The Unblessed Child

by R J Kaldanis

  “What happened to the prisoner? Where are they now? Maybe I can get some more answers from them?”

  Chastion shook his head, clenching his jaw and tightened his fists. He refused to look her in the eye now and simply interjected with,

  “No.”

  Of all the opportunities for Chastion to be the brave big brother and look out for his sister, she felt like now was not the right time. If there was someone here, someone that she could question, someone that could maybe tell her what this curse was, then she didn’t care if she had to go behind the crowned prince’s back. She would ask the prisoner questions until her voice was hoarse and she had the answers she needed.

  “Chastion, I need to know what is going on. I need some answers, particularly now that Teme has -” She willed herself to finish the sentence without crying, without collapsing into a blubbering mess as she felt the hole in her heart, caused by the cruel and sudden departure of her oldest friend, widen.

  “Teme has what?” Chastion’s eyes suddenly flicked to hers. He remembered the vision, remembered how close that man had come to killing her before she had even been held by their father. He would never let that man close to his sister again, he vowed it on his life.

  “Well, that he’s dead. Princess Kibo told me, I thought you must have known.” Aardriyah quietly mentioned, realising the shock and confusion spread across Chastion’s face as he took in her words.

  “Those answers he promised to me, those words and all that knowledge he held on to, whatever he suspected, it’s all lost. I’m not even sure where to begin looking in Rovik, he never told me the name of who we were to meet, or where we were to meet. So if this prisoner has any information, anything he can give me that might help, I need to know. I need to ask them.” She pleaded with her brother to see why it was so vital that she spoke with them, risk or not. He sighed, cursing himself under his breath.

  “You can’t. Not because I think it’s a bad idea, but because the prisoner is dead.” He finally said. Refusing to look her in the eyes as he said it. Aardriyah felt gutted, angry at herself for smashing the amulet, assuming that the being must have died when she shattered it in on the floor. Then she remembered something Sekher and Rachida had mentioned, that the prisoner was being held on board; they spoke as if it lived beyond that night. Right on cue, Chastion answered her unspoken question.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it, I tried but it showed me a darkness and made me so…” He took a breath, not wanting to utter the truth behind the hatred he felt for that creature.

  “It all happened before I had a chance to control myself.” He mumbled, realising he still had no rational reason for doing what he did, for taking a life that wasn’t his to take.

  Aardriyah breathed heavily and quickly, shaking in anger and confusion. It was enough that she felt alone and afraid her entire life for being unblessed, for being unworthy of any love or affection. She finally had a real chance of understanding who she was and it had been snatched from her, thrown away into the depths of the ocean. She was furious, inconsolable in her anger and sadness, she wanted to slap Chastion, to damn him for once again taking away something so important to her, she clenched and unclenched her fists. Rising from the table, she tried to walk away, tried to leave her brother as he wallowed in self-hatred, but just as she went to take the first step toward the door, the anger unleashed in her - the years of pent up blame and hatred for someone who should have protected her and had her best interests at heart. She couldn’t take it anymore and without further hesitation, the palm of her right hand flew open and slapped Chastion across the face, so hard she was sure it echoed across the encampment.

  In the moments that followed, she too felt as though she had been slapped as if a force had whipped itself against her head, across her memories. When her hand brushed his cheek in the forceful motion, it was as if she took with it all the recent memories that belonged in his head. She saw it all as it happened, the argument with his mothers’, the days he spent watching over her limp body in the healer’s bay, the waterlogged bodies he retrieved time and time again from the wreckage. It was horrendous, the amount of carnage and loss, the wails and cries of the shipmates as they burnt the bodies of their loved ones or watched them sink in the ocean. Then she saw then what he had been fighting with the most, a memory that felt like poison, eating away at any happy memory he ever possessed. She felt it as if it was her own, the anger and hatred, a wrath worthy of the gods that filled his soul as he drew the life from the being in front of him. The thud as the lifeless body hit the floor, echoing forever more in his mind.

  With wide eyes, she gasped at him, the brave saviour of the four United Water Kingdoms, and realised she knew nothing of him. Aardriyah ran from the canvas tent, trying as hard as she could to get away from the murderer she once called brother. As she neared the spot her bedroll had been prepared, Rachida ran to her friends’ side, noticing the clear shock spread across her face.

  “Riyah, what is it?” Her warm fire blessed hands grasping Aardriyah’s shaking ones. Aardriyah just shook her head, looking off into the distance as the memories, his memories, floated around in her head. She couldn’t understand it, why someone as morally diligent as Chastion would take the life of someone already lying defenceless in a prison cell, why he would think he had a right to end a life rather than ensure the prisoner faced justice in the courts. It shook her and made her question everything she knew about her brother. Wiping away a tear from her cheek, she inhaled deeply, slowed her breath and looked into Rachida’s concerned eyes.

  “I’m fine, I promise.” She said, moving towards her bed roll and tucking herself inside. Kit curled up beside her, forcing her to share some of her feather pillow with him. Rachida laid down on her stomach in her own bedroll, beside Aardriyah. She looked into Aardriyah’s face, searching it for some indication on what was troubling her, what had just happened with the prince, but she couldn’t read her. She resolved to trying to cheer her friend up a little, and said,

  “Did you see Queen Iber earlier?”

  Aardriyah nodded, slowly opening her eyes and looking towards the night sky.

  “Oh my Lugh was she drunk! She came storming back through the camp raving about some beautiful water maiden she spotted off the jetty. Raving about her pearlescent skin and long tale the shape of a dolphins.” Rachida laughed retelling the story in an impression of Queen Iber’s thick Sian accent,

  “She was most beautiful woman I ever did see! You don’t believe? Go find yourself, tell her I sent you and give her kiss for me, my wife kill me if she find out I kiss nother woman. But tell you this, does it count as woman if it is water woman? Like dolphin?”

  Aardriyah giggled into the night sky, then turned on her side to look at Rachida. She smiled slightly but was still overwhelmed by the intoxicating feeling of guilt and hatred that filled her soul, a feeling she was sure she shared with her brother.

  “I’m really glad i met you, Chidi.” she said.

  Rachida smiled and said,

  “Really? I thought my incessant talking was your idea of the Netherworld?”

  “Sometimes it is. Other times, it’s a needed distraction.” Aardriyah responded,

  “You remind me of my little sister actually.”

  “I didn’t know you had one? She must be supremely talented and wise beyond her years.” Rachida beamed. Aardriyah nodded, and through a faint smile she said,

  “She is.”

  With those final words, Aardriyah drifted to sleep, the sound of the water lapping the shore not too far away providing a quieting comfort, reminding her of the noise she could hear from her bedroom on still Suns Inhalation nights. It wasn’t long before she was welcomed to the dream for the night, but this one was a little too close for comfort.

  Aardriyah recognised the wooden chamber, the large bed covered in furs and the bookshelves that had filled Princess Kibo’s room aboard the ship. Chastion was pacing back and forth, while Prin
cess Kibo sat at her desk, sipping a cup of jasmine tea, watching Chastion out of the corner of her eye.

  “We must set the date, we can’t keep putting it off Kibo.” He exclaimed, clearly frustrated. Princess Kibo said nothing, and instead took another sip of her tea.

  “You know that our mothers didn’t love each other, I bet Undina they’ve had their indiscretions from time to time but they did what was right, what was expected of them and look at the peace that has endured because of it.” He turned to Princess Kibo, raising his arms in exasperation.

  “Speak damn it!”

  Princess Kibo sat down her tea cup and contemplated a while longer, before finally saying,

  “I don’t think it would work, in the long term. The truth would find a way out and that would do more damage to our United Water Kingdoms’ integrity than fulfilling a promise.” She looked into his eyes finally, unwavering in her resolve. Aardriyah wanted to applaud the princess, she was so different to people like Rachida or Sonas or even herself who said more than they needed and rushed to fill in any silence. While Kibo didn’t speak much, when she did speak she had an air of authority and wisdom that surrounded every word.

  “Can you imagine what would happen if Iber found out? How she’d react?” Chastion chimed in, he made his way to Kibo and bent down on his knees so they were at the same eye height, he grabbed her hands and pleaded with her,

  “The Arche is almost here, the people of the kingdoms are expecting a date to be set, they need hope that this alliance will last, that future prosperity and peace is cemented with our wedding. We must announce it on Watersday of The Arche - it’s the perfect gift for our loyal subjects.”

  Princess Kibo pulled her hands away from Prince Chastion’s and made her way towards the wardrobe. She was still dressed in her evening robe, a beautiful navy-blue satin with waterbirds painted on. As beautiful as it was, there was no denying it was inappropriate attire for handling the matters of the day.

  “I cannot lie to my people. It is not honourable.”

  Chastion grabbed the Princess by her shoulder, the robe falling slightly unveiling a simple slip underneath. Just as he went to speak in defiance of his betrothed, the door opened and there stood Aardriyah, oblivious to the intrusion she had made on a sensitive and rare exchange of honesty between the two heirs of the United Water Kingdom.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  the town of capap

  The morning following their arrival on the shores of The Dead Bay, the camp packed up in the first light and began the march forward along the coastline. They aimed to reach a small old earth blessed town of Capap by last light. Rachida had explained that Capap wasn’t really considered an earth blessed town anymore, as all those born with the blessing were sent to Olurun to hone their skills. The only people that were left were the unblessed, which meant travelling into Capap was much easier. While the winds of Moons Exhalation sent shivers down the spines of the wandering souls, the beaming sun provided some relief, reflecting off the warming golden sand crunching beneath their feet. The beaming water was as translucent as Aardriyah had ever seen, full of native fish ready to be devoured for a lunchtime feast. Aardriyah remained with Rachida for most of the morning, listening to her endless stories of her family and the history of The Shahood Empire to which she belonged. She tried to pay attention to as much as she could, but the conversation from the night prior and the dreams she had were plaguing her thoughts, demanding more of her attention.

  “Are the royal family respected? In your experience I mean, from what you have seen.” Aardriyah interrupted what Rachida had been rattling on about. She wasn’t impressed by the sudden realisation that Aardriyah was clearly only selectively listening to bits and pieces of her stories. She shook her head and looked over to the water, before responding.

  “I suppose so? We don’t really get a lot of time out in the cities to talk to any of their subjects; you know the Law of Separation and all. But I haven’t seen any riots or heard of any talks of overthrowing them, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Aardriyah nodded, biting the inside of her right cheek as she contemplated the conversation she had envisioned in her dream.

  “What about the mysterious lover you mentioned the other day?”

  “Oh that’s just a rumour, I’m sure there’s no merit to it. You know what people are like when they don’t get answers, they try to invent answers or reasons for the way things are. But Princess Kibo and Prince Chastion could just dispel it by setting a wedding date. I mean why wouldn’t you? It’s not like it’s rushed or either of them are morbidly unattractive.” Rachida said.

  “I’m sure they’ll announce something any day now.” Aardriyah tried to cheer Rachida up, but couldn’t shake the words echoing in her head,

  I cannot lie to my people.

  Perhaps Princess Kibo was having an affair and perhaps the royal wedding wouldn’t go ahead because her heart belonged to another and she refused to fake the vows of a marriage for the sake of a betrothal forced upon her at such a young age. Aardriyah hoped it was untrue, after all Princess Kibo didn’t seem like one to ever do something so frowned upon, or risk damage to her reputation. She was so calculated in everything she did, how could she be reckless enough to give her heart to another. Aardriyah sighed, realising she wouldn’t be able to understand any of this without confronting either the Prince or Princess directly. Even then, they had no obligation to tell her. After all, it was a private conversation and she was an ethereal fly on the wall, not meant to be privy to any of it.

  As the day wore on the coastline began to change colour and pattern, limestone rocks now replacing the golden sand beneath their feet. The party decided to take the cliffside route rather than the beachside. Making their way up and down a perilous path known as The Zig Zag Mountains, named particularly because of the never-ending winding back and forth. Large juts of red and orange rocks blocked a straight thoroughfare, tiring the company much quicker than the simple path along the sand.

  At last light they finally reached the small town of Capap, a large faded rock declaring such in white hand painted letters, underneath it read ‘Population 27’. Queen Iber announced to the company that there was an inn she used to frequent that should have enough rooms for at least all the blessed. Aardriyah looked past the sign, and saw several human made mounds, with small rounded holes in the front. The landscape was baron, besides a few windswept and dead trees and tufts of spiky straw-coloured bushes. There were easily hundreds of the mounds varying in heights, widths and depth, yet only one small path, which led through the centre of what she assumed was the township. Torches illuminated the door ways of each of the mound houses, but not much else seemed to decorate the exterior of the houses. There were no doors attached to the front of the mounds, instead strings of pebbles and shells hung in the entrance holes, every now and then hitting each other in the wind making soft clattering sounds. Aardriyah supposed in a town so small there wouldn’t be much need for the security of a door, not when everyone surely knew each other.

  As the company made their way towards what Aardriyah assumed was the inn, their feet adjusted again to sand, this time deep orange and brown in hue. The inn itself was one of the said mounds, a little larger than most that consisted of several tunnels underground, leading to cavernous rooms beneath the surface. The more luxurious of the rooms had simple cliff face openings, orange rock balustrades curtailing the edges at waist height to avoid any unfortunate accidents.

  “Wanna share again?” Rachida asked as she tried to push her way through the weary and bed deprived staff.

  “Depends, are you going to snore again?” Aardriyah pulled a face towards her friend. Rachida rolled her eyes and poked out her tongue,

  “That was Kit, I swear.”

  Thankfully the women were able to get a room together, even though several blessed staff had an issue with an unblessed servant getting a room over them. The room was similar in size to the one aboard the
ship, but the roof was much lower, requiring any entrant above the size of a child of twelve, to duck the entire time. Once the woman had placed their canvas sacks upon the two small beds, they made their way into the dining hall of the inn. It was surprisingly the nicest sight of the entire town and elevated both women’s moods the instant they entered. The roof of the dining hall pivoted in several sections, dipping and rising as if carved by a calm ocean’s waves. In small gaps around the hall, candles had been melted in place, giving it an eternal sunset glow. Chairs and tables had been carved from the orange rock surrounding them on all sides, and despite the beauty of the place, the lack of comfort provided by the hard chairs managed to ensure no one stayed in the dining hall longer than necessary. The servants and staff of the royal family had all entered the dining hall and wearily found space where they could, before grabbing a bowl of the rice dish on offer. Kit gladly went around cleaning the bowls of any who allowed him, bringing smiles and laughter to those who desperately needed it as he performed his cleaning duty. Aardriyah scanned the room, time and again but found herself disappointed in not being able to find the one person she hoped to see.

  “Sekher’s probably doing his routine check-up on the Prince and Queen; don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Rachida said, smiling a wicked smile and seeing right through Aardriyah’s desires. She blushed, cheeks warming at how obvious she must have been.

  Queen Iber entered the room, several glass bottle in hand,

  “Who needs a drink?” She roared, which seemed to suddenly light the whole room ablaze as cheers of gratitude rang out within the hall. She placed the bottles at the four tables everyone was stationed at and sat herself down at the head of the table of guards. Chastion and Sekher entered the room almost unnoticed given the sudden frenzy of the room to get at least a drop of the strong alcohol being greedily poured. Aardriyah noticed, and perhaps she read into it too much or saw something that no one else did, but Chastion brushed a hand over Sekher’s cheek and smiled before departing from the healer. She’d never seen Chastion smile like that before, and Sekher, as dark as his skin was, seemed to glow in the presence of Chastion, his brilliant smile reaching his eyes. Noticing her stare, Sekher made his way straight to Aardriyah. She rose from her chair and greeted him with a welcome, slightly awkward, smile. She wanted to embrace him in a warm hug, feel the love he exuberated within her, but she was sure that someone was still in charge of ensuring the Law of Separation was respected - and she didn’t feel like taking the risk right now.