The Song of Eloh Saga (25 page)

Grey placed a protective arm around my shoulders, but I was too numb to decide whether or not I wanted it there. Mark’s eyes traveled to Grey’s arm. He had hurt me with this unnecessary attack. If all he wanted was to attack people, then I wanted to hurt him back.

I didn’t move from Grey’s embrace.

Mark’s head dropped and I gasped. I slid out from under Grey’s arm and reached out to Mark. But he had already turned and run into the woods with his brothers. The pain in my chest echoed the hurt I’d seen in his eyes. For once I wished I had another gift. One that allowed me to see into someone’s mind, to know their true feelings.

I turned my back on the crowd, on Kandek, whom I had forgotten about, and faced Nemison. My heart now confused and broken, I took the only path left in front of me. A path for which I had made my first gut wrenching sacrifice.

“Now?” I asked him. “Do we leave now?”

“Are you ready?” he asked.

I looked at Grey and Ella. He was confused, obviously he hadn’t been filled in on all the details.

“Ella will explain everything when I’m gone. I have to leave for…” I turned to Nemison. “How long?”

“As long as it takes.”

I hugged Ella, tightening my arms around her, my true friend. Grey patted me on the back while Ella and I embraced, his hand thumping once and then twice quickly. I glanced up at his tentative smile. He didn’t know where our feelings stood any more than I did. I only knew that the past few months had changed me. Mark had changed me.

Blorn pushed his way up to the dais.

“I thought you said she was going to live with you, Kandek. Now she says she’s leaving with a gifted slave. What in Eloh’s name is going on here? I am your superior and you will explain!”

His chest heaved as he shook his hands in the air. Apparently he had recovered from his brush with death.

Kandek looked at me. He looked at Nemison.

“If my daughter commands my new slave to go with her, then he is allowed to go. I will find another gifted slave. There are many waiting to rise so high.”

Blorn heaved a deep breath again, while rubbing his neck.

“There will be an investigation, Kandek. Of that you can be sure. And King Rafe will hear of this too! We will need to know where your daughter has been hiding all these years and why she chose to come back now. And, most importantly, how she knew about your bride.”

“Ah yes,” Kandek said. “My dear bride. I wonder how she’s enjoying her prison cell.”

I glared at Kandek, not sure whether to hug him or punch him. “I’m sure she hates it. Those cells are so dark and dank. Not what Ivy is used to.”

Ella and Grey slipped off the stage as Blorn continued to yell at Kandek. Ignoring him, I returned to Nemison. Obviously Blorn didn’t recognize me from the girl he was so rude to those months ago. I didn’t have it in me to give him another moment of my time, even if I was playing into the ruse that I was now a noblewoman. Though it wasn’t a ruse, was it? If Kandek was my father, then that made me his only heir. It was a position of power, but one on shaky ground considering my other hidden heritage as the daughter of a Serenian slave.

“He didn’t buy you as a slave, did he?” I whispered to Nemison as we walked away from the dais. He smiled and shook his head.

“Once Tania explained to me who he was when we communicated an hour ago, I went directly to Kandek. Ivy was already off in the far tent.” He pointed to the tent from which she had emerged before walking to the dais, “preparing for her wedding. It didn’t take much for me to convince Kandek to play his part. I told him I knew the secret, a secret which would strip him of all of his rank and wealth. A secret which would condemn him to death. He is my pawn now. Do you still have the coin?”

I reached under my cloth belt into a secret pocket I’d sewn within the folds of fabric. I held the coin in my palm and studied it, much like I did the first time I’d found it after Ivy’s disappearance.

“You are both sides of the coin. The baby and the anathema.”

“Johna said anathema means a curse, but she also said it means an offering to Eloh.”

“You are both. You are the offering of the Serenians and a curse to the Malborn. Reychel, you are everything represented by the coin.”

“When was it made?” I asked, fingering the word, my word, on the coin.

“Seven generations ago, these coins were minted by Serenians who had escaped to the mountains in the south. We safeguarded them until the time came to use them. For the last fifteen years we have been liberating slaves and leaving the coins as a warning to the Malborn. Most people had forgotten what they meant and those who knew suppressed the truth,” Nemison said.

“And the baby with the parents?” I asked. “They seem so happy. My parents weren’t happy. Kandek killed my mother.”

Nemison sighed. “It is a tragedy that his fear overcame his love for her. But I think you would be surprised to know that he did love your mother once. And very deeply too. But Kandek is a man ruled by power, not by love, and his true nature took over when he discovered your gift.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Know what?”

“That I’m the one you’ve been waiting for? The Prophet?”

Nemison sighed, shaking his head.

“You are the one because we believe it. Your abilities match the prophecy.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” I said, rubbing my thumb on the coin.

“Haven’t you achieved a victory for your people? Does it matter if it’s true? Let them believe in you as the Prophet. Let them have hope. All you have to do is work on believing in yourself.”

A bank of clouds caught my eyes as they rolled in from the west. My eyes closed as I fell into a trance.

Struggle. A war. A victory. But whose side was I on? Did I stand next to my father or was it Nemison? And who was holding my hand? His face, a blank slate. At the end, peace. A victory. But whose? And confirmation that I was the Prophet? Nothing. But I was willing to try to help my people.

I opened my eyes again, Nemison stood in front of me, presumably waiting for me to come out of my vision. He beckoned to me with one finger. Time to begin training. I looked down at the coin once more. The baby winked at me and I winked back.

-end-

Oubliette

Megg Jensen

Chapter One

I was the Prophet who hadn’t used her gift to summon one useful prophecy.

Throughout my life my former master, Kandek, used my visions to help him maintain and secure his political position. I unknowingly helped him, thinking the visions I received from the clouds were only silly stories I made up for him. Instead he hid me from everyone’s prying eyes and kept me from seeing the clouds, the very clouds that lead my gift to send me visions of the future. He also hid the fact he was my biological father and killed my mother to keep his secret.

I squinted, the blinding sun robbing me of the pleasure of being outside. The clouds had long since drifted away, leaving my gift blind. I relished being outdoors, a rare treat for me after fifteen years of captivity. Soon I’d learn to use it, control it, with the help of Nemison.

Even though he’d said my gift would exceed his, he had an advantage over me; because like every other gifted person I’d met, he knew how to use his. My gift of prophecy was uncontrollable, and so far, useless.

I reached out and took Nemison’s hand. Last week I agreed I would train with him as soon as I cleaned up the mess I left behind after escaping Kandek’s castle. And I had. I freed the petty criminals he held as ransom for my return, revealed my lying ex-best friend, Ivy, for the manipulator she really was, and broke up my father’s wedding. I had nothing left for me in the place I grew up, the place I was a slave, the place where I’d been surrounded by lies.

I allowed myself only one last glance towards the woods that swallowed Mark after the wedding was disrupted. Over the last few months I’d developed feelings for him, perhaps even loved him, but at the moment I needed him the most he’d betrayed me. He’d chosen his brothers in the Sons of Silence over me.

I wanted to hate him.

But I couldn’t. Love didn’t die in the moment of betrayal. Like a flower at night, it only closed its petals, waiting for the sun to shine on it again.

“Arrest them!”

I glanced over my shoulder, and turned to see the obese nobleman who’d had a sword to his throat mere minutes ago. Blorn’s life had been spared and even though I’d been revealed as Kandek’s daughter, he still wanted my head. He held a higher position than my father, but he had no grounds to arrest me now. I’d done nothing wrong.

Blorn’s guards advanced towards us, circling around the dais. Their weapons were still being held in the castle, but I had no doubt men had already been dispatched to retrieve them. They’d be back soon and we had no route for escape. My father had left, following his guards to be sure Ivy was properly secured in the dungeon.

Nemison and I were left standing on the dais with Ella and Grey, two slaves I trusted with my life. She’d become my best friend when I had no one and rescued me in my darkest moment.

“I can fight them,” Grey said.

I placed my hand on his arm. My fingers didn’t feel the jolt I’d always dreamt about. For years I’d had my eye on Grey. Strong, upstanding, and handsome, he was everything any slave girl would have wanted, until I met Mark and tasted freedom in his arms. My heart pounded again, as I thought of him standing on the edge of the woods. He had seen Grey’s arm around my shoulders and then he’d left without a word.

“Don’t.” I pushed Mark out of my mind. He was gone and I had to help my friends. I was now free, but they were still considered slaves. “Standing up to them will only get you in more trouble.”

“I want to protect you,” Grey insisted. He moved in front of me and held up his fists towards the guards.

“Reychel, we need to leave.” Nemison whispered in my ear. I hadn’t forgotten my promise to train with him. I didn’t know how he would get us away from here, but I trusted him. He’d proven his loyalty and in exchange I gave him mine.

“Grey, I don’t need protecting anymore. Take care of yourself.” I placed my hand on his right fist and lowered it. I grabbed Ella’s left hand and placed it on Grey’s fist. “Take care of each other. I don’t know when I’ll see either of you again.”

Ella’s eyes widened and a blush crept on her cheeks. I wondered if she had a crush on him. Hiding a smile, I nodded to her. Grey glanced down at Ella and looked back at me. In that moment he had to know I’d moved on, I wouldn’t ever come home again, not to Kandek’s castle and not to him.

“I promise we will change everything. I will learn to use my gift and everyone’s lives will get better. You will be free.” I barely believed it myself, but I couldn’t leave them standing there wondering why I’d abandoned them. Everyone needed hope now.

Nemison held up his hand, using his gift to send bursts of air at the guards. They fell backwards as they were hit by the invisible blasts, and dropped to the ground.

“Let them be,” my father, Kandek, roared from the entrance to the garden. He’d brought guards back with him after depositing Ivy in the dungeon. His men held their swords at the ready, the tips glinting in the bright sunlight.

I eyed him, but he was too far away for me to make out his expression. He’d denied me my parentage until today, allowing me to live as a slave in his castle. Yet now he wanted to protect me. I doubted I’d ever understand him.

“There must be an inquest,” Blorn yelled.

Their voices hovered in the air behind me, surrounded by the gasps and screams of the ladies and lords present. Even though the guards were on their side, they sat on their blankets cowering in fear. They were probably still in shock from being held at sword point by the Sons of Silence. The Sons were not my people, but another sect fighting for the freedom all Serenians craved.

Nemison took my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll open a portal to the Southern Kingdom. You’ll be safe there.

“Me? What about you?” I asked. The guards edged closer and my stomach tumbled with fear. I wasn’t afraid of the guards; I was afraid Nemison would send me somewhere new and wouldn’t come with me. He’d promised to train me, to teach me how to use my gift. I shouldn’t go anywhere without him.

“I just changed the plans.” He winked at me. I wasn’t comforted.

The Southern Kingdom?” I had heard of the lands to the south, beyond the mountains. Stories told of dangerous men, cutthroats at every corner and a land too wild to be tamed by the emperor. “Is it safe?”

Nemison laughed. “Safe? It’s safer than staying here. I’ll create the portal and you run through it first. I’ll be there soon. I just need to tie something up here first.”

I wondered when Blorn’s guards would attack. They stood at the ready and Blorn dripped in sweat, his beady eyes staring me down. I looked away; I couldn’t stand seeing his ugly face anymore. It reminded me too much of the day I first met him; the day I should have had Kandek’s sign branded into the back of my bald head.

Nemison flicked his fingers in the air, creating a portal, and the air in front of us shimmered. I’d never been through one before, but I’d seen people go through them once so I knew, I hoped, they were harmless. I tried not to show my fear.

“Jump through!” Nemison dropped my hand. I jumped, looking over my shoulder as my foot entered the portal. A guard caught up with him and grabbed Nemison’s arms. Twisting them behind his back, the guard forced him to the ground.

I reached out to him, desperate to save him from capture. “No!” I screamed. But it was too late, the portal had already sucked me in.