by Shannah Jay
'None the less, Carryn, you'll do as I tell you next time. I'm the one who understands danger and you should respect my knowledge. In dangerous times we cannot afford to act in a haphazard manner.'
She swallowed, then acknowledged the justice of this and nodded. 'Very well. You're right. I'll be more careful in future. But just now we need to greet the deleff.' She walked up to the giant grey creatures and bowed her head. 'Give you greetings, honoured deleff. Do you come to draw our wagon?'
Two heads tossed in a nodding motion, and Carryn stepped closer to raise her hands and lay them on the smooth grey scales of the nearest head. She stood in unblinking stillness for a moment, then said quietly, 'I greet you, Vareth.' She turned to the second deleff and repeated the ritual, 'I greet you, Riath. May we all travel together along the pathways of peace.'
She stepped backwards, but her brow was creased in thought and she was staring at the deleff as if there was something that worried her.
Benjan, awake to every nuance of what was happening, moved to her side. 'What's wrong?'
'There's nothing wrong, exactly. But these deleff feel - well, different to other deleff.'
'How do you mean, different? Tell me!'
'Not as peaceful, somehow, and stronger too. They even stand differently, though only someone like me, who's grown up with deleff, would notice that.'
One of the deleff tossed its head and she moved forward to place her hands on it again. 'Ah,' she said softly and stood there motionless for a few moments.
As she moved away from it, she turned to Benjan. 'These deleff, like ourselves, are prepared to fight against evil.' She shook her head, her face sad. 'Even the deleff are being changed by the violence. Will it ever end, Benjan? Will we ever get our old world back?'
He shrugged. 'One day, perhaps. If we fight for it.'
'Yes. We must all fight.' She saw the deleff tossing their heads in impatience. 'Anyway, they seem anxious to set off. Let's get back on the wagon. They'll take us out of the wildwoods, then we can find out exactly where we are.'
* * *
Three days later, as the wagon turned from the wildwoods on to a narrow track, Carryn exchanged glances with Benjan. 'What now? Dare we ride along so publicly?'
'We can't just stay hidden in the wildwoods. I think we're in our Brother's hands for the moment. But you and Lerina had better sit in the back, in case any snake-lovers see us.'
'What shall we do when we find out where we are?' Lerina asked idly, once the two young women were settled again.
'Start making our way towards our rendezvous.' He held up one finger in warning. 'Do not speak the name aloud. Not now, not ever. We all know where we must go.' It was the Hashite way to keep everything secret that need not be told, and a good way to follow in times like these.
They nodded. They had learned something about their destination while they were in Outpost, and had learned about the geography of the Twelve Claims, too, from Cheral, just in case they got separated.
The track they were following joined another, which was wider and bore recent wheel marks.
'I'll get down and examine them?' said Carryn. 'I've learned to read the prints a little. Not as well as a travelling trader, but quite well.'
Benjan nodded. 'I'll come with you. Lerina, stay on the wagon.'
The two of them jumped down and ran ahead of the slow-moving wagon, to examine the track they were following now. 'Wagon wheels, but not from a trader's wagon,' said Carryn. 'Something smaller that a farmer might use, and drawn by draft nerids.'
Benjan stared down at the ground, trying to learn from her how to read the marks. He had never felt more helpless as a bodyguard. As a man of the city, he could only accept what Carryn told him. He was thoughtful as they got back on the wagon. How well their Brother had planned, for Benjan and his companions all brought different skills to the quest.
As evening approached, the two deleff made no attempt to find a camping place for the night, which they would normally. If anything, they increased their pace.
Dusk dimmed the world around them, then two moons rose, each near full, and their light showed clearly when the track was joined by another. Carryn jumped off the wagon again to run ahead and study it, then came back to say, 'This is a well-used route. There are signs of wagons drawn by draught nerids and hoofmarks of riding nerids, as well as a herd of milk nerids. There must be a town or a large village nearby.'
'Then you should both stay close to the wagon from now on.'
With such bright moonlight, they didn’t see the glow in the sky that proclaimed a settlement of some sort until they were quite close to it.
Benjan jumped down then to walk beside the deleff. 'Can we stop here, friends, while I reconnoitre?' he asked.
Two great heads shook from side to side and the deleff pressed on, trampling heavily along the hard dirt of a road that now led uphill between cultivated fields, passing in and out of the shadows cast by the field trees that edged the ploughed land.
Benjan went back to walk beside the wagon. 'I don't like going into unknown territory without checking it out.' He jumped in shock as one of the deleff raised its head and trumpeted. 'Demon take them! Must they tell everyone we're coming? I think we should all get out and follow at a distance behind the wagon, for safety.'
The deleff trumpeted again, a loud angry sound.
'It doesn't want us to do that,' said Carryn. She hesitated, then said in a rush, 'I think we should trust it, Benjan. I really do. A deleff wouldn't lead us into danger.'
'You can never be sure of anything in this world. For all we know, it's taking us to another portal, one that leads back to Dsheresh. They didn't want us to leave there in the first place, remember.'
'We'd know it was a portal. We'd have time to get away.' She held out a hand towards him. 'Get back up on the wagon, Benjan.'
'No. I'll walk behind. You two stay there.'
So it was two women who rode the great trader's wagon into Silverhill, with their silent guardian walking in the shadows some distance behind. As had been foretold.
The man who strode out from the crowd to greet them was tall, with dark hair lightly silvered, and a shrewd face lined by life and sorrow. But his eyes weren’t sad tonight. As he realised who was riding in the wagon, they gleamed in the torch-light and the tears that sparkled on his cheeks were tears of joy.
'Carryn!' His cry was loud in the silence of the massed crowd on the village green. He called out for all to hear, 'The prophecy is fulfilled. My daughter has come to join me.'
The crowd cheered and hugged one another. It was just as the prophecy had foretold, they repeated excitedly. It made you feel safer, somehow, as if there really was hope of better times to come.
Carryn tumbled off the wagon and hurled herself into the man's arms. 'Father! Oh, Father! Is it really you?'
The deleff stopped and trumpeted loudly again.
Behind the wagon the watcher sighed in relief. 'Brother, I thank you!' Only then did he walk forward to stand beside the front of the wagon, not worried now when other men closed in behind him, hands on dagger hilts. The man hugging Carryn was well known to those from the Shambles, known and trusted implicitly.
'That man is your grandfather,' Benjan whispered to Lerina, who was still sitting on the wagon staring around her. 'That's Aharri Bel-Ashkaron himself. And only our Brother knows how he came to be here to meet us.'
Aharri moved forward, one arm still resting around the shoulders of his beloved youngest daughter, the other reaching out to clasp Benjan's hand. 'You've guarded her well,' he said, 'and for that I can never thank you enough. Come into the house. We'll be safe here tonight.'
Benjan helped Lerina down and followed Aharri into a small doorway at the rear of a straggling domain, the sort of ill-defined place you often saw in country towns. Indoors the space was much larger than it had seemed from outside, with stairs leading down to cellars, and many rooms threading one into another in a haphazard fashion. All was furnished with comfort
, Tenebrani fashion, with woven rugs glowing with colour on the polished wooden boards, delicate carvings ornamenting the furniture and filigree mountings for the large wall lamps with their perfumed oil.
Carryn stopped in the doorway, 'Oh, I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to live in a house!' She gasped in delight. 'Oh! Oh, how wonderful!' She ran across to stroke a wall hanging and lay her cheek against it for a moment. 'I remember my mother weaving that. I thought it was lost for ever.'
Aharri came across to stroke it briefly. 'I retrieved it from the wreckage of our house. It goes with me everywhere. With that on the wall, any place can become a home to me.' He sent a man for food and stood watching for a moment from the front doorway. The crowd had started dancing in the village square, as Tenebrani had done from time immemorial, given the slightest excuse. There were men and women keeping guard around the village still, but inside it there was an atmosphere of sanity and happiness. Aharri nodded.
'This night will only strengthen our cause in the countryside.'
'Was our coming really foretold?' asked Lerina, who had been hanging back by Benjan's side.
'Yes. Some fifty days ago. It was at the time of the Spring Festival, when the Choosings would normally be held, and people had become restless. Benner was as well protected as ever - our Lord Claimant risks nothing where his own safety is concerned - but one night an apparition came into his private chambers. It was a Sister, come to warn him. She struck the guards dumb and made a prophecy.'
'Say the prophecy for us,' Carryn pleaded.
He nodded and set himself into recall, a Sisterhood skill taught him by his late wife.
When two moons shine upon the hills. There shall come from the woods a wagon bearing the seeds of your fate.
Two women shall ride behind two strange deleff
And behind them shall walk a hidden watcher.
Thus destiny rides into the Claim of Tenebron.
Mark them well, Benner, Lord of Tenebron
Mark well the woman and child
Who shall lead your line into eternity.
'How was it known about the apparition and the prophecy?' Carryn asked, frowning. 'Surely Benner didn't tell people about it?'
Aharri grinned. 'Well, the apparition came to me as well, afterwards, and to others in the city. It was one of the Sisters, using their secret tunnels. She said the God had breathed in her ear to do this thing. So we made sure the prophecy was known everywhere. We've got good networks set up now in the city to fight against the Serpent. They don't have things all their own way in Tenebrak.
'Of course Benner denied that he’d seen any apparition. We didn’t expect anything less from him, but his son Evren was with him at the time the apparition came to him and to our surprise, Evren made no secret of what had happened. After that, no one believed Benner's denials.'
Aharri added thoughtfully, 'He bears little love for his father, that boy. Some say they've seen the hatred flicker in his eyes when he's told to do something. But Benner keeps him closely watched and controlled. He's tried to escape several times, but always been brought back. Since Evren revealed the prophecy, Benner has locked him up at Dalbrak. The poor lad leads a miserable life.'
'But how did you know to wait for us just here?' demanded Carryn, still clinging to her father's arm, and not wanting to spoil the pleasure of the evening by even thinking about Benner, the man who had first raped her in the shrine, or his son.
Aharri smiled. 'When the apparition appeared to me, it added a verse: When two full moons rise in the sky
Get you to Silverhill
To welcome your enemy's doom.'
He stared at Carryn. 'I little thought to see you here, dear child, though Herra had told me I’d definitely meet you again one day.' His eyes flickered across to Lerina. 'But you haven't introduced your young friend.
She reminds me of someone, but I can't think who.'
Carryn's face was so apprehensive that Benjan took it upon himself to make the necessary explanations.
'Let the women wash and refresh themselves, Aharri Bel-Ashkaron,' he said in his abrupt way. 'We've been travelling all day without a stop. I'll tell you all our news while they're doing that.'
Aharri wasn’t slow to take a hint. He rang for help and an older woman came into the room. Carryn jumped up and threw herself into the woman's arms. 'Shilla! Oh, Shilla! It seems so long since I've seen you.
I'm so glad you managed to escape!' She threw one pleading glance back at Benjan, then she and Lerina left the room with Shilla, her old nurse.
Aharri turned to Benjan. 'Well? What have you to tell me?'
Benjan hesitated. How to approach this? He knew that a man of Aharri Bel-Ashkaron's position would have guarded his womenfolk like precious jewels. The sorrow of his wife's death in the riots that followed Temple Tenebrak going under stasis had marked his face, and each time his eyes lingered on his daughter they were suspiciously bright. How would he receive the child of his daughter's ravishment?
'The girl is your granddaughter,' Benjan said bluntly in the end. 'Born of that dreadful night your daughter spent in the shrine.'
Aharri's expression showed only disbelief. 'How can that be possible? The girl is almost the same age as Carryn. Have your troubles addled your wits, Benjan the Hashite?'
'No, sir. But we've travelled far across the land and been to some strange places. Carryn was with child when we left Tenebrak. Herra helped bring Lerina into the world in a place called the Sandrims, far to the west of the wildwoods. Then, when Lerina was yet a baby, we had to leave there and travel on. We went through a great forest called the Tanglewoods, where the trees are thinking creatures with strange powers.
Time there wasn’t the same as here. Trees and plants grew to maturity even as we watched them. As did the three babes.'
'Three babes?'
Aharri had stepped back so that his face was in the shadow, haloed by the lamp behind him, and Benjan wasn’t sure whether he was being believed. He carried on as doggedly as he did everything else. The truth must prevail.
'Katia was delivered of twins two or three months before Carryn bore her infant.' How long ago that all seemed now! 'We had great difficulty travelling with three young babes.'
'But where were you?' The words were sharp, not the words of a man who believes what he is hearing.
A voice interrupted from the doorway. 'We were beyond the wildwoods, Father, in the Lands of Nowhere.' Carryn came back into the room and went to link her arm in Benjan's. 'I've just realised how cowardly I was being, allowing you to tell my tale for me, Benjan.' She drew him across the room to sit next to her on a settle near the small fire that was burning in the hearth for cheer rather than warmth. The hand that remained clasped in his was trembling slightly, but she took a deep breath and said, 'Sit down, Father, and we'll tell you all that's happened to us.'
When the tale was over Aharri could only stare at them. The two sitting opposite him seemed linked in a way that excluded him. 'So you have indeed been chosen to serve our Brother the God, child,' he said at last, after the silence had stretched for an uncomfortable length of time. 'Your mother would be very pleased about that.'
'Yes. Herra said that once. And Benjan was chosen, too, Father. He is the first man chosen to serve our Brother since the early days of our order, and with his joining made us the Kindred of the God. And he was the one who brought me back to sanity after - after Those of the Serpent had brought me to the edge of madness.'
Benjan was watching her carefully, alert as ever for anything which might upset this beloved girl-woman. It didn’t seem, however, that the recital was doing her harm; rather, it was forcing her to face her past in a way she never had before.
'And now,' said Carryn, 'it's more than time you greeted your latest granddaughter.'
Aharri's intake of breath was sharp. 'I don't think - '
'She's a child,' said Carryn, and as she spoke the last invisible barrier between herself and Lerina fell, and her love for her daugh
ter became absolute. 'Hers was not the blame for what happened to me. Herra says that she's the daughter of Benner himself, for he was the first to use me on the altar. Herra says that through Lerina the Gifts of Benner's line will be preserved.'
Her hand tightened on Benjan's arm as she said that and she had to pause for a moment to take a deep breath before she could continue. 'Lerina is also half-sister to the Lord Evren. Herra felt that that had some significance, though it hasn’t been revealed what. Benjan, will you go and see if Lerina is ready to join us?' Her face softened into a smile. 'She was still eating when I left her.' She turned to her father. 'She and Katia's boys have been hungry ever since they grew up so quickly. They're always ready to eat something.'
As Benjan left the room, Carryn moved across to sit beside her father and hug him close. 'You will love her,' she murmured in his ear. 'She's an innocent, a child in a woman's body. She carries only the good Gifts of Benner's Line.'
Lerina walked into the room shyly, but with all the confidence of a beloved child, and suddenly Aharri realised what he’d seen in her. His dead wife's features were staring solemnly back at him. Just so had Merryan looked as a girl, for she’d been little older than Lerina when he had first met her, just chosen as Sister-Elect.
He’d had to wait several years to marry her.
'You're my grandfather, aren't you?' Lerina asked, with a child's directness that further disarmed Aharri.
'Indeed I am. Will you not give me a hug?' He opened his arms wide and she moved forward into his embrace without hesitation.
'I've never had a relative before,' she confided. 'The children at Outpost had lots of relatives, but I had none.'
'Well, you've got a grandfather now.' He hugged her again for good measure.
'I shall like that.' She laid her head against his shoulder and beamed around the room. 'This is a good place.
I wish we could stay here.'
* * *
After they’d eaten, the two young women were drooping with weariness, for the stress of passing through a portal had left them with the usual residual tiredness that affected everyone for days after a transit, though the weakness didn’t seem as pronounced this time. When Aharri realised how exhausted they were, he teased them into going to bed.