CHILD OF DESTINY (The Rising Saga Book 1)

by M. K. Adams

  “What do we do now?” A tall woman with olive skin and short, scruffy brown hair asked from the far end of the room near the hearth.

  “That’s exactly why we wanted you all here in one place. What we do next is something we all need to decide together,” Kwah replied as he tried to look at everyone present in the room.

  A chorus of voices rose up as nearly everyone tried to make their own opinion heard. The only people who didn’t say anything were Lyvanne, Jocelyn, and Turiel who had taken up residence in the booth nearest Kwah. Instead they exchanged worried glances, even among themselves they hadn’t managed to come to any meaningful plan of action and the first signs of how this meeting was going didn’t seem any more hopeful. A large man, whom Lyvanne wasn’t familiar with, similar in shape and build to what Tublik had been, took to his feet. His voice was deep and he quickly silenced the other echoing voices.

  “Our friends in Astreya are right. We need to use this opportunity to take the city!” he said as he balled his fist up and thrust it into the air for effect. As quickly as they were gone, the voices once again rose up in response.

  “He’s right!”

  “We wouldn’t survive the night.”

  Turiel joined the man on his feet. “Listen to me!” he shouted, drawing the eyes of the room onto him as Lyvanne watched on from her seat.

  “As some or even many of you will know, we had plans in motion to use Avagarde as a means of finding out more information about the king’s armies. Where they are, how many men are left in The Rive and how quickly they can be mobilised,” Turiel continued, “but it appears as though the Tyberians have done that for us.”

  Cheers went up from the crowd, and Lyvanne noticed a discrete smile on the face of Jocelyn as the noose around Avagarde’s neck was loosened.

  Turiel raised a hand as he tried to continue. “But that doesn’t mean that our job is done. The king will be distracted and we have a chance now to win victories that we could have only dreamed of a few years ago. We can’t win them on our own and it’s too early to strike straight for Astreya. We two-dozen aren’t enough to claim more than a few streets of Avagarde, let alone the capital. If we’re going to make moves which could really change the landscape of The Rive then we need to bring together the branches, The Spring needs to work as one unit for the first time and we need to begin expanding. We will never truly be enough in numbers or armaments if the people don’t rise up alongside us. We need to start being bolder in our expansion, and we need to start spreading our message across the whole of The Rive, regardless of repercussions from the king.”

  Lyvanne knew he was right. No matter the bravado surrounding them all. After having beaten the king’s soldiers, two-dozen insurgents weren’t enough to do any real damage to the king even with his armies dragged to the North. But there were other issues she knew would arise.

  “What about our friends in Astreya? What about the people who live in the North who are going to be caught in a warzone?” a voice called out from one of the long tables in the middle of the room.

  Kwah took his turn to answer. “We do not have the people to split up effectively. Either we act together or everything we’ve built falls apart and we start again once The Rive has been rid of Tyberians.”

  The answer didn’t please a handful of people sat throughout the room, all of which voiced their disagreement. Including Jocelyn, who took to her feet.

  “Sinjin is my brother, and I won’t abandon him to a city about to erupt into chaos,” she said, as the room grew quiet around her. “It’s important that The Spring is stronger than ever over the coming months, and many of you will be needed in the South. But if you have family in Astreya or further North then you’re welcome to join me.”

  There it was, the reason why after an hour of discussions they’d not been able to agree on where they should go and what they should do.

  “I won’t leave Sinjin to die alone,” Jocelyn continued.

  “He would understand,” Turiel tried to intervene. “This is what we’ve always wanted. He knows what kind of opportunity this could be.”

  “That’s not your choice to make,” Jocelyn said, her voice cold.

  “Us three,” Turiel said, his voice growing quieter in defeat as the others watched on. “We need to stay together.”

  “Then come with me?” Jocelyn asked quietly, before in a moment of weakness reaching out and taking his hand in front of everyone. Turiel’s head had dropped, the answer already etched in his face.

  Lyvanne knew that Turiel loved Sinjin like a brother and that he didn’t want to see Astreya descend into chaos any less than the others, but The Spring had been his life’s work since leaving the king’s palace. He wasn’t willing to let the opportunity to establish some kind of foothold in The Rive slip past him.

  Tearing her eyes away from her two friends and out over the gathered crowd where small outcrops of people were giving serious consideration to what Jocelyn was saying. She wasn’t sure exactly how many had family in the North, but likewise these people had grown so close that they were like a new family all of their own.

  “I can’t make you stay with us,” Turiel said, turning his attention away from Jocelyn and towards the crowd as the clamour died down. “But I do ask that you think this all through before you make a decision. The day after next Kwah and I will be leaving for Avagarde where we’re going to meet up with another branch. Once there, we will be sending out letters to all other known active branches of The Spring and we will begin to establish a plan of action for how to take advantage of the situation we have been gifted. I ask that you think of the long-term success of what we’re trying to achieve here and join us. But if you do have family in the North who you wish to help, then Jocelyn will be travelling for Astreya on the same day. If you wish to join her then we will send you on with what provisions we can spare.”

  Turiel shot a sheepish glance towards Jocelyn across the table they shared. It was obvious that Turiel still wasn’t pleased that she was leaving them, but he was trying not to let that stand between his feelings for her. Then in a moment of clarity, Lyvanne sat there, looking between her two friends who were about to depart on drastically different paths, and her face grew cold as she realised that she didn’t know which one she wanted to follow.

  She hadn’t given it much thought until now but with things in The Rive being on the brink of collapse, it was hard to tell how long it would be again until they were all reunited. As the voices around the room once again picked up, Lyvanne’s mind drifted to thoughts of her friends back in Astreya. The way that she had promised to help them get out of the city and off the streets, the way that none before her had ever come back even if they’d said they would.

  Then she heard Abella’s voice in her head, and she remembered the way that she had told her how the Angel had granted her a great gift and the opportunity for a better future for not just herself, but for everyone. She didn’t doubt that Abella would want her to go with Turiel, to help The Spring work towards the end of the king’s reign.

  “Take tomorrow to decide,” Kwah’s voice snapped her back to attention. “If you want to carry on this journey we’ve begun together then please hold your opinions on what action needs to be taken until we reach Avagarde. The situation has grown beyond us few and a more formal approach will have to be adopted in the coming weeks.”

  Kwah’s voice was firm. Lyvanne felt quite sure that he’d grown tired of people shouting out suggestions for which town or city they should try and liberate whilst the king’s attention was being draw elsewhere.

  The lively atmosphere of the night before was gone. Shortly after the meeting ,nearly all but a handful of people had already retreated back to their rooms. Lyvanne lay in bed, her mind racing with arguments for and against the two paths she was going to have to choose between. Jocelyn lay in the bed next to her, but with her arm still causing her pain and no alcohol in her system to numb it the Hemeti was tossing and turning unable to sleep. Turiel was st
ill downstairs, not through a longing for alcohol or socialising Lyvanne thought, but through not wanting to have to confront Jocelyn yet.

  Lyvanne closed her eyes and imagined a world where none of this had ever happened, a world where she hadn’t grown up on the streets, a world where she was free to have a family and make friends who lived in the same small village and weren’t constantly on the run. She pictured the future she had always imagined for herself, the one she had started saving for, and the same one that she’d had to give up. It felt like a lost dream now, something that had fallen out of her reach for good. She had chosen to give up that dream when she decided to join The Spring, it wasn’t a decision she regretted, but it made the choice before her all the more important. Because whomever she left behind might fall out of reach for good too.

  Hoping once again to find an answer as to which path she should follow, Lyvanne said a prayer to the Angel of Destiny.

  Dear Angel watching over us, please lend me your sight, please show me what I am to do, show me what is to come.

  Chapter 39

  The next day came and went in a haze. Lyvanne wandered through the village, eager to get out of the tavern and to avoid the deepening split between her friends. Turiel hadn’t come to bed until late into the night, and likewise, Jocelyn had been up and out of bed early into the morning. Neither appeared eager to try and talk things through before the time came for them to go their separate ways.

  By the time she was out and in the village, there were already people hard at work. She saw Ronnoc riding off along the hills in the distance, scouting their perimeter and watching for any sign of trouble. A few of the other Hemeti in The Spring had gathered with some of the locals in a field nearby and were beginning to help with a day’s work among the crops. Lyvanne offered to help as she walked by, but they’d declined, albeit nicely, knowing that her inexperience would only slow down what was already an arduous process. Before long, she was joined by some of the children who she had seen upon their arrival. They danced around her and tried to drag her off in various directions to play their games. Although they were much younger than her, most of them being about Oh’s age or slightly older, she enjoyed their company. They made her feel like a child again and given what had happened over the past week, it was a feeling she wasn’t eager to dismiss quickly.

  She wondered what their future held for them. Open war on The Rive the likes of which Tyberia might bring hadn’t been seen since humans invaded what was then the Hemeti homeland. She wanted to protect them the way she had Lira and Oh for all those years, to ask them to come with her when she left on the next day, but unlike her these children had families and homes. They had more safety here in the countryside, isolated and quiet than she could ever offer them.

  Dawn turned to day, day turned to dusk and dusk turned to night. Lyvanne spent what felt like hours playing with the other children, she’d walked the perimeter of the village what felt like a thousand times, and as the sun set in the west she had found Jocelyn; sitting under a tree just beyond the village boundary.

  “What are you doing out here, little one?” Jocelyn asked as Lyvanne approached, her voice quiet and sad.

  Lyvanne shrugged. She didn’t really have an answer. Jocelyn patted the ground next to her with her good arm, and Lyvanne took a seat on the grass. Neither said a word, instead they sat there in silence looking out over the countryside beyond them. As the sky turned dark, Lyvanne watched as a number of nocturnal animals took into the sky. Off towards the village Lyvanne watched a pair of owls, flying through the air together before perching on a thatched roof. A rattling from inside the building scared one away and left the other alone, a watchman alone upon the roof.

  “I don’t know where to go,” Lyvanne said, breaking the silence.

  “What do you mean?” Jocelyn asked, turning to look at her friend.

  “You and Turiel. I don’t know who to go with tomorrow.”

  Jocelyn shook her head. “Lyvanne, it’s not a choice you need to make. Tomorrow when Kwah and Turiel leave for Avagarde, you’ll go with them.”

  Jocelyn took Lyvanne by surprise. “Why?” Lyvanne asked, unable to hide her disappointment that Jocelyn didn’t want her to come with her back to Astreya.

  “Lyvanne, the only reason that Turiel and I are here now is because we wanted to get you out of Astreya,” Jocelyn replied, her voice calm but authoritative. “I’m going back to Astreya because that’s where I’m needed right now. Turiel doesn’t need me by his side whilst he has everyone else there… but he does need you. If you go back to Astreya then everything we’ve fought for, everything that people died for will be wasted. If the king finds out you’re there and captures you then do you really think Turiel will stand aside? No, he’ll risk everything to come after you.”

  “But what about my friends in -

  “Don’t worry about your friends. I will do everything I can whilst I’m in Astreya to find them, and then when Sinjin and I leave we’ll bring them with us. I promise.”

  Lyvanne blushed, she should have known that all she would have to do is ask. She leant over and wrapped her arms around her friend, being careful not to put any pressure on the injured arm and ribs. Tears welled up in both their eyes. Lyvanne found it surprising how close they had grown in their time together, and now on the verge of being separated it felt like losing Oh, Lira, and Abella all over again—

  only this time she wasn’t ready.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t finish training you,” Jocelyn carried on, nodding at the small dagger given to her by Kwah that she now carried around her waist at all times. “You better promise me that the next time I see you you’ll be better than Turiel with a sword.”

  Lyvanne nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll ask Kwah to show me how. When will I next see you again?”

  “I don’t know, little one. Could be a few weeks if I’m in and out of Astreya quickly enough, could be much longer if things don’t calm down and they need my help. But don’t worry, I’ll write when I can, and I’ll look for your friends as soon as I can. They can stay with Sinjin and I once I’ve found them.”

  Lyvanne smiled as best she could. The concept of being separated from Jocelyn for any long period of time made her stomach churn and her heart ache. “Can you promise me one more thing?”

  “What would that be?”

  “Go back to the room and talk to Turiel.”

  Jocelyn looked at Lyvanne and for the first time envied her innocent and youthful outlook on life. “It’s not always that simple. Turiel and I we’re… complicated. Always have been.”

  “That doesn’t mean you have to carry on like that. If you don’t know when you’ll next see him then you should clear the air,” Lyvanne pressed, unable to understand why two people who clearly liked each other the way they did would allow themselves to go their separate ways at a time like this.

  Jocelyn pressed her good arm against the tree and used it as leverage to push herself back onto her feet. “Come on, Lyvanne. It’s getting dark, and we should probably head back.”

  “Promise me…” Lyvanne asked one last time.

  “I can’t,” Jocelyn replied and turned back towards the village.

  That night, Lyvanne spent a few hours alone downstairs, sitting quietly in a booth as the rest of the tavern slept. In part, she had wanted to give Jocelyn and Turiel time alone, hoping that they would work things out, but more so she had wanted to delay what was about to happen the next morning. So, she chose isolation and sat near the far end of the room where the hearth was slowly turning into dying embers. Before too long had passed, Lyvanne’s eyes grew heavy, but stubbornness won out and despite her bobbing head she forced herself to stay downstairs.

  “Are you okay, child?” The voice was quiet, calm, and new to Lyvanne’s ears. Opening her eyes, Lyvanne realised that she had fallen asleep in her booth. The dim rays of sunlight breached the windows of the tavern, and Rosey towered over her. “Are you okay?” she asked again.

  �
�Yes… sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep here,” Lyvanne replied groggily.

  Rosey smiled. Her red hair was tied back into a bun, and there were a number of freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose. “Don’t be sorry, it’s alright. Did you at least sleep well?” she asked as she took a seat opposite her.

  Lyvanne smiled back and nodded. She felt almost ashamed that she hadn’t properly spoken to her before now. “Have you always owned this place? It’s lovely.”

  “Was my pa’s before he passed. Went off to fight the king’s wars and never came home, so I became the owner. Think I’ve done alright with the place given that business can be slow at times,” Rosey responded, a proud smile spread across her face as she looked around at the stone walls that surrounded them. “What about you though? You seem a little young to be caught up in all of this even for The Spring.”

  Lyvanne was caught off guard. She realised that until now she’d never had to explain to anyone outside of people who were already involved exactly who she was and why she was suddenly part of the insurgency. “I kinda fell into it I guess. I don’t mind though. They do good, and I want to help with that.”

  Rosey nodded. “They do a lot of good, but it’s dangerous you know? Being with them the way you are. I could always do with an extra pair of hands around here… if that interests you?”

  Lyvanne’s face flushed a bright red. “Do you mean… I could live here?”

  Rosey’s smile was infectious. “Yes, that’s what I mean. You can help me and the other girls out, especially if there’s war coming to The Rive then I reckon we’ll be seeing a lot more footfall around here sooner or later.”

  The answer came quicker than Lyvanne had thought it would ever be possible. “No… thank you.” She had pictured being with the children again, growing up alongside them and having real stability in her life for the first time, but it wasn’t what she wanted anymore; it wasn’t how she could best help.