fandomania | The Adventure continues...

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The next day, things didn’t get better. I tried to set up times for Dashal to visit his grandchildren, but he never showed up for one of them. However, he continued to wander around the compound. He was even seen talking to Su Wei, near her cottage. It was beyond me what his actual reason was for this visit. It certainly wasn’t visiting his grandchildren. I stopped trying to set that up. My children didn’t need to have their expectations dashed or their feelings hurt.

His presence was starting to disrupt and ruin the mood of the family. I sent a guard with a note to Uncle Haral, asking if he had the time to come and help. But the guard returned with the note unread. The next morning,, early in the day, I decided to go to the Temple and talk to Uncle Haral directly. Even if he didn’t have time to come and help, I hoped that he would have some insights to give me in between his duties.

I got up at dawn and slipped out of the compound when the guards were busy and walked quickly towards the Temple. I was wearing a hooded cloak so that I wouldn’t be recognized. However, half way there, I was accosted by that man I saw the other day at the docks. He was wearing different clothing, but it definitely was him.

“Hmmm… A pretty lady rushing off to see her lover? It is too early for the shops to be open. Or perhaps you have come out to meet me? I have been wanting to meet you ever since your sister told me about you. You are everything that she said and more, much much more.”

It dawned on me that this must be the horrible Count Torfen. I really didn’t want to talk to him or be near him at all. I tried to walk past him, but he kept blocking my way. After the fourth try, he tore off my cloak and attempted to kiss me. I struggled with him, and was surprised to feel him stop. I opened my eyes and saw a knife pressed to his throat.

“Release her, or you are a dead man!” I heard Izshaq declare.

But Count Torfen kept a hold on me. Izshaq repeated his order, pressing his knife into the Count’s neck hard enough that a trickle of blood appeared. The Count held on to me for another minute, and finally, with a smile on his sinister face, he let me go.

“This is my fair warning to you. Touch her again, and I will cut your hands off. Try to assault her again and I will castrate you. Harm her or any of her family, and I will mutilate you far worse than you mutilated her sister. Do you understand me?”

The Count smiled again, in a dark, evil way. “I understand you. But you understand this. You will not go unpunished for this. My minions will revenge this outrage. You will suffer for this, Lady Patra. Suffer greatly. You will be begging me for forgiveness by the end of the week.” He then twisted in Izshaq’s grip and threw some sort of powder into his face. He then broke free and ran away, laughing.

Izshaq gasped and sputtered for a few seconds, wiping his face with a handkerchief. He helped me get up from the ground. He looked at me with great consternation. “Why are you out here alone at this early hour? If you had business, you should have arranged for a guard or asked me to come with you. If I had not seen you slipping out and followed you, I shudder to think what that man would have done to you. I hope you realize that he is the one who killed your sister, or at least ordered it done.”

“I do know, now. I need to see Uncle Haral and at least get his advice to help with the situation with Donal’s father. It keeps getting worse and worse by the hour, or so it feels like.”

“That may be well and good, ma’am, but you were risking your life foolishly. Please promise me that you will never, ever go anywhere alone and unescorted?”

“I promise. I wasn’t thinking. I am sorry to be such a bother.”

“You are not a bother, ma’am. I am happy that I was on hand to help you. You just should never have put yourself in such a dangerous position.”

We left hurriedly, in case the Count returned with his henchmen. We arrived at the Temple just as the monks were finishing their early morning prayers. I asked to see Haral and we were escorted to his office. We didn’t have to wait very long before he arrived.

“So, my dear, I am told that you have an urgent need to see me?”

“Oh, Uncle Haral, I suppose that my need is really trivial compared to all that you have to do, but things are not good at home.” I recounted to him what had happened. “I don’t know what to do to make things better. All of the family has practically told Dashal to go home, but he is ignoring everyone and staying on. I am afraid that things are going to get worse when Piatrus gets home. Ferrell got word yesterday that he is on his way home and everyone keeps telling me that Piatrus hates Dashal so much that he is likely to kill Dashal. I don’t want that to happen. Can you help? Or at least tell me what to do?”

“I wish I could help you, Patra, but things in court are dreadful also. If the King doesn’t do something about his son, I am afraid there might be a coup or a revolution. Things are so delicately balanced as is. It seems as if I blinked, something bad will happen and this country will be headed for chaos.

“Dashal should never have come in the first place. He knows what the family thinks of him. It does seem that he has a different agenda than what he is telling you. But beyond that, I haven’t a clue either. Piatrus can take care of himself. He is so much in control of himself that he won’t allow anyone to push him out of control. My advice is to wait and let Piatrus take care of Dashal.”

The door opened behind us and Haral nodded to the person standing there. He then got up, kissed me goodbye and left his office.

Izshaq and I returned home just as the rest of the compound was waking up. I went quickly about my household duties and tried to avoid Dashal at all costs. As I was walking by a west facing window later that day, I noticed Dashal coming out of Donal’s studio. He had a smug look on his face. I saw Donal leave a few minutes later looking thunderously angry. I have never seen him so livid.

When Donal finally came into the house, I went to his side immediately. I hugged him tightly and told him that I loved him. That seemed to calm him a bit. We went to our sitting room to talk.

“Please tell me what happened, sweeting?”

Donal closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead as if he had a bad headache. When he was ready, he said, “My father is a real piece of work. I wish he would just go away and never come back. He came to my studio and started criticizing my work. This wasn’t good, that was poor workmanship, my work was derivative of others work. On and on, he kept hammering away at me, acting as if he was just being a good critic. He kept saying that I would never amount to much as an artist, if I didn’t do better work. When I mentioned that I had many patrons and had sold many pieces, he then said that that wasn’t true; that Pahpey had paid these people to buy my sculptures; that I was just a hack artist, who no one would remember after I had died.

“I don’t know why he hates me so. I have never done anything to him other than expect for him to love me. What have I done to deserve this?”

“I don’t know, my darling Donal. There just seem to be people who do not have the capacity to love. I do not know why, but they just do. I know that this will be hard for you, but please forget about him. I love you! Your children love you! Your family loves you! If we all love you, you cannot be bad.

“I know that you are so talented. Your sculptures are so beautiful and so lifelike. Your work sells itself. I doubt if your grandfather has done what Dashal says he did. How would he know that? In some ways, it feels as if he is trying to alienate you from Piatrus. When I saw Dashal leaving your studio, from the look on his face, I think that he was deliberately trying to upset you. Has he been trying to get you to go with him to Rawn-Devu? Perhaps he is jealous of your close relationship with your grandfather?”

“If he were trying to do that, there are better ways of achieving that. I don’t know what to think.”

I took Donal in my arms and comforted him. I told him how proud I was of him, what a good artist that I felt he was, how happy that I was that he was my husband and lover, and how much that I loved him. We sat there for quite a while until Donal was in a better mood. He and I then went to the nursery and spent the rest of the time with our children. This always made Donal happy. He loved all of the children so much.

At dinner time, most of the family uncharacteristically stayed away. It was just Ferrell and Suthi and Donal and me on one end of the dinning table and Dashal alone on the other end of the table. No one spoke as we ate.

Before we were finished eating, we heard the clatter of a horse galloping into the compound. Within a minute of that, Piatrus made his entrance into the dining room. When he laid eyes on Dashal, Piatrus’ face turned angry and red. “What the hell are you doing here? I told you never to darken my doorstep again! Get out!”

“I am here by invitation.” Dashal replied calmly. “I have done nothing to warrant such rude behavior.”

“Nothing?” Piatrus exclaimed. “You killed my daughter! Oh, you may not have killed her physically, but you killed her with your affairs and neglect. You made her life miserable and I will never forgive you for that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I never treated her with anything but love and respect. If you should want to blame someone for her death, then blame Donal, as she died giving birth to him.”

“No, you never could take responsibility for your own actions.” Piatrus replied angrily. “You always have to blame others. You are never at fault. You are still the same piece of crap you always have been.

“I want you out of here. I never want to see your ugly face again.”

“All right. I will pack and leave first thing in the morning.” Dashal then turned to Donal and me and said, “When you get tired of his controlling ways, you know where I am. There will always be a place for you in Rawn-Devu.” He then turned and left the room.

Donal’s face was awash with astonishment, mystification and anger. “Is he insane? He treats me like dirt one minute and then kindly the next? There is no way in hell that I would ever go to Rawn-Devu now.”

“Who invited him here?” Piatrus demanded.

“I am to blame. I didn’t know that this would happen. I am sorry and I apologize for my transgression.” I confessed, sorrowfully.

Piatrus turned to me, his expression changing from anger to calm. “No. You couldn’t have known. I am sure that he used all his charm on you and you bought it whole. I don’t know how he could have found the one person who was innocent enough to treat him kindly, but he somehow did. You are not to blame. He will be gone in the morning and we won’t have to put up with him any further.”

Piatrus finally sat down. He was looking very tired. I got Chef Ifon to bring out another meal for Piatrus and saw to it that he ate. Afterwards, he told us of the devastation in the Archipelagos; about the gratitude of the people for the supplies and the medical people that Haral had sent. He told us of the futile search for Stevar and his family; how their bodies were never found along with thousands of others who had the misfortune of living in Equiseta at the time that the hurricane hit. Piatrus left Eoin there in charge of the family interests and to help organize the rebuilding of the country. In the next few days, Piatrus was going to hire as many craftsmen and builders as he could and send them there at his expense to help with the recovery.

I was so amazed at Piatrus and his open heart. Lesser men would have turned their backs on the survivors of a country that wasn’t their own. But not Piatrus. I doubt that he would see profit from his holdings there in his lifetime. He didn’t seem to care about that. He did seem to care about the people.

When I left the dining room to go check on the children, Donal and he were working on a design for a memorial that Piatrus wanted to erect in Equiseta in memory of Stevar, Wini and their dead children. From what I was hearing, this would be the largest sculpture Donal would have ever done. The more the two talked, the more enthusiastic Donal got. The look of creativity in his eyes was a beautiful sight and seemed to wipe out all the anguish and hurt that Donal had experienced earlier in the day. I looked at Donal and all my love for him welled up once more. I was so grateful to Piatrus for giving him this chance to once again prove himself to himself and to the world. I felt that this sculpture was going to be so beautiful that when it was done, people would travel there from miles and miles away just to see it.

Before I went to bed, I checked in on them. “Donal, I know that you are excited about this right now, but why don’t you let your grandfather go to bed now? I am sure that he is tired from his long journey.”

“Oh, I am sorry, Pahpey, I wasn’t thinking of you. We can stop now.”

“No Donal, I am not all that tired. It is fascinating watching you work and sketch. I have never seen this side of you before. You have so much talent.”

Donal blushed happily at such praise.

“Well, I am going to bed now. Please don’t stay up all night, working on this? You both need your rest.”

“I won’t, love.”

I kissed him good night and left.

When I woke up the next morning, Donal still hadn’t come to bed. I sighed. It was one of the downsides of being married to an artist. Sometimes they become so involved that they forget everything when they are inspired.

I got up and dressed. I went and checked the dining room, but it was empty. No signs of an all-night session were seen there. I then went outside to the training grounds. I found Piatrus, Izshaq, Captain Quinton and several others there. They had not seen Donal yet. I sighed once more. The only other place that he could be was in his studio. I wouldn’t have put it beyond him to have gone directly to his studio instead of bed.

Donal’s studio was just a short walk from the training grounds, so it only took me a moment of two to get there. I opened the door, expecting to see him busily at work. Instead I started to scream and scream and scream. There, hanging from a rafter, with his hands and feet tied together, hung Donal. He was dead.

“No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!” I screamed and sobbed and cried.