ANUNDR: THE EXODUS (23 page)

Natalia hurried home without knowing she was being followed a yard away. The night was alive with excitement as the people were awake and joyful for the next day. She maneuvered past drinking men and people walking in groups but she was too deep in thought to notice them.

In her heart, she celebrated being out of Seraphin’s service. For her, it meant she would never have to go to the palace nor would she have to see Gisilfried. Natalia rubbed her face. She needed to get away. Everything was becoming more than she could handle. But first, she needed to find where Anistral kept Lamia’s prophecy
.
Maybe, the prophecy was the dawn of truth she needed. Her mind went back to the symbol on Seraphin’s neck and what King Garmar had said. If she was brought here to help Naphdael, then she needed to know more.

She climbed the steps leading to the house and opened the door. Merith sat on the stairs, resting her face in her hands.

‘Finally, someone returns. ’ she said, rising and descending the stairs.

‘I wearied of all the excitement.’ Natalia said, taking off her cloak.

‘My! You wearied of one of the greatest nights in Naphdael history? You’re a queer one.’

Natalia sighed and said, ‘So why are you still here?’

‘I didn’t want to leave the house empty. The mistresses went to the city square to watch the dance.’

‘What dance?’

Merith sighed and said, ‘The dance that takes place on the eve of every royal wedding. Do I have to tell you everything?’

‘No, you always choose to.’ Natalia said, disinterested. She glanced at the door leading to the women’s quarters. ‘Aren’t you going to the square?’

‘Of course, I only needed someone home. Good night, Natalia.’ she said, hurrying to the door and slamming it shut.

Natalia opened the door and made sure she was out of sight, then she hurried towards the other door and opened it. The corridor was dark. She took a lit torch in the hall and walked down the corridor, opening the doors as she passed. Each door opened to a bedroom. She hesitated before opening Lamia’s room. It was empty but well-arranged as though someone still slept there. She reached the fifth door, the last one on the corridor, and opened it. It was a small dusty room. She walked in and looked around. There was nothing in there except a window, a table, rags stacked in a corner and small clay bowls filled with water. She turned and headed for the door.
Wait,
the voice said. She stopped.

‘There’s nothing here.’ she said.

Go back
, it said. She sighed and walked to the middle of the room.

‘What do you want to show me?’ she said.

Open the window
.

She walked to the window and opened it. A gush of fresh air followed.

‘I’ve opened it.’ she said dully.

Not like that. Close it and pull the window from the sides.

‘What?’ She couldn’t believe what she had heard.

Do as you heard.

She closed the window, placed the torch in a carrier by the wall and pulled the window frame. It came off. Behind it wasn’t an opening to the outside but an enclosed stone space with a short vase standing in the middle. Natalia sucked in air. She had never seen such magic before.

‘What do I do now?’

Take the vase and pour some of its contents into your palm.

She dropped the window frame carefully resting it on the wall and picked up the vase. The substance within looked like grey sand.

‘What is this?’ she said, bringing it closer to her face.

Ashes from an alder tree mixed with a few other things. Throw it on the floor.

She did so. The granules fell and arranged itself into a large black rectangle in front of her.

Pour water on it
.

Natalia picked up on of the pails and poured the water on the grains. The water spread through the rectangle and formed a watery illusion of a staircase leading downwards. Natalia bent down to touch it. Black liquid dripped down her finger. She pushed her entire hand through the rectangle. At first, it was wet, but she saw her hand in the illusion and, with that hand, felt the draft coming from the staircase. She drew her hand out.

‘What magic is this?’

You don’t have much time. Put fire on it.

She took the torch and let its flames touch the water. With a spark, the water cleared, leaving a dark hollow stairway. Natalia dropped the torch in shock. It fell in, clanging as it rolled down the stone stairs. The flames died. Natalia took deep breaths.
She couldn’t turn back now
. She went down the stairs, groping the stone walls for support. As she descended, the torches on the walls lit up.
Don’t be afraid,
the voice told her. Down the stairs were large wooden double doors. She pulled them open and was brought into a large well-lit room with rolls and rolls of yarn stacked on shelves in half of the room and finished cloth were in other half. In the middle were seven spinning wheels. Natalia walked in. She heard whispers in the room. She looked behind her but there was no one. She moved around the spinning wheels, examining them. They looked old and ordinary. She heard the whispers again and she scanned the room. Her eyes caught a glowing rumpled red and black cloth discarded on an empty shelf. She walked towards it. She could hear it whispering her name. She reached out to take it.

Are you ready for what you would see?
said the voice.

‘Anything is better than not knowing.’ she said and picked it up. She straightened it out. It was dusty with a musty smell and threads of yarn hung at the ends, but she could feel a dark presence within.

‘How do I see it?’ she asked.

Close your eyes
.

She did and ran her hands over the work.  She saw flashing images of her mother giving birth to her, her childhood, and the day she arrived in Naphdael. The images led her to the well with the symbol, then she felt the earth shaking and saw Naphdael crumble to ground. She gasped as the visions took her to graves, one grave after the other. She saw herself mourning over the dead as though she had known them intimately. The next image she saw was of plunging her sword into someone. She looked at her bloodied hands, then at his face. She couldn't see him but she knew that as he dropped dead, she died within her.
Gisilfried
! She saw herself kneel over him, her hands covered with his blood. She heard a crash and she looked ahead. She saw an evil looking version of herself standing on a pile of dead bodies in a burning city. Her evil self was covered in blood and had a bloodied sword in her hand as she sneered down at her and said, 'In
Abaddon
is your dominion.' She turned the bloodied sword to her heart.

‘No!’ she gasped and opened her eyes, dropping the cloth and covering her mouth. She felt a hand on her back. She jerked, turning around to see Anistral.

‘Wha—What did I see? Am I going to kill all those people?’ she said, her eyes watering and her hands shaking.

‘I’ve never seen history unwritten or unwoven.’ Anistral said, glancing at the red cloth.

‘Then why did you save me if I’m fated to go to the darkness?’

‘The cloth is unfinished. You never know what happens until the last thread.’

‘Then I’ll make sure none of it happens starting from this city.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Ida’s day is coming. I must prevent Naphdael from falling.’

‘But that’s not why you’re here. It will happen eventually.’

‘Then I must stop it.’

‘You don’t understand--’

‘What is she doing here?!’

Natalia turned to see Ziati and the other women standing at the entrance. They looked angry, their faces set on a course of action.

‘She needed to see it.’ Anistral said, standing between them and Natalia.

‘But she has defiled our sacred grounds.’ said Ferne. ‘Tonight, she either joins us or dies.’

‘We have no right to kill the Anundr. We are servants of Galian.’ Anistral said.

‘We serve no one.’ said Ziati.

‘I will not join you.’ Natalia said, moving past Anistral to face them.

‘So be it.’ Ziati said, extending her hands. Balls of yarn flew out of their shelves and caught fire. Ziati threw them at her. Anistral pushed Natalia aside and raised her hands, extinguishing the flames and stopping the balls mid-air.

‘Sisters.’ Ziati said to the others. They all raised their hands in unison, causing the shelves to quake. Anistral’s eyes burned as she raised her hands.

‘You’re playing with my fire!’ she said as flung an invisible force at them. They were thrown in different directions, toppling the shelves. Anistral dragged Natalia out of the room. Ethel threw a burning ball of yarn at Natalia. It hit her sleeve, setting it in flames.

‘Anistral!’ Natalia said as they ran up the stairs. Anistral waved her hand over it and the fire was gone but her sleeve was burnt and her upper arm stung. They ran out of the corridor just as someone banged on the house door.

‘Open up by order of the king.’

‘I’m coming.’ Anistral shouted and turned to Natalia, ‘They’re here for you. Run to my room and jump out of the window. Find a place to hide. Go now.’

The banging grew louder. Natalia ran up the stairs just before the door burst open. Viden charged in with soldiers.

‘Where are you hiding the Helmford spy, witch?’

‘I’m a lady of the court--’

‘Search the house.’ he said to the men.

Natalia ran to Anistral’s room and closed the door. She rushed to the window, opened it, and looked down. It was too high to jump. She needed something to break her fall. There was a tree branch extending to the window. She climbed out and took a hold of it. With her hands, she moved down the branch. She swung a bit and fastened herself onto a lower branch. She jumped down and landed on her feet, dusting clean her hands.

‘Don’t move.’ She felt a blade on her neck. She sighed, her heart was racing and her mind spinning with ideas of her attack.

‘Turn around.’ She did. Everything she planned to do fell apart as she stood face to face with Gisilfried.

‘Why did you stop?’ Kalani said. Amse put his finger to his lips and pointed to the trees above them. Something was wrong.

He signaled to Taharqa to approach and whispered to him, ‘
Ulgir-ka?
Can you hear it?’

Taharqa looked ahead and said, ‘
Nalai ogizgul korgudo.
I see the men on trees.’

‘They are waiting for us.’ Amse said, switching the language.

Taharqa nodded and snapped his fingers at his men. They surrounded the people and raised their bows and arrows, some coming ahead of Amse. Kalani’s heart pounded as she looked up at the trees. She saw nothing. She felt Fanndis’ hand grip her wrist as she backed into her, looking fearfully around. Amse saw this and gave Fanndis his hand. She took it, releasing Kalani's. He bent down to stare into her eyes and placed a hand on her cheek. ‘My sunflower, you must be strong now for me. Don’t let go of my hand.’ She nodded and touched his face, tracing the outline of his laugh wrinkles.

Taharqa turned and said, ‘We’re ready.’

Amse rose and said to everyone, ‘
Parrekka
!’

They all broke into a run towards the mountain. Kalani ran behind Fanndis. Her eyes caught movement on the trees. Their archers shot their arrows at them, killing some, while the men in trees shot back, killing a maid that had gotten ahead of Kalani and killing some of the soldiers around them. She looked up, she noticed they were aiming at Amse and Fanndis.

‘We’re almost there.’ Amse shouted as they approached a fast flowing river. When they reached it, Kalani realized the mountain was a tall waterfall with clouds above it. Her heart sank.

‘Hold Fanndis.’ Amse said to her releasing his hold and running into the river.

‘Amse.’ Fanndis said but Kalani held her back from running in. ‘He’s going to kill himself.’ she said, pointing to another waterfall behind him.

‘Amse.’ Kalani called as she watched him dragged himself waist deep against the currents that threatened to carry him down the drop. He stopped in the middle and faced the mountain, taking off his talisman and raising it by the ropes that held it. Kalani heard the whiz of flying arrows. She looked around, the soldiers still battled to protect them and Fanndis still struggled to break free from her and get to Amse, but she stopped struggling when she saw blue light shine from his talisman to the brink of the water fall. He moved his talisman from the left to the right and then in a circle, causing the brink to move with his hand movements. He covered the talisman with his free palm, disrupting the light and causing the brink to return to its former position but the blue engraved symbol glowed against the falling water. The waters parted like curtains and the symbol parted from the middle and was pushed open like a gate. Behind the gate were grey houses and short trees. Kalani’s jaw dropped at the sight. The fighting had stopped. Their attackers had retreated when the gates were opened.

‘Welcome to Halldorr.’ said Amse as he waded out of the water. Fanndis ran into his arms. He held her hand and led everyone down the bank and through the gate. Kalani found herself holding her breath as they walked in. The place was like a large hole carved out of the mountain. She saw no water above them, only clouds. She covered her mouth when the thought hit her.
The water was from the clouds
. Ahead of them was a cluster of buildings surrounded by trees. People came out of the buildings to stare. The gates slammed shut after they came in, forming two watchtowers. Kalani smiled as she looked behind her. It felt like a dream.

She turned and saw six women come out of one of the buildings. They were clothed in long grey linen and with expressionless faces. They walked the long strip of stone that led to the gate. One of them walked slightly ahead with a red scepter in her hand.

‘Those were the women I saw.’ Fanndis said to Amse. Kalani stared, unsure of what to make of them.

‘You’re all welcome.’ said the woman with the scepter when she reached them. Her voice was flat, carrying no emotion.

‘Lady Ealdewa, if a greeting means being attacked incessantly then this is a befitting welcome worthy of kings.’ Amse said, bowing.

Lady Ealdewa’s face didn’t change. She said, ‘We do what is necessary.’ She glanced at Fanndis, then at Kalani and added, ‘You bring evil here.’

‘No, I bring my family.’

‘At our peril. If you had done as we told you this wouldn’t be the case. We cannot protect you from what is to come.’

‘I don’t ask for your protection, I ask for shelter.’

‘At this time, the lines between the two wax thin.’

A little girl the same size as Fanndis left the gathering crowd and ran to stand with the women. Kalani gasped when she saw her face. She was identical to Fanndis; the same golden hair and face. Fanndis saw her too. She let go of Amse’s arm and walked towards the girl, the latter doing the same.

‘Idonea, get back.’ said one of the women, grabbing her arm and pulling her away. ‘Don’t try touching her again or her curse will fall on you.’ the woman said, dragging her to one of the buildings. Idonea kept looking back. Fanndis stood still, watching her leave until she was out of sight. She turned to Amse. Kalani noticed the mistiness in her eyes and the way her hands shook as she said, ‘Who is she?’

‘Your twin sister.’ said Amse. ‘You were separated at birth.’

‘Why?’ The pitch of her voice rose as a tear fell down her cheek.

‘You’re in the right place for that question. Please, ask the right people.’ he said, gesturing towards the women.

‘But why didn’t you tell me about her?’ Her tears fell without barriers.

‘Because you always knew. You knew there was something missing, you just didn’t know it was someone.’

‘But you should have said something instead of letting me learn of it like this.’

‘I know.’ he said. Fanndis turned to Lady Ealdewa and said, ‘Why did you separate us?’

The woman chuckled and said, ‘If you knew all, your separation would be the least of your questions, but we’ll not discuss that now.’ She turned to them, ‘Supper is ready for you all. Amse, your family will join us at our table. Preparations have been made for your people. Come, it has been an emotional welcome indeed.’

Ealdewa glanced at Kalani, then turned and walked back towards the building with the women following her. A man and a woman servant came forward to take the people away. Amse stretched out his hand to Fanndis and said, ‘My sunflower, let us go.’

‘Leave me alone.’ she said, sniffing and rubbing away her tears. Amse looked at Kalani in despair and said to his people, ‘Eat and rest. It’s been a long journey.’

He turned and trotted behind the women with Eirene and Mara following. His people were taken by the servants along the grass towards another building. Kalani remained with Fanndis.

‘We can’t stay here.’ she said, putting her arm around her.

Fanndis wiped the tears from her eyes and said, ‘You can leave. I didn’t ask you to stay.’

‘I’ll never leave you.’

‘Is that a promise?’ she asked, her eyes pleading for it to be. From those eyes, Kalani realized Fanndis was still a child, a child forced to grow up too quickly.

‘I promise.’ Kalani said, stretching out her hand. Fanndis took it and they walked to the building Amse had gone.

The doors were opened, leading them into a large hall with a table set with white clay bowls of all kinds of food.  Lady Ealdewa sat at the head of the table with Eirene at the other end. Mara sat by the latter’s side while the other women arranged themselves closer to them, leaving their leader and Amse seated with five empty chairs around them.

Fanndis made to sit beside Amse.

‘No. Let Kalani sit there.’ Lady Ealdewa said to her.

‘No, I always sit beside him.’ Fanndis said, dragging the chair out and sitting down. The woman looked at her with a raised brow while Amse had a smug smile on his face.

‘Very well.’ Ealdewa said, her flat voice unchanging. Kalani sat beside Fanndis and watched as the servants placed before them bowls with clear water for them to wash their hands. They poured out milk into their goblets while one cut the roast boar into thin slices which were placed on their plates. Kalani wiped her wet hands with her clothes under the table as she watched the people around her laden their plates with food. She wasn’t sure of what to eat, despite the churning in her stomach. She noticed the women shifting gazes from her to Fanndis as though it was strange for both of them to sit together. Fanndis kept her head bowed as she put the food on her plate as though she was guilty of something. Kalani found courage from her and reached for a small loaf of bread.

Idonea returned with the woman that had dragged her away and they sat opposite them. The girl and Fanndis stole glances at each other as everyone ate. Kalani observed her. All their features were the same except that Idonea’s eyes were green like the forest leaves while Fanndis’ were like
lazuli
with their blue intensity. She noticed as she ate that Idonea was more constrained, hesitant in her body movements.

Lady Ealdewa rose. Everyone else stood up in respect and Kalani scampered to her feet. Fanndis remained seated, eating her food, consciously making herself appear unconcerned.

Lady Ealdewa said to everyone, ‘I’ll take my leave. You can stay and have as much as you want. Amse, I’ll see you in my chambers.’ She left the table and exited through a door close to her and her women followed with Idonea behind them.

Amse turned to Fanndis and Kalani, ‘Help Mara with supplies. We leave as soon as I return.’

‘Why?’ Fanndis said.             

‘But we’ve only just arrived.’ said Kalani.

‘
Do as I say.’ he said and left. Mara waved her hand at them as she and Eirene rose to leave. Kalani nodded, pointing at her plate. The women left the hall the way they had come leaving Fanndis and her alone in the room.

Fanndis got up and made to go in Amse’s direction. Kalani held her arm.

‘Where are you going?’

‘After everything we went through to get here, I won’t leave this place until I learn the truth.’

‘It’s not safe. Remember they’re trying to hurt you.’

‘No, they’re trying to kill me and I need to know why.’

‘But if they catch you--’

‘Amse will protect me. I just need to know why I destroy things.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘It’s happened before. Amse knows this and I’m getting worse. Kaheem’s servant tried to stab me but when I touched his arm, he…’

‘He what?’

‘Nothing. Maybe the Faran knows how I can stop it. Kalani, please let me go.’ she said, wrenching her arm away.

Kalani sighed and said, ‘I won’t come with you. Mara may return to look for us. Make sure you return as soon as you can.’

‘I will.’ she said and ran off. Kalani dropped her spoon and covered her face.
She should have gone with her
. Mentioning Mara was an excuse for her to remain. She wasn’t sure what she was afraid of but she had never been the bravest of people. She sighed. They had reached Halldorr but there was no relief within its walls. All she felt was a throbbing feeling that something bad was about to happen.

‘Kalani.’

‘Fanndis, what happ--’ she said, looking up but she encountered Idonea’s startled gaze.

‘No, my name is Idonea.’ She had Fanndis’ voice but hers was a tone lower.

‘Lady Uriel has sent for you.’ she said, filling in the awkward silence.

‘Who?’

‘The woman I sat next to.’

‘Why did she send for me?’

‘She didn’t say. Most times, she doesn’t say.’

Kalani pushed out her chair and got up.

‘First, I have to speak with Mara.’

‘Do you mean the woman with the turban?’

‘No, the younger one with her.’

‘Ohhh…Lady Uriel already spoke with her. She gave her consent.’

‘Did she?’ Kalani said, giving her a look.

‘I swear it.’ She looked surprised that she could be doubted. Kalani believed her.

‘Take me to her then.’

Idonea bowed and led her out of the building and along the grass towards a smaller structure close by.

‘How long have you been in Halldorr?’ Kalani asked.

‘All my life.’ she said, keeping her gaze on the grass.

‘Did you know about your twin sister?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘And you’re not angry?’

Idonea paused and said, ‘They say they know what is best for me.’

‘What about your mother? Did they ever tell you about her?’

She shook her head. ‘No, they say when the time is right.’

Kalani sighed. She could relate to what the girl said. Idonea knocked on the door and said, ‘Lady Uriel, it’s Idonea.’

‘Is she with you?’ came the voice behind the door.

‘Yes.’

‘Send her in.’ Idonea withdrew as Kalani opened the door and entered.

The room was half the size of the hall. Kalani looked around her. The walls had diamond-shaped holes that contained scrolls. As she closed the door, she noticed the scrolls were glowing, giving light to the room. Kalani felt like she had walked into Amse’s story. A plump woman who had stood watching her in a corner, walked towards her.