~*~ 15 ~*~
"I'll start with a story."
I looked at him feeling disappointed but didn't let it show.
"A long time ago, a very long time ago, a Guardian was assigned to a very beautiful young woman."
"You and me?"
"I'll get to us in a bit. First there are things I need to tell you. There are rules, taboo's even that Guardians must follow. Indeed, all Otherkind. One of them being, never must a Guardian fall in love with a human, whether they are their charge or not. Ever."
He looked away quiet for a moment and then continued on with his story. "Time went by and no matter how hard this Guardian tried, he couldn't help what he was feeling, even with the penalty of the 'utter-death' hanging over him." He saw my quizzical look.
"The utter-death is another kind of death, a second death." Pausing a moment he looked at the sky and then back at the wood in his hands. "Its effects are permanent. It means a soul gets recycled, losing everything it had ever gained in karma. Like starting over with nothing. Bottom rung of the ladder on a very long upward climb. The soul that goes through this does it alone with no option of ever finding a soul mate. It's like coming back as only half, never again feeling whole. It severs all ties that bind. But we'll leave that alone for now, I'll get back to it in a little bit."
His fingers were working the piece of wood nimbly and skillfully. Waiting patiently for him to continue I watched him.
"Anyway, this young woman, she was very beautiful, charming, witty, and oh did she have a fiery temper! Pure vixen." He smiled at me then, a soft tender smile. "And what was even more incredible was this young woman had eyes only for someone whom she should not have.
See? In the 'Before Times' this would not have been such a problem because all were allowed to choose their mate of their choice from any realm they wished.
This is going to get complicated Rowan, but see, the problems began occurring when some began experimenting. The hand of the Under-dark is all over that one, but we'll leave that alone for now as well. It's too complex. Anyway, numerous scientific experimentations became the catalyst for the Guild to set forth a new set of rules to protect the Earth realm."
"From?"
"From being overrun by the Under-dark completely. It would have made Earth more like a laboratory run amok than a place of learning as it had been set up to be. In came the new rules decried by the Guild. 'Common Times' as it's called now became enforced. Mixed marriages of intergalactic races, or 'Otherkind' as all our races combined are called, were no longer allowed because of the hell the Under-dark had been creating. Did you know the record keeping of all the inbreeding and scientific experimentations the Under-dark had been doing were kept, and you learn of them still today."
"I do?"
"Sure. Where do you think your mythologies come from, think of multiple gods and of others who are half human and half animal." he smiled. "It's like this," he held up his stick "what is, what you can see, it's really not what is real. It's limited by your five senses. You can only see this—" he moved the bit of wood closer to me. "But I can see all that." and he spread his arm out in a wide arc, and then tapped his heart. "There is more, so much more and I am not going to be able to answer all things now, but I will try."
"And us?"
"Us." he repeated softly.
I watched him.
"Us—" he whispered looking off to the horizon. "First I have to give you more of the past so you can understand the now, for they are directly linked together."
I blinked not understanding.
He held up his finger so I wouldn't interrupt him. "There was a certain rebel Guardian," a very boyishly mischievous smile lit his face, "a son of one of the chief Guild-men and king in his own realm. This rebel son, a prince, was one of three born at the same time heralded by a very specific prophecy given at the dawn of Earth's time." He was tapping his chest softly smiling. "See? I'm no stranger to causing trouble for my father."
"And your mother I am sure."
"I'd rather not discuss that right now." He looked away again.
"You're a prince? One of three—- triplets?"
"Yes, and yes, triplets."
I looked at him amazed. Not only did I have a guardian angel but he was a prince too? Figures I would land the rebel one! My thoughts had me grinning and I looked up at him. "There are more of you?" I wondered how any world could survive three rebel angels? "Sounds like three times the trouble!"
He laughed "Many more. But, there is only three that are of the prophecy."
"Archer? He can't be one of your triplet brothers, he said he was older."
Bryce's eyes clouded over. "No. Seth and Victor are."
I was silent for a pause trying to absorb and remember everything. The more he told me the more I was struggling to keep everything straight, the more questions I had. "And the prophecy?"
"We'll definitely let that one go for another time as well."
I sighed and looked at the pair of moons as they climbed higher in the sky. It was hard to wrap my mind around the concept of not just one earth, but two, not one moon, but two, not one Bryce but three. The silence was dragging on. I prompted him "And they are— where? Victor and Seth."
He stopped whittling and reached out his large hand covering mine that I had resting in the grass beside him. His eyes held that painful look once more and there were furrows on his brow where there had been none.
"Let's talk of us now okay? There is too much to know, too much to learn. Not enough time right now. Another time, I promise."
I bit my lip in consternation.
"Rowan" he said softly "I am trying to answer any and all of your questions that I can. I have to keep it on one track for now or I will have us careening all over the cosmos and you will only have a billion more questions and no answers. Trust me okay? There is just too much, way too much to learn of now." He added softly under his breath. "Lifetimes to learn of."
I nodded.
He started whittling again in silence. Sighing softly he looked up. "Wait, you have to see this. Watch now" he pointed with his knife toward the horizon. A faint bluish glow was just tinting the horizon and rising rapidly, like the bluish glow you see around the moon sometimes only much larger and vividly intense.
I watched holding my breath in awe. Things like this didn't happen. Ever, to anyone, not even in fairy tales did I ever hear of someone being taken up to some other realm's oasis to watch two moons while sitting on the softest of grass with not only a Guardian Angel, but their own personal one —-who also happened to be a prince!
"You watching?" he was looking at my eyes intently as if to capture my expression of something.
I nodded, how could I not? A brilliant gem-blue sliver began to rise above this place that we were at. The sliver of light rose like a partial white and blue balloon and then grew, slowly slipping the bonds that had held it beneath the horizon. Majestically it slid higher until finally released entirely from the horizon. It looked very much like an enormous glittering jewel against a diamond studded black velvet cloth.
"It's Earth." he spoke with an awe filled voice and then looked up to watch it too. "No matter how many times I watch this, it always strikes me the same. It's beautiful. No wonder so many migrated here, calling it their second home."
I sat there beside him in awe and literally mesmerized. "It's incredible," I whispered. "So beautiful!"
"It is." He was silent for a long time watching me watch the earth slip above the horizon in a graceful majestic arc.
He began whittling again. "Anyway," he began his story again. "After the new edicts had been passed by the Guild. My dad, being a high ranking Guildsmen as well as a king from his own realm, with son's who were part of a prophecy that I'll save for later— things went bad, very bad in a hurry and right from the start. I'm going to skip some parts here, quite a few actually. Save them for another time."
I nodded trying to keep up with everything he was telling me.
"As a grown son who caused more than his fair share of woes for my father, I was more or less banished, sent to the earth realm to protect me. According to my father it was to keep me from getting into trouble. I was to become a Guardian on that planet there." he pointed with his knife at Earth.
But in the process, as I have already started telling you at the beginning, I fell in love with this young woman. I don't know how she did it, what was in her own blood line, how she could possibly have seen me. Maybe I was doing something wrong, after all I didn't have experience as a Guardian yet. She was my first. In any case, she saw me.
We became friends. And then I did the unthinkable. She was so worth any risk I could take, incredibly so. Worth an eternity alone even, if that was what it took to spend any amount of time with her at all." He looked at what he was whittling and then met my curious look. He smiled brilliantly. "She and I became lovers. We knew the risks should we be caught. But that was no deterrent, even knowing I could be recycled in the utter-death, and she, knowing full well it could bring about her instant death. Both of us were completely powerless. We had fallen in love. I, an Otherkind prince and she, a human, a citizen of Earth.
When it had been allowed in the before time, when a couple chose to be joined, they would become soul-bound. It's where the concept of soul mates as you know it has filtered down from. Where there is only one half to complete your whole." I nodded my understanding and he continued. "It is why to go through the second death, the utter-death, must be so agonizing and feel overwhelmingly hopeless. To go through eternity all alone. It's enough to make your heart grow cold just thinking about it." he shook his head sadly.
"Anyway, this human woman and I became soul-bound in a very secret joining. A marriage more permanent than any performed on Earth, with only some of my family to witness it. My dad, though understanding, didn't want the joining to occur. It was risky and since I was one of the three sons of the prophecy. Well, it is kind of obvious how he must have felt. But he couldn't do anything to stop us. He was in the— somewhere else" he held up his hand "don't ask, that also is for later. In any case, He was elsewhere and trying to protect the Otherkind from the Elderdark and its House of Lords, while maintaining the illusion that I had, of my own accord, plunged myself into the second death. Which is how he explained away my absence when I was sent to, and hidden, on Earth as a Guardian. He had to do this or else they would have torn up everywhere until they found me. It was the only place my father could think of that would be safe."
"Elderdark? Who would have been looking for you and why?"
He held up his hand "No questions till I'm finished." He began whittling furiously now.
I had a ton of them.
"My father, even though a king, could do nothing to stop my soul-bonding to the human woman without giving me away. He chose silence, understanding all too well my predicament very intimately. I'll tell you why later.
My family, well they are like my brother and sister, were the only witnesses to what she and I did. Duly witnessed in a forest, under the light of the moon, she and I became soul-bound," he whispered looking at me intently, "married."
"Us?" my voice squeaked. "You—- and me?"
He shook his head yes and held my hand. "You are she. It is what caused you to feel like you knew me. You have somehow been able to remember. To awaken to your past life."
"How is that even possible?"
"Reincarnation."
He took his hand away and stared at Earth now fully risen above the horizon. That mask of pain twisted his face. "See? I made another mistake." he stabbed the ground with his knife. "I thought I could keep her safe, no matter what. I thought that they wouldn't be able to find out about us." He paused for what seemed a very long time before murmuring softly. "I was so wrong, so very wrong."
I waited. When he didn't say anything else I ran my fingers through the mossy grass and looked up at the sky before looking back at him. "Her?"
"Yes."
"You were wrong? Who found her Bryce?"
"See? Because of my inability to obey the rules they found us, and what was deemed accidental was really tantamount to her murder." his voice cracked.
"It happened during a battle, she was by my side fighting. I told her to stay behind, that it was much too dangerous. But brave and courageous was the air she breathed. She came with me, and then—" he stopped. Closing his eyes as he remembered what happened. A shudder passed through his body.
I didn't know what to say. Reaching out I lay a hand on his shoulder. He lay his large one over mine completely engulfing it. For some reason it hurt that he kept saying her and not me. I let it pass and listened to his story.
"Somehow they'd found out. Perhaps because every soul-bonding is recorded in the Akashic House of All Records. The Hall of Records— perhaps some over-zealous keeper of records found the listing of our Soul-bonding and turned us in to the Guild where there are members from every realm, no matter their polarity. However it was discovered, they came." Reaching out he picked up another stick snapping it in two. I could feel his anger and self-hatred. "It was someone from within my own ranks killed her while we were fighting. A traitor sent on a deadly mission."
A tears glimmered from his eyes. "When she died in my arms. I went insane with heartache and grief. It had been my fault. I went, well, I went more than a bit nuts." he smiled ruefully. "Tore up a lot of things. My father had to intervene or he would have lost the third triplet as well. I would have killed myself, voluntarily recycling my soul, but then the prophecy of the three would never be able to occur, and I promise you, I will tell you another time just what the prophecy is."
He looked at what he was creating in his hands and then began with his story again. "Only recently did my father bring me back from being bound in the palace of my father, putting me in this realm again under strict oath to behave myself. My post new post was as an auxiliary guardian. My father evidently thought there was no way I could possibly get into trouble this way and since more than enough time had transpired." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "No charge was assigned to me, I was just supposed to sit here and wait until he was able to find my other two brothers.
At the bonfire I saw one of the lords of the Elderdark alone with someone who definitely didn't belong. I saw he was attacking a girl and intervened. I had no idea who you were then. So I rescued you, then took off after your attacker." He sighed, deeply troubled, and then spoke in a soft voice "I also ran off the Guardian that had been yours, the one who had failed you so abysmally" he mused "almost intentionally or so I thought at that time. Now I know for certain that it was intentional. Anyway your guardian took off running following the other dark ones."
"Mine?"
He nodded his head.
"And again it was serendipity. I began watching over you, though from a bit of a distance. There are things you don't know about me yet, but that is for another time. I didn't know who you were Rowan, not at first. When I saw the miscreant guardian that I had run off back again, saw what he was up to, the car that was going to be used to take out someone else, I intervened again. When you got hurt in that car accident, the one I had caused to keep you from getting killed, the first time I looked into your eyes, I knew in that very heartbeat who you were. But when I saw you recognized me too. It was like before, all over again. I saw your death, you in my arms, dying and I couldn't bear it happening again. When I saw who you were, and, even if for the right reasons, my fault again you were hurt, I got worried. Actually, if I were completely honest, I got down right scared.
I had hoped I could make you hate me so you would never think of me again. If you hated me then you would never look deeper for anything. Then nothing would be discovered. I could just do my job and keep you safe from harm, and continue to do as my father had bid me. Stay and wait. Well" he looked at me smiling ruefully "that is what you were picking up on when you saw me angry. My anger wasn't for you. It was at myself." he looked down at me eyes full of worry and concern.
"What about when you rescued me at the bonfire. What happened to the one who used to be my guardian?"
He frowned then, furrows deeply etching his forehead.
I let the silence go on for a few moments. "Bryce?"
He stopped whittling and looked up at the sky. "For now, I think I will leave that one unanswered completely, at least unnamed. I need to speak to my father about it first. I think it is one that has gone rogue and about to switch his allegiance and go through the second death." He looked up to the sky "perhaps he already has. It would explain a lot."
"You mean he killed himself?"
"Well, yes, but no. He won't die. He will though, become an enemy of the worst sort. A traitor to his own kind. But, like I said, I wish to speak to my father before I say anything else. However, going back to the accident, even then I didn't know who you were. As I said, not until I actually got out of my truck and came to your window and looked in your eyes did I see who you were."
I let it go for now thinking.
"But, you are a student in school? Why?"
"It was to keep hidden, and still be able to watch over you. I and Tina didn't enroll until the afternoon of the accident. Pretending to be fully human, I could just lay low, be your Guardian and stay out of the way until father could get Seth and Victor out as well. Then all three of us would be together and after that," he shrugged looking off in the distance.
"Fully human?"
"Another time Rowan, I promise."
Thinking about what he had said, I noticed he made no mention of me being in the group of three he named and a deep aching sadness filled a spot in my heart that I hadn't known I had.
"My father had already told everyone that I had been found and recycled. That I had gone through the utter-death after my illegal wife had been expunged by a spy for the Guild. Rebel that I was, it wasn't a farfetched idea in response to my errant ways."
"But why hide? I get that he had to protect you but, from what?" I couldn't imagine him being a rebel. Temperamental and with a full set of mercurial moods yes, but a trouble-maker? And he looked so strong, what could there be that could hurt him?
"It's hard to explain, and too many details to cover. But I will tell you this. There is a war coming Rowan, not one of this Earth but one that will most assuredly impact it to its very foundations. It's been building for a very, very long time, much longer than I have been alive even. There have been numerous small battles breaking out lately, here, there," he paused "elsewhere."
He didn't elaborate and I didn't ask, mulling over his troubling words. "How old are you?"
"I won't answer that one Rowan. Not now anyway. But, back to the story. I was given a spot to stand in this realm and wait. Just wait and not to be seen, at least in my ecclesiastical form." he grinned and then he got serious again. "Things are getting ready to fire up. The Guild, and my father along with the Otherkind, are trying to get Victor and Seth and it's become very complicated. So, imagine my surprise when you turn up right under my nose!
After I ran off your Guardian at the bonfire, threatening him with dire implications if he did not relinquish his post to me for his willful neglect. It has since come to my attention that he came back to take you from me. Hence the reason for the second attack. He followed me to find you." he looked at me intently. "Then at the accident, he was there watching. This is so risky Rowan, so very risky. I looked for him after the car accident. Threatening him as I had was risky the first time. Beyond foolish and dangerous the second. But if I couldn't have you as my wife and soul-bond mate, I wanted, needed to at least be your personal Guardian, to watch over you."
"This other guardian, how many did I have?"
"Had, at least in his case. Most humans have more than one Guardian. Another one should have been posted to you. Trouble is, I don't want anyone near you—- except me." He looked up at the sky worry creasing his brow once more. "I sort of staked you as mine after the accident."
I watched him while trying to grasp all of this. After a pause I asked "Why was it risky? I mean to tell another guardian that you wanted to be mine?"
"Because if the Guardian I pushed away from you tells anyone, anyone on the Guild, or someone even worse. If he saw what happened between us at the accident" his voice drifted off and then he sighed deeply. "I could have just put you in incredibly grave danger. I didn't think about it at first, what it could ultimately end up as. I just knew I wanted to be near you. So once again I acted impetuously and irresponsibly." He looked up at the sky then back at his whittling obviously angry with himself.
"And then as time went on I found it hard to balance out the student with the angel in hiding, and me as your guardian with me as your soul-bonded mate, and keep you from knowing. When every time I looked in your eyes I wanted to—" his words drifted off. He worked on his whittling a bit.
After a few moments he continued. "You know Tina, Bettina's her real name. She's been an enormous help in making me toe to the line until I could figure out what to do— about us." he paused and inspected his whittling then continued.
"Tina and Archer are not really my brother and sister. They are more like my own guardian angels, and I'm their duty, as decried by my father." He looked at me apologetically "I'm sorry. I've endangered you Rowan." He paused and then murmured "again." He was looking down at what he was making, staring at it intently. After a few moments he began talking again.
"After I saw that you were looking at me as if you knew me also, in your horribly unsafe little car," he looked askance at me with rueful smile. "I began digging into your past. I needed to figure out why you were able to recognize me now, in this life. It was too impossible. There had to be a reason."
"Was there?"
Nodding solemnly "I am not supposed to tell you this. There was, as Miranda said, a wall placed around your memories by someone very important. And to that one belongs the tale of who, and what you are. But, I also have a responsibility to make sure you know everything. You are the Daughter of the Woods. To you goes a very special position, and I have no right, even here, to delve into it beyond the superficial. To your bloodline goes a special duty that transcends just being another human in the gene pool. It's your birth right. Your grandmother will tell you of these things." He grimaced then and looked severe, his voice heavy with finality. "And if I have anything to do with it, you will hear from her very soon."
I looked at him surprised at the import his final words carried and the way he had emphatically stated them. I had some say in this too after all. "My Grams?"
He nodded his head and held out what he'd been whittling to me.
"I made it for you." he said in that silky deep voice of his that sent shivers down my spine.
When I reached out he lay it in my palm and smiled at me, a smile that took my breath away. It was two hearts made from one piece of wood yet interlocking each other.
"It's beautiful, it looks impossible to have them joined together like that from only one piece of wood. How did you do that? It looks like there must be a catch somewhere to make them hook into each other like that!"
"There is no catch."
"It's beautiful!"
"Like you, stunningly beautiful. It is also very much like us, impossible, but joined." He sighed and then looked at me. "Did you ever notice that within the word impossible is the two words 'I'm possible'?"
Tears stung my eyes as I fingered the pair delicately. "No, I hadn't." Murmuring softly I looked at the hearts. "Now what?"
He looked sad. "I'm not sure. I am not even sure how much of this you will remember when I take you back."
That had not been what I had expected him to say at all and I stared at him stunned, a sea of emotions flooding my mind.