EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (147 page)

“Slowly they allowed people to live on their own in small towns, like this one, as long as they followed the three rules. But breaking a rule meant death. Not just for the outlaw, but for his family. They slaughtered half of the population in ten years.”

The porridge cooled in its bowl as I laid my spoon down. How could I eat when I was hearing a new story? I didn’t just enjoy telling stories; I loved listening to others too. It amazed me I had never heard this one before.

I knew the basics, but I’d always been led to believe the Malborn were only looking out for our welfare, helping our people when we needed it most. All those years ago, the Serenians had faced a terrible drought. The Malborn came across the ocean with the means to help my people, but we ended up as slaves. Not a pretty story, but not one filled with prophecies either. I could understand why Kandek didn’t allow this incendiary version.

“People lived in fear until one day a man with a rare gift stepped forward,” Johna continued. “He told of a child who would save us all from the Malborn’s tyranny. He was the only one of his gift to be born in a hundred years and said we would have to wait seven generations for the next to be born.”

Johna paused, her hands shaking. “But no one is allowed to speak of the prophecy without facing death. The Malborn put him to death immediately and added one more law to their rule of three: No one is to speak of the prophecy or face immediate execution. Roc was a fool for saying that here. What if I had turned him in? It wouldn’t take much to get to Wendak and tell your master. He’d be executed and then where would his unborn baby be? Probably dead too because they’d go after the whole family.”

We exchanged a glance across our breakfast. The world of slavery we had left was simple and confining, but the outside world seemed more dangerous than anything we had ever faced. I felt like a newborn, because I didn’t know anything practical about the world I lived in.
 

“What are the three rules?” Ivy asked. “We ought to know if we’re to follow them once we’re able to leave. We didn’t live by these rules under Kandek’s thumb. We just kept our mouths shut and did our jobs.”

“Trust, adore, obey.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Ivy said.

“Sounds like they wanted to get married,” I remarked.

“It does a bit, doesn’t it?” Johna said. “That’s what our people thought. They were enamored with the Malborn and their rich way of life. They flaunted their wealth, but no one thought to question where it came from.”

“They subjected everyone they conquered,” I guessed. I had lived with slavery as a simple fact of life. It had never occurred to me that I really should be free. Life had seemed so simple. But now I had so many questions, seemingly dangerous ones.

“What was this outlaw’s gift?” Ivy asked. “Was it premonition?”

“No one really knows,” Johna said. “After he died, there were people born with the gift of premonition, or knowing what was to come. He had the unique ability not only to see forward but to see the truth in the past. It is said he could tell when someone was lying and he knew what they were going to say. It was a truly unique gift.”

“Wow, I can’t even imagine living with that,” I said. “I bet there was a lot to sort through in his head.”

“There was,” Johna said. “Some people said he was losing his mind from dealing with all of the information. Not long before being executed he hid in his house, refusing to come outside. The shutters were closed and he nearly lived in the dark. Some people swore he only came outside when it was raining.”

“Sounds like you,” Ivy laughed, pointing at me.

“Yeah,” I giggled, “but he had a choice and I never have. I’m so sick of being stuck inside that I can barely stand it.”
 

“Don’t worry, child.” Johna patted my shoulder. “They’ll give up on you soon enough. No slave was ever worth enough to a master to mount a search for long. He’ll get distracted and forget you ever existed.”

“I hope so,” I said. “I just want to live a normal life.”

A hurried knock at the door interrupted our conversation.

“Open up!” an angry voice demanded. “You’re under arrest.”

Chapter VIII

“Y
OU
,” J
OHNA
POINTED
TO
I
VY
. “Wig on and stand behind the counter. You,” she pointed to me, “under the counter.”

I grabbed my breakfast bowl and scrambled under the dark wooden counter. There wasn’t much space so I pulled my legs into a ball, resting my head on my knees. My heart pounded and I wondered if it would burst through my chest. I concentrated on slowing down my rapid breaths. Even if I couldn’t be seen, I might be heard. Through a small knot in the wood, I saw Johna square her shoulders and fling the door open.

“What did I do?” she demanded to the guard standing on the doorstep. I could only see his right arm and right boot, but it was easy enough to identify the uniform of one of Kandek’s honor guard.

“I’m searching for an escaped slave and I heard reports about a young girl sneaking into your house last night.”

He pushed his way past Johna, entering the small cottage. His boots rested in front of me, but he stood slightly to the left leaving my limited view clear.

“As you can see, there is a girl in my house,” Johna said, pointing to Ivy. “But she’s my niece, come here to learn the trade of herbology. There’s no sneaking here.”

“Explain the charges, then old woman,” the guard demanded.

“How can I explain charges I know nothing about? She’s my niece.”

Ivy kept silent during the conversation, but I could see her fingers rubbing together. She must be dying to use her gift.
 

The front door creaked, opening farther, as another soldier entered the cottage. Johna blocked my view of his face, but another soldier couldn’t be good news. I closed my eyes and concentrated on taking metered breaths.
 

“Anything wrong here Madame Johna?” he asked.

Ivy nudged me with her foot and my eyes flew open. I peeked out the knothole again, seeing that the second guard had moved into my line of view. My breath held in my chest as I looked at this new, stunning guard. Dark hair fell lightly across his face, but not far enough to hide his green eyes, which focused on the first guard as he waited for a response.

“Mark, no, no, everything is fine,” Johna said, taking his arm and maneuvering him back toward the door. “Just go.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know that you’re okay.”

Mark pealed Johna’s fingers from his arm and faced the other guard.

“Can you identify that woman?” the guard asked him, pointing at Ivy.

Mark’s gaze settled on Ivy. I felt her twitch slightly as I waited for Mark’s ignorance of the situation to give us all away.

“Of course,” he said, “that’s Madame Johna’s niece. She arrived recently to apprentice in herbology. Why? Has she done something wrong?”

“No, apparently not,” the guard murmured. “My apologies, madam.”

He walked to the doorway and then stopped and turned.

“She doesn’t fit the description of the missing slave anyway. Your girl has blue eyes. The one we’re looking for has amber eyes. If you hear anything, send a message to the outpost. Good travels,” he said and left the cottage, closing the door behind him.

Not ready to emerge yet, because I didn’t know if Mark could be trusted, I stayed under the counter, watching him through the hole.

“Mark, how did you know just what to say?” Johna asked, pulling him into a hug. His sword clanged at his side as he lifted his arms to squeeze her back.

“I was walking by and heard you outside the door. Good thing he didn’t think to shut the door behind him or I couldn’t have backed up your lie. I overheard everything,” he said with a smile.

“You’ve saved us,” she said.

“From what? Obviously she isn’t the slave they’re looking for,” he said, gesturing to Ivy. “Eyes are the wrong color.”

Mark moved to the counter until all I could see of him were the tips of his boots.

“Or did you do something to change them?” he asked.

“I’m Ivy,” I saw Ivy’s arm disappear above the counter to shake his hand.

“Reychel, come on out, dear,” Johna said. “Mark is safe. Probably the only person in town I’d trust you to.”

I crawled out from under the counter and met Mark’s eyes. Seeing him up close, not through a knothole, caused my heart to flutter. I swallowed hard and held out my hand.

He didn’t take it. Instead he reached to my head with both hands. I didn’t flinch as he straightened my wig.

“No one’s going to believe you’re not a slave if you don’t keep your wig straight,” he said, grinning.

“Mark is the son of the potter down the road,” Johna explained. “He’s been irritating me since he was a little boy.”

“Yep, I made it my life’s mission to keep Madame Johna from her work. Lucky for me, she was kind enough to humor a curious little boy who ruined her herb garden.”

“You didn’t ruin it,” she laughed. “You just trampled it. There’s a difference.”

She paused for a moment. “Mark knows about us.”

“Then you’re like us?” Ivy asked. Her eyelashes fluttered and she cocked her head to the side. Ivy was known for her flirting with other male slaves and they couldn’t resist her. Not even Grey. For the longest time, I thought he was interested in her, not me. I still wasn’t sure because I didn’t get the chance to find out.

Mark laughed. “Oh no, my only talent lies in fighting. I’m a soldier at heart and by trade.”

“Are you looking for me too?” I asked quietly.

“Yes, but I don’t put too much effort into searching for missing slaves. It’s not like I turned him away so I could have you to myself,” he said, winking. I felt a blush crept over my neck. I was grateful for the long wig that covered most of my bare skin.

Mark sat down on the bench and propped his boots up on another chair.

“Your cottage hasn’t changed a bit since I left,” he said. “Did you know I just got back today?”

“And thank Eloh you did,” Johna said. “Though I would have thought you’d learned some manners in the military. Get your boots off of my chair.” She swatted him with a towel.

“Sorry,” he said, grinning. “Old habits are hard to break.”

“Have you been home to see your parents?” Johna asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “I was coming from the west and happened upon your little drama first. I suppose I’ll make it home in a bit.”

“Can I get you anything?” Ivy asked him. “Some breakfast maybe? Or a drink?”

“A tumbler of mead would be great,” he answered, tossing Ivy a huge smile.

“Now tell me what’s so interesting about you that Kandek wants you back so badly?” Mark turned to me as Ivy poured his drink. “I know it’s not your wig straightening abilities.”
 

“I honestly don’t know. I didn’t do anything important around the castle.”

“Except for your private conversations with the master,” Ivy shot out. “What were those all about? Does that have something to do with why he wants you back?”

Mark’s eyebrows rose as he looked back to me. The blush turned to embarrassment. Ivy was the one person who had always supported me and never questioned my motives. Why would she bring this up now?

“You had a private audience with Kandek?” Mark asked in disbelief. “He’s one of the most difficult men to get alone, at least according to my captain. Even when discussing strategy, he prefers a large audience. That’s strange.”

“I don’t know why,” I said. “He was always nice to me. In fact, it’s one of the few times I was allowed to see the outside world. He would open the shutters and let me peer out into the world. It was the only time I felt free,” I whispered.

“You’ve never been allowed outside? How can that be possible?”

“I don’t know,” I said, looking down at the countertop. I flicked a speck of dust off of a bottle.

“Of course you don’t,” Ivy said. “There’s no good reason for it. We were slaves. We did what he said. Who knows why he wanted to talk to Reychel? Who cares?” She slapped her towel on the counter as she handed Mark his mead.

“And where did you come from?” he asked Ivy.

“Same place as Reychel. I escaped the day before her,” she said.

“But they aren’t looking for you?” he asked. “I was only given instructions to find the girl with the amber eyes. Here she is and here you are. Both missing from the same place, but only one missed. Strange.”

“Better if they aren’t looking for me. It will make things easier for me,” she paused to look at me. “I mean us. Of course us, we’ll never be separated will we?”

Ivy placed a hand on my arm. I wondered if Ivy was trying to soothe me after her rude comments. I shook my arm free.

“I’m going into the back room where I belong,” I said. “Hidden from everyone.”

As I walked through the door I heard Mark ask, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Ivy said. “She’s just a sensitive girl.”

Chapter IX

“I
SN
’
T
M
ARK
FANTASTIC
?” I
VY
SIGHED
while we were lying on our cots that night. I had a blanket pulled up under my chin. The damp spring night left me shivering. I couldn’t complain, knowing that a hot summer was soon to arrive.

“He’s fine.” I pushed Ivy’s curls out of my face. The wigs looked convincing, but they weren’t as soft as real hair. Hers poked my eyes, causing them to itch and water. “Why do you wear that thing to bed?”

“It’s my hair now. I’m not taking it off until my real hair is long enough.” Ivy rolled over and faced me. Her eyes crinkled as she stared at me. “You should do the same. You look funny.”

I rubbed my stubble. It had only been a day, but the growth was satisfying. It was the most hair I’d ever had, at least that I could remember, and I was proud of it.

“If I wear the wig all the time it’ll get dirty and messy. I’ll have to comb it and fuss with it. I don’t want to do that.”

“I do,” Ivy said. “I’ve always had dreams of having hair to play with and now I do. I’m not going to waste a second of it.”