Son of Ereubus (41 page)

Authors: J. S. Chancellor

BOOK: Son of Ereubus

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Michael’s jaw fell slack.

“That is what drives this rage, Michael. Yes, you lost your father and mother, but you have lived most of your life within these walls, and that is quite a different matter from the daily torment that my men have endured. Gabriel understood that and knew that I wouldn’t be swayed by lofty talk. He looked at me the day he asked for my allegiance with the same gravity that I would hold when I watched my beautiful stepdaughter murdered in cold blood. Gabriel had already lost Caelyn to the very being who was raising your newfound brethren and you want me to pretend that your father knew nothing of what Garren was capable of?”

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Michael, unsure of his words, whispered, “The Ereubinian who left her mortally wounded was Tadraem? He was also …”

“He was responsible for Seth and Indeara’s deaths as well.”

Garren went pale.

Duncan shook his head, “Michael, you must understand, I cannot …”

“Don’t. You’re right. My father had his reasons, though what they were, I cannot imagine.”

Garren looked up. “Ruiari,” he said slowly, reverently, as if he were just remembering. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “Duncan, you have every reason to hate me. Know that could I go back and undo — ”

Duncan forcefully let out a breath, interrupting him. “I offered you my own life for hers and unarmed myself in a good faith gesture, a foolish move on my part. You will not find me in that position again.” He started toward the door, but stopped before he left the room. “Your chambers aren’t but two halls down from Aiden’s. The tunnels lead all the way into the castle itself. We were there, right alongside your lineage for hundreds of years. I had you at blade’s end myself and it was the very fact that Gabriel didn’t hate you that kept you alive. It was the first thing I did after Ruiari’s fall. It was his words to me while he was still living that you should thank for your ability to take in breath, not the elders, or Michael, or archaic law. Had it not been for him, you would never have made it this far. I would have pierced you through that night as you slept, just as you mercilessly slay Lillian. She was merely a child, Garren. But just one of many for you. How many children have you slain since meeting Ariana?” He turned back to Michael. “I don’t suppose you considered that.”

Wordlessly, he left the room. Michael had trouble finding anything to say. He had been completely shocked by what Duncan had said, suddenly feeling very naïve. What else did he not know? What good was he as a leader when he knew so little of what was important? Duncan had known all along and yet Gabriel had told his own son nothing. Why? He tried to not let it hurt his feelings, but he was beginning to feel very much like Ariana had when she explained how left out she’d always felt, how unloved. He’d confided in his father about everything.

Jenner must have sensed his discomfort. “Then we will leave it as it is, the three of you will leave on first light. We will meet again tonight at the Torradh. Are we all in agreement?” Everyone nodded and began to leave, probably taking in everything that had just happened. Jenner walked over and placed his hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“Walk with me. Garren, you may join us. I am an old Adorian and I am tired, but I still see things. I see that look in your eye, Michael, the same one that your father used to have, and I’ve sensed it in your sister. A lot has been said in the past few days.”

Michael waited for the others to leave the room. Jareth lingered for a moment, until Michael raised his hand to let him know that it was alright to leave.

“Why would my father not tell me any of this? Do you have any idea how weary I grow of asking that question?”

Jenner opened the door, starting down the hall.

“Did the elders know of Garren’s lineage?”

Jenner paused, rubbing his hands together to warm them. “We had our suspicions when Ariana mentioned him. Gabriel went to Eidolon without our blessing. I assume it had something to do with why he decided to keep your sister a secret from all of us. Do not be offended that he confided in Duncan. I would never have imagined that one of our daughters would have been able to capture the heart of an Ereubinian, but it seems that I have now been proven wrong twice.” Jenner glanced at Garren and smiled, but Garren’s thoughts were clearly elsewhere, his gaze was focused on the floor.

“I had been trying to place Duncan all of this time, I didn’t remember until he spoke just now.”

Michael stopped walking, and stepped in front of Garren to look at him directly. “Then you remember the girl?”

“I remember everything,” Garren said, “as if it just occurred. What Duncan said as he left —”

Michael stopped him before he could finish his sentence. “We’re well aware of what goes on in Eidolon.
Nech ordai neroman.”

Garren looked at him, shocked, which Michael expected.

“Every child who is raised in the Iidolis and the Aidolis is taught the language of the Laionai. My father knew it well, as does Duncan, Jareth, Caedmon — all of us. Every time your men used such speech in our presence we were well aware of what was being said. Garren, what is important now, isn’t the past — it’s the future.”

Jenner nodded in agreement. “Michael is right. I think to see even one human restored ... it isn’t something that I expected to see in my lifetime.” Jenner, usually an individual of great restraint, became overwhelmed as he spoke. He placed a hand delicately over his mouth in an attempt to shelter the trembling of his lips from their eyes. “Were it my own daughter who was enduring what this child is living through. Garren, I once rode as Michael does, as an Adorian knight, and I remember many were the days that I lived and breathed the calling of a shepherd of man. But it wasn’t until I met Elspeth that I truly understood the depth of the sadness that the human race endures. The fathers who must watch their daughters and wives enter into a defiled marriage bed. The sons who toil for those very men who have stolen their brides and the wives who must watch them sire sons who will grow up to hate them.

“It may be the simplest of all things that destroys the darkness, so we mustn’t overlook even the smallest of advances. For all of our efforts over the centuries, not one single human has ever had his soul restored.”

Though Garren remained quiet, Michael could see the first signs of a new being emerging from the shadow of who Garren used to be.

Jenner stopped them. “I have promised the rest of the day, until this evening, to my sweet wife, so I will leave the two of you to finish discussing what needs to be done in order to bring them back here. We will see one another again tonight.” Jenner bowed to Michael, then disappeared down a flight of stairs.

“We have much to discuss,” Michael said. “While I know a good deal about Eidolon, I know very little of your former friend.”

“The Laionai and the Moriors concern me, not Aiden.” Garren flexed his hand at his side as he spoke. “Considering that Micah wasn’t the only one to lay down his sword, I think it’s a safe assumption that the Laionai will make his execution public, as an example. There is a gathering in honor of the Goddess, held every year on the 6
^thof Jessup. Let’s hope that they’ve planned it for that event, and not any sooner.” As Garren spoke, Michael remembered the Ereubinian who had approached them in the cell.

“One of your men came upon us as we were leaving the cell. He was loyal to you, and I assume by their reaction to you in the outer courts that he was not alone in his allegiance.”

Garren stopped walking and looked out of one of the large picture windows that lined the hallway. His eyes were unfocused. “Malachai. I don’t understand why any Ereubinian, knowing what they were risking, would do anything like what he did. Deceiving the Moriors is a serious offense.”

“What are you not saying?” Michael asked.

“My men watched my reaction to Aiden’s defiance — you wouldn’t care to hear the details of it. I have a difficult time believing that any of them would concern themselves with anything but their own survival. They obeyed me out of fear, Michael. I’ve done nothing to warrant their loyalty.”

“Yet they laid down their swords at the sight of your resistance. There is loyalty there, regardless of the reason. If we fail, what are the chances of your own men going against you?”

Garren shook his head. “We cannot fail. If we do, we won’t live to see this realm again.”

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY-
F
IVE

U
PON
T
HE
W
AKING
H
OUR

he night was dark and cold. The wind blew as faint as an infant’s breath across the surface of the lake, gently rocking the ice fragments that still remained from the harshest part of winter. Not all of the fallen could be brought back to Adoria, but pyres had been fashioned as symbols for all who had been lost. The landscape was dotted in the distance with great fires that had been lit in their honor.

Michael came before them, wearing a solid black robe. He carried a thin, leather-bound book. Duncan stood next to Ariana, who wore a simple white gown. The sleeves were loose at the elbow, billowing around her wrists.

Michael raised one hand into the air and held aloft his father’s sword. He read several passages aloud in Adorian, then read the names of each of the fallen Adorians. Ariana closed her eyes, swallowing back sobs for what she’d done.

Duncan put his arm around her and pulled her to him. “What is done is done. Your heart was in the right place,” he whispered.

She looked up at him, thinking that it sounded like something her father would have said. She mouthed the words ‘thank you,’ and bent her head back down.

As Michael finished reading the names, the elders came to him and lit their torches from the single candle that sat sheltered from the wind at his feet. They carried them out to the water’s edge to set each of the flats alight. Ariana kept her eyes fixed downwards, listening to the muffled cries of loved ones. As she rose, she caught a glimpse of Garren through the sea of faces. He was next to Jenner, who had chosen not to stand with the other elders.

Michael walked to the largest pyre, and with the help of several others, pushed it into the frigid waters. As soon as it was afloat, he dropped his candle onto the kindling, setting it aflame. Soon after, the other pyres were set into the water and lit as well.

Michael had come to her earlier in the afternoon, telling her about what had happened after their meeting. It reassured Ariana for Michael to confide in her, asking her about Father, and revealing that he felt a little betrayed that he hadn’t told Michael about Garren’s parentage. She wasn’t sure how much she had been able to comfort him, but she had tried.

Michael stepped back from the shore and motioned for Ariana to come forward. Duncan reached over and squeezed her shoulder as she moved through the crowd. Her heart fluttered as everyone parted, but it was something she needed to do. Michael had explained to her what would happen during the Torradh; when he mentioned a song that was sung in remembrance of the dead, she had offered to sing it.

Michael spoke a short prayer as she came to stand beside him, instructing all to kneel at the end. She was relieved when Michael had told her earlier that they would stay facing downwards until she was finished. Every time her father returned, he always asked her to sing to him, even when she was little. While she loved music, it had always been difficult for her to sing in front of others. She wondered how many times her father had heard the Torradh sung in his lifetime and if he’d ever imagined that his own daughter would one day stand before their people for that very purpose. She took the book from Michael’s hands and took a deep breath, hoping she would remember the tune.

Upon the waking hour, I shall think of you

My heart grown still in sorrow