Chapter Six
“I don’t understand it.” I sighed, keeping well away from the horses. Stables were all well and good, but I didn’t have to like them, did I? “Why would they give me a present? They don’t even know me.” And I wasn’t sure how fond I was of their present…
“That doesn’t matter. You are their princess.”
“Not yet. It hasn’t been announced.” I paused, before adding another word. “Formally.”
“Maybe.” Mizuiro looked over her shoulder. “But you had best get used to it. Come spring all the villages will be sending gifts.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know why.”
Mizuiro shot me another look. This time it seemed I warranted being faced head on.
“Sabriel… this is just how it’s always been.”
I shoved my hands deep into my coat pockets. Bless warm, down-filled coats and curse sudden snowstorms. Mizuiro had been going to take me to town today and to see what was in the stores. Unfortunately, the roads were closed.
Was it weird that only a single week had gone by and yet I was more comfortable with Mizuiro then I had been with my… mother.
That word still gave me a strange feeling in my stomach.
Then again, maybe I felt so comfortable around Mizuiro because she never looked at me like I was an idiot. Even for not knowing something everyone else learned in the cradle.
“Sabriel?”
I looked up. My habit of staring off into space hadn’t gone away yet, though at least I wasn’t brooding over Griffin.
“Yes?” Had she been talking to me? Had I been ignoring her, no matter how unintentional that was?
“You don’t like horses, do you?” Mizuiro had an almost sad look on her face.
“Well…” What was I supposed to say, anyway? I don’t know if I like horses or not, I’ve never been this close to one before?
“I like horses, but… They’re so big.” I stared at the horse I had been given, a brown and black one. Maybe it wasn’t as big as some of them could be, but it was big.
“Oh…” Mizuiro blinked, lips thinning. “Come here.”
“What-?” She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the stall. I didn’t bother to struggle, just bit my lip and tried not to panic.
“All right. Look, see? She won’t hurt you.” Mizuiro shoved my hand right against the horse’s nose, where she held it until I was giggling.
“That tickles.” And I was expecting something to explode at any time, but nothing did. “Are all horses this… inquisitive?”
“Inquisitive.” Mizuiro gave me a look. “Where did you learn a word like that? Only the elders use it.”
“Um… What’s it doing?” I tried to pull away, but Mizuiro didn’t even move as I jerked my arm.
“It is a she, and she is seeing if you’ve hidden treats up your sleeve.”
I bit my lip, and struggled not to pull away as whiskers brushed against my wrist. It tickled worse then having the horse sniff at my palm. I struggled to control my breathing, but it was too late.
A hay bale exploded.
To the horse's credit, it just looked. The other horse, Mizuiro’s horse, started to panic. At least, that’s what I thought the head tossing was about.
Mizuiro let go of my wrist to hurry over to her horse, which was a beautiful, pale gold. But mine… Mine just looked back at me, with those dark eyes that showed no fear. I stepped forward, bringing both hands up to cup her nose.
“Uh… hey. Not scared, are you?” I ran my fingers up over her forehead, brushing the cowlick before going up to her bangs. I tangled my fingers in the strands, breathing in the heavy smell of horse, eyes wide and muscles trembling. No more explosions, no fear, just a calm horse and a mostly calm human.
The horse sighed, and leaned closer. I froze, teeth clenching, but nothing happened. I ran my fingers up over both ears, feeling the velvet soft fur, and then ran my hands along the sides of her neck.
“There, see? Not so bad, is it? Tomorrow, I’ll teach you how to groom her.”
I looked over at Mizuiro. “Groom her?”
“Keep her clean.” Mizuiro folded her arms and leaned against the stall door. If she hadn’t looked as she did, clean and, well, beautiful, I would almost have drawn a comparison between her and a gang banger on Earth. “You don’t think horses stay this way all the time, do you?”
The best answer seemed to be, “No?”
“Right.”
“Why don’t I learn today?”
Mizuiro looked up. “Just so you know, your horse is named Aoife. And you’re going to be late for your lessons.”
My eyes widened, and I stepped away from Aoife. Five careful steps and I was out of the barn and running.
Late! For my second lesson! This… This was bad. Kiel would decide I was a bad student, she wouldn’t teach me any more, and I wouldn’t be able to control my abilities. I’d probably end up killing someone if I didn’t learn!
I nearly fell going around a corner, and took the stairs two at a time. At least I knew how to get to my rooms…
I slammed the door open, frightening Kiel. “I’m sorry I’m late and I won’t do it again please don’t stop teaching me!” I gasped for breath, gripping the back of a couch to keep from falling over.
“I… Milady! Calm. I would not stop teaching you even if you missed our lesson. This is something you need, after all.” Kiel walked towards the empty room, glancing at me from the corner of her eyes. “Come then.”
I coughed, and followed. Well, now didn’t I feel just stupid. I took off my coat and slung it across a chair back, shutting the door behind me. Kiel sat down, and I sat across from her. We both closed our eyes, and I focused on meditation.
I don’t know how long I sat, thoughts blank, before Kiel spoke.
“Focus on your center.”
Okay… Odd thing to say, though. Center, center… I was pretty sure she didn’t mean my physical center. My mental center? That worked better.
It almost felt like I was drifting away from my body, towards a light. Not a bright light. Just a dim glow that turned darkness into a gray, murky cloud. But it was lighter then anything, so into it I went.
“In the center of your center, you will find your power.”
The deeper into the light I went, the brighter it got. The air got a silver cast to it, and the ground a green cast. In the distance, I saw something.
“Your power may appear as anything. Or nothing at all.”
It was a well. Charming, made of brick and mortar, with a small, thatched roof above. My mouth dropped open a bit. I hadn’t expected a well, black as midnight, in the middle of silver and green. Though the water I could see looked like quicksilver skittering over the surface of a metal pan.
I stepped closer, until I was peering over the rim into the water. It wasn’t silver, exactly. It was clear. It was the inside of the well that was silver, below the waterline. And… inside the water…
It lunged for me, and I screamed.
0O0
“What did you see?” Kiel ran her paw up and down my back.
I wouldn’t let go of her. I couldn’t. I was shaking so hard I thought my teeth would rattle right out of my mouth. My mind was locked on what I’d seen, in that well of power.
“Fangs. And claws. Silver scales.” I pressed my face harder into Kiel’s shoulder. “Dark green eyes.”
The eyes had scared me the most. They had been a decided contrast to the ridge of longer scales that turned red at the tips running down the spine. They had been eyes I saw every day when I lived on Earth. Every day when I woke up, and every day before I went to bed.
In a mirror.
My eyes.
“And wings.”
Wings with webbing that shaded to a light green beneath, a dark green above. I swallowed, trying to keep the panic from hitting again. Things had broken. I knew they had. I just didn’t know what had broken.
“Sabriel?”
“It was in the well.”
My voice had dropped to a whisper, as if I were holding out some horrible secret. “I just murdered my boyfriend. His body’s in the trunk of my car!”
I’d read that in a book.
This was scary. This was real. My heart was pounding like I’d run myself ragged, my body felt like it had been dipped in ice water, and I felt like my mind was plugged with cotton.
“The well.”
“The black well.”
Kiel’s paw froze on my back, before it started in circles. I couldn’t see her face. I didn’t have to. I knew there would be disgust, or fear, or confusion, or any combination of the three. I struggled to hold back a sob, even as my trembling got worse.
“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I…”
I finally broke down. I howled into Kiel’s shoulder, never mind the sounds of breaking things, never mind that it hurt, never mind the snot and tears that became one with the pelt Kiel wore… never mind any of that. I cried, until I could cry no more, until my eyes were crusty and red and my throat was raw with pain. And then I was nothing more then an empty shell, able only to cling to a humanoid fox in numb terror.
Because I still saw the dragon hurling itself at me, my eyes filled with fire as great jaws opened to swallow me whole.
0O0
“This is a bad idea.”
“Hush!”
“We’re not even supposed to be able to read. Poor farming village, remember?”
“If you don’t hush, Cade, I’ll be forced to kill you. No one will argue.”
“That’s what you always say.”
“It’s true.”
“Gryth… Fine. But if we’re caught…”
“We were looking at the pretty pictures, we washed our hands three times before touching the books, and we’ll throw ourselves to their mercy for our crime.” A laugh. “What could be simpler?”
“Staying away from the books?”
“How else are we going to find anything out?”
“Fine.”
“So, what did you think of the princess.”
“Are they sisters?”
“I think so.”
“They didn’t look it.”
0O0
Mizuiro walked down the halls, boot heels clicking on stone. Even the thick carpet couldn’t completely muffle her footsteps, no matter how irritating it was for the old advisers. Women should be seen and not heard, in their minds, and that included footsteps. Foggy old men, they should have resigned a long time ago. Xeniasasa was finally catching up to the rest of the countries, no matter how much they dragged their heels and spoke of war and death and the destruction of Zaphire.
She knocked on a certain door, an oak stained a dark red.
“Enter.”
The door opened with that, and Mizuiro walked in. She didn’t stride, she didn’t march, she just walked as she always did. Not too fast, not too slow, with an air of command.
“Mother.” Mizuiro tried a smile, and failed. “So, when’s the next family gather?” When in doubt, fall back on sarcasm and near courtier-like language. It was the only way out of a doubtlessly painful conversation.
“Maybe never. You should be the one to tell her, she knows you best.” Evangeline looked up from paperwork, lines on her face that hadn’t been there a week earlier. “She hates me.”
“You don’t know that.” Mizuiro folded her arms, bracing her legs. A fight was a fight, even if it was with words. “You’re just assuming again, Mother. That doesn’t do very well for a ruler.”
Evangeline’s face twisted into complex emotions that passed with the shattering of a small oil lamp, fortunately empty. “I have too many things to worry about, then to spend all my time puzzling over Sabriel. Such as why the Heir and Spare of the Mavni forces are… gone.”
“Gone?” Had something happened? No, the one responsible for the death of the Mavni princes would crow about it, be treated as a hero, and even if it was an accident with a trap or poisoned food the deaths would be celebrated. Everyone knew the old king Bloodbeard was old and infertile. The Mavnis would be reduced to in-wars, trying to get a new king, and easy prey for the allies.
So the princes must be… spying. Mizuiro’s lips twitched at that. Spies could be caught and killed, after all, never mind how careful they were. It happened all the time. And besides, two Mavnis… they would be found, soon, maybe as soon as they were spotted. Maybe the deaths of the princes would never be discovered, or at least not until years later, but they would die.
And if they tried to infiltrate Zaphire… Mizuiro touched the sword hilt hanging at her hip. She would be glad to greet them, sword bared and smiling.
“Sabriel doesn’t hate you. She’s confused, yes, but not… angry, exactly.” Mizuiro dragged her mind back to the important task of calming an older, stronger Sabriel. Only this woman knew better how to hide how she felt. “She resents not knowing about you for almost fifteen years, she’s a bit afraid, but she doesn’t hate you. Hate requires a lot more then just fear of having your head bitten off for giving an opinion.”
“I wouldn’t do that!” Evangeline stood up, chair skittering backwards before falling. “What gave her that idea?”
Mizuiro lifted an eyebrow. “I haven’t the slightest idea. Though some resentment comes from your banning Griffin from Zaphire.”
Evangeline’s lip curled. “First of all, I hope you explained my… surface reasons.”
“I did.”
“And secondly, I will not have that… that soothsayer near my daughter! Not as long as I live!” Another lamp shattered, and then a small vase. Evangeline didn’t seem to notice. A flower set in a vase caught fire. Mizuiro stared at it for a moment, before looking back at her mother and Queen, who was pacing like a tigress in fine dyed silk.
“You want me to explain that to her, too? Will you never speak with her, Mother? Or will you be brave for once, as you were so long ago, and talk to her?”
Evangeline shot her daughter a look. “Keep your father out of this.”
Mizuiro hid a smile. It was always nice when the arrow flew true.
“I will speak to her tomorrow, over dinner. Don’t say I hide from my children, Daughter, or you will find yourself demoted all the way back to night guard.”
Mizuiro nodded, keeping satisfaction to herself. “As you say, Your Majesty.” She bowed at the waist, before backing from the room.
A good day, this. Maybe she should stop by the barracks, practice her sword work. The storm couldn’t be bad enough to confine her to the castle, could it?
A bit late, Mizuiro noticed the shattering mirror. She sighed.
It couldn’t be Evangeline, she wasn’t that worked up.
What was wrong now?
