Chapter 21

Big-Black and I didn't rush back to the city of Gower, instead I simply enjoyed the stallion's company for a while and thanked The Mother that my depression had lifted.

I was still devastated that I had lost Brenda, and something told me that I always would be, but on some other level I was at least able to function.

An example of that was my reflections while in the valley of perils. I was able to calmly analyse the nature of the various challenges/perils and see that they had been carefully constructed to defeat all-comers.

There had been tests of strength, of magic and of mental agility. Given the number of tricks that had been flung into the mix, there were probably things that I hadn't even noticed! The existence of such a place asked a significant question of its own - who would create and maintain such a valley? What purpose would it serve?

I was able to puzzle over that off and on during my journey back to Gower, but I didn't come to any conclusions.

Mom and the King (I still couldn't bring myself to call him father) were relieved to see me. I had left without warning and it seems a massive manhunt had taken place to try to find me. The mood I had been in when I disappeared had clearly worried my parents, and rightly so. If I admitted it to myself, I had been verging on suicidal.

They both settled down eventually, as they came to realise I genuinely had recovered myself. That was a relief, as I didn't have to deal with Mom constantly fussing round me to make sure I was all right.

I again had both parents together when I decided to share my story about the valley of perils. Their eyes quickly widened in amazement and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. They hung on every detail, as I described my journey through the valley and by the time I had finished they were shaking their heads in wonder.

"I thought it was a thing of myth and legend," said the King at last.

Mom remained quiet, probably because she had never heard of the valley in her short time in Gael.

"It is described as a place created by The Mother, herself, for the sole purpose of safeguarding the last remaining Hazeldew tree. The tree was once common on Gael apparently, but the fact that it was useful for so many things meant that it was harvested too much. Eventually it died out completely.

"Legend has it that the mother was so fond of the tree that she saved the last one and created a special sanctuary for it. When she finished her task, she planted the tree and let it be known that it could only be reached by someone pure in heart and soul.

"Every so often one of the royals, or a wizard, takes a notion to go on a quest to find the tree. They are generally never heard of again. To hear you describe it is a wonder indeed."

I decided to keep the little sliver of the tree a secret for now, but otherwise let Mom and the King exhaust the questions they had about the various challenges I had met in the valley.

The next week or so was quite relaxing and enjoyable. I managed to do some painting in the palace gardens - renewing my acquaintance with Wallace the squirrel.

I took to discussing the politics on Gael. The King was not a good partner for such discussions, as he wouldn't hear of anything but the status quo. When I tried to point out how unhappy his subjects were, he dismissed it by saying that they could be a lot worse!

My entreaties that he had to see that the royals were living the life of the privileged while others suffered fell on deaf ears I'm afraid, but that didn't stop me holding to the 'American way'.

Mom was more open to a discussion about the various 'classes'. Her experiences (being banished with her mother, marrying her half-brother, returning to Gael, leaving again once I had been born) allowed her to take a more balanced view than the King.

She had also spent time in the 'other-world' of course, so her views were also influenced by that experience and she could see the massive disadvantages the common people on Gael were subjected to.

Given my passion for the poor and downtrodden of Gael, it was ironic that the next event of note in my life was sparked by my father looking to have me acknowledged as a Prince and as his heir.

"We need to organise it for you to meet the other royal families, Sean. Normally they would have witnessed your 'emergence' and you would have been recognised as my heir at that time.

"You will need to do enough to demonstrate that you are a 'royal' before you will be accepted."

I was confident that I would be able to convince anybody of what I was and agreed that the King should organise a banquet and invite the other royal families.

It took three weeks to make all the preparations and give the other royal families time to travel to Gower. Eventually the night of my feast arrived however. I was a complete bag of nerves.

Proving that I was a 'royal' wasn't what was causing my nervousness. No, it was the prospect of meeting Brenda. I knew that Prince Aiden had come to Gower and it was likely that he had brought his wife with him. I made a point of not trying to find out if Brenda was here or not, as it was still too painful for me. I had no idea how I was going to react to seeing Brenda after three years and to seeing her with another man at that.

When the King and I set out for the 'viewing' hall, I had no sense of Brenda being anywhere near and that calmed me somewhat. Dealing with the other royal families would be child's play so long as I didn't have to face 'my girl' as well.

We walked into the hall and my eyes were irresistibly drawn to Prince Aiden of Scania. I was expecting to see the same haughty and arrogant young man that I had met three years before, but something was different.

Aiden had an almost haunted look about him, a look of pain and suffering. That was certainly not how I remembered him at all. Neither did it fit with the picture of domestic bliss that Hassan had painted and I wondered what the cause could be.

Standing beside Aiden was a man who looked altogether different. I guessed that this must be Malcolm, King of Scania. He was tall, certainly over six feet, and to my delight he looked just like a villain should!

His eyes were small and deep-set which gave him a shifty, untrustworthy, appearance. I could only describe his mouth as being a cruel mouth. The lips were very thin, almost pencil-thin and there was an in-built sneer in the way that one side of the upper lip curled slightly upwards.

King Malcolm only had eyes for me. His glare would probably have been enough to frighten most people, but I met it with a steady look of my own. King Malcolm might suspect that I had killed his daughter, but without Hassan's body he couldn't know that for sure.

King Kenneth had told me that Scanian soldiers had been raiding into Axon with increased frequency. It seemed that King Malcolm had come to have a look at his enemies in the flesh and to try to intimidate.

Aiden on the other hand could well be here to gloat and crow over the fact that he had married Brenda, not I.

"Let's get this over with as quickly as possible," I said to Kenneth. Suddenly I wanted nothing more to do with the whole, sorry, occasion. I knew that I had to put on this demonstration for him so that I could be accepted as his heir and I just wanted to do that as quickly as possible and then leave.

Fortunately, the King could sense my change of mood and he acted quickly to do what I wanted.

"My friends! You have gathered for the rather belated recognition of my son and to bear witness to his station as Prince and heir of Axon. I give you ... Sean àn Tàcheart"

I hadn't planned anything, but I somehow managed to make the same connection to 'the Road' as I had back in the cabin.

As soon as it happened there was a rushing noise in my ears and a surge of raw energy to every single, little nerve ending in my body. I knew that I had joined and become part of 'the Road'. For a few moments there was once again nothing else but 'the Road' and the awesome feeling of power it was giving me.

Mom told me afterwards that people leapt back, startled by the transformation that had come over me. All of them had been to an 'emerging' before, but they had experienced nothing like this.

Eventually my senses returned and I became aware of the shrieks and screams in the hall. To end the 'entertainment', I focused deep within myself and simply cut everything off at once, creating a dramatic silence.

In an instant I went from being a human thunderstorm to looking like an ordinary twenty-one year old. All eyes in the hall were focused on me and there was a mixture of fear and awe behind them.

"I am Sean àn Tàcheart, Prince of Axon. Mind it well!"

With those words, I turned and marched out of the hall, looking neither right nor left. My blunt, almost arrogant, proclamation of whom I was had been aimed at King Malcolm and his son Prince Aiden.

King Kenneth rushed to keep up with me.

"Wonderful! Absolutely fantastic! What a display, son. I've never seen anything like it. I swear some of them wet their pants!"

Of course I had to attend the banquet that night, as it was being held in my honor. It turned out not to be as bad as I had feared. This was largely because, once again, Brenda wasn't there.

I began to suspect that Prince Aiden hadn't brought his wife with him after all and that was a bittersweet thought. While I had undoubtedly been nervous and dreaded meeting Brenda, the idea now that she wasn't here was also a disappointment. All right, I will admit it. I was still very confused about her!

King Malcolm continued to send malevolent looks in my direction and Aiden looked no happier than he had earlier in the day.

I was the center of attention, of course. The banquet was in my honor and my display earlier had impressed all of the guests. Not a few young, single, royal females flirted hopefully with me as the evening progressed, but I offered them no encouragement.

I picked at the food and sipped sparingly at a goblet of vina, refusing to dance even once. At last I thought I had done my duty and I signalled to the King that I had had enough.

I had no sooner reached my chambers than there was a knock at the door. A footman entered. Before he could speak, there was the noise of a commotion outside and the doors burst open. I could see Prince Aiden trying to fight his way through two guardsmen, a desperate expression on his face.

"Let him through!" I ordered.

The Prince made directly for me and I prepared myself in case he attacked. Instead his pained face cracked and he made a pitiful request of me.

"You are her only chance, you have to help her!" he pleaded.

"Aiden, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"For three years I've had to put up with her going on and on about you ... Sean could do this, Sean could do that. It almost drove me mad, now it just might be her last hope!"

"Damn it, Aiden. You're not making any sense!"

"She said you were a great healer, is that true?"

"I have some skill at healing, yes," I replied.

"Then you need to come and treat my wife, she has been in some kind of coma for weeks and my healers don't know what to do. If you don't try, I fear I will have lost her forever. Please, I know we don't see eye to eye, but do it for her. Please?"

Another painful moment, but at least it was not a difficult choice to make. Aiden clearly loved Brenda. While it was painful to think of them together, and despite the fact that she was with him, there was never any doubt that I would do everything I could to help her recover.

I ran for my pack of medicines, all the while firing questions at Prince Aiden.

"How long has she been unconscious? What was she doing when it happened? What have your healers tried on her? Why have you waited so long to speak to me - you've been in Gower for two days?"

The poor Prince didn't have a chance to answer any of the questions as I ran from the room. This time I remembered to tell my parents that I was leaving, to save them the worry and to avoid the huge manhunt they had mounted the last time.

Neither of them was at all happy about the idea of me going to Scania. Mom understood better than the King what Brenda meant to me, but even she was anxious and fearful for my safety.

"Sean, we are almost at war with Scania. If I was Malcolm and I had the chance to kill or capture you, then that's exactly what I would do!" Kenneth argued.

"Aiden has promised I will be safe," I said.

Like my parents, I knew I couldn't place any reliance on Aiden's promises of safe passage ... but this was Brenda. What else could I do but go to her? I had already tried to connect to her mentally and perhaps now I knew why that hadn't worked.

Mom and the King urged me to tell Prince Aiden to bring Brenda to Gower rather than take the trip into Scania.

"She might not have that long, it's too risky," was my response.

Having lost the argument, Kenneth ordered a troop of eighty cavalrymen to escort me on my journey. The captain of the troop was ordered to guarantee my safety at all times. I was pleased with this addition, as it meant I didn't need to share the company of Aiden, his father King Malcolm or any of the Scanians at all for the journey.

Mòr Dubh carried me of course. The big stallion could sense my worries over Brenda and he remained fairly quiet for the trip. His only grumbles were about how stony the ground was that we had to cover in riding through Scania.

King Malcolm's palace was built at the top of a large hill, overlooking his principal city of Gorg. We rode through the city to get to the palace and I was able to gauge the mood of its citizens.