“You have paper and pen with you, right?” When she nodded, he continued. “I need you to write down as much information as you can. Then Lobby and Tommy will take it to your mother, and she can have it sent on to King Leo of Eberon.”
“A king?” Quentin whispered, then turned to Bettina. “What’s going on?”
“Hope,” she whispered back. “Freedom and a better future for all of you.”
Quentin’s eyes widened. “A better future?”
Elinor took out her stack of paper, then opened a bottle of ink and readied her pen.
“Now let’s start with a list of your names and ages,” Nevis began.
As the girls introduced themselves, Elinor wrote down their information. Then Quentin told her the names of the boys.
Elinor paused in her writing. “Yer names seem to be in alphabetical order.”
“They are,” Catriona agreed. “The queen named us that way so she could keep us straight. Alfred and Bettina are the oldest, followed by Darroc and myself.”
Nevis glanced at the list. “Is this everyone who isn’t in the army?”
“There are two four-year-olds in the castle nursery.” Bettina winced. “And there are the twins, Gabby and Gavin. They’re seventeen years old. We . . . we don’t know where Gavin is.”
“He’s missing?” Nevis asked.
“The queen insists he’s still alive, but we don’t know what happened to him,” Tommy grumbled. “No one has seen him for two years.”
“That evil Sea Witch,” Lobby muttered, and his friend agreed with a mumbled curse.
“Gabby’s in the dungeon,” Olana whispered, and the other girls shuddered.
“She can turn iron into gold,” Bettina explained. “But she didn’t want to help the queen, so Cahira took away her brother and locked her in the dungeon.”
Elinor shook her head. “This is terrible.”
“That’s why I spend most of my time making iron coins,” Tommy mumbled.
Catriona sighed. “I hope Maeve isn’t in the dungeon.”
Nevis winced. He hoped not, too. “So the youngest Embraced children are four years old?”
“Aye.” Bettina shrugged. “We don’t know why the babies stopped coming.”
Nevis thought back to when Leo had taken over Eberon. That had been about four years ago, so that was when Lord Morris had lost his position as chief counsel and head of the Eberoni Church of Enlightenment. “Lord Morris fell out of power, so he was unable to send any more children. Shall we talk about the Embraced army now?”
Elinor readied a new sheet of paper.
“First we have the general,” Nevis began. “We call him the Chameleon on the mainland.”
“You know about Kendric?” Bettina asked.
Nevis nodded. “Who else is in the army?”
Bettina described them all while Elinor took notes.
Nevis looked over the finished list. There were a total of eight, including the Chameleon. Five males, three females.
“They’re so powerful,” Catriona muttered. “I don’t know how anyone could defeat them.”
Her concern was echoed by Quentin and the other girls as they talked amongst themselves.
“The kings from the mainland will help us,” Nevis assured them all. “They’re very powerful. You all have Embraced gifts, too, don’t you?”
Catriona winced. “Our powers aren’t any good.”
Elinor scoffed. “Says who? We think Bettina’s is excellent.”
Nevis nodded as an idea formed in his head. With the right strategy, he might be able to turn these rejected Embraced children into a formidable force. “What is your gift, Catriona?”
Sarah opened her arms wide. “She blows things up!”
Nevis and Elinor gasped, while Catriona winced.
“That’s a fantastic power!” Nevis exclaimed while Elinor quickly wrote it down.
“But it’s quite limited,” Catriona mumbled, her face turning pink. “I can blow up only one thing.”
“Castles?” Nevis asked. “Mountains?”
Catriona bit her lip. “Fish.”
Nevis blinked. “Fish?”
Catriona looked away, her face bright pink.
“That’s why she stays here, working the loom,” Bettina said quietly. “If she goes to the beach, too many fish die.”
Catriona nodded. “And I’m not allowed anywhere near the castle, because I make the queen’s fish dinner explode.”
Nevis bit his lip to keep from smiling. “I see. What other gifts do you have?”
“Elam can make people trip!” Quentin boasted.
“That’s a good power.” Nevis imagined making an entire army of soldiers fall flat on their faces.
“Only one person at a time,” Bettina added.
Sixteen-year-old Hannah raised her hand. “I can make it rain.”
“That’s a wonderful power,” Nevis told her and she blushed.
“But I can do only a small area,” she mumbled.
“We’re very grateful for your gift,” Bettina told her. “We’re able to water the vegetable garden every day while leaving the wheat field dry.”
“And then there’s Kurt,” Catriona said. “He can shift into a rabbit.”
“A human-sized rabbit?” Nevis hoped. “With huge, chomping teeth?”
“He’s a cute little bunny.” Eight-year-old Rose grinned.