As Grandam, perched upon her feathered chair, peered over the old Ka-Eld prophecy, she sighed sadly. There had been one translation, a single piece, that she had kept from everyone. She hadn’t known what it meant until that day. It read:
The Grandam who leads the Ka-Eld to her death will also be the last of her line. Sunstar will take her soul when the purpose of her life is fulfilled in her time. She will be forever with those who came before her, their energies combined.
She reached for a small potion at the end of the table and breathed it in slowly, shaking her head as if to wake up from a dream.
I guess this is it… this is the end of my days…
A knock at her door interrupted her musing.
“Yes. Come in, Toler,” she called out.
He walked in and was immediately concerned. He had never seen Grandam sitting so still before, and despite how pale the skin of Skotads was, she looked ghostly. In front of her was a strange red bottle and a tiny scroll, and to the side of it was a mountain of old scrolls.
“Have you been reorganizing again, Grandam?” Toler asked, smiling. “From the way you look, you might have pushed it a bit too far in one day.”
“Sit down, Toler,” Grandam responded without returning any of her usual quips.
Toler sat across the table from her on the only other chair. “What’s wrong, Grandam? I’ve never seen you like this…”
She gazed at him with an array of emotions rippling over her face. She knew that the minute she told Toler everything, there would be nothing more left for her to do. It terrified her, but it also brought her a strange sense of peace.
“Yara came to see me.”
Toler perked up immediately, then appeared even more worried. “Is that what’s wrong? Is she okay? Does she need our help? Wait…has she freed you from your curse?! Is that why you seem so…weird?”
“Slow down, young Toler,” Grandam raised her hand and shook her head. “You young Skotads don’t know the first thing about just listening, do you?”
Toler grinned, happy to hear her make one of her usual, smart remarks.
“First,” she continued, “Yara did mention something about intending to remove my curse. I haven’t told her yet, but I have no intention of walking in Sunstar’s rays.”
“You don’t want to be freed?”
“I do not. I was born a Skotad, and I will die a Skotad…not this strange breed of creature that you now are,” Grandam replied with the slightest smile.
But Toler’s face was serious. He was as confused as he was depressed. The curse of Sunstar’s rays had been the bane of their existence. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be liberated from its pain?
Grandam sighed. “Look, young Toler, I haven’t told you this, but I think you should know. There was a piece in the Ka-Eld prophecy that I hid from you…a note, written to me and only me. It explained that the Grandam to live in the time of the Ka-Eld would also be the last of her line.” She pushed the note across to him. “And I, for one, have never fancied any of you Skotad men. I never had a daughter. Technically, it makes sense, so this works out for everyone.”
Toler read through the symbols then looked up at her with brows furrowed sorrowfully.
“Goodness, Toler! I didn’t say I was going to die right now, you know?! This isn’t my funeral!”
“I-I’m sorry,” he stammered back, “I just never considered that this could happen…”
“You never thought about the fact that I bore no heirs to my line? Or you never thought I would die, because you think I’m immortal?” Grandam chuckled. “My little magic can only do so much, young Toler, and I fear immortality can’t be brewed in potions. I’m aware that one day you will become the Chief of the Skotads, and I want to leave this room to you. In the time of my passing, everything within these tunnel walls will become yours.”
“Me? But-but why?”
“Because you remind me of everything I’ve read and tried to find about the greatest Eld who ever lived, the Queen of all of Mira—Yara’s mother, who dedicated her entire life to Sunstar.”
“Queen Maia,” Toler responded softly.
“This is why I have asked you here. I fear that Yara is losing faith in her mother…and, I suspect, even in Sunstar…”
“What? I get that she may have never known her mother, but losing faith in Sunstar?! That doesn’t sound like Yara.”
“Well it is her now, I’m afraid,” Grandam responded gloomily. “I saw it happen, right in front my eyes, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. However, there may be something you can do.”
“Tell me. I’d do anything!”
Grandam picked up the tiny scroll that had been rolled into the red bottle. She unrolled it again to reveal the two sheets within it. One was filled with Eldish symbols and the other was a beautifully drawn map.
“This was written by Queen Maia for Yara, or, rather, Yasmin, as she had named her,” Grandam said. “In it, there is a map to the people who kept Yara alive and cocooned for all these thousands of years, before they placed her in the Greens for her Tribe mother to find. They are called the Keepers. Maia said that she left her temple with those people, and it is a temple only Yara can unlock. There is a drawing of this “temple” on the back, but it appears to be a rock made of red glass shards. I translated both that and the map as best as I could but I am not entirely clear what it all means. I do think, however, that it may be the only thing that will save Yara from herself.”
As Toler touched the map, his hands quivered uncontrollably. There was something sacred about these ancient scripts, and knowing that Maia had written them herself and drawn the map felt surreal.
“Does Yara know about this?” he asked, looking up once again.
Grandam sighed. “Yara refused to open it or even read it. She believes her mother was evil. I will explain everything that has happened, but you must promise this: journey to this place, right away, and find the Keepers and the temple. Find someone who can convince Yara to believe again, before she does something she can never take back!”
“I promise.” Toler responded solemnly.
As Grandam told him everything that had transpired, compassion overcame Toler for all that Yara had been going through. He left even more determined to do everything he could to help her.
As he shut the door behind him, Grandam smiled, feeling peace overcome her mind. “She’s in good hands, Maia. She will find her way back to herself, and to Sunstar.”
She looked up toward a sky she had never seen, as a strange wind began to move in her sealed tunnel dwelling. “My purpose has been fulfilled…”
***
As Yara lay in her swaddling, staring at the ceiling of her tunnel chambers, an abysmal sense of sadness suddenly plunged into her soul.
What is this feeling…
She couldn’t explain it, but something had shifted within her, and it tripled her already vast sense of loss. Tears sprung from her eyes and she turned her face toward the feathered pillows. Sobbing into them, she relived unwanted flashes of her day and the traumatizing discoveries about her Eld mother. She cried until she had no tears left; and even then, the sobs didn’t cease.
Sleepless hours passed, until the tiniest scraping sound interrupted the deafening silence, followed by the quick patter of receding footsteps.
Yara lifted her head and noticed a folded note had been slipped under her door. She pushed herself up and walked over, remembering the first time she had received a note like this, a cryptic request from Grandam when she had been an unmarked girl.
Bending to pick it up, she immediately knew it wasn’t from Grandam. It carried a strong male scent, one she had only recently gotten to know.
Atlase…
She opened it quickly, feeling a surge of mixed emotions, and read the words in his charming, smooth voice.
Meet me at sunset tomorrow at the edge of the Greens, where the Urses stopped to drink from the Sapstreams. I need to see you. I need to be with you again. If yo
u come, I will know you feel the same, and I will do whatever it takes for us to be together.
She stared at it, trembling with both desire and fear. She knew she needed to see him, too, but not just because of how much she longed for him. She wanted him to know everything about her mother and her treasonous choices, about how much better Yara believed the Eld had deserved, and about her final decision because of it…
I can no longer be the Queen of the Eld.
Chapter Nineteen
Toler looked over the map in his hands under the starry night sky, reconfirming that the entrance to the territory of the Keepers was closer than he would have thought. Surprised, he traced the landmarks over for the tenth time.
That’s definitely this mountain, and it even says Skotad territory…the secret door to the tunnels is right here. Which means they would have been in between Photak village and the Skotad mountain all this time…for thousands of years! It is definitely much closer to the Photak village, but I still don’t understand how have we never seen them? Why didn’t they reveal themselves to us?
Toler shuddered at the thought of these unseen, unknown Keepers keeping watch over the Tribes for millennia, undetected. It was bizarre to consider that they might have chosen exactly who Yara’s Tribe mother should be, and left Yara as a baby in that exact spot for Lana to find.
Still, whoever these people were, they could save Yara from losing faith in both herself and Sunstar. Toler knew that, and he also felt within him that Yara was exactly the Queen that Mira needed.
She deserves to be the Queen… it is the will of Sunstar…
After Grandam had told him all that Yara shared, there were admittedly some parts of Toler that wondered why Maia made the decisions she had back then. He completely understood how impossible it would have been for Yara to face the truth about her mother. Nothing about the stories reflected Maia’s benign ways. In fact, they painted the opposite.
But I agree with Grandam. I think Maia did exactly what she was supposed to do. I just don’t know why. If she was forced to make those choices, how much do we not know about what actually happened? And how much more does Yara not know about the Eld?
Toler let out a grunt of frustration. Slinging his backpack over his shoulders, he set out in a direction that would lead him straight to the X on the map. He didn’t know what he would find there. There could be mortal dangers ahead. But he knew this much: he was ready and willing to give up his life for Yara.
***
Kristos stood at the very edge of the Greens as the first morning light bathed the village, focusing on the Saptrees a short distance in. He blinked for a few moments as his eyes adjusted to the Blurry, waiting for the trees to render enough of an outline to let him proceed.
It was getting easier to see the more he journeyed into the shadows in search of his father. He was determined to find him and bring him home.
Kristos felt grateful for Yara’s mercy to both him and Chief Lamad, but he also felt undeserving. His life could have been so different had he never betrayed her. He would do anything to take back his reaction on the day she first told him that she could see in the shadows. He should have comforted her and kept her secret. Together, they might have figured out who she really was. Instead, he had handed her over to Malek, a decision that would tear him apart with guilt for the rest of his life.
But I didn’t expect her to kill him, at least not in the way she did…
The village had been buzzing with the news of Yara’s merciless execution. The Photaks were all living in terror and regret for how they had treated Yara as a child. All, except for Mila’s mother, May. May was instead the proudest, most nose-to-the-sky Photak in the village, not that far removed from her manner before Yara’s great reveal, constantly letting everyone know that she was untouchable.
“The Queen and I have a great arrangement, you see. She has taken my brave little Mila under her wing to groom her into royalty! I always had a soft spot for that lovely, blue-haired girl,” May had jabbered to many rolling eyes.
Kristos shook his head and chuckled at May’s gigantic shift in perspective as he began walking into the Greens.
He was headed toward where he had found his father’s old sachet, to see if he could find Lamad’s tracks in the area nearby. He had lost the trail the last time, but noticed a strange line of trees in the distance that he hadn’t seen before. It was in an area of the Greens where neither Photaks nor Skotads ventured because it was known to be completely devoid both mushrooms and Saptrees.
But Kristos was convinced he had seen the glimmer of what he thought might be red glass shards in the distance, and something about that seemed odd. He had been so distracted trying to find his father’s trail that he forgot all about it until the night before, when the memory returned to him in a vivid dream. In it, sitting just behind the trees on a boulder covered with red glass shards, was his father…
I will find you, Father… I will ensure you have a chance to live a long, good life that you granted to Yara, and to me…
***
Hours had passed since Toler set out. He had stopped to refresh himself once, when the rays of Sunstar touched the top of the thick foliage of the Greens, transitioning it from a place of darkness to a den of shadows. It was mid-morning now, and as he journeyed he looked out for the next Saptree he could find, anxious to quench his thirst.
He saw one in the distance and began to run quietly toward it. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. There, stepping back from the Saptree, was a red-haired Photak he recognized. It was Kristos, Yara’s childhood friend who had betrayed her. It had nearly cost her life.
Toler reached for his dagger in self-defense, wondering for a moment if this was a trap. But as he observed, Kristos didn’t seem on guard against enemies. Instead, he was surveying the ground as though he had been tracking something.
Or someone…
Grandam had mentioned that Yara’s intent was to remove the curse from Kristos’ father. The Chief of the Photaks had stood by her as a baby, and she believed in honoring that. Still, even knowing this, Toler wasn’t enthused by the thought of having to deal with the Photak once again.
He searched for another way around the area in hopes of avoiding Kristos. Every direction he tried appeared to cost him even more time. Even worse, what if Kristos was heading in the same direction that he was? He would have to face him eventually.
Toler saw Kristos drink once more from the Saptree, and decided to announce himself.
“You plan to leave any of that for me?” he called out.
Kristos jumped and swung around, sword pulled out in an instant. He squinted, trying to see who it was, but as Toler walked up, Kristos sheathed his sword and huffed. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I think you may need to be able to see me to do that. Actually, even when you could see in the jail cells of the main keep, it didn’t help,” Toler quipped.
Kristos stood, open-mouthed, for another moment and then began to gather his things.
Toler sighed as he weighed how much more important his assignment was than their silly spat. “Look, I’m not here for any trouble Kristos. “I’m on a mission, and it involves helping Yara. I announced myself to you so that you’d know I wasn’t following you, and also because I’m thirsty, and this seems to be the only Saptree in this area. I suspect it is the last one, too, given where I’m headed.”
Toler swung his arm in a general direction out ahead. Kristos considered him for a second, then firmly nodded. “It is, actually. I’ve been a bit further out than here and made the mistake to not hydrate at this spot. I’m trying not to make that mistake again.”
“So, you’re headed back there, into the barren area, despite knowing that?” Toler said slowly. “For what reason, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“It is where I last saw a sachet that belongs to my father. You may not know this, but Yara has offered to give him a safe dwelling with you all. Please know, despite whatever has happe
ned between us, I am grateful to the Skotads for being willing to take him in…”
Toler was staring at him a bit wide-eyed. Kristos clearly didn’t know that Yara was going to free Lamad from his curse. He decided against revealing Yara’s plans. If Kristos believing the Skotads were taking in his father meant the Photak wouldn’t try to kill him again, perhaps it was a good thing…at least while they were stuck together in the lonely Greens.
“We will be happy to accommodate him,” Toler said with a grin. “I give you my word that, for any time he ever spends in the Skotad territory, he will be treated as if he were a Skotad himself.”
Kristos snorted, but this time with a small smile. “Thank you, Toler,” he said sincerely. Then, glancing at the map in Toler’s hand, he continued, “You mentioned a mission? For Yara? Where has she sent you? Is everything alright?”
“She didn’t exactly send me…” Toler started, looking down at the map again. “There is something out there, in the barren areas of the Greens. I believe a different people live there that none of us have ever seen before. I think they were the ones who first brought Yara to Lana as a baby. They may have something very important from Yara’s mother, and I think Yara needs it now more than ever.”
“Do you mind if I see that?” Kristos asked, gesturing to the map.
“Sure!”
As he looked over it, Kristos pointed out the line of strange trees just before the X.
“That’s it! That’s what I saw!”
“You saw the people?!”
“No, but I saw those strange trees. They are unlike any other trees in the Greens. And I also saw what I believe was the sparkle of red glass shards, but I could be wrong. Either way, I had a dream last night about that place, and I saw my father sitting just beyond it. That’s exactly where I am going. Would you like some company? I am happy to do anything to help Yara. I’d do anything to repay her kindness.”
Toler grinned immediately, oddly relieved for the extra help. Kristos had changed, and more than that, he clearly cared for Yara deeply. “Let’s do this, then!” he said.
The Eld Queen (The YaraStar Trilogy Book 2) Page 18