The Fourth Realm 2:

--Prophecy of Old--

A fanfic taking place in the Realms of the Blood, created by

Anne Bishop whom I worship and pay tribute to every day.

Just kidding. Or so you think.

(Written by the Great and Powerful Keski,

spell checked by Microsoft Works Word Processor)

---

Chapter II

First Night in Dhemlan, Part I

(An Extended Episode, because I just couldn't stop typing!)

---

Dhemlan Dachrea

Luseik, Anna, Althemen, Alnevar, Keski, and Satiyen all stood before Versiver's castle. It was nothing like Akarui's; whereas the other had seemingly been built to last, this castle seemed to be built entirely for show. It was the most dramatic castle Anna, Althemen, and Alnevar had ever seen. It was jet black, the entire thing, and stretched up into the sky to what seemed an impossible height. There were no edges on the top of the castle, from what they could see; it seemed the top of the castle was entirely formed out of spires, gargoyles (Alnevar shuddered to see these), and stained glass windows.

The castle wasn't even made out of any conventional substance. It was smooth, almost glassy to the touch, and gleamed, practically shone with the starlight above. The doors were huge blackwood double doors and had jet doorknockers hanging from them, almost too high to reach, even for the nearly-seven-foot tall Luseik. Not that he needed to use them; a mere gesture from him and the doors swung open, the gesture dramatically performed despite the fact that all Luseik truly needed in order to open the doors was a mere thought. They entered the castle.

"You may all entertain yourself as you please," Luseik said as they entered. "I must take Anna to see my father. There is a library to the left of the main doors, and a study to the right. At the end of the corridor are the kitchens, if any of you would like something to eat."

They all stared at him.

"Or," he muttered, "you could all follow me."

There was a general murmur of agreement.

---

"This is your Queen?"

Luseik nodded. "We were accosted upon our return by a dragon named Oebr who required a service of us, and we were obliged to aid him. It would not have taken me so long otherwise, Father."

"You needn't be so formal, Luseik," Versiver said. "You are among family and friends, after all."

"Sorry," Luseik said, shrugging.

"I see you brought all of your… friends." Versiver sounded slightly irritated. Luseik saw out of the corner of his eye as Althemen shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"I offered them use of the library and study, and the services of the kitchens, but they declined."

"I see," Versiver said. "Well, I have seen your Queen and I can tell she is the one I sent you to find." He turned to face Anna, smiled warmly, and bowed deeply. "Lady Anna, I am Lord Versiver, Luseik's father, as you have no doubt already deduced. My Queen, Lady Kennesra, is not present at the moment, but I assure you, you will have a chance to make her acquaintance before you leave for Ebon Askavi. In her absence, I offer up to you the full services of my castle and all of its inhabitants. If you require, or desire, anything, you need only to ask and it will be provided."

Anna didn't know how to respond. She wasn't use to hearing or using all this, as she called it, court-talk. "I offer my…er… humble… thanks… Lord Versiver," she said finally.

Lord Versiver seemed amused. "My son may decline to speak casually in my presence, milady, but if it pleases you, feel free to speak as you normally would."

"Er, that is to say, thank you, sir," Anna said.

Lord Versiver bowed deeply again. "It is my pleasure to offer what services I can to the future Queen of Ebon Askavi."

Anna shrugged. "It's… not that important of a title, is it?"

Versiver chuckled. "For some, it would be merely a title, but for others, the title would be license to abuse the power that couples with it. I should hope you will be able to avoid being the latter."

Anna smiled, almost certain she had understood that. "Don't worry, I'm not going to be like Dorothea SaDiablo, if that's what you're thinking."

Versiver raised an eyebrow. Luseik broke in.

"Dorothea SaDiablo is the name of the Queen to whom Anna was enslaved to in Terreille," he said.

"Ah, yes," Versiver said, bowing his head. "I… had forgotten the Lady Anna's background. I can assure you, Lady, your background in Terreille will not influence the way you are treated here in Dachrea."

"Yeah," Anna said. "I kind of hoped that would be the case. Not that I'm too keen on being Queen of a Territory, especially one as… er… prominent… as Ebon Askavi."

"You needn't worry, my dear," Versiver said. "It is not as difficult a task as it may seen, especially with a consort such as my son. I assume you will be taking your friends and present family members into your court as well?"

"Yeah," Anna said. "I've thought about that a bit. Luseik… well, that's self explanatory. Satiyen will be the Master of the Guard. Keski, Althemen, and Alnevar will be in the First Circle. I… don't know anyone else, but I… Well, I kind of assumed there would be more people…"

"There will most certainly be others to choose from for your court, Lady Anna," Versiver crooned.

Luseik cleared his throat. "I think my Queen has been kept long enough," he said with forced politeness, "and would appreciate rest now."

Versiver smiled and laughed quietly. "I apologize. I did not mean to keep the future Queen of Ebon Askavi from her bed. But again, Lady Anna, feel free to make full use of all the accommodations my castle has to offer. My son can show you around if you desire. I think I shall retire as well, as it is late. I bid thee good evening, Lady Anna," he said, and bowed deeply one more time before gracefully leaving the room.

"Sorry," Luseik said stiffly once his father had left. "He's a bit overbearing."

"He didn't seem that bad," Anna said tentatively, "but… something about him was a little creepy. No offense."

"None taken. But he was right; it is late, and I think we should all be getting to bed."

Again, there was a general murmur of agreement. On a Yellow thread that everyone in the room caught, Luseik said, (Manuel, we have returned, as I'm sure you already know. I'd be much obliged if you'd show my Queen to her chambers while I show the rest of them to theirs.)

(Be right there, sir,) said a young boy's voice with a hint of a Glacian accent.

"Technically he's a servant," Luseik said, "but he's a nice kid, and the role he plays here falls closer to lapdog than anything else." He grinned. Anna smiled. "He'll show you to your room, and I'll be there as soon as I've shown everyone else to theirs. Sound good?"

Anna nodded. "Yeah. Don't get mad if I'm asleep when you show up, though."

Luseik laughed. "All right, I won't." He turned to the rest of them. "All right, everybody out that door, let's move, come on kids, it's bedtime." He herded everyone out the main door to the room and followed them. Shortly after, through the door, came a boy of perhaps fourteen years with the signature silver hair of Glacia, cut short and left in whatever form it had been when he'd woken up.

"Hi, are you Anna? Or, Lady Anna?" Anna smiled at the way he corrected himself at the last minute, but without any real remorse. She'd been worried people would be all subservient when she came here, and that she wouldn't tolerate.

"You're Manuel, I assume? Yeah, I'm Anna," she said. "Just Anna."

They both grinned at each other. Then, igniting curiosity in Anna, he said: "I was afraid you'd be like Lei--er, I mean, Lei-ets get moving," He laughed weakly.

"Lei?" Anna said curiously, unwilling to drop the subject.

"Um," Manuel said. "Leirasha. I used to serve her… It, uh… It wasn't much fun."

Anna frowned. "Sorry I asked. I didn't know."

"Don't feel sorry for me," he said hastily. "Well, I'd better show you to your room, yeah?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

He beckoned for her to follow him and then turned and left the room. She trailed along behind him through one hallway, down another, up a flight of stairs, down three more corridors, up another staircase, down a short hallway and up a spiral staircase, and down another hallway before they came, finally, to a blackwood single door, elegantly but simply carved with a floral design in the wood.

"Right here," Manuel said. Anna was breathing heavily, but smiled and nodded.

"Thanks," she breathed. Manuel pushed open the door and led her inside. There was a main chamber in the center with a massive four poster canopy bed hung with crimson curtains. The bed had a black comforter and red sheets.

"There's all the, uh, things you might need in here. There's a bathroom through that door there, and I think Luseik's got a little library through that other door there," Manuel said.

"Thank you," Anna said, still holding onto her side. "I'll just explore a little, and I'm sure I'll find everything. Thank you very much, Manuel."

The boy smiled. "It weren't nothing at all, ma'am," he said, and promptly left the room.

Anna immediately headed for the bed, although the allure of a nice, hot bath was maddening.

Maybe when she woke up.

---

Luseik indicated the two doors. "This wing only has two free rooms," he said, "which shouldn't be a problem. Satiyen and Keski, and Althemen and Alnevar, can each share a room."

Althemen grunted.

"Is there a problem?" Luseik said without sarcasm.

Alnevar spoke up for him. "There's still a lot of… er… animosity between us," he said weakly.

"You don't want to share a room."

They both nodded.

"Hell's fire! All you're doing is sleeping. You don't have to talk, or bond, or anything!"

Althemen scowled.

"Fine," Luseik muttered. "Althemen and Satiyen, Alnevar and Keski."

Althemen wordlessly stalked into one of the rooms. Alnevar looked at Luseik and shrugged. "I've kind of gotten over it," he said. "It's just Althemen's had a long time to hate me and not very much time to get over it."

"Yeah," Luseik said. "Well, I'm going up to see Anna now. Get some sleep, or by the Darkness, tomorrow you'll wish you had. We'll have a lot to do tomorrow."

---

Althemen sat at the window, brooding as he stared out at the night sky.

"What's the deal with you and Alnevar?" Satiyen said as he sat down in an armchair near the door. Althemen slowly turned his head to face the wehr.

"Must I explain?" he said quietly.

"Don't wish to offend," Satiyen said automatically, "just want to know why you two hate each other so much. If it's none of my business, you just have to say so."

Althemen turned back to the window and exhaled for a few seconds.

"It's a long story."

"Like I said, if it's none of my business, all you have to do is tell me that much. Otherwise, I'd like to know."

"Fine, then," Althemen murmured. "It started a long time ago. I'm around twenty thousand years old, and this happened as I neared my hundredth year. Althemen and I worked together, and a woman named Tes…" he broke off and closed his eyes. He pressed his hand to his temple. Satiyen thought he would hear hissed curse words from Althemen.

Instead, he heard a sharp intake of breath, a shuddering exhalation, and then Althemen let his hand down again.

"A woman named Tesora came to work with us." It seemed like he was being deliberately vague, but Satiyen listened quietly.

"She was… She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I became infatuated with her the first time I met her, and in the coming weeks I came to truly love her. I thought she felt the same way about me. In retrospect, I don't think she ever noticed the nature of my feelings for her until that night… Oh, Mother Night…" His voice was growing quieter as he spoke. Satiyen carefully lifted his chair and set it down across from Althemen. He sat down silently and cocked his head attentively.

"Althemen?" he said quietly when it seemed Althemen wasn't going to continue.

"I asked her out to dinner and proposed to her," Althemen murmured. "She declined and she left in tears. It was later that I found out the reason."

Satiyen listened in rapt silence.

"She was in love with Alnevar. Even he hadn't known how I felt about her. And they had both been… Well, Hell's fire, I don't know if they were ashamed of it, or what, but they'd hidden it and never let it show in public. Alnevar and I had been best friends back then, and he couldn't even tell me that he was seeing Tesora. Damn it, every time I think about it…"

Satiyen shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hadn't known it would hurt Althemen to remember, although perhaps he might have guessed.

"I don't understand," Althemen whispered. "I've never… never understood…" He was shaking slightly. "How… How could he… do that to me… How could either of them…? It wasn't fair…"

Althemen started to cry silently. Satiyen didn't want to watch this any longer. He'd caused it, and he'd feel guilty if he didn't solve it. He got out of his seat and knelt before Althemen, putting one of his wehr claws on each of Althemen's shoulders.

"Althemen," he said firmly, "look at me."

Althemen didn't respond. Satiyen gave him a gentle shake. The man looked up at Satiyen.

The wehr was shaken as he looked into Althemen's eyes. All the anger inside, all of the aggression inside, all of it was falling to pieces underneath the shell of anger and aggression, and when all of it was gone from the inside, the outside would crumble and there would be this helpless little man, no longer protected by his habits of always pushing people away, no longer protected by all the aggression he counted on to be able to evoke fear in others.

And what would happen to Althemen when that finally happened?

---

"Calm down, Althemen," he heard Satiyen say softly. The quality of the wehr's voice was such that the words came out low and quiet, the natural vibrato of his voice lending an almost purring quality to them. The overall effect was very relaxing, but it didn't affect Althemen much. On the contrary, Althemen was thrown into another torrent of tears and he leant forward, unable to stop himself, and clutched at Satiyen's fur as he buried his face in the wehr's soft chest, as if hoping Satiyen's fur might soak up some of his misery as well as his tears, and perhaps take it away from him.

He sensed that he was making the wehr uncomfortable, but he couldn't make himself release his grasp on Satiyen's fur, couldn't make the tears stop. He hadn't cried in… how long had it been? He'd been miserable, angry, hateful, for years, yes, but he hadn't let anything show since…

That night, at the restaurant. Hell's fire, it had been a while.

The simplest thoughts, the smallest memories, the basest concepts, they all did their part to contribute to the fact that Althemen could not quiet himself, could not stop himself from humiliating himself.

And to his surprise, he felt astonishingly comforted when Satiyen tentatively laid both arms across his back and held him while he cried out all of the pain, anger, regret, hate, sorrow, rage, and misery that had raged inside him for twenty thousand years.

But all of it seemed to die down, to suppress itself, when he felt Satiyen lean his head forward and whisper in Althemen's ear: "It's all right, Althemen. Cry. Just let it out."

And that's when the storm truly broke.

All his life, Althemen had been driven by the need to protect. The need to protect the secrets of the past from those around him. The need to protect his daughter. The need to protect his own hostile image. But none of that mattered now. It all was dwarfed in the face of this new feeling; that right now, instead of Althemen looking out for anything or anyone else, he felt like someone was finally protecting him.

Some small, unimportant part of him raged against it, told him he was being ridiculous, that he must stand up straight right now, that he must relinquish his hold on the wehr immediately; but the emotions had finally become too much for him to hide, and Satiyen's fur was so warm and soft and Hell's fire, he just felt so safe here. No fear of anything.

And that was what it was all about, wasn't it? All it came down to was the fear. The fear that something would happen to Anna. The fear that Alnevar would remember what had happened, would hate Althemen even more. The fear that his own image would collapse, as it was even now, though he didn't care. The fear that somehow, something would always go wrong, something would always fail to turn out the way it should. All the fear had dissipated.

And after it was taken away, all that was left was the constant, undeniable, gnawing, and ultimately defeating despair. If so much had already gone wrong, what more was in store for him? Would he be able to take it? Or would he eventually fall into the Twisted Kingdom?

Fear.

He clutched Satiyen's fur tighter with the mere thought. "I don't want to," he sobbed, his voice muffled by Satiyen's fur. "I can't. I can't go there."

"You don't have to go anywhere," Satiyen said soothingly. Again that voice. Althemen quieted. "You can stay right here as long as you want."

"I will," Althemen murmured between the subdued, diminished sobs. He felt like a small child, but it didn't matter right now. "I want to stay here…"

"Then we'll stay here," Satiyen responded.

"Yes," Althemen murmured. "Stay here. I'm tired… So tired…"

And it seemed everything faded, and he fell unconscious right where he was.