The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Fourteen





Julian could sense the battle still raging in the distance, but that was all it seemed to him. Distant. Physically he could feel himself both sitting against the barn and walking through a corridor of moving pictures. It was like an art gallery with the pictures in transparent frames on either wall. The gallery allowed for Julian to walk through at his own pace and leisure, but there were so many that it seemed it would take him years to watch every memory. The pictures, Julian guessed, were images from Holden’s life in Marenon. Julian had never liked the man, and ever since he had seen Holden plotting against the Dunarians with Maroke and Spencer, he hated him. It made Julian wish he could go through all of the memories of Marenon and see when the man had fallen. At what point had he taken the path of the Stühocs? What had they offered him that would have caused him to betray humanity?

Julian was at the beginning of the corridor, beside the images at the start of Holden’s afterlife in Marenon. Watching the memories was intriguing; something he might even be able to lose himself in were the subject someone he cared about, like Nalani. However, since these were the memories of a traitor, he was not interested in wasting his time watching Holden’s early days in Marenon.

He kept walking until he saw an image of Garland Ainsley talking heatedly. Holden and Ainsley were at each other’s throats, but Julian couldn’t hear them. He reached out his hand and touched the image and it instantly grew big in size where he could see and hear everything. A much younger Garland was yelling, staring straight into Julian’s eyes. But then Julian realized that Garland wasn’t staring at him, but at Holden. These were Holden’s memories. He was seeing all of this from Holden’s physical perspective.

“That child is the only hope we have!” Garland whispered harshly as he pointed to a pile of blankets on a bed. “How could you have led the Stühocs to us? Don’t you realize they want to destroy us all? They want to take Silas away from us! They’ve already killed Will. They won’t stop with him.”

“It was an accident,” Julian could hear Holden’s voice say. “I never meant for them to come here! I swear it.”

“I don’t know who to believe anymore. I thought I could trust you, but now I know I can’t. Kaden and I have been working on a plan. It’s something that will require my absence indefinitely. I’m leaving him in charge.”

The picture image went to Holden’s feet, apparently he was holding his head in shame. “What do you want me to do, Sir Teague?”

Garland sighed and moved closer to Holden and placed a hand on his shoulder. As the picture panned upward, Julian noticed tears in Garland’s eyes.

“Ward, you’re the oldest, dearest friend I have. You and I have fought in wars together in this world and in the last. I have known you for all of my life in both of my lives. That said, I can’t leave you in charge. The Reckoning must be carried out by someone I can trust. Kaden Osric is pure. His passion for the cause is unwavering. I know I can trust him.”

Julian stood baffled. He had no idea Holden and Garland had been so close. Perhaps it had something to do with why Holden turned on him.

Holden looked away from Garland and over at Silas on the bed. Julian was surprised at his excitement in seeing the baby Meshulan. It made him feel proud somehow as if he knew he was doing the right thing. There was no denying that these memories were invaluable. This one memory gave so much insight to Garland and Holden that Julian would have never gathered by himself. They had known each other their whole lives on Earth as well? How?

Julian reached out and touched the picture, knowing he couldn’t linger too long in the corridor. He needed to find the proof. It would be much further down, however. The orb seemed to know that Julian was looking for something that happened much later on, so walking didn’t take hours upon hours. The pictures sped past him until he found something that caught his interest. Some of the pictures looked hazy. It was as if there was a memory there, but when he reached out to touch the picture, it didn’t respond to him. It was as though the memory had faded. Julian had little knowledge of how memory orbs worked. In one of these faded pictures, Julian thought he saw a glimpse of Maroke’s face, surrounded by his personal soldiers, the Leapers, but the image was gone before he could get a closer look. He continued on until he saw something else that caught his attention. He saw himself.

He was standing next to Nalani in some sort of ceremony; he recognized it immediately. It was the day they were accepted into the Dunarian Council. It was Julian’s proudest day. He reached out and touched the picture. Holden was watching from the left side of the ceremony as Kaden recited the oaths of the council. Then a thought came to Julian’s mind. If this was the day that he was accepted, then there might be something in the memories that dealt with Julian’s father’s death. Perhaps there was a meeting, or even just a contact through the green wristband that the Dunarians used for communicating. He looked to the right, trying to find something, but there was nothing. Perhaps this meant Holden didn’t have anything to do with Ruben Hobbes’ death. Julian doubted this, however. He continued to search until something finally popped out.

His hands began to shake as he reached out to touch the picture. For some reason he knew exactly what he was about to witness, but it seemed so unbelievable that terror overcame him. Regardless, he had to see it. When he touched the picture, it became larger and all he could hear was the sound of a wind blowing over the grassy plains. At first, Julian thought that Holden might have been by himself, but one quick glance to his right showed the demon-like Stühocs next to him. Maroke stood ready with his weapon drawn, and behind him were about ten Leapers, standing on their hind legs. They looked barbaric and ready to slash their wickedly sharp claws at anything that might come their way. Their snouts stuck out far, their tongues licking at their grimy lips.

Holden looked out again, but this time he could see the caravan of men riding along in the hills. The surrounding rocks and tall grass easily covered Holden and the Stühocs. The unsuspecting victims had no chance. King Ruben Hobbes and some soldiers were riding straight into the trap.

Julian didn’t want to watch. Everything in him screamed to leave this memory and focus on finding the truth about the Dunarians, but he couldn’t tear himself away. The ambush was swift. Most of the soldiers were taken out from the back. Maroke did most of the damage by himself. Not a single Stühoc was even injured. Holden waited comfortably in hiding until the fighting had subsided.

The last person alive was the king. He lay on the ground next to his horse, his leg injured from the fall. It pained Julian to see his father in his last moments, weak and vulnerable. Maroke stood above him, ready to strike, when Holden yelled for him to stop. Maroke gave him a strange look, but didn’t question the man when he stood next to the king.

“I’ll take care of this,” Holden said.

Ruben’s eyes widened at the sight of Holden. His surprise turned into anger.

“How could you betray us like this, Holden? The Meshulan is coming back!”

“I know he is,” Holden said. “I don’t want him on the wrong side.”

“You think the Stühocs are the right side?”

“I think Garland Ainsley is the wrong side. There is no reason for all this fighting. The Meshulan belongs to us. With your pitiful son ruling the kingdom and your other son who will be more than willing to join the Dunarian ranks, taking control will be easy.”

Ruben’s eyes narrowed. “You’re one of them aren’t you? A Sleeper? They’ve turned you. The Stühocs wanted your soul and you just let them have it, didn’t you?”

Holden pulled out his knife and silenced the king with one quick swipe.

Julian wanted to vomit.

The story had always been that Maroke was the one who killed the king, but it hadn’t been true. Ward Holden had orchestrated the whole thing, no doubt with the help of Spencer. This made Julian boil.

He walked back down the corridor, hoping to find out the truth about the Dunarians. Holden had said they were all under his thumb save three. Kaden, Nalani and Julian.

He kept looking for some sort of meeting, some sort of indication that would show Julian the proof. Then he saw a picture that showed a council meeting unlike the rest of them. It was dark and outdoors. A fire burned in the center of the council members. Katherine Fallera, Darius Umar, Myron Lloyd and Quincy Todd stood staring at Holden. Julian, Nalani and Kaden were the only ones not present. This is it, Julian thought. This was the meeting. It had to be.

Julian reached out and touched the picture.

“The Gatekeeper’s magic is failing,” Holden said. “King Anithistor has known this for some time. That means his Stühocs are ready to move.”

“How is this going to work?” Myron Lloyd asked.

Holden stood for a moment, possibly thinking of how much he needed to say.

“You all know the story, but it’s time I let you in on what has transpired.” He took a deep breath. “Anithistor had the foresight to send two Sleepers to Earth before the Gatekeeper closed the Blue Gate sixteen years ago. Over the years, Hroth has stayed in contact with them as they have searched for the Garland and Silas. ”

“We already know where Marcus and Theron are,” Katherine Fallera said. “Please get to the point.”

“I know,” Holden continued. “We’ve recently learned that they might have a lead on where Silas and Garland are located. From what has been seen, the land is war-torn and it is difficult to find anyone. But they think they’ve finally done it.”

“Took them long enough.”

“They are still Human,” Holden continued. “They can still think for themselves and they can still disregard what Hroth tells them with the voice. I fear they will kill Silas, making it more difficult for us to find him and turn him. All they need to do is get the medallion and kill Garland and the protection can be lifted. We’ll be able to send Maroke in.”

“I’ll be ready to go in as soon as the barrier is lifted,” Darius Umar said. This confused Julian. Why was Darius offering to go in and capture Silas? Wouldn’t he rather stay in the safety and confines of Jekyll Rock?

“We also have Mintuk rallying support in Voelif,” Holden continued. “Things have been going smoothly there as well.”

“What about the king’s boy, Julian?” Myron Lloyd asked.

Katherine Fallera spoke next. “Holden and I have been thinking of ways to use him. He won’t be turned. There isn’t enough time.”

“In fact, we can probably use him more without him being turned,” Holden added. “If we have him convinced that he’s doing the right thing, he’ll play right into our hands.”

Each of them smiled at this. Julian’s jaw pulsed as he clenched his teeth in loathing.

“Of course, there will be no mentioning this in Jekyll Rock,” Holden continued. “To be overheard would cause a lot of issues I don’t need to deal with. If you need to speak with me about something we’ll do it over the green wristbands I gave to each of you. And we will continue to meet at this location.”

Don’t they already have a wristband? It’s a Dunarian invention! Julian shook his head, thinking that perhaps they were extra ones to use in secret. Maybe they worked directly with one another, as did the ones that had been given to Maroke and Spencer.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he now had the proof. Four council members had betrayed all of the Dunarians, all of humanity. He had somehow hoped that he would find something different, that Holden would have been bluffing the whole time, but his proof was there, and now he knew what he had to do.

He closed his eyes, concentrating on returning to reality. His body began to tingle again and before he realized what had happened, he found himself staring up at the dark night and leaning against a barn once again. Daniel’s dead body lay next to him. Julian held firm to the bloody memory orb in his fist. Anger, rage, confusion. All of these flushed through him at once. He never wanted to believe that the council had plotted against him, but it was true. Memory orbs cannot be fabricated. There was no trick. The council was evil.

He hadn’t been ready to see Robin staring at him when he looked up and to his left. The battle-worn commander held a look of disbelief when he saw the dead body next to the king.

“Your Majesty?”

“He was already dead,” Julian said as he looked away. “Seeing him lying there, I had to get the memory orb.” He was more than willing to leave out the fact that he just let the man die right in front of him. “What of the battle?”

“We beat the Stühocs back, but not before they took many prisoners. The man Dink that came to warn us, his wife was taken. He’s been trying to get the citizens to rally and go after them, but no one is willing.”

“There’s nothing that can be done,” Julian said. “Not until we are ready to take the fight to them.”

Julian stared at the ground, unable to break his gaze from it. Thoughts of betrayal, hatred, and uncertainty raced through his mind so quickly that he had no idea what to do with himself. He wanted someone to tell him what to do, but he knew there was no one left. Robin could possibly lend advice, but Julian didn’t want that. He wanted his father. He wanted someone who would truly know what to do. That person did not exist. It was completely up to Julian. He was the king.

He broke his stare from the ground, forcing himself to look up at Robin.

“Did we lose any of the Royal Guard?”

“Not a single one,” Robin said proudly.

“Good. Get them ready to leave.”

“Shall I tell them that we are leaving for Farlaweer?”

Julian stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes. He took one last look at Daniel’s dead body on the ground and his anger grew.

“Tell them we’re going to Jekyll Rock. I’ve got some business to take care of.”