“What should I do?” he asked the cub. Endric didn't think the cub could answer, especially since the merahl had made it clear that they no longer supported the Antrilii. To his surprise, the cub nudged him in a direction that surprised Endric. The cub wanted him to go north.
Endric said, inhaling deeply of the sharp, cold air, “Are you sure?”
The cub nudged him again, and Endric veered north.
32
Endric reached the base of the mountain after two weeks of travel. During that time, he saw no sign of the Antrilii. There was no sign of anyone. He came across tracks, but he was guided by the cub, which led him in a different direction than where those led through the mountains. Endric wasn't certain where he would appear, not knowing where he would emerge from the mountains but trusting the cub—and his nose—to lead him in the right direction.
The mountains gradually changed, slowly sloping northward. The path through the mountains became clear, and he walked with increasing speed, a greater sense of certainty pushing him forward. By the time he emerged from the mountains, he was not nearly as tired as he would have expected. He had eaten reasonably well, fed by merahl as they provided him a morning meal. Early on, it had been rabbit every day. As he neared the base of the mountains, there was a little more diversity, with some squirrel and even a few small creatures he didn't recognize.
While in the mountains, he'd been more comfortable with the merahl joining him each night, providing not only protection but warmth, and now that they had left the mountains—and the merahl—he started feeling more unsettled. It was a natural sense, one that had nothing to do with what he’d felt of the groeliin and everything to do with the sense that he risked himself by returning to the Antrilii. And yet, in the time that he'd descended from the mountains, he had grown increasingly certain he was making the right decision.
Endric was surprised that the cub had remained with him, especially with the other merahl coming along. When Nahrsin and Gron had claimed that the cub bonded to him, Endric hadn’t been certain what that meant. He still wasn't, but he did believe that there was a connection between them. It was one that he found comforting. He didn't know what would happen as the cub grew older, or whether it would even follow him when he made his return to the south and back to the Denraen.
He reached the flatter grounds and paused. From here, the mountains stretched above him, but toward the north, they flattened out, rolling into a gentle plain that led into the Antrilii lands.
He didn't know where to find the Antrilii, but now that he was out of the mountains, he had a sense that he could find them. He could follow the steady rolling plains until he reached either Farsea or the Antrilii tower, and from there, the Yahinv.
“Are you going to remain, or will you return to your pack,” Endric asked the cub.
The cub barked at him and nudged him forward. In the two weeks they had traveled together, the cub had grown. Endric wasn't sure if it was his imagination or whether it really had grown as much as he thought it had. The cub was nearly twice the size it had been when he first encountered it.
Every so often, Endric thought he noticed the cub’s fur glowing softly. Most of the time, Endric thought it was nothing more than his imagination, but there were times when the glowing became impossible to ignore. Teralin. He didn’t understand the connection, but it was there, and real.
They started off, heading toward the plains. About midday on the first day after leaving the mountains, he encountered someone else. A pair of Antrilii, one man and one female, were in the distance. As he approached, the male Antrilii watched him with a question on his face.
The woman wore orange woven into her hair, braided heavily, much like he’d seen of the women before he was exiled.
“Who are you?” the man asked. He eyed Endric, taking in his Antrilii boots, the sword strapped to his waist and likely noting the quantity of his laca furs.
“I am Endric, son of Dendril, general of the Denraen. I have served my penance, and I have returned.”
The man and the woman looked at each other with wide eyes.
The woman answered, “Come with us.”
He arrived at the base of the tower, tired and with rising uncertainty. There had been no talk during the walk toward it. After a while, the couple had been joined by others, and they spoke quietly to each other. At one point, someone had brought in horses, and they had ridden. Endric worried the cub wouldn't be able to keep up, but he had proven faster than Endric could've imagined. The horses thundered across the plain.
Endric spent the time worrying about what he would say. He had already claimed his penance had been served but was that true? He hadn't slaughtered an entire brood, but he had destroyed three—no four—females, which meant that he had destroyed four broods from continuing. Likely it didn't even matter. Likely the groeliin would continue to breed and would continue to create new broods, but if nothing else, he had slowed it. He had disrupted the breeding grounds. That had to be worth something.
When he reached the tower, he was met by the seven women of the Yahinv.
All of them regarded him with an open distrust. Endric met their gaze defiantly, thinking that he could do nothing else.
Nessa stepped forward, and Endric climbed out of the saddle. One of the other Antrilii led the horse away. As he did, the cub bounded up to them and sat on its haunches next to him. The women of the Yahinv glanced from him to the merahl, and he noted that a few faces softened.
“Rumor has it that you claim to have served your penance?” Nessa asked.
Endric nodded. “I was given a penance on behalf of my father, Dendril, general of the Denraen. It was only after I was sent from the Antrilii, exiled into the mountains, that I learned that the penance was meant to be impossible.” Endric glanced from Nessa to Isabel, and then to Melinda. All watched him, and Isabel wore defiance in her eyes.
“A penance must be difficult for it to matter,” Nessa said.
“Difficult I understand. Sending me into the mountains naked and unarmed, forcing me to survive. That is difficult. Telling me that I must destroy a brood of groeliin when no others have ever killed that many, that is impossible.”
“You are not Antrilii. What do you know of what is possible and what is not?” Isabel asked.
“I might not be Antrilii, but I understand the purpose of what you do possibly better than you do.”
His words were icy and did not match the heat boiling within him, the anger that surged. These were the women who had exiled him, who had sent him to serve a penance on behalf of his father, one that they knew he would not survive. They seemed disappointed by the fact that he had.
“You would dare—”
Melinda raised her hand, cutting off Isabel. “How is it that you've returned?”
“How? I fought off a pack of laca during my first few days. That allowed me to clothe myself. I broke a branch from trees and used that as a club, along with a spear I fashioned and used those to defend myself against the first three groeliin I encountered.”
“The first three?” Nessa asked. She looked at the other women before turning her attention back to Endric. “How far out were you when you first encountered the groeliin?”
Endric shook his head. “I don't know. A week? Maybe less.”
“That's too—” one of the women started before getting cut off by Melinda, who raised her hand once more. The woman she cut off had yellow woven in her hair.
“You said that was the first time you face the groeliin,” Nessa went on.
Endric nodded. “The first time. The second time, there were five.”
“Five?” Isabel asked, the incredulity in her voice plain. “Few Antrilii could survive five groeliin. And none armed only with a club and a spear!”
Endric turned toward her, anger still boiling within him. “The second time I faced five, I barely survived.”
“I doubt he faced even a single groeliin,” Isabel said.
Endric fished into the po
cket he'd fashioned into the laca furs. He pulled out the groeliin skins that he'd cut free and tossed them to Isabella. All were marked with the same brood mark.
“Then I came across something surprising. I discovered this cub, bound by a rope of flesh made from a dead Antrilii. The groeliin used him to draw out the merahl.”
Melinda met his eyes. “What happened then? How did you save this creature?”
“You don't seem surprised,” Endric said.
Melinda stared at him, blinking.
Endric's heart hammered. He had been struggling with what had happened, struggling to understand. The merahl felt abandoned by the Antrilii, enough so that they had stopped hunting with them, and the Antrilii knew that groeliin were breeding. Could there be a connection?
“There would have been too many groeliin…”
Endric tipped his head, studying Melinda. “There were. There were dozens of groeliin.”
“Dozens?” Isabel asked.
“You wouldn't have survived against dozens of groeliin,” Nessa said. She had a more measured response. He glanced from Isabel to Melinda.
“No, I wouldn't have. But I had help.”
Isabel grinned darkly. “You cannot serve a penance with help.”
“No? And if the merahl choose to help me?” Endric asked.
Endric debated what else he should share with them. Did he mention the fact that he had come across Nahrsin? They needed to know about the tribe that had died. That much, they did need to know.
“Which tribe is the blue?” Endric asked. He looked at the women, trying to determine if he could tell from the ribbons in their hair, but it was not obvious which of them favored blue.
“Blue?” This came from a mousy-looking woman who stood toward the back of the line of women from the Yahinv. “Why?”
“Don't encourage him, Rebecca,” Isabel said.
Endric turned to Rebecca. “I came across your hunters. The groeliin slaughtered them.”
Her breath caught. “How many?” she asked.
She glanced at Isabel, but the woman didn't look in her direction. “They were supposed to travel with the Aram tribe. They were hunting, convinced they would find the—”
“Enough!” Isabel said.
“You knew the groeliin were breeding when you sent me out. And you were responsible for the merahl losing faith in the Antrilii, weren’t you?” Endric asked, looking at Isabel. Could she have intended for him to find the breeding grounds? Could she have even wanted him to be captured by the groeliin? That seemed too harsh, even for someone who hadn't seemed to care for him from the moment he first came to the Antrilii lands.
Isabel looked at him, anger flashing in her eyes. “This was an attempt to end this conflict,” Isabel said. “This was an attempt to finally allow us to stop fighting.”
“What attempt?”
“It doesn’t matter, Nessa.”
Nessa crossed her arms over her chest in an expression that told Endric that it did matter. She turned her attention to Rebecca. “And you were in on this. You knew about this?”
Rebecca met her eyes, shaking her head. “I wasn't in on anything. I agreed to send hunters from our tribe after the Chisln, the same as the rest.”
Nessa looked from one woman to the next. Melinda met her gaze, but she carried with it a certain defiance.
Nessa frowned. “And you? Is that why you didn't want Endric going? What of your tribe? Did you involve them as well?”
“Do I need to help when the plan is as foolish as what she intends? Do I need to help prevent that kind of folly?” Melinda met her eyes, shaking her head. “No. She chose her path. Her people chose to follow her. Anything from there that happened is on them.”
“But we are all the same people,” Nessa said. “We all serve the same purpose. We all have taken the same vows. If you're willing to let other tribes be sacrificed simply because you don't care for them…” Nessa fell silent for a long moment. “And now we've lost a tribe of hunters. We lost men who are meant to help protect our people, to carry out the vows that we made to the gods long ago. Without them, what are we?”
Melinda crossed her arms over her chest. “As I said, she made a choice. Her people chose to follow her. That is not my fault.”
“And when the groeliin breeding destroys another tribe? Whose fault is that?” Nessa asked.
“The groeliin have never stopped breeding,” Melinda said. She turned her attention to Rebecca. “That is on her. She knew the history of our people as well as I. She knew how futile such an attempt was. That is not on me.”
“But if we could,” Isabel said. “Think of what we could—”
Nessa jabbed the other woman in the chest with her finger. “We have never managed to stop a breeding. The best we can do is prepare for the next hunt.”
Endric looked at both of them. “I stopped a breeding.”
Melinda looked at him sharply. “You were barely able to survive in the mountains. Why would we believe that you were able to stop a breeding?”
“Did you know why the merahl were upset with the Antrilii?” Endric asked.
Nessa turned to him. “What is this?”
“The merahl. They were—are—upset with the Antrilii. They refused to hunt with them.”
“The merahl never stop hunting with us,” Nessa said.
Endric looked at Melinda. He saw something in her eyes, something that told him that she understood.
“What did you do?” he asked. “How are you a part of this?”
“Enough. You have returned to the Antrilii despite your penance,” Isabel said. “You have returned without proof that your penance has been paid. You have violated this custom.”
“No. I found the breeding grounds. I killed three breeding females. Those are three broods that will not attack the Antrilii again.”
Melinda glared at him. “You might be my grandson. You might be the son of Dendril, the man who should have been heir to the Scroll tribe, but you do not know the Antrilii way. You do not understand what we’ve faced over the years. You do not understand what we’ve prevented over the years.”
“I understand more than you realize,” Endric said.
Nessa shook her head. “What happened with the merahl?”
“I don't know. All I know is that when they showed the orange painted tribe to me, they did not want to go any further. They were angry with them.”
Nessa turned to Isabel. “That is your tribe.”
Isabel pinched her lips together. “I am of all the tribes.”
“But of the Aram tribe most of all. What did you do?”
“Nothing other than finding a way to discover the breeding grounds,” Isabel said defiantly. “Melinda knew—”
Nessa turned to her. “Melinda knew? What is it that you’re keeping from the rest of us? What is it that you believe that you could have done?”
When she didn’t answer, Rebecca stepped forward. “What did you know?” She had been mousey and quiet, but learning that her tribe was lost had changed her. She could have been broken, but instead, she seemed to be stronger.
“You wouldn't understand,” Isabel said. “You don't have the same responsibility—”
“I am responsible for my people, the same as you. Don't downplay the responsibility for any of us.” She looked at Melinda. “And you,” she said, focusing on Melinda. “Haven't you lost enough? Haven't you seen enough of our people harmed because of these creatures?”
“Which is why I thought we needed to take this risk.”
“Enough!” Isabel said. “He is not even Antrilii. He should not even be here as we discuss this.”
“No?” Rebecca said. “From what I can tell, you shouldn't be here, especially if you allowed an attack to take place and allowed our people—my people—to be sacrificed.”
“For the betterment of all,” Isabel said.
“Are you so certain? Do you really believe that losing an entire tribe is better for our people? Do you really believe tha
t losing so many in such a way without discussing it with the rest of us is what the gods would have wanted?”
Rebecca continued arguing with Isabel and Melinda, but Nessa touched his arm and guided him off to the side. When they stopped, she looked at him, a question in her eyes. “Did you really see the breeding ground?”
Endric nodded.
“What happened? How were you able to survive?
“The merahl. They came when I had the greatest need.”
“Do you know why?”
Endric's gaze drifted to the sword. “I think they knew something about me that even I don't fully understand.”
“And what is that?”
“I can charge teralin.”
Endric watched her face, wondering whether she understood, but had the sense from Nessa that she did. She had knowledge, and she had been the one to save him when he had nearly died coming to these lands.
Her eyes widened slightly. “The groeliin use it?”
“You knew?” Endric asked.
Nessa shook her head once. “Not known. But we have suspected. We have long suspected that the groeliin somehow have access to the negatively charged ore.”
“Do you know how to change the polarity?”
Nessa glanced at the other women, all of whom were still arguing. “Only a few do.”
With the comment, Endric understood. “They drew them, didn't they?” he asked.
Nessa frowned, staring at the other women. “Gods, I hope that wasn’t the case.”
“That’s the reason the merahl abandoned the Antrilii.”
Nessa looked back, surprise widening her eyes. “Why do you say that?”
“Because the merahl use the positively charged teralin.”
Nessa gasped.
The sound caught the others’ attention, and they all turned to her.
Soldier Sworn (The Teralin Sword Book 3) Page 24