by Wendy Wang
“And you have no idea how much you mean to me,” Cai whispered and pulled her close. “If you left and I didn’t know where you were and something happened to you it would kill me.”
Neala brushed her knuckles down the side of his cheek and pressed her lips against his. “All right. I will tell you before I leave from here forward. I promise.”
Cai grinned “I do love you so, so much.”
“And I love you both,” Gordon quipped walking towards them. “But you are holding us up.”
Neala burst into laughter and even Cai chuckled a little.
“I guess we’d better get a move on then.” Neala laced her fingers with Cai’s and they headed towards the port stone near the edge of town.
Eight
“How are you not cold?” Neala asked Cai. He shrugged and gave her a sly glance. They continued to trudge through two feet of snow towards the village. Cai only wore his uniform, armored chest plate and a woolen jacket, which seemed like nothing compared to her layers of clothing and wool coat.
“I have your love to keep me warm.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close.
“Sweet Jerugia I do believe you’ll make everyone sick with that line.” Neala laughed.
“The queen is correct,” Gordon said. “My stomach is turning as we speak.”
Neala snorted. She loved the easiness between the three of them.
The sun shone high in the sky which had never looked so clear blue to her. The sweetness of the air mingled with the sharpness of the cold and she breathed it in, wanting to hold it in her lungs until they burst from lightness.
A clap of thunder came from the sky making them stop in their tracks. There were no clouds in the sky? Where had the thunder come from? Sorrel froze in place, her whole body trembling. One word screamed from Sorrel’s mind: Avalanche. Neala glanced towards the sides of the mountain, but the snow remained intact.
A streak of lightning emerged from the blue and a soldier wearing a black uniform with the blue stripe landed on the snow, marring the glistening white surface. He stood up straight and aimed his baton. Cai and Gordon drew their batons putting themselves between her and the soldier. Another clap of thunder. Another streak of lightning. Another soldier appeared like a dark smudge on the snow. Within seconds lightning danced across the sky dropping soldiers like rain. Sorrel whimpered next to her.
Neala turned to the girl, grabbing her by the arm and locking eyes on hers. “Do you remember what I said?” Sorrel nodded her head wildly. “Run and hide.”
Neala pulled her dagger and rushed to take her place between Gordon and Cai. Lightning struck one of the wooden cabins and it began to smolder. Another strike and another. Four buildings burned and the villagers raced out of their homes. Neala watched as the soldiers struck some of the villagers in the heart with a stream of blue light. She had never seen Kaels just fall over dead so easily. Other soldiers grabbed the villagers and disappeared into a bolt of lightning.
One of the older women fell to the ground dead. Anyone that tried to fight them they killed. Anyone that ran they captured. Neala shot fireball after fireball at the soldiers, but it barely made a dent. She wounded a few but none died. She rounded the corner to the community house and saw him there. Her heart leapt into her throat. Egan Crane. He struggled with a little girl who was screaming and crying.
“Take her,” Egan said thrusting the girl towards another soldier before disappearing into a bolt of lightning.
“Raemah!” a boy screamed. Jorgen. He held a long metal staff in his hands and ran straight towards the soldier. A bolt of blue lightning flashed from the tip of the soldier’s baton. The world slowed down for a long moment and Neala heard the word, “No!” come from her mouth as she took aim at his hand. If she could have taken flight, she would have. But the best she could do was get between the boy and the soldier.
Her fireball hit the soldier in the chest, but the stream of blue fire from his baton had started though, and it didn’t stop firing even after the baton sailed out of his hand. The force of it hit her, knocking her on her back, and all the air rushed from her lungs. The boy’s voice disappeared in the cacophony surrounding them. Did he get to safety? Was the girl freed? Or were they both taken?
The blue of the sky stared down on her and the struggle for breath sounded harsh in her ears. Pain seared through her chest, reminding her of another pain. The pain Peter had inflicted on her after he kidnapped her.
“Neala!” Cai’s voice echoed in her head, but he sounded so distant. Gordon was there too shouting and shooting. Where was Sorrel? Had she gotten away?
“Cai,” Neala’s mouth opened and closed, trying to mouth his name. But there was no sound. She tried again. “Cai.”
“I’m here, love.” He scooped her up and in a blinding flash they left the ruined village behind.
******
Sorrel's breath sounded harsh in her ears and her lungs burned from running in the cold air. She wound her way through the forest around the village towards her cabin. There was space under the floorboards for hiding. She had hidden there after her parents died when the elders were trying to decide what to do with her.
Sorrel cut between two cabins glimpsing the main thoroughfare of the village. A sharp scream stopped her. Raemah. One of the soldiers in black held the little girl under his arms, she struggled against him scratching and screaming. Jorgen carried his metal staff holding it over his shoulder ready to strike the soldier.
“Jorgen no!!” The words slipped from her tongue too easily but it didn't make him turn. A hot hand covered her mouth and something gripped her tightly around the waist. Her hands grasped at the arm covering her mouth, her nails digging in to the leather wrist protector.
“Stop it. Stop right now or I will cut your throat.” A voice whispered harshly against her ear. Something sharp jabbed into her neck and she breathed in sharply through her nose. Her body went limp and she could not take her eyes off of Jorgen. He raised his metal staff over his head as if to strike the soldier. Then he screamed something, but she could not make out the words. Jorgen picked up his pace running towards the soldier.
“What an idiot,” the harsh voice said against her ear. “He didn't have to die today. He just had to surrender.”
Hot tears burned her eyes, blinding her for a moment. The voice began to laugh. “Well look at that,” he said. The queen rushed between Jorgen and a stream of blue fire aimed at him. A red fireball erupted from the tip of her dagger, knocking the soldier down but the baton continued to fire even as the soldier fell. Sorrel's body began to shiver uncontrollably as she watched the fire hit the queen in the chest while another soldier hit her with a blast of blue fire from behind. She crumpled to the ground and rolled over onto her back. Gordon and the chief swarmed around her blasting whoever got close. Sorrel lost sight of Jorgen and Raemah. The chief scooped up the queen called a bolt of lightning and disappeared.
“It won't be the last time she falls,” the voice chuckled. “We have to clean you up before I introduce you to your new master.”
Sorrel struggled to turn around and look into her captor’s face but before she could, bright heat washed over them, and she had no choice but to surrender to the light.
******
“You should be able to breathe better now, Your Majesty,” the healer said, gently brushing her hand over Neala’s back. “But this burn to your shoulder is going to take a little time.”
“But it will heal?” Cai asked from the corner of the exam room. Soot still stained his cheeks, and he’d been treated for a cut to the forehead. The thin pink scar was already paling and would disappear in just a few days.
A lump of fear formed in her throat, and she choked it back. She knew he didn’t care about one more scar on her body. There seemed to be so many now. But still when he asked, it stung.
“Yes, I see no reason for it not to.” The healer smiled but it looked a little forced. Neala brushed her finger over the pink scar on he
r wrist that would never completely go away.
“Would you give us a moment?” Cai asked.
The healer nodded. “Of course. I’ll be right outside.”
“Thank you,” Cai said, stepping in front of Neala. She didn’t want to look into his face, didn’t want to see disappointment or anger or whatever feeling he might have in his stormy blue eyes. He gently took Neala’s hand in his and brushed his thumb over the long pink scar bisecting her wrist. He knelt low and pressed his soft warm lips to the raised line. “I will always be sorry for this. For not seeing sooner.”
“There was no way you could see—”
“Perhaps. But there was a way I could have foreseen today. If I had just listened to you last night. Taken her friends and family into our custody instead of waiting.” He looked into her face and pain shadowed his eyes. “Can you forgive me?”
“Oh, my love there’s nothing to forgive,” she said. “Even Sorrel said she had no way to know the exact date and time.”
“I know but I could have at least insisted her friend Jorgen and his sister come to the palace last night. I could have done more.”
“My mother once told me there are always a thousand things we could have done or should have done. But dwelling on them is a waste of time and energy. Instead dwell on what you did, and if it was the right thing. Based on the information we had, you made the right decision Cai.” She stroked his face. “I don’t doubt you, and I don’t want you to doubt yourself. Did Gordon find her?”
Cai’s eyes drifted back to the scar on her wrist and he shook his head. “No.”
“Damn him,” Neala muttered under her breath. “Damn him to be eaten by the beasts of Nahl.”
“I don’t know if that’s fair. Gordon always does his best,” Cai teased.
“I was talking about Peter,” she said.
He kissed her palm and nodded. “I know my love. I was just trying to lighten things for a moment.”
She gave him a weak smile. “We need to find out what happened to her. And we need to get her back.”
“I know you feel like this is your fault—”
“This is my fault. I won’t let you convince me otherwise. I should’ve killed him when I had the chance. If I had—”
“You just lectured me on dwelling on what could’ve happened.”
“Queen’s prerogative.” She shrugged. “I saw something else. Something disturbing.”
“What?”
“Egan Crane. He appeared to be fighting with Peter’s men.”
“Crane? Lieutenant Crane?” Cai said, gritting his teeth. “If something had happened to you—”
“Nothing happened to me, well, nothing deadly anyway. You heard her, I’ll heal.”
“And Jerugia blesses us again.”
Neala leaned forward and kissed Cai on the tiny pink scar. The only evidence of his injury. “She blessed me the day I found you. I’m not the only one who should be careful. If anything happened to you Caius—”
He stood up and wrapped his arms around her. “Nothing will ever happen to me. Not as long as I have you to love me.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “And the same goes for me.”
Nine
They landed hard on a patch of grass and he dropped her to the ground. Sorrel’s stomach lurched and she could not stop from vomiting.
“Get up.” He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet. Egan Crane stared at her, his pale blue eyes full of contempt.
“You,” she whispered.
“Yes, me.” He pushed her towards the gravel road that wound through the greenest hills she had ever seen. Cattle grazed in the pastures, some taking a moment to lift their heads and watch as she and her captor moved towards the white three-story farmhouse in the distance.
“Wh-where are you t-t-taking me?” she asked.
“Just shut up,” he said. “You'll see soon enough.”
Her heart beat hard in her throat. She could get away from him, she had transformed her star into coins, just as the queen had told her, and she still had them in her pocket. She could take one and put it into his body, maybe his thigh where there was no armor. Then she could run. She could go—where? Where could she go? She didn't even know where she was and she had no ability to transport. She swallowed back the tears lumping in the back of her throat. Is this where they had taken the people from her village?
They drew closer to the farmhouse, and she could see a slim pretty woman hanging clothes on a line. Her curly light brown hair was twisted into a messy knot pinned to the back of her head. Two little boys zoomed around her feet back and forth beneath wide swaths of sheets and pretty floral dresses.
“Where's your mother?” He called to the woman. She turned towards his voice and frowned.
The boys stopped running. The older one held his arms out and cried, “Daddy!” The younger boy grabbed his mother's skirt and hid behind her as if he didn't know the man.
“Boys,” the woman said in a stern voice. “Go inside.”
“But Mama,” the older boy protested.
“Tom please don't sass me,” she said tipping her chin and quirking her brow in a way that meant business. “Now go inside and take your brother.”
“It's all right Tomblyn,” Egan said. “I'll visit with you in a little bit all right?”
The boy took his brother’s hand and headed towards the house. He glanced over his shoulder once, and Egan waved.
“What are you doing here? This is not your visitation day.” She said coolly. Lines etched into her forehead and her delicate nose wrinkled. She had the prettiest face Sorrel had ever seen, round like the moon, with porcelain skin, and wide blue green eyes. “Who is this?” She pointed at Sorrel. “One of your whores?”
Sorrel's face flushed with heat and she took a step back.
Egan scoffed. “Don't be ridiculous. Now, where’s your mother?”
“Why?” She folded her arms across her chest. The contempt between them was palpable, and it made Sorrel want to turn back and go the other way. She’d just take her chances in this foreign place.
“I need her to heal this girl.”
“Is she hurt? Are you hurt?” The woman’s tone changed to concern, and her gaze raked over Sorrel. “She looks scared to death. What have you done to her Egan?”
“You ask too many questions, Cilla,” Egan barked at her. “Now is your mother here or not?”
The woman scowled. “Mama won’t help you unless she knows why you’ve brought her here.”
“She's a gift for Declan but she doesn't talk very well, and I can't give her to him if she’s broken, now can I?”
The woman's face changed from mere contempt to disgust and Sorrel wasn't sure who she was disgusted with, her or Egan. “My mother will not help you give one Kael to another as a gift. And neither will I.”
“Fine,” he said sounding nonplussed. He shoved the tip of his baton against her throat. Sorrel sucked in a quick breath and struggled against his tight grip.
“Consider her death-blood on your hands too.”
Then thunder filled her ears and the world went gray.
******
When she awoke her head ached and her body would not move.
“Mother,” a soft gentle voice said close by. Her eyes fluttered and it took a moment to focus on the woman's pretty face. Her full pink lips smiled down at Sorrel. “She's awake.”
“Well, that took long enough,” another woman's voice said. An older woman with the same round moon face and delicate features gave her a smile. Her lively blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “Well hello there sleepyhead. How are you feeling?”
Sorrel opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a gurgling sound. A sharp pain stabbed through her throat and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Yes I know that hurts.” The older woman’s voice soothed. “Cilla let's change the dressings on her throat and then we’ll assess the best way to heal her.”
“Yes mama,” Cilla said. Her slend
er fingers grazed the gauzy cloth on Sorrel’s throat. “I’m just going to get these off your neck.” Gently, she lifted four layers of cloth, one by one and put them into a ceramic bowl on the table next to the bed.
Sorrel glanced around the room. The scent of lavender and mint tickled her nose. A light breeze wafted in through the partly open window ruffling the pale green curtains. Tiny flowers dotted the creamy walls. The room felt cozy and warm despite the breeze.
Cilla unfolded a new dressing from a small metal vessel heated with a candle beneath it. Steam rose from the cloth.
“This is going to feel warm maybe even a little hot but it'll cool down quickly,” Cilla said. “And it will probably make you sleepy.”
“Thank you,” Sorrel whispered.
Cilla blinked several times as if she could not believe Sorrel capable of speech.
“You're welcome.” Cilla smiled and placed the bandage on Sorrel's neck, causing her to wince. For a moment heat rushed into her throat and then slowly, as it cooled, ebbed away. “It's probably best if you don't try to talk just yet. All right? Nod if you understand.”
Sorrel nodded and closed her eyes, letting the gauze work its magic. After a few moments she felt the pull of sleep and without much fight left in her she let it drag her into the dark.
******
Sorrel’s eyes fluttered and she could hear the voices arguing nearby. Egan was back, angrier than ever.
“I didn't bring her here as some sort of rehabilitation project for you Tahlulah. I just need you to fix her voice. I can't take her to the emperor this way.”
“The emperor,” the woman scoffed.
“Yes. Emperor,” he growled. “Can you fix her or not?”
“She’s not a broken toy, Egan Crane and you’d best watch your tone with me. The only reason you’re even still allowed on this farm is because you happen to be the father of my grandchildren. Keep it up and I’ll make sure you never see them again,” Tahlulah said calmly without a trace of fear in her voice.
