Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Twilight or from the Mercedes Lackey "Heralds of Valdemar" series. I only own Artemis, Apollo and Delphina and any other characters that you don't recognize. So, if you think I'm making any money from this, you are sadly mistaken. :p
AN: So, this delves more into the Valdemar part of the equation, so I hope that it made it clear enough for those who have never read the series! If you have any questions, please review and I will answer them! Also, dialogue like this :dialogue: is Telepathic Speech between two people. :p Also, the title of chapter 2 and this chapter are lines from the song "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning".
Chapter 3
Have the People Changed?
When Edward and Bella walked into the living room, he looked at Alice. "Okay, we're all here, so will you please tell us what is going on now?"
Alice smiled. "We're going to have a visitor in forty-nine seconds, but don't worry, she is friendly," Alice assured him.
Edward looked skeptical, but settled back against the wall. True to Alice's word, less than a minute had passed when the doorbell rang. Alice skipped to the door and soon was leading a tall, raven-haired vampire into the room.
The unknown vampire looked around the room, gazing at each of them in return until her golden eyes finally settled on Carlisle. "Mr. Cullen, I'm sorry to intrude on you, but I'm here to help you defeat the Volturi."
There was a stunned silence as the group looked at her in amazement. Alice looked at her in askewness, since the unknown vampire hadn't even introduced herself. She studied her clothes carefully. The vampire was in black leather pants, a fitted blue T-shirt, a leather jacket and dusty boots. "You want to help us overthrow the Volturi?" she asked in amazement.
The vampire nodded her head. "Yes, I do."
Carlisle gazed at her. "May I ask why?"
The vampire smiled. "It's a very long story," she responded, gazing at each of the Cullens in return. "I will gladly share it with you, but before I begin, does anyone need to eat beforehand?" She gazed at Jacob and Nessie as she said this. Both of them shook their heads, so she settled on the couch, more out of habit than out of need.
"I am well aware that what I am about to tell you sounds like a myth, but I beg your indulgence." She sighed as Edward gazed at her, doubt and uneasiness evident in his eyes. He didn't trust her, even though the color of her eyes enforced the fact that she did not drink from humans. His mistrust came from the fact that he was not able to read her thoughts and that disturbed him.
"I know it sounds unbelievable, but I'm going to start this like a fairy tale. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was country who was ahead of it's time. The land was called Velgarth, which is now called Atlantis, and the country Valdemar. Valdemar was founded by Baron Valdemar who was running from a tyrannical leader that was destroying his homeland." The vampire gazed at Rosalie as she snorted her derision, but she ignored the interruption and went on with the story.
"If you want to know exactly what happened, well then that is story for another time, but in essence Valdemar made a good king and he was worried about the throne going to another leader like the one he fled. He went out and prayed to all the gods he'd ever heard of and his answer was in the form of Companions—guardian spirits who took the form of a white horse. He knew that the Companions would not chose to bond with anyone who was corrupt and thus decreed that the monarch had to be Chosen by a Companion to inherit the throne. Those Chosen were called Heralds. But it wasn't just from the royal family that Heralds were Chosen. It was from people across the land, even in neighboring lands. They all had one thing in common, an unshakeable moral code, so they formed sort of a police force for the country. One that was trusted by all."
Alice nodded her agreement. "That seems like a good plan, that way you always know that your peoples are being treated fairly."
The vampire smiled. "That was the idea. One of the side effects of being Chosen was that if you had any sort of special gifts—like seeing the future, hearing thoughts of other people or being able to communicate mind to mind—they were enhanced by the bond with the Companion." She noticed the startled look on the faces of the coven now listening raptly to her story.
"Anyway, some fourteen hundred years after the founding, Velgarth was finally at peace. Queen Lyra was on the throne enjoying the peace that was established in her mother's reign. Along with her Consort, Herald Wilhelm, they ruled after the death of Queen Selenay and Herald-Prince Darren. She bore five children, Aros, Artemis, Apollo, Delphina and Didyme."
Bella looked stunned. "Her children were named after Greek gods?"
The raven haired vampire laughed, her golden eyes twinkling. "It was the other way around, youngling. But, I'll get to that part of the story." She looked at Carlisle, who looked confused. "Carlisle?"
"I thought that Aro was born in Italy?" he queried.
She sighed. "That's his story for now," she said dryly, "but he is really a whole lot older than he'd like to admit. I'll get to that part, I promise," she assured him before picking back up.
"Aros was the first born son; Delphina and Didyme were born two years later, and Artemis and Apollo born four years after that. The average age for a child to be Chosen by a Companion was thirteen, but no one thought it odd that he wasn't Chosen at that time. Eyebrows began to rise when he was fifteen and Delphina and Didyme were Chosen, then when he was nineteen and Artemis and Apollo were Chosen. He realized at that point that he had no hope of being Chosen and left the city in a rage, knowing that he would not ascend to power like he wanted."
"Why wasn't he Chosen?" Jasper asked.
The vampire bit her lip. "There were a couple of theories about that, but the real reason is that he was power hungry. If he had taken over the throne, he would have been as bad as or worse than the leader the one that Baron Valdemar had fled from." Her face grew pensive. "Artemis was aware of this and had been advising her mother of this."
Despite his skepticism, Edward ventured a question. "How did she know?"
"One of her Gifts was ForeSight; she could see the future," she responded readily.
"Wait, you said one of her Gifts? What were her other gifts," Nessie asked.
"She was unique for a Herald as she had a touch of all of the Mind Gifts. Most Heralds have only one, maybe two or three Gifts, but all of hers were active and at equal strength. Now, granted, they weren't very powerful, but she had enough Empathy—which is what Jasper has by the way—that she could sense the darkness that had taken over his thoughts."
Jasper looked shocked at her knowledge of his Gift. "Really?"
The vampire nodded. "Yes, and I can help you with it, if you want, but I still have a lot of ground to cover before we get to that." Jasper nodded as he settled back to listen to her continue her story. "So anyway, after Artemis and Apollo were Chosen, Aros left the Palace in a huff. They heard neither hide nor hair of him for ten years, but when he returned, he was different. None of the Heralds, save a select few that were gifted with ForeSight, had any idea of what was coming. One of those few was Artemis."
"What did she see?" Alice asked, intrigued.
The vampire sighed, her eyes focused on the past.
Artemis awoke from the dream with a start. Uneasy with the vague images still flitting through her head, she MindCalled her Companion. :Leto?:
:Yes, dearling?: the Companion answered instantly.
Artemis thought for a couple of moments before shaking her head. :Never mind. It was just a weird dream,: she finally replied.
The Companion was notably silent for a moment before responding hesitantly, :Are you sure?:
Artemis' head rose from the pillow. :What do you mean? Are you suggesting that this is ForeSight? Leto, you know that my ForeSight isn't at all strong.: She didn't know what to think. Something was telling her that Leto was about to offer some unsolicited advice, which went against anything Companions normally did.
:I'm not sure, but you've been having the same dream for two moons,: Leto pointed out.
Artemis sighed. :Now you offer me advice. All right, All Knowing One,: she teased, :What could this mean?:
:I don't know,: the Companion admitted reluctantly. :It's nothing we've ever Seen before, but from what I've Seen and shown to the other Companions we came to an agreement. Premonitions of massive deaths and they are coming from the North.:
"Well, you're a lot of help," Artemis uttered aloud.
:Hey!: Leto retorted indignantly.
:I'm sorry, loverling. I just don't have a good feeling about this,: Artemis tried to sooth her Companion.
Leto sent her a little mental caress, telling her that she wasn't bothered. Artemis felt her mentally sigh before the Companion offered her some more advice, :Listen, there's nothing that we can do about this now, so why don't you go back to bed. After all, we just got back to Haven today; I know that you are tired.:
Artemis yawned and sent back her agreement as she looked at the sky showing the beginnings of a false dawn. :Night, loverling,: she thought as she began to nod off.
A fortnight later, Artemis' fears were coming to a reality as messenger upon messenger from the North descended onto Haven seeking help from the guard. The latest messenger was an old man from Berrybay. With tensions mounting, Artemis had decided to sit in on the Formal Audiences.
"I don't know what they are, Your Majesty," the exhausted man was saying. He had ridden his horse to foundering to get to the Palace. "Every night for the past fortnight, people have disappeared from the village. Every morning we've found them, all dead, covered in strange bite marks."
Queen Lyra looked at the old man carefully. "Have you ever seen bite marks like this before?" she asked thoughtfully, trying to understand what kind of animal they could be dealing with.
"No, milady. Not even those boggles that showed up after the Mage Storms created something like this. People have vanished from behind locked doors," he admitted.
Queen Lyra looked at him, sensing the exhaustion that was taking over. "Thank you, I promise that I will do everything possible to get to the bottom of this problem," she reassured him as she motioned for the pages to take him to the guest quarters. She quickly dismissed everyone except the Heralds in the room and the members of the Council. She gazed at each of them in returning before the discussion began.
After arguing for a few candlemarks, the decision was made to send a Herald in advance with a Guard troop following afterwards. With the decision made, the Council members exited the room, leaving the Heralds behind to discuss who could go. Artemis decided to preempt the discussion and after the last member of the Council left, she announced, "I'm going."
The Heralds looked taken aback for a moment before Lyra looked at her youngest daughter. "Absolutely not."
Artemis cocked an eyebrow. "Why not, Mother? I just got back from a two year circuit down in the Pelagirs Forest, so you can't say that I don't know what sort of boggles are out there. Plus, sense I have all of the MindGifts, so that will be helpful," she retorted. "I am a Herald first, your daughter second."
Lyra closed her eyes briefly before finally nodding. "Okay, you're correct, you are the best Herald for the job, but you are my darling daughter and I will fear for you." Her eyes got distant for a moment before smiling. "Trevelyn says for you and Leto to be careful," she said, relaying the message from her Companion.
Artemis laughed as she turned to exit the room to pack. "You know me, Mother, I always am."
"I take it that this all has a point?" Edward interjected wryly.
The raven-haired vampire just rolled her eyes of him. "I rarely tell a story that doesn't have meaning, Edward," she replied, keeping her calm. "All this information is pertinent to understanding Aro and discovering his weaknesses so we can defeat him. After all, the more you know about your enemy, the more you understand him, the better it is to anticipate his moves and defeat him."
Jasper smiled as he nodded his head. "She is right, you know. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm ready to learn more." The rest of the assembled group nodded as the vampire settled back on the couch once again.
AN: Only 1 review for the last chapter? Was it really that bad? Please, let me know if y'all want me to continue this!
Soccer - :D I hope to get some inspiration soon, but Lexi has been notably absent the last couple of weeks and I think I may force her to work on TWAH. :D But when I get more written, I'll send them over!