The Trinity Sitch - Book 3: Blade of the Fury
Chapter 18: Two Souls
Kim…was not happy.
Then again, neither was Ron.
The two of them had been sound asleep, wrapped in each other's arms as the fire died out and the room took on the chill of the surrounding rock. This time there wasn't a hesitant knock on the door. It simply opened, admitting more than half a dozen young acolytes. They bustled into the room, waking them from their deep slumber in the surprisingly comfortable sleeping pit. In moments they were jabbering away at them in Arkonian, pulling them from the bed and pulling the simple white nightshirt-like garments over their heads. Kim got a quick look at her chronometer before it was taken off her wrist. By their reckoning it was three am, Middleton time. They had been actually asleep for just over five hours and they would guess later it was the early hour and the total surprise that kept them from resisting the mostly teen-aged servants.
Moments later they were led from the room and separated, the males taking Ron the opposite direction. The female members of the party led Kim one way, taking her to a room with a large tiled pool in its center. Before she could even react the shift was pulled over her head and she was nearly shoved into the warm water. She came up sputtering, her face red partially because she was embarrassed being naked in front of strange people but mostly because she was starting to get really angry. She stood in the chest-deep water and snarled at the girls who brought her to what was obviously a bath.
"Look, either somebody goes and gets somebody who can speak English or French or Latin or something I can half-way understand or I'm going right back to my room, putting on my armor and…"
They cut her off by pouring scented water on her head. Kim didn't know whether the steam was being caused by the hot water or by her! She finally held up her hands, blocking attempts by the attendants as they tried to lather her up.
"No, I'm a big girl, if I'm going to take a bath I'm going to do it my self, now GO!" She almost screamed, pointing at the door with one hand and covering herself as best she could with her other arm. The girls, all of them with dark hair and fair skin just looked at each other and laughed as Kim dunked herself in the water, trying to get the oily scent from her hair.
She spotted a stack of towels off to one side and half paddled, half walked to them, hauling herself out of the water. Immediately the girls were there, trying to help her dry off. She managed to get one towel wrapped around her, holding her hand, palm out trying to fend off the giggling teens.
She gave up halfway through the brushing of her hair. At least that got better once the tangles were pulled out, though she was going to have a ferocious headache from it. She endured the rest with a sour expression that never once bothered any of the young acolytes attending her. It was also clear that if they had some inkling of what she was trying to say, they were having none of it. They dressed her once more in the white shift and pushed her back out into the passageway, in time to see Ron, clad similarly, pushed out to join her.
"KP, I get the impression I just got the world's largest swirly!"
"If they don't get somebody in here to tell us what's going on I'm going to start kicking Arkonian biscuit!" Kim growled as they were ushered down the passageway.
A deep drum beat started reverberating through the stone. It got faster and louder the further they went. Kim tried to recall the way they had gone the night before, thinking they might be headed for the great hall where they met the Blessed Mother.
"Kim, what if these people are, like, cannibals or something? Or headhunters?"
"Ron, amp down. I get the impression these people know what we're capable of so if they meant to do us harm, they would probably have us trussed up right about now. Just wait and see what the sitch is. As long as we're free we can get the upper hand, if we have to."
"I don't like this! I'm getting a serious vibe about this place."
"I've had a vibe since we walked in here, but somehow I don't think it's bad."
Kim was right, they were being led back to the large chamber with the low alter. Somehow it did actually remind her of Aztec or Inca ruins on Earth, where human sacrifice, but it wouldn't make any sense for them to harm them considering Ron was supposed to be some great hero and hope for their future.
Then again, they hadn't mentioned anything about her.
The Blessed Mother was waiting for them behind the alter. The older men were back, though, curiously, Arcus Uri was not among them. Before they could consider his absence, the old woman waved her hands, indicating a series of pillows set before the alter.
"Please kneel." She said in English before switching to what may have been Arkonian, or may have been something older. Not seeing any other option of any real harm in doing so they complied with her wishes.
Ron grimaced slightly. "How can an outfit with no bottoms ride up on me." He whispered harshly, receiving a momentary glare from the Blessed Mother. He shut up.
She opened her arms and looked up to the heavens. They followed her gaze to the skylight above them. The storm must have passed some time ago, as the stars were out and the dark colored moon was visible, its muted glow casting a silvery light on the skies.
Once again the Blessed Mother's voice boomed through the dome shaped chamber.
"Ben corba den tenve noh yetnu, Tredo del Kiresmek ban Effurien de'l tengye ert Podondrin!"
It was then they realized where Arcus Uri was. He was standing in a shallow alcove, partially in darkness. She paused in her incantation and he repeated the words for them in English.
"At the Dawn of the Darkness, we will see the return of the Knights of the Ascended to purify the Master!" he intoned in a grave voice that, though it filled the chamber, seemed to have a lesser quality than the Blessed Mother's.
She continued, stopping every so often so Uri could translate. "Destiny has brought unto us the first of the great Trinity of the Ascended Ones. In their wisdom they have sent to us first the Sword of the Effurien. They have chosen him and tested him and he has called to himself THE BLADE!"
She brought the Sword from a fold in her cloak and held it above her head, eliciting a collective gasp from the hundred or so acolytes witnessing the ceremony. She laid the blade on the alter before Ron.
"The prophecy in the Book of Arkon states that the Knights of the Ascended shall stand with one who has joined their soul to them. The power of the Ascended ones is a cup from which all may drink, but the true nature of that power is in love! The Knights must know pure love in their hearts and have one who holds that pure love for them as well. It is through that love they will have the power to join with the other, the Heart and the Hand of the Ascended, so that they may defeat the False Master and bring about the golden age that Arkon himself prophesied!"
She walked around the alter, oddly without the need of her cane, putting her hands on their shoulders. "Friends. Is it your wish that your souls may be joined so they might know each other for all time?" She asked them in English.
Kim looked at Ron, who had a sort of sheepish smile. She smiled back at him, causing his face to break out in a huge goofy grin. "Yes!" They answered in unison.
The Blessed Mother broke out into an incantation, this time without Uri translating for her. Whether it was because of the nature of the chant or that he did not know it, they did not know. The woman's hands never left their shoulders as the chant rang in their ears. Her voice boomed through the dome, seeming to shake the stone walls around them. The torches burned brighter and brighter until the orange glow turned white.
Everything around them disappeared. Kim was standing now, her hands in Ron's. He was no longer wearing the white shift, but back in his familiar clothing. She looked into his smiling face, seeing his chocolate brown eyes. It was just like her vision of him when they were stranded on the glacier. She was seeing him as he truly was, seeing the real Ron.
As she looked at him she noticed other things. On his head seemed to be a golden crown. It was much like the Monkey Crown, only much more ornate. On one shoulder sat a golden monkey, surrounded in misty blue light. On his other shoulder was the grip of the sword, itself surrounded in soft light, only of pure white.
Ron looked at Kim, understanding what he was seeing as well. All at the same time he could see her with her old mission clothes, in the old white super suit, in her newer black suit, even in the armor they had worn from the Trinity. The vision of her he held onto longest, though, was the one of her in a pale blue dress, her hair pulled up into a ponytail. The hem of the dress was charred and frayed where the Diablo bot had tried blasting her with a disintegration ray.
She's so strong yet so beautiful! He thought. Then he realized – he had seen this in her all along!
They didn't need anyone to say a strange incantation over them! Their souls were already one!
Kim looked into his eyes and said with her heart. I know it too!
They blinked.
A worn, wrinkled face framed with snowy white hair was between them, smiling brightly. "This is the strongest bond, the one that is forged when it is given freely without the help of old fools like me. It is the only kind that is real, the only kind that has not been forced upon one or the other. All of this, it is only for show. Now stand and face each other." She whispered so that only the two of them could hear.
They followed her direction, taking each others hands. The Blessed Mother held up her hands once more, shouting "BAEL KRORODA HET DORIN! THEIR SOULS HAVE BECOME ONE!" She finished in English, not waiting for Uri to translate."
The assembled acolytes cheered, then slowly began filing out of the chamber. The old woman took their hands and led them away from the alter. She looked Kim right in the eyes, blindness or no. "I think there may be greater reason to hope than I have previously suspected." She smiled broadly, then led them down the passageway they had come in from, finally reaching the door of their quarters. "Rest now. When the morning fully comes I will finish my tale and it will be time for you to begin your journey home." She said the last, bowing low to them as she retreated. The cane appeared from the folds of her clothing as she slowly made her way back.
Kim stared after her for a while, her mouth slightly agape. "Ron, what just happened?"
"Uh, KP, I kind of get the impression…I think, uh…"
"What?"
"I think we just got married!"
Kim sat on the edge of the sleeping pit, staring into space, trying to process what Ron had said.
Married!
There was nothing else she wanted in the world, to be married to Ron, to spend the rest of their lives together…
…but not like this!
Despite all of her fierce independence, all of her abilities, all of her spirit, Kim wanted her marriage to be just like the fairy tales. She wanted the fantasy in white, her father leading her down the aisle, Ron there waiting for her at the alter. The prayers said would be in English and Hebrew, not some ancient language of a distant planet!
"I say it doesn't count!" Ron said, his fists balled up.
"What?"
"It doesn't count! If that was some alien wedding thing, it doesn't count! We're not one of them and they have no right to hit us with an…ambush wedding!" He came and sat down beside her, taking her hand. "We are still going to have a real wedding, a wedding that means something to us. All our parents and our friends will be there and we'll repeat our vows in front of Pastor Grayson and Rabbi Katz and that will be a real wedding."
"Sounds like a whole lot more putting on for show." Said a voice from the doorway to their room. The Blessed Mother made her way to a chair and gingerly sat down, facing the two. "By our traditions, the two of you were married long before you set foot on this planet."
"Huh?" Kim said. "Just because we…"
"No, my dear. Well, partially. All of that we just did was for the benefit of my followers. That way they have a sort of visual proof the two of you are what I said. In reality none of it mattered. You two have been joined at the heart far longer than any of them expect, especially for as young as you are! I suspect it may even go back to the first moment the two of you set eyes on each other!"
They exchanged a knowing look. Kim had been a timid, shy little girl up until the moment Ron came into her life. He was a fearful little boy, so afraid of everything that he created a gigantic imaginary friend to protect him, yet there he was, standing up to the bullies harassing her in Pre-K. He gave her the spirit to stand up for herself, she gave him the spirit to be brave. The two alone would have been ordinary people with ordinary problems. Together they had become something amazing.
They knew in their hearts the woman was right.
"Go, have your ceremonies. I'm sure they have as much meaning to the two of you as what I did has to my people. Don't fret it. Besides, the joining of souls is something few ever attempt. It is something beyond mere marriage, beyond even the most true form of love between a man and his wife. The fact you have done this on your own is beyond even that.
"Now, I will once again take my leave of you. Normally, this would be the time, after such a ceremony, the two of you would be expected to consummate the relationship, though I very well suspect that may be redundant at this point." She smiled almost wickedly at the thought. "The sun will be up in two of your hours. Get some rest if you can. I know I will."
She wandered off once more, muttering something about wishing she was seven hundred fifty years younger, leaving two still-confused young people looking at each other, questions still in their eyes.