RHEN (Themrock Series Book 1) Page 3

  “Sage has powers,” Henry stated, naming their elfin daughter.

  Kate paused. “Oh, Henry,” she told him dismissively. “That’s beside the point. She’s the only elf to have powers. You know that. If Max had powers, we would have seen them before he…” Kate’s eyes filled with tears and she turned away.

  Henry reached out and pulled her into his body. He stroked her hair, offering what comfort he could. “You ready to go?”

  “Yes,” Kate said with a sniffle, pulling back and wiping at her eyes. “Let’s go meet our baby.”

  Chapter 4

  Thestran Royal Palace – James’ Office

  James sat behind his desk squeezing the bridge of his nose. When the last of his aides had left the room, his brother, Reed, asked, “What’s the matter?”

  Dropping his hand from his face, James laughed and shook his head, “I honestly have no idea where to begin.”

  “That bad, huh?” Reed took a seat in one of the leather armchairs across from James’ desk. Reaching up, he unclasped the brown and green, Wood Elf cape from around his neck. It looked like he wasn’t going to get back to the Wood Elf Castle in time for tonight’s religious service in honor of the Genister Gods.

  He watched as James walked over to the table-top bar on the far side of the room. James poured himself a drink and downed it. Turning, he lifted a bottle of what appeared to be scotch. “Want a glass?” Reed shook his head. James poured himself another shot, downed it, then refilled his glass before returning to his desk.

  “Are we in danger?” Reed asked, hoping his older brother would begin.

  James laughed and leaned back in his chair. He gazed up at the ornate white molding that outlined the ceiling. “Are we in danger?” he repeated softly. With a morose chuckle, he sat up and focused on Reed. “Yes, we’re in an enormous amount of danger.” Reed leaned forward in his seat as James said, “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to throw it out there. Mom is in the hospital. She was…”

  “What?” Reed asked interrupting him. His mother’s healing powers were remarkable. For her to be hospitalized meant that she’d been seriously injured. “Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?”

  “She’s on Neptian right now in the royal palace’s hospital. Delegate Te is seeing to her needs. They expect her to make a full recovery. Her healing powers were having trouble keeping up with her injuries but that’s passed now. She’ll be fine.”

  “What happened?”

  “She told me she was going to Surpen to see Max.” James paused. He wasn’t explaining this right. “Reed, Max beat up Mom.”

  Reed’s mouth dropped open. “What? Our baby brother beat up Mom? Why?”

  James leaned forward onto his desk. “Dad and Mom have been keeping secrets from us. It appears they didn’t leave Max in a boarding school on Surpen. They left him on Surpen because he’d been adopted by the Surpen King and Queen.” When Reed opened his mouth to speak, James held up his hand. “Mom and Dad took Max with them to Surpen, what was it, ten years ago? Andres had contacted them while they were visiting Neptian. He had told them he’d be willing to leave the Convention and join our Council, if they’d help him with a conflict he was having on one of his planets. They jumped at the idea of pulling Surpen out of the Convention and immediately went to help him. The only problem was Andres had lied. One conflict ended up turning into multiple conflicts.

  “They left Max on Surpen while they were helping Andres with his battles. When they realized Andres was playing them, they returned to get Max. Surpen law declares a child abandoned when he’s been left alone for more than five months. When Mom and Dad returned to Surpen to get Max, they couldn’t find him. They searched everywhere, but no one seemed to know where he was. At that point they realized what Andres had been doing. He’d been distracting them so he could steal our brother. During their absence, Max had been declared abandoned and Andres had adopted him.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  James didn’t think so. He thought Andres’ move had been masterful. The Surpen King had no heirs, while his parents had had eight children, most of whom had powers. Why not steal an heir that might develop powers? He wondered why the King had chosen Max, who’d been born elfin, and not William, who was human. Except for his sister Sage, none of the elves had powers. They had lost them after the disappearance of the Genister God Themrock.

  “You still don’t have powers, right,” James asked.

  Reed frowned and sat back in his chair. “You know I don’t. We’ll get our powers back once Themrock returns. The Elfin Priests have predicted it.”

  James shrugged off Reed’s final comment. Themrock and the other Genister Gods had been gone for almost a thousand years. “Right, so why did Andres take Max? Why not William?”

  “Why take any of us?” Reed said. He reached behind him to grab his cape. “I’m going to visit Mom and beat the crap out of our little brother.”

  “Wait,” James said, holding out his hand as Reed rose to his feet. “I haven’t finished.”

  “There’s more?” Reed sat back down, folding his cape on his lap.

  “Yeah, you’ve heard the predictions about the Surpen Commander named Rhen conquering the Universe?” Reed nodded. “Well, guess what? When Andres adopted Max, he changed his name to Rhen. Rhen beat up Mom.” Which meant that their mother, who was thought to be the strongest person in the Universe, could be defeated, which in turn meant that they weren’t as secure as they thought. James relied on his mother to be his enforcer when he needed things done. If word got out that she could be beaten, things would change.

  “How did this happen? Why did Max attack Mom?” Reed said, interrupting James’ thoughts.

  “Mom and Dad told me they were going to visit Max at school, but the real story is that Andres invited them to dinner with his family. They went because they wanted to see Max. During their meal, Andres suggested Mom fight a mock battle with Max. Dad told me Andres wouldn’t let Max speak to them, so Mom had thought she might be able to talk to him during the battle. She was wrong.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “First, increase the size of our army. Second, get Max to become Thestran again. Mom agreed to fight Max if Andres gave him permission to attend Sage’s wedding, so that means the Surpen Prince will soon be visiting Thestran.”

  And, according to all of the oracles James’ had heard, the Universe would be safe if it turned Rhen’s allegiance away from Surpen. He just hadn’t realized that they were supposed to turn it was towards Thestran.

  “Our baby brother,” Reed said softly as he shook his head.

  “I know,” James agreed, lifting his glass to his lips before he remembered it was empty. “I’m calling a family meeting for later tonight, after Mom is back, so we can inform the others of the situation and come up with a plan on how to make Max Thestran again.”

  “Max is the head of Surpen’s military forces, like the oracles said?”

  “Yes.”

  Standing up, Reed walked over to James’ bar. “Mind if I help myself?”

  James lifted his empty glass into the air and shook it. “Bring the bottle back with you.”

  Chapter 5

  Surpen Palace – Throne Room

  Rhen stormed into the throne room of the Surpen Castle. He glanced around the room to make sure his father’s advisor was absent then asked, “What do you mean I have to go to Thestran for some idiotic wedding?”

  Andres was sitting on a red, cushioned bench in the back of the room. He raised his head and smiled. “Rhen,” he called out raising his large hand to indicate Rhen should join him.

  “I refuse. I will never go to Thestran,” Rhen barked, walking past the sunken pool in front of his Dad’s marble throne. He passed three sets of massive stone columns that supported the room’s vaulted ceiling and sat on a backless bench across from his father.

  “Rhen,” Andres began, lowering the glass he’d been holding, “please. Let’s not fight. We
just had a marvelous evening, which ended delightfully.”

  Rhen’s frown deepened at the memory of his battle with Thestran’s Queen Mother. It hadn’t been delightful. It’d been upsetting. At one point, he had thought that she was missing him with her power blasts on purpose – but then he remembered that Kate had abandoned him as a child years ago, without even a backward glance, so there was no reason for her to hold back. The battle had confused him. Kate was supposed to be the most powerful person in the Universe, but after he had broken her ankle and she had flopped about on the ground trying to retreat from him looking pathetic, he’d wanted to call off the fight. He would have done it too, if it hadn’t been for the fact that in doing so he would have been contradicting his father in public, a crime that was punishable by death in Loreth’s presence.

  “Dad, please,” Rhen begged.

  “No, wait. Before you start, hear me out,” Andres said. “As you know, Loreth wants us to attack Thestran. He has his heart set on making Thestran a part of Surpen’s Territory. We weren’t sure if we would be able to do it, but after tonight, it appears possible.” Andres laughed making the scars on his face tighten then leaned over to slap Rhen on his knee with affection. “You bested Kate. Do you know how amazing that is?” As Rhen shook his head, Andres reached out and grabbed his son’s hand. “It’s huge.” He released Rhen and leaned back onto his bench.

  “So, when do we attack?” Rhen asked his Dad with a sigh.

  “We’re not quite ready yet,” Andres said. “We know you can outmaneuver their power blasts, but you alone, against all of them… well, it’s not ideal. You would eventually be brought down. We need to be sure our army can defeat theirs. You need to go to Thestran to assess their strengths and weaknesses. After your little reconnaissance mission...”

  “The girl’s wedding?” Rhen interrupted for clarification.

  “Yes,” Andres agreed with a wicked grin. “After Sage’s wedding you’ll have gathered the information we need to attack. It’s the perfect plan.”

  Rhen nodded. It was a good plan. He had heard a lot about the Thestrans’ powers and was curious to see them in action. How powerful were they?

  “You will go to Thestran in three weeks with Kate and Henry,” Andres informed him. “We will follow the same guidelines that we did tonight. You are not to speak to them or to socialize with them beyond eating your meals with them. If they ask you a question that must be answered, respond with as few words as possible. Don’t do anything with them and don’t encourage them in any way. I don’t want them anywhere near you, if I can help it.”

  “Nor do I,” Rhen agreed, as he remembered the years of teasing he’d had to endure at the hands of the other Convention members for the simple fact that he looked Thestran. What would they say when they learned he had gone back to Thestran?

  Andres glanced up at Rhen with a broad smile. He loved it whenever Rhen said something disrespectful towards the Thestrans. “Correct. You will go for one or two days, you will take Ceceta with you as your cover…”

  “No. I don’t want to endanger her by bringing her on this mission.”

  “What mission?” Andres replied with an innocent smile, while rubbing at the scar on his nose. “You’re going to your long-lost sister’s wedding.”

  Rhen grimaced. He could see from his Dad’s face that he wasn’t going to get a choice in the matter. With reluctance he nodded. He would bring Ceceta. “Sour?” he asked, trying to remember the name of the girl who was getting married.

  Andres laughed with delight. “Her name is Sage and I hear she’s marrying a merman.”

  “Really?” Rhen asked. He had heard rumors about the Merpeople, who lived under Thestran’s oceans. “They must not have much of a relationship.”

  Andres smiled again at Rhen’s lack of knowledge about the Thestran Royals. “Actually, Sage is the only Thestran with elfin blood who has powers. She can breathe underwater, communicate with ocean creatures and transform her fiancé Ryan into an above-ground Thestran.”

  “Sour has powers?” Rhen asked with interest. He had thought that he was the only person with elfin blood in the Universe to have powers.

  “Yes, like you, Sage,” Andres enunciated, “has powers. Now, besides my orders that you are not to speak with them or to socialize with them except to attend meals and the wedding itself, it is imperative that you under no circumstances let any of them know that you have healing powers.”

  “Okay.”

  Andres felt himself relax. At the last Convention meeting, he’d heard from some of the Convention members’ oracles about the recent prophecies concerning Rhen, so he could only assume the Thestrans had heard them as well. Why else had Kate and Henry come to Surpen? It couldn’t have been for something as silly as asking him for permission for Rhen to attend a wedding – not after so many years of silence.

  “I want you to come home immediately after the wedding,” he told Rhen as his son stood up. “Do you understand? I don’t trust those Thestrans. They’re up to something.”

  “Of course,” Rhen bowed and turned towards the doorway to leave. He was tempted to ask his Dad for permission to sleep in the castle tonight, rather than in the barracks, but he decided against it. His father looked tired, so Rhen didn’t want to distress him further by begging to sleep in the castle with Ceceta. The one perk of going to Thestran for Sage’s wedding was that he would be with his wife, and the two of them would be able to spend an entire day, possibly two, together. Two whole days on Thestran with orders not to speak to or socialize with anyone but Ceceta. He could hardly wait.

  “We’ll talk about this in greater detail later,” Andres called out as Rhen waved his hand behind him in a dismissive gesture and walked out of the room. Andres chuckled, recognizing the gesture as his own.

  Chapter 6

  Thestran Royal Palace

  Rhen followed Thestran’s Queen Mother and Royal Father through Surpen’s portal into the Thestran Council Chamber. He glanced around the room as his birth mother led him to some double doors on their left. The Council Chamber was made of wood that had been painted in Thestran’s colors of gold and black. There was a large crescent desk in the center of the room and desks for the Delegates on rising tiers of circular floors above it. There only appeared to be one entrance to the room, although the bank of portals behind them would certainly act as another exit.

  Passing through the doors, Rhen glanced to his left and right. They were in a large hallway. To the left the hallway led to what was supposed to be the largest fountain in the Universe. Rhen could hear the fountain, but it was too far away to see. Mahogany doors lined both sides of the hallway leading to the fountain. From what his Dad had told him, these doors led to conference rooms, auditoriums and restaurants. The Thestrans’ castle was shaped like a star. Beyond the fountain where four passageways that led to the Delegates’ offices, a medical center, a hotel and the business center. Rhen turned his head to find a wide, carpeted staircase in front of him with railings that were carved with images of the Thestrans’ Genister Gods. His Dad had told him that he’d be arriving in the Thestran Royal Family’s wing of the castle, which meant that the stairs before him led to the Family’s private residence.

  Rhen followed Kate to the right. They passed what appeared to be an information desk then walked out through a pair of enormous, two-story high glass and wrought iron doors onto a white marble staircase that led to the ruling family’s manicured lawn. Sage’s pre-wedding night meal had been set up on the lawn. There were tables with black tablecloths, golden plates and silverware and crystal goblets everywhere. Rhen scanned the crowd. It appeared that all of Thestran’s Council Delegates were in attendance, as were the Elfin Royals from all four tribes. He wondered if the guests had come for the merman or the Thestran princess. Although Surpens revered weddings, they tended to be much smaller, consisting of the male’s extended family.

  Kate was still talking. She gestured down the stairs towards a table in the center of the crow
ded lawn. Rhen glanced behind him briefly to check on Ceceta, then followed Kate and her husband, Henry, down the stairs. Kate’s incessant chatter annoyed him. His Dad had told him that he’d reminded Kate that neither Rhen nor Ceceta remembered the Thestran language, but still she proceeded to jabber on in Thestran.

  Rhen lifted his head and scanned the countryside. To his left was a cove. Ocean water lapped up onto a sand beach. The Thestrans had built a wooden dock on the right side of the beach. He could see chairs and tables on both levels of the dock. It appeared they liked to sit by the water. There was a hill beyond the dock. Rhen had seen a picture of the hill in his Dad’s office, so he knew there was a sheer cliff on the other side of it.

  Kate yammered away as they threaded their way through the tables. The Council Delegates stared at them as they passed. Rhen despised them. Their expensive looking clothing, the copious jewels displayed on their necks, their soft hands. They’d all led lives of privilege. He’d worked hard for years to gain his position while they’d been handed theirs.

  They made their way to a large table that sat roughly thirty people. Everyone at the table was staring at them. Rhen could feel their eyes roving up and down his body. Lest they get any ideas, he lifted his right hand and placed it on the butt of his sword, curling his fingers ever so slightly around the hilt and tapping it.

  Kate was still talking. Rhen figured she was introducing him to her family. It was an odd situation, since he’d known them all at one point in his life. He could tell from their expressions that they were just as surprised to see him as he was to see them. He’d thought he’d remember at least one of them. The man sitting in front of Kate had a crown on his head that was similar to the one his Dad had shown him in a book, so he figured that was the current ruler of Thestran, King James.