The Hekamon

by Leo T Aire

  "It's powerful, but not something that can be easily controlled. It has a mind of its own and might tell them things they don't want to hear."

  "I thought you said it spoke with your mother's voice?"

  "Only I hear that, besides its a voice you feel rather than hear."

  Now Galvyn was worried. That's how he would have described it, maybe there was something to it, he listened as Alyssa continued.

  "If they don't know already, that its something that doesn't want to be possessed by them, it won't take them long to find out. Someone like Jephson would rather destroy it than allow its existence, he would find it threatening and risk to his authority. I can't let the Ettinshel fall into his hands."

  "It might already have done so."

  "Yes, and it's starting to worry me more. If I'm ever going to get it back, I will need your help, I'm sure of it."

  "Helping you is the least I can do. I would never have let Tregarron take it, knowing its importance, but I had no choice, he's someone who can do what he pleases. He wanted to to take it, so he did."

  Alyssa looked at him curiously. "How did you know it was important? It didn't…speak to you did it?" she said, raising her head and resting it on her hand.

  "I could tell It didn't belong to Tansley, and since it was obviously valuable, I guessed its real owner would be looking for it."

  Alyssa nodded, seeming to be satisfied by his explanation.

  What he didn't tell her, was that when he held the necklace in the workshop, he had heard a voice, a woman's voice, and one that sounded familiar to him, too. He'd felt the sentiment rather than heard the words, and though the message it conveyed was clear, it was hard to make sense of, 'Don't mend the chain.'

  Why not? Had he heard right? Had there been anything to hear? At the time he thought he'd imagined it, now he didn't know what to believe.

  Perhaps he should he tell Alyssa. It might make more sense to her, but at the same time, it might trouble her.

  He would sleep on it, he didn't want to say anything that might upset her. Besides, saying it out loud would make it more real somehow, and doing that might upset him.

  Of course, he might not have heard anything, and had just imagined it. Yes, that would explain it.

  The pair settled down, and as the glow of the fire flickered around them, Galvyn lay back and watched the patterns it made on the roof of the cave. The shadows cast on the rock fired his imagination, which brought a question to his mind.

  What did it mean to say he had imagined it? He had never really thought about it before. Was it just memories? It couldn't be that, since he could see things in his mind that had not happened. Galvyn tried to activate his imagination, it wasn't something he normally tried to do, and he was not very practiced at it. Then he felt a spark.

  Suddenly, he was gripped by a feeling that his thoughts were not uniquely his own, but part of something greater. A mindscape of past, present and future seem to appear before him. The cold, hard rock of the cave fell away and he was bathed in a soft, warm light. He could see clouds and blue sky, hear voices and birdsong, smell flowers and feel a summer's breeze on his face. He momentarily opened a door to this world and in his mind's eye, he saw an imagine of something beautiful, and just as quickly, it slammed shut again, and the world before him was lost.

  Before the image in his mind had disappeared completely, a feeling manifested in him strongly, that to open the door again, he would need a key.

  The vision had come and gone so quickly, that Galvyn was momentarily disorientated by the experience. Unsure what, if anything, to make of it.

  Within seconds, most of what he had seen had become a distant memory, and knew that he would have forgotten all of it within moments.

  He had seen it with no ordinary senses and used a part of his mind that neither held memories, or existed in the physical world. He clung to the only feeling that he knew would persist, that there was something more and that there was a way to unlock it.

  Galvyn lay still on the damp mattress of leaves, with the roof of the cave above him, his eyes following the flickering shadows.

  What was it he been thinking about again? There was something that he needed to remember, something important.

  It would come back to him.

  In the mean time Galvyn decided that he needed to learn as much about the necklace as he could. He felt sure that the more he knew about it, the more he would be able to make sense of it. It held the key to something, but what?

  "Is the lock of hair inside the pendant your mother's hair?" He asked, turning onto his side to face the Fennrean girl again.

  "No, that tassel of hair is called the Solsceafa," Alyssa replied, her brown eyes given a golden hue in the light of the fire. "At least, that's what I was told, but I don't know whose hair it is."

  "That has a name, too?"

  "Yes," Alyssa smiled, "I did think of discarding it at one time, since only the necklace is important, but something Saskia told me changed my mind. She thought it had been placed inside the pendant for a reason, perhaps for safe keeping. By whom and for what reason, she didn't know, but I agreed with her thinking, and kept it."

  "Who is Saskia?" he asked, finding himself becoming just as curious about the people of Fennelbek, as about the necklace.

  "Saskia is a herbswoman. She is knowledgeable about such things. She was a friend of my mother and came to live with us shortly after her disappearance. Vondern seemed certain my mother would not be returning, and thought Saskia would be helpful in raising my brother and I. She accepted in return for being given refuge from the augur, a man from whom she'd fled. Her talents as a herbswoman were in demand."

  "The augur?" He wasn't familiar with anyone who went by that title.

  "He's in charge of the Augury, a wooden temple in the forests further east. Saskia told me that they conduct strange rituals there, and that the augur wanted to put her talents to uses that she didn't agree with. She believes herbs should be for medicinal purposes only, or, if they are to be used to converse with spirits, then it should not be with malevolent ones. Her lack of co-operation endangered her, so Vondern gave her refuge."

  Giving someone refuge? That was the first good thing he had ever heard about Vondern, but he didn't like the sound of the augur, "It's a good thing this Augury is a long way east."

  "I said it was further east, not a long way east."

  "Oh."

  "It's not that far," Alyssa indicated with a small movement of her head, "we supply them with herbs, empessence mainly, and they send us food in return, so we depend on them."

  Alyssa started making herself comfortable, and in the process rolled her woolen tights below the hems of the leather braccae, so her legs would be completely covered. As she did, her ankle tattoo once more disappeared from sight.

  "What power did the necklace give your mother?"

  "She didn't tell me, I might have been too young to understand. Later, I heard it gave her the power to make men fall in love with her, but I don't know if that was true," she said, laying down again and facing him, with her head resting on her hand.

  "I think it might have been true," he said, resting in a similar fashion.

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because I think you've inherited that ability," he said, blushing at the admission.

  "You're sweet," Alyssa said smiling, "and say the nicest things."

  She leaned over a kissed him and was about to speak again when something behind him caught her attention. Looking past him, her expression changed to one of shock and then fear.

  Sensing something was badly wrong, Galvyn turned and looked through the flickering fire and out of the cave.

  Moving out of the shadows and into the light was a man. Not much older than he but strong looking and holding a dagger, his expression one of fury and contempt.

  "What's going on?" The man growled, before becoming a roar, "What are you doing?"

  Galvyn leapt to his feet and took a step toward the fi
re, taking a burning log and retreating back into the cave. He searched for an answer that might pacify the aggressor but saw the man's attention was focused on Alyssa, who had jumped to her feet, also.

  Galvyn tried to place himself between them, but Alyssa moved to the side of the cave and, if anything, nearer the intruder.

  "He made me come here, I didn't want to," she said, her voice panicked and her expression one of fear.

  Her words making the man, who had reached the fire and taken a log, turn his attention to him.

  "Alyssa?" Galvyn called out, unsure of what was happening.

  Backing further into the cave, he reached out so she could take his hand. Together they might be able to fight the man off, but instead the girl backed up against the wall of the cave, further away from him and then out, past the fire and the man advancing toward him.

  Galvyn thought that, maybe if he could distract the man, Alyssa could make her escape.

  He turned and started running into the cave.

  Looking back, he could see the man was following him, a dagger in one hand, a burning torch in the other, face contorted in an expression of rage. As the man neared, Galvyn could see his pursuer's face was tattooed. He must be a ferguth, an enforcer. Suddenly Galvyn feared for his life, he was in mortal danger.

  "Alyssa?" he shouted, but heard no response, so stumbled on, further into the darkness, with just the light from the torch to guide him.

  100

  It was only when he was almost on the plateau, that the light of the fire became apparent. A few paces closer and there came the sound of voices. Their words were indistinct, but that there were people at the caves was now beyond doubt.

  His next step was to determine who.

  Moving forward, Kormak was now no more than fifty feet away, with the fire's orange glow illuminating the area. He couldn't see any sign of movement but the voices were becoming clearer now. It was still hard for him to make out any words, but they did not sound like the deep voices of woodsmen, either from the trading posts to the west, or the augur and his men to the east.

  Advancing, and using the trees for cover, Kormak was now just twenty feet away and behind the last tree he could use. Ahead lay the open area of the plateau and once beyond this point, he would be visible, there were no more shadows for him to hide among.

  Peering around the tree, he was unable to see who the voices belonged to, they must be inside the cave, with the fire at the entrance obscuring them. At that moment, a voice came through much more clearly. With no more trees to muffle the sound, the voice was unmistakable. It was the higher pitched voice of a young women, a voice he knew well.

  Taking the dagger from its scabbard, Kormak moved out from behind the tree, and as he did so, his perspective of the cave mouth changed.

  He could now see two people laying in an embrace, just beyond the fire and a little way into the cave. He stopped. He had been sure the voice he'd heard had been that of his sister, but now he was equally sure it could not have been. He have must have been mistaken.

  Just then, the two moved apart, and by the light of the fire he could see that it was Alyssa.

  He stepped forward and demanded to know what was going on. Who was she with? She didn't know anyone this this of the river and the voight had decreed she was beholden to Tolle, if she was acting willingly, the punishment would be severe. Had he just seen her kiss the man she was with? Or could his eyes have deceived him.

  "What are you doing?" he shouted.

  From her answer the situation became clear. She had not kissed him, she had not betrayed the ferguths or the betrothal she had accepted. It was not Alyssa who was deserving of punishment. It was the man who had tricked her and taken advantage of her innocence. It was something he was going to pay for.

  Kormak sized up his enemy, and saw that he was not a formidable foe, not by any means.

  Younger than he, smaller, too. He was no more than a boy. The Coralainian they'd captured had described him as such.

  So this was the one. The accomplice. Pretending he could recover Alyssa's necklace and taking advantage of her wishful thinking. So this had been his game.

  Seeing the boy had grabbed a burning log from the fire, Kormak did likewise and moved past the fire and into the cave. The boy grabbed for Alyssa, perhaps trying to take her hostage. If that was his plan, it failed. Alyssa sidestepped his grasp and was out of the cave and safe.

  Kormak positioned himself to make sure the Demedelite could not escape so easily, and, seeming to realize this, the boy made off in the only direction open to him, further into the cave.

  Kormak gave chase.

  He knew from his previous visits here that the caves went back a long way, but he'd rarely ventured far inside, there had never been a reason to do so. This time though he would go as far as was needed, nobody assaulted his sister and got away with it.

  A few dozen paces in, Kormak saw that it might not be a long chase. The boy ahead of him was stumbling and tripping over his own feet in his panic. Kormak tightened his grip on his dagger, he would be merciless. Even if Alyssa didn't demand it, Tolle and Vondern would.

  He could not return with an account of how he'd let the accomplice get away, or given him nothing more than a beating. When a Fennrean was harmed, there could be no leniency. His father had received no mercy, why should he show any?

  At that moment, he wondered if the boy knew. Was his anger so palpable that the boy anticipated his fate. If so, some survival instinct took effect, because, like a new born deer, the boy's ungainly legs suddenly found their proper gait and he started to move away with each stride. Kormak responded by running faster, too, and for a time he neither gained on, nor lost sight of the subject of his anger.

  As they went deeper, the floor of the tunnel became rougher, rocks and stalagmites littered the floor. It just needed the boy to trip and he would be on him, instead it was he who tripped, before losing his balance and falling heavily. The torch rolling from his hand and almost extinguishing on the wet tunnel floor.

  There were steams that ran down the hillside above these caves and the moisture was seeping in making the rock slippery underfoot.

  Getting to his feet, Kormak picked up the log and angled it low, so that the weak flame could recover. His progress would be impossibly slow without a light to guide him.

  As the flame recovered, so did he and within seconds he was back into his stride. While ahead of him, all that was now visible of the boy was the faint glow of his torch.

  Undeterred, he ran on faster. If he were to slip again, so be it. He must not let the boy escape, no matter what. Yet the boy was now out of sight, Kormak knew he had to get closer, if the tunnel were to split in two, he could lose him. But even now he could see that the glow of the torch ahead was hard to make out. Not just hard, impossible, there was no light before him, only darkness.

  By the light of his own torch, he suddenly saw why.

  The tunnel was changing, becoming a cavern, with incisor sharp rocks on the floor and ceiling, the cave was opening like jaws before him.

  The glistening wet rock was all around him but no longer ahead of him, before him lay only blackness. The floor of the tunnel ended.

  Kormak instinctively threw himself backwards and with as much force as he could muster, but his forward momentum was too great, and he slid on for several more feet across the wet rock.

  Reaching back and letting go of the torch, he started grabbing for any hold he could find, but instead found only loose stones. His feet and legs, sliding out over the abyss, his body following but slowing and only at the very edge of the precipice did his fingers find grip.

  Over he went, clinging to the ledge, his body swinging back and slamming against the rock face. The jarring impact almost prising him away and into the depths below. The wind knocked out of him and gasping for breath. Kormak held on to the cold, wet rock as he swung back and forth.

  Slowly his movement settled and his body became still. Yet no sooner had he c
ome to rest, than he started scrambling and searching desperately with his feet for something to bear his weight, but found no foothold. Instead only smooth rock and thin air.

  Hanging by his fingers, he looked up and saw the roof of the cavern, shadows flickering by the light of his discarded torch. He looked down and saw, for at least thirty feet, only blackness. He could feel himself slipping over and hear himself taking deep breaths. It wasn't the only breathing he could hear.

  Slowly turning his head, Kormak could see, only a few feet away and hanging by his finger tips, the boy looking back at him.

  101

  Alyssa stood alone under the stars and watched as the smoke from the fire swirled upwards.

  Lost in the firmament, Alyssa was overcome with a feeling of vertigo, as she suddenly found herself standing on a world turned upside down. With the smoke, not rising up but pouring down, like the sands of an hourglass. Filling the void below her with sparkling grains, that hinted at an eternity she could scarcely imagine.

  Standing on the hard rock of the plateau, and away from the warmth of the fire, Alyssa felt a chill run through her. A cold wind had descended, swirling about her and bringing with it the rustling sound of leaves falling through the branches.

  At least, it sounded like leaves, a look up told her otherwise.

  Against the star filled backdrop of the heavens, a dark cloud moved overhead.

  Warm bloodied, predatory and scurrying through the night sky, the black cloud was alive. The fire had attracted moths, and they in turn, bats. The sound of their leathery wings, causing Alyssa's skin to crawl and her shoulders to haunch.

  She walked a few paces back to the fire, and took hold of the last of the three logs Galvyn had placed there. Alyssa held it above her head, while wrapping her other arm around herself for reassurance, bowing her head in reflection.

  The flame she held aloft overcame the darkness, and the sounds of the menacing creatures above her diminished, until only the breeze in the trees remained.

  Alyssa slowly raised her head and stood impassively, staring into the blackness of the mountain before her.