by Dawn Peers
“I really didn’t think much of this through, did I?” Quinn muttered to herself as she spread their bedrolls out on the thin ground. She watched on, feeling useless as the second roll was caught by the wind and fluttered off, to be caught against the legs of her whinnying horse. “By all the spirits, what am I doing?”
“What was that?” Maertn yelled over his neat stack of kindling as he tried to set it alight with a flint and tinder. He’d been shown how to do this as an apprentice, but the fires in his workshop had always been running. Torran never let them go out. He wasn’t doing very well at lighting this one.
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud.”
Quinn chased down the bedroll and got their cooking gear ready whilst Maertn struggled with the fire. It didn’t take long for the hoof beats of Ross’s horse to come into earshot. By the time the chamberlain arrived in camp, Maertn was crowing over the sparks of his infant fire, and Quinn had made them look at least reasonably organised. There were limited reasons why Ross would be coming to join them, and she didn’t want to look like they were a pair of struggling children on the road, despite that being the basic truth.
Ross dismounted and led his horse to where Maertn and Quinn’s mounts were already tied up. Without hailing or greeting either of them, he secured his stallion and fed it from a bag he grabbed from the saddle. Quinn grunted in frustration. She hadn’t even thought of feeding her horse, let alone giving it a drink. They had water in skeins. She hadn’t even bothered to find out the nearest water source. And she had expected to survive out here on her own? The horses hadn’t drunk all day. Quinn glanced over at them in the dwindling twilight. Was that…foam around their mouths? When would they need to drink next, before they started to fall ill?
Maertn walked up beside her and whispered in her ear, “What’s up with him? He said anything yet?”
Quinn batted her hand at him in frustration. “No,” she hissed, “and I’m not about to disturb him now. Look at what he’s doing.”
“What?”
“Feeding the horses! We haven’t even thought of doing that yet.”
“You might not have, but I did.”
“When?”
“Earlier, when you were chasing around our bedding still. They haven’t had that much, but it was something, and I watered them.”
Quinn blushed. So maybe Maertn was thinking of things, and she was the child out on the road. Regardless, she had been firmly put in her place, and she realised that the road to Sha’sek was going to be a long one.
* * *
After what seemed like an agonising wait, whilst the chamberlain silently organised his gear without hailing either of them, Ross finally approached. He removed a pair of worn brown riding gloves, clapping the leather together and hooking them in his belt. He locked his thumbs into the belt too, and regarded them with an amused stare. Both of them fidgeted under Ross's gaze, unused to such scrutiny from anyone but their father. Eventually, Quinn broke. She didn’t say anything, but she did sense out for what Ross was feeling. He wasn’t angry, and that was a great relief, but Quinn was bemused to sense his amusement. As the quiet stretched, Ross couldn’t keep the grin from his face.
“What? What’s so funny?” Quinn’s voice was sharp, and it matched her shortening temper.
“Well, nothing really. I just didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
“Why are you here Ross?” Maertn asked.
“Getting straight to the point aye, young lad? I thought that was Quinn’s job. Still, refreshing to hear you speak first for once. I’ll be truthful. Essentially, Eden sent me.”
Quinn went cold, and Ross sped to fill the gap his words left. “He’s not coming, Quinn, he can’t leave the city.”
“It shouldn’t relieve me, but it does.” Quinn answered quietly.
“I know lass, I know. He knows why you left, though he didn’t accept it at first. You shouldn’t have left him, the way you did. He’s heartbroken.”
“He would have only tried to come with me Ross. Imagine the disruption that would have caused. I had to get out of the city before I was arrested, and would have been stopped at the gates whilst they figured out what to do with Eden. What kind of position is that to be in?”
“No position at all, I’m not saying what you did was the wrong thing, I’m just saying it was ungrateful.”
Quinn’s eyes teared in frustration. “What else was I meant to do? String him along like a puppy? He is a man Ross, a lord, and a guard captain. He is able to make his own decisions.”
“Aye, and his original decision was to come with you, though that choice was taken away from him. What he did point out, though, was that I know a damned sight more about Sha’sek than both of you combined, and that leaving you to your own devices was not a good idea on my part. So, I’ve come to join you both as your official guide. He might be angry at you for leaving him, Quinn, but he doesn’t want you to die out here.”
Quinn’s jaw went slack. “Eden convinced you to follow us? What did he do? How is he?” Her heart had started beating hard just at the mention of his name, and Quinn felt a pang of loss. Tears stung her eyes. She dashed them away quickly.
“Eden’s safe. He’s heartbroken, but he’s not the one in trouble. He convinced me, yes. To follow you, no. If you think I’m letting you out of my sight from now until I’m back in Everfell, or wherever this little adventure leads us, you’ve got another think coming. I’m under implicit instructions to keep you alive, and I’m going to be making sure you get back to that boy, no matter what happens.”
“What about me? Am I an afterthought?” Maertn tried to make it sound jovial, but no one missed the hint of frustration in his voice.
“On the contrary Maertn, you are the entire reason I was able to get out of the city in the first place. As far as the king’s concerned, I’m here looking after you. Unfortunately, Quinn, Vance would rather see you dead. Not surprising, in the circumstances, but not good news, nevertheless.”
“Is he going to send someone to murder me?” Quinn was suddenly petrified, and Ross was mortified that he had put such ideas in her head.
“Spirits, no! Vance isn’t that kind of man. If he wanted you dead, you’d be dead, don’t question that. He’s given you your freedom, and he wouldn’t take that away on a whim. I’m here to make sure Maertn—and therefore you—make the right choices, not to murder you in your sleep. Do know which island you are going to? Which nobles to approach? Which guilds to avoid? Spirits, that last one is the most important thing, and that, I can teach you. I know many places that would kidnap and sell an empath for the price of a small kingdom. You’re a commodity, Quinn, and you don’t even know it. Maertn, too. You both might be young, but he,” Ross jabbed a finger at Maertn, “is one of the most talented healers I’ve ever seen in my life, and I saw my fair share of them during the war.”
Both of them blushed, unable to dispute Ross's experiences. They were both grateful for his presence; he was a reassuring familiar figure of superiority, especially for Quinn.
“So, what do we do now?” Quinn’s voice sounded as small as she felt.
“I have my own ideas, Quinn, but I need you to start learning about these decisions; you’ll be out here on your own one day, and you will only be able to survive by learning what others know. Do you know where you want to go?”
Quinn and Maertn shared a sidelong glance. Their plan to go to Port Kahnel and across to the first island they landed at was, in retrospect, extremely foolhardy. Quinn was secretly glad that Ross had come chasing them, and she was certain without checking that Maertn felt same way. They both looked back to Ross, Quinn’s former master, now acting as their mentor and friend.
“Well, seeing as you’re here, we were hoping you could tell us.”
Ross chuckled. “You didn’t have any plan, did you?”
“We weren’t exactly given much time to make a plan Ross. Why didn’t you come to us before?”
Embarrassed to be asked, but uns
urprised by the question, Ross scratched at the back of his head and muttered awkwardly. “Well, you could say, I thought I was trying to be more loyal to Vance. His most dangerous lord has been caught in open rebellion, so I didn’t think he’d want to see me chasing you into the desert. I am meant to be chamberlain, after all.”
“I can understand that,” Maertn replied without hesitation. “You’ve got to draw a line somewhere, and it’s not as if you’re with the most popular people in court right now.”
“See, that’s where the problem is. You did just save the king’s life, and that’s why he’s let Quinn go. Perhaps that’s the real reason he’s let me follow you. King Vance isn’t heartless, and, regardless of what the opinion around court is, he isn’t a fool. He knows that by helping you, I’m also helping Quinn. He also knows that I’m the only person in Everfell capable of helping you both survive.
“I have no idea what that man has planned. Everyone doubts him so much that even I’m starting to believe he’ll lose his throne soon. He was made king after the wars, though that was mainly because everyone was scared of Shiver’s bloodlust more than any belief in Vance as a ruler. He was the easy choice, but you don’t stay in control of a kingdom by being a walkover. I believe he does have a plan, and I wouldn’t want to be in either Sammah or Shiver’s place right now.”
“I’m exiled, though, so those plans don’t involve me anymore. You’re saying so yourself. Vance has let me go. What do you think I should do next?”
“You’ve got your whole life in front of you now, Quinn. Like I said, I shouldn’t be the one to decide. What do you want to do? I can take you to somewhere where no one asks who you are. You have control of your powers, so you don’t need to tell anyone what you are, and you can just live your life out. You have plenty of experience at being a maid; just go back to doing that.”
Ross's mocking sarcasm wasn’t lost on Quinn, who snorted in response. “I don’t think so.”
“Perhaps you can mock up a sign then, saying you’re an empath for hire?”
Quinn blushed. “That sounds quite arrogant doesn’t it?”
“More than.” Ross folded his arms contemplating how to broach the topic with Quinn. Before going on, he waved towards the fire that Maertn had started. “You need to put some more logs on that, lad, it’ll be going out before long.”
“Blast! I’ll get some straight away.”
“Maertn! You never curse!”
“I think he can say what he likes now, Quinn. He’s not exactly offending anyone, unless you’ve become his mother in my absence? Now sit down, I need to talk to you. Have you at least got something ready to eat, or were you both planning to survive on excitement until you reached an inn?”
“We had some roots. I was going to make us a soup.”
Ross nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good start; what about tomorrow?”
“We’ve got enough for a couple of days,” Quinn said, defiantly.
“And what about meat? You can’t just survive on vegetables, no matter what some of those healers say.”
“Maertn was going to fish for us.”
Maertn wandered back over to them, a couple of long branches in his arms. “Well, I was going to give it a try, I went a few times with Torran and it didn’t seem too hard.”
“Did you actually ever catch anything?”
“Not so much, but I saw how they did it…”
“And let me guess. It didn’t look too hard?”
Maertn poked one of his branches into the fire. They were both being thoroughly chastised by Ross. “You’ve had enough fun making us sound like idiots. Please, stop treating us like children and tell us what we should have done. Baiting us into sarcastic little corners isn’t going to help anyone.”
“You want serious? We can definitely do serious. But we’ll do it after you’ve both eaten.”
8
Ross had to give them one concession: Quinn could make a good soup. Lack of meat aside, they probably wouldn’t have starved on the road, although their diet would have been distinctly dull. Night was drawing in now, and the fire wasn’t overworked, keeping them nice and warm without lighting up the camp for the entire plains to see.
Quinn had hunkered down into a bedroll, frustrated that Ross wouldn’t talk about Eden and overcome with weariness. Maertn stuck close by both of them, and Ross thought the lad wanted to say something, but didn’t have the courage. Instead, they sat in a tense silence, listening to the crackle of the fire. Quinn had her back to them and she wasn’t asleep.
He was making them feel safe, if only for a short time. It reminded Ross of some of the fires he used to share with friends before battles, though this wasn’t nearly as edgy, and the songs nowhere near as rude.
“So Quinn, are you going to make some decisions about your future before we talk about what you’ve left in the past?”
She rolled over, not getting out of the bedroll. She was curled up. Protecting herself, Ross thought.
“I’ve always known I wanted to do. I need to find out who I am.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Sammah told me my father was Nerren, and most people either know or believe that he was responsible for the last wars. Then he said that he didn’t know who my parents are. So, firstly, you can tell me the truth. You were there. Was an empath responsible for the wars?”
“Yes. Nerren was responsible for the wars, Quinn. He used his abilities to manipulate people into taking up arms, and by the time the council realised what he was doing, it was far too late to stop. But I don’t know if he was your father.”
“Is it likely that either of my parents had to be an empath me to have these abilities?”
Ross shook his head. “I don’t know. You’re asking the wrong man.”
Quinn bristled. “I thought you knew about Sha’sek? I thought you meant to be able to help us?”
“Steady on, Quinn. I know about the islands, and I know about the guilds. I can tell you about the council and the safe places you can go. I don’t know about your abilities. I can’t help you there. What I can do is introduce you to people that can help.”
“And are those people dangerous? The ones you’d prefer I avoid?”
“Now that is an interesting question, which I can answer. They are deceitful people. Men who would slit your throat in your sleep rather than see you grow to become a rival. That being said, there are very few people they fear more than empaths.”
“Who would they fear more than an empath?”
Ross met Quinn’s gaze across the fire. “The only kind of person just as rare; apaths.”
“Is that why they sent Sammah away? They were frightened of him?”
“Now that, I know somewhat more about. Sammah was taking an opportunity where he saw it, and his brother took an opening to get rid of unwanted thorn in his side. Sammah has ambition, but he doesn’t have the birthright to match it. He’s not an eldest son, and he’s never going to inherit. What he is though, is clever. He has a tactical mind and the bloody desire to match it. He, like those before them in his line, is an apath. Everyone was surprised when his elder brother wasn’t the one with the abilities. Sure, he might be something that we don’t know about, but it’s nothing useful. An apath is worse than an empath. They don’t feel everything; they feel nothing. That detached dispassion is the sole reason Sammah’s house rose to a seat on the council in the first place. They are the people with power. It was seen as a sucker punch by many, that the youngest son of his house was the one born with the apath ability.”
“So he doesn’t feel emotion. Why does that make him such a threat?”
“Because he is completely detached from reason.”
“Surely that’s wrong? Emotion and reason aren’t inexorably linked. You can have one without the other?”
“You might think that, but you don’t know the history of the islands like I do, and you haven’t watched the career of Baron Sammah from close-up. Like I mentioned, he’s an ambi
tious man, and he’s not going to stop at spending his life rotting in country estate on a Sha’sek Island when he thinks he can get the throne of Everfell.
“Sammah reasons that, because he was the one born with the power, he deserves more than he stands to inherit. When the wars ended and there was an opportunity to send someone to Everfell as a courtesan and diplomat. He had the links and the right name, so it was easy for Sammah’s brother to send him away. Baron Sammah made everyone nervous and sure, they didn’t want him around. But, critically, it allowed the Sha’sek council to put a man with abilities into Vance’s court. Think about it, how would anyone know what Sammah was unless he volunteered the information? It’s just the same as you, Quinn. No one would know about you, not when you have control of your abilities. So it’s up to you what you become in Sha’sek. You’re not the girl that used to faint in the Great Hall anymore.”
“How many empaths have there been?”
“I have no idea, but I think it’s safe to say that, when they’re discovered, they don’t get to stay hidden.”
“So it’s likely that I have empaths in my bloodline, but no one knows where I come from. The last known empath was Nerren, and he caused the wars. There could be others, but they are hidden. No one knows about their abilities, and that can only be because they’re hidden away.”