That’s when it dawned on him. The Revenant was filled with hurting people. They had all lost someone or many someones. The Revenant was their way of bringing those people back to life, a way to give their deaths meaning.
His notions seemed suddenly foolish. Where Robert had thought only of himself, Scout thought of those around him. He wanted to spare them from suffering as he had.
Heavy footsteps beat against the stone outside the barracks. Robert jumped to his feet, his heart beating against his chest as he began sweeping the floor with great fervor. He was not about to let Jade yell at him for sitting down on the job. Who knows what else she’d heap upon him?
When Strike came running into the room, he let out a long breath and relaxed.
“Hey, Newblood, come on,” Strike said, waving back the way he’d come. “Talon’s back and he’s got an urgent raid. We need all hands.”
Finally. It was time to show them his worth.
Will awoke the next morning to find the forest appeared unchanged. Red’s markers still hung in the trees in the same place she’d left them.
Red removed the markers and they set off in that general direction. They moved at a slower pace that day, but still kept up a brisk walk.
After they passed what Will was positive was the same tree three times, he called after Red. She turned around and walked back to him.
“Need another break, do we?” she asked.
“No,” he said, ignoring her jab. “I just feel like I’ve passed this tree before. What about you?”
She shrugged. “Looks like a tree. Like any of the other trees. What’s special about this one?”
Will sighed. He didn’t know. It just… looked different to him, yet familiar.
“Tie one of those markers around it and let’s keep moving,” he said.
Red pulled out a strip of her cloak and tied it around the tree. Then they resumed their journey. An hour later they passed the tree with the red marker tied around it.
“That was the same tree,” Will said. “I told you. We’re walking in circles.”
“Impossible,” she said. “I’m walking in a straight line. My sense of direction is excellent.”
“Obviously not,” Will said, snickering.
“Laugh it up,” she said. “You won’t be laughing when we run out of water.”
That took the mirth right out of him. He shuddered at the thought of what would come next.
They continued forward, but Red grabbed a stick and drew a line in the dirt as they walked, doing her best to keep it straight. If it started to curve, she reoriented it.
“I hate to ask,” Will said. “But if we lost our direction, how do you even know we’re heading north?”
Red glared at him, but didn’t deign to answer.
Another hour passed. Then a creepy sensation washed over Will.
“Do you feel that?” he asked
“Feel what?” Red responded
“I don’t know,” Will said. “I just feel like we’re being watched.”
“It’s all in your head,” she said. “The monotony of the wood, the disorientation… it’s been known to drive people mad.”
Will pulled out a small piece of bread, but before he could eat it a hawk swooped down and stole it out of his hand. It flew up into a tree, placed its talon on top of the bread, and began to eat it. Will could have sworn the bird looked at him.
Maybe that’s all it was, just a bird looking to steal some food. If Will wasn’t careful, maybe he would go crazy.
They crested a small hill and Will’s eyes went wide. He blinked a few times and then wiped his eyes. It was still there. A village. A village in the middle of the Wandering Wood.
“What the—?” Will asked. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Yeah,” Red said absentmindedly as ran down the hill to the village.
“Hey, wait,” Will called out. “You don’t just run into an unknown place. What if they’re hostile?”
“Give me a break,” Red called back from the foot of a bridge that went over a huge hole in the ground. “This place looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”
Will jogged to catch up. They crossed the bridge together. On either side of a central road sat structure after structure. Some appeared like small homes, while others looked like commercial buildings—an apothecary and tailor. The hawk flew in and alighted atop one of the houses.
At the far end of the path and up another slight incline sat a huge mansion.
All of the buildings looked the same, though: stone cracking, vines running up the outside of the walls, and roofs partially caved in.
A branch snapped behind them. They spun around to find Shaw and Tomas, together, along with three others. Two of them wore the attire of the king’s guard, and the other was one of Alexei’s men.
As if sensing the danger, the hawk flew down from the tree and dug a talon into Shaw’s face, providing a momentary distraction.
Will’s vision flickered once again, blues, purples, and reds greeting him. Something stood out this time. A green glow. It lasted only an instant before the world returned to normal. It must have been his mind playing tricks on him.
“Run,” Red said.
They ran straight down the path toward the mansion, turned left between two of the buildings, and ducked to the right. They left the village behind, racing back into the forest.
They jumped over roots and circled around tree trunks. Will glanced back for just an instant, but it was enough that he didn’t see a low branch and smashed his forehead into it, knocking himself to the ground.
Will stood, dazed. Red had disappeared.
“Red?” Will said as loud as he dared.
Heavy footsteps and snapping branches drew closer by the minute. Will jogged through the trees away from the sounds.
“Red?” he said again.
A pair of hands grabbed him from behind as he walked past a tree.
A familiar female voice shushed him. Red let go of him.
“They went this way,” said a voice Will now knew to be Tomas.
The moment Shaw and Tomas had moved beyond their tree, Red crept off in the opposite direction, waving for Will to follow. Once they could no longer hear Shaw and the others, they resumed their run. They managed to give them the slip, but Red refused to slow down until several hours later.
“What happened?” she asked.
“What do you mean what happened?” Will asked.
“You disappeared,” she said, then her eyes drifted to the knot on Will’s forehead and she chuckled. “Never mind. Who’s Red?”
Whoops, he thought. “It’s what I’ve been calling you… in my head. Guess it slipped.”
“I have a name you know,” she said. “Priscilla, remember?”
“Yeah, I’m terrible with names,” Will explained. “I give people nicknames. It helps me remember them.”
“You’re unbelievable,” she said, exasperated. “You know random facts and useless information, but you can’t remember a simple name.”
“Was that a question or a statement?” Will asked.
“Ugh! You drive me mad sometimes,” she said, shaking her hands in the air.
“Thank you,” he said.
“That wasn’t a compliment,” she retorted.
“Thank you anyway,” he said. “Where are we going?”
“I have no idea,” Red admitted. “We got turned around running away from those idiots. Not that it mattered. Who knows if we were even headed in the right direction in the first place.”
“So what do we do now?” Will asked.
“Pick a direction and stick to it. It’s about all we can do,” she said.
Will closed his eyes, spun in a circle, and stopped. “Let’s go this way,” he said, pointing.
So they did. Just when they thought they’d be spending another night in the forest, they saw sky through the trees ahead. They ran with renewed vigor.
As they we broke through the treeline,
they found not the temple, but a vast, seemingly infinite desert.
17
Robert shifted uncomfortably in the corner of the crowded strategy room. Talon paced in the center of the room, hands clasped behind his back.
“Come on,” Strike said impatiently. “You’re going to wear down that rock and create a valley in the middle of the base, just tell us already.”
“Not until Trout gets here,” Talon said. “I’ll not be repeating myself.”
“But we’ve been waiting for half an hour,” Strike said, groaning.
Talon glared at him, but continued pacing.
The door opened and everyone turned. Scout peeked his head around the corner.
“What are you doing here?” Jade said. “You can’t be here. This doesn’t concern you.”
Scout ignored her and looked at Talon with longing in his eyes. Talon stopped his pacing and pursed his lips.
“He can stay,” Talon said at last.
Scout’s face beamed and he burst into the room and hopped onto a crate next to Robert.
“But he’s too young!” Jade complained.
“He’s also one of us,” Talon said. “He’s lost family, too, remember?”
Scout’s face couldn’t get any bigger.
“He’ll have no part in this mission,” Talon said.
Scout frowned and slid off the crate.
“But,” Talon continued, “I don’t see the harm in him participating in our meetings from now on.”
“All right!” Scout said, reclaiming his spot.
“What’s so exciting?” Trout said, stepping through the open door. He closed it behind him as he entered.
“Glad you could make it,” Talon said. “This is possibly the biggest, single most important raid we’ve conducted as the Revenant.”
Everyone leaned in closer with anticipation.
“I just left a council meeting with the king,” Talon explained. “There is a large shipment of pyridis being sent across the sea from Kent to Havan. Then it’s to be transported by caravan to Shadowhold.”
“How much pyridis are we talking about?” Strike asked, crossing his arms.
“Enough to blow the whole palace wall and then some,” Talon said.
“A shipment like that’s going to have heavy protection. There’s no way we’ll get a ship close enough without being seen,” Jade remarked.
Trout shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too hard. Talon’s the grand admiral now, isn’t he?” he said. “He can just move some ships around and we’ll slip right in.”
Jade was shaking her head before he finished. “If he breaks protocol he’ll tip his hand and Drygo will know how we got in.”
“That’s precisely why we aren’t striking at sea,” Talon said.
“What?” Everyone said at once, turning to look at him.
“But we’ve never performed a land grab,” Jade said, standing. “We don’t have the manpower or the resources.”
Talon motioned for her to sit back down. “Drygo knows the Revenant only strikes at sea, so I’ve convinced him to dock at Havan instead of traveling all the way to Shadowhold. It’s a long shot, but I couldn’t pass this up. We need this if we’re going to move forward with our attacks.”
“Move forward with…” Jade echoed. “Wait, are you seriously considering a full-on assault against the king?”
“Trout’s right,” Talon said. “We won’t effect any change without significant risk and consequence.”
Jade opened her mouth to argue.
“And,” Talon said, “the Raven agrees.”
Strike chuckled and smirked at Jade, who rolled her eyes.
“But we must minimize losses to the kingdom, and the loss of innocent life is unacceptable, so we’ll have to be precise,” Talon said.
Robert stepped away from the wall and cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at him.
“This is great and all,” Robert said, “and I don’t mean to butt in, but how do you plan on seizing the pyridis? My brother had twenty men guarding him while the king transported him from Celesti and you’re talking about enough pyridis to level Shadowhold.”
“If you would all just let me finish, your questions will be answered,” Talon said, looking around the room.
No one said a word.
“Apparently,” Talon said, “the king perceives there is a threat to himself and the city larger than the Revenant, and it’s got him concerned. He will not assign any more men to guard the transport than is necessary to defend against the common highwayman.”
“What type of threat could scare the king?” Strike said in shock. “The man is fearless.”
“I’m not sure it’s so much fear as it is a desperate need to eliminate this new threat quickly,” Talon said. “He was rather tight-lipped on the matter, but it doesn’t appear to concern us or change our plans in any way, whatever it is.
“What is important,” he continued, “is that with a little planning, this operation has weight and merit. I’ve already established a basic plan.”
Talon laid out a general map of Aralith across the large table in the center of the room.
“The caravan will travel along the main road from Havan to Shadowhold,” he said, drawing his finger along the road connecting to the two cities. “As it draws closer to the city, the caravan will enter Shadowhold’s farmlands. The best place for an ambush is here.” He circled an area just south of the old kingdom borders near the road leading east to the Frostpeaks.
“Why so close to the city?” Jade asked. “You know the patrols increase the closer we get. There’s a greater chance of someone else showing up to the party.”
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take,” Talon explained. “The Revenant only survives because the king can’t find us. We leave no survivors, no trace of our presence.”
“At least we did until recently,” Jade remarked, casting a glance at Robert.
Robert held up his hands, mouth gaping, taken aback by her bitterness. He knew she hated him, but he didn’t know why. He hadn’t ever done anything to her, and the hostility was getting old.
Talon gave Jade a look like a father would to a misbehaving child. She crossed her arms and huffed.
“As I was saying,” Talon said, clearing his throat. “The success of this mission relies upon us disappearing not only the pyridis, but the whole protective regiment. Bodies, horses, caravan, pyridis… all of it. Nothing gets left behind.”
“We can’t move all of that stuff back here without getting seen,” Strike said.
“You’re right,” Talon said. “Which is why we’re not bringing it back here.”
“Then where?” Robert asked.
Trout’s face lit up. “The farms,” he said.
“Precisely,” Talon replied.
“What about the farms?” Strike asked.
It was Trout who explained, “The farmers, like us fishermen, have gotten the worst end of Drygo’s rule. While the people living in the city reap the benefits of his protection, we’re subject to higher taxes and susceptibility to pirates and bandits. The crown only cares about receiving its cut, not about our livelihood. Consequently, many of the farmers are… not against the Revenant.”
“Though they aren’t strictly for it, either, I take it?” Jade said.
Trout answered, “No, but—”
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “We’re all going to be killed.”
“Stop overreacting,” Talon said. “If we play this right it will all work out.”
“I’m not overreacting,” Jade said. “I’m the only one thinking rationally here. That’s what you appointed me to do. Keep us safe and on course, not lead us off into suicide missions. What does the Raven think about this?”
“The Raven is detained at the moment,” Talon said. “But as second-in-command I’m making the decision, and it’s final. Begin preparations immediately.”
“Stones,” Red said.
“Where are we?” Will asked.
&
nbsp; “About as far away from the temple as we can get,” she said. “We backtracked almost every bit of the ground we gained yesterday.”
“This is the Dhelgur Desert, isn’t it?” Will asked.
“It would seem so,” she said with a resigned sigh.
“This is fantastic,” Will said with a laugh.
Red waited for Will to continue, disbelief written all over her face.
“So long as we’re in the forest, we can’t get a sense of direction, right?” Will said, his excitement growing. “So… we move along the edge, until we get close enough to the approximate area of the temple and cut into the forest.”
She thought about it for a moment then said, “Let’s give it a shot. Two days wandering these woods and we’re farther back than we started. Plus, we’re almost out of supplies, and, if memory serves me, there’s a lake just north of the desert, but no way of telling how far away that is.”
So they walked north, keeping the wood to their left and the desert to their right. The sand made for slow travel, and the heat rolling off the sand didn’t help, so they decided to stay in the wood, but keep the desert visible at all times.
The one exception came when it was time to stop for the night.
“We can’t camp in the trees. We could end up Merva knows where,” Red said.
“We sleep in the desert then,” Will said.
“Which means we won’t sleep at all,” Red said, starting another one of her rants. “It’ll be freezing cold. Of course, why should that bother you? You’re from Celesti. Some of us aren’t thick blooded like you northern folk.”
“We could sleep on the edge of the wood during the day, and move at night,” Will offered.
“Not a good idea,” Red retorted. “We can’t chance those goons finding us while we’re sleeping.”
Will shrugged. “Well, then we don’t have much choice, do we?”
They set up camp in the desert just outside the forest. Red was right. The cold night air kept Will from finding rest.
I guess cold resistance doesn’t transfer between bodies, he thought.
Red rolled over beside him.
“Red, you awake?” he asked.
Soul Render (Soul Stones Book 1) Page 15