Souls of Aredyrah 1 - The Fire and the Light (27 page)

“Reiv, I expect to return here soon, but if
for any reason I am not back by high sun, take them and leave
without me. High sun, no later. Understood?”

Reiv nodded, but did not turn to face
her.

“What do you mean if you don’t come back?”
Dayn asked.

“Just a precaution. I have several people to
talk to and one can never predict delays. But there is nothing to
fear. Reiv will be there for you. As a Jecta, he can come and go
freely.”

Reiv’s back stiffened. Brina rose and moved
from the table to the door.

“Reiv, if for any reason I do not return, you
must get them through the gates. When you arrive in Pobu, go to the
town square. There is a blacksmith shop to the right of it. The
smith is a friend; he will know what to do. I will meet you there
as soon as I can.”

“Yes, Brina,” he said.

“Oh, and Reiv, while I am gone, you might
take the time to explain some of the Jecta customs, including
clothing.” She opened the door slowly and peered out. “High sun, no
later.” She glanced back at the three who had followed her and now
stood, pale-faced, at her back. She smiled assuringly, then stepped
into the street.

Reiv closed the door and rested his hand on
the bolt. For a long moment he did not move.

“Reiv?” Alicine asked.

He whirled to face them. “I have work to do,”
he said. And with that he brushed past them and headed for the
atrium.

Dayn and Alicine looked at each other in
bewilderment. Dayn shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe I should talk to him,” he said, moving to follow.

Alicine grabbed his arm. “Not yet,” she said.
“We’d better think this through first. You’ve seen his moods.” She
pulled Dayn over to the corner, then put a finger to her lips as
she motioned her eyes toward Reiv.

Dayn glanced at Reiv who could now be seen
lifting a large trunk from a table in the atrium. “What’s there to
think through?” Dayn said. “He’s been fine all morning. What could
possibly have happened?”

“I’m sure it was something Brina said. I saw
that look on his face again. You know, the one he wore all day
yesterday.” Alicine contorted her face into a scowl in case Dayn
needed reminding.

“I didn’t see it,” Dayn said. He cocked his
head and struggled to examine Reiv’s face across the distance.

“Well, I did. I saw it just before Brina
left, right after she talked to us about Pobu.”

Simultaneously they craned their necks to
watch Reiv as he walked, swaybacked, toward his room with the
trunk. He paused and glanced over at them. Dayn and Alicine smiled,
but he did not return the gesture and continued toward the
bedchamber.

Alicine tightened her brow and directed her
eyes to the kitchen where the last conversation with Reiv had taken
place. “Dayn,” she whispered, “I think I know what it was Brina
said. She said, as a Jecta Reiv can come and go. Those were her
exact words.”

Dayn shook his head. “That can’t be it. She
probably just meant because he’s a foreman.”

“I don’t think so.”

Dayn studied Reiv who had returned to the
atrium and was now gathering up bits of broken pottery. “But he’s
not dark. He’s not marked. And we’ve seen most of him.”

“Not his hands. We’ve never seen his hands.
He’s never taken off the gloves, not once. Don’t you find that
strange?”

Dayn leaned around her and looked with
curiosity at the gloved hands that now held crushed stems and
shattered terracotta. “Well, he is a laborer.”

“Be serious. Who wears gloves all the time? I
think I should be the one to talk to him.”

“I don’t know.”

“I could handle it more delicately than you,
and if we both went over he might feel cornered. Besides, I have
knowledge in healing. I don’t know what’s wrong with his hands, but
maybe there’s something I can do.”

Dayn thought for a moment. His sister was
particularly gifted in the art of healing and her knowledge of
plants and herbs was unsurpassed in Kirador. Maybe she was right
about something being wrong with Reiv’s hands, and if Reiv could be
helped, Alicine was certainly the one to do it. He nodded
reluctantly. “All right. If you think it will help.”

Dayn walked into the nearby kitchen while
Alicine strolled into the atrium. Keeping one eye on his sister and
the other on the unpredictable Reiv, Dayn reached for a mug and
poured himself a drink. He leaned against the table’s edge while he
sipped and watched.

Reiv glanced up and spied Alicine weaving her
way between the numerous plants that crowded the floor in front of
her.

“Now what have you come to complain about?”
he muttered. He moved away, pretending to concentrate on a shrub
across the room.

Alicine changed her direction and worked her
way toward his new location. But he only moved further away. Her
face grew red with frustration as his attempts to avoid her became
more than a little obvious.

“Reiv!” she said loudly. Then her voice
softened. “Reiv,” she repeated.

He stopped and turned to face her. He wanted
very badly to be angry with her. He needed to be angry with her. It
was simple. She was going away. Dayn was going away. They were
Jecta. He wasn’t. They would be living in Pobu, and he couldn’t
imagine visiting them in that place. He had thought that he could,
but now he realized he didn’t have it in him. He had been fooling
himself to think he could have family again, much less friends. If
he could just hate them.

“What is it?” Reiv said impatiently. “I am
very busy.”

“Your plants are beautiful. I thought maybe
you could show them to me.”

“Well, I do not have time to take you on a
tour,” he said. He turned his face away for fear she would see the
regret written across it. Grabbing a potted seedling, he eyed it
with distaste, then pulled out the shoot and tossed it to the
ground.

“I’m really good with herbs,” Alicine said,
stepping around to see what he was doing. “Even medicinals. Maybe I
could help you.”

“Help me?” Reiv forced a laugh. “I do not
need any help.”

“Don’t you?” She slanted her eyes toward his
hands.

“What do you mean by that remark?”

Alicine brushed her hand across some pink
blossoms, stirring their scent. “What I said. I could help
you.”

“I did fine before you came. I do not need
your help. For that matter, I do not need anything.”
Hate her.
That is all you have to do. Just hate her.

“Well, we need you, Reiv. Very much. Dayn
especially. I don’t see how we’ll get through this without
you.”

“Well, you had best get used to it. I will
get you as far as Pobu if I must, but after that you will see
little of me.”

“What do you mean ‘see little of you’?”
Alicine asked. “Brina said—
you
said—you could come and go
there freely. That you would be there for us.”

“Well, Brina was mistaken.”

“And you? Were you lying to us then?”

Reiv’s eyes flashed. “No, I was not lying. I
thought I could, but . . . Listen, Alicine, I cannot visit you in
Pobu. I will go there only if I must take you. Otherwise . . .” He
turned his back to her.

“Cannot visit us or will not visit us?”

“Cannot—will not—both! Quit asking so many
questions. Gods!”

He stepped away, but she rushed to block his
path and faced him down. “Why is that, Reiv? Enlighten me.”

“Because it is Jecta.”

“But Brina said as a Jecta you could go
there.”

Reiv’s shoulders stiffened.

“And if you are Jecta—”

“I am not Jecta!” Reiv shouted. He grabbed
her by the shoulders and pulled her toward him. “Never call me
that! I am Tearian! Do you hear me? Tearian!” He pushed her away,
then turned and attempted, once again, to distance himself.

Dayn took a step in their direction, but
Alicine motioned him back with a wave of her hand. “Prove it,” she
called to Reiv’s back. “Prove you’re not Jecta.”

Reiv stopped in his tracks, startled by her
sudden challenge. He spun to face her. “Prove it?”

“You heard me. Prove you are not Jecta. Show
me that you have no marks, no imperfections.”

“Jecta do not have to have marks. I already
told you.”

“So you have no marks? Then why do you always
wear gloves?”

“That is none of your concern,” he said. “You
know, I cannot wait until I am rid of you.”

“You’re a liar.”

“I told you, girl, I am no liar.”

“Then tell me. Why do you always wear
gloves?”

“Because I choose to.”

“Tell me the truth, Reiv.”

“No, I said! No . . . No . . . No! Do you
understand me now?”

“Yes, I understand. You’re afraid.”

Reiv’s jaw dropped. “I am afraid of
nothing.”

“A liar and a coward.”

“Coward? How—how dare—I am no coward, girl.
That I can assure you.”

“Then take off your gloves, unless you’re
afraid to.” Alicine smiled smoothly and folded her arms across her
chest.

“I am not afraid!” Reiv screamed, his face
contorted with rage. “I am not!” He grabbed a nearby plant and
flung it over Alicine’s head. It crashed into a hundred pieces
against a nearby pillar.

Alicine jumped. “Reiv,” she said, her voice
cracking.

He stepped toward her, his fist clenched in
the air.

“Reiv, please.”

Dayn sprinted toward the atrium. Reiv saw him
fast approaching and suddenly realized why. He froze and looked at
his own trembling fist, then at Alicine’s stricken face. “Gods,
what am I doing?” he whispered. He lowered his fist and backed
away, his eyes darting between Alicine and Dayn.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Dayn shouted. He
planted himself between his sister and Reiv.

“No, I—” Reiv gulped.

“Alicine was right,” Dayn said, his usually
calm voice now fraught with hostility. “You’ve been lying to us,
pretending to be our friend, saying you would be there for us when
you had no intention of it. It was all just a big show for Brina,
wasn’t it? You don’t care one whit about us, do you!”

“No, Dayn. I mean—yes—I mean . . .” Reiv
stumbled over the words, frantically searching for the right ones
to say. “You cannot possibly understand.”

Alicine stepped around and stood at Dayn’s
side. “We can’t understand if you don’t explain it to us.”

Reiv stared at the floor, then tucked his
hands beneath his folded arms. “I do not want you to see. Can you
understand that?”

“You don’t have to show us, Reiv,” Alicine
said, sounding genuinely remorseful at her earlier insistence that
he do so. “But can’t you at least tell us?”

Reiv stood silently for a moment, then looked
into their curious faces. He unfolded his arms and held out his
hands, struggling to set his face with indifference. “Burned. They
were burned. That is all you need to know.”

Alicine took a step toward him, her eyes full
of sympathy. “Maybe I can help.”

“No one can help,” Reiv replied.

“But there are treatments.”

“Everything that could have been done, has
been done.” Reiv waved his arms around him. “Do you not see all the
bottles? Do you not see all the herbs? Brina and I have been
working for a year now to try and make my hands better. No,
Alicine, there is nothing else that can be done.”

“It’s been a year since it happened?” Alicine
asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“And that is why you are called Jecta?” Dayn
asked hesitantly.

Reiv’s eyes shot to his. “Yes. But I am not
Jecta. I was born Tearian. That is what I am, not Jecta!”

“What of your family?” Alicine asked.

“Brina is my only family. Well, and now Dayn;
and you, I suppose.”

Dayn drew a breath. “Reiv—” But before he
could finish, they were startled by a loud knock at the door.

“Brina!” Dayn exclaimed, his voice hopeful.
He turned and ran in the direction of the door.

“No, Dayn! Stop!” Reiv shouted.

But it was too late. Dayn reached the door
and threw open the latch.

Return to Table of Contents

Chapter 17: Princes and Warriors

B
rina ducked into a
shallow alcove and scanned the river of faces winding past. She
wasn’t supposed to be there; royals were not allowed this close to
Market without an escort. But she had lied that morning, claiming
she was going to see an ailing friend who lived nearby. She did
indeed call on that friend, justification for the falseness of her
words, but stayed only long enough to solicit the woman’s silence
and a change of clothing. The promise to bring her friend a Shell
Seeker trinket had sealed the agreement between them.

She pressed her back into the shadows as two
members of the Guard strolled past. Although she was dressed in
pastel green in place of royal yellow, Brina could not risk the
guards’ attentions upon her. Were they to recognize her face, and
they very likely would, there would be no explaining her way out of
it. She eased from the wall and watched the guards as they
disappeared into the crowd. Pulling in a steadying breath, she
stole into the mass of bodies and made her way out the gates toward
the Market grounds beyond.

A large Tearian man, blinded by a tower of
purchases teetering in his arms, pushed into her, almost knocking
her off her feet. Before he had a chance to finish his half-hearted
apology, Brina turned and disappeared into the crowd. With growing
impatience, she craned her neck to see over the throng ahead of
her. The Shell Seeker tents were just ahead. That would be her
first stop.

The Shell Seekers always had the greatest
number of customers at their booths, for they were the most
sought-after crafters at Market. They were the only ones who dared
dive into the sea, so the goods they brought were considered a
luxury. Over the years, the Tearians valued the shell wares so
greatly that they came to regard the Shell Seekers more highly than
the other merchants. But there was still no denying what the Shell
Seekers were—Jecta.