by Mary Akers
Asher chuckled at her loss for words.
“Don’t panic. It was only a compliment,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm. “I’m not trying to court you.”
She laughed, slightly relieved, though perhaps a bit disappointed. They walked on a few paces before a frown settled over her features.
“Not that I want you to, but why not?” she asked, trying not to be offended.
“Because we’re Claren,” he answered simply.
“Claren don’t court one another?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, shaking his head with a frown, his eyes searching the horizon.
“I suppose you just wait for the Ever Tree to do it for you.” she said sardonically. “It makes sense. I mean, why put in the effort?”
“It’s not because we’re lazy,” he replied, shaking his head in amusement.
“It seems lazy,” she repeated, shrugging.
“It’s because we respect one another,” he explained.
“Courting is very respectful,” Elora said indignantly.
“You’re right. It’s a very respectful way to choose a spouse,” Asher admitted. “But for Claren, courting leads to broken hearts and hard feelings.”
“I don’t see how that’s any different than courting for the rest of the world,” Elora argued.
“It’s different,” Asher answered, shaking his head. “For the rest of the world, courting is the only way to find your soulmate, to choose your spouse. But Claren don’t choose. We don’t have to search. We only have to wait.”
“So Claren see courting as disrespectful?” she asked.
“It is,” he replied firmly. “It is wrong to create those memories and steal away pieces of someone’s heart just because you’re too impatient to wait for your soulmate.”
“So no courting,” she said, nodding in understanding.
They walked on in silence for a few minutes, lost in thought.
“That’s kind of sad, actually,” she blurted out suddenly.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s sad that Claren don’t work to earn one another’s affections,” she clarified. “That’s a big part of why this whole Pairing thing bothers me so much. I was rather looking forward to being courted.”
“Who says you won’t?” he asked, grinning.
“You just did!” she exclaimed in a hushed cry, furrowing her brows in frustration.
“I intend to court my soulmate,” he said shrugging his shoulders.
“But doesn’t the Pairing ceremony happen right after two people are paired?” Elora asked, confused. “That’s not a lot of time to court someone.”
“Who says a courtship ends at the ceremony? I intend to court her for the rest of my life,” he replied with a wink.
Elora couldn’t help the blush that crept up her cheeks at the thought of spending a lifetime being romanced by Asher.
“Do I still seem lazy?” he asked, grinning.
Elora laughed, shaking her head.
“That sounds pretty wonderful actually,” she said. “Do all Claren feel that way about courting?”
“Not all. But I would say most,” he replied.
“Well, hopefully the man in my visions shares your views on courting,” Elora said wistfully.
“You can hope for that,” he agreed, nodding. “Or maybe you should just hope the man in your visions is me,” Asher replied, nudging her shoulder jokingly.
She chuckled, though her heart skipped a beat at the suggestion.
Between the sound of her laugh and the rustle of the grass against their legs, she nearly missed the words he muttered next.
“I know I am.”
He’d whispered them, as though he hadn’t meant for her to hear. Her breath caught in her throat but she kept her face downturned, unsure of how to react. She allowed herself a brief glance upwards a few moments later, but found him busily studying their surroundings. Perhaps she had been mistaken. Perhaps she had imagined it. But what if she hadn’t?
Chapter 17
Elora took the lead as they continued on in silence, each lost in thought. The air seemed to hum with a thrilling sort of tension between them. Suddenly they came upon a rough patch of terrain, where the ground lowered into a dry creek bed and wiry grass gave way to course and scrubby brush. The distractions of a moment ago faded away as they had to stay focused on keeping their footing. The rise up to the other side was steep and the ground sifted beneath their feet at they climbed out of the creek bed. Having reached the top, Asher turned to offer Elora a hand up which she gratefully accepted. Winded, they stopped for a moment, to catch their breath.
Though the hottest part of the day had passed, the sun was still punishing as it made its downward journey. Elora lifted her arm, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her tunic. She sighed and looked around, trying to get her bearings.
“The interior gardens are just on the other side of Tim Pryor’s field,” she said, motioning to a large fenced corral in which two horses lazily munched grass and swatted flies. “You can see the storage barn just there.”
In the distance, the peaked roof of a faded and sun-baked wooden building was visible above the scrubby overgrowth.
“Do you think you can get us in without being seen?” he asked.
“I can get one of us in,” she said. “With the Elysic cloak.”
“It should be you,” Asher said, grimacing. “You can get what we need and get out much more quickly than I could.”
“I thought we were here to retrieve my parents,” Elora said, confused. “What do we need?”
“You should get seeds,” he said, holding her gaze.
“But my parents are getting the seeds,” she replied quietly, her brows furrowed.
“You need to get some, Elora,” he repeated solemnly. “Just in case.”
“Just in case we have to leave without them, you mean,” she finished, shaking her head emphatically. “I won’t go without my parents,” she said, turning and continuing on angrily in the direction of the barn.
Asher ran after her, catching her arm and pulling her to a stop. He grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him, waiting for her to look him in the eyes.
“I don’t want to either,” he said earnestly. “But the Liana can’t have you Elora. You know that. And your parents know that too.”
Elora stared at him, tears pricking her eyes as she realized that he was right.
“Maybe they will be there,” she said in a small voice.
“I hope so,” Asher said gently. “But you still need to get the seeds even if they aren’t.”
Elora nodded, shifting her eyes away from his face. Turning out of his grasp, she began walking away from him without a backwards glance. He fell into step behind her and they walked in uncomfortable silence.
They kept to the tall grasses, alert and cautious now that they were approaching a more populated area. The grazing horses lifted their heads and watched with interest as Elora and Asher walked along the outside of the split-rail fence of their paddock. The barn was moving steadily into view.
With each step, Elora’s heart seemed to pound ever harder until it felt as if it would explode from her chest. She was trying desperately to remain optimistic but it was impossible to ignore the terrifying possibility that she might find the barn empty.
Suddenly the gritty sound of turning wagon wheels broke the peacefulness of the air. Elora and Asher quickly moved away from the fence and crouched down low in the dense vegetation. They watched as a horse drawn cart pulling a load of manure passed by the end of the corral.
“There’s a road up ahead that separates this farm from the gardens,” Elora said, speaking in a low voice as she nodded towards where the wagon had been.
“You should put the cloak on,” Asher whispered.
Elora pulled the silky fabric from her bag and wrapped it around her shoulders. It flowed around her body like water. It was cool against her skin and the sensation sent thrilling shivers down her spine. She fastened it at her throat and turned towards Asher. He reached out, pulling the hood up over her head until her face was hidden within its shadow.
“How do I look?” Elora asked, glancing up at him.
“You look like a Claren,” he whispered with a small smile.
She felt a pang in her stomach, both pleased by his words and heartsick as she remembered her father saying the very same thing to her mother only hours ago. Oh, how she hoped they were in that barn.
They rose and carefully crept closer. The air was silent save for the soft sounds of workers cultivating the soil and the sporadic chatter of gardeners finishing a hard day’s labor. Everything seemed normal and calm. Elora and Asher stopped as they neared the edge of the road. Hiding behind a thicket, they watched the barn for a long while, looking for any sign of the Liana. Asher finally looked at her and raised his eyebrows in question. Elora nodded that she was ready.
“If it feels wrong, don’t go in there,” he said. “We can make it without the seeds.”
“I’m going in there for my parents,” she reminded him tersely.
“I know,” he whispered, avoiding her angry stare.
She waited for him to lift his eyes so that she could have the satisfaction of seeing his regret at having forgotten about her parents. But she saw more than regret in his eyes. She saw sadness. She saw pain. Her annoyance was immediately replaced by a sickening sense of fear. He hadn’t forgotten about them. He had given up on them. He didn’t think they were there. Elora shook her head in denial.
“They are in there, Asher. They have to be,” she said, her voice cracking.
Asher held her gaze, torn between inflicting the pain of honesty or giving in to the comfort of a lie. He finally nodded, unwilling to steal away the tiny bit of hope she was clinging to so desperately.
“I’ll wait for you here,” he said quietly. His jaw clenched and his lips were pressed thin as he struggled to hide his worry. He took hold of Elora’s shoulders and ducked his head to look her directly in the eyes. “You move quickly. No matter what you find, Elora,” he said squeezing her arms to emphasize his point. “You get your parents, you grab the seeds and you run back out here.”
She nodded, struggling to suppress a sudden wave of nausea. Her wide eyes were darting back and forth between his as the danger of what she was about to do finally began to register.
“I mean it, Elora. If you’re not back here in 5 minutes, I’m coming to get you. And I don’t care who sees me,” he said. “Hurry.”
Elora nodded again, struggling to swallow past the lump of fear in her throat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to gain some composure.
Suddenly a cool, moist breeze wafted through her hair and the soothing roar of a thousand leaves rusting in the wind filled her ears. A deep sense of peace came over her. She was no longer hiding in the scrubby brush of Windom, she was standing beneath the forest canopy of Claredon. It was not Asher standing beside her, it was him.
“It’s time to come home.”
His voice was soft, barely above a whisper. She gasped as she felt the warm, rough skin of his hand brush across her cheek. Her heart swelled with affection and she couldn’t help the smiled that crept across her lips. She sighed, soaking up the comfort of his presence and letting the stillness of the forest settle deep into her bones. Taking one last calming breath of deliciously sweet forest air, she opened her eyes.
Asher was watching her. The anxiety that had hardened his features only a few moments ago had been replaced by a look of fascination.
“You had a vision,” he whispered.
She nodded, smiling.
A particularly loud shout caught their attention and they both jerked their heads to see what had happened. Apparently Joe Callahan, one of the gardeners, had nearly stepped on a snake. This was her opportunity. Everyone was watching Joe. She stood and walked the remaining few paces to the edge of the road. But she paused to look back at Asher one last time.
“If I’m not back in 5 minutes, you come get me,” she reminded him. She took a final calming breath before stepping out of the thicket.
Suddenly a warm pair of arms were wrapped around her, pushing her backwards into the thicket. She began to panic, thrashing against the person who was now carrying her deeper into the brush. It took a moment before she could register the words being whispered against her ear.
“Hush, darling. It’s me. It’s alright,” came a familiar voice.
She immediately stopped fighting and calmed in his arms. Reaching up, she pushed the hood of the cloak off her head and looked into the loving face of her father.
“Dad!” she cried with a relieved sob and threw her arms around him.
“It’s alright, honey,” he said, holding her tightly.
“Jonas! Thank God!” Asher exclaimed. “Where’s Winnie?”
Elora was smiling joyfully up at her father, overwhelmed by their sudden reunion. It took a moment for her to discern his anguished expression through her tear clouded vision.
“Dad?” she asked, suddenly frightened.
Stepping back and wiping her eyes, she began to look around nervously. Where was her mother? Her gaze came back to rest on her father only to find a sight that scared her more than anything ever had. He was crying.
“Dad? What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice rising in panic. “Where’s mom?”
“They have her,” he replied and his shoulders sagged in defeat.
“What?” Elora cried. “How?”
Her father sighed deeply and roughly rubbed the tears from his face.
“We made it to the barn without seeing anything out of the ordinary,” he explained. “So I waited a little ways down the road, pretending to do some work on the stone wall around Tim Fletcher’s field, while your mother went on alone to retrieve the seeds. She was on her way back to me when they appeared out of nowhere. There were at least 10 of them, all in Elysic cloaks. They surrounded her,” his voiced cracked and he paused before continuing. “I was able to duck behind the wall and stay out of sight. They took her bag, but tossed it into the brush when they found it was just full of seeds. I followed them back to our house. They are holding her there.”
“She’s there alone with them?” Elora struggled to get the words past her quivering lips.
Her father nodded, closing his eyes and struggling to swallow his emotions.
“I hid across the street, watching the house and praying that you weren’t going to come home and walk into a trap. A little while later, a blond haired man and 5 cloaked Lianas left the house and headed towards town. I thought for sure your poor mother had been forced to tell them that you’d gone to talk to Alysa and Trig. I figured it was only a matter of time before they caught you. But they came back an hour later empty handed. You must have left the Scott house before they got there.”
“We weren’t at the Scott house. We were at Alysa and Trig’s new home,” explained Elora, glancing over at Asher. “Oh God, I hope the Scotts are alright,” she groaned.
“They must have been coming back from looking for us there when we saw them,” Asher said, locking eyes with Elora.
“You saw them?” her father exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Yes. That’s why we didn’t go home,” Elora explained.
“Thank God for that,” her father sighed. “Well, when they couldn’t find you, I guess they decided to split up and search. I followed three of them to the storage barn just now and was on my way back to the house when I spotted you,” he said.
Elora’s eyes grew wide and her knees went weak as she realize how close she had been to running directly into the hands of her enemy.
“We were looking for you,” she said quietly.
Her father sighed, hugging her tightly against him. She closed her eyes and tried to gain control over the torrent of emotions swirling through her brain. Finally regaining some composure, she leaned back from his embrace.
“We have a way out,” she said.
“No. Don’t tell me,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to know anything.”
“What? Why not?” she asked in surprise.
“I can’t tell them what I don’t know,” he said, holding her gaze.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her body stiffening in apprehension as she stared into her father’s sad eyes.
“I won’t let her go through this alone, Elora,” he said, gently caressing her face. “I’m not going to leave her here. I have to try and free her.”
“They’ll catch you, Noah,” Asher said, the tone of his voice somber and sure.
“Maybe they won’t,” Elora cried, giving him an angry glare.
“It doesn’t matter if they do. I have to be with her. I can’t leave her behind, sweetheart,” her father said, pleading with her to understand.
“But we can help you!” Elora cried, grabbing hold of his shirtfront.
“No. You can’t,” he said quietly. “Asher’s right. They probably will catch me. But they cannot catch you, Elora.”
“Dad…” Elora couldn’t speak anymore as a sob broke free. She hid her face in his shirt and fell apart.
“If they capture you, all of this would have been for nothing,” he said gently, wrapping his arms around her.
“But I can’t do this without you,” she said, struggling to get the words out.
“Yes you can,” he said. “Asher will get you home. I trust him and so should you.”
“But I need you,” she said, whispering her final plea, knowing in her heart that he would not be moved.
He lifted her chin, looking steadily into her tear soaked eyes. He smiled sadly.
“I can’t leave her, Elora. She’s my soulmate,” he said softly. “Someday you’ll understand.”
She nodded and took a shuddering breath.