The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (25 page)

Aaron insisted
with the sword and I took it and watched them board the ferry.
After I secured the sword to my waist, I waved as the ferry left
the dock.

So they are really going to try that whole love thing?
Cathy asked.

Looks like
it.

It won’t last long
, Cathy
said.

That’s
harsh.

But true
, she
replied
. He’s a stay at home farm boy and
she’s a wild girl adventurer. She’ll grow bored and leave
him.

I suppose
that’s true, but you never know.

Right
, Cathy said.
‘Love is delusional’

I thought the
expression was ‘Love is blind’.

Same thing
, she said.

I laughed and
pulled out the map the Keeper gave me.

If we leave
now we could make it to the village of Rooksbend by nightfall and
head for the border in the morning.

Think the next item will be easy?
She asked.

This one was
tough so the next one should be easy to average things
out...right?

No comment
, Cathy
answered.

Chapter 21

Climbing the
stairs two at a time, I had to reach her door before it is too
late. They were coming for her and if I failed...

No, I can’t
think that way. She’s still alive.

Please be
alive, my love…

At the top of
the stairs, I slammed through the door into the bedroom. She stood
in the middle of the bedroom glowing like an angel, long brown
hair, bright blue eyes and pale skin. She truly was a vision to
behold.

I approached
her and fell to one knee and bowed. “You are safe, Princess. We
must get you out of here.”

“
You’re dreaming, Andy,” she replied. “Snap out of
it.”

I stood up. “I
don’t know what you are saying, my princess.”

“
We don’t have time for you to figure it out on your own,” she
said as she hurried across the room to close the door. “Think
carefully. Who am I?”

I studied her
as she walked back to the other side of the room furthest from the
door. There was something about her and the more I thought the more
a name kept popping into my head.

“
Cathy,” I said.

“
There you go,” she smiled weakly. “I knew you could do it.
Come on, hit me with a Dispel.”

A pounding
sound came from the bedroom door as shouts for blood filled the
night.

“
Where are we?” I asked.

“
Now’s not the time,” she answered worried. “I rather not go
through this again. Hit me with a Dispel.”

Power flowed
to my hand and I launched a Dispel at Cathy. The world started to
shimmer as the bedroom door exploded off its hinges. Cathy and I
took a couple of steps back as the horde of fading guards rushed at
us. The dream world dissolved leaving us in the open field of my
subconscious.

“
HA!” Cathy exclaimed. “It worked.”

“
You didn’t think it would?” I asked worried.

“
You can never know,” she answered. “With dreams it is
difficult to be sure.”

“
Well, it’s handy to know that if one of us is having a bad
dream we could always end it,” I said.

“
I don’t think it will work for you,” she said as she sat down
on the ground under the tree. “Because I am a magical being by
nature you can disrupt me with a Dispel and gain control of your
subconscious again. But because you are human you can’t stop your
own subconscious.”

“
So, that was a previous memory of yours?” I asked as I sat
down beside.

“
Yeah, and a really unpleasant one at that,” she
said.

“
But you will still tell me about it,” I smiled.

“
Only because you’ll keep bugging me about it,” she smiled
back.

“
We know each other so well,” I joked.

She chuckled.
“Here it goes. One of my possessions was a daughter to the King.
This was way back at the end of the first era or beginning of the
second era. The Tower was in power and anyone with magical
capabilities was sent to the Tower at a very young age. The old
King was too proud for his daughter to be taken away from him so he
kept her powers secret. During her first Demon dream, I possessed
her.”

“
That must have been back before people really understood
Demon possessions,” I said.

“
Possessions have been around forever,” she replied. “But
yeah, the formation of your Tower was a way to fight back against
us Demons.”

“
Then over time they became corrupt,” I said.

“
It’s hard not to become corrupt when you have so much power,”
Cathy pointed out. “But anyways, I possessed the Princess of
Balendar and wanted to celebrate my accomplishment. Unfortunately
because of a lifetime of hiding her magic she wasn’t very strong
and the King was a bit of a controlling tyrant. I ended up just
being a prisoner in the castle.”

“
Who was I in the dream?” I asked. “His…emotions seemed too
complex to be just a dream shadow for me to inhabit.”

“
Are you sure they just weren’t YOUR emotions,” she teased. I
just gave her a look. “Fine, yeah, he was a real person, one of the
princess’ personal guards. He was so deeply and madly in love with
her and she was in love with him. I actually used that to possess
her in the dream. I was proud of that one, it was the first and
only time I successfully possessed a girl.

“
Well I thought it would be fun to mess with his emotions but
the girl’s emotions were so strong that I could never bring myself
to hurt him. And besides, he was the only fun in that bloody castle
so we became close friends.”

“
Close close?” I asked giving her a nudge.

She laughed.
“Nothing physical. Just friends.”

“
Alright,” I smiled. “When did it get found out that the
Princess was possessed?”

“
Almost an entire season,” she answered. “I was making the
girl stronger in her magic so I could finally get some freedom.
When I finally used the magic against him, he was outraged and
claimed I was possessed. ‘No daughter of mine would ever raise a
hand against me’ was his proof. I think that even if I didn’t
possess this girl, the day she finally stood up to him would have
been the day he killed her either way. Poor girl.”

I just shook
my head.

“
So the King gets upset,” Cathy continued, “I tried to fight
my way out but kept getting pushed back until I was cornered in the
bedroom. I had been in this situation many times before and knew I
was going to die. But then Lover Boy shows up wanting to defend me.
I tried to get him to leave and save himself but he refused. When
the guards broke through, he was cut down quickly. My…” she stopped
and looked at the ground, “the girl’s heart broke and a powerful
wave of emotion ripped through the body. I was executed in the room
by the King.”

I nodded
slowly. “Do you think that maybe you were a little more attached to
him then you thought?”

Cathy
hesitated and looked up at me. “I’m…not sure. Being in her body
with Human emotions made me feel like it but after I was killed and
I looked at it again it was just simple foolishness. He should have
run away and saved himself but he didn’t. He was just a fool.”

Cathy looked
back down at the ground and we sat in silence for a second. “What
do you think now?” I asked

“
Having Human emotions again and being in the dream has made
me look at it again,” she answered. “Before you ask, ‘did I love
him’ the answer is no. Did I like him though? Yeah, he had become a
friend and it was because of me that he was killed. Part of me
wishes that I could leave your body so I could stop feeling this…
guilt.”

“
Guilt is a part of life,” I said. “It helps us grow and learn
responsibility for our actions. It’s easy to screw up your own life
because only you suffer the consequences. If you start to drag
other people into your mess, you are responsible for whatever
happens to them.”

“
It’s just easier to be alone,” Cathy said.

“
I thought that too,” I replied. “But then you got stuck in my
head and now I think differently. It’s nice to have someone to lean
on when things get rough and to help you when there is trouble.
Sure, you become responsible for what happens to them, but the good
outweighs the bad. Your friend knew the risk but he was going to
stay anyhow. He trusted you enough to stand up to the King of
Balendar himself.”

“
I still don’t understand why,” Cathy said.

“
It’s not something you understand it is something you feel,”
I smiled. “Did you just sit there and watch him die or did you try
to help him?”

“
Tried to help him of course,” she answered looking up at
me.

“
Even though it was hopeless and nothing good would come from
it?” I asked.

“
Yes,” she nodded.

“
Why?” I asked.

“
Because…”she started but trailed off.

“
Because you didn’t want to see your friend hurt,” I answered.
“No matter how hopeless that thought was.”

She looked at
me silently for a second before nodding. “I’ve got some thinking to
do. Thank you for talking to me.”

“
Anytime,” I smiled. “I’m slightly shocked that what I said
was helpful. I seem to be uncharacteristically deep in my
dreams.”

She chuckled
and stood up. “Well, not to crash that party but it is time to
return to the real world.”

I stood up as
well. “How do we get out? I should have woken up by now.”

“
Oh, that’s easy,” she smiled. “Stand in front of
me.”

I positioned
myself in front of her. “Okay, what now?”

She slapped me
across the face.

***

“
Hey!” I exclaimed as my eyes shot open.

Don’t get angry at me for falling for that,
Cathy chuckled.

“
A heads up next time would be great,” I said softly as I sat
up in the bed.

Well, now I know
, she
giggled.

I looked
around the room and pieced together the foggy memory. I was in a
small inn at Rooksbend. The small dumpy looking room had been the
only one available and it was good enough to sleep in for a
night.

I threw off
the covers and put on my robe and hat. Shouldering the pack, I
headed out of the inn quickly so I wouldn’t be offered any
breakfast specials. It looked like the type where the food would
move off the plate on its own.

Nothing wrong with extra protein
,
Cathy joked.

Remember. We
share taste buds.

I’ve had worse
, she said.

That’s a story
you can keep to yourself.

I stepped out
of the inn into the bright light of mid-morning. The small military
outpost that is Rooksbend was alive with the marching of troops
along the main road. They were heading out of town in the direction
of the capital. It looks like the King’s orders were being
executed.

You better hope Nesqa doesn’t decide now is the perfect time
to strike
, Cathy said.

All the more
reason to hurry.

The troops
passed and normal traffic returned to the main road. I stopped at a
general goods store and picked up some bread for a quick breakfast
on the road. The border wasn’t much of a journey from this town and
it was still debatable what type of reception I would receive.

Tea and cakes is my guess
, Cathy
said.

Probably
something a little deadlier.

Really hot tea and banana cream cakes?
Cathy asked.

That sounds
accurate.

I didn’t
realize that I had crossed the border into Nesqa until the foliage
started to change and we entered a forest. I stretched out with my
mind to survey the area for any signs of life. The hum of life from
the forest was deafening and I had to tune my power to just
specific types of activity. When I felt Human activity getting
closer to me, I stopped and raised my hands.

“
I am not here to fight,” I called out. “I am a Mage from the
Tower of the Watchful Eye and I will not hurt you.”

“
That remains to be seen,” a voice called out as a dark
skinned man emerged from behind a tree. “What is a Mage doing this
far East? Tower business always comes from the North.”

I could feel
that there were three other people surrounding me and I kept focus
on them as I looked at the leader.

“
I bring information about the disappearance of the Princess
that I wish to show your Emperor,” I answered.

The leader’s
face twitched in surprise. “Is that right? Has Balendar finally
admitted to taking her?”

“
They had nothing to do with it,” I answered. “The Princess is
in Nesqa.”

The leader
unsheathed his sword and pointed it at me. “You speak lies. We
would know if she is here.”

“
Why would I be here?” I asked. “Why waste my
time?”

“
You won’t trick us this time, Mage,” he said.

You better give him some information
, Cathy said.