by Terah Edun
“What should we do?” she asked Richard nervously.
“Wait here,” he said decisively. “They’ll pass us on by and we’ll move on.”
She couldn’t think of a better plan so she moved back until she could lean against a bookcase and take some weight off her feet. She was exhausted. She’d barely had time to rest in the last few days though she supposed that time when she’d been knocked unconscious counted for something.
To pass the time, Mae asked, “Can you believe its almost over? The sickness? The deaths?”
“I’ll believe it’s over when it is,” Richard said in a voice that was short.
Mae took note of the cranky temperament in his voice but the storage room was so dark she couldn’t see his face to verify that assessment. It turned out she didn’t need to see his face to confirm something was wrong though because whatever it was that was eating at him so much forced him to speak up.
In the next moment, Richard said, “Now that we’re here, this might not be a bad area to talk.”
“Talk?” Mae asked as she shifted and crossed her arms.
“Yeah, you know when two people exchange words,” Richards said with dark sarcasm.
She shrugged.
“Okay,” Mae responded slowly. “What do you want to talk about?”
She didn’t see why they had to have this chat now of all times, but they were stuck in this room with nowhere to go so might as well hash out a plan or two.
Mae gave Richard a moment to think his thoughts through. She thought he would launch into a discussion on how they could get her siblings’ alone in the sickroom and how long it would take to perform the ritual to cleanse them of their illness.
She didn’t think the first idea would be an issue, as long as family was in the room her stepmother felt comfortable knowing the girls were being taken care of. So she and Richard would volunteer. Simple.
The second idea however depended on factors she had no knowledge of, like what a serious mage casting would entail. She would have to depend on Donna Marie to speed things up where possible.
It turns out that her focus on the success of their mission completely overshot his own views concerning an entirely different issue. To be fair, they’d been separated and she couldn’t have imagined where his thoughts were heading when they entered alone into this storage room.
“I saw what you did with him back there,” Richard said out of the blue.
“Him?” Mae said truly confused. “Him who?”
Did he mean in the office of the Council of Elders? But that couldn’t be right, there had been no one in there but her and Richard couldn’t have seen through the window into the deeper part of the office anyway because he wasn’t tall enough.
So what was he talking about? She wondered to herself.
She didn’t have to long to wait though.
“That boy,” Richard said through gritted teeth.
She could hear the sneer in his tone as he elaborated on his earlier words. It still wasn’t enough though.
“Why don’t you explain what you mean?” she said in a slow tone as she thought through her options. She didn’t like where this was going and she certainly didn’t like the sneer she could almost hear in his voice.
Richard snorted. “The boy in the sickroom who was all over you. You told him things about our family that are revolting to think about.”
Mae froze and then took apart his statement piece by piece.
Anger rose through her as Mae pointed an accusing finger at him that he couldn’t see and said, “You said you never made it to the sickroom.”
“No,” Richard countered.
“You were spying on me!” Mae yelled shocked.
“Shh!” Richard hissed.
“Don’t you shush me,” Mae hissed. “You brought me into this storage room so you could confront me. I bet there wasn’t anyone out there anyway!”
She started to push toward the door and out of nowhere Richard came forward and pushed her back. Gently but with enough force that she couldn’t leave.
“Richard!” Mae cried out in the darkness, genuinely shocked. “What is the matter with you?”
“Slow down,” Richard protested. “I was just trying to get you to stay put so I could explain myself.”
“Get out from in front of the door,” Mae said firmly into the darkness, her voice wavering a bit in the end. “Get out from in front of the door and I’ll hear you out.”
He sighed in irritation as if he was doing her a big favor but then she heard him shuffling in the darkness.
The sound of his movements went right, so she went straight until she felt her hand on the handle.
Before she turned the handle and opened the door, she peered back into the darkness to keep her word.
In a stone-cold voice Mae said, “You have one minute to explain why you just confronted me like this and why you spied on me in the sickroom instead of coming to me.”
“Slow down,” Richard protested. “You know what happened to me there. If you think I’d voluntarily walk back into the room where I was knocked out by my own blood and mind raped so badly that they took my memories…you’re a braver person than I.”
Mae sucked in her check as she thought on the subject and realized he wasn’t wrong. She was braver. Plus he had a point, she hadn’t realized that the room might hold nightmares for him. Ones too fresh to confront at this point.
Trying to be understanding she said kindly, “So what did happen to you in there?”
He grunted. “Like I said before I don’t really know but it was bad. I woke up with a blinding headache, blank spots in my memory for the past week, and a scar on my temple.”
Rage churned in Mae’s gut as she thought about the people who grabbed him specifically and she added one more person to the list of people among her relatives that would pay for their dark deeds.
“Alright,” she said uncomfortably. “Can you at least tell me what Rivan has to do with this? I get that you weren’t eavesdropping on purpose but surely you had to see how committed he is to this cause.”
“What I saw was that he’s committed to you,” Richard pointed out bitterly.
“So?” Mae asked obviously confused. “We’re friends, that’s not a bad thing.”
“It’s not a good thing either Mae!” Richard immediately grumbled. “He’s not family. He’s an outsider.”
“Well, it’s our family that got us here so as to that first point that’s a plus,” she sniped.
“Don’t be flippant,” Richard griped. “You’re putting a lot of faith in someone we don’t know. We don’t know his motivations or his background.”
“I can’t tell you about his background,” Mae argued as she defended Rivan. “But I can tell you he’s been steadfast in the desire to right the wrongs that have been done to all the children of the Darnes family line.”
“Why?” Richard asked stubbornly.
“He believes in righting an injustice,” she said with fervor.
“No, I’ll tell you why,” Richard interjected. “It’s because he wants whatever it was you promised him and that foreign woman.”
Mae threw up her hands in the darkness.
“This was part of the plan in the first place,” she pleaded. “It’s all falling into place.”
“Whose plan?” Richard shot back. “Not mine.”
Exasperated, tired, smelly and fed up Mae snapped, “Seeing as I seem to come up with all the ideas here, that’s not a bad thing either.”
“Looks like you don’t need me at all then!” he growled back.
“Maybe I don’t,” Mae said defiantly as she threw open the door and prepared to walk out into the light.
Behind her Richard’s voice pleaded, “Mae don’t go. I’m just trying to warn you.”
“Consider me warned,” Mae said in a voice that would brook no argument. “Goodbye Richard.”
22
She hadn’t even made it down one door before he caught her a
nd spun her around.
“Don’t be like this Mae,” Richard said with flashing ire in his eyes as he begged her to listen.
He hadn’t called her by her full name in a long, long time.
She wasn’t moved.
“You know when we first came back from the forest, I thought we needed to tell you everything,” Mae said slowly. “That we would decide things together as a team. I’m glad I got over that ideal quickly if you are this willing to be this uncommitted.”
Hurt crossed Richard’s expression for a moment before his face cleared.
In a hard voice, he said “I’m not the bad guy here. I’m just watching out for us.”
“For us or for you?” Mae asked in a censorious tone.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Richard asked shocked.
Mae sighed. She was so tired. She just wanted this day over and done with.
At one point she had thought he was her best chance beyond Ember at getting this impossible scheme working.
Oh how wrong I was, Mae thought to herself in a shocked tone. This was definitely not the talk that had occurred to her.
Instead of answering him though she asked another question.
“Where is this coming from?” Mae asked abruptly. “Tell me the truth or forget it.”
She couldn’t take another half-fabrication. She had enough schemers and manipulators in her life thank you very much.
Richard frowned. “I just don’t trust that foreigner and I don’t see why you do either. It’s been days Mae. You’ve known all our family members your whole life.”
“And that’s precisely how I know when one of them is lying to me,” Mae said her eyes flashing. “They’re up to no good Richard, can’t you see that?”
Stubbornly he continued on, “Maybe so. But family business is family business. Not for sneaky-eyed strangers.”
Oh, Mae thought in an unsettled tone. So this is why we have to ‘talk’.
She thought it would be a logical argument. Something Rivan had done. Something Richard had stumbled upon. But it was simple enough in reality. Richard didn’t like Rivan. Surprisingly fast though, Mae realized she honestly didn’t care. She had known Richard her whole life but if she was going to be forced to choose between one and the other in that moment, she was going to choose the foreign stranger.
That didn’t mean however that she wouldn’t try to make the case to Richard to look beyond his preconceived notions of who was trustworthy and who was not.
“Have you ever considered that its his perspective as an outsider which could help us?” Mae asked.
“No,” Richard said flatly while crossing his arms, inflexible.
She shook her head irritation. “Can’t you see that we as family might be so close to the subject that we could blind to actions or people who might pose the most risk? An outside perspective can help us see beyond our limitations!”
“I don’t trust him to do that,” Richard stubbornly noted.
“What do you mean? He’s already proved he can be trustworthy by helping us!” Mae cried back.
Richard rolled his eyes, then he said something truly horrifying.
“Have you ever considered that by stopping what’s happening you might be bringing something even more problematic down on all of our heads?” Richard spat out.
Mae couldn’t believe her ears. She had thought they had a problem with the people they were working with but now she could see he was willing to eliminate the entire plan if he didn’t agree with it. For a moment she tried to work his logic through her head, but nothing could make her alright with abandoning action when they finally had hope.
It was worth the risk in Mae’s eyes.
Mae paused and looked at him with true exhaustion. “I haven’t even thought past it being over. The blessing that would be and you…you want to jinx it.”
She almost choked on the last two words as she was so mad. How could he say these things?
“I’m not trying to jinx anything,” he said in a frustrated tone. “This isn’t a game and we’re aren’t children making a bet. What we’re doing could have widespread repercussions especially because we don’t know what we’re trying to take apart.”
Mae looked at him with her mouth agape.
“I know you were knocked out at some point,” Mae said in a voice shaking with rage. “But what they were doing to my siblings was unnatural. They were draining them of their life forces slowly and surely. A dark cloud was rising over their bodies toward the ceiling and each and every one of those evil excuses for magic users drew some of that power into their bodies.”
Richard looked a little ill at her description. Perhaps he hadn’t seen it or hadn’t understood it. Maybe this way she could get him to understand how truly horrifying their own family’s actions were.
So she pressed on, “They were feeding on them Richard. Children. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“You know it does,” he said hoarsely. “But…”
“But nothing!” Mae interrupted in a tight tone. “Look if you don’t believe me, Ember can back me up when she wakes up.”
“I do believe you,” Richard said stubbornly. “All I’m asking is that you believe me as well.”
Mae crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like her own psychoanalysis flipped back on her. But seeing as she didn’t have much of a choice, she decided to at least give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Alright, what specifically are you worried about?” she asked in a long-suffering tone.
“I’m not worried,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Okay you’re not worried,” she said while playing along. “But you’re suspicious, no?”
He nodded tensely.
“And even though you’re suspicious of a foreigner’s objectives, you don’t think the fact that our family members are perpetrating an attack against our youngest is enough to get over that?” Mae asked in an incredulous tone.
Richard shook his head and closed his eyes.
“I didn’t say that,” he stressed. “I just think there has to be another way.”
“There is no other way,” she practically shouted while trying not to yell so loud she drew a crowd. “This illness has haunted our family for far too long and my siblings are dying from it, so I am willing to do everything is in my power to stop it. Including asking for forgiveness after I complete my mission.”
“That’s the difference between you and me,” Richard said. “I believe that by running this by our superiors and finding a solution within permission, we can defeat this and win.”
“That’s not the only difference between us,” Mae said sadly as she wondered where to go from here.
Would he get in her way?
It sounded like it.
Was she strong enough to stop him if he tried?
She was ready to find out.
She just needed her gifts unlocked so that if trouble came her, she could use fire and vengeance to undo the mess.
As if he was as tired as she was, Richard shook his head with a sigh.
“Can’t you just admit this is reckless?” he asked in a tired tone.
“No!” Mae snapped. fed up once and for all. “What’s reckless is standing by while this death cycle keeps playing out for no sane reason whatsoever except for our relatives’ greed. They’re using that power for their own good and you don’t care!”
“I do care,” Richard argued. “I just think there could be worse repercussions out there lurking that we aren’t aware of.”
“Worse like what?” she asked not even willing to humor him anymore.
“Repercussions like the life force they’re siphoning being put to good use elsewhere. In fact, you have no idea what they might be using that power for. Maybe its stabilizing the very foundation of our entire greater holding,” Richard said desperately.
“I wouldn’t care if it was underpinning the whole entire kingdom,” Mae said with fire in her eyes. “It ends today
.”
“And what if what you are going to do adversely affected the children in the process?” Richard asked stubbornly unwilling to give up.
“I’m listening,” Mae drawled. She really wasn’t. She was imagining what it would be like to slam a dagger through his eye over and over again she was so mad. But she couldn’t do anything because he was twice her size and she was already being pursued by her great-aunt who could put two-and-two together if she had a watch on Richard and questioned bystanders as to why he was hurt.
Not that Mae had graduated to level of familicide.
Not just yet anyway. Some of her good-for-nothing relatives were looking highly likely as first candidates though if things kept going the way they were.
Unaware of her murderous musings, Richard continued on, “The practical applications for you just ending a decades-long casting with a snap of your fingers are enormous. Someone’s going to notice an enormous break in magic above our lands and unlike you I was tutored on this. It’ll be like a big warning sign has been slapped over our greater holding screaming at investigators to look here.”
“So?” Mae asked while trying to keep her temper reined in. She didn’t like being patronized to although in this example she couldn’t fault his logic either.
“That means the kingdom could come down on our family’s head as dark arts practitioners,” Richard snapped. “You know what our people do to heretics.”
“You don’t know what the king-elect would do,” Mae replied. “I can’t believe we’re talking about this as if it’s a reality.”
“Believe it,” Richard said with a stubborn glare. “You have to think beyond the next day if you’re making decisions that can involve this whole family’s future.”
“But…” Mae said.
“No Mae,” Richard said firmly. “Think of the Hollis family. Think of the fact that their entire line, six generations, was wiped out after one order from on high.”
“They sacrificed humans!” Mae argued back. “We’re fighting to end a family curse. Very different applications of major mage castings.”
