My attention snapped into focus and I reached for Navitas. Markai appeared, her huge bulk filling up a substantial part of the room. With the focus of Navitas and Markai’s presence, all of my senses became infinitely keener.
Immediately I became aware of a rank smell of rotting meat. I could hardly believe that I had not smelled it as soon as I woke up. The deep shadows of a moment before were now laid bare in front of me. A quick look around the room showed that whoever, whatever, had been here had already gone.
I went to the window and looked out, but could not see anything out of the ordinary. Markai sniffed around the room and vanished. A moment later, I saw her outside running with her nose low to the ground. Find them came her answer to my unasked question. I closed the shutters and secured them with the small hook.
I searched through my bags, but could not find anything that was missing. Could they have been looking for the sentinel, or the Book of Remembrance?
I had not told anyone of the Book and only my brothers knew of the sentinel. On the other hand, what else could they possibly have wanted? The Book was too big and heavy to carry on my person, so I packed it away, but I resolved to carry the small sentinel on me from then on. I laid back down without much hope of finding sleep again.
Eventually I let go of Navitas, not because I was sure of safety, but because the putrid smell in the room had started to burn my nostrils. Now that I was aware of it though, I could still catch a light whiff of it in the air.
Dawn found me still staring up at the ceiling of my room. I took out the small tub of cream Boryka had given me. The burns were healing much faster than I would have believed possible, but then recently, I had seen a whole lot that I would not have thought possible. The smell of breakfast was drifting into my room and my stomach rumbled loudly.
Not long after sitting down in the dining area, Brant lumbered in. He looked as if he had even less sleep than I did. Dark circles cradled his red eyes. He gave me a bitter look, but to my great surprise sat down across from me. He gave me a measuring look. “Good night’s sleep?”
I shrugged as casually as I could. “The mattress was a bit lumpy for my taste.”
He snorted. “You have always been one for games. As slippery as a sailfin. Enough. Did you have an unexpected guest last night?”
Candid speech I could respect. I looked at him levelly. “Yes. Although I only woke up after it had gone.”
His mouth pulled down at the corners. “It. Yes, either the person who did this had carried with him a bag of fetid meat or it was not a person. I am of a mind that it was the latter.” So, he had smelled it too. His nose wrinkled up as if he could still smell it.
I nodded. “Is anything of yours missing?”
He shook his head. “That is the perplexing thing. It had clearly gone through my things. Leaving its stink all over everything.” He blew out sharply through his nose as if to dislodge the smell. “It did not even take the coins from my purse. Catching me in my sleep like that, it could have easily killed me. Unless it had been sent by someone with specific instructions.” His eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.
I rolled my eyes. “Please, you cannot seriously believe that I had anything to do with that?” When he simply looked at me flatly, I continued. “If I was after something of yours, why go through the trouble of getting….hired help which left all the evidence bare when I could very easily have searched your things myself out in the forest the previous night?”
He did not concede my point, of course not, but the suspicion left his face. The serving girl came over with plates of sausages, fresh bread and soft butter. We ate in our usual strained silence. He stood up. “Pack up, we need to leave.” He strode off without waiting for a response.
Soon we were back on the north road. One positive that had emerged after the break-in to our rooms was that we were at least now talking to each other a bit more civilly. Talking of trivial things. We discussed skills we had learnt with Triak, exchanging ideas on tracking prey.
It was while talking of this when Brant spotted tracks in the muddy edge of the path. He held up his hand and reined Teeka in. We looked around to make sure this animal was not close by.
Brant dismounted and had a closer look. “Looks a lot like a wolf track, but not quite right. Too big for a start and this,” he pointed to the impression of the middle pad of the paw, “it is divided into three parts. Very strange, I have certainly not seen the like before.” He looked a question at me.
Again, I wondered how much I should tell him. A man who hates me and everything about me, but yet, was sent on this journey with me by the Cha, a man whom I trust with my life.
What made my mind up was the fact that while he was with me, his life was as much at risk from these dark creatures as my own. I took a deep breath. “I have.”
His head came up sharply, his eyes glinting like steel. Always so suspicious. “I came upon a village that had been burnt down. All the villagers murdered.”
His brows pulled together in a frown. “That does not sound like the work of animals.”
I nodded. “I believe they were not acting alone.”
He shuddered, shaking his head he said, “You speak of these animals as if they can think.”
I shrugged and then nearly yelped as Markai suddenly appeared next to me. Balder gave a surprised whinny and shied away pawing at the ground. With a soft word and a pat on her neck, I had her under hand quickly. Teeka, however, nearly pulled Brant clean off his feet. She reared onto her hind legs, whinnying loudly, her eyes rolling around wildly. It took several minutes to calm her down. Brant was breathless from the effort. “They must be closer than we thought to scare Teeka like that. I can just faintly pick up their rotten smell in the air here. Keep your eyes open.”
His assumption of leadership was starting to grate against my nerves, but in light of the situation, I gritted my teeth and swallowed my irritation. I reached for Navitas and instantly felt less nervous. We set off again. The tracks followed the road for a short time, but then veered off east into the forest.
Markai said that she had tracked the smell last night for several miles into the forests where it abruptly disappeared. I looked at her confused. How could it simply disappear? Did she lose the track over a stream or river? She looked at me with indignation.
I never lose a scent. This scent went to where no one can follow. Not here any longer.
Did that mean to a different plane of existence? Perhaps to the Fae? The denial from Markai was forceful. They are not Fae. We would sense them entering. They would not survive long there. No, not to the Fae.
As it obviously had not been Dyrrendrel that searched our rooms, this still did not explain the tracks. The only assumption to make therefore was that whatever had done the searching, were working alongside the Dyrrendrel or perhaps were in command of them. One thing seemed certain; it was not the same creature that had destroyed the village. If not I, then Markai would have recognised the scent immediately.
I thought back to what I had read in the Book of Remembrance. I could not recall reading about either a Twisted One or a Dark Child with such a distinctive putrid smell. That, however, did not mean it was not in there. I had not read half of the Book yet.
I happened to look over at Brant and saw that he was staring at me. His eyes cold flint again. I stared back at him and raised my eyebrows. “What?”
His eyes narrowed an instant before he looked ahead. I wondered what I must have looked like, staring off at seemingly empty air as I talked with Markai. I will have to remember to be more careful.
The next village along was still a day’s travel away so when dusk fell, we set up camp. We did not have any fresh meat that evening so I made a simple vegetable stew. My empty stomach was all too grateful for a fresh meal to even miss the meat.
Brant looked at me over the edge of his bowl. “We cannot take any chances. It is clear that there is something out there watching us and maybe more. We should take turns to stand watch. I w
ill take first watch.”
That tone of assumed authority again. It took me a moment to respond. I forced my voice to be firm, but level. “Watches are a good idea, but we will draw lots to decide them.” I was not bothered about who took which watch, but it was time to put a stop to his attempt at leadership. He looked at me consideringly before giving a firm nod.
I picked up two twigs of equal width and while concealing the bottom half in the palm of my hand, held them out to him. “Short twig you do the first watch, long twig, second watch.” He drew the long one. I showed him the other for comparison. Face like stone, he nodded.
Markai had checked a large perimeter around our camp for any signs of tracks or suspicious odours, but came back saying it was all clear. Brant settled in his bedroll and was soon snoring. I was sure that the thunderous noise he was making would scare away any unwanted visitors.
I took out the pot of cream and removed my shirt. Small dark scabs covered the brand. I started picking at them; I had never been one to leave scabs alone, even when Moma warned me she would give me some more to pick at if I did not stop. Most came off very easily; a few I had to scratch and peel at a bit before they would lift. By the time I was done, the brand looked nearly healed. I wished I had a mirror to see it in its entirety.
The night went by uneventfully. I woke him up a few hours later and curled up in my bed. Even though we had been more civil to each other, I was a long way off from trusting him. I kept Sunder by my side and Markai curled up next to me on the other side.
All too soon, I got a rough shove to wake again. I squinted up at him angrily for the harsh wake up, but did not say anything. Civil. Better to be civil, I reminded myself. We packed up and set off. Teeka was thankfully getting more used to Markai, only eyeing her warily every now and again until she left us again in the late morning.
With the sun high in the sky, we heard the rush of a nearby river. By wordless agreement, we veered off the road in search of a bath. It took us longer to reach the river than I had thought it would, but the cool clean feel of the water washed away any regrets about coming.
I kept my shirt on while swimming. I still was not prepared to try to explain away the massive brand on my front. Brant gave me a sidelong look when he saw I did not intend to remove my shirt, but he did not say anything. I took out my razor and did away with the itchy stubble. Refreshed we cut across the forest diagonally to make up for lost time.
It was still long past dark when we arrived in Pharea. It was quiet in the streets with the flicker of lamp light coming from only a few houses that we passed. We stopped at the Well Wined Inn. After handing our luggage and horses to the stable hand, we walked into the common room.
There were a few tables taken and a murmur of conversation drifted through the room. The conversation hushed when we walked in and more than a few mistrustful gazes met us. After we sat down the conversation slowly picked up again, but there was still palpable tension in the air. Wilm’s father, Master Haer, was always sharing his tales of the road and many times, he had mentioned stopping over in Pharea. He had never a bad word to say about the town or its people. I could not help but think that this would not have been the welcome that he had received. Brant was scowling at everyone.
When it became apparent that no serving girl was going to come, I walked over to the bar. The large woman behind the counter wore a frilly dress with large skirts, which only served to accentuate her size. Her hazel eyes were sharp though. She was drying a glass with a cloth that almost made me reconsider ordering a drink. She said not a word to me, but stopped drying the glass and lifted her eyebrows at me.
“Good evening. Could we have two mugs of ale and whatever food you have on offer tonight?” She resumed her perpetual drying and her eyes looked past me.
When I did not move, her eyes whipped back to me and she snapped, “Well go on then. It will be brought to your table. Do you think we are uncivilised here?” She was waving the glass around while speaking making her three chins wobble. I hurriedly sat down again and I noticed that we were still getting sidelong glances from the other patrons.
A gaunt looking man came out with our drinks. I looked up in surprise when he sat down at our table. He looked agitated, his eyes kept flickering between Brant and me and then across the room.
A bead of sweat slowly tracked down the side of his face and into his scraggly beard. He sniffed loudly. “Where have you folks come from today then?”
Brant’s face looked pinched. He frowned and his nose wrinkled up. “Who do you think you are, joining our table uninvited without even the courtesy of introducing yourself?”
The man nearly jumped out of his seat at the tone in Brant’s voice. He shook his head vigorously. “I do apologise, sir. I am Davin. Good innkeeper of the Well Wined Inn.” Pointing over his shoulder at the large woman behind the bar, he added. “I believe you have met my good wife, Melit. I do not mean to be rude, but I wonder if you would spare me a moment of your time, kind sirs?”
I gave Brant a stern look. “Go ahead.”
He nodded his head several times. “Thank you, thank you.” He folded his hands together on the table. His pink tongue darted out, ran across his top lip and disappeared again. Still nodding, he continued. “We have had a couple of…shall we say, unpleasant guests recently. Rough folk. Wore cowls and refused to take them off. They asked all sorts of questions of me and all my patrons. I do not appreciate folk being scared away from my inn. They left not a few hours before you came in. You have been on the road, have you seen anything unusual?”
We both answered at the same time. “No.”
He looked from Brant’s face to mine, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “Mmm.”
“Seems like these folk upset you some. What kind of questions did they ask?” Brant asked.
The innkeeper nervously glanced about before answering. “They wanted to know who had stayed with us recently. Asking us to describe any strangers.” He gave a small snort. “We have many travellers staying with us. I cannot remember all of them. I told them as much, but they did not like that as an answer.”
His hand went unconsciously to his throat. When he let his hand drop again, I could see it was shaking. “There was one more thing.” It was a long moment before he continued. “They were looking for two young travellers.” His eyes flickered over us and then back down to his hands on the table. “Described you two down to a hair. They left a message.”
Now I could feel sweat dripping down my face. When he did not continue, I said, “What was the message Davin?”
His eyes flicked over us again, his tongue traced his lip. He cleared his throat. “They said the others were wrong to choose you. You will stumble and you will fall and when you do, they will be there to make sure you never get up again.” He shivered. “I do not think these men were the type to make idle threats.”
I looked at him intently. “What did these men look like?”
He shook his head miserably. “Like I said, they were wearing cowls pulled low over their faces. Besides, I did not truly try to get a good look. To be honest with you, I do not even know that I would tell you if I could. I do not wish to bring their anger down on me.” He sighed loudly. “I will see what is keeping your meals.” He all but ran into the kitchen.
Brant looked pensive. “They seemed to think they know what we are meant to be doing. I wish I were more certain of what that is.” The last part he seemed to add more to himself, but I knew how he felt. I only had a very vague idea of what I was supposed to do. Find some people with talents similar to mine. Not a whole lot to go on. Even the Cha did not seem to have much more information.
Finally, our food was brought out. The serving girl dumped our plates on the table and darted away without a word, apparently fearful that association with us could be dangerous for her. From what Davin had said, I could not really blame her.
Between mouthfuls of sweet potato pie, Brant asked, “Do you think this is linked with the thing that searche
d our rooms?”
I thought it over and answered, “No, it does not feel the same. These men came in broad daylight openly asking pointed questions regarding us. Also, why would they be asking if we had been here if they knew that we were in Searille the night before last?”
Slowly he nodded; his face was a grim mask. “Perhaps. You had better know how to use that pretty sword of yours. It seems we have enemies on all sides.”
The superior note in his voice nearly made me lose control of my tongue, but things had been relatively amicable between us and we still had a long road to travel together. Best to keep it that way. He was right about one thing. We had more enemies than we were aware of and I was sure that soon enough we would be all too aware of them.
We did not stay in the common room for much longer than we needed to in order to finish our meals. We were both feeling the stares from the other people in the room boring into our heads. I even heard a few muttered curses in line with complaining about troublemakers.
I was tired from the day’s travel so I did not mind the early bed. The room was small with a narrow bed and small side cabinet taking up most of the space. It smelled slightly musty, but at least the mattress was considerably more comfortable than at the Brown Water inn. On the other hand, maybe I was just more tired.
I again put the Book and the sentinel next to me under the bedding alongside Sunder. I took my shirt off and had another look at my brand. I ran my hand over it picking off any remaining scabs. I was amazed at how quickly it had healed. If I closed my eyes and simply ran my hand over it, I would not have known that there was any mark there at all.
Thankfully, I had no late night callers and only woke up when the sun shone bright through the window. The room was stuffy with sleep so I threw the window shutters open. I stood there for a moment drinking in the clear morning air. It was a beautiful day.
I arrived to breakfast before Brant. The bony innkeeper greeted me with a bright smile that did not reach his eyes. “I am sure you still have long to travel. We have a good breakfast today of hard-boiled eggs, bread and some freshly picked peaches from our own trees. I expect you will need to be leaving after you have eaten. I will ensure we have your bags and horses ready for you.” His smile became fixed, his eyes determined. The message was all too clear. We were to leave in a very timely manner.
Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Page 11