Salvation: Saving Setora Book Seven

by Dark, Raven

  I looked up from squeezing the water out of my hair. Hawk stood on the bank, looking for all the world envious of our carefree frolic in the creek. Guilt bit into me. He deserved to relax every once in awhile, too. But I knew him well—his responsibilities and taking care of Sheriff’s men were more important.

  We gathered up our things and dried off, then made our way back to camp. We found Bear standing by the cookfire, knuckling his back. He nodded to us and dished out bowels of food.

  “Shit. Don’t tell me. Stew?” Steel shook his head but took a bowl of the hot, steamy breakfast.

  “Just fill your hole and be thankful,” Blade said.

  While the men laughed and bantered, I took my bowl and sat next to Hawk. We ate in silence; he watching the men, me watching Sheriff. Doc had helped the General out of his tent earlier, but only for Sheriff to end up sitting away from the men.

  With his eyes open, I would never have known Sheriff was blind. He sat on his log like he would have on any normal day—relaxed, leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped. Except his condition was impossible to ignore. The sun shone bright and hot, but his eyes didn’t react when someone walked past him or spoke to him. His empty eyes stared right at me across the fire, as if we were connected by an invisible string. Or maybe it was just coincidence.

  If only he’d let me talk to him, help him, touch him. Something other than this constant pushing me away.

  I understood on an intellectual level that he had his pride, that no man—especially one as strong-willed as Sheriff—wanted to appear as anything but capable and self-reliant. Yes, logically, I knew those things. My heart, however, was another matter. Deep inside where I needed to feel connected to him, where I missed him to the point of pain, I didn’t get it.

  Hawk nudged me gently with his boot. “Kitten? Did you hear me?”

  I put my bowl down and shook off all thoughts of Sheriff and the hole eating at my heart. “I’m sorry, Master. What were you saying?”

  Hawk ran his warm palm over my back. “Are you nervous?”

  I sat up a little. “You mean about meeting the Yantu?”

  “Yes.”

  I nodded. “I mean, I’m excited. I’ve been wanting to learn about this part of you since I met you.” I grinned, suddenly embarrassed at my level of interest. I was making him—his people—sound like some sort of novelty. I hated when people made me feel different, and here I was doing the same thing to him.

  But Hawk didn’t look annoyed. The corners of his mouth turned up, amused, so I licked my lips and went on.

  “I’m not sure I know how to… I mean… Your master. Master Leif. This is the man who taught you. What’s he like?”

  Hawk looked out across the plains, his eyes squinting at the bright sun-drenched grasslands. “He’s…wise. And old, but ageless at the time. Like there is no sense of time or place around him. He’s the kind of man who seems to know everything, but not because he acts like he does. It’s as if…wisdom radiates from him.”

  I shivered, intimidated at the idea of meeting someone so fascinating. If anything, I felt even more unsure about how to handle myself around Master Leif than I had before.

  My whole life, I’d been taught how to behave, what to do when faced with any man of influence. I usually knew how to respond to anyone. It unsettled me to feel so unsure.

  “What will happen when we get there, Master?”

  Hawk took a bite of stew. “You and the men are outsiders, so he will probably send the Keepers of the Gates out to greet us—”

  “The…what?”

  “The Keepers. The Temple Guard. Master Leif won’t speak directly to anyone who is not Yantu until you have been vetted by the Keepers. Once they allow us inside the grounds, he will come out to meet us. There will be a ceremony of sorts, when the guards introduce us to him.”

  I gulped. “What if the Keepers turn us away?”

  “They won’t.” Determination hardened his tone. “Not when they see me.” He ate a few bites of stew, and I did the same. “We will be allowed inside the temple grounds, but not within the temple itself. Only I will be allowed beyond the gates, and only once I say why we are there. Once inside the grounds, Master Leif will be introduced. Then I will have to state our business to him.”

  My brows rose up. “This sounds almost like we’re being presented to a king.”

  “It will be similar. The Yantu are particular about tradition. Customs must be followed exactly. But the traditions are much older than any king from this time. The temple is a place of tranquility and peace, so everything must be conducted as such.”

  I stared into my bowl, feeling excitement mix with nervousness. I was used to pomp and ceremony, but not like this. “When we get there… How do I behave? What do I say or do?”

  Hawk closed his hand around mine. “The same as you would anywhere else. Keep your eyes averted, say nothing unless you’re spoken to.” His hand tightened. “Master Leif will not address you. He will address all of his questions to me until he agrees to help you.”

  I got the message. I was a female. It was the way of the world. Strange, perhaps, but I hated having the attention on me, so I found solace in the notion that a man so powerful as to have shaped Hawk’s being into what it was would virtually ignore me. Still, I felt privileged just to meet him.

  “He will want to see Sheriff and you,” Hawk went on. “He will probably have his healers examine you and then Sheriff. The truth is, Master Leif is…Well. He’s a man of very few words. He won’t say much to any of us. It will be over fast. Then he will want to speak with me privately.”

  Had I imagined a wince pulling at his mouth?

  He ate the rest of his stew and then set the bowl down beside him. “If he agrees to help you and Sheriff, you probably won’t even see him again until we leave. He’s an extremely private man; he doesn’t like to be out and about or around people much.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. There was something he wasn’t telling me. I could feel worry pounding off him. And something else. An uncomfortableness I couldn’t explain.

  For all that it seemed Hawk talked about his master like a grandfather he looked up to, he dreaded seeing him. Why?

  “Where will we stay?” I asked.

  “There are places around the temple grounds where outsiders are allowed to stay. If my master agrees to help, you will be given lodging in the village near the temple, and Master Leif’s people will come out there to speak to or examine both of you. You’ll stay in the lodging with the rest of us while they do their thing. You will be examined a lot, asked a lot of questions.”

  Again, I swallowed. Images of Doctor Olan flooded my mind, his fascination with me sickening.

  Hawk stroked my hair. “Relax, Kitten. No one will hurt you. The Yantu are not like the Reach. They respect all life and are never invasive. The worst that will happen is one of the healers may give you a herbal drug to help you relax during their examinations. They’ll try to see how this Julian thing works, how he’s doing what he’s doing to you, and then try to come up with a way to stop it.”

  Julian. I wasn’t looking forward to exploring anything about him, but we needed to stop him, and if that meant digging into his connection with me, so be it.

  “And Sheriff?” I nodded over to the General, who was begrudgingly talking to Doc and currently refusing food again. “What will happen to him?”

  “He will likely have an easier time. If the Yantu have a way to help, they’ll want to know what happened, how Damien took his sight, so they can treat him properly. If they have a solution, it’s likely just a remedy applied to his eyes, maybe several times. It may hurt a bit, but that’ll be all.”

  For a long time, I sat in silence thinking, eating the rest of my stew and soaking up Hawk’s calm. I trusted him. If he believed in the Yantu enough to put myself or Sheriff in their hands, I had to trust them, too.

  When I finished the last of my stew, Hawk stood and took my hand, pulling me to my
feet. “Alright, everyone. Let’s head out. Make sure nothing’s left behind, not even an ash from the fire. We’re leaving in…” Hawk paused, glancing at the morning sun, “…five minutes. Let’s get moving.”

  We packed up as quickly as if Sheriff had given the order. I washed up the dishes, changed my clothes, and threw the rest of them into a backpack. On the first day of the trip when we’d stopped at a fueling station, Pretty Boy, true to form, picked up some clothes for me, all leather and studs, the typical road rat garb. As soon as I was packed and dressed, I helped the men get the water and other supplies into the carriages. Then we were on the move once more.

  The landscape changed dramatically the closer we came to the mountains. The dry, wheat-filled plains gave way to rocky terrain and rolling green hills filled with poppies and catstail. Snow covered caps rose into the mist in the far distance. We headed for those peaks, and with every mile we drove, anxiety began to replace my excitement.

  Anxiety at meeting Master Leif and his warriors, his healers. Nervousness for Sheriff, for myself. If they turned us away…

  “We’ll have to stop and leave our carriages a few miles from the village before we enter.” Hawk stretched his back while the rest of the men relieved themselves in the bushes. “From there, we’ll go on foot.”

  We had stopped for what I hoped was our last break before arriving at the entrance to Ran Tama.

  “We’ll leave the vehicles before we reach that summit over there,” Hawk added, nodding westward.

  Following Hawk’s gaze and looking towards the road that led up a steep mountainside, I admired the dark greenery of the pine trees, something I’d only seen in picture books. Their tops reached the sky, immense and awe-inspiring. The breathtaking view around me was so different than the desert terrain I was so accustomed to, it looked almost surreal.

  High between two of the mountain peaks, I could barely make out a village. Grey huts, dwarfed by distance, and each with rounded roofs that made them look like a clump of mushroom caps, peeked through the dense pine. Curiosity rising, I turned to Hawk to ask him about them, but he’d left my side. My gaze landed on Sheriff, leaning against the carriage not far from me.

  Doc held a thick, long stick of smooth wood. “Sheriff, I carved you a make-shift cane. It’ll do for now, for when we have to walk through the village.” He lifted the cane in each hand, testing its weight as he walked closer to the General.

  “Wonderful, Doc.” No one could miss the sarcasm in that voice as Sheriff pushed off from the carriage.

  Doc sighed. “Just take it, Sheriff. Unless you want to fall on your face with every step?”

  Sheriff looked like he wanted to snap the cane in half, or perhaps hit Doc over the head with it, but instead, he snatched it from him. I winced, wishing I could give him his sight like magic. This was killing him.

  Steel rubbed my shoulders from behind and helped me into the carriage, then climbed in beside me. Hawk touched me under the chin and then shut the door, getting in the driver’s side.

  The thought of watching Sheriff struggle made my throat tighten, and I laid my head on Steel’s shoulder, feeling like my heart was slowly breaking apart. I hated that I couldn’t fix this. And I hated that, as the men piled into the carriages, I felt a sharp sense of relief that Sheriff wasn’t in the same one as me.

  Steel said nothing, holding me tight against him. I drew strength from him, from Hawk, letting their presence soothe the hole that continued to grow in my heart.

  All of them were keeping smiles on their faces, trying to keep things positive and light, but I knew. I knew that watching their Brother in so much pain was eating them up inside as much as it was me.

  At some point, the smooth ride in the carriages must have lulled me into sleep, because the next thing I knew, Steel was nudging me with his shoulder.

  “Wake up, Petal,” he grunted softly. “Out you get.”

  I shook myself and straightened in my seat, my heart speeding up. “We’re here?”

  “Not yet.” Hawk had opened the door for us, and once Steel climbed out, Hawk help me down onto the dirt path. “We’re leaving the carriages here.”

  I straightened my shirt while Hawk shut the doors. He handed the carriages over to the owner of a small garage by the side of the road that seemed specifically reserved for those journeying to the temple. Words and purses of coins were exchanged while the rest of the men grabbed their packs, and then we set off on foot.

  Hawk led the way, silent and nodding occasionally to Oran, the quiet, blond-bearded guard walking at his side. Steel and Pretty Boy walked beside me, Doc and Bear with Sheriff behind us, murmuring warnings whenever there was a rock or anything on the path that Sheriff could trip over. He flat-out refused to use the cane Doc had given him.

  Sheriff remained no more than a few paces behind me, saying nothing, and yet I’d never felt so far away from him as I did now. I wanted to offer him a few words of comfort or conversation, but I didn’t dare. He’d only bite my head off, or worse, ignore me.

  “So, how come we had to leave the carriages behind?” Pretty Boy called up to Hawk, breaking the awkward silence. I had a feeling he was talking to fill it, but it was a legitimate question.

  “The Yantu do not allow motorized vehicles in the village,” Hawk said over his shoulder.

  “Huh?” Steel perked up. “Why?”

  “The temple is a place of peace and tranquility, Steel. They believe that excessive noise disrupts the balance required to maintain that peace.”

  “I guess riding our bikes up to the gates wouldn’t go over well then.” Pretty Boy winked at me.

  Steel snorted.

  I giggled nervously, but privately hoped Pretty Boy wouldn’t try to deliberately disrupt things. There was something about him that always gave the impression of a man eager to upset the proverbial apple cart anytime he could. Especially if he was bored.

  Hawk must have sensed the same thing, because he lifted a brow at him, as if daring him to act out.

  “Relax, Brother.” Pretty Boy held up his hands. “I’ll behave.”

  I smiled at my blond master. I should have known not to worry. Pretty Boy liked to challenge the status quo, and the whole peaceful lifestyle of the Yantu seemed to rub him the wrong way, but he also had enough respect for Hawk not to do something that would put us at odds with Hawk’s people. Plus, he was too worried about me and Sheriff to do anything to jeopardize us getting the help we both needed.

  “Still,” Steel said, slinging his arm around me, “a man wasn’t meant to do this much walking. I miss my wheels.”

  “It won’t be more than an hour’s walk,” Hawk said. “You’ll live.”

  Minutes stretched on. The sun fell low on the horizon, the air growing cooler the higher we went into the mountains.

  When I began to feel it exactly, I wasn’t sure. It was barely noticeable at first, a faint… I could only call it awareness… tingling in the back of my mind. We walked on, and that awareness slowly intensified until it became a hammering inside my head.

  It grew until I swayed into Steel.

  “Petal?” Steel stopped and took my shoulders, his brows knitted together.

  I shook my head, massaging my temple, but the feeling didn’t abate.

  “Setora?” Doc had a guiding hand on Sheriff’s elbow, and I could see it all over his face, his mind was on Julian.

  “Kitten, what’s wrong?” Hawk had doubled back and now tilted my chin up.

  “What’s going on?” Sheriff, and he sounded almost like himself, demanding and at last aware of something outside of his own darkened world.

  “It’s nothing, just…dizzy. Must be the altitude or something.”

  Hawk nodded slowly, but his dark brows were down, and worry filled his amber eyes. “I will carry you.” He reached for me, but I shook my head.

  “No! Don’t.” Why it seemed wrong that he carry me, I didn’t know, but it suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world that I walk wit
hout help.

  He dropped his arms, but the calculating look he gave me was unmistakable. Doc was watching me with unsettling closeness. Blade was too, and his hand was on one of the knives he wore on his hips.

  Good. This didn’t feel connected to Julian, but somehow it made me feel better that the guys were on their guard. Something was off.

  We continued on. Every step we took, it seemed whatever it was hammering itself into my head was getting stronger, until it became a distinctive presence I couldn’t ignore.

  We walked through the village and wonderment nearly made me forget about that presence.

  “Wow.” I looked around at the huts that rose up from the ground, mud and clay structures, several rooms each by the looks of them. Men and women walked or rode on horseback through streets hard-packed with use. They were clothed in all manners of dress, robes, tunics, leathers, and slaves in snow white frocks. The only thing I didn’t see was a single cut, other than those our party wore.

  No bikers set foot here, and as we passed, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare or whisper. I caught the word pirate here and there and winced. This was probably the only time I’d ever been somewhere where people didn’t stare at me, at the Violet walking past them.

  “What the hell are they gawking at, Hawk?” Pretty Boy growled.

  “They’re gawking at you,” Steel teased. “They’ve never seen anything quite so pretty as you.”

  “Kiss my ass, Steel.” He laughed, but it sounded forced, and he cast unpleasant looks at those on the street. “Seriously, I feel like they’re all about to grab their torches and pitchforks or something.”

  Sheriff’s head swiveled this way and that, until Doc squeezed his arm. He growled, but relaxed.

  “All of you relax,” Hawk said. “Bikers don’t get a pleasant welcome here, but no one will do anything.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Blade asked, fingering his weapon.

  “Because they can’t. Yantu do not tolerate violence here.”

  I sped up my pace and fell into step with Hawk. Here and there I noticed several people from various zone clans being cordial with each other, ones who would normally have been at each other’s throats.