Prince Noralv- Edge of Shadows Page 2

  “I don’t see the harm in climbing some trees,” Hedda said to Geir.

  Geir raised an eyebrow at Hedda then sighed.

  We were at the top of our cherry trees by the time Daria made it halfway up hers. She was slow, carefully picking out each foothold and each hand grip. Granted, she had her skirt to contend with, but it was the skirt she trained in. Finally, she made it to the top.

  A loud BAM echoed in the distance, and the ground shuddered in response.

  “What was that?” Daria said. “An earthquake?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied.

  Geir climbed my tree, then leaped, landing with both feet on top of the stone wall. He leaned against the crenel then looked over the ledge when a guard came running down the battlement. I could see them talking, then the guard ran back to the watch tower.

  “Is something wrong?” Daria called out to Geir.

  “We should get going to the castle,” he said, looking over to us.

  “What’s going on, Geir?” I asked.

  “Highness.” There was warning in his voice.

  “What is that?” Yorunn pointed to the sky over the wall. We all stopped. A glowing white ball arched across the sky at an alarming speed, and it was heading right toward us.

  “Get out of the trees!” Geir shouted. He leaped from the battlement to my tree, snapping twigs as he wove his way to me.

  Grabbing a firm hold on a branch near my feet, I swung down to a lower branch. I heard what sounded like a thousand buzzing hornets getting louder and louder then looked back to the horizon.

  The orb zipped past Geir’s head and crashed into my chest, blasting me from my perch. Numerous branches jabbed and whipped me as I tumbled through its rough limbs, landing with a hard thud.

  “Thayne!” Daria screamed.

  The rafters of the barn were cold and the scent of manure hung in the air and I didn’t care. I looked down at the brown box in front of me.

  My auburn ringlets draped over my shoulders to my elbows. My chilly hands poked out the top of my fingerless mitts and my wool lined coat buttoned to my chin. The rough box, about the size of my lap, had no adornments on it. Tam, one of my closest friends, sat across from me.

  A black knitted scarf wrapped thick around his neck and chin. His charcoal grey wool coat was buttoned to the top. His deep brown eyes peeked out between his black, long hair and his scarf. The white of his eyes stood out against his tan skin. He disliked being out in the evening and disliked the winter more. He knew I was missing my father so he suggested that I hold something of his to feel closer to him. It made me miss him more, but it did make me feel a bit more of a connection.

  I ached to see him again. But he had been gone for many years, with no reason why he left. I always felt like he left because of me, but that thought was silly. My mother and him always argued about things, but they didn’t hate each other. I knew she still cared for him. Though I doubted she would admit that she missed him. She was busy running the sugian part of the academy. The sugian was a hall where we trained in the art of elemental energy and often referred to our side of the academy as such.

  “Luella,” asked Tam, “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  I hugged the box. It had been a long while since the last time I saw him. All that remained of his belongings was reduced to a small wooden box that I had kept a secret from my mother. She didn’t want me to look for him or research what he was into. In that I was disobedient. I couldn’t help but think why. Why would she not want me to look into it? Was it dangerous? If so, how dangerous? The questions constantly nagged at the back of my mind.

  I stared at the box on my lap.

  I was a child when my father changed from a playful father who told many stories, to one who closed himself in his private room. It was almost like he was another person. No more fun games. No more stories. Just research. He had begun weird experiments and didn’t have time for anything else. He didn’t mind letting me sit in on some of the experiments. Only sometimes. He often wondered aloud, and that was as good as any story, even though I didn’t understand what he was talking about.

  I would sit in with him just to be close. He didn’t even mind when I would ask him questions. He told me that he was paving a way for the future. That those of us who were getting older or had disabilities could be aided by what he was discovering. There would be a new future for the weaker people of the world. Especially the lessers. The non-nobles. The ones who couldn’t stand for themselves. It would be phenomenal, he would say. Other times, he would smile a distracted smile then tell me he was too busy to play. As a child, it crushed me.

  I was always excited to hear all the wonderful things that my father would create for everyone. After a time, he stopped inviting me inside his private room at all. I was a bouncy little girl, so my curiosity would often get the better of me and I would try to break into his private room. He knew me well enough to put extra locks on the door and put his falcon animal companion on watch when he wasn’t around. That falcon of his was very keen. I never was able to break in, but not due to a lack of trying.

  I dusted the top of the box with my sleeve.

  “It’s nice that you have something of his to hold and touch,” said Tam.

  “Yes,” I said. “It's nice that we both have something to remind us of our parents who are gone.”

  Tam touched his neck where he kept his necklace carrying his mother's favorite stone. She had passed away about five years ago and it still was hard on him and his family. “It is. But I wish I had more than just a stone.”

  We sat in silence for a bit.

  “My mother gave away everything of my father’s or burned it,” I told him for the first time. I never told anyone before. It hurt thinking about it. “I managed to keep this one from the fire.” I rested my hand on the lid of the box.

  “Why did she burn your father’s things?”

  “It’s complicated. She won’t tell me why.”

  “You had told me a while back that you thought he was taken by the Redtail Rebels. Do you think he really was taken by them?”

  “Yes!” I leaned toward Tam then leaned back. “Maybe.” I shrugged my shoulders. “He must have been, but now I’m so confused. There’s been minimal movement from them. I haven’t been able to collect enough information.”

  The last thing I did remember of him was a lot of rebel activity nearby our kinship village. Rumors had circulated that he had been seen talking with a Redtail. My mother begged him to stop doing his research. He wouldn’t. Then he disappeared. And so did the rebel activity around our village. I couldn’t help but think that it was no mere coincidence.

  I opened the box, revealing a stack of paper and some bits and bobs of other objects. Colorful stones, maps, sketches, journal entries that were ripped out of notebooks, and an old letter, all written in the ancient tongue. I wished I knew more of the ancient tongue. I wanted to have Alexander, a fellow student, decipher it. If I did ask him, he would ask too many questions. If I told him why he would tell my mother for sure. Not to spite me, but out of fear he would get in trouble. He hated breaking the rules, and couldn’t keep a secret.

  “Do you think you'll ever find out what his research was for?” he asked.

  “Hopefully one day.” I prodded the papers. “I can’t show that I have things from my father. My mother will destroy them.”

  “That’s tough.”

  I nodded. “Today, I felt drawn to him and I don’t know why.”

  “It’s like there’s something in the air. I feel … something.”

  “Yes. You feel it, too,” I said.

  “We all do to some extent, but aren’t saying anything or maybe just ignoring it.”

  I pulled out a sketched map. “Alex would have fun with this map.”

  “He would want to correct it, I bet.”

  I chuckled. “He probably would.”

  The map was a rough sketch of the north of Theotania. It stretched dow
n Readfahan Mountain where Gladewine Academy sat at the southern end of the mountain range. On the other side of the range sat Silver Lake. That was the whole sketch. No markings of the cities or towns, save one ‘x’ barely north of Wulfhli Village, a small village down the mountain path close to our Academy. I wondered why he marked only that spot and not anywhere else on the map.

  “We should get to our evening chores, and help Frans in the kitchen.”

  I agreed. We had been in the barn attic for too long, and the old ravens were starting to feel agitated by our presence. We were in their space, so to speak. I could feel about four or five of them glaring at us from the rafters. The eldest raven, Qin, was definitely pushing her annoyance on me.

  I slid the lid back on the box, and put it in the wall with the barn cobwebs and pushed a wood panel back in front of it. It was hidden. Secret. Only me, Tam, and my friend, Payton, knew of its existence.

  Inside the servants’ entrance to the kitchen, we put our winter coats on the hooks and shoved our mitts and scarves into the pockets. We both grabbed an apron before stepping into the large, warm kitchen. The smell of rosemary and sage mixed with carrots, potato, and meat invaded the room. My stomach growled in anticipation.

  It was bustling with servants and sugian students, who were on kitchen duty. Orders were given and followed. Dishes clanked. Fires roared in the stoves.

  Frans, my step-father, was stirring a large pot of stew on the iron stove. Long blond hair was braided down to the small of his back to keep it away from the food. With his hair pulled back, his lengthy, pointed ears were prominent. His long tunic sleeves were tied with a piece of string that kept his sleeves no longer than the crooks of his elbows.

  “Welcome, you two, to the happy kitchen.” Frans chimed. “I am grateful for more hands. Tam, help your sister set the table.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Tam winked at me, put on an apron, and then joined his younger sister, Celcia, at the dish cupboard. Her long black hair was up in a bun with a plain wooden hair comb and hair sticks securing it in place. Her tan skin complimented the gray-blue tunic of the sugian uniform. Celcia pulled a couple stacks of bowls and placed them on a tray to carry to the dining hall. Tam filled his own tray and followed her.

  Frans grabbed some more herbs for the stew and began chopping them with a kitchen knife.

  “Luella, I need some more logs for the fire. Can you fetch some from the woodpile?” asked Frans.

  “Yes, of course.”

  I pulled my apron on and secured it in a bow around my waist. Grabbing the wood carrying basket near the back door, I walked out to the woodpile under the lean-to. The frigid air clung to my uniform. My breath danced in the frosty night air with each exhale. It was cold but I was used to it. I didn’t hate the cold as much as Tam did.

  From the woodpile, I could see the bright lights of the academy dining hall spilling the yellow-orange light out the window onto the snow. Three long rows of oblong tables stretched the length of the grand room and three iron candelabras hung from the ceiling, wax from the candles dripping down the sides. The fire in the hearth at the head of the room danced merrily over the logs.

  The ‘regulars’ helped themselves to their seats. I couldn’t help but groan in my personal protest about why there had to be so many spoiled nobles who never had to lift a finger to help themselves. Never had to wash a dish. Never had to scrub a floor. Never had to fetch firewood. Noble snobs.

  I was from the sugian side. The beaulecraft side. In the past, the academy used to be just a sugian, but then the Cempa changed the rules. No nobles were allowed to learn or practice the art of beaulecraft. Only ki manipulation. Ki used our inner energy. Beaulecraft used the energy around us. I don’t know why that decision was made. It just was.

  Now, the beautiful academy had been taken over by ignorant regulars, warrior and academic alike. We were diminished to a small corner of the academy. Pushed aside to a mere fraction of what we once were. Treated as vagrants, and often bullied.

  Headmaster Aldrich used us beaulecraft students as part of the servant staff as a way for us to earn our spot in the academy. My mother was the Headmaster of the sugian side. She had to remind the regular Headmaster, often, that we were her pupils. Not his.

  With my basket now full of wood, I hauled it up to rest on my hip. I blew a chunk of my wavy hair that had fallen into my vision out of my face, only to have it fall right back into my vision once again.

  Back in the warmth of the kitchen, I set the basket down between the fireplace and the iron stove.

  “Thank you, Lu. Could you stoke fires, too?”

  “Sure can.” I shoved two logs into the hearth and poked the embers with the poker until the flame enveloped the fresh wood.

  I reached for the rag on the counter nearby then stumbled. Grabbing the counter, I braced myself, but my feet still wobbled under me. Not just my feet … the ground shuddered beneath me.

  The chatter in the kitchen turned quiet.

  The ground became still again.

  Everyone glanced curiously at each other. Some with worry furrowed across their brow and others with mouths open in amusement.

  “Did we have an earthquake?” I asked.

  “Oh, goodness. I think we did,” Celcia said as she was entering the kitchen from the dining hall. Her sienna eyes twinkled with excitement. Earthquakes didn’t happen often, so when one happened, it was quite the news.

  Everyone was chatting about the earthquake, making silly remarks about the Earth being hungry or possibly a stampede of rocc beasts running through the mountains.

  Tam entered the kitchen.

  “Is everyone okay in here?” He was mildly amused and concerned.

  “We are fine,” said Frans. “Finish setting the table so we can all eat.” Frans looked around the kitchen with a sweeping gaze. “Who’s on serving duty with me?”

  “I am.” I stood straight.

  “Me, too,” said Tam.

  A smile spread on his face, and he clapped his hands together. “Wonderful.” With that, the kitchen went back to its regular hurried state.

  The table had been set, the stew poured into large serving bowls, and everyone was seated at the long wooden tables in the dining hall. Dinner was ready. The Headmaster sat at the head table with the other academic masters, and the sugian masters sat at a table at the other end of the room.

  The masters at both of the head tables were served first. The students of nobility were served second. The worst of the bunch of nobles was the Headmaster’s son, his only child, Elec Aldrich. Elec was the most entitled person I had ever met. He went out of his way to pick on us sugian students, but, for some reason, he picked on me the most. I cringed at being close to him.

  Frans served the Headmaster’s table and Tam served the noble students table. I could see Elec talking with his two friends, Ren and Braithe. The two of them followed Elec religiously. Braithe leaned his wide body in toward Elec as he whispered something in his ear. Ren covered his small mouth with his puny hand as he snorted.

  Elec kept glancing at me as he grinned at whatever Braithe was telling him. His long black hair was tied back in a low ponytail. His soft features and dark narrow eyes were annoyingly easy to look at despite his tendency for loathing behavior. I put on my best smile and focused on my task of serving my masters.

  A loud clank and clatter rang out in the room. Tam let out an “ugh” in disgust. The room hushed a moment to see what the sound came from.

  The ladle had fallen, possibly forced, from Tam’s hand and landed on the floor by his feet, causing some stew to splatter on the ground. Elec, Braithe, and Ren were all snickering. Tam’s ears turned a deep shade of red. He set the serving bowl behind him on a serving table then stooped down to pick up the ladle. Frans put his bowl of stew down next to Tam’s, pulled a cloth that was tucked up his sleeve, and helped clean the mess off the floor.

  “My, what service.” Braithe held a smirk on his face.

  Ren turned
his face to hide his amusement.

  Elec raised an eyebrow. “At least they have the decency to bow at our feet while they clean.”

  A handful of students chuckled at Elec’s off-handed remark.

  “We apologize for the delay, young Aldrich.” Frans righted himself. He bowed slightly to Elec, then handed the dirty cloth to Tam and said something quietly.

  Tam went right past me and into the kitchen. I wished I could’ve helped him, but I couldn’t deal with Elec. Oh, how I wish I could wipe that grin off his face.

  Frans continued serving the noble students. Tam returned, grabbed the serving bowl off the table, and helped me serve the sugian students. We were always last served.

  Finally, everyone was served and seated. There was one person I didn’t see. My mother.

  Headmaster Aldrich gave the thank you to everyone for their efforts of making every day a success and gave the ‘we are grateful for our academy family’ speech. I looked to Frans then to the chair where my mother usually sat then back at him. He shrugged one shoulder and shook his head.

  The Headmaster sat, and the room filled with chatter as everyone dug into their meal.

  “I’m sorry Elec bothered you,” I said to break the silence in my area.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Tam sat next to me. His younger sister, Celcia, and younger brother, Brant, sat across from us. My younger half-sister, Maya, had a seat next to Brant, but she often would leave and sit with Frans and my mother. She looked so much like her father, Frans. The long blonde hair, the long, pointy ears, the sky-blue eyes, the slender body. Large groups were overwhelming to her, and she felt most comfortable next to our parents.

  “I will spar him one day.” My friend, Payton, was beside Tam. She had her chestnut-brown hair tied back with multiple braids converging into one then twisted into a bun. She loved to spar. She loved weapons. She came alive when she either had a weapon or was sparring and most blissful when both were involved. Other than that, she was calm and collected. Quiet, usually. For a short, petite person, one wouldn’t normally guess that she was one of the best fighters we had in the academy.