Lemuria: The City of Mysts

Chapter 46: Head Guardian

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Chapter 46: Head Guardian

It can't be. This couldn't be happening. Cheska's mind tried to process what Louis told her. She had talked to Fred only yesterday. "When? How?" she asked, pressing a hand to her temple.

"Last night", her brother replied. A wary look crept on his face. "He went through the tunnels."

"What?" Her brows knitted together. "Who gave him access to the tunnels?"

Their uncle arched a brow at Louis' accusing glare. He answered Cheska, "The previous Head Guardian accompanied the doctor. He believed it was for a good cause. The guardians and I fully support their plans."

"I was overruled by the majority, so to speak", Louis remarked moodily, which earned him a baleful glance from the King.

"A good cause?" Cheska's eyes narrowed. "What good is there in letting a person walk to his death..." She paused as a thought occurred to her. Fred didn't look like the suicidal type. He was gifted. The doctor knew how to fight and could heal himself. She relaxed. Her hand dropped to her side. Fred knows what he's doing, Cheska mused. Still, it was dangerous to infiltrate a militarized country that's also suffering an epidemic. He can't hide his abilities forever. Cheska turned to her brother.

Louis' Adam's apple bobbed. He pointedly stared at the floor. "Libya captured a footage of Fred using his electricity to save a guardian. They used the guardian as bait to trap him. They weren't after his medicine. They had the vaccine hidden somewhere. The plague was just a cover. When that didn't work, they sent Gerry and the mercenaries after him."

"And?" Cheska said when her brother's silence lengthened.

"Fred decided to make them think Gerry caught him." Louis' hands balled into fists. "While they're focused on Fred, Gerry will infiltrate the facility, find the vaccine and grab it. Then he'll go back for Fred."

"What if –" Cheska hesitated "– he doesn't succeed?"

"What I saw will happen." Louis met her gaze expectantly.

As a rule, she never wanted to hear predictions. Their parents' fate was foretold by a prophecy passed down in their mother's line since ancient times. Following tradition, Celestraena told Cheska about it one night:

"Once there was a man who wished to change the world. The Giver, a woman shrouded in mystery, granted him priceless gifts to achieve his goal. Such gifts, however, require a token from the receiver: his heart. But Fate decreed he would fail. He lost his heart to the Giver and hers to him. With the breaking of his vow, it took the life of the Giver along with his heart."

Alfred Roucan had, of course, heard of the prophecy due to his family's business transactions with the Uruimethians. To keep him from worrying, Celestraena misled her husband to believe that it was an old tale. She believed prophecies were subject to misinterpretation and caused needless fear to people whose future was foretold.

Their mother had been wrong.

The prophecy came to fruition when Celestraena died. Alfred Roucan became a cold-hearted businessman who had everything except a loving family; he'd estranged his children.

The fulfilment of that prediction had led Cheska to be afraid of her brother's gift. Now, however, she was more fearful of the unknown. Cheska gave a small nod at Louis' direction.

The picture her brother painted didn't sound worrisome. One look at his expression though told Cheska he'd spared her the details.

"What makes you think it'll happen?" she asked. Louis must be mistaken. Fred couldn't be dying.