Blood of the Pure (Gaea) (58 page)

“No!”

Before my astounded eyes his worried, almost frightened expression changed immediately to that icy cold mask that seemed unable to see me, sending a cold feeling throughout my entire body. I swallowed hard, aware that was the exact same expression he’d had on his face when he’d dragged me towards the kitchen, and fought my own instinct that kept insisting that I’d get out of his way. The air around us became heavier and colder, his hands curling into two tight fists.

“Let me through,” he ordered once again, his voice dropping to a murmur that sounded more like a threat, and I grounded my feet where I stood, facing him with equal intent.

I knew he wasn’t joking, that that Alexander was far from being the friendly, carefree creature who’d told me about Gabriel and their world. But, even so, I just couldn’t let him take Jonathan away. Not after he’d pleaded with me like that! I didn’t want to betray his trust. And yet, his muffled moans were starting to frighten me, even more than Alexander’s implicit threat.

“Jonathan does not want to go with you,” I spelled it out for him and cringed when he lunged towards me, his red eyes burning with anger.

“Sigweardiel.” That voice in its velvet murmured tone was all it took to freeze him in place, and to make me shiver from head to toe. I watched as he walked up to us, each step more gracious than the other, until he slowly placed a hand on Alexander’s shoulder, making him tense up immediately. “Do not forget who is standing in front of you,” he whispered almost in his hear and his purple gaze turned towards me. “Mariane.” My heart jumped into a mad race. His pale, obviously tired face looked even more unworldly under the light of the day. “If you won’t let him through, that boy will die soon.”

The cold, indifferent tone of his voice shocked me more than his words.

“He doesn’t want to go!” I insisted and, contrary to what I expected, he didn’t get angry at my stubbornness.

“I see. I guess you should know that not all that he told you is true. But, whether you believe me or not, the question is rather simple. Are you going to let him die?”

Indecision made my stomach hurt as I looked at Jonathan over my shoulder. His forehead was drenched in sweat, his face mortally pale. He kept hugging himself as if to keep his own body together, his knees pulled against his chest, his hands clenched so hard that his knuckles had turned white. A thin line of blood was dripping from his mouth, from the lip he kept biting into, and his body kept twitching, and writhing in pain.

I lowered my head in defeat. He was right. Even though he’d told me he’d rather die, I could never, knowingly, be all right with that. With that established there was nothing else I could do for him. Frustrated with myself I stepped aside. Alexander didn’t even hesitate, rushing by me to pick him up in a gentle embrace, before disappearing.

I stood there, staring blankly at the place where they’d just been, watching as the dark feathers slowly floated down.

“I’m really useless.”

“I could easily disagree.”

I raised my head to face him. I’d completely forgotten about his keen sense of hearing. And, although I was sure I should be mad at him for his sudden interference, the truth was that bubbles of pure happiness were floating inside me. Because he was here! He hadn’t simply disappeared. And I hadn’t dreamt last night. However, I was still far from being willing to admit to any of that, and so I looked away and folded my arms frowning.

“Why did you interfere?” I asked.

“You don’t know Alexander when the matter is Jonathan. He wasn’t joking,” he replied turning to return home and I followed his steps, keeping a safe distance that would allow me to keep control over my own body.

“Even so! I could easily have dealt with it!”

“He would’ve killed you in heartbeat, before allowing that boy to die.”

I stood silent for a moment, swallowing hard. As much as I wanted to contradict him, I knew that was the real truth. I’d seen it, too, in that cold depersonalized expression.

“If Jonathan is so important to him, how can he make him suffer like that!” I demanded and he sighed, slowing down his pace.

“You probably won’t believe me even if I tell you,” he muttered, as if thinking out loud, but still kept going. “I suppose that boy told you that Alexander is to blame for the situation he’s in? It’s to be expected, since he doesn’t know any better. But the real story is very far from what he thinks is real.”

“What do you mean? I saw the marks on his body! And how much he fears Alexander. I’m sure it’s the curse that makes him suffer like that!”

“I didn’t say Jonathan wasn’t cursed. The red lines all over his body are proof of that. However, the boy thinks that Alexander was the one to put the curse on him.”

“And he wasn’t?” I saw him shake his head, his black hair, now short again, accompanying the movement ever so gracefully.

For an instant I couldn’t help stare at him, walking in front of me like he used to when we went to school. The elegant way he moved, his steps completely silent as if he were floating, not walking, his back straight and the way his hair caressed his neck at the back of his head. All those details … and how, unknowingly, I’d missed them all!

“Sigweardiel was Jonathan’s Guardian, an angel as you call them. However, Guardians can only protect Humans against
Deiwos
. They are not allowed to intervene or influence the lives of Humans in any way. Sigweardiel told me a lot about the Guardians’ missions and the Law that binds them. Jonathan thinks his
falling
was a result of the curse, but he is wrong. Sigweardiel
fell
because he went against the Law and interfered in the life of a Human Being, saving him instead of allowing him to be destroyed.”

“Jonathan?” I guessed, unsure.

“Yes. He suspended that boy’s life; how he did it I can’t really tell. It’s something no
Deiwos
can do. From what I gathered from his words, it’s as if he grabbed the Human life inside Jonathan and put it away, keeping it safe. However, in order to keep his body from dying, it’s required that another life should inhabit it. And so he shared his own life with the boy. And it’s over that life that the curse has its effect, destroying it piece by piece. And so, from time to time, when there’s little life left inside Jonathan, these crises appear and Sigweardiel has to pass a bit more of his own life into his body.”

“But if that’s so, doesn’t Alexander’s life ever end?” I asked, confused.

“It will, eventually. Although we all have considerable long lives, at the speed he’s burning through his, I’m sure he will end up depleting it. But Sigweardiel hopes to break the curse before that happens. His sole objective is to return Jonathan to his Human life so that he may follow his path as it should have happened.”

“I don’t understand!” I was confused, but sure he wouldn’t be compromising enough to give me any further explanations. “I thought dying was part of being Human. I understand it may be sad, parting ways, but doing all this just to stop him from dying? Making him go through all this pain? Only because Alexander doesn’t want to see him leave? It’s hardly fair!”

“You would be right if Jonathan’s curse would only destroy his life,” he replied, surprising me by continuing our conversation. “Had that been the case, Sigweardiel wouldn’t have done what he did. However, his curse also threatens his Soul. This curse was designed to break the body and through the body break his life, and through his life break his Soul. If that curse is allowed to have its full effect, his whole being will be destroyed.”

“And it’s expected that a Guardian would allow such a thing?” I wanted to know, perplexed at the notion, and his sarcastic laughter filled my ears.

“That’s exactly what I asked him when he told me all this. After learning a bit more about the
Merifri
and their laws, I concluded we’re not all that different. In fact, the only difference is that they’re cruel under the pretext of doing good. We are a bit more honest than that,” he added a little smugly. I thought it best not to mention Jonathan had told me the same thing just a few moments ago.

“So, if it wasn’t a
Deiwos
that cursed him, was it a Human Being?” He nodded, which further stunned me. “How? Why?”

“
Deiwos
and
Merifri
aren’t the only ones hungry for power. And the Soul of a Human Being like Jonathan can be put to a good use in many different ways, even by Humans.”

I stood silent for a moment.

A Human Being like Jonathan ... like me. I felt that addition implicit in his voice. After all, what other reason could had led him to spare my life if not for the mysterious power they all believed I had?

I raised my head internally proud of myself for not feeling miserable at the recollection of my position in all that.

“If that’s how it is, why doesn’t he tell him the truth? Jonathan doesn’t know what really happened, and judges him wrongly. He feels betrayed because he trusted Alexander. And that only makes him suffer even more.”

“I don’t understand human’s feelings all that much,” he admitted, lowering his head slightly. “But, when I asked him that, Sigweardiel just told me that it was better if the boy were to hate him. That hatred would give him strength to live. He seems to think the truth will only make the boy more depressed and that he’d end up feeling it’s not worth fighting to stay alive.”

“It was someone he knew,” I guessed, feeling sorry for him, and he stopped for a moment to stare at me over his shoulder with an intrigued expression.

“Does that matter?”

“A lot.” He seemed to ponder on that for a moment.

“It was his father.”

“Treason is always harder to accept when it comes from someone of our own blood,” I lamented. “Especially so when it’s someone who should have protected us.”

“I don’t understand,” he said and resumed walking, and I felt sorry for him as well. I recalled what Alexander had told me about his childhood. Of course he couldn’t understand. “Anyway, this war didn’t help either. Because of the situation we’re in, Sigweardiel had to suspend his search for a counter-curse and dedicate himself completely to keeping the both of them alive. Even so, from all the
Merifri
I know, he’s the only one who’s managed to keep so many of his original characteristics for so long. They tend to disappear, as they keep living as
Mazzikin
. It’s really annoying. In the end it’s almost as if he’s still an
Iaidon
, only his wings changed color.” I couldn’t help smile because he wasn’t being honest at all. The truth was he was glad Alexander kept most of his original self intact. “Most
Mazzikin
that survive the
fall
are utterly cruel and selfish.”

“I guess that’s mainly due to the fact that he was given to you, and not some other
Deiwos
. You helped him keep his objectives alive,” I said and he stopped, making me stop as well.

I realized what I’d just said, and how my words sounded as a compliment. That had hardly been my intention, I told myself, stubbornly.

“He told you that?” he asked in a low whisper and only then did I understand the real implications of what I’d just said. Talking about those kinds of things made me remember other more sordid details I’d rather forget.

“He told me a bit of how you met,” I answered carefully. With some satisfaction I noticed we were almost home, which would probably mean a graceful change of subject.

“I didn’t help him at all,” he said. “Helping implies giving something. And
Deiwos
don’t give. I just didn’t feel like destroying someone clearly weaker than me. You can say I spared his life on a whim. He was obviously different and I wanted to learn more about his nature and about the
Merifri
, whom we only normally meet in a battlefield.”

I smiled again. What was that about
Deiwos
being honest? Not honest at all! And yet, attitudes like that made him seem surprisingly Human, proof of an immature pride, of someone who tried too hard to look like someone he was not.

“That curiosity of yours, was that also why you spared Lea?” I asked, unable to resist, and he stopped again, making me muffle my laughter, which I immediately disguised when he turned to face me, looking slightly annoyed.

“It would seem Sigweardiel talks too much about things that are none of his concern!” He grumbled and I couldn’t help smile, which seemed to disturb him.

“Can I open the door?” I asked, pointing to the door he was blocking just by standing there, and Gabriel looked back, ending up stepping aside too quickly for the usual slow movements he always forced on himself in my presence.

I smiled again, amused with his clear confusion, and went to open the door. However, as soon as I stepped in, the heavy oppressing air inside made me take a sharp breath. I left my coat on the hanger by the door and went straight to the stairs.

“Mari! Where are you going?”

“Upstairs, to check on Jonathan,” I answered but had to slow down once I reached the stairs, my ribs aching with all those sudden movements.

“You really shouldn’t go.” I stopped midway and looked back. He’d remained at the base of the stairs, his violet eyes slightly glowing among the shadows that surrounded him. “It’s not something you’ll like to see. You’ll probably won’t be able to understand.”