“What’s to make you think that they don’t?” Theole asked.
Fes reached into his pocket and began to run his hand along the figurine that Theole had given him. “Are they magical sculptures?” he asked, eying the girl.
“Perhaps not quite as magical as what the people of the empire would prefer. Most think that if it’s not a dragon relic that it’s not as valuable.”
“Apparently,” Fes said. He needed to catch up to Alison and the priest, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving these two here, with the soldiers who might potentially attack. After what happened to the Bayars, Fes didn’t like the idea of anything happening to Theole, especially because the man had been kind to him. “I don’t think that you should stay here,” he said to Theole.
“We don’t have much choice. Our horses are tired, and we needed to rest for the night. You’re welcome to join us. We don’t have much to offer—it is only the two of us—but I will share what I can.”
Fes squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m not hungry,” he said, though his stomach rumbled and attempted to betray him.
“You might be hungry if you knew we had Toulese cheese. You haven’t lived until you’ve had our cheese. I have some flatbread, and you can have a few bites. It’s filling.”
Fes looked out into the night. It would be difficult to search for signs of Alison and the priest in the dark, but if he stayed, it was possible that they would get even farther ahead.
Not only that, but he still didn’t know what happened with the seven other soldiers he’d seen.
He looked over at Indra and decided he couldn’t leave them alone. At least the priest had Alison, and she wasn’t entirely helpless. She was skilled with her sword and would provide protection that their ability to outrun the mercenaries couldn’t. Indra, on the other hand, didn’t appear to have any sort of protection other than her father, and he didn’t have the look of a fighter.
“I suppose it wouldn’t be all bad to have a fire to rest near tonight.”
Theole beamed. “Wonderful. Indra and I could use the company.”
“Let me go bring my horse over.”
Theole nodded, and Fes hurried off to the clump of trees and grabbed his horse, walking him back to the wagons. When he returned, he heard Theole and Indra discussing something and caught only the tail end of their argument.
“But we don’t know him,” Indra said.
Theole glanced over and smiled. “We know him well enough. This is Fes. He stopped a thief in the market.”
Fes forced a smile. He might have stopped a thief, but he’d been a thief often enough that any good he might have done halting the thief for Theole was canceled out by all of the times that he’d stolen for Azithan—or for himself.
“Come, sit. Let the fire take away your worries.”
Fes took a deep breath, glancing out into the night once more before joining them at the fire. He didn’t think that the fire would take away his worries. More likely than not, it would add to his concerns and remind him of what the soldiers had done to the Bayars, and the anger that occasionally threatened to boil up within him would return.
He looked over to see Indra watching him, her movements paused as she stopped the carving, staring at him with a flat expression. Fes forced a smile, but he wasn’t sure how convincing he was.
If he left, what would happen to Indra and her father?
Nothing good. At least if he stayed, he could offer some measure of protection, if only for the night. And then they would have to find their own—or he would have to hunt down the rest of the soldiers.
Chapter Nine
Fes jerked awake at a snapping sound. The fire was burning down, and he wondered if perhaps he only heard the fire beginning to fade. When he looked up, he saw Indra sitting in front of the fire, watching him.
Fes rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It was late enough that the moon wasn’t visible, leaving only stars shining overhead. Theole snored nearby, resting near the wagon, one hand on one of the wheels. Did he think that Fes would try to steal the wagon while they were sleeping?
“Who are you?” Indra asked softly.
“I’m someone passing through.”
“You’re more than that. Why are you out here? Father said he saw you in the city, and that you stopped a thief, and that’s good enough, but that doesn’t explain why you’re out here.”
“I took a job that brought me here,” Fes said, sitting up and crossing his legs. He shifted so that he kept the daggers from digging into his side.
“What kind of job?”
“The kind of job that’s worth a lot of money.”
“How much money?”
Fes shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It must be an awful lot of money if you’re willing to come all the way out here. How long did it take you to get here?”
Fes shrugged. “A week and a half. Maybe a bit less.”
“We’ve been at this for two weeks.” She looked over at her father, watching him for a moment. “Father thinks that we can make it to Toulen again, but the stories out of the city made it seem like that might not be possible.”
“What kind of stories?”
“Stories of the rebellion.”
He hadn’t heard enough stories—nothing concrete enough to act on. “They’re just that—stories. The empire has enough soldiers to ensure safety within its borders.” The words sounded hollow to him after seeing the empire troops cut down while trying to save the Bayars.
“The rebellion moves along all the borders. At least, that’s what my father tells me,” she said. “We came through it on the way here, but we nearly didn’t make it. Father had to move more quickly than he wanted to, and we didn’t take many breaks. We lost one of the horses…” Her gaze drifted over to the line of tied-off horses. “And we didn’t make nearly as much in the Great Market as we had hoped.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been to the Great Market before, but Father says that sales weren’t as good as they had been before. Maybe the people of the empire no longer care for Toulen carvings.”
Fes reached into his pocket and pulled out the carving that Theole had given him. He set it on his lap, looking at it.
Indra gasped softly. “Where did you get that?”
“Your father gave it to me. When I stopped the shoplifter, he thought that I might like this. It’s quite an interesting figurine—or totem. I’m still not sure I know the difference.”
“In Toulen, a figurine is designed to be decorative while a totem is a call for a blessing.”
“What kind of blessing?”
“With that? That is a blessing for power.”
Fes looked at the figurine. There seemed to be a strange sense of movement to it, though maybe it was nothing more than the firelight dancing along it. The carving seemed to twist, the body spiraling with the arms splayed out similar to another figurine that he’d seen. “Well, your father gave this to me after I stopped the thief.”
“Father shouldn’t just give those away, especially not that one.”
“Why?”
“That’s a powerful blessing. It has to be given to the right person.”
“What if I am the right person?”
Indra stared at him for a moment, seeming to try to determine whether he was or not. “I don’t know. Maybe you are, but he still shouldn’t have given it to you. Blessings are difficult to create, and that one particularly.”
Fes looked over at the knife and the hunk of wood that was lying near her. “Is that what you’re making? Are those totems?”
Indra glanced down and picked up the hunk of wood and the knife. She ran her thumb along the carving, almost a loving gesture. “These aren’t totems. I’m not skilled enough yet to make them. My father and my mother are the ones who have the necessary ability.”
“Then what do you make?”
“Figurines,” she said, smiling at him.
She stood and went ov
er to the wagon, pulling open a door and rifling through it for a moment before returning. When she did, she set three figurines on her lap. Each of them was incredibly detailed, depictions of people and something that looked like a wolf. They were almost lifelike, and in the fading, flickering flames of the fire, the shadows danced around them, practically bringing them to life.
“You made these?” Fes asked, looking across the fire at her.
“Once I demonstrate the necessary skill with these, I can progress to work on even more intricate work. Eventually, father says I will be able to make totems.”
“Why is there such skill needed to make totems?”
“I’ve already told you. Totems are blessings.”
“And by blessings, you mean…”
She smiled. “We have many different blessings in Toulen. The ability to imbue totems with power is but one.”
Fes looked down at the totem. It seemed to be made of stone rather than wood and very detailed though, surprisingly enough, not nearly as detailed as what he saw resting on Indra’s lap. The figurines that she had carved were even more detailed than the totem that Theole had given him.
Power. That was what she had said.
“What kind of power?”
“When we make totems, we put a part of ourselves into the creation. That helps to grant the blessing and gives it strength.”
She said nothing more, and Fes had the sense that she wouldn’t. “Why does this one seemed to be less intricate than yours?”
“Because it is,” Indra said. “Part of the blessing takes away the detail. It blurs it. Otherwise, the blessing would be too powerful.”
“I don’t understand.”
Indra stared at the totem for a moment before shaking her head. “That answer is for those of Toulen.”
Would any in the empire know? Azithan might. When he returned, he would have to ask about the totems. They couldn’t be that powerful if they were willing to sell them at the Great Market. “Am I in any danger carrying this with me?” he asked, smiling.
She gave him a look of disgust. “It’s a great honor to be given a blessing, especially one like that.”
“But your father was selling others like this.”
“He wasn’t selling them, not in a traditional sense.”
Fes started to laugh but realized that she wasn’t joking. “If he wasn’t selling them in a traditional sense, how was he selling them in a nontraditional sense?”
“They were meant to be traded.”
“Traded for what?”
She looked over at her sleeping father. He was breathing heavily, snoring occasionally, and had a firm grip on the wagon wheel. “For things that we can’t acquire in Toulen.”
“What kind of things?”
“Things.”
Fes waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. He only shrugged. “If you want it back…”
Indra shook her head. “If he gave it to you, then he meant for you to have the blessing. I was just surprised that he would, especially as he doesn’t know you.”
“And he has to know me to give me a totem?”
“In order to find the right totem, he would need to know you.”
“He wouldn’t know others coming to the Great Market.”
“Not at first, but that’s why we stayed as long as we did.”
Fes held up the totem, running his finger along it. There was something smooth that reminded him of his dagger, though it was probably the stone. The totem itself was cool, though not unpleasantly so.
He stuck it back into his pocket, careful not to break it. “Can I use the blessing?”
“You don’t get to choose. The blessing will decide when—and if—it will work for you.”
Fes smiled. “It sounds like there’s something magical to the totem.”
“Because there is,” she said, motioning around them.
He looked around and saw for the first time that there were similar totems set all around the campsite. “Why are they there?”
“To protect us. We can’t travel through here by ourselves safely. Father thought that setting the totems around would protect us.”
“Is it to ward off others?”
“It prevents them from seeing us.”
“But I saw you.”
“And you shouldn’t have been able to. I think it’s because you had one of our totems that you were able to see us. Otherwise…”
Interesting. Could they be useful for in other ways?
He could think of plenty of ways to use something that would mask his presence. Would it work with the soldiers? But for him to do so, he’d need to take the totems from Indra and her father, and considering what they went through, he didn’t want to do that. They needed to get to Toulen, and with soldiers along the road, it might be dangerous.
Fes rolled over, needing to get back to sleep. In the daylight, he could go looking for Alison and the priest. Hopefully, he could find them before the soldiers. He didn’t want to embrace the rage again, though he already knew that he would if it came to that.
The rest of the night passed with an interrupted sort of sleep. Fes awoke a few times and each time that he did, he thought that he saw Indra watching him. She didn’t trust him, but why would she be the one to sit up through the night to hold watch? Why not Theole?
He had dreams, though they were faint and in the back of his mind, and they left him troubled, feeling as if he were missing something. In those dreams, he saw rings of smoke and flashes of color, but nothing that made sense. When he awoke an hour or so before dawn, he sat up with a cold sweat. Indra was asleep, but Theole was up.
“You don’t need to be awake on my behalf,” Theole said.
Theole sat with his back against the wagon. He was running his thumb across something, and it took Fes a moment to realize that he was using a piece of stone, almost as if he were smoothing it with his thumb. The air nearly had an energy to it, like lightning following a storm.
“Indra told me about the totem,” he said.
Theole paused and flicked his gaze toward him for a moment before looking back down. “Did she? I wonder what she told you.”
“She told me that the totems carried blessings and that the one you gave me represented power.”
“I gave you a totem that represented what was in your heart,” he said. He continued to press on the stone, and every so often, Fes noticed a crackle, almost of insects but seeming to come from the stone.
“How do you know what was in my heart?”
“It doesn’t take long to know a man, especially one who carries around a dragonglass dagger.”
Fes breathed out. “How did you know?”
“I can feel it. There is a certain heat to it. You didn’t need a blessing to be blessed, but I thought that perhaps having the blessing might help you augment what you already possess.”
“And what is that?”
“That is the power that burns within your heart. I can’t see it, not clearly, but I can feel it.”
Burns. Like the anger he’d always tried to suppress. “I don’t know what you’re feeling.”
Theole pressed on the totem, which emitted a soft rumbling. “Perhaps it is nothing. I have been at this for so long that it becomes difficult for me to fully understand sometimes.”
“Why did you give me the totem?”
“Because you needed it.”
“I didn’t need it. I wasn’t at your tent to purchase anything.”
Theole studied him a long moment. As he did, the friendliness on his face faded, if only briefly. Darkness replaced it and then was gone. “There may come a time when you will have need of that blessing, when you will have need of that totem.”
Fes looked over at Indra. “She said she is only able to carve figurines for now.”
With this, Theole looked upon Indra with a loving gaze. “She will be more talented than me. She has such exquisite control at her age, and in time, that will only get better.”
; “If the totems have power, why do you sell them?” It was the same question that he had asked of Indra, but he hadn’t gotten much of an answer from her.
“Did I sell it?” Theole smiled and turned his attention back to his work. “There are plenty of other items that I had for sale, but the totems are unique. They are not meant for most people.”
“Why have them there?”
Theole continued to stare at Indra and didn’t answer.
Fes looked around. In the growing dawn, it was easier to see the totems that were arranged around the campsite. They were almost an equal distance apart, forming a circle around them. They were different, each of them unique, and he wondered if that was important.
“Do they really work? She said they help you avoid detection.”
Theole nodded to Indra. “We will see. If we make it back to Toulen, then they have worked. For now, they help her relax. Otherwise, I don’t think she could sleep.”
He pressed on the stone again, and this time Fes felt a distinct rumbling. He looked up to see thick storm clouds rolling in out of the east. Thunder rumbled again, though it was distinct from what he had just heard, almost as if whatever it was that Theole was doing to his totem had elicited the thunder.
“You may stay with us if you would like,” Theole said.
“I need to get back to my job.”
“But you’re alone,” Theole said.
“I hadn’t been, but with the soldiers…”
“I see. You offered yourself up.”
It had been something other than that. He had no intention of sacrificing himself. “I didn’t offer myself, but I was willing to try to draw them away.”
“And it worked,” Theole said, nodding knowingly. “You see? It doesn’t take long to know what’s in a man’s heart.”
“Others remain. I did everything I could to try and limit the damage, but I wasn’t able to stop all of them.”
“And that’s what you intend to do?” Theole got up and began to collect the totems around the campsite, putting them into a pouch that he carried on his waist. “You will complete your task with these soldiers?”
“I don’t know if I can stop them,” he said.
“And yet, you stopped the others.”
Dragon Bones (The Dragonwalker Book 1) Page 11