by Leyton, Bisi
“I am here to read and get my sentinel papers,” Enric said.
“Why would you want to do that? You are an Ino.”
The Sentinels were mainly from the Ilac caste, but a handful were from the Mordin and Ino castes. The sentinels were responsible for protection of the Elders and keeping the law and order in the home realm and Jarthan.
“Yes, but as an Ino, I can one day become the General for the Third Pillar,” Enric explained.
“Enric, are you doing this to impress the girls?”
“My father is the Lord of Jarthan. I do not care what women think of me.” Forcing a comfortable laugh, Enric said, “Speaking of girls, I want you stay away from my sister.”
“What?” Bach hadn’t seen that one coming.
“As long as you are entertaining that Thayn in Smythe, I need you to steer clear of Alba.”
“Alba knows about the Thayn and she seems unconcerned.”
“I am telling you…”
“Alba is not my intended, so I do not see what one has to do with the other.”
Enric grimaced. “I heard my parents speaking and it seems your father is keen on you pledging to Alba. You assure me you have ended it with the Thayn or convince your father you are not ready to pledge.”
“Still trying to convince Bach to marry your sister?” Lluc joined the conversation.
Bach laughed to hide his discomfort.
“When Bach returns home, he will be introduced to many Family girls. Hopefully, he will find one he likes or at least one that does not drive him mad. If she feels the same, she will be his intended,” Lluc explained to Enric.
“As long as we have an understanding,” Enric warned and laughed. “I brought some sandwine from home. Let us celebrate.”
“What are we celebrating?” Bach asked as his friend dragged him away from his brother.
“I do not know. We will have to think of something,” Enric replied, with his usual jovial tone.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I hope you’re happy.” Hailey shoved Wisteria forward as the girls entered class the following Monday. “Thanks to you, we can’t go to Norton anymore.”
Stumbling forward, Wisteria was able to prevent herself from falling. She spun around to confront Hailey, but the girl was gone.
“Wisteria, inside now,” Lady Milton Davenport, the history teacher, yelled in a shrill voice.
The Year Twelve classroom was more cramped than the one they used last year.
Wisteria wondered if it was because the leadership council actually believed there’d be less students alive this year.
She weaved through the room that was packed full of makeshift tables and desks, until she got to the old dresser where she sat. Climbing on, she found herself sitting alone. This was a bit strange since Garfield normally sat with her. Then, she spotted him sitting next to Amanda.
“Stupid bitch,” Yvette Morel called out and threw something at her. “You’re going to suffer for ratting us out to Coles.”
She ducked as the projectile hit the wall and fell behind the dresser. “I’d like to see you try it.” This was the last class of the day, so she just had to endure it.
“Settle down, you terrors,” Lady Milton shouted. “You don’t want me reporting this to my husband.” Her husband was Sir Charles Davenport, the head of the Leadership Council, and she was Hailey’s mother. Like her daughter, she had long brown hair with ocean blue eyes.
And like a lot of the women in the town, she got the teaching job not because she was a good teacher but because she thought it was easy and there was nothing else she really could do. Well, that was what Coles said.
“Wisteria, find a proper seat!” Lady Milton demanded, like she did every day.
“There’re none.” She pointed around the class. She hadn’t had a proper seat in class for two years.
“Maybe you could sit on Steven’s lap?” Yvette called out.
“Say that again Yvette, I dare you,” Wisteria warned.
“Ignore them, Ria.” Steven tried to suppress a smirk, but he obviously loved the teasing.
“All right, very funny.” Lady Milton waved her hands in the air, signaling them to calm down, but the kids didn’t respond. She shrieked in frustration. “Shut up! Wisteria, find a seat or get out of my class.”
“Lady Milton, there are no more chairs.” She couldn’t understand why Lady Milton was insisting she do the impossible. Even if she found another seat, there was no space in the classroom to put it.
The teacher marched up to her. “This isn’t a discussion.”
“Where can I find one, miss?”
“You have a quite a mouth on you.” A lot of Lady’s Milton anger was because Wisteria hit her daughter Hailey once and because Wisteria’s mother threatened the woman.
“You’re asking for the impossible---” Before she could finish, Lady Milton whacked her across the side of the face with a textbook.
Just like she herself had done to Hailey months before.
“Don’t ever speak back to me, girl,” the woman seethed. “Now get the hell out of my class!”
“What are you doing?” Amanda leapt at the woman.
“You can’t do that.” Garfield stormed up to the teacher, but was blocked by Steven.
“I will tell my dad what you did.” Steven spoke in a deep voice in an attempt to sound threatening.
“I can do whatever the hell I like in my classroom.” Coldly, she lifted her book over her head.
It took Wisteria a few seconds to process what happened. “You hit me?” She snatched the textbook from the teacher’s hands and paused for a moment. “You were lucky.” She honestly wanted to whack this snide woman right across the jaw, but instead she walked toward the door.
“Get out,” Hailey murmured.
Stopping by Hailey’s desk, Wisteria frowned down at her.
“Don’t you dare touch her, Wisteria,” the teacher warned and started to charge at her, but tripped on Steven’s out stretched leg.
A few kids laughed as the teacher tumbled.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to touch you.” Wisteria smiled down at her.
“I wasn’t worried,” the girl snapped back.
Smashing her with the textbook she was holding, Wisteria quipped, “You should’ve been worried.” Gathering her things, Wisteria left the silent classroom. She suddenly felt so much better; she’d been taking flack and abuse from those women for far too long. She was now proud of defending herself for once. Pausing, she wondered where she could go. If she left the school building she’d be stopped by the soldiers if they saw her walking around town during the school day. She decided to wait in the school building until the end of the day.
*****
“Hey,” Steven called out to her as she walked out of the school building later that afternoon.
“Crap,” she muttered, not looking back. Quickening her steps, she hurried away from Steven. Garfield. She scanned around, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. He was probably off with Amanda.
Ironically, six months ago, she’d have given anything for Steven to want her so much he’d chase after her, because he was really cute, at least she’d thought so at one time.
“Ria.” Grabbing her, he twirled her around. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“Stop calling me Ria.” She yanked herself out of his grip.
“Can you believe Hailey’s mum? She’s almost as bad as Cheung.”
“Yeah.” A cold breeze blew between them and she pulled her jacket closed. She wished the wind would just blow him away. “I’ve got to go.”
“Are you okay?” Steven pointed to the side of her face where Lady Milton had slapped her. “I can’t believe she did that.”
“Thanks for your concern.” She actually wanted to believe his unusual kindness; he had tried to defend her back in class.
“Yeah, listen.” He gazed around, his perfect blue eyes shifting as if he was calculating something.
She inched back.
He reached out and clutched her arm. “Hey, why don’t you come to my place? We got some new DVDs from Garfield--okay they aren’t new-new, but no one else has them in town. We can watch them and catch up?”
“A movie? Steven, what exactly do you want?”
“Or we can forget the movies and keep each other occupied,” he whispered. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”
“What about Hailey? You two are back together.”
“We’re just friends now. Like you and me.”
“I saw you coming out of that room with her in Norton.”
“That?” Steven laughed, running his hand through his sandy hair. “That was nothing.”
“Honestly, I don’t care. I don’t want to be with you. I don’t even like you.” Wisteria had enough of his games and walked away.
“Steven,” Gareth Hubbard yelled. “Where are you going?” he asked Steven while pushing past her, knocking her down in the process. “Ria-diarrhea, get lost.”
“Gareth, what’s your problem?” Steven tried to help her to her feet.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted, charging at him.
Steven held her back.
“Let go of me!” She pulled herself away from him.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Gareth poked at Steven.
“Idiot, get lost,” Steven muttered to his friend. “I’m not going with you.”
“That? What? You’re that desperate for points?” Gareth jeered.
“Seriously, Gareth, I don’t have time for your crap today.” Steven shoved past the other boy.
Gareth had never been the same since his younger brother was infected and had to be cured. Once he'd been the class clown, but now he was becoming something darker. Granted, he was always cruel to her, but now he was horrible to everyone.
Walking off, she heard Steven calling her again. “Where are you going?” He hurried to her. “If you’re worried about Hailey, there’s no way she’ll find out. And if she does, I’ll never ask you to hook up again.”
“Hook up? What happened to the movie?”
“Sure,” he smirked. “But you know you want more than that.”
She slapped him. “Get over yourself, Steven.” She kept moving away. And suddenly, she felt like she was going to be sick. Running to the side of the road, she vomited. She didn’t know how long she’d knelt there on the side of road, but when she glanced back, Steven was gone.
She was still throwing up by the time she got home and stumbled into bed. Covering herself with a blanket she fell asleep, but kept waking up. She had to go to work in a few hours. As punishment for sneaking out, she was assigned eighteen extra hours of patrol. Her mother theorized that would make Wisteria too tired to do such nonsense again.
This made her angry, but patrolling did mean she was learning how to take care of herself again.
“Are you all right?”
Opening her eyes, she saw her mother sitting on the bed next to her, stroking her hair. “You’ve been sick all over the bed.” Her mother’s voice was soft and sweet.
Even though she was still angry with her mother for keeping secrets and the punishment, right now she just wanted to be mothered. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Her throat felt hoarse from throwing up so much.
“Change out of your clothes and lay down on my bed. I’ll change your sheets.”
Slowly, she got up, but her head was pounding. I have Nero! She grabbed her mother’s arm. “Are you going to cure me?”
“Baby.” Her mother kissed her forehead. “I wouldn’t have woken you if I was going to cure you.”
Wisteria felt relieved and terrified.
“You don’t have Nero. It’s just the flu that’s been going around.” Her mother helped her out of bed. “There’s water and a cloth to wash with.”
On the dresser, there was a bowl of water, a green cloth, and a bar of soap. Taking off her top, she wiped the dried vomit off her neck and face.
Slowly, her mother strode over. “What is that?”
“What?” Wearily, she turned to her mother. “Ouch,” she cried as her mother poked her back.
The older woman pointed to the mirror.
Wisteria was horrified to see a trail of eight large black spots down her back, just behind her shoulders. “What are those?” She touched one, but it felt like her skin.
“Nothing.” Her mother touched them again. “You’re probably just allergic to something or a side effect of the flu, since you’ve never had it before.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, but I’ll talk to Sabine, and if she’s worried, then we’ll do something. Right now, lay down in my bed and I’ll sort this room for you.”
Getting into her mother’s bed, she fell asleep, but was awoken to the sound of Coles and her mother speaking in hushed tones to Sabine. There were other voices, too. She was sure she heard Jason Webb and, strangely, Thomas Clarkson, the rat catcher.
She wanted to go to the door to listen to what they were saying, but she was still in agony over her other symptoms. Lying back down, she hoped to feel better in the morning.
*****
Bach hadn’t been allowed to leave Jarthan until the Sen had decided on the empirics. To pass the time alone, he wandered over the bridge that led toward the courtyard of the First Pillar. From the bridge, he could see Lluc standing on the Astolat Bridge miles below with his three favorite Thayns, Nia, Nizzar and Nular. He couldn’t make out what his older brother was doing, but he saw Nular leave the group and run inside.
Listening to the waves beating against the shore below, he was glad to be here; the water really helped him relax and so did being among his own people. With his father’s entourage, Jarthan was bustling full of Family and had a real sense of home, his home near the Jade Ocean. Feeling homesick, he questioned for the hundredth time his choice to remain on Earth.
The empirics wouldn’t need him once they’d arrived and settled. Perhaps then he could return home. Imagining the journey through the threshold and arriving on the black ship in the middle of the green waters of the Jade Ocean, he could almost smell the salt in the sea air.
After that, they’d sail home together to the Sable Mountains where the Third Pillar lived. Wisteria would be speechless when she saw the ash mountain ranges or the waterfalls that went on forever. It’d be like nothing she’d ever dreamt of and she wouldn’t believe it. Grinning to himself, he considered blindfolding her until they reached the first mountain city.
Soon, reality dawned on him. His people would kill her long before she reached his home. He’d have to live among the humans forever or leave her for good. Bach sighed deeply. Neither option seemed tenable.
Glancing back down at the Astolat Bridge, he saw his brother was gone.
“What is going on with you and him?” Lord Rafel approached him. “Since your Great Walk ended, it is as if you two barely speak.”
“My Great Walk is not over,” Bach answered.
“You cannot blame him for interrupting your 1,000 day journey, because your father has given you early leave.”
“Lord Rafel, this is not about the Great Walk. We disagree on the principle.”
“Really? We found the Terrans have obsidian crystal. They could be planning to destroy us. That is a good reason to leave your walk early.”
“You…” He halted. He knew he couldn’t discuss the details of the differences him and Lluc were having with Lord Rafel.
The man was still Family and to make matters worse, he’d never lived among free Terrans at all. Bach wasn’t even sure Lord Rafel had ever met one, so there was no way he could even begin to understand what Bach was going through. If Lord Rafel learned what was happening, he’d mostly likely go straight to Sen Aleix and Yordi. Yordi would probably kill her himself. A cold chill ran down Bach’s spine.
“You and Lluc have always been rivals, I guess it is because you are so close in age,” Rafel said as they reached the main doors of t
he First Pillar’s palace within the castle.
The sentinel at the large stone doors stopped them. As a member of the Third Pillar, Bach needed an invitation from an Ino of another Pillar before entering one of their palaces. Lord Rafel didn’t require this because he was the Lord of Jarthan Castle and had free reign. However, that wasn’t the case with the palace of the First Pillar because, for some reason, there was no one left from that pillar.
Stories floated around, trying to explain what had happened to the lost Pillar. Some people said Dy’obeth ghosts had taken them away. Others believed they’d turned into bloodthirsty Dy’obeths, but the rational explanation was that they died as a result of a virus thousands of years ago. The end result: their palace stood empty.
The First Pillar’s palace was particularly intriguing, as there were sections of it that no one could get into. Scholars and engineers had been trying to decipher the locks for as long as anyone could remember.
This was why the Lord of Jarthan was one of the Seven Elders. He stood for the First Pillar.
“Lord Rafel, Sen-Son Bach, I am honored to have you both here.” The sentinel at the stone door of the palace stepped aside.
Walking through, Bach noticed a massive construction of rock and iron, used to wedge the door open.
“We have to keep that there; otherwise the door may never open,” Lord Rafel explained as they walked.
Bach knew this. He'd toured the different palaces as a child.
“My son came to talk to me about you,” Lord Rafel said. “Enric seems determined to not allow you to name Alba as your intended. Do you want to?”
Bach froze. “I do not know how to answer that.”
“You can always talk to me. I have tried to be there for you boys after your mother died. And I will always try to serve your best interests.”
“Thank you,” he replied cautiously.
Rafel was right. He’d been more of a father to Bach than Sen Aleix. It had been Rafel who’d explained to Bach what the Terrans had done to his mother, and had persuaded the Sen to allow Bach to go on the Great Walk on Earth. So, it was weird having this conversation with the man about his daughter.
