-Adrianne-
Synopsis
When Paige Carver turns seventeen and still shows no magical talents, town elders are reminded of a dark time generations ago when Orion, the self-proclaimed Lord of Dragons, wreaked havoc on peaceful Belleville. Fearful of what another young magical anomaly might portend, the elders vote for her banishment, though she has committed no crime. Suddenly on her own, Paige must now survive and find her place in a world that has turned its back on her.
Excerpt
Lily firmly pressed her lips together to hold her tongue. It was the only way not to use foul language at that moment. It wasn’t characteristic of her; she normally expressed herself quite freely. Living 91 years as a respected healer usually earned her a pass when it came to speaking her mind. But she knew lashing out would get her nowhere. If she was to convince anyone, it would need to be calmly and rationally. Perhaps not her strong suits, but this was important enough to control her temper. She bit the inside of her cheek for good measure lest the word “idiot” – among others – come tumbling out on accident.
She had hoped that the elders, while fearful, would be more compassionate. While she was a compassionate person by nature – most healers were – she knew that they were discounting her opinions as bias, or as a sentimental old woman. She had actually lived during the dark and dangerous times that the others were so fearful of – most of the others had not. She had hoped that would count for something too. The only other old enough to recall the havoc wrought on Belleville 80 years ago was Clement Brown. He had only been four at the worst of it, but he had lost his mother. They were the only two left of their generation. Everyone else was a child of the village’s rebuilding and had only heard it spoken about in hushed tones by their parents.
Lily had lost her parents back then too. At age 11, she was one of many orphans who had banded together, adopted by the village as a whole, to pick up the pieces and build new lives. The rise of Orion had been a harrowing time, and many were killed, their homes razed, their crops destroyed. It broke Lily’s heart as though it had been yesterday. That Orion was also her brother only wounded her more.
“Just because she is lacking in magic does not mean that she will become resentful and choose to do harm,” Lily said. When she used her calm and quiet voice, she always commanded respect. When they were expecting a verbal lashing, a quiet tone made people nervous enough to listen. She never tried to intimidate, but she had learned long ago that if she wanted to make herself perfectly clear, she had to suppress her temper long enough to say what was important. Despite how quick her tongue was, Lily was always open to discussion. She never jumped to conclusions. Her decisions were well-thought-out, and she could readily admit anytime she was wrong. She embraced others’ ideas, whenever they made sense. But in the matter at hand, it seemed she was the only one thinking with her head and her heart, rather than being ruled by fear.
“It’s not right,” Clement said gruffly. “How is it that she has no gift at all? You know as well as I do, that’s only been heard of once before, and I don’t have to tell you the damage it caused.”
“If we give her more time, perhaps we just don’t understand what her gift –“
“You would bring that down on us again?” Clement practically shouted.
“Hey! Calm down, now, Clement,” Arthur, the youngest of the elders at just 46, interrupted. “First of all, just because she doesn’t have the gift, doesn’t mean that she’ll go the same way as Orion.”
“Thank you,” Lily said.
“But,” he started again, holding out a hand to Lily, “I, myself, am not too cozy with the idea of having such a… well, an anomaly, right here in the village.”
Lily felt her temper flare, though she held it in check. “So just because she wasn’t born the same as you, you would have her banished?”
“Darn right!” Clement piped up.
Arthur took a moment to choose his words more carefully. “I just mean, we don’t know anything about it and we don’t know what it might mean, Lily.”
“That is exactly how the trouble with Orion started in the first place, Arthur. It wasn’t the lack of his gift that turned his heart – it was the fact that he was not accepted for who he was that made him…” Lily trailed off, the memory a pain in her heart.
“I’m sure you would know better than any of us, Lily,” Arthur said quietly, “but I’m just not comfortable taking that chance.”
“And the rest of you?” she asked, looking at each of the other eight faces gathered around the small table. Most met her gaze and nodded grimly. Betsy looked about to cry, but she finally gave Lily a sad nod, agreeing with the others.
“She has to go,” Clement said flatly. “We just can’t take the chance.”
Lily had known this was likely to be the decision based on the increasingly heated discussions the past three nights, but she had held out hope anyway. She felt sick to her stomach that the other elders – people who were considered wise and fair – would turn a young girl out for no crime other than the way she had been born. True, it was unusual in the extreme that no talents had shown themselves by now, but who were they to decide that being weak in the gift was shameful, or - as the other elders were suggesting – dangerous?
“Well, I dissent,” Lily said defiantly.
“Lily, we don’t want to do this either,” Emma said gently, “but we have to consider what’s best for everyone.”
Lily looked the woman in the eye. “I know. But I don’t think the girl poses a danger. She’s well-adjusted, she has friends –“
“Well, how will she contribute?” Harold piped up. “Hmm? Even if she’s not a danger – which I doubt, for the record, but supposing it was true – what would she do? How would she earn her keep? What would happen if she married one of our boys and had children just like her?”
Lily took a deep breath, knowing nothing she said would change their minds this night. “Harold, she can earn her keep in any number of ways. We don’t need our gift for most of the tasks that need to be done every day, anyway. She can work just like the rest of us, and when it comes to sharing our gifts, we don’t do it so that others will reciprocate, we do it for the good of the community. Just think if I asked ‘And just what are you able to do for me?’ every time someone called for a healer? Just because she doesn’t have a specialty doesn’t mean she would be shunned.”
“But what about the rest of it?” Betsy asked, distraught. “What if she… you know, passes it down? And we start having kids with no gift? It’s just not right.”
Not right. Not natural. When people started getting that idea in their head, reason just didn’t register. She was wasting her breath to even try.
“Lily, we need your vote,” Arthur said.
“You know my vote,” she replied tersely.
“You know what I mean.”
Lily sat silently. Without a unanimous vote, no punishment could be carried out. But without resolution on this, the situation would only continue to escalate. Being unanimous was merely a formality – in any other discussion, dissenters eventually conceded to the majority. It sometimes took a bit of discussion, but there was enough wisdom gathered around this table to trust and respect one another’s judgment. Lily wondered where their wits had gone this time.
“Let me do her testing personally tomorrow,” Lily said, finally. “If I can find just a hint of her talents, a spark of her gift, then I expect you all to come to your senses. If not,” she paused, hardly believing she was actually agreeing to this, “then I will give you my vote.”
