Once there, he laid her down on a couch in the outer chamber. Jelena closed her eyes while he disappeared momentarily, opening them again when he returned with a damp cloth in his hand. He laid the wet, cool cloth on her injured face, and she sighed gratefully.
“Tell me what happened, Jelena. Who hurt you?” Magnes asked quietly. She studied his face for a moment before answering. Magnes, so much like his father physically, had nothing of Teodorus in his own personality. The two men were a study in contrasts.
“Magnes, remember up on the wall, you told me Duke Sebastianus was looking for a wife?” she whispered. Magnes nodded. “Well, he didn’t come to Amsara to get one.”
Magnes looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Hot tears welled up and spilled down Jelena’s cheeks. Magnes gasped in dismay and gathered Jelena close against him, cradling her head on his shoulder.
“Your father has sold me to the Duke of Veii. I am to be the duke’s concubine, Magnes…his slave,” she sobbed into the soft leather of his jerkin. “I told Uncle that I refused, and that’s when he hit me.”
Jelena felt the curve of her cousin’s shoulder tense in outrage. “He can’t do this to you,” Magnes whispered. “I won’t let him.”
“But he can, Magnes. He has every right to do with me whatever he wills.” Jelena pushed away from Magnes and wiped her eyes. Her head ached abominably, but her mind had focused more clearly now. “I can still refuse to allow this to happen to me. No matter what, I am not going back to Veii as Duke Sebastianus’s concubine.”
“What are you going to do, then?” Magnes asked.
“I’m going to go search for my father,” Jelena replied.
“You what?” Magnes exclaimed. He took Jelena’s hands into his own. “Cousin, you can’t. It’s too dangerous. You don’t know anything about your father’s people. They might just kill you outright as soon as they discover you trespassing in their territory. You may not look wholly human, but you look human enough.”
“I’m willing to take that chance,” Jelena said quietly.
Magnes shook his head. “How do you even know where to look for him? You don’t know anything about him, except that he’s an elf. Let’s suppose you do find him, and he rejects you, what then? Jelena, this is crazy!”
“So what would you have me do, Magnes?” Jelena asked. “Go with Duke Sebastianus? My only other alternative is a dive from the battlements.”
Magnes buried his face in his hands. “Gods,” he sighed. “Of course you can’t go with Veii.” He stood and went over to a sideboard where an earthenware jar and two mugs waited. He poured cider into the mugs and brought them over to the couch where he handed one to Jelena.
“The last of last season’s batch,” he said. “One of our best.” He took a long pull and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Jelena chose to sip hers slowly. “Have you put any thought at all into this plan of yours?” he asked, sitting back down beside Jelena.
“No, but then I just found out a little while ago that your father has sold me.” She made no effort to hide her bitterness. “I only have three days.”
Magnes rubbed his chin the way he always did when thinking about important things. “We’ll need some supplies and weapons. I can get most of that for us. The toughest thing will be a horse for you. We might have to go on foot.”
“What do you mean we,Magnes?” Jelena set her mug down on the sanded plank floor and looked her cousin in the eyes.
“I’m going with you, of course. You didn’t think I’d let you go alone, did you?” he answered.
Jelena shook her head vigorously. “No, you can’t. I won’t let you pay the price for helping me,” she stated firmly.
Magnes laughed mirthlessly. “You met the odious creature who is to be my wife at the feast last night. Charming, isn’t she? That is what I have to look forward to, if I stay—marriage to that shallow, stupid girl. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I could have killed her where she sat, for her cruelty to you.”
Jelena sighed. “Magnes, you’ve been my protector since we were children. If it hadn’t been for you, I never would have learned to read and write, or handle a sword, or shoot a bow. You and Claudia have made my life bearable. I love you, and I’ll be forever grateful. I can’t ask you to make this kind of sacrifice for me. You’d be giving up everything.”
“You’re not asking. I’m volunteering.”
“I can’t talk you out of this?”
“No.” The stubborn set of her cousin’s mouth convinced Jelena that further argument was pointless, but she had to ask one more question.
“Magnes, what about Livie? Are you willing to leave her like this?” Magnes leapt to his feet and began to pace around the room. Jelena could sense the great tension within him as he appeared to struggle with some unresolved problem, a dilemma that weighed heavily on his mind. Finally, he turned to face Jelena, and she could see in his eyes that he had come to a painful decision.
“I’ve loved Livie for as long as I can remember, Jelena. Truth is, though, the only way we could be together would be terribly unfair to her. She deserves a husband and family, a life that I can’t give to her now. If I leave, then she’ll be free to find a good man who can give her those things.”
Magnes’s words tore at Jelena’s heart. Why did the world have to be so full of cruelty to those who least deserved it? Jelena rose and embraced her cousin. They stood with their arms around each other for a long while, drawing comfort from the bond and closeness they shared. They had always been allies and would continue to be, well into an uncertain future.
“There’s something else I need to tell you about,” Jelena said when they at last broke their embrace.
“By the look on your face, I can see that, whatever it is, it’s big, and it’s got you worried,” Magnes responded. He sank back down onto the couch, pulling Jelena with him. “Tell me,” he prompted gently.
Jelena paused to gather her thoughts. How could she explain what she herself did not understand? For an instant, she was filled with uncertainty. What if her cousin reacted to her words with horror and rejected her? She didn’t think that she could survive that. Then, she looked into his eyes, so like the color of the rich Amsaran soil that he loved, and saw there only love for her. Her fear evaporated. Magnes would never judge her, no matter what.
Magnes remained silent, regarding her expectantly. If he had caught any hint of her momentary confusion, he gave no sign.
“Something very strange happened yesterday,” Jelena began. As Magnes listened, Jelena related the incident with Ruby and the mysterious blue fire.
“Gods!” Magnes croaked. He sat as if stunned, staring over the top of her head.
Jelena held her breath.
“Jelena, you’ve…you’ve got magic!” he whispered, his voice infused with wonder.
Jelena exhaled.
“I’m very confused by it,” she said. “I have no idea how I called it up against Ruby and it hasn’t surfaced since. I thought for sure it would come when your father attacked me, but it didn’t.”
Magnes’s brow furrowed with the intensity of his thoughts. “Of course you’d have magical abilities. It’s in your elven blood.” He paused, then abruptly seized her hands, face clouded with worry. “This could mean very big trouble, Jelena. You know what will happen if it’s discovered that you have magic, even if you don’t know how to use it.”
Jelena nodded. Neither one of them needed to say the words. They had both been raised with the Soldaran state religion.
“Do you think Ruby understood what happened?” Magnes asked.
Jelena shook her head. “Ruby is a stupid cow. Besides, if she did have any idea, I’d already be locked up in the castle jail by now.”
“Hmm. I think you’re right, but I’d still better have a word with Ruby, just to make sure,” Magnes said.
“No, Magnes, don’t do that!” Jelena pleaded. “If you start questioning Ruby, she might remember that she saw something
odd. Best to let her be.”
Magnes looked unconvinced, but he finally nodded in agreement. “All right. I won’t question Ruby.” He paused. “Of course, it’s even more urgent that we leave Amsara as soon as possible. Since you have no idea when this ability of yours will choose to manifest again, we can’t take any chances that it will flare up in front of witnesses.”
“How am I going to tell Claudia?” Jelena murmured sadly. “How can I tell her that I have to leave her?”
“Just tell her the truth, Jelena,” Magnes responded. He reached out to tenderly stroke her hair. “She’ll be terribly sad, but she’ll understand.”
“I know, but it’s still so hard. I don’t know if I have the strength.”
“You are the strongest person I know, Jelena Preseren,” Magnes said. He leaned in and lightly brushed her forehead with his lips. “You’ll get through this, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
“I know you will,” Jelena said. You always are.
Chapter 6
A Story, A Gift, And A Clue
Jelena did not feel steady enough to return to the kitchen until well past mid-day. Unable to conceal the ugly bruise that discolored the left side of her face, she endured the stares and whispers of the other drudges in cold silence. Her thoughts were consumed with escape—she would need to plan carefully if she were to succeed—and how best to break the news to Claudia.
Ruby steered clear of her most of the time, and when she did have to pass near, she pointedly refused to even so much as glance at Jelena. Jelena couldn’t tell if the other woman felt motivated by a newfound respect for her former victim or by fear of Jelena’s newly revealed abilities. If Ruby was aware of Jelena’s magic, she gave no direct sign.
The mellow gold light of late afternoon had faded to the purple shadows of evening by the time Claudia came to the kitchen in search of her foster daughter. “Gods preserve us!” she exclaimed in dismay upon seeing the bruise staining Jelena’s face. “What happened, child?”
“Nothing, Heartmother. I fell, that’s all,” Jelena lied, unable to meet Claudia’s discerning stare.
“Don’t lie t’me, child. Tell me what truly happened,” Claudia demanded, taking Jelena’s chin in her hand and turning her face first one way and then the other, as if hunting for clues.
“Please, Heartmother, not here,” Jelena whispered imploringly. “After the evening meal…I’ve something very important to tell you.” Claudia frowned, clearly upset, but she did not press. Jelena gave her a quick hug and hurried off to fetch plates and cups for their supper.
When the last dish had been put away and the kitchen fires were banked for the night, only then could Jelena return to the small room she shared with Claudia. Her foster mother waited for her, nervous anticipation evident in the way she held her large body, much like a she-bear poised to leap against any danger that might threaten her cub.
Jelena sat down beside Claudia on the edge of her bed and in a soft voice told her all that had happened in the duke’s study that morning. “I can live as a kitchen drudge or a maid… even a stablehand if need be, but I’ll not live as any man’s slave, Heartmother.”
“You’d have a far better life bein’ the concubine of a duke, child, than you’d ever have otherwise,” Claudia responded gently.
“I’d still be a slave!” Jelena cried. “Duke Sebastianus would own me like he owns his horses or his cattle, and he would be free to use or abuse me however he wishes. No. I won’t let my uncle dispose of me like a spare piece of livestock!” Jelena paused, took a deep breath, and forged ahead. “I’ve decided to leave Amsara Castle.”
Claudia’s lower lip began to tremble. The fire hissed and crackled in the grate. The room suddenly felt overheated and stuffy. Jelena edged closer to her foster mother, and waited for the storm to break.
Claudia let out a wail and began to bawl uncontrollably.
“Please, Heartmother, don’t cry!” Jelena begged as she fell into her foster mother’s arms. She tried to hold back her own tears, but she couldn’t—the pain of the moment overwhelmed her. She laid her head on the soft mound of Claudia’s bosom and allowed her foster mother’s grief to wash over her like a rain-swollen river, turbulent and strong at first, but gradually subsiding to a gentle flow, then to stillness.
Only when the storm had passed and Claudia calmed down enough to listen did Jelena tell her of what had happened during her run-in with Ruby.
Claudia seemed unsurprised at Jelena’s revelation. “If Ruby dares t’ try an’ denounce you, I’ll strangle ‘er with me bare hands,” she said. She sniffled and wiped her eyes on her apron.
“Now do you see why I’ve got to leave here and go north, into the country of the elves?” Jelena brushed a strand of Claudia’s gray hair away from her watering eyes. “I won’t be going alone, though. Magnes has offered to come with me. He’s promised to help me find my father.”
Claudia nodded, as if coming to a decision. Her expression settled into one of quiet resignation as she rose and went to her chest. Lifting the lid, she shoved aside its contents and reached deep within, drawing forth a leather pouch. Wordlessly, she dropped the pouch into Jelena’s cupped hands.
“What is this, Heartmother?” Jelena asked.
“Open it, child. There be somethin’ inside that belongs to you, somethin’ you’ll need on yer search.” Jelena loosened the thongs holding the pouch shut and upended it onto her palm. A small metal object fell out.
It was a man’s signet ring, crafted of heavy white gold with an inlay of black stone. The figure of a griffin, also wrought in white gold, had been intricately worked into the center of the stone. Jelena held the ring up so that it could catch the light from the lamps. The craftsmanship of the ring was exquisite, and she knew that it could have only graced the hand of a nobleman.
Jelena looked into Claudia’s eyes and saw the truth. “This ring belonged to my father,” she whispered.
“Aye, that it did, my lamb. Yer mother gave it into my keeping on the day you were born. Told me I wasn’t to give it t’you ‘til you were ready. Ay, gods, I knew this day would come!” Claudia lowered her bulk onto a sturdy wooden stool, clutching at her lower back and wincing in pain.
“I’ve a story t’tell ye, child. Yer mother told it t’me whilst I cared for her durin’ her confinement. It seems that, one day yer mother was out walkin’ in th’ woods when she came upon a young man who needed her help.”
As Claudia spoke, Jelena rolled the ring between her fingers, feeling its weight, trying to imagine the man who had worn it. Claudia told the story of how Drucilla, Jelena’s mother, had found a man half out of his mind from pain and thirst, lying at the bottom of a ravine. When she drew closer and saw what he was, she almost fled. All of the stories she had been told, every supposed truth the priests preached about elvenkind warred in her brain with her instinct to aid a fellow living being in dire need.
In the end, she did not flee. She brought the man water instead, holding his head steady so he could drink. It calmed him and brought him back to his senses.
“Yer mam could hardly believe her ears when th’elf spoke to her in Soldaran! He told her that his leg was broke, an’ that he needed her help. Seems he’d been tryin’ t’ get away from a patrol when his horse spooked and throwed him into the dry stream. He’d banged his head on a rock and knocked hisself senseless. Been there for days, in the summer heat, with no water and a busted leg.”
Drucilla knew of a small hut in the woods close by, occasionally used by the gamekeepers when they needed to stay out overnight. She would take the man there—if she could get him to his feet and moving—but in order to do that, his leg would need a splint.
“She had no way at hand t’ make such a thing, but she knew she could get some boards an’ cloth back at th’ castle, so she left him with her waterskin an’ a promise t’ return.” Here, Claudia paused in her narrative.
“Go on, Heartmother,” Jelena urged.
“Patience, m
y girl. I’m an old woman, an’ all this happened a long time ago. I want t’ get it all straight in the tellin’” Claudia replied. “Now, where was I?”
It took some doing, but Drucilla managed to gather up the things she needed for the splint, as well as some food. She was, after all, the duke’s sister, and no one would dare to question her. Afternoon had turned to dusk by the time she returned, and the man seemed to be either asleep or unconscious.
“Yer mam said she just sat for a bit, starin’ at him. She’d never seen a man so fair… As beautiful as the gods must be. After a while, he woke up and caught her lookin’ at him. He said not a word, just smiled, and my Dru fell in love.”
“Did my mother describe him to you? Did she tell you exactly what he looked like?” Jelena eagerly asked.
“She said he had eyes the color of the sky in winter… her exact words!” Claudia chuckled. “And dark hair shot through with silver, like an aging man’s, ‘cept that his face was that of a young man. That’s all she could say of his looks, other than he was beautiful in a way no human man could be.”
Claudia continued her narrative.
“Well, Drucilla told me she was able t’make a splint from the things she’d taken from the castle.” She found a fallen branch for him to lean on, and with that, and her help, the man could stand, then walk. Many times during the long, slow, journey to the gamekeeper’s hut, the man had to stop and rest. Pain, hunger, and thirst had sapped his strength.
“ By th’ time they reached the hut, the poor man was just about done in, and yer mother could barely hold him up.” Claudia raised her hand to her mouth and coughed. Grimacing, she waved towards a little shelf upon which sat a plain, ceramic jar and two cups. “Bring me some o’ that water, child. My throat is parched of a sudden.” Jelena quickly complied, and after Claudia had taken a drink, she continued her story.
“Well, she got him settled and took a closer look at his leg. There weren’t no bones sticking out through the skin, lucky for him, tho’ it were a bad break just the same.”
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