Jacob looked over to Iszalie as she looked out over the city – he did not want to interrupt her, but the need to comfort her was urging him to go to her side. He looked back down at the scroll. It seemed to say exactly what the old woman had said, but he was distracted by Iszalies last question.
Did the queen’s grandmother have something to do with Luia falling?
Jacob traced his finger across the map outlining the bordered lands of Aelia and Luia. He looked down at the seals and signatures towards the bottom. His stomach churned at the additional seal with no signature – only a solid circle of white.
Jacob turned to the doors of the chamber as they opened. Daon led Chev and Matthew in. Chev hurriedly moved to Jacob and hugged him ‘Blessings to the mother’
Jacob smiled and looked over to Daon, ‘How goes the patrol?’ Daon moved a chair out and sat down, and before answering he looked over towards his sister. He looked back at Jacob and smiled
‘It goes well commander, your men have been a great help’
‘I am glad. And how be you?’ Jacob asked Mathew who looked over to the Queen, then looked back and fixed his stare on the unravelled scroll on the table.
‘Well, thank you Jacob’
Jacob smiled down at Matthew. He looked at the bruise starting on his left cheek. He turned back and tapped the parchment.
‘Do you know what this is Matthew? Jacob watched as the old scholar looked back at the scroll. He nodded. ‘Is there anything more to this parchment than what is plain to see?’
Matthew looked at Daon seeking permission to go towards it. Daon lifted his legs up onto the table and crossed them. He nodded. The old man looked over the scroll pulling his looking glass out to examine it. He hesitantly placed his hand on it and Jacob noticed an almost ecstatic response to its touch. He only faintly heard Matthew whisper under his breath ‘it’s been so long.’
‘Matthew, we were advised that you may be able to help us to understand more about the treaty and the significance of the Estrus’
‘By whom?’ he said not lifting his gaze from the parchment
‘That is of no concern to you scholar.’ All eyes turned to Iszalie as she turned around and looked at Matthew ‘simply tell us if there is more than scribbled nonsense on that paper’
Matthew looked down at the parchment and lightly rubbed his fingers along the inked words and returned to studying it. Jacob watched as Iszalie moved slowly towards them. She stopped at Chev and looked down at her
‘Are you well?’ Chev turned red and lowered her gaze
‘Yes Majesty, thank you’ Iszalie moved towards the head of the table and lifted her gaze to Daon. She smiled then turned to Matthew ‘well?’
Matthew looked at his Queen ‘Majesty, it is as it is, the treaty of the two lands signed by each sovereign and a representative of the Order Lords’ Iszalie casually turned away from Matthew and moved toward her throne, before seating herself she whispered ‘Did you bring the message runes?’
Matthew nodded as he pulled them from his pocket. Chev gasped as she looked at them.
‘They have the markings like the ones in the below world’
Mathew looked at her and then Jacob ‘You never mentioned one had returned from where your friend disappeared’
Jacobs brow creased as he looked at the scholar, ‘I didn’t feel it was significant, is it?’ Matthew shrugged his shoulders.
Iszalie slammed her fists on the armrests of her throne; she sighed and looked at Matthew ‘Read the runes’
Matthew threw the stones on top of the parchment. They scattered, and then settled. Each stone stopped and formed the shape of a diamond.
He gathered the stones again holding them against his heart, his eyes closed, he breathed slowly and gently threw them back onto the parchment, this time they all grouped toward one side.
‘Who visited you majesty?’ Iszalie carefully stood and walked towards Matthew, she stopped by his side and glanced down at the four message runes; Jacob expected an angry response, and was taken aback by the softness in her tone, ‘A man, reminding me of my obligation’ Matthew picked the runes up and handed them to Iszalie.
‘Please cast these Majesty’ Iszalie opened her hand as Matthew lowered the runes into her palm; closing her fingers she released them, they scattered to each corner once again then moved slowly to the same spot off the map that they had grouped before. She looked at Matthew urging an explanation; he shook his head and slowly spoke
‘You must read the cast Majesty’
With hesitation Iszalie spoke ‘A true carrier has been born, the roots now converge’
The room was so silent a pin drop would echo loudly. Jacob looked around; everyone seemed to be holding his or her breath. Matthew slowly moved back to a chair, and leant back breathing in slowly as he closed his eyes, quietly whispering he spoke to the room
‘And so it shall begin’
Iszalie looked at Matthew then crossed back to her throne and sat down. She looked at her hands and began twirling her fingers around, ‘Why is it significant that the four roots converge?’ she asked not looking at anyone.
Matthew looked around the room and sighed ‘Because if the roots converge, then there will be another war. The Order Lords will try and destroy this union, because then they will no longer be the rulers of this world’
‘They are not the rulers of this world scholar, each land rules under their own dominion’ Daon added flippantly
‘That is true, in a sense highness’ Matthew proceeded carefully ‘but each land governs themselves purely because the Order Lords allow them to. It is in their best interest to keep the lands separated’
Jacob looked over to Matthew ‘Why would it be in their best interest? They have had no involvement in our daily lives since the peace treaty was signed’
‘That is true commander, but they are the reason there are four lands today.’
Jacob scratched his forehead in confusion, and crossed over to the old scholar. He looked at Matthew carefully.
‘Elaborate’
Matthew looked up to Jacob ‘The Old War was fought between the four lands as we know them today.’ Jacob nodded ‘It was the Order Lords who proposed the ancient law and thus sanctioned things as we know it, with one condition. Do not interfere or associate with another land’ Jacob nodded again, not sure he was making sense of Matthews words, ‘If the roots converge, if the lands converge, then it will go against the control the Order Lords have over the world’
‘That doesn’t make any sense scholar’ Daon said as he loudly stood up ‘Are you saying that the Order Lords keep us separated for a reason?’
Matthew nodded ‘Yes Highness’
‘Why?’
Matthew started to speak but stopped when Iszalie interrupted,
‘Because united we will be more powerful than they want’ Iszalie stood and moved across the room to the table. She picked the scroll and looked it over. Everyone stopped short when she tore the scroll in two and threw it to the ground.
‘It doesn’t matter why it is important for the Order Lords to keep the lands separated. Both treaties are now broken. The Estrus is revealed, and not returned. Luia now reside within Aelian borders, breaking the ancient law. Times have changed.’ Iszalie looked coldly at Matthew ‘what say you now scholar’? Matthew looked at his Queen dumbfounded. He had no words.
The room remained silent. No one was sure as to what to do next. Jacob looked around the room at his companions. Everyone seemed lost in thought. He looked at Iszalie, who was now sitting in her throne. Her face was unreadable, Jacob thought at times she seemed upset and then a hint of exaltation covered her face.
The act of tearing the treaty in two made him feel both elated and fearful. He didn’t know the full implication of Iszalies actions, but a part of him was more drawn to her disregard for the Order Lords and their supposed dominion over their world. Jacob moved toward the table and sat next to Chev. She looked at him and smiled. He th
ought about Elder Lin, laying in the makeshift shelter back in Luia. Did she know that not turning the Estrus over to the Order Lords would destroy Luia? Did she care? He shook his head, growing angry at the thought. No one knew exactly why the attack had happened, and if it at all had anything to do with that stone.
The Estrus. Jacob knew only the myth. But the more he learnt, the more he grew loathsome of this stone. So many secrets surrounded it. So many questions unanswered. Jacob thought about Teanne having the stone. He missed her so much. He found himself most nights looking toward the mountains that surrounded Aelia, still hopeful she would walk down the pass and into his arms. It seemed like an eternity since he had thought about her for more than a few moments. He lowered his head, Teanne was not returning, he needed to face it. Matthew had in some way confirmed this, if she was in possession of the Estrus, then she too would face its curse.
Jacob looked over to Chev, who was looking over the message runes. He watched as she lightly touched the stones. She stopped and looked straight ahead. The hairs on Jacobs’s arms stood up. He moved toward her and turned her around to face him. His arms dropped to his side. Her eyes were clouded over; they seemed to be staring at something but nothing. He gently shook her. Chev started mumbling.
‘With every carrier is born two, one to create, and one to destroy’
Jacob shook Chev again. Her head fell backwards; it was as if he was shaking a rag doll, ‘With every carrier is born two, one to create, one to destroy’
‘Chev!’ Jacob felt the panic rise in him, she didn’t respond ‘Chev, what are you saying?’ Jacob flinched as a bright light flooded the room, he looked down at the runes; they were glowing brightly.
‘Chev!’ Jacob yelled at his friend ‘what are you saying?’ Jacob shook her a little harder, and she finally stopped and looked up into his eyes. Chev lifted her hand and lightly wiped an imaginary tear from the side of his face
‘Death is coming’
Jacob looked down at Chev, and noticed a small trickle of blood drip from her nose, her head suddenly fell backward, and her body slammed to the floor. Jacob stood completely frozen, he couldn’t think straight. Daon rushed over and knelt next to Chev, he lightly wiped a strand of hair away from her face. He looked up at Jacob
‘What happened?’
Jacob couldn’t settle his mind; he looked at his friend lying on the marble floor. Daon yelled at him, finally pulling him out of his own thoughts ‘Jacob, what happened’?
‘I don’t know, she was mumbling something about a carrier, then fell to the floor’ Jacob knelt next to Chev and Daon, he felt her head; she was burning with fever. He felt so helpless.
Daon gently lifted her up, ‘I will get her to our healers Jacob, I will look after her I promise’ Jacob fell to the floor his head falling heavily into his hands, the familiar feeling of the world crashing in on him began filling every part of his being, he was finding it difficult to breathe, he looked around the room -it was spinning. He stopped and looked at Iszalie. Her eyes filled with suspicion, he flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at Matthew
‘She will be all right Jacob, come please sit for a while; catch your thoughts.’
'I don’t understand what just happened, Matthew?"
Matthew squeezed Jacobs’s shoulder again, 'The runes are called the message runes for a reason -they reveal themselves in strange ways. Your friend is very attuned, I would say because she has visited a below world or because she has developed certain skills that has enabled her to act as a medium for them, only a few very special people are able to do what she just did.'
‘What did she mean by death is coming?’ Matthew shook his head,
‘I’m not sure Jacob. What else did she say?’
‘Something about with every carrier is born two, one to create, one to destroy, what does that mean’ Jacob pushed his fingers through his head. Mathew squeezed his shoulder and moved over to the Queen,
‘Majesty, may I speak with you in private?’ Iszalie nodded.
The man in black smiled as he lifted his hands above the message runes. He waited until the glow subsided. Waving his hands over the runes, they slowly disappeared into the altar. He looked around the room and smiled triumphantly.
AELIA – Night