Fury stepped outside the tavern, he glanced up at the twilight sky. Here the twin moons of Nu'Ada were nearly full and each glowed with different hues of pink and lavender. The call shattered his barriers, and he went down on all fours! ["Nicodemus, I need you!"]
He climbed to his feet and staggered to his mount. He urged his horse into a full gallop! He had to get to Sunny! It was mad to think he could honor Fiona's order to stay away from her. The distance had nearly killed him! Not even the night of alcohol had deadened the desolation he felt. Now she was in danger and calling for him!
The instant she was downstairs Tully rushed into the hall. He was visibly upset by the surge of power! Sunny motioned him to follow her into the apothecary. She began to prepare the poultice. "Where the hell is Nicodemus?" Tully asked her.
"I am here!" Nicodemus appeared in the apothecary doorway. He grabbed the doorway to steady himself.
"What the hell happened to you?" Tully asked. "Where have you been?"
Tully stared at Fury and then at Sunny, "Something has set the world on fire! What has happened?"
"I've been bound to Gaddis through the Shai'Alomar," Sunny said.
"What?" Tully asked in astonishment.
"No!" Fury declared. "That cannot be!"
Tully looked between the two of them as they stood glaring at each other. "Are you saying you know where the Shai'Alomar dagger is?"
She nodded as she pulled the large jar containing the ginger root down from the shelf. Then she found the jar of willow bark and set it next to the jar of ginger. "Yes, I remember where I saw it, and I know where it is."
Nicodemus noticed the bandage on Sunny hand. He came over and took hold of Sunny's hand that Gaddis had wrapped with the end of his silk tunic. "And this?"
"That's Macha silk!" Tully exclaimed.
"You said you are bound to him," Nicodemus said. "I felt it; during the blood-bonding ceremony."
Tully was completely flabbergasted by all the information. "Whoa-whoa-whoa!" he said waving his hands over his head in confusion. "What the bloody hell is going on here!"
Sunny stopped and glanced upwards. "I don't want to be overheard. Is there any way to make this conversation private?"
Nicodemus frowned following her glance. "Cassie is upstairs with Fiona?"
"Yes," Sunny replied. She began peeling the ginger root and looked pointedly at Nicodemus. "But I don't think anyone should be hearing what I going to tell you."
"Sunny, have you been awakened?" Tully asked.
"Not in the way you think," Sunny responded. "Aunt Fiona still retains all her power her mother passed to her."
Nicodemus became frustrated by the situation and looked over at Tully, "Help me seal this room, Tully."
"Like old times!" Tully said and grinned with mischief. He held out his beefy right hand to Nicodemus. "I am ready."
Nicodemus took Tully's hand in his left. He muttered under his voice something that Sunny did not understand. Then radiating out from where Tully and Nicodemus' hands were clasped a thin bubble began to grow and expand outward. As it engulfed Sunny, she felt the whisper-thin film flow over her. Then only the sounds were of three heartbeats; all beating at different rhythms. Slowly that faded away and Nicodemus looked over at her. "Now we may speak without being seen or overheard."
"I went out to the arch to pick whatever rose hips were still there. I rested for a moment then started walking back to the roses. I stumbled on a stone that was sticking up out of the ground. I tried to catch myself, but I couldn't. My hand went into the thorns and landed on the rough stones of the arch."
Tully jutted his chin at the bandage. "Who fixed you up?"
"I heard those stones screaming," Sunny said as though Tully had not spoken. "I felt myself falling – when I next opened my eyes someone was calling my name. It was Gaddis. I had transported physically to him."
"Bloody hell!" Tully swore. "Nico, you said she was bound to the blighter?"
"Aye," Nicodemus growled, his dark eyes worried. "Forever."
"How?" Tully asked. He looked between the two of them. When neither answered, he slammed his hand down on the worktable. "How, dammit!"
Sunny looked over at Tully, not even flinching at the sudden sound. "When I found a dagger; He called it the Shai'Alomar. I remember now, I nicked my finger and my blood got on the tip of the blade. Gaddis says that is all it takes – just that tiny bit of blood, and I became bound to him. This was what awakened my powers. It wasn't any stirrings from being a first daughter."
Nicodemus looked first at Tully then Sunny. "Then the legends are fact. The stories told of the Shai'Alomar dagger are true."
Tully looked incredulously at Fury. "You do not think those fables are true, do you?"
"The 'Ban-Draoithe' will unite the people of Arwyn, Nu'Ada, and Ne'Media," Nicodemus said. "It is not a fable."
Tully chuckled nervously but scrubbed his hands over his face to ease the tightness. This was not good news at all. All his suspicions were quickly being confirmed. "What have we gotten ourselves into?" he muttered.
"I want the truth," Sunny said. "Don't you?"
Tully sighed heavily. "Honestly; no -- I do not."
"You do not mean that!" Nicodemus said sharply.
"What good would it do to dig up the Da'ark past!" Tully flung back. "No good has ever come from resurrecting the dead!"
Sunny was seeing something more going on than what she was experiencing. There were more undercurrents than even Fiona was aware of that existed between these two men. The moment she touched that thought, she was traveling!
Both Tully and Nicodemus were with her. Nicodemus felt the motion and grabbed Tully's forearm as they were plunged into the pitch blackness.
Sunny heard their cries of alarm, but there was nothing she could do to stop this journey into the past.
There were soft mewling cries of a child. A woman was trying to shush the cries. She was dying. Sounds were coming from outside; strange animal-like shrieks and undulating vocalizing were circling the small hut. It was a mud and wattle cottage with a thatched roof. Sunny stood watching the woman desperately trying to quiet the child, but she was too weak to even do much more than whisper to the newborn.
Tully and Nicodemus both reeled and stumbled, trying to find their footing. "Where the hell are we?" Tully hissed.
"It is your birthing day," Sunny said, and Nicodemus turned Tully toward the scene they were witnessing.
Tully turned and looked then backed away only to be stopped by Fury's firm hold on his arms. "Who is she?" Tully whispered and glanced over at Sunny who was just as mesmerized by the scene playing out before them.
The leather curtain covering the door of the cottage was pulled back and a woman entered and rushed over to the woman, "Kadijah, where is your man you keep talking about?"
"Take him, keep him safe!" Kadijah whispered. She turned her head toward the woman and Sunny gasped. It was the same woman from the ruins she had seen and heard! The will-o-wisp! Her eyes were clear ice blue and the same ghostly pale face now looked up at her beseechingly, "Save h-him!"
The woman knelt at the bedside of Kadijah. "What has happened to you!"
Kadijah tried to kiss her baby but was too weak. "Promise to take care of him. Promise me Salia!"
There was a commotion outside the cottage. A man burst through the leather curtain and rushed into the room. "Kadijah!"
"Emon, where were you?" Kadijah cried and reached out a trembling hand to the man. "I tried to find you but could not! Where have you been?"
He fell to her side and Salia moved out of the way. The look of loathing marred her face. "This is your man! A man of the Partholan?"
Nicodemus and Tully both froze and watched the scene unfold. Sunny was about to learn another truth.
"My brother - he held me in prison!" Emon said he was stroking Kadijah's face and looking at the tiny form she clutched to her bosom. "He kept me locked away! But I've escaped and we'll go away somewhere --."
"You fool!" Salia hissed, "You have brought them here!"
Kadijah mustered strength from somewhere and sat up cradling her baby close her clear blue eyes blazing in her ashen face, she turned and looked straight at Sunny, "Save us!"
Sunny felt the earth reel and she nearly passed out from the feelings that swarmed over her like a smothering blanket.
Salia went to the entrance. There were shouts and cries of men and women coming from outside. There were screams of horses and the sounds of fighting. She screamed and backed away from the door clutching an arrow that was buried in her chest. She crumpled to the stone floor and looked up at Emon, the blossom of blood quickly growing around her. "You have killed us all!"
The leather curtain was torn away, and men rushed in, swords ready. They pinned Emon down on his knees, dragging him away from Kadijah and the now-screaming baby.
Then the room was filled with torchlight and a figure walked in, his silvered black hair pulled back and held in place with a woven band. He glared down at Emon and then looked at Kadijah and the baby. "Look what you have brought down on us all!"
"Leave me – leave us be!" Emon screamed at the man.
"If only I could, Emon! But you know as well as I do, that your life is forfeit!"
Emon began to sob. "You are my brother, Thaddaeus!"
Thaddaeus winced. "No more, Emon." He turned away and started toward where Kadijah lay panting in fear as she looked up into the terrible gaze of Thaddaeus.
From somewhere Emon found the strength and anger to break free and charge at Thaddaeus. For one terrible moment, the two men were locked in an embrace that was not one of kinship. Tully cried out and both he and Nicodemus sank to their knees as each man felt the pain that ripped through the men that fought.
Thaddaeus and Emon parted, and a splash of red grew over Emon's tunic. He was dead before he slumped to the stone floor. His blood mixed now with Salia's.
Kadijah wept and sank back into the pillow, too weak to fight, too heartbroken to live. She died, her body going limp. The baby began to cry piteously. Thaddaeus lifted the blanket away and looked down at the tiny baby boy.
"My Lord, the Sith warriors approach!" A warrior announced from the entrance of the cottage. "And the Ne'Median king is with them!"
Thaddaeus sheathed his sword. He turned to his men, "Burn the place!"
"What of the babe?" Asked a young warrior who looked down at the bodies in the cottage.
"Burn the place down!" Thaddeus growled and stormed out of the cottage, climbed to his horse, and galloped away.
The warriors thrust their torches into the thatch roof and walked out. The flames crackled and popped overhead, and the last warrior stopped and looked back over his shoulder. The young warrior pulled his helmet off and looked at the dead woman and the whimpering baby. Quickly he scooped the baby up in his arms folded the blanket over the baby's head and ducked out of the cottage. Tully, Nicodemus, and Sunny then found themselves standing in the woods, the cottage fully engulfed in flames. The warrior quickly pulled leaves and moss from around the base of an oak tree and piled it up where the roots formed a cradle. He gently laid the baby there and ran off into the forest to catch up with his unit.
The mounted Sith warriors moved into the village and quickly into the forest after the Partholan army. A cloaked figure emerged from the shadowed forest. His terrible golden eyes surveyed the scene. He pushed back the hood of his black cloak and knelt at the base of the oak tree. He bundled the baby up in his arms and got to his feet. He turned to face Sunny. "Now you know the truth."
"But I don't!" Sunny said. She looked around and Nicodemus and Tully were nowhere to be found. "Who were these people, who was Emon?"
Gaddis smiled sadly. "His name was Emon Fury."
"Oh, my God!" Sunny whispered in astonishment. "And Kadijah?"
"She was to be my wife!" Gaddis answered softly. "But she loved another, she loved Emon, and I loved Emon like a brother!"
"Oh, no!" Sunny breathed. "What will happen now?" Sunny asked Gaddis.
"I will take Tully to a woman who will care for him," Gaddis said looking into the face of the baby. "Tully and his brother will both be cared for by the same wet nurse."
"Tully has a brother?" Sunny asked.
"Rafael Fury," Gaddis replied. He held the baby closer to his chest and looked at the burning cottage. "When I catch up to Thaddaeus, I will make him impotent! He will never know the happiness of bringing a child into this world!"
As he spoke his eyes flashed an inner yellow fire. Sunny was filled with a sudden terror as she realized that this was indeed a Ne'Median warrior. She also couldn't blame him – it was Thaddaeus Fury who had killed – by his orders – the woman Gaddis was to marry and Eamon Fury, the man that he had come to call brother.
"Return to your home, Siobhan," Gaddis murmured gently.
Sunny felt the world slide away and she was once again standing in the apothecary. Both Nicodemus and Tully were standing at either end of the worktable. Both were pale and avoiding each other's gaze. When Sunny appeared, she felt her knees buckle and she began to wretch at sudden nausea that boiled up inside.
Both moved to help her, and both stopped short of each other. Nicodemus quickly went to her and gathered her up in his arms. He hurried into the parlor and placed her on the couch. Tully went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup and a pitcher of ginger tea. Nicodemus fetched the whisky jug and two glasses.
Tully poured the ginger tea into a cup and pressed it into Sunny's hands. She drank thirstily and he refilled her cup. He moved away and sat heavily in one of the side chairs across from the couch where Sunny now sat. Nicodemus poured two full glasses of whisky and held one out to Tully. His hands were shaking as he offered the glass to the smith. "Careful with that!" Tully grumbled. His own hands were shaking just as badly as he took the glass of amber liquid. He gulped half the glass down and then stared into the glass.
Sunny looked at them. Tully was Emon Fury's son and half Ne'Median!
Nicodemus looked up at Sunny as he drained his glass and reached out to refill his and Tully's glass. He closed his eyes at the realization and shook his head in remorse.
Tully heaved a great shuddering sigh and angled a look over at Nicodemus then over at Sunny. "Are you up to explaining what we just witnessed?"
"She should rest," Nicodemus said.
"No," Sunny said. "I need to tell you – while I can remember it!"
Cassie came downstairs and looked into the parlor. "I've propped Fiona's foot up on some pillows. You want to apply the poultice now?"
Sunny remembered the poultice and closed her eyes wearily. "I'm sorry, Cassie, I got a little sidetracked – I'll bring it right up."
Cassie nodded silently watched the scene for a few seconds, then turned to go back upstairs. Tully got up and handed Nicodemus his empty glass. "Fill it up again." He went over to the mantle and stared into the cold grate.
Sunny got to her feet. She felt fairly solid and went into the apothecary. The bowl already had the poultice mixed and ready to apply. She did not remember finishing the mash. She looked around and quickly found the jug of grain alcohol, she poured a little into the bowl and stirred into the mash. Sunny took the bowl into the kitchen, took several muslin dishtowels from the drawer, and flopped them over her shoulder. As Sunny climbed up to the top of the staircase, Cassie was waiting for her in the hall outside Fiona's room. "You don't look well, Sunny," Cassie whispered. "Let me do this and you take care of yourself --- If Fiona sees you looking like a wraith, she'll have a fit!"
Sunny nodded. "Thanks, Cassie. I'll feel better as soon as I eat something."
Cassie looked over the stair balcony, "You might feed those two down in the parlor as well – whatever happened, whisky isn't the answer!"
Sunny chuckled. "Probably not; but it helps take the sting out!"
Cassie took the poultice and watched as Sunny went back downstairs and into the parlor. She went into Fiona's bedroom with the poultice. "Sunny is trying to calm those two downstairs."
Fiona nodded, "Oh, Cassie --- Tell me it will be all right!"
"Now don't you start to fret, Fiona!" Cassie scolded lightly, "Sunny is stronger than you think and will face whatever is coming her way! It looks like she's taking after her great-aunt!"
Fiona smiled but she was still afraid for Sunny.