Free Abide: An Awakened Fate Novella by Skye Malone Page B

to see her?”
    I hesitated. I wanted to take off right now – the soldiers behind us and my grandfather somewhere ahead both urged me on – but we could shoot right past Granddad if we weren’t careful. This elder might know exactly where he’d gone. “Yes, thank you.”
    They motioned nervously for us to follow them down into the hills. Wary looks greeted us as we approached the villagers.
    “Clear the way for Princess Inasaria!” the bulky guy called.
    I didn’t grimace. I wouldn’t. But inside, I was exploring some of the more inventive swear words I knew.
    We might as well leave flares for the soldiers who’d follow from Nyciena.
    The men led us down toward a cave on one of the hillsides near the center of the village. Fejeria leaves blocked the entrance and around the opening, a few precious stones – the only ones I’d seen in the village thus far – were inlayed in a small symbol vaguely reminiscent of the sun.
    “Elder Josinya?” the bulky man tried when we reached the cave opening. “Princess Inasaria to see you?”
    “Enter.”
    The man pushed aside the fejeria. We followed him into the cave.
    An old woman sat on a pile of cushions. Tapestries woven of various shades of plant leaves hung from the walls around her, while the cave stretched away at her back into other rooms that glowed with torchlight. Her scales were crimson, or had been when she was young, though the color was now faded with age. White hair trapped in a tight braid hung to her waist, and from within her wrinkled face, her sharp eyes were a surprising shade of brown that looked almost crimson as well.
    “Princess Inasaria,” she said, pushing away from the ground.
    I motioned quickly for her to stay where she was. “Thank you for seeing us.”
    “Of course.”
    “They said you spoke with my grandfather?”
    Elder Josinya paused. “I did.” She glanced to the man behind us. “Would you send for some refreshments for the princess?”
    I hesitated, wanting to protest. The soldiers would be coming. We needed to get after Granddad as soon as possible.
    But I also couldn’t afford to be rude.
    The man left. Elder Josinya gestured for us to join her. We sank down onto the cushions.
    “Lord Jirral was here two hours ago,” the old woman acknowledged. “He wished to know if we had information regarding your twin brother.”
    “Do you?”
    Elder Josinya gave a small shrug. “Perhaps. Several days ago, we found a Vetorian in our waters. Our people captured him, and in questioning him, we discovered that he was the survivor of an aborted attack on a young couple not too far from here. His compatriots were killed by the couple, but from his description, the pair may well be your brother and the young lady accompanying him.”
    I looked away, keeping my face as blank as possible. A mercenary attack. Ren was so certain Chloe was a spy for them. Zeke had sworn she wasn’t.
    Vetorians had no reason to attack their own.
    “Did the mercenary say which way they’d gone?” I asked, my voice carefully controlled.
    “East, toward the California coast.”
    I bit my lip. Niall had said Washington. This just left more coastline to cover.
    “And my grandfather? Did he go that way too?”
    “He–”
    A rumbling noise cut her off and, beneath us, the ground suddenly began to shake. Gasping, I kicked up from the floor as dust and gravel started falling from the ceiling to cloud the water.
    “What the hell?” I cried.
    Shouts came from outside as the shaking grew worse and the rumbling turned to a growl like the largest land predator in the world suddenly had us in its throat. I swam for the cave opening to see what was happening.
    “Princess!” Egan yelled.
    I only had time to gasp. The ceiling over the cave opening started to slide. The rocks tumbled down, heading straight at me.
    Egan grabbed me and yanked me backward as the cave entrance collapsed. His arms crushed me to him as he turned and plastered us both to the floor, his body