Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) (39 page)

She gasped as Jeom cradled the sallow face of a young boy in his hands that, although no ghost, looked to be on his way to the afterlife.

“But he looks nothing like you,” said Lessa. “I don’t understand.”

Arianna examined the features of the stranger before her, agreeing with Lessa. 

He looked much shorter than Jeom, and shaggy, golden-brown hair peeked out from under all of the muck with a little bit of chin stubble to match. Small patches of clean skin shone coppery and sun-tanned, and, as his eyelids hung half open, Arianna spotted a glimpse of bright green eyes.

“He’s my half-brother then!” snapped Jeom, distraught as a tear dripped down his cheek. “Does it matter? We need to help him, Lessa, please.” His eyes pleaded, and his hands trembled.

Not wanting to question Jeom further, Lessa looked to Arianna who nodded in reassurance.

The young healer began issuing orders. “He looks dehydrated,” she said. “Jeom, tilt his head up to an angle, and Ara, grab the water from your pack.”

The two didn’t hesitate to obey her commands. Arianna handed the water to Lessa who forced the boy’s mouth open to take sips. The water lapped at his cracked lips, and he seemed unreceptive to the drink as it dribbled down his mud-caked chin, revealing smooth skin underneath. After a moment, the liquid began to disappear into his mouth, and Arianna saw him swallow.

Lessa pulled away to give him a moment to breathe, but then his crusted hand clasped to her wrist, holding it steady at his mouth. Lessa seemed stunned by the strength in his grip, and, as his eyes sprung open, the radiant green of his pupils looked astonishing amongst all of the filth. He continued to drink from the bottle until not a drop could be found, and then he let her hand free.

With a hazy expression, he scanned his rescuers. His eyes found Jeom’s who gazed down at him in pure veneration.

“Brother,” said the boy. “Have I died? Can this really be you?” he said in murmurs as he stared up at Jeom with the same reverence.

“I’m here, Demetrius,” he said. “How do you feel?”

“I feel… ravenous,” he said just as his stomach let out a hungry growl. 

Arianna pulled out the bread they had leftover and handed it to Demetrius. He began to devour it without ever glancing away from his long-lost kin.

“Slowly,” said Lessa, guiding as she hovered over him to observe every movement. “You’ll put yourself into shock.”

Cyn flashed before Arianna’s thoughts as she watched Lessa morph into a true caretaker.

“How long have you been locked here?” asked Arianna. He only shook his head in reply.

“Let’s give him a moment,” said Jeom. “Let him rest.”

Arianna nodded, stepping back to give them room. She wanted to help but didn’t know how. She racked her brain for ways to make Demetrius feel more comfortable.

“Why don’t we have him lie on one of those benches for a bit?” she suggested. “I’m sure it would feel much better than the floor.”

“Sure thing,” said Jeom.

With ease, he lifted his brother into the air, careful not to agitate him too much as he carried him over to one of the long pews lining the wall adjacent to them. Lessa wiped the dust off of the sanded seat so Jeom could set him down on a clean surface, and Arianna sat near his feet, leaning her back against the wavy sea of polished wood. She let her fingers trace the simple carvings of blossoms embellished in the woodwork while Jeom tended to his brother.

He shed his violet robes and bunched the cloth into a pillow. Demetrius let his eyes droop as he fell into a much-needed, deep sleep, and the others sat back and watched over him while he dreamed. Even Sano kept a watchful eye as he planted himself in Jeom’s lap.

After a while, Lessa and Arianna left Jeom to be alone with Demetrius. They wandered across the room to where the elaborate desk stood, wanting to clear their heads from the new turn of events out of earshot. Its presence at the far end of the room seemed very commanding, set in a protective stance near the stone door.

Scattered across the thick desktop, Arianna saw piles of rotting, yellowed parchment and dried inkbottles and pens. The drawers which decorated the front of the desk in elegant moldings filled with junk and more untouched supplies. For a while the girls snooped through the junk, lost in their own thoughts.

Arianna rummaged through all of the drawers, finding only piles of old parchment in each one. Examining one closer, she realized it to be a roster or checklist of some sort with times and names scribbled in the applicable columns. “What do you think this was for?” she asked, breaking the silence and handing over her findings to Lessa who peeled through the molding papers on the desktop.

Pulling out of her reverie, Lessa took the parchment from Arianna and scanned it. “I’m not quite sure,” she said, “but there’s more piled here as well.”

“It looks like some sort of old logbook like the one the regulators use to keep track of us,” said Arianna.

Lessa nodded. “See here?” she said, pointing to the top of the parchment. “Each scroll I’ve seen has a different date on it like this one, and these must be the times that people checked in and out with whoever sat at this desk… maybe.” She shrugged her shoulders, sliding her hand up and down two of the columns where delicate handwriting recorded different intervals.

Arianna didn’t recognize the strange language of the column headings, but she still agreed with Lessa’s time theory. “They’re so old,” she said as she read some of the dates on the parchment.

“I know,” said Lessa. “Some were dated over two hundred years ago even.”

“I wonder what
this
column might be for?” Arianna indicated another listed before the signatures of the unknown people.

With respect to each individual autograph, it seemed that a single person had scribbled all of the information into their perspective categories, including this particular row of chronicled data. Arianna scratched at her head as she tried to decipher it. Unlike the universal column of time written in the same form they had been educated in, this record was headed in the same foreign language, and every other row filled with a different, indecipherable word.

“I don’t know,” said Lessa, “but maybe these could be the names of places? I only say this because if this column records time intervals, then probably the people signing it are checking in and out of different places beyond this door,” she said with a slight wave to the stone threshold behind them.

Arianna stared at her with a wide grin on her face while she let Lessa put together the mystery. Her conclusion made perfect sense for what they were working with. 

“Well done, my friend,” she said, taking the parchment and placing it back in its rightful drawer.

She nudged it closed with her hip, and, as the impact jostled the desk, a thin flap in the center fell open with a pop. A rain of heavy silver coins sprinkled to the floor, tinkling like a parade of wind chimes. The girls bent down to examine them, pinching the coins between their fingers.

“I guess this wasn’t a free service,” said Arianna, arching an eyebrow as she studied the coinage piled at her feet. “I’ve never seen money up close like this.”

As a slave, money served as one of the privileges denied to her alongside citizenship, but Arianna had learned about it during many mandatory lessons and knew it to be a significant part of the world. She’d even seen intricate representations of the gold and silver monies which ruled the Olleb, but none quite like this.

She examined the silver. It looked much larger to the ones in her studies and almost covered the entirety of her palm. Her fingers tickled as she slid them over the jagged edges of the coin, like those of an octagon. On one face of the warped circle, a single word was engraved in the same strange language they saw earlier. It stroked across the middle in a thick slew of block letters. The other simulated an image of a double-edged axe. It was painted in wispy, silver strokes, and a gilded dragon had been designed into a significant part of the weapon.

As both girls turned the silver over in their fingers, staggered by their find, they decided to pocket some. Hopefully, they’d be worth something outside of Blancoren.

“What’s going on over here?” said Jeom as he strode towards them. Startled by the sudden intrusion, Arianna and Lessa jumped up from the floor. Jeom rested his hands on the desktop with a look of concern etched across his face as he stared down at them.

“Sorry about the noise,” said Arianna, composing herself. “It didn’t wake Demetrius, did it?”

“No,” said Jeom. “He sleeps still.” He scratched at the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at the girls. “I wanted to thank you two for earlier… and frankly for everything else. I’m sorry if I was short with you before. I realize that we’ve only just met, but I already feel that I owe you my life.” The words tumbled out of his mouth like a bird free of its cage.

The girls glanced at each other, not quite understanding his implication.

“What do you mean?” said Arianna. “You don’t owe us anything. We’re all in this mess together, remember?”

“No,” he said. “You don’t understand. If I hadn’t discovered you in the Inventor’s Zone, then where would I be?”

Lessa tried to interject. “I think—”

His voice grew loud with passion. “I’d be twiddling my thumbs,” he said, “trying to go unnoticed and survive until the day those monsters handed me my freedom. But I took my freedom, and I owe you everything for that. This adventure I’m sharing with you is nothing less than spectacular!”

“But, Jeom, there’s no need,” said Arianna, cocking her head to the side.

He held up a hand. “Since I’ve joined you on this unknown journey, remarkable things have happened to me. I ran away from suppression, I met two insatiably courageous women, I discovered that magic and ghosts more than exist on this earth, and now this,” he said, gesturing towards the bench where Demetrius slept.

Arianna and Lessa smiled, blushing at his enthusiasm. 

“I never thought I’d ever see my brother again. Yet somehow, in all of this craziness, here he is.” He took hold of Arianna and Lessa’s hands, gripping them tight in his own as he demanded their gaze. Arianna shrank back, reminded of her master’s commanding presence once more. “I owe you everything,” he said. “You saved me from a pre-written destiny and opened my eyes to all new possibilities. I’ll always be indebted to you both.”

“Maybe this is part of your destiny,” whispered Arianna as she remembered Jacob’s words.

Lessa and Arianna tried without success to hold back their smiles as Jeom pulled them close. His words touched them, also reminding them of all the hardships they had faced in their not-so-far-gone past.

They stayed locked in the embrace for quite some time before anybody spoke again. Arianna felt safe in the arms of her friends and comforted in the frigid room. In that moment, everyone knew nothing would separate them without a fight.

Lessa pulled away. “Jeom, we’re just glad that we found someone like you to share all of this excitement with,” she said, trying to lighten up the mood.

Everyone laughed as they all recalled the different types of
excitement
in their recent lives.

“Besides,” said Arianna “We could use two strong men to keep us out of trouble. Do you think your brother will be adding to the ranks?” She flashed a smile.

Lessa nodded in agreement.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said. “Really, after all that’s happened, I’m still completely shocked that my brother was the surprise behind the first door.” He sighed, closing his eyes as he said a silent prayer of thanks to the gods of Olleb-Yelfra.

“It seems luck is on his side,” said Arianna. “I thought he was on his way to join Damon and Jacob when I first looked upon him.” She wrapped her arms around herself.

“We were so afraid of him…” said Lessa, giggling at the thought. “You’d think a brave group like us would show a little more backbone.” She pinched at the strap of the bow on her back.

Arianna turned to Lessa with concern wrinkling her face. “He was really bad off though. Will he be okay?”

“When he wakes, I’ll give him something to remedy all that,” she said. “He was on the brink of starving. He looked so sunken when we found him, like some of the slaves do when they’re being punished without rations.” She shook her head. “But some food and a good rest will definitely have him up and going. He’ll be perfectly fine. In fact, we all need some remedy right now I think.”

Everyone gazed over at the sleeping boy, relieved.

“He’s in good hands. Don’t worry, Jeom!” said Arianna, rubbing his back.

“We’re very curious as to his backstory, though,” said Lessa. “I wonder how he found himself here in the first place.”

“Trust me,” said Jeom. “I’m dying to know the same thing. This wouldn’t be our first coincidental encounter.”

“Maybe adventurism runs in the family,” said Arianna. “Now tell us, how could you possibly know you’re related to this boy? No citizen or slave is ever acquainted with their kin.” Her hands rested at her hips as both girls waited for Jeom’s explanation.

“I suppose now is as good a time as any,” said Jeom, walking back over to the bench where his brother lay.

Arianna and Lessa followed to take a seat on either side of him, and Sano found his way back to Lessa’s shoulder.

Jeom began in a whisper so as not to stir Demetrius. “As you well know, in the Opalls, each newborn is grouped into their ceremonial year by names.”

Arianna nodded. “The only thing we’re allowed to keep from our birth parents…”

Jeom sighed. “Yes, well my name is Jeom Kane,” he said, “and this is Demetrius Kane.” We were brought to the Opall in the same week and were paired in everything we did from then on. As we grew older, we realized we shared not only a surname but an unspoken bond, and we insisted to stay together always. Though, our time together was short-lived. We were forced apart on our fifth year ceremony.” He stared into a space filled with his past.

“They split you up into different districts?” said Lessa, piecing the story together.

He nodded with a solemn expression. “You’re right. Slaves aren’t familiar with any of their blood relatives, but we are the exception. I can’t quite explain how we knew because the emotions I felt are stronger in my memory than the actual physical ones. We were so young then… But besides sharing the same name, there’s one thing that is beyond coincidental. See this?” he said, balling his left-hand into a fist to emphasize his thumb.