Son of Ereubus (35 page)

“You were there,” Michael rasped.

Sweat poured down Garren’s face as he nodded. “Did you see anything before I reached you?”

Michael shook his head. “Do you know anything of my sister? Words again came from your lips that weren’t Adorian.”

“I knelt when I saw her, but heard nothing.”

Michael believed him. “Then you didn’t hear Ciara address you?”

“No.”

“She said, ‘You are too late. She is mine.’ Do you have any idea where such a vision would have come from, or for what purpose?”

“I can’t begin to imagine. No Ereubinian or anyone else living aside from the Laionai themselves has had an audience with her, though it appears the tide is changing.”

Michael almost didn’t say anything, but he felt his gut urging him to. “I can assure you that’s not true.”

Garren looked up. “What
?
”

“Ariana. The day you released her from Palingard. Ciara approached her in Arcadia. She was trying to persuade Ariana against going any further, which would keep her from crossing over into our borders. She appeared to her as a child.”

Garren stood up from his bed and started to circle the room.

Michael thought for a moment that it was odd that he didn’t feel the urge to pace himself. “I’m unsure what your place is in all of this is. You speak our language when it’s never been taught to you, and in a vision you speak in a tongue that only you and Ariana posses. I can’t ignore that.” Michael knew his next sentence wouldn’t be anticipated. “I’m requesting that you appear before the elders. The council may have questions for you that I want to give you a fair chance to answer. Perhaps if they see the difference in you, as I have seen, it will steer the course of things to come.”

Garren turned his gaze to the ground. Michael could almost reach out and touch his remorse. It couldn’t have been an easy choice to make — walking away from everything he’d ever believed. Michael had been wrong, Garren hadn’t chosen Adoria based on her leniency, he couldn’t have. He’d never known mercy.

“I don’t know if in the pace of the last two days that I’ve thanked you for saving Ariana’s life.” Michael dipped his head to catch Garren’s eye. “You don’t know what it’s done to change mine. And dream or not, you saved my life when you thought the threat was real. I felt the blood rushing through my veins at the same pace that it must have yours. While I cannot forget the wrongs that have been done to my people, I can personally forgive you for them. It’s easy to be honorable and just when you’ve always been so. It’s clearly another matter when it’s against all that you’ve been taught to believe.”

Garren’s breathing quickened. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. All this time, I assumed my father’s blessings upon my actions and I have done nothing but shame him.”

Michael shook his head. How many times had he told Ariana that darkness flowed through the veins of all of Eidolon and here he was retracting that statement to his sworn enemy? Maybe the world had fallen to pieces. “You are everything that I would have been, had I been raised in your world, Garren. While our ideals and methods have been drastically different, our dedication to our beliefs is the same. That’s why I want you to meet with the council. I want them to hear your words — see what I have seen.”

Garren swallowed hard. “I would still be that being had I not found Ariana. Her presence, just the simple touch of my hand on her cheek, irrevocably changed everything for me.”

Michael remembered what Ariana had told him about their conversation. “I have been relayed a very different version of your feelings for my sister.”

Garren sat down on the floor. “Ariana dreamt when she was in Eidolon that your father came to her and told her that you would be there soon and I remember well her calling out for you several times in her suffering. My feelings for her are stronger than anything I’ve ever known. But I am at death’s door and have no intention of leaving her with resentment toward you for what must be done. Selfishly, I want her by my side in my last hours. But because I love her, I cannot allow it.”

Michael was speechless. He’d taken Garren for many things, none of which was selfless. “Then what changes have been wrought in you are not false. What I have witnessed is truth.”

“Michael, you must listen to me. Merely being in close proximity with her, near her in any fashion, awakens emotions and experiences that I’ve never known. It’s as if I’ve lived two lives, one of righteousness, one of depravity. But it may be a persuasion of one whom you cannot afford to trust, The Laionai or the Goddess herself. Do what you know to be right, and let fate be what it may. It was my introduction into her life that brought all of this on, so perhaps when I’m no longer breathing, it will cease.”

Michael looked at the floor. Garren’s words had truth behind them, but to what extent? He’d have to trust that he’d know what to decide when the time came. He had no other choice.

“We’ll see. You haven’t eaten anything. If you are ill, then I will send for our healer. If not, then give your body what it needs. Your judgment in our realm doesn’t include your suffering needlessly.” He gave Garren as much of a smile as he could given the circumstances. “I will send another plate of hot food and a blanket. If you change your mind, let the guard know, and he will summon Aulora.”

Michael left the cell and stood in the hall for a moment with his back against the wall. He concentrated only on his breathing — everything else was far too overwhelming.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-S
IX

SEVEN KINGS

S

he’d left Michael with the intention of resting, but her curiosity was too much, especially in consideration of all that had transpired. And of course in conjunction with Michael’s revelation — she couldn’t fathom having powers. There had been so many things throughout her life that had made her feel less than normal, but she couldn’t conceive of what he’d described. Yet, she was hardly in a position to argue that what he’d said couldn’t be possible. After all, her father had done what he had for a reason.

“How far is the Saeculum?”

Duncan, who’d met her in Michael’s doorway as she was leaving, took a moment before answering. It seemed as though it had been awhile since he’d been there himself. “Not too far. An hour’s ride or so.”

He scratched his beard, his brows furrowed. “I chose to bite my tongue in Michael’s presence, but if this ever happens again, I won’t leave your scolding to him — I’ll personally make sure that you understand the consequences of your actions. Many died in Eidolon to bring you back here safely. I know you care about Sara, but being whose daughter and sister you are, you must realize your actions have more weight than before. You may not consider it much to risk your life, but it means everything to Michael. And to me.” He reached over, and pulled her to him.

“I’m sorry Duncan,” she whispered.

He patted her back roughly with his hand, and then released her. Taking her by the shoulders, he leaned down to face her eye to eye. “I heard a rumor that you defeated a few of their men before being apprehended. Is this true?”

“Eight or nine? I wasn’t really in a position to keep count.” She rubbed her shoulder where Aiden’s blade had pierced her, the memory lingered still.

“Nine?” He laughed. “That shouldn’t surprise me. I’ll give you this, you’re brave. I have had grown Adorians twice your size cower in their boots at the sheer thought of going anywhere near Eidolon, and you ran off alone in the night to walk right into it. Did you see her? Was she still alive?”

“Yes. She’s one of the breeders, as you said she might be.”

He tilted his head to the side, his hands shoved into his coat pockets as they walked down the corridor. “So, you saw her in the outer courts.”

She knew without asking where this conversation was going. “I followed them into observance. You didn’t think I would go there unprepared to find her did you?” His eyes grew wide, as she expected. “I’m too tired to go over all of this again, do we have to talk about it right now?”

“No. You don’t really want company today do you?”

She paused before answering. She felt guilty considering all that he had gone through for her sake.

“It’s alright. You aren’t going to hurt my feelings. We have been constantly by your side since you arrived here. I will tell you how to get there, just make sure you take Koen with you, please. Give an old Adorian some peace of mind at least.”

She leaned down to pet him. “Of course, I’d be lost without him.”

Duncan smiled and began to give her directions.

As she ventured beyond Cyphrus, out into the countryside, she thought of her conversation with Michael. Why would her father have asked her brother if he recalled the way to the Saeculum, had it not had a purpose? As soon as Michael had said the words, she immediately wanted to see it for herself.

She’d been riding almost an hour, when she saw the thick overgrowth on the rocks ahead as Duncan had described. At first she decided that she’d in fact stopped in the wrong place, but something caught her eye. Beneath the vines and foliage, she saw what looked like stone.

It was a stairwell, twined with ivy and twisting root. It lay beneath years of detritus. She pulled at the vines and after awhile she found that the stairs led to the mouth of a hall. She looked back at Koen.

“Well, I suppose this is it, are you coming?”

Koen stayed frozen in place near the horse.

“Koen, you coward! Fine, suit yourself. They’ll come after you if something eats me in here.” Taking a deep breath, she started into the hall.

She’d gone several yards into the darkness when Duncan’s assurance of Aurora stones was made good. Except this time, they weren’t randomly scattered about, they were gathered in groups and held in bowls carved from ordinary stone.

She continued further, running her hands along the walls as they led her deep into the ground, finding that it was nothing like she’d expected. The hall evolved into a complicated series of columned corridors.

The light from the stones became so intense it was as though it were daylight. Looking around, she found herself amazed that there were no signs of the years that had to have passed since anyone had been there. There were no spider webs, and just the lightest covering of dust upon the floor. Just like it had been in Arcadia.

Its beauty took her breath away. She’d already been told by Bronach that the Saeculum preceded Adorian record and she could see where their ancestry had been born. How could Michael have left out how indescribable it was? The deeper she progressed, the more ornate everything became. Sculptures stood esoteric along the length of the halls.

The immortals.
Their eyes pierced her with the knowledge of things that she could scarcely dream of. She could feel it in her blood. The main throughway that she was following led finally to a dead end. A large wooden door with intricate carvings stood before her.

After trying the door and discovering it to still be locked, she looked for a keyhole and found none. She considered going down another hall, that maybe this wasn’t the door Michael had been referring to, but as she ran her fingers over the roughness of the wood, she came to a shape she recognized.

She pulled the key from her cloak pocket.

“Is this what you intended
?
” She placed the key flat against the door and slipped it into place, where it appeared to merge with the wood. The door moved and resonated with what sounded like pins falling into place from a large lock. She lifted the handle and began to leverage her weight against it. Moving smoothly, the door opened to reveal an immense room. As she walked farther in, she realized there was no light beyond the doorway. She reached back, remembering her luck with the stones in the castle and picked up one of them. Without moving any further, she lifted the stone in her hand, shining the light around her.

It started slowly at first. Hundreds of sconces lined the walls. Holding the stones like torches, the sconces stirred to life. Once all of them were lit, she could see the room clearly. It was beyond majestic. It seemed similar in size to where Jareth had taken her, but this was a room that had been soaked in complicated forethought. Everything had detail. The floor was made of carved stone. A perfect circle, it reminded her a little of the sanctuary that she’d seen in Arcadia, yet a thousand times more spectacular.

At the top of the ceiling, words were carved into the border. The characters looked foreign to her at first. She walked out into the center of the room.

“What did you know that you couldn’t tell us?” she whispered, thinking of her father. Though she knew what she’d intended to say, it sounded strange to her ears. She froze as she realized that she wasn’t speaking either the common tongue or Adorian.

Everything around her began to shift. She turned her gaze toward the ceiling as she tried to regain her bearings. The words started to change shape. When the room stopped spinning and her vision cleared, the formerly unknown words were as known to her as her own flesh.

Her mind couldn’t wrap itself around what she’d just read. It was too great, too much for her to comprehend. Could it be? Could they have known — even before mortal man had summoned Ciara into Middengard? Adorian history had given no such illusions, yet here upon the walls of those who breathed before all others — here it was inscribed in stone. Everything was there save one small detail.

Seven
. It foretold of seven members of the Laionai, not six as she’d always heard. Jenner himself had spoken of them as six individuals now acting as one collective.

Seven kings of Man will rule in the last days. Darkness, long awaited, will appeal to them and they will open the gates between the realms and death shall pass over all created kind. A sacrifice will be offered — one life for many. A wager will be made against this sacrifice, the outcome of which will depend upon a battle born of blood and bone, immortal against immortal.