Bertan`s quest - Michelle Tarynne (best beach reads of all time txt) 📗

the whole Sword kingdom, for their actions spoke louder than their robes. The questioning of our ways began." Ash became so quiet that his lips seemed to move without any sound. He looked at the staircase that led to the Winter’s Peak.
"So, all the Mothers had to be eliminated one by one, even before the Old King died," the Unnamed quickly realized. He was very disappointed that his own Mother decided not to share that fact with him. Though, he knew that this knowledge could make him question his duties too. An executioner had to have no doubts and no questions burning through his mind. "Who had killed my Mother then Ash?"
"We both know it wasn’t her” Ash glared, “Only one Sword gained a lot, following your Mother's death, and we both know that it wasn't Bertan. You should know perfectly well by now who it was." The giant smiled sadly, taking the first step upwards.
"I think I do. I finally do," the Unnamed said, following Ash in his climb. His core sank to his feet at the implications of that knowledge. He realized, he had been manipulated and used, over and over again. He let it happen, but he still wasn't ready for the full awakening from the Madness that hazed his guilty senses into oblivion. "The New King will stop at nothing to win this war and bring the balance and the chance to fix everything to be the way it used to be before."
"It's not possible to fix it completely from the Axe territories," Ashe said after a long moment of considering silence. "He knows it, but wants to buy more time."
"It's where the flooded tiers are."
"Yes, and it’s where we froze and darkened the pit of fire that allowed all the Core’s preciousness to travel to the surface, so it’s essential to undo that too, but it's not where I clogged the water outflow with the stones. The blockades should be removed, so the water doesn't overflow the dam walls. It's only the pit of white fire that needs to be reignited down below the Inner Block. But Cassess is deep into his Madness too. He will not listen to any reason, especially from me, as I'm the only one who reminds him of his faults back then. He fears greatly that what and who had been flooded could be brought back to the surface once again." The sad smile it brought to Ash’ face reminded the Unnamed of Genes who started his quest not that long ago, and of the five young Swords, he might share ancestry with, of his Mother protecting Bertan from his sword. The all-consuming sadness was the only thing he could recall of his past. The joy had been absent all along everywhere he would choose to look at throughout his time of hazed awareness. The only possible outcome shone brightly.
"You will not live much longer Ash," the Unnamed was slow with his words knowing that Ash had a lot at stake too, for his position was higher, and his game should never end in death. Ash was not to be trusted, but he would be helpful.
"Most certainly my brother. My Fates have joined with yours unexpectedly, for this short time being," Ash didn’t look concerned with his future at all. Probably his long-lived acceptance of how his life would end brought the serenity to his features. Inner peace was the thing to grow into, not the thing to be fought over for.
"Where do our Fates take us now?" The Unnamed asked and immediately he felt that he lost his grip over his own life. Suddenly, there was nothing left to sacrifice, no words to fearfully whisper, no more breaths to take that would give any meaning to what he had already done. He was taking his steps mindlessly, entering the unseen gates that could take him close enough to fix the past. Though, it would never be close enough to undo it altogether.
"What are your plans for yourself?" the Unnamed asked in return, avoiding any commitment. He was still raw and unable to trust anew. He felt the Fates had put him in place to be used over and over again by the people who never saw a person in him. He feared that yet again, Ash regarded him just as a mean to an endgame of his own. Though, that fear started to mean nothing to him. He understood that his life revealed how empty it was, and how empty he was.
"The greatest plan a man can wield is a patience and self-restraint, not the action itself. Fates never interfere with patience," Ash said once they reached the terrace the Mother had died on, subtle marks of blood were still visible to their eyes. "Troubling things and deeds will bring always even themselves out and I’m not sure if it’s always the Fates’ fault."
"Always?" The Unnamed had his doubts and hopes in perfect balance as he looked at the blood signs on the floor. He looked back at the times when his trust was wrongly placed. Past deeds reached deeply into his core, eating it up, making him feel dead on the inside. Almost. Yes… Almost.
"Always," Ash said in a final tone of dismissal.
"Are you brave enough to bring the bad Royal City news to the King all by yourself? When are you planning to do it?" The Unnamed asked cautiously when they prepared to separate once again. He was personally aware of the New King's instabilities and didn’t particularly agree with Ash in his plans, but would always follow him through, for the truth that Ash had shared more than once.
"This time is as good as any other, and I'm just as good as any other person. It's not like there is any other choice anyway," Ash smiled once again, “Mine… Our House Line is almost extinct anyway,” Some part of him enjoyed goading the New King, while another part wished him a long and painful death.
 
At this point Ash knew his own life was at stake here more than the King's. He just couldn’t care anymore in his recklessness. He was changed at the moment he discovered that every single Sword was barren, including himself. What was life without the ability to pass it over? What was the near immortality for, when it lacked the gift and joy of creating a new life? It ceased to be a big secret over time as more and more of younger Swords raised the concerns. The old ones, like the Mothers, they had known about everything all too well and acted accordingly. For a man who valued life above all, in contrast to everyone around, it was a blow right at the core of his being, of his will to exist.
"He could kill you right there, on the spot," the Unnamed noted without any real emotion.
"He is mad, but not that mad. The New King needs his troops to trust him enough to go into that fire with him. He would not want to risk his position in their eyes by any outburst that he might privately take pleasure in," Ash smirked and walked up to the platform. He was ready to go back to the battle. "What we saw here, will trouble him enough. It will make him think about many other things, many important to him things. So, I guess there's a big chance that he might just let me go."
Ash pointed the way the Unnamed was to take then, into the Well of Fates. He mentioned no plans he had for himself, for he didn't trust even himself to go on with it anyway. That way, there was always time and place to pull out and give the planning some more attention. Waiting for the best opportunity to strike was his best option. Waiting should be his middle name.
They parted without a word, knowing it’s a last time to say something, the best sound was silence, as always.
 
Dusted stones that the Unnamed was constantly disrupting kept on falling through in between of his feet. He had to trust the unlikely story told by his newfound brother to keep on going down the narrowing well. It seemed to have no end and deprived him of the comfort his senses would have given him. He lost his scent, taste, and sight.
He knew at this point that nothing else could bring him peace. Waves of awareness hit his core over and over again to remind him what the pain felt like. Last twitch of extinguished reason, last drop of the Sword Madness to haze his guilty hands.
Constant in his repeating moves, he could feel the slow detachment of his mind that brought him to the verge of the other Madness Swords were prone to experience. The ones who live next to forever get addicted to testing the boundaries of their immortality. His mind screamed at him to jump down and shorten the time. It would cut the boredom slowly creeping near, too. Great Cycles passed throughout his lifetime, depriving him of any real time perception.
The countless lives he finished with his sword made him welcome the feel and taste of his own blood graciously. Though many might claim of the Swords fiery origins, the opposite truth was evident in the liquidity of the pouring blood, whatever the color it might choose to take. He realized, the water was the source of life, for a Sword and a slave.
Just as a beating heart of the fire is the most seductive part of it, the flowing water was set to drown unsuspecting Swords and stones. The unsaid promise to reach the deepest of caverns carved deeply into the Royal City of Naam Mountain Range urged the Unnamed to continue, against his odds and climb down through the darkness surrounding him. Tightness and warmth were becoming unbearable. Unforgiving stone walls tugged and chaffed at his combat robes, almost to the point of restricting his movements.
Giving his life into the Fates once again, the stubborn Sword climbed back up a bit and cut off his armored robes. He had to free his body of any restraint to be able to slip through the tight well passage. Only then, he slid through, naked and wet like a flowing water. A sigh of relief, his lungs exhaled, welcomed a seemingly never-ending free fall. Eyes closed, out of control, till the moment it all ended with a mind numbing, bone shattering crash into the cold, still and hard as glass surface of the water-lake.
No outer or inner pieces of him were left untouched in that crash, and still, his mind would focus only on the impossible task at hand. He had to dive to find the stones that had been put in place by Ash the Deceiver… Ash the Savior… By the Fates, the future was still undecided at that point. The Unnamed floated slowly but steadily towards the small whirlpool that marked the place where the outflow had been blocked. One last breath. One last pain that was left to bear. He welcomed the pain even more happily than the sight of his own blood.
If there was anything he could have done to reverse his words and actions, he would have done it without a question, including taking his own life in place of hers. Erasing his own existence from before the time started seemed the best way to ask for forgiveness. The Fates weren't that merciful, they were hateful and mercy was just for a few still deep within their graces. The only thing he could do was to undo Ash’ sins.
There was no power left in his body for him to try and fight the currents that he had just freed. The Unnamed let it all happen to him with his last conscious thought. Giving up the fight, he let his body be drowned and sucked in by the hungry whirlpools. Maybe someone will undo his own sins, he pleaded with the Fates.