by Megg Jensen
I nodded and Bryden put his arm around my shoulders, guiding me over to the wheel where Sebrina looked off into the distance. I blinked twice, sure that it was impossible for her to look so much like me. But she stood in front of me, even stood in the same stance I frequently found myself settling into. I couldn’t deny it. This girl was an exact replica of me.
“Hi,” I said, shyly, not sure how to talk to her.
“Hey,” she answered. “I know this is really strange for you, Lianne. I’ve known about you my whole life and for you to find out about me now, so unexpectedly, it must be shocking. Don’t worry about feeling shy around me. I get it. We have the rest of our lives to catch up. You don’t have to do it all right now.”
“You’ve known about me this whole time?” I asked.
“Sure, everyone in our country knows all about you, Bryden and Kellan. We’ve grown up hearing stories about the sacrifices our families made for the three of you. I’ve always wondered what you look like, since twins aren’t always the same, but it’s kind of shocking for me, too, to see how much we are alike.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked Bryden. He nodded and his face lit up.
“A little sister and an older brother,” he said. “I haven’t met them yet. But I hope I can soon.”
“So are we headed back there? Back home?”
Sebrina’s shoulders shook when she laughed. “Just wait until you see what’s around this bend,” she said, guiding the boat around a curve in the waterway.
My eyes widened as I took in the scene before me. Hundreds of ships lined up and down the river, most as big, if not bigger, than ours. I forced the nightmares from my mind and focused on trusting Bryden.
“What’s going on?” I asked, stunned at how little I knew about our circumstances. I looked to Bryden, but he didn’t look surprised. “Where did you get all of these ships? I thought Dalagan was poor.”
“There’s a lot you have to learn about us.” Sebrina smiled. “There isn’t time now, but soon, I promise. The land we come from is riddled with disease. It’s uninhabitable. The Fithians have plenty of bountiful land to share.”
I pulled away from Bryden and stumbled over to the side of the boat, gazing at the only place I’d ever called home. I’d estimated about fifty people on my ship and I couldn’t even count the ships in the distance. I didn’t know if there was room for everyone in Fithia.
I’d loved Fithia my whole life. The green grass in the summer, light snowflakes in the winter. While I wanted to go home to my people, in my heart, I feared moving to that icy landscape I’d heard so many horror stories about. I wanted to stay here. If they took Fithia, then I could.
I didn’t hear Bryden walk up behind me until his lips were on my ear. He kissed me lightly, relaxing me a bit. He had a knack for doing that.
“I know it’s all very confusing.”
I whirled around and looked him in the eyes. “How much do you know?”
“They didn’t tell me much after my accident. Just enough to make sure I kept quiet about the magic. If anyone had found out, I might have been killed. It was a big burden to carry alone. Then they waited and they watched.”
“Watched? Watched how?”
“They have seers, Lianne. People who can look in a pool of water and see what’s happening in other places. It’s amazing, really. I thought the magic I’d taught myself was fantastic, but it’s really so basic. We have a lot to learn. Anyway, once they felt I was ready, they made contact with me again for the first time since I was five. The small group of three men snuck across the border and I met them in the grove.”
“My grove? Our grove?”
Bryden nodded. “The same. I told you before you weren’t the only one who knew it was there. What’s most amazing was that one of them cast a spell over it, keeping it hidden from the eyes of all who traveled by. You were never supposed to find it, but you did. Why do you think no one else ever found you there?”
I had always thought it was strange that no one had ever happened upon me, but never given it much thought. I’d been so happy to have it to myself.
“These three men,” I asked, “are they the same three that were caught and killed last week?”
Bryden looked over at Sebrina, who had turned her eyes back to her fleet.
“They are,” he whispered. “That’s what spurred them to mount this attack. They were going to wait for us to come home in five years, but after their men were killed they were afraid too many of their secrets would get out. They were afraid the Fithians knew about their plans.”
“Plans? Do they know who turned the men in?” I whispered back. I told Bryden while we were escaping that it was Kellan.
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “I don’t think so. I don’t know what they’d do if they knew Kellan had betrayed them all.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Sebrina pulled our ship in line with the others and sent the anchor down. We were going to wait until everyone was ready and then lead the attack back into Fithia. She walked over to me and I pasted on a smile. I wasn’t sure how ready I was to talk to her yet, but I knew it had to happen sooner rather than later.
“That’s not your real smile,” Sebrina said, flashing one of her own. It looked fake to me too. “Don’t try to fool your twin.”
I laughed. She definitely had more spunk than I did. I don’t think I ever would have said that to a stranger, even if she was my twin.
“Are you okay with all this?” Sebrina swept her arm out to the side and I gazed at the line of ships. They went as far back as I could see. Bodies moved about on the ships, preparing for the upcoming battle. I felt the fires lick inside my belly, but I wasn’t sure why. Not everyone in Fithia was an enemy. The librarian and John, the guard, had risked their positions and lives to help me escape.
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. If she could read my body language so easy, she’d probably sniff out a lie quick enough too. “I have friends there.”
“Everyone will be given the chance to step back or surrender. We will only fight the people who resist us.” Sebrina gazed back at the fleet and sighed. “We don’t want war anymore than you do. But we need some fertile land to settle on. I don’t think we’re asking too much.”
“You don’t want war?” I was confused. I thought this was just a continuation of the war that defeated them so long ago.
Sebrina’s eyes clouded over. “Yes, it’s just the war. I mean, it’s not, but…Lianne, I’m really not the one to explain this to you. I want to. I just don’t know where to start.”
“Is someone going to kill King Rotlar?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m a sailor. I don’t know much about the actual war plans. I don’t fight at all.”
I began to laugh, the shaking beginning in my shoulders and reverberating through my whole body. “We may be twins, but on some things we are so different. I’m one of the best fighters, probably one of the best ever. And water? I hate it and I hate every second I’m on this ship.”
Sebrina smiled, the same toothy smile I’d seen on my own face. So different, but so alike.
“Do you want to change?” Sebrina stepped back and looked at my filthy dress. I’d forgotten that up until an hour ago I’d been in a dirty dungeon cell and my clothes showed it.
“I don’t have any extra clothes with me. Do you?”
“Of course, any good sailor always has at least three changes of clothes. We have a tendency to get wet out here. If you go down the hatch, mine is the last room on the left. My clothes are in the big armoire.”
“Thanks.” I gave her another hug. I waved at Bryden as I ran down the stairs below deck.
I followed Sebrina’s directions, finding her room easily. A ship wasn’t nearly as complicated as a castle, even though some of the ships behind us were huge. There was less space to work with.
I rummaged through her wardrobe, but every outfit was the same. I giggled, wondering if a
nyone would be able to tell us apart. I pulled off my dirty dress and tossed it on the floor. I pulled on the pants and shirt, just like Sebrina’s, and so different from the dresses I’d been required to wear my whole life. Well, except when I practiced fighting. That was the only time I’d ever gotten away with wearing pants and even those had been Kellan’s old pants. I didn’t have money to buy my own. Sebrina was a lucky girl, allowed to wear them all the time.
I grabbed a band out of a cup and pulled my red hair back in a ponytail, just like hers. Maybe we were about to head into battle, but we might be allowed a few minutes for a little fun. I wadded up my dirty dress and tossed it out the hole passing for a window in Sebrina’s room. It didn’t make a noise as it fluttered on to the water.
I didn’t want it back. Not only was it stained and torn, but it also reminded me too much of Aric’s death. A death I felt I could have averted if I’d planned better. I would never forgive myself for his death and I wondered how Mags felt about it. I hoped someday she would forgive me.
Shaking my head, I left Sebrina’s room, determined to face what was before me now and put aside the wounds of the past week. I could revisit them anytime, but now, today, I had to concentrate on the upcoming battle. Glad that I wasn’t in charge and didn’t have the weight of everyone on my shoulders, I grinned and headed up on to the deck.
Sebrina stood on one end of the deck talking to a sailor and Bryden stood on the opposite end of the ship. I walked up to him and tried to appear confident, like I walked on boats every day, like Sebrina.
“Bryden.” I tapped him on the shoulder. “I need to talk to you about the upcoming battle and the role you and Lianne will play.”
Bryden looked to the left and right before he said, “Sebrina, Lianne’s still downstairs changing, right? Let’s sneak in a quick kiss before she gets back up here.”
I gasped as he pulled me into his arms and kissed me passionately. How long had this been going on? I jerked back, placing one hand on his chest and pushing him away. He fell against the rail, but he bounced back quickly.
“It’s okay.” He yanked me back into his arms. “She won’t see.”
“Bryden!” I yelled. “I’m not Sebrina!”
He laughed and held his arms around me, despite the fact I struggled. I could have immobilized him in one move, but I didn’t want to do that to him.
“Lianne,” he whispered between laughs, “of course I know it’s you.”
“Why were you trying to fool me?” I asked.
“Why did you try to fool me first?” He had a point. My anger dissipated as I relaxed in his arms.
“She may look like you, but she isn’t you,” he said. “Anyone who knows you, anyone who loves you, would easily be able to tell the difference no matter the clothes or hairstyle.”
I kissed him on the cheek.
“Besides, you still smell like that dank dungeon and there’s a bruise on your cheek.” I fingered the spot where Kellan had hit me. I’d forgotten about it since it didn’t hurt, at least not on the outside.
I smacked Bryden lightly on the cheek, on top of where I’d just kissed him.
“I guess I deserve that,” he said, laughing.
“You deserve this too,” I whispered, pressing my lips to his. We held on tight and kissed as if we were the only two on the ship until I heard a cough behind me. We broke away and turned toward the source.
“Mistress Sebrina says we’re going to leave soon for the castle. She wanted me to make sure both of you went below deck for your own safety.” The air tinkled as the beads braided in his hair bounced around. It was just like the hair of the men who were executed. Except his hair was a light blond. I’d always assumed all Dalagans were redheads like Bryden, Kellan, and me. I had so much to learn.
“Isn’t there something we can do to help?” Bryden asked, sliding his arm over my shoulder.
The sailor laughed. “I saw what you two did blocking the arrows. It was a great trick, but nowhere near the power of our sorcerers. Each boat has their own and I don’t think they’d like two people so new to magic getting in their way. They are a snarly lot and don’t take well to newcomers.”
I felt the boat lurch forward and lost my footing. Bryden steadied me with his hands and we followed the sailor below deck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Explosions rocked the air outside, but there wasn’t much to be seen out the windows. We faced east and Fithia was to the west. All we saw were other ships moving into position and a few people on the edges of the decks.
I wanted to see one of these sorcerers, but from where we were holed up, we couldn’t see any of them. I was fascinated and wanted to know exactly what kind of magic they had and how they used it.
“Do all of our people have magic?” I asked Bryden.
“No, not from what I’ve seen. Sebrina doesn’t, I know that for sure.”
“But we’re twins, shouldn’t we have the same propensity for it?”
“Do you love the water?” Bryden asked.
“No.” I laughed. “There is that one big difference. Sebrina told me she can’t fight either.”
“No one knows why some of us have magic and others don’t. Our people feared the magic was gone for good, but then it slowly came back to them.”
“Why did they send us over here, knowing we had magic?” I was dying to know more.
“That was the whole reason we were chosen,” Bryden said. “They wanted us to learn how to use our magic, but they were able to shield it until our sixteenth birthdays. Or at least that was the plan until I had my accident. They kept watch over me. I wonder what would have happened if I’d revealed myself.”
I was glad he hadn’t or nothing would have worked out the way it did. My life hadn’t been perfect, but right now, I wouldn’t change anything that brought me here.
The boat lurched and hit something solid. The wood creaked and groaned. We locked eyes and stood up at the same time.
“I’m not staying in here, are you?” Bryden asked.
I shook my head and pulled the door open. We heard shouts of the crewmen, but we couldn’t make out what was going on around us. Smoke surrounded the deck, rising up from the cannons below. Sebrina raced down the stairs, almost running into us.
“We’re getting off the boat now,” she said through gasping breaths. “We’ve run aground and the ship won’t last long. If you want you can get on one of the other ships. We’re getting the transport boats ready now.”
I glanced at Bryden and then back at Sebrina. “I can’t. I have to go back.”
“What? Why?” Sebrina asked.
“If the town is under attack, I have to save Trevin. If Mags hasn’t been there yet to get him, I have to save him for her.”
“Trevin?” Sebrina looked from me to Bryden.
“The queen’s son,” Bryden explained.
Her eyes widened. “You want to go back to save the royal heir? Are you kidding me?”
“He’s been disinherited,” I said. “He’s not the king’s son. The queen had an affair and he is the product of their love.”
“Really?” Sebrina asked. “I’m beginning to like this queen more and more.”
“She’s great and I know you would love her. She’s my best friend.”
“Then of course I’d love her. And I’m helping you. I won’t let you do this alone,” Sebrina said.
“She’s never alone,” Bryden said, pulling me close.
“So let’s get out of here,” Sebrina said. “There’s fighting on the hill. Do either of you know a way around?”
“I do,” Bryden said. “I’ve explored the shoreline a lot. Swimming is the one time my leg doesn’t hurt so I tend to do a lot of it.”
“Is that why you were never around?” I asked. “All those years I thought you were off hiding, you were actually in the river swimming?”
Bryden shrugged. “I guess the mystery about me has been blown to bits.”
“Let’s get out of here, then
. Once we get Trevin we can come back and get on a ship out of here.”
“Sounds great,” Sebrina ran ahead to find us a boat while I waited for Bryden to get up the stairs. He moved faster than he had earlier and I raised one eyebrow.
“What’s going on with your leg?” I asked.
“It’s strange, it feels better somehow. Less weak than before.”
“So today you blasted about fifteen guards, rescued me, escaped out of the dungeon, rode down a hill on a mule, sped here on a ship, and climbed a rope ladder and your leg is feeling better? That doesn’t make sense,” I said.
He shrugged. “It doesn’t. I’m not used to this much physical activity. I’m surprised I’m able to move.”
“Maybe a little exercise would do you good, scribe,” I said, winking.
“Ha, ha,” he said as we emerged topside.
Men rushed around the deck, shouting orders to others. A man, older than just about any I’d ever seen, sitting in the center of the deck. His hands moved around in an intricate dance and his eyes concentrated on the hill. It seemed as if he didn’t even notice the men scrambling around him, instead he focused all of his energy on the enemy.
I nudged Bryden with my elbow. “He must be one of the sorcerers.”
He nodded. “I kind of expected him to be wearing something unique, something different. But he looks just like us.”
He wore simple pants and a white shirt, very similar to the outfit I was wearing. Had I seen him anywhere else I wouldn’t have looked twice. But sitting so still in the midst of the chaos made him stick out like a large rock in rushing water.
Sebrina waved to us from the side of the boat. We ran over to her, Bryden was stronger but he still couldn’t keep up with me. She pointed over the edge to another rope ladder leading to a small rowboat very similar to the one we’d used before.
I climbed over the edge and shimmied down the rope ladder as fast as I could without losing my footing. Bryden followed me and Sebrina brought up the end.
“Can you do that thing again where you make the boat go fast?” Sebrina asked. “That was very cool. If only I had magic, I’d be the best sailor in the fleet.”