The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5): An Epic Fantasy Action Adventure (The Way to Freedom Series)

by H. M. Clarke

  Walking quickly through the rest of the camp, she gave a quick wave to the Dymarki watcher before disappearing into the trees. Dearen continued walking into the woods for as long as it took her to count to fifty before finding a suitable bush and seeing to her morning ablutions. When Dearen had finished, she continued walking further into the woods. The Patrol had crossed a river yesterday before setting up camp and Dearen was determined to find it.

  The sun slowly rose over the lip of the mountains and spread its light into the forest waking it from the dormancy of the pre-dawn. Bird song rippled through the trees and Dearen could hear the noises of small animals as they scampered through the undergrowth searching for their morning meal.

  Dearen gloried this time alone after three weeks surrounded by Dymarki with their constant mind talking. It was nice to be able to listen to her own thoughts without the constant background noise of other conversations.

  Who was she? Dearen wondered as she slipped pass the trunk of a large tree. Was she a good person before she had her accident? Maybe not. After all she had remembered receiving Asnar’s look of revulsion before from others. Not for the first time Dearen wished she could remember her past.

  What if she had family somewhere? What if there was someone depending on her? What if…? Dearen shook her head. Thinking on what ifs would get her nowhere. There was a chance that she would never be able to remember her past. She should start reconciling herself to that possibility.

  The sound of rushing water came to her ears and she quickened her steps. Soon she came out of the forest undergrowth onto the bank of a wide slow moving river.

  “At last!” She said aloud and drew in a breath of the cold mountain air.

  The grassy riverbank fell abruptly into the sluggish waters of the river as they gurgled passed her. As she looked up stream, Dearen could see the river curve out of the curtain of green and her eyes slowly followed its undulating path until it disappeared downstream back into the trees.

  A large stone jutted out from the water near her side of the bank. The river water moved and parted around it, leaving a part of itself behind as small white capped bubbles caught against the stone.

  Dearen’s eyes suddenly widened as a realization dawned on her. The river had shown her the way. Whatever she was in her old life, she should leave it behind. It does not matter anymore. What truly mattered was the here and now. She should try to be more like the river, forget about where she had been, what she had done, and focus on where she is now and what the gods have gifted her with. The Dymarki are a good people and they took her in without hesitation.

  I should not worry about my past, Dearen thought to herself. But my future is another matter…

  Again, her thoughts turned to Asnar, and, as usual Dearen’s emotions churned within her.

  Dearen really did not know what she felt for the man. One moment she thought she loved him, the next she would be furious at the sight of him. He had come to help her but had stayed on with the Dymarki long pass the healing of her head wound. He had even started to train her in different fighting styles when she expressed interest in going out with the Dymarki patrols. Why would he stay if she repulsed him so much? Why the sudden appearance last night? Dearen could not figure out the man.

  Rolling her sleeves up pass her elbows, Dearen knelt down and plunged her dirt encrusted arms into the water. And immediately pulled them straight out again. The water is icy cold and Dearen vigorously shook her arms to bring warmth back to them. That was a cold shock to the system.

  That just ruined my idea of a bath!

  Gingerly she cupped a hand and splashed water over her exposed arms. The chill lasted only a moment before disappearing. She sighed in relief. It was tolerable enough to scrub her arms and face.

  The dirt on her arms had darkened where they were wet and Dearen plucked a handful of grass and began to scrub at them with gusto. Once her arms were clean, Dearen splashed water gently onto her face and then scrubbed at her cheeks with her now clean hands. Once Dearen was satisfied that the dirt was scrubbed out of her skin, she splashed her face again with water, making sure to wash away all the muck and grime. With the tail end of her cloak, Dearen wiped the water from her face and arms. When she was dry, Dearen peered into the waters of the river to see if she could see her reflection. Since her accident Dearen had never seen what she looked like. There had been no surfaces around to use as a mirror, not even a bucket of water.

  Now as her vision adjusted to the watery image before her, Dearen nearly jerked away in surprise. She knew of her black hair and pale skin but the startling grey eyes that stared back at her looked hard and determined and the face was finely sculptured and beautiful in a fashion. There was a small blue mark on one cheek and Dearen leaned closer and turned her head to have a better look. Tattooed on her cheek was the figure of a leaping ram. Why would she have that? She could tell that the tattoo had been there for a long time by the set and color of the ink. She sat back on her heels in thought. Perhaps the leaping ram was her mark? But Asnar did not have his mark tattooed to his cheek.

  About to let her thoughts on the tattoo go, she suddenly froze as the memory of the Arranian sitting atop her flashed into her mind. His look of fear started when the scarf slipped from her face. She remembered the shock in his voice.

  ‘You’re Hatar Kalar!’

  It was a name Dearen did not recognize and it triggered no sense of recognition in her, not like her dagger or the fire mark. Perhaps she was reviled for whatever she was, not who she was.

  Dearen violently shook her head. Whatever it was, it was in her past. It had no part in her here and now. She would lay the name aside and maybe, one day in the future, she would be able to think on it further.

  The sun was now higher in the sky. People would begin to wonder where she was.

  Regretfully she rose to her feet and cast a longing look over the river. It was nice and peaceful here. Dearen did not really want to leave, she could sit here in solitude for the rest of her days. But…

  Slowly and with great reluctance, Dearen turned and stepped back into the woods.

  Chapter Seven

  The Mountain Pass

  Dearen ground her teeth in frustration. They had been travelling for hours and Asnar was deliberately ignoring her. Fuming, she glared passed the four Dymarki before her to the head of the group where Ghrista and Asnar were talking animatedly as they walked.

  ‘What put the burr in your coat this morning?’ Hauga gave her a friendly push with his forearm.

  “Nothing.” She looked up to see Hauga staring down at her, his golden eyes widened in disbelief at her words. Hauga had been her constant companion since the ambush. It was Hauga’s back that she had rescued from the Arranians blade when she entered the battle and Hauga was now determined to watch hers. Dearen let forth a snort of annoyance and turned her gaze back up the line.

  ‘Ahh, I see now.’

  Dearen narrowed her eyes and gave Hauga a searing look. Hauga, being the tallest Dymarki in the patrol, looked passed the others before them to stare at the man in front.

  “No you don’t.”

  ‘I think I do.’

  Dearen felt her cheeks blush with warmth and she scowled at the ground before her to avoid Hauga seeing. What was she to do now?

  “Hauga, its nothing like that.” Dearen said quickly, trying to cover the betrayal of her skin. “He promised to teach me to mind speak before we reached the pass at noon and it’s nearly that now.”

  Dearen glanced up to the sky above her and groaned as she saw it was nearly at its zenith. She glanced down the line again and clearly saw the back of Asnar’s head. He still wore the black cloak he had slept in and over one shoulder was slung a large leather bag. The constant tingling in the back of her mind suddenly roared with life as her frustration at the Pydarki suddenly bubbled over.

  ‘Curse that man!’

  Abruptly the entire line stopped with a jerk of surprise and Dearen suddenly felt the combined sta
re of the patrol.

  ‘Surely you could think of something better to say to everyone than that.’

  Asnar’s mind voice held a tinge of laughter and Dearen’s blush suddenly grew several shades darker as she realized that the whole company had heard her outburst.

  ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Hauga dropped a friendly paw on Dearen’s shoulder. ‘Asnar makes everyone who grows to know him think that way.

  Around her the Dymarki began to wheeze with laughter and Dearen allowed the smiled that was beginning to tug at her lips to surface.

  ‘Can you do it again?’

  Dearen dropped her smile as Asnar dropped back in line to stand before her. Hauga gave her shoulder a small squeeze as he stepped away.

  Asnar’s stern blue eyes stared down at her and Dearen’s blush of embarrassment turned to irritation.

  ‘What? Curse you? Of course I could.’ Dearen mentally replied as she crossed her arms across her chest and stared defiantly at the Pydarki with a smile.

  Dymarki laughter broke out around her again and Dearen saw from a slight tugging at Asnar’s lips that he was trying not to laugh as well. It was then that Dearen suddenly realized what she had achieved.

  “I spoke with my mind!”

  “Yes you did,” Asnar said finally letting his smile get the better of him. ‘And you should keep practicing at it. For the next two days you are to only talk to others using your mind.’

  ‘Yes, I will.’

  ‘Good, you have to practice your control. Try to ensure that only the mind you wish to speak to can hear.’

  ‘How do I do that?’ Dearen frowned in puzzlement.

  ‘With practice of course!’

  With that Asnar strode back to join Ghrista at the head of the line and continued their talk and the Dymarki waved the patrol forward.

  ‘Once we reach the pass we will stop to eat. You can practice channeled thought with me then if you like?’

  Dearen smiled. ‘Yes Hauga, I would like that.’

  Not long after the patrol reached the Kertal Pass, Dearen stared wide-eyed as they approached. The pass was a large, natural flat gorge that cut its way through the peak of Kertal mountain as if some giant had sliced into it with a sword blade. The noon sun shone straight above the pass causing all shadows, (including her own), to be lost. Boulders and stones lay around the edges of the trail as if they had been pushed aside by giant hands to make a clear corridor for travelers to pass through.

  Entering the pass was a relief. Three weeks on the go had still not accustomed Dearen’s muscles to the constant exercise. She slumped gratefully against the warm stone of the pass between two huge boulders when Ghrista called the midday halt. Hauga sat down beside her and pulled a leather bag from his bandolier. He slipped the thong from its neck and shaking it open offered Dearen the contents. The smell of smoked meat touched her nostrils.

  Dearen smiled and slipped a piece of smoked jerky from the bag and bit into it. Hauga then claimed his own piece and they both ate for a time in silence. When she had finished, Dearen took a long draft from her water skin before offering it to Hauga.

  ‘So. How do we channel talk?’ Dearen asked as she accepted her skin back as Hauga’s tongue licked at the water on his whiskers.

  ‘We Dymarki are natural mind talkers, unlike the Pydarki and the Bareskins, but the principles are the same. To channel exclusively to one person, you just have to focus your mind on whoever you wish to talk to. It is what I am doing now to ensure that our conversation remains private.’

  ‘Is that how everyone talks? Privately I mean.’ Dearen threw Hauga a skeptical look. She was always hearing the buzzing of Dymarki conversations around her.

  ‘Not really. We Dymarki are not a private people so are not concerned who listens or not. But in certain situations such as combat, having a channeled conversation is essential. Some allies of the Bareskins can hear mind conversations and can relay our conversations to the Bareskins.’

  ‘Oh. So all I have to do is focus on you and then channel my thoughts through that focus to you.’

  ‘Yes, try it.’

  Dearen turned and rested her head back against the warm wall of the pass and cleared her mind of all thoughts. She then slowly formed a mental image of Hauga. His thick white fur, wide black stripes, black tufted ears and warm golden eyes. Dearen then waited a moment to ensure the image remained steady, she then projected her thoughts at it.

  ‘Hauga, I don’t know what to say.’

  Hauga’s mind voice laughed back at her. ‘That would be a first!’

  ‘Did it work though?’

  ‘Give me a moment and I’ll find out.’

  The Dymarki cocked his head slightly to Juga who was leaning against one of the boulders.

  ‘Yes it worked,’ he said an instant later. ‘You’ve caught on quite quickly.’

  ‘I have? I feel as if I’ve done this before.’

  ‘It is because you have.’

  Both Dearen and Hauga jumped at the causal interruption and looked up with guilty eyes to the black-cloaked figure standing before them.

  ‘How goes it?’

  Asnar stared down at them, his long hair and braids swept back from his face and secured at the nape of his neck by a thick black leather thong.

  ‘Well enough,’ Dearen replied and then glanced sideways at Hauga. Asnar had heard. Perhaps she did not channel her thoughts correctly? The Dymarki saw her glance and gave Dearen a slight shrug of the shoulders. Hauga sitting down was only a foot shorter than Asnar standing up. She hurriedly suppressed a grin. Asnar could be intimidating when he wanted to be.

  Dearen frowned as she concentrated on building an image of Asnar in her head. She recreated his strong face, his brown braided hair, his coy smile and the sound of tingling bells, and then pushed her thoughts into the image.

  ‘Did everyone hear me then?’

  ‘Only your last words to Hauga. You need to learn control, but over time practice will make channeling come naturally.’

  Asnar let the ghost of a smile touch his lips as he mind spoke and Dearen smiled uncertainly in return. But then his lips hardened and Asnar closed his eyes as his chin sunk to his chest.

  Dearen quickly looked away, hurt and embarrassed by his reaction. Would she ever be able to stop blushing? She thought as the familiar warmth of a blush tingled at her cheeks.

  Abruptly Asnar’s voice sounded hard in her mind and from the instant reaction of the Dymarki, into everyone else’s as well.

  ‘Take cover. A Flyer approaches from the west.’

  Suddenly Dearen felt Asnar’s arms about her as he ducked into the lee of the rock face. Before the folds of the Pydarki’s cloak covered Dearen, she saw the Dymarki instantly disappear among the rocks and rubble of the pass.

  Asnar’s arm held her close to his body and the spicy scent of him and his cloak was strong in her nostrils. The other arm held the folds of his cloak tightly around them. Tipping her head back against his chest, Dearen could see the bottom of Asnar’s jaw through a gap between the fastenings at his neck. His hood was up, throwing the rest of his face into darkness. But his gaze was directed to something far above them.

  “Why am I covered?” She hissed aloud.

  “We must not be seen by the Flyer or our position will be revealed to the Suenese,” he whispered back to her.

  “What’s a Flyer?”

  “Hush Dearen, you will find out soon enough.”

  Asnar did not move his eyes from the peak above them but his arm tensed as he gripped her tighter to him. Dearen huddled closer to him and her hand slipped to the hilt of her dagger. Hauga had said that some Bareskin allies can hear mind talk, perhaps a ‘Flyer’ was one of these? The air felt thicker under the black wool and the smell of Asnar’s body so close sent her heart pounding but she did not know if fear or love caused it.

  A faint whooshing noise came from above them and Asnar’s body suddenly tensed. Dearen risked a peek through the opening of the cloak and caught a glimpse
of what looked to be a large bright red bird gliding across the ribbon of blue sky. She looked up and saw Asnar frowning in concentration as his eyes followed the red bird across the sky. It was then that she felt the familiar tingling sensation at the back of her mind. It had been there constantly since Asnar’s arrival last night. Sweat trickled down Asnar’s jaw and dropped to the wool of his cloak as the red bird circled above them again.

  Then it disappeared and the sound of tumbling rocks came faintly to her ears.

  “By the Lord of the Winds. It’s landed above us!” He suddenly hissed.

  Dearen heard more consternation and annoyance than fear in his voice. She opened the gap in his cloak wider to allow fresh air to enter.

  “How long will it stay?” Dearen winced, her muffled voice sounded very loud in her ears.

  “Hopefully not long.”

  ‘Everyone keep those blocking shields up.’ Asnar’s voice whispered through her mind and the Dymarki gave a quiet affirmative.

  “Blocking shield?”

  “Blocking is a type of mind shield that hides your presence from other sentients.”

  “So that bird thing up there can’t hear us or see us?”

  “Not at the moment, though she’s not really looking for us but we cannot chance that.”

  Dearen heard a brassy call on the edge of her mind. It was loud but muffled and she could not exactly hear what was said.

  “What was that?”

  Asnar’s gaze still did not leave the peak above them.

  “The Flyer is calling a name. They are searching for someone.”

  Dearen felt Asnar’s arm clasp her tighter to him and his body tensed. She looked up through the cloak opening and saw his head cocked as if listening to something. His black hood had slid back allowing more light under its overhang and Dearen saw the Pydarki’s eyes widen suddenly.

  ‘Everyone run. They have been ordered to collapse the pass.’

  An ominous crack echoed across the pass drowning out all sound and then silence. Asnar shot up from his crouch and Dearen was tugged to her feet with him. Then they both ran. Around them the Dymarki leapt from their hiding places and nimbly navigated around the rubble and boulders scattered along the pass.