He could smell it. The flames were everywhere. They crackled and snapped as he looked around frantically. He couldn't tell where he was. All he could see was shades of orange and yellow flickering. The heat was unbearable. He coughed into his sleeve as he started moving down, what he assumed was a hallway, still looking around, trying to find his way out. Then he saw her. It was Mary, lying on the ground. He couldn't tell if she was breathing. He ran toward her.
"Mary! Mary!" Bash yelled and then his voice softened. "Mary...Mary...Mar.."...
Bash shot up from the cot he'd been laying in. It was a dream...no...it was a vision. Over the last few months he'd come to be able to tell the difference. They didn't feel the same. The sweat dripped from his brow and he wiped it off. He picked up a small bowl filled with water and splashed some on his face and neck, then he put on his shirt and walked outside. He made his way over to another tent and entered it. There was a druid mixing some concoction in a bowl.
"You had the vision again didn't you?" he asked.
"Yes, but it was longer this time. I saw someone in the flames." Bash told him.
"I take it you you be leaving us now young Sebastian." the druid said.
"I need to stop this vision from happening. I'll be back. I still have much to learn." he said.
"You do at that, but you will not be back. Of this I'm sure. I've had a vision of my own." the druid told him.
"But I have to. How else will I learn to use my gift?" Bash said.
"You will find a way, and this will help you." the druid handed him a book. "I started writing down some lessons in this book the day I first saw your departure. It's not everything you will need, but I hope it will be of some help to you when you need it most. Don't read it all at once."
Bash took the book and stared at it. He knew he wasn't ready, but he also knew he couldn't just let Mary die. He had to go back.
"Thank you. Thank you for everything. I won't forget you." Bash said as he left the tent. He packed his things quickly and rode for the castle as fast as his horse would carry him.
When he arrived at the castle, Mary was outside in the courtyard and she saw him as he was riding up.
"Bash. You're here." she said with a smile, but them noticed his expression. "Is something wrong? What's happened?"
"I think we should speak in private." he said. They went to her room and closed the door.
"Bash, what's going on?" Mary asked.
"I've been with the druids learning how to use my gift. I haven't really gotten the hang of it entirely yet, but I have started to get visions, but not full ones. They are only bits and pieces, sometimes they don't even make any sense but..." Bash said as he struggled to explain to her.
"Bash, did you see something bad? Is that why you're here?" she asked.
"I, I saw you. You were in a fire. Lying there. I don't know if you were dead or just unconscious, but it didn't look good. The fire was out of control." he told her.
"Was the fire here at the castle?" she asked.
"I don't know." he said.
"Was anyone else there?"
"I don't know."
"When..."
"I don't know, I don't know. You know as much as me. That's all I saw." he said.
"I'm not sure how we are supposed to stop something if we don't know what we are trying to stop. Are you sure this was a vision and not just a dream?"
"I'm positive."
"Well, there's nothing we can do until we know more. I'll make sure the guards are on high alert for anything out of the ordinary for the time being. You should stay here and keep me apprised of anything new you see regarding this. I no longer take any kind of vision lightly." she said, exchanging a knowing look with him as he noticed the sword Francis had made her sitting on the mantle. He walked over and ran a finger over it. He got a strange chill and a flash of light behind his eyes and then it was gone.
"Bash are you alright?" Mary asked, with concern in her tone.
"I'm, I'm fine." he lied.
Later that night, the vision returned. He was in the fire again, and he saw Mary. He ran toward her and kneeled down next to her. When he did, he saw something else out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, it was another body. He stood to get a better look. It was Charles, and next to him he saw Claude. His breath caught in his throat and he started to panic. He turned and he saw Elizabeth and Margot.
"Oh God." he said, and backed up, tripping over something. It was Henry and Hercule.
"No. No." he breathed. It was all of them. Every last one of his siblings lay dead at his feet, burning. It was only then that he could make out the H shaped tiles on the floor.
"NO!" he screamed as he woke from his sleep. When he looked out the window he could see it was morning already. He dressed and rushed to Mary's room. He knocked on the door.
"Come in." he heard her say, and he swung open the door, then slammed it behind him.
"I saw more. The fire. It wasn't here. It was at French court, and it wasn't just you, it was my brother's and sisters too, but that doesn't make any sense. Why would you be in France?" he said breathing hard from running. Mary looked as if she already knew the answer. "What? What is it?" she picked up a piece of paper off the desk and handed it to him.
"Claude's getting married?" he asked.
"To the Duke of Lorraine. Catherine sent me this invitation to the wedding. I just received it yesterday before you got here." she said.
"You were planning on going?" he said.
"I was hoping to, if I could find a safe route there and back, but considering how hard it was to get here in the first place...obviously there's no way I'm going now, but I'm sure you can give Claude my well wishes when you get there." she said.
"When I get there? I'm not going back." he said.
"What do you mean you're not going back? You have to. Your brothers and sisters...Catherine..." she started.
"Just, just write a letter or something. I don't need to be there." he argued.
"A letter isn't good enough. Bash, this is your family, don't you want to save them?" she questioned.
"I'm sure Catherine would do whatever she must to keep it from happening. Your word will be enough for her. I'm not going back." he exclaimed.
"Why are you being this way? You should do everything possible to save them. Why would you even take the risk. You...wait. You changed your mind rather quickly the day I left. I was so grateful to have a friendly face along I didn't even question...did something happen?" she asked. She watched his face changed and knew she'd struck a nerve. "It did didn't it? What is it? What could possibly be so terrible that you would risk your family's lives because of it?"
"It doesn't matter." he said, not wanting to give her the details.
"It does. Tell me." she said sternly.
"Let's just say, Catherine would not be so grateful for my help." he said.
"What did you do?" she asked. He said nothing. "What did you do?!"
"Me? You ask what i did? We are talking about Catherine and you accuse me and not her?" he said.
"If it was her that did wrong, you wouldn't be unwelcome." she said.
"She pushed me to it. What she did..." he started.
"What? What happened? I demand you tell me." she ordered.
"Where on the long list of offenses would you like me to start?" he said sternly. "How about we start with the fact that she was sleeping with a serial murderer and she knew all about it and she protected him."
"Wait, what? Serial murderer?" Mary questioned.
"You remember the heart killer I was hunting." he said.
"She was sleeping with the butcher?" Mary asked, confused.
"No. The butcher was innocent and Catherine was aware when she hung him, because she was protecting the real killer, Christophe, her pet fire tender turned king's guard."
"No. Catherine has done awful things, but they have always been to protect her family. What reason would she have for this?"
"To cover for another sin. Because Christophe knew her secret and was blackmailing her with it."
"What secret?"
"Claude. That beating she took on her wedding night, Catherine paid the Duke to do it. It was all part of her plan to get the regency back." his tone got more agitated as he explained. Mary oddly however, didn't look as angry as Bash had thought. "Well, none of this upsets you?"
"The gold..." she began as she realized. "Bash, you don't understand what Narcisse keeping the regency could have meant, if she did do this, she probably felt there was no other way. She would never want to hurt Claude. I know that. You know that."
"Yes. There were a lot of things I never thought she'd stoop to, but I was wrong. She has proved she is the evil witch my mother always told me she was. My mother, by the way, is dead. She killed her."
"You must be mistaken. What reason would she have to kill your mother now? She's no longer any threat to her." Mary said. Bash looked away.
"She did it alright. She admitted it. She had no remorse at all, even when she looked me dead int the eye and told me how she threw her body in the sea. And that is why I put my hands on her throat and tried to squeeze the life from her as she did my mother."
"Bash! No. Are you out of your mind? After all I went through to save her you...you go and..." she petered off and tried to quell her temper. Before yelling at Bash she needed to know the truth. She needed to be sure she was yelling at him for good reason. "Two things you can always be sure about with Catherine are that she always owns up to her wrong doings when questioned and she never kills without reason. Why did she kill her? Why did she kill your mother?" Bash didn't answer. "Sebastian!"
"She murdered her daughters." he said quietly.
"The twins? I thought the nanny..."
"The nanny was just a scapegoat. My mother opened the windows that night." he looked away. Mary tried to absorb all of this.
"And you...you think that Catherine is at fault for that? The other things aside, Catherine did nothing wrong. If your mother did what you say, then she deserved what she got." Mary said through gritted teeth. "How could you side with your mother on this? They were your sisters. Innocent children who never hurt anyone. You have gone on about Catherine's wrongdoings, but nothing she has ever done, compares to the evil of murdering an infant in their sleep."
"She had no right to take justice into her own hands. I had the right to bury my mother."
"What she did is no different than what I did to avenge Francis. Am I at fault too? Do I deserve to die?"
"It's not the same."
"It is! You're only mad at Catherine for it because you can't accept the fact that your own mother has committed such an atrocity." Mary scolded. "You have to make this right. Catherine can be more forgiving than you think. Considering the circumstances she would probably..."
"That's not all I did." He interjected.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"The letter Christophe had written detailing her crimes. I gave it to Charles and Claude before I left." He confessed.
"That's why she isn't regent anymore? Because of you?" She questioned. He nodded. "Do you understand what you've done? Charles is too young to rule alone. He has no idea what he's doing. I've already been hearing news of his mistakes. Who knows what else he's done that we haven't heard of. You may have destroyed France with one letter. Was your vengeance worth that? Catherine may not be perfect, but she is a good ruler, and a better politician than most men."
"So what? She gets a free pass to do whatever she likes no matter how terrible?" He asked.
"All rulers must do terrible things for the greater good. Especially women, because even as queens, we have no real power. I've learned that lesson too many times. The hard way."
"It has nothing to do with the greater good. Catherine is selfish and power hungry. She doesn't care about anyone but herself." Bash said, and was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Your majesty, there is a woman here to see you. She says she's your friend. A Lady Greer." Said a guard.
"What? Greer? How is she here? Let her in please." Mary said. After a moment Greer entered. "My god it's really you." She hugged her. "What are you doing here?"
"My husband was killed. I didn't know what to do so I went to the castle for help. I was prepared to work for years to earn my boat fair here, but Catherine just gave it to me." She said and pulled a box out of the bag in her hands. "She also gave me this to bring to you. She said she wanted you to have something from her." Mary opened it to see the pearls Catherine had sent. A small smile formed at the sight of them. And she turned to face Bash.
"You were saying?" Then she turned back to Greer. "I'm overjoyed to see you, and we will have much talking to do, but I need a moment with Bash please."
"Of course." She said.
"Guard. Please find my friend our best available room to stay in." Mary said and ushered her out of the room. She looked down at the pearls, then back up at Bash. "You will go back. You will help fix this. If it can even be fixed."
"No. I will not." He said.
"You will go back, or I will banish you from Scotland." She said sternly.
"You wouldn't."
"I would, and I will. You will not just stand by and watch as France falls and your siblings die. I won't allow it. They are your family, and as far as I am concerned they are still my family too. I've already lost enough loved ones, I won't lose them too." She gave him one last look and left the room. He sighed and walked over to the sword on the mantle.
"What do I do little brother?" He said as he ran a finger over it as he had the day before. He got another flash, but this time he could see Francis.
"Bash." He heard Francis say in a whisper. He shook his head and he touched it again.
"You...you...have...go...please...back... help...mother." Francis's voice broke in between words and then he dissappeared.
"What the hell was that?" He said.