The Path Of Peace (The Cremelino Prophecy Book 3) (23 page)

Gradually but deliberately, she
raised her hands to the sky and then in one swift motion, brought them down
hard against the ground. The earth cracked below her and spread dramatically
outward through where the barrier had been and into the armies of Gildan. Men
scrambled to keep from falling into the growing crevice. Again she brought her
hands up and back down, swifter this time, and the earth quaked, rocking back
and forth, bringing up rocks from its depths. Rocks that suddenly melted and
flowed together and began to form new solid walls. Small rocks came up out of
the fissure and flew through the air, knocking down soldiers on both sides of
the battle.

Soldiers and commanders both ran
and screamed at each other, backing off from the battle. The earth shook again
as the ground rolled through the remaining men, knocking many of them to the
ground.

“Enough!” screamed the young wizard,
her high voice amplified to be heard over the entire battlefield. “Enough
fighting. Go back to your homes. This battle is over!” One last quake shook the
area, then the ground stopped moving.

Mezar summoned a reserve of
energy and jumped on Star. He was amazed that after the power of the barrier,
the young earth wizard was still able to command the elements around her. He
rode toward her, against the tide of Gildanian soldiers leaving the
battlefield. She must be in danger of taking too much power into herself and
burning out like his father and the other wizards had. He had to warn her.

The strength of her power and
words, however, had the intended effect. Men on both sides backed away from
each other and returned to their camps.

Mezar reached Danijela at the
same time High Wizard Sallir did. Together they approached the young wizard in
trepidation.

The High Wizard put his hand
tenderly on the young girl’s arm. “Danijela, stop. You will burn yourself out.”

The young girl turned and looked
up at the two wizards at her side. Flecks of orange power floated in her eyes,
a sign of the immense power she held. Eyes sparkling, she smiled.

“I am fine,” she said softly.

“That was a lot of power,” Mezar
exclaimed in amazement.

“That was not near my limit,”
Danijela said, a devious smile adorning her lips..

“Protect us all.” The High Wizard
sighed. “You are an extremely dangerous wizard. For now, however, you are still
my apprentice, young lady.”

“Am I?’ she said with a
challenging but friendly smile.

“We will discuss that later,” her
mentor said.

* * *

Darius sat kneeling on the ground
next to Christine, ignoring the shaking and rumbling of the ground. He hardly
noticed when it ended. All he cared about was his wife. Her eyes were still
closed, but her chest rose and fell in a stable pattern. She was still alive.
Leandra, Roland, and Jakob sat on the other side of her, Jain standing next to
him.

“Darius!” Mezar came running up
to him.

“Oh, Mezar,” Darius sobbed. “You
brought her back.”

Mezar only nodded.

“She is back, and pregnant with
our child.” Darius could barely speak. “How did I not know? How could I let her
leave me? This is all my fault. My fault.”

That is why the bond was
acting irregular,
Lightning said.
The pregnancy was interfering with the
bond somehow. It must be a very powerful child.

“She has lost a lot of blood, my
friend. You must do something quick or you will lose her.” Mezar leaned down
next to Darius.

Darius’s bloodshot eyes held pain
for his wife’s condition. “I don’t know if I have the strength.” He sagged down
against his wife.

Remember where your power
comes from, wizard of the heart,
Thunder and Lightning both said in his
head.
Remember the prophecy!

Darius closed his eyes and did
remember. He remembered the first time he had met Christine, picking her up off
the ground outside of the city gates. He remembered her smile, the time of
their first kiss, the hours and days talking to her in the Field of Diamonds.
He remembered his longing for her as he left her to go off to training. He
remembered with some embarrassment pushing thoughts of her to the side as he
sought for power in the army. He remembered being captured and almost losing
everything to despair when he couldn’t access his power. It was then that he
thought about Christine and his mother. It was then he felt love once again.
And with that love, his power had returned. As his heart had turned from anger
to love, he had felt peace. That is where his power came from. Deep inside his
heart. He had put duty to his people first, now he must heal with his heart.

He leaned over Christine and put
his hands over her wound. Her body flinched out of instinct. Delving deeper
into his soul, he remembered returning to Anikari and seeing her again. At that
moment, his life had clicked into place. At that moment, he had found true
meaning to everything. His path had been set right once again.

The kingship, the engagement, the
announcement, and wedding—it all flooded back through his mind, bringing up
feelings and thoughts of love and concern and compassion. He felt his hands
grow warm; he felt the healing powers of a wizard of the heart seep deep into
his wife’s wound. The arrow had missed the baby, going less than an inch to the
side. He gasped at what he felt inside of his wife. Two powers growing inside
of her. He opened his mouth to declare what he found, but the powers hushed him
and bade him to remain silent for now.

Delving deeper, Darius pushed his
powers to the limit. Blood vessels began to heal, torn muscles fused back
together, and new skin began to grow back around the wound. He poured all he
could into his wife, his queen, his beloved, his reason for living. He pulled
strength from Thunder and the other Cremelinos. He used the power of their
binding and bond to seal the wound and to heal.

Opening his eyes, Darius realized
silence prevailed around him. Friends, wizards, and soldiers alike stood with
tears streaming in abundance down their dirty faces. Love filled the air. In
open wonder and admiration, they began to kneel one by one.

“My King,” voiced one of
thousands of soldiers who knelt in honor.

“My Lord” Roland, Leandra, and
Jakob knelt.

“Darius, my friend forever.”
Mezar went to one knee with head bowed.

“Wizard of the heart.” Danijela
Anwar, High Wizard Sallir, and the remaining Cremelinos bowed their heads in
respect and esteem.

Christine stirred, and her eyes
fluttered open. A large smile crept across her face.

“Darius!” she whispered.

Darius hugged and kissed her,
picking her up in his arms. His heart was so full of love and tenderness, it
poured out to all those standing and kneeling beside him.

“Rise,” he said to those still
kneeling. “My wife, your queen has returned to us.” Cheers erupted all around
the field of soldiers as the news spread rapidly.

Mezar turned to leave, and Darius
caught him by the sleeve. The King’s other arm was around Christine. He would
not let her go a foot away from him now that he had her back.

“Thank you, my friend. I am
forever in your debt. What can I do to repay your friendship and loyalty?”

“I didn’t do it for repayment.”

“I know,” Darius replied. “But
what will happen now?”

“The general is dead.” Mezar
smiled sadly. “Hopefully the Emperor will recover from his treatment. I will
ensure that the right wizards are helping him.”

Darius got the meaning. “I understand.
You are now first heir to the throne of the Gildanian Empire, Mezar.”

Mezar nodded his head. “But I
have a lot of damage to undo. It seems my father was blinded by the eastern
wizard.”

“It was the same in Belor.”
Darius remembered what he had heard through Tali’s Cremelino. “The Preacher was
being directed by another eastern lord. Seems they are intent on trying to
spread their influence to the west.”

“Hopefully they have been stopped
for now.” Mezar said.

“Go in peace, Prince Mezar,”
Darius bowed his head. “We will stay in contact through the Cremelinos. I still
have a formal visit to make to your empire. I would like to meet your
grandfather. But . . .”

“But . . .” Mezar looked at
Christine’s stomach. “You have other things that will occupy your time for a
while. Congratulations. An heir to the throne.”

The two clasped arms and bid
farewell. Mezar stopped for a moment with Leandra before he remounted his
Cremelino and rode back to his side of the border.

Darius turned back to Christine.
After a short meal, they walked over to their Cremelinos. Darius kissed her
hard on the mouth and hugged her tight. Lifting her up gently on her Cremelino,
he jumped on his. Exhaustion filled his core, but he pushed it away. There
would be time to sleep later once they were safely back in Anikari.

“We ride in victory to Anikari!”
he shouted for all to hear. A deafening roar met his words.

Word of the queen being healed by
the King ran with the wind, northeast to Anikari, around to Sur, Mar, and
Belor, then overland to the Kingdom of Arc, and south to the Gildanian Empire.
In the coming weeks, all knew a powerful wizard of the heart ruled the Realm.
News spread of the battle, the barrier, the young earth wizard Danijela
standing by her mentor and defying an army, and the Gildanian prince’s selfless
act of power to stop his father and the other evil wizards. Word spread,
growing greater with each telling. Bards and musicians already began writing
tales and songs of mythical proportions. With the help of the powerful and magical
Cremelinos, the path to peace had been found.

REWARDS

K
elln helped Alessandra into a carriage,
half carrying her. She could talk, but she was weak. Her burns were not healing
well, and Kelln didn’t know how much longer she had to live. He’d tried to wash
and wrap the blackened skin, but his touch was very painful for her.

It had been a week since the
attack with the Preacher, and for the first three days, Alessandra had laid
unconscious. Governor Penrose and his daughter tried healing her, but neither
one were practiced in that part of the power. Either way, it didn’t seem as if
her body wanted to heal. She had said very little, and seemed to be giving up
on her life.

After the attack, Sean went with
Rapp, Taliana, and her father to the shipyard with a group of soldiers. They
found an empty slot in the dock where the eastern ship had been anchored.
Witnesses said the ship left in an obvious hurry less than an hour before, not
even bothering to gather a full crew.

Taliana had healed, and Sean was
never found far from her side, a development that she didn’t seem to mind.
Through her Cremelino, they had been asked by Darius to accompany Kelln and
Alessandra to the capital. Each of them sat on horses on either side of the
carriage. Rapp had stayed behind to help the  governor. With the Guild of
Thieves having lost their guildmaster and his daughter to the Preacher’s
attack, things were in an uproar around town. Guilds that the Preacher had been
courting felt betrayed. The governor needed Rapp to run errands and take care
of things that he couldn’t do himself. Both of them now stood beside the
carriage, bidding the ambassador’s party farewell.

“I will have the King send
additional troops to help keep the peace until affairs are back in order,”
Kelln said to the governor.

“There will be a new order now.
Mar shouldn’t be so much trouble for the King. You will return my daughter to
me though, won’t you?”

“That is up to the King” Kelln
smiled. “But I will put in a good word for it. I can see you are lost without
her.”

The governor wizard laughed.
Looking at his daughter, he surmised, “Well, she seems to at least be smitten
by the young noble Mr. San Ghant. They have hardly left each other’s side since
the fight with Mr. El’Han—the Preacher.”

Kelln turned to Rappatorian. “And
you, my new friend. The King and I are definitely in your debt. None of this
could have happened here without your help. I will see you are rewarded also.”
He punched the young man on the shoulder.

Rapp smiled a big smile. “Things
really got exciting once you came to town, Mr. Ambassador. That’s for sure.”

Climbing in to the carriage with
Alessandra, Kelln motioned for the driver to proceed. At a slow pace, the drive
to Anikari would take quite a few days. As Mar shrunk behind them, Kelln
breathed out a deep sigh. It was still hard for him to believe that the
Preacher was dead. He hoped all assignments from the King would not be so
harrowing. He looked over at Alessandra bundled within warm blankets. She sat
with her eyes closed. Kelln’s heart was deeply troubled over what would happen
to her. In the end, she had jumped out and saved him from her father’s wrath.
That should count for something, shouldn’t it?

* * *

Darius walked by himself through
the Cremelino stable. It had been three weeks since they’d returned from the
battle. He had just given Jakob Widing leave to go and get ready for the
banquet that evening to honor all those who helped in the recent events in
establishing peace once again in the Realm.

He brushed Thunder’s gleaming
white coat. It was still hard to comprehend that the Cremelinos were wizards in
their own right. The fourth wizard power – the power of spirit; the power to
bind. Lightning was in the next stall over. Looking at her turned the King’s
thoughts to his wife. After his healing of her and some rest, she was back to
normal. Well, at least as normal as could be while being pregnant.

Christine’s moods had been
stable, but her appetite was horrendous and she never seemed to be full. Darius
smiled at the thought of the servant’s faces each time Christine asked for more
food. He wondered if any of it had to do with the healing. Her body had been
through a lot and needed to recharge itself. Of course, none of them knew the
secret that he held inside. He smiled again. She was eating for more than one
additional life.

In the stall over from Lightning
were the two remaining Cremelinos who had not bonded with anyone yet. If
Taliana and her father were any measurement, there must be other wizards
throughout the Realm. He had been thinking about what to do about that for some
time now.

Through the Cremelinos, word had
come to him that Danijela had been named a full wizard, was ordained to follow
in the High Wizard's footsteps as advisor to Kings, and eventually would be
High Wizard herself. He grinned and almost laughed out loud at the High
Wizard’s decision. After the young girl’s showing at the battlefront, how could
the High Wizard do anything else? She would definitely be a handful, but
hopefully she would always be a powerful ally.

The Emperor of Gildan had
recovered from his slow poisoning but was not as strong as he once was. He
named Mezar as his heir to the throne, which Mezar accepted - but he declined
to be the general of the armies. Being both the heir to the Gildanian throne
and leader of the army had been too much for his father. The greed and
influence that the eastern kingdom wizard had on the general seemed to have
been too much for him to pass up. Darius wished to be able to spend more time
with his southern friend under different circumstances. He had looked forward
to visiting the wizard library in Gildan. That trip would have to wait.

Footsteps came around the corner,
and Darius turned. It was his father, Richard.

“Where are the guards?” his father
asked.

Darius smiled. “You know I have
no need of guards to protect me.”

“I know. But you must keep up
appearances.” His father smiled genuinely at his only son. “You are the King.”

Darius sighed and walked closer
to his father. “I never wanted all of this, Father. Sometimes the burden is too
great.”

“That is why it is yours, Darius.
A better king is one who doesn’t want to be, but who learns his duty and serves
the people.”

“Are you a philosopher now, too,
besides my councilor?” Darius laughed. “I will name you first philosopher of
the Realm.”

Richard laughed heartily. “You
are a good King, my boy.” He slapped his son on the back. “Better than I would
have been under the circumstances.”

Darius hid the moisture in his
eyes. They turned and walked out of the stables together.

After Darius donned the rest of
his attire, they entered the banquet room. All eyes turned to their King. The
gathered crowd rose as one and bowed.

“Long live the King. Hail Darius
DarSan Williams, King of the Realm,” his father voiced.

“Long live the King,” a monstrous
voice of people answered.

Darius walked in long strides
down the red carpet toward the throne. His purple cape swirled around his broad
shoulders, and his black boots were muffled against the carpet in the large
hall. Windows in the high ceiling let the late afternoon sun filter through the
room. The golden light danced across the King’s crown. Long banquet tables
adorned the grand hall, set up between the marble columns. Along with the
filtered sunlight, candles adorned the sides of the walls and the tables,
filling the room with light.

The King waved and bowed his head
slightly at those he knew in the crowd. A King he was in decree, in look, and
now by deed. His actions had saved their realm from certain war on three sides.

The Throne of Power had been
brought in from the throne room. Darius sat and motioned for the others to do
the same. He ran his hands over the golden armrests and felt a power course
through his veins. He looked to his side, where Christine already sat on a
smaller throne, then back out over his people and smiled. His heart was full.

“Before we feast, I would like to
make some formal announcements and declarations. There are many to thank for
the success of the most recent events in Mar, Sur, and Denir. I cannot name
them all, but their deeds have made the Realm a safer place and one once again
looked at as a leader of the western lands. However, there are a few specific
individuals.”

Picking up a scroll, the King
began to read. “Be it known throughout the Realm that Ambassador Kelln El’Lan
is now known as Kelln San El’Lan, and title to lands will be transferred,
affording him the noble title of baron.” He smiled at his oldest friend. They
had talked extensively earlier about Alessandra. Darius had privately forgiven
her treason in light of her condition. Kelln would take her to Belor to be with
her grandfather, Alastair, for the remainder of her days. With the burns being
from wizard fire and her lack of desire to live, she had not been able to be healed
and would not live more than a few months.

“Be it known that Rappatorian
Wells of Mar has earned the title of squire to the King and will be rewarded as
such and given responsibilities in the Realm.” He had heard of Rapp’s abilities
and thought it may come in handy to have some eyes and ears throughout the
Realm to help keep track of things.

“Be it known that General Cray
and all those that fought under his command be given additional pay and a
special commendation from the crown.

“Be it known that a new
university will be built on White Island dedicated to the study and schooling
of wizards. This school will work in tandem with the Conclave of Wizards in Arc
and the School of Wizards in Gildan to further the research and training of
wizards dedicated to good. Jakob Widing is named as head caretaker of the
Cremelinos at that university. Be it known that Governor Penrose of Mar is
named head of that university once it is built and open. In the meantime, he
will be transitioning his role as governor of Mar to another.” Many of the
nobles perked up. To be named as a governor of one of the major cities of the
Realm was a high honor and afforded them privilege only just below the King and
his three senior councilors in Anikari.

“Be it known that due to extraordinary
service to the Realm under extremely personal and dangerous circumstances, Sean
San Ghant is hereby now named governor of Mar upon the transition of Governor
Penrose. He, along with his newly betrothed, Taliana Penrose, will be my
representative in ruling Mar.”

Darius gave a broad smile to
Sean, who looked almost sick with shock. He could see tears fill Sean’s eyes
with the announcement. Richard had not been excited about this announcement,
but Darius had informed him that he had seen into Sean’s heart and that he was
loyal to Darius and to the Realm now. Taliana, standing in a beautiful
multi-colored gown cinched tight at the waist, hugged Sean closely.

“Our success in Arc and Gildan
could not have been made possible without the help of High Wizard Olan Sallir
of Arc, Wizard Danijela Anwar of Arc, and prince and heir to the Gildanian
Empire, Mezar Alrishitar. Since they are not of the Realm, I have no authority
to add rank or privilege to them, but they are hereby honored and always
welcomed in this land. Once recent affairs have been settled, we will meet
together, and new formal treaties will be reestablished.”

Enthusiastic claps echoed through
the crowd at the announcements. He glanced over at Christine. She looked
radiant in her golden dress, made that week to fit her changing shape. A small
golden diadem was fixed in her curled and flowing golden hair. He nodded to her
brother, sister, and mother, who sat as special guests at the head table.
Christine beamed back a smile of love at Darius, and his heart fluttered with
joy. He vowed to never lose her again.

“Let the feast begin!” he
bellowed, voice echoing around the hall.