Red Gold - 25. Chapter 25 - Sacrifice

And then a number of things happened all at once. Something in the air… changed. There was a feeling like wind sweeping across the clearing, a sound like music almost heard, the colours intensified and everything became brittle and fragile.

Cai’s hand moved like lightening releasing his knife and in almost the same instant burying it to the hilt in the Sorcerer’s chest. At it struck home there was the feeling of wind passing close to Gabrielle and, as well as the hilt of the knife two arrows, fired concurrently from different bows, quivered in the body which stood stiff before her.

Turning, shocked Gabrielle took it all in within an instant. The flash of Leelany’s bright hair through the window, her bow still raised; Orien standing, pale faced but strong, his bow lowered with another arrow already notched and behind him four men, robed and cowled, their hands raised, heads thrown back.

There was a hiss, almost like a laugh and Gabrielle turned back. With a trembling hand the Sorcerer thrust back his cowl and, for the first time, she saw his face. It was timeless, bald and sallow skinned with sunken cheeks and a hooked nose. Without the shadow of his hood the eyes were not so inhuman, the red glow merely hinted at in the darkness. There was blood at the corner of the bloodless lips which curved in a cruel smile.

“You think that you have won.”

“I know so. You are dying and there are those who will ensure that when you do your spirit will be bound so that it can do no more harm to this land or any other.”

She thought she saw the flicker of fear in the deep dark eyes but the cruel lips curved deeper.

“Perhaps. Perhaps you are right and I will fade and die. But still you will have lost, princess.”

“I don’t……”

“Understand? But you should, you really should. You have had all the clues after all. Do you think that this was ever about you? Oh you had a destiny alright, and you have fulfilled it but it was not to marry Orien, never that. It is all about the magic my dear. About the birds.”

“The birds? They are the symbol of my family, at least the dove.”

“Yes, they are, but not only of your family, there is another, linked in times past and long forgotten. Once I was a prince of that family and the magic was my right. It should have come to me but it did not and so I had to take it and it was in that taking that it became twisted and dark… it was not always so, it was never meant to be so.

“In times past there were two ruling families both associated with birds, their power came from the birds, yours were doves, they were the peacekeepers, the diplomats, the lawyers; the other were hawks and they were the hunters, the warriors, the adventurers; they ruled together – one king one queen one from each house with the magic in both balanced and whole.

“And then my time came. Except that I had an older brother. He was to take the magic and the woman I loved. I could not allow that and so I took, it. I took it from them both in the instant I took their lives and I have been the sole holder ever since. It has sustained me through the ages and I have watched both families falter and fail, I have watched them stumble apart and I have encouraged it. I have nudged here and pushed there until you have both forgotten who you are and who the other is until all that is left is a vague sense of loyalty with no foundation.

“That is why I tore you from your mother’s womb… because in you the power could have surfaced. And there was another. I had to destroy any chance that you might meet. The stars were telling me of the danger and I had to avoid it at all costs.

“There was a time I thought I had lost, I thought that destiny would catch up with me after all, but then fate stepped in and delivered the answer right into my hands. In fact it was you, my dear who was its tool in this.

“The magic is strong and no more so that here. This was my ancestral home. Once my family lived here proud and strong alongside yours. The hawks and the doves, together. After I took the power they fled grovelled in the woods like animals, eking out an existence in that miserable huddle of hovels they call a village. I am the only one who had the courage and endurance to remain with only my shadow demons for company but no longer.

“You see I cannot die, not here where my magic is strongest. I cannot be killed in my own home by strangers who know nothing of the nature of my power. This body can fail, this body can fall but the magic lives on. And the only one who could have defeated me, who could have taken the power will die by my hand delivered into it by the only one who could have shared it and made it whole again. So you see. my dear, you have lost. From the moment you gave me his name you were both…… lost.”

Shocked Gabrielle looked down at Cai who had released the hilt of the knife and fallen back onto the altar. He was not looking at her but was staring past her with a look of such pain and sadness in his face that she was shocked again. Uncertainly she looked over her shoulder to see what he was looking at. It was Orien. Immediately she knew what he was thinking and she turned back but he had turned his head away.

The Sorcerer had a triumphant expression on his face and his hand, still resting on Cai’s chest closed into a fist. Cai’s body jerked and his sharply indrawn breath caught in his throat. Gabrielle stared up into the cruel face with the red eyes and saw……..uncertainty, fear, desperation.

“No. It isn’t over. We haven’t lost. Not yet.” Gabrielle grabbed Cai’s hand and held it tightly. “Cai, listen to me. Hear me, please. I came here to find you, to tell you that I am free. I didn’t lie to you. Orien isn’t dead, I knew that, but I’m still free. The covenant is broken, we are both free, Orien and I. I came to tell you this. Please listen. Please believe me Cai.” There was no sign that he had heard. He was lost in pain and she didn’t know if she could reach him. Neither did the Sorcerer and that was where his doubt was born. “Please Cai, don’t let go. Please don’t let go. Hold on. Hold on to me. We can do this. Together we can do this.”

The Sorcerer snarled and tightened his fist. Cai jerked again but weakly as though his strength was almost gone. But the Sorcerer had made a mistake, the pain shocked Cai’s eyes open and he started up at Gabrielle.

“I love you Ca’el, I have always loved you and I will always love you. The covenant is broken by consent, there is a new covenant and I am free. I am yours. Listen to me. There is magic in you, you know it I have seen it and I have felt it. Open to me my love, let the magic be free.”

Cai’s eyes were confused, he had no idea what she was talking about but already the pain was fading and she could feel strength returning.

“Ca’el, you don’t have to understand you just have to trust me. Do you trust me?” Readily he nodded. “Then open to me my love. There is magic in you, let it find the magic in me. Be the hawk for my dove.”

As she spoke she took his hand, the one where the silver ring sparkled and put it over the Sorcerer’s hand. Automatically Cai’s hand gripped the wrist and Gabrielle put her own hand from which the sliver bird had never flown, over his and gripped too.

Looking up into the hawklike face she saw horror flare as he realised what was happening. He tried to pull his hand away but he could not.

“I am Sou Shan, Crown Princess of Moravia and in giving you my name I place a burden upon you that never again can you strike at me or anyone under my protection. I am Sou Shan and in giving you my name I take back what power you may have had over me.” Beside her she heard Cai gasp and suddenly there was a sense of….. opening, something blossoming between them, and energy that flowered and grew and flowed back into the hand an up the arm. The Sorcerer tried to take a step back but could not.

Cai sat up, still holding the wrist tightly. “My name is Ca’el, Crown Prince of Moravia. In giving you my name I take back what power you have had over me. In giving you my name I place a burden upon you that never again can you strike at me or anyone under my protection.”

Gabrielle reached out and took Cai’s free hand. For a moment they looked at each other and they recognised in each other something that had not been there before and something that had always been there, something which had been hidden and something that had always been there to see and then, together they both turned back to the Sorcerer and both were smiling. Releasing his hand they allowed him to stumble backwards and then they both opened their mouths and began to sing.

It was not so much a refrain as a call and very soon there was a sound as though of thousands of wings beating. The Sorcerer gave a strange strangled cry and flung his arms out as though warding off an attack. The sound of wings grew louder as the song became more intense and it seemed as though the Sorcerer had been caught in the claws of large birds and lifted off the ground. For what seemed like a long time he hung suspended in mid air with a scream building silently all around him and then a wind blew and there was a flash of light and a silent explosion and all that the wind was blowing were black tattered rags, like the wings of a great black bird fluttering down gently to lie on the alter.

Gabrielle had been thrown off her feet by the explosion and lay for a moment stunned, unsure what had happened. A shadow blocked out the sun and she blinked up into a familiar face.

“I thought you were supposed to be dead.”

Orien smiled and helped her to her feet. “So I heard. I thought it would be prudent to wait my moment before I resurrected.”

Impulsively Gabrielle hugged him and, as she did so caught sight of Leelany striding towards them across the courtyard. The sight of her jolted Gabrielle and she whirled to the altar. It was empty apart from the tattered rags.

“Cai!”

He was lying in a crumpled heap where he, too had been thrown aside by the explosion. Gabrielle threw herself to her knees and froze, suddenly afraid. He had been through so much, had seemed so weak at the end…. what if …..

“Cai?”

At the sound of her voice he groaned and stirred, turning slowly and stiffly onto his back and lifting his arm to shield his eyes from the sun.

“Sou Shan. What the fuck just happened?” Laughing aloud Gabrielle threw herself at him and hugged him so tightly he had to push her away gasping for breath. “Steady on, I have to breathe you know, and I’m still sore.”

Immediately she jumped back. “I’m so sorry, I forgot. Can you stand?”

Now it was Cai who was laughing. “Stand? I can fly if I have to.”

“Well, maybe later.”

With arms around each other they turned to Orien and Leelany who were standing uncertainly shoulder to shoulder.

“Cai, this is Orien. He is a very good friend of mine. Orien this is Ca’el, the light of my life.”

There was initial awkwardness between the two men but it was fleeting and in a moment their handshake turned to a hug and they were grinning at each other, their eyes twinkling. Gabrielle was struck by how, now that she was seeing them together, sharing the same space, she had never truly realised how much presence Cai had.

Orien was a Crown Prince and he had been brought up with the weight of that responsibility on his shoulders, wearing it like a cloak wherever he went. He was regal and proud without being arrogant and haughty and he was every inch the son of a royal house. Cai was a child of the forest, brought up wild in the woods. And yet…..

Over the past few days when she had been getting to know him Gabrielle had found Orien to be a perfect refined gentle man. He was everything that anyone could have asked for in a Prince and he could have swept any woman off her feet and made a fairytale with her. She had thought him to be the most beautiful man she had ever met, tall and handsome, gentle and kind. Yet in Cai’s presence he was eclipsed, like a beautiful butterfly in the eye of the sun. It wasn’t that Orien was made any less, it was that Cai was so much more.

In the last moments, when she had seen hope die in him and life slipping away she had thought that he had become weak and exhausted but, if that had been true then it was not true now. Something had changed in him, something had blossomed and grown and it burned in him, flaring like a supernova. The others had seen it too, Orien and Leelany were both looking at Cai with something like awe in their faces, and he, as usual was entirely oblivious.

They were interrupted by the sound of thundering hooves and a group of horsemen led by the two Kings thundered into the courtyard. Konor hit the ground at a run before his horse had stopped and he scooped her up in his strong arms.

“Sou Shan, I was so worried. What on earth possessed you to come here?”

Something stopped him and he put her off a little to look at her with a strange look in his eyes. Then he lifted his eyes and the same look intensified as he looked at Cai.

“You. I… know you…?”

“Ca’el My Liege.”

The king frowned. “I… feel there is something more…… I have a mind that I have forgotten something.”

“We all forgot, My Liege, but I have a feeling that there are those who are already remembering and the lore will soon be open to us again.”

“I feel that I should be saying more to you.”

Cai smiled shyly. “There will be time, I think. The balance is restored now. There is no more fear here.”

“Yes, of course there will be time….. but I have a feeling that it won’t be yet. There is after all a wedding to organise and now that the war is over we men have no excuses to escape the planning.”

“A wedding?” Cai’s face went dark and he turned to Gabrielle, his eyes uncertain. “I thought that the wedding was off.”

“Oh that wedding is off. There is a new one to plan now, and as it is going to be a double one there is a lot more planning to do.”

“A double one?”

“Unless you don’t want to marry me of course.”

He responded with a kiss and the magic flared and flowed around them sending sparks to hiss and fizz on the cobbles. When they parted all faces around them were staring in open awe.

“This is the way it should be father, the way it always should have been. I believe that there will be books in the library now, whole sections maybe that no one has noticed before, that eyes have slid away from and memories balked. There are symbols all around the castle that have been telling a story for generations, stories that no one has remembered, but will suddenly be clear to all.”

“What are you talking about Sou Shan?”

“Stories father. Stories that have been forgotten because we have been made to forget. Half of our heritage torn away. The reason our magic died. But now it is born again. The hawks and the doves father.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about but there is something…. something in what you say. Hawks and doves. That…..”

“Look father.” Gabrielle took Cai’s hand and held it out to her father, alongside her own, the rings flashing in the light of the dying sun. “Hawks and doves.”

The king looked at the rings and then up at her face. He looked confused but thoughtful. “As I said, there will be time. Come now, the day is getting late, and it has been a hard one for all of us. Let us return to the castle and celebrate our victory. I will send word to the village and ask you parents to join us Ca’el, we have much to discuss.”

Much, much later the talking was done and the party was over. Gabrielle lay in her bed listening to the silence and sighed a long deep sigh, allowing the stresses of the day to melt away. Her hair was still damp from the bath Rehanna had drawn for her whilst she was still in counsel and was waiting, hot and scented for her on her return.

It was very late, so late that the early morning sun was already sending advance beams to touch the horizon with deep pink. Although she was almost too tired to function her mind was still racing, struggling to make sense of all that had happened to her. Only a cursory search of the dark castle had found vaults full of treasure and a treasure more valuable than gold or jewels – shelves of books. The books had been collected from all over the country and they all dealt with the same thing…. the special relationship between the twin ruling houses of Moravia; the hawks and the doves.

For countless generations the two families had ruled together and the marriage of the sons and daughters had ensured the seamless passing of the strange power, drawn from the birds themselves which ensured that the country prospered and the people thrived.

Some of the books told a darker tale, of how one of the sons of the house of the hawks, jealous of the fact that he was a second son and that both the power and the princess he loved were meant for his older brother, murdered both his brother and his wife and stole the power of both the hawks and the dove. Combined in the one vessel the twin powers became twisted and turned evil. The Prince turned on his own house and brought death and destruction not only to them but to the whole country.

Growing more and more bitter with the passing of the years and unnaturally sustained by the twisted power that possessed him he systematically stamped out all knowledge of the way things used to be and the house of the hawks fell into obscurity and, driven from their ancestral home and lands wandered far across the land and finally, drawn back by ties deeper than memory or wealth settled in a village at the foot of the mountains near their beloved doves who now were the sole rulers but in thrall to the dark powers of their former soul mates through the dark power wielded by the Sorcerer.

And then, by some trick of fate it so happened that, despite the efforts of all, on both sides of the struggle a hawk and a dove met, without ever knowing who or what they were, and they fell in love. From that moment the Sorcerer was doomed for once the two houses joined again their combined energy was an irresistible call to the wild power that had sustained him for so long but which, like any other natural force can do nothing, once released, but flow through its natural channels.

No one knew what it meant, these strange new developments. Cai’s parents had come from the village with one of the elders who could recall echoes of the stories from the elders of their days and who had been in instrumental in making the plans to send Cai with Gabrielle as her protector, answering the signs and the patterns of the birds and the tides which prophesied hope from it, without knowing precisely what that hope might be.

Grunting with fatigue Gabrielle sighed again and then, at last surrendered her body to the softness of the bed and her mind to the gentle touch of sleep.

However, sleep was not to be her refuge, not yet, for as she finally allowed herself to let go, as though he had been patiently waiting for it, Cai stirred next to her and, opening her eyes again she found herself looking up into his. For a long moment she just lay absolutely still gazing up into a face that was more dear to her than her own, into eyes that, although heavy with sleep held a promise of something that would hold sleep at bay for a time yet.

A feeling of warmth began somewhere in the region of her heart and spread rapidly through her body until she had to laugh out loud and, throwing her arms around him she hugged him fiercely, pressing her lips to his and the world went away.