The Myatheira Chronicles: The Vor'shai: From the Ashes (Volume 1)

by Melissa Collins

  “How much further do we have to go? If I have to stare at these dreary walls another minute, I am going to go mad,” Gislan complained.

  “It will not be long,” Kael replied calmly, his eyes glancing casually out the window. “We will be passing through the gates in another ten minutes or so.”

  Ten minutes. Her heart raced again, wondering if Maeri had made it to the city safely. She’d had a full day’s head start on them. More than enough time to settle herself at an inn and seek out a hiding place near the border.

  It was impossible to keep her head clear. So many thoughts and emotions ran wild in her mind at everything around her. From this moment on, it was no longer a game that she played. The danger was more real now than it ever was before. It was one thing to think about how life would be as a slave – it was a completely different feeling to realize that she was one. She was the property of Gislan… and Zander had profited well at the cost of her freedom.

  She was bothered that Zander had accepted the money from Gislan, though she knew very well he had no choice but to do it. If he’d given her away at no charge, Gislan might have become suspicious. Zander was supposed to be a businessman, after all. And businessmen didn’t get anywhere by giving away their wares for free. It just hurt her to think that her life had been attached to a price tag. You did this to yourself when you forced Thade to let you help.

  Thade. She couldn’t think about him. The mere mention of his name caused her heart to ache. He must be miserable, knowing that the trade had gone off successfully. Zander told her he would be heading to see him as soon as their carriage was out of sight. By now Thade and Feolan would both be aware that she was gone and there was no longer any hope of her backing out.

  The terrain outside was starting to look familiar to Leyna. They would be approaching the gates soon enough, the landscape already breaking up with a spattering of houses in the distance. This was her time to start moving around. She’d kept completely still and silent to this point, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. It might have come across as suspicious if she appeared anything but frightened and timid of her new owners.

  Leaning forward, she stretched her neck to see outside the carriage from over Kael’s lap. As she pressed against him, she heard him draw in a sharp breath, his upper body stiffening at her touch. It was strange to her. His body language suggested that he was nervous, but she couldn’t place if it was a hesitation at what Gislan would say about her actions, or if it was simply at her being close to him. He was harder to read than any of the other men she’d ever encountered… not counting the Consul. She had determined that he was absolutely impossible to decipher. There was no comparison to him.

  Up ahead she could see the gate approaching. She worried about the subtlety of Maeri, afraid that her presence might be noticeable from inside the carriage. Well-groomed trees and flowers lined the gates, creating ample places for one to hide from view of the road if they had need to. Finding no sign of her, Leyna felt only a brief moment of relief at the thought of Maeri having utilized such cover – the feeling quickly replaced by a gnawing fear that she wasn’t there at all. “Is this your first time to Dalonshire? You look intrigued by it.”

  His voice rang loudly next to her ear, reminding her of how close she was to his mouth. Watching the town gates pass them by through the window, she hesitantly leaned back in the seat, lowering her eyes down to the floor of the carriage. She couldn’t respond. It was important that she not come across too comfortable with her situation. There would be plenty of time to speak with Kael later, if his position amongst Mikel and Oksuva allowed him regular access to her. It was hard to judge with him. Without knowledge of how their house worked, she could only assume that it would be similar to Gislan and Zander. Frequent visits, but otherwise private housing for their family alone.

  “Answer the man, girl. He asked you a question.” Gislan’s voice was sharp, cracking like a whip to Leyna’s confused senses. How should she respond? She couldn’t tell the truth. They suspected her to have been a slave for years, even prior to being taken captive by Zander.

  Nervously, she cast her eyes up to Kael’s for a moment before quickly averting them once again. She couldn’t look at him. The look in his eyes burned through her in a way that she couldn’t bear to endure. “Yes, sir,” she lied, her voice barely above a whisper. “I have never been to Siscal at all before my master brought me here.”

  “He is not your master anymore,” Kael cut in sharply. It granted her the opportunity to take up her silence again, not wanting to continue speaking in Gislan’s presence. Her story had too many holes in it which she had yet to fill in. Discussion of her past right now could pose serious issues to her cover.

  His statement ended any chance at conversation, his jaw clenched tightly with restrained anger. No, he could never know the truth. She tortured him with her lies. To let him know it was all for naught would surely cause him to hate her… and she couldn’t bear the thought of him hating her. Quite contrary, she longed for him to keep his affection for her that she believed he carried, for she was certain that she had somehow fallen prey to him with her own.

  The carriage continued on through the city at a steady pace, the wheels grinding along the gravel of the main road. The shops were filled with streams of people moving about in and out of the doors, hurrying along the streets to do their shopping. Though not as large as the city of Siscal itself, it looked to be almost as populated, the people merely condensed into a smaller area.

  In the distance loomed an impressive estate set back away from the hustle and bustle of the city. A well constructed fence of stone and mortar surrounded the perimeter to the front, though it couldn’t hide the massive building behind its meager height, more for decoration than any practical use. Aside from the homes of nobility, it was the largest Leyna had ever seen, growing bigger with every step closer the horses brought them, the roof climbing higher in the sky until it blocked the clouds from view where the carriage came to a stop in front of it.

  Before the horses had finished their final steps, Gislan was already on her feet, preparing to step through the door. “I need out of this blasted cage,” she grumbled, wasting no time in clambering outside. In the freedom of the late afternoon breeze, she turned back around, blocking Kael’s exit through the door. “You know your way around here better than I do. Take her down to the cellar and see that she is properly shackled. We must keep her out of the way until Mikel’s party tomorrow night.”

  “Shackled? Gislan, I doubt that will be necessary –”

  “Kael, you will do what I say.” Gislan’s voice was firm and unyielding. Leyna knew there would be no changing her mind. The evening would come to pass for Leyna in the darkest corner of this house, no matter the protests Kael might try. He lacked the obvious sway over her that Zander had exhibited. It was clear which of the two she favored.

  He thought to argue with her more. Drawing in a deep breath of air, he prepared to launch into a heated debate, his mouth twitching irritably at the realization that he was wasting his time. He pursed his lips together tightly, bobbing his head up and down in a short nod of acceptance.

  The stern look on Gislan’s face faded away, replaced by a false air of sweetness about her entire person. She patted Kael’s cheek lightly with her hand as if he were a small child. From where she was sitting, Leyna could feel every muscle in his body tense at the gesture, barely holding himself back from slapping her hand away. Gislan missed nothing. Sensing his tension, she erupted into a high-pitched laughter. She was taking a grotesque pleasure in forcing him to act against his wishes. He didn’t dare say nor do anything to Gislan in return.

  How it must hurt his pride to have to stand there and take such treatment from this woman. An Esai. If he held the same contempt for her kind that Zander had displayed, it would have to be eating away at him inside. On the surface, he hid it extremely well. It wasn’t until Gislan had taken her leave of him and he had returned his attention to Leyn
a that she could see the frustration in his eyes. “This is only temporary, I promise you,” he frowned, taking her hand gently in his own, leading her out of the carriage onto the street. “Once Gislan has transferred possession of you over to Mikel, I will try to bargain with him for your freedom. Or at least a more pleasant living arrangement than that of his slaves.”

  A more pleasant living arrangement than his other slaves? Oh, that did not bode well in her mind. How bad could those arrangements be? Shackles in a damp and darkened cellar? Or could he imply that the conditions were even worse?

  Now wasn’t the time for questions. He was leading her through the carved wooden door of the grand house, slipping quietly down a back hallway off to one side of the foyer. They moved too quickly for her to see anything within the house, noting only that the entryway was spacious and well-tended, the tiles on the floor gleaming brightly from the afternoon sunlight pouring in from a glass setting in the domed ceiling.

  Further down the darkened hallway, Kael came to a stop in front of an arched wooden door with a heavy steel reinforcement running along the top and bottom of the boards. Leaving her off to one side, it took both of his hands to remove the sturdy latch from its resting place, allowing him to pull the door open on its grinding hinges. Fear gripped Leyna’s heart at the feeling of his hand clasping hers once again, tugging her closer to the thick black hole that extended beyond the door. It was completely dark. There was no sign of light to lead the way or warn her of what lay hidden in the depths of that place.

  It reminded her of the suffocating darkness of the chest her mother had hidden her away inside the day she was killed. The scar from the chest latch burned on her back. She’d hoped to take whatever her mission threw at her with dignity, but the suppressed emotions from her childhood held her back, her feet stiffening, locking her legs in place at Kael’s efforts to pull her forward.

  “Eleni, please,” he urged gently. She didn’t care how softly he spoke to her. The last place she wanted to go was through that door.

  Her breath caught in her throat at the feeling of Kael’s arms wrapping around her legs, sweeping her up off her feet. No. She didn’t want to go. Panic overpowered every other conscious thought in her mind, her hands pressing hard against his chest in her attempts to free herself from his grasp. She didn’t know exactly where she would go if she managed to break loose and regain her footing. All she knew was that if they were going to force her to go there, she refused to go without a fight.

  Foolishness. She hated the fact that she maintained such a ridiculous weakness after all these years. After so many battles and everything she’d seen, her mind couldn’t overcome the simple fear of that box she’d been captive in for those long hours, listening to the sounds of her mother being slaughtered while she hid away. That absolute darkness which she couldn’t escape to offer aid to those she loved. And here she was allowing herself to be put into it again. What if her friends were in danger and she was again trapped, unable to get to them?

  She wasn’t sure exactly when her struggling ceased, her frantic squirming changing to a desperate hold around Kael’s neck, clinging to him in the impenetrable darkness around them. He held her against him tightly, hushing her quietly to ease her trembling body. Somewhere in the distance she could see a soft flicker illuminating the end of the hallway. The glow of the sconce against the wall sent a wave of relief throughout her entire being, her head slumping against Kael’s shoulder. Light. The darkness wouldn’t be claiming her quite yet.

  Upon reaching the corner where the sconce lit the thick stones of the walls, Kael lowered Leyna back down to the ground, holding tightly to her hand in case she tried to run. There was no need for that anymore. The gentle flames helped to restore her senses, reminded of how imperative her mission was. She couldn’t put it all at risk because of her silly phobias. Their goals were too important for that.

  A set of steep stairs wound its way deeper down, the smell of soil telling her that they were making their way below the surface of the yard outside. The faint scent of mold clung to the stone walls, mingling with other fragrances that she couldn’t quite separate. It wasn’t entirely pleasant, while not the most unpleasant she’d ever experienced. It would take a bit of getting used to, if she were to be kept away in this miserable place.

  The opening for the stairs was only wide enough for a single person to fit. Guiding her in front of him, Kael lightly pushed her along, blocking her path back to the entrance. There was something foreboding about this place. It was like a dungeon from the fairy tales she was told as a young girl when Nasha would read to her and Reina before bed. Only there would be no prince to rescue her from this prison. Her prince was most likely distracted by some other young female, frolicking about the streets of Tanispa. Her well-being would be the furthest thing from his mind.

  At the base of the stairs, she felt her legs lock up once again. Not expecting her sudden halt, Kael continued forward, nearly knocking her off her feet with his momentum. Reflexively, he reached out for her, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her from falling. She was only vaguely aware of his hands against her. The sight before her was too shocking for her to focus on anything else.

  Along the walls, the stone broke open into several rooms, separated by heavy steel bars crossing from the floor to the ceiling, intersected by another set running side to side. It was more than just similar to the stories she’d been told as a child. This was the closest thing to those horrible dungeons she’d ever seen. Submerged underground, there was no natural light to break the shadows within each cell, the walls dingy and covered with specks of mold near the corners. “What is this place?”

  She didn’t care about the rules of speaking anymore. There was no one close enough to hear her whisper other than Kael. “This is the cellar. Mikel likes to keep most of his slaves here. Only a select few stay on the upper levels.” He was so close to her. She hadn’t realized just how much until his soft voice breezed by her ear, his breath warming her skin. Her heart didn’t race the way she expected it to. Instead it beat with a steady, almost hollow rhythm, within her chest. Each pulse was hard and jarring, making it difficult to breathe.

  “Am I to remain here forever?”

  “No. No, I would never allow that to happen,” Kael shook his head, spinning her body around to face him. “I just need you to be strong for me. Only for a night at least, until Mikel decides what he wants to do with you. After that, I will do everything in my power to convince him to let you move to the slaves’ quarters upstairs until I negotiate the terms of your freedom.”

  Hanging her head, Leyna stepped away from Kael. One night at least. Worded in that fashion implied the possibility of a lengthier stay. Even a single evening sounded like an eternity when faced with this dismal place. And what if he couldn’t negotiate her freedom the way he hoped? The thought alone sent shivers down her spine. None of this was working according to their plan. It would be impossible to sneak any form of written correspondence to the Consul if she were locked in this dungeon. Even worse, the chance of her determining any intelligence to benefit their cause was unlikely through the thickness of the stone walls and ceiling. It was too easy to fall to the daunting thoughts that she had given her life up for nothing.

  Kael guided her forward, leading her up to one of the cells at the far end of the hall. She tried to ignore the sickly looking figures of slaves lying on the floors of other cells, curled up for warmth in the corners. The depression was overwhelming, filling her with anxiety at the thought of ending up like them. Tears moistened her long lashes. All she wanted to do was sit down and cry – to let out all of the emotions which had been slowly accumulating inside her up to this point. None of her earlier fears could even compare to the reality she was faced with now. But she couldn’t allow herself to show that kind of weakness. She had to be strong, for the sake of her people. For the sake of Thade. She’d given him her assurances that she would be fine. What would he think of her if she were to collapse in
to a heap of tears in the cage of her enemy?

  The creaking of the hinges pulled her back from her thoughts. She was better than this. She just had to keep reminding herself. It was hard to believe that only a few weeks ago she had been welcomed as an adult among her people by the gods. They couldn’t abandon her now. And she couldn’t abandon them with premature defeat.

  With her chin held high, she stepped through the open bars into the cell. Gracefully, she made her way to the center of the tiny space, kneeling down on the floor without regard of what might contaminate its surface. Think back to the night by the sacred lake. Clearing her thoughts, she imagined the fresh air of the Tanispan forests surrounding her; the rustle of the leaves in the trees fluttering on a cool evening breeze. There had been no fear that night. No negative feelings of defeat. Only a pure devotion to her people, her ancestors, and to the gods, placing her life and soul in their hands for guidance. This night would be no different from the test she had completed then.

  In her meditative state, she never heard the bars of the cell closing behind her, sealing her in without any chance of escape. They would not have the satisfaction of seeing her broken on their dirty floors. She may be their slave in body, but her spirit was that of the Vor’shai. Her enemy would not wear her down so easily.

  Her legs were numb by the time the sound of footsteps could be heard echoing through the narrow passage of the stairs. The gait sounded masculine. A part of her prayed silently for it to be Kael’s face on the other side of the bars when they opened. She refused to turn around until she was summoned, holding her posture erect and unmoving from where she remained kneeling in the center of the floor.