Wist waited for Dregan to fill in the details of what he had in mind, but it was obvious that he didn’t wish to share his plan. Nikka was the first to grow impatient with Dregan’s reticence.
‘So are you planning to let us in on the secret?’ said Nikka, his dark face betraying only a hint of the ambivalence he felt at being forced to leave his home. ‘I may have cast my lot in with yours, but I do not expect to be led around in the dark.’
Dregan considered his options as he held Nikka’s stare. ‘There is – someone whom I can meet at the lake, who can help us. This help will come at a price, but it could help speed our journey to Bohba. I think this is our only option, if we are to save Eliscius.’ Dregan stuttered as he spoke his mentor’s name.
‘Have you been there before?’ asked Wist. ‘How can he help us?’ Wist was overflowing with questions now. This was the sliver of hope that he needed, and he grabbed it.
‘Yes, I met Eliscius there,’ replied Dregan, running a hand over his neatly tied back hair. Dregan ignored Wist’s second question and addressed the group instead, ‘I am afraid that I must ask you all for a little faith. I can only suggest that we take the most direct path for the lake and hope that we are not too late.’
Faric snorted and rose, walking away from the party to tend the horses.
‘I am not sure that I have ever had faith in anything, but myself,’ said Nikka. ‘This should be – enlightening.’ Nikka’s dark eyes sparkled.
‘We can be ready in moments,’ said Tyla. He rose a little unsteadily, and with the help of Aviti, he went to prepare himself. His voice had surprised Wist. This was the first time he had heard the damaged Lyrat speak since his return. Tyla's voice betrayed more of his weakness than his recovering frame did.
--*--
Once they had made their preparations, the party left Eliscius’ mountain stronghold behind for good and moved from the Rathou to the foothills surrounding the eastern edge of the mountain. This allowed the party to increase the rate at which it travelled, each of them taking a turn to ride the horses that had served them so diligently. Only Faric refused to ride, maintaining his isolation from the group and from his Pair. As if to highlight their broken symmetry, Tyla spent the longest riding, his stamina still to return fully. When Wist replaced Nikka on one of the horses, Aviti joined him riding the second.
A tense silence sat between Wist and the girl from Mashesh. While they had been separated, Wist had yearned for her company. Despite his guilt for the fate of her family, and her anger at his inaction, she had been the closest thing he had to a friend. Now he wasn’t sure how to pick up the threads, so he asked the first question that came to him.
‘What happened,’ asked Wist, ‘when you were attacked in the desert? I thought you would have joined us in the mountain days earlier.’
Aviti sighed as she prepared to speak. Her head dropped a little, and then she recovered her resolve.
‘Tyla pulled me from the river after I had fallen in,’ she began. She dropped her head back once more, as if the loss of Eliscius could somehow be traced back to that moment. ‘I had no idea how far we had been dragged back downstream, but Tyla was certain of his whereabouts. After we had recovered, he led us to a shallow bowl, cut in the bedrock, which sheltered us for that first night.’
‘As the sun rose the next morning, a fierce wind met us as we attempted to leave our place of shelter. Tyla said that it was not wise to depart until the wind had lost some of its strength. I was uneasy at this peculiar turn in the weather, it felt – unnatural; like the storm that marked your arrival. I have lived at the edge of the desert all my life and I feel its rhythms in my blood. This was more like a deliberate act – as if someone sought to keep us penned in.’ Aviti looked up towards Tyla who was making an effort to keep up with Faric at the head of the group, walking a few paces behind him.
‘But we had no choice,’ Aviti continued. ‘Without a way to orientate ourselves, we could easily head in the wrong direction and be caught without shelter for the next night. For hours the wind continued to blow, forcing the sand up into the air and back down upon us in a painful cascade. Eventually the wind died, but the light had gone from the day and we were forced to spend another night in the same place. Despite our need for haste, Tyla felt it was unwise to travel at night.
‘We rose the next day and set out before dawn, determined to make up for the time we had lost. Tyla was confident that you and Faric were ahead of us, and were progressing rapidly. For all of that day we marched across the dunes, finding little shade to rest beneath – but enough to allow me to keep pace with Tyla. When we stopped for the evening, he confessed that something had unsettled him that day. I had noticed that he had not spoken much, but I had assumed that he was allowing me to conserve my energy. He told me that it was not just the unnatural dust storm that disturbed him. For nearly all of the day that something had been closing in on his senses; trying to dull his perceptions of the land around us. It was as if he was looking at the world through clouded eyes. He attempted to explain it to me, but I did not understand. I felt that it had been quieter than I would have expected it, but nothing else since the wind had abated.
‘The next day followed the same pattern as the day before: we rose early and walked for many hours between occasional rests. I began to perceive the oppression on my senses to which Tyla had referred. It felt as if a burden had been placed on my mind, and that the effort of shifting it and moving myself across the desert was too much to achieve: I could do one or the other, but not both. By the end of the day, we came within sight of the mountains. The path we had chosen had obscured them from us, and the sight of the massive Rathou lifted my spirits as night fell. We could be no more than half a day’s march from its foot. Tyla led us to a shallow cavern, which housed a few desert animals. He moved them on with little effort and we rested for the night.’
Aviti continued as if she feared to stop her re-telling. ‘Tyla tried to shift the presence from his mind, but found that he could not. I also attempted this, but I had no knowledge of how to begin such a task. I believed that once we reached Faric, and hopefully Eliscius, we would find an answer.’
‘I was awoken by the sounds of hooves. Tyla had left whilst I slept, but he returned moments later with two horses; the two on which we had left Mashesh. As we brought them into the cavern, the wind started again, but this time hatred was ingrained in each blast, as if it sought to drive us from the cave and devour our souls. Again, the storm lasted until night-time. It had taken all of Tyla’s patience and care to control the horses. Each blast of wind heightened the horses’ anxiety, forcing Tyla and myself to reassure them constantly. Even when the wind had died down, the horses threatened to bolt. Tyla was concerned that it was not the wind that frightened them, but something that had been hidden from him. He wanted to scout out the area, but I could not control both beasts on my own.’
‘Neither of us got any rest that night. As dawn broke, we decided to make our move for the mountain. There was a tension in the air that I could almost taste. We made to leave the cavern and lead the horses outside, only to be confronted by a huge man. Dressed in a monk’s plain robes, he stood at the mouth of the cave blocking our path. But before I could speak, he announced that we had been chosen by God for punishment and that it was his duty to see His will was carried out. He held no weapon, but he strode straight for us.’
‘Tyla was quick to meet him, but for all of his speed, he could not match the brutality of this man. After he had disarmed Tyla, he battered him against the wall of the cavern.’ Aviti swallowed as she prepared to finish her tale.
‘Then he came for me. He called me the “Lyrat’s whore” and told me he would discipline me for my “errant ways”.’
‘Then I recognised him. I truly recognised him. It was the man that had led the mob to my home. He had killed my brother. It was Kerk, the leader of the Lothrians.'
‘As he touched me, I – I burned him.’
Before Wist could
ask her to explain, Aviti continued, ‘I opened a door within myself; as I had seen my mother doing – unleashing my anger and rage. A stream of fire burst from my hands, scorching him. As he writhed in anguish, I dragged Tyla outside the cavern where I came upon by the Lyrats. Hundreds of them stood, vacantly staring through us, as if waiting for an order or a command. More than that though, they seemed to lack the ability to see us - for them, we simply did not exist.
‘I returned to fetch the horses and found Kerk had recovered a little, enough to sit and shout abuse at me, between his gasping painful breaths. I should have killed him then, but I - I ignored him until I had Tyla on the horse and went back for the second one. By this time, he was on his feet and seemed to have forgotten his pain, though the stench of burnt flesh caused me to retch. He held the other horse’s mane savagely in his massive hands and screamed at me once more. I ran and mounted the horse that Tyla lay on and we fled through the Lyrats as if we were insubstantial – none opposed our passage, but neither did any clear a path for us. I fear that we ran down at least one in our flight.’
‘So, the silence – the dulling of your senses – that was used to stop you discovering the Lyrats?’ Wist asked.
‘I think so,’ said Aviti. ‘In our flight from Kerk, I never had time to consider it.’
‘I killed him,’ Wist said, ‘on the slopes of Rathou. He fell on to my sword. I removed half of his face.’ He felt no pride in his actions, but neither did he feel any shame. This man had deserved nothing else.
Aviti fell silent and Wist feared that he would lose this chance to talk with her. She was keeping something back from him; a detail or a thought, something too personal to reveal, but he was too grateful to hear her speak. So, he decided to tell her all that Eliscius had shared with them; from his time as the leader of Mashesh, through his journey across the world, his sojourn in Medicaut, to his vision of suicide on the mountain.
He was shaking as he finished.
She looked at him, with compassion evident in her dark eyes for the first time. This cut him more profoundly than her animosity had done.
‘Do you -,’ Aviti began, ‘remember any more of what happened to you; before you came here? Before you came back here, I mean? Have any more of your memories returned?’
He shook his head. ‘I can remember my – previous time here more clearly now. My training and my abilities, I can recall freely. Even with my memories returned, I wasn’t able to stop Tilden.
‘But the time between, it remains empty,’ he cursed. He swallowed the dryness away as he sought the courage to speak further.
‘Do you think I could have taken my own life?’ he said, finally giving voice to his fear. ‘If so, how can I be here? Eliscius seemed to think that is what allowed me to make the journey – to bridge the gap.’ Wist shuddered in revulsion.
‘I cannot help you in this, Wist,’ she said, beauty and solemnity shining in her dark features. ‘I barely know you at all. I feel that you are truthful in what you say, but how can I know your heart when you lack the knowledge yourself?’
‘I shouldn’t have asked you, Aviti,’ Wist said, ‘it wasn’t fair. It just feels like every time I find out a little about myself, I sink deeper into my life. It helps me to talk about it. If I don’t I tend to – get stuck on details.’ She flicked a smile at him and then returned her gaze to the path the horses trod.
‘What do you think will happen with them?’ Wist asked, gesturing to the Lyrats who led their small party, which had now made its way to the open desert.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Their bond,’ he said, ‘will it heal? Will they be like this forever? I’m not sure if they’ll know how to function as – individuals. I spoke to Faric about his connection to Tyla and he talked as if it was a physical part of himself. I can’t imagine what this'll do to him, or to Tyla.’
‘I too spoke with Tyla regarding his bond,’ she said. ‘I fear for him. I think he has always walked in Faric’s shadow, but I am worried that Tyla will attempt to shoulder the blame for the outcome of Kerk’s actions. Faric has not spoken to Tyla since we returned. The only time Faric has looked at him was when I lay him on the mountain to let Dregan tend his wounds. I do not think he even recognised that it was his Pair that was before him.’
Wist considered her words for a moment. He had not thought about the consequences for Tyla, having spent little time with him before the Lyrats were separated. Faric’s reaction to the break appeared to be rooted in bitterness and denial, Tyla’s to be centred around the guilt he felt for his failure to overcome Kerk.
‘What of the other two;’ Aviti said, ‘Nikka and Dregan. What of them?’
‘Nikka is - dangerous;’ he said, ‘his past is full of violence and pain, but there's an honesty in him. Despite his brutal opinions, I trust him. Take some time to speak to him if you can. It would seem that he has led – a varied life. Dregan, on the other hand, I'm unsure of. I wouldn’t say that he hates me, but he does resent me, or at least he resents my past with Eliscius. I'm not happy with his plan, but I can’t come up with any kind of alternative.’
The two riders lapsed back into silence, the sound of the horses’ soft footfalls accompanied by Nikka’s deep voice as he began to chant once more.
--*--
On the western slopes of the Rathou, amongst the dying and the dead, he lay in agony. He had lain there for the remainder of the previous day, listening to life depart from the weaker of the combatants. He had failed God, and now this was his punishment: to lie upon the earth, half blinded, until he died. As night had fallen, he had drifted in and out of consciousness; each return to wakefulness greeted by an avalanche of pain.
He had been vaguely aware of the growing light of dawn through his remaining eye, but now it was gone. Perhaps he had passed out once more?
With torturous pain penetrating every fibre of his body, he was lifted to his feet. No hands held him in place, but his body stayed erect without his volition. He forced his remaining eye open fully, expecting to see Tilden. At first, he could make nothing out. He blinked his part-severed eyelid, attempting to clear the darkness from his vision, but it would not disperse. The blackness shifted and coalesced before him, as if he were gazing into a hole in the day.
He tried to scream out as the darkness came towards him, but the fear and self-loathing he had kept tightly locked up within himself came flooding out to greet the waves of darkness. As the void entered him, he heard the voices speak to him. All he had to do was accept them and he could be free of the pain. They would be his God now; they could achieve what he had failed to do. He tried to find the place deep within himself, where he had once retreated to – to fend off the insanity of his imprisonment - but it was gone. Without knowing the name of his new master, he gave into the darkness and howled once more as it penetrated his soul.
17 - Pieces
The sun, now risen to its full height, beat down upon the party once more. The relief Wist had found during the few days spent in the cool mountain had been ruthlessly expunged from him. He walked alongside Nikka and Dregan, leaving Tyla and Aviti to ride. All of Wist’s energy was needed just to place one foot in front of the other.
The desert on this side of the Corb, the Northern Desert as Dregan had referred to it, had an altogether different complexion to that of the Great Desert. The Great Desert had sparse signs of life scattered randomly across its vast expanse - the fertile parts of the Northern Desert were more regular. Despite this, he felt that the permanence of the ground under his feet had gone. When he pushed into the sand, he felt that there was no resistance to his pressure. If he fell here, he would sink below the surface of the sand and drown in its dark depths.
The party rested in the shade of a few trees and took some nourishment. Conversation was kept to a minimum, due to the necessity of conserving energy; the sun was no less cruel on this side of the Rathou. Wist had barely finished his rations when Faric announced truculently that they were leaving. Wist shoved
his meagre possessions into the pack that they had salvaged from Eliscius’ stronghold on the mountain. A sword, some clothes and bedding were all that he had taken. The company regrouped and set off as they had before, Aviti and Tyla riding behind the rest of the party, with Faric leading.
Wist’s mind drifted to thoughts of Eliscius. Where had Tilden taken him and why? He'd never been to Bohba and, of the rest of the party, only Dregan had. What was the significance of that place? As he pondered these issues, Faric stopped and thrust his hand into the air, calling the party to a halt. Simultaneously, he unsheathed his sword. Tyla dismounted and ran to Faric’s side. The Lyrats stood a pace apart as they had so often before, katanas drawn - poised for violence.
Taking a couple of steps forward, Wist joined the rest of the party to see what had stopped them. Together, they fanned out behind the Lyrats. The empty desert spread out before them, punctuated with islands of verdant life. Where was the threat? He scanned the horizon for the slightest sign of movement, but dust and haze limited his vision. Through the heat-distorted air, he could discern no danger, near or far. He waited for a signal from Faric to continue, but it never came.
What had appeared to be nothing more than a small pile of rocks about a dozen paces ahead of them, exploded into life. Erupting from the desert floor in a shower of sand flew a reptile in humanoid form. With tightly packed scales covering its body, the armoured beast roared. Its dull ecru colouring was flecked with red and orange, giving the impression that the creature was aflame. Black pupilless eyes sat on either side of an angular head – cold orbs lying deep in slits on a spiked face. The Krowen moved its head from side to side, keeping an eye on all of the party.
Another Krowen assault, thought Wist. But this lizard was different to those that had attacked at Potter’s Field, not just in physical stature - this Krowen dwarfed those encountered before – but also in its demeanour. There was an obvious anger here that had been absent from the others. As Wist watched its spiked tail whip through the sand, he was glad that this Krowen had attacked alone. The Lyrats had defended them at Potter’s Field against many more of these creatures, but Wist felt more imperilled now, even with the aid of Nikka and Dregan. This beast was consumed with a towering rage at their presence.
The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection Page 21