The curse of Kalaan (34 page)

Darius was trembling from head to foot and had an ecstatic smile on his lips. Caught up in his murderous euphoria, he could already see himself on the country’s throne with his assassin’s guild as bodyguards and executioners.

“Now you understand why I couldn’t let that detective live; but it was an error not to have burned the pieces. I’m still annoyed at myself for that today.” Darius sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “Now, I will also have to take care of Vidocq when I return to Paris. Such a pity, but then, also such an honor to confront a great man such as him! I may even keep his head as a trophy! And now, ladies, you know everything about my plans, from Georges as well as straight from the mouth of your future king. Oh, but I’m being stupid! You will never see me as king… for you will be dead!” Darius, still jeering, raised his gun.

At the exact same time that Darius fired the pistol, Kalaan pushed Virginie to the ground out of the bullet’s trajectory and felt a searing pain. Stunned by the shock of the impact, he brought his hands to his abdomen and looked down to see that they were covered in blood, which was pouring from his wound soaking through his white shirt.

“You shouldn’t have moved!” Darius sneered, “Now you will die a horribly slow and painful death. I was aiming for your heart. I’ll finish you off later, with a large rock, since my dagger was taken from me. But for the moment, I’ll deal with the Marchioness of Macy.”

“No,” gasped Kalaan. He fell on his knees, as if all his strength was abandoning him at the same time as his lifeblood. To block out the pain, he turned his thoughts to his beloved.

Night was falling and in the distance they could hear the church bells and the sound of horns echoing throughout the isle. It wasn’t to announce the arrival of a ship, but an alarm, warning that the prisoner had escaped. Too late, much too late for Kalaan but probably not for Virginie.

Darius reloaded his weapon as the young woman threw herself to the ground next to her love, sobbing. Tears of sorrow flowed down her cheeks when she understood he’d been fatally wounded. The murderer raised his pistol again, aimed and… screamed in pain when a dagger hit him in the shoulder, making him drop his weapon. A second later, the husky jumped on him, digging his fangs in the criminal’s throat, then dragged him to the cliff’s edge.

Darius managed to break free of the dog’s grip, and tried to stem the flow of the blood running from his deep wound. He stood up, shakily and his eyes bulged when he saw the being coming towards him surrounded by a very visible dark aura of vengeance… Dorian!

But it was not the same man that Darius had glimpsed, nor the pagan dressed in blue fabric from head to toe. No, this was a demon… or was it an angel who descended on earth, to save him and help him take the throne?

“No!” growled Dorian in his gravelly voice that seemed to echo throughout the circle. “I have come to destroy you and see that you no longer harm anyone!”

The child of the gods surrounded by a red aura, his eyes gleaming with a myriad of white sparks, conjured fire in his hands and formed a huge ball of flames which he threw at Darius who caught fire like a living torch. Screaming in agony, being consumed both inside and out by the fire, Borgas swayed backwards beating his arms. His screams turned into hoarse wailing, then gurgling and he fell backwards off of the cliff landing on rocks below, before being carried off by the waves.

Virginie, on witnessing the entire scene, went into a trance-like state. It was the only way to avoid losing her mind. She watched Dorian hasten towards them, closed her eyes, shedding a few tears then shook her head to clear her troubled mind. When she reopened her eyes, the celestial being that Dorian had been was now once again Kalaan’s friend, an ordinary man… almost.

“Do... Dorian,” Kalaan moaned as his friend took his hand and pulled back his shirt to inspect the wound. “Take care … of Ginny,” he whispered, “and my mother … and Isabelle.”

“You will do it yourself,” Dorian replied gruffly.

“Liar…” Kalaan’s voice was getting quieter as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness. Death was approaching, far too quickly.

“Kalaan!” cried Virginie, leaning over to kiss him. “You must fight, for us, for our future! I love you! Oh, I love you so very much! Fight this, my love, please fight!” she begged him as he closed his eyes letting his head roll to the side.

“I love… you…” he whispered in his silvery voice. It was his last breath, just before his heart stopped beating, just as the sun disappeared off the horizon.

“Oh, I love you too… more than you’ll ever know.” Virginie took him in her arms and held him to her heart.

Night was moving in on the group and Dorian, with his gravelly voice, began chanting in a language no one knew. He raised his hands to the stars, exuding a warm, luminous aura at the same time. Thanks to the magic of the elements that he was calling, the child of the gods lit up the five standing stones of the broken circle and the sacred knoll was cradled in their celestial light.

Jaouen, who had observed everything from afar, went up to Virginie and taking her by the shoulders gently pulled her way from Catherine’s dead body.

“Catherine had to die,” he said softly. “It’s time to let Dorian do what he can for Kalaan, now. It might not be too late for the man imprisoned in the woman’s body.”

The child of the gods was running his hands over Catherine’s body, chanting words in a strange language. Virginie could feel the extent of their power and her whole body trembled. Much to her bewilderment, all the blood on Catherine’ body slowly disappeared and the open wound on Catherine’s skin closed. And yet the lady buccaneer was still dead.

“Return to us!” commanded Dorian, while pumping her ribs with his hands then blowing air into her mouth while lifting the chin, then back to pumping again.

“Wh… what is he doing?” Virginie exclaimed, turning to look at the druid.

“He’s trying to bring him back to life.”

“Return!” Dorian shouted again.

Just he was beginning to doubt he would succeed, something unbelievable happened. It began with the scar in Catherine’s hand slowly fading until it disappeared completely. Then in a sudden movement she threw her head backwards and arching her back gasped for air. Her body began to transform, taking on the shape of Kalaan’s. Dorian, drained and surprised, stepped back and fell sitting on the ground.

“You succeeded,” said Jaouen, breathless with admiration. He looked at Dorian with eyes full of devotion. The young man looked exhausted and close to fainting, so the druid reassured him.

“’Tis the magic that does that. You had to draw on much of your life force to accomplish such a deed.

“Kalaan?” Virginie took her soulmate’s hand both laughing and crying at the same time when he opened his eyes.

“Am I dead and gone to heaven?” he asked in a heavy voice, thick as if he’d been sleeping for hours.

“You were really gone, my love.” she answered tenderly, wiping the tears from her cheeks, before smiling and kissing him.

“But, where am I then?” Kalaan asked raising his head to see the shining standing stones flickering with the light from Dorian.

“You’ve returned from the dead, my brother,” Dorian said, smiling.

“Can you explain?”

“’Tis our Kalaan, he is,” Jaouen gently mocked and he quietly laughed taking out his pipe and lighting it with his tinder lighter.

“And ‘tis you, our eternal smoker,” Kalaan retorted, laying his head Virginie’s lap.

“It’s quite simple really,” Dorian began explaining, “But it wasn’t supposed to happen in this manner. The curse said ‘Only death shall release you’ and Jaouen and I thought, well, we planned to suggest provoking Catherine’s death so that Kalaan would return forever. There was a risk, but as we now know, it was a risk worth taking, as it worked. Except that it was Darius Borgas who shot you and we were far away when it happened. I was afraid I’d never see you again, my brother.”

“I would have missed you too.” Kalaan was deeply moved by Dorian’s expression of fraternal friendship. “And Borgas? He was going to… Virginie, are you all right?”

“Yes, my love,” she replied, amused at his sudden solicitude. Her face clouding over, she turned to look at Dorian. “Then the standing stones started shining almost as radiantly as the moon … but I’m not sure of everything I saw tonight. Dorian was different. He… he had a ball of fire in his hands and threw it at Darius who was literally consumed alive before falling over the edge of the cliff. So, gentlemen, do you not think it’s about time you told me everything?”

Just then Skedaddle started barking happily as if to greet someone he liked and they heard people shouting as they approached.

“Kalaan!” Amélie, Isabelle, and Lil’ Louis who had just returned from the mainland, were coming towards the broken circle.

“My lord!” called out Clovis, who was with them. All four appeared in the circle and stood transfixed by the enchantment.

“Ohhh...”They all gasped in unison, turning all around to admire the magical phenomenon of the luminous stones.

“Thank you, I’m doing well and Virginie is too!” Kalaan said, as the two of them laughed.

Amélie was the first to see him lying on the ground in Virginie’s arms and went to him with a worried look on her face.“Darius has escaped! What are you doing lying there on the grass?” she asked, in surprise, but then returned to admire the shining stones again.

“I died. Well Catherine did. And I was resuscitated, as myself, as Kalaan.”

“What?” Amélie gasped, her legs almost giving way under her.

“Would the three of you please tell my family and friends what happened here? I’m far too tired to do it.” Kalaan murmured, closing his eyes while Virginie lovingly stroked his hair.

And so the young woman told Darius’ insane story, about the Poisoners’ Guild and why he murdered her father and Georges. She also described his murderous rage when he tried to shoot Catherine. Dorian and Jaouen took over from there, telling them about the magic, the young highlander’s background, that he was a child of the gods and how he’d killed Darius.

After a long moment of silence, Kalaan finally asked Jaouen, “Why didn’t I feel any pain when I transformed in Ginny’s presence?”

“But because you are soulmates, of course!” the druid explained, blowing smoke from his nose. “’Tis as simple as that. I told you, son, your destiny is preordained!”

The story was slowly revealed and the stones lost their radiance plunging the group in darkness.

“Did anyone think to bring a lamp?” Kalaan asked laughing, “Because I can’t see a thing! Nothing, nada,
rien du tout
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,
netra
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!” He was amused by the fact that his night vision was gone, which could only mean one thing; he was no longer under the curse.

“
Ya
! To be completely certain we’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow morning, so don’t be so cocky!” Jaouen replied to his unspoken words.

“Stop doing that!” Kalaan fulminated, making everyone laugh. “Dorian, could you light our way back to the house with your magic?”

“No, I am sorry, but I’m too tired for that.”

“What if we built a campfire and spent the night here? I’ve always wanted to do that!” exclaimed Clovis, who had dropped his eternally disdainful attitude.

“Hurrah for the campfire!” Lil’ Louis agreed, “but we need light to look for the wood.”

Again, everyone laughed together happy that everything had ended well and to be surrounded by loved ones. Guided by the weak light of Jaouen’s tinder lighter, they managed to collect branches and start a fire. They were sitting down nestled close to one another to keep warm when Clovis returned dragging an enormous tree trunk. He shrugged at his companions teasingly telling him he could have brought a bigger piece of wood and put it on the fire anyway.

“At least this will last all night!” he chanted before sitting down next to his brother Jaouen, and the two men began singing a song in Breton.

The night continued in the same spirit; very few of them slept and no one was cold, thanks to Clovis’ tree trunk. In the wee hours of the morning, eyes burning from lack of sleep everyone held their breath and watched Kalaan, waiting for the sun’s first rays to appear.

The sun came up in the sky, shining its light on the sea and the cliffs and finally caressed the faces of Kalaan, Virginie and the rest of the small group with its gentle warmth. There was no transformation. Catherine was gone forever, freeing Kalaan of the curse, through his supreme sacrifice.

“
Kenavo
[75]
Catherine,” Kalaan whispered with emotion, thinking of the lady pirate.

An adieu spoken in Breton, homage to the wildcat, now gone, that the whole grouped joined in saying. Even Skedaddle howled with them, muzzle pointed to the sky.

“
Demat
[76]
, Kalaan,” Virginie murmured lovingly in his ear before the kissed passionately, while the men whistled joyously and Amélie and Isabelle laughed.

At that moment Isabelle’s eyes met Dorian’s and a very special and unique current passed between them, a current that only exists between soulmates.