[2016] The Bride Trials

by Jessica Parker

  After several moments she began to breathe on her own. Color returned to her skin, and while it was still pale, it no longer looked lifeless. Knowing they didn't have time to wait for her to regain consciousness, Ditran picked her up so that he could continue working to heal her, but his own energy was almost out. He’d expended a lot of it earlier in healing Drake. He cradled her slender frame in his arms, surprised by how little she weighed. Emre called Drake before picking up the body of their attacker and leading the way once

  more.

  The walk was slow, but it wasn’t long before they reached the City and the building where they’d been staying. Guards lined the streets and Drake was there to greet them when they walked through the door.

  “I'm so glad you're safe, Sire.” He bowed. Ditran looked at a couple of guards nearby. “Where is a healer?”

  “Sire, we need to talk alone.” This time it was Emre that addressed him.

  “Not now. Once I've seen to her, we'll talk.” “This is urgent, Ditran.” Drake motioned to two guards. Reluctantly, and careful not to jostle her too much, Ditran handed Keyla to them. The guards rushed out, and Ditran found himself alone with Emre and Drake. Their faces were strained and troubled. “What is it?”

  “Our attacker. He was a guard here.” Ditran stepped over to where Emre had laid the assailant. The man was on his back, his head attached at an odd angle, and the military spiral was clearly visible on the right arm of the blue uniform.

  “Maybe he stole a uniform.”

  “No, Heir Ditran.” Emre sighed, “The day you arrived, he asked what your schedule was. He’s been confirming your plans each evening. He said that it was for cleaning and meal planning. They wanted to make sure everything was spotless and meals on time. I should have been more aware.”

  Ditran looked at the unmoving body again. “Is he still alive?”

  Drake replied this time. “No, the force of your light blast snapped his neck.”

  “Investigate. There was a second shard attacker throwing ice. Find out who it was.”

  “Yes, Sire.” Drake spoke again, “Perhaps it would be best for you to return to the Palace.” Emre interjected this time. “They could be waiting for him to run home and ambush him as soon as he leaves the safety of the city.”

  “And the second assassin could be here, in this building.” Drake said. “Sire, the only ones we know for certain are not a part of the endeavor are us and the unconscious girl.”

  “How do you know she's not a part of it?” Ditran asked.

  “She was badly wounded.”

  “If she was one of them, it would be something superficial.” Emre confirmed.

  Ditran considered their words for a few moments. “What if she was the target?” “Who would want her dead?” Emre asked. “Her Caretakers for one.”

  “Sire, forget the girl, she is replaceable.” Drake reminded. “No. It's my fault she was out in the forest today. It is my fault that she is fighting for her life now.”

  “We don't know who to trust. Emre and I can't be guarding you both while we investigate what happened. Your attacker was a high ranking guard here. We don't know how far the rebels have infiltrated.” Drake said.

  “Then I'll stay with her. I can protect her and only one of you will need to be with me.”

  Drake and Ditran stared at each other as several tense moments passed. “Very well, Sire.” Drake conceded. “Emre will go with you now, I'll go review the area of the attack.”

  Ditran nodded his head in assent, and they parted ways. Emre and Ditran hurried to the room where Keyla was staying. Panic filled him. She was defenseless right now, and her caretakers could have paid someone to hurt her. Or maybe one of

  the other families had found out about her and wanted to eliminate the competition.

  The Healer came out of Keyla’s room. “I’ve done what I can. She’s stable but in a healing sleep. She used too much energy. Her body will need to replenish it.”

  “How long will it take?” Emre asked

  “Weeks, months, years? I’m not sure.”

  “We’ll take her to Gon Solus, at the Healer Kuil” Ditran said. The Gon is the most powerful healer alive. He can help her.

  he week it took to drive back to the Palace took its toll on Ditran. He used every energy flask he’d brought with him trying to speed up the process of the healing sleep Keyla was in. Each and every time he connected his energy with hers, he witnessed a memory, not full, or clear. Sometimes he thought he might be seeing pieces of her dreams. The best ones involved sitting with her in a meadow of flowers. They’d sit there and talk about anything and everything until his energy was too low to maintain the connection.

  He would then eat and sleep before starting the process again. Ditran walked toward the center building of the healer’s kuil. Emre was finding Keyla a room, while Ditran looked for the Gon. Instead of the subdued green of military uniforms covering the walls, plants, a vibrant emerald, were the walls. The kuil isn’t made of stone or metal, but plants grown in precise formations to form green canopies overhead. During rain storms, the leaves fanned out, directing the water to the fish ponds.

  “Heir Ditran.” The voice came from Ditran’s right from a man as round as he was tall. Long strands of green beads were layered around his neck. He gave a shallow bow, barely more than a nod of the head.

  “Gon Solus.” Ditran nodded his head in respect. As leader of the other four Gons, and without a Queen to lead, Solus oversaw all the affairs involving religion. Unfortunately, that didn’t leave him with a lot of time to use his incredible powers for healing.

  “We didn’t expect you to come.” The Gon walked to a wall of plants woven together. “Come?” “We sent word to the Palace. We have been inundated with the sick. We can’t keep up with the need. Your skills will be of great help.”

  “I’ve come for another reason. I need your help. A friend is in a healing sleep.” Gon Solus opened a plant door to a large gathering room. People, young, old, small, big, all of them sick in some way, filled the room. He’d never seen so many people in need.

  “Where did they come from?” Ditran asked. “All over the kingdom. Rebels started a fire in Spinel, attacked in Idocrase. The injured have been coming in droves.”

  “No one told me.” “You’re here now. That’s what matters. Let’s go see what we can do for your friend, and then you can help here.”

  “I’ll need to rest first. I’ve used as much energy as I can for today.” “Your drinks?”

  “I’ll need to make more.”

  “This friend must mean a lot to you.”

  A small child approached the Gon.

  Solus bent down and the boy grabbed the Gon’s hand. The child pulled the Gon towards a cot with a woman and pointed.

  Gon Solus turned to Ditran. “We’ve done what we can, maybe you can ease her pain?” Ditran looked at the woman again. She slept, barely. Her body was stiff, unnatural in its stillness, only to be disturbed by quick uneven breaths, as if her body struggled for each movement.

  Ditran approached her. No boy should watch his mother die. Using the last reserves of his energy, he scanned her body for places in need of healing. Any injury had long since healed, but he could feel rough scar tissue that remained inside of her. Sharp pain flared up in the woman’s stomach, and Ditran felt it in his own, but the more he prodded with his waning energy the more frustrated he became. There wasn’t a source. Ditran broke the connection and stood up.

  “There’s no injury,” Ditran said to the Gon. “We healed the physical. Her mind now inflicts the pain.”

  “How do you heal that?” “We can’t. Only a memory heal can pull her out. You Heir Ditran, are the only one who can do that.”

  “It’s only happened once, by accident, I don’t know how. You’re the most powerful healer alive. There has to be something you can do.”

  “Try again after you’ve rested. I found an old text that might be able to guide you. Now let’s see to your friend.
”

  Ditran nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket to find where Emre had taken Keyla.

  Fifteen minutes later Ditran and Emre were sitting in a room watching while Gon Solus stood over where Keyla slept on a bed.

  The Gon held his hands just above her heart. “She’s had a lot of injuries. How long has she been in this sleep?”

  “A week,” Emre said.

  “Newly manifested powers?”

  “A week ago I used Dovesti’s stone.” Ditran stopped talking and waited for the lecture. Historically Gons felt it was a sacrilege.

  “No wonder her energy is full of scars. I can see the thousands of little white lines from each time she needed a healer’s touch. I can feel where the energy was trapped inside her. When you used the stone, you opened the flood gate. It went everywhere without control. The stone was never meant to be used like this.”

  “She had the mark, the stone was the only way to release her powers.” Emre pointed at her neck. “There was a dark line there. You can’t see it now, but it was there.”

  “Doesn’t matter, we have to deal with the consequences now. When she was injured, her energy reflexively retreated to that cage because that’s all it’s ever known.”

  “Can you help her?”

  “Yes. Now you go get some rest. This will take time.”

  t was her favorite dream. She and Ditran, no crowns or kingdoms, just the two of them surrounded by green trees and flowers as far as she could see. She could hear a stream somewhere in the distance. Here they were just themselves, and she could let herself wonder what it would be like if he weren’t the Heir and she wasn’t trying to overthrow the King. It was lonely when he left. And then the dark dreams came.

  She shook her head. But this is a good dream. Or was until Ditran started going on about some old man. “You’ll wake up soon. Gon Solus thinks he’s figured it out,” Ditran said. “That’s nice. What should we do today?”

  “He’s going to distribute your energy as it should be, while I pull your mind out of this bubble you’ve created. The book he gave is a little vague on the particulars of the mind maze, but we can figure this out.”

  “Like there’s going to be a door—” Keyla stopped talking.

  A tall shiny red door appeared in the middle of the meadow. “Are you ready to join the world of the living?” Ditran took her hand in his and pulled her toward it.

  Keyla grabbed the handle and pushed it open. The room on the other side was full of shadows. When they stepped across the threshold, the door slammed shut, leaving them in darkness.

  Keyla felt the shadows closing in, just like the time that … The shadows swirled into something more. Mr. Calse, the caretaker from when she was seven, maybe eight. He lifted his arm, and the long black whip appeared.

  “What is this?” Ditran asked.

  “Run!” Keyla pushed Ditran forward.

  Mr. Calse’s arm came down, and so did the whip. It lashed across her back, and Keyla let out a cry as she fell. It hurt just like before. Like onion juice in the eye, only worse. Keyla curled up like she

  used to as a child, waiting for it to be over.

  “This is your mind Keyla. You don’t have to be afraid,” Ditran said.

  Mr. Calse’s laughter rang out, and Keyla covered her ears. Ditran crouched down beside her and pulled her hands away. “It’s alright, Keyla. I won’t let anything hurt you again.”

  Keyla looked up just as Mr. Calse brought the whip down once more, this time toward Ditran. “No!” Keyla tried to push Ditran out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough.

  Ditran didn’t move, didn’t cry, in fact he didn’t do anything but take her hand in his. “It’s all in your mind, Keyla. I’m fine.” He turned his back to her, and indeed there wasn’t even a mark. “Think of getting out of this room.”

  Keyla thought of stairs, and they appeared. Ditran pulled her up, and they ran, leaving Mr. Calse behind. The other rooms filled with memories weren’t nearly as difficult, and Ditran never let go of her hand. After each doorway, he’d nod in encouragement, and the next door would appear. She heard the yelling or the crying voices behind them but never looked away at them.

  Keyla led the way through a white door. As soon as her feet crossed the threshold, she felt Ditran’s hand slip from hers. He disappeared, leaving her in a green space. No ceiling, walls, or floors. Just green colored air.

  “Close your eyes, Keyla. When you open them, we’ll be back in the real world.” His voice rang around her, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Keyla closed her eyes, and it felt like being pulled underwater. When she floated to the surface and opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was an older man wearing a lot of green beads to her right. Then Emre next to the far wall and Ditran on her left side.

  “It worked!” Emre hurried over to give her a hug, which felt weird as she was still lying down. “No more healing sleep.”

  “I’m Gon Solus. It is a pleasure to meet you, my dear,” The man with the beard said.

  “Thank you.” Keyla sat up. “Thank Heir Ditran. I could have pulled the energy out, but that wouldn’t have awakened you without him guiding you out.”

  “Thank you, Ditran.”

  “I’d do it again. Now I think we should go to the palace as soon as you are ready.” Ditran smiled. “I need a few moments to make sure everything

  is completed. Could you give us some time,” Gon Solus said.

  “Now that I know how to help with the mind heal, I think I will go and try to help that woman.” Ditran nodded at Emre and together they left.

  When the door closed, Gon Solus turned to her. “My dear, I would protect the Heir with my life. Why do you pretend?”

  “Excuse me?” “They told me all about how your powers manifested. While Ditran was connected to you in your mind, the dragon’s wing appeared on your throat. How dare you wear the mark of a great Dra. The very thing is an affront to Dovesti.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about. What mark?” “The symbol of a purist clan. The same purists that made a mockery of the gift granted by Dovesti’s fountain. Squabbling among themselves, killing each other in order to rule those without powers. I felt the energy you still have sealed inside of you. The Heir has no idea what he unleashed with the stone. The amount of energy accessible in your veins is more than most noble families can claim combined. If you dare harm the Heir, I will see you killed.”

  “I’m not a purist, and I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”

  “I’m watching, and I’ll report you to the King at the first sign of trouble.” Keyla felt her muscles tighten. The King wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. Even if he didn’t know a good reason. Understood.”

  The Gon left with a snarl on his face. Keyla got out of the bed and explored the simple room with attached bathroom. A bag was stuffed under a chair. She pulled it out and found a change of clothes, including her boots, inside. A quick shower later, and she went to find Ditran.

  itran sat in a chair next to the woman. He blew gently on a finger of his left hand and formed a blade of ice. Using his free hand, he grabbed her hand with his and pricked first his palm then hers with the blade. When their blood connected, he pulled the tingling tendrils of healing energy from within himself and pushed them through the connection.

  The sickness felt like black smudges on her body in desperate need of scrubbing. Keyla had a lot of these. No, focus on the woman. Her son needs her. He pushed the tingling harder on one side and sent it spinning. As it reached the darkness, the movements freed up the blackness. And then the memories started. The woman smiling at a guard as she walked by on the way home. A flash and screaming in fear as the same man approaches. The pain.

  Her pain.

  It stabbed him in his gut.

  A montage of images flooded his mind. Darkness, guard, light, baby, boy, rain, guard again. And that’s where the physical plague found her. It started as a scratch in the back of the throat and became a burn. It moved de
eper and became heavy as it settled in her lungs. She coughed until she fell over, unable to stand, hacking red spittle onto the pavement.

  Ditran mentally shook himself and focused on her lungs. The real sickness had long since healed, but the black smudge of memories remained. Ditran gently lifted the memories away and envisioned a box to store them in. He soothed the inflamed pain receptors and saw her body relax just a tiny amount.

  Her mind is there somewhere in her body, I just need to find her like I did Keyla and guide her out. He prodded with his energy and found another black spot. She was hiding under a table. Ditran offered her his hand, and she tentatively took it. They went through two levels, but by the time they got out, he was exhausted.

  When he withdrew from her mind, Ditran pulled the black box inside himself and sealed it

  away. She would always remember it, but it couldn’t chain her anymore. Now it was her choice how to move forward. She would need to decide to stay awake with her son or not.

  The memory of the guard flashed in his mind and Ditran stood up, and felt a fire well up inside of him. I have to get out of here. With only a nod to the woman’s child, Ditran strode out of the room.

  eyla saw Ditran hurrying out a door at the end of

  the hallway. She followed him as he practically ran through an apple orchard, only stopping when he reached a small metal gazebo at the heart of it. Ditran hit one of the beams with his fist over and over again, oblivious to the damage he was inflicting on his hand. As the hits continued, sparks began to fly.

  Soon Ditran’s arm was engulfed in flames. His body would soon follow suit.

  “Ditran,” Keyla said. He continued hitting as if he didn’t hear her, and Keyla grabbed his arm to stop him. She stared as the flames ran up his arm and onto hers. They

  should have burned her, but didn’t. I really need to learn more about this magic stuff.

  She looked up into the storm raging behind his eyes. He closed his eyes and turned away. The fire continued to spread. It was at the edge of the gazebo and heading for the trees. I have to distract him.

  Keyla placed her hand on his cheek and turned his face toward her.