“How’s it going, tough guy?” she said.
“Okay, I guess,” I said. It came out ruder than I wanted it to.
“Where you headed?”
I shrugged. “Home.”
She gave a smirk and shook her head. “I doubt that. You haven’t been there in more than two months.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I said nastily. “You’re spying on all of us, aren’t you?”
There was a long moment of silence.
“You know,” said Anna carefully, “you can move in here if you want.”
I blinked. “Here? Living in a doctor’s office?”
She shrugged. “Why not? There’s beds. We’ve got food. I mean, we did build this place for you guys.”
I opened my mouth, didn’t say anything closed it again. I wanted to refuse, to tell her all the reasons that was a dumb idea. But when I searched for those reasons, I couldn’t think of even one. I didn’t have anywhere else to be. Other than school, which I could still go to. Family wasn’t an issue. And it sure beat camping out in the woods, which would only get more and more miserable the closer we got to winter.
“I’m not going to quit smoking,” I said lamely.
Anna chuckled. “You don’t have to. We have a back alley. I’ll even join you. I’m not trying to be your mom, here. I’m trying to watch out for you.”
“And?” I said. “It can’t just be out of the goodness of your heart.”
Anna sighed and looked away. “All right, look. Briggs and I have already done our best to convince the others to go into hiding. Ditch the lives they’ve got going on and go someplace that the Association can never find you all.”
“Yeah, they weren’t big on it as I recall,” I said.
“But that’s what you’d be doing if you came with us,” said Anna. “I’m hoping you find out it’s not actually so bad. Maybe you can put in a word with the others for us.”
I nodded. “So you want me to be your poster boy for a life in hiding. Is that it?”
“I wouldn’t use those words. But yes.”
“It won’t work. The others aren’t like me. They all want to be home. They all have reasons to be. They don’t have…they don’t have my dad.”
She cocked her head. “I don’t think you’re as different from the others as you think. At least give it a try. It’s got to beat whatever you’re doing right now.”
She was right.
“Well, I guess you’ve convinced me,” I said with a grin.
Several hours later, I woke up in Midrealm once more.
“Good morning, my Lord,” said Samuel. “You’re quite punctual today.”
I shook my head to clear it as I cast off my blanket. “Morning, Sammy boy,” I said. “Good to see you, too.”
You waste so much time talking in such inane trivialities, said Meridia. It is maddening.
Oh, admit it, I thought. You’re just bored.
One with all of the threads of time laid out before them cannot be bored, she scoffed. Although if such a thing were possible, you would be a prime candidate to accomplish it.
I glowered at the ring on my hand.
“You all arrived at the same time,” said Samuel. I could see an unusual curiosity in his face. “Why is that?”
“We’ve got new digs on the other side,” I said. “We’re in a medical facility. They can give us something to put us out. Makes for better coordination.”
“That is good,” he said. “Come. We should eat quickly and move on. I have no desire to remain in this place any longer.”
He’d set a torch in the wall, so I didn’t need to provide my own light. I slipped on my socks and boots in the flickering firelight before following him out of the room we’d claimed. We entered the common room of the house we’d camped in to find the others already enjoying a quick meal. There was no furniture in the massive rooms, so everyone was sitting on the floor. The ceilings stretched at least twenty feet up, and we walked through doors that reached almost the same height. I could only imagine how big the giants were that once lived here. I was glad the house was uninhabited.
Samuel went to our saddlebags and pulled out breakfast. He came back to me, holding it out: two rolls of hardtack, and my water skin.
“Only a couple of swallows,” he said.
“Aw, come on, man,” I said. “I’m starving. Don’t we have any more meat?”
“Only a little, and we should save it,” he said. “We don’t know how long it has to last.”
I took a savage bite of hardtack, as though it was to blame. “Why? How much longer are we going to be in this mountain?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I do not know, my Lord. As you might say, I left the map of the place in my other trousers.”
I chuckled, crumbs spraying from my mouth. “Nice one. You can’t convince me you’re not hungry, though. We’re barely eating these days.”
Samuel shrugged. “I learned to ignore such concerns during my Runegard training. Barius was a good teacher.”
I took another bite, softening it in my mouth with a pull of water. “Funny. I can’t picture him as a teacher. How did he go from teaching recruits to being a soldier? Isn’t he a little old for that?”
Samuel gave a quick glance over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t let him hear you say that,” he said softly, but his mouth twisted in a smile. “Aged or not, he’d knock you on your rear right quickly. If it wasn’t for your magic, that is.”
I smirked. “I’d like to see him try.”
“As to your question,” said Samuel, “he was not a teacher, so to speak. He trained me. I was…something like an apprentice to him. He took a special interest in me.”
“Oh?” I said, my interest piqued. I’d never heard about this before. “How so? Why?”
“I told you of my father, yes?” said Samuel.
I definitely hadn’t forgotten. “Yeah. I remember.”
“On my twelfth birthday, I decided I was…dissatisfied with my living arrangements. I decided that I would leave the town as soon as I could. I planned to steal away in a merchant’s caravan. There was one that would come through our little town often. It had many wagons, most of them unmanned beyond the driver. I could have easily hidden myself in the back of one of the wagons. The merchant would peddle some wares, then travel on to Morrowdust in the heart of Athorn. There I planned to join the King’s army, because I knew I was already a good fighter.”
“And you met him before joining the army?” I asked.
“I met him before I could stow away in the merchant’s caravan,” said Samuel. “The Runegard came to our town a week before I turned thirteen. With them they brought Lady Reiko, the Keeper of Water before Lord Miles.” I saw his eyes flick over to Barius and Raven, sitting near the house’s front door.
“And Barius was there?” I prodded.
“He was, but I did not know that. I could only see their bright and gleaming armor, the sun glinting from their swords. They were mighty warriors. Far greater than any army soldier I had ever seen. This, I knew, was what I wanted. Not to be some foot soldier. I did not know who these men were, but I wanted to join their ranks.
“Lady Reiko visited us to bestow her blessing on the people. It was a custom of the Realm Keepers in those days. It was a method for the Realm Keepers to inspect the lands within the human kingdoms, to keep their finger on the pulse of the people and ensure that any strife within our borders had not escalated to the degree that they needed to intervene.”
“Greystone never told us anything about that,” I said in surprise.
“Your schedules have been a bit overcrowded since you arrived,” Samuel said with a wry twist in his mouth.
“Fair point. Carry on.”
“I went to one of the Runegard and told him I wanted to join their order. He turned me away, saying I was too young. But I would not leave him alone. I dogged his steps, even when he and the others marched and rode in formation throughout the town. I was nearly trampled by their horses se
veral times, but I refused to leave them.”
“I would have knocked you on the head and ridden off,” I remarked.
“Then I am thankful it was Barius I was pestering, and not you, my Lord,” said Samuel.
“Why didn’t you say something to Reiko?” I said. “From everything I’ve heard, she seemed pretty cool. Wouldn’t she have helped you?”
Samuel’s eyes fell to the floor. “I do not doubt she would have. But you must understand. Before I was a Runegard, the Realm Keepers were something untouchable. They were not even human in my eyes. They were gods in human form. To approach one and ask for assistance was unthinkable.”
“Didn’t stop you from talking to the Runegard,” I said.
He shook his head. “It is different. Would you ask a king for help? You might. But imagine seeing an angel descended from heaven, ancient beyond all knowledge and wise beyond compare. Would you beg it to solve your worries? Could you even muster up the courage to do so?”
I blinked. “Sammy boy, are you calling me an angel?”
He barked a laugh. “I have grown up considerably since that time, my Lord. I was only twelve.”
“Okay, so what did you do?” I said. “How’d you convince them to take you?”
“Nothing I said could convince Barius,” said Samuel. “Words would not sway him. I tried everything. Soon I determined that I could not tell him how badly I needed to leave the town of my birth. I had to show him.
“The Runegard rode out from town later that night, on their long journey home to Morrowdust. And so I left the town’s borders and followed them along the road. They, on horseback of course, were soon out of sight. But I kept walking, my unshod feet bleeding, my limbs aching and heavy. I found their camp an hour or two before dawn the next day.
“I walked straight in past the sentries. They could only watch me in shock: a twelve year old boy with bloody feet striding into their camp. I found Barius and repeated my demand to come with him. And again he turned me away. The Runegard rode out again within two hours.
“I did it again. By the time I found them the next night, I was filthy as a pig who had rolled in the mud. I’d had only a couple of swallows of water from a stream we’d crossed during the day. I was moving slower, so I found them only minutes before they were ready to leave again. Again I found Barius, and again he yelled at me and told me to turn around.”
I found myself staring at Samuel, my mouth hanging open, breath caught in my throat. I got hold of myself and snapped my mouth shut.
“That day I had to fight for every step. I walked on broken feet with limbs of lead. The sun was a haunting vulture in the sky, eyeing me and waiting for me to collapse. But I left my trial of bloody footprints for miles and miles. The sun was low, low in the sky before my body could take it no longer. I collapsed into the dirt of the road. I passed from consciousness, waiting for death to claim me.
“I was in so much pain that I could not fall asleep. Neither could I move. I could only watch the stars pass slowly by the horizon before my eyes. Finally the sky turned pink, the sun beginning to rise. And still I lay there.
“It was hours yet again before I heard hoofbeats on the road. They stopped at my fallen body. And I felt strong arms roll me over. Cool water poured into my throat. I coughed and nearly vomited it up before I recognized Barius’ face above me.
“‘You terrible, terrible fool,’ he said angrily. ‘What in Chaos above possesses you? I could never make a soldier out of someone so foolish.’
“‘You could make nothing else out of someone so stubborn,’ I croaked through my wrecked throat.
“At that he laughed. And once I had had more water and a bit of food from his saddlebag, he hoisted me atop his horse behind him. We rode all the way to Morrowdust that way. Still it was nearly a year later that he recommended me for training in the Runegard. It was quite unusual; I should have waited until I was fourteen. But Barius told them that if they didn’t accept me early, I would probably burn down the Runehold in frustration.”
I laughed hard. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Samuel looked away, but I could see that he was pleased.
Cara stepped into the house’s front doorway. “Five minutes till we leave,” she called out. “Ready yourselves.”
Samuel had only eaten about half of his roll of hardtack, but he began to wrap the rest in cloth and shove it back in the saddlebag. I wolfed mine down instead, forcing myself to chew and swallow the hard, gummy bread.
“One thing I’ve wondered,” I said. “What about families? None of you six have them. Is it, like, forbidden for Runegard to marry or something?”
Samuel shook his head. “It is not. Some Runegard take spouses and have children. It has not always been…popular. Many think that our lives are too dangerous and too demanding to provide well for our families. We may be called upon at any time of the day or night. Even in times of peace, we are on duty for more than twelve hours a day.” He shrugged. “Still, it would be nice, I suppose. Perhaps one day.”
I grinned. “What, you’ve got your eye on someone?”
He didn’t answer right away, but I saw his eyes flick across the room again. They went to the corner where Tess and Nora sat, putting their own meager breakfast away.
Samuel turned back to his pack and shook his head. “No.”
I decided not to press it. “Ah, well. Maybe one day, Sammy boy.”
His eyes flashed the way they often did when I called him that. I liked getting a rise out of him. “And how about you, Lord Blade?” he said coolly. “Do you have your ‘eye’ on anyone?”
I found myself fighting to keep myself from glancing in the same direction he had. “I like to keep my options open,” I said.
Five minutes later, we were on horseback once again and riding through the cavern. Hours passed with no sound besides the soft clip-clop of our horses’ hooves on the dirt.
Around lunch time—or what seemed like it had to be lunch time, since we couldn’t see the sun—we came across another mirror and a stand for it. We spent a few minutes spinning it around until it hit the right spot, casting its dim glow throughout our new section of the cavern. The buildings looked almost exactly the same as the ones we’d passed before. But I saw new, larger structures as well. They had multiple floors, with great windows on the upper levels that were as tall as we were.
“We must be getting deeper into the city, if that’s what you can call this,” said Melaine. “Those look like important buildings. Places of business, perhaps.”
“Business?” said Nora. “That would mean they had a real, true society.”
“And why not?” said Barius. “They certainly are not the demons you’ve heard about in stories. Those are myths.”
Nora pursed her lips. “I am beginning to believe you may be right.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still wondering what happened to them,” said Calvin. “They were obviously huge. What could have come in and annihilated all of them?”
“Dragons could have,” said Barius.
I laughed. Then I fell silent. “Um…I guess you’re right,” I said. “They could.”
We watched the darkness a bit more carefully after that.
We took a meal and traveled on. Another few hours, and we came to yet another mirror and a stand. We activated it just like the others. Every time we cast the muted sunlight into the caves around us, they seemed a little bit less frightening. But then we’d leave that section behind and wander in the darkness, and again it seemed oppressive and frightening.
“Why would people take the mirrors out?” said Miles. “Why wouldn’t they just leave them up?”
“Who knows?” I said. “More importantly, who cares?”
“Maybe they did it when they were being attacked,” said Miles. “Could they see in the dark? Maybe they did that to give themselves an advantage when they got invaded.”
“That’s an idea,” said Barius carefully. “But if they did, it didn’t work. Clearly.�
��
I looked around at the empty houses. “I guess not.”
It was some time later that Nora called out, “Look at that!”
I jerked my head around, expecting to see some sort of danger. But instead I just saw a new, massive structure with two huge wooden doors in the front. Designs were carved into the doors. They were crude, but they were extensive.
“Ooh, big doors,” I said, holding my fingers up and wiggling them. “Let’s take a picture. Oh, wait. I don’t have my camera phone.”
Darren leaned over to Samuel. “What is a camera phone?” Samuel shrugged.
“Look at the tops of them,” said Nora in delight. “Those are carvings of the sun and the moon. This is a place of worship!”
“How do you get that?” said Miles. “It’s the sun and moon, not a cross or something.”
But Nora ignored him, guiding her horse closer to the doors.
“Melaine!” said Cara. “Get back here.”
“Oh, let her explore,” said Sarah with a tired sigh. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m bored out of my mind right now. Let’s take a minute and check it out. We’re probably the first people to be here in thousands of years.”
“What do you think, Meridia?” I asked, holding up the ring on my hand. “You’re the prophet. Are we going to get eaten if we go in?”
No danger awaits you within these walls, if that’s what you’re trying to ask, said Meridia. I heard a note of cautious amusement in her tone. I wasn’t sure if that made me feel more or less safe.
Together we went to the doors. They were at least thirty feet high. I didn’t see any sort of a handle or other device to open them.
“Well, I guess that’s as far as we go,” I said. “Unless you can move wood instead of stone, Sarah.”
Calvin nudged his horse forward. “This is a job for…the Airborne Avenger.”
“Nope,” I said. “Not allowed to use that name.”
“It’s awesome!” he said, looking at me in shock.
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 47