Oubliette (Cloud Prophet Trilogy) (2 page)

She knew me, but I had no idea who she could be. Her mouth pursed and her hands planted on her hips. Her long blonde hair, a sign of her freedom, floated to her elbows, but Serenian or Malborn I couldn’t tell. A shot of fear stabbed my stomach. Nemison had said I would be safe here, but this girl, probably around my age, didn’t seem happy to see me.

“Where is Nemison?” she asked. I stared at her longer, debating what to say.

“Or can you only speak when you are in the throes of prophecy?” She gestured to the window on her left. “It’s sunny with no clouds, a frequent occurrence in the Southern Kingdom. Better get used to it mute girl.”

“I can speak fine without prophecy,” I said, finding my voice. I stood up, embarrassed that I’d been on the floor for so long. I straightened my gown, noticing it was dirty from the day’s adventures. In fact, I hadn’t changed or bathed in three days. I probably looked worse than I smelled. At least I hoped it was in that order.

“Where is Nemison?” she asked again.

“They took him prisoner —” I said.

“Prisoner? Didn’t you see it coming? Couldn’t you prevent it?” She huffed, turning her back to me again. “If you can’t even save Nemison, how are you going to save the rest of us?”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d been wondering for a long time how I would save everyone when I didn’t know how to use my gift. Her comments hit me where it hurt.

She turned to me again, slowly this time, her chin lowered but her eyes on me. Her long, blonde curls fell around her shoulders reminding me of how Ivy looked not long ago when she walked down the aisle to marry my father. Cunning, shrewd, and wicked.

“You are going to save us, aren’t you?” A tear fell from her eye, traveling down her cheek. She was good, way too good. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, questioning her sincerity. No one could switch from venom to tears that quickly. “I’m Krissin. And I’m sorry for treating you so poorly. It was a shock for me to see you there, without Nemison, looking like that. I was afraid he’d been killed, or worse.”

“Worse than being killed?” I asked, confused.

“There’s a lot you need to learn, Reychel. If Nemison isn’t here, then I will have to teach you.”

“You?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. She was my age. I’m sure she knew more than me, but I doubted she could take the place of Nemison.

“I am Nemison’s daughter,” she said. “It’s said my powers will be greater than his. Already we have been measured to be equal.”

“Equal?” My throat cracked. I’d never seen anyone like Nemison and if she was predicted to be more powerful what did that mean for me? Nemison told me I would be more powerful than him. I wanted to know if she was my equal or if her gift was more potent than mine, though I guessed it didn’t matter since I couldn’t figure out how to activate it.

“I am also Princess-in-Residence of the Southern Kingdom. My Malborn subjects believe me to be the daughter of the last ruler. He too believed it since my birth. I revealed myself as the poison I slipped him took away his final breaths. Then he knew, but it was too late. Everyone already believed the ruse.”

“You killed him?” My view of the sarcastic princess changed. Maybe her act was real, maybe she really was that cool and calculating. I knew she was my opposite. Death and violence went against everything I believed in.

“It was necessary for the transition. How else could we Serenians take back our land, what is rightfully ours? Soon Serenia will be ruled by us again, not them. We have to purge the Malborn from the Southern Kingdom and then we will move north to your homeland. All Serenians will be free.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around the thought of a puppet government in the Southern Kingdom. No one from the north suspected or the slaves would have been abuzz with gossip.

Nemison had told me things weren’t as they seemed here and I knew so little about politics other than what I had picked up listening in on conversations as a slave. But one thing I did know was that Kandek and the rest of the ruling nobles of the north depended on the Southern Kingdom for food. They were able to grow fruits here that would die in the north, fruits that staved off disease at my home.

“What do you mean move north?” I asked.

“We are going to take back our land.” Krissin slowed down and punctuated each word, as if I couldn’t understand her otherwise. I wasn’t stupid and even though I hated violence I had the strangest urge to slap her.

“Take back the land?” I kept my voice calm and steady. I wouldn’t take her bait.

“From the Malborn,” she sighed. “It’s our plan to drive them from our land forever. It’s time we took back our lives and it is your destiny to help us do that. You are the one who is to save us, are you not? Then take your place beside me as my advisor and together we will drive away the Malborn.”

“Where will they go?” I asked. “We’re isolated on this island. The Malborn control the seas. Do you really think we can force them out?”

Krissin threw back her blonde curls and laughed. At me. I felt my face redden. This privileged girl expected me to know as much as she did but I couldn’t possibly have the same knowledge. Up until last year I’d been sheltered in Kandek’s manor. What I learned since then has shown me that nothing is what it seemed. I’d spent the better part of the last year learning about normal life. If this girl knew anything at all about me, she’d know what a sheltered life I’d led.

“We have boats.” Krissin snorted through her condescending laughter. “We have a whole fleet of ships. We stole a good part of the Malborn’s fleet, at least the boats left behind after their last supply run. They frequently leave the island and travel to distant lands for supplies.”

“They have Allies?” I asked. I tried to hold myself together and not be affected by her obvious disregard for me. I needed facts and reacting to her jibes would only waste time.

“Not Allies so much as more Malborn colonies. Their reach is incalculable according to my spies.” Krissin paused to twirl her long hair around an index finger. I held my hands back from touching my own short hair, hiding beneath my wig. Barely reaching my chin, my black hair was still a new wonder. My whole life I’d shaved my head every morning as a sign of my status as a slave. But now that I was free, I was allowing my hair to grow out for the first time.

“You think we can drive the Malborn off the island, back to their colonies?” I asked.

“That’s our plan.”

“What if they go back to their colonies only to bring more soldiers with them to subdue us? Who’s to say they will go away and not come back?”

Krissin’s eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. A chill ran down my spine all the way to my toes.

“That’s where you come in,” she said. “You will peek out the window, glance at a cloud and tell us what the Malborn are going to do. We’ll always be a step ahead of them. You are our most powerful weapon.”

“I can’t control my visions yet.” I stuttered, suddenly feeling weighed down by the responsibility being laid upon me. “That’s why Nemison, your father, was going to help me. He was going to train me.”

Krissin laughed again. I liked her less every time her mouth opened and that tinkling laugh fell out. It was as fake as she was.

“Is that what he told you? That he was going to train you? He can’t train you in anything other than the basic arts. He can do nothing for your gift. It is yours to learn, yours to discover. No one can do that for you. Obviously the Council didn’t fill you in on everything. You were too busy thinking about your own little problems and not enough about the whole population. This is bigger than a fight with your best friend and your father.”

I absorbed the information. Of course she would be right. Johna, the woman who took me in and hid me when Kandek’s army tore the countryside apart looking for me, told me no one understood my gift the previous time someone had manifested it. People had studied it for years hoping to make sense of it, but no one had ever succeeded. Then they found me and knew without a doubt that I was the Prophet, the one they had been waiting for. So far I’d yet to use my gift in any useful way. How could I save our people with so little knowledge of what I might be able to do?

My stomach turned and I clenched my hands. No matter how worried I was, I couldn’t let Krissin see. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. From what she said, she needed me as much as I needed her. We would have to find a way to tolerate each other.

.

Chapter Two

“Your rooms, milady,” the slave girl said, her eyes not meeting mine and her bald head shining from the sunlight streaming through the window. I couldn’t bear to meet her eyes either. As far as this poor girl knew I was Malborn along with the rest of them. She couldn’t know I was Serenian like her or it could compromise everything Nemison had set up here. My heart broke a little seeing the swan brand on the back of her head. Even though Krissin ruled, she must have kept the branding going as part of the ruse.

“There is a change of clothes and a warm bath waiting for you behind the curtain.” The slave girl moved slowly, quietly, as if she were afraid of disturbing me. I’d seen this behavior a million times before. She wanted to be invisible and she was good at it. Unfortunately I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“Thank you,” I whispered. Watching her was unnerving. I used to be her; I was the servant doing the bidding of any nobleperson who beckoned. Even though I’d worked deep in the bowels of the kitchen, away from windows, there were many times I was stopped in the hall or asked to run errands inside the castle. Few were kind, most treated me like I was less than human. “Will you be serving me?”

She nodded, not meeting my eyes. I placed my hand under her chin, raising it up so she could look at me. Still, her eyes refused to meet mine.

“If you wish, milady, you can request me and I will attend you. My name is Alia.”

“Thank you, Alia,” I said. “I appreciate your gentle manner, but if you are to serve me, there’s one thing you must do.”

Her muscles tightened up, her shoulders hunching up towards her ears. I could only imagine how she assumed I’d treat her. Her submission unnerved me. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.

“I want you to look me in the eyes and I want you to smile,” I said. As Alia looked at me, I saw her blue eyes, so much like Ella’s. The corners of her obedient lips turned upwards but there was no genuine emotion behind it. Soon, I hoped, soon I could give her something to be happy about.

I had to find a way to free everyone before more children grew up so cynical and broken.

“Will that be all, milady?” she asked through her fake smile. The ridiculousness of it all was the last straw. I broke into laughter at the pained expression on her face. Alia’s eyes looked into mine, genuinely curious for the first time. The corners of her mouth twitched, almost a real smile, as she backed away to the door.

“Please ring if you need anything.” Alia pointed to a rope attached to a bell hanging near my bed and another by a desk.

She turned on her heel and rushed out the door, but not before raising her hand to her mouth to cover a giggle. I smiled again, hoping that Alia could become my friend instead of my servant.

I glanced around the room, surprised by the luxury of it all. Stuffed damask chairs with fabric dyed in colors I could have only dreamed of before today flanked the windows. Bookcases lined the walls, filled with more tomes than I could read in a lifetime. And the bed, oh Eloh, the bed.

Due to my confinement in the Northern Kingdom I’d never been in a bedroom where the noblewomen stayed on visits. I’d heard about canopy beds, but I’d never seen one and it was more beautiful than I’d been told. The four wooden posts soared up to the high ceiling, draped by light netting, the bottom sweeping the floor. I wanted to jump into it, like a little girl might, but I didn’t after I saw what was lying on it.

A dress, a beautiful silken gown unlike anything I’ve ever worn, one much more appropriate for the warm weather and infinitely cleaner than what I wore now. I glanced back at the curtain, knowing that my warm bath awaited me. Unable to wait a moment longer, I stripped off my dirty clothes and wig and slid into the water.

For the first time in days, I relaxed as I eased into the tub. Laying my head against the back of the copper basin, I allowed every muscle in my body to relax. I felt the water lap over my arms. Knowing it would cool sooner rather than later, I grabbed a washcloth and began the task of removing the last few days’ worth of dirt.

The grass stain on my elbow from sleeping on the forest floor while Mark kept watch, the dirt on my feet from running through the filthy dungeons, the sweat from my hair from being trapped beneath a wig for too many hours. I felt the anxiety wash away, replaced by a glimmer of hope. I closed my eyes and sank deeper into the water, relishing the warmth. But Mark’s face invaded my thoughts and a chill ran down my spine. I wouldn’t think of him. He was leagues away now, and I had to concentrate on learning more about my gift.

I stood and let the water drip off of me into the metal tub. I reached for a towel and wrapped it around myself as my door banged open. Grateful for the curtain separating me from the intruder, I called out, “Alia, is that you?”

“No, it’s not.” An unfriendly male voice called back. “Dry off and get dressed. Your presence is required immediately by the ruling council. I’ll be waiting outside the door.”

The door slammed again, nearly as loud as the beating of my heart. I’d been given only a few moments of peace, but I was still grateful. Hopefully I could steal a few more later.

I squeezed the remaining water in my hair and placed the wig back on top. It was probably crooked; it always was. I rushed over to the bed and pulled on the clean under things and shimmied into the dress. I turned to the mirror and checked my wig. Of course it was lopsided, a problem I’d dealt with since the first time I put one on. I righted it, making sure none of my real hair poked out.

I slid my feet into the slippers waiting on the floor next to the bed and I ran to the door and opened it. An older man leaned against the wall, looking at me as if he’d been studying me for minutes rather than seconds. He reached out and stroked my hair.