Inheritance

Chapter 21: Coward

Kori took a deep breath before starting. "The ball is tomorrow. I suggest Pollyanna waits on the outside of the castle and only comes in if necessary. Once Eory is freed, you can guard him to your heart's content."

Pollyanna bristled at the thought and scowled. "Absolutely not. If I am not inside the castle, what's to stop the king from unleashing a dozen arrows and killing Eory immediately when he enters? This whole ball sounds fishy and you know it, waif. Why would the king ever release someone as dangerous as Eory just because he felt like it?"

Kori sighed. She couldn't deny that there was truth in that. Arrozan fairies had powerful magic within them that could be harnessed by no other creature on Yharos.

The only one in the group who had an idea of how the Arrozans harnessed that power was Pollyanna. Although not even she was clear on why it was so powerful; she was only clear on the basics of how it worked.

Something about needing to feel a certain emotion in its entirety--until it's all the fairy can feel--and then matching whatever word comes to mind with that emotion...The warrior-maiden thought to herself.

"I've never known Laurence to do anything underhanded or cruel, though... I think we can trust him not to hurt Eory." Kori said, although even she had to admit she didn't feel the most confident in the statement.

"Except pose as a cook in the king's kitchen so he could overthrow and behead him." Pollyanna countered.

Kori glared at the warrior-maiden, but otherwise, silence reigned among them.

The waif looked down at her feet and fell deep into thought.

In a moment, tears streamed down her cheeks at what she was about to suggest. She sniveled and swallowed a lump in her throat as she choked out, "maybe the two of you should just go. I don't want him to hurt you, Eory, and he definitely will if Pollyanna shows up."

Eory looked at his caretaker's wet and wrinkled cheeks and pulled her into a hug. He stroked her hair and shook his head. "No, I want to be set free by the king to prove I'm good. I want to prove Pollyanna is good, too."

Pollyanna nearly snickered at the notion of anyone being 'good'—least of all herself. "The waif is right, Eory. We should just leave together, build an army, and then come back and take the castle. There is no way you will ever prove to the king that I've 'changed'." She said sarcastically.

Eory patted Kori's back as she continued to sob and made a face at Pollyanna. "Absolutely not! Look, I have to... Concede that going into the castle without Pollyanna to protect me doesn't sound appealing, but I must go. I must go to show the king, the world, and most of all... Kori, that I can be trusted outside of a cage. You have to convince them that you can be trusted too, Pollyanna, if you wish to come. I order you to." Eory said and took a deep breath.

Kori still couldn't speak through her heavy tears and her misery at the situation.

Pollyanna, however, looked incredibly annoyed with a dark look on her face. "What do you want me to do? Grovel at the king's feet and thank him for killing your family?"

Eory was silent for a moment and was stung by her cruel words. He wanted to cower away from her discerning gaze but the woman encouraged him in his mind,

She just used our family's death as a point in an argument. Are you going to let that stand?

His fists clenched and his heart beat faster with a sudden spike of rage.

"Pollyanna..." Eory said threateningly. "Here's what will happen. Kori will go in first; she will tell the king that you and I have met up, but that you have had a change of heart and I am still as good as Kori has always told him I am. Kori will then come outside to get us and we will both go to the ball."

At the suggestion of ludicrous and life-endangering plan, Pollyanna snapped.

She seized him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. A sharp pain pierced her heart and perspiration pooled on her head, but she nonetheless persevered and held him at eye-level. "You're going to get us both killed, you goddamned coward, just so that you can look good in front of people who hate you. I hope you're happy."

Eory's mind was afire with fear and he couldn't think straight as she glared at him furiously.

In a moment, she let him fall to the ground and she pressed ahead.

Gershom growled at her as she walked by and then sympathetically licked Eory's face as the fairy shook with fear.