Battle of Forces: Sera Toujours Read online

  “If he’s as good as Lenore, he must be a wonderful writer. Listening to her read your story was one of the best experiences of my life.”

  “She’s good enough to make me think she was talking about someone else in those pages.” Kendal kissed Piper’s forehead when she laid her head on her chest. “I was brought into the ranks to fight back the darkness. Morgaine trained my body, and when I was ready, she took me to Lenore to train my mind.”

  Egypt, 1302 BC

  “No warrior, no matter how talented, can win every battle, Asra. At least not without a good amount of wit.” Lenore walked around the large cavernous room lighting candles as she spoke. “You’ve been in the desert for years now, and Morgaine has honed you into something to fear in battle, but I hope you’ll give me as much of your attention during our time together so you’ll go out into the world with a balanced education.”

  “I promise to do my best.” Asra was still looking down at the strange clothes she’d been given to wear. The leather hid a lot of her tanned skin and felt strange after wearing only a loincloth for so long.

  “Even if my hips aren’t as enticing to watch when I walk as Morgaine’s, let’s hope that’s true,” Lenore said teasingly as she took a seat across from her. One of the servants brought out a tray loaded with tea and sweet cakes once they were situated.

  Despite her new longevity, Asra felt the heat of a blush at what Lenore had said. “I’ll try to keep myself in check.”

  For months after that they covered the history of the world, centering on stories she’d never heard as a child. She’d never seen any of the creatures and spirits Lenore told her about in the place where she’d grown up. Her only experience with the horror of it was the day she’d come home to find her father and their entire household staff ripped to shreds. With Morgaine she’d learned the defensive moves to protect herself and ultimately defeat her enemies, but Lenore taught her what to look for and what made them tick. Every weakness and everything ever learned about any evil that could tilt the fate of mankind could be found in her library, and Lenore made her learn every bit of it until it was as engrained as any defensive maneuver.

  Once they’d covered that aspect of her responsibilities, Lenore gave her lessons on the Genesis Clan and the Elders who ruled it. Their rules would dictate her actions, but it didn’t bother her since her life wasn’t much different than it had been as captain of the Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s elite forces. As it was then, her job was to fight on command and destroy any target they sent her after.

  “Did you enjoy your night off?” Lenore asked when she joined her in the library.

  “It was a training exercise, so it was all right. It still amazes me to find these things living in a city and no one has a clue.”

  “Did you have any trouble?”

  Asra walked around the large space until she was in front of the shelves loaded with books instead of scrolls. “Everything you said was true when it came to spotting them, and everything Morgaine taught me made it easy.” She ran her finger down the row at eye level until she reached one with no title. It was more of a journal, and all the passages were signed Bruik, followed by his crest stamped in wax with the date.

  Oakgrove, Present Day

  “Who’s Bruik?” Piper asked as she lifted her head. “That sounds more like a car than a person.”

  “You remind me so much of a younger me.” Kendal laughed and pressed her fingers to Piper’s lips. “I interrupted so much in all our lessons, I thought I’d drive poor Lenore insane, but in Bruik’s journal you’ll find the answers to your questions.”

  Egypt, 1302 BC

  “Why doesn’t this book have a name?” Asra held it up and waved it in Lenore’s direction.

  “It needs no name and it needs to go back on the shelf where you found it.” It was the first time Lenore had reprimanded her; thus far she’d only encouraged her to learn to love the library as much as she did. No book or scroll had ever been off-limits.

  “Why?”

  “Bruik is an Elder, one of the first, and those are his thoughts.”

  She put it back but wasn’t ready to let the conversation die. “If he wanted to keep his thoughts private, he wouldn’t have given you his journal. If it’s in a library, it’s meant to be read.”

  “Morgaine was right about you.”

  Asra lay across the pillows by the roaring fire and held her hand up to help Lenore down beside her. “In what respect?”

  “You are relentless once something intrigues you. If I don’t give you the answer you seek, you’ll talk circles around me until I tell you. Am I right? Or better yet, you’ll sneak back in here the moment I turn my back on you.”

  “If you’re sure I will, save yourself the trouble and tell me.”

  “Bruik’s our seer, and when he has insight of the future, one of his servants brings it to me for recording. These are his thoughts,” Lenore said as she took the book down, “or more precisely, his visions of the future, so they aren’t entirely private. Only those who have some idea of what to do with them are given the privilege of reading them. You wouldn’t want to know all the things that are going to happen, would you? The future would hold no surprises for you.”

  Asra had almost let Lenore off the hook, but her last comment caught her attention. “I’ve never asked you for anything since I got here.”

  “You’ve been my best student so far.” Lenore put the book behind her as if to make her forget it. “But I’m sure you’re getting ready to ask me for something, so what is it?”

  “Are there any visions of me in there?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  Asra reached for Lenore’s hand when she began to stand and move away. “You can’t, or you won’t? If our time together has taught you one thing about me, it’s that you can trust me.” She released Lenore’s hand and cupped her cheek. “Tell me, and I’ll never betray your confidence.”

  Lenore hesitated, but opened the book and flipped to the right section. “Before I read anything, you need to know that no matter the talent of the seer, no one has full access to the future with perfect clarity.”

  “Is this Bruik often wrong?”

  “Not wrong, no,” Lenore said with her hand over the page she’d opened the journal to. “More like incomplete. He can see things, but a lot of interpretation still has to take place to determine the true meaning.”

  “What did he write about me?” She hadn’t been this excited about anything since her father gave her her first practice sword. Her brother had taunted her for days that it’d never happen because she was being sent away to learn the role of a traditional Egyptian maid. Her father’s gift was a sign he believed she was meant for something more than that, and maybe that’s what Bruik had seen.

  “One of our own will find the sibling with the true heart, while darkness will take the other of the great warrior’s children,” Lenore read, and Asra didn’t need any explanation of the first line.

  “The slayer will spend years roaming the world, always searching for the good fight. At times she’ll fight where she’s sent, but she’ll always take arms where she’s needed if the cause is just.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?” she asked, and Lenore nodded.

  “Among us are those who see the world only for what they can gain, but the slayer’s sights will always be on the good that can be achieved for those we’re sworn to protect, and her fate will always follow that path.”

  Asra wiped the tears Lenore had started to shed, and her touch made Lenore cry harder. “That’s good enough. Don’t read any more if it’s going to upset you this much.”

  “My tears aren’t because of sadness.” Lenore dried her face and smiled. “Of all the passages in here, I’ve always found yours to be the most beautiful and hopeful. Understand this was written long before even your father was born, and Morgaine and I have longed to meet you because of this vision.”

  “Why?”

  “Our slayer will stay true to h
er course,” Lenore kept reading, “but in her future she’ll find one who’ll first be thought a worthy adversary, but not one that means her harm. At that meeting balance will finally be found, and the gift of eternal life will be given at the defiance of the Clan. Once this comes to pass, another will awaken her and a new powerful seer will come forth.”

  “Another will awaken her. What does that mean?”

  Lenore turned so she could see the next line. “Love will find her, but only the touch of another will awaken her potential of sight.”

  “When’s this supposed to happen?” she asked, and noticed a little more. “How will I know?”

  “From the first of our kind, the power of the sun and the life it gives shine brightest in our eyes. The power of the sun and sky is the key to the blue of the eyes that will forever chronicle time.” Lenore touched below her eye, then laid her hand on her chest. “The elixir will not be the same for the one the slayer mixes it for. It will bring immortality, but her eyes will stay the color of beautiful green water, and only then will the slayer know who she has found.”

  “Who will she be?”

  Lenore smiled and pointed to the last line before Bruik’s signature. “She will be the slayer’s reason for living.”

  *

  Piper kept her eyes closed and ran her hand slowly over Kendal’s chest. For once, no matter how much her life had changed since meeting Kendal, she didn’t believe the story. At first she didn’t buy the whole immortality thing because her eye color had stayed the same and because the concept was plain crazy, but the sleep or lack of it had convinced her, even though she still had a kernel of doubt. This, though, was too much.

  “Do you think it’s just because the elixir didn’t work on me?” That was the first time she’d voiced her greatest fear. To have Kendal live on without her and not knowing if fate would ever bring them together again preyed on her mind.

  “I have every confidence you’re no different from me, my love. At first I doubted Bruik’s writings, but never that you’d share your life with me for as long as there are sunrises.”

  “What made you doubt?”

  “The picture over the mantel’s gone, but when I first came back I sensed a trace of Angelina’s ghost here, and I’d put Bruik’s visions to rest when I thought about how she died.” Kendal held her as if she couldn’t look at her for this part of the story. “Think about it. She was given the gift of immortality and kept her green eyes, but even if she’d lived out the night, I doubt she’d have been much help in the realm of prophecy. Her visions would’ve always centered around the evil her life had become.”

  “Would you have let her live if she’d asked you?”

  “No,” Kendal said without hesitation. “The moment she drank from Henri, Angelina was dead. I mean, she’d always look the same, but the most important part of her was gone. Her soul died the second Henri turned her, and no matter how hard she fought, she’d have given in to the darkness as easily as she did to the thirst.”

  “So in a way you felt as if she was the love you sought.”

  “No.” Kendal finally made eye contact with her. “The way I interpreted Bruik’s passage was exactly how he wrote it, but not how you probably understood it. Love would find her. That was the first part, and it was love I felt for her, but my brother mistook my feelings as being deeper than they were and, in his mind, stole her from me. The last part was that another would awaken her, and in my opinion, that happened too. Henri awakened Angelina, not me. His gift would have given her an eternal life just as if I’d mixed the elixir for her, and once the night was over and I’d cleaned up the mess he’d left behind, I never thought of his prophecy again. Bruik’s vision had come to pass as far as I was concerned, and it’d simply end up as a chapter in Lenore’s book. It’d never be the love story she’d hoped for, and I felt more guilt than sadness at Angelina’s loss.”

  “And now?”

  “I have found my love, my balance, and my other half, just like he said. Tonight it was Lenore’s touch that awoke the part of your mind that’ll see far into the future, if that’s your choice.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  Kendal kissed her forehead. “Then we’ll be boatbuilders or winemakers, if that’s what makes us happy, but I won’t allow anyone to force you into a life you don’t want.”

  “And if I do?”

  Kendal laughed at her question. “Then I suppose you’ll always know when I’m doing something I shouldn’t.”

  “And you’ll love me no matter my choice?”

  “Until the day even we have no more tomorrows to look forward to, and even then I’m positive I’ll love you beyond that.”

  They lay quietly after that and Piper thought of what the future might hold now. Whatever her choice, it wouldn’t change Kendal’s feelings toward her, but this would be so far outside what she was used to, it was hard to accept.

  “Remember, no matter what you decide, or your path, I love you and will walk it beside you,” Kendal said, as if reading her mind.

  “Then I’m blessed with so much more than infinite birthdays.”

  Chapter Six

  Lenore went to Morgaine’s room at sunrise to invite her out for a morning walk. After the previous night’s events, it was more important than ever to pull their forces together to protect Piper and Asra from the faction of dissenting Elders that was becoming more powerful by the day.

  With her hand on the knob of Morgaine’s room, she concentrated her hearing downstairs to see if Kendal and Piper were still talking. “I pray you forgive me for not telling you the rest of Bruik’s vision, Asra, but it was for your own protection. Our job now is to go where Piper leads us before it is too late for all mankind.”

  *

  A few spears of sunlight had pierced the thick veil of fog outside Morgaine’s window, and she thought it resembled their future. It’d be mostly dark, with the people under Oakgrove’s roof representing the last bit of light. The house was quiet, but the peace was the last calm before the storm that now seemed inevitable, considering what had happened last night.

  She sighed as she placed her hand on a cold pane of glass. Her body was incapable of fatigue, but her mind felt tired from all the different scenarios she’d thought of since Piper fainted. The vision of the past had changed her mission, and Rolla would not only have to understand, he’d have to accept it if they wanted any chance of success.

  “Well?” she asked Lenore when she entered without knocking.

  “From the sound of it, we might have trouble getting them to concentrate on anything other than finding a place to lie down.”

  She laughed, which made her relax a little. No matter how hard the challenge, it was nice having Lenore so close. “Considering how they interact, flat surfaces might not be necessary.”

  “Are you okay?” Lenore sat on the unmade bed.

  “I may not scream contentment, but I’m happy for her. You must be thrilled since your long-awaited love story has come to pass.”

  “You know the rest of Bruik’s words as well as I do, so save the flowers and candles for later.” Lenore ran her fingers through her dark hair to try to comb it back. “He gave an outline, but his vision is incomplete.”

  “It does suck that he didn’t give any hint to the end of this story,” she said, and smiled.

  “I guess he thought that was Piper’s job.”

  “Let’s go for a walk and leave them to their afterglow a little while longer. You can tell me what you found in that stack of books you insisted on bringing. After that you can help me recruit Charlie.”

  On the way down the stairs Lenore touched the frames that held paintings of Oakgrove’s past residents, which made Morgaine look at their faces. She’d never gotten close to the house when Kendal lived here as Jacques, since Henri had trapped her less than a day after her arrival. Her stupidity had cost her seeing Kendal as the master of this house and the brief happiness it’d given her.

  “Do you think Charli
e will turn you down?” Lenore stopped at the large portrait that took up most of one wall in the foyer. The beautiful woman holding a baby flanked by two small boys had an engaging smile, and the brass plate at the bottom had the name Celia St. Louis engraved on it, along with the names of her sons. This was Charlie’s family.

  “Actually, I think Charlie will be packed and ready for anything once we talk to him. I just think it’ll be polite to ask.”

  “You have learned a few things with age,” Lenore said as they walked outside toward the gate.

  “The only one who’s acknowledged him up to now is Kendal, so I want to give him the respect he’s owed. Did she tell you he was the one who killed Henri?”

  “Her written account was as riveting as always, and I was surprised she’d given him the reward she’d wanted for so long.”

  “Really?” Morgaine asked as she held Lenore’s hand while they climbed the steep incline of the levee.

  “Let me finish,” Lenore said as they sat on the bench that over-looked the Mississippi. “Then I thought of who Asra is, and it wasn’t all that shocking that she let Charlie destroy Henri, especially when you see the painting of his wife and children.”

  “They faced Ora and her strongest creation and won, even if some of the elders had their doubts.”

  “It’s time to start Charlie’s book, so I’m glad you’re planning to ask him to join us. He can fill in the details of his life before he came to Oakgrove.” The wind picked up, so they moved closer together. “Who else are you asking? You and Kendal are talented warriors, but it’ll take more than that to win this fight.”

  “Aside from the four who came with us, I don’t trust anyone else yet. It’s probably not enough, but we can’t chance anyone leaking information that might give us an edge.”

  “Do you have a chance with seven?” Lenore asked softly.

  “I don’t know, but one of the seven is the slayer of Bruik’s vision. Not that I need his prophecies to tell me Asra’s heart, but he was right about one thing. She’d fight anyone and anything for those she loves, especially Piper Marmande.” Morgaine kissed Lenore’s cheek to reassure her. “She’s so close to getting the life she’s only dreamed of, and that’ll make her hard to beat.”