Chapter 11
Aradella woke when she felt Mekos’s breath on her cheek. She partially opened her eyes, afraid that even the slight movement
would wake the people around them.
They were in a beautiful stone pavilion that was at the top of the mountain above the Beyhan Homestead on Selkan. Earlier,
they’d gone through the old village and up the gravel path to the top. Aradella and Mekos were in front, with Tanek, Kaley,
and Sojee behind them.
It was a solemn group. The words, What do we do now? seemed to hover over them.
With every step, Aradella felt worse. This is all my fault, she thought. If I’d married Nessa, everyone would be safe now. Or if I’d not killed Valona.
When they came to a break in the neglected path, Mekos took her hand and helped her across. He didn’t let go of her hand.
He gave her a look that was meant to cheer her up, but that was impossible.
The top of the mountain was extraordinarily beautiful. There was a lake with elegant white swans, and as soon as the birds
saw Tanek, they came forward. He walked into the water, fully clothed, and dove under them.
Kaley stood on the shore and watched. They all understood that he needed to be with the birds.
Sojee was at the side, also watching. His usual cheerful demeanor was gone.
At the back was the long stone pavilion with massive stone chairs with arms carved into the shape of swans. Sojee easily moved
them, putting two on each side as though he was forming a cage. He put down a blanket filled with swan feathers in the middle.
When he stepped back, he looked at Aradella. It was to be her bed. He didn’t say so, but Mekos was to be with her as protection.
In the grass, more blankets were spread. Tanek, Kaley, and Sojee were to use them. Lurking near the lake was the tabor. They
all formed a barrier around Aradella.
They shared a sparse meal of bread and cheese, with no conversation. Everyone was thinking of what could be done.
When Aradella went up the steps to her bed cover, she thought she’d never sleep, but she did, and she didn’t wake until she
felt Mekos’s breath. As she looked into his eyes, she knew he meant for her to go somewhere with him.
Of course he’d have to take her. As a human, she was much too noisy to slip past the people and animals who were guarding
her. And too, Tanek had said that if there was danger, the swans would warn them.
Kaley had muttered something about an “infrared heat search” and “a bomb squad” but at a look from Tanek, she said no more.
Aradella put her arms up and Mekos held her. Silently, they soared across the grass, over part of the lake, then landed beside
a swamp.
When she was on the ground, she waited for him to speak. The moonlight was bright but even if it had been full dark, she would
have felt his seriousness.
“In the morning, Papá will take you to my mother. She’ll keep you safe. The kits will love you.”
She knew she was being dismissed and it wasn’t easy not to be sarcastic. Sounds like fun! she could say. Instead, she said, “Where are you going?”
“To meet Zeon. He’s also in the Order of Sight. Maybe he’ll have some ideas about how to solve this.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No, you are not.” He sounded like his father issuing a command. “You’re going to my mother.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll get that gray wolf to give me a ride to Zeon. I hope nothing bad happens
to me since I’ll be alone. With no protection from anyone.”
“You can not—” He broke off. “You will not—” Again, he stopped. His eyes were pleading. “Please. I want to know that you’re safe.”
She looked out at the water. There were tall reeds around them and she could see what looked to be a nest. “I hope you know
that you are being blamed for all of this. My father said that if something goes wrong and both a man and woman are involved, it is
always the man’s fault. I guess you should have known better than to kill an evil woman who was murdering pretty girls to make them
into face cream. Shame on you!”
He gave her a sad look, but there was a tiny bit of a smile under it. “It was you who did the stabbing.”
“Men would probably say my nail file slipped.”
He did smile and with it came a break in his stoicism. “How am I supposed to fix this?” Frustration filled his voice. “I have
ruined lives! I should have asked Papá—”
She cut him off. “Let’s do what you said and go to Zeon. He’s number two in the Order of Sight, so maybe if he helps repair
the damage of this huge problem, he could be pushed up to number one. Is he ambitious?”
“I have no idea.”
She went to tiptoe and kissed him. “We’re in this together so let’s go find out. Can you call Perus?”
“Yes.” He groaned. “Arit. She’ll follow us then return and tell Papá where we are.”
Aradella thought for a moment. “Jobi gave me a book about fairies. That’s what earthlings call Nevers. It will occupy her.”
“I can’t see Arit reading a book that’s bigger than she is.”
“The book says fairies lay eggs and make dresses out of flower petals.” She paused for drama. “It says that fairies can’t
really talk, that they just make squeaky little sounds.”
Mekos gave a snort of disbelief. “That will outrage Arit so much that she’ll go to Earth to set people straight. Yes, a book
like that might keep her busy.” He pulled Aradella into his arms and held her. “Thank you. You’ve made me feel better.”
She held on to him. She wasn’t going to tell him that she didn’t feel any better. But her mother had said that building a man’s sense of self was part of a woman’s job.
“Maybe Zeon has a magic spell that can send us away.”
Aradella didn’t smile at that. She didn’t want him to have to leave his family because of her. “I should have—”
He kissed her. “Don’t finish that. Are you ready to go?”
She blinked a few times in surprise. Now? She nodded. Yes, she was ready.
Mekos gave a low whistle.
“Your father will hear that!”
“He has human ears. He’ll hear nothing.” In the next second, big beautiful Perus landed beside the reeds. One of the swans
almost made a sound, but Mekos said, “Quiet!” and the bird silenced.
“I wish I had some magical power,” she said as he got into the saddle.
“What would you like?” He pulled her up to sit behind him.
She was feeling too much fear to dare say anything serious. “Great beauty. Like my cousins. Then I could command anyone to
do anything and they’d say, ‘Oh yes, please may I do that for the beautiful, stunning, gorgeous lady that you are?’”
Smiling, Mekos nudged the dragon forward and they left the ground.
When Kaley turned over, she saw that Tanek was awake and staring at the moonlit sky.
“Mekos is leaving,” he said.
She listened but heard nothing. “You’re sure?”
“With a child who is a quarter fox, I had to learn to hear him even when he made no sound.”
Kaley started to get up, but he caught her arm.
“This is something he has to do on his own. A very heavy burden has been put on him.”
“They killed Valona on their own and that was a mistake,” she said. “They should have come to us.”
“It’s what you and I did. We killed your gingerbread witch.”
“But they did it on a much bigger scale.” She pulled back to look at him. “You’re proud of him.”
“When I see my son becoming a man? Yes, I am very proud.”
She snuggled in his arms and they were silent for a moment. “I have a confession to make. I thought maybe you might sneak away, so I put that box of magic items that Garen gave me in Perus’s saddle.”
“You mean the box that you stole?”
“Tomato, tomahto.” She shrugged.
“More Earth humor.” He could tell that she was worried and he wanted to distract her—and himself. “I was thinking that we
should tear this whole place down and start fresh. We’ll take everything to the ground. Flatten it all.”
“What?!” she said too loudly, then quieted. “That’s a horrible idea.”
“Is it? Tell me why.”
Not far from them, Sojee smiled. He was glad that his three children were daughters.
Girls tended to stay where he could keep an eye on them.
Well, maybe not his eldest, but that was a different matter.
At least Shay and Bree were safely tucked away, their minds full of dresses and who their father would choose to be their husbands.
Sojee had a couple of good men picked out.
Solid, reliable, prosperous. He knew there was a “problem” with Bree since she could probably beat any of them at arm wrestling, but a wise and patient man could overlook that.
Smiling, he rolled over and went back to sleep.
“Do you know the way?” Aradella asked as soon as they were out of sight of the Homestead. They were still over Selkan and
heading north.
“Kaley told me about it, including how to get there.”
“The Great Storyteller.” She looked ahead. “What is that?” It looked like fog but it was so dense it appeared to be solid.
“The Mist.”
She could feel his heart beat faster, as though he sensed danger. “Do we go through it?”
“Sometimes it’s easy to get through, but sometimes it’s a stone wall.”
“Can we go above it?”
“That’s what I’m going to try to do. Hold on.”
She clutched him hard as Perus went straight up. It took all her leg muscles to stay on. It was cowardly of her, but she closed
her eyes, too afraid to watch. It seemed as though it would go on forever, but suddenly, they leveled out. She opened her
eyes and looked behind them. They were past the Mist and gently going down.
“That was the best!” Mekos said. “Didn’t you think so?”
“Delightful,” she murmured. “Look at that! Are they real?”
Below them were farms but they were too perfect to be genuine. At home, farms were full of manure, piles of rubbish, and burned
areas. But these were perfect, green and fertile. The houses were immaculate and the people were like moving statues.
“Kaley’s mother said they’re called Obeyers. They’re under some enchantment and they’ll do anything you tell them to do. Papá said it was the scariest place he’d ever been.”