The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (39 page)

Sabyn ran through the names of the townspeople they needed to speak to. This trip was a combination of showing the girls the town and catching up on necessary "Royal" business. While they mightn’t look the part in their relatively casual clothing and manner the four men: he, Daron, Gredel, and Rumal, were Alek’s advisers and bodyguards when the occasion called for it. Not that Alek would ever stand back in a fight, but they were required by Elena to stop him from getting killed.

Nnelg swooped down out of the sky and darted over the top of Audrey, teasing her. The dog’s ears and tail were high as she raced after him, yelping.

'Audi’s really fast,' Daron commented, impressed.

Sian laughed at the comical sight of the dragon and dog playing tag.

'She is quick,' she agreed. 'It’s always amazed me how speedily she’ll appear when she’s vanished somewhere. Cat’s parents have a little dog that used to be run ragged by Audi. Which surprised us, as Jack was such a speedy little thing. He’s the only dog I knew who could climb trees.'

Daron looked skeptical.

'Climb trees?'

'Yes. He gave more than one person a surprise with that trick.'

'You’ll have to show Nesha once you can talk to him, otherwise I’ll never believe you,' Daron said with a cheeky grin.

Kassie enjoyed the ride now. It was much smoother this way and she didn’t get the pangs of nerves she usually did when the horse began to gallop. It could be rather scary if you weren’t a confident rider. Rumal had been telling her about his home life on Delanta. His family raised horses, which explained his obvious skill. Until he’d linked with Ofelaan he’d trained with his father and Uncle, learning how to break horses.

'Our breed of horse is considered one of the top in the world,' Rumal’s rich voice was full of pride.

'Are your sisters training too?' Kassie wondered if girls would be allowed to.

'Vecina is, but Breena has decided she wants to be a messenger, so she’s training for that instead.'

'How does that work? Being a messenger?'

She remembered Melanite talking about it.

'Breena is training to run long distances each day and learning how to camp out safely by herself. It’s a dangerous job for a young woman but she loves meeting new people and traveling so it suits her perfectly.'

'Do you have any brothers?'

'Just one, but he’s only five and just learning to ride well at the moment. He’s spoilt rotten by the girls, but he’s a good kid. I’ll have to go back for a visit soon,' he sounded wistful. Kassie was silent as she thought about that.

I’d really like to go too. It would be fascinating to see another land.

Citaan and I cantered ahead of the others. When we sighted the town we stopped to rest the horses, allowing the others to catch up. Nnelg blinked in, startling us, and as usual, Audi came racing up a moment or two later.

'You’re going to have to carry her home at this rate,' laughed Citaan as the dog flopped onto the ground, panting.

Nnelg had learned to be vocal with her and made a soothing chattering noise as he curled around her, waiting with us for the others to arrive. Sabyn and Loi arrived first, while Rumal and Kassie were understandably last. I was pleased to see her smile. Kass normally just rode the beginner trails when we went horse riding, so it was good that she could ride double. Rumal appeared the most skilled of the men at riding. His reins were loose on the pummel, even with Kassie onboard. The riding stables would never have allowed that on Earth. Remembering all the rigmarole of the safety gear and instructions made me laugh. The others glanced at me and I looked to Loi.

'It seems so strange not to be wearing a helmet or to be following each other in a line on a particular path.'

She nodded.

'It’s the way riding should be.'

'What’s the name of this town?' Sian asked. 'You guy’s just keep referring to it as ‘town’.'

Daron laughed.

'Normally everyone knows what we’re talking about when we say town.' He indicated the now visible buildings in the distance.

'That’s Gartoll.'

Alek slowed the pace as they reached the town gates and stopped, swinging a leg over the saddle, to the ground. He gave Urell’s head a good rub around his ears as the horse liked, then went to help Kassie down from the pillion saddle. Cat ignored him now, and he was torn between being grateful he didn’t have to meet her eyes and depressed. He couldn’t get what Elena had said out of his head.

They cast a spell to find their soul mates, he thought, who knows how she genuinely feels about me. He’d barely slept all night.

I finally meet someone I begin to consider my equal then I discover this.
Part of him wished Elena hadn’t told him. The guys had been giving him looks all day, but he wasn’t in the mood to discuss it yet.

Citaan was curious to see what the girls thought of the town. Many townspeople had gathered when they’d arrived, and the streets were crowded. The word had spread quickly that the Prince had arrived. Citaan hung back, observing the relationships that had appeared to develop in the group.

I wonder why Alek is behaving so coolly to Cat, Citaan thought curiously, I’m sure Gredel said they looked like they were a couple. Cat didn’t even seem interested in him. She stuck with the other girls, chatting and greeting people.

Sian walked hand-in-hand with Daron and observed more than one set of raised eyebrows at that. It made her smirk.

Gartoll looked a lot wealthier than the little village of Lothost. It had wide paved streets, and the buildings were all a similar style. A rather art nouveau or alpine chalet look, with high pointed roofs and arched entrance ways and windows. They made their way down its main street and shops lined each side. All of them had covered verandas which were, at the moment, rather crowded with townspeople wanting to see the Prince and his Guard.

Alek walked toward a larger, stand alone building that I assumed was the town center. The crowds of people grew, and plenty of people smiled at us while calling out greetings to Alek and the men. Others just watched in quiet curiosity. On the veranda of the larger building there stood a well dressed, portly man with whom I guessed was his wife and daughter. Both women were dressed in a manner that wouldn’t of looked out of place in the castle, but amongst all casual townspeople, did. The daughter gave someone behind me a very dirty look and I glanced back. It was Loi, who had Sabyn standing close to her.

Good luck with that, I thought in amusement.

'Welcome, your Royal Highness,' the portly man bellowed. 'You do great honor to our humble town with your presence.'

Alek managed to keep a straight face.

'Not at all Sir, it’s our pleasure to come and show the Sorceress’s guests your township.'

Everyone’s eyes turned to the four of us, and I almost stepped closer to Alek, freezing at the last moment. I moved closer to Loi instead. With those dirty looks being shot her way, she could do with the backup. The mayor’s wife and daughter held a mini court on their veranda, observing us with their noses in the air. It was rather comical, and many of the townspeople gave them disapproving looks. I wasn’t bothered. They didn’t look like people I wanted to know.

Loi noticed those women glaring at her again and she turned to Kassie.

'Is it just me or do those women on the veranda keep glaring at me?'

Kassie discretely had a look and confirmed to her.

'It does look like they’re glaring, I wonder why? We haven’t seen them before, have we?'

Loi shook her head.

'Never.'

They heard Citaan chuckle and turned to look at her.

'Isabeth, the mayor’s daughter, has had a crush on Sabyn for years. Her mother, Olivana, has determinedly thrust her into every opportunity to be close to him.'

She gave Loi a mischievous wink. 'I think she’s a little tetchy at having her grand plans ruined.'

Sian had a look through the shop windows. The girls joined her, curious to see what each window revealed. Their newly made acquaintances tagged along, appearing to enjoy the experience of seeing it all through strangers’ eyes. All the shops were interesting and there were more than a few that she wanted to have a good look at. The men had finished their business with the mayor and wandered with them.

Sian froze in front of one store when she spied magickal items. A beautiful wand and a pentacle were laid out on the display table with dozens of small tumbled crystals around them. She stepped back to look for Daron. He was a few feet away, surrounded by adoring girls and looking a little flustered, Sian giggled at the sight. All the men had circles of women around them and the townsmen had to talk loudly over them as they couldn’t get any closer. Annoyance was obvious on more than one face.

'Daron?' Sian called loudly. 'Can I borrow you for a moment?'

The profound look of relief on his face was hilarious, and his admirers took to giving Sian envious looks.

Daron was very relieved to have an excuse to get away from the pressing throngs of females. Honestly, if he’d passed through by himself, he’d never have known there were so many females in this town.

'What sort of shop is this?' Sian asked excitedly.

He glanced through the window.

'It’s the local Arcane store.'

'Really? And this sort of store is normal?'

I heard Sian grilling Daron about the magick shop. At least that was what I thought it was. I was busy, studying a dress in the window of a shop. It was wrong. But I couldn’t place a finger on what was wrong. The dress, a lovely soft rose color, had graceful bell sleeves with a mandarin style collar. It fitted the mannequin like a glove, but I still was missing something.

Kassie noticed Cat frowning at a dress in the shop down from where Sian gushed over a wand to the very happy shopkeeper.

'What’s wrong Cat? Are you trying to memorize the pattern?' Kassie teased. Cat’s head snapped round to her, her mouth dropping at Kassie’s words.

'That’s it. How the heck did they do that?' she cried.

Alek pushed through the crowd of idolizing females, and headed to Cat’s side without thinking.

'Do what?'

He touched her shoulder, wondering what had her so excited.

'There are no seams. It’s not possible, how on Earth could you do that?'

Everyone watched as she dashed inside the Tailor's, rushing past a surprised looking Kristanya, the shop's owner.

Alek stood with Kristanya and watched Cat. She inched her way over the pink dress in the window display, keeping up a running murmur with occasional sounds of astonishment.

My mind was trying to understand how they’d done it, but I couldn’t figure it out. I turned and saw Alek standing close to me with a robust grey haired woman beside him. His eyes finally seemed warm. My heart did a little skip.

'Catherine, let me introduce Kristanya. Kristanya owns this shop and is the top tailor in Gartoll,' Alek smiled at Kristanya, who flushed in pleasure at his compliment.

'Please, how was this made? Did you make it?' I had to know.

Kristanya smiled at the enthusiastic young woman before her.

'Come,' she pointed to the seating area where she discussed designs with clients. 'Have a seat.'

Once they were settled on a couch she took a seat facing them.

'The dress was made by someone gifted, who works with fabrics, also known as a fabricer.'