Authors: Amy Miles
“Please stay, Fane,” Roseline pleads.
It is not fair for her to ask, not after she crushed his hopes back in Romania, but she needs him by her side, as a friend.
“I need your help.”
Fane groans, running his hands down his face.
“Why do I always give in to you?”
“Because you’re a sucker,” Nicolae grins.
“No doubt.”
Fane sighs heavily.
“I know I’m going to regret this.”
“I most certainly will,” Malachi mutters under his breath.
Chapter 22
Gabriel ducks through the narrow kitchen, careful to avoid Asrim.
The gray haired, rotund cook bustles about, stirring a large stockpot of mystery meat stew.
Last night it was yak.
It was actually not too bad, once you got past the stray bits of hair.
Ordin grumbles from his chopping board, mutilating a pile of carrots beyond recognition.
Yep, something is definitely up.
Skirting past Ordin’s rapid-fire knife, Gabriel rushes into the dining room.
A long wooden table fills the room.
A chair sits at one end, where Sias usually sits.
Two wooden benches run along either side, where Gabriel joins the monks three times a day.
He smiles as he finds Enael, knelt low to retrieve the table settings from a wooden cabinet.
Enael’s bowl cut hair looks perpetually wonky.
His robe is rumpled, no doubt from lounging in bed all day, reading books.
“Hi,” Gabriel calls, letting the door swing shut behind him.
Enael yelps, leaping upright.
A stack of wooden bowls and cups go flying.
Metal spoons clatter to the floor.
Enael grabs his chest, a wry smile pulling at his lips.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry about that,” Gabriel grins, rushing to help his new friend pick up the mess.
“You are slipping, Enael.
What if I were an assassin sneaking in to kill you?”
The boy’s eyes light with amusement.
“I can only hope.
At least there would be s
ome
excitement around this place.
You have proven to be rather dull, no offense.”
Gabriel laughs, collecting a handful of spoons.
“So, there isn’t anything weird going on tonight?”
“Uh no.”
Enael glances up, his round face pinched.
The creases in his forehead vanish as excitement replaces his confusion.
“Why?
What have you heard?”
Well, there goes any hope of dragging details from Enael, but this only confirms Gabriel’s suspicions.
Something is happening and Sias is no fool.
Everyone knows Enael cannot keep a secret to save his life.
That is probably the reason Enael is rarely allowed to leave the premise, and never on his own.
If it were not for Sias being his uncle, Gabriel doubts Enael would have ever been chosen for this position.
“Nothing,” he shrugs.
“Everyone just seems a bit tense around here.”
Hoping Enael does not see through his lame explanation, he quickly sets to work helping his friend lay out the tablecloth, even though it is not his chore.
He has not been given a single daily chore since emerging from his blood transfusion.
At first, he was pleased about that.
Who would actually want to scrub the floors or dust this massive place?
But now, looking back on it, Gabriel should have been suspicious.
The other monks spend a great deal of time to keep this place running.
Shouldn’t he be a part of that process too?
It is almost as if Sias is trying to keep him for becoming too invested in the monastery.
Gabriel and Enael both glance up as a howl of pain escapes under the gap of kitchen door, followed immediately by a splash of fluid.
That does not bode well for dinner.
A harsh shouting match ensues.
Gabriel grins over at Enael, who rolls his eyes.
“They do it every night.”
“Does it ever get old?” Gabriel asks, chuckling as he places the final bowl in Sias’ spot.
“Never,” he grins back.
His smile vanishes, as the kitchen door swings open.
Asrim enters, a sour look etched on his face, as he struggles with a sloshing bowl.
“Are you okay, As?” Enael asks, rushing to help set the bowl on the table.
Gabriel notices a large red welt beginning to rise on the man’s forearm.
“That bloody oaf bumped into me again.
Gonna burn me skin right off one of these days.
He’s mental I tell ya,” Asrim grumbles, in a thick northern English accent.
“Quit your whining,” Ordin grunts, pushing a cart of covered dishes through the door.
“I’m sick of your bellyaching.”
“Enough!” Everyone whirls around, instantly dropping their gaze from Sias’ thunderous face.
Ortuh rises on his tiptoes to see over Sias’ shoulder.
“Have you all gone completely mad?
Hollering like that?
I heard you two all the way down the hall.”
He points directly at the cooks.
Even Ordin has the good graces to look properly reprimanded.
Sias exhales, straightening out his robe so his hands have something to grasp besides their two necks.
“I expect you all to be on your best behavior this evening, brothers.”
His gaze shifts to each of his brethren.
When he reaches Gabriel, the corners of his eyes pinch.
“We have a visitor.”
***
“Can’t you tell me anything?” Gabriel pleads, rushing to follow Sias down the lengthy hall, its steep decline making the task easier.
He had been disappointed to learn that the visitor had politely declined the invitation to join them for dinner.
Gabriel had barely touched his food, his stomach coiling painfully each time Sias darted a tense glance at him from the end of the table.
Why are they in this abandoned part of the monastery?
Why does the visitor want to speak to him alone?
And, why the heck did Enael look on the verge of tears when he left dinner?
“It is not my place to reveal anything more than I have already done.
Your journey with me is complete.
You will be leaving tonight.”
Gabriel halts.
“So that’s it?
No goodbyes?
Just shove me out the door?”
He knows his raised voice is echoing back down the hall to the dining room, but he does not care.
Let them hear.
“
You
kidnapped
me
, remember?”
“Do not assume that I care less for you because of this.
I am not in charge, Gabriel.
I am only a man with a task and I have done that task.”
Sias sighs heavily and turns back.
“There is so much more that you must learn, to fulfill your destiny, and you cannot learn it from me.
Your lessons here are complete.”
“But I haven’t learned how to heal yet or learned all those stupid names you asked me to memorize.
I can’t even beat Enael in the ring yet.”
“You were holding back, both in the ring and in your studies.”
Gabriel winces.
“Ok, maybe a little, but that’s not the point.
I can still learn from you.”
Sias’ hands fall on his arm.
“It is time, Gabriel.”
Sias moves on, leaving Gabriel behind.
Frustration plants his feet into the ground, refusing to let him follow.
It is not fair.
He has only just begun to settle in here and now he has to uproot yet again.
“I don’t want to leave.”
Sias turns, his steps purposeful as he closes the gap between them.
“Your mentor knows far more about you than I ever could.
He alone can train you.
If you stay here, your education will be stunted.
I do not want that for you.
You deserve better.”
“And if I refuse?”
Gabriel crosses his arms over his chest, in defiance.
Anger simmers in his ice-blue eyes.
Sias leans back against the wall.
The flickering candlelight overhead casts dancing shadows across his face.
“I told you before that you are not being held against your will.
This choice must be yours, but please choose wisely.”
The desire to just leave everything behind grips Gabriel.
It would be so easy.
No one could stop him.
No one would even try.
But what if he is wrong?
What if whoever is behind that door up ahead has the answers he is searching for?
Shouldn’t he stick around long enough to find out?
Gabriel growls, admitting defeat as he glances down the hall.
“What should I expect?”
“Answers.”
Sias turns and heads back the way he came, his feet swiftly attacking the sharp incline.
No backward glance.
No goodbye. Gabriel watches until Sias rounds the corner.
A deep sense of abandonment falls over Gabriel.
He finds it hard to get out the words, “Goodbye, Sias.”
Pushing aside his regret, Gabriel turns slowly to face the door at the end of the hall.
It seems small, insignificant in light of the endless hallway, but Gabriel is not fooled.
He can feel something emanating from that room - power.
His steps are slow as he approaches, hesitant as he halts before the door.
Placing his hand on the doorframe, he can feel it - the shift in the air, the electric current that makes the hairs on his arms rise.
Gabriel takes a deep breath as he curls his fingers around the doorknob.
The wooden door squeals on its hinges as it swings open.
Pitch darkness greets him.
Chapter 23
Gabriel steps into the room, instantly noting the chill in the air.
The drastic drop in temperature surprises him.
He peers through the darkness, unable to see much beyond a couple feet in front of him. Pale light shines from above but fails to stretch to the floor.
Shear stone walls line the open crevice.
Moonlight drapes the ceiling with its luminescent silver glow, but the floor is bathed in pitch darkness.
Gabriel moves hesitantly into the room.
His footsteps echo all around him.
How big is this place?
The further he enters the cavernous room, the more certain he is that his mentor waits for him.
But why not speak to him, to call him forward?
Is this a test?
Despite being visually hampered, Gabriel can sense an electricity on the air.
Closing his eyes, he stops and turns, nostrils flaring as he hunts the scent.
It is directly above him.
Gabriel glances up.
A man sits on a ledge perched high above him.
Although the moonlight does not reach him, an aura of light suddenly appears to envelope him.
“Impressive.”
His deep voice booms through the room.
“Sias has taught you well in such a short time.”
Gabriel backs away, to have a better view of his mentor.
His enormous frame is draped in white.
A leather strap around his hairline holds back his windblown, gold-flecked hair from his eyes.
A large sword rests in a scabbard at his side, too large for a human to manage.
Two golden crosses, like oversized bracelets, adorn his biceps.
He smiles, leaping to the floor.
Instead of plummeting, he seems to float gracefully.
His descent slows as his toes touch the floor a few feet ahead of Gabriel.
Even at this close proximity, Gabriel’s head barely reaches the man’s neck.
He stands over seven feet tall, his stance wide but non-threatening.
Bright lavender eyes stare back, neither uninviting nor curious.
“I am Elias.
I have been chosen as your mentor.”
Even his voice exudes power.
Gabriel tries to think of some snide comment, about how he would rather be jousting with Enael instead of stuck in this dungeon, but the words fail to form.
He simply stares, in awe.
Clearing his throat, Gabriel rubs the back of his neck.
“Sorry.
You’re just a
tad
intimidating, but then I’m sure you already know that.”
Elias nods, solemnly.
Light shimmers around him, chasing the shadows back several feet.
Gabriel hesitates, wondering what Elias must think of him, but his mentor says nothing.
“So, um…how does this work?
Sias mentioned we are leaving.”
“Yes.”
His gaze shifts heavenward.
“But it is not time yet.”
Uncomfortable with the cryptic answer, Gabriel shifts from side to side.
The inner lining of his cheek grows sore as he chews at the tender flesh.
Elias glances back down at him.
“How much has Sias told you about me?”
“Not much.
Actually, nothing at all.
He just said that you have answers for me.”
Elias nods and waits.
Gabriel clears his throat again.
“And that you know about my destiny, whatever that means.”
He would not have believed it possible for Elias to appear any grimmer than he already did, but he was wrong.
The man’s sweeping brow lines with concern.
“You will know everything…in time.”
He glances again to the ceiling.
Gabriel’s anger, trailed over from his conversation with Sias, boils over. Patience and respect be darned.
He wants answers.
“Really?” he snorts, crossing his arms over his chest.
Any hint of awe or self-preservation flees in the face of indignant teenage rebellion.
“That’s all you’re going to tell me after what I’ve been through?”
No doubt, angering this giant is the worst possible thing he can do, but Gabriel doesn’t care.
He shakes his head, refusing to back down.
“I’m sick of being told to wait.
I’ve been kidnapped, nearly starved to death and then given a blood transfusion against my will.
I’ve been poked, prodded, had meaningless ancient history facts shoved into my brain and gone to bed every night with more bruises than I can count.
Now, either you start talking, or I’m going to walk right back through that door and act like none of this ever happened.
Are we clear?”
Elias stares hard at him.
He folds his arms tightly across his chest, an imposing sight to behold.
Gabriel resists the urge to step back.
“You feel strongly about this?”
He nods firmly.
“I do.”
“You are impetuous,” he muses, “Sias would not approve.”
Gabriel shrugs.
Elias steps forward, bearing down on him.
He holds his ground, even as the giant’s shadow covers his face.
His pulse remains even, despite the pounding he is sure to receive.
Instead, Elias smiles.
“Good.
I like that.”
He is flabbergasted at the shift in Elias’ disposition.
Strong hands reach down to pat him on the back.
“I don’t understand,” Gabriel grunts, knocked two feet ahead.
Elias reaches out to steady him.
“Sias warned me of your rash behavior, of the way you tried to wait out death.
I commend you for that.
A noble death, in the face of what you surely thought to be a horrendous alternative.”
Gabriel reaches behind him to massage his bruised shoulder.
“Sias didn’t think so much of it.”
Elias laughs, the sound booms like cannon fire off the rock walls.
“No, I cannot imagine that he did, but I know something about you that he does not.”
Gabriel leans in, letting his grasp on his shoulder fall free.
“What?”
“You are much more than just an immortal, Gabriel Marston Enescue.”
He looks heavenward again.
A large shadow crosses the opening.
“It is time.”
“For what?”
Gabriel asks, craning his neck to see.
Whatever passed over the opening does not reappear.
He looks back at Elias, perplexed.
With the whoosh of a thousand winds, strong wings stretch from Elias’s back.
Gabriel falls back, shocked at the magnificent sight.
The golden wings, like harnessed sunlight, fill the cavern with light.
The shadows flee in the presence of his mighty wings.
Their breadth stretches nearly ten feet on either side of him.
His skin glows pure bronze in the dazzling light.
“What are you?” Gabriel asks, shielding his face from the blinding light.
“I am an Alraes but you would know me as an angel.”
An urgent whistle spirals down from above.
Elias holds out his hand to Gabriel.
“It is time to fly.”