Fighting Mila won this one. I drew my hand from his, and though I missed the warmth of Audax’s skin against mine, I did not need him to show me the way to the healers. My right hand went out and found the doorjamb. I stepped onto the small covered porch, and the warm breeze blew my hair off my right shoulder and brought the scent of green plains to mix with sand and spice. We were in the third building, and facing east.
Audax didn’t wait for me. He strode forward and down, each step taking him to the ground. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he paused and turned back, one brow raised. I marveled once again that I could see it.
I also realized what he had done. He hadn’t missed my remark about being able to see him. He’d just shown me what I needed to know: where the stairs were and how many.
I stepped forward deliberately. When I hit the last step, I paused. “Thank you,” I said. “I know the way from here.” I pulled up my mental map of the compound. Four full steps forward, turn left. The sun beat down on me, and in moments sweat broke out on my brow, only to evaporate in the dry air. Seventeen steps, turn right, twenty full strides, and the entrance gate to the path leading to the healers should be right... there.
I worked the latch until I heard the snick of the lever releasing and pushed the rough wood of the gate open. Nine full strides, one half stride, and then five steps up to the porch, where the roof protected me once again from the sun’s rays. I slowed there, holding out a hand to be sure I didn’t run into anyone on my way in. I could feel Audax’s presence hovering behind me.
I found the latch and released it, opening the door.
“I was wondering when you would be by,” healer Telki said from my left. His voice shook, though not from fear or pain. No, Telki was simply old. He had been here for decades and refused to leave, even when the empire had offered to retire him for his good work here in the compounds. He was one of the few people I had met who actually did do works of good.
“Are they well?” I turned to him and held out my hand. He took it in his own and squeezed, offering his own subtle comfort.
“As well as can be expected, and much better than they could have been. It was a challenge to cleanse the sand from their open wounds, but there were not many this time. Our new friends made sure of that.” He led me forward, slowing and then halting me just as my thighs pressed against the edge of a raised recovery cot. “I am simply glad I can keep them longer than the usual one night. They deserve the rest.” He moved away, his voice growing fainter. “We all do.”
I reached out, fingers skimming over the tight weave of coarse wool. I found a slender arm and followed it down to the overly large hand of my friend. Linking my fingers with his, I concentrated on the calluses. David.
“Hey little monkey,” I whispered. I had seen a monkey once. It had scurried around the small fair, doing tricks for the gathered crowds and collecting tossed coins. At one point it had climbed onto my shoulder and tugged on my ear until I laughed and handed it a coin. David reminded me of that monkey sometimes. I never said it to his face, but just now it had slipped out.
His fingers lay still in mine.
“What is a monkey?” Audax asked from behind me. I twisted around, once more taking him in with my new sight.
“It’s a small animal found in the south. They are mischief makers and thieves, if I remember correctly,” Healer Telki said from a few feet away. “Mila, leave David for a moment. Katelyn has awoken and would very much like to speak with you, I’m sure.”
I rose and made my way around the foot of the cot, toward the healer’s voice.
“Mila,” she said, her voice tired.
I held my hand out, and she caught it in hers, squeezing it tight.
“You’re well?” I asked. Audax and the healer had said they were, but I needed to hear it in her own voice.
“Yes. Or as well as can be expected. Healer Telki is taking good care of me.” Silence for a beat. “What about you? The emissary, he...”
A stirring of air ruffled the small hairs at my cheek, and a boot scuffed against the wood of the floor. “He sought to kill her, yes. Orel has sealed the wound and accelerated the healing process. She is better than you at this point,” Audax said.
So matter of fact about something that is impossible. But weren’t these… men impossible?
Katelyn drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly, her fingers tightening on mine to the point of pain.
“Katelyn?” Was there a complication with her injuries?
“I’m fine. I’m good.” Her grip relaxed, and my shoulders eased down.
“David?”
“He’s just sleeping. They gave him something for the pain. His arm was in bad shape,” she said.
“Broken?”
“Broken. And then the whipping. The guard was... more vicious with him.”
I stroked my thumb over the back of her hand, attempting to reassure her.
“I could ask Orel to look at him?” Audax shifted behind me.
I looked back and up, meeting his eyes. If Katelyn could see him, he was real. And if he was real, it was time to find out what exactly was going on. Katelyn and David were being cared for, and Healer Telki wasn’t being forced to rush them back to work.
“Who is Orel? The big one?” Katelyn asked. I expected fear again, but this time all I heard was curiosity.
“No, that’s Kunil,” Audax answered.
“Ah, then the dark one. He has gentle hands. Yes, I think if this Orel could look in on David, that would be welcome.” Katelyn gave me one last squeeze and then released my hand.
The dark one has gentle hands, did he? Something that I once would have called jealousy stirred in me. Orel was the one with the butter voice and the dark one. And a part of me insisted that he was mine.
“The way he held you, Mila. I’ve never seen anything like it. One minute he was a beast, the next a man, and he saved you. They saved us all.” A tremble entered her voice. “There was so much blood. More than any whipping. I didn’t want to lose you.”
Any thoughts of jealousy fled. A beast and then a man? Katelyn had just offered another confirmation of my suspicions. The golden glow of Audax was the beast. If I looked upon the other two men, one would be of copper and the other that pale, cool white that held tinges of lavender. “I missed a lot, it seems.”
“The guards are gone, and the overseers.” There was satisfaction in Audax’s voice. “Those who can are cleaning up the sands. Come, you have seen that your friends are well. Allow me to escort you back to your rooms. You must eat to ensure your strength and recovery.”
This time I allowed him to lead me. My mind became consumed with all that I had learned. Beasts to men, and men to beasts. Jonathon attempting to kill me. Magical healing of wounds and dreams that were maybe never only dreams.
I had never done well with the unknown. I liked knowing my place and how I fit in it. I enjoyed having a routine to my day and exhibiting skill. That my place had gone from a proud daughter of a merchant family to that of a flawed and my skills had transformed to those of weaving a fine length of cloth didn’t change that fact. I was once again swept into something unfamiliar, and therefore intimidating. I would have said terrifying, but the new, fighting Mila didn’t seem to have the capacity. My mind raced, but my body, my blood, remained steady.
Two things stood out to me, though. These new beings were caring for my friends, and they had gentle hands.
Audax had me settled at a small table on one side of Old Britta’s room, the tray of food before me, when the other two returned. I twisted in the chair, taking them in. I had been right. Two men stood there, one outlined in copper, the other in that pale, pale purple. The copper one was tall and wide, taller than any man I had seen. He was the beast who had nearly ripped Jonathon apart, then. His features were broad and cast in harsh planes, and lines that could have been from smiles—but I suspected were from frowns—bracketed his mouth. And the other was Orel, the dark one with the butter voice and
gentle hands, and who’d said I was safe with them. He stood between the other two men in height, shoulders just as broad. Though his face had a gentler cast than the giant, it was somber, and with the near white of his light, he appeared carved from stone.
Our gazes met, and he smiled, that stone face warming. I was drawn to him, just as I had been with Audax. Most of me wanted to go to him, tuck myself against his side, and allow him to block out the world. But first things first.
“What are you?” I asked.
The two men paused at what I imagined was just inside the door. This half sight was frustrating.
“You saw our other form,” Orel said. “That of the gryphon.”
“Other form.” I had seen it, Katelyn had confirmed it, and I knew he spoke the truth, but this was still something difficult to believe. For a moment my new bravery slipped away, and my hands trembled.
The copper one—Kunil, Audax had called him—moved to the left, arms crossed. He leaned against a wall I couldn’t see. “We were never part of your empire. But the news reached even the deepest desert. You’ve driven everything different, everything magical from your lands.” His head tilted. “It is disgusting.”
“Not me,” I said. The shaking in my hands ceased as I glared up at him.
“Your empire,” he shot back.
“The Citizens’ Improvement Initiative.” I added a frown to the glare.
Kunil snorted. “And you’re sure you want to claim this land?” He didn’t turn from me, but I knew the words were meant for another.
Orel sat, the bed creaking beneath his weight. “I am sure. More sure now than when we came.”
Another snort form Kunil. “Following dreams and legends. You don’t know that she’s one of them.” He didn’t take his eyes from me.
I jerked. Dreams again, and other mysteries. Should I tell them? They probably already knew, or suspected. I shivered but was careful to suppress any other indication of my thoughts, a skill I had long ago perfected.
“Dreams have their place. And we need a territory of our own. Our fathers’ coalition could no longer support us. It was time to leave.”
“It was time seven years ago,” Audax said, jumping into the discussion.
I remained still, hoping to hear something useful. I found that most people paid no real attention to the flawed unless they wanted something.
“And we left seven years ago,” Orel replied, voice even.
“There were at least three places we could have settled,” Kunil rumbled. He didn’t appear angry anymore, simply making his point.
“And been absorbed into another coalition,” Orel said, then sighed. “They weren’t right for us.”
“Because you had a dream. One none of us can remember, even if you said we were there. What makes this place any better than the others?” Kunil turned away from me, and my heart pinched with those words.
“No, it’s here we need to be.” Audax lowered himself to the floor at my feet, and a subtle warmth filled my chest.
“It’s her. She’s our sign. It’s fate. We were led here. We can claim this land, and we can fight for and lead these people.” Orel turned on the bed, facing me. The warmth bloomed into hope.
“I don’t believe in fate,” Kunil said, once more focused on me.
“I don’t either,” I said. And I didn’t. Not anymore.
Kunil’s lips twitched.
“But you believe in dreams,” Orel said, drawing my attention.
“No. I don’t.” I pushed back, unwilling to trust in the hope these gryphons brought with them.
“And now you are simply being stubborn. You are here for a reason, as are we.”
“You can see us when you can see nothing else,” Audax said. Orel leaned closer, eyes narrowed, and Kunil stood straighter, arms dropping to his sides.
“And that means nothing,” I insisted.
“No, it means something.” Orel leaned back, bracing himself. The sight struck me as ridiculous, this self-possessed man floating in strange positions. I had to suppress the urge to giggle. Or maybe it was hysteria.
Impulse gripped me. Why not play along with these men that changed into creatures I’d never heard of, who glowed with the light of my dreams? “And what would it mean if I had dreamed of you? That I see you?”
“That we are connected.”
“How?”
Orel glanced at Audax, then Kunil, who frowned but nodded. “Seer,” Orel finally said. “You may be a seer.”
I frowned. “Fortune tellers and charlatans. Most were driven away as useless—”
“By your empire,” Kunil said. The harshness was gone.
I swallowed. The empire lied about the conditions in which the flawed lived, about what transpired in the compounds. Who’s to say they didn’t lie about much, much more? “If I am? Not that I am, but if I am? What difference does that make?”
“Seers are a treasure. Gryphons protect treasure. And more than that, seers…” Audax trailed off and looked to Orel.
The one who was better at explaining things. I suppressed a smile and the urge to stroke the golden gryphon’s hair.
“Traditionally,” Orel said, “gryphons are drawn to seers. And a seer will have a gryphon protector. But it’s an old practice and nearly fallen out of favor.”
“So, you’re here because of dreams and because I may be this seer thing.” Too much. It was all becoming too much.
“It’s fate,” Orel said.
They were all focused on me. Was it fate? A destiny that I couldn’t control? Was my life to be one unending string of unavoidable whims of happenstance? And thoughts like that would drive me insane in truth. I closed my eyes, not wanting any distractions from the answer to the next question I had to ask. “What will you do here?” Because the answer to this was all that really mattered.
“We will make this our home. We will protect you, all of you. We will ensure you live full lives and are freed from the servitude of your empire. We will allow you your choices again,” Orel answered, his voice steady, as was his heartbeat.
They talked of fate one moment and choices the next. “How?” I didn’t think they could do it. Even if they did manage to fight off the empire and free the flawed, how would we live under them? How would we govern or manage the structure of our lives? Some, like me, knew of life outside the compounds, but most had been here from birth.
The nursery. I’d forgotten.
“How are the babies?” I asked, sitting forward. “The children?” The sandstorm had been brutal. If any of them had been caught in it...
“They are safe. They are all safe. We control the sands. None of the fledglings were touched.” Audax’s hand settled over my foot, stilling it. I hadn’t even realized it was moving.
“You control the sands.” I was becoming repetitive.
“The one named Jamie, she asked after you,” Kunil said, and I turned back to him. “She also threatened to stab my foot if we hurt you.”
My stomach churned, threatening to send back up the few bites of food I had managed. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”
Kunil grinned, and his face transformed. “Yes, she did.” His expression fell into serious lines once again. “We would not harm her or any of them. Did you not hear Orel? We are claiming this place as ours.”
“The emperor claims this place as his. That has never stopped him from harming us through his overseers and his guards and his demands of quotas filled.” I pulled my foot from under Audax’s hand and tucked it behind the chair leg. “I will ask again. How will we live under you with free full lives?” I swallowed. “If you truly mean to do this, it will not be easily managed. Most here know only this life. Anything else will throw them into chaos.”
“But not you,” Orel said.
I snorted. My very mind was chaos right now. I stared into his eyes, then looked to Kunil and Audax. Orel said I was connected to them and that I may be a seer. Did the dreams cause it, or stem from it? I rubbed my thumb over the pad
of my index finger, the one that had been pricked in a dream and then again last night. Those pricks had heralded the change in my sight, not once but twice. Heralded or brought about, I wasn’t sure.
“No, not me,” I said, answering the earlier question. “Until seven years ago, I had a full life and a fiancé.” I hesitated for one moment more, and then—in a move that would either condemn me or free me further—I finally admitted the full truth. “Then the dreams began.” I tilted my head at Orel. “And in the last dream, a claw pricked my finger, stealing my sight and sending me here. To this place.”
Audax shifted his weight but stayed seated. Kunil grunted. Orel nodded.
“Then the sandstorm blew in. Well, you blew in. Again my finger was pierced. And my life is once more thrown into chaos.”
Orel’s eyes slid closed, and an expression I couldn’t read passed over his face. “I could feel you in the back of my mind. Calling to me. Steering me.” Orel rose and stood before me. He reached out and brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. Gentle hands.
“Why?” I had asked that question more in the last hour than in all my life, it seemed.
“Why what?”
“Why all of it? I don’t—Other than the dreams, I’ve never seen anything. I’m not sure that makes me a seer. Why me? Why you? Why the dreams? Why now?” I swallowed. “Why did it take you seven years to find me?” This last was whispered softly, pulled from a place inside me that wanted to believe them, but didn’t quite dare. Not yet.
“Stubborn,” Kunil murmured. Audax chuffed and reached for my leg, his palm skimming down my calf.
Orel cupped my chin and lifted my gaze to his. “Because it was faint, the call. And I, too, wasn’t sure if it was any more than a dream. Not until last night.”
It didn’t seem I would learn the answers to all my “whys.” I moved on to what we would do next, pushing aside other questions for now. “Freedom? From the empire?” I asked, not believing what I was about to do.
“Yes.” Kunil straightened away from the wall and joined Orel in front of me.
“You would rule us instead?”
“More... protect in exchange for a tribute. But yes, we would reign over this land,” Orel said.
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