Blue Ridge: Vol. 2 - The Search (3 page)

Nadia tried to keep up with the unrelenting pace that Garth had set for them. He came into the little room at dawn and pulled her to her feet. He didn’t speak, and when he thrust her outside she saw two other men, both armed with bows and swords hanging from their belts. She was sure she had stepped into a medieval story of some kind. Their clothes had to have been made in part from animal hide. It reminded her of some of the deerskin clothes the Native American workers wore when she visited the living museum. The shirts could have been made other ways. After all the colonists made their own clothes, no one had a Wal-Mart back then. Such trivial details helped keep her mind from exploding.

The forest they were in was beautiful and menacing at the same time. Nadia loved the woods. She loved the outdoors as a general rule, but this was too much. Her senses were heightened in this place. The air was warm and full of too many smells to name. She kept her eyes on the ground as much as possible and tried to determine where the gentle hum was coming from. It was under her, over her, but more importantly it was coming from within her own body.

“Who are the other men?”

“Guides.”

“Do you not know where you’re going?”

Garth grunted and pulled her roughly over a fallen log. Nadia heard her jeans rip and looked down to see a hole over her left knee. “Hey! Do you have to be so rough?” Garth eyed her smugly and said nothing. “Where are you taking me?”

“Court.”

Nadia looked back at the men following. Their eyes held no emotion.

The dense trees were beginning to thin and Nadia could hear sounds in the distance. It reminded her of the mall or grocery store. Different voices mingled with an occasional laugh. Metal touched metal. There was the gentle
thunk thunk
, as an ax chopped wood nearby. They walked another hundred feet and entered a large clearing. Nadia had been to a Celtic festival and a Renaissance fair, and those things couldn’t hold a candle to what was before her here.

There were stalls lining the road as far as her eyes could see, with brightly colored canvas tops. Merchants were selling everything from buttons to coffee to pots and pans. She could hear a friendly argument near her between an extremely round and short man, and an equally round and short woman.

“No! We cannot put the puff pastries next to the dried meat!”

“Why not?” he asked with both fists planted on his hips.

“The sweets will pick up the odor!” They both laughed and he told her she was right and a good wife. Nadia watched them with wide eyes. The couple noticed her and smiled until they also noticed the men with her. Their smiles faded, and they went back to setting up their stall in silence.

The very next stall was the same way. A little woman who was eighty if she was a day, called out for all to hear, “Human books! I have human books!” Once again she stopped and remained silent as the group passed.

“Why are they staring?”

“Because you are human.”

Nadia frowned. Weren’t they human too? “Maybe it’s because you are this giant person
that’s dragging a human
through this market, and your lynch guides are following!” she said and jerked her arm free from him. Garth grabbed it again and kept walking.

“You have a tart mouth, girl. For your knowledge, the guides belong to the Queen.”

Queen? My God, I’ve been sucked into a time warp.

“Nadia.”

“What?” he asked roughly.

“My name.” she said looking up at him. “My name is Nadia.” She wasn’t certain, but it looked like the hard glint in his eyes softened just slightly.

She looked away and noticed that behind each row of stalls was an open area of grass. She could see children running and playing. Their laughter pierced and caressed at the same time. She thought of her parents and wondered what kind of hell they were going through looking for her. What about Foster? What kind of hell was he going through? Tears stung her eyes and made her face feel hot. She blinked them away and realized the ground was beginning to rise. The road seemed to curve slightly and she could see two other roads break off from it and go in other directions. They kept walking and the road curved more sharply and narrowed. Nadia gasped in surprise as a structure came into view. It was a beautiful castle built part way into the side of the mountain. It was impressive with walls of white, and trees growing near it appeared to caress the white stone wherever they touched.

The road was becoming steep. Garth had slowed their pace to accommodate Nadia, but he didn’t let go of her upper arm. They broke off from the road and walked up to a large iron gate. It obviously was the way to the castle.

Garth stopped and spoke in his maddening voice, “We will have audience with the queen.” He didn’t yell. There wasn’t a speaker box, or a bell to ring. Nadia thought it was ridiculous that he just spoke and expected the gate to swing open. She screamed and nearly jumped out of her skin when two of the bushes on either side of the gate stood and one of them spoke.

“What is your business?”

“We have a human.”

Nadia watched the bushes take human shape. They had green skin and leaves and twigs stuck out from their heads, but they stood on legs and reached out arms with hands at the ends, to open the gate. Once they were through, and the metal against metal clang of the gate closing sounded, Nadia looked behind her to catch a glimpse of them again, but all she saw was a closed gate with bushes on either side of it.

“What were they?”

“Gate keepers.”

“Green men.” said one of the guards behind her. She jumped again at the sound of his voice. Up until that point they hadn’t said anything, not even to each other. Something tugged at her memory about the myths surrounding green men, and she furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember. She thought they were more powerful than just gatekeepers, but it didn’t really matter. They were nearing the front of the castle and all other thoughts left her mind. A courtyard held several people and horses, and there was a large fountain in the center where other men, dressed like their guides were sitting and talking. One of them stood and walked towards Garth.

“What business has you,
Nephilim
?” His voice spoke the last word with such contempt that Nadia winced, but Garth seemed unconcerned.

“My business is audience with the Queen.”

The man gave Nadia a once over, and she returned his gaze with her best imitation of malice that she could manage. He simply laughed and motioned them forward.

The great doors opened leading into another courtyard, but this one was much larger with substantial amounts of flowers, small trees, and stone benches. The stone beneath her feet was arranged in an intricate mosaic pattern. They crossed the courtyard under the glare of more soldiers. Soldier was the only name Nadia could think of to describe them. Once they were on the other side two more large doors opened and they entered the castle.

It was almost completely quiet and they were standing at the end of a long and cavernous hall. Other hallways led into rooms or steps could be seen heading up or down. Nadia wanted to stop and stare at the beautiful tapestries that adorned the walls of this main hall, or inspect the carvings of the pillars. Every fifteen feet there were white pillars on either side that arched high above their heads. Each one had different carvings. They seemed to tell some type of story. Not always a pleasant story from what Nadia could see. The end of the hall held two doors with pointed and sloping tops. It reminded her of church doors.

Garth stood back and allowed the ‘guides’ to open them. They stepped into a chamber large enough to hold Nadia’s house plus several more. It was brightly lit with candles and part of the ceiling was made of colored glass that left a pattern of gold, rose, and amber on the floor. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. They passed tall slender people, some standing, and some sitting in different places around the great room. Though there were differences in how they looked, one thing was obvious and identical about all of them; they were all painfully beautiful. The soldiers of the castle and most of the people of the market were ugly compared to these. Nadia felt cold and horribly un-attractive as she walked behind Garth. She kept her eyes to the floor and tried to ignore the whispers and snickers.

At the far side of the room was a raised platform. Three large steps led to the top, where a woman was seated in an enormous and elaborate chair. Once Nadia raised her eyes to look at her, she couldn’t help but stare. She was the most beautiful, yet terrifying person, Nadia had ever seen.

The woman’s blue eyes regarded them coldly. She had deeply golden hair pulled back in a tight bun, and her skin was pale and flawless. Long fingers snapped and she motioned them forward. Garth bowed slightly and they took the steps slowly. Once they reached the top Garth knelt on one knee and yanked Nadia down with him. Her eyes scanned the floor in front of her and she could see deer and birds etched into the glossy stone.

“Speak, Garth.” The woman said in crisp short words.

He stood and once again yanked Nadia’s arm, to make her move like some kind of puppet. “I have brought the human, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, I can see that!” she snapped with disgust. “But,
why
would you bring such a filthy thing into my presence?”

Humiliation and anger shot through Nadia and her eyes narrowed.

“Your Majesty, this is the human that has entered into a relationship with one of the Anak boys.”

“Is that so? Which one?”

“Foster.”

For a moment the Queen relaxed. “Naughty boy, but,” she shrugged delicately, “what can one expect from such an upbringing?” She looked at him with amusement. “Why bring her here? You could have dealt with her. My goodness, his
family
should have dealt with it!”

“Yes, this is true, but
you
told me to bring her.”

“
Did I
?”

“Yes.” Garth said. Nadia could hear confusion in his voice. “There are still some who feel that your throne is based on a lie, and there are a few who feel that you should remain on the throne. The girl is meant to be a token of good faith, a token of absolute commitment to the old rules.”

She eyed him shrewdly. “Another war is what they want.”

Garth shrugged. “Perhaps, but war is inevitable if Kheelan and Zuzana try to take their right….their
previous
place back.”

The Queen toyed with a bead on her intricate gown. “Kheelan is an old fool.” She sighed and stood. “Opening of the Realm was never a good idea, and I suppose that is still his dream; to have it open regardless of twenty-ones, and open to any race besides the humans?”

Garth nodded.

“And let me guess, the Council is upset that young Foster is enamored with a human? Their union could cause a disruption of the old rules? She would have to be allowed access through marriage? Maybe other humans would find out?”

“Yes.”

“Who told the Council to begin with?”

“Dain.”

Nadia’s head turned to look up at Garth. Dain. Fosters older brother.

The Queen laughed. “Dain is so
angry
! What does he care?”

Garth shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

She smirked and took her seat once again, clapping her hands sharply. Two men dressed like the other soldiers appeared from somewhere to her left and bowed after they had walked up the steps. “We have a guest.” She let her lovely eyes slide over Garth. “Actually we have two. Please, take them to the lower level.”

“
WHAT?” G
arth growled. The two that had been with them through the forest walked cautiously up the steps behind Garth, as the other two approached him from the front. They spread out to form a circle around him. Nadia could smell the sharp scent of sulphur. It took her just a moment to realize that it was coming from Garth. It was just like part of the smell coming from Foster the first day he had kissed her. Only now it was much more powerful. Garth spread his legs wide and lowered his torso with his arms slightly outstretched. He was trying to watch each of the soldiers at once. Nadia jumped out of the way as all four of them jumped on him at one.