by Kim Fedyk
The southern cities would have greatly helped Aedan’s cause. But nine years ago they had decided to barter with Absalom rather than to end up with the same fate as the north. They gave Absalom hundreds of men, woman and children each year to act as subjects for Rogan’s experiments and in exchange they were left alone. Aedan knew that they would gladly join him if they could be assured the safety of their citizens and the continuation of their cities. But Aedan couldn’t guarantee this and so the present situation ensued.
Val stopped walking and looked around. He had reached the boundary of Selene’s secrecy spell. Carefully he raised his right arm and thrust it forward, crossing the invisible frontier. He didn’t want to put more than his arm through, and risk activating the magic, in his weakened state even an arm might be too much. A sorceress was linked to the magic they cast and Val knew that Selene would sense his presence the minute his arm touched the invisible threads. He only hoped that he hadn’t put too much of his body into it and had activated it on himself. But a few minutes later when he heard soft footsteps and saw the familiar face of Selene smiling at him, he realized that he had not. She was a beautiful young woman with light, almost white blond hair and pale, milky skin. The three of them, her, him and Aedan had been close friends since childhood and Val loved her as he would a sister.
When she got closer to Val, the smile left her fair face and was replaced by a look of concern.
“Val you are hurt,” she said, reaching for his arm and drawing him through the invisible border. If she retained contact with Val, the spell would not work on him. She turned him around so that he faced her and with her hands on each of his arms she looked him up and down, taking in his bruised face, bleeding head and the blood-splattered bandages wrapped around his chest. She noticed also, of course, that Arleth wasn’t with him, but she didn’t say anything about it. She knew that Val would be berating himself for his failure, and especially in his injured state she didn’t want to add to his pain. Instead she put her hand to his chest and asked “Greken?”
Val nodded. “Bastard of a creature got me good, but I killed it in the end. A dagger right through the neck.”
Selene smiled. There were two things she could always count on with Val; his eagerness and pride in battle and his foul language. She looked mockingly at his bruised face, “Maybe you could have killed it a little sooner?” A white light emanated from her hand and flowed into Val’s chest. “That will stop the bleeding; it should heal by itself in a few days.”
“Thanks,” Val said in a mock affronted tone, “You know killing a Greken is not easy; they are specially designed for the sole purpose of causing death. Slimy Bastards.”
“No I suppose not.” Then with a sly smile, “I guess it’s a good thing I am so skilled at healing you then... even though I am not specially designed for such a task. Where would you be without me?”
“Quite happy I presume,” said Val laughing. He gave her a playful shove and she smiled.
“I am glad you are alright Val, even though I had no need to be I was still worried about you.”
* * *
“No! Absolutely not! That is madness!” The outburst shot through the cavern, causing a slight echo. Some nearby children looked up from their game at the group of adults sitting off to the side. They looked at each other and hurried off, a few paces away, continuing their game farther from their conversing leaders.
“Wait a minute Graydon,” Said Winn calmly to his hot-headed younger brother. “I’m sure that Aedan has a plan.”
But Graydon was not about to be pacified so easily, “I’m not saying she isn’t important, but is she really important enough to risk Aedan’s life? Having Val go all the way to Tocarra was bad enough, but I saw the logic in that at least. But now? What good would it be if Aedan goes in to get Arleth and dies? We would be in almost the same position we are in now, except worse. Arleth will not be able to command armies and formulate battle strategies like Aedan. She won’t even be able to use her abilities for a while, not until she is taught the basics at the very least. Heck, we don’t even know for sure if she will want to help us even after we tell her who she is. She is a teenage girl; in all likelihood she will be terrified just to be on Oherra not to mention being in battle and having people try to kill her.”
“You are right in a lot of respects Graydon,” Said Selene. “But you are forgetting something very important. Now that Absalom has Arleth, we can be certain he will use her abilities. It might be a stalemate now, but as soon as Arleth’s power is realized Absalom will have the distinct advantage. Under his control, she would turn into a monster. At the very least, regardless of who she is, we cannot let that happen. Trust me. I do not like the thought of Aedan putting himself in danger any more than you do, but we really don’t have any other option.”
“Fine,” said Graydon, seeing the reason in Selene’s words, “But it is absolutely necessary that Aedan goes. If we are just simply going in and bringing her back with us, do we really need to risk our leader? Anyone could go. I would go.”
“No,” said Aedan. “Although I value your courage and loyalty towards me I cannot risk anyone else. It was hard enough for me to send Val to Tocarra, knowing, as we did, what a fool’s errand it was. I will not make that mistake again. I will go myself.”
“But..” interjected Graydon. Winn shot his brother a hard look, quickly silencing him.
Aedan continued, “Besides, Absalom has a clever tongue and a persuasive personality, especially with women. He won’t hesitate to use all of his tricks, everything in his power to convince Arleth that he is in the right. We don’t know what he has already told her or what she thinks of him. But we have to assume the worst. We have to plan for the eventuality that he already has her deeply in his thrall. Therefore, I would be the most logical choice to go. Who would be better to convince her of who she is, of who I am, than me?”
For the first time Bain, Val’s father spoke, “I agree Aedan, this does make the most sense. But please tell me you have a good plan. We all know that you will be spotted and likely captured the moment you come within reach of the castle.”
To this Aedan smiled and looked beside him into Selene’s beautiful face. “Yes we have come up with something quite clever.”
The rest of the group edged closer to him and listened in rapt attention as he, with the occasional explanation from Selene, outlined their plan. A half an hour later, after a few minor tweaks from Val and Winn, their strategy had been outlined and perfected. Even Graydon was now in agreement with the rest of the group. “That is quite a plan,” he admitted admiringly. Although he was a hot-headed young man of twenty, he wasn’t too full of pride to admit when he had been wrong. Of course he would never exactly say the words “I was wrong,” but admitting the plan was a good one was practically the same thing.
“How long will you take to prepare what you need Selene?” Asked Bain.
“Three days. I will gather what I need tomorrow and create the spells and Alondrane right after. Three days from today, Aedan will be able to leave.”
“Excellent,” said Winn “The faster we can proceed the better. Time is definitely not on our side.”
They all nodded their agreement.
* * *
Later that night, while Arleth was sound asleep in her bed and Absalom was plotting with Rogan, Aedan lay awake staring at the roof of his tent. In the ten years Aedan had been living in the cavern, they had made many improvements to their living conditions. But one of the first things they had done was to build small tents for each family as it had been readily apparent that privacy was one of the greatest concerns. The result was a sort of make-shift town within the cavern.
Aedan felt rustling beside him and looked into Selene’s sleepy face. “Can you not sleep?” She asked him groggily.
He didn’t answer right away but instead looked away from her, staring at the far end of his tent. “Our plan will work won’t it?” He asked her after a few moments. “Val is entirely ag
ainst it; he took me aside after our meeting and voiced all of his concerns.”
She turned completely towards him and propped herself up on her elbow so she could see his face more clearly in the darkness. “You know how Val is.” She responded “He is going to object to any plan that puts us in danger.”
“I know, but doesn’t he have a point this time?”
Selene stared at him the darkness, not sure how to answer.
Aedan saved her from a response by repeating his question, “Our plan will work won’t it?”
“I think it will,” Selene said slowly. “But Aedan...”
“... We don’t really have much of a choice?” he asked, finishing her sentence.
She wasn’t going to use those words exactly, but that was generally what she was going to say. She cupped his cheek in her hand and gently turned his face so he was looking at her. “Absalom has her now. If we don’t do anything, he will win. Even with a worse plan we would have to go for it.” Aedan knew this as well, but it comforted him to hear her voice her agreement again. He wasn’t afraid of going to Iridian castle and confronting Absalom, but he was afraid of throwing his life away meaninglessly. If he died for nothing, what would become of Oherra?
Aedan wrapped his arms around Selene and held her close to him. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.
“Don’t worry,” she said “I won’t let that traitor kill you before I’ve had a chance to marry you. Absalom has another thing coming if he thinks I have wasted all this time with you just to see you killed before we can grow old and have grandchildren together.”
Aedan laughed, “I almost feel bad for Absalom now. There is no dealing with Selene Ayan when she has her mind made up.”
Selene smiled into his chest, “You wouldn’t know Aedan, I always give in to you.”
Aedan laughed even more. “In what world?” he joked.
“I don’t know,” she replied sullenly. “I thought it sounded romantic.”
He squeezed her against him even tighter, laughing the whole time. After a few seconds he could hear Selene’s muffled laughter join his own.
They laughed together for a time before, both relaxed now; they fell asleep with smiles still on their faces.
Chapter 12
Arleth sat at the long dining table in the servants’ hall, slurping her soup. It was a delicious, thick, hearty broth filled with chunks of meat, noodles and vegetables.
It was lunch time on her third full day on Oherra and she had spent the whole morning cleaning a glass tunnel by hand. Right after breakfast, her tour guide from the first night had grabbed her and led her to a storage closet off of the dining hall. With no further ado she had turned to Arleth, “It is Wednesday, every Wednesday the glass tunnels are cleaned.” The girl had then grabbed a handful of towels, a bucket of water and a bottle filled with some kind of soap and thrust them at Arleth. For the remainder of the morning the girl and Arleth cleaned the floor of the glass tunnel which connected the building containing the kitchen and servants’ quarters to the main hall. Arleth had found this task utterly boring and couldn’t believe that in a magical world, there wasn’t an easier, magical way to clean the halls. But it seemed, that there wasn’t or at least not one that anyone cared to use. So Arleth had silently scrubbed, polished and dried all morning.
It had been a very boring morning and, much to Arleth’s disappointment, the previous two mornings (and days) had been quite similar. When she had woken up on her first morning, refreshed and excited she had expected that she would be called on by Absalom at any minute. But the next two days both came and went and Absalom hadn’t made any attempt to question her about the assassin. In fact, she hadn’t even seen Absalom since they had exited the portal together three days ago. She didn’t give it much concern though, as she assumed that the king of Oherra would have to be a very busy man, but she was disappointed. It would have been a welcome break from the monotony of her chores.
It wouldn’t have been so bad she realized if the other servants were the slight bit interesting. She was used to hard work, having been a servant for close to half of her life. Also, she had been pleased to note that the chores she was doing here were much easier and less labour intensive (and disgusting) than the ones she had done as Bella’s personal servant. But at least there she had Chuck to talk to every once in a while. And while the other servants were hardly pleasant, they had at least seemed human. She could count on them to be talking, bragging or laughing at any moment of the day. But here.... all of the servants monotonously completed their chores. Arleth had tried to talk to several of them on numerous occasions, but aside from answering her questions they had made no further effort at conversation. And what was most strange to Arleth, none of them offered her their names.
The screech of a chair being rubbed against the wood floor to her left distracted her from her thoughts. She looked beside her. Her tour guide from the first night was getting up from her meal. It was only half eaten but the girl didn’t seem to notice. She turned to Arleth,
“I have to go outside. I have been assigned to bring the soldiers their daily meal. After you eat, finish cleaning the halls like I explained.”
With that she grabbed her soup bowl, pushed in her chair and walked purposively down the dining hall to the kitchen.
Arleth was elated! The woman had been her shadow every moment of the day. With her hovering around her 24 hours a day, she had no chance to go back and explore the courtyard she had seen in her tour. But now.... it seemed like she would have at least a couple of hours to herself!
Excited, she quickly gobbled up the rest of her soup. She had no intention of continuing to clean the hall. As far as she could see it was already sparkling clean. But this of course, wasn’t her reason; she was going to take this opportunity when she was alone to go back and visit the courtyard. And, if she had more time perhaps she would also climb up a tower and travel on one of the outdoor pathways!
She quickly strode down the aisle between the two long tables and, depositing her dishes in the empty kitchen, exited into the hall. Leaning her back against the wall, she looked right and left to see if anyone was coming. But the hall in both directions was deserted. Relieved, Arleth let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding and started to make her way down the hall.
The courtyard was in the centre of the castle, and if she remembered correctly from her tour the other night, it was fairly close to where she was now. If she walked down this hall, through the glass tunnel, across the main hall, through the next glass tunnel and turned left she believed she would find herself in the courtyard. It was at times like this that Arleth was very glad that she had been born with a great sense of direction. Not too many people would have been able to find their way so easily. Especially considering that she had only been shown once and that night she had been coming in the opposite direction. But Arleth navigated her way with ease, as if she had been travelling these halls her whole life.
She couldn’t afford to be complacent just yet though. She still might encounter someone in the halls who would be curious about where she was going and disrupt her plans. Arleth went over again in her head what she would say. She would adopt a confused expression, which should be quite believable considering she was a new servant, and say that she had been looking for the storage closet but that she must have gotten lost. Arleth figured that in such an eventuality, she would be shown to the storage closet and then when the person left, she could just turn around and go back again. She knew her way from the storage closet after all, and it would just delay her trip by a few moments.
But even as she was going over her excuse in her head, she didn’t really expect to have to use it. The atmosphere in Iridian castle was much different, Arleth had noticed, than it had been in Bella’s mansion. At the mansion, Arleth would have been hard-pressed to walk down a hall at practically any time of day or night and not see at least one other person. There was constant hustle and bustle, due in large part to Bel
la’s incessant and petty desires. Here, the halls were practically deserted; except for an occasional servant, Arleth hardly saw anyone during the day. For example, Arleth had passed only one other servant during her whole tour the first evening and this morning the only people that had passed her while she was cleaning the tunnel were a couple of messengers. She supposed that since the castle was so enormous, people would not encounter each other as much, having much more space in which to live. Also, the fact that there was clearly a war going on and there were thousands of soldiers camped outside, also added to the lack of activity inside.
However, the attitudes of the servants themselves did seem... different. Her thoughts returned to where they had left off in the dining hall when she had been interrupted. The servants were definitey different. Where Bella’s servants had been constantly concerned with the goings on of everyone else, and their favourite pass-time was to spy on their neighbours, the servants here seemed utterly unconcerned with each other. They hardly ever spoke to one another, and when they did, Arleth had noticed that it was always about something practical and related to their work.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but these servants seemed different somehow than the ones at Bella’s mansion. More boring certainly. She hadn’t liked the constant gossip and frivolity of the servants at the mansion, but she didn’t know if she would like the practicality and seriousness of these servants any better. That would be a problem for another time though. For the moment, she was quite glad that the servants were like this; it meant that even if she did come across someone they would be very unlikely to even care what she was doing, let alone stop and question her.
