Kayla startled. “Princess?” she asked, but Sarali ignored her. Kayla moved closer and stopped only when the short brother blocked her way. “Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, stepping to the side so she could see the girl she thought was her maid.
Sarali exhaled sharply. “Because it wasn’t important. Now hush,” she said, looking at her brothers. She seemed undecided for a moment, but a glance at T’Kato hardened her. “Me marriage is sealed. He cannot break it now, and I am on an errand that cannot be delayed. Tell Father I most graciously decline his offer, though—” she paused for just a moment and glanced at her husband, then mumbled— “I would stay if I could.”
Niefusu bowed. Jihong snorted and turned his back on her, only to see Kayla watching. She still fumed at Sarali’s betrayal and dismissal. The girl outranked her, even though they came from differing kingdoms. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Jihong’s snarl turned into one of guarded pleasure as he saw her. “It was ye we heard playing?” he asked.
Kayla nodded.
“Ye are masterfully good. It is an honor to hear one such as ye. Thank ye for gracing me ears with yer music.” He nodded once more, then stormed past Kayla and dove into the wall of water.
Niefusu also bowed to Kayla. “It truly is an honor, me lady.” He nodded to his sister and T’Kato. “I am sorry, but Father insists.” At that, several more MerCats stepped through the waterwall, armed and in fully human form. Before T’Kato could draw his sword, he had been disarmed and thrown to the sandy earth. Sarali leaped toward her tall brother, a snarl on her face, and Kayla could see her animal nature shining through the polished exterior. Before she could reach Niefusu, one of the guards had taken her about the waist and thrown her through the water wall.
Niefusu leaned over T’Kato and, in his musical voice, asked the thrashing tattooed Ketahean, “Do ye wish to remain here, pinned to the sand, or would ye rather accompany yer wife into her father’s presence?”
T’Kato immediately stilled. He swallowed and answered, “I will accompany you, if you will return my weapons.”
Niefusu nodded to the guards, who immediately handed the knives back to the Ketahean. He came to his feet and swung at the guard, who remained just out of reach. The other two took a step toward T’Kato, but Niefusu raised a warning hand to hold them back. “Our argument is not with ye, discipled one. We wish only to converse with our sister in our father’s presence, and then ye may be free to go on yer way.”
T’Kato stopped and narrowed his eyes, confusion evident on his face, then nodded sharply before stepping past Niefusu into the water wall. The tall MerCat turned to Kayla. “And what of ye, me lady? Shall we accompany ye to the surface?”
Kayla nodded her head, packed her flute back in its rosewood case, and stuffed it in her satchel. Then, on a whim, she pulled The Sapphire Flute from her bag and raised it to her lips. “Do you know what this is?” she asked, her voice vibrating the instrument to life, a small echo sounding down the waterways. Niefusu’s eyes grew round as he nodded. Kayla played a single note and the air around them chilled until their teeth chattered. Then she pulled the instrument from her lips and put it away. “I am its guardian, and they are mine,” She said, nodding toward the wall where both T’Kato and Sarali had gone. “Where they go, I go.”
Niefusu met her eyes, then gave a sharp nod, much like the one T’Kato had given just moments before. He took Kayla by the hand and led her to the wall. Her heart raced as she stepped near the membrane that held the water into place, unsure what this man intended. He stepped through first, his hands still on her hips. Holding her in place on the sand, he swung around to meet her lips with his own, only the skin of the water separating them. Kayla was so surprised she forgot to breathe for a moment. Then Niefusu exhaled and the skin holding back the water wall grew around her head to form a huge void that let her inhale.
Her mouth tingled as he backed away, took her by the hand, and led her to a chariot pulled by what looked to be dolphins. This chariot was horizontal, with a sled-like surface, a handlebar for them to grip, and a ledge for her feet. He settled her on the sled, wrapped a cord around her waist, and showed her where to place her hands, then he stepped up beside her and hummed a note that set the dolphins to moving at a breakneck pace.
Kayla always felt a little claustrophobic with the bubble around her head, and her natural inclinication was to pant, but she didn’t want to drown on her way to meet the king of the MerCats, so she inhaled slowly. Kayla felt odd knowing that her serving girl was actually a princess. How had that happened? How had Brant not known? And why would Sarali settle for the life of a servant, when she had had so much more? She’d had the notoriety, the position that Kayla had sought for most of her life, and she had left it willingly to marry T’Kato?
Kayla didn’t understand and wasn’t sure she wanted to. Losing everything she’d gained after working so hard for so long was still a bitter taste to her. She knew in her head that it had no meaning, really—but the reality of everything was so far beyond the life she ever envisioned for herself that she still took comfort in her dreams of normalcy. She wanted to be the duchess of Driane. She wanted Brant to be her husband. She wanted lots of little children running about her feet and a nursemaid to care for them.
She was beginning to see that the life she’d imagined was really just a fantastic dream.
The carriage surged through the ocean at a breakneck pace and Kayla became aware of the beauty around her. From somewhere, purple magelights throbbed, setting the world around her to dancing in a strange wave of light. The seaweed, if that’s what it was, grew tall, like giant blades of grass undulating in the current. Schools of fish and sea serpents peeked from behind the fronds of fern-like growth. A manta ray, maybe even the one she’d played for earlier, surfed at their side, his movement strangely bird-like as he kept the dolphins company. She let go of the bar long enough to reach out a hand and touch his rubbery flesh once more and he let her, a slight tremor easing through his length before he looked at her with flattened eyes and nearly smiled.
When Kayla turned back to the sight in front of them, she looked beyond the surging backs of the dolphins to see a city, a sparkling gem of a palace, glittering before her. Two other sled-like chariots entered the massive front gates, and Kayla assumed they carried Sarali and T’Kato. She glanced behind her to see several more chariots with the guards who had attacked T’Kato following. She truly was a captive, whether she’d gone with them willingly or not. It scared her more than anything, aside from losing The Sapphire Flute. She set her eyes on the MerCat palace and steeled her nerves. Whatever lay ahead, she’d handle it with the best she had within her, be it with the power of The Sapphire Flute or the charm she’d gained in ten years at court.
Chapter Three
Ember’s jaw dropped in wolfish surprise as the shadow figures seemed to evaporate in thin air. DeMunth snarled in frustration, his muscles bulging beneath his armor. Ember startled and looked again at his biceps. The golden armor that had once been a breastplate had grown to cover his arms, but they fit like a second skin, not like traditional armor. She could see the shape of the shoulder armor and greaves overlaying his arms, but she could see the skin beneath it, as if she were looking through yellow-tinted glass.
His brow was covered with sweat, though he had not really exerted himself all that much, and it was cool enough outside that Ember would have shivered, if she had been in human form. It was a puzzle she didn’t have the answer for at the moment.
“Where’d they go?” he asked in his melodious mind speech.
Ember shrugged wolfen shoulders, then afraid he would not understand her body language, she answered, “I have no idea, but I’m not going to complain. I thought I was dead for a moment there. How did you break through their shield?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised expressively. “I didn’t. You backed through it. Once you were through, they evidently took it down. It was there one moment
and gone the next. Maybe you broke the magic when you passed through it. I am unsure.”
She’d backed through the shield? Ember had a hard time believing that. She’d not been able to get any of her magic to work, and dispersing a shield you didn’t create was hard and powerful magic. How could she just back through it and not even know it? Having no answers, she let it go for the moment and moved closer to DeMunth, wanting to touch him, but not daring. She liked him too much for either of their good. “Thank you for your help. How did you know I needed you?”
DeMunth quirked his head and looked at her, puzzled. “I am unsure. Something inside me spoke and told me you were in need.” He shook himself and reddened. “It sounds as if I am losing my mind, I am sure, but perhaps it was the voice of Klii’kunn speaking to my soul. You are the wolfchild, after all.”
Ember wasn’t sure how to feel about that and didn’t have time to pursue the thought any longer as Aldarin and the rest of her class came running around the building at that moment. Her step-brother’s sword was drawn and the look on his face was one of panic and fury. When he stopped and found them standing there with no enemy in sight, he spun in confusion, looking for her attackers.
“Where’d they go?” he asked, echoing DeMunth.
The mute shrugged and pointed skyward. Aldarin glanced in the direction of his finger, then looked at Ember. She shrugged her wolf shoulders and tried to speak, but her words came out as a random series of yips, snarls, and growls. The children in her class backed away, one of them pulling a fireball from thin air he seemed prepared to throw. Ember immediately surged to her feet and growled at the boy, who yelped, dropping the fireball to the ground. The grass caught fire, and for the next few minutes, the whole group stomped at the sputtering, sodden grass.
Ember spent that time changing back to her human form, not sure how she managed to do it this time when she had been unable to before. One of the youngest of the group stopped his fire stomping to watch her, his eyes huge as her body stretched and changed into its normal appearance, like clay molded by an unseen hand.
When she was back to herself and her clothing in place, having suddenly appeared to replace her fur, the boy whispered a single word, the awe in his voice near adulation. “Wolfchild,” he mouthed. Just that whisper of sound was enough for the rest of the class to spin and look at her. Varying degrees of confusion, awe, and fear crossed all their faces.
She ignored them and turned to Aldarin. “They’re gone. They disappeared. Poof. Like dandelion puffs on the wind.”
“That’s impossible,” one of the kids sneered at her.
Ember quirked an eyebrow. “Then where are they?” She spun around, her hands stretched out pointing. “Because they’re obviously not here.”
“Maybe he would know,” DeMunth mindspoke to her, pointing to the gasping man whom Ember had attacked.
He was still alive. Her stomach sank now, remembering what she had done, the feel of his blood spurting into her mouth, the coppery warmth coating her tongue. The memory made her gag, but she fought it down and ran past the ogling students.
Before she could think about it, she reached for his throat and covered his hand with her own. It was a pointless act, she knew. His skin was gray, and blood flecked his lips and spurted from between their joined fingers as he gasped for air. Despite his attack, she wished with all her heart she’d been able to think before tearing into his throat. Granted, she’d been defending herself, but she couldn’t stand the thought of this man’s life on her conscience. She’d never killed anyone before, not even in defense. If she could take it back, she would.
At that thought, a warm, yellow light spread through her hand and into the man’s throat. His eyes got big as could be and he gasped, trying to scramble away from her, but the power of the yellow held him down. Then in streaks came green intermixed with the yellow. Ember could do nothing but watch in awe as the magic of light and the earth burrowed into his throat. How she was doing it, she didn’t know. She’d been working hard for days to get her magic to manifest in doing simple things, and nothing had worked. Now she held her enemy to the ground as if it were nothing. If she could heal this man so that he wouldn’t die, maybe she could find out who had attacked her and why. Maybe she could finally get some answers.
Her class had followed her from the sputtering fire and now surrounded her. Aldarin and DeMunth stood amidst the children, but the small class had grown as other members of the community were drawn by her magic like moths to a flame—Ezeker, Shiona, several council members, and even more city dwellers. They had all gathered around to watch as she poured magic into her attacker in the hopes of saving his life.
It pulled at her, like fibers from cotton, spinning something of herself in the healing. She focused, trying to feel exactly what it was she was doing, putting more and more of her essence into the magic until something snapped. Suddenly she floated outside of her body, a white cord stretching upward and out, connected to something she could not see. Glancing down, she followed the line of two more cords connecting her to two separate people in the crowd—people who had yet to notice her problem.
One of those cords went to Ezeker, and the other, stronger, cord connected her to DeMunth. Her body still knelt, frozen over the attacker, who gasped now, his breathing fine—but Ember knew something was wrong. She wasn’t in her body. It wasn’t moving. Ezeker glanced up and shook his head, then reached over and tweaked the cord that ran through her spirit self to her body. Immediately she found herself back where she belonged, gasping like she’d just run a marathon. She fell back from her attacker and lay on the grass, not caring if she got wet or not.
That’s when the muttering began. “Did you see?” “She’s the Wolfchild. I saw her change!” “Impossible. No one can heal that kind of injury!” “ . . . might want to separate her from the other candidates.”
Ember tried to slow her breathing so she could get a handle on the situation. There was no way they were going to keep her from the school or the other students. She wasn’t dangerous, just untrained. She sat up and looked at her attacker. Where his throat had been torn out, the skin was now smooth, but it was tattooed with an intricate layer of yellows and greens that kept him silent at the moment, almost like the manacles placed on Ember when she’d been imprisoned by the mage council. The man scrambled to his feet and in the midst of all the people jumped skyward—or at least, attempted to. His feet never left the ground. He tried again. And again. Nobody said a word or did a thing. They just watched as he stopped, realization crossing his face. Whatever magic had sent his compatriots skyward wasn’t going to work for him. Ember had literally bound him to the earth.
Ezeker stepped forward and took the defeated man by the arm. “Come on. We’ve got some talking to do. Aldarin. DeMunth. Bring Ember.”
Ember tried not to be shocked. They treated her as if she were a prisoner. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet her step-brother and her friend each took one of her arms and marched off the field with her, leaving the rest of her class to clean the grounds alone.
“Ezeker, you can’t just ignore this!” Shiona said, pacing back and forth from one side of Ezeker’s borrowed office to the other. “Ember is the first white mage in three thousand years. She needs twenty-four-hour supervision. We can’t let her be taken or destroyed before she has a chance to learn what she can to heal Rasann. The world is more important than one person’s freedom or will.”
Marda answered, but not the way Ember would have expected. She had thought her mother would be livid over a comment like that, or agree wholeheartedly that Ember must be protected at all costs. “Shiona, remember what we stand for. If you take away Ember’s freedom, you remove from her the very gift the Guardians gave us in the beginning, and we become no better than Laerdish or C’Tan.”
“I know! Don’t you think I understand that? But Ember is a priceless gift, the first chance we’ve had to undo some of the damage the last three millennia have caused. Isn’t it better to sa
crifice the one than lose the many?”
“And what if you were that one?” Marda asked, picking up a statuette from the desk and fiddling with it before turning to Counselor Shiona. “What if it were you being asked to sacrifice all? Would you be so willing to give it up then?”
Shiona didn’t answer. Her jaw set stubbornly, but her eyes were reflective.
Ember was about to breathe a sigh of relief when her mother continued.
“I do not agree with taking Ember away from the other apprentices. She needs to learn, and they could learn from her. I do not agree that she should be put in a locked and guarded room and not be allowed to leave. But . . . I do agree that she needs protection, and DeMunth has proven himself perfectly capable on more than one occasion. I would ask that he be permanently assigned as her guard through the duration of her training, and perhaps into her life as a white mage. The Armor of Light is a keystone of great power, and it is growing already. I think we shall not find a more capable guardian.”
“What?” Ember rose to her feet. “You’re giving me a babysitter? How is it my fault that I got attacked? Why do I have be punished?”
“You do not like my presence?” DeMunth asked her in mindspeech, the hurt more than obvious in his tones.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” she said, turning and answering him aloud. “Of course I like being with you. I just want my freedom, too.”
Ezeker finally spoke. “I believe Counselor Marda is correct in this. You need a guardian, Ember, whether you like it or not. C’Tan is not the only one after you. This attack today . . .” he stopped to scratch his beard, his eyes worried. “This is something new. We are not sure who they are or what magic they use, but they are unfamiliar to us. I think it would be in the best interest of all of us to travel through the caves tonight and get you settled at the academy. We can protect you there. DeMunth will come. Aldarin and White Shadow, too. We shall make you as comfortable as possible, but it is time to leave.”
The Armor of Light Page 3
