บท 34: Chapter Thirty-Four: The Awakening
At that same moment, Fiona sat on the edge of her bed and prepared to walk to her dressing table to brush her hair and twist it up on her head. She had taken two steps when her head began to swim dizzily. There was a shrieking in her head, and she clapped her hands over her ears and called out to Cassie downstairs.
She felt herself falling down a long dark tunnel! She cried out again for Cassie and then she heard Sunny's voice, "What's happened?"
The Arch
Sunny jerked her hand back and looked first at the wound in her palm then at the bloody print that was quickly soaking into the stone. She heard a terrible shrieking and wondered if it was coming from Bracken or her own throat. She quickly realized it was the stones themselves that were screaming at her. She felt sick and crumpled to her knees.
Ne'Median Palace
Gaddis sat in his audience chamber, listening to his Chamberlin reading the list of petitions. He had already begun his morning with his advisors, his horse master, and sought out Dema who he made very happy by lavishing his attentions on her and looking over the newest maidens in the women's sanctuary. He allowed Dema to parade them as he lounged comfortably on a couch with pillows supporting his arms and head, so he didn't even have to move when the women passed by. He would occasionally wiggle an imperious finger to have the maiden turn in a slow circle.
He left the sanctuary feeling satisfied with the new acquisitions, though he did not allow Dema to set up any visitations. She knew already to leave well enough alone. When he wanted female attention, he would call for them.
He called to have his meal placed out in the private gardens. He came down the wide steps when he was hit by a wave of pain that sent him to grab onto the stone banister. Several servants moved toward him, but he raised a restraining hand out and they froze in their tracks. "Siobhan!"
As quickly as the pain knifed through him, it was gone. He stood and collected himself. He smoothed his hands down his tunic and tugged at the tabbed collar. A shout came from one of the guards stationed high up in the ramparts of the outer palace walls. "Sith rider!"
Gaddis froze as he heard the commotion coming from the open breezeways that separated the emperor's quarters from the rest of the royal apartments. Judging by the growling roars, it was one of his Sith captains.
The doors flew open and the heavily armored Sith captain entered and dropped to one knee, his head bowed low, helmet tucked under his arm. Gaddis entered the large private audience chamber and acknowledged his captain. "You have news for me?"
"My lord emperor a stranger has appeared deep in the Dumah! My commander Stone Tiger, ordered me to come straight away to report it is the Daj Sultana!"
"Siobhan!" Gaddis whispered. He looked at his Sith captain, "Is she harmed?"
The captain held out a small scroll. "Further details from Stone Tiger, my emperor!"
Gaddis took the scroll and unrolled it. He scanned it then looked up to his chamber guards, "I need my horse, now!"
"Your fastest mount is already waiting!" the Sith captain stated. He stood and bowed out of the way and Gaddis stormed out with the Sith captain close behind him.
Once down in the courtyard, his manservant was waiting with boots and a cloak. The horse was indeed one of his fastest and was barely being contained by two groomsmen. He called out to the stallion, and he quieted long enough for Gaddis to mount. Once seated, the horse bolted toward the gates, which several men were struggling to get open. A fresh mount was waiting for the Sith captain, and he was off in a cloud of dust after Gaddis' grey-dappled stallion.
The Dumah Forest – Ne'Media
Sunny was vaguely aware of her name being called from a great distance. She could not determine who was calling her name, but she didn't want to wake up and hear the shrill cries of the stones.
"Siobhan! Open your eyes, Siobhan; do it now!"
Her head turned toward the sound of the voice and she opened her eyes and looked up into the worried golden eyes of the Emperor of Ne'Media. He was kneeling next to her and sluicing water from a gourd canteen over her hand. He tore a strip from his tunic and wrapped it snugly around her injured palm. He looked over his shoulder and spoke to someone Sunny could not see. There was an answering guttural rasp and Gaddis nodded and looked anxiously down at Sunny. He held out his hands to her, "Come, try and sit up now."
She took his hands and slowly sat up and looked around. She was not any place familiar to her. She was in the middle of a forest. "What's happened? Where am I? Is this another dream?"
Gaddis sat back on his heels and looked at her appraisingly. "This time it is not a dream, Siobhan. You do not know what has happened?"
"No!"
"Tell me something; have you somehow come in contact with the dagger of Shai'Alomar?" Gaddis asked her.
"What the hell is that?" she muttered flexing the fingers of her injured hand. She stroked the silk bandage.
"A missing artifact from Ne'Media for many generations." He replied. He handed the water canteen to her, she sipped the water experimentally and found it cool and crisp. Thirstily she drained the remaining water from the canteen.
"Where am I?"
"You are physically here in the Dumah Forest, on the other side of the realm of Ne'Media," Gaddis replied. "If you have somehow come in contact with the Shai'Alomar, it would explain what has happened. You and I are now bonded."
"How could that happen?" Sunny asked suddenly feeling the cold fingers of dread close around her guts.
He could see she knew nothing of what he was talking about. He sighed heavily, got to his feet, and helped her to stand. Sunny looked around and saw the mounted Ne'Median soldiers. Though their faces were covered with helms she saw the feral green glow of their eyes observing her. She looked to Gaddis, "These soldiers are Sith?"
"That is right," he replied and then nodded. "You have seen Moon-Bear, have you?"
She nodded and watched as Gaddis stepped away to speak to the nearest mounted soldier. His hide was dark grey with a clouded pattern of stripes like Moon-Bear, but beyond that nothing was comparable. This was a dangerous warrior. The conversation was sibilant and soft and full of guttural consonants. Sunny could not even get a sense of what was being said.
Gaddis turned away from the warrior, and he pointed to the Sith that was now glaring down at her. "This is Stone Tiger, he found you. He is Moon-Bear's sire."
Sunny frowned as she began to wonder how things were connected. Gaddis smiled down at her. "I can hear your thoughts now, you must stop thinking so hard, you will make yourself sick."
"I've got to get back," she said. "They'll be looking for me. Bracken will surely have everyone out scouring the forest for me." Gaddis waved away her concerns with a flick of his hand. That gesture reminded her of Nicodemus. "You said that you and I were blood-bound like Nicodemus, and I are bound?"
"If it is true, and you met the Shai'Alomar dagger," Gaddis told her. "It has tasted your blood and recognized you; binding you to me and my family forever. It is different from the blood ceremony that bound you to Nicodemus Fury."
"Your family?" Sunny repeated. "You're saying we are bound forever?"
Gaddis folded his arms over his chest and nodded slowly. "You have encountered the dagger, and it has tasted your blood. Do you know where the dagger is being kept?" Gaddis asked.
Sunny scoffed and looked at Gaddis suspiciously, "You're asking me?"
He laughed softly, the sound creating a soft gentle purr coursing through his Sith soldiers. "Of course, you do; but if it is in your family's protection, no one here can possess it."
Sunny scowled at Gaddis, "All part of this geis?"
"That I do not know," He replied matter-of-factly. "It could very well be all tied together."
"How could a dagger made of metal get through the arch?" Sunny asked. "I've been told over and over that no metal can pass through the arch, without killing the person carrying it."
"I do not know," Gaddis replied.
Suddenly, Sunny felt faint, something was wrong! She felt pain in her left leg, and it gave way, a sharp knifing pain radiated throughout her left leg. "Aunt Fiona!"
Gaddis stepped back a pace, then rushed in to catch Sunny before she fell to the ground. She looked up into his amber-colored eyes, "Something has happened to my Aunt Fiona!"
"Send her back to her people!" Stone Tiger rumbled. "It is too dangerous for her to be here! Not now, my Emperor!"
Without another word, Gaddis drew Sunny in close to his chest and placed his hand over her eyes, "Return Siobhan – go!" He pressed his lips briefly to her forehead and whispered, "Remember everything!"
Sunny felt the ground beneath her fall away! In the space between heartbeats, she called out, ["Nicodemus, I need you!"]
She found herself standing outside Laurel Cottage. The pain in her leg was gone and stumbled forward a few steps with the momentum of being pushed back into Arwyn. Sunny rushed into the house. Cassie was hurrying from the kitchen when she spotted Sunny coming into the house through the front door.
Sunny all but flew up the stairs and opened Fiona's bedroom door to see Fiona lying on the floor. The woman looked up with frightened eyes and pain. "Sunny!"
She rushed to Fiona and collapsed on the floor. She drew Fiona into her arms close. The pain in Fiona's ankle eased almost immediately. It was such an extreme sensation to feel such intense pain and instant relief that Fiona began to weep with the knowledge that somehow Sunny had been awakened! "Oh no, what's happened! What has happened!"
"Aunt Fiona look at me!" Sunny demanded and Fiona looked up at Sunny through tragic green eyes. "Do you feel it?"
Fiona was surprised to find the powers her mother had bestowed on her were still firmly in place. Something more had happened, and Fiona was fearful! "But what has happened to you?"
Cassie burst into the room and rushed to Fiona's side. She helped Sunny get Fiona back into bed and settled comfortably. In addition to her illness, Fiona now had a severely twisted ankle that was not as painful as it had been, but it was turning all shades of purple and swelling around the heel and ankle. Breathlessly Cassie sat in the bedside chair, "What on earth happened?"
Sunny smiled and looked at Fiona. "Just a little bit of a tumble. A nice ginger and willow poultice should help, right?"
Fiona nodded, "Aye. That would do the trick nicely!"
Cassie looked between the two women and frowned slightly. "Now what will you do?"
Sunny shrugged lightly. "Well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!" She stayed Cassie where she was in the chair, "Stay here with Aunt Fiona. I'll go fix the poultice – I know what to do!"
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