Knowledge: The Fifth Division Saga: Book 1 (14 page)

Chapter 7

“What about this one?”

“No.”

“Iris, you don’t have to get
everything
in pink!” Caspian moaned, throwing a blue sundress back down onto the counter.

“
Yes
I can! Who are you? The color police?” She shot back and I stifled a laugh.

The three of us had decided to go shopping the day after she arrived. It was my first time walking through the marketplace without my body guards and I was enjoying every second of it. Iris oohed and awed at everything we saw and her jealousy of our Knowledge’s had reached an extreme level.

“
Besides
,” she sassed, “I don’t need those pretty dresses because I don’t have wings! Maybe I should just get a bunch of turtlenecks!”

I shifted uncomfortably under the stares of a few fellow customers at her word choice of “wings”, clearly a touchy subject. A couple of nervous glances flickered to my unusual Knowledge before they continued on with their shopping. I placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “Rissy, you’ll get yours when you’re our age. Now just grab a pink dress so we can move on.” She shot Caspian a look of victory and snatched the pink dress from the table. The seller held out her hand impatiently, her brown earth Knowledge loomed over her shoulders.

Before we left the castle, we had run into one of the maids, who handed us two brown satchels of strange silver pieces when we told her we were going shopping. She explained the silver was their currency and that the two bags she had given us were gifts from the royal family themselves. We accepted the gift but I couldn’t help but wonder about this ominous family of nobles. We had lived in the palace for eight days and had yet to meet, or even see, them.

I reached into my brown bag and handed the lady three pieces of silver, glancing at the price sign placed beside the dress. She nodded after a quick inspection and ushered us on, annoyed with our delaying her business. But as we started to walk away, a small notebook placed on the edge of her counter caught my eye. I picked it up and examined the leather cover, decorated with multi-colored flowers and jewels. The blue sapphires and green emeralds glistened in the early sunlight and the intricate embroidery was impeccable. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the design, everything jumbled together. Yet the beauty exuded by it could not be matched. I stared in awe.

“Pretty,” Caspian said and handed the lady a couple of pieces more from his own bag.

“You didn’t have to pay for it.” I said, still admiring the notebook as he placed in into my hands.

“I wanted to.” He nudged me a little and we headed down the cobblestone road, “I know you don’t think anything of it, but you can sing. Maybe you could use it to write songs.”

I flipped through the blank pages, already composing lyrics in my head.

*

Ash crouched low in the dense brush that surrounded the enemy country.

Erion unsheathed one of his
lignum
knives and tensed, ready for an attack. Ash mimicked him, clenching the smooth wood of the weapon’s grip to his hands perfectly, like it was made for him. He lifted his head ever so slightly and scanned the perimeter, checking for the black gear that marked Hartrainians.

In hindsight, Ash wasn’t sure why he had volunteered him and Erion to be the Scouts from now on. It wasn’t an especially time consuming job considering they were only required to Scout Hartrain, the enemy territory, once a week. But the danger level was considerably high. When he told Erion that he had signed them up for the job, his friend had simply stared at him for a second and nodded, consenting to the task.

That was why they were best friends: Ash did something crazy and or stupid and Erion dealt with it one way or another. Erion was one of the only people, Laurel being the other, that could handle Ash’s impulsive behavior. He realized the stress he placed on those two as being unfair, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was in his nature.

Ash flashed back to the day before when he had flown to the human world to retrieve Mirabelle’s little sister. It had felt so freeing to spread his Knowledge out wide again, something he had not been able to do in far too long. The sensation of the wind billowing through his feathers had to be the most marvelous feeling he could conceive.

When he arrived on the wooden entry of the Daily home and informed Mirabelle’s parents that he was required, by order of the Nostosian Courts, to bring Iris back with him, Rain Daily explained her concerns and made it clear that she would not be having her baby taken away. She implored Ash as to whether he had been informed as to why he was sent to retrieve Iris. Of course, the Council had told him nothing. He was a Legion soldier, he did what he was ordered to do, no questions asked. She proceeded to explain her situation and the reasoning for the Court wanting Iris in Nostos. Ash scoffed at first, disbelieving of what she claimed to be true. But when the child emerged from within the depths of the house and he saw her piercing lavender eyes, he understood. He knew why Rain hesitated to permit her child to go with him to the land from which she had been banished. But rules were rules and it was his job to uphold them. He informed the worried mother of this and flinched at the sight of the tears welling up in the corners of her aqua blue eyes. Rain forced him into swearing not to tell Mirabelle or Caspian about Iris’s condition, not yet, and he relented to her wish.

His plan was to withhold what he knew, from Mirabelle especially. She was persistently curious, always pestering him with this and that. And it would be a challenge to hide anything from her interrogative stare that she so often gave. But when he saw the look of pure happiness that spread across her face when she saw her younger sister, he was positive the lights in the room literally became brighter. Seeing her so happy constricted his heart painfully.

He alerted Erion of the startling news concerning the young Durrant child as soon as he escaped Mirabelle and Iris. After explaining the young girl’s appearance and retelling what Rain had told him, Erion simply nodded and said, “Caspian and Mira don’t need to know this yet. They don’t need the extra confusion.”

Ash couldn’t agree more, but the thought of hiding even more information from Mirabelle was surprisingly difficult. He didn’t want to see those large gray eyes look at him with any more hatred than they already did. He normally didn’t really care what others thought of him, he had trained himself over the years not to. But something about her was different, almost...illuminating.

“How do you feel about the additional job assignment?” Erion broke through his reverie.

“Guardians? Yeah, no clue what that’s about. But the Queen always has some trick up her sleeve doesn’t she?” That morning Queen Selene, the Moon Elemental, had sent a personal note through the Legion headquarters assigning Ash and Erion an additional job as Guardians. They had no idea when they started or who they would be protecting, but the note indicated they would find out soon enough. 

He blinked repeatedly to bring himself back to the present.
I need to focus, now is not the time to let up my guard
. He thought. Erion nodded to the far left, his eyes wide and urgent. Ash straightened up slightly so as to be able to see the expanse of desert that surrounded the gates of Hartrain. The sun shone bright and hot and dust particles fogged his vision, but in the distance he could distinctly see two black figures shuffling towards the walled country.

As they drew closer, Ash could more clearly make out the forms. A boy and a girl. The girl’s silky black hair flew behind her like an opaque cape and the boy’s brilliant eyes burned Wielder blue through the dusty air. It looked as if the boy was dragging the girl along. Eventually, they were near enough that Ash could see their faces and he almost called out at what he saw.

He knew that girl and he hated her.

But she was Nostosianand his job was to protect all those in the country, no matter which Kingdom they were from. As part of the treaty of the Kingdoms, he took an oath to get into the Legion that tied him to that way of thinkin
g
‘til death. He could now see that the boy had feathery brown hair and a twisted smile that only came from a mind lost to insanity. Something about the boy seemed familiar, something about his jaw line…

The black haired girl was out cold, her body slack as the maniacal boy pulled her across the desert. Ash started to stand up, ready to run after them, but Erion tugged on his arm warningly, “Don’t.”

“She’s from Nostos, we have to help her.”

“If we go after them now, we’ll just get killed. We won’t be able to do much good if we’re dead.”

“So we’re just going to sit here and wait for them to kill her instead?”

Erion silenced and Ash turned back to the boy and girl. The boy shouted out, his voice slightly high pitched, like he had just barely hit puberty. The large stone walls that surrounded Hartrain shifted thunderously to let them in. As the gates opened, a band of half a dozen Hartrainians clad in all black gear marched out to meet them. A couple of them took the girl from the young Wielder and carried her inside the gates. One of them handed the boy a canteen of water and ushered him inside as well. Within minutes, everyone entered the city and the doors prepared to close.

Ash knew this would be his only shot.

Ignoring Erion’s terrified hiss, Ash sprang to his feet and dashed out into the open. This went against every code he had ever learned about Scouting and it was only his first mission. But he knew that sometimes you had to bend the rules in order to do the right thing. And he knew that staying hidden in the brush while he watched one of his fellow citizens be taken by the enemy couldn’t be right.

He pumped his arms as fast as he could, his breathing growing more ragged with every step. The heavy air filled his desperate lungs with dust and heat, making them beg for water. The stone walls moved towards each other now, like the colossal Gates to Hades. Only a small sliver remained ajar. He pushed himself even harder, practically to his breaking point. He had to make it, he had to help that girl. Sweat poured from his burning skin, trying in vain to cool him off.

The doors were feet away from shutting now. With a strained grunt, he snapped out his Knowledge and felt the strong wind flow past them. With a burst of energy he didn’t have, he jumped from the sandy ground and allowed the air currents to pull him up into the air. His muscles ached but he flapped his Knowledge as fast as he could muster anyways. He tucked his arms in to his sides in an attempt to become as aerodynamic as possible.

He was going to make it. They were almost shut, but at the rate at which he flew and the amount of room left in between the stone walls he could just barely fit…

“Umph!”

Right as he was about to squeeze through the crack and enter Hartrain, a speeding object tackled him midair from his left. Ash cartwheeled through the air before tumbling painfully to the ground. The sand broke his fall but he would still have to deal with some nasty bruises in the morning.

“What were you thinking? You would have been killed!”

Ash sat up and met Erion’s furious gaze, “I was trying to help her.”

“Look, I know you want to play hero but we have to be smart. You can’t just run into situations without thinking. You’re brighter than that Ash. So what did you think you were going to do once you got in, eh? Take on their entire army single-handed? Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Erion plopped down beside him and sighed deeply.

Ash stared up at the looming walls, “I just wanted to help someone.”

“Yeah well we’re going to have to start doing a lot of that I reckon. Our Legion skills might actually be of some use soon enough.”

“Why do you say that?”

Erion’s sky blue eyes hardened as he spoke, “Because as of now, the peace treaty has been broken.”

Chapter 8

A knock came at my door exactly two weeks after my arrival in Nostos. Without waiting for me to allow them, Ash and Erion barged into the room. Erion looked worried while Ash seemed slightly more than bored. They wore outfits of forest green jeans and combat jackets with boots laced up tight. I spotted the strange wood knives that Elementals seemed to fight with tucked into the various loops and pockets of their uniforms. Caspian and Iris, who both sat on my couch over in the corner playing cards, stood up at their arrival.

Erion wasted no time cutting to the chase, “Miss Mirabelle, we require your presence down in the Nostosian Courts.”

“Good morning to you too.”

“We apologize, but there isn’t much time for formalities.”

I nodded, “Do either of you know what they want to talk about?”

“We aren’t sure,” The uneasy look in his sky blue eyes set my stomach into queasy discomfort. I tried to catch Ash’s eye but he refused to look at me, preferring his fingernails instead. “We were given orders to retrieve you and escort you to the Courts.”

“I’ll go with her.” Caspian laid a protective hand on my shoulder.

Erion nodded, “Yes you will, because they require that you come as well.”

Caspian and I looked at each other in surprise.

“We’re taking Iris.”

Erion sighed, “Very well.”

Caspian and I each took one of Iris’s hands and followed Ash and Erion out the door, down the corridors and stairs, and onto the path that wove through the village. I clenched Iris’s hand tighter than I normally would. With my rising stress level came an even firmer grip. What the Court wanted persisted to be a mystery to me. When we came to the foot of Center Hill, I watched Iris’s eyebrows shoot up in confusion but it was not until we stood on top of the hill and Erion spoke into the open sky asking for permission to enter the courts that she turned to me and said, “Is he okay?” I nodded and gestured to the hole in the ground that opened up like the Rabbit Hole to Wonderland and almost laughed when her jaw just about hit the floor.

For the second time, I made the trip down the dirt sculpted tunnels to the underground Courtroom. The dim light flickered against the brown walls eerily and I gave an unintentional shiver. Ash pulled the large door open and held it ajar for us to walk through. As I passed him he reached out and grasped my arm, alarm shadowing his face, an alien emotion on his face, “Mirabelle, just remember, don’t speak unless spoken to. The Court does not condone defiance.”

The abnormal heat from his hand radiated up my arm, spreading a pleasant warmth through my body, “Since when am I defiant?”

              The worried look evaporated and left me with only a vacant, crooked smile, “Just keep your mouth shut, alright?” I nodded and he let go. I strode into the large, dome-like room of the Courts and sat at the far table between Caspian and Iris. The four Council members perched on their thrones above, staring down at us. Ravens waiting to devour their prey. I heard the enormous door shut as Ash slipped into the room, taking a standing spot beside Erion in the back.

              Silence fell. The leader with the golden eyes (who I now knew to be the Elemental king due to his sun Knowledge) stood and spoke directly to us, I distantly recalled his name to be Cyro, “Mirabelle and Caspian Durrant, we have summoned you here today as a way to disclose confidential information. Everything you hear today shall remain private and only known to the people in this room until the Council permits otherwise. Is this clear?” We nodded. “Good. Now, it is our understanding that Caspian Durrant successfully received his Water Knowledge this last Monday, correct?” There was that name again: Durrant.

            
 
“Yes,” Caspian answered.

            
 
“And Mirabelle Durrant received an unclassified Knowledge on this same date?”

              I nodded.

            
 
“Very well. Has it been disclosed to you that once an Elemental receives their Knowledge they are required to attend the Nostosian University to master your newly acquired skills in a way that is beneficial to our country and in order to gain the tools you need for future associations with the four Kingdoms?”

            
 
“So, you’re saying we have to go to school to be with other magical people our age to learn how to use our powers?” I asked.

            
 
“That is correct.”

            
 
“So, like Hogwarts?”

              The King Cryro blanched, “I beg your pardon?”

            
 
“Mira, please shut up.” Caspian hissed into my ear. As tempting as the prospect of making a list of Harry Potter jokes sounded, I listened to my brother and zipped my lips.

            
 
“You will attend school on all days except Sunday starting at six in the morning and concluding at six in the evening. Every day you will spend half of your time with other Elementals your age and the other half with other children from the other three Kingdoms. You will be expected to comply with all of the demands your teachers make and to not cause any trouble. You will also be expected to complete any extra work outside of the classroom.”

            
 
“Yay, even magical worlds have homework.” I muttered to Caspian who merely glared in response.

            
 
“This is not all of the news we have to share with you today.” The golden eyed king then sat down.

              The man with the electric blue eyes now stood, I now knew of him as the Wielding king, Borak, and when he spoke, his accented voice boomed like thunder, “The complication with your school attendance lies in information you have not yet been given concerning your heritage.”

              This took me by surprise, “What are you talking about?”

            
 
“The blood that runs through you and your brother’s veins is not purely Elemental.”

              Caspian spoke this time, “Not purely Elemental?”

            
 
“Do you know who your father is? Of course you do not, your mother escaped with you while you were just infants. We do not have all the information, for that you must ask your mother, but what we can tell you is this: your mother was originally married to a Wielder named Xavier Mayne. Intermarriage between Kingdoms is, of course, illegal so they were banished for their crime. That is why you were not raised here in Nostos.”

            
 
“Wait a minute,” I cut in, unable to listen a second longer without more clarification, “if my mom married a Wielder…and that man is our father…Caspian and I are…”

            
 
“Half Elemental and Half Wielder, yes.”

            
 
“But then how are we allowed to stay here? Isn’t the fact that we exist a crime?”

              The blue-eyed man nodded, “Yes, but part of the Law recognizes the fact that the children of an illegal marriage did not commit the crime. The Law allows for these children to return to Nostos if they so choose. Your mother was the first to commit this felony in over three hundred years so we have been refreshed on the rules concerning your case.”

             
Three hundred years?

            
 
“And what are these rules?”

            
 
“You must live in this duality in secret. Your mother and her husband have already been escorted back to the human world, but we ask that you stay for your own safety now that you know of your heritage. Nostos is not without enemies and we would be much saddened to learn that something terrible happened to you if you return to the human world while you are still so vulnerable. You two must attend the Elemental lessons and All Kingdom lessons. But you must keep this information confidential. Our people do not accept abnormality with grace.”

            
 
“Why have we been introduced as Elementals if we’re half and half?”

              He pondered this, “It was evident that for whatever reason the Elemental gene was dominant in you both. The cause is unknown seeing as we have not had such a case like yours in centuries. But despite the dominant Elemental trait, we expect you to have the abilities of both. Therefore, you will be taking Wielding classes independently once you become more comfortable with your Elemental powers. We have decided this is the best possible way to accommodate your situation. ”

              Now Cyro stood and addressed us, “You have each been assigned a Guardian from our Legion that can attend the school with you and keep a discreet watch over you, just in case. They will make sure you adjust well to this new environment.”

              A warm hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up to see Ash’s stony gaze locked with the eyes of the Elemental king, “Don’t worry, they’re in good hands.”

            
 
“If all is understood, then you may be dismissed.” And the four Council members stared down at us until we dispersed from the room and the large door slammed behind us.

*

              As soon as we wound our way back through the dirt tunnels and up the stairs into the fresh air rushing around Center Hill, a small explosion occurred, namely: Erion.

            
 
“So
that’s
why they needed us to be their Guardians?!” Erion shouted into the chilled air as he whirled to face Ash who had slumped onto the ground in a heap of forest green gear. Erion’s lilted accent became more and more pronounced as his face grew redder with panic. “Did you know about this? Did you?”

“Yes, because I am actually part Seer and therefore predicted this meeting ages ago. Sorry mate, I meant to tell you.”

“Oh screw you!” This was the most informal term I had ever heard Erion use and it caught me off guard. He kicked at the grass angrily, “You know what this means, don’t you? If anyone else finds out about this…”

Ash perked up suddenly and grabbed the front of Erion’s shirt. Erion stopped stomping around and looked at Ash, “Nobody is going to find out. We have orders to follow and as long as we do that, we’re fine.” But he didn’t sound so sure.

He released Erion’s shirt. Erion brushed himself off and spoke more calmly, “Since when do you follow orders?”

“Since this time they actually make sense.”

Erion muttered bitterly under his breath. I glanced over at Caspian who stared at me and we shared a look of bewilderment and confusion. I gripped one of Iris’s small hands in mine and she squeezed back.

“So,” I said, trying to break the silence, “which of you was assigned to be my Guardian?”

“Who do you think?” Ash winked at me and it took all of my willpower not to slap my hand to my forehead.

Of course.

Ash lightly punched Erion, whose face now hid in his hands, in the shoulder and smiled broadly at us, “Awh c’mon, this will be fun!” he shot me one of his sly grins that I was so quickly becoming accustomed to and said, “Who’s ready for some quality education?”

*

That evening, Ash entered my room presenting a silver tray piled with delectable foods.

“Oh, that looks amazing!” I exclaimed, my stomach rumbling in appreciation. We gravitated towards the white leather couch in front of the fireplace and sank into the plush cushions. I licked my lips as he handed me my tray.

He raked his fingers through his dark hair and said, “Bon appetite.”

“Thanks for bringing this up.”

“It is my pleasure,” he bit into a french fry and gnawed, as if lost in thought, “I know you’re new here, but how much do you know about our foreign relations?”

“Hm, let me think…pretty much nothing.” I laughed.

“In the human world, are there countries that are considered dangerous to yours? An enemy, per se?”

I thought of all the war and anguish in the world I knew, “Of course.”

I waited for some sort of response but all he did was stare at the wall. He nodded a little and chewed on another bit of fry. His expression unusual to see on his normally light and sarcastic face. This was a look of haunting guilt or perhaps painful contemplation. I racked my brain, using all the skills crime television had provided over the years to try and deduce what the problem could be. 

We ate in silence, a strange occurrence seeing as he usually did not shut up about how annoying the other three kingdoms were or how crazy high the fruit stands were raising their prices. But now, he sat so quiet that I could hear the legs of a beetle scuttling across my floor as they scraped against the wooden ground.

“Well, I best be off.” He announced, only having taken a few bites of his food. I glanced down at my own plate and sighed: I had licked that baby clean. He stood up, taking our trays, and headed for the door. I walked behind him a step and when he reached the doorknob he stopped. With his hand still on the handle and tilted his head slightly to glance back at me and say, “Be careful, Miss Mirabelle. There is more evil in the world than good, and I do not predict that changing anytime soon. Goodnight.”