Chapter 10: Light


KIANNA

Those left alive were repairing the Manor and carrying the cold bloating corpses from the places they had fallen.

As the laymen undertakers carried the bodies to their final resting place, they were soiling the ground with blood, shit, and urine. They were walking and carrying in solemn procession to several ditches dug outside the fields of ripening apple, orange, and grape, throwing the bodies in one after the other. The pieces found elsewhere from the intact corpses; torn pieces of hands, arms, legs, decapitated heads with lolling tongues and eyes bulged and malformed, were thrown into the massive bonfire. The tendrils of flame were dancing, licking the offered flesh to blackened bone, and it gave off an angry orange glow to the night. The fire leaving only smoke of sickly-sweet smell akin to that of burning meat. It permeated and fouled the air.

Kianna remembered the once overwhelming and blooming citrus trees; home to buzzing bees and the singing flocks of colorful birds were all gone now, and now it did nothing to hide the smell of decay.

Kianna watched hungrily the plentiful fruit, squash, carrots, and some barrels of lettuce (that had yet to be shipped off) that were handed out to feed the remaining humans and sentinels that were told to dig deep into the earth for a massive grave. The salvageable produce was their only meals since many of the male sentinels and able-bodied slaves were busy following Tamlin's orders to repair and salvage anything they could get to. During more peaceful times, the sentinels had hunted and foraged for the hungry mouths that were not strong enough to carry the dead or go hunting themselves, but a High Lord's order was law.

Kianna saw with her own eyes how disciplined and laborious the sentinels were once ordered to do more than manage and hunt their Lord's lands.

Her eyes were pulled further on.

Off in the distance, surrounding a different type of bonfire, Aunt Maris was raising her arms with the High Priestess of the Spring Court and her green hooded acolytes. In a circle of communion around the sacred fire, they were praying hymns of peace and forgiveness to the gods and goddesses of the wind, earth, and sky. Nameless gods, that had protected them since the Dawn Age. Ianthe and her sisters were following in their mother's display of loyal Fae Faith to the Mother, to whom they prayed to now, their voices rising over the weeping and heaviness of it all,

Cauldron save you. Mother hold you.

Pass through the gates and smell that immortal land of milk and honey.

Fear no evil. Feel no pain.

Go, and enter eternity.

"Go, and enter eternity," Kianna repeated their sacred words, wrinkling her nose, and then pinching it entirely when the wind changed, for the dark billows of smoke were coming her way, and seemed to become too much.

They were moved beyond the smoke.

They were sent to the tree-line, having a front row seat to the fallen, and how their bones would be a testament of bad blood with the Night Court forevermore.

"Azriel." She muttered looking at what was left of his High Lord's hatred and vengeance, the grave itself was deeper than any ditch Kianna had seen. "I miss you, and hope you made it home safe."

Kianna had only known him a few hours, but they were a thousand moments of gratitude between them and now. Her brother had roared at the mention of the Night Court and the Illyrian dogs, and that was all the guarantee she needed to know Azriel would never be welcomed back. Despite what her people thought, the Illyrian warrior had proved his loyalty to her by saving her when she could never do the same for him.

Tamlin would murder Azriel on the spot.

She remembered his kind grey eyes, his comforting hand upon her head, stroking the painful throb from crying and thinking too much. All the ways this night could have gone better. In a world where Azriel would be thanked by her brother instead of killed. "I pray you and your people made it safely away. That you are safe." She closed her eyes and prayed to the Mother as her Aunt had asked her to do. "May we meet again one day."

"Kianna? Begonia?" Her Aunt came over to where Begonia and she were sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree.

"Eat little ones, it won't be long now, we will have a roof soon enough, and beds to sleep, don't you worry," offering them more apples in the meantime, "we will get through this." Instead of agreeing they bit into the delicious apples viciously, as if they had waited years to eat instead of hours to eat again. Ianthe and Zinnia, as well as a few mothers, young females, and surviving human women passed out food amongst them the huddled crowds. Sharing meals amongst the fearful company brought a sense of timid peace amongst the Fae and human slaves.

Kianna was glad she wasn't alone in watching this nightmare.

Being separated from Tamlin was hard enough, and her heart fluttered to only catch glimpses of her brother amongst the following and guarding sentinels.

His retinue was followed by sharp commands from the Captain of the Guard and their appalled Uncle Vanir; his pristine white robes marred from the mud and his soft hands tainted from the bloody work he was made to do like the rest. Nevertheless, what her noble Uncle must be going through, Tamlin seemed so different from before, he stood a bit straighter when speaking with the Captain, and not a step seemed unsure as he too worked beside the many.

Kianna watched longingly, wanting to walk beside him, even when her small steps would not keep up with his lightening pace. Instead of wanting, she is imagining his warm arms around her once more, comforting her was the first time she could breathe without hurting.

Kianna's eyes found Ianthe and Zinnia handing out blankets to the crowds. She had her female cousins with her now, especially Begonia, whom had become her welcome shadow.

"When all this is over we will go to the Great Lake." She started a conversation with her. "Your sisters," Begonia had been watching Ianthe and Zinnia work too, her eyes seemed to grow warmer at the mention of them, "could take us after all the work they have finished. Do you think they would say yes?"

Begonia nodded.

A human slave came to offer them bread, Kianna smiled to her and thanked her, while her cousin eyed the woman as if she was a dangerous animal. She forgot that there were no humans allowed into Vallahan, and that she must never have met one before now. Kianna wagered to Begonia when they were once again alone, "Don't worry we will be safe now, and maybe Tamlin would agree to come with us too. He always liked swimming, maybe he could teach us?"

Kianna had begun sharing stories of how the Great Lake lay to the North of the Manor, and how her older brothers would go hunting in the southern forest, knowing that Begonia's silence was more fear of the dead and humans rather being apathetic for her murdered family members. "I miss my family very much Begonia," she opened to her. "I know my brother does too, that is why he won't talk about it. It hurts him too much," she thought as much, "we are all that is left, we must be strong for our parent's memory, now more than ever," her cousin nodded as if she understood the aching pain.

After a few brave moments, they walked forward and investigated the massive grave of the dead.

She searched for a familiar human face, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Willow is not in there," Kianna whispered to her little cousin Begonia, breaking the horrible silence once more, daring her Aunt to find them and demand they sit back on the log, and say their prayers instead of chattering like pixies.

"Who was Willow?"

She had not expected Begonia to even ask. Her voice was small and scared, too weak-spirited for conversations of death and decay.

Kianna explained to her anyways, "My mother's servant, she came to us two years ago." My Mother. She had yet to see her mother's body, let alone her brothers or father. She wondered if Tamlin would allow her that. It felt wrong not to say goodbye, it made her feel sick to be left with nothing of them. Kianna went on anyway, "You know, I loved Willow like my mother." Kianna said proudly, "I'm glad they couldn't find her, perhaps she made it out, perhaps she got far away from here."

Begonia did not make mention of Willow again, or to her Vallahan Mother and noble sisters. Kianna was at least grateful for that. It would be frowned upon for a faeling child to call a human slave her mother. Some would even say it would bring a bad omen upon the High Lord's name, and the future generations born. Kianna could care less about that.

"I hope she found a better home," she said freely, looking into the massive pit of both Fae and human alike. "I hope she's happy."


o0o0o0o0o0o0o


"Come here." Tamlin lifted Kianna up from the log and carried her in the direction of the Manor. She grabbed his shoulders tight as he carried her away from Begonia, and into the parting crowd of watchers. The land had not changed, the air still ghastly, but she felt stronger now that her brother had his full attention on her. "I got you Kianna."

"I know." She whispered back, closing her eyes for only a moment to feel the imaginary bond that was growing between them. It was fragile and new, but still there.

Her legs hugged his ribcage as one of his large arms carried her forward. She looked back at the assembled High Fae, loyal sentinels, her Aunt and Uncle, her cousins, and even the High Priestess herself. The woman scared Kianna, her arms still raised, eyes shut tight, and mouth humming an ancient chant that sounded more animal than words.

"Leave us." Tamlin's voice carried, "this is something we must do alone." Whatever it was they were about to do; the gathered Fae did not follow.

Tamlin carried her to the Manor, it was no longer smoking, but the fire had done its work. She saw slaves bowing as they worked to clean and restore what they could, and then less as they walked deeper and deeper into the hurricane of rooms, and at last finding the staircase that led to the floors beneath the ground.

"Why?"

"You'll see," he muttered as he took the first step down.

She gripped him tighter than ever before as they descended into the darkness, she couldn't see, but she trusted her brother to, at the end of the hallway stood a priestess dressed in all white. Kianna froze. As they neared her, she was surprised to see that under the hood of her robe, her mouth sewn shut, and her eyelids peeled away for skull-like looking eyes. She looked away from her, but Tamlin did not.

"Priestess, have you finished?"

She must have said yes, because after three claps from the white-robbed Priestess, five more exited, all as frightening as the one Tamlin was exchanging silent words with, and the oddly white robbed Fae females exited the way they had come.

"An hour will be enough time for us, we will not be disturbed," Tamlin said to the leader, and then she too left.

After the last steps could be heard going up the steps, Tamlin finally put Kianna down to her feet, she felt giddy and terrible for some reason, and he knelt to unleash his very serious green eyes on her.

"If it gets too much for you Kianna, we will leave alright? We don't have to stay here." When she didn't nod he repeated himself.

"Alright." Kianna repeated after him.

He held her hand and walked into the candle-lit storeroom of the basement. It did not take her long to see the reason why Tamlin, the white-robbed undertakers, and even the High Fae seemed to reek of sadness for this moment.

The room was filled with four tables, and four bodies, all drape with white cloth, and prepared for them she gathered with scents of blooming white magnolias and rich smoking herbs that left a feeling of rejuvenation and peace in Kianna's nose. Still she felt elation and that same sick feeling at the sight of the covered bodies waiting for them, as if she could pull the sheet off, and her parents and brothers would rise to meet her as if this had all been a game.

"It's them,"- she pulled Tamlin closer to them, she had to truly pull him, and then gave up when he let her go to see for herself.

"It's Mother," she mumbled walking forward alone, unafraid for some reason, and pulling the white sheet lower to get a look at her face. "Mother."

Kianna gasped.

She had not expected her mother to be so white. As if the blood had been leeched from her, and left a sunken face, sewed neck as if she had been…. And then it dawned on Kianna, slowly, like a painful bee sting, only for her to welt over all over, to itch and make them worse, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from taking over all her senses.

"They did this"- they had cut her neck, made her mother choke on her own blood. A clean slice it may be, that the white-robbed priestesses had sewn for her, but they had stolen her mother, the baby! Kianna tore the entire sheet off and Tamlin made a noise as if it killed him to watch.

The baby-bump was prominent against her mother's midsection, untampered with, and it made it more worse to imagine that her baby sister or brother would be forever trapped there. Kianna dared to touch it and when her hand made contact all she felt was hard and cold. Dead. Her mother was dead, the baby dead, and if she would pull the sheets away she should find the same and worse for her brothers and father.

She turned to Tamlin to see tears leaking down his shut eyes. He could not look at their mother, "Tamlin," she cried to him, tasting the tears that seemed to have fallen at seeing him so, he came to her in an instant holding her to his side, "Mother." He nodded, and that is when she knew Tamlin knew just as well how painful it was to see her so, "why did they hurt her?"

"It was our fault Kianna." He said so furiously, she was sure his talons would rip into her hair, but they didn't, "this was all my fault." He said in a voice she had never heard before. Guilty. He felt guilty. "This was never about you and Mother. It never should have happened like this."

"Why did it happen in the first place?" She shamed him, couldn't help shaming him when he was the only one left. "Why did they do this to us in the first place?"

Tamlin's eyes closed again, tormented with something, and as if looking at her made it worse. He knelt once more before her, giving his words everything he had. "I am to blame." He opened his eyes to confront her, holding both her hands in his. Tethering her to him. "But may these words bring you some peace, I'll give you everything I have, I'll defend you, I'll give you everything I know, and I promise," he gave her without a second thought, "I promise I will do better."

They shared a warm glance with one another, and when it became too much Kianna looked back at her mother and the baby, focusing on their two souls, of the hope and love that had went into the news of the baby, and the future that was lost.

She boldly rested her hand on the baby-bump, and she could feel Tamlin getting close enough that she could feel his chest behind her.

Her voice shaky as she repeated Aunt Maris' sacred words, "Let us pray."

"Cauldron save you. Mother hold you.

Pass through the gates and smell that immortal land of milk and honey.

Fear no evil. Feel no pain.

Go, and enter eternity."

When the child's prayer ended, Tamlin become solemn behind her, his eyes closed as if he was silently praying his own prayer to The Mother. His breaths seemed steady against her back, and he petted her head once more. Despite the place and time, he was calm under her praying words, and Kianna took a deep breath too, releasing whatever vengeance and fury she held for the Night Court. She knew her mother would be in the best of places, and one day they would be there with her too.

Tamlin's words tickled her ears. "Thank you, Kianna."

She nodded minutely to him and decided this was the moment to lift her hand to put the sheet back over her mother. She was finished with looking at her mother's corpse, and when she tried to do so, her hand did not seem to move with her arm.

Kianna cocked her head to the side at the odd moment. She tried moving her hand again, and it did not budge. She gave up on her peace entirely, and tried pulling her hand entirely away from her mother. When it did not seem to obey her mental command, she panicked, pulling harder and yet… her hand was stuck in place!

"Tamlin! My hand!"

He looked up to see his sister in distress, "Kianna? What is wrong?"

"I can't move my hand, it's stuck to Mother," Tamlin did not get the chance to intervene because a force stronger and older than them both seemed to channel into Kianna.

He roared at it, "What is that!"

"I don't know!"

Whatever it was it glowed with unregulated energy, it awoke in every bone, muscle, and nerve in Kianna's body, flowing through the connection of her outstretched arm, into her hand, coming through the tips of her fingers, and leaking into the lifeless body of her Mother, and even further on into the vessel that rested safely inside of her.

"You have to stop it!" Tamlin was pushed back to try to reach her, fighting the force, his High Fae power unleashed too as he tucked his talons into the soil, and yet he still could not reach her.

"I can't!" She whimpered as it seemed to notice her retaliation, breaking down all the walls in her mind, "Tamlin!"

The force of light was flooding the room with its energy, leaving no darkness safe, and Kianna felt as if her brain would burst through her skull as it gave her all its unwanted and alien-like attention.

For painful seconds, all she knew was the absence of darkness.

The power of it became so great it was like concentrated thunder without sound, strong enough to keep even Tamlin at bay, a High Lord's magic at bay, taking in every particle of air right into the focus on her hand, moving into one compact space inside her mother, and when it became too much, the room exploded into pure light.


I hope this chapter was entertaining as it was writing it!

Love you all, tell me what you think of Kianna's chapter, and what you would like to see in Azriel's chapter,

as always I hope you guys are having a wonderful day,

Love

Odeveca