Anathema - The Song of Eloh Saga, Book 2 (19 page)

“One hour.”

“Hmmm, I don’t think they’ll make it here
before the wedding, but Nemison promised he’d help us. You see,”
she explained, “there isn’t a portal in here like there is in my
house and Johna’s house.”

“You have a portal in your house?” I asked.
“Why didn’t you let me and Ivy use it or why didn’t Johna send Mark
and I through it?”

“You’re not trained,” Tania said. “It could
have killed you both or worse.”

“Worse than killing us?” Mark asked.

“Nemison has a lot to teach Reychel. You
know so little. Oh, speaking of that, he still expects you to
report to him tomorrow.”

“But...”

“I know, I know,” Tania said. “He’s not the
most flexible person in the kingdom.”

“So we have an hour,” I said. “Where should
we start?”

“Reychel,” Mark said, “I think it’s time you
put your gift to use. Maybe the clouds have something to show
you?”

“Reychel, gifted?” Ella asked. “And I didn’t
want to be rude, but what’s this about Kandek being your father?”
She popped her hip out to the side, placing her hands solidly on
each hip. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“There’s a lot I need to explain to you
too,” I said.

“She’s the Prophet,” Tania told Ella.

“The Prophet?” Ella laughed. “I once shaved
the head of the Prophet? Now that will be a story for my
grandkids!”

Ella’s laughter was contagious. Even Roc,
who’d done little but follow our every lead, allowed a smile to pop
out.

“Is Ivy gifted too?” Ella asked. “We’ve all
been wondering about that.”

“She is, that’s how she got to Kandek,” I
said. “It’s time to stop her. I need a window. Where’s the
nearest?”

Ella thought for a moment.

“I can’t think of one anywhere in the slave
areas,” she said. “Is it true what the stories say about the
Prophet? Can you read the clouds?”

“Yeah, I can. I need to use my gift now. We
have to find a window.”

“I saw one,” Roc said. I smiled at him, glad
to see he was perking up. “It was in the main hallway near Kandek’s
chambers. But I don’t know how you can get to it without being
seen.”

I held out my hands to Jon. Knowing exactly
what I wanted, he pulled the cloak out from his pack and gave it to
me.

“I need to spell it, right?” I asked
him.

“No, it’s good for a while yet. You should
have plenty of time.”

“Thanks,” I said. I turned to Mark. “While
I’m gone you need to come up with some kind of plan. I know that
I’m trying to discover the details of what will happen, but you
need to make solid plans. You and Ella have been in the main hall
where the wedding is. You two need to come up with a plan.”

“I don’t want you to go alone,” Mark said.
“It’s too dangerous.”

“There’s only one cloak. I’ll be fine. I
promise. I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.”

I slipped the cloak over my shoulders and
pulled the hood over my head. Without a backwards glance I walked
out the door. Even though I was hidden in the cloak, I still stuck
to the servants hallways. Better to be safe until I needed to be
out in the open. At the last entry to the common halls, I took a
deep breath to calm myself.

I stepped into the hallway and was assaulted
by droves of people heading to the main hall for the wedding. I
tried to weave carefully through the throngs of well-wishers
without bumping into anyone. I might be hidden, but it didn’t take
away my body mass. Anyone would feel me if I touched them.

“It’s so dark in here. Why doesn’t Kandek
put in any windows?” a short woman next to me grumbled.

“I know! And who is this girl Kandek is
marrying?” a woman asked another as they scurried down the hall. I
walked directly behind them, eavesdropping on their
conversation.

“Some young tart, no doubt,” the short one
huffed. “My father attempted to match us a few years ago and Kandek
would have nothing to do with me.”

“It’s shocking, really. No one thought he
would get married after all these years. He’s nearly forty. Most
men his age have daughters getting married.”

I buried the snort that nearly escaped my
lips. It was true. I was of marrying age.

“I hear she’s a bit of a tyrant,” the tall
one said.

“How would you know?”

“My servants talk. They think I don’t hear,
but I do,” she laughed. “One of them even said she was a former
slave of Kandek’s! How ridiculous is that?”

“Servants really don’t know much, do
they?”

I rolled my eyes in disgust at the attitude
of those women. It was people like that who would never even
conceive of my people being free. But, they had provided me with
the perfect plan. Forgetting my rendezvous with a window, I sped
back to the servants’ quarters.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I burst back into my old room to find my
friends arguing.

“No,” Mark said, staring down Jon. “That
won’t work.”

“You’ve only been a soldier for a few
months, boy. I’ve been working for years to bring down this
regime,” Jon said, moving closer to Mark, his fist clenched. “Your
plan won’t work.”

“Stop it, both of you,” I ordered, pulling
the cloak off. “This is the worst time to be arguing. We need to
work together.”

“I agree with Reychel,” Tania said, placing
a gentle hand on Jon’s arm. “You’ve been fighting the entire time
she’s been gone.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Mark said. He
turned to me. “That was fast. Did you find a window already? What
did you see?”

“I don’t need prophecy to solve this,” I
said. “Ella, you said the slaves had figured out who Ivy was,
right?”

“Yeah,” she said. “But no one was able to
prove it. We can’t get close enough to her. She doesn’t allow
servants in her presence.”

“What if everyone else found out she was a
slave?” I asked.

“They’d just die from the horror. Then
they’d kill Ivy,” Tania paused, “and that’s not an understatement.
The Malborn wouldn’t allow it. They believe they are so far above
us.”

“We need to expose her,” I said. “The ruling
class won’t allow the marriage to happen and we’ll be rid of her
one way or the other.”

Though I couldn’t stand the thought of her
dying at the hands of the Malborn, it was the quickest way to
discredit her and stop the wedding. I’d find some way to give her
over the council before letting anyone kill her.

Ella smiled and nodded her head. “I see
where you’re going with this, Reychel.”

“I don’t,” Mark said, confused. “How do we
prove it?”

“She has the mark on her,” I said, rubbing
the back of my neck. “Her birthday was just a couple weeks before
mine and Kandek had her branded. We need to rip the wig off her
head, expose her hair and the mark of the fox.”

“The nobles might riot,” Tania said,
smiling.

“Which is a great way for us to escape,” Jon
agreed.

“You’ve forgotten one thing,” Roc
interjected. “We came here to free the prisoners. We can’t leave
them and I certainly can’t go home without them. I won’t fail
anyone again.”

“I know,” I said, giving him a quick hug. “I
thought about that too on the way back. I’m going to wear the cloak
and expose Ivy, but I need all of you to let the prisoners go. Can
you do that?”

“Of course, Reychel,” Tania said. “Those
poor people have been held long enough.”

“But what about you?” Mark asked. “How will
you escape?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll just have to let
that one play out,” I said.

“I’d feel better if you had checked the
clouds.”

“Just trust me, Mark,” I sighed. “I’d like
to think the visions act as a guide, not showing me a definitive
path. Besides, I don’t have to be the Prophet to fix this mess.
It’s a good plan.”

Mark looked to Tania for an answer. She held
up her hands.

“I don’t know. I am not a scholar. Nemison
would know better than I would but he’s not with us here. Honestly,
I think Reychel’s plan is solid. It’s better than anything we
thought of while she was gone.”

“I’ll use the cloak,” I said. “Easy in, easy
out.”

“Nothing is ever that easy,” Mark said. “You
should know that by now.”

I ignored his last comment and turned to
Ella. Now was not the time for negativity. I may have been lied to
my whole life, but I refused to give up the hope of succeeding.

“Can you get them to where the prisoners are
being held without raising any suspicion?” I asked.

Ella looked at each of my friends.

“I think so,” she said. “We have to pass
through the main hall. You were being held in a temporary cell, but
the prisoners are down in the dungeon. Once we get them out,
there’s a servant’s access door they can escape through. That will
get them as far as the town. But some of these prisoners aren’t
from here. They can’t get home on foot.”

“We’ll help them,” Tania said. “They can
hide at our house.”

Ella nodded. I marveled that the shy girl I
had known was gone. The young woman before me was decisive and
thorough. Her shoulders thrust back and chin up, Ella was a
natural-born leader.

“While we’re in the hallway, everyone will
have to play their part. Mark, you and Roc and Jon are soldiers,
obviously. You may not be dressed for it, but there are plenty of
them hidden in the crowd wearing plain clothes. I don’t think
you’ll be questioned. Tania, I don’t quite know how to disguise
you. You’re not wearing a fine enough dress to be one of the ladies
attending.”

“I can blend in as easily as you, Ella,” she
said. Tania reached up to her hair and gave it a tug. Her long
locks fell, revealing a shaved head beneath.

“Tania,” I gasped, staring at her wig and
her shining scalp. “Why?”

“I was a slave too,” she said. “And I swore
I would never forget where I came from.”

“She still shaves it every morning,” Jon
said, putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders and kissing her
on the head.

Tania turned around so her back faced us and
we all saw the mark of a fox clearly branded into her neck.

“You lived here?” I gasped. “When?”

“Years ago,” Tania said. “I was seventeen
when Jon freed me. Kandek was my master too. I can walk the halls
with Ella and no one will notice me.”

I smiled and hugged Tania.

“Does everyone understand what needs to be
done?”

Roc stood a little taller and nodded his
head. Jon and Tania grabbed Ella in a tight embrace. Mark stood to
the side, unable to take his eyes off of me.

“Can we have a minute?” Mark asked me.
“Before we get separated?”

“Of course,” I answered, taking his hand and
leading him to the only bench in the corner of the room. We sat
down next to each other, so close but only holding hands.

“I don’t want you to go by yourself,” he
said.

“It’s not your choice, Mark. It’s mine. I
can do this.”

“I know you can, but what if someone
discovers you first? What if it doesn’t work?”

“It will,” I said. “Somehow it will all work
out.”

He brushed my cheek with his thumb.

“If anything happens to you…” he
started.

“I know,” I whispered. “You’ll find me. Why
do you think I feel so brave about this? It’s because I know that
wherever you are, you’re thinking of me. Together we can do
anything.”

“When all of this is over...” he trailed off
into silence.

“I have to train with Nemison,” I said. “I
promised.”

“Do you think he’d have room for one more?”
Mark asked.

“Are you willing to reveal yourself? There
are only a few of us who know your secret.” I moved closer to him
until our legs were touching.

“If it will keep me closer to you, I just
might.”

“There may be better reasons than that to
keep your secret. It might be useful.”

“When?” he asked.

“If I’m really this great Prophet everyone
thinks I am, it sounds like my destiny is much bigger than just
freeing a few prisoners from jail. I’m going to need every
advantage over the Malborn I can get. You could be my secret
weapon,” I said.

“Knowing if someone has a secret isn’t
exactly the most useful skill in the world,” he said.

“It was enough to warn me about Ivy, someone
I never would have suspected of lying to me,” I said. “Without you
and that night under the stars, I don’t know where I’d be right
now. Even if I didn’t want to believe you, it made me suspicious.
Now that I know the truth, I’ll never question you again.”

“I hope not,” he said, leaning in
closer.

A not-so-subtle cough from across the room
disturbed us.

“It’s only a few more minutes until the
wedding,” Ella said. “If we’re going to do this, we need to leave
now.”

Mark looked at me, his eyes staring into
mine. As he let down his guard I saw the spark come to life in his
eyes.

“Be careful,” he said.

“Always.”

I stood up and threw the cloak around my
shoulders.

“Wait,” Tania said. “Take the cloak
off.”

I removed the cloak, holding it in the crook
of my elbow.

“Put this on.” She handed me her wig. “In
case your cloak falls off, maybe you can blend in.”

“Thanks.” I smiled, adjusting the wig on my
head, and gently laying the hood over my head. “Is everyone
ready?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

I slipped through the entryway back into the
main hall. The crowd was similar to the one that attended my
birthday party. The same party dresses, the same men talking
politics. Only this gathering drew more people. The gowns were more
intricate and the men noisier. What would they do when they saw
Ivy’s brand? It wouldn’t be pretty, I was sure about that.

A bell clanged and the twitters fell silent.
Everyone looked to the head of the room where Grey stood dressed in
his finest uniform. Of course, the messenger about to deliver a
message. How could I have forgotten about him over the last couple
months? He hadn’t changed a bit, still handsome enough to keep the
attention of the noblemen’s wives.