Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (15 page)

“Amias,” the King said in a curious tone. Captain Doran stopped. “I had a
strange
dream last night. It was the
oddest
thing. The world was
washed in
grey and swam with figures. I was told
I should
trust you.”

The Captain’s heart stopped beating
along with his breath for several seconds. H
e stared at the King.

“Oh, I have a message for you,” he laughed. “
Don’t be a fool
.”

Brother Karl,
or as she had to keep reminding herself of her true name,
Coral Marden,
awoke among the Siri. She’d stayed two nights in their encampment. No one asked why she was there. No one asked why she cried or why she stared off into the distance for so long. They didn’t
ask how long she’d be staying.

She met with a man and woman she thought might be leaders of the group. They were kind, offering a meal. The woman smiled at her as she passed her a mug of hot tea.

“You are one from the Danycian outpost?”

“Yes.”

“Send and Mett spoke of you. You care for the little Siri girl.”

“Yes, Krisa.”

“They were impressed with her. And you. And the men.”

Coral nodded her thanks. The others sat nearby, not part of the conversation but she knew they were
listening. The man studied her.

He said, “
How is it she is with you?”

“I was a Brother of the Faold sent to Brynntown to collect three girls to become Sisters. She was one of them. Her father was a scribe to the Duke, I believe. She is the most perceptive child I know. She sees things others don’t. Things I don’t. And she slips into a shadow like a…” and she stopped, smiling thinking about the girl.

The Siri glanced around at each other. He said, “She should not be a Sister of the Faold.”

“No, she won’t be,” she told them. Then with some reluctance she said, “I’m not familiar with your beliefs. But the girls and I, and the Marshalls, have been…we met with our gods. I was given a responsibility to keep the girls safe.
On our journey north we’ve met other Sisters and Brothers who have tried to take the girls from me. But they won’t be Sisters. We won’t let them take them.”

“We have met Sisters in the forest. Sisters but different.”

“How are they different?” Coral asked but she knew the answer.

“They are tall like Siri. They wear wraps on their faces. They aren’t Siri.”

She nodded, looking off into the distance. Those
women in the square were tall,
wore veils and used the sorcery the gods had spoken of. Sisters but different.

“We no longer let them pass,” one said from behind her. “We suspected Kusira.”

“Kusira?” s
he asked, not knowing the word.

“Ancient wars separated us. They are an active people. Always striving to take more.”

Coral sat sil
ently eating her food.

“
If you need us, we will assist. I will send a messenger to your King
.”

“It
’s that serious?” she demanded.

None spoke. She took that as affirmation. She missed the girls. She missed
him
. She
worri
ed more now that she left them.

No one had asked how long she was staying with them b
ut when they started to pack up their camp and walk through the trees to the east she knew they were telling her it was time for her to go home. And they would take her.
The bulk of the group headed north while three men and two women escorted her east.

“We want to train your little one,” one of the women told her. “She is Siri, she should be with us.”

Coral stopped walking in surprise. A strong maternal instinct erupted from her in the face of losing one of her girls. She shook her head and glared at them. “No, I have to keep her with me, I have to protect her. The gods told me.”

“What better protection would she have than with us? Out here?”

“But we must stay together.”

“Did the gods tell you that?” one asked her. It was a serious question. They weren’t mocking her nor did they not believe her.

She thought back to her instructions she was given about the girls. They were not to be
Sisters;
she must take them to her homeland and train them as she felt was best.
Maybe they did mean for Krisa to be trained by Siri. Her father’s lands were so close to Siri territory. There truly would be no safer place for the girl than in the forest, protected by her people, a warrior nation known for their cunnin
g and ability to go un-noticed.

“We know she is special. To us as well,” another said. “Please, consider it. We will not force the issue.”

The Guards in the tower spotted them first. An alarm bell sounded over the distance as Coral and the Siri moved north along the tree line. Many people rushed out of the outpost building, a few small figures
amo
ng them start
ed running, Coral smiled feebly, guilty
for having been gone so long.

She scanned the men. He wasn’t there. Maybe he stayed inside, still furious with her. She’d come to the conclusion that she was just going to have to make him shut up and listen to her, because he had everything all wrong. His words came back to her, “…
held myself back from you”
and   “
I didn’t want to hurt you and knew I’d get hurt
”   and the worst,
“don’t torture him like you did me”.
He never told her what he felt. She guessed, she hoped, she even prayed about it. How was she supposed to know? At times he’d been distant or angry. He walked away from her when she tried to show him.
They had the same goal. They needed to work together and stop fighting, put their personal feelings aside. The girls were more important.

Before the others met them Coral told her Siri escorts
, “I am taking the girls to my family. That was clear in what I was told to do. If she wishes it, Krisa may go with you to learn your ways. She must understand, though, her responsibilities to her gods.”

They all nodded their thanks. One of the two women said, “We will take the other too.”

Coral stopped mid-stride, becoming alarmed. “What…”

“Her mate.”

“Pat? They are not…She’s ten years old!”

“They have bonded. Not as woman and man. But
there are many forms of love. She will not always be a child. They are mates, he will wait.”

Coral remembered Krisa dashing through the trees, shimmering in and out of vision. He chased her. He caught her and they laughed. They loved.

She nodded again. “Stay with us tonight and we will tell them.”

All the girls slept in the small bunk with Coral that night. She plaited Glory’s hair and told them about her home with the lake and fields, the pond to go swimming. They would leave in the morning and hopefully get to the next post to the east by nightfall. From there it would be a day and a half she was assured.

When she found out Amias had left after their fight she was so angry she could spit, guilty because she’d left the girls too, and sad, terribly sad she hadn’t had a chance to tell him what she needed to. Kel had sent a messenger just that morning to Amias and to her family saying she was missing. When she returned she instructed him to send another to say she was safe. There was no use scaring everyone.

“Why did he leave?” Glory whispered in the dark, her face up close to Coral’s. “Why did you leave?”

Coral drew them all in close. “I left because he was so upset with me. Do you remember the letter we were reading?”

They nodded.

“Well, in that letter it said that the woman he was supposed to marry died.”

The girls all made small noises of sadness for him. “Was he sad?” Glory asked, worried about him.

“No,” Krisa told them.

“No, he wasn’t sad because he didn’t know her. In the letter it said that he was going to marry her sister instead. And it gave her name. When I read the name I was shocked.”

“You know her?” Pe
arl whispered with big eyes.

“Yes. And I ran out because I just needed to be alone for a few minutes.”

“You were happy,” Krisa told her. “Why didn’t you want them to see you happy?”

Coral thought for a moment before she responded. “It’
s complicated. Sometimes grown-ups hide how they feel. They hide from each other.”

“Like Captain Amias,” Pearl said. “He’s always hiding.”

The three girls all nodded. Glory whispered sadly, “Except that day he shouted at you and left. He was not hiding then.”

“No,” Coral agreed. “That was the first time he told me what he felt and he was mad. I had a secret to tell him and he didn’t let me tell him. It would have made him happy I think.”

“What was your secret?” Pearl asked with a grin, leaning in close.

“My name isn’t Karl.”

Glory looked puzzled. “He never liked that name, did he?”

Coral laughed softly, putting her arm around her shoulders. “My name is Coral Estel Teres Marden.”

Krisa gasped and then squealed. She jumped up and started bouncing up and down on their bunk. The man below grumbled and Kel jumped out of bed, startled. Pearl and Glory just stared at her
, not having heard the name before at all. Krisa leaned into Pearl’s ear, whispered something and
then she started bouncing too.

“What is it?” Glory whined as Kel app
roached.

“Is everyone okay?” he a
sked, real concern on his face.

“No, they have a secret and they won’t tell me,” Glory pouted. “Make them tell me.”

Kel smiled and went back to bed, aware that he wouldn’t be invited to join the girl talk. And he had no business trying to pry secrets from them. Glory pouted again until Coral leaned over and told her, “Amias is supposed to marry Coral Estel Teres Marden.”

She started banging her legs on the bed rapidly and screamed into her arm in excitement. Perhaps late at night wasn’t the best time to tell this child such happy news as several of the men complained about being awakened. Coral had to shush them a few times and they all giggled.

“Do you think it will
be a big wedding?” Glory asked.

Krisa suddenly stiffened and swiftly but silently crawled across the bunk, slid to the floor and over to Pat’s lower bunk across from them. They both ducked out into the meal hall. A soft low whistle sounded
from the other room. The Siri.

From above, in the guard tower, a man’s voice shouted an unintelligible word but it must have meant something as the other guards jumped up and when
booted and armed rushed out. An electric blaze
of
lightning lit up the entire outpost, forcing everyone to cover their eyes. A roar rent the air, so de
afening
they couldn’t hear their own screams.
The storms. Why here? Why now?

Panic swept Coral. She grabbed the two girls when Kel pointed at them and held his hand up like they shouldn’t go anywhere. It was too loud to talk or even yell. More crackling and sizzling white light filled the meal hall, blinding th
em, even those in the barracks.

Pearl struggled away from Coral and disappeared over the edge of the bunk. Her nightdress trailing behind was all Coral could see as the little one dashed out the door. She screamed for Pearl but couldn’t be heard. Glory clung onto her, shaking, preventin
g her from running after Pearl.

“Stay here,” she shouted at Glory, pushing her under the bunk with blankets to cover her, hoping the girl heard her. She was so terrified she’d
not move a muscle.

Coral rushed from the barracks throwing her cloak around her shift she wore to bed. Four Marshalls were in the dining hall guarding the doors, the others and all the guards were outside. She scanned the room for Krisa but
didn’t see her.

A horrible crunching noise came from above
telling
Coral the tower was about to come down. A brilliant flash shone through the two windows on either side, a pause then the vibration of something hitting the building shook them all. The tower had come down. Men screamed and others yelled. Fire had erupted at the barn.
Coral felt completely useless.

Silence. No rumbles or cracks
pounded
her eardrums. No more lightning split the darkness. Only the men’s yelling voices and the light of the barn fire, of horses dashing around and booted feet running. Coral prayed it was over. One of the Marshalls opened the door. Two guards, probably from the collapsed tower,
were being dragged out of harm’s way. One Marshall turned around twice in his spot looking for anything suspicious. Those in the hall seemed to relax slightly and moved toward the door to go help. But then they froze. Coral was unable to move, and that familiar terrifying inability to control her own body, held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. In the doorway stood a tall slim figure, covered from head to toe in yellow, her face wrapped in loose veils of yellow. She walked toward Coral slowly.