MILLENNIUM (Descendants Saga), Page 3

  Gladstone offered only his wan smile. “That’s what the papers said. I suppose the pressure of London’s unraveling situation must have been too much for him.”

  “They also found his wife and daughter murdered, if I’m not mistaken,” Oliver added. “A shame.”

  Gladstone never blinked. “Yes, it’s terrible. The depravity of the insane. You never know to what depths some people will sink.”

  Oliver nodded but said nothing more. He walked out of Gladstone’s office, allowing the door to close itself behind him.

  Visitation

  “But why can’t I go?” Cole protested. “What will happen to Grandfather?”

  Charlotte sat on the couch beside Cole while Tom paced around the living room of their royal apartment within the Keep.

  “Your Grandfather would not want you to see him in this condition,” Tom answered. “He would be very angry with me for allowing you to come when he is so ill. You must allow him time to recover. Then you may come to see him.”

  “But what if he doesn’t recover?” Cole asked.

  Tom had expected that question. His son was much too inquisitive and bright not to ask the obvious. Truth be told, he wasn’t really sure how to answer that query. Right now, he was wondering the very same thing.

  “You’re worrying too much,” Charlotte said, putting her arm around her son’s shoulders. “Now, if it was really as serious as you’re letting on, I would be going also.”

  Cole considered this reasoning and then nodded. However, looking back to his father, he quickly added, “But you will fetch me if Grandfather isn’t going to recover, won’t you?”

  Tom smiled back at him. “Of course, I will,” he said. “Your Grandfather would have my hide if I did anything less. Only, try not to worry so much. Perhaps, if we’re positive, he won’t worry about us and he’ll be able to concentrate on getting better.”

  Tom walked over and kissed Cole on the top of his head, mussing his brown curly locks. Charlotte stood also, giving him a parting hug and kiss. Tom winked at them both. “I’ll return soon,” he said and then vanished from the room.

  Charlotte combed her fingers through Cole’s hair. “It must be getting time for you to see Ishbe,” she said. “Have you eaten?”

  “I’ll get something on my way,” he said.

  “How long will you be today?” she asked.

  “Most of the afternoon,” Cole answered. “Ishbe has been promising to take me to the old giant’s castle in the mountains. He was going to arrange some surprises for me, to see how I’m coming along with real world situations. If we do that today, we might even stay overnight in the castle, so don’t worry.”

  Charlotte smiled. “Of course, I won’t worry. You’re in excellent care with Ishbe. Just don’t give him any trouble. He does dote on you so. He often tells me and your father that you are the finest pupil he’s ever taught.”

  Cole’s face lit up at this. “I would never disobey my master, Mother.”

  “Very good,” she said. “Now, run along and don’t forget to stop by the kitchens before you start training.”

  “I won’t,” he said and then ran out of the room.

  Charlotte waited only a moment. Then she hurried to get dressed. Her royal attire she left hanging in the wardrobe. Instead, she put on breeches and a tunic, something she could move easily in.

  She paused to consider her weapons lying in the bottom of her drawer. She was only going to follow Tom in order to see about Donatus. Still, something tugged at her. It probably wouldn’t be necessary, but she grabbed her spelled fighting knives anyway, tucking them in her satchel with a few other items.

  Charlotte left the royal apartment, passing through the empty throne room. Only one guard remained at the doors. He bowed and opened to her, allowing her to pass. She did not explain her plans or her destination.

  Instead, she walked through into the Atrium where the portal platform was located. Charlotte stepped upon the granite pad and spoke her destination. The portal reacted as it had been designed, granting her request for transport to the city of Xandrea. Several brief flashes of light conveyed her away from Greystone. The past ten years had seen she and Donatus become very close as father-in-law and daughter-in-law. As bad as Tom’s description to her privately had been, she meant to be there for him.

  Charlotte’s arrival in Xandrea was nearly instantaneous. She exited a similar granite platform to the one in Greystone. However, the palace surrounding the portal was stylistically different from her own. She had traveled from dark and cold to bright and warm. The difference always shocked her senses.

  She looked around, finding several servants nearby. They approached her quickly, bowing in deference to her royal status. They didn’t appear at all surprised to see her.

  “Was I expected?” she asked.

  “Your husband indicated that you might arrive not long after him,” one of the elf women said.

  Charlotte smiled. Either her husband knew her well, or she was becoming too predictable.

  “This way, Your Highness,” the servant said, leading her toward the northern corridor.

  “Is Donatus not being cared for in the infirmary?”

  “No, ma’am. Not anymore. The other patients began to see terrifying visions as the king’s condition grew worse.”

  Charlotte didn’t like the sound of that. Even worse was the fact that none of Donatus’s family remained in Xandrea. His wife and older son had passed away long ago. She was not sure of the details, but their deaths had been related to a past war. Tom’s older sister had married another elf lord and now lived in the realm of the Wood Elves.

  They came quickly to the royal residence, passing two guards who were set at the doors. They opened to Charlotte and her escort, and they passed within.

  “I will leave you now, Your Highness,” the servant woman said.

  “Thank you,” Charlotte said, and the woman departed.

  She found Tom in his father’s bedchamber sitting in a chair beside him. A healer bowed to her and then left the room, leaving them alone with her father-in-law.

  Tom smiled when he saw her. “Right on time,” he said.

  She came around the large alabaster bed to stand behind her husband, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Am I that predictable?” she whispered.

  “Only to me,” he said playfully. “To everyone else, you remain an enigma.”

  “How is he?” she asked. Donatus was sleeping, and his breathing appeared to be somewhat labored.

  “He’s been asleep since before I arrived,” Tom replied. “The healer told me that he was feverish through the night, but his temperature had gone down to normal by this morning.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m really not sure,” Tom admitted. “But it sounds better than having a fever.”

  Charlotte sat down on the bed next to him. She picked up her father-in-law’s hand, clammy as it was, and held it between her own. “He feels a little cool,” she said.

  “The millennium is upon us!” Donatus cried. His eyes flew open and his grip on Charlotte’s hand became like iron. She could not pull away.

  “Father, are you all right?” Tom asked, trying to extricate Charlotte from his grip.

  Donatus did not seem to hear him, though he was staring directly at them both. “The millennium is upon us!” he shouted desperately.

  Tom’s eyes went wide at that statement. He stumbled backward, landing heavily in his chair.

  “What does that mean, the millennium?” she asked, still trying to free herself from Donatus. “It’s the year nineteen hundred.”

  “The millennium,” Donatus warned again.

  “Tom, what does he mean?”

  He stood again reaching over his father, holding his shoulders and staring into his bloodshot eyes. “The keystone, Father?” Tom asked.

  Donatus nodded his head vigorously. “The millennium has arrived,” he whispered to Tom.

  Tom reached down, freeing Cha
rlotte from his father’s grip. Donatus seemed to relax a little. His eyes became heavy and he drifted off again.

  Tom began to pace the room, leaving Charlotte on the bed beside Donatus.

  “What’s this all about?” she asked. “What is the millennium? And what is the keystone?”

  He turned to her, walking back to his chair beside the bed. Sitting down again, he said, “Have you ever heard of the Underworld?”

  “Greek mythology?” she answered.

  “No,” he replied. “This is a place where abominations have been kept in prison. My father told me about it when I was very young. A dragon resides there, a terrible beast with the power to destroy the spiritual realms where Descendants dwell.”

  “I don’t understand,” Charlotte said. “I’ve never heard anything about it.”

  “I don’t believe many have,” Tom conceded.

  “The Underworld is sealed by a lock that can only be opened with a special keystone,” Tom said. “That keystone can only be summoned from among the stars every one thousand years.”

  “Donatus mentioned the millennium,” Charlotte said. “But I thought we were another one hundred years from that time.”

  “The millennium he spoke of was not a calendar date,” Tom clarified. “It occurs every one thousand years from the date when the Underworld was sealed.”

  “Has this Underworld ever been unlocked before?” Charlotte asked. “We’re all still here, after all.”

  “No,” Tom confirmed. “Only someone with a great deal of power could manage to call down the keystone and, of course, only at the right time.”

  “Someone like an angel, one of the Fallen?”

  “I don’t see why an angel would want to open the Underworld,” Tom said. “My father told me that they cannot set foot inside that place for fear of being trapped within. Only mortals may enter. Humans don’t possess that kind of power, which leaves only Descendants.”

  “He is coming,” Donatus said.

  Charlotte and Tom both turned to him, startled. Tom leaned next to his father. “Who is coming?”

  Donatus looked into his eyes for a moment. “I’m not sure, Tom,” he said finally. “In my vision, he comes to the lock and calls down the keystone.”

  “Can you tell us more?”

  “It’s hard for me to recall,” Donatus said. He reached for Tom. “Take my hand.

  Tom did so. A link was made, a bond that allowed him to instantly see what his father had seen. Tom fell through the world of the vision, seeing the place, the man in his wolf skin garments. He saw him calling down the keystone from the heavens and the devastating cataclysm that followed.

  When Tom opened his eyes again, Charlotte was looking down at him. He was lying on the floor next to his father’s bed. Tom sat up, looking at his wife.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, trying to help him up.

  Tom laughed to himself. “I saw it, Charlotte. I saw all of it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “His vision,” Tom clarified. “I know exactly where it’s going to happen. I saw the man, but my father was right. I could not discern his identity.”

  She helped him to his feet.

  “We have to stop this from happening,” he said urgently. He looked back at his father’s bed. Donatus was asleep again. “There was a terrible explosion. If this person is allowed to bring down the keystone, he’ll destroy our world.”

  He started to pace around the bed.

  “How?” she asked. “This must be a very powerful Descendant, as you’ve said.”

  Tom thought for a moment. “You and I will assemble my father’s warriors. They are the finest to be found. Our spell casters will join us also. We can stop this from happening, Charlotte. I know we can.”

  She looked at him, considering the situation. If this was all real, then they had little choice. If this beast happened to be released, while they stood by doing nothing to prevent it, then their world would be destroyed and everyone in it. Their son would die. She couldn’t allow that—not while there was one breath left in her body.

  “When must this be done?” she asked.

  Tom turned, staring into her eyes. “Tomorrow.”

  I had just prayed with my daughter and put her to bed, when I felt the nearness of the blood bond. Oliver had returned to Tidus earlier that afternoon. It wasn’t him triggering this sensation. But Oliver was near. I heard his thought in my mind. He wanted to meet with me in the Atrium immediately.

  I closed the door to Sadie’s room softly. When I turned to head down the corridor, Sophia was there. She wore a silk nightgown. The cool breeze running through the palace halls played with the lace border around her ankles.

  “You’re a sneaky one,” I said, playfully.

  “Are you coming to bed?” she asked.

  I embraced her and kissed her nose. “I would love to, but something has happened.”

  “What is it?”

  “I can feel Southresh again.”

  Sophia tensed immediately. “Why do you have to be the one to do this?” she asked.

  I could tell she was anxious and even a little angry. Sophia had been glad that none of the Fallen had shown themselves all these years. We had both come so close to death. Oliver had shared with us both how he had found me in the clutches of both Southresh and Anubis in that ruined building in Whitehall.

  It wasn’t just each other whom we had to be concerned about. Now, we had a young daughter—a daughter who needed her parents. We were concerned for her safety and her upbringing. The peace we had known these ten years was a true blessing. My daughter trained almost every day, but she knew nothing of the war we had endured. And we hoped she need never know.

  “It’s not only me,” I reasoned. “Oliver is a part of this. We have Malak-esh to give us victory and the Lord to protect us.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, but she pushed them back angrily. “I’ve dreaded the day when you would tell me he had returned,” she said. “I understand, but then I don’t understand. I don’t want anything to happen to you. For Sadie. For me.”

  “Do you think I do?”

  “It’s been a long time since you’ve battled with angels, Brody,” she said.

  “I know. I’m older and wiser.”

  “You’re older,” she said, grinning a little.

  “Well, my power is much increased over these years,” I said, laughing quietly. “That has to count for something.”

  She straightened. “It does,” she said, more seriously. “I know you’re ten times the warrior now. It just scares me to think that the war is not over—that Sadie is going to be forced to live as we lived back then. Never knowing when someone is going to come for you—when you’re going to see your loved ones for the last time.”

  I kissed her cheek and hugged her again. “If it’s not the Lord’s will for me to die today, then no weapon formed against me shall prosper. If it is, then hiding from my fate won’t stop it from claiming me.”

  She sighed heavily. “I know,” she said. “You’re right. Are you going now?”

  “Oliver is meeting me in the Atrium,” I replied. “We’ve made no plans, but I’m sure he’s felt Southresh return also.”

  “Then I’ll give you this now and pray for your safe return,” she said and kissed me passionately—a kiss that said everything that needed saying—one to remember, if I did not return.

  Oliver had not meant to eavesdrop on Brody and Sophia. He had sent Brody his thoughts as soon as he felt the presence of Southresh. He was certain that Brody would have had the same sensation. After all, time had seen him become even more powerful than Oliver.

  They had to take this opportunity to rid the world of the angel. It had been too much to hope for that Southresh and Anubis were somehow cast back into the void with Grayson Stone’s death. Even though time enjoying this peace had made them want to believe it, Oliver had never been truly convinced that the Fallen were gone for good.

  His anxiety had gott
en the better of him in the Atrium. He had rushed from his room to meet Brody by the throne room doors. Time was of the essence. He didn’t want to lose their angelic father again—not when it could mean a real lasting peace upon Southresh’s demise. While he remained in the world, the world and those they cared about in it were in danger.

  Coming lightly up the steps, Oliver had heard Sophia and Brody’s whispered conversation. He leaned back against the wall, feeling guilty for his intrusion, though they had not heard him approach. They were near to Sadie’s room. His niece slept behind that wooden door knowing nothing of the terrible danger her father was now called to face.

  What if Brody did not return from this impending battle? How could he look into Sadie’s eyes and tell her that her father was gone, never to return? They shared a final embrace, as Oliver turned away. He could not do this. He could not rip Brody from their lives.

  Oliver’s wolf’s head cane appeared in his hand. He would do this alone. Brody was needed here. His family could not do without him. His young brother would gladly have gone to do this thing—he was truly brave—but Oliver could not bear the risk of Sophia as a widow and his precious niece without her father.

  He crept back the way he had come, finding himself downstairs in the Atrium again. To his surprise, Laish was there. Apparently, he had been waiting for him.

  “You’re up late, old friend,” Oliver said.

  “Old, yes, but not a fool,” Laish said, looking at Malak-esh. “What are you up to, Oliver?”

  “Southresh,” he said. “Brody and I were meeting here to go after him.”

  “And?”

  “And I couldn’t bear to take him from Sophia and Sadie,” Oliver admitted. “If something happened to him, I could never forgive myself.”

  “That doesn’t mean we want something to happen to you, either,” Laish said. “I never would have admitted it, but all of you have become like family over these past ten years. I spent so much of my life on my own that I believed no one would have accepted me in their company, even if I tried.”