through her thoughts. “I was just wondering if it would be beneficial to him…that Seth Catcher fellow…to find your father.”
Willow looked up at the wall where the sound of his voice came from. Well, Martin wasn’t daft after all. In fact, she wanted to kick herself for not realizing the truth of his words all along. Hadn’t Seth told her he wanted to keep her? Why in blazes would he be helping anyone search for her father? Why would he even tell her the truth about any of it? “No, Martin, it wouldn’t be beneficial to him at all.” The one person she thought was helping her in this place, even just a little, was in fact lying to her. Willow began to cry. “What am I going to do, Martin?”
“Be nice to him, Willow flower.” The old man replied. He soothed her with a jolly ditty about an old dog with fleas, and when she was finally calm enough to talk to him rationally, as he put it, they talked for many hours. Martin told her about his little granddaughter, Lizette. She was seven when the Catchers took her. He had never seen her again. Which made Willow sob into her pillow all over again.
She told him about Caleb and the wheat fields, and of Shauna and Jonas.
“I’ve heard of them Warriors.” Martin nodded on his side of the wall. “Seen them once a few years ago, riding into Alare all painted black and hollering like wolves at the moon. Frightening to behold, they were.”
While he spoke, Willow closed her eyes imagining them calling to the warrior angels, calling for justice that was as rare as water in Predaria.
“They are the gentlest men I’ve ever known, Martin. And one of them is a woman. Caleb’s sister, Shauna.”
“A woman!” Martin exclaimed, then laughed. “God bless her.”
“Do you remember King Samuel, Martin?” Willow asked him, leaning closer to the wall.
“Oh yes, King Samuel. He was a good king.” Martin paused, as if embarrassed for speaking poorly about her father. “Not to say your father isn’t a good king.”
“He isn’t,” Willow admitted. “If he were a good king, he would have done something about the Catchers long ago.”
Everything was her father’s fault. He killed the true king of Predaria. He drained the land of its water, he cut down all the trees, he closed all the churches like some blasphemous rogue. How could she ever forgive him? If she ever saw him again that is.
“Caleb is Samuel’s son.” Willow told Martin, trying to forget for the moment, where she was and why her father left the Catchers alone to destroy so many lives. Martin was quiet for a while and Willow repeated that Caleb was the king’s son.
“I heard you the first time,” Martin admonished her gently. “I was remembering him. Little Prince Caleb, quiet as a mouse, but all the time listening with his brows close together like he was hearing some secret music the air was singing only to him.”
“Yes,” Willow smiled. “That’s him. He lives in Shondravar, but you must not tell a soul.”
“And his sister…what did you say her name was?”
“Shauna.”
“Yes, Shauna. Pretty little thing with yellow hair. The king used to bring them to the villages with him when they were youngsters. He let them play with our little ones, just like they was as common as we were. After the king was killed, no one ever saw those two again, thought maybe they was dead too. These are the people you speak of now?”
“Yes.”
Martin smiled at the wall. “So you love Little Prince Caleb?”
“He is not so little anymore, but yes I do. And he’s King Caleb now.”
“Ahh, yes so he is. I guess that leaves you in a tight spot, Willow flower.”
“No, they are the rightful heirs. I won’t stand in their way.”
On the other side of the wall, Martin rested his head on his pillow, the first he’d had in years. “Oh, so pure and unspoiled are you, Willow flower,” he sang, and Willow began to laugh. If only Caleb could have heard that!
“What is that wonderful sound I heard?” Seth unlocked the door and stepped inside Willow’s room. “Was she laughing?”
The minute Willow clapped eyes on him, her laughter faded like the clouds in the hot skies of Predaria. “Why are you back?”
His eyes drank her in while he spoke. “Galin wants you to earn your stay.”
“Earn my stay!” Willow raged. “Does he think he’s doing me a favor by letting me stay