The Halo Of Vakh (BOOK 1)

REGRETS

"We'll follow the Golanda," James said, staring down at the strip of water that rushed through the village below, shining gold in the golden rays of the setting sun. "Medlar's a few miles from the river."

"They'll recognize us," Rueen said and even if Sapphire knew her words were not directed at her she could not help but feel guilty.

"Then we'll have to prevent detection," James sighed. The man looked tired and worn.

"You don't have to come with me, you know," Sapphire said. Father and daughter turned to look at her but she kept her eyes resolutely at the water below. "They're after me from the start. As a VannØrn. They've always been after me. Now, they think I'm a murderer. Which I'm not but it's not like they'll listen to me. You can settle down somewhere in Medlar. I'll just bring you more trouble."

She turned to look at her companions. Rueen looked at her with annoyance, as if she had said something stupid.

"I'm as much of a VannØrn as you," Rueen crossed her arms over her chest. "They'll have the records from Kapok. It won't take much prodding through the bloodlines to find that out. Besides, you're family. We don't turn our backs on family. That's the Borskalle's business."

Sapphire stiffened slightly at the name of the sept, ignoring the clenching of her heart. She still hadn't told them about her origins. She didn't know how to bring it up. She was scared, to say the least. She did not want to see the shock and hatred in their eyes.

"We better refill our waterskins," she said, ignoring Rueen as she opened her mouth to say something and took the three waterskins from their saddlebags. "And catch something if we don't want to go to sleep on empty stomachs."

With that she walked forwards and down the hill towards the river, waterskins swinging in her hand. She kept out of sight of the village, heading around it to reach the river. The water rushed rapidly against sharp rocks that protruded from the surface. The bank was covered in light moss and she had to be careful not to slip on the soft mud and go tumbling head-first into the river. She crouched down, sinking her knees into the ground and splashing water onto her face, cleaning it of the dirt and mud from their last night's fight. The chill of the water soothed her stinging eyes. At once, she took her hair out of its braid and dunked her head into the water, emerging back moments later, her hair dripping and hanging in front of her face. She squeezed as much water as she could from them before letting them fall back, opening the waterskins, and dipping them into the water.

It was true what she had said earlier. She had brought quite a few troubles on Rueen and James ever since they had taken her in. For a moment, she wished she could go back to the old days when she had nothing to worry about except catching a few deer for food and helping in the fields. Not only had she labelled them as murderers but she might have brought war to Falargimea's gate. Nirrin respected its merchants and held them in too high regard to ignore the danger that their trader had been thrown into. If not war then it would definitely cause a rift between the two countries. She had heard that Nirrin's King had given away his position to his daughter a few months back. She hoped the woman was not as ruthless as her father had been in matters of the country's integrity.

The sounds of footsteps made her turn her head and she saw Rueen heading towards her, hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket. She flopped down beside Sapphire and started washing her face rapidly, before snatching one of the waterskins and gulping down half of its contents.

"Oh, I forgot how sweet Golanda's water tasted," she said, dunking the waterskin into the water. She turned to look at her and raised a brow at her. That expression of hers scared her more than anything else. "So. What's troubling you?"

"Nothing," Sapphire was not going to succumb to a brow, no matter how dangerous it looked; besides Joseryn's was much more intimidating even if she had never been on the receiving end. She averted her eyes to the river.

"And I'm a racoon," Rueen said with a roll of her eyes before catching Sapphire's smirk and spraying her with water. "Shut up."

A comfortable silence lingered between them as they cleaned their hands and feet.

"Someone helped me," she finally said in a low voice. Rueen looked up, saying nothing and just waiting patiently for her to continue. "Toluer tried to stop me. Did some kind of enchantment or whatever they call it."

Rueen's brows jumped high on her forehead but she said nothing.

"The attack was stopped by someone. I don't know who it was. When the two spells collided there was an explosion. It threw me off guard. And then during all that commotion, something like a wind came and knocked each and every soldier out."

"What if it was the person who killed Elyane?" Rueen did not mention anything about Sapphire's past disbelief of Draedech and she was thankful.

"He was gone before I was even out of Elyane's room."

Sapphire realised her mistake too late. She had not told them about her being in Elyane's servant's quarters.

"You went to Elyane's room?! Are you crazy?"

"I didn't mean to! I got lost and just stumbled into his servant's room. It was a good thing the servant wasn't there."

"No crap."

Sapphire glared at her friend.

"Maybe it was a guard."

Sapphire looked at Rueen in confusion.

"And why would a guard help me?"

"Because you look helpless." Sapphire hit Rueen across the head as her friend snickered. "Maybe he was working with the rebels. I mean to say, if you think about it, that's the only thing that makes sense. The man who killed Elyane couldn't have gotten in without internal help."

He wouldn't have needed internal help. He was a garned phantom.

Sapphire restrained herself from telling Rueen that.

"Perhaps."

And, as the two walked away from the river, Sapphire thought about how she had never told Rueen the real reasons for her worry or if she would ever find the courage to tell her.

.·:*¨༻  ༺¨*:·.

Thoughts?