Chartile: Prophecy (43 page)

As he turned to leave, Valin noticed a
familiar small box on the corner of her dressing table. He opened
it and saw his mother’s sapphire necklace within, the symbol of his
promise that he would help her if she needed it. He left the box
open, and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jayson of the
Hill

Jayson lay on his stomach overlooking the
top of a small hill. The last of the party he had pursued through
the night walked into a small tavern on the outskirts of town. The
rogue looked over his shoulder, as though he sensed he was being
watched. He turned quickly and slammed the tavern door behind
him.

Jayson smiled wickedly. The group had
decided to make camp for the night, and Jayson was easily able to
catch up to them. He played havoc with them all night until they
finally gave in and continued on their way. Howling winds, sudden
rain storms, falling acorns, and voices in the dark had all plagued
them, and he had to keep from laughing the entire time. He never
slept anymore, and needed all the fun he could get these days. Ever
since the encounter with Duke Noraedin when King Jenemar had made
himself known in Jayson’s mind, his magic came as easily as
breathing. He was sure it was the same for Leo, Jack and Piper, but
they had little time for him these days. They were too busy with
their own affairs to bother much with him.

As the sky turned a pale orange above the
small village of Hollycrest, it was time again for him to work. Who
knew how many of these small pockets of outlaws there were in
Chartile, but Jayson was about to set an example. He headed for the
front door of the tavern, and noticed a small bird perched above
the open window.

“
Hello, little friend,” he
said softly to it, and the bird cocked its head toward him. “Will
you be my eyes?” he asked it in its mind. The bird puffed itself
up. Jayson sent a wave of calming energies to wash over the little
bird, soothing it and helping it to feel safe. When the bird had
calmed itself, Jayson reached into the bird’s mind. It took a
moment, but he was able to see through its eyes, even if it was a
bit blurry.

The bird hopped onto the window sill. It
cocked its head and fluttered onto the empty table beside the
window. Jayson could see the group he tracked sitting in the far
corner of the tavern. They had extinguished most of the candelabras
around them and angrily shooed away the poor barmaid, but not
before discourteously groping her rear.

“
Thank you, friend. Now
hurry and leave this place.” Jayson withdrew his mind from the
little bird. It chirped and trilled loudly at him, then took off
through the window once more.

Jayson wretched the door open so hard it
slammed against the outer wall. He threw a ball of fire across the
room. It hit the unlit candelabra above the table of his quarry,
lighting the candles, and sending small bits of fire raining down
on them. He drew an arrow from his quiver and sent it soaring
across the room. It narrowly missed the ear of one of the men. They
stood, drawing their swords and daggers. No sooner had they stood
were they lifted from their feet, and slammed back into their
chairs. Their blades turned on their masters, and hovered in midair
at their throats.

“
I am Jayson Hill, the
reincarnated soul of King Jenemar. You have committed acts of
treason and attempted murder against Queen Piper. You will answer
for your crimes.”

A bird trilled franticly from the window
ledge. Jayson turned in time to kick a middle aged man to the
ground, and pressed his boot to the man’s throat. The weapons that
hung in the air never faltered.

“
Tell your people what
happens when they deny the Queen of the elves of Chartile and what
becomes of those who still support the tyranny of Princess
Taraniz.” He glared at the man beneath him. The man nodded, and
Jayson released him, turning back to the outlaws.



Jack sat in the elven library trying to
appear interested in what Leo was reading. Nefiri had entrusted
some old documents from the Tutarian libraries to him for Leo’s
research. Leo poured over the notes, talking to himself, and
continually referring to the pages of notes he had made on
Draconian runes that were piled high beside him.

“
I don’t think this one’s
going to help much,” Leo said, setting the scroll aside. “I don’t
even know why the elder thought that was useful.”

“
Why not?” Jack asked. He
ran his hand over his face and hoped some discussion might wake him
up. He always regretted that Chartile didn’t have
coffee.

“
It’s some kind of myth
about the Dragons and a star bridge or something like that. I don’t
know. It didn’t make a lot of sense.”

Jack opened his mouth to comment when the
sound of running feet stopped him.

“
My Lords, my Kings,” said
a young beck-and boy. “You wished to know when King Jayson
returned.”

“
Where is he?” Jack asked
getting to his feet.

“
The dungeons, my King.
Captain Leland is on his way as well. My Lord, he has single
handedly brought back the outlaws who attacked Queen Piper! Twelve
in all!”

Jack and Leo tore from the room, leaving the
parchment and scrolls strewn across the table. They took the secret
entrance from the noble’s wing to the dungeons, and rounded the
corner to see Jayson locking a cell door.

“
Jayson!” Leo cried
angrily. “Where the hell have you been? What’s going
on?”

Jayson held up a hand to silence him and
cocked his head toward the main stair. Leo stared open mouthed at
him, but followed nonetheless.

They emerged into the more public area of
the palace, and headed for the throne room.

“
I had some business to
do,” Jayson said calmly.

“
What business? Jayson, we
were worried sick! You could have told us! We would have come with
you,” Jack protested.

“
Would you?” Jayson
rounded on them. “Would you have left your precious Princess
Gemari, Jack? Would you have left your research, Leo? You two have
started to make a life for yourselves here, and I’m still nothing!
I’m nothing but a murderer, and I have to account for that. I have
to try and make up for it.”

“
Jayson, that wasn’t — it
was an accident. You can’t bl—”

“
I can’t what, Leo? I
can’t hold myself responsible for my actions? I can’t try to right
the wrong I did? Isn’t that what we’re here for anyway?” He pushed
one of the doors to the throne room open and nearly ran into Piper.
Her arms were crossed and she scowled bitterly at him.

“
Jayson Hill,” she began,
but threw her arms around him, and nearly cried in his shoulder.
“Don’t ever do anything like that again! You were gone for two
days! We could have helped you.”

“
That’s what we said,”
said Jack.

“
But apparently, we aren’t
good enough anymore.” said Leo.

“
That’s not what I said,”
snapped Jayson. “You’re all too important and too busy
anymore.”

“
Let’s go for a walk,”
Piper suggested. Without hesitation, they followed her past the
front gates and out into the Belirian Forest.

Summer was very much gone and autumn had
clearly set its roots in to stay. The air had a permanent chill to
it, and the leaves that fell from the trees were the size of dinner
plates. They were glad for the fur lined cloaks and vests they
wore, even if it wasn’t exactly the latest fashions in Ohio. They
were warm and comfortable and matched the color of the falling
leaves. Jayson picked up a leaf and began shredding it as they
walked. Piper changed the subject to what Jack knew about the Black
Diamonds and then to Leo’s progress with his research.

They settled into a small clearing and
talked for hours. They found an apple tree nearby and munched
happily. Jayson forgot his anger, opting instead for his usual
humor and tact eventually.

Piper took a bite of apple then suddenly
spit it back out, clenching her stomach.

“
Did you eat a worm?”
Jayson asked teasing.

Piper glared at him and replied, “No. It is
more than that.”

“
Are you sick?” Leo asked,
very concerned.

“
Did someone poison you?”
Jack asked almost panicked.

Piper sat up straight again and pulled a
sapphire necklace from beneath her bodice neckline.

“
What’s that?” asked
Jayson.

“
This was Valin’s mother’s
necklace. When we were at his manor last month, Valar recommended I
marry Valin so Valar could continue to advise me. He may not do so
in an official capacity, as he was my father’s advisor. If I do not
marry, then I must take on an advisor. If there is both a King and
a Queen on the throne, then I do not have to choose an advisor. I
have decided against asking Gran to do it. She deserves her peace
after all she has been through these last eighteen
years.”

“
So, you’re going to marry
Valin?” asked Jack. Piper nodded. “Congrats! That’s
awesome!”

Jayson glared at her. “What about
Dimitri?”

Piper placed a hand over her belly and
sighed.

“
He is one of the reasons
I have decided to accept Valin’s proposal. I believe I am with
Dimitri’s child. I may be able to convince the Conclave it is
Valin’s if we act quickly. If not, the child will be given to a wet
nurse and raised as someone else’s. I do not want for my child that
which happened to me.”

“
You’re the Queen. Just
change the laws!” cried Jayson. “Dimitri died for us, and you’re
just going to throw him away.”

“
It is not so simple,
Jayson. I wish it wasn’t this way.” Tears began to roll down her
cheeks. “I still mourn him, but I can no longer think of only
myself. My world is too big now.”

“
Piper, maybe Gran could
raise the baby for you. Then you could still see it.” Jack
shrugged.

“
And, we could always be
your advisors.” Leo offered.

Piper hung her head, holding her belly. “I
have already accepted Valin’s proposal. You are working so hard to
go home, I cannot accept an advisor who could leave me at any
moment.”

“
I won’t leave you,
Piper,” said Jayson. She smiled at him and reached across their
circle to squeeze his hand.

“
Thank you, Jayson,” she
said. “But it would not be right of me to ask you to stay. As much
as I want you to, you have your own lives back home. I cannot ask
you to leave it all behind.”

“
I guess I didn’t think of
that,” said Leo. “I want to go home, but I don’t want to leave you
either.”

“
Maybe Piper can come home
with us!” Jack exclaimed.

“
Who will care for my
people?” asked Piper, and Jack hung his head.

Piper grabbed Jack’s hand in her free one
and smiled at him as well. “Two months ago, I would have.”

“
I’m sorry, Piper,” said
Leo, his shoulders sagging in defeat. “I used to have the answers
for everything. Growing up sucks.” They nodded and their
conversation turned to the coming wedding.

They could just see the noon sun through the
empty boughs of the trees above them when their discussions came to
an end.

“
You know, I guess there’s
one thing we haven’t really tried.” Leo looked about
thoughtfully.

“
What do you mean?” Jayson
asked.

“
To get home. We haven’t
tried using our own magic. Like how we concentrated to make that
storm. Maybe we could concentrate on home,” he said.

“
That’d be too easy.
There’s no way it’d work,” said Jayson shaking his head.

“
I guess it’s worth a
try.” Jack shrugged. “It’s the one thing we haven’t done. We’re
more powerful now since linking with the old kings.”

“
Then again, when we open
our eyes, we may never see Piper again,” argued Jayson.

“
I think you have done
what you were brought here to do. It is time to do something for
yourselves for a change.” She took Jack and Jayson’s hands again.
“If it is your will, then I will help you to the best of my
ability.”

The boys looked at each other nervously then
joined hands.

“
If this is really it,
really good-bye and all, I promise I’ll try to find a way back. I
don’t want it to be good-bye forever,” said Jayson. His eyes were
wet with the tears he forced himself to hold back. “If we can come
here once, I’m sure we can figure out a way to come
back.”

They all nodded in agreement and closed
their eyes. They thought about their tree house, the sunken
loveseat, and the tattered tarp and shower curtain. They thought
about their families and school. Leo thought about his dad’s egg
sandwiches, and how one sounded so delicious at that moment. Jack
thought about his mother and sister. He had left them alone with
his father. Jayson thought about his little sister and wondered
what extra classes his parents had enrolled her in at
Cranbrook.

The wind began to blow harder than it had
earlier, but they did not shiver. They could hear the wind, but
they didn’t feel it. They were too afraid to look until the sound
died away.

When Piper opened her eyes, the clearing was
empty. She opened her empty hands and looked at them. She sat for a
long time in silence, thinking of the short time she had spent with
Jayson, Jack, and Leo, and fighting the tears that brimmed in her
eyes. As she walked back to the palace, she couldn’t help but think
that, once again, those she loved had left her forever. She patted
her belly before walking through the front gates and swore her
children would never feel that sting of loss.