The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft
DRAWING IN THE DARKNESS

CH DRAWING IN THE DARKNESS

An hour later, Mina brought Karstien and Yurieth to Fleur and they pulled her into a side room.

“Are you sure this will work?” Karstien asked concerned.

“Yes,” Fleur said tiredly.

“But no one has ever cured blood magic poisoning, it always ends in insanity and death. I saw it many times in the war,” Yurieth revealed. “Many tried and failed.”

“Karstien spoke the truth, I have cured it. I cured Kaleth,” Fleur announced tiredly. She could feel Mina and Yuri’s shock, so she held out her hands, “Remember when I said I had a bad experience with blood magic because I was stupid, I’ll show you.” As they took her hands, they were taken to the Room of Light. “Behold.”

It seemed like hours but once they were back in the real world, Yurieth looked out the window and saw the sun had not moved. Once again, her power amazed him in the wake of the horror he had barely glimpsed in her memories, so much suddenly made sense.

“Oh, my dearest daughter, you were so brave,” Mina declared as she cried quietly in Karstien’s arms.

Yuri hugged Fleur tightly. “I’m so sorry you went through that.” His concern and love felt real, felt authentic and she let herself relax in its warmth. He kissed her forehead, murmuring, “You were so strong.”

She made herself look up at him. “Not as strong as you are going to have to be in a few hours, Yuri. Don't worry, this is what I was made for.” Then she pushed him away and walked back to the room where the healing is to be done.

He looked after her, confused, then to his nephew and his mother, “What did she mean by that?”

Lady Fleur explained to Rysa and Lupin how the ritual was accomplished. Lupin was horrified and, at first, refused, but Rysa, the only healer in a family of warriors, had set her will to do whatever it took.

“Lupin, I know you are afraid the Darkness will overcome you when her light is diminished but you must want it back, you must want it more than you want your own life. I can see in your heart that you will choose love.” The Oracle reassured him. “I will be outside, drawing the dark energy away so you can overcome the sickness together. It is written that both of you must travel through the land of the shadow of insanity together, from dusk until dawn, and bathe in the water of light together.”

The young lord nodded, making his white hair sway, he looked at her with eyes almost the color of Shadz’s. “I will do it. I love her, more than anything.”

“Come, Healer Rysa. I’ll show you how to make the Healing Water of Light. She placed her oracle stone in the water, together she and the young healer pushed their power into the water until it turned golden and effervescent, then her stone floated to the top of the magic infused liquid.

Yllumina and Naphtala watched. In a hushed tone, Naphtala said, “Your son’s beloved is amazing, I can see why Prince Lucif desires her. He must not succeed.”

“We know, but before our worlds end, war must return, and even he will bow to her as his Dark Queen,” Mina didn’t hide her grief.

Naphtala looked carefully at her oldest rival, “So it is true then, we are in our final season, cousin?”

Nodding, Mina sighed like a whisper, “But our children and grandchildren will live. This I promise you, daughter of my mother’s twin, our houses will bear children together in a time after the last war.” For the first time in over three thousand years, they held hands before they left the room to sit on a bench in the hall.

Fleur was finished binding Lupin, when she handed the blade to Rysa “It is time.”

She walked out into the hall, “Seal it, it must not open until dawn, they will both die and revive this night. There is no other way.” Her light spread down the hall and bent through the walls. Karstien waved his hand and the Flame of Aetheria followed the same path. Fleur sat in a chair in front of the door.

Yurieth knelt in front of her. “What did you mean, I needed to be strong?”

She didn’t look up at him as she spoke un a hushed tone, “I need you to promise me something. Do you remember when you said you would kill me if I used dark magic again, if I became the dark oracle again?”

Yurieth’s mouth made a thin line, he regretted those words.

“I have to draw the darkness away from them and replace it with light, so I will become her tonight, and by morning, the castle will be under siege. I need you to wait until after dawn to kill me, then let the Xelusians take my body.” She paused when Abrieth gasped, looking at him coolly. “It is the only way to save her. I’ll order them to spare her until the Dark Queen can deal with her personally, you can rescue her there, but if they take me to Xelusia too, you must forever kill me before they can bind the entity to this body. The Dark Queen cannot be allowed to bring the Shadow King back and release the Devourer, or everything we have accomplished will be lost. I will resist her for as long as I can but if I fail to restrain her, a huntsman must kill me...”

“My Lady, you can’t be serious?” Regis demanded.

“Regis, only those with healing magic can resist siren’s magic, pretend to succumb if you must to get close enough to do what must be done.” She broke her gaze with Regis to look at Yurieth, “Do you understand?” She hated admitting her weakness, as a tear leaked from her clouded eyes.

Reaching up, Yurieth wiped it away with his thumb, “I vow it will be done, my lady.”

She leaned forward and pressed a light kiss on his lips, then whispered, “Please go, I... I don’t want you to see me changing.”

He remained for a few moments with his forehead pressed against hers, pushing his love into her soul as he held her hands. It was the only thing he could do to help her. She inhaled sharply and shuddered; he felt the darkness touching her.

“Go, now, Yuri.”

He was horrified to see her fingernails and scars beginning to turn dark. When he started to glance up at her, she covered his eyes, “Please don’t.”

“I love you.” He breathed against her hand, then he rose and walked away without looking at her or looking back.

Mina rose to follow her eldest, her heart broke for him and his sealed one, but she needed to speak to him, he had to break the promise he had made to forever kill her. Her eyes summoned Karstien to follow and he did.

For the next several hours, Fleur pushed her light into the room where Rysa struggled to heal Lupin. She drew his darkness and the darkness coming from his shadow-indwelt father. It was painful and made her soul ache. She kept thinking about her children, about Asha and how she will never have Shadz as her sealed one if her mother failed to help his grandfather be healed. She pushed all her love for her daughter and her unborn grandchildren through her light.

Karstien touched her trembling hand, “You’re thinking about Asha.”

Pulling her hand from his, she rose and began pacing along the wall. “If Lupin isn’t healed for the trip, Shadz will never be born,” Fleur said quietly then she asked, “Could I have some tea? Madge has banned me from her kitchen.”

Karstien chuckled and nodded, “I’ll get it.”

Dragging her black fingernails against the wall, dark sparks trailed after them, she knew her hair was black and her eyes glowed red with dark magic. Lady Naphtal had watched her transformation curiously, noting that Prince Lucif was only partly correct. The dark magic was changing her, but she was also changing it. Lady Fleur was bending it to create the outcome she desired.

“Ask what you will,” the oracle breathed out.

“How can you do this?”

“I am from a different time, my lady. A time beyond the fifth great war,” Fleur revealed.

“The fifth great war?” Lady Naphtala seemed shocked, “Mina told me you were a warrior oracle. My husband’s servant claimed you killed his men and left him to revive, but no one believed him.”

“I am from a time when our people are almost extinct and most of our knowledge of magic was lost. I knew nothing of magic when I became an oracle. I had no one to teach me.” She paused to rub her hands over the dark scars on her wrists. “I can bend the dark magic to my will because I knew nothing of the limits of magic, to me, it is just energy. There was a time when I lost my light, so I picked up the darkness until it returned, then I discovered I could weave them together...” Her voice trailed off as another wave of dark energy reached for Lupin.

“How did you come to be here?” Lady Naphtala asked, trying to distract her from the pain.

“I am the last Oracle. In the final war, the Devourer has gone mad with hunger, it is no longer content with sacrifices and is consuming entire worlds. During the last moments of the last battle, it sent four shadows back to change time, they came to now. I came after them because I was the only one who could.” Fleur pressed her fingers against the wall, flattening her palms as black tears ran down her face. “I will never see my children again, but they will live and that is all that matters.”

Lady Naphtala could feel the powers of Darkness trying to reclaim her son. “My lord wants his heir back; he wants his blood and does not care if our last surviving child is dying.”

“Yes... It is the way of those who thirst.” Fluer shuddered as an even stronger wave than all before bounced off the barrier she and Karstien put around the young couple. A crash has Abrieth rushing to help Karstien from his knees.

“By the Light, he’s almost as strong as Damien,” Karstien muttered as they picked up the tray he dropped.

“That is because he is using the shadow to tap directly into the Darkness, there is nothing restraining it yet,” Fleur revealed in a pained voice.

Mina stood and hugged Fleur, pushing her light and her love into the younger oracle she loved as her daughter. She had no words to say to ease Fleur’s suffering. Abrieth held out an empty cup, his mother held it while he poured the aromatic healing tea in it. Mina helped Fleur drink because she was trembling too hard to hold the cup.

“Thank you, Mother.”

“Oracle, will you have your Huntsman kill you? It is a terrible thing you ask of one who loves you,” Lady Naphtala sounded skeptical that Yurieth would do what Fleur had asked, or that those who served the Light could harm someone they loved.

Fleur stepped away from Mina and walked to the window near where Naphtala sat, stretching her hands out, Fleur sent a discharge of dark energy into the sky then she looked at the tips of her finger as though she hated her own hands.

“It is so much worse than that, my lady,” Fleur said sensing Naphtala’s doubts. “Yurieth and I are sealed ones, he to me and I to him.”

She rubbed at her scars as though they hurt her, they had darkened with every passing hour and Fleur was grateful it was almost dawn because she feared she would soon start clawing at them. She couldn’t see Lady Naphtala’s look of horror.

“But he cannot! It is forbidden, even to those who follow the dark path. No one can bear to kill their own sealed one, the pain is too great,” Naphtala insisted.

Fleur sagged to the floor by the window, staring out at the nothing. Her breath coming in hissing exhales. “My Lady Naphtala, Yurieth and I have both lost so much, suffered so much, that we are willing to make any sacrifice to see the Children of The Tear safely away.”

“But they aren’t your children,” the pale Lady of Baalru stated, as she realized the suffering they have chosen to help strangers.

Fleur rose slowly, clawing at some unseen force, “I... I am... th-the last oracle... they are... all my children.”

“Fleur...” Karstien called out in a pained voice as another wave hit them but she just trembled, shuddering at the coldness.

“They are doing this on purpose, testing me, seeing how much I can take. They don’t realize they are just charging my batteries for the coming battle,” she declared in a tremulous voice as she moaned in pain.

“Don’t do this, Fleur. Flee with us,” Karstien begged.

“There isn’t time, they are almost here. I will delay them until dawn and draw their energy away from Lupin and Rysa but, Karstien, you must keep the room sealed and the darkness at bay. Regis, once this door opens, get them to the Tear. Once they are asleep, the darkness can’t touch them. Abrieth, get everyone away from the castle now, move the portal to a safe place beyond the wall. Lady Naphtala, you need to evacuate with them, they will bleed you for the altars if they find you here.” Fluer pulled her brilliantly glowing oracle stone from around her neck and handed it to Mina, “If they forever kill me instead of taking me prisoner, use this to do the enchantments.” The stone was shining like a beacon.

“But Fleur, we can’t leave you to them,” Abrieth insisted.

“Abrieth, share what I say with your brother. One of Yurieth’s only memories of Fleur is in the Towers of Xelusia. I have to let them capture me because they did, but that doesn’t mean I am going to let them capture our home. I will send as many to the Infernal Realm as I can, and once the castle is empty, I will raze it. They will believe I have turned on Adamos, especially after Yurieth shoots me.” Fleur ordered, “He must do it. This is our only hope to buy more time for Lupin.”

Yurieth strode in looking desperate, “We must get everyone out now before we are besieged.” He stared at Fleur and she could hear his shock in his voice, feel it in his heart, as he finished, “It is the Xelusians. Baalru, Vulca, Thaneros, and Serpus are with them.”

“Stop looking at me, Yurieth. I can feel your horror.” Fleur snapped harshly, trying to hide her face behind her now-ebony hair. “Just give me my pack and take me outside so I may kill the shadow and the army it brought. It is me they want, so I will go out to meet them.” When he didn’t move, she held out her hand to Regis, “Huntsman.”

Yurieth pulled her against his chest, hugging her fiercely, “No. I will do it. I will stay here with you, let me help you.”

Karstien laughed weakly, “She won’t need your help, Yuri. She had more than enough juice.”

Fleur’s fist knotted in his vest, “I need you to go with your brother. After they take me to the King’s City, if I can’t control the dark oracle entity, then you or Regis must kill me. You are the only ones with the ability to resist her magic and the resolve to do what must be done. Now, take me outside.”

Karstien stopped her, “Fleur, you don’t have to do this.”

She looked at him, then pulled her chain from around her neck. “They can’t see this. Keep our family safe, give this and my stone to Asha when Mina is finished with it.” Karstien closed his hand around her widow’s token. “I will. I return them soon to you... You can give them to whomever you want when we get home.”

Fleur shushed him, “It’s okay, Karstien… This is what I was made for.” Then she walked away, leaving him with a confused look on his face.

Standing on the battlement, she tipped her head as she felt for the approaching army. They moved like shadows through the trees, holes in the life glow of the ancient forest. “I can feel them. How long until dawn?”

On her right, Yurieth answered in a cold tone, “Just over an hour, my lady.”

“Wolf-call when the Castle is cleared.”

“Yes, my lady.” He answered, then he pulled her to him and kissed her, lifting his lips he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

She looked up at him and swallowed, before confessing, “I love you, Yuri. I... I just wanted to tell you now, while you know I’m still me.”

“Fleur, I lo...” She kissed him again before he could finish.

“You don’t have to say it back. I understand, duty first.” Then she turned away from him and a row of shield glyphs appeared in front of the castle. Arrows struck them and fell onto the bank of the river below. “Get everyone away now.”

“It will be done,” Yurieth’s keen eyes picked out the enemy easily in the twilight forest, “Only an hour, don’t succumb. I promise, I’ll come for you.”

Fleur stepped up to the top of the wall and the glyphs shimmered with force of the dark energy flowing toward the castle. “Just don’t hesitate.”

She stepped off the wall, walking down the smaller glyphs like they were stepping stones. Kaleth’s ancient lightning sword hung loosely from her hand as she walked to the bridge and across it. The portcullis behind her was shut. As the Dark Oracle, she let the waves of dark magic flow into her, she could feel the coldness of the negative energy. It crackled in silver black sparks from her fingertips and she smiled, her first real smile since finding out the truth. Adamos wanted her to be a weapon and a weapon she would be, a weapon unlike any other. She could feel the lifeforce of the forest resisting the abomination of the darkness that stood before her, and it saddened her that by the time the sun rose, most of it would be laid to waste.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to it. She could feel everyone before her on the edge of the forest she walked so many times when she was powerless. Behind her, those inside were preparing to flee because the healing of Lupin of Baalru was almost complete. She just needed to buy them a hour.

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