Andalon Arises

by T B Phillips

  The lady had been beautiful once before someone had burned her face and neck. Now the queen was only halfway beautiful. The other half was perfectly scarred in a way that went beyond beauty, and Marita couldn’t stop admiring the deep lines and circles of crumpled flesh.

  “Marita,” The Lady asked gently, “Where did you and my brother go, tonight?”

  The question didn’t make sense in her head. Queens didn’t have commoner brothers because their brothers were princes, and both Alec and Amash were certainly not princes. Princes come from frogs, silly lady, she thought and stared up at the woman with a smile. She always smiled nowadays. Smiling keeps away the bad thoughts.

  “Marita,” the lady asked again, “Where did you and Amash go tonight? Did you go to a house and sneak in through a window?”

  `“I’m not allowed to say, Lady Sarai.” She used the name only to please the woman and her fancies. She was, after all, a highness. “We keep secrets because we’re pirates!” She leaned in close to the beautiful woman with the spellbinding scars and looked around, then added with a whisper, “We have a code.” The corners of the queen’s mouth curved into a smile, so she shot the lady a thumbs up. Thumbs up mean that everything is going to be just fine, no matter how bad the situation felt. Her mother had taught her that before she went away.

  “Would that code keep you from telling a secret even to a queen?”

  “I would only tell you if you were my queen and not someone else’s.”

  The Lady’s eyebrows shot up quizzically and she asked, “Do you have another queen, Marita?”

  Realizing that she had hurt her feelings, she gave the lady another thumbs up and showed her teeth to make her feel better. Careful to maintain the smile she answered honestly, “I have Captain Eusari. She isn’t a queen yet, but she will someday marry Captain Braston and be Queen of The Cove. But not until after the elections.” The lady seemed confused again, so Marita gave another thumbs up and smiled as big as she could, squinting her eyes as she did. She hoped that the lady would feel better soon because her cheeks were growing tired.

  “Elections?” Sarai mused. “I don’t understand.”

  “Braen and Eusari and Amash are running for a new kind of office against Adamas Creech and Lord Nevra.” She spit when she said the traitor’s name, just as she had seen some of the other sailors do. The lady watched it land on the carpet. “After they win the people will let them be in charge. It was Captain Braston’s idea. He’s really nice, and the people like him.” The Lady frowned down at the spit and Marita again flashed a reassuring thumbs up. Her hand and cheeks were beginning to cramp from all of the comforting.

  “Sweetheart, who killed Captain Dominique’s son?”

  “I did.” That was an easy question to answer since it didn’t violate the code. She told the truth and didn’t harm anyone else’s reputation in the process. She gave another thumbs up just in case the highness doubted her truthfulness. She was a pirate after all.

  “Why?” The Lady’s face had grown serious and one might have described it as crestfallen.

  Marita again leaned in and whispered, “He saw me do things that Alec didn’t want him to see.”

  “So, Captain Pogue asked you to do it?”

  “I can’t tell you without breaking the code, Your Highness.”

  “I… I need you to tell me, Marita.”

  The air currents shimmered as if something had disturbed them. Before her powers had awakened, she would have likened the movement to a gust or a breeze. Now that she could see the currents, she knew that this was different. The girl focused her mind on the ripple that flowed in under the door. Vibrating as it traveled, the current carried the echo of movement by several large men.

  The lady faded from her sight as Marita allowed her mind to travel. She had so far been unable to bond with a bird like some of the other Dreamers, but this trick of hers was one that no one else had discovered. She called it “drifting” and gave herself over to the current that bore her spirit through the palace. The woman’s words muffled as Marita glided under the door and down the hallway.

  She soon found the source of the disturbance. Alec walked among several soldiers but not as a part of their company. He wore shackles that bound his hands to irons around his ankles, forcing him to shuffle instead of stride. Tears rolled down his cheeks as the men led him down the hall, but his hands were bound too low for him to wipe them from his face. She observed his guards opening the door to his apartment and roughly shoving him inside. Unable to balance he fell hard upon the bare floor with a slap. Marita snapped her spirit back to her body with sudden outrage.

  Sarai watched as the girl’s eyes glazed over and her posture stiffened. Something had changed in Marita, almost as if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open. The queen waved her hand in front of the child’s face and shook her leg gently. The girl did not respond. “Marita are you okay?” Blank eyes answered back.

  She was about to run for help when the girl suddenly moved. Eyes fluttered and the smile disappeared, replaced by a look of hatred and vengeance. A gust of wind rushed through Sarai’s chambers, sweeping her hair across her face and blowing the many ruffles of her dress toward the door. The massive oak boards burst outward, cracking under pressure and splintering wooden shards into the hallway. Marita calmly stood and strode from the room.

  Sarai rushed to follow. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

  The girl answered, “I’m going to free Alec.”

  Sarai stared in shock as the girl kept walking. How did she know? My job was to keep her distracted while they questioned him. “Marita! Wait!”

  The girl paused and thrust her single thumbs up over her shoulder without turning. She walked to the staircase and up a flight to the next floor. Six guards met her in the hallway, staring questioningly. With a wave of her hand all six flew across the hall with a clatter of armor and grunts. She bound each man with shimmering wisps of air as Sarai watched in horror.

  One of the doors opened and Robert stepped into the hallway. He eyed his soldiers with a quizzical expression and calmly asked the girl, “Marita, how did you tie up all six?”

  The girl paused. “It was easy.” Her head cocked to one side as she looked at the king. “I thought you could do it too?”

  Five divisions of power were his extent. The girl was obviously stronger than he. Robert shrugged and lied, “I can. But those knots are very intricate. You are incredibly talented.”

  Marita thrust him a thumbs up and answered, “Thank you. I’m a pirate and pirates tie good knots.” She tried the door that imprisoned Alec but found it securely locked. She knelt and peered into the keyhole. A shimmering stream of air coalesced before her face and slid into the mechanism. Robert glanced toward the guards on the floor, confirming that they were still bound. She succeeded in seven divisions as she picked the lock.

  Robert reached out a thread and securely wrapped the girl’s hands and feet, binding her. She looked over her shoulder and giggled. Almost as soon as they formed, they fell away in a puff. “Silly man. I told you that I’m good at knots and can untie them just as easily.” The girl had effortlessly made eight divisions. The lock clicked and the door swung open on its hinges.

  Inside Alec rested on his bed. When the door opened, he sat up with wonder on his face. “Marita, what are you doing, dearie?”

  “I’m here to rescue you, silly. Come on, let’s get Amash and go. We need to go find Mattie.”

  Alec held up his shackles. “We need to stay here, dearie. We did a bad thing and I will have to stand trial.”

  “But I’m stronger than them and you’re a better fighter. We can just leave, and they can’t stop us.” She smiled her weird grin at him and gave him a thumbs up. With her other hand she pointed at the shackles and they clicked, locks picked cleanly.

  “The code binds us here, Marita. I didn’t want the boy to d
ie. I only wanted information.”

  The girl frowned. “But I killed him. Why are you arrested and not me?”

  “It was my idea to break into the manor to find the evidence. I made you bind him to that chair while I forced him to talk. I’m the adult and you are a child, dearie. I’m responsible for everything that happened.” His eyes and voice were soft and soothing as he talked. “Just as a parent is responsible for his children.”

  Sarai watched as the girl’s eyes grew wet. She had never seen the girl upset before, and from the look on Pogue’s face neither had he. Marita ran into his arms, sobbing into his chest as he held her like a father, comforting and consoling. After a while the girl pulled away and looked up at the captain.

  “Mattie and the girls need you, Captain.”

  “Right now, my place is with you, child. You need a family around you.”

  “I have one. The entire Cove is my family, but especially you and Amash.”

  “We’ve been treating you as a weapon, dearie, not as a child. I made mistakes and should have taught you things besides seeking revenge and killing without remorse. It was my duty to treat you like one of my own children and not a member of my crew.”

  “I… I don’t have a father, Captain, I never have.” She snorted back more tears. “I don’t even have my mother anymore after the mean men came.”

  Alec Pogue pulled the girl into a warm embrace and promised, “You have a mother, dearie, you just haven’t met her yet. But you will. Just as soon as we can, you and I will sail southward to find Mattie. Then you’ll have a proper family again. Until then you need to listen to the queen and be good to the soldiers. Braen will negotiate our release.”

  Marita nodded with her head against his chest. In the hallway the men were instantly freed and began clamoring to their feet. Robert held up a hand that stilled their movements as he addressed the prisoner. “I give you my word that she will be treated as a guest until your trial.” After a pause he added, “I’ll also reach out to Braston.”

  Sarai took the little girl’s hand and gave her a smile and thumbs up that made the girl giggle. She returned the gesture and exited the room with the queen. After they were out of earshot, she asked Marita, “What was it like to be raised by your mother? I lost mine when I was little and was raised instead by my father.” She listened intently for several hours as the troubled child opened up with her life story for the first time. It took all of the queen’s effort not to lose her composure until after the little girl had fallen asleep in her chambers.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Kali knelt and patted the head of the fox. It had followed them all day, but finally approached. Unlike the dogs in Logan, the animal was wild and not as easy to connect with, but she had finally succeeded. With a grin she turned her head toward Johan who looked on with amazement. “See? It’s just like you and the fish.”

  “So, what we did at the bridge was the same?”

  “I think so, I feel animals and plants all around me. Sometimes I can bond with them and make them do things.”

  “It’s the same for me but with water.” He scrunched his face up in thought. “Except when the Falconers attacked. I’ve never made the water do that before.”

  “Maybe it was because you were scared. My powers feel different when I’m angry or upset.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” The pair walked for a while following the path eastward. Unlike the roads closer to Eston, they found the trail more difficult the farther they traveled. Finally, Johan broke the silence. “How did you find out about Estowen’s Landing?”

  “There was an old man in Logan preaching about The Falconers. He talked about powers like ours and said there are others like us scattered around the Empire.”

  “Yeah, there was an old woman in Norton doing the same. She said that it wasn’t safe for me and called me an ‘emotant’ before telling me to head east. At first, I thought her daft, touched in the head, even.”

  Kali nodded. She remembered having thought the same of the preacher in Logan. “But now? After the bridge?”

  “I know it’s real and I’m glad that you’re my friend. I’m happy that I’m not alone.”

  His words stirred a strange feeling inside Kali. She had been alone for so long that she rarely let it bother her. But when he spoke the word “friend” she realized that she had indeed been missing something in her life. Besides the strays in the Logan alleyways, there was no one else in the world that she could call a true friend. She looked closer at Johan and really noticed him for the first time since they began their voyage.

  He was a sweet boy, unlike the wolfpack in Logan. He seemed to sincerely care about keeping Kali safe, even though she was confident that she could do a better job for herself. His blue eyes drew her gaze, something that happened more frequently since the bridge. Something about them made her feel less like being alone. When he spoke, she jumped back into reality.

  “What are you looking at me like that for?”

  “Oh!” Kali felt a deep blush feel her face. “I don’t know.” She lied, “You had mud above your eye.”

  “Right here?” He wiped at his face.

  “No. There.” She pointed.

  He made another attempt, smearing the mud over a bigger area. “Did I get it now?”

  She looked at his face, now brown and streaked worse than before. “Yes. Absolutely you got it.” She tried to hold back the laughter but when it came, it spilled out like a river that had once been dammed.

  “You laugh funny.”

  Putting a hand to her mouth she abruptly stifled her chuckles. “What do you mean by that?”

  “It’s cute and I like it.” His own cheeks blushed a little when he said the words.

  “I see.” And more awkwardly she added, “Thank you.” They continued in silence after that, with her occasionally looking up at his smeared and dirty face and trying not to laugh out loud.

  After a while they came across an area where two roads converged. A large caravan camped at the crossing. The children could tell that it was a hodgepodge collection of misfits. Strangely, there were no horses, mules, or oxen pulling their loads. The luckiest pushed carts while the rest dragged sacks full of whatever they could carry. In the center of their camp was a cookfire where an old woman wearing a black shawl ladled out stew for those gathered.

  The inviting smell wafted across the teen’s noses and Johan started forward.

  “Wait!” Kali warned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We don’t know these people. How can we be sure that we can trust them?”

  “They are obviously not outlaws, if that’s what you mean. I see women and children mostly.” He urged her forward. “Come on!”

  Before she took two steps, an arrow shot out of the woods causing them both to jump. Soon a huntress emerged from the tree line, holding her bow at her side. She casually walked past the pair and retrieved Kali’s now dead fox.

  Anger filled the girl who challenged the woman. “That was my fox!”

  Confusion crossed the newcomer’s face as she puzzled the words. “If the animal was your pet, then I’m deeply sorry.” The raven-haired hunter gestured to the pitiful group of people ahead. “But these people have walked for days and have further yet to go. This fox will go into the stew and bring them closer to their destination.”

  “He was my friend and he trusted me.”

  The woman paused and turned around, boldly asking, “You were bonded with the animal?”

  Shocked that the hunter understood, the teen answered truthfully, “Yes, I was, and I felt his pain when he died.”

  “Then I’m sincerely and deeply sorry. I did not think to question why it followed so closely behind you.” She pointed toward the old woman standing over the stew pot. “Come with me. I must introduce you to Pearl.”

  The stew was more hot water a
nd vegetables than a proper stew, but Pearl added herbs to flavor the pot. Luckily, she brought along salt and herbs that would keep up the caravan’s strength and stave off cramping as they journeyed. Madelyn had ventured into the forest with her bow and would hopefully bring back meat. Pearl’s companion had many talents, one of which being skilled with the archaic weapon.

  She lifted her eyes from the kettle and squinted down the road. Although she was close to eighty years old, her eyesight had mostly held up during her years in Andalon. Pearl was surprised to see that Madelyn was trailed by two teens and carried a fox by her side. Good. The meat won’t be tender, but it will give the people protein as we travel. When the trio was in earshot she asked, “Who are your friends?”

  The girl answered first, “I’m Kali and this muddy mess is Johan.” At her words the boy reached up and smeared his already dirty face worse than it had been. The girl laughed at his futile attempt then reached out her hand in greeting, “I assume you’re Pearl?”

  “I see that my companion has already told you my name.” Madelyn shrugged and went to work on skinning the animal, carrying it off and around a wheelbarrow, presumably taking it out of sight of the others. “What else did she tell you?”

  “That she was sorry for killing my fox.”

  “Your fox? You owned the animal?”

  Kali shook her head, “No. I was bonded with him at the time she killed him. That’s why she said to talk to you.”

  Excitement filled the heart of the old woman and she nearly dropped the ladle into the stew. With a shaking hand she carefully set it aside, trying to appear relaxed. “It’s not often that I meet someone who can bond with animals. What else can you do?”

  A defiant undertone entered the girl’s posture as she answered, “Let’s suffice to say that’s all, until I decide we can trust you.” After narrowing her eyes, she demanded, “How do you know about bonding?”

  Pearl liked the girl and thought she resembled her own spunky self when she had joined The Society. “It’s the reason that I’ve spent sixty years on this continent, dearie. I’ve been waiting for you and the others to awaken.”