The Quest for the Heart Orb (32 page)

“No, I didn’t either,” she replied.  “Did you see anything about the Heart Orb, Ren?”

“Yes, I did,” Ren replied, lowering her voice so that it couldn’t be heard outside the walls of the tent.  “The orb isn’t where we thought.  It’s under the island, hidden behind a marked stone in the wall of the tower.  Once I retrieve it, I need to find another stone and use the orb to activate some sort of mechanism.  It opens a door, I think.  Or…a path?  I’m not sure.  I just know it’s very important that I do it.”

“I didn’t see anything like that,” Kapia said, frowning.  “I saw a rock formation that I recognize across the river from
Ka-Teru
.  There’s a shallow depression on it that I’m supposed to open using the same method I used to open the Cradle of the Moon Orb.  But inside of it is just an empty space.”

“That’s my part,” Tiari said.  “I’ll be able to see markings inside that no one else can see.  They have to be touched in a certain order.  That will open a doorway in the stone that leads into the tunnel that Ren activates from beneath the island.”

“Do you know where the tunnel leads?” Karma asked.

“Yes,” Kapia said with a little smile.  “It leads to a staircase that will take us into Father’s bedchamber.”

“Without all three of you, we wouldn’t be able to gain access to the palace on our own,” Karma said.  “Not without fighting anyway.  I see why it was so important for you to check the orbs again, Ren.  Do you know when, or where you’re supposed to enter the river?”

“Yes,” Ren replied.  “There’s a bend in the river about a mile from Ausar.  Just before that bend, before we come into sight of the city, I must go into the water.  And, somehow, Marl must go with me.”

***

After Karma and Tiari left and Kapia went to bed, Ren debated with herself for a few minutes, then went outside where Marl stood guard.  Ten minutes later they sat in Garundel’s tent.

“I apologize for the late hour,” Ren said once more as Garundel poured them each a glass of wine from his own belongings.  “I really feel that this is too important to wait.”

“There is no need to apologize, Daughter,” Garundel said.  “If you feel it is important, that is reason enough for me.”

“Thank you, Father,” she said, then took a healthy sip of her wine.  After she finished telling them most of what they’d learned from the orbs, she turned to Marl who sat beside her.  “There’s something I must ask you.”  Marl nodded.  “When we looked into the orbs I saw what I have to do.  But I also saw that you went with me, under the water.”

“How is such a thing possible?” Marl asked, frowning.

“I don’t know,” Ren said.  “In the vision of the orbs you had gills, and a tail, like a Mareon.  But if you were Mareon, surely you’d know it.  Right?”

“I promise beloved, I’ve not kept any secrets from you,” Marl said.  “If I have Mareon blood, I am unaware of it.  Nevertheless, if I am to go with you, then that is what I will do.”

“There are things that neither of you know,” Garundel said, giving Ren a reassuring smile.  “It’s time to open the package from your mother.”  Ren’s eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t hesitate to reach for the pouch she always kept in her pocket.  She took it out and looked at Marl, who handed her his belt knife.  She cut the lacings holding the pouch closed and returned the knife with a faint smile, suddenly nervous.  She reached inside the pouch and grasped the metal square that she’d always felt beneath the leather, and pulled it out.  Along with the box came a folded bit of thin parchment.  She set the box down almost absently as she stared at the all too familiar parchment in her hand.  She had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever this paper revealed. 

“What’s wrong?” Garundel asked.

“The
Braii
make paper for their own use at Sanctuary.  It’s gray because they use scraps of old robes to strengthen it.” Ren swallowed hard, then looked up at Garundel.  “The robes of the
Braii
are always gray.”

“Why does this bother you?” Marl asked.

“I watched my mother sew this pouch shut,” Ren said.  “It’s one of my few really clear memories of her.  She did it
before
we reached Sanctuary.”

“How did parchment made at Sanctuary get inside a pouch sealed before you arrived there?” Marl murmured.

“I don’t know,” Ren said shakily, “but I think we’re all about to find out.”

“Do you want me to read it first?” Garundel asked.

Ren nearly handed it to him, then shook her head.  She would
not
be a coward.  She unfolded the paper with trembling fingers.  When there was only one last fold, she saw writing and bent her head to read it by the light of the candle in the center of their circle.

Ren,

I know that one day you will curse me for this, but I have no choice.  The Braii-Vatra Pact is sacred, and I am sworn to abide by it.  Accordingly, we must keep you here, at Sanctuary, and watch over you as promised a thousand years past.  I confess to you that I have a devil on my shoulder insisting that I burn this message written by your mother and addressed to your father, so that you will never know what I’ve done.  But I cannot.  It is my fate to commit this act of betrayal against you, your mother, and your father, just as it is your fate to be the Maiden of the Heart.  But I will forever regret causing you pain.

Adaya 

By the time Ren was finished reading her tears had dampened the parchment.  When she opened the last fold she wasn’t surprised to find that the letter was addressed to Garundel.  She handed it to him without a word. 

Garundel accepted the paper, his heart aching for the tears on Ren’s face.  When he saw his name, written in Roesa’s distinctive hand, he felt the blood drain from his face in shock.  He looked up at Ren, who stared back at him with such sadness in her eyes that he hesitated to read whatever was written there.  But she hadn’t read the letter, he remembered.  She’d read the back of it.  He turned the paper over and read the note there.

“Damn,” he swore hoarsely.  “This Adaya, she runs Sanctuary?”

“Yes, she is First of the
Braii
,” Ren replied.

“I will kill her,” Garundel bit out, his fingers shaking so hard that the parchment was in danger of being torn.  “When the Orb Quest is complete, I will go back there with you and demand answers, then I will kill her.”

“No, Father,” Ren said, reaching out to place a hand on his wrist.  “You cannot.  She is a very old woman, and she cared for me.  What she did, she did because she was sworn to do it, to protect me.”

“I am a warrior,” Garundel said.  “I could have protected you had I been given a chance.  At the least, I could have stayed there with you.  She stole my child from me.  How am I to forgive that?”

“I don’t know, Father,” Ren said, more tears spilling down her cheeks.  “Nor do I know how I’m to forgive her for stealing my Father from me.”  She shook her head slightly.  “None of that matters right now.  Please, read Mother’s letter to you.”

Garundel turned the parchment over and read;

Dearest Garundel, Beloved Husband,

My time is short, my love.  I will not live much longer.  Another day, perhaps.  I am only glad that Ren did not fall ill as I did.  I will give this letter to Adaya to send to you so that you will know you must come to collect our daughter.  It’s very important that she be cared for and guarded well, Garundel, for today, Ren’s sixth birthday, she developed a corona stone.  I’d almost forgotten that old story, but I know now that it was more than story.  It was truth.  Our daughter will be the Maiden of the Heart Orb.  

Ren has the medallions in a leather pouch that she’s sworn to give you, unopened.  If your time is cut short, as mine has been, she will wait until her twenty first birthday to open it.

I will await you on the other side, Garundel.  In the meantime, you must take our daughter someplace safe and guard her well for her sake, and the sake of Rathira.

With all the love my heart can hold,

Roesa

“This message is why your mother told you that I would come for you, but I never did,” Garundel said, offering the paper to Ren. 

“I’m sorry, Father,” Ren said, accepting the parchment.  She read what her mother had written, then she refolded it and offered it back to Garundel.  “Would you like to keep this?”

“Yes, I would,” Garundel said.  “Thank you.”

“It was always meant to be yours, Father,” Ren said.  “
Brai
Adaya obviously opened the pouch to put it inside, then sewed it shut again.  I’m grateful she went to the trouble when she could have so easily destroyed it.”

“After the Orb Quest is complete, we will return to Sanctuary, together,” Garundel said.  “We will find our answers.”

Ren nodded as she picked up the silver box and turned it over in her hands.  “Her letter mentioned medallions.”

“Yes,” Garundel said, placing the letter carefully in a vest pocket, close to his heart.  “Open it first, and I will tell you what they are.”

Ren lifted the lid from the box, revealing two oval medallions of dark green stone resting in a bed of silk.  The larger of the two bore a golden trident on its face.  The smaller one had a short, slender bar of gold with a small pearl set into the end of it.  Both medallions hung from thick silver chains.  Another bit of folded parchment had been stuffed into the lid of the box. 

Ren handed the box to Marl so that he could look at them, then reached for the lid, pulling the paper free.  More hesitant now, she unfolded the paper and read.

Ren, my daughter, if neither I nor your father are with you to explain these medallions, give the large one to the man you choose to spend your life with, and place the smaller one around your own neck.  Then take him into the water with you.  You will see for yourself what magic they hold.  Be happy, Ren.  I love you.

Ren read the note out loud, then folded it and returned it to the lid before accepting the box Marl was holding out to her.  “They’re beautiful,” she said, looking at them in the candlelight.  “What are they for, Father?”

“I will tell you what your mother told me,” Garundel said.  “When the first Maiden of the Heart was chosen to leave her ocean home to help save Rathira, her father, the king of the Mareon, made a bargain on her behalf.  Since she would live out the remainder of her life torn between land and sea, as would her daughters for the next thousand years, these medallions would allow the man she chose to accompany her in either realm.”

“Wait,” Ren said.  “Are you saying that if Marl and I put these on and go into the water, he will transform just as I do?”

“Yes,” Garundel said.  “But only if he is truly the man who holds your heart, and only if you are fully committed to one another.  Otherwise, it won’t work.”

“Did you and Mother use them?”

“We did,” Garundel said.  “Just once, on the day we were wed.  That day, and the day you were born, are the two most precious days of my life.”

Ren smiled at her father, then removed the larger medallion from the box and turned to Marl.  “I offer this medallion to you, Marl.  Whether you accept or not, you do hold my heart, and always will.”

“As you hold mine,” Marl said, almost dizzy with relief at the knowledge he would not have to let her go into the water alone.  “I accept, of course, Ren.  It will allow me to be at your side wherever you go, and that is a blessing I will cherish more than anything I could ever hope to ask for.”

“Thank you,” Ren whispered as Marl took the medallion from her hand and held it in his own for a long moment before looking up.

“Sir Garundel, I intended to speak to you in the morning, but it seems now is the right time.  I’ve asked Ren to marry me, and she accepted.  Will you grant me your daughter’s hand?”

Garundel blinked rapidly, then decided to hell with it.  He let the tears fall and reached for Ren, careful not to crush her as he hugged her tightly.

“Of course I will,” he said when he released her.  “I can think of no other man I would wish for her, Marl, and I will be proud and honored to call you Son.  But, I would ask a favor of you both.”

“If we can grant it, we will,” Marl replied.

“I ask that you agree to have Prince Zakiel join the two of you in marriage before you enter the river,” Garundel said.  “I would like the opportunity to give my daughter’s hand in marriage to the man she loves before we are parted.”

“I have no objections,” Marl said.  “Ren?”

“I have none, either,” she said.

Garundel smiled.  “Don’t worry, I’ll see to it that you have a big wedding with all the trimmings once we finish with the Djinn and the demons.”

“I’ve no need of such things as that,” Ren said.  “I need only you, Father, and Marl.  You are my family.  I’d also like my friends, Karma, Kapia, and Tiari to be there.  That is all I want.”

Chapter Thirteen

The following morning a smaller Orb Quest set out before dawn, following the river as it wound toward
Ka-Teru
.  They travelled as fast as they could, trotting the diplos for a while, then walking, then trotting again.  Unlike the forests and mountains they’d become accustomed to over recent weeks, there was little cover along the banks of the river as it wound through the desert.  This kept everyone on constant alert for demon attacks that didn’t come.  By the end of the first day back in the desert their nerves were stretched so tightly they were ready to snap.

“I don’t understand,” Zakiel said as they sat around a campfire after their simple dinner.  “If demons have overrun
Ka-Teru
, and we know they have, why haven’t they attacked us?”

“They
want
us to retrieve the pyramid,” Karma said.  “Whatever plans they had for the Ti-Ank have been scrapped.  Now that they’re creating a new scepter, they don’t need it.  But they still need us to bring the pyramid back so they can use the tear within it as a beacon to open a new tear.”

“Then what’s the point of the demons?” Tomas asked.  “Why not call them off so we can enter
Ka-Teru
?”