When they reached the Council chamber, the six members and Lady Aria were already there and seated, waiting for the monarchs to begin. Once she and Gryffon had settled, she gave a nod and the mirror shimmered before them all.
“We have some unfortunate news to relate to you,” Gryffon began and all eyes turned towards him expectantly. “The curse which the Myaamia placed upon us has been discovered to have been corrupted by another spell. This other spell, apparently performed at the exact same moment which allowed it to interfere, was a blood-magic spell.”
The silence which permeated the room was almost palpable. You could hear a pin drop if anyone had moved even the slightest bit to dislodge one.
Several moments passed without anyone commenting, then the room exploded into a cacophony of frenzied outbreaks.
“How could this have happened?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“Who is using blood-magic spells?”
“What is the curse spreading now?”
“Is it still contained?”
Gryffon held up his hands and addressed the last question first, obviously hoping to allay some of the fears that were bound to arise once the rest of the situation was revealed. “Yes, we believe the curse is still confined within the dome. The fact that its true outcome is different than we thought is irrelevant to this.”
“So what is the outcome?”
Layna took a deep breath. “The last remnants of the Order – before we were able to weed them all out – were working on a control spell. Needless to say, this spell involved blood-magic, and as one might expect, it did not go entirely as planned. Those who were involved in its casting soon turned into what has been termed the Bricrui, or Death-bringers by the locals. Basically, it acts like a disease, eating away at the person’s body and mind until they become nothing more than a raging beast. This is what was incorporated into the Forgotten’s curse. Instead of spreading sterilization to any who has the Dark King’s blood, it now spreads this affliction.”
“Luckily,” Gryffon put in before the Ieldran could burst into outcries once more, “we have already been working to cure it as one of the victims of the experiment is here at the palace, and we know how to slow its progress. By having the curse changed in such a way, it has actually made it easier for us to detect, and we also already now have an idea of what exactly it is and what might be done to cure it.”
“How could you have let this happen?” One of the men on the Ieldran demanded. Layna wracked her brain for his name. Whitcomb, that was it.
“Lord Whitcomb,” she appealed, “without trying to pass the blame, I must point out that when I was crowned – something that I did not ask for, and which was thrust upon me unexpectedly – I was metaphorically thrown into the serpent’s lair. Lord Telvani was already established as a respected and prominent member of court. Despite this, I had my reservations about him and was about to bring these to light when King Gryffon and I were attacked. Before that, we managed to eradicate every other stronghold of the Order with the exception of Telvani’s Faithful. We have accomplished much, and though yes, I too wish that we had found a way to prevent this from happening, arguing over how it happened will hardly get us anywhere. We need to concentrate on how to now stop it.”
The man nodded and looked thoughtful a moment. “Perhaps this unfortunate development could be used to our advantage. Sending the Bricrui to the tribes might make them think twice about attacking us again. If they don’t realize that their curse was changed they would think we developed it ourselves. If they do realize, they will see that we are not to be trifled with. Plus, it might motivate them to find a way to stop it.”
The murmurs that arose from this statement took a full two minutes to quiet.
Layna held up her hands. “We must remember that these are people we are talking about. Not some new weapon of war that has been developed. I will not condone any such thing.” She gave the man a stern look, and though he did not argue further, he did not look convinced either. She felt rather sick to her stomach. She supposed she could see his point, but…imagining sending Alina up to the tribe…not to mention the fact that they still didn’t know enough about what the tribe was. For all they knew, it was a small group of people – like Telvani in her own court – who had caused this to happen, and the rest of the people would be innocents in the battle. They also hadn’t meant for it to entwine with the blood-magic as it had. While the sterilization of the original intent was still appalling, it wasn’t quite the same as sending monsters against them.
“What is this cure you’ve been working on that has slowed the progress?”
Layna’s eyes were drawn to a normally quiet man in the back. His slight form and soft voice caused his comments to often be spoken over, but she was glad that today he had chosen to speak up. Focusing on the positives in this situation would be key. “We have combined a rare plant from the Plains with a spell to halt its progression. It would be most prudent of you to send your own expeditions into the Plains to retrieve it if you can in preparation for the worst, or simply to lend us aid. We can show you how to cleanse the chaotic magic of an area to make it safe to use the power and also provide drawings of the plant, called chokeroot.”
“How effective is this plant?” the same soft-spoken man asked again.
“We can’t be entirely sure as the patient who it has been used on for the longest is not one who was infected by the curse, but rather from the original blood-magic spell.”
The man raised an eyebrow at her.
She answered his unspoken question which was mirrored out loud by several other Ieldran members. “Yes, we have caught those who were responsible for the original blood-magic. We believe that we have succeeded in finally taking out the last of those of the Order dabbling in the forbidden arts.”
“Finally is right,” Heinrich muttered loudly.
Layna continued as if her next comment had already been a part of her sentence before his rude remark, “After centuries of acting in secret behind the backs of the Gelendan and Treymayne,” she reminded them all. Though the Order had not been as wide-spread in Treymayne, it had still been active within their borders. Mostly passive members who did little more than harbor the books and pass information, but still involved. Layna and Gryffon had passed along any information regarding these that they had come across to the Ieldran and left it up to them to deal with it how they saw fit.
The rest of the meeting surprisingly went fairly civilly, given the news they had just dropped in their laps. Plans were made to put together expeditions into the Plains as she had suggested. Lady Aria insisted that any chokeroot found by Treymayne be immediately sent to Gelendan’s aid. This was at first rejected by several of the Ieldran, but once debated, she won out. She even refused to take any herself until there was enough for everyone at the palace.
“How could you in good conscience stockpile a plant for our own possible future use when it could be used to save lives now? Besides which,” she pointed out, “the healthier the mages and healers of the Gelendan palace are, the more likely it will be that a cure will be found before it gets to the point when Treymayne would have to worry about it.”
Layna did not bother to correct her that the healers and mages couldn’t work with the power while taking the chokeroot; it got her point across nicely. Besides, it would keep them healthier if no one else in the palace was turning into monsters and trying to eat them. But they would have to figure out a way to continue their work while remaining safe, either by working with mages outside the dome, or by taking it on and off to alternately perform spells and research. Layna filed this away for later contemplation.
She was rather impressed with Lady Aria’s ability to have transitioned to the political woman she was. When Layna had first met her, she had seemed content to stay out of the politics that her father was so involved in. Obviously, she had picked up on more than she had let on. The position seemed to suit her, and her discussions were always calm and
thought-out.
Layna felt the once-familiar twinge of jealousy and swiftly pushed it from her mind. She squeezed Gryffon’s knee under the table and gave him a fleeting smile. The love in his eyes as he smiled back at her was enough to remind her she had nothing to fear.
She turned her attention back to the proceedings. Nothing to fear from the Lady Aria anyway. Plenty to fear from the Bricrui.
*
Katya watched Kali sprint up the stairs, no doubt to flee the tribe who would soon be demanding answers from her. She moved to go after her, but the Dena’ina leader put a restraining hand on her arm. “We are outsiders here,” he said softly, “it is not our place to detain or punish, only to inform.” Katya nodded and looked around the sea of faces.
Most were stilled trained on Slade, who was telling them everything he had known about and done, including having seduced her into parting with the information the Elders wanted. She glanced at Hunter out of the corner of her eye. He was wearing a carefully neutral expression, but he did step closer to her and take her hand possessively. Normally such a display would have bothered her, but she liked the idea of Hunter possessing her.
She brought her wandering thoughts back to the events as she heard Lorcan speak up. He told them of his exploits with the other children to find out about the stones and the curse. Katya was impressed at their resourcefulness. She was also very proud of how quickly he had been able to let go of his hate for the Dena’ina, and of his ability to express this to his tribesmen. Even though the Dena’ina hadn’t killed his parents in cold blood, they still had killed them. It took an extremely mature mind to be able to look past this fact and accept that the Dena’ina had been given no choice.
A few more of the Elders slunk away in the commotion, only a handful staying behind to defend their actions. It soon turned into a shouting match over whether or not what had been done to the Lost Ones was justified. Some of the arguments even sounded very convincing…if you could forget that they were talking about people.
“How can we believe anything that this outsider has said? Claiming to have been from the tribes and bearing the Bloodstone.” The truth about her origins and her adventure with Layna had come out during the conversations, with the tribe bombarding both her and the Knights for information about the events.
Lorcan spoke up, “She is from the tribes. She is from our tribe, and furthermore is Gareth’s daughter. The one that he went mad with guilt over, having to throw her out because of our misguided customs. She is not evil. Because we exiled her, much evil was done to her.”
Katya wondered how much of her past he actually knew about. Whatever vague tidbits she had let on in his presence was nothing compared to the actual truth. If he thought the small portion he was aware of was bad...
Lorcan continued, “But still, she was the one who helped Queen Layna of Gelendan,” Katya noticed the conspicuous use of the actual names of these places rather than the tribe’s usual ‘Lost Lands’. “She helped her to destroy Nuko, the evil behind the Dark King. Queen Layna, who also bears his mark. Would those following his path seek to destroy him? How can we say that the marked are evil when they have done more than we have to get rid of the true last traces of the Dark King on our world while we have been here hiding and hating him? And them.” He paused for a breath and Katya shifted uncomfortably at the attention his speech was directing at her.
He went on, “Katya is the last of the Greyclaw bloodline, our founding member and a family that has been long respected. Despite the tribe throwing her out, she holds no malice for us. Despite her own father allowing it to happen, she welcomed him with open arms at the realization of who he was. And despite the fact that we killed him, moments after she discovered he was her father, she still comes to us speaking of making us understand the faults in our thinking, instead of vengeance. She is a very powerful talent, she was able to fool the combined Elders of her origin, make no mistake that she could have wreaked vengeance on us had she been so inclined. But she did not.” He hung his head in shame, “which is more than I can say. In my own quest for vengeance I ended up stabbing my friend – her. And yet again, she didn’t even have to think twice about forgiving me. If these are the qualities of the marked, it seems as though we should be celebrating them, not throwing them out.”
A commotion broke out again and Lorcan held up his hands for quiet. The corners of his mouth twitched a bit with pride as he was immediately given it. “I’m not saying that all those marked are like Katya. I’m trying to point out that being marked means you have a certain bloodline. They were born that way. They didn’t choose it, and that is the end of the meaning it carries with it. The person they become is not influenced by it, and they should not be judged because of it.”
A woman spoke up; one who had been hovering protectively over Raina during the conversation who Katya assumed was her mother. “They told us we needed to worry about the Dark King and the Lost Lands. We did not want to bother with it ourselves, so we were content to let them deal with it while we got lost in our own issues. We should not have let it happen.”
This time, she was met with more agreement than not. The tide of the debate seemed to be turning. After many more comments along the same lines, one of the Elders finally came forward, one who had seemed just as surprised as the rest of the tribe over many of the dealings by his peers.
“We need to use the Myaamia powerstone to see if we can break the curse. Without all the original members of the circle, we will not be able to do so without its help. The stone has been kept in a secret tower for generations, with only a select few knowing of its existence. Getting the stone will also be difficult without the other Elders, but with the combined knowledge and power of everyone in the tribe, we should be able to do it.”
The man looked around the crowd with regret in his eyes. “I was caught up in the lies of Kali and the hatred we have held onto for too long. But you all are right.”
Another Elder who had stayed for the debate, a woman, came to stand next to him. “I agree. I too was seduced by the thought that stopping the Dark King’s bloodline would rid the world of evil, but you have opened our eyes and forced us to realize the harsh truth that what we did was evil. I only hope that you can forgive us.”
Katya followed with the rest of the tribe to the secret place that the Myaamia powerstone was kept and watched with fascination as one after another of its defenses were overcome by the cooperation of the tribe. Finally, they arrived in the last chamber of the giant tree where the stone was kept. The throng of people massed forward, squeezing into the small room. Katya was pressed up against the far wall and she took in her surroundings. The room was largely empty, save for a tall pedestal in the center of the room on top of which was perched a giant bird on an equally giant nest.
It squawked loudly, peering down at the mass of people beneath its nest with dark eyes. The enormous wings spread and beat at the air, sending wind whooshing down at them. The Elder who had first spoken up during the debate, admitting that they had been wrong, held up his hands.
“This one is mine, I can take care of it,” he stated calmly, and closed his eyes in concentration. The bird bunched its legs and leapt from its perch, opening its beak wide as it plummeted towards them. People screamed and pushed against each other, trying to get out of the way of the sharp beak. All except the Elder who still stood with his hands outstretched towards it. Katya watched with trepidation.
The beak opened wider, enveloping the man, but just as it was closing around him, it puffed into smoke. The pedestal lurched into motion, grating against the floor as it lowered. The stone that was held in the nest was magnificent. The same moonstone of the Dena’ina’s powerstone, shining with different colors depending on the angle. Everyone in the room stood staring at it with awe for some time.
Then the woman Elder stepped forward and took it gently from its nest. She handed the stone to Katya. “It is only fitting that a Greyclaw should be the one to carry it.”
&nb
sp; “And so it begins,” the Dena’ina leader murmured softly.
Katya took it gently, cradling it to her chest. She did not see the reasoning behind giving it to her to carry back to the village, but didn’t care either as long as they moved quickly to see what could be done about the curse. Though normally having the population become sterile wouldn’t bother her overly much, she knew that she would also be infected by its curse, and for some reason since finding Hunter again this was much more of an issue for her.
They marched back to the Chamber and Katya set the stone out in front of them. The more powerful mages, along with those of the Elders who had changed their stance and remained to help, formed a circle around it. Katya followed the instruction of the Elder who walked them through the spell to reopen the channel between them and the child. Though Katya’s role was mainly adding strength since she had not been involved in the original spell, she did watch it carefully to make sure that no more harm was being done. Finally, they dropped hands they had been holding, and the Elder who had taken the role of leader of the spell sighed heavily.
“The curse refused to be broken, even with the stone,” the man told them sadly. “I fear that our horrible deed cannot be undone.” He paused, obviously holding something back.
“Is there more?” Katya prodded.
“Yes,” he sighed, “it appears as though another spell has combined with the one that the Circle performed. It has warped the original so that instead of spreading the curse of sterilization to all those of the Dark King’s line, it is now spreading some sort of blood-magic ailment.”
Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) Page 5
