The Gathandrian Trilogy 03 - The Executioners Cane

hiding in a shadowy corner staring up at them both, and all but forgotten. She had best take care what she said; some things were not for the young. “That is not the end of it, Johan, please listen. And Talus too. Come.”
    She stood next to Johan and gripped his shoulder, trying to ease the sudden and shocking outpouring of black grief from his mind. With her other hand, she reached for Talus, and the boy ran to her. Close to, his softer colours brushed over her thoughts.
    “It is not the end of it,” she said. “I do not know how, so do not ask it of me, and I have not seen any such matter in our legends, but somehow the Lost One lives again. He was dead, but with the power of the mind-cane and the Tregannon emeralds, he lives once more. He was lost, but now is more fully found. The Gathandrian Spirit has done more for us than we could ever ask or imagine, and we should be happy for it. We should have no need, yet, for grief.”
    Despite her words, the sadness and confusion of her menfolk overwhelmed her. Johan was, understandably, the first to recover.
    “How can that be? There is nothing in the legends of the Lost One to indicate such an event. Simon came back from the dead? ”
    Calling the Lost One by his own name seemed even less fitting than usual to Annyeke; the former scribe had already travelled far beyond their expectation, although in quiet ways and almost against his own will. Johan however knew him better than she did and was entitled to call him whatever he wished. Her life-partner was right about the legends though; none of them relating to the Lost One spoke of this.
    “I don’t know the answer,” she replied, “but perhaps now is the time to start living and writing our own legends. We are making everything anew, or the Lost One is.”
    “That much is true.” Johan stepped back and wiped both hands upwards over his face. The gesture left a shock of hair rising from his head. He half-squinted at her, frowning. “There is more, isn’t there? Tell me.”
    She did so, as simply as possible. “Because the Lost One is alive again, as long as Lord Tregannon keeps him that way and I think he will, the villagers in Lammas are divided. Some of them, led by Jemelda the castle cook, have left their homes, what remains of them, and taken themselves to the woods and fields. Whatever the Lost One plans to do, they will fight against him. If that happens, then the healing of the land will be delayed and that will affect not only Lammas, but all of us, here in Gathandria and the lands beyond us, everything that lies within our responsibility. Not only that but I’m sure there’s something going on with the elders here, with the Chair Maker particularly. Once or twice his thoughts have brushed against mine, and there’s a … a … darkness there I don’t understand, but it scares me so much I can’t even think about what it might mean. By the gods and stars, Johan, we are weak enough after the wars; must we still fight for peace?”
    Annyeke hadn’t realised that was what she actually thought until the words were humming in her mouth. She sat down on the stool once again, clinging to Talus, for the comfort of them both.
    Johan hesitated for a heartbeat or two and she could feel his colours swirling and dancing around and within him until his mind was steady with purpose. How she wished she could say the same! By the stars, she almost wondered whether it would have been better to walk away from the role of First Elder of the city if she had known such difficulties were to come. But no , how could she even think such a thing? Look where the elders had led them to, and how she had hated what they had done. She would not change even one breath of her decisions, not even the decision to slay the mind-executioner. She would do it all over again if she had to, for the sake of the land, for the sake of her people. It was only in this moment that the weariness of what she had witnessed and what might be to come had overwhelmed her. She needed to sleep, but would she be ready to face the future when her sleep was through?
    Puzzling over all these important matters and trying to blink herself back into wakefulness and her usual vigour, she had not noticed Johan had hunkered himself down before her. He placed one hand on her knee and the other with a gesture of affection and intimacy on her forehead, including Talus also within his embrace.
    Annyeke , he said, using thought only. She could feel the love he