Oubliette (Cloud Prophet Trilogy) (17 page)

Krissin and Ace joined hands. “We’ll go through first. You two bring up the rear. Be prepared for anything. Hopefully we’ll find Jada alone and escape with her.”

“It won’t be that easy,” Ace said, squeezing Krissin’s hand. Her knuckles turned white as she grasped his harder.

“I never said it would be. I was only trying on Reychel’s optimistic attitude.” Krissin’s nose wrinkled as she tossed a glance my way.

“It doesn’t suit you,” Ace said. “I like your attitude the way it was before.” He tugged on her hand and they jumped through the portal, leaving us behind in the ransacked room.

“Ready?” I asked Mark. He nodded and we jumped through together.

My feet slipped on the ground as we landed outside a cottage. Alia’s parents’ cottage, or at least the place she told us they lived. If Mark and Ace were right, this wasn’t a mere family home. My eyes scanned the surrounding forest, but I didn’t see Ace or Krissin.

Mark put his fingers to his lips and pointed to the side of the house. The tip of Ace’s shoe peeked out from the corner. We tiptoed across the damp grass, spongy from the dew and smelling sweeter than the orange I’d eaten for breakfast.

Ace’s hand shot out from behind the corner of the cottage, grabbed my arm and yanked me into him. Mark jumped behind me, landing close to my toes. Ace clamped his hand over my mouth before I could ask what was going on. I nodded and he lowered his hand.

“No one will find her here.” Alia’s voice floated out to us as the front door opened.

“You haven’t brought anyone here, have you?” Reese asked. Krissin nodded at me. Thank Eloh I’d found the portal string or we’d be back at the palace searching the deserted hallways all night for Jada.

“Of course not,” Alia said. Mark’s eyebrows shot up as Ace rolled his eyes. Interesting. She lied to Reese. Mark, Ace, and I had all been there at her invitation a couple days ago. “No one will find her here. She’ll stay quiet and we can continue on with our plans. No one can stop us now. Krissin will get what she deserves.”

“And the Prophet?” Reese asked. I sucked in a breath. My stomach muscles clenched as I held my breath captive. I wouldn’t let even a tiny exhale give us away.

“I will personally see to her demise,” Alia said. “Serving her was the lowest moment of my life. She forced me to shave her head, you know. She’s an absolute fool and will never have the power to deliver a prophecy convincing enough. I don’t care how many people believe in the old tales. It won’t be enough to make them give up their quiet lives here in the Southern Kingdom.”

I heard the familiar swoosh as one of them created a portal. Moments later we heard nothing other than the birds chirping their evening song. Ace looked around the corner of the cottage, then stepped back from the wall.

“They’re gone,” he said. “Let’s get in there and rescue your friend. Maybe she heard something else that can help us.

One by one we crept along the wall towards the cottage door. We had no idea when, or even if, they would come back, but none of us let our guards down. Freeing Jada was more important now.

Ace grabbed the doorknob and twisted it to the left. The door opened a crack, but before he could open it all the way Krissin maneuvered around him, pushed it open with flat palms, and ran inside.

“You?” she yelled. “What are you doing here?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

I pushed Ace out of the way and ran through the doorway. Jada wasn’t the one tied to a chair.

“Hanne!” I ran to her side and helped Krissin untie the ropes around her ankles. The rough rope burned at my fingers as I struggled to pull the knots out. Ace ran behind the chair and worked on the bindings around her wrists. Her arms pulled taut behind her back and tears streamed out of her eyes, flowing down her cheeks and over the cloth gagging her mouth.

Mark grasped a knife in his nimble fingers. He dragged it across the silk, not cutting it, for fear of tearing at Hanne’s face, but scoring the silk, making it easier to tear. He ripped the silk gag in two and pulled the fabric out of Hanne’s mouth. She coughed, then licked her lips.

“Water.” Her voice, sounding like her throat had been scratched dry, pleaded with us.

“How long have you been like this?” Krissin asked, still fumbling with her knot. Mine fell loose and Hanne stretched her leg out towards me, flexing her calf muscle. Her face contorted in pain. “Your own husband did this to you? And where’s Jada?”

Mark handed Hanne a cup filled with water from the jug on the counter. “It’s a little warm,” he apologized.

“I don’t care,” Hanne said. Ace dropped her wrist bindings to the floor and Hanne reached out with one shaky hand, taking the cup and drinking greedily. I tried not to look as the water dripped out the side of her mouth. She wiped it with her sleeve, set the cup down on the table next to her, and eyed us all wearily. Her head drooped to the side and tears flooded her eyes again.

“What happened?” I asked, placing a hand on her arm. I crouched down in front of her and looked up into Hanne’s drenched eyes. We’d heard Reese leave. He’d been here. He’d known his wife was tied up and he’d left her. My heart broke for her.

“This morning...” Hanne cleared her throat and took another sip of water, “I woke and found Reese gone. I didn’t know when he’d slipped out of bed, but I knew how much work he had to do before Krissin announced our plans to the town.” She glanced over at Krissin, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I know you wanted everything to transition smoothly. That’s what I thought Reese was doing so late every night.”

Krissin’s face softened as she listened to Hanne’s story. Hanne had been like a mother to Krissin since the queen died. Their bond ran deeper than Krissin’s bond with Nemison. Krissin knelt down on the floor next to me. I scooted over, giving her full access to Hanne. She laid her head on Hanne’s lap. “What did he do to you?” Krissin whispered.

“I went to Jada’s room, hoping maybe she knew where Reese was working.” Hanne paused and a defeated cackle escaped her lips. “Oh, I found them both. They were ... together.” She spat the last word out and my hand flew to my mouth. Jada and Reese?

“No,” Krissin said, raising her head up off of Hanne’s lap. “Not Jada and Reese. I’ll kill them both!”

Hanne grabbed Krissin’s shoulders and shook them. “Don’t say that. I won’t have you unleashing your gift on them because of their infidelity.”

“I don’t understand,” Ace interjected. “If you found Jada and Reese together, why was her room trashed? And why was Alia here with Reese? None of it makes sense.”

“When I found them in her bed,” Hanne said, “I may have reacted badly. In fact, I’m the one who trashed Jada’s room.” Hanne wore only one slipper and her dress was torn along the bottom. So it wasn’t Jada who’d struggled, it was Hanne. “When I refused to calm down, Reese grabbed me and Jada ported us here. They didn’t want either of you to know.” She glanced at Krissin and me. “In fact, they said if you found out about them it would ruin everything.”

“Everything?” Krissin asked. “What everything? Do you know anything about their plans?”

Hanne shook her head. “I don’t have any idea what they were referring to.”

“Hanne, they’re planning something with Alia, something that goes against everything Krissin and Nemison are trying to accomplish. But we don’t know what that is yet. You didn’t hear anything that can help us?” I grabbed her hand in mine.

“No, nothing. Alia was here most of the day, but she was back in that room.” Hanne pointed to the door we’d thought lead to her parents’ bedroom, back when Mark, Ace, and I came here with Alia. “She didn’t say a word to me all day. Reese arrived not long ago. He avoided me and since I was gagged I couldn’t say anything to him. Then they left together. I suppose they assumed I couldn’t go anywhere tied up like that.”

The tears tumbled down her cheeks again. I could kill Reese for doing this to her. He was almost old enough to be Jada’s father; it was disgusting.

“So where has Jada been in all this?” Mark stuck his head in the room Alia had hid in all day.

“I don’t know,” Hanne admitted. “After they brought me here, she helped to tie me up. They left me here, alone, and went outside. Neither of them came back, just Alia.”

Mark motioned for me to join him in the other room. I patted Hanne’s knee and stood up. Krissin nodded at me, and she stood up too. “Can you stand, Hanne?” She asked as I walked away. After being tied up all day, Hanne would need some time to get used to using her legs again. Her muscles were probably sore and stiff, not to mention dehydrated. She would need more water and food before she felt good enough to go back to the palace.

“What’s in there?” I asked Mark, angling my head towards the doorway. I’d believed Alia last time we were here and hadn’t seen the tables and maps Mark had seen.

“Looks like the same stuff as before,” he said, “but I think we should take a look at the maps more closely. If they’re planning something it might help us know how to fight back, or at least defend ourselves. I wouldn’t put anything past them after seeing what they did to Hanne.” Mark kicked the door open with his foot. “How could he do that to his own wife?”

“I wish I knew,” I said. “Reese had been kind to me when I arrived. I never would have suspected him of this before we overheard him talking to Alia.”

Mark turned, putting his arms around my waist. He pulled me close. “You know I’d never do anything like that to you, don’t you? I could never hurt you.”

I leaned in and kissed him. I didn’t think I needed to answer with words.

“Okay, break it up you two,” Ace called from across the room. Krissin helped Hanne walk around the room and regain her footing. “I know everyone’s excited we found Hanne, but they could come back at any moment. How long do you think they were planning on leaving her alone here? Not long, I’d bet.”

Mark grabbed my hand and pulled me into the back room. “Carry as many of these as you can.” He bent over the table cluttered with maps and rolled them up. I grabbed a nearby box and we tossed as many maps as we could into it. Within minutes we’d cleared the table. Mark hefted the box into his arms and I held the door open for him as we joined the others.

A portal shimmered in the cottage.

“It’s linked to Reychel’s room,” Krissin said. “I want Ace to go in first and make sure everything is clear for the rest of us to come through.”

Ace unsheathed a knife from his boot and twirled it in his fingers, a grin spreading across his face. “See you on the other side,” he said and jumped through the portal. A moment later, an orange tumbled through the portal.

“That’s the signal,” Krissin said. “We’re clear.”

She held tight to Hanne’s hand and stepped through. I smiled at Mark and we followed them through. As I got into my room, I realized Jada’s room wasn’t the only one that had been torn apart.

“What were they looking for?” I asked, stepping through the clutter on the floor. Books strewn across the room, clothes pulled out of the wardrobe, I had no idea what they’d wanted from me. Everyone here had seen me as a prophet and it wasn’t something I could have hidden in my room.

“It doesn’t matter,” Krissin said. She pushed more off my table onto the floor. They fell, their pages fluttering open and landing askew on the floor. My mouth dropped. All of those old journals treated like they were nothing more than crumbs after a meal.

“What?” Krissin asked. “Everything in those journals was a joke. Now that we know the truth who really cares how they’re treated?”

She was right. Zelor lied to everyone, to seven generations of believers. He no longer mattered and it was time to prove that to myself and everyone else.

Krissin, Mark, Ace, and I grabbed maps and unrolled them on the table. Hanne lay down on my bed and within moments she fell asleep. We kept our voices quiet until we realized nothing short of a bomb would wake her up.

“What are we looking for?” I asked, scanning my map. I didn’t recognize anything on it and wasn’t sure I was any help at all.

“We don’t know,” Mark said as he smoothed out his map. The edges crinkled and snapped back on him. He grabbed a cup from the floor and placed it on the corner. “Anything unusual like something handwritten or circled. Something that looks like it doesn’t belong on the map.”

I scanned the parchment, noticing mountains, lakes, rivers, towns. Everything seemed normal, as it should be. Near the top I saw my old home, Keree. I traced the dot with my fingertip, wondering what had happened there since I left. Did Ivy still remain in prison where Kandek had her thrown during their wedding ceremony? I shuddered, thinking of what must have been going through her mind while she sat staring at the blank walls.

I’d only spent hours in the dungeon, but to spend days there? I couldn’t even imagine how Ivy handled it. She thrived in the outdoors and frequently reminded me what I had been missing while I was cooped up in the castle. Everything I knew about nature, I knew from her stories of the outside world I’d so longed to enter. Now our fates were reversed.

“I think I found it,” Krissin squealed. I edged closer to her and Mark and Ace crowded around us.

“What is it?” Ace asked. He pecked her on the cheek and tossed his arms around her for a quick squeeze. He picked up the map, holding out for all of us to see. Krissin pointed to a black circle just outside the town. While the Sons remained concealed behind the mountains to the north, this circle was to the west, on the other side of an inlet to the ocean.

“There can’t be anything out there,” Ace said. “My men secured that port last year. We’ve been controlling it for months now. No one can get in or out of there without my permission.”

“When’s the last time you heard from them?” Krissin asked. Mark set the map down and walked over to the window, gazing out at the mountains.

“I should have heard something in the last couple days, but I’ve been here at the palace helping you out.” He pivoted around, placing his hands behind him on the windowsill. “I’ve heard nothing this month. No report and as far as I know, no one from our camp has ridden out to give me any messages.”