Healer (33 page)

Wisdom let his fingers slip around cool
chain as Ashpin released it into his palm.

“You wish your mother had not mentioned
him?”

“I wish she hadn’t given me false hope
that he was something more than what he actually was.”

Wisdom made no comment. From what the boy
had told him of his mother’s fabricated stories, he had no doubt that she
probably built up the expectations of something great in a person he knew
little about.

Carefully, he reached around to clasp the
charm around his neck. With his brother still holding onto the sapphire stone,
and his mother’s necklace accompanying the ring as an engagement gift, the gold
heart nestled lightly over the neckline.

“It suits you,” Ashpin said.

“Does it?”

“Now everyone can see you’ve a heart of
gold.”

Wisdom just smiled. There was meaning
behind those words, and he gave the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder in thanks.

“I try.”

It was not long after receiving the new
necklace that Wisdom led Glory to a spot he had discovered along the
waterfront. At the edge of town, where the trees stopped slightly above shoreline,
Wisdom revealed the velvet box under a painted sunset of pink and orange.

Glory’s face brightened in delight at his
proposal. Kneeling before her, he pledged his love and protection while placing
the newly adorned ring on her finger.

She giggled. “Remember when we first met?
As much as I kept throwing fits about wearing fine things, this was the one
piece I
did
want and it would never
stay on!”

Wisdom laughed. “Good thing. Now it not
only fits, but complements your entire look.”

Blushing, she turned and held up her hair
in the back for him to add the necklace. The feel of fingers tracing slowly
down her shoulders after it was in place spurred a shiver of joy. He then
leaned close to lightly kiss her neck. The smell of her hair falling back in place
was intoxicating.

“Wasn’t this your mother’s?” Glory
whispered as he held her close. “You’re sure you want me to have this?”

“I’m sure she would be proud to know it’s
with someone I care just as deeply about.”

The two of them gazed out over the water,
time no longer holding any meaning other than to be together. At long last,
Wisdom felt he had achieved what his mother had meant for him to do. He had
discovered his connection to Nature and a family he never knew he had. He had
united the people in the land and stopped a growing Darkness caused by the
first black unicorn.

As the last of daylight faded behind them,
their reflections were cast below on calm tides. A glance to the circular scar
upon his wrist confirmed the next phase in the
Purification
process. A Blue Moon had already passed. Soon it would
turn red, and
Osha
would require him to find the place
where the unicorn could make the process official.

“No more storms,” he whispered into
Glory’s soft hair. “No more…darkness.”

EPILOGUE

“They’re not going anywhere.” Abraham
watched the swirl of clouds rotate lazily overhead. Even with the horn’s power
at bay, the storm never fully dissipated. A few rumbles suggested another
shower. With a sigh, he closed the balcony doors.

It was his father’s room and largest of
the bedrooms. But it was not where Abraham slept at night. No matter how many
times he walked its generous space or admired its grand balcony overlooking the
courtyard, that
eerie feeling that this was where his
father was slowly consumed as he lay sleeping did not sit well. Instead, he
kept the smaller bedroom where Jenario had first placed him. It was about the
same size as the one at
his own
little cottage back in
Lexington – or at least the one he had. The war had completely demolished the
city walls and much of anything else surrounding it. Downed trees, he had
heard, had leveled the place to the ground.

“So much for going
back.”
His eyes trailed to a
peculiar glass dome sitting on the mantle.

With a sigh, Abraham strolled out into the
hallway and down its length to a frequented favorite. Upon entering the
library, he could sense the glass dome materializing through the wall. He
checked to be sure it was the same one from the bedroom. The container served
as a temporary prison, and through magic Abraham had designed it to suspend his
father’s necklace within. This way, it touched nothing. Abraham was taking no
chances with the way the horn manipulated its environment. By having the
container follow him from room to room, he could always keep an eye on it.

A chortle, then it was back to searching
through his father’s notes. Books already scattered across tabletops where he
had last left them.

Or
Perhaps
it’s just easier for it to keep an eye on me.
The last moments of his father’s life came to mind, a
warning to never touch the horn.
It would
just end the same way.

“You
are not like Jenario,”
came
a raspy whisper.

Having heard the horn’s voice before,
Abraham merely ignored it. When it came again, he glanced over to the dome.

“You’d be right on one account. I’m
not
like my father...because I won’t be
using
you
anytime soon.”

“When
he used my abilities, he allowed it to become a part of his inner being. That
is what destroyed him.”

“And I’m assuming if he had just let you
take reign without any resistance, he’d still be alive?” Abraham shook his
head.
“Yeah.
Right.”

“No
different than the Healer’s predicament. Should be attempt to use my sister’s
power, their souls would fuse together.”

“Huh.” Abraham flipped through the pages
of his father’s notes, studying formulas written for a particular spell. He
peered closer, trying to make out the wording.
“Like I said.
Free reign and he’d have been a puppet. Hell, he already was!” He slid a finger
down the page until he found what he sought – the pronunciation guide.

“You
can try, but without proper understanding the spell is useless.”

Abraham balked. “And you know better?”

“I
am part of the same. I was born into it. I understand it. Those without magic
do not. They try to put a name on the meaning of how its energy works, but
often times ends in a mash of disarray and distraction. The key is
pronunciation.”

It paused, but by then Abraham had given
the horn his full attention.
“When I
first approached Jenario, he was the only one at the time who had the basic
understanding of magic’s function. He grasped its meaning. Saw potential. His
notes reflect his thought patterns.
He…saw…magic.”

Abraham lowered his eyebrows,
then
looked back at the book. “He might’ve seen it. Maybe
understood it. Yet he couldn’t use any of it.” He suddenly slapped the book
shut. “That’s why he made you.”

“The
Elements are split, bound in a downward spiral of hatred that will bring an end
to all seasons. My sister and I could see this. But our foresights are also
split. Where one lacks vision, the other continues. It was I who first saw
Jenario’s potential. But that was as far as I could go.”

Abraham stepped away from the table,
shaking his head in disbelief.

“Now I’ve heard it all! First you want a
body. Then power. Now you’re telling me that all of it this was planned due to
seasonal changes?”

In a huff, the young man stormed from the
room. His mood matched the stormclouds gathering outside the window when he
entered his father’s bed chambers once more. On the mantlepiece, the glass dome
materialized; however, its presence only strengthened his resolve to ignore it.
Instead, he sought the bedside decanter where some of Nathaniel’s leftover
spirits had been stored. It now served a better purpose to calm Abraham’s
nerves. And yet, he could not help but wonder. Was he a mere pawn in a larger
game, or was this just another fabricated story to win another host? Either
way, Abraham was taking no chances. A couple of drinks helped clear his thoughts
to the task at hand.

Check
the horn. Continue studying.
Simple.
He had just set his glass down when a flash of
lightning lit the interior.

Nothing
is simple,
came a whisper. From the
balcony window, Abraham could see the tops of the trees wavering back and forth
in the wind. No rain yet, but with the way the clouds gathered he knew it was
coming.

There came a flash of blinding light. The
next instant his body was thrown back from a bolt’s direct hit outside.
An explosion of glass and wood littered across stone-slab floor.
He had lost all sense of direction, his body sprawled against the wall with a
pounding in his head from the deafening roar still echoing throughout the room.
When at last he opened his eyes, he was staring up at the mantle. Next to his
head, a still-lit candlestick rocked from side to side. It was the only thing
illuminating the room now, and the only reflection in the glass dome teetering
on the edge of collapse. Abraham’s focus was drawn to this, not fully
comprehending until the glass tilted toward him.

A wild scream escaped his lips, and he
threw up his already scratched arms to block the dome’s descent. It hit the
floor by his side, spraying crystal shards. Each captured his momentary
distress in a reflection of pain and confusion before they came to a clattering
halt.

Dust was still settling when Abraham
uncovered his face. Glass fell from his hands, stained crimson from multiple
cuts. A gash across his lip dribbled red down his chin. Slowly, he turned,
grasping along the metal hearth to pull
himself
up. It
was dark out. It was dark inside. His only light source remained the one
candle, and as he pulled himself to a sitting position his gaze fell to the
shattered dome – and necklace.

Abraham froze. No longer contained, it
rested just on the other side of the candle. An eerie glow cast from the
crimson stone along its gold chain seemed to pulse with the flickering flame.

Then, it went out.

Abraham fumbled along the hearth, reaching
out with shaking hand until his fingers felt the cool tip of metal poker. His
breath came heavy as he gripped the handle and nearly shook the stand apart
trying to get it out. Just knowing the horn was in the room, unguarded, was
frightening.

“Don’t
ever use it!”
his father’s warning
flashed through his thoughts. 

“I don’t even plan to touch it!” he said
between clenched teeth. He tapped the floor, using the poker to scope out where
objects were. When he heard the ting of rolling candlestick, he knew he was close.
“It should be right...here.” He let the poker’s tip drag gently across the
floor. He recognized glass clinking together, then part of the door. Wood chips
were everywhere he stepped and cracked under his shoes. 

Still, no necklace.
 

“Impossible!” Abraham quickened his
sweeps. “It couldn’t have moved itself. It should be right in front of me!”

“Here,” a calm, youthful-sounding voice
suddenly announced next to him. “Maybe this will help.”

Before Abraham could react, something
sharp bit into his hand. A cold sweat broke upon his forehead when he felt
delicate chain slip through his fingers. The compulsion to fling it away was
strong, and yet he felt incapable of doing so. 

A sharp pain sprang up his arm as the
stone flared a blood-red. Its radiating pulse matched the beat of Abraham’s
racing heart. Like a slow poison soothing his nerves, it took control. Soon,
Abraham’s breathing calmed, and instead of flinching from the pain, he accepted
it and stood tall. With easy strides, he weaved through the room’s wreckage and
out onto the balcony. 

“Join
me, Twilight,”
the horn pronounced
through Abraham’s tongue. In his right hand, he held the necklace containing
the piece of horn while the young Healer stepped next to him. Lightning still
flicked from cloud to cloud, but at a gesture, everything stilled.
“Tonight, we bask in a new beginning.”

The lavender-eyed Healer cast his gaze up
at the sky while his master cleared a section of clouds. For once, pure
moonlight settled in across the balcony, with a glimpse of red just touching
the moon’s outer rim. 

“Shall we see the others soon?” Twilight’s
flat tone suggested he was no
more free
of the
unicorn’s power than Abraham playing host. 

Lips spread to a sinister smile.
“Yes. They will come. The Purification has
begun, one that shall belong to me!”
As he raised his face to bask in the
moon’s red glow, he let his voice carry over the shadowed landscape.
“Enter the reign of a new unicorn –
Merlock!”