The Fall of Vequera

Chapter twenty-nine | Amaryllis

LOCATION: EASTCLIFF, ELER
YEAR: 621 C.E

MARY HAD WATCHED HER FATHER DIE COUNTLESS TIMES UNTIL THE WORDS BEGUN TO BLEED FROM THE PAGES OF HIS LIFE.

She felt like an idiot as rain poured down outside of home. Winter passed her by. Books were everywhere. Some open. Some flipped through on random pages and others still remained closed. Sitting down at her dinning room table, she bit down at her nails, lost in thought. She wasn't reading about her father. Trying to find Myrna had taken up most of her time. Barely leaving the house unless she had to. Mary had gone to where all of the archives were and raided it, looking for anything that would be of use to her. Her uncle had been there and interrupting her search.

"What are you doing here, Mary?"

"It is none of your concern." She ignored him.

The archives were held in a building isolated from the general population. No one was allowed in unless they were of Rathmore blood. It was in the woods, away from Eastcliff. Quite similar to an underground cellar. From above, it would be hidden from the world. Mary grimaced, her face showing her discomfort seeing her uncle. Kaius rolled his eyes as his eyes scanned the books around him. There were high shelves filled with books older than any of the monarchies to date. He walked over to one of the tables and sat down with a book in hand. His old hands shook as he flipped through the wrinkled pages. "Is Lanai gone?" She asked suddenly, her voice barely a whisper.

He glanced up at her for a moment, almost understanding her. Almost. He pursed his lips before his eyes moved back to the book on the table. "She's in town, staying at a friend's." He pushed out. His tone strained and slightly calm, like he was moments from asking her something that could send her running back home. He was walking on egg shells and she knew that. Mary sighed deeply as she turned to the books. She got what she needed and then she left him in there.

Biting her finger too hard, it begun to bleed but it healed within seconds. "There's no record of her ever being married. There's no record of Adele. But there is of her son." Mary flipped through one of the books and read through and begun to speak out loud, "In the 97th year, Enni Lamonia was born in the early hours of the nineteenth day of the second month. Mother unknown." Looking closely at the page, she noticed a smudge of ink at the end of the page. She rubbed the tip on her nail on it before she went back to reading. "Myrna, where are you?" Her eyes scanned the pages before and found Frilaus Lamonia, Enni's grandfather. He had been married but any record of her was gone. Mary theorized that Frilaus had married Myrna and had Adele but there was something that happened before and between Adele's birth. Something that caused Myrna to have died. The Elders were keeping things and it was starting to bother her as she placed the book on table. The fire crackled behind her. She groaned as she shut the book and pushed it away from her, frustrated.

Her thoughts was all over the place and they have been since she had the vision but she couldn't trust her visions she knew that. They weren't always correct. She thought of anyone who would've been alive during the time but her mind went blank. Her grandparents on both sides were gone and her mother was only a merely two hundred years old. Litinae lived for hundreds of years but they suffered curse or even the blessing of death like the humans. She never could figure out if death was a curse or a blessing. Maybe it was neither. She thought. Death was just a consequence of life. She had barely lived her own life but, so far she only found joy in small moments.

"Enni had a strong hatred for witches." She reminded herself, the word with distaste but remembered his early years.

No one knew where his hatred for Litinae came from but if Mary was correct on her theory then Adele might be the reason. Everything started with his grandfather and got worse with Enni and his bastard son. Even though Enni's reign was long, his life was short one dying at the age of five and thirty. His death was said to be an accident but Mary thought otherwise. Enni had been stabbed by his childhood friend while they were out playing around with their swords. Enni died three days later from an infection. His father was soon informed Enni had a bastard son and he had become the regent for the boy until he became of age. Teaching him his late father's ways. Him being a bastard did not bother the nobles at the time because Enni gave direct orders that no one else can be on throne except for his son, legitimatizing the boy before his death.The front door opened and Mary's mother walked in. Her eyes glanced around the room with a unknown expression before sighing. "Not this again, Mary." Her tone was disapproving and Mary bit into her finger as she glanced away from her mother.