The Black Shard (30 page)

"Thanks," Kristina said. "You're looking really good as well, Bronya."

"Why, thank you," Bronya said, smiling vibrantly.

"How's Neela?" Kristina asked as she quickly glanced again at Werrien, who now was sitting across the table from the other girl.

"She's been real good—working here as well."

"Is she here now?" Kristina asked, back to focusing on Bronya.
Quit acting this way!
she told herself.
Werrien has the right to socialize with anyone he pleases.

"She was, but she wasn't feeling well, so she went home early."

"That's too bad. Make sure you say hello to her for me."

"Most definitely!"

Zalya approached Bronya and Kristina just as Werrien and the other girl stood up. Werrien embraced the other girl and then returned to Kristina. The other girl didn't take her eyes off him as he walked away from her. After a fleeting glance at Kristina, the other girl picked up a dark pink shawl from her chair and then left the restaurant.

"Why don't you two have a seat for a bit?" Zalya said to Werrien and Kristina. "Bronya and I need to go back in the kitchen to get a little something for you. We'll be right back," Zalya said.

Werrien agreed to wait a few more minutes, and he took Kristina to a booth on the front wall of the restaurant; there was a large shark mounted directly above the booth.

Kristina hated the fact that all she could think of was the other girl, but she was just dying to know who she was.
I guess it couldn't hurt just to ask him,
she thought. But before she could say anything, Werrien turned in his seat and stared up at the shark mounted on the wall.

"See that large beast above me?" he said.

Kristina nodded. "That's quite a lot of shark up there."

"There's something ..." Werrien began.

Before he could say more, the dwarfs, Leri and Shin, who had complained about waiting for their food, promptly made their way over to them. Leri quickly straddled a chair that he'd pulled from a nearby table and placed backwards at the end of their table. His short, stout legs hung off the sides of the chair, and he leaned his elbows on the chair's backrest. Shin, with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth, stood next to Leri.

"It was I and my cousin Shin, here, who caught the large beast," Leri said without preamble. He was very serious, with one ice-blue eye squinted almost shut.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Zalya said to Bronya, "I've prepared one of my finest pastries for Werrien and Kristina."

Bronya's full face lit up. "I'll go get two of your fancy new plates to present them on," she said.

"Actually, Bronya, I think that I'll just package the pastries to go."

"Oh?" Bronya said, looking disappointed. "I was hoping to visit a bit with them."

Zalya placed two of her freshly baked loganberry tarts into a small paper sack. "Do you know why the restaurant is so empty today?" she whispered to Bronya, so that the other kitchen hands wouldn't hear her.

"Could it be that that the city officials have moved the fishing tournament to this week instead of next?" Bronya whispered back.

Zalya rolled her bright green eyes. "Now if that were so, Bronya, do you think that Leri and Shin would be here?"

Bronya chuckled. "Oh, yeah! Of course not."

Zalya took hold of Bronya's arm and led her into the pantry. She shut the door behind them and leaned her back against it. "I went out to get the milk delivery a few minutes ago," she whispered hoarsely, "and noticed that there was hardly anyone in the streets."

"Really?" Bronya said, listening intently.

"Well, Jobin was walking by the restaurant, so I asked him where everyone had gone—why the street was so barren? He said it's because there's an illness sweeping over our city, making the people of Ezeree very sick."

"Then we need to inform Werrien about this so that he and Kristina can leave Tezerel as soon as possible."

"I was thinking the same thing, but then Sepel and Heerzek Brinewine, along with two other girls, just happened to pass by, looking for Werrien and Kristina. I told them that they were inside the restaurant, and then I told them what Jobin had told me about the illness."

"What did they say? Did they already know about it?"

"Yes, they did."

"So, did they ask you to tell Werrien and Kristina to go back to the ship so they can leave Tezerel as soon as possible?"

"I asked them if I should tell Werrien, but they said that King Warren declared that the illness was confined to the city and that it would be fine for Werrien to take Kristina on a horse ride up to the Hills of Norel."

"Do Werrien and Kristina even know about the illness going around?"

"No, and Heerzek mentioned that the king said it would be best to not even mention it to them, because he didn't want to worry Werrien." Zalya sighed and a somber expression came to her face. She held Bronya's hands in hers. "I don't know if you are aware of this, Bronya, but Kristina's time here in our world is very short, and so the king wants Werrien and her to have some fun before she has to leave again."

Tears suddenly came to Bronya's brown eyes. She let go of Zalya's hands and reached into her apron pocket for a handkerchief. She wiped her eyes with it.

"Now, now, girl, pull yourself together. We can't have you going out into the dining area all misty-eyed and with your emotions falling out all over the place," Zalya said.

"Yes, of course not," Bronya said. "I certainly can't be blubbering all over the customers, now can I?" She sniffled and blew her nose.

Zalya embraced Bronya. "You're a kind soul, Bronya," she said, patting her on the back. "Now let's go out there together and bid the youths farewell. Shall we?"

Bronya smiled and nodded her head. The two of them went to the dining area, where they saw Leri and Shin hanging around Werrien and Kristina's table. Leri was standing and Shin was now behind Leri's chair. Leri was animatedly gesturing something with his hands, explaining, with great detail, how he had caught the large beast of a shark mounted on the wall.

"And I'll have you two young'ns know, 'twas no picnic, reeling the monstrous creature in. No siree. Took me and my first mate, Shin, here,"—he reached out and hit the other dwarf on his back—"oh, I'd say t'ree hours or so before he gave himself up to us."

Shin said nothing but only smiled beneath his meticulously twisted and curled mustache.

Zalya and Bronya approached the table.

"Leri," Zalya said, "that shark tale of yours gets longer each time you tell it."

"The young'ns here are intrigued by it," Leri said running his weathered hand over his silky-smooth beard.

"Do ya even have a clue at all who you're telling it to?" Zalya said.

Leri, who wore glasses, had them set on the top of his head. "Now, Zalya, don't take me as a fool. I can see we have here two Ezereen yout's," he said.

"Is that all?" Zalya said, staring at him wide-eyed.

"Two
very fine
Ezereen yout's," Leri amended.

Zalya shook her head and rolled her eyes. Then, with a light swipe of her hand she pushed Leri's glasses off his head so they fell to the bridge of his crooked nose.

Gawking through his glasses, Leri blinked a few times as he glanced from Kristina to Werrien. Then his face lit up. "Flippity flounders!" he said. "Why, it's our own handsome young prince." He looked at Shin. "Why didn't ya tell me i twas our own prince sittin' here?" he said.

"Well, cousin, ya never asked me, now did ya?" Shin replied with a smirk.

L
eri apologized many times to Werrien and even offered to take Werrien and Kristina on his boat for a tour of the coastline of Tezerel. But Werrien let him know that he already had plans to take Kristina horseback riding.

Bronya placed the warm bag containing the pastries on the table in front of Kristina. Kristina opened it and the smell of the freshly baked delicacies streamed into her nose. Kristina's face beamed happily up at Bronya and Zalya. "Oh, my gosh! These smell so good!" she said.

"Wait until you taste them," Bronya said, beaming back at Kristina. "They're Zalya's specialty."

"I bagged them up because I figured you would want to be on your way and still have time to enjoy the lovely weather," Zalya said.

"Thanks, Zalya," Werrien said.

Werrien and Kristina stood up to leave, but as they walked to the front door of the restaurant, Kristina's arm suddenly felt very itchy where Dozo had licked it, and she scratched it vigorously.

The weather was pleasantly warm when they stepped outside, and Kristina was glad that it had cooled down since they were in Zalya's backyard. Taysha and Lisheng were standing near the front entrance, but Lonkin was nowhere in sight.

"Funny," Werrien said. "Lonkin usually meets me when he delivers the horses to me." Werrien glanced around and noticed that there wasn't a soul in the street except for Zalya, Bronya, Kristina, and himself. "Sure is quiet out here," he added. Then his face suddenly lit up. "Oh, yeah! Now I know why! It's because of the fishing tournament this week."

Bronya's eyes nervously shifted to Zalya, remembering she had thought the same, that the tournament was this week and not the next.

Zalya changed the subject quickly. "So where are you two off to?" she asked Werrien. She wanted to make certain he was planning on leaving the city right away. If there was an illness going around, she didn't want him to catch it.

"I'm going to take Kristina for a ride up the Hills of Norel," Werrien said enthusiastically, smiling at Kristina.

Kristina smiled back at him. She was really looking forward to the ride.

"Well, it's quite the trip. You two better get a move on it if you want to catch the sunset from the top of the hills," Zalya said.

"There's the most beautiful view of the Sicapif Sea from up there," Bronya said dreamily.

The four gave each other their parting hugs, and then Werrien and Kristina mounted the horses.

"Werrien!" Zalya said suddenly. "I must not forget to tell you: Sepel and Heerzek were here a little earlier when you two were still in the restaurant."

"And they didn't come in to eat?" Werrien said. "That's not like them."

"They had a couple of young ladies with them; they were entertaining," Zalya said with a wink at Werrien. "They also said that when you're finished with your ride, your father would like you to go directly to the ship."

"I was planning on doing that anyway," Werrien said. "The horses will be ready to get back to their stalls to rest." He patted Lisheng on his muscular neck.

Kristina, sitting on Taysha, was eager to get on their way. The sore on her leg was irritating her again, and her lower arm was still itching. She wondered if an insect had bitten her arm.
If it did, it must have been invisible, because I haven't seen one insect in Tezerel or Bernovem.
She glanced down at her arm, but nothing about it looked unusual to her, other than it being quite red where she had been scratching it.

The four said their good-byes, then Zalya and Bronya stood on the cobblestone street, watching Werrien and Kristina until they disappeared from sight. Right after, Zalya turned to Bronya, who didn't look quite herself. Bronya's usually vibrant, pink cheeks and ears were pale, and dark circles surrounded her eyes.

"You're not looking your perky self," Zalya said. "Are you under the weather too?"

Bronya stared ahead soberly, at the barren street. She seemed to be in a daze. "Do you mean you aren't feeling well either?" she asked, turning to look at Zalya—and that was when she noticed a red sore forming on Zalya's neck below her right ear.

Taysha and Lisheng followed a trail that snaked up to the Hills of Norel. It took them a couple of hours to reach the very top, and when they finally did, even though they were covered in sweat and breathing heavily, they were in great spirits.

"This is my favorite place in all of Tezerel," Taysha told Kristina, whinnying happily. The beautiful white mare suddenly reared up on her hind legs, and as her upper body raised up in the air, Kristina felt overjoyed as well. She laughed, for it brought back memories of the first time that she was in Bernovem, though this time was different from back then. Now, she no longer was scared of Taysha's abrupt moves—no, this time she welcomed them.

Werrien and Kristina rode the horses through what seemed like endless rolling green pastures, galloping them until the horses had burned up most of their stored-up energy. When the horses became too tired to run any longer, the teens brought them to a stream to drink some fresh, cool water. Then they removed the horses' bridles and saddles so that Taysha and Lisheng could spend some time in the meadow, grazing and relaxing before embarking on the journey back down the hills.

Even though the horses were tired, they still had enough energy to run free in the meadow and even buck up a few times before settling down to graze.

While the horses grazed, Werrien took Kristina to the northwest side of the pastures, where there was a bluff, and beyond that, just as Bronya had stated, was a breathtaking view of the sun as it cast its rays over the Sicapif Sea.