by Cathi Shaw
“Meldiron knew this?” she asked dully.
“Of course.”
“Then why was he so angry at the riverbank when you …” Mina trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
“When I kissed you?” Arion closed his eyes painfully. “I forget that you are such a novice in the Elder ways. Mina, the Chosen One can’t marry or have children. Instead the royal line continues through her eldest sibling, in this case Meldiron.”
Mina stared at him.
“I knew by letting Meldiron believe that I, your Coimirceoir, had become romantically involved with you, he would banish me. It was the only way that I could ensure that he forced me to leave thereby opening the door to get you back to Séreméla.”
“I can’t have children or a family?” Mina asked weakly.
“I’m sorry, Princess. That is the duty of the Chosen One.” Arion stood and gestured toward her tent. “You’ve had a lot to process and we must be on the road early tomorrow. We can talk more and when we arrive in Séreméla there are those who can tell you more about your duties as Queen. For now I think that you should rest.”
Mina looked at him incredulously, wondering how he thought she would sleep with such shocking information dropped in her lap. He seemed to think she would just accept that her whole future was planned for her. But then again for Arion none of this was new. He had known for almost 17 years that she was the Chosen One and that he would be her Coimirceoir. He had been raised with such knowledge and to him it was the truth.
But this was not Mina’s truth. She refused to believe that her life was so predetermined by destiny and tradition – a destiny and tradition that felt completely foreign to her.
Without saying another word, she rose from her place by the fire and went to her bedroll. She needed to keep her wits about her and think about all that Arion had told her. She needed to stay calm if she was going to come up with a plan for changing her destiny.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Thia stared at the creatures in front of her as she tried to regain her equilibrium. Teleporting had been unsettling but she didn’t have time to dwell on that now. As the strange beings moved closer, Thia gasped. From a distance one might mistake them for children they were so small. But they were far from youthful. Each one was wizen with dozens of wrinkles framing their small faces. And their eyes were wise beyond years.
Thia had the distinct impression that when they looked at her they knew everything about her.
“We know why you are here,” one of them spoke as if reading her thoughts. “Come. The form of transport used by Xyrisse is tiring and unsafe for ones such as you.” The small creature who was speaking stepped forward, reaching for Thia. Without thinking Thia stepped away.
“You have nothing to fear here, Thia. We are able to give you the help you seek but first you must sleep.” Thia shook her head. Something felt wrong about this place. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kiara and Xyrisse each leaving accompanied by a manach, unquestioningly. She resisted the urge to call to them and tell them to stay; to not be so trusting of these unknown creatures. Panic began to well within her as she watched her companions disappear.
“Come,” the voice seemed to fill her head and as the creature reached for her, she suddenly was engulfed in the purple haze that warned of a seizure. Thia struggled to breathe to fight the sensation but she was falling into a vision.
A sick and unconscious Teague with Celeste at a strange entrance to the Underground with the sea boiling below them. Thia being pushed away by Celeste. Teague surrounded by the children of the People laughing and happy. Teague in the arms of an Underground girl, looking like his old self.
Thia pushed against the vision not wanting to see this but she was pulled under again. The scene shifted and suddenly a new vision took over.
Mina crying in Séreméla, Arion standing in the shadows behind her, a room full of Elders who were angrily yelling, Mina and Arion running through a desolate landscape.
Thia sobbed and struggled to surface but once again she dragged into a series of visions. On and on it went, vision of Caedmon and Kiara, Teague, Xyrisse, people she loved and knew and others she didn’t know at all. And try as she might Thia couldn’t break away from them. She was forced to watch as life event after life event flashed through her mind.
#
Even though she’d visited the manach before with Caedmon, Kiara was uneasy. She remembered so little from her last trip. It was just a hazy memory. She could attribute some of that to the fact that she had been recovering from the ice monster attack but not all of it. It was almost as if some of that experience had been washed from her mind until it was just a distant memory. She did remember that even when she had been here before, it had a strange surreal quality to it. Time had passed in a vacuum and both her and Caedmon had been surprised when they’d left the manach and found that the beginnings of spring had started in the Five Corners.
Before she’d left the Refuge, Caedmon had warned her to be careful. She thought he’d been referring to Xyrisse but now she wondered if he’d been referring to the little people. She wished she’d had more time with him so that she could ask him what he remembered from their last trip here. But it was too late now. She would just have to rely on her instincts and approach everything with a sense of caution.
That was hard to do with the manach, however. Already she was beginning to feel relaxed and at ease. She remembered the feeling of intense wellbeing that infused her last time she’d stayed with the little people. She suspected the manach were influencing her emotions.
“We knew you would return.”
A small creature was suddenly standing in front of her. Kiara stared at it but didn’t reply.
“You’ve done much good with the small ones, Kiara, but there is much danger ahead for all of you. You must be cautious as to whom you trust.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” Kiara demanded suddenly, her suspicions tweaked. Her voice was loud in the quietude that infused the manach dwellings.
The small creature cocked its wizen head and smiled at her, its face creasing into even more folds. “You don’t. And you shouldn’t.” It nodded. “We will give advice but it is you who must decide if you will follow it. It is good to be suspicious of even us. We encourage you to question everything.”
Kiara narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being manipulated. But she couldn’t pinpoint how exactly.
“The Prophecy is strong. You must at least try to understand it,” the manach continued.
“But we don’t have it,” Kiara interrupted. The only complete copy any of them had seen of the Prophecy had been stolen from Mina’s desk in Séreméla before they left the Elder homeland. Meldiron said that Arion and Mina had found another complete copy but they had taken it with them when they fled the camp together. No one was clear on what their motives were.
The manach nodded. “You will need to find it and understand it if you have any hope of surviving against them,” it told her. “Your sister Elder will be important in understanding.”
Mina! “But I don’t know where she is!” Kiara cried out.
“She is safe. As long as she is with her Coimirceoir she will be well. You must fear those who might try to separate them.”
“Her what?” Kiara asked, not comprehending the words the manach was using.
“You are in grave danger from others,” it continued as if it hadn’t heard her question.
“From whom?” Kiara asked.
“The ones who would destroy you and all Marked Ones.”
Kiara’s brow furrowed, her patience wearing thin. The creature was speaking in circles and not telling her anything.
“How do we know who is a threat if you don’t tell us.”
“You mustn’t give up,” was all the manach would say.
Kiara took a deep breath and held it, counting to ten. This conversation was beyond frustrating.
Then the tiny manach put her wrinkl
ed hand on Kiara’s arm, her grasp surprisingly strong. “You, yourself, are about to face great peril, Kiara. They know you are one of the most dangerous ones.”
Kiara pulled her arm away annoyed but the manach grabbed her again and squeezed until it hurt. “Listen to me. You must be careful. They will take you otherwise.”
“What do you mean?” Kiara asked her heart suddenly beating. “Who will take me?”
But just then a second manach entered the room and the small one grasping her arm, let go. The conversation was over.
#
Xyrisse looked at the small creatures surrounding her. Their excited chatter filled her senses - not just her ears but her entire being.
She smiled tentatively at them. They were so different than anything she’d ever seen before. And they seemed to be intrigued by her.
One of them stepped forward and the others fell silent.
“Forgive us, young one. It has been a long time since we’ve seen a Nasseen in person. You are welcome here, Princess Xyrisse.”
Xyrisse started. How had they known? She had kept her secret since Thia had found her, guarding it carefully so no one would suspect her true identity. Yet these creatures seemed to be truth-knowers.
“Relax, my dear, your secret is safe with us but you know you can’t stay in hiding. Your father has already sent multiple groups of Hunters to the Five Corners. They won’t stop until they have found you.”
Xyrisse swallowed as her fear leapt into her throat. Her father’s guards were the most deadly of all Hunters.
“If they find you with your friends, they will kill them all and take you back.” The creature paused and smiled. “But you must know that.”
Xyrisse found herself nodding without realizing it. Her thoughts immediately went to Meldiron who had been so kind to her. She didn’t want to imagine what the Hunters would do to him if they found them together.
“You have the power to deal with this yourself,” the wizen one went on.
Xyrisse shook her head. “I won’t return,” she said, fear clutching at her heart.
The small creature smiled at her sympathetically. “We both know that is not true. You must return and you will. It is preordained.”
Xyrisse closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted was to return to her homeland. She had never felt such happiness or freedom as what she had felt since arriving in the Five Corners. And now they were suggesting she return of her own freewill.
Then the manach said something that surprised her, “You must take the Elder with you. He has an important role to play in Nasseet.”
Xyrisse opened her eyes and stared at the manach. What role could Meldiron play in her homeland? The Nasseet people would not take kindly to an Elder. They didn’t trust foreigners easily and in old times had closed their borders completely. But in her grandfather and father’s rule, the borders had reopened as they had realized the advantage to having a rich trading relationship with the Five Corners. But still, an Elder, especially an Elder prince, like Meldiron, would not be welcomed with open arms.
“You are the future,” the manach told her and then the group of them left her alone in her chamber.
#
When Thia finally woke she was in a dark room with small creatures all around her. Her head ached and the visions that had assaulted her were still chasing one another through her mind.
“Little One, you are well,” a strangely familiar voice assured her. “You need to rest.”
“I need to help Teague,” Thia surprised herself by saying, her voice raspy and raw.
“You know what he needs.”
Thia looked at the creatures around her unsure what they were saying and yet …
“Celeste …” Thia whispered.
“Yes. We know what you seek. The entrance to the Heartland.”
“The Heartland?” Thia asked weakly.
“You know it as the Underground.”
“Can you help me?”
“We can.”
And for the first time in a long time, Thia felt hope. Then sleep reclaimed her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The return trip to the Refuge was delayed slightly because of Thia’s extreme reaction to the teleporting. The manach had explained that Thia’s seizures, which had lasted two hours, had not been prompted by the manach themselves but by teleporting without proper preparation.
The manach were never critical of them but they were concerned by the fact that Thia had not been properly prepared for the teleport. They explained that if she had not ended up with them, she might have been stuck in a neverending seizure that would have eventually taken her life.
Not wanting to spark another serious episode, Xyrisse refused to teleport them until the manach had treated Thia with herbal medicines that would prevent such an attack. Thia, desperate to get back to Teague and initiate the plan that the manach had discussed with her, took the herbs without so much as a twinge of complaint.
She tried not to think about the onslaught of visions she had experienced. They were still too overwhelming to consider. And the ones concerning Teague, while positive, still stung her heart.
Thia couldn’t help feeling a sense of foreboding when it came to Teague. The manach had been clear about one thing. Teague’s only hope of recovery was to get him to Celeste. Her vision had shown him happy with children and a girl from the Underground. Thia wondered if wasn’t a vision of how his life would play out if he did get help from Celeste. Would Teague make a life for himself with the People? Thia felt a strong sense of loss at the mere thought of it.
She wanted Teague to recover, of course, but the thought of losing him was unbearable. Sadness engulfed her. It seemed that Teague and her were destined to never have time together. Still if the alternative was only his death, Thia would have to let him go. She couldn’t bear to imagine a world without Teague in it, even if it meant that he would be in it without her.
The manach had told Thia of an entrance to the Underground in the far Northeast of the Five Corners. It was beyond the Eastern Mountains. Thia didn’t know anyone who had been to that part of the Five Corners and the manach had determined that teleporting there would be dangerous. Xyrisse needed to have at least one person who had a clear view of where she was taking them for the teleporting to be safe.
Xyrisse, herself, seemed preoccupied since they’d arrived. She still would smile and answer Thia’s questions but her friendly manner of the previous month had almost disappeared. When she thought Thia wasn’t looking, Xyrisse seemed puzzled. Thia wondered what mysteries the manach had planted in the Nasseet girl’s mind.
Kiara, as usual was impatient to return home. She wanted to see Caedmon, she said but Thia wondered if there was something more to her reluctance to stay any longer with the manach. She seemed even more edgy and irritable than normal. And when the manach finally gave their consent for Thia to travel, Kiara wouldn’t wait another minute to leave.
“Let’s go, Xyrisse, we’ve wasted enough time,” Kiara said bluntly.
Xyrisse, to Thia’s surprise, seemed just as eager as Kiara to leave the manach.
“Remember what we have told you,” the smallest, most wizen of the creatures said as they linked hands and prepared for the transport.
Thia’s last conscious thought was to wonder whether they had all been told different things.
#
Caedmon was waiting for them when they arrived in the same spot they had teleported from to begin with. Kiara wondered how he had known that they would return at that precise moment. There really had been no way for them to communicate with him while they were with the manach. Kiara wondered if he had been waiting for them the entire time they were gone. It didn’t seem realistic but his being there was too coincidental.
“How did you know we were coming?” Kiara demanded, pushing down the immediate joy she felt when she saw him.
“Teague,” Caedmon said darkly. “He was raving most of the night saying Thia was in danger.” Caedmon looked
at her sister. “Were you?”
Thia shook her head.
“She wasn’t in danger at all,” Kiara said. “The manach made sure she’d been given herbs to protect her from the teleporting.”
“Is he worse?” Thia asked quietly.
Caedmon pressed his lips together and averted his gaze. After a moment he gave a swift nod.
“But more importantly, did the manach know how to help?” He asked.
Thia stepped forward and put her small hand on Caedmon’s inked forearm. “They did,” she said softly. “They agreed that Celeste would be the best chance of his recovery. And they told us where the closest entrance to the Underground is.”
He looked down at Thia. Kiara could see him fighting against the hope that her words were bringing him.
She spoke, “It won’t be easy.”
Caedmon looked at her, hope fast fading from his dark eyes.
“Where?” he asked finally.
“Beyond the Dark Hill Mountains on the cliffs overlooking the East Sea,” Thia answered before Kiara could. “There is an entrance halfway down the sheerest cliff.”
Caedmon swore under his breath. “And how are we to get Teague in his current condition there? He can’t teleport. How are we realistically supposed to undertake such a journey?”
“He can do it,” Thia said firmly. “I can work with him. And I have the herbs that can sedate him safely if he gets too agitated.”
Kiara looked at her sister in surprise.
“The manach gave them to me,” Thia muttered apologetically.
“Don’t apologize,” Kiara said. “The easier we can make this journey the better. When do we leave?”
Xyrisse stepped forward suddenly. Kiara had forgotten she was there. “Don’t you think we should speak to Meldiron and the others before we make the plans?” she asked hesitantly. “There are considerations for everyone involved and how we proceed affects not just Teague but all of us.” She looked at them each in turn, her red eyes serious. “You know how removing Teague from the Refuge will be received by Bellasiel.”
