Athena gestured and a spear from one of the guards flew away from him and she caught it before pointing out the tip and the two broad blade points as she continued.
"You three were to be my spearhead, Lord Walter this sharp point that would splinter and pierce deep into all that he encountered while you and Happy would support and strengthen him. The two of you would give to him the strength he would need even as you both would widen that splinter, which he created, into a gaping hole. That together you three would end the threat of the necromancers that were plaguing these lands." She spun the spear and then drove the tip down into the floor at her feet.
With a deafening crash, the spear sunk into the stone creating a yawning hole as it sunk ever deeper into that stone floor, until the room below saw the tip emerge from the ceiling. She let go of the spear and it flew back to the guard. Both guards stared at the spear as it sat on its end, resting on the floor between them. One guard's trembling hand slowly reached out and took it. He marveled at the blade, seeing that not one millimeter had been marred by the stone.
"But at every turn your free will or another's got in the way of my plans. I have to admit, sometimes I curse free will. Despite all my efforts to keep you from having to make that choice, to persuade you to chose otherwise, you made the decision, from my perspective yet again. The decision that I didn't want you to make, thanks to free will and the manipulations and magic of Drew. It was your decision, however manipulated, that had placed you in mortal jeopardy at the hands of Drew. It was your choice that would see my original plan fail. It caused a long delay at bringing back joy into your life after the death of your Father."
"As well as delaying the return of joy back into the life of Walter as he walked these halls in quiet sadness. Of healing the harrowing pain and sorrow that has consumed Happy these many, many years. So as I watched you make that decision I had to trust in my back up plan to see some of my plan come to pass. Your heart is in sorrow now, thinking I just used you, allowed you to suffer and I understand my daughter."
"But that isn't the case. I only made use of the decisions made by you and those around you. I ask you to consider the sorrow and suffering I did cause to your beloved and his family. The sorrows he has never shared with anyone until you. He shared all of them with you, alone, and no one since. If you recall, it was on that peaceful evening when you pressed him, as the Lord of these lands, as your Lord, to safeguard you as you bathed in that cold pool of water. Even as you knew you were well trained enough that you could have protected yourself."
"I confess I allowed him, my precious sweet little boy, at the tender age of nine to believe he witnessed the utter death of his family on that stormy sea. Allowed them to believe he was dead, having drowned lashed to that mast aboard that ship unable to escape."
"I allowed his Father to live those many years with the anguishing thought that he had caused his own son's grisly demise. Consider how many nights the two of them woke from horrible nightmares. His Father watching as his son struggled against the bonds that he had tied to keep his son safe. Watching his son trying desperately to hold his breath, to escape and watched as the vision of his son inhaling seawater. Only to wake in a cold sweat believing what a monstrous thing he had done."
"In the midst of that pain my sweet boy craved death so bad the ship's captain locked him in his family's cabin. But then as the ship reached that harbor north of Oxinear, he was subjected to the horrible thought that death would be denied him as he was fitted with slave shackles. That he'd live out his life as a slave. That is until Lord Weir finally arrived after much prodding and rescued him. And on the cusp of thinking that he had been rescued, my beloved little child, suffered even more at the hands of so many, including my own. I allowed my child to live in such inhumane and inhospitable conditions. For I did all of that and put him into the hands of people who were almost as disgusting as Mahn."
"Sometimes I wondered if I wasn't just as disgusting by allowing all of that to happen even if there was a purpose behind it. He was surrounded by people who claimed to be my own children but no one ever saw me in their lives. People who lived to regret that sorrow they caused him. But I allowed and used it all so that he would be forged by that unearthly fire. He was forged through all of that pain and suffering into my knight. All so that he would grow up strong and powerful in my light, to become the man beside you. Who loves and treasures you beyond measure."
"How many times did Lord Walter tell you he would relish in the joy of spoiling you with all that was his to give? This was the love I wanted for you both. That all that mattered to each of you was what you would do with all that was within you to make the other happy."
"With Simon forced to abandon you I sent my beloved Elizabeth to save you, to whisk you and my beloved Ralph that I saw placed within you away to safety. To see you trained in my favorite art."
"When things were coming to a critical point I began speaking with you, sharing with you visions of the man with who you'd love and find love. Still you lingered in San Deggo and so I did what I didn't want to do and allow wanted posters to show up to motivate you to move north. When things grew too dangerous for you I arranged followers to move you along. To open doors to ensure you and Ralph were safe amongst close calls and well cared for."
"But without you here I had to arrange another to take your place as part of my spearhead. In the chance that my plan for you failed, I had set in motion years before your choice, that a devote merchant with personal ties to the Queen of Coopers would bring his caravan to travel the dangerous coast of the Pacific Rim. I allowed his caravan to be besieged by the monsters who inhabited that region. And then I sent my knight along with Happy to the lands north of Lord Weir's to rescue them. The Queen readily agreed with the merchant when he returned to honor my knight for his service to the merchant."
"She sent my child Sir Cabe to be liaison to my knight and he became a friend and Father figure to my knight as I planned. It was in part to help heal Sir Cabe's sorrow over the death of his wife and daughter. And that he would find love again and one day would know the love of a child."
Sir Cabe frowned and glanced at Allie who he saw was blushing but she had refused to look at him.
"With this possibility where he took your place within the spearhead it wasn't at its strongest, as I intended, without you. I continued scouring time when I discovered a young man of power who would come to revere me. And I saw a secondary purpose within him and so I brought Sylvester in and with him acting as the socket of that spearhead I had my tool. He reinforced the spearhead while giving it greater strength as he augmented their power with his own. And together they wiped out the necromancers of these lands which were possible without you. With Sir Cabe and Sylvester they started with Mark of Fort Collins."
Athena paused for a moment as she looked at Sylvester and wagged her finger back and forth.
"Never again let those words or thoughts pass with you my child, there is no such thing as a good necromancer. Those you think you have met that are good only bide their time for whatever plans they have to come to be. Allie had good reason to be so upset with you over mistaking her for one. They are an affront to any who value life, regardless to the façade they put on."
Athena looked back to Paige.
"The final necromancer could only be destroyed by my knight but he had to be properly driven to reach the point of power he'd need to see it done. So I was forced to wait for you to finally arrive. Without the years of love between the two of you, that task was in jeopardy. Yours and Ralph's peril were the only things that could help him reach that point now. And so I had to manipulate godless bounty hunters to be in Lancaster at the proper time."
"And then I had to manipulate Toby to feel a thirst that only ale, such as he enjoys, could quench it, for the bounty hunters were cowardly and unwilling to try apprehending you with him and Sylvester present. You need to forgive him Happy, for he had no control over my direction to take Sylvester to have that ale." Athena smiled at Happy before she looked back to Paige.
"I even used the murder of a dear child to bring Lord Walter to meet you finally. And even still, your stubborn streak nearly saw my plans undone again as you grew annoyed at my great knight for not taking you into a dangerous situation that first night at his Keep." Athena smiled seeing the blush to Paige's cheeks.
"I inflicted his sister with a horrible and life threatening disease so that when the time was right his family would seek out their son without knowing it. My children when referring to him called him the Lord of Scorpion Keep. That they'd be reunited in a way that wouldn't cause ruin to Lord Walter as my knight but that would see the family restored from all those sorrows and into joy. That would also bring together another couple I wanted to honor for their faith."
"I directed my children in Los Angeles to give Sean the best deals on the best team of horses and wagon. I directed my merchant children to give Louise the information they'd need to get here safely. But to see them here in time to save Megan's life, I once again called upon Elizabeth to meet with them as they journeyed to Scorpion Keep so that Megan would live long enough to be healed. Not to mention to save them all from those highwaymen who would have killed them all." Athena told them as she looked to Megan and Sylvester and she smiled at their hands joined together.
She looked at Happy who was shaking her head as if silently pleading for her not to expose the truth.
"And then there are the deep and painful sorrows that befell my dear sweet child Happy." Athena said as she reached back out and took Happy's hands in hers. She leaned forward and kissed Happy's forehead before she moved her over closer to Paige and Walter.
"Be calm my sweet daughter, while I must tell part of your story, your sorrows are yours to tell. Before I knew her, she'd suffered so much. She had to live with such despair in her heart and she had chosen to bury those feelings deep within herself. Without your guiding love back then, she never confessed them, as I intended, and so her feelings over them have raged unchecked like a cancer within her. Many of the people around her only saw the meanness of her words and sometimes actions. They never stop to see the love and devotion she has for so many. She never speaks of those events of her life before Lord Walter met her, to anyone, not even to those she loves the most, her best friends. They were meant to be words shared with you in my plan."
"All because of that which I had planned had failed, because of free will. In my plan she was already meant to have been healed from those sorrows. That love and joy would have been restored to her and she'd have married the one I chased clear across this continent with violence since he refused to listen to my voice. That he would be in place to share his deep love with her and then Father a daughter with her three years ago now. And be reunited with her Father who even now toils as a blacksmith in the town of Harris. Be not too concerned about your unborn daughter my child. There is still time, she but waits for her turn in life." Athena reached a hand out towards Toby and without knowing why he stepped forward until Athena took his hands and put Happy's hands in them.
Paige kind of whimpered at that as she quickly looked to Happy and saw her standing there with tears in her wide eyes looking at Toby. Paige reached a hand out towards her. Happy slowly stepped over and just as she got within range Paige pulled her quickly into her arms as she cried how sorry she was into Happy's ear.
"Happy's situation is in part tied to this whole thing as well. Her grandparents were the last of the original line of ancestors that Mahn left his homeland with. As such he'd taken their daughter as a concubine to try and have a child with. The things Mahn did to her had caused damage to her. Her parents took their daughter and what few things they could travel quickly with and fled from Mahn. I saw Simon use his power to shield them from Mahn trying to find them."
"But that damage he'd inflicted first kept her from getting pregnant for many years and then it came to term when Happy's Mother died in childbirth from it. Her death was devastating to Happy's Father. He grieved for her too much. His folks tried to care for her in his absence as her family had left in case Mahn tracked her down through them. Sadly his family didn't live long and at the age of two, Happy found herself in an orphanage in the kingdom of Quinn. Her Father lost himself in cups of ale."
Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! Sorry for those reading Happy Consequences but the story hasn't been speaking much, well none of them have been speaking much. I've written little bits and pieces here and there but nothing substantive. I even started playing a game I gave up almost a year ago. Kind of helped as when I logged out last night at 7pm I had an idea for a future story of this story line and by 9pm it was written. Though I had a thought of a 2nd chapter for it. I'll see how it continues. Hopefully one of the other stories starts talking soon.
Lucy - LOL Sorry, well that part is still on hold until next chapter, the story goes back to Simon. lol
Franxine - Thank you!
Susan - Next chapter for the essence. lol No, she did not love him romantically. But after being manipulated into an estrangement with her Mom, having spells that give the illusion of loving someone and then being many leagues and leagues away from home, she wasn't sure what else too do. Especially with that wholly stubborn thing Lord Walter is so fond of, most of the time. And something she might have passed down to one of the twins...LOL
2LawDog - So glad you are enjoying it! Yep, she had many, many irons in the fire just over this. Imagine what it would be like for all of her followers...lol Actually Patty and the town don't live that close to that. The town is on the west side of the hill the Keep is on, and the waste water reclamation is on the far east side. Normally the winds keep the smell going north, east, south but sometimes things are just right and it swirls back around. It was a natural low area that used to flood a lot from the lake.
Margaret - Hopefully this chapter made it a little clearer. But in this case Athena is acting like fate. Much like in Christianity you have free will to decide to follow Christ or not. In this people have the option to follow a power or not. If they have chosen too, that power can then "force" you to do what they want. You could always refuse but you might not like what happens next. If a person isn't aligned with a power another power could decide that they are theirs like Athena did with both Paige and Toby. And they are free to try and manipulate them. Drew used spells to try and trick Paige, manipulate her into the plan he thought Simon was saying she was the best for. No spell could make you relinquish your free will in this story. But it can trick your senses, make you easier to manipulate. Kind of like when the nymph used her singing to overpower Lord Walter's mind and had planned to use him to Father children with her before killing him when he got too old. He had free will, but his will was just simply over powered and his body responded to her commands until he saw Paige and Ralph in danger and he was able to take control briefly to save them. Simon wasn't trying to manipulate her. Like Athena he just used what was ultimately her choice to further his goal of trying to end not only his slavery but king Merrick and Drew. He never figured Drew would want to kill her for not getting pregnant.
To the Adventure! -Tim