The pale princess, p.3
The Pale Princess, page 3
part #1 of Storyweaver Series
He looked over at his sister. “I don’t think they’re going to come to the house for us.”
“You don’t know what they’re going to do, though, do you? We’ve heard stories about the Karell, and even about the Taihg, but like you said, those were just stories.”
“That wasn’t a Karell,” Lan said.
“You saw the wand, Lannerdon!”
He glared at her. “Stop calling me that.”
“Why? It’s your name.”
“You know how I feel about it.”
“I know how you feel about lots of things, Lannerdon.”
She turned and glared at him. It annoyed him when she made a face like that. It was probably why she did it.
“I’m going to make sure Nana knows that you nearly got us killed in the forest,” he said.
“You do that, and I’ll make sure that she knows about your battles in the forest. I think Nana would be quite interested to hear about how you take that old sword and go out to the middle of the forest and chop—”
Lan reached for her, and she ducked under his arm, grinning at him. He took a calming breath, trying to ignore Sophie and his frustration. She was the only person who could get to him in this way. “Would you stop? Do you think you need to do this after everything today?”
She had the sense to look at least a little ashamed. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” She turned back toward the window. “What do you think…”
“What do I think about what?”
When she didn’t answer, he leaned toward the window to see what had drawn her attention.
A line of horses made its way toward the house. Taihg horses.
Late afternoon sunlight reflected off their armor and made it shimmer. Maybe they really were magical. A nervous flutter raced through him. What if they had the Karell with them?
Where are Nana and Papa?
Lan looked over his shoulder a moment, then turned back to his sister. There wasn’t a place to hide here, even if he’d wanted to. And he wouldn’t be able to get Sophie anywhere safe, either.
“You need to get into the back room. Be ready to run—”
“I’m not going anywhere, Lan,” Sophie snapped.
Why can’t she do anything sensible?
“How did they find us?” he asked.
“That’s your question?”
“What do you think I should be asking?” he demanded sharply.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe about what happened with the Karell.”
He was shaking his head when a knock sounded at the door. He got up with a start. He hadn’t even seen the Taihg dismount. “It wasn’t a Karell.”
“It was,” she whispered as he pulled the door open.
Lan stood in the doorway. The soldier in front of him was intimidating: sharp jawline, broad shoulders, and gleaming blue eyes. He looked exactly like what Lan had imagined a Taihg would look like, exuding confidence and a threat of violence. When Lan finally dragged his eyes away from the man’s face, they drifted to the long sword hanging at his waist.
“Where is the master of the house?” the soldier asked in a gruff voice that matched his scarred face and short hair. Even that was exactly as Lan had expected. He radiated danger.
“I don’t know. We only just returned home.”
He cursed himself. He shouldn’t have revealed that they had just returned. What would the Taihg think about the fact that they had been following them? What would they say about the woman and the two men in the forest?
“You’re alone?”
“We’re not alone.” Sophie glanced out the window before crossing her arms and turning her attention back to the soldier. “My papa is a great warrior, and he’ll be back any minute.”
Lan shot her a harsh look. “Our grandparents aren’t here. They should be any moment, if you would like to wait.”
“Grandparents? You don’t live here with your parents?”
“Our parents are dead,” Sophie said.
The soldier’s gaze drifted past Lan to his sister. “And how did they die?”
“Trying to get us here,” Sophie said.
Lan wished she would just be quiet. Why did she need to speak up and risk angering the Taihg? Nothing good would come of that.
“Why here?” the soldier asked.
Sophie stiffened, chewing on her lip a moment. “Because here is where our grandparents live. Why else do you think they would bring us here?”
“I can think of many reasons. The simple fact that you are so near the border would be one.”
“We’re not that near the border. There’s the entire forest, and after that there are the Palihj Mountains, and then we get to Reyash.”
“Would you stop, Sophie?” Lan said.
She made a face at him. “I’m just telling him what he apparently already knows. Why should that be a problem?”
“Because he’s a Taihg.”
The soldier chuckled roughly. “What makes you believe that, boy?”
Lan didn’t appreciate being called a boy. He was sixteen. “Our nana tells us stories,” he said, heat rising in his cheeks at the admission.
“What kind of stories?”
“The kind that helped us recognize what you were,” Sophie said. “You shouldn’t be here. Narith isn’t at war with Reyash.” They were situated outside Reyash, where they should be safe from whatever was happening there.
Lan scowled at her. Why couldn’t she just be quiet? Why did she have to make everything so difficult for him?
When he turned back to the Taihg, the soldier’s hand hovered near the hilt of his sword. Great. Now Sophie had angered him.
“Why are you here in the middle of the day? What responsibilities do you have in this village?”
“We don’t have any responsibilities. Our grandparents haven’t required them of us,” Sophie said.
“Sophie!” Lan rolled his eyes at her.
“Why have you not been required to work? Don’t all children your age take up a trade? I would imagine that on a farm like this, you would have many tasks.”
Children? Sophie’s a child, not me.
“I help my papa when he asks.”
The Taihg soldier studied them, and Lan’s mouth went dry. He stifled the urge to gulp. Maybe this was it, and they’d just go away. Then the soldier leaned forward and sniffed.
Something strange stirred in Lan. The armor seemed to become darker, as if the black of the markings intensified, becoming inkier. Then it faded. Lan rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was nothing more than his imagination or the throbbing in his head from the explosion.
“You were there, weren’t you?” The soldier straightened. Now his hand did go to the hilt of his sword. Lan couldn’t move, afraid that if he did, the soldier might attack.
“We…”
Sophie stormed up next to him and planted her hands on her hips as if to intimidate a Taihg.
“Tell me why a Karell was there,” the soldier said.
“It wasn’t a Karell,” Lan said. “She thinks too much about the stories our nana tells. She thinks they’re real.”
“How did you know she was a Karell?” the soldier asked Sophie.
Sophie let out a satisfied grunt. “See? I told you she was a Karell.” She turned her attention to the Taihg.
The soldier tilted his head, considering Sophie for a long moment. “You spoke with her?”
“I tried to get her to go away. I had to speak with her to do that. It’s the same thing I’m doing to you.”
Lan expected the comment to anger the Taihg, but it did not. A faint smile cracked his face, the first time it had softened.
“What did she tell you?” the soldier asked.
Sophie shrugged. “I was trying to keep my eyes off the crystal on the end of her stick—wand,” she hurriedly corrected.
“And this crystal. What did you see of it?”
Sophie glanced at Lan. “It glowed a faint yellow. That was all I saw.”
“Yellow?” The Taihg soldier glanced over his shoulder and mouthed something to one of the men mounted before bringing his attention back to Sophie and Lan. “You’re certain that you saw yellow?”
“I know my colors. I know I’m young, but I’m not stupid.”
“How young would you say that you are?” he asked, looming over her.
“I’m thirteen.”
“What did the Karell want with you?”
“I think she wanted to take me with her. I wasn’t about to go. I wanted to kick her, but I couldn’t move.”
The Taihg nodded. “She used her magic on you. That’s what I can smell.”
“You can smell it?” Sophie asked.
“There is a distinctive odor when the Karell use their abilities. It lingers for a time before dissipating entirely. Had I not come now, I doubt that I would have detected it.”
“Why did you come here?” Sophie asked.
“I detected… something else.”
“Yeah? Well, our papa and our nana will be here soon. You can talk to them about what you detected and what you need from them.”
“That will not be necessary.”
“Why not?” Lan asked. They had come here seeking the owner of the house, and now they were willing to leave without speaking to Nana and Papa? Had they learned what they needed from Sophie and her big mouth? She hadn’t said anything other than that the Karell had tried to abduct them. That couldn’t be all they had come here for.
“Tell me again what you experienced with the Karell,” the Taihg said.
“I’ve told you,” Sophie said. “She waved her wand at me, and I couldn’t move. They were going to take us.”
“Both of you?”
Sophie glanced over at Lan, and he shook his head. They hadn’t wanted him. He didn’t remember much about the interaction, other than when they had been attacked, the woman had been much more interested in Sophie than in him. That was the reason he had stepped in front of her, determined to keep them from taking his little sister.
“Not both of us,” he said.
The Taihg stared at him for a few moments before a smile came to his face. “No. I doubt they wanted both of you. I imagine they focused on you.” He pointed a thick finger at Sophie.
“Maybe.” She bit her lip.
“Why is that important?” Lan asked. “Why are they here?”
The Taihg continued his study of Sophie. “They came for the same reason they keep sneaking into the kingdom. They came looking for the Pale Princess.”
Chapter 4
SOPHIE
“None of what he’s said makes sense.” Sophie crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Lan. Now that he’d gotten over his fear, he stared at the Taihg with the dreamy-eyed look he should have saved for his first crush.
“What was that?” Lan asked.
“I said that nothing he’s told us makes sense. Could they really be looking for the Pale Princess? Do you think she was here?”
Lan shrugged. “Probably heard one too many stories, just like you.”
She tried to punch him, but he moved away, so she only grazed his shoulder. He was lucky, this time.
“These aren’t stories. The Pale Princess is real, Lan. She’s the reason the war is over.”
“If you keep this up, you’re going to be the reason for the war.”
She lunged over and smacked his shoulder, eliciting a yelp. He deserved it. More than that, really, but it was all she was willing to do with the Taihg smirking in their direction. Where were Nana and Papa, anyway?
“Don’t be stupid,” Sophie said. “It suits you too well.”
“What do you want me to do? We just have to sit here and wait for Nana and Papa to come. Until then…”
Sophie sighed. Until then, they would just have to wait in the house with the Taihg. She didn’t want to be in the same room with them for any longer than necessary. There was something uncomfortable about the way the soldier watched her, as if deciding whether they might be hiding the Pale Princess. In the stories Nana had told her, the Pale Princess had deep red hair to match her pale complexion, and she was powerful. Nothing like anyone Sophie had ever known. And she hadn’t been seen since the war.
“I don’t want to be here,” she said.
“Then you may go.”
She looked up to see the Taihg soldier standing over her. Did he hold something in his hand? She couldn’t tell. It seemed as if his fingers glowed, reminding her of the light from the crystal the crone had carried.
Not a crone, she had to remind herself. A Karell.
“Where would I go?” she asked.
The man offered her a hint of a smile. “I thought you wanted to leave. Is that not what you said? You may go.”
She decided to see if he was telling the truth, so she motioned to Lan. “Come on, Lan. They said we could go.”
The Taihg shook his head. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean your brother could go. Only you.”
She faced him, her hands on her hips. She would do whatever she could to appear intimidating. It worked on Lan, but she doubted that it would work on a Taihg. “What do you want with my brother?”
He tipped his head to the side, considering Lan. Her brother didn’t meet her gaze and tried his best to appear strong and confident. The idiot. Like he hadn’t almost been killed by soldiers just a short time ago.
“He’s got the right build for a soldier.”
“Lan? A soldier?”
“Sophie,” Lan warned her.
They were the Taihg, so they could take whoever they wanted, but she wasn’t going to let them have Lan. If they did, it meant they would take him out of Halith and on to Reyash.
“He can barely lift a sword, and even if he could, he doesn’t have any training with it.”
The Taihg laughed. “I suspect he can lift a sword, and the training is something we can handle.”
The idea of losing Lan left her heart aching. They argued, but he was her brother, the only other person who really knew what they’d gone through in losing their parents. It would be as bad as losing Nana and Papa.
“I can wield a sword.” Lan studied the Taihg, his eyes wide.
Sophie had seen that look from him before. He wanted to go with the Taihg. He had always wanted to be a soldier, even if he never said it out loud. How could he have said it? He’d never leave Nana and Papa, and neither would she.
“I thought so,” the Taihg said. “You have the look of someone who could be useful.”
Sophie didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean, he could be useful? He’s to stay here and run the farm.”
“Sophie!” He had a hard edge to his voice. She’d only heard it once before.
She ignored it. Expecting the Taihg to push her aside, she clenched her fists. Not even this soldier was going to push her around. Not today, not ever.
Instead, the Taihg eyed her with amusement. “You are an interesting one.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Lan said. “She thinks she’s older than she is.”
Sir? Was he already trying to impress this stupid soldier?
“She’s spirited,” the Taihg said.
“I’m not spirited. I’m passionate.” She glanced at Lan as she spoke, then stuck her tongue out briefly. Nana had called her that often enough that she wore it as a badge of honor.
“She will come as well,” another man, standing in the shadows, said. Sophie couldn’t make him out, but he had been silent the entire time.
The soldier shrugged. “Since the Karell have decided you aren’t the Pale Princess, there’s always a need for palace help.”
“Help?” Sophie glanced from the soldier to the man in the shadows. Why wouldn’t he step forward so she could see him better? He could at least lower the hood of his cloak. “What makes you think I’d agree to be a servant? Besides, we’re not going anywhere. Our nana and papa are—”
“Dead,” the Taihg said.
Sophie blinked. “What? No. Nana went to the village, and Papa will be in the fields.”
The Taihg shook his head. “We tracked the Karell to this house because of the magic they used here.”
“And you said you smelled that magic on us,” Sophie said.
“That’s not the magic we followed.”
“No.” Lan moved away from the doorway and stopped at the window, his brow furrowing as he looked outside. When he turned back to the Taihg, he seemed to find a backbone. “They’re not dead. They’re off—”
“They’re dead, boy. Come, if you must, and I’ll show you.”
Sophie grabbed for Lan’s arm to keep him from going with them. There wasn’t any way for Nana and Papa to be dead. She’d just seen them this morning.
“He’s just saying that so you’ll go with him,” Sophie whispered. “Nana has told me about the Taihg, and about how they take—”
He jerked his arm free. “They’re just stories, Sophie.”
Lan followed the Taihg out of the house.
Sophie stared after him, debating whether she should—or could—follow. If she didn’t, he might run off with the Taihg without her knowing.
She hurried after him, thinking that if nothing else, she could see what the Taihg thought to show her brother. This was a waste of their time, but Lan wasn’t going to do anything but follow the soldiers. Even if there was something out here, it couldn’t be Nana and Papa.
Watching the soldier with Lan, she worried that maybe they’d try to abduct him. She didn’t believe that part of Nana’s stories. The Taihg had magic, but she’d never heard of them abducting people and forcing them to serve.
She caught up to Lan and the soldier as they walked toward the field behind the house. Papa had grown wheat this year, and it was tall. They plunged through it on their way toward a pond near the back of their land. From there, she could see the edge of the forest. That was where Lan ran into the forest to hack at the trees.
She huffed. He still thought Nana and Papa didn’t know anything.
Sophie let them stay ahead of her, let them think she wasn’t going to come on their terms. It was better that way. When she neared, they were standing at the edge of the pond, looking down at a log.
Not a log. A leg.
The bloody end of it hung into the water, leaving a faint trace of pink swirling in the pond. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t need to have heard all the stories Nana had shared with her to know that it likely would have been a bloody mess before. They were the kind that Lan would have liked, but then, he didn’t have the same interest in stories as her.
“You don’t know what they’re going to do, though, do you? We’ve heard stories about the Karell, and even about the Taihg, but like you said, those were just stories.”
“That wasn’t a Karell,” Lan said.
“You saw the wand, Lannerdon!”
He glared at her. “Stop calling me that.”
“Why? It’s your name.”
“You know how I feel about it.”
“I know how you feel about lots of things, Lannerdon.”
She turned and glared at him. It annoyed him when she made a face like that. It was probably why she did it.
“I’m going to make sure Nana knows that you nearly got us killed in the forest,” he said.
“You do that, and I’ll make sure that she knows about your battles in the forest. I think Nana would be quite interested to hear about how you take that old sword and go out to the middle of the forest and chop—”
Lan reached for her, and she ducked under his arm, grinning at him. He took a calming breath, trying to ignore Sophie and his frustration. She was the only person who could get to him in this way. “Would you stop? Do you think you need to do this after everything today?”
She had the sense to look at least a little ashamed. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” She turned back toward the window. “What do you think…”
“What do I think about what?”
When she didn’t answer, he leaned toward the window to see what had drawn her attention.
A line of horses made its way toward the house. Taihg horses.
Late afternoon sunlight reflected off their armor and made it shimmer. Maybe they really were magical. A nervous flutter raced through him. What if they had the Karell with them?
Where are Nana and Papa?
Lan looked over his shoulder a moment, then turned back to his sister. There wasn’t a place to hide here, even if he’d wanted to. And he wouldn’t be able to get Sophie anywhere safe, either.
“You need to get into the back room. Be ready to run—”
“I’m not going anywhere, Lan,” Sophie snapped.
Why can’t she do anything sensible?
“How did they find us?” he asked.
“That’s your question?”
“What do you think I should be asking?” he demanded sharply.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe about what happened with the Karell.”
He was shaking his head when a knock sounded at the door. He got up with a start. He hadn’t even seen the Taihg dismount. “It wasn’t a Karell.”
“It was,” she whispered as he pulled the door open.
Lan stood in the doorway. The soldier in front of him was intimidating: sharp jawline, broad shoulders, and gleaming blue eyes. He looked exactly like what Lan had imagined a Taihg would look like, exuding confidence and a threat of violence. When Lan finally dragged his eyes away from the man’s face, they drifted to the long sword hanging at his waist.
“Where is the master of the house?” the soldier asked in a gruff voice that matched his scarred face and short hair. Even that was exactly as Lan had expected. He radiated danger.
“I don’t know. We only just returned home.”
He cursed himself. He shouldn’t have revealed that they had just returned. What would the Taihg think about the fact that they had been following them? What would they say about the woman and the two men in the forest?
“You’re alone?”
“We’re not alone.” Sophie glanced out the window before crossing her arms and turning her attention back to the soldier. “My papa is a great warrior, and he’ll be back any minute.”
Lan shot her a harsh look. “Our grandparents aren’t here. They should be any moment, if you would like to wait.”
“Grandparents? You don’t live here with your parents?”
“Our parents are dead,” Sophie said.
The soldier’s gaze drifted past Lan to his sister. “And how did they die?”
“Trying to get us here,” Sophie said.
Lan wished she would just be quiet. Why did she need to speak up and risk angering the Taihg? Nothing good would come of that.
“Why here?” the soldier asked.
Sophie stiffened, chewing on her lip a moment. “Because here is where our grandparents live. Why else do you think they would bring us here?”
“I can think of many reasons. The simple fact that you are so near the border would be one.”
“We’re not that near the border. There’s the entire forest, and after that there are the Palihj Mountains, and then we get to Reyash.”
“Would you stop, Sophie?” Lan said.
She made a face at him. “I’m just telling him what he apparently already knows. Why should that be a problem?”
“Because he’s a Taihg.”
The soldier chuckled roughly. “What makes you believe that, boy?”
Lan didn’t appreciate being called a boy. He was sixteen. “Our nana tells us stories,” he said, heat rising in his cheeks at the admission.
“What kind of stories?”
“The kind that helped us recognize what you were,” Sophie said. “You shouldn’t be here. Narith isn’t at war with Reyash.” They were situated outside Reyash, where they should be safe from whatever was happening there.
Lan scowled at her. Why couldn’t she just be quiet? Why did she have to make everything so difficult for him?
When he turned back to the Taihg, the soldier’s hand hovered near the hilt of his sword. Great. Now Sophie had angered him.
“Why are you here in the middle of the day? What responsibilities do you have in this village?”
“We don’t have any responsibilities. Our grandparents haven’t required them of us,” Sophie said.
“Sophie!” Lan rolled his eyes at her.
“Why have you not been required to work? Don’t all children your age take up a trade? I would imagine that on a farm like this, you would have many tasks.”
Children? Sophie’s a child, not me.
“I help my papa when he asks.”
The Taihg soldier studied them, and Lan’s mouth went dry. He stifled the urge to gulp. Maybe this was it, and they’d just go away. Then the soldier leaned forward and sniffed.
Something strange stirred in Lan. The armor seemed to become darker, as if the black of the markings intensified, becoming inkier. Then it faded. Lan rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was nothing more than his imagination or the throbbing in his head from the explosion.
“You were there, weren’t you?” The soldier straightened. Now his hand did go to the hilt of his sword. Lan couldn’t move, afraid that if he did, the soldier might attack.
“We…”
Sophie stormed up next to him and planted her hands on her hips as if to intimidate a Taihg.
“Tell me why a Karell was there,” the soldier said.
“It wasn’t a Karell,” Lan said. “She thinks too much about the stories our nana tells. She thinks they’re real.”
“How did you know she was a Karell?” the soldier asked Sophie.
Sophie let out a satisfied grunt. “See? I told you she was a Karell.” She turned her attention to the Taihg.
The soldier tilted his head, considering Sophie for a long moment. “You spoke with her?”
“I tried to get her to go away. I had to speak with her to do that. It’s the same thing I’m doing to you.”
Lan expected the comment to anger the Taihg, but it did not. A faint smile cracked his face, the first time it had softened.
“What did she tell you?” the soldier asked.
Sophie shrugged. “I was trying to keep my eyes off the crystal on the end of her stick—wand,” she hurriedly corrected.
“And this crystal. What did you see of it?”
Sophie glanced at Lan. “It glowed a faint yellow. That was all I saw.”
“Yellow?” The Taihg soldier glanced over his shoulder and mouthed something to one of the men mounted before bringing his attention back to Sophie and Lan. “You’re certain that you saw yellow?”
“I know my colors. I know I’m young, but I’m not stupid.”
“How young would you say that you are?” he asked, looming over her.
“I’m thirteen.”
“What did the Karell want with you?”
“I think she wanted to take me with her. I wasn’t about to go. I wanted to kick her, but I couldn’t move.”
The Taihg nodded. “She used her magic on you. That’s what I can smell.”
“You can smell it?” Sophie asked.
“There is a distinctive odor when the Karell use their abilities. It lingers for a time before dissipating entirely. Had I not come now, I doubt that I would have detected it.”
“Why did you come here?” Sophie asked.
“I detected… something else.”
“Yeah? Well, our papa and our nana will be here soon. You can talk to them about what you detected and what you need from them.”
“That will not be necessary.”
“Why not?” Lan asked. They had come here seeking the owner of the house, and now they were willing to leave without speaking to Nana and Papa? Had they learned what they needed from Sophie and her big mouth? She hadn’t said anything other than that the Karell had tried to abduct them. That couldn’t be all they had come here for.
“Tell me again what you experienced with the Karell,” the Taihg said.
“I’ve told you,” Sophie said. “She waved her wand at me, and I couldn’t move. They were going to take us.”
“Both of you?”
Sophie glanced over at Lan, and he shook his head. They hadn’t wanted him. He didn’t remember much about the interaction, other than when they had been attacked, the woman had been much more interested in Sophie than in him. That was the reason he had stepped in front of her, determined to keep them from taking his little sister.
“Not both of us,” he said.
The Taihg stared at him for a few moments before a smile came to his face. “No. I doubt they wanted both of you. I imagine they focused on you.” He pointed a thick finger at Sophie.
“Maybe.” She bit her lip.
“Why is that important?” Lan asked. “Why are they here?”
The Taihg continued his study of Sophie. “They came for the same reason they keep sneaking into the kingdom. They came looking for the Pale Princess.”
Chapter 4
SOPHIE
“None of what he’s said makes sense.” Sophie crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Lan. Now that he’d gotten over his fear, he stared at the Taihg with the dreamy-eyed look he should have saved for his first crush.
“What was that?” Lan asked.
“I said that nothing he’s told us makes sense. Could they really be looking for the Pale Princess? Do you think she was here?”
Lan shrugged. “Probably heard one too many stories, just like you.”
She tried to punch him, but he moved away, so she only grazed his shoulder. He was lucky, this time.
“These aren’t stories. The Pale Princess is real, Lan. She’s the reason the war is over.”
“If you keep this up, you’re going to be the reason for the war.”
She lunged over and smacked his shoulder, eliciting a yelp. He deserved it. More than that, really, but it was all she was willing to do with the Taihg smirking in their direction. Where were Nana and Papa, anyway?
“Don’t be stupid,” Sophie said. “It suits you too well.”
“What do you want me to do? We just have to sit here and wait for Nana and Papa to come. Until then…”
Sophie sighed. Until then, they would just have to wait in the house with the Taihg. She didn’t want to be in the same room with them for any longer than necessary. There was something uncomfortable about the way the soldier watched her, as if deciding whether they might be hiding the Pale Princess. In the stories Nana had told her, the Pale Princess had deep red hair to match her pale complexion, and she was powerful. Nothing like anyone Sophie had ever known. And she hadn’t been seen since the war.
“I don’t want to be here,” she said.
“Then you may go.”
She looked up to see the Taihg soldier standing over her. Did he hold something in his hand? She couldn’t tell. It seemed as if his fingers glowed, reminding her of the light from the crystal the crone had carried.
Not a crone, she had to remind herself. A Karell.
“Where would I go?” she asked.
The man offered her a hint of a smile. “I thought you wanted to leave. Is that not what you said? You may go.”
She decided to see if he was telling the truth, so she motioned to Lan. “Come on, Lan. They said we could go.”
The Taihg shook his head. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean your brother could go. Only you.”
She faced him, her hands on her hips. She would do whatever she could to appear intimidating. It worked on Lan, but she doubted that it would work on a Taihg. “What do you want with my brother?”
He tipped his head to the side, considering Lan. Her brother didn’t meet her gaze and tried his best to appear strong and confident. The idiot. Like he hadn’t almost been killed by soldiers just a short time ago.
“He’s got the right build for a soldier.”
“Lan? A soldier?”
“Sophie,” Lan warned her.
They were the Taihg, so they could take whoever they wanted, but she wasn’t going to let them have Lan. If they did, it meant they would take him out of Halith and on to Reyash.
“He can barely lift a sword, and even if he could, he doesn’t have any training with it.”
The Taihg laughed. “I suspect he can lift a sword, and the training is something we can handle.”
The idea of losing Lan left her heart aching. They argued, but he was her brother, the only other person who really knew what they’d gone through in losing their parents. It would be as bad as losing Nana and Papa.
“I can wield a sword.” Lan studied the Taihg, his eyes wide.
Sophie had seen that look from him before. He wanted to go with the Taihg. He had always wanted to be a soldier, even if he never said it out loud. How could he have said it? He’d never leave Nana and Papa, and neither would she.
“I thought so,” the Taihg said. “You have the look of someone who could be useful.”
Sophie didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean, he could be useful? He’s to stay here and run the farm.”
“Sophie!” He had a hard edge to his voice. She’d only heard it once before.
She ignored it. Expecting the Taihg to push her aside, she clenched her fists. Not even this soldier was going to push her around. Not today, not ever.
Instead, the Taihg eyed her with amusement. “You are an interesting one.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Lan said. “She thinks she’s older than she is.”
Sir? Was he already trying to impress this stupid soldier?
“She’s spirited,” the Taihg said.
“I’m not spirited. I’m passionate.” She glanced at Lan as she spoke, then stuck her tongue out briefly. Nana had called her that often enough that she wore it as a badge of honor.
“She will come as well,” another man, standing in the shadows, said. Sophie couldn’t make him out, but he had been silent the entire time.
The soldier shrugged. “Since the Karell have decided you aren’t the Pale Princess, there’s always a need for palace help.”
“Help?” Sophie glanced from the soldier to the man in the shadows. Why wouldn’t he step forward so she could see him better? He could at least lower the hood of his cloak. “What makes you think I’d agree to be a servant? Besides, we’re not going anywhere. Our nana and papa are—”
“Dead,” the Taihg said.
Sophie blinked. “What? No. Nana went to the village, and Papa will be in the fields.”
The Taihg shook his head. “We tracked the Karell to this house because of the magic they used here.”
“And you said you smelled that magic on us,” Sophie said.
“That’s not the magic we followed.”
“No.” Lan moved away from the doorway and stopped at the window, his brow furrowing as he looked outside. When he turned back to the Taihg, he seemed to find a backbone. “They’re not dead. They’re off—”
“They’re dead, boy. Come, if you must, and I’ll show you.”
Sophie grabbed for Lan’s arm to keep him from going with them. There wasn’t any way for Nana and Papa to be dead. She’d just seen them this morning.
“He’s just saying that so you’ll go with him,” Sophie whispered. “Nana has told me about the Taihg, and about how they take—”
He jerked his arm free. “They’re just stories, Sophie.”
Lan followed the Taihg out of the house.
Sophie stared after him, debating whether she should—or could—follow. If she didn’t, he might run off with the Taihg without her knowing.
She hurried after him, thinking that if nothing else, she could see what the Taihg thought to show her brother. This was a waste of their time, but Lan wasn’t going to do anything but follow the soldiers. Even if there was something out here, it couldn’t be Nana and Papa.
Watching the soldier with Lan, she worried that maybe they’d try to abduct him. She didn’t believe that part of Nana’s stories. The Taihg had magic, but she’d never heard of them abducting people and forcing them to serve.
She caught up to Lan and the soldier as they walked toward the field behind the house. Papa had grown wheat this year, and it was tall. They plunged through it on their way toward a pond near the back of their land. From there, she could see the edge of the forest. That was where Lan ran into the forest to hack at the trees.
She huffed. He still thought Nana and Papa didn’t know anything.
Sophie let them stay ahead of her, let them think she wasn’t going to come on their terms. It was better that way. When she neared, they were standing at the edge of the pond, looking down at a log.
Not a log. A leg.
The bloody end of it hung into the water, leaving a faint trace of pink swirling in the pond. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t need to have heard all the stories Nana had shared with her to know that it likely would have been a bloody mess before. They were the kind that Lan would have liked, but then, he didn’t have the same interest in stories as her.
