Tell Me A Story

Chapter 28: Bloodline

Thud!

Nana snapped the book shut. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of ... relief? I couldn't tell.

The eerie silence around the cellar crept upon us. Both Anna and I stared at her, wondering whether that was the end of the story or Nana was just catching her breath in between.

The latter seemed to be the answer.

"That was the last phase of Aranchis' elaborate plan. The empire's future was at peril after Andrea's death. Aranchis cleverly killed members of the Royal Family and even got the natives killed."

"But," asked Anna, "How could his plan work out if he'd killed every last member of the Royal Family? Then the bloodlines of both Edward and George ceased to exist, right?"

Nana laughed out loud, surprising us both. "After everything you've heard, you still haven't understood Aranchis."

Anna and I exchanged baffled glances. I'd wondered the same thing as well.

"You see," continued Nana, "Abraham had a younger sister who was married off to another empire. Once Assangue was devoid of a worthy candidate, Aranchis drafted a letter to her, explaining the conditions. She had a son who was next in line as the king of that empire. After a round of discussion with the natives and the other empire, he was chosen as the king of Assangue. In this way, Edward's bloodline continued to exist here.

In between all this, Aranchis tracked down George senior's biological parents. They had a daughter whom Aranchis brought to the Palace by offering her a good job. Hence he succeeded in letting the bloodlines in existence."

Well, Aranchis wasn't clever actually; he was crooked. But still, I'd some other doubts. I wasn't exactly sure how all of this was related to me. But I'd a faint idea how... I just hoped that I was wrong.

"But wouldn't it have been risky to let so many people around the Palace? What if somebody released the souls before the bodies were reborn?" I asked.

"Chris," said Nana, "How do you think the valley where the Palace is situated got named as The Valley of Death?"

I shrugged in reply. Wait... Did Aranchis curse the valley?

"Many people were terminated either in the valley or in its vicinity. Hence Aranchis placed a curse upon it. Anybody stepping into it will encounter the dead body of a loved one. It's the sort of curse that strengthens over time. Initially people rarely ever encountered a body but these days..." Nana trailed off. "The valley came to be known as the Valley of Death and the palace, the Palace of Doom!"

All I could think of was how Cathy's motionless body had appeared in the Assembly Hall... What angered me was the reason the curse was put. To keep the vials safe!

"Eventually, as the curse began to grow in strength, people began leaving the Palace and Valley. The empire vanished from here and people avoided the whole place. As a result, the existence of the Palace was forgotten by most people. That was the beginning of the transition of this place from the Empire of Assangue into Little Falls."

I swallowed. Anna was as attentive as I was. Both of us didn't want to miss a word of what was being told.

"Aranchis destroyed the church so that nobody would discover the cellar as well. And then he did what he'd wanted for a long while: he married."

"What!?" both Anna and I exclaimed at the same time. The idea of Aranchis being your spouse...

"Yes," Nana continued, clearly unsurprised by our reaction. "He'd wanted to continue his own bloodline for a long while. And more than that, he wanted to leave to the other world, so there would be someone else who'd make sure that the plan went accordingly."