Chapter 10 #2
and heavy that if it weren’t for her years of training with Hale, she wouldn’t have been able to carry it. This seemed to
have been anticipated as a wheeled chair was waiting for her.
Aradella’s only experience of a royal wedding was when Olina married her uncle. It had been a serious affair of signing contracts
and valuable gifts being presented to the couple. Young Aradella hadn’t been allowed to participate, and she’d only seen a
bit of it. Olina, in her golden gown, had seen the child and ordered her to be taken away.
But now, the reproduction of an Earth wedding that was done for Kaley seemed to have made an impression. Aradella was to walk—or
be pushed—down an aisle. She was alone, no male escort, but she hadn’t expected Olina to be that generous.
Out of sight of everyone, Aradella stood at the back of the huge room and peeped through the curtains. She wanted to see what
was waiting for her.
In the front, seated on the right side, was King Aramus and his entourage. There were several beautiful young women with him. Does he have multiple wives? she wondered.
On the left side of the aisle was Queen Olina and her ancient mother. They were dressed in robes that flashed and sparkled
so much, it hurt to look at them. There were rumors that missing jewels from Earth were owned by Olina and her witch mother.
The rest of the room was full of couples, men and women sitting side by side, nearly all of them holding hands. To Aradella,
raised with mostly women, and being constantly told of the uncontrollable violence of men, it was a jarring sight. The plan
was for the men to leave Pithan by midnight, but she wondered if they would.
Tanek and Kaley, with her family, were halfway down, sitting by the aisle. They looked very serious. They think I’m marrying Nessa, she thought. They think— Her eyes widened. Kaley was holding Tanek’s hand and she raised it to her cheek as though in reassurance. Since Aradella had
spent much of her life trying to figure out what was happening around her, she’d become rather good at lip reading.
Kaley said, “Mekos can do this. Have faith in him.”
Aradella stepped away from the curtain and leaned against the wall. They know! she thought. They know our plan. She took several deep breaths. Kaley was reassuring Tanek that his son could handle being king. Considering that Tanek’s
grandfather had “disappeared” when he went against Olina and the Empyreans, Kaley was asking a lot of her husband.
“It’s time for you to go,” a woman Aradella didn’t know said in the tone of an order. She wasn’t in uniform, but she was obviously
a guard, a woman fully prepared to stop Aradella if she tried to run away.
Aradella put her shoulders back and started to walk down the wide, lonely aisle. When she reached Kaley and Tanek, she almost stopped. Both of them looked so serious, grim really. They seemed to be asking, What will happen when it’s revealed that you’ve married Mekos?
It took Aradella’s years of discipline to continue walking. Waiting at the end was what appeared to be Nessa. He looked so
real that Aradella had to remind herself that he was actually Mekos, and that he was wearing the mask. She remembered how
realistic he’d looked when she saw herself lying on Valona’s sacrificial altar.
Mekos was so good at imitation that he was wearing Nessa’s sulky, pouty look, as though he was too good to be doing this.
He looked Aradella up and down, sneering at her wide girth.
She gave him a tiny, reassuring smile to let him know he was doing an excellent impersonation.
When he scowled at her, Aradella couldn’t help frowning. She quickly erased it but she still felt uneasy.
When she got to the end and took her place next to Mekos, a tall man stepped before them. She drew in her breath. He was Fahir,
King Aramus’s advisor, bully, co-ruler, servant, executioner. His job description depended on the person speaking. Aradella
had always disliked him as he looked at her as something to be bought and sold—and he’d always found her lacking.
She leaned toward Mekos. “I didn’t expect him to be here,” she whispered.
He stepped back, looking repulsed at her nearness.
Aradella straightened. Mekos was certainly staying in character!
“We are here to unite the kingdoms,” Fahir said in his booming voice. “Through this union—”
Suddenly, they heard voices coming from the back. They were low and strong. It was like the whispers of a hundred people.
Fahir’s voice rose. “Through this union, the islands will unite. Old royals and new will come together in equality. There
will be no division between the two thrones.”
Olina is going to share her authority? Aradella thought. Never!
The whispers from the back grew stronger but Aradella couldn’t understand what they were saying.
She didn’t dare turn toward them and risk Fahir’s anger.
His great, jeweled staff leaned against a post. She’d been told that he could use that thing to turn people into snakes.
Again, she leaned toward Mekos. “What are they saying?”
He bent backward, away from her, his lips curved in revulsion. “How the fark do I know? Get away from me!”
It was then that Aradella knew. Mekos would be able to hear what was being said, and he’d never speak to her that way.
Without a thought of what she was doing, Aradella’s hand shot out. She grabbed at the mask and pulled to remove it. But he
wasn’t wearing a mask! Her nails dug into his skin, leaving bloody streaks.
Nessa screamed, his hand to his face over the bleeding claw marks.
Aradella stood there, staring, unable to move. All she could think of was, What have you done to Mekos? She managed to look at Fahir. His smirk twisted his mouth and eyes into a look of triumph. He had won!
“You know!” Aradella said in horror.
In the next second, the room seemed to erupt into chaos. In the back, shouts went up—and Fahir made a lunge to grab his staff.
The jewel on top flashed as though in happy anticipation of causing evil.
Aradella was frozen. The heavy garment seemed to double in weight and she stood there awaiting whatever Fahir was about to
do to her.
In the next second, Tanek swooped down to her. He was a big man and in his black suit he looked like an enormous bird of prey.
He grabbed Aradella about the waist and soared up with her almost to the ceiling. He carried her over the top of the guests,
then went down and out the door.
When they were outside, Tanek set Aradella down, then hurried to the others who were waiting in the big courtyard of the palace.
So much had happened that Aradella couldn’t comprehend it all. How? Why? She saw Sojee standing at the closed doors to the palace with the commanders he’d lectured that morning. Up close, the men
were even bigger than they’d seemed when she’d seen them from above. They were holding the doors closed so no one could get
out.
An unholy noise made her look up. A huge machine was coming down to the ground, and it was creating a wind so fierce that
Aradella was pushed back several steps. The flying machine had an oval body and giant blades going round and round on top.
Aradella raised her arm against the wind. Before it got to the ground, Kaley’s grandfather Frank bent and ran to the big machine
and jerked open the door. A small man was inside and shaking his head no. Frank grabbed the man by the shirt, pulled him out,
and tossed him to the side like he was a child’s toy. Frank got into the machine and began flipping switches.
Kaley’s grandmother, Rita, directed people to the machine, then helped them get into the seats. First came Tanek’s parents,
Vian and Roal, then Kaley and Rita. Tanek was last. He held back as he constantly watched the sky. At last, Tanek nodded in
relief, then turned to the machine. He looked like he’d rather jump into a volcano than get on the thing. But at last he climbed
inside.
Frank pulled the curved, transparent door closed, and the machine rose up.
They were barely off the ground when Sojee took Aradella’s arm and turned her around. Coming out of the sky, like some great
winged god, its green scales glistening in the sunlight, was a dragon. She assumed it belonged to Nessa.
On its back was Mekos.
In spite of its size, the dragon deftly landed on its toes. Its eyes were on the loud, windy machine that was still rising,
seeming to try to decide if the thing was a friend or foe.
Bending, Mekos held out his hand to Aradella.
She started to run toward him, but then Sojee grabbed her by the waist. He couldn’t soar but his long strides covered the ground quickly.
Sojee picked up Aradella and dropped her into the saddle behind Mekos.
She wanted Sojee to join them, but he wouldn’t.
He made a gesture toward his men. He would stay with them.
With the flying machine high in the air, the sound of the people being held inside the palace reached them. Women of Olina’s
Queen’s Guard came out from both sides of the palace, their bows drawn.
Mekos gave a whistle to the dragon and it rose from the ground.
“A spell,” Mekos said over his shoulder, and she knew it was explanation for what had kept him from the ceremony. The unasked
question was, Who cast the spell?
The guards raised their bows and shot them. The arrows sailed through the air, and three of them struck Aradella.
Mekos twisted his body to shield her from the arrows, but she pushed him away. Between her heavy robe and all the padding
she wore, the arrows hadn’t touched her body. She ripped at the ties down the front of the robe, then wrapped it around Mekos
so they were both covered.
As the dragon rose higher, the range of the arrows grew weaker. Even so, there were at least a dozen sticking out of the hated
robe, some of them reaching the padding beneath.
“This is Perus,” Mekos said, then he pulled the reins and they turned sharply north. Pithan was a long island that ran east
to west, so they were soon away from land and over the quiet calm of the sea.