Trials of the Hunt

Chapter 70

Gannon lay in bed all day, staring at the ceiling.

You need rest, Lord Warrior. You need all of your strength for the trial ahead of you.

He did not reply to Orion. He couldn't close his eyes. He had seen what would happen a hundred times in the darkness. It broke his heart every time. The look on his mother's face when she knew what he had to do; chasing her sons halfway across Taladae to make them face justice; the sheer terror in Naois' eyes as he met with Orion for the final time. The next time he saw it, it would be real.

Your actions will change this family forever, but the throne will be safe. Is that not your charge, Lord Warrior?

"Not like this." He responded. "Everyone who means anything to me will hate me when it's over."

The ruling house will be protected. The king can save his throne. Because of your actions, the land will be safe from harm. But if you don't act...

"My father and Sloane will die, maybe even Padraig. Our throne will be taken by force. I will lead the horde before my time, before I'm ready."

Inaction places the throne you protect in danger. Are you willing to sacrifice the throne just so they will still love you upon their deaths?

"You don't understand."

I know what Taladae has shown you. And I am starting to know your heart. If you fail to act tonight when you are called to action, you will have peace for a time, yes. And that will make you happy, but it will be devastating when it ends. The consequences will haunt you, Lord Warrior.

The sky had darkened and for the first time since his trials began, he heard the horn, the call to justice. His sight turned red, blood red, like never before. He opened his eyes and continued staring at the ceiling, now awash in blood. Naois' face was above him. If it was to happen, then it would be before the Horde.

Gannon's feet hit the floor. He buckled Orion to his hip and tore out of his abode, down into the palace and past a throng of guards, tourists and mages. He entered the underdark, his heart heavy, down into the Great Hall - glowing with candle light - and found all of his brethren before him, waiting, solemn look upon each and every face. Had he heard the horn late?

"Tonight, we follow you, Lord Warrior", Kirwin whispered.

They came the moment they saw, the moment they knew they were to hunt one of their own. Gannon's heart filled with rage, the rage of knowing what his uncle planned to do to his father, to his family, so that he could rule. The rage of knowing that Naois had planned to kill him as soon as he returned, to get him out of the way. He'd put his wife in danger that night he called the olc'geagan to Gannon. He'd always been in Naois' way. It ended tonight.

Kirwin approached the front of the door and Gannon followed him.

"You have made decisions... your fate is sealed, forever etched in the Charge of Cernunnos. Everything you think you know... it changes right now, Lord Warrior. Tonight you lead the Horde against one of our own, one of our blood. You have our support, our undying loyalty, but tonight it is only you who must carry the burden. You will send a man and his sons to face judgment before the Horned God. We have seen it and it tears at us to know the treachery that existed for so long within our own ranks. But this is not the end, it is only a beginning."

"This changes everything... for all of us," he whispered.

"So be it," replied the Huntsman, "so be it." He handed Gannon the ancient horn, bronzed over time from weather and use. Gannon took the horn and looked at it for the first time. He raised it over his head and was at once shown the path that would lead to Naois. The large oak doors opened and the wind picked up. It whipped around the Hall and practically lifted the Horde in the air.

"You must control it, Lord Warrior, or it will tear us asunder," Kirwin yelled over the howling wind.

Gannon concentrated his thoughts, torn between what he had to do and the outcome of it all. He had to let it go. He had made his decision. There was no negotiating with one who would see the king dead. There was a special place in the underworld for those who plot against the throne, let alone the Huntsman. The rage filled him again, replacing the sorrow he felt at killing his mother's husband, and the wind died down. He stepped forward, out of the Hall and the Horde followed. They had no need of summons this night. His rage carried them swiftly to their goal. They didn't even have to walk. He led them, following the path the horn laid before them, out to the farmhouse where he'd been raised.

Steel yourself, Lord Warrior. You've seen this before, you know what to expect and it can only go one way.

Gannon obeyed Orion. It was right. He'd seen it and it had to go this way.

The Horde set down surrounding the candle lit house. The wind carried Turi and Dillion to head down to the spring, where the underground entrance was located.

Naois exited the front door, wearing plain white robes, covered in blood. "I imagine you're not here to visit your mother."

Gannon examined the land around him... no summons, no chicory... but the air was heavy with the smell of blood. Daisy's blood. He looked closer and saw Naois was covered in it. She was Horde once. She must have fought.

"Come out and face your punishment. Don't let her see this."

"Oh she won't see this, don't you worry," Naois whispered.

Naois smiled wide and looked at his hands. "She suffered, Gannon. I want you to know that I made her suffer. For every moment I endured with you underfoot... for every day I had to watch over her, with you in her belly... for each time I had to save my brother's life, just to keep his bastard son with a father to pay his way through life... for everything you took from me that should have gone to my children... for each tear she cried over you and Kirwin... I made her regret it all... and I made her bleed for betraying me. Once she figured it all out... what good was she to me? She's been a thorn in my side since the day you were born."