Daughter of Lightning

by Anna Logan

  Ki snickered. “I wanna see yer song and dance. Didn’ know ya were a singin’ man Yh—”

  Yhkon cut him off with a good-natured glare. “It’s a phrase; I’m not a singing man. Remember that once they’re here, you have to pretend like you have no idea who we are. If they mention us, play dumb.”

  Kae grunted and elbowed her brother. “That shouldn’t be hard for you, Ki.”

  Yhkon and Grrake exchanged a half entertained, half uncertain glance. The two teenagers before them probably weren’t the best pair to trust not to spill a secret. Oh, well. If they did let it slip, then they’d just explain the thing, and hopefully Yhkon and Grrake could come in and fill the portraits the twins would paint of them, and eventually win over Talea and Wylan’s trust. It had to be done eventually, one way or another. And hopefully, Ki and Kae would be able to get the job done without any accidental giveaways. Or, they didn’t necessarily need Wylan and Talea to trust them, only to believe them just enough to travel to Jalkiva or Calcaria.

  They spent the rest of the day in the Krim’s house. Ayida wanted to tidy up the place since they were apt to have Talea, Wylan, and their crew as company soon, but Grrake gently reminded her that supposedly she had no idea that was the case, and therefore it would be more realistic to their ploy for the house to be in its usual state. Its usual state was still considerably clean by most standards, Ayida’s own standards being exceptionally high. Especially considering it was the home of four energetic, rambunctious kids.

  Yhkon and Grrake spent much of the time coaching the twins. “Remember,” he told them as they were removing their celiths’ tack. Celithmanship was something they’d have to master in time, so Yhkon and Grrake had them practice what they could when they were around. “You know far more about the whole thing than they do. You know how many wards there are, about Calcaria, our plans, what Kaydor’s up to, all of it. They don’t know anything like that. So, you have to make it seem like you don’t either.”

  Kae’s thin brows were drawn together. “But if they ask about you guys, shouldn’t we, say, try to alleviate some of their suspicion?”

  “Alleviate?” Ki repeated with a smirk. “Looka you, talking all smawt.”

  Kae gave his arm a shove but kept her inquiring gaze on Yhkon.

  He frowned. “We did consider that. However, Wylan’s suspicion would be hard to so easily uproot. He’d probably become more suspicious of you, rather than less suspicious of us.”

  “So.” Ki leaned against the rail of the fence around their yard, lifting his hands with palms out and fingers spread. “Lemme get it right. They’re spicious like of you. They got no rea’on not ta be. Yer gonna pop in evenchally and jes hope it works isself out?”

  “I wouldn’t put it quite like that…” he crossed his arms, then shrugged. “But yes.”

  The teenager laughed. “Well den. This oughta be a jolly good time.”

  The evening found them preparing to set out with the twins. When everything was ready, Yhkon and Grrake faced Ayida and Alket. “You’re sure you still don’t want to go to Calcaria?”

  Alket nodded for both of them. “We’ll stay ‘roun here as lung as wer able.”

  “Alright.” Yhkon tugged at the hood that draped down his back, ready to pull it up over his head. “We’d best leave.”

  Ayida, almost impulsively, gave him a hug. “Please take care of them. And yourself.”

  “We will,” he said.

  “And he probably won’t take care of himself, but I’ll do that part,” Grrake offered on a lighter note. The final farewells were made, and the two Wardens left the house, the twins on their heels. Kae rode with Yhkon and Ki with Grrake, as they traveled into the woods that fringed Castown, taking a roundabout route to where the Anduls, Brenly, and Wylan were camped.

  On celithback it didn’t take long to come within a mile of it, where they dismounted. “Alright you two,” Grrake said, putting a hand on either of the siblings’ shoulders. “You’re on an evening stroll, with instructions to look for some wild herbs for your mother. You only knew of two other lightning pillars, one that moves around and one to the northwest. You’ve been considering traveling to find it. You’ve never heard of or seen two assassins, or vigilantes, or whatever they call us. You presume your abilities are some sort of gift from Narone, but otherwise don’t understand them. Ready?”

  Ki immediately nodded with gusto, while Kae still appeared to be mentally committing the list to memory. “Yeah. Ready,” she said after a moment.

  “Good.” Yhkon managed a smile for both of them. “Then we’ll be seeing you anywhere from a few days to a few weeks from now, once we get Tarol and Haeric wrangled up, and have an opportunity. But we’ll be nearby.”

  Ki bobbed his head again. “Time ta get dis show on de road. Later!” he grinned and started walking in the direction the Wardens had indicated. Kae gave a more subdued smile and slight wave, before following.

  Yhkon mounted his celith, Grrake doing the same. They kept the steeds in place, however, until the twins had moved out of sight. “Think Wylan and Talea will buy it?”

  With a contemplative frown, Grrake shook his head. “I don’t know, but there’s not much else to do. We’ll just have to see what happens. It’ll work out, one way or another.”

  ~♦~

  “Should we like, back up, or something?”

  Talea smiled a little at her brother. “No, so long as you don’t touch us, you’ll be fine.” She turned her head to look at Wylan, standing a couple feet to her right. “Ready?”

  His silent answer was to raise one of his hands, brightening blue light visible in his veins. It reflected in his dark eyes, making the intensity of his mien all the more distinct.

  She looked back to their other companions. Naylen had an eager curiosity in his expression, even if he had positioned himself several paces away from them. Seles was even farther back, features drawn with concern. Brenly, in contrast, looked quite at ease, as she might—she’d seen it before.

  The woods around them were murky with the coming of night, the sky above a dark twilight. Their lightning pillar would make a perfectly conspicuous beacon to anyone looking. All she could do was hope that the other would be looking, and no one else would be, as unlikely as that was.

  Drawing in a deep breath, she brought her own glowing hand to shoulder-height. She’d never made a pillar before. Still, she could already feel the familiar pull: as if her hand and the clouds above were magnetized to one another, the air in between brimming with invisible energy. All she had to do was call on that energy. One…two…th—

  Loud, boisterous laughter made her withdraw the blue glow into her body, arms falling back to her sides. Wylan had done similarly, except his arms had moved into a defensive position, almost placed exactly how they’d need to be to strike.

  “That isn’t alsiroot, you moron.” Came a simple, feminine voice from the same direction, just loud enough to be heard, even though whoever spoke was out of sight.

  “Oh, sure it is! It’s got de big leaves and li’l flowers, and it—” the young, male voice that had laughed was interrupted by the other.

  “Those flowers are red. Alsiroot has yellow.”

  “Wull, das yer opinion, but I think—”

  After giving Talea a bewildered glance, Naylen interrupted the voice again, “Hello?”

  Silence, until the male voice called back in a skeptical tone, “Hullo? Who’r you?”

  “Ki!” exclaimed the female. “Don’t be rude.” There was a great deal of rustling underbrush, then a pair of teenagers emerged from the darkness. They looked like siblings, both with the same light blond hair and large eyes.

  There was an awkward moment of staring, before the boy grinned. “Well, hullo to y’all. Whatchya be doin’ here?” his still-cheerful expression became quizzical. “Is ya travelers?” without waiting for an answer, he punched the girl’s shoulder. “Kae! Travelers! Whatdya make of that?”

  She rolled her eyes and spoke to th
em. “Sorry about my brother, he’s a pest. My name’s Kilae Krim, you can call me Kae.” She moved forward, offering a hand for Seles to shake, then Naylen. Talea, still baffled, reached out her own hand when it came her turn…and jumped when a hot tingle shot up her arm and aqua sparks flashed.

  Kae gasped, stepping backward. Her wide eyes were even more so, as she gaped at Talea. “You’re…you’re one of the others!”

  Talea was still trying to mobilize her tongue when the boy, Ki, lunged forward and snatched her hand. Another tingle, more sparks. He gave a gleeful cackle, grin never failing. “Wull I don’ balieve it!”

  She gave her head a hard shake and blinked, trying to clear it. “Wait. You uh, you both have, well, the lightning?”

  “Sure thing, ma friend.” Ki declared, flourishing his glowing hand for evidence.

  Talea turned to look incredulously at Wylan. His generally unreadable face had some decipherable emotion for once, mostly surprise, but also wariness. He crossed his arms, the fingers of one hand drumming on his elbow “How did you know we were here?”

  “Know?” Kae jerked backward, perplexed. “We didn’t. On our last birthday, her pillar was, I’d say, a couple hundred miles northwest of here.”

  “She didn’t come from that direction,” was all he said, sternly.

  Ki cocked his head with interest. “Relly? Thet’s something. Than thar’s three others.”

  “We both came from south of here and have never seen a pillar besides yours. Now how did you know we were here? Did Yhkon and Grrake send you?”

  “Who’r they?”

  Wylan didn’t respond, allowing the tense silence to draw out. Unsure what else to do, Talea spoke up. “Okay. Do you know of two men named Yhkon and Grrake?”

  The reply was two shaking heads.

  “And you didn’t know we were here.”

  The reply was the same.

  She took a deep breath. “Then, well, okay. I’m Talea. This is Wylan. That’s my mother, Seles, and my brother Naylen, and my friend Brenly.”

  Ki perked up again. “Good ta meetchya. I’m Kiloe. Call me Ki.”

  “Are you two twins?” Seles asked.

  He simpered. “Yep, but I’m sev’ral minutes oler, and by far the awesomer of—”

  “Shut up,” Kae said with another roll of her eyes, elbowing him. “Anyway. Um, well, why don’t we go to our house? We should talk all this over.”

  “Good plan.” Ki nodded decidedly and started walking away, with a gangly, almost swaggering gait.

  Talea stared after him, surprise paralyzing her muscles until Seles’ polite protest, refuted by Kae’s insistence, followed by a tentative agreement, snapped her out of it. Even as they settled the matter and arranged everything to bring Ash and Rose and the gear closer to the twins’ home and then leave them hidden in the woods, soon ready to set out, she had to shake her head at the wild, coincidental luck of it all.

  8

  Misgivings

  T alea couldn’t help the strong, almost pleasant feeling of disbelief that followed her into the Krims’ home and through the introductions and conversations that followed. It was all so fluid. So flawlessly fortuitous. They were about to make the lightning pillar, consequently risking discovery by less-friendly parties, and suddenly the person—or persons, as it turned out—they were taking the risk to find showed up. They went to the twins’ home, and though a little surprised, their parents took it all in stride and instantly offered them food and board for as long as necessary.

  And now, finally, as they were sitting around the main room, the family had just agreed that Ki and Kae would accompany them to find the other—supposedly northwest from Castown.

  As seamlessly as it had all played out, she inwardly noted with a smirk that maybe Narone or some Irlaish god was pulling their puppets’ strings.

  The longer the conversation had progressed, the more she’d abandoned the protocol she was used to, and started addressing Mr. and Mrs. Krim freely, since it had been made abundantly clear that the family did not abide by common formalities. “Don’t you want to…” Talea frowned. “Think it over?”

  “We already have,” Ayida Krim answered softly. “We’d been considering the notion of trying to find the other for some time now, only prevented by the fact that we didn’t want Ki and Kae to go alone, but nor did we feel we could all go as a family.”

  “But with you here,” Alket jumped in with more cheer, “tha problem is rasolved! They can jes go with you!”

  “Forgive me for being blunt,” Seles said with poorly concealed doubt, “but you don’t even know us.”

  “Sure we do!” little Emali exclaimed.

  Before any of them could express confusion, Ayida laid a hand on Emali’s shoulder and explained, “That’s not how I would say it, but she’s right. We believe Narone gave this ability to Ki and Kae, and to you two, as well,” she said, indicating Talea and Wylan. “And that Narone has now brought you here, for this purpose. Therefore, we needn’t worry, because we know it’s His will.”

  Talea was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one skeptical of the reasoning—Naylen had a dubious look and Brenly seemed impressed but perplexed. To her surprise, Seles appeared quite accepting of the answer and, even more surprising, Wylan’s hard, leery expression had softened some. So, Sir Secrecy is a pious proselyte. Fantastic. She wondered if, despite having the looks of a full Irlaish, he had even less knowledge of the Irlaish religion than she, having only a quarter of the heritage. Even if Seles had never promoted the traditions and teachings as true, she had still told her and Naylen the legends of the various Irlaish gods.

  More prevalent than questions or complaints about Wylan, however, was the real matter. Needless to say, the Krims were Xanytes. Most Zentyrens were. But, she’d never heard a Xanyte speak of Narone that way. Could they be the “Radicals” that had been referred to in the announcement of the new rules?

  Unsure what to make of the honest, simple family and their strange faith, she kept silent, waiting for someone else to continue the conversation. Thankfully, Seles did. “Your faith is commendable. Thank you for your generosity. What now?”

  Alket slapped his knee. “Wull it be gettin’ on late. ‘Erhaps we’d best call it a night, and figur dis all out in da mornin’.” He gave the room they’d all crammed into a survey. “It ain’t specious, I spose, but we’ll get y’all fitted in nicely.”

  “Are you sure?” Seles also surveyed the room, with less easy confidence than he. “We could certainly—”

  “Not a bit o’ it!” he slapped his knee again, careening from the chair to his feet. “Alrigh’ ya slugs, get on now,” he shooed his four children into motion, smiling all the while. “Les get dis house cleaned up like, and sem blankets, and wha’ever else yer mother tells ya.”

  Despite the amount of laughter and play involved, the job was accomplished quickly. It made a perfect picture of how the Krim family operated, as far as Talea could tell: Alket at the head of it all, doing his share but also playing a lead role in the mischief; Ki his loyal supporter in this endeavor; Emali and Quonas darting about with giggles as they worked; Kae receiving much of the banter and occasionally contributing as she otherwise did her duties with remarkable efficiency; and finally Ayida, calm and composed, speaking between the jokes and laughter and playful wrestles, never seeming to be heard, yet the gentle instructions being followed all the same.

  Talea and her companions helped as much as they could, but mostly their job was to stay out of the way.

  When everything was said and done, Talea, Brenly, and Seles had makeshift beds in Kae and Emali’s room; Wylan and Naylen in Ki and Quo’s. Eventually they were all situated, the lively house quiet and dark. Talea shifted on the hard floor as quietly as she could, though she doubted anyone else was asleep by now. Nine-year-old Emali’s breathing slowed to the steady rhythm of sleep first, followed shortly by Brenly, and Seles’. As she remained awake, staring up at the ceiling, Talea fought the urge to speak to K
ae. What she would say, though, she didn’t know. Talk about the lightning? Ask about her family’s faith—if they were Radicals? Just try to get to know her? Perhaps the first or last option, except, it would wake her mother and Emali. It could wait. If they were to be traveling with Kae and her brother soon, getting to know them would take place sooner or later.

  Still, sleep eluded her. Too much to think about.

  Talea woke the next morning with a start. The room was unfamiliar. Wooden walls and floor, she was definitely not in a haliop…Before she could panic, she remembered where she was. The Krims’ house. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Kae and Emali were gone, Kae’s bed neatly made, Emali’s the opposite. Seles and Brenly were still asleep. It was unusual for her mother to sleep late; the travel and stress must have taken a toll.

  Talea dressed quickly and folded the blankets of her bed, placing them in a pile on Kae’s bed, before seating herself beside them. Bobbing her knee up and down, tracing the pattern of the quilt with her finger, staring out the window at the forest behind the house—none of it used up much time. The silence that gripped the household surprised her. Based on what she’d seen of the Krim family last night, she was expecting laughter and running footsteps, clattering and other chaotic noise from outside the room. They must be at work, or school. Probably just one of them stayed behind.

  She sat, knee bobbing, a little longer. Boredom was beginning to win over hesitance. Oh, just go out already. Rolling her eyes at herself, she stepped over Brenly and Seles’ sleeping forms to the door, opened it as quietly as possible, slipped out and shut it behind her.

  “Good morning, Talea.” Ayida was in the small kitchen, stirring something in a skillet on the stove. “Did you sleep okay?”

  “Uh, yes, thanks. A lot better than I’ve slept on the ground in the last two weeks,” she said with a smile, advancing a little deeper into the room. “Are Mr. Krim and Ki and Kae at work? Emali and Quonas at school?”