Cam’s voice was quiet. “What did Silva have them do to you?” Shebrushed aside her younger sister’s hair to trail a finger down the bruised side of her face.
Adria’s eyes were hollow and vacant. But she spoke clearly. “We were nearly starved and some of us beat. Elyon was with us.”
Cam sat slowly upon the sand covered floor, sinking her knees into the grainy substance. A scoff rose through her throat. “Elyon was with you? As you were starved and were beaten?”
“I mean,” Adria began, “It could have been worse.” Her gaze did not meet Cam’s. “Much worse.”
“H-how,” Cam choked, anger rising in her chest. “How can you love a god who let this happen to you?” Cam felt Peter go still.
Adria’s smile was small and sad. “Because Terra loved Him. And Terra would never have loved someone who did her wrong.”
Cam made a mental list. It soothed her mind. It gripped her
with subtle fear. “Humans: some are good, others evil. In the larger scope of things, humans lay in the middle, being creatures easily swayed to either side. Shadow Bearers: partly human, part of other realms. Evil. Shedim, legions of the master: evil. Mermaids: rather questionable. Yes, they have aided in warning Mirabelle of attacks but the substantial proof is not provided. Elyon, His Son, and His legions…” Cam paused, her mind drifting.
A flash. Flames. A face. Mista….
She turned her thoughts. “Silva: the ultimate evil.” Cam shook her head. “But she cannot be the ultimate evil. She had a master. Anditcertainlywasn’tElyon.” She had a notion that the ultimate evil could not be human as Silva was.
Her eyes drifted towards Caleb. “Caleb: good. Alive.” She watched as Fiera slipped her fingers and palm over his remaining hand. He gave her a weak smile. Cam saw Fiera gulp down nearly uncontrolled emotions. He had been awake for an hour now, and Cam’s chest was still blooming with relief. “I am going to sleep. We depart tomorrow. You two should rest as well,” Cam said, with a pointed look at her sister. Fiera only nodded.
Cam pushed aside a large piece of canvas which hung from the cavern entrance and saw exactly who she sought sitting against the wall just beyond it. Clutched in the dark woman’s hands was a tattered cloak the color of scarlet. Cam willed her voice to be soft as she sank to sit beside Ilea. “We should talk, you and I. I have questions.” She glanced at the scarlet clothing in the woman’s hands.
Ilea only nodded. “Yes, you do.” Her hold tightened around the cloak.
“How did you become the Scarlet Spy? It is true, isn't it?” Cam began softly.
Ilea turned, at last, her eyes wavering and glazed. She swallowed hard. “Once...hundreds of years ago, someone I loved gave this to me.” Shelifted the cloak, thescarlet fabric shifting in her hands. “And I wore it to remind myself of a promise, I vow I was making to Elyon.” Ilea paused, her gaze shifting from Cam to nowhere in particular.
Her next words echoed as if they had been pulled from the past from murky shadows. “I am a spy from this day forth for my King,” I said. “And I wear scarlet for the blood which will be shedbyHisSon.”Cam’s lips partedtovoiceareply,but no words couldcomeforth. Ilea continued. “But no oneelseknewmeto be a spy until I entered...this valley. Until I came to Mingroth and Silva’s father had me hunted down and brought to court.”
“And what of all the books? The Scarlet Spy is known as a scholar in the parts I come from,” Cam said.
Ilea shrugged. “Scholar in some parts, a rogue wanderer in Mingroth, invisible...like ash, in other lands. And…” Ilea stared, her eyes wavering with the thoughts tumbling through her memory. “And fallen queen to an ancient kingdom now a rubble of bones and broken starlight…” Her voice drifted as if it was as far off as her gaze and thoughts.
The titles tumbled into Cam’s mind, reminding her of far off stories and of the many titles Leviathan had declared of himself. “But did you write? All those things found in the legends...are they true?”
Ilea nodded. “Some. It is true that I have written many things. No, actually…” Ilea’s lips liftedin a smile. “Actually, there was a young man I met here in Mingroth in court. He was no older than ten years. And he was brilliant.” Ilea’s eyes sparkled with the memory. She turned to face Cam once more. “He wanted to know everything about everything. So I told him things that I knew. And he wrote them down. Knowing me to be called the Scarlet Spy more than my real name in Mingroth, he used that name in the scrolls he wrote.”
Cam smiled, the thought warming her. But Ilea’s sparkling eyes were melding back into a glazed sort of sadness. Her hands fidgeted with the scarlet cloak before her. “He died, Camaria. Long ago. When he was still a child.”
The words expanded the ache that had grown dull in Cam’s chest. It now bloomed and clawed its way up her throat. A young child had died, one that had been loved.
Just like Mista.
Ilea’s voicewas soft when shespokenext, anda sadsmile parted her lips. “Mingroth was not always a place of Shadow. There were moments, fleeting but beautiful, where I did not wish I could escape.”
Fierawatched as Cam’s silhouette flickered upon the torch-lit
canvas before she disappeared. Then her eyes flickered back to meet Caleb’s gaze. He squeezed her hand lightly. “I can’t explain to you in words how immensely grateful I am for your safety,” Fiera choked. Caleb gave her a weak smile, but his eyes did not sparkle as they had done so often before. They were cloaked in sadness, a distant memory veiling something in his mind. “What is it?” Fiera asked, brushing her thumb over his knuckles.
He turned sad eyes towards her. “There is something I’ve been meaning to tell you ever since the first night in Silva’s stronghold,” he paused, his lips still parted. “But...I believe that now is not the appropriate time to relate such…history.”
Fiera frowned. “History? You speak in riddles.” Caleb sighed. “Someday, Fiera. Someday I’ll tell you about myself. I’ll let you know the things I haven’t spoken about in years.”
For a brief moment, Fiera’s hold lightened. But then she smiled lightly. “We all have skeletons.” Caleb only wore a mask of grave seriousness. “Do you think you could love me, Fiera?”
She turned slowly, taken aback by the question. She stepped forward hesitantly. Fiera crossed her arms, looked Caleb square in the eye and said, “No.” She sat beside him, taking his hand in hers once more. His eyes flickered in puzzlement. She explained. “Terra once told me that love is perfect. That the very essence of love is perfect.” Her laugh was shaky. “I, on the other hand, am not perfect. No human ever perfectly loves another. Love is...everlasting, but I feel like…” She struggled to find the words. “I feel like I am fleeting ash on the wind that someone could catch in their palm but that I would then dissolve.”
She met his gaze, her words faltering from her mouth. “I could never promise to love you forever. But I can promise to try. I will put my best effort forward to love you, to love everyone.”
She drew in a breath. “Why did I give a speech?” she asked herself. “Why am I shaking?” She drew a sparkle into her eyes. “Now, as for falling in love with you, I believe...perhaps...someday when you stop being an ass...” Caleb’s laughter ceased her words.
His right hand stroked the side of her cheek before his warm lips pressed to her brow. “I will promise to put my best effort into loving you too.” He drew back to gaze at her with warm eyes. “When will you tell me all that has been going on?”
Fiera shifted. “What do you mean?”
Caleb shrugged. “I’m not sure. But there is something that you and Cam know. Your little charade with Silva about knowing the whereabouts of the Crown seemed nearly too convincing to me, and...”
“And what?” Fiera asked after Caleb’s silence stretched long enough to pique her curiosity.
“And well, ever since we all arrived in this valley, youand Cam have not seemed as bent on finding the Crown as before. And I know there have been some more personal objectives i
n the way for that but”
“But still,” Fiera cut in with a murmur. “You’reright. And we will tell you. Soon. But I have to talk to her first.”
Caleb nodded. “I understand.” Silence passed between them until Caleb’s eyes narrowed into slits of sparkles as he asked, “And if you do know where the Crown is, does that mean that you believe in Elyon too?”
Fiera’s lips parted slowly. “I believe there is something far more powerful than us or anything that we have seen yet. Should that being be called Elyon or not.”
Caleb nodded. “Yes, exactly.”
Before Fiera could say anything else, a figure’s shadow cast on the wall announced someone’s entrance. Cam entered, and Fiera’s attention was immediately drawn to a glowing, blue object in her hand.
“Come on,” she said. “You, me, andAdria. We’re going to find out what importance this was to Leviathan.”
“The Infernal Speech is not a tongue humans can learn to speak. In reality, I do not believe it is ever spoken. It is felt, which, though a word that does not begin to comprehend how the tongue is received, is the only word as humans that we can come close to understanding. Understanding the Infernal Speech is like trying to understand evil, its origins, itself. The version adopted by the Shadow Bearers as early as their second birth, however, is one read and written. One that humans, if Marked, can come to learn on their own accord.”
-The Scarlet Spy
Thirty-Five
“It’sa memory. I’vereadabout them before,” Adria toldCam as
she held the bottle in her palm.
“How does one transform memory into glowing, blue
liquid?” Fiera inquired with both brows lifted.
“The magic of Gnosi isn’t used just for memorization,”
Adria said as though it were common knowledge. Cam’s brow
shot up. “If one wishes to make a duplicate of a certain memory,
they drink a dose of Gnosi larger than one used for
memorization, concentrate quite hard, and the memory filters
into a container in the form of blue liquid.”
“H-how do you know that?” Fiera demanded. Adria gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I heard the
Shadow Bearer speaking of it when we were in Gnosi.” “A copy of a memory, or the memory as a whole? Would
one who put their memory inside this then forget it?” Cam
queried.
Adria shook her head. “No, I believe they keep the
memory in their own mind, but the duplicate is also available. I
suppose these are kept so that something secret can be left if…” “If someone dies,” Fiera finished.
“Where did you find it?” Adria asked.
“Leviathan, actually,” Cam replied. “As far as we know,
he hasn't seen it yet.”
“Wellofcoursenot,” Adria remarked.“It canonlybeseen
once. Once it has been seen, the liquid evaporates.”
Cam grasped the top of the bottle and attempted to twist
it but to no avail. She tried again and again, eventually becoming
quite frustrated. “That isn’t how you open it,” Adria said
suddenly. “I remember now! In one of Grandfather’s babbles he
happened to relate how to open a memory!”
“Why on earth would Grandfather have ever talked of
such a thing?” Fiera questioned, her brows drawn together. Adria shrugged. “It was a question Terra had asked.
Anyway, you’re supposed to ask the memory to open.” “Well that’s simple enough,” Cam commented. Fiera
frowned. “It seems too simple.” Cam ignored her as she
murmured over the battle. The next moment, the bottle eased
open, the cap twisting slowly and dropping to the floor. The
glowing liquid began to rise from the bottle in the form of pale
blue steam. The airy substance came to float between the four
sisters circled around it. Adria and Fiera edged closer to press
around the bottle in Cam’s hands. All looked in an almost
transfixed state at the blue light. Cam’s eyes were focused upon
it when all of a sudden her vision brightened until she was
blinded with brilliant light.
Cam squinted, the whiteness slowly fading. She blinked
her eyes to assure herself that what she was seeing was not
merely an illusion.
Cam found that she was no longer with her sisters. Or in a cavern beneath a mountain.
The light was dancing in blurs. Cam reached a hand as if
she could touch it. She felt cool air kissing her fingers and face
alike. Her eyes dipped shut as the noises of her surroundings
lulled her. Her head was heavy. So...heavy...like she could fall
asleep. But she remembered that she was not here only a
moment ago. Her eyes snapped open. And she saw two things. First was that of a stone structure quaint in stature and
blocked by a tree flourishing with golden fruit and silvery leaves. Medulla. “Home,” Cam murmured. But she could not hear her
own voice even as she felt herself speak.
But if she was home then…
“Whose memory am I walking in?”
That’s when she saw the second thing.
A figure who made her jerk back, stumble against vines
crawling across the garden path.
And then…
Edgeforward, a handoutstretchedas if shecouldtouch… Her sister.
Terra.
But she was turning, and Cam saw that it was not the
Terra she had seen last. Color shown in her cheeks. Her eyes
were wide and roving though...not at all sparkling.
And she was younger. “At least…four years ago,” Cam
breathed.
The wind that funneled into the garden rustled Cam’s
hair first and then prickled her neck. Cam felt as though
everything inside her lifted, but her feet stayed planted to the
garden’s damp ground. Cam whirled, her body following the
direction of the wind. She gasped. Or tried to gasp, but it didn’t
seem to be something she could do here.
A hooded figure stood at the gate, its white robes glowing
even as they brushed the mud. A light seemed not to come from
the robes but to leak from the creature itself. “Shadow Bearer,”
Cam thought. She shook her head. “No, not at all a Shadow
Bearer.” Though, the creature did seem flawless.
Pristine hands reached to push the hood aside. And Cam
beheld the face of light. A face of dreams and memories beyond
their realm. Time itself seemed crested in the creature's eyes. So
human, it appeared without looking anything like a human at all.
And then she saw the wings. Golden feathers lining an expanse
of membrane so wide, they could have circled the circumference
of healing tree at the center of the garden.
Cam heard a gasp and feet on pavement. She turned to
see Terra stumbling against the trunk of the tree, a hand clamped
over her mouth at the sight of the newcomer. When the creature
spoke, Cam felt his honied voice in her very bones. The voice stilled her. Made her feel like her blood had turned into the honey he spoke with. “Be not afraid, young one. Elyon is near
and protects you.”
“What are you?” Terra asked, her voice shaking. “My name is Riel. I am the messenger for the Court of
Caelae.” He turned and pointed a finger to his neck. Upon his
neck in golden ink was etched a symbol Cam had never seen. “Elyon?” Terra exclaimed, grasping the railing and
pulling closer. Riel nodded. “Have you come to take me away
>
from my wretched life and lead me to Caelae?”
“No, child. I am here only to convey a message.” Terra’s disposition suddenly seemed to sink. Her arms
dropped to her sides. “Tell me, though I already know, what
heavy burden has been set upon you?”
“They want me to give my virtue away,” Terra’s voice
quavered and her hands shook. “They want me to betheir tool in
order to prove their allegiance to a wretched creature! Why has
Elyon made this my purpose?”
“He has not,” Riel said, looking at Terra with a sincere
expression. A tear slid down Terra’s cheek. “Your purpose is far
greater than you realize. You will bear a son who will one day
save the world. Though He has already lived as Prince of Caelae
in spirit, He has yet to be formed in the flesh of you and your
kind. And you, child, are the key to His humanity.”
Terra’s expression was blank, her mouth opened in an
effort to protest. But the words were stuck in her throat. Cam saw
it and felt it in her own chest. Questions she wished to fire but
would not move from her mind to her mouth. “I will be
impregnated by Apollyon’s son, you mean? How is that a
different purpose?” Terra forced out at last.
The creature tilted its head and smiled, the bemusement
reachinghis sparklingeyes as well. “Youhave readandheardthe
words of the Watchers from your Grandfather, Terra. He has
taught you the ways of Elyon and of the Spirit Followers.” “You can’t possibly mean…”
Riel nodded.
Cam edged closer. To better read her sister’s expression
or to hear what this creature was going to say next, she did not
know.
Cam was just reaching Terra, just extending a hand to
touch her when...she halted. She could not move. Everything
within her still. Even her blood. And then the prickles from the
inside out began. Her vision was blurring The scene before her
was growing gradually white. The voices drowned to murmurs. And then…
Keepers of the Crown Page 39
