by Shelley Cass
“Welcome,” Durna said with as serious a face as his brother and Warlord usually had, “to our ocean caves. Where we must hear all facts and must debate before tonight’s feasting and before the fate of Jenra will be decided.” He motioned with outstretched arms at the artistry around us. “As you can see, there are many things to discuss.”
He gestured then to three empty chairs that had been added to the circle and the three of us silently took our places while our Krall guards took posts at the walls behind us.
“All secrets spoken within these caves are kept hidden by the crashing of the waves on the shore,” Durna went on. “And the artworks of the caves themselves are known only to Jenrans. In daylight we watch so that none come from the sea or air to steal this knowledge, and at night the caves are sealed when the tide comes in.”
I saw that water still dripped from the walls and puddles had been left across the uneven floors as King Durna turned to our real business.
“I must begin by explaining, in a very short time, things that no one outside of Jenra will have heard. I believe once that is done it will be easier for you to share your tale, and then for us to form resolutions together.” The King straightened his shoulders, his eyes keen. “The Jenrans have known of the prophecies and the Forest dwellers even without the Lady of the Forest being aware that it was so. We remained silent lest any messages between the mountains and the Forest should fall into the hands of Darziates.” Again he gestured at the wondrous works of art upon the cave walls. “The prophecies, and more, have in fact been laid out for us in these images of the past and future, and were given to us by an ancient race that once called this place Karanoyar.”
I heard Kiana’s intake of breath, and Durna nodded.
“This was where the original Unicorns first lived. And where the few surviving Unicorns returned as their last hiding place after Darziates’ massacre. With them came many of our forefathers, a host of mortals who could not bear to lose the last of the Unicorns. Jenra was but a small Kingdom before they arrived, but in appreciation for the shelter that was offered, those Unicorns used their power to create our City so that we could be safe. Before the remaining Unicorns dwindled further and weakened with age they used their power to create these images so that we would always remember the prophecies and what was to come.”
“The golden horn that tested us?” Kiana asked.
“Was the horn of the last Unicorn to have lived,” Durna supplied. “She gave it to the line of Jenran Kings as her parting gift so that it might help us. And though we mortals cannot use it for much, finding the truth is but a trifle of what it can do.” King Durna paused. “For example, the horn can allow us to easily find our way through the mountains. With the horn we have access to the tunnel that runs right through the heart of the mountain you climbed, the very tunnel the Unicorns first used to get into Karanoyar and again to leave it when Treyun met Farne the Larnaeradee.”
Awe and relief flooded the features of the three of us as we processed how quickly the brutal mountains could be traversed if there was no need to climb them.
“We kept this secret jealously guarded against Darziates or any strangers, and aside from your party, it can also never be spoken of to anyone else while the threat to the world remains. Your pledge binds you to silence on the matter,” Durna said, and we all nodded our acceptance. “Yet, though we do not often leave our home, there are those who are sent outside of the mountains to collect information. So we have heard news of happenings in the other mortal lands, and had in fact already held talks over whether the time has come for us to leave our safe mountains. We have feared that Darziates might do to me what he did to Razek, and trap me into an alliance with Krall rather than with Awyalkna. So our thoughts have already been heavy with notions of war and questions about leaving,” Durna explained. “But now I think the rest of the story is yours to tell.”
Kiana recounted our story in full detail for them, and I was aware of the eerie fact that as she described each of our pasts and our journey, the eyes of the Council members moved from her to cave drawings that depicted the very events she spoke of.
There was an image of Dalin and I in the woods when we met Kiana, an image of Kiana speaking to the Willow, of Dalin defending Kiana from sixteen Krall warriors, of the Lady and the Forest dwellers. And a particularly spectacular depiction of Kiana with her wings.
“And that is where the tale halts for now,” Kiana said finally. “We are here at last to seek your help.”
They were all silent for a moment, and Durna sat forward thoughtfully. “Yes. That is where it halts for now,” he looked to his Council. “We have long debated our reasoning for and against rejoining the world, and now have heard the words of the Three to help guide our decisions further. While I suspect that most are ready to vote now, I ask all members of the Council to think carefully and to take time to reflect. After our feast tonight we will come together once more tomorrow to decide on Jenra’s fate. Much is at stake over our decision, no matter what way we decide.”
Chapter Seventy One
Kiana
I was peaceful as I soaked in the sparkling bathing pool, watching the sun set in a blaze of oranges and pinks through the doors to the balcony.
A fleet of birds dashed across the sun and I considered what it would be like to join them as I let the dripping spout of water trickle droplets down my spine. The drops danced and shimmered on my nearly transparent wings like crystals and I traced a finger over the little blue tiles beneath me, thinking of blue open skies.
Then at last I rinsed the perfumed soaps from my body and stood, and was drying myself when an almost imperceptible knock came at the door.
“Yes?” I called, drawing a light cotton robe about myself.
The door opened and a pretty face peered cautiously around it. “My lady … One,” the young maid began hesitantly. “We have come to help you dress, if it pleases you.”
Her face was sweet and honest, and golden hair seemed to float in wisps around her face. This must be Maeve, I thought, based on Dalin’s descriptions.
“You may come in,” I told her warmly. “But I’ve been able to clothe myself since early childhood.”
She stepped nervously in through the door, carrying an extravagant red gown in her arms, and an equally young and meek second maid followed her inside, closing the door.
They both curtsied daintily, but I shifted uncomfortably under their reverent stares and quickly allowed my wings to disappear so that I might appear more normal.
“Perhaps I will need your aid if I am to dress in something of that scale,” I admitted at the sight of the magnificent gown.
“One,” Maeve shook herself back into action. “My name is Maeve and this is Kerrin. Kerrin picked this dress from the seamstress for you, and is very good at delicate stitching and refining. She’ll make it as if the dress was made exactly for you. I’m very good at arranging hair, so I’ll help you to prepare in that way.”
I cleared my throat. “It is very nice to meet you. Please call me Kiana. I shall follow your lead obediently.”
Maeve set the sweeping red dress down on my bed and then approached to take my cotton robe.
“Every woman in Jenra is going to envy you,” Kerrin said shyly as she came forward with the underclothes.
“In a dress like that,” I shrugged.
“It’s not the dress,” Maeve corrected. “You’re quite impressive.”
I was abashed for a moment, unused to such conversation with other females. “There are too many scars and muscles for this body to be impressive,” I told them then in what was my honest opinion. Though at least Agrona’s brand was less grotesque, having turned silver.
There was a tut of disagreement as I let Kerrin guide me into the complex layers of underclothes.
“Scars are the patterns of survival,” Maeve told me. “Yours are decorations of a life bravely lived.”
I was quietly, surprisingly, relieved and pleased by their words, and was not uncomfor
table when they began to work around me. I relaxed and let them do as they pleased until, after a session of hair brushing, light powders being puffed across my face, perfume dabbing and lip painting, they stepped back.
“You are flawless,” Maeve told me while I peered into the looking glass to admire how she had swept my hair up.
Kerrin had also stepped back from the now perfectly fitting, striking dress that was so closely matched to the colour of my earth stone they almost looked as if they’d been made together.
The material of the gown was heavy and flowing. The bodice hugged across my chest down to my navel, where it bunched and wrapped around my hips. From my hips the skirts swept outward and downward to the floor, and the whole image I now presented was one of extravagance and elegance. Something that I had never expected to experience.
I thanked the two maidens whole heartedly as they led me from the room, where I was met with an abrupt silence as the banter that had been raging in the corridor cut off.
It appeared that Thorin and the other warriors had been out of their rooms heckling Dalin, Noal, and the selected Krall guards who would be attending the feast with us, about their refined appearances.
“Stunning!” Cadell commented hoarsely after a moment.
Suddenly there was a rush of similar comments, but I noted Dalin’s speechlessness.
“These two sure look like Princelings,” Tane gestured at Dalin and Noal. “But Kiana, you are a Queen.”
I smiled. “Maeve and Kerrin were kind to me,” I said, watching Noal’s eyes flicker toward the stairway she’d just disappeared down. Both he and Dalin were resplendent in golden brocade vests, shimmering with precious red stones, and tightly fitted maroon trousers. They looked like Jenran lords in the cultural colours.
“Gods, I feel overawed just to stand behind the Three of you,” Phrixus swallowed nervously. “Does anyone want to swap for my shift of guard duty tonight?”
“No thanks. The only times I’ve been in royal halls was when I had armour on and my biggest task was to stare straight ahead and avoid the Sorcerer’s notice,” Wolf grimaced.
Purdor and Ferron, for all their finery, seemed as tense as Phrixus at the idea of their duty at the feast.
“There’s no reason to fear,” Dalin reassured them. “At these kinds of events your greatest challenge will be to maintain a politely interested expression.”
He moved to my side and held out his arm, covering my hand warmly with his own when I allowed him to escort me.
“Well anyone would be able to maintain an attentive expression with Kiana by their side,” Ferron smoothed his hair shakily as we moved upward and joined the crowds flooding into the grand hall a few levels above ours. “But I’m stuck with Krall soldiers.”
“Feel free to take my arm,” Noal offered, straightening his tunic with a dashing grin. “I can escort you if you need support.”
However the three of us were very quickly drawn into conversations with different high ranking officials and wealthy or important citizens who were curious about such momentous newcomers.
Unlike the boisterous festivals I had grown up with, at this function there was polite laughter, gently played music and soft lighting. My Princes were perfectly at ease, formal and gracious as we were swarmed with admiring crowds while our Krall guards were trying to be obscure in the background, blending in with the other Jenran guards stationed along the walls.
After some speeches of greeting I watched Dalin and Noal gradually become surrounded by a swarm of eager listeners. But I withdrew from the crowds – if not from the many intrigued, indiscreet eyes that followed me.
“You must forgive us all for being so obvious in our fascination of the Three,” a deep, musical voice spoke from behind me, and I turned to find a beautifully adorned woman sitting at an impressive table by the wall. “Not many of us have seen outsiders. Especially outsiders so long awaited.” She held herself gracefully and with dignity, and despite a lock of white amongst her black, pinned back hair, her beauty was profound. She offered me the seat beside her.
“Such fascination is understandable,” I told this charismatic woman, taking the chair she had offered.
The distinguished looking lady nodded. “And it is good that people wonder about you rather than their fate and the horrors that may await Jenra in war.”
I inclined my head, regarding her respectfully.
I knew by my past travels to Jenra that she was the nation’s formidable leader of healing, and I was honoured to be conversing with her.
“I am called Amarantha,” she introduced herself, deep brown eyes washing over me. “And my husband, a Council member, spent a great part of this afternoon telling me every detail of your story.”
I felt my eyebrow arch and she gave a quick, melodious laugh.
“It is allowed for a wife of a Council member to know her husband’s mind and choices. After all, the same details will soon be all over the City, twice as embellished. And no husband in his right mind should make any life altering decisions without the adept counsel of his wife.”
She looked over at a group of young men approaching our table bravely. When caught under her gaze they decided to sidle the other way.
“I simply wish to say,” Amarantha continued. “That we are grateful you have come and that we believe in what you represent.”
I lowered my eyes, moved. “Thank you, friend,” I told her.
“One,” a male’s voice spoke in greeting, and I glanced up to find a beaming Council member standing by Amarantha’s chair. “Please excuse me for taking my Lady from your company. But tonight of all nights, above all I wish to dance with my wife.”
I gave him an honest, heartfelt smile. “Such beauty should not be left to sit at a table in the shadows.”
He nodded happily as Amarantha rose, giving me a final smile of warmth before he led her through the crowd.
When they were gone one of the young Jenran nobles bolstered his courage once more and advanced to the table again.
“You know you were right,” he said, stepping in front of where I was sitting. “Such beauty should not be left to sit at a table in the shadows. Could I tempt you to dance?”
“I thank you, but I desire to rest here peacefully for now.”
His smile dimmed slightly. “Please do not be shy, I will ensure you are swept away into gaiety.”
“Thank you,” I said firmly. “But if I wanted to be swept away, I could just fly.”
“Ah,” he said, appearing wounded. “But one dance –”
“No.”
When he withdrew, and I sent the next few jaunty young men to try away, I gazed towards where Noal was now surrounded in the wealthy daughters of the high ranking citizens he’d been conversing with earlier. But as they vied for his attention, the distant expression on his face showed that Maeve had left him unreachable.
Dalin was also nodding graciously at a group of well-bred, high class young ladies, but I found that his eyes sought mine too. I watched him courteously conclude his conversations and withdraw, instead crossing through the crowds to reach me.
And as he held his hand out to me I felt a sudden change of heart about dancing, and allowed myself to be swept out onto the dance floor.
“Remember when we danced together in the mountain Pass?” he asked me, leaning in closer than the dance required.
“Just the two of us. It was nice,” I smiled a half smile.
“It’s just you and I again right now,” he whispered, his green eyes fixed on my face.
“I remember another time of dancing and music, but I did not yet know you,” I told him as he drew us around in an arc. “You were just the green eyed noble at my stage.”
His brow furrowed and then smoothed. “You remember me from the festival? It was so long ago.”
“I never forgot.”
“I’m glad I know you and that there’s no stage between us now,” he told me, and pulled me in to dance more closely, as if we were hugging inste
ad.
I hardly noticed that time had passed with Dalin, until the musicians had stopped for the night and he was bowing over my hand.
Chapter Seventy Two
Kiana
I dreamed of green eyes and woke to Dalin tapping mournfully at the open doors to my balcony.
“G’morning,” he mumbled as I waved him in. He stumbled past where Maeve and Kerrin had draped my dress after returning to free me from it the night before, and he threw himself onto the bed beside me, embedding his face in the sheets.
“Good morning,” I answered. “Why so early today?”
“Mmmmmmmmm,” he moaned and rolled over to face me. “Maeve must have decided to arrive earlier to give Noal more time to talk before her next duty.” He closed his green eyes, ready to resume drowsing. “I had to tactfully make up an excuse to remove myself.”
“That was good of you,” I told him.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Now you get caught with me instead.”
“Are you going to fall back to sleep?” I asked him, tickling his arm by tracing down one of the jagged scars on his bicep with a fingertip.
He shivered and a smile curled drowsily up in one corner of his mouth. I saw goose bumps rise across his chest but he kept his eyes closed.
“We’ll have to rise soon,” I reasoned, tracing my finger along the scar that ran over his jaw line this time.
He caught my finger with one hand and cracked an eye open.
“I might smother you in the sheets to keep you from disturbing me.”
I wriggled away as he made as if to roll over to flatten me under his weight.
“You know I can wrestle out of any grip you get on me.”
Dalin laughed, and laid flat on his back. “You’re right of course.”
I laid my head on his chest as he settled an arm around my shoulders. “You seem to have awoken properly now anyway,” I commented.
“Alas,” he agreed, and I peered up at his face from where I laid.
I could see that, with wakefulness had also come worry.