The Orphan's Secret

by R. J. Francis

  “Thanks, my love,” she said, as the brute dropped to the ground.

  “I’m exhausted,” he admitted. “Can’t keep this up much longer.”

  They continued their flight. “What did Radovan say to you?” she asked him.

  “He was looking for someone named Andienna. It sounded like he was going to kill her.”

  Elaina stopped.

  “Do you know who that is?”

  She looked back up the stairs. Somewhere up there her mother was… Just at that moment, something she felt make her pull her arms inward and hug herself, as if shielding herself from an incoming blow.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Ah… ah…” Elaina winced. It looked like she was holding back a scream.

  “Are you hurt? What is it?”

  She took a huge, deep breath. “Let’s just get out of here,” she said, taking his hand, and leading him onward.

  A few steps later, they both realized she’d actually succeeded in taking his hand.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “I must have shifted worlds again,” Jaimin said. “Do you “Try think?” putting your hand into the floor,” Elaina said. Jaimin knelt and felt the floor with his hands. His fingers passed into the solid marble, up to his knuckles.

  “Yes! This will make it so much easier,” Elaina said. “Let me lead you.” She got her bearings, gripped his hand as tightly as she could, and dove into the floor, pulling him beneath it with her. They could see nothing at first, but soon they emerged into a room which had but one feature: a luminous arch of carved stone. They floated to the floor.

  King Julian was there, and surrounding him were the spirits of a few dozen children, all smiling. Jaimin recognized them as children he’d seen dead in the forest.

  “Jaimin, I knew you would make it!” said the king. “Your mother told me about this chamber. I had to see it for myself. The locals call it Kel-sei. And these wonderful kids have forgiven me! Can you believe it?”

  The spirits made way, and Jaimin embraced his father.

  “Of course they’ve forgiven you,” Jaimin said. “I forgive you too. You did the best you could here. And you raised me the best you knew how.”

  Julian beamed ear to ear. “Thank you, Jaimin.”

  “And you, child,” the king said to Elaina, “I’m sorry I kept you in the dark all those years. I was afraid.”

  “I understand,” she replied.

  “Your mother—did you see her here?”

  “No, but I know she’s dead.”

  “There’s nothing you could have done. I’m sorry.”

  “What will happen to my sister?” Elaina asked.

  “You have a sister?” Jaimin asked.

  “Radovan will take your sister back to his country,” the king replied. “You must seek her out when the time is right. You are going to try to get back, aren’t you?” the king asked both of them.

  “We are,” Elaina said. “Is it possible?”

  “It didn’t work for me, but it may for you—if you hurry.”

  “You tried going through this thing?” Jaimin asked.

  “Come, come, time is fickle here,” said the king. “If you’re to try, it must be now.” Julian put one arm around Jaimin, and the other around Elaina, ushering them toward the archway. “No goodbyes! I’ll see you again.”

  The faces of the children lit up with curiosity and wonder. Elaina grasped Jaimin’s hand and they stepped into the radiant mist that filled the archway. To Elaina, the glowing stuff felt just as disturbing as it had before, but she could move through it as if it were air.

  Jaimin, however, got one arm and one leg in, and then he became stuck.

  Elaina retreated out of the portal to assess the problem. It was as if two parts of Jaimin were unable to pass through: his torso and his head. She tried the obvious—pushing him in—to no avail.

  “Augh! What is this stuff! It itches! I can’t stand it,” he said.

  “It has to work!” Elaina said. “Relax. Release your heart. And your head.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  But one of the Celmarean boys seemed to know. He said, “He can’t go through if he’s accepted his death. That’s why your king must stay here now.”

  “What do I have to do, kid?” Jaimin asked.

  “Just… don’t accept your death,” Elaina said.

  “I haven’t! Augh! I can’t stay halfway in here like this.” He backed out, exhausted, and crouched, catching his breath.

  “Something’s keeping him here,” said the boy. “Maybe he doesn’t feel he deserves to be alive.”

  “Is that it?” Elaina asked Jaimin.

  “I… I…don’t know.” Jaimin was overwhelmed. “How am I supposed to know these things?”

  Elaina gave him a moment to recover, and then she said sweetly, “Of course you deserve to go back, Jem.”

  “Let go of your guilt,” suggested the Celmarean boy. “Forgive yourself.”

  Jaimin sighed deeply and shook his head. These spirits were speaking of feelings as if they were objects in his hand he could just drop. King Julian approached. “May I help?” Julian asked.

  Jaimin tried to discern what he might feel the most guilty about. As he looked into his father’s compassionate eyes, it didn’t take him long to arrive at an answer. “I know I’ve been an awful son,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t take the time to understand things as you saw them. To consider what you had been through. I was selfish. I was impatient.”

  “Oh, I was too,” Julian said, “but you were just a child. You’ve forgiven me—now you need to forgive yourself. Let go. We all make mistakes—sometimes enormous ones. But once we’ve done all we can to fix things we shouldn’t carry the burden forever.”

  “But I’ll take the throne, and I’ll just mess things up again,” Jaimin said.

  “Sometimes you will make decisions that don’t turn out well,” said his father. “But when you do, don’t destroy yourself over them like I did. You will always deserve to rule. Embrace your mistakes, and they will guide you toward success.”

  “Embrace my mistakes? Embrace them… All right. If I make it through this, I’ll remember your advice, and try my best always. I promise.”

  “And you will be an amazing king,” Julian said.

  “There’s nothing I want more,” Jaimin said. “Honestly. To do well for you, Elaina, my mother, and the people of our land.”

  “I know,” the king said. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Is he better now?” squeaked another, younger boy.

  Jaimin tried stepping through the archway again. This time, only his head remained stuck. “What now?” he cried.

  “You’re nearly there,” said the first boy. “Now just believe you can go back. That there’s a chance for you to live. That there’s a future there for you.”

  “I believe it. I believe it!” he said desperately, but he remained mired in the prickly static.

  “I think I can help. Here’s your future, Jem,” Elaina said. Stepping halfway into the mist once more, she kissed him deeply, and as his mind relaxed into her kiss his resistance melted. The pair passed completely through the portal in an embrace.

  A brilliant white light flooded the underground room.

  Back in the darkness of Arra, Elaina reached out and laid one hand over Jaimin’s bare chest, and one on his head. A blinding ball of white light formed in each of her hands.

  “What are you doing?” Alessa asked.

  She didn’t answer.

  The light saturated the prince’s broken body. The bolt impaling him disintegrated. Blood that had spilled on the dark ground came together and poured back into his wounds, which then closed tight. Muscles and organs shifted back into their proper places. He drew in a breath on his own. Then another. And then another. With his body still aglow, he opened his eyes and tried to speak.

  “Shhh,” said Elaina, clamping her hand over his mouth. “Save your str
ength.”

  Alessa looked on, astonished. “What just happened?”

  “I brought him back through the archway.”

  “That’s never been done! And you just healed his body in the space of a few seconds. How did you do that?”

  “I just… believed it was possible,” Elaina said. “And it was.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Jaimin didn’t need to save his strength. He felt better than he ever had. He got to his feet, helped Elaina up, and embraced her. “That was incredible,” he whispered, ecstatically. “We did it. I mean… you did it. How do you feel?”

  “Just fine.”

  “Not tired?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Are we out of danger?” he asked Alessa.

  “It looks that way, for the moment,” she said. “Here come the guards.”

  Marco and Xander had slain Pex and his crew, and had returned just in time to witness Jaimin’s miraculous recovery. Their mouths hung open in astonishment. “I guess I’m a mender,” Elaina explained to them. “Like my father.”

  “I’ve never seen mending like that,” Xander said.

  “We… we’d better move on,” said Marco.

  Jaimin’s group resumed their northward trek, and found the trail that led up to the sanctuary called Three Falls. The horses trudged upward through the dark woods in single file, trampling over or pushing through the brush where the trail was overgrown.

  They reached a plateau where the trail widened and they could ride side by side. For a while, Jaimin rode beside Alessa. “What happened in the castle tonight?” he asked her.

  “Your family was poisoned. Your mother and sister were able to shake it off. Your father couldn’t.”

  “Who poisoned them?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What about Nastasha? Can you sense what happened to her?”

  Alessa looked down. “I’ve only known her for a week. I wouldn’t want you to be misled by my feelings about her.”

  “Please. Tell me what you feel, even if you’re not certain, even if it’s… bad news. I have to know.”

  “I’m not sure, Jaimin,” Alessa said.

  Elaina was listening, and she looked back. “Just tell him,” she said.

  “Very well. I believe she’s alive, and fighting.”

  “Is she in danger?” asked Jaimin.

  “Well, yes. She’s fighting.”

  Jaimin stopped his horse, which meant everyone else had to as well. Xander, who was behind them, eyed the prince nervously.

  “Just keep going,” Alessa pleaded. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Don’t worry, Jem,” Elaina said. “Nastasha has a plan.”

  Three Falls was a network of lava caves that extended from beneath the northern forest all the way through to the eastern side of the range. The largest of its entrances was behind a cold waterfall, one of three falls that plunged from a great height into a vast, misty pool.

  After Arra’s defeat at Celmarea, the royal guard had identified Three Falls as the perfect place for the royal family and their court to hide out in the event of an invasion. It was, in effect, a massive subterranean inn, with hundreds of functional chambers. The cave system’s cold springs were pure enough for drinking and cooking, and its hot springs warmed the whole place up to a comfortable temperature. Lava, baking heat, and toxic gases were still a concern, but only at the caves’ farthest eastern reaches.

  When the evacuees arrived at Three Falls Pool, a young army captain hurried out of the trees to greet them. “Your Highness,” said the captain. “Welcome. My platoon will be providing security for you this evening.”

  “Captain Rosner,” Jaimin said. “What have you heard?”

  Rosner took a deep breath and was about to tell Jaimin the news about his father. “I know,” said Jaimin. “The king is dead. And we lost Syan and Dagan on the way here,” Jaimin continued. “It’s only by the will of the divine spirit that the rest of us made it.”

  “Your mother and sister got out safely, and they have just arrived at Black Tube Caves,” Rosner said. “The castle is under enemy control. Your mother fears many in the court have been killed. She’s ordered a scatter retreat.”

  “A retreat? How can she order a retreat with Arrans still in the castle?”

  “She is with General Valeriy, and I’m sure the army will do everything possible…”

  “I need to speak with my mother. Marco, can you get me to Black Tube Caves tonight?”

  “Your Highness,” said Rosner, before Marco could answer. “Her Majesty has ordered us to keep you here.”

  “What?”

  “She wants you to stay at Three Falls for now.”

  As much as Jaimin wanted to be a part of any planning that might impact Nastasha’s fate, he understood why his mother wanted him to stay put. Besides, Nastasha was General Valeriy’s daughter—so she did have an advocate at the strategy table. “I understand,” Jaimin said.

  “We’ve begun to retrieve the emergency supplies from the stockpiles. You have guests?” The captain smiled cordially at Elaina and Alessa.

  “Yes, Captain. They are foreign princesses. But my mother should make the formal introductions.”

  Rosner bowed low to Elaina and Alessa, as was the protocol when greeting foreign officials. “Your Royal Highness. Your Royal Highness. Welcome to Arra. I am Captain Rosner, at your service. Please, come inside by the fire while we prepare your chamber.”

  Soldiers led the horses and the weary group up the slippery path into the cave behind the triple waterfall.

  Alessa and Elaina quickly fell asleep beside the campfire. Jaimin couldn’t sleep. He still felt energized by the divine power that had restored him to life.

  Before long, preparation of the living chamber for Jaimin and his guests was complete, but Jaimin insisted that the ladies not be woken. He and Rosner walked a short distance up an ancient lava tube, where they met up with Kotaret and the young court survivors.

  “Isabel poisoned the court’s elixir,” Kotaret explained. “Nastasha found evidence.”

  “Unbelievable…” Rosner said.

  “The whole court drank that elixir,” Jaimin said. “You mean everyone who isn’t here is dead?” The prince saw the anguish in the survivors’ eyes and had his answer. “Where is Nastasha now?”

  “She told us how to get here, but then she ran off to attend to something else. She wouldn’t say what.”

  “How is it that you are still with us?” Kotaret asked Jaimin. “Don’t you usually drink Isabel’s elixir?”

  “Well, I didn’t drink it tonight. Unfortunately, my father did. The king is dead.”

  Jaimin returned to the fire and eventually fell asleep on Elaina’s shoulder, with his cheek buried in the soft ermine fringe of her heavy cloak. When he awoke, he was sore and numb from the cold. The back of the waterfall was tinged with a purple glow. Dawn had arrived.

  Elaina was still asleep beside him. He kissed her cheek. Alessa opened her eyes when she heard the prince moving around. “Good morning,” she whispered. “How do you feel?”

  “Strange.” Jaimin got up, stretched, and went to kneel by the pool that extended behind the waterfall. The water was icy, but at least it hadn’t frozen over. He splashed his face.

  “Hang on,” Alessa said. “I have something here that might help.” She felt around in one of her saddlebags, found a bar of soap, and tossed it to him. Elaina’s eyes opened a sliver.

  “Outstanding,” said the prince. He dunked his entire head into the pool and scrubbed the sweat and dirt from his face and hair. Alessa threw him a brush, which he used to wring out his curls. “What else do you have in there?” he asked.

  “This and that,” she said. “When I fled Celmarea I took very little with me, and I regretted it. Since then I’ve been prepared for anything.”

  “Who taught you to shoot?” Jaimin asked. “You’re outstanding with a bow.”

  “I was an athlete from a young age,
” she replied. “After I was given responsibility for Elaina, General Valeriy had his best trainers work with me a few times a week. And not just on the bow.”

  “And these… these other worlds,” he said. “Elaina says you visit them all the time?”

  “Often.”

  His hours in the spirit world felt like a dream now, but there was no denying what had happened yesterday. He looked at his love, his savior, sleeping there. She had made this new morning possible.

  Soon Rosner came in from outside. “Your Highness, another survivor.”

  Nastasha was behind him. “Jaimin,” she said, running up. “You’re alive!”

  Jaimin embraced her. Her muscles quivered from exhaustion and stress. Her face was smeared with dirt. Her lip was still swollen. “What happened?” he asked her.

  “I’m fine.”

  Alessa roused Elaina and they stood to greet Nastasha with hugs. “You’re all safe!” Nastasha said. “I’m so relieved!”

  “You look exhausted,” Elaina said.

  “I haven’t slept.” Nastasha set her helmet down. “Did my group make it here?”

  “They’re all here,” said Jaimin. “Thanks to you.”

  “Your family, Jaimin. Are they safe?”

  “My mother and Tori are safe,” he said. “My father is dead.”

  “Oh, Jaimin! I’m so sorry. My mother is dead, too. Have you heard what happened?”

  “Yes, Kotaret told me.”

  “I found this in Isabel’s secret lab.” Shakily, she pulled a worn black leather-bound book from a pocket in her cloak. Yellowing, folded pages were tucked into it. “Here’s the recipe for the poison. And here’s another recipe: a potion she was taking to mask her disloyalty from the queen.”

  “Isabel? The nurse?” Elaina asked.

  “She has a secret lab?” Jaimin added.

  Nastasha slid out the folded documents. “Yes. These are messages Radovan sent her, going back ten years. The latest one shows there were spies in the castle two weeks ago, delivering ingredients and new orders to Isabel. Radovan told her to ‘hobble the beast’ on the night of the new moon.”