Children of the Sun and Moon (16 page)

The question
surprised Olrond, and a feeling of trepidation came over him. He
had a feeling that saying no could result in a horrible
consequence. “Of course I will go with you,” he responded, unsure
if it was the right answer.

Lakin smiled.
“Then follow me.”

Lakin led the
general out of the sitting room and down to the main hall. They
moved across the hall to the far wall, where Lakin said something,
and a secret doorway opened up. The feeling of trepidation grew
stronger, but Traug knew he had to follow. Somehow, he knew all his
answers would be found through that door. Down he followed Lakin,
and he could sense the magic within the walls. Traug had no idea
how far down they were going and thought the stairs would never
end. They came into a hallway, which had many doors. “This is the
housing floor,” stated Lakin, his voice reverberating off the
walls. “There are around one hundred Magima here.” Lakin paused and
looked at the general for a reaction. “We will discuss their
importance soon,” he said when the general offered no visible
reaction and continued to the end of the hall. They went down
another flight of stairs, which went on and came upon another
hallway. This one only had four doors. Lakin stopped in front of
the first door and stared at Olrond.

“What you see
in these rooms will leave you with more questions. We will discuss
everything when I’m done showing you what I feel you need to
see.”

Olrond just
stared back. He had no idea what was going on but felt any type of
negative reaction would be hazardous to his well-being.

Lakin muttered
a few words and then pushed open the door. When the general moved
inside, he almost fainted. The room was full of small creatures
flitting about. “They are fairies,” came Lakin’s voice, as if
anticipating the general’s next question.

“Why are they
here?” asked Olrond, his voice almost a whisper.

“They supply
these chambers with the magic we need to sustain them. They are not
the only creatures of magic here,” Lakin stated.

Olrond just
stared at the creatures. Their faces were so sad and the general
was overwhelmed with grief. Lakin, knowing the fairies would have
this effect on him, pulled the crying Olrond out of the room, and
shut the door. It took a few moments for the him to regain his
composure. “What wonders are next?” he asked Lakin.

Lakin moved
them to the next room. “Inside here is a prisoner.”

Olrond almost
laughed. It was as if Lakin was implying the fairies were here of
their own free will.

Lakin,
oblivious to the general’s state of mind, continued. “He was
captured about seventy-five years ago in a raid just outside the
Cyprian Forest. He is very uncooperative and is tricky. Do not
listen to anything he has to say.”

Again, Lakin
muttered a few words and opened the door. The room was small and
not very well lit. On the far side of the room, Olrond could make
out the form of a creature chained to the wall. “You may move
closer,” came Lakin’s voice from his side. Olrond felt compelled to
move closer and was stunned to see the being was an elf.

“He was the
king of the elves,” stated Lakin, emphasizing 'was'. “His name is
Glomain.”

Still Olrond
just stared. The elf hung there, hatred filled his eyes, but he did
not speak.

Olrond wanted
to yell at Lakin for his treasonous ways, but thought against it.
Suddenly, his promotion made sense. Olrond had been young and
somewhat inexperienced, but the general he had replaced had
vanished without a trace so he was picked to fill the position.
Olrond now knew if his true feelings about all this were to come
out, he would not survive the encounter. He took a few deep breaths
to calm himself. “I am assuming that having these creatures here is
of some importance?” he questioned.

Lakin smiled.
“Yes, it is very important.” Turning to leave the room, he said, “I
just have one more room for you to see, then we can leave and
discuss everything.”

Olrond just
nodded, afraid he might say something wrong, and followed Lakin to
another room. This time, when the door opened, it was into an
enormous cavern. Lakin moved the general inside, slowly, and Olrond
wondered what could be housed in this room. It was only a moment
before he saw what was in the room. The dragon opened its eyes, and
glared at the two. Olrond was frozen with fear at the sight of the
creature. Having never seen one, Olrond did not know how he was to
react. “It's beautiful,” he exclaimed without thinking. As soon as
the words left his mouth, he turned to see Lakin’s reaction and was
amazed to see he was smiling.

“Yes, he is a
magnificent creature.” Then he turned to face the general. “We must
be going now. We have much to discuss.”

Olrond backed
out of the room, not wanting to turn his back on the creature for
fear it might melt him on the spot. Lakin led him back up the
stairs and into his sitting room again. Olrond could hardly believe
what he had just seen, and could only stare at Lakin, hoping for
some kind of answers.

Lakin sat down
and sighed, wondering where to begin. “I have known they were the
twins since their birth,” he started. “For sixteen years I have
been training Magima. The entire room has an enchantment on it. One
hour above is a day below. That is how we came to have so many
Magima. They are all very powerful magic users.” He paused, looking
at Olrond. His face was that of a man who had just been slapped.
“Not everyone whom has been brought here within the last thirty
years has been executed; some went down below to be trained. People
have lived full lives, had children and grandchildren in the time
you have been alive. It was all for the sake of the prophecy.”

There it was;
the prophecy. Olrond knew somehow it would play an important role,
but was not sure how.

“And now it is
upon us,” Lakin continued. “We must let it be fulfilled.”

Those words
stunned Olrond, but he remained composed. “I thought we were
stopping it at all costs.”

Lakin leaned
forward on his desk. “No, it was always to be fulfilled. We just
have to make sure it is done with only one of the twins, not both.
Both would bring the end to our Order, one fulfilling it will make
us stronger.”

Olrond was not
sure how to respond. The fierceness in Lakin’s voice frightened
him, but he knew he had no choice but to go along with everything.
“What do we need to do?”

Lakin sat back,
happy that he would not have to kill the general. “We will discuss
that tomorrow. It's getting late; we should both get some
sleep.”

Olrond stood,
and many more questions plagued his mind. “We will discuss
everything tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yes, I will
answer any questions you have.”

Lakin led the
General from his study and to the front hall. Traug said his
farewell and opened the door, but just outside the door, was a
figure. Brin moved into the light. “I have come to turn myself in,”
she announced to a stunned Lakin and General Traug.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jeremy sat
alone in the throne room. He was under house arrest, his town was
under martial law, and Brin had run away. Jeremy was not one for
brooding, but with the current situation, he couldn't help it.
Moments earlier, he had received the second of two letters
addressed to General Traug from Duke Dubar. Apparently, he had
expected him to still be in residence.

Things were not
going well for the king. First, he had found the letter from Brin
stating she was turning herself in because she also possessed
magic, a fact that stunned the king. The second was not all
shocking. Jeremy knew Duke Dubar had wanted the crown for some time
now, so he was not very surprised when he read the second letter.
What did amaze him though, was just how quickly he was to respond,
and happily, to the general regarding the king’s house arrest. He
had not wanted to open the letters, but the first one arrived in
shabby condition, and practically opened in his hands.

After reading
what had been enclosed in the first one, Jeremy felt he had no
choice but to open the second. Sitting back on his throne, he let
out a deep sigh. War was not something he ever thought he would
have to deal with, and now it was becoming quite apparent that Duke
Dubar would not settle for anything short of the crown.

The main doors
opened and Korben strolled into the room. Since the town folk were
forbidden to enter, Korben knew the king would be alone. “Brooding
again are we Jeremy,” he stated. Being so informal did not bother
the king in the least.

Jeremy gave him
a smile, which showed no amusement. “Yes. So many things happening
of late and I am powerless to stop any of them.” He handed the
letters to Korben and waited until he was done reading them before
he spoke again. “We are about to be stuck in a civil war.”

Korben moved
and sat down in front of Jeremy. “Duke Dubar assumes you have no
defences. He doesn’t realize your entire town is filled with
soldiers.”

“Yes, that is
true. He thinks they were all disbanded by the Order twenty years
ago when I moved here. Dubar has no idea most of my men followed me
here.” Realizing this truth brought a real smile to the king’s
face.

Korben smiled
too. “It's about time you stopped your moping about,” he said
jokingly, then is voice became more sombre. “I know it has been
hard, especially with finding out Brin has abilities, and was
turning herself in. We have to plan for Dubar’s attack. We know it
will not come for a while, with him having to muster up some
soldiers, but it will come.”

Jeremy stared
at his Captain of the Guard, the only person directly linked to the
King’s Guard from all those years ago, and nodded. “I am not
allowed to leave the castle, but you can. Especially if it is on
the king’s business. The Order knows I will want to make sure my
subjects are all right, even if I am temporarily stripped of my
title. You will need to get word to the men in the town.”

Korben stood.
“It's good to see you becoming your old self again. I thought I was
going to have to slap some sense into you.” Then he turned and ran
out of the throne room, before Jeremy could come up with a
response.

Jeremy watched
as Korben disappeared from sight and laughed. Then he got up and
headed for his study. Plans had to be drawn up and he figured now
was as good a time as any.

For almost a
week, Korben slipped out of the castle doing some errand or
another. The Maget had twenty soldiers to control the martial law,
and the two ordered to stand guard at the front gate had gotten
used to seeing him come and go and had stopped asking questions by
the third day. Korben had thought it would take at least a week to
convince them he was on the king's order to speak with each house
individually, just to make sure they were all right. He was not
about to let his good fortune go to waste, and started setting a
plan into motion. Jeremy had thought it a good idea to get as many
men as were available, back into training.

This was not a
task which could be easily done with the town being under martial
law. Travel was only allowed from sunrise to sunset. Anyone caught
out after dark was to be thrown in the dungeon. It was good fortune
that no one in the town of Klayhern had disobeyed this order, or at
least no one had yet been caught.

The biggest
problem, in Jeremy’s mind, was loyalty. He had no idea how any of
the townspeople were going to react to him now that the truth was
out. This was one of Korben’s many tasks. The first thing he was to
say when arriving at every household was that the charges were
true. He did indeed know his family had magical abilities, and was
not ashamed. Jeremy hoped that in telling the truth, his people
would find it in their hearts to forgive, and possibly still be
loyal to him.

On his seventh
day, Korben reported all he had learned, and done, during the week.
It had been important that he and the king were rarely seen
discussing matters when the Maget soldiers were about. A group of
about five usually patrolled inside the castle. It somewhat annoyed
Jeremy when another group of fifty soldiers showed up and had taken
over the old soldier barracks, but he knew he had to allow it.

When Korben
arrived back at the palace, Jeremy was waiting in his office.
“Well?” he asked impatiently.

Korben sat down
and stared hard at the king. “Things are not as bad as we thought.
It would appear the subjects of Klayhern are still loyal to their
king.”

Jeremy let out
a long sigh and sat back in his chair, knowing Korben had more to
say.

“I'm not sure
if this news is good or bad, but the order for martial law is to be
removed tomorrow. General Traug will be arriving sometime soon with
even more soldiers and I'm not sure how we should react to
this.”

The news of the
general returning upset the king. He and Olrond had been good
friends for many years and the king knew it had been hard on the
general to place him under house arrest. Jeremy also knew Olrond
was fiercely loyal to the Order. “We must not assume this is ill
news. This may be something which will work in our favour.”

Korben wasn’t
so sure, but didn’t voice his opinions. “What are we going to do?
Those loyal to you have begun their training, in secret of course,
and with the martial law lifted, it should make it easier. However,
what will happen once the general arrives? What if he becomes
suspicious?”

All of Korben’s
questions were valid ones, but ones the king didn’t want to dwell
on. “We have too much at stake to worry. The men will just have to
be careful and with any luck, the general will allow me to hold
court again. It would make it easier to communicate with
everyone.”

Again, Korben
was not so sure of the general's intentions, but kept the thought
to himself. “May I take my leave? I haven't eaten yet today.”