PINELIGHTforkindle (20 page)

“There are a select few who are chosen to be guardians. And even less that are born with a special gift. It’s in their blood. It’s their destiny. You are one, just like your father. You are chosen to protect this land from evil and to keep that evil from leaving this place.”           

I’m a guardian?
How was that possible? I couldn’t protect myself, much less anyone else.

“What do you mean I was born with a special gift? What kind of gift?”

“Every guardian is different, and every gift develops in its own time. Yours will come when the time is right. Your father was blessed with the gift of strength when he was only a boy. He was incredibly strong. It made him almost indestructible in battle.”

“Almost?”

“Well, we still don’t know.” I could tell that Fergus still struggled with the idea that my father was gone.

“What’s your gift?” I questioned, trying to ease his mind from the pain.

“Your father was my gift.” He smiled. “And storytelling.”

I leaned to Fergus, placing my head on his shoulder and my hand on top of his. I was glad he was here. I was glad that he was my grandfather. I only hoped he knew this. Fergus gently squeezed my hand and then carefully stood from the bed.

“I believe we both need to rest,” he said. “We will talk more tomorrow. Good night, my sweet grandchild.”

“Good night.”

-20-

FINAL STORY

I slept an entire day before waking to the sound of an overactive accordion. I sat up in the bed and looked to the small golden windows that lined the side of the cabin. There was no daylight shining through.
What time is it?

Suddenly, there was a light tap on the door.

“Sorry to barge in,” Fergus said, smiling apologetically. “I thought you should know we are about to serve dinner on deck.”

“Dinner?” I was surprised to find that I had slept through breakfast and lunch.

“Yes, and it’s a beautiful night for dancing,” he continued. “There’s fresh clothes for you in the cabinet. Finn made sure of that.”

I flashed another smile. “Fergus?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Could you tell me where we are?”

“We are only three days’ journey to the plummet.” His face was abruptly serious.

“The plummet?”

“The Devil’s Backbone. The entrance to the land of Hades. That’s where they take all the prisoners. That’s where Alice will be.”

“Why is it called the plummet?”

“Don’t worry about these things, child. I’ll get her back,” he said. “Now—get dressed and join us on deck.” With a half-hearted smile, Fergus slipped through the cabin door, into the loud music.

After changing into a simple pale blue dress, I noticed a bowl of fresh water next to the wardrobe. I used this to clean my face and hands before stepping out into the crisp, clean air.

The men were all scattered around the deck, some eating, some dancing; all were singing to the tunes of the accordion. I caught several men glancing and smiling as I walked passed them to Finn. He stood alone at the front of the ship, staring out into the starry night sky.

“Finn?” He turned, and for the first time, I saw his face. I openly stared for a moment, gawking at his undeniable beauty.

“It was you—you are the boy from the painting.”

“That was a long time ago.” His eyes darted back to the sea.

“You are the son of a king.”

“And you are the daughter of a guardian.”

It was strange at first to be that close without staring into a mask. I felt like I was looking right into the painting again—marveling at an undeniable splendor.

“You knew me before, didn’t you?”

Finn’s eyes narrowed—I could tell he was in deep thought. We stood there, leaning against the wood of the ship for several silent minutes.

“My father was king of Everest,” he said, breaking the silence. “And your father was the greatest of all guardians—my father’s most trusted knight. You and your mother would stay in the castle when the guardians left for war. Our families became very close. As children we would play in the woods, skipping stones across the stream.”

I stared at his profile, trying to imagine every word he spoke. I could almost see a stream in my mind, but it vanished as quickly as the next wave swept under the ship. I looked back to his picturesque face. It was in a subtle change of expression that I noticed his sadness. I watched as his eyes slowly curved down and his soft smile transformed into a bitter frown. I could tell that it was hard for him to look back into his own memories.

“In one night everything changed,” he said, keeping his eyes focused on the sea.

“What happened that night? I need to know.”

“I failed to keep you safe—I failed to save my family and to protect yours.” His voice was bleak. “I should have died that night. I didn’t deserve to live.”

I saw his fist clench at his side while he looked into the distance.

“Who did this?”

“He that bears the mark of the damned.”

“I want a name,” I demanded, feeling that I had every right to know who had ripped my family apart.

“It was at the end of Victor’s blade my family fell and his schemes that tore yours apart.” I could hear the fury in his voice, but he kept it tight and under control. “Edmund was his pawn. He gave Victor all that he needed to penetrate our defense and to destroy our kingdom. I swore to take my revenge on them both.”

Edmund. Victor.
I felt a spasm of rage in my chest, recognizing I had been face-to-face with the ones who had ruined my life, and had done nothing. Edmund’s scent still remained in my hair. Victor’s face still burned in my mind. I stepped carefully over the piles of rope that blanketed the deck, to lean against the dark wood that made up the side of the ship. Through the wind and mists of salt water, I could feel Finn staring, silently waiting for a response.

The silence was abruptly interrupted when a shipmate poked his head from the stairs of the lower deck and yelled excitedly across the ship. “Captain…Aye, Captain! We need to speak with ye…”

Another crew member popped up beside the man and with a chuckle said, “Come on, Cap’in Finn…Don’t make good men wait!”

Finn shook his head and apologized for their abruptness. “Are you all right?”

“I will be.”

“Let me check on them. Last time I made them wait, they caught the ship on fire.”

 I politely nodded, then watched as he trotted across the deck and made his way down the stairway. He passed Fergus as he disappeared from my line of sight.

“They will pay for what they have done, child,” Fergus said as he limped over to my side.

“But why did they do this to us?”

“With the royal family dead, the guardians are the only defense against Victor’s power. If we are gone, then the resistance will fail, and there will be no one left to protect this world from his evil schemes. Victor would have complete power over this land. Nothing would stop him from entering the gateways,” he said.

“And why Edmund? Why is he a part of this?”

“He was tempted, just like the rest. Only he had a gift that Victor saw fit for a king,” Fergus said grimly. “Edmund was a guardian, gifted with the power to change one’s perceptions. Victor wanted Edmund as the king of Everest, to be the dark angel that would lead this kingdom into his darkness.”

I thought back to the castle and the meadow. The times I had witnessed his perfect mirage waver.

“Why? Why would he do this?”

“For love, Clara. He was promised you as his queen,” he said. “It is said that he was besieged with such guilt, that his own reflection haunted him. So he concealed his face with a mask.”

I gripped the side of the ship, digging my nails into the wood. How could I have been so naive? I thought of how close I had been to him, how attracted I had been, how trusting I was. I thought of how frightening it was to hear him speak to Victor, to hear that I was promised to him, that I belonged to him, and for him to say,
“It will be done.”
When I was finally able to speak, I wanted to know more about my family. I wanted to know why Victor wanted my soul.

“What happened to my family, Fergus? Did Edmund kill them? Are we all that is left?”

“I don’t know what happened to your mother and father.” He paused to blink back tears. “Your father had been away at war the night of the attack. And your mother, she was staying in the castle with you. I’m afraid you were the last one to see them both.”

I felt my face turn hot and my eyes burn, trying to hold back raw emotion.

“There are not many guardians left, Clara. Most were killed or turned to the dark ways. Those are the ones who lead the fallen through the gateways.”

“Like Erik?”

“Yes, like Erik.”

“Why did they come after me?”

“There is only one female guardian born every five hundred years. And that guardian is gifted with a powerful gift, the only gift that can destroy Victor. You are that guardian,” he said. “Victor wants your soul; he wants that power. That is why we have kept you hidden these past years. We were waiting for you to remember. We were waiting for your gift to develop.”

“If it was my soul he wanted, why did he not take it that night?”

“Victor cannot take a soul. It must be given to him freely. He tried to tempt you, like the others, but your faith was too strong,” he said. “So he took the only thing he could.”

I knew immediately what had been stolen from me, but Fergus confirmed it all the same.

“Your memories,” he said. “He stole your memories.”

I stood there for a few quiet minutes, still focusing on the swells of the ocean, taking in all that I had heard.

“This was the final story I had to tell you.” He gently slipped a bound leather journal into my hand. “I believe this belongs to you. It will help you find your way.”

I looked down to see the leather book, a book I thought I had lost for good. Here I was struggling again, trying to hold back my emotions. I looked back up to him and felt the tears fall.

-21-

MONSTER

On the third day of our journey, the skies blackened and the sea released a fury that no one expected. All afternoon the crew slid across the deck, pulling and tugging at ropes, fighting against the ocean to keep us afloat.

Then an odd thing happened—the roaring of the waves ceased, and the ocean became smooth as glass. All of the men lined the sides of the ship, looking over at the water’s smooth surface. Before I had time to walk over to examine the water, there was a loud crack and a jolt from underneath the ship. The men continued to look over the side, staring into the water. I heard them talking among one another.

“Did we hit land?” a tall man shouted.

The man beside him responded, “That’s impossible.”

“Maybe a whale,” I heard another man suggest.

We had not hit land, nor had a whale bumped against the hull of the ship. I looked down and caught a brief glimpse of something in the water. It was definitely not a whale.

A long, rigid backbone sliced through the ocean and circled the ship, taunting us like prey. The body of the creature was similar to that of an alligator, but gray and the size of a bus. The body propelled itself several yards out of the water, revealing the fierce identity of the sea creature. I had never seen anything like it. Its head was short and flat—its snout long. It nipped at the ship with razor-sharp teeth the size of daggers. Its body was built to shoot itself out of the water using two long, bony fins. And it was covered in black and gray scales—thousands of them.

It shot out of the water again. This time it was much higher, latching on to one of the decorative rails and snapping it off like a twig. It fell back to the water with the rail still crunching between its jaws.

There was a bump from the back of the ship and then from the front. A hit on the left side of the ship and then the right. A short, rounded man, one who had stared at me on more than one occasion, leaned over the rail to get a better look. Before anyone could advise him otherwise, the massive creature shot out of the water and grabbed the man. It wasn’t much of a struggle. The creature took him down into the ocean before he had time to fight back.

I almost threw up. Blood had pooled on the deck where the man had last been standing. That was all that was left of him, just blood. Finn pushed me further back to the captain’s quarters and ordered me to go inside. As much as I wanted to hide from everything, I couldn’t hide while he and Fergus were left exposed to the danger on deck. I just couldn’t do it.