by Oxford, Rain
“No,” I said. He nodded and there was a few more seconds of silence. “Ronez was my father.” He turned to look at me. “He told me, but I need a little time before I can explain it. Did you know?”
He stared off into the woods. “No. I figured you were just so similar to him because you are a descendant of him and because I miss him. I had no idea I was actually taking my brother’s son as my apprentice.” He game me a small, but very real smile. “Some things just happen because they were meant to be.”
“So you’re not upset by that?” I asked. He shook his head. The silence stretched on and I was surprised by how relieving that information was. “Did he ever say anything about me or why he chose my mother? I mean, he said he didn’t, but something might have slipped out.”
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Ronez liked women and he got them. If he ever mentioned your mother specifically, I wouldn’t know. But he was very careful; when he fathered a child, it was with a woman who he thought would be a good mother. I knew he had a child who would be about your age, but it didn’t sound like your mother is the kind of person he would leave a child with. Wizards aren’t uncommon on Earth and I really didn’t even consider that you were his son. What?” he asked.
I probably had an odd look on my face as I realized what he meant. “I have hundreds of brothers and sisters. No… I am the baby of hundreds of brothers and sisters. That also means that you’re my uncle.” There was a couple of seconds where we just thought in silence. It was a huge piece of my life that I never knew existed.
“Actually, the children of Guardians are not immortal, so most of his other children have already grown old and died.”
“You’ve had to watch your own children die of old age?” I asked. I realized it was a rude and hurtful question as I said it, and the awkward silence was a heavy weight. “You avenged Ronez’s death?” I asked, trying to change the subject. “Shio had taken Ronez’s body. That must have been hard for you.”
“All I did was let him go. He found his own death. I prefer not to think of myself as a superstitious man, but I was born before the Reformation. There was a Duran fairytale the kings used to tell their warriors before battle. If you look away from your death, you would never find rest in the Land of the Dead. Some even said you would relive it for eternity.”
“You made Shio look away from his death?” I asked. He nodded. “Do you think Divina will ever get her memories back?”
He sighed. “You’re in love with her.”
“Yeah. And she doesn’t even remember me. She told me she was falling in love with me. Will she heal?”
“I don’t know. I do know she’s strong.”
“I guess it’s best if I don’t get close to her this time. I’m not powerful like her, so I can drag her down. I’m a liability, at least for now.”
“I don’t think so. I think the reason she held on so well was to help you. Everything of power in the universe has to balance, even the gods. Every god must have something to balance them, whether it is an alternate personality, an enemy, a brother, or a lover. You may not have the power she does, but you might possibly be what she needs. I don’t think she would have fallen in love with you if you were a liability.”
“So she can choose who she loves?”
“No, but she can choose who to be around long enough to fall in love,” he said.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say next because I didn’t get around to saying it. With a blur, Shinobu was sitting in my lap. My eyes went wide as I glanced from her to Edward. He didn’t even turn, though I knew he heard her. “Edward, can we talk about something?”
“She can stay,” he said simply.
I was stunned, too cautious to feel joy as Shinobu scampered up my arm to my shoulder and nuzzled her snout in my neck.
“I saw the bite mark on the little girl and figured it out.”
“How did you know it was a bite from Shinobu?” I asked. He leaned forward and lifted up the back of his shirt until I could see a scar on the left side, about halfway down. It looked exactly like the mark left on Tomie.
He let his shirt down and looked at me. “I didn’t tell you to get rid of her because I was being mean. I just know what your luck attracts. It confuses me though, how you could find the one naowen that would create an attachment to you. She seems to be so protective of you that she would never intentionally hurt you. Just be careful and never go anywhere alone with her for long.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“Also, it got me thinking about your terrible luck.” Edward reached into his bag, pulled out something small, and handed it to me. It was an iron pentagram, about two inches tall, and a chain. It also was obviously powerful.
“This was Ronez’s. It can hold energy and even spells. I never could figure out how he made it, but it’s really handy to have in case of emergencies. I figure you should have it, since you’re untrained, you have bad luck, and now because you’re his son.”
“Thank you,” I said, putting it on. I didn’t know my father well, but I was glad to know who he was and what that made me. I still had no idea why he chose Mother.
“The reason you have such bad luck is because you’re so exceptionally powerful. You can learn to work with your energy instead of against it. That will help, but only to a point. Everything in life has to balance, like I’ve said before. Your bad luck is nature’s way of keeping you fair. Unfortunately, this will not change, so you will always have bad luck and whenever you do something particularly exceptional, it will temporarily become worse. Just thought you should know.”
“Great. That’s really what I needed to hear right now; that I will never get any better at staying alive.” I didn’t mention that Ronez said the same thing in a less hopeless manner. “The spirits at the springs… I saw one of them when I was trying to find Divina.” He waited expectantly. “She said that ‘he’ was coming. Do you think she was talking about Vretial?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. Are you sure she was talking to you?”
“I think she was, but I don’t think she was talking about him. She sounded afraid, though. Maybe you should go talk to her.”
“It doesn’t work that way. The dead are not your friends; you should avoid them and not offer any secrets. As friendly as they may appear to you, you never know what else might be listening. If the spirits of the springs offer you any more warnings, you should heed them. If they don’t, I would assume she was warning you about Vretial and leave it at that.”
Edward continued to read while I pet Shinobu and enjoyed the morning. The more I focused on how nice and peaceful the morning was, though, the more I noticed something was off.
“What’s bothering you?” I asked Edward. By the way he set his book in his lap, I knew I was dead on.
“Nothing. I was just thinking. Now that Vretial is gone, the books are in very little danger. You could go back to Earth, live with your girlfriend, and come back to continue your apprenticeship afterwards.”
If I hadn’t gotten to know Edward so much by then, I would have felt like he was trying to get rid of me. “What about you and Divina?”
“I don’t need your company and Divina can take care of herself. Your girlfriend probably misses you.” His voice was too measured and emotionless.
“She’s not my girlfriend anymore. I gave that up for the book. She wouldn’t like me as a powerful guardian; I’d blow out the lights whenever I got upset.” Besides that, my father doesn’t approve. “I don’t know what she thinks happened to me, but I can’t risk going back. Time would pass, we’d probably marry, then the books would be endangered again and I’d have to leave her again. I can’t do that.”
“You’ll lose many loved ones in your life.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t been immortal for very long and I’ve already lost two.”
“You haven’t lost Divina. You can be there for her and help her heal. Whether or not she heals, she’s still here. If you won her over once, I’m sure you could do it aga
in,” he said, then gave me an accusing glance. “You probably get that from your father. I should have figured my brother’s son could win the heart of the only female god in existence.”
“He was right about you,” I said, laughing. He frowned. “The last thing he said to me… he wanted me to tell you something.” As his expression grew suspicious, I paused. “He said you were very passionate.”
Edward angrily stood and reached for his bag. Having been on the wrong side of the anger of many men, it occurred to me I should have been worried. Maybe I was becoming accustomed to Edward and his reactions, but I felt no danger from his anger.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“That man has always gotten the last word, and this time he went too far. I’m going to hunt down my brother’s ghost and smack him.”
I laughed as he marched back into the house. It seemed my father left me with a gift.
Epilogue
Mordon
“Where are you going this time?”
I didn’t bother to look up as Jedes entered my room, and continued shoving clothes into my bag. “I don’t know yet. I’m running away.”
“You run away twice a month.”
“Can you blame me?” I threw down my bag. “Do you know that my father just shut down an orphanage because the children weren’t all offspring of his kingdom? He said they would grow up and commit treason.” I turned back to my bag and pulled the cuffs of my shirt further down my wrists to hide the bruises.
“Let me guess; he wanted you to do it, and when you refused, he put you in the dungeon. No, I can’t blame you for leaving, but you will just be back in a few days.”
“Last time didn’t count.” A group of wizards had poisoned the kingdom’s crops, so I returned to help, only to get extra chores for my trouble. If there was one thing my father lacked more than mercy, it was a survival instinct.
“Mordon.” Jedes’s breathy gasp snapped me out of my simmering.
I caught her in time before she hit the floor and sat her on my bed. Her eyes were flashing in their normal fashion during her visions. Normally, she only had a vague notion about what would happen. As the only seer in the kingdom, and one of the few friends I had, I always weighed her prophesies in my plans.
Her eyes closed and she caught her breath. “There’s a fire.”
“Where? When?” Her visions could be moments away or months off, and sometimes they were just completely misleading, but she tried her hardest to be helpful.
“Your father is in danger. You have to help him. Someone is coming.”
I went to the door, opened it quietly, and peaked down either ends of the hallway. “There’s nobody coming,” I said, right before I heard the bells of the castle grounds gate being opened. After a quick glance at Jedes to make sure she was unhurt, I left my room for the window at the end of the hall. From my balcony, I could easily see who came and went, but I could just as easily be seen, so I often preferred to spy from the window.
The gate wasn’t fully open before I saw the golden dragon crest on a flag and my heart sank. My despair was realized as the royal family of Zendii sauntered in. The king, Ome-mor, was a huge man with dark brown hair and dark purple eyes. He had too much suspicion and no tolerance. He was also great friends with my father.
Jedes came to stand next to me by the window. “Haru-joul Aneko,” Jedes said. “She’s very beautiful.”
The woman in question was the king’s daughter, and Jedes was correct. Her long, curly blond hair framed her unblemished face and piercing blue eyes. With the elegance of her title and a beauty known throughout Zendii, she was coveted by many. It was almost a game to the king to execute cruel and grotesque punishments for any man that made a move on his daughter. Both Ome-mor and his daughter were riding pure black tokuami, and I felt pity for the king’s. Any animal that had to carry the man’s girth deserved to be freed.
“Mordon?” Jedes asked when I didn’t respond.
“She is beautiful, I guess.” She gave me a look and I scoffed. “I used to bathe with that girl.”
“When you were five.”
“Exactly; she’s practically my sister. Besides, last time she was here, she shot me with an arrow.”
“You called her fat.”
“I did not. I just said her butt was blocking the target.” I left the window and Jedes followed me down several hallways until we reached the balcony of the throne room.
It was early enough in the morning that the sun was not spilling into the terrace, so I could watch without being easily noticed. My father, as usual, was sitting in his throne. The doors were opened and Ome-mor entered, leaving his tokuami outside. His daughter road hers up the steps before stopping right inside, where her father helped her down. She didn’t really need the help; it was just more elegant to let someone else do all the work.
Ome-mor and my father greeted each other as old friends and Haru-joul smiled and blushed on cue, as if she didn’t receive praise every single day for just being alive. I almost gagged.
But then I caught it. There was the scent of deception. Obviously, between the king, the princess, and the numerous servants, I couldn’t pinpoint who was deceitful, so I examined everyone’s face as well as I could. From my height and position, it was difficult, but I wouldn’t put myself through the misery of going down there. I would have to get them one on one. Assured that nobody would act irrationally and make an attempt on my father’s life in the middle of a crowd, I returned to my room to unpack my bags.
* * *
Dinner was a grueling affair under normal circumstances. When we had guests, there was no end to my suffering. My father and Ome-mor were on opposite ends of the table. I was sitting near my father, which was understandable, but Haru-joul was sitting across from me instead of beside her father, which was suspicious.
Every time I accidentally looked at her, she was watching me and gave me her most innocent smile. It gave me the chills.
Whoever it was that smelled deceptive was in the room with us, and it was stronger. Someone in close proximity to my father was full of hate and treachery, and I was starting to think it was Haru-joul. The woman always put scented oils in her bathwater, to the point it was nearly impossible to pick out any natural scent.
Jedes was definitely correct in her prediction that my father needed help, but I couldn’t figure out where the fire played into it. Jedes nudged me in the arm to get my attention. She always sat beside me at dinner, which was a good thing for my nerves when we had guests; she never wore perfumes and I could pick her scent out of a crowd any day. I took a roll of bread from the platter that was just out of her reach and put it on her plate.
“Thank you,” she whispered with a blush.
Jedes was only days apart from me, but still looked no older than fourteen. It didn’t help that with her red-blond hair and light green eyes, she looked extremely delicate. When she gasped, I thought she might have been seeing something, but the soft movement across my foot clued me in. I kicked and heard a small cry.
“Momo, Koko, get out of there,” I hissed. Ignoring my father’s glare, I reached under the table until I caught two thin arms and pulled.
The six-year-old twins fought the entire way as I pulled them out from under the table. Momaro looked like he was going to cry as he hid something behind his back, and Kokaro glared, ready to start a fight.
“What were you doing?” I asked, gentle but firm.
“Momo lost his fork,” Koko lied.
I held out my hand and waited. After a minute, Momo held out the small mirror he was trying to hide.
“The little perverts!” Haru-joul shrieked.
Koko sneered at her. “We weren’t looking up your skirt!” he yelled, then lowered his voice. “We were trying to look at Jedes.”
The girl in question squeaked and blushed deeply.
“Go to your room,” I said. They both ran for the door.
“Stop!” Haru-joul yelled. She turned her outrage on my fath
er when the boys froze at the door. “Are you going to let them go without punishment?! They have to learn that being a pervert is wrong! Beat them!”
“Being sent to their room without dinner or dessert is a harsh enough punishment for a six-year-old,” I argued. The boys both gave me pleading expressions, so I turned to Jedes. “Go put them to bed.”
She was just as relieved to be able to leave as the twin boys.
“Father!” Haru-joul screeched at the visiting king.
The man considered my father and me, then shrugged. “They were just being boys. I am sure they learned their lesson. If not, Mordon will punish them next time, yes?”
Although he phrased it as a question, I knew it was a demand. I nodded, because I knew my father would agree with him wholeheartedly. I could see the scheming in Haru-joul’s eyes before she controlled her expression and gave her father her most innocent and relieved smile.
“Of course, father, you are right. I was just so startled that I overreacted.”
My father clapped his hand hard on my shoulder. “Now, boy, you see that? Why can you not be respectful like Haru-joul?” His hand tightened painfully and he leaned in to whisper. “Keep those boys under control or they will be banished. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Father.”
He let me go and I had to sit down and pretend that everything was fine. Momo and Koko were both orphans since their mother, a servant in the castle, died from sickness when they were four. At least they got to have their mother for a few years.
* * *
“What did I tell you?!” I growled. The boy was shaking too hard to answer me. “Well, fire, tub! Not well, tub. How senseless are you that you can’t remember three steps?!” The man who usually prepared my bath, Doro, had gone to take care of his family and I was left with a boy who never worked directly for me before.
“I am sorry, prince. I thought it was too hot,” he whimpered.
I growled and he yelped, which doused just a bit of my anger. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “I’m sorry. It isn’t you I’m angry with.”
