Chapter 12

It was late.  Washington never seemed to sleep. Cars could still be seen
traveling to unknown destinations.  A few people could be seen walking
the streets, but they were only there because they had no home to go
to.  One such person stopped in front of the large white house and
looked throught the gates that surrounded it.  The man shook his head
and walked on.  Inside, however, for all appearances, all was quiet. 
All the halls were dark and not a sound could be heard coming from the
rooms, but down the hall a ways, there were signs that not all were
asleep. There were security guards in one room watching monitors for any
sign of intrusion.  Down another hallway, a light was shining from under
a door and the sound of papers being shifted and examined with care
could be heard.

The President was not happy. Reports coming in showed that all was not
well within the country. One report stated that a whole army base had
been deserted somewhere in the southwest.  Another reported on strange
sightings of creatures that looked part human and part beast.  A third
stated large groups of people were gathering in the desert around a
castle that hadn't been there before.  There was talk of a man named
Bron, rumors that he was gathering an army as if to go to war.  Worst of
all, a small town had been utterly destroyed.  No one had been left
alive.  Buildings had been left burning and smoldering. There was
nothing but twisted metal and ashes. The bodies that were visible were
horrible to look at.  Many had been brutally mutilated while others had
been charred beyond recognition, but when examined closely there was one
characteristic that stood out; they were all males. Where were the
women? Even the children were gone. 

The President read the reports and shook his head in dismay. What was
happening to them? In such a few short weeks the country was in
turmoil.  Violence was breaking out that made the riot of Los Angeles
look like a walk in the park.  In the midwest another small town was
raided. Women were raped and the men were killed.  Up in the northwest,
a tower was being built on the island in the middle of Crater Lake, but
for what purpose?  There was even growing awareness of groups like the
KKK that were becoming more active as the violence increased.  The
President couldn't believe what was happening. Having an invasion force
come from outside would have been easier to deal with but having
something come from within was another matter. 

'We were on the brink of war with other countries, now we are on the
brink of war with ourselves,' he thought. And yet the evidence did not
make much sense to him. Why was this happening, now? What were those
creatures that were sighted? Were they real or just someone's
imagination? Maybe they were just another terrorist group disguised to
keep people from recognizing them. Just then a soft but audible sound
was heard coming from the hall. At first the President thought it might
be one of the guards. The door opened slowly and creaked on age old
hinges. Four men dressed in white entered the room.

"Who are you?" asked the President. The figures made no effort to answer
his question, instead they slowly fanned out and approached his desk. 
"How did you get in without the guards awareness?" he demanded. 

One of the four men was carrying something in his hands. It was the
severed head of one of the guards, the look of surprise and horror still
mirrored on his face. The President was shaken with terror and his face
went white. The four men advanced on him with speed and without warning.
He saw the cold cruelty of death within their faces as a razor sharp
sword came swiftly toward him. 

"Tragedy struck the nation today as several high officials including the
President, the First Lady, and several White House guards were found
brutally murdered. No one knows who would do such an act and why. Police
were unwilling to speculate on who was responsible. All the flags will
be flown at half mast for the next seven days as a nation morns this
loss. We will keep you posted as more news of this event breaks."
Click. 

Lynae turned the television off. Who would want to do such a thing?
Dohne was at work and Lynae didn't feel like talking to too many people.
She had gotten the word that her cousin Allysia was in deep trouble.
First her marriage ended and now she'd disappeared. Lynae knew that her
cousin wasn't dead, though. Something inside her told her so; and yet
she could not help fear for the worse. It seemed nothing was going right
for her this week. First her cousin and then her job. It was a good
thing that Dohne worked for the state. He should be getting home soon,
was Lynae's thoughts. May as well get supper started.  Lynae reached the
door leading to the kitchen and suddenly froze. Something was in there
that did not belong. Lynae could feel her heart pounding as the thing
came closer. Quickly she ran back to the livingroom. She found her bow
leaning up against the wall near the front door where she left it from
the last time she used it. Quickly she nocked an arrow into place and
took aim. 

"Who's there?" she demanded trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"Show yourself." A figure dressed in white came out of the shadows. He
was holding an evil looking blade covered in blood. He held a cloth to
it and wided it clean as he approached. Lynae recognized the cloth that
the unknown assailant had in his hands. It had been the shirt that her
mate had worn that morning. The thing in front of her had done something
to him; maybe even killed him. With her mind she tried to search for her
mate but there was no answer. The stranger moved faster toward her. She
had to make a decision before it was too late. 

"OOUHUUGH!" A look of surprise was on the stranger's face as he stared
at the arrow protruding from his chest; then he fell. As Lynae watched
in horror the figure shimmered and then vanished. Her shoulders sagged
as she breathed a sigh of relief. Just then she became aware that
someone was banging on the front door. She raised her bow again
expecting another attack, but then she saw it was Cliff. He had
something in his arms. It was Dohne. He had been badly hurt, but he was
alive. Like Lynae, he had been attacked in much the same way. Only his
skill and knowledge of the type of weapon saved him from a brutal end. 
Cliff carried him into the house and layed him on the couch. 

"I found him outside by his car," Cliff said. "I tried to bandage what I
could but I didn't have enough supplies in my car to get all the cuts.
They're not all bad. Just the one on his left arm. What happened? Who
did this?"

"You're asking me?" Lynae nearly shouted back. It was plain that she too
was upset about something. 

"Hey," soothed Cliff. "You all right? Is there something I should know?
What happened here?" 

Lynae turned away and stared at the spot where the unknown man had been.
"I was attacked. I killed him but. . ." Her voice went down to a
whisper. "He vanished." 

"He what?!" Cliff stood up in surprise and shock. "Vanish!?! How could
someone just vanish?" 

"I don't know." Lynae looked up at Cliff with a look of puzzlement and
despair. It was then that she noticed the other man standing behind
him.  Cliff noticed her stair. 

"This is Stephen. Stephen, this is Lynae and the man on the couch is her
husband Dohne." 

"You use to know my cousin." she said the man. There was a look of
accusation and what seemed to also be hostility.  Cliff was a little
surprised at that. He didn't expect Lynae to know the man. 

"Yes," said the man. "I knew Allysia, once. I want to return something
to her." He pulled a scroll out from under his shirt. It was very old.
"She loaned it to me when I was working on a research paper. I was in
town and I thought I'd drop by and. . ." 

"Get out." was all Lynae said to him in a slow and measured voice. 

"Lynae, you can't mean that." Cliff pleaded. 

"I mean it," she demanded anger rising even more. 

Cliff stood and took his friend aside.   "I wouldn't take too much what
she said very seriously. She's upset right now. She's usualy very cool
about these things. There's a first aid kit upstairs, could you get it
for me? We'll talk later." 

Stephen nodded his head and headed upstairs to get the kit. Lynae
watched him go. Now, her anger flared even more. Why didn't he leave? He
wasn't welcome in her house after what he did to Allysia. Lynae glared
back at Cliff for his defiance. She wanted nothing to do with him
either. She turned back to Donhe to try to help his injured arm. Cliff
knelt down by Lynae. Anger and outrage showed in his eyes. 

"What in hell is the matter with you?" he demanded. "That was pretty
rude of you. What did he do to warrant that kind of treatment?" 

"You don't know him as well as I do. He took advantage of my cousin
after her father died," she said with cold venom in her voice. "He said
he was going to marry her and then he left her standing at the alter." 

"You don't know the full story," Stephen broke in and handed the first
aid kit to Cliff. "It wasn't me that left her. It was the other way
around. We were love mates and we enjoyed each other but our families
wanted us to get married long before her father died. Everyone said it
would be a "good" match. The richest girl marrying the poorest boy. Only
our families didn't quite see it that same way.  Your family wanted us
to marry because of my bloodline. You'd hope that recognition would come
in time, remember? My family wanted the money. It was a difficult
decision that we both had to make only we had very little time together
after the arrangements had been made. What we did have was always
prearranged and chaparoned. When the wedding came, I received this note
from her."  Stephen pulls out a yellowed folded piece of paper. "I then
wrote her one agreeing to the plan. All the relatives thought we were
simply passing love notes. Don't you see, we were both too young at the
time and we both hadn't gone through the recognition that would have
naturally brought us together. Lynae, you know that happened fifteen
years ago. Why won't you forgive me? I've tried to explain even then but
you wouldn't hear me out. When I heard what happened to Allysia I felt
it was time to make piece. I've carried this paper with me for 15 years
hoping you'd give me a chance to explain and to read it. Please, read
it."

Stephen handed it to Lynae. At first the look in her face showed nothing
but contempt. Then a softness appeared and she unfolded the paper.
Slowly she read the message explaining the situation, realizing that
Stephen had been right. She had been blaming him for something that
their families should not have done in the first place. Tears were
forming and she could not keep herself from crying. She brought the
fragile paper to her breast and raised her eyes to Stephen. "But why did
you leave her at the alter rather than explaining?" 

"You know what our families would have done." 

"Yes," Lynae said quietly and lowered the paper to her lap, her head
down. She knew all too well. The shame and the disaster that happened to
an older brother. She could not believe that the pain would still exist
after all that time. She was only a child when it happened and so was
Stephen. Forced to watch as his cousin and her brother were forced into
a marriage that neither wanted. Then an ancient spell was cast that
would cause the two to become recognized, but something went wrong.
Lynae tried to shut the images from her mind but to no avail. The spell
caster had been caught within the working and the fire that emitted
forth did not stop until it consumed all three. Lynae realized that what
her cousin and Stephen had done was right. No one should have to face
that kind of possible horror, again. Then a moan came from the couch and
Lynae was broken out of the spell of rememberance. They had forgotten
about Dohne. 

The three of them turned to help the man on the couch. Dohne sat up
staring at them wandering what had happened. All three tried to explain,
but Dohne did not seem to hear them. A strange look came over him and he
shook his head in dispair and a look of horror and helplessness came
over him; a look that seemed to come from out of the past and would
haunt Dohne. He tried to shut out the horror and disbelief. Not wanting
to face the reality that his ancestors faced but it would not disappear.
The others became puzzled at what they saw in his face, the horror that
was there and yet, they could not assertain why. It was obvious that
Dohne knew something that they didn't. Lynae pressed him to explain.
What he told them sounded like it was out of a nightmare but Dohne
insisted it's genuiness for all it's strangeness. 

"My family has always believed in the Seekers, even before the great
wars between elf and men. Legend has it that a human sorceror created
the Seekers to destroy not only the elves but the Druids as well. The
sorceror was bannished from the land but not after he decreed a warning.
He said he would be back to destroy the ones responsible and he would
evoke a great vengence on this world. If the Seekers are the ones that
attacked us this night, then we are in grave peril. There are so few of
us with the old powers that could stop this madman." 

"What madman?" asked Cliff. "What are you talking about" 

"Dohne," Stephen spoke up. There was belief and something more in his
voice. "How is it that you know so much about this legend? Very few
legends were handed down. Most of the elves would rather forget the
past" 

Dohne looked at Stephen with a cold and calculating eye. and his voice
went down to a whisper. "My ancestors did not believe in turning a blind
eye away from the past if they could learn from it. But my family at the
same time tried to hide secrets that could be harmful for all involved.
I never told you this, Lynae. It was one of my ancestors that bannished
the Dark One. " 

Bron paced back and forth in the long room that held some of the
prisoners. He carefully looked them over. Some were too old, they would
do for slaves in the kitchens and in other duties. Others were too young
but when they reached the right age, they too will be chosen for the
task that he now sought for. Then his eyes fell on a young woman that
fit the age he was looking for. 

 "Bring her!" he ordered. 

Two brutish guards undid the chains that bound her to the wall. The
woman waiting for a chance, tried to struggle and fight for her freedom
but to no avail. 

"Hold her!" Bron commanded. 

The two guards held her between them with grips of iron. Bron came up to
her and brushed her red hair from her face. She stared at him with eyes
the color of blue cold steel. Again he stroked her hair in a gentle and
persuasive fashion. She again tried to struggle from his touch but the
guards that held her were too strong. 

"You'll pay for this." her voice had the sting of venom in it. "Just you
wait. My fiance will kill you when he finds out what you've done." 

"I don't think so, my dear. He doesn't even know what happened to you.
You are mine, now. I have such plans for you. You should be honored. You
will be the first to help create a new and powerful race." A smile of
deep satisfaction. spread over the Dark One's face. It had the look of
many other such men that had that same purpose in mind but he would not
be the one to initiate it. The girl before him also knew that look for
she had seen it before. She shook her head at the prospects that she
knew would come. 

"Take her to the stables and give her to the captain of the guard. He
will know what to do with her, willing or not." 

The guards drug her from the chamber. There was no resistance, her head
bent low in defeat. There was no escape. This cruel man called the Dark
One was determined to rule and to defeat all that opposed him. Nothing
seemed to stand in his way. As the guards left the chamber, six of his
chosen twelve returned. Eager to hear the news but not wanting others to
overhear, he ushered his favorites into another chamber. 

"Well, I am waiting." the Dark One whispered. 

"The leaders of this world are dead. However, we have received word that
six of our companions have disappeared without a trace." 

"No!" the Dark One cried till the walls reverbarated with the sound. He
knew what that meant and he did not like the results. If any of the
Seekers were to fail in their mission, they would simply disappear. He
turned. He did not have to ask which ones. It was apparent that the key
was still free. It was also apparent that the others were still alive.
How could they had escape his plans? The pool of wisdom was the only
source that held the answer. Rage crept in as he watched the scenes
unfold.  How simple it had all been. How could he have been so stupid as
to forget the daylight. All she had to do was wait and plan. Bron
watched again, hoping to find out where she had gone. A castle loomed
before him, one that he had seen before. He could not pinpoint the place
for even now the Druid's own magic was fighting his, trying to stay
hidden. Just then the pool went dark. Bron walked away with his head
bowed in thought. 

End of Chapter 12