All because of the grinel.
I don't know how long I stayed there, but at some point Hawke showed up. He spent some time just watching me at my work, his face betraying nothing. Eventually, I stopped halfway through chucking a large spiked mace and sighed.
“I'm sorry, Hawke. I never knew this was how it felt,” I told him. My eyes met his, and his stoic expression broke. He looked almost as hurt as when he had discovered Rouge was dead.
“I had hoped you never would have to,” he said. He put an arm around me and pulled me close. I returned the embrace, but only briefly. I didn't have the luxury of breaking down right now.
“What was it you found out about those militiamen?” I forced myself to ask him. He loosened his grip and stepped away.
“They claimed they were Damkarein soldiers,” he said. That snapped me out of my brooding for a fleeting moment. Now that I thought about it, the soldiers of Damkarei did wear very similar beige uniforms.
“That's not possible,” I said.
“It sure isn't. Uraj already told me the military was being kept in the city, in case Othenidus tries something.”
Hearing Uraj's name reminded me of something he had said not too long ago. “He said that Val'Hala had been sending out troops to cause trouble. You think this is connected?”
“Might be. Those soldiers were well trained. Not to be rude to Uraj, but I doubt the Damkarein army can match up to them. Then there's the matter of grinel being seen around here.”
A flash of anger crossed his face, but he pulled it in quickly. “Seeing one creep out of the Madness isn't that uncommon, but they don't usually attack in groups like that. For the Mad Riders to come across many of them is…unnerving.”
I wanted to hunt them down. I wanted to find those grinel that hurt Blake and the others, and kill them to the last. But a small part of my mind reminded me that we came out here for a reason. As hard as it was, I had to shelve my grudge for the moment.
“We should look to see if there are any family members here,” I said.
“No need. It seems we've been expected,” said Hawke. He suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“By who?”
“Some scouts from out east, all the way from the Fertile Lands.” He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Looks like we've got an audience with the Goodmother.”
Chapter 10: The Family
I had hoped I had seen the last of the Madness for a while, yet once again I found myself bundling to face the elements and loading up a camel with supplies. Our guide was a member of the family calling himself Vance, who had been waiting for us for some time. He already had all our needs at the ready, and waited patiently for us to get our gear together.
He seemed friendly enough, with gentle green eyes and a small smile always playing on his face, but there were lots of little touches of his that unnerved me. He was, how should I put it…too clean. Short-cropped auburn hair perfectly parted, sparkling white teeth, perfectly trimmed goatee. His robes were devoid of wrinkles and immaculate, even though he'd been travelling through the Madness and forest for days. I never trusted anyone who tried so hard to keep up appearances.
“Sorry to spring this on you so suddenly,” he said while we loaded up, “but our Mother doesn't like to stay in one place for long. If we don't get a move on soon, she might lose her patience.”
It was bizarre to hear someone casually talking about the leader of the family. Even among the members of the family, only a choice few had ever met their 'Goodmother' more than once. It was a kind of ritual for new members to receive her blessing, but otherwise her location was a well-kept secret amongst the rank and file. Even Hawke had never met her before.
“I suppose there's a first for everything,” my companion had said when I probed him for information on the Goodmother. “The only thing I can say for certain is things must be pretty dire if she's asking for me directly.”
So that meant another round of layering up with robes and scarves, double checking my water supply, and making friends with a foul tempered animal that didn't want to deal with the desert any more than I did. All the while, my thoughts were heavy with fear for Blake's safety and the anguish of the loss of the Medicine Man. Once we were in the Madness, I'd have no time for worrying about anything other than myself.
We set off around midday. It didn't take long before the verdant green of the forest became a distant memory. The grass seemed to die a little more with every step, slowly making way for tufts of wiry brush that eventually yielded to the sandy plains of the Madness. I had to fight the urge to look back, just to make sure that the trees still existed behind us, instead keeping my eyes firmly on the dunes that lay ahead.
The going was slow, but our camels were more surefooted than any horse could have been in such conditions. I knew well enough of that firsthand. We plodded through the arid winds that buffeted us, our heavy wrappings now a blessing that kept the worst of the Madness at bay.
Still, the sun fought on to try and punish us for our decision. Soon, I could feel the heat forcing its way through my layers, trickles of moisture snaking down my back and forehead.
Hawke seemed to read my mind. “Would've been a nicer stroll if it was darker out, eh?” he said with a half-hearted smile on his face.
“You can't leave our Mother waiting for the sake of comfort, I'm afraid,” said Vance. He was riding several steps ahead of us, and with the usual dry winds whipping about I was surprised he could even hear. I could barely hear him as it was.
“Can you tell me what she's like?” Hawke shouted over the winds.
“You should know that the family is forbidden from speaking of our Mother to those who haven't met her. Please understand,” he said. Hawke snorted, but didn't press the issue further.
The winds died after a few hours, but that only made the heat that much more noticeable as the sun-baked sand radiated from below, while the fiery orb itself attacked from above. I made sure to help myself to my water supply frequently and tried to occupy myself by wondering where in the Fertile Lands we'd be meeting up with this mysterious figure. Our time was already limited, and we couldn't waste too much of it travelling inland.
“This is odd,” Hawke muttered a couple of hours later. In the monotony of the desert landscape, I almost didn't realize he had even spoken.
“What is?” I asked.
“I just noticed we've been heading south.” He pulled out a map and compass and checked them, looking toward the sun with a hand shielding his eyes. “Probably for some time now.”
“What?” I hadn't even thought to check my own compass. I just assumed we were heading eastward. The Madness was a fairly thin strip of land dividing the Old Kingdom of western Astra from the Fertile Lands of eastern Astra, but it stretched all the way to the northern and southern shores of our island homeland. If we were moving south, we'd be stuck in the Madness for days.
“Where are you taking us, Vance?” I said to our guide. He didn't even spare us a glance.
“Just to a little getaway our Mother likes to use from time to time. Don't worry, you'll be on your way by tomorrow.”
I didn't like the sound of that. For all of our travels, Hawke and I had never fully explored the Madness. We made the trip back and forth across it a fair number of times, but not once had we ever gone along its length. Only outlaws and grinel were known to wander those areas.
Then again, I realized, we were going to meet with one of the most notorious outlaws of them all. It made sense, in its own twisted way.
Vance eventually started slowing down, and for once he turned his gaze towards us. His eyes betrayed nothing, but his lifeless smile never left his lips.
“If you two would be so kind as to lower your scarves around your eyes for me,” he said, “we can finish the last leg of the journey within the hour.”
“What, you can't trust us to keep a secret?” asked Hawke. I, for one, doubted that Vance ever trusted anything or anyone.
“Sadly, for all
the help you and your young ward have given the family over the years, we simply can't let family secrets be revealed to outsiders,” he said plainly. “Though once you meet our Mother, you may be allowed to enter our fold for true. Then, and only then, would you gain the trust you seek. Please understand.” His smile widened almost imperceptibly.
Hawke sighed, but pulled his head wrappings over his head until they covered nearly his entire face. I was hesitant to let myself be literally led around blindfolded by a stranger, even if I had worked for the family.
“It'll be okay, Micasa. Trust me,” said Hawke. Then I felt his essence wash over me, as gentle and relaxing as a warm bath. His life's energy spread out around both of us, and suddenly I felt foolish. Of course Hawke wouldn't put blind faith in someone he knew so little about.
But I knew I could put my trust in Hawke.
“Fine,” I said. With Vance still watching me expectantly, I grabbed my wrappings and secured them around my own head. The stiff, scratchy darkness of the cloth enveloped me, too thick to even see daylight filter through.
“I promise you, it won't be too long,” came Vance's muffled voice. “I'll have to take hold of your camels' reins to guide them, so the going will be a bit slower. Just relax, sit tight, and we'll be there soon.”
Soon I felt my camel start trodding forward again and had to hold tight to the saddle to keep from spilling off. It took a bit of time to get used to the sensation of riding blind, a sensation even stranger when I wasn't the one holding the reins. My hands grew restless, and I settled for digging through my pack to find something to eat.
My fingers curled around a hard, blocky object. I traced my fingers along its face, the rough texture only broken by a single hole, a warm loop of metal protruding from the top.
It was a padlock, much like the ones I used to carry around when I was younger, using them to hone my talent for manipulating locks. Over the years, my skills had progressed to the point where I could affect them with barely a touch, and in time, I had shed them from my belongings. They had become little more than dead weight.
Hawke had insisted that I kept up my practice with the padlocks, though, and through some coercion with the family he had managed to get them to build a special one for me. It appeared to be a run-of-the-mill lock, but there were supposedly a hundred different ways to lock this particular device.
Hawke used to make me spend hours finding ways to lock it so that it could be undone with multiple different keys, including random clutter he would pick up from the ground. Sometimes, he would challenge me to lock it so it would break any key used inside it. He encouraged me always, telling me there was a unique way to unlock it that would reveal a surprise built inside.
Even with the most impossible sounding challenges, I would always somehow find a way to accomplish what he put to me. All of them, save for the one he kept enticing me with, the way to truly unlock it.
Eventually, I gave it up as just a ruse he had come up with to keep me working. When my power started truly flourishing and I still couldn't make it open any differently, I dismissed the padlock as just another test, albeit a more interesting one than the others.
In spite of that, I kept that lock on hand, the one I was unwilling to throw away. Just touching it, as I had thousands of times before, had a calming effect on me. Before I knew it, I was clicking the latch open and closed with flicks of my fingers, each time twisting the lock a different way. It was like greeting an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time.
“You can remove your blindfolds. We are here.”
I almost jumped at the sound of Vance's voice. I had become so absorbed in my memories that I had completely forgotten what we were doing. I hadn't even noticed that the air had grown notably cooler, or that the bumpy ride had smoothed out at some point. I tried to hide my embarrassment as I removed my wrappings to see just where we had been brought.
I was greeted by a spacious stone chamber, perhaps some sort of ancient foyer or entrance hall. The room was bereft of windows, instead being lit by wall mounted torches near the top of the low ceiling. I turned and looked back from where we must have entered, but behind us was nothing but perfectly smooth stone. The only decorations in the room were rows of stone pillars that flanked to either side of us. Wherever we were, I figured it was probably underground.
That meant we were as good as prisoners, so long as they wished us to be here.
Hawke climbed off his horse and appraised the room. “Well, I certainly never expected anything like this to be under the Madness,” he said. Apparently, he shared my assumption on the location of our meeting.
“Oh, there are so many wonders in the world you've never even dreamt of, my dear Scholar,” cooed Vance. He wrung his hands together, his faint smile refusing to leave his lips. “Our Mother waits just ahead. Allow me to lead the way, but don't stray too far; one wrong turn down here, and you might be lost forever.” He tittered a bit. Hawke and I exchanged an uneasy glance.
I climbed off the camel and started following the two when Vance turned on me. “I apologize, my lady, but our Mother only requested to meet with Lord Hawke. If you'd be so kind as to wait, I will return with refreshment shortly.”
I didn't like the sound of leaving Hawke alone with them one bit. Working with the family for our goals was one thing, but this was a side of them I had never seen before. It was an undercurrent of darkness to all of the petty banditry and manipulation I was used to from the group. I started to fear we might be getting swept up in it, never to be seen again.
Hawke looked at me pointedly. He knew I was going to argue. I'd seen that look on his face before and knew full well what he meant: be patient and trust that he'd be fine.
“Alright,” I said to Vance slowly, “make sure to bring something for the camels too.” His smile creased upward the smallest bit.
“Of course. I shan't be long.” He gave me a short bow before turning back and striding toward the wall. His body blocked my view, but with a few deft hand motions Vance caused a section of the wall to slide away noiselessly. At least that explained the lack of an entrance.
With a final glance and nod in my direction, Hawke turned and marched after our guide. They disappeared into the depths of the revealed hallway, and after a couple of moments the wall closed up once more, leaving me alone with the camels.
Waiting was always difficult for me. I'd lived my whole life in a whirlwind of working, whether it was my chores during my slave days or my unending travels with Hawke. I was used to getting things done, and now I was forced to sit still and twiddle my thumbs. It was almost enough to make me scream.
I tried to occupy myself. I brushed the camels, double checked our supplies, played with my padlock a little. When I quickly tired of those, I practiced my swordplay a bit, but that didn't last long. I was used to training with Hawke and never had the stomach for practicing the forms alone, no matter how much he insisted I should.
Eventually I started exploring the walls, checking them for hidden passageways. Perhaps if I found one, I thought, I could use my power to force it open and explore on my own. Maybe I could even eavesdrop a bit on Hawke's conversation with the Goodmother.
I was busy examining the wall that Hawke and Vance had disappeared into when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I flinched and spun around, nearly decking Vance in the face.
“You should be careful playing around with secret doors,” he said, ducking my wildly swinging fist. “Pop one open when your hand is in the wrong spot and you're likely to catch your finger in it. Trust me, I know.” He held up his right hand and wiggled his ring finger, which had been shortened at the first knuckle.
“S-sorry,” I managed to stammer. It made me even more uneasy that I hadn't heard him come in. Who knew how many of those doors lay scattered around the room?
“Curiosity is nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. His smile widened. “But rules are rules, and I think our Mother would be most cross, with you and me alike, if you slipped into one of her
meetings. Come, I've brought a bit of refreshment.”
Somehow, Vance had snuck not only himself in, but also a short folding chair and a small table that stood about a foot off the ground. The table was heaped with a miniature cornucopia of different fruits, a bowl of nuts, some cheese and bread, and a bottle of cider. A bit of refreshment, indeed.
Nervous as I was, it had been several days since I last ate anything substantial. Vance gave me his most encouraging look, and finally I allowed myself to sit on the tiny folding chair. I sampled a couple of the dried nuts, on the ready for any off-flavor that might suggest they'd been poisoned.
Damn, they were delicious.
Vance chuckled as I tore into the food. It was beyond anything I'd had in years, the kind of foodstuffs I figured nobles dined on daily.
“I'm glad you like it,” he said. “All this is from our personal cache. We usually only dip into it for special occasions, but with such esteemed guests, our Mother insisted we give every courtesy to show our good faith.”
I was too busy eating to care what he said. Our grinning host took an apple and joined me at the table for a while, sitting on the floor and eating with dainty nibbles. When he got down to the core, he finished it in two great bites and wiped his fingers off on a cloth from his pocket.
“If you'll excuse me, it's about time I check on the Scholar. Their talk should be about coming to a close.” He stood, dabbing at the corners of his mouth. I was working on a mouthful of cheese and bread and could only nod. Vance strode back to the wall where he had taken Hawke before and opened it again with some more fiddling. He slipped inside, and before I could even think about getting up to follow, the wall sealed up once more.
Again I was forced to sit around and wait. I considered probing the walls once more, but Vance's warning bubbled to the top of my thoughts, and I decided I didn't want to risk my fingers. I polished off the last of the snacks, but even those didn't sate me long.
Savants of Humanity (The Scholar's Legacy Book 2) Page 11