I felt my eyes widen and he held up a hand. “Not too bad, a cut to his arm, but it needed stitches. We were not long past a village and he said that he would ride back, get patched up and then catch up with us.” His eyes darted away and back again. “Except, he never did. We have been here in Pharindea for the past four days, but still no sign of him.” He licked his lips and nervously tapped his fingers on the table.
“It is clear there is more to this, so just spit it out,” I said, trying to keep my voice level and calm.
He stilled his hand, but kept licking his lips. “We had a messenger come by yesterday. Young lad, said Brant paid him a whole silver to come give us the message.” He paused and resumed his finger tapping.
“What was the message?” I hardly kept myself from snarling the words.
“Just remember, I am only giving you the message and he is a grown man, old enough to make his own decisions. I cannot be held accountable for it.” Seeing the thunder on my face, he quickly continued. “The message was that he had decided not to follow you any longer. He does not want us to look for him. He said to forget him.”
I ran a hand through my hair. The whole table had gone quiet.
I looked up to be met by eight pairs of concerned eyes. “Did you think he seemed different in the days leading up to that? Did you have any idea he might do something like that?” I was avoiding the question that was chasing me. I decided I had to face it. “Do you think he will go over to our enemies?”
Shocked silence followed my question.
Finally, stutteringly, Malion answered. “No, of course not. I do not know why you would think that a possibility. The days before, he seemed normal, if a bit quiet. He did not seem unhappy or anything. I just thought he was always a bit quiet.” I had also noticed him becoming increasingly introverted. I put it down to our group getting bigger. I should have known. I should not have let him stay with Roscien.
Lightning strike me as a fool, I thought.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
It turned out that Dhillion and Trissa had found the other group. At one of the inns they went to, the innkeeper said that they were not staying with him, but he knew where they were. He offered to draw them a quick map, but Dhillion had ‘asked’ him to show them, lest they got lost in an unfamiliar town. When he said that with a wide grin on his face, I could feel my blood boil. I was about to say something to him, when Alathaya lay a hand on my arm and whispered, “Not here.” I bit back my words. Maybe not here, but I was going to have to talk to him about this sooner or later.
Talk soon turned to the newcomer, Xain. I smiled at him. “You know all our Talents, so would you care to share with us what yours is?”
He smiled and I waited for his response. He did not say anything though. Just when I thought perhaps he simply did not want to talk in front of everyone, there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find Xain smiling down at me. Startled I looked back to where he had been sitting and he chuckled and gave me a cheeky wave. I looked back, knowing what I would see and still needing to look again. There he was, standing behind me. He slowly walked around the table and stood next to himself. I laughed. “Are you twins?”
This got a rumble of laughter from Roscien and the Xains. Then in front of my eyes, one of them started to shimmer until it seemed his whole body was shaking. Then he was gone. Simply disappeared.
Comprehension dawned. “You duplicate yourself.”
Another rumbling laugh from Xain. “Replicate is a more accurate description since I can make more than one copy.” His voice was as smooth as velvet.
I nodded appreciatively. “How many can you make?”
He shrugged. “I have had five going at once, although anything beyond that becomes… distracting and then the whole thing collapses.”
“How far can your copies stray from you?”
He rubbed his hand together. “I think as far as a hundred yards. The further they are the more tenuous my connection to them. Go much beyond that and I lose them.”
I nodded. “That is pretty good, but what can they do? Obviously, they do not simply mirror your movements, but as we are going into battle, can these copies wield a sword or shoot a bow? Do they think for themselves?”
He laughed good-naturedly at my questions. “They will be able to fight. They have all the skills I do, which is to say a considerable amount with both bow and sword. They will fight until taking injury. Even a mild injury will make them disappear. I cannot maintain a copy of me that is no longer identical to me. Likewise, if I should be injured, the copies will disappear. Assuming I am not mortally injured I can still make copies again and they will behave as though not injured, because of course they do not feel pain. As for your question of thinking for themselves, to a certain degree. I only need give them instruction on generally what to do, but they will do it without me having to give instruction for every detail. For example, if I told one to build a house, I would not need to explain to it stone by stone how to do it.”
I sat back in my chair. “So, now that we are all together, what is the plan?” Tas asked the question, but everyone stopped talking and looked to me for the answer.
We were not all together, Brant should have been with us, but what I said was, “We go to Magtisanya. I will get an update from Markai on what is happening there, but that is where they will all be, including Rakadamon, so that is where we need to go. We must bring the fight to them and catch them by surprise if possible.”
“Do we know how many of them there are?” Malion asked, his face was smooth, but he could not keep the slight waver out of his voice.
I shook my head. “Not yet, as I said, I will get an update from Markai, but it is likely that by the time we get there, there will be more still. One thing I know for certain is that we will not overpower them, we will need to fight smart.” And pray for a miracle, I thought. Looking around the table, I knew that together, we were a formidable force, but at the same time, there were still only nine of us.
The conversation resumed first in a subdued hush, but picked up until laughter rang out again. I could not stop thinking of Magtisanya and what might await us there. Finally, I slipped away and went outside.
The cool night breeze was refreshing after the stuffy common room. Markai came strolling over to me. I walked to meet her and we went over to a nearby green. We sat down side by side on the grass. “What news do you have?”
Her ice blue gaze held mine. Their power grows by the day. They are sacking villages as a method of recruitment. Hundreds are arriving at Magtisanya from these villages.
Suddenly the night air did not seem so refreshing anymore. “What of Rakadamon? Is he there?”
With regret in her voice, she answered, This, Beratus does not know yet. He directs what goes on, but he has not seen him.
I nodded, I had expected as much. “Do you know the way to Magtisanya?”
Her face did not change, but I could feel her smiling. Of course. When do we leave?
I rubbed my hands together. “First thing tomorrow morning.”
She stood. May the stars watch over you until then. With that, she was gone.
My talk with Markai had only served to stretch my nerves further. It was late by now and most windows were dark around me. I stood up and unsheathed Sunder. I fell into Shea-Rin. I had not done it in a long while, but it was like putting on an old cloak. I swept from one stance to the next. Flowing like water. It felt good. I could feel my muscles stretching and lengthening, the tension oozing out of me. I did not even have to think of what I did, it came naturally. It was good to clear my mind of all my worries. I was not aware of time passing; I was lost in the motion. By the time I finished, my breath came quick. I sheathed Sunder and spun at the sound of clapping.
A short distance away stood Alathaya. She was smiling appreciatively. When I saw her, she started walking towards me. “Now that was something to see. Where did you learn to do that?” She said, as she got closer.
I gestured for her to fo
llow and walked back to where I had sat with Markai. She sat down next to me, smoothing out her skirts with her legs stretched out straight in front of her. “That was part of my training to become LemMestari.” I had told them that I’d had training, but not the details of it, just as I had left out the details of my branding by Boryka.
She nodded. “I have never seen you do that before. It looked hard. How could you do that so well without having done it for so long?”
I shrugged. “It had always seemed to me that I was born to do that. That my body had been waiting for it and knew what to do.”
We both fell silent. She shifted in her seat and after a short pause she said, “Aliana seemed nice.”
I had no idea where that had come from. It felt like a long time since she had left. I looked at her, but she was studying her toes with great interest. “She is. She is kind and she always seems to make me laugh.”
She was pouting. Perhaps that was not the answer she had hoped for. She pursed her lips before finally speaking. “Were you more than friends, back in Predaki, I mean?”
I laughed softly, but quickly swallowed it when she scowled at me. “No. I liked her. I thought I wanted to be more than friends with her.”
She cleared her throat. “And now?” She asked in a small voice.
“I must admit that it was nice seeing her again in Sinsai.” I looked at her then, but she turned her face away. “Seeing her made me realise one thing though; we will never be more than friends.”
She looked up at me. “Why do you say that?”
I sighed. “Because I do not like her in that way. Plus, I think she was trying to make me and Brant jealous of her attention to the other.”
She sighed, a small sigh. When she did not say anything else, I continued. “There was one other thing.” She looked up at me frowning. “She really did pale in comparison to you.” I tried to keep my voice level, but my heart was hammering at the words. I did not know I was going to say them until they were said.
She looked up into my eyes, a small smile spreading across her face. Without even thinking about it, I leaned over and kissed her. Her lips were as smooth as velvet and as soft as silk.
When I finally, reluctantly, pulled back she was smiling. I thought she had never before looked as beautiful as in that moment. We walked back to the inn hand in hand.
I walked her to the door and with a fluttering stomach, gave her another good night kiss. Then I floated back to my room on a cloud of euphoria. All my senses were filled with her. I could still smell her, a faint fruity smell; I could taste her lips and feel her hand in mine. I was the happiest I had ever been.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
The next morning I went down to the common room to find Tas, Malion and Roscien already at the table. Xain and Dhillion soon followed. We talked a while waiting for the rest to join us before starting breakfast. My stomach skipped when Alathaya walked in. A smile blossomed on her face when she saw me. Trissa started giggling and I could feel my smile stiffen a bit. She knows. It should not have surprised me, women talked to each other over everything, but my nose was still a little bent that it was not just between us anymore. Seran came in soon after them and he gave me a knowing grin. For blood’s sake, when did he have chance to find out already? I fought to keep the colour from my face.
We had a good breakfast before we all went back to our rooms to collect our things and meet at the stables. I called Markai to let her know that we were ready and she appeared in an instant. She was excited to be on the way. Dhillion and Xain had not met her yet and this was not the place for an introduction so she kept herself hidden from all but me. The horses were sniffing the air. Although they could not see her, they could smell her and it was making some of the new horses nervous. Dhillion’s gelding started stamping a hoof and shaking its head. He laid a hand on his flank and it calmed within moments. He looked around with suspicious eyes. Did he suspect something or was there more than one-way communication between him and the horse?
With Markai leading the way for me and me leading the group, we set off out of town. We were heading north. We were not long out of town before Xain rode up next to me. “Did you get the update from Markai? Did she tell you where Magtisanya is?”
I looked over at him with a grin on my face. Markai revealed herself to the rest of the group, which made a couple of the horses rear up in shock. I laughed. Xain was expertly calming his horse, bringing it under control in moments without looking as though he was trying. He stared at her with big eyes.
Dhillion rode up next to us. “Is that Markai? She is incredible! Why do you not ride on her?”
I burst out laughing. I did not think of Markai as an animal at all. She was of the Fae and the idea of me riding her like a common horse was ridiculous. The idea amused her as well. I explained as much to him. “I would ride her. If she were mine. Why not? She looks strong enough to carry you.”
I shook my head. “Believe me, she is more than strong enough, but think on it like this. If Trissa was a bit bigger, would you ride on her back?”
He shrugged. “I remember when I was little she would give me piggy back rides. That is riding on her.” I sighed. Bad example maybe, but I was sure he was being obtuse.
I rode up next to Markai. “How far is Magtisanya?”
She kept her eyes straight ahead, as she answered. A few days. It is not precise. You must prepare yourself for the travel.
That did not make sense. “What do you mean by that?”
She looked at me then. Her blue eyes looking at me as if searching for something. When you had your ‘Seeking’, you did what no other human has done in over four thousand years. Since shortly after the Severance. I knew what she was referring to, but I waited for her to continue. I was hoping that I was wrong. You created a bridge to another plane of existence. The place where Fae walk freely. You will have to do that again, but this time, you will have to bring eight others with you. It will not be easy and if you should go wrong, they may all die and with your deaths, will come the death of our existence, as we know it.
I shuddered. She certainly did not put any honey on it. That simply did not bear thinking about. I was not even sure that I remembered how I had summoned that bridge. Quiniewa had told me then that I had risked my own life by walking across it. Especially since I had had no instruction. “Do you know how I did that? How I crossed between the planes?”
She looked at me and I could feel her confusion. You have done this before. I did not think you needed instruction.
I nodded. “But, this time I am not only risking my own life, but all theirs as well.”
Not wanting to raise concern, I dropped my voice to a whisper. Not to mention not wanting to have to answer difficult questions about how I would do it. “I did not know the risk the first time around.”
Her tail swished back and forth, making a snapping sound much like Seran’s whips. Last time you crossed in ignorance of the risk. This time, you know the risk. You will need courage, but if you have done it once, you will be able to do it again. She looked around at the group. They all have faith in you. If they did not they would not be here now. You have to believe in your own ability as well.
“Why do we not cross now? Why are we travelling in this plane, when we need to be in the other?”
A soft rumble came from her throat, her version of a snort. You are full of questions today. We travel here, because now it is safer. There, he will be watching and waiting. Here as well perhaps, but less so. The two planes are parallel. Travelling a day here is the same as a day there. We must get to the right place, a safe place to cross over.
We continued in silence for a long time. When we came upon a stream, we decided to make camp a bit earlier that day. We went about collecting firewood and refilling water skins. Markai trotted towards the woods and when I looked at her questioningly, she answered without looking back; hunting.
It was not long before she came back carrying a small deer in her jaws. The others all exc
laimed at her generosity and they started gutting and skinning it. By dusk, we had the deer on the fire, turning it on a makeshift spit.
Alathaya came to sit next to me. She had her long blonde hair in an intricate braid, which hung all the way down to the small of her back. I took her hand in mine and she smiled up at me. I did not care what the others thought; I was half-sure that they all knew already anyway. A suspicion that was confirmed when none of them blinked at us holding hands. We started chatting of the day. I told her of what Markai had said of Magtisanya.
She kissed the back of my hand. Light as a feather, brushing her lips against my skin. It made my heart skip and my stomach flutter.
She looked at me, her eyes pools of beauty that I could drown in. “I trust you. I will follow wherever you go.”
I gave her a tremulous smile. I fervently hoped that her trust was not misplaced.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
We spent a relaxed evening around the fire. Anyone looking at us would have thought we were simply travelling, not on our way to a battle that might change the course of the future. My thoughts kept returning to Magtisanya, but Alathaya’s closeness made even that seem a lighter burden.
It was the third day of travel. Whenever I asked Markai if she knew how long before we needed to cross over, her answer remained the same - a few days. I would have accused her of being deliberately vague, but through our bond, I could feel that she was telling me all she knew. Suddenly, she darted away into the trees beside the path. I had not heard or seen any threat, but that was the feeling I received from her. Focusing my Navitas I urged Balder to follow at a gallop. “Stay here.” I yelled over my shoulder as I sped into the trees. I was only able to follow her by following my sense of her; I could not see her.
My stomach dropped when I finally found her. She was standing over the body of a child snarling and snapping fiercely. “What have you done?”
Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Page 32