The Son of Thunder

Part Four: Revelations

Chapter Fifty

Shawna tore about the halls of the royal chambers, cursing, swearing, trying to make everything perfect for Lightening when he took over as Master of Thundonia. Warrior spent all his time soothing her. Magpie avoided her completely.

Lightening spoke much less, but he demanded Magpie in his presence. Shawna asked her to appease Lightening's sense of beauty, to pacify him in any way she could. In other words, wear a dress. So even though she did not have to abide Shawna's moods, Magpie was forced into discomfort by her apparel. It was very inconvenient to be saddled with the monstrosities. She much preferred crotched garments.

The news of Canary's baby traveled fast. Magpie sighed as though relieved, and truthfully, her exhaustion was such that little affected her. Annadam brought Hobs, Nile and both Lovebirds. Annadam was unusually quiet and stifling in her speech and none of them stayed long.

Milk was the only one who was not nervous. He showed them the tentative menu for Lightening's succession, but he hadn't altered it much from the last time he'd shown it to Magpie.

For all the tension in the air, a distilled calm fell over Thundonia the eve of Lightening's birthday, or rather the date Shawna celebrated his birth on.

"Tomorrow," Lightening said. He fell back on his bed. "I will be glad when this is all over."

Magpie situated herself on the mattress, propped up on one arm. "You would do well to spend your day in repose. Kneel before your Book and pray. It may be the last chance you get to be to yourself."

He pushed his hands over his face. "You are right. Even now the noose tightens at my throat as though I were Judas and not Jesus." He laughed, but not with good humor.

She drew herself up next to him. It was odd to sit up while he reposed. He studied her hands wound around her knees. "You should go out too. Hunt," he said. "These past few moons have been challenging for you too. Take some time. I may need you at my beckoning side forever after in the future."

Magpie couldn't dispute that it had been a while. Her heart ached for the activity. Though it was still morning, it was late to hunt. But she was eager for a holiday and to be Magpie in the Woods again.

No activity sated her like drawing a bow back and launching an arrow into the heart of a wild animal. She was relieved to shed the gowns that Shawna checked her for. Magpie couldn't flee Thundonia fast enough.

 For all the people in Thundonia and Valley of the Star, few spent time in the forest or desert that separated them. The breeze was kissing her ear and Magpie went deeper into the green glade. She was in no hurry to find her prey. For a moment she just wanted to be one with the trees. She settled into her spot and prepared her bow.

Time lapsed. Magpie's mind wandered. Fictional stories now occupied a portion of her head, thanks to Lightening forcing books on her. The latest novel he had pressed into her hands was the Man in the Iron Mask.

The deer appeared, a doe, maybe an annum old. She stood perfectly still for a lapse. Magpie adjusted her shot, set her aim, made sure it was steady. She narrowed her eye and tightened her finger on the drawstring. Her arm was tensed and ready for the release. Then the deer leaped away. Magpie's body went into check and she whirled around to a bulky man with his hands as claws to grab her.

Magpie released the arrow into his heart and had a second one ready by the time he fell to his knees. She shot the arrow into another man and had a third drawn when a blond man with curly hair and a flat face grabbed her and forced the arrow to shoot into the air.

"Aidth me," he called. Wolfdrum. Two other men grabbed Magpie and lifted her off the ground. She kicked and screamed to no avail. Then she went limp. She was heavier than a dead body pulled out of Crystal Lake and they dropped her to the earth.

Magpie dashed to her feet and sprinted away, but the man with the deflated nose caught her by the ankle and she crashed to the dirt. Magpie skinned her chin on a rock and her arms flailed out. Stones ground into her palms.

"Bindeth her. Thou shalt draggeth the bitch by the roots of her hair if thy must," he said.

* * * * *

"Tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow," Shawna said, a cynical smile on her lips. "Oh Warrior, this day that I have waited for all my life."

She sank into the chair at her desk and put her chin on her folded hands. "Much else could go wrong before then. He could choke on a bone at dinner tonight. Or worse. He could be assassinated."

Shawna had spent the past several days tearing around the conference room. She picked up books to be sure that she finished with all the old so that Lightening wouldn't have to bother with it. Sorted through papers, double checked her scrolls. She had finished every possible task. Now all she could do was wait.

"Shawna, you will still be here. You'll still advise him once he takes over. He has been in charge of Thundonia for annae. He is merely inheriting your title."

"I'm the only one who has ever ruled this place. The transition may be hard for the people."

Warrior put his hands on Shawna's forearms and knelt before her. "You've prepared the people well for this change." He didn't trust this calm. Though she was steady in her seat, a storm brewed in her eyes.

"I was like this often when I first embraced Lightening." She reflected, went as far as to smile. "How hard it was to raise a child—"

Warrior and Shawna shot to their feet. A man of twenty-five annae stood in the doorway, several men around him. The young man held a battering ram in his hands. All the men wore white T-shirts and canvas leggings.

"Shawna, thou art rad. Art thou awesome? Art thou having brainstorms about letting me live?"

Shawna searched the eyes of the young man for the boy who had thrown Lightening's basket into Crystal Lake so many annae ago. She couldn't find him, but this was the same boy. She held herself in readiness for a fight.

"Why resisteth?" The young man took her firmly by the arm and pushed her before him. "Come. Let us fetcheth the Son of Thunder, 'kay?"

Shawna inhaled deeply. She strutted in front of them and held her nose in the air. She faced his door reluctantly, all too aware of the knife against her spine. She raised her clenched hand to the door.

The young man took her by the wrist. "No funny stuff, shweetheart."

Shawna dropped her hand to her side and said, "Son of Thunder. It is I, Shawna of Thundonia. May I enter?"

Lightening was kneeling before a candle and his open Book. A tremor passed through his leg like a bolt of lightning. He blew out the candle, ran to the hidden sanctuary and barred the passage door. He listened as his door was broken to splinters and the numerous voices grumbled of his absence. One voice silenced the others.

"The wax on this candle ist melte'd." Pause. "The wick ist hot." Another pause. "He hath been here."

"Of course he's been here. This is his room." It was Shawna who said this. A clap of flesh followed.

They went through the adjoining door, found Magpie's chambers. The commanding voice said that someone must have gotten to him first. Good that they believe that. If they'd searched long enough, they would have eventually found the door to this passage.

Lightening scanned the room that he never used, the scrolls, weapons, burnt basket. His birthcross lay on the dresser. He touched his mother's in its place.

He found his ceremonial robes. No better disguise could have been given him. He'd never thought about attaching pockets for weaponry here. These were his robes of peace. He lifted a needle and thread and began to sew. He hid a sword at his waist and a dagger at his calf. He sewed a sheath at his chest and slipped a knife against his heart. He left Thundonia, tears coming down his cheeks, insisting to himself that he was not abandoning his people and that his Savior had not abandoned him.