Anathema - The Song of Eloh Saga, Book 2 (7 page)

I grabbed Ivy’s hand and squeezed. As far as
I was concerned, her gift had saved us and mine had never even
manifested. That told me hers was infinitely stronger, no matter
how much my eyes shone. Her hand lay limp in mine but I squeezed
again hoping she would know how much I cared.

“Now let’s get you girls inside. You’re wet
and you could probably use a change of clothes before hitting the
sack. Even though it’s late, someone might see you. We wouldn’t
want that yet, would we? Not until I decide exactly what to do with
you.”

We followed Johna into her cottage. Its
layout was exactly the same as Tania’s, but couldn’t have looked
more different. An entire wall was covered in hanging herbs, in
various states of drying. I saw a few I recognized like lavender
and sage but many more draped the wall in mystery. Wooden cabinets
dotted with tiny drawers flanked the rest of the walls. A huge
counter stood near the front of the room, presumably the place she
sold her herbal concoctions to the villagers.

Johna pointed to a freestanding screen in
the far corner.

“You can change behind that while I get
something warm to fill your bellies. You’ve been walking in the
rain and snacking on dry bread, not enough nourishment for
rain-soaked young girls.”

Behind the screen, I slithered out of my wet
dress and shivered in my shift. While my undergarments weren’t wet,
they were lightly damp and cool enough to cause goose pimples to
break out on my arms and legs. I grabbed the second dress Tania
gave me out of my pack and pulled it over my head.

“Where can we hang up our cloaks?” Ivy
asked, wringing hers out over a metal tub, also behind the
screen.

“Over the door,” Johna said, waving to an
empty hook. “They should be dry by morning.”

“Are we to leave then?” I asked, not seeing
anywhere to sleep. I was afraid of having to move on again. I
wanted nothing more than a quiet place to rest for a while. Too
much had happened today and I couldn’t bear moving on again.

“No, no, child,” Johna laughed. “Silly girl.
You’ll be staying here a while. See that door in the back?”

I looked behind her and nodded. I hadn’t
seen it at first. I was too distracted by the wall of herbs.

“That leads to a separate room with my
sleeping chambers. We’ll have to share for now. Close quarters
won’t hurt, after all there’s much you need to learn before you can
step out into that world on your own. There are histories to learn,
rules to follow and techniques to master. Not only do you have to
learn about our world, but you have to be able to succeed in the
outer world without giving away your gifts. If you do, you might
end up worse off than how you started.”

I sat down on the closest bench, resting my
arms on the table. Allowing myself to relax seemed a luxury after
all the excitement. Here I had a place to stay, a new home. No
matter how short my time here I knew I would enjoy it.

“Tania said before we left that Kandak is
looking for us,” I said. “Will that bring you any trouble?”

“Why don’t the two of you stay inside the
house, and away from the windows, until he stops looking?” Johna
scooped each of us our own bowl of stew as Ivy took a seat next to
me. “A couple of slaves aren’t going to cause an uproar for too
long. Something else will catch his attention sooner or later.”

“Away from the windows?” I had been looking
forward to having some freedom and time to see the outside world.
At the least I had hoped I could stare out a window in my free
time. I had done so little of it and our flight hadn’t allowed me
much time to enjoy my surroundings. I wanted to see what my world
looked like.

“People stop by here unannounced all the
time looking for this potion or that herb,” Johna said. “If they
see you, they’ll talk and talk travels faster than a horse in a
town like this. If one person knows, everyone will know. Hiding
will have to do for now.”

“We’re sorry if we’re inconveniencing you.”
Ivy laid her hands on Johna’s arms and casually extended the
fingers of her right hand towards Johna. “It’s not our
intention.”

“Don’t use your soothing on me, girl,” Johna
turned her back and walked across the room slamming the pot down on
the counter. “The first lesson you need to learn is to never use
your gifts on one of us unless we ask you to.”

“I’m sorry,” Ivy said, retracting her
fingers. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just trying to help
our situation. Reychel and I have been through so much.”

“I understand your situation,” Johna sighed.
“I was there once. Many of us were. None of us would ever turn you
away. You just need to use your common sense and hide out for a
bit.”

My eyes widened. I’d never seen anyone speak
so harshly to Ivy before. Everyone always loved her. She sat as
still as a stone at her chair, gripping the soup spoon in her hand
so tight that her fingers turned a bright pink to match her cheeks.
Perhaps it was because Ivy was able to soothe everyone around her
before and she wasn’t used to dealing with any level of criticism,
but I’d never seen her so irritated.

“It’s okay, Johna,” I interjected, putting
my arm around Ivy’s shoulders. “We don’t mind. Hiding out here has
got to be better than any day we spent as slaves.”

“I’m glad you see things the right way,
girl,” Johna nodded. “It’ll get you far.”

I returned to my stew as my stomach growled
loud enough for the whole village to hear. A smile broke out on
Ivy’s face as she also remembered her supper. I was relieved to see
Ivy’s expression slip back to normal as I took a sip of the warm
vegetable soup. I tasted fresh leeks and carrots in the steaming
broth. I hadn’t eaten a meal this warm in recent memory. Usually I
was given leftovers or I ate too quickly to taste the food. Knowing
that work waited for me after eating never gave me much incentive
to sit and enjoy. I’d rather get eating out of the way so I could
get back to my chores.

Johna sat at the opposite side of the table
and stared at me, making it difficult to concentrate on my soup. I
glanced up at her.

“I know what Ivy’s gift is. That much was
obvious by her little stunt just now. What’s yours?” Johna tapped
her spoon against the side of her bowl as she gazed into my
eyes.

“I don’t know.” I looked away, not sure how
I felt about my gift and the lack of its appearance. I shrugged and
pursed my lips together. “I don’t really think there’s much of
anything special about me.”

“You’ll figure it out soon enough,” Johna
said with a nod of her head. “We all do. Very few people have had
the spark and never learned their gift.”

“What happens if they don’t?” Ivy set down
her spoon in the empty bowl.

“Imagine you knew you were supposed to be
able to talk, but couldn’t. Everyone around you could speak, tell
jokes or sing songs. Yet you sat silently by day after day just
watching them,” Johna paused. “It tears some people apart.”

My eyes widened. Even if I never figured out
my gift, I couldn’t believe it would damage me much. Being free was
the best reward I’d ever been given.

“It’ll come to you, Reychel,” Johna
continued. “Someone with as much power as you can’t stay silent for
long.”

Chapter Seven

A rapid knock at the door woke me from the
first restful night’s sleep I could remember. Ivy stirred next to
me on the bed, jabbing her elbow into my back.

“What’s going on?” she murmured, obviously
enjoying sleeping in for a change. It was a rare treat to not wake
up with the first light.

“Shh,” I whispered. “There’s someone at the
door.”

Our eyes grew wide as we crept to the door
of the bedroom, our nightclothes silently sweeping the floor.
Johna’s bed sat neatly made while our makeshift cots on the floor
lay rumpled with sheets. I assumed Johna was already in the front
of the cottage as she was nowhere to be seen. Yesterday she warned
us to stay out of sight and we weren’t about to violate her rules.
But we also wanted to know what was going on, so we lay down on the
floor and listened through the crack under the door.

“Good morning, Roc,” Johna said. “What can I
get for you? Millie feeling alright?”

“Aye, she’s better this morning, thanks to
you. She’s no longer feeling the pains in her back. The baby seems
safe for now.”

“Glad to hear that. What can I do for you
today?”

“Oh, just a little more of those herbs for
her bath, please. She says it helps her relax when the baby wears
her out. He’s so heavy these days.”

“Of course, of course. All women feel
discomfort during pregnancy. It’s natural.”

I heard a crinkling noise as Johna rustled
through her herbs on the wall.

“Do you think this baby will be the one?”
Roc asked.

“The one what?”

“You know, the Prophet,” he whispered.

“Do you really believe in that nonsense?”
she chided. “How would one child save our people?”

“Well, the prophecy says…”

“I don’t care what the prophecy says,” Johna
interrupted. “You take care of you and yours and that’s all the
saving you need.”

“Yes,” he chuckled. “I suppose so. It’s
silly of me to go on about children’s stories as if they’re
true.”

“Now get yourself home to your beautiful
wife. Soon you’ll be coming here to let me know that the baby is on
its way.”

“Thanks again, Johna. I don’t know how the
village got on before you came here.”

“Glad I can help.”

What prophecy was he talking about? I
glanced at Ivy but she didn’t seem surprised. In fact she had lost
interest early in the conversation and crawled back into bed. I
backed away from the door too, pulled off my sleeping clothes and
slid into a dress.

“You can come out now, girls,” Johna called.
“I know you’ve been listening at the door.”

I nudged Ivy with my toe and she pulled the
blanket over her head. I crawled over and poked her in the side.
She jerked and giggled. With a sigh, and a roll of her eyes, she
sat up. I stood up, took her hands in mine, and pulled her to her
feet. She changed into a dress quickly too.

“How did you know?” I asked Johna, opening
the door. I walked through with Ivy close behind.

“It’s my gift,” Johna said. “I know what
people are thinking.”

“But I thought it had something to do with
herbs,” Ivy said, pointing at the dried bunches all around.

“No, no, that’s just my trade. Gotta make a
living and I like to help people. Now have some breakfast, girls,
before someone else decides to stop by unexpectedly.”

We dug into the porridge and bread Johna
laid out for us. Ivy barely stopped to breathe while I couldn’t get
the conversation Johna and Roc had out of my head.

“What’s the prophecy?” I asked.

“Oh yes, serious stuff,” Johna said. “I
wasn’t going to talk to you about that yet, but now that the cat’s
out of the bag I will.”

Johna settled behind the front counter with
an assortment of herbs and small brown burlap bags. With a small
knife she pulled from her hip belt, she cut the herbs into tiny
pieces, ground them up with a mortar and pestle, and divided them
into the little bags.

“You know you’re part of the seventh
generation, right?” Johna said.

“No, never heard of it,” I said. “Have you,
Ivy?”

“I remember something about it from a story
my momma told me before she died and Kandek bought me. She used to
tell me that a child from our generation would liberate everyone.
This child was supposed to have an amazing gift for prophecy.” She
bent over to take a bite of her food. “But it’s not real. It’s just
a story. No point in having hope, my momma used to say.”

“It is true,” Johna said.

“That there’s no point in having hope?” Ivy
asked, her porridge still in her mouth.

“No, the prophecy. It is quite true and
we’ve been waiting for a long time for the Prophet to tell us she’s
here. Hasn’t happened yet.”

“That story wasn’t sanctioned in Kandek’s
house. The man is so paranoid,” Ivy said. “No wonder Reychel’s
never heard it.”

“And what’s the seventh generation?” I
asked.

“You really were sheltered in that castle,
weren’t you?” Johna asked. “Well, six generations ago the Malborn
took power. They promised the natives that if they just followed
three simple rules, everyone could live in harmony. But within a
year, they managed to enslave nearly everyone who lived on our
island. Their people took over and subjugated our ancestors to
lives of slavery.

“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.”