The Gifted Heart (Marks of Inheritance: The Orkeia Cycle #1)

2. Beneath the Hill

Chapter two

Beneath the Hill

M y multiple layers weren’t enough to keep my teeth from chattering as the night wind beat against my face. Ahead of me, Gideon didn’t appear cold at all in his large overcoat. His coat reminded me that Elizabeth had been working on a new one for me when I left on my gathering trip. The knights probably had it now. I wondered if one of them would keep it for himself, give it to a loved one, or simply throw it away. The thought made my jaw clench.

We approached a rocky hill, and Gideon began climbing. My hands had been clutching my arms in a desperate attempt to stay warm, but I forced them to open and followed him, my frozen fingers struggling to keep a hold of the rocks. He reached the top before I was even halfway up and frowned when he saw my progress.

“Is everything all right?” he called down.

“Fine,” I insisted, but my shaking voice betrayed me.

He knelt on the ground and extended his arm. “Take my hand, I’ll help you up.”

Elizabeth had always warned me that not being able to accept help was a sign of pride, but I wrinkled my nose and stubbornly continued to climb on my own. Only when I started to slip backwards did I finally relent and reach for Gideon’s offered hand. He pulled me up with a strength I hadn’t expected and caught me as I stumbled backwards once on my feet.

“You’re freezing,” he said, alarmed. “Is there a coat in your bag? ”

“No,” I said as he began lowering the bag from his shoulder. “But I’m fine, really. We must be getting close to your camp by now.”

“It’s not too far,” he said. “We’re just about halfway there.”

“Halfway?” I breathed out.

He sent me an apologetic glance. “It won’t be long, I promise.”

Stopping briefly, he set my pack on the ground and took off his coat, revealing a sleeveless tunic underneath. On his shoulder, a circle was clearly defined. His mark.

A circle . Where had I heard of that mark before?

“You’d better put this on, before you catch a cold.” He held his jacket out to me.

“What about you?”

The corner of his lips twitched. “I’ll survive. Take it.”

I took a deep breath before reluctantly doing so. The twitch of his lips turned into a smile, and he picked up my pack once again.

With his jacket around my shoulders, the cold wind wasn’t nearly as unbearable. Thankfully, the majority of the walking we had left to do was on level ground, and I was able to keep my arms wrapped tightly around myself. I let Gideon walk a few paces ahead of me, all the while looking past him for any sign of a shelter.

“We’re here,” he finally said as the sun disappeared on the horizon.

I scanned the area, furrowing my eyebrows. All I could see was a small, grassy hill in the middle of a plain. There were no structures and no signs of any people.

“Gideon,” I said slowly, “you can admit if we’re lost.”

He smiled at me, the kind of smile that tells you he knows something you don’t. Instead of responding, he walked around to a small bush growing on the side of the hill. He pushed aside the top of the bush, revealing a slab of stone tucked behind it. As I watched, he knocked three times, waited a moment, then knocked again. I started in surprise as a door opened from the inside, and Gideon disappeared from view.

Tentatively, I peered into the opening. A set of about ten steep steps led underground. Gideon waited patiently at the bottom. Someone else stood behind him, but I couldn’t make out any features. The chamber was lit behind them, but the steps themselves were mostly obscured by shadow.

I hesitated before squeezing myself through feet first, pushing the stone slab back into place once inside and carefully descending the steps. Gideon handed me my pack when I reached the bottom and motioned for me to follow. He and the other figure headed down a corridor, their silhouettes eerily illuminated by the unseen source of light. I took a deep breath and followed.

The light grew brighter with each step down the tight passageway. We emerged in a large room with a bright fire in the middle. I gazed upwards, and my mouth fell open in awe. We were inside the hill, in a completely hollow space with no timbers to hold the roof. My eyes lowered to find Gideon and two other men standing in front of me, and I quickly closed my mouth.

“Welcome, Sister,” said the tallest one. He and Gideon had the same golden hair, though his was much longer, and the same kind blue eyes. “I am Julius Grison, father of this clan.”

“I’m Kenna,” I answered quietly.

“Pleased to meet you.”

He smiled and my shoulders began to relax. When I glanced at the man to his right, however, my anxiety returned. He had hair so dark it was almost black and eyes to match. Though he smiled as well, I could tell he was wary of bringing a stranger into the clan, and while I didn’t exactly blame him for that, I too felt wary of him.

Julius gestured to him. “This is Darius Bain, my counselor.”

“Though the roles should be reversed,” Darius said.

I tensed, my uneasiness growing. No one in my clan had ever questioned Elizabeth's leadership. But without any hesitation, Julius laughed and clapped Darius on the back.

“He's also my best friend,” he added.

They both chuckled, and I forced my shoulders to relax. With the atmosphere eased, I let my eyes wander around the room in amazement. Four doors left this common area, and a small kitchen and well were located on either side of the room. Clothes hung on lines over the warm fire to dry. Apparently the rest of the clan members were already sleeping, because the four of us were the only ones here.

“There must be a lot of you,” I observed. My clan hadn’t had nearly this much space, the twenty of us sharing just a couple of rooms.

“Hardly,” said Julius, his smile fading. “There used to be twenty-seven of us, but the others were killed the last time we fled from the knights. There are only twelve of us now.”

It took a moment for me to respond. “Then why make such a large shelter? This must have taken months—”

“It only took a few hours, actually,” Darius said casually.

This statement shocked me into silence, and Julius and Darius chuckled.

“More than a few hours,” Gideon frowned. “We spent the night outside.”

“Well, you can’t expect me to work on it without stopping,” Darius defended.

“Darius has power over the elements,” Gideon explained. “He can manipulate earth into almost any shape he wants.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice.” Darius shrugged, but his smirk told me his humility was insincere.

“But what about the fire?” I said, looking at where it was burning. “How do you stop the smoke from filling up the room?”

“Darius’s power also allows him to put a spell on the fire, eliminating the smoke,” Julius said. “It’s not trapped in here, but the knights won’t see it, either.”

My mind raced. The Grison clan had found a place to live completely hidden and undetected. My heart ached when I thought of Elizabeth. She and the rest of my clan might still be alive if we’d been fortunate enough to have a similar shelter.

“Mostly everyone’s settled down for the night,” Julius said, indicating the empty common room. “My daughter has a room to herself that I’m sure she would be happy to share. ”

“Oh, no,” I said, grasping onto my pack’s shoulder strap. “I don’t want to intrude. I can set up my mat out here—”

“Nonsense,” said Julius. “Unless you plan to leave us in the morning, you should get used to having a bed to sleep in.”

While I’d hoped to find a clan to take me in, I hadn’t expected such a warm welcome. I wasn’t sure why—if the roles had been reversed, I was sure Elizabeth would have been just as welcoming to them. I still felt a bit flustered at their generosity, but I didn’t protest further.

“Thank you,” I said.

“In times like this, we all need to do what we can to take care of each other, don’t we?” Julius said before motioning for me to follow.

Gideon waved me forward, and I followed the three men through the door to my right. We passed into another room, smaller than the common area, containing a large table and twelve chairs. Because the table took up most of the space, this room was lit by candlelight instead of a fire. There were three more doors extending from the eating area, one on each wall. Julius knocked on the door to the left, and a young girl, about thirteen, opened it, dressed in her nightgown. She too had golden blonde hair, and it fell just past her waist in a fountain of light curls.

“What is it, Papa?” she asked.

“Shae, I’d like you to meet Kenna,” he said, stepping aside so she could see me. “Kenna, this is my daughter, Shae Grison. Shae, you wouldn’t mind sharing your room, would you?”

Shae’s eyes widened. She stared at me for a moment, obviously surprised at a stranger’s sudden appearance in the clan, before her lips split into an enchanting smile. “I don’t mind at all. How long will you be staying?”

All eyes were immediately on me, waiting for my answer. I thought I saw Gideon lean forward, listening intently, and I felt the heat from before travel up my neck once again.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I don’t really have anywhere else to go…”

There was a moment of awkward, almost reverent silence before Shae smiled again. “Well, stay as long as you need,” she said, pulling me into the room .

Julius and Gideon left in search of bedding while Darius began to shape the earth into a bed. With seemingly little effort, the ground began to rise and twist into the form he wanted. I watched in awe.

As he worked, Shae struck up an eager conversation, clearly excited to have a girl close to her own age to talk to. Apparently, all of the other women in the Grison clan were adults. She started telling me about what she was learning about potions as a green witch, and when she discovered that I was a white witch she immediately started asking me questions about the Lands of the Saved and the Lost. I’m sure she would have kept chatting the rest of the night if her father hadn’t returned with the bedding and gently reminded her I’d been traveling all day.

When Darius finished the bed, Shae quickly quieted to let me rest. I laid down with a pillow for the first time since leaving my clan and was almost instantly asleep.

***

I awoke just a few hours later with a parched throat. Groggy, I took a small cup from my pack, pulled on a simple dress over my nightgown, and headed to the common area, careful not to disturb Shae.

A woman with fiery red hair sat next to the well drawing water, a bag of clothes at her feet. She was about ten years older than me and possibly the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but she was grimacing even before she became aware of my presence. The door to the eating area closed loudly behind me, and she sat up with a start, locking her bright green eyes with mine. Hers narrowed.

Silence. She didn’t ask who I was or why I was there, just stared at me with her accusing eyes. I shifted my feet, partially afraid to approach the well. After what felt like an eternity, she released me from her gaze, an expression of disgust frozen on her face. As she stood, I recovered from my shock and stepped forward .

“My name’s Kenna,” I said in the friendliest way I could. “What’s yours?”

She turned, just enough so she could again penetrate me with her biting eyes. “Helen,” she said coldly, disappearing through her door before I could attempt any more conversation.

The polite smile I’d put on to greet her faded. Something in my stomach tightened, and I closed my eyes. Despite the warmth of the fire, I felt a chill in the air.

I can’t stay here.

Letting out a slow breath, I laid down and willed my spirit to leave my body. Summoning candles were necessary for visiting the other worlds, making spirits visible to others, and other rituals I hadn’t learned, but a white witch could roam the earth as a spirit without any assistance. I gazed down at my body for a moment before allowing my spirit to travel through the ground and out of the shelter into the night sky.

In spirit form, I was able to move much faster than I would have physically, which I needed if I was going to find where to go next. Orkeia was a kingdom of islands, and I didn’t know for sure if the main city was on this one or another. If I was going to find a way to stop the king, that was the first thing I needed to figure out.

The stars were bright as I began to explore the coast. There were only a few villages on this island that I could find. I didn’t really know what was a normal size for a village, but based on stories Elizabeth had told me, these seemed small. The largest was a few days of travel away, and I saw ships docked on the beach beside it.

I felt a rush of rage. For all I knew, these were the same men who had murdered my clan. Those ships would be filled with the things that they stole—Elizabeth’s talisman, my coat, all of my clan’s possessions that hadn’t been destroyed.

Likely to bring back to the king…

That thought made me pause. I could spend more time in spirit form searching through the other islands for the castle, but even if I found it, figuring out how to get there was another matter. Making my way to this village and seeking passage to the capital city seemed like a good start.

Resolved, I quickly journeyed back across the island to return to my body. When I opened my eyes, I stood and turned to go back to Shae’s room and get my things—walking straight into Gideon as I did.

“Sorry!” I gasped, stumbling back. “I didn’t expect anyone else to be awake…”

“No, I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I just came out to get some water and saw you laying there. I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“I’m fine,” I said, shifting my feet.

We fell into a brief awkward silence before he cleared his throat. “Listen, I can only imagine how hard this is…if there’s anything I can do to help…”

His words trailed off. I found myself staring at him for a long moment. He ran a hand through his hair with a bit of nervous energy, his blue eyes darting from mine to the wall and back again.

I suddenly felt guilty. Leaving in the middle of the night wasn’t the right thing to do. Even if Helen had been less than friendly, everyone else I’d met so far was welcoming. And as eager as I was to get moving, if I didn’t take time to rest and resupply, I’d just find myself in the same situation I was before—hungry, cold, and exhausted as I wandered the hills alone.

“Thank you, Gideon,” I said softly. “I appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said, then added, “You can call me Gid, if you’d like.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Gid.”

“You should get some more rest,” he said, stepping out of my path.

I gave him a friendly smile before returning to Shae’s room. A heavy sigh left my lips as I laid down, staring at the ceiling for a while before drifting back to sleep.