Whispers of a Legend, Part One-Shadows of the Past by Carrie James Haynes Read Free Book Online Page B

is much to adjust to. Find the
meaning of all. We have long suspected a threat is looming upon the
horizon. To dismiss all would be a fatal mistake," Lothar said
in manner of stating a fact.
    King Edulf glared at me, his granddaughter.
His ego would never let him relent in front of me, this I
realized.
    "Get her out of here immediately. Do not
begin to tell me that the fate of Sordarins lies within the hands
of weakling! Look upon her, Lothar. She is trembling! Her eyes
water! Get her out of my sight! I will decide upon my course of
action. Since Turstan seems reluctant to stop acting as a wet
nurse take him with you!"
    Relief flooded me. I was dismissed. I may
have not understood nothing of his ramblings, but a weakling?
Never! My only desire was to leave the company of
this despicable man. I held my head high departing the room
and didn’t look back.
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    Fight of Arachnidean
     
    The morning dawned once more. I rose from my
bed, taking care not to wake Sareta. I pulled the thin blanket and
tucked it around my sister who again within the night had found
me. Although still within the home I had first been taken, I
had been moved for now I was held as a servant in the household,
banished from the castle I had never known. I had been given a
small room across from the servant quarters similar to the one I
had had before, but I believed it was only because the fear that
Sareta would turn up beside me that I had a room to myself.
    Lady Faileuba had been most kind. Although
her husband, Lord Lothar, and she had no desire to incur the
wrath of King Edulf, I don’t believe they thought the King in truth
wanted his granddaughter to become a common servant.
    But with all I was confused and within my
heart I understood not the method behind my treatment. Was I not a
Euchoun? A warrior? At night when I lay my head down upon my bed, I
would remind myself of the fact for warriors did not cry, but
survived. Turstan instilled within me as much.
    I hadn’t uttered a word of complaint, but
wondering of why I was being treated in this manner weighed upon
me. The unfairness of it all! But Turstan had urged me patience.
The King, he said, felt I had disrespected him. I would have to pay
the cost of such behavior. Falco, I hadn’t seen since we arrived
within Yucca three months hence. Three months since I had sustained
the fury of the King. Falco hadn’t even tried to contact me when I
turned another year. Sareta told me in all King Edulf had commanded
none use my name.
    “Please, Kela, do not hold it against Falco.
Grandfather will not let him see you. In that I have heard,” Sareta
confessed upon the day I passed into my thirteenth year.
    “It has not stopped you,” I countered.
    Her eyes lowered escaping my gaze. “I fend
ignorance, Sister. I need your strength. I can’t be kept from you.
I feel your need for me also. It calls to me and I can’t ignore
it.”
    At least I had my sister and in time I would
reunite with my brother. Of that I was determined. My anger now
seethed against the King. I had ceased calling him Grandfather for
he had shown me no feeling of such.
    In truth, though, I had begun to wonder if I
should relent and beg for forgiveness to the King. Not that it had
been asked of me, but this time away from my family was taking a
toll upon me. Surely the King would forgive me. Did not my family
have need of me? A plan began to formulate within me. I could take
no more, deciding upon swallowing my pride. I would humble myself
before the King. The problem now lay with how to gain audience.
    Washing myself before the day, I glanced
over at Sareta once more. I would let her sleep a tad longer before
waking her and sending her back. For some odd reason, her presence
even in sleep gave comfort to me. Patting my simple gray tunic, I
walked out the door, shutting the door quietly.
    The house was large with many servants.
In all, a pleasant, comfortable place to live. I found myself
envying the