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“Sent by the Goddess?” He gave them both a once-over then huffed dismissively. “Well, I suppose She knows what She is doing.”
I bit my lip to keep from grinning. He was in rare form this morning. “Tell us, Antonius, what has brought you all this way?”
He took a deep breath and as he let it out, his shoulders slumped.
We’d lit dozens of candles to help us read the scrolls, and the light played over his face, revealing every line, every wrinkle. I saw him as if for the first time. A tired old man, weary of keeping up the pretense of strength and vitality. Weary of shouldering the day-to-day burdens of managing the realm. Weary of conflict and strife. He’d done it all for me, lending me his strength when I had none. Standing between me and anyone who might do me harm, even a pair of fearsome warriors less than half his age.
I drew on the lessons he’d taught me in negotiating. Laid a hand on his and summoned words to give him back his dignity. “We are aware of the dangerous times our world is facing. You risked your life coming here to deliver your message. Thank you for your bravery.”
I watched him lift his head and pull his shoulders back, marveling at the inner strength it took to put aside his physical and mental exhaustion and do his duty. At that moment I learned another lesson from Antonius. Warriors are not defined by age or size or muscle mass. The mark of a true warrior is his spirit.
“Her majesty is right,” Magnus chimed in. “All of us, the entire kingdom, are in your debt, sir.”
Antonius inclined his head slightly, barely acknowledging the remark, but I saw the fire back in his eyes. I smiled at Magnus, vowing he’d get a very special thanks from me later for his act of kindness.
“I merely did my duty,” Antonius said. “But bravery alone will not save us. I come to you with terrible news from the mountains on our northern border. The spell cast by the Woman Clothed in the Sun a thousand years ago has been broken. The Lord of Darkness has risen from his forced slumber. He and his followers have taken the occupants of a whole village hostage. They’ve dragged them into a cavern where they believe one of the sacred sources is hidden. A stone with the power to command the very earth to do the bidding of he who possesses it. He’s forcing them all to dig for it – the able bodied, the old men and women, even the children. Anyone who refuses or is not able to keep up…”
Antonius swallowed hard then went on. “They are put to death. And their friends, their loved ones, are forced to dig the graves.”
“You say the Lord of Darkness has followers,” Magnus broke in. “Why would anyone want to help him?”
“I can answer that,” Drayke replied. “They believe he will grant wealth and power to those who pledge loyalty to him. Unimaginable wealth. Unlimited power.” He gave a wry smile. “Believe me. I’ve experienced his sales pitch firsthand. To one who has never had it, a taste of such incredible power can be more seductive than the charms of the most beautiful maiden.”
Antonius slammed his fist on the table, startling us all. “Enough!” he boomed. “There is no time for idle chatter. You must go to the mountains. You can educate him on the ability of the evil one to sway the minds of weaker creatures on the way. Find the sacred source and seize it. Centuries of slumber have recharged his strength, but he needs the sources to maintain it. Each one adds to his power. The Prophecy says when he possesses them all – he will be invincible.”
Chapter Thirteen
Melisandre
“Then we dealt him a crippling blow when we destroyed the Flask of Fire,” Drayke said.
Antonius gave me a surprised look. I nodded. “It’s true. Lord DeMartine incinerated the flask. It’s gone.”
I gave my vizier a quick rundown of our journey to the caldera of the volcano and how Drayke defeated the Dark Lord’s mind tricks, seized the flask, and did away with it. I left out the part where I squared off with his guards in combat. The old man worried about me enough. No need to alarm him with details of how I’d been forced to kill one of them. Or how I’d risked death again when I had to face down the fire-breathing fury of my lover in dragon form.
Antonius gestured to the manuscripts piled on the table. “I’m glad to see you’re doing your homework,” he said, “but a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I have studied the old legends for more years than you’ve spent in this world. There’s one ancient myth you must keep in mind. It claims the combined force of the elements is indestructible. If any element is destroyed, the others are rendered more powerful.”
“If that’s true, with each victory the next battle we face will become even harder to win,” Magnus declared.
For the first time, Antonius regarded him with approval. “Exactly.” His eyes fell on the amulet around Magnus’s neck. The one with the sparkling stone imbedded in a lump of dark rock. “Perhaps the Goddess chose well after all,” he muttered to himself.
Antonius turned to me.
“You must go, my lady.” He gave me a sad smile. “I wish with all my heart it was not so. But the Prophecy says that ultimately you alone have the power to defeat him.”
He addressed my companions, his voice harder than I’d ever heard it before.
“Take the queen to the mountains. Guard her with your lives. But this I pledge to you – if any harm comes to her, great warriors, I will hunt you both down and kill you with my bare hands.”
I walked out with him arm in arm through the temple. Two of my royal guards waited on the steps outside to accompany him back to the palace. He stopped in front of the dais, under the open dome.
“Being here brings back so many memories. I came here for the first time as a young man with your grandfather. Then, when he passed, I brought your father to hear the Prophecy for the first time, as I did with you.”
His gaze traveled around the vast chamber. “You know, I was married to my Dalia for forty-one years. And all that time, I was in love with another woman.”
I stared at him, shocked. The comment seemed totally out of place, and so unlike my normally reserved vizier. I wondered why he’d chosen to share such an intimate detail of his life, especially at a time like this.
I’d known his mate, Dalia, well. She’d gone to be with the ancestors shortly before my father died. Antonius was like a doting uncle to me when I was a child, and his mate had taken on the role of surrogate grandmother in my life. I remembered her as sweet and gentle, with silver-white hair and arms always open to give a warm hug to a shy little girl who’d lost her mother at a young age.
