Frey Saga Book II: Pieces of Eight

The Frey Saga Book
II:

Pieces of Eight

Melissa Wright

Copyright 2011 by Melissa
Wright

Smashwords
Edition

Smashwords Edition, License
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Contents

Chapter 1
Pieces

Chapter 2
Mission

Chapter 3
Recognition

Chapter 4
Paranoia

Chapter 5
Stalker

Chapter 6
Compliant

Chapter 7 Out of the
Blue

Chapter 8
Disclosure

Chapter 9
Follower

Chapter 10
Findings

Chapter 11 Gross
Misconduct

Chapter 12
Bonds

Chapter 13 The End as a
Whole

Chapter One

Pieces

I knew three things for
certain about my new life.

The first was that I
couldn’t be certain of anything. The bonds that kept me from my
memories had not been fully released. The shattered images from
before the binding didn’t fit anywhere the way they should have. It
was like piecing together shards of glass and splinters of wood. I
had tried to force them but I just couldn’t reconcile the two lives
- the years I lived as a dark elf, strong and powerful, and the
longer, weaker part of my life, the part that seemed more real,
where I lived as an untalented, unmagical light elf.

I didn’t have many memories
of the first years, the years spent in the castle where I was born,
in line for the throne. Most of the information I had about that
life came from reading my mother’s diary after she was gone. The
few memories that came back later were fuzzy, scattered, and odd.
Attached to them was always a feeling of strength, power, and
confidence… nothing like the feelings of my second life.

I’d thought I was an
uncoordinated light elf, an outcast, unable to use magic. Until the
day I’d grown a tiny thistle and my world had turned upside down.
Everything that I’d known and believed had been proven
wrong.

The pieces that
did
fit were my new
family, the seven other elves who had fought to protect me. We had
only spent a short time together, but I had become dependent on
them. If I were truthful, I had been dependent on them all along, I
simply hadn’t known it. They had protected me from council, who had
bound me from magic, stolen my memories; who had burned my mother
and wanted to burn me.

“
Frey.”

Right, focus.
I had a bad habit of getting lost in my thoughts.
It was confusing there, foggy.

“
Uh-hm.” Ruby cleared her
throat.

“
I’m listening, I’m
listening.”

“
We have to continue your
training, Frey. It’s important.”

They had been training me
daily since I’d woken in this castle, my memories partially
restored. Chevelle had insisted I not reveal my bonds were still in
place, for my protection. I wasn’t convinced safety was really the
issue, I had my suspicions they all enjoyed the
“training.”

Crack!
Ruby’s whip brought me out of my reverie.

“
Give her a break, Ruby.”
Grey was laughing as he spoke. On the days I trained with Ruby, he
would often sit in the corner and watch us. “Frey, why don’t you
rest for a bit, go get something to eat?”

I looked back to Ruby,
hoping she agreed.

“
Fine.” She waved her arm
to dismiss me, the metal bracelets clinking at her
wrist.

I hurried to the door,
afraid of being stopped, and then turned back, confused.
“Ruby?”

Though I’d been here for
weeks now, I still got lost anytime I tried to traverse the castle
corridors alone. With an exaggerated sigh, she pointed me in the
right direction.

I was trying to decide
whether to go to the dining area and order food, or just go
straight to the kitchen myself, when I heard voices. I followed
them to a chamber a few doors down.

When he saw me standing in
the doorway, Chevelle dismissed the tall, slender elf he’d been
speaking with. After the sound of the man’s steps was no longer
audible, Chevelle smiled at me. I flushed. I always flushed when I
saw him now. Before, it had been sporadic. Before he’d thought I
was her… Elfreda of North Camber instead of Frey from the village…
before he’d thought I was
that
Frey, and he’d kissed me. He’d been so fervent, so
passionate; he’d not noticed my shock, my confusion, until he had
pulled away and read it clear on my face. But I couldn’t stop
thinking of it. It was almost all I thought of with any kind of
clarity. That was the second thing I was certain of, if you were
wondering… that I wanted him.

He saw my flush and his
smile fell back into his standard, stern expression. “Shouldn’t you
be training?”

Ugh.
“They said I could take a break, get something to
eat.”

He nodded and went back to
his work.

With a resigned sigh, I
turned from the doorway and continued on my path to the kitchen. I
ran through my thoughts as I made my way, still trying to find some
kind of order. My fingers traced the cool stone wall as I stepped
slowly, remembering the recent days of training. It all seemed
eerily familiar, the training that was now called practice. It even
had its own place in the castle, the practice rooms. I was
stronger, for which I was grateful, but still not fully in control.
And now they all insisted that I be prepared for anything. They
worried about my bindings, someone finding out I was weak,
confused.

My fingers still trailing
the wall, I turned into the door to the kitchen.

Damn it. Not the
kitchen.

I was looking into a large,
open space with high ceilings. It was ornate, but not like the
council buildings of the village. This place was dark, richly
decorated with deep colors and velvet fabrics. Along the side
walls, fires were lit in stone constructs of intricate design. A
large elaborate chair sat near the center of the back wall on a
raised platform. Beside it were several smaller seats and I
suddenly knew where I was. The throne room. I found myself walking
to the chair, though I probably shouldn’t have.

Its size and design were
much more impressive up close. I reached my hand out and ran it
across the scrolling at the top. I remembered the first day I woke
again. To say I’d been slow was an obvious understatement. I’d
spent days reading my mother’s diary and it had never crossed my
mind that I had been, as she was, in line for the throne. But the
moment I saw the gathering outside my window, I knew. Of course,
that hadn't lasted long. Because I didn’t remember anything or have
the slightest idea how to rule, I’d been kept from public view
until we could straighten things out. Apparently, no one had ruled
since the massacre my mother had started so long ago, so there
wasn’t exactly a set routine now. The seven other elves who had
helped me with so much else were now calling themselves my guard
and had taken to the task of setting things in order privately, so
no one could guess I was… out of sorts. But this, this was
my
throne.

I felt my mouth pull up in
a smile as I rolled the thought around my mind.

“
Looks like the cat
finally got her canary,” Steed teased as he eyed my big goofy grin.
A large hawk flew in with him and landed on a pedestal beside the
throne. It must have been a pet; I remembered it being in some of
the other memories, the ones that weren’t quite mine. Though it
couldn’t have been the same hawk. I didn’t know how many years they
lived, but I'd certainly been gone for far too long for
that.

He was still looking at me,
waiting for a reply while I was lost in thought.

“
Steed,” I gushed. I
hadn’t quite gotten used to the intense need I felt for the group
and I hadn’t seen him for a while. He looked quite pleased at my
response so I tried to cover my enthusiasm. “You’ve been gone, and
Anvil. I thought you’d left.”

He laughed. “Afraid not.
But we will be leaving soon, just for a bit.”

Despite my best efforts,
the disappointment was plain on my face. I flopped down on the
chair, forgetting it was a throne in the moment.

He stepped forward, close
enough to brush my cheek with his fingers. “Frey, someone has to
get the rest of your magic.”

My stomach twisted. I knew
what he meant. They’d be hunting down the other council members,
the ones who had bound me. They would have to kill them to release
their hold on me. I couldn’t bear to see us separated, our group of
eight. “But I don’t want you to go.” For some reason, that made him
smile.

“
What would you have us
do, Frey?” Chevelle’s voice from the doorway made me jump. And also
intensely aware of how close Steed was. I thought it had been
rhetorical, but he waited for my reply. I wondered if this was
because of who I'd been before, who I was supposed to be now. It
didn’t feel like I had any authority. And I didn’t feel like that
other Frey, adored and spoiled, second to the throne. But that
thought made me realize where I was sitting, what my chair
symbolized.

I huffed out a frustrated
breath. What would be acceptable? I knew I wanted the bindings
released, I knew I needed my magic and my memories, now more than
ever, but I couldn’t stomach the idea of staying here while they
left. “Why can’t we all go?”

Chevelle nearly rolled his
eyes but caught himself. “Frey, we just got you back here. We can’t
leave and not have anyone here to keep things in order. The North
will be back in chaos in a short time. We’ve just given people
hope.”

Hope. I laughed. They had
hope because of me? Steed and Chevelle simultaneously gave me the
look that I never got used to, though I'd seen it regularly
enough.
So
we
can’t leave the castle without giving them doubts?
A thought occurred to me and Steed’s comment
echoed in my mind… cats and canaries
.
I sat back in the chair and closed
my eyes, falling into the mind of the hawk. It was the one magic
the binding had never taken from me, the one talent that made me
unique. I flew from the castle and over the mountain, searching for
what I needed.

I was aware of Chevelle
arguing with Steed. “Why do you insist on making this more
complicated?”

“
She’s not as weak as you
think.”

“
You know the bindings are
dangerous. And you’ve seen what the stress can do to
her.”

“
She’s safer with
us.”

“
Is she?” Chevelle’s voice
was ice.

“
They won’t hurt
her.”

“
You know, I can still
hear you,” I said, a moment before my eyes flicked open. I could
tell by their expressions they had not known.

I stood and walked down the
steps in front of the throne. “It doesn’t matter now. I’ve taken
care of it.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chevelle’s face
turn to anger before I walked from the room. I picked up my
pace.

I found one of the servants
to guide me to my room. I was fairly certain her name was Ena,
though I couldn't be sure because she looked peculiarly similar to
another of the servants (whose name I could not remember at all)
with their long dark hair and sharp features. I'd seen a number of
servants moving about the castle during the weeks since I'd woken
but I hadn't stopped to examine them. Not that I wasn't interested,
but I'd noticed their gazes drop as I met their eyes or felt as if
they'd found a new task just as I'd taken note of their presence.
It seemed awkward for some reason. And even if I didn't recognize
them, it wasn't as if they didn't know me. The castle staff was in
on the secret, though not formally. The details weren’t explained
but they had seen clearly enough. No one had been worried about
them though, they had proven their loyalty by staying in the empty
castle, waiting for their lords to return.