Cryos & Jade- Secrets Page 2

  “Your majesty, Master Klador,” Tarn introduced the short man who bowed. Beverly bowed in return.

  “Which side would you like the gargoyle statue that I carved, your majesty?” Master Klador asked.

  “The left side, thank you, Master Klador.”

  He directed the men who carried a large object wrapped in canvas and set it up on the pillar on the left side of the door.

  While they were busy with the task, Beverly hurried into her chambers and retrieved a document from her vanity. Returning to them, she handed the paper to Klador as she watched the men unwrap the canvas from the statue.

  She could not believe her eyes. She had to look into her bedroom at Cryos more than once just be sure she wasn’t seeing him out there in the hall. It barely registered that Klador was speaking to her.

  “What? My apologies, Master Klador. What were you saying?”

  A wry smile adorned his face.

  “You are pleased with the product I see.”

  “Quite pleased,” Beverly replied. “The resemblance is uncanny. You are a master of your art.”

  “Would you like my men to move the other statue in place as well?”

  “No! Uh, no, thank you, that won’t be necessary.”

  His smile did not diminish, but rather grew, as if he knew a secret he would not tell.

  “I thought not. Eh, where shall I take this?”

  “Tarn here will lead you to the treasurer. He will see to your payment.”

  Klador bowed, and Beverly returned the gesture. In a few moments, Beverly was alone in the passageway. She looked back and forth and listened carefully before waving Cryos into the hall.

  Cryos climbed up on to his new perch and adjusted, testing its stability and strength. Beverly had to lift her head to look him in the eye.

  “How is it?”

  “Like it was made for me.”

  “The man knows his work.”

  “I do not feel I can protect you as well out here.”

  “That may be true, but there really isn’t much need for my protection here. The villagers and servants love their monarchs, as do the soldiers. There are none that would wish me harm as far as I know. The only danger would be if we went out.”

  Beverly backed up against the opposite wall and slid to her rump.

  “And I don’t know when, or if…” she mumbled, her hands fidgeting.

  Her head dipped and she started awake.

  I need sleep.

  “I am going to bed,” she slurred. She said no more as she entered her chambers and shut the door behind her.

  ***

  She woke in the middle of the night, the moonlight pouring in from outside. Cryos was not in his usual spot. She gripped her covers, her body going weak, a sense of abandonment washing over her. It took several moments to remember why he was not there. Even then the abandonment did not disappear completely, so used him being there was she. Slipping from her bed, she threw on a robe, went to her door and peeked her head into the hall. The candlelight danced off Cryos’ face and for a moment of grogginess, she wondered if she dreamt everything since Ixtus’s keep.

  “Cryos?”

  Cryos turned his head towards her, sending a shiver down her spine. Why was that so unnerving?

  “Has anyone been to see me?” she asked in hushed tones.

  “Your maidservant came by with a plate of food and knocked. When you did not answer, she left.”

  She didn’t know how she could tell, but Cryos seemed to want to say more.

  “What is it?” Beverly asked.

  “I did not like you being alone where I could not watch you. I entered your chambers and checked on you while you slept. Forgive me for intruding.”

  Beverly smiled.

  “Nothing to forgive, Cryos. You’re my personal protector and my friend. I think it’s sweet.”

  Cryos shifted.

  “Now what?” Beverly asked.

  “You yelled at the guard for intruding earlier.”

  “That was different. I don’t want another human bursting in one me, especially when I’m changing. It’s not appropriate and it’s embarrassing. But you’re not like that. You don’t have any interest in...that sort of thing.”

  “What sort of thing?”

  “You know.”

  Cryos remained silent.

  “Ugh! Seeing me in my underclothes, okay?”

  Cryos did not respond and Beverly shrank back.

  “You’re not interested in that, are you?” she asked.

  “No. I only wish to protect you.”

  “Okay. Good.”

  “But...did the guard not only wish to inform you of the arrival of the ships?”

  “Yes, but there are standards, things other humans just shouldn’t do.”

  “This is very confusing.”

  “Just forget it. You can enter my chambers anytime you deem it necessary—”

  Cryos suddenly resumed his statue pose, muttering out, “Someone is coming.”

  A moment later, a guard came walking down the hall. He stopped before the princess and bowed.

  “Is everything all right, your majesty?” he asked.

  “Fine, Drik,” Beverly replied, inclining her head, “thank you. My sleep schedule is just off.”

  Drik seemed confused but said no more.

  “What news from the village?” Beverly asked.

  “I have heard nothing, Your Majesty.”

  “Very well. Thank you. Please do not let me hinder your patrol.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, the guard bowed again.

  “Good night, Your Majesty.”

  “Good night.”

  Drik walked on, eyeing Cryos as he passed. Beverly leaned against the door, her mind going to the refugees and the events of the day. She ducked back inside and changed into her riding clothes. A circlet sat on her vanity. She wondered if she should put it on. She would rather not so she could identify with the people. At the same time, she wanted to be recognized should anyone need her. She decided for it, placed it on her head and looked at herself in the mirror. It looked strange, as if it didn’t belong. She set it back on the vanity with a sigh. Perhaps for the castle, but not for the townsfolk, she decided, and left the room.

  ***

  She arrived to find the town still busy with activity. Dalros was there and she rode up to him. He stood and bowed as she dismounted.

  “Shouldn’t you be resting, Dalros?”

  “I might ask your majesty the same thing.”

  Beverly didn’t answer that. She saw Dalros’s eyes flick to her waist. Her hand moved there, feeling the familiar glassy surface of the jade dagger. Inwardly, she shuddered. The dagger had always followed her when she left it behind. But she would always find it lying beneath a bush or behind a rock. It had never appeared on her person before. Had she grabbed it without thinking? Past events ran through her mind, unnerving her further.

  “How are things progressing?” she asked, trying to distract herself and Dalros.

  “As well as can be expected, Your Majesty. I made some decisions. I was not sure which to make without your direction, so I made the best choices I could.”

  “I’m sure you did just fine—“ she cut herself off, realizing her error. “I apologize, Dalros. You and your men needed my direction and I was not here to do so.”

  “Your majesty had other duties.”

  “Other duties like sleeping. I was exhausted.”

  “All the more reason you should have left.”

  She pursed her lips.

  “You are determined to make me innocent in this, aren’t you?”

  Dalros turned away, most likely hiding a smile.

  “Well, I am here now,” Beverly said. “If you are refusing to retire, you may as well show me the work.”

  “This way, your majesty.”

  Dalros led her to the edge of the village, where sat a row of simple shacks. He explained his choice to give the refugees shelter quickly and that
they would later go back through to give them proper houses. For now, as many as could fit in a shack were laid in each one. Beverly inspected each, stopping to speak with any residents who were still awake. Many looked worn and haggard. They reached the end of the row where one shack was still being built. Soldiers and townsfolk alike worked to build the structure, while others worked on stripping the felled tree trunks drug in from the forest.

  “How long have these men been at this?” she asked.

  “I’ve rotated them out in shifts so there would be constant work. There are still many waiting. It has not yet rained, but I do not like the wind blowing in off the coast. This group has been at work a couple of hours.”

  Beverly observed the workers who gave her curious glances as they went about their work and an idea popped into her head.

  “Thank you, Dalros,” she said. “You’ve done well in my absence. I can take over from here. Go and take your rest.”

  “Your Majesty-”

  “I’ll hear no argument, Captain. You have exhausted yourself and I need you to have proper rest. I have slept most of the day away and am quite awake. Go and get some sleep, at least until sunrise.”

  He sighed.

  “Yes, your majesty. Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  As soon as he left, Beverly walked up to one of the men whom she knew to be more competent of the lot and asked what still needed doing and where they were short. He said they needed another horse and rider to drag in trees from the forest so she retrieved her horse and set herself to the work.

  At first everyone bowed or curtseyed at her approach, but as it became clear she was there to aid in the work, they fell into treating her as just another worker, though they were careful to pay her proper respect. By dawn, they had constructed seven more shacks. She had done everything from tree stripping to helping to lift logs, to digging holes in the muddy ground. She remained one of them as much as she was able, while still making the big decisions for the whole of the project.

  Another shack completed, she directed the incoming workers on where to continue and then went to take a rest by the fountain in the center of town. Her clothes and skin were caked with mud and smeared with dirt, her hair a messy ponytail. She knelt and took a long drink. She was exhausted once again, but this was a more fulfilled exhaustion than the night before. For a night, she had once again escaped the trappings of her courtly life, yet she was fulfilling her duty to the people, just in a way different than intended. She sat on the edge of the fountain, watching the workers and thinking on all of this. Perhaps this is what she had needed all along, not to escape her role by running away, but to embrace it in a way she had never thought of. She could do this. She could attend her courtly duties for half the day, and then work among the commoners for the rest.

  A smile crept on her face at the thought, excitement and exhilaration nearly wiping away her fatigue.

  “Your majesty?”

  Beverly started at the voice. The green-eyed girl from yesterday stood next to her.

  “Oh! Good morning, uh, what was your name?”

  “Torina, Your Majesty.”

  “A pleasure to meet you. I apologize for my shortness yesterday. You had something you were trying to ask me.”

  Torina seemed conflicted.

  “Here,” Beverly said, patting a spot on the fountain ledge next to her. “Sit down. Please, tell me what is on your heart.”

  Torina sat, but looked even more nervous.

  “Now what was it you said,” Beverly contemplated. “You asked me if there were any cells here.”

  “Sils, your majesty,” Torina said.

  “Yes, Sils. That was it. What are Sils, exactly?”

  Torina looked around as if she were afraid that someone might hear.

  “Is this a danger to my kingdom?” Beverly asked.

  “No. No, your majesty. The Sils are—”

  She broke off. Beverly placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s all right. You can tell me. I have secrets of my own that I have told no one. I may be a princess, but I know what it is like to be a girl and have something to say.”

  Torina fidgeted.

  “S-sils are...s-summoned creatures,” she stammered.

  “Summoned creatures,” Beverly repeated. “Are these common creatures that can be summoned at will?”

  “No. They...they exist in their own realm. Only certain people—”

  She again broke off, her eyes wide and her body tense. Beverly kept her tone as calming as she could.

  “Yesterday, I heard you say to that young man with you that you could sense one. Are you one of these people that can summon them? You can tell me. I won’t speak a word to anyone.”

  Torina glanced around again and gave a fractional nod.

  “Do you sense the Sil now?”

  “Yes,” Torina whispered.

  “And where do you sense it?”

  “R-right behind you.”

  “Right behind me?”

  Torina nodded. Beverly didn’t want to dismiss the girl. She was obviously nervous about the matter, as if she shouldn’t be saying these things. Was she crazy? Or perhaps everyone had always treated her like a child imagining things. Beverly had seen enough to know there was much in the world that outside of human knowledge. And it was a big world. She decided to give ear to Torina’s statement. The least it would do would be to make her feel like someone listened to her. And wasn’t that why she was out among them in the first place? Bevery calmly turned to look behind her, and shuddered.

  Cryos was there. He was invisible, but definitely there. And this girl could sense him. How?

  Before she could turn back to ask her, she saw horses approaching at a gallop. Torina saw it too and took off running. Beverly called after her, but she ignored her, disappearing down an alleyway. Beverly turned to Cryos.

  “Get back to the castle!” she said in a harsh whisper as she hid the jade dagger beneath her clothes. “Now!”

  She sensed his presence gain distance, then fade away as the horses came to a stop before her. It was the royal guard, her father’s guard. And her father was among them. Beverly swallowed as he dismounted and approached her.

  “You will come back to the castle,” he said. His tone was calm, but authoritative. “We need to talk.”

  Beverly opened her mouth to object, but her father cut her off.

  “Now.”

  She gulped, her heart slamming against her chest. She knew that tone. She didn’t dare defy him this time. Without a word, she mounted her horse and followed him back to the castle surrounded by his guard.

  ***

  “What were you thinking?”

  Her father was yelling, his anger to a height she had never known.

  “Felling the forest? What did I explicitly tell you?”

  Beverly, still in her riding clothes, and still covered in dirt and mud, responded in a small voice. “That you know what evil lies in the forest. That you don’t want anyone lost in its branches.”

  “And did you listen? To any of that?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  Beverly held her hands in front of her. She spoke softly, humbly.

  “What should I have done, Father?”

  “You should have come to me.”

  Beverly scrunched her brow.

  “But…you put me in charge of the commoners and refugees. I am to handle all things concerning them. How am I to discharge my duties if I am coming to you?”

  “The forest is off-limits. Anything concerning it must be brought before me. You know this.”

  “And what would you have said, Father? Would you have given me permission to fell it?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Then I repeat my earlier question.” She was growing bolder with every moment and the circular nature of this argument. “What should I have done?”

  Her father opened his mouth to reply,
but she continued.

  “There were over six-hundred refugees on those ships, Father. Did you know that? Six-hundred. No, you didn’t know that. That knowledge and execution is my responsibility. There was nowhere for those people to go. We had no reed to build them huts, nor could we simply dig holes for them to live in. They needed shelter. I have—“

  She stopped, realizing she was almost shouting. She paused, bringing a shaking hand to her forehead and closing her eyes a moment before continuing.

  “I have been stifled and suffocated here in this castle for years, crushed under the weight of my duties and how I have been told to execute them. For the past several months, I have been searching for a way to escape the madness clawing at my mind.”

  Tears ran down her face as she relived the horror of her entrapment.

  “I finally found a way out, a release from the unending doldrums only to find I could not fulfill my duty to my people and my kingdom. I was trapped. Trapped, Father! Do you know what that’s like? I need to get out of this endless pointlessness of routine and…and…and last night, I found it. I finally found it! Not running away from my duties, but embracing them in a way I had never thought of before.

  “I do desire to serve our kingdom, Father. But I need to be able to execute my duties as I see fit.”

  Her heart ached to tell him she had been to the forest and had come back alive. But she feared he would not hear.

  “Please, Father. I need you to trust me to do this my way.”

  Silence filled the chamber. Her father took a long breath.

  “I do, trust you, daughter,” he said in calm tones. Beverly hardly dared to believe it. “But not with the forest. You don’t know what happened there.”

  “So, tell me! Give me more than some vague notion that an ancient curse of—“

  “That’s enough! You will order the felling stopped.”

  “And what of our people?”

  “They will make do with what has already been done.”

  Beverly knew there were still far too many to fit into all the dwellings of the village. She forced herself to be calm and as submissive as she could amid defying her king.