Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (30 page)

The uncomfortable feeling in the room was interrupted by none other than Pearl, who entered at the main doors. The King’s face lit up as she walked in standing tall in her blue robes, her Marshall hatchet hanging from her waist. More rumbles went through the room at her appearance. The god-
smiter
, they told each other. She walked along the back of the Siri table around the outside of the room toward the
Doran table. Eyes followed her.

Coral sighed. This was the most unusual start to a dinner she’d ever seen. And poor Glory was a wreck at the main table. She was pale and trembled visibly. Tomas leaned over to ask if she was fine. He assumed she was upset her
dinner was already interrupted.

“Checking on the puppies again?” the King called out loudly, watching Pearl approach. She smiled coyly at him then sat in the seat vacated by Pat. He looked around at the room and deciding his speech was not going to be able to top the young man running from the room and the god-
smiter
’s late entrance, he sat, giving Glory permission to start the dinner.

Coral frowned at Amias in accusation for not telling her important news. But his eyes were on the Siri table. Krisa was gone.

“Darius,” a voice whispered to him in the dark. Since his Father’s return he had to sleep in his own bed situated between those of Pearl and Glory in the second room of their suite. “Darius.”

He turned over to find a pretty dark haired and dark eyed girl looking at him. “Hi Krisa,” he whispered. He moved over so she could get into bed with him.

“Hi,” she smiled back. When he snuggled into her arms she asked him, “Can you take me?”

“Now?” he asked half asleep.

“Yes. I’d like to go.”

“Ok,” he said, sitting up. “You need to learn how.”

She smiled again and wished she could. He had tried to teach her but they gave up in frustration. With his hand in hers Krisa felt the pull as he yanked her sideways and then back, the world blurring then stabilizing as she was deposited beside a stone arch in the world they’d created. It was beautiful all the time, blue skies, the vineyards around them. To the east the ocean glistened. It w
as the Doran estate replicated.

When he first learned he could push his way through to the grey world of the gods with Coral he was so disappointed at how drab it was. The gods were not solid; he couldn’t see anything around them. He had told Pearl, at the age of four that he could go there like Coral did. She told him never to go to the place with the gods without his mother, ever. So he decided to make a place for himself. For himself and Pearl and Krisa and Glory. At the time Pearl had told him not to make it with a well but an arch was ok, encouraging his imagination to make it whatever he wanted. And they talked about all the details. Pearl had her speech ready for when it didn’t come into existence but when he held her hand and they shifted, tumbling into the world he created, she cried out in surprise and forgot her speech. She had fallen to her knees, searching the surroundings for the gods. Had they created it for him? Where wer
e they? But they weren’t there.

The next times he took Glory and then Krisa. They spent time playing and talking and watching people through the arch. The girls had been reluctant to tell anyone about his ability so they kept it secret making Darius promise he would never go alone. He would always take one of them. He promised.

Now, Krisa promised him to leave her there.

“You can’t
get back!” he told her.

“Come for me later,” she told him as she sat in the grass. “I just want to be alone for a while.”

“When do I come? Breakfast?”

“No,” she told him. “Later. Maybe in the afternoon.”

“You will get hungry,” he said, his own stomach starting to growl.

“I will be fine. And can you bring someone up in the arch for me?”

An image of Pat appeared in the arch
without her asking. She smiled.

“Do you want me to bring him?” he asked.

She sat up straighter and shook her head. “Oh, no. Thank you, though. Can I ask one more thing?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

“Why not? Not even Pearl or Glory?”

She shook her head. She went back to watching Pat as he lay in his bed not sleeping. Darius slid from view as he forced himself back to his bed in the castle. Krisa’s eyes watered as she watched the man she’d always loved.

Two days Krisa was missing. Pat was questioned where she’d gone but he had no idea and was just as worried about her as everyone else. A guard was stationed to his side. The Siri requested they have the freedom to search the castle, which was finally granted on the morning of the second day. Her father was called forth but he hadn’t seen her. No one had seen her since the dinner.

Captain Doran came to Pat in his quarters, sending the guard out of his room. His Captain seemed to be the only person who believed him. They sat in silence for a while. Pat stared at his hands.

“I spoke to the King.”

Pat nodded.

“He didn’t know. When the Siri approached him with the request to betroth her to the son of a major clan leader he thought it was advantageous for us all.”

“With no
regard to me?” he asked Amias.

“The Siri tell us that when Coral agreed to let them train Krisa they asked for you as well, as Krisa’s mate. They expected her to ask for your heart in marriage when she came of age. She didn’t. So recently they approached her with the proposal to join with Sennta to bring together the Siri and Danycia.”

“And she agreed?” Pat asked, his heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

“She didn’t commit either way.”

“Why did she run away?” he asked, swallowing back tears.

“So she wouldn’t have to see you like this,” his Captain told him. “She is young. She doesn’t know what she wants.”

“I thought…” Pat started but couldn’t finish.

“I can’t force the King to reconsider. That has to come from his heart. And the Siri tell us she must choose her life mate soon. Only women in their army wait but she has not received enough training for that.”

Pat dropped his head into his hands. Amias stood and let himself out, asking the guard to wait a few minutes before going in again. Krisa sobbed as she watched him.

“Excellent job at manipul
ation,” he murmured in her ear.

The goddess looked at him with disdain and replied, “I haven’t done a thing. They are doing it all on their own.”

“Well, not
all
on their own,” he said, looking around them. The other gods and goddesses stood in their usual circle, in their blue r
obes, simply watching. He wore his
stained wrap around his waist, stained in the blood that he spilled when Pearl removed his testes. A dark line ringed his neck where Krisa had separat
ed his bald head from his body.

“What have you done?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at Vunn.

“Not too much. This is your world. A little lust here, a little greed there. Nothing that will leave any marks.”

Through the arch they saw a young couple strolling through gardens, a little boy in tow. The god grunted at recognition of the boy. His anger boiled. The young man handed something to the little one, who then ran off toward a side door but then stopped. He disappeared after he seemed to move forward and then to the side in a blur. The goddess gasped and walked forward. The chil
d had not appeared before them.

“Where did he go?” she demanded
, looking around at the others.

“Who?” Vunn asked. He had concentrated on the couple, who were now locked in an embrace.

“The boy!” she declared, looking around herself and then at the well in
case she missed him falling in.

The god peered through the arch again. This was not good. Of course, the child of two living-gods, as they sometimes referred to her protégé, would be able to shift into their world as easily as his parents. But if he hadn’t c
ome to them, where had he gone?

“Caris, I told you this wasn’t good.”

She batted his hand away from her hip and crossed her arms against her chest. “Go away.”

Amias found Coral shoving dresses into a chest. Darius’ clothes and toys had already been packed. She slammed the lid of one of her chests down so hard he jumped. She’d ordered the girls’ trunks to be brought to the room so she indelicately packed their things, tossing items in without concern. He stood watching her, not wanting to interr
upt the storm that was brewing.

“What?”
she shouted as he watched her.

“Can I help?” he asked, moving
forward.

“Get the carriage ready. That’s what you can do.”

“Can you talk to me?”

She stopped and gave him a look that would have frozen a fire breathing dragon solid. “We are leaving,” she stated. “My girls are not going to be used as …”

“Like you were?” he asked her. It only seemed to make things worse.

“That turned out differently,” she yelled. “It was you.”

“Yes, it was me. And it still is me. Look at me.”

She turned to look at him but didn’t melt like she usually did. “What?”

He sat on the bed. “Do you think Glory wants to leave?”

Coral had to admit Glory was extremely happy. She was betrothed to the Prince, they got along well,
and he
seemed to adore her. “No.”

“And what about Pearl? She has the dogs and the horses and the King depends on her for council. She has the run of the place.”

She shook her head, softening some. “There’s more to that than…” she st
arted and Amias shook his head.

“They are of age. They are adults.”

“They are not adults!” she cried. “They are my girls. Pearl still runs around in her boots catching pigs, races Darius to the dining hall and wrestles with Jimm in the gardens. And she wins!”

He stood up and approached her, wrapping her in his arms. “I seem to remember an
adult
who used to do those sorts of things. I remember a young woman who took three young girls into battle because she had confidence they had the hearts required to go to war.”

“And Glory has been an adult
since she was ten,” she smiled.

“Indeed,” he laughed, kissing her on the forehead.

“Poor Krisa,” she cried, so
bbing into his shoulder.

“That’s what this is about?” he asked.

She nodded against him, letting her tears spill on his black leather jacket. “She’s loved Pat since the day they met. He’s always been there for her, with her, and now…”

“She has the same decision to make that I had,” he told her. She pulled away to look at him. “I was betrothed to someone my King wanted me to marry for political gain. Yet my heart was with another. In Krisa’s case her people want her to marry to bond the two nations. That is a much bigger responsibility. She doesn’t want there to be friction between the two if she refuses. And even though she loves Pat she has not asked for his heart in marriage. Only she can make this decision. It is an adult decision.”

“So she has gone.”

“Yes, she has gone.”

“Like a child,” she commented.

Amias couldn’t argue with that.

Pearl didn’t knock before entering the library. She never did. She just slipped in to make sure he wasn’t busy with someone important and then relaxed when he was alone. She plopped down in her favorite soft chair and picked up the book she’d left on the table next to her chair days ago, the
last time she’d come to visit.

Fredrick sat at his desk reading over papers and signing his signature, composing letters or whatever else he busied himself with while she read. He stood and moved to the big window behind him
, looking out over the gardens.

Pearl studied his back. He wore a jacket he usually wore in official meetings. His pants were pressed and his boots shined. The grey stood out among the darker in his well- groomed hair and beard. He was a handso
me man, confident, intelligent.

He was the most intelligent man Pearl knew. In his court he kept the most influential people in his land. He had the Captain of his Marshalls, who battled alongside his wife against a god who wanted to take control of his land. Glory, able to destroy the enemy with their own weapons, he had betrothed to his son. Glory’s commitment to being Queen under his son allowed him to sleep at night. The country would be in good hands. Krisa he was using in a deal to ensure a lasting bond between the powerful Siri nation to the northwest that acted as a buffer to other more aggressive people. And her. She couldn’t quite figure out why he wanted her. Yes, she was the god-
smiter
, but that was a title given to her by the men who saw her battling an image of a god, not the real god. The three girls had taken him down together. What they saw was her courage and anger and heart. To him she was a symbol. She was the god-
smiter
dressed in the sacred robes of the gods. She was his power. That’s why he needed her, she realized.