The Queen's Opal: A Stone Bearers Novel (Book One)

by Jacque Stevens

Drynn backed up. “You found Kol?” How did Tayvin even know who Kol was?

  Tayvin shrugged, looking over his shoulder to the alley they had climbed. “I went to the Tower, and he found me. He said we could use the opal to find you, but I wasn’t sure it would work until I saw you. They’re probably still waiting.” He walked toward the alley.

  “Who?”

  “Kol and a wizard, Sage Xavian Der’helder.” Tayvin lowered himself from the roof to the ground. “We’ve got to help him find Mira at the healer’s, and then—”

  “You were with a healer?” Drynn took a few steps after him, dazed.

  “Yes. Cindle found her and wanted me to stay there while she looked for you, but then Mira got hurt, and I heard that the wizards might know something about you too. So I left and that’s everything. Just backward.” Tayvin turned around, looking up at Drynn.

  Drynn stayed on the roof, trying to piece together the fragmented story.

  “Cindle.” She hadn’t left Tayvin in a ditch. He was smiling. Never beaten, never trapped.

  Drynn had been on his own, scared out of his mind, and Tayvin let himself be convinced to sit around and do nothing by a dorran who wanted them stuck in the human lands. How could Tayvin do that? Didn’t he care enough to even try?

  Drynn reached for the knife in his pocket. It wasn’t the Tayvin he knew, wasn’t the one he wanted. Wearing human clothes, speaking the language as if he were fluent.

  Maybe he didn’t know his brother at all—misjudged him, just like he misjudged everyone else. Maybe Tayvin had wanted him gone as Kol had suggested. Was Tayvin mad at Drynn because their father had passed him over or just tired of rescuing him or some other reason he couldn’t predict?

  Tayvin squinted at Drynn, frown forming. “We’ll have to figure out how to tell Cindle you’re all right. She’s still probably looking for you somewhere . . . You are all right, aren’t you? You’re coming down?” Concern leaked through every word and movement.

  His brother. Tayvin loved him, and he had come after him. He was right there, waiting for Drynn to climb off the roof and walk the streets as a human would.

  It wasn’t fair. Drynn should be glad his brother had been safe. Tayvin wouldn’t have known where to look for him before, wouldn’t have had any choice but to listen to Cindle—Drynn had wanted Tayvin to listen to Cindle when they first started out.

  Drynn had made mistakes, trusted humans he shouldn’t have, done things he would never have done at home, but somehow, he had expected his brother to be above that. To have figured out the human land and rescued him. Made it look easy.

  But he hadn’t.

  “We should leave.” Drynn hated the human world, hated himself for ever thinking it might be exciting or interesting when all he had were stories locked in a book. They had to go home before any more of its venom spread to ruin everything he once knew.

  Tayvin nodded. “All right. We’ll just get the wizard to the healer, and then we’ll—”

  “No. I don’t think we should go back there at all.”

  “You’re scared, but it’s all right. We’ll stay together. I’m never letting you out of my sight again. But Mira really needs to see the wizard. It shouldn’t take long, and then we can—”

  “Can’t they go without us?” Why would two humans in the human lands need elven help to find each other?

  “Maybe, but Mira could be dying. I promised her mother I would bring the wizard, and we could ask him about the sickness too. That’s why we came here.”

  Who even cared about the sickness anymore? No one else was dying as far as they knew, and staying here any longer . . .

  The girl was dying. He should want to help her—whoever she was—but . . .

  Drynn’s hand left his pocket. Tayvin hadn’t changed. Drynn had. He might not need to eat like the humans, but just like the thieves, he had become so desperate in his fear that nothing else seemed to matter. He had become something he despised.

  Drynn had wanted Tayvin back. He had gotten him. So Drynn was going to get off this roof and be himself again. “You’ll stay with me. We’ll go together.”

  Tayvin cocked his head as if that should be obvious. Drynn dropped from the roof and fell a few steps behind Tayvin. Just as he always had.

  PART III:

  HEALED

  CHAPTER 32

  KOL WAS WITH a wizard. Kol hadn’t been hurt. Drynn wanted to be glad—he was glad—just like when Tayvin had found him. But what did it mean? If Kol hadn’t been locked in the Tower against his will, then had he fully joined the wizards or embraced the thieves or something entirely different?

  Drynn wanted to talk to him. He wanted to give Kol the chance to provide his own explanation, but in the few days of travel it took them to ride the horses to Wildred, all Drynn did was follow his brother, silently encouraging Tayvin to glare at anyone who got too close.

  Drynn was the one triggering the hostility in his traveling companions now, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Nothing but fear. A fear that only grew as they returned to the same city that Sorren lived, and the thieves had their headquarters.

  In Wildred, Tayvin led them through the closed-in streets to a ramshackle cottage. The wizard leapt off his horse and hurried into the house before Tayvin could prompt him.

  Drynn dismounted and followed the others, more slowly. A woman, Healer Nami, knelt by a couch, holding a small girl’s hand. Nami’s attention was so fixed on her daughter that she didn’t move when they first came in, but two small, surprisingly identical boys did.

  “Dada camed home!” one said.

  “Dada, Dada!” The boys raced across the floorboards and rammed into Xavian’s knees.

  The loud noise sent Drynn behind Tayvin for a moment, hand on the dagger that he had gotten from Jesp. “Dada?” Tayvin and Kol asked, staring.

  “You didn’t know?” The familiar worry swept over Drynn again.

  Tayvin shook his head. “She said her husband was a soldier.”

  She did? Why would Nami lie about that if she and Tayvin were friends?

  The little girl was injured. She rasped with each breath and seemed so pale, but Drynn still expected some kind of plot. Would anyone notice if they just left, now that Xavian was there?

  Nami wiped her tear-stained eyes, turning around. “Ian, thank goodness. I need your help.” She reached for his hand like a drowning woman. “Tayvin, would you take the boys out please?”

  “We want Dada!”

  “Dada, Dada!”

  “Later, boys, I promise.” Xavian untangled his legs from the boys’ grasps to join Nami. “Go with Tayvin, please. You can see the horses.”

  Tayvin took each boy by the hand. “Coming, Drynn?”

  The open door beckoned, promising freedom. But then Kol blocked his way, giving Drynn an excuse to do the stupid thing and look at the girl again.

  “Just a sec,” Kol said. “I need to talk to ’im, and Xavian wouldn’t like me leavin’.”

  Drynn nodded, eyes still on Mira. He had wanted to hear Kol out, and this would be his final chance. Then he and Tayvin could leave without any sort of regret.

  Or at least fewer regrets.

  Tayvin opened his mouth a few times, but the identical boys squirmed in his grasp. “Fine, but I’ll be right outside. Watching.”

  “You do that.” Kol smiled.

  Tayvin glared, but he led the boys out without another word.

  Drynn and Kol were left alone in the back of the room as Nami and Xavian discussed Mira’s condition in whispers that Drynn had no trouble hearing.

  “When she got hit,” Nami said, “she had some bad breaks and bruises, but she seemed stable after I started to treat her. But then—I don’t know. Maybe it’s just an infection, but if there is hemorrhaging or if a bone shard punctured its way into circulation . . . Surgery is so risky, especially if I am not sure what I’m looking for.”

  “Let me see.” Xavian stared intently at his daughter, as if looking right through her. His ar
m crept over Nami’s shoulder. “Honey, you did everything you were supposed to. I’m going to do all I can, but you’re going to have to prepare yourself, because my magic can’t fix everything. It only speeds up and strengthens her immune system. Even if I get everything to stabilize, she still might be crippled. Maybe for the rest of her life.”

  “Drynn.”

  Drynn jumped. After straining to hear the couple, Kol’s whisper sounded rather loud.

  Kol fiddled with something in his hands. “I-I have something for you. I didn’t mean to keep it; I didn’t know what it was. Here.”

  “What—?”

  Drynn flinched as the opal brushed his hand, bursting with light, and his vision changed.

  Beds crowded a large room. Drawn curtains blocked off a few of the beds, but most of the curtains were open, revealing their occupants. Some of the human patients slept, but others grimaced or even cried out in pain, wounded or sick with unknown ailments. Healers in green robes like Xavian’s walked between the beds administering herbs, changing dressings, or just looking everything over. A low murmur of human voices filled the room, stealing all the air.

  Panic rose within Drynn at the sight, certain the sudden pull into the dream world had left him far too vulnerable in front of the humans. What was going on now?

  A curtain dropped. “I can’t do it!” Saylee cried, eyes blurring with tears.

  “Saylee, it’s all right,” a man behind her said. “Do you think any of us were bursting with confidence when we first started out?”

  The girl rubbed her eyes and looked up at Bearer Mouikki. “Maybe?”

  Mouikki laughed, shaking the tips of his braids. “Of course not. When I had my first vision about an upcoming storm, everyone thought I was a raving lunatic. It didn’t help when I turned out to be right. They said it was demon work, and if Bearer Diana had not shown up when she did, they would have drowned me.”

  Saylee shook her head. “But that’s because your island’s so isolated. They didn’t understand magic.”

  “That isn’t the point. After that experience, everything about magic scared me, and I was impossible to teach. It’s normal to struggle at first, so can you tell me what is really bothering you?”

  Saylee took a step back, as if she also wanted to flee. “They hate me,” she whispered. “They say I stole the stone—that it should’ve gone to a human. And I haven’t been able to heal anyone yet. Maybe that means they’re right.”

  Of course the humans would say that. They twisted everything around, even attacking their own members to prey upon the elves’ sympathy. Even the humans claiming to be hurt could be dangerous. Saylee and Drynn should have left with their respective brothers when they had the chance. Drynn still intended to find Tayvin and leave once the vision ended. Assuming Drynn hadn’t already killed himself off by falling unconscious in front of the humans.

  The small phoenix on Saylee’s shoulder rubbed his feathers against her face.

  Mouikki knelt down, eye level with the girl. “Saylee, I know elves rarely struggle with illness. If you serve as a bearer, you will mostly be serving other races. Is that a problem for you?”

  “No!” she cried at once.

  It was the right answer, but it didn’t come to Drynn quite so easily. If the humans were really hurt, healing them wouldn’t be a problem. It was their other schemes that made the path less clear. He might try to heal them, and they would find some way to punish him for it.

  “I mean, some elves don’t like humans very much,” Saylee continued. “Dada says I have to be careful, and Marryll says . . . but he doesn’t really know. I want to help. I just—”

  “You’re scared,” Mouikki said, his brown eyes bright with encouragement. Even the snake draped over his shoulders seemed to smile as the bearer spoke. “But I want to let you in on a secret: the people who tried to drown me and the people who speak against you are even more scared than you are.”

  “They are?” Her voice held the same wonder Drynn had felt when Kol had said it to him. Humans—with their sticks, knives, and magic—were scared of an elven child who hid from them.

  Ridiculous.

  “They’re in pain.” Mouikki waved at the humans behind the curtain and then to the stone at Saylee’s neck. “They want someone to heal them, and they look to the gods for help. The bearers were always advocates to their deities, mortals who could understand what the people needed. Instead, the stone called to a girl who will likely never be sick or hungry or anything else. A fairy. They want a bearer who understands them, and they get a fairy.” He gave the final word full weight, almost mimicking those who used the word as an insult. “That’s why they hate you, and when you hide and separate yourself from them, you make it worse. But I think it is very encouraging.”

  Saylee rubbed at her eyes again, vision clear. “You do?”

  “You’re scared. So are they. You do understand them. If you push past your own fear to help them, show you love them, you’ll both be healed.” Mouikki peered at Saylee so deeply that it seemed as though he was also speaking to Drynn, guessing his fear and extending the promise through the ages of time.

  “How?” Saylee asked, mirroring Drynn’s desperate desire to see the man’s words fulfilled.

  Whether or not the humans continued to beat or chain him, Drynn didn’t want to stay this fearful, loathsome creature forever. He wanted to be able to help his friends without hesitation, to be at least as strong as he used to be. Stronger.

  “First off, you need to ignore what the others are saying. The stones require an element of faith, and there’s no doubt in the council’s mind that you’re the heir. Even if the stone didn’t react to your touch, even if you weren’t having visions, and even if Kerro pecked you along with the rest of us, I would know.” The man smiled. “You are very much like Lady Diana, you know.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. Memory better than anything, eager to learn, an innate patience and love for all creatures—those are the qualities of Renewal’s bearer. Now, let’s forget this foolishness and get to work.” Mouikki reached for his own stone, glowing from his bracer. “Do you remember how the magic works?”

  Saylee nodded. “Renewal can restore things, or people in this case, to their former form. If it’s an invading illness or a physical wound, I can put it back to the way it was before it ever happened. Other stones can heal too, but they work differently. Yours, Destiny’s stone, can heal by speeding things up, but only if it’s something that has the possibility of healing in time. Inspiration can heal by—”

  Mouikki held up his hand, beaming with pride. “I suppose it serves me right for asking the Bearer of Renewal if she remembers something. Are you ready to go out there? Even if you can’t do it this time, the people will see that you care enough to try, and they’ll be no worse off. We have other healers, and I can help with a few things too. Just focus on the stone and ask to be guided by your patron. You will know what to do. You just need to focus your desires and your faith.”

  Saylee opened the curtain again, scanning the busy room. “I’ll try.”

  Of course Saylee still wanted to help them; it’s what Drynn’s mother would have done. Drynn wasn’t nearly so brave, but the same words pushed their way out of his mouth.

  “I’ll try.”

  “Drynn?” Kol leaned in, hovering over him.

  Drynn pushed up from the wood floor. Though he was aware of Kol and Nami standing nearby, his vision of Saylee seemed more real.

  “We’ll start out slow,” Mouikki said. “There’s a child here, about your size, and he has a broken arm that the healers just set. Should we go see him?”

  Saylee followed the man through one of the partitions to the child’s bed.

  Drynn walked over to Mira on the couch. Xavian looked up at him, blinking. The man didn’t look particularly threatening, but Drynn’s heart raced. Could he really do this?

  The images of the vision seemed safer, and Drynn latched onto them.


  The family of the child in the vision noticed Saylee and the other bearer.

  “Bearer Mouikki, what an honor,” the woman said with the slightest of bow.

  He nodded in return. “Greetings, sister. Allow me to introduce Bearer Starrillaylee.”

  “The fairy girl?”

  Mouikki nodded. “Yes. With your permission, she would like to help.”

  “Please, let me try,” Drynn and Saylee said as one.

  Xavian blinked at him. “What? Look, you’re rather young, so if you want to help, the best thing you can do is let me concentrate.”

  “Xavian, look at the stone,” Kol said.

  The man frowned, but his eyes found the opal in Drynn’s hand, now shining. “What’s going on?”

  Drynn had no time to explain. He wanted to help, he needed to help, and if the girl died there would be no help for either of them.

  He reached out to her.

  Saylee reached for her own patient. It was as if Saylee, guided by the other bearer, guided Drynn’s movements now too. He felt his will submitting to hers and the power of the stone.

  It wasn’t as if Drynn could see it, but he knew exactly what happened next. Every piece of the shattered bones reformed, the bruises dissolved, and the blood vessels webbed themselves back together. Even the herbs Nami had used to keep her daughter calm cleared from her blood. And as the rasp left Mira’s chest, it seemed worth any human trap that might follow.

  But as his vision of Saylee faded completely, a crowd of voices filled his ears, as insistent as an approaching mob. Another vision, but this showed the blurry image of the shops and streets of Wildred. Two identical boys, Nami’s twin sons, darted across the street. And a man, the thief Cain, watched from a side road. He had to be up to no good, but the girl Drynn had just healed, the one whose memory he inhabited, turned without pause or recognition.

  A crash echoed behind Drynn, behind the girl. His side flashed with suffocating agony, transferring the sharp echo of Mira’s pain along with the memory.