by K. J. Nessly
“What would your parents think if they saw you like this?” Natalie asked, apparently horrified at the amount of dirt Kathryn had on her clothes and skin.
Jolted back to the present, Kathryn felt herself slightly confused by the question. “What do you mean ‘if my parents saw me like this’?” She asked as she tugged on one particularly stubborn weed. Scowling at it, she dug her fingers down into the dirt to try and pull it out by the root.
“I mean if they saw you digging around in the dirt smelling like excrement.”
The root refused to budge. She’d had less trouble with some of the decade-old tarnished silver pieces she’d polished in the manor. Kathryn let out a huff. “Somehow I don’t think they would mind,” she muttered, working to keep the bitterness out of her tone, she didn’t need Natalie to start an inquiry into her past. If her parents could abandon her to a life of slavery, she didn’t think they would have any problem seeing her get a little dirty. Finally the root popped free. As she fell back onto her heels, her hand came out of the dirt with a long taproot dangling from her fingers. She could feel Natalie’s eyes on her as she tried to carelessly toss the offending plant aside.
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re apeasant?” Natalie asked disdainfully, her gaze automatically following the arc the weed made through the air.
Kathryn watched as a rather large green worm with blue striations worked its way through the turned up soil. As it inched along it grew longer and thinner until it was nearly twice the length of her foot. After regarding the creature for a few moments she imagined setting overflowing bowls of them in front of her two antagonists and ordering them to eat them.
Well, are you? Natalie insisted.
Kathryn looked up, her eyes narrowing. “Considering we’re supposed to be protecting thepeasants as you call them, you’re displaying a pretty narrow minded opinion of them.”
Natalie’s jaw tightened. “I come from a noble family—
“So do half of the dragons,” Kathryn interrupted. She pointed a dirt encrusted finger at the two girls. “As Guardians we give up our status, whether noble or common, to protect the people, whether they are noble or common.” Before today she’d never thought she’d parrot the lessons monotonously given by Guardian Liliha, an overly pompous recently appointed Guardian Councilmember who had droned on for hours on said topic. At least Guardian Geral had made their history seem interesting, Guardian Liliha had tempted Kathryn to cut off her own arm to escape the lectures.
Lindsey pouted. “You sound like Guardian Geral.”
Well, the comparison could have been worse. Kathryn didn’t comment but turned back to her weeding.
“You know what I think you are?” Natalie asked suddenly, her voice smooth as honey but her eyes glinted icily. Kathryn, having experienced the same inflections and rhetorical questions from Lady Blackwood, knew better than to respond. As predicted, it didn’t stop the older girl from continuing. “I think you’re a child of the Wanderers. An outcast.”
Even Lindsey gasped. The Wanderers were an occult sect that wandered through the kingdom offering human sacrifices and praying to the sun and moons. They had been outlawed thousands of years ago but it was said that some communities still lived hidden throughout the kingdom.
It took all of her training from Blackwood Manor not to react to the old fear that her old tormenters had used to enslave her. Kathryn’s head came up slowly. “What makes you say that?” she asked coldly.
“Look at you,” Natalie laughed, pointing her finger at Kathryn. “Your hair is black as night, your skin is pale even though you spend radians out in the sun, and your eyes are the color of the sea. Not to mention you have a heart of stone and a mind of ice.”
How could a person be so shallow as to name Kathryn a Wanderer due to her pale skin and dark hair? “And that makes me a Wanderer?” In that moment she could see Natalie’s mind spinning, practically convincing the older girl on the spot of her suppositions.
“Why not?” Natalie blustered, giving a stiff shrug. “You don’t fit the profile of any other culture… you certainly aren’t an Elf with their fair skin and hair and I’ve never seen a human that is as unfeeling as you. Why not the Wanderers? You like to be left alone, no doubt through much practice of hiding with your arcane foibles. You speak little and when you do it’s hard and cold—
Kathryn interrupted her before she could continue. “Before you convince yourself, Natalie, you should remember one thing. The Wanderers haven’t been seen for over two thousand years, they keep to themselves because others persecute them, so how could you know what they look like?” She maintained eye contact, making sure to modulate a slow, quite tone, that most people would have understood as a threat. “I suggest you keep your prejudices to yourself—”
Natalie opened her mouth to argue, but Kathryn cut her off. “You are a Guardian now and are required to rise above petty prejudices. If you cannot I will report it to David. Do you have any other questions?”
Natalie’s eyes blazed, but Lindsey, after studying Kathryn’s face, obviously caught on to the cold danger lurking in her eyes. “No, there’s nothing else,” she said quickly, pulling Natalie away from the fence.
“If you’re so adamant you’re not a Wanderer, then why don’t you just prove you’re not!” Natalie called over her shoulder as the two left.
Kathryn sat in the dirt for a long time. She wished she could rebuff Natalie’s charge with certainty. But she couldn’t deny she was a child of Wanderers because she didn’t know who her parents were. It was a futile pursuit she had sworn she would never undertake. Her parents had abandoned her and Kathryn wanted nothing to do with them.
Natalie was furious. “How dare she speak to me that way!” she cried angrily as she and Lindsey sat in her room. “She had no right!”
“What are you going to do about it?” Lindsey muttered as she brushed her long hair.
“She’s obviously hiding something,” Natalie abruptly stood up and paced the room several times. Reaching back into her memories, she tried to find one of Kathryn back at school. She found a few instances where she remembered seeing the younger girl, but in all of them she had remained quietly out of the way, doing her best to hide from the notice of others. At the time, Natalie had been too busy to truly notice the younger woman, hadn’t cared that she’d done her best to become one with the shadows. In all honesty, the girl hadn’t been visible enough for Natalie to even consider looking twice at. Now, though, she would discover what it meant to be the object of one of Natalie’s investigations. “I’m going to uncover the truth about Kathryn,” she announced. “There wasn’t a secret I couldn’t discover back at school. I’m going to find out the truth about our second-in-command and when I do I’m going to share it with everyone I meet.”
The next day Natalie put her plan into action. She rose early and pounced on Kathryn when she arrived back at the clearing.
“Who were your parents?” The object of her attention ignored her and continued to unsaddle her horse.
Natalie tried again. “Where did you grow up?”
Kathryn didn’t so much as look at her.
“Do you have any siblings?”
No response.
“Any uncles or aunts? Who was your best friend growing up?”
Kathryn finally looked at her, her own face void of any emotion. “Don’t you have chores to do Natalie?”
Natalie waved her hand dismissively. “I completed them early because I wanted to get to know you. What’s your opinion of the royal family?” Now that would be a revealing topic should Kathryn respond. While the Guardians technically served the Royal Family, Natalie knew that many of the older Guardians were very vocal as to their opinions of the King and his isolationist policies.
Kathryn merely stared at her for a moment before turning to return to the house.
“Oh, come on Kathryn,” Natalie said, slightly frustrated. “You have to have an opinion of some kind.” Everyone else she’d ever encount
ered had been more than willing to share their opinions and life stories if it meant that they could be the center of attention for a few moments.
To her annoyance Kathryn ignored her. She didn’t answer a single question and refused to acknowledge her. By the time Kathryn’s second shift had arrived, Natalie hadn’t learned anything but how incredibly tightlipped Kathryn was. “She may be stubborn, but I’ll figure it out,” Natalie vowed as she watched the third shift ride off. “I always figure it out.”
The next morning she tried again, only to receive the same results. Kathryn would stare at her for a few moments before stabling her horse and then go on to complete her chores. Natalie had never worked so hard for anything in her life. Week after week, she attempted to pry information out of Kathryn. Nothing worked. They fell into an insipid routine of Natalie postulating her questions to a rock.
And she hated the routine of it all. When Kathryn returned from her shift she would immediately unsaddle her horse and change out of her uniform into a green tunic and leggings. After changing clothes she would do her chores and then spend about two radians shooting arrows and throwing knives into various targets. Once she’d emptied her quiver to her heart’s content she would free climb the stone wall. Everything was the same, every day, down to the clothing the Dragon’s lieutenant wore when off duty. Natalie hated routine.
A week into their new life, Kathryn began to use the remaining radian before her second shift to train with others in her shifts. Usually Jenna. The healer was decent with weapons but apparently wasn’t up to Kathryn’s standards. Watching, day after day, as Kathryn drilled Jenna in various exercises, Natalie began to feel angry at Kathryn for singling Jenna out like she had. Jenna was obviously a daughter of a noble heritage and should not have been forced to spend day after day constantly picking herself up out of the dirt and grass. After a month, the remainder of the first shift and the others from the third, and eventually the fourth, shifts joined in. All except Natalie.
One day as she watched Kathryn weed in the garden she asked, “Where’d you grow up?” As she had come to expect, Kathryn didn’t answer. Natalie suppressed a sigh as she tried to come up with a question that she felt Kathryn just might answer. “What’s your opinion of slavery?” She finally asked, remembering a topic that had been debated in one of her classes. It wasn’t one Natalie had considered important at the time. After all, slavery had been outlawed in Archaea for several hundred years. What was the point in discussing a topic where the practice was already dead?
That got a reaction.
Kathryn’s hands faltered in her weeding and her gaze took on a distant look. Immediately Natalie pushed some more, only her words seemed to break the spell and Kathryn continued weeding as if nothing had happened. But it was as if the world had been illuminated for Natalie.
Later, as she watched Kathryn’s shift ride off Natalie felt a small surge of victory. Slavery was a touchy subject with Kathryn, now it was up to her to discover why. The only problem was that Kathryn was so silent. If she hadn’t known that Kathryn could speak, Natalie would have sworn she was mute.
Except for the slavery question she brushed off every question without any reaction. However by the third week Natalie could tell that her persistence was starting to work. Kathryn would finish her chores, give a short training session to the others— forgoing one for herself, and then return to her room and close the door until her next shift. Natalie would not be dissuaded. She stood outside the door and continued to ask questions, with Lindsey keeping watch on the stairs in case someone came upstairs.
Four days after she had started taking refuge in her room, Kathryn had had enough. Natalie was not going to leave her alone. She decided that taking sanctuary in her room wasn’t enough. Dismounting she stabled her horse, finished her chores, ignored Natalie’s numerous questions, and then set off towards the forest. She passed through the barrier, with Natalie chatting away behind her.
There! The perfect spot for her to disappear was straight ahead. Shifting her pack ever so slightly she moved through the forest silently, Natalie falling farther behind with every step until she could hear Natalie calling for her. “Kathryn? Kathryn where did you go? Where are you?”
Kathryn wasn’t about to stop, she continued on at a running pace, letting her gift guide her to a place where she could find peace. Destiny followed overhead, her flight guiding Kathryn through the trees and around boulders until they reached the place that called to her.
A magnificent waterfall tumbled over the rocks and into a calm pool below. Hot and sweaty, and grateful for the unseasonably warm late fall temperatures, Kathryn stripped off her work clothes, slipped into a bathing tunic and jumped into the water.
The water invaded every pore and dissolved all of the frustration and anger Kathryn had been harboring against Natalie. Diving down she explored the bottom of the pool, swimming over rocks and sandy areas until she was directly beneath the falls itself. She surfaced, feeling the power of the water as it crashed upon her head, neck, and shoulders massaging and soothing her tense muscles. The pounding outside her skull made her forget the pounding and throbbing within.
Reluctantly she pulled herself out of the water and sat down on the grassy bank letting the sun dry her off. Deciding to return every day to the waterfall she sank back into the soft grass, feeling every soft blade brush against her skin. She dozed pleasantly, letting the sound of the falling water block out every other thought.
When she woke she dressed quickly and returned to the clearing with fifteen minutes to spare of her shift. Natalie was nearby as always and quickly made her way towards her.
“Where did you hide?” she hissed as Kathryn saddled Lerina, when Kathryn remained silent she added, “You can’t hide forever, sooner or later I’ll find your hiding place.”
Kathryn mounted and looked down at the older girl. “I’ve seen you track Natalie, I have no worries about you finding my hiding place.” She nudged Lerina into a trot and left the barn, leaving Natalie speechless.
Natalie trembled with rage.Fine, she thought coldly,if a war is what you want, then a war is what you’ll get.
“Natalie? Are you alright?”
Natalie turned to find Lindsey standing behind her, a worried look on her face. “Come on, we have plans to make.” She hurried back to her room.
Closing the door she began to pace again. “How else can we get to Kathryn?”
Lindsey sat down on her bed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, annoy her, upset her, get an emotional reaction from her!” Natalie shouted. “The girl is stone and I want to make the stone bleed.”
“Well,” Lindsey said slowly. “Continually asking questions didn’t help, she just locked herself in her room, and when she’d had enough of that she sought refuge in the forest.”
“Thank you for reminding me,” Natalie grumped. “Could you track her?”
Lindsey shook her head. “Tracking is not one of my strong skills.”
“We’ll just have to make her miserable another way.”
“How?”
“We’ll figure out something.”
Natalie thought for a long time about what she could do to annoy Kathryn. For a long time she could think of nothing, finally, at a loss for any other ideas she moved toward Kathryn’s room. Her fury grew as she approached the nondescript door on the coveted second floor. This should have been her room. And it would have been, if the Council hadn’t assigned the position of family lieutenant to a girl who obviously didn’t want it.
Jasse’s warning of ‘everyone’s room being their sanctuary’ didn’t even enter her mind as Natalie opened the door to Kathryn’s room. Looking around in disgust, Natalie could see nothing that would help her get under her nemesis’ skin. The girl hadn’t even bothered to decorate her own room. It was as plain as when they had first moved in.
Decorate her room?
Natalie raced back to her room and pulled out bolts of pink and red fabric and other decorati
ng supplies. Hurrying back to Kathryn’s room she began to work. She worked until twenty minutes before her shift. Taking one last look at her handiwork, Natalie closed the door and prepared for her shift, wishing she could see the look on Kathryn’s face when she saw her room.
She moved to the kitchens where Matt was fixing dinner. When they had first moved in, Matt had made it a rule that no one was allowed in the kitchen while he wascreating, however she needed a new water gourd to replace the old one she had lost and he would just have to live with her intrusion.
She opened the door and stepped inside. “Matt I need—
Coming to a dead stop just inside the doorway she stared in horror at the scene before her.
Hundreds upon hundreds of bugs covered the room from floor to ceiling. Suji bugs, large oblong shaped creatures with a hard black and green veined shell covering their backs and sporting a distinctive yellow half-moon on the thorax paced back and forth along the countertops, dragging pieces of meat. Merici, little bugs with six legs and an antenna on top of their heads, paraded across the floor, dragging noodles and sallat greenery behind them. Spiders of every size and species hung from the cupboards lowering spices and other small items into a large cooking pot simmering on the stove.
Mendemire roaches were pulling bread dough every which way, flies were constantly diving downwards over the pot and bees were shaking what appeared to be honey off their legs.
“Natalie!” Matt exclaimed as he exited the cellar, a large jar of spice in his hands and two dozen firebugs flying around his head. “What are you doing here?” Suddenly all of the bugs stopped what they were doing. Slowly each one turned in unison to face towards Natalie. Those with antennae pointed their long slender appendages directly at her face to capture as much information as their tiny sensors allowed. As if of one mind they all waited patiently on what the girl would do next.
Natalie opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a strangled yelp. She watched as a spider the size of her hand dumped some merchan spice into the pot. Gulping and gasping she finally found her voice. Letting out a piercing scream she turned on her heel and raced out of the room.