Promising Light (45 page)

Chad stood, and the two of them
hugged.

Matilda started muttering under her
breath. Grace glanced at her; she was studying Lee from the
armchair across from them.

After a moment, she told them
quietly, “Don’t worry, he’s in his true form.”

Chad introduced everyone. Di
started to set the table, her actions increasingly growing louder.
She slammed plates down and grumbled at the cats to get out of her
way. When she hit her shin on a chair, she yelped something in
Klein, making Grace jump. She exchanged worried glances with
Dar.

“Would you like help, mum?” Lee
asked.

“No, I’m fine. Let’s
eat.”

They gathered around the table in a
tense silence. Di motioned to the food. “This is our hard-earned
food from Lee’s work in the fields. Without him, I don’t know where
I’d be.” She stared at Chad with pursed lips.

Grace bit the inside of her cheek.
Did they really need Lee? She was starting to feel guilty for even
considering they might need his help, which was probably exactly
what Di wanted.

“Aunt Di,” Chad
groaned.

“What’s going on?” Lee asked,
looking from his mother to his cousin.

Di sat down, taking a shuddering
breath. She motioned to Chad. “Go ahead, tell him.”

Chad turned to Lee and explained
everything as Di began dishing out food. Lee munched on some bread
thoughtfully as he listened.

“Do you know anything about
tigers?” Chad asked.

Lee shook his head. “Afraid not. I
bet old George does, though. He’s been all over, and he’s nearly
ninety.” He heaped a forkful of greens. “He can be difficult,
though.”

Chad’s hands fidgeted. “Could we go
talk to him tonight?”

“Let’s go tomorrow. I worked
nearly twelve hours today, but I can talk to Paul about taking the
day off.”

“Lee, you need to be careful,” Di
said. “The Protectors will be looking for her.” She motioned to
Grace without looking at her. “They may have already figured out
they’re here in Kleisade.”

“I know, mum. We’ll be on our
guard.”

“But you know how powerful they
are.”

“I know. They killed dad. We can’t
let them kill more people.”

Di’s lower lip trembled, and Grace
winced. Lee touched his mother’s hand and smiled at her. “The bread
is great today. As usual.”

Di smiled back, her shoulders
relaxing just a little bit. She motioned to the bread, a dense loaf
with dark flour and bits of seeds cooked on top. “Have another
piece.”

* * *

The next morning, Grace was one of
the first ones awake. Sierra and Evan were still in their bed, and
Matilda was bundled up in her blankets on the third couch. Evan had
made it the whole night without nightmares; Grace took that as a
good sign. Or maybe she just hadn’t woken up because she’d been
sleeping so hard.

She turned on her side and saw Dar
sleeping peacefully next to her. She and Dar had somehow ended up
in a bed together, and Grace didn’t mind. She’d spent the last week
sleeping next to him; sometimes she’d wake from a bad dream and
touch his hand just for the comfort. Other times, she’d wake up
with his arm around her torso.

During breakfast, they decided that
Chad, Grace, and Dar would go around town with Lee to find out more
information while Matilda, Sierra, and Evan restocked on their
supplies. Matilda said she may be able to get some more money by
using her Cosa magic and selling a few potions she had on
her.

Lee confirmed that no one in town
knew about Grace’s kidnapping, so they decided to keep her visible.
She still felt like the prince might jump out and take her back
home. She kept her hair hidden with a scarf just in case the
Protectors came asking about a girl with blonde hair.

Lee led them the city. “This is the
grand city of Aron,” he said, motioning to a pair of dogs fighting
over some chicken bones. Or at least Grace hoped the bones belonged
to a chicken.

“Did you grow up here?” she
asked.

“Yes, I did,” Lee said, smiling.
“And you? Did you grow up in Renaul?”

“Just a few miles outside of it,
yes.”

“And who is your father again?”
Lee asked, navigating through a rowdy group of children.

“General Ellengreen,” Grace said
quietly.

Lee let out a low whistle. “Wow,
he’s pretty high up.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond. She
just shrugged and nodded.

“Just so you know… we’ll probably
be here a while. George is one of the oldest Borens alive. I know
I’m supposed to respect my elders, but he can be a pain in the ass.
Usually, he’s just a really nice old man. Sometimes, though…” Lee
shook his head. “Well, you’ll see.”

On the outskirts of Aron, they came
to a one-story, unkempt cottage. “Here we go,” Lee said.

A gnarly oak tree stood in front of
the cottage, the leaves covering the roof. As they walked under it
with their horses, Grace shivered from the coolness. They tied
their horses’ reins to one of the branches and approached the front
door. It looked like George didn’t come out very often; the path
was overgrown with bushes which caught on Grace’s dress.

Lee knocked on the front door, and
they waited. Grace heard a series of bangs and a voice yelling on
the other side.

The door opened, and an old man met
them with a raised sword in his hand. He said something in Klein,
but it came out like a growl.

“George, it’s me, Lee,” Lee said.
“I’m with two of my friends.”

The man’s milky eyes rolled around,
looking in the general direction of Lee. “Who the hell is Lee?” He
had a heavy accent.

“Is he blind?” Grace whispered to
Lee.

George thrust his sword out; Lee
had to dodge aside to avoid being struck. He pushed the blade
toward the ground. “Lee! Di’s son!” he said.

Chad had his hands over his mouth
as he tried to fight back laughter, his shoulders
shaking.

He scratched his head, and a few
flakes of skin fell to the ground. “Di… Di’s son… ah, Lee!”
George’s face broke out in a toothless grin. “All right, then, come
in.” He turned, leaving the door open for them to
follow.

The cottage was a cramped kitchen
and living room with a door branching off; Grace thought it might
lead to the bedroom. Old dishes and fabrics spread across the
place, filling the air with a rancid smell. She put her hand over
her mouth, trying not to breathe it in.

George walked through the crowded
room with ease; though he was blind, he seemed to know the exact
placement of the decaying furniture.

“You want some tea?” George asked,
walking to the kitchen area. He felt around for the
teapot.

“We just had some,” Lee said. “You
know, George, my mother will come help whenever you need
it.”

“Help with what?” George grabbed
the teapot and walked to a basin of water.

Grace saw flies floating in it. She
tugged on Lee’s shirt. “Tell him that water isn’t clean!” she
whispered.

“I’m blind, not deaf!” George
exclaimed, turning on Grace. He still had his sword in his hand,
which twitched as though he was considering raising it.

“I saw a fly in the water,” Grace
said as her face grew warm.

“A
fly? Nonsense, why would there be flies in here?” George asked. He
filled the teapot with water and moved toward the wood stove
with the sword in one hand, the
teapot in the other.

“We’re in a hurry, George,” Lee
said. “Could you help us with something?”

Ignoring him, George brought in a
tray of teacups and waited for the water to warm up while chatting
about how he needed new teacups, how he never had any guests over.
He brought the steaming teapot over to them and splashed tea into
the cups. When he was done, the tray had an inch of tea.

He hung the teapot above the
flames. He sat on a rickety chair and put his hands near the fire.
“Okay, what’d you come here for?”

Chad stepped forward. “George, I’m
Chad, Lee’s cousin. Have you met any tigers?”

“Of course I have, I’m ninety
years old,” George replied.

“We’re looking for a certain
group. A family, really.”

“What are you talking about?”
George asked gruffly. “Tigers don’t have families like we
do.”

Grace cleared her throat, leaning
toward George from the footstool she sat on. “There are two tigers
named Ella and Gia, they said their family was protecting the
Avialies. They said they saw them last in Nyad.”

George stilled, straightening up
his back. “Who are you?”

Grace hesitated. “My name’s
Grace.”

“Grace Ellengreen,” George said.
“You’re the one the Protectors are looking for. Lee, what are you
doing bringing her here? You know how much trouble I could get
in!”

“The Protectors don’t have power
in Aron,” Lee said. “The reward isn’t out here yet, and Finn
doesn’t like Haltar interfering with Kleisadan affairs.”

George let out a mirthless
bark-like laugh and stood. “This is bigger than just Haltar and
Kleisade, and the Protectors know that. They’ll work around
Finn.”

“But you know what we’re talking
about, don’t you?” Grace asked. “You know which tigers we’re
looking for.”

“No, no, no, I do not!” George
said, raising his voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about
and I want you out of my house!”

“George, just talk to us,” Chad
said.

George scrambled around for his
sword, which he’d left by the wood stove. He kept missing it, and
Grace felt both pity and satisfaction. “Please,” she
said.

George finally found the hilt of
the sword, and he swung the weapon around in front of him. Lee shot
out of the way, and Dar tugged on Grace’s sleeve.

“Come on, he’s not going to help,”
Dar said.

They moved toward the door while
George brandished his sword, crowding them out. Chad looked like he
was fighting back laughs again.

“Calm down, George!” Lee said.
“We’re leaving! But if you come to your wits, you know where I
live.” He slammed the door behind him and looked at the others.
“Now you see what I meant.”

They went around Aron, visiting
houses, fields, taverns, and inns. They passed a beggar girl with
one arm, and Grace bought her a loaf of bread. Twin teenage boys
started following them until Lee drove them off. Dar thought they
might want food, too, but Lee said they wanted to meet Grace and
tell her how beautiful she was and ask for her hand in
courtship.

“They what?” Dar asked, his eyes
wide.

“Are you jealous, Dar?” she asked,
smiling.

“They should have more respect.
You’re a noble, plus at least a couple years older than
them…”

She looked down at herself. She
looked like most of the other women in town, not like a lady or a
noble. She shrugged, and Dar mumbled to himself about young boys
and their arrogance.

“He is jealous,” Chad whispered to
her, making her smile.

Lee brought them to half a dozen
more Borens. Five of them spoke in Klein, and Lee translated for
the others during the conversations. Two of the Borens had never
been out of Kleisade and had never seen tigers in the mountainous
country. Three more had seen tigers at Childress’ Traveling Circus,
but for two, that was the extent of their contact with the animals.
The third had asked Childress to see the tigers, but she didn’t
talk to the creatures about Avialies. The sixth and last Boren had
seen tigers when he was very young, but he too didn’t know anything
about the animals’ relationship with shape changers.

All six of them told Lee to ask
George. When Lee explained that George had run them out, they
weren’t sure why he was being paranoid. Most of them seemed to
think they were relatively safe from the Protectors in Aron; Grace
gathered that’s why the one who spoke their language moved there in
the first place. One of the women said George was just getting old
and paranoid.

All six of them knew who Grace was.
One of the men grew very heated about the Avialies. He was the only
Boren who spoke their language, so he told Dar to his face that
they made things worst for the rest of the magical families, which
led to him and Dar began arguing. Lee rebuked the Boren, and Grace
talked Dar into leaving the tavern. “He’s drunk,” she said, which
was sad because it wasn’t even afternoon yet.

Lee asked them to ask around to
other Borens but keep it quiet from the Protectors. He never
mentioned the ancient texts.

They returned to Di’s house early
evening. “Well, maybe something will come up tomorrow,” Lee said as
they walked inside. “People will be asking around now. Someone’s
bound to have been around Nyad.”

Sierra, Matilda, and Evan returned
when Di was getting ready to serve a small supper. Matilda
collapsed in one of the armchairs with a sigh. “I’m exhausted. I
just want to sleep forever.”