Ellenessia's Curse Book 1: The Shadow's Seer

by Fran Jacobs

  With Trellany lying unconscious in my bed, and the room smelling of Dynild's healing salves and potions, the room no longer felt like my own. My soiled tunic had been pushed to one side and my chair had been pulled close to the bed. A rumpled blanket lay over it where Dynild had no doubt made himself comfortable for a while, as he watched his new patient, before going to his own bed.

  I sat myself down on the chair, then, shivering, I pulled the blanket around me and reached for Trellany's hand. Despite feeling those familiar calloused fingertips, pressed against my palm, the hand didn't feel like that of my guard's. It felt frail and fragile. The woman lying on the bed, breathing slowly, didn't look like my guard either. I clutched her hand a little tighter and willed her to open her eyes, to look at me, to say something.

  But she didn't.

  Teveriel brought me breakfast later on a tray that he set down on my dresser. Trellany still hadn't moved.

  "You can't stay here like this until she wakes," Teveriel told me. "It could be days, even weeks."

  "I want to be here when she comes around, Tev. I need to be here." I blinked back the sharp sting of tears that kept forming in my eyes. "I'm going to make her my official bodyguard, with a uniform, so that everyone knows it. And so that she knows how much I appreciate her."

  "That sounds like a good idea," Teveriel said. "Now, have something to eat, all right? And then I'll help you to pack up your things. I think you might feel better if you kept busy, instead of sitting around here fretting."

  "I'm not sure I can eat."

  "Try," Teveriel said firmly.

  I let Teveriel fuss over me for a while - I think it was his way of dealing with what had happened to Trellany - and then we started to pack up my things. I had to ease the leather bound book he had given me for my birthday out of its hiding place beneath one of the pillows Trellany head was now resting on. I was afraid of disturbing her, or causing her further injury, but I needn't have worried, she didn't even twitch.

  "Have you written in the book yet?" Teveriel asked me.

  "No," I said, slipping it into one of the saddlebags. "I ... I can't. Writing it down, it's like setting it all in stone for me. I can't deny what I am, what I've seen, when the words are there in front of me, ready for anyone to read." I glanced up at him through my curls, as he stood there, shouldering my bags by the door. "But I will, Tev. I just want to enjoy my time here properly. When I go home, when I have to tell my family the truth, then I'll write down what I saw. And I swear I will keep it neat!"

  "You better," he said, with a grin.

  I didn't bother to unpack all my clothes in the other room, there seemed little point if the winter would be over soon and Sorron would be here to collect me. I just dropped the bags down by the window. It did feel good to have one of those again, to have fresh air and light in the room to greet me when I woke in the mornings, but the room felt unfamiliar, cold and unlived in. And I knew I was going to miss the strange wooden faces, too. They had actually made me feel safe, as though they were watching over me, protecting me.

  Still, those heads could watch over Trellany now. She needed it more than I did.

  ***

  "No harm is going to come to her, Seer," an icy voice whispered in my ear. It was one that I didn't recognise but I knew that it was the owner of the strange, sickly sweet, cloying scent of flowers that I could smell, lying heavy in the air. "You must trust me when I say that."

  "But I don't know you," I whispered into the darkness.

  Two brilliant flashes of blue lit up the darkness for a moment and a soft, gentle chuckle, like the dulcet sound of a ringing bell, filled my ears. "You don't need to know me. You just need to know that I am here for you and that I will protect you and those who you care for."

  "But it's been a week," I said. "And she still hasn't woken. I can't stand to see her like this."

  "Is that what's worrying you, that she is still asleep? That's easily fixed, Seer." There was a pause. "There, it is done. She will wake and she will not leave you." A cold touch burned my skin as a gentle hand touched my face. "And neither will I. I will always be there, watching over you, my beautiful Seer. Just as I always have."

  ***

  I woke to find myself at Trellany's bedside. The room was dark. I had been wrapped in a blanket and my boots had been removed, all by Tev's careful hand, no doubt. He was becoming rather expert at slipping my boots off without waking me but then he'd had plenty of time to practise. In the week that Trellany had been lying in my old room, unconscious, I had fallen asleep by her bedside no less than four times. Tival and the healer tended to wake me if they found me, then send me, firmly, to bed. Tev, on the other hand, usually wrapped me up and left me to sleep on, knowing that I didn't really get any sleep in my bedroom. The nights when I was shooed out, I usually ended up falling asleep on the couch instead, so I knew it would only be a matter of time until Tival and Dynild gave up chasing me away and left me to my own devices.

  In the darkness of the room it was very hard to see anything, but I could at least make out Trellany's still form on the bed. "Trellany?" I whispered, remembering my dream, the voice in the dark's promise that she would wake. "Trellany?" But there was no reply. I pressed my fingers against her forehead, hoping my touch might stir her, but there was no movement at all. Her fever had broken two days earlier, a very good sign, Tival had told me, that she would soon be awake again, but since then there had been no real change. I felt a little foolish, for having hoped that perhaps my dream had come true, and disappointed that it hadn't.

  I rubbed at my eyes and massaged my stiff neck, before turning around in the chair and settling back against one of the arms. Pulling the blanket around me, I closed my eyes and quickly fell back into sleep. This time there were no dreams.

  ***

  "Prince Candale." The hand on my bowed head felt weak, a gentle, light touch, but it was firm enough to startle me awake. I sat up quickly, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand. In the light shining under the bedroom door, which was all I had to see by, I could see that Trellany was awake. For a moment I could only stare at her, not sure that I could believe my own eyes, and then I gasped and put my arms around her.

  "Gods," I whispered, "you're awake! You're finally awake. I was so worried --"

  "Yes," she said dryly. "I could see that, snoring away at my bedside like that." Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but it still felt good to hear it.

  I eased her back gently. "Can I get you anything?" I asked.

  "Water," she said, licking her dry lips. "Please?"

  I helped her to sit up, supporting her back with pillows, and poured some water into a cup. It was a little flat, heavy with air bubbles, but it was better than nothing. She drank it down greedily. "So," she said finally, "what happened?"

  "I was hoping you could tell me," I said.

  "Oh?" Trellany pushed a lank strand of red hair back away from her face. "What do you mean by that? Surely you know how I ended up in this state?"

  I shook my head silently. "Not exactly. Do you remember coming back from the kitchens with me to find that Haran had been in here, that he had hit Teveriel and broken half the furniture?"

  "Yes," Trellany said slowly. "I vaguely remember that." Her brow furrowed with thought. "And then I came back here, after having shouted myself hoarse at him, to find a man in the room, with you, holding a curved blade. I shouted at you to move, but you didn't seem to hear me, so I just pushed you out of the way. Something hard sliced me ..." She shoved down her blankets with trembling hands so that she could pull up her nightshirt. I flushed scarlet and turned my head away.

  "What are you doing?" I asked, staring at the heads on top of the closet rather than looking at her.

  "The blade sliced me across my ribs," she said. "It felt like fire ... yet it was a cold sort of burning ... and then I don't remember anything else."

  "Tival said it was a leech-blade, that it drew your energy. You could have died if the cut had been anything more than
a graze."

  "There's nothing here. No mark at all."

  "Tival healed you. He and Dynild worked on you for hours ... Please, are you decent?"

  There was a soft chuckle of laughter. "Yes, Candale, I'm decent."

  I turned around and found she had smoothed the blankets back up around her. "Thank you," I said, bowing my head so she couldn't see me blush.

  Trellany laughed again, it was faint but bore all the marks of her usual laugh, and then her hand reached out to grasp mine. "It's nice that you worry so much about me, I'm not sure I deserve it. I've been lapse in my duty to you. I let myself believe that you would be safe here, because of all the mages that were around us, and that I wouldn't need to guard you so closely. And then I become distracted by my own interests, later allowing my pride, and anger, to get in the way and stop me from doing my job properly, from guarding you, as I should. I'm sorry, Candale."

  "No," I said. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't make it easy for you. I let myself be distracted as well. It's not all your fault." I blinked back fresh tears that rose in my eyes to blind me. "Trellany ... Trellany, please, please don't resign. Don't mention any of my stupidity to my grandfather when he comes. Don't tell him that you were driven to leave my service, don't leave me. All of this ... all of what happened, it has made me realise just how much I do need you, how foolish I was to take you for granted, and there's no one else who I trust with my life. No one but you ... please ... I know how important being my guard is to you, and I want to make it official. Give you a uniform, one of your own design, make you officially my protector ... if you'll let me ... please."

  "Candale," Trellany interrupted my babbling with a gentle, firm voice. "Of course I'll stay on."

  "You will?" I whispered, relief and surprise washing over me. I'd thought she would have put up more of a fight than this!

  "Yes. If you're sure that's what you want?" I nodded and she smiled at me. "But things have to be different, this time, Candale."

  "I know, and they will be. I promise."

  She nodded and then closed her eyes for a moment. "So," she said, "I saw a man with a knife and you were just walking towards him ... What did you see? Why did you just walk towards him like that?"

  "It wasn't a man that I saw," I said. "It was a shadow that looked like a man and Tival said that he had used magic to hypnotise me, to draw me closer to him. He also said that anyone could have been using magic to spy on us here --" Trellany sat up straighter in her bed, her face suddenly very pale, her lips locked into a tight line. "No," I said quickly, "it's all right now. Tival has shielded us so that no one can hear anything that we say ... and it could have just as easily happened back home, at Carnia Castle."

  "Yes, it could, but we didn't know back then what we know now."

  "That I'm the Seer?" I whispered. "Yes, I fear that they may have heard that as well. But there isn't anything we can do about it if they have. At least I know that I'm safe here. The rooms are protected, Silver comes with me to the bathhouse and Teveriel has been bringing my meals up here, but I'm not sure what will happen when I leave."

  "You think that they will suddenly send an army of assassins against you and you'll be under attack every minute of the day?"

  I shrugged. "Maybe."

  "None of the attacks have been out in the open, Prince Candale. That tells us something." She started to count on her fingers. "There was the poisoning, so discreetly carried out we had no idea it was even being done. Then there was the attack on you in the gardens, where you were lured out to meet a trusted aide. Now this. Three attacks, all discreet. And I don't think that this is going to change. If you were a farm boy, a nobody, then yes, I could see them launching a full attack against you, because no one would go to war over the murder of a farm boy, but a prince ... No, Prince Candale, because of who you are, because of what will happen should they succeed, I think this Order will continue to be as careful and secretive as they can with their attacks. So, I don't think you need to worry about a flood of assassins coming against you, or that King Sorron will decide to lock you away in a shielded room for the rest of your life to keep you safe. I imagine he will simply insist that you have more guards and that one or more of them will be a mage, to protect you against future magical attacks, that's all."

  "Yes," I said. "Yes, of course." But it wasn't simple. It never had been. Having Trellany around me had been a real challenge, and knowing that I faced the prospect of having more guards around me, was not one that I found easy to bear. There would be no more walks in the garden with my friends, snowball fights or stolen kisses. There would be no more tree climbing, carefree swimming in the lake near the castle, or wild galloping across the countryside with my hair blowing free. There would be no more of anything that I enjoyed, that I had taken for granted. Everything was going to change and I hadn't coped that well with the changes that had happened so far. "So," I said, to change the subject. "Why did you agree to be my guard again so quickly? I thought that you would put up more of a fight."

  "In case you hadn't noticed I'm not in much of a position to fight anyone about anything," Trellany said. She shrugged, a brief movement of her body beneath the blankets. "I had a dream. I saw images of your death, that you were lying with your throat cut, another had you slumped in the corner with a knife in your heart, and so on. There were dozens of them and then, when I woke, and you started to babble, asking me to be your guard again, I knew that I had to. I'd never be able to live with myself if someone else took over and they failed. And, I know this may sound arrogant, but I don't think I trust anyone else to be your guard and look after you properly, not without me being there as well."

  "You had a dream?"

  Trellany laughed quietly. "I'm not a prophet, Candale, it's nothing to worry about."

  "No," I said, "it's just, well, I had a dream last night. A voice in the darkness told me you would wake and you wouldn't leave me. And now you are awake and you're not leaving me."

  "It's just a coincidence," she said. She yawned. "I'm tired now, Dale. Would you mind leaving me?"

  "All right," I said, getting to my feet. "Sleep well."

  Trellany only made a murmur of sound and was asleep before I had reached the door. I envied her that. I didn't think sleep would come that easily for me, because, no matter what she had said, I didn't think that my dream was just a coincidence. I didn't think that there was such a thing, at least, not when they concerned me. There always seemed to be something behind everything that happened to me and I was afraid of what might be behind this.

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  Chapter Twenty-Three

  SPRING

  The first that I knew of my grandfather's arrival was when a servant, dressed in the blue livery that all Sorron's servants wore, came to fetch me. The snow had melted, just as Belyisia had predicted it would, and the spring flowers were now starting to push through the earth, signs that my grandfather would be on his way. But it was still a shock to open my door and find the servant standing there, Tival beside him.

  "I have put your grandfather in the Royal Suite," Tival told me, as we walked together along the corridors. "And it has been warded, of course. I have also informed King Sorron of Trellany's progress and what we found concerning the attempt on your life."

  "There's a Royal Suite?" I said incredulously, "and, you never told me what you found about the attack on my life."

  "No," he said. "I know. I thought it best to talk to him first, let him tell you what he wants you to know." He glanced at me. "For now I think he will just be happy to see you again. I'm sure everything else can wait until the morning."

  "Yes," I said in agreement. "I'm looking forward to seeing him, too." Although I was a little nervous, too. That Tival had already had words with him meant that Sorron probably knew about my visit to the stone circle and the short time I had spent in the kitchens. I wasn't sure how he was going to deal with me for that, let alone how he would react to hearing that I was the Seer.<
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  My grandfather was waiting for me alone in the sitting room of this 'Royal Suite'. The room itself was clean, which made a nice change, with matching furniture of carved dark wood with brightly coloured cushioned seats. A fire burned in the hearth and on the marble mantelpiece above it there was a collection of small figurines. The tapestries on the walls hung neatly and the rug on the floor was heavily embroidered in dark swirling colours, edged with gold tassels. There were plaster carvings on the ceiling, but they were chipped and crumbled in places with age. Still it was very different from my own sitting room, cleaner, rich and far larger, with many doors leading off from it, rooms for the servants that my grandfather had brought with him, I assumed.

  "Candale," my grandfather greeted me softly. It was good to hear his voice, to see his face again. It made me feel safe almost instantly. It didn't matter if he was angry at me, he deserved to be, after all, because I knew it wouldn't last. All that did matter was that he was here and everything would be all right again because of it.

  But, to my worried eyes, he seemed frailer than before. There were shadows under his eyes and he seemed to have lost weight. The journey must have been hard on him. As fit and healthy as he had always seemed to me, he was still my grandfather, still an old man. I felt a familiar stirring of guilt, that I had put him through this, when it was something that he could easily have done without.

  "Grandfather," I said, and stood there nervously, hands resting limply at my sides.

  Sorron took a couple of steps towards me and, catching my elbows in his hands, he held me firmly at arm's reach. Slowly he looked me up and down, scrutinizing me carefully, and then he smiled. "You look well, boy," he said. "Better than I have seen you looking for a long time. Although you do need a haircut."

  "It's all the exercise," I said, my hands reaching self-consciously towards my hair. It was a little longer than usual. I should I have thought to tie it all back and found time to change into something a little cleaner. There were spots of charcoal on my breeches and a loose thread hanging from my tunic sleeve, one that I was now desperate to snap off.