Morna stepped from the shadows and approached Dayn. “What did happen, son?”
For the first time Dayn felt shame rise to his cheeks. His mother was a devout woman and would never understand. “I…” he began. “I mean, we—” But for some reason the words refused to leave his lips.
“Oh, Dayn,” Morna said, judgment in her tone.
Vania approached her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Now, now, dear,” she said gently. “Daghadar will be the final judge as to whether or not Dayn did anythin’ wrong.”
“Did anythin’ wrong?” Haskel cried. “He disobeyed my orders for one!”
“But I love Falyn,” Dayn protested. “It’s not right that I can’t see her!”
“I don’t care whether ye love her or not,” Haskel barked. “You’ll not be seein’ that girl again!”
“You can’t order me about!”
Peadar squared his shoulders. “You’ll not talk to your elders like that, boy,” he said.
Dayn felt his own nerve shrink. Maybe he had gotten away with disrespecting his uncle before, but no one in their right mind would disrespect a Chieftain. “Sorry…sir,” he muttered.
“Don’t be tellin’ me. It’s your uncle ye should be apologizin’ to. Ye owe him your respect.”
Dayn slowly lifted his eyes. “Sorry, uncle.”
“I mean it, Dayn,” Haskel said. “You’re not to see that girl again, ye hear?”
Dayn opened his mouth to retort, but then snapped it shut. Nothing he wanted to say at the moment could be construed as respect.
“And if ye have an idea to dishonor your uncle by sneakin’ off again to see her,” Peadar added, “you’d best think twice. As Chieftain of the Aeries, I order ye to stay away from Lorcan’s daughter. Clearly she’s the one that warned the Vestry about us comin’.”
“That’s not—” Dayn began, but then he adjusted his tone. “Falyn wouldn’t do that.”
“How did ye know to meet her at the well?” Haskel asked accusingly.
“From her letter,” Dayn said.
“And when ye met the girl, did ye by any chance mention that we were headed to the meetin'?”
“Yes, but Falyn wouldn’t have had time to tell the Vestry before you got there. She and I were together for a long time. We only left when we saw—” Dayn stopped mid-sentence, realizing it best to leave Eyan out of the conversation. No sense in them drilling his cousin for information that Dayn would just as soon them not know.
“When ye saw what?” Peadar asked.
“When we saw how late it was getting. There’s no way she could have told them before you arrived, that’s all.”
“Regardless,” Uaine said. “We need to make preparations. I for one believe the clans should head home first thing in the morning.”
“An’ do what?” Brenainn asked. “Wait in our cabins ‘til the Vestry sends men with torches to burn us out? I say we stay ‘n fight!”
“I agree, up to a point,” Peadar said. “The women and children must leave of course.”
“Why must the women leave?” Vania asked defensively. “There’s not a woman amongst us that can’t wield a carvin’ knife or a pitchfork.”
Uaine scoffed. “Very well, Aerie women may stay.”
Peadar eyed the other Chieftains. “I’ll not be askin’ any of ye to stay and fight for the Aerie. It’s Dayn they want. He’s our responsibility.”
“The way I see it,” Brenainn said, “some of us’ll stay and some of us’ll go. But if it’s yon Dayn they’re after, then he needs to be leavin’ too.”
“No! I won’t!” Dayn couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If there’s going to be a fight on my account, then I’m staying. I—I—” Suddenly Dayn felt the room tilt and spin. His stomach was churning in one direction while his head was whirling in the other. He fell to his knees, clutching the ground for support.
“Dayn!” Alicine cried, but her voice sounded a thousand miles away.
Dayn’s tunic became drenched with sweat. He felt someone place a hand on his back, but it felt like fire against his skin. Heat filled his senses. It singed his throat and flared behind his eyes. “Fire,” he gasped.
“What do you mean, boy?” Uaine’s distant voice demanded. “Is it the demons? The Vestry? Are they sending fire?”
Dayn felt himself yanked up and shaken.
“Tell us what you know!”
“Leave him be!” Alicine pulled Dayn from Uaine’s grip and helped him to a bench.
“What’s wrong with him?” Uaine asked. “Is he possessed?”
“No,” Alicine said. She wrapped her arms around Dayn protectively. “He gets ill sometimes, that’s all. He’s not possessed. It’ll be over in a minute. You’ll see.”
Morna rushed to Dayn’s side with a damp cloth. “My god, he’s burning up!” She held the cloth to his face.
Alicine took it from her. “He’ll be fine, Mother. Go get him something cool to drink.”
Dayn doubled over and retched onto the floorboards. “And bring another cloth.”
When Dayn awoke he was lying on Eyan’s bed, a circle of concerned faces leaning over him. He blinked, trying to bring them into focus. “What happened?” he muttered.
“You were ill,” Alicine said.
“Ill?” Dayn tried to lift himself onto an elbow, but Alicine pushed him back down.
“How long?” he asked
“Not long. Do you remember anything?”
Dayn closed his eyes as he tried to recall. “Fire,” he said. “Something about fire.”
“What about it?” Peadar asked him.
“I-I don’t know. Maybe the mountain is going to send fire or—”
Uaine stiffened. “Are you claiming divination, boy?”
“Call it what you want,” Alicine said. “But when we were in Tearia a similar vision saved thousands of lives.”
Haskel looked at her suspiciously. “Explain,” he said.
“Dayn would get sick from time to time. When it happened, he would say the earth was moving, but no one else could feel it. Right before the eruption, he got sick, only worse, like now. That time he saw a vision. He saw what was happening under the earth and in the mountain. He warned everyone in the city of Pobu to get out.”
“Pobu?”
“Yes,” Alicine said. “He told everyone to get out of the city and they did. That morning, the mountain exploded.” She narrowed her eyes at Uaine. “If the people hadn’t listened to Dayn, they would have died.”
Brenainn moved closer to the bed. “So, lad,” he said softly. “Is that what yer seein’ for us?”
Dayn swallowed thickly. “Maybe…I—I don’t know. I just saw fire.”
Uaine threw his arms up. “This is nonsense.”
“No,” Peadar said. “It could be a warnin’ from Daghadar. An opportunity to save ourselves.”
“And if Dayn is wrong?”
“Nothin’ lost, nothin’ gained,” Peadar said. “The Aerie are the closest to the mountain. If it’s fire it’s sendin’, we’ll be the first to know it.” He turned to the others. “You each have a decision to make: whether to stay and help us against the Vestry, or leave to prepare for the mountain. We don’t know that either one’ll reach our borders at all, but before ye make your decisions, ye need to tell your folk what Dayn’s foreseen, even if it goes against their beliefs.”
“The Sandrights will be leaving,” Uaine said, then he seemed to reconsider. “But I’m a fair man. I’ll give them the choice.”
“Very well,” Peadar said. He turned to Brenainn. “I’ll not ask ye to stay, friend. You’ve always had our backs, but we may be facin’ a fight we can’t hope to win.”
Brenainn stroked his beard. “Well, I be thinkin’ that anyone who leaves is a damned coward—no offense to Uaine here.” He slapped his hand on Peadar’s shoulder. “Never knew a Basyl to run from a fight. We’re wi’ ye, all of us, if ye’ll have us.”
Peadar smiled. “Indeed we will.” He then t
urned his attention to Nort. “Nort, your homestead is the next in line after Haskel’s here. Would you be willin’ to take some of Brenainn’s men to your place to prepare a second line of defense?”
“Aye,” Nort said. “I’ll leave first thing in the mornin’ with Seela and Ben.”
“Good enough,” Peadar said. “I’ll explain to the Aeries what must be done, and I’ll speak with Ionhar and Eileis when they return.”
The men dispersed to spread the news.
Vania leaned down and felt Dayn’s forehead. “How are ye feelin’, dear?”
“My stomach’s a little queasy, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“I’ll mix ye up a brew.”
“No. No need,” Dayn said hastily. “I’ll be fine. Really.”
Vania nodded, but he could tell by the set of her mouth that she didn’t believe him. She turned and took Morna by the shoulders, then guided her to bed. “Let’s all of us get some rest,” she said. “Big day ahead.”
Alicine sat down next to Dayn. Eyan, who had been hovering in the shadows throughout the entire conversation, slipped to their side. “Is what ye say true?” he asked. “Is the mountain really goin’ to send fire?”
“Not to worry,” Alicine said. “If it is, we’ve been given plenty of warning, right Dayn?”
“I hope so,” Dayn said. “But it seemed different this time.”
“How was it different?”
“I don’t know, just different.” Dayn took stock of their worried faces. “Listen, the Chieftains have agreed to warn the clans, haven’t they? That’s a lot more time than the Jecta received in Pobu. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”
But Dayn wasn’t so sure. There was something about this vision that was more disturbing than all the previous ones. This time he had not only seen the fire, he had felt it. But of even more concern was the fact that he had seen a person standing between it and the mountain. And that person was Reiv.
Back to ToC
Part Four: The Edge of the Abyss
Chapter 28: Into the Black
It had been two weeks since the refugees had left the familiarity of their homeland to follow Reiv into the unknown. At first they had headed northeast, following the coastline until they met a branch of the river that took them due north. Keeping close to the river, they had managed to bypass most areas recently ravaged by the mountain. For a time, all went smoothly. The river provided enough fresh water and fish to sustain them, and it guided them through meadows and forests abundant with edible vegetation and wildlife. Many felt the gods had surely spared these regions for a reason; why not simply choose a place and stay? To this, Reiv reminded them that while the unblemished land did indeed hold many wondrous things, the gods had not spared it for them; it still belonged to Tearia. Best to keep going, he insisted, for they would never find peace in a place that claimed Whyn as its master.
By rights they were still in Tearian territory, but little of the landscape the refugees had traveled thus far resembled the Tearia of their births. For the Shell Seekers, there were no palm trees, no smell of the sea, no sparkle of sand or shell. For the Jecta, accustomed to mud-brick cities and dusty encampments, the land was greener and more alive than any place they had ever seen. But it did not take long for the geography to take a sudden and disturbing turn. They had reached the border of a region known as The Black.
The Black was an area of Tearia which had been utterly destroyed during the ancient Purge of Aredyrah. At one time, the capitol city had been located there, but liquid fire had consumed it, and the surrounding area was now nothing more than craggy ravines, macabre rock formations, and endless desolation. Reiv had no intention of taking the refugees too far into it; nothing could be gained by leading them through a land that symbolized death. But he knew that in order to reach the mountain pass they would have to at least step into it. He could only pray they would live long enough to step out of it.
The sun was ablaze in the sky, and the cool green forests that had previously shaded them were growing distant at their backs. Since late morning, they had been winding through an area dominated by red-rock formations and a labyrinth of striped canyon walls. The air was dry and hot, and the sun seemed to have grown three sizes since sunrise. As they worked their way through the canyon, Reiv feared he was leading them to a dead end. He honestly didn’t know whether or not he was, but there was little choice in the matter. Time was too precious for them to turn back.
He led the caravan onward, but he soon came to feel as if the canyon walls were closing in on them. If the Guard were to follow them, he knew there would be nowhere to run. He gazed up at the cliffs that towered on either side of them. The walls were jagged and patterned in shades of rust and pink and white. So strange, he thought, yet so beautiful. But he quickly redirected his attention when a loud gasp sounded from Jensa who was walking at his side.
“What is it?” Reiv asked anxiously.
Jensa was staring into the distance, her eyes wide and transfixed. “Shells,” she said, pointing her finger. “Oh look, Reiv—shells!”
Reiv turned his gaze to where she was pointing, and saw that not far ahead of them the ravine opened onto a vast and arid plateau. Beyond it a massive cluster of pink and white formations outlined the distant horizon.
Reiv smiled, realizing the scallop-shaped hills did indeed resemble giant shells. “I would like to see you put one of those in your basket,” he said with a laugh.
“Perhaps we could stay there tonight?” Jensa asked, not taking her eyes off of them.
Reiv squinted up at the sun, then estimated the time and distance it would take for them to reach the formations. The shells were probably not as far as they appeared; more than likely the caravan would reach them well before dark. “We cannot slow our pace,” he said. “We have to keep moving.”
“Oh please, Reiv,” she begged. “We are all so tired.”
“He’s right, girl,” Gair said at her back. “We’ll waste daylight if we linger there.”
The blacksmith shifted his grip on the handles of the cart he was pulling, then rolled his neck and shoulders to work the tension from them.
“Don’t you think it would do Torin good to rest for a while?” Jensa suggested. “He’s been jostled about for days now.”
Reiv looked past Gair’s cart and toward the horse-drawn transport that carried Torin. Torin, he was pleased to note, was fast asleep, and Kerrik, in a similar state of unconsciousness, was curled up at his side. Cora walked protectively alongside them; she had not let Torin out of her sight since she’d first tended him at the Jecta encampment. “He’s doing well,” she said in response to Reiv’s non-verbal inquiry. “Much better today I think.”
Reiv turned his attention back to Jensa. “You see?” he said. “Your brother is fine. No need to worry.”
“How can you be sure?” she said. “You know he’s not one to complain.”
“No, he is not, but…” Reiv lifted an eyebrow.
“Oh,” she said in challenge. “But I am?”
Reiv chuckled. “I did not say that.”
“Hmmph! You may as well have.”
“I promise,” Reiv said, “there will be plenty of time to rest when we get to the valley.”
Jensa nodded, but Reiv knew she was not happy about it. For the past several days now it seemed she’d been told “no” more often than not. When she’d offered to tend Torin’s bandages, Torin had said, “No, Cora will do it.” When she’d offered to help Gair pull the cart, he’d dismissed her with a wave of his hand. And when she’d asked if she could join the scouts that kept a lookout for approaching Guards, Reiv had replied “absolutely not.” In this, Reiv could not help but feel conflicted. Though he knew Jensa was perfectly capable of climbing trees and high ridges to help keep watch at their backs, for some reason he did not want her amongst the scouts. They were all male. And she was all female.
Now here she was being told “no” again. Was her request really so unreasonable? Perhaps his
response had been hasty. The heat and terrain were taking their toll. Why, if a man like Gair was showing signs of wear and tear, what must the others be feeling? But what else could Reiv do? He hated the thought of stopping at all, even at night, but in that he had no choice. The journey had been difficult; there were still many sick and injured amongst them. Dozens had died along the trail, but even in that Reiv had never risked a moment of daylight. He’d insisted the dead be buried at night, and had instructed the mourners not to place markers on the graves. If Whyn followed, as Reiv expected he would, it would be foolish to leave additional evidence along the way; their trail was nearly impossible to disguise as it was. No, he reasoned, they would not stop until dark. And that was his final decision.
With little fanfare, Reiv had become the leader of the caravan since the moment it departed Meirla. Even Yustes had warned the people against thinking otherwise. “There can be no conflict in the line of command,” he’d told them. “Reiv is leading us to Oonayei; our duty is to follow.” Reiv had to admit, he rather liked being in charge. He’d had so little power over anything this past year, it felt good to finally have power over something again. As for those he considered family, Brina had not forgotten he was a royal, and Torin was still too weak to argue with him, or anyone else for that matter. Cora held Reiv in high regard for what he had done for them, and the children respected him as a child should any adult. But when it came to Jensa…
He glanced at her, wondering whether or not he should prepare himself for another dose of her temper. Over the past several days, they’d had frequent arguments over his “acting like a fool of a prince,” as she put it. But this time she seemed barely aware of his presence at all; she was staring off at the hills, her eyes moist with emotion. She sighed sadly, and Reiv’s fortitude went a little soft. Perhaps he could offer her a compromise, or at least let her think he was. “Very well,” he said. “When we get there, we shall see how much daylight is left. Will that make you happy?”
Jensa smiled her beautiful smile, and Reiv could not help but smile in return. But then he detected a glint of satisfaction in her eye, and his smile all but evaporated. Had she actually tricked him? Even Kerrik was no longer able to do that, and he was the master of manipulation.
Souls of Aredyrah 3 - The Taking of the Dawn Page 27