The Dragons Egg : XVII : Deal with the Devil : Theodore : Preview

XVII

Deal with the Devil

Theodore

“Cael?” a deep voice reverberated within Theodore's mind as he tried to open his eyes. “Cael can you hear me?”

“My head…” Theodore groaned as he opened his heavy blue eyes.

“You fell and hit it against the curb I’m afraid,” smiled Gabriel pensively.

“How...how did you…”

“You didn’t think that I would leave you to bare your troubles alone?” Gabriel said with a raised brow, his ancient blue eyes sparkling and calm.

“I would actually,” Theodore said bitterly. “Seeing as though my family has turned on me.”

“Not all of us have lost hope in you young guardian,” Gabriel said with a caring gaze. “Our trials and tribulations mould us and so the trials and tribulations you face will mould you into the man you wish to become.”

“Laura?” Theodore asked quickly as he sat up in his bed, lifting a hand to his sensitive head. “Where is she?”

“She is as we speak making you a pot of tea,” Gabriel said with a smile. “She is a lovely young woman, who cares about you very much.”

“That is an illusion,” Theodore said with a sigh. “She doesn’t know what she wants whilst under an enchantment.”

“Yet she ran to you and covered your body with her own as you were being attacked,” Gabriel said defiantly. “I would say that her actions speak highly of her true intentions, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know what to think anymore,” Theodore said as he lifted his gaze to the angel. “I am beyond thought and reason.”

“You are tired and in need of counsel my friend,” Gabriel returned as he lay a soft hand upon Theodore’s.

“The knights…what happened to them?”

“They fled, but will most likely return,” Gabriel said with a nod. “There is nothing you can do to fight them off, they are simply too powerful. All you can do is protect yourself and the young lady, soon they will leave when…” Gabriel turned his eyes away from Theodore.

“When my wife takes leave of this planet…yes?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me, would you stop me from returning to her? Would you disobey your orders so that I could be reunited with my wife?” Theodore asked plainly, his blue eyes dull and filled with sadness.

“Celestine choose to leave you behind, for reasons I believe you know of?”

“To find Galean,” Theodore said as he turned away from his old master. “If he had never returned here, she would still be mine and her heart would still be mine.”

“I believe a part of her heart will always be yours Cael, but she is at a crossroads and when you are afraid and unsure of the future it is easy to take flight,” Gabriel explained as he folded his hands upon his lap. “As to Galean, he was always destined to find Celestine in the end, an act of fate that none of us can retract however hard we may try.”

“But she loved me…” Theodore almost cried out. “She loved me.”

“And no one can take that away from you, no matter the prophecy or Galean, she did indeed choose not by force but by free will to marry you,” Gabriel said with understanding. “So no, I would not stand in your way. I am troubled as to your intentions though. I do not firmly believe you would return to her simply because you are lost without her, I believe your actions are those of vengeance and not honour. You love your wife but the woman you truly loved died because of your wife and she in turn was in a sense taken from you by another. You would return to Celestine not because you are desperately alone without her, but because you would wish to punish her and Galean. Am I right?”

“Why do you all paint me as a man without feeling, only motivated by greed, revenge and a need for power?” Theodore said angrily. “Have I not served you well? Am I not entitled under the laws of matrimony to find my wife and to hate the man that has taken her from me?”

“She is the future Queen of two Kingdoms, I can see that that in itself may be an incentive to you,” Gabriel said carefully as he rose up from the bed and walked over to the window. “Heiden sees all…and has seen your wrongdoings, which is why you are under observation.”

“Why are you really here?” Theodore asked the high angel darkly, his eyes upon Gabriel’s back.

“I am here to caution you as your friend,” Gabriel said as he turned his piercing blue gaze to Theodore. “And I am here for your sword.”

“My sword? But it is mine, given to me on my name day!” Theodore argued hotly as he bounded out of his bed and made for his sword which lay in its sheath by his writing table. With trembling hands, he drew it forth. “It belongs to me!”

“You consciously broke the law when you pierced Galean, with the intention of killing him,” Gabriel said with authority. “You are fortunate you have not been arrested.”

“So we are judged if we hurt each other, yet given the privilege of ignorance when killing our foes?” Theodore said with eyes of thunder.

“Do not mince my words young one,” Gabriel returned with a raised hand. “Come do not make this harder for yourself than it already is. Just hand me over the sword.”

“I thought you were my friend? My ally? But you’re as bad as them!” Theodore said as he turned about in a vicious circle, trailing his sword after him. “Your master is as deceitful and manipulative as the enemy I have been killing!”

“Our master knows when we are beyond our capability in which to control our urges,” Gabriel said as he took a step closer to Theodore. “You would not use this sword in order to defend your people, you would use it in order to kill and so the high council have decided to take it from you until you can see the error of your ways.”

“Error of my ways, Error of my ways! Are you jesting with me?” Theodore laughed loudly, his eyes wild and his skin flushed. “How am I to defend myself?”

“You have your powers which are sufficient enough and will serve you as protector,” Gabriel replied with steady eyes. “Now please, hand me your sword.”

Theodore felt his grip tighten about the hilt of his sword, and his eyes narrow with hatred as the physically calm and assured angel held out his hand. As he stood, his body slightly contorted the door opened and with swiftness, someone took the sword from his grasp.

“It is for your own good,” Laura said with a small voice as she handed the sword over to Gabriel, who took it gladly. Turning to Theodore, her eyes wide and angered, she placed her hands on her hips.

“How much did you hear?” Theodore asked through gritted teeth.

“Enough to know that you will obey your master,” Laura said with heated cheeks. “I will not have my husband ruin himself in order to have your revenge.”

“Now you listen to me….!” Theodore began as he stepped towards his doppelganger wife.

“I know that you have some aversion to me, and now know why,” Laura said as she took a step back. “Whoever this women is, she has made her decision and she choose another.”

“Eve…”

“I don’t care what your excuse is, all I care about is your safety and if your friend here thinks it wise that you be without your sword, then so be it,” Laura said with defiance as she raised her chin. “He did save our lives the previous evening, I think you owe him your obedience.”

“But you know nothing of what we are quarrelling about!” Theodore thundered, his anger unable to keep itself hot as he looked into her dazzling eyes.

“About a women I take it?” Laura said with a seething tongue. “Well you can listen to me and listen to me well husband. I am your wife! I may not be outstandingly beautiful and may lack in social etiquette and may be sometimes a little opinionated…but I am your wife and I love you. Do I hate you in this present moment? Well yes I do. Will I hate you forever…a majority of forever yes. But I married you because I loved you and despite the current climate for divorce, I do not intend on giving up on our marriage.”

Theodore turned his eyes to Gabriel.

“She does loves me…see?”

Gabriel walked over to Theodore and bent close to his ear.

“She is an illusion…she is not real…”

Without another word, Gabriel exited the room, turning one last time and looking Theodore straight in the eyes.

“Remember, you are not alone.” With a flick of his long silver gown, the arch angel disappeared from sight and left a fraught Laura and Theodore alone.

“What did he mean an illusion?” Laura said quietly, her eyes now large and round, filled with confusion and innocence.

“Nothing, he meant nothing,” Theodore said despairingly as he made for his dressing gown.

“Your supper is downstairs, and before I forget, I found this in your pocket,” Laura said as she dipped her right hand into the pocket of her cardigan and brought forth a roll of parchment. “Here.” She said, throwing the parchment into his hand before leaving him alone. As he stood with the map in his hands he heard her muffled cries as she descended the stairs and closed his eyes. Of course it was an illusion, but her pain was real and honest and he wondered if his real wife felt the same pain. With his dressing gown now tightly knotted, Theodore took a seat by his writing table and placed the map down upon the table, whilst letting his head fall into the palms of his hands. What was he to do now? Several minutes of silence passed him by as he rummaged through his mind to find the answer. Slowly he opened the map and found the last gateway, which lay within St Barnes cemetery. Theodore looked down at the map in frustration, he couldn’t simply walk into what was known as the meeting place for shadows and ask to be escorted to the gateway, no they would want something in return and he had nothing to give but the doppelganger he had unconsciously grown accustomed too. His brows furrowed with disbelieve and exhaustion, Theodore drew in a deep breathe, he was stuck between sacrificing the life of an innocent young women and surrendering to the universe his wife. His fingers twisted in rage, Theodore sat up and opened his eyes. The thought and possibility of Eveline leaving earth and returning to her own world and the possibility of his once best friend sitting by her side upon the throne was too much to bare. He would have to sacrifice the life of Laura because if he did not, then he would be bound to his misery and jail for eternity and never would he willingly degrade himself to losing again.

*



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