Esra (20 page)

“Taking over the Kingdom?  How could this happen?  A man I never even knew existed, no one did.  And now the three glorious cities of LeVara; Kiran Brae, Hals Arün, and Mahesh.  Already controlled or about to be taken over by Tallen and his Elites.  Everyone I know will fall victim to his treachery.  Be made a slave or die in the process of opposing him.  We have to stop him.  We have to…”

       “Esra, how goes your training?”  Maeve’s voice broke through Esra’s agitation and the worrisome trance everyone was brooding under.  “The Keepers have been looking forward to your return to the Stronghold for quite some time.  Actually, for the entire twenty years since your birth.  We have all let ourselves dream that the daughter of two Great Keepers would be the end of the threat of Tallen.”

       “Esra’s been studying under Cane since childhood,” Baelin answered softly.  “But only the last two seasons have her studies intensified te include more…useful topics,”

       “Then you have not yet used any magick or passed any tests?”  Maeve leaned forward with her grey eyebrows raised.

       “No, not yet,” Esra admitted.  “And I now fear that there will not be time.”

       “There’s always time,” Arland reassured her, placing a soft hand on her arm.  A warm sensation swelled over her body, and Esra grudgingly allowed herself to be calmed by his charm.

       “Well,” Maeve stood up suddenly, brushing off her dress.  “I wish you all luck, but I fear I must be getting back to my room.  Wait here for a few minutes to make sure we’re not seen together before leaving.”

       “Aye,” Baelin stood as well, offering his hand to the old half-Elf.  “And be careful.  We will need ye when the time comes.”

       Maeve nodded and opened the door, giving one last look at Esra before disappearing into the dark veil of night.  Baelin returned to the barrel he had been sitting on and rubbed his temples, forehead scrunched in deep thought.  Arland whistled softly and rocked back in his seat.  “So it’s finally happening, then.”

       “Aye,” Nadia agreed, flabbergasted.  “I mean, I knew this day would come fer a long time, but now it just seems so sudden.”

       Esra felt as if her skin was about to come off her bones in agitation.  All she could think of were her grandparents, alone and vulnerable at their farm.  All the people of Sorley, Lara and Mr. Sturik, their new daughter.  They were all in danger. 

       “We have to leave now,” she jumped up.  “We have to warn them.”

       “Nay, not tonight,” Baelin interrupted softly. “We get a good night’s rest and leave at dawn.  If we run off now in the middle of the night after only just arriving it will cause suspicion, which we cannot afford.  B’sides, none of us will be much good after travelin’ all day.”

       “He’s right,” Arland assented.  “Tomorrow we will ride long and hard, but tonight we should get some well-earned rest in a real bed.”

       “What’s a bed?” Fynn teased.  “It’s been so long since I’ve lain in one I think I’ve forgotten.  I also have te warn ye, I’m scared of the dark.  So if I jump in with Nadia, just know…”

       “Just know I’ll be slicing yer head off,” Arland scowled dramatically as he drew a line along his throat.

       “Alright, alright, sword boy.  Save it fer the Elites.”  Fynn cracked open the door as Baelin blew out the lantern.  Esra followed her friends as they slipped out of the storage shed one at a time, slinking along the wall towards the inn.  If it hadn’t been under such dismal circumstances, perhaps she would have enjoyed meeting the descendant of her favorite teacher.

       Coming upon the side entrance of the inn, Baelin held the door for her as she ducked inside the damp smelling building, her eyes adjusting to the dim light.  A group of men and women in the far corner were singing a raucous drinking song around a table, swaying and sloshing ale over the sides of their glasses.  The abrupt change in mood stunned Esra momentarily, like stepping out into the vicious cold after being beside a warm Fire.  It seemed impossible that people would be celebrating right now, going on with their lives as if the world was not ending.  But she knew that soon enough the news of Tallen’s treachery would reach Tirbaz and even the atmosphere of this bawdy inn would change.  She envied their ignorance and wished for a moment that she were one of them, and that none of this was happening after all.

       “Come on, Es,” Fynn took her elbow gently and led her towards the stairs.  “Didn’t know ye were a fan of drunken songs at a questionable alehouse.”

       “No, it just reminds me a little of home.”

“I see.  So yer grandparents are drunkards, then.”

She gave him a look of resignation and he put an arm around her shoulder.  “Aye, it must be hard.  I forget sometimes that yer life is not at the Stronghold like ours.  That ye are moving farther away from yer home while we get closer te ours.”

       She smiled weakly before turning to ascend the long row of stairs.  Their meeting with Maeve and her destructive revelations had left Esra exhausted, and she was suddenly grateful that their Fifth, Baelin, had had enough sense to insist they stay the night.  She couldn’t wait to collapse into a deep sleep in a normal bed. 

       “An besides, maybe after spending some time with yer parents it will begin te feel like home,” he suggested cheerfully. “I think ye’ll really like it there.”

       She hoped for everyone’s sake that he was right.

XVII

       Esra had been under the impression that they had been traveling hard on their first day to Tirbaz, but it was nothing compared to the pace they maintained for the last three nights.  She had seen Fynn talking softly to the Horses the morning they had left the inn and questioned Arland about it.  He had explained that the Horses were in fact quite interested in the course of events in LeVara and were grateful when Fynn was able to communicate any progress to them.  The Skycatchers had strengthened ties with the Keepers since Fynn’s ability to speak with them had reinforced their bonds.

       Whatever he had said to them, the Horses attacked their journey to the Stronghold with a determined ferocity.  Their riders returned the fervor and pushed the Skycatchers on relentlessly, stopping only for brief periods a few times a day to rest or eat.  Esra had intended to ask more questions about her parents in preparation of meeting them, but her exhaustion was overwhelming.  She figured that maybe it was better this way, she had less time to worry.  In fact she could barely stay alert long enough to eat or cling to Roja’s back.  Even Fynn had not sung any funny songs about dinner.

       The landscape had gradually been changing from the flat, virtually Treeless terrain to deep green rolling hills.  Plants and Animals that Esra didn’t recognize sped past her as she rode towards the Jade Gardens, towards her parents.  By the time it had reached dusk on the third day, Esra watched as the flashes of open countryside began to grow more populated with thick, lush Trees and Plants.  Fynn, who was naturally skilled in navigation and had been riding at the front of the Assembly, held up his hand in a signal to slow the Horses.  Esra pushed herself up from Roja’s back where she had been lying and took notice of her first real view of the Jade Gardens.  She watched in wonder as they crossed the threshold of the Trees, and it seemed as if the Earth gave a satisfied sigh of approval as they passed.

       A perpetual mist blanketed the entire area, creating a mysterious and sedated atmosphere.  Esra felt immediately calmer as she let herself be enveloped by this mist, and it covered everything around it like a soft blanket of Snow.  Birds called out to one another loudly, creating a cacophony of varying lengths and tones.

“I didn’t know there could be so many different shades of green,” she breathed.  The Plant life had become so dense that the only remaining slivers of light were barely able to penetrate the canopy of Trees.  Orange Flowers with petals the size of Esra’s hand were scattered about in a dizzying display, punctuated by large stalks of what appeared to be glowing pink Corn.  A group of small purple and blue Flowers turned as she rode slowly past, until Esra noticed that they had a small black eyes blinking towards her from each petal.  She ducked as a large yellow winged Beast flew past her right side, trailing five foot long feathers in a soft floating wave behind it.

“It’s as if the Plants in this place not only have unexpected colors, but textures as well,” she said to Roja. “Some leaves look more like fur or liquid than vegetation.”

The thick undergrowth was a bluish hue, giving the impression that the forest floor, if one could even call it that, was an undulating sea of Plant life.  The Trees grew in all different directions; some hung as if they were weeping while others had branches that climbed straight up towards the sky.  Vines tangled themselves around the Trees and Plants, small white Flowers covering the thick tendrils.  Esra had known that the outside world was indeed alive, but nowhere in her experience was that more startlingly apparent than here.  A small orange lizard hissed at her, sauntering slowly along a branch of Fern-like leaves.

       “And how is Fynn able to lead the way?  There’s no path, or if there is one it’s entirely indistinguishable.  It looks as though no one’s come through here fer a hundred years.”

Turning around, she thought that they would certainly be leaving a dense trail of trampled undergrowth behind them for all to see, but the Plants seemed to spring slowly back into their upright position after only a few moments.  It was as if they were bowing down in greeting to the travelers and rising to bid them farewell as they passed.  She had never encountered such a phenomenon before.  Not only was it mesmerizing in its beauty, but the Jade Gardens took care to leave no trace of Human disturbance.  It was no wonder that the Keepers chose to live here. 

       “Beautiful, eh?” Arland pulled Errol up beside her and Roja, motioning to the forest.  It seemed that The Gardens also had a powerful effect on him.  Looking at the Keeper of Charm against the backdrop of such rich hues did not belittle his beauty, but rather made him appear even more striking.  It was hard to get used to someone that attractive, those piercing light blue eyes that seemed to see into the soul of a person.  It was vaguely distracting to be around him, although Esra knew that it had something to do with her own awkwardness around others, especially young men.  But Arland’s handsomeness seemed to be just as natural as a Leaf growing on a Tree.  He had a gentle way of easing tensions, it reminded her of Lara.  She wondered briefly if her shop keep friend had had been just as speechless as Esra was right now when she first laid eyes on this place.  Arland absentmindedly pulled at the long braid trailing down his left shoulder as they rode on quietly.

       “It’s unbelievable,” Esra admitted.

       “Aye,” he brushed a stray wisp of wavy hair away from his forehead. “It seems like it is a living, breathing thing of its own.  The Jade Gardens have a way of entrancing all who venture here.  And trust me Esra, there is so much more ye will get to see.  Fira Nadim Forest of the Unni, Fire Lake of the Shendari, The Frost Grounds and Painted Fields to the far west.  And best of all, The Eshomee Ledges where my people live, and our great fortress The Veiled City.  The Kingdom of LeVara is eternally vast in its landscape.”

       “I can barely wait,” Esra confessed. “Although I fear it may be awhile before I get to travel fer pleasure.”

       “Aye, it may be,” he agreed. “But ye’ll get to see much in yer lifetime, Esra, Keeper of Unknown Powers.”

       She blushed gently at the compliment and looked up at the sound of distant voices.  Squinting, she could scarcely make out the shapes of what seemed to be dwellings straight ahead of them.  She had expected to see a towering edifice with tall white citadels, a fortress fit for a King and the greatest sorcerers in LeVara.  A castle for the last defense, complete with battlements and a drawbridge.  It greatly surprised her that the area before her appeared to be the opposite of grand.  She couldn’t see much, but it was vividly apparent that no grand estate awaited them.  As they approached, a flurry of muffled sounds and motions erupted as people began darting in and out of places, calling out to one another.

       “They are excited at our arrival and have assumed from the addition of a fifth member that we have managed to bring ye back safely,” Arland explained.

       “Oh,” she said softly.  It was amazing that people who didn’t know her could rejoice in her coming.  “I wish I could feel their excitement, but the truth is I’m nervous.  Nervous that the people here won’t like me, that I’ll prove to be a failure.  Or more specifically, that my parents will be disappointed in who I have become, which is basically a plain, clumsy farm girl from a small town.”

“That,” Arland stated simply, “is utterly untrue.  Ye are far from plain, even without any magick.”

Esra tried to let his encouragement seep into her.  “At least my education with Cane may prove to be of greater worth here.  Last summer I had a conversation with my grandmother in our kitchen about how she had claimed that my knowledge would be needed one day.  Maybe those endless hours of studying may finally come of use.” 

       “That’s the spirit.  Ye know, this place was a result of the four races working together.  Can ye see some of the dwellings over there?  The Unni of Fira Nadim Forest brought the massive Trees that comprise the basic structure of the buildings, called Yanquor Trees.  These are Trees that have lived fer hundreds of years and grow to an extraordinary size.”