by Mary Akers
“Elora,” he had said.
Her breath hitched as she remembered the feel of his rough hand brushing against her cheek.
“Wait for me, Elora,” he had whispered.
Her heart felt as though it would burst. She could hear the longing and the devotion in his words, in his voice, for her. She felt cherished. She felt wanted. It was nearly overwhelming, the anticipation of finally seeing him and finally sharing the same space that he did.
A note of desperation suddenly tinged her thoughts. She was supposed to wait for him. He was coming for her. How could she leave? But then, how could she stay? Either way she would lose. Her heart pounded and her chest heaved as panic took hold. He was too late. Willingly or not, she would be gone. An anguished tear slipped from beneath her eyelid.
Engrossed in her thoughts, she couldn’t hear the concerned voices of her parents calling out her name. It was only the weight of Asher’s hand pressing against her arm that broke her trance. Her eyes flew open and she looked around, startled and disoriented for a moment.
“It’s alright,” he said softly, reaching up to gently wipe away her tears.
She locked eyes with him briefly before looking away, embarrassed that he had seen her in such a vulnerable state. Her gaze shifted downward to the table and came to rest upon the strawberry plant. The small cluster of leaves now overflowed from the flower pot and dozens of luscious red berries dangled down the sides. She lifted her brows, as always surprised by her own ability.
The room remained silent for a few minutes, as everyone stared in awe at Elora and the plant now brimming with strawberries. They were speechless, trying to comprehend the miracle they had just witnessed. There was a big difference between knowing about her ability and seeing it.
“That was incredible, Elora,” her father whispered reverently.
“But do you get this upset every time you use your ability?” her mother asked, frowning.
“No,” Elora said. “I get emotional, but it doesn’t always have to be negative. It just requires focus and intensity. I think it has more to do with the way my body reacts to the emotions than the emotions themselves. So incredibly happy thoughts can also awaken my ability.”
“What were you thinking of?” Asher asked, curious.
“Something nice,” she said, turning the plant in front of her to admire the juicy berries that were cascading like a waterfall over the lip of the pot.
“It didn’t seem like a particularly nice thought,” he muttered.
“It started out very nice,” she said quietly, smiling to herself as she reached out to touch the largest berry.
She stared vacantly for a moment, recalling the terrible realization that her vision would never come true. Closing her eyes and taking a shaky breath, she resigned herself to the fact that she truly had no other option. She would have to go. If not for herself, then for her parents. She doubted they would leave without her and who knows what would happen to them at the hands of the Liana. Having made her choice, she knew she would have to leave now, before her heartbreak weakened her resolve. Turning to Asher, she lifted her gaze to lock eyes with him.
“When do we leave?” she asked.
His eyes widened in surprise. As the shock of her statement dissipated, there was a collective sigh of relief around the table as everyone realized that Elora was now a willing participant in her own rescue. Asher shared a knowing look with her father before answering.
“Tonight,” he replied.
Elora returned her gaze to the plant on the table before her, nodding in acceptance, a look of determination on her face. Grasping a berry in her fingers, she gave it a sharp tug and held out the plucked fruit to him.
“Strawberry?”
Chapter 12
“Leaving Windom unfortunately won’t be as easy as walking out the gates at this point,” Asher said, sitting back in his chair twirling the strawberry stem between his fingers worriedly. “Colin has been following you for quite a while and is probably very familiar with the area by now. He knows all the places you go and the people you associate with. And unfortunately, he also knows that I’m here too, considering that he tried to steal my horse this morning. I guess I shouldn’t have gone to the barber,” he said smiling sardonically. “He wouldn’t have recognized me otherwise. I had grown a pretty good disguise.”
“You certainly had,” Winnifred acknowledged, nodding. “I nearly shut the door in your face last night!”
Elora’s mouth fell open as she recalled the man with long hair and a thick beard whom she’d encountered in the road. She turned to study Asher with wide eyes.
“That was you?” she asked, incredulous.
“Yes,” he said smiling. “I thought I’d draw too much attention attending the ceremony looking like some backwoods ruffian so I had a long visit with the barber this morning. Unfortunately, I did a good job of drawing attention even without the scraggly beard,” he said grimacing.
Elora nodded, sympathetically. “That darn wasp.”
Asher’s shoulders began to shake as he quietly chuckled at her teasing. A wide smile spread across her face as she watched him. He turned towards her and she couldn’t help but notice the way laughter made his blue eyes even brighter. He was so strikingly handsome she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
“The fact that you can tease me right now makes me worry that you might not understand the gravity of this situation,” Asher said, his chuckle fading to a sly grin.
“Maybe it just means I’m brave,” she replied quietly, shrugging her shoulders.
“I hope so,” he replied, the smile fading from his lips. “You’ll have to be.”
She nodded solemnly, the moment of humor past.
“So what are we going to do?” her father asked, his voice somber.
“You mentioned last night that you had bought some horses from a farm a few miles outside of town,” Asher said, nodding to her parents.
“That’s what you were doing on Sunday?” Elora asked, her brows lifted in surprise. “Buying horses?”
“We had already decided to take you home, Elora,” her father replied. “The minute we saw that rosebush, we knew it was time. We bought three horses from a rancher outside the walls and paid him to board them while we made preparations for the journey.”
“What other preparations have you made?” Asher asked.
“There are three saddlebags in our closet packed with canteens and bedrolls, but that’s all so far,” her mother replied, shrugging her shoulders. “We hadn’t intended to leave quite this soon.”
Asher nodded in understanding.
“We will make do,” he said. “The horses and canteens are enough. I have my knife and bow. Elora will be able to grow food for us obviously,” he said, motioning to the strawberry plant. “The rest we can figure out as we go.”
“I will need seeds, though,” Elora interrupted.
He looked at her, and nodded in acknowledgment.
“The problem at this point is how to get out of here undetected,” he said, rubbing his chin as he considered their situation. “Colin is going to be expecting us to run. He may not try to stop us from leaving, but he will surely track us and turn us in to the Liana at the first opportunity.”
“So we wait until dark?” her mother asked.
Asher nodded his agreement.
“How many gates are there in the wall?” he asked.
“There are four, but only the North Gate is regularly used. The other three remain locked unless there is a need for the town to evacuate,” Jonas replied.
“So leaving through the gate is out of the question,” Asher said, sighing. “How secure is the wall?” he asked.
“It is thick and well-guarded,” Jonas said. “It would be incredibly difficult to go over the wall. And even if we could, getting down the other side would be treacherous
.”
“I can get us over the wall,” Elora interrupted quietly.
Everyone turned to look at her, surprise in their eyes.
“Trig will get us out,” she said solemnly, her heart squeezing painfully at the idea of asking her friend to break the rules and put himself in danger.
“Are you sure?” Asher asked firmly.
“I’m sure,” she answered, exhaling deeply as guilt and regret settled onto her chest. “If I ask him, he will.”
“Alright,” Asher said. “So, we’ll go over the wall after dark, retrieve your horses and go from there.”
“What about your horse though?” Elora asked, frowning. “Isn’t she in the stable?”
“After I left you this morning, I moved her out beyond the wall,” Asher replied. “With Colin here, she wasn’t safe. She’s in a cow pasture out past the wheat fields.”
“I haven’t climbed anything besides the ladder in the storage shed for twenty years,” Winnifred mused, smiling. “I hope I can make it over the wall.”
“Climbing is second nature to us, my love,” her husband soothed, nudging her with his shoulder. “We spent half our lives up in the trees. I’m sure it will all come back to us quickly.”
“Clarens do a lot of climbing?” Elora asked, thinking back to how easily she had scaled the wall a few weeks past.
“You could say that,” Asher muttered, smiling. “That reminds me,” he said, turning to her parents. “Do you still have your Elysic cloaks?”
“Yes. We couldn’t bear to get rid of them. They were all that we had left of Clarendon,” her mother said, smiling.
“They may prove useful tonight,” he remarked.
“I’ll get them,” she said, rising from the table and disappearing into the master bedroom.
“So what now?” Jonas asked, anxiously.
“I need to talk to Trig,” Elora reminded him.
“I’ll go with you,” Asher said in a voice that brooked no disagreement. “Now that Colin knows I’m here, he might do something brash. You shouldn’t be alone.”
“That’s fine. I don’t want to be alone,” Elora replied, shaking her head.
The very thought of being alone now that she knew she was being watched and pursued sent a chill throughout her body.
“You and Winnifred should see about gathering some seeds for Elora,” Asher said, looking across the table at Jonas.
“These will come in handy for that!” Winnifred exclaimed, returning with two long cloaks made of thin, drab brown fabric.
The cloaks slid from her hands like water, flowing onto the table into a puddle of silky cloth.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Elora said, reaching out to rub the material between her fingers.
“It’s woven from the silk of caterpillars who feed on the Elysian trees and then stained with dye made from the bark,” she explained, running her hand over the smooth fabric. “It’s beautiful, but more importantly, like every other part of the Elysian Tree, it’s invisible to everyone but the Claren.”
Elora froze. “The trees are invisible?”
Winnifred nodded, smiling. “Except to us.”
“So are the seeds,” Asher said, watching as her expression shifted from surprise to understanding.
“That’s why no one else could see the seed on my necklace,” she remarked, shaking her head in amazement. “I thought I was going crazy.”
“I’m sure you did,” her mother replied sympathetically, reaching across the table to grasp her hand.
“That’s how the scouts knew you were a Claren,” Asher said softly. “This is how they recognized you, Elora,” Asher noted, motioning to the necklace laying on the table between them.
Elora looked down at the seed, a mixture of emotions playing across her face. She had brought this threat upon them. She had unwittingly revealed their location to the enemy. She pushed the necklace away from her, suddenly disgusted.
“I wish I had known,” she whispered.
“I wish we had told you,” agreed her father, guilt and regret darkening his features.
Asher looked down at the necklace that was now resting in front of him. Suddenly his head tilted and he squinted his eyes. He picked up the seed, studying it closely.
“The last seeds of the Ever Tree were brown. This one has veins of silver scattered over the surface,” he noted, his voice tinged with excitement. “Is this how it looked when you first purchased the necklace?” he asked.
Elora looked up, quirking her brows in curiosity at his tone. Her gaze shifted from Asher to the seed that he was holding with now trembling fingers.
“Actually no. It has changed color a bit. Those silver strands started appearing soon after I got it,” she admitted.
Asher’s face broke out into a euphoric smile and he laughed quietly in amazement.
“What?” she asked, confused. “What is it?”
“You’re bringing it back to life, Elora,” he whispered, looking at her in awe. “You truly are the Renascent.”
She glanced over at her parents to see that they too were staring at her in wonder. It was all there in their eyes, the pride, the expectation, the reverence, the hope. It was too much! Elora began to twist her hands nervously in her lap. Her heart began to beat faster and her cheeks warmed as the weight of their belief pressed down on her.
She cautioned another glimpse at Asher and found him watching her, his expression a mixture of relief and admiration. Suddenly she couldn’t catch her breath. She looked away quickly but Asher must have seen the fear in her eyes. His brows furrowed in concern and he reached out to quiet her anxious hands, covering them with one of his. She jerked in surprise at his touch, turning to lock eyes with him. He returned her gaze for a moment before something caught his attention and he diverted his eyes. She turned just in time to see a flower burst into bloom on the plant before her and ripen into a bright red berry. She tore her hand out from beneath his and pushed the plant away from her.
“Stop it! Don’t look at me like that!” she cried, glancing around the room at all of them.
Her parents recoiled in shock at her outburst.
“It’s alright, love,” her mother said soothingly, the awe-struck expression washed from her face.
“No, it’s not! I can’t be the Renascent,” she said, her chin quivering as she fought back tears.
“But sweetheart, you are,” affirmed her father, nodding.
Elora covered her face with her hands in frustration as her mother gave him a look of reprimand.
“Two weeks ago I was nothing but an ordinary farmer,” she lamented, her voice muffled behind her hands. “And now I’m supposed to save the Ever Tree, the Claren, and the entire Woodlands,” she said letting her hands fall to her lap as her shoulders slumped.
“This is exactly why we brought you here,” her mother said, shaking her head sadly.
“So that you could suddenly surprise me with this crushing burden after a life of utter normalcy?” Elora asked bitterly.
“No!” her father exclaimed. “We brought you here so that you wouldn’t be crushed! So that you would be strong enough to carry this burden when it did come to rest upon your shoulders.”
Elora hung her head, shamed by his words. Hot tears fell onto her hands as feelings of guilt and despair overwhelmed her.
“And you are,” her father continued gently.
Elora shook her head in denial, closing her eyes in an attempt to stem the flow of tears that were now streaming down her face.
“Look at me, sweetheart,” he urged her.
Elora took a shuddering breath and brushed her hands roughly over her cheeks before lifting her eyes.
“You are,” he repeated, holding her gaze. “You are strong enough, Elora.”
“You think I’m strong enough to be the Renascent?�
� she asked in a small voice.
“Yes, but more than that, I think you’re strong enough to be Elora Kerrick; to stay true to yourself despite the Mark on your back,” he affirmed.
Elora nodded, taking another deep breath as she tried to regain her composure.
“What can we do to help you sweetheart?” her mother asked, desperate to somehow make things easier for her.
Thinking for a moment, Elora looked back and forth between her parents.
“I need you to remember that I’m still just me,” she answered. “To the rest of the Claren I’m going to be the Renascent. But to you, can I just be your daughter?”
“Of course,” her mother replied, nodding as she looked to Jonas for agreement.
“We will do our best to treat you as we always have, sweetheart,” he said.
Elora nodded her gratitude. She lifted her gaze to stare solemnly out the window behind them, blinking to clear the tears from her eyes. As she looked out at the same view she’d seen her whole life, her heart sank. Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks as she thought about leaving Windom, the only home she’d ever known. She quietly mourned the loss of her life here and the only future she’d ever imagined.
“Things have changed so quickly,” she said quietly. “I thought I would never leave Windom,” she admitted. “It was a wonderful place to grow up,” she said, smiling sadly at her parents.
“Yes, it was,” her mother agreed. “You were safe here, and for that we will always be grateful to this place.”
“Safe and normal,” Elora sighed. “Everything was so much simpler an hour ago. All I wanted in life was to find someone to love and to make things grow.”
