Chartile: Prophecy (18 page)

The pounding lessoned. Jayson heard a sharp
click. The door to the Emerald Quarter opened, and someone with
heavy footfalls walked into the room. The stranger stopped beside
Jayson, surveying the scene of the room. Two bottles of pearl wine
lay empty and rolling on the floor beside Jayson who was covered in
vomit. Jayson was too weak to lift his head to look at the towering
figure beside him. He listened as the stranger carefully stepped
over him and headed toward one of the bedrooms where Leo slept. The
last Jayson remembered, Leo had been sitting upright in bed with
his back against his headboard and a pitcher, assumingly full of
sick, on his lap between his legs. Jack had been able to hold his
liquor, but still managed to fall out of bed, and lay on the floor
in a tangle of white linen when Jayson had hurried from the room
some hours before.

Jayson heard the stranger walking through
their rooms. His heart raced. His mind told him he should
investigate who it was. Not everyone they had met yesterday at the
council meeting was a friend. But his spinning head and queasy
stomach told him otherwise. He felt the vibrations of the footsteps
draw near to him again, and two strong hands gently lifted him.
“Come on, you little drunkard,” said Dimitri’s soft voice. “Let’s
get you cleaned up.”

Dimitri changed Jayson’s clothes, and
cleaned up the pool of sick in the common area. He handed Jayson a
nasty tasting herbal tea he had ordered to be brought up from the
kitchens. He instructed Jayson to sip it slowly, then went to work
on Leo and Jack. An hour later, all three sat in the chairs in
their common room, mugs of steaming hot tea in their laps, and
their heads firmly held in their hands. The pounding had subsided a
bit, as had the blurriness, but the feeling of having to puke
hadn’t yet left them. Dimitri chuckled quietly at them.

“
How does my dad do this
every weekend?” asked Jack, lifting his head. There were dark
circles under his eyes, and his perfectly handsome hair was a
tangled mess.

“
Remind me never to drink
again,” said Leo through his hands.

“
Remind me of this at my
bachelor party,” said Jayson into his tea. “If I live that
long.”

“
Did no one warn you about
the pearl wine?” Dimitri asked, attempting to stifle a laugh, “It
is very strong.”

“
No kidding,” said Leo. He
finished off his tea with a look as grotesque as the herbs
tasted.

“
The reason for my visit
was to inform you I spoke with Nefiri and Valar. They have agreed
to let me train you in magic.” Jayson, Jack and Leo looked up at
Dimitri, pushing their headaches aside.

“
Really?” whispered
Jayson.

“
But, we haven’t really
shown any signs,” said Leo.

“
When you helped Piper, it
was proof enough that you have magical abilities. As much as the
dwarves wish to fight it, our religious methods border on the
mystical. And more, as Nefiri’s unofficial adopted son, I have been
allowed certain privileges with my abilities. The day we helped
Piper was not the first time my orenite cuffs have been removed.
Though I would highly recommend not speaking of this. It was I who
taught Piper to control her magic several years ago when she was
first banished. Or rather, we taught each other. It was a time of
trial and error and learning from each other’s
mistakes.”

“
Why doesn’t Piper want to
teach us herself?” asked Jack. “I’m complaining that you are. It’s
just, well, I guess we’ve been through more with her, and she’s
taught us so much already. It’s like she’s afraid of
it.”

“
Do you know why Piper was
exiled from Outland Post?” asked Dimitri.

“
You mean the riot?” asked
Jayson. “She was just trying to do what she thought was the right
thing. She can’t blame herself for that forever.”

“
Unfortunately she does.”
Dimitri sighed. “And for the deaths of her parents.” He sighed and
leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “They were trapped in
their home when it caught fire. They were unable to escape, as were
many other people in the village. It was not a natural fire, and
Piper was the one who started it. I believe part of her has taken
on this role as Queen to make up for the lives she feels
responsible for taking. It will take her some time to come to terms
with her abilities, if she ever uses them at all.”

Jayson, Jack and Leo sat silent. Their
stomachs churned, and it wasn’t from their hangovers.

“
But she didn’t mean to,”
Leo said quietly.

“
Yeah,” said Jayson, “It’s
not her fault. It was an accident.”

“
Until you have blood on
your hands, you cannot know the struggle she faces every day, the
nightmares and the screaming. She was only your age when it
occurred. Can you say you would handle being responsible for the
deaths of so many any better? People whom you had grown up with and
cared for?”

Leo shook his head, and Jayson and Jack
remained silent. They sat quietly, sipping their tea or rubbing
their temples.

Finally, Jack spoke. “Why are we getting
magic lessons? Does the council want us to use magic during the
fight or something?”

“
No,” Dimitri stretched
his arms above his head and leaned back in his chair. “Valar
believes Taraniz may remain at the castle during the battle. The
dwarves will attempt to hold her forces off as long as possible, as
this is a proper fortress. If the elves are able to break through
the defenses, the dwarves will draw her forces out to The Great
Plains between Mount Kelsii and the Belirian Forest. And, if
Taraniz does remain at the castle, then we will have only succeeded
in delaying her takeover of the dwarves and temporarily diminishing
her forces. Valar is right that we need to either kill or capture
her. There will be no negotiating while she has the upper
hand.”

“
I know my head is killing
me right now, but what’s that got to do with us?” Leo asked. He
still had one hand pressed firmly against his forehead. “I feel
like I’ve said that a hundred times! Why can’t you people just
explain stuff?” He now understood why hangovers made people so
irritated.

Dimitri chuckled again. “Have you heard of
the orenite circlet that was used to kill Duke Noraedin?” The boys
nodded. “You have also heard that we believe Taraniz to be the
reincarnated soul of Noraedin?” They nodded again. “Valar wants to
send a small party into the Elven palace during the battle to
search for the circlet. We can then use it to kill her, just as it
was done with the Duke centuries ago.”

“
Is killing her really
necessary, though?” Jayson asked. “I mean, can’t you just do an
exorcism or something and get rid of his soul?”

“
I have heard of no such
thing.” Dimitri’s brow furrowed. “One cannot remove a soul the same
as someone can remove a possessing spirit from the mind, if that is
what you are suggesting. A soul is the essence of a person, who
they are. If you remove a soul, you will be left with an empty
shell that is unable to accomplish anything beyond the basic
instincts of life. There would be no emotion, no growth as a
person. No, it would be far better to kill someone than allow them
to live such an existence.”

“
I mean, do we have to
kill her? Maybe we can figure out a way to turn her good or
something,” suggested Jack.

“
To risk her escaping? She
is also controlling the soldiers and Elven Conclave. If she remains
in naught but a holding cell, and is not stripped of her magic, she
will still be able to manipulate those people under her control.
Chartile will never truly be free of her, or rather, of Duke
Noraedin, if she is allowed to continue to live. If she has truly
lost control of herself as Valar has said, then there is nothing we
can do to save her.”

“
Maybe only little, but
not nothing,” Jayson snapped, “Weren’t you just talking about what
it’s like living with killing someone? Now you want us to do it?
That’s bunk, man.”

“
We refuse to be part of
this — this secret special-forces task group thing unless we agree
we’ll at least try to save Princess Taraniz. Not just kill her.
It’s not the way our world works,” said Leo. He crossed his arms
defiantly, but still squinted from the pain pounding in his
head.

Dimitri sighed and rose from his chair,
running his fingers through his jet black hair. “I will speak with
Valar. I would not have been able to train you in your current
condition today anyhow. Speak to no one about what we have
discussed here today. I will meet you here tomorrow morning. Until
then, drink plenty of water and rest. You will need it.” He smirked
and gave the boys a short nod. He headed for the door. His
footfalls still louder than they should have been, pounding in the
boys’ ear. He turned, winked at them, and closed the door behind
him. Jack, Leo and Jayson sat in silence once more. It was a
situation they were beginning to experience far too frequently.

“
I don’t want to have to
live with what Piper goes through every day,” Jayson whispered. “I
don’t want to have to kill anyone.”

“
Dimitri said he would
talk to Valar about trying other options,” Leo pointed out, pouring
himself more tea.

“
Yeah, but just because
they say they are going to do it, doesn’t mean they will,” said
Jayson. “How many lies have we found out from these people since we
got here? How do we know they’ll keep their word? You think they’ll
ask a bunch of kids what to do with Taraniz once she’s captured?
Like, they won’t ask us what we think about it.”

“
That’s true,” Jack added
quietly. “I’m sure Taraniz will be brought before the Elven and
maybe even the Dwarvik council for judgment. We won’t have a lot of
say then. We really didn’t have a whole lot of say yesterday.
Things just kind of worked out that way.”

“
These people believe we
are the reincarnated kings! They have to listen to what we say!”
Leo argued. He glared at Jack and Jayson. He was frustrated at
something he couldn’t pinpoint other than the pain in his
head.

“
Not if we keep acting
like we did last night!” shouted Jayson, jumping to his
feet.

“
Hey, I wasn’t the only
one getting wasted,” spat Leo. He leapt to his feet as well. His
mug of tea clenched in a white-knuckled hand.

“
I did say we, doofus. I’m
not blaming all this on you. I’m just saying, if we want these
people to respect us, then we need to, like, earn it.” Jayson
exhaled loudly and sat back down.

“
Why not? Haven’t we been
through enough already? Freaking trolls and vampires. I haven’t
used a proper toilet in over a month, man!” Leo raised his voice in
a way his friends had never heard before. He wasn’t the first of
his friends to lose his temper or his nerve.

“
Leo, I’m sorry,” said
Jayson. He stood to meet his friend’s gaze. He reached out and
placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I’m right there with you, dude. I
want to go home as much as you do. It’s kind of the thing that
keeps me going. I don’t want to think about home too much, because
if I do, I…I get scared. More scared. God, I’m scared all the time!
Every night I go to sleep and hope that when I wake up this would
have all been a dream. But it’s not. It’s real, and that scares me
to death! I keep going because I’m starting to think this might be
my new home, and I don’t want it turning to crap like my last one.
So, can you just try to see where I’m coming from for a minute?”
Jayson’s voice cracked, and the tears he had been holding back
began to fall. They were tears he often cried at night, but never
in front of his friends. “We have to grow up, okay?” he said
through sobs. “We have to be the people they want us to be. And
maybe, someday, we can go home and then we don’t have to worry
about things like toilets anymore.”

Leo smiled through the tears that also
trickled down his face. He nodded, and sighed before patting Jayson
hard on the back. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“
It‘s okay, man,” said
Jack, his eyes were red too. “We’re in this together, no matter
what, okay? You’re not alone.”

They refilled their mugs of tea, and headed
back to bed, their heads pounding again from crying. They crawled
beneath the soft linen sheets that were beginning to become as
familiar as their beds from home. They stared at the ceiling or
walls, and each vowed to themselves that when they awoke it would
be a new start. Chartile was their home now, and they would fight
for it together.



After the Council meeting, Piper had gone
straight to her rooms. Valar had followed close behind. He yammered
away about the next day’s battle strategy meeting and other
obligations she now had as the heir to the Elven throne. Piper
opened her door in the Sapphire Quarter, stepped in as gracefully
as a Queen aught, and shut the door in Valar’s face. She bolted it
shut quickly, and leaned against the door relieved. She heard
Valar’s boots shuffle away down the stone hall, and smiled a little
as she sighed. She headed for the bedroom, letting her mother’s
dress fall to the floor where she walked. She fell into the feather
stuffed mattress, and buried her face in the silk covered pillow.
No more running. No more hiding. No more sleeping in drafty stone
caves or digging in the dirt for mushrooms. She fell asleep still
smiling, dreaming of fruit custards and horses whose coats shined
like starlight.

She dreamed she was riding along one of the
main roads through the Belirian Forest. The Elven Palace towered
ahead of her. She laughed as her hair blew in the wind. She looked
back and saw Dimitri quickly gaining on her. She kicked her horse
to run faster and whooped as they neared the front gates. Too late,
she saw the guards on the battlements above the gate. They fitted
flaming arrows to their bows and loosed them at Dimitri.