by Megg Jensen
I squinted, the blinding sun robbing me of the pleasure of being outside. The clouds had long since drifted away, leaving my gift blind. I relished being outdoors, a rare treat for me after fifteen years of captivity. Soon I’d learn to use it, control it, with the help of Nemison.
Even though he’d said my gift would exceed his, he had an advantage over me; because like every other gifted person I’d met, he knew how to use his. My gift of prophecy was uncontrollable, and so far, useless.
I reached out and took Nemison’s hand. Last week I agreed I would train with him as soon as I cleaned up the mess I left behind after escaping Kandek’s castle. And I had. I freed the petty criminals he held as ransom for my return, revealed my lying ex-best friend, Ivy, for the manipulator she really was, and broke up my father’s wedding. I had nothing left for me in the place I grew up, the place I was a slave, the place where I’d been surrounded by lies.
I allowed myself only one last glance towards the woods that swallowed Mark after the wedding was disrupted. Over the last few months I’d developed feelings for him, perhaps even loved him, but at the moment I needed him the most he’d betrayed me. He’d chosen his brothers in the Sons of Silence over me.
I wanted to hate him.
But I couldn’t. Love didn’t die in the moment of betrayal. Like a flower at night, it only closed its petals, waiting for the sun to shine on it again.
“Arrest them!”
I glanced over my shoulder, and turned to see the obese nobleman who’d had a sword to his throat mere minutes ago. Blorn’s life had been spared and even though I’d been revealed as Kandek’s daughter, he still wanted my head. He held a higher position than my father, but he had no grounds to arrest me now. I’d done nothing wrong.
Blorn’s guards advanced towards us, circling around the dais. Their weapons were still being held in the castle, but I had no doubt men had already been dispatched to retrieve them. They’d be back soon and we had no route for escape. My father had left, following his guards to be sure Ivy was properly secured in the dungeon.
Nemison and I were left standing on the dais with Ella and Grey, two slaves I trusted with my life. She’d become my best friend when I had no one and rescued me in my darkest moment.
“I can fight them,” Grey said.
I placed my hand on his arm. My fingers didn’t feel the jolt I’d always dreamt about. For years I’d had my eye on Grey. Strong, upstanding, and handsome, he was everything any slave girl would have wanted, until I met Mark and tasted freedom in his arms. My heart pounded again, as I thought of him standing on the edge of the woods. He had seen Grey’s arm around my shoulders and then he’d left without a word.
“Don’t.” I pushed Mark out of my mind. He was gone and I had to help my friends. I was now free, but they were still considered slaves. “Standing up to them will only get you in more trouble.”
“I want to protect you,” Grey insisted. He moved in front of me and held up his fists towards the guards.
“Reychel, we need to leave.” Nemison whispered in my ear. I hadn’t forgotten my promise to train with him. I didn’t know how he would get us away from here, but I trusted him. He’d proven his loyalty and in exchange I gave him mine.
“Grey, I don’t need protecting anymore. Take care of yourself.” I placed my hand on his right fist and lowered it. I grabbed Ella’s left hand and placed it on Grey’s fist. “Take care of each other. I don’t know when I’ll see either of you again.”
Ella’s eyes widened and a blush crept on her cheeks. I wondered if she had a crush on him. Hiding a smile, I nodded to her. Grey glanced down at Ella and looked back at me. In that moment he had to know I’d moved on, I wouldn’t ever come home again, not to Kandek’s castle and not to him.
“I promise we will change everything. I will learn to use my gift and everyone’s lives will get better. You will be free.” I barely believed it myself, but I couldn’t leave them standing there wondering why I’d abandoned them. Everyone needed hope now.
Nemison held up his hand, using his gift to send bursts of air at the guards. They fell backwards as they were hit by the invisible blasts, and dropped to the ground.
“Let them be,” my father, Kandek, roared from the entrance to the garden. He’d brought guards back with him after depositing Ivy in the dungeon. His men held their swords at the ready, the tips glinting in the bright sunlight.
I eyed him, but he was too far away for me to make out his expression. He’d denied me my parentage until today, allowing me to live as a slave in his castle. Yet now he wanted to protect me. I doubted I’d ever understand him.
“There must be an inquest,” Blorn yelled.
Their voices hovered in the air behind me, surrounded by the gasps and screams of the ladies and lords present. Even though the guards were on their side, they sat on their blankets cowering in fear. They were probably still in shock from being held at sword point by the Sons of Silence. The Sons were not my people, but another sect fighting for the freedom all Serenians craved.
Nemison took my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll open a portal to the Southern Kingdom. You’ll be safe there.
“Me? What about you?” I asked. The guards edged closer and my stomach tumbled with fear. I wasn’t afraid of the guards; I was afraid Nemison would send me somewhere new and wouldn’t come with me. He’d promised to train me, to teach me how to use my gift. I shouldn’t go anywhere without him.
“I just changed the plans.” He winked at me. I wasn’t comforted.
The Southern Kingdom?” I had heard of the lands to the south, beyond the mountains. Stories told of dangerous men, cutthroats at every corner and a land too wild to be tamed by the emperor. “Is it safe?”
Nemison laughed. “Safe? It’s safer than staying here. I’ll create the portal and you run through it first. I’ll be there soon. I just need to tie something up here first.”
I wondered when Blorn’s guards would attack. They stood at the ready and Blorn dripped in sweat, his beady eyes staring me down. I looked away; I couldn’t stand seeing his ugly face anymore. It reminded me too much of the day I first met him; the day I should have had Kandek’s sign branded into the back of my bald head.
Nemison flicked his fingers in the air, creating a portal, and the air in front of us shimmered. I’d never been through one before, but I’d seen people go through them once so I knew, I hoped, they were harmless. I tried not to show my fear.
“Jump through!” Nemison dropped my hand. I jumped, looking over my shoulder as my foot entered the portal. A guard caught up with him and grabbed Nemison’s arms. Twisting them behind his back, the guard forced him to the ground.
I reached out to him, desperate to save him from capture. “No!” I screamed. But it was too late, the portal had already sucked me in.
My body coasted through empty space; my eyes blinded. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. Until seconds later my feet landed on a floor, the rest of my body collapsing in front of them. I bent at the waist, lying in a fetal position. My stomach contracted with spasms and pain coursed through my body.
I lay on the floor a few minutes as the spasms relented. The light wood under my body felt warm, unlike the cool, dark hardwood of my northern home. I traced a knothole with my fingertip feeling the stillness of the moment in spite of my apprehension and pain. I’d been on the move for the last three days; I welcomed the moment of silence.
Traveling through the forest with the boy I loved for two days had been exhilarating, but frightening. If anyone had come upon us and discovered our secret, that I was not his prisoner, then our entire plan would have been ruined. They would have known, had they seen us together. No one who ever witnessed love would have mistaken us for captor and prisoner. But now, I didn’t know if I’d ruined everything we’d found in each other by refusing to follow Mark. I traveled through the portal, but I’d lost my heart on the way.
My heart had broken today, and not just because of Mark’s rejection. If I wouldn’t h
ave intervened, my father would have married my former best friend, dooming him to a life of suppression under her gift.
I felt sorry for Kandek, having seen the damage her gift could cause to a person, but part of me was disappointed I’d helped him. He’d never helped me all those years he kept me as a slave on his estate. He’d guarded the greatest secret, that I was not only gifted, but quite possibly the Prophet my people had been yearning for nearly seven generations. His own fear had led him to murder my mother...and yet some part of me wanted to forgive him. He’d given me life and protected me. I wanted to see the best in people. I wanted to believe he could change. But I wouldn’t find out now, I had to embrace my own path.
When the spasms passed, I stood up. My legs jiggled under me. I glanced back at the wall I’d entered through. The portal had closed, leaving me in a tiny room. Running my fingers over the stucco, I marveled that I passed hundreds of miles through solid materials in only a few seconds. Nemison’s gift amazed me. It was hard to believe that someone so powerful wanted to take me on as a student, especially since he believed my gift would prove to be more powerful than his. So far mine had appeared on its own, never at my direction. So much for being powerful.
I said a prayer to Eloh for his safety.
The room I had fallen into measured six steps from wall to wall. A closed door stood in front of me. Not knowing what lie on the other side, I opted to stand for a few more moments in what I assumed was a closet. It was so small I couldn’t imagine it would be used for anything else.
I pressed my ear against the door, I was not a newcomer to spying, but I couldn’t hear anything other than a faint rustling on the other side. I leaned a bit harder against the door trying to make out the smallest noise that would clue me in to whether or not it was safe to emerge.
The door flew open and I tumbled face first onto the floor again. On the way down sunlight burned on my face courtesy of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the spacious room. A woman stood so close to me that I saw nothing but her orange silk slippers, inches from my nose. The bottom of her dress floated above the toes of her slippers and hit me in the face as she pivoted, sauntering to the other side of the room.
“You are Nemison’s prize, I presume?” She spun around, her dress floating upward. “The supposed Prophet. Shall I bow down before you, Reychel?”
She knew me, but I had no idea who she could be. Her mouth pursed and her hands planted on her hips. Her long blonde hair, a sign of her freedom, floated to her elbows, but Serenian or Malborn I couldn’t tell. A shot of fear stabbed my stomach. Nemison had said I would be safe here, but this girl, probably around my age, didn’t seem happy to see me.
“Where is Nemison?” she asked. I stared at her longer, debating what to say.
“Or can you only speak when you are in the throes of prophecy?” She gestured to the window on her left. “It’s sunny with no clouds, a frequent occurrence in the Southern Kingdom. Better get used to it mute girl.”
“I can speak fine without prophecy,” I said, finding my voice. I stood up, embarrassed that I’d been on the floor for so long. I straightened my gown, noticing it was dirty from the day’s adventures. In fact, I hadn’t changed or bathed in three days. I probably looked worse than I smelled. At least I hoped it was in that order.
“Where is Nemison?” she asked again.
“They took him prisoner —” I said.
“Prisoner? Didn’t you see it coming? Couldn’t you prevent it?” She huffed, turning her back to me again. “If you can’t even save Nemison, how are you going to save the rest of us?”
I didn’t know what to say. I’d been wondering for a long time how I would save everyone when I didn’t know how to use my gift. Her comments hit me where it hurt.
She turned to me again, slowly this time, her chin lowered but her eyes on me. Her long, blonde curls fell around her shoulders reminding me of how Ivy looked not long ago when she walked down the aisle to marry my father. Cunning, shrewd, and wicked.
“You are going to save us, aren’t you?” A tear fell from her eye, traveling down her cheek. She was good, way too good. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, questioning her sincerity. No one could switch from venom to tears that quickly. “I’m Krissin. And I’m sorry for treating you so poorly. It was a shock for me to see you there, without Nemison, looking like that. I was afraid he’d been killed, or worse.”
“Worse than being killed?” I asked, confused.
“There’s a lot you need to learn, Reychel. If Nemison isn’t here, then I will have to teach you.”
“You?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. She was my age. I’m sure she knew more than me, but I doubted she could take the place of Nemison.
“I am Nemison’s daughter,” she said. “It’s said my powers will be greater than his. Already we have been measured to be equal.”
“Equal?” My throat cracked. I’d never seen anyone like Nemison and if she was predicted to be more powerful what did that mean for me? Nemison told me I would be more powerful than him. I wanted to know if she was my equal or if her gift was more potent than mine, though I guessed it didn’t matter since I couldn’t figure out how to activate it.
“I am also Princess-in-Residence of the Southern Kingdom. My Malborn subjects believe me to be the daughter of the last ruler. He too believed it since my birth. I revealed myself as the poison I slipped him took away his final breaths. Then he knew, but it was too late. Everyone already believed the ruse.”
“You killed him?” My view of the sarcastic princess changed. Maybe her act was real, maybe she really was that cool and calculating. I knew she was my opposite. Death and violence went against everything I believed in.
“It was necessary for the transition. How else could we Serenians take back our land, what is rightfully ours? Soon Serenia will be ruled by us again, not them. We have to purge the Malborn from the Southern Kingdom and then we will move north to your homeland. All Serenians will be free.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around the thought of a puppet government in the Southern Kingdom. No one from the north suspected or the slaves would have been abuzz with gossip.
Nemison had told me things weren’t as they seemed here and I knew so little about politics other than what I had picked up listening in on conversations as a slave. But one thing I did know was that Kandek and the rest of the ruling nobles of the north depended on the Southern Kingdom for food. They were able to grow fruits here that would die in the north, fruits that staved off disease at my home.
“What do you mean move north?” I asked.
“We are going to take back our land.” Krissin slowed down and punctuated each word, as if I couldn’t understand her otherwise. I wasn’t stupid and even though I hated violence I had the strangest urge to slap her.
“Take back the land?” I kept my voice calm and steady. I wouldn’t take her bait.
“From the Malborn,” she sighed. “It’s our plan to drive them from our land forever. It’s time we took back our lives and it is your destiny to help us do that. You are the one who is to save us, are you not? Then take your place beside me as my advisor and together we will drive away the Malborn.”
“Where will they go?” I asked. “We’re isolated on this island. The Malborn control the seas. Do you really think we can force them out?”
Krissin threw back her blonde curls and laughed. At me. I felt my face redden. This privileged girl expected me to know as much as she did but I couldn’t possibly have the same knowledge. Up until last year I’d been sheltered in Kandek’s manor. What I learned since then has shown me that nothing is what it seemed. I’d spent the better part of the last year learning about normal life. If this girl knew anything at all about me, she’d know what a sheltered life I’d led.
“We have boats.” Krissin snorted through her condescending laughter. “We have a whole fleet of ships. We stole a good part of the Malborn’s fleet, at least the boats left behind after their last supply run. T
hey frequently leave the island and travel to distant lands for supplies.”
“They have Allies?” I asked. I tried to hold myself together and not be affected by her obvious disregard for me. I needed facts and reacting to her jibes would only waste time.
“Not Allies so much as more Malborn colonies. Their reach is incalculable according to my spies.” Krissin paused to twirl her long hair around an index finger. I held my hands back from touching my own short hair, hiding beneath my wig. Barely reaching my chin, my black hair was still a new wonder. My whole life I’d shaved my head every morning as a sign of my status as a slave. But now that I was free, I was allowing my hair to grow out for the first time.
“You think we can drive the Malborn off the island, back to their colonies?” I asked.
“That’s our plan.”
“What if they go back to their colonies only to bring more soldiers with them to subdue us? Who’s to say they will go away and not come back?”
Krissin’s eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down. A chill ran down my spine all the way to my toes.
“That’s where you come in,” she said. “You will peek out the window, glance at a cloud and tell us what the Malborn are going to do. We’ll always be a step ahead of them. You are our most powerful weapon.”
“I can’t control my visions yet.” I stuttered, suddenly feeling weighed down by the responsibility being laid upon me. “That’s why Nemison, your father, was going to help me. He was going to train me.”
Krissin laughed again. I liked her less every time her mouth opened and that tinkling laugh fell out. It was as fake as she was.
“Is that what he told you? That he was going to train you? He can’t train you in anything other than the basic arts. He can do nothing for your gift. It is yours to learn, yours to discover. No one can do that for you. Obviously the Council didn’t fill you in on everything. You were too busy thinking about your own little problems and not enough about the whole population. This is bigger than a fight with your best friend and your father.”