“Such a shame,” a woman’s voice said. “So young, so much yet to live for.”
“And the child has completely recovered?” another woman said.
“She did, by some miracle. But it might have better for them if she hadn’t.”
Everything stilled. In silence. In disbelief. In horror.
Tellie’s breath rushed back into her lungs with the violence of a storm. A terrible mistake had been made. This had nothing to do with Errance. This was a memory of herself when she was but five years old. Again, she sat in this attic hearing what she was never meant to hear. She covered her ears, desperate to block out the voices, but still they came.
“How do you mean?” the other woman asked.
“They might have recovered if they hadn’t tried so hard to keep her alive.” The woman clucked her tongue. “A crying shame, that’s what it is.”
“What’s to happen to the girl anyway?”
“Well now that it’s certain she doesn’t have the plague, I’ll pass her on to the orphanage…”
The voices faded away as the woman finished cleaning the room below and walked out the door.
Tellie huddled on the floor, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs.
“Tellie?”
She nearly screamed to hear the child Errance’s voice again, so near. He stood across from her, his hands on his hips.
“Where’d you go?” he demanded. “We’re almost there.”
She shook her head, eyes burning. “Where did you take me?” she asked hoarsely. “How…Rendar, something’s wrong, it’s all wrong.”
The boy dropped down beside her in concern. “What’s wrong? Do you need me to go find Father?”
She reached out and grabbed his arm, able to see him perfectly despite the darkness around them. “What do you see? Are we still in your cave?”
“Of course we are.” He stared at her like she’d gone mad. Perhaps she had. Perhaps she hadn’t been strong enough for whatever Rendar had prepared for her, and this was the result of a snapped mind.
The world around her changed again. Errance was no longer there, and she sat instead on the dusty ground, her knees stinging with dust in scraped flesh. Chills ran up and down her body as she recalled this scene as well, one of many.
Slowly, she lifted her eyes to the boy who’d just pushed her down. He stood there, older and wickeder looking than perhaps he had been in real life, but no different from how she’d always perceived him. A boy named Nad who’d rounded together some of the orphans to make her the target of their games.
“Don’t get too close to her, Nad,” one of the other boys called. “She might give you the plague!”
“Yeah,” another jeered. “If you don’t watch it, she’ll kill you just like she killed her mum and dad.”
“I did not,” she shouted before she could stop herself. Tears could no longer be held back, and they streaked pale lines through her dirty cheeks.
“They wouldn’t have died if they hadn’t had you,” he taunted. They all laughed and began to dance around her in a ring, their chanting reeling around her.
She cowered into herself, hoping that this too would melt away if she ignored them hard enough. “Go away,” she whispered. “Just—”
“Leave her alone!” an indignant voice cried.
Her eyes flew open to see the child Errance duck through the cavorting children and into their ring. Could he actually see them now? It was apparent he could as he charged straight up to Nad with fists clenched. Undaunted by the elder boy’s towering height, he lifted his chin and ordered, “Let her go at once.” His eyes flashed with all the fire and force of a king.
For a moment, Nad seemed startled, but then he drew back his fist and smacked the little prince across the face.
Tellie cried out in protest as Errance stumbled back and collapsed. He lifted himself up on one elbow and gingerly touched his broken lip. He stared at the smeared blood on his finger with more curiosity than repulsion. Nad and the others closed in around him like wolves.
With a growl, Tellie surged to her feet and caught Nad’s shirt. “Don’t you dare touch him!”
Nad spun towards her, his face knotted with anger. But before her eyes, the anger melted like wax, reforming into mortal dread.
“She has the Flags!” he wailed, wrenching out of her grasp. All the bullies scattered, staring at her in dismay.
When she lifted her hand before her face, she saw the red blotches across it, and her vision blurred till the splotches wavered like the flags for which they were named. The plague. She had it again and she would destroy everyone around her. Shadows rushed in once more, and the figures of her torments began to writhe and gravitate around her till they flickered out of existence.
Closing her eyes and covering her ears, she screamed. Her knees folded, and she hit the ground hard, forehead slamming into the dirt.
With all the beauty of a sunray slipping through a storm, Errance’s voice echoed through her muffled ears. “Tellie? Tellie, are you all right?”
His delicate fingers touched her arm, and she recoiled. No, NO, he could not catch it. “Stay back,” she ordered, leaping to her feet. The hurt in his darling eyes smote her, but she smothered the guilt. If he died because of her as well…she would never forgive herself. “Just stay away from me!”
She turned and ran, plunging deeper into the shadows. The chanting still followed her no matter how hard she ran; the blotches still remained no matter how deeply she scratched at them. But she could not run forever, and in the end, she fell again.
Cold, wet stone rested under her body, and she realized she’d returned to Errance’s cave. As her hiccupping cries faded, she became aware of another sound—the pure bubbling of a spring. She turned and found herself at the edge of a pool fed from an underground river. The surface near her remained smooth and still, and a brightness seemed to reside within it.
Trembling, she leaned out over the surface to see her reflection. The blotches no longer marred her cheeks, but she did not even notice. She could only stare disbelieving at her own face. Surely she’d not aged so much since she’d last looked in a mirror. The shadows in her skin, the tightness of her mouth, and the heaviness in her eyes did not belong to her. They belonged to a tired, broken soul.
They belonged to Errance.
Another figure reflected in the water, and she whirled around to face Rendar. “What happened?” she demanded, her voice harsh and choked. “What sort of dream was that? You told me I’d understand Errance.”
“Do you not?” he asked softly.
Her gaze began to drop back down to that terrible reflection, but she jerked it back up. “That’s not me. It can’t be.”
He settled alongside her, stirring his fingers in the pool and watched the ripples dance away from him. “It’s a more honest glimpse of yourself than you’ve ever dared look at. No matter what you may pretend, deep down inside, it is always there.” The gaze of his reflection met hers.
“But if that’s true,” she whispered, “I can’t be the only one. You always say I was chosen, but my pain doesn’t make me special. There are a lot of girls like me. Everyone gets hurt.”
“Just so,” Rendar said. “But perhaps you were chosen for this role not just because of how you could help, but how you could be helped in return. Your family circumstances are…in part our fault.”
“What?”
“You went to live in Denji inn because you were related to the owners. Your grandfather was the ambassador of Dormandy, and he was cousins with the current innkeepers. He died that night.”
“Yes,” she said, shivering. “I’ve been told that.”
“I did not know it until long after, but his unexpected death brought financial ruin for his family. His young son was raised in poverty and, in turn, married a poor woman, and they had you. I cannot help but think if I had known this, I could have helped and perhaps prevented the sickness from ever touching your family.”
Tellie swallow
ed. “It’s not your fault,” she said bravely. She certainly would not be telling Errance. He blamed himself for enough deaths already.
“Still,” Rendar said. “I believe this is one of the reasons Ayeshune brought you to us. So we could help what we had hurt.”
He rose, and his hand knocked the side of the cave wall. Instantly, the stone chamber lit in thousands of brilliant blue lights clustered to the side of the walls like moss, shimmering with the pulse of life. Tellie gazed at them in awe, never noticing the pool, stone, and even Rendar fade till she found that the little blue lights were the stars above her, and she sat in the camp with the others once more.
But she’d not returned to her body yet so she hurried over to where Errance, the real Errance, was now sleeping. She knelt beside him and whispered, “It’s your favorite place in the world.”
A crease bent between his brows.
“Their glow gathers brightest in the bubbling spring, but when you touch the walls, all the lights flicker to life,” she continued. “I think they might be alive, but I don’t know, because I’ve never seen anything like them. They are like stars and how beautiful they glow in the darkness. You might never see their true beauty except in that cave. You lean back and listen to the water’s song, and the lights shine for ever and ever.”
She watched as the lines in his face smoothed like the ripples in the spring, and for a breath, she saw the boy in his face again.
She crept away from him and returned to herself, where peaceful slumber with natural dreams claimed her once more.
24
oOo
Memories long forgotten drift through my mind again. The warmth of my father’s hand, the company of a winged creature, the sparkle of a starlit cave…An ache seizes my heart, almost stirring me from sleep, but I accept the pain because it is better than other thoughts more troubling. In this unexpected and strange moment of peace, I can almost imagine myself back there—in a land of laughter, daishas, and dreams.
Tryss had insisted she walk on her own the next morning, and so their pace was slower to give her a chance. They kept to the ridges just above the road along the sea, and thus far they had not seen any travelers. It was a wild and lonely part of Orim, drawing ever nearer to the North. The air was getting colder, and every once and a while they glimpsed taller mountain peaks further in, dusted with snow.
And then, a company appeared on the road.
“Get down,” Errance ordered. “It’s unlikely they’ll see us up here, but still.”
They nestled into the bushes and watched as the small figures, horses, and carts gradually grew larger. One enormous wagon centered the group, and as it drew near, they could make out a giant, barred cage hauled by oxen.
“Look at the size of that thing,” Kelm whispered. “What do they have in there? Do we even have a creature in Orim that large? Can you see what it is, Tryss?”
She squinted. “No. It’s grey, furry, but it’s all curled up, and I can’t get a good—” She paused. “Errance, are you all right?”
It was a funny question for the sick member of their group to ask, but when Tellie and Kelm turned to the elf, it was easy to see why. He’d gone as sickly white as the ocean foam.
“It’s a daisha,” he breathed.
“Sorry, a what?”
“A daisha.” A ragged growl was curling in his throat. “That’s my daisha.”
“Hold it,” Kelm said. “You don’t mean those winged beasts that went extinct, do you?”
“Yes,” Errance muttered. “Only there was one left. She—I know her. I knew her.”
Tellie stared at him. She’d never heard this tone from him before. So desperate, so panicked. A vision of last night’s dream swept before her mind—a small, soft, grey creature with judgmental blue eyes clinging to young Errance’s shoulders. It had talked, but that had surely just been part of the dream, right?
“Are you sure it’s the same daisha?”
He glared. “I just told you there was only one left. She was in the care of my people. We were raised together, and she was with me that night…but she escaped. She should have gone back home. What is she doing here?”
“Whether she’s the same one or not, we have to do something,” Kelm said. “Looks like they’re headed to Oolum, and while it would be great to have Coren and Zizain’s help, we can’t go back. So we have to stop them here.”
“I know,” Errance snapped, turning his back against the turf and pressing a hand into his face. “Let me think.”
There was a moment of polite silence that lengthened into bored impatience. “I think it’s obvious,” Tryss said. “I can blend in and sneak down.”
Lifting his head, Errance stared at her, no small amount of confusion lining his face. “But…you’re sick. You shouldn’t.”
She shook her head with a huff. “I can work through it. All I need is a distraction. That’s the dangerous part. Think you’re up for it?”
He raised a brow in answer.
“We can help,” Tellie jumped in.
“Absolutely not,” Tryss said. “I just said it was dangerous. Those are armed men and if they realize you’re a decoy, they could attack.”
“But there’s a lot of them, and you can’t be sure they’ll all pay attention to Errance,” Kelm reasoned. “We’re guaranteed to be a distracting enough force for you to swipe the keys, and once the daisha is out, it will be chaos. They have no way of knowing we’d be part of that. Besides, I already have a story.”
“And that is?” Errance asked.
“We’re runaways! Tellie and I will go racing down to them for help and you come after us as our grim pursuer! That way, when things go wrong, it only is natural that we would run, and of course, you would be after us. The perfect cover to get in and get out.”
“Genius,” Tellie agreed.
“It could work,” Errance muttered. “But I don’t see why I have to play the part of the villain.”
Tryss stared back and forth between them and then sagged with a groan. “If we’re actually doing this, you’re going to have to be so, so careful. There’s no telling what might go wrong. Errance, you have to keep them safe. And if something goes wrong before I can unlock the cage, I’ll forego the plan to protect the children, understood?”
He nodded.
“All right!” Kelm rubbed his hands with glee and met Tellie’s eyes. “Are you ready?”
They climbed over the ridge and began picking their way down to the road, fast enough that they would be seen as in a hurry but not so fast that they’d lose control and break their necks. Tellie could almost imagine Tryss slinking alongside them, though she had no way of knowing for sure. It was strange, but she was actually excited by this. An inane notion no doubt as the men they approached were certainly trouble, but for whatever reason, she didn’t feel frightened, and it was all she could do to keep a smile from her face. She could not smile or laugh or do anything of the sort, so she pulled up all her feelings of fear from their previous pursuits and tried plastering them across her face.
They had not been noticed yet, but as they neared the ground, Kelm began hollering. “Help! Heeeelp! He’s after us, misters! Help!” They leaped down the final few paces and sprinted towards the traveling band who had stopped to turn and stare in surprise. Their hands had gone to their weapons but paused there in uncertainty when they only saw two youths waving wildly.
“Help us, sirs!” Tellie cried as they pulled up to the men, panting, but not so close as to be grabbed. “He’s coming!”
“What is this?” The man who appeared to be the leader of the group shoved his way to the front and fixed them with a withering glare. “Where did you come from; I don’t recall a village in these parts. And who is he?”
“There he is,” Tellie moaned, spinning around to look back up the mountain. “It’s too late. Please, sirs, you can’t let him take us back.”
Everyone looked up the slope and watched as Errance came striding down. Unlike the children
, he did not come down in a hurry, but he came with purpose, the sort of purpose that water has when carving stone through the centuries. His lone figure was intimidating, all in black, hand loosely set on the sword at his side, stride confident and sure.
He reached the road and came towards them with the same unwavering force, and the men, many as they were, seemed suddenly nervous.
“Hold it right there!” the leader barked. “Name your purpose.”
Errance paused, his dark expression fading to something more negotiable as he held up his hands. “Sorry, gents, but that’s my niece and nephew. They’ve gone and run away again.”
“Lies!” Kelm yelled. “We’re not related to you! We don’t even look alike!”
“That’s right, sir,” Tellie said, turning her very best pleading face towards the leader. “He’s the madam’s dog, and he’ll beat us if you let him take us. He beats us every day!”
“I do not!” Errance said, and the incredulity and insult of his entire being was so genuine that Tellie flinched with guilt. She hadn’t recalled his side of the story being part of the plan, but a distraction was a distraction. Shaking his head, Errance set his hands on his hips and looked at the children with nothing short of disappointment. “I’m sorry, gentlemen, I have no idea where they come up with these tales. They think they can just forgo a hard day’s work and run where they please. Well, I’ll won’t have it. Tellie, Kelm! Apologize to these fellows at once for bothering them, and then you’re coming back with me.”
“It’s not true,” Kelm retorted, although he sounded far less convinced himself and more in awe at this twist of events. “We’re poor orphans, and they’ll work us to death.”
During the argument, which had the entire band of men transfixed, Tellie snuck a glance behind them to the enormous cage. The creature inside had lifted her head and she watched them with foreboding intensity. Her nostrils flared if she caught the scent of something and the edges of her mouth curled to reveal sharp teeth.
Moonscript (Kings of Aselvia Book 1) Page 29