Nien moved his arm from over his eyes to under his head.
“I’ve had worse thoughts,” he admitted. “We could head to the southing first. Beaches of sand that stretch beyond sight. Sun. No one around but strangers like us.” His voice perked up a bit. “While in Quieness, Necassa told me of the black sand beaches in southing Quieness that are warm throughout the revolution. Filled with retirees, vagabonds, and tourists. Neither of us would stand out there any more than a Quienan in a Cao pub. She even gave me the names of some hallucinogenic herb dealers.”
Wing laughed and Nien tossed him a grin. But both gestures were half-hearted and the cabin fell once more into silence.
Night took the day. Inside the cabin, Wing was lying on his back on a bed he, Nien, and Monteray had brought out from the house.
The bed had become more of a lounge than an actual bed, Wing still sleeping on the floor most nights, Lucin at his side.
Nien sat on the other side of the cabin on his own bed, working on a whittling project.
It was Lucin’s head that came up first, alerting both Wing and Nien to the knock that fell on the door a moment later.
Nien got up and went over, opening the door.
“Master?” Nien said.
“Mind if I come in?” Monteray asked. “Sorry for the late hour.”
“Of course not, come in.”
Wing sat up on the edge of his bed.
“I’m glad you’re both still awake,” Monteray said, glancing at Lucin.
“A chair?” Nien asked, dragging over the one chair in the cabin.
“Thank you.” Monteray took the chair, sitting down, his manner heavy, disconsolate.
Wing and Nien exchanged a look, the silence uncomfortable as they waited, wondering what was on Monteray’s mind that had brought him out to the cabin so late.
“I’ve, uh, been reading over the Plan,” Monteray finally said.
He raised his face then and, though it was filled with sorrow, it appeared he’d decided something. “If there is anything you can tell me about Commander Lant, I would be most grateful.”
Wing was shocked. Not by Monteray’s question but that he had spoken it in Rieevan.
“After Viyer was taken,” Wing replied in Rieevan, “Lant sent his son, Pree K, to find me — ”
“Pree K survived the attack?” Monteray asked.
“He wasn’t there. Apparently, he’d been at his home with another of the young Cant Messengers. It was Pree K that came out to my side of the valley and told me to go to Lant. Lant gave me the Plan and asked me to look after his son. I attempted to find Pree K but never did. I assume the Ka’ull who were moving out through the Village must have captured him. By the time I returned to the Cant hut, Commander Lant had died. I buried him in the mountains before my escape.” Wing drew a long breath. “He was most fond of you, Master Monteray. It was of you that he spoke lastly and in you that he held the greatest hope for the success of the Plan.”
For the first time in their acquaintance, the brothers saw the watery mist of tears in Monteray’s eyes. “He was wounded then, in the attack?”
“It was dark in the Cant hut,” Wing said. “Though I did not clearly see a wound, I knew he was in pain.”
Monteray’s eyes grew distant. It was then, Wing noticed Nien; his brother had gone perfectly still. Monteray noticed as well. When Nien spoke, it was as if it came through him from a distance, a place, Wing realized, Nien had separated himself from. “In…” His voice failed at first. He tried again. “In the castle. The last time I saw the Commander he was engaged in single combat with what I believe was the leader of that regiment of Ka’ull.”
“What?” Monteray said.
“I don’t know why, but I remember having the brief impression that Lant knew the Ka’ull he fought — personally. I remember seeing them speak to one another. And their battle, it was not waged with dispatch or indifference. I’d wanted to go to him for I’d thought my family had safely escaped, but they hadn’t and…” Nien stopped. “That was the last time I ever saw him. I did not know until finding Wing here in Legran that he had made it out of the castle.” Nien looked away, back towards the fire, but Wing saw Monteray’s face. It was clouded, busy in thought. Clearly, Nien’s words regarding Commander Lant and the Ka’ull leader held particular meaning.
“Thank you,” Monteray finally said and stood to leave.
“Master Monteray, wait,” Nien said.
Monteray turned around, and Wing thought he knew what Nien was about to say.
“What do you think of Lant’s Plan?”
Monteray drew a breath. “I don’t know if you are aware, but on netaia Lant’s last visit here to Legran, he told me of his idea, and for a few days we worked on it together. Once I’d received his messenger with the formal request for Legran’s participation in a joint alliance, I’d written up a letter to Impreo Takayo relating my personal feelings and desires regarding the Plan. As a consultant to our forces here in Legran, I had intended to send my nephew, Jason, to Jayak with the letter.” Monteray paused. “But he was killed in Jayak nearly eleven turns past.”
“The battle in Jayak,” Nien said quietly. Wing and Monteray looked at him. “I, with the other leaders of the Cant, were on a training drill in Jhiyak Canyon on that same day. We fought alongside the Jayakans.”
Monteray nodded. “So, you were there. I wondered as much.”
“You did?”
“Two of my men reported to me after the battle. There was a detail in their report, that a man of Preak had been at the debriefing.”
“That was me. I was there with two other leaders of the Cant, Mien’k and Carly.”
Hearing Nien say Carly’s name hit Wing with a jolt. It felt as if the room spun around him before coming back with a sickening stop.
“We lost forty-seven men that day,” Monteray was saying. “I have not yet attempted to send another messenger to Takayo. I was hoping to send Call, but he is quite young still.” Monteray drew himself up a little. “But I’ve planned to try again. And there is another possibility in all of this. The friend that I told you is coming, should arrive within the turn. She, too, received a messenger from Lant.”
“Quieness,” Nien said.
Monteray nodded. “Her visits are normally a time of celebration and relaxation. This time, however, we will be discussing netaia Lant’s Plan in depth. We would hope for your input.”
Wing, as well as Nien, were still for a time. “Wing and I,” Nien said, “were talking about this earlier. If it will help, we will go with you or write letters to go with your messengers on what happened that night, what we saw, what we know.”
Monteray looked at them. “Thank you.”
“So, you think it will work?” Nien asked. “That the valleys will work together?”
Monteray’s expression was anything but happy as he replied, “Though I have not heard back from either Takayo or SiQQiy, I have had my doubts. They are both strong valleys. Strong enough, maybe, to defend themselves on their own. Even Legran has been resistant to form an alliance, because of our history with the Valley of Preak. But that was before we lost forty-seven Legranders defending the pass, and before…” Monteray hesitated.
“Before…?” Nien asked.
“Before the two of you. Before we had first hand accounts of what happened in Rieeve.”
Wing felt a sick drop in his stomach but also a small glimpse of satisfaction that, no matter how hard it would be, that he and Nien’s experience in the matter could make a difference.
“I doubt the Ka’ull know that they missed two of you?” Monteray asked. “That two Rieevans survived?”
“No,” Nien said, voice barren. “I was buried in one of the huge pits, along with my family. I saw no one. At least I remember seeing no one, when I escaped.”
It wrung Wing’s heart in a way that was indescribable, to hear Nien speak again of what he’d gone through.
“Someone was setting fire to the Village that night,
” Wing said. “I never saw who it was, and though some Ka’ull did see me, the last one to see me most likely thought I was killed when the Vanc home exploded.”
“The way they took Rieeve,” Monteray said, “so unlike Lou and Tou, means they want to be in secret. They need time, no doubt, to assemble, to prepare. If the two of you had not escaped, none of the other valleys would ever know the Ka’ull were there, quietly gathering their forces for a much bigger assault.”
Yes, Wing agreed, but didn’t need to say.
“I won’t insult either of you by saying some good can come out of what happened to you and to your people, to…Commander Lant. Still, life has a way of making things happen, though often not in the ways we hope or can foresee.” He nodded to them. “Thank you, both, for talking to me about Commander Lant. I hadn’t wanted to ask, but I am grateful to know.” He stood. “Good night.”
As the door shut behind Monteray, Wing and Nien sat in the cabin silence. Everything they’d tried to put behind them was coming back. Wing had the urge to run and, looking at his brother, had no doubt he’d be happy to go with him now that their peaceful place here was disrupted. They’d been fooling themselves that they could ever start over, be different people. Now, they were the only proof of what had really happened in Rieeve, what the other valleys were facing. It was their word, alone, that could bring the valleys together in a way they may never have before.
None of it brought joy to Wing’s heart. Duty. Responsibility. None of these would bring back his people, he and Nien’s family, the home and life they once had.
“Doesn’t matter,” Wing said. Nien looked at him. “So, we tell the other leaders what they need to know, what might make a difference for them, and then we can still leave. Then, maybe, it really will be over.”
“To the beaches,” Nien said half-heartedly. “Warm sun and drugs and pretty, remarkable colours bleeding out of the sky.”
Wing nodded and forced a smile. “I’m sure Lucin will fit right in.”
Nien chuckled and it almost sounded genuine.
Reaching down, Wing curled his fingers into Lucin’s black fur.
It would be nice, he thought, to know what tomorrow would bring. To wake up and go to sleep knowing exactly what the next day would look like. Getting up, going to the beach. Lying in the sand under the sun. A trip to an open-air market for fruit and a fruity drink. Warm. Care free. It would surely be nice.
Wing closed his eyes, Lucin’s slow, rumbling exhalations filling his senses.
Some lies had been broken through tonight. Others hadn’t. That he and Nien would actually ever make it to the beaches of southing Quieness was a new lie…
At least it was one Wing could live with.
“Monteray!” Wing called the following evening after dinner. He’d been heading down for a bath in the river before bed when he spotted Monteray walking from the Mietan to the house.
Monteray turned.
“If you have a moment,” Wing said.
“Of course.”
“Last night you mentioned a letter you’d written to Takayo and have not yet been able to send. Well, you probably know that I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Call and I think that sending him on such an errand may be just the right thing” — Wing paused — “for all concerned.”
Monteray studied Wing. “Perhaps I should talk with him,” he said.
Wing nodded and smiled and then continued on his way to the river.
Near the cabin, he undressed on the bank and slid into the water. The gentle sound of the water and majestic spectacle of the rising mountains wrapped Wing in a familiar solitude as he floated. He swam a bit, scrubbed at his hair, and then crawled back out onto the bank. He sat, drying in the last rays of falling sun, before donning his shirt and pants.
“You’ve been here for a while.”
Startled, Wing looked around. “Tei,” he said. Usually the whole family would gather down by the river after dinner, but tonight everyone had scattered to other duties and so Wing had come alone, happy to have a moment to himself to bathe and to relax.
Tei sat down next to him. “Lovely, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes,” Wing said. He’d grown accustomed to Tei over the turns since he’d first arrived, though she still managed to make him mildly uncomfortable.
“You have been in Legran for a while now and you haven’t found anyone yet have you?”
“Found anyone…?” Wing asked.
“A girl,” she said.
“Oh,” Wing said, taken aback. Finding a girl was the last thing on his mind, and he hoped Tei didn’t mean herself. “No.”
“What about Sep – Nien?” Tei asked.
Wing glanced at her, thinking, Ah, that’s what she’s really after. “Ah, no,” he said.
“Has he ever been with someone?” she asked.
“Not really,” Wing replied, feeling more and more uncomfortable.
“Well, don’t you think he’s lonely?”
Wing shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Can you ask him?”
“Ask him?”
“If he doesn’t want to be alone? If he might be interested in, you know, me?”
Wing fidgeted. “Maybe you should ask him.”
“I don’t dare. He’s so quiet. He barely talks to me. That’s why I was hoping you could find out for me.”
“That’s not my place,” Wing said.
“Please?” Tei asked.
Wing stood up suddenly, grabbing his boots. “E’te. I mean, all right.” He nodded awkwardly to her. “I’m going to turn in.”
He could feel Tei watching him as he walked away.
Wing entered the cabin to find Nien sitting inside by a tiny fire, whittling on the same small bit of hardwood he’d been working on for a couple turns now.
Shutting the door behind him, Wing watched Nien’s fingers work at the deep brown and crimson coloured piece of wood.
“Do you know what it’s going to be?”
Nien turned it. “Not yet.”
“So…I saw Tei,” Wing said, dumping his boots by his bed before lying down on it.
“Yes. We often do.” Nien blew some shavings from the piece of wood.
“She came down to the river.” Wing couldn’t help but grin as he looked at his brother. “It seems she has quite a thing for you.”
Nien glanced up from his whittling. “What?”
“Wanted me to ask if you like her.”
Nien’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “She’s been overly curious since I came. It’s like she’s never seen a Preak before.”
“Well, if you’re not interested, watch yourself. She can be tenacious.”
Nien snorted. “Whatever it is Tei needs no man can give her.” He winked at Wing. “What about you?”
Wing shivered. “She’s like a little sister. A little, annoying sister, who…desperately needs a boyfriend.”
Nien made a face and returned to his whittling project.
Wing fell into silence. Tei’s interest in Nien aside, her question had brought up a thought, a feeling in Wing that he’d not expected. His silence drew Nien’s attention.
“What?” Nien asked.
“I know it’ll probably sound ungrateful — I mean finding you here, finding you alive, was nothing short of a miracle. It’s everything…”
“But?”
“I guess I thought I had let it go, but all that time I spent in the mountains after that night, I wondered if she might have...”
“Carly,” Nien said quietly.
“Could she — ? I mean, do you think there’s any chance?”
“No,” Nien said. “I don’t think so.”
Wing continued to look at him.
“Wing, the chaos in the castle that night was overwhelming.” Nien paused, eyes unfocused, looking within. “No, I did not see her body. I only remember seeing her once, standing shoulder to shoulder with her father, fighting to protect her family. I don’t remember seeing her after tha
t.”
“I understand,” Wing said quickly.
“I wish I had something to tell you — anything.”
“No, it’s fine. Never mind.” Wing pulled off his shirt. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Nien said, and though his brother returned to his carving, Wing could see with regret that his question had taken Nien out of his peaceful work, transporting him back to his last night in Rieeve.
Chapter 66
Back from the Dead
W ork on the roof the next day ended a little before sunset as Wing strode into town to drown his aching muscles in Hiona and perhaps find Call for a little conversation.
Wing entered the Hiona and casually ordered two large glasses.
Turning his back to the counter, he glanced about the room in a bored manner, expecting to find Call’s clear blue eyes somewhere in the crowd. Though many eyes were upon him there was one set that stood out from the rest and they did not belong to Call but to a woman. Her clothes were torn and dusty, her skin darkly tanned. Her hair was long and unkempt, bleached scarlet from the sun. In many ways, she looked much like all the other Legranders in the Hiona.
But she was not Legrander.
Her eyes did not leave him as she got up from the table at which she sat. Her legs were unsteady, tenuously supporting her very thin frame. She leaned on the table for a moment and then moved around it and started toward him.
Wing leaned back against the bar to steady himself. The woman walked down the narrow path between the bar and the rest of the tables that filled up the Hiona. Everything around him vanished. He thought he should go to her but could not get his feet to move. Though she was painfully emaciated and pitifully worn, nothing had ever appeared to him so beautiful.
By the time she reached him, Wing found the wherewithal to push himself away from the bar and step toward her. She stopped in front of him. Wing’s lips parted. But he could not speak and he could not move. Disconnected from his body, Wing felt his hand reach out and touch her hair. His throat constricted with emotion, a quiver registering in his hand. For a time, he could only stare at her —
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