Avan's Gift (Queen Avan, #1)

by Alice Ivinya

  Silence except for the creaking. The darkness was becoming absolute and it was hard to shove away a feeling of unease. I started to wonder if Cedric had fallen asleep, when he spoke again. “The more time I spend away from Herne, the more I think I would enjoy this life. It’s nice just having simple concerns like how many thistles have made it into your bed.”

  I rolled over. How could he be so positive about this after what we’d just been through? Didn’t he feel the same unease in his stomach? Didn’t he feel the suffocating closeness of the dark? “Simple concerns? We’re being hunted by Tharans.”.

  “Well, apart from that, but that’s not an everyday occurrence for those who live in the countryside.”

  “It might be if this drought doesn’t stop.” My thoughts strayed to Ma. I imagined her in front of that big black bear, tiny and frail.

  “Yes, but what I’m trying to say is; I have this daydream, Avan. It’s silly really. Unrealistic.” I heard him shift his weight. “After this mess is all sorted, the Growers rescued, the Tharans appeased, and all that, well, I imagine abdicating my right to the throne for me and my descendants. I leave and find a nice spot in the Marchwood countryside and be... normal. And today I imagined that you settled in this village too.”

  I froze. Cedric didn’t have a way with words, and I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. “You’ve only known me for two days. In two more, you might decide you want to live on the other side of Marchwood to me,” I whispered with forced humour.

  “Well, it’s just a dream in my head.” He spoke a little too quickly. “I just... well, I enjoy being with you and I can imagine a village where we’re neighbours, you know? A place where we both feel like we belong.”

  I twisted the blanket. “That would be nice. To be somewhere I really belonged.” Somewhere where I didn’t always get lumped with Klia in everyone's minds as they gave us despairing looks and exasperated sighs. I loved being her friend, but I wanted more than our silly antics. It was nice spending time with somebody new without being in Klia’s shadow. Or Ma’s for that matter. For the first time I could be simply me, and that was what Cedric saw. It warmed my heart to think ‘just me’ was finally acceptable to somebody.

  I shook my head to stop me getting carried away. “You’ve not met many villagers outside of the capital,” I ventured. “There are many people who are nicer than me who could live in your village. And more useful.”

  Cedric chuckled gently. “Maybe. I would still like you to be there. And everyone you care about too, of course.”

  A warmth spread right from my toes to my hair, and I let myself imagine the impossible daydream. I imagined a house covered in roses and fruit trees in the garden. I collected tulips that Cedric had helped Grow, and waved to him over the fence. He grinned and walked through his own vibrant garden up to me, leant over the fence and... kissed me.

  I snapped open my eyes and tightened my fists. No, I shouldn’t let myself think like that. Not over a man I’d only known for two days, let alone the crown prince. It was stupid and my emotions had been so all over the place these last two days, I couldn’t trust them.

  But still, it was a nice daydream. “Maybe,” I breathed.

  I could hear the smile in his voice. “Maybe,” he repeated.

  THE SCREECH OF SOMETHING hard grating down wood made me jolt awake from fractured, unpleasant dreams. The light was hazy and grey and dust motes floated around me. I sat up, hugging my knees and waited to see if the sound would repeat itself again. There! A clawing, scraping, digging sound accompanied by the rattling of wood. My pulse hammered in my ears and I closed my eyes to concentrate on my breaths. Of course this battered mill would make strange sounds. I needed to keep calm and reasonable.

  I rolled out of bed, slipped on my boots, and crawled under the curtain. I was surprised to find Cedric was already awake and he put his finger to his lips as he crouched near the edge of the hayloft. It seemed like he was also easily alarmed after the ambush. The noise didn’t come again. I focused on Cedric’s closeness, his air of certainty and the sword that he’d strapped to his side, and felt myself relax. His hair was tousled and crooked lengths of hay dangled from the curls. Our conversation from last night still lingered in the air, and I couldn’t help but examine the new rush of excitement tangled with nerves that shot down my limbs when I knelt beside him. I bit my lip to keep my head steady and was careful to not let our bodies touch. I had slept in my clothes and gave myself a subtle sniff.

  “What do you think the noise was?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Maybe part of the windmill blades had freed itself and scraped against the building every time it passed.

  Cedric put a finger to his lips and pointed to a window in the roof above. It was shuttered tightly against the dawn light, and he motioned for me to open it. Did he want more light? I frowned but did as he said, shoving the stiff bolts as quietly as I could and pushing wide the shutters. There was no lattice behind them, the window merely a hole in the roof, and the shutters rested against the red clay roof tiles. The cold morning breeze pinched my skin.

  I crawled back to Cedric and followed his gaze over the edge of the loft to the shadowed room below. I squinted and a movement grabbed my attention and froze my limbs. The light peeking around the warped door frame flashed as a big shadow moved just outside. The scraping noise came again and the door trembled in its frame. I jumped and grabbed Cedric’s arm, still on my hands and knees. A latch clicked and the door creaked open slowly. I struggled to breathe and fixed my eyes on the widening door. A massive black bear squeezed through the frame on almost silent feet and sniffed the air with its long grey nose. My chest tightened and my knees lost their strength, making me flop sideways into Cedric.

  I tightened my grip on Cedric’s arm, trying to feel comfort from his presence again, but all I could feel was terror. The Tharans had tracked us all the way here? It was going to all happen again. The fighting, the blood, the pain. Lord Jasper’s horrible smile.

  The bear lumbered a few more paces forward and the floorboards creaked with its weight. Its huge head lifted and it looked straight at us. Coldness seeped down my spine and I couldn’t breathe. Its eyes met mine.

  “Go!” Cedric yanked me away from the edge and pushed me towards the window. I scrambled for purchase on the tiles above me while Cedric pushed the step ladder away from the hayloft. The bear roared as the ladder clattered to the floor next to its paws and the sound made my hands shake and my mind panic. I struggled to pull myself through the window frame, my limbs becoming weak with terror. I was too slow, too clumsy. The hayloft rattled and shook, the floor rocking beneath my feet. The bear must be pushing the supports, trying to bring us down. I scrambled helplessly, trying to heave myself onto the roof. Cedric’s hands grabbed my waist and he lifted me up easily into the cold air of a pale sky. I rolled onto the wobbling tiles and stretched an arm to help him up. He didn’t need it but pulled himself through the gap in one motion and we turned frantically to search for an escape. The branches of the trees behind the mill brushed the rooftop. Without letting myself think, I ran and leapt for the nearest one that could hold my weight, catching it at the level of my stomach and gasping as it punched my bruised abdomen. Blinking back tears, I heaved myself on. Thank the Arts I was wearing trousers. Cedric landed beside me and put his hands to the tree. I realised he was using his Art. The branch beneath us thickened and flattened and the whole limb moved further from the mill roof.

  When Cedric had finished, I scrambled to the trunk and climbed onto the nobbled branch of a neighbouring oak tree. This one had crooked, dead branches and a hollow trunk that had previously been licked by fire, cracked open at the top. I half clambered, half fell down the inside of the trunk, grateful to be out of sight. I reached the base, my feet cushioned by sawdust, and peeked out of a crack that was just wide enough to crawl through. Cedric landed softly behind me.

  Silence, except for the whispering of weavergrass all around. The field was close, only a few met
res from our hiding place. I felt my hair and realised I had forgotten my hat. I shook my head. Why was my brain thinking about that now? Cedric squatted and put his hand to the earth and closed his eyes. They snapped open. “They are coming! Run!”

  He pushed me through the crack in the trunk and together we charged into the tall, dead grass. Cedric grabbed my hand to help me keep up with his longer stride. The weavergrass rustled and scraped past us, a foot higher than my head. Cedric pulled me faster and faster, my feet falling awkwardly in the uneven dried dirt, until I fell to my knees and my grip slipped from his. Cedric turned and knelt to help me, but then jerked his head up, drawing his sword. I froze. The wind rippled the grass around us, making it hiss as if dozens of animals were slipping through the stems to circled us. Cedric stood over me, panting as he tried to look in every direction at once. Quietly, I stood, watching the swaying stems for moving shadows. I drew the chancellor’s knife and stood to Cedric’s back. In this grass I wouldn’t be able to see an attacker before they were upon us. The whispering hiss continued all around us. Cedric clasped my hand again and we walked forward, using our free hands to silently part the stems. A wolf’s howl tore the air and we both jumped. It was to our left. Cedric squeezed my hand and his thumb brushed over my knuckles. I squeezed it in return. We crept forward again, then Cedric paused. He knelt to the floor and closed his eyes, still holding my hand. He must be listening to the grass, I realised. Maybe he could tell where the Tharan were? Or the best direction for us to take?

  Mist seemed to seep from the weavergrass and surround us until everything was covered in a veil of white. The world was tipping, out of focus. I waved my hand to try to clear the mist but my arm barely worked. Then I was elsewhere; I was kneeling on the floor, facing the other way. Had I just fainted? Something in my head snapped and thoughts and emotions that weren’t my own flooded through me.

  I had to keep Avan safe and get us both to Herne. Fierce determination rippled through my body as I remembered the promise I had made her. I searched for those singing threads of life under the soil and stroked them, caressed them, listening to their notes that rang out in return. The notes were dull, percussive. Dead or dying. I increased my circle, further and further, stretching my mind until it ached. There! An area with no song. No vibrating strings of life. A clearing in the grass. I would have room to swing my sword there and we could see what was coming. I lifted my hand and stood, turning to Avan. She looked at me blankly, her lips slightly parted, her chest heaving. Her fiery hair was working its way free of her braid and messy curls framed her face. By the earth she was beautiful. She only had me to protect her, I couldn’t let her down.

  I released his hand and jolted back into my own body, my emotions and perceptions jarring as they returned. I stared at Cedric in shock and he raised his eyebrows in question. “It’s all right, Avan. I was just using my Art. Listening to the plants.” He took my hand again and I yanked it behind my back. Cedric frowned and looked hurt. “Come on, this way. Try to keep quiet.”

  He set off at a run and I stumbled after him through the grass, trying to keep my heart rate under control. I stared at his back, bewildered and nauseous, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The wind hissed through the grass again, bowing stems towards us as if a huge invisible animal was flattening them in its charge towards us. A shadow flickered to my left. I whirled and held up my knife to it, but... nothing.

  “Avan, come on!” commanded Cedric. He grabbed my hand to pull me and this time I let him jerk me on.

  “Cedric, there is something there,” I said, the panic clear in my voice despite how hard I tried to stay calm.

  “I know, move!”

  We hurtled forward now, not caring about the noise. Blades of grass wiped my face and hands. Thin lines of blood appeared on my skin and I tasted it in my mouth, but I felt no pain. There! A dark, low movement hurtling in and out of view to our right. Another flicker of movement behind it. A snarl ripped through the grass from behind, making me duck reflexively.

  “Cedric...” I shrieked.

  He didn’t reply but instead pulled me faster and faster. I was slowing him down, I realised. I dragged in ragged breaths, but couldn’t get enough air. My limbs were weakening, dragging. At any moment, I expected to be knocked over and feel teeth and claws.

  Bright sunlight hit me and I shaded my eyes. The clearing, we had made it to the clearing. It wasn’t wide, about the diameter of two people lying down. Cedric pushed me into the centre and stood in front, standing with his blade raised and alert. He was panting, but strangely calm, poised. I put my back to his and aimed my shaking knife at the grass, trying to catch my breath. The shadows rippled and circled around us. Above, an eagle screeched as it hovered, marking us out. We were trapped and they were coming.

  With a horrible inevitably, two wolves slunk from the grass in front of me. One was black, one was grey. They were silent and focused, prowling towards me. I grabbed Cedric but he didn’t turn. I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw a circling mountain lion and a strange, lumbering reptile I had never seen before with huge teeth, long jaws and short limbs. I held up my dagger, but it looked so tiny next to the beasts.

  I lunged forward with a yell, trying to intimidate, but a wolf leapt in response. I screamed and tried to thrust the dagger at it. Paws hit my chest and I hit the ground with a thud. Jaws clamped around my throat and paused. I whimpered. I couldn’t move. I waited for the pain, the blackness, but instead I only felt warm breath and the trickle of saliva down my neck. I wrestled with my panic and managed to cock my head slightly to see Cedric and give him a desperate look.

  Cedric bellowed and tried to charge at the wolf, but the giant lizard lunged and grabbed his foot. The mountain lion pounced and bit into his sword arm with a high pitched snarl, claws latching into his side. I screamed his name and tried to free myself, but the wolf squeezed my throat in its jaws until I could barely breathe. Cedric drew a dagger with his free hand and stabbed the lion in the shoulder. It snarled again and leapt away from him. Cedric’s tunic was covered in blood and his face was pale with pain.

  “Enough,” commanded a deep voice from behind me. I couldn’t move my head anymore and stayed staring in horror at Cedric’s arm dripping blood. The pressure on my chest lessened and the wolf retreated. I looked up at where the wolf had been in confusion, and a black silhouette of a man blocked the sun. A man inspecting his catch. I tentatively felt my throat and wiped it free of saliva.

  “Ah, I believe we’re already acquainted,” said the voice in a Tharan accent. “You were one of the villagers on the road. I’d never forget that glorious hair.”

  I blinked and sat up. “Lord Jasper,” I said, trying to shuffle away towards Cedric. I forced a shred of bravery into my voice. “Shouldn’t you be on your way back to Tahara with your new slaves by now?” I spat at his feet. “Haven’t you got enough?”

  “Well, this feels like an unbalanced conversation to me,” he said, looking for all the world as if he was enjoying himself. He pushed his shoulder length black hair over the top of his head. “You know so much about me and I so little about you. Enlighten me. Are you a Grower?”

  “No. So let me go!” I scrambled to my feet but he grabbed my shoulder. It was like I was being held by a statue of iron; I couldn’t move his arm an inch.

  “Don’t touch her!” shouted Cedric, but nobody even glanced at him.

  “Now, now, what’s the rush, sweetheart?” He gave me a predatory smile, then reached out his arm to summon an old lady who had been waiting behind him with her grey head bowed. She shuffled up to me, and I realised she was wearing simple Farthi clothes. Without meeting my eye, she put a seed in my hand. She closed my fingers around it, then cupped my hand in hers, closing her eyes. Alarmingly, the strange white mist returned and I felt my mind twisting into hers.

  The Tharan was standing over my husband who lay on the floor of our inn. He kicked him in the ribs again and smirked at me. I muffled a scream. My husb
and wasn’t a young man anymore. Broken bones would struggle to heal. “Your choice, Elia. Either we burn this place down with your husband inside, or you come with us. Don’t worry, sweetheart. It will just be a little trip. You’ll be back quicker than you could make a plant Grow.” He walked right up to me, looming from his great height. “What do you think?”

  I gripped the chair for support and nodded, my whole body shaking.

  “Good girl.” The Tharan turned to my husband. “You will continue as normal, understood? And every time strangers come to this inn, you will send me the pigeon with details of their descriptions. That way you get to see your wife again, and I won’t take her with me to Tahara.”

  The vision dropped as the old lady released my hand and shook her head at Lord Jasper. I tried to hide my shock.

  “Ah, a pity,” he sighed looking me straight in the eyes, studying me as if he could read my mind. His eyes were a deep brown in contrast to his pale skin. “I would like to have spent more time with you. At least let us part with your name?”

  I glared at him in response and he chuckled and released me, pushing me to one side. I could see Cedric properly now. His foot was still in the mouth of the monstrous lizard, but the lion was gone. A Tharan loomed behind him holding a knife at his throat with one hand, and Cedric’s sword in the other.

  “Ah, the little lord. Though it seems you’ve been robbed.” He nodded to my clothes and reached out to run a finger over the embroidered squirrels on my cloak. I took a step back and he turned back to Cedric. “How clumsy of you.”

  Cedric tried to straighten and look assertive, but his face was becoming increasingly pale and his voice trembled. I bit back tears. “I am Prince Cedric, the oldest son of King Joseph Arden of Marchwood and the Riverlands. You have no right to attack me and my companion. You will release us immediately and send a delegation to Herne with your apology.”

  The Black Lord chuckled. “I asked for the pretty lady’s name, not yours, boy. You see, I couldn’t care less about you. That is unless you are a Grower?”