Destiny Unbonded

Chapter 13 - Part 1

Joy comes to those who commit themselves to the Gods' path.

- The Canon

[Cyril]

Light. There was light here, reddish hues filtering through my closed eyelids. And a strange soft beeping sound. Can't focus...

Where am I? What happened?

After a few unsuccessful attempts, my eyelids finally obeyed the command to open. I took a deep breath to still the dizziness. Someone grasped my hand, and I turned my head, trying to focus.

Kit!

She looked down at me with that characteristic mischievous grin, lifting my heart. She signed to me, "<How do you feel?>"

It took a few moments to will my hands to respond. "<Confused. Where are we?>"

"<In the Ark. Men took you here. Gave you medicine.>"

My hand traced its way down my side, finding some sort of wrapping on my wound. A resistance to arm movements alerted me to a clear tube that went into my arm near the elbow. Liquid dripped from an elevated bag into it. I wrinkled my forehead in bewilderment.

Kit signed, shrugging, "<Medicine. Maybe?>"

I laid on a padded bed made of metal and an unknown gray material with a soft pillow under my head. A soft gray blanket covered my legs and most of my bare chest. Bright, colorful lines drew themselves across a strange panel above. The soft beep and flashing red dot seemed to correlate with my heart beat. The room, not large, was lined on one side with white cabinets, some of them missing doors. Strange rectangular strips in the ceiling radiated a pleasingly warm light. This place was unlike anything in my experience.

But someone was missing. "<Where is Ophelia?>" I signed Kit.

She shook her head. "<Do not know. She went to get help.>"

"<How long?>"

"<Half day.>" Kit answered.

A queazy apprehension tingled my gut, and the little red dot blinked faster on the panel. Did something happen to her?

A filtered voice beyond the door, a woman said, "I trust him."

"How can you?" a man challenged. "He brought a Moirai with him. The stench of the Gods is upon her! If the Gods know--"

The conversation abruptly ended as they came into the room. The man, short with a scruffy dark beard, scowled at me with narrowed eyes while leaned against a wall with arms folded. But the woman, tall, slender, with sliver-streaked chestnut hair, looked upon me with both trepidation and kindness.

"Are you Cyril?" she quizzed, raising her brow.

"Do I know you?" I responded, but she somehow seemed familiar.

My eyes widened as she held out my obsidian knife. How can that be? Only one with the Chaos can wield it. "Your knife?" she asked, placing the hilt in my hand.

"Yes."

Her eyes widened, and her breath halted for a moment as I grasped it. She put a hand to her mouth as her eyes moistened. "It has been so long."

"Who--" The realization took away my words like a gale wind: I had completed one part of my quest.

"I am your mother, Cyril." She said as a tear spilled from one eye.

With hesitation, she reached toward me, but stopped short, silently asking permission to come closer. I opened my arms, inviting her in. She collapsed into my hug with head against my shoulder. "So long..." she whispered in a cracked voice.

Kit wrinkled her forehead. I signed to her, "<We found her, my mother!>"

"Ah, so she does not hear." My mother said, nodding. "That explains why she would not respond to us. She has not left your side since we brought you in."

"My sister, Kit." Mother raised an eyebrow. I answered her unasked question. "We found her abandoned years ago. Father took her in."

Mother smiled, nodding to Kit. "He would, such is his heart. He also rescued me, you know. What has come of Pedar?"

Grief not yet fulfilled shadowed my heart, and I took a deep breath. "The Gods killed him, along with everyone else in Kelde. Only Kit survived because Father hid her." A twinge of guilt mixed with the grief created an uncomfortable combination. "Nemesis came for me."

Mother collapsed down into a nearby chair, putting a hand to her forehead. I continued, "But vengeance was done!" I held up the obsidian knife. "We killed Nemesis! The blade you left for me struck the final blow!"

"What?" She jerked her head up with widened eyes. "Where?"

"Not far from here. On the hills above the river." Putting a hand on the bandage, I said, "Nemesis' sword gave me this wound."

The man leaning against the far wall jerked up, snarling. "I knew it! The Moirai witch leads the Gods to us!"

"No!" A stitch of pain shot up from my side as I sat upright, causing me to grit my teeth. "Ophelia saved my life and helped me kill Nemesis! She opposes the Gods like I do. Where is she?"

Mother turned to the man. "Bring her here."

"But, Nyx, she is Moirai--"

"Now, Clavis!" she ordered.

Grumbling, the man walked out the door, nearly running into a young woman with short brown hair. Carrying our saddlebags, she cast suspicious brown eyes at me, but then approached my mother and huffed. "Forever it took us to catch that cursed burro. You may be interested in this." The woman handed over my map, shaking her head. "I do not know how they got it."

Smiling, Mother unrolled it. "I do. I sent it to him."

The young woman furrowed her brow, but did not ask further. "And this," she said, narrowing her eyes while reaching into the leather saddlebag to pull out a crystal long-knife. "A weapon of the Gods!" She rotated it in her hands, allowing it to cast refracted colors around the room.

Mother frowned, turning to me. "How did you come upon this?"

"The Goddess Athena gave it to Ophelia. It was meant to kill me, but Ophelia gave it a different destiny."

"I see." The young woman who returned it to the saddlebag. Then my mother cautioned me. "Keep it hidden. It might anger some here."

I wondered how many people were 'here' and where they came from, but before I could ask, the not-so-happy man escorted Ophelia into the room. Her eyes brightened and lips turned up to a smile when she noticed me and Kit, and my heart skipped a few beats. The dress she wore had suffered on my account, with hem tattered and uneven because of the bandages she tore from it, and faded blood stains.

She rushed over to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and pressing her head into the crook of my neck. Kit joined the hug. "Are you well, Cyril?" Ophelia asked.

"I think I am now." Raising my arm with the attached tube, I said, "They gave me some sort of medicine. And you?" I gazed into her caring eyes. "What happened?"

Ophelia sat up on the bed, leaving a hand on my shoulder. "I went to find help. Some kind of lightning ball hit me and knocked me out, then I woke up in a locked room alone. I was so worried about you."

Snapping my head around, I glared my displeasure first at the man, and then at my mother. She bowed her head. "Please forgive us your treatment, Ophelia. When you appeared as Moirai, we feared you brought the Gods' wrath to us."

"I understand." Ophelia bowed her head in return. "Until Cyril, I did serve the Gods."

Motioning with my hand, I said, "Ophelia, this is my mother."

Ophelia's eyes widened as my mother took up her hand. "I am pleased to meet you, Ophelia. You may call me Nyx. However, your arrival heralds a new uncertain future. Join me later for dinner, all of you. We have much to discuss." She turned to the young woman. "Selene, please see to their needs."