Ascension

January 3, 1918

If there is one thing to be said about wars, it will be that they hurt. For even the ruthless feel and are irrevocably scarred. What I have seen and what I have done, should not be replicated in writing. Many innocent die...

. . . however, life does go on.

R

I watched as the two figures disappeared behind the trees.

Summer had decided to go and see Naeht again. I didn’t like it but she was free to do what she pleased, as long it was within bounds of her safety. That was the reason I had Diego leave with her. I was happy that she’d accepted my condition so readily, but it probably proved that she was walking around scared. My brother’s deception had chipped away some of her usual confidence and independence, replacing it with fear. That was something I had either to hate or thank him for. As it was her do-it-all attitude that usually got her into trouble but it was also that same spirit that got her out.

I walked away from the balcony. I had little reason to worry as long as Diego was there, she would be safe. It was odd how much I had come to rely on him. It was probably because he was Marc’s brother that I showed some amount of amity towards him. That and because I figured out that he was the one who had given Summer that note. I wasn’t very pleased about the timing as that was something I wanted to tell her about personally, when I had the situation under tighter reins. However, his actions which went against those of the Guard proved his loyalty to us.

I had to go to my study as still had a few more numbers to go over. Although silver was a precious metal, all the buzz these days was around the trading of gold. There had been a gradual increase in the value of the commodity these last three years, as the cash for gold campaign had spread even to the farthest reaches of the globe. Summer thought that we should probably hop unto the wagon now before it left us. Both dad and I agreed with her on that point. The Corona’s had the mainstay in that market and Ay’s negligence the last couple of years had caused them to take a big bite in the silver trading market as well. It would be easier for us than most starting out in this venture, as we had both connections and inside information on the business.

It was after I had stepped out of the room that the phone rang. It was probably Sonya or Minrosa that was calling as they were the only ones with the numbers to that line.

I stepped back inside grabbing the receiver before the call got cut off.

“Hello,” said the voice on the other line.

“Nafad, hello,” I answered. “How are you and everyone else?”

“We are not doing too badly. Thank you for asking.”

“Well, that is good to hear. If you wanted to talk to Aurora, she isn’t here right now. She just went down to the Guard room.”

“It is probably best that she is not there. I actually called to converse with you.”

“Oh okay,” I said trying to hide the surprise that I felt.

“I want you to answer me truthfully Rain.”

“I will,”

“Is everything alright in Tir na n-Óg?”

“Yes, it is for now. Is something going on that I should know about?”

“It is just that I had the strangest visitor today.”

“Who was it?” I asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Naeht,”

“Who?” I was officially stumped.

“Your brother. He came to give me a letter or note of some sort, but it seemed that it was torn from a book. He didn’t say much except, history has a way of repeating itself and that we should be wary. After that, he just disappeared.”

“Are you absolutely sure that it was my brother whom you saw?” I said balling the sheets up in my fist.

“Yes, I am absolutely sure that it was. Anyways, I read the letters. They turned out to be diary entries dating from the nineteen hundred to nineteen-nineteen. The author only signed the initial R at the end of each entry.”

“What did the letters say?”

“Mostly the World War One exploits of a female Lune. I didn’t take much from it on my first read, but it was after I read it again that I noticed that certain words were numbered. After picking out the words and rearranging them it read: The son of Ay is among your ranks. He is not the enemy. The enemy heads the Guard. Beware.”

“The son of Ay? But that doesn’t make much sense. Ay doesn’t have a son.”

“I said the same thing, but I started to ignore the first two sentences. It is the last couple of lines that have me worried. The enemy heads the Guard. Beware. Those are the lines that have me worried the most. An enemy at the helm. I don’t understand what all that means. I’ve been rattling my brain these last two days and still came up with nothing. I just don’t understand why your brother would leave such a message.”

“I don’t know either, but what I do know is that whomever it was that gave you the letters was not my brother.” I said after a long minute of silence.

“What do you mean?”

“You asked me to be truthful in answering your question on whether or not things were fine here and I was. But it has not always been so. Things were proving difficult when we just arrived. They are somewhat settled now. But Naeht couldn’t be the one who gave you the note as he is sitting in a guarded cell at the bottom of the palace.”

“What is really going on over there Rain?” he said sounding completely flummoxed.

“The morning after we got here, Aurora went missing. In fact, she was abducted by my brother and was held hostage for about a week before we found her in a locked room in Ireland.”

“Why is that I am just hearing about this now?” his confusion morphing into ire.

“It was all so sudden and unexpected. We were still in a very delicate spot with the barons and I had to try to keep things together before the relationship couldn’t deteriorate before it even started. Once dad got here, I left and I found her and brought her back home.”

“You mean Seidon knew about this and didn’t say anything to either me or Sonya? This is outrageous. How could you have hidden something this important from us?”

“We thought it best not to involve the Coronas as it would only increase the tension here. This was our problem and we had to fix it.”

“Your problem? Aurora is our daughter. Just because she is married to you now doesn’t mean that we would abandon her or have stopped caring.”

“I am sorry, I see now that I should have told you about the situation earlier. However I do not regret the decision as it was the best course of action at the time,”

I heard him exhale forcefully on the other line. “I can understand your reluctance, but I don’t get why Aurora hadn’t mentioned it herself.”

“After she got back here, she didn’t tell you herself as she didn’t want you to worry.”

“She never wants anyone to worry and always wants to deal with things herself. Ever the voluntary Atlas,” he grumbled. I silently agreed with him on that point. “And the kidnapper you said was your brother?” he said sounding relatively calm again, but the tension was still evident in his voice.

“Yes, but we don’t believe he was acting alone. He had help from someone in the higher up in the Guard. Someone who had full access to the palace. We know this as he’d hired someone to steal my Galusion gem so that he could keep an eye on her, whenever he wasn’t nearby.”

“I don’t understand. Why would he betray you like that?”

“He claimed that it was greed. He wanted everything that I had. The power, money, and Aurora, but it was mainly about her I think.”

“This isn’t good.” he sighed again. “Sonya has been having, these feelings that something bad was going to happen and like a fool I told her that it was probably nothing, completely forgetting whom I was talking to. Only to hear this now. In addition to the stranger who had visited our home. I do not like this business any at all.”

“Me neither,” I said pushing my eyebrows together. “I am sorry to have to cut you off like this but I have to tell dad about your visitor and the message. Maybe he could make some sense out of this whole matter.”

“Yes, Sonya has to hear about this too. I had been hoping that she was wrong, but I was betting against fate it seems.” he sighed. “You have to contact me the second anything new develops. It is imperative that you do. You owe me that much. I just got my family back and I cannot lose anyone this soon Rain.”

“I know and I will.”

“Take care of my daughter and yourself son until next I see you.”

“Which will be any day now I surmise.”

“Probably even sooner. I am currently on the mainland.”

“Until then, bye.”

“Goodbye Rain,” he said before the line went dead.

I placed the phone back on the hook. Another clue or another worry. But either way, I knew that Summer was right. There was something sinister lurking within the ranks of the Guard. The risk of having them around now was far greater than having them disbanded.

“The son of Ay. . . The enemy at the head. Beware.” I repeated softly as I made my way to my dad’s quarters. As Grand Lune, I was the head of the Guard. I was the enemy of many, but not of the Coronas. Definitely not. This was probably my brother’s doing acting through his accomplice. But what would they achieve? Another clan war, but that was hardly likely. Them fighting against us would be like fighting against themselves. Aurora is their daughter. That reason alone would eliminate that possibility.

“Father are you in here, there is something urgent that I need to discuss with you,” I said as I walked into the room. “Dad?” I called again after I was met with silence and an empty room. “Dad?” still there was no answer. I walked out to the balcony but it was empty.

“Rain,” I turned back to the door.

“Oh, there you are. I have something I wanted to tell you.” I said walking towards him.

“Can it wait? We need to go.” he said looking behind himself. “Where is Aurora?”

“She is visiting Naeht.”

“That’s the worst possible place she could be now,” he mumbled. “Come, we need to get her,” he said turning towards the door.

“Wait, what are you talking about? What is happening?” I said keeping stride.

“I was just informed that some in the Guard are planning a coup.”

“What? When?” I said holding his arm and stopping him.

“They call it making contingency plans. They hear that we are planning to get rid of them, and so they are planning to get rid of you before that happens. They are planning to move today, tomorrow the latest.” he said in a rushed whisper.

“Today, we are running out of time,” I whispered. “Where did they hear that?”

“Vitali. I however assured him that those rumours were not true.”

“They are true, but I had only made that decision a minute ago. That was what I wanted to see you about.”

“But how would he know?”

“He doesn’t, probably guessed,” I said softly to myself as I turned back into the room. The enemy heads the Guard. Beware. How did I not see it immediately! “Dad when Vitali says some in the Guard, I think he means himself,” I said turning back to face him.

“But why would. . .”

“To throw us off his track.” I then went on to explain the conversation I had with Nafad.

“It is making sense now. Out of all the people in the Guard, he was the one who found Naeht. He knew where he was all along. The kidnapping was just a ploy to turn our attention from the true culprit. He had full access to the palace, so he could have stolen the gem any time. . . It is starting to make more sense now.”

“Yes,” I swore softly. “This had been his plan all along. We fill the coffers and then he drains it.” I cussed again. “We need to get Aurora,” I said refocusing again. The dungeon was definitely the wrong place for her to be at this time.