Chapter 18 Lenna
Chapter eighteen
Lenna
As the first signs of morning light shone down into the Pyritee Pass, Lenna breathed a small sigh of relief.
During the night, she had a hard time distinguishing the black behind her eyelids from the surroundings in their alcove.
Three walls of ebony stone cut off her view of the starless night sky, confuddling her own perception of depth and distance.
Even widening her eyes, straining to make out a shape was pointless.
The adrenaline in her veins had left her shaky and overstimulated, and when goosebumps had risen on her flesh, she felt a rolling nausea that seemed determined to get her to lose the meager contents in her stomach.
Lenna opted to curl up against the cool back wall and pray to whatever god happened to be listening for safety.
She wondered if being the Oracle held any sway with the gods above, or if her prayers were merely added to the unending list of requests the gods received.
It didn’t help that as soon as Laurent closed his eyes, the flame that steadily grew weaker in the middle of their makeshift camp winked out.
Lenna spent the next few hours using her cloak as a pillow, laying on her back, her gaze unseeing.
The pitch-black kept befuddling her senses every time she tried closing her eyes.
With the hard ground below her, sleep came fitfully at best. Lenna’s ears had strained to pick up any sounds, but only heard a few quiet curses following the tink of a loose stone shifting against another, confirming to Lenna that Merrick was also unable to see well, and was also tripping over the rocks littering the ground as he kept watch.
The events from Spinella weighed on her. She couldn’t get the sound of Esmeray’s shrill scream of rage out of her mind. Lenna kept replaying the nightmare of the old man–who she now assumed had been the previous Oracle–again and again.
How had Esmeray captured him?
How could she avoid the same fate?
Why was Esmeray hunting her?
The silent night pressing in around her provided no answers.
Apprehension plagued her thoughts. Thoughts that drifted towards Doortan. Lenna had felt so alone, unnecessary, nothing more than a servant disguised as a wife. She wondered if Leon notified the city guards of her disappearance.
She doubted it.
Gritting her teeth, Lenna warred with the emotions inside her.
Their marriage had started out loving, but that love had been used up quickly, diminishing to nothing within a year.
Lenna was still lost, though new fears slithered against her mind now.
The idea of having a mate somewhere in this big new world was steadying, and she clung to that slim hope that there was a being out there who was designed to love her the way she needed to be loved.
The path forward was fraught with peril. But it was a path, and she was needed and acknowledged here, even confided in. Merrick and Laurent were kind and caring, and she held onto that feeling tightly, too.
When morning began slipping through the opening of the alcove, Lenna got to her feet, her back muscles tight after laying on the hard ground.
She groaned as she stretched her arms over her head.
Her hips hurt, her back hurt. She hurt all over.
Lenna squeezed the muscles at the nape of her neck, trying to get the blood flowing.
Merrick appeared in front of her, flashing a tight grin, “I do apologize for the lack of luxury you’ve experienced since you arrived in Irridessen, M’lady.”
Giving up on getting any relief to her sore muscles, Lenna worked on her hair, tying it out of her face with the grey scarf she used as a miniature blanket last night.
She shot Merrick a bemused smile. “It’s still more interesting here than Doortan.
Even though my company keeps putting me in precarious situations. ”
Laurent appeared at her side, making her jump. He was so quiet she never heard him coming. It must be a fae thing, she thought to herself. Stealth. “Let’s get moving.” Was his only response before picking up his pack and sword.
Lenna glanced from gargoyle to fae. “Did you both start the new day on the wrong side of the rocks?” Their weird mood made her skin crawl and her nerves jumpy, but she kept her tone nonchalant.
“It’s…weird. Being here,” Merrick admitted. His wings rubbed against each other, as if it comforted him. “A lifetime ago we rode and flew through this Pass while we trained. Now, it doesn’t feel familiar.”
Lenna empathised, knowing the feeling he experienced.
How her own home had become a stranger to her over the years.
She wondered if she would ever see Doortan again–wondered if she would ever want to leave and go back to the Slate Kingdom.
Even with the events of the night before, she couldn’t see herself going back.
Was this land her home now? She couldn’t give herself an honest answer.
So many questions, but no answers looming around the corner. It was unsettling after a lifetime of knowing what was coming, everything cut and dried. Be a subservient wife, stay out of Leon’s way when he was drunk, keep the house and servants running smoothly.
She was completely out of her element now.
Lenna took a deep breath, determined to see where this journey took her.
Maybe once they cleared Keerian’s name and Esmeray was locked up–maybe she would find a small town in Irridessen to call home or go back to Spinella.
She wondered if Laurent or Merrick would come visit her, or even think about her again after she helped them.
They very well could equate her with this terrible time in their life and want nothing to do with her after.
Lenna, Merrick, and Laurent made their way back to the openness of the canyon, and her jaw dropped. What she was unable to see last night was now bathed in morning light.
Surrounding her on both sides were towering walls of black stones, veins of silver glittering across their facets as the sun shone down.
The Pyritee Pass was at least fifty feet high, wide enough for at least ten horses to stand side by side comfortably.
It all felt very ancient. Lenna herself felt very small.
The canyon stretched in front of her, but the mountains that rose high above them were visible.
“The Obsidian Palace is located…there…on that mountain right ahead of us.” Laurent pointed out to her. Lenna squinted, barely making out the black turrets built into the side of the mountain piercing the drifting clouds above.
Merrick wordlessly handed his pack to Laurent, before unfurling his wings and shooting into the blue sky.
Lenna watched him fly ahead until he was no more than a speck between fluffy white clouds.
Laurent followed her gaze, his face grim.
“It’s difficult for him to be back here.
His father took him to the Obsidian Palace to learn how to be a warrior when he was eighteen.
It was not the life Merrick would’ve chosen for himself. ”
In the sun, it was much easier to see the winding path ahead, and Lenna began slowly picking her way through the canyon. “Did he not have a good relationship with his father?”
Laurent shook his head, the silver studs in his pointed ears glimmering.
“Merrick was raised by his mother in Spinella, hidden from his father once she became pregnant. But his father found out about him when Merrick turned eighteen, and took him from Spinella to train. He told Merrick’s mother that no son of his would grow up to be weak. ”
“He sounds like a total dick,” Lenna muttered.
“Oh, he was,” Laurent huffed a dry laugh. “He was one of the commanders for the Queen’s Guard in the Obsidian Palace. He didn’t go easy on Merrick, as if it was Merrick’s fault he was even born.”
“Poor Merrick,” Lenna breathed, more to herself than to Laurent. She was quiet for a moment before cocking her head to the fae beside her, “Does he ever see his mother?”
Laurent stopped walking and abruptly turned towards Lenna. “Merrick’s mother was killed a few months after Merrick was taken by his father. If I were you, I wouldn’t bring it up to him. There’s still a lot of pain there.”
Lenna looked down at her feet, and then back to the fae. “I understand,” she said softly. Her heart hurt for the fierce and protective gargoyle that had been her companion for the last few days. “What about you? Did you train here?”
Laurent seemed appreciative of the conversation shift. “I did–for a short time. Once the commanders found out about my…usefulness…they moved me from here to complete my training at the Opal Palace.”
“Your magic.” Lenna nodded in agreement. She had seen small glimpses of his power over the last couple days and could confirm he had some sort of control over fire as well as the whole portal making thing.
“Yes.” Laurent surveyed the path ahead, his dark skin beading sweat under the sun.
Lenna thought he was one of the most handsome males she’d ever seen.
“My individual skill set pushed me from training as a grunt to becoming part of the King’s private circle of elite warriors.
I met Keerian and Merrick in the Obsidian Palace–but did not see them again until they both finished their training and qualified to become part of the King’s Guard as well. ”
Lenna mulled over the conversation as they picked their way through another hundred yards of rocks.
Laurent kept circumventing any explanation of what exactly his magic could do.
Lenna didn’t know if he was just being humble, or because he didn’t want to divulge the amount of power he so obviously held.