Maig's Hand

by Phillip Henderson

“Lord Cargius, thank you,” James said.

  The Druid gave him a tight-lipped smile, which faded altogether when Danielle knelt down and kissed James on the lips.

  “You going to be alright?”

  James nodded. “Feeling better already.” He gave her a reassuring smile that said she should not worry about him. It also said that he loved her no matter what happened up on the hill. She gave him a little nod and kissed him again.

  “How long will you be gone?’ Eden demanded with a brother’s concern. He knew what his sister was about to sacrifice to save their father’s realm and the pain of that was written across his features.

  “Expect her return by the midday hour,” Cargius said.

  Danielle gave her brother a brave smile and hugged him. “Look after James. And don’t worry, I will be back.”

  “I just wish it could be otherwise.”

  Danielle touched his face as she eased free from his arms. “I know. But it can’t.”

  “We really must be going,” the Druid said, not unkindly. “Time is limited.”

  “You treat her well, Lord Cargius,” there was warning in Eden’s voice.

  The Druid nodded his understanding. “You can be sure I will, Prince Eden.”

  At that, and with her stomach leaden with a sickening dread, Danielle turned her back on her companions and forced herself to put one foot after the other as she walked with the druid towards the overgrown track at the end of the jetty.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Danielle didn’t look back as she walked up an ancient cobbled path that would have been large enough for two wagons to get by before the forest had reclaimed it. If the history of Ra’majum was accurate, she suspected those that had been brought here in chains to face the horror of Maig’s altar would have walked this same path. The idea that such a thing could happen again if she did not bow to Cargius’ wishes, steadied her resolve.

  “You need not fear this place, Milady. It is not what you might think,” Cargius said.

  Danielle wasn’t so sure.

  Toward the top of the forested hill they passed under a crumbling, vine-covered stone archway. The ruins of Ra’majum lay before them, lost beneath the treetops and obscured by the mist. Sunlight filtered down through the branches touching the broken grey stones, most covered with vines and moss and all eroded by the elements. The thickest fog had retreated to the ground and now it swirled around their boots and cloaks as they continued on. Their footfalls and the far-away thunder of the waterfall in the distance were the only sounds in this eerie place.

  “Where are we going?” Danielle asked.

  “To the temple.” He glanced at her. “Like I said, you should not be afraid. Truly, I mean you no harm.”

  “Why call me to this horrid place? Surely this could have been done somewhere else?”

  “Because despite what you might think, there is no place safer for this ceremony to be held.”

  “Safer? We lost more than hundred good men getting here. And if it had not been for James, I would be among the dead.”

  Regret creased the corners of his mouth. “And I am sorry for that. But as I said, there is no place safer than here and as regrettable as it is, a hundred men is a small price to pay.”

  “I still don’t understand. This place oozes evil. I can feel it.”

  He actually smiled at that. “Not an evil we need fear. You need to understand that when the Book of Minion was stolen and Brutarius Victorium killed, the power the Larniusian wielded over this place was broken and the souls of those murdered here were set free to roam this valley. Fren and her kind now fear Ra’majum more than any other location across the face of the world. We will not be bothered or noticed, where we might be elsewhere.”

  Danielle accepted that. “So how is it that I am Druid’s Bane?” she asked.

  “Suffice it to say, your mother was before you.”

  She had not expected an answer so utterly ridiculous. “You expect me to believe that?”

  “It’s not for me to tell you what you should or should not believe.”

  “If my mother was as you say, father at the very least would have known. This tattoo you mark us with isn’t exactly inconspicuous.”

  “Your mother went through this ceremony before she met your father. And as for the tattoo, it will vanish after six months. As for this coming as a surprise to you and your kin, you need to understand that we have always preferred to keep these things secret. Ever since the first children came of age and began the war against the overlords, history has only remembered them for their exploits, not for what they were.”

  “Are you telling me many of our folk heroes were Children of Light?”

  “Lady Grey, the Wolf Mistress, Betsey Black, The Green Girl, Winged Martha and many more, yes. Some even rode as rebel knights, and are remembered as such; Sir Lamborn, Klimber, Milton, Hourly, McKee, being the most famous. Many of them are responsible for the death of a Hand.

  “Is that so? Then why was a tale master writing about Children of Light a mere two centuries ago?”

  Cargius stopped and frowned at her. “Who?”

  “A men called Damta O’Brook.”

  The druid scoffed at that and began walking again. “O’Brook was no tale master. He was a spy and servant to Brutarius Victorium, charged with tracking down Children of Light. He died badly at the hands of one of your predecessors, a robber baronet from the Ren Forest called Ashley Colt. Your mother is a direct descendant.”

  “Of course, but I can’t know the truth of what you speak can I,” Danielle countered.

  “Danielle, if I meant you harm, do you really think all this would have been necessary?”

  She ignored him. “Did my mother know about the prophecy; that she would give birth to a Hand of Maig and her replacement?”

  “Yes.” There was bitterness in Cargius’ tone. “She married your father to prevent it. Unfortunately the fates moved against us and we ended up bringing into being that which we sort to stop. To make matters worse, your mother refused to kill your twin when our mistake was known.”

  Danielle found a perverse pleasure in her mother’s defiance. “You must have been pleased at her death then.”

  Cargius seemed preoccupied for a moment, before saying, “Her murder was not what you think, Danielle.” There was pain in his eyes now—which surprised her after his obvious disregard for the welfare of the crew of the Arkaelyus or James for that matter. “It wasn’t a church assassin, but a Larniusian Druid who drew the bow and it wasn’t your father or your mother that he aimed at.”

  “Who then?”

  His green eyes settled on her as they walked. “You.”

  “Because of the prophecy?”

  “Partly. But mostly because they did not know your mother was of the blood of the first mother. The Larniusian lost a great deal at the fall of Brutarius, including knowledge of the bloodlines of the Children of Light.”

  “Then why wait so long to make another attempt? I was ten. They could have taken me as a baby, Fren was our nursemaid.”

  “They had to be sure, and the mark doesn’t appear until womanhood. Besides that particular attempt was due to infighting between Fren and her ilk. A certain elder by the name of Luwin had challenged Fren’s authority as high priestess and was expelled from the coven. He planned to prove his worth and gain Maig’s favour by killing what he thought was the next Druid’s Bane, albeit one who was yet unaware. If Luwin had succeeded, I suspect he would have replaced Fren and the world would be a very dark place indeed.”

  “And you did not defend my mother or me, though you knew this?”

  “We cannot defend a Child of Light without her will. You should know that by now.”

  She heard the sadness in his voice and let the matter go. “So what is a Child of Light?” It was another question that had bothered her for months, yet she cringed to hear the answer.

  “A gift from the First Mother,” Cargius said, as they walked under another crumbling stone arc
h and entered what must have been a large stone paved square at one point. What was left of the temple stood before them among the rubble and foliage that had reclaimed the hillside. Other buildings shared the site, but they were so eroded with age and the regenerated forest that Danielle could not say what purpose they had served.

  “So I’m a gift?” She certainly didn’t feel like a gift.

  Cargius led her up the stairs to the entrance, saying, “When Larnius betrayed us, and made a pact with the dark one, Maig blessed him with her authority over things of death and dark. She also gave him the Book of Minion and the Fountain of Rebirth to help secure her mantle over the world of the living and light. Our Goddess merely sort to even that ledger with a gift of her own: some of her blood to be exact. After the fall of Ariel the Steadfast, those of us who escaped came to the eastern mountains where we anointed five small children with that gift. It was done not many miles from this very spot. One of your kin was among the children. Two lines have been extinguished since those days, but three remain.”

  “I’m not sure it was a particularly helpful gift,” Danielle said as they entered the temple, or what was left of it, for there were walls and pillars but no roof to speak of. Apart from its size, and the absence of the usual chill that occupied Larniusian ruins, this seemed just like another relic of the Long Terror.

  “You should watch your tongue, Milady. Only a fool speaks so harshly on things she knows so little of.” Cargius walked towards the altar, leaving her at the entrance.

  “So where do I err? Larnius and his tyrannical kin reigned for almost nine hundred years, despite your deity’s gifts, and in the end it was the work of the Aquarius Brotherhood that sealed Brutarius Victorium’s downfall and brought about the end of the Long Terror.”

  A look of distaste spread across the druid’s face as he glanced back at her. “For one, there wouldn’t have been a world to restore if it were not for our kind. The folk heroes that fill your history annuls, the Children of light, kept the darkness at bay. They kept the hope of man alive.”

  “Yes, and two bloodlines extinguished and the Hand’s tyranny as absolute as ever, despite their efforts.”

  “Did your Lord Protector tell you this?”

  “He did.”

  Cargius had broken a small branch of a tree that had grown up through the flagstones and was now brushing the thick mat of dead leaves off a space in front of a pile of broken stones Danielle assumed had once been the altar. She approached slowly as he worked the makeshift broom over the area.

  “I wouldn’t believe everything a reformist priest tells you. They might have sided with us at the time of Ariel’s great purge, and they may hold values more akin to ours than the Orthodox Goddians, but after the king’s death and Larnius’ siege of Amthenium, they quickly bent the knee and for all but the last century of the Long Terror they hid away in their abbeys and monasteries preferring a servile existence to resistance and struggle. They paid their monthly tribute to the local Larniusian lord and made no trouble. And as for their part in the fall of Brutarius it was more luck than intent. Furthermore, it was a Child of Light that killed the last Hand on the stairs of the Amthenium palace not the loss of the book. The latter merely weakened Brutarius’ armies.”

  “Joseph said it was a White Druid that slew Brutarius?”

  Cargius stopped abruptly and straightened up, becoming impatient with her. “Yes, and that kind of misinformation also led them to hide the book in a place none of us can get at. Bloody cowardly fools the lot of them.”

  “I think not, sir. Perhaps if you had enlightened them?” Danielle retorted. “Joseph told me you and your kind ignored the brotherhood’s requests for an alliance, is that true?”

  He glared at her, and then began brushing the floor again. “Yes. In hindsight it was perhaps an error. However, after centuries bending the knee to Amthenium’s tyranny we did not think we could trust them. I’m sure you would not begrudge us that?”

  It was clear they were getting nowhere by arguing so Danielle changed her tact. “I guess what is important is the present and the future. You said I have to kill my brother and destroy the Book of Minion and this thing called the Fountain of Rebirth.”

  “Are you agreeing to this?”

  She nodded reluctantly. “How do I destroy the book if I can’t get at it. Or this fountain of rebirth when I don’t even know what it is? And what about the other two bloodlines? You never speak of them? Surely three pairs of hands are better than one?”

  “We don’t believe they will be needed. We want to end this quickly and in secret. You need to understand that your brother has the purple aura of Larnius. It makes him extremely dangerous if we were to wait until he was anointed as the Hand before moving against him. You’ll be able to kill him as soon as we have concluded this first union.”

  “What do you mean, first?” Danielle asked with trepidation.

  “I know what you fear, Danielle, and you worry needlessly. This ceremony is not a betrothal. We merely lie together as lovers might. The gift in your blood is woken by our carnal connection and the knowledge and magic it contains will come to you in dreams. It will take six months until you are truly Druid’s Bane and during that time I will visit you every second week so we can lie together. After that you may wed your protector, but not before this ritual has concluded, and you may not bed him under any circumstances.”

  Given what was at stake, Danielle guessed she would have to bear that the best she could. “I’m not sure I understand; you’re saying I’ll be able to kill Kane as early as tomorrow but this ceremony will take six months?”

  Cargius tossed his branch aside and knelt with his knife to dig the dirt out of the cracks around the slab of stone he’d unearthed. “You need to have walked the Path of Enlightenment to its end in order to be able to destroy Maig’s gifts.”

  “So if no such thing is necessary to kill my brother, why must I be his executor? Surely anyone could swing the axe?”

  “Yes, that would kill him. Your brother is as vulnerable to a blade as any of us. However, what we seek to destroy is the taint of the dark goddess in his blood, and the line of the Hand manifested in him, and for that to be done the one that swings the axe must have the Mother’s blood in her veins and she must also be of the purple aura. We destroy the taint and we cut away the strongest link the Dark One has with the living world, and weaken her power significantly. Unfortunately in the last nine centuries there have only been two Children of Light honoured with such power. Mareithia, the first Druid’s Bane, and yourself. It’s one of the reasons Fren and her kind fears you as much as they do. Your touch is poison to them in more ways than one.

  In answer to your other question, the Mother’s aura affords you certain gifts that will help you recover Maig’s Gifts to Larnius and destroy them.”

  “And you know where both of these artefacts are of course?” He was too calm for it to be otherwise.

  Cargius looked up from his digging for a moment. “Yes. The Book lies at the bottom of the Brother’s lake, though that place goes by different names.”

  Danielle was familiar with the location. It was the largest lake in the Arkaelyon Mountains, and thought to be the deepest in the realm, though no one really knew. She had often gazed at it from the round hall of the Aquarius Abbey and admired its aqua coloured waters, which on a still day shone like the polished alma pillars of the Emperor’s palace in Vafusolum.

  “It’s little wonder Joseph believes the book is beyond the reach of mortal man for how is it possible to retrieve anything lost in that fathomless body of water?” She asked.

  “You need not concern yourself with that right now.”

  “And this Fountain of Rebirth as you call it?”

  “Let me just say that the book contains knowledge of its whereabouts. Find the book and you find the fountain. Then you need only touch both at once and seek their destruction with your mind and they will turn to fire and ashes, ridding the world and our mutual enemy of t
heir power and weakening Maig still further. We weaken her enough, and she will cease to exist. That is all you need to know right now.”

  Danielle ignored the impatience creeping into his voice as he worked. “And we have no reason to think the dark goddess won’t just raise up another Hand and furnish him with new gifts?”

  Cargius actually laughed. “You know so little, child. The Gods of Kathius are diminishing. The First Mother, her twisted sister and the old ways, us, all will soon pass away. The war between life and light and death and darkness has drained both deities. They have been reduced to whispers in the fates. Neither have the power to intervene as they did nine hundred years ago. That’s why this is so important. If we fail, Maig will take back the mantle of the world, and through her vessels, her power will be restored and there will be nothing to stop her.”

  “Yours are not the only gods,” Danielle said as she gazed out over the lake and surrounding wilderness. The quiet was only interrupted by the click of his knife as he worked to dislodge the stone.

  “Pooh to your deities,” Cargius said, puffing a bit. His green eyes were sharp and accusing as they flashed at her. “They did nothing for humanity while the world groaned under the agonies of Larniusian tyranny, and one cannot expect or trust them to intervene this time.”

  “Strange. I always thought the White Druids were more open minded than that,” Danielle said as she turned and wandered over to see what he was trying to unearth.

  “I don’t think you want to argue religion with a thousand year old druid, child.”

  It was a warning she was happy to heed. There was enough to worry about without matters of ontology to muddy the waters.

  “So, what of my brother? How am I to kill him? Your writing says there is a ceremony, and then I must take his head with an anointed axe as the sun rises?” She felt the weight of this sorely. Whatever the justification this was cold-blooded murder and if our mother could not bring herself to do it why should I be any different, he’s my blood after all.

  Cargius sat back on his haunches and sheathed his blade before brushing the dirt off his hands. “You’re not his mother, Danielle. And she did not have the antipathy you two share. Believe me, Kane would not hesitate if the tables were turned, and if we do not act quickly, they could be.”