The Garnet Dagger (2 page)

Remembering this ran shivers down my spine. The sound of my boot scuffing the floor brought his face around. I was surprised he didn’t hear the door slam.

His green eyes widened as though in shock. “Brock? You’ve come to read the prophecies?”

I nodded wondering if this was a good idea.

“Your father must have wanted you to review them before your wedding, eh?” He rose and his robes flowed with him as he searched the shelves for the information I sought. “Strange, though, I’d have thought his worries gone with the approach of your marriage.”

His babblings made my mind race. What was he speaking of? And why would my father not need to tell me now?

Rising on his tiptoes, he grasped a parchment shining among the others.

He set the scroll down on the table. Etched in gold ink, glimmered words called to me. Then he gestured for me to take a seat. “Everything should be clear to you, since your father explained things with your betrothal.

My throat closed, denying my voice the opportunity to say that my father told me nothing.

“I’ve another patron in the library. I’ll leave you for the moment.” He swept from the vault.

Swallowing, I turned back to the gold scroll, and sunk into the chair.

What I read made me feel as if ice water had been poured over me and seeped into my marrow. There was some mistake. This couldn’t be about what happened in the woods. The words blared at me even though their full meaning abandoned my reasoning.

With the autumn leaves the dark one, Vaer, will come. Wolves voice his return. Judgment for any who harbor him.

A mixing of blood long ago shall return to birth this dark monster. Death comes with him. He brings the end of our time. Only the spilling of the witch’s blood will atone.

I reached to push the words from me, but my hands still trembled. Anytime now Nivel would return. He’d see the astonishment in my face. The chair grated over the marble floor as I leapt up. Without waiting I rushed from the chambers. I must find out the truth from my father. Demand he confess to me what had happened — what was happening.

Outside the library, Liana waited for me. I almost ran her over in my haste.

“Brock, come with me.” Her honey hair curled around her hips.

Perhaps I’d confide in her. She humored my curiosity of humans. Maybe she’d make sense of the words of the prophecy shouting in repetition in my mind.

“The council has been called on the account of the wolves.” She led me into her parent’s chambers. “I believe we have some time before they adjourn.”

Despite the time, the wolves still had not moved on or stopped their howling that seemed to get louder. Silk draped the walls in white. Mimicking colors of the rainbow, colored pillows were tossed in piles on the floor. She reclined against a stack and held her hand out to me.

When my hand brushed hers, I felt a sense of relief. There was no need to worry. I did not bring death with me like the prophecy said. I settled down beside her and our fingers laced together. I ached to touch her. Kiss her lips and taste them. My free hand cupped her face.

Her smile widened. Drawn to her, I brushed my lips across hers. A prickling pulsed through my lips. She sighed, as if with pleasure, and I took her lips with my own. My heart pounded in my ears. Our breath mingled together as one. Time froze. A tugging within, behind a thickness that settled over me.

My heart vibrated louder, faster with each beat. Shafts of light pressed behind my closed eyes. The restlessness of the wolves and their yips brought me to pause. But still, the sweetness of Liana’s lips upon mine, I could not stop. I felt the ripple of the earth beneath our tree home. Water nourished the veins of the leaves.

Then a wrenching ache crashed into me. In that moment, I knew Liana. Heart pounding in my ears, was hers. Her pain reached into me, but still I could not stop. Her light made me turn to her like a flower seeking the sun. Part of me shouted to free her. Her thoughts and memories flooded into me. Her wishing to soar like a hawk, stolen kisses with other boys, and her reluctance to entertain me every time I mentioned humans.

Consuming her was a hunger I could not fathom. I drank her in.

Until my hands and lips brushed coldness. I opened my eyes and then threw myself from her. Her body slumped. Blood crested in streams from her eyes. Her lips bluish-white. I feared to touch her again. But yet hoped she lived. For endless ages, it seemed, I watched her for sign of her heart beating, of even the shallowest breath.

Nothing. My guilt rose up and choked me. I was the dark one — Vaer. The monster. I was Death. For Death now lived inside me.

Shouts and footsteps drew closer. We had safeguards within Tamlon. The tree would send a warning to the elders if anyone was killed. The elders would dispatch guards immediately.

But I did not run or hide. I welcomed execution for taking her life. Although I still did not understand how it had happened. At first, my touch brought no harm. Perhaps I could return what I’d taken?

In vain, I kissed her mouth again. Numbness itched on my lips. Arms seized me, yanking me backward.

I lay sprawled among booted legs. One kicked me in my side. Gloved hands grasped my tunic and lugged me up until I was on my feet. The room bobbed. I was pushed forward with spear points.

Whispers tensed as we marched to the council room. The crowd parted with indrawn breaths.

A mother drew her son to her side. His black hair waved almost down to his hips. Reminded me of how I looked as a child. Thin, and pointed ears stuck out from underneath dark hair. Green eyes like my own stared up at me. Until I reached my height now of over six feet, I had had to grow into my ears, just as my father always told me. Wondered if this boy was as self-conscious as I was at his age.

Liana cradled in a guard’s arms, dead. Then Nivel rushed to her, peered into her face. His hand held over her mouth as though testing for breath.

Nearly, I laughed out loud that she was dead. But sorrow slammed a knife into my chest. Liana’s mother wept in her husband’s arms.

We entered the council’s chambers. Velvet covered chairs spread before me, arched like a horseshoe around a carved marble table.

Other members of the council glared between Liana’s lifeless form and me. The horn of trial sounded and my limbs ached from the sound.

Thrust onto my knees, I awaited their questions. No longer did I doubt my change.

Father and Mother rushed in behind Nivel’s swirling robes. One look at Liana’s corpse and my mother fainted.

An elder, Jaris, whose face resembled a shriveled prune, broke through the murmurs and wails. “I call this hearing by honor of the court.”

Elders took their seats.

“Tell all how this atrocity happened. Hide nothing.” His eyes bored into mine.

All the members of the council stared from their seats.

Clearing my throat I saw Nivel raise eyebrows, but then nodded for me to tell. Feared the worst, but I would not shame myself or Liana with cowardice.

Told them of the human clothes, and sneaking out. The vampyre who attacked me. My thoughts of an unknown immunity that did not beckon me to declare him master, but rather end his life.

I kept my voice steady as I spoke of Liana’s death. Never did I mean her harm.

The guards holding me by my arms dropped them. Despite my grief I chuckled. No one would ever want to touch me again.

“Reaper of death,” Liana’s mother choked. “Kill him before we all perish.”

“Aye.” I implored them. “Kill me and free yourselves. I’ll not bring judgment upon you.” Life for a life, that was our law. I welcomed death, something more permanent then this walking curse.

A resounding gasp filled the chamber.

“Who let him read the sacred scrolls?” Elder Jaris swung back his arms.

“Our destiny,” my father stepped forward. “Read the text to him when he was a child, as my father before me, and so on. As is the custom — I’d no idea he remembered the words.

“After his marriage, he’d receive the instruction to watch for the sign. Safeguard his sons.” Red crept up the collar of his white tunic. “I failed in my duty. Kill me.”

“Nay. I disobeyed the laws. My hands removed the life from Liana.” I prostrated myself before them. No one else must die because of me. Another could take the punishment of an accused if both were willing, and I was not. “Challenge not an old man, but kill the disease now.”

Shouts of agreement rang through my ears. My heart echoed in unison with the stomping of their feet.

Twang of swords drawn brought determination to my legs. I rose to my knees, then bowed my head for the blow.

“Wait,” a voice boomed. Nivel rushed forward. “Prophecy foretells our destruction if the dark one perishes. He alone can save us.”

Silence pounded through the chamber. The marble floor beneath me radiated coldness through my knees.

“Remove this dark one from our mist while Nivel discusses the prophecies with the council,” Jaris waved the swords back. “Then we’ll determine who is to be executed.”

Stealing a last look at my father I trudged out of the chambers. Metal points from spears pushed me forward.

Secluded within my chambers, I paced. Thousands of regrets paraded through my mind. If only I hadn’t delayed in the village, or paused in the forest.

Disgusted, I kicked aside my bow. Outside my chambers, soldiers guarded the door.

I glanced down at my hands. They appeared the same, wide palms, long fingers. But I clenched them. I’d use my power against any if they killed my father or mother.

Strange, all my life I’d been envious of others of my kind with the hint of magic.

Often, the greatest could manipulate a glass of water, or a flame. No one had the power to give life, or take it.

Perhaps, if I found this witch the prophecy spoke of? Drew her blood and redeemed my actions? My hand raked through my hair. How was I to find her?

My twin sister had been sacrificed to the witches, for it was our law whenever twins were born. The youngest twin, regardless of their gender, was surrendered to the witches. When I asked my father how often twins were murdered, his green eyes, lighter than mine, watered. Twins were rare, born once before, many thousands of years ago. Wasn’t it enough that the witches took my sister? Now they had used their foul magic to contrive this curse upon me.

Bring this witch now before me and I’d remove her head. Show the elders my proof. Or a thousand witches. I’d kill them all.

But alas, no witch would be found within these chambers. Nor anywhere within our tree cities.

Damn the wolves. Their constant howls made me grit my teeth. A faint murmuring filtered through the walls. Nivel.

I swung open the door as Nivel waited for a guard to step aside. His white robes billowed around his ankles as he strode inside.

The door shut behind him.

“What news of my mother and father?” I reached out to snatch his arm, but then dropped my hand.

Nivel sat down with a flourish of his robe. “Don’t crank an old man’s neck. Sit.”

He waited until I sat across from him with a huff.

“The council challenged your father for his grievous wrong.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he raised a hand.

“No time for arguments. Your father confessed, but only to not explaining to you. Believed the prophecies he read aloud when you were younger would thwart any attempts to leave the safety of the circle of trees.”

If anything, his warnings had set my determination to explore the world of mankind.

“The elders have decided his punishment. You’ve less than a year, eight months, to complete this quest and find the witch. A temporary banishment if you fulfill the prophecies.”

Banishment. I was forsaken by my lands and family for what I’d become, unfortunate in my fate, tossed out of Tamlon, the great tree city, like crumpled leaves. Pleading would bring no remorse from them. Nor would I beg.

In that moment, I could have staged my revenge. Torn the limbs off all opposers, even made myself king. However, then I would’ve given into my new nature, confirmed the beast within. Desperation thrust upon others to kill me.

Fitting punishment, they’d call it. Lack of sympathy turned me cold.

Outside, any others would shun me at best. Punished for what I became — what I was.

“And then?” Acid crept into my throat.

“Your father and mother will be executed.”

“Why are you punishing them for my crime? Spare them and take my life here and now.”

“No that would be too easy.” Jaris folded his arms. “The only way to save them is to follow the prophecy.”

“But how am I to find this witch and kill her?” The thought of forced exploration sent a chill down my spine.

During my brief encounters with mankind, I saw the blackened flesh of burned witches on display. Witch trials spread through the countryside leaving some villages with only men. Even children were not spared. I dreaded to think what humans would do if they found out I was not one of them.

“Can’t tell you.” His white eyebrow rose. “It’s to the Dark One to determine the prophecy, and fulfill his destiny.”

“Withered roots.” I shot him a glare. “I can’t roam through the world of mankind chopping down every woman I see.”

“Watch your tongue with curses,” he sighed, his shoulders slumped. “I’ll tell you what has been passed down to me through the Ancients.”

I leaned forward. His words would help me. I imagined the witch would have some marking. A scar on her hand or face. Or perhaps which village she lived in. A name.

“The witch will be a human. A virgin. Her full power will come with her first bleeding.”

“That’s it?” I grumbled under my breath. “Must I walk to every girl and ask if she’s bled yet?” My voice bounded off the walls.

Nivel smiled and I wanted to smack him. Instead, I leaned back holding my knees down to keep from springing up. His hand dove within the folds of his robe.

“This will aid you.” He held a jeweled silver dagger. A dark red gem covered the handle. “Touch this to the witch. But she must have reached her magic, with the coming of her first blood. The garnet will shine, signaling she’s the one.”