Divided (56 page)

Aela didn’t want to get into a debate on who was right and
wrong, though, so she persisted.  “The land was so torn by war that the Magisters
thought they had no choice but to bring about the destruction of the kingdoms. 
That was the only way to save the land.”  She spoke firmly, trying to sound as
sane as possible.  “Then, though, the hero appeared and pleaded with them.  He
promised that he would stop the war, given time, and that if the Magisters saw
that he could not bring faith and compassion back to the kingdoms, then his
life would be sacrificed and the kingdoms would be destroyed.”

“This book is blank, sister,” Taeru mumbled.  She wanted to
smack him.  As if she hadn’t known that it was blank!  If they would be quiet
and let her work up to her point then perhaps it wouldn’t be lost.  She glared
at him, and he frowned.

“The hero worked tirelessly, and he finally allowed the
kingdoms to reach a treaty of peace.  Peace was restored, though one of the Magisters
did not believe in it.  This Magister cursed the hero, claiming that if ever
this peace was broken, and that faith and compassion disappeared again—then the
hero’s descendants would feel the wrath of the curse, as would the kingdoms.”

Leif and Taeru both frowned in unison.  She wasn’t sure if
they were frowning at the nature of the story, or the fact that she was taking
it so seriously.  Rather than worrying about it, she decided to continue.  “I
read the book twice, and I got to about the halfway mark before we left.  I
brought it with me, in-in case I got bored while in Telandus.  But, after arriving
in Telandus, I decided to pick it up again.  I found this.  A half-written
book.  And reading the words, I was even more concerned.”

Taeru glanced up at her.  She knew then that he was
considering what she’d said.  Whatever was happening to him, it was making him
vulnerable, and he knew that the war would destroy something—he’d only wondered
what.  “Perhaps you have the book mistaken with another.  An unfinished edition
would be rare, but not impossible to come by,” Taeru offered weakly.

“My bookmark was still within the book when I found it.  I
thought the same thing—I wondered if I’d lost the book, and after all, in
Telandus it would be easier to find, perhaps.  But, when I read the words—I
knew that something was amiss.  There is no way the book was changed.  I kept
it with me for the entire journey, and I remember placing it on the shelf where
I found it.  You have to believe me!  I am not mad!”

Leif let out a breath, and he picked the book up, thumbing
backwards until words appeared on the pages.  His mouth twitched as he read
them.  “Well, is it the same book?  Are the words, aside from what is missing,
the same as the ones you read before?”

“No,” she answered swiftly, “they are entirely different.” 
She watched the words on the pages, and instinctively knew what they said. 
“The entire book changed.  Now it talks about lands that are in unsettled
peace, and that a war will come soon.  It… talks about a prince… of one of the
kingdoms, and how he left to the other kingdom, trying to stop the war—because
he is the descendant of the hero written about before.”  Her words were
shaking, as these were the ones that sounded truly mad.

Taeru stared at her, and his eyes shimmered with anguish. 
“You think this book is about
me
?” he hissed.  “That’s absurd, Aela.”

“Read it, then!  The words are about you.  I knew everything
before I found out.  I didn’t want to believe it either, but all of it is
talking about you, brother!”  The words choked in her throat, and she narrowed
her eyes. 

Taeru shook his head violently.  “That would mean that I
wasn’t… that I’m not…”

“I don’t know what it says of your origins, brother, but I
know that father loves you, and he continues to.  I know that you are, and
always have been, my brother.  All I want from this book is to make sure that
you aren’t killed.  I don’t even care about the rest… I just…”  Tears burned in
her eyes, and surprisingly, he stepped forward and hugged her.

Leif’s fingers continued to trace the words of the book.  He
couldn’t possibly have been reading it all so quickly, so Aela assumed he was
trying to believe her.  When Taeru stepped away from her, she gently stole the
book from Leif.  Then, she moved through the pages until she was staring at the
words that she had been so panicked over.

“It says that…”  She kept flipping, wishing that she would
have marked the place in the book.  The idea of looking at the words again
frightened her.  “See—it says everything, it talks about you using the mask to
protect citizens, it talks about your…relationship.  Ryo and me.  It says it
all here—but here!”  She paused, throwing her finger down on a few of the
words.

Leif was the one who read them aloud.  “As ages past, a
single Magister—a Magister with no faith in the land—grew weary of the peace.  This
Magister placed seeds within the world, through people, and through places, and
with those seeds, worked to destroy the boy, who knew nothing of his past or
his future.”  Leif’s eyes flickered to Taeru. 

Aela had read the words too many times to be surprised by them
now.  She looked to Taeru, and his brow furrowed.  Leif, though, made a face. 
Suddenly, he was flipping through the pages, moving to the blank ones.  And
there, under each of their gazes, the words were burned into the pages—new,
unread words.  Aela let out a quick gasp, and Leif dropped the book onto the
table, stepping back.  “This isn’t possible,” he snarled.

“Let me see it,” Taeru snapped.  He yanked the book off the
table, and then he flipped to the pages that were newly written.  The orange
burn of the etching faded until the words were black against the page like the
others, leaving plenty blank pages left to be filled.  “Through a twist of fate
that the Magister, nor any man, could have expected… the boy’s sister
discovered the book of peace, and she declared what she found in the book to
her brother.  The knowledge would forever alter the course of the following
events.  The knowledge would show the desperate hero, and all involved with
him, that the war was an absolute—that the war would not only be a foolish loss
of life, but that it would bring about the ultimate destruction of all of their
land.”  He stopped reading, and the book hung in his hands.

When Aela glanced across to Leif, and his jaw was clenched. 
His eyes had changed though, and she could see the inability to disbelieve
glowing in them.  Leif and her brother had their proof, and they knew that this
war would kill Taeru Lassau—and destroy all that they loved.  For Aela, the two
went hand in hand.  “We came here to ensure that there was no plan in place for
when our lands fought,” she told Leif, “perhaps if we just tell father that he
wouldn’t win.”

“It would only be temporary,” Taeru said.  “Father would see
it as a threat.  He would strengthen his army.  He would feel obligated to protect
his people.  Besides, the lie would be discovered and, if not you, sister, Leif
would be held accountable for it.  Judging from your relationship, I imagine
you wouldn’t much care for that.”  His words were teasing, and yet they were
sharp with direction.

She frowned, and Leif and she glanced to one another for a
moment.  “There is no relationship.  Well, no relationship beyond friends!” she
snapped.

“It isn’t my business,” Taeru declared flatly.  “The point
remains that we cannot let this fall on Leif.  Yet, going through Lavus seems
impossible as well.”  His voice had the slightest bit of desperation in it, but
she could hear his determination as well.  Taeru wasn’t going to let this
happen.  “I came here with the intention of changing things.  When I saw the
state of the people in Dark District, I wanted to renew their faith.  Perhaps I
also thought that if I caused enough trouble here that Lavus would forget about
the war—but he hasn’t.  He cares nothing for his citizens.”

“You have renewed their faith,” Aela said quickly.  “I can
see it in the eyes of the people.”  Her voice was filled with admiration that
she had only felt, never expressed, up until this point.  Even as a girl, she
had never seen Taeru as she did now.  He was a hero in every way a person could
be a hero. 

Taeru let out a breath.  “That does me little good, now. 
They will still die if I am unable to stop this war from happening.  For now,
the impasse remains, and we should take advantage of that fact.  At least I
know what I’m fighting, now.”

“The Magister is intentionally engineering things, though,”
Leif said irately, “shouldn’t that be a bit of a deal breaker?”

“It’s part of the curse.  I assume that means this Magister
can do what she—or he, will,” Taeru said.  “Keep the book, sister.  Perhaps
when I dream this moon, I can make more sense of the words the Magister says to
me.  For now, I should return.”

Aela nodded her head.  “Be safe.  I will see if I can’t find
books on the Magisters, to find out which one precisely we are dealing with,”
she promised.

He nodded.  “I’ll ask Calis to check the library in the Shining
District, as well,” he said softly.

Aela’s eye twitched, and Leif let out a bit of shocked
breath.  He tried to hide it, but Aela had become accustomed to reading him
without his words.  “You can’t explain this to him.  If he gets too involved,
then he will figure out who we are—who you are.  We can’t risk that, no matter
what your feelings may be.  Explaining this is not an option.”  Aela crossed
her arms to impress the accuracy of Leif’s statement upon her brother.

For a moment, Taeru stood there, as though he wasn’t sure
what Leif had just said to him.  Then, there was the strangest smile on his
face.  The smile was pained, while simultaneously being entirely whimsical. 
The crooked smile that Aela had only seen on those lips a few times—the one
that made his dimples most prominent, and the one that no one in Elyst could
resist.  “He won’t ask,” he said softly.

Then, he was gone.

“Trust is the beginning and the end of deception.”

-A Hero’s Peace v.ii

Taeru’s entire body felt so tense that he was worried his
body might twist into an actual knot.  The past cycle had been terrible. 
First, he had discovered that his sister—his own little sister—was in
Telandus.  The one place in the world where she would be anything other than
safe.  She had dressed up as a boy and accompanied Leif Firenz, another of
Taeru’s friends, to Telandus on an errand for their father.  At first, he’d
been angry at Leif, but when he considered his sister—Taeru did not doubt that
Firenz had little say in the matter.  And he hadn’t even wanted to consider the
fact that Leif nearly had his lips on Aela when he’d gone to see the two of
them. 

His little sister—with a man!  He had thought, considering
he’d left when she was only a child, that he would never have to handle that. 
Yet, seeing her with Leif had inspired protectiveness in him that had long
since lay dormant.  He felt protective of Alyx, of course, but nothing could
compare to what a brother felt for his sister.

A sister, he reminded himself, who had left the safety of
Cathalar to come to Telandus—no doubt due to his own choices.  If he hadn’t
been so careless, then perhaps he could have convinced Aela that following him
was a fool’s errand before he’d left.  He’d thought he had done so, but
apparently, she had not wanted to listen.  Guilt coursed through him like an
uncharted river.  His dream had been true—Aela had thrown herself into danger
because of him.

Why was it that no matter how hard he tried, he seemed to
consistently put those he cared about into danger?  He buried his face in his
hands at the thought.  He couldn’t worry about it—not now.  The failing that
his nightmares had held over his head was finally tangible, and though he
didn’t know how—he knew that he had been fighting it this whole time.  And
though it wouldn’t help him in this matter, his efforts within Dark District
finally seemed to have worked.

The people there seemed happy, which was not anything Taeru
could have said about them when he’d originally arrived in Telandus.  Too bad
there was nothing he could do to change the lives of the people in the Shining
District—well, save one.  He hoped.  Calis was doing so much for him, and Taeru
couldn’t even tell him the truth.  But he would—he just had to find a way to
stop this war, first.

Now, he waited for Calis and Aela, or Aelic rather, on an
uninhabited piece of land owned by Manali.  They had both refused to allow him
to go get the books—Magisters forbid he had to do anything on his own.  After
all, he couldn’t help but think—if he truly was the illegitimate son of this
hero—it was his responsibility and not theirs.  Aela said that the hero in the
original version of her book had done this on his own, and yet Taeru was
relying on nearly everyone for assistance.

Perhaps that was part of the reason that he felt as though
he was failing.  But how could he accomplish this on his own?  He would never
have seen that book, and if he had, then he certainly wouldn’t have involved
the others.  But now, Aela had forcibly involved herself, and while she was
involved—Taeru needed the help of Calis.  Truth be told, Calis had already seen
too much to be left out of this as well.  Everyone around him lately had been
desperately helpful.  He was fortunate that he’d managed to keep Alyx and
Juliet out of this.  The last thing they needed was another black mark against
their name if anything about Taeru was discovered.

Another few moments yielded Aela, and she had a small sack
under her arm.  He imagined it was full of the books that she had been
collecting for half the cycle.  She waved to him, and he nodded.  He hadn’t
lied when he’d said she made a terrible boy.  She was a very delicate male, he
thought.  Her eyes were too big, too sweet to belong to another man.  Oh, how
he’d missed her.  To think that she had come all the way to Telandus, partially
to find him, his heart felt so happy that he nearly forgot her life was at
risk.  “Tae—”  Upon his angry look, she rephrased.  “Kilik!”

She glanced around in obvious annoyance.  “I see no one.  I
assume that is why you chose this location.  People may be able to see us, but
not hear us.”

“I didn’t choose it,” he offered nonchalantly.  She was
going to ask what he meant, and he knew that, but he hoped that it would wait
for another few moments.  His sister had been vocal about her disapproval of
Calis, though she had no real reason to disapprove.

Without Calis, Taeru would surely have fallen to pieces. 
His nightmares had been close to destroying him before Calis had—ah, shown his
affections.  Aela narrowed her eyes, though, clearly aware of where this was
going.  “Then why are we here?” she asked.

He stared at her impassively.  He partly wished Calis would
arrive and stop this conversation before it started, but as this prince seemed
to be running a bit late—Taeru would have to assuage the situation directly. 
“Well, we’re here for the reasons you said.  It would be impossible for someone
to overhear us without being seen,” he pointed out graciously.

“
He
is coming, isn’t he?  You let him choose the
location?”  Her voice was so riddled with distrust and anger that he hardly
recognized.  In fact, if she kept this up—then she might be able to pass for
suitable boy.

Letting out a breath, he ran a hand through his hair
absently.  “He?” he asked tetchily.  “I assume you mean Calis.  I don’t see why
you feel the need to demonize even pronouns that refer to him.  He has been
absurdly…”  Suddenly, Taeru realized that this was a bad route to go.  His
cheeks heated up at the thought of what Calis had been for him.  “…helpful to
me.”  He finally finished inadequately. 

“Taeru,” she said gently, “he is a Tsrali.  I know that you
think he isn’t a bad person, but he is still the enemy.”  Her head moved as she
tried to determine whether or not it was safe to speak.  “He doesn’t know who
you are.  How do you know he isn’t with you for the sake of finding that out?”

A frown warped across his lips as he looked at her.  “He
isn’t,” he said self-assuredly. “You were a witness to that.  Why is that
Feil
can believe it, but you can’t?”  Then, he blinked and looked around.  “Where is
your suitor, anyway?”

This time, Aela was the one with the red cheeks.  She
floundered, as though Taeru had just said something terribly inappropriate. 
She even gasped a few times, or she breathed hard enough to classify it as
gasping.  “He-he isn’t a suitor!  He is just a very good friend.  Why can’t you
understand that?”

“Because I walked into a room just as the two of you were
embracing one another.  I saw his expression, and I saw yours.  I’m not a
fool.”  She frowned, and she shook her head in obvious irritation.  “So where
is he?”

“He said he would be better served to investigate around the
city.  He doesn’t think it is wise for all of us to be in the same place.”  The
way she spoke, Taeru could tell that his sister had come to regard Leif’s word
as fact.  He smiled at the thought.  So he felt a bit protective, but he had
always been fond of Leif growing up.  Ryo hadn’t, but Taeru had been.

Taeru nodded his head, conceding the point as a good one. 
“I wish you weren’t involving the prince,” Aela said softly.  “I don’t trust
him, brother.”

“I do,” he said.

As if on cue, Taeru glanced up to see Calis—or the person he
assumed was Calis riding a white horse.  The white horse didn’t fit very nice
with the small cart that it drew.  Calis was wearing more clothes than usual,
with a cloak that obscured his features.  He disposed of it when he reached
them, though.  He offered a patronizing glance at Aela before he hopped off the
horse. She snorted with disapproval. 

When Taeru moved around to examine the cart, which could not
have been easy to draw from the Shining District to this location, Lee appeared. 
He eased out of the cart with a half-smile.  The two of them had discovered
little from their visit to the corrupted obelisk, though Lee was convinced that
it was the work of a Magister.  That had been helpful to Taeru, who was unable
to show Lee or the prince the book.  “How did you bring a cart?  I thought the
idea was to be cautious?” Taeru asked.

“Well,” Calis said, with a far more cheerful voice than the
one he usually spoke in, “we actually acquired the cart once we were in Dark
District.”  He pulled the back off the cart so that books spilled out onto the
ground.  There were so many of them, and most were leather bound and in
fantastic condition—well, they were before they were spilled onto the ground. 
There were even more still stuck in the cart.  “We collected these in a hidden
location within Dark District for a few suns, though.  It was easy to be stealthy
when we took our time,” Calis continued, before he offered Lee an acquiescent
glance. 

Taeru let out a shocked cry.  “Won’t someone notice all
these missing?”

“Show off,” Aela mumbled from a few paces away.  The few
times that Aela and Calis had been together—the two of them had consistently
found a matter about which to fight.  Calis chose to ignore her on this sun,
though.

“No one in the castle reads,” Calis said. 

“Calis included,” Lee offered cheerfully.  The two of them
glared at each other for a fraction of a moment, but then their gazes returned
to Taeru.  Taeru felt just a touch of jealousy for the relationship that the
two of them had.  It was so open, and so comfortable, and while he loved
Calis’s affections—he would have loved for that sort of honest relationship
with him.  “But it is a shame that there are so many books in the castle—as no
one deems reading worthy of their time.”

This piqued Aela’s interest, and she cast a coy glance
towards Lee.  Those were words that were after her own heart.  She’d said the
same of the Cathalar library many times.  So many books—with so little
interest.  “Well, this is everything I found on Light and the Magisters.  I
also brought a few erotic novels to shock incase the reading gets boring.  I
can’t believe those were in the castle library.  That had to have been a long
missed practical joke,” Calis asserted.  Taeru tried to suppress his laughter,
and he failed, miserably.

“Erotic novels?” Lee asked.  “Oh, whatever.  I’ve been
asking you—how do you suppose we are going to read through all of this?”

Calis let out a breath, and then he chewed on his lip for a
moment.  He picked up one of the books that had dropped from the cart, and then
he glanced back as Aela let the book she had fall into the pile.  “Try and
remember the molding ones are mine,” she snapped.  Calis glanced to her for a
moment, and then his eyes fell on Taeru.

The book Taeru held didn’t appear particularly useful.  The
title was “Properties of the Light” and Taeru thought it felt rather thin to
contain many properties at all.  Calis picked up another book, and then he
tilted his head at Taeru.  “You think you’ll know which Magister we’re dealing
with when you see it?” he asked gently.

Why was he constantly so gentle?  Taeru felt restrained and
freed at the same time—an electric duality—every time Calis displayed his
feelings so readily.  Even when he said nothing of merit, Taeru could feel it. 
“I hope.  It might be nice to learn more about them, regardless.  The last time
I read anything on the Magisters was well… too long ago to remember.”  He
averted the childhood statement just before he said it.

Aela stared at him thoughtfully, glaring daggers into the
back of his head.  “The Fall of the Magisters,” she muttered, clearly trying to
hide her distaste for the situation.  “This one might be worth looking at.”

She tossed it to the side and, upon inspection of another
book, pushed that one further away from her.  The four of them sorted through
the books in relative silence, each of them creating a stack of books they
thought might merit another look.  Taeru made sure to grab any of the ones that
seemed more about explaining and less about worshipping.  He was not interested
in worshipping the Light—not until the Magister that apparently wanted him dead
was dealt with.

Once the stacks had been sorted, Lee put the remainder of
the books back into the cart.  The sun had moved several shifts in the sky, and
Taeru squirmed a little at how long the process had taken.  He had not
anticipated Calis bringing back so many books. 

As he began to read the words, his lessons from his mother
came back to him.  His mother had always been a strong believer in the Light
and the Magisters.  She believed firmly that she had been put into the world
for a purpose, and she thanked the Magisters daily for that.  Rereading tales
that he’d long since forgotten reminded him briefly of her. 

Magisters were created from all the different energies in
the world.  The tiniest strands of difference resulted in another Magister. 
This led to their being many Magisters, and thus the Magisters had to come to
an agreement.  At first, they vied for control of Elyst, but then their
compassion for the people within it took hold and they deemed all Magisters
would get a small bit of power.  So long as the Magisters operated honorably
and within the bounds established—they would be able to manipulate Elyst as
they saw fit.

Taeru had never paid much attention.  He had always been
caught up in one ordeal or another.  He hadn’t worried about deities when there
were people in the world that he could see and touch, who needed his help. 
Perhaps he ought to have been paying more attention, though.  If he’d
understood the Magisters better before—maybe he could have stopped this from
happening now.

No, he had to stop letting his guilt distract him from the
task at hand.  He glanced across to Aela, who was busy reading a book titled “Magisters
and the Light.”  The Light was the energy that held every strand of power that
the Magisters were created from, and it was also the power they wielded to
manipulate the world.  The Light sounded so wonderful in practice, and yet it
was the very power that would be used to tear apart Elyst should Taeru fail.