Lilian’s Point of View Chapter 3

                       Verger stepped quickly through the double doors, the sound of his lame leg scrapping the stone and the click of his good leg were all she could hear beyond them, and they were slowly fading to nothing. 

A whimper split her intense concentration as Urzest pressed against her, feeling her fear. Siratis began patting the huge cat but could not bring herself to speak. The past had caught up with her and she would walk down memory lane once more, but her memory lane was more like a nightmare that unfolded with sharp knives of regret. This time, though, it would be worse. This time she would not allow the mistakes of her past to come to fruition. The petty squabbles that ruled her mind were far behind her and she could see clearly the motives that were laid out from everyone she looked upon. She would find the true nature of Charles and hopefully a way to dethrone him without…..“I can’t allow this to continue. Charles got what he deserved but I can’t let Alysia….”

The slap of a tapestry to her right brought her out of her musings once more and before she realized what she had done, she gripped the flapping texture filled cloth with her left hand and nearly dropped the cane in the process. A tear slowly leaked out of her left eye.

“Baggett skin?” Siratis mused to Urzest, expecting no answer but hoping the distraction would take her mind from the name she just stated in her head. She did not know where this particular tapestry had come from since Baggett skin was nearly impossible to obtain and therefore highly expensive. Not something Charles, nor any of his fathers would have purchased. “A gift, perhaps?”

Verger was there again, he had walked almost directly on her before the smell of metal and the thump-shh caught her attention. She started slightly and gripped her cane, loosing the tapestry back on its whirling flight of madness. 

“Follow me.” Verger’s strange language came to her ears and she tried to act as though she had not been frightened. The vibrating voice echoed through the great hallways and even Urzest seemed to start slightly.

She turned and followed the great metal man into the hall of nobles, or the great hall as it was called, and tried to keep her bones from shaking. For the first time in years, she was scared, though not from Verger’s surprise, but rather the encounter that would soon take place. As she entered, she had everyone’s attention and there was whispering here and there about the evil things she had supposedly wrought upon the lands. It was always interesting to hear people, especially political and noble people, speak of her “evils” as though they knew even a fifth of what she had done, or as though they were clean of such sins themselves. “Hypocrites.”

Verger walked them to the center of the hall and pointed to a certain spot where all that were before the council would stand so that everyone could see and hear them. Urzest sat partially down, but stayed ever ready to defend anything that might come their way. 

“How might I be of service to one such as you, Great Siratis?” The voice came across as accusing, what she had done was regrettable, but she could not allow one with such a narrow scope of the probe continue ruling in one of the most strategic lands on the probe. The man was standing in the way of progress and was evil to the core. Still, she couldn’t speak, something about this moment, something about him. She had been back to Zerror many times over the revolutions, but never had she come back to the moment, or even met this man in any of them. The Old Man had kept her away from him, stating that it would cause more harm than good. If she was going to stop the plans, though, she had to finish this. She had to speak. She’d made the trip from her home all this way, under cover of many spells to ensure that the Old Man wouldn’t see her and hopefully avoiding the watchful eye of She That is Before Me. She had spent years combing over this plan and setting up each step to ensure that she could have the chance, the option, the ability and the materials to make this moment come to fruition and she was not going to waste all of that planning, hard work and effort simply because she was afraid of Charles. A man that was nothing more than a monster before her and nothing more than a fool on a throne. She was going to tell him what she came to say. Tell him what she needed him to hear. She was going to lay it all out and then see the monster within him rise up and smote her. She would end this, NOW. Nothing came out.

“Is something wrong?” Charles asked, true concern in his haunting voice. A trait she had missed as a child and only now could comprehend in the evil king. “Why is he concerned of an old woman like me. No concern for his child, but he shows it for me. How  evil is this man.”

“No, my lord. I am fine.” She managed, but she wanted to yell at him instead. She wanted to grab him by the throat, lift him off the ground and scream, “Why!” repeatedly. A childish gesture, to be sure, but she was feeling more like a child with each passing moment. “I…I have a message from my Master.” 

“Siratis? You have a master? I thought a woman of your stature would answer to no one.” The question was simple and he was truly surprised at the idea, but nearly everyone in the room giggled as though the king had told an interesting joke. She watched the King as disappointment covered his features, not for the witch before him, but for those that stood at his council. He was annoyed by their laughter at her. “What might it be that your master has sent you all this way to tell me?” He followed up as he looked scornfully at the rest of the room.

“The Emperor of Achillios is mobilizing against Colmenia.” Siratis stated and the giggling stopped, dead. The emperor of Achillios was the most feared man on the probe and his reputation was well deserved, for he was just as monstrous as everyone believed him to be, if not even more so. Siratis had once witnessed the Emperor destroy and entire city because they there might have been someone hiding in the city that had upset him the day before. He burned it to the ground and killed everyone within it’s walls simply because he had been treated badly by one of its inhabitants. All of that, and he was laughing while the magic was passing through his hands to kill them all. He was truly sadistic and if not for Chris Melaney and the throne of Zerror he would have all but taken over the other continents by this time, with only the Palama Islands and the Isle of the Apple being “safe” from his tyranny. But Charles was a bad king and through his stupidity loses the realm to the Emperor and with it all hope of keeping his hordes at bay.

The silence was a void, devouring every sound and the feeling of power washed over her as only once before in her life. The mere thought of war with Achillios brought even Charles up short on words. Siratis reveled in the moment as her childhood foolishness started to creep back to her mind. Then she realized what was happening and she grit her teeth with great effort and pushed on, all the while feeling more hypocritical than any in the room. “I should just do it. Right now, just kill the damned king and let it all rest on me. Then she wouldn’t have to fight him and overcome his tyrannical foolishness.  He is foul and deserves whatever he gets.”

“After his people land in Colmenia, they will begin cutting a swath across the land and try to conquer Cross Roads. My lord, to conquer all of Colmenia, they will have to assassinate certain allies of that great country. You sit on the seat of power as the major ally to Colmenia.” She paused for a moment, noticing a mood change in the majority of the room and she could feel Urzest begin to watch the crowd much more sternly as she began to pace ever so slowly back and forth from one side to the other. Siratis had to press her hind end down to get her to sit, but the position was not something the great cat was going to make permanent. These men were some of the smartest in all the land, but their minds were closed to the ideas and possibilities of anything out of the ordinary. This crowd was now turning on her, a problem she could foresee. If she made a move to the king, they would kill her. She had thought of this many times and never came this far, but Charles had to be removed. She would explain to him what was going to happen and then cut him down herself, making everyone believe that the Koltu had a hand in his death. Should that happen, the Emperor would be blamed and everyone on the probe would go after him. At least all the people that truly mattered in the coming war, but she had to bide her time to ensure that he would be killed and not just hurt. A martyr is one thing, but if he wasn’t killed, then he would make the original decisions that would tear the country apart. “The Emperor plans to assassinate you and take your throne by force.”

The room exploded and Urzest stood once more with a low growl resonating just under the screams. The yells died down slightly as certain members screamed over the rest. Siratis noticed, though, that those she had once trusted the least where the only ones that seemed level headed now, for each sat still while the others screamed. She could feel their power built and ready to defend the king should this be something more than just an announcement, but none of the three houses stood now with their fists in the air yelling as the others where. She thought at first that it was something she had imagined, but then she realized that the king wasn’t moving either. They were the worst of the worst, these three houses and the King. Daniel had taught her that, but here they sat, the calm of a great storm. “Maybe they are just biding their time.”.

“Liar!” Fenkral Kanult shouted as he stood from his seat, the great feather upon his hat bobbing wildly as he spoke and shook. His shoulders seemed out of sorts since they were nearly as big as his head with the puffs that resided there. His neck was pressed up with a Unial that extended into the kremal that he wore. The unial is a turtleneck like garment that is placed upon clothing to give it a more regal appearance and usually puffed up or has some sort of ruffles to it. In this case, the unial was actually sown into the kremal, a long tunic that looked much like a dress only closer to the body, and only puffed at the neck. The unial extruded from the kremal in the back and became a medium cape that hung down to mid-thigh on Fenkral’s legs. In all, he looked odd, but not out of place. His hat was turned in a sharp skew on his head so that the feather and the hat were opposing one another. “No one can conquer Cross Roads! James Melaney sits upon the throne and none can defeat him. Everyone knows the history of the Melaneys and nothing will ever remove them from that throne! You are nothing but a lying witch!” 

Urzest started forward, but Siratis reined her in and waited for an attack from any direction. She waited, knowing that the assassin would draw first blood. They could not allow this information to go uncontested or Charles would build up his guard and make their job twice as hard. They would have no choice but to kill her now and with her death call the whole thing a lie. She would follow that assassins shot and they would die with her.  “Here is the moment, this is the time. We will kill the assassin before they can get their job done and then the girl will have to back down from her plans. It is the only thing we have not tried as thus far. It must be the answer?”

“Hold your tongue!” Charles chided and the room fell silent. Siratis was astonished. She did not remember her father commanding such authority within his hold. She always thought of him as timid and week. Maybe there was more to the man than she had once believed. “Every empire falls at one point or another. Otherwise the old would never make way for the new. Do not think that even the great Melaneys are immune to change. Only the Suprema can overpower change and in their great wisdom they choose not to push their hands against it. Should we then believe that we are smatter than they? Are you willing to stand against the flood of change, Lord Kanult?” 

There was no answer form anyone in the room. Siratis was more than confused, she was shocked. Charles had always been presented to her as fumbling fool. Everything he did took something away from her and turned out to be the wrong thing in the long run. He was a foolish man with no plan of the future and wasn’t the rightful king to his throne. She knew all of this, but the man before her today was much more together than she once remembered. “Something isn’t right here. Something has changed but I do not understand what it is? Has my medaling altered this timid and foolish king to be a true leader? Can’t be, I haven’t done anything yet.” 

Lord Kanult finally answered, though annoyed at the question and being called out in front of everyone. “I understand that things change, sir. The witch before you lies though. There is not a force on this probe that is strong enough to take James from his throne. Even the Supre Malds have tried and failed. She must be here for another reason, to attack you or one of us.” 

“I sense nothing of that from her. Though I do see that she is searching the crowd for something and has her guard up. But that can be explained by your sudden rush of power. Are you planning on using that? If so, realize that, though she be a witch, a label of which I did not call her, she is a guest in my home and shall be treated as such. Should you attack her, you will be attacking me, Fenkral.”

Siratis was in awe at this point. Not just due to the fact that Charles had called out one of the nobles, which she never believed him to have the spine to do, but also because he could see her guard was up. She had drawn energy and mana from her pools starting from the time she got off of the carriage to now, making certain not to make any noise as she drew it. Only a true master would be able to see her aura and none could have heard her charge. “He is far more powerful than I ever believed. He is willing to fight with the other nobles to ensure that a guest isn’t harmed, but he doesn’t know me at all. This is not the man that I once knew.”

“Siratis?” Charles’ voice rang out over her own concentration. “Are you alright?” 

She only now realized that she had been standing there for quite a while, lost in thought. She looked around and everyone had been seated as though none would attack her at all, but the revelation should have made at least one or two of them come after her. She had just threatened their king, though not directly, and as such at least one of them should have tried to take her down. She wasn’t even sure what to do at this point as she still did not know who the assassin might be. “The assassin is in this room, I am certain of it. I need to find them and root them out before she arrives to interfere. How do I draw them out now. Thought the last thing would have done it.

“Lady Siratis, was there more? Are you alright?” Charles asked as Siratis was pulled out of her thoughts, only now realizing that she had been silent for another great spell of time. The room, though, was just as quite as she, for none would act out without permission from the king or without good cause. “I am alright. I apologize. There is more, great king. The assassin is in this room right now.”

Charles held a hand up to the crowd before anyone could stand and none moved. The shock of the accusation was ringing on them and she could tell that it stung a few of them, but she could not tell which one was the actual assassin. She was waiting on them to show their hand, but that hand was still hidden to her sight and she had no clue of how to bring them out. 

“Then that person needs to be rooted out. Thank you for telling me their identity before entering the castle today. I will use that information in just a moment to ensure that they get what is coming to them.” Charles lied as he looked her straight in the eyes. She could tell that he was actually looking at her directly, but his vision was set to scan the room. He was using peripheral vision to see who might make the first move. She was in awe once again of his quick wittedness and his ability to adjust his manor to match it without knowing the whole story. He either believed her enough to play her game, or was playing a game on her that she could not figure out. The large hood hid the fact that her mouth was standing agape. “Step forward, assassin, before I have to pull you out kicking and screaming.”

The room was deathly silent and everyone was eyeing everyone. The king had never accused anyone directly of anything in this hall. When he was going to accuse someone of anything, they would be pulled to the side and the issue would be pointed out. If there were an assassin, they would be just as shocked as the rest of them at his attitude and the fact that he was trusting some witch at their word. Witches were never to be trusted, they were akin to devils or demons. Wiccans were great to have around, but the witch had sold her soul and would take yours whenever they could.

“Not going to step forward, fine. The I will pull you forward with a spell, but the spell is uncontrollable and once I have started it I will not be able to stop. It will search out the perpetrator and go into there bodies. When the spell works its magic, it will twist the insides of the person into a small ball and they will then cough the ball out of their throat and onto the floor, dying a most horrible death. You all know the power I posses, reveal yourself and I will not kill you horribly. Do not, and your death will be epic.” Charles lied again. Siratis could see that he had no intention on killing anyone, with or without a spell. It was all a ruse, but the people in the room apparently thought that he had ample power and mastery to do exactly as he stated, because over half of them brought up magic shields in defense and all that did were pouring power into those shields. “What is he going to do when they call his bluff?” 

“Very well.” Charles stated and then lifted his hands from the chair and stood dramatically. The pull of magic was low at first and Siratis thought she had been write about her assumptions that he was not nearly as powerful as everyone thought him to be, but then the low hum became a low roar, and then the low roar became a thundering pulse that nearly deafened her sensitive ears.  His body began to crackle with the magic as if flowed around him and the energy that he was now pulling into himself was such that could have destroyed the chair behind him if not for his control. He had drawn so much power about himself in such a short time that the room itself began to crackle and everyone was feeling his draw. It was something Siratis had seen before when she fought a Supre Mald, but she never dreamt that Charles possessed such power, much less was able to control it to the degree at which he was now. Even for show, this was amazing. “Now, step forward or die in a horrible way.”

“Stop!” A voice came from within the crowd. “I can not die that way.”

Everyone looked in awe as only Siratis realized that the crackling power which was just swirling around Charles and which was actually lifting him off the ground was not gone as quickly as it had arrived. He had a small magical shield about himself but the rest of the power was simply removed from him. Her eyes blinked, though it was an old reaction to shock and not one for wetting her blind eyes. “Where did the power go? He could not have simply sent it back. Only the Malds and Supre Malds have that ability. Gods that draw on power of such magnitude have to release it on the world or consume it in some way. They can not simply wave a hand and remove it from existence. It has to go somewhere. This is not the man that was taught about. This is not the Charles that I knew. Something is definitely wrong here.”

“No. Nothing is wrong.” The voice came from everywhere. In the moment that the voice spoke, everything around Siratis froze in time. Not one person moved, not one thing sounded off. Only she and the voice were present now and her eyes were no long voided of sight. She looked around the room and saw the people all turning to a young man that was standing just in front of the others, his head hang low. Urzest was in the process of surveying the crowd when she was frozen and her feline eyes were locked on the boys. Charles, a wry smirk on his face was frozen with one hand half risen while the other lay leisurely to his side. She then saw that Fenkral Kanult was pulling something out of Sandrac’s left pocket while Sandrac looked at the boy. “This is exactly as it was when you were here.”

“It isn’t, my lady.” Siratis disagreed, but bowed to show her respect for the deity that just entered the great hall. “He is not what I remember at all.”

“Yours was the skewed memory of troubled child that knew nothing of the probe and how it was run. You were manipulated and lied to so often that none of your memorizes can be trusted. What you thought of him isn’t what he was. It was what you were trained to believe he was and nothing was going to change that. Not until you saw it for yourself. Which is why I allowed you to make this trip, against my order.”

“It wasn’t against your order, my Lady. You stated that I was not to come here and attack Charles under any circumstances. I am not. I am forcing her plans to alter or stop all together.” Siratis countered, hoping she would not be in too much trouble.

“I see.” Was all that the deity replied and then the pure light embodiment shifted from Siratis and moved over to Charles. She looked him up and down and then placed a hand on his cheek. The light from her hand seemed to alter something within the man, but nothing changed to Siratis’ eyes. “You realize that you have changed very little. But what you changed will come back to haunt you. This will cause a rift that you will not enjoy and the nightmares it will bring will be worse than those of your mother’s.”

“Nothing could be worse than knowing what I did to my mother. I will take whatever comes with this if it will finally end the loop. We have to find a way through the loop and to get on with eternity, one way or another.” Siratis gritted her teeth when she spoke of her mother. Knowing what hell she had placed her was more than she could bear, and the after effects of that encounter left scars on Siratis that traveled through all the ages. Three thousand years and she still regretted that one decision. “If you wish me to stop, then simply remove me from this plane and place me where you want me. I am your willing pawn.”

“No.” The voice disagreed. “You are one of my Knights and possibly a Queen to come. The changes that you have made will stay in place, but you will make them every time going forward. So says She!”

With that the room went back to normal, Siratis was blind once more and she could hear all the people whispering to one another. She felt ashamed for going against orders, even if it wasn’t truly against them. She had owed everything she was to “She that is Before me” and the old man, but she had to do something. She had to put an end to this and there was no other way.

“Step forward, boy.” Verger spoke, appearing out of no where and just to the right of the boy. He was holding a battle axe that Siratis had not seen before and it looked like a toy in his massive arm.

“I…” The boy started, but Charles held up a hand.

“We will discuss this in private. The council will disband in just a moment and we will get to the bottom of what is going on here. Verger, take him to a cell.” Charles commanded, but the boy moved like lightning and shot a bolt at Charles as he dove through the air toward Siratis. Siratis, in turn, moved with just as much speed and waved her staff at the boy, who promptly burst into flame from the bones out. His body was consumed in a matter of seconds and fell to the floor as a pile of ash, some smokily wafting over the crowd on the right side of the room.

Charles defended the attack with ease and even stopped the bolt in mid-air. The power that was behind that bolt was such that it could have leveled the entire room if it had hit anything, but it was suspended there as if the deity had returned to stop time once more. There was no deity, though, only Charles. The powerhouse that he was and the clever fighter that stood before her now. Not the evil, twisted version of himself that she had always known, but a true king as far as she could see thus far.

“Siratis!” Charles exclaimed as he closed his hand and the bolt vanished into nothingness. “Are you alright?”

“She killed him!” Fenkral shouted as he shot to his feet.

“I believe that we see that.” Sandrac retorted.

“What secrets has she now taken from us?” Fenkral’s daughter asked as sharp and annoyingly as her father.

“We would have gotten nothing from the boy.” Siratis explained as she placed both hands on the top of her cane. “He was part of the Koltu.”

There was no more explanation needed for the room fell silent once more. They would not be able to identify the boy, or connect him to the Koltu directly, but just the idea of a Koltu member being part of their council room was distressing. The Koltu was an assassin ring that would do hits for hire. They were so well known that even the mercenaries would drop a gig if they found out that a Koltu member was somewhere in the area. Entire castles had fallen to a single man due to the fact that he stated he was part of the Koltu and everyone in the castle decided to let the castle go rather than face the perils of the Koltu. No one would claim themselves a member that was not and none would state that someone was a member that was not, as the curse of the Koltu would catch up with them. This declaration was astonishing, scary, and completely true.

“How can you believe her?” Fenkral shouted, not letting Charles get a word in. “He was the only witness to her story and now he is conveniently dead. If she is as powerful as she stated, then she could have easily incapacitated the boy without burning him to complete ash. We would have been able to question him and find out his accomplices.” 

“He has a point.” Charles stated as he glared at Fenkral for his blatant rudeness. 

“I brought proof with me. To ensure that everyone here knew my intentions and those of the would be assassin. I wasn’t certain which one of you was the assassin and had to draw him out. I did not want to tip my hand until I knew who I was dealing with. Also, the boy had on him a spell that would have obliterated this room had he had the time to fire it. Myself and a handful of others would have survived it, but Fenkral, you would not have been among them.” Siratis answered as she pointed her stick slightly in his direction to emphasis what she was saying. “This, boy, has already killed three on your staff and taken the place of one of them. As a record, the Koltu never assign a hit to a new assassin alone, which means this “boy” was not here by himself. I am positive that he was the only one in this chamber, but somewhere else in your castle there are at least two others waiting to finish the job.”

“What is this proof, you speak of?” Sandrac stood and waved a hand in front of his face to remove the shield he had placed only moments before. He was an older man with long gray wisps of hair that seemed to dance across his face as he moved. His long mustache was thick and seemed to be alive as he spoke. His long gray hair was tied in a tail behind his head and his piercing eyes were brilliant blue and shaded with gray and orange, the two magics he infused through his body when fighting. “I think we can all sit a little easier if we know that your story is complete and true.”

“Agreed.” Fenkral snapped. He was bobbing his head slightly around the room and the feather on his head danced as if at a concert. 

“You have no need of producing anything further.” Charles interrupted and stepped toward Siratis. She winced slightly as his movement, not certain what she was afraid of, or if it were fear at all. She was waiting on him to attack her as she had always figured he would in the past. This man had proven, so far, to be something more than she remembered, but what if that was a facade. She started to put up her guard, but let it fall completely, figuring if she were killed here and now, at least it would be over. Urzest stood and turned toward Charles as Siratis tried to quite the beast. “My wife told me of our encounter and explained that all of this would happen. She told me that if you killed the assassin, to hold everything you stated true. She told me that if you attacked Fenkral, that what you were saying was false. I am glad you made the right decision.” 

“The queen had another vision.” Fenkral gasped.

“She foresaw this moment.” Sandrac asked also in awe.

“Yes. If she tells me to trust you, then you shall be trusted.” Charles stated as he walked right up to Urzest, knelt down slowly and began to pet the large cat.

“Wha…?” Was all that Siratis could muster. She was flabbergasted. She had always believed that Charles hated his wife and kept her around just for the pure joy of torturing her at night. He would never have believed anything she told him. He had proven time and again what a poor father he was and poor husband. Breaking his word to his child and putting his wife in danger. He had….“It was all lies. Everything Daniel told me was a lie. Everything about this man was a lie! My whole life has been…”

The doors to the main chamber swung open and a young woman strolled in as everyone turned to the door and watched her vibrant announcement. Charles stood and looked on her with a half smile on his face, but not a smile that told of happiness and pure love. This smile was a hold back, a fake, something you would use when hiding true emotions under the surface. This was the smile of father who was displeased with a child but didn’t want anyone else to know it. Charles was displeased with the person at the door and wanted to keep everyone else in the dark, but Urzest’s keen eyes did not miss it. 

“Hello, Father.” Lillian stated as she strolled into the room.