Forty nine

Silence descends in the gloomy room while everyone else takes a moment to think about it.

" What do you know of my kind?" Wiping the slate clean and starting from the beginning is the best way to go. Sometimes striping all the added unnecessary flourish to a story to reveal its backbone making it far easier to understand and untangle.

Mason said that he had tried to find writings but was unable to unearth anything valuable.

Timeea nods, taking a moment to think about it. She probably doesn't have much to go on, but every little helps. We could fill in the gaps, if we put our heads together. Possibly.

With a deep breath, " It's not much, " She says soulfully, " A long time ago it was rumoured that a god descended from the heavens above and walked the earth. He brought with him, ten of his concubines," Graham oohs at my side, wiggling his brows suggestively. I'm not all that impressed. History is littered with stories about Kings and their harems.

" Silence. Do not interrupt," Timeea snaps, sparks flying out of her eyes directed at Graham. The glare she throws his way could easily melt steel, on the other side of me, Graham shrugs nonchalantly and smirks back at her.

A growl rumbles deep in Timeea's chest, fists clenched at her sides, ready to spit fire. Only if she could.

Graham scoffs, and winks at her, cheekily. Remaining truthful to his boyish nature. That little scoundrel, " Trust me, I would never interrupt a woman while she is using her mouth," His voice drops an octave injecting an unholy amount of innuendo into that sentence.

So much so, that Mason steps in, " I need you to put a lid on it Graham," He says firmly, his stoicism surfacing once more, " For now, " He adds in a softer tone, eyeing Graham carefully when he huffs displeased.

" You've gone soft in your old age, Kinnaird," Graham croons casually. A perfect picture of nonchalance. Most likely, a look meant to impress the lady across from him, but judging by the deep annoyance Timeea is currently displaying, he is failing. Or so it appears.

Mason groans, exasperated and fishes out of his pocket a knife," Next time you open your mouth, I'll stab you in the leg. Now be quiet," Mason scowls, while Graham eyes the dagger pointed his way, warily.

" Fine," Graham concedes, and we all turn our attention back to Timeea. Her shoulders sag, relief is evident in her general countenance. Something about Graham puts her on edge.

" By all means continue," He adds as an afterthought," Waving a hand in her general direction dramatically.

Timeea sighs, shoulders sagging even further. If his goal is to wear her out, then he is winning. The woman is at her wit's end by the looks of it. And at this point, I think she would sleep with him, just to shut him up. That's one way to go.

" Right, " She clears her throat, " Ten were brought, and the rumour goes that all of them possessed various abilities, all alike but not the same. Apparently, the man had a certain type. The details of their abilities are quite unclear, but they had one thing in common. All of them were linked together, so they couldn't harm one another in a fit of jealousy over their master's attention. So, they say that he moved from city to city and mingled with humankind. Paid with golden coins wherever he went, partied like a king and then moved on until one day when he reached a certain remote tribe. You know them today as the Kallah, but at the time, they were nothing more than just a simple tribe living in their mud huts, leading a very simple life. For some reason, the man decided to linger longer in the settlement than anywhere else he'd been. And soon enough, the tribe began to worship him as their god. This is where the story gets a bit fuzzy, and a lot of the details don't make sense, because everything ended. The tribe has survived just fine and few others have risen after the calamity and rebuilt what you see today. One of those people was my ancestors. After that, it's a mishmash of broken pieces from various accounts that have lost their validity after a few hundred years, and no one was invested enough to find out more. They were far more preoccupied rebuilding than chasing ghosts of the past, " She takes a deep breath looking at all of us with a sense of apprehension. This is something tangible, better than the malarkey she has regurgitated so far.

We all silently stare at her, turning it over. A good place to start and not at all what I had expected to hear. What happened in that little village? And because I'm here, that means that some, if not all the concubines have survived and carried on. If they did, then that would explain my existence. How?

The only way we would get to the bottom of it is if we can find the concubines. The problem is, that millenia have already passed and they are most likely dead.

Probing Micah would be an easy solution but that would mean that we would have to walk straight into the belly of the monster. I look at Mason, who lightly shakes his head, and I already know that he disapproves of that little thought.

Graham clears his throat and raises his hand, " I have a theory," He says sheepishly, warily eyeing the primed dagger in Mason's hand, and waiting for the Timeea to give her assent for him to speak.

Tiping her chin defiantly, " Go ahead, thief. Regale us with your small-minded nonsense, " She says dismissively, and Graham chuckles at my side.

" A little thought on that before I share my theory. Nothing about me is small, " Timeea flushes in a nanosecond like a beet, fueling Graham's amusement even further. This is going to last forever. By the time we leave this room, the ball will have ended, and I've wasted a perfectly good dress.

" Right," Graham composes himself, " What if the ten have become one," We all turn to him in unison, " You said that the concubines were all part of a chain. Links, what if they made use of that connection and merged into one, thus becoming something new? That would explain Lily's ability to absorb energy, like a sponge. The natural inclination, her initial purpose now removed from the equation, maybe this is simply an after-effect of that change. A metamorphosis of some sort. All those women combined their essence into one little vessel, probably in a bid for survival. Their master had been slain, and most likely the tribe had attempted to abuse their powers or used them for their benefit. Hence the need for the seals. Probably, the only one who had ability to control them had died, but instead of finding the freedom they merely found another prison," The room is all of a sudden deadly quiet as we all take a moment to assess Graham. Most of all, Timeea seems the be one that he has truly impressed. She is speechless, vacantly blinking, mouth gaping, still as a statue.

" What?" Graham shrugs casually, " Just because I'm a thief, doesn't mean I'm stupid too. I could rob you blind, and you wouldn't even know it," He clicks his tongue, smugly grinning back at Timeea, who is still at a loss for words. And she is not the only one.

" It's a good theory," Mason pipes in, " Except for the considerable amount of time between events," He adds as an afterthought.

" We are speaking of women who possess abilities that none have ever heard of. They were not you run-of-the-mill fortune teller or a sorceress. They probably could tap into powers we don't even think exist. So, it stands until proven wrong. I promise you, you won't," Graham closes his arms over his chest, the challenge in his eyes, obvious.