'Benjamin! Benjamin!' Suzanne's voice brought him back to the present.
'It's time, let's get our forces through to take over this domain and subdue any form of retaliation'
Suzanne had a wide smile on her face. Benjamin wondered if she could see what he had planned.
'Go with Harold, there's something I have to do first' Benjamin responded.
'What's that?' Suzanne probed.
'I have to change the portal hall, make it mine. I must disconnect it from the other portal lords and other realms from which they can send forces. I also have to make an opening large enough for an army from the blue portal lord's domain. Benjamin focused and started working on the portal hall. The entire house which was built very close to the portal hall started creaking and shaking as though altering the portal also meant altering the house.
Benjamin created a direct portal to his home for Suzanne. She went through to meet Harold on the other side.
'Where's my brother' Harold asked as soon as her feet touched the ground.
'Benjamin's busy' Suzanne replied. 'Where's Arthur?' She asked.
'I'm here. We're all set to return to the blue portal lord's domain' Arthur emerged from a room, fully prepared for the journey.
'Let's go home' Suzanne said with a rare genuine smile on her face.
Harold held her and Arthur and transported them to the domain of the blue portal master.
On getting to the domain, Suzanne, Arthur and Harold were led to the conference room where Simon and his commanders were already preparing for battle. When Suzanne walked in, Simon excused himself and went out with Suzanne to speak privately.
'I'm back' Suzanne said and hugged Simon. Simon seemed delighted to have her back.
'I have been dreaming of the day you would return' He said with a wide smile. 'How I've missed you'
'I knew you would.' She replied taunting. 'So, I won our bet' Suzanne said.
Simon reached to her neck and pulled out the necklace that held the very ring with which he had saved her from damnation on that terrible day that the lilac portal lord attacked. Their wedding ring.
'You kept it' He said, his voice nearly cracking from emotion.
'Simon, our bet' Suzanne insisted.
'Of course, and you will have your reward. A true leader never goes back on his word.' Simon replied.
'Thank you, Simon. It's all I could ever wish for.' She hugged him again. 'Well, you have important matters to attend to. I won't keep you.' Suzanne walked back with him to the conference room and stayed for the briefing. After that, she went to the infirmary in the palace to see her brother.
Arthur's welcome was not as warm. After several moments of silence thick with such animosity that even Harold was uncomfortable, one of the clan leaders finally spoke.
'Why is he here?' Calvin asked, pointing at Harold.
'Benjamin's ability is portal making, he is the one who will carry out the plan.' Arthur responded understanding their confusion as to why a central piece of the coup was outside his post of assignment.
'What do you mean? We were told Harold was the portal maker.' Calvin asked, confused.
'No. Benjamin's anonymity was essential to the success of the mission, that is why we limited the number of people who knew his true ability' Arthur answered.
'Preposterous! So you mean to say that you thought we would reveal confidential matters discussed at this table to others?' Another clan leader, Thomas exclaimed in anger.
'I only wanted to make sure. There are those whose ability can pull the darkest secrets from one's mind without consent' Arthur spoke calmly. The others could immediately see the wisdom in his words, the oracle was able to know whatever was known in an instant without the consent of those whose lives she freely rummaged through.
Simon came back with Suzanne shortly after that and all further grievances were buried until later. Arthur remained mostly silent for the remainder of the meeting. Now and again, he would feel one of the clan leaders glaring at him but he chose to ignore them.
Arthur left the meeting feeling sick to his stomach. The clan leaders were nothing but sycophants, favouring Simon only because he was the current leader. Arthur had seen enough wars and bloodshed. The deal he struck entailed the survival of his family. That was all he was interested in.
'Arthur!' A familiar voice made him stop dead in his tracks. It was Calvin.
'Whatever you have to say to me, you should have said in the meeting' Arthur said then continued walking.
'I see you have gotten yourself a slave. That's not like you' Calvin continued ignoring Arthur's remark.
'He's not a slave. He is my son,' Arthur replied in anger.
'So, you settled down and remarried. I guess peace does that to a man. I would love to meet the lovely lady, when all this is over' Calvin said chuckling.
'I'm sorry but that won't be possible.' Arthur answered.
'And why not?' Calvin asked with an exaggerated disappointment.
'Mom's out of town right now.' Harold replied. Arthur flinched at the response but it was barely noticeable.
'I see. I will come when she's around. Arthur, keep me informed alright?' Calvin answered then quickly walked away, as another commander had signaled him.
'Harold, what do you mean by mom's out of town? I told you that she's no longer with us. There was a fire that killed her.' Arthur stooped to correct the child as soon as Calvin turned his back on them.
'But she is, I have seen her. She's alive Dad! One day I will show you' Harold's eyes were filled with such hope but all Arthur could feel was dread at their reunion.
'Why didn't you tell me this before?'
'Because I knew you wouldn't believe me. Even now you don't believe me. But I'll prove it to you. Mom's alive!' Harold smiled.
Arthur watched Calvin walk away with a sigh of relief. He had taken Scott in as a spoil from war because of his unique ability. The ability to make anyone tell the truth, but when Arthur realized how dangerous such an ability was to him, he blocked himself and Benjamin from its effects. Calvin discovered that Scott was useless to him in that way so he sent him on a different mission. To infiltrate the academy where Benjamin was brought up to be a soldier, befriend him and discover all he could about his and Arthur's past. Scott nearly failed his mission but then, just before the war, Benjamin revealed his ability to him. Arthur knew then that it was time for them to leave. The residents of this domain would never trust them so there was no use trying to earn their trust. Arthur hatched the plan to run away and betray them and he carried it out successfully.
Those first few months were the closest he had ever been to freedom. Arthur looked around at the impoverished countryside he had to pass through to the extravagant palace and was filled with disgust anew. It was a familiar feeling. He was back in the old city. As they made their way through, Arthur wondered if he would ever be free from wars.
Once branded a fugitive, now a royal guest. Arthur was granted the honour and privilege of staying in the palace. Or was it just a ruse to keep a close eye on him? Clutching Harold, they both walked towards the towering castle.
Suzanne, on the other hand, was leaving the infirmary. She had been speaking to her brother for hours, telling him all that she had done. She believed that he was still in there, that he could still hear her through the coma. She walked through the palace, enjoying the view and the cool, familiar halls.
'You're finally back' Simon said as soon as she walked in. 'I have been waiting for you'
'I'm tired, honey' Suzanne immediately excused herself.
'Where have you been?' Simon eyed her suspiciously.
'Are you jealous? Don't worry, I won't be going there anymore.' Suzanne answered, in high spirits.
'You were at the infirmary, weren't you?' Simon asked, sitting on the bed.
'Yes. Darling, when are you going to swap his fate like you promised?' Suzanne asked with an air of impatience.
Simon immediately grew uncomfortable. The shirt suddenly felt tight around his neck and he cleared his throat to loosen the constriction. His head drooped and his eyes searched for something on the floor while he spoke.
'We're in the middle of a war, we can't be dividing our alliances now. Besides, I will have to give up an able soldier for the fate swap to get him on his feet again and we need every hand we can get' Simon looked up to check Suzanne's reaction.
'What do you mean? You promised!' Suzanne exclaimed. Her eyes burned with rage.
'I promised that I would swap his fate if you delivered the lilac domain into our hands.' Simon regretted making such a rash promise more by the hour.
'When I deliver the domain,' Suzanne corrected. 'And I have! Now, fulfil your end of our bargain' She demanded.
'Suzanne, please. Not now! The elders don't want this. You have to think about the liability such a change will pose.' Simon tried logic and reason.
'Are you calling my brother a liability? He is stronger than you would ever be.' Suzanne turned to derogatory remarks in her anger.
'Suzanne! I will not have such disrespect in my own house from my wife!' Simon thundered.
'What house? What wife? I only married you because I had no choice. And this, all this,' Suzanne waved around to signify the entire building, 'It doesn't belong to you. It is my brother's by right!' Suzanne said, huffing, tears rolled down her hazel eyes.
Simon saw how distressed Suzanne was, so he tried another approach. He stood up and approached her slowly. 'Suzanne, I know you miss your brother; we all do. He was my best friend and our beloved prince.' Simon started.
'King' Suzanne corrected, and Simon chose not to argue.
'Yes. When all this is over, I will swap his fate. The lilac portal domain isn't truly ours yet, but when it is, you will see your brother walk again. I promise.' Simon held Suzanne by the wrists.
'You promise,' Suzanne repeated, her eyes carrying no emotion.
'Yes, now please calm down and have some rest. It's a big day tomorrow. We march in to claim our prize, and you will ride by my side as the queen of the blue portal domain.' Simon touched her cheek, ecstatic. He was so excited that he didn't notice the look of disgust on her face when he mentioned that she would sit beside him as queen.
'What would that make you? King?' The words nearly left her mouth, but she decided to keep them in. There was no point arguing anymore. Suzanne had to face the inevitable; Simon had tasted power, and he was not going back. She would have to get what she wanted another way, by force.
Immediately, Suzanne's mind began working on a contingency plan. In the dead of night, while Simon slept soundly, she left to meet Arthur and Harold for a change of plans. As she approached the room, she heard muffled screams, the sound of a struggle. She quickly lit the lamp she had brought with her and barged into the room, hoping to take whoever was in the room by surprise.
Three masked men stood before Arthur and a groggy Harold.
'Why is she here?' One of them turned and asked another in surprise. Suzanne dropped the lamp, which illuminated the room and joined the fray. She separated one of the men, evening out the odds.
'Don't hurt her. Do you know who she is?' These instructions were the last words the footman who fought her heard as she knocked him out in the very next instant.
'Bold of you to fight me distracted,' She snickered. Suzanne was letting out the pent-up aggression from Simon's disappointment.
'Your Majesty, there's no need for us to fight. We're just here to capture the boy,' the leader said, stepping forward. Harold peered at Suzanne from behind Arthur. He was still very sleepy, so he was using Arthur as a shield and support.
'Who sent you?' Arthur spat. His question was ignored by the leader, whose attention was on Suzanne.
'Answer the question,' Suzanne seconded.
'I cannot say,' the leader replied.
'Alright then, reveal your identities, your queen commands it,' She said, stepping forward.
'My lady, I cannot-,' the leader started.
'Then you leave me no choice. For all I know, you may be assassins sent to sabotage our plans.' Suzanne turned to him in combat.
'Now!' the leader shouted at the other footman, whom they had all but forgotten. He opened his mouth, and though Arthur and Suzanne heard nothing, Harold collapsed to his knees on the floor, clasping his ears shut. Blood trickled from between his fingers. Arthur realized the threat too late. Before he could use his ability on the footman, the leader had knocked Athur to the floor.
Suzanne saw the future clearly, she stood helpless as it unfolded before her, Arthur and Harold would be captured, and her husband would show up just in time to drag her back, no doubt to be placed under house arrest until the battle was won.
The ability to see the future could be paralyzing at times, it deprived her of the will to struggle, to fight. The outcome was inevitable, so Suzanne watched in despair. Just then, she saw an aberration, for a split second, there were two Harolds instead of one. One of them held the man who was attacking the other Harold, and vanished with him. The other Harold, who was on the floor, looked up and disappeared. Then the second Harold, who had vanished with the man, came back.
Suzanne blinked. Had she seen that, or was it imagined? But the masked man was gone; that was undeniable proof that her eyes were not deceiving her. She only saw shadows like that when fear clouded her use of her ability, Premonition and left her confused. But what happened now wasn't a mirage; she wasn't looking into the future. In the present, there had been two Harolds.
Suzanne was puzzled not just by Harold's duplicity, which was commonplace, but by the fact that she was seeing it for the first time. Suzanne had checked the future using her ability, and the outcome she saw was a completely different one. According to premonition, Harold got captured. Suzanne stared in open shock at the boy who seemed to have done the impossible, changing the future.
Harold rushed to help his father, but the masked leader was quicker; he darted out of Harold's reach. Harold was at the level where physical contact was still necessary to activate his gift and transport someone. Arthur got up. The masked man looked around him. He could tell he was outnumbered, so he began looking for a means of escape. He glanced at the door behind Suzanne, then at the open window he had crept in from, turning his gaze back to Arthur, he found that Arthur had closed the distance between them and had his hand lifted to pull off his mask. His reaction time was too slow, and Calvin's face was revealed in the darkened room.
'I suspected it would be you,' Arthur said with a grimace.
Suzanne remembered the entire picture of the future she had seen. In no time, Simon, her husband would walk in through the door, with an ability like his, the entire battle could be lost in a moment. So she attacked Calvin first and won quickly. She rightly suspected that he would go easy on her out of fear of her husband. There was another reason she won, Arthur used his ability to nullify his attacks on all three of them.
'We have to go now!' She said, holding Harold and Arthur.
'Why?' Harold asked.
The reason was present before she could answer. Simon barged into the room as they all held onto Harold.
'Suzanne! Suzanne! Don't go! I forbid it. Suzanne!' Simon shouted, trying to enforce his will.
'Goodbye Simon. I knew you would never heal him,' she replied.
'No, please stay, I will heal him, I promise' Simon tried reassuring her.
'You promised last time too. You can have this back' She threw him the ring she wore as a necklace, there was no point keeping that now. It was Simon's only promise to her that he had ever kept.
Simon caught the ring as they vanished into thin air. Suzanne was gone again. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. The last time he felt this way was when she was being dragged away to face the decree of the almighty. Even after he saved her, she never wore the ring on her finger. He convinced her to do so only when he promised to heal her brother. Full of excitement, she vowed always to wear the ring on her finger as he wished after he fulfilled his part of the bargain.
Simon looked at the ring, a metal band with the words forever and always etched into it. Suzanne always kept it with her, for good luck. Whether she wanted it or not, she was emotionally attached to it because it had saved her that day. He felt a sense of loss and finality with the cold metal ring in his hands again.
'NO!' Simon's very nature ingrained into the essence of his ability would not allow things to remain this way. He could change fate itself and he would be damned if he let anything get in the way of what he wanted.
Simon assembled the clan heads and chief strategists for a change of plans. The attack on the lilac portal domain was to be launched immediately.