Silverbrook

by J C Maynard

  Miss Silverbrook handed him a wooden cup. “I picked the berries when I was out in the forest yesterday.”

  “Thank you.” Tayben took the juice, and both the fragrance and the sugary sweetness running down his throat helped calm him down.

  “Do you want to talk?” asked Silverbrook.

  Tayben looked out the window into the glade which sparkled with the light of glowing butterflies. “I don’t know what to say right now, or even what to think . . . I’m just . . .”

  “In shock.” said Silverbrook.

  Tayben nodded and said to himself more than to her, “I guess you could say that . . .” Tayben looked at Silverbrook and could tell she had been crying. “I just need to sit down and think for a while.”

  Silverbrook nodded. “Yes, yes . . . do that.” She looked outside and sniffed. “I’m going to go tend to Fernox and then I’ll check in on you.” She left the kitchen to see her winged lion and disappeared out the front door, leaving Tayben alone to his thoughts running wild.

  For a few minutes, Tayben’s head ran through the memory of his death. Feeling scared and alone, he got up and opened the front door, following where Silverbrook had gone. On the island in the lake of light, Tayben walked around the giant tree that was Silverbrook’s house, and saw her standing there with her enormous winged lion. Fernox’s white body shimmered ahead of her, and she seemed to be in a trance. Tayben noticed something strange happening with the lion’s eyes as he approached . . . the same thing as her beasts do, he thought.

  “What is that?” he asked. “Your beasts do it too — their eyes. They suck you into another reality, but I see now that your body truly does still stay here.”

  Silverbrook nodded. “One of my favorite experiments — if you can call it that. It’s the way I can communicate with my beasts . . . and Fernox as well.”

  “How does it work?” asked Tayben, stepping close to Fernox, putting his hand on his soft fur. The lion let out a deep and soft purr.

  Silverbrook paused. “You’ve asked me about the Tenebris . . .”

  Tayben nodded, feeling nervous.

  Silverbrook put her hand on Fernox’s massive, snow white forehead. “It’s what connects life, time, space, light, magic, everything all together. It’s what makes a flower grow and what makes love strong. When you wield a Taurimous in the body of Calleneck — when I wield mine — you are manifesting the Tenebris, that connection from your spirit to the world, in a physical form.”

  Tayben stood there thinking, finding everything very abstract.

  Silverbrook looked into Fernox’s eyes. “Fernox’s eyes connect souls with space and time — that’s what our memories are. He taps into the Tenebris to shows us memories — his, ours, other people’s. He communicates through the Tenebris.” Silverbrook looked out onto her gleaming lake of iridescent light and her glade of glowing flowers and butterflies. “Everything exists through the Tenebris. It’s what I’ve studied my whole life, how I was able to discover new forms of magic and new uses for it. All I was doing was tapping into the preexisting connections between everything. And I know that there is still so much more to learn and to do . . .”

  The air hung silent and still for quite some time before Tayben was able to find words. “How do you know that's how the Tenebris works?”

  Silverbrook motioned around her. “Look at what I’ve created . . . You’re proof of it.”

  Tayben raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  Silverbrook looked out into her glade of glowing water and plants. “What do I mean? I mean you, yourself, don’t live time linearly. Once you live a day and go back to live it again as someone else, you practically know the future. That power exists through the Tenebris. Your soul is connected to time in a strange way, and it exists across space to inhabit four — now three — bodies. You used the magic of the Tenebris, given by the nymphs, in your body as a Phantom and outside your body as an Evertauri, where you emotions exist outside your body in your Taurimous. In moments of stress or intense emotion, your soul can sporadically jump through time on its own. Tayben, you are proof of how the Tenebris can exist fully within the human form. How your soul can perfectly connect with the world . . . It was my greatest —” Silverbrook stopped herself.

  Tayben looked up at her with a fast beating heart. “It was your greatest what?”

  Silverbrook looked away from Tayben and back to Fernox. “I was going to say that it was my greatest wish to be able to connect to the Tenebris the way you do . . .” Her voice trailed off, and as she petted Fernox. Tayben got the sense that she was hiding something but decided not to push further. Silverbrook turned to Tayben, “That’s why I protected you.”

  Tayben studied her gaze. “Protected me?”

  Silverbrook took a leaf out of Fernox’s mane as he ruffled his wings. “You can’t have thought you were all alone these past months as a Phantom. Why do you think you kept seeing my flowers?”

  Tayben looked into Fernox’s eyes and felt himself transported back into a memory of his first battle of Camp Stoneheart where Silverbrook’s beast first attacked the Phantoms and paralyzed them. Tayben heard the slashing of the claws of her beast as he dragged Gallien into the hollowed tree trunk.

  In a second, Tayben was thrown back into reality and he turned again to Silverbrook. “That’s why I was the only Phantom not paralyzed . . . your protection dulled the blow of your beast to me so I could escape.”

  Silverbrook nodded. “And why do you think my beasts became loyal to you? Why do you think the walls of Taurimous dissolved around them as soon as you touched them? To let you control them.”

  The thought sank into Tayben. “You entrusted me with your beasts so that they could protect me. Everything you’ve done was to protect me . . . Why?”

  “It wasn’t perfect. I couldn’t have stopped you from being killed. But overall, yes, I did what I could from afar.”

  “But why did you do it? You’re the one who sent me back into the forest after coming here the first time.”

  Silverbrook ran her hands over Fernox’s strong wings. “I wanted you to have a chance to decide for yourself what you wanted — what you thought was right. If I had kept you here instead. . . if you were never forced to make that decision on your own, risking your very life . . . you could not have truly trusted the outcome; it wouldn’t have been genuine.”

  Tayben walked around the winged lion. “You wanted all of my bodies and minds to influence the others, to figure out the true path, to decide which side of the war I want to fight on.”

  Silverbrook smiled. “There are not just two sides to this fight, Tayben, but thousands. Everyone’s motives and beliefs are different.”

  “Is that why the nymphs still gave the Phantoms their power?”

  Silverbrook stopped petting Fernox and turned to Tayben. “Why do you say that?”

  Tayben chose his words carefully. “If someone’s motives are noble, then the nymphs would see them as pure. Would they not?”

  Silverbrook smiled. “You’re exactly right, Tayben.” Silverbrook paused and looked at the grass and moss beneath her toes. “That’s the lesson it took me many years to learn. The enemy we’re fighting . . . they aren’t necessarily evil. They’re not any less human than the rest of us. Xandria has done bad things, yes, but she’s done everything for her people, to build a strong and safe land for thousands. The reason she’s a threat is because she has amassed a nearly unstoppable force that shakes the foundation of our world.”

  “Then why is everyone fighting?” asked Tayben. As soon as he said it, the words settled heavy in his mind.

  Silverbrook shook her head. “Because people hate each other . . . and people love each other. We fight those we fear to protect who we love . . .”

  Tayben thought for awhile and looked out into Silverbrook’s forest sanctuary, watching a glowing violet butterfly briefly land on a flower then take off again. Half to himself and half to Miss Silverbrook, he asked, “Why was I chosen to be a Phan
tom?”

  Silverbrook sighed. “That’s one question to which I don’t know the answer.”

  For awhile they stood with Fernox and said nothing, listening to the lion’s low purrs. Tayben thought about his situation, how he couldn’t return to his home in Woodshore, nor could he stay here his whole life. Tayben tried to keep his breath steady. “What do I do now?”

  Silverbrook thought for a moment. “This lake of light around my home is a place I created to let the Tenebris exist fully without restraining it. I thought you had died when I found you in it this morning. How could anyone survive being surrounded by the Tenebris in its purest form? But the Tenebris seems to exist within you more than anyone in the world, even me. I can’t step in that lake for long without losing consciousness, but you can.”

  Tayben gazed into the swirling lake of light. “What does that have to do with-”

  “The connection to the Tenebris that exists in this hollow how I could watch you as a Phantom from here in my hollow. With years of practice I could access little pieces of space and time. Trying to watch most people is like trying to remember a face in a dream — very vague and blurry. But I could see you clearly — you’re soul is part of the Tenebris. The connection that dwells here is how I can see that the Ferramish and Cerebrian soldiers are headed for each other to one spot in this forest where there will soon be a bloodbath like no other.”

  Tayben’s heart beat quickly. “What do you want me to do?”

  “See what you can glimpse by going back into the lake of Tenebris. I don’t know what you’ll find, but I think it will help.”

  Tayben looked again at the iridescent glow of the lake. “Before, I need to ask you one more question.”

  Silverbrook nodded.

  Tayben spoke slowly. “If space, life, and time are all one in the same,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “if time doesn’t exist in a line but rather all at once, if I can experience time differently than everyone else, does that mean if I see something happen in one life, I can change it in another?”

  Silverbrook stood silently. But rather than giving Tayben a reassuring answer, she simply whispered. “I don’t know . . . I would think that’s not the case.”

  Tayben felt helpless, but slowly stepped toward the pool of light until he stood at its edge. Beams of light swam like minnows through its endless depths. Taking a deep breath, Tayben took his first step in, letting the light swirl over his foot and around his ankle. He took another step, then another, letting his body drift slowly into the lake. He could no longer feel his legs, but kept moving slowly into the pool of Tenebris.

  He did not know when he was fully submerged, how long he had been there, or where in the pool of light he was. Time and space seemed to melt around him as he felt like his body could be miles tall or that half his mind was in the future and half was in the past. He felt weightless as little shimmering specks of light circled around him. He no longer felt the need to breathe, and his heart even stopped beating, letting his consciousness exist outside his body and in the light surrounding him. Like in a dream, where time seems to pass in strange ways, Tayben felt his mind drifting. It wasn’t with sight that he saw the thousands of soldiers crossing through the forest hundreds of miles away, and it wasn’t with sound that he heard the cries of grief-stricken Fillian and Tronum, but he felt all of it. Without consciously thinking, the knowledge of what was to come sank into his body, and the emotions of all the people close to him shimmered like little stars, dancing around him. Like a dream, flashes of events coursed through the endless world around him — crashes of swords, the flapping sail of a ship, the tightening of the noose, the roar of a lion, a blinding flash of white lighting up a valley, the death of his mother the Queen, the sting of snow, the cut of a blade, a warm embrace from his sister, the crimson red light of Calleneck’s Taurimous, the beating of Fernox’s wings, the trumpeting of horns, the feeling of armor on Fillian’s body, tears falling onto his body. For a time unknown to Tayben, he drifted in a state of dreamlike existence.

  Without knowing whether only seconds had passed or whether it was months later, Tayben became aware of the grass beneath his toes. He looked up, disoriented and saw Silverbrook standing there.

  She walked forward and put her hand on Tayben’s face. “What did you see? You were in there for over a week. I was afraid you were gone. Tayben . . . what did you see? What happened to your other bodies while you were in there?”

  Tayben looked at Fernox, standing tall with his wings and mane glistening white. A flood of memories from what he had done in his other lives in the past two weeks entered his mind, he looked back to Silverbrook. “I think I know what I need to do.”

  Sailing East

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  ~Late Night, February 10th

  Raelynn pushed further into the roaring crowd, trying to get closer to the gallows. Her insides turned cold at the sight of Kyan being brought out from the prison through the crowd of spectators holding blazing torches. A dark bag was covering his head and Guards walked him up the steps of the gallows. She could see him trying to fight his way out of their arms, but he seemed weak, like he had suffered major blows. He also seemed to be injured in the foot, limping like he hadn’t before. The deafening crowd chanted and spat at him, and Raelynn struggled to get closer to the gallows. She shouted out his name, but she knew he couldn’t hear her in the crowd.

  The judged cracked his gavel and spoke out the sentence. The Guards placed the noose around the prisoner’s neck and Raelynn wished he could see her through the bag on his head.

  Raelynn’s body froze as the door opened and his neck snapped. She screamed out in horror, her face flushed red. She slammed her way through the crowd, which began to quiet, hearing her horrifying scream. She reached the base of the gallows next to the Guards and fell her to her knees. A Guard ceremoniously ripped the head cover off the hung corpse to reveal the thief but instead gasped in shock. A woman near the gallows shouted, “The Prince! It’s the Prince! The Prince is dead!”

  The crowd erupted in screaming and the Guards quickly cut the noose and took it off Eston’s neck, pressing his chest and blowing into his mouth to try to revive him. Many other Guards formed a barrier around the gallows to prevent people from trying to see the Prince’s body. The judge slammed his gavel, but there was no hope of quieting the crowd. The Guards began to force people to exit the scene, but people fought back. Raelynn cried in horror; her whole body shook as she bawled. What have I done?!

  She knelt there and cried for some time before she thought, then where is Kyan?

  ◆◆◆

  ~Hours Later

  Fillian’s mind drifted in dream as he slept in his canvas tent in the countryside. Southeast of Aunestauna, his Royal caravan was en route to Abendale, where Fillian was ordered to oversee government operations.

  Fillian turned over beneath his wool blanket, shivering from the cold, heavy air. Half awake, he could hear the rustling trees around the tent and the slight breeze that blew snow through the campsite. He turned over again, struggling to find a comfortable spot where rocks or roots didn’t stick up into him. Feeling his dreamy thoughts wandering, he was pulled back out of sleep by the sound of snow crunching under boots outside his tent.

  The sound stopped just outside the tent, where a Guard was posted. Fillian could only make out a few whispers.

  . . . in Aunestauna. It was a freak accident, and no one knows where the Nightsnakes are . . . chaos in the city streets and the Palace . . .

  . . . bring Prince Fillian back?

  Fillian fully awoke when the Guards pulled aside the tent flap and walked over to him. Fillian stirred and sat up from the ground, wiping his eyes and yawning. “What’s going on?” said Fillian, he could barely make out the Guards in the torchlight.

  One of the Guards spoke. “Your Majesty, something has happened to your brother. We have been ordered to stay by your side and return you to the Palace.”

  Fillian’s heart ra
ced. “What happened?”

  “We don’t know the details, but we know you may be in danger. Please come with us.”

  Fillian put on a coat. “Where?”

  “Back to Aunestauna. Quickly now!”

  Fillian obeyed and followed them out of his tent, preparing to depart back to the Palace.

  ~Just Before Sunrise

  The sky to the east was beginning to brighten into day by the time Fillian and the Guards reached the capital and the gates to the Palace. Bells were ringing and Fillian could hear shouting in the distance. Navigating their way into the Palace, Fillian ran with two Guards on either side of him, following them down the hallways of the Palace. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on now?”

  The Guards ignored Fillian and shouted at people blocking the hallway as they ran through, trying to get Fillian to the Safe Room. Fillian’s breathing was fast and his stomach felt queasy. What’s going on?

  Finally the Guards reached a doorway in front of which twenty Guards stood. The soldiers opened up the thick metal doors and led Fillian inside where he found Tronum sitting on a chair with his own Guards on either side. The doors shut behind Fillian with a bang. “Father, what’s going on? What happened to Eston!”

  King Tronum’s eyes were red and his body looked weak, and he remained silent.

  “Father! What’s going on?! Why are we here and where is Eston?!”

  Tronum looked at Fillian with tears in his eyes. “Your brother died at the gallows earlier tonight.”