He continued to shake with emotion, so much so I worried about his well-being.
Marcellious had carried much grief and resentment on his journey through time.
“When I found that out, I was miserable. I felt rejected… passed over… unwanted. I left. I didn’t belong,” Marcellious said.
I glanced at Roman to find him looking as astonished as I was.
“Wow,” I mouthed, and he nodded.
The chief stabbed the air in front of Marcellious. “Your emotions got in the way of your decisions. Look at you! What have you become? You’re nothing but a man consumed by darkness!”
Marcellious shrank back, cowed.
“Darkness has consumed your soul. Dancing Fire raised you to become a good man. Instead, you’ve become rude and impolite. A barbarian. Shame on you.” He waggled his wizened hand before Marcellious’ chest. “Dancing Fire would be angry to see what you’ve become.”
Marcellious’ expression contorted in rage. His long, greasy hair hung on his face, making him look more sinister. “I became this way because of what happened to me in Rome. I became a killer to survive. My existence in Rome was unbearable—I lost the woman I loved and my unborn child. She was the only redeeming thing in my life. She made me want to be a good man. But then…”
His mouth slammed shut, and he shuddered.
Everyone in the circle watched him, rapt, although I suspected few understood what was being said.
The chief waited expectantly, leaning toward Marcellious.
Marcellious’ voice quaked when he spoke again. “The moment I wanted all those things, the darkness tookeverything.” Spittle sprayed from his mouth as his anguished words fell from his lips. “SoIkilled the darkness myself. I slit its throat. And I, in turn, became evil from the pain I felt inside myself… from the losses of my life.”
Veins protruded from his neck. His complexion matched the glowing embers in the fires used to cook the meal.
“This is all your fault!” Marcellious said through clenched teeth. “I never would have left had you told me the truth. I became who I am because of you!”
Grey Feather flicked his hand at Marcellious, effectively dismissing him. “You made your choices, Hunting Wolf. The pain and sadness you carry are your faults, not ours. You could have prevented the heartache and pain, but you let your emotions get in the way instead. Why didn’t you come to talk to us after you overheard the conversation? Instead, you ran like a coward. You time-traveled, and you became a despicable man. The pain you put Dancing Fire through was awful. He retreated into himself, and we thought we lost him.”
The chief began to sway. He closed his eyes, and a world of grief became evident in his expression. “Dancing Fire was your mother and your father. He raised you from infancy. He taught you everything—how to fight, hunt, walk, and talk. He wanted to be your world, your everything. He also taught you how to please a woman at night.”
Even in the dim, flickering torchlight, Marcellious blushed.
“And when you left….” The chief opened his eyes and regarded Marcellious from beneath the folds of his eyelids. “When you left, you left him broken for many years. He thought he hadn’t been good enough.”
The flickering flames cast shadows on Marcellious’ face, carving lines of shame and regret on his features. He shrank into himself as if wanting to disappear.
All the fight seemed to drain from Grey Feather’s limbs, leaving him frail and old, unlike the mighty warrior he must have been at once. “You have been gone for a long time, Hunting Wolf. And your one job, the job Dancing Fire trained you to do, was to destroy and kill Balthazar. Instead, since you left, he has grown stronger. He kills freely to satisfy his hunger. He roams through time, taking without mercy. The lives that he has taken represent blood onyourhands. You could have killed him long ago, but instead, you traveled far, far away. And so much has changed since then. You might have killed your darkness, but Balthazar is still alive and killing as he pleases. That’s on you, Hunting Wolf.”
Marcellious threw back his head and groaned as if he had been physically assaulted.
I felt compelled to do something or say anything to rectify this situation. “Sitting before you, you now have three Timebornes instead of just one. Surely, that must be a comfort? How canwedefeat Balthazar?”
The chief fixed his gaze upon me.
“I don’t know much about Balthazar,” I said, “but I want to defeat him.”
The eyes of every person in the gathering fixed upon me.
Grey Feather looked at me with tenderness. “Balthazar is ancient and powerful, and many Timebornes have failed throughout the years to destroy him.”
Having the attention of the Chief lent me strength.
“I will do whatever it takes to defeat Balthazar. Roman, Marcellious, and I will be allies and work together to bring Balthazar down no matter what it takes. If Roman and I are allied with Marcellious, we can destroy Balthazar. I know we can.” My words emerged clearly and distinctly as if drawn from the depth of my being. “We will do what it takes to annihilate Balthazar.”
Grey Feather’s eyes became moist as he studied me. “Your conviction is admirable.”
