Heart of Secrets

Heart

of

Secrets

Ellen Mae Franklin

Tarkeenia Series

Also, by Ellen Mae Franklin

Tarkeenia Series

The Unseen Promise

Heart of Secrets

In the Cold Light

A Fighting Chance

Tarkeenia

A Dark Compendium

12 short stories

Copyright © Ellen Mae Franklin 2014

Cover Design Clarissa Yeo - Yocla Designs

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrievable system, or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission from the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

The names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication (CIP)

Registered with the Public Lending Right (PLR)

Franklin, Ellen Mae 1961

Heart of Secrets

ISBN 9780995449411 - Printed

ISBN-13: 9780995449466 - Ebook

Deposited with the National Library of Australia

The second book in the Tarkeenia Series was created from

a love of reading and the wish to share the word.

‘Heart of Secrets’ was written as a continuation to

The Unseen Promise.

This story is dedicated to

Michelle Ellen, Madeline Mae and Elliot Franklin

The struggle between God and man, magic and indefinable evil is without recourse.

Roedanth wants his brother alive, to rise from the dead to walk once again by his side. He sold his soul on a promise to the Dark God, now there can be no going back.

Kitty's caught and the Halls demand justice. Prize or pawn, her life hangs in the balance.

Poor Pellimac is lost and alone, or is she? Has she returned home?

Ro’Breare, the hateful mage and the rhino, Boallag reach an agreement. The Murrdock desires a throne and the traitorous mage strives for revenge. How could it get any better?

Kahlu fancies himself High Councillor. Fool he may be, stitching a quilt of blind treachery.

Sometimes the most unlikely strangers become friends. Prince Pec and Guventher petition the magi for help, for Ro’Breare runs with Specks and the King of Murrdocks lies deathly ill.

Everyone strives to make do in a world bubbling with wild magic, as the lives man and monster hang in the balance, subject to the whims of gods.

Chapters

Up a hole

He said, she said. I wonder who said what?

There can be no going back

There can be no winners here!

Saying sorry doesn’t cut it

Sometimes secrets are best kept secret

What’s left if not tears?

How much more could we become, if we could only stand to be around one another.

The prodigal son

Done and dusted

I don’t believe my eyes

Hidden truth

A fateful truth

Following the leader

An introduction doesn’t necessarily make us friends

Now the end is near, I have no choice but to draw the final curtain

Let those who are guilty throw the first stone

I was told once that the best form of attack is defence – baloney

Goodbye

To err is to forgive

Up a hole

Her struggling slowed, ceasing altogether. She was a bundle of bones and rags he pulled along after him. Scraping and bruising her ravaged body, they continued. Pellimac whimpered, but for the better part, shock kept her silent. Father tried, crooning affectionate clicks and clacks at her joyous return, but it only terrified her more.

Rats fled the pair. Even the darkness shied away in the face of Father's fanatical headlong rush. She belonged to him again! Hours passed, and the jubilant Speck and the stunned nomad woman stopped. His bony fingers clenched Pellimac's wrist, smudges of black rose to the surface of her skin promising blood red bruises. Deep in the inky murk, a part still pure and intact screamed at the loss of the sky and open earth. She wept. Her cries excited Father as she strained lungsful of air in between loud sobs.

Father dragged his prize across grainy streams peppered with gold and gravel, through the gloom until at last, with a clack and a pop, they entered Hi'ayman's chambers. Dazed and disorientated, Pellimac stared ahead. A vague memory rose. Another place such as this, where she endured fear, pain, deprivation and loneliness. The cruel nightmares were reaching out like old friends.

The trace of something human lingered upon this room. A bed and bowls of water scattered around the floor signalled familiarity. She waited.

Father sat silent alongside his love. Her stillness soothed his racing heart and helped to lessen the insatiable hunger gnawing in his bloated belly. Who could doubt his yearnings now? He felt her trembling. The salty sweat that sheathed her skin and delightful memories caressed him with renewed feelings of lust. A loud sniff set Pellimac moaning, and by her fear, the monster bit into her shoulder. It wasn’t a hard bite, more of a nip, but it broke the flesh. Blood so sweet welled to the surface, and he licked it away in a lover's bliss.

Hi'ayman walked in the cool air, allowing the sunlight to warm his sallow skin. The half-caste made his way over the rocky ground, as though his milky eyes could see. The soft breeze and exercise relieved knotted muscles and although Father's constant presence meant well, all he wanted was to be alone.

Now that Kitty was gone, Father was his only company. The other nestlings didn't need attachments, caring only for the frenzy of primordial feeding and sleeping. Hi'ayman stepped over and around rocks, through splintering bushes, and kept centred to a familiar path. He began the search for his sister once more. Closing his sightless eyes, he slipped into a trance. Swaying back and forth, the Seer walked the world of dreams, crossing through the veil from the present to the past. Where was she? Why couldn't he find her? It was as if Kitty had become invisible. Did she lie under water, below a rippling surface of an unbreakable film?

Could it be she was lost? 

He stopped and turning on his heel the walk back brought him home. Specks lined the walls, in slumber, folded in and over each other, shivering with addiction, but Hi'ayman passed them by. Relieved to find the mage absent from his door. A blessing to alone, not trailed after, as if he owed the man's constant badgering a bleeding ear. A fancy rewarded the seer with a smile, stumbling over Ro’Breare’s dead body would constitute relief: a finalisation to an unwanted guest.

For a while, he consoled himself with thoughts of Kitty's return, swaggering back as if she had never left. Drawing on familiar smells, Hi'ayman tasted putrefied meat, the rancid metallic stink of blood, and the stale unclean bodies of his brethren. How he missed Kitty!

Expecting Father alone and waiting for him, he didn't notice Pellimac huddling in upon herself, exposed. Father, have you eaten? You know you need to eat. We are not the same, you and I. Let me fetch you fresh meat.

The band of skin where eyes should have been throbbed, Father remained unmoved. He stretched out an arm, a long, thin, spidery appendage, eerie in the flickering light. The older Speck clicked away into the darkness, voicing his agitation.

What is it? Hi'ayman moved closer.

Pellimac whimpered, curling her body up tighter. Her limp and filthy hair covered her once beautiful face. Curious, Hi'ayman approached Pellimac and did something he rarely did. He sniffed.

Instinct took him along, and the Seer dropped to her side. Careful not to disturb her fragile state, he placed a soft hand to her cheek and clacked again. He caught a whiff, indistinguishable yet oddly familiar as she sucked for air. He smelled old blood, dark earth and the sour odour of a dirty body.

Who is she? he whispered.

Father brushed his bony fingers through her hair, wrapping the oily strands in an iron fist. Click, clack.... sounds erupted from Father in urgency. He gestured with his other arm, pointing towards Pellimac and then to his son. He rested his hand against his own thin chest.

My mother? This female? Again, this came as a whisper.

A single click was his answer and Father released Pellimac's hair in a crooning gesture.

Oh. The seer folded his legs under him in a perversely graceful move.

Pellimac held herself tight, wild eyes staring at the young dreamer. Suumac. She croaked his name. Who is this Suumac? Your lover, another son? Hi'ayman was desperate, drawn to this woman. She whimpered and turned her head, the violent undertaking proving too much: the smell of rank musk triggering harsher memories. Suumac. Her brother was a link to an impalpable part of her former self. She lifted her brown eyes, moist and wide, staring at Hi'ayman's milky ones. A shaky, slim hand touched his face, brushing aside his pink hair, a mother's touch on her child's skin. She remembered the pain of his birth, the long, arduous hours of screaming for release and then, the end. With Father by her side, she held her son to her breast as he nuzzled for blood.

It didn't concern her he was different, only half human. The only thing that mattered was he was hers. She howled when the men from the Spotted Clan had dragged her howling from her babies. They were as much Benzine as they were Speck. And despite their differences they were hers.

She recalled this and more as she explored her son. She had come home. Father stroked her head and crooned. The smile across Hi'ayman's face was wide enough to light even the darkest of corners in his dreary chamber.

A chorus of song flowed in the wake of Kendrai and Shai's passing, ringing in tune with the cascade of bells. Aubrie had Pristy braided them into her heavy plaits and they swung back and forth as she did her best to catch up with the nomads.

Oh, my! This is such fun! High pitched and full of giggles, Aubrie intercepted the pair on the Great Staircase, jabbering nonsensical annotations as she trailed their company. Ya should have seen their faces when I showed 'em the bells ya had given me. I wanted to laugh and laugh, but I didn't wish to shame me Pa with such behaviour, now did I? Anyways, are you goin' to see the crazy one ya leavin' with us?

Is that right, bells and a crazy woman all in a single afternoon. Aren’t you lucky? The young Chief Apparent's face turned stony. Eyes the colour of a troubled storm took in Shai, who couldn't help but be shocked by the uncivilised dwarf. She hid a smile behind the back of a slim, tanned hand. Uncouth and outspoken Aubrie was oblivious to the insult.

The nomad increased his stride. He'd had enough of Aubrie and her overworked tongue. Pulling at Shai, Aubrie picked up her many layers and trotted along. Blathering all the while, happy to be in the company of such fine folk, she didn't respond to his exasperated try at shooing her away.

Shai frowned, creasing her eyes in tight anger at the unguarded doorway. Hadn't she told Pellimac's healers to stay close?

Why isn't there a guard? Shai placed an ear up against the door, the tightening in her belly erupted in to fire. Why can't I hear voices Kendrai?

What's she doin? demanded Aubrie.

Quiet! hissed Kendrai, fed up with their tagalong. She is listening. A healer should be here, so I suppose she's trying to see if they are there.

Oh, she replied, and stamped a stubby foot. It was rare for anyone to say no to Aubrie.

Shai waved Kendrai forward. I can't make out a thing.

Maybe she's sleeping, he answered.

Shai tossed her head again. No, she never sleeps. 

Kendrai brushed past the frumpy dwarf who twitched at the enormity of what Shai suggested. He twisted the handle, pushed the door and stepped into the gloom. Not a single lamp burned to banish the strain. Silence, in its totality, flooded his ears. He strained for the familiar sound of Pellimac's whimpering, but there was nothing but quietness.

He moved back to the waiting pair. I need light! he snapped.

Shai picked up a glass jar, shaped as an hourglass sitting on the stone floor by the doorframe. The bottle was home to dozens of lumino worms. Angry in their confinement, these soft, transparent larvae increased their body temperature, radiating heat and a glow.

Kendrai pried the bottle from her stiff fingers. He stepped into the darkness. Not a single lamp burned to banish the dark. Silence, in its totality, flooded his ears. He strained for the familiar sound of Pellimac's whimpering.

Swearing under his breath Kendrai went back to the waiting pair. I need more light! he demanded.

Aubrie clapped her hands. I'll get ya one. She took off, a fabric tumbleweed rolling along the passageway, disappearing from sight.

Kendrai cursed, anger fuelling his rising temper and Shai chewed her lower lip. That idiot will call every dwarf up here if we're not careful. He imagined the disappointment on his father's face. Shai touched his cheek and would have offered an encouraging reply but he was gone, a lit dot of hope in the flagging gloom. 

Aubrie popped back into view. Her mad dash bounced the light she held. Look, she gushed.

Shai took the glass jar from the dwarf.

Shai, Kendrai called out.

Her long dagger flashed from the glow behind the call of her name. She entered the room, surveying with a natural sharpness the unexpected emptiness. Kendrai, where is she? She tried to keep the tremour from her voice.

The Chief Apparent looked up and the worry in his eyes dragged Shai closer. What has happened here? Where are those damn dwarves? How could I be so stupid as to leave her alone with them?

They didn't notice Aubrie as she stomped into the room. Where has everyone gone? Where's the crazy one we came to see? Aubrie shouted.

Mind your tongue! Shai rounded on Aubrie. She wanted to slap the loud-mouthed dwarf, but what was the use, if she did there would be no stopping. In a much gentler tone, tense but necessary, she said, Listen, Aubrie, go fetch help and bring them back. Don't tell them a thing because we can’t afford to start a panic. Just bring them here.

The young dwarf beamed at being given such an urgent mission. Soundlessly she chanted, 'I will be a hero. No two ways about it, I will be the envy of 'em all'. Out loud, she said. Okay, I'll go, but what bout 'im? She pointed a stubby finger out past Shai's nose.

Shai followed Aubrie's pointing and turned around to watch Kendrai stacking boxes, books, tables, and other items on top of each other. The room was littered with bric-à-brac. Kendrai worked to the far side constructing a tower. Shai, forgetting Aubrie for the moment, wondered if the direness had infected Kendrai with its own irrationality and now he had gone mad.

Kendrai stop! Stop! What are you doing?

He didn't cease, nor did he slow. He kept building his pier ever higher. Aubrie squealed in alarm and fled the room, her high-pitched voice sending panic ahead of her fleeing steps. Shai allowed the young dwarf's hysteria to carry her away, and then she too left. Her duty demanded loyalty only to her people, not these cave dwellers. Like the wind, Shai ran.

Kendrai licked his upper lip and looked up at the ceiling. Muttering under his breath and struggling with a large table, Kendrai cursed the dwarves, the Specks and his own unluckiness. He piled boxes and books, chests and chairs up and up in an awkward spire. At last, the final box took its place on the tip of his creation making the pier complete.

Standing back, he surveyed the rickety tower. Kendrai untied the throng from one of his many braids, looped it around the glass jar and then his neck. He climbed. Watching each footstep and handhold, he worked an unsteady pull upwards, the wobbling platform jiggled beneath his weight threatening to dump him downwards.

The air duct led up and shouted out for him to follow its subterranean thread. Kendrai threw his concentration into the next part of this undertaking. Balancing on the top of the stack, he stood halfway into the shaft. Grateful for the soft ambiance of the lumino worms against his slick chest, the young Benzine sighed, took a last look below, and went in search of Pellimac.

Aubrie ran puffing and heaving through the corridors, turning heads from all who saw her unseemly flight. She came to her father's study, and without knocking threw herself into its chaos.

Pa! she yelled. Pa, where are you?

The Colliery Officious Pen Pusher dropped his spectacles to the tip of his nose, annoyed at the intrusion. Brimming with self-importance, he rose to his full height of three and a half feet. His many neck chains jangled as the vest he wore swelled in response to her entry.

He's not here, came the terse reply.

Bulbo, like a lot of dwarves in Machobe, thought Jezub gave his female youngling far too much leniency, allowing her a wagging tongue. He waited, slid his eyes to where she stood hopping from one foot to the other with impatience and said. Ya can't just a keep comin' in the way ya do, Aubrie. Ya gotta knock, 'cause there might be urgent affairs happenin' that ya not allowed to be a part of.

Bushy eyebrows rose in surprise at the lack of whining in her voice. I know Bulbo, but it is real important. I have to get hold of Pa straight away.

Look, Aubrie, your ma is...

Stamping both her feet, she glared at Bulbo. I don't want my ma. I need to see Pa to tell him about the crazy one. She seems to be missing.

The Colliery Officious Pen Pusher strove to meet the prerequisites of his office. Every detail needed to be just right. He pushed past Aubrie muttering under his breath as she hurried to match his pace.

Wait... wait for me.

Bulbo grabbed the arm of another, swung him around, forcing him to walk with them. You won't say a thing, not a skerrick, but I need ya to get ya body to the Borehole. Tell em to send me two of their best. And he shoved his fellow dwarf forward. Mind ya not a word to anyone, but I want them handpicked. If I don't get em soon, then I'll come a lookin', ya can be sure of that.

The dwarf pulled off his hat. Shooting the unwelcome interruption with a withering look, but gave Bulbo a stiff, mute nod.

Aubrie had never seen him so flustered nor had the miner who scooted down the passage as fast as his short legs would allow. She decided that it might be prudent to stay silent and keep the peace. There would be time later to brag of her exploits to a baited audience. She could hardly wait.

Shai left the rocky kingdom far behind her as she pelted across the hard earth. Her feet pounded in her ears, her breath coming in ragged gasps. A young outrider met her approach and offered her a hand up and on to the back of the roan. Together they flew with the wind.

The Benzine's call roused Monlith from his fire and the meal he had been cooking, now forgotten. He shouted a short order and several men joined his long gait. Horses trotted forward. Each laced with singing bells and bridled in soft leather. Leaping upon the back of one, Monlith cantered towards the other

Shai, what is it? Has something happened to the Heir Apparent?

She shook her head, and the weeping began. No, Monlith. Pellimac's disappeared.

Gone? The rider's outburst brought on fresh tears, some shed in guilt and the rest in anger. She tried to swallow them back.

What of Kendrai? Monlith leaned forward and whispered to the forerunner.

He's lost his mind. The young woman grabbed at the warrior's arm. When I left, he was stacking the pocket-people's furniture together building a tower. I think he is going after her.

A loud whistle flew from the outrider's lips. Two of his men pulled their horses beside him, and the trio raced back to Nuumandrai with news that could not wait.

Jezub stood with his feet apart, both thumbs tucked into his vest pockets. The dwarves waited at his back. The Colliery Officious Pen Pusher scribbled, his face as dark as thunder. He didn't know what to do. All that glass locked away.

It's obvious she's run off somewhere. People in their right minds do that sometimes, so don't be a worryin' too much.

Monlith radiated anger and death, towering over the Colliery Officious Fist as if he were a dirty stain that needed wiping clean. The dwarf did his best to hold his ground, wide-eyed with a hint a worry painted on a proud face.

Shai touched the warrior's arm. Peace, Monlith. We know nothing yet. Talk to Kendrai before you do something we may regret. She spoke as if he were a skittish colt.

His eyes studied hers for a few moments; pale scars white lines of anger. He nodded. As you wish, Shai.

She rewarded Jezub with a false smile. Your, esteemed Colliery Officious Fist... It would not do to upset everyone.

Please, let's throw away the uppity names. My name's Jezub, and we's all be friends here. The heavy sweat on his face outlined the enormous weight he carried.

Shai made an exasperated sound. Well, Jezub. Pellimac is missing. We placed her in your care, and now her room is empty.

Jezub rubbed his hands together. We'll find her. Make no mistake 'bout that. I've got me best men on it. They've dug deeper than anyone else in these mountains. Can't run the place and do the digging as well now, can I? He tried to grin at the pair but was met with stony stares. Spluttering, he gestured for them to follow.

A bright light flooded Pellimac's once dark room. Shai bit her lower lip to stop the tears from falling. Jars of lumino worms littered the floor. There was no sign of Kendrai. Everyone stared at the tower.

Monlith broke the silence, a hard voice startling the dwarves into action. Where is the Heir Apparent? Nuumandrai would demand his head for this.

Eyes to the ground, his appraisal of the splattered blood and the towering bric-à-brac had them all jumping.

Jezub looked at his overhanging paunch and then eyed the duct above. Looks like ya youngin''s taken it upon himself to start a search. Right, smart that is.

Again the heavy stares and the Colliery Officious Fist shuddered, but he stood as still as stone. In a louder voice, the dwarf spoke. "I won't be going with 'em, not in the searching, 'cause