Whisper (23 page)

Phillip

Father, I think something’s wrong. I saw a whole lot going on. I know Dearra was here because I got to see her, so I know that something is happening, but I can’t understand what. First, Carly and Dearra were here talking about some nonsense with Dearra and a Breken, and then Jacob is sent off with them on Falco’s orders, which doesn’t make any sense to me as he’s a Maj, even if he’s not a very good one. Then next thing I know, everybody’s back again, except this time, Falco takes them straight off to the dungeon, and Daniel’s there, and a Breken too.

Now, what do you think happened, but they came and hauled Dearra off, right away again, and took a great big Breken out the door with her.

I know you have a plan, Father, but I’m starting to think you all might need some help.

The lock on the cell door glowed fiery red, but the metal showed no signs of fatigue, just as it had not shown signs of weakening after being frozen solid and struck repeatedly with a grime-encrusted metal plate that had long since been forgotten in the dank cell. Carly slumped to the filthy straw floor exhausted from her efforts. Her narrow shoulders shook as she let her frustration take hold.

Daniel settled an arm around her shoulders and pulled her gently closer. “Shhhh, Carly. Don’t cry, sweet. You’ve done all you could. Don’t punish yourself for something you can’t fix. Save your strength.”

“Save my strength? For what?” Carly jerked away from Daniel’s embrace. “So that I can be refreshed when they kill us? They’ve taken Dearra and Darius already. What do you think we are going to be able to do if they come for us?”

“Carly, don’t. You need to calm do—”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. If it weren’t for you and Darius being so incredibly male, we wouldn’t even be in this mess! The two of you traipsing through the desert to protect us is what got us here! How am I supposed to save you, now? Darius is gone! Dearra is gone! And now I’m going to lose you too! So just don’t tell me to calm down!”

Carly took fast shallow breaths in what was almost a pant. Tears left ghostly trails down her dirty face. Her hair hung wild about her head. The temperature of the small cell grew first warm and then cold and then back to warm again in response to her emotions flowing unchecked. Finally she threw back her head and screamed her frustration. A cloud of snow materialized above her. Thick snowflakes cascaded from it forming a thick veil that lasted for several seconds until it subsided, leaving only a few flakes to drift lazily to the ground when it was over. The falling snow melted almost immediately as it touched Daniel and Carly’s warm skin, and formed a slushy puddle beneath them. Eventually Carly’s breathing slowed and she was able to take in a few steadying breaths.

“Feel better now?” Daniel asked putting his arm back around her shoulders.

Carly sighed. “Not really,” she admitted. “Now I’m cold and wet on top of everything else.”

“You
are
a fairy. Can’t you do something to warm us back up again?” Daniel said, teasing.

“First of all, don’t call me that! I am
not
a fairy. I am a Maj that happens to be part Etrafarian.”

“I beg your pardon.” Daniel dipped his head in a small bow, which did little to hide the grin on his face.

“Secondly,” Carly said, glaring at the impudent weapons master, “I seem to have used all my strength with the last snowflake. I think I need a while to gather my strength before I can do any more magic.”

Daniel frowned at this disclosure. “Is that usual? You’re all right, aren’t you? You weren’t harmed in any way, were you?”

“I honestly don’t know if it’s normal or not; I have never done so much magic at one time as I have tried in this cell. Maybe it’s just like anything else, and all I need is some time to build up my stamina.”

“But you aren’t hurt or anything?” Daniel’s eyes seemed to search every exposed square inch of her body, looking for bruising or bleeding he might have overlooked before.

“No, I’m fine. Really. The worst is that my wrists are sore. Those metal cuffs were uncomfortable. I imagine Falco warned them I was part Etrafarian, and that rope might not be their safest bet. It’s pretty stupid, really, seeing how little control I have over my powers. I would be just as likely to set myself on fire as I might a rope.”

Daniel gathered her hands into one of his own and gently moved the fabric of her gown aside to expose her delicate wrists. It was difficult to see, as only a scant amount of torchlight from the hallway was able to seep beneath their cell door, and he guided her towards the floor so he could get a better look. The metal had indeed cut and bruised the thin skin around her wrists. The first set of cuffs they had on her had been too large for her petite bone structure, so they had to use ones better suited to a child. The second set were too small for her, and the Breken guard had compressed them until they could be locked. The damage could have been much worse had she been forced to wear them for any length of time, but fortunately they were removed as soon as she was put into the cell.

“It’s nothing. Truly, Daniel, I am fine.”

Carly tried to pull her hands from Daniel’s grip, but he refused to let go while he gently massaged the spots where purple bruises had begun to blossom. She ceased her half-hearted attempt to pull away, and Daniel seemed to take that as a sign she was calming down, for in the next moment, he lifted her into his lap and cradled her gently against his chest.

“Mostly, I’m just worried about Dearra and Darius, not to mention Phillip. Things have spun so wildly out of control.”

“Try not to worry, Carly. After all, what good will it do? Dearra has been in tight spots before, as has Darius I’m sure. It will all work out somehow.”

“You call this a tight spot? Daniel, you know this is a lot more than Dearra running off after a rogue wolf, or jumping into a river, or any of the million other things she’s gotten herself into? The Breken will never let us go. It’s hopeless.”

“Nothing is ever hopeless, Carly, but I’ll admit it doesn’t look good for us right now.” Daniel took a deep breath and rested his cheek against the top of her head.

Carly pulled away so she could see his face. He tried to smile and make light of their predicament, but he could not remove the anxiety from his expression. Just the fact he held her so closely was enough to tell her he feared their time together may be nearing an end. She reached up a hand and placed her fingers on his face. “I just don’t want to lose you. Not now. Not yet.”

“Nor I you. We haven’t had nearly enough time.”

“No, we haven’t. I told you once I had been waiting for you to notice me since I was nine. Did you really never notice? Maybe the better question is: when was it you first noticed me?”

“It took a lot longer than nine, I can tell you that!” Daniel said adamantly.

“You don’t have to be so defensive. I know you didn’t look at me like that when I was a child. I just wondered when it was that you realized I existed.”

“I always knew. You were the prettiest baby I ever saw, and then, when I found you over the side of that cliff and you looked at me with so much trust? Well, you wrapped yourself around my heart from that moment. I’ve always felt like a sort of protective uncle, watching you grow up with great interest, and then…”

“Then what?” Carly snuggled closely against him and waited for him to respond.

“It was your sixteenth birthday. I remember how everyone bustled about getting everything ready for your celebration. I was out on the practice field, like always. Dearra and I were working, and several young men were practicing nearby. I wasn’t trying to listen, but I couldn’t help but overhear some of their conversation. It was harmless enough, but they were talking about you and how you were no longer a child. One of them wondered if your lips were as sweet as the rest of you.”

“Really? Who was it?”

“Why? Are you having second thoughts?” Daniel had done his best to sound nonchalant and had failed miserably.

“Of course not, silly man. A girl likes to be flattered every now and again, and I was just curious.”

“I don’t remember who it was anymore.”

Carly laughed. “Liar.”

Daniel chose to ignore her challenge. “As I was saying, they were talking about your lips and your kiss, and I didn’t like it. I mean, I
really
didn’t like it. I was so surprised by my own reaction that Dearra was able to dart in when my blade slipped. Do you remember? That was the first time she’d bested me. She was so proud, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my thoughts were elsewhere. That was unimportant, anyway. A win is a win. In battle, you take what advantages come. She got exponentially better after that fight. I think just knowing she could win gave her the confidence she needed to take the next step in her training.”

“You didn’t like it? You mean that you were jealous?”

“I was beyond jealous, and it shocked and frightened me.”

“Frightened you? Why?” Carly splayed her fingers across his chest and felt the beat of his heart through his shirt.

“Don’t you see? I was a grown man, and you were a child, or at least, not yet a woman. I was disturbed by the strength of my feelings for you. It had never before occurred to me that you were anything more than a delightful little girl. My thoughts were completely honorable, of course. It’s not like I was going to act on those impulses, just that I had become aware of them. I didn’t know what to do with myself after that. I walked all afternoon, just thinking things through.

“I ended up in the field by Ellis’s farm. You know the spot, the one with all of those wildflowers? It’s a total waste of good farm land, but his wife thinks they’re pretty, so he leaves that spot be. I don’t know what possessed me, but I started picking those little yellow ones, and then the white ones, and the next thing I knew I was sitting with a lap full of blossoms twisting them into chains. When I was done, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. It seemed wrong to just pick them and let them die for nothing, or so I told myself. Rather than let them whither, I decided to give them to someone, and it
was
your birthday, after all. I thought if I snuck them into your room and left them for you, it wouldn’t really be like I was taking flowers to a sixteen year old girl, because you would never know who’d left them.”

“That was you? I thought it was one of the other women. Mother had been too busy, and Father never would have had the patience to make something so elaborate.

“Why didn’t you just say something? You could have saved me from two years of self-doubt and worry. The only thing that kept me from going completely mad was the fact that you never showed the least interest in anyone. All you ever cared about was training and weapons, so at least I didn’t have to watch you fall in love with another woman.”

“Hah! That may have been what it seemed like, but you occupied more of my thoughts than I can say. Some days it felt as if I was just stumbling through the motions, especially when you were away from Maj. Those days were the worst.

“I kept telling myself just to get over it, but then you turned seventeen, and my mind argued that you were almost an adult, and it wasn’t so very wrong. Harvest Celebration was the turning point, when I saw you in that gown. I don’t know what possessed me to walk forward and offer my arm, but there I was. I expected you to laugh at me and make a joke about it.”

“I didn’t though, did I? I felt like I was dreaming. When you were just there, it was better than any moment I had let myself imagine. I kept waiting to wake up.”

“After the big storm, when you came to my room and bathed my hands in the water, I couldn’t move. I just stood there, frozen like an idiot. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn’t. When you brushed your lips against my palm, and I saw the tears, I knew then that you cared for me, too. I spent a lot of time just thinking about what to do next.”

“I didn’t know. It seemed like I had ruined everything. Darius said you weren’t as indifferent as you seemed, but—”

“Darius? What do you mean, Darius said?”

“Right after the storm, during Winter Solstice. He said that it was easy for him to see, because people just see what they expected to see, but he could tell right away.”

“I
would
be annoyed, but how do you get mad at someone for being right?”

“So, here we are,” Carly said. “So much wasted time.” She smiled sadly.

“Yes, here we are.” Daniel’s lips descended deliberately and brushed against her wrists with no more force than a spring breeze. Her breath caught in her throat and froze. He kissed first one hand and then the other.

Her head spun, and she remembered to breathe. “What…What are you doing?”

“Kissing you,” Daniel answered, his voice turned husky. He took the lobe of one ear gently beneath his teeth. Carly gave a small gasp, followed by a quick shudder. He released her ear and his lips drifted downward along her neck as his hand came up to cradle the back of her head. Carly sighed. Her arms wrapped around his neck and drew him closer to her. Daniel’s lips found her mouth, and his kiss grew stronger, more impatient.

“I had thought this moment would come on our joining night,” Carly said quietly, as Daniel moved his mouth to her throat.

Daniel paused in his attentions and his gaze met hers. “Then let this be our joining. Here and now, I love you, and if we are to die here, then I would that it be as husband and wife.”

Carly nodded and gave a little smile. Her hand stroked his rough cheek, where several days of whiskers had gone unattended. “I give myself to you. All that I am or will be, all that I have or will have, now and for always, we shall be joined.”

“And to you, sweet Carly, I pledge myself. Where you go, I go. Your people will be my people, Maj and Etrafarian alike. I vow my life and my love.”

“Then, husband, let us be joined truly and in all things.” Carly embraced him fiercely and pressed her lips to his. She knew not how her dress became undone but the warmth between them kept her from feeling anything but bliss.