Keeper (First Ordinance #2)(83)

Afterward, Lady Rinda's severely wounded child was brought to me by a servant, who asked that I keep her survival secret. He feared that Tamblin, who'd murdered Tandelis and the Avii Queen and King, would also kill the last survivor of the throne room massacre. The poor girl died before I could do anything to help her.

I pretended this was not so and several days later, I released the girl from the metal box. Just as Liron said, she breathed and woke. For a day I dithered, feeding her and asking her questions.

She was curiously silent, and that I could not explain. Perhaps that was the way she was meant to be, connected to the Orb at Avii Castle as she was.

Regardless, eventually I cut away her hair, called the servant and placed the child in his arms, asking him to hand her to someone willing to take her.

He carried her to the kitchens and that is where she stayed, working as a drudge from a very early age.

After sun-turns had passed, I learned from Wolter, the chief cook, that something was wrong with Finder's back.

Yes, they called the girl Finder, because that was her talent. I looked at her back and knew exactly what I was seeing—the girl was growing wings.

I knew Tamblin would kill her immediately if he learned what the nubs actually were, so I did the only thing I could and asked the stablemaster to cut them away with hoof nippers.

Every sun-turn afterward, I ordered him to do the same. The girl suffered great pain because of it, but it was the only way to keep her alive. I hoped, even when Fyris began to die about us, that somehow, she and the Orb could still find a way to save all of us.

I worry, however, that due to my cowardice, I'd killed Fyris just as effectively as Tamblin and Yevil did.

Liron, I am sorry I failed you.

Your humble servant,

Ulrin.





Chapter 17

Avii Castle

Quin

Sheep and goats bleated far below as I sat on the edge of a terrace facing the bowl of Avii Castle. The owner of the attached suite was working elsewhere—she was one of the glassworkers and a part of me wondered if she'd had a hand in forming my glass feather.

It didn't matter. Liron had placed his faith in a humble physician, who'd failed to keep his promise. Somehow, had Ulrin performed his duty, my connection to the Orb would inform it that Elabeth was in danger.

I imagined that it would appear in the throne room of Tandelis' castle, saving those there much as it had appeared and saved me when I was dumped at Avii Castle.

The images of such played through my mind. Had those things occurred, then Siriaa would be healthy instead of facing evacuation to save its people. The people of Fyris, whom Liron had been most anxious to protect, were already gone.

Was that my purpose, now? It did seem that I was driven to save Siriaa. Had Liron given me instructions, just as he had Ulrin?

If he had, I didn't recall them.

Ulrin's journal still hadn't explained my origin—where I'd come from before Liron chose me as his instrument. Perhaps he believed that a child would be less of a target for Tamblin and Yevil, or easily overlooked.

The Orb would have blasted those two back, I know that much—it had rendered Ardis unconscious with its force. I hugged myself. So much had depended upon a simple action, yet that action had not been performed.

It left all of us where we were—with a fate we'd never imagined. I couldn't curse or blame Ulrin—he had no idea what his inaction would eventually cost Siriaa. He'd been too afraid of the evil that was Tamblin and Yevil.

Spreading my wings, I allowed myself to drop off the railing and glide toward the animals below. This time, when I landed, the shepherd boy offered a curt nod and no insults. Lambs and ewes alike bumped and jostled as they came forward for a touch of my hands. I offered them as much of my attention as I could, preoccupied as I was with Ulrin's words.

That's where Justis found me.

"Quin," he began while tucking in his wings and attempting to wade through the entire flock surrounding me. By the time he reached my side, I was already weeping. Without a word, I was pulled to him and comforted while I sobbed against his chest.

*

"It was written upside down and backward." I slid the journal toward Daragar. He'd arrived as I wearily attempted to explain my findings to Justis, Gurnil, Ordin, Berel and Kaldill.

That's when Daragar added to the mystery. "Nefrigar tells me that when things are connected as I suspect you and the Orb are, that both have to be constructed at the same time."

My breath stopped again. The Orb was ancient—Gurnil said so. He said there were records of its appearance when Avii Castle was created by Liron far in the past.

"The Orb could only appear in one place in Fyris," Justis said. "The site of the Saving. Elabeth told me long ago—that the Orb was prevented somehow from going anywhere else on that continent. I suppose this was Liron's way of getting around that. I'm sure Yevil knew it, too—through Treven. That's likely why he and Tamblin chose the throne room to do their murders."

"Why didn't Ulrin open the box when he was supposed to?" I wiped more tears away—my vision was blurred as I blinked at Justis. "How old am I?" I wept.

"Dearest, you mustn't allow this to upset you. Time began for you when Ulrin finally opened that box," Kaldill said. "Nefrigar calls it a stasis box. You were kept from growing or aging as long as you were inside it."