The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

PART 4 - THE HUNTSMAN’S HOPE

CH CONFRONTING THE MAGE

A/N: This would be the first of book 3 if we split the series into a trilogy

It was almost dawn when the Last Mage, High Lord Shadz of the House of Odini woke to the sense of his magical wards breached by a familiar, hated presence. He waited until he felt The Huntsman arrive on his bedroom balcony before he slipped his half-arm out from under his sleeping wife. Lady Asha stirred slightly but didn’t wake. She was heavily pregnant with their second set of twins. Wearing only his sleeping pants, Shadz stepped out onto the cool stone. The ocean tides were pounding the shore in the wake of last night’s tempest. From the glower on his uncle-by-joining’s face, Shadz was sure the more dangerous storm stood before him.

“Can I help you with something, Lord Yurieth of Yophriel?” Shadz demanded in his usual deep monotone.

“Yes, Lord Shadz of Odini. You can tell me where you hid the Oracle,” Yuri responded just as coldly.

Shadz did not react in any way that Yuri could detect. He simply stared at Yuri with his rust-red eyes that reminded Yuri of Lady Naphtala’s. “Lady Kalyssa is the oracle now and she is asleep in her room.”

“I know you made Daisy disappear. You are the only one who could have hidden her from me, the only one who would have done something so malevolent as to deprive someone of their sealed one,” Yuri accused.

Shadz’s eyes narrowed slightly. “My wife is asleep. If you wish to talk, my office is there.” He waved his stump toward the tower where Kaleth’s library had been, then he turned and went inside without a word.

Yuri was sitting on the rail, looking out at the sea as he had done many times with his late brother. Looking around, he noted than very little had changed in the castle Kaleth had built for his beloved Daisy... for their beloved Daisy. Yuri never forgot Kaleth’s plea in the Celestial Veil, to love her for all time. He had failed again because he had believed the Mage’s treacherous trick. He had believed Daisy was dead even though his heart said otherwise.

Shadz unlocked the door behind him. Yuri entered without a sound. Shadz was now dressed in a deep red tunic bearing his house-crest, black trousers and boots. A thin black glove covered his prosthetic hand. Yuri was still amazed by the fusion of magic and tech that had replace the arm Shadz lost in the battle for Dauntless 6.

Shadz sat down behind the late Guardian’s mahogany desk while Yuri sat across from him. Neither spoke for several minutes,

“I see you just can’t overcome your guilt,” Shadz opened.

“Like you can’t overcome your need to blame me?” Yuri countered.

“Daisy is no longer with us. Why can’t you accept it?” Shadz retorted emotionlessly.

“Because I don’t believe she is dead and neither does Kalen. We both still feel her, we both still hear her singing,” Yuri revealed.

“So, you have infected my wife’s younger brother with your delusional guilt?” Shadz attacked.

Instead of responding to the baiting, Yuri inquired, “Do you remember Daisy’s widow’s token?”

Shadz’s jaw ticked; it was the mage’s first betrayal of emotion. “Yes. I am the one who told her what it was the day after the Guardian’s death. A simple white gold ring engraved with the words ‘Beloved of Kaleth, Beloved Though Time Eternal’, the Guardian had it made long before his death.”

“Yes, I know. I saw in her memories when the two of you confronted him. You were very disrespectful to the one whom you regarded as a father figure,” Yuri reminded.

“He kept secrets that hurt the ones who loved him,” Shadz responded. “Daisy wasn’t wearing it on her wedding finger when she came forward. Asha searched for it. Perhaps it was lost in the past as the Guardian’s lightning sword was.”

Yuri’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Shadz had an explanation for everything without lying or telling the truth. “You would have made a very good oracle, Mage Lord, you answer every question without actually answering it.” He inhaled slowly, trying not to lose his temper. “She was wearing it on her other hand.”

Shadz half-smiled as his rust-red eyes held Yuri’s stormy steel ones. They stared at each other intensely, then Shadz spoke first again. “Did Lady Daisy ever tell you about the time when Lord Kaleth had blood magic poisoning? He went insane and killed her.”

“Yes. They both did.” Yuri wasn’t sure where Shadz was going with this line of thought, so he waited.

Shadz nodded, “We were trying to figure out how the Guardian’s magic was shared during a battle. The oracle stepped through time into one of my memories, she actually went there in spirit and saved me from my parents, who were using my blood to power their dark magic. She knocked my mother into a wall, picked up her blade, and held it to her throat. She told my mother to never use my blood again or she would suffer the wrath of the oracles. I watched it happen with the Guardian and my brothers, though in that moment as a child I had no memory except my mother cutting me then passing out and waking up healed.”

Shadz opened a locked drawer in his desk and laid a beautifully jeweled dagger between them. “I still have my mother’s blade... Daisy saved me, and I could not save her. He killed her in his office at the Guardsmen Training Center, and when he realized what he had done, he left. She loved him so much she forgave him that night, covered up his violation of our sacred beliefs, and even asked me to help catch him so he could be cured. Her love for him knew no boundary until he lied to her about his death time. He took her love for granted and caused her so much pain during their four centuries of marriage, but he did not hurt her as much as you did in one year, Huntsman, and his lies were not as great as yours. We knew you had treated her poorly, so I had to stand by silently a second time and watch as one who was like a sister to me, suffering again at the hands of the one she loved. To be killed by her sealed one... again.” Hatred simmered like coals behind Shadz’s eyes and he made no effort to hid it. Shadz pushed the blade to Yuri, knowing Yuri’s Huntsmen’s magic would allow him to evaluate weapons. “Do you know exactly what this dagger is? What harm is carried in its cursed state?”

Yuri sat quietly; he could not dispute what Shadz had revealed because it was true. He picked up the beautiful, jewel-inlaid dagger. Both Serapha and Demona had owned blades like this. He felt the dark enchantments. “It is a sacrificial bound blade with a life-glow stealing enchantment that prevents healing. Water of Light would be needed to heal any cut it made, or the wound will never heal completely. It would leave permanent scar if the injury was survived.”

“You and that blade are the same,” Shadz announced judgmentally.

Yuri’s temper exploded as he embedded the point of the blade in the back of Shadz’s chair, close enough to his head it cut off several strands of Shadz’s ebony hair. The Mage didn’t even flinch as Yuri snarled, “No more games! Tell me where she is!”

“Where who is?” Karstien’s presence and question caught Yuri off-guard, but Yuri answered quickly, “Daisy is alive. Mother visited me and told me she lived.”

“I know she’s alive,” Karstien responded quietly. “And to answer your next question, no, I don’t know where she is.”

Yuri stared at his nephew and king in dismay, and with the bitter taste of betrayal in his throat as he asked, “How... how could you not tell me? She’s my sealed one. How could you not tell Kalen or Jenna who grieve their mother as though she were dead? They would want to be with her!”

“They can’t.” The grief in Karstien’s expression could not be faked. “Because she doesn’t remember them, or you, Uncle Yuri, or any of us.”

“What?” Yuri demanded in breathless shock. "Daisy remembers everything. She has an eidetic memory"

Karstien sat down across from Yuri. His silver eyes held a sadness and weight that made him look much older. “You saw her in the Room of Light. You saw her agony, what she was without her light. The version of her you saw was all that was left of her soul. We did that to her, our house. She believed she was no more than property, a concubine, a breeder... A tool that was used and ready to be discarded, but we wouldn’t let her die. Her suffering was too great for her to survive if she woke that way, so I told Shadz, Asha, and the healers to do whatever they could to help her, no matter how extreme.”

“But when she died... your grief was real,” Yuri stammered.

“I thought we failed. Asha had helped Shadz cast the spell, and they let me think we failed so my grief would be real. After Daisy healed, when she woke up, they told me the truth... But she remembered almost nothing... Only fragments of her worst moments remained and when she tried to remember, she almost forever died.”

“I knew you lied,” Yuri growled at Shadz.

“I did not lie; Daisy is lost to us.” Shadz elaborated, “As gone as though she had died. She remembers fragments of the war, snatches of the abuse she suffered from Damien, of the neglect Kaleth gave her, and of the cruelty inflicted by you. She believes she was a warrior after being released by the oracle from being Kaleth’s concubine at the Guardian’s death on Dauntless. She has been told that she was hurt and left blind when Meridian 3 fell. She does not know that she was the War Oracle or the Blind Oracle.”

The Mage reached over his shoulder and pulled his mother’s blade from the chair with his gloved false hand. “She carries a wound that will never heal. Her soul would have continued to hemorrhage until she died. Putting her in a coma and erasing her pain was the only kindness we could give her. You must believe that she is safe and surrounded by those who will love and protect her. Let her go, Huntsman.”

“How can I let her go when I can still hear her singing? She is my sealed one! Could you let Asha go so easily?” Yuri demanded coming out of his chair.

Karstien got between them and pushed Yuri back, but the Huntsman did not fail to notice the way Shadz’s hand tightened on the cursed blade and, for a moment, he knew his nephew-by-joining wished to kill him and barely had managed to restrain himself.

Shadz’s voice sounded demonic and deep as he threatened, “You will never hurt her again, Huntsman. Your misery is the least you deserve for your cruelty and using her as you and your father did.”

“I love her!” Yuri yelled at Shadz. “And yes, I hurt her because I was a fool, but I hurt myself more. We were caught in the games of the Oracles and Royals, trapped as pawns with no way to escape our fates. We had to play our roles...”

“Games?” Shadz sneered, “So you admit you toyed with her emotions, played her like your father did! Like your brother did!”

“No, I did not!” Yuri denied. “Haven’t you ever wondered why my brother picked her? Why my father had Kaleth give her my oracle stone? Because I did... and I found out a truth that time couldn’t hide, one my father couldn’t deny, even on the day of his death. It was the same one Kaleth suspected and confirmed, didn’t he, Karstien?”

“What truth? Shadz asked emotionlessly.

“That the reason Daisy was so powerful was not by chance. She was bred to be the descendant of the other eight high houses. She was born to be the wife of a son of the House of Adamos and Yophriel. It was part of my grandparents’ plan to return the magic of the ten high houses to our people.” Karstien seemed to slump. “Daisy was never meant to be sealed to my father. My grandfather made her for Yurieth.”

“Lord Kaleth suspected she was bred to contain the Aetherian genetics; Asha ran the test to confirm as much. But how can you believe his claim that she was not meant for your father? Their love was real...” Shadz started but Karstien interrupted.

“It was an accident! My grandfather confirmed that somehow, Daisy changed the future my grandmother saw after it happened. Grandfather said he would tell my father to love her and he would do his duty, that they would make the future what she remembered. Daisy overheard my confrontation with him. Adamos’ own words condemned our house as just using her in her mind.”

“Did you use her too, my king?” Shadz's deep voice had an icy tone Karstien had never heard directed at him before. He was uncomfortable with the accusation from his second, but he answered honestly.

“No, Shadz. I found out too late what the game was and was only trying to protect her. I forgot how clever she was at figuring things out, she had all the facts and none of the truth before we came back forward. She was so heartbroken that she never intended on returning to this time.” Karstien admitted with tears in his eyes. “She made me promise not to tell because she couldn’t bear the thought of telling my siblings that she believed their father’s love for her was a lie. That their loving family was a farce because my father never failed his duty.”

“And you, Lord Yurieth, did your father also order you to love the oracle? Did you lie about your change of heart after you were restored and falsely pretend to be her friend for all this time?” Shadz demanded.

“I had no choice. I spent a century longing to tell her the truth, but I couldn’t because of the timeline. She had to go back. My parents said this all had to happen, but they did not foresee Daisy would discover their game. They did not see that the Dark Ones would try to claim her, that she would have to pretend to be the Dark Oracle for weeks instead of a day. Or that she would get dark magic poisoning... All of that was her idea to save the Tear and then the Remnant. Time was changing as we lived it, by the end nothing was what my mother saw in her visions, except her and Naphtala’s deaths to save Fleur.”

Yuri ran his hand over his short hair. He was going crazy with his need to find her, so he begged, “I want to be joined with her, I have always wanted it. Ask Abe, he will confirm it. Please... just tell me where she is so I can make things right between us.”

“It doesn’t matter now, Uncle Yuri.” Asha’s soft glow filled the room and eased his heart slightly. She stepped between him and the desk and pushed him back into his chair. He could not resist the calming effect of her magic.

“Please Asha, you know I speak the truth.”

“I know you do, as I know you hurt,” she whispered. “We all do. My mother will never hold my children because she doesn’t know who I am to her or who she is to me. She truly believes she was just a servant in our house. Her mind is too fragile to restore. So, to ease her pain, to keep her grief and sense of betrayal from killing her, we had to erase almost everything. Any one of us could cause her to have a traumatic remembering, then she would die from Memory Cascade Syndrome.”

Asha took his larger hands in hers. “By being with us, all her memories would come flooding back. She would be overwhelmed by her own suffering, and we could not save her. Do you understand?”

“Daisy is stronger than you think. My father was wrong, she wasn’t made to be broken. She was made to overcome being broken. Look at everything she has endured, yet she still fought, loved, and kept hope alive,” Yuri insisted.

Asha shook her head, “All those events happened one at a time over centuries. If she remembered it all at once... all those she loved and lost... the harvest of the worlds... the horror of planets that tore themselves apart... the pain of being indwelled... the torture she suffered from Damien... being immersed in Essence of Darkness dozens of times... the torture of being murdered repeatedly, just to revive... birthing Demona... losing Father and Betha... Even her heartbreak over the soulspider trap... She loved you so much, you don’t know how it hurt her to feel that in juxtaposition to how you treated her for the century after the war... especially seeing it through the lens of when she went back." She paused as tears filled her golden jade and sniffed then she took a slow deep breath.

"Uncle Yuri, her mind would fracture beyond repair, and her soul would wither and die before I could make her sleep. It almost happened when she first woke. We had to put her back in a healing sarcophagus for two more years, and then lie and say it was only a few days. Please, Uncle Yuri, you have to let her go.” Tears ran down her cheeks as she pleaded with him for her mother’s life.

Yuri didn’t realize he was crying too, until wetness fell onto their clasped hands. “But I can still hear her singing...”

His soul reached out for Daisy and for a moment, he could see her, sitting by a fire, reading from a braille book. The window beyond was dark. By her feet, a bassinet held a baby and his old cat. Fishlover lifted its gray head and blinked its green eyes at him. Suddenly, he was back in his late brother’s library with his nephews and pregnant niece. He choked out the question. “Were you ever going to tell me about the child?”

Asha’s surprised gasp was all the answer Yuri’s question needed and it enraged him. “If you won’t tell me where she is, where my family is, know that I will never stop hunting for them!” He stood suddenly. “In my vision this morning, my mother told me to find my hope.”

“You can’t,” Karstien said, “By the Light, Yuri! She could forever die. Grandfather told Asha, this wasn’t meant to happen...”

“No. I’m done with his games. My father claims he never meant for this to happen, but he manipulated everything and everyone, so it could happen, and it did. He broke her and I hate him.” Yuri turned and strode out onto the balcony. “I love her, and I am going to make it right.”

He jumped down, letting his magic and enchanted boots absorb the impact before he stormed through the portal to the Crown City. He was done with games of Royals and Oracles; he was done with his family.