“ He left, like he said he would. Yer mother knew he couldn’t stay, nor could she go with him, no matter how strong their feelings for one another. He gave her the ring as a keepsake. What he couldn’t know is that he also left her with a child… You.”
Claudia fell silent, lost in the country of remembrance where a young girl she had once loved still lived, laughing and happy. Jelena felt so tightly wound up that she could barely breathe. She knew so much more now than she did this morning. The mere possession of her father’s name, and an object that belonged to him, gave her hope that finding him would not be such an impossible task after all.
“ Mother, why didn’t you tell me any of this before now?” Jelena asked. She continued to play with the ring, slipping it on and off her thumb.
“ I could tell ye that it was because yer mother didn’t want you to know until you were ready, but that would be a lie. The truth is, I was afraid that if I told you, you’d want to go off and try t’ find him…yer dad, I mean.” Claudia shook her head sadly. A single tear leaked from the corner of her eye and trickled down her lined cheek. “I am a selfish old woman. I didn’t want to lose my baby.”
“ You’ll never lose me, Heartmother, not really,” Jelena said. She reached out and placed her hand over Claudia’s. Conflicting emotions stirred her soul. She felt a little angry that Claudia had not told her about her mother and father, but at the same time, she ached for the loss that Claudia would suffer when she left.
“ I have to find Zin, Mother. He’s the only one who can tell me what the blue fire means.”
“ Ay, gods…I know you do,” Claudia murmured sadly.
Jelena raised the ring up to eye level and stared intently at the white griffin inlaid into its surface.
Chapter 7
Zin has to be a son of a noble house. He wouldn’t wear a ring like this otherwise,” Magnes commented as he inspected the heavy white gold signet. “It should make him, or at least his kin, much easier to find. I’ll get you a chain so you can hang it around your neck.” He dropped the ring onto Jelena’s palm.
The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky, and atop the battlements the wind was picking up. The official banner of Amsara-three black lions
“ I’ve got us some packs, a couple of old blankets, a knife, bow and arrows for you. It’s all safely hidden in my rooms. You’ll have to see about getting us some food. You’ll arouse far less suspicion if you’re seen in the kitchen than I would. I don’t see how we’ll get away with taking horses, though. We’ll just have to walk very fast.” Magnes grinned ruefully. “I’m really going to hate leaving Storm. He’s the best horse I’ve ever had.”
“ I won’t be able to take too much food,” Jelena sighed. “Cook always seems to know exactly how much of everything she has, and if too much goes missing, she’ll not rest ‘til she finds out why.”
“ We’ll have to forage, then. Shouldn’t be too hard at this time of year.”
“ With your knowledge of herbs and your trapping skills, at least we won’t starve.” Jelena was far more concerned with pursuit and capture once her uncle discovered that she had run away. Without horses, it would be nearly impossible to outrun a mounted posse.
“ We’re running out of time. Duke Sebastianus leaves for Veii in two days. I think we should get out of here tonight,” Jelena said.
“ I agree,” Magnes replied. “My father intends to officially announce my betrothal to the fair Lowena tonight at a small supper gathering. Of course, I’m supposed to behave in a manner befitting the Heir of Amsara. I just hope I can get through the meal without puking.” He raked his hands through his thick dark curls, a familiar gesture. His distress was palpable.
“ You’re thinking of Livie, aren’t you?” Jelena asked softly. She always seemed able to guess his mood.
Magnes laughed, but there was no humor in it, only sadness. “You know me so well, cousin. I wanted to tell her about all of this myself. Now, she’ll hear of it secondhand, and the pain will be that much worse for her. She will think that I didn’t love her enough to tell her about my leaving.”
“ Why can’t you go and see her now?”
“ She’s off visiting her married sister in Greenwood Town. That’s a full day’s ride from Amsara. I’d never get there and back in time.” He stared out into the distance, his eyes clouded with bitterness. Far below, cowbells clanged softly, providing a mellow counterpoint to the rhythmic cooing of the doves settling in for the night beneath the eaves of the great hall. Soon, the village girls would come to drive the cattle in for the evening milking. How peaceful the land looked, Jelena thought, then she suddenly realized that she stood on the edge of a deep, black chasm into which she was about to jump, with no clue about what lay at the bottom; yet, she felt no fear, only elation. She was finally taking charge of her own destiny, and there could be no turning back.
“ I’m sorry Magnes,” she said, laying her hand on his forearm. “I know how much you are giving up to help me. Someday, I hope I can repay you.”
“ Nonsense.” He looked at her and smiled. “You don’t owe me any repayment. Don’t you know I’ve always wanted to go off on a big adventure, especially if it involved keeping my annoying little cousin out of trouble? ” Jelena punched him playfully in the shoulder, and Magnes let out a mock cry of pain. His naturally cheerful temperament never let him stay depressed or angry for long.
“ There’s no moon tonight, but we’ll still have to be very careful,” Magnes continued. “The best time to leave will be during the changing of the watch at midnight. The guards won’t be paying as much attention then. Meet me in the kitchen garden. Remember that old gate we found in the wall when we were kids?”
Jelena nodded excitedly. “The one covered over with the wild grapevines. I remember we used to pretend it was a doorway that opened up into a faraway land full of strange creatures and fierce savages.”
“ Well, I just happen to have the key. After old Jano died, just before Brennes took over, my father gave me the master key ring to keep until he could find a new steward. Well, you know me, ever the curious one. I had to see if any of the keys would open that lock, and sure enough, one did, though it wasn’t marked. I don’t believe Jano knew about the gate, or he would have marked the key. When I turned the rest of the keys over to Brennes, I kept that one. I didn’t really have a specific reason at the time…just a feeling that, someday, I might have a need for it. I guess that day is here.”
“ Lucky for us,” Jelena said. “After the evening meal is done, I’m supposed to put away all of the staff crockery. I’ll just move very slowly tonight. I should be able to draw it out long enough to be the last one to leave. The kitchen boys may present a problem, though. They sleep by the main fireplace. I’ll have to hide in the pantry until they’re asleep. It shouldn’t be too difficult to sneak past them then.”
“ How did Claudia take the news of your leaving?” Magnes asked.
Jelena winced at the memory of her foster mother’s tears. “She’s heartbroken. To her, I’m just as much her daughter as I would have been had she borne me herself. She is the only mother I will ever know. It tears me up inside knowing the pain I’m causing her, but she understands why I have to go. If she didn’t, she never would have given me my father’s ring or told me my parents’ story.”
“ You did tell her about the blue fire?” Magnes asked carefully.
“ Yes, and she seemed totally unsurprised, as if she knew about it all along…I wonder,” Jelena mused, tugging at a stray coil of hair that had escaped an ivory comb.
“ Perhaps she did…Or at least suspected,” Magnes replied. “Anyway, you’re lucky to have had her to raise you. I just wish I could remember my mother a little more clearly. I have so few real memories of her. They are more like barely recalled dreams.”
Jelena had no memory at all of Magnes’s dead mother. All she knew of Duchess Julia was what she had been told by Claudia. According to Claudia, the duchess had been everything the duke was not, and her death had been an occasion of great sorrow for the staff. All of the castle’s residents were in agreement that Magnes had inherited his looks from his father, but insofar as his soul was concerned, he was definitely his mother’s son.
