Dark Age (27 page)

With an uncertain smile Cecilia held the basket out to Robert’s widow. She hesitated for a moment and looked back and forth between Cecilia and the food. Seth looked up at his mother who was deciding between pride and survival. Just before Cecilia was about to resign and take her offer back, the mother grabbed the food. Despite her innermost protest she thanked Cecilia.

A new smile shot across Cecilia’s face. It was a smile of warmth, just like the one Katrina would always wear.

“I wish you two the best of luck today,” the woman said and pushed her son back into the house.

We left the smelter and strolled through the Industrial District. About almost every house I was able to tell a story. When we passed the lumber mill I told her of Nigel and our years in the Guard. Fascinated she listened closely with her eyes glued to my lips.

In a small side alley a band of five men stood in a circle. Their postures were hunched and their faces shot back and forth from their comrades to the opening of the alley. One of them kept his eyes on me for an extended period.

Suddenly he turned to point me out to his friends. “Something’s not right,” I said and pushed Cecilia and myself against the wall of a building out of his sight.

“We should not be here,” Cecilia urged.

A ray of sun hit the alley and something reflected from one man’s belt. “They are armed,” I said in disbelieve. “No one but the blacksmith should have access to weapons. How did they get their hands on them?” There was one logical explanation: Yorick’s former deals.

A passing-by city guard noticed us hiding in the shadow of the building at the entrance of the alley and drew closer. His hand was on the knob of his sword.

The moment he recognized the ward he bowed down. We motioned him to get up and pointed to the group with our eyes. He understood and approached them with confidence.

“What are you doing here? There is no idling around during work hours!”

Carefully we sneaked out of our cover and observed the scene. The men regrouped and faced the guard.

“I am sorry sir,” one of them said, slowly stepping forward with his head bowed. “I have an important message. We were just discussing something of relevance to the Inquisitor’s safety.”

The guard relaxed, “Come on. Out with it.”

“Nobody may hear it,” the man said approaching the guard, “come closer.”

“You better not play games with me, I’ll have you hanged…What is…”

In a quick move the man pulled a dagger from his boot and slashed the guard’s throat. With nothing but a gurgling sound our protector fell over. The man took the guard’s weapons and tossed them to his comrades.

Cecilia shrieked at the bloody sight. I covered her mouth immediately, hiding our bodies in the shade.

“Did you hear that?” the man asked his comrades.

With some noises of affirmation I heard their steps draw closer. Exit plans shot through my mind. I could not outrun them with my injured leg. They were bound to catch up with me. Climbing and taking the roofs for escape was out of the question as well. Screaming for help would make it even easier for them to find us.

Slowly I inched my way back through the shade. A doorframe gave us a little niche to hide in.

The man was already in sight. Cecilia squeaked through my hand in fear. His eyes darted towards us. With a satisfied grin he advanced.

A band of city guards entered the alley. The man quickly hid his dagger and stepped back.

“Stay where you are,” ordered Henry, the captain of the city guard, “Someone heard a woman scream, what are you men up to?”

Cecilia freed herself from my grasp and ran towards the captain. I joined her and stepped out of the shade. The guards bowed down upon seeing the ward, baffled to find her out here.

“They killed a guard and were about to murder us,” she uttered frightened.

Henry looked at the man carefully. He scanned the ground and saw blood stains where the body had lain. With clenched teeth he drew his sword, “My friend was on watch for this part of the district. The Inquisitor might be generous these days, but I will make sure you bastards won’t get a trial.” He turned to his men, “Kill them all.”

Chapter 35

T
he guards swarmed
out with their blades drawn. Immediately the men rushed down the alley, running into the dead end. Before they could draw their weapons the guards slaughtered them like animals. With merciless blows they cut down one after the other. Only a minute had passed when the last one stopped shaking.

Henry, the captain of the city guard had been a savior to Cecilia a minute ago, but now she saw him for the brutish swine he was. “Why did you kill those men?” she shouted.

“I’m just doing my job girl,” he said. “We can’t have any insurgents in the city.”

“I will tell my uncle of this,” she hissed returning to my side.

“I’d hope so; It will get me a nice reward,” he said and smeared the blood from his blade onto a piece of cloth. “Let’s go. The Inquisitor had sent us out to look for you. We are here to bring you back to the mansion. A wedding awaits you two an hour before sunset.”

Back in the mansion we were escorted to the throne room where the Inquisitor had been waiting. His appearance was paler than ever, contrasted by the blood red apple in his hand.

“These guards killed five men,” Cecilia said approaching her uncle.

“They did whatever was necessary to ensure your safe return home,” the Inquisitor said calmly and waved the guards out of the room. The door fell shut and we were left alone with him. The silence was broken when he took a large bite from the apple.

“This can’t go on forever,” I said from the back of the room.

“And it won’t,” the Inquisitor noted, “because your wedding will win back their hearts. Maybe now you recognize the importance of this little act. You are not doing it for me. You are doing it for them. Their lives are in your hands. Don’t waste any more or this whole city will cease to function and collapse.”

The Inquisitor pointed his finger to the door, “Cecilia, sweetheart, go see your maids. You need to wash, prepare, and dress.”

She nodded and left obediently. “Adam,” his raspy voice called before I could leave, “It’s all on you. One more act like last time, and the city’s fate shall be sealed forever.”

I bowed my head accepting his words without comment. The moment would have been suitable to attack and kill him to bring an end to the madness, but I had been too deep in the mud already. Any protest would make me sink even deeper. At least that was what the past twenty-six years had taught me.

The afternoon passed swiftly as a flock of maids prepared and dressed me for the wedding. My old Grey Guard armor had been refurbished, polished, and decorated for the occasion. The Brooch of Excellence was fixed over my heart.

Counting the remaining minutes to the wedding, I sat in a purple dressing room with Anthony at my side. Quietly we stared out the window, watching the crowds assemble. “You know,” I said, “sometimes I think how easy life could have been if I had just played along; followed all the rules, kept quiet. I was unwilling to see my brothers die in service, but I have seen so many die in the name of freedom. I just no longer see the difference. Tyrant or rebel, we all have blood on our hands.”

“We all live in our own worlds, Adam; You, me, the Inquisitor…everyone. We all have our own realities. Until man manages to look past his own, and accept each other’s for the simple facts, we will always live unhappy. Wars, murder, betrayal, it all roots back to perception. Like a pack of wolves in sheepskins we hide our evil beneath deceptions of peace.” He scratched the back of his head and continued, “Certainly you could have accepted all you were told, but progress and change require conflict. Most of us just don’t know how to handle conflict properly, always thinking in terms of right or wrong; the ones that live and the ones that die.”

“And so it goes,” I said watching a man being dragged off by guards in the distance. “Maybe one day when all this has settled we can find peace.”

A servant knocked on the door and entered, “It’s time,” he said, and vanished as fast as he came in.

Anthony put his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him and I could feel that we both were anxious about what was about to come. It was not unlikely that some insurgents had already planned my assassination. All I knew was that I could not show weakness.

I met Cecilia in the throne room. The double door to the grand balcony was prompt open with only the red curtains keeping us from the sight of the people. Outside, the Inquisitor held a passionate speech. For the first time in my memory, he did not recycle his stock speech about God and duty. His words touched the hearts of the people at the very core. He named citizens by name, told them about their struggles and how they were able to make it through. After every example he found a way to connect their recovery to the unity of the city, and the establishment of the Inquisition. Effectively he transitioned the long introduction into a praise of the new found love that was to represent the renewal of God’s blessing upon the city. He asked them to draw hope and faith from this beautiful occasion, and rejoice with their loved ones again in the splendor of the city.

A maid fixed up Cecilia’s elegant bun, which was artfully decorated with white flowers. A single strand of her blond hair fell to the side of her eye. Her white dress was made of smooth silk, and took up much of the floor with its incredible length. While the body of the dress had various touches of rose, the seam and hem were grey to match my armor.

Anthony stepped up to me, “The Inquisitor is about to announce you two. But before you go out I have one more thing for you.” He handed me a new dark grey cane, fine and fresh in color. At the top sat an eagle with spread wings.

While my eyes inspected the delicate present, the fanfares resounded through the air. I put aside the old cane, clasped the new one tightly in my right and took Cecilia’s hand in the other. With a sudden move the curtains flushed to the sides, revealing us to the masses.

My whole body trembled. The fanfares still sounded. Cecilia’s hand pressed mine tighter. Thousands of eyes were pointed at me. With painfully slow grace we walked towards the banister where the Inquisitor had awaited us with open arms. Many times I felt close to losing my consciousness. The noise emerging from the crowd combined with the deafening sound of the fanfares drowned my senses in a sea of tumult.

It all was topped when my mortal enemy embraced me like a son. He held me close for a few seconds. “Don’t forget to smile,” he whispered in my ear.

The crowd calmed down at his signal. The fanfares were replaced by a set of violins.

In a loud booming voice he addressed us for the crowd to hear, “I am here to bestow upon you the sacred vow of marriage. The vow by and for God, to live by the ideals and virtues set forth in the Final Testament. It is this vow that shall tie your bodies together in this world, and make your souls one for eternity. A vow to dispel all doubt. A vow to reinstate faith. A vow to love forever. Till death and beyond… this world and the next.” He extended his hand to Cecilia, “I now ask you Cecilia, will you take Adam to be your husband by the laws of God so your souls may be joined for eternity and beyond?”

Her hand pressed mine tighter, and I felt the heat radiating from her. With sparkling eyes she affirmed loudly, her lips never losing the smile.

The Inquisitor nodded and looked at me. No one but Cecilia and I could see the commanding glare he gave me. His eyes shone of control, death, and eagerness as he asked me the same question, “I now ask you Adam, will you take Cecilia to be your wife by the laws of God so your souls may be joined for eternity and beyond?”

His lips slowed as the words left his mouth. My mind was racing, drowning all the sound around me in static as images of Katrina and Janari flashed before my eyes: the Mount, the thief jobs, the stars, the meetings in the woods, the tribe, the ambush, the bolt that killed Janari, my hopeful return, and at last the fire that consumed Katrina. It all boiled down to this moment. I had to make a choice. Cherish the past and reminisce or toss it all away to create a new future.

The Inquisitor looked at me full of expectation. I looked at her. A smile like a faint laugh was on her lips. Pure and real. The Greeks had words to describe what dawned on me that moment. What I had felt for Katrina was a romantic love, while Janari and I had held a love reflected in our friendship. But what Cecilia and I shared was unconditional. A love of the soul. It was her that reflected them all.

“Yes, I do.”

The crowd burst into applause, but all I saw was her, in a way I had never seen her before. With a triumphant smile the Inquisitor tied a white ribbon around our interlocked hands, signifying the completion of the vow.

Pleased with his success he turned around, “Let the celebrations begin!”

A large decorated staircase was rolled towards the balcony by a group of servants. On cue musicians emerged onto the rooftops surrounding the entire square. At once they played joyous tunes creating a surrounding sound. We used a small step to walk over the banister onto the gigantic staircase while a platform was pushed towards the bottom of the staircase. The men and women of the city pushed forward wanting to come closer to us as we descended from the balcony down to the square. Cecilia waved into the masses and smiled at the many children that called out her name. At last the ‘commoners’ had won her heart, and she theirs. Our hands were still tied by the ribbon when we had reached the platform. Approaching the center, the tune changed into a slow romantic song with violins and flutes taking over once again. In the far distance the sun began to set with its orange-red light warming the whole horizon while the rest of the sky darkened. Cecilia put her right hand on my shoulder and moved closer. Slowly I redirected my weight onto my right foot and let go of the cane. With my hand on her waist we began to move to the rhythm of the music. In awe they watched, adoring us for the symbol we had become. Soon some brave couples climbed onto the platform and joined us in the dance that started off a long, unforgettable, festive night.

The light in the horizon began to fade. Cecilia was in my arms, and together we shone. We gave light to the people, and light to ourselves. Peace filled my heart at last. I closed my eyes, and for once did not feel pain. All I felt was warmth and safety–a safety that could not and would not be taken– this time not even by the Inquisitor.