Last Messenger - Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - Aael

Aael floated in silent darkness, his mind empty, and his body distant.

“Si’Aln.”

The word vibrated across his thoughts, rippling like a wave. The sound pulled him from his peaceful numbness, and the back of his head started to ache.

“Si’Aln.”

Aael struggled to avoid the voice, but it came again, a third and powerful time.

“Si’Aln.”

The darkness shattered as a starburst of light exploded in Aael’s mind. The familiar discomfort of his skin provided a canvas for the painful hole in his chest. He tried to go back, to find the darkness, but it had disintegrated. He moaned in disappointment.

“He’s back,” the Abbot shouted.

Aael flinched as the voice reverberated in his head.

“Raln be praised,” the Abbot whispered.

Aael opened his eyes. The Abbot’s face loomed over him. Aael recognized his ceiling and the firmness of his bed. “Padda, why are you in my room?”

“Your parents asked me. They were worried,” the Abbot said.

“Worried?” Aael asked.

Aael’s door open, and his parents hurried into the room. His mother bent and gave him a fierce hug. He tried to hug her back, but he didn’t have the strength.

Saniel didn’t let go, and she burned the fatigue from Aael’s body. It felt like a thousand bugs dragging their feet across his skin. The sensation passed, and he felt taut, jittery. His strength back, he returned her hug.

“Thank you!” Caden said, bowing to the Abbot.

“It was your idea. He never listens, but I’m glad today was different,” the Abbot said.

Saniel released Aael and stood. 

“What’s going on?” Aael asked.

Caden sat on the bed. “What do you remember?”

Aael closed his eyes, the despair and sorrow still fresh. His throat tightened, and he didn’t trust himself to speak.

“I remember being stabbed by,” Aael couldn’t say the name, “by one of the daggers. I remember you and Mom doing impossible things. I remember wanting to die.”

“When did this happen?” Caden asked gently.

“I think I fell asleep.” Aael looked at his window and squinted at the bright light, “Maybe this morning.”

“It happened two weeks ago,” Saniel said.

“That’s impossible,” he said.

“And yet the truth,” Caden replied.

“Where did you go?” the Abbot asked.

Aael locked gazes with the Abbot. “When the dagger pierced my chest, I felt a connection to it. Something inside me reached out and grabbed the weapon. When you removed the blade, the connection severed, but the thing inside me remained. It was cold and dark, and someplace I could hide. So, I did.”

The Abbot leaned down, his face intent. “I’ve been trying to help you find that place your whole life. It is safe to manipulate, but never go through, never cross over.”

Caden touched Aael’s shoulder. “We’ve put off Raph for a week and the compulsion is about to overwhelm him. Wash up and get dressed, you need some answers before we leave.”

“Leave?” Aael asked.

Saniel’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Your father and I leave tonight.”

***

Aael and Caden walked through a passage to the underground room where he’d met Raph for the first time. His dad had shown him the hidden entrance in the barn. The light from the lantern his father carried made the passage seem small.

“Who else knows about this place?” Aael asked.

“The Abbot,” Caden said.

“Padda?” Aael shook his head. “That old man is full of secrets.”

Caden took a deep breath. “People like the Abbot can exude an invisible fog. It is a catalyst for magic. In this fog magic travels further, with more intensity, and provides the mage better control. Some mages kidnap these people and alter their minds with a compulsion to serve. It is a terrible practice. Even if freed, they will return to their captor. In the South they call them the Lost.”

“That’s horrible!” Aael said.

Caden nodded. “Your mother and I arrived at the Abbey in need of help, and I made a bargain with the Abbot to get it. They bring the Lost here, and I remove the compulsion. I make them whole.”

“It’s the right thing,” Aael said.

“It pits me against my brethren. If they find out, it will cost me my life,” Caden said.

Aael thought about the sacrifice his father had made so they could have a home. “I’m proud of you. Some things are worth the risk.”

Aael stopped and turned, his dad motionless behind him. Caden held the lantern waist high and the dim light kept most of his father’s face in shadow, but Aael could see the glint of tears in his father’s eyes.

Caden spoke in a tight voice. “I’ve done terrible things, justified, required even, but terrible all the same. It’s easy to forget I’ve done good as well.”

The rare emotion made Aael happy. His throat constricted as he hugged his father. How would he cope once his parents left?

They walked again, but the silence felt like a waste so Aael voiced a suspicion. “I don’t think Mia is who she says.”

“I agree,” Caden said.

Aael waited for his father to elaborate, but Caden kept silent. “Who do you think she is?” Aael finally asked.

“I know she’s not the naïve girl she portrays,” Caden said.

“Do you think she’s dangerous?”

“She’s already proven that. Which itself is interesting,”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re alive,” Caden said.

“Barely,” Aael responded.

“Exactly.”

“You think they staged it?”

“Intuition is the fruit of experience and we both sense something is wrong,” Caden said.

Aael let that sink in. What his father suggested seemed crazy. Why would anyone go to such trouble to almost kill him?

“The Shade too?” Aael asked.

Caden nodded thoughtfully. “A convoluted pattern.”

The close walls of the tunnel disappeared, and they entered the underground room. Aael constricted his pupils as his dad touched the sun stones and the room lit a brilliant white. It looked like he remembered, and even the half-finished Bandt game remained.

Aael followed his dad to the table and sat across from him. Three weeks had passed since he had last been here.

“Alright, start the interrogation,” Caden said.

“What is special about the locket,” Aael said immediately.

Caden smiled and reached into a pocket. He pulled the locket out and placed it on the Bandt board. “This one?”

The small object shimmered in the bright light, the surface like a melting rainbow. “Can I touch it?” Aael asked.

“It’s yours.”

“You’re giving it to me?”

“No, your mother gave it to you,” Caden said solemnly.

“Really? She seemed upset when I found it,” Aael said.

Caden covered the locket with his hand and Aael looked up. His father winced, as if in pain. “There are intense emotions tied to this locket. Don’t talk about it or show it to anyone. Some things are better left hidden.”

Aael nodded and Caden removed his hand. The locket sat on the game board surrounded by Bandt pieces. On Aael’s side a Keeper and Messenger, on his father’s side a Mind and Silent Mage. In between, next to the locket, a solitary piece, the High Judge. Aael stared, confused. This wasn’t how they’d left the game. Had someone else been here? Had someone moved the pieces?

“The pieces have moved,” Aael said.

“Bandt always reveals the truth of things,” Caden replied.

Aael hated when his dad talked like that. It never made any sense. He picked up the locket and cradled it in his palm. He softy ran a finger over it, afraid to damage it. The crafter had etched the scene with impossibly fine lines. He found the edge and opened it. A folded piece of paper fell to the table, but he ignored it, as the inside of the locked took his full attention.

Aael looked up at his father. “What is it?”

“Something unexpected,” Caden said.

“Is it a gem?”

“No, a very special wood.”

Aael shook his head. “I don’t recognize it.”

“Few would.”

“Is it a northern tree?”

Caden shook his head. “You can find it there, but it is much more common here.”

Aael furrowed his brow. He knew all the local trees, had climbed them all. None of them looked like the locket. He narrowed his eyes and considered the grove of trees inside the abbey. “But they’re grey,” Aael said as he held up the white locket.

Caden nodded. “The Mageblood trees produce black Aln, their skin is grey, and their core,” Caden pointed to the locket, “Is white.”

“I thought they were indestructible,” Aael said.

Caden looked down and whispered. “Like a man, they can be broken.”

“So, it’s a rare piece of jewelry?” Aael asked.

“Maybe, but its purpose is protection, a shield that absorbs magic. Watch,” Caden said. “I’m going to use magic on you.”

Aael studied the inside of the locket. The left side contained an engraved Hakka.

sandstorm rages, love

strolls hand in hand, forever,

laughing at the sand

On the right side a couple walked through a sandstorm, their figures blurred by the sand, the sun a faint disk. As Aael watched, the sun grew more defined. Brighter? The sand sparkled, and he looked up at his dad.

“Keep watching,” Caden said.

Aael returned his attention to the locket. The sand around the couple moved, and the sun, while brighter, remained obscured by the swirling sand. He rubbed his hand across the surface but felt nothing. The movement took place inside the wood. He had ever seen anything so amazing.

“It’s converting you magic into movement. How?” Aael whispered.

“I don’t know,” Caden said.

“You said it was powerful.”

Caden nodded. “It absorbs magic so efficiently, hardly any energy escapes as light. The locket doesn’t even need to be open. A massive energy sink like that is an advantage against any mage.”

“Why is Mom giving it to me?” Aael asked.

“It will protect you,” Caden said.

“If you’ve never seen one, why haven’t you pried its history out of Mom?” Aael asked.

“Have you ever gotten anything from your mom she wanted to keep?” Caden asked.

“No.”

Caden folded his hands. “This is one of those things. You can’t talk to her about it.”

“I just don’t understand why she’s so emotional about this locket.”

Caden shrugged. “It’s not for us to understand. It was your mother’s. She told me she wanted you to have it. Enjoy the gift for what it is.”

Aael nodded. He set the locket down, picked up the small piece of paper, and looked at his dad.

Caden pointed at the paper. “It contains your birth name. The Abbot gave it to you the day you were born.”

“Birth name?”

Caden leaned forward. “There is an abundance of energy surrounding a birth. In the North, a name, never used, is given to a child in the first minutes of life. The name is a backdoor to your identity. It is powerful and dangerous. Never let anyone know it, as they could use it against you.” Caden paused to let his warning resonate and then continued. “But it can help protect you as it lives at the foundation of your mind.”

Aael unfolded the thin sheet of paper, saw the Abbot’s familiar handwriting, and immediately recognized the name. The Abbot used it daily. The same name he’d used to bring Aael back from the darkness. He sighed and looked at the name again.

Si’Aln.