Chapter 3: One Long Ride
Sandry-
She was stifled. She couldn't sleep she couldn't breath. She had to get out, had to ride her beautiful mare Russet. She was in her room at the citadel, the one she hadn't slept in for months, and it was six feet wide and eight feet long. On the far wall were windows that also acted as doors to her balcony. Her four-poster bed was on the left wall, with the hanging closet to the window partially closed so the sunlight didn't hit her in the face, even though she was most likely up by that time. Across from her bed was the wood wardrobe, five feet high; it had been extremely hard for the servants to bring in when she had been given it for her eighteenth birthday. By it was the door leading into her workshop, filled with a mannequin that now held her wedding dress, a white sleeveless gown embroidered around the edges with rose and briars, jewels decked the bottom hem of the gown, and bolts upon bolts of cloth, not to mention the weavings and embroidery hangings she had yet to get rid of. Sandry sighed at the thought of her wedding dress and at Briar, maybe she'll give him a chance to explain. She, lightly, hopped out of bed, slipped a robe over her nightgown, slipped the book she was currently reading into her pocket (maybe she could stop some where and read a little more, when she gave Russet a break) into a pocket in her robe, and picked up her riding boots. She tiptoed down the hall and down the stairs, pausing and holding her breath each time she heard a snore coming from a servant's room. She was in the main hall, a plain stone room with nothing but the grand staircase, some chairs for servants or visitors to sit on, and the weavings she had so far put up to make it seem more alive.
Sandry started to tiptoe to the giant doors leading outside when a flash of light caught her eyes; her eyes followed it subconsciously to her great uncle's study door. Anger coursed through her veins. How many times did she have to tell him not to work late? She quickly and, surprisingly, quietly stomped over to the door and pushed it open. It was a book-lined room, with a gigantic desk set in the middle, with a big chair behind it and two more in front. Set near the bay windows was a smaller version of his chair, with a little basket of embroidery underneath. Sitting behind the desk was her uncle, Duke Verdis the IV.
"Uncle!" Sandry scolded him, stepping into the room.
"You never cease to amaze me Sandrilene, dear," he said, placing the book down onto the table. She shot it an inquiring glance, like she suspected it to jump up and tear her uncle's heart out. He chuckled at the murderous look on her face, "I just, a moment ago, woke up. Tried to fall back asleep since I knew you would scold me, but try as I would I couldn't. So I came in here and took down a book that I have been meaning to read. For pleasure." He added knowing she would start scolding him if it had been otherwise. Sandry, upon her this, gave a bright smile and slipped into a chair in front of him. "Did you and Briar have a fight?" His Grace already knew the details from Briar, but he didn't want Sandry to know that. She slowly and sadly shook her head, looking at her lap and her boots, that she still held in her hands. "Really? You haven't spent a night home since you and Briar…" he purposely let his words hang in the air. She didn't say a thing and neither did he. He fiddled with his thumbs waiting, patiently, to answer.
"I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't waited as long as I did. That girl wouldn't be…"
"Pregnant?" His Grace suggested. Tears fell into her lap as she nodded. He wanted to tell her the truth so bad, but Briar had to be the one to or she wouldn't believe it. His Grace came over to his young niece and pulled her into a hug, taking some of the burden of young love off of her. "You want me to tie rocks to his feet and throw him in the harbor?" he asked, grimly after her cries had quieted, knowing she would say no. And true to his point she shook her head, smoothing her hair he whispered, "Go talk to him. He might surprise you as you have surprised me a thousand times over."
"Maybe." She admitted. Standing up she moved towards the door, only stopping before exiting to say one thing: "Go to bed Uncle. It's bad for your health to be listening to young people's troubles at this hour. Or any hour for that matter." Closing the door behind her didn't cut off her Uncle's loud guffaw. "He'll wake the servants then I'll never get out." Chuckling herself Sandry slipped through the oak doors and into the courtyard. There were the stables on the left side of it and on the right were the guard barracks. In between were flowers that had begun to be bloomed at all times, regardless to the time of day, because of Briar's near constant visits. Sandry did a quick jog over to the barracks to raise Kwaben and Oama before their midnight ride. She slip quietly in so as not to rouse anyone else. The barracks were separated into two different halves. The half on the right was for women and the half on the left for men. Sandry face lit with a wicked smile, she'll go wake Kwaben first, he was always so much fun to scare and when would she get another chance to catch him totally unawares like this again?
She slipped through the right door and into the men's side. She was in another hallway. There were several doors leading into small rooms shared by three or so men. There were no ornaments adorning the walls of the hallway, there were only some of Tris's light globes. Sitting at the far end of the hall on the floor were two guards playing cards. The two men, one a corporal and the other the captain, lifted hands in hello, not the least bit surprised by her presence. Sandry waved back to them and started down the hall to Kwaben's room.
His room was the third room down; near the side of the door was a bronze sign with Kwaben's and one other name written on it. The other name was, Alco Vito, the corporal's from down the hall. Smiling even more wickedly, she pushed open the door, as quietly as she could. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room. The far wall had one window. Kwaben was sound asleep on the bed on the right. Sandry giggled, muffling it halfway behind her hand, half hating herself for waking him up, but not enough to divert her mind from the prank she was about to pull.
Sandry tiptoed to the side of his bed and bent down till her mouth was only an inch from his ear. Smiling she opened her mouth up wide and half screamed, "Fire!" Kwaben jumped up, only in his breeches, ready to fight flames, knocking Sandry to the floor.
"Where?" he asked sleepily. Sandry giggled, looking down at his Lady, Kwaben knew what had happened. "Why in the middle of the night?" he knew all that had transpired earlier today and felt bad for Briar, going through his mind, now, was that Sandry wanted to wrap him in a cocoon and leave him there to starve.
"Nice chest, Kwabby." Oama said, coming into the room and making Sandry laugh even harder, seems someone had gone and woken her up. "How many times a day do you work out?"
Missing the joke he murmured, "Not nearly as much as I used to before…"
Giggling Sandry cut him off and finished the sentence for him; they had had this conversation a thousand times before, minus the chest comment, "before Uncle assigned you to me."
"Don't get me wrong, milady, I love working for you, but I wish you were a dainty cat who was afraid to get her paws wet, instead of the dog you are by bounding right into the thick of things." The three friends said together, Oama and Sandry made faces at each other over Kwaben's shoulder.
"Without Lady Sandry our lives would be boring Kwabby." Oama pointed out.
"Sometimes boring can be good…"
"Boring is boring!" they started to argue back and forth.
Sandry giggled and said, "You two fight like an old married couple." Blushing the two looked away, from her and each other. Sandry sighed, she knew well what was said when she wasn't around. They loved each other, but neither was ready to settle down and have a family. Oama didn't want to quit her job to raise kids. That is what they fight about when she wasn't around. That and how Kwaben thinks that when they do get married they should move to his hometown, but Oama argues and says when she decides to settle down it will be in her hometown or here in Summersea.
"Milady I have extra breeches if you want…" Oama said, looking down at her Lady's rumbled nightgown.
"Ok." Sandry said, hopping to her feet. Kwaben and Oama looked at each other in surprise, they didn't think they would she her this cheery for a while to come. "Kwaben meet us at the stables in ten minutes." And she and Oama left him to get ready. "I can't wait!" Sandry told her guard as she slipped into a pair of too long breeches and one of Oama's few blouses. She was careful to make sure the book was out of her dressing gown and in one of her breeches side pockets before letting it drop to the ground. Sandry waved her hand a little, making the nightgown and the dressing gown jump up and fold themselves neatly on top of the bed.
Oama, smiling at her young mistress and led the way through the barracks and towards the stables, already standing outside waiting for them was Kwaben holding the reins of three horse, a rusty colored mare, a white one, and a big brown horse. Kwaben swung into the saddle of the brown horse, as the two women approached. Sandry quickly got into her saddle as Oama did a weird jump in the air, landing onto hers.
"Where to milady?" Kwaben asked as they began to ride, at a sharp trot, out of the citadel.
"Let's leave through the east gates and ride along the shore. Both of them stammered in surprise. Sure Sandry did this often, but they had been expecting something completely different. "Did you think I was going to say 'let's go to Briar's house and burn it to the ground.'" Her two guards nodded shocked. "If it was just Briar living there I might, but Tris and Daja… and I'm not mad at them." She sighed and stared at the stars. "I just feel like riding with salty breezes blowing onto me."
Without another word the two guards and their young laughing mistress set off towards the gates and towards the shoreline, where Sandry will pond out her anger and sadness by the difficultly of riding in sand.
Evvy-
Evvy sighed and looked down at her work, she wasn't nearly done. When Evvy had returned from taking Clover part ways to Briar's, Rosethorn had caught her and given her grieve. She had yelled at her for over an hour, while packing up, at what could have happened to her while she was out of the market, Comas and Glaki had hidden under the tarp hoping Rosethorn wouldn't turn on them. On the way back Rosethorn had told her she would scrub the Earth temples floors every night, after the midnight services, for a week. A week. She will be lucky to even get an hour's worth of sleep. She had turned to Lark pleading that she make Rosethorn give her a different punishment, but Lark had shaken her head and said the punishment would be good for her. So here she was, in the long room, brimming with candles and alters to the Green Man and Mila of the Grain, scrubbing her brains out, exhausted.
Evvy continued to scrub, singing to herself a song Pahan Sandry had taught her and Glaki last week. It was a song in some weird language Sandry knew about a woman name Yin-Yin. Yin-Yin's husband had abused her, she had decided to get an annulment, but her husband wouldn't let her go that easily. He had shouted 'If you don't belong to me, you don't belong to no one!' and he had pushed the woman into the sea. Her children had mourned for her as had her husband looking like the perfect widower. Then the nightmares had started, Yin-Yin, every night, kept rising from the sea and terrorizing her husband and the village, all the while protecting the children from him. The children were taken from the husband and placed in their grandmother's care and Yin-Yin had sunk beneath the waves. Years later, her daughter got married and her husband started beating her, Yin-Yin rose out of the waves once again and gave her daughter courage to leave her husband, and all the while protecting her from him. Ever since then Yin-Yin has risen out of the sea and protected women and children from abusive men.
"Beautiful." A woman's voice from her left said, clapping her hands. The person stepped out of the shadows and Evvy shucked in a breath of shock. It was Moonstream, Supreme Dedicate to Winding Circle's temples. "What does it mean?" She quickly told her the story about Yin-Yin. Moonstream came over and looked down at the girl. "It's amazing that something that beautiful can be that sad, as well." Evvy didn't say a word to her, but just looked up at her in mild surprise. She had met her a few times, but it had always been when she had come to talk with one of the senior mages who were at Discipline Cottage. Normally it would be Pahan Sandry about something or other that has been going on in Summersea. "Where did you ever learn that song?"
"Pahan Sandry." Evvy muttered so low that Moonstream barely heard her.
Moonstream chuckled and said, "I shouldn't be surprised, but for some reason I am." Evvy looked at her curiously through the curtain of her hair. "Briar didn't tell you?" the woman sighed and lowered herself onto the floor by the girl. "Sandry, of all the people I have ever met, knows the most languages. Even some dead ones."
"Dead?"
Moonstream, with laughter ringing every word, said, "Languages not used anymore. They…"
She broke off when a runner came bursting through a door, panting, but still managing to get the message out. "Moonstream! You're needed at the wall," and he ran back out, Evvy looked out of one of the windows and saw him dashing towards Discipline.
"Come, Evvy." She looked down at her work and then back up to Moonstream. If Moonstream said to come, then she should come, and besides she's sick of cleaning. Evvy bounded up and followed Moonstream out the door and onto the wall. There were all the dedicate initiatives; including Crane, Skyfire, and surprisingly Gorse, all of them were looking out at the sea with open mouths. There bellowing past Winding Circle was a pirate ship, completely ignoring Summersea and Winding Circle as it continued down the coast. "Ring the bells." Moonstream screamed at the dedicates. Evvy had no idea what she was talking about, but it seemed everyone else did, because some of the Fire dedicates hurried off to do that.
"Evvy!" Lark scolded as she and Rosethorn came up the stairs. " The point of punishments is that they be fulfilled, before you go running off."
"Lark, I asked her here." Moonstream said, coming to Evvy's rescue, barely glancing at them.
"For?" Rosethorn asked, in a quieter bark than usual.
"The bells are to be rung. There is no moon tonight and barely any stars. I would like Evvy to join our stone mages in lighting some of the stones to guide the villagers and farmers in." Evvy, still confused, looked out at the ship that seemed to be docking at a cove five miles out of Summersea harbor. Something was wrong. "Evvy the stone mages are over there." She said pointing to a cluster of Earth dedicates.
"Something's wrong?" she said, pointing to the ship, it had docked where no towns or farms would be around, but rather what looked like a riding trail was. Evvy didn't know much about pirates, but she knew some about bandits and she was pretty sure neither would go where there were no villages or farms to prey on. Moonstream looked where she was pointing and paled. For there riding down the path, oblivious to what was ahead were three riders, they were too far away to hear the bells and too far away for the dedicates to make them out, but Lark and Rosethorn didn't need to see who it was, because carried in the party leader's hand was a small light, much like Sandry's nightlight. The people were Sandry and her guards. They were riding right into a trap and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Sandry-
They had been riding for a little over an hour and Sandry still had to ride, still had to run fro her problems, at least for a little while. The terrain was a difficult one, someone like Briar, Tris, or Daja, who had only been riding for a few years, couldn't do it. Oama and Kwaben sometimes had trouble controlling their horses, but they had been getting better since they had first meet Sandry. The reason the trail was so difficult was because there were cliffs on one side and the sea on the other and the ground beneath was sandy, which made it a little hard for the horses to find good footing and to keep from falling when galloping.
Sandry saw a flash of white when she turned around a sharp turn in the path. She quickly pulled her horse to a stop, and managed to not fall over, Sandry looked down at the animal she had managed not to kill. It was a bear-cub, like the ones she had seen with her parents in the Bonjolie Forests, except this little cub was white instead of black or brown. Snadry dismounted and slipped her light stone into her pocket by the book, ignoring Kwaben's and Oama's near fall into the sea, and walked over to the small cub. It was beaten pretty badly, blood was oozing out of its many cuts and it was soaking wet. It scurried away from her, obviously scared of humans.
Had it been in the ocean? She thought, kneeling down a little way from the cub and rubbing her fingers together urging it to come to her. "Come here, little cub."
"I'm not that little!" The cub said looking at her, with her head tilted to the side. She turned her head and looked at Kwaben and Oama both of their faces expressed the shock she was feeling. Since when did bears talk? "What? Haven't you ever talked to polar bears before?" All Sandry could do was shake her head.
She's a polar bear? Sandry had heard of polar bears, they were supposed to live near the mythical Ice City, in the ice continent up North, further up north than even Namorn. They were supposed to thrive in the cold, so how come one was here? In Emelan?
"I'm Glacier. You are?"
"Sandry." She managed to stammer out, the cub looked past her at Kwaben and Oama. "The man is Kwaben and she is Oama."
"You are humans." We nodded. " But where are your furs? The humans from home have furs."
Sandry couldn't help herself, she giggled. "Humans here don't have fur. Are you sure they're furs and not coats?"
"Coats?"
"Big things us furless humans wear to keep warm." Oama said, tugging at her leather jerken. "They are sometimes coated with fur or fur like substances."
"Is that why our people trade fur for walrus meat with the humans?" we were puzzled so we shrugged.
"Why are you here?" Sandry asked crawling over to the cub and holding out her arms. The cub stiffened, remembering how he had come to be here, and scuttled into Sandry's arms whimpering. She snuggled as close as she could to the small noble's body.
"The bad men on ships. I jumped off and swam ashore. That's why I was scared of you at first, I thought you might be one of them." The three realized in a second that the "bad men" were pirates. Without explaining to Glacier they ran to their horses and mounted and started galloping back the way they had come, Sandry explaining to Glacier on the way back to Summersea.
Briar-
Briar awoke to pounding on the front door. Out of instinct he went to pull Sandry to him so he could ignore the pounding by burying his head into the soft cascade of her hair, but realized too late when his hand banged against the corner of his nightstand. Cursing he sat up and looked around his room, half expecting to see Sandry curled up on one of the window seats, reading a book, but of course she wasn't there. The only living thing in his room, besides him, was his shakkan, which was sitting on his desk across the room.
Briar, tiredly set his feet on the floor, standing up, he did a few quick stretches before throwing on his clothes. Someone had, a maid most likely, already answered the door. He could hear the murmur of two female voices and only one of them was familiar. It was Moonstream.
Briar opened his door and stepped into the hallway and into Tris. She raised a finger lips, pointing down the hall to Clover's room, telling him not to wake the girl up. He nodded and the two of them set of down the hall and down the stair. They were just in time to see the maid usher Moonstream into the parlor, a circular room, stuffed with couches and chairs and shelves upon shelves of books. There is a red and black carpet and red draperies across the windows, covering the window seats with the softest red cushions they could find, it was normally Sandry's seat, unless her and Briar were curled up together on the couch closest to the fireplace on the opposite wall of the double doors leading in. There was another door leading into the small dining room, which in turn leads to the kitchen.
Briar and Tris stepped in, not the least bit surprised to find Daja already there, trying to coax Moonstream into telling her what is wrong. She shook her head, but then she spotted Briar and Tris and stood up. "I have bad news." She took a deep breath, as if to steal herself for the words she was about to utter, "It's Sandry."
Briar crossed the room in less than a stride. "What happened?" he demanded his voice raising, not caring that Clover and the servants were still asleep. Right now all he cared about was his Duchess. "Where is she?"
For a moment Moonstream looked scared. The supreme dedicate of Winding Circle Temples was scared of Briar Moss, an ex-thief. But after that moment the fear was gone replaced with determination. "She is running into a trap as we speak."
"Then what the hell are you doing here?!"
"The four of you have a connection…"
"We know about that!" he raved this time waking everyone in the household.
Ignoring him Moonstream continued to talk, "… with it you should be able to warn her. That is why I'm here. We have sent Crane and Skyfire to warn her, but she is on the dangerous trails east of Summersea." Ignoring her last remark the three friends reached for their forth friend but was blocked by a glass wall. Sandry was in trouble and they couldn't help her.
It's all my fault! Briar raged at Tris and Daja through the four's connection. I shouldn't have given up trying to reach her. I should have made her listen to me, then… he let his sentence drop and Daja turned to Moonstream.
"How dangerous are we talking about Moonstream?" Daja asked about the trail.
"The ground is sand, there is a cliff on one side and a steep fall into the ocean on the other. The trail itself is tight and there are a lot of sharp turns. Only the most experienced riders can do it. I'm not even sure Crane and Skyfire will be able… Briar Moss! Where are you going?"
Briar had started to leave the room, pulling on his overcoat, that he had draped over the back of the chair when he had first come home from Sandry's. "After Sandry." And he pounded out of the parlor. The three mages in the room distantly heard the back door slam.
"Where is Briar going?" asked a sleepy Clover coming in through the kitchen door.
Tris looked at Daja with a questioning twinkle in her eye. Daja nodded. "Same place we're going." And the two friends left the room, following their friend.
"I should follow them and make sure they don't get killed." Clover stared wide-eyed at the retreating backs of Tris, Daja, and Moonstream. After a moments hesitation Clover followed them, making it to the side of the stable in time to hear something about Sandry, Briar's fiancé, and the cliffs outside of Summersea. Then, the four mages came pounding out of the stables and towards the cliffs on the east side of Summersea. After another moment's hesitation Clover slipped into the shadows and followed the four out to the cliffs trotting behind them at a steady pace.
Sandry-
There was no time to stop and ease the horses around the next bend, the hardest of all, the one leading onto the trail. The pirates were right behind them, cursing and calling Sandry foal names, saying what they'll do to her once they caught her. Most including rapes and beatings.
Russet was out of breath, she wasn't a horse used for gallops, and the whites of her eyes were showing, meaning she was soon to collapse. Sandry, under her breath, muttered what a good horse she was and how many carrots and sugar cubes she'll get as soon as they were out of the trails.
Glacier was whimpering clawing at Sandry's blouse, wanting her to wrap her arms around her again and mutter everything would be alright, but he girl was too busy holding onto the reins and making sure they stayed upright, and any extra attention she had was spent keeping the horse moving. Kwaben and Oama were riding just as hard behind, trusting their horses to follow Sandry's as they watched the progress of the pirates. They were more ugly then most, but, Oama sighed, at least they were wearing clothes. The carried disgusting, bloody swords in their filthy hands. Some of them even had bows and arrows. Kwaben and Oama got ready to shoot their bows and arrows.
Yes! Sandry shouted in her head as the edge of the cliff came into view. She began to dash through with Kwaben and Oama following right behind. Then a net from above dropped on top of her, by the screams of rage behind her she knew the same thing had happened to Kwaben and Oama. The net magically closed under her and began to pull her and Glacier up. Then the net's magic began to take hold, they tightened around her and Glacier making both of them shrieked with shock and fear. Sandry began to lose consciousness. Before her mind went completely blank Sandry saw Crane and Skyfire riding towards and not to far behind was Briar, Tris, Daja, and Moonstream. Her Briar had come to save her. But then for when he could have reached up and freed her, he veered away from her and towards the sea and Sandry saw a flash of darkness fall down the cliffs. Then Sandry knew no more.
Hope you liked this chapter. If you thought it was too long you should see the original copy. Please review, I would even like an odd comment about the weather. Oh and, I'm not sure if I spelled Vito right; tell me because he might, might, come back later on. Thanks again for all those who had reviewed.