Katrina, The Beginning (10 page)

Today the ten of us had
killed forty, and Philepe told us the leader should have looked
familiar because it turned out he was Luena’s Watcher, Edgar. That
explained why no one ever saw him anymore.

We heard the sound of
horses and soon the rest of our group galloped up to us.

Philepe yelled, “Fredrik
what took you so long?”

We all laughed. My father
explained the cave system was a maze of interconnected tunnels, and
during the fight we had killed twenty-five. After they dispatched
the fallen fledglings, they’d gone from room to room to make sure
the cave was completely cleared out. During this exercise, they
came across three captives, men who had been abducted from villages
far in the north. Strange disappearances had been rumored in that
area for years. The captives had been held to provide fresh blood
for the fledglings and the three rescued had been part of a much
larger group that ebbed and waned as captives died and were
replaced. The men were then told not to fear us, because all the
fledglings had been killed and we would insure they would be safely
escorted back to their villages.

I knew I must tell Father
what Damien had told me about the Volator. But I was suddenly too
exhausted for the effort.

“Let’s head back,” Father
ordered. “Our work is done here.”

We all agreed. Then Father
reached out his arm and pulled me up behind him on his horse.
.

“Well done, daughter. Well
done.”

I wrapped my arms around
his waist and squeezed him to me as tightly as I could. A huge
smile spread across my face as tears welled in my eyes. He was
proud of me, and that meant everything.

CHAPTER FIVE

The rhythm of the horse’s
hooves clopping along the rocky shoreline and the sound of the
river made me sleepy. It seemed as if months had passed since I
felt this relaxed. I wondered about Damien; where would he go? What
had he meant by “I’ll find you”? That’s what he had said; “I’ll
find you in the New World.”
The New World
.
In all the commotion, no one else had even mentioned the subject
since we arrived. Maybe now I could ask Father if the Council would
discuss it before they disbanded. Up ahead, I could hear the gate
hinges squealing. The news of our return quickly spread though the
palace compound and we found ourselves surrounded by family and
well wishers. Our triumphant return was soon interrupted by the
palace guard.

“I hope you were
successful, my Lord,” the Captain of the guards greeted
us.

“We were indeed,” Father
dismounted and handed his reigns to the stable boy.

“There is news my Lord. The
Lady Luena has escaped. And her brother Damien is also missing.
Even his Watcher doesn’t know his whereabouts. Luena killed two
guards. We made a search, but found no sign of either of
them.”

The news about Luena was
disturbing; of course I already knew Damien was gone. I hope he was
truly free of her, but I couldn’t be sure they weren’t traveling
together. Regardless, what he had said about her was surely true:
she was evil.

“Well, inform all the
delegates, so they can be on the watch for her and
Damien.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“We’ll have to question
Damien’s Watcher about the fledglings, so make sure
he
doesn’t disappear.”

The guard bowed and took
his leave.

“I’m going to get cleaned
up and check on the girls.”

“That’s a good idea,
Katrina. I’ll join you shortly. I need to inform the others of all
the news of the day.”

“Of course,
Father.”

Then we parted ways. Thomas
and Simon weren’t far behind me of course, and together, we walked
back to Father’s quarters.

“Katrina!” exclaimed
Eleanor. “Rosalinda, Arletta—Katrina’s back. Oh, Katrina, you
smell
.”

“Thanks,
Eleanor.”

Then Rosalinda and Arletta
came rushing out of their rooms.

“Did you kill them all?”
Arletta said, her Spanish accent sharpened by anger.

“That’s ladylike,” I
laughed. “And yes, we killed them all.”

“Tell us everything,
Katrina,” Rosa demanded.

“Yes everything,” the other
two chimed in.

“Can I at least get cleaned
up first?”

“Good idea. You
do
stink,” Rosa held her nose.

“Thanks.”

Sarah, of course, had
already prepared a bath for me. She was the perfect handmaiden,
always a step ahead. The girls told me she was downstairs preparing
lunch, and as soon the word lunch was uttered, I realized I was
starving
. Rosa helped me take off my
boots. Eleanor put my sword away, and Arletta tried to unbraid my
hair, all the while telling all the news. I sank deep into the warm
water, held my nose and slid completely under. When I came back up,
Sarah was there with a full glass of Crimson.

“Here, drink this; it’ll
give you some energy.”

“Thank you, Sarah. What
would I do without you?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not
going to let you find out. There’s no getting rid of me
now!”

I finished off the Crimson
and Sarah took the glass from my hand and replaced it with a bar of
soap. She washed my hair while I gave a detailed accounting of the
battle. I left out the part about Damien; that memory was mine
alone.

The girls hung on every
word and when I was finished Rosa pledged, “I swear this is the
last time you’re going into battle without me.”

“Or us,” Letta said, and El
agreed with equal determination.

“I wish I could have been
there with you,” continued Rosa as if the other two had not
spoken.

I hadn’t spent much time
with my roommates, but I had a feeling we were going to be great
friends.

“We’ve decided something,
Katrina,” Rosa was matter-of-fact. The other two looked at me and
nodded in agreement.

“We have neglected to train
as hard as you have. Oh, we learned our languages, our history,
rules, manners, and so on. But our battle skills—swordplay,
strategy, and the development of each of our special gifts—are
sorely lacking.”

“And…?” I
prompted.

“We want to train with you,
if it’s allowed and if you consent. The three of us want to
stay with you, after our fathers go home,” Letta looked at me
closely, trying to gauge my reaction.

“Well, say something, Kat,”
El urged, “What do you think?”

“I think it would be
fantastic!”

They jumped up and hugged
each other, then trotted over to the tub. I gave them a splash of
water, they squealed, and we all laughed. After all the killing, it
felt good to do something childish.

“All right, all right,”
scolded Sarah. “Stop making a big mess for me. Shoo, you three. Let
me get her out of the tub and dressed.”

The girls left reluctantly.
I hoped they could convince their fathers, and I knew my father
would have no objection to the plan. He always said I spent too
much time alone. I guess he didn’t count Sarah or Quinn.
“
Quinn!  What was I going to do about
him?”
I sighed, and Sarah helped me into a simple sky-blue
dress, combed my hair out with scented oils, and then deemed me fit
to join the others for lunch. Father returned and was in his room
washing off the same sort of blood and grime I’d just soaked off of
myself. He was soon changed and now joined us for lunch. The girls
each gave me a look, urging me to ask Father about their plan to
accompany us home, and to stay and train with me.

“Father?”

“Yes, Katrina?”

“The girls and I wanted
your permission for something. We want to ask their fathers if they
may stay with me, so we can all train together, when we go
home.”

“Is that right? Well I
think it’s a fine idea. If you want, I’ll speak with all your
fathers myself.”

“Oh yes, yes, would you?”
they all exclaimed, while clapping their hands.

“Thank you, Father.” I went
to him and gave him a big hug. He patted my arm and when I sat down
he gave me a wink.

“I have news. I’ve decided
a celebration is in order. We have much to be thankful for. You
girls are safe, and we have averted a great threat to all our
people - indeed to everyone on the continent. We shall plan a
dinner and a ball.”

We clapped with glee and
Father responded with a belly laugh.

“Is this what I have to
look forward to?” he laughed again.

As we finished our lunch,
we asked Father if we could move back to our original
accommodations, he agreed. We wanted to see each other’s gowns and
stay up all night and gossip. As none of us had siblings, not to
mention sisters, and we were really looking forward to having each
other’s company.

Back in our quarters, we
shook off all bad memories surrounding the place, by staging a
fashion show. Each of us would be modeling a gown she hoped to wear
to the coming celebration. Rosa and Letta, being blessed with
beautiful olive skin, looked wonderful in any color. Rosa settled
on a copper-colored silk and for Letta a gorgeous tangerine, both
concluding gold slippers would be just the thing. As for El and me,
we were blessed with the palest of skin, had long legs and comely
figures. Everyone agreed gold silk was right for me; and teal
looked lovely with El’s blue eyes and light hair. El had matching
teal slippers; I decided to go with matching gold ones.

We oohed and aahed over
each other’s jewelry and decided we would all wear our hair up
tonight. After all these important decisions had been made, Sarah
demanded we should rest before dinner. After everything that had
happened, it was natural we were feeling uneasy about being alone
in our rooms, so we paired up, El and I in my room, Rosa and Letta
in Rosa’s.

We eased into my welcoming
bed. I sighed as the down comforter enfolded my body and I began to
relax. I had just closed my eyes when I heard El’s whispered
question, “Did you hear Luena had turned her Watcher?”

“Yes, and I saw him up
close this morning,” I whispered back, my eyes still
closed.

“I wonder if she was
sleeping with him. Do you think so, Kat?”

“I don’t know, but I
wouldn’t put it past her.” I snuggled down into my
pillow.

“What about you,
Kat?”

I wasn’t going to get any
rest, was I?

“What do you mean,
El?”

“Well, would you ever sleep
with one of your Watchers? All of yours are so
handsome.”

This got my eyes open. I
turned towards her, propped my head up on my elbow and studied her
for a moment. Could I trust her? Yes, I decided; I was sure I
could.

“Yes,” I responded with
conviction.

“Really
? Which one?”

“Quinn.” then I told her
our whole story.

“Kat, that’s so romantic! I
wish I had a secret someone,” she sighed again.

“This is all between us for
now, agreed?”

“Of course, Kat. I’m so
glad you trusted me with your secret. We’re going to be the best of
friends, all of us.”

“Now can we get some rest?”
I burrowed back into my comforter and closed my eyes. El was so
nice. It felt wonderful telling her my secrets. I had grown up with
no female companions except for Sarah, but being surrounded by my
Father, Quinn and his brothers, had made me strong and independent.
Gunter had honed my fighting skills and successive tutors had seen
to my education and soothed off my rough edges. But as close as
Sarah and I were, it was not the same as having a sister. It’s
strange how things turn out; I had always wished that I had a
sister, and now I had three. I felt drawn to them, and knew
somehow, our bond was more than just a friendship.

Just weeks ago my future
was unsure, and now I realized just how quickly everything could
change. I recognized then, I had instinctively kept my feelings
about Damien from El. Just why, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because
I wanted that memory to be mine alone. I probably would never see
him again, except in my dreams. With that I drifted into a peaceful
sleep.

Sarah woke us about two
hours later. We were to meet our fathers for dinner, and we hoped
they had agreed to let us stay together and train. The ball was to
be tomorrow, so we dressed simply and headed over to the main
dining room

Our Watchers of course
escorted us, and I noticed when we arrived at the hall, Eleanor was
looking around to see if she could get a good look at Quinn. I was
looking as well, but he was nowhere in sight. Then all at once he
appeared with three of his brothers in tow.

“Thomas, Simon, look who
just showed up,” Quinn was all smiles as he indicated his
brothers.

Thomas laughed. “You missed
all the fun.”

“Thought you’d save some
for us,” Avery, pushed his lip out in a pout.

“Maybe next time,” Quinn
laughed.