Anathema - The Song of Eloh Saga, Book 2 (8 page)

We exchanged a glance across our breakfast.
The world of slavery we had left was simple and confining, but the
outside world seemed more dangerous than anything we had ever
faced. I felt like a newborn, because I didn’t know anything
practical about the world I lived in.

“What are the three rules?” Ivy asked. “We
ought to know if we’re to follow them once we’re able to leave. We
didn’t live by these rules under Kandek’s thumb. We just kept our
mouths shut and did our jobs.”

“Trust, adore, obey.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Ivy said.

“Sounds like they wanted to get married,” I
remarked.

“It does a bit, doesn’t it?” Johna said.
“That’s what our people thought. They were enamored with the
Malborn and their rich way of life. They flaunted their wealth, but
no one thought to question where it came from.”

“They subjected everyone they conquered,” I
guessed. I had lived with slavery as a simple fact of life. It had
never occurred to me that I really should be free. Life had seemed
so simple. But now I had so many questions, seemingly dangerous
ones.

“What was this outlaw’s gift?” Ivy asked.
“Was it premonition?”

“No one really knows,” Johna said. “After he
died, there were people born with the gift of premonition, or
knowing what was to come. He had the unique ability not only to see
forward but to see the truth in the past. It is said he could tell
when someone was lying and he knew what they were going to say. It
was a truly unique gift.”

“Wow, I can’t even imagine living with
that,” I said. “I bet there was a lot to sort through in his
head.”

“There was,” Johna said. “Some people said
he was losing his mind from dealing with all of the information.
Not long before being executed he hid in his house, refusing to
come outside. The shutters were closed and he nearly lived in the
dark. Some people swore he only came outside when it was
raining.”

“Sounds like you,” Ivy laughed, pointing at
me.

“Yeah,” I giggled, “but he had a choice and
I never have. I’m so sick of being stuck inside that I can barely
stand it.”

“Don’t worry, child.” Johna patted my
shoulder. “They’ll give up on you soon enough. No slave was ever
worth enough to a master to mount a search for long. He’ll get
distracted and forget you ever existed.”

“I hope so,” I said. “I just want to live a
normal life.”

A hurried knock at the door interrupted our
conversation.

“Open up!” an angry voice demanded. “You’re
under arrest.”

Chapter Eight

“You,” Johna pointed to Ivy. “Wig on and
stand behind the counter. You,” she pointed to me, “under the
counter.”

I grabbed my breakfast bowl and scrambled
under the dark wooden counter. There wasn’t much space so I pulled
my legs into a ball, resting my head on my knees. My heart pounded
and I wondered if it would burst through my chest. I concentrated
on slowing down my rapid breaths. Even if I couldn’t be seen, I
might be heard. Through a small knot in the wood, I saw Johna
square her shoulders and fling the door open.

“What did I do?” she demanded to the guard
standing on the doorstep. I could only see his right arm and right
boot, but it was easy enough to identify the uniform of one of
Kandek’s honor guard.

“I’m searching for an escaped slave and I
heard reports about a young girl sneaking into your house last
night.”

He pushed his way past Johna, entering the
small cottage. His boots rested in front of me, but he stood
slightly to the left leaving my limited view clear.

“As you can see, there is a girl in my
house,” Johna said, pointing to Ivy. “But she’s my niece, come here
to learn the trade of herbology. There’s no sneaking here.”

“Explain the charges, then old woman,” the
guard demanded.

“How can I explain charges I know nothing
about? She’s my niece.”

Ivy kept silent during the conversation, but
I could see her fingers rubbing together. She must be dying to use
her gift.

The front door creaked, opening farther, as
another soldier entered the cottage. Johna blocked my view of his
face, but another soldier couldn’t be good news. I closed my eyes
and concentrated on taking metered breaths.

“Anything wrong here Madame Johna?” he
asked.

Ivy nudged me with her foot and my eyes flew
open. I peeked out the knothole again, seeing that the second guard
had moved into my line of view. My breath held in my chest as I
looked at this new, stunning guard. Dark hair fell lightly across
his face, but not far enough to hide his green eyes, which focused
on the first guard as he waited for a response.

“Mark, no, no, everything is fine,” Johna
said, taking his arm and maneuvering him back towards the door.
“Just go.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know that
you’re okay.”

Mark pealed Johna’s fingers from his arm and
faced the other guard.

“Can you identify that woman?” the guard
asked him, pointing at Ivy.

Mark’s gaze settled on Ivy. I felt her
twitch slightly as I waited for Mark’s ignorance of the situation
to give us all away.

“Of course,” he said, “that’s Madame Johna’s
niece. She arrived recently to apprentice in herbology. Why? Has
she done something wrong?”

“No, apparently not,” the guard murmured.
“My apologies, madam.”

He walked to the doorway and then stopped
and turned.

“She doesn’t fit the description of the
missing slave anyway. Your girl has blue eyes. The one we’re
looking for has amber eyes. If you hear anything, send a message to
the outpost. Good travels,” he said and left the cottage, closing
the door behind him.

Not ready to emerge yet, because I didn’t
know if Mark could be trusted, I stayed under the counter, watching
him through the hole.

“Mark, how did you know just what to say?”
Johna asked, pulling him into a hug. His sword clanged at his side
as he lifted his arms to squeeze her back.

“I was walking by and heard you outside the
door. Good thing he didn’t think to shut the door behind him or I
couldn’t have backed up your lie. I overheard everything,” he said
with a smile.

“You’ve saved us,” she said.

“From what? Obviously she isn’t the slave
they’re looking for,” he said, gesturing to Ivy. “Eyes are the
wrong color.”

Mark moved to the counter until all I could
see of him were the tips of his boots.

“Or did you do something to change them?” he
asked.

“I’m Ivy,” I saw Ivy’s arm disappear above
the counter to shake his hand.

“Reychel, come on out, dear,” Johna said.
“Mark is safe. Probably the only person in town I’d trust you
to.”

I crawled out from under the counter and met
Mark’s eyes. Seeing him up close, not through a knothole, caused my
heart to flutter. I swallowed hard and held out my hand.

He didn’t take it. Instead he reached to my
head with both hands. I didn’t flinch as he straightened my
wig.

“No one’s going to believe you’re not a
slave if you don’t keep your wig straight,” he said, grinning.

“Mark is the son of the potter down the
road,” Johna explained. “He’s been irritating me since he was a
little boy.”

“Yep, I made it my life’s mission to keep
Madame Johna from her work. Lucky for me, she was kind enough to
humor a curious little boy who ruined her herb garden.”

“You didn’t ruin it,” she laughed. “You just
trampled it. There’s a difference.”

She paused for a moment. “Mark knows about
us.”

“Then you’re like us?” Ivy asked. Her
eyelashes fluttered and she cocked her head to the side. Ivy was
known for her flirting with other male slaves and they couldn’t
resist her. Not even Grey. For the longest time, I thought he was
interested in her, not me. I still wasn’t sure because I didn’t get
the chance to find out.

Mark laughed. “Oh no, my only talent lies in
fighting. I’m a soldier at heart and by trade.”

“Are you looking for me too?” I asked
quietly.

“Yes, but I don’t put too much effort into
searching for missing slaves. It’s not like I turned him away so I
could have you to myself,” he said, winking. I felt a blush crept
over my neck. I was grateful for the long wig that covered most of
my bare skin.

Mark sat down on the bench and propped his
boots up on another chair.

“Your cottage hasn’t changed a bit since I
left,” he said. “Did you know I just got back today?”

“And thank Eloh you did,” Johna said.
“Though I would have thought you’d learned some manners in the
military. Get your boots off of my chair.” She swatted him with a
towel.

“Sorry,” he said, grinning. “Old habits are
hard to break.”

“Have you been home to see your parents?”
Johna asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “I was coming from the
west and happened upon your little drama first. I suppose I’ll make
it home in a bit.”

“Can I get you anything?” Ivy asked him.
“Some breakfast maybe? Or a drink?”

“A tumbler of mead would be great,” he
answered, tossing Ivy a huge smile.

“Now tell me what’s so interesting about you
that Kandek wants you back so badly?” Mark turned to me as Ivy
poured his drink. “I know it’s not your wig straightening
abilities.”

“I honestly don’t know. I didn’t do anything
important around the castle.”

“Except for your private conversations with
the master,” Ivy shot out. “What were those all about? Does that
have something to do with why he wants you back?”

Mark’s eyebrows rose as he looked back to
me. The blush turned to embarrassment. Ivy was the one person who
had always supported me and never questioned my motives. Why would
she bring this up now?

“You had a private audience with Kandek?”
Mark asked in disbelief. “He’s one of the most difficult men to get
alone, at least according to my captain. Even when discussing
strategy, he prefers a large audience. That’s strange.”

“I don’t know why,” I said. “He was always
nice to me. In fact, it’s one of the few times I was allowed to see
the outside world. He would open the shutters and let me peer out
into the world. It was the only time I felt free,” I whispered.

“You’ve never been allowed outside? How can
that be possible?”

“I don’t know,” I said, looking down at the
countertop. I flicked a speck of dust off of a bottle.

“Of course you don’t,” Ivy said. “There’s no
good reason for it. We were slaves. We did what he said. Who knows
why he wanted to talk to Reychel? Who cares?” She slapped her towel
on the counter as she handed Mark his mead.

“And where did you come from?” he asked
Ivy.

“Same place as Reychel. I escaped the day
before her,” she said.

“But they aren’t looking for you?” he asked.
“I was only given instructions to find the girl with the amber
eyes. Here she is and here you are. Both missing from the same
place, but only one missed. Strange.”

“Better if they aren’t looking for me. It
will make things easier for me,” she paused to look at me. “I mean
us. Of course us, we’ll never be separated will we?”

Ivy placed a hand on my arm. I wondered if
Ivy was trying to soothe me after her rude comments. I shook my arm
free.

“I’m going into the back room where I
belong,” I said. “Hidden from everyone.”

As I walked through the door I heard Mark
ask, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Ivy said. “She’s just a sensitive
girl.”

Chapter Nine

“Isn’t Mark fantastic?” Ivy sighed while we
were lying on our cots that night. I had a blanket pulled up under
my chin. The damp spring night left me shivering. I couldn’t
complain, knowing that a hot summer was soon to arrive.

“He’s fine.” I pushed Ivy’s curls out of my
face. The wigs looked convincing, but they weren’t as soft as real
hair. Hers poked my eyes, causing them to itch and water. “Why do
you wear that thing to bed?”

“It’s my hair now. I’m not taking it off
until my real hair is long enough.” Ivy rolled over and faced me.
Her eyes crinkled as she stared at me. “You should do the same. You
look funny.”

I rubbed my stubble. It had only been a day,
but the growth was satisfying. It was the most hair I’d ever had,
at least that I could remember, and I was proud of it.

“If I wear the wig all the time it’ll get
dirty and messy. I’ll have to comb it and fuss with it. I don’t
want to do that.”

“I do,” Ivy said. “I’ve always had dreams of
having hair to play with and now I do. I’m not going to waste a
second of it.”

I scooted to the edge of the cot to get away
from her hair and her piercing gaze. They bugged me. But those
weren’t the only things about her that irritated me today. Even
though I managed to stay quiet about it most of the day, I still
couldn’t understand why she said those things about me in front of
Mark. We had always been best friends and I never felt like she was
judging me – at least I didn’t before today.

Ivy had changed since we left Tania’s house
yesterday. Her natural smile was gone, replaced by a thin smirk.
The biggest change was in her eyes. I could easily see the spark of
gift in her blue eyes, but the real spark, the one that lit her
entire face up when she smiled had gone and was replaced by a thin
veneer. It didn’t seem real.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“Me?” Ivy laughed. “You’re worried about me?
After all these years you are worried about me? I’ve spent most of
my time with you worrying about how you feel.”

She sat up and faced me, a pout evident and
her eyes narrowed.

“How’s Reychel feeling? Is she going to be
upset that I went outside today? I feel so bad for her, stuck in
the castle all by herself.” Ivy flailed her arms around in the air
and moved her head from side to side. Her mocking tone hit me in
the gut. She stopped moving, bent over, and looked me in the eyes.
“Reychel, we’re free now. Get over yourself and stop acting like
such a baby. Pretty soon you’ll be able to go outside whenever you
want, talk to whoever you want, and do whatever you want.”