Before the Dawn

by Kristal Lim

There was an explosion of movement, a scream from Meran, and then Raven was on the floor getting pummeled by a furious Trevor. "You son of a bitch!" he snarled as his fist connected with Raven’s face again and again. "You fucking–!" He suddenly yelled out in surprise as a force blew him away from the Prince and he struck the opposite wall.

  A golden nimbus made Raven’s mother appear like a goddess as she hovered in the air and stared down at Trevor. "You never touch my son!" she hissed, raising a fist that sparked with molten lighting and getting ready to throw it at him. But Raven was quick to get up and hold out a hand to stop her.

  "Mother, no!" he said. "Leave him to me! Please."

  She looked outraged for a moment that he would dare to stop her from exacting revenge on his behalf, and like she also badly wanted to blow something up just for the hell of it, but she eventually gave in to her son’s entreaty. She stopped glowing, set foot on the floor again, and sniffed. "Very well," she said through her teeth, obviously still seething.

  Raven sighed and looked relieved. "Now would you please go?" he asked softly. "There are things I wish to discuss with these two."

  Her expression froze. She clearly wanted to protest, but Raven silenced any words she might have said with a firm and unyielding stare. Finally, she nodded quite stiffly, turned her back to them, and disappeared from sight between one second and the next. Raven then faced the two mortals. "Can we now have a discussion without anyone wanting to physically attack me? I will never understand why humans seem so fond of dialogues that involve violence of some sort, but we are in the Strangelands now, and that is not the way we do things here. So can we just talk about this unfortunate little development calmly?" He put a lot of emphasis on the last word.

  Grudgingly, Trevor nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak just yet. He made himself take a deep, steadying breath, and then he walked over to the chair he had upturned when he had flown at Raven in a rage, set it right, and sat down. Meran, for her part, remained standing and looking anxious. She couldn’t quite seem to make up her mind which person she was going to stand near to but, after several seconds, she made her decision and went to Trevor’s side. They both looked at Raven and waited for him to speak.

  The Prince gazed at Meran for a moment, his face impassive, but she carefully avoided his eyes. He let out a little sigh and then started talking. "I know the news I just shared is upsetting," he began, "but it is not completely hopeless. I understand the two of you came here to save Aline and your friends, and I am willing to help you do that, though I think it's a foolhardy mission, more so now than before. It can still be done, however, but we need to be clever in going about it."

  "And exactly how are we going to do that?" Trevor wondered. He couldn't keep a tinge of bitterness from creeping into his voice. "You just told us that you've been ordered to kill the very same people we're trying to save. And, oh, one more thing. I remember what happened seven years ago, you son of a bitch. Maybe it's a side effect of being resurrected, but I got my memories back. And I remember that you talked to Aline and asked her to help free you from your service to your brother by giving in to the spell. And you stole the silver leaf that was the only protection she had against him. You knew all along how she could have saved herself, but you didn't tell her about it because you cared more about your own ass."

  Raven looked uncomfortable at this revelation while Meran was very obviously shaken. She stared at the Prince with an expression that clearly conveyed she was feeling betrayed.

  Trevor suddenly laughed, sounding slightly mad as he did so. "You skipped over those parts when you shared your memories with me before. And I never even noticed." He glared at Raven. "You've been lying or keeping things from us the whole time. How the hell are we supposed to believe you now when you say you'll help us? Just what is your agenda in all of this? We can't even trust any word that comes out of your mouth!"

  "Raven?" Meran prompted when he didn't say anything in his defense. Her voice was strained when she asked, "Is Trevor telling the truth?"

  Reluctantly, he answered. "I did speak with Aline. I did try to influence her to surrender to Benwyr. And, yes, I stole the silver leaf she had that was protecting her."

  "Did you also not tell her how she could have broken the enchantment?" Meran wanted to know. "You could have told her that, but you didn’t?"

  He didn’t meet her eyes when he finally said, "Yes."

  "Why not?" she demanded. "You knew what was going to happen once your brother got his way. You knew we’d be trapped in his Court. And you didn’t say anything?"

  "I just," he sighed, "I just wanted to be released from my bond. I did nothing out of malice towards anyone."

  "I don't believe this." She exhaled sharply, her breath catching on a sudden sob. "Trevor’s right," she exclaimed, her eyes starting to display the unmistakable sheen of tears. "I don’t even know if I can trust whatever you say now. Just what is the truth about all of this, Raven?"

  "Oh, what does it matter?" he snapped, clearly unable to bear the pain he saw on her face. "I know I made mistakes, all right? But I am willing to correct them and help you get your people back. What more do you want from me?" In his agitation, he started pacing. "I know that everything has become needlessly complicated and problematic. Well, not everything is my fault, you know! How could I have predicted that all this would come to pass simply because I chose to grant one little wish?"

  Meran stood very straight as she fixed Raven with a solemn gaze. "Please, before anything else, I would like you to tell us the whole truth, everything that you kept from us or lied to us about. Please–just tell us. You owe us that much."

  He let out a breath. "I never deliberately lied," he said quite feebly to excuse his actions. "I became my brother's bond servant after he nearly died because I didn't want him to find out my mother had played a part in almost killing him. So I pledged my service to him and vowed to help him regain the love he had lost. I thought–I thought it would be a way to make things better. I served him for years until we found Rosamund's reborn soul, and I stole the silver leaf protecting Aline and did what I could so she would choose to be with him–because I just wanted him to be happy! I knew, but I hoped I was wrong, that something within him had been corrupted by the killing curse of years ago. But he is my brother, the only one I ever cared for, and I owed him his happiness after it was stolen away from him the first time, so I ignored the signs. Then when he finally got Aline, I knew that my mother was still planning something unpleasant for him because she had hidden another silver leaf within Aline's heart. And I wanted no part of it, so I left. Now I have to kill him." He suddenly glared at them. "Do you think it does not torment me, knowing I will be one of those who will end his life when it was through a fault of mine that he has become what he is now?"

  They were both silent as his eyes flashed with anger. "Well, are you satisfied already, or do you still wish me to speak more truth?"

  A twisted, little smile appeared on Meran's lips. "All of this," she said in a low tone while shaking her head and looking bitter, "it's life and death to us but, to your people, it's just a squabble for a throne. My friends and I–we're nothing, just collateral damage. All it's really about is who gets to be king. God!" She sounded disgusted with him.

  "I have never cared for the throne," Raven protested, actually looking a bit wounded that she would think that of him. "I would have been perfectly content to bow down before Benwyr and call him my King. But one little spell cast a long time ago went awry and caused a lot of grief, and now we all have to confront the consequences. I certainly never expected things to end this way."

  "Yeah. It was all just fun and games to you until it became serious," she said. "Then you ran away, and things got even worse. You could have done something to prevent this from happening." Her tone wasn't angry or accusing, Meran just sounded really tired and sad, but her words had enough power to make Raven step back.

  "I admit," he said carefully, "that I may have done things tha
t exacerbated the situation. But I never truly meant anyone harm."

  "And you still won't stop lying," Meran half-whispered. "Why should you care about these things, huh? You're immortal and powerful. So what if your idea of fun means you play around with people's lives? Or what if you and your mother have to manipulate and kill people just to get what you want? No big deal, right? It's just how you are."

  Raven was looking truly pained by this time. "Why are you saying all of this?" he demanded. "Are you deliberately trying to wound me?"

  "No." They stared at each other like they were the only two people in the room. "I'm just realizing things that I should have seen earlier," Meran told him. "You know, I'll be really glad when this is all over. Then I'd never have to deal with your kind, or see you, ever again."

  Raven was speechless after hearing these words. Anguish flashed in his eyes for a moment, and then he abruptly disappeared. Trevor heard Meran release a little sob and he turned to her in concern.

  "Are you all right?" he asked quietly when he saw that she was crying in earnest now.

  "Oh, I'm just great," she snapped as she dabbed at her eyes. "Just really, really great!"

  He chewed on his bottom lip nervously for a moment, trying to think of what to say that would not make her feel worse. "I'm sorry," was all he could come up with. "This is all just a mess and we're both–we're both just stumbling around trying to make sense of things and do what's right. Raven, he's–well, but is there something between–?" he left the question unfinished.

  She sniffed and didn't speak for a minute. Finally, she answered him. "It's just–Raven and I–" She started crying harder. "I've been really stupid. He's a Prince, for God's sake, with magic powers, and he's gonna live forever."

  There was a short silence, then, "Are you in love with him?" Trevor asked. He was fairly sure of the answer, but he thought that maybe she needed to admit it, especially to herself.

  She didn't say anything right away. Instead, she dried her eyes and got herself fully under control again before she spoke. "It doesn't matter." She tried to smile at him. "I used to avoid guys like him when I was in high school, you know. I was supposed to be smart about these things. Now I just feel stupid."

  Trevor stared at her intently. "You still look like you're in high school," he reminded her. "And it's normal to not be smart about some things. Believe me."

  "Yeah," she nodded. "I guess you would know. You got the chance to grow up while we got stuck in time, more or less. I don't even wanna think about how we'll manage if we do get back home. What if our families still don't remember us? What are we gonna do then?"

  Trevor was struck by this question. He honestly had not considered it before. What would happen to Aline and Meran and their friends if they were able to go home? He wouldn't be there to help. And what if no one still remembered them? They were still technically underage. Showing up mysteriously in town without any records of them existing would just cause a whole bunch of problems, and they had already gone through so much.

  "Maybe," he said, thinking fast, "maybe when the Prince dies, all his spells will be reversed. Maybe your families would remember you then." He really hoped that would be the case.

  "I hope you're right," she said. "God, this is all just a mess. Why can't we just get to the happily ever after part already?" She laughed bitterly. "Oh, yeah. Because it doesn't exist."

  Feeling awkward, Trevor twisted in his seat so he could pat her hand, wishing that he was better at comforting people. "We'll find a way to fix things," he said, hoping that he sounded confident. "We know people with magic, remember? There's gotta be something that they can do." He stood up then and looked around. "So, we're in Raven's mother's castle, right?"

  "Yeah," she said. "He said it was the nearest place he could get to."

  "Have you been anywhere else other than this room? Do you know what time it is? When are the Princes going to attack Benwyr's Court?"

  "The last time I looked it was around noon." She shrugged. "But time is weird here. Do you wanna go exploring? Let's try to find Raven and learn what he’s planning to do. I know he's most probably brooding somewhere in this place."

  "You sure you're okay with seeing him right now?" he wanted to know. "Can you promise not to rip the guy's guts out before we can get him to help us?"

  "Yes," she sighed. "Look, I know it wasn't exactly the best time to get all emotional on him, but I couldn't help it, okay? Just finding out that I could have not spent the past seven years trapped in this place, if only he'd helped Aline instead of his brother–it's all a bit much to take in, especially with what the King wants his sons to do to my friends."

  "We'll find a way to save them," he promised quietly. "He may have worked for the other team before, but I'm sure Raven will help us now. He has to. He owes us that much."

  She nodded, but she still looked depressed.

  While Trevor had been recovering in the room deep within the castle, Meran had had time to explore the place for a bit. So she was quite confident in leading him out of the dining room and into other parts of the grand building in search of Raven. It turned out to be quite a strange journey.

  The architecture, in Trevor's admittedly non-expert opinion, seemed to have been designed by a demented romantic with a passion for non-Euclidean geometry. The curves and edges of things were always just slightly off, stairs winded everywhere, doors opened to nothing, lights brightened and dimmed at random, plants and flowers grew from stone, water flowed from ceilings to the floor then vice versa–it was all quite overwhelming and amazing and terrifying and strangely gorgeous at the same time. Trevor quickly became dizzy while trying to make sense out of what he was seeing, so he stopped trying and just looked at everything with a wonder-struck expression.

  Meran, though, was more blasé about the whole thing. When they at last climbed up a steep flight of stone steps that suddenly inverted itself at the top and they found themselves in the middle of a raised platform in a pool of green water that had a door in the ground, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally!" she exclaimed and got on her knees to open the door. It swung widely upwards and their position abruptly shifted again when they walked through and came out into a large balcony that overlooked the biggest room that Trevor could ever imagine. The whole place was so huge the four gigantic columns supporting the glass roof soared thousands of feet into the air. Frames of silver held the glass in place, and it took a moment before he realized that they actually made an elaborate pattern that he thought looked vaguely Celtic in design.

  "Impressive, huh?" Meran said beside him while he just gaped up at the roof.

  Trevor finally managed to tear his eyes away from the awesome sight and looked at her. "Did you really know where we were going the whole time?" he asked. He thought that was even more impressive than the roof. He would have been hopelessly lost in seconds if he had tried to find his own way around the castle.

  She shrugged. "Things change around a lot in their castles, but as long as you fix it in your head where you want to go, you'll get there. You get a feeling, like there's an invisible compass moving your feet. And there are always little markers that remind you you're going the right way. Of course, that's only if the castle and its owners want you to make your way around the place, or don't really care where you go. If they suddenly become hostile, the castle will kill you."

  "Huh. That's not very comforting to know," he commented, still glancing up at the roof from time to time. It was a thing of beauty. "Especially if we're gonna try sneaking into the Prince's castle again."

  "Yeah," she agreed. "He wasn't ready for us before, and I think Raven may have shielded us and the leaves helped, but Benwyr can be really nasty when he sets his mind to it. So we'd have to be more careful than ever." She walked over to the balcony's edge then and gave a little gasp at the sight she beheld below. "Trevor, look at this." She beckoned to him.

  Curious, Trevor joined her and took a peek at what had caught her attention.

  T
hey had found Raven. He was walking across the magnificent hall, looking quite small from the great height where they were standing. The light from the roof, which Trevor now saw had the golden glow of afternoon, shone down on him and then was swallowed up by the black clothes he was wearing. At the end of the room was a massive pair of golden doors where his mother, also attired in black, waited. Once Raven reached her side, they had a brief conversation, and then he nodded quite sharply and she took a few steps back until she was standing just slightly to his right. A few seconds later, at what must have been an invisible signal from one of them, the heavy doors slowly opened outwards.

  A sound like the roar of a huge angry wave as it crashes against the shore assaulted their ears once the doors were fully open. Trevor looked at the sight revealed beyond the doors and he realized that the roar was made up of the voices of thousands upon thousands of soldiers arrayed outside. His eyes also picked out the tall figures of six warriors wearing armor who were walking towards Raven with arrogance in their strides.

  "Brother!" the tallest and the burliest one exclaimed in a booming voice that was loud enough for even Trevor and Meran to hear.

  The two humans then looked at each other worriedly. The other Princes had arrived. They were soon to attack Benwyr and his Court.

  ~~~

  Chapter 25