by Cathi Shaw
“I don’t want it to be true but Teague has been acting differently. I can’t explain it,” she gestured in frustration, “The dreamwalks are not the best form of communication. But I know something is wrong. Can you try speaking to Meldiron?”
Mina nodded. “I will. Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? It might do you some good to get some fresh air.”
Thia looked at the crowded streets again and shuddered. “Very sure.”
“Okay.” Mina turned to door but she paused before stepping through it. “Thia, try not to worry. I’m sure it will be well.”
Thia watched her sister leave and wished she could feel the same unerring optimism as Mina did. But she couldn’t shake the images from her vision out of her mind. She feared the worse.
#
Mina found Meldiron not far from the Inn. She told him of Thia’s worries but he shrugged it off. Mina felt a prick of irritation. Her brother was a good man but he had a touch of arrogance that annoyed her at times. She suspected it came from being raised as an Elder prince.
“Thia is just restless. And I don’t blame her,” he brushed off her sister’s concerns easily as he scanned the street, his green eyes ever seeking. “But we are so close to finding Arion, we can’t leave now.”
Mina looked at her brother in concern. His desire to find Arion, his closest kinsman, was understandable but she was starting to worry that he had developed an obsession. And, in her experience, obsessions rarely led to clear thinking.
“How do you know we are close to finding him, Meldiron? We’ve been here for three weeks with no new leads.” She reached out and grabbed his arm when she saw his attention was flagging. “Meldiron.” He looked at her. “Do you have new information?”
She saw despair flash briefly in his eyes. “Nothing concrete,” he admitted softly. “But, Mina, we are close to finding him. I can feel it here.” He pounded his chest.
Mina looked at him doubtfully. She didn’t think her little sister was going to be swayed by a feeling in Meldiron’s heart. Mina took a deep breath and blew it out as she followed her brother through the streets of Sailsburg. Meldiron, crown prince of the Elder people, was used to getting his way. And on this journey with him she’d learned that he was more stubborn than even Kiara.
She also found herself playing the role of referee more and more between Thia and him. While Meldiron was her brother by birth, she had grown up with Thia and she was more her sibling than any blood ties could secure. But Mina loved them both and having to constantly mediate their disagreements was exhausting.
Thia had changed since she returned with Teague last spring. Her sister had spent time underground with The People, a group of beings who had removed themselves from the surface centuries ago. And while there Thia had learned that both her and Teague were the offspring of an ill-fated coupling between The People and the surface dwellers. There were a handful of halflings like them, most of them dead.
Yes, Thia’s trip to the Underground had changed her. She had become more short-tempered than she’d ever been in her life. And since they’d arrived at Sailsburg, she’d become even more agitated. Mina feared that her sister would begin the journey East with or without them soon. And it wasn’t safe for any of the Marked Ones to travel on their own but especially Thia with her tendency toward seizures.
Meldiron had stopped just ahead of Mina and was conversing with the owner of a bakery. The man was nodding vigorously and pointing down the street.
Meldiron thanked him and turned to Mina. “He’s seen Arion.”
Mina looked at her brother skeptically. This wasn’t the first time Meldiron had insisted Arion had been spotted. “Are you sure?” she asked, doubt tingeing her words.
Meldiron nodded then paused. For a moment defeat darkened his features. He looked down at Mina, pleadingly. “It won’t hurt to find out, will it? What’s the worse that can happen? Another dead end?”
Arion had been like a brother to Meldiron as they grew up in Séreméla. The fact that he had been the one to send Arion off on a potentially deadly expedition was eating at Meldiron. Mina knew her brother felt immense guilt at the thought that Arion might have been killed. He needed some kind of closure to move on.
Relenting Mina gestured for him to continue. Truthfully it wasn’t a dead end she was worried about but Meldiron’s disappointment if it turned out to be another false lead. She knew her brother felt responsible for Arion’s fate. He, after all, was the one who had sent his kinsman on this journey and he’d done so to protect Mina and her sisters. If Arion was dead, he would blame himself.
They threaded their way through the crowded streets until they came to a small novelty shop.
“The baker said that someone who matches Arion’s description has taken a room above the shop,” Meldiron explained.
Mina looked at the shop dubiously noting the peeling paint on the building and the shutters hanging at odd angles. There were rough looking men and desperate looking women crowding the streets as they pushed their way past. If Arion wasn’t the person renting the room above the store, Mina expected that whoever was renting the room would not be too pleased to see them. But she held her tongue and followed Meldiron up the narrow stairwell.
The stairs were steep and reeked of days old urine. Mina wrinkled her nose. Arion, who was used to living in the Sanctuary with the crown prince of the Elders, had certainly sunk low if these were, indeed, his lodgings.
Meldiron paused at the top of the stairs and looked over his shoulder at her.
“What are you waiting for?” Mina asked.
He smiled sadly. “I don’t know. I’m just …” he closed his eyes. “If this isn’t Arion, I’m afraid you’re right Mina. We’ve exhausted all possible avenues of his safe escape. If he isn’t here, then I’ll have to admit defeat. If this turns out to not be Arion, then we’ll leave tomorrow for the Eastern Mountains.”
Mina’s heart twisted when she saw the anguish on her brother’s features. She knew what it cost him to admit defeat. Suddenly she hoped with all her heart that his friend was behind that door.
“Go on,” she urged.
Meldiron nodded, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
They could hear a scrambling on the other side of the door. Meldiron reached for the dagger at his belt. Mina did the same. If this was not Arion then it was possible that they would be attacked.
When the door still did not open, Meldiron knocked again and spoke loudly in the Elder language.
Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a tall dark haired Elder.
“Deartháir?” he breathed.
Meldiron let out a laugh and suddenly the two men were embracing. Mina stood in the hallway awkwardly, feeling like she was intruding on a private moment.
“How did you find me?” Arion asked, disbelief clear in his voice. He was taller even than Meldiron. Mina couldn’t help staring as he was the only dark haired Elder she’d ever seen. And yet his features were clearly Elder. He was not as handsome as her brother and yet he was somehow more ruggedly beautiful. And his eyes were such a light green, so different than the dark green that both Meldiron and herself possessed, that she couldn’t pull her gaze away from them.
“I’m stubborn,” Meldiron said with a grin.
Arion seemed to recollect himself. “Come in, come in.” As Meldiron stepped forward Arion’s gaze fell on Mina.
“You are not alone?” he said, his voice suddenly cold.
Meldiron suddenly remembered himself. “Arion, you’ve met Minathrial before.”
“Princess,” he breathed, his eyes locking with her own and Mina had to stop herself from recoiling at the hostility that was reflected in those pale green depths. “Forgive me, I didn’t recognize you. You’ve recovered.” Despite the fact that the words were positive, Mina couldn’t miss Arion’s dark tone. Had he hoped she wouldn’t recover?
Meldiron didn’t seem to notice. He laughed and pulled Mina into the room past Arion. “She’s recovered c
ompletely.”
“I’m sorry but have we met?” Mina asked, confused.
“Arion was with the party that came to the Inn, Mina. He saw you when you were sick.”
Mina nodded. She still had no recollection of that time. Arion continued to stare at her, his gaze very intense. Mina looked at the filthy floor and felt her cheeks heat.
Finally Arion turned to Meldiron and she couldn’t help noticing the puckering of the skin on his neck just above his tunic collar. She remembered the story her brother had told her about Arion. How his own mother had tried to burn the Mark from his shoulder by using acid and how he had almost died as a result. While his life had been saved, Meldiron had said that his friend’s back and chest had been disfigured for life.
Mina tried to imagine a mother doing such a thing to her own child. Pity for the dark-haired boy who had endured such abuse filled her. His hostility was perhaps understandable. She felt herself softening towards him. Arion suddenly looked at her and, as if he could read her thoughts, his gaze hardened.
Mina looked down again, embarrassed.
“We have much to tell you,” Meldiron said.
“And I have much to share with you,” Arion returned darkly. “I fear you’ve put yourselves in even more danger by coming here, my friend.”
CHAPTER THREE
Meldiron insisted on taking Arion back to their lodgings in a safer part of the city. After securing him a room, they met in the common area for the evening meal.
Meldiron brought Arion up to speed on what had happened in Séreméla causing them to flee. Arion was clearly stunned by the news that the wards, which had guarded the city for years, had come down and the extent of the corruption that had been revealed about the Council of Elders.
When Meldiron recounted how his own men had attacked him and left him for dead, Mina noticed Arion’s fingers tighten until his knuckles were white. But he did not look surprised when Meldiron told him that Bellasiel had helped them and even had a safe place for them to hide until they knew whom they could trust.
“I told you Bellasiel had a good heart,” Meldiron said.
“She was deeply engrained in the Council doings, Meldiron. You can’t blame me for doubting her loyalties. Not after all that has happened.”
Meldiron nodded reluctantly and Mina couldn’t help wondering exactly what the Council had been involved in that Meldiron had not shared with her. But her brother changed the topic swiftly.
“Enough talk of Séreméla for one night. Tell me what has happened to you, my friend?” Meldiron asked after they finished dinner.
Mina leaned forward. She knew that Arion had been part of a decoy team of four Elders sent South to keep the Hunters off their tracks. But they didn’t know what had happened to those decoy teams. Meldiron had feared the worse and that was one of the reasons for his obsession in trying to find Arion. He couldn’t bear the thought that he may have sent his friend, who also bore the Mark, to certain death.
But Arion’s mother had unknowingly given him the one thing that had protected him. When he’d been only three years old, his mother had tried to remove his Mark forever by dousing her small son in acid. That horrific act had almost killed him and had resulted in the disfiguring scars across his back, shoulders and chest. While it had not killed Arion, it had achieved his mother’s goal. Meldiron had told Mina that Arion’s Mark was hidden under the thick scar tissue.
As a result of this scarring, no one in Séreméla knew that Arion was Marked. This had likely protected him from attack on his journey South. But Meldiron had worried nevertheless. As he pointed out, it appeared that the Hunters didn’t find their victims by seeing the Mark. He thought they might sniff it out.
A bitter smile twisted Arion’s lips when he heard Meldiron’s theory. “You might be right about that,” he said. “It would explain what happened to our decoy party.”
Arion explained that after they had left the others at the Inn, they had galloped South for several days. There had been no sign of pursuit and the closer they got to Sailsburg the more Arion had feared that the decoying hadn’t worked. Then suddenly they had been attacked. And not by just one Hunter, but three!
“Three Hunters had felt capable of taking on four Elders?” Meldiron asked after a moment of stunned silence.
Arion nodded. “Obviously they wanted what we had very much. We killed two of them but lost two of our own party in the battle.” He fell silent, remembering his kinsmen. Meldiron also looked somber.
Thia spoke up suddenly, “What happened to the last Hunter?”
Arion furrowed his brow. “That was what was so strange. It found the blood and was not happy. But then it sniffed the air and looked straight at me. It was as if it knew what I was. Then it attacked me. It was outnumbered and we were able to kill it easily. But I always wondered what the sniffing was about. I wonder now, Meldiron, if you’re not right about their abilities. Perhaps that’s why they are being hired as assassins.”
Mina frowned. “But who is hiring them and where are they finding such creatures?”
Arion look directly at her and Mina felt an inexplicable shiver of excitement curl in her stomach. He was so intense. For a moment she was so overcome by the sensation that she didn’t notice his lips were moving.
“They are not creatures, Princess Minathrial,” he was saying. “They are men. A strange sort of men, I will agree, but they are very real. They come from an island in the ocean to the southwest of here.” He laughed bitterly. “They even freely trade with the merchants in Sailsburg.”
“How is that possible?” Meldiron demanded. “Don’t they know what these people are capable of?”
Arion nodded grimly. “Of course they do. You don’t imagine that the Marked Ones are the only targets of the Nasseet assassins, do you? Over the centuries they have been considered the most deadly of killers. But they also are able to trade things that are not available in the Five Corners. And, despite their killing ways, they appear to be honest traders. The Sailsburg merchants have an uneasy truce with the Nasseet traders. But as long as the merchants are honest in their dealings they have no problems.”
“And the ones that aren’t honest?” Meldiron asked grimly.
“They end up dead.”
“Now that we’ve found Arion,” Thia suddenly interrupted. Mina turned to her sister in surprise. It was completely out of character for little Thia to say anything during their meetings. Or at least it had been until recently. Lately she had been far more outspoken than usual, even exchanging words with Meldiron that bordered on arguments. The Elders paused in their dialogue and turned to Thia.
Thia looked at them steadily. “Are we able to continue on to the Eastern Mountains?”
Mina looked at her sister. She’d been largely quiet during the discussion but her face was worried and pinched and she’d hardly eaten any of her food.
Meldiron shook his head. “I’d like to delay returning just yet,” he mused. “It would be interesting to see the land the Nasseet come from. Do you think we could obtain passage there?” he asked Arion.
Mina felt a jolt of excitement mixed with fear race through her. A trip to the island where the Hunters lived … while going outside Five Corners was appealing to her travelling soul, the thought of encountering even one Hunter, nevermind an island full of them, filled her with terror. While she had no clear memory of the Hunter attack she’d just barely survived, the mere talk of the creatures filled her with a sense of dread she didn’t understand.
Arion studied Meldiron, clearly weighing the possibility of an expedition to Nasseet. “It will be difficult,” he admitted. “We could canvass the sailors in the port but the easiest way to get to Nasseet is going to be stowing away on one of their vessels.”
Mina listened as the men began discussing different scenarios for obtaining passage South. A sick feeling began to grow in her stomach.
Suddenly there was a crash at the end of the table. They all turned to see Thia on her feet, her golden
eyes blazing with anger, her fiery curls a halo around her head. She looked truly fearsome, despite her tiny stature.
“You will listen to me, Meldiron. Extending our adventure to the mystical land of Nasseet was not part of the plan. We were to return to the Eastern Mountains months ago but your obsession with finding Arion delayed us.” She paused and looked at Arion. “We have found him now but I won’t tell you again that it is imperative that we return to the Eastern Mountains as soon as possible and I will not be ignored.”
Meldiron’s face was serious as he observed Thia’s rage. “What has happened?” he asked solemnly.
Thia’s face suddenly crumbled, all fire and light going out of her as tears filled her eyes. “I fear we may be losing Teague.”
#
Thia’s revelation quickly convinced all of them that the journey East must not been delayed.
Mina listened as her sister explained her fears.
“Teague has been growing more and more agitated in our dreamwalks,” Thia admitted. “At first I thought it was just our delay that was troubling him, but he seems to be growing almost …” she paused before reluctantly continuing “…paranoid.”
Arion eyes narrowed. “Paranoid in what way?”
“He doesn’t trust Bellasiel or the former Draíodóir who is working with him. He told me he thinks they have greater plans and that the Marked Ones are just pawns in their bid for power.” She frowned. “How much do you trust Bellasiel, Meldiron?”
Mina’s brother answered immediately, “Bellesiel is trustworthy. But that doesn’t mean that her wish for justice couldn’t have certain … quirks to it. I don’t believe she would harm any of the Marked Ones, though.”
“There’s more,” Thia said. “Lately Teague has been saying that he doesn’t trust Caedmon and Kiara. He says that they’ve bought into Bellesiel’s plan and are her sentries. They’ve brought thirty-five Marked children to the Refuge this summer and are currently on a mission to find more.” Thia paused. “But his talk of Caedmon is laced with bitterness and almost … hatred.” She looked at each of them, worry clear in her golden eyes.