Anathema

by Megg Jensen

  26

  “I suggest anyone else who might be hiding among the crowd to show yourself to us immediately,” Nemison said. I looked at him, stunned. He was calling me out. He knew what we were planning thanks to Tania, who thought he’d come to help us. But here he was asking me to reveal myself.

  I watched as he scanned the crowd and gasped when his eyes settled on me. I moved to the side, sure that his gaze wouldn’t follow. I was hidden from everyone in the cloak. But his eyes did follow and a smile spread across his face.

  “Take off the cloak,” he said.

  My hopes he wouldn’t see me were dashed as I remembered what Tania had told me the day of my birthday.

  Only a friend can see what no one else can see.

  Was Nemison my friend now or was he in league with Kandek?

  I hesitated a moment, pulling the cloak tightly to my body. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know who to trust. I looked up toward the sky, hoping for an answer.

  One lone cloud meandered in from west, its puffy ends undulating like tentacles. I felt my mind go blank as images formed in my mind. I saw myself standing next to Kandek, one of his hands resting in mine and his other arm outstretched toward the crowd. I saw Nemison standing behind us, a grin on his face. Most telling, I saw a grin on my face.

  Determined that my vision was leading me down the right path, I strode up to the platform. I took my place next to Kandek and pulled off the cloak with a flourish. I looked at my father and noticed that he barely flinched, almost as if he were expecting me.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Blorn roared. “Kandek! You are wearing on my patience. If you ever expect to attain a higher office, you’d better tell us who this other girl is.”

  “May I introduce my daughter, Reychel,” he said, grabbing my hand and outstretching his other arm toward the gathered people.

  “You don’t have a daughter,” Blorn yelled.

  “I do,” Kandek said. “And she’s coming to live with me.”

  I turned back and looked at Kandek. The smile I had seen in my vision was beaming from his face. But one thing I hadn’t seen in my vision was the wink Nemison gave me and the message he sent into my mind.

  Play along, child, play along. Kandek will soon face his fate at the council’s hand.

  Was the ability to speak to my mind part of the mark he left when he had explored my gift? Or were Nemison’s gifts more extensive than I knew?

  I smiled to the crowd, unsure of how to proceed. I felt exposed and trapped. Kandek had never physically hurt me, but I was sure he’d never planned on introducing me into his world. It’s a good thing I threw the wig on underneath the cloak. I hoped it was still straight.

  As I raised my arm to wave to the crowd in an imitation of the many ladies I’d witnessed over the years, a roar broke out from the forest. Nemison’s face clouded over, telling me immediately this was not part of his plan.

  Dozens of men waving swords spilled from the trees, yelling at the top of their lungs. Ladies on blankets screamed in horror as their defenseless husbands, who were forced to leave their weapons at the front gate, stood up to defend them. Malborn against Serenian. But this time the attack was started by my people. The attackers spread out, forcing their blades to the necks of the Malborn nobles.

  A tall man leapt to the dais, forcing Kandek to the side with the tip of his blade. His smile, no snarl, grew as he turned to face the helpless people before him.

  “None of you blasted Malborn move or you’ll die by our swords,” he yelled to the crowd.

  A man near the center struggled with his captor, elbowing him in the stomach.

  “Kill him!” the man on the dais next to me yelled. The injured Serenian pulled his blade across the noble’s throat and tossed him to the ground next to his screaming wife. Blood poured from the wound. His wife gathered up the bottom of her gown and pressed it to his neck, but it was too late. He was dead.

  “Who are you?” I demanded, acting every bit the noble lady my parentage gave me. Violence was one thing I couldn’t bear. If it was my destiny to free my people, I wanted it to be my terms.

  “Don’t you know?” He laughed, tossing his arm around my shoulders. I stepped away, sickened by his touch. Whoever had sent him, whoever orchestrated this covert assault would face my wrath.

  I turned to Nemison but he only shrugged. He didn’t appear concerned, but he also didn’t have any information to give me.

  “Aren’t you Mark’s girl? I’m his brother in arms, Ace. We’re all his brothers. The Sons of Silence.”

  Mark? Mark did this?

  “He told us yesterday to save you by whatever means necessary.”

  “That,” I yelled, pointing to the dead man and his screaming wife, “was not necessary!”

  “We’re here to liberate the Serenians, just like you.”

  “This is not how it should be done,” I yelled. “You make me sick. Violence is not the answer!”

  “What is the answer, my lady?” The snarl returned to his face. “Did you peek at the clouds? What kind of little shapes do you imagine you saw? Don’t think for one moment your supposed visions mean anything to us. We are going to take back our land from the Malborn regardless of your so-called prophet status.”

  He paused and his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “But I do wonder, did Mark set all this up to help you or his people?”

  I shook from head to toe. If I had run away the moment I’d ripped off Ivy’s wig instead of staying to see her punishment would all of this have been avoided? And Mark. Why didn’t he tell me about this? I could have been prepared. That man’s death might have been avoided. Even if he was my enemy, he did nothing more than try to protect his wife.

  “Reychel,” Grey yelled, running to my side. Ella ran not far behind him.

  A member of The Sons raised his sword in pursuit.

  “Leave them be,” I yelled. “They’re Serenian, slaves.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief as Grey jumped to the dais and stood between myself and Ace. Ella grabbed my hand on the opposite side.

  “The prisoners?” I asked. “Were the prisoners freed?”

  Grey nodded, not taking his gaze from Ace. “Ella told me everything after everyone entered the garden. I helped get them out.”

  “How many?”

  “About forty,” she said. “Some of them live here in town. They’re already on their way home. The hardy ones are leaving town. The rest of them are on their way to Tania and Jon’s house.”

  “Roc?” I asked, looking around.

  “He’s on his way home too. After everything he’s been through he needed to see Bree and the girls.”

  “But it’s a long walk alone,” I said.

  Ella smiled. “We liberated a horse for him.”

  My eyebrows arched.

  “He’s going to point it in the right direction when he gets home,” Grey said. “He’s only borrowing it. Not stealing it. We all knew you wouldn’t approve.”

  “The prisoners are free?” Ace asked. “Then our work here is done. Come with me.”

  He grabbed my wrist and twisted it, forcing me to follow him. A moan escaped my throat, the pain too much to bear.

  “Let her go,” Grey said, directing a hit to Ace’s arm, forcing him to release his grasp on me. Grey followed up with a backhand to his face.

  Ace laughed, holding his bloody nose with his hand. “You obviously don’t want our help to escape. I’ll be sure to inform Mark that you’d rather stay here with our enemies than come with him.”

  I looked across the crowd, seeing the frightened looks on everyone’s faces, not just the women. Sweat rolled down Blorn’s face as the man holding him from behind moved his sword a little closer to Blorn’s throat.

  Ace bounded off the dais, as quickly as he had arrived. With a snap of his fingers, the rest of his followers withdrew their swords and ran off into the woods.

  In the back, I saw Mark enter the garden through the main hall’s door. He
looked at me, his eyes penetrating mine. I shrunk backward from his gaze, not sure what to think. Why didn’t he tell me he was planning this? Was this his goal all along? If he was only here to cause a scene with The Sons, then was everything we’d shared a lie?

  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.

  The story continues with…

  Oubliette

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  Afterword

  Thank you so much for reading ANATHEMA. I hope you had a good time reading it.

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  Megg

  Acknowledgments

  When I began this book back in 2009, I started a list of people I would need to thank when Anathema was published. I’m glad I did because there are so many people who helped this book come to life.

  I must start with my daughter, Tessa, without whom this book would not exist. We were driving to my parents’ farm when, at the age of five, she said, “Mom, I can see things in the clouds.” I asked her, “Really? What shapes do you see?” Tessa sighed. “No, Mom, I can see the future.” While I’d written three novels before this day, my daughter’s imagination sparked something insid
e me that eventually morphed into Anathema. Thanks to my little guy, Luke, who napped every day for at least two hours, giving me the quiet time I needed to write this book. I can’t forget my husband, Tim, who has always believed I could write a novel and gave me the freedom to stay home with the kids and pursue my dreams.

  To my parents, who believed in me even when I was a very weird little child with my nose stuck in a book or holed up in my bedroom writing my own stories. They never asked me to be anything other than what I was. To my sister, Jeannie, and my brother, Rob, and their families for always listening to the crazy things that come out of my mouth.

  I held a web contest to name my main character and as soon as I saw the name Reychel, I fell in love. A million thanks to Cassie for naming Reychel! I’m so glad you could be an integral part of this book!!!

  I cannot forget any of my writing friends, my tribe of colleagues who push me harder when I think I can’t write one more word. To Carmela Martino, who spearheaded the NYNN (New Novel New Year) group for those of us in SCBWI who were too busy to write during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I wrote Anathema during NYNN and without Marti’s unwavering support, this book would not be in your hands today. To my ever-changing SCBWI online critique group: Teresa Owens Smith, Kim Winters, Paula Payton, April Heide-Kracik, David Wartik, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, Kate Gingold, and Cherie Colyer, without them my drafts would be a hot mess. Without my writer-friends Eugene Ramos, Chris Whigham, and Genevieve Ching, I might not have had the courage to come so far.

  And a huge bouquet of thanks to Karly Kirkpatrick….you pushed me off a ledge and I flew.