Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy)

by Paula Flumerfelt

  “Excuse me?” Her face was pulled into an expression that showed her disbelief.

  “Can I keep him, Mathieu? I promise I’ll be responsible for him. Pleeease?” His other hand laid on the man’s shoulder protectively.

  Mathieu looked at him. “Uh…”

  Jo’s bottom lip quivered, hugging the man from behind. “I promise he’ll behave. Won’t you?”

  To everyone’s surprised, the prisoner nodded. “Yeah…”

  “See, you guys just don’t ask politely enough. What’s your name?”

  “Lione.” The stranger said, looking at the floor.

  “Good, Lione.” Jo patted his head with a smile. “Now, don’t go attacking like you planned to do.”

  Lione looked up at him. “How did you know?”

  Jo smiled. “I could feel the shift in air pressure. You’re a Sky Paladin, aren’t you? Wind scythes in this small of an area would be a bad idea. It could hurt you, too.” He pet Lione’s hair like he was a pet.

  “And how do you know that?” Mathieu said.

  “It was in that book on your desk. I got bored. I’m sorry…”

  Mathieu chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t be.” He was just glad at the boy had known what was happening, because he had been clueless.

  Jo smiled, proud. “Kiev, can I borrow your knife?”

  Kiev looked between him and Lione, but handed over the blade. She watched as Jo cut Lione free. “This still doesn’t mean we can just let him leave…”

  Mathieu folded his arms over his chest. “Well, if Jo wants to keep Lione and be responsible for him, he can. Lione,” he waited for the man to look at him, “you have to stay here, alright? If you try to run…well, I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out what will happen if you do.”

  “Yeah, okay.” His teeth ground audibly, clearly not the type that liked to be told what to do.

  “Up you get.” Jo helped Lione get to his feet, pulling the taller male’s arm around his shoulders. “There we go. Let’s get you upstairs and get some food into you.” The duo exited the room, leaving Mathieu and Kiev in the room alone.

  “Somehow, I think that this could end badly.” Kiev said.

  Mathieu rubbed his chin for a moment. “Well, I think that Jo plans to put him on a rather….tight leash on Lione. It seems at least he can get Lione talking.”

  “Yeah. That was…surprising.” Kiev said as they left the room. As soon as they came back up the ladder, Kiev replaced the rug and made a soft sound until the large wild cat got off the chair and returned to where it had previously sat.

  In the adjoined kitchen, Lione was eating a sandwich while Jo was making another; Enak sat on a stool, watching the raven eat, and Erik was leaning against the wall by the sliding glass back door.

  “Oh good. Jo make me one, too.” Mathieu said, coming to stand beside the small brunet.

  “Waa. Make your own. I have very important matters to attend to here.”

  “Oh, and what exactly is that?”

  Jo pointed a plastic knife at him, giving him a sharp look. “To clean up my pet. I can’t leave him all bloody and broken. Do you realize how many favors I’m going to have trade with Elric to get him healed up?” Mathieu looked at the plastic knife, knowing that the man could do some serious damage with that breakable utensil.

  Kiev approached Lione and took a deep breath. “Er, sorry.”

  Lione tilted his head before swallowing his mouthful of food. Then he nodded slowly, before looking back at Jo, who smiled.

  “It’s okay. He gets it.” Jo said, his back to them, still pointing the plastic knife in mock threat at Mathieu.

  ~*~

  Mathieu stood leaning against the desk on the top floor, staring out at the scene framed in the windows. Out of the right window, in the distance, were the mountains and the jey black Sky Pillar; the center held views of the crystalline ocean, the waves rocking gently onto the beach at the base of the cliff, high enough up to see down to the white and black sand; on the left was an overview of the coastline and land all the way passed the Tri-District Manor to Elise's Manor. All-in-all, the three windows made up half of the circumference of the office, which was circular. Opposite the left window was another, about the size of a large painting, framing Zanika and Zerieve's home in the distance.

  His mind was lost in the soft churning of the ocean, watching as it rolled to and fro. Jo had Lione curled up in the room he and the brunet had been occupying since coming to the headquarters a week ago, Kiev was in the kitchen cleaning, Enak was rifling through the filing cabinets and shelves lined with holographic crystals behind him, and Erik was sitting at the desk.

  He had formed a tentative plan since his helping book had detailed Shapers for him. He was sure that if he focused on other people, the book would give him more information. As he knew first hand, the suggested exercises it provided were greatly beneficial. If he could find ways for everyone to become stronger, their chances of success would dramatically increase. What he really needed was for everyone to be together in one location...

  Turning to Erik, he put his hands on the desk, giving him a flat look. "You said when we first met that Enak had something to tell me. What was it?"

  "Ask him."

  "Tell me."

  Enak's tenor interrupted their staring contest. "Ah, yes. Good thing to bring up. What I need to tell you is something only you can know. This is for your safety and ours."

  "Yeah, yeah. My lips are sealed." Mathieu had been wondering what it was for quite some time.

  Enak came to sit in Erik's lap, both giving him an intense stare. The boy cleared his throat before starting. "Of our duo…Erik isn't really the god here. I am. Despite my appearance, I am Svenak, god of Salvation."

  It took Mathieu a moment to process what the child had said. Once he had managed to wrap his mind around the concept. He actually laughed. "...You're the god? Impossible."

  Enak smiled mysteriously at him before continuing. "Erik came to my realm twenty-one years ago and bound me to his soul in order to protect the love of his life and their son."

  "If I understands gods correctly, once a god completes their agreed upon task they are freed." Mathieu said. “But you are still here and I see no child or loved one.”

  "And that's true," Erik said, "except that he never upheld his end of the bargain to protect them. When a god fails, the contractor has the choice to either let the god go, or keep it with him until they die. In an act of vengence, I bound him tighter to me." Erik said, shrugging one shoulder. “I was a little angry.”

  Mathieu's brow furrowed. "Vengence?"

  Enak huffed in annoyance. "Unfortunately, by the time we returned, his beloved was already dead and his son gone. Until just over a month ago."

  The chill that ran up his spine, combined with the look that Enak was giving him, made him go light headed. He had a sneaking suspicion of what the boy was hinting at, but Mathieu wasn't one to believe in coincidence. There was no chance that he was the son they were talking about, even if they were both giving him the look that said it was true. The thought that Erik might be his father, the one he had always wanted to have in his life, was surreal.

  "But now that you're back, I have a chance to protect you and handle at least part of the agreement. I require your arm, okay? This won't hurt. God's honor."

  Mathieu was so busy staring at Erik that he didn’t really think as he held out his arm. The possibility of this man across from him being his father was preposterous. Enak reached out and wrapped his hands around Mathieu’s wrist. A slight trickle of warmth wrapped around and around Mathieu’s lower arm. He winced but didn't look away from his supposed...father. Erik gave him a small smile before dropping his gaze to Mathieu’s wrist.

  Sighing, he looked down, too, and saw that around his wrist was now a metal phoenix. Its body was about three inches long and its wings were extended out, wrapping around his wrist to lock into a single, flawless piece. The tail was a chain made of the same material an
d latched onto the middle and ring fingers of his left hand. It was designed to not come off. As Mathieu looked at it, the material seemed to glow with a faint redness that tinted the gold.

  "What is this?"

  Enak grinned at him, "I'm glad you asked. This phoenix contains a piece of my power. Focus on it and say my name, and the power within it will act to protect you. Just so you know, that won't come off. Ever. And don't forget my name. Svenak. This is my gift to you; do not betray my identity." He smiled again. "Now I'll take my leave so you two can…chat."

  As soon as the boy god left the room, Erik leaned back in his chair, surveying Mathieu. "What is on your mind, Mathieu? I'd like to know."

  "There are many things on my mind. None of which are you." Mathieu turned on his heel and left for the short flight of stairs, going down into the war room set a few feet below. His mind was made up. He had no father, never had, and nothing that this man said would convince him otherwise.

  Erik followed him downstairs, "Mathieu, I've wanted to tell you since I saw you in the Sky Pillar. Enak thought it'd be a bad idea until we saw what kind of person you were. I thought you were dead, Mathieu..."

  "I don’t believe you or Enak, so it doesn't matter."

  Erik frowned. "Damn it, it does matter. You're my son. My flesh and blood, the only piece left of the woman I love." He grabbed Mathieu's wrist, turning him around so they were face-to-face. "Quit walking away from me."

  "Why? Let’s pretend I believe you, which I don’t. You were never there, Dad. I grew up in an orphanage, the outcast, because you and my goddamn weren't there. Because you two didn’t want me!" Mathieu bit back the rest of his anger, refusing to let this man see how deeply the emotional scars went on this matter.

  "That isn’t true, Mathieu. When I left, your mother was pregnant with you. My family was…it doesn’t matter why I left, I just did. When I came home, expecting to find the woman I would marry and my son, I found Anita dead in the road. You don’t know how badly I want to look for you, but I couldn’t. I lost you once already, Mathieu; I won't do it again." Erik’s mouth was set in a hard line, but his grip on Mathieu was surprisingly gentle.

  Mathieu wrenched his hand out of the man’s grip, shaking his head. “No, screw you. If you really were my father, you would have come to find me! You wouldn’t have just given up and said ‘I can’t’! A father is supposed to fight for his family, and you didn’t!”

  “If I had thought for even a second that you were still alive, I would have come to find you! But I thought you, just like your mother, were dead!”

  “I don’t believe you, you lying, pitiful excuse for a man!” Mathieu yelled.

  Erik caught Mathieu by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. Keeping his son pinned there, Erik reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out a small, flat holographic crystal also known as a traveling crystal. Erik swiped his thumb over it, looking into Mathieu’s eyes before holding it in front of his son’s face.

  The flat surface of the crystal, which had previously been blank, was now the captured image of a young man and woman. The man was clearly a teenage Erik, smoking and smiling like an idiot with his arms around…Mathieu’s breath caught in his throat. The woman looked exactly…exactly like him. She had lightly tanned skin, long white hair, and those luminous purple eyes that so perfect matched his; she was also very clearly pregnant in the captured image, glowing with happiness and pregnancy. With shaking fingers, Mathieu reached up to touch her face.

  “I told you.” Erik said quietly, letting his son go. “This was one of the last times I saw her. I loved her; hell, I still do.”

  Mathieu turned away from Erik, taking a calming breath and trying to control his shakes. "...I-I can't deal with this right now, Erik." He went to the table in the center of the room, which doubled as a map of the combined countries. "Just…go tell Enak that I want everyone from the resistance here. And I mean everyone. Two days from now."

  "…Alright." Erik said, doing his best to not reach out for Mathieu, and left him alone in the war room.

  Studying the map table, Mathieu sighed. He needed to make a game plan. Not just about how to deal with the man who was now very clearly his father, but also the invasion. He needed to distract himself. Tracing his fingers along the mountains of Unith, he tilted his head. There were guard posts at the border between the Outer Zone and Unith’s border, but if they could just sneak past those, they could stick to less inhabited areas of Unith and only need to take a few strategic locations that would prevent troops from coming to aid the capital.

  ~*~

  Mathieu looked around the war room that he hadn’t really left in three days. In the room with him were Erik and Enak, Jo and Lione, Darcia, Zanika and Zerieve, Kiev, Avanon, and Solomon. More people were downstairs, but here he had the key components in his plan.

  Yesterday, everyone had arrived as he had asked. From there, he had been able to ascertain what kind of fighting power he could look forward to using. It wasn’t promising, only twenty people or so were willing and capable of fighting; but Mathieu believed this could be a good thing. Small forces were maneuverable and fast. All he needed was some time to strengthen them and teach them to work together. He hoped.

  Zanika tapped her foot. “So let me get this straight. You expect all of us to stay here until we’re ready to attack? And what is to become of our districts?”

  He rubbed his temples, already having had this fight today. “Listen, I sent Mina to go inform the people of everyone’s districts that they will need to command themselves for a while. They understood. I did ask you all up here for a reason other than to listen to you bitch, if you don’t mind.” A dull throb was starting behind his eyes, and he really needed some sleep.

  Solomon raised an eyebrow, “Then why don’t you tell us?”

  “I would love to if you all would just shut up for a minute. There are only a few people here that can actually go into battle, therefore, I’ve had to plan accordingly. I want groups of four; each group takes a different route through Unith, hits the targets I’ve marked for them, and rendezvous just outside of Ateri. If all goes well, we will only need to do minimal fighting before we get to the capital and we can cut off reinforcements.”

  “What’s the spread looking like?” Said Darcia.

  Mathieu sat back in his swivel chair, “Okay. My unit will consist of myself, Erik, Enak, Solomon, Jo, Lione, and Kiev. Darcia, you are in charge of Unit Two which consists of yourself, Adele, Josette, and Zanika. Zerieve, you’re with Lenore, Narrie, and Akira as Unit Three. And finally, Avanon, you’re in charge of Elric and Ayame.” He ignored the sounds of discontent. “I’ve thought this through. It’s what is required. Also, for communication and timing purposes, Darcia’s unit will take Nikola, Unit Three will take Niveus, and Tesla goes with Avanon’s group. Those three and I can communicate long distance in case of order changes.”

  Zanika was shaking her head. “No. I refuse to be away from Zerieve.”

  “And separating Ayame and Akira would be a bad idea,” Solomon said.

  “Enough.” Mathieu said. He was too tired to deal with their complaining, and he had spent the last three days analyzing every aspect of the plan. This was the most logical and intelligent break down of his forces. “My job is to tell you what to do. Then, you do it. I have a reason for everything I’ve done, so quit arguing and just do it.”

  Enak giggled. “I think his plan is wonderful.”

  Mathieu nodded. “Thank you. I also have a plan to help strengthen everyone’s gifts. I want to start on that today.” He said around a yawn. His suspicions about his helping book were right, and it had expanded its tutorials to include other gifts. “Today, I need Jo, Zanika, and Zerieve.” The clones nodded to him in understanding.

  “Does that mean the rest of us can go?” Avanon asked, smiling.

  “Yeah, go for it.” Everyone but Solomon left the room. Mathieu closed his eyes, thumping his head against the back of his chair.

/>   “You look like hell…” The blond man said.

  Getting to his feet, Mathieu made a soft sound of protest. “That would be because I haven’t slept in three days.” His mind had been a whirlwind, unable to sleep. If it wasn’t the plan, it was Erik; if it wasn’t Erik, it was Solomon. His mind had been going in circles over and over until he had given up on trying to sleep. So now, he was in a perpetual state of half-conscious.

  Solomon stood from his seat, too, pulling Mathieu against him. Then he kissed Mathieu softly, stroking his lower back.

  Mathieu didn’t have the strength to fight, to try and understand why Solomon was now acting like this; so he kissed the blond back, arms sliding around the man’s neck before gently nibbling at his lip. Somewhere inside him a fire was being lit and fueled, his body warming up and a light flush sweeping over his skin. A soft whimper left his mouth as Solomon lifted him by the back of his thighs, setting him on the table.