Forest Fire (#2 The Legends of Regia) (17 page)

Forest swallowed and took a deep breath. "Damn. No honeymoon period then."

Rahaxeris' stare bored into her. "You're perfect for this job, Forest. I have no doubt."

His confidence was solid and real. She could stand on it. "Thank you…Father."

"Would you like to see what we do down here?"

Trepidation crept into Forest's muscles as she looked over Rahaxeris' shoulder. He noticed.

"If you're not comfortable…"

Her gaze cut to his. "I most certainly am
not
comfortable. But the choice of ignorance is for cowards. Show me."

"Very well."

Ice crystallized down Forest's vertebrae as she followed. He brought her into a library first, where another priest sat reading. He looked up at them, quickly closed his book, and stood.

"Forest, this is Baal. He's an assistant."

Baal inclined his head.

"Nice to meet you," Forest said.

Baal was dressed like Rahaxeris, though a bit plainer. His eyes were also red, and his black hair hung board-straight to his shoulders. His appearance wasn't anywhere near as frightening as Rahaxeris', but he still put her system on alert. Dangerous, but on a lesser level than her father.

"I'm happy to finally meet you in person, Forest. You have fascinated me for a long time…I see you have accepted the title. I look forward to working with you in the future."

"Uh, thank you."

"Baal will go with you when you leave here," Rahaxeris said. "Assuming that you are heading straight to Fortress."

"Oh, well…okay. I guess that would be better than you going with me?"

"I didn't want it to look like daddy taking his little girl to school."

"Ah, yes." Forest managed a small smile. "We can't have that."

"So, anyway, this is the science library. Self-explanatory. Come on."

Forest nodded to Baal, who nodded back and resumed his seat as they left the room. She followed past a basic meeting room, and then into the science lab. She looked at the odd jars lining the walls before approaching the table in the center of the room, diagrams and charts covered the surface. Forest looked down at the papers, understanding less than half of what she saw. The word
unsuccessful
was written harshly across the top of the paper. It stuck a chord and she turned to face her father. "I want to see the files from the experiment that spawned me."

Rahaxeris crossed his arms. "Just because you are here doesn't mean I can show you anything you want to see. You don't have clearance for that."

"You could give me clearance," Forest fired back.

"Perhaps I could, but I won't."

Forest hissed out an angry breath. "Why? Because it's so ugly?"

"Yes."

The tears rising in Forest's eyes surprised her. She wrapped her arms around her middle, thinking of the ones who had been created then deemed
unsuccessful
and destroyed. She turned her back to him, letting the tears fall down her cheeks, mourning them as siblings.

 
Rahaxeris came up behind her and put his sharp hand on her arm. "Come with me. I need to show you something else."

Forest let him lead her by the arm out of the room and into another. She dug in her heels as she crossed the threshold. It was an operating theater, empty, sanitized, and completely haunted by the tortured dead.

"Yes, you see. And you know the rumors. But what we do is for the greater good."

Forest looked at him helplessly.

"You believe in the greater good, don't you?" he asked gently.

She nodded. "Yes."

"You understand the usefulness of fear?"

"Yes."

"Fear of punishment keeps people safe, safe from others, and from the evil within themselves. So, just as we cultivate fear, and contrive pain for punishment, we create balance and peace. It's not a job just anyone can do."

Forest stared at the operating table and shivered. "That's for damn sure."

"And with science; experimentation must be detached. But through probing for answers we have learned, many ways to heal, improve life, and prolong it. Death happens in the process."

Forest looked back into his eyes shaking her head. "I've seen enough."

"No, I don't think you have. Come on."

Rahaxeris led her back to a plain room, the stone opening and sealing again behind her. The room was empty. "These are my personal quarters. I want to show you my memories."

"Your memories?"

"Unless you don't want to."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued."

"All right."

Rahaxeris placed his palm flat on the wall, closing his eyes and muttering a few words under his breath. A grey fog rose off the stone around his hand, quickly filling the room, drifting over the floor like a haze in a swamp. The ghostly image of a woman gathered from the mist and stood in front of Forest. She jumped back, her mouth falling open as she recognized her mother. Liasia never was one to shift her appearance too much. She stuck to five different looks. What Forest saw was a face she knew well. Her mother looked at her silently as other transparent people formed around her, joining her in a line.

Liasia looked down at a parchment in her hands as the line moved. She looked up again, her eyes fixing across the room, her mouth falling open slightly. Forest followed her gaze and saw a ghostly version of her father standing next to her real father. Ghostly Rahaxeris looked as trapped and transfixed as Liasia. Forest realized she'd just witnessed the first time her parents laid eyes on each other.

The images melted back into the haze, replaced by new ones. Forest blushed at seeing her parents lying in each other's arms in a room she recognized as her mother's. Liasia nestled her head onto Rahaxeris' bare shoulder.
I love you
, she whispered.

 
I'll take care of you, Lia
.

The haze again shifted. Liasia was crying uncontrollably against Rahaxeris' chest.
He took her, Ra! That bastard, Menjel, took our baby!
 
 

I'll get her back, I promise.

Forest's heart clenched at the sound of her mother's anguished sobs, grateful when the haze changed again. Rahaxeris was in a shouting match with another priest, whom she assumed was Menjel.

She's shown us everything we need to know. Her life has fulfilled its purpose.

You don't know that she's shown us everything!
Rahaxeris yelled.
Many elves cannot master invisibility until puberty. Let's see what she can do as she gets older. No other splice came out as good as she did.

Ah, yes, well she's not really even a splice is she? She's just a Halfling bastard.

I won't let you kill her! Her mother loves her.

What is that to me? Or the project?
Menjel argued.

I promised Liasia she could raise her child.

You weren't given that kind of authority.

It's MY project. And she's my daughter. I want to see what she can do as she grows up.

The haze shifted again. Rahaxeris looked down at Forest as a baby, sleeping in his arms. He was in the room she grew up in, sitting in a rocking chair. He stroked the side of her baby face and played with the wispy strands of hair on her head. Forest was nonplused at the simple show of affection.

 
The haze shifted back to her parents.

I can't keep coming back. If they found out, it would put her life in danger.

What do I tell her about you? As she gets older?

Nothing. She's safer that way. She won't lack for anything, Lia. I promise.

Her mother turned away, her face in her hands.
Don't make me anymore promises, Ra. Just keep the only one that matters and let me raise her to adulthood.

The images then shifted so quickly it was as if he was fast-forwarding. And indeed, when it slowed down, time had jumped from her being a baby to around the time Leith first targeted her. Rahaxeris was arguing again with Menjel. Other priests gathered around them.

I can't let her suffer like that! It's unjust. He's broken Regia's slave laws
.

You argued before that we should leave her alone and see what she does. I think now is the perfect time to do just that,
Menjel reasoned coldly.

We did all agree not to interfere, Rahaxeris, a
nother added.
 

The haze shifted for the last time. Rahaxeris sat next to her mother's deathbed, holding her hand.

She's not coping well, Ra,
Lia rasped.

I've been working hard to become the next High Priest. It won't be much longer. I'll fix it for her, Lia. I'll fix the whole damn world.

Then let that be the last promise you make me. Promise me, now as I'm dying. Promise you won't fail her.

Rahaxeris brought Liasia's hand to his lips.
I promise.

All the haze in the room evaporated, leaving Forest gaping at her father.

"I love you, Forest… I'm trying to fulfill my promise."

A grievous crack snaked up from the foundation through the walls of Forest's defenses, and she found herself running into her father's arms. Strange, frightening being that he was, he held her as any loving father would and absorbed the rocking waves of her tears.

I am wanted. I know who I am and where I came from. I matter. And I am loved.

The knowledge brought nourishment to her bruised and battered heart. All the scars vanished away. All the scars but one…Leith's.

Forest's slave mark now prickled and strung. It had to go, right now. Pride radiated through her. She was Forest, daughter of Rahaxeris, and no man's slave.

She wiped her eyes and lifted her chin. "I have to get back to the Onyx Castle, now. I have unfinished business that cannot wait another day."

"About time. I'll send you back there directly."

"You can create portals, too?"

"Forest, you have no idea the amount of things I can do." He smiled at her and struck the air. The portal swirled before her.

"Will you teach me to do some of the things you can?"

He shook his head ruefully. "My knowledge has come from dozens of decades of experimenting and dabbling. Trust me, the cost is high. Your soul is too important."

"I would have to forfeit my soul to gain what you have?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Then I think I'm content the way I am."

"A wise choice. I'll send Baal to Fortress. He'll be there to help you after you've handled your unfinished business in the Onyx Castle. Don't be afraid to boss Baal around a bit. He'll be there to help you. Just boss him respectfully."

"Sure, no problem." She stepped toward the portal and turned back to him. "Thank you, Father."

He nodded a little stiffly, and then he and his room disappeared in the rushing blackness as she sped back to the castle.

The portal didn't drop her in the throne room, but back in the privacy of the room she'd shared with Syrus. Forest was grateful for her father's discretion. She went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. Her hands began to ache as the hilt of her sword beckoned them. She took one deep breath and looked herself in the eyes. Her life was changing rapidly. A smile pulled into the side of her mouth. It was time for Leith's reckoning.