by Daniel Casey
Jena didn’t break eye contact with Goshen but took several steps back, “What this?”
Kneeling, Declan twisted around, “C’mere, damnit.”
Goshen gestured for Jena to go ahead; she smirked as she turned toward Declan.
“Ya see this?” Declan pointed to ground, and then raised his finger pointing to some shrubs about fifteen feet away, “We aren’t the first folk to come this way.”
“How long ago do you think?” Goshen asked. He couldn’t see the details that Declan was point out to Jena but he didn’t doubt the man.
Declan picked up some leaves and crumpled them up seemingly absent-mindedly, “Not more than a week, perhaps soon. But the interesting part is that these tracks are coming toward us.”
“Toward?”
“Someone came out of the highlands this way.” Jena clarified for Goshen.
“So it couldn’t be those behind us.” Goshen ventured.
Declan nodded, “Naw, couldn’t be.”
“Who could it be?” Goshen mumbled.
“Most likely,” Jena stared ahead of them, her eyes darting as she took in the forest, “someone with Roth.”
“Ya think?” Declan asked.
Goshen shook his head, “Isn’t it more likely that your Roth has left?”
“Hardly,” Jena pointed through the woods, “We’re nearly there. By dusk will not be but a few leagues away.”
“That doesn’t really invalidate my point.”
“Which is?” Jena barked at him.
“Declan says these are the tracks of someone leaving.”
“And?”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?” Goshen shook his head, “He’s left—if he was even ever there.”
“Do you hear yourself? He’s left but he was never there. What sort of sense does that make?”
“Damn it, shut up, both of ya.” Declan stood abruptly with a stunning authority, “We keep going, and by tomorrow morning we’ll know one way or the other.” He dug a finger into Goshen’s chest, then turned to point in Jena’s face, “You need to figure out what we do if he’s not.” Before either could reply, Declan left the two standing and began following the invisible trail. Jena glared at Goshen, her hands on her hips. Goshen was tired of it. He impatiently gestured for her to follow Declan.
The Cruor, 32st of Mabon
Wynne stood behind Roth watching him rig the tripwire, “So that’ll open the cages?”
“It should,” Roth tugged on the line slightly as both he and Wynne followed it up the tree next to them. It shook some leaves in the higher branches and Roth seemed satisfied.
“How many have you set up?”
“I’ve got a perimeter,” Roth stood up and turned around point back the way they had come and then off to their left, “of about seven set across the most likely paths to the Cruor.”
“And the road?” Wynne asked.
“Well, that’s pretty much right in front of us so we’ll be just fine one we get into the settlement proper.” Roth seemed satisfied. The two men began to making their way back to camp.
“So, there’s still a lingering concern.” Wynne spoke softly.
Roth knew what he was getting at, “They’ll get here.”
“Soon?” The pair emerged from the woods.
The sun was bright and although the highland air was cool, the light immediately warmed the skin. Roth paused a moment as they crossed the glen and grabbed Wynne’s arm, “I don’t know how many more times I can say it.”
“How long are we going to wait? We can’t stay here indefinitely.”
“How long did you search for Fery before you gave up?”
“I didn’t give up.”
“That’s not what it sounded like. It sounded like you holed up in the last safe corner you could find in that city.” Roth said flatly.
“And waited.” Wynne nodded.
“And waited.”
“It wasn’t the right decision.” Wynne shrugged.
“Know that now, do you?”
“Knew it then,” Wynne said, “I lost her, but I wanted to keep looking but…the others demanded more and more of me. I reasoned that the more I brought to safety, the increased likelihood that she’d turn up. Or that someone would have some information for me.”
“They never did?”
“They always had some bit of information,” Wynne nodded giving a ponderous chuckle, “And it usually sent me on a chase.”
“And it usually wasn’t her you found.”
“It got to the point where, and I’m not proud of this, but it felt as though they were coming to me because they knew I could find their loved ones. They knew what I was looking for and they knew how to use me.”
“You saved a lot?”
“I saved hundreds.”
“That’s something.”
Wynne shook his head, “No, I let far more than that die.”
“You can never save them all.”
“Did that stop you?”
“I don’t save people. If anything I hinder them.”
“I hardly believe that,” Wynne said, “You helped Goshen and Kira for no reason other than they were in front of you. You had plenty of opportunities to walk away…”
“Yet here I am walking with you.”
Wynne laughed, “To the Cruor, a place you know quite well.”
“It serves my purposes.”
“It’s more than that.” Wynne wasn’t trying to pry, but he had been needling Roth all day.
“Hardly, a tinker needs…”
“This isn’t a tinker’s cabin, some rover camp. Even if you just stumbled upon this place, you wouldn’t have maintained it like you have.” Wynne asserted.
“Who says I’m the only one?”
“You did. The Athingani are too sparse and scattered, too scared to collect in one place anymore.”
“I told you I’m not Athingani.”
“No, you’re a half breed. But you’re more than that. You look can pass; you don’t have the features of the Athingani. At least, not the ones every one associates with them.”
“Is my hair not dark enough? My complexion too light?” Roth was annoyed.
“It’s not. You’re tall, you’re slender with long arms and legs, you brow is flat, your jaw is narrow.”
“So you’re saying I should’ve gone to Elixem and let the tailors drape me to parade their wares.” Roth laughed.
“I’m saying I’m one of the few people in all Syr Nebra who has seen real Athingani.”
Roth stopped and turned with a start, “What Athingani have you ever known?”
“I traded in the far north, the far east, and the south. I met Athingani wanderers in Far Port and when I crossed the Ragan Mountains.”
“Few have seen, let alone met all the known peoples.”
“I wouldn’t say I have. But the Athingani I met were stockier, large hands like yours, stronger than I could’ve imagined. The men seemed nearly to be a knot of muscle. But it was their faces where I saw their difference from me—a thick brow that seemed to hide their eyes deep into their skull. Blue eyes but such shadows danced around their faces.”
Roth nodded, “Sometimes Adrenine children are born with straight hair and light skin. Sometimes, you Sovi pluck them away from their family. Take them into your chapels, your inns, your schools, and your armies. Make them forget who they are.”
“Did we do that with you?”
Roth shook his head, “I was stolen away by a far crueler people.”
“That sounds like a longer story than we have time for.” Wynne laughed as the two approached the sheer rock face of the Cruor. In the stone were a series of half-circle footholds and then about thirty feet up you could see wooden pegs protruding slightly from the surface.
Roth lifted a leg, slotted a foot into one of the cutaways, and pushed himself upward with momentum enough to grab another cutaway above his head. He moved with certainty and quickness, though not great speed. Wynne followed behind mirro
ring Roth’s moves and choices of cutaways, though he didn’t demonstrate Roth’s adeptness. When he reached the first peg, he paused and looked back to Wynne, “Remind me to tell it to you, once we’re in a safe, warm place.”
Climbing was difficult for Wynne and the strain could be seen in his face, but he did smile back up to Roth, “When will that be?” The two laughed as they worked to complete their assent; they had another thirty feet to go, before they reached the cavate landing where the four of them had made camp.
Fery sat on the edge of the squat stonewall looking out over the highland coulee from the safety of the cavate landing. Behind her were two towers carved into the hillside, there were tens of tiny slit windows in each perhaps no more than a few inches across but at least three feet long. The sky was mostly clear and Fery had become a bit hypnotized watching the shadows of clouds move across the hills with remarkable speed. Kira emerged from the doorway between the two towers and came up to Fery. She gingerly kicked the two buckets of water Fery had set down behind herself and forgotten. The noise snapped Fery out of her reverie, she looked over her shoulder to see Kira stand with her hands on her hips, eyes wide, and head nodding toward the buckets.
“Sorry, I was waylaid.” Fery turned back to the vista.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Kira moved next to Fery and leaned on the wall, staring out. “It’s not like making your father wait for water to cook will make his food any better.”
Fery laughed a bit, “He’s rather terrible isn’t he?”
“What was that he made yesterday?”
“He was sure he could make that curcurbita soup that Reg had for us our first night.”
“That didn’t work.” Kira shook her head.
“How could something be so salty and undercooked?” Fery pretended to be outraged.
Kira laughed, “I doubt we’d do any better.”
“True enough.” The two gazed in silence for a time, and then Kira tapped Fery on the shoulder.
“Come, I’ve found something.” Kira nodded for Fery to follow her back toward the towers.
Fery spun and hopped down from the wall, “Lead the way.”
As they stepped through the doorway, they pause as their eyes adjusted to the darker interior. The tower room was empty but for three ladders that with the doorway divided the circular space into fourths. In the center of the room as a stairway pit that disappeared in darkness.
“You’ve been exploring?” Fery asked as Kira lead them down the stairs.
“Yes,” Kira ran her hands along the walls of the staircase and when they reached the bottom the passage opened up into a corridor that she had torch lit earlier.
She point to the right, “So that leads down to our camp.”
“The great room.” Fery nodded.
“Right,” Kira turned to the left, “But down here the corridor moves to under where we were standing.”
As they walked Fery noticed more and more light coming in, then as the hall turned slightly it opened up into a wider hall. There were window every five feet or so, not the long slits of the towers and other building but larger and teardrop shaped. The floor and walls were smooth, covered in a white plaster making the whole hall perhaps the brightest place in the dwelling. Fery went to the nearest window and looked out; she saw the open glen below.
“Brilliant view.” She said.
“It’s more than that,” Kira came over, “The trees are set at just the right angles that these windows are obscured but we can see out.”
“Clever.”
Kira pulled Fery along, “But that’s not what I want you to see.” They moved down the corridor and when they reached the end, it opened up into a large room. The ceiling rose up like the interior of a dome and the floor dipped down slightly making the entire space look even more cavernous.
“This is larger than the great room.” Fery stepped inside and wandered toward the middle of the room. She pointed up to the open circle at the ceiling that was pouring light into the room in an empyreal cone, “Where do you suspect that is?”
Kira shook her head, “I don’t think it’s as near as we think. I was staring up at it for a while and I think it’s like a well with mirrors all along it.”
“You think it’s pulling light down from some far up opening?”
“Something like that,” Kira nodded, “It wanes when clouds come by but you can still see a quite bright glare up into the opening.”
“Whatever did they do here?” Fery shielded her eyes as she tried to spy what Kira spoke of.
“It’s a bit like the solars they have at the Cathedral but not,” Kira walked along the wall, “But this is was is really interesting.”
Fery turned to look over to her; she blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes. They refocused and she saw what Kira was talking about—a giant mural circled them, a vivid bas-relief.
“And then look up,” Kira craned her neck as she walked backwards slowly to join Fery, “It’s a map of Syr Nebra.” The walls sloped up and the two saw the great painted map of the world encircling them.
Kira pointed just to their left, “There we are.” A bright yellow teardrop marked the Cruor, perhaps six feet from the Novostos.
“There’s more land here than I know.” Fery followed Kira’s finger then drifted to the left of it to find her own city, Rikonen, which was marked by a red diamond. She kept turning her head expecting to see The Deep come back around but just kept going, “The Deep is huge.”
“And look,” Kira drew Fery’s attention back to the right.
“Where is that?”
“I’ve never seen it before,” Kira admitted, “I didn’t think there was anything much beyond the Ashka Sea over the Ragans.”
“My father told me about Lappala but this…” The land continued down below the black diamond that was Lappala for several feet before it joined the bright white that signified the southern pole. But to the east of Lappala, there was more land although not a single bit of it was named or had a mark on it.
“And there’s more beyond the North Sea,” gestured to the strip of land that looked like it was painted as mountains that lead to another expanse just as large as that south of Lappala. It too bled into the white of the northern pole, “Whole lands that they knew existed but didn’t know anything about.”
“That we’ve never known about.” Fery added.
“Queer, isn’t it? How between the Cathedral, the Spires, and Essia that we know nothing of these places?” Kira’s voice was full of wonder, “A whole sea beyond the Ashka that we’ve never set an oar in or felt the wind of.”
Fery nodded equally awed, and then she turned to Kira with a confused look on her face, “Do you think Roth knows about this?”
“He must.”
Just then there was a voice echoing through the halls calling out to Kira and Fery, “Speaking of.”
“I’m becoming far too aware of that bellowing.” Kira said conspiratorially as she made her way back. Fery lingered looking around for a few more moments. It seemed like an eternity as she took in the mural with the light from above seemingly illuminating new parts of it.
“Fery!” Kira had come back and stood in the doorway, “Fery now, come, this sounds important.” Kira’s voice was urgent.
Fery jumped down from the last few footholds to join the others at the base of the cliff face. Roth stood ahead of everyone, his hands on his hips unmoving and saying nothing. Wynne and Kira stood close to each other. Kira held an arrow in her bow at the ready while Wynne held a shimmering falcata that Roth must’ve given him with his spearbow slung over his back.
“Do we know who this is?” Fery asked as she stepped to the two. Before either could say anything, Roth spoke.
“We don’t. But they’re coming from the same direction that Reg left by.”
“What does that mean?” Kira asked.
“Reg’s come back with friends?” Fery suggested.
“Or with enemies.” Wynne added.
“Jena and Goshen.” Roth finished Kira’s thought and stepped forward.
Kira moved to follow him but Wynne held her back nodding for Fery to follow after, “You need to stay here with me; we’re cover for these two.” Wynne held out the falcata for Fery, “Here.”
Fery ignored it, drawing two long degens from the sheaths at her sides and falling in step with Roth who already held katars in each hand making his arms look like long knives.
“Go to the left flank, you’re aiming at anyone or anything that comes from the right.” Kira obeyed Wynne’s instructions as he put his sword away and lifted his spearbow. The two began to move forward on their guard looking beyond their friends for any kind of movement.
“Stay calm, Kira.” Wynne said
Ahead of them, Roth walk with a hard certainty. They newcomers would be coming out of the woods across the glen at just about the same time as he and Fery would emerge.
“If it’s anyone we don’t know, don’t hesitate.” Roth said to Fery.
“Don’t worry,” she tried to sound prepared and did but as they reached the tree line she hesitated a moment. “How many can we handle, do you think?”
“We’ll only know after it’s done.” Roth said coolly.
Side by side, the two strode into the open glen and saw three bodies coming toward them. They hadn’t seen them yet when Roth felt a push of air above his head. He snapped his head back toward Kira and saw her empty bow, tensed and turned back to the strangers coming their way.
“Wait!” Fery said, freezing Roth just as he was about to burst forward. A curse came up from across the glen. Roth stared out across the field. He heard them; he saw them. A man he didn’t know was patting the side of his head apparently checking for blood. Next to him, Jena stood looking their way, a scowl on her face, with Goshen behind her.
“Light be damned!” Roth threw the katars out to his sides, they spiked into the ground as he walked forward unconcerned.
“What’s all this?” Jena demanded as she strode toward them. Fery griped her swords tighter unsure of what to do but she followed Roth, who seemed entirely unconcerned.