The Eden Series: The Complete Collection

by Stalder, Janelle

  She had followed the King’s highway the entire time, making sure to stay on the main road. The land she rode through was green, with rolling hills all around. She didn’t even realize she was on a hill, until suddenly she found herself riding down one side and up another. The Great Forest ran along her western side. The breeze tasted of salt. She was close to the sea, the city just beyond. Her father said there would be a boat waiting to take her across to the island. Even from where she rode, she could see the faint outline of the city in the afternoon sun. Nysa, the city of the Sun People. The bright rays of sun seemed to bounce off the city, causing golden hues to reach back up into the blue sky. It was as if Nysa battled the very thing its people had been named after: the city was almost as bright as the sun itself.

  Elisa had never been this far south and wished she could stop long enough to enjoy it, but she didn’t have time. Digging her heels into the side of the horse, she urged him forward towards the rushing sound of waves.

  True to her father’s word, as Elisa reached the docks that ran along the shore, there stood a boat waiting to take her across. A small seaside town lined the water’s edge, complete with small stores and a couple of taverns. Laughter and profanity spilled out into the streets from the open doorways. This was clearly a place for fishermen and other sailors to wind down before setting out on the water. Most women would not feel comfortable in a place like this, but Elisa was not most women. The men who looked at her quickly looked away. She rode a horse from the west, which spoke loudly of her station. There were also weapons hanging visibly on the sides and back of her saddle. She smiled to herself, thanking her father for that small suggestion.

  “If you show yourself clearly to those on the road, they will not bother you,” he had said, as he finished tying all her weapons. At first Elisa had protested, afraid that someone would want to rob her of them, but her father assured her the men on the roads were essentially cowards, and nowhere near as well trained as she was.

  “Elisa?” a man called out. His voice had the accent common in the south, but it didn’t sound smooth and cultured like she was used to. This man was rough, his voice harsh. His hair was grey, frizzing out from his head. He looked like a wild man, someone you found wandering the streets in the Capital, preaching the end of the world. His eyes were dark, almost black, with two huge bushy eyebrows arched above them. The years of having the sun and salt water on his skin had left it looking rough, red, and wrinkled. Elisa could only imagine what it would feel like if she touched him.

  “Yes,” she replied, lowering herself thankfully to the ground. As much as she loved horses, she preferred to use her own two feet. The man hobbled down a rickety looking plank, and helped her lead the horse onto the ship. She was afraid the animal might panic, but he remained calm the entire time. As she stepped onto the ship, the air around her smelled of fish and fresh water. The man in front of her smelled like fish too. She guessed that this smell never went away – no matter how many times he washed.

  “My name is Lorenzo,” he said, turning back to face her. “I’ve known your father a long time,” he continued, smiling almost to himself. She could see his mind racing through old memories, but kept silent as he reminisced. Refocusing, he cleared his throat before speaking again. “It is a fine pleasure to meet his daughter.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she smiled.

  “Lorenzo,” he corrected with a wink. Without waiting for her to reply, he walked to the side of the ship and began to untie it from the dock. Elisa decided to head towards the bow of the ship, so she could watch them approach the island as they sailed. Her mission was simple: get in and get out, and make sure she left with what she had set out there to get.

  At first, Elisa had been reluctant to make the journey, not so much for the distance, but more for the reason behind it. Her father had stressed that he believed she was the only person for the job. She didn’t believe him, but how could she argue? The whole land was still in turmoil; the north was suspiciously quiet, and everyone felt unease. She knew how important it was that she do this, so she finally agreed.

  “Best to go down and get some rest,” Lorenzo said. She jumped at his sudden reappearance. For an older man, he moved around quite silently. She turned to him with a questioning look.

  He chuckled in his raspy voice. “My dear, you look beat, and it will take us a while yet to reach the island. There is a small bed down in the cabin. No sense in you staying out here and getting burned.”

  She looked down at her dirt stained hands. How bad do I look? Seeing as there was nothing she could really do anyway, she shrugged to herself, and decided to take him up on his offer. “I guess I could sleep for a little while. How long will it take us?” she asked.

  The old man squinted up at the sun, as if the answer lay waiting there. “We should get there before midnight, I think, depending on what weather the Gods send our way.” Nodding, Elisa walked towards the stairs he had motioned to.

  When she finally awoke and climbed the stairs to the upper deck, it was to a black sky. She stood at the rail of the ship, watching as the city slowly drew nearer, the wind off the water blowing her golden hair around her. The hard part of this journey was just beginning. Racing through days and nights, all her muscles aching from the speed in which she rode – all of that was easy. What was coming now would be the difficult part, and she was not looking forward to it. Well not it, she thought grudgingly.

  Wolf.

  The white buildings stood out like stars in the black sky. Even from the boat, Elisa could hear laughter coming from the crowded streets within. All the roofs on the buildings were flat and close together. That was a useful piece of information, Elisa noted. The homes were taller here, much more than the Capital, and what shocked Elisa the most was that there were no walls. Unlike her home, the city was just open to the world around it.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lorenzo asked, appearing silently by her elbow. “There is no city in Eden quite like Nysa.”

  “It’s so open,” she breathed.

  “Well, it is surrounded by water,” he pointed out reasonably. “But you’re right, it is open and – free.” There was something suggestive about his tone, but Elisa tried to ignore it. She knew the stories about the south and hoped that many of them were exaggerated. There were tales of men and women with multiple lovers; women who sold their bodies openly on the streets; brutal fights between men who can barely stand from alcohol; people who stayed out all night and slept all day. Elisa doubted any were true. The docks along the other side of the water came into view sooner than she expected. Lorenzo was already preparing to tie the boat as they neared. Walking to the stern, Elisa checked on the horse, soothingly stroking his mane. She had forgotten his name – he belonged to a man named Harris, a member of the King’s army.

  “Brace yourself Elisa, we’re about to dock,” Lorenzo called out. She held onto the railing as the boat glided to a stop. This was obviously something Lorenzo was good at, because she barely felt a jolt as the boat came to a halt. He helped her get off again, and then wished her good luck on her journey.

  “Thank you,” she smiled gratefully at the old man. He began to turn back towards the ship, but she grabbed his sleeve, stopping him before he left. “Do you know where I can keep my horse?” It had occurred to her that the streets here were quite narrow, and if she were going to keep a low profile, parading around on a horse from the Riders wouldn’t be the best way to achieve that. Her father had stressed the fact that no one should know she was there. If Markus, the leader of the Sun People, knew Elisa, daughter of the great Captain Turk, was in town, he would demand audience with her. It wasn’t her father’s normal procedure to ignore court obligations, but he needed her to get back quickly.

  “I can keep him here if you’d like,” he answered, his voice slightly unsure. “However, are you sure you don’t want to keep him? You’ll encounter less problems that way, Elisa.”

  “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself,” she
smiled, her voice leaving no room for argument.

  Shrugging his shoulders, he took the reins back from her, absently petting the horse while he looked at her. “You’re Turk’s girl, so I won’t argue. But if you have any problems, you come right back here.” She assured him she would, although in reality she had no intention of doing such a thing. The look on his face gave the impression that he knew she was just saying that to be nice. “If you want to blend in, I would suggest changing your clothes,” he said, eyeing her riding gear. A rush of heat flushed her face as she looked down at her body.

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” her voice shook.

  Lorenzo smiled gently at her. “Nothing, if you were in the Capital. But things are different here in the south. Women don’t dress like men down here.” Women don’t dress like men down here, she thought self-consciously. Did she look like a man? It was one thing to look natural, but to look like a man? Elisa didn’t think she wanted that. In a couple of months she’d turn eighteen, and something about getting older made her more aware of her looks than she had previously been. The old man could see the discouragement on her face. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he gave her a slight, affectionate squeeze.

  “Don’t worry, I have just the thing.”

  Thanking him again for his help, Elisa headed towards the entry to the city. The docks were empty, except a few men working, or carrying things to waiting boats. The night sky blanketed her, full of brightly lit stars, and the two moons with full, glowing faces. She looked up with a smile, breathing in the smells around her.

  As Elisa walked under an archway made of stone, she noticed carvings along the inside. There were people dancing, flowers strung through their hair and elaborate goblets in their hands. Children were running naked through the parade, all with smiles on their faces. A great man with vines around his head, sat on a large throne, surrounded by animals, and people kneeling at his feet. The carvings were nothing like the ones back in the Capital. All the pictures Elisa was used to showed warriors – scenes of battles and great triumph. Here, it was simply pure joy depicted on the stone. It was as if the Sun People were not touched by the same trials faced by those outside this city.

  Lowering her eyes, Elisa walked into the city that, up until then, had only been one of stories to her. Inside, it was infinitely different than the docks. Crowds of people walked the streets; the air was full of laughter and loud voices. It seemed hotter in here without the breeze from the water. There were bright sconces on the outsides of the buildings, lighting the streets as if it were daytime. Elisa had never seen a city look so bright during the night; nor had she seen so many people awake. It must have been close to midnight, but no one seemed to be the least bit tired as they strode around in pairs or large groups. Some were, to Elisa’s utter embarrassment, even walking around in threesomes, being very intimate in a public way.

  Taking a deep breath, she started to make her way deeper into the city. The streets were narrower here, tall buildings towering on either side. Curtains of deep reds and purples hung in the windows, and women stood at the doorways calling out to passers-by. One woman even called out to Elisa. When she turned to look, she realized that the woman was actually a man who happened to look very much like a woman. His lips were painted red, eyes rimmed in kohl and rouge on his cheeks. Long tresses of dark hair curled artfully around his face to frame it in a feminine way. If Elisa hadn’t noticed the telltale bump in his throat that labelled him a man, she would have never suspected differently. Her cheeks grew hot again. She quickly lowered her head and continued on.

  Thankfully no one seemed to take special notice of her. Lorenzo had inexplicably had a dress onboard, in a style popular amongst the women of the south. It was white, the neckline trimmed with gold ribbon, and capped sleeves with lace. The top was an empire waist, a string of pearls wrapped just underneath her bust. The rest of the dress flowed gracefully to the ground. It was a light fabric, something that made her feel like she could fly as it floated around her. At first she was appalled at the thought of wearing it, but Lorenzo assured her all women wore clothes like this and it was her best bet to fit in.

  He was right to a degree: most women did wear flowing dresses like this, some in the same style as hers, others in styles that better flaunted their attributes. What was different, however, was that no one really seemed to wear white. A lot of the women wore reds, blues, bright greens, but she seemed to be the only one in white. She wondered if it made her stand out more.

  The flat sandals he had given her were something new as well. The cobblestone roads made it hard to walk on, so it didn’t help that she had delicate, unfamiliar shoes on. He stressed that there was no way she could wear her riding boots under the dress. “It would look strange,” he had said.

  A man appeared in front of her, causing Elisa to narrowly avoid crashing head first into his chest.

  “Where are you going, my fine little angel?” he said in a smooth, deep voice. “With golden hair and a white dress, surely you have fallen from the sky.”

  Elisa tried to smile politely, her hands bunching into fists at her side. She hated when men tried to compliment her. It always sounded fake. “I’m looking for a hotel,” she replied, ignoring his comments. “Would you be able to give me directions?”

  “I can certainly try,” he smiled, his eyes lowering down the front of her, then reaching back up slowly to meet her eyes. It took all her strength not to punch him. His dark hair curled at the temples where it was damp with sweat, and his deep brown eyes looked slightly unfocused. He was intoxicated, she realized. It was evident in the way his slight body leaned against the wall. His small mouth wore a confident smile as he watched her take stock of him.

  “I’m looking for the Red Phoenix,” she named the hotel. He nodded, pointing her down the street, telling her to turn left at a water fountain.

  “There is a sign outside of it. You can’t miss it.” Elisa thanked him and hurried off before he could take up more of her time. She already knew that Wolf and Logan, who had followed his friend down here, were staying at the hotel. The problem she faced now was how to see them without anyone else noticing. She’d have to find their room and sneak in, she realized. Otherwise she risked someone recognizing her, and news would travel fast to Markus’ ears.

  The narrow street suddenly opened up to a small square. In the middle was a large fountain: a naked woman decorated the middle, her thin arms holding a large jug, delicately balanced on her wide hips. Out of the jug poured water, filling the square with a soothing sound that vibrated off the walls. A few people sat on the edge around the fountain, some talking intimately to each other, others sitting with their feet in the water, laughing loudly. Elisa quickly turned the way the man had pointed, and followed another narrow lane further into the city. All the buildings were similar, only minor decorative differences on the outside identified the change in residence. The Capital City had always seemed like a confusing place to her, and it was, especially to those who were not familiar with its twisting streets. This place was, somehow, even more puzzling. With all its buildings so tall and narrow, Elisa wondered how anyone found the one they were looking for. Luckily the hotel she was heading to had a sign outside, creaking slightly in the breeze. A picture of a large red bird decorated the wood, with the name of the hotel scripted in large black letters beneath it.

  Before reaching the door, Elisa slipped into the narrow alley beside the hotel. The buildings were very close together, which made moving between them difficult. Luckily she was a small person. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if her father tried doing this. Scouting the side of the hotel, she soon realized there was nothing there that would help her get up onto the roof. Taking a deep breath, a resolution came quickly to mind. Rubbing her palms together, she leapt onto the wall of the opposite building and began to climb.

  The roof was a relief to reach. She had wedged herself between the two walls, bracing herself on each wall as she slowly climbed up
the sides. It was difficult, and had taken all her strength and concentration to achieve. Thankfully the buildings were as close as they were, otherwise this would have never worked. Now, as she lay on her back on the flat roof, she let the breeze cool her damp forehead as her breathing slowly regained its normal pattern. The air was much cooler where there were no bodies. Sitting up, she pushed her hair out of her eyes, cursing herself for not wearing her usual headband. The dress wasn’t helping either. The light, billowy fabric swished around her legs, making quick movements nearly impossible. She had to hike the dress right up above her thighs when she climbed. Fortunately no one had been around to see it, she thought thankfully.

  Keeping low to the ground, Elisa inched her way towards the back edge of the roof and peeked over. Just as she had hoped, right below her was a line of balconies. If she guessed correctly, Wolf and Logan would be in one of the top rooms. She could remember them telling her a story once, about a jealous husband who had caught Wolf entertaining his wife, resulting in Wolf needing to make a quick escape. He pointed out that it was always safer to climb up than jump down, so the top rooms were the best to rent. “Let’s hope he still thinks that way,” Elisa said out loud.

  There were three balconies along the top row. All she had to do was decide which one to try first. As she weighed her options, a loud crash emanated from one of the rooms, followed by yelling. Rolling her eyes, Elisa lithely jumped off the edge, landing neatly on the balcony where the ruckus came from. The doors stood open to the night air, so she stepped in, cautiously, not quite prepared for what found her inside.

  * * * * *

  Three very large men had burst through the doors, scattering bits of wood around the room. Wolf flew off the bed, reaching for the knife he kept hidden under the side table. There was a moment of confusion as the three intruders let their eyes adjust to the dim lighting, which he took advantage of. Flying across the room, quite capably considering how intoxicated he was, Wolf headed towards the open doors to the balcony just as another body fell down from the roof and walked in. Damn it, he cursed inwardly. They had surrounded him from both sides. There was only one way out now. Fight.