Ephemeral and Fleeting

by Patricia Reding

  “I agree.”

  At that moment, Basha rode up. “Mind if I intrude on your conversation?” she asked.

  “Not at all.” Mara glanced her way, then back at Velia. “Honestly, I missed the two of you so much. When my memory returned, and after Dixon finally showed up at the Council meeting, one of the things I thought about most, was how I missed our ‘girl time.’”

  Her friends chuckled.

  “Me, too,” Basha said. She glanced over her shoulder, then turned back. “What do you say the two of you leave your men behind for a bit this evening and join me for a little nip?” Grinning, she pulled a flask out from her saddlebag. “I brought a little something along for us to share.”

  “Consider it done,” Velia said.

  “Count me in!” Mara exclaimed.

  Standing at the back of Velia’s tent, Mara called out her presence.

  Velia opened the flap and greeted her. “Step in while I say ‘good night’ to the boys,” she said. Then she turned to them. “Hush now, Aden,” she reprimanded the eldest. “Stop teasing your brother. I told you, it’s time for sleeping.”

  “But Drew is just a baby,” he whined.

  “Yet it’s you who’s trying to keep me here,” she said, grinning.

  Drew punched his brother in the arm. “I am not a baby!” he cried. “I’m almost five winters old!” He pointed at the nearly one-year-old, Carlow, in his mother’s arms. “Carlow’s the baby.”

  Aden frowned, then turned back to his mother. “Why do you have to go?”

  Smiling at him, her brow raised, she shook her head. “Come on now, it’s past your bedtime.”

  “Where’s Dad?” Jedrek, a robust three-year-old who hadn’t yet dropped all of his baby-like plumpness asked as he bounced up and down before getting into his bedroll.

  She pulled a blanket up to his chin, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. “He’ll be here to say ‘good night’ to you boys soon. Then he’s off to meet with Dixon.”

  “But who’s going to be here?” Aden asked.

  She chuckled. “I told you. Erin will keep an eye on you boys until one or both of us get back.”

  Just then, Jerrett stepped in. “What’s this I hear?” he asked as he made his way to the boys’ bedside. “Oh, hello, Mara,” he added upon sight of her.

  She greeted him with a smile.

  “Is someone here causing trouble?” he asked the boys. Then he reached out and tickled one, then another, then another of them, ending with Carlow.

  In a fit of giggles, Aden grabbed Jerrett’s hand. He pulled his thumb back, growling.

  Jerrett, feigning that he was in pain, pulled free, then grabbed both of the boy’s wrists and held them firmly. “Oh, so you’re a tough guy, huh?” Laughing now, he made a claw with his free hand. “I’m going to get you,” he threatened, drawing closer and closer.

  “Oh, Jerrett, please don’t get them all riled up,” Velia said, chuckling. “Erin won’t appreciate it, I’m sure.”

  He released Aden’s wrists, then tickled each of the little ones once again. “Yes, you’re right. So, boys, that’s enough now,” he said to the sounds of their giggling. “Time for sleeping.”

  “Ahhh, Dad,” Drew whined.

  “Good night!” he said. Then he turned to Velia and kissed her. “I won’t be late.”

  “Ewwww!” Aden exclaimed. “You kissed a girl, Dad!”

  “Don’t be ridicul— ridi— ri-di-cli-ous. She’s not a girl,” Drew said. “She’s just a mom.”

  “You mean ridi-cu-lous, not ridi-cli-ous,” Velia corrected him.

  “Hello!” Erin called from outside.

  Velia fluffed up Drew’s hair. Then she grinned at Jerrett as she handed Carlow off to him. “Let’s go,” she said.

  After they and Mara stepped out, Erin took Carlow from Jerrett. “I’ve got him,” she said.

  “See you later then,” he called out as he jogged away.

  With that, Mara and Velia set out to join Basha who waited for them on a brush-covered hillside not far from the main camp. A modest bonfire sat before her.

  For a time, the three Oathtakers communed in silence. Chattering fox and hooting owls sounded out around them. Amidst that strangely synchronized musical background, Bane howled at the moon from afar, while an occasional hare scurried about in the surrounding brush.

  Finally, grinning, Basha pulled out her flask and offered it to Mara.

  “No, thanks,” she said, waving her hand. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping and, truth to tell, that wouldn’t help.”

  “Anything in particular wrong?”

  “No. Just . . . nightmares.”

  “I’m sorry. Care to share?”

  “No—but thanks. And don’t be. Sorry, I mean.” Mara shrugged. “I’m fine so long as Dixon’s there.”

  “After saying ‘good night’ to my five boys, I could certainly use some,” Velia said.

  “Five!” Basha exclaimed. “But you only have four boys.”

  Velia chuckled. “Ahhh . . . Have you met my husband? Jerrett? Big guy? Lots of muscle? And body art?”

  The three friends laughed.

  Basha handed the flask over.

  Velia took a swallow. “Good thinking with this,” she said, raising the vessel in the air, “although in truth, it’ll take us a few weeks to get to the palace, and this won’t even last the evening!”

  “Oh, there’s more where that came from,” Basha replied.

  Once again, they all laughed.

  “Tell us about your trip,” Mara said to her. “I’ve heard so little.”

  “There’s not much to tell, really. We found as many Oathtakers and Select as we could, and then sent them to the City of Light. You know the rest.”

  Mara cast a sideways glance her way. “I like Felicity. She’s a lovely young thing. Rather . . . spritely, wouldn’t you say?”

  Basha nodded. “She is. For a while there, out of concern for her, I didn’t think Trumble would join us. But when he realized that at least some of the visions Felicity had been having seemed to have something to do with the twins, he relented.”

  “I like him, too. Trumble, I mean. He’s a good man.”

  Biting her lip, Basha nodded. “Yes, he is,” she said. “Now, tell us about your venture.”

  Noting how quickly she sought to change the subject, Mara tucked her hair behind her ear, then proceeded to tell her friends all about her travels with Dixon after she’d lost her memory and insisted on returning to her childhood home.

  “The strangest times were when some trinket seemed to propel me to travel magically to the twins,” she said. “First it was a grut tooth, then the oracle—”

  “The oracle?” Basha asked. “Really?”

  “Yes, it just said ‘Go,’ the same as it always has. At least I now know why that was.”

  “Oh? What do you mean?” Velia asked.

  “Well, Effie and Fleet explained it all to me. You see, when I first took the oracle from the cave all those years ago, the flits were released. But they couldn’t communicate directly with us until the twins found Ehyeh’s favor. In the meantime, they could get Ehyeh’s intended messages to us only through their use of the oracle.”

  Basha reached for the flask from Velia, and then took a drink. “How did they do that?”

  “From what I’ve gathered—although truthfully, they didn’t say much—it literally took their blood. That is, one of them was sacrificed each time, just to get the message to us.”

  “That’s awful!” Velia cried.

  “I agree. But it seems they believed the messages were sufficiently important, such that the sacrifices they made were worth it. In any case, had I not correctly deciphered what it was that I was to ‘go’ for each time, or had I not taken heed of the messages with sufficient haste, the flits’ sacrifices would have been in vain. And, you know, that almost happened . . .”

  Pausing, she shook her head. “When the twins were infants, after I’d sent you, Basha
,” she nodded her way, “and some of the others of our group ahead to the compound with the great scepter, the oracle had been telling me to ‘go.’ I knew it meant that I was to leave the City of Light. But I thought that Dixon and I should first meet with Edmond at sanctuary there. So I waited. As it turned out, Edmond was the one who betrayed us to Lilith. And because of my stalling, she managed to get to the twins.”

  “Hmmm.” Basha gestured with the flask toward Velia.

  She took it. “So during the time that you didn’t know who you were, how many times did you travel to the twins then? Just those two?”

  “No. Each time it occurred when the girls were most in need. I brought them water after finding the grut tooth, then food after finding the oracle. But it seems the most important thing I brought them—as they tell it—was courage.” She grinned. “That was my third trip.”

  “What sent you to them that time?”

  “I found some crystals in Dixon’s pocket and they triggered my reaction.”

  “But it was your blade that brought everything back to you and that sent you to them that last time, right?” Velia asked.

  “Yes—that was my fourth and last trip. When I saw Spira, I just . . . knew the blade was mine. Then, when I touched it, everything came back.”

  “And when you went to the girls that last time—that’s when Lucy had Dixon taken captive.”

  “That’s right.”

  The three sat quietly for a minute.

  “You know,” Mara finally said, “after Lucy’s comments the day of her accident—when she apologized to Dixon and me again, I spent some time with her. We talked about . . . Well, about those who’ve ‘loved and lost.’”

  Basha’s head jerked her way. “What?”

  Not noticing her reaction, Mara continued. “I can’t reveal any details, of course, as I’ve sworn myself to secrecy, but you know, there’s more to Lucy than sometimes meets the eye.”

  Basha visibly relaxed. “Lucy? Loved and lost? Huh. Well, she’s been around for centuries. I guess with that much time to fill, anything is possible.”

  Velia laughed outright, then took a swallow before passing the flask back to Basha. “You want to know a real strange love-twist?” she then asked.

  Basha’s eyes darted her way. “What’s that?”

  “Marshall.”

  Grinning, Mara nudged her. “Who would have thought it! Still, he seems entirely smitten with Chaya.”

  “Yes, but he’s acting so strangely about it.”

  “Oh? What do you mean?” Basha asked.

  Velia repositioned herself, then added more wood to the fire. “Well, I rode at the front today, from time to time, with him and Jerrett. It seemed that whenever Chaya approached, Marshall went . . . cold.”

  Mara’s brow dropped. “Why do you suppose that was?”

  “I don’t know. He suggested she might help Adele with the cooking and all. You probably saw her doing that earlier tonight.”

  “I thought maybe she just liked that sort of thing.”

  “It’s possible. Anyway, I’ve tried to encourage her to get to know Nina and Erin. I would think they’d make fast friends, given that they are all Chiranian born, and all share something of the same history—having been enslaved there.”

  “That was good thinking,” Mara said, “but don’t count on Nina’s warming up to her any time soon.” She waved away the flask when Basha offered it to her again. “Did you see the way she glared at Chaya during the meeting when she cautioned anyone against traveling to Chiran?”

  Basha looked up at the sound of an owl hooting. “Yes,” she said, “but then Nina must be sick with worry about Carlie.”

  “She is,” Mara agreed. “Actually, she’s a bit difficult to reason with just now.”

  “Oh?”

  She shrugged.

  “I don’t understand why they treat women the way they do,” Velia said, reaching once again, for the flask from Basha. “It’s . . . disgusting. Jerrett says he and Marshall didn’t see a single free one while there.”

  Just then, a long shrill scream rent the air.

  The three Oathtakers all jumped to their feet.

  “Let’s get back!” Basha cried as she sprinted toward the main camp, her friends at her heels. “That sounded like Felicity!”

  Turmoil had erupted in the midst of camp. When the three Oathtaker friends neared, they followed several others headed toward the wagon that Trumble shared with his charge, Felicity, and his friend, Raiden.

  Basha pushed her way to the middle of a gathered crowd, just as Trumble arrived from the other side. “What is it?” she asked him, her eyes wide.

  “It’s— I don’t know! I just got here. I—”

  Mara reached them. “What’s happened?”

  The back flap of the tent opened with a loud crinkling sound, and Felicity peeked out. With Trumble’s assistance, she made her way down, trembling all the while.

  “I’m sorry I frightened everyone,” she said, pulling a blanket over her shoulders.

  “There’s no need to be sorry,” Mara said. “What happened?”

  Felicity put her arms around Trumble’s waist. “They’re coming for them,” she said before burying her face in his chest.

  He held her tightly. “For who, Felicity?”

  “For the girls.”

  “The twins? Reigna and Eden?”

  “Well . . . yes . . . but for others, as well.”

  He pulled back, then with a finger beneath her chin, tilted her head up. “I don’t understand,” he said. “What girls?”

  Still shaking, she closed her eyes. “All of them. All they can . . . get.”

  “Do you know who’s doing this?”

  “The men in black.” Then she buried her face again in his chest. “They hurt girls. They trap them.”

  “Shhhh . . . shhhh now,” he said, wrapping his arms more tightly around her.

  Standing nearby, stroking the young woman’s arm, Basha held Trumble’s gaze.

  “Visitors!” a deep voice called out.

  Dixon, Marshall, and Jerrett, with Bane following, joined the mix. Each of the men held his blade. Collectively, they surrounded four young women, one of whom stepped to the fore.

  “You can’t hold us,” she said.

  Mara neared her. “No, of course not.” She motioned for the men to step back.

  Bane drew closer, sniffed at the girls’ heels, and then, with his hackles raised, growled.

  When they jumped at the sound, Mara caught Jerrett’s eye. “Call him off, will you?” she asked him before turning back. “All right now, what are your names?”

  “I’m Birdie,” the first of them said, “and this is Sugar,” she pointed to one of her friends, “and Echo, and Trixie,” she identified her remaining companions with a nod toward each of them.

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mara’s brow rose, even as she choked back a laugh. “Seriously? Those are your real names?”

  Birdie made a face at her. “What do you want with us?”

  “I want to know what you’re doing out here.”

  She sneered. “It’s none of your concern.”

  “What are you? All of . . . fourteen years old?” Mara asked. “Fifteen, maybe? What are you doing out here by yourselves? Where are your parents?”

  “Like I said, that’s ‘none of your concern.’”

  Mara looked Dixon’s way. “What happened?”

  He stepped to her side. “I saw them in the distance,” he whispered in her ear, “with my attendant magic. Bane, approaching them at the time, informed Jerrett who was with me, via his magic link to him, of their presence. The girls were headed this way—and we didn’t know what to expect. So we got Marshall, and then the three of us brought them in so that we could question them. Honestly, we had no idea they were so young.”

  Felicity dropped her hold on Trumble and then stepped toward the newcomers. “Please, please don’t do this,” she said, a cry in her voice.
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br />   Birdie glared at her. “What’s it to you where we go or what we do?”

  “It’s a trick. They hurt people.” Tears ran down Felicity’s face.

  Tapping the toe of her boot, Birdie turned to her friends. “Come on girls, let’s go. They can’t hold us here.” She started off.

  Once again, Felicity cried out. Then she dropped to the ground in convulsions.

  The crowd turned her way.

  Before Trumble reached her side, Velia did. Grabbing her hand, she fell back with a scream.

  “What is it?” Jerrett asked.

  “It seems she’s experiencing some pain that someone is suffering and— Ohhhh! Ahhhh!”

  “What?” He pulled her hand free.

  With tears pooled in her eyes, Velia pulled back to her knees and then turned to address Birdie. “If you choose to do this, know that the pain you’ll encounter, both physically and emotionally, is more than you’ll ever be able to bear.” As she stood, she reached for her hand. “Don’t do this. Don’t go. Convince your friends to stay. Please. Please, listen to me.” Then she addressed Echo and Sugar, “Don’t go. I beg you.” Her voiced sounded as though her heart was breaking. Finally, “Trixie, don’t do it,” she added, catching the eye of the last of the girls.

  Trumble, who had crouched down near Felicity, helped her to rise.

  At that moment, Chaya stepped up. “You said something about ‘men in black,’ is that right, Felicity?”

  As she nodded, the crowd turned Chaya’s way.

  She addressed Mara. “I believe I know who she’s talking about. There’s an offshoot of the Chiranian guard. Its members wear nothing but black. They even cover their faces so that they can’t be identified—and they carry black flags marked with skulls with snakes crawling out from their eye sockets. They call themselves ‘succedunt’ soldiers.”

  “So?” Echo asked.

  She turned her way. “So, trust me. You don’t want to be in their presence.”

  Birdie stepped up. “We don’t know anything about the succedunt you mentioned. We’re going to Chiran to become brides to the ‘descendants.’”

  “Yes, that’s another name the succedunt use,” Chaya said. “But . . . become their brides?” She grimaced. “Have you lost your minds?”