Pledged

by Gwynneth White

They heard Talitha whisper, “Caleb, did you speak to your father?”

  Caleb shook his head and mouthed, “Speak later.”

  Just then a trumpet sounded. Everyone bowed. A tall, heavy man strode into the hall with a cheetah slinking at his heels. From the rush of thoughts swirling around them, Erin and Seth learned that this was Marlthas, feared Overlord of Shenaya. He was also father to Caleb and Daniel. They quickly discovered that he detested his sons. In fact, some of the diners even secretly thought of him as “the animal that eats its young.” His cheetah was Terah, the best bodyguard in Shenaya.

  Marlthas and Terah took their places at the head of the main table where Caleb and Talitha sat. It was only after Marlthas had thrown back a goblet of palm wine that the rest of the diners took their seats, reclining on cushions. Talitha looked at Caleb expectantly, but he shook his head again, telling her to wait.

  Seth and Erin heard a strange rattling sound in the silence and looked around. About a hundred girls appeared, walking in single-file through a doorway leading from what they assumed was the kitchen. Each girl trailed a chain, manacled to her ankle, while the other end snaked off through the doorway where, no doubt, it was firmly attached to a wall. They all hefted heavy clay platters and bowls in their skinny arms. Reading their minds, Seth and Erin learned that these pale-faced, emaciated waifs were Outcasts. Slaves. Without speaking, the girls placed the food on the table, and then stepped back, eyes averted, stomachs gnawing with hunger as the diners tucked in.

  Erin was about to protest about the cruelty when Caleb finally spoke. “Talitha, I tried to tell you today that we can never marry.” The increased noise level of the chatting diners drowned out Caleb’s words to all but Talitha, Seth and Erin.

  “But I still don’t accept that, Caleb. Normal people don’t stand in the way of their children’s happiness.”

  Caleb studied her face. “Shenayans are not ‘normal people.’ And I’m not even a ‘normal’ Shenayan. I’m the Shadow Lord. Shenayan rules of marriage, as barbaric as they are, don’t apply to me.”

  For the first time doubt crept into Talitha’s voice. “Then what happens with you?”

  “I’m the one person in Shenaya whose emblem will never be presented at an Emblem Picking. Everyone else here will be forced to marry some stranger based on a girl’s choice of her favourite bird or animal. But me . . . I’ve known since birth who I’ll marry.”

  The colour drained from Talitha’s face. “What are you saying?”

  “There’s an oath between Shenaya and the Norin Family that stipulates that the Shenayan Shadow Lord is only ever permitted to marry the daughter of the Norin Family Patriarch.”

  “So you’re going to marry Lady Sophia of Norin?” Talitha’s voice had become flat, cold.

  “Yes. The oath has been in existence for hundreds of years – since Reuel attacked Norin. It was signed as part of the peace accord.”

  “So, you lied to me. Used me. You care nothing for me.”

  “No, Talitha!” Caleb pleaded. “I do love you. I can promise you that. I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to figure a way around that oath. But there’s no simple solution.” He looked her in the eyes, willing her to believe him.

  And she did. “Then be a honey badger and fight for me! For us. Norin has no military strength. Just as it was when Reuel invaded it. They wouldn’t dare take on Shenaya to enforce the oath, so tell your father that you have chosen to marry me.”

  “I wish I could. But I can’t. Not right now, at least. I’m already at war with him. And if I go to him about you, he’ll use you as a weapon to force me to obey him. So please, just give me time to work something out.”

  Talitha looked at him blankly. “Time? But I leave tomorrow, and I’ll probably never see you again.” She clicked her tongue in frustration. “No, Caleb. You have to act tonight or not at all.”

  “Not at all?” His voice sounded desolate.

  “Prove you love me. Tonight. Or I’ll know it was all just a lie. That you used me and care nothing for me.”

  Caleb looked at her, his face etched with despair. “Talitha, I can’t. Please understand, I’ve broken the most sacred, inviolate law in Shenaya. I never went into the military when I turned thirteen like every other ‘normal’ Shenayan boy. Like ever other Shadow Lord before me. That means I haven’t pledged my allegiance to my father.” His face hardened, his eyes flashing angrily. Talitha recoiled, shocked at his expression. Kate, standing behind her, immediately put a hand on her shoulder. Caleb took a deep breath and tried to explain. “Something happened between us when I was twelve and I promised myself that I would never swear allegiance to him. Since then he’s been waiting for something like this,” he pointed at her, “something like us to force me to Pledge.” He gave her a sad smile. “And as much as I love you, I can’t do that. So I can’t – won’t – take on any fights with him that could force me to break my promise to myself.”

  A wave of nausea hit Erin. She clutched her stomach to ward off an almost debilitating cramp.

  Seth frowned, wondering what was happening to her; then he noticed Talitha. She had pitched forward, also holding her stomach. “Vicarious pain. That’s taking the whole let’s-get-under-the-dead-friend’s-skin a bit too far if you ask me.” He brushed Erin’s shoulder with an icy hand. “You okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. It’s Talitha I’m worried about.”

  Just then Talitha’s mother, sitting opposite Talitha, touched her arm. “Are you all right, dear? You don’t look well.”

  “Mother, I . . . I feel terrible. I . . . I want to leave here. I have to go.”

  “My lord,” her mother said, leaning nervously around Terah to address Marlthas. “My daughter has been taken ill. Please may she be excused from the feast?”

  Marlthas and his cheetah stared at Talitha; then Marlthas scowled and his features collapsed into well-worn furrows, not unlike the black lines scoring Terah’s face. “Not well? I can send for a physician.”

  “That is most kind, my lord,” Talitha’s mother fluttered. “But I brought some Jackalberry draughts with me from Ammarod. I’m sure if Talitha drinks one, and then lies down, she’ll soon be well.”

  Marlthas nodded at Talitha. She staggered to her feet and stumbled out of the hall, tears tumbling down her face. Kate floated along beside her, whispering words of comfort into her ear.

  With her pain relieved by Talitha’s departure, Erin stamped her foot in pure fury. “How could Caleb be so cruel? How dare he treat my friend like that? They’re soul mates – meant for each other. What’s the matter with you guys?”

  Seth gestured towards Caleb. His chin had dropped to his chest. Erin felt a stab of sorrow pierce her heart. She clutched her chest and was about to speak when Seth whispered,

  “I know. I can feel it too. It’s like his heart has just imploded.”

  “Seth, that’s why we’re here,” Erin said. “To put all this right.”

  “But how? We can’t change the past.”

  A thought struck Erin. “Caleb is marrying Sophia? But what about Jared? He and Sophia are soul mates!” She grabbed her backpack and pulled out the diamond. “Take us to the time when all this starts making sense.” She closed her eyes and waited for the world to change. Nothing happened. “And now?” She looked at the Stone as if it had malfunctioned.

  “Your granddaddy definitely didn’t teach you anything mechanical on that sheep farm of his.”

  Erin looked up at Seth. He was smiling at her like the Seth she’d known before the Mists of Time. Her heart soared with relief. He was back. “What do you mean?” she laughed.

  “The instruction was to touch it.” With his eyes fixed on hers he stroked the Stone. “Take us to where Erin wants to go.”

  Chapter 7

  PROPHESY OR FABLE?

  “The lake again,” Seth said as their feet settled on a path threading through faded grass, edging a pebbly beach. “But no Mount Sidon and no Fortress. I wonder where the Stone’s dumped us?”<
br />
  Erin shielded her eyes against the sun, weak in the pastel-blue sky. A sneaky wind, scudding off the lake, whipped around her, making her shiver. She pulled her jersey tighter around her. “That wind’s got teeth, so wherever we are it must be the dead of winter.”

  “You call this winter? Try New York in February. Do you want my hoodie?”

  “I’d love it. But I’d feel bad taking it – you were shaking with cold when we were watching Caleb.”

  The fact that she had noticed made him smile. “It stopped when I saw the silly look on your face when the Stone didn’t do what you wanted it to.” He wriggled out of his hoodie and handed it to her.

  “So what you’re saying is that I must look dumb more often.” She breathed deeply as she pulled the hoodie over her head, drinking in his spicy smell. Chocolate and cinnamon – designed to send my hormones raving.

  “Just seeing you swimming around in my clothes is dumb enough.” He mussed her hair. “C’mon, let’s find out what we’re doing here.”

  Erin rolled up her sleeves and fell into step next to him as he led her down the path. She watched his arm swinging at his side, and felt a sudden urge to hold his hand. But the last thing she wanted was to drive him back into his icy lair by being too familiar, so she kept her hands to herself.

  As they rounded a bend, they saw a dark-haired boy, about their age, walking ahead on the path. He was deep in conversation with an older man walking at his side. Unlike the Shenayans, they were dressed in silk robes, not leather. Snatches of their conversation drifted back to them.

  “So, Lorick,” the older man was saying, “since the Shenayan invasion of Ammarod, I . . .” The snorting of a hippo wallowing in the lake drowned out his words.

  “Invasion of Ammarod?” Erin asked. “But isn’t that where Talitha comes from?”

  Seth heard the panic in her voice. He took her hand and started running, dragging her with him. They skidded to a stop next to the couple just as a messenger appeared from the opposite direction.

  “Patriarch Jethro, I have a scroll for you.” The messenger bowed to the older man, and held out a roll of papyrus, emblazed with a familiar emblem: the double-headed Lightning Bird.

  “Ah, thank you, Josiah.” Jethro waited until the messenger had gone before looking at it. “Scrolls from Shenaya. How I dread and detest them.”

  Lorick glared at Jethro. “You don’t think it’s about us hiding Talitha and her baby? I knew it was too risky, us taking them in after the invasion.”

  “Baby?” Erin shot Seth a worried look.

  Without thinking, Seth draped a casual arm around her. “Erin, you forget that all this happened a long time ago. They’re all dead. Every single one of them.”

  Erin didn’t know whether to slap Seth for being callous, or to laugh with delight that he was holding her. His arm felt so good around her shoulders she decided to do nothing.

  Jethro sighed. “My son, Talitha is the daughter of one of my oldest friends. She watched her own mother being slaughtered by those Shenayan savages. What else was I to do when she and her baby arrived at my doorstep? Turn them away?”

  Erin gasped; Seth tightened his grip around her. Together, they peered over Jethro’s shoulder as he read the message. Although they couldn’t read the ancient writing, they saw Jethro’s shoulders sag and his ruddy face grey. He handed the scroll to Lorick and stumbled to a bench under a clump of palm trees.

  Lorick studied each word, dropped the scroll onto the path, and slumped down next to his father. “Can we refuse?”

  “Refuse Marlthas? No. I’m sorry, Lorick. That we cannot do.”

  Lorick leapt to his feet, his face red with indignation. “But, Father, it’s Sophia. Your daughter, my sister. We can’t let her go just because Marlthas demands it.”

  “So we must be in Norin,” Seth observed, remembering that Sophia was the daughter of the Norin Family Patriarch.

  Jethro spoke before Erin could reply. “Lorick, do I have to remind you of the oath? You know as well as I do that we’re bound by conscience to send Sophia to Shenaya to marry Caleb.”

  Lorick kicked at the pebbles on the beach. “Always that damned oath. There has to be a way around it.”

  “Even if there was a way to dodge it, and live to boast of one’s success, there’s still the Gideon Prophecy to consider.”

  “The Gideon Prophecy!” Lorick stared at Jethro as if he was delusional. “Really, Father, I cannot understand how you can believe that old fable.” He started pacing. “And does Shenaya have the resources to enforce the oath on the battlefield, now that that idiot Marlthas invaded Ammarod, chasing after Namar’s crazy invention, his Cosmic Predictor?” He paused, his face defiant. “I doubt it. So, if I was Family Patriarch, I’d refuse to send Sophia to Shenaya.”

  Jethro gave a sour laugh. “Then it’s just as well that I’m relatively young and as strong as a buffalo.” He stood up and clapped Lorick on the shoulder. “Son, if we defy that oath we’ll have Shenayan troops screaming across the lake towards us before you can say ‘hide!’”

  Lorick shook his father’s hand away. “I don’t care. It’s still wrong. And I think we should tell the Shenayans to go and drown themselves.”

  Erin studied Lorick’s angry face. Something about him was different to the other men she’d seen here, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

  “Nice sentiments, son. But I have to act for my Family, not just for my daughter. And I believe that it’s in the best interests of my Family to have some faith in the Gideon Prophecy.”

  “The Gideon Prophecy is a myth, Father! Just like Reuel’s Curse. So why should we still honour that oath?”

  Then Erin understood. Lorick wasn’t obsessed with promises the way everyone else around here – including Seth – appeared to be. It was definitely refreshing.

  Jethro gave a tired shake of his head, clasped his hands behind his back, and set off down the path. He’d not gone far when he called over his shoulder, “The Gideon Prophecy is no myth, Lorick. And neither is Reuel’s Curse. So I’m sending Sophia to Shenaya to marry Shadow Lord Caleb.”

  Seth turned to Erin. “What do we know about the Gideon Prophecy?”

  “Um . . .” She cast her mind back to when she’d first heard those words. “Not much. Nathan said something about Gideon prophesying about Reuel’s cursed family. That was why Reuel killed him.”

  “That’s what I figured. Just thought I’d check.” The smile on Seth’s face died as if the lights had been turned out.

  “Seth, what’s happening?” Erin asked. “You’re shaking again, like you’re freezing.”

  He was, and he couldn’t understand why. All he knew was that he had to move away from Erin. So he dropped his arm from her shoulder and took a few steps back. She looked up at his face, wanting to scream with frustration. ‘Her’ Seth had gone again, replaced by the icy stranger she was rapidly beginning to loathe. She turned away to hide her disappointment. It was almost a relief when a Gefallen appeared, giving her something else to focus on.

  The wraith swirled around Lorick, breathing into his mind. “Don’t give up. Fight for Sophia.”

  “So the Gefallen also help the living. Funny how Gideon and Nathan conveniently forgot to mention that,” Seth said in an acid voice.

  “Help? You call it help? Have you forgotten about the Gefallen in the crows?”

  Seth gave Erin a searching look. “I never saw any Gefallen in the crows. All I know is that the sword Sophia gave me didn’t make the crows go away. It multiplied them.”

  Erin paled at the implications of his words. “Seth, you have to believe me. I saw wraiths possessing those crows. And why would the Guardians give you a knife that . . .” She stopped and stared at him, willing him to believe that the Guardians were on their side, despite how damning it all seemed.

  Seth turned away from her as Lorick strode over to Jethro and clutched his arm.

  “Father, wait,” he pleaded. “You know what kind of animals t
he Shenayans are. You know our Sophia will not survive there. The first time she cheeks Marlthas, he’ll . . “Lorick’s voice trailed off, as if he didn’t want to think what Marlthas would do to his sister.

  Jethro stopped in mid-stride. “You think I haven’t thought of that? I’ve worried about it every time she answered back to me since she first learnt to talk. I don’t send my daughter to Shenaya lightly, you know.”

  “But you’ll still sacrifice her for the meaningless Gideon Prophecy? Just to lift some curse that doesn’t even exist.”

  Jethro’s eyes narrowed. “Offer solutions, not accusations.”

  “Solutions?”

  “Yes, Lorick, solutions. You, who are so young and wise, provide me with a solution that embraces my belief in honouring oaths and having faith in prophecy. And make sure that it isn’t one that will see Norin destroyed, as it almost was when Reuel invaded us. I will not see that happen again.”

  Lorick hesitated, and his Gefallen suggested just one word. “Daniel.”

  Daniel?

  Unable to read his mind, but seeing the surprise on his face, the Gefallen added. “Yes. Daniel.”

  Lorick gulped as understanding dawned. That’s a bit drastic, isn’t it?

  There was no reply.

  “Well, Lorick?” Jethro demanded.

  Dan flicked his tongue across his lips. “Caleb has a younger brother. Daniel. He’s – how old can he be? No more than seventeen. That would make him an ideal age for Kezeah.”

  Jethro’s face reddened. “How on earth does sending two of my daughters to Shenaya help?”

  “Kezeah is . . .” Lorick hesitated, groping for words.

  “Loves money, and Marlthas and his family are the richest people in all the Families,” the Gefallen whispered to Lorick.

  Lorick nodded in agreement. “Father, Kezeah will never let Sophia do anything that could risk the steady flow of trinkets that will come with marriage into that family.”

  “Lorick, that’s very harsh. Remember, your sister is still young.”

  “Kezeah is of marriageable age,” Lorick retorted with growing confidence. “But no one here seems interested in her.” He paused for effect. “You don’t want her to face the disgrace of ending up unwed, do you, Father?”