by Jamie Gandy
The old proverb that I was taught earlier this year randomly runs through the back of my mind, making my heart skip a few beats. Why would I be reminded of it now?
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
♚ Kage Tora: ♚
I wade into the pool of water, my pants instantly become soaked against my flesh. It is freezing cold, sending a current of shivers up and down my spine. I stop only when I am waist deep. My gaze travels up to the waterfall that stands a couple yards in front of me. ‘This is beautiful,’ I think to myself. A smile is just starting to stretch along my lips when I notice a shift in the water cascading down the falls. It turns from a crystalite clarity to a blood red. “What… what is happening?” I gasp out loud. The blood quickly contaminates the water, spreading towards me. Suddenly I hear the thunderous sound of hooves tearing up the earth from behind me. I turn to see Ziv galloping at full speed from out of the woods straight towards me. A ravenish howl pierces the air seconds before I see two massive creatures, creatures that look like a deadly hybrid of canine and feline, tiger and wolf. “Run Ziv, run!” I urge her. Just as she reaches the pool one of the creatures picks up its pace so that it is now running alongside the Unicorn. It lunges forward and sinks its fangs into Ziv’s neck. She desperately tries to free herself by rearing onto her hindlegs and aggressively punches her hooves at the beast, but her attempt is futile. The other creature pounces onto her dock and digs its claws and fangs into her flesh. Together the two of them bring her to her side with blood spilling into the water.
“Leave her alone!” I command the creatures, who surprisingly release their hold on Ziv and obediently flash their terrifying bloodlust red eyes on me.
“She is your sacrifice to make.” The Hell’s DragonBlade appears in my right hand, spiking the center of my palm with its long thorn. “Kill her!”
My body moves forward without my direction. No matter how much I try to stop it, it will not respond to me. When I reach Ziv’s side her eyes are wide with fear and… hope. Hope that I will save her from her fate, from her pain. “It has to be done…” the words find their way out from my mouth; however I feel like it is someone else saying them. Her trusting gaze turns to confusion as I plunge the black sword into the chest, the heart, of the magical creature. Her cry of agony silences the night. Not a single drop of her blood seeps from her wound, because the weapon clutched in my hand soaks up every ounce of it.
“Delicious.”
The pit in my stomach makes me feel ill, I want to throw the sword aside and run as far as I possibly can from it. ‘What have I done…’ I look at her face, the now pale and blood drained face of the most remarkable creature I have ever seen in my entire life.
“Welcome to the dark side, Prince…”
“Kage, wake up!!!!” the sound of Hector’s voice tears me from my nightmare, thankfully. I sit up in bed and glance around once to adjust my eyes before spotting Hector by the door.
“I am glad you made it back safely,” I honestly remark, my brain still too cloudy to comprehend the look of terror on his face. I swing my legs over the bed and sit up straighter. “Hector?”
“It is the Que…” before he can finish his comment I am flying out of bed, into my pants and tunic. “Kage, she is not dead… she... she is acting deranged, like she is possessed by a demon.”
I stop in my tracks to look at Hector. “What are you talking about?” I question him.
He pulls open the door to my chambers. “She has lost her mind,” he answers.
I expect him to lead the way to the Quarantine room, yet to my shock he continues on until he reaches the Throne Room. Three guards are stationed in front of the doors. At the sight of me they block my entrance. “You cannot go in, Your Highness. It is not safe.”
“Step out of my way, this instant!” I command him, yet they do not move from their post. I lunge forward and clasp my hand around one of the guard’s throats and slam him hard against the door. My dark gaze challenging him. With my other hand I quickly withdraw his sword. “I will not be stopped from going in there, either you will move willingly, or I will force you to.” I shoot warning glares at the other two. “Make the smart move and step aside.”
They both obey this time with no complaint. “Come on, Seth, there is no stopping him.”
Finally, the first guard’s shoulders slump in defeat. “Gideon has it… taken care of,” he half-heartedly tries to press me one last time. I release my grip from around his throat and watch him step aside, unwillingly. With his sword still in hand I push open the door, Hector following only a step behind me. The overwhelming stench of death hangs in the air like a thick fog. I have to look around one time before spotting my mother sitting in the Throne. Her skin is so pasty that it almost looks blue. Her eyes are emotionless and dead… like the soul of the woman who birthed me is no longer dwelling inside of her. Her body twitches, as if she is eager to jump forward to attack, yet somehow, I get the feeling she is trying hard to fight her deadly impulses.
I swallow hard as the rising vile threatens to spew from my mouth. However, one sight keeps me from doing so. Of Esther kneeled on the ground a couple feet in front of the Throne with Catherine crouched over her, Gideon and Sebastian are standing between my mother and sister with their swords drawn.
I break the distance between them, and I face my mother. Our eyes lock, yet somehow, I can barely recognize her. “Mother, what are you doing?” The only response I get is that of an unnatural growl rumbling in her chest. I slowly move forward until I am directly in front of her, and unreasonably I kneel in front of her. “I am so sorry… for turning you into this monster. It is all my fault…” Tears as hot as lava begin to stream down my cheeks. “I just wanted you to get better…” A small ray of hope sparks inside of my heart when I feel her gentle hand rest along the top of my head.
“Do not get too close, Your Highness,” a glance over my shoulder confirms that Gideon is not talking to me, but rather to Esther. She steps up from behind me and through her tears she is about to open her mouth to speak, but the same hand that was on my head instantaneously wraps tightly around Esther’s throat. Our mother lunges forward and jerks my sister off her feet. I can see every vein in her arm pulsing as she squeezes Esther’s throat, trying to crush the very life out of her.
“ESTHER!” Gideon, Hector and Catherine all scream out her name in unison.
“Let her go, you do not want to do this to her!” I rise to my feet, trying hard to remain calm, yet my racing heart wants to panic. Her eyes burn with hatred, an evil that only hell itself could create. She gnashes out her teeth at Esther, reaching around her neck to sink her teeth into my sister’s flesh.
I quickly step forward as her cracked lips brush against the surface of Esther’s skin. The sword I still cling to runs through my mother’s heart, clean and all the way through until I see the tip of the blade emerge from her back. At once Esther falls to the ground when our mother’s grip loosens. The pain, the terror, the fear, every single emotion and agony that I had seen in the face of Ziv in my nightmare, is the exact same right now on my mother’s face. I continue to push the blade deeper until she is resting in my arms.
“Thank you for saving me from killing her….” The horrid emotionless expression fades as all the love returns. Her breaths become rigid and slow. “I love you… my son….” I press my cheek to hers, so she can feel the heat streaming down my cheeks. I bare my face into her neck as the tears take over.
“Mother… please do not leave me! Please…. Do not leave me alone!” I desperately beg her. I receive no answer, instead I feel her soul escape her physical torment in a single exhaled breath. I squeeze her even tighter against my body, too scared that if I let go of her I will never, ever get to feel her in my arms again.
I can hear Esther’s muffled cries, but she does not make a move to force me away from our mother. “I killed her…” I finally speak between the sobs.
“You had no idea this would happen,” Hector quietly comments.
>
“Of course he knew this would happen…” Sebastian rebukes his brother.
I slowly release my mother’s body and carefully lay her body down on the Throne floor. As much as I want to draw the sword out from her chest, I do not want her blood to create a pool around her.
“This is not the time for that, Sebastian…”
“He is right, I was so consumed with wanting to keep her alive that I lost sight of what that would do to her… I never wanted this to happen… I just… I just did not want my mother to die…” I sniff as the emotions overwhelm me. I look at Esther. “I am sorry, Esther… I am so sorry…”
“Sometimes sorry is not good eno…” the sound of fist against flesh quickly interrupts Sebastian. He stumbles back a couple steps, stroking his jaw where Hector just punched him.
“Enough!” The command in his voice takes all of us by surprise, silencing his brother instantly. “We will tell everyone she succumbed to the Plague, no one needs to remember her losing her mind like this.” His gemstone green eyes glisten with such emotion, yet an inner strength sparks to life.
“That is for the best…” Gideon agrees. He takes Esther by the hand and helps her to her feet. Instead of standing by herself she leans into him for support. Her entire body trembles. “What I do not understand is how this is your fault,” he remarks.
“I killed Ziv for a cure… I thought it would work… I thought her magic could heal her…” I feel an anger bubbling inside of me. I want to return to the hidden passage in my chambers to smash the Hell’s DragonBlade to pieces for deceiving me. Not that I should be surprised, the price of dealing with evil is the risk of nothing going as planned, not for the greater good anyway, I look down into my mother’s face. Even in death she still looks beautiful in my eyes. “I am sorry… mother… I failed you…”
“You did not give her the Plague, Kage.” Catherine remarks quietly, tearfully. “Regardless of the choices you made to get here, you were not the one that gave her the illness that ultimately led her to dying…” her voice trails off as she considers her words. “You cannot beat yourself up entirely.” A silence follows to allow each of us to mourn. Esther eventually moves away from Gideon and kneels at my side. I wrap my arms around her while she bares her head into my chest. I am not sure how long we stay like this, but when we break apart, I rise to my feet and look to Gideon. “If I pull out the sword will you be able to seal the wound closed with your fire?” I inquire.
He hesitates a moment before slowly nodding. “I should be able to, yes…”
“Catherine, take Esther out of the room.” In-spite of my heart tearing into a thousand little pieces, I force myself into autopilot. I wait until Gideon is kneeled next to my mother’s side and the girls are out of the Throne Room, before I grab ahold of the handle of the sword. “Ready?”
“Yes.” His eyes close in concentration to hue in on his elemental ability. As quickly, yet smoothly, as I possibly can I pull the blade out of my mother’s chest. For a second I expect the silver steel to drink in the blood, fortunately the crimson liquid drips onto the floor.
It takes only a minute for Gideon to seal the flesh back together before he rises to his feet. I watch as Sebastian takes off his cloak and lays it over her body, respectfully covering her. I am just about to thank him, but the sound of the doors opening when Adir bursts into the Throne Room, stops me. No words escape him until he is on the ground at her side. “What happened?” he demands.
“I know…” before the truth can spew out of my mouth, Hector interrupts me.
“She came here looking for His Majesty. The illness was affecting her, so she was not thinking clearly.” He seems to pick his words carefully, so not to lie to his mentor, yet not giving away the entire truth. “She tried to kill Her Highness; she did not give me an option…” He shifts his eyes from Adir’s bowed head over to me, as if scolding me to keep my mouth shut. “I had no choice but to kill her… to keep Esther safe...”
I stare at Hector in complete shock. I eventually drop my gaze to Adir, half expecting him to fly to his feet in a fit of rage and strike his own Tiger-Arched Sword straight through my friend. However, to my relief, Adir leans forward until his forehead tenderly presses to my mother’s forehead. He mutters something inaudible to her deaf ears, words I cannot hear. Before he finally leans back, he places a single heart-felt kiss to her cheek, then he straightens himself and wraps Sebastian’s cloak snuggly around her body. He lifts her into his arms. “I am sure she would thank you for doing what you did, Hector. The last thing she ever would have wanted is to have this illness cause harm to those she loves most ...” His gray-blue eyes meet first Hector’s eyes then shifts to Gideon. “Gideon, go to the King’s Chambers and tell him that the Black Plague has taken Her Majesty’s life. I am going to take her back...”
Gideon leads the way out of the Throne Room to hold the door open for Adir. Once the door closes behind them, I look at Hector. “Why did you tell him that?”
“No one needs to know that you are the one who was forced to kill her,” Hector simply answers.
“Why do you keep defending me?” the words quickly escape my mouth. I have to shake my head a couple times, trying desperately to clear it. But the fatigue and dizziness commands me to take a seat on the Throne. I knead my fingers into the center of my temples. “I have given you countless reasons to turn against me, reasons to never be friends with me… yet…” I look up through the tears at the older boy. “Why…?”
“Because I promised you that I would always be loyal to you… as ridiculous as that may actually be right now. Your choices were flawed, but you did it for the Queen. I cannot say if that redeems anything, however, it does show just how far you will go to saving those you care about…” Hector exchanges a quick look with Sebastian before they both return their gazes back to me. “You should go find Esther; she will need your comfort right now.”
“You are right…” I rise back to my feet, instead of heading straight for the door I walk over to the brothers and rest a hand on each one of their shoulders. “Thank you both.” I bow my head to them before heading passed them out of the Throne Room.
‘How can I ever live with myself now?’ The thought echoes in my mind as I head towards the Royal Gardens, the one place I know my sister will be.
Chapter Twenty-Nine:
♞ Sebastian Ari: ♞
The arrangements for the Queen’s funeral takes only a day to properly prepare. The citizens of TigersKeep are allowed to crowd the outer Castle streets. An entourage leads the way for the carriage that the Queen’s body rests inside. The somber atmosphere sets the mood for the procession, the mourning of every soul in the midst of this moment is as clear as the life she had lived. She was loved by everyone who knew her, and I find myself feeling a bit disappointed that I did not get the chance to properly get to know her, as my Queen.
I urge Obi onward to bring up the rear of the line of Knights trailing the carriage. I was not expecting to be asked to join them, however Kage made it obvious that he wanted both Hector and me to be part of the troop.
On horseback our party makes our way out of TigersKeep towards the ocean. The ride only takes about half an hourglass before we arrive. On the shores a lone man with the hood of his cloak covering his face stands next to a small boat lined with white lilies. The Knights halt their mounts after making room for the carriage to move onto the shore. Once it does, every one of us withdraws our swords from our sheaths and raises them high above our heads.
Esther, Kage, Catherine and the King walk over to the boat while Adir lifts the Queen’s lifeless elegant linen wrapped body out from the back of the carriage and slowly carries her over to the boat. As if holding the most precious of gems he carefully lays her inside the boat, while kneeling. Esther and Catherine step forward together. Esther speaks inaudible words I cannot understand, before they sprinkle a handful of flowers on top of the Queen’s body. They then step back, Esther leaning into her cousin for support.
> Kage crouches down next to Adir and gently touches the cloth where the Queen’s face is covered. I cannot understand his words, but I can see the emotions rocking his body as he speaks them. He rests something inside the boat then gets back to his feet to return to Esther’s side, his arm affectionately wrapping around her shoulders. I expect the King to do the same, yet he stays in his spot. He motions his hand and the man pushes the boat out to sea. We all watch in silence as it floats out towards the deep water. When Adir finally rises he motions to Gideon, who steps forward to hand Adir a bow and arrow. Adir places the arrow against the string of the bow and pulls back. At that exact moment the arrow is suddenly set blaze before he releases the string.
We all watch as the arrow soars through the dusk filled sky. The whistle of its flight is the only noise that reaches my ears. The flaming arrow hits its target, the center of the Queen’s chest. The flower petals and linen instantly flares up, making the boat become engulfed in fire.
None of us turn our gaze away until the burning boat, and body, disappear into the water.
My focus shifts to the King as the boatman approaches the Royal family. It is not until he pulls his hood back to reveal his mid-length dark orange hair, that my feet starts guiding me over to the small group.
His attention turns to me, and for a moment a smile crosses his face as our amber eyes lock with each other. “Hello, Sabastian.”
“Hello, Sir Liraz,” I respectfully greet him. I glance over at my father, Duke Ari, as he walks over with Hector. The shocked expression written across his face is as clear as day. ‘I wonder how long it has been,’ I think to myself.
“Brother, how have you been?” the Duke thoughtfully inquires while offering out his hand in greeting.
“I am well,” Liraz answers. He clasps his brother’s arm and shakes it affectionately. When he releases his grip, his eyes move to Hector and I. “You boys have sure grown a lot since the last time I have seen you.”
