Velt

Entering Velt again was like taking a step back in time. The mud-brick buildings came up around around me as I walked through the gates, all the walls glowing in torch light of early night. Smells and noises that I knew all too well assaulted me, even the dry taste of dirt being trodden under foot that stirred up into the air.
Part of my heart seemed to settle with a sigh. I knew all the back streets of the west side of town so well I could have walked them backwards with my eyes closed. This was my home. Was. I moved among the people now and clenched my right hand to my side. I could feel the ugly scar on my palm beneath my pressing fingers and knew Velt would never be my home again, or any place in Gaea.
The buildings dropped away and I entered the plaza, threading a way through the still thick crowd. It was still early, but a different sort of sellers and buyers were out and wandering. A woman elbowed me lightly in the arm and showed me a packet of some substance. I politely declined and she moved on to other potential customers.
I took a last glimpse of the night sky, hoping to catch sight of Demaren before the taller buildings of the inner city blocked out the night. The lights were too bright, though, for my eyes to see anything. My feet guided themselves as my mind drifted to Demaren. It had been a long three weeks of recovery for him, and every moment he had been in pain I felt it too. Half the time his eyes looked so lonely, and lost...
Anyone could get lost in your eyes, teased a voice through a stream of pictures.
My head snapped up too look for Larii but only found a half empty side street.
"Larii?" I whispered. Mentally, I sent my own pictures.
Along the wall, she said. I could see her in my mind, mirroring my progress through the city on the outside of the wall. Friend was with her.
How can we talk so far away?
She seemed surprised, as if everyone communicated this way.
I rolled my eyes and kept moving. Demaren isn't going to be happy, I thought, referring to their sneaky following.
He's happy as long as you are with him, she retorted, sending me images of his eyes on me. To the elderly couple I passed, I was blushing for no apparent reason.
I adjusted her images and sent them back. He doesn't think of me that way.
She replayed snap shots of Demaren and I bantering back and forth. Yes, very friendly.
My teeth clamped down on my tongue so I wouldn't shout in frustration. Even if none of the few people I passed knew me, it wouldn't do to draw attention by seeming to talk to myself. I left Larii to her distracting thoughts; I was close to home anyway.
The dusty red house came into view as I rounded the curve in the street. I stopped short, letting a group of gaudily dressed women pass me by, and stared the building. Images of Berrik and me as children danced before my eyes; I shook my head to clear it. Both my hands now clenched into fists.
All those memories had been broken by my grandmother. I was glad I wasn't coming back to try and make her or my mother see reason. I would get in, get the map, and get out. Easy as pie.
There was no one on the street now, and I slid around the side of the three story building to the back. A rectangle hole was cut away from the ground along the wall for the window to the cellar. I slipped into the space easily and jiggled the latch until it popped out before I could crawl through.
It was dark. Almost no light came in through the window. I stood for a moment, letting my eyes adjust and listening above me for people moving about. Nothing, just quiet.
Cautiously I moved forward through the dank cellar, though I knew every nook and room in the house to navigate blind. A wooden door met my hand when I reached out for it and I smiled in the dark. I opened it just enough to let myself squeeze through. Counting the steps up, I skipped steps two and five so they wouldn't creak under foot.
I went up to the second floor where my old room was. I could only hope Grandmother hadn't cleaned it out yet. A quick glance told me she hadn't, everything was in the exact same place I had left it.
I had barely gotten through the door when I heard them.
"Here's your water glass. I have to leave. I'm already late for temple."
My grandmother's voice cut through the ceiling above me to my ears. Every muscle seized up where I stood and the hairs on my arms stood on end.
A murmur was all I could hear of my mother's reply.
"I'll ask the minister to come tomorrow to visit you."
Grandmother's footsteps headed toward the stairs. Panic rising in me, I scrambled under my bed. She said something else to Mother that I didn't catch, probably a goodbye, and started down the stairs. The glow from her fairy lamp lit the stairs on the landing outside my door, and my breath caught as I saw that I had forgotten to close it.
Please don't see it. Please don't see it. I silently begged.
Grandmother's shadow stopped beneath the door and my stomach fell back down to the basement. Slowly, the door opened and though I really wanted hide my face I felt like I couldn't.
The devil herself stepped into my room, lamp in hand. All I could see was her long skirt and the bottom of her shall, which she would pull over her head when she got to temple. She took a few slow steps into my room and paused while I held my breath. Seemingly satisfied, she turned and closed the door. The sound of her sandels clipped down the stairs.
Sighing quietly, I slid out from under the bed. That had been close. Time to get the map and run.
I quickly went to my desk and pulled open different drawers, searching for the right one.
You never keep anything organized, Berrik would have complained.
"I never expected to sneak into my own house," I whispered to myself.
One of the thin drawers near the table top revealed my maps and I thumbed through for the correct one. Map in hand, I slid the drawer closed and turned to the door. Vaguely I wondered if Demaren was really on the roof and if I should just go up so he could fly us out.
"Ashling..."
My hand froze above the door handle. The voice had come from up the stairs, from my mother's room. It had been little more than a whisper, maybe just a sighing in her sleep, but a lump rose in my throat anyway.
I pulled the door open and slipped out, mounting the steps to the next level carefully. Just one look couldn't hurt.
Practically on all fours, I made no more noise than dust settling. Lights had been left on and it got brighter as I ascended.
When my head cleared the top stair I saw her propped up on her chaise lounge. Her head had rolled to one side, her auburn hair splayed out like rays from the sun. Colorful blankets covered her so that I could not tell the difference between her robe and quilts. One delicately pale arm had fallen over the side, knocking her glass of water over.
I sighed and stepped into the room fully, striding across the floor boards to pick up the fallen glass. I refilled it from the pitcher on her dresser and placed it back on the floor beside her within easy reach. Gently, I raised my mother's arm--which was cold to the touch--and placed it under her covers, tucking in the blankets. Then I looked down on her.
My mother had been sick since Father died when I was very young. I hadn't been old enough to remember him, but Berrik had. He had also been old enough to help take care of me when Mother fell ill and Grandmother came to live with us. He hadn't liked to talk about those days.
Though I loved my mother, and had often helped tend to her not so long ago, she was no more a nurturing figure than my grandmother. I brushed a strand of hair off her forehead.
"Goodbye," I whispered.
She muttered something in her sleep which sounded like, "Thank you," but my mind was playing tricks, I was sure.
When I turned to leave I nearly screamed. My grandmother was standing in the door way. The witch had never made a sound.
My fingers and toes ran cold as all the blood in my body was suddenly infused with adrenalin. She held the door open for me, her eyes as cold as stone.
I gulped and glanced at the window, wondering if I could survive the three story drop. I didn't think Demaren could catch me that fast, even if I started screaming now. Jerkily, I stepped out into the hall with the woman.
As soon as I was out of the room, she closed the door quietly and rounded on me with a ringing slap. I hadn't expected anything less and barely let out a whimper. When I faced her again, cheek stinging, her eyes were burning.
"How dare you come and soil this house?" she hissed, grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and propelling me down the stairs.
"You're the one who cursed me," I replied, my feet stumbling on the next set of steps.
"The council made their decision. You are responsible!" she spat at me, stopping to press me up against the wall. "I did you a kindness!"
"I would rather have died," I said through gritted teeth, just as vehemently. I was done carrying her burdens.
"They would have treated you like royalty!" she said, charging me down the stairs again. "You have no idea what you are!"
"You made me a slave," I all but growled. "You expect me to thank you for it? I knew you always hated me, but gods above! I'm your granddaughter!"
We reached the main level and she shoved me to the floor. I was too busy glaring up at her to notice the other people in the room.
"I don't care what you are," she said evenly, coming down close to my face. Her eyes narrowed to slits. "As long as you're safely gone."
How could I be related to this woman?
It wasn't until two pairs of hands grabbed me that I realized we were not alone. Two men in gray and pale green uniforms were hoisting me to my feet by my upper arms. My heart started beating at a frantic pace.
"Erynese..." I whispered.
"You know te uniform," said a man, stepping into my line of sight.
He was tall and thin, his uniform boasting stripes of silver down the sleeves. I didn't know what that made him in rank, but it was certainly high. There were two more men with him, each carrying the thin black weapons they had used to kill everyone in the desert caravan. The man who spoke smiled at me, making his already squinty eyes even smaller. His upper row of teeth were crooked and off white.
My eyes locked back on my grandmother. "What are Erynese doing in our kitchen?"
"Tank you for calling as soon as you eard," the man said to Grandmother. His Eryn accent was strong, making him drop the "h" sound, even in the Elite language which was supposed to be universal. I wondered if he had been properly schooled.
Grandmother nodded curtly to them, her lips pressed together as she looked at the door pointedly.
The Erynese didn't take the hint. Instead he turned to me.
"You've been very ard to find, little dear," he said, tapping my nose once with his index finger. I suppressed the urge to bite it and merely jerked my head away. "It was to us you were sold."
"I wasn't sold to anyone!" I corrected him. "And since when does the Erynese government send men after one runaway?"
"We ave been looking for someone like you," he replied. Reaching out for my right hand, he inspected it. "And you are ours. Tis is te proof."
I tried to wrench my hand away, but I was being held almost on tip-toe by the two guards who grabbed me and had no leverage.
"Where did you learn to talk?" I jibbed. "Did you even go to school?"
Something--I think it was his hand--hit me with such a force that I yelped and my eyes spun round. Something dripped from my nose.
"Best learn manners now, little dear," he said darkly.
I glared at him, but didn't say anything. The beady eyes in his angular, pale face threatened violence.
"Tank you again, madam," he said to my grandmother. "We will take er now."
"You're welcome, minister," she said. I guessed he was some sort of official.
We were headed toward the door now and I felt my heart all but stop as the two other guards unstrapped their killing sticks from their backs. Demaren was outside and those things could kill him just as easily as they had Berrik. My heels dug into the ground and I started wriggling frantically.
I twisted around to yell at my grandmother again, anything for a distraction.
"You sold me to the Erynese? That's a new low for you!"
The crone's jaw flexed, but she didn't say anything.
"How could you do this to her?" I jerked my head at the stairs, referring to my mother. "You're taking away her last child!"
Nothing I was saying seemed to have any sway, and my struggles were like a bird's in a cat's claws. The Erynese minister opened the door with a flourish and the men on either side of me carried me out as I tried to kick at their shins.
Warm night air hit my face and my eyes were blinded by the sudden darkness of the street. I heard the unmistakable sound of large, rushing wings. I could see him easily in the dark, his bright wings catching the infinitesimal light coming from the door way as he landed steadily. Saying he looked angry would be an understatement.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled.
"Demaren!" I shouted, the Erynese backing up at the sight of him. "Fly away! They'll kill you!"
"I'd like to see them try," he challenged, his eyes narrowing. He started forward with a rush. "Now let her go!"
"Wat is tis?!" I heard the minister complaining from behind.
I braced myself expecting a fight, but Demaren stopped short and gave a mighty flap of his wings instead. My hands came up automatically to protect my eyes and the surprised guards stumbled and loosened their grip on my shoulders. I felt a strong arm yanking me into the air.
I turned my face up as Demaren pressed me to his side, my arms wrapping tightly around him instinctively. We were soaring up now and I glanced down to see all four guards outside and taking aim to the sky.
"We have to fly higher!" I said frantically.
"I don't think they can jump this high," he chuckled to me as I kicked my feet a little trying to help us fly.
"No! Those sticks. They can--"
Two small bangs reached our ears to cut me off and Demaren's wings came to a jerking stop. We were still moving up, but slowing as we reached the end of our apex. Demaren's eyes met mine, surprised. I hadn't yet worked up a scream.
"Oh," he said, his head falling forward slightly as his eyes closed and the rest of his body went limp. "I see..."
And we started to plummet.
Falling to the side, my lungs started working enough to let out a decent scream. My arms convulsed around Demaren's torso. I shut my eyes tight. Suddenly I felt strong arms around me again. I turned my face up to see Demaren struggling for control of our fall. The earth was rushing closer.
Flapping his wing once, Demaren turned us just enough so that he would hit the ground first. His eyes met mine and he smiled slightly, pressing me closer. I felt my eyes start to sting, though not because of the rushing wind.
"No!" I shouted. "Don't--"
But it was too late. With a painful smack we hit the ground. I saw Demaren's head snap back as we bounced back up. My breath was knocked away.
I coughed to force air back into my lungs. Demaren's arms hung around me like an inanimate object. Struggling, I crawled up his tall frame. His eyes were blinking but loosing focus.
"Demaren," I gasped, touching his face. He seemed to hear me, his eyes searching.
Hurried foot falls were coming toward us. I glanced up to see that we had landed farther down the street. The guards and minister were rushing toward us, my grandmother was standing in the street watching.
"Demaren!" I called, turning back. He was close to loosing consciousness. I only had a moment. I took the map out of the pocket I had put it in and stuffed it into his hand. "Listen to me! Don't follow. Do you hear me? Don't follow me and do something stupid to get yourself killed, got it? It's too dangerous."
Hands were on me, pulling me as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
"Forget me and go to Grayman!" I said, hoping he could hear. His eyes were closing and the guards were pulling at my hands. With a last effort I pressed my lips to Demaren's unresponsive ones. "Please! I love you!"
His eyes were completely closed now. Was he okay? Was he breathing? My body was ripped from his as I moved to check, forgetting my captors.
"NO!" I screeched, struggling anew. They couldn't take me yet. I had to know if he was alright. I couldn't loose him like Berrik!
My body started to shiver, my breath coming in gasps. I felt hot. Something was making the street shine like it was day, though it couldn't be dawn yet. I didn't care, I had to get to Demaren...
The minister was in front of me now, his smiling glaring down at me.
"None of tat now," he said sweetly. With the back of the black killing stick he struck the side of my head. Everything fell away like I was falling again.