“We could have taken the Kingsroad.”
Eris shook her head. The wind caught her dark hair and sent it whipping around her. “It would take longer than cutting across the plains.”
Terran looked at his jacket and frowned. “You need to see the Gardens sometime. What is left of them, anyway.”
Eris didn’t tell him that she’d seen the Gardens, at least through the visions the forest granted to her. From what she saw, she recognized how majestic they once had been. Had they been the same during Lira’s time, or had time changed them, made them more impressive like it had with the forest? And now that was all gone, destroyed by the Conclave. Such potential wasted. What else would the Conclave do if threatened?
That was the reason Eris needed to return to Eliara. If she didn’t learn what she needed from Lira, she wouldn’t be able to help her family. “You think I need a reminder of what the Conclave can do?”
“Yes.”
She shot him a look. Terran doubted her?
“You still think there’s little to fear from the Conclave. I know what you experienced. I was there for part of it. But the Conclave—the entirety of the Conclave—is something entirely different. When you see what happened to the gardens, you’ll understand.”
“The magi showed me what they were capable of doing.” She suppressed a shudder, remembering the one magi whose hand had crept up her leg, touching her in a way she’d never been touched. Anger coursed through her with the thought, and she forced it down. “I know better than to rush after them.”
Concern wrinkled Terran’s eyes as he looked at her. She offered him a half-hearted smile.
They made their way across the hills, speaking little. The closer they came to Eliara, the more anxious Eris became. Would her father welcome her home after the months she’d spent away, or would he push her back out, ignoring her? And what of her mother? Surely Lira would have told them what happened, why Eris remained behind. But if she hadn’t? Would her parents have worried?
She kept telling herself that the only reason she returned was for the lessons Lira could offer. Another keeper—one still living and not simply a memory stored in the roots of the forest—would be able to provide a different type of instruction. Lessons where she might learn enough to counteract whatever it was she felt along the border and keep it from creeping forward into Errasn.
While in the forest, there was a constant connection to everything around her, a sense of knowing. The farther she went from the Svanth, the more disconnected she felt. Without that, she felt…empty. But as they made their way toward Eliara, the growing power of Lira’s garden built until Eris felt it easily. She couldn’t access it directly, not at this distance; she was not its keeper.
This close to the city, she was amazed at how much power the garden generated. Smaller than the Svanth Forest, this garden still had much potential. She could almost imagine dozens of similar gardens placed together like when the great Gardens of Elaysia had existed.
After cresting a hill, Eliara spread out below them.
Eris sighed. As much as she’d tried preparing for her return, nothing made it any easier.
Terran stepped next to her. For long moments they didn’t speak as they looked down at the city. People moved about the streets. Carts and horses filed past the massive outer wall, spilling out onto the road. Smoke curled from dozens of chimneys; thick and dark from the blacksmiths on the edge of town, wispy and pale near the center where the bakeries would be located, and barely visible against the sky from hearths scattered other places in the city.
It was home, but no longer her home.
“I remember the first time I came here. How it seemed so much bigger than I had expected.”
Eris looked over at him. “I always felt like the city was so small.”
“You should see Helash sometime. We have a few taverns, a smith, a mill, but not much else.”
“Do you miss it?”
Terran met her eyes. “Not any longer.”
“You don’t regret coming to Eliara?”
As they neared Eliara, he’d kept a greater distance between them, but now he moved closer and touched her hand. “I am a gardener. There are few keepers remaining.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Terran smiled. “Because it’s a question you don’t need to ask.”
She took his hand and held it purposefully as she started down the hill toward the city. Farms dotted the outskirts of town, most smaller than the ones they passed farther from Eliara. As they neared, the sounds of the city washed over her. Voices and clatter and hooves—a cacophony of noise around her. After all the time she’d spent in the quiet solitude of the forest, the noise bothered her most.
The massive walls of the city rose in front of her. She sighed again, pushing back the conflicting thoughts she had about returning. If she didn’t simply press forward, it would be all too easy to turn back, but doing so would change nothing. The nothingness—the desolation—pressing toward Eliara wouldn’t stop. Her inability to control the power within the forest wouldn’t change. She’d be keeper in name only, barely able to use her gifts.
She needed what Lira could teach.
Eris led them to the gate and through. A tingle of anxiety crawled across her as she did, leaving her stomach fluttering, but it passed as the familiarity with the streets returned. She followed the road as it led to the palace. There, she finally paused, forced to a stop by the closed gate at the inner wall.
She stared at the heavy iron with a frown. “That’s odd.”
“What?”
“The gate is rarely closed. There should at least be guards standing by to let us in.”
“Think of what’s happened. Your sister was abducted. The magi tried to overthrow the king.”
“And I disappeared.”
Terran squeezed her hand. “There’s that.”
“Hopefully, Lira will have explained the reason why.”
Terran chuckled. “Otherwise, we’re in for an interesting greeting.”
She shot him a look as she walked to the gate and placed her hands on it. She quickly jerked away. Cold—almost angry—iron burned her hand. As she’d touched it, her connection to the distant Svanth Forest was severed.
“Iron,” Terran said.
Eris frowned. “What about iron?”
“Iron does something to keepers. You’ll have to ask Lira what it is.”
She remembered the cage the magi held Lira in after they captured her. Eris hadn’t understood at the time—and hadn’t thought to question since. If iron could cut her connection to the forest, she needed to know why. It was another reason for her to return.
Why would the palace even have iron gates? Was this some remnant of the magi influence? Eris didn’t think so; the gates were old—much older than her and her family, but hadn’t the keepers been around longer? Why, then, would the first builders have used iron?
More questions.
Hooves thundered up behind them, pounding across the stone.
Eris turned to see a line of horses approaching, riding hard. As they neared, they turned toward her and Terran. Men wearing gleaming mail and heavy helms rode quickly. A bannerman carrying her father’s sigil led the column. Eris smiled when she saw a blond-haired man near the back of the line, a long sword hanging from his waist. Blue eyes surveyed the wall as they neared. Her brother Jacen had changed since the last time she’d seen him, but she still recognized him easily.
Jacen saw her and halted his horse. “Palace is shuttered while the queen is ill,” he said.
Ill? Her mother was sick? Why hadn’t Lira sent word?
“Open the gates and let me in, Jacen.”
He frowned at her, his brow furrowing deeply. Jacen tossed his reins to one of the other men and leapt from the saddle with a crash of mail. He glanced at Terran and then dismissed him, turning toward Eris. He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword as he approached her.
“You speak to me as if you…�
� He stopped and frowned, looking at her with wide eyes. “Eris?” He dropped his hand from the hilt of his sword and hurried over and framed her face between his palms, twisting in from side to side. “It is you! Sacred Mother! Where have you been? What happened to you?”
She shook him off. “Nothing happened to me.”
Jacen took a step back. “Nothing happened…” He shook his head. “Jasi told me how you saved her. That you got her away from the magi.”
She looked from the closed gate to Jacen, planting her hands on her hips. Too many questions about that day still remained unanswered. The magi had attacked them both, but how had Jacen escaped?
Terran regarded her with a careful expression and took a step to the side. “Eris…” he whispered.
She didn’t take her eyes off Jacen. “About that. How is it you managed to get away from the magi?”
Jacen frowned. He looked from Eris to Terran before his gaze settled on Eris again. “What are you talking about?”
“When they took me. How did you get away?”
The image of his attack came back—struck from behind only moments before she was hit. And when she’d awakened, strapped to the side of a horse making its way toward the Svanth, she’d thought Jacen had been with her, only to learn it was Jasi.
“They didn’t want me. When they attacked, they stabbed me—” he tapped his right chest with his fist “—and left me for dead. I feared they did the same to you. It wasn’t until I found Jasi that I learned it was the magi.”
Eris frowned, and the anger waned. Jacen had been stabbed? How must he have felt, lying near the trees, his life seeping from him, not knowing what would come next? How frightened must he have been?
“Jacen…I’m sorry.”
He shut his eyes, as if pushing back the same memories Eris suffered. When he opened them again, they fixed Eris with a hard gaze. “But what happened to you since then? The Mistress of Flowers returned and said you were safe, but that was all. She convinced Father he didn’t need to send anyone to search for you. I’m still not sure how she managed to do that, but we’ve been so busy with patrols that he didn’t really have men to spare anyway. And she seemed confident you were well.” Jacen looked at Terran, considering him as he hadn’t done before. His hand drifted back to his sword, a dark expression painted across his face. “I remember you. One of Master Nel’s assistants.”
Terran nodded.
Jacen snorted and turned back to Eris. “So you are well. And with a gardener. Is this the reason you didn’t return? You feared Father’s reaction over your running off with a gardener?”
Terran coughed but didn’t say anything. Eris shot him a look before turning back to her brother. “Is that what you think I did, Jacen? That I ran off with a gardener?”
Jacen shrugged. “You’ve been gone months, Eris, and now you return with him, looking different than you used to.” His eyes widened briefly. “You’re not…”
“Not what?”
Jacen fixed Terran with the same hard expression he’d used on Eris. His hand gripped the hilt of his sword, flexing before releasing. He looked over at Eris. “Are you with child? Is that why you ran off?”
Eris looked from Jacen to Terran. Terran’s face had gone a deep shade of red that clashed with the green of his jacket, making him look like a striped dahlia. She considered letting Jacen think she was pregnant. At least then he’d have to help her.
“What sort of prince are you to leave your pregnant sister standing outside the gates to the palace?” Eris said it hoping maybe he’d open the gate and bring her to her parents.
Jacen’s eyes widened.
Seeing the look on Terran’s face, she shook her head. “No, I’m not with child.”
Jacen let out a soft breath and nodded. “Good. That might be more stress than Father can bear right now. If not that, then what?”
Eris considered how to answer. Did Jacen know what she had become? Had Lira let on that she was a keeper? Eris didn’t know what they knew about Lira. Certainly her mother knew, but did her father?
“I came to see Lira.”
Jacen jerked around to stare at her. “Lira? She’s the only reason you returned?”
“Of course not,” Eris said. “I heard Mother fell ill. I came to see her.”
Jacen considered her for a moment before nodding. “Well, Father will be pleased to see you. It is time for him to have good news. And Mother…” He shook his head. “Well, maybe your return will help Mother as well.”
Eris noted that he didn’t sound convinced.
He pointed to two men atop their horses and made a circular motion with his finger. The men nodded, climbed from their saddles, and handed the reins to Jacen. Jacen gave them to Eris and Terran and nodded to the horses.
“We’ll ride from here.”
“Not through the gate?” Eris asked.
Jacen shook his head.
Eris waited, but he didn’t say anything more.
Once they were saddled, Jacen started off, circling around the inner wall and away from the gate, leaving most of the men behind. Eris looked back to see the men turning the other direction, streaming around the wall toward the north.
“Where are you taking us?” she asked.
“You want to see Father?”
She nodded.
“He’s kept the gate closed. We have to go through the servants’ door.”
“Why? What’s happened while I was gone, Jacen?”
He looked over. For the first time, she noticed how tired his deep blue eyes appeared. Lines that weren’t there before now worked along the corners of his eyes. His hair hung limp around his shoulders. He held his reins in his left hand. The right clenched slightly and seemed thinner than the other.
“After the magi’s attack failed, I convinced Father to let me march toward Saffra.” Anger filled his voice, and his face seemed to darken. “The king had to have known what the magi intended. Jasi pleaded, telling me that her Prince Petra was innocent.” He snorted and shook his head. “So innocent he led the first attack on our men.”
Eris blinked slowly. “What did Jasi say?”
He shook his head. Eris understood. Jasi didn’t know.
“Is that where you’ve been? You’ve been battling with Saffra?” As long as Eris had been alive, Errasn had known peace. They had occasional attacks along the northern border but nothing more than minor skirmishes.
Jacen looked at her, eyes harder than they’d ever been. “We’re at war, Eris.”
Chapter 32
Eris rode silently the remainder of the way to the palace. The wall circled around the palace as it weaved through the city, separating her home from the rest of Eliara. It was not as high as the wall surrounding the city itself, but guards carrying crossbows stationed atop kept anyone from attempting to climb. Those guards hadn’t been there when she’d last been home. Had they been, she might never have gotten stuck on the wall. She might never have met Terran.
Terran sat atop the horse stiffly, clutching the reins. He glanced over at her from time to time but never said anything. Eris wondered if the return or her brother silenced him more.
They passed through the servants’ gate. It was a small door near the Braxon section of the city, a place of tidy, neat houses tucked close together where most of the handmaidens lived. As a child, Eris had often wandered through Braxon, accompanied by her mother’s maids. The homes always had a comfortable feel to them, warm and inviting.
Now she sensed none of that. The roads passing toward the wall were narrower here, and the air had a musty, aged odor that was different than other parts of the city. The door stood barely wide enough for the horse to slip through. Jacen climbed from the saddle and pushed it open before leading his horse. Eris followed, with Terran not far behind.
Once through, the palace grounds spread out before her. The contrast from the city to here was stark, more so than when entering through the main gate.
The grounds had once been mostly gre
en space with a few towering elms. Lira’s arrival changed all that. Now, rows of flowers all set in a pattern Eris still didn’t understand stretched around her. The fragrances of the flowers filled the air, nearly cloying and nothing like the heavy earthen scents she’d grown accustomed to while in the Svanth Forest. The energy around her was palpable.
Terran watched her as they made their way toward the palace and looked as if he wanted to take a step toward her. She shot him a look and waved him off. When she’d last been here, the power of the garden had been a mystery. In many ways, it still was. She was a forest keeper, with skills unlike Lira, but even still she felt—could likely access—the power stored within this garden.
Jacen caught her looking. “You thought it was destroyed?” His mouth tightened, and he shook his head. “After the magi attacked, Master Nels spent much time repairing the garden. Seemed particularly important to him. To Mother, too. Father placated her by giving her a few extra men to help replant.” He grunted. “A waste, if you ask me. Men needed to watch the walls were up to their elbows in dirt putting flowers back into place.”
At least Eris had the answer to one of her questions. Jacen didn’t know about Lira. Would he believe her if she told him those flowers likely kept the palace safe? Jacen believed in the force of man, and though he had seen the magi work, she doubted he would understand.
But Eris did. The power worked in the leaves, in the petals, gave Lira the energy she needed to keep Eliara safe. There was safety all around her, spreading out with a sense of warmth, radiating like the sun on a cloudless day.
That Lira hadn’t come to her troubled her. In a war with Saffra, there was much Eris might have been able to do to help. Lira’s power filled this garden, swelling and spilling over the walls, encapsulating the city. But there were limitations to the power. Couldn’t Eris have helped?
The Lost Garden: The Complete Series Page 26