Things Unseen: (An epic fantasy adventure series) (The Caris Chronicles Book 1)

by Melina Grace

  After a small hesitation, Amarin asked, “Did Kalen ever talk to you about being a seer?”

  Surprised at the question, Caris looked back at Amarin. She remembered Jeniel saying something about a seer when they first met, but couldn’t remember what it meant.

  “No?”

  “Did she ever talk to you about visions?”

  “Visions?”

  “Seeing things that come true, or knowing things you have no way of knowing?”

  Caris began to feel uneasy as she remembered the pictures she saw when one of the villages on their journey was wiped out by derks. “No, why would Kalen talk to me about those things.”

  “Crispin tells me Kalen is a seer, and he thought you and Kalen might have had conversations about it.”

  “Why would Kalen talk to me about it?”

  “Caris, your eyes and hair mark you as a seer.”

  Even as Caris spoke the words of denial, she knew Amarin spoke truth. She felt as though an invisible cloak settled over her, at first constraining her but them melding perfectly with her skin. She didn’t really understand much of what it meant to be a seer but she knew it was her.

  She resented it passionately. She didn’t want to be different to everybody else. She didn’t want to be ugly and strange. She didn’t want to be constrained in this role she didn’t understand and had not sought. No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a seer! My life was taken from me before I was even born, and for what? So I can see people while they’re being slaughtered, and not just the aftermath!

  “It is a great gift you have, Caris. It is unusual for a seer to grow to your age without being prepared and trained. Even if a seer dies, her heir is usually apprenticed elsewhere so she can learn. Usually seers are held in very high regard, I suspect your village was ignorant of your gifts, possibly your aunt was never trained either.”

  Caris listened to Amarin with half an ear, part of her was conscious that she was filling in the puzzle pieces of her life, but the rest of her was tied up in roiling emotions.

  “We have no seer here to guide you or answer your questions. Some seers are also healers and your affinity for plants and Crispin’s speedier recovery in your presence suggested to us you may also have that gift. We have done as much as we can for you in such a short time, though in truth you have barely scratched the surface when it comes to healing.”

  The mention of healing caught Caris’ attention. Now, that is a gift I would choose. “What do you mean Crispin recovered speedier in my presence? You all nursed him back to health, not me.”

  “Healing is more than the administering of poultices and creams, or the cleaning and sewing of wounds even. If that was all there was to it, then anyone with a reliable memory could be a healer. I am afraid what we have taught you, is truly only the beginning of the basics. Healing is a gift one is born with, in the same way that one is either born a seer or not.”

  Caris’ teeth clenched at the word ‘seer’, but she ignored her anger and focused instead on what Amarin was saying about healing.

  “A healer has an affinity with health in people’s bodies, they can sense it, if you like, or sense its absence. By laying my hands on a person’s body I can read them in a way, I can tell where their pain is, what is causing it and a myriad other things. Some healers are stronger in this ability than others are, some don’t even know they have the ability or how to use it. A good healer will also contact a person’s spirit, encourage it, strengthen it, and give it hope. The spirit cures more ailments than a poultice ever will.”

  “But I can’t do any of those things.” Caris replied in dismay.

  “Caris, when we left you alone with Crispin, that first time, what did you do?”

  Caris thought back, remembering her fear and grief that she might lose Crispin. “I didn’t do anything. I sat with him.”

  “Did you put your hands on him? Did you speak to him? What were your thoughts?”

  “I think I was holding his hand, I begged him to stay with us.” Caris looked down, remembering her shame at causing his injury.

  “What else did you say?”

  “I don’t remember, I think I was just telling him all the reasons he couldn’t leave.”

  “Much the same thing that any friend or loved one would say to someone so seriously injured. And truth to tell, many a person has been pulled back from the brink of death by a loved one’s pleas. Crispin was not at the brink of death. We spoke true when we said we believed he had passed the point of danger, but he was still seriously ill when we left him with you. When Jeniel returned to invite you for dinner, he was not.”

  “He was not what?”

  “He was not seriously ill.”

  “But that was only half an hour.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But you said any friend could pull someone back from the brink of death even by pleading with them.”

  “This is true, Crispin’s recovery was remarkable but not impossible for someone without the gift of healing to accomplish. But, you are a seer with a love of plants and keen interest in their healing properties. When it is all added together, we are all very confident that you do have healing abilities, and given your success with Crispin and your remarkable affinity with plants, it is likely you have the seeds within you of a very powerful one.”

  Caris sat, at a loss for words. It was all too much for her to take in. She was the despised girl from a small village who was destined to grow old caring for a sister’s children. She couldn’t comprehend how she had come to be in this place. Sitting in the sky, talking with a strange and beautiful elf about having the ability to see the future and heal people’s ailments.

  She imagined returning to her village as a healer, imagined what it would be like to be respected and valued. The thought tasted bitter, she knew she would always be viewed as the ugly girl, knew that any respect she might gain would be grudging. Even as she realised she had no desire to try to prove her worth to them, she remembered she never could. Her stomach sank as she recalled afresh they were all dead.

  Caris sat for a long time staring at the distant mountains trying to make sense of what Amarin had shared with her. She didn’t hear Amarin leave and was still trying to comprehend how the gifts, Amarin said she possessed, could actually fit with the image she had of herself when a cold breeze alerted her to how late in the afternoon it was. She realised with dismay that she would have to make the descent on her own.

  She looked west to where the sun was nearing the horizon and realised it would be beginning to get dark beneath the trees. Taking a deep breath, she headed back to the trunk and the rope ladder. Caris hoped she could make the long climb down safely.

  ****

  Janen, Syngar, and Kalen followed the small river through the rocky landscape for three days before they reached the forest.

  It was with profound relief that they entered the shade of the trees. They continued to walk their horses through the water where they could, but the river had narrowed and was deeper in places, with larger rocks lining its bottom making its floor more uneven and difficult for the horses to navigate. There was a clear trail running along the side of the river allowing them to canter the horses regularly.

  Released from the oppressive heat and with an ever-increasing distance between them and the lost ones, Janen felt a lightening of his spirit. Cantering Prince along the winding trail through the trees was enjoyable and Janen exalted in the sounds and smells of the forest around him.

  They had run out of dried meat, so Janen hunted and at midafternoon they risked a small fire. Freshly roasted meat and the greens Kalen collected seemed like a feast after days of eating nothing but hard smoked meat. They had ridden through the previous night and for most of the day and the horses were exhausted. Janen wished he had some grain to give them but they had used the last of that the previous evening. They grazed contentedly, however, on the fresh green grass under the trees, while Kalen, Syngar, and Janen gave them a thorough brushing down.
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br />   Used to riding through the night and sleeping during the day, the three weary companions bedded down in a clearing away from the track before the last of the light had left from under the trees. Janen fell immediately into a deep contented sleep.

  They travelled east beside the small river for a few days before their trail branched off to the south. Janen laid one last false trail to the north, before crossing back to the others. Although they were fairly convinced that if the Dark One knew where they were, they would have been attacked by now, they were still being careful.

  They had gotten back into the routine of travelling by day and sleeping by night. It was difficult to move at speed through the dark under the trees, and with the milder temperatures in the forest, there was no longer a need for the reversal. They walked their horses briskly, giving them a respite from cantering.

  Kalen asked Syngar and Janen to give her some solitary time. She had remained committed to her reflection ever since their ambush by the lizard folk, and Janen and Syngar had grown accustomed to giving her the space.

  “I miss a good game of cards,” said Syngar.

  “I miss Caris.” The words were out of his mouth before he could take them back.

  Syngar, who was riding behind Janen made no reply. Maybe he didn’t hear me. Janen turned in his saddle, to see Syngar grinning at him.

  “No need to be so secretive about it lad, we all know how you feel.”

  Janen felt humiliated, to think that everyone knew he had set his sights so far above himself.

  “Do you think Caris knows?”

  “That one? No, she’s the only one who doesn’t have a clue.”

  Lost in his own humiliation, it was a while before Janen became aware that the forest had gone quiet around them. A growing uneasiness slowly brought him out of his own thoughts and made him look around.

  “There’s something wrong,” he said, barely loud enough for the others to hear as he slowed Prince down. Syngar and Kalen looked around.

  “Flee or pick a good place to fight?” asked Syngar.

  “Why don’t we try fleeing first?” replied Kalen.

  Janen kicked Prince into a gallop, the horses couldn’t run at full speed along the winding track but Janen urged Prince to go as fast as possible. He sped around a bend to find the path blocked by a vicious looking animal.

  Prince reared back with a terrified whinny that alerted the two behind them. Syngar came around the corner with a knife already in his hand. He threw with deadly accuracy, his knife sinking deep into the beast’s eye.

  “Volves” he yelled, “Look sharp; there’ll be more of them!”

  Janen spurred Prince forward just as a volve leapt from the bushes at him. It flew through the air where he had been only moments before, crashing ungainly to the ground on the other side of the path.

  Janen heard a yelp as another of Syngar’s knives hit a volve in the bushes. He swung Prince around, even as he reached for his bow. Janen had never shot from horse back before. Tilda had taught him how to steer Prince with his knees, and he had been practising riding hands free, but he was still unsure as to whether he would be able to shoot straight.

  “Good opportunity to find out,” he muttered to himself as he let an arrow fly. Janen managed to bring two volves down, before grabbing his sword as one of the large beasts lunged toward him.

  It snapped at his leg. Janen sliced across its face, halting its attack as its vicious teeth grazed his leg. With a sharp whine, it cowered back into the trees.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Janen saw a shadow behind him. He turned just in time to see another volve flying through the air toward him.

  Janen raised his sword and the volve impaled itself on the point, his momentum pushing Janen sideways, knocking him from his saddle.

  Janen landed hard on the ground, the heavy volve dead on top of him. Snarls approached him from his left. Janen managed to get his sword out just in time to fend off another volve that lunged at him.

  Swinging his sword wildly, he pushed his way out from under the volve and stood to fight the growling animal that still looked for a way past his sword.

  It leapt, grazing Janen’s hand with its long teeth. Janen twisted his sword around, cutting the volve, and then following through, stabbing his sword into the savage animal’s throat.

  He looked around for another foe, but Kalen was stabbing the last one that assailed Syngar from behind. They stood panting, searching the trees for any more would be attackers.

  “Well that’s good news,” said Syngar.

  “How so?” asked Kalen dryly.

  “Well, at least it wasn’t anyone sent from the Dark One; we may still be in the clear.”

  “That is good news,” Janen agreed. Although, I would prefer not to be attacked at all. His hand and leg were stinging from where the volves had raked their teeth along his skin. He inspected them and was relieved to see that though the blood flowed freely, the wounds weren’t deep. He looked up to see Kalen watching him.

  “Anyone have a serious wound?” she asked, turning to stare pointedly at Syngar.

  Janen could see blood on Syngar’s arm and face, and Kalen had blood coming from her thigh.

  “No boss,” Syngar replied with a cocky grin. She approached him to see for herself, but he started laughing and, pulling away, said, “I swear! Come on we have to catch the horses, I don’t fancy walking all the way back to The King’s road.” After collecting his knives, he started back in the direction they had come and Kalen began to follow him.

  “Where do you want to meet?” Janen called after their retreating backs.

  “We’ll catch you up, no point you wasting energy walking backwards and forwards,” Kalen replied over her shoulder.

  “You can hunt while you wait for us. I fancy some quillet!” Syngar called back.

  Janen turned and began walking in the opposite direction, hoping Prince hadn’t fled too far in his panicked flight from the volves. After a while, he began to jog. Prince had gone farther than Janen expected and he wanted to find him soon. It wasn’t long before Kalen and Syngar cantered up behind him.

  “Now you’re wishing he wasn’t so fast aren’t you?” Syngar quipped.

  “How did you retrieve your horses so quickly?” Janen asked.

  “Battle trained horses; they know not to go too far. In battle they wouldn’t leave our side at all, but I guess volves is a bit of a different matter. We’re gonna have to do some work with Prince before you take him onto the field,” said Syngar, “That is, if we ever catch him.”

  Syngar pulled Janen up behind him and they continued at a brisk walk.

  They had gone a fair way when they finally came upon Prince standing in front of a small stream, staring back at them as if he was waiting for them to arrive.

  Syngar laughed, “Hah, there’s another one that doesn’t want to waste energy going back and forwards.”

  They dismounted and had drinks and food while Kalen saw to their wounds.

  “Well, they’re not deep, but I worry about infection from the volves dirty claws and teeth. I think we’ll stop and make a fire, so I can clean them properly with hot water.”

  “I’ll get wood while Janen hunts!” Syngar sang out cheerfully.

  Taking the, none too subtle, hint, Janen grabbed his bow, “You can tend Prince too,” he called to Syngar as he left the creek and headed into the bush.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Caris wandered through the shade of the tall trees, occasionally stopping to add a few mushrooms or brightly coloured petals to her already packed satchel. Her mind was only half on her task. Ever since her conversation with Amarin the previous afternoon, Caris had found it hard to focus on anything.

  The climb down the swinging rope ladder in the evening gloom had been terrifying, but Caris had made it without mishap. Most of the elves were already gathering below for their evening meal, but Caris had found herself completely lacking the emotional energy for company. She had grabbed a few leaves
from Amarin’s workrooms; confident Amarin wouldn’t mind, and had gone back to the solitude and relative comfort of her own.

  Caris was not sure what she was supposed to think or feel about Amarin’s revelations, and spent most of her time in a wash of numb bewilderment. Sleep had come easily to her exhausted state but it had not been a restful night. Caris had tossed and turned, dream after dream crowding upon each other, making little sense and leaving her to wake tense and groggy in the morning.

  She had begged Jeniel not to take offence by her wish to gather alone in the morning, and Jeniel had let her go without concern. Caris had wandered for most of the morning without resolving anything. She was beginning to realise that a large part of her problem was that there was nothing for her to resolve. She couldn’t work through a set of issues to reach a solution. She could do nothing to influence the situation.

  She resented having her life stolen from her, as she saw it, in being marked as a seer. She didn’t see how being a seer could be called a gift, or how it could be of benefit to anyone, but she had long been resigned to being different and there was no point in kicking up a fuss about it now.

  Healing evoked completely opposite feelings within her. She longed desperately for Amarin’s words to be true, but couldn’t really believe them possible. After all, not even Amarin was definite I do have the gift; she just thought it possible given a few coincidences. A feeling of gloom settled over Caris. She realised she didn’t want to turn her back completely on the hope of being a healer.

  I can’t choose whether or not I am a seer or a healer. I can only be me. I will not seek visions, I would not know how even if I desired. I can’t make myself a healer, but I can continue to learn plant and herb lore, I will even try to call people to health, as Amarin thinks I did with Crispin. If I fail, it can’t hurt anyone and maybe I will discover I have a gift after all.

  Finally, feeling more at peace with herself, Caris took in her surroundings. She realised she had seated herself on a rock by the same creek at which she had shared lunch with Jeniel on their first day collecting. The sun warmed her back and Caris felt tempted to lie back and relax to the sound of the tinkling creek and twittering of birds in the trees. She knew if she did, however, she would probably fall asleep after her restless night.