Priestess Awakened Read online

  “Kind of, yes. He asked her to keep it for him right before the battle that killed him. I need to look around her room and see if he left anything else. Where’s Angie? She pried up a floorboard, she said?”

  “Here I am, Uncle Forrest…” Angie slipped out, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. “It was really weird. No one had any idea it was there. She just got really insistent all of a sudden. I can show you the spot. But I didn’t see anything else there…”

  I followed Forrest upstairs and Angie lifted up a loose board. There was nothing there except dust. But Forrest wanted to search the room, and although I don’t think the rest of his family liked the idea, they must have seen his face and decided not to get in his way. He tore open drawers, lifted the mattress, and took three dozen books off a shelf to shake out the pages. He grew more frantic with each place he searched.

  I didn’t want to get in his way either, so I just stood there watching him, tall and rugged and almost violent in his movements and his sword and leather armor, tearing through a room where everything seemed too small and fragile for him. It wasn’t a creepy old person room. It smelled like perfume and everything in it was old and feminine in an elegant, old fashioned way. He avoided her clothes until the end, but after he searched everything else, he shoved open the trunk and started throwing ancient lace dresses on the floor, cursing.

  “Forrest!” I finally cried. “Let me do it.”

  “No.”

  “No to you!” I snapped back, putting my hands over his. I looked in his eyes and saw tears welling there, but he looked furious.

  “Forrest,” I said softly. I took out the last few things, quickly unfolding them, and folding them again. “There’s nothing here…” I started putting all the clothes back. When I was done, he shut the trunk.

  “I wasn’t here,” he said.

  “You were, though,” I said.

  “I don’t belong in my own family anymore.”

  “Yeah—I know how it is.” I crossed my arms, chewing my lip. “I don’t know when I’ll see Mom again, and if I did, I couldn’t tell her half of what’s happened to me. And maybe Wretch is gone forever. I had friends, too. I had friends in Istim. Of course, when I became a Strawberry Girl, it was already different. And I never had a big family like this. Barely remember my dad. I don’t know if it’s worse to miss twenty people or just a few. I guess if I loved twenty people, I would still love them all a lot, so it probably is worse for you…”

  He stood up. “I just wanted an answer,” he said. “It would be easier to accept my destiny if I knew that I was walking in the footsteps of my family. I wanted to know that Uncle Roderick was a guardian too.”

  “But it doesn’t actually matter. Does it…? We are what we are.”

  “You’re right.” He carefully fixed the mattress he had left askew. “I shouldn’t even have come. It’s an unnecessary risk to bring you out.”

  I sat on the edge of the bed and lifted my hands to his, lacing our fingers together. “I’m glad you brought me here,” I said. “I loved meeting your family and eating all those noodles. You’re my guardian, and my grumpy knight, and also a lot more than that.”

  He squeezed my hands beneath his.

  “I love you, Sir Forrest Argrave,” I said.

  He frowned.

  I looked away, hiding my hurt with a light tone. “Too soon? Sorry, I just—” I needed so badly to tell myself that I would have loved Sir Forrest no matter what happened. That at least some of my feelings were real, and that his feelings were real too.

  “No. I love you…Phoebe.” He was more gruff. Of course, I would expect nothing less. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t.”

  “Well, I’m glad you do. Really glad. This would be terrible if I didn’t feel like someone really loves me.”

  “Yeah…it would.” His eyes hooded as he looked away, starting to put things back together again.

  We didn’t leave the room until everything looked just as we left it.

  “You’ll be in town long enough for the funeral, won’t you?” Aunt Catherine asked.

  Forrest looked pained. “I don’t know. I didn’t want you all to worry, especially Gran, but I suppose I’d better tell the truth. Phoebe isn’t my wife…and there’s a reason I went to Istim.”

  *

  “We stayed longer than I meant to.” Sir Forrest hurried me down the street. By the time we left the cool of morning was gone, the sun was high, and I was starving, but he wouldn’t let us stay for lunch. The streets were busy. Most people seemed to be heading in the same direction. At the end of the street, a soldier from the Black Army was on patrol on horseback. Sir Forrest tried to go against the crowds and turned down a side street, barely more than alley. I had to step carefully to avoid some gross puddles of muck.

  More soldiers were on the street where we emerged.

  “Shit,” Forrest said. “They’re all out today.”

  “Would they really know I’m the priestess just by looking at me?”

  “I’m more afraid I’ll see someone I knew and they’ll start asking questions,” he said. “But knowledge of your existence is out there. We’ll never know if a spy crossed our path, if someone’s been following us. They could know nothing—or everything. Let’s fall in with this group.”

  Some friends were walking along, talking to each other.

  “Hurry! I hear them!” one of them called.

  “Who cares?”

  “I’m gonna be pissed if I miss the Sunflower Girls,” a guy said, gesturing with a decorative walking stick.

  “Oh, the Sunflower Girls are playing?” I said.

  “We’re not going to see the Sunflower Girls,” Forrest said. “But…something must be going on.”

  “Niko said the flagship of the Black Army was in the harbor,” I said.

  “I saw it.” He glanced around. “Maybe it’s better if we just stick with the crowd. I’m afraid if we go the other direction, we’ll be more noticeable. Too many soldiers prowling around right now. When this event is over, we can leave with the crowds.”

  “So we do get to see the Sunflower Girls?”

  “Well, we’re not going to try and get close.” He growled, “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t’ve taken you with me. Just act normal.“

  We followed the crowds into a big open square. It was packed with people, and the Sunflower Girls were dancing around on the elevated stage. I’d performed there before. The Sunflower Girls were less romantic than the Strawberry Girls; their thing was singing about following your dreams and hopes for the future and stuff. It was almost too bubbly even for me. I always thought it was weird to consider following your dreams when most people were lucky to break out of the situation they’d been born into, but the crowds ate it up.

  I knew they would finish with “No Walls Around My Heart”. That was a good one. I couldn’t help jumping along with the chorus. Violins were singing accompanying melodies as the lead Sunflower Girl for the song got up on stilts so everyone could see her belting out, “No walls can hold me back when my dreams have wiiings…!” Her costume had wings that unfolded with the final note.

  “Damn, that’s cool. We never got anything like that,” I said.

  Everyone was pumped up now. The performance was immediately followed by the same projection we’d already seen, of Commander Abelard taking Gaermon. The crowd roared with triumph.

  The emperor himself came out after that. Shit, this was getting serious. Even I started looking around to see if we could escape, but it was impossible. We were packed in like the open square was a cargo hold.

  “We were successful in Gaermon,” Emperor Leonidas said. “We have liberated the city of King Raio the third so it may now become a part of the glorious empire, under our protection.”

  He paused for the echo of, “Long live Emperor Leonidas!”

  “Gaermon was the last great hold out. A protection spell has long fallen over the city, and monsters have used their lands as sanctuary. Now that they are
under our leadership, we will be able to snuff out their dens and limit their spread.”

  “He’s been promising to limit the spread of monsters since he became the emperor,” Forrest said. “Like his father before him.”

  “I present to you Princess Himika of the former kingdom of Gaermon.”

  Forrest perked up. “That’s her… Damn…” Everyone was murmuring now. Himika was an elegant figure in a long white gown with long black hair. She didn’t exactly look like the emperor’s enemy, but she was being escorted by several guards. They walked her up to Emperor Leonidas.

  “Welcome to Capamere,” the emperor said. “Princess Himika of the House of Kai, of the city of Gaermon. Pledge your allegiance to me, and you will be our friend. I hope we can put aside our longstanding grudges. All we want is to protect the people of Gaermon.”

  Himika had her head slightly bowed, the picture of a demure princess. I kept jumping and standing on my tip toes, trying to see what was going on.

  Forrest put a hand on my shoulder, trying to hold me down.

  “You told me to act normal!” I hissed. “Well, if I was normal, I would definitely want to see!”

  I wasn’t the only short person trying to defy nature. Every tree in the square was getting swamped. Forrest lifted me up at the waist so I could get a better look. There were a lot of guys in armor and cloaks on stage. It took me a minute to pick out Commander Abel. I expected him to be huge and intimidating, but in fact, he looked quite average from here. Gleaming black armor, white cape, the usual stuff of the officers—I mostly recognized him from the dark hair that brushed his shoulders. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

  Himika said something too soft to hear. But the reaction was immediate.

  “What?” Emperor Leonidas demanded.

  “No.” She was louder now.

  “You wish to remain an enemy of your hosts? I was told you were ready to embrace what fate has decided.”

  “No. You executed my father, sir. I will—never—pledge my allegiance to you. I would rather die.” It sounded like her voice was shaking. I had this feeling she had mustered up the courage to say that right this second. We were witnessing history—the moment the Princess of Gaermon turned down the emperor’s offer right in front of a huge crowd. I felt terrible for her—and a million miles away from the stage. My throat was tight. She looked so much like Rin, and he loved her so much. What would happen to her now?

  Emperor Leonidas said something to her ear. No one could hear it. He looked cool. But not a good kind of cool. I gripped Forrest’s arm. “What do we do?”

  “We can’t do anything,” he said, grim. “He won’t hurt her in front of everyone. She’s too much the princess. That doesn’t look good.”

  “But later…?”

  “I told you we’ve been lucky on our travels so far. That luck is about to run out. Now… what’s going on to the right?”

  Emperor Leonidas was ordering Himika off the stage, but meanwhile, other soldiers were leading a man in elder’s robes up at spearpoint. His hands were tied behind his back.

  The crowds were chanting, “Traitor! Traitor!”

  They led him to the front of the stage and pulled off his hood. A few people threw things at him until the guards pointed spears at them. One of the eggs had come a little close to the Emperor himself.

  “That’s Elder Dion!” Forrest said. “Gods, no.”

  “The man you just dropped off a message for?”

  He nodded slowly. “If they found the message, they might know everything. They’ll be watching the temple. We have to leave immediately.”

  “I’m scared,” I said, which was a polite way of saying I was this close to peeing myself. The guards were in every direction. Were they looking at me out of the corner of my eye, or was I imagining things? Maybe they were already locked on to Forrest, for all I knew. Maybe it was already too late.

  “You know what to do,” Forrest said.

  “Do I?”

  “If I get into a fight, you need to run. Run like hell. Get to Gilbert and Niko and get out of the city, don’t wait for me.”

  “I can’t leave you!”

  “You must,” he said.

  Some pompous guy onstage was saying that Elder Dion had been found guilty of something. I didn’t really understand all the charges, but I had a feeling it didn’t matter anyway. It had something to do with treason and being in cahoots with enemies of the empire. My heart was pounding in my ears so loudly that I was feeling faint. I wondered if this was going to be the last peaceful moment of my life. The last time I ever stood next to Forrest. I took his hand and clutched it, determined to never let him go.

  “What say you, my liege?” the man said, in a theatrical voice.

  “It’s a damn shame that it’s come to this,” Leonidas said. “I am aware that the role of the Temple of Stones is still important to the lives of some of my people.”

  Some people booed, making it clear that they didn’t approve of the Elders at all.

  “But that is all the more reason we must swiftly eliminate corruption within the order. It is my role to protect the people…against conniving, greedy men like you. ”

  Leonidas had a low, silky voice that managed to be loud enough to hear at a distance and soft at the same time. It was quite impressive. The last time I was here, I performed ahead of one of his speeches, just the way the Sunflower Girls did today. After we left the stage, we got to watch him close up. He was kind of craggy looking, and his hair was turning gray, but he reminded me of a lion. It was impossible to doubt his strength, and easy to believe he truly had everyone’s best interests in mind. He wasn’t just some dude who happened to be in a line of succession. He was our emperor, our protector, the man who stood against the monsters and made everything okay. He seemed born to lead.

  I was duped like everyone else.

  “Please, my lord,” Elder Dion said. “I’m an old man. I haven’t done any of these things you accuse me of! I just want to live out my last years in the temple that is my home!”

  The crowd close to the stage rumbled angrily. “Take his head!” someone yelled.

  I shuddered against Forrest. “They’re not going to execute him, are they?”

  “I don’t know,” Forrest said stiffly. “Sometimes they do.”

  “Right here? After a musical performance?”

  “If a man is thought to be an enemy, execution is just another form of entertainment.”

  I was glad I’d missed that when I was in the capital. “But why? Why are they so angry at him?”

  “There have been corrupt Elders,” Sir Forrest said. “Leonidas and his predecessors have played up the bad ones and undermined the good ones. I think their hope is that even if the Elders did manage to confirm a priestess, they could convince the people that it was a bad thing. Lump us in with them.”

  “So even if we do save the world, Leonidas might convince people that we didn’t?” I felt even more faint than I already did.

  “Maybe. I’ve seen the power of a mob’s anger. When a group becomes the enemy, they are no longer people. I can only hope it hasn’t gone that far, that enough remember the good things about the old ways. Leonidas didn’t say a word about us, I notice. They don’t want anyone to know that priestesses are still being born at all. But I would bet my little finger that he knows, at the very least, of Elder Dion giving me my sword. Let’s not even consider beyond the present.”

  “We live in an enlightened age,” Leonidas said. “We are kept behind walls, but our minds are free—not fettered by a religious order, telling us how to think and behave every moment of our lives while accumulating wealth behind closed doors. Dion, why did you have hundreds of priceless weapons and gems in your chambers?”

  “I—I didn’t, I was framed—”

  “More lies. You would lie right in the face of your gods? That is where I wish to send you. Commander Abel?”

  “Yes, my liege.” Commander Abel put a hand to his chest and bowed slightl
y.

  “The court has found Elder Dion guilty. In light of his deviousness, I cannot let him live. I sentence Elder Dion to death.”

  “Gods.” Sir Forrest might have expected this to some extent, but his mouth still fell open. He pulled me against his chest. He didn’t want me to watch, but I couldn’t seem to pull away. We were so far from the stage, it seemed distant—almost unreal—as guards dragged Elder Dion to a stone block that looked discolored from the blood of the past. Commander Abel drew his sword and took a step toward the old man, who was making choked sounds of fear. Abel handled the blade lightly, although it looked almost too large for him, a broadsword that would have seemed a handful even for Forrest.

  “Please, have mercy,” Elder Dion begged. “Send me to the isles. Send me to prison. Please don’t kill me.”

  “A man of faith should not fear meeting his gods,” Commander Abel said. “Any final words?”

  “You are wicked men! You are the true monsters! You have kept the gate open to terrorize the people and keep them locked away in fear, but your reign will not last much longer. The savior is coming—”

  Leonidas lifted his hand and lowered it, an ominous signal, and Forrest pulled my head against his doublet before I could see Abel swing the weapon. I heard a terrible sound like a butcher hacking a joint of meat as Forrest’s fingers spasmed, digging into my hair.

  It all seemed so silent for a moment. But terror roared in my ears.

  How could this be? How could this be my country? How could anyone let this happen?

  And then, cheering. People started singing “Our Glorious Emperor, Long May He Reign”. Where we stood, some people started walking away. They didn’t all look happy. A few seemed dazed. But no one had dared to stand up for Elder Dion.

  “That was the man who told me everything I know about being a guardian,” Forrest said.

  “I’m so sorry…”

  “Well, no time for it.” Forrest slowly loosened his grip on me. “No time to think. Let’s fall in with this lot.” A large family—they all looked very similar, with black curly hair and thick eyebrows—were walking out together.