by Wendy Wang
******
Sorrel sat in the cozy chair by the window in her bedroom staring at the sky. In the distance she could see the mountains. Home. The snow blanketed not only the top of the mountains but the hillsides surrounding the city.
The sun set low casting pink and orange fingers of light, mixing with the blue and white of the sky. What was Jorgen doing tonight? Was he watching the same sunset? Maybe she should have let him come. But he had responsibilities. He had a sister to take care of. Still her heart ached for him.
He was the only one who didn't seem to care about her stutter. He never got frustrated listening to her talk. They had met as children, had gone to the one room schoolhouse together in the village. He had shared fruit with her and sat with her quietly more times than she could count. It was as if words weren't even necessary between them. Sometimes she thought that one day they might even marry if the elders allowed it. But the elders hated her. Especially Paltrin. It made no sense to her she had done nothing to them other than exist.
A dark shape flickered in the sky heading towards her window. Her raven. Her heart fluttered for just a moment and she rose, swinging the window of her bedroom wide open. The early evening air stung her nose. Raven had just visited her yesterday, why was he back so soon?
He cawed and she held her arm out giving him a place to land. The strong claws of the bird dug into her arm and she was glad of the wool robe she wore. A piece of twine was wrapped around the raven’s leg and she struggled to untie the knot. Finally, after a moment or two the jute pulled free from the bird’s leg and the scroll fell to the floor. She ran her fingers over the chest feathers of the bird and cooed at it, thanking it for its loyal service. It cawed once and lifted into the air flapping its large majestic wings. Sorrel scooped up the scroll from the floor, slid the jute down along the cylinder until it was free and unrolled it. Her eyes scanned for the signature. A smile stretched her lips and her heart warmed inside her chest. Love Jorgen. Her eyes drew to the beginning of the note.
Dearest Sorrel,
I wish I had agreed to come with you. Anything would be more bearable than dealing with the elders.
All they can think about is your failure and how they believe you will shame the village and I hate them for their weakness. Especially when I know you are a shining light on what this village can offer the queen.
I miss your face and your laugh of course. Raemah misses you too. Every day she asks me when we can visit you. She has high hopes of dining with the queen. I told her I would ask if we could —
A sharp pain stabbed behind her right eye and Sorrel doubled over. Her hand flew to the side of her head as the flickering dots of red, green and gold spangled behind her closed lid.
The note crinkled in her hand as images filled her head—men bursting from the sky riding on lightning. Fire burning every house in her village to the ground. Her people rounded up, screaming, crying. Raemah, grabbed from behind and lifted into the sky. Smoke stung her nostrils and threatened to choke her. Sorrel’s stomach lurched and hot bile coated her tongue and she vomited on the floor. The images were gone quicker than they came but the pain receded slowly and she squeezed her eyes tighter. When she tried to open them again the world blurred around her. With the back of her sleeve she scrubbed her lips, wiping away the bitter taste. Blood still thrummed in her ears.
She had to tell the queen. Had to make her understand. Blindly she made it into the hallway and she cried out to anyone who would listen. There were so many people here, surely someone would hear her. A door opened and the queen emerged followed closely by her husband.
“Sorrel?” the queen asked, her gentle hands touching Sorrel's back, her voice full of concern. “Sorrel what’s happened?”
Sorrel opened her mouth but all that would come out was an unintelligible guttural cry.
The queen wrapped her arms around Sorrel, stroking her hair, murmuring softly and Sorrel wept against her shoulder. Once again her tongue had failed her. How would she ever make the queen understand that her world was about to implode and no one could stop it?
Seven
“We cannot just sit here and do nothing,” Neala snapped. She paced back and forth in her office. The girl was curled up on the couch in front of a roaring fire, under three blankets and her teeth still chattered. Neala had managed to get a few pieces of paper to the girl and she scribbled out words instead of pictures. Her village was being attacked by men from the sky. Peter. No doubt it was Peter.
“No one is suggesting we do nothing Neala but it’s late,” Cai said patiently. “I promise I will send scouts in the morning. But I’m confident the village is perfectly fine. We have new defenses around the fold. No one is getting in or out without my knowledge.”
“Says you,” Neala retorted. “Cai he is so devious. Traveling by sky.” She threw her hands in the air. “There is no way we could stop that. Not a Kael alive can control the sky.”
“So I take it you doubt me?” His voice edged into defensiveness and Neala winced.
“No.” She shook her head and took his hand in hers. “I don't doubt you or your abilities or anything you put in place to protect the people of this realm. But I also don't doubt Peter's fearlessness or his willingness to sacrifice his own people to get what he wants. He wants this realm so badly he could taste it. It’s the only real thing he can conquer at this point.” She squeezed his fingers.
Cai sighed and pulled his hand from hers. He scrubbed his rough, unshaven chin and it sounded like sandpaper on wood. “If it’s as far as you say, it would be dark by the time my men arrived.”
“But you will send someone?” she asked.
“Are you asking as my queen or as my wife?”
“Both?” Neala teased.
“Then yes, Your Majesty, I will send someone.”
“Thank you.” She stepped forward and kissed him sweetly on the lips. “I should probably go with them. So they don’t get lost.”
“Neala,” Cai's voice was a warning. “There is no reason for you to go anywhere near that village again.”
“Yes there is,” she said. “If for no other reason I could talk Jorgen and his sister into coming with me.”
“Who?” Cai asked.
“Sorrel’s friends…family…” she said, sounding unsure.
Sorrel shifted on the couch, sitting up. Her large brown eyes were still glassy with tears.
“You w-would do th-th-that for m-me?” Sorrel said, her stutter the worst Neala had ever heard it.
“Of course,” Neala said. “I know he said he couldn’t come, but I can be persuasive.”
“You're not going anywhere,” Cai said softly but firmly. “You are queen and your responsibility is here.”
“No my responsibility is to protect my people—which means I go wherever I am needed.” She put her hands on her hips and stared him squarely in the eyes.
“You are so stubborn.” He set his jaw. He was not going to give in. Well neither was she. “As your chief commander I cannot let you do this. My most important job is to make sure you're safe. I can't do that if you continue to run off like a reckless schoolgirl.”
“I am not a reckless schoolgirl!” Heat flashed through her cheeks.
“Well your mother wouldn’t have just run off—”
“I am not my mother!” Her voice crescendoed. “And I am going—”
“P-please don't fight,” Sorrel said. “He's right. It's t-t-too dangerous. I’ll go w-with th-them.”
“Oh honey, I can't let you do that,” Neala said. “If it's too dangerous for me it's far too dangerous for you.”
“Yes, the queen's right,” Cai said his face softening. “We would both be very upset if something happened to you under our care. I suppose there’s no way to know exactly when your vision will happen?”
Sorrel shook her head and her lip quivered as if she might start crying in earnest again.
“It's going to be all right,” she said sitting on the couch next to Sorrel. She rea
ched out her hand and squeezed Sorrel’s ankle. “I promise. We’ll do everything we can. Won't we Cai?” Neala's eyes cut towards Cai and his mouth pressed into a flat line.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “We will do everything in our power to protect you Sorrel.”
“And your people,” Neala said. Cai's feet shifted and he cracked his knuckles. She had cornered him unfairly and he would make her pay for it eventually. But he would also save face.
“Yes,” Cai said his voice deepening. Yes, he would definitely make her pay later. She wasn't going to think about that now. Right now the only thing to think about was how to join the search party.
******
Neala woke before dawn, dressed and slipped into the hallway. Sorrel sat on the floor across from Neala's bedroom, with her head leaned back against the wall, and her fur-lined leather coat across her lap. She held a fresh drawing in her hands.
“Sorrel?” Neala whispered. The girl’s eyes fluttered open. “What are you doing out here?” Sorrel shoved the drawing towards Neala. It was not her normal pictographs, but instead a charcoal drawing of the two of them climbing the mountain together.
“I'm going w-with you,” Sorrel said.
“All right.” Neala nodded. “But you have to listen to everything I say. If I tell you to run and hide, I want you to run and hide. Do you understand me?”
Sorrel nodded her head. Her face lighting with hope.
“Did you bring your star?” Neala asked. Sorrel nodded again, and the shadow of a smile emerged. Neala glanced back at her bedroom door. Cai would sleep for at least another hour. That should be a long enough head start. Neala rose to her feet. “All right, follow me.”
Neala led the girl to her father's study and carefully opened the passageway behind the corner bookcase. They wound their way down the narrow steps and Neala unsheathed her dagger. With the flick of her wrist, the blade glowed blue. The girl pulled the star Neala had given her from her pocket and when she raised it, it glowed with a silvery light.
“Very nice,” Neala said.
“Where are w-we?”
“Under the city. There’s a whole network of tunnels. I used to use them all the time to escape the palace before—”
“Before what?”
“Before my mother died.” It seemed her life was divided now—before her mother died and after. Thinking about her mother still made her chest ache. She normally just pushed the thoughts away, but in this dark tunnel with stale air and mold stinging her nose, her mother seemed to be everywhere. Would her mother be underneath the city right now trying to save one girl’s town? No, probably not. But her mother’s battle had been guided by diplomacy and a wait-and-see attitude. With the way things were going, Neala couldn’t afford either one.
A pang of guilt pierced her heart. Before her mother died, her path had been clear but after, there only seemed to be expectations—expectations she never quite lived up to. She loved her mother, respected her mother, but she never wanted to be her mother. Why couldn’t Cai and the others understand, she needed to do things her way? Neala shook her head to clear it. The darkness pressed in on them and in the distance water dripped. Sorrel’s silence was comforting in an unexpected way. Usually when she mentioned her mother people fell all over themselves to express their sympathy. Maybe it was Sorrel’s speech impediment or maybe it was the comfortable friendship that had bloomed between them, whatever it was, Neala was grateful for it.
“Did you hear th-that?” Sorrel stopped in her tracks and cast the light from her star behind them. The shuffle of feet echoed around them and Neala couldn’t tell which direction it came from. The hair on Neala’s arms raised and her eyes peered into the darkness first in one direction then the other. When she could not discern anything beyond the blue glow of her blade she closed her eyes. If she couldn’t see them with her eyes, maybe she could hear their thoughts. Neala strained, listening with her mind. Only the sounds of the tunnel reverberated back to her. Whoever they were, their minds were silent, which meant only one thing.
Neala steeled herself, ready to fight if need be. She mustered her best warning voice, “Caius Declan, show yourself.”
Fire burst from the tip of his wand, forming a torch. His face glowed in the warm light. Long, eerie, shadows bounced off the walls, revealing not only Cai, but Gordon and at least four other wardens. The tips of their batons burst into flames, driving back the darkness of the tunnel.
“Hello my love,” Cai said. “I see you’ve gotten an early start.”
She bristled. “If you came to stop me—”
“I’m not here to stop you,” he said keeping his voice low and soft.
“Then why are you here?” Her voice slid up the scale, ending with the last word louder than she wanted. Cai shifted and his dark sea colored eyes narrowed until his long dark eyelashes fluttered. His jaw tightened. He wasn’t saying something. It was almost as if he was here against his will. Neala opened her mouth to speak.
“We’re here to do our jobs Majesty,” Gordon piped up. “Aren’t we chief?”
Cai’s eyes cut to Gordon. Cai’s mind might be shrouded but his reluctance rolled off of him in waves. He furrowed his brow and cleared his throat, as if the words were stuck somewhere between his tongue and his vocal chords. “Yes, we are.”
“All right.” She breathed out but her shoulders stayed taut, on guard. “We should probably get going if we want to make it there before noon.”
“Yes ma’am,” Gordon said stepping into the lead.
Neala followed him, not waiting for Cai. She could feel Cai’s eyes steady on the back of her neck as they walked. But she wasn’t sure of his emotions. Was he angry? He hadn’t sounded angry when he first approached. A light dread settled around her heart. Part of her wanted to throw herself into his arms and ask him to forgive her for not including him and part of her wanted to turn around and slap him hard across the face for being an overprotective ass. Neither was the best solution though, so she continued to walk.
“The tunnel leading out of the city is just ahead,” Neala said catching up with Gordon. She pointed her blade towards it.
“Yes, I remember,” Gordon said dryly.
Neala forged ahead of him and raised her blade to clear the collapsed sides of the tunnel but nothing happened. She shook her dagger and tried again. This time a thin sheet of sweat beaded on her upper lip. The dagger trembled in her hand.
“Majesty, wait,” Gordon said catching up to her. He touched her wrist, pressing lightly against it and she lowered her arm.
“I’ve got this Captain,” she said.
“ ‘Fraid not.” The hint of amusement in his tone made her brow draw together.
“What did you do?” Neala held her blade up so she could see his face better.
“Exactly what I've been charged with. Protecting you, even if it's from yourself.” His lips quirked.
“I can take care of myself Captain.”
“Indeed you can ma’am.” Gordon said, nodding. A slight smile tugged at one corner of his mouth.
“Take it off. Now,” she said her tone full of warning.
“Yes ma’am.” Gordon gave her a quick bow of his head and raised his baton and the earth and rock blocking their way repacked into the sides of the tunnel.
A half an hour later the six of them emerged onto the banks of the river running next to the city. The bright, early morning sunlight blinded her for a moment and the clean scent of the cool water tickled her nose. Cai took his place by her side as they began to walk towards an outcropping of worn rocks that made for easy crossing of the water.
“You know you made a promise to me,” he said casually.
“What promise?” She gave him a sideways glance and wracked her brain trying to remember all the promises she’d made to Cai.
“You promised you’d never use the tunnels again to sneak away from me.” The hurt in his voice stung.
“Cai,” she began, feeling tired. More tired than she should at tw
enty-three. “If I leave the palace it’s not to get away from you. Sometimes I just want to be alone, but I feel like if I told you that it would hurt your feelings.” She plucked a leaf off of a sapling and folded it until it broke into uneven pieces.
“You think I don’t understand?”
“I don’t know that you do. You can go anywhere. Without question.”
“So can you.” His mouth pressed into a straight line.
“No I can’t. If I went to use a port stone the wardens guarding it would notify you immediately.”
Cai sighed and hung his head. “Perhaps your right, but you are a bigger target now. And whether you like it or not you need protection.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Yes my love, you can, but that is not the point.” He touched her elbow and they stopped walking. Neither said anything else until the others had passed them. “You are stronger than you’ve ever been and I hate to admit if but a fierce opponent.”
Neala shifted under his heavy gaze, casting her eyes towards the group. “Then why do you question every move I make?”
“Because you are queen now. You have responsibilities.”
“I am quite aware of my responsibilities Caius.” She crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin. “I will never rule the way my mother did. I don’t have the luxury of it. If I want people to follow me, then I need to be willing to stand with them and fight for their realms.”
“I agree,” he said the words so plainly it made her stop and stare at him.
“You do?”
“Yes. I never pictured you ruling from the safety of the palace, even though it’s exactly what I want. I just want you to include me that’s all.” He reached out his hand and with a tiny tremble in his pinky she realized how hard this was for him.
Neala’s lips stretched so wide she thought her face might break in half. She took his hand and pressed the back of it to her lips. “You have no idea how much that means to hear you to say that.”
