Destiny

by Fiona McIntosh

  ‘Try not to bumble and kill another Queen of Cipres,’ Orlac added as Goth made his departure. ‘I wish her returned alive.’ That would annoy Dorgryl, he thought, and smiled.

  7

  Decision

  Alyssa’s face betrayed the pain filling her heart as she revealed her plan to Gyl. They were alone in what had been Lorys’s chambers. How sad, she thought, that someone so vital, so alive just days ago, was now being referred to as the ‘old King’, as if he had been in his dotage.

  ‘You would leave me now,’ Gyl asked, ‘when I need your counsel more than ever?’

  She took his hand but felt none of the affection returned. ‘You know as much about running a kingdom as I do, son. Very little.’ She hoped he might smile but Gyl’s expression remained solemn. She pressed on, her words spilling out quickly as she found good reasons to justify her sudden departure. ‘Those rides out on the moors with your father weren’t for nought. Much would have been discussed without you understanding why. I have ensured the loyalty of the nobility; you have their unwavering support and you can rely on the three I singled out to advise you well. Can I add that you must know you possess qualities which already lend themselves superbly to leadership. Change the title from Prime to King—the job is much the same. Lorys believed firmly in you; was so very proud of you, and I too feel bitter that you were cheated from hearing this by his own mouth. He died in sadness, I’m sure, because of it.’

  Alyssa desperately wished those were not tears in the King’s eyes, yet knew full well her wish was in vain. ‘Don’t weep, son. You were loved. You are still loved.’

  He snatched his hand from his mother to push away the hateful tears of weakness. Gyl was angry; would not tolerate more tears. He had shed enough of them over a man he loved—the now-dead father he had never known was his own. His pain spilled out. ‘How could you not share such a knowledge with me!’

  It was an accusation. Alyssa remained calm. ‘I knew it would cause pain. We wanted to find the right time.’

  ‘Well, standing in front of the entire nobility was not it, Mother!’ he yelled now.

  ‘I realise as much,’ Alyssa responded, her voice suddenly hard. ‘Who knows, it might even be that the untimely death of my husband pushed my hand.’ Alyssa could not help the sarcasm which spilled into her words. Perhaps Gyl was forgetting that she had been a Queen earlier today and was due some respect. He might also be overlooking the fact that he was not the only one grieving for a beloved King.

  He answered with a similar and surprising sharpness she had not encountered before, his normally soft grey eyes now glinting with anger. ‘And yet I see that no amount of grief over your new husband stops you chasing after your former lover like some whore!’

  His cruel words punched Alyssa more effectively than any physical blow. ‘Sire,’ she said firmly, remembering her new place and his elevated one. ‘Perhaps it is best I take my leave.’

  Gyl swung around. She knew he was upset. He had been forced to absorb a number of shocks these past two days but she would not permit him to speak to her with such disrespect, king or not. Alyssa was not tall —Gyl seemed to tower above her yet her eyes held a cold fury her son did not recall having seen before. He had not meant to say what he did, could hardly believe he had uttered such a dreadful denouncement to his mother.

  She was offering him a precise but angry curtsy and he grabbed her before she could make an exit. ‘Madam, I demand a better explanation than you have given me.’ It was deliberately worded to remind her of his new status and it was not lost on her.

  ‘Careful, Gyl, you wouldn’t want the King’s Mother sporting bruises now would you?’ She looked down at where his fingers pinched into her slender arm.

  He let go as if stung and felt the anger diminish instantly into the sorrow it hoped to hide. ‘Damn you! I’m sorry for what I just said. I have no right. Mother…give me a reason!’

  Alyssa felt the two days of pressure and tension explode out of her. She was tired of being regal and dignified; weary from having to control her emotions and be strong for others. With every minute she lingered here in loneliness and grief, Torkyn Gynt was taking several steps further from her and towards her boy, Rubyn; towards trying to save the Kingdom this man in front of her took for granted.

  She screamed her response at him and liked it when he stepped back, confused by her sudden vehemence. ‘You would not believe a word I told you because you are deaf to my voice, blind to what I have seen; ignorant of my life before you came into it!’

  Gyl was shocked. His mother was always so controlled. He had pushed her too far.

  ‘Then tell me again,’ he shouted back at her, glad now that they were in the chambers of his father which were discreet, unguarded. No one would hear this exchange, except the dog, Drake. ‘Forgive me my cruel mouth and tell me everything you know and what I must understand!’

  The dog had pricked his ears at their loud voices and walked over to lick Alyssa’s hand. The simple action of concern from the animal seemed to quell her rage but Gyl noticed she was breathing hard, working at staying calm. Alyssa laid her small hand on Drake’s big head and spoke gently to him. The hound padded back to its favourite spot and flopped down. Gyl wondered if Drake understood his beloved master would not be returning to this room. It was a poignant reminder that his father’s death and the subsequent grief touched more than just his own heart. He knew he needed to start acting like a king and that began right here and now with his father’s widow.

  With no haughtiness now, he addressed her. ‘Please, Mother. Forgive me for what I just said. It was a bold and inaccurate suggestion. Talk to me. I promise to be open-minded. Tell me everything.’

  And so Alyssa swallowed her pride and told him of her life before she came to the palace and all that she knew of the impending danger facing Tallinor. They sat down on the window seat overlooking the frantic activity below in the castle’s main courtyard in preparation for the coronation, and Gyl heard a story like no other he had heard before.

  Gidyon and Lauryn had chosen to escape the tension which the King’s death and subsequent revelation of his heir had created in and around the palace. The kindly stablemaster had offered them horses and they had leapt at the opportunity to get out into the calm of the moors behind the castle. They rode in silence for a while, deep in their own thoughts, but when they slowed the horses to a walk, it felt necessary to share what was on their minds.

  Lauryn broke the silence first. ‘What do you think about Gyl as King?’

  ‘I hardly know anything about him to make comment. He seems determined not to be too friendly to me so I’ve just tried to stay out of his way.’ Gidyon shrugged. ‘I really can’t say, though I thought you’d struck up some sort of friendship?’

  ‘Well, yes, we had for a minute. Then I mucked it all up by suggesting he might loosen his braces.’

  Gidyon looked at her, puzzled.

  ‘You know,’ she responded. ‘He’s so tightly wound. And yet, Saxon says Gyl has always been the sunniest of people—I can believe it when he smiles.’

  Gidyon nodded, resisting the urge to tease her that her interest in the King-in-waiting seemed more than just casual. ‘I think we must allow him a little time. I’ve been thinking about everything that has happened to him in just the last two days. Can you remember how we felt when we learned we were brother and sister?’

  Lauryn shook her head. ‘I can’t remember anything very clearly before we arrived in this world.’

  ‘That’s true. It is all blurry for me too, but I think we were both shocked and angry at being cheated. I know when I was on the road trying to reach the Heartwood, I began to feel real grief that we had been kept apart and that I’d spent most of my life so lonely, so bereft of a family to love and to love me back.’

  Lauryn pushed him gently. ‘You’re such a softie, Gid. I didn’t feel any of that,’ but her sly smile told him she was tricking him. ‘No, you’re right of course. Gyl, I gather, was an orphan
and it was our mother who built a life for him at the palace. Did you know he was left by his own mother, tied to the palace gates?’

  Gidyon looked surprised. ‘No.’

  ‘It’s true. He was abandoned as a child…mother goes off to die from some fever or other. He’s never known his father but he gets on with his life with this new woman at the palace and then a few years later, he’s suddenly introduced to us. Meet your step-siblings…they come from another world!’

  Gidyon shook his head, a wry smile on his face. ‘It gets worse though, doesn’t it? Saxon told me that Gyl worshipped the King. So it’s understandable that his death would have a profound effect on him. And then to learn that the King is really his father…’ Gidyon’s sentence trailed off but Lauryn finished it for him.

  ‘…and that he’s the heir to the throne. One minute you’re a soldier, the next a king. And I’ll tell you this, he’s got another shock coming. How long do you think our mother will remain at the palace twiddling her fingers and playing King’s Mother?’

  He looked at Lauryn’s glinting green eyes. Mischief was in them. ‘You think she’ll follow our father?’

  ‘Of course I do! Could you not feel it between them? It was like the way the air gets just before a storm. You know how your hair begins to stand up and it all goes very still and thick?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Just imagine it, Gidyon. She has believed him dead all these years and now she learns he’s very alive. They were married— don’t forget that. They were deeply in love with one another when he was executed. I would guess they still are!’

  Lauryn’s eyes glittered with the romantic vision of her parents, and her brother could not help but smile.

  ‘I’ll grant you they make a good-looking couple,’ he replied, and ducked when she threw a playful punch this time.

  ‘Good-looking! Are you mad? They’re glorious. Yargo was right, our father is deadly handsome and the Queen—’

  ‘King’s Mother,’ Gidyon corrected, deliberately goading her.

  ‘Alyssa, then, is just about the most beautiful woman I think I have ever laid eyes on.’

  ‘Are you saying that because everyone thinks you look so like her?’ he replied, grinning widely now.

  Lauryn looked exasperated. Her brother was not going to allow her to enjoy the fantasy of her parents.

  Gidyon pulled a face. ‘Oh come on, I’m only teasing. I think they’re wonderful together and I suppose I could get my head chopped off or be burned at the stake for saying something treacherous like this but I’m pleased the King is dead. Perhaps our parents can be together. I presume they kept their marriage secret?’

  ‘I don’t know but I’d wager our mother won’t waste much time departing the palace.’

  ‘It won’t win her any friends, if she does leave now,’ Gidyon said gloomily.

  ‘Considering what’s at stake, and if Orlac does appear as our father predicts, then I’m not sure she would care much about whose feathers she ruffled. Only the two of them seem to know what is going on anyway. I hope she explains more to Gyl, though. He needs to understand, then he may lend his support.’

  ‘You like him, don’t you?’

  Lauryn took a moment to answer him. ‘I cannot admit that he has made himself easy to like, but Sallementro and Saxon have both told me that he can be brilliantly charming and eloquent. He’s the best soldier in the Company, the most eligible bachelor in Tal…’

  Gidyon’s smile widened. ‘Well, I can see you’ve done your homework.’

  ‘Don’t tease me. I would like to know him better but I’ve offended him twice and I’m not sure, now that he’s King, he would bother with me.’

  ‘Don’t be too sure of it. Remember who you look like.’

  ‘Do I really?’

  ‘Lauryn, you’re the image of our mother.’

  Embarrassed by his earnest compliment she changed the subject. ‘When is the coronation, anyway?’

  Gidyon stroked his horse’s mane. ‘Saxon says it will happen fast. Most likely within the Eighthday. They will invite all surrounding sovereigns, I gather.’

  ‘Well, if our mother does not stay, I suppose we’ll be here together at least.’

  He looked towards his sister sheepishly. ‘Ah. There is something I need to talk to you about.’

  Lauryn had dreaded it; already sensed he might announce something like this. ‘No, Gidyon, you cannot do this.’

  ‘I have to.’

  ‘Why can’t you wait a few days?’

  ‘Did you see the look on his face when he learned I’d given the stone away? No. I must travel to Brittelbury immediately and get it back.’

  ‘Then I’m coming with you.’ Lauryn stopped her horse’s slow progress, anticipating an argument.

  Gidyon followed suit but did not reply immediately. He allowed the pause to lengthen into a silence. Then finally he spoke quietly. ‘You know I won’t take you. It could be dangerous.’

  Her temper flared. ‘So everyone is leaving me?’

  Gidyon shrugged gently. ‘Someone needs to represent the family at the King’s coronation…and you’re the only one he’ll probably tolerate by day’s end if your hunch is right.’ He moved his horse closer and took her hand. ‘I promise not to leave you for long. I’ll ride as fast as I can and return immediately.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ she said sulkily. ‘That girl is there and you may even fall for her.’

  ‘Too late…already have.’ He grinned, and kicked his horse into a gallop, laughing as he heard his sister shriek her frustration.

  They sat in a frigid silence after Alyssa had finished her story.

  At last he spoke. ‘You and Torkyn Gynt are married.’ It was a statement, not a question.

  ‘We are. I watched him die, as did countless others, including your father and her majesty, Queen Nyria. Saxon even helped shroud his corpse in muslin.’

  ‘Mother, this is madness. How can he be alive then?’ Gyl worked hard at keeping ridicule from his voice. He had promised her he would remain open-minded.

  ‘Magic, son. He and I are both sentient. My powers are no longer open to me because of this archalyt disk,’ she said, pointing to her forehead, ‘but his talents are vast. I’m not convinced that even Tor understands the breadth of his own magical skills. There is no one to match him.’

  ‘Other than this Orlac you speak of, who is coming to raze Tallinor and wreak havoc…killing us all, I presume.’ He did not succeed in covering the scorn in his voice.

  Alyssa did not overreact. ‘You say that so casually, Gyl. I can only presume you do not believe a word I have told you of Orlac. Understand that he is a god. Tor has already seen a vision of him escaping his enchanted prison. Saxon and Sallementro were two of his keepers whom he has already triumphed over, which is why they are here now, re-forming the Paladin in Tallinor, to fight the final battle.’

  ‘You truly believe this?’ Gyl looked deeply into his mother’s solemn eyes.

  ‘It is happening now, my son. You have to believe it too if you are going to save your Kingdom and your people. He will kill everyone. Not even a child will be spared his wrath. If you don’t trust me, everyone will perish.’

  Gyl sighed and stood. He stared out once again into the courtyard, his hands resting on his hips as he considered all that he had heard these past two hours. Some of it was shocking…most of it too incredible to believe and yet his mother was convincing. He had had no idea how much pain and anguish she herself had suffered at the hands of Goth. The man had been at the palace well before Gyl’s time but he had heard plenty of stories about the former chief inquisitor. She could not have fabricated such a complex, compelling tale of heartache and suffering; or such immense magics that would restore a man’s sight and limbs and indeed bring a man back from death. Why would Alyssa, his own mother, lie to him? She had to be telling the truth.

  ‘What must I do?’ he said finally.

  Alyssa’s expression relaxed. ‘Understand why I must leave
. I am not chasing Tor. I am going to find my son. My task is to assemble the Trinity, our only hope against this fearsome god.’

  ‘And the Trinity is Gidyon, Lauryn and Rubyn…this is what you believe?’

  She nodded. ‘If they are not, we are lost.’

  ‘And what can they do to fight him, these three inexperienced “warriors” from another world?’ Oh dear, he could hear the cynicism cutting into his words.

  His mother shrugged. If she heard it, she was not showing it. ‘We must learn more about them. They are surely empowered, but I’ve only known them as long as you have. Their true magics and strengths are yet to be revealed.’

  ‘So tell me how your running off to this Heartwood achieves anything?’

  ‘I must find Rubyn. I told you, I watched Goth kick at the leaves covering a dead baby boy in the forest where they captured me.’

  Gyl nodded sombrely. It was an horrific tale.

  ‘I cannot push that image from my mind. It visits me every day and has tormented my soul since the moment I saw what I believed to be my dead child. I will lay that vision to rest if I find this child…can you understand this?’

  He nodded again.

  ‘There is more,’ she said, in a businesslike tone. ‘You must remain alert, Gyl. Every soldier should be training hard and put on battle standby. I have no idea what Orlac will do or when, but you must be ready for anything. Extra food and provisions should be stockpiled. You must make plans with your captains for the safety of your people. Set up more effective communication routes throughout the Kingdom. I don’t believe they are efficient enough to withstand whatever attack he may launch. Use this time wisely; do not waste it, son.

  ‘Gather your nobles and tell them in the plainest language that Tallinor is under threat. They will not believe you but you must convince them that the Kingdom must be prepared for any eventuality. Use the excuse that as a soldier you can see that the realm is not protected appropriately and that you wish to make changes. You are a new King, they will anticipate all sorts of new laws as well as a whole new approach. Handle it carefully but firmly. They will respect your strength and follow you.’