Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) (16 page)

He looked up from his work, and found his
mother staring at him, a smile dancing across her features. He
scowled at her and sent a link to the guard to alert him to his
readiness. The man returned an instant later and Nathair spelled
out his instructions again, entrusting the stone to him.

When the man was on his way, Nathair turned
his attention back to his mother who was busily picking dirt out
from beneath her fingernails behind his desk. “Don’t you have
anything else to be doing?” he asked her rudely.

She stopped her picking and looked up at him.
“What? Something more important than my son? Definitely not.”

Nathair stalked out of the room.

CHAPTER 8

Jezebel let out a sigh of relief as the city
came into view. All this time outdoors was a bit too much for her,
she was afraid she was going to catch something vile.

In short order they had arrived at the palace
and she had been ushered inside to her waiting quarters, and then
left to settle in while the Ieldran gathered in the audience hall
to meet with the returning Triumvirate. She was pleased that
despite her fatigue from the journey, she had given nothing away
and they should have nothing to report to their countrymen other
than that she had arrived. And, of course, the splendid manner in
which she had done so.

King Nathair had specifically wanted her to
maintain an aura of friendliness and peace with the people here, so
as to give no indication of the war that had previously been
planned on.

Gelendan’s resources were spread too thin at
the moment because of the quakes to mount a full onslaught,
according to Nathair. Jezebel was sure that they could muster up
the forces that they needed if he was just motivated enough, and
personally felt that he was being much too passive in the
matter.

But, for the moment she would content herself
with humoring his plan until such time as her healing memory fully
returned and she could recall what alternative motive she had in
all this. For she was sure that she had one, if only she could
remember what it was. Devon had been quite useful in this respect,
and Jezebel had been periodically grilling him on portions of her
life as time permitted. He seemed to be quite knowledgeable about
her which, while useful, was a bit unsettling. She was also still
wary of him; she hadn’t yet decided if he was working with the King
or not.

A maid was standing in front of her, holding
out a suitcase in query and Jezebel waved a hand impatiently to
indicate that she should bring it to the bedroom. As she had been
unsure just how long she would be staying here, Jezebel had made
sure to pack everything that might be needed and the unpacking
process was sure to be arduous. She looked forward to the time when
all of the servants would leave her in peace and she could
contemplate her next course of action.

Tomorrow she would be addressing the entire
council with King Nathair’s offer of peace and friendship. Though
he was spreading tidings of unity with Treymayne back home, they
needed to take smaller steps here. Unity to Treymayne might be
taken as a hostile take-over, and they didn’t want them thinking
that.
At least not yet
. Not until they were ready to make it
a reality. So, she was to appear to be only interested in
re-opening relations between the two countries while gaining as
much information as she could. The biggest mystery right now was
the fallen barrier, and finding out why they had decided to take it
down.

She paced back and forth in her thoughts,
pausing now and again to direct a servant to the appropriate area
with her belongings. When the last of them had finally scurried
out, Jezebel took a seat in front of the mirror. She took out a
charmed stone and murmured the spell that King Nathair had taught
her, triggering its magic. Her reflection shimmered and moments
later the King’s face replaced her own, as clear as if he was
sitting behind a pane of glass. Jezebel was impressed by his leaps
ahead in the use of magic despite herself.

“Good evening, First Advisor,” he greeted
her.

“Good evening, My Liege” she returned, “I
have finally made it to the palace and begun to get settled in.”
She put emphasis on the word ‘finally’ so that he would know she
was annoyed by his insistence of traveling by foot.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he responded,
apparently oblivious to her inflection, “Do you have any news to
report on the barrier? Why they took it down? Do they seem to have
sustained as much damage as we did by its fall?”

Jezebel smiled; it was nice to have the King
so eager to hear what she had to say. “They’ve been very
close-lipped about the whole issue of the barrier, and really about
anything interesting thus far. However, I have no doubt that I can
get them to open up to me quickly and anticipate that I’ll have
more definitive answers for you upon our next meeting. I can report
that they do not appear to have sustained much damage in the
capital itself nor in the immediate countryside.”

He made a sound of acknowledgement. “Have
they shown any signs of hostility towards you or Gelendan in
general, or any clue that they may have known about previous plans
to invade?”

“As I said,” she replied curtly, irritated at
having to repeat herself, “they’ve been very close-lipped, keeping
the conversation to more mundane matters. But no, I haven’t noticed
any ill feelings towards me, they all seem quite rightfully awed by
my presence here and have been doing their utmost to impress and
entertain me. I did notice though that they seem to be awfully
prepared for an attack, even just the outlay of their buildings is
strictly defensive. They must be even more paranoid than we
thought.”

He was silent a moment. “I shall expect
another report in two days time. Please be sure to come up with
some of the answers for me, and I’d also like you to see what you
can find out about the talents.” He nodded to her and his image
blurred, the mirror clearing again to show her scowling face. She
didn’t miss his insolence in the least.

She was turning to get up when his voice
sounded again. “Oh, and Jezebel, I’m afraid that I have some bad
news for you: Your father is dead. It seems as though he was
poisoned by a snake-bite. My condolences.”

Jezebel sat staring at the mirror for some
time.

Her father was dead? How?
I wonder how
long it will take for the estate to be transferred to me. Perhaps I
should return home to make sure my sister doesn’t try and cheat me
out of any of it.
She narrowed her eyes. If she had really kept
Devon on as long as he said she had he must be a capable man - she
would set him to the task of overseeing the transfer in the
morning.
A snake bite, hmm? One of his own perhaps.
Knowing
her father, he was bound to have snakes all over the place -
metaphorical and not. She wondered if it had been an accident.
It must have been. Who would dare murder my father?
She
nodded to herself.
Pity.

*

Layna walked the halls of the palace
nervously. Lady Jezebel was said to have arrived and be staying
somewhere within its walls. Layna kept having visions of coming
around corners and running into the woman’s rotting corpse. She had
been replaying the episode with the hounds over and over in her
mind, with as much detail as her stomach would allow, and she
simply couldn’t fathom how the woman could have survived.

She rounded the corner and almost did run
straight into someone, but luckily that someone turned out to be
Gryffon.

“Whoa, hello there. I was just on my way to
see you.”

She greeted him with a smile and an
apology.

“Ready for your grand tour?” he asked.

“As long as it doesn’t involve seeing the
Lady Jezebel, yes. I’ve been jittery all day, worried that I’ll run
into her somewhere.”

“Unlikely,” Gryffon snorted, “That would
require her coming out of her room and mingling with us
commoners.”

“I hope so. Do you think that the Ieldran
doesn’t believe us now because of her?”

“I don’t know. A lot of their latest meetings
have been closed off to the public, given the delicate information
that they are dealing with presently so I really have no idea.
They’re also a little upset with me at the moment so they’re
unlikely to be too forthcoming with their thoughts.” He winked at
her. At least he didn’t seem to be taking their reprimands too
harshly. “But enough about that, now that I have finally come
through as your host here, what would you like to see?”

“Somewhere outside, please. I feel like I’ve
been under a roof for too long.”

“Sounds good,” he acknowledged, taking her
elbow gallantly, “Right this way, ma’am.”

He led her through the winding passageways
and out into the gardens, where the smell of fresh flowers calmed
Layna’s strained nerves. While they strolled through the delicate
blossoms and amazing arrangements of plants, Layna brought up the
subject that had been itching at her - quite literally.

“My mark has been causing me a strange
sensation lately,” she confessed to him in a soft voice, looking
around carefully to make sure no one was within hearing range. “And
it’s spreading.”

He paused and turned to her, brushing away
the hair on her neck to get a closer look. Layna hoped he didn’t
notice the goose-bumps his touch caused. “Whoa. It looks even
darker too. Does it hurt?”

She squirmed uncomfortably, “I wouldn’t say
it hurts,” she said lamely, not wanting to sound like a complainer,
“but it’s definitely an uncomfortable feeling.”

“Maybe it’s time that we asked someone else
about it. I think that Aileen or Echo might know something more,
and I believe that either one of them is capable of being discrete
about it.”

“I’ve been a little hesitant to tell Aileen,”
Layna admitted, “she seems so sure that I’m going to give in to the
evil that it represents…”

“That’s nonsense, and we’ll tell her so if
she brings it up again, but there might be something more to it. If
something about it is changing and they know what that is, don’t
you think it’ll be worth talking about?”

“I guess so.”

Their wanderings took on more direction, and
Gryffon led them to the fields where the palace horses were kept to
graze. It was also where Echo spent much of her time when not
conferring with the council.

As they approached, Layna could see that
Aileen and Charles were both there as well, and they looked to be
in deep conversation with the horse-woman.

“Good afternoon,” Gryffon greeted the group
and they drew near enough to be heard, and all three heads turned
to look at them.

Aileen smiled. “Good afternoon yourselves,
young ones, how are you?”

“Tired of telling the same story over and
over,” he joked and then grew serious. “We had something we wanted
to ask you.”

They waited patiently while Gryffon turned
expectantly towards Layna. She opened her mouth to speak, but her
voice faltered. She cleared her throat. “The mark on my neck has
started to burn, and recently it has started to…to spread. I’m a
little worried that that’s not a good sign.”

Alarm was written plainly on Aileen’s face at
this admission. Echo’s, as always, was unreadable. “When did this
start?” Aileen demanded, giving Layna a rather stern look and she
fidgeted.

“Um, well I felt it just after we took the
border down, but I didn’t notice that it looked any different until
just the last few days.”

Aileen closed her eyes.

-
The awakening has begun.
- Echo spoke
obscurely into her mind, making it sound all the more eerie with
her strange mode of speech.

“What does that mean?” Layna asked, a slight
quiver to her voice.

“It means,” Aileen answered her this time,
“that the Bloodstone has been found by one that can use it.” She
shook her head and let out a short burst of air. “The Dark King
made the mark so that his descendants would be able to identify one
another for the purpose of propagating the Master Race as he called
it. It also provides a link for the Sleeping God, Nuko, to try and
influence those who bear the mark, and if it’s spreading that means
the stone has become active. The Bloodstone becoming active will
make his temptations even harder to resist.”

“What?” Layna squeaked.

“The Hyrdraeden has been studying this
connection for some time and we can help block him from you, but
ultimately it needs to be your willpower that will repel him. You
have to stand firm against the evil enticements that he will throw
at you in an attempt to have you serve him.”

Echo snorted. -
And should you not be able
to resist him,
- She lowered her crystal horn so that it pointed
at Layna. -
know that we will stop at nothing to stop you. All he
needs is you to be too weak to withstand him.
-

Aileen moved between Layna and Echo. “We’ve
been discussing it already and we’d like you to accept our help by
training you further. I have no doubt that your intentions and
heart are pure,” she turned to give Echo a pointed stare, “and it
would be our own failing if we were not to give you every resource
at our disposal to make sure that he can’t break through.”

“How many people are there with this mark?”
Layna asked, her thoughts finally moving forward once more.

“More than you would think,” Aileen answered
with a sigh, “Apparently the Dark King was quite prolific – a trait
many of his descendants also inherited. And unfortunately, the
Hyrdraeden aren’t the only ones who know what the mark means. There
is a secret society run mainly out of Gelendan which calls itself
the Order. We think that it was first formed by the Bloodguard, and
its purpose is still to serve the Dark King’s wishes. It is also
hopelessly entangled with the Priesthood. They’ve been tracking and
breeding those with the mark, made easy by the priests’ control of
talent.”