by CC Hogan
think like us and he and his people worked the land and lived in a village. I know he is damaged, has been harmed and his brain partly burnt away, but somehow, I think he is still in there. I can’t abandon him.”
Noenna laughed softly. “As I said, very special.”
The day of resting had been a good decision, and as they settled down to sleep Yona once again sung a soft lullaby to the young girl and the calliston. In a way, they were both orphans.
“You have taken them both in, haven’t you,” Phoran said, leaning against the warm flank of the sleeping beast and holding Yona gently in his arms.
“Do you mind?”
“No,” he said dreamily. “They need you and I think you need them.”
“I need you as well,” she said, and kissed him deeply, running her hands down his chest. Then she pulled back, smiling. He had fallen asleep. “But I can wait,” she said with a little giggle, and laid down next to the calliston. As she drifted off, she thought she felt a large hand drape across her body and pull her close.
Noenna and her two friends left at dawn, but the others waited till midmorning so the canvases were thoroughly dried in the sun before they too headed away from the river. They had found a few old pots in the abandoned cottage and these they now filled with water and wrapped up in scraps of canvas. They made up a rough bag to hold their few possessions which they draped across the back of the calliston. Phoran insisted the remaining nineteen discuss what they should do. Yona explained that she had no real way of controlling the calliston, so if they remained on his back, they would be travelling on his whim, not theirs. A couple were worried by this, but for the moment, they, like Yona wanted to get as far from the north as possible. They were all very well aware that if that unknown young man had not broken down the door of their prison, they would either be slaves working in the mines or dead.
The Calliston spent some of the day walking rather than trotting as he had before, almost as if he was unsure of his direction, and towards evening, he had slowed down enough that, except for Beva, they all slipped from his back and were walking along with him.
“You happy up there?” Phoran called to the girl, who as much as Yona may have adopted her, she had definitely adopted the calliston.
“He is so warm!” Beva said. She had wriggled off the hide and was sat right up at the top of the calliston’s neck. Her legs were not long enough to go around his neck properly, and she was half up on her knees.
“I was thinking about Sina’s youngest,” Yona said.
“Oh, little Levvi. What about her?”
“About the same age as that one. When she was younger, she had a habit of adopting baby birds and anything else that just might be an orphan, and bringing them home. Drove Sina mad.”
“So?”
“Well, at least she didn’t decide to rescue a calliston!”
“What, like you have?” Phoran chuckled and winced as Yona punched him on the arm. Just then Beak trotted up. He had decided to walk on ahead since they had slowed down. Once again, Yona was amazed at how much better he had faired than the rest of them. Watching as they all now walked, she realised some were close to falling. They would need to get back up onto the calliston.
“Village ahead,” he said. “Can you get our lift to stop?”
“I’ll try.” Yona stepped up to the head of the calliston and put her hand on his cheek. Immediately, the great creature stopped and softly pushed his head against her. Without thinking, she took his hand.
“Impressive,” Beak said with a smile. “I don’t suppose we should all just invade the village. It looks rather small, but perhaps we could ask some questions at the tavern if they have one.”
“I suspect our funds are probably zero,” Phoran commented.
“I know,” Beak said sadly. “I really could do with a beer.” The thirsty looks around him showed he was not the only one. “We will have to apologise and hope they greet us anyway.”
“You and Yona go in,” Phoran said. “It will seem less threatening that way. I, Hekon and Daintine will get a camp set up and find water. Ask them if there is anywhere we can hunt. We are desperate for food again.”
Yona squeezed the big hand of the Calliston. “Rest here with Beva, we won’t be long.” To Beaks amusement, the beast rumbled softly and lay down on the ground. Beva laughed and pulled at his ears at which point he shook his neck just enough to dislodge her and the thin girl slid off his back into a giggling heap.
“I think I am rapidly reassessing the entire idea of a dummerhole,” Beak said as they walked to the village. “I am sure that he understands you, at least a little.”
Yona studied the short man. “I know you are from DeVale, Beak. Noenna thought you might go with them.”
“She offered.”
“So?”
“Why didn’t I go? I haven’t been there for years. I was travelling in the west when they caught me a few months back and they dragged me all over the place before I ended up in that room.”
“You have family?”
“No.” He frowned, his usually quiet but unreadable expression replaced by a shadow of pain. “Not any more. Not for years.”
“Sorry.”
“It is the curse of these lands, isn’t it? Too easy to lose someone and few care. All of us are the same in one way or another. Phoran said you two have no family.”
“No, but we do have the village. It is very small and people are close.”
“You are both young.”
“I am twenty-six next year. Phoran is thirty. You?”
“Does it matter?” he asked quietly.
Yona glanced towards the man. She knew he was older than any of them, she could see it in his eyes, but he was also tougher and stronger. “No, not really. You just seem to know a lot, as if you have travelled for a long time.”
The village was tiny, only twenty houses or so, but there was a small inn next to a livery with two nickering horses leaning over the rough fence. Beak hesitated at the door, thinking about his lack of coin, but Yona just pushed past him with a smile and entered the small, dark common room.
“Only just opening,” a large woman behind the counter said as she stacked a few terracotta bottles on a shelf. “Haven’t lit the lamps yet. What you be having; bottle or cask?”
“I am sorry,” Yona said, with a regretful look. “We are passing through and camping, but we have no coin. We just want a little information.”
“Well, that is a rarity,” the big woman said. “People like our ale, but ask away.”
Yona smiled and then realised she really had no idea what to ask.
“We are heading south,” Beak said, coming to her rescue. “We are not very sure what is ahead of us. We need to hunt and forage, you see.”
“Oh, well, stranger still,” the large woman said, beckoning the two to sit on the stools at the small bar. “Marrin!” she shouted out the back. “I can tell you about the roads easily enough; there ain’t one, not heading directly south anyways. As for hunting, you need to ask my son as he is always out chasing deer for my stews. We like a good venison stew with potato here, you see. Makes a change from goat.”
Yona couldn’t help it, but her stomach rumbled. The deer they had eaten had filled a hole and the rabbits had helped, but they were all still hungry. Those were the only two proper meals any of them had eaten since they were put into the room two weeks before. “I am sorry,” she said, looking embarrassed.
“You hungry then love?” The woman peered at her suspiciously.
“A little,” Yona said quietly.
“Hmm. Come with me, girl,” the big woman said, and walking around from behind the bar grabbed Yona by the arm and dragged her out the front door and into the light. If you spend all your time with people who are in exactly the same situation as you are, you don’t think much about what you look like after a time. Since they had been imprisoned, none of them had eaten properly, but even before
that, as they had been forced to walk the length of Bind, they had been fed only the minimum. As Yona stood by the big, well-fed landlady, she was suddenly conscious of how thin both she and Beak were, and even more obviously, how filthy and ragged their clothes.
“I am sorry,” Yona said, feeling she wanted to somehow cover herself up.
“Oh, the gods, girl! You are starved! You too, sir. What has happened to you?”
The two of them just stood there. Even the tough Beak, who always seemed so confident, looked at the ground.
“How many are there of you? You got no horses. Just the two of you?”
“No,” Yona said hesitantly. “Nineteen of us, including three children.”
“You all like this?” The woman snapped. Yona swallowed. “You sir, answer me. What of the others?”
“Worse. Some of them are.”
“Marrin! Get out here!”
“Yes, ma!” A tall man in his thirties stepped out of the inn wearing a large leather apron.
“My son is the smith here,” the landlady explained. “Sir, take my son to where the rest of them are. Marrin, I want to know what state they are in. You know what to look for.”
“Ma.” The man beckoned to Beak and the two walked out of the village.
“Now, girl, come back in. You are going to tell me what is going on and what you are running from.”
“Better?” Yona nodded, eating the last of the bread and cheese the landlady, Golla, had given her. “When were you captured?”
“Three months ago I think. We were down south near Mellorn when