Harbinger: Fate's Forsaken: Book One (58 page)

A bell rang out
across the harbor, and it might as well have been an arrow that found its
painful mark: Lysander leapt back into position so zealously that he nearly
fell off the dock. Thelred had to pull him back over the edge by his shirt,
wrinkling it fantastically in the process.

“The lady
arrives!” a man at the back of the crowd called out, and the docks groaned as
they all stood on tiptoes.

A long
procession lined either side of the road, waiting to be the first to greet
Aerilyn. She walked among them, dressed in a beautiful blue, flowing gown that
Uncle Martin had especially made for the occasion. She wore no paint, but her
face burned with a glow Kael had never seen before. She caught sight of
Lysander —standing tangle-haired and disheveled at the end of the docks
— and her smile warmed them all.

For once, Kael
was glad that Lysander had been right: Kyleigh
did
return, and not an hour too soon.

Now she walked
beside Aerilyn, their arms looped together. She smiled at the crowd and nodded
in thanks to their well-wishing, but never once stopped talking to Aerilyn
— who looked closer to fainting with every step.

They reached the
foot of the docks and Kael realized, in one heart-stopping moment, that all of
Aerilyn’s begging had finally paid off: Kyleigh was wearing a dress.

It was the same
ridiculous, frilly gown she’d once climbed a tree to get away from. And Kael
couldn’t help but notice how completely
un-
ridiculous
it looked on her. The emerald skirts flowed down and brushed the tops of her
slippers with every graceful step; the gold-trimmed waist held her figure like
a frame held a painting — capturing, drawing the eye, and at the same
time taking nothing away from the wonder. The sunlight struck the waves of her
hair and her eyes ignited … and Kael very nearly stopped breathing.

He thought he
could’ve gone on staring for ages, if the sight of her didn’t make him so
miserable.

When Aerilyn
finally let go of Kyleigh, it was to take Lysander’s hand. The two of them looked
each other over, laughed and whispered nervously until Uncle Martin shouted:
“Oh, get on with it!”

This brought a
roar of laughter and loud agreement from the other onlookers.

“All right,
fine
,” Lysander said, waving his arm at
them. Then he turned to Aerilyn and began the vow of pirate marriage. “Will you
sail with me through the storms, hold my hand in the gales? Will you stand by
my side in battle? Will you take me as your love?”

She took a deep
breath, and said with a smile the words she’d been fighting to memorize for
days on end. “I’ll sail with you through the storms, cleave to you in gales. In
battle, you will be my cry. Though the weather may change, my heart will never
wane. Yes, I’ll take you as my love.”

The last word
was hardly out of her mouth before Lysander scooped her up and kissed her
— much to the thrill of the pirates.

“Enough of
that,” Uncle Martin hollered, using his cane to wedge them apart. “You’ve got
the rest of your lives to be foolish. Let’s get through with the ceremony and
on to the party!”

He shoved
Thelred towards the nearest rowboat. And while he undid the ties, Aerilyn bid
them all farewell. She hugged Jake tightly, punched Jonathan in the arm for
whatever rudeness he whispered in her ear, and then fell into Kael. “It feels
strange to be leaving you all here,” she said, her chin resting on his
shoulder. “After all the adventures we’ve had —”

“It’s only a
short journey,” he reminded her, before she could work herself up into tears.
“We’ll be right here on shore.”

“And you won’t
leave me?”

“Of course not.
You know I can’t swim.”

She laughed.

Uncle Martin
hugged Aerilyn once, tightly, and though he didn’t cry he certainly
harrumphed
and blinked an awful lot.
Then Kyleigh kissed her on the cheek and helped her into the boat.

“Row quickly,”
Lysander barked.

“Aye, Captain,”
Thelred muttered as he took her out to sea.
Anchorgloam
waited in the distance, perched in the middle of the Bay. They propped their
hands over their eyes and watched as Thelred helped her climb aboard. When she
was safely on deck, he made his way back towards the docks.

“Steady, lad,”
Uncle Martin said as Lysander resumed his pacing.

“He’s taking too
blasted long.”

“He’s rowing as
fast as he can. I smell the sweat coming off him from here. Just take a deep
breath and —”

But Lysander
must have been tired of waiting, because he charged past Uncle Martin, leapt
off the docks and into the sea. He popped up a few moments later — having
swum out of the reach of Uncle Martin’s cane.

The docks
groaned again as a hundred bodies leaned forward to watch him paddle away. He
swam past Thelred — who tried, and failed, to wrangle him into the boat
with an oar — and clamored onto
Anchorgloam
by her rigging. He turned and raised a fist at the crowd, just a small figurine
in the distance. The pirates cheered as he disappeared over the railings.

“That girl is
going to make him bake on deck till he dries,” Uncle Martin muttered as he took
Kyleigh’s arm.

“I very
seriously doubt that,” she said with a smile.

*******

The wedding
party stretched from one end of the village to the other. Lanterns hung from
every house and shop, filling the streets with merry light. Tables piled high
with food sat on all corners — every man, woman and child could have as
much as they wished. And of course, the grog flowed freely.

Uncle Martin
even had Jake enchant the fountain in the middle of town. Now the twisting
serpents spat red wine into the giant basin instead of water. The wine smelled
good, but anyone who drank it could expect his skin to turn an alarming shade
of purple — and Jake wasn’t sure if the color was permanent.

But that didn’t
stop Jonathan from filling several goblets to the brim and passing them out to
unsuspecting guests. It wasn’t long before an army of angry purple pirates
marched through the revelry with Jonathan hoisted high above them, and tossed
him straight into the fountain.

A small group of
musicians gathered together in the square. They played on a matched set of very
fine, gold-crusted instruments that looked suspiciously like the ones from the
Duke’s ball.

Kael found a
quiet porch to sit under at the edge of the party, and leaned his back against
the wall of a fletcher’s shop. Though he tried to smile and nod to everyone who
greeted him, the plate of food in his lap sat uneaten; the goblet beside him
went untouched. He watched the villagers dance without really seeing them. The
music never quite reached his ears.

“Won’t you dance
with me?”

It wasn’t so
much the question as the voice that carried it — she seemed to be the
only one who could give the world around him any life. He looked up and felt
his stomach twist when he saw she was still wearing that emerald-green dress.
He figured she would have ripped it off by now. Why was she still wearing it?

“I’m not feeling
well,” he muttered, after he remembered that she’d asked him a question. “What
are you doing? You’re going to get your skirts filthy.”

“They’ll wash,”
she said as she sat beside him.

They watched the
party in silence. The space between them felt like a chasm to Kael — a
chasm ringed in daggers with only a very narrow safe space down the middle. He
felt as if any word he might have said would be the wrong one, and that one
wrong word would send him scraping down the wall of daggers for all eternity.
So as much as he wanted to speak, he didn’t.

Occasionally,
the silence would be broken by a man who would step up to Kyleigh and very nervously
ask her for a dance. Her answer was always the same: she was flattered, but
still exhausted from her journey. Surely he understood.

“You ought to
dance with someone,” Kael said as the last defeated man walked away.

“I know I ought
to, but I can’t. You so impressed me that I think any other partner would be a
disappointment.” She brushed the hair out of her eyes. Free from the bonds of
her customary pony’s tail, it hung in waves across her shoulders. When she ran
her fingers through it, he thought he smelled roses.

But he bristled
against her words. “Well, we all have to be disappointed about something.
That’s the pattern of life.”

She was quiet
for a moment. “Do you really believe that?”

“Of course I do.
There are some things we can’t change.” He felt his anger rising, felt the
hopelessness in his chest grip his heart — and the dark thoughts he’d
fought so hard to keep locked up shoved their way out through his words. “A
weak man has to get used to being weak, because he’ll never be strong. Just like
an ugly man has to get used to being ugly, and a poor man to being poor.”

“Surely it’s not
all so immovable —”

“But it is,
Kyleigh! As much as we may want to change our lot, we can’t. Fate’s rolled the
die and stuck us with something, and now it’s our burden to carry. It’s like
the ocean and the sky,” he muttered, remembering what Lysander had said before.
“A fool may think they’re close, but any wise man knows they are worlds apart.”

She stared at
the cobblestone. “Wisdom is your burden, not mine.”

“No,
this
is my burden.” He thrust his hand
at the revelers, at all the people who were dancing and eating and drinking
entirely too much grog. She would understand the weight on his shoulders, and
she would assume it was the responsibility that dragged him down and under. He
thought she would never guess what truly haunted him.

But he was
wrong.

“You’re not
alone, you know. You’ll always have me.” And their eyes met for one searing
moment before he looked away.

“No, I won’t. I
can’t drag you into this and ask you to risk your life —”

“You never have
to ask —”

“I won’t!” he
snapped, so loudly that it made her jump. “Don’t you understand? I want to be
alone.” He saw the hurt on her face, and for a fleeting moment, he wished he
had the courage to say what his heart begged him to. But even as the words
pressed against his lips, he knew his hope was doomed. And so he said nothing.

He stood,
because he thought if he sat beside her for another moment he might crumble to
the ground. He hiked back to the mansion, ignoring the cries of his companions
to come back and join the party. His legs shook under the weight of his heart,
and they simply weren’t strong enough for dancing.

*******

In the morning,
he was sorry. He wished he wouldn’t have let his anger get the best of him. By
night, his words seemed true. But by the dawn of day, he knew they were false.
He couldn’t go on without Kyleigh: she was the light that kept the darkness
away. Without her, he didn’t know if he would have the strength to press on.
He’d rather let the ache in his heart burn him alive than find himself lost in
a world without any light.

And so he had
every intention of apologizing to her over breakfast.

When he arrived
in the dining room, Jonathan and Uncle Martin were already there. They had dark
circles under their eyes and looked as if every bite they took was agony. Kael
was just glad to see that Jonathan was no longer purple.

“I should have
never let you convince me to ride that goat,” Uncle Martin groaned. Someone
dropped a pot in the kitchen, and the noise made him wince. “Good Gravy, that
beast must’ve crawled out of the bowels of the under-realm.”

“Speak for
yourself.” Jonathan switched the raw chunk of meat he held from one eye to the
other. “I had no idea those things could kick with both feet at once.”

Uncle Martin sat
up straight. “Did I kiss a mermaid last night?”

“No, you’re
thinking of the octopus statue outside of Morris’s place.”

“Ah, right. Nice
chap — but he
did
have
wandering tentacles.”

Their laughter
very quickly fizzled into moans. When Jonathan left to be sick, Uncle Martin
spotted Kael. “Hello there, lad! I didn’t expect to see you this morning. I
figured she would have taken you with her.”

“Who?” Kael said
as he sat.

“The Dragongirl,
of course! Who else?”

His heart
actually stopped beating. “Wait — what do you mean? Where’s she gone?”

“Calm down, now.
Everyone knows she does this from time to time. She’s not in any danger
—”

“Where is she?”

The hard edge in
his voice wiped the smile off of Uncle Martin’s face. “I’m sorry, lad, I
thought you knew she’d gone. I’m not sure where to, but she left this note for
Lysander —”

Kael snatched
the parchment out of his hand and nearly ripped it in his rush to get it open.
Neat handwriting covered a paltry fourth of the page.

Captain Lysander,

I’m writing to let you know that I’m
carrying our cause to new lands. If we plan to take the fight to Titus, we’ll
need all the help we can get. There are a few rumors I’d like to follow. I hope
they’ll bring us the numbers we need.

Give my love to our companions,

Kyleigh

- Also, you should know that I’ve stolen the
battlemage. So sorry for that.

He read her note
three times before he crumpled it and hurled it across the room. So she’d write
to Lysander, she’d take Jake with her, but she couldn’t be bothered to tell him
goodbye?

“I’m sorry
—”

“Don’t be.” Kael
cut Uncle Martin short because he didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t care if he
was being rude. “I’m not hurt by it. She has her task, and I have mine.” He
grabbed a plate of food off the table and headed for the door.