Chapter 46 - Rhistel

Everything has gone so wrong since the damn Rialians got involved. They started this damn war and have ruined everything that I've worked for over the last century to free the people of my country from the control of the Gods. For too long they've caused nothing but pain and suffering to those that worship them and I intend to end it. By any means necessary.

It seemed at first that I was the only one to see the curse the Gods placed on us when they created the Stones but over time I found others who knew the truth. We spread slowly throughout Nerkise finding like minded people until we finally had enough power to start planning our take over, which went very well. Eliminating the Council turned out to simpler than we thought but the rebellions that sprung up after were not. No sooner than we put one down than another began.

Then I started getting reports from my spies in Rialria that their army was moving north but none of the spies could tell me exactly where the army was. Not that I had the man power to do anything about it while trying to maintain control of Nerkise. And to top it all off they had crowned the Lords Ruikor, Belath and Lilas along with their newfound human mate Emilia as the rulers of Rialria.

The main threat out of them though is Ruikor, a trained warrior and one of the oldest living creatures giving him plenty of time to hone his skills. Both he and Lilas were there when the Stones were created being relatives of the Gods but they weren't the only ones there. My father being one of Filarion's grandchildren, the only child of his eldest son, was there along with my mother his wife.

Like all the others there they were honoured to witness the Gods final gift to us not knowing that it would become a curse to my family. Unlike Kor and Lilas my parents didn't receive their Stones that day instead they would find them centuries later after I was born. Father found his first and we were so sure that mother would find the matching Stone, only she didn't. It had already been claimed by a low born human man that father was all too happy to leave us to be with. Never mind the thousand or so years that he'd been a loving husband to my mother or that I was still young, the Gods had chosen this man for him. How could he defy their wishes?

I saw little of my father after that day when he left our home to create a new one. Now I can't even picture his face it's been so long since I last saw him, the last news I received about him was over a thousand years ago. Apparently he'd settled in one of the elvish towns in the south west of Nerkise with that man, living a simple life as he was some common elf rather than the Lord he was born as. Even though he likely doesn't still live their I took great joy in burning that town to ashes when I took over.

The torment of the Gods knows no end though as mother eventually found her own Stone and Soulmate to go along with it. Another elf who agreed to stay by her side but brought with him his bastard children, which we didn't mind. It give mother more children and I had finally had siblings to play with. But my mother's soulmate didn't intend to stop his affairs just because he'd found his soulmate. To him my sweet, devoted mother was nothing more than someone to cook and clean for him and to care for his children while he chased after anyone who caught his eye. Bringing back more bastards each time as he was somehow incredible fertile for an elf.

Eventually the torture of her soulmate having countless affairs and expecting her to raise the by-product became too much for my mother. At that time I was grown and living in my own home yet it was weeks before I knew what had happened. In her madness mother had killed herself but not before killing her soulmate, and all of his bastard children still living with them. She'd left me a letter apologising for leaving me with such a burden but that she had no other way out.

Just as she'd written the gossip of being her son has followed me ever since. Never really dying down no matter where I went it would find me, whispers of whose son I am. A killer's son. Child-murder. Be wary of that one, his mother was mad. I've spent many years travelling since then trying to outrun the talk but I can never get far enough away. It only made my hatred of the Gods fester more.

Their Stone have robbed me of my father and mother. In very different ways but they're both gone all the same. Still I held a tiny shred of hope close to my heart, never letting it grow too much as I knew better. I'd claimed my own Stone half a century after mother's death. A plain looking thing no different than what you'd find in a river bed but I kept it close to me as though it was a diamond.

More fool me though as the Gods have no mercy, not even for their own kin. A few centuries ago I found my Soulmate in a human woman but I found her too late. By the time we finally met she was old and had already known love as she quickly explained to me not long after we met. Widowed and elderly she was simply waiting to join her husband but our meeting robbed her of that as she will live for as long as I do.

Pulling myself from these thoughts I try to focus on the map in front of me and make a plan to turn things around. I can't afford to lose but I've spent days pouring over this map and reports of what men I have left and I can't find an answer lying in front of me. Sighing I collapse back into a chair downing a goblet of wine as I try to think of something, this can't be the end of centuries of work.

Needing a break from trying to work out a way free from my position I leave the war room heading upstairs to a section of my home forbidden to my men. With nearly of Nerkise under the Rialrian army's control we'd retreated back to my private home, hidden away in a forest far from prying eyes known only to those loyal to me. The only part of the house that I've forbidden them from entering is the tower which contains my own personal rooms.

It doesn't just contain my room however not that I've ever shared the inhabitants of the other chambers with anyone. Sighing I remove my sword and dagger placing them on a table in the hall before knocking on the door in front of me and opening it.

"How are you today my love?" I ask entering the small sparsely decorated room. Even though the room is largely empty what furnishings are here I've spared no expense on. Anything for the comfort of the only person in this world that I care about.

"Please, just let me go." She begs weakly from the bed her time worn face tired and pale as always, "Free me. Let me join Edmun. Rhistel, please."

"Shh, Julianna. It'll all be over soon. We'll both be free." I soothe taking a seat next to her on the bed gently holding her close despite her weak protests. Looking over at the only shelf in the room I can't help but wonder about how things could have been as I gaze at the three Stones resting on the shelf.

Perhaps the worst blow dealt by the Gods was this, cursing me not to meet my Soulmates sooner. I'd met Julianna merely months after the death of Edmun none of us knowing that we'd be bound as a triad rather than a pair. Having loved him for a lifetime Julianna has begged and wept everyday since to die and join Edmun, the Soulmate I'll never know, in death. It has only become worse over the centuries as their children and grandchildren have lived and died as well.

I can't bear to let her go though, not when the only way that she can die now is a bloody painful death. And she has tried. Many times I've had to save her from herself as she's tried to end her life much the same way my mother did. I refuse to let her die that way though so I'll free us from the curse these Stones have brought and then she can pass peacefully to Edmun and their children.

Until that day though she'll stay here cared for by a nurse and unable to hurt herself again. As much a curse as these Stones are I can't help but love her, the same as many after meeting their Soulmate, and want her to be safe. I know that we can't be happy together but hopefully one day she'll forgive me for being a coward and refusing what she's asked for countless times.

"I hope the Gods strike you down for this." She mutters glaring at me with as much hate as she can muster. From the first time we met and she realised that I was an elf there has been nothing short of loathing in her eyes for me yet I try to visit as often as I can.

"The Gods caused this my love. If they hadn't bound us with the Stones none of this would have happened. I'd have likely settled down with an elf centuries ago and you'd be with Edmun right now. Or they could have been kinder letting our paths cross while you both were young." I say wistfully my mind thinking of what that would have been like, "What a life we would have had."

I'd thought many times before meeting Julianna of marrying an elf but then the memory of my father would creep in. The idea of having love ruined by the finding of a Soulmate persuaded me away from that idea completely. It's left me stuck with this, one dead Soulmate and another who wishes they were dead. My dreams of what life would have been like if the three of us had met earlier in their lives is the most peace I can get in this life while the Gods still have their hold on this world.

After a peaceful night of sleep with Julianna in my arms I wake up with a clearer plan of what to do now. It seems all I needed to see a way forward was time alone to clear my head and a reminder of why I started this war in the first place, to free my poor Julianna from her pain. Once I've had all the Stones destroyed then the Gods will no longer have any control over us and she can pass on in peace.

So far we've found that just destroying Stones doesn't break the connection that they create. But if we can get rid of them all along with the elves who have the knowledge to create more then eventually, hopefully, the connections will fade and things will go back to the way they were. Back before the Gods ruined everything.

With a plan fixed in my mind I head downstairs to discuss it with my men, well to tell them what's happening so they can put it in action. Walking into the room where we'd been meeting I find that they're all asleep and from the look of the map they've made no progress since I left last night. I slam the door shut behind me causing them to jump awake and stand at attention when they notice me glaring at them.

"Your Majesty." They greet shakily wary of the glare on my face. I push down the anger I feel though knowing that none of them care as much about this revolution as I do, if they did then they wouldn't have fallen asleep without coming up with any new strategies for me.

"Never mind that. I know what we're going to do now." I inform them approaching the map and looking it over. My gaze focuses in on our piece stationed in Hadlau. "Send word to our spy in Hadlau. We're moving forward with that plan." It's a dangerous plan but at the same time it's the only move I have left. But it could backfire spectacularly and end in ruin for all of us.