Chapter Thirty-Six: Promises Broken and Made

 Sunny came downstairs. Tully and Fury were still in the parlor nursing their drinks. "You two come into the kitchen, we need to eat something," Sunny announced.

 "Is what we just witnessed true?" Tully murmured. He nursed his glass of whisky. Nicodemus was completely shell-shocked, he looked uncertainly over at Tully, his eyes haunted by what he had seen.

 "I think we must accept it as truth," Nicodemus replied, his voice was hoarse and raspy as though he had been yelling and had strained his vocal cords. 

 Sunny chewed the hastily made sandwich. She was incredibly hungry and still thirsty from her traveling. She swallowed and wiped her mouth with a tea towel that was covering an apple tart. "I don't understand it all – not yet," she said, "It's a little like being able to call up information with a thought. Before he sent me back here, Gaddis told me to 'remember everything'."

 "Tapping into the knowledge of the Dannan is exactly that way," Tully told her, "All the memories of those that have come before you, are available."

 "But that is not what you are tapping into, is it?" Nicodemus asked.

 Sunny nodded her head. "This is something else entirely. It's ancient, very old." She looked over at Nicodemus. "What do you know of Thaddeus Fury?"

 Nicodemus frowned in thought then glanced over at Tully. "I know that Thaddeus Fury – was an ambitious warrior; and the eldest of two brothers. He married Jamina Cauley to secure both support in the High Council and to join two powerful families against the ruling Partholan."

 "Aye, everything seems fine until Jamina suddenly dies from sickness nearly a year into the marriage – it is rumored she was poisoned by Thaddeus, but nothing can be proven, and Thaddeus is exonerated of all charges," Tully said. "Old Cauley threatened to make war on Fury".

 Sunny drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, "All this is true, but here's the real truth of it. Thaddeus doesn't want to make war on Cauley because he has more lofty plans, and warring on Cauley isn't part of that plan. So, he goes to Cauley and proposes that Jamina's younger sister, Lanna be married to his younger brother, Emon. While Cauley has no love for Thaddeus, he can't afford to wage an all-out war on Fury -- any more than Fury can afford to war on Cauley -- so he agrees."

 Tully looked over at Nicodemus. "Did you know this?"

 Nicodemus nodded. "I knew Thaddeus Fury was ambitious and I knew about the arranged marriages -- but not this. I did not know about the political dealing."

 "So Lanna Cauley is married off to Emon," Tully replied, "Arranged marriages happen all the time – why was this any different?"

 "Well, Emon had been sent away to Ne'Media. He is with a negotiation team sent by the Ard Ri to try to form a peace treaty. That information was kept secret because many of the Nu'Adaian families are suspicious of the Ard Ri and where his sympathies lie. Thaddeus fans the flames with the rumors that the Ard Ri is more than just sympathetic to the Ne'Medians."

 Nicodemus cast angry eyes at Sunny. "That cannot be true!"

 Sunny raised a silencing hand, her bright green eyes snapping with golden-red fire. Tully saw the flash and reached over to take hold of Nicodemus' arm. "Let them tell the tale, Nico!"

 Fury frowned at Tully and then saw the yellow-red fire glittering in the depths of Sunny's eyes. She was there, but something or someone else was also with them in the kitchen. "Go on," Nicodemus said softly.

 "The Ard Ri is old and can no longer campaign. He wants there to be peace, even an uneasy peace is preferable to war. He sends his trusted liaison, Emon Fury to speak to the Ne'Median king, Gaddis. While at the palace Emon meets and is captivated by the young princess there at court, Kadijah Malo Taj'Bhahat. She is one of many young women sent to the palace to vie for the attention of the Ne'Median king. She has only eyes for Emon Fury. Soon Kadijah and Emon are secret lovers."

 Tully opened his mouth to speak, but it was Nicodemus who silenced him with a shake of his head.

 Sunny took another bite from her sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. When she swallowed and took a long drink from her mug she continued. "Kadijah had also caught Gaddis' eye. He is not aware of the love between Emon Fury and Kadijah. The negotiations between Gaddis and the group sent from the Ard Ri do not go well, but it is in Emon Fury that Gaddis has found true friendship. Emon is tortured by his love for Kadijah and his love for his new brother. Gaddis even asks Emon to stay on in Ne'Media.

 The group from Nu'Ada sees this friendship between Gaddis and Emon growing. They fear that the Ard Ri will release the throne to Emon, and this is not convenient for the moving forces in Nu'Ada. Emon is arrested for treason and forced to return to Nu'Ada. Kadijah leaves the palace in the dark of night with nothing but the knowledge she now carries Emon Fury's child."

 "In Nu'Ada," Sunny said, continuing her story, "Thaddeus and Cauley have hammered out the deal and Lanna Cauley is brought to the Fury home to await Emon's return. Cauley has secrets and Thaddeus Fury has secrets, but the marriage contract is signed, and the two families are united as one force."

 "There are many who regard Thaddeus Fury as a leader and a warrior who could unite the clans of Nu'Ada. Many who secretly support him and his ambitions."

 "What are the secrets?" Tully asked softly. "What secrets does Cauley have?"

 "That Lanna Cauley was born barren. No children will be born to Emon Fury. No sons or daughters to carry the Fury name." Sunny replied.

 Tully shot a look of surprise to Nicodemus. Nicodemus leaned forward. "Go on, Siobhan."

 "Emon Fury is returned not to the Ard Ri for questioning but is delivered in chains to Thaddeus. There he remains under house arrest. When the Ard Ri questions Thaddeus about where Emon has gone, Thaddeus tells him Emon has fallen sick from poison and is far too ill to come before the Partholan. The negotiation team also delivers the lies to the Ard Ri, saying there is no other option but to wage an assault on the Ne'Median king and his armies. There will be no peace."

 "Which is what Thaddeus wants." Tully grumbled.

 "Emon is married in name only to Lanna Cauley. It is she who comes to hear of Kadijah and her whereabouts in Nu'Ada. It is she who arranges to bring Kadijah to live as her lady-in-waiting."

 "What?" Nicodemus voiced his disbelief and looked over at Tully and then Sunny.

 "Kadijah will never return to Ne'Media now that she carries Emon's child. To keep her silence Lanna strikes a deal with Kadijah so she can stay close to Emon and her child. Lanna fakes a pregnancy to solidify Emon's assent to the head of the Fury clan over Thaddeus."

 Tully looked at Nicodemus, "Is that true?"

 "If Emon had lived; yes," Nicodemus replied then frowned. "But Cauley would have come forward to renounce the child."

 "And be discovered?" Tully replied. "Nae, Thaddeus, and Cauley both had their secrets, remember?"

 "Rafael is born," Sunny said looking at Nicodemus and then at Tully. "Lanna has provided an heir. Emon stands to gain the support needed to ascend to the head of the family. Lanna has proven a valuable ally and all she wants is to ruin Thaddeus. She believes that he murdered Jamina."

 "Did he?" Nicodemus asked Sunny softly.

 "No," Sunny replied. "He was guilty of many things, but he did not murder Jamina Cauley."

 "Lanna turns a blind eye to the growing love between Emon and Kadijah. She is raising Rafael as her own. She has her bargaining chip. With a son, she can rule the Fury family and even groom Rafael to become the Ard Ri."

 "She is that ambitious?" Tully murmured. 

 "Emon grows steadily despondent and wants to divorce Lanna, but she threatens to expose the affair, and Kadijah wanting to protect the man she loves, convinces Emon to keep silent.

 Thaddeus learns of the affair between Emon and Kadijah. He banishes Lanna's lady-in-waiting who is now carrying Emon's second child. Emon tries to follow, but Thaddeus has Emon locked away in secret. Kadijah goes through most of her pregnancy alone and takes refuge in an encampment secreted away from everyone. 

 Lanna also has her spies and some months later, locates Emon, and helps him escape his prison. She gives the whereabouts of Kadijah to Emon, and he goes straight to her. It is that night he escaped that Kadijah delivered her second son to Emon Fury."

 "The night the babe was born," Nicodemus said. "We witnessed Tully's birth."

 "Thaddeus so enraged, seeing all his plans destroyed; takes his men and they locate the village where Emon has gone. We saw what happened. Kadijah dies. Thaddeus orders the cottage burnt to the ground with the bodies inside and returns to Lanna saying the village had been attacked by Ne'Median Sith warriors and Emon is dead."

 "That part was true," Nicodemus replied frowning in concentration as he tried to recall the historical facts as he knew them. "It was reported that Thaddeus was wounded and very nearly died from his wounds trying to get to his brother."

 Sunny shook her head in sorrow. "Gaddis was looking for Emon and Kadijah. When he found them, it was too late, Thaddeus had already covered his tracks by blaming the Sith warriors for the destruction of the village. Gaddis was there and placed the baby with the Drake family."

 "How did a Ne'Median know the Drake family?" Nicodemus wondered.

 "Salia was the midwife tending to Kadijah and she was Nona Drake's sister. Nona Drake already had two children, one not quite four months old, and Holly who was about four or five years old. Gaddis placed Tully with the Drake family and he remains with Nona Drake until she died."

 "But I do not remember Nona Drake!" Tully declared, scrubbing his face in frustration. "I only remember Holly Drake and being with her."

 Sunny thought for a moment then nodded as the information came to her. "You were with Holly Drake. She was a grown woman and was working as a housekeeper when you left Nona Drake and came to live with Holly. She was working for Jacob and Gemma Fury as their housekeeper and cook. It was during that time you met Nicodemus and became friends."

 Tully started to chuckle, and he glanced over at Nicodemus. "Nico, you are my great-great-nephew!"

 Nicodemus shook his head in chagrin then began to chuckle. "You were always part of the family; I just never knew how much!"

 Tully sobered, "Why don't I remember any of this?"

 Sunny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. But there are more secrets, but I don't know how to get to them -- yet."

 "Thaddeus and Lanna were married after a time," Nicodemus said. "He took Rafael as his son."

 "He was still ambitious," Sunny replied. "In time, Lanna and he would form an uneasy alliance. She never forgave him and though she married Thaddeus, it was purely to secure Rafael as head of the Fury family."

 "It was Rafael who served the highest office in Nu'Ada," Nicodemus said with a measure of pride in his voice. "He was Ard Ri."

 "Thaddeus never achieved his dream to be Ard Ri," Sunny said. "He had to be content to watch Rafael become the king of Nu'Ada. He would do his best to influence Rafael, and, on some issues, he succeeded, on others, Rafael listened to his mother, Lanna."

 "But how were my father and Gaddis connected?" Fury wanted to know.

 Sunny sighed heavily. "I don't know," she nodded over at Tully, "I suppose the truth is still out there to be revealed just like we've found out about Tully."

 Nicodemus got up from the kitchen table and began to pace the room. "We saw my father and Gaddis on the eve of his departure to see the Ard Ri. He was preparing to report something damaging," Fury stopped his pacing and looked over at Sunny, "What was it he was going to reveal?"

 "You could always ask him," Tully said looking over at Sunny. "He knows the truth."

 "Perhaps he does," Nicodemus replied sitting down again, the nervous energy seeming to leave him quickly and great fatigue coming over to lay heavily on his shoulders. "I am beginning to think that I do not want to know the whole truth."

 "Coming around to my way of thinking, eh?" Tully said with a wry smile.

 Nicodemus scoffed lightly. "Not really," he murmured. He looked over at Sunny, "But I want the truth as well."

 Sunny lowered her head in thought. She could now reach out and tap into a stream of consciousness that allowed her to 'look up' whatever story she wanted. "It's like 'Googling'."

 Nicodemus and Tully both frowned in confusion at the word. Sunny chuckled as she realized that she had used a modern term that was just as alien to the men sitting at the kitchen table as it was for her to deal with the idea that beyond the ancient stack of stones there was another world existing separate from her own. "It's like going to the Dannan's journals and knowing exactly which journal to pull to find a cure. But I can't touch the information that Gaddis has. We may be bound, but I can't get into his head at all."

 "What in the world do we tell Fiona?" Tully asked suddenly. "She knows something has happened."

 "I need to tell her," Sunny replied. "She has to know everything so whatever happens she can deal with it head-on."

 "Yes," Nicodemus murmured then glanced over at Tully. "I do not think anyone else should know what we know."

 "Why not?" Sunny asked.

 "This --." Nicodemus said and pointed to the three of them sitting at the kitchen table, "What we know is too dangerous to share now. Think how it would look if someone were to discover that the Fury family has Ne'Median ties?"

 Sunny sighed heavily and got to her feet. "I'm going upstairs to talk to Aunt Fiona. I'll send Cassie down. She'll need to be down here when the others come back with the supplies. I'll join them after I've spoken to Aunt Fiona."

 Tully nodded. "It should not take long to prepare the elderberry elixir, and the other just needs to be cleaned and dried."

 Sunny nodded then looked over at Nicodemus. "What do we tell the others?"

 "Nothing," Nicodemus told her. "You go through the Arch with the rest of the group. Whether you can cross back and forth like an awakened Dannan remains to be seen. Once you are in Nu'Ada, you will stay there."

 Sunny nodded silently. "I may need your help talking with Aunt Fiona," she told him. "Come up when the time is right." She looked over at Tully, "When you get back come up and we'll all have a chance to talk to her."

 Tully nodded and went out the kitchen door to wait for Lucy and the other others to return from their harvesting. Sunny paused at the kitchen door that led to the hallway, "Thank you for coming when I called."

 He closed the distance between them. He took her face and held it between his hands. "I will always come to you, Siobhan. I cannot stay away as Fiona asked. I cannot!"

 "Don't ever disappear again, Nicodemus. Promise me!" Sunny whispered.

 "I promise," He murmured.

 "Come up in a few minutes, okay?" Sunny asked and stepped back.

 "I will," Nicodemus said and turned to look at her his dark eyes looking worried. "Siobhan, are you all right?"

 She smiled at him. "I am, now." She replied.

 Sunny went upstairs and knocked on Fiona's bedroom door. Cassie answered it. "Cassie could you get things going downstairs, I'll come down in a little bit, I need to talk to Aunt Fiona, then I'll come and help."

 Cassie nodded. "As soon as Lucy gets back, we'll get things underway." She bustled out and Sunny sat down in the chair she had vacated and looked down at Fiona's ankle that was propped up on a pillow and swaddled in the poultice. "How does your foot feel?"

 "There's not a lot of pain, but it is stiff." Fiona replied, "Tell me what's happened."

 Sunny sat down and took Fiona's hand in both of hers, "Aunt Fiona, did you know that the Shai'Alomar dagger was in our keeping?"

 Fiona's eyes widened in surprise. "No!"

 Sunny nodded. "Yup, I found it, by accident. When I did, I nicked my finger on the tip of the blade and that's what triggered my abilities."

 "Then what happened at the Arch," Fiona wanted to know. "I felt something very strange happen—not to me, but to you!"

 Sunny sighed heavily. "I believe what happened at the Arch was minor to what happened that day I was bound to Gaddis Anu through the Shai'Alomar dagger."

 "How could that happen and why have we had possession of a Ne'Median artifact?" Fiona questioned.

 "That I don't know -- yet!" Sunny said. She looked down at Fiona's hands in hers, "I think it would be better if I show you," she said, "This is something I just learned to do – don't be afraid and let me show you -- it's amazing!"

 Fiona looked into Sunny's eyes and in seconds she knew everything Sunny knew. She gasped in amazement as she saw the copper fire glowing in the depths of her great-nieces' eyes. Sunny let go of Fiona's hands and she sat back in the chair.

 "There is so much more," Sunny replied. "It's so frustrating to have this connection but be excluded from the whole truth!"

 Fiona nodded sadly, "It's much the same way with the information between me and you," she said, her voice tinged with regret. "So much has been kept from you."

 The knock at Fiona's door made them both look over. The door opened and Nicodemus stood there. "Siobhan has access that only the ancients had possession of," Nicodemus said as he came into the bedroom. He sat in the side chair and looked over at Sunny. "This connection Siobhan has with Gaddis – while incredibly dangerous, is also a direct connection to the actual ancient history of our worlds."

 Fiona reached out and took hold of Sunny's hand, "Oh, I am so sorry ---,"

 "You mustn't feel bad about this," Sunny told them both, "I think it was destined to happen -- you must already know that."

 Fiona nodded reluctantly. "But it doesn't change that it is something that you have not been prepared for."

 "No, not yet." Sunny acknowledged. "I haven't been prepared for any of this ancient stuff, but I will be." 

 Bracken bounded into the bedroom and landed at the foot of the bed next to where Sunny perched, "Gatherers back with many baskets!"

 "That'll be Lucy and her crew," Sunny replied. "We're going to make up a bunch of elderberry elixir and maybe some throat lozenges for the scratchy throats."

 "There's a good recipe in my mother's journal." Fiona said, "I've put a ribbon bookmark so it's easy to find."

 "I'll use it," Sunny replied getting to her feet, "She uses peppermint and spearmint!"

 Fiona watched Sunny head downstairs with Bracken following behind. Nicodemus got up and closed the bedroom door and sat down in the chair again, drawing it close to Fiona. He sent his intention to Sunny. [I need to tell Fiona I cannot stay away from you.]

 [Will you reveal your true self?]

  ["It is not the time to reveal that to her or Tully."]

 ["I understand."] Sunny returned.

 Fury leaned forward slightly. "Fiona, I know I promised --,"

 Fiona nodded. "I know. I see the way she looks at you. The way you look at her. "

 "I will protect her, Fiona. With my life, I will protect her!" Nicodemus declared. "That I can promise you."

 "I will hold you to that, Nicodemus," Fiona responded.

 Fury nodded. He got to his feet and left Fiona alone with her thoughts. He still needed to be careful with Sunny, she still did not know all of his secrets. He hoped that she would understand.