Elements of Glory: The Princess of Nothing
Chapter Eight: Early Return, Early Good-bye, Late Hero

’Once she tastes something better, she’ll never be the same…’

-Wilth in discussion with someone

It took Emily all morning to clean up the mess in the kitchen, and by then she was quite hungry, because she’d not eaten any breakfast. Wilth had always told her that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. She always ate breakfast when he was around, but when he went out into the forest, she usually forgot.

After making herself a sandwich, Emily headed up to one of her usual window perches to look out at the rain.

As usual, she loved watching the rain.

As usual she wished she could be out in it, feeling it fall upon her skin, on her face.

She marvelled at the beauty of the churning clouds.

But something was different today. Something had begun to feel odd shortly after Aragam, Samantha, Wuzzul, and Togik left. Emily couldn’t put her finger on it, but things felt... cooler than usual. Emily felt anxious, as if there was something she knew she needed to do, she just couldn’t put her finger on what.

Emily ate only half of her sandwich. She didn’t have much appetite after that, and set her plate down on the edge of the window near her feet. The glass clicked against the stone. Emily hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes locked on the rain outside, and the white caps that were forming on the dark surface of the lake.

What’s wrong with me… Why do I feel so weird?

The silence of the castle seemed to wrap around Emily, and while it was usually comforting to her, there was something... different about it.

There was something… off.

As quiet as it was, and as lonely as Emily felt, she started to get the impression that she wasn’t alone. The feeling became so strong that she found herself looking down the hallway time and again, feeling almost as if the presence that she was feeling was right behind her.

Every time she looked, she just saw a long and empty hallway.

I’ve been all over this castle, to the highest towers, the lowest dungeons… I’ve never really been scared. This is my home. Wilth says it’s my sanctuary… Why is it different now? What’s wrong?

Hugging her knees and looking out at the rain again, Emily wished Wilth would come home. She also wished she knew what he was doing out in the forest. One of the three things he’d ever forbidden her from doing was entering the forest. He’d told he that many, many dark and terrible beasts lived in the forests. They killed people and fed upon them.

Whatever that meant.

Emily’s imagination gave her some clue, however.

Wilth said that no one stayed in the forests after dark, because in the dark, those monsters were granted more power, and in the dark they had dragged many people to terrible dooms. Some dooms, he said, were even more awful than death.

Emily didn’t like to think about what would be worse than death.

She trusted Wilth, so she never entered the forest, as she never entered the throne room. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help being curious as to how Wilth could survive going into the forest at dark, and no one else could.

She also found herself wondering what was in the throne room. After her experience that morning, and the strange vision she’d had, she couldn’t help herself. All those cycles ago – it was so much more vivid since the vision – she had seen Wilth mopping up that water, and then today she’d drawn water out of the door.

She wondered if maybe the throne room was flooded, held back by some Gemgic that, if the doors to the throne room were opened, would fail and the whole castle would be flooded, killing Emily and Wilth!

The thought made her shiver.

‘Emily,’ a voice said, causing her to turn suddenly.

To her surprise, standing only a metron from where she was sitting was Wilth!

He was soaking wet, and his grey face was covered in bruises and cuts. One eye was swollen shut, and his face looked old and shrivelled. As horrifying as all that was, what shocked Emily the most was the fact that Wilth’s right arm was completely shrivelled and black, like a tree after a forest fire, and his left hand was clutching a bleeding wound in his stomach.

’Wilth!’ Emily screamed, jumping to her feet and grabbing onto him as he dropped weakly to his knees. Emily held her Guardian in her arms and laid him down, as he stared up at her with one eye, his breathing laboured.

‘Wilth, what happened to you?’ Emily cried in dismay, feeling very scared.

Wilth seemed to be concentrating. ’Don’t touch me,’ he said through gritted teeth.

Emily stared at him in dismay.

‘LET ME GO!’ he shouted.

Emily did so and set him on the floor.

‘Wipe your hands!’ Wilth growled at Emily.

‘Wilth, what-’

‘DRY YOUR HANDS!’ he bellowed.

Emily stood straight and did so, wiping her hands on the apron of her dress.

Wilth gritted his teeth and closed his one eye. He cried out a great roar of effort, and then, after a long moment, he relaxed. For a moment, Emily though he had died, but then she saw the quick rise and fall of his chest, and watched his one good eye open.

‘Wilth, what happened to you?’ Emily asked, and her voice broke as she did so, hot tears threatening to spill from the edges of her brown eyes.

’What was bound to happen,’ Wilth replied, shaking his head. ‘The treaty could only last so long… they…’ He closed his eye, and Emily saw his jaw clenching. After a long moment, he opened his eye and looked at Emily. ’Something has changed… and not only you Emily… you know when your birthday was, don’t you child?’

‘Two weeks ago,’ Emily said. ‘You said we shouldn’t celebrate it this yeton,’ Emily reminded him, remembering how sad she’d been on that occasion, because her birthdays had always been one of two times in the yeton when she’d really been able to let loose – and she’d even seen Wilth smile now and again.

But not this yeton.

This time it had been like he’d wanted the birthday to pass by with no one noticing it – despite the fact that it was only her and Wilth that even knew anything about her birthday.

‘Twenty-two,’ Wilth breathed. ‘It seemed so far away, just a short time ago.’

‘Wilth, you’re not making any sense,’ Emily said, tears starting from her eyes. ’You’re scaring me.’

‘Did something happen while I was gone?’ Wilth asked. ’Did you… was there someone here?’

Emily felt a chill run up and down her spine. She’d let Aragam and the others into the castle. She’d touched that orb, and the baby had arrived! Could that somehow be connected to Wilth’s condition? Could her stupidity at letting strangers into the castle be what caused Wilth so much pain?

‘A Wasgician,’ Emily said quietly, ‘and a Horse… well, it was a Stryth, or at least that’s what he called himself and-’

‘The Wasgician had something, yes?’ Wilth asked.

‘A crystal orb,’ Emily said, her voice quiet and fearful.

Wilth closed his one good eye. ’And you touched it,’ he said, his voice sounding oddly resigned, a sound Emily had never heard from this man, her protector.

‘I did,’ she cried. ‘A baby-’

‘Say no more,’ Wilth told her.

‘Wilth, what have I done,’ Emily asked, knowing this was her fault, knowing, if she’d just been more cautious as Wilth had taught her, none of this would have happened. Wilth would not have returned early like this, and they would be sharing a normal dinner tonight. Emily would be asking him questions about his excursion into the forest, and Wilth would never giving her anything.

Things would be the way they were supposed to be, everything would be back to normal!

Emily dropped to her knees beside Wilth, being extra sure not to touch him. ‘Wilth, can I help you, can I-?’

The grey-skinned man shook his head, turned to Emily, and opened his one good eye. ’I am dying,’ he told her.

’No,’ Emily sobbed, feeling a dark pain in her heart, and a twisting in her stomach. ’No you can’t,’ she cried.

‘This castle will remain a refuge to you,’ Wilth told Emily, ’for all of time. No evil can enter here... if you do not allow it to enter… and the only way you can allow evil to enter is if you give it permission. That is very important Emily, very important.’

’Wilth, stop talking like this,’ Emily wept. ‘You’re going to be okay!’

’You are very special Emily, that is why you were the only one who wasn’t killed twenty-two cycles ago. I’ve never been able to fully determine whether that was because they couldn’t destroy you, or if it was because they’ve always had dark plans for you… but they do now. All these cycles they’ve watched you… and they have their plans now.’

‘Who?’ Emily asked.

Wilth looked like he didn’t want to tell her, as if he still had it in his mind to protect her. Determination came to his battered face after a long moment. He turned so he wasn’t looking at Emily when he spoke.

’Their General in this is a terribly powerful and evil person called the Dead Man,’ Wilth said. ’It was he who did this to me.’

’He has plans for me?’ Emily asked, her voice shaking.

’Not him, specifically,’ Wilth replied, a strange look coming to his face. ’They have a… Master, an evil being who is commanding them now, and he also has been watching… he commands them, and his power is greater than anything I’ve ever encountered. He seeks you, and the Elements of Glory, for his own twisted ends.’

’The Elements of Glory?’ Emily asked.

Wilth looked sadly at Emily. ’You have powers, Emily, great powers that I could never teach you to harness because I don’t have the ability. While you were younger, I could teach you to keep them from showing themselves, but now that you’re twenty-two they will reveal themselves to you with more frequency. You need to learn how to control them, or they will destroy you.’

Emily’s head was spinning. Just hadrohs ago she’d been a simple lonely girl, who lived in a castle and loved the watch the rain.

Now…

Now her world, her stability, had been turned on its head.

’How can I…? Wilth, I need you!’ Emily whimpered.

‘There is one who can teach you,’ Wilth said. ’You must replace him… he is my... brother.’

Emily nodded.

’But you will have to leave the safety of the castle to seek him, and the monsters of the forest have been commanded to bring you, and the Elements of Glory, to their master; and to brave the light to do it… This castle is the only safe place anymore. You will need help to replace my brother.’

’I can’t do this,’ Emily whimpered. ’Wilth I can’t do this without you.’

’Emily, you must!’ Wilth said quickly, his voice very stern. This snapped her out of her crying. Though tears continued to stream down her face, she held her emotions in check.

Wilth’s face softened a little. ’Emily, very soon, because of what the Dead Man did to me, I will simply... stop. The little life remaining that he didn’t leach from me, will be gone, and I will be no more… Though I wish I didn’t have to say this… you have no choice, you are going to have to go on without me. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Wilth,’ Emily said obediently.

Wilth pulled his good hand away from the wound in his stomach, reached into the front of his robes, and pulled an amulet on a chain from his neck. The amulet was a smooth black stone, bordered in silver, and the chain was gold. Wilth handed the amulet to Emily, and she took it.

‘Emily,’ Wilth said, his voice sounding more strained than before. ’My brother is not a good man… once… once… we were both... very, very bad men.’

Emily could never imagine Wilth being bad. He was sad, and often times stern, but he wasn’t bad. Emily didn’t voice her feelings though, she knew Wilth needed to finish.

‘Emily,’ he said, his breathing becoming short, ‘Emily,’ he said again, his good eye glazing over, ’Emily, we… we… we, did this to your Kingdom, to your family, to your people… him and I… but I came back after we lost control. I came back and… found… you.’

‘Wilth,’ Emily said, starting to lose her composure again. ’You couldn’t.’

’The amulet will give you power over him… he will teach you to control your powers no matter what... and… when he understands all that happened, as I do… he may even become an ally…’ Wilth looked directly at Emily. ’Nothing can atone for what we did to you, but maybe, if he has it in his heart, you can let him try to seek some absolution as I did.’

He spoke clearly, with no breaks, as he’d often spoken to Emily in the past.

‘Who is your brother?’ Emily asked. ‘Who do I seek?’

’Ratikgurr,’ Wilth said.

Then his eye closed, and he settled against the floor, dead.