by Megg Jensen
“What’s next?” I asked. “What can we do to help Nemison?” It hadn’t occurred to me we could simply go back and rescue him.
“It’s too late, Reychel. We have no idea where he is now. Unfortunately, we need to come up with a strategy for the Southern Kingdom,” Reese said. “Nemison had everything planned out. A way to explain your arrival, everything. Unfortunately he didn’t share that plan with us. He only told us how brilliant it was and how in seven days our lives would change.”
“Seven days? Did he think I could learn to control my gift that fast?” I doubted it. I also had no idea why his plan hinged on my visions. I could deliver a prophecy, but it would be up to the people to believe it.
“Did he share anything with you?” Krissin grumbled in my direction.
“No,” I said. “I knew he wanted to train me. I didn’t know about any of you. That’s part of the reason I hid in the closet. I had no idea where I had landed or who might be outside the door.”
Reese sat down on a chair, placing his head in his hands. “This couldn’t happen at a worse time.”
“Why?” I asked.
Hanne walked to her husband and put her hand on his shoulder.
“A strategy we’ve been working on since our ruler died,” Hanne said.
I looked at Krissin but no one else even glanced at her.
Hanne continued, “There are quite a few factors converging. Our time to officially take over the Southern Kingdom is coming. We can’t stop it now, not even in Nemison’s absence. The Sons of Silence are on their way here. They should arrive within the next two weeks.”
“The Sons?” My heart sank as I wondered if Mark would be among them. He had promised me he’d follow me, no matter where I went. If he’d known all along that I would be headed here, then he knew when he left me this morning that we’d be reunited soon. Hope swelled in my chest.
“Yes, the Sons,” Krissin responded. “They are instrumental to our open overthrow of the Malborn government here. Thanks to intelligence reports we know who is loyal to the Malborn and who can be turned to our side. Reese’s men have been working very hard under dangerous circumstances to discover people’s deepest beliefs. We need to know who’s on our side and who isn’t.”
“Where do the Sons come in?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer. Just this morning they interrupted my plan to expose Ivy and held people at sword point. They were insolent, rude and dangerous; I couldn’t trust them. I couldn’t even understand why Mark was a part of them, one of their leaders. He’d kept that part of himself separate, rarely even talking about the Sons.
“They are going to dispose of the men who won’t be turned to our side,” Hanne said.
“What? More violence? Why am I finding violence everywhere I go?” I asked, my hands on my hips.
“How do you expect us to be free if not with violence?” Krissin demanded. “Should we just ask the Malborn to leave? Do you think that will work? I know you’ve been sheltered, but Eloh, you really are naïve.”
She was right. The Malborn wouldn’t leave. Their stranglehold had been secure for generations. Why would they go now? But I was tired of the anger and I didn’t want to see anyone killed.
I looked at Hanne, who had been my supporter but now she only watched Reese. He studied the floor. I had a feeling they felt the same way I did. After all, Reese was born Malborn, maybe Hanne too. To contemplate sentencing his relatives or even friends to death must be hard to handle.
“Maybe Nemison thought you could predict success for us?” Reese asked, his eyes hopeful. “Tell us how to proceed?”
“I don’t know what more I can do other than look at the clouds. If a vision overtakes me, I’ll tell you, but I can’t promise anything. I haven’t learned to force the visions, much less accurately interpret them,” I said.
Krissin padded over in her tiny slippers, clenched my forearm with her fingers and tugged. Her nails dug into my arm and I worried she’d rip the delicate fabric on the dress.
“Ow!” I tried to wrestle my arm away from her. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
“Come over here and look out the window.” Krissin tugged on my arm. “There are clouds coming in. See if they tell you anything. See if you can figure out what my father wanted with you. Or see what they have done with my father. Anything.”
I let her lead me to the window since it was obvious she wasn’t going to let go of my arm until I did. I looked out at the afternoon sky and focused on the clouds coming from the west.
“Be useful to us, Reychel,” Krissin said. “Give us a prophecy.”
The puffy clouds drifted slowly into my view as if they had nothing better to do than waft along, instead of revealing the fate of thousands of innocent people in their gentle curves. I focused on the first, but all I saw was the undulating edges move into the shape of a horse. I looked to the next cloud, seeing nothing more than a rabbit. My fists clenched as I peered into the bank of clouds rolling in behind it.
Nothing.
I didn’t feel the familiar moment of relaxation like floating outside my body. I didn’t lose sight of the clouds themselves and fall into a vision. The only thing I felt were three expectant pairs of eyes boring into my back.
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m not seeing anything.”
I didn’t turn around and no one asked me to. I wondered if they were watching me, waiting for a vision to magically overtake me. I’d bet they could all control their gifts, why couldn’t I control mine? No wonder Nemison had wanted to train me right away. I was useless and someone needed to teach me to be useful.
“Then we will have to lie,” Krissin said. She released my arm. I fought an urge to rub the sore muscle. “My guess is that my father thought once she landed here she’d have some miraculous vision that would lead us down the right path. But he’s not here and she has nothing to offer us. I say we should take over the Southern Kingdom, come out in the open as Serenians, or as converted Malborn.” She nodded at Reese. “Then we’ll reveal Reychel to everyone as our Prophet and our leader. She’ll prophesy something great for our victory and we’ll storm the Northern Kingdom.”
“That simple?” Reese asked. “You really think it will work?”
“I’m sure that’s what my father expected,” Krissin insisted. “If he felt she was the key to everything then it had to do with Reychel revealing herself.”
“If you don’t have any more visions, will you lie for the good of our island, Reychel?” Hanne asked.
I turned around and faced the three of them again. My heart fluttered. I was their Prophet. It was my destiny to save our people. But to lie to thousands, sentencing others to death. I looked at them. Hanne, leaning forward, her arms still on Reese’s shoulders. Reese, now staring at me instead of the floor. Krissin, anger on her face.
As I was about to answer, the door swung open. Everyone’s eyes left me and focused on the intruder.
Chapter Four
Jada stormed into the room, the train of her red dress flowing behind her like an uncontrollable fire.
“How can you suggest that Reychel lie?” she demanded.
Jada. Gerrold’s daughter. The man didn’t trust me or believe in me from the moment he met me. From our first encounter I feared Jada would feel the same way.
“Excuse me?” Krissin asked. “Listening in again? I should have known. You’re not supposed to use your gift on someone unless they agree to it.”
“I was invited to this meeting,” Jada said. “I just decided to listen to it from outside the room. I wasn’t ready to meet Reychel yet. I wanted her to feel like she could speak freely.”
Jada turned to me and offered me her hand.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself properly before,” she said. “I was worried you would hate me based on the way my father treated you.”
I took her hand in mine and a smile spread across Jada’s face. Mine echoed it.
“I knew he was a grumpy old man but I never thought he’d get in
league with someone like Ivy, soothed or not. He’s gifted and he should have known not to get close to her once he saw her spark.” Jada sighed and shook her head. I knew exactly what it was like to have a father with questionable motives. “We have bigger issues in our world than a teenage girl trying to get back at her master for years of slavery.”
“Ivy is strong,” I said. “I don’t know if Gerrold could have resisted her if he tried. I’ve seen her soothing in action. She’s very powerful.”
“And what do you have to compare that to?” Krissin blurted out. She flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder. “Have you seen some palace slaves with piddly talents?”
Krissin held out her right hand, palm up. She flicked her fingers together and a small glowing ball floated above her hand. Her hand rotated to the side and the ball followed it. She continued rotating until her palm faced me, the ball pulsing and pointing in my direction.
“Have you ever witnessed true power in the form of a unique gift?” she asked. Then she flicked her fingers again and the ball shot out. It flew through the air at an alarming speed, smacking me on the forehead. I flinched, even though the impact was lighter than being tickled by a feather.
“Krissin, stop it,” Jada said. She held up her hand and Krissin’s mouth closed. She struggled against it, but her mouth would not open. Rolling her eyes, she slumped into a chair. Jada shrugged, an even bigger smile on her face. “I miss Nemison already. At least you held your temper around him. Now you’re acting like a spoiled brat.”
Krissin looked down at her hands, now folded in her lap. I tried not to smile, but I thought mute suited Krissin very well. Jada definitely had an intriguing gift.
“Will you promise to treat Reychel with respect? She’s shown nothing but that for you. Give the girl a chance. Your father believed in her. You should too,” Jada said to Krissin.
Krissin’s head moved the tiniest amount. I might not have even noticed if it weren’t for her hair stroking her cheek. She looked up at us and cocked her head to the side as if to say she was sorry.
Jada lowered her hand and Krissin bit her lips, able to move them again.
“I’m sorry Reychel,” Krissin mumbled. She refused to look me in the eyes.
I nodded, still not sure whether or not to trust her, even though her temper had calmed.
“We have two weeks to work through this,” Jada said. “We should continue on the path we’re on and hope that by then Reychel will have a vision. In the meantime, let’s give her some time to rest. From what I know, it’s been a very difficult day. For all of us.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Hanne said. “Considering everything Reychel has been through today.”
They were right. I was exhausted and needed to rest. I’d been through a lifetime of pain and confusion today, but I’d never taken the time to tell anyone the details. They seemed to know a lot about everything that happened before I came through the portal.
“Can I ask how you know so much about today considering it happened on the other side of the island and I’ve told you almost nothing?” I asked.
Jada linked her arm through mine and led me towards the door.
“I’ll explain while I walk you back to your room.”
Hanne waved to me and Reese nodded his head. Krissin just ignored me. I wasn’t surprised.
We walked down the hall, Jada’s grip tight on my arm, as if I was going to run or leave her behind. I barely remembered how I got to the meeting hall from my chambers as it was. I wondered if I was being treated as a friend or a prisoner. No one asked me if I could, or even wanted to do what they were asking of me. Even so, I walked along with Jada. What choice did I have trapped in a land where I knew no one and couldn’t leave even if I wanted to?
“I know this has been a very confusing day for you,” Jada said. I tried to determine her age. She looked older than me, old enough to be on her own. But not old enough to have a family of her own. It was a curious council Nemison had left behind: Hanne and Reese, older, Malborn, and work weary, Krissin, his teenage daughter, and Jada, Gerrold’s grown daughter.
I was probably the youngest, though not much younger than Krissin by my guess, but the highest ranked, by my new-found parentage. Not that I had any interest in claiming my place beside Kandek.
“Did you notice the charm Nemison wore around his neck?” Jada asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I thought back to our crazy morning, Nemison’s appearance at Ivy and my father’s wedding. I didn’t remember what he wore, much less any charms around his neck. I’d seen Nemison for perhaps a full ten minutes before we were separated. I shook my head.
“He has a charm that allows us to hear everything he hears. It’s very handy when one of us is out on a mission. It gives us protection in that if someone hears we are in danger they can come to our rescue. It also allows us to keep up to date on what is happening in meetings that we can’t all be at.”
My conversations with Nemison overheard? I shivered a bit wondering what I might have said, not knowing others were listening in.
“Did Krissin know I was in the closet from the moment I arrived?” I asked. “Could we have gone back immediately as she suggested to help her father?” The girl was undeniably cruel, but I couldn’t believe she’d leave her own father behind and blame me. Even that seemed too far for Krissin.
“No, I was the one listening in. Krissin was anxious to see Nemison again, which is why she was waiting outside the portal entrance. She didn’t know what was going on and neither did I, really. I had assumed both of you made it through the portal. The communication went dead after that. I don’t know what’s happened to Nemison. I can only assume he deactivated the charm. We are also aware of your, uh, association with Mark.”
I fought to maintain a cool expression. No one needed to know what Mark and I shared.
“I don’t know how deep your feelings run but I do want you to know that we are very grateful you chose to come to us over running off with the Sons of Silence. The Sons should be on the move to help us. Will you be able to contain your feelings if he does show up? I can’t have young love getting in the way of what we are building here.”
“It won’t be a problem,” I said. I wondered if I was assuring myself more than Jada. Only a few hours old, the hurt still stung. I had thought Mark would be with me now, that he would have come away with Nemison and me.
Bringing the Sons into our operation to break up the wedding instead of telling me first hurt. We’d spent time alone on the way to the castle. He could have told me, but he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t trust me enough, maybe I’d read too much into our relationship. If he would have given me a chance, trusted me, maybe we could have worked the Sons into the plan, a plan that didn’t involve violence and death.
After walking in silence for a few more minutes, we arrived at my chamber door.
“I want you to go in and relax for the rest of the evening. I’ll have Alia bring you some dinner. The sun will be down soon and you can sit by the fire or go to sleep early.”
“What will I be doing for the next couple weeks?” I asked, not sure what my role would be in this volatile land.
“Studying and learning more about your gift,” Jada said. “We have an amazing library containing the works of Zelor, the first Prophet. The man who told us you would come. You need to learn more about his gift and how he used it.”
“In hopes it will help me with mine?” I asked.
“Exactly. But I do need to warn you. Some of his writings are disturbing, to say the least. It’s believed Zelor went insane the last years of his life, rarely leaving his cottage and when he did people were left to deal with his mad rantings.”
“Do you really think there might be something in his journals that will help me?” I asked. I didn’t care how crazy he was. If I could learn to harness my gift, reading a madman’s journals would be worth it.
“We can only hope. Reychel, we need you. We need to, in essence, give you to the p
eople as a beacon of hope. A prophecy of our success would only cement their belief and help to rally them to our side. It might even convince a few sympathetic, but cynical Malborn to our side. But I won’t have you lie. A false prophecy could be damaging to our cause. It undermines everything we’re trying to achieve. Honesty, peace, free will. Manipulating people is just as underhanded as anything the Malborn have done over the years.”
I pondered her words. It was true and I was in complete agreement with her. I didn’t want to lie to anyone, much less thousands of people who should trust me.
“Thank you, Jada,” I said. “The past year has been crazy. When Johna and Mark figured out who I was, who they believed I was, I was stunned. I hadn’t even heard of the prophecy until after my birthday.”
I was glad that tonight I’d be allowed to rest and process everything that had happened to me today. Jada reached out, as if we were old friends, and circled her arms around me. I collapsed into her embrace. If Krissin had greeted me this way, with compassion instead of with anger, this day might have been very different. Instead of frustrated and angry, I might have been more eager to learn more, but now I was just exhausted – mentally and physically.
“One more thing, Reychel,” Jada said, pulling back from the hug, but leaving her hands on my forearms. “I’m sorry about my father.”
“I’m sure Ivy soothed him,” I said. “It wasn’t his fault.”
Jada sighed. “It might have been. There’s no guarantee he was being soothed. None of us know for sure. My father has always been jealous of Nemison. He’s not as powerful. It wouldn’t surprise me if he saw a chance to usurp Nemison’s power. I just don’t think he counted on you spoiling his plans.”
I didn’t know what to say, whether to apologize or not.
“We don’t choose our parents, do we?” Jada asked with a smile on her face.
