The Orphan's Secret

by R. J. Francis

  She washed up and made dinner for Lairen and Tran, leaving it bubbling on the stove. Then, at last, it was time to visit Alessa.

  Ever since Elaina could remember, she’d spent every evening with Alessa.

  Alessa lived alone in a huge house in the forest south of the farming belt. She wasn’t quite old enough to be Elaina’s mother—perhaps an older sister. She played many roles in Elaina’s life: mother, sister, teacher, counselor. She was also Elaina’s best friend, which was Alessa’s favorite role of all.

  Alessa was taller than average, and slender. Her hair, dark brown with chestnut highlights, fell to just below her shoulder blades. She had remarkable eyes: pure whiteness surrounded her brown irises, as if she’d never once been tired, drunk, or allergic. She wore dresses, never pants—even when riding—and her hair was always down. Elaina maintained that Alessa was the most beautiful lady in the kingdom.

  Alessa had plenty of money: “Family money,” she always said. Her only employment was as Elaina’s tutor, and her only compensation was Elaina’s pleasant company and whatever food Elaina happened to bring each day.

  When Elaina arrived on Nightmare, the setting sun’s glow was masking the forest’s true autumn colors in a dream-like amber wash. Alessa waved through the window and ran outside smiling. She greeted Elaina with a firm bear hug and kisses on both cheeks. Elaina removed four clanking bottles of milk from the horse’s saddlebags, handing one to Alessa and carrying three herself.

  They walked Nightmare over to the stable. On the way, Alessa snapped the seal off her bottle and took a sip. “Wow,” she said, scraping cream off her lip with the side of her thumb. “It’s still warm!”

  “It’s raw,” said Elaina. “I milked them late today. They weren’t happy.”

  She tied up her horse in the stall next to Alessa’s stallion, Tyrant, and offered both animals some apple slices from her backpack. “Don’t spoil him,” Alessa warned, glaring at Tyrant. “He hasn’t been behaving today.” Tyrant, like Nightmare, was of the Arran breed. Arran horses, a shiny black if purebred, were among the largest and strongest in the world.

  Tyrant finished chewing and tried to tear his teeth into Elaina’s backpack for more. Elaina pushed his nose away gently. “What’s gotten into you? That’s it. No more.”

  The ladies rounded the house and came in through the back porch. The aroma of a rich beef stew with mustard and onions permeated the warm air of Alessa’s living room. Dry wood crackled beneath the stove. The table was set with silver in the most formal of place settings, as it was every night.

  Alessa put away the milk, while Elaina lay down on the couch. Elaina always needed a break after her chores, and Alessa’s couch was the ideal spot. “I haven’t finished watering,” Alessa said when she came back from the pantry. She completed her rounds, poking the snout of her watering can into the pots of various lush, shade-tolerant specimens.

  Elaina was still disturbed by the events of the night before, and couldn’t wait to get Alessa’s read on them, but she thought it would be rude to blurt out her story so soon after arriving.

  Several minutes went by. Alessa eventually finished her watering and leaned over Elaina from above. “Come on, girl, what’s bothering you? You haven’t been this quiet since the day Tran’s buddies raided your dresser.”

  “I’m fine,” Elaina insisted, but a tear burst out of the corner of her left eye and sped down her cheek.

  “My dear,” said Alessa. She sat on the armrest and massaged her young charge’s shoulders. “That’s it. I’m cancelling tonight’s lessons. Let’s untie these tangled thoughts of yours.”

  Elaina laughed and lost another tear, which Alessa caught and wiped off with the back of her hand. “We’ll get this leak fixed too.”

  “You’re right,” Elaina said. “Something is bothering me. Something horrible I hope you can help me sort out. You cannot imagine…”

  “I’m listening.”

  Elaina hesitated. “I… Let’s eat first, and then I’ll tell you everything.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  My spirit twists upon the gale

  The grass collects my tears

  A web becomes a burdened sail

  When dawn’s light first appears

  When by the coolness I’m coerced

  To gather, fall and follow

  I sometimes quench the soil’s thirst

  Beyond what it can swallow

  I run off through the tryptil farms

  Across the sand and then

  You reach out with your salty arms

  And we become one again

  “What do you think?” Alessa asked, setting the aging parchment down on the table.

  “It’s eerie.” Elaina tapped her napkin on her lips to dislodge the last crumbs of apple custard cake. “Who wrote it?”

  “A special friend of mine back home. I found it just this afternoon tucked into a book of maps.”

  “Ah. Is today the day I finally learn about your country?”

  “No. I just came across it and wanted to share it with you.”

  Elaina didn’t pry. She stood and started to clear the dishes. “I prefer simpler poems,” she said. “At least it has a happy ending.”

  Alessa folded the page carefully on its original creases, slipped it between the pages of a dusty, leather-bound book, and worked the book back into its space on the bookshelf. “Soon, I’ll tell you all about my country. But tonight, I’d like to hear what you have to share with me.”

  “May we go in the pools now?”

  “Of course.”

  Alessa had two natural pools in her forest. The first was a hot geothermal pool, powder blue with minerals. Its steaming soup welled up at the base of a towering basalt crag. The other pool, another thirty meters into the woods, was fed by an array of cold, clear waterfalls. Alessa had poured a gravel path from the house to the two pools, and every evening before Elaina arrived she lit lamps on stands to light the path.

  The two ladies undressed upstairs and put on fluffy white robes. On their way back downstairs, Alessa said, “I meant to ask you earlier: Where’s your cloak?”

  “Well, it’s all part of the story.”

  Alessa opened a closet and showed Elaina an exquisite knee-length hooded leather parka lined with fox fur. “Take this one when you leave.” She hooked the coat on a peg near the door, and they stepped out into the night in just robes and slippers.

  When they arrived at the hot pool, they took everything off and sank into the relaxing mineral bath. Elaina balanced her butt on a smooth underwater ledge and squashed doughy mud between her toes.

  The hot water put her at ease, and out came her story about the wounded visitor, the creepy assailant, and the cover-up she was convinced had taken place. She also made no secret about how much she hoped to see the charming young man again. After Elaina finished, Alessa was quiet for a long, long time.

  Several hours earlier, the royal secretary had said: “I’m sorry, Your Highness, His Majesty has asked for complete privacy. When he is finished with his business, I shall send word to you.”

  Jaimin would hear none of it. He pushed open the doors to the study.

  The room was dim and depressing; the only light came from seven tiny windows high on one wall. There were no guards inside, no visitors, and no papers or books open on the desk before the king. Jaimin wondered what business his father could have possibly been doing that was so important.

  The secretary and a royal guard ran in, prepared to remove Jaimin if so ordered. The king dismissed them with a lethargic wave of his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” said King Julian. “I’m sorry you had to go through what you did.”

  “You should be sorry. I was nearly killed.” Jaimin took a seat.

  “What happened last night will not happen again.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because you’re going to stay in the castle. The guards will look after your safety.”

  “It’s not only my safe
ty, father. Everyone’s at risk.”

  “We’ve been over this before,” said King Julian. “I have an excellent advisor, three generals, and two admirals whose job it is to worry about the kingdom’s security.”

  “And they’re just as worried as I am.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “They’re worried because you never listen to them. You never address our vulnerabilities. You won’t agree to a plan. We just sit, sit, sit, for years with inferior weapons and pitiful defenses, waiting for the inevitable. You’ve condemned us.”

  “Look, I lost a very close friend last night. If you’ve just come to scold me, then leave.”

  “What’s it going to take to get you to listen?”

  “I listen, Jaimin. I was once like you. Eager. Overconfident. Thought I had all the answers. And your grandfather, in his illness, didn’t have the strength to restrain me. What I’ve seen, what I’ve learned since then…”

  “What’s your plan, if you’ve learned so much? And how is it good enough to protect the people I love should Radovan wake up one morning and decide to finish what he started?”

  “I’ve done all I can to restore the military. They can prevail.”

  “Augh! You don’t even believe that yourself. You’re just sitting here in the dark, waiting to die.”

  “I’ve heard enough from you,” said the king. “Get out.”

  Jaimin did.

  He marched down to the royal stables, threw on a heavy hooded cloak he found hanging there, selected a horse, and rode out the castle’s main gates. His destination: a certain local farm where a girl was missing the cloak he had balled up under his arm.

  He didn’t even get over the drawbridge before two mounted guards blocked his way. Two more on foot hemmed him in from behind.

  “Stand aside, in the name of the prince,” he commanded the guards before him.

  “We shall not,” one said, “by order of His Majesty.”

  Jaimin knew he would get nowhere. “Then I invoke privilege.”

  “So be it,” said the guard. “Back to your room, then.”

  Jaimin turned back quickly, drawing little notice.

  Soon after Jaimin returned to his room, there was a knock on the door. “Who’s there?” Jaimin called.

  “A loyal subject.”

  Jaimin recognized Saunder’s voice and let him in.

  “That wasn’t the pass phrase,” Saunder growled. “Didn’t your mother give you the pass phrase?”

  “She must have forgotten,” Jaimin said. Saunder was on crutches, and his face still showed traces of the camouflage paint from the hunt. A blood-saturated bandage bulged out from below his pant leg. Jaimin winced. “May I help you with that?”

  Saunder retreated. “No, no. I’m heading right down to get it taken care of. You need to stay alert today.”

  “Doesn’t it hurt?”

  “Course it does!” he snapped. Saunder’s swollen eyes told Jaimin he hadn’t slept since the attack. His breath smelled of some animal jerky he had wolfed down for breakfast. “Anyway, the pass phrase is: ‘the leaves are still on the trees’.”

  “That’s an odd one.”

  “It is what it is. Anyway, I have just a few things to say.”

  Jaimin listened carefully. He didn’t want to be responsible for any further delay in his bodyguard’s treatment.

  “Your father wants you and your sister to remain in the castle indefinitely. Tomorrow, we meet with Barkel after breakfast, in the Hall of the Fathers, to arrange Victor’s service. Today, stay in your room and study. No class, no tutors. If you must go downstairs, take an escort. Arin’s outside your door, Syan’s down the hall, and our best archers are monitoring your windows and balcony. If you suspect anything out of the ordinary, raising your voice will summon us all. Thalia and Erika are at your disposal for any errands, and the staff will bring up lunch and dinner at the usual times.” Saunder seemed lightheaded. “Do you understand?” he asked, impatiently.

  “Of course.”

  “No running off.”

  “All right, all right. I do have one question. There was a girl last night. She helped me, and…”

  “Ah, yes,” Saunder interrupted, stroking his ebony moustache. “Yes, tried to follow you, she did. Devon ran into her. Don’t worry, she won’t remember a thing this morning.”

  Jaimin was appalled by this news, but he was careful not to react. “I see,” he said. “Thanks for risking your life for me last night.”

  “Nonsense. I was hardly any help to you at all. His Majesty wants me to stay in my job, but I’ll understand if you’d rather have someone new.”

  “Certainly not,” said Jaimin. “You did all you could, and I’m sorry this happened to you.”

  “Well, I’m going,” he said. “If anything changes, you’ll know immediately. Oh, and by the way, the army found your buck. He’ll be dinner.” Saunder gave Jaimin a nod goodbye and left. Jaimin was heading back to his bed when there was another knock on the door.

  “Who’s there?” Jaimin asked.

  “It’s me again. Open up.” Jaimin kept his hand off the latch. After some silence, through the door he heard, “Good, good.”

  Jaimin couldn’t stand Devon. As chief investigator of the royal guard, Devon used his inherited ability far too often to bore into the minds of criminals and innocents alike, to read their thoughts, and to obliterate their memories, making him in Jaimin’s estimation no better than the transgressors he pursued.

  And now the sweet young lady wouldn’t remember him at all, even if he was able to return her cloak.

  “What did the boy look like?” was Alessa’s first question.

  Elaina had used her foot to scoop a large lump of mineral mud from the bottom of the pool. She was picking off the healthful sludge and smearing it on her face and neck.

  “Oh, he was gorgeous.” Elaina gazed off into the forest as she smeared. “But too young for you.”

  “I hope you can describe him better than that.”

  “His hair was dark brown—darker than mine, down to here,” Elaina said, indicating shoulder level with her muddy hand. “Curly. He had dark, glossy eyes—almost black. Black eyebrows: not too thin, not too bushy. A sweet nose, sweet mouth, sweet voice…”

  “Did he have any hair on his face?”

  “No, he was clean shaven. And he was fit. Strong. His skin was a deeper shade than mine.” She lifted her bare forearm out of the water and considered its hue.

  “What was he wearing?”

  “A cloak of camouflage, and leather armor under that.” She peered up diagonally to pull the precise image from her memory. “His armor was soaking wet, but it was in prime condition. He had a crossbow on his back, which must have been awfully uncomfortable for him to fall onto, and a sword… and…”

  “The sword,” Alessa interrupted. “Was there anything engraved on the hilt or the scabbard?”

  Elaina stared in thought. The reflections of the path’s lamps bobbed on the steaming ripples. “I didn’t notice.”

  “How old would you say he was?”

  “Around my age,” said Elaina. “Old enough to be important.” She rinsed off her face as well as she could in the milky water. Later she would rinse it better in the other pool. “So that’s everything. What do you think?”

  Alessa paused to consider what to comment on first: Elaina’s obvious infatuation with the boy, or her encounter with the menacing creep by the bridge. She decided the menacing creep would be an easier topic to tackle.

  “The man who confronted you,” she began, “was using an awful ability only a handful of people have.”

  “I’ve never heard of an ability like that,” Elaina said.

  “The people who have it never mention it. And the people who are affected by it never remember.”

  Elaina bit her lower lip. A yellow leaf sailed down and landed, spinning, on the pool’s surface. Alessa lifted it delicately by the stem and flung it onto the bank.

  “But I re
member,” Elaina said. “I remember everything.”

  Alessa sighed.

  “He did something to make me forget, but it didn’t work. Why didn’t it?”

  Alessa stirred the water with her index finger.

  “Look at you! You know why! I can tell,” Elaina said.

  Alessa took a deep breath, searching for the right words. “Because you’re stronger than most people,” she said. “And I’m sorry you went through that, my dear, it must have been horrible. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you to help.”

  “Oh, Alessa, you had no way of knowing I was in trouble.”

  Alessa looked down at the water and shook her head. Elaina, unsettled by her companion’s silence, asked, “What does it all mean?”

  “Maybe you saw something you weren’t supposed to see.”

  “The wound on his foot, the arrows in his saddle…” Elaina shuddered. “I wanted to believe it was just an accident or a stupid prank, but…”

  “I bet it was an accident—a hunting accident. You said he was wearing camouflage—well, that’s what hunters wear when they stalk deer. Maybe one of his buddies shot him by mistake, and… the horse too?”

  “Come on, Alessa, he was attacked.” Elaina’s voice had abruptly deepened, and Alessa took notice. “On purpose—I know it.”

  Alessa nodded.

  “Am I in trouble?” Elaina asked. “Am I in danger? What should I do?”

  Alessa pulled herself up out of the water and wrapped up in her robe. Elaina did the same. Holding hands, the two made the barefoot trek to the other pool on the chilly gravel path. “Have you told your story to anyone else?” Alessa asked.

  “Just Lairen and Tran. When they didn’t believe me, I passed it off as a dream.”

  “Tell no one else,” Alessa advised her. “Just go about your business as if it never happened. I’ll see if I can find out something in the city.”

  As they neared the cold pool, Elaina found herself daydreaming about the attractive young man. She stepped out of her robe. “What should I do if the boy shows up to return my cloak?”