Select

by Patricia Reding

  Chapter Five

  The compound had been aflutter all morning. Jules called for an additional contingent to buttress their defenses on the north side. No sooner had he done so, than more intruders invaded from the south end, so he sent another group that way, frustrated that events got in the way of their search for Carlie. Several hours later, some of those who’d answered to the southern invasion, made their way back to the compound’s center after having left the remainder of their group behind. They kicked dust up into the hot, humid air.

  Meanwhile, Marshall and Jerrett prepared to journey to Chiran, while Basha and Therese prepared for their trip to the palace of the Select at Shimeron and then to the City of Light. They packed bags, prepared their horses, collected foodstuffs, and planned and reviewed their itineraries.

  With the others busy, the twins intended to stow away in the tree house that Mara and Dixon had built for them when they were little girls. During their childhood, it served as a lookout and place of fun and secrecy, though they’d abandoned it for more adult interests some years past. Now it would serve as a place where they could privately discuss their Oathtaker’s condition.

  They watched the commotion for a time, through the dust swirling in the air. The horses’ clinking and clanking, as they made their way around camp, the swish-swish of guards sharpening their knives on honing steels, and the grunts and cries from ongoing defense training, sounded out. All the while, smoke from Adele’s kitchen chimneys tattled on good food to come later to those who waited.

  Broden rode up on a grey gelding, dismounted, and then approached the twins. Engagingly handsome, tall and broad, he wore his shoulder length hair tied back with a leather strap. He brushed the dust from his forehead.

  “Hey,” he greeted them with a dimpled smile, his dark eyes sparkling.

  “Broden! We haven’t seen you for some time,” Reigna said.

  “Yes,” her twin said. “Where’ve you been?”

  “Busy.” He shuffled his feet in the sand. “Jules is teaching me some of the administrative tasks so that I can help him with our security needs.”

  “That’s great.”

  “He’s a real task master and a great tactician. Really he’s . . . brilliant.” Broden looked from one of his cousins to the other. “Where are you two off to?”

  “Oh, just . . . looking for something to do,” Reigna said.

  “Yes, everyone’s so busy today,” her sister said. “We’re supposed to train, but we begged off.”

  He glanced around the compound, then back at the twins. His dimples flashed. “Did I hear right? That you went to Lucy’s meeting last night?”

  “You did,” Reigna said, chuckling.

  “I’ll bet Lucy was none too pleased.”

  “She’ll get over it,” Eden said, shrugging.

  He laughed. It was a pleasant, easy sound. “Well, I have to see Jules now. He asked for a report on the status of our proposed new defense program, and wants help coming up with a better plan for finding Carlie. Also, we’re experimenting with some crystals,” he said, referring to the magic crystals the Oathtakers made. “He’s looking for ways to make better shields for the compound perimeter.”

  “I wish Lucy would let us help with the search,” Eden said. “Carlie must be frightened nearly to death. But all we do is train and study . . . train and study.”

  “Your day will come.”

  The sisters stood, silent.

  “Are you two all right?”

  Reigna’s eyes flashed up at him. “Sure. Why wouldn’t we be?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You just don’t seem yourselves today.”

  “We’re fine.”

  “Just missing Mara and Dixon,” Eden added.

  “Of course. I understand.”

  “We’ll see you later then, Broden.”

  “Yes, see you later,” Reigna echoed.

  With his horse’s reins in hand, he walked away, waving at his cousins.

  The twins quickly took stock of the goings on. With everyone busy, events even distracted Lucy, who generally kept her eagle eye on them. No one would miss them now.

  “Come on,” Reigna said as she set out, motioning for her sister to follow.

  The two made their way to a large oak at the end of the main trail, its branches cast out in every direction, its multi-spiked, waxy leaves waving in the breeze.

  Reigna climbed up first, followed by her twin.

  On the walls of their retreat hung various framed sketches that the twins had drawn in their younger years. Eden, in particular, possessed the gift of artistry, as her renditions of horses, wolves, owls, and eagles, witnessed. Years back, Mara framed some of them, then hung those that wouldn’t fit in their cabin, in the tree house.

  After they sat on the scattered rag rugs gracing the floor, Reigna unwrapped a package of goodies she’d begged off Adele earlier, including seasoned flat breads, slices of various cold sausages and cheeses, thinly sliced peaches and pears from the compound orchards, sweet fresh blackberries picked from the wild bushes that grew along the camp’s perimeter, and Adele’s famous chocolate desserts.

  Eden shook her head in response, when her sister motioned to the food, refusing anything to eat. “Did you sleep at all last night?” she then asked.

  “Not a wink. You?”

  “No.” Eden looked down. Her hair caressed and framed her face. “I just can’t believe it. Mara doesn’t know who we are.”

  “That’s what they said.”

  “I can’t believe we didn’t catch on. She seemed quieter than usual, sure. But I thought she was just . . . tired.”

  “I know. So . . . now what do we do?”

  “I don’t know. I feel so responsible. Now, to make matters worse, we have to host Lucy—and all because no one could be honest with her about Mara’s condition. Honestly, Reigna, I try with that woman, but she just gets right under my skin.”

  Her twin grinned. “That’s what I love most about you, Eden.”

  “What?”

  “That even when I’m miserable, you can make me smile.” Reigna laughed lightly, the sound musical, reminiscent of birdsong. Then she grew serious. “But you know, you’re so much better with her than I am.”

  “With Lucy? I don’t know. It always feels . . . false. And I always feel like she thinks I’m being . . . Oh, I don’t know . . . disrespectful or something.”

  “Did you see her face when we told her we wouldn’t leave the meeting?” Reigna covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide, grinning. Then she ran her fingers through her hair and tucked it behind her ears. Its copper highlights shone in the light coming in through the window.

  “What if Mara doesn’t remember who we are, Reigna? I mean . . . ever? Or what if something happens to her, or to Dixon, and they don’t come back here?”

  Her twin tapped her finger to her lip. “They’ll come back. They have to. They just . . . have to.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  Reigna picked up a flatbread. She stacked sausage and cheese on top, then took a bite. “Mmmm. Thank you, Adele! Almost makes me forget all our worries.”

  Eden watched on, then reached for a snack herself, starting with dessert. “Mmmhmmm,” she moaned as she chewed. “Soooo gooood . . .”

  Her sister chuckled. “Well, I have an idea,” she hesitated, “but I’m pretty sure you won’t like it.”

  “What?” Eden took another bite of her treat and closed her eyes, momentarily delighting in its sweetness.

  “I think that we should,” Reigna leaned in and whispered, “leave the compound ourselves. You know, it’s high time we figured out what all this is about. I mean, all the studying and training we’ve been through. To what avail?”

  “But we know what it’s all about,” her twin said, scowling. “We’re to be— No, we are the ranking member of the first family of the Select. Or is it ‘members?’ Or, is it just to be one of us? Or both of us? Oh, who knows!” she exclaimed, exasperated.

 
; “See? That’s just what I mean.” Reigna tapped her finger to her lip again. “All right, so let’s say that everything we’ve ever been told is true—”

  “Of course it’s true Reigna,” her sister interrupted.

  “Well, all right, sure. Mara wouldn’t lie to us. But here we are, young women already, and we’ve yet to regain our birth signs or scents.”

  “That’s because we haven’t found favor with the Good One yet. We lost our signs and scents when we were old enough to be . . . What was that phrase Mara always used?”

  “Willfully disobedient.”

  “Right.” Despite her sadness over her Oathtaker’s departure, Eden chuckled. “It took me the longest time to figure out what that meant.”

  “I know. I remember asking Mara about it one day. Dear Ehyeh, we must have been all of five or so, at the time. She said: ‘When you know what you’ve been directed to do and you know it’s right to do that, and wrong to do otherwise, and you choose wrong, you are being willfully disobedient.’”

  “How old did she say we were when that happened? I mean, when our signs and scents disappeared?”

  “About a year old.”

  The sisters both grinned, then turned somber.

  “And we won’t get them back until we find Ehyeh’s favor,” Eden finally said.

  “That’s right. And of course, we can’t really take our rightful place—or places—until we do. Until then, Mara as our regent, operates as leader of the first family and head of the Council.” Reigna sighed. “And what of our other sisters? Where are they, anyway? Lucy mentions them from time to time. She says they’re all fine, but we’ve yet to meet any of them.”

  “Mara planned for us to do that soon.”

  “Sure. But she can’t see to that now, can she? What if—”

  “Right. I know,” Eden said, her hand held up. “I can’t even think about Mara not getting her memory back.”

  Her twin sighed. “And about finding favor with the Good One— How are we to do that from here? Maybe we’re supposed to go out on our own to . . . you know . . . figure it out.”

  Eden’s brow furrowed. “You’re serious about leaving the compound.”

  Her sister nodded, her jaw set firm.

  “By ourselves?”

  Again, Reigna nodded.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I just wonder about what’s out there for us to learn. Do you even remember the last time we left here?”

  “Remember! How could I forget?”

  Reigna chuckled.

  Her sister glared at her, then joined in.

  “We begged her to take us to the City of Light. Begged!” Reigna exclaimed.

  “For the festival.”

  “Right. And then when everyone was set to go, we—”

  “Disappeared.”

  “Ha!” Reigna said. “Well, not the way Mara disappears, but oh, she was angry when she couldn’t find us.”

  “Well sanctuary was fascinating. I didn’t want to leave.”

  “Yes . . . I’d like to go back someday.”

  “We will,” Eden said, “when we take our—”

  “Rightful places,” Reigna completed her sister’s sentence. “But when’s that going to be?” She patted her twin’s arm. “Maybe we go back to sanctuary ourselves—now. I mean—what’s to stop us?”

  Eden sat quietly. She took another bite of her dessert. “Mmmm,” she moaned, savoring its goodness.

  Reigna’s brow rose. “This would be the perfect time for us to leave. Mara and Dixon are gone,” she said.

  “Jerrett and Marshall are leaving,” Eden added.

  “Right.”

  “Basha and Therese are also leaving soon,” Eden said.

  “Right again.”

  Eden frowned. “And Lucy is going to drive us stark raving mad if we stay here!”

  Reigna slapped her knee. “Exactly!”

  “But how would we do it? We don’t have any money, or food, or—”

  “Yes, we do,” Reigna interrupted.

  Her twin’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Mara always keeps an emergency gold coin stash.”

  “But that’s Mara’s. We can’t just take it.”

  “Look, Eden, I’m not going without you, and I won’t force you, but this is an emergency if I ever saw one. And . . . I think we need to do this, to figure out who we are and to find out what’s expected of us. What are our roles in Oosa to be, exactly? I think we need to go if we’re ever to find Ehyeh’s favor. Then, if we do figure this all out, we’ll be better off even if Mara never gets her memory back.”

  “Oh, please don’t say that. She has to get better.”

  Reigna was quiet for a minute. “You know, staying here will get us nothing . . . except maybe our fill of Lucy. If we have roles to fill, then— Well, then, we need to figure out what those roles are.”

  Eden said nothing.

  “We would need money. We can get that. We would need horses. Broden already picked out great ones for us.”

  “We would need some food,” Eden suggested.

  “Adele would help with that and she’d never even ask what we wanted it for.”

  Eden bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know.”

  “Think about it,” Reigna said, “and then whatever you decide, that’s what we’ll do.”

  “Let me sleep on it.”

  “You think you’ll ever be able to sleep again? Knowing what we know about Mara?”

  Her twin shook her head. “Oh, poor Mara.”

  “Yes, and poor Dixon. He must be lost without her—or without her knowing him, that is. It’s so sad.”

  “Right,” Eden agreed. “Oh, what are we going to do without her?”

  “I don’t know.” Her twin rubbed her hands together. “Eden, what do you think Fidel was talking about at the meeting?”

  “At the meeting?”

  “Yes, you remember. He shared a prophecy—or the start of one. He looked at us strangely, don’t you think? Then he said something about the moons—the ladies—aligning.”

  “The ladies?”

  Reigna tipped her head, side to side. “Prophecy often refers to the moons as ‘ladies.’”

  “Yes, that’s right. So?”

  “So you know that whenever anyone around here references prophecy, they’re talking about us.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. I’m sorry to say I didn’t pay close attention. What did he say again?”

  “I don’t remember exactly, but I think it had something to do with a ‘test.’”

  Eden shrugged, then stood to go. “I don’t know, but I’ll think about your suggestion.” She hesitated. “Still, if we left the compound, where would we go?”

  “I don’t know. Wherever our noses lead us, I suppose.”

  The two young women made their way to the ground. Just as Eden jumped clear from the last step, a guard rushed toward them.

  “Oh, there you are!” he exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

  “We’re fine, Warner. What’s wrong?” Reigna asked.

  Warner, a young Oathtaker, shook his golden, sweat-streaked hair, then sighed. “Nothing. Lucy just has everyone in a frenzy.”

  “Whatever for?”

  “She said she couldn’t find you.”

  Reigna’s brow rose. “Goodness, we’ve been out of her sight for all of— What, Eden, a few minutes?”

  “At best.”

  “Well, I’d best get you to Lucy right away,” he said as he turned to go, motioning for them to follow.

  “No,” Reigna said, standing firm.

  Her twin looked at her. “There’s no sense—”

  “No,” Reigna repeated. She grabbed her sister’s arm, and turned her away, so that Warner wouldn’t overhear her. “Look,”she said, “if we can’t be out of the woman’s sight for longer than a toddler from its mother, we’ll never get out of here.” She turned back to address the guard. “You can tell Lucy that you f
ound us and that we’re fine. You can also tell her that we said we’ll not be treated this way.”

  His eyes shifted from one of the young women to the other. “I’m not sure I can tell her that . . . exactly.”

  Reigna lifted her chin. “Fine. Then tell her that we’re safe and well, and that we’ll be back when we get back.”

  He grinned. “Well now, I’m not sure I can tell her that exactly, either.”

  “Maybe we should just go,” her sister suggested.

  “For what it’s worth,” Warner said, “I understand your frustration. But this is a battle you’re going to have to win on your own. I mean, I can bring Lucy whatever message you like, but I can tell you right now that she won’t hear it until she hears it from you.” He glanced toward the compound center. “And even then, it may take some repeating.”

  Reigna rolled her eyes. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “You want to come with me now, then?”

  She sighed. “No. You can tell Lucy we’ll be there in a minute.”

  He shuffled his feet.

  “It’s all right, Warner. We’ll be right there,” Eden said.

  He nodded, then rushed off. Moments later, in the distance, his shout sounded out. “They’re all right! I found them.”

  Reigna looked at her sister. “This cannot go on.”

  Eden pursed her lips. “You’re right, it can’t.”

  They set out, walking.

  “Well, the first thing we’re going to do, is let her know that this is unacceptable.”

  “You’ll probably be wasting your breath,” Eden said.

  Her sister stopped, mid-stride. “I’m not going to let her treat us like children any longer. Enough is enough.”

  “I agree with you, of course.” Eden grabbed her twin’s arm, then started walking again. “But what can we do?”

  They reached the compound center. There stood Lucy, with Warner. She turned to face the twins, her hands on her hips, her lips pursed in anger. A light sheen of perspiration glistened on her brow.

  “What is the meaning of this?” she demanded.

  The young women halted.

  A long silent moment passed.

  “That’s just what we were about to ask you,” Reigna finally said.