The Seeker

by Simon Hawke

  “If I had not thought to turn around, that would have been the end of you, Your Highness,” Ryana said, stressing her title in a sarcastic tone. “Do try to keep up, won’t you?”

  “That horrible beast!” Korahna said. “You saved my life!”

  “Can we proceed now?” Sorak said.

  He saw that Korahna was already limping slightly as she came up. The moccasins were thick, but her delicate feet were clearly unaccustomed to the task of walking in the desert. He crouched before her and unlaced the left moccasin. She rested a hand lightly on his shoulder to balance herself as he raised her left foot to examine it. There was a large blister on her heel that had ruptured. It had to be quite painful for her, yet she had not uttered one word of complaint.

  “Perhaps you had better ride for a while,” he said, as he laced the moccasin back up. “I will examine your foot later in case the wound should fester, but it is better not to stop now.”

  Korahna glanced at the kank with trepidation. “I have never ridden on a kank,” she said. “Torian had a carriage for me…”

  “Ryana,” Sorak said. “Put her up behind you.” Ryana mounted the kank, then helped Korahna up. “Just settle your weight and hold onto my waist until you become accustomed to the gait,” she said. She looked at Sorak. “What about you?”

  There is no point in overburdening the kank,” he said. “I will go on foot. The kank cannot move quickly across this broken ground. It will be no hardship to keep up.”

  They continued on. The ground became more irregular and rocky as they traveled, heading east and going deeper into the barrens. The kank did not move much more quickly than they had when they were walking and being slowed down by Korahna. The giant beetle had to pick its way carefully over the rock-strewn terrain, which only grew worse. At some time in the distant past of Athas, a glacier must have moved across the desert, and here it stopped, depositing the rocks it had torn up from the soil in its slow advance. Before long, following a straight course became impossible, and they had to wind their way among the boulders in a serpentine manner.

  Ryana had to give the princess credit. She had expected ceaseless whining and complaining, but Korahna kept silent, even though her foot must have pained her, and her rounded buttocks, more accustomed to soft litter cushions and thick beds than the hard, ridged armor of a kank’s thorax, must have been quite sore. Before long, the sky began to lighten as the sun’s rays started to tint the horizon.

  “How long before they discover you are missing, assuming they did not find you gone during the night?” Ryana asked.

  “I have never been disturbed after I retired to my tent,” Korahna said. “Torian gave strict orders on that account. And Ankhor said that he is not an early riser. Still, the caravan drivers were all awake and at their cookfires by the time I dressed and joined the others. Torian always came to see that had risen, though he would merely call my name from outside the tent. And that was perhaps two hours after dawn.”

  “Then we still have a few hours before they discover you are missing,” said Ryana, calculating mentally. “Assuming that they mount a quick pursuit and send a parry down the southern route in an attempt to overtake us, that should add perhaps another few hours before they realize their mistake. The caravan is not likely to depart without you, so they will wait back at the spring until the pursuing party has returned. That will add a few hours more. With luck, we shall have almost a full day’s start on them if they decide to follow us into the barrens.”

  “Do you think they shall?” Korahna asked.

  “Perhaps not,” Ryana said, “but if I were Torian, I would. You are too valuable a prize for him to give up so easily, and he struck me as an ambitious and determined man.”

  “I knew what he wanted,” said Korahna. “I never would have given it to him.”

  “Then when he wearied of employing patience, he would have taken it by force,” Ryana said. “That is what men do. At least, so I have heard.”

  “Sorak seems different,” said Korahna, watching him as he walked ahead of them.

  “That is because he is different,” said Ryana.

  “He is not your mate?”

  “Villichi do not take mates.”

  “And yet you love him.”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “I can hear it in your voice when you speak of him. And I can see it your eyes when you look upon him. I may be young, but I am a woman, and a woman knows such things. I have not lived so sheltered a life as you may suppose. At least, not in recent years.”

  “Sorak is like my brother. We grew up together.”

  “You do not look at him as if he were your brother.”

  “And if that is so, then what concern is it of yours?” Ryana asked sharply.

  “It is no concern of mine,” Korahna said softly, “I was merely trying to know you better. I did not intend to give offense.”

  Ryana said nothing.

  “What have I done to cause you to dislike me?” asked Korahna.

  “It is not you so much as what you are,” Ryana said.

  “A princess,” said Korahna. “An aristocrat?”

  “A woman who has never learned to take care of herself,” Ryana said. “One who has lived in idle, pampered luxury all her life, supported in her comforts by the toil of others, her wants and needs secured at the expense of those less fortunate than herself.”

  “That is all too true,” Korahna said, “and yet my fate was not of my own choosing. I could not help the manner in which I was born. I chose neither my father nor my mother. And for much of my life, I was ignorant of how others lived. I thought that everyone lived much the same as I did. I was fifteen years old before I ever set foot outside the palace compound, and that in stealth, at no small risk to myself. When I saw how most of the people really lived, I was deeply shocked and moved to tears. I had never realized… I knew then that things were wrong in Nibenay and vowed that if it was in my power to change them, I would do everything I could to try. But I knew that I was I equipped for such an effort. In that regard, you are so much more fortunate than I.”

  “I?” Ryana said. “More fortunate than you?”

  “I would give anything to have been born with your gifts,” Korahna said. “The villichi reside in the Ringing Mountains, do they not?”

  “Yes,” Ryana said.

  “To live free in the mountains, to walk in the forest and sit by a stream, listening to the water over the rocks… I have never even seen a stream, only a spring in an oasis. I was taught nothing of the land or of the wild beasts. I was never taught to cook, or sew, or weave. Such things are beneath a princess, I was told, though I would have loved to learn them. And if a princess cannot even cook or sew, then she surely cannot fight. My body is soft and weak, while yours is strong and firm. I could not even draw that crossbow that you wield so expertly, and I would probably lack the strength even to lift your sword. I despise the life that I have lived, and I envy yours. I would trade places with you in an instant. Would you be so quick to take my place?”

  Ryana did not answer for a moment, studying her companion. Then, after a pause, she replied simply and cooly, “Of course not.”

  “You think I want to go back so that I may resume my former life?” Korahna said. “So that I may beg forgiveness from my mother and renounce the vow I took? No. I would rather die out here in the desert, which I yet may do. But if I survive this journey, I return to Nibenay not to resume my former life, but to begin a new one, not as a princess, but a preserver in the service of the Veiled Alliance. I know no magic, that is true, but I may yet be of some use to them is as a symbol, then so be it. It is better than being of no use whatsoever.”

  Again, Ryana did not respond immediately. In spite of herself, she was warming to the princess. “I may have misjudged you,” she said at last.

  “I could not blame you if you did,” Korahna said “In truth, I do not know if anyone could truly judge her life as harshly as I have judged my own.”<
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  “Perhaps not,” Ryana said. “But it is never too late to begin anew. One can always learn, if the desire is there.”

  “I have that desire. Would you teach me?”

  “Teach you what?”

  “Everything! How to be more like you.”

  Ryana had to smile. “That would take quite a bit of teaching.”

  “Then teach me what you say I lack the most,” Korahna said. “Teach me how to take care of myself. Show me how to fight!”

  Ryana laughed. “And this from a woman who moments earlier said she could not even lift a sword!”

  “If you will show me how, then I shall make the effort,” said Korahna.

  “You say that now,” Ryana said, “but when it comes time to make the effort, you may sing a different tune.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Truly?”

  “Truly.”

  Ryana drew her sword. “Very well,” she said. “Take this.” She handed it over her shoulder, to Korahna. “We will have our first lesson.”

  “On the back of a kank?”

  “It will serve as well as any other place. You said you wished to learn.”

  “I do.”

  “Fine, then. Hold the sword out away from your body, at arm’s length.”

  She heard Korahna grunt softly as she complied, holding it in her right hand. “It is heavier than it appears.”

  “It will grow heavier still.”

  “Now what?”

  “Just hold it there.”

  “For how long?”

  “Until I say that you can put it down.”

  They rode awhile that way, with Korahna holding the sword out away from her body, and Ryana glancing over her shoulder every now and then to check on her. Little by little, the sword began to drop as Korahna’s arm wearied of the effort, but each time Ryana glanced at her, she gamely raised it once again, gritting her teeth with the effort. Finally, when her arm could take the strain no more, the sword began to waver in her grasp and it dropped lower and lower as her arm bent, unable to keep it up any longer. Ryana glanced over her shoulder to see Korahna’s eyes squeezed tightly shut, her lips compressed, her face turning red as she struggled to hold the sword up.

  “All right, you may lower it,” she said.

  Expelling her breath heavily, Korahna lowered the sword, resting it against the kank’s hard shell. She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily once more. “My arm feels as if it is on fire!” she said, with a soft moan.

  “Sore?” asked Ryana.

  “Exceedingly so.”

  “Good. Now take the sword in your other hand and raise it with your left arm.”

  “My… left arm?”

  “The proper response is, ‘Yes, Sister,’” Ryana said. “Come, come.” She snapped her fingers sharply Korahna sighed heavily. “Yes, Sister, she said, with resignation and raised the sword with her left arm.

  Ryana smiled. Pampered, maybe, she thought. But spoiled? Perhaps not. Time would tell.

  Chapter Five

  By midday, they were well into the barrens. The terrain was difficult, and the going slow. Though the kank was surefooted and able to negotiate the rocky ground, its distress was clearly evident to Sorak, if not to Ryana and the princess. The Stony Barrens had been aptly named. Nothing grew here. At first, they had seen the occasional clumps of scraggly vegetation, but by now, they were traveling over terrain that was completely bare, and the kank knew that it would find no forage. All they could see for miles and miles was broken rock.

  Sorak picked his way among the larger boulders, but even where he found ground that wasn’t rocky, there was barely any soil visible at all. Where there wasn’t jagged rock, his feet crunched down on gravel. And as the day wore on, the merciless dark sun beat down upon the rocks until Sorak could feel the heat through his thick hide moccasins. He did not wish to overburden the kank, which was already carrying two riders. At the same time, he knew it would not be long before his footgear was completely shredded by the rocky ground. Though his feet were hard and callused, he did not relish the thought of going across the barrens barefoot. The temperature had climbed steadily throughout the morning until now, with the sun at its zenith, it seemed to Sorak as if his perspiration would boil away into steam as it dripped down his cheeks onto the ground. The heat was truly oppressive. Ryana rode the kank in silence, her body rocking slightly with the movements of the beast, while the princess leaned against her back, her head turned to one side, her eyes closed, her breathing slow and labored. Sorak had to give Korahna her due. She was clearly suffering in the sweltering heat, yet she had not uttered one word of complaint.

  “It was foolish of us to come this way,” said Eyron. “There is no end in sight to this hellish field of broken rock. We should have gone around it.”

  “The spell of the scroll indicated that we must follow this direction,” Sorak replied, speaking to Eyron internally.

  “Why?” Eyron persisted. “What is to be served by it? What will be gained if we suffocate from heat and die out here in this desolate wasteland?”

  “We shall not die,” Sorak replied. “The Sage would not have shown this way to us without a purpose. Perhaps that purpose was a test of our abilities and our resolve. We must not fail it.”

  “Perhaps the Sage does not wish to be found,” said Eyron. “Have you ever thought of that? Perhaps this is merely his way of ensuring that you cannot seek him out. Perhaps he means for us to die here in these barrens.”

  “I cannot believe that,” Sorak said. “If the Sage is un-willing to be found, then there seems little point to his discouraging our efforts in such a drastic manner. The defilers have been seeking the Sage for years, and yet they have never found him.”

  “So then what makes you think you will succeed?” asked Eyron.

  “We shall succeed because the Sage will want us to succeed” said Sorak. “He shall guide our way, as he is doing now.”

  “But how do you know it is the Sage who is our guide?” said Eyron. “The scroll came from the Alliance. What proof have you that it is genuine? It may be some plan of theirs to mislead us.”

  “I suppose that is possible,” admitted Sorak, “but I believe it most unlikely. If there was some reason why the Alliance did not wish us to succeed in our quest for the Sage, they needed only to claim ignorance. There was no need for them to give us the scroll.”

  “Unless they wanted to dispose of us obligingly in the Stony Barrens,” Eyron said.

  “Enough, Eyron,” said the Guardian. “You have made your point, and there is no need to belabor it. Besides, it is too late to turn back now.”

  “She’s right,” said Sorak. “If we were to turn back now, all this would have been for nothing, and we would only encounter Torian and his mercenaries, who are doubtless searching for the princess.”

  “There’s another thing,” said Eyron. “Why did we need to drag that useless baggage along with us? She is only an unnecessary burden. She did not even bring food or water with her. She will merely deplete our supplies.”

  “She will be necessary when we reach Nibenay,” said Sorak. “Besides, she is not nearly as much of a burden at the moment as you. I had expected complaints from Korahna, being as she had lived in pampered luxury all of her life and knows nothing of hardship, but she has not complained at all, whereas I have to listen to your pathetic whining. Look to the princess for your example, Eyron. She is not afraid.”

  “Eyron is af-ray-aid, Eyron is af-ray-aid,” Lyric taunted in a singsong voice.

  “Be silent, you miserable whelp.”

  “Eyron is a cow-ard, Eyron is a cow-ard!”

  “Will you two stop?” Kivara’s shout echoed through Sorak’s mind. “I am trying to sleep, and you are giving me a headache!”

  “That will be quite enough from everyone,” the Guardian said, exerting firm control as the other voices all fell silent. “Sorak needs his energy for the journey ahead. He does not need all of you adding to his troubles.”<
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  “Thank you,” Sorak said.

  “You are welcome,” said the Guardian. “If you are growing tired, perhaps you should rest for a while and allow the Ranger the fore.”

  “I will rest later,” Sorak said. “Besides, I have much thinking to do.”

  “You are concerned about Torian.”

  “Yes. By now, he surely will have realized we went across the barrens, if he did not see through our plan from the very start.”

  “You think he will follow?”

  “I am sure of it. I did not tell Ryana and the princess, for I saw no point in worrying them any further, but I would be very much surprised if Torian did not embark upon our trail as soon as he realized which way we had gone. He did not strike me as the sort who would discourage easily.”

  “Nor me,” the Guardian agreed. “The question remains, would the mercenaries follow him across the barrens?”

  “Given enough incentive, they probably would,” said Sorak. “And Torian has more than enough money to provide that. If not, Ankhor will undoubtedly back him.”

  “Undoubtedly,” the Guardian agreed again. “Still, we have a good start on them. They may not be able to catch up.”

  “I was wondering about that,” Sorak said. “It would depend upon whether or not Torian believed we had taken the southern route. If so, and the pursuit was sent in that direction, then chances are we have placed enough miles between us to outdistance pursuit. But if not…”

  “Then Torian may catch us?”

  “It is possible. We still have at least five or six hours’ start on them if they did not pursue us down the southern route. It would depend on how hard he drove his mercenaries. There is no way of knowing how long it will take us to cross the barrens. The maps do not give an exact distance. If Torian’s men were to travel all night, or most of the night, they could make up the time within a day or two. Three, at the very most.”