The Bridge Beyond Her World (The Boy and the Beast Book 2)
Read The Bridge Beyond Her World (The Boy and the Beast Book 2) Online
Authors: Brandon Barr
THE BRIDGE
BEYOND
HER WORLD
THE BOY AND THE BEAST
BOOK TWO
BRANDON BARR
Copyright © Brandon Barr
All rights reserved
Cover Art by
Deranged Doctor Designs
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
LOAM
Chancellor,
After my oration in the Hall of Discourse, you asked me what’s become of my strident opposition to the charter. I believe I told you something about a more nuanced perspective.
I feel I must clarify. I am still adamantly opposed to the Guardian charter; however, I’ve come to appreciate your arguments. Too often, I’ve been dismissive of valid points from your side. I blame it on my youthful ignorance.
An honest answer to your question is thus: a woman. A very lovely and intelligent woman has happened to me. Need I say more?
-Prince Damien of the First Quorum, leader of the Opposition Movement, letter to Chancellor Walnof
The majority of Royals are furious the Guardians have chosen your candidates, but the Opposition Movement couldn’t be more pleased. I will maintain my majority stance for a while longer, but I sense momentum is changing in our favor.
When the time is ripe, I’ll be a key blow to the majority when I shift my vote—reluctantly, of course.
Let’s hope your bastard son finds some dirt for us amongst the Guardians.
-Queen Taia
(Letter to Baron Rhaudius)
CHAPTER 1
WINTER
The silence haunted her.
Winter struggled to open her eyes and failed. She felt too weak. Behind her eyelids, a cacophony of emotions fought for answers. Her entire body had been afire with pain, and she hadn’t been able to lift so much as a finger. But, suddenly, the horrific pain was gone. She summoned her strength and felt the fingers on her right hand curl upward. The simple sensation of movement brought enormous relief.
And what of the sounds she’d heard? That awful young captain, Rose, screaming out the farmers’ death sentence, the thundering of horses, and then the terrible noise that cracked open the sky. Her ears still rang faintly from the sound. But now, there was almost complete silence; the kind she only before experienced when entering the woods.
Where were the farmers?
A sobering thought came upon her. Had a battle taken place while she lay unconscious? Was she left for dead, surrounded by the bodies of her friends and neighbors?
And Aven. Where was Aven? Her heart felt sick.
A sound broke through her fears. Footsteps padding along, not far away. Several sets of feet. Three? Four?
Voices. A woman’s commanding tone. Words spoken in a strange accent.
A masculine voice replied to the woman.
More footsteps; they were coming closer.
She tried to open her eyes again, finally succeeding. Piercing sunlight met her, and the padding of the footsteps came to a stop, somewhere close.
“She’s awake,” said the man.
The woman with the accent spoke in return, “Arentiss, go get Alael. Tell him the girl has awoken.”
A pair of footsteps faded away.
“Can she hear us?” came the man’s voice.
“I think so. Winter, can you hear us?” said the woman.
Winter tried to lift her head, tried to raise herself, but the effort was futile, her muscles numb and tingly. Who were these people? How did they know her name?
She heard whispering between the woman and the man, then a startling face appeared overhead. It was a woman, the skin of her face as dark as silt, her clean white teeth shining through a warm smile. The woman’s hair was slate grey with a sprinkling of white, and it was woven neatly into an adornment upon her head.
“Do not worry, your brother is asleep,” said the woman. “My name is Karience. I am the Empyrean of the Guardian order here on Loam.”
Winter stared at her a moment and managed a whisper, “The others? The farmers?”
“They’re asleep, as you were moments ago.”
The sense of mystery and awe Winter had always felt toward the Guardians now churned afresh. Did they possess magical powers? What secret knowledge could lay sleep upon an entire gathering of people?
“Even the horses sleep?” asked Winter.
Karience laughed. “Yes, the horses are using their riders as pillows. Probably we will have to mend more than a few fractured bones. Let’s hope the Baron is in a better mood when he wakes from his procedure. If he would have only taken your
pointed
advice, we could have arrived as a parade instead of as peacekeepers.”
The tingling in her muscles was wearing off. Winter managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her head swam. It felt as if she’d been lying there a week. She looked and found Aven beside her. His face was relaxed and handsome, even with the blood trails running down his chin. She couldn’t see any harm done by Pike’s sword and wondered if healing the cuts on his face was more magic of the Guardians. Aven was breathing comfortably, as if he was at home in bed, and she were only sneaking in to slip a bracelet under his fingers as she did on occasion. All around the marketplace, bodies lay strewn as if dead.
A man stood beside Karience, younger, perhaps five years older than Winter. Another Guardian. His skin was also strange, but only because it was so fair, especially standing beside the dark Empyrean. He looked at Winter curiously, the slant of his lips betraying amusement. Why? Did he find her disorientation humorous? The thought only deepened her wonder of the Guardians. The scene surrounding her was bizarre. She began to wonder what would happen if everyone were suddenly to wake.
Karience and the young man wore loose white pants and fitted white shirts. A sigil of a starship bursting through a severed sword shone upon their right breasts. Beneath each sigil was a three color pattern that differed between the two of them. What the colors meant, she couldn’t guess.
It was then she noticed the massive hulk rising from behind the smithworks. It was like a giant bird, with a girth twice the size of the market.
A starship
! The sight of it stole Winter’s breath away. The farmers’ tales heard over the years could not have prepared her for this moment. The strength and elegance of the starship’s body reached beyond anything she could ever have imagined. And having landed in a cow pasture, the vessel seemed so enchanting and otherworldly. Much like the two Guardians standing before her.
“Here she is,” said Karience to a bearded man approaching quickly, dressed in clothing similar to hers, though dyed the lightest blue, almost grey, instead of white.
“Winter, this is our Physician, Alael. Do you have any lingering pains?”
“No.”
Alael bent and touched her neck. She felt something tug on her flesh as Alael pulled from her skin a small piece of metal that looked like a tack. He stared at it, as if it were telling him something.
“It was a nasty fall,” said Alael. “You likely wouldn’t have walked again without our intervention.”
“You’re not broken anymore,” said the young man dressed in white beside Karience. “I’m Rueik.” He held out his hand and when she took it, he helped her up onto her feet and steadied her with a hand on her back. “I imagine you’d like to see the ship.”
“Soon enough,” interrupted Karience. “First we wake a few of the others. There’s still Baron Rhaudius's mess to fix.”
Alael bent down beside Aven, his beard brushing Aven’s chest as he seemed to be listening to her brother’s breathing. Then he removed the tack-like thing from Aven’s neck. He immediately began to stir. Winter grabbed his hand.
“It’s alright
,” she tapped into his hand, gently.
Aven opened his eyes wide, then rose awkwardly to his feet, in a panic. He took in the strange scene silently.
“They’re sleeping,” said Winter softly. “The Guardians made us all sleep. Do you see the starship?”
Aven stared at it, his face unreadable.
Winter watched Alael follow Karience and Rueik toward the stage, leaving her alone with her brother.
“This feels like a dream.” Aven touched the corners of his mouth and probed them with his fingers. “It’s as if the sword was never there.”
“
Like a taste of the Makers’ realm
,” tapped Winter. She lifted the jar up through the neck of her tunic to have a look at Whisper, her beautiful butterfly.
Aven glanced at the jar, and from the corner of her eye she saw a scowl form on his face.
It was a silent reminder he didn’t approve of her actions today, even though everything seemed to have worked out for their good.
A strong hand squeezed Winter’s shoulder and spun her around. A giant stood there, and instantly any fear she had melted away. She knew only one giant and he was remarkably good and kind. Grey Bear took her in his arms and lifted her from the ground, emptying her lungs of air as he clutched her.
“You shouldn’t have,” he said. “Damn brave girl you are.” Tears were in his eyes. He held her suspended above the ground in one arm as he reached out with the other and cupped the back of Aven’s head, drawing him into their embrace. “I owe you both my life for what you did.” He finally let her down and she tried not to gasp.
“What charm is this?” continued Grey Bear as he looked out upon the sea of bodies.
“The Guardians have done it,” said Winter, she pointed to the starship.
The Guardians
. Winter wanted to dance and throw her arms up in the air. It was like the vision she had, when the Baron threw her from the stage; falling off a precipice, racing toward the deadly waters below, or like drowning in the river, sinking down, down, death opening its gates and, just before passing through, in sweeps the impossible. Only this time, it was the Guardians instead of Leaf, the Maker.
“Have you seen Rabbit?” asked Grey Bear. “She was in that tree there when she throated the Baron with an arrow.”
Winter remembered her vision again. Rabbit drawing back an arrow, but she hadn’t seen what happened after that. She looked up at where the Baron had stood on the platform, then down at the grass beneath. She saw only guards and a few farmers, lying still, Rose among them, thrown from her horse and lying face up, arms spread in the grass. Winter surveyed the entire scene, realizing the only people yet awake were the three of them. The Guardians were waking whom they chose.