TruthStone Read online

  Soon they came to the front of a five-story building. It was twice as wide as any other building on the street. It had a set of double doors on each end of the building and a generous porch connecting them together.

  Shaeleen took just a moment to smooth out her skirts and pat down her hair. It was still back in a ponytail from being on the ship. Climbing the steps, she turned back around before entering the inn. The man was nowhere to be seen. She hoped Cole was all right, but a feeling of worry began to form inside of her as they walked inside.

  Stepping up to the counter, she asked for a room with two beds. The middle-aged woman with graying hair nodded, grabbed a key from a hook, and directed them to the stairs.

  “Is it only you two, my lady?” the woman said, looking a little confused.

  “Oh, no,” Shaeleen said. “My guard is coming soon, just picking up a few items. This is my nephew. I’m supposed to keep him out of trouble. They will share a bed.”

  Shaeleen pushed a hand into her stomach and took a deep breath to regain control after saying these lies. She felt the pain begin to spread from her temples outward, but she willed it back inside for the moment.

  “Young boys do have a way of getting into trouble, don’t they?” The woman laughed and led them to their room.

  Once inside the room, Shaeleen walked to a window overlooking the front street they had just entered from. Putting her head out the window as far as she could, she glanced down the street in the direction they had come from. She saw the tall, dark-cloaked man. But, instead of following them, he had found Cole and now had him by the arm and was escorting him behind another building.

  “Cole!” Shaeleen yelled out loud. Without telling Orin what was going on, she ran out of the room and down the stairs. She stood for a moment on the inn’s porch, looking down the street. Then Orin caught up to her.

  “What’s the matter, miss?”

  “I saw that man take my brother,” Shaeleen said. “I need to help Cole.”

  “Your brother?” Orin asked, appearing confused. “I thought he was your guard.”

  Shaeleen ignored the question and took off at a run, not noticing or really caring if Orin kept up with her or not. She could not let Cole get hurt. He wasn’t trained yet at being her guardian wizard.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Shaeleen stood at the opening of a small alley that wound its way between two white stone buildings, and then she yelled out for her brother, “Cole! Cole!”

  A few people walking down her side of the street behind her glanced her way, but they only dismissed her as a young woman looking for her friend. Orin stood next to her, looking up and down the street.

  Then they both trotted farther into the alleyway. Shaeleen tried a few doors on the sides of the two buildings. One was locked, another led to an old empty room, but the third was the laundry area for a family.

  “Have you seen my brother?” Shaeleen asked the family inside. “He is tall, with shaggy dark hair, and was being chased by a man in a dark cloak.”

  The woman in the laundry room looked at a girl then back to Shaeleen and shook her head.

  Shaeleen bent over in pain. “You’re not telling me the truth.” She stood back up with difficulty.

  A younger girl ran up to the woman and hid behind her skirts. The woman looked behind herself and then back at Shaeleen and sighed.

  “Please, he might be in trouble,” Shaeleen pleaded.

  The woman took a step forward. “He has eyes like yours?”

  Shaeleen nodded.

  “Like the prince’s wizard,” the woman said. It was not a question, and Shaeleen knew it for the truth.

  The woman pointed down the alleyway—in the direction Shaeleen and Orin had been heading earlier. “He ran by here a few minutes ago,” the woman said and began shuffling Shaeleen and Orin back out of the door. “Please leave us alone. We don’t want any trouble with your kind.”

  “Our kind?” Shaeleen asked. “What are you talking about?”

  The woman began to push the door closed.

  “I’m from Galena, from Stronghaven,” Shaeleen said as the woman finished closing the door on them. Shaeleen didn’t know what to think of the woman’s attitude. Their eyes had not caused that much trouble before.

  “She thought you were from Verlyn,” Orin said.

  Shaeleen wanted to ask him more about that, but first she needed to find her brother.

  Running out of the alleyway, she began shouting for her brother again. Her heart was beating fast, and her breathing was coming harder. Where could they have gone? Would the man in the black cloak hurt Cole? Tears formed at the edges of her eyes, but she brushed them away angrily. Crying would solve nothing at the moment. She needed to find Cole.

  More crowds moved around the busy street now, either coming or going to the nearby shops of the merchant district. The shops’ colorful awnings made it hard for Shaeleen to see far. She stood on her tippy toes and looked right and left, trying to see over the crowds—it didn’t help much. Off to the right, at the end of the road, was a much larger building than any other she had seen so far in the city.

  “What is that building?” she asked Orin, who had seemed to know his way around the city earlier.

  “The prince’s mansion—or palace, as he calls it.”

  “Could that man have taken Cole there?” Shaeleen asked out loud, but more to herself. She didn’t think so. The prince couldn’t have known they were here.

  Suddenly, Shaeleen remembered something. Besides being her brother, Cole was her guardian wizard. She should know where he was. Closing her eyes, she thought about him hard. A flicker of life came to the corner of her mind. It was moving—but what direction? She thought harder and then felt a power flare up inside of her. Cole was moving north—toward the prince’s mansion.

  “Shae!” Orin said suddenly. “You’re glowing!”

  Shaeleen opened her eyes to find nearby strangers gawking and pointing at her. She looked down and found that she held the TruthStone inside her fist. The green glow must have been even brighter moments before. Now it was beginning to fade, but not before onlookers had stopped and stared.

  “Oh no!” Shaeleen realized what she had done. She obviously had not drawn on the IntelligenceStone when she had thought about using her powers—it was hard to get used to having access to all the powers she now had.

  “She’s got a stone of power,” shouted a young boy to his mother.

  Then others joined in, saying, “That girl has magic!”

  So much for coming into the city unnoticed.

  Orin grabbed her hand and pulled her quickly back the way they had just come. The alleyway blurred around her as they sped back down its length in a matter of moments. Shaeleen groaned at the sensation of Orin’s use of speed and then at the realization they were moving farther away from Cole. But she had to get away from those who had seen her use magic.

  Back at the street where their inn was, they stopped and looked behind them. Shaeleen breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see anyone following them. They tried to walk unnoticed back to their room, though Shaeleen thought for sure her beating heart would give them away. Once in the room, she collapsed onto her back on one of the beds, closing her eyes for a moment. The connection with her brother was still there.

  Opening her eyes, she found Orin standing in front of her with a questioning look on his face.

  “Miss Shaeleen, what was that back there?”

  “It was nothing, Orin,” Shaeleen said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  A slight pounding began behind her eyes. “Stupid stone,” she said softly.

  “What did you say?” Orin asked.

  “Nothing, Orin.” The pain roared louder in her ears. Then she sat up and said angrily, “All right. It is something, Orin. I do have magic. There—are you happy now?”

  Orin backed up a step, but didn’t look very happy.

  But Shaeleen’s headache was dissipating, and so she didn’t feel overly
bad for the outburst. It was better than being sick.

  After a few silent moments, Shaeleen noticed Orin’s face. It was twisted up as if he was thinking about something.

  “That’s how you did it,” Orin blurted out. “That’s how you caught me on the ship. You could tell when I was telling the truth or a lie.”

  All Shaeleen could do was nod her head.

  “You have magic just like me!” Orin grinned with a toothy smile. “You and your brother can do things. What else can you do?”

  Shaeleen smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm, but she wasn’t ready to tell him all. “I can’t tell you, Orin—it’s for your protection.”

  Orin’s grin turned to a pout. “I can protect myself. I can run faster than anyone I know.”

  “I know you can, and just now, I am grateful for that,” Shaeleen said. “I will tell you, though, that I am here on a special mission from Basil. But first I need to find my brother. Will you help me?” Shaeleen felt she could trust the boy. Oh, he was mischievous, but she sensed he was a good person.

  Orin’s grin returned. “You bet I will…but, will your brother get mad at me again? He’s scary when he’s mad.”

  Shaeleen laughed. “Cole scares you? Cole is the least scary person I know. He would never hurt you.”

  “But he did threaten me and knocked me to the ground.” Orin sat down on the other bed with a frown.

  “He is very loyal to his principles, Orin. It’s what drives him.” Shaeleen stood up. “Anyway, I know where he is.”

  “Where?”

  “At the prince’s mansion.”

  Orin’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always wanted to go there. But how do we get in?”

  Shaeleen shook her head. “I don’t know yet, but we need to get closer.”

  * * *

  Finally, Shaeleen and Orin stood at a corner behind the back of the prince’s mansion. They had waited until late in the day, after the sun had set. It had been hard for Shaeleen to do so, but it would be easier to slip inside unnoticed in the dark. Servants seemed to routinely go in and out of a back door. As people came and went, Shaeleen began to listen to their conversations for any clues of what to do next.

  “The prince returned today,” said a young male servant carrying in an armful of food. A young woman walked next to him, her arms equally full. “I heard he was in Gabor.”

  “Is there going to be a war, Elden?” the young woman said.

  Elden shook his head. “I don’t know, Marni. He seems obsessed with taking the crown. I’ve heard that he talks about the kingdom belonging to him.”

  Shaeleen found that she felt no pain from this. That is odd. Prince Basil would be crowned the next king on his birthday—in less than two months. She tried to walk closer to the pair before they would enter the back door to the mansion.

  “I don’t think he would make a good king,” Marni said. “His temper…”

  Elden nodded his head. “I don’t like him either, but this is our job. Mama needs our help since she’s been sick.”

  They opened the door to the mansion and stepped inside.

  “I hear the TruthSeer is in the dungeon,” Marni whispered, “and that she chose to come on her own.”

  “Don’t listen to rumors, Marni,” Elden said as the door closed behind them.

  Orin looked up at Shaeleen. “What does all that mean?”

  Shaeleen shook her head. “I’m not sure. But it doesn’t sound good. First, though, we need to find my brother.”

  Moving back behind a small copse of trees, Shaeleen reached out with her mind. Then she turned her eyes upward. “Up there.” She pointed. “Cole is on the third floor.”

  Orin’s gaze followed Shaeleen’s over to a white trellis that ran up the side of the building and next to an upper room’s window.

  Shaeleen smiled. “Do you think it will hold us?”

  Orin looked back at her. “It will hold me, at least.”

  “You’re not going in there without me,” Shaeleen said and began walking toward the corner of the building. “That’s my brother in there.”

  Orin sighed. “All right.”

  They reached the trellis, and Orin began climbing first. Ivy had grown up it and had wrapped itself around the painted wooden trellis, but Orin seemed to find handholds as he climbed higher. Shaeleen stood looking up at him as he neared the third floor. He reached over and jiggled the window, eventually pushing it open.

  “What’s up there?” Shaeleen whispered as she put her right foot on the bottom of the trellis and began climbing.

  “It’s too dark to tell,” Orin said, putting one leg through the opening.

  Shaeleen heard a grunt, then a scuffle, then silence.

  “Orin, Orin?” she whispered, climbing up more quickly. Her foot slipped on the ivy, and she grabbed on hard with both hands. One foot dangled below her, and then the trellis gave a groan. I’m almost there.

  A few more steps up, and she put her hand over the window’s ledge. An arm reached out and grabbed a hold of her arm. She screamed, and her feet slipped. The arm above her became two arms.

  “Let me help you inside,” came a deep voice as the second hand grabbed her other arm and pulled her up, into the room, and onto the floor.

  Shaeleen rolled over and gazed into the face of the man from the ship. The man that had been chasing them. The man that had taken her brother. The man with pale blue eyes like theirs. A man who has power!

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Shaeleen and Orin were tied up in the corner of a dark room. With only some stray light from lamps outside the building, she saw that the only things in the dusty room were a few shelves with scattered items and a table with three chairs—nothing of importance.

  Then the man that had captured them came into view and stood over the two and glared. His hood still covered most of his head, but Shaeleen saw wisps of gray hair coming out its sides. This was definitely the same man from the ship.

  “What have you done with my brother?” Shaeleen asked as she tried to put on a brave face.

  The man laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Your brother? Ahh, so that’s who he is to you. It was hard to tell on the ship. If you would like to know, he is meeting with the prince right now. The prince has taken an interest in your brother, it seems.”

  “In my brother?” Shaeleen was confused. All along, Shaeleen had thought this man had been after her. “What would he want with my brother?”

  “Come now—Shaeleen, isn’t it?” The man stood over her, obviously taking delight in scaring her and Orin. “You must know what your brother is.”

  “Is?” Shaeleen asked, stalling for time while she tried to figure out what to do. “He is just an ordinary man.”

  The pain roared through her gut. She shut her eyes, to try and steady herself, but it was all she could do to keep from falling over.

  When she opened her eyes, the man in front of them tilted his head at her as if trying to figure something out. Then he shook his head and paced a few steps.

  Shaeleen stole a quick glance over at Orin. He was trying to loosen the ropes around his hands. She would have to keep the man busy.

  “I think you know he is more than that,” the man said. “He is a wizard—and an untrained one at that. But we can’t have a wizard traipsing around the kingdom on his own.”

  Her brother wasn’t on his own. He has me—although I am as untrained as he is.

  Orin coughed and looked up with wide eyes. He moved his gaze from the man to Shaeleen and back to the man again.

  The man laughed. “Oh, your little friend here didn’t know that, did he?”

  “A wizard?” Orin shook his head. “You’re crazy. Wizards don’t just pop up from nowhere these days.”

  “Ah, you are correct, young sir. Wizards only come forth when there is a need to protect something or someone.”

  Shaeleen could feel the TruthStone in her pocket. With all the energy she possessed, she willed it to be safe in the pouch Prince Basil had given
her. She couldn’t let this man know what Cole was really guarding.

  The man continued, “That is what the prince is trying to find out.”

  “And, if Calix doesn’t find out anything?” Shaeleen asked. “Then what?”

  “Oh, Prince Calix will find out something. He has his ways.”

  Shaeleen felt her face drain of color. She couldn’t let Cole be tortured.

  “Anyway,” the man continued, “we now have you… That should provide sufficient leverage for your brother’s cooperation.” The man turned and started to cough. It took him a few moments to get his coughing under control.

  He didn’t sound very well.

  Shaeleen opened her mouth to reply to his threats, but before she could, suddenly Orin was between the two of them. He bent over and rammed his head into the man’s gut. This attack caught the stranger by surprise, and he fell backward. Orin grabbed a knife at the man’s waist, and, before Shaeleen could wonder what was happening, she felt the ropes being cut off her wrists.

  The man stood up and waved a hand in the air. A current of wind gusted forth and pushed Orin to the ground. Orin tried to use his speed to get away, but the man seemed to move almost just as fast—both were blurs to Shaeleen’s eyes. Trails of color streamed through the dark room as they moved after each other. And, while the two were chasing each other around the room, Shaeleen moved closer to one of the small chairs.

  Then Orin stumbled, and the man grabbed his arm and pinned him to the wall. Shaeleen flipped her foot around the chair leg and kicked it up into the air. Catching the seat in her hands, she flung the chair at the back of the man. This diversion caused the man to release Orin’s hands. In only a second, Orin was on the other side of the room, standing next to Shaeleen.

  “Enough!” the man roared, bringing his hands together.

  A bright purple glow erupted around him. The power of the stones. In the sudden flash, Shaeleen saw the lightness of his eyes and the power coursing through them. The man’s muscles bulged, and he flung out his wrists at them. The power engulfed Shaeleen and Orin and pushed them up against the wall.