The Royal Stones of Eden (Royal Secrecies Book 1) (41 page)

“Merlin?” Sam shouted, who was glad to see his old friend. Everyone was surprised to see him except Haj and Merlin’s female companion. Haj was aware of the partial details of the trap, but he was surprised to see Aysha, the companion with Merlin, who had obviously been in on the entire secret, including the disguised Merlin.

“I knew it!” Tom muttered. He had guessed it all along, ever since he had seen Cali in David’s suitcase.

Just then, Peter charged Merlin. His eyes were on Merlin’s staff, and he wanted it. But with a quick and uplifted hand gesture, Merlin proved that he was not helpless. Once Merlin raised his hand, an invisible force grabbed Peter’s throat, stopped him, and lifted him about two feet off the ground. Jesse ran to tackle Merlin next and was greeted by Merlin’s additional magic. Merlin dropped his staff in his right hand while his left hand remained lifted against Peter. He reached into a pocket and grabbed some powder. He tossed it at the charging witch. Jesse immediately froze, and her composition quickly changed. Her body instantly turned into a white crystalline substance. She looked as if she was simply a charging statue of salt, with an extended arm and hand that bore the red ring. Merlin released his grip, and Peter fell to the ground. Then Merlin grabbed his satchel and stood a few yards behind Peter.

“The thing you have to realize when you are fooling around with the stones of prophecy is that they never lie. They said your justice was here, and justice you shall have.”—before Merlin could say another word, Peter stood up to charge Merlin again, and Merlin called out to David, “Let go, David!”

“Sorry—old—boy!” David emphasized. He released the sword and the power of the magnetic plate quickly drew the sword toward Merlin’s satchel. Cali soared briskly, and, with a light whistle toward Peter’s neck, it swiftly severed his head. The sword hit the magnetic plate and fell to the dirt, and Merlin dropped the satchel. Peter’s head was on the cave’s floor, near the witch’s gritty statue.

There were a few seconds of silence. The Guardians were shocked—though some had seen this act before.

Then Merlin began to speak.

“Haj, the spell of forgetfulness from your wife helped you to detect the Anakite when he failed to remember the sight of Aysha,” the renewed and young Merlin said. Then he spoke to his companion who had just dropped her weapon.

“Aysha your habit of always wearing your necklace around your neck with the red stone saved your husband. You helped to plant doubt in Haj’s mind when Jesse arrived looking like you, but without the red stone around her neck.” Aysha and Haj ran to each other embraced and kissed with the passion of a rediscovered love. After their tender, extended, and passionate embrace, Haj gave some additional explanation to the others.

“I traveled to see Aysha before the earthquake, and we fell in love,” Haj said. “After spending some time with her, about a week, Aysha revealed a plan to me that she had obtained by divination from the powers of her red stone of clairvoyance.

“Upon her advice, I then traveled to the day of the earthquake to witness the exact details of her fate. I knew the day and the hour that the earthquake would arrive, and I found her in the streets of San Francisco, among the rubble of a fallen building. She had predicted both her near-death experience and her miraculous resurrection. She also had predicted the return of her sister, the evil witch. Her plan was to hide her red stone, divide it, and give one-half of it to her friend, Mary—while hiding the other half in her pocket. Her sister would never search her pockets because the stone had a way with witches, and evil witches of her kind generally avoided pockets of mystery. They were also not that clever.

“I gave her a sardius stone serum. I injected it into her body. She was barely alive, but she healed almost instantly. I then asked her about the red stone that she always wore. She told me that she had remembered to give half of it to Mary. She had obeyed the premonition. Had she worn the stone on her neck when Jesse found her, she would have lost her premonition stone as well as the stones of…”—David then interrupted and approached Haj. He attempted to sort the time travel out in his mind.

“Wait a minute! If you had not healed her, then she would have died. But if she died you never would have met her. Wait! Why didn’t you just go back before…”—David was trying to sort it out when Aysha interrupted him.

“Mattie or rather Mary, stayed with the false Aysha, after the earthquake. A week before the earthquake, Hajen Habib visited with me—just as he said. I had met him a year earlier in Sacramento. When he was in San Francisco, he shared his story with me. I told Haj that I would join him in the soon to be future. I had to nearly die so that I might live completely again.”—Aysha held out a blue and white stone that she had used to travel forward in time with, soon after Haj left her in San Francisco. The stones came with her from the land of the Pharaohs, during the ride on the river of life. Her deception had kept her sister from taking the stones from her dead body. She had kept her red stone of premonition and the stones of travel away from her sister. Those stones were in her pocket along with the necklace the entire time that her sister drained her blood from her wrist. The magic had worked!

David looked at Mattie, and then at Haj, “That means that the Aysha that you knew in the past was not the real Aysha. Haj, how could you leave Mattie with the witch? Why didn’t you help her, you son of a—”

Mattie broke in, “He did protect me, David. I remember now.” Her grateful eyes looked at Haj. Mattie walked over to Aysha, held up her red stone on her necklace, and placed it against Aysha’s red stone that was also around her neck. She reached for Aysha’s stone and matched it with her own red stone. They fit perfectly together! They were the same stone, but divided.

“I had divided the stone before giving half of it to Mattie,” proclaimed Aysha. “Her half protected her, and my half guided and protected me. I knew the stones would seek each other, and we would meet again.”

Tom realized the link and added his own input, “The power of the red stone of Eden—the protecting force of the divided stone. No witch could harm her as long as she wore it. Which means it was the witch that asked you for the stone, Mattie, when you were in the hospital and alive in the present!”

Merlin broke in, “The stones serve their own interests, not the seekers. The Living Spirit allowed the stones to leave Gan Eden long ago—perhaps it knew that one day a greater purpose would be served. In this world, there are many followers, but only a few believers. You all think this is all about magic, but instead, it is about faith. Mattie’s life was never in real danger. Jesse had used her to travel ahead to the future. The witch needed Mattie.

“There were two witches in Queen Cleopatra’s court. Aysha and Jesse!”—Merlin pointed to the salt statue of Jesse and then to Aysha, who was standing with Haj.

Sam too had his questions, “Merlin, What happened to my mother?”

“Your mother died by the hand of King Saul,” Merlin answered. “But something happened before her death that you should know about. After she killed and banished you, she gave birth to two daughters. They were forced to learn the arts of her dark magic. Charmion and Iris were their names. They were later known as Aysha and Jesse”—a surprised Sam, with raised eyebrows, looked at Aysha.

Aysha walked to Sam to embrace her newfound brother. This was part of the reason that she had hidden herself five years before—when she had lived secluded from everyone but Haj. Aysha had known the future by way of Merlin’s help and her seeing stone.

“David, we need to talk, about everything in my past. I have so many stories to share,” Mattie said while her eyes started to tear. David went to her and put her arms around her. She promised that she would tell David everything, and she had many tales of great adventures to share with him.

“I will love you! No matter what! I don’t care about your past. I don’t care who you were. I don’t care what you did. Nothing matters to me. Except that I love you,” David assured her.

Tom added, “Ok, this is getting sickening!”

Then Haj tossed a retrieved syringe to both Tom and Sam.

“You could use a faith lift and a face lift, Tom. And Sam, I think a dose of this should heal that leg for good. Your first dose five years ago wasn’t enough. This is an improved formula,” Haj smiled.

Tom had what Sam called “religion,” and he said that he would have to think about it. He said, “I’ve lived a long time, and I am tired.” However, Sam looked at the syringe as if it was a golden treasure of hope.

Merlin walked over to Peter’s decapitated body and the separated head beside it. He sprinkled some powder over it that he retrieved from a bag around his waist. He took out a match from his bag. He flicked his nail over the top of the match, and tossed the lit match toward the corpse. It ignited in flames of purple smoke, and the body burned for a few minutes before turning to ashes.

Afterwards, Merlin continued his thoughts to the others, “When Aysha rode the ship on the lake of the dead, her spirit found the body of a girl that had been in a coma—one that had just died in Romania. She awoke with the stones in her hand. That girl was unusual and too different to fit in. She did not age normally. Her family immigrated during a rush for gold to the Americas in the 1800’s. They grew tired of explaining why the girl never grew old. She appeared to stay the same age for several years.

“Sam? Tom? You remember seeing me flickering, when I first left the camp and performed time travel, at the campfire during that night so long ago. That was me…taking several trips. Each flicker of my reflection was another trip in time. I learned many things,” Merlin said, and then he turned to Mattie.

“Mattie? David gave you a cat when you were in Egypt. The name Pili was on its collar. Jesse and Aysha once lived with an Egyptian cat. The cat was called Pili!” Merlin revealed, and a nod from Aysha confirmed it.

Mattie exclaimed, “You mean that cat that is in our condo is some magical and historical cat?”

“Afraid so, Mattie,” said the former Uncle Willie. “By the way…good to finally see you!” Merlin walked up to Mattie and looked her in the eye and smiled. “Will you tell David
everything
? You know…you don’t have to be a modern woman. You simply have to be yourself!” Mattie smiled in agreement as if she had already learned that truth.

David interrupted, “I have a question—what happened to the banished Marian?—is Peter still alive?”

“Marian and Peter are alive somewhere. I’m sure of it!” Merlin said as he winked. Then he turned to Haj and Aysha. “Haj? Did Peter have a green stone with him, when you returned from the past?”

“Yes. Why?” Haj asked.

“Then it seems that Peter is living a life somewhere in the past,” Merlin said. “May he find happiness at last!” Then Merlin spoke again to Mattie and David.

“Mattie? Your cat got out this morning and escaped from the condo. It was an accident, so don’t blame your pet sitter—because she is very distraught.”

Aysha heard Merlin’s words to Mattie but did not appear to be worried at all, even though it was
her
cat. However, Mattie’s mind filled and flooded with sudden grief and worry while she was at the same time stunned at Merlin’s mysterious powers of clairvoyance and perception.

Was it true? Was Pili dead? How did he know? What else does Merlin know about me?

Merlin walked over to Haj and whispered in his ear while David attempted to comfort a worried Mattie.

“Haj, store the stone statue of Jesse. Don’t leave it. I am going to rest in a
real
hotel in the city. Oh yes, one more thing. Pick up that damn cat!”—Haj acknowledged the order and stared at Jesse’s statue as Merlin started to walk toward the elevator.

David, you stood up against the bully and found a new gift!

Merlin’s thoughts invaded David’s brain.

Use the gift well, and neglect it not! One should never neglect their gifts! And do not live by the words of could, would or should. Live by the words of can, shall, and must!

David looked back at Merlin. He admired his new calling and his new telepathic gift. Meanwhile, Mattie grew scared because she knew by the end of the night that David would know her full story.

Will he still love me after that? I wonder!

Epilogue

Across the floor, the body crawled. That which was pronounced dead was not dead. The body crawled to the center of the laboratory. It used only the strength in its arms. It found the pink cloud absent. With no other options, the body found the strength to remove a vial of red liquid in its shirt pocket, underneath its coat.

The body, a barely alive man, drank the red substance and collapsed his face onto the cold floor. Deep into a dream he went. He faded from this world and prepared for his trip down the river of death. He hoped to be received by his people. Would he go to a glorious heaven or to the pit of an eternal hell, he thought.

The gods awaited him with fiery tests. The demons and the excrement and blood eaters stood ready to test him. Anubis would weigh his heart with a feather. The paradise of Aaru awaited him if he passed the tests.

His journey was about to begin. He soared over lakes of fire and trees of turquoise. Robin of Locksley journeyed to the underworld realm of the gods.