by Kya Lind
Lady Talone reached across to space separating them and squeezed Reya’s hand, “It will be all right. You will see.”
“Thank you for this week of reprieve,” Reya said for the tenth time.
Lady Talone just shook her head, and smiled slightly. The coach rumbled along, clattering across the cobblestones.
Reya opened her handbag and took out the silver jewelry. She started putting the bracelets on one after another until all twenty jangled on her arms. Then she put on the earrings, and the necklaces; the weight of the silver weighing heavily on her soul. The silver repressed her talent, but also defused the talents of others that might be used against her. All the nobles of her father’s house wore silver to stop the influence and invasion of the Minders and Persuaders that her father employed. The silver was used as a protection, and a distinction of class. Reya saw it as another tool in the deception and politics that ruled her life. She had grown to hate the silver, and what it represented.
The Coach rumbled to a stop in an impressive courtyard. Porters rushed to set the step and assist the coach’s occupants. Reya departed from the coach last.
A small man had pulled Sir Talone to the side and engaged him in a serious conversion. Reya looked at Lady Talone questioningly. The older lady ignored her look and instructed the porter to unload the luggage and carry it to their chambers immediately. The porter master jumped to comply with her request. Boy slid up to Reya and nudged her arm, indicating the discussion between the man and his father. Reya shrugged. Lady Talone ushered them both quickly into the building and up the stairs. She hurried them along until they were safely inside Reya’s suite.
Reya looked at her in question, but waited patiently for the servants to depart. Lady Talone’s silver jewelry jangled nervously as she too waited for the young men to leave.
“What happened?” Reya demanded once the door was closed behind them.
“From what I understand, there was a serious attempt on your father’s life several days ago. Fortunately, he and his uncle are unharmed, but your father’s guards, Minder, and Persuader were all killed. The whole city has been in lock down for several days. No one has been able to find the ones responsible."
“But father was not hurt?”
“He is unharmed,” replied Lady Talone.
There was a knock on the door. The door opened to admit Sir Talone.
“You have explained, yes?” he asked his wife. She nodded. Reya wondered briefly why he even asked the question. She knew that her two instructors were able to read each other’s thoughts -- mindbonded. That was how Lady Talone had known what the conversation had been about before Sir Talone had arrived.
“Dress Reya. She is to go to her father immediately.”
Lady Talone and Reya scrambled into action. Reya and Lady Talone were scrubbed and dressed in one short hour. Sir Talone washed off the dirt of their travels and appeared dressed in clean robes.
The three moved through the corridors with elegance and style. Reya walked one step ahead of her attendants. Sir Talone and Lady Talone flanked her on each side. Reya concentrated on pulling her shoulders back and glided forward with the grace and poise that would have made her mother proud; her full skirts emphasizing the slimness of her small waist and the rhythmic sway of her hips. The multitude of silver bracelets jingled as she moved forward, their light tinkling sound adding to the music of her walk. The guards on either side of the massive doors pulled them open with theatrical flair as she approached. Reya and her companions swept into the impressive room. The high ceilings and arching beams caused the sound of their entrance to be magnified. The massive room was designed to hold over four hundred people, but today it was empty except for a half dozen guards, and a handful of people immediately surrounding her father.
Reya breathed in deeply. “Think about nothing. Give nothing away. Your life depends on your ability to think of nothing.” Reya could hear her tutor’s voice in her memory. To think of the things that must not be said or thought would enable Minders to know her secrets and tell her father where they had been and what they had been doing. She needed to guard her every thought and emotion.
Reya glided to a stop before her father. She swept her pale lavender silk dress in a graceful arch and curtsied deeply; her companions did the same. Her dark hair fell in soft ringlets across her shoulders and down to brush the low neckline of her dress. The light reflected off of the wide silver necklace draped around her slim neck and the large silver earrings that swung gently from each dainty earlobe.
As she straightened, the silver bracelets jangled as they slid down her slender forearms. She pushed the twenty bracelets up her arms, and waved a ring bedecked hand. Reya anxiously inquired, “Father, you are unharmed?” She tried not to dwell on the fact that the room was empty expect for a few souls. Her father sat at a table with a tea service and a huge plate of small cakes. He indicated that she should join him. The only other person at the table was her great uncle, Lord Bracaoe. The others stood in attendance.
“Yes, Re-eye-a,” the king drew out each sound in her name. “We are so glad you have come so quickly. We have been concerned for your safety, and demanded to see you as soon as you arrived. You had a good trip to the convent?” Reya waited as a chair was pulled out for her, and then was seated. Her two attendants stood near her back.
Reya smiled, reassured. He sounded like himself, and he did not appear to be harmed or even concerned about the recent attempt on his life. “We had a wonderful time. A week in contemplation of the higher things was just what I needed to clear my head for the work I have sat before me."
She noticed that she did not know most of the men in the room. That would fit what Lady Talone had said about her father’s servants and attendants being killed. She tried not to wonder which one was the new Minder and which one was the new Persuader. “Keep your mind blank; do not think of the white elephant in the room.” Her tutor’s voice from the past reminded her. She instantly thought about the delicious cake she was eating, concentrating all of her thoughts and attention on the flavors.
“I have missed you, father.” Reya added sincerely. “I was most upset when I learned of the attempt on your life when I returned today.”
“Do not worry about it, my dear. It will be taken care of.” After a long awkward silence her father asked, “What new project have you engaged in now?”
Reya quickly took advantage of the chance to talk to her father about a safer topic. “I have been busy with my new project, right up until my trip to the country. We are collecting old unused things to sell in the marketplace to raise money for the orphan’s school. You know that Lady Faran is helping me? We have just started in with a new. . .” She talked for about thirty minutes about the work and how it helped the less fortunate souls. She could tell that her father and her great uncle were only listening politely to her discourse. It didn’t matter to her. It was a safe topic and made the teatime go faster.
“Yes, yes, my dear,” answered Reya’s father, finally changing the topic. He had been bored to tears before by Reya endless discussions of her pet projects. “I have called you here today because I wanted to make sure you were safe and to ask a favor of you.” They both knew that he was not asking, but telling her nicely.
“What do you wish of me?” Reya said sincerely.
Her father looked around the room in a paranoid manner and scooted his chair closer to hers. He leaned forward and spoke in a low voice that only she could hear. “I am most concerned about the attempt on my life. I am concerned for your safety as well as that of your brother. I need to get a message to your mother and younger brother, but I am concerned with the security of my house. I do not know who to trust. I know that I can trust you completely. You must get my message to your brother immediately. His life may depend on it.” Her father frowned at her, “Can you do this?”
Reya nodded, worriedly. Her father had never entrusted her with such a thing before.
“Excellent,” he breathed in reli
ef, “I will send a message, and you choose a courier you trust to deliver it.” He nodded decisively. “Excellent,” he said again. Then he waved and the tea dishes were quickly removed.
Reya felt excited; her father had asked her to do something important! Perhaps he didn’t just think of her as a handicapped empty-headed burden.
Her father and her great uncle stood up. Reya stood. Sir Talone and Lady Talone stood behind her on both sides and the three curtsied and bowed to her father. Reya smiled and on impulse rushed forward, hugging him tightly. “I am so glad you are unharmed.” She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
Reya stiffened and released him immediately. Her mind was stunned. “Do not think about it,” Reya chanted in her head, “do not acknowledge the existence of white elephants in the corners of rooms.” Reya’s mind tripped and stumbled, “White elephants, imagine white elephants. Their long white trucks, their tall bodies swaying.” Her mind tried to veer away from the thought of only white elephants.
Lady Talone perceived that Reya was upset and distracted. She grabbed her arm and ushered out of the room. Reya walked quickly down the corridors. Against her tutors’ direction, she changed course and rushed outside toward the stables.
As she approached the stables a short time later, she commanded that three horses be saddled immediately. The stable hands scrambled to comply. As the horses were being quickly saddled, Sir William caught her eye. Reya smiled at him in practiced dim-minded fashion.
Lady Talone admonished gently, “Your Ladyship must consider that it is ill advised to go riding now.”
Reya cut her eyes from the activities of the stables to her most trusted companions.
“I cannot stay here. If I do white elephants will stampede and most likely trample me to death.” She flipped a thick linen blanket over the side saddle on the horse to protect the silk of her gown from the oils of the saddle. She climbed the mounting block, and expertly swung herself onto the horse’s back, and urging him toward the castle gate at a run before her companions were even mounted. Her silver bracelets clinked together as she settled into the stride of the horse.
Several minutes later, as she slowed her horse from a run to a walk, her companions caught up with her.
“When I instructed you not to think about the white elephant it was a metaphor. I did not mean to literately not think about white elephants,” instructed Sir William adjusting his own silver bracelets clasped tightly around his wrist and forearms.
“I know that,” Reya said disgustedly, “I’m not as good at this as you are. I haven’t been practicing not thinking for years.” She cut her eyes around taking in the landscape. “Are we safe here?” she asked worriedly.
Sir Talone paused to consider, “Yes, I believe so. What happened?”
Reya stopped her horse and dismounted. Her hands started trembling, the quaking quickly spread to her whole body. Reya collapsed into the grass. The sobs poured out of her. Lady Talone moved to gather the sobbing girl in her arms as Reya cried out her despair against her tutor’ shoulder.
“What happened, Reya?” Lady Talone asked again. “What is wrong?”
Reya tried through her tears to explain several times before she was able to control the sobs enough to make herself understood. “That man is not my father. He is a short,. . . bald, . . . fat, . . . ugly Mirage. . . That man is not my father.. . . . Where is my father?. . He is dead, isn’t he?” Reya wailed in grief.
Lady Talone wrapped her arms around her young charge. She looked at her husband in terror and panic. Sir Talone paced back and forward before them. His mind whirled with the implications of what Reya was telling him. Reya was in no condition to contemplate the ramifications of what she had discovered, but Sir Talone quickly considered each aspect of the situation surrounding them.
“Reya, are you positive of what you are saying?”
Reya nodded solemnly and burst into fresh tears.
Sir Talone knelt down before Reya and gently took her chin in his hand. “What did he ask you to do, Reya?” His voice was patient, but insistent.
Reya hiccupped softly, and swallowed her tears. “He asked me to get a letter to mother and Ryan . . . I am supposed to pick a courier I trust, and send a message.”
“Why would he ask her to do that?” Lady Talone struggled to understand.
Sir Talone heaved a sigh, “Because he needs to know where Ryan is.”
Reya sat up away from Lady Talone’s embrace, “But I don’t know where mother and Ryan are. Only father does.” The realization of the situation became apparent on her face. She jumped to her feet. “That man doesn’t know where my brother is, and he thinks I do. They want to kill Ryan too.” Reya started wailing again.
Sir Talone moved until he was standing directly in front of Reya. He placed his hands gently of either side of her tear stained face. “Reya, I know how this tragedy is affecting you, but we must return to your chambers. I must discover if the Minder knows of your suspicions. Our being here, away from the house on our first day back will be a red flag. We must return.”
“But how can a Mirage deceive in a house of silver. How can he deceive both of you who know what to look for?” Reya demanded in confusion.
“There are ones with that much talent, but they can usually only deceive for short periods of time in limited numbers of people,” Sir Talone tried to explain.
Reya pulled herself together and wiped her face on the underside of her skirt. Sir Talone caught the horses and helped both ladies mount. They rode back to the stables. When they entered the courtyard, Reya was again in control of her emotions and thoughts. She was relieved that they met only two people on their journey to her chambers.
Once inside her rooms, Reya relaxed her tight control. The walls of the room were covered in silver plating that had been sprayed a light gold color to soften the room’s appearance and stop the glare from the sunlight reflecting off the silver’s surface. The tremendous amount of silver numbed her gift, and protected her from the invasion of others. Here, as in no place else in the building, Reya could relax her guard. Lady Talone released her from the confines of her many layers of clothes and the silver jewelry.
Although she trusted Sir Talone to keep her safe and figure out what to do, Reya cannot help but cry for her father, and her brother, and herself. Exhausted, Reya climbed into her bed and fell into a restless sleep.
Chapter 3
When Reya woke later that afternoon, she felt drained. What was going to happen, now? If her father was dead and this impostor stood in his place, they would need to control Ryan or kill him also. Reya shuttered. Ryan was only ten. He was younger than Boy. He was too young to deal with the political ramifications of their father’s murder. They must do whatever was necessary to keep him safe.
Reya sat in the middle of her bed, her hands folded serenely. No expression on her face. Her body was completely relaxed. The only indication of the turmoil within was the steady streams of tears that coursed down her smooth cheeks and dripped onto her folded hands.
Lady Talone appeared in the doorway with a tray. She moved into the room and placed the tray across Reya’s lap. “Eat,” she instructed. Reya picked up her fork and automatically started eating as directed.
Shaking her head in concern, Lady Talone watched her young charge with an overwhelming sense of fear. She had always been concerned with Reya’s iron control. A small grimace appeared on her mouth. Sir Talone and Reya’s father both thought Reya was complacent and easily influenced. But Lady Talone knew this was a deception. Reya was only compliant because she willed it to be so. Lady Talone knew that Reya did what she determined to do, and for a long time now Reya had decided to be the perfect daughter. Lady Talone had watched her perfect this act over time. She was the perfect daughter - unquestioning, loyal, beautiful, serene, and above all obedient.
Her lady knew what this facade cost Reya, and knew that with her iron will Reya might be able to continue in this direction for years to come, but the cost to her
soul would be heavy. Lady Talone wondered what would happen when Reya woke up one day in the future and decided she was her own person. Reya was as strong willed as Sir Talone and nothing could stop her when she decided a direction to travel. Lady Talone sighed, she knew the hidden Reya was their only hope in this situation, and she did not know how to wake her up.
Lady Talone sat in a chair in front of the fireplace and focused her mind. Reya sat in the bed and continued to obediently shovel food into her mouth.
Reya felt the knock on the door of her mind. “Go away, I don’t want to talk to anyone now.”
“I know, but I request an audience, please,” implored Lady Talone.
Reya opened the door, and demanded, “Why, can’t you just leave me alone.” Reya stomped to the middle of the room and kicked a large glass vase containing flowers. “That man wants to use me to betray my brother, and I would have done it gladly because he asked. I am glad father never trusted me enough to tell me where he sent Ryan and my mother.”
Reya threw herself across the large four poster bed. She screamed into her pillow. Lady Talone moved into the room, but did not approach the bed. Reya stood up in the middle of the bed, and kicked the silver tray and all the remaining food and dishes off the bed. The items skittered across the stone floor. Then she started throwing off all of the pillows. The bright colored pillows sailed across the room, knocking over picture frames and trinket boxes. After she had launched the last pillow, Reya flopped down in the middle of the bed and swiped the hair from her eyes.
“Is that all?” inquired her tutor in a tone of disbelief.