She realized she made the wrong decision when she awoke in the morning to find her arm around the girl, the two of them sharing the blanket of her greatcoat. Curled up next to Caddie, Marta reconsidered her father’s words: Families did indeed belong together, she thought, the girl reaching out to Marta for succor when her own family was unavailable. She had not given comfort to another in years, the idea that someone would turn to her for it nearly breaking the remains of her heart. And in that moment Marta decided her father was correct in his forgiveness. She would turn her back on her brother’s mission and make sure the girl was reunited with her father, even if it meant the nation of Newfield would again go to war.
***
They reached the ley before noon, their headaches alerting them to its presence despite it being nearly invisible in the daylight. Luca strode straight to it, placing his hand within the flow and connecting to the Dobra network. Marta knew the basics of how their network functioned, but only the Dobra knew how to pluck these strings of ley and make them sing. And even if another Listener discovered how to hear their messages, they could not decipher them since they were transmitted in the Dobra’s own secret language. For a Dobra to intercept a message and use it for his own benefit was an instant death sentence. Everyone knew this and none dared to defy it, which made Luca’s willingness to do this so readily troubling to Marta.
He remained in the ley for nearly twenty minutes before his eyes began to flutter. Due to the ley headaches, the Dobra usually only sent their missives once an hour, a quick flurry of messages before the pain set in. Only in the largest cities did the Cousins keep a Listener at the station at all times, rotating them in and out when the pain began. Luca Listened a long while, finally removing his hand and returning to them.
“What did you learn?”
“That it’s noon,” he offered blithely. Before Marta’s anger could get the better of her, he went on. “They’re all searching for you. Or, more accurately, a woman who was in the Traitors Brigade named May Oles in the company of a blue-eyed girl. No mention about Isabelle or me, so we’re lucky in that regard, at least.”
The confusion as to her name was cold comfort to Marta, the brand on her forehead and the blue-eyed Caddie more than enough to warrant capture no matter what they believed her identity was.
“The message came on the hour,” he continued, “which means it’s a general alert sent out through all the ley. Anywhere we go, so long as there’s a line nearby and someone to read it, they’ll know you. But there’s good news as well. Most of the messages on this line were addressed to Colonel Davis Underhill. Seems he’s in charge of the military outpost here.”
That actually was good news, Underhill’s mismanagement of the Western war effort so egregious he earned himself a demotion and was relegated to a forgotten outpost far on the edge of Ingios territory. With Underhill mishandling his troops here as well, they had a much better chance of slipping by.
“And, most important, I know where we are. There’s a road not far from here that will make travel much easier.”
She believed him in this, at least, since Dobra Listeners memorize all the lines of ley connecting the land. Few knew the layout of the nation better than a Wandering Dobra. Fewer still would know how to navigate the territories unseen better than a Dobra with a death sentence hanging over his head. Luca’s status as a freebooter would play to their advantage.
Marta mulled this over, finally coming to her decision. “We’ll walk the road in pairs—Isabelle and me together and Luca ahead of us with Caddie. They’re searching for a woman with a blue-eyed girl, so hopefully no one will look too closely at a man traveling with one. We’ll take the road far as we can, meeting up again at night.”
It was a bit of a gamble letting Caddie out of her sight with Luca, but with her rabbit legs, Marta was sure she could cover the ground faster than he if he attempted anything. Isabelle would also function as her hostage, Luca sure to know Marta would kill her without hesitation if she sensed any treachery. The only question was how much he cared for his mute cohort.
Caddie’s hand in his, Luca immediately shattered the silence with his constant flow of trivial words. Marta listened as his babble finally receded into silence before she and Isabelle set out. Isabelle had removed the colored strings from her ears, letting her hair and false skirt down to now appear more Mynian than Ingios.
Their footfalls and occasional snippets of Luca’s one-sided conversation floating by on the wind were the only noise on the road, and Marta wondered again about this woman. Isabelle seemed far more capable than her companion, had already proved she could easily live off the land and did not seem to care for money or possessions. So why tie herself to him?
Marta had caught the woman gazing at Luca with outright disdain when she thought neither of them was looking. Other times she stared at him with something approaching sorrow, pain etched across her usually unreadable face. Why she kept these looks hidden also confounded Marta. As a Listener Luca was sure to know what was on her mind. So why keep her sentiments hidden from her partner?
Four times they encountered travelers along the road, Luca’s steady stream of words alerting them well in advance to their presence and allowing Marta and Isabelle time to flee the path and conceal themselves. His conversations with the strangers took an interminable amount of time to Marta. The man was able to talk about anything to anyone, conversation coming quite naturally to him, but each time the chat would come to an abrupt end, Luca bidding his new friends well before departing.
It was not until the third interlude that Marta realized the conversations served two purposes: to allow her and Isabelle a chance to hide as well as to create an opportunity for Luca to Listen to their minds. Without his required pin to warn them, their minds would be unguarded and their thoughts easy to ascertain.
It was a big risk to flaunt the laws that required all Listeners to openly declare their abilities. Picking the Dobra network was a death sentence, but the Dobra would be the ones to carry out the act. But defying the laws of Newfield meant that he would not be safe anywhere except the Ingios territories they had departed. The Cildra also disobeyed these laws, but they were practiced and careful in their deceit, whereas this flamboyant man demanded attention.
Luca seemed to have no fear of death though, even when he had faced Marta with murder on her mind. Perhaps he actually believed that his imbued lockblade would ensure him his victory. Or perhaps that had just been a bluff to keep from fighting her, his confidence actually fear dressed up in another lie. Marta did not believe it was an excuse though, instead that he firmly clung to the illusion that his weapon would defend him. He seemed utterly and unshakably sure in both his abilities and the blade, and it was only a matter of time before those illusions would be horribly shattered, perhaps by Marta’s own hand.
***
They were in the shadow of the Lead Mine Hills when they met up again at dark. Luca already had a fire going, Caddie tossing his bix sticks by its light when Marta and Isabelle arrived. Whittling away, Luca’s smile was warm, though the information he imparted sent a chill down Marta’s spine.
“Underhill’s dragoons are patrolling around the hills, but we should be safe here tonight.” With that he turned back to Caddie. “Though Gerjet had been caught, she knew that Baas was still free since no one expected much from a dog. Her hands were bound behind her back, you see. So while everyone else in the tent was asleep, she pressed her hands under the sides and Baas chewed through her bindings.”
The story he was telling the girl was “Gerjet and the Thirty Turgs,” a favorite of children everywhere. The hero was the ancient Shaper Gerjet, her constant companion the dog Baas, who was said to be Blessed with a Soul Breath, even though an animal. This extra Breath made the dog intelligent as a human and loyal to Gerjet for having saved his life as a puppy. Although a Shaper and capable of great feats of strength, Gerjet prided herself on her cleverness and always outsmarted her enemies, her adventures span
ning volumes.
As a child Marta loved the stories of Gerjet. Every time one of her father’s dogs whelped, Marta would pick through the litter, eager to find a Blessed dog, like Baas, the two sure to forge a bond and go out on all sorts of grand adventures. Those dreams were the heartfelt hopes of a child, but now that Marta was an adult, stories of Gerjet and Baas rankled her.
Luca reached the climax where Baas lured the thirty Turgs into a cave, Gerjet sealing them in when Marta interrupted. “Don’t go filling the girl’s head with that nonsense.”
“It’s just a silly story.”
“It’s horrific is what it is.”
Luca stared at her like she had suddenly sprouted a second head, forcing her to explain herself. “The dog Baas was said to be Blessed, possessing a third Breath that made him aware like humans. That means animals can be Blessed and equal to us. But if one in twenty humans is Blessed, it would stand to reason that the same number of animals would be as well. If that’s the case, then every twenty times you’ve eaten meat, you’ve eaten something with a Soul and been a cannibal.”
She could see that he understood her argument, but did not agree with her bringing it up now. “It was only meant to pass the time. You have no way with children, no Soul within you.”
Marta had been called worse than soulless on more occasions than she could count, but his slur still got her back up for some reason. Her anger flared, and with the lucidity it provided, she saw how she could cut him deeper than any knife. She smiled brightly as she approached Caddie, malevolence flickering in her eyes.
“Have you ever heard the story of Dobradab?”
Marta could hear Luca’s jaw click shut and knew her blow had landed. Caddie’s head turned to behold Marta, and though there was still no spark to her eyes to indicate any intelligence, Marta at least had the girl’s undivided attention.
“Long ago, in the time before glass, there was a very good man named Abet. And because Abet followed the will of Sol in all things, he was blessed with a good life, with herds that spread further than the eye could see, a loyal wife, and six healthy children. His children were like him, upright and obedient to the will of Sol.
“Now, Abet and his family lived near a huge nodus known as the Nine Lines. And one night the lights of the nodus flared, expanding until they engulfed their camp. Awakened by the surge of ley, Abet roused his wife and together they watched the strange lights. But their youngest son, Dobradab, heard them stir and sat beside them through the night. Though Abet knew he should send his youngest to bed, he let him remain because Dobradab was Abet’s favorite child.
“And when the sleeping children awoke the next morning, they found they were different than they had been when they went to bed—they were now Blessed. The oldest son, named Abad, after his father, became the first Render, his sister Ceil, the first Weaver. The next two children were twins—Blania, who became the first Whisperer, and her brother Balat a Listener. And their younger brother Emil awoke to find himself the first Shaper. Only Dobradab, who had been awake with his parents, was not Blessed, like the rest of them.
“Discovering their new abilities, the children of Abet went to the nearby town and word of their powers quickly spread. The tales soon reached the greedy ears of Waer, who heard of humans with the abilities that had hitherto been hers alone. So Waer sought their camp that night, doing battle with the children of Abet.
“Waer was a terrible thing to behold, tall as a mountain and with sixteen heads shaped like snakes. But the children of Abet easily defeated her, not because of their Blessed abilities, but because they were doing the will of Sol.”
To Marta’s surprise Caddie did not turn away and return to her bix sticks as she had done during Luca’s tale. He was by far the more gifted storyteller, but as she went on with her story, Marta felt her cadence changing, her voice shifting to match the ebb and flow of the tale. If she so desired, Marta could have quoted the scriptures verbatim from the Biba Sacara. All Cildra children were required to memorize the texts, the clan using specific quotes from the Biba Sacara for when general missives needed to be broadcast widely on the Dobra network. Though she could have recited the texts word for word, Marta instead added her own take to the tale meant for Luca.
“The evil Waer driven off, Abet realized the good his Blessed children were capable of and therefore sent them out to make the world a better place. Only Dobradab was ordered to remain, his father telling him that it was because he loved him dearest of all. But Dobradab knew in his heart of hearts the real reason was because he was the weakest.
“And though Dobradab was meant to inherit his father’s lands and herds, he coveted his siblings’ powers. So that night he went out to the nodus of the Nine Lines and summoned Waer. She answered his call, not as the serpent, but as the beguiler, and Dobradab begged her to make him Blessed, like his brothers and sisters. Knowing that Dobradab was not made Blessed because he had stayed up that night while his siblings slept, but that his eyes were already too opened to do the will of Sol, Waer granted his request, bestowing a fourth Breath in his Mind.
“Suddenly Dobradab found himself a Listener, able to hear the thoughts of others. But what’s more, he realized he could hear the thoughts of anyone on the lines of ley that he touched. He was like a spider, the lines of ley the strands of a web in which he sat at the center.
“Reveling in his newfound powers, Dobradab hurried to show them to his father. But when the righteous Abet heard that his son’s powers came from Waer, he knew no good could come of them and threw Dobradab out. Enraged by this, Dobradab killed his father, Abet’s dying words a curse that Dobradab would find no peace so long as Waer’s stain remained within him.
“Hearing of their father’s murder, the Blessed children of Abet returned to do battle with Dobradab. And together they easily defeated him, not because they were more powerful, but because they were doing the will of Sol. But despite the murder of their father, the Blessed children of Abet could not find it within themselves to kill their brother, would not harm a member of their own family as he had done. Instead they cast him out. And so Dobradab was exiled to forever wander the wild lands where the ley flow, his father’s curse eternally upon him.
“And so Dobradab wandered all of Ayr, bringing misery with him wherever he went. His descendants also bear his stain, bringing misery with them wherever they go.”
Marta suddenly felt lightheaded, as if she had drank too deep from some heady draught. Though Luca paced back and forth, Caddie had not stirred throughout her story. Marta expected her to now return to her bix sticks, but Caddie kept staring at her, face blank and without any sense of recognition.
“That’s an unkind story,” Luca spit. “It’s stupid, with a cruel moral.”
“You’re right, the moral is stupid, but no more than any other story. There is no Waer any more than there is a Sol. The story’s just a way simpletons explain away the past and try to make sense of the Blessed. Everything that happens in life, it’s all by happenstance. There’s no order to it, no plan, no Sol guiding it.”
“That’s your moral? That life has no meaning, no purpose?”
“No.” Marta rolled her eyes at the uncomprehending man. “The moral is beware of what you wish for. For instance, Davis Dunderhill is seeking us out, and tomorrow he will find us. But when he does, he will wish he never did.”
Chapter 23
Blotmonad 18, 563 (Four Years Ago)
Marta hated the city of Sinton with her whole heart. When she visited it as a child, she found pleasure there, but now she wished the place was a man so she could slide her Shaper blade slowly across his throat. She dreamed she had a bowl big enough to pour poison upon the entire city and drown it in horror. Marta would save the coronet player though; he had earned his life with his skill, but no one else in that Sol-forsaken place would survive if she had her druthers.
Called the Jewel of the East, Sinton was the center of industry for the state of Nahuat and the Covenant as a whole.
Perched high on a cliff behind its high walls, it was said it could never be overrun by the West.
So far that claim had proven correct, the city buried deep enough into the Eastern territory that they had time to fortify before Underhill reached it. In addition to its high walls, miles of trenches and tunnels now spread out around it, all occupied by Eastern forces. Their sappers also left thousands of traps and pits hidden for their enemies, cutting the first wave of Western attackers to ribbons without having to fire a single shot.
Encountering Sinton, Underhill blundered yet again by choosing to lay siege to the city rather than bypass it as he cut to the heart of the Covenant. He claimed his choice was a victory for the West: though the Sinton factories might still be running, they could not deliver their sorely needed munitions to the Eastern troops. He believed a strategy of economic attack would prove more useful than the symbolic victory of capturing the Covenant capital of Oreana.
Underhill compounded his mistake when he called the Traitors Brigade away from their successes on the southern front to join his pointless cordon. Here the Traitors Brigade waited for two months, the siege having gone on another four before that. Having stymied the Western advance, the city of Sinton became another rallying cry for the Eastern troops, who believed that so long as the city could not be felled, the Covenant armies could not be beaten.
It was, of course, not true. Cut off from supplies by the Western armies, the people of Sinton would eventually be starved into submission, but until that time the Traitors Brigade paid the price for Underhill’s latest blunder.
The land had already been picked over twice by the time they arrived, Rupert’s usual skill in foraging reduced to almost nothing. So he instructed them to tear through any rotten wood they found for bugs, showed them how to dig for wild tubers before the ground froze. Rupert also began unloading the herbs he collected over the last year. Carefully set in the sun to dry when not deployed, Rupert had amassed quite a collection of flavorful seasonings. Marta initially wondered why he did not use these herbs when preparing the tasteless Shapers’ meals, but now she understood, as Rupert traded his flavor to the other troops for food. Outfitted by the quartermasters’ stores, the Western soldiers were well-fed enough to value seasoning over sustenance, making Marta hate them just a bit more.
The Woven Ring (Sol's Harvest Book 1) Page 23