Scrivener's Tale (65 page)

‘You brought us together. We are the Triad?' Cassien asked.

Fynch nodded. ‘You each had a role. I hoped I'd never have to use you, but the mere fact that I took the precaution means I knew in my heart that you would be needed.'

‘Use is the right word.'

Fynch shrugged. ‘I love each of you. I'm sorry that I am your father because any child of mine was going to have burdens as I did … as I have.'

Florentyna stepped between them now, just as Romaine had earlier. ‘Stop this! Cassien, your
father
stands before you. This is the man you have surely longed to meet, to embrace. I could hear the longing in your voice to know family — Fynch has just given you three blood kin. Grab them and hold on! Fynch, I am beginning to gather you have had very little choice. It seems that you, too, have had a life of duty to Morgravia. I am sorry that you two have not known one another in the way you would wish, but life is not known to be terribly fair. I can vouch for that.'

Cassien felt her words sting. Everything she'd said was right. If he could only push himself past the pain of learning the truth, then all that she suggested seemed perfectly reasonable to ask of an intelligent person and especially someone who had known loneliness for so long.
Why push my father away
? he asked himself silently.

‘Hamelyn's so young.' He realised he'd spoken aloud.

‘True, but he has enormous untapped power. He can speak with Romaine,' Fynch said. Cassien blanched.

‘But he doesn't know her.'

‘Romaine can reach out to him. We're waiting for him, in turn, to initiate contact, and then he will accept his power. Once he knows how, he will be able to speak to you and Gabriel as well. Hamelyn is still scared. He dismisses his power in his mind as simply being knowledge he has accumulated, but it's so much more, Cassien. Hamelyn's knowledge is coming from a far more ancient source than he can begin to believe.'

Cassien swallowed. So the strange happening in the cathedral was true then. ‘From the dragon?'

Fynch smiled in wonder. ‘You know?'

Cassien put a hand up in defence. ‘I don't understand though. Forgive me, your majesty. I lied because I thought it was a mistake.'

She frowned, sat on the stoop of the hut and hugged her knees. ‘What lie?'

Cassien watched Fynch lean against a tree, noticed how concerned Romaine was. She padded over to sit by Fynch in case he needed her. Cassien squatted down to make everyone feel easier. ‘In the cathedral,' he continued, ‘both Gabriel and I were called to the dragon pillar.'

‘What?' she said, an odd smile of disbelief in her expression. ‘That can't be right. It's impossible,' she added, cutting a glance at Fynch and then back to Cassien.

‘He named us both,' Cassien pressed. ‘We were both unnerved, as you can imagine. It was easier to lie than to face it.'

She shook her head. ‘But …'

‘It is possible, Florentyna,' Fynch said softly, ‘if the three boys have the blood of Morgravia passing through their veins.'

‘Wait,' Florentyna begged, ‘I need to catch up. Explain to me how my father is somehow father to Cassien and —'

‘Not your father, child.
My
father,' Fynch said.

They both looked at him with lost expressions.

‘It's high time I said this aloud and admitted it myself,' he said. ‘My father was King Magnus. My mother was no-one — a farmer's wife. She was very beautiful, far too loose with her affections and inordinately fey. He was lonely; she made him laugh, she wanted nothing from him, and even from the moment I quickened in her womb she never let on that I was his child. I was born into a humble family. A good man believed me to be his son. I had no reason to doubt it until I began working at the castle as a gong boy. Then I, too, began to feel the attraction to the dragon and began to piece together what must have occurred.' He waved a hand. ‘That's all history. The fact is, I am the bastard son of King Magnus of Morgravia, half-brother to the hated Celimus and kin to your ancestors,' he said to Florentyna. ‘I am soul-twin to the dragon king, who chose me and with whom I have remained bonded through centuries. He knows what I do today is …' He trailed off and looked sadly at Romaine.

‘What?' Cassien asked, his tone suspicious.

‘It has inherent dangers,' Fynch replied, ‘for all of us.'

‘Will you forgive me?' he then said suddenly, taking Cassien by surprise.

Cassien was stumped for words momentarily, although he was well aware of Florentyna's glare burning the side of his face.

The pause lengthened and Cassien saw Romaine lift her head and fix him with a penetrating stare that felt like a knife into his heart.

‘It …' he began and Fynch looked up and at him with a sad expression. ‘It has been lonely. But it has not been unhappy or unworthy,' he said and knew he was speaking from his heart. This was no brave face, no words of a martyr. The truth was that his life, though strange, was not without pleasure or merit. ‘I could have done without Loup's punishment,' he admitted, ‘but then I also couldn't imagine life without Romaine, or the forest. If you asked me to choose, I would choose Romaine and the forest again and put up with the beatings and loneliness.'

Fynch nodded. ‘Thank you for your grace, Cassien. It is more than I deserve.'

Cassien glanced at Florentyna, who slumped her shoulders in a frustrated sigh. ‘Cassien, what wouldn't I give to hug my father. Don't waste it.'

In three strides he had the small man in his arms and both wept with joy at finally being father and son in name, as well as in knowledge. And they wept especially for the simple physical pleasure of their embrace. Nearby, Florentyna shed happy tears for their reunion, although she seemed blatantly unaware that, at the same time, she was stroking an enormous she-wolf.

Later, over a small picnic of fruit, nuts and a soft goat's cheese that Fynch had thoughtfully provided — but did not himself partake of — they gathered their thoughts for the pressing matter that had thrown them together.

‘We can't let the queen remain here, Cassien. I know you feel you can protect Florentyna in the forest and in any other circumstance you would be right, but not where Cyricus is concerned,' Fynch advised.

‘Why?'

‘Because the forest is too large. The creatures are at risk, as you will need to roam.'

‘What do you mean? I don't understand.'

‘I've asked Gabe to use his skills to open up the Void to you.' Fynch shook his head slightly at Cassien's frown. ‘Let me explain. Gabe possesses an extraordinary ability to create a scenario, for want of a better word. In his life in another world he could re-create the Pearlis Cathedral with such authority, ease and accuracy, that he believed, firstly,' Fynch said, holding up a finger, ‘that it was a place of his own design because he knew it so well. As it turns out he was building this cathedral in his mind from a childhood memory. Secondly,' he continued, holding up another finger, ‘he can access his “destinations”,' Fynch said, loading the word, ‘in a heartbeat and maintain them for as long as he chooses.'

‘How do you know he can do this … and what is the Void?' Cassien asked, receiving a nod of approval for the questions from Florentyna, who was clearly finding it hard to follow the conversation.

‘I'll answer the second part of your question first. The Void is emptiness. It is where the Wild catapulted Cyricus centuries ago. It sent Aphra elsewhere, not taking any chances with the two of them. Gabe can reach the Void. Better, he can create it.'

Florentyna gave a small gasp, sounding awed, and shrugged at Cassien's wry glance. ‘You've had the presence of magic in your life. I'm having to accept everything that's been going on around me in the last few days without question. That's hard, Cassien. Even so, without being told, I'm presuming that what Gabe can do is impressive.'

‘It is indeed, your majesty,' Fynch confirmed, ‘and let me tell you why. Gabriel thinks that I showed him the Void and I've let him believe it, because he hasn't yet put faith in himself. Understandably he feels like the interloper we can't help but see him as. However, I have told him the truth about his birth and his parents, that his real beginnings are here in Morgravia.'

‘How did poor Gabriel take it?' Florentyna asked, sipping on some sweet wine that Cassien had rustled up from the hut.

‘Shocked. He felt wounded, as you did,' Fynch said to Cassien. ‘Most understandable. Unlike you, though, he didn't ask lots of questions. He listened. He's a deep thinker. I think Gabriel will turn it over in his mind and know that I speak the truth because he has felt like an outsider all his life. Now he knows why. He has experienced Cyricus and Aphra for himself, so I am not asking him to take leaps of faith as I ask you. He already knows the truth. He is already primed and determined to destroy Cyricus … except he can't do so without his younger brothers.'

‘Are you telling us that he created the Void?'

‘Not created, no … I'm saying he can re-create it in his mind. He has seen the Void in his nightmares but has never remembered the detail of the dream when he wakes, only that it frightened him. Why? Because it is where he will place Cyricus.'

‘He's going to do what the Wild did,' Florentyna breathed, catching on.

‘Yes, your majesty!' Fynch said, sounding delighted that she was following his thoughts. It was obvious she'd made the connection faster than Cassien had. ‘I cannot allow Cyricus to get close to the Wild. His destructive powers are vast. I don't really know what he is capable of with his magic and I'm not prepared to test his abilities. I do know that he is far wiser this time. His first visit to the Wild was made so innocently, although I can hardly bear to speak in such terms about Cyricus. He simply wandered over to explore because he sensed its magic and beauty.' He looked at Cassien. ‘As I've told you, it shunned him, knowing before he did that he would want to harness its power, certainly make it his realm. Elysius before me urged the Wild to rid itself of Cyricus. Now as the present Keeper of the Wild I have taken a different approach.'

‘Outwitting Cyricus with the placement of your empowered sons,' Florentyna finished.

Fynch nodded, with a smile for her. It was obvious he enjoyed her agile mind, able to quickly embrace and follow new thoughts.

‘How does Gabe know he can do this … I mean, put Cyricus into the Void?' Cassien asked, throwing the crumbs of their food into the undergrowth for foraging birds to discover.

‘He can't put him there. Only Cyricus can do that. Gabe's job is to entice him … lure him there for you. He can put you there; you can use Gabe, through your blood connection, to reach the Void when you roam.'

It all seemed to make sense now. Both Cassien and the queen sat back, as though dawning had hit.

Fynch continued. ‘Gabriel has immense power, enabling him to preserve the Void for the length of time you will need to face Cyricus and defeat him. He believes that I was waiting for him in the Void to show it to him, when in fact he understood the Void — and embraced it without being aware of it — as soon as he laid his hands on the claw of the Great Dragon in the cathedral … his beast. The King of the Beasts showed him the Void and Gabe can now conjure it up, reaching out to it as though dragging it close to himself. And without even being aware of it, he called to me. He included me in the Void — I cannot get there alone. He will conjure it and bring you to the Void as well.'

‘And my younger brother?' Cassien asked, clearly getting used to the notion of having family.

Fynch shared a glance with Florentyna. ‘He sees things, hears things that others miss.' He smiled. ‘He's like me in that regard. I was a wealth of what seemed to be useless information until, one day, I was required to start putting together all that I had seen, heard and experienced. It's how I worked out that King Magnus was my father, that Celimus was planning to kill my friend Wyl Thirsk … and other things that are of no relevance to you,' he said, cutting his thoughts deliberately short. ‘Ham's role will be to warn you and Gabe, for he will know when Cyricus is close. He has another role that hasn't fully shown itself but I'm sure it will.' He smiled at them both as if concluding all that he wanted to share. Cassien knew it was pointless asking Fynch more about what he wasn't saying.

He looked at Florentyna, who clearly also had a question in mind. ‘He won't tell you. He'll speak in riddles. He only shares what he thinks we need to know,' Cassien said.

Florentyna glanced at Fynch, who laughed.

‘Cassien seems to have my measure. I may be old but you might like to tell your champion, your majesty, that my hearing remains sharp.'

She looked from one man to the other with a bemused expression, but Cassien was already moving on.

‘If we can't stay in the forest, where do we go?'

‘Somewhere we have the advantage of seeing people approach — remember, we don't know what guise he might be in. Somewhere that can feed and house a queen with slightly better quarters than a one-man hut.'

‘All right,' Cassien said, looking only slightly hurt. ‘Then how about Rittylworth Monastery? It won't take us long to reach it and it has everything you demand for Florentyna.'

‘Including stuff that I don't want to confront again so soon,' Florentyna murmured, although her remark was ignored by her two companions.

‘Brother Hoolyn is a friend,' Fynch went on, turning the idea over in his mind. ‘He would lay down his life for the Crown.'

Cassien nodded. ‘That's settled then.' He sighed. ‘Fynch, there is one thing I want to ask.'

‘Go ahead.'

‘I was told that my power … magic … call it what you will, can learn.'

Fynch's gaze snapped back from Romaine, who he was stroking, to Cassien. ‘You were told?' Cassien nodded. ‘By whom?'