Flecks of Gold (18 page)

“Yes, I was lucky,” I responded.

Avana wasn’t put off by my short answer. “Were you able to rescue any of your possessions?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“How did you survive without any money or servants?” Avana asked.

I almost laughed. Avana seemed to think it was impossible to survive without paid help. I glanced at Dora to see what she thought and saw a slight smile on her lips.

“It was difficult.” I tried to give a “poor me” look, but I don’t know if I succeeded because Dora was still smiling.

Avana’s little frown suddenly turned into a look of delight. I looked over my shoulder to see Breeohan approaching and sighed. At least I wouldn’t have to talk to Avana anymore. Obviously, she wasn’t going to be bothered with me when Breeohan was around. He came to stand next to me. Avana angled her head to look up flirtatiously from long dark eyelashes.

Could she be more obvious?

“Zefa Avana, Zefa Dora, it is such a pleasure to see you again,” he said, bowing.

“Please, Breeohan, you haven’t addressed me with my title since we were five. Don’t start now. Are we not closer than mere acquaintances?” Avana batted her gargantuan eyelashes.

Breeohan’s cheeks flushed red-brown, and I felt suddenly warmer than the room merited.

“You are quite the hero. Rescuing a damsel in distress. If I had known all I needed to do to get you alone was to be in trouble, I would have done it ages ago,” Avana said.

I guess obvious is her style.

Breeohan, still red, said, “I would never wish you in any danger.”

Luckily Dora came to the rescue, because I sure wasn’t going to say anything—I was too busy feeling annoyed. “How did your Master trial go?” Her voice was surprisingly low and soothing. I thought she would have made a good therapist.

“I almost didn’t make it, but I accomplished the journey without loss of limb, as you can see.” He gave another elaborate bow, I guess to prove that he could, and the two girls giggled. I pasted a smile on my face, wishing just to leave. My headdress was starting to feel like lead. Avana and Dora wore headdresses that looked even heavier than my own, and I wondered how they endured it.

“We shall watch for you at the jova courts then. Many are eager to spar with you. They feel you might have lost your edge from so much travel. I hope you will prove them wrong,” Avana said.

“They may be right, but I am grateful for your confidence,” he said.

I had no idea what they were talking about, and wondered if, as a princess, I should. I decided to say nothing in case I was supposed to know.

“Do you compete, Princess?” Avana asked, a gleam in her eye.

Her cocky demeanor spurred the worst of my bullheaded characteristics, and I found myself saying, “Yes.” It was then that I noticed Breeohan’s ever so slight shake of the head warning me to say no.
Oh well, too late
.

“Really?” Her eyes were wide in surprise, but there was a wicked curve to her lips. “Then I will be happy to see you on the courts as well. I am sure we would all be interested in seeing what Kirosan is capable of.”

“Avana, Dora, I don’t wish to be rude, but the princess has had a trying journey. I promised that I would see her to her rooms. If you will excuse us?” Breeohan bowed. And then I bowed, and we walked away to a different exit on the side of the chamber. As soon as we were out of sight from the throng, Breeohan grabbed my shoulders.

“Do you realize what you just did? Oh Mary, why can’t you think before speaking?” His voice came out in a strained hiss.

I shrugged his hands off. “I’m sorry, but she was so smug I couldn’t help myself.”

“She was not smug. She was trying to include you in the conversation. She won’t be able to help being shocked, however, when she sees that you don’t know anything about what goes on in the jova courts.”

Had he really not seen Avana’s honeyed condescension?

“How do you know I don’t know how to do whatever it is?”

“Mary.” He made an aggravated grunting noise. “Do you realize how unstable is the sand we tread? Too many mistakes and people will start questioning your verity.”

“Look, Breeohan, I told you I thought this was a stupid idea. Don’t start blaming things on me, especially since nothing bad has happened yet.” I wanted badly to punch him, but I restrained myself. What had happened to the easygoing guy I’d traveled with for so long? It was like
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
or something.

Breeohan was taking deep breaths. After a minute he seemed to sink back into his old self. “I’m sorry I spoke harshly to you. I’m more worried than I thought I would be.”

“Well, it’s not like this is my favorite day ever either. I wish this whole thing could be over already. I just want my mother back.” A knot formed in my throat, but I held my tears in check.

He took my arm and gently led me down the wide stone hallway. “We’ll find her. I’ll mention it to the king as soon as I see him.”

“I want to go with you when you meet with the king,” I said.

“He did not invite you to come with me.”

“Please, Breeohan. I could wait outside the door until you’re done talking, then you could ask him if I can come in for just a minute to speak with him.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “Why? What do you plan to say?”

“The truth. I think he deserves to know what’s really going on. I think he suspects that I’m not a princess anyway. Something in his look made me decide that it would be better to come out with the whole story.”

Breeohan sighed. “I was going to tell him everything. I don’t know if your telling him would make much difference.”

“Hello? Did I just hear you say you can tell my story better than I can?”

“You have a tendency to say too much sometimes. I could keep it simple.”

I started to get angry again. “So now you’re telling me I would say something stupid?”

“No, I didn’t say that. You . . . Very well, just wait outside, and I will see if I can convince the king to see you also.”

“Thank you so much for the concession,” I said dramatically.

We started walking, but there was one more question I’d been distracted from asking. I tried to sound casual. “By the way, Breeohan, what do you do at the jova courts?”

Breeohan rolled his eyes up at the sky.

I
waited outside the
doors to the king’s study as Breeohan walked in at the sixth portion, which I translated as twelve o’clock. Breeohan had told me that time was divided up into twelve portions for the day and twelve for the night, with the first day portion at sunrise and the first night portion at sunset.

I paced, clutching Ismaha’s letter, but there were two guards in purple and gold watching me, so I finally forced myself to stand calmly and smooth out the wrinkled paper. As I did this, the study doors opened and a doorman—the same one from that morning—said formally that the king wished for me to enter.

I walked through a hallway of bookshelves full of fancy gilt and leather bindings before reaching the octagonal chamber where the walls seemed made of manuscripts and leather-bound volumes. The shelves stretched two stories high, and there was a sliding ladder along the wall that could roll to any side. A little further out from the wall, away from the ladder’s path, was a large wooden desk. It was oval except for where a half circle bit out one side, and in that depression the king sat looking at me. Breeohan sat in a chair opposite the king. Two more chairs sat empty next to Breeohan.

I wasn’t sure if I should sit until the king gave me permission, so I waited for some signal. A shaft of sunlight hit the center of the desk’s stained wood, making it a deep blue brown, and illuminating the dust particles so that they looked like tiny floating fairies. The beam of light also made it harder to see the king’s face from my position.

“Please be seated, Princess Kasala,” the king said. So Breeohan hadn’t told the king anything yet. I’d sort of hoped he would do it, so I wouldn’t have to, but I’d asked for this chance, and I wasn’t going to back out now. Once I sat down I could see the king’s face more clearly. He looked much more approachable in his study than seated on a throne, atop a three-foot-high dais. Here he looked less dazzling, more of an everyday kind of guy, despite his richly embroidered clothing.

“Forgive me for asking, Princess Kasala, but I can’t seem to remember if perhaps one of your parents ever came on a diplomatic voyage to my country?” Verone asked.

“No, Your Majesty.” I didn’t know how to begin, and I was confused by the bewildered concentration on the king’s face. He looked as if he were trying to remember something. “I don’t know where to start. The thing is, Your Majesty, you could never have met my parents because I’m not really Princess Kasala. I’m not a princess at all. I’m a high school student from Oregon—well, Arizona. I really am in trouble, though, and Breeohan thought that you wouldn’t be able to help me if I came to court as myself. Plus, Breeohan and Rafan seem to think that my eye color was a royal give away, but in my country it isn’t. We don’t even have royalty. I hope you aren’t too angry at my lying to you because I really didn’t feel right about it at all, and I can’t tell you how much it relieves me to be telling you the truth . . .”

The king held up his hand, looking stunned. “Did you say you were from Oregon?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered, expecting him to ask where in the world that was.

“Oregon in the United States?”

I was too shocked to reply. He knew where Oregon was. A quick look at Breeohan showed me he was surprised as well. A rush of relief coursed through me in a tidal wave. Then the wave broke, and I started to cry.

“I’m so happy you know where that is. I’ve been so afraid I was on some other planet or an alternate reality or something. I even thought that maybe I . . .” I couldn’t finish. It was as if the tenuous bit of hope that I’d been afraid was severed forever was suddenly cast out again. I caught at that hope with a grip of steel. My breath rasped in and out until I forced myself to breathe more deeply. The king offered a handkerchief, and I dabbed my eyes. My makeup was probably ruined. I was sure I looked a mess.

“Ismaha wanted me to give this letter to you.” I thrust the crumpled letter at him. It was all I could do. I was too afraid to ask the king about what he knew of the United States. He might say that he had only heard of it from a fantasy book or some equally dreadful thing. I think I shocked the king too, because he hesitantly took the letter, his eyebrows almost in his hairline. He broke the seal, and then his eyes flicked back and forth across two pages. I wondered what Ismaha had to say for two pages.

“Ismaha says that your mother was taken by a man named Kelson. Is this right?”

“Yes.”

“He is older?”

“Well, he looked my age when I first met him.” I felt my cheeks going red. “But when I drew him one time in art class, he looked about forty. He may not actually be old. I may have just drawn him like that to sort of expose his nature to myself.”

“It’s possible, but that means we know even less than I’d hoped.” His brow furrowed.

“Will you help me, then?” I hardly dared hope for a positive answer.

“Ismaha says I must, so I must.” He smiled for the first time since I’d met him. It changed his face wonderfully, transforming him from cool-cut magnificence to warm sunshine. I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders.

“Please, Your Majesty, no one else seems to know about America. How do you?”

I held my breath when I saw the king’s smile vanish. He looked more majestically unapproachable than ever. Then he shrugged. “I went there once.”

“You did? Well then, do you think, once I find my mother, you’ll be able to help me return? I’m not sure if the pattern that I copied would get me back. I don’t think I got the whole thing right, anyway, since I definitely didn’t end up where Kelson did.”

“In that case, you are lucky you didn’t end up in space somewhere. You see, Iberloah and America are on different planets, and the one record of the pattern was stolen. There are magicians who know of it, and even those who have gone there, but I thought no one ever would again.”

The contents of my stomach dropped like an anchor and then rose to my throat. I wanted to throw up. I glanced at Breeohan. A look of disbelief was plastered on his face.

The king’s face softened. “I am sorry.” He glanced at the letter. “But you sense the truth of what I have said. Yes?”

I nodded dumbly, but I wanted to scream. I couldn’t be stuck here. I just couldn’t. There had to be a way back.

As if hearing my thoughts, the king said, “There is still hope. If this Kelson was able to get to Earth, he must have found another record of the lacing. It could even be the one lost so many years ago.” His words cheered me a little, but my stomach still churned when I realized that I would probably have to get the pattern from Kelson himself, and he wasn’t likely to just say, “Why sure, Mary, I would love to give you the means to get back to your world.”

“I think that you should maintain your identity as Princess Kasala for now. If this Kelson is among the magicians at my court, or has contacts from the palace, he may not realize that you are in Iberloah at all. I’m not sure what Kelson would want from either you or your mother, but we shouldn’t make things any easier for him. I will talk to my counselors about sending out search parties and will ask my most trusted mages to help you in your search. However, it may be difficult to get much help from magicians at the moment, due to the attacks directed toward them. I will do all that I can, but you must realize that it may take some time,” King Verone said.

“I appreciate anything you can do, and I can even help with magic stuff if you show me what to do. Breeohan has been teaching me, and I think I’m getting the hang of lacings if you need an extra person on the job.”

“You really have magic abilities?” He seemed surprised, despite my earlier mention that I brought myself to Iberloah, but I didn’t blame him. I’d been shocked myself. “I would be glad of your help,” the King continued, “but I am afraid I will not be able to spare anyone to continue your training.”