Only Faint Rays Of Moonlight (The Plumeria: Book2)

Only faint rays of moonlight crept through the sheltering darkness of the room. The rays that outlined the tapestries of the ancient times when the country was divided. The unfortunate young tyrant stood staring into the night-set jungle below his window, exposing his bare tan back to the door. No sound had betrayed the two assassins who stood in the doorway, but Sharce felt their comforting presence, and his heart lept and he smiled with comfort. 1

"You came!" Sharce exclaimed trying to hold back the tears of joy, yet he kept his exposed back to them lest his face betray his feelings. "And yet, I had hoped that I would be able to see you both before it was my time to die." The two assassins stepped closer, and Sharce could hear Tanya's dainty footsteps that jingled with the ringlets and bells around her young ankles and Tobias's familiar stride that had become stronger and more confident with his new found manhood. The two ceased to continue, how could they kill their once loved companion?2

Tanya's vision became blurry with tears, but she was still able to see Tobias courageously walk up next to the unfortunate tyrant and stand next to him in silence. She noted how they both stood with their black-haired heads staring into the emptiness of the floor, with their long muscular legs apart, and their hands folded in front of them. Both the tyrant and the assassin shared the same bone structure, and Tanya observed how the moonlight outlined the identical curves in their exposed back. Only their apparel distinguished their identities. 3

Tobias was the first to speak after the long silence. 4

"Sharce, why?" 5

"You know why. I was a victim to Ocorous's lies. I wanted his love and approval all my life... and then I received it.... but not without a price. I sold my loyalty to my true family to him, my blood family."6

"Sharce, you betrayed us! All of us! Mother, Kat, Lari, Galena, Auntie Seph, Uncle Shar, Tanya, and me!"7

Sharce bit down hard on his lip causing it to bleed in hopes that his physical pain would block out the painful truth ringing in his ears.8

"I know now what a mistake it was to call Ocorous father. There is nothing more in the world that I regret more than taking his side in the war against my family that raised me from birth."9

For the first time, Tobias looked into his brother's eyes. 10

"You know that our forces surround the city."11

"I let them come"12

"But it is to your benefit to know that we would never destroy our home."13

"Yes, but I am done with this fight. I know you have come to destroy me"14

Tobias felt a warm liquid run down his face and brushed it aside. 15

"You know, there is another way out of this. Death is not the only answer." he said.16

"How can I live as a traitor? And if you don't kill me, the people will. I am already defeated."17

"Everyone makes mistakes..."18

"Tobias! Does everyone takes sides with an insane power-loving father in an attempt to take over the Southwestern World by going to war against the kind people who raised me in hopes to overthrow Uncle Shar and Auntie Sephy? No, I could not live with it. How Ocorous manipulated my mind was a crime on his part, and a misfortune on mine, never-the-less it can never be undone and I must live with the consequences."19

Tanya's bells around her feet softly rang as she walked up next to her beloved cousins.20

"Sharce, we forgive you. Just call out your armies and come home... please"21

With a sigh Sharce replied, "You are much wiser than I, how could I have ever thought of overthrowing your parents and exiling you? Yes, that was my intention... that is what I became. No, this is my only destiny."22

Sharce turned to his cousin whom he had grown up with and looked down at her beautiful soft face and doe-like eyes (which were filled with tears)that she had inherited from her mother, the Empress. He affecionatly touched her hair, then wiped a tear from her cheek. Silently he reached for the dagger slung at her waist.23

Tobias took a step forward in fear, and Tanya froze as still as death. "Don't worry, you two are the only assassins in this room" answered Sharce in response to their actions. Sharce held the dagger and gazed at the magnificently carved 15 inch blade. The young tyrant put it into the hands of his brother, and ceremoniously knelt down before his cousin keeping his face to the ground, "You are the true heir to the Empire, before I pass into the next world, I can only dream that you would forgive me for my betrayal." Tanya didn't;t know whether to smile or weep, so she did a combination of both and replied without hesitation, "It has already been done."24

For the first time in his life, Tobias thought that Tanya looked like the Empress that she was born to be. Sharce stood up and pressed his for head to his brother's forehead then whispered, "I only wish that you remember me before my corruption... before Ocorous poisoned my mind." "Of course, for that is the only brother I know." Sharce smiled for the first time in years, then returned to his stoic self once more.25

Sharce knelt down in from of his brother and said, "I quote from the mysterious writer of the ancient times, 'O happy dagger!26

This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.'" No words were spoken for seconds, nor were they needed. Tanya ran out of the room for she did not have the strength to bare to see Tobias carry out Sharce's will.27

After a minute's time, Tobias came out of the room carrying his brother's limp body and handed the crimson dagger to his cousin. She pulled out a vial from her satchel and emptied out the precious golden sand inside it into a vase in the hallway. This sand was from the forgotten island and was priceless to her people, yet, she filled the vial with her cousin's last drops of blood that still hung on the dagger. 28

Tobias and Tanya could not eat or sleep for a week, and stayed indoors in silence. They spoke of this night to no one, and no one dared to ask. They buried him in the Garden of kings outside the palace. Sharce's name changed from a shout to a murmur, then from a murmur to a whisper, then from a whisper to a glace, then it was lost in the swells of time. Only Tobias and Tanya spoke of their cousin, and although the people of the Empire forgot his name, Tobias and Tanya passed his memory on to their children and grandchildren.29