Children of a Broken Sky (Redemption Chronicle Book 1)

by Adam J Nicolai

  That was ridiculous. It was an impossible stretch, to think the bishop would figure out his secret like that.

  Just like it's ridiculous to raid Helix's sweetheart's house, or to assume the man he worked for knew anything. Just like it's ridiculous to tear apart his parents' sitting room looking for clues as to where he went.

  Behind him, somewhere in the village, he heard a wail. Not a shout; not a cry. A wail, as wrenching as a funeral. It froze him in the street and triggered a series of brutal calculations in his thoughts.

  When it was over, he knew he wasn't going home.

  ~ ~

  He packed from the stable to avoid going inside; he didn't want to explain anything to his parents. He took a few blankets and a few apples. There would be plenty of hunting, so he grabbed his bow.

  The horses watched him, snorting in curiosity.

  What are you doing? Wind asked. She was his favorite. He had gotten to name her.

  Leave master's son alone. This from Kelter, an older stallion.

  He ignored them. The act of packing made him feel conspicuous and guilty. He kept glancing toward the door, fearing that someone would catch him in the act.

  They won't catch me. They'll just catch my parents after I go, like they did with the others.

  The thought arrested him. He thought of his mother, possibly still awake in the house, wondering if he was well.

  I shouldn't tell them anything. If they know anything, they'll be targeted.

  They'll be targeted anyway, he answered himself. I've already seen it five times tonight.

  It was all too easy to picture the soldiers breaking in the door when they learned that he had gone, then dragging his parents to the temple for questioning. The wail he'd heard earlier echoed in his memory, but this time, it was his mother's.

  "Sehk," he murmured. "Sehk!"

  Ignatius? Wind asked. She always used his full name. What's the matter?

  He lifted a hand to quiet her, then dragged it over his mouth, trying to calm down. He couldn't go in there. He couldn't explain to his parents why he was leaving.

  But he couldn't stay.

  Are we going somewhere? Wind asked.

  He hesitated. He'd be much faster on horseback, but the animals were his parents' livelihood.

  No, he finally said. He sneaked her an apple and patted her cheek, wondering if it was the last time he would. Then he grabbed his bag and left.

  Outside, he took a deep breath and ducked into the house.

  He'd been wrong. It was empty.

  ii. Lyseira

  Helix opened his eyes. He looked at her as if beholding an angel. "Akir has made you well," she said, and left him.

  Seth was white and silent, his teeth clenched. Muscles bulged in his neck. His hand was a ruin.

  She knelt and made it whole.

  The miracle was a blaze that engulfed her. She may have been staring into the sun. She waited for the dancing spots in her eyes to fade, then rose.

  "What...?" Angbar started as she approached. His cheek had been torn open. She shushed him and shared the fire roaring through her veins. His eyes burned with wonder as he was healed.

  Then she turned to Syntal.

  The girl was face-first in the road, her filthy hair splayed in a halo around her head. Blood still trickled from her nose and ears, but her skin was unbroken. Lyseira crouched next to her, and spoke with God's tongue.

  The midnight trees became suns. Lyseira fought the urge to shy from the light; instead, she opened herself to it and poured it into her friend.

  Syntal didn't move.

  "Syn?" Lyseira laid her hands gently on the girl's face and ear. She could barely see now, through the floating sparks in her vision. Dizziness clamored in her skull. She refused it, called on Him again, and poured His will through the girl's limp body.

  Nothing.

  Vertigo assailed her, and Lyseira rocked backwards. Someone took hold of her, breaking her fall. Above her, through the pounding light, came Seth's concerned face.

  "What is it?" Angbar said from somewhere.

  "Is she well?" Helix asked.

  "Enough," Seth told her. "Take a rest now."

  The blaze faded; Akir's hand slipped from hers like a lingering goodbye. She wanted to push her friends away, to spend the rest of eternity with Him, but He had already gone.

  Be at peace. She couldn't tell if the thoughts were her own, or His. They had become too entwined. You've called once. You need only call again.

  She pushed herself to her hands and blinked into the darkness. The last sunspots were fading. Behind them, she saw the shadow of Syntal in the road.

  "Syntal," she said. "She wouldn't accept it. He offered her healing, and she wouldn't accept it." The girl had been holding her pain too close. The fire couldn't reach it.

  "Syn?" Helix dropped to his knees and put his fingers to her neck. The road plunged into a tense silence, broken only by Angbar's panting and the creaking rustle of the trees. He spoke tightly, the words wrapped around a trembling core of panic. "She's alive. Her heart is beating." He looked up. Lyseira couldn't see his face in the dark. "Did that thing attack her? Did it do something to her?"

  "I don't know. I didn't see it attack her." She was cloaked in serenity. Syntal was fine; they all were.

  God was on their side.

  "Did anybody see...?" Helix started, then turned back to his cousin. He smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. "You hold on," he whispered. "You hear me?"

  "She saved my life," Angbar said. "She threw the thing off me, used the magic again."

  She killed it, Lyseira thought, but Akir saved your life. She had never felt so joyous. Every part of her felt like singing.

  He answered. He answered.

  Like a chorus of angels sharing their light, the moon shone again onto the midnight path. It was another sign from God, a mark of his blessing. He was everywhere, she realized now. Everything had purpose.

  "I saw too," Seth said. He knelt next to the dead wolf in the middle of the road. "What was this thing?"

  Syntal tried to lift her head. She put a hand to her temple, moaning.

  "Syn!" Helix took her shoulders. "Are you well? What happened?"

  "Just..." She winced, as if the single word threatened to break her. "Too much."

  "She needs to lie down," Helix said. "We've been going all night, it's too much, she needs to lie down." His eyes darted along the path as if he expected to find a bed.

  "Here." Angbar opened one of the surviving bedrolls. "Syn, here. Lie on this."

  "What are you doing?" Seth said. "We can't just make camp in the middle of the road! Someone may come by!"

  "She can barely move, Seth," Helix grunted as he helped Syntal to her feet.

  "It was an arc hound." In her own ears, Lyseira's voice sounded like prophecy. "The Tribunal sent it. I realized it just before Akir answered me."

  Helix looked at her like she had suddenly decided to recite a poem about butterflies.

  "It matters," she assured him. "The arc hounds are summoned three times in the book of Second Shendra. They are never sent out alone."

  Helix pushed the hair out of his face, his eyes blank. Then he turned back to his cousin, trying to help her over to the pillow.

  "Are you saying there'll be more of these things?" Angbar demanded.

  Lyseira nodded. At peace, she answered, "Almost certainly. But they may not know where we are."

  Seth stalked to the wood's edge. "Can't risk it. We need to keep moving. The more distance we get, the safer—"

  "No," Lyseira interrupted. She smiled. Finally, she understood what He wanted.

  She spread her hands, as if releasing the answer into the moonlight. "We go back." She paused, waiting for them to see the wisdom in this.

  Falling snowflakes had never been so loud.

  With a trace of annoyance, she went on. "Don't you see? Akir has joined us! He is with us! Bishop Marcus can't harm us now.

  "God is with us!"
/>
  Even in the moonlight, it was impossible to miss the look Seth and Helix shared.

  She fought back a scowl. "He healed you," she said. Were they imbeciles?

  "Lyseira..." Helix said, and fell silent.

  "You saved our lives," Angbar jumped in. "That was incredible. Thank you! I don't think I said that. Everyone's saving my life tonight.

  "We might have a real chance to survive this, if you can work miracles."

  "It wasn't me," she insisted, trying to make him understand. "Didn't you hear me? I called for Him, and He came. He saved us. He supports us. We are working His will. This is..." She gestured at the road, at the woods, at the darkness and the snowfall. "This is right."

  Helix and Seth glanced at each other again.

  "We can camp just a little ways in to the wood," Seth offered. "I'll keep watch for the night, and we can press north in the morning if she's able."

  Helix nodded. "Can you walk?" he asked Syntal.

  She didn't answer. "I'll carry her," Seth offered.

  "Thanks," Helix said.

  "Seth!" Lyseira demanded. "Did you hear me?"

  He swept Syntal into his arms and turned back to her. His face, normally unreadable, was pained. "It's not a good idea, Lyseira," he managed. Then he pressed past her, into the wood.

  She was stunned. Not a good idea? Akir had just saved their lives, all of them. They no longer had to run. "But God—" she started, and Angbar cut her off with a wince.

  "Lys," he said. "They can work miracles, too." He put a hand on her arm. "C'mon."

  She could go back alone. There would be no greater expression of her faith than to walk back to that burning tent by herself. She imagined Marcus ordering her to stop, his invocations falling dead without the fire of Akir behind them.

  Angbar was waiting.

  She sighed and went with him. The others didn't understand yet, but they would.

  In time, they would.

  iii. Helix

  They found a small clearing and set out Lyseira's bedroll. Seth laid Syntal in it. While she rested, they ate furtively of hardbread and cheese.

  He kept glancing at her in the moonlight, wondering if she would be well in the morning. Morning, he realized, isn't even that far away. Something about the idle thought triggered him. His mind exploded with warring revelations, all of them suddenly vital.

  The Church has sentenced me to death!

  Syntal might be dying!

  Syntal is a witch!

  The Tribunal is chasing me through the woods!

  Lyseira worked a miracle!

  And the last, the most sobering: I should be dead.

  His throat had been ripped open. It should have all been over, but he was still here.

  Lyseira seemed rejuvenated by her miracles, certain that everything would work out, but Helix didn't understand that. They had gotten lucky. They should be dead, every single one of them.

  His heart was suddenly racing. It was too much, too fast. Despite his hunger he set down his cheese, his fingers shaking.

  "Can we light a fire?" Angbar asked, rubbing his hands together. "It's freezing."

  "It's not freezing," Seth answered. "Just cold. No fire; they'll see."

  "How much food did we lose?" Lyseira asked.

  "I don't know," Angbar said. "Everything I had was ruined. Syn packed a bag too, though. Is there any food in there?"

  Helix touched his neck. The flesh was whole. He remembered gasping like a beached fish, fighting the excruciating pain for breath. Now, there was no sign it had even happened.

  "Helix?" Angbar prodded.

  "What?"

  "Is there any food in Syn's pack?"

  He had carried his cousin's bag off the road, as Seth had carried her. Coming back to himself, he glanced at it sitting next to him. "Um," he said.

  I should be dead.

  "I don't know. It was really heavy, I know that much." He undid the twine holding the bag closed. His sword was inside.

  The sight sucked the breath from his lungs.

  "It... she packed my old sword," he managed, and pulled it out. It felt light and easy in his hands. It was sheathed, hanging off a belt—just how he'd left it.

  Seth looked dour. "That would have been good to know an hour ago."

  When was she supposed to stop to pull it out? Helix thought. Before or after you started threatening to steal her book? He said nothing. He was too tired.

  "Any food?" Angbar pressed.

  Helix rummaged through the bag. She'd packed clothes for both of them, and her book lay at the bottom of the sack, the first thing she'd thrown in. No blankets, no food. It was typical for Syntal; she was always too focused on the things that seemed important to her personally. But he couldn't fault her. She'd brought his old sword.

  "No," he said.

  Angbar leaned back. "We're in trouble."

  "Lys and I packed some, too," Seth said. "We're not in trouble yet. Let's worry about it in the morning. Get some sleep while you can. I'll keep watch."

  "You don't have to do that," Lyseira said. "You need your rest, too."

  "No I don't." Seth snapped, sharply enough that Angbar glanced at him. "I'm a Preserver in all but name. I'll stay up."

  Helix was in no mood to argue. He arranged the bag so the clothes were on top of the book, then tried to use it like a pillow. When he closed his eyes, hysteria perched above him like a vulture waiting for a meal to die. He managed to keep it at bay until the blackness claimed him.

  ~ ~

  He woke to sunlight streaming through the trees. He sat up, and saw everyone else still sleeping—including Seth, who had sunk to the ground with his back to a tree. His left hand still held a long shaft of wood, which he'd been whittling to a point. His right had dropped open and spilled a knife into the dirt.

  Helix had a sudden, sharp surge of panic. How long have we been out? He looked up, trying to make out how far the sun had come. As near as he could tell, it was almost directly above them.

  "Sehk," he muttered. He gained his feet and they protested with agony. Every muscle in his body felt like a beaten strip of old leather. He was still exhausted.

  He shambled to Seth and set a hand on his shoulder. Seth leapt to his feet. He jerked his eyes about him like a cat that had just been spit on.

  "What?" he snapped. "What is it? What's happening?"

  "You fell asleep," Helix retorted, harder than he'd meant to. Seth looked like he was ready to kill him.

  "Oh." He shook his head. "That shouldn't have happened."

  Helix shrugged. "We're all exhausted."

  "No," Seth said. "I'm going to get us killed if I keep failing like this. It was just like on the road. I was too weak."

  "Too weak?" Helix blinked. "What are you talking about? You nearly had your hand ripped off."

  "Weak," Seth spat. "I shouldn't have allowed the pain, just like I shouldn't have allowed the fatigue from the travel." He shook his head again, as if suddenly realizing how much he'd said. "You don't... forget it. We should wake the others." He knelt for the knife.

  It felt like Helix had accidentally peered through a window and caught Seth dressing. Is that what it was like for him at the compound? he wondered. Is that what it takes to forge a Preserver?

  He felt he should say more, should try to assure Seth that his help so far had been invaluable, but he was already moving away. "All right," Helix said to his back, and turned to Syntal.

  Her eyes flicked open when he touched her shoulder. To his relief, they looked normal.

  "Did we make it?" she asked.

  He smiled despite himself. "You tell me. You scared the life out of everybody."

  She sat up and put an experimental hand to her head. "Yeah," she said. "I think so. I feel better."

  "What happened?"

  "Too much chanting, I think," she said. "The book warned about it." She shook her head. "I'll be more careful. It's midday?" She stood up, deflected the questions of the others, and ducked into the trees
to relieve herself.

  They broke fast quickly, all except for Seth, who resumed work on his weapon. "What is it?" Angbar asked him around a mouthful of hardbread. "Spear?"

  Seth nodded, hefting the half-finished weapon in his hand. "It's just pine. It'll probably break the first time I try to use it." He stared at the spear, considering this, then resumed whittling it. "But if those arc hounds catch up to us, it'll be better than nothing."

  The arc hounds. Somewhere in the intervening hours, Helix had actually managed to forget Lyseira's warning from last night.

  "How many do you think there'll be?" Angbar asked her.

  Lyseira wiped the crumbs from her mouth. "I don't know. As far as I know the Tribunal hasn't actually made them since the time of Second Shendra." When she saw the look on Angbar's face, she squeezed his knee. "Don't worry!" She smiled. "Akir will watch over us."

  Angbar turned doubtfully away from her. God, Helix thought. Please let her come to her senses soon.

  "Sh!" Seth jerked up a hand. He nodded in the direction of the road and rose, spear in hand. "Heard something," he hissed.

  Helix froze and heard footsteps, crunching through the underbrush.

  This is it. He slid his weapon from the sheath, his heart thundering. He knew precious little about swordplay, but at least he would go down fighting.

  The others stood. Angbar grabbed the knife; Syntal trained her eyes on the clearing's edge.

  Seth flexed his fingers on the haft of the spear, ready to spring.

  "Oh, sehk," Iggy Ardenfell said. "Seth, is that you?"

  Helix sagged, dizzy with relief.

  "Iggy?" Angbar breathed. "Blesséd sehk, we were about to kill you."

  "Iggy," Helix finally managed. "Oh, thank God. I thought you were them." He crossed the little meadow and hugged his old friend. Iggy smelled of woods and sweat and horse. "I am so sehking glad to see you."

  "How did you find us?" Seth leveled at him. He had lowered his spear, but his eyes were heavy with suspicion.

  "Luck," Iggy answered. "I was taking the old roads. Didn't want to be seen. Came across that... wolf thing? —on the path just now, and the trail you left in the woods... a blind drunk could've followed that." His eyes flicked from Seth to Syntal to Angbar. "I can't believe you're all here. I thought they'd captured you. I mean, I knew about Helix and Lyseira, but..." He trailed off and shook his head. "Blesséd sehk, you lot are lucky. They're going crazy looking for you."