The Path to Destiny: Tia's Folly (14 page)

           
“It isn’t new!” Tia cried. “They are going to combine the
essence of every dead being - all of the power lost from
all
beings - and put it into one little baby. If this works, this
child will have the power to recreate the lost races. But this child will also
have all of the power lost from the war. This will be a true super being with
the power of the Gods; only mortal. And
why
would
the Gods give this child to Falkeries? They have grown so powerful that
thousands of years ago some of the Gods banded together and created the Phoenix
to
destroy
them! When that failed,
most of the Gods turned their backs on their entire race! Why would the Gods
start a
civil war
amongst them and
give this being to the Falkeries?”

           
Uren felt the air leave his lungs as the implications set
in. Ultimately, the ritual would create a being that could rule the lands…or
destroy them on a whim! So much power in the hands of one person would
unbalance the lands even further. He closed his eyes and sought guidance from
the Gods, but they refused to answer him.

           
“I was ordered not to give any advice about the Peace
Council,” Uren admitted slowly. “I cannot help you two. What I
can
do is bring the treaty to the other
Elders and leave you to decide the best course of action.”

           
“Uren-? “
 
Tia jumped up. “You can’t just
leave
us!”

           
“I have no choice,” he replied sadly. “This is
your
path.
I
must bring the treaty to the Elders and
you
must do what you can to save us.”

           
She watched in utter amazement as Uren rose and left the
hut carrying the sealed peace treaty. Dazed, Tia looked at Roland and saw her
expression mirrored on his face.

           
“He left us,” she
said stupidly as she slumped back to her chair. “I can’t believe he left us.”

           
“The Gods expect us
to fix the entire lands in our short lives when they haven’t fixed it in the
last five hundred years.” Roland seemed to be talking to himself before he
suddenly focused on Tia. “I lied. I have never spoken directly to the Gods. I
lied my way into becoming an Elder so I could be bonded and have children. I
lusted after women, I masturbated, and more than anything I wanted to know what
it felt like to be inside a woman.”

           
“Huh?” Tia was
baffled by the admission at such an inappropriate time.

           
“I brought this on
us.” He looked very intently into her eyes. “This is
all-my-fault
!”

           
“Roland,” Tia sighed
loudly in exasperation even as she paused to consider the implications. The
Gods were very strict about bonding and sex. They chose who you bonded with and
men weren’t allowed to bond until they learned to control their lust and their
urges. She realized that meant that Roland
technically
shouldn’t have been allowed to bond. Why the Gods decided to allow him to
bond with her was anybody’s guess. Deciding to just put the frivolous matter
out of her head she snapped at him, “
Does
it even matter now
?”

           
“Probably not,” he
muttered as he hung his head in shame.
 
He had lied so many times to the Gods, he was pretty sure they weren’t
going to do much to help him now

           
“Then let’s figure
out how to save the lands.” Tia could only hope they could decipher it in time.

Chapter Five

           
Arriving a week early to the ritual was a calculated
risk. They somehow needed to know more about the ritual without anyone finding
out they were trying to stop it. The tent they carried didn’t offer much in the
way of privacy but it was the best they could do.

           
The meadow bustled with activity as various beings
brought altars onto the field. Some were being built and others were being moved
in for the ceremony. Everything from bones to jewelry was laid out in piles,
seeming to wait their turn for preparation. Tia felt a little nauseated to see
they had even managed to gather the wings of Pixies, Fairies, and Sprites and
thread them together with a string.

           
“You shouldn’t be here,” someone said as they tapped Tia
on the shoulder from behind.

           
Turning around, she looked into the face of a pretty Drow
woman.

           
“Bylan escaped the dungeon.” She tilted her head and
studied Tia’s face. “He is coming for you. I saw it in a vision.”

           
Shocked speechless, Tia watched as the lavender skinned
woman turned and walked away.

           
“If this is our destiny, we go to it
together
,” Roland whispered in her ear.

           
Reaching for his hand, Tia squeezed it and was reassured
when he squeezed hers back.

           
“I will die within the next few moon cycles.” Roland
released her hand and pulled her into his embrace. “If that means dying to
protect you, I will gladly give my life. I would face ten
Bylans
if it meant that you were safe.”

           
Smiling into the neck of his cloak, Tia inhaled his
unique scent and tried to memorize it for the hundredth time. Her heart felt a
stab of pain every time she realized how close to dying he was. Sometimes it
was hard to look at her young, healthy bonded and admit he could die at any
moment. He was living on the Gods’ good will and eventually that had to run
out.

           
“Okay.” She pulled away and smiled at him. “We need to do
what we came here to do.”

           
“Well, it is worth a shot anyhow.” He smiled back before
turning back to the meadow. “Where shall we begin?”

           
“We should split up.” Tia decided suddenly. “I will talk
to the women, you talk to the men.”

           
“Meet back here at sunset?” Roland asked.

           
“That sounds good,” Tia agreed. Watching Roland slowly
walk down the edge of the meadow, she realized that he was as hesitant about
stepping back onto the site of the Great Battle as she was.

           
“I thought only one Druid was coming,” a Human woman
announced loudly as she approached Tia.

           
“The Gods felt you needed more assistance,” Tia replied
hesitantly.

           
“Well, it is good to know the Gods are on our side.”

           
“I didn’t say that.” Tia lowered her voice. “I don’t
think I am supposed to tell you this, but I don’t think the Gods believe we
have the power to do this anymore.”

           
“Oh!” The Human looked surprised at the thought. Her
expression grew more thoughtful as she mulled over the idea. “Is it because
we
are here, because we lost all of our
power?”

           
“Honestly? I don’t know. I am only a Gatherer and I only
know what the Elders choose to tell me.”

           
Worry marred the woman’s face as she excused herself and
left to join a group of other Humans. Tia ducked her head and hid her smile.
Doubt was a powerful enemy and one of the few tools they had to combat the
ritual.

           
Strolling around the field and concentrating on the
camps, Tia did her best to plant the seeds of doubt.
 
She felt like she was watering the garden as
she hesitated on key questions and hedged on others. By the time sunset rolled
around, she felt confident that the seeds had taken and were growing roots.

           
“You look pleased with yourself,” Roland whispered as he
appeared by her side. “I met with varying degrees of success but even a little
doubt could work in our favor.”

           
“Come, let’s set up camp over there.” Tia pointed to a clump
of trees that would afford them a little more privacy. After quickly setting up
camp, they crawled into their tent to eat their meager dinner of bread crusts
and cheese.

           
“Tomorrow, we need to learn more about this ritual,”
Roland announced. “We
need
to know
everything by tomorrow night so we can start planning how to stop this.”

           
“Why tomorrow night?” Tia asked.

           
“We can’t forget I may not have tonight much less
tomorrow night or the night after.”

           
Losing her appetite over the reminder, Tia put away the
rest of her food and crawled under the covers.

           
“I love you,” Roland whispered a little while later as he
crawled under the covers with her.

           
“I love you too.” She sighed impatiently as she rolled
into his embrace. At least with her fantasies his touch became more bearable.
Once again submitting to his desire for her, Tia wondered why the Gods had
played such a cruel trick on her.

***

           
“Did you hear what they are planning Roland?” Tia was
frantic with worry as she paced next to the creek some distance from the meadow
the next afternoon.

           
“I did,” he replied following her with his eyes. “Come,
sit with me.”

           
“I can’t! I am too keyed up to sit down right now! What
are we going to do?”

           
Roland closed his eyes and took a deep breath before
beginning.

           
“Tia, I don’t think we are strong enough to stop them
from completing the ritual.”

           
Immediately stopping, she felt her first stirrings of
true fear.

           
“I think I may have a plan but we are going to have to
drain a large amount of energy from Gremlaw to do it.”

           
“But if we got help!” Tia desperately searched for a
solution. “Maybe then Gremlaw would have enough power for us to stop it.”

           
“Gremlaw is weak and growing weaker by the minute. Just
what I am planning will probably kill it,” Roland tried to sound reasonable as
he motioned again for her to sit with him.

           
“Is all lost then?” She asked despondently as she sat
beside Roland.

           
“Not yet, Tia.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Even
though we can’t stop this ritual from being completed, maybe we can split the
being into two equal halves. Then, if we can stop just one of the halves from
being born, or have them be born when they cannot meet…Maybe we can let one be
born, and wait until it dies before we allow the other to come into existence.
Maybe we can split the powers so equally that they need the other to do much of
anything. Maybe, I don’t know, just maybe this will work.”

           
“It’s all we really have, isn’t it?” Tia leaned into the
minimal comfort he offered.

           
“I think so, unless you have some other idea?”

           
“Nope,” She sighed. “So how do we accomplish this?”

           
“I don’t know.”

***

           
Tia finished lighting the candles on the altar and turned
to Roland. Handing him his own sacrificial knife, she knelt at the waist high
altar and waited for him to join her. He quickly knelt beside her and kissed
her before beginning his incantation. Tia listened for all of the races to
start their own rituals and sent a quick thank you to the Gods for allowing
Roland to live to see this night. The new moon thrust everything into darkness
and the candles were as necessary to be able to see as they were to the
individual rituals across the meadow.

Watching
as each group lit their candles and began their own sacrifices, Tia
winced.
 
Directly across the meadow, she
watched as a beautiful, albeit naked, young Vampire female and male climbed
onto their altar. She was relieved, and mildly shocked, to see them begin to
caress each other. Blushing she ducked her head and watched as Roland combined
the elements and asked the Gods to bless only this ritual and allow it to be
successful.

Joining
in on the prayer to the Gods, she harshly whispered the incantation to the
Gods. Repeating the incantation over and over, Tia was suddenly glad they had
started as early as they did. Unable to make their sacrifice until the Gods
gave them a sign, they chanted until Tia started to feel winded. Finally, the
candles flared to life. Even though the candles were small the flames reached
over a foot high. Lifting their arms in tandem, each took their ceremonial
knives and slashed their palms. White lipped, Tia made a fist and allowed her
blood to drop onto the altar and mingle with Roland’s.