Page 15 of Keeper of the Word

Into the thicket charged a third beast. It roared. A sickeningsound of flesh being pierced followed. The beast shrieked as its companion had. The commotion of fighting rang. Voices yelled, trading signals, orders, and growls of their own.

The arrows that had momentarily ceased due to the new attack resumed; only one of them found its mark, however. The cat inched forward.

Something else climbed the tree. Elanna paled and glanced down. But ’twas not another cat, but a man.

When he was near, he yelled, “Here! Take this!”

She chanced another glimpse. A dagger was being held up to her. Her eyes trained on the predator inching closer, she reached down and grasped the handle. She brought it up to her side, listening to the man continue his climb toward her.

An arrow struck the beast again, this time in the neck. A coppery scent filled the air. It wobbled, and Elanna used that moment to ascertain the man’s position—the branch below hers.

“Climb down to me,” he directed.

“I cannot.” ’Twas true. Her limbs grew numb again. Her grip on the dagger loosened. “I am too fatigued.”

“Shoot another!” he bellowed.

The new arrow sunk into the cat’s shoulder, and it gave a last shriek. But instead of falling, it vaulted toward Elanna. She thrust the dagger out, sinking it into thick flesh. Its claws lashed out across her shoulder, and she screamed again, releasing the dagger. The man sprang onto her branch and shoved the beast away from her. Elanna closed her eyes in pain. Thethumpsof the animal hitting branches as it fell before landing with athunkon the ground, gave her something to focus on to keep her from blacking out.

She heard no more fighting. The third cat must have been downed, too.

She was suddenly aware of the large person in front of her on the branch. When she opened her eyes, stern brown eyes were locked on her.

“I cannot—” But she couldn’t finish her thought. The starsreclaimed their borrowed power, and Elanna fell against him and into oblivion.

Elanna had a brother once.Daved. She supposed she still did somewhere back in Grenden, where she was from. When she allowed herself a personal thought or two, sometimes she wondered about him. Did he still live in the city of Mara, a port that also acted as a military citadel between the Capella Realm and the country of Vathnava? Daved, five years Elanna’s senior, filled her ears with stories of seafarers, the distant lands beyond, and the courage of the Capella Realm’s military. He meant to join when he became fourteen, the earliest age of enlistment.

Even at such a young age, Elanna was frightened of when that day would arrive. Their father, whom Elanna could never remember without a jug in his hand, did not put food on the table. Daved did. A cobbler’s apprentice, ’twas he who brought home scraps of meat and bread, enough to keep a small child’s belly from being completely empty. She understood too much about food and what its lack meant. But in the end, that worry had not mattered. Daved had been only eleven when Elanna left Mara.

At five years old, Elanna’s Sight began to shine. It began with simply predicting the weather the next day. At first, Daved laughed when his little sister pointed to his shoes and told him how soaked they would be on the walk home, suggested he bring a shawl because of the strong sea winds the next evening, or asked if they could stroll along the docks in the sunshine the following day. But she began to See other incidents, too. Accidents. Their father’s ill moods. Bad food that could cause them to retch for days. Daved became inquisitive; then he’d told her to tell no one but him about her “predictions.”

Once a StarSeer’s powers were known, the law commanded that she be brought to Ashwin.

Elanna was unaware of that, but she knew the intense look in Daved’s eyes. Knew she needed her brother to keep her safe.

And so, they hid Elanna’s gift from the stars for nearly a year. But then, Elanna told Daved about their father’s death.

“Will you not warn him?” Elanna questioned Daved as they sat in the scullery, a handful of almost rancid nuts between them.

His one-eyed stare—for the other eye was blackened shut at the time—flickered into something Elanna was not certain she liked.

“Nay,” Daved returned. “And neither will you.” He left the scullery without a backward glance.

Two days later, their father was crushed by cargo that he’d been unloading at the docks. Neither Elanna nor Daved cried, nor did they sleep that night.

In the morning, Daved packed a burlap sack with Elanna’s scarce possessions.

“Come. We’re going for a walk,” Daved said, opening the door and letting in the early morning light.

“Where are we going?” Elanna peered up at him.

“Just come on.”

Daved guided Elanna to the stronghold of Mara’s constable. When the guards opened the gate, Daved gave Elanna’s hand an extra grip as if he might shepherd her back.

Instead, he said, “This is my sister, Elanna. She is a StarSeer.”

Of all the fortunes Elanna could have hoped to see on her future’s path, Daved’s words took her completely by surprise. He gave her a side hug across her small shoulder, whispered goodbye, and strode away.