My King and Queen think the Phoenix wanted to store the magic for later use, but I cannot fathom why. The realm is safe, we are at peace. For now at least. The gems are to be dispatched to their new owners soon, and I pray they are worthy of heart. Power such as this can too easily be manipulated to the owner's pleasure. History tells that power corrupts even those who begin with the best of intentions. Oh, Phoenix may they find a worthy home.
-Lord Finley.”
Six gems, created by a powerful Phoenix. What even is a phoenix?. Who was she? Did she know who the gems went too? I calm my racing thoughts and try to settle on just one question. “Is this text about real events or a made up story?”
Anne flips the book to look at the plain front cover, and then opens it and reads the first page. “Musings of Lord Finley, Master Tender during the reign of…” Anne squints at the page.
I look at the book in her hand. “What?”
Anne looks up from the book. “It is lost. Some sort of inkblot covers the rest, I can’t read it.”
Lexa rises from her seat and takes the book from Anne checking it herself. “The text is lost. Whether or not it is a work of fiction we cannot be sure.” She hands the book back to Anne. “But I think the gems he is discussing are the gems we are searching for.”
I flick my eyes to Anne. Lexa follows my look. “I have filled her in. She will need to know this information when she takes over after I leave.”
“You’re leaving?” I ask, wrapping my arms around myself. I have missed my chance to ask her to accompany me.
Lexa sets the book in front of me. “Yes, I will be accompanying you on your quest.”
I blink. Maybe I haven’t. “You are?” I repeat stupidly.
Lexa nods with enthusiasm. “A quest like this could achieve everything we have been fighting for.”
“Freedom for our people,” Anne adds after seeing my blank expression. “No more living in the dark.”
Well, that solves the problem of asking Lexa to come with me. I just had to wait for her to invite herself.
This conversation is traveling very fast, and I have to backtrack and reprocess the information. The gems were created by someone powerful in the gift, this Lord Finley knew about their creation, and Lexa is coming with me on my quest. I look up and find the two sisters have continued the conversation without me.
Lexa paces the room with energy. “We will need a small team.”
Anne hurries to collect paper and retrieves a carefully wrapped stick of charcoal from a tin. She spreads it across the table and writes a checklist. “They will need a range of skills.”
Lexa nods and turns to face me. “Do you know anything about where the others are?”
I shrug. “I didn’t even know where you were, or that my necklace was imbued with the gift.”
Lexa meets my eyes and bites her lip. “Yes, that will make it difficult. Did your mother tell you anything else?”
I consider her question. “She said the necklace gave her the ability to see the possible future.”
Anne looks up from her frantic writing. “Like visions?”
“I'm not sure. My mother said she had seen a glimpse of a future where Darkmor doesn’t rule us.” I leave out the part about me saving the world; it seems like an arrogant thing to say.
Lexa gives me a look as if she waited for me to say more. She gives it a moment and moves on, “Well that gives us something to search for, people with extraordinary abilities.”
Anne climbs to her feet. “I will see what our contacts know.” Lexa gives her a brief nod, and she rushes from the room.
Lexa starts collecting scrolls and books from the piles on the table. “I think that’s all we can do until we find out more information.”
I climb to my feet and help her, following with an armload of papers as she takes them one at a time from my arms and returns them to their correct places. “Lexa. When we used the necklaces in the cave in, did you notice any strange after effects?”
Lexa paused to consider my words, “Nothing outstanding, just a few pains from bumps and scratches.” She pauses and tilts her head. “I did have an awful headache, but I assume that was caused by the situation.”
She hadn’t noticed the lines. I suppose she was busy though. “After the cave in and before we entered the evacuation room, I noticed three lines on my arm. They were blue.”
Lexa furrows her brows. “Blue lines? Like the color of your necklace?”
“Yes, they were hot and painful to touch. A few hours later they faded.”
Lexa scans my arms with her eyes. “Any lines today? We used the crystals in the gardens earlier.”
I check my arms. Nothing. “Maybe they already faded. Or maybe you have to use so much of the power before it happens.”
Lexa places the last few scrolls on a shelf. “Well, I think we should use the necklaces with caution. At least until we can be sure we understand the repercussions of using them.”
Her words make sense, but I knew I would try to use it again. Knowing the cost of using them will come when we figure out how to use them enough to get a cost. Also, I need to learn if they can work independently. Mostly, I just want to know how it works.
Lexa leads me out of the room. “We have much to prepare and much to learn.”
I feel like we are only just scratching the surface of a much more complicated problem. But seeing as I don’t know what that problem is, I shrug it off and follow Lexa down the hall.
She leads me to a room at the end of the hall. “Given the perils of this mission, you will require weapons. I inspected what you brought with you, and I believe better weapons are in order.”
We step into the room, and I am blasted with heat. A man works in front of an oven of sorts. It’s packed with coal and burning at a temperature that makes the man’s bulging arms shine with his movements. He wields a heavy hammer and beats at a glowing chunk of metal. A team of small boys run around him. One is pumping a massive set of bellows that keeps the coals at their unbearable heat, each gush of wind roars the fire into a hotter state than before. Another boy runs for a bucket of water, and barely dodges past us as he hurries to do his master’s bidding. The last is holding a sword far too big for him against a grinder, sparks flying from the spinning stone wheel as he pumps it expertly with his foot.
Lexa and I step into the room, and a knife flies past my ear and buries itself in the wall behind me. I turn to see it planted in a soft wooden board. Many similar holes inform me this knife throwing is a regular occurrence. I turn to a skinny woman with pale skin and a mass of curly black hair. She plays with one of the many knives attached to the belts strapped all over her body. There must be at least fifty, and those were just the ones I could see. What on Katera would anyone need that many knives for?
Lexa gestures to the woman. “Claire, this is Melissa.”
Melissa retrieves her knife from the wall, slips it into position and holds her arm out. I grasp it firmly. She returns the gesture with more pressure than necessary. I squeeze back.
Lexa breaks the tense silence, and Melissa releases my arm. “Claire is here for some new weapons. Would you be so kind as to help her find some that are well suited to her?”
Melissa eyes me and walks off towards the back of the room without saying a word. Lexa nudges me. “Follow her. I know she appears standoffish, but it takes a while for her to warm up to strangers.”
Lexa's earnest face persuades me to follow Melissa. I walk in the direction she headed and find her standing in a room filled with swords. I hesitantly step into the room. I don’t like being surrounded by weapons with a woman I don’t know. Her standoffish disposition doesn’t help the situation.
She points at the center of the room. “Stand there.”
I follow her instruction and stand quietly as she circles me, scrutinizing me as if I have something to hide. I have a feeling most people would cave at the depth of her stare.
She abruptly walks to the wall and retrieves a sw
ord. She inspects it and hands it to me without a word. I take the sword. It is light. Much lighter than the ones I had received in the Arena. I hold the sword out, and it balances well and has a good grip. I flick the pad of my thumb over the edge of the blade, and it bleeds.
I smile. “This is a fine sword.”
I see the briefest smile ghost Melissa's face. She leaves and returns with a leather scabbard. “Side or back?”
It takes a moment to realize she is asking for the preferred position for my sword. “Left side.”
She nods, loops it around my waist, takes a nail and marks it. “This way.”
I follow her to a large stone where she uses a hammer and nail to punch a line of holes in the belt. She slips on another smaller sheath I hadn’t noticed onto the right side and attaches it there. She hands me the belt and walks to the front of the room, retrieves a dagger and holds it out to me.
Quietly I take it and slip it into the belt. “Thank you.”
I loop the belt around my waist, not expecting an answer from Melissa. I look up to find her regarding me. “You are welcome.” With that, she turns and leaves.
I wander out of the room and into the hall. Lexa is there surrounded by a group of people, who seem to be reporting to her. I stand a polite distance away and wait for her.
Lexa excuses herself from the mob and approaches me. “I see it went well.”
“I don’t think it went well at all, as she basically didn’t speak to me.”
Lexa smiles. “Yes but you still have all your fingers.” I look at Lexa in horror. “It’s okay she hasn’t cut off anyone’s fingers. Not recently anyway.”
I search for words. “That’s how you decide if an encounter with Melissa went well?”
Lexa shrugs. “It’s as good a measure as any. In any case, I must leave, I have a meeting.” She points down the hall. “The kitchens and eating rooms are just up there. I'm sure you can find your way around from there.”
I scowl at her. Lexa hasn’t missed my excitement about food and likes point it out wherever she can.
Lexa smiles. “I will see you later in the sleeping rooms?”
I nod, and Lexa walks back into the anxious crowd of people waiting for a moment of her attention. I had known from the moment I met her that Lexa held a leadership position. But as I learn more about this community, I am beginning to think she isn’t a leader, but the leader. I hope they will be okay while she is gone. She had said her sister, Anne, would be in charge during her absence. Hopefully, the people respond to her as well as they do Lexa.
My stomach rumbles. It’s a good thing Lexa pointed out the kitchens. I smile and head off in a search for food.
Chapter Eleven
Together we March
For the next week, I keep myself busy. Often I find myself partnered with Lewi, helping treat the people who had been injured in the cave in or by the Chimeras as they rampaged through the base. It is hard work, but it’s rewarding, it certainly keeps my mind from wandering to the task ahead. The job of treating the wounded stops me from overthinking the fact that I have absolutely no idea how to find the other four necklaces.
I am clueless as to where to start, but Lexa seems filled with energy at each of our encounters. Certainly, the daunting task ahead of us doesn’t put a stop to her motivation.
I don’t share her excitement for the task at hand. I tried more times than I could count over the last week to use the necklace’s power on my own. Only once did I get a brief flicker of blue light. It was so brief I'm not sure if it had actually happened, or I just really wanted it to happen. All my efforts had gained me was one heck of a headache.
A pained moan brings me back to the present. I set down my water canteen next the Lewi and go over to help a young man with a deep gash in his leg. I arrive to find him grunting in pain and his forehead glistening with sweat. I inspect his bandages; they are wet with blood and in need of a change.
“You tried to stand again, didn’t you?” I say to the man as I unwind the bandage. I find three ripped stitches and blood sluggishly making its way out of the wound.
The man nods, his face contorted with pain and a touch of guilt. “I cannot just lay here and do nothing. I should be out there helping them secure our home! Since that second beast disappeared people have been fearful it will bring back more.”
I remove the broken stitches and work on re-sealing the wound with new ones. “You won’t be helpful in your current state.”
The man frowns at my statement, but even he cannot deny the truth in my words. I wind the bandage around his leg and help him sit up.
I retrieve my water canteen and convince him to drink. “Give it time, and allow your leg to heal. Then you will be able to help. For now, you must rest.”
He nods and lays down, his unshaven beard lightly scraping the pillow. “I heard someone killed one of the beasts in the tunnels. I heard it was a pregnant male.”
That baffled me. “A pregnant male?”
The man readjusts his pillow, and the light reveals the bags under his eyes. “Yeah, the boys have this crest of horns, and when they are pregnant, the creatures form sacks that are inside its face.” The man wriggles his fingers near his face giving a visual demonstration of the appendages he is describing. “As the infants develop they grow from the males face, on these stems. They stay there until they grow legs and drop off.”
I pull a face at the memory. The man mistakes its meaning. “Oh it’s far more horrible then you can imagine, only once have I glimpsed such a beast, and I was lucky to live and tell of it. I would be interested in finding out who killed this one.”
I nod and keep quiet.. I have never seen ending a life as something I should receive glory for, and I’m certainly not going to start that now.
The man sees I am not going to engage in his gossip. His eyes involuntarily drift shut, and his words fade out. He is asleep in minutes. Maybe he felt chatter was a way to stay involved when he physically couldn’t? I look at the man and understand his desire to help. There is nothing worse than feeling helpless when there are tasks that need to be done. Especially when they are tasks you know you can do.
I repack the clean bandages into the medical basket beside me and take the soaked bandages over to the mountain of rags and dressings to be cleaned. I add it to the precarious pile. I return to collect the medical basket and find the man’s breaths slowing, as he slips into a deeper more peaceful sleep. Hopefully, he gets enough rest to battle the bags forming under his eyes.
I gather the medical basket and take it over to where I had been resting and place it near the wall. I lean against the hard rock as I sort through the basket checking to see what needs to be replaced. A bandage rolls away from me, and I scramble to pick it up.
I jump when I see Lexa standing beside me. How long has she been there? “Damn it, Lexa, is it impossible for you to make noise?”
“It is possible to make noise, but why would I deprive myself the opportunity to scare you?” Lexa replies, the corners of her mouth quirking into a small smile.
I pick up the items I had dropped and throw them in the basket, sending Lexa a glare as I rise to my feet. “What’s up? I’m assuming you didn’t come here just to scare me.”
Lexa sighs. “Sadly no. I do not have time for such frivolous endeavors.”
I shoot her another glare.
Lexa ignores the face I give her and continues on, “I wish for you to accompany me.”
I look up at Lexa's neutral face. Well, that was vague. I set aside the medical basket and rise to my feet. “Sure, I am finished here.”
Lexa leads me out of the room.
I keep silent until we are out of earshot. “Where are we going?”
“To have dinner.”
I can’t hold back my smile at the mention of food, the notion of three meals a day is still new and exciting to me. It’s the small things in life. I catch Lexa’s smile and the shake of her head at my childlike joy. My grin widens, and we head for
the hall. She leads me in a new direction. This isn’t the way to the common eating area.
We stop at a doorway that looks the same as every other we passed. The curtain hangs across it and blocks my view of what is inside. Honestly, I'm not sure how Lexa gets around this place. I have been here over a week, and I still get lost. All the halls and corridors look the same.
“Lexa, what are we doing?”
Lexa leads me to the wall opposite the doorway, and leans against it and speaks in a low voice, “I have assembled a small team for our journey. It is necessary that our people think I am travelling to another base, and I would never do that alone.”
That makes sense. “Does the team know?”
Lexa breathes in. “Not yet. I wanted to speak to you first. Aside from us, the only person who knows is Anne.”
I agreed with her telling Anne. There should be no secrets between leaders. Lexa regards me, her eyes greener in this light.
I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. “Do you trust them?”
Lexa doesn’t miss a beat. “With my life.”
“How many are there?”
A young woman walks past, and Lexa chooses her words carefully, “Including us, it will be six in all.”
That’s a few people. “How much do you want them to know?”
Lexa ponders the question, “The more they know, the better we would function as a team. But that comes with another side. The more they know, the more danger they will be in if we are captured.”
I nod at her reasoning. “How about we tell them everything except that we have two of the necklaces?”
Lexa nods. “Let us delay no further.” She crosses the hall in three strides and sweeps aside the curtain.
This room is not like the others. It looks like a natural cave, and the rolling rock walls bulge and bend as they please. I am surprised to find a wooden table and chairs. This is my first encounter with solid timber furniture here; I had thought there wasn’t any. Light crystals have been added to this room but without a pattern. It seems like they were merely put where they would fit in the walls and roof.
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