Gideon gasped, clutching at the long sinewy hand that was choking him. The last thing he saw was the sinister blackness of Deorci's eyes and the triumphant sneer of his lips, before Gideon felt a blinding crash to his head and then total blackness.
A complete and total blackout.
Chapter Eighteen
'You must be fine trouble with the young ladies down there.'
Gideon opened his eyes and blinked twice, feeling a rush of calmness surrounding him. He could feel the soft flutter of weeds against his face, the sweet scent of roses leaving him somewhat lightheaded. It took him a moment to realize that he was lying in a garden somewhere. But it was a voice that had woken him.
He sat up instantly, trying to sort his muzzled mind. How did he end up here when he had just been...? Oh shit! Jumping to his feet, he rubbed his temples. He had to find Amelia and Mia; they were in great danger. He had to reach them before Deorci did.
Where the fuck was he? All he could see was plains of roses and lilies, spreading out into an endless land. A light breeze fluttered across his face and for a moment, he wondered if he was in Heaven. Shrugging off the feeling, he took two unsure steps forward.
'You remind me so much of your Father just now.' There came the voice again; a rich feminine sound which could leave any man in a trance. Gideon looked up, frowning. He must be losing his mind.
'Who are you?' he asked.
'I'm right behind you, sweetheart."
He turned slowly, quite taken aback by the sight. There was woman sitting on the grass before him, her face so radiant and kind. She was beautiful, her light blue eyes warm and lovely. She was clothed in a long white dress, long tresses of auburn hair falling over her shoulders and into her lap. The woman smiled up at him, a deep dimple forming in her left cheek.
Gideon's gaped at her. The recognition was almost too good to be true. That face. Those eyes. He'd seen them so many times in his dreams as a child. He swallowed down the lump of emotion that had been resting in his throat.
'Mother?'
Her smile widened. 'My baby boy is all grown up, isn't he?'
'Mother?' he asked again. 'This can't be real.'
'Oh it is real, Gideon. I'm right here.'
He could feel his lips trembling, his eyes filling with tears. 'But you're...'
She smiled again. 'Dead?'
He nodded, approaching her cautiously. 'Does that mean, I'm....'
'Shhh,' she coax, rising gracefully to her feet. Gideon thought she looked like an angel. She took him by the hand, her touch warm and affectionate. Gideon stared down at their hands for a moment. 'I need to talk with you.'
The entire moment was quite overwhelming for Gideon. He was with his Mother. Why? Rushing into her arms, he welcomed her warm hug and allowed his tears to fall. He'd wanted this moment for so long, for too long. 'I can't believe it's really you.'
'Don't cry, baby. I'm alright. But you're not.'
Gideon raised his head to look down at the woman who had birthed him. She was a goddess in his eyes. 'What's happened to me?'
'What has happened doesn't matter, son. What matters is what you intend to do about it.' She wiped his tears away with the gentle sweep of her thumbs and then fell a soft kiss to his cheek. You've given up, Gideon.'
Gideon sniffed and looked away. 'I can't do it, Mother. I-I've failed them. I've failed them all. Hadaen...and Faolan.' He breathed one shaky breath. 'I've failed...her.'
'No, you haven't,' she smiled, her own tears glittering in her light blue eyes. She shook her head fondly. 'I've been watching you three boys for so long, Gideon, and I've never been prouder of how you've grown up to be such great men. Hadaen has your father's rock-hard control.' She chuckled. 'He’s never found a better match in Amelia. And Faolan... Oh, Faolan has kindness and joy. But you, you Gideon, have always been so special. I saw it in your eyes for the few moments I held you in my arms. You'll be the one to hold both your brothers up. They don't have the patient will like you do.'
Gideon tried to fight against the tremors that were threatening to captivate his body. Maybe he was dead. He didn't know.
'Esyth needs me and I was this close to finding her.' He looked away again, ashamed to meet his Mother's kind probing eyes. 'I'm a failure. How can you still believe in me?'
She rest her warm palm against his cheek and turned his head to face her once again. 'Because you're my son. And I love you. You need to stop blaming yourself. Everything will work out just fine if you only believe, Gideon. You will find her. So go...'
'Go?'
'Yes. Go.' Turning him gently, she stood behind and pointed to a large hollow tree that stood alone in the wide plain. Gideon was almost sure it hadn't been there a minute ago. 'Go. She'll be waiting for you. You'll know what to do.'
Gideon turned to her, his mouth open but unsure of what to say. 'I...'
She smiled. 'I love you, Gideon. All of you. Don't you worry about me. I'll be with you always.' Stretching upwards, she took him in her arms again and Gideon breathed in her soft rosy scent. She then pecked him affectionately on the cheek and took one step back, her falling tears betraying the joyful upturn of her lips. 'Go. Go...'
Gideon smiled and picked her hands up in his, pressing both his lips before returning her smile. He swallowed tightly, his heart hammering in his chest at his newfound strength. His forever shield; his mother. 'I love you too, Mother. Always. You're even more beautiful than any picture could capture.'
She let out a healthy laugh. 'Are you charming your own Mother, boy?'
Gideon's eyes twinkled as he grinned. He then nodded and exhaled a calming breath, regarding her happily for a moment. But he had to take heed to her advice. He couldn't give up. Esyth was waiting for him. And he would not leave her waiting too long.
'Thank you,' he said softly and then turned from her reluctantly yet determined to be on his way. He then stared hard at the hollow tree and did what any man in his position should do.
He ran for it.
* * *
The first thing he noticed once he opened his eyes was the pungent scent of death. A beacon was burning wildly, illuminating the cold dark room and something was squeaking.
Gideon eased up from his laying position, wincing instantly as a searing-hot pain rocketed through the side of his head. Shit! He felt as if he'd been hit over by a truck. It only took him a minute to realize that the room he was currently in was no ordinary room. Thoughts of all pain aside, his eyes flew wide open. It was a jail.
Now jumping to his feet, he flew across the room, hands tightening around the thick bars of the door, shaking furiously. He was in jail, and not just any jail. Deorci's fucking dungeon!
"Fuck!" he hissed, running his hands through his hair and breaking out into a rapid pace. What was he going to do? Well, he had to do something and he couldn't rightly do anything from behind bars now, could he? A saucy grin overcame his lips. That could easily be rectified anyway. Summoning on his mana, Gideon inhaled deeply and tried to relax. He could feel the surge of his one energy...preparing to flood from his center and into his veins.
Then nothing. "What the fuck?"
His mana had never failed him before.
What the hell was going on? The squeaking sound came once again and Gideon turned around to see a body sprawled in the far corner of the room. Moving towards it cautiously, he crouched down to turn it over. Long tresses of dark hair hung over an oval face. It was a woman. Gideon's gaze raked over the woman's body questioningly. One of Deorci's concubines?
Reaching out one index finger, Gideon brushed away some of the thick tendrils of her face, the rough pad of his thumb brushing over smooth warm skin.
He stilled. She was still alive.
Frowning deeply, he continued on his task to take a better look. Part of him knew it couldn't possibly be Esyth yet another part still urged him to look anyways. He flicked the rest of the tendrils away.
Gideon shrunk back as if he'd been slapped hard in the face. It couldn't be. N
o. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, her eyes opened. She looked back uncertainly at him
before she blinked thrice and swallowed.
"Gideon Maruj?" she said, voice weak and cracked.
"Sienna? What are you doing here?"
She turned her face away and Gideon got to knees, using his hand to support her head. He looked her over slowly. She was battered and beaten. And incredibly thin. Her famous red hair had darkened to an ugly shade of brown, almost black. "What happened to you?"
She chuckled wryly. "My stupidity."
Gideon frowned. It was obvious that she was carrying some awful load of guilt. For a moment, he felt a little guilty by how he'd teased and taunted her all those years ago.
"Hey, it's alright. I'm not here to judge you, okay? How'd you end up here?"
She was quiet for several minutes and Gideon had almost thought she wasn't going to answer him. Then she turned her face around.
"Help me up, will you?"
Gideon obliged, lifting her carefully so that she sat straight up, her back resting against the wall. She was so fragile, he thought she'd break. But the fire in her eyes told him she had a lot left to go on.
Sienna raised one slender hand to brush her hair from her face. Gideon winced. Her jaws were sunken, dark circles taking home beneath her eyes. He felt utterly sorry for her. Sienna was known to be breathtaking but now, in her current state, she could hardly be called that.
"He hurt you," Gideon whispered, watching how she still seemed strong despite her injuries.
She allowed him a weak smile. "I'm a big girl. But I'm glad you're finally here."
"Finally?"
She nodded. "Despite the fact that Deorci threw you in here, I know you'll find a way to get to her."
Gideon frowned, thinking over her words. Esyth was here. The news brought to him a newfound joy he never knew he'd ever feel again. But... He looked at her. "You were the one who sent the message?"
"Amazing, huh?" she smiled, her busted lip cracked and stiff. "I'd been practicing with Elder Joseah back at the Hub. He said that was how Protectors now communicated with each other. I was just getting good at it when I got a message from Esyth."
"How'd you know where to find her?"
She shook her head. "I didn't. I left the Hub without giving anyone notice, trying to locate her but I couldn't. I was traveling through a valley south of the Hub when I was captured by a few Kankul soldiers. I couldn't fight them off."
"No one's blaming you, Sienna."
"They threw me in here and then Deorci came," she continued, voice breaking into a sob. "He...he came every night, asking questions about the kingdom. I refused to answer so....he beat me and he...did things I'm too ashamed of to say..." A tear rolled down her cheek, her expression yet impassive. "You don't have to feel sorry for me, Gideon. I'm stronger than you think." She nodded, aiming to give strength to her declaration. "I tried to contact Lord Hadaen but this...this girl responded to me instead."
"Amanda of the Alexanders..."
"That's what she said her name was. I tried and tried again to contact you guys but I couldn't. So I had no choice but to ask the girl to bring the message."
"And she did," he said, letting out a long dreadful sigh. "God, Sienna! Why hadn't you made it known that you were here too?"
She frowned. "I'm not that good at the communication thing yet. At least not with words. Feelings, shapes, colors.... Those are what I can use." She moved a little more upright, groaning with anguish as she did so. Gideon's hands shot out instantly to offer her comfort.
"You need a healer, Sienna. You're not self-healing and I don't know why. I'm going to get you out of here, don't you worry."
"I'm...fine," she grunted in pain. "You should go find Esyth first."
He nodded yet he could not find it in his heart to just leave her there. She was practically defenseless. If at any other hour he was afraid to summon Hadaen, this was not one of them. He had no other choice.
Gideon looked at her now, studying her face. She was resting, eyes closed as she took long deep breaths. She needed a healer soon or else she wouldn't make it. And if Sienna were to die, it would be left entirely on his conscience. She had done this...put her life in danger for the sake of a woman who'd never been very fond of her. For his woman.
And therefore, for him. He would be forever indebted to Sienna. But as he looked at her all he could feel was sadness and hurt in her energy. She had been all alone in this jail with no comfort, no one to help her as she'd faced the torment of Deorci's hand. Thinking of it all brought Gideon to ponder on that conversation he'd had with Abel Macintosh. He found himself desperately needing to hear her part of the story.
"Have you ever spoken to a man named Abel Macintosh?"
Her eyes flew wide open, her pupils shaking with raw guilt. Tears sprung to her eyes and she brushed at them before they went rolling down her cheeks. "Go ahead. What are you waiting for? Judge me. Taunt me like you and everyone else have. Say it! Sienna Rally is nothing but a two-bit whore!"
Gideon shook his head. "The past is in the past, Sienna. Forgive me if I've ever treated you unfairly before. But I need to know how you two met."
Sienna let out a harsh breath, sniffling as she blinked back more tears. Talking alone seemed so hard for her to accomplish, her voice filled with so much damn emotion. "A-After my father found out that I'd been whoring away under his nose, he'd wanted to send me off to my aunt in Paldine."
Now called Baamel," he interjected.
"Baamel?"
"It's a long story. You'll find it all out once we get out of here."
She looked at him curiously for a while but nodded and continued. "She was to take me in, teach me proper behaviour until I was ready to go back home," she said dryly. "I thought Father was banishing me. At least that was how it felt." She took a deep breath. "My aunt was supposed to meet my chaperone and me half way but...." She held her head low.
"But what?"
"I'd felt someone following us about eight miles out. I-I didn't know how to read energies at that time. But I knew something was wrong." She swallowed hard and breathed sharply through her nose. "We were ambushed at another mile out. Must have been ten men or so. They...they killed him, my chaperone. And took me to a camp in some woods. It was the first time I'd seen.....Deorci in the flesh."
"Sienna, you being scared is perfectly understandable. Don't beat yourself up." Gideon touched her gently on the arm, trying to reassure her.
"I was told I was to be his slave. His c-concubine." She spoke with such conviction, the deplorable word rolled from her lips as if it was bitter to the taste. "I had no choice. He said he'd kill me if I didn't. So.....I did it. I let him fuck me like animal. I hated it," she spat. "I hated him. But afterwards, he'd touched me so gently...so sweetly. So I went to him willingly for days after that, and it had been so easy to fall in love with a man who'd made me feel so nice for once in my life. The one man who I'd been taught to hate." She didn't speak for awhile. It was as if she was silently fighting a battle with herself; there was a turmoil broiling inside her that no one would ever understand. "I hated myself for going against such an important Marujan rule. So I snuck out and kept running towards the nearest place I could find. I couldn't go to my aunt's anymore because she would have known what I'd done. I'd felt too guilty to face her. It was then that I'd found the Hub. Father Joseah had known who I was instantly. I begged him not to say anything to anyone. Not even my father."
Sienna stared across at Gideon sheepishly as if she expected him to come right out and scold her. But if that was what she was looking for then she was sadly mistaken. The only thing Gideon felt for her at the moment was sadness. Pure and utter sadness.
"You were brave," he said finally. "And strong. You still are. Thank you for doing all this. I'm forever in your debt."
Smiling weakly now, she let out a hoarse chuckle. "I can handle it. Now...don't sit here wasting your time talking to me. Go save your girl."<
br />
"I'm going to save you both."
Gideon jumped to his feet, tapping into his mana again. It wasn't coursing as strongly as it should be and he was getting a bit concerned that it had something to do with Deorci. Not that it would surprise him at all if it had.
The moment he reached a successful contact with Hadaen, Gideon felt the quick powerful words of his eldest brother.
'Gideon? Gideon!' came Hadaen's crisp voice. 'Sit tight. Amelia contacted me. I know where you are. I'm coming. We're all coming--'
And the contact was cut short before Gideon could input a word of his own.
All he could tell was that he was getting a bit lightheaded, his knees giving way as he felt to the ground. A harsh throbbing ignited in his temples and he cried out in agony. It was as if his head was being smashed wide open. Burning tears rushed to his eyes as another painful tremor twisted through him. Gideon's anguished groan echoed throughout the room and bounced off the wall of the hell cell.
"Gideon!" he heard Sienna cry from some far distance away.
His throat tightened, his stomach clenched and twisted. A blistering heat ran up his arms and pulled at his muscles like a flesh-eating termite. If this was what dying felt like, he hoped it would all end quickly.
But dying was not an option either.
That was the last thought that had occurred to him before he fell out cold, drunk and dizzy with pain.
Chapter Nineteen
'The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you
would take a man's life, you owe it
to him to look into his eyes and
hear his final words. And if you
cannot bear to do that, then
perhaps the man does not deserve to die.'
-George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
Sweat trickled down his temples and into his eyes.
He wiped them with a swift swipe of his hand.
Time stood still for a while or perhaps he was just seeing things in slow motion. A distant buzzing stretched around him as he watched the probable two dozen Kankul soldiers march on to the wide empty field of what seemed to be a large colosseum, heavily lit with hundreds and hundreds of torches, and sealed by a metal domed roof. The place was built to keep all out...or all in.
Gideon [The Marujan Brothers Series] Book Two Page 13
