The Ninth Prophecy
Sheda's confession

Days had passed after the final battle. Faris’s funeral was a magnificent display of restored unity of the straightwalkers. Tenths of thousands attended the event. King’s body was covered with white petals. They came from rare Senicoran wild flowers which blossom only in winter. The drifters made sure the flowers were brought to Karos on time. The Xelons made a marvelous wooden arch above his final resting place. They had dug up several of the finest willows in the midland forests and replanted them in Karos, entangling their branches into an arch. The shadow people weaved the most beautifully embroidered cloak to cover Faris’s body in the procession. The Dabors provided bear skins of highest quality which made the king’s bed. The layun gave their best-groomed horses for the arrow’d officers who were to lead the procession. The greatest honor was delivered by the commoners, who appeared at the funeral in greatest number ever remembered in the kingdom. Even days after the funeral, many were coming to the burial site to pay their respect to the liberator of all land.

Long after, Damius decided to pay a visit to his prisoner, Sheda, to whom he hadn’t spoken since the defeat of the darker army. Although a condemned prisoner is not supposed to speak to a straightwalker again, Damius remembered what Axion had told him of Faris’s last words. It was an itch he had to scratch. He walked down into the dungeon where Sheda was held. Silently, he walked up to her cell. The cell had one back wall. The other three sides were made up of iron bars. Sheda was like a beast on display in a cage. Her hair grew a bit.

- “Did you come to gloat,” she asked first.

- “No, there’s no reason for gloating. I just came here to talk. I want to know, what made you what you are. Why did you do all the things you did...and how...How and why did you get the darkers to listen to you?”

- “Well, I am afraid my tongue is a little rusted. I don’t think it could bare elaborating everything.”

- “If you would prefer, I can leave,” Damius said turning his back on Sheda.

- “No, stay. What the hell, I might just use the opportunity to talk a bit. I have only one condition.”

- “I wouldn’t say that you are in position to condition anyone.”

- “All right, then you can walk away.” Damius bit on his lip before speaking: “All right, speak up. What do you want?”

- “Not much. I just want you to promise that you will come down here each week to talk to me. I want you to promise.”

- “I won’t do that.”

- “Then we can’t talk,” Sheda said turning her head away.

- “Wait. Maybe we can make a compromise. I can promise that each week I will send someone to talk to you, maybe it will be me on more than one occasion. That’s the best I can do.” Sheda thought about the proposal for a couple of seconds and agreed to the deal unwillingly. “Oh, fine. They will come to tell you what I said anyway!”

- “So, speak.”

- “If you only knew...You know, if I had been just a little luckier, it would have been me in those shoes of yours.”

- “Yeah, well, you lost that battle.”

- “I’m not talking just about the battle, you fool. I had planned it all from the beginning. I had darkers with me even before the prophecies were announced. They were just a good...catalyst for what I had planned.”

- “How, how do you mean you had the darkers with you all along?”

- “It’s quite simple. You see, being one of the Illuminators, I would often go to the edge of the Dome, sneaking up to the area and examining the darkers, their life. I only had one problem. I couldn’t get inside the Dome. Once, when I was sneaking behind one sandy slope and watching some argorite riders at the edge of the Dome, I sneezed because this small flowery plant which was in front of me got into my nose. The Koprites twitched and looked around, but fortunately they didn’t replace me. They went away believing that it was some wild animal they heard. Out of anger I plucked the plant right out of the ground. And then it came to me. I looked around, and the only thing that could grow around the Dome was this plant. So, I decided to make an experiment. For several days, three times a day, I had tea made of this plant. When the taste of it became common enough, I decided to try to walk into the Dome. One day, when there were no Koprites around, I walked in. At first, I felt dizzy and nauseous. My first visit didn’t last long because of it. But I now knew that it was possible. Each time I went in I was able to stay for longer and longer. Soon enough, I was able to walk so deep into the Dome that I was observing mighty Servarians and Koprites in their huts and lairs. None of them were aware of my presence. I even managed to hear them talk and learn meaning of their language. The more times I went in, the bolder I got...and more careless. An argorite felt my scent one day when I was observing the Servarians. I ran out of my hiding place straight into the hands of the Servarians. When they grabbed me, they wanted to tear me apart, literally. Out of despair, I cried out few words in their language which I knew. I managed to say that I could take them outside the Dome where there are so many more delicious straightwalkers like myself. That got their attention and bought me some more time. When I said it, it was pure survival instinct. I would have said anything just to get out. Later on, however, I realized that I could actually do it and turn it to my advantage.”

Damius couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He could never have imagined the things he would learn from a brief visit to this prisoner of his. Sheda continued to speak.

“At first, they kept me imprisoned, even tortured me. Then I had to explain to them that I had to go outside the Dome to collect some herbs to cure the Koprites and Servarians who were often getting ill or wounded in battles against straightwalkers. They would allow me to go out accompanied by two guards on argorites. Then they would send just one guard. Eventually, they allowed me to go alone and they watched from nearby. At the end, they let me go by myself. I gained their trust to such extent that they allowed me to return to Karos. I promised them I would come back, and I did. I said I had to go there to get some of my books and tools.”

Damius listened breathlessly to what she was saying. He interrupted her only to ask how she succeeded to get the Servarians out of the Dome.

- “I mixed their blood with that of Koprites. It took me a while to succeed. Eventually I made it. At first, I had a lot of trouble. Although I would get the Servarian blood to mix with Koprite blood, either in Koprite or Servarian wombs, the offspring would always be dead or short-lived at best. The Servarians were growing impatient. Then, one day, they brought in straightwalker females, few of them Xelon, as food. Just before they were to be eaten up, I came up with an idea. I asked them to give the women to me, to try to use them for crossing. They had enough men to eat anyway. They agreed. The first two died, but then I got lucky with one female Xelon. She delivered an offspring which survived. She died at birth. Then I cross-bred the blood of that offspring with Servarian blood and I got it right. The new Servarians could survive outside the Dome. I also crossed it with the remaining straightwalker female blood and the result was the same. The babies grew and matured at an incredible rate. I knew that soon enough we would have an army. By that time, they started respecting me and listening to me. The rest of the story just helped my way and I did all I could to push it in the wanted direction.”

- What are you talking about? What helped your way?”

- “Well, the prophecies. When I heard about them, I knew that my time had come. I simply had to play it right. You see, when I heard of the prophecies, I was with my Illuminator comrades, who had suspected nothing up until then. Right away, I knew that I could use this opportunity to weaken the straightwalker realm and take over it eventually. I knew that new contenders for the throne would come forward. A war would fit perfectly into my plan. The first thing I did is that I contacted Aegor, whom I knew to be thirsty for power and for the throne ever since the other Kulin line was given lordship over Baan Senicore. He agreed to play along and in turn I promised to make him a lord of whatever city he wanted an heir to the throne. So, now, the stage was set. Now, all we had to do is start a brawl. So, Aegor’s Sciprians together with my Koprites staged a raid in Beth Dar. We made sure that nobody survived the slaughter. By doing so, we knew that each side would blame the other.”

- “That was you!” Damius interrupted angrily, grabbing the bars.

- “Oh yes, and a lot more than that! You see, from then on it was simple. I advised my Illuminator friends to tell Daors that he should try to make a pact with the argorites. Of course, I was the key negotiator, as I spoke their language. At the same time, I arranged a meeting between your father and Aegor, who offered his services to the king of the realm, just as I had advised him to do.”

- “So, you organized the stakeout at Turtle’s Back too?”

- “No, that actually was not me. That was done solely by your father, Aegor and the argorites. Aegor was generally very impatient. I knew nothing about it. Luckily, they failed. Had they succeeded at killing Yon that early on, the war would probably never have been started. But I did organize some other things which, unfortunately, incompetent Aegor failed to execute, such as the murder of Hadera. Murder of that suspicious bitch would have sealed Spero’s position of an enemy of Daors. It was important to balance out the two sides, you see. The more equal in strength they are, the bloodier and more intensive the war was going to be.”

- “How can you be so ruthless!”

- “Oh, I am no more ruthless than your father or Yon! We were all playing the same game and using all resources at our disposal! Anyhow, after the fall of Baan Senicore, it was clear that the tide of war was going in Daors’s favor. That’s when I realized I should help out myself to even it up a bit again. So, I joined the Kulins in Nox. It was hard to gain their trust at first, but I succeeded. I tried to talk them away from trying to retake Baan Senicore and it worked. My cover was almost blown during the battle for Nox when an argorite rider almost killed me, but released me when he recognized who I was. Hadera saw it all. Luckily, she was stupid enough not to realize what had happened.”

- “My God, how did no one see through you?!” Damius couldn’t hide his frustration.

- “Because I was good in covering my tracks...at least up until that moment when I killed Darion I was. I shouldn’t have made that mistake. I did everything else right, up to that moment. I got Yon to listen to most of my ‘advices’ after he took over Karos. I actually got him to kill all the Illuminators with my repeated talk about their blind loyalty to Daors. They were the only real threat to my position of a knower, especially Ulix. Once they were eliminated, it was all easier for me. I took into possession all of the valuable books and assets of the order. At night, I moved it all to the Doomed Dome. I made it look like the place was looted. Then I joined Faris again. I had a good story to tell about the slaughter of my order. Again, nobody doubted my motives and I could safely go on in executing my plan. Of course, first I made sure that Yon sees Faris’s conquest of Baan Senicore - which I didn’t anticipate either – as an act of treason. At first, I was unpleasantly surprised that my ally Aegor had ended up the way he did. Afterwards, I just made use of the situation the best I could. I ‘explained’ to Yon that it was a clear expression of Faris’s ambition. I told him that Faris’s willingness to take things into his own hands is admirable and that many in the kingdom share that view. I told him that people like a man who takes proper action. I mentioned how Faris must have been frustrated by Yon’s passivity in regard to Senicore and wanted to show that he could do better. All I had to do after that is simply join Faris. That was the last drop which convinced Yon that Faris was working against him, that I was his informant.”

- “You are some piece of work, you know that? But why did you kill Darion?”

- “It’s quite simple with Darion. It again comes down to evening the odds. Had he joined Yon, there is no way Faris could have posed a serious threat. So, I decided to eliminate him. Unfortunately, I didn’t count the horions into the equation when I tried to escape. Luck smiled on me again when Faris sentenced me to death by abandonment at the edge of the Dome. Ha-ha-ha-ha! I liked that man, but he was a fool.”

- “He did it because he loved you! He couldn’t watch you die so he sent you to the Dome. And how did you repay him? By killing him, that’s how, you bitch!”

- “Oh, don’t get all emotional on me now! I loved him too, you know, but I didn’t like his breed and what they were standing for, those Koprite killers! Besides, he did send me to the Dome to have me dead! As much as I am sad that he died, I am glad that the last of the Kulins has passed away, that the vine of that family has dried out! Why do you care?! I did you a favor! You benefited from it all the most!”

- “You did me no favor...”

- “Anyway, I really didn’t expect him to actually overthrow Yon. That was as much of a surprise to me as it was to anyone else in the kingdom. When he went on with the works in the tunnel of Red Rock, I knew we had to strike soon.”

- “How did you know?”

- “Well, that’s simple. The urh, as you call them, as well as the Koprites, could only breathe the air surrounding the Dome. A tale was preserved among the Servarians and Koprites that once an ancestor of theirs, a Servarian, with a throng of others of his kin, managed to pierce a small crack through the great mount that stretched all the way to the Unscripted Land. They said that instantly, these ancestors of theirs started to choke. What saved them is that this guy who lead them fell dead right on the crack, which prevented the air from breaching deeper inland. The others sealed that spot and the story of the curse of the Unscripted Land was preserved, and, although such a small amount of this fatal airy substance was released and mixed with our common air, the Servarians could not leave the Dome since. The Koprites could, although they couldn’t stay out for too long either. When they told me the story, it didn’t take me too long to realize that the air on the other side has certain qualities which our air lacks. This made the people of the Dome so vulnerable when exposed to it. I wasn’t even sure what it could do to the straightwalkers, but now we know, right?”

- “You’re right about that. Are you at least just a little sorry you did what you did?”

- “I have no regrets whatsoever. I did what had to be done. Come on, Damius. You didn’t keep me alive for no reason. You don’t know what awaits you in the Unscripted Land, what kind of danger and what creatures and kingdoms. For all you know, they might be ten times as big and just as many times as vicious as anything you have seen so far. Give me freedom and, I promise you, I will create an invincible army for you, an army with which you will conquer the worlds beyond the known, whatever they are and however many they are. I still have the knowledge to create a new breed of soldiers for you. There is still plenty of flesh, bones and blood of the dead urh and Servarians to work with. But it won’t be there forever! Show yourself to be a worthy king and do what must be done!”

- “You want to mix our blood with that of Koprites...Servarians?!”

- “Yes, I do. I have done it already. I will just have to make some alterations to make them immune to the new conditions...”

- “In order to mix blood, you have to spill it first. There has been enough blood spilt. We don’t need your knowledge. We will discover the knowledge we need by ourselves.”

- “Listen to me Damius...”

- “That’s enough! I will not listen to you! I have decided. I have condemned you and your practice.”

- “Maybe you have, but you don’t have the power to make it final. You don’t have the power!”

- “And who does?”

- “The books do. The books will decide who was right and who was wrong!”

- “That may be so. But I will not let you mix our blood with that of the deviant race!”

- “What makes you think they are the deviant ones?! Just look at what straightwalkers do to each other!”

- “Yes, at least we don’t eat others of our kind. Those ugly beasts are deficient in their heads and in their bodies and they shall never walk this earth again!”

- “Man is as ugly as much as he looks for imperfection in others.”

- “And which man is beautiful, Sheda?”

- “The one who realizes that that there is no such thing as imperfection.”

- “I believe that. I really do. Precisely because of that, I don’t believe that there is such thing as enhancing a race. That’s wrong and it will not be allowed. When you die, your legacy will die with you.”

- “You are just as foolish as Faris. Because of it, your name will disappear too, just like the name of the Kulins.” But it was Damius who pulled out the last big surprise:

- “And just what makes you think that the Kulin name is extinguished?”

Sheda was confused at hearing this remark. Damius continued:

“That’s right, you heard me! Faris may not have been just as foolish. You know, just one night before you struck, Faris got married.”

- “No, that couldn’t have been,” Sheda said, now thrown out of her comfort completely.

- “Oh, yes, it is true! And guess what, he married Hadera! Yes, that very ‘bitch’ as you call her! Oh, you should see the look on your face now, Sheda! What’s even more interesting is that it was their common grief that brought them together. Both had believed to have lost their loved ones. Hadera had lost Yon. Faris grieved his brother’s death also, don’t get me wrong, but it was that common emotion of losing the love of your life which brought them together. So, Faris’s loss of his beloved Sheda drew hem closer to Hadera. They comforted each other and eventually grew very fond of each other. So, in a way, you made it all possible! Had you not left Faris in belief that you were dead, he probably never would have married her and Hadera wouldn’t be baring his child now.”

- “No, that’s impossible! You’re lying!”

- “No, I am not. You will know that it is true when the sounds of celebration of birth of a Kulin echo all the way into your cell. I’ll make sure you hear it!”

- “You can’t let that happen, do you hear me,” Sheda spoke with her eyes popping out franticly - “If you do that, that child will dethrone you. He is your biggest threat. I will help you get rid of it!”

- “Oh my God, do you hear yourself? You’re so pathetic. This is your last gasp? This is your last great plan to get freedom? As if any of your plans worked the way you wanted them to! Have you not heard of the fourth prophecy?” Damius spoke, now all cocky, knowing that he has completely shaken Sheda. - ‘The kings that are and the kings to become are kin to be.’ I believe that’s how it goes. It was fulfilled with Faris naming me, a Barantham, the king of the realm, and it shall continue with me too. Never again will we allow family feuds to put our entire race in jeopardy. That child will be under my protection. I will be its patron until it is matured. Then, it will, boy or girl, become a lord of whatever city it chooses, maybe even an heir to the throne!”

For once, Sheda was speechless, and Damius walked away triumphantly.