by Laura Abudo
“Be still, Amias,” the female voice said as she stepped closer to look at him. “If you stop fighting you will be able to breathe.”
She was correct. He relaxed his muscles at her soothing voice and breathed once again. He was able to move his head though it took a long time.
“We are sorry to come to you now, after you’ve had such troubling news from home. We must add to the burdens you carry, but please know it is necessary. As you know, you face a terrible time but you must help the others get the girls safely north to Brother Karl’s homeland. You have other commitments, we understand. Tend to them. Do not stray from your family obligations. We only ask that you assist the girls.
“When you step into the well you will see the futures of the girls, the women they are to become. You will see events that will happen in the future, some involving yourself but you will not see your destiny. You will not speak of what you see in the well to anyone unless we give you permission.
“We trust you to take great care, as there are evil forces now involved that will try to harm the girls and Brother Karl. The Faold has become a cult of politics, sorcery and manipulation. Karl will soon not be one of them and needs protection.
“Your heart is good. It will know which path to take. Do not sever the ties that bind you to your family and to other people. Not everything is as it seems but know the chains of responsibility often lead to freedom.
“Do you accept this new burden?”
“Yes,” he thought with mixed emotions.
Warm hands pushed him forward into the pool and he sank deeper and deeper into darkness.
“Did you come to gloat?” Amias asked, snatching his boot from the ground.
“No,” Karl said quietly, as the wind chimes tinkled in the breeze. “The others needed my help to enter. I thought you might too.”
“I didn’t.”
“Why are you angry with me?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly, pulling on the other boot. He stood looking at her. “You sent a child to me with a message saying you were leaving. You didn’t wait for a response. I had Brothers at the Keep gate asking for you like you’d stolen their favorite candles, I had to rush with my work and send two of my best scouts and my first hand searching for you, then you scared them half to the underworld with your disappearance and now you have my entire team thinking they were chosen by the gods to perform some noble task.”
“They were.”
“That’s beside the point,” he fumed. “You scared us silly.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And I’ve had word from home. I have to return as soon as I can. I get pulled into this mess, which is going to delay me even more.”
“We will try not to hold you back,” she snapped walking away. “You are the one who offered your help. We didn’t ask.”
“I was supposed to leave you stranded in the mud?”
She marched off not waiting for him. He kicked the ground in anger but gave her a few minutes head start so he didn’t have to argue with her all the way back to camp across the field. Again, that conversation didn’t turn out right. He regretted making it sound like they were a burden to him. That wasn’t it at all.
He had had troubling news from home. His father had the fever that was spreading across the north. His father still lived but Amias was expected to return to deal with the estate. His obligations, as the gods had told him, were undeniable. He must return. He must marry. He must become his father. His betrothed was the first daughter of a wealthy land owner, a purely political match made by the King himself, hoping to solidify eastern and western interests. He’d been promised by his father he could have this one last excursion then he’d get a huge chunk of land and settle in. He was ready. He’d looked forward to it. But now everything seemed to change.
His attraction to Brother Karl was only one of his worries. She was a devotee, unable to express love for another as men and women often do. She was untouchable. That he had learned to deal with. He worked hard at trying to forget she was beautiful, intelligent and of what must lie beneath the drab grey robes. He could put that aside most of the time. Now, she was going to leave the Brotherhood, become a normal woman, and although that tempted him, he couldn’t touch her. He was betrothed, and not that the infidelity of a tryst with Karl would cause him great distress since he didn’t know the other woman at all, but he was afraid. He was afraid to truly fall for Karl then have to leave. He honestly didn’t think he would be able to shut his heart down. His heart knew which path to take, they told him. And that was to his duty first.
He had the added responsibility to get her and the girls safely north, into the breeding ground of fever. He simply couldn’t understand the reasoning of going into the pit of the underworld to avoid a demon, but he could not deny what he saw, what he experienced and had to trust the soothing voice and the visions in the water.
He shook his head then took the path down the hill. No one questioned him when he got to camp, she didn’t act like they’d argued or that anything had happened to him. They broke camp and set off as they had several times before.
Chapter 7
Storms
Her sister died. She hadn’t seen her since she was ten years old, but they were still kin and it stung. She remembered Ruby as somewhat preachy as big sisters often were, but she had taught her how to sew a few stitches to make rag dolls and had brushed her hair and they’d giggled at the silliest things. They had scampered through the corridors spying on the maids and kitchen staff then had screamed and run when they’d been spotted. She remembered Ruby crying when she’d been taken away by the Brother.
With her throat constricted and the sting of tears in her eyes, Karl folded the letter she’d received from home and placed it inside her robes. She sat on a bench in the sun of the Sanctuary gardens and wrote a letter of her own then handed it to the Brother who waited.
“I’m sorry, Brother,” the man said. “Was it the fever?”
“Yes,” Karl nodded in a whisper.
He shook his head and turned to go. The Sanctuary was no longer her home, no longer a place of security where she could go and mourn. She felt lost. The letter she had given the Brother explained she was leaving the order. She now had family commitments she must attend to. It had been her foundation for so long; she didn’t know where to turn.
The streets of the town were busy with people moving about, living their lives. Somewhere Krisa was watching them. She studied people like they were a curious species. Kel and Pat were nearby watching Karl in case she had trouble with the Faold at their realization she was leaving them. Captain Doran was meeting with town officials on King’s business. The rest of the men waited outside town with Pearl and Glory. There was nowhere to go to be alone. Not anymore. She would mourn Ruby later, in the dark, when no one could see the tears.
She left the Sanctuary in her grey Brother robes but soon found a shop to purchase the first real dresses she’d worn in almost twenty years. The first was plain, a sandy brown with little embellishment, constricting after wearing the loose robes of the Brotherhood, yet felt liberating. The hem hid her traveling boots well. The second was a royal blue with white trim of lace around the deeper neckline and cuffs. Her decision was based on a whiff of a memory that Amias Doran liked blue. She also bought some shifts, a new brown cloak and undergarments fitting a woman.
As she walked down the street toward the north gate, Kel stepped in beside her to take her parcels. He grinned and said, “Brother Karl! What are you doing in that dress?”
“I’m not sure yet,” she laughed, twisting her hips to make the full skirt flow back and forth. “Do you think Glory will like it?”
He studied her a moment. “She will tell you that you need satin and colour and lace and frills.”
“I also have a blue one. It isn’t much fancier. But I don’t think a ball gown is appropriate for driving a wagon in a caravan.”
“Probably not,” he laughed out loud.<
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Glory screamed and clapped her hands, practically jumping up and down when she saw Karl. She rushed to her with a big hug, so excited to see her guardian as a real woman. Pearl beamed too. She dragged Karl over to the Marshalls to get their approval. Karl was so embarrassed by the cheers and whistles that she retreated to the back of the wagon to pack her other things away. She didn’t stop blushing for an hour at least.
Another two of the men heard from home that family had passed due to the fever. It was a somber evening around the campfire. Everyone worried privately about traveling further north into the threat but they knew they had to go. There had never been promises by the gods that they would survive; they were simply requested to help the girls. What and who would they find when they got there?
Captain Doran met up with them the next morning after his business was completed. He sat stoically atop his horse waiting for the rest of them to be ready to ride out. He barely glanced in her direction but gave Pearl a genuine smile when she asked to ride with him.
They made good time through the countryside. The land became more hilly and wild with fewer and fewer communities. Since they needed to go northwest they took the road that led them closer to the great forests, which eventually led past the land of the Siri into mountainous lands most Danycians never got to see. Karl’s father’s lands bordered the forest and a great lake far to the northwest. Karl knew the Captain would leave them with her father and travel due east to the King’s seat then again further east almost to the ocean to his own land. They were taking him out of his way and lengthening his trip by at least a week. She felt terribly guilty, especially after noting his glowering expressions.
Pat and Krisa rode behind the pack horses by several hundred paces. The other scout rode ahead by the same distance. As the sun started to set Karl noted that Captain Doran galloped ahead to get a report then back to the end to hear from Pat. They would be stopping soon for the night. The sky was overcast and it felt like it might rain. There were no villages nearby but there were trees they may be able to take shelter under if it became bad.
As Doran trotted past her cart he reigned in and called to her, “What is your name?”
She was so bewildered by the question she couldn’t answer.
“I can’t call you Karl if you are wearing that dress.” And he bounded off back to the front of the convoy only to look back with a wicked grin on his face.
She was forgiven. Karl let out a huge breath of air, one she didn’t know she had been holding for days.
The rumble of thunder came to them in the night but stayed distant. Karl sat in the darkness to watch tiny flashes of light far to the south. It was much too far away to come this far north. She put her head down then felt a hand on her arm. She jumped slightly.
“Are you okay?” she heard his voice behind her.
“Yes.”
And his hand was gone. She slowed her breathing to silently recite her prayer. “Gods please help me stay true to the mission you have entrusted to me, please help my thoughts not wander to this man and his hands not wander to me. Please lead me to your true purpose and give me strength because if he touches me again I will have no strength left and I will collapse into …”
She giggled to herself. He lifted his head to check on her again.
The next night the rumbles were slightly louder. The lights flashing on the horizon were brighter and closer. She stayed awake longer watching them in the dark and knew he was also awake. Again it didn’t rain but the sky remained overcast. Each successive night she sat awake watching the lightning strikes and listening to the rumbles which, on the fourth night broke into cracks and booms. It traveled even closer than before and began to wake the rest of the camp.
“It’s not right,” she told Captain Doran as he also sat in surprise during a particularly loud crack of thunder.
“I know.”
“It will be upon us tomorrow night.”
“We will need shelter,” he told her. “I’ll send the scouts to find a place for us to go.”
By mid-day the scouts had found a riverside town but returned to say that the people were afraid of any outsiders and didn’t want to house them for fear of the fever. Captain Doran wouldn’t accept that result so they turned cross-country to seek out shelter in the town.
The mayor was not pleased to see them. “We don’t want people bringing that fever to us,” he told them.
Amias slapped his papers on the man’s desk, showing the King’s signature and seal. Those papers gave Captain Doran the power to stay anywhere he pleased, eat what he wanted, take horses or goods if he had to, in order to complete his job.
“We have not come from the north. We carry no fever or sick with us. We just want shelter for the night. I will pay, that is not an issue.”
“Oh, I’m sure it isn’t,” the man recanted, having inspected the documents in front of him. “I’m sorry, it’s just these dark times. Everyone is afraid.”
“I understand,” Amias grumbled.
The only inn, little more than a stable with beds, was barely large enough to sleep them all. The mayor vouched for the large group forcing the innkeeper to allow their lodging. Karl slept on the floor so the three girls could share.
The storm came upon them as Karl had predicted the night before. The entire town was awakened by the pounding of constant lightning strikes and the roar of thunder. The girls sat huddled in bed. And even though Glory was the only one who admitted to being frightened, all three jumped at particularly loud thunderclaps.
Kel came to make sure they were fine, staying with them throughout. Still no rain came. They could not speak for fear of their voices being smothered by the roar. At the height of the storm the sky was afire in brilliant white flames, which sparked and sizzled so brightly everyone hid in fear the heavens were collapsing.
When it ended, it ended completely. There were no lingering rumbles or distant flashes of light. It simply stopped. Kel shook his head and released Krisa and Pearl from his arms. Glory sobbed in Karl’s but then she climbed into the bed and buried her face in the coverings.
“Knockers,” Pearl muttered as she expelled a great breath.
Kel laughed as Karl gasped in surprise. Krisa giggled uncontrollably. Glory watched them confused and Pearl blushed then got into bed.
“I agree,” Karl laughed.
The morning brought bright warm sun and clear skies. It was as if nothing had happened at all during the night. The ringing of bells and the sound of voices calling from the street drew the residents out into the square. The Marshalls, Karl and the girls gathered on the stoop of the inn to listen. A row of Brothers and surprisingly, a row of Sisters in yellow robes stood near the mayor. The Sisters rarely left seclusion, so their appearance in the middle of the square was on the lips of everyone who gathered. Their hoods covered the top of their heads while what looked like pale yellow carves covered most of their faces.
“They know us,” squeaked Krisa beside Karl.
Karl studied the exposed eyes of the Sisters. They were watching her and the girls. The Brothers watched the mayor, who was waving to everyone to gather, bringing them forward, though there was a distinctive resistance to getting close to the devotees.
“Come now,” he called. “The Brothers and Sisters want to give guidance during a fearful time.”
One Brother moved forward. He looked around the crowd with a pleasing smile, welcoming all with his open arms. “Citizens, faithful, please warm your hearts with the knowledge that you are safe. We know there has been word of terrible fevers from the north, we experienced the wrath of the storm last night from the south, but know the gods look upon you with favor. During this time of great hardship the Brothers and Sisters of the Faold are dispersing across the land to bring assurances that with our help you will be spared.”
The Brother stepped back and the mayor came forward to address the crowd again. “We have had news from villages to the south that they have been burned or flattened by the st
orms. We were lucky to have this traveling delegation with us during the perilous hours last night. The Sisters assure us they have had communication from the gods that we will be fine as long as we have devotees with us to offer counsel and to fend off the worst of the dangers.”
Captain Doran moved to Karl’s side and frowned down at her. “They are moving to positions of power.”
She nodded.
“They have asked us to be wary of travelers from the north as they may bring with them the fever,” he continued. “And to shun those from the south. There are unknown things they may bring.”
The Mayor turned to look in their direction. The Brothers and Sisters followed his gaze as did all the townspeople. A wave of heat washed through Karl as she realized the mayor was trying to blame the storm on their arrival. She looked to Amias whose face had gone pale then reddened in anger.
“Please, continue your normal lives, go to the Sanctuary often for guidance and stay safe,” the mayor continued. He shook hands with the Brothers and welcomed townspeople forward to speak to them. Most others walked away, glancing in the Marshalls’ direction.
The innkeeper returned from the square and growled, “Out, all of you.”
Captain Amias marched forward, straight to the mayor, who stepped behind one of the Brothers, in the pretence of speaking to a citizen of the town. The mayor had already relinquished his power. Karl watched what looked like a heated discussion on Amias’ part but Kel got her attention and drew her into the inn.
“Get the girls ready,” he told her. “We are leaving.”
Krisa jammed things in her pack and stood ready at the door, a very nervous rabbit about to bounce out of sight at the first sign of a hound. The Marshalls pounded in their riding boots along the corridor that led out to the stables. The innkeeper stood at the front of house watching them go. The girls were shuffled out as Amias Doran entered the inn again. He slammed coins down on the desk and clomped hurriedly down the corridor.