Page 58 of Light and Shadow
I honestly have no idea if bringing them across the sea is a good idea, but how can we leave them behind to starve or worse? They were barely cared for by their people before my magic. We don’t even know if those who ran remember having children.
The girl looks up and wipes her hands on her tattered clothes. She points to her chest. “Tal.”
“Harper.” I can’t help feeling a little honored that she chose to tell me her name. It might have just been because I’m the one still sitting here while the rest argue and work.
She points to Aaran and Jax. “They kill us?”
I’m shocked by her use of English. “No.” My heart breaks. “They don’t know what to do with you, but they won’t kill you.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “They are good.” I touch my mouth “How did you learn to speak this way?”
Cocking her head, she points to her ear. “Queen people talk.”
I assume this means she listened and learned. It also means at some point Venora had her followers here. Where are they now? I shake away all my questions to pay attention to Tal.
On the other side of the dune, the bodies of the Aracan who were killed on the dock are being burned.
Tal points. “No.”
There’s no good way to explain the funeral taking place. I call to Jarnol, “Will you watch the boys don’t get hurt?”
He nods and takes my seat as I rise and offer Tal my hand. “Come and see.” I know she’s young, but suspect she’s been witness to more death than most.
Rather than take my hand, she crosses her arms but follows me off the ship and across the dock. We climb the rough stone steps that go over the dune near the building where Aaran said the shipping business used to take place.
As soon as we reach the crest, the heat and horrid smell hits me. I take Tal’s arm and pull her to the side where we are not in the direct line of the smoke.
The fire towers twenty feet above the ground. Ten elves kneel in a wide circle around the pyre, singing a dirge-sounding song and rocking with hands clasped in prayer. “We did what we had to do, Tal, but no one dismisses your loss.”
She stares dry-eyed while I cry. She turns away and descends back to the port. “Queen killed.”
Following, I jog to catch up. “Why didn’t the queen kill you?”
She stares at the ground as if searching. “Too young to make dark. I girl.”
I point at the ship. “What about the boys?”
“New.” Rage burns in her dark brown eyes. “I hide. Too small before, but…” She runs up the ramp to the deck.
I cannot imagine what that girl has been through, and I’m positive I don’t want to. My gut knots as she storms away with shoulders back and chin up. Swallowing down my emotions, I board the ship and find Aaran and Jax still arguing, only now they are joined by Fancor, Cara, and Dorian.
I step into the center of the circle, effectively stopping the conversation. “The children will come with us. You can’t leave them here even if you know where their parents are. They’ve been through enough. Venora killed all the boys because they were too young to turn. She couldn’t control them. She left Tal alive because she’s a girl. Tal hid the younger ones once she was old enough to understand they’d be killed. We’re not leaving them here.” Without waiting for a response, I walk back to the lower deck where the children are fascinated by Jarnol and his bucket of clean water.
Each one takes a turn approaching the water before darting away and laughing.
Smiling, Jarnol waits for the next one to let him try.
Tal walks to the bucket and cups the water. She rubs it on her cheeks and neck.
Gaping, Jarnol hands her the rag.
She snatches it and scrubs her face, revealing pink cheeks.
When she hands him back the rag, Jarnol grins, his white teeth gleaming against his dark skin. As all the boys follow Tal’s lead and come to wash their faces, Jarnol helps them wipe the grime away.
Bert steps next to me. “Well done, Harper.” He lifts his chin toward the dispersing group on the upper deck.
