Chapter 3

For the second day in a row, I woke up with the sun. Light streamed in the entrance of the cave, piercing my eyes open. Sebastien was already up, although he may have been on watch. Both my parents still slept, as did Petro, so I tried not to disturb the little owl as I sat up and rubbed at my eyes.

The gypsy was sitting cross-legged and seemed to be studying something on the ground. I shifted to take a closer look and realised he was staring at a map much like the one Sentinel had made for me. We did not yet know where we were. What did he hope to gain by consulting the map?

Seeing me awake, he shuffled closer so I could see the map too. Not entirely sure that I wanted him closer, I looked at the map anyway. He pointed at a large rock marked on the map.

"I think we are somewhere near here. At least, that's where the glide computer thought we were, though obviously it was not accurate enough to judge safe altitude."

Or perhaps you were not competent enough to judge safe altitude. No, that was harsh. He could only be a year or so older than me, and I could never have piloted a glide. Instead I nodded.

Standing, I shook the sand out of my clothes and ran my hands through my hair, rivulets of sand falling with my fingers. Petro stirred as I laid him down on my sleeping bag but he did not wake. I left Sebastien to look at his map and stood in the mouth of the cave to stare out at the desert.

The sand was monotonous, an orange-red colour which seemed to penetrate everything. Not that there was much else out here. Eden had been green, with rolling hills and leafy trees, but here everything was red and lifeless. I had never seen so much sand in my life.

"Cassy," my mother called and I turned to face her. She stood behind me, hair jumbled back in a loose bun, arms outstretched. Sighing, I fell into her embrace. Though neither of us were empaths, she could tell I was out of my depth here, in this endless desert.

"What is wrong, little one?" she sent.

"I am little no longer, Mam," I replied. "But whether I can handle the world outside of Eden is another question."

"Do you want to go back?"

I shook my head. "No. I want to see the world, Mam. I am eighteen and I have only known Eden."

She kissed my head, unsettling more sand. "You can do this."

My father was watching us with a curious expression on his face. He could tell when we were farseeking each other, though his latent Talent could not detect it. Apparently there was a particular facial expression we both made when farseeking.

Breakfast much resembled dinner from the night before. We then packed up our small camp and ventured from the cave, my mother in the lead. Of all of us, she knew the area best, as she had travelled here with Sebastien's parents, as well as with my father. The gypsy identified the cave as a small rocky outcropping marked on his map, and we planned our route toward Redport.

"This will take us days, perhaps weeks," my mother told us.

Sebastien nodded. "I am sorry about the glide."

"No, no need to apologise," she interrupted. "It's not as if you conjured the storm. You had no control over the situation."

The gypsy fell silent and did not utter another word for many hours.

We struck out in the general direction of Redport, walking two-abreast in rugged formation. My parents walked in front, and Sebastien and I brought up the rear, Petro flapping overhead.

The heat was searing as it pressed down on us, sweat pearling on my brow. My mother had made a head covering by wrapping a blanket around her head and my father copied her. I did the same, tying my hair out of the way and twisting what was left of my spare shirt around my head. Petro picked at the shirt, complaining that he couldn't see my face and thus was unable to tell if I was adequately alive.

The little owl gave a running commentary of our progress. "Thisplace is too hot for Petro… Petro is sweating through his feathers… Innlechild, when does the sand end?"

I could no more answer this question than I could pilot a glide.

Deciding that talking would help pass the time as we trudged through the sand, I turned to Sebastien. "Are you a Misfit?"

He nodded. "I am a coercer, and I have inherited the gypsy ability to see auras. My mother sent me up to Obernewtyn for a year to explore my coercer abilities."

"Obernewtyn," I echoed. A place I had heard much of but had never seen, and perhaps never would. But if we had left Eden for the Red Land, surely I could then travel to the Land. Futuretellers only claimed my mother would not. "What's it like?"

"Mountainous." Sebastien grinned. "There is a great community feel, and the place has really flourished since Dameon became the Master of Obernewtyn. You would like it there."

I glanced at him in puzzlement. "How do you know that?"

The gypsy winked at me. "I just have a feeling you would."

We stopped at midday by another rock outcropping which offered some shade, and ate more dried fruit and nuts. I was beginning to get sick of this scant diet. At Eden, I had been spoilt for choice. We rested during the hottest part of the day, though I felt useless sitting around when we could be moving further toward Redport, and away from this stinking desert. I farsought my mother so, but she argued we would only hurt ourselves if we pushed on.

Petro flew out ahead of us as we waited for the cooler part of the afternoon. He came back every so often to report what he saw, though it wasn't much.

"Petro has seen lots of sand and lots of redness," he sent. "Some rocks but no green like the barud."

"Are you homesick?" I asked.

The little owl ruffled his feathers. "Petro's barud is where Innlechild is."

I smiled and cuddled him to me.

We trekked on as the shadows lengthened, stopping at sunset to locate a suitably sheltered place to camp. My father found us another cave, and we set up our sleeping bags as the light faded.

The next three days passed in much the same way. Sebastien and I spoke little, and my excitement at leaving Eden had long since died. All I wanted was to be rid of all this sand.

"There! Can you see it?"

Sebastien pointed to something in the distance ahead of us. Craning my neck, I shook my head.

"Buildings, Cassy. I can see Redport," the gypsy told me.

We increased our pace and soon the top of a building came into view. "I can see it!" I exclaimed, verging on hysteria. Some sign of life, some sign of civilisation.

"The Infinity of Dragonstraat, I think," my mother called over her shoulder. "It's magnificent up close."

Buoyed by my glimpse of Redport, I felt much happier the rest of the day. When we made camp that night, we could see the outskirts of the desert city. It was safe here, I could feel it. There were no caves this close to the coast, so we camped in the open.

A low growl woke me in the middle of the night. Frightened, I sat up quickly and turned in the direction of the sound. A lion, red like the sand, stood over my father, its teeth bared.

"Rushton," my mother cried. I watched as she tried to beastspeak the animal, but it seemed not to hear her. Instead it turned its blood chilling gaze on me.

"Innlechild," it greeted me. "This one has seen seliga that Innlechild and this one have paths which must cross."

Trying not to shiver in fear, I replied, "Please step away from this man. He is my father and I will not help you if you injure him."

After a moment's hesitation, the lion moved away from my father, and my mother seized him in a hug. The beast returned its gaze to me, and I felt Sebastien's hand on my arm. Shaking him off, I stepped toward the lion.

"What is your name?" I sent.

"This one is called Renn," it replied.

"I do not know what you seek, Renn. Please leave us in peace."

To my relief, the lion bowed its head and turned, slinking away from us.

I felt Sebastien's hand on my shoulder, but this time did not shove him away. "That was incredible," he whispered.

"It wasn't," I insisted, but I too was struck with awe by the power and majesty of the lion. Like Petro and all the beasts at Eden, it had called me Innlechild. Yet the lion spoke as if the name meant I had some role to play, not simply that I was my mother's daughter. I shook my head and turned back to my parents.

Taking my father's offer of a bear hug, I kissed his cheek. "You did well, my adventurer," he told me. He couldn't know what had transpired between myself and the lion, but it was obvious something had happened. My mother gave me an approving look.

"Innlechild is very brave," Petro sent, emerging from his hiding place beneath my sleeping bag.

It was not long until dawn, so we decided to move on. We arrived at the outskirts of Redport as Redlanders began to leave their homes for the start of the working day. I stared at the buildings in awe; never had I seen anything like them. The Infinity of Dragonstraat rendered me momentarily speechless.

"Is that Dragon?" I asked.

My mother nodded, a smile parting her lips. "She is even more beautiful than the painting."

She led us straight to the palace island upon Sebastien's assurance that it had been restored as the Red Queen's residence. Where my mother had once described a ruin, there stood an ornate building with balconies and turrets, and a spire piercing the sky.

The guards let us into the palace as soon as my mother spoke her name. We were led straight to the throne room to await the Red Queen herself.

"Matthew!" my mother exclaimed as a smiling man entered the throne room. They embraced, beaming from ear to ear, and my father clapped Matthew on the back. Matthew nodded acknowledgement to Sebastien, but his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me.

"Are ye Cassy?" he asked, shaking my hand.

I smiled. "I am."

"I've dreamed about ye, and Dragon speaks highly of ye in what she has seen."

Of course you've dreamed of me. Everyone has dreamed of me.

"Where is Dragon?" my mother asked.

"I'm here," came a smooth woman's voice. There she was, the Red Queen herself, dressed in a red gown that scraped the floor, her red-gold hair braided atop her head. Her beauty was breathtaking, but it didn't take me long to notice the dark rings under her eyes, or how thin she was.

She embraced my mother, whose face was full of concern. "Dragon, I have dreamed of both your miscarriages. I am terribly sorry. How are you holding up?"

"Better now you are here, Elspeth," the Red Queen replied, and I thought I caught a glimpse of a wild young girl about my own age. Perhaps she wasn't as tame as she seemed. A weight seemed to have lifted off Dragon's shoulders and she smiled wearily. "Much better now you are here."