long, jagged scar running through his left eyebrow and the same sneer pulling the side of his mouth. Gatsby reminded me of an animal who never got used to being caged, always impatient and on edge. The only difference was his face and body had become more angular, as if he’d been deprived sufficient nutrition at some point. He was athletically thin compared the amount of bulk I had on my body and I knew from fighting him that he was the fastest of all the Chevaliers.
“You’ve been a bad boy, Calan,” he tsked, and the sound bristled up my back. “They called me because they don’t think you can do your job. Something about how you plan to sully the purity of the Propheros?”
He was always jealous of the freedom the Order had given me. Gatsby questioned their authority enough times that they kept him on a short leash. The last time was five years ago, when he had tried to run away. I briefly wondered if his more honed, malnourished features were a result of their correctional actions.
“I thought Tomas was their first choice?” I asked innocently enough, but I saw my mark land and Gatsby’s mouth twist.
“Yes, well I’m usually not their first choice, but very occasionally I’m the only one who is around to get the job done.” Gatsby was also Master Wu’s ward, and I did not envy him that. Gatsby looked over my shoulder at Travis who managed to stay silent behind me. “Though I must say, I’m surprised by what gets your gears going, Calan.”
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