by Kade Cook
“Thank you, Elder of Eorden. Your efforts are much appreciated.”
He nods his head in a gracious bow then lifts his eyes to glance over at Gabrian, still wearing her unfaltering defensive stance. He cannot help but grin at her stubbornness and think that it may serve her well in this world and admires the fact that even though she is surrounded by people willing to push her down and make her subservient, she refuses them this.
“That’s it?” Caspyous snaps, sitting upright and glancing over in Cimmerian’s direction. He stares in amazement as his normal cohort sits undisturbed with his hands folded in front of him. His usual herring partner seems to have gone quiet on this matter—odd—due to the sensitivity of the discussion. For the last twenty-six years, Cimmerian has openly displayed his dislike for anything Boragen and is always quite vocal about his disdain for them …that is until today.
Today, Caspyous will receive no help from him.
“What else would you have her do, Caspyous?” Orroryn presses. “She cannot remember her thoughts correctly. He has fooled her just like he has everyone else before her.”
“But I am certain she will, going forward, alert us to any attempts of Adrinn trying to contact her or of any reappearance of him in any form. Isn’t that correct, Gabrian?” Vaeda sways her honourable intention to give Gabrian the benefit of the doubt.
Gabrian pushes her chin to level out, in an effort to convince her mind to continue on its course of hiding her toxic secret. “Yes…of course,” she says in a ragged laboured breath, controlling her secret desire to leap up from her perch and tell them all where to go but that will only get her into a lot of hot water that she does not need. Also, she does not want to disrespect her friends at the High Table. They are trying to help but they also have a responsibility to the Covenant to uphold the law…at least she hopes.
A few more less pressing inquiries from the table are addressed, then Gabrian is given her release from the meeting. Orroryn asks her to go straight home with the plan that they will rendezvous with her as soon as the Covenant has adjourned.
Desperately wanting to steal into the shadows and end her torment, Gabrian complies to go and wait for them. She has a little something to discuss as well and is quite certain they may not like what she has to say.
5
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
Gabrian paces back and forth across the living room floor, wearing a path in the wood as she awaits the arrival of her company. Shane silently lurks above in the kitchen, watching her stew. An attempt to calm her down resulted in a glare at him and the hand while she growled a stressed don’t. He had yielded his attempts quickly, raising his palms to her in surrender, all the while fighting a grin beneath his pressed lips.
She is saving it all, everything she has, for one major blast, and he knows that the best way he can support her right now is to finish making the coffee before the explosion comes.
After a half hour of imagining all the ways she could lash out at her Elders, Gabrian stops just in front of the large glass window overlooking the ocean and her eyes glaze over, not really looking at anything in particular. She stands still in silence, listening to the piercing tick of the clock’s hands on the wall, and glances over at it to check the time only to see mockery in its menacing face.
She sucks in a quick breath as the energy in the room thickens around her to announce the arrival of her Elders. Vaeda’s light, airy essence mixed with Ethan’s familiar aged hum of life, are a combination that is hard to miss. Though she cannot truly feel Orroryn’s presence, Gabrian knows he is nearby as the scent of summer blossoms cuts through the room.
She hears the exchange of pleasantries floating back and forth above her in the kitchen, but Gabrian remains where she is in a half-hearted attempt to compose her emotions. Her aura switches and flares violently against her calm façade, giving away the angst harbouring inside. Drawing her eyes closed and releasing a slow determined breath, she gathers her words.
“So, which one of you thought that was a good idea?”
Shane moves past the Elders, stepping down into the space of the living room to hand Gabrian a cup filled with warm liquid. The Elders follow behind him, preparing to address her question.
“Gabrian, we—” Orroryn begins.
“Which one?” she snarls in a flat, ridged tone but remains unturned, focusing her anger toward the sea.
Ethan slips by Orroryn and Vaeda, removing his distance from her. “Until a few moments ago, I was unaware of the connection. It was a shock to me as well but I knew revealing this delicate parcel of explosive information to the Covenant was not a wise idea, not for anyone. That is why I pleaded with you not to let them know—not until you had a chance to speak with Vaeda and Orroryn.”
Gabrian continues to stare blankly at the water through the glass. “So, I will correct my question: which one of you knew?”
Vaeda and Orroryn’s eyes connect like magnets then ease back toward their host.
“I knew,” Orroryn surrenders to her. “I knew who he was. I knew the secret that surrounded his existence and what his return would mean to the Elders. Especially, how it would affect you if you knew.”
Gabrian nods to the window but offers nothing more.
“Orroryn came to me after the nightmare was over and filled me in on what had happened that night.” Vaeda yearns to edge closer to the young daughter of her friend but stands firm, not wanting to encroach on their already delicate situation. “The thought of his return was devastating. It dug up bitter memories I had buried years ago, and I just could not rest that burden on your already weighted shoulders, not right now. You needed to heal, you needed time to recover. We were just trying to protect you.”
“Protect me, seriously?” Creases shadow the corners of her eyes and ridges of anger bunch above the bridge of her nose as she shakes her head in disbelief then turns to glare at them. “Your idea of protecting me is to leave me in the dark about who this man, thing—whatever he is that supposedly tried to kill me—is?” she growls, waving her free hand around in an orchestrated wave of fury. “Then abandon me to wolves like Caspyous and Cimmerian who seem to drool at any and every chance they get to rip me to pieces?”
“Gabrian, we are sorry.” Vaeda slips forward but pulls back again, her eyes dewing at the edges as Gabrian jerks away and returns to stare at the glass—her eyes as glassy as the Elder’s. “We didn’t know how to tell you and then we just…ran out of time.”
“I see that, great job by the way.” Gabrian twists her neck just enough to bare her profile to them, resting her chin against her shoulder, and glances up at Shane who had returned to the kitchen, silently overlooking the confrontation. She lifts her cooling ceramic mug to her lips and concentrates on the distraction that dwells within it. Swallowing a sip, she pulls in a breath and lets out the words riddling in her mind. “You know, I have tried to see the Covenant of Shadows in a different light, to see it from a higher perspective and not judge it by how it was exposed to me. I tried to push past all the bullying and small mindedness. I tried to ignore all the negativity that suffocates those forced to stand before the high table and be judged by all that sit around it. But each and every time I try, I become more and more convinced that Ayden, or Adrinn, or whatever the hell he is called was right about them.”
Vaeda and Orroryn clamor for things to say while Ethan remains ever watchful, agreeing to a fault with what Gabrian is saying as he too—even though he is an Elder and sits amongst the accused—knows all too well the condemning wrath of his peers.
“Different means dangerous. To people like Caspyous, Cimmerian, and whoever else, may feel slighted on that particular day by another’s existence, are quick to pass judgement without truly understanding the repercussions their verdict may cause. In this state of mind, they will not be contested by anyone, regardless of the cost.” Orroryn folds his hands in his lap, hoping his words help but fear they are lost within her anger.
Ethan’s hand brushes against
her shoulder and rests there just for a moment before he lets it drop. Seeing the images swirl in a chaotic fury within her mind and knowing the words she would like to scream out at them but is holding back, Ethan is sympathetic and amazed at how well she is managing her composure. He watches her mental replay of the Covenant’s—mostly Caspyous’s—attack on her only moments ago and notes her occasional nervous glances toward Cimmerian with the expectation that he’ll jump onto the Caspyous bandwagon to help contribute to the witch hunt, but it never comes.
His eyes jump to Gabrian with a sly impish squint to them—a sign of his support to her cause. An underlying understanding between the two is an easy partnership and his subtle glance defuses much of the explosion that claws her skin from beneath its surface and sears through her veins.
Orroryn’s brow rises in a crook as Ethan breaks his silent support for his friend.
“Speaking of Elder Cimmerian and his cost in the matter,” Ethan turns his back to the youngling and slips closer to his peers, scratching the edge of his chin. “It does seem a bit out of character for him to just sit idly by while Caspyous took the helm today in the interrogation—I mean meeting.”
Gabrian’s eyes follow Ethan and stares at the trio open-jawed as they quickly dismiss the complete upheaval of her world…again, and the real reason they were there.
“I am quite certain he has plenty to keep him occupied with the fact that Adrinn escaped from within the Darkness on his watch, in his domain.” Vaeda’s lips curl delicately at the edges as she tries to remain diplomatic and composed but she cannot hide the undeniable hint of humour in her admittance. “He most likely does not want to add to it.”
“I am sure he doesn’t but you have to admit,” Ethan continues, “it is peculiar, all things considered.”
Gabrian stands wide-eyed and dumfounded, watching the Elders, reveling within her internal monologue of how this world works, Hey, sorry we just screwed up your life…again. We apologize, but oh look a butterfly. With a low, loud sigh of acceptance she joins in on the conversation. If they are going to have a serious meeting that involves her life, she can at least take part in it.
“All things considered what?”
The Elders turn at her interjection with furrowed brows—all but Ethan who wears an impish grin.
“Hey, come on now, you threw me under the bus merely moments ago and obviously my life is now stuck in the thick of all this mess.” Gabrian strides up onto the step that leads to the kitchen’s higher level and pivots to face her onlookers, undaunted by their stares. “Now spill!”
6
DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH
The room’s silence remains unchallenged. Gabrian’s eyes jet back and forth between them all then climb upward to Shane who stands at the edge of the counter nearest to her in a subtle show of support. He raises his brow upon seeing her icy blue eyes harbouring a hint of desperation from the day’s events. He had been perfectly quiet, biting his tongue as Gabrian said what she wanted to say, but now they are openly withholding information from her in her own home. It is time they start talking and come clean. Sipping his beverage, he knows he is below station to interfere, but officially, he is Gabrian’s guardian. That gives him an edge on what happens so in his mind, to hell with Covenant confidentiality.
“As Gabrian’s guardian, I implore you to tell her what you know about her fath—that thing that managed to drain her of life essence nearly to the point of death. I think that this alone entitles her to some inside understanding of what she, and we, are all dealing with. It’s not made of flesh, that much is apparent,” he says reaching for his hand and rubbing it with the memory of the excruciating pain that had once seared across his skin, the night when he had attempted to stop the monster from entering the toxic circle of Gargons at thunder hole. “And I know he is not a Specter, at least not in the true sense. So, what is he?”
Orroryn shifts his position and strides across the room, setting his large frame down within the arms of Jarrison’s old leather chair. Gabrian’s heart twists inside as he does. No one has sat there since her adoptive father and mother died—no one. Not even her uncle Tynan had the heart to sit there—he can barely even look at it without touching his hand to his chest. But Gabrian finds that Orroryn’s presence and similar build frees her mind to a daydream of better days, when her father would drop himself in that same chair and rustle through the Saturday paper for what seemed like hours while her mother perched herself at her easel in the corner, humming and waving her brushes around like a magician’s wand, painting her newest creation.
Orroryn’s warm voice breaks through the visions of her stolen future. Pressing her eyes wide and forcing herself to return to the present, Gabrian wipes the wetness accruing at their edges.
“The night you were born and Cera was taken away to the Veil is the night that Adrinn was exiled and sent to Erebus.”
Gabrian recovers from her tender moment. She pinches the bridge of her nose as the reiterated information burrows into her skull, boring her. Jarrison and Sarapheane had already gone over all this when they enlightened her on who and what she truly is.
“But there was also another tragedy that evening,” Vaeda quickly adds, noticing Gabrian’s lapse in attention. She abandons her position beside Ethan and glides across the hardwood floor, taking up residence beside the oversized throw pillow on the couch. “A young girl named Symone, just a bit younger than you are now, was lost as well.”
Gabrian releases the grip on her nose and her brow lifts as she searches the room for Vaeda. Well, this is new. She retraces her memories and wonders why she hadn’t heard anything of this. Her eyes watch the Elders, inspecting their demeanor as they talk.
“Mainly from her own doing,” Orroryn chimes in, leaning back into the chair. “Young hearts are susceptible to stupidity,” he adds, resting his chin on the hand leaned against the arm of the chair and shoots a direct knowing look in Shane’s direction—remembering his and Gabrian’s go round at courtship.
Shane catches the jab but returns his father’s attempt at humour with a crooked smile, rolling his eyes.
“Orroryn, please,” Vaeda scolds, peering at him over her shoulder. She straightens her back and folds her hands in her lap, returning her attentions to the story. “Now that Orroryn has so graciously enlightened us on the trials and tribulations of youth,” she clears her throat and returns to her story, “Symone was quite taken with Adrinn and in the onslaught of his expiration, she used all her energy to cast a protection spell on him in an attempt to shield him from the toxins within Erebus and to save his life. This futile act of love only ended up devouring her own energy and deeming herself vulnerable to the cracks in the divide within the dimensions—exposing herself to the claws of the Gargons waiting within.”
“She was pulled into the Darkness just after him,” Orroryn adds, looking up from his restful pose.
“Cimmerian found her just after she depleted herself of energy and tried to save her but even his magic wasn’t able to stop the inevitable.” Ethan’s voice is low and mournful, having been a witness to the terrible loss of life. “He blames Adrinn for her death and since then has looked down upon the Boragen Fellowship with disdain and hatred.”
“Does he know who I am?” Gabrian asks as her mind rewinds to her interaction with him in the past. All of the vicious words that fell from his mouth held more understanding but it still did not excuse it.
“No and we want to keep it that way for now,” Orroryn grumbles, pressing his fingers to his lips.
“There is no need to open that wound any wider than it already has become.” Vaeda’s eyes soften as she gazes up at Gabrian. Her face reveals an understanding of the girl’s concern and that she has every right to be angry with them about the fact that her biological father used her, not to mention that he has been the Specter haunting her. Lifting herself from the couch, she crosses the room, eliminating any space between them, and looks down upon the child wearing a similar face to her lon
g-lost friend.
“We truly are sorry, child. Going forward we will try to keep you better informed with any matters that concern your wellbeing.”
Gabrian nods in acceptance of Vaeda’s offer and forces the edges of her mouth to point upward at her gesture due to the fact that so far their track record has been pretty bad. Ethan presses his fingers against the stubble protruding from his chin and scratches, an impish grin growing across his lips as Gabrian vows silently to herself to not hold her breath on this one.
7
LOST IN THOUGHT
Slowly swiping the chalk eraser across the painted board of his classroom, Cimmerian prepares his notes in his head for his Dark Magic lecture on Gargon control. The overhead lights flicker, sizzling with surges of electricity, breaking his concentration and derailing his train of thought. His eyes narrow in repulsion once he realizes the reason for the disturbance.
“I was wondering how long it would be before you showed up to pester me,” Cimmerian grumbles, continuing to clean the board.
“Always so polite and courteous, aren’t you? Although I must say, I was a bit irritated with you sending me back to Erebus and all.”
“I had no choice,” Cimmerian spits out, gripping the eraser tighter. “There were two other Elders watching my every move. What was I supposed to do? I knew that you would worm your way out again somehow.”
“Tsk, tsk now. No need to be like that.” The Specter slips more clearly into sight. “But as you well know, my dear Cimmerian, there is always a choice. Although I do understand your reasoning, there was no need in opening that convoluted can of worms, especially if it wasn’t necessary.”
