Of Men Made Gods

Chapter One

  An Innocent Mistake

  "COME," WHISPERED THE hooded woman, leading the child as she stepped out of the dark hallway and into the lighter night. Once they were outside, she turned around and closed the heavy, vine infested door that creaked with age as it settled into the massive wall.

  Gripping the small boy's hand again, she started to move on; trying to shake off the fear that held reign in her heart. Her soft shoes making almost no sound at all as they kissed the new stones that made up the sidewalk, she crossed the street, heading towards a corner. But just before she turned that corner, the woman looked back one last time; her sudden whirling movement revealing a dress made of rich cloth between the nondescript dark folds of her hooded cloak.

  She stared at the magnificent mansion that graced the whole block on the other side of the street, it's beauty now just dimmed with all the scaffolds that marred its face where workers sweated all day to make the old stones as new as the other, younger, mansions' all going up around it. She looked at the edifice of rock hiding the towers that stood in its center; masking a past when it was a castle in a city of just a few hundred years. She watched, searching for the door they had just gotten out of, marveling at the knowledge that she could never get back to it again even if she wanted to do so.

  Finally accepting her failure in finding the door, she turned around again; sighing tiredly for a moment as her shoulders slouched with unseen burdens. She stood silently before straightening up again, her cloak wiping about in the slightly chilly wind that brings the death of summer. A cold wind which made her shadow cast by the light from a street lamp dance wildly in the half-darkness. "Come," she said again, though in a louder voice this time; her fear starting to fade as it was replaced by resolve stirred by memories that were yet not distant enough.

  Holding her son in one hand, the woman speeded up her pace. She left behind a place she had called home for years, silently praying she would never come back to it alive.

  They walked a while before they reached the meeting point, the boy breathing hard as he dragged his little feet with a will he had never had to use before in his short pampered life. Letting go of his hand, she draped her arm across his shoulders and pulled him close to her side, taking a moment off her worries to feel unreserved pride at his small uncomplaining frame. But, as swiftly as it came, the moment passed and her fears came back to crowd her mind again.

  'What if he never shows up?' she thought for the first time that night, her mind having focused up to now only on reaching this moment.

  'What if something had happened to him?' her thoughts churned ceaselessly, bringing forth new worries by the second.

  'What if he changed his mind?' she shied away from this just as she thought of it. But it was no use, as soon as the idea had invaded her mind it stuck there, poisoning her other fears into extinction. Not able to help herself, she began to think of the things that could have made him do such a thing to her.

  As she stood there, cursing her foolishness in trusting a man again and wondering what she was going to do next, she suddenly noticed a sound she had missed, having been distracted by her roiling thoughts. A sharp sound of metal and stone, making her hold her breath and tighten her hug on her son in a sudden flare of hope.

  A moment, which felt like a life time to the woman, later, a carriage appeared from around a corner ahead of the two figures standing alone in the night. It came hurtling down the stone street before stopping sharply in front of the mother and child.

  A second later, the door that faced the sidewalk was flung open; spilling forth golden light from small lightstones-enchanted crystals that pour forth light they had stored during the day--that were imbedded in the padded walls of the carriage's inside. Without their owner uttering a single word, arms were thrust out into the night where the woman quickly placed her child in them. And, not wasting time, the mother followed her son into the bright carriage hastily; a flock of white hair escaping her hood and shining in the light for a second as she stepped inside.

  Inside the carriage and in the golden light, her young face was revealed as it shone with youth; and together with her unusual hair it made no secret of her status as a White priestess had anyone been around to see it in the silent night outside.

  With the door closed and the carriage rushing on, the woman turned to the man holding her son; the lines of worry marring her feature changing into something else as a relieved smile crept up her face. She looked, her green eyes filled with unfeigned adoration, at the young man with deep black hair, brown eyes and the long limbs of a tall man. "I thought you would never come," she said, feeling foolish for having had such an idea as she looked at it as a past.

  "So," he said, his eyes bright like always with a secret joke he seemed to know alone, "your faith in me is so easily lost." The words partly held a question, and mostly an observation; with all of it hidden in a joke meant to lighten the mood. Putting the boy on the plush seat beside him, the man leaned closer to kiss her. That kiss alone told him more than what any words could have; and as he leaned back with a sad sigh, his eyes wandering towards the small window and the world outside, he said, "I know it's hard to ask of you, Liana, but please do not always judge with the worst of what has passed. Do not forget my promise."

  Silence filled the small space around them as even the loud passage of the carriage was muffled by some sort of magic she didn't know. She simply looked at him for a moment as he leaned back on his seat, struggling to find words that fitted her elusive feelings. She watched his face, noticing for the first time lines that had never been there when she first met him and dragged his life into her troubles.

  When she finally replied, it was more in frustration than having found the right words. "I never forget, but...," she stopped speaking for a moment as her voice caught and tears started to fill her eyes; the sound of her broken line bringing his gaze back towards her. Looking at his suddenly concerned face with her blurry sight, she smiled in wonder and continued, saying, "it's the believing that's so hard."

  The young man smiled back, looking at her with such love shining on his face that it made her heart ache with joy. "I...," he began, but was swiftly interrupted as the carriage stopped with a sudden lurch that they all felt even through the mage-craft that had made the ride so far as comfortable as if the carriage wasn't moving at all. A second later, all the lightstones dimmed slightly to signal they had truly stopped, while raised voices were heard arguing outside. "Stay here," he said, trying to hide his worries behind a straight face, before going outside through a door he swiftly closed behind him.

  Her heart, which had been beating hectically for quite different reasons, starting to drum wildly with fear again, Liana opened her arms as she beckoned her child towards her. She clung to her son, getting more comfort from the contact than him, as she strained to hear what's going on outside. The voices, which had all fallen silent as soon as the carriage door was opened, started again for a moment before being interrupted by the young man who had just stepped out; his voice straining with all the haughty and authoritative upbringing the woman had always forgotten to remember about whenever she was with him.

  A harsh laugh, holding no true mirth, suddenly broke out, stopping the young man between words. Silence followed the laughter, as all held their breath waiting for what would happen next. Then Liana clearly heard someone approach, their boots making a clicking sound, before a cry of pain rang clearly in the deep night.

  Hearing that sound, she simply closed her eyes to keep the tears from spilling, while she breathed through lips cracked in a painful smile as she realized her mistake. At that moment, she knew she would remember that sound forever as the harsh wakeup call that finally pulled her out of her foolish dreams.

  Knowing what was going to come next, she shook uncontrollably hugging her son. And when the door was yanked open, just as the sound outside was finally cut short abruptly, she only jumped a little. She didn't complain as they took her child away, she knew he
would never hurt his own son, but only took a deep breath once before following with all the dignity she had once learned in distant white halls.

  Out in the night again, she watched all her fears come true by the light of the street lamps as her husband, the duke of Arlaine, turned away from the prone body he stood over to take their son from the man who had carried him off the carriage. She refused to look at that body on the ground which looked so lifeless when she had touched it with her first glance; instead she stood with back straight waiting for him to address her just as she had done since the time she was first given to him nine long years ago.

  When the duke finally looked at her, his eyes held cold anger that seemed to not be dulled by his triumph. Thinking things couldn't possibly be worse, she did something she had rarely ever done before; she broke the silence first by uttering a single word. "How?"

  The duke simply stared at her for a time before he answered. He said, "Our son," his tone stressing on 'our' with a barely controlled rage. "He had left a goodbye note on his bed," he continued, the words clearly meant to point out the thing she had deliberately not done herself.

  Liana didn't understand what she was hearing for a moment, fearing to know a truth that would make her hate, even for a moment, one of the few things she loved in the world. She fought to hide from a reality that always played unfairly with her; knowing she would lose in the end like always. She fought and lost a battle for the last shred of an innocence she had refused to let go through all the hard years as she finally whispered, "Betrayed," her cool mask cracking as her lips made an ugly smile.

  She turned at last to look at the too-still body of the only man she had ever loved, and closed her eyes, too late to stop the tears that came spilling down her perfect skin as shudders raked her small frame. When the shudders finally ceased and her eyes opened again, they held death that far surpassed even her husband's cold stare. She turned her gaze for a moment at the small boy standing beside the man she had once foolishly tried to love, and, with a voice that held as much emotion as her eyes, spoke the truth into the night at last. "Betrayed by my own."

  "Mother...?" the boy said, his small voice breaking in confusion. When the woman simply stared at him without an answer, he came towards her, hesitating only for a moment, to find forgiveness for a thing he knew he had done, though he did not know what that thing was.

  She knew she would regret it, hate herself when enough time had passed, but she couldn't help it; when her child finally reached her side and touched her, Liana simply stood there not responding. He hesitated some more before wrapping his small arms around her and hugged her as he had done countless other times to drive away a darkness that had trapped her. But it didn't work this time. This time, as the child pressed his face into her belly, she could only think of the nightmare she had brought her love into. And thinking of that, thinking of how close they all were to escape the madness they called their lives, her heart suddenly flared up with anger and she shoved away, with unthinking force, her son who had stolen her chance of freedom from her.

  Her anger disappeared immediately as remorse filled its place while she looked down at the small boy's shocked expression, that was quickly turning into incredulous hurt, as he lay dazed where he had fallen because of her shove. But before she could do anything to help her child, the approach of fast footsteps made her look up just in time to meet the open hand of her husband which snapped her head back painfully as it connected with her face in a loud slap.

  The last time she was hit was when studying to be a White priestess, barely into her teens. But even the surprise of being suddenly assaulted couldn't quell her hatred. At that moment, more than anything in the world, she hated what sudden passion had made her do.

  "How dare you!" the angered man screamed down at her as she looked up at him from where she had fallen down after the slap. Cowering on the ground where she had joined all the others she had ever truly loved; Liana looked up at the furious man looming over her and opened her shaking lips to answer. But the duke didn't give his wife a chance to say one word as he leaned down and held her up by her cloak to strike her again, saying, "How dare you hurt my son?"

  As blow after blow landed on her unprotected body, the duchess of Arlaine could only feel relief through the pain that was quickly numbing her mind; relief to finally have something else to think of other than what was going to happen next. But the last thing that was on her mind before she plunged into the dark abyss of unconsciousness was hope. She hoped for a thing that would save them from the nightmarish future that awaited them. She hoped for a miracle not realizing her doing so was a miracle itself.

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