The Queen's Opal: A Stone Bearers Novel (Book One)

by Jacque Stevens

  He cried out and fell into someone else’s arms. The power was spent and everything turned from red to black.

  CHAPTER 33

  DRYNN SAW SAYLEE as if meeting her face-to-face. She was full grown now, an elven woman with long red hair and a pleasant smile. The opal hung around her neck, but that is where the expected likeness ended—she didn’t look like his mother. Drynn wasn’t sure why he thought she should; she was his father’s ancestor. She was familiar, though. He had seen the shade of her hair and the green in her eyes every time he looked at a stream or a pool.

  The same eyes, the same stone, and the same . . .

  The vision shifted again, and Saylee wasn’t smiling anymore. She lay on the frozen ground, bleeding from her stomach. Pleading with a wizard man. Dying.

  “What happened?” Drynn asked.

  “She made a bargain. Her life, her magic, to defend the others.”

  The voice echoed behind him and filled his mind, but Drynn didn’t turn. He had never heard the voice before, but somehow, he expected it to be there. It belonged to this world of dreams, the presence he had been searching for at the end of the mists of green.

  “She died to protect us from the drow,” Drynn said.

  “Yes,” the voice agreed. “You are right to honor Starrillaylee; she has done much good. But the choice she made that day was a desperate one born of blood and pain. After she died, all Renewal could do was follow her last command, restoring the spell when more magic was needed, cursing her heirs to share her fate. As the seer promised, the spell she cast was held by her blood until her heir left the forest, ready to face the demons she left behind. And so you have.”

  Saylee’s image faded. Drynn spun around, finally facing the voice.

  “You left the forest and could be the one to break her curse, heal the rift between the races, and restore all that was lost with Starrillaylee’s death.” The glowing figure had the rough silhouette of a human or elf, but it was hard to say for certain.

  She was the goddess of the stone. Atriea. “Will you be my bearer?” she asked.

  A tumble of emotions raced through him. He always remembered things better when he held his mother’s stone. He had seen visions. He had healed Mira. Somehow, he had always known the opal was calling to him, leading him to something, but did that mean he had to take it?

  And why now? Why not when his mother was still alive or before he had taken one misstep after another and could have used the help? Did this goddess only love the humans, only lending her power when it would benefit them?

  “Drynn, you have always been my bearer,” the goddess said in answer to his unspoken thoughts. “The stone has always shone for you. I have been waiting for an heir of Starrillaylee to take her place for a long time, but I cannot undo the choices of others or force you to use powers you wouldn’t have understood. Until you understood the pain and fear of others, how could you heal it?”

  That was what Mouikki had said to Saylee. And Drynn knew it was true. In the forest, he couldn’t understand the human world, what it meant to be so overcome with fear or pain or even the human’s rabid sort of hunger that he would consider causing another pain in return.

  He did now. If the humans who hurt him felt the same fear, could he find a way to understand them? To heal them? Or even heal himself?

  “To be my bearer is to fully embrace the pain of the past, restoring the good,” the goddess continued. “Will you be this bearer, knowing its cost?”

  He wanted to, but he didn’t know where to start. Everything was too damaged. “What do you want me to do?”

  The green light of the goddess faded. He saw the temple ruins, the burned image of the phoenix, images of the broken world around him.

  “You have seen the decay and corruption of this world,” Atriea said, her voice now only in his head. “After our bearers fell, our influence diminished. For this world to heal, it must connect with its past and restore what has been lost. I cannot always help you directly, but my powers are yours whenever you need them. And as the seer said, you may find that healing those around you will do much to help you heal yourself.”

  That wasn’t an answer. He still didn’t know where to start.

  The image changed again to a vision like the ones he had before, except this time it wasn’t Saylee’s or Mira’s memory he inhabited.

  Fire blazed. A woman screamed. Drynn watched the scene through the tear-filled eyes of a small figure, coughing on smoke. Tears that made the thieves laugh and scorn him. Beat him far more times than Drynn ever was. Cornered, the person whose memory Drynn inhabited started to fight back. A man grabbed him, the fear took hold, and a knife moved on its own.

  Blood poured over the blade, stuck in the man’s side.

  The Lord laughed, coming up behind him. He had the same plain looks and broken nose, but he seemed taller than a giant over the much younger boy. “What did I tell you? If you’re going to knife a man, go for the heart. Don’t make me clean up after you again.”

  Drynn had heard The Lord say those words to the thieves before. This time, the words were for him—the person whose memory Drynn inhabited—and when The Lord’s knife flashed, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  The man dead. Blood everywhere. His fault.

  He had killed the man—fully becoming one of the thieves around him with no chance of escape or redemption.

  More images of Cain, The Lord, and Sorren followed. Pain, anger, fear—the random flashes of another life didn’t make much sense to him until he heard another voice he recognized.

  “Drynn? Drynn? You better wake up, ’cause Tayvin ain’t gonna believe this wasn’t my fault.” Kol. Scared. The thief boy had always been scared, but somehow Drynn hadn’t noticed.

  The opal still glowed in his hand as if to confirm the healing they both needed, but nothing else happened. No new vision arose to guide him.

  Perhaps this healing couldn’t come as easily as a physical wound.

  Not that healing a physical wound had been pleasant. Echoes of Mira’s pain still radiated from Drynn’s side as he stood. “Is Mira all right?”

  “The girl?” Kol asked. “She’s great. Started chattin’ up a storm once you fell asleep. Just a bit disoriented is all—doesn’t even remember the accident. But then she got tired again, so they took her up to the loft. Why didn’t you tell me you’re a magical bearer?”

  “I-I didn’t know.” Drynn still wasn’t sure if he believed it, even after everything that had happened. It was more power and responsibility than he ever imagined or wanted.

  Kol shrugged. “They’ll be comin’ down soon to ask ’bout you, but I gotta tell ya, it’d be better if you just leave. I’m thinkin’ of takin’ off too. The robes—”

  Wood scraped together as Nami came down the ladder. “Is he all right?”

  Kol got up in front of Drynn. “Yeah, he’s good. Magic just don’t agree with ’im.” Kol looked back at Drynn meaningfully.

  Was something else wrong, some trap about to spring? Did he need the knife?

  The healer smiled, her face still red with stress and tears. She turned to Drynn with an almost worshipful expression. “I don’t even know your name, but I need to thank you. What you did for Mira . . .” Her voice broke.

  Drynn’s cheeks grew hot. He might not need his knife, but having someone look at him like that was equally terrifying. “I’m Drynn. You don’t have to thank me.”

  “And you’re elven?”

  “Nami, where did you hear that word?” her husband asked from behind her. He sounded frightened as he looked Drynn over. All the humans were scared, not just Kol.

  “Elf?” Nami asked. “Everyone knows the word. They’re in a lot of bard stories. You are elven, right? Like Tayvin? It’s all right. Mira’s asleep.”

  “Yes. Tayvin’s my brother.” Everyone here seemed to know already.

  “Can all elves heal with magic? I noticed—”

  “Nami, we need to talk about this. If that’s an el
f . . . Arius always said . . .” Xavian spoke before Nami could finish her question or before Drynn could deny her claim about magic.

  Nami’s expression changed. Her voice dropped to a whisper, but remained sharp and piercing. “Don’t you talk to me about Arius. You know his theories and dealings with the council is the very reason I left, and you . . . you didn’t even try to come after me.”

  “Wait, that’s not what . . .” He shook his head. “I-I looked for you. Anytime I could get away, but when you left, you didn’t leave a lot of clues, and with the council breathing down our necks—I know Arius can get carried away. I don’t always agree with him, but you knew about him and that I was a wizard the day we met.”

  “Yes, but I, as several in your circle love to remind me, am a ‘brainless, common wench.’” She stormed to the far side of the kitchen, shaking the floorboards. “I didn’t know the way of life I was entering. Those people are no better than a den of vipers and you’re not much better—gone all day with your brother and your research. I was left to listen to terrible things, and you weren’t around to deny any of it. It was always . . .” She continued her tirade along the same lines.

  “Drynn, look away,” Kol said. “Pretend you can’t hear.” Drynn hadn’t noticed before, but Kol seemed rather uncomfortable, and his eyes were on the ceiling.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know; it’s a privacy issue or somethin’.” Kol shook his head. “It’s just wot we do.”

  “But that’s silly. We’re in the same house; of course we can hear.”

  “Yeah.” Kol’s eyes stayed locked upward. “But we can’t leave without attractin’ their attention and interruptin’ ’em. Xavian wanted me to stay close to ’im, and I’m kinda curious now, so just be quiet and pretend you’re not listenin’.”

  Drynn shrugged and looked away. Whatever made the humans happy.

  “But I knew you were making people angry,” Nami said. “You might be above their reproach, but we’re not. There were threats. The children were, are, so young, and I was afraid. That’s why I left.” She slumped into a chair. “I couldn’t really get away it seems. Ian, the rope was cut.”

  Drynn jerked around, and even Kol wasn’t pretending not to listen anymore.

  “What?” the wizard asked.

  “The rope, the beam that hit Mira, it was done on purpose,” Nami said. “Someone thought magic was being done in our house and hurt our daughter to prove it. So if Sorren investigates—”

  “You want him to think I healed her. That’s why you called me.”

  “It didn’t seem like I had any choice. If Sorren wanted to take Tayvin and kill us all, no one would say a word. Only another noble could dispute his claim. The elves use magic, but they are harmless, and it’s your child Drynn just healed. Whatever happened between us, you’ll protect them. If we come back with you—”

  “Nami, don’t. Of course, I’ll help. I want you back with me more than anything, but please don’t make it seem like I’m forcing you. Don’t make me into Sorren. Nami, I love you.”

  The humans were still talking, even yelling, but Drynn was no longer listening. He had known coming back here would be a trap even without a vision, but he wouldn’t have guessed that Nami had come to the same conclusion. She had sent Tayvin away. She had called Xavian, exposing herself to the man she had been hiding from. Just like Jesp would have exposed himself to the thieves and like Kol exposed himself to the wizards he hated. All to help them.

  And knowing what these kind of selfless actions cost the humans in this dark world of fear only made the sight more awe-inspiring. Even healing.

  Drynn looked back at the humans. Xavian was holding Nami.

  “I’m sorry,” the wizard said. “I brought you into all of this. I know what the others are like. I want to change it. Arius does, too. That’s why we work so hard, but I should have told you more. I thought I was protecting you, and I hurt you instead. I want to protect you, your friends . . . Whoever did this, we can take care of it. Come home, and things will be better, I promise.”

  Kol nudged him. Drynn had been staring again, but he couldn’t help it. Humans were fascinating. Yelling, eating, fighting, and kissing in an endless spiral. Seeing it firsthand was different than he imagined. Scarier. Harder. Different than the books, but still he was smiling.

  The Lord had lied. These humans were good. Maybe even the ones in the Tower. The ones like Xavian, wearing green robes just like the healers in his visions. And maybe if Drynn stopped running, stopped being afraid, other humans would stop being afraid too.

  They would protect and heal each other, just as his visions had said.

  “Drynn,” Kol said with a hint of irritation in his voice, “when Tayvin gets back, you should tell ’im you need to go. The sooner, the better. And—”

  “Nonsense, Kol.” Xavian turned his attention back on them. “It’s the old religion, just like we all have been studying—when I learned the healing magic.”

  He took Nami’s hand as if to prove he was going to include her now. “We’ve been fascinated by the stones referred to in the old texts and hoped we could find them someday. The bearers as well. Drynn could be one of those bearers, and from the looks of it, everything is as new to him as it is to us. I would be honored to take him into the Tower and teach him all we have learned about the stones. It might be the best anyone can offer at this point.”

  “But it would be dangerous,” Kol tried again as Drynn hesitated.

  “I will take care of your friend personally, and you and Arius will be around as well. What exactly are you afraid of?”

  Kol opened his mouth a few times, but he didn’t come up with anything before Xavian turned back to Drynn.

  “Well then, what do you think, Drynn?”

  Kol might have reservations about wizards, but Xavian’s offer was just what Drynn had hoped for. He needed help, and when Saylee received the stone, several robed men were said to be its followers. Ones who also healed with magic. That was a long time ago, but even Jesp had said the wizards had more accurate written histories, so maybe they still knew something. It could be what all his dreams had been leading him to. Drynn would be learning about the opal and its powers, but still be near Tayvin and Kol if he decided to stay.

  Healing Mira had helped him more than he ever thought possible.

  “I’ll go.” The tremor faded from his voice. He could do this. He could help fix the world so there wouldn’t be a thief left.

  Kol scowled. “Fine. Do wotever you want. I’m out of ’ere.” He stomped out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Gone.

  Oops. That wasn’t what Drynn wanted at all. He was supposed to be making friends with the humans now. Drynn’s new plans for the future were meant to help all of them, but Kol wouldn’t know that. Drynn had already driven his first human friend away, just because he hadn’t explained.

  “Kol.” Xavian dropped Nami’s hand and started after him.

  “I’ll do it.” Drynn came to his feet. He was out the door before either of them could offer a single word in protest.

  CHAPTER 34

  AS SOON AS Drynn got outside, Tayvin ran to him. “Drynn?”

  Drynn didn’t have time to talk. The human knew the city better than he did and could be anywhere. But Drynn was a healer now, a bearer. The opal had shone him Kol’s memories, so Kol must need to be healed. Kol just might not know it yet. “Did you see him?” Drynn asked.

  “Kol?” Tayvin jerked his head behind him. “Ran by a moment ago. What’s going on? Is Mira all right?”

  Drynn geared himself to run, the opal still in his hand. “She’s fine. I have to find Kol. The opal showed me—”

  “Get rid of that.” Tayvin knocked the opal out of Drynn’s hand. It rolled on the grass, leaving Drynn too startled to move. Tayvin turned away from Drynn, but his arms still flailed in a directionless rage. “That thing is dangerous. It killed our mother, and it’s going to kill you.”

  “What?”


  “Before we left, the rangers said . . .” Tayvin bowed his head, slumped over. “The opal killed her. Father’s whole family—the queens, the heirs, all of them.”

  The illness. A curse. All of Saylee’s heirs had died because of it, just as the goddess had said.

  “All the council knows and they haven’t done anything,” Tayvin continued. “That’s why we had to come here, but if you keep running off after magic and thieves you’re going to die a whole lot faster. We should go home. I don’t understand much about healing yet, but we’ll find some other way. I don’t want to lose you again. I can’t.”

  In an instant, his brother looked so broken and small. How long had Tayvin been carrying this burden alone? Did he think Drynn wasn’t strong enough to carry it with him?

  Maybe Drynn hadn’t been, but he wanted to be now.

  “You came here for me.” Drynn had thought he followed Tayvin, but everything his brother did was for him. Staying in the healer’s house, putting up his sword, risking himself again and again. Carrying an unspeakable burden that gave birth to a rage he could barely contain.

  Tayvin frowned as if that should have been obvious, and the guilt pierced Drynn through. When Tayvin had reappeared, Drynn had let his fears take over, forgetting something he should have always known. His brother wasn’t perfect, didn’t understand everything Drynn did now, but Tayvin loved him, and that was all that mattered.

  Drynn didn’t have to cower. He had someone he trusted to always be on his side.

  He was so lucky, but he still had to find Kol. They could never fix everything without Kol’s help, but the human would likely stay hidden if Tayvin came and glared at him again.

  Drynn had to talk to him first.

  Drynn picked up the opal. “Tayvin, I’m so sorry. I know the magic might be dangerous, but I need to do this. Can you wait, just for a moment? You trusted Cindle. Can you trust me, just for a little bit? I’ll be back, and I’ll try to explain everything, I promise.”