Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One

by Tania Johansson

  “Dhillion.” At some moments, he looked much older than his years, his eyes as hard as any man’s, but at other times, like now, he looked like a scared little boy.

  I glanced over at Thopher. I did not want to reveal our true identities and our reason for coming with the man standing right there, but how long were we meant to play this game? “Dhillion, we have a friend who would very much like to see you. Do you think you can come outside with us to meet her?”

  He did not hesitate a moment. “Of course.” He stood up and led us to the door.

  When Thopher made as if to follow, he said over his shoulder, “You should stay and finish what you are doing.” He promptly turned around and went back into the kitchen.

  As soon as we were outside, I looked around for Trissa. I did not have to look for long. She came bursting around a corner at a dead run. The moment Dhillion saw her, his face transformed. Pure joy washed across him and he ran to meet her. He was taller than she was and when they embraced, he actually lifted her off her feet and swung her around. She laughed deliriously.

  When he set her down, she held him at arm’s length and between wiping tears from her eyes, looked him up and down. “Look how big you are! Oh, I thought I would never see you again!” She burst out in sobs. “I am so sorry I could not stay with you! I tried Dhillion, I tried, I promise.”

  He was hugging her again and patting her on the back, hushing her. “I know, I know. It was not your fault.” That made her cry even more.

  At that moment, a sturdy woman with wiry brown hair came hurrying up the hill towards the house. Her face was a mixture of horror and fury. She rushed towards us, her hands full with baskets filled with market goods. Before she could utter a word though, Dhillion spoke. “Raminda, you need to take those things inside and help Thopher with the tea.” His face had gone calm again and that glint was back in his eyes.

  She did not even nod to acknowledge the instructions, but simply kept walking right past us and into the house.

  Trissa laughed through her tears and asked, “I always said you were too bossy, but how do you get them to listen like that?”

  She was joking, but I thought I knew now what his Talent was. It was the first time that one of the Alliance members’ Talents actually scared me a bit.

  “Dhillion, you do not need to stay here any longer. You can come with us. We will explain it to them,” she put venom into the last words, “but no matter what they say, you will be coming.”

  He beamed. “We do not have to explain. I will just need to pack a few things.”

  Trissa made as if to come with us back into the house, but I stopped her. She scowled at me. “Let me through. I need to talk to these filthy scum people. They just took him away from me! They knew what was happening and they did not have a problem with it.” She tried to push me out of her way, but I did not move.

  “We can take him from here without any fuss. Without drawing attention to what has happened. Believe me; I do not think they will come after him,” I said and looked over to Dhillion where he stood talking with Seran. “He will not let them.”

  Her face turned perplexed, but she stopped trying to get by me.

  Dhillion walked past me and I followed him back into the house. His room was spacious and comfortable to the point of being luxurious. His bed was big enough to sleep three people and when I sat down on it, I was sure it must be a feather mattress. The house did not look like that of a rich man, so I was surprised to find it so. He fetched a travel bag and a cloak and started packing his things.

  Thopher came into his room while he was still busy. “Dhillion, the tea is ready.” His voice was flat, but his face was strained. If I had not been able to see his body, I would have thought he was straining to break free of physical bonds.

  The boy looked at him coldly. “Go to the kitchen and have the tea with Raminda.” Without a word, Thopher turned and walked out, presumably to go and have the tea as he had been ordered.

  We walked past the kitchen on our way out and Dhillion stopped a moment. He looked in at them sipping their tea. His face was unreadable. “Raminda, Thopher, I will be leaving now and I am not coming back. You will never come looking for me and you will never send anyone in your stead. You will feel this loss as you felt the loss of your son.” His voice had gone hard and his eyes were flints of steel.

  They had looked up at their names, but their faces were impassive as he spoke. He marched out of the house and down the hill without looking back.

  All the way back to the inn, Trissa could not stop staring at him. Whether it was because she could not quite believe that he was with us, or whether she thought he might disappear if she were to look away, I did not know. Writ large over her face though, was pure joy. They were chattering away as though not separated for a day.

  Alathaya came over to me. “You did the right thing. She needed to get him back.”

  I smiled at her. “I know. I am happy for them.”

  This time when we went into the inn, the guard did not so much as flicker a lid at us. We sat down in the common room. We ordered supper and explained to Dhillion who we really were and what our plans were.

  I let Trissa explain to him of their heritage. He listened with rapt attention. “That does explain a few things,” was all he said once she was done. He was very interested in our Talents and asked many questions before his curiosity was sated. “So tell me of your Talent.” His face clouded over for a moment.

  The serving girl arrived with our meals and she set the steaming plates in front of us. The smell made my mouth water.

  When she went again, he looked over at Trissa. “I was only eleven turnings when we were separated. I did not know my Talent then. When they first took me, they were nice to me. They said that I would be their son, that they would love me. How could they say that when they had stolen me? Taken me from my sister.” He shook his head, a mixture of anger and sadness on his face. “They do not know what love is. I was not having it and it was not long before they started getting angry about my ‘wilfulness’, as they called it. She would keep my food from me unless I called her mother. He… well he would just hit me - for anything. If I stayed quiet, or said what they did not want to hear, or if I did not respond to being called ‘Lonas’. I think that’s what their son’s name was.” He went quiet for a while.

  When he spoke again, that glint that I could not put a name on was back in his eyes. It made me shiver. “One day he was getting angry and I knew he was working himself up to hitting me again. I was so scared. The last beating had only been two days before and I was still covered in those bruises. I thought he might kill me. Something just snapped inside me and I screamed at him; ‘No, you will not hit me. You will never hit me again!’ Saying it had felt different from before. Before, I had only ever begged him not to, but this time I had told him not to… and he listened. He has never hit me again since then. I realised that I must have made it so. I started trying it with other things and the more I practised, the better I got at it. I could make them do anything; could make them say anything. It was fun in the beginning. I would make them do things, things you may find cruel.” Shame flashed across his eyes, but it was gone in a breath. “But they deserved it and much more.” Trissa nodded at that, her face set in hard lines.

  “After a while though, I realised something. This Talent, as you call it, would not help me to find Trissa. I did not even want to go back to my hometown. What for? There was nothing there for me. So I stayed with them and made my life as comfortable as possible.” He spoke nonchalantly, but I thought that for a moment, true emotions flickered across the surface. That glint never left his eyes.

  “Do you know why there are guards everywhere? Has there been trouble in town?” I had been wondering about this since we arrived.

  He shrugged. “Not in town, but I have heard there has been trouble in other towns close by. Just the other day news reached us of an attack on Rhindale. That is only a day’s travel from here. So, I told t
he local traders to hire guards. Not that I care if this town gets sacked, but if the ones attacking are busy fighting off guards then I would have a better chance at getting away.”

  Seran seemed deep in thought. “That is a powerful Talent you have. As I am sure you have realised, you could either do great good with it or let it do great evil through you.”

  He looked at Seran, his lips pursed into a tight line. “If I was going to do great evil with this, I would have started with Raminda and Thopher back there.” Seran only nodded.

  “Tomorrow, we need to set off early for Pharindea.” I turned to Dhillion. “You have been living here some time now. Do you know the way to Pharindea?”

  He looked eager at the thought of leaving. He nodded vigorously. “I do, I made Raminda take me to their market a few times. They sell the biggest variety of sweetcakes in the world!”

  I smiled at his enthusiasm. Again, I marvelled at how he could be so childlike at times. “How many days to reach it, do you think?”

  He tilted his head to one side and looked up thoughtfully. “No more than one and a half day.”

  Relief washed through me and I nodded. “We leave at dawn.”

  I stayed with the rest of them chatting of small things for a while longer. When I had to stifle my third yawn, I decided it was time to go to bed. The room was spacious and I thought for a moment it was a shame we could not stay for longer. Tired as I was, I decided it best to make use of the wash water. I was already half asleep by the time I finally curled up under the blanket.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  I was the first to arrive downstairs for breakfast. I ordered enough food for everyone and all but Dhillion arrived before the food was brought out and him not long after. We were all eager to be on the road and we finished quickly. Walking around to the stables, I turned to Dhillion. “Of course we do not have a horse for you; you will just have to take turns riding double with everyone.” He did not respond.

  I asked for our horses to be brought out and the sprightly stable hand went back inside. When the last horse was brought out, Dhillion was still standing in the same place. “Do you want to jump up with me?”

  He looked up at me, his lower lip stuck out in a sulky pout. Abruptly he turned to the stable hand. “Bring me the best horse you have.”

  “You cannot simply take someone else’s horse, Dhillion. That is stealing.” I protested.

  He gave me an impatient look. “These people have done nothing for me. I am taking a horse for some repayment for what I have been through.” His jaw was set stubbornly as he grew more defiant.

  I let it go, not wanting to start us off on an argumentative foot. He turned back to the stable as the stable hand brought out a massive bay gelding. It stood raking the ground with a hoof as Dhillion approached it. I just stopped myself from asking him if he was certain he could handle a horse like that.

  He walked up to it confidently and laid a hand on the horse’s flank. In a matter of moments, the horse was as calm as a clear spring day. It lowered its huge head and rubbed it against Dhillion’s shoulder making him laugh. The stable hand looked astonished at this display, but had the good sense to keep his silence. Dhillion mounted lightly and sat with one hand holding the reins and the other on the horse’s flank. Alathaya looked at me with raised eyebrows. Clearly, there was more to Dhillion’s talent than he had admitted.

  We barely stopped at all during the whole of that day and kept riding until well after dark. We finally made camp and I gathered firewood. We sat talking companionably over a supper of cheese and flatbread. I moved to sit next to Dhillion. “I noticed that you calmed that horse quickly.”

  He smiled proudly. “Another little trick I have. It is also part of my Talent, but it feels different when I do it with animals. It just feels like I am talking to them and because I make myself intelligible to them, they listen.”

  I smiled, trying to make my next words softer. “Why did you not tell us this before?”

  Despite my smile, his face turned into a scowl. “I did not think it was relevant. What does it matter that I can calm a horse?”

  “Every bit of advantage we may have is vital and if I know of all our capabilities, then I can use it to its full advantage.” I did not even see her coming, but Trissa stormed across the camp, apparently having been listening to our conversation.

  “I will not let you use him!” She shrieked. “You pretend to be caring, to understand what we have been through, but really you are only thinking of how we can be useful. Well I am telling you now that we have been used enough. No more!”

  I was so taken aback by her outburst that I sat there silently looking at her now red face.

  “Trissa, do not worry, we are just talking. Calm down.” His voice was so smooth and serene that even I felt more untroubled.

  Trissa’s face went as flat as soapstone, and she smiled and nodded. “You two have fun chatting.” She drifted away.

  I looked at him incredulously. “You cannot simply wash away people’s emotions like that. She was only concerned for you.”

  When he looked at me that curious glint was back in his eyes. “Yes, I can. Especially when they react like that over nothing. I can look after myself. She will realise that sooner or later.”

  “You do realise when you do that, you are not solving the issue at hand, but merely ignoring it.” I reasoned.

  He shook his head at me. “How is it not a solution when I would not have to deal with that problem again? I tell her once, and she will remember not to do that again.”

  I thought about Thopher’s face as he followed Dhillion’s orders. He was fighting it tooth and nail. I wondered whether a person directed to do something by Dhillion, still had some small voice telling them to do otherwise. I hoped I would not have to find out, but somehow, I thought it more than likely that I would. His chilling rationale for using his Talent on anyone he pleased, left me shivering. I decided there and then to apologise to Trissa regarding my conversation with him. I felt a little guilty for knowing my only reason would be to probe into her real feelings.

  Later that evening, as Trissa was busy making her bed for the night, I cleared my throat to get her attention and she looked at me with a smile. “Trissa, I just wanted to apologise about earlier. I did not mean to upset anyone; I was simply trying to say that I need everyone to tell me as much as possible. With only half the pieces to a puzzle, you will never finish building it.”

  She gave a tinkling laugh and a dismissive wave of her hand. “I should apologise. I should not worry so. I will stay calm from now on.”

  I took her by the shoulders and looked her full in the eyes. “You had every right to be upset. He is your little brother and you thought I meant to take advantage of him.”

  A confused frown creased her brow. “No, I mean, no you were just talking. I know I should stay calm.”

  I had to quell the urge to shake her by the shoulders to try to snap her out of it.

  Alathaya laid a hand on my shoulder and when I looked around at her, she gave her head a small shake. I let go of Trissa and she turned back to what she was doing at once.

  I followed Alathaya to where she had made her bed and sat down with her. “I think we may have a serious problem with Dhillion.” I had dropped my voice down to a whisper, but I still looked around to make sure no one could hear. “Trissa did not seem to realise that Dhillion had compelled her to say those things. He does not seem to see the difference between using his Talent against his sister as opposed to the people who abducted him.”

  She nodded. “At the same time though we need to keep in mind that he has been away from family and friends for a long time and he is still a boy at that.”

  I looked around at him. He was laughing at something Seran was saying. “You are right, but we need to be aware of it. He could use his Talent on anyone of us and we wouldn’t even know. We need to look out for each other.”

  She nodded in agreement. I got my bedroll and made my bed next to hers.
She smiled at me, but there was determination, rather than happiness in that smile. “Tomorrow we hopefully meet up with the rest and that would make our group complete. On to Magtisanya then?”

  I nodded and returned a like smile.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  The sun’s first rays woke us. We had a quick breakfast of dried fruit and cheese before setting off. The group’s spirits were high and laughter filled my ears and lifted my mood. We arrived at Pharindea before midday. It was a moderately sized town and since we had not been able to specify an inn, I knew we had a game of hunt the rabbit ahead of us.

  I split us up into three groups; Trissa and Dhillion, Seran and Tas, and Alathaya and me. I was surprised when Trissa did not complain about being separated from Seran. We agreed to meet at the tavern we were standing in front of at dusk, whether or not we had found the rest. We went off in different directions and started asking around at inn after inn. I could not believe that a town of this size had need of so many inns and I started wishing we had agreed to meet in a smaller town. We kept looking until we realised that dusk had already set. We made our way back to the tavern, still asking at several places along the way.

  We arrived at the tavern tired and disappointed until we walked inside and saw them all already there. A massive smile crept along my face as we walked up to them. I noticed the dark, curly haired man with the hooknose sitting across from Malion - the final member of the Alliance. There was a fierce intelligence in his eyes, and as he gazed at me it felt as if he was probing my thoughts. They looked up at us as we approached and when Roscien saw us, he stood up and introduced us to Xain, who shook my hand with a firm grip. He bowed gracefully to Alathaya’s equally graceful curtsy. As we sat down, talk resumed, but I noticed a glaring omission.

  I turned to Roscien. “Where is Brant?”

  He pulled his brows up and pursed his lips. “It’s a long story really. I will tell you all the details later, but the short of it is that while we were travelling back, we came under attack. More of those Skell creatures. Anyway, Brant was injured.”