The Ruby Guardian

They latched onto her arms and yanked her back as she kicked and flailed. Oh, how she wished she had learned more of Xaphira's skills. She longed to kick and punch like her aunt had been able to, to strike the two men hindering her from reaching her real quarry. She longed for one of her throwing daggers. They would not block one of those, she was sure. She could not understand how they could have such loyalty to a man such as Grozier Talricci, a man without honor.

'Stop it! Stop it,' someone said from behind Emriana, and cool hands were on her shoulders, gently but firmly drawing her back, away from the two men, away from Grozier and Marga. It was Jaleene, using a soothing tone that she had often employed when Emriana was a child. The girl felt like a child right then, helpless, surrounded by condescending adults who said nice things merely to humor her. Emriana gave another hateful glare at Marga; then she looked at Grozier.

'You cannot remove me,' she said flatly, as though it were a fact that deserved no argument. 'And I will see you undone, before you can ruin my family's name and honor. I won't permit it,' she spat.

Grozier lunged forward, his hand drawn back as if to strike her. Ladara shrieked, and Marga had to reach up to restrain the man. Still, he came very close to reaching the girl, and despite herself, she cringed the slightest bit. He saw her reaction and smiled.

'You are nothing,' he said at last, jerking free of his sister's grasp and straightening himself. 'You will mind your manners, and you will obey my rules in this household every day, without fail. I will know where you are at all times, and you will have guards posted outside of every exit to your rooms at night. There will be no more of this sneaking about, interfering with the work of adults. Oh, and you will hand over that infernal pendant that your brother gave you. I have better uses for it than you ever will.'

Emriana felt her eyes widen. Her hand went to her heart, where the pendant hung inside her shirt, nestled between her breasts. Vambran's birthday present. Vambran, who was dead. 'No.' she said. 'You may not have it.'

Grazier's eyebrow shot up. 'Those are the conditions by which you may remain on the premises,' he said, shrugging as if it were the most expected thing in the world. 'If you defy me, you will be removed, by force if necessary. Choose now.'

'No, please don't,' Ladara sobbed from her position next to Hetta's body. Emriana thought she was talking to Grozier, that the woman was finally finding the courage to stand up to someone on her behalf, but when she turned to look, Ladara was gazing at her, not Grozier. 'Don't cross him, Em,' her mother pleaded. 'You're only a child. You cannot survive out beyond House Matrell. Do as he says!'

Shock and hurt flooded through the girl all over again. She opened her mouth to protest, to tell her mother just how insulting she was being, but then she snapped it shut again, realizing the futility of trying to get her mother to understand anything beyond her own clinging needs. She shook her head sadly and turned away.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to walk, to turn her back on everything that she had grown up with, had loved, for the sake of pride. The notion of leaving the house forever terrified her. She had no idea what she would do, where she would go, but she would not stay and live under Grozier Talricci's thumb. She'd be damned if she'd ever do that.

Em, came a faint voice, Hetta's voice, from inside her head. The girl froze, wide- eyed again, staring at her grandmother's still form. Em, come to me. The sound of her grandmother calling to her stunned Emriana, but before she realized what she was doing, she padded across the floor to where her grandmother lay at rest.

Ladara apparently thought that her daughter was coming to her, and she reached out to envelop Emriana in a hug, but the girl shrugged clear and knelt down next to her grandmother's head instead. She gazed at the elderly woman's face, so still, so serene. She couldn't believe that Hetta was dead. She seemed asleep, though there was no rise or fall of her chest.

Em, take my hand, Hetta's voice commanded. Confused, unsure if she was hearing things or imagining them, Emriana slowly reached out and took her grandmother's two hands in her own. They were icy cold to the touch, and the girl almost recoiled in revulsion, but it was her grandmother, her sweet, adorable Hetta. Emriana clasped the two frail, wrinkled hands in her own and squeezed them.

Voices or no, I love you, she said silently, letting the tears fall freely. I miss you already.

Take the ring from my finger, Em, Hetta's voice instructed, and it was clearer, louder than before. Emriana nearly gasped aloud, but she calmed herself and looked at her grandmother's hands. There, on the fourth finger of her right hand, was a silver ring with a ruby set into it. The moment that Emriana closed her own hand about it, she felt a surge of energy, felt another presence inside her body.

Quickly, Em, slide it off my finger. You must take the ring with you, Hetta said as though she were another voice in Emriana's head. Stunned but trying desperately to remain cool and collected, Emriana bowed over her grandmother as though she were offering up a final good-bye. She tucked both of her grandmother's hands into her own and discreetly slipped the ring free.

Don't lose it, Hetta said. I'm inside it. A feeling of joy surged up in Emriana then, for she knew she wasn't imagining any of it, that somehow, her grandmother's essence, her spirit, was safely stowed in the ring. Get out of the house, now, Hetta said. It's not safe for you. Defy him, and leave.

The girl subtly pocketed the piece of jewelry then rose to her feet She turned to face Grozier. 'Go to hell,' she said with the most conviction she'd ever felt about anything in her life. Around her, everyone gasped.

'I'll see you there,' Grozier sneered, but Emriana had already turned away, and was walking out of the room. 'Guards, make sure she leaves the premises at once,' he ordered.

'Em, no!' Ladara called out. 'Come back! You mustn't do this!'

The girl ignored them all, though the pain in her mother's voice made her cringe. She realized she had come to despise the woman's timorous nature, but she nonetheless felt self-loathing for hurting Ladara. The woman was, after all, her mother.

You can't help her right now, she admonished herself. You must save yourself, first.

With those words to bolster her courage, Emriana hurried out, practically sprinting to her own room. The guards behind her began to trot to keep up.

If Grozier has his way, I won't even be able to take any belongings, Emriana thought, won't get much opportunity to pack.

In her room, the girl slipped on a different pair of boots, discarding the single one she had on her foot. Then she snatched up a satchel and threw an extra outfit inside. She also dug a pouch of coins out from a cubbyhole in the back of a drawer in her dresser. She was just turning to exit when a box on her bed caught her eye.

It was the set of daggers Xaphira had given her. There were still two inside.

Emriana could hear Grozier down the hall, shouting at the two guards to bodily remove the girl. She glanced at the doorway, where the two guards stood, hesitating to enter a lady's chambers uninvited. Before they could overcome their sense of propriety and cross the threshold, Emriana snatched up the box, stuffed it in the satchel, and turned toward her balcony.

'Get her out of here, right now!' Grozier said from right behind the two guards. 'She gets nothing!'

Emriana didn't wait to see if the house guards would jump to their work or not. She darted outside, onto the tiled porch where the smell of blossoms always hung thick in the air, and scrambled down the steps to the grassy expanse below. She heard the sound of footsteps on the tiles behind her and knew that Grozier had ordered the guards to follow her until she was well and truly off the property.

From the lawn, she scurried around the house, through an orchard, and down a side path to the main one leading to the front gate. Once she was there-still followed at a discreet distance by the pair of House Matrell guards-she slipped her hand inside her pocket and slid the ring onto her finger.

Grandmother? She projected. Is it really you? Are you truly there?

Yes, child, Hetta replied. I'm here.

Oh, Hetta! Emriana silently exclaimed, burbling with both excitement and trepidation all at the same time. What happened? You died!

All is not as it seems, Hetta replied. Magic can do strange and wondrous things, and we Matrells have access to our share of it. I have worn that enchanted ring for a long time. In the event of my death, my spirit would be drawn into the ring, rather than away to the afterlife. I'm a stubborn old