Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 49

The anticipation in the arena was palpable. Tahlia could feel it in the buzz of conversation that ran about the wooden stands, and the stone tiers of the observation tower. She felt more than a little pleased at the thought that much of what was being discussed was centred on herself. Being at the heart of so much positive attention was unusual, and she was enjoying it immensely.

The same could not be said of Dak. She was sitting in the chair next to her, looking uncomfortable as she constantly tried to adjust her dirty Engineer's tunic, plucking at its sleeve and trying to cover the bandage wrapped around her arm. Tahlia thought it only reasonable that her friend should feel ill at ease. She was the only Engineer in the tower's tiers, and even though few of the knights and ladies seated about them had been given the chance to change out of their riding clothes and into their finery, she still stood out like a rock among gem stones.

The Field-hand was also embarrassingly badly turned out, although, much to Tahlia's annoyance, he seemed less perturbed by the high company he was sharing. Maddock sat beside Dak in his coarse working clothes, his head still wrapped in bandages. His older brother sat beside him, and Tahlia wondered what he had done to earn such a place of honour in the tower.

She was still wondering at it when she felt her mother's arm tighten around her shoulder. The embrace was probably a sign of affection, but Tahlia only felt its restriction. It seemed that ever since her mother had entered the Infirmary, breathless from her speedy return from her hunting, she had not let her, or her new brother, out of her arms. She sat there now, Tahlia pinned to her side with one, while Kralmir slept peacefully in the other.

Tahlia rolled her eyes upwards to take in her mother's features, and saw that they were still quite serene. There was a calmness in her eyes, a calmness detached from the agitation around them. The tension in the arena had been growing since the bell at the observation tower's summit had chimed to mark the beginning of the hour of Fortak. Another clock had been raised at the arena's far end, and on it Fortak's dial had completed half of its rotation, but her mother seemed unperturbed by it.

As Tahlia watched her, the expression on her face changed to something odd. A strange combination of sorrow and happiness shifted there as she turned to look at something over Tahlia's shoulder. She released her tight embrace so that Tahlia could at last straighten herself in her chair, and she turned to look at what had caught her mother's attention.

Grifford was making his way along the tier. Her brother looked as grim faced as ever, but his back was straight and his shoulders high. As he passed Maddock and Dak he lowered his head and nodded to them both. Tahlia saw the Field-hand raise his eyebrow at the gesture, and Dak flushed with embarrassment, casting her eyes down at her borrowed boots.

When Grifford reached her, their mother rose to her feet, not giving him time to make a formal bow before she wrapped her arm around him. He returned the embrace, and she lifted her head to kiss his cheek, and Kralmir, clasped in her other arm, stirred in his sleep.

"I have heard how you saved your brother's life," she said as she stepped back and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And your father's honour."

Tahlia pointedly cleared her throat.

"Yes, daughter, I know." Her mother reached down and absently ruffled her hair, then she looked in turn at the other children before her. "We have you all to thank."

Dak looked awkward, the Field-hand Maddock looked pleased, and Grifford just looked odd, because he was smiling.

It was only a brief demonstration of happiness, because he then bowed his head to look at his sleeping brother, and his face became serious again.