Two more weeks went by as I pored over the diary, trying to figure everything out. Obviously, Eleos's spirit had split from her body. But how?
Beren didn't know exactly, he hadn't been in the same room, Avalon had knocked him out and thought him dead. But he knew that Avalon was going to try to kill Eleos, and he knew that Eleos had been preparing herself for something, doing everything she could to strengthen herself. He'd thought she was preparing herself for the rest of the pregnancy and labor. It had been a time when many women didn't always survive childbirth.
We only had information on the beginning and end of Eleos's split. I needed to figure out the middle.
I still couldn't figure out what had happened, exactly, but I had it narrowed down to a couple different possibilities after going through the diary and every bit of knowledge I had from either Eleos's spirit or Beren's memory.
The first thing I could think of was that she knew what she doing in splitting her soul from her body, and that she managed to do it before Avalon could get to her.
Or Avalon might have gotten to her. But she was a primordial goddess, and it was her original body. I might be mortal with her spirit now, but she wasn't mortal, then. In killing her, he may have simply knocked her spirit from her body. She had told me, when she'd first shown up, that she wished to fade away into the afterlife of immortals. Had he managed only to kill her body and not her spirit?
It may even have been a bit of both. Beren knew she'd been strengthening herself for something, so she may have been preparing herself to keep her spirit alive even if she was killed.
It all raised a lot of questions, questions I didn't have the answer to.
I brought along a notepad and pen when I brought breakfast the next morning. On it, I'd written Why did you give me the diary? I slid it to him while he arranged the food from the basket on the table.
He wrote back as we began eating. You retain her knowledge but not her memories. What was the last that she wrote?
We kept up a meaningless conversation while we wrote and ate, so that nothing would seem out of the ordinary.
Avalon betrayed you all.
That he did. Did she speak of anything past that?
Just that you would build this temple.
We built the temple, recruited who we could along the way to help. Every one of them was sworn to secrecy on the matter of the temple. But Avalon still got in.
If they cannot enter, how did he get in?
Because he was connected to her. He did not know of the child, but she'd had to make an exception for his blood in the temple's wards. She herself could not get in otherwise. The rest of Them could not enter, but he could, and so they sent him to kill her.
She didn't die, though.
No. Avalon and I fought. It gave her enough time to prepare herself. The entire world, even Them, believe that when the mortals fancied her a concept rather than goddess, she became just that, merely a presence. They only know that because she lost her physical body, they were no longer able to get to her.
She didn't become a presence because of the mortals, did she?
No, she did not. Our time is up. Think on what you've learned. There may yet be a way out of this.
Three weeks and three days gone by. Twenty four dead.
Every night when one of my court left the temple to face their death, it was like losing a loved one. And it was, in a way. There were hundreds of members in my court, but I had come to know so many of them in the months I spent here after taking in Eleos's soul. And while I may have been away for even more months than I'd spent here, I remained close to them all. They were my court, and they would always be there for me. I would always be there for them.
It was all too much.
Either we let them pick us off one by one, hiding in the temple, or we could do something.
That morning, a notice was posted in the dining hall. Not a word was spoken of it, but everyone saw it.
They have ears everywhere, so we must remain silent. But They do not have eyes like they do ears. They cannot see into the temple or our land in here.
They have hunted us since the dawn of time, since before there was such a thing as the court.
Now They have caught us, they expect us to sit like dogs as they kill us off, one by one. Much of the original Court of Five is dead, for They killed Cattalina, Alazae, and Dreyden. Beren remains the only survivor.
They have killed as many court members as they could ever since the court was opened up and rebuilt larger than before.
And they have killed of our court now. Twenty four dead so far, twenty five tonight, twenty six tomorrow. Twenty seven the day after, twenty eight the day after that.
We cannot allow them to continue to pick us off. We are meant to protect humanity, and They have not yet won, for we are still alive. And we are not dogs, we will not sit and obey. They have caged us, and a caged animal does not sit pretty. It fights back.
We have been storing weapons for ages, for we haven't had much need of them. We have always traded them, or given them to poor armies fighting for their families. But now is the time to arm ourselves. Either we fight now and give humanity a chance, or we wait for them to kill it off. We must protect humanity, for what are we without it, as humans?
There isn't enough time today to prepare. And they will demand another court member tonight. The incredible courage and bravery of those who have gone already will never be forgotten, but no one needs to go tonight. It has always been the choice of you, the court. They will punish me, but it will not matter if we do not succeed tomorrow.
Tomorrow, at dusk. That is when we shall fight. For ourselves, our home, our Earth, for humanity.
There are only three of Them, but they are incredibly powerful, and they will summon forth a hellish army to work for them. The only reason they haven't yet summoned them to attack Earth is because they have finally caught us and are too excited with their capture.
Some of you will die. But it is either risk the chance of dying, fighting against Them, or wait to die.
If you do not wish to fight, or are incapable, remain in the sleeping quarters. If all goes wrong, hide in the secret bunker. You all know where the entrance is, and it is full of enough resources to keep you alive for a long, long time.
If you do choose to join the fight, arm yourself. We have plenty of weapons in storage. The attack will begin at dusk. I will remain behind in the temple, and I will let out a surge of power. The chains They have placed on me will alert them. Only one of Them will be able to get in to find me, for the wards placed against him are much weaker than the wards that keep his siblings out. The chains will help Him to break through.
When He disappears from his place outside the temple with his brother and sister, Beren will alert the rest of you. That is when those armed will go out and fight, to distract the other two. You very well may be able to defeat the remaining male, but the female will be a much trickier foe to defeat. She is much smarter than the rest of them, and She will not hesitate to do what she can to get to the temple. You must keep Her away, and the wards will do the rest.
This will be our only chance to defeat Them, or, more likely, escape and live to fight another day. But it is better than sitting and waiting for our deaths.
Fight if you will, remain in the sleeping quarters if you won't. It is all up to you. I will not force a single one of you into either choice. This is yours to choose.
The rest of that day and the next was spent normally, almost as if no one had seen the notice. But I did not miss how nearly every member of my court suddenly had a reason to visit the forge at some point, whether it was to deliver food to the smiths, or water for cooling their crafts, or simply to help tidy up, sweeping up metal scraps or organizing tools.
Even though I had written that no one needed to go that night, the twins went. Philippa and Philomena went together, because they would forever remain by each other's sides. They told me it would even help to distract Them, because they'd almost had them when I'd stopped them from getting the twins, and getting two court members instead of one?
I cried. I had cried for every other court member's death, but I cried especially hard for the twins. They weren't exactly young, they'd joined the court ages ago, but they'd joined young, and I saw them still as little girls. And they were the first members of the court that I'd met, when I'd tried to rescue from those men and then become Eleos.
It was nearly dusk. Beren was scouting the clearing, watching from a hidden crack in the temple's outer walls.
Very few members of my court would not fight, and only because they could not. They were the members of my court that were either too young or old to wield any weapon we had, or had lost either a sense or limb crucial to being able to fight. They were also the mothers, and some fathers, of the younger children, and even a few expecting mothers. Many of them wanted to fight, but had to admit it was better if they did not. A handful of my court remained behind, with weapons, to protect them in the event that they were found. All in all, there were about a hundred or so of them that stayed back in the sleeping quarters.
We decided it would be best if they went immediately down to the bunker, and that someone could retrieve them after, if things went well. They would lock the heavy doors behind them, and only open them if the correct knock were performed.
As for the rest of my court, they waited anxiously in the dining hall for Beren's signal.
With everything in place and all preparations we could have possibly made done, I went up to my study above the belfry. I settled down on my blankets and pillows, crossing my legs. Looking out the nearest of the large open windows, I saw that the sun was beginning to set.
I let out the largest surge of my power that I could.