Chapter 14
High King
Ebony looked up. The principal members of the court of Lethe bowed to her
in respect. Then they stood aside to make way for somebody else. A tall striking
man and an unbelievably beautiful lady stepped forward.
"Audie?" said Ebony, a little surprised.
"Ebony!" Cried out the shinning goddess.
She darted forward, still in those graceful liquid movements.
"It's--it's…"
Ebony stood up but she did not receive the outstretched arms of her
sister. "I know," she said. "Grandpa."
"Azrael killed him!" cried Iantha. "Right before our very
eyes. And Ixion... why, he did nothing! We did nothing. We were totally
helpless. We were all locked in combat while Azrael swatted out our men like
flies. But Ixion, even worse than the fact that he was the one who destroyed our
defenses, he just stood there while Gramps' mangled body was trampled upon by
those brutes. I--"
"It was bound to happen," Ebony answered quietly.
"What are you talking about?" asked Aiea shakily. "Gramps
remained there in his throne. And Azrael just entered the throne room the moment
he broke down the palace doors like an arrow. It was horrid, just horrid. His
monstrous undead just came and…and…"
"I know, I know," said Ebony gently. "He stood there, head
unbowed, sword in hand, unflinching, straight and tall. He didn't run. He
endured to the bitter end. He fell nobly with his kingdom, with that ancient
majestic pride of his."
"Oh Ebony," wailed Aiea. "You put it so--so-- I don't
know. As if you were there yourself. You're making me feel guilty. We ran. We,
who had the power to--"
"You did not run," said Ebony firmly. "You retreated with
dignity. Moreover, it was necessary to act with prudence. What will happen to
the rest of Lethe if you didn't leave? You'd die. And for what?"
"If it comes to that, why did he have to die?" demanded Aiea.
She looked up to Ebony, her tearstained face reflecting the sad yet beautiful
farewell of the sun as it disappeared in the horizon. "I mean, he didn't
even attempt to escape. Answer me!"
"He did not die in vain," said a deep determined voice. Audric
stood before his sisters, blotting out the sinking globe. "He died so that
we may live. So that we may do something to end Azrael's reign of terror. He
didn't die either. He lives in us, in the hearts of his people. And he shall
remain there."
"Aye, said one of the courtiers. "Lethe had lost a fine leader
indeed. However, we shall not always mourn. There's always a flicker of hope.
Small, true, but significant nonetheless. A candle in a dark will brighten miles
around it. As for a new king, we have one here." He bowed respectfully to
Audric.
The others followed suit. Ebony curtsied to her brother. Then stood
before him, head bowed. "I'm sorry. I failed."
Audric shook his head. "We failed. Together," he said.
"But as Pertrocules has put it, tomorrow never dies. Keep faith,
sister." He saw her shaking in her strain to still the biserk emotions
inside her. "Why don't you cry? It'll do you good and I promise not to tell
Adrian or Sean."
At this, Ebony nearly burst out laughing. "I shed no tears,"
she said as indignantly as she could. "I despise blubbing."
"Nay," said he. "The tears cleanses ones soul."
Ebony's eyes widened as her dream suddenly became vividly pictured in her
mind. "What did you say?" she asked him, her voice trembling.
Audric said nothing but winked at her the way he usually does which
nobody sees except her. She was surprised but she said nothing. She remembered
her responsibility, what she had to do. She suddenly became silent except for
her vague mumbling that nobody dared to ask about.
"What about my Muk--I mean my wife?" Hiei said.
Everybody turned to him as if he just appeared out of nowhere. Audric
bowed to him in a sad apologetic manner. "We're sorry we failed to protect
the mother. We will take full responsibility. We'll lay siege to Kentrona as
soon as possible."
"Now?"
"As soon as we have a concrete plan and we have gathered enough
forces to assure our victory."
"When is that?"
Audric shook his head. "We can't act rashly. We have to cooperate
with Enki and Koenma."
"How much time do we have?"
"When's she due?"
"That's just the problem," put in Yusuke crushingly. "He
doesn't even know his wife's expectant."
"Don't you start with that again, Urameshi!" Hiei snapped.
"Enough," ordered Audric. "We have to know. You see Azrael
have to posses the infant before it is born. Actually, according to files he'd
have to do it on the eight month of gestation on a full moon midnight.
Therefore, he'd have a week. Otherwise, it would be too late. "
Ebony looked up at this. "They say I was born right after Azrael was
repelled for the 1st time. You mean he was already too late then?"
"No, he did it on the right night, all right. Father's and
grandfather's talismans prevented it somehow. His attempt caused you to be born
premature. That's how it is. The moment he posses the body, the child is
immediately expelled from the mother but even if he doesn't succeed, the fact
that he tried will trigger this event."
"I say, isn't that dangerous?" remarked Keiko.
"Yes.
That's why we cannot take the risk and wait until that later. We may prevent the
dark angel from possessing the child but it may kill the other one."
"The other one?" Hiei
repeated perking up in perplexity.
"I am sorry to spoil the
surprise," Audric smiled sadly. "You're having twins."
"Boy or girl?"
"Both. Azrael will probably go for
the male child so chances are the female one will get killed."
"And the mother?"
Audric shook his head. "I don't
know."
"Mother died," said Iantha
dourly.
"She did not die because of the
birthing," said Audric. "Azrael killed both she and father."
"Even if she isn't killed, she'll
end up dead anyhow," muttered Hiei grimly.
Yukina suddenly lifted her downcast
eyes. They were wider and shocked as they focused themselves on her brother. His
head was hung so he didn't quite meet her gaze. Nevertheless, she knew they were
thinking of the same thing: their own mother.
"Are you sure you didn't notice
anything?" Kuwabara asked.
"No," answered Hiei rather
irritably.
"No morning sicknesses or mood
swings?" added Audric
"None that I know of."
"Um. I guess we can deduce that
she was no more than two months pregnant which means we have more or less 24
weeks."
"We don't have to wait that
long," said Ebony. "I'll go now."
"And what if I forbid it?"
"You wouldn't."
"Wouldn't I?"
"I wouldn't care anyhow."
Audric didn't say anything.
"Princess," said a wizened
old man. "I believe what your brother meant to say is that that isn't an
option."
"You can say that again!"
declared Aiea stubbornly.
"Audric," said Ebony. "I
don't need your leave."
"Not another step, Ebony. That's
an order," said the king.
"Who are you to order me
around?" Ebony can't think of anything else to say.
"I am the King of Lethe."
"There won't be any Lethe if
people responsible don't do anything."
"Who ever said we won't? And if we
are to do something we have to do it right."
"Do you always have to be a
know-all?" Ebony knew she was going too far but she had to make him see the
light. "Don't you care about anything at all?"
"Yes, I do. I am concerned about
what might happen to the rest of the universe if my hard headed sister loses her
patience."
"Audric, you never fail to make me
feel like a nitwit!" exploded Ebony. "I can handle it, OK? I mean,
Azrael wouldn't want me if I'm not strong enough to cream him."
"My, my. Not only is her head
hard, it's pretty big too. Is it my imagination, or are the winds really picking
up their velocity?"
"Why don't you just say right on
that I'm arrogant. Always playing with words," she muttered. Then,
unwittingly shooting her arms forward in her annoyance, she said in a louder
voice, "You're the braggart!"
"I see you have broken the
spell," said Audric sweetly.
Ebony's arm was glowing eerily. The
spider-shaped symbol on her arm was once again visible. "See what I mean?
Maybe you can now let me go."
"No. Ebony, if you don't care to
listen to me as your over lord, then at least listen to me as your
brother."
"Please, I have to do this."
Audric rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"You know, you always tend to be too overbearing."
"This time, I didn't claim
responsibility. Azrael pushed it to me."
"Oh, OK. Give me a reason why I
should let you go. If you convince me then I'll allow you."
"No Audric," screamed Iantha.
"Don't let her go off killing herself. I won't be able to take it. First,
Ixion, then grandpa and now Ebony? No! I--"
"Silence," Audric held his
hand up. "Well?"
"OK," started Ebony.
"When Azrael failed to take possession of me, he tried to kill me. Why
would he do that?"
Audric shrugged. "He knew how much
of a pest you'll be?"
Ebony stamped her foot angrily.
"Stop acting stupid, Audie. I know you know what I'm driving at."
"All right. But Pa said the seal
is active again."
"That'll be easy," Ebony
grabbed for Audric's broad sword. He
made no move to stop her. She already held it in position, ready to strike her
already bare arm.
"What are you planning to
do?" he asked. "If you just scrape the skin off, it would probably
heal back again like what happened with Ygg. Enchantments are not skin deep. You
know that."
"But--"
"Maybe you should slice the whole
darned thing off," he said sarcastically. "But what if you decide you
want your arm back? With Ningen technological advancement, you can have it back
by surgery. Meanwhile, you can have it preserved by cryogenics. I suppose you'd
want it back by about fifty years or so. By then robotics would be advance
enough to operate on you more efficiently than a person can. The only problem is
how to make the blood flow into your vessels again. Ah, leeches! They'd let the
little blood suckers mix into your blood some anticoagulant. It took four days
for a finger. I wonder how long it will take for a hand. Do you know?"
"That's disgusting!" The
sword stopped in mid-slash.
"Unless of course they finally
extracted the hirubim from Hirudo medicinalis and made laboratory drug
imitations. Well, have you made up your mind?"
"I wouldn't need a hand
anyhow," she said bleakly but the blade still lingered undecidedly.
"Ah, you would pull Azrael with
you to your doom," Audric said happily. "And probably the whole of
Lethe plus the rest of the worlds. Nice plan."
Ebony opened her mouth to say something
then stopped. Her hands dropped to her sides. Apparently, she hadn't seen it in
this light before.
"What are you planning to do
now?" asked Audric. "Are you going to Kentrona and explode yourself
like a bomb? Fine. Just be sure you take Azrael we with you."
"I don't know," she said.
This time, her head flopped down on her chest.
Audric took her hand and pried off the
hilt of the sword. He met no resistance. He easily obtained it and his blade
went home.
"See how much of a nincompoop you
are? I wasn't bragging. I was telling the truth," he said. Then he dropped
his bantering. "It's not yet time, little sister. You may wait."
Ebony raised her head. She found
herself face to face with her brother and she looked directly into his gray
eyes. She saw one of them wink very discreetly. Her forehead wrinkled as if in
distress. Then she whispered, "How did you know that? Did you dream as
well?"
He nodded. "They spoke to me
earlier than they to you in a dream but I forgot about it when I awoke. I had
the hunch I had to speak to you so I entered your mind telepathically. You were
asleep and I saw your dream. That's when I remembered mine."
"What did they tell you?"
He
shook his head. "That's not important right now."
"That's not fair you got to see my
dream. And you shouldn't be going around reading people's mind. Your mentor
warned you about that."
"Sorry."
"Well, what do we do now?"
"We prepare. You train."
"Under you?"
"No way. You never listen to
me."
"Who then?"
"Yusuke Urameshi."
"WHAAAT!!! What makes you think
I'll listen to him?"