by Brindi Quinn
Chapter 12: The Command
When we entered the jungle the air was hot, as it had been all through Rendalt, but it was now moist with sticky humidity.
Moist?
That was an understatement. In actuality, I’d never felt so wet without being wet. The jungle canopy was so thick it completely blocked out the sky, though the trunks themselves were not so densely compacted. From all around, the sound of strange hums and squawks enveloped us, as thick as the air itself.
“Ew! Grottsy, get it!” Kantú kicked away a beetle the size of her foot.
The beetle scurried away, barely missing the impact of Grotts’ hammer, which left a large divot in the ground. The pair of them had left a trail of similar divots behind us, some filled with the remains of other large insects that hadn’t been so lucky.
I didn’t mind the large insects much; such crawling things had never upset me the way they did Kantú. Ardette was extremely disappointed by this tidbit when he swung in to ‘rescue’ me from a rather large red ant that he had most definitely planted himself. He awaited my praise, which did not come, as I instead walked over and retrieved said ant and placed it back where it had crawled.
Upon discovering that I couldn’t be bothered by buggy things, Ardette took to obnoxiously flirting with Rend. Her scowl grew more menacing the more pick-up lines he threw at her, and the rest of us braced ourselves for the flash of red that was sure to come if he kept it up. I didn’t know how much longer we had until Rend finally broke from being called ‘dear Rend’.
Luckily, Scardo made up Yes’lech-related excuses to call Ardette to him anytime Rend looked seriously on the verge. Even though the hunched man usually kept out of the affairs of the rest of the group, I got the feeling that he was actually really aware of everything that went on, interfering only when necessary. He took the role of silent observer and diffuser of Rend’s rage, the scenery taking no effect on him, as usual.
But in contrast to being unaffected, Rend and Nyte were having a heyday with the new environment. The Drig’ni was apparently filled with all sorts of rare fruits that they didn’t have access to in Elenque. Every so often they’d scamper ahead at Elves’ pace and return with handfuls of juicy berries and ripe melons.
“Try this one, Miss Havoc!” Nyte handed me a dark yellow fruit that smelled only slightly less bitter than the purple one he’d offered me all those days ago at Heaven’s Den.
“Uh . . .” I wrinkled my nose and he laughed.
“It tastes nothing like the smell,” he assured me.
I eyed him cautiously, hoping it wasn’t a prank.
“Do you trust me?” His eyes were gentle.
Yes. The answer came to me quickly and definitely. I took a bite.
“Yum!”
“See, it is good, right? Not nose-wrinkle worthy?”
“Yeah, it’s way better than it smells!” I took another bite. “It tastes sweet and kind of jasmine-ish. We should find one for Kantú; even she might like it.” I scanned the surrounding trees.
“Sure, up ahead!” But instead of trotting away, Nyte scooped me up in his arms and whisked me along with him.
“Ah!” This time my cry was uttered. Warm . . . You’re so warm.
I wondered if he could feel my quickened pulse, but the thought only served to make me even more flustered.
“M-Miss Heart!” Scardo called after us.
“It’s all right,” I called. “We’ll be right back!”
“They think I am going to kidnap you.” Nyte laughed.
“They give you far too much credit. I’m quite certain I could escape you, if you tried such a thing.”
“Is that so? And just how would you do tha-”
“Unhand her.” A cold voice cut through the trees.
Still holding me, Nyte stopped and spun around.
Ardette?
Indeed, it was the Daem who had followed us away from the rest of the guard. His face was livid, his fists clenched.
“Er, what’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled. For once, there wasn’t even a faint smile on his lips.
“You think I’d just let you run off with the Pure Heart?” he spat, seething.
Pure Heart? Since when are you calling me that?
“What?” asked Nyte, as surprised as I was.
“You disgust me!” Ardette’s cherry eyes were blazing, his pale cheeks blotched with red. He’d completely lost his cool attitude.
“What’s gotten into you?!” I shouted.
Scardo’s reaction I could understand, but Ardette’s?
Ignoring the question, Ardette lurched forward to grab me from Nyte, but Nyte sprang out of the way. I clung to his neck, wildly trying to assess the situation.
“What is your problem?” yelled Nyte, dodging another attack.
“Knock it off! What’s wrong with you?” I said. “We were going to come right back.”
Ardette must’ve recognized my distress because he paused.
“Please, Ardette!” I pleaded. “You’re acting like a lunatic!”
He looked at me, and the anger slowly lifted from his eyes.
“Why must you make things so difficult for me?” he muttered, searching my face. His expression softened back to handsome.
“It’s not a big deal,” I said, trying to understand his raging response. “I was the one that suggested we look for fruit.”
He continued to compose himself.
“This is what you wish?” he asked.
I nodded.
The smile returned to his face, but it was too late; I had seen the rage – the fear that had broken through his haughty facade at the thought of Nyte taking me from his protective watch.
Why such an extreme distrust? The others had had their moments, but nothing like this!
“Pardon my impulse,” he said. “You must understand that I have been trained to guard you at all costs. I have not had the . . . time to get to know this stranger as the rest of my comrades have.”
I studied him with hesitant eyes. His excuse made sense, but the ‘impulse’ he spoke of had been way rash.
“It’s okay, right Nyte? We’ll just be on our wa-”
“I could accompany you then, if you wish?” said Ardette. He arrogantly raised a black eyebrow at Nyte before continuing, “I would certainly offer better company than this one.”
Nyte scowled.
I shook my head, still wary.
Ardette stared at Nyte and then lowered his eyes to me. I locked eyes with him and thought I saw a flicker of remorse through his mask of smile, and then there was something else there. Sorrow?
“Ardette, I-”
“Very well, then. Hurry back, my cherry pit.”
He turned his face from me before I could discern more and then slowly retreated back through the jungle in the direction of the party. They’d been completely shielded from the encounter by the hanging vines and brush.
Nyte and I stared after him, still recovering.
“Nyte?”
He set me down.
“There’s more to this, right?” I asked. It was a stupid question. Of course there’s more.
He turned to me but said nothing.
“Does Ardette know you from before? Is this about your past? I can understand if you don’t want to tell me.”
If you don’t want to tell me . . . The words hung heavily in the air around us. Is that it? I trust you, but you don’t trust me?
My throat fell when I considered that maybe I’d misjudged our friendship.
“No!” He grabbed my hand. “I wish to tell you, but I, I . . . ,” – he looked away – “I cannot.”
“Oh.” I pulled my hand away.
It’s too big for us, right? ‘Us’ . . . I’d been silly to think there was such a thing as ‘us’. There is no us, just you and me, and a secret that’s too big for our friendship.
“That’s all right.” Disappointed, I turned to leave, but he reached out his hand and grabbed the back of my shirt.
; I looked over my shoulder. He was grinding his teeth together, like he was internally fighting something.
What is it?
He took a deep breath.
“Yes. It is about my past. I want you to know everything, Miss Havoc, but I have been . . . ordered not to tell you.”
“Ordered?”
“Not just ordered. I was given the Silver Command.”
At my puzzled expression, he continued, “It is hard to explain to a non-Elf just how binding a Silver Command is. If I were to break such an order, it would be considered treason. I cannot even think of the shame that doing so would bring me. I would become an outcast!”
Treason? I let the word float about in my head. Who would command something like that? Issue an order so severe? Elder Pietri? He was the only one that knew about the current situation. He was the only one that could have specifically told Nyte not to tell me.
But why? Why would he tell Nyte to hide his past from me?
“I don’t understand why someone would want that.”
He placed his hands on my shoulders and crouched down to reach my eye-level.
“Aura, although I cannot say what I want to tell you, I can say this: my past is clouded by darkness, and Ardette has every right to treat me so. But I would never do anything to harm you. You can trust me, even if he does not.”
Clouded by darkness? It was confusing, but he was sincere. I could tell. His eyes gave him away. They earnestly pleaded with me.
There may be darkness, but there’s no deceit.
“I know I can trust you.” It wasn’t a lie.
He released his breath heavily. He’d been holding it, and my words soothed whatever tension he’d been having within himself.
“Aura!” Kantú’s voice broke through the air. A moment later, she stepped through some low vines. “Oopsie, am I interrupting?”
She smiled coyly at the site of the two of us so close.
“Eyaah! No!” I jumped back from Nyte, and he grinned.
Rend popped into view behind Kantú. She looked deadly.
“Ah, anyway, Nyte, where was that fruit again?” I rubbed the back of my head and tried to sound inconspicuous but failed miserably.
“Let me go fetch it for you, Miss Havoc.” He dashed ahead, leaving me behind with the boiling Rend.
I laughed nervously. Kantú, oblivious to how dangerously red in the face Rend was growing, bounded forward and asked,
“So, did he finally make a move on you?”
“What?” My eyes widened at her words, as did Rend’s, and I frantically looked around for something to hide behind. But it wasn’t necessary; Grotts and Scardo stepped through the vines, halting the flaming Rend before she could even begin the punishment.
“Aura, what’re ya doin’?”
Phew. I breathed a sigh of relief, certain I was saved.
But the feeling lasted only until –
“There you are, my cherry pit. He didn’t do anything indecent to you did he?”
– Ardette entered the scene.
“Ah! No, of course not!” Ardette, you idiot!
“Wonderful! Well then, come along.” He looped his arm through mine and pulled me beside, leaving Rend without an outlet for her anger. It’d been a narrow miss.
“No struggle?” He sounded surprised. “So you’ve forgiven me, then? For attacking your beloved?”
“That’s not it exactly . . .” I glanced back at the venomous Rend, grateful for an excuse to avoid her wrath.
“So he is then?” said Ardette, giving me a sideways glance.
“What?”
“Your beloved?”
I’d completely missed the trap Ardette had laid with his words.
“Who?” I asked, still preoccupied with the Elven glare that bore into my back.
“Charming. Well then, how can I make it up to you? Would you like to see something as lovely as you, my cherry pit?”
I rolled my eyes at his cheap flattery. “Sure, I guess.”
“Wonderful! I shall arrange it.” He started to pull himself away from me, but I squeezed his arm, holding him back from leaving. There was something I needed to tell him; something he needed to hear.
I stared up at him and leaned in close.
“W-what?” His smile faltered a little – like it had that night at the stable.
Here goes.
“Ardette. Thank you for guarding Nyte’s secret.”
He stared at me, dumbstruck.
That was it, wasn’t it? His earlier outburst had alerted me to the meaning of the turmoil caused him by his secret. He took a moment and then,
“Ah, so you’ve figured it out, have you?” He remained cocky, but his voice quivered.
I nodded.
“I want you to know that I trust Nyte, so whatever it is, it doesn’t matter, but I appreciate you trying to protect me. You’re a good friend.”
Taken aback, he paused and contemplated how to answer.
“So a friend, am I now?” He pretended to act surprised, but I ignored his attempt at averting the sincerity of my statement.
“Please don’t worry yourself for my sake,” I said.
I released my grip.
He rubbed the place where our arms had linked, and his eyebrow twitched oddly.
“There you go again. A quite unusual person you are.”
I stared ahead, embarrassed at my spontaneous boldness.
He thought for a second then flashed me his pearly smile. “Right then, now to arrange that ‘lovely’ thing we discussed.”
I nodded, still staring ahead.
He left to talk with Grotts and Scardo.
Kantú approached me with scurried footsteps.
“Scardo says we’ll reach Yes’lech by the end of tomorrow! I’m so excited! I hate this gross, buggy place.” She swatted at some unseen flies with her tail.
I tried to focus my attention on her. I didn’t want her to sense the worry the secret was causing me.
“I can’t wait to see it!” At first I said it only as a cover up, but then I thought about Grotts’ words: a great stone fortress near the coast. I missed the ocean. I missed the salty breeze. I missed the sound of waves on rock. As my love for the ocean surged inside of me, it suddenly wasn’t so hard to ignore the worrisome secret.
Near the coast.
“It sounds so romantic,” I said, dreaming of the hidden base.
“Romantic?”
“Sure. A jungle fortress on a cliff overlooking the ocean where secret going-ons occur.”
“Is that the kind of place you prefer?” said someone quietly.
Kantú and I jumped and looked around for the source of the disembodied voice.
I should’ve known. Nyte had returned with more fruit.
“Ah! Nytie! You scared me.”
His smirk informed us that it had been exactly what he’d hoped to accomplish. He threw one of the fruit to Kantú. She inspected it and turned up her nose.
“Try it,” I insisted. “Trust me; you’ll like it.”
She sniffed it before begrudgingly taking a bite. Her eyes lit up.
I grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, and she went about finishing off the fruit.
“So, Miss Havoc,” said Nyte, “you love the ocean . . . and the moon. What else?”
“That’s easy. She loves-”
I hit Kantú in the arm before she could say something ridiculous, and she spat out the piece of fruit she had been chewing on.
“Oops, sorry,” I said, biting my lip.
Nyte laughed.
“The meadow!” blurted Kantú. “I was gonna say the meadow.” She looked at me a little too innocently, and I immediately didn’t regret hitting her in the arm.
“The meadow?” Nyte tilted his head.
“Outside of Farellah,” I said. “Illuma and I used to play there all the time as kids. Now Kantú and I laze about there in our free time. It’s peaceful. The grass is long, and the breeze is warm, and the cherry trees smell good.”
“You can come and see it when this is all over!” Kantú threw her fist into the air.
Nyte smiled. “Alright.”
When this is all over. When would this be over? My ad’ai. I counted the days until my birthday. A little over a month. This would be all over one way or another in a month. But was that enough time? Enough time to formulate an infiltration plan, find the prophecy, gain my song, travel to Druelca, defeat The Mystress, rescue Illuma?
I tried to imagine walking with Nyte and Illuma through the meadow, stray cherry blossom petals swirling around us in the wind. It was a pleasant thought; a perfect picture of everything working out.
If only.
Something in the pit of my stomach warned me right there that some things would never be.
~
“Close your eyes,” Ardette whispered in my ear. He’d slipped up behind me while I rummaged in my pack for a canteen.
“Why?”
“It’s almost time for the ‘lovely’ thing.”
I eyed him suspiciously.
“You too, Miss Squirrel.” He beckoned to Kantú, who immediately obeyed.
“Okay, but don’t try anything.”
“Try anything? I would never!” His catlike grin said otherwise.
I reluctantly closed my eyes.
Please don’t do anything gross. But deep down, I didn’t think he would.
He took us each by the hand and led us along. Either the rest of the group fell silent, or Ardette led us away from them because I could no longer hear their murmurs, just the lazy chirps and caws of the jungle. We walked forward for several minutes.
“Argh, where are you taking us?” I didn’t like being blindly led.
“Trust me.”
I was about to say something rude, but a faint sound made me stop.
“Water!” I cried.
“Water?” squeaked Kantú.
Ardette said nothing.
The sound of rushing water was soft, but grew louder when we neared the ‘lovely’ thing. Its loud swooshing eventually overpowered the other jungle sounds. It didn’t sound like a river, or even a coast; it was too powerful.
What is it?
Whatever it was gushed just ahead.
Ardette brought his lips too close to my ear – so that they were touching me softly. I ignored the invasion of space and let him deliver his message.