The Stewards of Reed, Volume 2: The Dungeons of Cetahl
Page 31
“He is marked though,” replied the guard.
Fallon felt his shirt being raised. He had not the strength to stop it.
“What does that mean?” asked the younger man with dark hair.
“I do not know,” replied the man on the chair of stone. “How much tea did you give him?”
“We were worried he might try to escape, Emperor.”
“Well, he is useless to me now. Be gone with him. Perhaps his mind shall become clearer with a little time in the dungeons.”
*************
“Selma. It is time.”
“Time for what?” she asked.
“My purpose here has ended. He has finally come.”
“Who? Who has come?”
“He whom I have been waiting for,” Oren replied.
“You have been waiting for someone? That is why you are here?”
“Aye.”
“He is here in Cetahl? In the dungeons?” she asked, looking around.
“Aye.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, her heart sinking.
“It is time for me to leave, dear Selma.”
“No …,” she pleaded.
“Aye.”
Selma started to cry.
“Do not weep, dear Selma. Please.”
Selma did her best to stifle her tears. “Shall I ever see you again?” she asked.
Oren smiled. He picked up a small pebble of stone from the floor of his cell, his eyes flashing silver once more. He placed the stone in her palm and helped curl her fingers around it. “Hold on to this stone and you shall always find me, dear Selma. I shall hear you when you speak. I shall not leave you.”
Selma looked from her hand to Oren. “Do you promise?” she asked, her lower lip quivering.
“Aye. But first you must help me.”
“Anything,” Selma nodded. “I would do anything.”
*************
Silas returned with two cups of tea.
“Thank you,” Steward Isaiah said, gripping the warm contents in his hand.
“So tell me, Steward, why have you come to Koman?” Silas asked.
“I have recently been made aware of something I believe might be of interest to you,” Steward Isaiah explained, taking a sip of tea.
“What is that?” Silas asked with caution.
Steward Isaiah reached for the letter in his pocket. Lady Dinah’s words would prove better than mine, he thought. But as he reached for the letter, he found himself suddenly unable to breathe. His heart began to race.
“Are you all right, Steward?”
Isaiah could not answer. He watched the Komanite leader rise from his chair and draw near.
“How dare you?” the Minister whispered. “How dare you come here … after everything you Reedites have done.”
Isaiah struggled for breath. He tried desperately to pull the letter from his pocket.
At that moment, the beautiful woman with chocolate skin entered the dining hall. She immediately ran towards Isaiah.
“What did you do?” she asked, accusing the Komanite leader.
“I did nothing.”
“I have just come from the kitchen, Silas. I saw them. I saw your potions.”
The Minister did not reply. He glared at them both and left the room.
The beautiful woman remained.
“I am sorry, sir. My husband is the alchemist … I … I do not know how to help you,” she said, her voice filled with worry.
Steward Isaiah finally grabbed hold of the letter and thrust it into her hand.
“What is this?” she asked.
But Steward Isaiah could not answer. His world had faded to black.
*************
Lady Tessa gently wiped the sweat from her face. The Queen stared at the old wizard, admiring the lines of worry upon her nurse’s brow and the fine lines that framed her delicate frown.
It was all a farce. In her delirium she could finally see that. Lady Tessa has known all along.
“You must rest, my Queen. You are still quite feverish.”
“I imagine poison does that to a wizard,” replied Lady Delia.
Lady Tessa was taken aback. “My Queen, you do not know what you are saying. Please, you must rest!” she implored.
“How long have you been in an alliance with Lord Jarek?” the Queen continued. “Did you poison my father as well?”
Lady Tessa let out an exasperated sigh. “I am afraid the fever has taken ahold of your senses, my Queen. That, or the wine,” she said, nodding towards the empty carafe beside the bed.
Lady Delia fell silent. She knew it would be difficult to prove her suspicions, especially given her current state of mind.
Lady Dinah would believe me. But she doubted that thought. They did not have the best of relationships.
If only she did not resemble her father so.
That was the Queen’s final thought before passing on to the next life.
*************
Fallon could not say for how long he had been in the darkness of the dungeons, but his mind had been clear of the effects from the sweet-smelling tea for some time.
“Hello, Fallon.”
Fallon felt that feeling once again … the same feeling that he had felt with the dark-haired man in the bookstore, with the old man in the Atlian Mountains, with the strange girl and the old woman in the forest.
He picked up his head, his eyes searching the darkness. A lone figure stood before him, just outside his cell.
“Who are you?” Fallon asked.
“I have been waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“I have come to take you home.”
“To Reed?”
But even as he spoke the words, Fallon knew he would not be returning to the home of his youth.
To be continued…
AUTHOR’S NOTE
For those of you who have enjoyed The Stewards of Reed series thus far, please know that I have started writing the third (and final?) installment. I hope to publish it sometime in 2015. I have a blog which I post to sporadically if you are interested in updates on my progress: warksworks.blogspot.com
Cheers!
RM Wark