Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 01 - Dark Bayou
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I turned to see Lyla in her nightgown behind me, staring down at the wooden floor. I sat down on my bed and my eyelids suddenly got very heavy. I patted the blanket, and Lyla sat beside me. “It’s a holy knight,” I told her, trying to stifle a yawn.
“What do they do?”
“They protect people.” I recalled her gift and added, “And sometimes animals.”
“I’m a paladin?”
I nodded.
“And you and Maw-maw Clo?”
I nodded again.
“And Jonathan?”
“Looks like it.” She was quiet for a long time, thinking things through. I almost fell asleep sitting there. While she was thinking, I kicked off my shoes, got up and changed out of my damp clothes and into an old t-shirt and some pajama shorts.
As I crawled into bed, she asked, “What made us paladins?”
I let out a deep sigh, which turned into a deep yawn. I patted the blanket again, and she crawled into bed beside me, nestling into the crook of my arm. “A very long time ago,” I started. I told her the story Ben had just told Lucas, the one he told me earlier. The last thing I remembered saying was something about the knight, Roland, and I trailed off, sleep taking over.
When I awoke, the dim, gray light of pre-dawn was showing through the windows. The lamp on the nightstand was off, and I suspected Lyla had turned it off not long after I fell asleep. She was on her stomach, breathing deeply, and I knew that it would take a sonic boom to wake her. I let the fog clear from my brain as I grew closer and closer to alert consciousness. I looked at my bags in the corner, and I remembered I had thought about leaving before I fell asleep. I had thought this would be the perfect time to slip away and go back down I-10 West, back to the Pacific Ocean, back to carefree days and party nights.
But I dreamed last night. In my sleeping state, I was at a crossroads. The roads to my left and right were blocked off, leaving only the road behind me and the one in front of me. Behind me, I saw a desert, sunny and hazy. In the distance, I saw Los Angeles and her mountains and ocean and the Hollywood lights, but it was all blurry, no more than a mirage on the desert horizon.
I turned to the road in front of me and was surprised to see my mother there, looking just as she had on our trip to Gulf Shores, with her sunny blonde hair and her locket around her neck. Behind her, the road was clear, all the lines and edges sharp and in focus. Far off into the distance, I saw the city of New Orleans. My mother smiled at me and nodded before starting to disappear. I had reached out for her, to hold her one last time, but she faded away to some other existence.
I smiled sadly at my unpacked bags and closed my eyes again, falling back asleep moments later. I slept, dreamless, until the smell of breakfast woke me up a couple of hours later. The sun shone through the window, and the arguing birds were back on the persimmon tree. I woke up Lyla and we went downstairs to join Clothilde at the table, where we ate together as any family would.
EPILOGUE
It took two weeks of calling Lucas and leaving him messages for him to finally start talking to me again. He called me on a Saturday afternoon to tell me that he was only calling because Jonathan missed Lyla and wanted to play with her. He still sounded cold and a little hurt. I apologized to him, but he shrugged it off and said it was okay, but he wasn’t fooling me. I knew it would take more time.
As the long days of summer grew shorter and the humidity eased off, I found myself rediscovering Louisiana in a new light. I came to enjoy the slower pace of Abbeville along with its unique charm; the gazebo in the middle of the town square, the old playhouse where I was an extra in “Little Orphan Annie” when I was six, the giant cans of Steen’s Syrup that stood as sentinels over the old syrup mill, the ancient oaks by the courthouse. I often caught myself smiling while driving down the old country roads which were lined with sugar cane, rice, and crawfish ponds. I took in the serenity, and I felt calmer every day. I regularly went out dancing with Carrie and even got better at doing a Cajun jitterbug.
September came and, with it, the start of a new school year for Lyla, who started taking French. I helped her with her homework, and I delighted that I was learning the language again. Of course, this made Clothilde happy, and it seemed she was becoming less ornery, but I think that was because I was becoming less bratty.
Even Lucas came around after awhile. It started off with him bringing Jonathan to play with Lyla, and he began staying for supper. Before I knew it, he was going out with Carrie and me, and it was just like old times. But there was always a little sadness that came with those good times knowing David and Michelle weren’t with us.
Soon, October came and I got a bill in the mail from Sallie Mae. My stomach sank as I opened it and saw how much I owed for med school. I groaned.
“What?” asked Clothilde.
“I’m going to need a job.”
She peeked at the bill in my hand. “You can worry about that later. You have another job to do.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “You need to start training,” she explained.
“Oh. With who?”
“I have someone in mind. He’s the best one to teach you. While you train, you’ll be staying with Miss Cee Cee in New Orleans.” I nodded, thinking how nice it would be to see the Crescent City again, and I knew Carrie would be excited to visit me there. I put the bill in the kitchen drawer and closed it, intending to apply for a deferral later.
I walked to the porch and gazed out onto the pond to see Lyla in the little pirogue in the middle of the water. She was tossing pieces of stale bread over the side of the little boat. “Aunt Leigh! Come see all the fish!”
“Maybe later,” I said, laughing at her excitement. “You’re a little too giddy. You might rock the boat, and we’ll both fall in,” I teased.
“C’mon, it’s safe here! Hurry!” she said, rocking the boat a little to test it. An uneasy feeling came back to me as her words echoed the dream I had back in my Hollywood apartment. She had said those words because the Dark Man was chasing us in the dream. I pushed the dread aside and reminded myself that it was over. Walter Savoy would never bother us again. But a nagging thought kept buzzing around my head. It was what Ben had said about paladins and their light. When your light shines so brightly, the dark will seek it.
Even though Savoy was gone, I knew it would never end. I would always be protecting Lyla and the ones I love from harm. I chose that path, and there was no turning back. I no longer looked at it with dread and reluctance. I was determined now, to face Les Foncés head on with the blood of my ancestors running through my veins. I would train to become a traiteur. It was my obligation.
BOOK TWO: DARK
CARNIVAL
by
Nancy K.
Duplechain
I noticed countless eyes following me. They belonged to shop-keeps closing up for the night, the homeless watching me from their makeshift beds, call girls pretending to wait for their next tricks on the corners, but all the while, wary of my every move. I didn’t belong here and they knew it. I could feel Les Foncés all around me, too, watching me from behind the tombs of the cemeteries, waiting for me around the corners of St. Louis Cathedral. With each breeze that floated off the Mississippi, I could feel their breath on my neck.
“Everybody have a dark side.” – Papa Mulogo