by Day Leitao
Nia looked shocked as if she had never expected Karina to decide to stay. Ha! Got that wrong.
“You want to get killed? Get killed then,” Nia said.
Karina wondered how to answer, but Cayla beat her to it. “No, we’re trying to do the right thing. Nia, if you are doing this because of us, because of our safety, please stop. Let us do it. It’s my life, I have the right to do what I want with it.”
“You’re both too young to decide. This is wrong. Odell is a liar. You’ll only see it when it’s too late.”
Cayla hugged her. “Thank you for letting us go.”
That was the opposite of what Karina had understood, but whatever.
Nia didn’t respond to the hug, but she let the girl finish, then said, “As for Ayanna, by no means will I let her go.”
Cayla shrugged. “I don’t want her to go either. It’s Odell that insists.”
Nia took a deep breath then said, “I’ll deal with that.” She then narrowed her eyes and looked at both girls. “I might not see you before you go. And probably not after. Just remember I warned you.” She walked away while her words hovered in the air.
Cayla didn’t seem bothered by her confrontation. Or was it a conversation? She asked, “You didn’t take her seriously, did you?”
Well, in a way, yes. Karina had no idea who she was supposed to listen to anymore. But the girl was so cool about it, Karina thought she could be just as nonchalant. She shrugged. “Nah.”
“I knew you’d never believe such nonsense.”
Karina cleared her throat. “Of course not.”
Cayla yawned. “I’m glad you woke me up. We need to get used to staying up at night.”
Night? But sunlight came from the ceiling. Perhaps it was summer and nights were quite short. “Isn’t it morning already?”
“I guess it depends if you count four o’clock as morning.”
Before Karina pointed the ceiling, she realized this light had gone off and on too quickly to be the sun, so it had to be something else; something she didn’t quite understand, and she felt really dumb for her assumption. At least she could still hide her dumbness. “I… just… I think I’m getting the hours mixed up.”
Cayla laughed. “No wonder. Do you want to eat something?”
Food? Since the sleep had been interrupted anyway, that was a great idea. “Sure.”
“Let’s go to the kitchen then.”
Cayla walked toward the door and Karina followed, but then she remembered the reason she was there to begin with and quietly returned to pick up her purse with the shoes. Again she looked inside to check if no one had stolen them, because who knew what kind of evil creature could be lurking in her bedroom. Oh no, that was a terrible thought—she wouldn’t be able to sleep there anymore. Then she remembered it was Lylah who told her about the evil creatures, so she was probably lying. But then, if Lylah was the evil creature, Karina had proof that they could indeed sneak into her bedroom. Terrible thought again. The woman’s words about the danger of the shoes echoed in her head, now mixed with Nia’s words telling Karina she would get killed.
“So? Are you coming or not?” Cayla asked, snapping Karina out of her dreadful train of thought.
Or maybe not. Karina had already embarked on the fear ride. Her eyes met Cayla’s, who'd become serious and asked, “What’s wrong? Did Nia’s talk scare you?”
“Uh…” Karina closed her eyes, realizing with despair that she was not very good at being brave or even pretending it. “It’s just, I mean, what if something happens? What if Nia is right? She said Lylah lives in a fortress, how can we expect to enter it?”
Cayla nodded. “Well, first, as to Lylah’s dwelling, it’s not really a fortress, it’s just a castle with walls.” Before Karina had time to figure out what the difference was, the girl continued, “And there’s an easy way to enter it, Odell knows it. Before we go, tomorrow, he’s going to give us all the details.”
“And what if he’s wrong, like Nia said?”
“Not him, no way. He’s like, uh, I’ve known him since I was a baby, and he never makes mistakes. He knows things… He’s our teacher and he’s… very learned. Now, I think you took Nia too seriously. I should have warned you, but I didn’t think… Anyways, she’s been paranoid lately. It’s awful, she used to be like a mother to me, but now, she’s been accusing Odell, saying he’s in league with Lylah, imagine that!” The girl bit her lip and her eyes were misty. “She’s… she’s been saying things against my father. Something isn’t right with her, and now for some reason, she doesn’t want us to destroy the shoes. I don’t want to think anything bad about her, but… never mind.” Cayla shook her head as if shaking away a thought.
Karina wasn’t totally convinced. “Fine. Maybe Nia is worrying too much. But still, what if the plan goes wrong? What if, by any chance, your teacher is wrong? What then?”
“It won’t go wrong. Do you think my father would want me and my sister to risk our lives? My little sister! And this is our chance to do something great. Don’t you want it?”
Something great. Perhaps that was what Karina had been wanting. “I guess you’re right.”
“Trust me, everything is going to be fine. Shall we eat now?”
Maybe Karina’s problem was not fear but hunger. She smiled.
After many dimly lit corridors, a large hall with high ceilings and a smaller corridor, they came to a very bright room, so bright that Karina’s eyes took a while to adjust. It was a huge room with some small round tables in a corner, and a couple of counters and large cupboards in the other. Everything was made of some kind of stone Karina would describe as marble, but although it was white it was not really marble, because it was shinier, kind of sparkly. All that whiteness gave the place a dream-like quality, which contrasted with the relative normality in the rest of the castle. Was that a castle? Did it have walls around it? Would it be considered a fortress? Some silliness.
The dining room had real windows, tall and large, but because it was night, all Karina could see was blackness and a few stars in the sky. An old woman who seemed to be a cook or servant attended them, offering food options that Karina had never heard of and didn’t even catch the names, so she relied on the princess to choose something for her. The woman set to work on one of the counters. The “food” was a green gooey thing. Karina almost didn’t eat it, but then she remembered that it was a good idea to try things first before deciding she didn’t like them. That logic had some big flaws, as there were things some people should never try, but she did take a spoon. It tasted kind of like broccoli soup, but with different spices. It was actually quite good, and perhaps that logic was generally applicable to food. Cayla had told Karina not to talk about their journey in common areas, so the questions that popped in her head remained unanswered, moved over to a ‘later’ file in her brain that soon got too crowded.
She finally decided to ask Cayla a question that had been bugging her and was not forbidden: “Your lights, they are different from the ones I know, how do they work?”
“Lights?” Cayla seemed surprised at the question, then pointed to the ceiling. “You mean that?”
“Yes.”
Cayla shrugged. “Well, it’s sunlight.”
“But it’s night now.”
“It’s saved sunlight.”
Saved sunlight. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? To put sunlight in a little can, then open it later, quite useful in an electricity outage. “Of course not.”
Cayla squinted. “Well, what is this light then?”
“That’s my question.”
The girl just shrugged. Karina looked down, thinking. At least her assumption that she saw sunlight was not so dumb after all. But it didn’t make any sense. She tried to rephrase her question. “I see. So you use solar energy to produce light. Is that it?”
Cayla seemed to be making an effort to understand the question. “Uh… well, yes, light is energy.”
No kidding. “But how does it work?”
It was funny how the girl just took it for granted. Would Karina be able to explain her own lights? In general terms yes: electricity, wires, and stuff. But now she was in a completely different place. Then a thought hit her, and Karina almost laughed at her silliness. “Is it magic?”
“What?” The girl looked surprised, offended, or a mix of both. “No. That’s really evil.”
“Oh, sorry.” Karina looked away. The girl’s distaste of magic seemed strange and didn’t match with the idea Karina had about her. Had she simply assumed she was in a magical place? Well, maybe being in a castle in a parallel dimension or whatever explained her impression. But there was something else. Karina remembered. “What about the light you cast in my room? Was that m—”
Cayla didn’t let her finish. “No, no.” Alarm and fear showed on her face, as she gesticulated frantically. “There was no light. It was dark. It was dark.”
One would think the girl had been caught stealing or something. “Yeah, yeah, it was dark. I’m tired, confused, and imagining things.” Yeah, right.
“You are,” Cayla said as if to put an end to the subject.
The girl had cast a light in her room and they both knew it, but Karina didn’t want to press it any further, so she just nodded and returned to her soup. But then, if magic was something forbidden like it seemed, how come they traveled through dimensions? Or was there a scientific explanation? Now, that would be a really interesting thing to learn. Maybe she should ask Odell if he was the know-it-all. A pity he didn’t seem to be the teach-it-all.
When Karina returned to her room, there was still some night or early morning left, and apparently almost everyone was still sleeping. The light on the ceiling dimmed; the opposite of what was probably happening outside. Karina tried to forget the whole idea about evil creatures in her bedroom, but trying to forget the thought just kept it present in her mind.
5
How?
Darian looked at the panel in front of him. The lights represented the army’s lifts. He had a good idea about who was in each one and knew how many people were on their side for sure. Some of them were maybes. Those were the most dangerous and could be their downfall. Still, their numbers were enough. He counted again, in disbelief, and then again, as if it counting could change the numbers. They were enough. Enough. Darian swallowed. He should have been thrilled. He should have been glad. He should have been relieved that his dreams were about to become true, but he didn’t feel any of that. His own reaction surprised him. And now it was time to tell the council, so they’d plan the next move. That was his duty. He knew it. After a long, deep breath, he put on a cloak and walked to the river waterfront, feeling the drumming of his heart. A war drum?
Perhaps he didn’t have to tell anything. Having played both sides for so long, lying had become as easy as breathing. He tried to understand what he’d been thinking. His thoughts turned to the castle and to who lived in it. A knot formed in his chest. He’d been wrong. Lying was much easier than breathing.
Karina felt a soft touch on her shoulder.
“Wake up. You have to come with us.”
Ayanna was in her room, smiling with her pleasant round face. Karina was thankful that for once an intruder didn’t just sit waiting for her. She reached for her purse with the shoes, and almost didn’t need to look inside, as she could feel them with her touch, but she still looked just to confirm her impression. “Are we leaving now?”
“Leaving?” Ayanna laughed. “No, it’s just lunch. They said maybe you’d like to eat before we pack.”
Ayanna had excitement and anticipation on her face, meaning she still thought she would go with them. Karina was about to change clothes when she noticed the girl was wearing a nightgown—or was it a dress? — similar to hers, so she followed her without changing first. Perhaps they were informal, and that was a brunch.
They went to a dining room with a high ceiling supported by arcs, and a central round table in green wood and glass. Cayla was sitting there already, together with Nia and Odell. There were also two men Karina didn’t know. One seemed to be around 40 and had a pleasant face. He wore a tunic in a light fabric. The other man was a little older and had a graying beard. He wore a silver overcoat and looked definitely overdressed for the occasion. He was probably the king. Nobody made any introduction, and Karina remained silent. Nia had eyes lost in the distance, a fraction of the impressive woman who had visited her bedroom that night. Karina felt a little guilty for making the woman so sad.
They had what appeared to be chicken, or some other kind of bird, with vegetables. Karina was not sure if she knew the vegetables, but in truth, she was terrible at naming or recognizing vegetables anyways, so she would never know whether or not they were different.
After lunch, Cayla led Karina back to her room, asking her to pack and get ready. Karina learned about the bathtub and washed quickly. Back into her jeans and t-shirt, she picked up her backpack. When Karina came out, the girl stared. “Are you going to wear that?”
Maybe her clothes were beyond unfashionable in that place. “Why? Should I try to, uh, blend a little?”
Cayla shrugged. “No. It’s just, you might get hot. But if you’re comfortable…”
The girl was wearing a nightgown dress, which by now Karina realized was a real dress, not that a nightgown would not be real, but meaning a dress that wasn’t for sleeping. “Fine. Just a moment.”
Karina went back in the room, changed into one of the dresses, and put a couple more in her backpack. She kept her sneakers, though. Not that they had offered any shoes, and not that she would wear… well. When she came out, Cayla smiled and nodded. Karina followed her through sunlit, saved sunlight, or whatever illuminated corridors. Strange that even though it was day, and it had to be day, if they had just had lunch, there was nobody walking in them.
Cayla descended a flight of narrow steps. Midway through the stairs, she opened a door that had no handle. In fact, it was a door Karina hadn’t noticed. They entered a round room in which ceilings and walls were in one uniform piece, like a bowl turned upside down. Light came from what looked like a hole on top, but it was probably the same thing as the lights in other parts of the castle. This room was darker than the others, which gave it a mysterious, shady quality. Odell and Ayanna were sitting at a small table. Cayla saw her sister and squinted.
Odell waited for them to sit, then he got up. “You are here for the most important part of your task: planning. Stick to the plan, and you’ll have nothing to fear.”
He opened a map on the table, with mountains, a river, and some strange drawings. Or were those names? They seemed to be in another language.
He continued, “I don’t want you to carry anything identifying you or where you are going, so make sure you memorize this.”
That only reminded Karina of her bad grades in geography, and how often they involved bad memory and maps.
Odell pointed at the mountains near the river. “You’ll walk through these woods, on the base of the mountain. There is a path. It’s ancient, and it’s safe. It also means you are not too close to the river villages, and yet not deep in the woods. People won’t see you, and you won’t risk running into jaguars.”
Karina’s knees trembled. “Jaguars? Like, uh, big cats?”
“More aggressive than cats.” Odell pointed some blue spots deep in the mountains. “But they live near the lakes, here. They don’t usually cross these hills.” He looked at Karina, who was still unsure, and spoke slowly as if to make sure she understood each of his words: “And even when they do, they never come near the path.”
“Isn’t this the cursed path?” Ayanna asked in a weak voice.
Cayla rolled her eyes.
Odell laughed. “Ayanna, how often did I tell you not to believe in silly superstitions?”
The girl looked down, her voice almost a whisper. “Sorry, uh, I
don’t mean it’s cursed, I just wanted to know if that’s… the one I’ve heard about.”
Odell nodded and pointed at the map. “Animals don’t come near this area, and so, well, people speculate. So, yes, you might have heard something about this path. Again, all it means is that it’s safe.”
On the map, Karina saw lines, which she assumed meant roads, in other parts, but not where he pointed, so it was not a regular road or path. Ayanna seemed upset, probably offended that Odell laughed at her question. Cayla stared at her sister with worry. When her eyes met Karina’s, she glanced at Ayanna, as if asking what she was doing there. Karina shrugged. How was she supposed to know?
Odell pointed then to the border of the mountain range, near a place where two rivers met. “You’ll walk all the way to the crossing banks, then you’ll cross the Black River, and go to Lylah’s castle from the other side, here. Walk down those woods carefully, in the beginning of the night, then you’ll dive to her island. There’s an underwater tunnel which leads straight to her castle. Once there, you can destroy the shoes. It’s that simple.”
Simple? Hiking, diving, this journey was looking a lot more extreme than Karina had expected. They didn’t even bother asking her if she was an outdoor adventurer. Meanwhile, Cayla just nodded as if everything was indeed quite simple. Ayanna, on the other hand, seemed terrified. She was pale, and Karina hoped she would be the one to ask a question or at least raise an objection.
But it was Cayla who spoke. “When are we leaving?”
“In one hour.”
Cayla squinted. “Already? But, do you think Karina will have time to learn everything?”
Odell raised an eyebrow. “There’s plenty of time to go over the details and make sure the three of you are more than prepared. We can’t postpone this any longer. Come, I’ll show you your supplies.”
He walked to another table in a darker part of the room. Karina and Cayla followed. The table had a few objects Karina didn’t recognize at a first look, maybe some kind of climbing or diving equipment.