Sapphire (27 page)

“I’m sorry I threw my, uh, cup at you,” she said to
Orin, not meeting his eyes. “Adhara used you…and killed your
family.”

She raised her eyes to see him purse his lips and
nod. The gold stone around his neck glinted in the light. She
finally realized where she had seen that glint on his neck before.
The night her father had saved her as an infant. That woman’s
voice, the voice of her mother, filled her head again like burning
coals she would never escape.
By letting her live, we’ll all
perish.

“
Tell no one, for you must be the one to do
it.”

Sirrush had then leaned in, his warm breath on her
shoulder, and her heart pounded in fearful anticipation to hear the
prophecy. But what he said next stopped her heart.

“
Kill the boy before he kills you.” He then
laughed as if he found his own dire words a mere joke.

“
What? What about the prophecy?” she said,
whirling around to face him. She hadn’t expected to hear a warning.
“Is
that
what you told Adhara?!”

He just winked at her, turned, and left.

After Orin’s confession, she had been unable to keep
Sirrush’s secret any longer and confessed it to Mira, Lula, and
Antares. Orin was the only one she did not tell. At first she
thought Sirrush might swoop down, devour her, and pick his teeth
with her sword for revealing his secret, but nothing happened.
Except that Mira reprimanded her for not saying anything earlier,
Lula almost dropped like a stone from the air, and Antares swatted
Shawna with an admonishing paw. After dusting herself off from
being knocked over, she bit back her hurt pride, and reminded them
that if she
had
told them earlier, Orin would probably have
been stabbed by Mira then turned into soleon poop; a fact to which
Antares nodded, looking a little too unashamed at the thought.
Sirrush had wanted her to kill Orin, and she hadn’t, nor had Orin
killed her. But why had Adhara and Sirrush set her and Orin against
one another? In the end they had both chosen their own paths, but
she felt a vague unease nonetheless.
There is more that I don’t
understand,
Orin had said. With that simple statement, she
fully agreed.

She didn’t want to feel the pity and kinship she now
felt for Orin, orphaned like her, lied to, used. He had wanted to
kill her, had been raised to. What was
her
purpose then? Had
she
been raised to be a killer as well? She found herself
thinking about what would be best for everyone else, but couldn’t
come to any conclusions. Running away wasn’t the answer, she knew
that now, but continuing the path she’d been forced onto didn’t
feel right either. Shame and guilt festered beneath the tears that
almost came when she thought about that night, that passionate
kiss.
Meaningless kiss
, she told herself. He had only done
that to try and win her trust. A kiss that would’ve meant her
life.

More than anything, she especially didn’t want to
feel the animosity swelling in her towards the woman who called
herself her mother. How could someone, much less a parent, do such
a thing to the both of them? How heartless and cruel was Adhara
capable of being?

She’s not my mother. I have no mother.
She
angrily kicked at a rock, and stubbed her toe through the boot
which made her even more angry. “
F—”

Just then, Lula went rocketing past, a pack of pink
wolves in close pursuit.

“
No!
” shouted Lula as she landed on a high
tree branch. The wolves were growling and trying to jump at her.
“Down! I didn’t do it on
purpose
.”

But the severely offended pack wasn’t going to
forgive her so easily. Shawna walked over. The wolves were focused
entirely on Lula who sat dangling her legs, teasing them.

“What’d you do?” asked Shawna.

“I only tried to change their fur back to normal.
Remember, when I sprinkled them pink the first night, at the
Howling Hall? Well, I
tried
,” she said to the grumbling
wolves.

One of them snorted through its nose and the others
snapped at her, still looking very vicious in their fully pink
fur.

“Can’t you turn them back?”

“No,” moaned Lula. “I was never very good at
reversal. I can only reverse my magic when I’m not
being chased
by wolves!
”

They didn’t budge. Shawna thought it was a very good
thing that Lula could fly.

“We’re leaving soon,” said a voice.

They both turned around to see Orin coming over to
them, a leather pack on his back and carrying another. He stopped
mid-step and stared at the pack of pink wolves. He didn’t seem to
know what to say.

“Um,” he said, recovering and continuing over to
hand the backpack to Shawna. “This is for you, and Mira wants us to
come to the Howling Hall. Faolan and Zev are waiting for us.”

He was being entirely too pleasant. She noticed he
kept pursing his lips, running his hand through his hair, and
keeping his eyes averted from hers. She grabbed the pack, flicked
an eyebrow up, and stalked off with her chin up.

The wolves looked disappointed at this news. They
wouldn’t be able to snap at Lula with Faolan and Zev around. Orin,
Shawna, and Lula set off towards the great hall, waving at people
as they passed. When they reached the skull covered structure,
Faolan, Zev, a few villagers, and wolves welcomed them, but the
mood was tense. Antares looked the most troubled, considering he
kept shocking anyone within five feet with his lashing tail.

“Ouch,” yelped Shawna when he accidently sent a
streak of red lightning her way.

He twitched his whiskers as he battled with looking
either embarrassed or indifferent. He settled on contemptuous, but
ceased his tail thrashing.

“I’ll tell you the short version of what we were
just discussing,” said Faolan. “There’s not much time. Zev and his
pack say the beasts have been keeping beyond our borders because
they have been amassing. They have now tripled in numbers. That
many could overrun this village with ease, even with the great
Golden Wolf.” Shawna started to say something, but Faolon talked
over her. “They are less than a day away from here. However, if you
all leave now, we’re hoping that you’ll draw them away.” He looked
at Shawna.

She almost said, “Sorry,” but thought how dumb and
pathetic that would sound.
Sorry I’m the daughter of a powerful
family and that monsters are coming to annihilate us all
.
My
bad.

She must have looked very sorry, though, for Faolan
said gently, “I don’t blame you. The wolves seem to know something
about this whole—” He waved his hands dismissively. “Mess.” She
tried to say something again, but he raised his hand. “I don’t want
to know, and I don’t care what you believe. If there are dark
forces after you for whatever reasons, then we will help you as
much as we can. You must understand that you need to leave and
quickly.”

“Of course,” said Lula, looking over her shoulder,
ready to leave both anything dark or pink with fangs far behind
them.

Faolan took out a small braided length of colored
rope that jingled with shiny objects and carved stones. It was
slightly burnt at one end. He handed it to Orin.

“Here. This was your father’s Blessing Rope.”

Antares gave a snort, suspiciously like a scoff, but
Orin looked like he had just been handed a crown to the
kingdom.

“Thank you, uncle.” He laced it to his belt.

“And this.” Faolan handed him one of their strong
but intricate wolf-head axes which he also took graciously.

Lula was determinedly not looking at Orin as he
strapped on his new weapon where the now blossoming sword had once
hung.

“Well,” said Faolan, throwing out his hands. “I hate
to push you on your journey for such dire reasons, but we really do
feel blessed with your company nonetheless.” He smiled at Orin who
smiled back. “Everything that is, is meant to be. Once this is all
over, when your journey ends, know you are welcome back with open
arms.”

“And teeth,” mumbled Lula, spying the pink wolves
near the forest’s edge, still looking put-out.

Suddenly, a loud shrieking filled the air, and
something small with wild hair bashed into Antares’ leg. No one was
more surprised than Antares who almost jumped onto the Hall’s roof
until he registered whom his assailant was. Mia was sobbing herself
hoarse while latched onto his leg.

“No,” she hiccupped. “Ant-aewy cawn’t go. He makes
night-fwights gone.”

Shawna had never seen such an expression of remorse
on his fierce face before. She actually thought the big push over
was going to cry. She stifled a giggle before he could hear her and
slash her head off.

“Mia means her scary dreams,” said Faolan, grinning.
“Come now.” He reached to detach her like a sticky bur. “He’ll be
back. Antares has to go do something to make sure your nightmares
and the monster in your trunk stay away forever, all right?”

Mia looked unconvinced, but she allowed herself to
be pried away, and buried her face in her father’s shoulder.
Antares’ jaw jutted out and his whiskers trembled violently.

There were many farewells, a lot of hand shaking,
hugging, and more food pressed upon them before they were finally
walking away from their new friends. The boy who had given her the
boots and scabbard was looking sad to see her go, and she almost
felt the same.
He was nice
. She smiled down at her non-pink
boots.
And kinda cute
. Zev and some of his pack, excluding
the pink wolves, had offered to lead them safely to the mountain
pass where hopefully, somewhere on the other side, they would find
the third guardian.

Antares finally lost it when Mia said as they walked
away, “Bye-bye, Ant-aewy. When yoo come back yoo can pway wiv me
ag’in.” She gave an uncoordinated wave from Parla’s arms.

Shawna swore she heard Antares whimper as he raced
away ahead of them all. Just as their company turned the bend, the
beautiful notes of the Calling Horns, mixed with howling wolves,
followed them into the hills. The path through the mountains was
rather nice, and Shawna decided to try and enjoy it instead of
dreading what might lie ahead. Long green-stemmed grasses tickled
their legs, while wild flowers flounced their petals and climbed up
gnarled tree trunks. The air was so fresh and crisp with the onset
of Autumn, painted with the scents of blooms, that it was hard to
feel anything but peaceful.

Lula had been talking to Shawna about the fiasco
with the pink wolves when Orin dropped into stride next to
them.

“Will you ever forgive me?” he asked without
pretense.

She wasn’t prepared for his candor and took a few
minutes of gulping air like a caught fish before she answered, “I
don’t know.”

She couldn’t stand the way his face was so
pathetically drooping, so she sighed and added, “Orin, I—” She saw
he was truly very worried about her answer. “I guess. Yeah, I guess
I should. I mean, you didn’t know. How could you know.”

His whole body relaxed, and he smiled. She felt like
she was suddenly going to fall into quicksand.

“Um, thanks,” he said awkwardly. They both looked at
the rocky path for a bit, neither knowing what to say until he
finally broke the silence. “It’s true, I had no idea. I was lied to
all my life. Then when I met you, I couldn’t believe that you were
the one that…that you were…you were so—” He paused. “But after
really knowing you, I couldn’t believe what that woman said
anymore. When I realized I lo—” He pressed his tongue into the back
of his teeth like something was stuck there, and glanced around,
before closing it. Shawna raised her eyebrows, but kept her eyes on
the path.

Had he been about to say, ‘Love’?

She couldn’t believe she was hoping for him to say
it. She hated, well…tolerated him. But if she hadn’t been able to
trust him with her life, how could she trust him with her heart?
Lula sniffed and looked at him like he was a troll. Shawna gave her
a scathing look. Lula only rolled her eyes, wobbled her head while
smooching at her sarcastically, then zoomed up ahead. Orin was
still watching the ground as they walked.

“Ilikeyou,” he blurted out. “Very much.” She didn’t
hide her shock as she whipped her head around to stare at him while
he fumbled on. “I didn’t know, before I met you, how…beautiful
or…or strong you would be. I really didn’t want to betray or hurt
you after we…after I realized, after realizing…that.” He took a
deep breath and gave a short laugh.

“Strong?” she said out loud, but really thinking,
he said I was beautiful.
She was bright red, and knew it,
but didn’t care. “Thanks,” she said, like he had complimented her
boots.