EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (150 page)

I grabbed my wig off of my cot and adjusted it over my own hair. My dark locks now tickled my ears. Many days I wondered how long it would take to reach my shoulders but just as often I was happy only to have it there.

I walked back into the main room as Johna patted Mark on the shoulder.

“Take good care of her.” Johna looked over at me and a smile spread across her leathery face. “And just how did you know I was going to let you go?”

I shrugged with a smirk on my lips. Mark reached out his hand to me.

“I’ve missed you,” he said. “I was afraid you’d reject me again tonight. But I had to give it a try.”

“I’m sorry. I needed time. I think I’m feeling better now.” I put my hand in his, savoring the gentle of his touch of his hand combined with the roughness of his skin. “But I wouldn’t have known that if you hadn’t pushed tonight. Thank you.”

Mark nodded, a smile on his face, as we headed out into the dark night. The town was softly lit by candlelight streaming from open windows. Other cottages glowed from the inside, their diffused light pushing through the shutters. I took a deep breath, smelling the fresh night air, letting the coolness of it fill my lungs. Mark’s fingers laced with mine as we strolled down the dirt road toward the tavern.

“Did you blame me?” he asked. Mark did not turn to me, instead he stared straight ahead. I glanced at his profile.
 

“Partly.”“And the other part?”

“I blamed myself.”

His hand dropped mine. His eyes no longer stared ahead, but instead bore into mine as he grabbed my chin and turned my face toward his.

“Yourself? Me? And what of Ivy? Do you blame her?”

I didn’t struggle against his hand under my chin, just as I didn’t struggle with my answer.

“She had feelings for you. I knew and I ignored it.”

His hand dropped to his side but I didn’t turn away.

“I knew I was beginning to have feelings for you, Mark. I should have been more careful. Ivy liked you first.”

“Ivy held no claim over me,” he said softly. “You, on the other hand, you claimed me from the moment I first saw you.”

Glad of the darkness that hid my blushing cheeks, I grabbed Mark’s hand again.

“I don’t want to talk about Ivy tonight. I’ve spent too much time thinking about her and what I could have done differently. Tonight is mine to enjoy.”

“Yes,” Mark smiled. “Yes it is.”

He guided me in silence for a few more minutes. Along the road we passed other travelers. Most nodded a head in our direction, a few smiled knowingly at our entwined hands. None of them could see the color of my eyes.

Even before I saw the sign for the tavern swinging atop the doorway, I knew we had reached our destination. The noise pulsed from inside and broke free every time a reveler passed through the doorway. I couldn’t believe I was about to enter my first tavern and sit among free people. I knew I would treasure this night forever.

The smell of mead overwhelmed me as we pushed through the wooden door. Mark pulled me over to an empty table near the corner, away from the fire. I worried at first that we might be cold, but the humid atmosphere leaking off the bodies packed into the tavern kept us warmer than I’d imagined.

A juggler sat in the corner, tossing everything from balls to pins. When the innkeeper’s wife wasn’t looking, he grabbed three mugs and tossed them in the air. Much to the delight of the onlookers he didn’t drop one. Yet when she turned around and saw her precious property flipping about she screamed, “You put those down gently now. Do that again and you’ll have to find yourself another tavern!”

He winked at his audience as he set them down, one by one, on the bar. Men hooted with laughter and women stamped their feet on the floor in approval. I laughed, as I’d never laughed before, feeding off the energy of the other patrons. I noticed Mark didn’t even glance at the performer, he simply watched me. Too happy to feel embarrassed by such obvious attention, I flashed him a big smile.

“Thank you,” I mouthed at him. He smiled and dipped his head toward me. I couldn’t have been happier seeing how my people lived and how they laughed in their free time. After years of slavery I didn’t realize that somewhere outside my little world people were allowed such simple freedoms.

I opened my mouth to ask Mark a question about the juggler when the door burst open and four heavily armed guards marched in the tavern. I hid my hands under the table and glanced away to the fire. My heart beat so hard I was afraid it would leap out of my chest and give me away. Mark’s hand grabbed mine under the table.

“Citizens of Keree, for weeks we have been looking for a missing slave, one our master will not cease searching for. To ensure your cooperation in finding her, he has issued a proclamation. If she is not found by his wedding day, seven days from now, he will begin executing petty criminals, including men from this town.”

My gasp joined that of the patrons around me. How could Kandek do this? Execute men who’d stolen bread or poached deer from his land to feed their families to force someone to turn me in. My stomach twirled like a trapped snake.

“If she is returned, your family members will be set free the day of his wedding as a goodwill gesture toward his loyal subjects.”

I held back the tears that threatened to burst forth. Mark squeezed my hand so hard I feared the bones might break, but I sat still not wanting to give myself away. I glanced around at the other people in the tavern, trying to gauge their reactions. I saw the joy on the faces of men whose brothers would be released, but I also saw fear. They knew without finding me their loved ones might be in jeopardy for crimes that normally carried only a fine or a sentence of thirty days in prison.

Now they faced death simply because Kandek could not let me go.

Chapter XII

T
HE
PARTY
ATMOSPHERE
DISSIPATED
WHEN
the guards left. Mark tugged my hand and we blended in with the other villagers heading for the door. Their reactions ranged from anger at Kandek’s blackmail to worry for their families. They whispered about how unfair it was that they were being held accountable for the actions a girl they didn’t even know. It broke my heart to be among them so visible, yet hidden, knowing that I was the cause of their concerns.

Once we were away from the crowd and headed back to Johna’s cottage, Mark put his arm around my shoulder.

“Don’t let it get to you,” he whispered in my ear.

I glanced around, most of the people were having their own conversations and were oblivious to the two of us.

“How can I not be upset? This is my fault.”

“It’s Kandek’s fault.”

We walked in silence, arriving at the cottage moments later. I walked in the door and made eye contact with Johna, who was still hard at work grinding herbs.

“What’s the matter child?” She wiped her hands on her apron and scurried over to me. I flung my cloak on a nearby hook and sank to the bench.

“Kandek’s going to kill petty criminals if Reychel isn’t turned in within the week. He’s getting married and used his wedding as a deadline,” Mark said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

 
“Oh no,” Johna cried. “What is it about you that he needs so? You must figure out what makes you so valuable. Think, child, think. What happened during your time with him?”

“Nothing,” I said, balling up my hands. “I’ve thought about it over and over but I still have no idea.”

“Ivy said you had private audiences with him. What happened during those meetings?” Mark asked.

“He would ask me to tell stories; that’s all. There was nothing special other than those were the only times I was allowed to look out the windows. He kept me confined otherwise,” I said.

“Why weren’t you allowed outside except in his presence?” Johna asked.

“I don’t know,” I insisted, pushing my hands on the wooden table as if a secret panel would appear and give me answers. I received nothing more than a painful sliver in my palm. “I never understood it.”

Johna sank to the bench across from me, resting her hands on the table to steady herself. She stared at the table taking steady breaths. A sharp gasp from her mouth startled me to attention. Johna lifted her eyes to mine, gazing intently.

“Great Eloh. Could it be true? I never put it all together,” she muttered. “It’s beginning to make sense now.”

She stared into my eyes. “May I read you, child?”

“Read me?” I asked. “Use your gift to hear what I’m thinking?”

“It’s more complicated than that and only partially related to my gift. I’m going to merge my thoughts with yours. It will allow me to search your memory for anything you may have forgotten but still remains.”

“Is this something any gifted person can do?” I was still amazed at the range of abilities.

“Not all, but some. I am not the most powerful, but I have been known to find nuggets of truth otherwise hidden from the person who bears them.”

“Of course,” I said. “I trust you.”

I sat next to Johna on the bench staring deeply into my mentor’s eyes. If Johna could find anything in there that I didn’t know, then I was more than welcome to let her sort through my mind.

Johna gripped my hands and stared into my eyes. A few moments passed before she slowly pulled away, staring at me in horror.

“I never suspected,” she said. “I should have, everything considered, but I didn’t. Oh Eloh, how could I have missed this?”

“What?” Mark and I asked in unison. Anxiety rose from my stomach to my chest.

“You are the Prophet. The one we have been waiting for,” she said, shaking.

I laughed, pulling my hands away from hers. “That’s absurd. I don’t even have any gifts.”

Johna stumbled away from the table and grabbed a book from a nearby shelf. She leafed through the pages as I tried to steady myself. Of all the ridiculous things I’d ever heard. To be told I was the Prophet. It was ridiculous. Insane. Unbelievable. Me?

“Remember the story I told you and Ivy? About the man who made the prophecy? He had rare gifts that no one has shown until now. Until you. He too could read the clouds.” She closed the book, leaving a finger to hold her place. Her eyes found mine. “That is what you do, isn’t it?”

“I,” I stuttered, “I like to tell stories, that’s all. I don’t interpret shapes like little children.”

“No, you most certainly do not,” Johna said. “It makes sense. He wouldn’t let you outside. He only allowed you to see out the windows in his presence when he asked you to tell him stories. You were prophesying.”

“I was not. I just let myself get carried away in my stories,” I insisted.

“What did you tell stories about?” Mark asked, his eyes wide.

“I don’t know. Kings and queens, nobles, pretty much anything that popped into my head.”

“What do you know about royalty?” he asked. “Did you ever experience any of it outside your master’s castle?”

“No,” I said. “I made it all up. It’s called imagination. If I’m a prophet, why hasn’t anything happened while I’ve been here?”

“You’ve been shut up in the house,” Johna said. “Kept away once again from the outdoors.”

“I can look through a knothole in the shutters.”

“A person can’t talk well if someone has their hand around her throat,” Johna said.

“What?” I giggled. This was becoming more ridiculous by the minute.

“You’re only seeing but a tiny slice of the sky. It’s not enough. Let’s go to the back room,” she said, grabbing my hand.

Mark and I followed an excited Johna across the cottage.

Johna pushed open the door, strode across the room, and threw open the shutters. The dappled sunlight streamed in as the clouds floated over the moonlit night sky.

“What do you see, Reychel?” Johna asked.

“The sky. Clouds. Moonlight.”

I gasped as the clouds caught my attention. I slipped to the bed, my mouth wide open. Visions passed through my mind of people I’d never seen before going about their daily lives. A quick flash gave way to a woman arguing with a merchant over a basket of wormy apples. A third vision showed a blonde woman from the back raising her hands toward a man cowering in a corner, his face hidden by her arm. I closed my eyes and the visions disappeared.

“In my mind,” I whispered. “I can see people, but if I look away from the clouds it slips away.”

“You are the next Cloud Reader,” Johna said, a smile growing on her face. “You are the one we’ve been waiting for. Our Prophet.”

She reached down into her dress, pulling out the chain she wore around her neck. I’d noticed the chain before but never seen what hung from it. As she drew it out my eyes widened in recognition. The coin. The same as the one left for Ivy and the one left in my place.

“By your expression, I see you’ve seen this before,” Johna said, laying the coin in her palm. I nodded, reaching into my pocket and withdrawing the coin left for Ivy. Every day since leaving the castle I looked at the coin to see if the baby responded to me. I hadn’t told anyone, Ivy included, what happened that first morning. Babies on coins don’t wink or wave but part of me wondered if what I had seen was true.

I held Ivy’s coin in my hand, with the baby side up just like Johna.

“That’s you,” she simply said, nodding at the coin.

“The baby is me? Is that why it blew me a kiss?” I had to ask.

“It moved for you?” Johna said. “I’d heard that it would move for the Prophet, but I never believed it. Thought that part of the mythology of the Prophet was just that – a myth. But yes, that’s a representation of you, not an actual portrait. This coin has been our secret symbol for seven generations.”

I glanced back at the coin. Johna laughed as the baby gurgled and reached out its arms. I smiled at the baby, I mean at me, at the coin. One more wondrous thing. I looked at Mark who stared at the coin with his mouth open.

“Can’t believe that’s true. I’ll have to show it to Nemison,” Johna said. “With your permission, of course Reychel.”

“Who?” Mark asked.

“Just a gifted friend,” she said. Johna flipped the coin over to the other side and I followed suit.