by M. A. Roth
Carew is staring at me, and I’m very aware of my bare legs that his eyes roam across. My pulse spikes and I hate the feeling that rises inside me. I return to the bed and pull the cover over my legs and focus on rearranging the blanket. I’m aware he’s walking back to my bed and he kneels down handing me the knife. It’s the knife that Suraga gave me, the one I had left behind in the chamber of exiles.
I’m shaking my head a little stunned that he would give me this after I had stabbed him with it. “Why? How?” I ask.
“It is such a beautiful dagger,” Carew says. “The swirls are symbols.” He traces them with his fingers and his eyes light up. I’m smiling at his smiling face. I’ve never seen him smile before and when he glances up at me, his smile falters. “You find this funny?” his deep voice sends shivers racing across my bare arms.
“No it’s just...” I’m unsure of what to say. “It’s just… you looked happy, talking right now.”
Carew’s intense eyes darken further and he shuts me out by standing up.
“Please don’t, Carew. You have nothing to fear with me.”
He studies me. “I have everything to fear,” he says, his words are heavy and guilt churns in my stomach.
The thoughts of knowing that he might die has me leaving the knife on my pillow and getting out of bed. At my movements Carew starts to move back, his cloak flaps open, revealing his torso.
We stand two feet apart. I close the distance, and Carew doesn’t move, his black eyes dart across my face. The scar that I had left on his abdomen is white against his tan skin. I glance at him before erasing the distance between us. I don’t know what draws me to him, but I reach out and touch the scar with my index finger.
“I’m sorry.” My throat tightens.
“I know you are.” Carew’s words have me glancing back up into his eyes that have softened. His eyes look almost brown.
“Your eyes.” My stomach squeezes and I take my hand off his torso. Taking a step back I think is wise. Do I have feelings for Carew? No. What the hell is wrong with me? I try to look everywhere else but at him. “Well, thanks for the knife.”
When my gaze snaps back to Carew, he looks frozen in place. In two quick strides, he’s beside me, I don’t have a moment before his huge frame bends and he presses his lips against mine, he barely puts any force behind the kiss. “Goodnight, princess,” he says before leaving my room silently.
I touch my lips, confused by how I feel. I sit down on my bed and stare at the door, wondering what all this means. Tracing the swirls on the knife the way Carew had, I wonder what it says. Something I will have to ask him the next time I see him. The prospect of seeing him again makes me a little too happy.
The next morning, I dress quickly and decide to leave my hair down. I was sick of it being tied up. I hope I won’t be doing anything too heavy today. I race to the kitchen, but Avitus isn’t there and neither is my breakfast. I l grab an apple and make my way for Mirium’s.
There is a lot of commotion near the fountain. Crowds have gathered around a small platform that must have been erected recently.
The crowd is roaring angry remarks. “Kill!” The viciousness behind the words has my stomach tightening. I push through the crowd. Liber is kneeling down, his face swollen and bloody, his hands tied behind his back to a wooden post. I can’t believe they have finally found him. Anger rises in me when I think about him betraying us with Bellona.
Morrick quiets the crowd. “This is our traitor!” Morrick points to a terrified Liber.
My focus goes to Tristan who stands behind Liber. His gaze roams over the head of the crowd until it lands on me. His jaw clenches and he jumps down into the crowd and disappears. I see the people move like a wave until he appears in front of me. Guilt over the kiss with Carew last night has me biting the inside of my jaw.
“Leave, Sarajane. I don’t want you to see this.”
I release my damaged flesh. “See what? You’re not going to kill him.” I don’t like him for what he did, but death seemed too harsh a punishment.
Tristan leans in, his words whispered in my ear. “Please, just go.” The surrounding people are watching us.
Morrick’s voice booms over everyone. “Traitors of Saskia will be punished!”
Tristan gives me one final look. “Go.” He mouths before moving back through the roaring crowd, who call for blood. Morrick waits for the crowd to become quite again. What did these people care for Liber? They were at war with Saskia.
“This is one of my guards, so he will receive an honorable death, with his own sword.” Tristan removes the sword from Liber’s back.
I shake my head, the apple grows heavy in my hand. “No.”
The jeering crowd, wait for the kill. This seems so inhumane. There is nothing I can do but watch as Tristan raises Liber’s sword and brings it down on his neck, severing it from his body.
His gaze darts to mine and I’m moving back ways through the crowd. I run and run until I think my lungs will explode.
I don’t slow down until the ground beneath my feet turns to dust. I’m panting when I finally stop and look around me I recognize where I am. I take more controlled breaths as I walk to the fence and lean across it. I find peace staring out into the field that I had brought back to life. It was an amazing moment, to give something back, yet I had just watched a life being taken. Why is everything so cruel?
Footsteps make their way toward me. I don’t turn around to see who followed me. Right now It really didn’t matter. It wouldn’t stop the cruelty I just witnessed.
“Are you okay?” He’s the last person I honestly expected. My heart starts to kick up again and I tighten my hold on the fence.
“I’m fine.” My words come out in a growl.
Carew laughs.
The sound of his laughter has me glancing at him. “What is so funny?”
He steps up to the fence and leans against it, with a stupid grin on his face. “You’re very squeamish for Saskia’s savior,” he says looking out into the field.
“It’s just…. He was unarmed. I don’t know, it just seems wrong.” His gaze flickers to my lips and I wet them before facing the field. “What are you following me for, Carew? If anyone sees you.”
“You seem very concerned for my safety, princess.” His voice has grown deep.
The burn of my cheeks is instant and I’m searching for something to say. “Why did you warn me of Musa?” I ask and when Carew doesn’t answer I glance at him. “He seems like a nice man to me.”
Carew’s face hardens. “He is not a good man. Just don’t trust him.”
I am so sick of everyone telling me what to do and never explaining why. “Carew, you can’t just tell me not to trust him. I need an explanation.” I cross my arms over my chest while fully facing him.
Carew studies me for a moment. “Walk with me,” he says it so gently that I fear what he is about to share with me.
We stroll into the field that I had brought back to life, its lush green carpet under my feet feels soft compared to the dusty road I had just run down. We reached a large tree near the edge. It gives us coverage from prying eyes.
“Musa was like a father to me. I loved him very much.” Carew’s words are tinged with a bitterness. “I was a young man with my whole life ahead of me. But that one night changed everything.” He looks at me, and I can see the loss and anger so clearly in his eyes. I want to reach out and touch him, give him comfort, but I don’t. “He killed my father while he slept; when my mother awoke, he stabbed her several times. I was watching from the hut door. I did nothing.” Carew’s jaw clenches and he looks away from me. “I did nothing.” His words are repeated and I reach out and touch his bare arm, I’m expecting him to shrug me off but he doesn’t.
“It was not your fault.”
“You were not there, princess, so how could you know?” he growls. His face grows so sad again, and a small laugh escapes his lips. “Do you want to know why? Why men kill other men?” he asks while h
is eyes dance in his head with grief.
I don’t want to know anymore but I nod automatically.
“Because my father had found out he had a child with a mortal and was going to report him to the elders.” His voice lowers. “He died for nothing.”
Carew starts walking again, his hands tightened into fists.
“Adora…” I whisper.
Carew nods while glancing at me sideways. “Adora is Musa’s daughter.”
“But why does Mei call Musa Granddad?”
At the mention of Mei’s name, something breaks inside Carew, and threatens to consume him, he struggles but manages to push it back down.
“She was only a baby when Musa killed our parents, so he brought her up, maybe to look innocent to the rest of the tribe. But I watched her grow and always kept in touch with her as much as possible.” He smiles then. “She told Musa that I was visiting her, as any child would, and Musa told her I was a bad person. But Mei is a lot more intelligent than he thinks. She always trusted me and never told him of my visits again.”
Carew turns away from me; I give him time. I wonder if he had ever shared this with anyone. I honestly didn’t think so.
“Adora knows the truth of what Musa has done. And he never wanted her, so she hates him as much as me.” When Carew glances at me this time, there is a fight in him.“He blamed me and I was exiled. Who would believe a young man over the tribe’s leader?”
I believe him. I don’t know how or why but I believe him. “I am so sorry, Carew. I really am.”
Carew just nods. “There is only one more thing I want to do before I leave this world. I will kill Musa,” he says, his voice full of vengeance.
I don’t blame him; what he has suffered at the hands of Musa is terrible. I can’t find any words to comfort him. But I don’t have to, as he changes the subject.
“Tell me something about you that I don’t know?”
His question throws me off completely. So I blurt out the first thing that comes to my mind. “I’m afraid of spiders.”
He laughs and it sends my head into a spin, the sound has my stomach tightening.
“The almighty Sarajane, our savior, afraid of spiders?”
His teasing tone has me grinning. “Shut up, Carew, it’s so not funny.” But it is, on the scale of things, and I can’t help but smile back at him. His face is transformed when he smiles. “What is the Warrior Carew afraid of?” I ask while thumping my chest like Tarzan, getting a very confused looked from Carew.
“Nothing,” he replies, so sure of himself.
I roll my eyes. Men. “Carew, there must be something. Come on, I won’t tell anyone.” I cross my heart and he smiles.
He moves around the tree, peeking out from behind the stump.
“Well?” I ask, following him around the tree.
He stops moving, his face somber as he looks at me. “You.”
I laugh. “Warrior Carew is afraid of little old me?” I tease.
This time Carew doesn’t smile. “Yes.”
I shift slightly reeling from his serious tone. “Why?”
Carew is inches from me, the trunk of the tree is all that seperates us. “I think you will be the undoing of me.” My pulse spikes and all I can think of is what the angel said about him dying.
I’m ready to protest when a roar is ripped from his mouth, as an arrow whizzes through the air and embeds itself into his shoulder. I reach for him, but he falls to the ground, revealing Musa and several soldiers coming our way, their arrows are still trained on us. Musa is smiling, revealing his true face.
“Carew.” I kneel down and attempt to place my hand on the wound that is gushing with blood, but the arrow has torn right through the flesh, the tip poking out. “Oh God, no!” I try to stop the bleeding with my cloak, while being careful not to cause him anymore pain.
Carew moans; he’s nearly unconscious and Musa and the soldiers are nearly upon us.
I don’t have time to think. I stand in front of Carew, blocking him from anymore arrows. Mother Earth, please come to me, reshape your lands, make them stop. Before me, the ground begins to shake.
I meet Musa’s calculating eyes and something registers.
“Fire!” he commands.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SARAJANE
The command that Musa roars has me willing Mother Earth to help me. The earth is ripped from the ground, pulling itself from a couple of feet below us. It rises into the air like a wave, blocking me and Carew, from the incoming arrows. The soldier’s scream of panic reach me as the earth continues to race towards them.
“Carew?” I whisper as I brush sweat off his face.
His lids flutter open and I have a moment of relief. “Run,” his one word is pained and I shake my head as his eyes focus on mine. Did he really think I would just leave him?
“Please.” He pushes the word out and then his eyes close and he grows silent. I don’t know what to do. I can’t carry him, and the wall of earth is reducing in size. The soil is falling to the ground.
“Carew, call Mirium.” I shake him as gently, but as urgently as I can. He can talk to Mirium telepathically.
“I already did,” he blinks up at me but his eyes aren’t focused. They cloud over before they close again.
I turn as more soldiers approach us now. All their swords are drawn.
“Step aside, princess. This here is a criminal.” The soldiers move in as if I will let them take Carew. I pull out the dagger Suraga had given me.
“Touch him and you die,” I say, moving the blade closer to the first soldier. This isn’t what he expects. He looks at the other men for instructions, while taking a step back. “This is your last warning, step away,” his eyes almost plead with me.
Maybe he doesn’t have the stomach for killing a woman. I glance around for Musa but can’t see him. Hopefully, he is buried alive.
Something solid collides with the back of my head, taking me to the ground. The soldier moves in and removes my dagger easily. I roll onto my back in pain. Musa smiles down at me.
“Always the hero,” he sneers. “Take both of them to the holding cells,” he tells the soldiers, before his foot connects with my face.
***
I open my eyes to another headache; I can’t move my hands or legs. I’m strapped to a chair. My eyes fall on Carew across from me. He’s still bleeding, the arrow poking out of his shoulder.
“Carew?” I whisper, not sure who is listening. He’s strapped just like me. The ties on his hands are stretching his arm, making the wound appear more open. He doesn’t reply. I can’t tell if he’s dead or alive.
“I demand to see them.” A voice rings from the hall and I let my chin rest on my chest with relief. It’s Mirium. We will be okay. Thank God.
“Carew, Mirium is here, he’ll help us.” I try to keep the tears and fear out of my voice at Carew’s still form.
The minute Mirium is let through the door, he races to me. It’s the fastest I have ever seen him moving. He’s a sight for sore eyes.
“Help Carew first,” I plead.
One look at Carew and Mirium knows it’s bad. He unties his arm that is wounded and Carew lets out a moan. I swallow the tears of relief. He’s alive.
“What do you think you are doing?” demands a soldier. He’s young and the arrogance that carries in his voice pisses me off.
Mirium continues to untie Carew as he speaks but anger laces his words. “Is this man not on trial?”
“Yes, he is,” the soldier replies while still advancing in on Mirium. “I said leave him where he is.”
At that, Mirium stands to his full six foot and three inches in height. He taps his white staff on the concrete floor. The arrogant soldier is intimidated and a bit unsure. “What is your name, soldier?”
“Orio. Why?” The cockiness has returned to his voice.
“Orio, you will have no trial if this man isn’t seen to. He is nearly dead. And have you any idea who I am?”
Miriu
m grows impatient as Orio looks like he is trying to make his mind up. “No, I don’t know who you are, should I? “
Mirium takes a step forward. “I am Mirium, Oracle of Saskia, and if you don’t get out of my way, I can tell you now, son, your life will be short-lived.”
Orio’s eyes open wide and he moves away. “Sorry, Sir.” Orio backs out of the room.
Mirium mumbles under his breath, calling the soldier a pig-headed fool. I would have laughed, hearing such words leave Mirium’s mouth, but the color of Carew is frightening.
“Will he be okay?”
Mirium breaks the arrow from the back of Carew’s shoulder, causing Carew to let out a cry of pain. “I know,” Mirium says sympathetically as he lies Carew on the ground. “Bite on this.” He places the wooden part of the arrow in Carew’s mouth. Carew’s body is covered in sweat. He’s fighting to stay alert. “Ready?” Mirium’s asks.
Carew bobs his head.
Mirium reaches down and pulls the tip of the arrow from Carew’s shoulder. Blood rushes out along with the arrow. I feel so helpless tied here, not able to do anything. The only thing I can do is stay silent. Mirium rips Carew’s cloak and wraps it around the wound to stanch the bleeding.
“What happened?” he asks me while tying the cloth tightly, getting another cry out of Carew.
“Musa attacked with soldiers. One minute we were laughing and the next he was on the ground.”
Mirium’s gray eyes focus on me. “You were ambushed,” he says, as he leaves Carew and starts to untie me quickly.
“Will he be okay?” I ask once I am untied and kneeling down beside Carew. He’s on fire. Would he get an infection?
Orio returns, he looks very nervous now and unsure if he should speak or not, but Mirium is at the end of his tether. “Spit it out, son.”
“I have been asked to bring the prisoner up.”
I look at Mirium and he nods. Both of us help Carew stand. He wobbles from side to side. It takes every bit of our strength to keep him up right. He weighs what feels like a ton.
