Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1) (27 page)

The child crawled through the hedge to the hidden niche Annika had fled to after leaving the Blade Council chambers. It was the only place, away from prying eyes, she could find before her tears had started to fall. Her small visitor cursed as a branch snapped under her boot and she emerged from the hedge holding it in her hand.

“Ohh,
Mother of Mercy
, you won’t tell Master Gardener Pel I did this will you? He spent months tending this gard—” The guilt-ridden expression on the girl’s face froze then changed. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a shocked breath, and Annika knew she’d been recognized.

“I won’t hurt you. Please don’t scream.”

Her freckled nose scrunched up. “Why would I scream? That’s such a girly thing to do. I was jus’ wonderin’ if they hurt.”

“What?”

A small finger pointed at her face. “Them. Some of the folk over at the hospice have sores on their skin like your spots. They’re always complainin’ they hurt.”

The child was asking about her
Na’Chi
markings? “No, they don’t hurt. I was born with them.”

“Can I touch ’em?” More than a little bewildered by the child’s lack of fear of her Annika nodded. A grin broke over the girl’s face and she jumped up to join her on the stone bench, her dark, curly hair bouncing with her exuberant energy. “My name’s Rissa, but my friends call me Bit on account that I’m so small. One day, though, I’m gonna be tall ’n strong ’cause my feet are big for my age.

“I don’t have no parents so’s I’m not sure whether they were tall but Animal Master Gorlas says big feet are a sign for growin’ tall.” She rubbed her hands together. “One of the tricks of the healin’ trade. Gotta warm your hands afore you touch your patient. Not that you’re my patient, but you get what I mean, eh?”

The child’s rambling, one-sided conversation brought a small smile to Annika’s face. “I appreciate it. My name’s Annika.”

“Yeah, I heard ’bout you this mornin’ at breakfast. The whole Barracks was talkin’.” Rissa’s touch was gentle as she trailed her fingertips down the side of her face, her brow furrowed in concentration. She made a sound at the back of her throat, very similar to the one Councilor Candra had made when examining her pouch. “You’re the first demon granted sanctuary ever!”

Rissa sounded excited rather than terrified and that confused her. Where was the wariness and distrust she’d come to know and expect? Her elders certainly made no secret of their feelings for her.

“Rissa, why aren’t you afraid of me?”

Solemn brown eyes met hers. “Afore I was brought here to train, I used to live on the streets. You get to trust your feelin’s about people, and learn real quick to avoid the one you know might hurt you. I don’t feel that with you, ’sides, the
Lady
’s
Chosen
would never have brought that sort of person here.”

Annika closed her eyes briefly, touched by Rissa’s simple honesty and her belief in the truth as she saw it.

“Rinnel’s another pot of salve, though. He’s jus’ a big bully ’n one day someone’s gonna pop him good for pickin’ on the young’uns—” She suddenly stopped talking and gave her a lopsided grin. “Healer Danna says I chatter too much.” A small, cold hand covered hers. “You never did tell me iffen you needed help.” The girl’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I still feel you hurtin’.”

“It’s not something a healer can fix, Rissa,” Annika admitted. It was the second time the girl had made the odd comment. “So, how do you know I’m hurting anyway?”

“The
Lady
Gifted me with the skill to sense others’ pain.” The child shrugged. “I’m still learnin’ to use it prop’ly. Bein’ able to tell the diff’rence between a body pain and soul pain takes years of trainin’. So, yours is soul pain, huh? Who hurt you?”

There was such a warm innocence about the human child that Annika didn’t feel threatened by her blunt questions. She sighed and stared up at the pale blue sky. Beyond the quiet sanctuary of the niche she could hear the muted goings-on of the compound and wondered if anyone was searching for her yet. Was Kalan looking for her?

“No one person hurt me, Rissa,” she finally said, looking down at the child. “It was their attitude and beliefs that upset me.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You said you’re training to be a healer?” She nodded. “I’m a healer, too, but my mentor wasn’t allowed to teach me how to read and write. The people who hurt me think just because I don’t have these skills I’m worthless.”

“They teased you ’cause you didn’t know?” Rissa’s dark eyes flashed. “I was seven when I was brought here to be trained. That’s late to be found with a Gift. The other children teased me ’cause my readin’ and writin’ wasn’t as good as theirs so I know what that feels like.” She tilted her head. “How did you learn everythin’ to become a healer if you couldn’t write it down?”

“I listened hard, repeated everything told to me over and over in my mind many times, watched closely, and remembered it.” Annika met her gaze. “Do you recall everything you’ve said to me since you crawled through that bush?”

Rissa’s brow furrowed a moment then she shook her head. Annika recited their entire conversation word for word.

The girl grinned and clapped. “
Mother of Mercy
, with a memory like that you’d learn to read ’n write in no time!” She jumped off the bench, waving the broken branch. “I could teach you the letters ’n sounds right now, if you like.”

With her boot, she cleared small rocks and debris from a spot on the ground then scraped the stick over the dirt making a curve and a line that joined. Annika craned her neck to see what she wrote.

Propping a hand on one skinny hip she pointed with the stick. “That’s the letter
a
and it makes two sounds…
ah
and
ay
.”

Annika’s heart leapt as she recognized the symbol from the writing in the book Davyn demanded she’d read. Excitement curled in the pit of her stomach.

“Show me more,” she said and shared a smile with her small companion.

Rissa, trainee healer and destroyer of gardens, took to her task with enthusiasm. Her lack of guile soothed away the residual ache left behind in Annika’s heart after the Council meeting.

Annika knelt on the ground to copy the symbols, a fiery determination to master them as quickly as possible growing with every passing heartbeat.

“KALAN, none of the Light Blades say she’s on any of the rooves in the compound. Where else could she have gone?”

Kymora’s voice drifted out from his apartment to where Kalan stood on the balcony after searching the apartment. Her staff tapped on the floor as she came toward him. He peered down into the garden. Relief rushed through him when he saw a familiar blond head of hair seated next to a small child in the secluded niche below.

“
Lady of Light
, thank you,” he murmured, hours of searching and worry eased.

“Kalan?”

“Shh, it’s all right, Kymora. I’ve found her.”

His sister reached the balcony wall and her head tilted to one side. A breeze carried Annika’s voice toward them. “Who’s she with?”

“I think it’s one of the children from the Barracks. A girl, maybe eight or nine years old, dark, curly hair, dressed in healer’s colors.”

“Sounds like Rissa.” A slow smile curved his sister’s lips. “If I’m not mistaken they’re learning sounds and letters.”

From his elevated position Kalan could see a number of symbols carved into the ground. They listened as Annika recited each name and letter as Rissa pointed to it. When she finished their delighted laughter drifted up to them.

“Her memory and recall is amazing,” Kymora murmured. “She wasn’t exaggerating when she told the Council she had all her learning inside her head.”

He grit his teeth at her reference to the debacle of a meeting that had occurred that morning. “They never even gave her a chance. Never intended to.”

His sister reached out to touch his arm. “The
Lady
said her arrival would bring opposition.” Her hand slid to cover his. “Candra listened. The contents of Annika’s pouch impressed her. I heard her speaking to Benth and Corvas after you ejected Davyn from the chamber.”

“Their intolerance hurt Annika.”

Davyn’s heartless act of exposing Annika’s illiteracy twisted inside him like a knife blade. She’d stared at the page with undisguised longing and hunger. Her eyes had changed color, from pale green to orange then black. The anger in her gaze had not just been for the Councilors.

“I know. I could hear it in her voice as she stood up to them.” Kymora’s warm hand tightened on his. “You didn’t mention their hatred.”

Kalan sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair. “Annika expected that. Hatred is something she’s lived with all her life. Sadly she’s used to it.”

“It certainly gives new meaning to the
Lady
’s words…
draw strength from life’s experiences
.” Kymora gave a dry chuckle. “And she was strong this morning, older brother.”

Annika’s fierce independence was one of her greatest assets, and one of the many characteristics that attracted him to her. A reluctant smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he remembered her parting statement to the Council. The truth of her words had been punctuated with such fire as she’d stood up to their attempt to humiliate her.

He inhaled a ragged breath. “She’s one of the most resilient, courageous women I know, Kym,” he admitted.

“Annika didn’t know you were the
Lady
’s
Chosen
, did she?”

“I wanted to tell her…”

“But if the
Na’Reish
had found out, you wouldn’t be standing here now.”

“Initially, yes, that’s why I didn’t tell her.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I was going to once we arrived safely here but the night we arrived I desperately wanted to see you. She insisted I go…”

Kymora made a tsking sound. “And on your return you found Arek trying to kill her… Oh, Kalan, you couldn’t have predicted how events would turn out.”

“One bad judgment call after another…” he whispered. “We both worked so hard to establish the measure of trust we had before today.”

Below them Annika drew more letters in the dirt and he listened to her sound them out. Such single-minded determination made his heart swell.

“You care for her.”

He stiffened with Kymora’s quiet words. Slowly he turned to look at her. Her sightless gaze was fixed firmly on his face, her expression one of gentle acceptance.

“You should know by now how finely tuned my ears are to listening to people,” she said, her words mildly censuring. “When you speak about Annika your tone softens. The timbre of your voice deepens. It’s quite obvious really.”

Kalan snorted. “Only you would claim something like that.”

“Avoiding the issue isn’t allowed, brother mine.” She waggled a finger at him. “Ask yourself this. How would you feel tomorrow if she decided to leave and never come back?”

His growled protest arched Kymora’s eyebrows. The strength of his reaction gave him pause. He sought out Annika in the garden below, needing to know she was safe. She was still there, crouched on the ground over the letters, her blond head close to Rissa’s dark one.

“Are you questioning the path the
Lady
has chosen for you, Kalan?” Kymora asked.

“Surprisingly, not anymore.” He grunted. “And that’s a first for me.”

“Then why so silent?”

“I was thinking how well Annika has handled everything with honor and dignity.”

Every time he thought of her, of the way she touched him or spoke his name, his heart lightened. Annika had tangled herself in his thoughts, wrapped herself around his soul, and slid right in next to his heart. The realization filled him with the most incredible sense of peace.

He let out a slow, amazed breath. “She makes me happy.”

“Sounds like you love her.”

Kymora’s blunt statement was like a blow to his gut. He opened his mouth to issue an immediate denial then altered his words at the last moment. “I can’t love her, Kym.”

“No? Why not? Because she’s
Na’Chi
? If you’d believed her to be a danger to us, you would never have brought her here. You did, so you’ve accepted her. Are you afraid of what the Council will think?”

He fisted his hands. “Whatever our personal friendship might be it’s none of their business.”

“Your personal friendship with Annika will affect what happens next, Kalan, whether you like it or not.” He hated that she was right. Kymora’s brow creased. “The
Lady
’s guided you this far, Kalan. Don’t doubt what you feel. You never have before.”

“Your faith was always so much stronger than mine. You follow
Her
path without question. I’m not like that, Kym.” He shook his head. “It’s too soon to know what I feel for Annika…”

“Figure it out, Kalan, because particular Councilors will take any hint of uncertainty and question your support for her. That will spread down through the ranks to their advocates.” Kymora touched his shoulder. “Face the truth in your heart and embrace it. Then stand united before the Council.”

“You know I don’t like being forced into a decision before I’m ready.”

“Do you think Davyn will wait for you to decide?” Her expression softened. “Just don’t take too long.” Her warning sent a shiver along his spine. She squeezed his shoulder. “Now that you know where Annika is, I’ll leave you to think. I’ve temple duties to attend to.”

He spoke as she reached the door to his room. “Kymora.” She turned partway round. “Thank you for offering your advice, even though you knew I wouldn’t like it.”

A wry smile curved her lips. “Isn’t that what sisters are for?”

He chuckled. “You also make a good
Temple Elect
advising your leader. You’re right about the Council.”

Her smile widened. “If it hadn’t been for you and Arek helping me in my early days as
Temple Elect
I don’t know how I would have accomplished half of what I did.” She inclined her head in thanks. “I’m glad I can return the favor.”

As the door closed behind her, Kalan’s grin faded. The light-hearted moment disappeared as his thoughts returned to their conversation, or more rightly, the subject of their conversation.