Dreams of the Forgotten (5 page)

Jory looked as though he'd faint one moment, and the next he glared at me. I wanted the spell removed but I was worried. What were Jory's true feelings? Did he genuinely despise me? It didn't matter because I'd help him regardless. If he hated me, I'd send him back to Tribe Marduk. If Stan wanted to go with him, so be it. I wouldn't stop them, although, Gregori wouldn't forgive them if they left again.
I sang a formal greeting to the Earth. Energy moved through my feet, up my legs, and into my body as I listened to her response. My skin tingled pleasantly as my sore and achy muscles were soothed.
Ashur guided me through the chant of extraction. Together the Earth and I worked on delicately removing the barbed vine of magic that was entwined with my friends. Jory and Stan were both breathing hard and leaning on the men who held them up. The enchantment begin to dislodge, the orangey-red turning a brilliant cool blue before crumbling and drifting away, starting with the end wrapped around Stan.
At first, the removal seemed to be working, but then the vine, sensing its demise, constricted painfully as it viciously squeezed Stan and Jory. They started to convulse, their eyes rolling up into their heads. The Earth changed her song. The melody reverberated through me like the great pulling waves of a vast ocean. I turned my head up, closed my eyes, and blocked out the distress of my friends. I chanted the counter to the song. The power built, surrounding the two men, and then wash over them like a tidal wave, engulfing them in the Earth's magic, dissolving the spell that entrapped them.
After the conclusion of the chant, my friends were sweat soaked and unconscious. They were free, released from the enchantment, and the influence of another.
"Put them in the rooms we prepared for them." The guards helped to carry the two men into the house.
Ashur came to stand beside me. We both stood facing the east. The sun would be rising in a few minutes; the horizon glowed with colors of yellow, pink, and purple.
"Where did you learn the spell?" Ashur regarded me curiously. He was always watching. I had become used to his assessing gaze. He meant nothing by it but I often wondered how long he'd been away from humanity to be so curious.
"Not sure," I replied honestly. "I just did. As soon as the Earth started singing, I knew."
He stared at me with his black eyes and smiled. "Each time I think I know everything about you, you do something like this. It will be interesting to see what else unfolds around you." Ashur dug in his pants pocket, pulling out a gold necklace with a medallion in the shape an eightpointed star. The pendant seemed familiar but I couldn't recall where I'd seen the symbol before. "I dropped by because I came across this. It's the old emblem of the Goddess Inanna, used many centuries ago. I took the chain off the body of one of the Abd-al-Majid, the
Servants of the Glorious One
."
The assassins, who called themselves
Servants of the Glorious One
, did everything in their power to kill off my family line. Their last victims had been my birth parents, Ammon and Rebecca Janick, who had been killed the night I was born. The assassins had no mercy. Even though the royal bloodline hadn't claimed the Seat of Zeev, the Wolf Throne, for centuries, they continued to hunt us, leaving me the last in the line.
I took the necklace, fingering the star. "Isn't Inanna the same Goddess who had a vendetta against Gilgamesh for refusing to bed her?"
"The death of Enkidu paid that debt."
I glanced up at Ashur and held up the necklace. "The assassins have been hunting my family for more than three hundred years. It doesn't sound like she considered the debt paid." I thought back to my history lessons about the death of Enkidu. Inanna had invited Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, to be her consort and he turned her down. It had been common knowledge her consorts ended up cursed.
She had been furious at the refusal. Then the king chose the
Wild Man,
Enkidu, as his consort. Rebuffed by the king, Inanna had tried to have Gilgamesh killed, going so far as approaching her sister, Ereshigal, the Goddess of Irkalla, the Land of the Dead, for help. Inanna wanted to send her sister's consort, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, to kill the demi-God. There'd been quite a debate among the Gods. In the end, Gugalanna was sent to his death.
Enkidu, furious with Inanna, had threatened to kill her, and this impiety was what sealed his fate. The God Shamash argued against the sentence of Gilgamesh's consort, that the situation only occurred because of Inanna's bruised pride and jealousy. Gugalanna had been Inanna's champion and he'd lost, therefore the contention was settled. Shamash saved Gilgamesh and their children, protecting their family with the blessing of Twin Flames.
This boon didn't appease Gilgamesh's grief. He tore down the Temples of Inanna. The practice of her Sacred Prostitution was outlawed, not only in the Uruk Kingdom of Sumeria, but also later by the Hebrews and the followers of the human prophet, Muhammad. We Lycans refused to worship the murderer of our Father.
The ranch had been attacked by a serial killer, Craig Stoiler and his supporters a couple of months ago. We were victorious in the battle that ensued, but the God who used Stoiler as an Avatar escaped unidentified. A God wanted me dead and I didn't know why. Another thought occurred to me. "Was Inanna the one controlling Craig Stoiler as an Avatar? Hakim said Avatars were connected to a God by devotion or birth." The Goddess Ki had once told me that Enkidu had other children. "If Stoiler was a descendant of one of the children of the priestess Shamhat, then Inanna would be able to control him."
Ashur turned his gaze up to the sky, brows drawn together. "The
Servants of the Glorious One
are the assassins who have attempted to murder the royal line. Mithra went missing around the time of the death of the last known Lycan King. An Avatar was used to hide the God's identity from us and sent against you, the last direct descendant of the first King Zircon. If it is Inanna who is involved then she is striving to do something without the approval of our family."
I gave Ashur my best ugly snort. "Well, yeah, she attempted to kill me. It seems to me that Inanna is still running her campaign against the descendants of Gilgamesh and Enkidu."
"No," Ashur shook his head. "That is too simple. She's up to something. I have sent messengers to my brothers. She will have much to explain when she goes before King Enlil." Ashur scowled at the horizon, his gaze searching for something.
I looked too, not sure what I was supposed to be looking for. "What?" I asked after several moments when nothing appeared.
"My forerunners have not been able to locate her. Ki has been looking for Mithra since I took over your tutelary. She was with me when we came across the small battle of assassins and Lycans. She is convinced Inanna had something to do with the disappearance of Mithra and his consort, Verethragna."
Mithra was the guardian of the
Khvarnah
, the Divine Glory, which alone bestowed legitimacy on the Lycan kings. He was the God who would herald the birth of the Enkidu Kings and he'd been missing for at least three hundred years. The last King who had been declared by Mithra was Bahram Ksathra. Unless he was found, and pronounced me King, I'd continue to only be a Prince and unable to fully lead my people. I'd never gain the power I needed to be able to wear the mantle of my heritage, the fabled
Armor of Scales and Judgment
, or have access to the
Tombs of the Kings
.
"As long as you stay in your territory, the Clearwater area, my magic will keep you safe. Any God that penetrates the circle of protection will immediately be transported to me." I knew Ashur was attempting to comfort me but he wasn't there when the Avatar pulled water out of the ground. Craig Stoiler would've drowned us. You couldn't swim out of a bubble of water when it moved with you. Drowning wasn't the type of death I'd envisioned for myself. I hoped for the old, gray, and in-mysleep type of death.
"I'll have to go to Georgia in a couple of weeks. I need to meet with the Council of Five, close out Theo's estate, and attend the trial of Craig Stoiler's followers," I reminded Ashur.
He nodded. "I will be able to go with you and set another circle of protection but it will not be the same. This is your home, your claimed territory, which is a kind of magic of its own. In Georgia the circle of protection will not be as strong. It does not help that you hold a disguised animosity toward the place. That dislike can do you more harm than good."
I was confused. "What do you mean?"
"Negative energies will attract other negative energies. A protective circle is positive and, considering how you feel about Bahbelle, that animosity will work against you. I know you are not able to change how you feel overnight, so use your tai chi to center yourself and shake off the damaging influence. Connect as often as you can to the Earth and spend some time immersed with her influence. I do not want you to be vulnerable to our enemies when I cannot be with you."
I raised my eyebrow at him. "Our enemies, huh?"
"I am your guardian, Tristan. The children of Enkidu are also the children of the Gods. That I am your tutelary is a great honor, and I take the responsibility very seriously."
Ashur turned to go. "Wait." He stared back at me expectantly. "You said there was a battle. Who were the assassins fighting with?"
"A group we thought long gone and disbanded. They are the Ophidians. Call for me immediately if they come here. Do not engage them, Tristan. They are very dangerous."
"What do they want?"
"From what I witnessed? The annihilation of the assassins."
After Ashur left, the sun rose above the horizon. The reds, oranges, and golds were offset by the cloudless blue sky. The odd trilling of my new birdie residents met the morning with me. There was no such thing as coppercolored birds. I scanned through a ton of Audubon books and searched the internet, but there weren't any listings for animals such as this anywhere. Yet I had an estimated thirty to forty of the brightly feathered birds roosting on the eaves of the barn and playing in the lake.
The flock had arrived about two days after the battle with Craig Stoiler. In the beginning, they had sat on the porch and stared in the windows. Very peculiar behavior for the common bird but after extensive search, I didn't believe they were so common. I ordered a book online, an ancient tome that recorded Sumerian creatures and stories. I paid a hefty amount for it but I had a hunch, if Shirdals were walking around Middle America, then why not other mythical creatures?
I peered at the roof of the porch. The sun glinted off the copper feathers and made them appear to be a construct of metal. The birds were unnaturally still and trilled a sweet harmony that made me smile.
Yeah, if I was correct and I looked upon
the
great Simurgh, then the assassins might not be the only problem we had. What was I to think of the only creature that survived the destruction of the world, three times over, taking up residence in my backyard? I couldn't get lucky enough that some mischievous teenagers spray painted a bunch of birds. Well, fuck it all. If my hunch was accurate, I hoped the Simurgh didn't expect me to save the world.

I lay on Nathan's exam table with my stomach gelled up. My brother was preparing to begin the sonogram when a scuffing sound in the front office drew him away. Ushna stood between the door and me, giving me a nice view of his delectable ass. Nathan popped his head in the door and I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from my visual treat.

"Jory and Stan are here and want to watch, if you'll allow them?"
It'd been a couple of hours since I'd removed the enchantment from them. I was nervous but I didn't think they'd confront me here. Ushna would hand them their asses if they did and I might let him.
"Okay."
Ushna moved to my side and had given me the
are you sure
look. Ah, no, not so much, but I wouldn't tell him that, instead I smiled in reassurance.
They came in, hands in pockets and sheepish looks on their faces. It was their genuine smiles that put me at ease. Nathan sat down in his chair and took up the wand. This wasn't our first sonogram but Nathan started a verbal dialog.
"Tristan's gestation is sixteen weeks or four months. His body's internal structure not only has to rearrange itself so he can form and sustain a uterus, of a sort, to carry the babies, but because male hips are too narrow for birthing, his also has to develop a birthing channel. See this darkening line of skin? His body will release a chemical twelve hours before birth that will open this seam, allowing the babies to be born. After birth, the seam will mend together." Stan and Jory had stepped closer as Nathan spoke.
"He's huge! Is he going to pop out those puppies soon?" Jory quickly glanced away from me and blushed. Any other time, neither of us would've thought anything about his outburst. Jory always said what came to mind, filter be damned. Today had already been a day of harsh words and I refused to admit I was sensitive to his harsh criticism from earlier.
"You mean give birth?" Nathan scowled at Jory. "Tristan is nine weeks into his pregnancy. He's larger than normal because he'll have twins. He's a little over halfway through gestation. He'll gain the bulk of his weight the last half of his pregnancy. Since he's giving birth through a channel, the babies will be larger, around six to seven pounds each. I expect him to gain at least fifty, but up to eighty, pounds."
"Holy shit!" Stan exclaimed, staring at my stomach.
"Women have a higher average body fat ratio than men do. Tristan is all muscle and his body has to develop a cushion for his and the children's comfort."
The rest of the sonogram went by with Nathan pointing out the babies to Stan and Jory, who crowded around the screen, staring raptly as Nathan identified tiny hands and feet. The little black and white images enthralled everyone.
Nathan frowned and quieted for a moment.
"What is it?" Ushna immediately asked.
"Ah… nothing. I thought I saw…" Nathan repeatedly ran the wand over a location, moving and pushing. "It's nothing," he finally said. "I thought I saw another head but I can't find anything now and there's only the two heartbeats." To demonstrate, Nathan turned up the volume. For a moment we listened to the heartbeats that sped as fast as a hummingbird's wings.
By the end of the appointment, Jory and Stan were grinning and slapping each other on the back as if they were the proud papas. Nathan and Ushna cleaned the gel off and helped me with my shirt. I didn't want to put a damper on the mood but we needed to discuss what'd happened that morning.
"Come on, let's go up to the house, grab some lunch, and talk." I headed toward the door.
Smiles slid off faces, hands crept back in pockets, and shoulders slumped. They were uncomfortable and nervous. It would be a couple of days before they'd experience the true impact the bindings had had on their lives. I was lucky. The spell on me had unraveled over a period of time, allowing me to slowly adjust to the changes that were going on. Although I knew they were apologetic, they wouldn't understand the scope of the damage their words and behavior had caused until they'd adjusted. There wasn't anything I could do for them.
Ushna and I worked swiftly to be able to meet the demands the unexpected growth had caused for our tribe. The ranch had quickly become the center of the tribes operation and as I walked from Nathan's new onsite office to the house it was easy to see all of the new construction. Our family friend, Elder Janus Koller, recommended a Lycan owned and operated construction company called Terreh Firma Construction. The company's use of magic allowed them to build and complete whole structures with astonishing speed. Of course there was an extra charge but it was worth every single red cent. I'd never seen anything constructed that fast.
Our home had gone from two thousand square feet to seventy-five hundred square feet. More bedrooms were added, along with offices, a conference room, a security room, and a war room. We had the bunkhouses refurbished and expanded so the foreman, the ranch hands, and one third of the Royal Guards could be housed on the ranch consistently. The Holding Center, our version of a small detention center, could contain up to thirty Lycans and Magi prisoners. The holding cells were completed shortly before the Dining Hall, which had been finished a couple of weeks later. Finally, the dormitories would be done at the end of the week. It had been mesmerizing to watch the swift completion of the projects. The buildings were beautiful stone construction that blended into the Oklahoma landscape.
Gregori waited for us on the back porch. The crisp air had caused vapor clouds to form around him as he breathed. His red hair blazed like fire in the autumn sun. My friend looked good dressed in browns and greens but I wasn't crazy enough to point out that he'd taken extra care with his appearance. He stared past me, his silvery-gray eyes snapped with suppressed anger.
"Come on, Gregori, we are sitting down for lunch." I slipped my arm around him as we climbed the stairs to the porch together, and he rested against me for comfort.
"How are the babies?" he asked as we walked in the back door to the kitchen.
"Bigger. We'll have toddlers when they're finally born." I laughed.
Marjan had the table set. Her husband, Hakim, waited for us. He gave a formal bow in greeting. I clasped the back of his neck, acknowledging him.
In the short time he'd been with me, we were able to convince him to accept a nickname going from AbdelHakim, a mouthful on my best days, to simply Hakim. He agreed not to kneel every time I received him, and to address me as "Sir" instead of "Xenres" when in public. After he'd become more comfortable, he was very pleasant to be around. He discussed the Law in a way that kept me engaged.
I paired him with Elder Koller to review our current bylaws, flagging those that were antiquated, and suggestions for new regulations that would address our modern day problems. I spoke to Ushna about appointing Hakim as one of my advisors, but until our business in Georgia was done, his skills were better used within the tribe. He teamed up with Neesie who coordinated the transfer of Warrior families and other accepted petitioners into Clearwater. He was a good public face for my tribe.
"Xenres, we need to speak about the trip to Bahbelle. Elder Koller is concerned for your safety and I agree with him."
"All right, contact Corey and we'll meet this afternoon. Make sure Neesie and Nathan know to come as well."
Hakim bowed again. "Yes, Xenres."
"We're gathering for lunch, will you eat with us?"
"Another time, Xenres. I've promised to take my son into town." Atash was close to ten years old, very bright, and the only child living on the ranch. I sympathized with the boy. He went to school in town and played with other Lycan children, what few there were, but there wasn't anyone for him to romp with on the ranch.
Everyone filed in and hung up their jackets on the pegs before taking their seats. Ushna sat to my right, Gregori on my left, with Jory and Stan across from us. As was their habit, Ushna and Gregori piled food on my plate. I was famished and I'd started nibbling before they finished. For a period of time, the food was my sole focus. I had crazy cravings and ate insane amounts. The further along I was, the more it seemed I was constantly eating.
When I pushed my plate away, I caught the looks of awe.
"Wow." Stan's voice held a hint of astonishment. "You've a one track mind when you're eating, don't you?"
"I was hungry." I scratched my nose, eying the big fat biscuit in front of Jory.
"I'd say so." Stan took a long swallow of his ice tea and pushed his plate away. "So," he said, seeming at a loss for words.
"So," I replied back. "Three months ago, Ushna went Lupe in Seattle." Methodically, I related to them everything that happened. The discovery of my birthright, assassins, Magi duplicity, meeting Gods, the re-emergence of the Shirdals, and the fight with Craig Stoiler. I told them everything, watching them intently as I spoke.
"Now the question becomes do I send you back to California and to Tribe Marduk, or do I have you transfer here? If you go back, I'll have to ask you to make an Oath of Secrecy." I took a sip of milk. I never thought I'd have to put that on the table. After the fiasco this morning, I realized I never took into account they might not want to be here. I
needed
them with us, but if they stayed it had to be because this was where they wanted to be. Not because they thought it was a duty or an obligation they had to fulfill.
"Tristan," Jory glanced down at the table where his hands were clasped together. A myriad of emotions flitted across his face. "I don't think I can apologize enough for the things I said earlier. I'm not sure where the words came from."
Gregori interrupted Jory with a derisive laugh. "Let me explain something to you about magic. It can forcefully coerce you to do something you don't want to do but you'll always know you're being forced. For a short period of time, magic can alter your memories, but you'll always regain the truth later. Magic can hurt you, it can kill you, but it can't take away your free will. Magic can't change the core of who you are or what you believe. For you to speak to Tristan the way you did, there had to be a part of you that believed Tristan was wrong. Jory, if you believe the sky is blue, all the magic in the world would never change your mind."
I defended Jory. "The binding I took off of them enhanced their doubts and fears. Many Lycans don't understand how a Twin Flame can betray their Bashert. It's unheard of. We're brought up to cherish our Flame. Jory isn't the only Lycan who doesn't understand. Even though there were witnesses to the Bond Poisoning, it's still hard for people to accept Flames can commit that level of betrayal. The binding took Jory's natural disbelief and enflamed the emotions, amplifying them out of proportion."
"He wouldn't have had those doubts if he'd come back for the trial. Ushna wasn't the only one who called them." Gregori stared at Stan with suppressed fury. "I can understand if you didn't want to come back to Georgia to be with us, but to be ignored when one of us was in trouble and needed you, I'll never understand that."
Stan regarded Gregori with sad eyes. "I honestly don't remember talking to you, Ushna, or anyone else from Bahbelle for a while."
"I can't listen to his bullshit." Gregori scraped his chair back from the table and left the kitchen. Stan's gaze followed him out. Sadness and regret shone in his expression until he blinked and a veil dropped over his face. When he turned back and noticed I was watching, he pursed his lips together.
I plucked the last biscuit from the basket in front of Jory, tore off a piece, popped it in my mouth, and chewed. "What did you do to hurt him?"
"I don't know how that has anything to do…"
A second piece of baked goodness was halfway to my mouth when I pegged Stan with a look that made him reassess what he said to me. After a pause, I popped it in. "What you need to remember from here on out is I'm your Prince and future King. I may not require formalities from you or the use of my title, but I will ask whatever questions I believe are appropriate. Gregori's right. Neither one of you have been here to know what's been going on, not only with Ushna and myself, but with Gregori as well. He's been upset since you've returned. He's my Advisor and he'll be a target, not only with the Magi, but with the assassins as well. I can't have him distracted because there's unfinished business between the two of you. You're my friend and brother. I love you regardless of what you think or believe, but I will send you back to California in an instant if your presence here puts Gregori in additional danger because he's distracted by you."
Ushna put his arm around me when I reclined back and brushed his warm lips against my temple before turning his piercing bi-colored stare on Stan and Jory. "I'd like to know more about this person the two of you shared. Ashur believes this was the point at which you were enchanted and bound."
Embarrassment colored their faces. They studiously refused to look at each other. "I'm not sure what happened," Stan started. He was uncomfortable but who wouldn't be when ask to recount a private sexual encounter? "Jory and I have a mutual friend from college, Xzavier Kimball. Toward the end of the last semester in college, the three of us got together and drank a little too much. The next morning we woke up in bed together."
"Did you know if you had sex or merely slept together in the same bed?" Ushna asked. I leaned farther into him as he rubbed my shoulder.
Jory scratched his thumb along the table surface. "I'm like Stan, I don't remember much. I made out with Xzavier, so did Stan." He circled his palm over his face. "Everything is fuzzy. I remember lying in bed with Stan but I don't recall us touching or having sex. The only thing that is clear is Xzavier giving some very good head." Jory's gaze darted around the room; his face was pale and pinched.
"Yeah, I remember that too." Stan used the tines of his fork to push the food around on his plate.
"I don't remember the sex part, but we woke up in bed naked, spunk everywhere." Jory's cheeks were red with mortification as he peered at Stan from the corner of his eye.
After a brief pause, Ushna asked, "Did you spend time with your Xzavier afterward?" It was plain that hadn't been a fun college experience. The way they were acting, having a threesome together wasn't something they were comfortable with, which begged the question, what happened to get them there?
"Well, yeah, he came over all the time," Stan answered not missing a beat. I understood where Ushna was taking the questioning.
"What did you do?"
"What do you mean?" Jory asked.
Well, if you spent time together, what did you do? Have sex? Watch TV? Go to a club? Make dinner in? Order out? Did he go with you to meet up with your other friends? What did you do together?"
Stan and Jory regarded each other. While Stan began to look angry, Jory turned pasty under his golden skin.