Heiress: Birthstone Series Book Two (7 page)

“What’s this about?” I asked her, halting when I decided my
family was out of earshot.

“How dare you plan to leave without me? I gave you the idea
to follow Aylen and you think you’re just going to take off without even
telling me?”

I blinked at her for a moment. “What?” I sputtered. “How did
you . . . Who told . . .”

“I’m not stupid, Sai,” she said. “Faema’s been skipping
around all evening, handing out hugs like they’re Haran’s mom’s spiced fruit
balls. She acts exactly as if she’s going on a long journey. And because that
girl has never been able to keep her emotions in check, I figure that’s exactly
what she’s doing!” Haji began to pace in front of me. “Faema? You’re taking
Faema of all people? When I gave you the idea? Are you crazy?”

“I didn’t know you wanted to go. Why would you?” I threw my
hands in the air.

Haji stopped pacing and poked me in the chest with one
finger. “Because you
need
me to go. Trust me when I tell you that you won’t
be able to do this without my help.”

“What I need is to be left alone so I can just get out of
here. You want to make me responsible for your life as well? I already have to
worry about Faema now. Where’s this coming from, Haj?”

Haji drew closer. Her eyes glittered dangerously. “You need
to trust me. There’s a reason I suggested you go separate from Aylen and
there’s a reason you’ll need me with you. I promise, you won’t regret having me
along.”

I turned from her and rubbed my knuckles across the stubble
on my cheek in thought. I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about and I
still didn’t believe she’d guessed I was leaving only through Faema’s actions.
There was so much she wasn’t telling me. But I’d known Haji my entire life and
she’d never done anything without good reason. She was one of the most level
headed girls I knew.

I sighed in defeat. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told
Faema. Be at my boat two hours before sunrise with everything you need.” I
turned to face her again. “You got a Sea Gem?” When Haji nodded vigorously, I
added, “Don’t forget that. You’ll need it.

I began to walk toward my family again but Haji called out,
“One gem per person won’t be enough, you know. That won’t get us very far.”

“Of course not,” I said. “Which is why we’re going to Nethra
first.”

“Good.” She seemed pleased but asked, “You think Perin is
just going to give you a supply of gems if you ask?”

“That would make things easy. I’d like him to cooperate, but
when he doesn’t, I’ve got other ways of getting want I want.”

“And that would entail what exactly?” Haji asked.

“We’re going to find the Nethran gem vault,” I said. I
hesitated before adding, “And we’re going to take whatever we need.”

Somewhere in the cold gray northern seas, our arrival
punctuated the atmosphere with a crack and a splash. The penetrating chill of
the water hit my skin. Unprepared, I gasped as it swirled around me. I bobbed
to the surface with a sputter, hacking up frigid sea water while I searched
anxiously for my family.

Not far away, my mother swam toward me. Her arms paddled
faster than I’d ever seen. I’d never known her to be a strong swimmer.

“Are you alright?” she asked as she reached out for me. Her
fingers brushed my cheeks in search of injuries.

“Just cold,” I chattered. “Where’s Aluce and Dad?”

“Here,” Dad said behind me. I turned to look at him and
noticed Aluce clinging to one of his arms.

“I’m still not great in water,” Aluce apologized. “You’d
think Vairdan life would have taught me something.”

“Not if you never embraced it,” I said. Then, with a nod
toward the monstrous land mass on the horizon, I asked, “Are we swimming to
that?”

 “‘
That’
is Analar,” Aluce explained. “And yes, it’s
our destination.”

Mom eyed her skeptically. “Can you make it?”

“We’ll all make it.” Aluce motioned toward my mother’s neck.
Mom reached toward a chain around her throat I hadn’t noticed before. When she
lifted it above water, I saw a pale pink stone attached to the end of it.

With a slight tremor of hesitation, Mom closed her eyes. An
instant later her body was encased in the unique skin that came only from a Sea
Gem.

“Aylen, use your gem,” she instructed with a small smile.

I hesitated. “Why didn’t we just travel with a boat? Are we
really going to drag Dad and Aluce all the way to Analar?”

“The boat’s mass would have taken up too much of the gem’s
energy and we would have arrived even further away,” Aluce explained. “Not to
mention it would have attracted unwanted attention if we arrived in a foreign
made vessel.”

I frowned. “And four people swimming toward shore won’t?”
Another shiver crawled down my spine and I tried to focus on the pink stone at
my throat. As usual, it seemed to drown amidst the overwhelming power of the
other gems.

“Not if we stick to the less inhabited part of the island,”
Aluce said. “Besides, I have hopes that the right people will find us.”

“Aylen, concentrate,” my dad said. With a nod, I closed my
eyes and imagined the feeling of a warm, comfortable sea skin, filling my lungs
with smooth, sweet air.

When the familiar sensation of a second layer slid over my
own skin, I opened my eyes and managed a weak smile. “That was easier this
time.” Easy wasn’t exactly the right word since nothing was ever easy with the
necklace at my throat. My parents knew this.

My mother squeezed my shoulder and Dad reached out to tousle
my wet hair.

“Great,” Aluce said. “I’m freezing and the sooner we reach
the island, the better. Let’s get going.”

Nobody disagreed. My mother and father paired off and I was
left to make sure Aluce got enough air as I pulled her toward shore. We went as
fast as we were able, knowing my father and Aluce wouldn’t last long in the
cold. But as much as I exerted myself, I knew we weren’t progressing quickly
enough.  A little while later, when Analar loomed much closer, I spotted what
looked to be a small fishing vessel.

“We should veer away from them before we’re seen,” I said to
my mother.

She turned to the blue-lipped shivering woman hanging onto
me. “Aluce?”

Aluce didn’t answer at first. Instead, she squinted at the
boat intently, as if she could see its inhabitants and anticipate their
intentions. Suddenly, she let out a sigh followed by a small whoop of delight.

“I wondered when they’d find us,” she said. “For the love of
Miranasch, get me to that boat.”

I’d never seen Aluce show half as much enthusiasm for
anything so I didn’t question her. Minutes later, we approached the vessel. The
passengers, two men and one woman, stretched out their hands and lifted us out
of the ocean. Before a word was said, they wrapped thick blankets around my
father and Aluce.

One of the men on the boat glanced across the choppy surface
of water. His skin was a smooth deep brown and he was taller than most men in
Vairda. “Anyone else see you?” he asked.

“No, but I wish you’d seen us earlier,” Aluce said through
rattling teeth.

“We were held up on shore. Someone with a Weather Gem got a
little too confident and conjured up a good sized storm. I hear some of the
king’s soldiers had stiffed the troublemaker most of his pay for a week’s haul
and he retaliated.”

I released myself from my Sea Gem and accepted a blanket
from a calloused hand. “What kind of haul?” I asked.

“He’s a fisherman like most of the people in Analar,” said
the boy to my side. I glanced his way and noticed he looked almost exactly like
the other man in the boat, except he was slightly smaller and closer to my age.

Mom tucked her Sea Gem into her shirt and looked at the boy.
“What happened to him?”

“Arrested,” the man answered. “Probably won’t survive the
next few days. They took him to the holding cell until the next shipment of
prisoners are sent to the mainland.”

Aluce furrowed her brow and chewed on a fingernail for a
moment before asking, “What did they do with his gem?”

“The guards usually collect them. They pass them to the head
guard and he keeps them on his person until he transfers them to be destroyed.
They’re useless to the king once they’ve been claimed of course.”

“How long were you in the water?” the woman finally asked.
She’d seated herself next to my mother. Her eyes followed our every move,
curious and intent.

“Long enough to think we weren’t going to make it much
further,” Aluce said.

“It wasn’t that long,” Dad corrected her. “How did you know
to find us?”

Aluce snorted and the man smiled. “The rebellion has grown
much while you’ve been gone. We have a few highly protected Wisdom Gem readers
looking for signs of your arrival every week and in the last several days,
we’ve received word that your decision to come was finally made. And, as you
probably know, Aluce has been sending out messages with sea dwellers for
months.”

“You’ve been telling them I was coming even before I made
the decision?” I narrowed my eyes at her and frowned.

“I knew it was close. You wouldn’t have been able to ignore
the pull of the gems much longer.” She shrugged and averted her eyes.

My father cleared his throat and looked up at the man who’d
helped us. “Who are we to thank for the blankets and the boat?”

“My name is Kuritau. My family joined the cause four winters
ago after our business was heavily taxed and monitored by the king. This is my
wife Jinna and my son Till.”

“So, are you really her?” Till asked, his eyes wide, brown
circles.

I blinked as a drop of water trickled down my forehead and
into my eyes. “Yes.” I wiped the moisture from my face with a portion of the
blanket and frowned. “But I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing for any of
you.”

Jinna laughed. “It can’t get any worse over here.”

"It can always get worse," I assured.

“How many people have joined the resistance?” Mom asked
Kuritau.

“We’re everywhere. The problem is King Shir has control of
most of the mines. Anyone caught with a gem illegally, like our Weather Gem
rebel today, is immediately arrested and tried for treason. Meanwhile, he can
strong arm most people into giving into his demands with the use of the gems
he’s got at his disposal. Every move we make has to be carefully planned so as
not to waste our limited supply of gems. Most of those who have joined are without
bloodlines anyway which means they have little to fight with.”

“It seems little has changed in the time we’ve been away,”
Mom muttered.

I tightened the blanket around my shoulders and eyed our
three benefactors. “How did Aluce know you were rebels?”

“The symbol,” Aluce broke in.

“We’ve been using it only to look for the arrival of the Gem
Heiress,” Kuritau said as he tugged at a woven tapestry draping over the side
of the boat. He pulled it up and spread it at my feet where it lay soggy with
saltwater.

I recognized the image sewn into the fabric. It was a tree,
similar to the one I’d seen in Vairda in the underground tunnels where I’d
found my necklace, except this one was much simpler. It lacked the different
bloodlines that had been represented in the branches.

“What does the lightening mean?” I pointed to a jagged
streak that stretched down from the top of the tapestry toward the tree.

“The destruction of the king’s control over the bloodlines,”
Jinna said. “You’re the lightening. Once he loses control of the tribes, they
can break apart and grow on their own.”

I committed the image to memory. If it was being used by
other people in the rebel movement, it would help me know who was friend or foe
in this foreign land. But as I stared at it, a feeling of unease blossomed in
the pit of my stomach.

“So, I’m here to simply end my grandfather’s reign so the
tribes can govern themselves. Does that mean the rebels are hoping to do away
with the monarchy entirely?”

“Not exactly,” Aluce said. She glanced quickly at Kuritau.
“In the end, the rebels are hoping to call a new ruler- one who can recognize
the value of every bloodline and gem. They want someone who can be impartial
and still have the ability to control the power each gem offers.”

“But wouldn’t that start the entire process over again?”

“Not if that person could control their desire for gems.”
Aluce smiled at me but I shook my head.

“It’s not me, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t want
to be a ruler and we’re still learning the effects the gems have on me. What if
over the years I end up just like my grandfather?”

I stared at Aluce and our rescuers, awaiting a response. But
I didn’t need to hear it. I understood their thoughts from the way their eyes
avoided mine.

“So in a way,” I confirmed, “even if I can do what you ask
and remove the king from power, I may still be looking at an early death
sentence in my future.”

“Wisdom Gems have indicated that your reign would be
successful,” Aluce argued.

“But you know their information isn’t always reliable. Did
they also indicate what would happen if I didn’t want to govern a kingdom? Or
was that not taken into consideration?”

No one answered and I turned to look out at the gray, white
capped swells as they rolled on and on across the water. Jinna twisted the
small tapestry into a tight cylinder and wrapped it in a thick covering as we
sat in silence. I knew my parents wanted to speak with me in private about the
rebel’s plans for my future and at some point I would want to discuss it with
them as well. For right now, though, I was grateful for the chance to lose
myself in my own thoughts.

 Till raised the small sails on the boat and with his
father, directed us toward Analar. Watching Till masterfully maneuver the
vessel reminded me of Sai and the many hours I’d spent with him in his little
fishing boat. My heart throbbed painfully when I thought of him, nearly a world
away now. Ruling Miranasch would mean never seeing him again, never returning
to Vairda. But hadn’t I known that all along? What had I expected? It would be
nearly impossible to leave Miranasch now that I’d arrived and somewhere, in the
recesses of my heart, I’d known this was likely a permanent move.