The Descendants Book One: The Broken Scroll (37 page)

When they were mere feet from her she spoke.  “Welcome, friends,” she said warmly, in a voice that seemed to reach the depths of Davin’s soul.  It was the voice of a young woman, “This is a wonderful sight to behold.  I am glad to see that my race is not completely lost.”

“My lady,” Egan bowed, “do you mean to say that you are an Ancient?” 

She nodded gracefully, “Yes, Egan.  I am a vessel, much like the one that comes to those who are just Awakening.” 

Davin knew that she looked familiar.  A vessel, the projection of his ancestors containing only the knowledge of the Ancients he needed to know, came to him when he was first Awakening.  She apparently was another one left by them. 

“Does that mean that you have a limited knowledge as well?” Davin asked thoughtfully. 

She examined him for a moment.  “Yes, young Davin.  I cannot tell you all that you surely wish to know about this world, but I do know what you and your king seeks.  That is within my realm of understanding because it is relevant to my purpose in this place.” 

“Then you know why we’ve come,” Egan finished her line of thought.  She again agreed with a nod. 

A few seconds passed, in which time she seemed to be surveying their intentions.  Then she said, “The scroll pieces were scattered to protect those that might remain after the war.  We were weak.  Our powers were being diminished by the fighting.  We saw this happening soon enough to act.  Before the war ended, a handful of us volunteered to travel to all ends of our land to hide the broken scroll.  We left a record of the hiding places should the time come to unite and join humans again.

I brought the piece that resides here.  I tamed the wild Auki spirits to act as protectors of the piece and let my spirit remain behind as a vessel of knowledge.  No one who was not of our kin would be allowed to pass these mountains.” 

Davin stepped forward boldly.  Egan gave him a stern look but he ignored it.  “But wasn’t the danger over once you sealed the Corrupt Ones away?” he asked. 

“The Corrupt Ones were sealed away, but, in our weakness, we were aware of two things.  That the Corrupt Ones might gain enough understanding to someday break our power.  And that the temptation to lord over humans with our vast knowledge and power was too great.  It was our highly developed minds that had allowed us to merge with dark matter and created Driocht in the first place.  And now we had seen the risk of that power when pushed too far in the war.  The Corrupt Ones had made that clear. 

We hid ourselves away in hopes to be forgotten.  Our time co-existing with human kind had ended.  If there are any of us left besides you who exist now, I do not know.  And why they have elected to stay hidden all this time is beyond my realm of understanding as well.”   

In a startling move, she lowered herself down to their level.  The three of
them began to back up uncertainly.  She halted them with a gesture. 

Her white glow had become nearly blinding at this close range.  Davin struggled to keep his eyes fixed on her.  The haze below her body became legs and she landed softly on the sand of the shore. 

Egan spoke this time.  “What of King O’Hara?  You said you have information about him.”

“I will tell you that which you know and might have guessed, for it is all I have to offer. 
He found a Scholar with knowledge the Scroll, took him captive, and compelled him to reveal what he knew of its locations.  He currently has one of the pieces in his possession and searches desperately for the others.  The forest has been purged of its piece.  And now they search the desert for the one hidden there.  His First Captain is tireless.  He will not rest until he is killed or the pieces are found.  You may claim the one that lives here.” 

“So we will have to face him unless someone else gets to him first, which will be unlikely
.  Good,” Davin ended flatly.  He was quite satisfied with that plan.

“Thank you, Lady,” Egan said, turning back and bowing.  Davin and Teague did the same, not wanting to seem ungrateful.  “Do you know why they want to find the remaining Descendants?”

She shook her head.  “That is beyond my knowledge.  I might speculate that he wishes to rule all humans and seeks their power to do such.  That is an obvious choices considering many of us fell to that same fate.”

In the silence that followed, the Lady walked around them and her gaze found Kayleigh lying one hundred feet away.  “I will revive your companion.  She
will
wake on her own but, without my help, it could be weeks.”

The Lady walked over to her.  She bent down and put her glowing hand on Kayleigh’s head.  A few seconds later, Kayleigh stirred and opened her eyes.  Fear filled them when she saw the woman and she clumsily tried to crawl away backward. 

“Calm yourself, child.  You are safe here.”  There must have been some other power in her words because Kayleigh’s breathing slowed and color returned to her face.  The Lady hadn’t said much to persuade her. 

When Kayleigh had gathered her strength she stood up without a word.  She didn’t seem sure as to what to say to the glowing image in front of her.  The Lady smiled at her warmly.  This seemed to be enough help Kayleigh speak. 

“Thank you,” she said, awkwardly. 

The Lady turned to address all of them.  “It is late.  If you wish to rest tonight, you may stay here on the sand, under the stars.  It will stay warm throughout the night.  It is part of the magic of this
place, as well as the clear sky that never changes.”  She waved a hand in a graceful arching motion. 

“That would be most welcome, Lady,” Egan replied, looking to the others to make sure they didn’t have other ideas.  They all nodded agreeably. 

“You may call on me if it is needed.  When I am not visible I rest in the spirit realm of your ancestors.  I will hear you if you call.”  There was a slight pause.  “Before you depart, I will give you what you sought when you came here.” 

When the Lady had gone Kayleigh asked what she had missed when she was out.  They told her all about the Auki’s true purpose and how they revealed this place.  They also told her who the Lady was, and what she had told them about the King. 

“Then O’Hara is no closer to finding all of the pieces than we are,” she said after they finished. 

Egan cleared his throat for an argument. “Yes, but he also has unlimited resources when it comes to soldiers he’d be willing to sacrifice in order to get the other pieces.  This is the only piece that is guarded by supernatural
forces.  The others have earthly protections, but nothing more.  They can be outwitted by man with some effort.  The main task will be locating their exact place.  By gathering this piece ourselves, we have actually made his quest easier.” 

“I say we go to desert next then,” Kayleigh said boldly. 

An image of Niahm waiting for him in the town of Swift River popped into Davin’s head.  It had been awhile already.  He hoped she hadn’t given up on him.  “I think we should meet Niahm first,” he suggested.  “If we plan to go all the way to Blind Desert, it’s very close to the Capital.  It might be a good idea to have backup in case anything goes wrong.” 

“You don’t even know if anyone came with her.  She could be all alone and then we would have wasted more time,” Egan rebutted. 

“Yes, but I promised her.  She is like a mother to me, Egan.  If no one came with her and it is a waste, then we have only lost five days at the most.”

“Still, that could be too much time
,” Egan came back at him, strong as ever.  “One task at a time, Davin.  When we have retrieved the next piece of the Scroll we will meet her.  We can send word once we are down from the mountains.” 

“There’s no way we will know that the message will reach her.  What if it doesn’t and she gives up, thinks I’ve forgotten about her,” said Davin, fervently. 

“Then so be it.  We can’t rely on help that may not be there.  If we do have people to stand behind us, they will understand if we take longer than anticipated.” 

“From whose standpoint?” Davin argued.  “Are you looking at it how you would feel, or how the average person would?  People who have been reluctant to do anything but whine about the King’s ways to his back are not going to be roused to rebel for long.  They will not linger for us, Egan.  It would be foolish to test their faith in me when they have no reason to keep it in the first place.” 

Egan cocked an eyebrow at Davin, frowning even more deeply than he had before.  “You told me she said they were still loyal to you.”

“Yes, but I don’t know how far this loyalty goes.  I told you that I was never very pleasant to anyone there.  The only reason they would stand with me now is because of our boldness.  We are only ones who have openly opposed the O’Hara
and Deverell.  Both of us refused to go along with him.”

I haven’t really opposed anyone.  This is still for revenge and for freeing Roland.  That’s all. 

Egan nodded silently.  He did not speak a drawn out moment.  “I can see we both feel passionately about our different plans.  I can’t tell which one seems better right now.  There are positives and negatives of each.  It would be unwise to split up, so we wait.”  His tone lightened. 

Kayleigh and Teague had been silent the whole time, letting the other two carry on their conversation. 

“I think that is the best idea for now.  Maybe we will be able to make a better decision once we get out of here,” said Kayleigh. 

“Yes,” Teague agreed, “I could use more tim
e to prepare to face my father.”  

Davin lay awake staring at the sky until the moon was directly overhead.  As if against his will, he felt at peace for once.  The serenity in the sanctuary took all stress away.  He was unable to worry about their journey anymore.  His only care was the scenery above and around him and the fact he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. 

The only time he had been able to tear himself away was when he spotted the Lady of the Lake wandering the beach with her white shimmering glow.  She seemed to vanish and come back without any pattern.  She looked forlorn and possibly even lonely as she traipsed to and fro, though Davin figured that those feelings couldn’t be held by someone like her.  Could vessels feel emotion?  They weren’t actually living were they?  He wouldn’t think so, but would probably never know. 

Not long after the slivered moon passed overhead, Davin heard a voice from a ways down the beach.  He looked up instantly.  The Lady was coming back into view and walking slowly towards him.  Her eyes were fixed on him.  He knew she was speaking to him. 

“Join me, Davin, will you?” she said softly to him.  Her voice caught him by surprise.  She hadn’t said a word to them for several hours, and Davin wasn’t certain she said anything at first. 

Next to him Egan sat up, obviously not asleep yet.  He said, “Go on.  She wants to speak to you alone.”

Davin turned slightly to him.  “Why would she want just me alone?”  Even though this woman had been nothing but kind to them since they arrived, Davin was still nervous. 

“Don’t sit there like an idiot.  You won’t know unless you go, will you,” Egan smirked.  Davin shook his head lightly.  Egan was right. 

He got up and slowly walked over the Lady. 

“Will you walk with me?” she asked kindly. 

“Yes.”  They started down the sandy shore, away from the place where the rest of his fellow travelers lay.  He could feel Egan watching him from behind. 

When they had wrapped so far around the lake that Egan was completely out of earshot, she spoke to him again.  “I would like to know something, Davin.  You are a young man at the age of Awakening.  Have you begun your training yet?”

“Yes,” he answered quickly, wanting to please her.  “Egan and a man named Liam started my lessons.”  Davin’s heart panged as he thought of Liam, an innocent man who did not deserve death.  “Now Egan has been teaching me alone.” 

“What happened to the other man?”  Davin knew that question was coming next.  He didn’t want to tell her, but he couldn’t lie. 

“He was killed by soldiers of this land in the port town of Slainte.  It is somewhat my fault,” he admitted to her.

She gave him a look of concern.  “Why do you think so?”  His eyes met hers and she once again convinced him to tell her.  There was definitely some magic there. 

Davin took a deep breath.  “The King and First Captain have been obsessed with finding Egan and me, so much that he placed his men all over in hopes that we would run into them.  Foolishly, I caught the attention of soldiers in that city. I practically showed them where Liam lived.  They chased me and I escaped but not without them knowing about my abilities.  Eventually they found the home we were staying at, the home of Liam.  He was killed because he stood in the way of them getting to us.” 

Davin had barely gotten his last word out and she was ready with a reply.  It was almost as if she could hear his words before he said them. 

“It was his choice to do what he did.  His fate was decided not by you.  He could have let them have you, but he didn’t.”

This brought up the thing that Davin had struggled with most. 

“Wasn’t his fate decided the moment Descendants entered his life?  He may have chosen to befriend Egan years ago, but he couldn’t have known that it would lead to his death.  It was out his hands.”