This week is a free week so no prompt to consider. Talking of freedom, today America has taken a step back from it. I cannot believe that Donald Trump won the Presidential election. I'm not going to go into any detail on this I just have to say that I'm one step further on the path of losing faith in all of humanity.
Anyway, on to the flash
“What have you
done to my son?” King Aleric’s roar startles me, but is nothing compared to the
terror I feel at the blank expression in the eyes of my love. Something within
me screams in pain as our bond is severed. Somehow, the scream echoes into the
room, and it isn’t until my mother wraps her arms around me and presses my head
to her breast that I realize I have given voice to it.
“How could you
do this?” she sobs.
“Put up your
sword,” the Druid says calmly. “Until I release him, your son will remain a
mindless shell, so if you wish have him whole and sane, put up your sword and
stand out of my way.”
“Please,
Aleric,” my father says, “put away your sword. This is not a time to fight, but
to talk; to find a way around this.”
“Talk then,”
the Druid says. “When you have finished, come to Cave of the Winds. I will
perform the ritual there at sunrise. Come.” He commands Castien who follows as
he moves toward the door. Aleric blocks him.
“You will not
take my son. I don’t know what you’ve done to him and the only reason your body
still retains your head is because I might need you to restore him. Make no
mistake, I will ensure you pay for this. When The Kingdom takes Coedwen, your
head will be the first to decorate the stakes in my castle.”
I shiver, my
blood running cold at the thought of war. “Please don’t let him do this,” I
plead to my father who shakes his head helplessly.
“I forbid it.”
Both my father and I freeze with shock as my mother gently disentangles herself
from my clinging arms and rises to her feet. I have never seen her look so
angry.
“You forbid it? In what capacity? I am
not bound by your authority as queen.”
“No, but you
are bound by my authority as The Great Mother.”
My father and
the Druid gasp. I’m too shocked. I didn’t know Mother is the Great Mother. It’s
not a title often bestowed on a queen, but Mother was not supposed to have been
queen. She must have taken the oath of a priestess before her bonding to
Father. I never knew. I wrack my brain to remember if I have noticed her
absence on fasting and feast days. Perhaps. Could it be on all those occasions
in the past when I have asked Father “Where’s Mother?” and he said “She’s about
somewhere”, what he really meant was “She’s secluded in the grotto communing
with The Great Mother”? Have I truly woken? Surely this must be nothing but a
fever dream.
“You would
invoke Her here? For this?”
“You speak as
if the love of a mother for her child, of a father for his son, or of two young
people whose spirits have bonded, is of no great import.”
“Love? Love
counts for nothing. It has no value.”
“Kai, stop
this, I beg of you. Have you changed so much? Forgotten so soon? Allis would
weep to see you now.”
“How dare you
speak her name?” the Druid roared. “Where were you when she was taken? Where
was your precious Goddess when her life bled out at my feet? Love means
nothing. Love makes us weak. I refuse to acknowledge you. I refuse to bow to
the authority of your cold mistress. The Cave of Winds at Sunset. The ritual
will be performed whether you are there or not.”
The Druid
makes a sweeping motion with his staff and Aleric stumbles to the side as if
someone had shoved him. Without pausing the Druid sweeps from the room with
Castien following mindlessly. No one is able to move until he has disappeared
into the corridor. Then, when Aleric tries to follow, his path is blocked by
frightened and apologetic, but steadfast healers.
Mother
collapses into Father’s arms, weeping. “Oh my love, what has he become? What
have we done?”
Father strokes
her hair. “I had no idea he’d become so bitter. We should not have postponed
our trip for so long.”
Castien’s
father continues to yell and threaten but I can’t listen any longer. I curl as
small as I can, and cradle my hands close to my body. For once, I relish the
pain as it distracts me from the pain in my heart, which is worse. My love is
gone. He believes me to have lured him here with false promises and betrayed
him. How many times have I sworn my faithfulness when he doubted, unable to let
himself believe? He was right. I was not to be trusted. I was faithless. At the
first test of our love, I failed.
“Hush, child.”
I was not
aware of weeping, until my mother’s hand, stroking my hair, sooths me to take
control of my sobs.
“I…I betrayed
him. I failed to protect him, and I promised I would. I swore I would keep him
safe. I believed it, Mother. I believed there was nothing that could stand
between us. I never foresaw this.”
“Be easy
child. It will come right. The Great Mother does not abandon her children. She
does not steer them this far wrong.”
“Father knew.”
Sudden clarity bursts on me like scalding acid.
“I don’t
understand.”
“On the
journey here, he told me there was something strange about Castien. I didn’t
think anything of it. I didn’t think at all. I believed nothing could come
between us, could challenge our love. If I had known….”
“If you had
known you would still have fallen in love with him, but it would have ripped
out your heart.”
“It has ripped out my heart. He hates me,
and with good cause. I have failed him.”
Mother kisses
me. “You have failed no one. Come, rise and we shall go together to consult
with The Great Mother. She will show us the way.”
Now go check out the rest of the flashers this week
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