The Eye of The Storm

Chapter 20

Thrace, 19 years earlier, June 4th 1359 {Dusk}

With each passing second, the storm around Thrace had been growing larger, stretching itself out across the country. The rain and the winds had picked up speed, and howled like a pack of wolves at either side of them, reminding them that there was no escape. They were confined to the helpless circle, the eye of the storm, which they had willingly entered. Thaumas, Electra and their son, Kreios, had made it into the eye just in time. They had taken four horses from the stables, though amidst the uproar that the storm had caused, several of the horses had escaped. The horses had lifted their heads high to the sky and neighed, their manes blowing in the wind, before breaking the flimsy soggy ropes that held them to the toppling wooden stable.

A feeling of guilt was rising in Thaumas's chest. He had deserted his people when they had needed him most. He was a disgrace to the rulers before him, who had protected the people for hundreds of years. Their work had been ruined under his reign. He barely had an ounce of royal blood flowing through his veins anymore. He was no better than the criminals that he had convicted, who stood before him with their heads bent low in shame, as though they had already been sliced off by the gleaming blade of the guillotine. These criminals had been sentence to death for much less that what he had done- simple thievery, trespassing, dealing in the underground markets- all actions that were condemned by the state. But there were greater crimes that could cause one's life to be taken from them.

Treason, it was a complex word but had a simple definition. It was betraying one's country. There was not a lighter word for what he had done. He would have taken his own life out of respect for the criminals that had died at his hands for less. He saw this as a way to reclaim his honor but remembered his family, and resolved to try to spend the rest of his life fixing what he had done.

His family.

When he had tucked himself behind the arching golden back of throne and accessed his clairvoyance, he had seen the unthinkable. His beloved brother--Achim, who resided in an attached part of the palace, had been crushed to death. When the south wing had given in and the marble had filled their bedchamber, it had also unsettled the foundation of the wing behind it where Achim lived. He had seen through his brothers lifeless eyes which lay open, the syrupy blood discoloring the white pupils. His lips were parted and his complexion had turned a dusted white from the crumbling palace. There was so much dust, so much terror.

He tried not to remember his younger brother this way, but every time he closed his eyes, even just to blink, the image came to his mind. He wanted to remember the Achim that was always cheerful, his laughter that warmed the room and made you forget what you had ever been upset about. His younger brother was like that, his mere presence fixed things in ways that could not be explained. The Achim that had peered up at him from under the lid of the amphora with awe in his eyes, wanting to be exactly like Thaumas. His role as an older brother was to keep Achim safe and he had failed. Yet he didn't have time to grieve. There was never time to grieve. Not for Elias, and certainly not for his brother. Those with responsibilities didn't have that kind of luxury.

Electra had known that Achim was dead without him having to tell her. She saw the grief in his face, and knew that if Achim had been spared by the storm he would have been at their side, following them into the eye. He was a risk-taker. If she hadn't suggested that they move to the eye, then Achim would have. He smiled at the memory of his brother, the dewy air wetting his lips.

But he pushed the hallucinations of his brother from his mind. Electra was beginning to go into labour prematurely. The shock of the events that had occurred sent her into contractions. Her skin was icy and covered in a thin layer of moisture. She had wrapped her hand so tightly in the reigns of the horse that it left red marks on her skin.