I’d spoken so quietly that she couldn’t have heard me. I shook my head. “I said I don’t care, I just don’t want you seeing him without me anymore.”
“But Cyric, you’ll be training all the time. What am I supposed to do all day?”
“I’ll take you with me tomorrow,” I conceded.
Her eyes went wide with excitement, but then she frowned. “I don’t want to never see Tobias…” She smiled at me. “You’ll come tonight then right?”
I made a face and fell back into the bed. “I’m tired,” I complained.
Within seconds, she hopped onto the bed, her hands at her sides holding herself up on her stomach. “It’ll be so relaxing,” she sang. My eyes were closed; I winced. She tapped my arm. “I can’t wait to tell you everything we talked about, Cyric.”
“I don’t want to hear about chimera again.”
“We didn’t just talk about them. He told me about the behemoths too.”
“Oh yeah. Does he know where they all are?” I asked.
She paused. “He probably does. I didn’t ask. It’s strange though, isn’t it?....” She got quiet, and I started thinking about the Akadians’ granted animals. I had a pretty good idea where I thought they might be. “There’s something else, Cyric…” she started; her tone was serious.
I opened my eyes. She was looking towards the window.
“It’s Kraehe...” Ellia shook her head.
I frowned. I thought of the slimy black dragon that had never let me within a yard of her without snapping at me with no sorrow on my part. Then I thought about Scholar Padril, talking over and over again about how connected a dragon was to their owner. “Are you sure?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I didn’t feel it, but… Tobias was certain. And I believe him.”
I didn’t trust Tobias, but I’d figured there was a poor chance the dragons would make it anyways. Not unless the Akadians could have used them for their own, and dragons were really too stubborn to switch sides.
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” I said.
She stared unblinking at the sky; the sun reflected in her eyes like fire. Then she frowned and unexpectedly tucked her head into my neck. “At least I still have you.”
My breath held for a few seconds and then I swallowed.
We laid there until I fell asleep, but it wasn’t long before she was waking me up, demanding that I take her to Tobias’s silly party.
I agreed, but not because I wanted to give her another chance to see him. When Lox had told me this afternoon that Ellia was spending time with Tobias he’d also asked me to keep an eye on him. I didn’t agree or argue then, but after everything Lox had done for me, I thought it was worth checking out at least.
#
The party wasn’t so bad at first, if not a little stale compared to the last one I’d been to. Ellia was one of the few handmaidens there. Just like at breakfast, the other soldiers there were watching her unreservedly, which I didn’t mind so much and maybe even liked until Tobias showed up. Ellia went over to sit beside him, and talk and laugh; soon it was him everyone was jealous of.
I didn’t know what the man’s problem was—to be in a roomful of soldiers and talking with her. I couldn’t even bring myself to go over there because he was annoying me so much, which was really counterproductive since the whole reason I was there was to spy on him. When Ellia tried to wave me over at first I ignored her. Then she just stopped paying attention to me.
I watched them from across the room. Neither of them were couth about hiding their expressions.
Tobias frowned about something, then Ellia held her hand up in front of him, pointed at it, and waved it around. Tobias narrowed and shook his head. Ellia nodded and continued talking. Suddenly Tobias’s look turned very serious. He glanced around them, then he leaned in and whispered something into Ellia’s ear. She bit her lip, then replied in like manner.
My brow darkened. I glanced at the soldiers nearest them; one was gesturing a thumb at Tobias and laughing.
Suddenly I wasn’t so sure about Tobias and Ellia’s relationship. I’d written it off as innocent foolishness after the granted animal talk, but now I wished that I had had Ellia tell me what they’d been talking about. Because this didn’t look innocent.
I stood up and started walking over. I didn’t announce my presence, because I wanted to try and catch some of what they were saying, but as soon as I got close Tobias saw me. Once his gaze moved on me, Ellia turned around.
“Hello, Cyric,” Tobias greeted.
I nodded in acknowledgement, then looked at Ellia. “Can I talk to you?”
She smiled. “Yes, I’ve been waving for you to come. Sit down.”
“No. Outside.”
She frowned, then glanced between Tobias and me.
He gave her a little smile, then said, “There’s a corridor outside the entrance there; it’s usually undisturbed.”
Ellia started to stand. “We’ll be back,” she promised.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her off before he could reply. She looked down at our hands, then back at Tobias. As soon as we were through the door, she pushed at my grip. “Cyric you’re hurting me.”
I walked her further down the hall. It was empty as Tobias had told us, but unfortunately dark enough to make it near impossible for me to see. There was only one small torch lit; curtains covered the windows.
“Cyric,” she repeated.
I stopped us in the alcove beside the torch then let go of her hand. “What were you talking to him about?”
“What?” She glared at me and rubbed her wrist. “You could have asked in the room. I would have told you.”
“He’s not safe, Ellia. Answer my question.”
She scoffed, but her features softened. “Cyric, this isn’t fair. You won’t trust him, but you won’t let me tell you anything about him, and you won’t even talk to him.”
“I’m asking you now. Tell me what you were talking about.”
Her brow knit; she glanced back down the hall. “He wants to help us, Cyric,” she whispered. She wore a smile—one that I wasn’t matching.
“Yeah, you told me that.”
“No. You don’t understand, he has a plan.”
I frowned. I pushed her deeper into the alcove then asked, “What plan?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know all of it yet, we need somewhere safer to talk. But he knows others, many of them are here tonight—they want to help. They don’t like that we’re here anymore that we do.”
“We?” I repeated.
“From Shaundakul. They don’t like that people from any of the other countries have been brought here.”
“When did he tell you all of this?” I demanded, barely maintaining my temper or sanity.
“Mostly this afternoon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“You said you didn’t want to talk about it. I was going to wait until tonight.”
My head felt like it was going to explode. I put a hand on my forehead and cursed. “Ellia, what happened to being careful?”
“I know it’s dangerous,” she said, “But they’re my people, Cyric, I have to help them. And besides, I have something that might help. I’m going to show it to Tobias; I was telling him about it before you came.”
“What are you talking about?” I whispered fiercely.
She bit her lip, then looked around the hall that was still dark and empty. “I should have told you about it before, but I didn’t know back in Shaundakul. And I was afraid…”
“Ellia.”
She met my eyes, which demanded that she start explaining something.
Very slowly, she put her hand up between us. “Don’t freak out,” she whispered, then she did something—I wasn’t sure what, but whatever it was it made her hand disappear. All that was left was a wisp of smoke. It was gone up to her elbow and her sleeve with it. I immediately reached for it because I wasn’t sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, but my hands grab
bed nothing.
“Ellie, what’s going on?” I asked. My voice was something a little beyond panicked.
“It’s alright,” she said. “I’m making it happen.”
“Did that captain do this to you?” I took a step towards the room.
She stopped me with her other hand. “No. It was all me. It’s from Shaundakul.”
“What?”
“I can do it everywhere,” she said, and made her other hand disappear as well.
“Stop it,” I told her.
“Cyric, it doesn’t hurt.”
“I said, stop it.”
Her hands jumped back into form. “Alright. Goodness, I told you not to freak out Cyric. Even Tobias didn’t care so much.”
“You told him?”
“Yes. I already said that.”
I cursed exasperatedly. “What do you mean it’s from Shaundakul?”
“It’s my birthright,” she explained. “My father could do the same thing. Probably my grandfather too.”
“How do you know this?” I asked.
“Scholar Padril told me once when I caught father. But I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. I’d never used it until I got here.”
My features were taut. She made everything so difficult and just kept making it more and more so all the time. Why did she always have to make everything so difficult? I took a deep breath. “I don’t want you doing it anymore,” I commanded.
Her brow knit; she scoffed. “Cyric, I have to; I’m going to try and help Tobias.”
“No.” I slammed my hand into the wall behind her. “You’re not going to talk to him anymore.”
She examined my arm, the bright turquoise crown glowed distractingly between us. She was shaking, but she glared up at me viscously. “You can’t tell me what to do. I’m meeting with him tomorrow. He’s my friend.”
“I’m telling you no.”
“I’m telling you I don’t care what you say.” She pushed my arm away, then gave me a fierce glare and started to stomp away.
I caught her wrist and she froze. I felt my blood growing hotter by the second. She looked back at me.
“Don’t.” I said.
Her eyes narrowed; my grip on her arm grew tighter. In a rush of sound her hand disappeared and mine was left empty. I tried to reach for her again, but missed her in the darkness. She walked down the hall and into the lighted room.
I stared at the empty corridor; I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me, somehow everything had darkened. Very slowly, I closed my fist. Then I started walking down the hall.
#
“It will be just a moment,” the servant said. He looked surprised, probably because when I’d first showed up at the door he definitely hadn’t expected that I would be allowed in. But apparently I was going to be.
I nodded and he closed the door. I walked in a small circle, then leaned against the wall. The small room proceeding Lox’s was as fancy as any I’d been in yet. Polished gold lined the ceilings and the floor where they met the wall, to say nothing of the life-sized statues. I tucked my hand into my pocket, then pulled out the small figurine inside. Without looking at it, I started to turn it around in circles.
The door beside me opened. I straightened up and put the figurine away. The servant reappeared, then he backed up and gestured a hand inside. With my arms uncomfortably at my sides, I entered. My eyes went wide; I realized this couldn’t have been Lox’s room at all, but then again he had only told me earlier where I could most often find him.
The ceilings were high, perhaps three or four stories and shaped into separate peaks with pillars going back and forth beneath them and coming down all the way to the floor in an even pattern—three on one side, three on the other. The floor of the room was almost completely open. There was a short set of steps that sectioned the furthest part of the room off higher, coming out in a half circle. On this there were tables and a dozen simple chairs. Lox stood up there, leaning over a table. And framed behind him was the largest tapestry I’d ever seen—literally, the exact one. A long, sapphire blue, silver painted tapestry that had once hung in the great hall of Shaundakul. There was pack of dragons emblazoned on it, with the largest one in the middle. Between the tapestry and the knot in my gut I really couldn’t help but think of King Savras. Then Lox stood up straight and blocked my view of it.
My eyes refocused.
He grew a smile, and then waved a hand at his servant. “You may leave us, Thane,” he said.
The servant exited the way I’d come. We were left alone with only the echo of the door closing.
Lox waved for me to come forward. Very slowly, I did.
“Don’t be intimidated by the size of the room,” he said. “It’s just us here.” He was bent over the table again. He was holding some sort of small instrument and measuring what I could only guess was a map.
I walked until I was standing a few feet away and spared another glance around.
“You’re not carrying your sword,” he said without looking up.
My brows lifted; I glanced down. “No. I…” I narrowed. “So it was you that left it?”
“I told you the room would be the first of many honors you’d receive if you continued on your current path.”
“But I didn’t do anything more since when you saw me last.”
He smiled. “You responded well to our conversation.”
I thought about this afternoon. When he’d warned me about Tobias and told me about Ellia. “But I didn’t say anything then. I just left.”
Lox paused his work to look up at me. He chuckled. “Really boy—are you trying to convince me you that didn’t deserve the sword?”
I swallowed, not feeling very sure of what I was doing at all.
Lox set his instrument down, then walked closer to me and crossed his arms over his chest. I could feel his silent urge to explain my presence. I met his eyes and looked away.
I’d told myself that I was coming because I was worried about Ellia, and maybe that was still part of it, but now that I was here I knew I would have come to Lox no matter what, one way or another.
“You know you can trust me,” he said.
I nodded, then added quickly. “I know.”
“Is it about Tobias?” Lox asked.
I hesitated before I spoke. “I don’t know anything for certain.”
This fact didn’t seem to bother him. Under his direction I told him everything that Ellia had told me, leaving out of course her feelings on the subject. When I was done, he grew quiet.
“This is very dangerous,” Lox said. “For you and your handmaiden. Do you have any idea why she told you about it in the first place?”
I tried not to narrow and shrugged. “Why wouldn’t she?” I asked.
Lox frowned. “Normally Tobias can be quite convincing. Not to mention particular about whom he shares his secrets with. I’ve never been able to get anyone to testify against him before.”
“I don’t think that she would speak out against him to anyone else,” I said quickly, knowing that of course she wouldn’t and trying to intercept the problem. “Not that she’s planning to join him or anything. But she’s just a girl.”
“Yes, that’s one of the things that I don’t understand about Tobias: his choice of affiliates.” Lox thought for a moment, then he stepped down the stairs and called for his servant. They spoke quietly, then the servant exited the room and Lox returned.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, feeling a lot more uncertain than I wanted to be about the whole situation.
Lox took a deep breath. “If the girl won’t testify, this matter can’t be handled within the courts. But I must take action.” He met my eyes, like he had this afternoon, like he was really looking at me. “You’ve assisted me very much already, Cyric. If you’re willing, I could use your help again.” There was question in his tone.
The tapestry behind him came back into focus, and I inevitably thought of Shaundakul—all the times I’d waited to hear
these words said to me before. I tried to think of anything that was worth giving up the chance I had now.
I looked back at Lox.
“What do you need me to do?”
~ ~ ~
CHAPTER NINE
ELLIA:
*
I felt better the following day. Not only had I set up a time to meet privately with Tobias, Cyric had also talked to me this morning. He seemed sorry for overreacting at the party, at least I assumed as much. He had a lot of questions about all that Tobias and I had talked about. I told him what we’d discussed and that Tobias and I had plans to meet. I’d asked Cyric to come, but he’d said he wasn’t allowed to miss training. It made me long all the more for the days when we could be free of Akadia. But I stayed concentrated on the task at hand.
Tobias had brought me a plain cloak to wear over my dress and then we’d walked a ways through the city, towards a district that was filled with many structures but very few people. It wasn’t nearly as polished as the rest of Akadia and this surprised me, because Tobias had already told me that we were going to a granted temple, which was the place that the owners or caretakers of the granted animals lived. In Shaundakul we had only a very small one; it was close to the royal quarters and one of the most honored and lavish areas in Uldin Keep. The streets that Tobias led me down now were plain and the building he led me into looked completely abandoned. There were no torches lit. We passed a hall of stone, with more halls going off in different directions, much like a maze, then we entered a large room, with two long tables spanning its length that looked like they hadn’t been used in a long time. And on the farthest end there was an opening out to a ledge that I could only imagine led nowhere. The only sight to see through it was the sky.
I looked uncertainly at Tobias, but he didn’t seem to want to meet my gaze.
He showed me to the ledge outside, which was the second highest fall I had ever seen only because I’d been to the top of Uldin Keep—renowned to be the tallest building in existence. The wind blew fiercely, which wasn’t common in any part of Akadia. The ledge actually went beyond the walls of the city, so that directly below was only stone and beyond were the fields of radiance that Tobias had showed me two nights ago. To the left outside the city, there was a nearby mountain, with a number of flat platforms and obvious caves. Tobias nodded to it, then gestured for us to move back inside, probably so that I could hear him better.
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