Through the Archway

Chapter Twenty-Four -- Part Three

David wondered who it could be. Thomas, investigating where he'd been? He tiptoed to the room, hardly daring to breathe. The door was ajar, casting a thin beam of light on the hallway. David put his ear to the door. Thomas's voice rang out. He must be using the Tablet on my wall, David realized.

"I want him found now! Dead, alive, I don't really care," he paused and sighed, "Find him before he blacks out again." David's heart was pounding so loud, he was surprised Thomas couldn't hear it. "Have you searched any of the other realms?"

"Not yet Your Highness," A deep voice responded. David's heart sank. He recognized that voice. It was the voice of the solicitor who had read the will that morning.

"He could have escaped our own realm," Thomas contemplated, "What about Rebekah? You saw the messages they sent each other. They were meeting somewhere. Could she have hidden him?"

"I doubt it sir, she isn't meant to leave until tomorrow," The solicitor said.

"Perhaps," Thomas said with doubt etched in his voice. "I bet he used the archway, in the garden. I tried to destroy it the first time he went through, but there were others..."

"But, Your Highness, if he knows of the archways, he could discover our plan. It would ruin everything. Everything he knows, they know. Are you sure that he's unaware of —?"

"Quiet!" Thomas barked, "For all we know he could have the room bugged. If they take over completely, we're ruined. I've kept them at bay so far, but every time it gets worse. And the army can't be vanishing under our noses." David blinked stupidly. What he was hearing wasn't possible. Thomas, raising an army?

"And what of Evelyn Quinn? You said she would be useful to us, that the plan wouldn't work without her. You were supposed to recruit her to our cause," the solicitor said, sounding reproachful.

"It's been more difficult than I expected!" Thomas snapped, "She's not stupid. We may have to have her father do it. She won't believe the truth of the disappearances any other way." There it was. Thomas was somehow behind the disappearances, he had been all along.

David knew he had to leave, right away. But how? Thomas would be able to find him. David took a step backward without any real plan in mind except to run. His foot met a floorboard that creaked under his weight. David froze.

"Was that on your end?" Thomas asked.

"No," the solicitor answered uneasily.

As David stood silently outside the door to his room, everything suddenly became clear. Thomas killed his father, he wanted power, he wanted to be king, of everything. And there was one thing he was sure of — Thomas was going to kill him.

David heard Thomas walking towards the door. He didn't have time to react. He was frozen in time; paralyzed, as his brother got closer and closer to catching him. He was trapped in a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. There was nothing he could do. Move!

The door opened and there Thomas stood, towering over him, as David felt he shrank in size. David tried to back up only to hit the wall behind him. Thomas grabbed him and pulled him into his room, throwing him into the wall.

"Get up, you coward!" Thomas yelled, "Get up!"

He killed our father, David thought as he rose to his feet. How could he do that? He didn't know what he was going to do to Thomas, but he knew he wanted to hurt him. He wanted him to pay for what he had done. David could feel the power surging through him. Everything that had been happening suddenly started to make sense.