The Path to Destiny: Tia's Folly (16 page)

           
“We will explain everything,” the Goddess reassured her
with a smile. “We are offering you a guaranteed life span, extra time with your
beloved, and special abilities that will help you complete the task. We offer
all of this for such a small request.”

           
“What if I said no?” Somehow, Tia knew this wasn’t as
simple as it was being presented to her.

           
The Goddess’s smile turned cold as she snapped her
fingers. Immediately, Tia fell to the ground as the mist enshrouded her again.
Shivering uncontrollably as feelings of absolute terror filtered into her soul,
Tia was horrified to see Bylan approaching her with a satisfied smile and
glowing blue eyes.

           
“This is only a small sample of what we will do to you
for all eternity if you refuse us, Tia. You chose this eternity when you
refused your destiny in life.” Leaning down, the Goddess whispered, “We want
you to do this Tia, but there are others just as capable. However, you have
just died. We can return you to life without
everyone
knowing this fact. Say yes and all of the bad goes away,
you will have a second chance at accepting your destiny so that
this
does not become your eternity.”

           
“Yes!” She cried frantically as she watched the Warlord
come closer and closer. “Please! Stop him!”

***

           
Tia knelt in the cold stream and shivered under the full
moon as she washed her body off. The Gods had promised Roland would meet her
here soon and she was to wait for him.
 
Apparently, even the Gods had a difficult time putting him back together
again after what Bylan had done to him.

           
Meeting the Gods was the ultimate goal of the Druids; now
that Tia had done it, she really didn’t recommend it.
 
Tia flipped her wet hair over her shoulder
and walked out of the water. Lying in the moon light, she felt older than her
years and angrier than ever.
 

           
She was born and she had had a destiny that she’d begged
to be told and the Gods had adamantly refused. She had made mistakes, trusted
the wrong people, and sought to do the right thing. For that, she was finally
shown and told her destiny
after
she
was murdered, and now, she had to live with knowing her destiny would be passed
down. To ensure her commitment, the Gods took the soul of her daughter and held
it hostage against her. As part of her punishment, she would know that her
daughter’s soul would be reborn to another woman.

           
Tia railed over the unfairness of remaining barren. The
Gods refused to return her womb to her and cited it as yet another punishment
for her actions. One of the gentler Gods had tried to lessen the blow by
telling her it would also make her love and appreciate the other children that
much more if she had to wait for them.

           
In a spurt of desperation, she asked what she could have
done that was so wrong. They explained that she and Roland had had a certain
amount of success with their ritual and they were not pleased that their own
chosen people had dared to try to stop what they had set in motion.
 
It complicated matters for them. But - to
Tia’s frustration - they had refused to explain what they meant exactly.

           
The only word of caution handed down had been that both
children would have unsurpassable powers. They would eventually die and become
Gods in their own right, but during their lifetime, they would have the power
to destroy the world, err…sort of. It was Tia’s responsibility to make sure
that
that
didn’t happen.

           
Letting her mind run over the odd meeting, she wondered
again at the reaction she had received when she told the Gods that she wanted
Roland perfect when she saw him again. Eyebrows had touched their hairlines as
they stared speechless at her. They had promised her guaranteed time with her
bonded,
right? So, why was it so shocking
that she didn’t want Roland back castrated and with his entrails dragging all
over the ground?
Okay, the castrated
part she could live with, but the entrails were just downright disgusting!

           
Shaking her head to clear the visual, Tia lay down on the
ground and marveled at the idea that she didn’t ever have to worry about dying
again. The Gods had promised that when it was her time they would simply take
her soul and her body would cease to matter. That one consolation was
comforting. Her first death was enough for her and she didn’t relish the idea
of repeating the ordeal. Pulling her covers out and rolling up in them, Tia
quickly drifted off to sleep.

           
Waking with a start, Tia jerked away from the hands
sliding around her midsection.

           
“Shh!” Roland whispered. “It’s just me.”

           
Turning over, she threw her arms around his neck and
started sobbing. Sitting up, she quickly pulled his robe up to bare his torso.
Fresh tears flowed from her eyes as she saw his flawless skin. Leaning over to
kiss his stomach, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face to the
smooth surface.

           
“Not a scratch, not a nick.” He quoted her words to the
Gods softly. “Not even a hair with a split end. The Gods even decided to make
me a little more handsome for you.”

           
“I just wanted you!” Tia cried openly. “I don’t ever want
to go through that again.”

           
Pulling her up his chest, they lay entwined just holding
each other until dawn came.

           
“You made a deal with the Gods too, didn’t you?” Tia snuggled
closer to him.

           
“Yes, I did,” he admitted. “But there is very little I
can tell you about it.”

           
“Oh. How much did the Gods tell you about me?”

           
“I know everything.”

           
“Then why am I not allowed to discuss anything with you?”
Tia pondered.

           
Getting no response, she looked into Roland’s guilty
face.

           
“You know much more than everything, don’t you?” She
asked softly.

           
“I know every challenge you will face, I know everywhere
you will go, and I know when you will die.” Roland stroked her cheek trying to
make her understand. “I know you asked for me back out of guilt and I know that
the Gods were surprised by the request.

“What
I can tell you is that we will never age, never grow old together because we
will never look any different than we do right now. We have at least the next
two centuries for me to teach you everything you will need to know. For now I
will leave it at this; I will give my life when the Gods show me it is my time;
the Gods will take you home when it is your time.”

           
Tia mulled this over.

           
“Do you understand?” He asked.

           
“No,” she admitted with a grin as she leaned over and
kissed him playfully. “But I don’t know that I
care
right now.”

Chapter Seven

Two-hundred
years later

           
Waves of unease shivered through the Human’s body;
without the Druid called Roland at his back, he knew he never could have gotten
this far. As he stepped cautiously over the sleeping guards, the hairs on the
back of his neck stood up. He watched, wincing, as Roland deliberately kicked
one of the guards.

           
“He will not wake!” Roland growled in frustration. “We
have to get moving or dawn will arrive long before we have left the keep!”

           
“Okay!” The man yelped, looking miserably at the crude
map in his hands.
If only I had been born
a Druid or a Phoenix; I wouldn’t be in this mess!

           
“This is a death wish!” The man shuddered and implored
Roland with his eyes. “I do
not
wish
to die by the flames!”

           
“Get moving!” Roland sighed, wishing they had chosen a
servant with a little more backbone. It went against their beliefs, but they
had finally decided to take a Human servant’s family hostage to force their
assistance.

The
last two hundred years had seen most of the once great Humans reduced to
nothing more than Phoenix slaves. If they didn’t need someone to guide them to
the child, Roland would have sent the man back outside to the horses. All of
the Human’s sniveling and whining was starting to get on his nerves.

           
“What did I ever do to deserve this? I am a good man and
I have never displeased the Gods.”

           
“And right now, the best thing to do is to get your
family out of danger.” Exasperated by the weak man, Roland grabbed the map and
tried to make heads or tails of it.

           
“
Okay, I’m sorry
!”
The man cowered before the Druid and wrung his hands.

           
Shaking his head, Roland handed the map back over to the
Human.

           
“I am a dead man either way,” the Human sniffed, turning
to walk up another flight of stairs. “Either you kill me tonight or the Phoenix
will torture me to death. By helping you, I can only
hope
the Phoenix spare my family.” Marching towards the top of the
stairs, the Human suddenly squealed and jumped backwards to press against the
wall and point to a sleeping Phoenix. “She spoke to me!”

           
Approaching the sleeping form, Roland saw a Phoenix woman
sleeping fitfully. Laying with her legs on the stairs and her body on the
landing he noted her outstretched arm and the fingers that were clenching and
unclenching even in sleep. Looking across the hall to a closed door, Roland had
a sudden vision and knew this was the child’s mother.

In
his mind, he saw her realize something was wrong and fight valiantly to get to
her child. He saw her desperately climbing the stairs even as the spell forced
her eyes closed and her body to sleep. She had lost the fight mere feet from
her child’s room. Sympathy for the woman coursed through his veins as he leaned
down and brushed a hand across her brow.

           
“I’m sorry,” he told the sleeping woman. “But she never
was yours to keep.”

           
“I take it that is where we are headed.” Roland stood up
as he addressed the terrified Human and pointed at the closed door.

           
“Uh-yeah.” The man quickly opened the door and slipped
through.

           
Roland followed and rolled his eyes to see the man’s
terrified expression.

           
“Is it true?” The man squawked nervously.

           
“Is what true?”

           
“Do Phoenix children burst into flames if an outsider
picks them up and means them harm?”

           
“
No
.”

           
Roland leaned against the wall and shook his head as he
watched the Human slowly creep across the room. Approaching the cradle, he
peered inside cautiously with his knees visibly shaking.

           
“If I die, please don’t kill my family!” The man cried
piteously as panic overtook his common sense.

           
Roland watched in disbelief as the man knelt to pray to
the Gods. Tears openly ran down the man’s face as he stood back up, took a deep
breath and reached down to pick up the child. Roland knew the Human race was
too far gone to save when he heard the man crooning to the baby.

           
“I promise you, I mean you no harm.” The man clearly
expected the child to burst into flames as he brought her to his chest and
carefully rearranged her blankets around her.
 
Freezing as the little girl snuggled into his arms, he suddenly let out
a relieved breath and held the child a little firmer than before.

           
“Well then!” He addressed Roland. “Let’s get the hell
outta here!” Sending a quick thanks to the Gods, the man left the room with
Roland close behind.

           
Surprised by the sudden change in the man, Roland
wordlessly followed the Human. Barely glancing at the woman on the stairs, he
passed right by her, and down the stairs. Having come up the servant stairwell,
he was surprised at the number of Phoenix present and knew they had interrupted
a celebration of some sort.

           
“Grab the door would you?” The Human nudged him lightly.