Samuel stepped forward, and Rowenna's Band tensed, their eyes flicking alertly to his. “Why must you return in haste?”
“We do not fare well away from the sea.”
Samuel's question lay in his eyes and she answered it, “We do not know. It has always been thus. Since the time of the Travelers.” Rowenna turned and strode to her horse, alighting upon it by a jump and a swing.
Samuel nodded to her and she him. She turned the horse and they were gone.
Anna saw one of the rear Band turn and look her in the eyes before they crested the hill and were gone.
*
Anna closed her mouth softly, Joseph laying a tender kiss upon her head and she scooted closer into the cradle of his body.
Clara thought on this in the silence of the campfire. Finally she said the thing that made her heart the heaviest, directing the question to Anna, “Is she my mother? The woman from the glass?”
Anna gave a small shrug. “I cannot know. But, she looks very like the rendering in the Royal Manse. Her complexion was very unusual. I cannot believe there would be another that looked like her.”
“I am curious about this Band?” Bracus mused and Clara smiled. His mind was always upon matters of protection and territory.
Anna replied, “As I said, we had not encountered them before. They were not something I had thought of until I beheld the window.”
Matthew stood and paced. “It is interesting that the salted water made Clara's throat slits appear initially.” He looked at Clara. “And their next appearance was...?”
“When I was attacked...” Clara said on a whisper.
Matthew's expression said he was sorry but he continued, “Both instances were under conditions of extreme duress.”
Joseph nodded. “That is true. It may be but one of many different manifestations of defense.” Anna nodded in agreement beside him.
“Her body is forcing itself to change when it is in a circumstance of danger,” Philip said, following the trail of clues to the source.
Everyone began talking at once, their speculations a dull roar and not easily picked out.
Bracus gave a shrill whistle, silencing the group. “Clara.” He looked at her and she saw the smile that he wore. “Did you feel anything else when the gills escaped your flesh?”
She shook her head, thinking. Finally she said, “I thought only that I must survive.”
“Could you breathe in the water?” Bracus questioned.
“Yes,” she responded.
The Band looked at one another in silence.
“What is it? I have already said that the water saved me.”
“Anna said she thought the people of that sea clan could dwell in land and water?” Matthew shot the question into the open.
“Mayhap I was connecting logic that was not there. However,” she looked at each of us, “there was an obvious symbolism in the glass rendering. It clearly showed the parallel of the sea and the female which had gills. Now that Clara has told of her encounter, we know that it is possible. The Band is not just protectors of the land, but they may protect in water as well.”
“Are there more females of the Band?” Philip asked with longing and Clara saw Sarah's expression grow angry.
Well, she may wish to make a choice between Clarence and Philip before they reach the sea, Clara thought less than charitably.
“I do not know. But I had the impression that females were not typical. She seemed less like a leader and more like a Queen,” Anna said.
All eyes turned to Clara.
Matthew said, “There is no royal hierarchy in clans.”
“You cannot suppose to know that the clan all operate as the Midwestern Clans do,” Bracus qualified.
They looked at Anna and she laughed. “I do not know! I have never heard, as you, any clan which had leadership other than our President.”
“Bowen has never made mention of it in our meetings,” Bracus said.
“He may not know. As you are aware, we stay tight within a two state territory and have not journeyed further until now.” Philip shrugged. Then continued, “Mayhap they need a different structure.”
“Be as that may, Rowenna was brazen with Samuel. Either she was the fool to lay herself defenseless before him or very smart.”
“She does not sound the fool,” Bracus stated.
“On the contrary, she sounds formidable,” Joseph said.
“She sounds like she could be Clara's kin,” Matthew said with surety.
Clara began to deny it and Matthew asked her the question, “Did you fear for your life?” he asked, and she instinctively understood he meant the latest fragment insurgence.
Clara nodded. “Of course.”
“Dear Clara, what was your greatest fear? Was that utmost?” he pressed.
Clara shook her head. “I fretted about where my friends were, Evelyn.”
“I will restate: you were held by Tucker and being assaulted by the Prince yet your mind dwelt upon the whereabouts of your subjects?”
“Yes,” Clara said softly.
Matthew raised his hands up in the air and let them fall, as if to say, you understand my thoughts.
Charles spoke up for the first time, “You are as the oyster our sphere yields, in reverse.” She gave him a puzzled frown. And he clarified, “The soft pink flesh with the jewel that shimmers on the inside is your exterior. The tough and uncompromising shell is your interior. They mistook you. They see only your fragile exterior. They do not realize what lays beneath.”
“Well put, Charles,” Clarence said. “As a royal should be.”
“It is not that she is royal. It is who she is. She happens to be royal,” Evelyn said.
All at once Clara's vision wavered through a sheen of tears. They did not understand how terrified she was. She must confess. “You ascribe bravery that I do not feel. I do not deserve. I was beyond terror, I have no words sufficient for how I felt in those moments.” She looked at the Band. Her Band. “But for you, I would have had a horrible end. I thank you.”
The Band stood, putting their fists to their chests, strong hearts beating underneath hands that had murdered.
For her.
“We will follow you to the sea and beyond, Clara. A female such as you is worthy of our servitude and loyalty,” Bracus said, his eyes trained on her face.
She walked to them and grabbed Bracus and Matthew, touching the face of each Band member she whispered, “I hope that I may be the leader that you believe me to be.”
“You already are,” Matthew said, grasping her hand and bringing it to his chest.
His heart beat underneath her flesh, warming her to the core.
CHAPTER 13
As Bracus promised they exited Pennsylvania. Or so they hoped, the map they used was but a very rough sketch.
But it was the shimmer of the ocean that heralded their position and their mood lightened, contagious to all that were around.
It was Evelyn that was especially excited. She had spent much time with the girl. Clara looked at her, her face shining with happiness, the stripes of white flesh almost gone now, a golden tan taking up residence. Clara noticed for the first time that Evelyn held onto childhood by the thinnest thread, her bosom and hips growing inside a dress which was once shapeless and now fit disconcertingly well.
Clara brought this to Bracus' attention. “Mayhap she needs another female to guide her, Bracus.” He looked over to Evelyn where she laughed and chased Anna around.
“You fret too early, Clara, she is but a girl.”
“She is not!” Clara said. “Look at her with eyes that are not fatherly and tell me what you behold.”
Bracus did. He was quiet for some time. Finally he said, “Mayhap you speak true. How did this happen so quickly?” he asked with a growl, more statement than question.
“Children grow up.”
“And you so old!” he laughed. “You are but ten and eight years and so grown up.” His full mouth had a smile he d
id nothing to contain.
“ 'Tis true and she has been through some things that have aged her prematurely.” Clara paused, “But I believe her childhood lingers about longer than mine.”
The smile faded on his face. “You are right, she may enjoy the bosom of childhood longer within the protection of the Band.”
Clara sighed, she had been whining and hated herself for it. “I only meant...”
He put his finger on her lips. “I know which you meant. You do not think I have lost sleep over not protecting you from your family? From that lecher of a Prince?” he said, his eyes searching hers.
She shook her head. The past could not be remade however much one may wish it.
“I have dreamed of aiding you, but could not.”
“I am the woman I am today because of those things which molded me.”
“Mayhap you would have still been she without the suffering.”
“We will never know. Let us not think upon it,” Clara finished.
He nodded. “I will try.”
“That is all I ask of you and Matthew.”
Bracus glowered at the mention of Matthew when they were together.
Her eyes flashed to his. “You understand that his circumstances predicate his feelings in this matter.”
“I do,” and he lowered his voice, “but you are not Margaret.”
“I know, but I am symbolic of all females for him. His mother, Margaret, all. You said yourself that a male of the Band, in those circumstances would be quite...”
“Damaged,” he finished for her and she nodded.
“It is a miracle that he pursues me, that he wishes contact, that he trusts at all.”
“Clara, he is a fine warrior. But he may be too broken for even you to repair. You cannot entertain being with him solely because you feel sorry for him.”
Clara turned on him, fire blazing from her eyes. “I do not make decisions based on sympathy, especially ones concerning my future mate.”
“Trying to talk her out of our courtship, Bracus?” Matthew said, approaching at a leisurely pace. But any fool had only to look into his eyes to see the rage, caged there like an wild animal.
Bracus tensed, hauling Clara against him protectively and she struggled against him.
It was Matthew for Guardian's sake, she was not fearful!
Matthew's eyes flicked to the hands which held Clara and rolled to her eyes. She knew not what her face held but Matthew reacted and with a roar he charged Bracus.
Clara could not have them fighting over her she thought, sweeping out of Bracus' arms just as he relaxed his hold on her, anticipating Matthew.
She rushed him and got wrapped up in her skirt, Matthew's fist connecting with her body as she moved through the air in an elaborate fall created by tangled legs. At the last instant Matthew's superior reflexes pulled the blow but it glanced off Clara's shoulder and her arm fell numb to the elbow. She shrieked in pain as she fell and landed on her back.
Joseph and Phillip rushed into the circle and Bracus bellowed, “Hold him.”
“No!” Clara yelled, her opposite hand gripping the wounded shoulder. “It was but an accident. Do not punish him.”
But Bracus had murder on his face as Matthew dropped to his knees beside Clara. His were pools of sapphire fire, regret lay in them like a shroud of sorrow. He reached a hand out, the largeness eclipsed by the shaking when Philip and Joseph jerked him to his feet as instructed.
Bracus came to him and swung his fist into his muscled torso, the skin around the flesh rippling outward at the impact and Matthew gritted his teeth and bore the assault.
Clara struggled to her feet coming at a limp, her shoulder making her lame and unbalanced. “Do not touch him!” She shouted, beating a small fist on Bracus' back, her other arm hanging limply.
He struck him again and Matthew did not defend himself. He behaved like he deserved it and it broke Clara's heart.
Clara would stop this, she took the flat part of her instep and kicked out, connecting with the back of Bracus' knee. It unbalanced him and he stumbled. It was the best that she could manage.
He turned on her in a rage and she stumbled back, falling again. He stormed to her and she whimpered, only wanting the violence against Matthew to stop. She put her hands up above her face, as she had many times in the past. An imperfect solution.
But it was what she knew.
Then Matthew was there, shielding her body from Bracus.
Bracus stilled. “What? Do you think I would beat her? As you just did?”
“It was but an accident. You know I would cut off my own hand before I would strike her. It is you that is beyond control. What would you have done had I not been here?”
“She needs to see reason,” Bracus stated, evading the question.
“You mean, she needs to choose you?” Matthew said, pulling Clara into the hollow of his body, reddened and bruised where Bracus had struck it.
Charles jogged to them. “What goes on here?” he demanded as he looked at Clara in Matthew's arms and glared at them. “Are you hurt? Have they injured you?” He looked between the two silent Band members then his gaze landed on Philip and Joseph.
“What say you? What in the name of the Guardian is going on here?” They were quiet and Charles repeated, “This is our Queen. Speak now.”
They began at the same time and shifted their weight nervously.
Clara began instead, “It is my fault. I have incited some kind of rivalry that we cannot escape from by my indecision with Matthew and Bracus. They fought and I came to be in the way.”
Charles' mouth fell open. “Really? This slip of a girl got between two raging bulls?” Sarcasm laying upon his words like molasses.
Matthew's eyes narrowed on Charles'. “Mayhap your memory grows shorter. I remember very well the circumstance at the alliance when you charged like a bull which raged. Clara was in the way and it mattered not.”
Clara put her face in her hands again. This was all so difficult.
Bracus crouched down beside her and she flinched and his eyes tightened. “I would never hurt you. You know this. Why do you react thus?”
“I know that you would never hurt me. But Bracus, I have been hurt. I cannot shut off my responses like a spigot.”
“Enough!” Charles said and Bracus stood, looming above him.
Charles stood his ground. “Mayhap when you wish to abuse each other, you do it out of the presence of Clara. Then there can be no instance of injury upon her?”
Bracus' fists clenched. He knew that this worked to this man's advantage, looking the victor, looking so calm. But he was not Band, he did not understand their temperament.
Only Band knew Band.
He looked down on Clara. “Choose.”
Clara looked up at him. “I am Queen and I will choose whom I shall be wedded too. No amount of bullying will speed my decision. Once we are settled at Cape Cod and the answer to my kin is known, I will announce who shall join me at the throne. Until then, I need distance. It should go without words but I will say them nonetheless: it went against you that you would direct the Band to hold a comrade and beat him. Look around us,” Clara gestured to the wilderness, “we are not safe and you use your strength against each other.”
Matthew stood with Clara against him and she yelped as her shoulder tweaked. Bracus lurched forward but she held up her hand. “Do not. I unhappy with both of you. Matthew should not have sparked this fight but you took out your frustration on my ambivalence against him. I will not abide it. We are almost there,” Clara said, pulling away from Matthew and staring at them both. “Both of you stay focused on our journey, not the underlying matter of our relationship.”
“Well said, Clara,” Charles said, leading her away by the elbow. As they walked away, Charles looked back and smiled at the Band. Fools, that look said.
Bracus looked at Matthew. “He looks better at each turn. His lack of violence is almost an aphrodisiac to Clara.” He gave a level look at
Matthew. “I am sorry, my brother. I behaved shamefully.”
Matthew looked back at him. “I accept. Let us come to an understanding here.” Bracus looked back at him. “We do not compete so much with each other as we do with him.”
Bracus looked thoughtfully after where Clara and Charles had walked off together. “You are right, he has the advantage of many years with her. He knows her as we do not.”
“She is select. That is our one advantage we will always have.”
“Her blood calls to us,” Bracus stated and Joseph and Philip nodded.
“And ours to her,” Matthew said.
Bracus smiled. Simple biology would make her theirs. Charles could only be a distant third.
Which man was the real question.
Matthew and Bracus stared at each other for a tense moment, finally breaking off to break down camp.
The sea lay waiting.
And with it, Clara's answer.
CHAPTER 14
A meal of stewed rabbit lay in a lump in Clara's stomach. She had never felt less like eating in her entire life. The altercation between Matthew and Bracus lay as a stone inside her belly. She sighed and turned on her side, wincing. She had forgotten her shoulder.
And it had been a glancing blow.
She shuddered. A male of the Band would do incredible damage to someone under their fists. The vision of Tucker's pulverized head floated behind her eyes.
She moved to her back and tried to relax her body. Mealtime had been a tense affair. Everyone strung along a tight-wire, the sea within grasp, answers to her questions like an adrenaline surge in everyone's system. Mayhap one day's travel more, Bracus had promised. Clara had felt something integral shift inside her when she caught sight of the sea in all its shimmering glory. It was as if she had returned home after being away on a long sojourn. But she had not. Her home was a month's travel from this spot.
Her sphere; the Kingdom of Ohio.
She felt a stirring inside her and just as she would have looked about her a hand covered her mouth and the sound she made was swallowed by the warm palm on her face.
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 38
