The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Twenty-Two





“It’s been a long time, Kaden,” Julian said as he sat on the balcony outside his bedchamber. The afternoon wind blew by calmly, cooling the outside air. It was good to be back in Farlaweer castle, but his anger had not subsided.

“Yes it has,” Kaden said. The green image of Julian’s former instructor’s head floated above the wristband sitting on the table in front of him.

“I paid a visit to Jekyll Rock two days ago and I didn’t see you there.”

“I’ve been busy,” Kaden said. “What were you doing in Jekyll Rock?”

“The Dunarians are finished, Kaden. You and Nalani are all that’s left.”

He was met with silence from the other end. Kaden’s glaring look would have stunned anyone else, but Julian wasn’t fazed. He was still upset about the thought that Kaden was surrounded by traitors and never realized it.

“What do you mean we are all that’s left? What happened?”

“Myron Lloyd, Katharine Fallera, Quincy Todd and Darius Umar are all under arrest, and are awaiting execution for their crimes against the Humans.”

“What are you talking about?”

“An orb, Kaden, a memory orb. You’ve heard of them, right?”

“Of course.”

“I found one that shows all of them in a meeting with Ward Holden. From the beginning they planned to use Silas and let him side with the Stühocs.”

“That makes no sense.”

“But it’s true. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“Have they admitted it? Have you spoken with them?”

“What does it matter? I have the proof,” he said. He was beginning to regret this contact. “I’m contacting you out of respect. You are their leader and I think you should be there when they are executed. We’ll show the Stühocs that they don’t own us.”

“Julian, you’ve got to slow down,” Kaden said. “What about the courts? Can you not at least send it to the courts to determine their guilt?”

“The courts would take too long and this was an act of war, Kaden! They must be dealt with swiftly, and I want them to see you there watching. They betrayed you; they used me. They’re snakes, Kaden.”

“There has to be a mistake,” Kaden said. “I know Holden was a traitor. We saw it with our own eyes, but he couldn’t have gotten to the entire council.”

“He didn’t,” Julian said. “He didn’t get to you, me or Nalani.”

“What sort of proof did you see?”

Julian told him of what he saw in Holden’s memory orb. He spoke of the meeting and how they had planned everything from sending Marcus and Theron to go after Silas, to using Julian because of his ties to the throne. Even after the detailed explanation, Kaden was having a hard time swallowing it.

“They’ve been loyal to the council for years,” Kaden said, disbelieving.

“Disloyal, you mean,” Julian said.

“Julian, there has to be some mistake. We need to investigate this further. What you saw looks terrible, I’m sure, but there has to be some sort of explanation to it.”

“Memory orbs do not lie,” Julian said. “The four of them will be executed tomorrow at noon. You can be there to watch them die as traitors, or you can continue whatever work you are doing. Either way, they are going to pay for what they’ve done. We will show the Stühocs that they do not dominate us, nor will they ever dominate us. This is the first step to victory.”

“Please Julian,” Kaden said slowly. “Rethink what you are doing. Give it more time. Turn it over to the courts.”

Julian snorted. “I can’t believe you. You would treat our enemies with respect and leniency.” He shook his head. “If you do not come tomorrow, then I will need you to come here soon.”

Kaden waited for his explanation.

“This is obviously going to change the Dunarian’s direction. It will change The Reckoning. I took it upon myself to take the medallions from Jekyll Rock. I don’t want them to fall into the wrong hands. I would like to discuss this with you when you get here.”

Julian could understand the look of anger that spread across Kaden’s face. He would have been angry too. Julian had trespassed on his domain and stripped him of any power. It wouldn’t be permanent. Kaden would still play a big roll in The Reckoning, but Julian would lead it. He couldn’t trust anyone else anymore.

Kaden was at a loss for words.

“I hope I see you tomorrow. It will be a big day in the fight against the Stühocs.”

It felt awkward to terminate the conversation without Kaden speaking, but after a short moment, he placed his hand over the wristband’s jewel and its light faded out. Kaden may or may not join him in the fight, but it didn’t matter. The Reckoning was going to be finished with or without him. Somehow Silas would be playing a big part in all of this, but that was not Julian’s concern. All Julian wanted to do was win the fight against the Stühocs. And that would begin by executing some of his worst enemies the next day at noon.

*****

Kaden swore under his breath when Julian ended the communication. What could have possibly been going on in my absence? He didn’t know what sort of proof or memory orb Julian might have gotten a hold of, but surely it had been falsified. The entire council couldn’t have been working with the Stühocs, could they? How could four members, five counting Holden, have lied to the rest of them so easily? How could he have been deceived for so long? He knew Holden had been a traitor. Though Kaden had not actually seen him in Mudavé, it had been confirmed by everyone else that he was with Maroke that day. Julian claimed to have confronted him and killed him and he had stolen the red medallion to prove it. Now he had all four of the Dunarian’s medallions.

Kaden’s anger began to simmer, threatening to boil over as he continued to think. Julian had done this without even trying to speak with Kaden first. Julian had acted rashly, as he usually did; thinking with his feelings and not his head. Now, as the king, he was continuing this destructive behavior by ordering the council members to be executed. Where had he gotten Holden’s memory orb? Had he taken it from him when he killed Holden? Kaden had seen memory orbs before but never cared to actually have one himself. He was content with remembering things the old-fashioned way. He had always thought them to be very dangerous, especially for someone with secrets. People of importance often kept them so they could be protected. Nothing was ever lost once a person used a memory orb, but that fact had also been the downfall of many. Some would get lost in their memories, never wanting to leave. Others had tried to use them against their enemies, but that would often backfire and they would find themselves in a mess. Julian was now using it against the Dunarians. If what Julian said was true and he saw all of this in a memory orb, then there was no disputing it.

Unless…

Kaden rushed out of the stables and toward the castle. He quickly thought about Dublin and guessed that the keeper of records had tried to let him know what Julian had done. The old man was probably running around the castle frantic, but he would have to wait. He tried to collect his thoughts as he walked hurriedly.

The Erellens had been the inventors of memory orbs. The items had been around for hundreds of years and everyone in authority in the Erellen kingdom was ordered by law to keep one, even the king. With his guard close on his heels, Kaden rushed up the stairs and toward the Great Hall where they had eaten breakfast earlier. He had made this trip once already and hoped the king would accept him again. He had been in Jarul a few times before and knew that the king worked from his luxurious office just behind the Great Hall. When he came close to the doors of the large office, two guards stood before him, giving Kaden a questioning look.

“The king is not to be disturbed,” one of the guards said.

“Tell him Kaden wishes to speak with him,” Kaden said. “He will have me.”

The guards looked at each other and one of them nodded to the other to make the request to the king. In a few moments, the guard came back out and motioned Kaden to enter.

He walked through the large wooden doorway into a room filled with bookshelves, paintings and windows. A large desk sat in the middle of the room and surrounding it were two sets of rounded stairs on either side, leading up to a lounge area. Kaden saw the king standing at one of the tall windows, overlooking the kingdom. The doors shut behind Kaden with a loud thud. The king had apparently told the guards to give him and Kaden some privacy. Kaden walked slowly up the flight of stairs to his right, and the king didn’t look away from the window.

“I’ve never had so many visits from one person in a single day,” Jiaros said.

“My apologies, but I have just learned of something that I wish to discuss with you.”

“Lorcan will stand trial, Kaden. If you have evidence of his innocence, then I am sure you will be allowed to present it when that time comes.”

“It’s not about that,” Kaden said.

Jiaros turned to him, his eyebrows furrowed. “What then?”

“The Dunarians are in trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” he asked motioning to a couple of seats across from each other. Kaden did not wish to sit, but he didn’t object.

“Four of them are about to be executed based on evidence found in a memory orb. Julian Hobbes plans to carry out the execution tomorrow at noon.”

“And you wish to be allowed to leave?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me more about memory orbs.” Kaden paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Can one be fabricated?”

“No,” Jiaros said confidently. “It is made to capture the true memories of the owner.”

“What if the owner thought he saw something that didn’t really happen? He would have that memory, even if it wasn’t true, right?”

“People don’t really have false memories,” Jiaros said. “You can lie to yourself and convince yourself that something is true, but that doesn’t mean that it is. That’s why some find memory orbs so useful. When one forgets something, one can find that memory.”

“What if that person was possessed?” Kaden asked.

“What do you mean?”

“By the Stühocs. What if they were possessed and much of what they saw was an illusion?”

Kaden knew it was a long shot, and he didn’t even really expect an answer. He wasn’t sure if the Stühocs ever possessed Ward Holden, but it seemed the only defense in the council’s case. Jiaros Florelle seemed completely stumped by the question. Apparently, he was not expecting that one. He turned his head to the windows again, not knowing what to think.

“I don’t know,” he finally said. “I’ve never been presented with that scenario. It seems highly unlikely that it would happen. I still think that the orb would only capture the true memories.” He looked back at Kaden. “Tell me what happened.”

Kaden quickly recapped the events of the past few minutes. Kaden knew his theory had little substance, but he was running out of time. Julian was serious about this. The council members would be dead tomorrow if Kaden didn’t do something now.

“Holden was a traitor,” Kaden told Jiaros. “That is proven. It seems possible that, with the Stühoc’s influence, he could remember some illusions as reality. That meeting Julian saw could have been an illusion. What if Holden really believed he had been in a meeting with the council?”

“Don’t you think he would have tried to talk to the other members about it at Jekyll Rock?” Jiaros asked.

“Not if he wasn’t leading the traitorous group,” Kaden said. “If he was taking orders from Anithistor or Maroke, they could have told him to keep his mouth shut when he was around anyone else. They could have told him not to schedule any meetings without their consent.”

“Possession by the Stühocs is a complicated matter,” Jiaros said. “They can pollute the mind of the masses, but it takes a long time to possess one person to the point that you can control what he sees.”

“Is it possible?” Kaden asked.

“Very few have been completely possessed by the Stühocs,” Jiaros said. “Very few have been manipulated so thoroughly.”

“Is it possible?” Kaden repeated.

Jiaros stood from his seat and walked back to the window, leaning against it. “Yes,” he said. “In fact it’s happened before.”

“It has?”

“In the war, seventeen years ago.”

“I don’t remember anything like that.”

“You might after I tell you,” Jiaros said. “At the time, we thought that it was just a lie made up by the Stühocs. In the war, we captured several influential Stühocs. We tortured them for information. It was terrible, but it had to be done. The information we gathered from them helped us win the war. Another bit of information came up as well, though we never explored it.”

“What kind of information?” Kaden asked standing to join the king at the window.

“They told us that there were seven individuals who would help bring Marenon to its knees before the Stühocs. We tried to make them tell us who they were, but we never got that information. All of them died before they would tell us any more.”

“They could have been doing this to try and throw you off,” Kaden suggested.

“Perhaps. But they all said this under individual questioning. They could have planned to give us false information, but what you’ve told me today might just have changed my assessment. We never did anything about it, because there was nothing to be done. That bit of information didn’t help us win the war, nor did it ever come up afterwards. All we know is that they called the seven possessed individuals the Sleepers.”

The Sleepers did spark Kaden’s memory. He had heard of them, but he was under the impression they had been merely a legend.

“We never really found any evidence to suggest the information about these Sleepers was correct,” Jiaros continued. “I would imagine they called them the Sleepers because their true selves are buried deep within them. When possessed by the Stühocs, you are not your own.”

“But, the Stühocs have possessed many people before.”

“Not truly. They can brainwash individuals and order them to do things, but those people will heal if they are able to escape the Stühoc’s influence. A truly possessed person doesn’t really come back. According to the stories, there are seven Sleepers, though that was a long time ago.” He paused for a moment and looked up at Kaden. “You were captured?”

“I was rescued before they could possess me,” Kaden said.

“Of course. But I imagine that if the seven Sleepers are real, then maybe they were planning to make you the eighth Sleeper.”

“When I went back to Earth, I encountered two possessed men called Marcus and Theron,” Kaden said. “Do you think it’s possible they were two of them?”

“Did you get a look at the underside of their wrist?” Jiaros asked. “Our information says that each Sleeper has a small marking, a tattoo perhaps. It’s an image of a dragon, or a serpent with legs. I’ve obviously never seen it myself. It might not even be true.”

“No,” Kaden answered. “I never thought to look.”

“They were there for an important mission, so I imagine it’s possible that they were Sleepers. If that’s the case, they will still be alive and in Marenon somewhere too.”

“What do you mean?” Kaden asked, his stomach churning.

“Well, they were Human, right?”

Kaden nodded.

“Garland originally died on Earth and spent many years here in Marenon,” Jiaros explained. “After Silas was born, the Gatekeeper allowed him to pass through the Blue Gate back to Earth to offer Silas protection. Garland was killed on Earth seventeen years later, right? He then showed up in Marenon again. Why wouldn’t it be the same with Marcus and Theron? I imagine they are still out there, ready to be used again.”

Kaden couldn’t believe it. The Sleepers, the execution; everything seemed to be falling apart.

“They must have passed through the barrier from Marenon to Earth before Garland made his agreement with The Gatekeeper,” Jiaros said. “That agreement would have kept the Stühocs from entering Earth so long as Garland remained alive. Mere Humans without a powerful magical ability would never be able to open any gate for themselves. But Anithistor had that power. He must have been anticipating Garland’s move and sent them right away.”

“I don’t buy it,” Kaden said. “It took seventeen years for them to find Silas and Garland.”

“It was a shot in the dark for Anithistor, I’m sure,” Jiaros said. “I hear Earth is a big place. And for all you or I know, Garland could have kept his location hidden very well. The confrontation that killed Garland on Earth a second time, might not have been their first conflict on Earth.”

“Silas had never seen them before.”

“Do you remember anything before your third birthday?” Jiaros asked. “If it had happened when he was a child, he would not remember. This is all speculation anyway, but it’s all possible too.”

Jiaros had a point, but to see it unfold like this was bizarre. He wondered who else could be a Sleeper. There was Holden, Marcus and Theron. But who else? He knew Spencer was a definite possibility. He was sure of the first three, but what about the other four? No! Could Julian have been right after all? Those three plus the four council members would make seven. Using the council members could have potentially given the Stühocs all the power they needed. Kaden couldn’t accept it, though.

“If you’re thinking that Julian is right, think long and hard about it, Kaden. I don’t think that the memory orb can be manipulated in such a way, but I also don’t know how all those members could have been possessed. I fought beside Darius Umar in the war. His actions were not controlled by the Stühocs then, I assure you.”

“Nor would he betray us,” Kaden said matter-of-factly. “Nor would any of them.”

“You should try to stop him,” Jiaros said. “You have my permission to leave and take care of this.”

“What about Silas and Inga?” Kaden asked.

Jiaros shook his head. “This is not their fight.”

Kaden wasn’t going to argue with him about it. Silas and Inga already had their plan for getting out of the city in search for the Gatekeeper. He didn’t know why Jiaros insisted on keeping them here, but with this new situation in front of him, he didn’t have time to worry about it.

“I want Lorcan to go with me then.”

“I can’t let you take him. He’s a criminal and will be given swift justice.”

“Come on, Jiaros. You and I both know that it was because of you that he’s in there right now. Your favoritism got him in trouble. Your fool of a son didn’t help things either.”

Jiaros said nothing to this. He looked at his feet for a long time before speaking. Kaden could see that Lorcan had been right; the king still favored the young Erellen. He was torn between showing justice, and giving mercy to a friend. His people would hold him accountable for his decision.

He sighed to himself, then looked up at Kaden. “I’m sorry. I cannot.”

Kaden couldn’t help but show his disappointment. The king had made his decision and Lorcan was going to face trial. The bad part about it was that Lorcan was guilty. There was no denying it, for it had come from Lorcan’s own mouth. Kaden believed, however, that knowing the circumstances could help Lorcan’s case. It hadn’t been cold-blooded murder. Lorcan had been defending himself. He had probably let his anger get in the way of better judgment, but he was no criminal.

Kaden turned to leave. As he made his way back down the stairs, Jiaros’ voice called down to him. He stopped for a moment, turning his head only slightly.

“I’m calling a meeting within the hour to discuss protocol with the prison guards and to make some changes. I suppose that will mean Lorcan will only have one guard near him.”

Kaden turned back to Jiaros with his eyes lowered, hoping he was hearing what he thought the king was saying.

“It would be terrible if Lorcan were to escape,” Jiaros said as he stared out through the window. “I don’t suppose I would permit any pursuit, but if he were to ever come back to Elysium, the guards would have the obligation to kill him on sight.” He turned back to Kaden and shrugged. “Just thought I would let you know, friend to friend.”

Kaden bowed deeply at the waist and turned to leave. No more words were needed. Within the hour, he and Lorcan Zamire would be on their way to Farlaweer to try and stop Julian from destroying the Dunarians.