“Aye, Master Klain?” As the man stepped closer, Klain noticed an intensity in his master’s eyes he had not seen before. “Were you looking for me?”
With a last glance at the surrounding area, Klain decided it would not be wise to confront the man for speaking to himself. He did not understand all Human customs, yet he was certain accusing your master of insanity would not be a good thing. “Aye. Your son has asked for you to tell him a story before he goes to sleep.” It was the truth, though not this eve. Still, the boy had asked for it often and the man had never complied.
A wide grin split the Human’s face and he visibly relaxed. “Aye. With the preparations and then the trip, I have been negligent in my fatherly duties.” Holding up a hand, he indicated for Klain to move. “Lead the way, Master Klain. Charver needs all the sleep he can get.”
Looking past the man into the surrounding darkness, Klain knew they were alone. How the man had produced the female voice, he did not know. Still, had someone else been here, he would have picked up their scent. With a grunt, he turned and headed back to camp.
Mayhaps Timms is correct. Rohann no longer seems in control of his mind.
“Wait. Are you telling me that one moment you were in this Chi’utlan chamber and the next you woke up outside the walls of home?” Arderi Cor shuddered at the memory of using the Sending Stone underneath Mocley that took him in an instant to Bin’Satsu. “It sounds very similar to a Quay’ka’gana.”
In the fading light of dusk, his brother, Alant, looked over at him. “I have never heard of a Quay’ka’gana.” After four days in the saddle, both were beginning to get the hang of riding. Well, other than the sore backsides they both complained of every time they dismounted. “Yet, Quay is Old Tongue for travel and ka’gana is either into or of the Essence, so it makes sense.”
“There is one in the Undercity of Mocley. It is this big red crystal, and once I stepped under it, I Traveled to a mountain range in northron Silaway…like that.” Snapping his fingers to demonstrate, he half expected his brother to laugh.
Alant did not laugh. “Did it…Well, was it painful?”
“Painful! Are you joking! It felt as if my entire body had been crushed.”
“Aye, then. It does sound the same as what happened to me.” Alant adjusted himself in his saddle.
Arderi cut his eyes at Elith. The strange gray-skinned girl rode along as if not paying attention, though he knew it was a ruse. He turned back to his brother. “I wonder if the Chi’utlan acts like a Quay’ka’gana somehow.” Looking back at Elith, he once again tried to pull her into their conversation. “What do you think, Elith? Have you ever heard of such a device?”
“No, she has not.” That is all he ever got from her. A simple answer. After the girl had bolted from the Vimith villa, it had taken Arderi and his brother the better part of an aurn to catch her up. She was a skilled rider. Though why she ran off remained as much a mystery to him as why she had agreed to accompany them.
Now that he thought on it, everything about the girl was a mystery. Arderi did not understand why she traveled with them, where she was from, or even what race she was! The only thing he had been able to get out of her so far was that she had been ordered to find and capture his brother for some strange organization of priests. She spoke little—none unless talked to directly. If it were not for her beauty—
I do not need to take that path of thought. She is not even Human!
Still, he could not deny that she was pretty. Her lithe form moved with a grace he had never before seen in anything that lived. Even her silver eyes, like those of a cat, intrigued him. Of course, each time he thought this way about her, he remembered Rinear. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the red ribbon she had given him before he left Bin’Satsu. The two were as different as snow and sand. Where Rinear was soft and gentle, Elith was hard and forceful. Rinear had curves both above and below the waist. Elith had the shape of a young man, with no hips and little chest. Though, Elith stood much taller than Rinear, almost as tall as Arderi.
Trying to pry his mind from the girl’s body, Arderi shoved the ribbon back into his pocket and looked over at his brother. “Did you really stand up to a Shaper back home?”
“Did you really draw your sword on a giant lion-man?”
After a moments pause, both broke out laughing.
It feels so good to have my brother back!
He could not believe how much pain he had bottled up when his parents told him his brother had died. Now that they were together, it seemed as if nothing could stop them. Though, one thing had been bothering him since he had spoken with Ragnor. “What do you hope to accomplish once we get to this lost city?”
Putting a hand into his saddlebag, Alant pulled out a piece of dried meat. “I just want answers. What has happened to me? Why are so many people all of a sudden after me?” He chuckled. “I am sure I will come up with a few more questions before we arrive.”
“And how to fix it, of course?”
“Fix what?” Alant turned and glared at Arderi. “I am not broken! Is that what you think I am doing? Is that why you came?”
“I did not mean it that way.” Though he knew the words for a lie as soon as they left his lips. A pang of guilt struck him with the realization that he no longer saw his brother the same way.
Shaking his head, Alant pointed his dried meat at Arderi like a knife. “How else could you have meant it? You think I have something wrong with me!”
Arderi shrugged. He knew he had opened his mouth when he should not have. However, he had hoped, at least deep down, that whoever they found in this lost city would know how to reverse whatever had happened to his brother. “Alant, you said yourself you did not ask for this. I thought that mayhaps you would want to be normal again.”
Reining in his horse, Alant forced his brother to do the same. “Is that how you see me? As a freak?” He sat there glaring at Arderi. “You have not complained about me starting our fires at night. You did not complain when I healed you.”
Arderi raised a hand and shook his finger. “Now wait right there! No one would have needed to heal me if you had not tried to cook me with your newfound powers to begin with!”
“Well, mayhaps I would not have tried to cook you had you not tried to shove your newfound sword through my back!”
“It has gotten dark.” Elith’s words ripped them from their argument. “This looks like an adequate site to stop for the eve.”
Looking around, the road appeared no different to Arderi than it had for the past four days. The wide gravel road separated the Glonlore Bay on his right from the vast emptiness of the Asgarthian Plains to his left. They had passed no other travelers since the first day. It was as if all life had vanished and they were the last three to exist on all of Talic’Nauth.
Slipping from his mount, he began rubbing his buttocks and inner thighs. The pain felt somewhat less than it had last eve. He pulled his saddlebags and bedroll from his horse with a bit more force than was necessary. Elith had disappeared into the darkening countryside to gather wood for the fire. Arderi carried his things off the road and set them down in the place he would sleep. He then busied himself by tamping down the grass around the area to add a little padding under his blankets. His brother did the same a few paces away. Neither looked at each other. Once they finished, Arderi gathered the horses and went looking for a suitable spot to hobble them for the night. Somewhere they would be free to graze, yet not wander too far. He also busied himself with removing their saddles and brushing them down. Though Ragnor had not taught him to ride before he left, the large black man had made sure Arderi spent plenty of time caring for the animals. Ragnor said you had to learn to care for them before you could learn to ride them.
Thoughts of his instructor gave him pause. He looked out, trying to catch a glimpse of the strange gray-skinned girl.
I hope she did not
hurt Ragnor before we left. Or worse, kill him.
She said she had left the large black man tied up, though Arderi still did not trust her in full. Her attitude, so distant even from herself with the way she never said I or me, left a lot of room for doubt. A gust of wind hit him in the back, pushing his long hair into his face. Turning, he watched Alant standing in the center of the camp with his arms out to his side and his eyes glowing in that haunting red that indicated he held the Sight of the Essence.
A small whirlwind spun around him, uprooting the grass for a pace in each direction. It then blew the grass away into the darkness, leaving only bare ground where Alant intended to make this eve’s fire. Moments later, Elith came walking into the circle and dumped an armload of dried wood into a pile. His brother stepped back just before the wood burst into flames, casting the area in a warm orange glow. Thinking back to their argument, he had to admit that Alant was right—Arderi did not have an issue with his brother’s newfound abilities. It was everything else that Master Larith Rine had told him that made him uneasy. Alant had not sought out the power, as Larith said a Mah’Sukai would, and his brother seemed fine.
Still, what if the power itself drives him mad? What if a common man is not meant to hold such power?
Many of the things his brother could do Arderi was certain he had read about in the Book of the Twelve. Alant now held powers only the gods should! And knowing his brother’s disbelief in the gods—not to mention Elith’s warped view of their teachings with her “your Book is not as complete as the Book she has read” garbage—kept Arderi quiet about his fears.
“I am sorry.”
Arderi jumped. So lost in thought, he had not heard Alant come up behind him. Turning, he watched as the last traces of red faded from his brother’s eyes. Once gone, he appeared every bit the older brother Arderi had always loved. A good, kind-hearted brother who always helped by lending a hand or giving a shoulder to cry on. The brother who never stopped trying to talk him out of following Siln or Riln on one of their reckless schemes that always ended up with their Papa spanking everyone involved with a leather strap. The brother he felt so much pride for as he stood with his parents watching him at the head of the procession that took him to Mocley to train as a Shaper. How could Arderi doubt someone who had grown up watching over him? What did he really know of this Tat’Sujen Order anyway?
Between my brother and Larith, Larith is by far the less sane!
Stepping forward, Arderi wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged him tight. “Nix. It is I who should be sorry.” Tears streamed down his face and for the first time, he realized he never fully grasped the fact that his brother was not dead. He did not even think he had thought of this man as Alant, his eldest brother, until this very moment. Pulling away to arms length, he looked into his brother’s eyes. “You are alive, Alant. You are well and alive. That is all that matters to me.”
Alant flexed his eyelids and Arderi knew he fought back his own tears. “And you have grown up more than I thought. I am very proud of you, Arderi. All that you have done since you left home. It is amazing!”
Footsteps announced the return of Elith and the two broke their hold. Arderi turned to dry his eyes on his sleeve, then busied himself with finishing his bed.
After a silent meal of hardrolls and dried meat, Arderi announced he would take first watch. Alant seemed only too eager to comply, and soon he snored away in his blankets.
Walking just out of the range of the firelight, Arderi found a large stone block that had been discarded during the building of the road and sat on it to gaze out over the endless waters of the Glonlore bay. Salt hung heavy in the air and the stars in the sky went on forever.
As he did while on watch, he practiced taking hold of the Sight of Sujen. Rarely did he fail to seize it now. He had also become more skilled at reaching out and grabbing the Strands that floated around him. Less than half the time would they slip from him. Once he took hold of the Strands, he would use them to move small rocks or bend the tall grass that grew so abundant. It still felt odd.
It also made him feel a bit guilty for not sharing any of this with his brother. It was not as if he feared what Alant would think. It was just that now, after so long together, he could not figure out a way to tell him without breaking his brother’s trust. This just added to the guilt he felt for thinking as he did about Alant’s new powers. How could he sit in judgment of his brother having strange new powers when he, himself, did as well?
Footsteps brought him back to his surroundings. He knew it was Elith, for it had her graceful step. He knew, as well, that she did not have to make noise if she chose not to. A cloud floating in the sky made more sound than she did when she wished. Still, it spoke well of her that she would alert him to her presence. Letting the Sight of Sujen slip from him, he turned and looked in the direction she approached. “Hello, Elith. Care to join me?”
Her slim form materialized out of the darkness, and she glided over to him. Pulling her hood off, her snow-white hair glowed in the silver light of the moon almost as much as her eyes did. “If you do not mind, Arderi Cor. She would enjoy sitting with you.” It was the first time she had ever stated she would enjoy anything.
The two sat for a long time staring out over the rippling waves and listening to them lap against the rocky shore a few paces away. Though the weather grew steadily colder as the days headed into winter, it still felt pleasant enough to be out without a jacket. Reaching over, Arderi plucked up a small flat stone he had been pushing around with Sujen. Wrapping his index finger around its edge, he whipped his arm to the side and sent it skipping out into the water.
“You have the power to make rocks float?”
“Um…no. I just…Have you never skipped rocks before?” Glancing at her, he noticed the thin grin sitting on her face. “Oh, ha ha!” He did not think he had ever seen her smile. It enhanced her beauty and he wished she would smile more often.
Twisting to face him, she reached up and brushed a strand of hair from his face. In doing so, her fingers grazed the side of his temple, sending tingles down his neck and spine. As if ashamed of her action, she dropped her hand and resumed looking out over the bay.
Arderi’s mind searched for something to say. “You never did answer my question.”
Looking at him from the corner of her eye, her cat-like pupils reflecting Sainor’s silver light fully at that angle, she tilted her head to one side. “You ask almost as many questions as the Mah’Sukai, Arderi Cor. How is she supposed to keep up with them all?”
This made him chuckle. “Aye, we are an inquisitive family.” Placing his hands in his lap so he would not fidget, he bit his upper lip. “I meant my first question, when we met in that alley back in Mocley.”
She stiffened and started to rise. Placing one hand on her knee, he waved her to remain seated with the other. “Wait. I am sorry if I offended you. Please stay.” When she relaxed, he took a deep breath. This was the first time she had ever made an attempt to speak with him and he did not want to lose the opportunity to learn more about her. Still, by her reaction, he knew he must tread lightly. He would need to ease into the conversation. Get her talking. From his experience, once a girl started talking, they rarely stopped. And there was one thing all the girls back home liked to talk about…“Tell me of your family.” He thought mayhaps he had asked the wrong question when her blade pressed into his throat. That beautiful smile of hers was most definitely gone now. Slowly raising his hand to her wrist, he gently pushed the knife away. “All right.” He kept his voice soft, his words slow. “Not a subject you want to speak about. Forget I asked.” Once the weapon left his throat, he tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Tell you what.” He continued to speak slowly since she still held the knife and he did not want to push her any more than he had. “You start.”
With only a moment’s hesitation, she slid her knife back in its sheath. “Start what.”
“A conversation. You know. You sit there and ask me questions which I then answer without trying to kill you.” He made a point to keep his hand away from the hilt of Dorochi. “Then, I ask you a question. Mayhaps one that will not involve you trying to kill me. You know…we talk.”
She considered his proposal, a thoughtful expression on her face, for several moments. Finally, she nodded once. “She agrees.”
“Agrees? With what?” He did not know if she meant she would ask him questions, or answer his, or try not to kill him.
“She agrees to have a conversation with you.” She reached down and adjusted her belt knife. “And she will try not to kill you.”
Her statement was not comforting since he could not tell if she was joking. Still, it was a start. They had traveled together for four days now, and he knew nothing about her. Glancing at her knife out of the corner of his eye, he decided not to risk chancing whether she said that last bit in jest. “Aye. As I said, you may start. Ask me something.”
She did not hesitate. “How is it you have never ridden a horse until four days gone?”
Breathing a sigh of relief—he had dreaded what her first question could have been—he looked toward where the horses were hobbled. He could hear them chomping on the tall grass. “My brother and I grew up in a stead.”
Arderi flinched as Elith jumped to her feet. “The Mah’Sukai is a slave?”
“Nix. It is not like that.” He knew most people saw those who lived in steads as little more than slaves. Now that he had seen a little more of life outside of one he had to admit it was not far from the truth. “It is a fact that the steads were originally created as slave camps. Where those in charge forced people to farm and tend animals. It has not been that way for hundreds of turns of the seasons. Those who live in a stead are free to do as they please.”
Mortals & Deities Page 25