There was Crimamon, a reddish-green flower which when ground up was commonly used to sooth burns and rashes. Mixed with Sunamir, a similar looking herb except for its lightly yellowish leaves, the two plants calmed the stomach and could even remove light forms of poison from the body. Then there was Viomane, a plant of the darkest purple, with slight barbs moving up its stem. Once ground up and added to any liquid, the powder would put most people into a deep sleep. Very useful as a fever reducer, pain killer and sedative.
By lunchtime he had passed enough herbs to start his own store. He occasionally moved from the group to collect some of each, adding to the meager supplies that he had received from the Healer in Rensen. Each time, Jaslen and Bran would keep walking ahead, which forced him to jog to catch back up to the pair.
At this point, they had gotten so deep into the forest that the sun was blocked from view. Only small rays of light were able to break through the canopy of leaves, creating a pre-dawn level of light. Between the low levels of light, the silence of the forest, and the occasional dark blur of an animal darting about, the forest took on a creepy feeling.
When their stomachs growled in unison, they shared a chuckle. That was their cue to make camp, and they chose a spot just off the road. Ahead of them at a few dozen paces, the road curved to the right, quickly lost behind the dense trees. Jaslen went about finding firewood as Ean and Bran readied a spot for a fire. Bran’s mood was starting to improve; a weak smile lightened up his still pale face. It was only a matter of time before idle conversation turned into questions about the Abyss. And of course Zin was still nowhere to be found.
Ean opened up his Pocket and retrieved their cooking pot and three bowls. Bran watched expressionless for a few moments and then turned his attention to starting the fire. On the menu for the afternoon was cooked vegetables in water. Ean closed the Pocket after getting their things and hung the pot over the fire that Bran had started. By the time they had the water and vegetables into the pot, Jaslen returned, her arms filled with more sticks and branches than they would need to keep the fire going for the short amount of time they planned to rest and eat.
With the food starting to boil, they sat around the pot in silence, a strange awkwardness hanging in the air. Jaslen and Bran were looking at everything except each other. Finally, Bran broke the silence.
“I want to apologize for how I behaved last night. I could have gotten us in a lot of trouble.”
“And what about for this morning?” Jaslen said, folding her arms over her chest. “You’ve been acting like a horse’s behind ever since you woke up. I’ve been too nervous to even talk to you.”
“For that too — the Burnbeer paid me back though for how I acted, believe me. I’m sorry for taking it out on both of you.”
He sounded sincere at least. Ean thought himself big enough to let it go, especially with how much Bran had stood up for him in the past.
Jaslen seemed to accept the apology as well. She reached over and pulled Bran’s head close enough so that she could kiss him on the lips. Ean took the moment to reach over and stir the pot again. And kept stirring until he heard them come back up for air.
“That Pocket is a handy trick — wish I knew how to make one. It’s all pretty amazing what you can do, Ean. Do you know that?” Jaslen asked.
He looked down at the ground, trying not to blush.
“More and more, I find myself thinking about Zin and Ze’an, and the Abyss. But most of all, I find myself wondering about you.”
Ean swallowed hard. His words came out with a squeak. “Me? Seriously?”
“Yes, what are you exactly — a healer or a magus? What are those paintings on your skin? Are there others like you?”
Ean almost let out a sigh of relief but he did let himself relax as she continued.
A good question and one he could answer honestly. “No, I have no idea if there are others like me. I would love to say that Ze’an personally picked me to have these powers, but it really just came down to luck. I happened to find a book that was connected to the Abyss. It’s possible that there are other copies of the same book out there somewhere, but I have no idea.”
“Oh, I thought maybe Ze’an himself might have told you.”
“Well, you see, Ze’an doesn’t tell me anything, probably because he doesn’t want to influence how I spread his, uh, teachings. Being a god of randomness and chaos, it’s only natural that he would want me to ...”
He trailed off as a familiar feeling rose in the back of his head. There was something coming, something tied to the Abyss. It took him a few moments more to realize that he was feeling Zin. He was coming from the direction of where the road curved to the right. How had he gotten so far ahead of them?
And he was coming in fast.
Ean tried to move to his feet nonchalantly, but there must have been something in his manner that gave away his nervousness. Maybe it was the combination of how his voice had trailed off and then risen just as suddenly, or it could have been his sudden change in expression. Either way, both Bran and Jaslen were on their feet right behind him. Bran had his sword in his hand while Jaslen readied her bow, head pivoting as she tried to figure out where to aim.
The imp was almost to them now, coming straight at them through the forest. It took Ean a few seconds, but he eventually picked out that subtle blur that gave the imp away. Bran and Jaslen still couldn’t see anything of course, so they practically jumped out of their clothes when he suddenly appeared at their feet.
“Zin!” Jaslen said with a relieved laugh. “You nearly scared me to death! That wasn’t very nice of you to –”
“There are men coming,” the imp said, cutting her off. “A lot of them. All dressed the same and looking very serious.”
Bran and Jaslen, who had started to relax, immediately tensed back up. Jaslen whispered the word Ean had been thinking.
“Seekers?”
Ean shrugged. It could be anyone but better to play it safe.
“Time to move camp. Bran, help me drag the pot deeper into the forest. Jaslen, grab the supplies and follow behind us. We’ll come back and grab the rest of our stuff then cover up any signs of our camp. All right?”
They nodded and immediately got to work.
“How much time do we have until they’re here, Zin?”
“Not much,” the imp said, rubbing his hands together. “I would expect them to come into view soon.”
“Fine, fine.” Ean left the imp’s side and began helping Bran move the pot. By the time he had moved the pot far enough back for his liking, Jaslen had put out the fire and Bran had moved the rest of their things behind a group of trees.
Crouching behind a tree, Ean hoped they had hidden their campsite well enough. For all he knew, this group could be friendly but no point in taking any chances. They would stay hidden and hope the group passed without incident. As long as the group weren’t Seekers, which Ean doubted because of the large number of them, they should have no way of finding the four of them hiding off the road.
They didn’t have to wait long to find out, as a line of people came into view marching down the road. Zin had been telling the truth; there were a lot of them, walking two-by-two down the road. They all wore the same dark crimson robes with black trim running around the wrists and up and down their open fronts. The black trim also ran around the front of their hoods, which were up hiding each person’s face. Even though they were all of different heights and weights, they marched in unison.
By the time the group had rounded the corner and were almost parallel to where the four were hiding, Ean could see the end of their line. A quick count revealed that there were thirty-two of the robed figures in total. As they started to pass by where the camp had been just moments ago, Ean tensed. The sharp intakes of breath behind him signaled the tension his friends were feeling as well. Ean only let himself relax once the last two robed figures had moved past where their site had been. Of course, that was too soon.
As one, with
out even the slightest sound or motion from any of them, the entire column came to a halt. Ean readied himself to sprint off into the forest. It would be a shame to lose their pot and the few other supplies they had gotten out, but at the very least they had kept the food close by. Those bags might slow them down, but it didn’t look like this group had good runners anyway.
So Ean waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
After a decent amount of time, Ean risked a look back at his companions. Bran was staying perfectly still, but Jaslen shrugged with a confused look on her face. Turning back, he watched the still immobile group stand in the road. Not a single person had moved a muscle since they had stopped. It couldn’t be coincidence that they would stop near where their camp had been. Not a single one of them had turned a head as they marched by, though, so he doubted they had seen anything that would cause them to stop. Which left one possibility.
The group could sense them in some way.
Sense him.
Seekers.
Ean was about to turn and signal his companions to run when a single robed figure three rows from the back end stepped out of line and turned to face where they were hiding. Raising his hands to his head, the man pulled back his hood and revealed a face much younger then Ean had expected. The man looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, with straight black hair hanging down to his neck. The only distinguishable mark was a scar running down from the left side of his lower lip to the base of his chin that detracted slightly from the smile he was wearing. The smile held nothing but warmth and friendliness, but his sea blue eyes were hard as he looked directly at them.
Lifting both of his hands into the air, palms out, the man took a few steps until he was at the edge of the road. “The three of you can come out,” he called out. “We mean you no harm.”
How did he know there were three of them hiding amongst the trees? Well, three humans at least. If he didn’t realize Zin was there, that meant he couldn’t sense him, which also meant he probably wasn’t a Seeker. Unless of course he was trying to trick them. Ean looked to both of his companions to see what they were thinking.
This time it was Bran’s turn to shrug, a bit of the tension gone from his body. He still had a tight grip on the hilt of his sword. They turned to Jaslen, who was looking at the man with a slight tilt to her head. After a few moments, she got to her feet and began walking towards the man. So much for deciding what to do together. Ean stood and began walking after her, while Bran was already up and almost to her side.
The man watched as they approached, lowering his hands while keeping the smile on his face. He backed up and gave them space as they walked back onto the road. If he was going to attack them, his demeanor certainly wasn’t revealing. He stood there in a much more relaxed state compared to the men he was with. Maybe he was harmless. This close, Ean couldn’t see a threatening thing about him. Even the scar looked plain enough, as did the rest of his features. He wasn’t a handsome man, but at the same time, he wasn’t ugly either.
“My name is Kel Savorian,” he said as they finally settled in front of him, “a member of this group of Soulbearers on our way to Rensen from Lurthalan. Have you recently left Rensen?”
Even though Ean barely knew the area at all, a couple of lies jumped into his mind. Unfortunately, Jaslen was a bit more trusting and spoke before he was able to say anything.
“Yes, we just came from there.” Flipping her hair lightly out of her face, she returned his smile with an apologetic one of her own. “But were only passing through. We’re originally from a small village south of here. My name is Jaslen, and these are my friends Bran and Ean. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are Soulbearers?”
A slightly raised eyebrow was the only indication that the man was surprised by the question, but Ean caught it. Were Soulbearers well known outside of Rottwealth? Kel took a moment to fold his hands behind his back before speaking again.
“We,” he said with a look that took in all of those behind him, “are servants of Kaz’ren, Goddess of the Soul.” He waited a moment, looking at each of them in turn then continued on. “Good. By your expressions, you know her at least. It is our duty to retrieve the husks of those that have passed and make sure their souls have departed from their bodies. That is why we are on our way to Rensen right now, to retrieve all of those that were recently killed or are close to death.”
That raised quite a few questions in Ean’s mind, but of course Jaslen beat him to it. “But all of that just happened two nights ago. How did you even find out, let alone make the journey this quickly?”
Shaking his head, Kel ran a hand through his hair before speaking. "I find it so strange that at your age you know practically nothing about us. Ah well, we can blame your parents for that I suppose.” He let out a small laugh, showing no annoyance at their ignorance.
"As soon as a death occurs,” he continued, “or is about to occur, our Goddess sends us to recover the dead. If the soul is trapped, which can happen for a number of reasons I won't go into, we do our best to free him or her, so that they may join Kaz'ren in the afterlife. Once we no longer have to worry about the soul, we can take the body back to be stored in the catacombs beneath Kaz'ren's temple in Lurthalan.”
"You collect everybody after they die?" Bran cut in. "But that doesn't make any sense. We cremate our own in our village, and we've certainly never had any of you —"
"You burn your dead!"
The man's demeanor changed to anger so fast that Ean felt himself start to draw in energy from the Abyss before he even realized what he was doing. He quickly pushed it away as he took a step back from the man. It wasn't as if he even knew what to do with that energy and just that slight touch of it had been exhilarating.
“Yes,” Bran said. His hands were on his hips, but the one near the hilt of his sword was tensed. “That’s what we’ve always done in Rottwealth. In all of my years I’ve never seen one such as yourself set foot in our village.”
“Rottwealth,” Kel spit the name out like it was poison. “I should have known. The Voices in Lurthalan bar us from your village, although none will tell us why. Our Voice was the only one to vote against the decree.”
Lowering his head, a tint of sadness touched his voice as he mumbled to himself. “How many souls remain imprisoned in the ashes of their bodies, unable to join their families with Kaz’ren?”
“We … we had no idea,” Jaslen said, her voice matching Kel’s in sadness. “We have always been taught to bury our dead.”
“Why hasn’t anyone been told about this before?” Bran said, his voice low. “My grandparents … my cousin Matt … the poor little boy, Sten, who got sick and passed … we incinerated them all. They all could be trapped.”
Kel gave her a sad smile and shook his head. “A decree made by the Voices of all the temples has never been overturned. I do not know why your village has been secluded from the rest of the workings of the realm, but for whatever reason, those poor souls will likely be trapped forever.”
He paused and gave them a quick look over. “This is not the reason that we stopped. I have been instructed to warn you not to continue on. There is a Scar ahead. We took great care to avoid it as we made our way to Rensen, otherwise we would have already reached the village. You should wait a few days for the Seekers to remove it; you do not want to run into them, I assure you.”
“We have no intention of going anywhere near it,” Ean said quickly before the other two could speak. “The people of Rensen warned us about the Scar and what it does to people and animals. We certainly wouldn’t want that to happen to us.”
Giving him a long look, the man tilted his head slightly as if he was listening for something. After a moment his eyes widened but he spoke in a normal tone.
“If I were you,” he said, “I would fear the Seekers more than the Scar. The Seekers kill anything and anyone that they believe have even the slightest connection to the Abyss.” The man’
s eyes dropped to Ean’s right arm for an instant and then shot back up, taking in each of them. “Best just to turn around and wait in Rensen until they have come and moved on.”
Did the man really just look at his arm or had he imagined it? Could Kel have been speaking directly to him? The thought made Ean nervous, and he shifted around slightly where he was standing. No one spoke for a time, which made it worse.
“We can’t do that,” Bran said, breaking up the silence. “We need to get to Lurthalan as quickly as possible. Some kind of lizard monster has taken up residence in our mine that has already killed a number of our people and a few men calling themselves Heroes in their attempts to rid the beast. We are hoping to either find help or at the least find out how to kill it. Either way, we can’t waste any more time.”
With a sigh, Kel nodded. “I suppose that is reason enough to risk it. Well, if you are going to follow the road, I would move off it onto the east side as you make the journey north. Although I did not see it as we traveled, I have heard the Scar is somewhere on the west side of the road. Sticking to the east side should give you a better chance of avoiding the Seekers.”
“Sound advice,” Jaslen said. “We will be sure to stay on the right side of the road.”
“Excellent.”
Ean caught the man glancing at him again! It certainly hadn’t been his imagination this time. What did the man know? He was about to say something but Kel continued on.
“I must be going. We are already behind caring for the poor souls in Rensen. Good luck in your journey.”
In one smooth motion, Kel turned and raised his hood back over his head. It only took a few quick steps for him to resume his position in the line of Soulbearers. Without the slightest sound or command, the columns began to move as soon as he was in place. Ean, Bran and Jaslen watched the scarlet robed figures go until they were properly out of earshot.
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