The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) (24 page)

The objective of a good ruse is misdirection and misinformation. The witch was never imprisoned at Gethseena. I think you already know that by now. But the staff was never there either. All of the rumors and deceptions were to confuse and confound. If it would have played out as intended the witch would still be imprisoned. However, time passes and history rewrites itself. What was intended is not what happens.”

“What do you mean? Wasn’t the intention to keep the witch’s cell a secret so her followers could not break her free?” The anger was gone from Nicoldani’s eyes, replaced by doubt and inquiry.

“Oh, but she is free, is she not? So did it really matter if they knew exactly where she was or not?”

Nicoldani had no answer for that.

“You see, neither the witch, nor her staff was ever at Gethseena. Their location remained a secret known only to the ones that hid them and to none else.

Gethseena was to serve as a cover, a decoy so to speak. There were to be four of the Arch-Mordji at Gethseena, one facing north, one south, east, and west, to watch and maintain the wards.

Four other locations were also to be maintained, each having four mordji at each of the four points of the compass. These mordji were the Watchers. In this way, the shield on the witch’s prison could never be broken, that is, at least not without an extremely coordinated effort and knowledge of the location of all the mordji. The attackers would have to know where all of the twenty mordji that maintained the shield were located, and destroy them simultaneously. Such an undertaking would be all but impossible.

But as time passes and memory fades to myth and is forgotten, the very institution that was set to watch deteriorated.

In the beginning, the Tovani were assigned to protect the mordji. But more importantly, they were set to watch for signs of the witch’s impending freeing and the gathering of her followers. There were five thousand Tovani in those days. If fanatics rose up, the Tovani could squash any rebellions quickly. Or in the unlikely event that the witch was somehow freed, they could stop her followers from flocking to her, giving the mordji time to deal with her. The Tovani were to be the Brotherhood of the Watch. All and all it, was a nearly perfect system that had been established.

But as the watchers watched year after year, century after century, with nothing happening they began to loose faith. They changed the rites and forgot their purpose.

After enough time passed, the mordji grew weaker in their arts. Secrets were lost and complacency set in.

Eventually, the last of the mordji all but died out, but not before they passed their duties on to the priests of Ashteri.

By this time however, the lore and information that was commonly believed concerning the witch, and more especially their duties as Watchers, was far from the truth. They had distorted the truth to the point where some actually believed the Blood Witch was imprisoned at Gethseena. And some took up the other deception, that is was the staff that was there.

You see, pride took over and they believed it was better to guard something, rather than watch for nothing, as they supposed. I am sure
you
can relate to that.” The old man finished with a knowing look.

Nicoldani shook his head slowly, knowing all too well what the old man meant. When it was first revealed to him that he had not been guarding the Blood Witch, as he had believed all his life, it was a blow to his pride and made him doubt his purpose.

Benjim continued as if he was teaching a student, “The Tovani dwindled in numbers as did the priests, to the point where, from what I last heard, only five hundred Tovani stood guard, and less than fifteen priests, with none of them really knowing their true purpose.

Their failure in keeping the faith, and the Watch, was the very thing that allowed the prophecy to be fulfilled and the witch to be unleashed.

By gathering all the watchers to one location, it allowed all of them to be eliminated in one stroke, breaking the bonds and loosing the witch.”

The old man sat there in silence for a time, studying Nicoldani intently. “I can see it in your eyes, regardless of whatever it was that brought you here, that you believe you betrayed your duties. But in truth, by doing so, you are the only true Tovani remaining, the only one who is keeping the faith. You are the only true Brother of the Watch.”

This was all too much for Nicoldani and he slumped with his head in his hands. He was too shocked by what the old man had said to even speak. Nicoldani sat there for many long moments, trying to come to grips with the revelations the old man had given him. After many long moments, finally he spoke, “So what is to be done? What
can
we do?”

Benjim remained silent for a time in apparent deep contemplation.

Nicoldani spoke up, “We could send a message to Gethseena and Dallonburo for help. But…..”

“Even if anyone survives at Gethseena, I doubt they would leave their post for us. Dallonburo is preparing for war with Suchbaatar and would not send anyone either.” Benjim said shaking his head.

After several long moments of silence, Benjim spoke again, “It is foretold in prophecy, older than the witch herself; that speaks of a hope, a savior. It says:

There will rise,

one to stand in the light,

one in the dark

One to stand in the day,

one to stand in night

A savior will stand with the destroyer

at the brink of night and day

“I heard it differently,” Nicoldani interrupted.

Benjim’s eyebrows shot up and the surprise was evident on his face. “What do you mean? Who did you hear it from?”

“ High Priest Tarnus told it to me before he sent me away. He said he had studied the prophecies all his life, but wasn’t sure what they meant. The way he told it, went like this:”

“One will rise from obscurity,

One, which stands between Light and Dark,

between Day and Night,

between Good and Evil.

The One will be the Savior and the Destroyer.”

The old man stared at Nicoldani blankly for a moment, then his eyes glazed over in apparent deep thought and contemplation. After a moment he spoke. “I suppose ….. It might ….. It is possible it could be interpreted in that manner. I had never thought of it that way. In my pride, I thought I was sure of myself. It seems the Priest of Ashteri knew more than I did,” Benjim said, with disbelief and humility in his voice.

“Was there more that the Priest told you? Where is he now?”

“There was nothing more, High Priest Tarnus said it was all he ever found of the prophecy,” Nicoldani replied. “He died shortly after telling it to me.”

“There was more to it from what I know.” The old man said hesitantly, uncharacteristically uncertain of himself, “It said:”

“Evil must overcome good

for good to overcome evil

Then eternal night must fall”

“That is a contradiction, it makes no sense,” Nicoldani said shaking his head.

“I know it is,” The old man replied, “I have to admit, I do not understand what it means.”

They both sat there for a time in contemplative silence. Then Benjim with a look of realization on his face, as if a piece to a puzzle had just fallen into place, broke the silence. “This I do know….well, at least I suspect…..that we do have a source of hope,” he said knowingly, as he turned to look straight at Jak.

Jak quickly shut his eyes and tried to moderate his breathing so they would think he was asleep.
Why was the old man looking at him?
Did he suspect Jak was eavesdropping. Long moments passed in silence.
Were the older men on to him? Did they discover he wasn’t asleep?

After a moment Jak heard Nicoldani speak, and thankfully it was addressed to Benjim, and not him. Apparently, the shock of everything else had worn off a little and realization was dawning on Nicoldani. “Who are you? How is it that you know all of this?”

“I am an old man; I’ve been around for a long, long time and have seen many things.” The old man paused for a moment, “I am not a Brother of the Watch, but I
am
a Watcher.”

Chapter 8

The third day out of Kragston, found the little party still heading south on the North Sanchi Road. It was much the same as the day before, although some things had changed a bit. Nicoldani and Benjim would ride together at times, talking quietly between themselves as to not be overheard, which made Jak wonder what they could be talking about.

Jak also noticed both men kept eyeing him curiously at different times throughout the day. He wondered if they knew he had been listening to their conversation the night before and were upset with him. But there was no anger or animosity in their looks, instead, they seemed to be studying him as if he were a puzzle, and they were trying to figure out how he fit together. It made Jak decidedly uncomfortable.

Jak considered apologizing to the older men on several different occasions for his eavesdropping. But if by some chance the men didn’t know he had been listening in on their conversation, then he would put himself in hot water for sure. Something needed to happen though, because he just wanted them to stop looking at him in this unsettling way.

Today, Benjim seemed less preoccupied than he had before on their rides, and more like his talkative friendly self. He answered all of Gin’s incessant questions with alacrity. It was almost as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders and now he was finally relaxing and just enjoying life, rather than trying to live history, as he had put it.

Nicoldani on the other hand seemed more focused and determined than ever. He wasn’t short or ill tempered with Gin’s questioning. It just seemed he had a renewed sense of purpose and direction, and didn’t want to be distracted from it.

Jak supposed that both men had learned something the night before from each other, which had made them re-evaluate themselves, even though most of what they had said didn’t make a lot of sense to Jak.

When they stopped for the night and it came time to sleep, Jak bedded down further from the fire this time. The two men remained awake, talking softly with each other, and Jak wanted to avoid what had happened the night before. The older men continued late into the night, sitting close and talking in low voices, but thankfully Jak couldn’t make out any of the words they were saying this time.

When morning came, Jak couldn’t take it any longer. His conscience was eating at him and he just wanted things to go back the way they had been.

Nicoldani and Benjim were standing off to one side talking to each other quietly, as they had been of late. Jak approached them hesitantly and they stopped what they were saying and turned to face him. “Umm .. I – I am …. Sorry,” Jak finally said with downcast eyes, unable to meet their stares.

The two men exchanged confused glances, then turned back to face Jak. “You are sorry for what?” Benjim asked curiously.

Jak began to feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead under their scrutiny. He hadn’t realized how imposing the two men could be. The sagely old man’s kindly smile, like a knowing grandfather, was almost as unnerving as the menace of the large man’s tremendous size and stern look.

Jak was beginning to think he made a mistake, maybe they hadn’t known after all. But it was too late now, so he pressed on, “I’m sorry I eavesdropped the night before last. I listened to your conversation when I should not have.” There, it was done and out in the open, and the confession gave Jak a tiny bit of relief.

There was still confusion on the two men’s faces until the realization dawned on them as to what had taken place the night before last. The look on Benjim’s face softened back to a kindly knowing smile, and he chucked. “Son, there is nothing to apologize for, I was fairly certain you were listening. I am not that blind or deaf yet. We said nothing that you should not have heard, nor were we trying to hide secrets from you.”

Benjim somehow seemed to realize the source of Jak’s distress. “Lad, we are not angry with you, we just did not think it necessary to trouble you or Gin over things you do not need to worry about right now. We will be a little more forthcoming with things from now on, at least with you. You are nearly a man, and have a great part yet to play in all of this.”

What did the old man mean about having a great part to play?
Jak didn’t like the sound of that very much,
a great part of what?

The dangerous look on Nicoldani’s face said he didn’t share the old man’s understanding point of view. He obviously hadn’t known Jak was listening. A stern hard look regarded Jak, mixed with a little anger. It didn’t appear he agreed wholeheartedly about being more forthcoming from now on either. But as the old man spoke Nicoldani’s eyes softened just a little at the corners.

“I’m still sorry,” Jak repeated pensively, as he stared at the ground. “My mother taught me it was wrong to eavesdrop. I shouldn’t have done it; in any case, I won’t do it again. Please forgive me.”