Dark One Rising(49)

“I will have this kingdom for myself, and I will have Melenthia for my own!”

A servant heard the commotion and entered the room. “Is there something I can do for you, My Lord?”

Fallon swung around and glared at the servant. The servant trembled and wrung his hands.

“There’s nothing I require except my fiancé!” Fallon seethed.

“Yes, Your Grace. There’s still no word of Her Highness. They are still searching as we speak.”

“Yes. I have sent out my advisor again to help aid them. We’ll find her.”

The servant swallowed. “Yes, My Lord.” He backed out of the room in a bow, leaving Fallon dark.

Fallon went to the window and looked at the stars, the moon lightly lighting the landscape below. Everything the light touched would soon belong to him, and the thought brought satisfaction. He turned from the window now and decided he’d better practice his incantation as Jaron suggested. The moment of truth was nearing.



***



Sol sat cross legged on the floor, his old but still strong bare chest had markings painted on it and on his arms and legs as well. He had his eyes closed, listening to the traditional chanting of the Elvin Elders, feeling the calm wash over him and the insight in his mind became stronger. He would look into the Mirror of Souls with the highest members of the Elvin clan. They would ask the Mirror to show them what they needed to know, ask it to tell them what they needed to do. Sol remembered back to the last time he sat here, cross legged on the floor, listening to the melodic sounds of the elves in their ritual chant. He had learned then that the Chosen One, the baby of the Tanith Prophecy had been born, and they would keep watch over that child until the time came for that child to fight the creatures of darkness and rid the world of them. What they didn’t tell him then was who the child was. He remembered having doubts later when the Mirror of Souls told them that the child was a girl, but the Mirror of Souls did not lie, and Tomaz’s return, with news that she had indeed been born, rid him of those doubts. He was surprised to learn it was the princess but then chided himself for being so. The Elvin sword sang only to the one that was meant to have it, and there was no doubt it had sung for her. Over the years her oddity confused him, and he started to doubt again. Now he knew that his doubts were unfounded. She was indeed the one.

But there were other things that they didn’t know, things that he hoped the Mirror would tell them today. Was Fallon indeed the pawn for the Dark One to use to bring them out of the depths, to bring darkness to the land? Did he know that Melenthia was the one who would destroy him?

The chanting stopped, and he opened his eyes, looking toward the oldest member of the Elders. Pyramus poured a bowl full of water, with essence of rose and the powder from the crushed bones of the prairie mull rat, into the pool in the center of the room. The pool was so still it looked like a mirror, reflecting the image of everyone around it back at them. For a few moments after he poured the contents of the bowl, the water in the pool rippled, making rings a hundred wide. Then the ripples stopped, and the pool was still again, turning a darker color, grayish silver, and the reflection of the men no longer could be seen. Instead, there were images there of things that had already transpired, and images of things that were still to come.

Pyramus gazed into the reflective pool, and watched the images that came and went. The other elders, and Sol, sat still and quiet, watching the flashes of images come and go. They could not determine what they were looking at, because although they were privileged and could be present, the Mirror of Souls only revealed its secrets to the most holy, the most privileged one, and Pyramus was that one. He stared into the pool with the rest of them, never looking away, never even blinking. Sol sat still, knowing that Pyramus was memorizing everything he had to know, everything the Mirror told him so that he could enlist his most trusted to carry out the role they had. It seemed like a long time before the flashes stopped and the pool once again became clear. Pyramus looked around the hut, taking in all the faces that were present, all Elvin Elders, and Sol.

Sol was not an elf, nor did he have any Elvin blood within him at all, but being the only remaining sorcerer in the world, he was trusted as much as Pyramus’s own tribal members. Sol had been around for more years than anyone knew, and Theron Eadoin, the king of the elves, trusted him. He had worked with the elves in many conflicts over many years of strife and war. He had seen it all, and he knew Aelethia better than any living being, besides the elves themselves. He had been initiated into the Elder tribe more years ago than Sol wanted to recall, and he was the only outsider to ever have been invited to do so.