Steel Maiden (28 page)

I was staring at a witch, a real witch, and
she looked like a normal elderly woman. She was not green and
covered with warts and leathery skin, and her teeth were not filed
down into pointy needles. She looked like a regular person.

Surprisingly I wasn’t afraid, or even
embarrassed that they had bathed me. Instead I felt a calmness, and
for the first time in my life I felt safe.

“I’m Ada,” said the old witch. Her deep
green eyes looked as if they were filled with wisdom.

“I’m the high witch in Gray Havens, and you
are most welcome here, Elena.”

“Thank you, Ada. And I’m guessing I should
thank you, too, for saving my life.”

Ada shook her head.

“Jon saved your life. You would have died if
he hadn’t brought you here when he did.”

I stared at the strange woman. There was
that name again. I didn’t know anyone named Jon, and yet I
remembered someone named Jon in my dream.

“I thought Mad Jack brought me here? Who’s
Jon?”

“I am,” said Mad Jack.

There was a hint of sadness in his voice
that nearly brought me to tears. My cheeks flushed, and I released
a tense breath. I looked at him, really looked at him, and it was
as though I saw his face for the very first time. How selfish I’d
been never to have asked this man’s name. This beautiful creature
had saved my life when everyone else had left me to die.

When even the regal Prince Landon chose to
let me die, the street lord chose to save me.

“Jon,” I said, feeling his real name on my
lips for the first time, testing it.

“Thank you for saving my life, Jon. I’m…I’m
sorry I never bothered to ask your name, your real name. I was so
horrible to you,” I whispered.

My voice shook, “I can’t believe the things
I said.”

At the mention of his real name, he flashed
me the most dazzling smile I’d ever seen, more beautiful than all
the precious stones in the high priests’ vault.

Jon looked at the high witch at the foot of
my bed and then back to me. I saw that he struggled with something
internally, almost as if he’d have preferred to have kept this
conversation private.

He brushed away my tears, and I stayed as
still as I could. His fingers were warm and gentle. And then he
took my hand, squeezed it gently as he brought it to his lips, and
kissed my fingers.

My heart pumped in my ears, and I felt my
face burn. Mad Jack, or rather Jon, had never ever kissed me, not
even on the cheek, and all kinds of emotions welled inside me at
the same time. This wasn’t a flirty kiss or a sensual one, it was a
kiss that signified unconditional love, kindness, and
forgiveness.

I’d been such a fool.

I wanted to reach out and grab his face and
kiss him until I ran out of breath. But we were not alone, and
although I was only too aware of the woman’s watchful stare, I
sensed that she wanted us to share this moment together.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, finally,
“it’s not like I told you my real name either. I couldn’t … well
not at first. I was born Jonathan
Worchester
. Mad Jack is just a cover I use in the
Pit. I was known as Mad Jack, and I just went along with it for so
long that I
became
him and sort of lost myself in the
process.”

“Cover for what exactly?” I felt the old
woman’s eyes on me as I waited for his answer.

Jon straightened. “The rebellion.”

I didn’t care to hide my surprise. “There’s
a rebellion?”

“Yes. And it’s been in planning for
years.”

“I’m head of the Pit division. We needed to
infiltrate the empire and where better than from the Pit. It was
the perfect location to get the information we needed. We were
close enough to Soul City to study them and to make plans to
overthrow their empire. Where our forefathers failed, we believe we
can win.”

“The stone complicates things,” he
continued. “But I’m still hopeful we can overthrow them.”

The strength in his face was achingly
beautiful.

“So that’s how you knew Prince Landon and
the other nobles,” I said, putting the pieces together. “This is
part of what you couldn’t tell me before.”

“That’s right. We’ve been secretly meeting
for years, carefully planning our coup.”

Jon sighed, and I was tempted to reach up
and touch his face but didn’t.

The thought of being part of a rebellion
sent a jolt of excitement through me.

“I want to join.” I straightened up. “I want
to join the rebellion. I could be useful. My skills and abilities
could be a real asset for you. I want to join.” I repeated with
more conviction.

Jon flashed his perfect teeth. “Usually
there’s a trial period and a thorough investigation of anyone who
wants to join. You know, we can’t be too careful. But I’d say
you’ve proven yourself worthy. In your own way, you’ve always been
part of the rebellion.”

I was grinning from ear to ear. “Thank—”

Suddenly there was a bustle outside the
bedroom door, and three teenaged girls rushed into the room. They
all wore the same shapeless white linen dresses as the older woman,
but theirs were plain and without embellishment. The tallest one
had skin the color of coffee and sparkling hazelnut eyes. The other
two had fairer skin — one had dark hair piled high her head, while
the other had a long light blonde braid that brushed the middle of
her back. They stood together like they had been joined at the
waist.

Their eyes widened at the sight of me, but
they blushed deeply when they looked at Jon. I didn’t blame them;
he was very handsome. The blonde caught my eye and I winked at her.
She giggled nervously.

Ada looked slightly annoyed at the girls.
Her grip tightened on her staff.

“What is it, girls?”

The three girls straightened, and the tall
girl took a step forward.

“We’ve finished washing and mending her
clothes, high witch,” she said. Her voice was soft, but I could
tell she was the bravest of the bunch.

The high witch hit her staff on the dressing
table, and I flinched.

“Put them here, Sasha,” she ordered. Her
voice was stern, and even though she was small I knew she was
someone you
never
crossed.

The three girls stared at Jon
self-consciously, like they’d never seen a man before, particularly
a beautiful one. But when I moved my gaze over to him, I could see
that he was oblivious to the girls’ gawking stares because he was
staring at me.

The high witch hit her staff on the
floor.

“Get back to your duties, girls. Off you go,
and no mooning around in the corridors.”

As Sasha put my clothes on the dresser, our
eyes met and a smile played on her face. But it quickly disappeared
when she whirled around, grabbed the two other girls by the hands,
and rushed out the room, giggling furiously.

I peered out the window in my room. Judging
by the position of the sun, it was about midday. My smile faltered
a little.

“How long have I been out?”

“Eight days.”

“What? That long? But I thought it was only
yesterday that I …”

I remembered coming in and out of a heavy
darkness, but it felt only like yesterday when I fought off the
monk. What had happened?

“We only just arrived here in Gray Havens
last night,” said Jon. “I thought…I thought I’d lost you. You were
cold and gray, really sickly looking.”

He paused, and his eyes were full of pain.
“Elena, you looked dead. The high witch saved you.”

“No, Jon,” said Ada kindly, “It was
you
who saved her. Your quick thinking brought Elena to us.
She would never have made it if it weren’t for you.”

My eyes stung, and I felt ill. I recalled
the horrid, putrid smell of my black vomit, and I swallowed the
bile in my throat.

“You were very, very sick, but also very
lucky,” continued the old woman. She raised her brows high on her
forehead, and she immediately reminded me of Rose.

My gaze shifted to Jon.

“I thought you were dead too, you know. I
thought I’d lost you outside the temple. What happened to you?”

Jon scratched the back of his head.
“Princess Isabelle happened, that’s what. She and her guard
attacked us from behind, and I blacked out. The next thing I
remember was that I woke up at the bottom of the stone stairs with
a giant bump on the back of my head. Will and Leo were both alive
beside me, and everyone else was gone. All we saw were bodies.”

“Where are Will and Leo now?”

Jon laughed. “Camped outside the woodland
barrier. They wouldn’t take one step into Gray Havens.”

He shook his head, smiling. “Stupid
bastards.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stupid indeed. But why I
am not surprised.”

Will had spit on the witches’ lands, and I
wasn’t so sure it would have been a good idea for him to come
anyway. Looking at Ada’s stern face, I wasn’t entirely sure she’d
have allowed it.

Jon smiled. “Well, they won’t come in. But
they have been drinking our hostesses’ fine wine and eating their
food, and a lot of it.”

I raised my eyebrows at this. “Typical, of
course they would.”

I thought it very generous of the witches to
feed such superstitious idiots. As I shook my head, I felt a tug at
the base of my neck. I reached up with my other hand and felt a few
stitches in the back of my neck.

“I was stitched?” I looked at Ada, but saw
nothing on her face.

“We removed most of the poison,” said the
witch, “but I’m afraid we couldn’t get all of it. You will carry
some of it in you for the rest of your life. If you had come to us
earlier, we would have gotten it all. But we did get most of
it.”

“I have healed wounds far more damaging than
this. Why didn’t my healing abilities mend me? Why couldn’t I heal?
What kind of poison was it?”

“Not the typical kind, I’m afraid.” A shadow
passed over her face, and she seemed to age.

“You couldn’t heal yourself, and your wound
will
never
truly heal. You were poisoned with
black
magic
.”

Jon flashed a nervous look my way, but I
kept my eyes on Ada. “And whoever did this to you knew exactly what
they were doing. They knew what to use to kill someone
like
you.”

“It was a red monk,” I blurted. “One of the
high priests sent him to kill me. He wore a glove with talons for
fingers. He must have poisoned me with it. But how could a monk use
black magic? It doesn’t make sense. It goes against everything they
believe.”

A glimmer of indignation flashed across
Ada’s face, but she didn’t answer.

“Am I a witch?” I asked.

I couldn’t help myself. I’d been dying to
ask her the question since the moment I’d laid eyes on her. “Like
you and the other girls?”

Ada leaned forward and rested both hands on
her staff. “Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?” asked Jon.

I sensed a little unease in his voice. “You
told me she
has
magic.”

“She does have magic,” answered the old
woman.

She turned her gaze back to me. “Just a
different
kind of magic. Magic comes in many forms and has
many variations. It’s as ancient as the world and is contained in
everything around us. Magic is mysterious. And while there is white
magic and black magic, magic itself is neither good nor bad. Magic
is magic. The only difference between the good and the bad is in
how the bearer uses their power.”

I felt my confidence slip away from me a
little bit.

“So what am I, if I’m not a witch?”

Ada’s eyes gleamed with an intensity that
almost made me look away, but I didn’t.

“You’re a steel maiden.”

CHAPTER 29

M
Y FIRST THOUGHT WAS to look at Jon,
but from the puzzled look on his face it was clear he’d never heard
of a steel maiden either.

“What’s a steel maiden?” I asked for the
both of us.

The old witch looked at me with a smile.
“Are you exceptionally good with weapons? Are you particularly
adept with swords, or daggers, or anything with a blade?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever wondered where this
extraordinary ability comes from?”

“It might have crossed my mind a few
times.”

Ada smiled. She seemed anxious to reveal
more to me.

“Steel maidens are magic bearers. And if you
define persons with magic as witches, then yes, steel maidens are
also witches. You are descended from the Steel Maiden clan from
northern Witchdom. There are six different witch clans in Arcania
and Witchdom, and we administer all of them from here. They are the
White and Dark Witch clans, the Augurs, the Elementals, the
Shifters, and finally the Steel Maiden clan. I’m from the White
Witches clan. Each clan serves a specific purpose, but we are all
blood witches.”