Around them, others took notice. The temple had no prohibition against fighting, yet it was still rare enough few did it on the grounds. A priest stood nearby approving of their movements as if he graded their technique.
Jalcina scrambled up to find her opponent standing statue calm a few feet away.
The urge to scream threatened to choke her.
Who was this to keep her from freedom.
More people came from the temple proper to see the spectacle of a public fight, among them were her two would-be protectors. Mekan moved slower than the other, but he still came.
Her opponent did not move toward her but glowered with thunderclouds in his eyes as if he could drive her back with a stare. Let him stare. She did not intend to lie down and allow someone else to decide her fate again.
No one in the ring growing around them moved to stop the pair from reengaging, but it was obvious the fight would go to the man. He stood taller, broader, and moved with the air of someone who had been in a thousand battles over the course of his lifetime. Jalcina however could only shower him with her growing rage. She struck without precision and though he did not strike back, he made it clear she only seemed to win. The anticipation of the blow she would receive hung in the air above the spectators. Everyone knew it would come.
When it did, she tumbled to the edge of a stone enclosed ornamental fountain, one half of her body ending up in it. He did not approach her, but allowed her time to rise to her feet again, dripping water and muttering curses.
"I say again, go with them. Bide your time. Rise, but do not do it now. You are not ready."
Whipping hair out of her face, Jalcina shook her head no. She was done being pushed about as if she were little more than stock to be herded from one place to another. Once upon a time, she expected her Father would come for her. Lecern tried. No one had been able to save her. Now she would save herself.
Except their altercation had cut off her escape route and as she stood there, Velkar drew close and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let it be," he said. "We need to go."
She shoved his hand away and raised her chin. Jalcina refused to just be led away. Standing in defiance of the watchers, she turned to her opponent and made a sign none had seen in the time of Leviana's reign, at least not this far South. A sign even her Father had never known she knew, the sign of the mortal enemy. The promise of death should one ever cross paths again.
And her opponent smiled before turning to walk away.
Velkar touched her again, feather-light on her exposed skin.
"Everyone's seen you," Mekan said. "You've made our job much harder."
Jalcina shook her head and stalked into the face of the crowd daring someone to stand their ground. No one did. They parted before her as if she were a queen come to survey her realm.
"Come," she said. Then she headed down the path littered with chunks of the mountain itself, black ground made hard by time and feet. The two men followed and no one attempted to stop them.
Toward the mountain, the city had no gates. There was no need. Who would come to fight them from that side. Soon they were simply amid the hustle and bustle of the city proper and Jalcina returned again to keeping her eyes down. Here the press made movement hard. People jostled her one way then another. Some noticed the blood, but other than a few shocked gasps, no one tried to stop them.
"Can we still make the meeting?"
Velkar checked the movement of the sun.
"There's still time, but we have to hurry. Priam might think we're dead."
"Damin is," Mekan said, his voice gloomy.
"He is," Velkar drew in a steadying breath. "We are not. The mission…"
"Is paramount," Mekan completed. Of course it was. Only Velkar didn't really know why. Mekan wouldn't tell him. He risked so much. To break his heart would be a worse betrayal than sticking a knife in his back. Better to let him go to his death thinking he had done something worthy of his cause.
Whenever Jalcina got out of arm's reach, one of the men would strain forward and put a hand on her to insure she stayed close. After what happened at the temple, she couldn't blame them. Their lives were just as forfeit as hers if things went sour, which they nearly had.
Inside, her rage simmered. It offered her warmth she hadn't felt in a long time and strength. Long ago, she had given in and lost everything. Now those who fought her would have to take what they wanted while she fought them every step of the way.
Ancel watched as the others pulled her away. Those around them meant nothing. They served their purpose. Of course, it no longer mattered. She awakened, not fully, but enough he felt her. She would be strong, but only if she survived her ordeals and they would be enough.
He looked back up the mountain where he felt the other, the darker side, his son. He was incomplete now, just as his daughter was. They had to find the strength in themselves to go forth.
Stretching out his hand, he shimmered the air. Those still close by saw him leave and gaped before dropping to their knees.
"Lord Ancel," some gasped.
They had been visited by their God. If only they had known sooner.
Around the trio, bodies pressed tight. Humanity's throng moved with a dance all its own through the sometimes too narrow streets of Velkar's home city. He led the way without stopping, cradling his arm to hide the worst of the damage and prevent jarring. Mekan tried to keep up but he was getting slower. If he didn't get back and rest soon, he wouldn't make it. He had no choice but to keep going, putting one foot in front of the other and keeping Velkar in sight. Just to his right, Jalcina moved in a trance. If he needed to keep her from trouble, he reached out to her, but mostly he let her be. They had trouble enough without inciting her to run off again. Losing her in the temple had been enough. The memory of panic made his wounds weep. If only she knew the sacrifices others made to save her. If only she knew…
He stole a glance as she moved around an obstacle almost without seeing it. He had to wonder about her strength.
Her fight in the garden gave him nothing. She lost and not even by a close margin.
They reached the edge of the merchant district where small goods were stored. Though one could sell larger things inside the city, they were rarely stored there. They had to be brought in. So they hoped to be able to get her out in one of the out going loads to keep her from being seen. If they still had their contact.
When Velkar rapped on the door, the sun wasn't high, but moving slow and low toward the horizon in favor of night. Mekan held his breath waiting for someone to answer. If they had missed their window…
Their contact opened the door a sliver and then wider as she ushered them inside. Her garb said house servant, but her bearing said more.
"We'd almost given up on you," she said. "Where's Damin?"
"He didn't make it," Velkar said showing off his destroyed arm. "We may have succeeded, but we lost him. Tell me it was worth it."
"With her back on the throne, it is certainly worth it," the woman said turning to Jalcina. "Dear Immortal, forgive the treason of others. We only seek to be faithful." The woman bowed to her. "I am Cyla. My mother has served as your tailor for years."
If Cyla expected Jalcina to know her, she didn't act like it. From her introduction, she swept over to what was left of a meal. "Eat quickly. We can still make the caravan if we hurry and we must make the caravan."
"Are you going with us?"
"I have to. You'll need someone who speaks the language of the caravaners. They are Utican even if they are going down to Denden."
"They don't speak the common tongue."
"Some do, but not well. It aids in our deception. If they do not know the language, few of them have seen the Immortal. It gives us better cover. Plus no one will expect her to travel without her own countrymen."
"We need a surgeon," Mekan said as he lowered to the floor. "I have injuries and so does Velkar."
"I can take her without you," said Cyla. "Thank yo
u for your service, but we don't have time."
"You are not going to take her without us." Mekan threw a dagger glare at her for her words. "I will not abandon this now."
"Then you will have to go as you are. We don't have time to call for a surgeon and make the caravan."
"Perhaps we can get a surgeon once we are with the others."
"You ask much of those who have offered aid."
"They have offered us much, that's true." Cyla offered some small wheels of bread around with slabs of meat on top. "But they want to save our world. So they will give us what they can. Eat."
Jalcina stood off to one side and watched the others move. They offered their lives to her.
"I do not intend to go with this caravan," she said.
"Immortal?"
"Don't say that."
"Yes, be careful what you say. Others may hear." Mekan cautioned with his mouth half-full. "We cannot stay in one place for long. There was a fight at the Summit Temple."
"What?"
"There was a fight. She fought a man in the temple garden during our escape. I thought we had lost her. Except she was not gone. Luckily."
Cyla's face contorted with pain.
"Others took risks."
"Damin is dead," Velkar said. He did not hide his disappointment.
"I feel for your friend, but I cannot go with the caravan. I cannot."
"Where will you go?" Cyla's question brought back the words of the stranger in the garden. Friendless and alone. No matter where she went, her blood meant gold for whomever could bring back her head. Her life would be spent on the run. "Where will you go?"
"I don't know," Jalcina admitted. "I don't know, but I know this is not what I want for myself. Not any longer."
"You are starved and out of sorts," Cyla said. "If you eat then rest, you'll see things differently in the morning light. Rise, we need to leave."
The men finished their food and Jalcina returned hers untouched.
"There are travel clothes for each of you. We should go now as the dusk crowd thins."
Together they moved through the city with Cyla in the lead. Reaching the gate to the main road out, they were stopped by several members of the guard. As they all wore the signs of the Utican caravan, he did not stop them from leaving the city to join their brethren in the flat lands.
As they passed into the camp, Jalcina breathed the smell of horses and cut grass. The caravan brought it. Little grass grew in the ground around the capital. The black soil defied it. Many of the tents wore the uniform white and gray of those who traveled the northern climes. Jalcina longed for the stripe of vivid blue she remembered from her own homeland. Sartolian blue, a color she could not remember seeing anywhere else. Not the color of the sky, not even as it came to the winter storms, but a shade created to adorn the earth.
A burly man with a long thick frosted brown beard met them near the edge of the camp and beckoned Cyla forward.
Jalcina did not understand his words, but his manner was clear. Trouble waited. Cyla came back with a darkened countenance.
"We can't stay."
Mekan's mouth quirked into a frown before he pulled back his hood enough to reveal his full face.
"What's happened?"
"We've been betrayed," she whispered to the group. "There are guards among the caravan."
"We can't go back," Velkar said. "If they are already here, the gate must know."
Mekan nodded. "Cyla, is there another plan?"
"No."
"Do we stand our ground?" Velkar asked. He had managed to makeshift immobilize his arm through the use of his shirt, but he could not hope to best anyone in a fight.
"We don't dare," Mekan said. "We need to make our way out of here as quickly and as quietly as possible. The problem is we will have to make a run for it. There is no where to hide around the capital. The ground is flat and barren."
"The touch of Ancel's blade," said Velkar. "Perhaps he will aid us in escaping."
"Perhaps. Our only hope is that darkness aid us."
Jalcina listened without a word. Providence offered her another chance to escape. It reminded her of waking alone in Vad'Alvarn's tent and then making off with his horse into a blizzard.
The blizzard…
She rubbed her fingers together as if expecting snowflakes to fall from them. Nothing happened. The others continued to plan as she tried to summon the strength she had upon waking. The awareness of the world swirling around her, anything to bring back her power.
A gentle hand interrupted her thoughts.
"We need to get to the horses."
The animals they came to were draggers, Jalcina thought. They were not meant to run long distances, but to put their weight into it and pull. She put her hand on the neck of one of the creatures which turned and fixed one eye on her in question.
"I do not know where we go. I have no friends here. Will you be my friend?" She offered the animal her hand to sniff which it lipped at expectantly.
"Don't tease him," Cyla said. "He's expecting you to have an apple."
"Oh."
"We've no choice but to ride double. Mekan with the lady. Me and Velkar. Try not to lose one another in the dark."
"Where are the guards searching the camp?" Velkar's question got a furtive look from their host. If he didn't speak the common tongue, he understood enough to get the question. He pointed into the distance as if indicating the other side.
The group mounted up and prepared to make their way. Quick eyes checked over and over again for the missing moon. Providence had given them true darkness.
"Hurry," Mekan urged. "Night might still cover us. If we can get far enough away."
The horses trotted away from the camp and into the dark at the push of their riders. They weren't completely used to the saddle, but they were docile enough to keep from bucking and being foolish with passengers. Every few minutes, Velkar looked back for pursuers. Mekan kept his eyes forward, looking for some track across the waste. The road to Denden was not hidden in daylight, but at night there was little to show it. Lantern light might have aided them, but it also afforded their enemies a better chance to find them.
"Do you think we've escaped?" Cyla asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps." Mekan's uncertainty had little to do with their pursuers and more to the idea of where they were going. If they had already been discovered trying to escape using the caravan, certainly their destination was no secret. Their ship might not be in Denden when they arrived.
Jalcina's warmth against his back did little to sooth his aching body. The desire to sleep pressed hard against his eyes as they traveled. All would have to rest and they had no provisions.
He rubbed his eyes hard. They should have planned better, seen more possibilities. He had been seduced into thinking this would be simple.
Because he knew how important it was, he would have taken the chance even if it seemed impossible. He had to save them all. They counted on him.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
His companion kept her silence, just her breathing to remind him he had company. The noise of the horses muffled him from the others, so he pulled close.
"I think pursuit is coming. We may have to split up."
"Are you certain?"
"We cannot risk it, certain or not." Maken overrode Cyla's objection. "Velkar, I need you to lead them away. Can you?"
"What are you going to do?"
"I hope they don't know how many of us there are. If they don't then there is a chance they will chase you and leave us be. The darkness is our only ally."
"We are of the Light," Velkar said.
"And we serve the Light. This is our truth," responded Cyla.
The Light they served was not embodied in the woman they risked their lives for. Not anymore, but he hoped there was still enough for his purposes.
"Backtrack, but just enough to find out how close our pursuers are before heading out again. Lead them north as if we intended to head inla
nd to Kerlan."
"That will draw suspicion on the Councilor."
"If they know we tried to use the caravan, they already know about the Councilor. If she hasn't made provision for her own escape, then she will not survive. I would worry more for your mother, Cyla."
Cyla hid her face and Jalcina almost reached out to her across the short distance between the horses.
"If we split up, how will we find each other again?"
"Make the ship if you can. If they sail without you, you know the destination. Find another. Now go!" Mekan kicked the horse he rode into moving faster, much to the animal's dismay. Carrying two and making any speed did not seem to be the creature's interest at all. Jalcina leaned up to his ear once they were away.
"You may have sent them to their deaths."
"What business is it of yours?" he asked. "You are not the person they would die to protect."
The horse could not complain and even if it could Mekan would have heard none of it. Pursuit had thankfully not come for them in the night and they would make it to Denden soon enough. The ship was not slated to leave for a few days as it had anticipated the caravan's pace not that they would be rousted out to have to hide sooner.
That would mean his men were not prepared.
Stall, he had to stall.
The draft horse looked out of place against the others in the stable, but the stableman made no comment. He took the coins offered to him and even advised them on a good inn nearby where they might take their ease. As they still wore the garb of Uticans, he spoke slow as if they barely comprehended. The common tongue of the Empire continued to seep into the far country, but it did not have a good hold there yet. Mekan did nothing to change the man's perspective. After all, it aided in their disguise.
Instead of going where the man recommended, Mekan led them down to the docks and then to a place which looked nothing like a building. Jalcina pulled back when he entered.
"Where are we?"
Ruins of Fate Page 5