Emerald Child (Kalika Magic Book 1)

by Karen Hughes

  Tenzel flinched again. The ‘old witch’ referred to so dismissively was Helki, Sofia’s own grandmother. The Kalika were Sofia’s people – her family. He’d never met anyone filled with such single-minded hatred, such relentless anger. He looked at her admiringly: she was certainly something.

  ‘Yes my dear,’ he said. ‘The forest is as good as gone.’

  ‘It had better be,’ she said, turning to leave. ‘Do not disappoint me, Tenzel.’

  *

  ‘Stay close,’ Aric whispered. Indie’s heart beat faster. There were eyes in the bushes and faces in the grass. She could see them. They were watching her.

  And there were voices. Whispering in the trees, whispering all around her.

  ‘Help us,’ they said. ‘Please help us.’

  It’s only the breeze, she told herself. It’s only the shadows.

  Aric stopped. ‘I can hear something,’ he said.

  Indie moved closer. ‘I thought it was the wind.’

  ‘It’s not,’ said Aric.

  She felt a prickling on the back of her neck. ‘I don't like it here,’ she said.

  They crossed a courtyard surrounded by daisies and stopped next to a statue. It was a woman, with a long cloak and a shining sword.

  The leaves whispered above them. ‘Help us. Please help us.’

  ‘Keep walking,’ Aric said. ‘We must leave this place.’

  They passed through a grove of laurel trees, their branches gnarled and twisted. The voices were louder now: crying to Indie, begging her to stop. She reached out involuntarily for Aric’s hand.

  Aric looked at her, his eyes dark with grief and horror. ‘The pond, Indie, did you see the pond? There were faces in the water, and I knew them. I knew them!’ He sat on the grass and buried his head in his hands. ‘Arms reaching out to us. Fingers dripping with weeds and slime. Did you see them? Oh Indie, did you see them?’ He slumped to the ground in despair.

  Indie sat down beside to him, the bark of an apple tree against her back. ‘We can’t stop,’ she said. ‘We have to keep going.’

  There was a hum behind her and then a yawn, and the branches of the tree began to sway. ‘Well, bless the sky and paint the stars silver,’ said a voice. ‘A lot of people are going to be very glad to see you.’

  Aric struggled to his feet. ‘Who is it?’ he asked. ‘Who's there?’

  ‘I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the girl. And a fine lass she is too. Come to put things right, so they say.’

  Indie blinked. The voice was coming from the apple tree. She thought she should be used to talking trees by now, but it was a shock every time.

  ‘Please,’ she whispered, putting her hand against the trunk, ‘there’s something not right about this garden. Aric heard voices, we both did. And there are faces …’ she shuddered again at the thought of the pond and its contents.

  The tree rustled. ‘That vicious little Sofia,’ it said, ‘I knew she’d never amount to any good. Always horrible to her sisters, they say, even when she was a little girl. And the tantrums! Well! You’ve never seen the like.’

  ‘What did she do?’ Indie asked, her eyes wide.

  ‘What hasn’t she done?’ the old tree retorted. ‘She’s somehow got her hands on Wicasa's transformation spell and imprisoned hundreds of poor souls in the garden. Locked them away, she has, in the leaves of trees and the blades of grass, even in the petals of flowers. Made all of us cramped and uncomfortable. No one’s too happy about it, I can tell you.’

  ‘The people,’ said Aric. ‘Sweet Mother Earth. Are they still alive? Even now?’

  ‘Oh yes.’ The tree shook her branches. ‘Won't be for much longer, though. The magic grows stronger as time passes. Soon it will crystallise and … well … that will be that I suppose.’

  ‘What do you mean?'‘ Indie asked. ‘How does magic crystallise?’

  ‘It becomes solid. You know, hard like a crystal. You do know what a crystal is?’

  Indie nodded. She remembered the crystals in Aunt Sofia's hut: rocks of all shapes and colours; some clear like glass, others with smoky and mysterious depths.

  Aric was pale. ‘The people will be locked in the garden forever. Innocent people whose only crime was to believe in their king.’

  ‘The trees are waking up,’ he said. ‘Do you have any idea what this means? Come, we don't have much time. The forest people are on our side. There must be others –’

  The tree rustled again. ‘Patience,’ she said, ‘I have not finished. The Seeing Tree sends you this warning. The king must return to the throne before the magic crystallises or the Kalika will die. Sofia will destroy the forest and all who live in it.’

  ‘But the prophecy … the Emerald Child –’

  ‘The girl will not live to see her next birthday, let alone fulfil her destiny.’

  Aric clenched his fists. ‘The king will return to the throne. He will not fail his children again. Not if I have anything to do with it.’

  Indie stared at him. There was something different about his voice. It was as if it had been broken and now … well, now it was fixed. His face was still bruised and bloody, but it seemed stronger – younger – and his eyes were green and clear.

  I know him, she thought.

  The hedge beside the apple tree swayed, just slightly, and Indie grabbed Aric's arm. ‘Did you see that?’ she hissed.

  Aric picked up a branch, and at the same time pulled Indie behind him.

  A man with brown skin and a long silver knife stepped from the leaves. He smiled and held up his hands.

  ‘My friend,’ he said softly. ‘Do you not recognise me?’

  Aric froze, branch held threateningly aloft; then his face lit up. Dropping the branch, he threw his arms around the stranger.

  ‘Dargan,’ he cried. ‘I thought you were dead.’

  ‘And I was sure you were. There are men looking for you all over the city.’

  Dargan looked at Indie. ‘I have waited a long time to see you again, my princess.’

  Indie stared at this stranger, with his bare feet and his angry eyes. He looked so much like Kai, but his face was hard and his manner cold. Indie was yet to understand that Dargan was always like this on the outside; that here was a man who, despite his strength and courage, was afraid to let his feelings show.

  Dargan turned back to Aric. ‘Grandma Helki is dying,’ he said. ‘Tenzel has already burned the tree houses and large parts of the forest. My people are hiding – ’

  There was a clatter of footsteps in the distance.

  ‘The guards,’ he whispered. ‘They’ve moved beyond the castle, but they’ll be back. You’re not safe here.’

  ‘It seems to me we won’t be safe anywhere until we deal with Sofia,’ said Aric, ‘Tell me, is there anyone in Ballyndor still loyal to the king?’

  Dargan's eyes shone. ‘Follow me,’ he said.

  Chapter 16

  All the King’s Men

  they were close to the gate now; Indie could see it in the wall. Two guards lay in front of the massive doors, their eyes closed and their mouths open.

  Dargan gestured at the bamboo pipe at his belt in explanation. ‘Sleeping darts,’ he whispered.

  They crept through the gateway. Ballyndor lay before them in the moonlight, her cobbled streets filled with shadows, her houses dark and silent.

  Dargan led them down an alley, between two buildings of yellow stone. One had a brass sign out the front: Healing Centre. The other looked like it had been a bookstore, with faded posters and empty shelves. Both had sagging balconies and were covered in cobwebs, and planks of wood had been nailed across the windows.

  At the end of the alley was a door. Dargan knocked twice, waited, then knocked again.

  ‘Who is it?’ It was young voice, timid and a little bit squeaky.

  ‘Dargan of the Kalika. I’m looking for Tomas, the Captain of the King’s Guard.’

  The door opened and a boy, with fair hair and a solemn face, looked out cautiously. 'Dar
gan,' he said. ‘We’ve been waiting for you. Tomas is out gathering the men. There’s talk that the trees are waking up – ’ He stopped short in surprise, staring at Indie.

  ‘Then it is it true,’ he whispered.

  Hustling them inside, he found buckets of water, soap and towels. ‘What have you been doing?’ he asked with a grin. ‘Sleeping in a chicken coop?’

  Aric winked at Indie. ‘Something like that,’ he said.

  *

  Indie gave up trying to pull a comb through her tangled hair. She rubbed her face dry and looked across the room. Aric was standing by himself in front of a mirror. He was staring grimly at his beard, a pair of scissors in his hand.

  ‘I think we’d better leave him to it,’ Dargan whispered.

  He led Indie into the next room, where a group of men sat around a long table. They stopped talking as soon as she entered.

  ‘Sweet Mother Earth,’ said an old man at the end, his quill poised above the notes he’d been writing. ‘After all these years. Can it be true?’

  Dargan smiled. ‘Yes, it is true. The princess has returned. It is time to stop sitting in the shadows. It is time to face down this usurping fool who is destroying our country.’

  A murmur went around the table. A few of the younger men jumped to their feet, but the others remained where they were.

  ‘She is only a child,’ said the old man. ‘We must remain in the shadows for a while longer.’

  ‘Aye,’ said a small man with a gold hoop in his ear. ‘We can’t fight a sorcerer without magic.’

  ‘You are wrong, my friends.’ The men looked up. Aric was standing before them. He had washed the dirt from his hair and it glinted like fire in the lamplight; his beard was trimmed close to his chin, and he wore a white shirt with silver buttons.

  For a moment there was silence. Then the door opened again, and a tall man wearing boots and a travelling cloak entered the room. He gave a cry and fell to his knees. ‘My king,’ he said.

  ‘King!’ Indie was too astonished to do any more than gape foolishly at him. ‘What do you mean, king?’

  ‘Stand, Tomas,’ Aric said gently. He put his hand on the captain’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry I have been away for so long. Forgive me. But take hope from my daughter, as I have done. She is strong. She has given me the courage to fight again.’

  The men were all standing now. They looked ready to battle an entire army with their bare hands. Indie stood silent in the midst of them, mortified. Aric was the king? Why hadn't he said something? Indie was angry with him, but she was even angrier with herself. Why hadn't she recognised her own father?

  ‘How many men do you have?’ Aric – no, King Eamon – was asking.

  ‘About three hundred, all up,’ the captain replied, ‘but they’re not all soldiers. They’re farmers, tradesmen – ’

  ‘So few ...’ Eamon sighed. ‘And horses?’

  ‘About the same number. Hidden around the villages on the outskirts of the city.’

  ‘Ah. That, at least, is better than I expected. Gather the men and horses and meet us at the city gate. Sofia knows I’ve escaped. She won’t wait much longer.’

  And that, it seemed, was that. No: ‘Sorry, Indie, I should have told you’. No ‘I’ve missed you, Indie’. Indie’s face reddened in anger as she watched the king talking with his men. It was as if she didn’t exist.

  He’d sent her away from Ballyndor. He hadn’t wanted her or he would have tried harder to keep her; he would have done something earlier to stop Aunt Sofia. This was not how she’d imagined it would be when she found her father. This was not the way it was supposed to happen. Indie felt her world crumbling in front of her.

  It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Suddenly, Indie didn’t want to be in the same room as this father who so completely ignored her. She pushed back her chair, knocking her knee against the leg of the table. The men stopped talking. They were staring at her; they were all staring at her. ‘Indie…’ the king was holding out his hand, but it was too late. It was far too late. She pushed past the captain, who stepped back in surprise, and ran blindly from the room.

  The king found her sitting at the edge of the fountain, hidden by shadows. Her face was smeared where she had rubbed the tears away with dirty hands. The king sat down next to her and looked out at the sleeping city.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Indie said. She felt hollow. She wished she’d never left Aunty Mai, never stepped into the darkness of the chest.

  The king sighed. He looked down at his hands. ‘I wanted to tell you,’ he said. ‘When I saw you in the tower, when I was sure it was you, I wanted to tell you everything.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you?’

  ‘I was ashamed, Indie. When you found me, I was a filthy broken shell of a man. A coward, a fool. No child deserves a father like that.’

  Indie said nothing. It was a stupid answer. It wasn’t enough.

  ‘Have you heard of Grandma Helki?’ Aric (or King Eamon or whoever he was) continued. Indie nodded sullenly. ‘When Grandma Helki realised what was happening, when she realised how powerful Tenzel had become, she came from the forest herself to take you away.’

  ‘She was harsh with your mother, told her she didn’t trust the sorcerer and she was taking you somewhere safe until he was gone. So your mother let her take you, both you and Kai, and then she went with your Aunt Sofia to speak to Tenzel – to tell him to leave the castle. ‘ He paused for a moment, his face stern, and swallowed audibly before going on.

  ‘I should have gone with them. I was sitting in my study, planning a campaign; a way to take back the lands I had already lost. The whole kingdom was falling apart around me and I couldn’t see it.’

  The king held out his hand. ‘Please Indie,’ he whispered, ‘I’m trying to tell you that I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to go away. I’m sorry I let your mother go into the sorcerer’s quarters with Sofia that day.’ He paused and took a deep breath. ‘It was the last time I saw her.’

  Indie didn’t want to hear it. It hurt too much. But she needed to know everything.

  ‘When your mother didn’t come back, I went looking for her. I found her locket in the garden, lying in the dirt. I knew then that I had lost her.’

  Somehow, Indie found herself reaching out and putting her hand in his and he held it tightly, tears in his eyes. ‘I rode Canto to the river and buried the locket beneath an old willow tree, then I came back to the castle with my sword drawn.’

  Indie looked down at the sword hanging at his belt. The hilt was simply wrought, the scabbard plain.

  ‘It doesn’t look like much, does it,’ he said, ‘but it is very dear to me. It has been in our family for generations. The Kalika speak of a prophecy, something about the ‘true heir’ wielding the Sword of Veladin and saving the kingdom. It’s all superstition, of course, but it was all I could think of as I walked in, swinging the sword and shouting for the sorcerer. They must have thought I’d gone mad.’

  He shook his head. ‘It was a stupid thing to do. Achieved nothing and gave Sofia a good excuse to declare me insane and have me locked in the tower.’

  Indie stood up. ‘I don’t think it was stupid,’ she said. ‘I think it was brave. I think you were brave. And I’m not ashamed of you.’

  He hugged her then and her anger melted away. She had found her father. He was here, he was real, and he wasn’t going to let her down ever again. She wouldn’t let him.

  *

  Indie sat at the table and held her mother's locket. In all the turmoil, it made her feel safe.

  She opened it and saw Kai sitting cross-legged in front of a candle, the flame flaring brightly, straight and tall before his face. His eyes were closed and there was a tear running down his cheek.

  Indie looked at him for a long time.

  ‘I'm coming, Kai,’ she whispered.

  *

  ‘No, Indie. You’ll be safe here,’ said the king, pulling on his boots.

  ‘But what about everything you s
aid? About how important I am in all of this? How I'm the strong one? You can't leave me behind!’

  ‘I meant it. You are important, more important than you realise.’ He checked the hilt of his sword and fastened the strap on his scabbard. ‘But a battle is no place for a child. It is terrible when men fight – I hope you never have to see it.’

  Indie opened her mouth, but her father stopped her with a look.

  ‘No more arguments,’ he said. ‘You’re not coming.’

  Chapter 17

  Race to the Forest

  Indie watched the men disappear into the night. Then, with the moon still guiding her steps, she ran back through the quiet streets until she reached the fenced off yards at the base of the castle wall. The castle towered over her, bleak and dark grey. There was a chill in the air, as there often is before sunrise, and the grass beneath her feet was wet with dew.

  Maybe there’s a potion or something I can use, she thought. If only I can get inside.

  She was just about to climb into the yards when she heard a voice. ‘And what d'ye think yer doin', young missy?’

  Indie stopped, one foot on the bottom rail. It was too late to turn and run.

  ‘Who's that?’ she called, trying to sound brave. ‘Who's there?’

  ‘I’d be askin' you the same question, my girl. And I'd not be climbin' any further if I was you.’

  Indie could just make out a small bent man standing against the fence, all the way over the other side of the paddock. In between them, beginning to whinny and paw the ground, was the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. He was golden, with a white star on his forehead, and he was looking at her with a faintly puzzled air.

  ‘Master Tenzel wanted me to bring 'is horse in for the great ride this morning, but Canto here don't like bein' a sorcerer's horse.’

  ‘Canto!’ Indie exclaimed. ‘But he belongs to the king.’

  ‘Seems old Tenzel has taken pretty much everything that belonged to the king. He's had a bit of trouble takin' this here pony, though.’ The man chuckled. ‘Hasna' been ridden fer years. Won't let anyone touch him.’