Warrior by Davis Bryan

Author:Davis, Bryan [Davis, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2011-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

twelve

Koren stood near the front of the Zodiac’s portico, facing the street — Zena on one side and Petra on the other. As she looked at Zena in her usual black, form-fitting dress, herself in her dark blue Starlighter’s cloak with the hood pulled up, and Petra in a similar cloak, yet without the embroidered eyes, Koren felt a stab of dread. Their appearance probably incited many silent judgments from the lines of slaves filing into the outer courtyard, especially considering Koren’s new garments.

She glanced at the sleeve of the dress Zena had provided, similar in cut and form to the old one, but black instead of white. It was also shorter, falling to her knees, just long enough to cover her short trousers underneath. With her lower legs exposed in front, her new black boots, lifted by a platform heel and laced in the back, rose to mid calf for all to see.

Closing her eyes, she imagined how she looked, a specter of a girl with green eyes shining from the darkness of a hood-shadowed face. Her silhouette drew the portrait of a traitor, the personification of evil wearing a dress and cape.

She reopened her eyes, unable to keep from cringing. The boots pinched more than just her skin; they pinched her heart. Her costume felt like a suffocating cage.

Holding the bag that once housed the black egg, Zena whispered in Koren’s ear. “You have been without chains for a while, but that was in the Basilica. Now that you are outside, our trust in you will be tested. Remember my instructions. When the prince comes, you must guide him with your eyes so that he can land at your side. If he falters, his image will be tarnished. Do not allow that to happen.”

“I will remember.” Koren scanned the people streaming in from the various work camps—miners and labor children from the two mesas, dirty and hardened from their backbreaking tasks; rock haulers from the river, tanned and muscular, though bearing cuts from sharp edges and lashes from cruel taskmasters; log cutters from the forest, the strongest of them all, yet slouched as they displayed the sorrow of their dangerous occupation; and, finally, various house servants, mostly girls and older women. The women of childbearing years would likely appear at the ends of the lines, either as the camp helpmates, or slow to arrive simply because pregnancy made walking such a distance difficult.

Dragons flew in from every direction, some watching over the lines to make sure no human strayed, and some coming from the forbidden barrier wall, border guardians who looked every bit as fierce as stories about them portrayed.

The people, now numbering close to a thousand, pressed closer, and the dragons, perhaps a hundred or more, made a semicircle behind them. No human would be allowed to miss this momentous occasion, save for the cattle children, who, if Tamminy’s prophecy proved true, would likely be slaughtered before the day was over.

Koren pressed her lips together. No, that couldn’t happen.

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