Chapter 16
LUS NA SITHCHAINE
The early darkness of the forest lightened ahead. Ria’s heartbeat jumped in tempo. She tripped over her feet, wobbling unsteadily for a moment.
Ty did not notice, his narrowed eyes blazed in one direction only, seeking one thing. It was Niri who placed a gentle hand on the small of Ria’s back. The warmth from Niri’s touch lingered despite the damp chill in the air.
Ria forced a deep breath as they stepped into the clearing marking the center of Lus na Sithchaine. Dusk’s blue light filled the open sky, saturating a place that was already unbelievable in its mythic glow. Two matching trees of towering height stood like sentinels at the far side of the opening. Their highest branches caught the last of the sun’s rays. Within the darkness of the surrounding trees, knots of golden light twirled and scattered, reforming a distance away like glowing birds or butterflies. It took Ria a moment to realize the lights that did not move were from houses.
The two Kith guides paused at the edge of the clearing, their faces indifferent, although they gave the trio a moment to catch their breath and take in the sight of the city. As Ria’s eyes adjusted, she could make out the aerial houses that looked like massive thickets of mistletoe lit from within. Between them, branches arched as living pathways, swooping slowly downward. Houses made from limbs and vines grew at all levels, even a few along the ground visible by their lights in the evening shadows between the tree trunks.
Niri let out a slow breath. Ty drummed his fingers against his thighs. His eyes strained through the growing darkness to the people who milled at the far side of the clearing. Nervousness flickered through Ria again. She chewed at her lip, hearing her mother’s voice admonishing her. A rush of homesickness flowed through her, but it was no longer the sharp pain it had been. If she wanted to see home again, it depended a great deal on the next few moments. She squared her shoulders and stepped next to Niri.
Ria had found herself alone on the boat after Lavinia’s flight with the sword, Ty’s mad dash after her, and then Niri’s decision to pursue them both. She sat down, alone for the first time since before the solstice festival and completely unsure what to do with herself.
The minutes stretched on until she became aware of the liquid sound of gentle waves lapping the hull of the boat and the creak of the ropes tying it to the strange wharf. Her arms were locked at her sides, fingers curled around the edge of the bench as she leaned forward as if she was expecting someone back at any moment. Someone who would tell her what to do. She had been sitting that way for a long time.
It had been the realization that she was waiting not for company but for instructions that made her stir. She had flexed her hands and found they listened to her commands. She could choose to do anything she wished.
All my life, I’ve been waiting. What I’ve always feared has happened, but not as I imagined it would. And I’m still here waiting. It was a sick realization.
In the gentle rocking of the ship, Ria began to laugh. The sound startled her, which made her laugh harder until she sobbed with such force her sides ached. It didn't take long until all the frozen moments of not being in control of her life fell out of her. Alone, she rubbed the tears off her cheeks, gathered up her bag of belongings, and walked down the wharf to find her room in Drufforth’s inn.
Niri came back first. She found Ria sitting downstairs talking to Gaylin and Kara, who was the innkeeper, and drinking fermented cider with honey. Niri was disheveled. Her dress, which had always looked too boisterous on her, was muddy and fern whipped. Strands of her thick brown hair fell in loose waves around her face. Niri looked no more frightening than Ria’s aunt had appeared after chasing three troublemaking lads through her family’s orchard. Ria giggled and pushed a tankard toward Niri.
Gaylin and Kara made themselves busy while Niri sat and caught her breath, eyes flicking sideways at Ria.
“Did he catch her?”
Niri shook her head. “No. Lavinia found a Kith lad, man, before Ty found her. She is going to Lus na Sithchaine and we’ll join her tonight to go before the council and ask for help.” Niri paused, taking a sip of the cold brew. “You and Ty should be able to get their help to find a different boat south. Assuming Ty makes it back in time to go.” Niri wouldn't look directly at Ria. “I’m sorry to have left you alone today.”
“That’s all right. Really, it was ... nice, actually. I haven’t had a chance to think since we left Mirocyne. Sardinia doesn’t count.” Ria felt a frown slide across her face, but it didn’t stick. She spoke again as the thoughts came to her. “I don’t want to leave.”
Niri’s head swung around as she finally looked Ria in the eye. “You want to stay?” Niri asked.
Ria shook her head, her vision out of time with the motion. She pushed her tankard away. “I’m not sure what I want, but I want the time to figure that out. That might as well be here, since this is where we are.”
A smile grew on Niri’s face. She sat back in her chair. “That seems very fair.”
“I do think that if they agree to help, we should get the boat fixed.”
Ty came back minutes before two Kith teenagers arrived to lead them to Lus na Sithchaine. He was out of breath, his shirt stiff with sweat, and a hollow look had eaten the spark, angry or teasing, that commonly filled his face. Hearing that Lavinia was already ahead of them slumped his shoulders. With no time to change, Ty walked back into the forest as he was, tired, sore, dirty, and lost.
Now, despite her resolve not to shrink from the journey of what happened after her worst fears were realized, Ria’s heart hammered a staccato. The Kith teenagers were distant and strange, with patterned skin and simple clothes of natural colors. The strange Kith city unnerved her further. All Ria really wanted to do was hide.
“Ria, Niri!” Lavinia’s dark hair, unique among lighter heads of the Kith, was the first sight Ria had of her friend. Lavinia embraced her as though she had come to visit after a long absence, releasing her to greet Niri likewise.
Lavinia gazed over Niri’s shoulder at her brother. Ty glowered at her. Lavinia spun and linked arms with her friends.
“You won’t believe what I’ve seen!” she said. “But first we have the council. Then you have to meet Darag, if I can find him again ...” Lavinia strained forward, pulling them along. “He’ll turn up. He is the one who showed me around today and he promised to teach me to use my sword if we get to stay. Niri, did you know the Kith can’t touch metal?”
Ria giggled. At Lavinia's surprised glance, Ria said, “I haven’t heard you talk so much since we were eight and you came to my family’s estate for the first time.”
Lavinia grinned at the memory.
“But they are dryads,” Niri answered.
“That’s what I said, but they’re not - well, not exactly. It has to do with the trees. You’ll see. I hope.” Lavinia glanced at her brother.
Lavinia led them forward through the Kith until they were between the sentinel trees. Ahead an empty space lay before three Kith, who faced the crowd and them. Swarms of light danced around the three, painting them in a flickering glow of ethereal power.
“That’s Darag,” Lavinia whispered, nodding toward a figure on the left. Ria could see little in the faint light. Darag’s eyes were lost to shadows, the markings of his skin blending with the night. “Laith Lus is in the center.”
“He is the Kith elder?” Niri asked.
“Yes, I met him earlier. He moves so slowly that you only notice it when you look away and then look back. But plants grow when he talks to them.” Lavinia’s face was a mixture of awe and fascination. She looked at Ria, squeezing her hand. “He was very nice, though. You don’t need to worry.”
Ria’s smile felt tight on her face.
“Who is the woman?” Niri asked as the crowd behind quieted. Ria’s heart hammered faster.
“Shai Bannan, the second elder.”
“Did you meet her, too?” Ria asked in a throaty whisper.
Lavin
ia shook her head. “No, but Darag told me about her.”
The one Lavinia said was Laith Lus stepped forward. In the brighter light of torches, Ria could make out the shocking white-gray of his hair and the ancient stone-blue pools of his eyes against mottled skin the color of an ash tree wet from a storm. His appearance did not ease her trepidation.
Ria wasn’t sure if they stepped forward or the Kith stepped back, but suddenly it was only the four of them standing between the gathering of Kith and the three council members. Ty stood with shadowed eyes gazing up at Laith Lus in defiance. Niri held her ground, breathing purposeful breaths. Despite Lavinia’s assurances, Lavinia looked nervous. Ria took her hand.
“You are the naiad?” Laith Lus’s voice was the roar of the wind in the branches of trees.
“I am.”
“You are not a Priestess with the Church?”
Niri did not hesitate. “I was.” A hissing murmur ran through the assembled Kith. “I was taken by the Church when I was nine and taught there to be a Priestess. But I was cast out and have since realized how wrong the Church is, how cruel. I am a Water Elemental only and not a Priestess, not any longer.”
Ria could sense the disapproval from the Kith like a black pit opening behind them. The expressions of the three judging them echoed their displeasure.
Niri waited. Laith Lus drew a slow breath.
“She saved my life.” Ria's voice trembled a little and she could barely hear above the pounding of her heart. But she released Lavinia’s hand and stepped next to Niri. “That is why she was cast out. She saved my life from the Church and the Curse.”
“She has saved all of us from the Curse, twice now,” Lavinia added, moving to stand on Niri’s other side. There was a shifting sound in the crowd behind them.
“What are you, child, that the Church and the Curse seek you?”
“I don’t know. I have magic ... it runs in my family. But I don’t know what good it is or what I can do. Every time I use it ... the Curse comes," Ria stammered.
“What do you seek here?” Laith Lus demanded.
Ria tried to speak, but nothing came when she opened her mouth.
Niri spoke instead. “Our boat was damaged by the Curse. We need to get it repaired so we can sail to the Temple of Dust, where we hope to learn something in the remains of the library to protect Ria or hide her from the Curse. We could not seek shelter in the towns of the Archipelago without risk of being found.”
“You do not seek to go to the Temple of Ice?”
“No.” Niri said, voice uncertain.
Laith Lus stared into the empty space before him. “Do you have proof of what you say?” he asked, returning his gaze to Ria.
She shook her head. “No,” the word came out as a plea. She closed her eyes and tried again. “No, please, if I use my power the Curse will come. The Church will come. They do not know we are here.” Laith Lus waited, watching her. “Please do not ask me to do that,” Ria whispered against a closed throat.
Laith Lus' thoughtful gaze changed focus. He stared beyond Ria. She turned and saw Ty, silent as an angry ghost.
“What have you to say regarding this?”
Ty stiffened, fists clenched for a fight. “It happened as they say.”
“But not how you liked?”
“No, I have not liked anything about this since we met Niri in Mirocyne.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To protect my sister and Ria from the Church, from Niri, and from you if I must.” Ty took a step forward. A hiss ran around the clearing. Laith Lus and Darag exchanged a glance.
“Bahl fait’haf teyhl tonwhah.”
Darag’s expression turned grim with Laith Lus’s words.
“Ty, stop it!” Lavinia turned and stood in front of her brother, one hand on his chest.
“They took you today,” Ty said tightly.
“I wanted to go with them.”
Ty looked at his sister coldly.
“Your sister is a woman grown and a guest here, not a prisoner,” said the elder.
“We’ll talk about it back at the inn,” Ty hissed to his sister.
Lavinia whirled away from her brother, crossing her arms and staring into the grassy shadows.
When Ria returned her attention to Laith Lus, she was surprised to find a bemused smile on his face.
“I have seen all I need to understand the truth. We will fix your boat as you ask. It will take two weeks. Until then, you may visit us during the day and stay in Drufforth at night. Tonight, have dinner with us and then we will see you back.”
Lavinia grabbed Ria in a hug. Niri let out a long breath. Only Ty remained unmoving, gaze locked on the three council members.
The Kith dispersed, the rustle of their fabric and feet sounding like a breeze through a field of saplings. But Laith Lus had not moved and his silent form halted the crowd. The old man’s eyes slid from Ty to Lavinia. “Except Lavinia. We have opened our homes to her. She may stay here in Lus na Sithchaine if she chooses.”
Lavinia's excited glance included Ria as well as Niri. Ria couldn't return the smile. Anxiousness filled her to think Lavinia wouldn't be in Drufforth with her.
Ria turned away, catching a look of hatred as it crossed Ty’s face. He was staring at Darag.