Free Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn by Douglas R. Brown Page B

her own loss helped her understand his pain in ways most people could not. She told him about the pressures of royalty and about how much she loved her father even when he was a bit harsh. He mentally gritted his teeth at the mention of Elijah.
    While they talked, his straps lay sleeping along the floor. They were as exhausted as he, though he would forego sleep for days if it meant hearing her stories for even a moment longer. He gorged on her every elegant word, only replying when necessary to keep the conversation going. But mostly he just listened. He had no more interest in telling his own stories or troubles as every word he spoke meant fewer words he could hear her say.
    Before the suns broke the horizon, she whispered that she had best head back to the kingdom. He knew she was right but hated that it was true.
    Her last words to him were, “I will come back, I promise.”
    He wanted to tell her that she couldn’t, to protect her, to protect him, but he couldn’t bear the thought of her not returning. She brushed her hand across his arm and he closed his eyes. Her touch, however brief, was almost more than his senses could handle. She stood up. He stood next to her. He wanted to grab her arm, tell her to never leave, but he knew better. She caressed his cheek, turned and disappeared.
    With Alina gone and his brutal pit of emptiness swallowing him, his stomach reminded him of its torture. It seemed the berries he ate had hardly done the trick and he laughed at how little he cared as he gathered his fishing supplies.
    Maybe he should follow her. Out of sight, of course.
    And that is what he did.
    Today, he thought with a smile as he climbed onto Salient’s back. Today is a good day.

C HAPTER 14

C OLORFULS
    Four lonely years passed for Rasi.
    The year was Matthew one thousand and twenty-four.
    Four-year-old Jarret raced through the vast fields of the Great Plains, his classmates trailing behind. The ankle-high blades of now-bright-blue grass were like millions of tiny, squirmy fingers as they reached out and tugged at his feet and tickled his bare toes.
    “Jarret, don’t run too far,” Alina hollered from behind. “You need to wait for the rest of the class.” But her pleas drove him faster.
    “Miss Alina,” pant, pant, “I’m hunting the colorfuls,” he yelled as he peeked over his shoulder. She was getting close, which made him squeal. With his focus on his pursuer, he tripped on the uneven ground. The animated blades of grass caught him with the softness of a pillow. The grass caressed his cheeks as he giggled and rolled to his back.
    Alina stood above him. He whispered, “Hi,” with an innocence only a child could possess.
    “Jarret, you are clumsy,” she said and dropped to her knees beside him. She tickled his belly and ribs and he squirmed away from her.
    “Miss Alina,” he said between gasps. “Stop it.”
    “Not until you understand that there are no more colorfuls. They only exist in legends.”
    “No, no. I can find them if I dig in the dirt,” he said. “I saw them yesterday.”
    Alina tapped him on his nose with her index finger. “Sure you did,” she said. He scrunched his face like he had a deep tickle and pulled away. “I very much doubt that you found any yesterday. Or the day before. They have not been seen for many generations.”
    He shook his head. “Miss Alina, why is the grass now blue? And why does it grab my toes and tickle my feet?”
    “I do not know, Jarret. I have never seen the plains like this before.”
    The other teachers and children plopped down around them, winded from their jog. The children rolled through the lively blades, laughing with unbridled excitement.
    Miss Sarah, one of the class teachers, told everyone to gather into a circle. “Our guest today, Princess Alina,” she said, “is going to tell us a story.”
    All of the children cheered.
    Jarret yelled, too excited to control his volume, “Your cheeks are red like apples,” and he giggled