Chapter 46

Plans As Karn walked through Kel Tora’s courtyard, he noticed a small group of soldiers in the royal garden. They were huddled in a tight formation. Curious, Karn moved closer until he could step just inside the small crowd.

To his surprise, the object of these soldiers’ attention was Tala, the same person he sought.

To Karn, it appeared as if the young elf had fallen asleep in Duke Essex’s private garden alongside a patch of pansies that had just begun to shrivel in the cold weather. Tala was wrapped in an old blanket that covered all but her right leg, which had slipped out from under the covering and exposed her thigh and the side of her buttocks.

“I’ve been watching her for most of the morning,” said a powerfully built tall man. “Most of the elves slept outside the castle last night, but this one found it fit to sleep here. Should I arrest her, sir?”

“N-no, Lieutenant…” Karn waited for the soldier who was about the same age as him, to reveal his name.

The officer saluted. “Lieutenant Hart, sir.”

The remainder of soldiers left as, one by one, they realized a general was present.

“Lieutenant Hart, you did the right thing. As a matter of fact, she’s with me,” Karn said with a nod in Tala’s direction.

“May I speak openly, General?” Hart asked as he looked around.

“Of course.”

“You are a lucky man, and many of my soldiers would agree.” Hart spoke seriously.

“She’s beautiful, no doubt,” Karn agreed while he watched her sleep on the small bed of grass.

“Yes, sir, there’s that, and the fact that she’s still alive and in one piece after last night.”

“What happened last night?” Karn’s voice matched Hart’s serious tone.

“You-you have not heard the news?” Lieutenant Hart paused, stroked his blond goatee, and removed his chain mail hood while he glanced about a moment. “We found a guard murdered last night,” Hart stated. “He was eviscerated.”

“Deep claw wounds?” Karn replied.

“That, or perhaps two small hooked daggers, but the savagery does suggest a beast.”

Images of Zian tearing up the giant that guarded the jail in Weiden’s Rise flashed through Karn’s mind. Zian could have been responsible, but why would he attack one of Kel Tora's soldiers without provocation? Karn looked past the town walls to the forest and stared at every little movement. Are you out there, Zian?

“I could take you to the body, sir,” Lieutenant Hart offered.

“That’s not necessary. I must take care of this young lady and a few other chores. By the way, Hart, I want you and your men to consider yourselves under my charge now.”

“Yes, sir!”

“I’ll meet with you a little later.” Karn saluted.

Karn knelt by Tala’s head so he could whisper in her ear. His warm breath and gentle voice woke her peacefully, one eye opening before the other.

“Good morning,” she squeaked.

“Good morning.”

Tala sat up and stretched toward the golden sun with a long yawn. If it were not for Karn’s fast hands she would have slid out of the horse blanket like a snake that shed its skin. Tala’s eyes widened, and she laughed before she jumped to test Karn’s reflexes.

“You’re fast today, hero,” she said with a smile.

He smiled back. “I have to be fast around you.”

Karn escorted Tala back to her small cabin deep inside the town. He had never been there before and did not know what to expect. When they arrived, Tala alerted him to her housemate.

“You live with someone?”

“Yes, an old widow of one of Kel Tora’s forgotten soldiers,” Tala explained. “She tends to act like my mother when I’m home.”

Tala knocked before she opened the wooden door to her home. The cabin was small and consisted of one room. In total, the space was no larger than the guest room Karn stayed in within Kel Tora’s castle.

With an uncharacteristically timid voice, Tala asked Karn to wait outside, and she shut the door gently behind herself.

Karn wondered why she was not living in the forest villages with the other elves, but there was something the duke said that stuck with him. She is wild, perhaps too wild to be at ease in a small village. With countless questions still ablaze in his mind, Tala emerged from the cabin dressed and ready to go.

“Tala, I must know something. When I first met you, the duke, he—”

Tala’s playful air became still and serious. “What did he tell you?”

“Not much, but he hinted that you were not allowed to return to your tribe, and I’ve noticed the other elves around town do not acknowledge you.”

As she swung her head and looked away, she took a few steps ahead of Karn.

“Someone died because of me. My best friend, Evey, the chieftain’s daughter,” she said.

Karn ushered her to a table outside a wood craftsman’s shop on the outskirts of the town. They sat, and she continued her story. “She had become… smitten with me… and I guess I had feelings for her too. She was as stunning as a sparkling waterfall, Karn, with long silver hair, and light pink eyes that could warm the coldest heart.” Tala paused. “Although we hid our feelings, people started to spread rumors about us.”

“Did you love her?”

Tala looked from the table, where she had locked her eyes, just long enough to answer him. “I love the trees, the grass, the rain; I love all things in nature.”

“Oh.”

“One autumn day, we were caught by one of the chieftain’s guards. We were only embracing. Lucky for us, her father dismissed it as a young woman’s playfulness.” A wistful smile turned up Tala’s lips. “A week or so later, though, the chieftain himself found us lying together. Mortified by what he saw as sickening, he threatened both Evey’s life and mine.”

Karn listened to every word, caught up in the hurt visible in Tala’s eyes.

“I figured I should leave the village. So, I told him I would go away if he spared both our lives. He agreed, and I was to be exiled immediately.” Tala sighed, and her bottom lip quivered.

“I’m so sorry, Tala. You must’ve been devastated.” Karn took her hand across the wooden table they sat at.

“I packed my belongings and as I was walking out of the village, I overheard one of the hunters say that she had killed herself.” Tala’s voice shook. “But I didn’t believe that… I don’t believe that.”

“Do you think she was killed?”

Tala began to cry. “I do.”

“I’m so sorry.” Karn squeezed her hand; he wanted to take away her pain.

“You are the only person I’ve ever shared that with.” Tala’s tears slowed. “You wanted to know why the elves you see around here do not talk to me? I’ve been marked as an outcast and… well, being with you doesn’t help, Karn. Elven men disapprove of elven women mating with humans.”

Karn shook his head. “I had no idea.”

“I don’t regret my choice. I’m very pleased we are together. It’s been such a long time since someone genuinely cared about me.”

“I—wait.” Karn heard something in the distance. “There’s something happening in town.”

Its normal buzz seemed to escalate, and hanging in the air was an eerie tension unlike anything Karn had ever sensed.

“I feel it too,” Tala said, her eyes going wide.

“What is it?”

“Something’s wrong.” Tala shivered.

Karn watched as Tala stood, her elven ears perked up and tilted back. She began to look around like a skittish deer while she cringed into the shelter of her body. Suddenly, her eyes frantically turned to the heavens, and the sky opened and dumped down hail.

Ice crystals the size of chestnuts fell fast and hard all around them. Tala grabbed Karn’s arm and led him, running, in the direction of a tavern. Once under the eaves that shielded the entrance, the two stopped and turned around.

They watched as townspeople scurried to seek shelter from the savage barrage of hail. Those unlucky enough to be struck by the ice chunks yelped in pain. Blood from a head wound poured down one woman’s face as her husband helped her to safety.

Children all over town cried for their mothers as they were pelted by the overwhelming ice storm. One child caught Karn’s attention: a little girl with pale blond hair sat crying on the ground, unprotected and scared. She seemed to be the only one that had not been rushed off to safety.

“Karn, look!” Tala pointed at the child.

“I see her. Stay here. I’ll go.”

The ground was so littered with small ice balls, that any movement was hazardous. Karn stepped carefully, raised his shield over his head, and dashed out to the child. The moment Karn reached the little girl, he scooped her up and turned back to Tala, who was distracted by something in the distance. Karn tried to follow her gaze in the direction of the castle, but his vision, although exceptional, was poor in comparison to hers.

“Safe and sound,” Karn said after he returned to Tala with the little girl.

The little girl looked at Karn and smiled. The sight made Karn think of the ghost of the girl he had seen yesterday. Her name formed in his mouth once again. “Sabrina!”

Although her ears twitched in response to Karn’s voice, Tala’s attention had not strayed from the sky above the castle. “Karn, I pray you witnessed what I just did. Tell me you saw two people… two people flying.”

“What? No.” He feared the worst.

“Yes, they flew into one of the chambers in the castle’s west wing, perhaps the throne room,” she said. “A few moments later, they flew out again.”

“Mages!” Karn growled.

“Mages? In Kel Tora castle?”

Karn glared at the castle as his anger grew. “I intend to find out what these mages want once and for all!”

“Karn, you must be careful.” Tala clasped his arm. “These are evil men who can will you dead with a thought.”

Karn ignored her worry, instructed her to stay back, and ran off toward the castle. His mind narrowed on the possible reasons Opal, or any other mage, could have had business with the duke. Did they come for an alliance, or is this an attack?

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the flutter of yellow-green hair. When he glanced over, Tala was there.

“I’m going with you,” she said firmly.

He had heard that tone in her voice before. He knew better than to even try to dissuade her. With a sigh, he said, “Very well, you go ahead.”

She nodded and sprinted off through the crowds of people that milled about town, still confused by the strange hailstorm.

As he watched her run, he felt clumsy, especially when he bumped into the people Tala so effortlessly passed by. Look at her, he thought. She navigates her way through these crowds as if she has a precognition of when people are about to move and where they are moving to.

Although it took just a few moments for them to jog to the castle and get to the throne room, Karn was winded.

“Karn! I’m glad you are here. We need to talk—alone,” Essex bellowed as he motioned for Tala to be escorted out.

When she was gone, Karn drew a deep breath and spoke. “What happened here?”

“Lady Opal requested an audience when all of a sudden a man flew in through the window.”

“Another mage?” Karn asked.

“Yes, carrying an ornate staff,” Essex explained.

“What was said?”

“He said he had come to beg me to call off the soldiers I had sent to the mountains, where he and the other mages lived. He wanted a truce between us. Then he mumbled something about losing control of their pawn and then flew out the window.”

“Opal followed him?” Karn asked, but he already knew the answer.

“Yes. Karn, I fear the enchantress may end up in trouble. I don’t have soldiers in the mountains, but all know of the rogues who dwell there.”

“She can take care of herself,” Karn said bluntly.

After a moment to think, Duke Essex replied, “Aren’t you concerned for her—?”

Karn raised his voice. “We have more important things to worry about now, like this war.”

“I agree, however—”

“My lord, I have a plan. It’s risky, but it could work. First, I need information from someone within Mustaffa’s ranks.”

“Our prisoner?” Essex smiled wolfishly.

Karn nodded and returned the smile.