Unmaking Percy

Part IV - II, continued (The Parted Glade)

"A curse?" Percy repeated, startled. "Is this why he checks himself every night? Is that what he's looking for?"

Astred turned to Percy with a look of such saint-like patience that Percy promised himself to never interrupt him again.

"Yes, it is. The curse placed on him was an odd one. We could hardly make sense of the reports that reached us. To put it simply, the sorceress cursed him to never amount to anything. She did it thus: she placed on him three acorns, a leaf, half a walnut shell, and said that one day, a sapling would grow from him, and that, in that moment, he would stop. Naturally, this greatly alarmed his parents, who hid him away in this residence in his younger years to protect him. The king cares very much for him, bastard son or not, and he greatly wished to counter this spell. He entrusted Evans' education to me, along with a few select others, to ensure that this curse would not come to pass.

"We raised him with great care, and instilled in him the importance of outdoing himself and others, to leave his mark. Knowing he was the chosen one, we gave him a fitting task, so that he would never be aimless in life: to venture into the world and break curses, affecting noble and commoner alike. To face fae and close gaps. It is a mission, I confess, that is very dear to me, and I believe he is the only one truly worthy of it. But I never for a moment thought that he could do it alone. Who could?"

He slowly raised his hand to the window, and grasped tightly at a speck of purple light in his palm.

"From the very start, when we were planning his education, one thing in particular concerned me. The curse would be ever at work, trying to find purchase on the boy, tempting him to laziness and mediocrity, to dullness not befitting the son of a king; or enticing him to put down his sword, abandon his quest and be forgotten. If we were to counter that pull of the curse, we would need something equally strong. Something that would keep him and his story going onwards. I took measures to prevent this, and I was later proven right. Even as he excelled in his education and duties, the boy developed a fascination with gaps and curses that was not limited to the task of closing and breaking them. He grew fond of the useless and the waste of space. He never rebelled openly against his purpose, and he always surpassed himself in his quests. But I've known him since he was born, and I could always feel on him the pull of the curse's fate. Now we come to you."

His last words came without warning. Percy stood still, very aware of his own breathing: of how shallow it was, rippling in the cool air of the room.

"You will have understood from my words that I care for him and wish for him to succeed. To prove the curse wrong by having his story live on. I was told you are an avid reader, and so I presume you know this: every story requires a foe, and obstacles to challenge the hero. Otherwise, it withers and falters, and comes to an end."

"You already told me. I can grasp the concept" Percy muttered. He could hear his own voice dripping bitterness. "You wanted me to be the antagonist that thwarted him and kept him going. The stone in his shoe that kept him walking, or... whatever it is."

"Indeed, yes. Although you do not seem as accomplished in your purpose as Evans is in his" Astred added with a curt smile. "But I think you do not yet realize how long ago I chose you for this. Did you not wonder at how incompetent the seers in your town must have been, to claim mistakenly all your life that you were the chosen one? But they were, in fact, perfectly competent. Even I must admit, they carried out my instructions to perfection; and I am rather demanding. Under my orders, they claimed you were the chosen one – which your father, of course, was thrilled by. And so it was that, when we came to fetch you to accompany Evans, I knew we would have in our hands a resentful, spiteful boy, who felt he had been sorely wronged, and his destiny taken from him. It was the only way for me to ensure you would be up to the task I had set up for you."