A Whisper of Night

12.1 || MAJAEYRA ❄️

           

"We'll reach Wayra Peak in an hour, my Queen," said the Priest. "We dare not dock at Husling Bay."

    "Very well," Majaeyra said, smiling at the Priest. "Please eat - you've earned yourself a rest."

    The Priest glided away. He had refused to divulge his name to anyone, and Jae knew better than to ask.

Brennia was huddled at the stern of the boat, a cloak thrown over her shoulders. The princess hadn't spoken much since they'd left Svanvald, except to plead with the Priest to take her to the Nightfire Isles instead of Scorvald. I don't want to go back home, she'd seethed for a good two days. Anywhere but home!

But when Jae asked her why, she always refused. Now, Brennia's sullen stillness was almost unnerving.

    "How are you?" she asked, taking a seat opposite Brennia.

    She shrugged. "Fine. And you?"

    "I'm good." Good enough, anyways. She'd dreamed something strange last night...although she couldn't remember it anymore. Something about a black-haired girl. "Do you want breakfast?"

    "I ate while you were sleeping."

    "I see."

    They fell into silence. The waves lapped at the boat, murmuring against a gentle gray-blue sky. A mild breeze tugged at Jae's hair as she reached beneath her seat and pulled out her sack.

    Under two brown cloaks laid her Ydaerign. The puzzle box that the High Priest had given her had not yielded any more truths since they'd set out, no matter how much she'd fiddled with the gears on its sides. The first note was in her sack, tucked between a robe and a dress.

    Beware the twin blades.

    Her stomach rumbled.

    "You haven't eaten?" Brennia said.

    "I'm not hungry," Jae said gently, sliding the box into her bag.

    "Your stomach disagrees." She tilted the hood of her cloak back for the first time since they'd boarded the boat. "Eat something - what's the harm in it?"

    Jae shrugged. "Perhaps later." She stole a glance at the princess' face. Brennia had a pair of hard brown eyes and a long, jutting nose, made even sharper by her square jaw. Still, she possessed a sort of steely beauty, the kind one would expect from the daughter of the Lion Queen.

    "What's that?" Brennia said.

    "A puzzle box," she said simply. "It's called a Ydaerign and it has twelve truths inside. It's supposed to help me be a better queen, but I've only gotten one figured out so far."

    "You mean it just...dictates how you're supposed to rule? Who wrote that? Your Glass Faith? How do you know they're not lying?"

    Jae laughed. "I don't know," she said, slightly taken aback by the girl's directness. At least she's talking. "Perhaps they are...but leaders have been guided to greatness by their Ydaerigns. I trust the Faith. They preach truth above all else."

    "Faith can be corrupted. Just look at the River Kingdoms."

Brennia's face was flushed, as if she'd never spoken this much before. Jae smiled. "They have no reason to hurt the kingdom," she said, "or to twist me to their intentions. They work for Truth, not for the kingdom."

The princess just shrugged.

It seemed strange that Jae had escaped from Svanvald only a few weeks ago. Her flight from the Crown of Ice was all a blur - she remembered clambering down the mountain with two Priests, then mounting a stallion, then arriving at Dellia's River. There the boat awaited her, and within, Princess Brennia, smuggled out of the palace only minutes before....