Tragedy (Forsaken Lands)

by Cooper, Sydney M.

  Leniq was able to keep his mind exquisitely focused. His positioning was flawless, years of practice embedded deep in his muscles. The kelspar in the reflecting pools began to glow stronger. The teachings said that the kelspar, which clergy used to communicate over long distances, was also their connection to the gods. When the kelspar was ignited the gods could hear their thoughts. Even in the decline the clergy worked, believing that the gods would answer. Though the answers never came, Leniq concentrated like the rest of them. It was the thing to do.

  His concentration broke when he caught an abnormal movement in his peripheral vision. A compact young man he knew as the Divine Council's attendant stood in one of the many doorways. He was so startled by the interruption in the Communication - unheard of in his tenure as High Priest - that Sheyna nearly clocked him in the temple. She caught herself midway, similarly surprised. She glanced from the attendant to Leniq and back again.

  "What's he doing here?" She whispered. The other clergy around them continued their exercise, seemingly oblivious to the turn of events. Sheyna and Leniq moved off to the side to avoid a collision.

  "I should like to know that myself," Leniq replied. "You know how to lead the session?"

  Uncertainty flickered over her features. "Of course, High Priest."

  "Then go. I will see you after." Abandoning the young priestess, Leniq motioned the Council's attendant towards his office. They met each other inside.

  The boy looked as if he might faint at any moment. His name was Red, named for bright red hair, barely 20 years old and locked into service with the Council for the rest of his life. Leniq shut the door behind them, cut off from the sounds of the hall outside. The boy edged away from him just slightly. Leniq frowned.

  "I assumed this is an urgent matter. You can speak here." Leniq gestured to one of the large, plush chairs which flanked his desk. Red shook his head.

  "There's no time to sit. Sir, I..." Red gulped, hands clutched into pale white fists. "The governor and governess. They've been taken."

  "Taken?"

  "Yes, sir. By the Followers of Shelm."

  Leniq buried his smile beneath a contorted visage of shock.

  Chapter 5

  The sound of Aia's door banging open in the middle of the night forced Teveres out of a dead sleep. He dug his fingers into the mattress and clenched his teeth, willing his breath to keep an even rhythm. When he opened his eyes the room was dark, the night sky shining scant light through the windows. A tall, broad-shouldered figure stood in the doorway, his face obscured in the darkness. Across the room, Aia shot awake with a yelp.

  "What in the hell-?" She demanded, breathless.

  The figure produced a globe of kelspar from the folds of his clothes as if by magic. The room sprang into color around him.

  "My name is Garren." The man's deep, slightly rough voice had a faint accent to it. A bag heavy with cargo was slung over his shoulder. "The two of you are coming with me."

  Teveres rose, reaching for the absent dagger which normally hung from his belt. He could no longer feel the Justices who were supposed to be stationed outside. He had let his guard down too far.

  Lost, he looked to Aia, hoping she could read Garren's thoughts. Her blankets were drawn around her in a protective posture. Aia shook her head subtly, her voice sounding in his head; He thinks in Kaldari. I can't understand him. Kaldari was not commonly learned by children of the north.

  "You are missing something?"ds ; Garren asked, tossing an item onto the bed beside Teveres. Moonlight gleamed off of a very familiar blade - his blade from Ilvan, confiscated by the Justice who captured him. The smooth leather hilt with the mark of clergy stamped on the end conformed effortlessly to his grip. It felt like home.

  "We need to move. Now," said Garren.

  Teveres held the dagger poised at his side. "To where?"

  "This can be explained later. You do not want to be in this city once the sun rises."

  "Why?" asked Aia.

  Garren pivoted to address Teveres exclusively. He removed his hood, revealing the face of a man hardened by years of rugged living. At least in his 30's, Garren's dark hair hung to his shoulders, brilliant blue eyes remarkable against his dusky brown skin. A pitted years-old burn scar peeked out from where his neck met his cloak. "The governor and governess have been captured by the Followers of Shelm. They will come for you next if you stay here."

  "They've been what?" Aia gasped.

  "Who do you work for, and why should we believe you?" Teveres asked, right to the point.

  As if to answer his question, Garren snapped a cord from around his neck and tossed it in Teveres's direction. Teveres snatched it out of the air. The small blue sphere on the end of the necklace was, much like the knife, a salvaged relic from his life in Ilvan. Teveres had spent many mornings rolling it between his fingertips while Veni slept. It was passed down to her by her grandmother, a family heirloom. She never took it off.

  The room was spinning while Teveres stood still. The words Garren spoke - something about what to pack and for how long - were drowned out by a faint ringing in his ears. Aia had regained her fiery disposition and was arguing with Garren. He couldn't concentrate on them.

  "Where did you get this?" Teveres pointed at Garren's chest with the tip of his blade.

  Garren picked up Teveres's previously confiscated backpack and held it out to him. Garren's expression was unreadable. "I will tell you everything I can after we are clear of Nivenea."

  "Are you with the animals who murdered my family?” Teveres clenched his hand around the hilt of the dagger, his knuckles blanching under the strain. He withdrew his tight control on his ability just enough for Garren to feel Teveres's force manipulating his resonance, a show of restraint that brought him to the frayed limits of his mental dexterity. Teveres's skin blazed across the surface from the power.

  "I am not." Garren's voice was clear, his gaze steady. Garren did not flinch like all of the others before him, even faced with what Teveres had been told was a highly uncomfortable and terrifying sensation. The currents in the air did not sour with lies; the Kaldari wild man appeared to be telling the truth.

  Aia hesitated to interrupt the exchange. Teveres couldn't look het sdn't lor in the eye. His life had been forfeit from the moment that Garren tossed him the necklace. If Veni's livelihood was in question, he would do whatever Garren and his kind wanted. He owed her that much. Teveres seized his backpack out of Garren's hand, absently picking through its contents.

  Garren took a deep breath of relief, the moment of tension dissipated. "You have ten minutes," said Garren, placing the kelspar on Aia's kitchen table. Before Aia could speak Garren disappeared outside, waiting.

  "Do you know what's going on?" Aia asked, one hand authoritatively on her hip.

  "No," Teveres muttered. Everything in the bag from his mother's jewelry to the stale bag of granola was untouched.

  "Then why are you cooperating with him?"

  "He's telling the truth."

  "How can you tell?"

  "I can feel deception, and he isn't giving me that feeling. I'm sure you can feel it just as well as I can."

  "He's Kaldari," she hissed. "Even if he is being deceptive... and I'm not saying you're wrong... they're different than us. They're not so predictable. They change their minds at a singed hair-"

  "I don't care." Teveres slipped his sweater over his head, donning a plain thin shirt he used for traveling.

  "It's the necklace, isn't it? What does it mean? Don't make me go digging in your head for the answer."

  Teveres chuckled, still averting her gaze. He had already gone cold and distant thinking about the mistakes catching up with him. "Because that worked so well for you last time," he snapped, and instantly regretted it. She had been too kind for him to treat her so poorly. He slipped the bag over his shoulders, resting his elbows on his knees. "It belongs to someone I know. Someone I care...cared...about."

  Teveres was still diligently studying the
floor when Aia began rustling through her cupboards, placing an assortment of devices and potions on the counter.

  "I don't know anything about healing and I don't have time to learn," he eyed her skeptically. "None of your supplies will be of any use to me."

  "Maybe they aren't useful to you."

  It took time for him to process what she meant - why in any sane world would she even consider what she appeared to be considering? He rose, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her around to face him. Unruffled, she cocked her head in defiance.

  "Don't be stupid," Teveres growled. "You belong here. This doesn't concern you."

  "The crazy man said that both of us need to come with him. Besides, if you leave me here and the Followers come for me, I'm. & for me dead. And..." she shook her head, the words lost. "You're some kind of powerful, anyway. If we get into trouble you could just drop him, right? I've got nothing to worry about."

  He narrowed his eyes. "It's not always that easy. I can hold him off long enough for you to get out of here. Go find someone to live with for a while. A friend, or a-" he was about to say lover, but the words died in his throat at the thought that she might have one. He didn't have time to deal with his own foolish notions. "-a family member. Someone must owe you a favor."

  The stubborn way she stared up at him was both admirable and infuriating.

  "You're the first person I've met who is anything like me. Maybe I can help, maybe I can't, but I don't want you to disappear forever. I'm going," she said steadily. "Just try to stop me."

  Teveres let out an exasperated sound and stood back. She had a bag stuffed with half of her medical supplies and a smattering of clothes in no time. She donned a kelspar necklace, tucking the glowing stone under her tunic. Teveres sat at the table stewing quietly while Aia penned two notes, one for Delia and another for someone named Kyren.

  It was her choice, of course, even if it was the wrong choice. The stupid choice. The choice he wanted her to make, when he was honest with himself, if only to have one ally to walk beside him next to Garren. And when he found Veni, if she was hurt...

  He had to believe that she was still alive. When he left Ilvan his spirit was broken, Veni's survival his only sliver of redemption. He had no delusions or aspirations about being with her again. Even if she hated him and never spoke a kind word to him again, he still cared about her welfare. Her pain was his doing. If Garren was lying and she was in fact already dead, nothing would contain his rage.

  "Do you have everything you need?" Aia asked, carefully folding her sheets of paper.

  "I have everything I own."

  Aia settled her brown leather cloak over her shoulders, drawing it tightly around her. "Then I guess we can go."

  Teveres wanted to say a million things to try one last time to dissuade her from coming, but none of them seemed likely to work. As if on cue, Garren stepped through the door, looking them both up and down. He grabbed his ball of kelspar off the table.

  "We head southwest. If we keep steady pace we will find Torvid's Rest before the second sun. You walk in front of me, not behind. You." Garren indicated Aia. "Do you have a weapon?"

  "Not... really, I mean-"

  "Then you take this." He handed her a simple, unadorned blade. Aia evaluated it much the same way that she had evaluated Teveres's wounds. "I do not suggest that either of you use your weapons on me."

  "That won't be a probe e't be alem," Teveres replied. In the brief moment when Garren locked eyes with Teveres, Teveres felt a current of uneasiness thread through Garren's confidence. The subtle trepidation answered Teveres's most pressing, unspoken question. The man of mystery was afraid of him for exactly the right reasons.

  * * *

  Less than an hour from when they set out, the trio reached the base of Layvin's Embrace where it became the plainslands. Endless rows of struggling fields spread out before them atop the parched, split earth beneath their feet. Nivenea was fortunate to have a temperate microclimate which had protected the city from the relentless heat that plagued most of the inland areas of Elseth's Lands. It was palpably warmer once they cleared the tree line, even in the dark of night.

  Not two weeks ago Teveres had stood at the same tree line traveling in the opposite direction, hoping that Nivenea would offer him a new life. In many ways, it had. It just wasn't the kind of life he was expecting.

  Aia was already winded from the hike, wiping sweat from her brow. He remembered feeling the way that she did on the first day of his expedition out of Ilvan. Five weeks of travelling had lengthened his endurance considerably.

  Behind them Garren paused, surveying the plains. Small farmhouses peppered the mostly-flat landscape. Except for the dwindling corn fields there was very little cover between Layvin's Embrace and the forested area surrounding Torvid's Rest. It was nearly impossible to walk through the plainslands undetected except under the cover of night. The Kaldari was clearly mulling his options, calculating how quickly he could drive them to the forest.

  Outside of the setting of Aia's house, Garren's size was even more appreciable. He towered over Teveres's six foot tall frame and was almost twice as wide in muscle. Teveres had seen bears less intimidating.

  "You need to rest?" Garren acknowledged him politely.

  No, but she does. "You told us that you would explain yourself."

  Aia had already plopped on the ground beside a tree. Teveres leaned against the same tree beside her, shielding her from Garren.

  "It is what you would call a long story," said Garren, passing Teveres a canteen of water. "I am a scout from the Kaldari Coalition of Tribes. Neither of you are our prisoners as long as you cooperate - you are our guests. I am charged with safeguarding you until we reach our destination."

  Aia shot a glare at Garren. "I'm nobody's property."

  "Not for lack of trying, Aiasjia of Seldat." Garren flashed a genuinely amused smile.

  Aia was about to say something else when Teveres shoved the canteen into her hands. "And you know who I am?" Teveres asked.

  "Too many people have im people heard of the son of Ilvan's priest."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I'm not the only one who has been hunting for you. I'm just the only one who has something you want."

  "Why am I being hunted?"

  "Because the two of you have something we want - the Kaldari, the Children of Elseth and the Followers of Shelm."

  "What could you possibly want with us?" asked Aia.

  Garren shook his head, chuckling low in his throat. "Nivenean arrogance. Your people, they cannot understand what is outside their wall."

  "Niveneans might be more understanding if the Kaldari would talk instead of fight," Aia's voice took on a sharp edge.

  "Have you been to the southern border, healer? Have you seen what goes on there? If you had, you would not ask what we want with you. Nivenea sits in a bed of divinity while the world suffers around it. The Children of Elseth have grown complacent. The Kaldari are not." Garren spoke as a man with a personal stake in the conflict. He visibly restrained his potent feelings on the matter before he continued. "I was told to take you to the Coalition's camp. My contact will rendezvous at our safe house in Torvid's rest; from there, I will take you to our commander, Drei."

  Teveres looked at Aia, wishing that he could ask her one more time to go. She had no business throwing herself in with the Kaldari. They had Veni, which was reason enough for him to go along with Garren's requests. Garren had nothing to hold over her. She never met his gaze - instead she stood, brushed herself off and cracked her neck. Garren's patience for their questions had clearly run out.

  "I'm sorry if I offended," Aia said too softly.

  Garren's only response was a rough grunt and the crossing of his arms, waiting for them to lead the way.

  They walked through the night, sleep-heavy eyes strained by the rise of the sun. By morning they reached the forest beyond the plainslands, all hardy evergreen trees and harsh, rocky trails. Garren pushed them as
quickly as they would go. Even if a conversation were welcome, they were soon too tired to engage in one. Instead, Teveres silently fiddled with Veni's necklace between his fingertips, holding his many questions at bay.

  Out in the mountains, the day was unseasonably cold. The chill in the air seemed to steal the breath from their lungs. The terrain became more difficult the further into the forest they went, rendering any use of horses or vehicles untenable. The path to Torvid's Rest called for foot traffic only.

  While the fatigue was beginning to wear on Teveres, Aia was already looking defeated. He took hold of her arm, half-dragging her forward with him. She did not object, her stumbling gait nearly causing her to fall more than once. If Garren noticed, he didn't care. The Kaldari man was a sleepless, foodless machine. Not once did he show any signs of human fragility.

  Clouds were drawpands wereing overhead, threatening rain. It was beginning to sprinkle and the path grew dark again before Garren allowed them a respite. They found a small, nearly-even clearing in which to build a fire and make camp for the night. Mysterious bits of dried meats and fruits were rationed out among them from Garren's endless supplies. Garren disappeared into the darkness beyond the campfire's light, leaving them alone.

  Aia's arms were wrapped around her legs, her body shaking just slightly from the doubtless ache in her muscles and the bite in the air. She was barely able to keep her eyes open while she sucked on a strip of meat to rehydrate it. Teveres, too, was feeling the effects of lost sleep and tireless trekking; his own joints felt rusty, and he had a massive headache.

  So how did you end up at my house, anyway? Aia asked into his mind suddenly. The break in the silence was jarring; her method for breaking it, speaking directly into his mind, was even more so.