by Cate, Marnie
Accepting her gift, I addressed the crowd. “A queen cannot rule those that she does not know. Today, I want to take the time to meet each of you. Your frank and honest responses to my questions are requested.”
“Please take care of these. They are a lovely gift,” I said, handing the flowers to Malise.
Turning back to the woman, I said, “Let's start with your home. Please show me where you live. Guards secure the perimeter of the village.”
“My home is over there,” she said, pointing to a white cottage with red trim. The outer wall of her house was covered with the white flowers she had given to me. “It is not much to see but it is home.”
Loudly, I said, “Dunn, please inspect the homes to make sure that I will be safe. I don't want any surprises.”
Malise stepped closer to me and I whispered, “Let them know that they do not need to fear me. Make sure I know who is safe to talk to and who I should be wary of.”
“You have no need to worry here,” she said in a quiet voice. “You will see for yourself though.”
Raising an eyebrow at her, I wondered what she meant.
Entering the young woman's home, I inhaled the light citrus smell. The home was tiny. Furniture inside the small space was sparse with only a table, one chair and a twin bed against the wall. However, the walls were covered with floral tapestry designs. The room was bright and felt cheery.
“What a pretty home,” I said, as I wandered through the space. “Oh, I am sorry. I didn't ask your name.”
“Rose…” As she said her name, she gasped and covered her mouth. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…Please don't tell her.”
“I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Do not send me to the tunnels,” she said between her sobs.
“I am not here to hurt you.” I wiped the tears from her face, “Now, stop crying before they send someone in to see what the fuss is.” Trembling, she began to cry again.
“Now enough of that,” I said, wiping the tears again. Images of Meg flashed before me and I felt an ache in my heart for my little sister. “There is no reason to cry. I am the queen but I want to be your friend. Why are you suddenly afraid of me? What did I do to cause you this fear?”
Her dark brown eyes welled with tears. “My name is Rose,” she said in a soft voice. “That is the name my mother gave me but I am not permitted to use it.”
“Rose is a pretty name. Can you make me a cup of tea and tell me why your name is not permitted?”
“When I was a child, she named me. I did not want the name she gave me,” she explained. “I missed my mother and I did not understand why I had been taken away.”
She poured the tea over ice. The smell of citrus and black tea filled the air, reminding me of my grandmother's favorite blend.
“The Goddess said that I did not deserve a name but she sometimes calls me Flower girl,” she said, not hiding her anger. “I was wrong to not understand that she is my mother now. I should forget the one that gave me away.”
“Can you tell me why she takes you away from your parents?” I asked.
“No, I am not the one to tell you.” she said. “I will take you to Livia. She will be able to tell you everything you need to know.”
“Then, take me to her,” I said. “I want you to join me as I visit your neighbors.”
Hugging her, I felt her stiffen against my hold. “If I am cruel in the presence of others, remember my words. Everything I do from this point forward will be to keep you safe. Can you trust me?”
Nodding, she surprised me by wrapping her arm around me and hugged me back.
Chapter 53
Resisting my normal impatience, I let Rose take me home-by-home introducing me to the Vetur. I did not make the mistake of asking names this time. Every home was small but cozy. Every house was decorated with unique tapestries. The wall hangings seemed to tell a story about the person that lived in it. I was kind but not overly friendly on each visit. I forced myself to play the role of ice queen. I was afraid that if anyone was watching and I did not pretend to be the cruel Vizier it would ruin my plans for escape.
We arrived at the largest cottage, the home of Livia. We entered through the back door into the kitchen with a table large enough for a dozen people to sit and enjoy a meal. The kitchen had all of the necessities for a home.
A small woman with silver and black streaked hair appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She wore her hair braided as if it was a crown. With a commanding voice, she said, “The child of Danu has come. Do you come on her behalf?”
Staring at me, she did not wait for my response. She nodded at me and walked out of the kitchen. Unlike the other cottages that just had small open spaces, she had an actual house with separate rooms. Following her, I found myself surrounded by looms with half-completed tapestries and shelves with hundreds of brightly colored threads.
Sitting down in front of one of the looms, she began to weave. Her hands moved quickly. Watching her was hypnotizing.
“You made all of the tapestries in the homes in the village?” I said softly not wanting to interrupt her concentration
“That is not the question, you want to ask me,” she said, setting down the stick that she had been using to weave. “You want to know about my people not my art.”
“I was told that you would tell me about the Vetur,” I said. “Please tell me how to help them.”
“Come,” Livia said. “I will give you the answers you seek.”
Leading me to a corner of the room behind the looms, she knelt down by a chest. Opening it, she pulled out a tapestry.
“Sit and listen,” she said, sitting down on the floor by the chest.
Doing as she instructed, I waited anxiously while she held the cloth to her chest. For minutes, she just stared into the distance as if she was deep in thought. When she gave the fabric to me, she whispered, “You are not the true Vizier.”
“Who is?” I asked, opening the tapestry. The brown fabric held a picture of people happy and joyous. It was clear to me that it was the Vetur.
“This was my people before,” she said with sorrow in her voice.
Opening a black tapestry that showed people lying on the ground in pain. There were women holding out their babies to a long clawed hand that reminded me of Snowystra. “This is my people now. The lost ones.”
“If I am not the Vizier, who is?”
She laid out a red tapestry that showed a king and queen lying dead on the floor, a small girl crying at their feet.
“Did you know them?” I asked.
“They were my mother and father,” she said, folding the cloth and putting it back in the chest. “Long ago before you were born, there was a great battle between the Goddesses and Snowystra was banished. She was stripped of her power and sent to an isolated place. When her sentence of banishment ended and her magic returned, she searched for those that would be able to renew her initial strength and replace the followers she had lost. Time increased her anger and lessened the strength of her magic. She sought my kingdom knowing that my father was a powerful sorcerer. We were not called the Vetur then. My people were called the Miezitari. When she came to our home, she bewitched my father. He was convinced that she would make our monarchy stronger and that we would be safe from outside enemies. He thought her magic was powerful. We were strong without her but slowly she weakened our people. When my mother found out her plans to grow her magic and how she was doing it, Snowystra demanded my father kill my mother and make him her wife. He refused. She warned him that he would regret his decision and that night she murdered my parents. Anyone that objected to her claim to the kingdom was instantly killed.”
“Why would she do that?” I said, horrified.
“She knew that the magic that my people held was strong and she had found a way to use it to strengthen her own. The Miezitari are the guardians of death. When life was lost, we would escort souls to their afterlife,” she said. “When the Miezitari no longer had the responsibility of bringing peace to th
e dead, the magic inside them became dark and cold. They became the people you see today.”
“So who escorts the dead now?” I asked, not truly understanding what she was telling me.
“There is only one now, Mortorcus,” she said. “You have met my father.”
“I did?” I asked. “Mortorcus is your father? I thought he was murdered.”
“When she killed my family, I called to the Gods and I pleaded over his dead body. I begged for his return. He was brought back in the form that you see today—a skeleton of a man,” she said. “I told Snowystra that I prayed for a strong champion to continue our work and to protect her. She believes the Gods agreed with her plan. To thank me for confirming this, she spared my life.”
“Where are the parents of the children in the castle? They look like Vetur,” I said, trying to make sense of what she told me. “They can't be her children.”
“Snowystra has no children of her own,” she said, not hiding her disgust. “She takes toddlers from the women in the tunnels and raises them as her own.”
“She lied to Cole. She said that her people were dying because of Danu. She has convinced him to fight her war. Everything she told him was a lie. Why would she take them?” I asked. The anger I felt towards Snowystra was boiling over. She had to be stopped.
“The pain and sorrow that the families feel with the loss of their children feeds her magic,” she explained. “It feeds her dorcha.”
“The spiders?” I said. “Why would she need them fed that way?”
“The dorcha were once called silver spinners. The small spiders would create threads used to make the finest silky material. Their intricate webs were turned into this fabric,” she said, pulling out a dark cloth. As I held it, I noticed it was the same fabric as the clothes I had worn into the tunnel. The outfit that Essie had given us.
“They made this?” I said. “I have seen this before.”
“It is very rare to find it but it does still exist,” she said. “But, sadly, the silver spinners do not.”
Holding out my hand to her, I called Water. “Give me your hand,” I said, handing the small ball I created to her.
Examining the water, she said, “This can't be. The silver spinners are in here?”
Setting the ball on the floor, the spiders broke out of the bubble and ran to a corner of the room.
“How did you do this?” she asked, watching as they began to form their webs.
“I don't know. I never had this gift until I came here,” I said. I felt a small pinch in my heart as I said the words. My next words felt true. “Alaunius. He gave me this gift.”
Covering her mouth in surprise, she said, “The only other person I knew that could call the spiders was my mother.”
“Livia, I don't know where I am going to take the Vetur but I am going to take you all to safety,” I said, wanting to stop her pain. “I do not know where your new home will be yet but I am going to figure it out. I promise.”
“We must go back to our home in the Eftir Forest,” she insisted. “We can rebuild there.”
“I am going to the tunnels tonight. I need to see for myself the truth,” I said.
“You will see the pain there that I described,” she said. “You must be careful. You cannot tell the boy any of this. He will tell her of your plans.”
“I have to tell Cole,” I insisted. “He is my husband. He is a good person. He is just confused.”
“You are right in saying he is a good person,” she said. “But, he is lost right now. You must do this alone. You are the one that is chosen to save us.”
“He will need to know,” I said, not wanting to admit that she was right.
“Your mother wanted to help us, also,” she said. “But, she was not strong enough.”
“My mother? She was here?”
“Your mother promised that if she was allowed to be with Cedric she would give up their child to the Goddess. She made this promise when she was a young girl and was kept from the Drygen boy. They would come to the castle begging to be allowed to be together. Snowystra agreed on one condition. They were to bring any children conceived in their union to the Goddess. They were children themselves and did not understand what they had promised but she held them to it. When Eliza was pregnant with the boy, she was brought here to have the baby. When he was born, I knew the minute I held him in my arms that he had strong magic inside him. I told her that he held only the dark magic and warned her to never tell anyone. When Snowystra came to see the baby, I told her that it was a pity that such a weak child was born from the union. She blamed the Drygen bloodline. She warned that if a child that held the magic was not brought to her next time that they would not be allowed to be together. Out of fear, she promised that she would bring you here one day. She said that she knew that you had magic inside you that had been hidden by her mother. Snowystra accepted this and let her leave with the boy. Eliza never intended for you to come here.”
“Why would Snowystra want our magic?” I said. “None of this makes any sense.”
“In exchange to have a life with Cedric, Eliza made a foolish promise. When she was here, she was brought to the tunnels and isolated. The pain that Eliza felt was strong. The more her heart broke for the men that she had loved and the children she lost, the stronger Snowystra grew. The dorcha are the vessels of the pain. They hold the emotions of those around them. Go to the tunnels and see what feeds their pain. See what feeds her dorcha. She never lets them live long,” she said. “When the spiders are killed, she takes their power.”
“She kills them?” I said, disgusted. “She had told me that they were her children, too.”
“When she feels weak, she sends a Vetur to take the dark heart of the dorcha,” she said.
“Why doesn't she just kill them herself?” I asked.
“The ones she kills do not hold enough of the darkness to replenish her magic. The full-grown dorcha that are no longer able to fill with the anger and sorrow are sent to grow bigger and stronger in the desert. The young are sent in into the tunnels to mature until she releases them also. The Vetur that are successful in hunting and taking the heart of a dorcha are allowed to return. If she killed the spider, they would not be given the extra emotions that the Vetur felt during their hunt. Being alone in the Sephorian Desert brings emotions to the surface that you have never felt in your life. Consuming the raw emotion recharges her power.”
“She eats the heart?”
“She does and it restores her power,” she said.
“She is supposed to be of Winter, not this monster,” I said.
“She has changed her path,” she said. “Your Cole was sent the first night he was here.”
“To kill a dorcha?” I said.
“He came back in one day with the heart and he promised that he would bring you to her to lead her people. He said that with you he would have strong children that would protect her.”
“He really killed a dorcha by himself?” I said in surprise. “She has tricked Cole into believing her stories.”
“Before she sent him, she said that she would kill you and your family,” Livia said. “He was afraid of losing you. When he returned with the heart, her magic was replenished with more dark magic that I had ever seen. That night she declared him the Shah.”
“Her magic was unbound when she returned from her banishment, right? So why would she need to have it replenished.”
“The dark magic she wields is not of her birth. It is of her corruption. Your honeymoon was cut short because she was weakened,” she said.
“No, it was because of the disappearing Vetur,” I said.
“The missing were not taken by Danu. The Shah lied. He knows where they went.”
“You are wrong,” I said. “Cole wants to protect the Vetur.”
“He wants to protect you,” she said. Returning to the loom, she began to frantically weave.
Not wanting to hear anymore, I said, “Thank you for telling me all of this. I pro
mise you that I will figure out a way to return you to your home soon. Can I trust all of the Vetur?”
“Yes, they are all ready to leave this place,” she said.
“Why did Dunn not tell me any of this?”
“He has never been sent,” she said matter-of-factly. “Only those that go truly know what happens. If they are lucky enough to return they are sworn to secrecy.”
“How do you know this?”
Pulling up her sleeve, she showed me her scarred arm. “She sent me when I was a young girl. When I brought her back the heart, she told me that I was to tell no one about what I had seen and done. My reward was eternal life with her. Not much of a reward,” she said with disgust in her voice.
“I promise soon you will be free of her.”
“The threads will tell us if I am correct,” she said. “Go now to the tunnel and see for yourself what feeds the magic of your Goddess.”
“She is not my Goddess. I won't fail you. You have my word.”
Chapter 54
“How am I going to remove everyone safely?” I said, pacing around the sitting area in my suite. Shivering, I put on a sweater. “She will notice that many Vetur missing. It is so cold in here.”
Christina poured me a glass of tavi. “Patience is how it will be done,” she said. “You need to remember that you thrive in the cold. You are the dark queen of Snowstrum.”
“I know what I need to remember,” I said, throwing the tavi and smashing it against the wall. “I need this to be over.”
“It won't be today,” Malise said, as she joined us. “Her magic is at full strength. Two of the men sent have returned with hearts. They have been taken to the tunnels to recover. They will need care for a while. Trust me it is not an easy thing to heal from.”
“You have been there?” Christina said, handing me another vial of granules. “Tell us what you mean.”
“Why did she send you?” Sitting down, I patted the seat next to me. Pouring the contents of the vial into my mouth, I said, “Come sit. Tell me everything you can.”
