by M. R. Polish
Picking up her shoes, she walked along the beach, lifting her dress as the tide rushed at her ankles. She could feel the familiar hum of her power as it connected with something she held dear—the necklace her father gave her when she was little. The Council forced her to remove it when they took her into custody. She feared she’d never see it again.
Karis picked up her pace, knowing it was close. In her mind, she could see the swirled pendent. She returned her quest to the beach, watching as the waves pounded against the cove. She climbed the rocks and let out a gasp.
It was beautiful. The water that danced in the pool of the cove was clear and perfect. She could see tiny red fish swimming around in a small school. Even as her shadow cast over on the water, they didn’t seem to notice and swam lazily around the edge of the inlet. Large flat leaves hung low over the back of the small pool, creating a tropical awning for shelter from the sun.
Karis smiled as she saw what she looked for. Nestled in the crevice of two boulders was her father’s box. Gold leaves made up the trim around the bottom and engraved on the lid were two stars and a moon. She knew her necklace was inside. Climbing down, she grasped the box and held it tightly to her chest. Even if this was the only thing the council allowed her to have, she was thankful it was this. A part of her father—a part of her.
A piece of paper flittered against the rock as the breeze picked up. She snatched it up before the wind could carry it away and read it.
Dearest Karis,
The word of your sentence is deeply upsetting to me. I cannot express my heartfelt grief in words, but know that not all of us are against you. Most of us believe you are innocent. I sent you as many things as the council laws allowed. You will find them inland. Waiting for you there is a humble home that will serve you well. I could not send this box with them because I had to sneak it to the island when the guards were not looking. I simply hope you found it okay.
There are many who still need you. Please do not give up.
Until we meet again,
Tarine, Constable of Shamike Fortress
She crumbled the paper in her fist and exhaled a steady breath. She tried to imagine Tarine’s usual cheerful face as he wrote the letter, but all she felt were his tears. She should have known it was him who sent the box. With her father’s passing, only she and Tarine possessed the encrypted power to open it. It was, after all, a royal box and he was the Constable. Yet, he was more than that, more like family, an uncle who kept watch over her when her father was away on matters for the kingdom. She slumped down to the rock and waved her hand over the seal. A clicking sound came from the box, and she lifted the lid.
Glowing bright red against the black satin interior was her necklace. It always had a glow when it wasn’t around her neck. Her father never told her what kind of power it held, but she knew it was strong by the way it pulsed in rhythm with her energy. She wasn’t sure how it could help her now, but having it close helped the ache in her heart.
The necklace was a gold circular pendant with swirls inside, embedded in the middle with a ruby-red stone. Karis picked it up and placed it around her neck. The humming stopped as well as the glowing. She traced her fingers over the familiar shape of the pendent as it rested at the top of her collarbone.
“Karis my sweet, come here. I have something I want to give you before I leave again.” Her father lifted her to his lap.
She was eight years old but still liked to be close to him. It made her sad when he had to leave, so she took all she could get. “Papa, what is it?”
He gestured to Tarine, who held a box. Tarine came closer and waved his hand over the seal, unlocking it. Her father lifted out a beautiful necklace with a red glow. He slipped it around her neck and gave her a smile. “You must keep this always. Guard it well, my princess.”
Karis felt a strange purr as her body connected with the different power that now hung on around her neck. She nodded. “I will.”
He sat her back down on her feet and stood. Leaning over, he gave her a quick kiss on top of her head before leaving.
She hated those moments. She knew he did too and always left before she could see his sadness. Tarine wrapped an arm around her. “He’ll be home soon, my dear.”
She turned and buried her face in Tarine’s coat.
She swallowed the lump that formed in the back of her throat from the memory and placed the crumpled note inside the box, then sealed it shut. Taking it with her, she climbed out of the inlet and proceeded inland, pushing wide leaves out of her way as she searched for her new home. She would have plenty of time to explore her island; right now she needed to find out what else the council allowed her to have.
Spreading the leaves on one more tree, she came upon a clearing. It was there that she spotted a tall wooden structure with a wraparound porch. After living in a grand palace for all of her twenty years, this was hard to appreciate. Wooden slabs and bamboo poles made up the frame of the house, but upon closer inspection, the walls were dried grass woven into a weave-like pattern.
Wooden steps led up to the porch with vines hanging from the railing all the way up. A thatched roof hung over the sides, giving some shade. The stilts made the house sit up off the ground enough that she could walk underneath it easily, but wide leaves filled the area, making it hard to move through. Colorful flowers were scattered among the plants, leaving a trail of violets, pinks, and oranges around her new home.
Karis straightened her shoulders and climbed the stairs. She braced herself against the doorframe, leaning slightly but not too hard, afraid she’d fall through. Nothing about this felt like home. She opened the door.
It was nearly a bare room; a single bed sat on the far wall. There were at least four open windows with sheer treatments that danced in the breeze. Her trunk rested unscathed, taking up the whole end of the wide bed. She quickly walked over and opened it, letting out a sigh of relief when she noticed most of her clothing neatly folded inside. She pulled each piece out and then laid them on the bed. Among her clothing, she found her hairbrush and other essentials. It surprised her to find a few personal items, such as a picture of herself and her father taken not too long ago, hidden underneath all the clothing. She pulled it out and held it tightly to her chest.
“Oh, Father, what has happened? Everything is all wrong.”
She slumped onto the floor, taking the picture with her. At least the council saw fit to let her have such a personal remembrance.
A small yet stunning yellow bird perched on her windowsill, startling Karis out of her misery. The tiny creature observed her through its white rimmed eyes.
“Hello, Sweet Thing. What are you doing here in this dark paradise? I bet you're just as curious about me, wondering what I’m doing here in your home.”
The bird continued to dance around. Karis moved slightly, causing it to fly away. Her shoulders dropped as her loneliness became reality.
Two
Terpesona Island, Present Day
“There've been more storms than usual this year,” Karis spoke to the newest young bird on the island as she closed the shutters on her windows. Over the years, she’d become friends with a family of yellow birds. She watched as her only friends were born, and then died.
The small bird perched on her shoulder and cooed as she paced the matured floorboards. Even after ninety years, her quaint home had aged well. It was only every few years that she needed to fix a leak in the roof, or repair a step on the stairs. At first, she wasn’t sure how to accomplish such feats, but soon she figured out how to thatch patches of her roof with new leaves.
Karis reached up and gave her little friend a light pat. “Shhh…it’s okay. The storm will be over soon.”
Each clap of thunder made her think back to the first storms she experienced on the island. It was then that the yellow birds became her friends. She opened her home to help keep them safe from the winds and earned their trust.
It was a sad day after almost ten years when the first one died.
It was a day that brought a new reality to Karis. She would be on the island forever, no death to take her away, but she’d be around to watch the creatures around her die. Every generation of the tiny yellow birds lived with her and became her single source of companionship.
Off in the distance a clap of thunder rumbled in the skies, and her tiny friend flittered off around the room. She walked onto the porch and looked out over the darkening sea, pulling her shawl closer to her as the wind whipped through her hair. After many years of wearing the thin material on the island it did little to keep the elements from reaching her, she did it more for comfort than anything. Even after so many years of being on the island, she still found the storms to be unsettling and wished for human comfort.
At least her immortality never changed on Earth. She was still just as young and vibrant as she was the day she arrived on the island, forever looking the part of twenty.
The little bird followed her out, landing not too far from her. Karis raised her eyebrow. “You might blow away, it's best for you to stay with your family until after the storm.”
Just the notion of losing her tiny friends made her upset. She cast a glance out over the sea. The churning ocean made an eerie scene and she shivered at the thought of watching any other innocence beings die because of her punishment. Tiny boats reduced to splinters. Swimmers drowned as waves swallowed them. It gripped her heart that so many people died in vain trying to reach the island. The council had created a powerful barrier around the entire island to keep her there and others from reaching her.
A crack of lightning split the sky. She held her hand high over her head, using her ability to create protection over her island and home. She might not have the power to break the spell that kept her from leaving, but she had enough to defend herself.
The clouds were now dark as night, and thunder continued to rumble through the air. The wind picked up and she watched as the sea crashed on the beach in violent waves. The trickling rain began to come down in torrents.
Karis dashed inside her home and pushed the door shut, leaning against it. Inside she knew she'd be protected, but she still felt helpless as she watched her walls shake under the wind’s brutal attack.
Off in the distance she heard something unusual, something that wasn't the storm. She tried to focus on the noise. She didn't have enough time to figure it out before another clap of thunder vibrated the entire island, drowning out the unfamiliar sound. Suddenly a loud crash of metal grinding against metal sounded over the squall.
Her heart raced inside her chest. “What in the world?” She used all her strength to yank open the door that sucked closed in the wind. Her hair whipped around her face, obstructing her view. She grabbed the doorframe, then reached for the railing on her porch and pulled herself outside.
She held her hand out, using her energy to calm the wind around her body, making it easier to walk, though it was still arduous. Her body became soaked within minutes in the pouring rain. She made it to the beach, but couldn’t see through the storm to determine what made the awful noise. Karis shielded her eyes with her hands and trudged through the stinging sand and spray off the sea.
The scent of smoke filled the air. Karis twisted around and saw black smoke through the pelting rain. It was on the other side of the ridge just past the cove. She wasn’t sure what she’d find, but after being alone for so long, she took her chances and went off in search of it.
She coughed and gagged on the smoke that now surrounded her as she climbed over rocks and up the side of the hill. She wrapped her shawl around her face, leaving only her eyes uncovered to keep from breathing in too much smoke.
Over the ridge, she could see what caused the smoke. A large flying machine was scattered in pieces in a fiery crash. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was since she’d never seen one up close, but she watched them in the sky for the last sixty-five years or so. There wasn’t anything like that in Shamike because of the portals, so it was interesting to see such an amazing transportation device up close. It was silver with a streak of black up the side and a fin that stuck up taller than the rest of it. The front of the strange machine was buried in the sand, but she could see where a window used to be.
Karis jumped as another burst of flames came from the wing of the contraption. What a cruel death for whoever was on board. If the storm didn’t kill them, the curse would have. Tears filled her eyes from both the emotion of another death and the smoke. She turned to leave when she heard a deep groan.
It was impossible. Wasn’t it? She ran toward the wreckage and moved pieces of the machine that was everywhere on the ground. She didn’t imagine the sound. It was real, it had to be. She stopped and listened. A quieter grunt came from the other side of the broken wing.
She climbed over debris and moved everything in her path. A large portion of the wing was all she hadn’t moved on that side. She pushed with her strength and inner power, budging the tip enough to move it off the body of a man. She rushed to his side and felt his neck for a pulse. Under her fingertips, she could feel a slow beat from his heart.
“Thank you, oh thank you for being alive.” She turned him over, revealing an injury to his chest. She cringed. “But you won’t be alive for long.”
Karis cradled his head in her lap and cried. She barely noticed the wind and raging tempest that brewed around them. Wiping the tears from her face, she glanced back down at him and his wound. After years of not using her power to heal, she wasn’t sure she could help him, but she needed to try.
A soft glow came from her hands as she placed them over his chest. The familiar hum from the pendant around her neck vibrated through to her soul. A flash of light shot out from her hands and a force pushed her back, knocking the wind from her chest and reverberating across the crash site.
She laid there and gasped until she could breathe again. Nothing like that ever happened to her before, not even in Shamike. Once she could take a deep enough breath, she sat back up.
“Oh my,” Karis whispered as she looked around. Not only did the storm dissipate, but all the trees around the crash site were leveled. The once-tall trees lay on the ground in a perfect circle around them. Even the sea was calm.
She checked the man’s pulse, hoping he still lived. A strong and steady heartbeat throbbed under her fingers. She continued to sit there with his head in her lap and watched his chest rise and fall. It seemed so surreal to be with another living being. All she could do was stare at him.
His eyes stayed closed with his mouth slightly agape. He looked peaceful, but she worried because he wasn’t awake. Shifting herself out from under him, she began to sift through the wreckage in search of something she could make into a travois.
At that moment, she wished she could use her powers for transportation or to materialize objects. There were some royals in her family line that could transport physical objects, but she was never blessed with that ability. Well, that she knew of anyway. Being gone from Shamike for so long, she hadn’t trained to find out what other powers she might possess.
“Ugh.” Karis threw down another useless piece of wreckage. The heat from the main fire was intense, but she saw a white box with a red cross on it. She wasn’t sure what it was, but went with her instinct and moved closer to it. She untangled the strewn netting around it and took the box back to the stranger.
It wasn’t what she hoped to find, but it might contain items she could use. She dropped to her knees and opened the box, rummaging around until she found a roll of tape. Stretching it out, she began to twist it until it made a rope of sorts. Her shoulders sagged. “It might work,” she whispered to the stranger.
Quickly, she began looking for broken tree limbs, and brought them back to where he was. She took her makeshift twine and tied the ends of the branches together. Row after row, she did this until she produced a large enough platform to place his body.
His eyes never fluttered as she moved him to her bed of limbs, worrying her even more. She slumped to the groun
d. “You are heavy.” She knew he couldn’t talk back, but talking to someone other than a bird gave her joy.
Karis gazed over the man’s resting body. Dark ash covered his white shirt from the fire and a slash ripped open the front of it, revealing his chest where the wound once was. It amazed her that she was able to heal him so fast, especially being several years out of practice.
Her eyes scanned down to his lean waist and even further to his ripped jeans that gave a well-defined image of toned thighs underneath. He shifted slightly. Slowly, she let her eyes travel up his body and to his face. A trimmed line of hair trailed his jaw line and around his mouth. His nose was prominent, and she wondered what color his eyes were as she stared at the scar that ran under his right eye. His hair was short, but she could see the chocolate brown color under the dirt and ash. She noticed a black marking on his forearm that ran all the way up to his shoulder, and leaned in closer look at it. Sharp points and swirls made up the detailed design. She sat back on her heels and mused over it. The marking was familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen it at the moment. It was buried in her memories.
He still wasn’t awake, so she decided it was time to move him and hoped that she could get him to her bed, where she could look after him easier. She lifted the skirt of her dress up enough to tie it so it wouldn’t get in her way while she pulled the stranger home.
It would be too hard to pull him over the small ridge by the cove. She would have to go the long way, through the sand on the beach and up the path she used almost every day for years.
The family of yellow birds flew around her house as she approached, but stayed a safe distance away from the stranger. She frowned at the steps leading to the front door and then back down to the man. “Maybe you’ll sleep out here for a bit.”
Karis sat down on the ground and leaned against one of the braces of her home. The sun had already set, and fireflies began to flutter around. She could hear the gentle waves lap on the shore in a calming rhythm, putting her to sleep.
