Heiress: Birthstone Series Book Two (15 page)

I laughed.

“Hesper!” Cole scolded. “This is the Gem Heiress. She’s
likely your future queen. Show some respect.”

“Oh, I forgot!” she said, as though she hadn’t heard him. “I
need to give these cloaks to our other guests.” She scurried off before either
of us could respond.

“Sorry about her,” Cole said. “Her priorities need work and
she tends to be flighty.”

“Flighty would be a nice change,” I murmured. I watched
Hesper fling a cloak around my mother’s shoulders and then Aluce’s.

“You won’t think so after a while. I’m sure someone with
your abilities is too disciplined to be so unreliable.”

I looked at him, my eyebrows raised. “You might be surprised.”

He returned my look with a smirk. “I doubt it.”

I wrapped the cloak tightly around myself and hugged my
small bundle of belongings to my chest as I took a step away from him. “We’ll
see.” I turned to go, anxious to reach my mother.

I felt Cole’s eyes on me as I walked away, but I didn’t turn
to look at him. I hated to be rude to the people helping me, but every part of
my body ached. Worse, my mind was so burdened with everything I’d dealt with in
the last few weeks, I didn’t have the energy to pretend to be happier about my
situation. I wanted nothing more than a quiet room where I could lay in
solitude.

“Where are we staying?” I asked once I reached my mother.
Iolar was scolding his daughter nearby while she looked away, bored.

“I believe Hesper will show us to our quarters in Et
Loedin’s guest chambers. Once Iolar is finished speaking with her of course.”

I glanced around and noticed several of the sky dwellers who
had traveled with us disperse as new people began to approach.

“We’ve got a crowd,” I whispered to Aluce when a group of
curious bystanders began to converge. Most of them observed me with wide,
curious eyes.

Aluce nodded, her lips tightening the way they always did
when she was about to take charge.

“Iolar, may I have a word?” she asked. He paused his lecture
long enough to scowl at Aluce. She smiled shrewdly back. “We’ve come a long way
and the Heiress is exhausted. Would you be kind enough to finish berating your
daughter another time so we can find a place to rest?”

Iolar narrowed his eyes but nodded curtly. He leaned into
Hesper, whispered a few more words, and flicked his hand in her direction to
move her along.

Her cheeks were a deep scarlet but I wasn’t sure if it was
from the cold or from humiliation.

“Follow me,” Hesper said with a sigh.

I glanced once at my mother and trailed after the girl. She
led us past milling groups of people and down a small stone street. We dodged
through back alleyways, past tidy little homes with smoking chimneys, and small
buildings decorated with signs and painted images on the outside. Above us,
built into the mountain walls were perches and small platforms in countless
crevices and corners. It didn’t take me long to realize they were for sky dwellers
to sit or stand on.

I slipped once as I stared up into the cavernous ceiling and
Aluce steadied me from behind. “Careful of the ice, Aylen,” she said.

“Is that what this is?”

“And snow. You’ll be seeing a lot of it from now on.”

“Does it ever get warmer here?” I asked Hesper. I caught
myself this time as my feet slid on the slick ground once again.

“Slightly,” she said.

When we emerged from our third wet, snowy alley, we faced
what I thought must be the hub of Et Loedin. Rows of shops lined the streets,
many of them temporary makeshift stands. Men and women everywhere cried out at
the crowds. They stretched forth their hands to present their goods, offer
samples, invite people to come and look at what they could provide. Children
played in the streets with wooden swords. Many of their little fists were
curled around rocks and I caught enough make believe conversations to know they
were pretending to have gems. In the middle of the throng was a single, large
circular stage where several men and women sat, playing different instruments.
I stopped for a moment to listen to the soft flowing sound as it seemed to dip
and swirl in the air around me. I’d never heard such a beautiful melody.

One of the women began to sing, her voice gentle but strong
as it filled the streets. Most people seemed to take no notice. I wondered if
they’d heard it too often to be touched by it anymore, but as people and
children moved and laughed, played and bartered around me, every other sound
faded away. I took several steps closer to the stage, and as I listened, my
heart shattered into a hundred, and then a thousand fragments.

In this place of fire, blood, and bone

Where nothing is as great or beloved as stone,

I have wandered so far, my fate so unsure

Never knowing how long I can hope to endure.

The black, starless night;

The haunted, damp cave;

The mountain aflame

Near your cold, lonely grave;

Reminds me, reminds me

Sings to my blood

That my soul is adrift

Without your love;

Reminds me, reminds me

Sings to my blood,

I’m without you, without you,

Without your love.

The singer’s eyes met mine as she sang the last line and I
stared back, unable to look away. I wondered what she had experienced to be
able to sing those words with so much emotion. She gave me a small, sad smile
and I returned it before I felt a tug on my hand. I turned to my mother beside
me and saw a reflection of what I was feeling in her face. Of course she would
understand. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me from the
stage.

I paid little attention to my surroundings the rest of the
way to our quarters. I barely noticed the large, ornate door that led into the
mountain and I was dimly aware of walking through richly decorated rooms and
fire lit halls, deeper and deeper into the building. I saw Aluce leave us when
Hesper took her to a lavishly decorated chamber. My mother was next and I
nodded blankly when she promised to see me soon.

When Hesper finally brought me to a room close to my
mother’s, I collapsed into one of the soft crimson chairs positioned next to
the fireplace.

“You’re invited to eat with our family later on tonight,”
Hesper said. I was too exhausted to form an appropriate response.

“But I’ll make your excuses,” she added. “I can see you need
rest more than food.”

I turned to face her, my eyes wide. Had she really just
offered to cover for me? She glided closer and knelt down by the chair so we
were face to face.

“I wouldn’t want your burden for all the world,” she
whispered, “and I will be your advocate if ever you should need one.”

I stared at her in shocked silence for several moments. I
saw nothing but sincerity in her eyes. Finally, I choked out a raspy thank you.

Nodding, Hesper stood and quietly left the room, shutting
the door behind her.

When she was gone, I somehow managed to stumble to the large
bed, covered in thick furs and intricately patterned cloth. I rolled onto it
and sunk into its warmth.

I waited for sleep to overtake me as my exhaustion settled
deeper into my bones, but it didn’t. Instead, for the first time in many days,
I let my mind wander worlds away. I allowed it to travel to Vairda.

I thought of the last time I’d seen Sai. I pictured the hurt
blossoming across his face when I first told him he would have to stay behind.
I relived the last time he’d kissed me- the desperation I had tasted on his
lips. I heard his final words to me and saw his face in the bushes, moments
before we’d been hurled into nothingness and landed somewhere in the ocean. Had
I only imagined him there, his features tight with pain?

On and on, memories flooded my mind until I realized I
couldn’t fight them any longer. I had tried to push them away the moment I had
left Vairda, but alone, for the first time in weeks, they came unbidden. They
rippled through my head, choking and tearing at me until I could only gasp for
air amidst gut wrenching sobs.

Curling into a tight ball, I invited the memories in and
allowed grief to overtake me.

By the time we reached the seventh tiny, random island, I’d
lost track of how much time had passed since we’d left Nethra.

I dragged myself to shore, bloodied and bruised after a
battle with a less than friendly kelpie.

“I thought you Nethrans said kelpies weren’t dangerous,” I
snapped at Lirig as he collapsed onto the grayish sand.

He gasped and threw an arm over his eyes. “Nethran kelpies
are a different breed.”

Haji settled on the sand next to me and began to rummage
through her battered, sea soaked bag, her eyebrows creased in worry.

“We have to do something about your arm,” she said. “That’s
more than just a scratch.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted. I glanced over at Faema where she
stood ankle deep in the water, her eyes fixed on the ocean.

“Hey, Faema,” I called out to her, “You alright?” She’d
nearly had her leg ripped to shreds by the kelpie’s jagged teeth but Lirig and
I had distracted it with a few jabs of our spears. When it went after us, Faema
whipped out her knife and plunged it into its neck. In the last couple of
weeks, we’d learned that an unfriendly kelpie’s throat was the only vulnerable
part of its body and it was usually protected by a long muzzle and razor sharp teeth.

Faema didn’t answer. Instead, she strode toward Lirig,
reached for the bag beside him, and yanked it open. “We’ve got to be close by
now,” she muttered. She pulled out the map we’d been using.

“We are,” Lirig sat up and stretched. “The water is colder.
Can’t you tell?”

“Sorry, I didn’t notice,” she said. “I’ve been too busy
fighting off sharks, sea serpents, kelpies, and giant eels.”

Haji rolled her eyes. “And that’s my cue to go search for
something to put on your arm.” She pushed herself to her feet. “There may be
some familiar plants that’ll close the wound. Or at least clean it properly.”

I stood to follow her. I had no desire to listen to Faema
rant about all that had gone wrong on our trip. Truthfully, her complaints were
just. At times I wasn’t sure how we’d survived this long, but I knew we had to
keep going. Every day took me closer to Miranasch. Every battle only
strengthened my resolve to get back to Aylen.

I glanced at Lirig once, offering a look of pity before I
trailed after Haji into the forest. The trees were different from those in
Vairda but I was so used to the gradual changes in the islands we visited that
I hardly noticed anymore.

“You think you’ll find anything useful here?” I asked Haji.

“I’m not sure. The island is too small for habitation but
the landscape is similar to the last one we visited. While we were there, one
of the kids I spoke with showed me a few useful plants. I don’t see why they
wouldn’t grow here as well.

“I didn’t know you’d talked to some of the kids. I thought
we’d kept ourselves hidden.”

Haji tossed a quick smile over her shoulder. “I ran into a
couple of them while I searched for food. Their language was different but they
understood a few words I said to them. One was ‘eat’ and the other was
‘herbs’.”

“How in the name of Vairda did you. . .” my voice trailed
off when I saw her stoop to the ground and take out her knife.

“This might help,” she said. She sliced off several leaves
from some plant I didn’t recognize. “It smells exactly like Cessta. Looks a bit
like it too.”

Cessta was a common herb we used in Vairda to help clean and
bind skin after a wound. I knew little about it other than that it hurt enough
to make a grown man squeal like a herd of trapped boars bound for the spit.

“Give me your arm,” Haji said, clamping onto it before I
could back away. She slapped the snipped leaves onto my wound and white sap
leaked into the cut.

Seconds later, it felt like hot flames had devoured my arm.
“Do you want to kill me?” I hollered. I tried to jerk away but she dug her
fingers in to my skin and forced me still.

“Stop being a baby. This can only help.”

I clenched my teeth and tried to breathe. Soon rivulets of
water began to trail down the sides of my face.

“Just a little longer,” Haji soothed but I wasn’t convinced.
I could see the glint in her eye and I knew she thought the whole thing was
hilarious.

“”Tell me what your plan is once we reach the mainland,” she
said in an attempt to distract me.

I shifted my stance and cleared my throat. After a couple of
shaky, shallow breaths, I managed to bite back cries of pain. A few long
minutes later, the ache in my arm had abated some. “If Aylen is as important as
Aluce says, then I think we’ll be able to hear some rumors about her arrival,”
My words were slow and stilted but I continued. “I wonder if going to larger
cities will give us a better chance to find out where she went.”

“Don’t you think we’ll be more likely to be detained or
questioned?”

I shook my head. “We’ll try and blend in. I’ve been told
it’s easy to get lost there because the cities and land are so large. It
shouldn’t be too difficult to mix with everyone else.”

“Sai,” Haji said, her voice dropping as she peeked under the
leaves and then pressed them back into my skin, “what if you can’t find her?
She’ll probably be hidden and it’s likely her location will be well protected.

I didn’t respond immediately. It was a fair question, one
that had plagued me at nights when we’d sought rest on random islands. But I
always came to the same conclusion and it was almost instinctual by now.