by Luna Lais
"No," Kiala said shaking her head. "Come with me, say goodbye to Lissandra." Makren only shook his head. "I can not. If I go back with you now, I will never go at all," he said softly. "I must leave now why I still have the strength to do so." Kiala nodded still clasping his tightly as he began leading towards the trees and to Duncan.
It was just inside the line of trees once they had entered the forest that they jumped out at them, quickly surrounding them. Kiala had been shocked that Makren had not drawn his sword on the men, until she noticed the symbol each bore on their black armor. It was the same Sun symbol that had been branded into Makren's back. Kiala slowly looked at each of the men around her. She knew without a doubt, base on what Makren had told her that she was looking at Descartes' Chosen Ones.
"It is good to see you again, my brothers," Makren said smiling. He looked to a lone figure standing by them. He had no doubt based on the stature of the individual that it was a woman. He could see nothing of her face to give him any indication of her identity. The top portion of her face was concealed by a black mask. Only her blue eyes were visible.
"Arian," a female voice rang out. He squeezed Kiala's hand still clutched tightly in his own. The woman moved past the men and stood before him. Kiala's eyes widened in fright when she saw the Hikirian symbol on the woman's armor. It was the Forstar crest. She came to a stop in front of Makren and pulled a little dagger from the sheath at her hip. She leaned over and pulled one of the braids from over his ear forward. She leaned in and whispered softly in his ears where only he and Kiala could hear. "I am sorry Makren," her words barely audible. "I have no choice." She took the dagger and sliced the braid off clutching tightly in her hand. She took a few steps back and cast a quick glance at Kiala before speaking again.
"Arian," she said in a tone of authority. "Your father has been worried you have not returned to him."
"I had intended to leave this very day," he answered looking her in the eye. "Who are you that he deemed worthy enough to fetch me?"
"I am nothing," she said. "I only led your brothers to you. If what you say is true," she turned and looked at the men behind her before turning back to him. "Then you are willing to leave with them now?"
"Of course," he said still puzzled by her identity. "I was only escorting the lady to her guard posted nearby. If my brothers would allow it I would continue still."
"We can't brother," one of the men said behind the woman. "We must make haste before the pass home is blocked for winter. Father has demanded we bring you to him posthaste."
"Very well," Makren said turning to Kiala. He spoke quietly to her, "Make your way to Duncan and then Rorgrim as quickly as you can. If they try to stop you I will buy you what time I can." Kiala shook her head violently. "No," she said. "You can not risk it." The unknown lady stepped closer and grabbed Kiala by the arm. Kiala tried to pull away, but the woman's words halted her protest. "Listen, carefully," the woman said looking between the two of them. "I will take you to your escort. If Makren does not leave now none of us will leave the woods alive. They have orders that any protest from him on leaving means he has lost his way and should be executed immediately. Do you understand?" Kiala nodded slowly and looked at Makren. "Do not worry?" the woman said turning to Makren. "I will see her safely home.
Makren nodded and released Kiala's hand. This time Kiala made no move to interfere. "Come my brothers," he said embracing the first man he came to. "It has been too long since I have felt the embrace of my father and much too long since I have felt the warmth of the sun upon my face. Luckily," he said turning to face Kiala. "This fridge land is full of lovely wenches who willing spread their legs to keep my blood warm until it was time for me to leave." The men around him all chuckled. Kiala forced back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She knew he had not meant the words, but hearing them killed her. "Let's go back where the women are touched by the sun and there touch does not chill the bone with it's whiteness. I have been dreaming of a sun kissed maid to settle myself upon." Again the men around him laughed.
Kiala felt the woman pull on her arm as she began leading her away from Makren and the men. Kiala looked back only once to see Makren and his brother fading behind the trees heading north. After ten minutes of brisk walking the woman in front of Kiala stopped. "Your guard is not far from here," she said looking to make sure there was no sign of the men. "Just keep going in the same direction and you will find him. He is bound, but unharmed. Release him and head for the castle as quickly as you can."
"Who are you?" Kiala asked.
"I am no one," the woman said. "Just a person forced to do what I must to protect those I love," She turned to Kiala. "Now go, before they change their minds and come back." The woman did not wait to see if Kiala would follow her instructions or not. She quickly headed back the way they had come. Kiala did not follow, instead she slowly moved forward. The realization that Makren was gone struck her before she made it to Duncan. She collapsed to the ground in tears hoping he would be safe.
Chapter 53
Eranen was cold, no not cold he was freezing, to death if he did not find some shelter soon. He had been wandering the broken mountain trails for weeks he thought. Truthfully he had lost all concept of time so he could not be certain how long he had been in the mountains. He was starting to think he would die here among the ice and snow. Lissandra never knowing his fate, some husband he was turning out to be.
A few days after he had began his climb into the jagged rocky foothills a storm had come. There was no autumn here, no time to prepare at summer's end for the harshness of winter. Eranen had known the storm would be bad. For years he had wasted days watching the clouds trying to decipher there effects on temperature and rain. What he had learn had told him this would be no small storm a smart man would have head back for Moristine then, but he had never thought of himself as smart, only curious. For days blinding snow and ice had fallen. The wind so strong at times he had trouble standing. The sky itself had become so dark he did not know if it was day or night. He had tried to keep track of the minutes passing in his head, but he could not. Eranen had desperately tried to find a cave to shelter him, but the snow and ice had blanketed the surrounding so quickly he could not tell the difference between the rocks or drifts within the first hour. He had rested a few times burrowing into holes he dug into the snow hoping he would wake and not freeze to death. He had thought he had turned himself back towards the foothills sometime the first day after the storm hit, but perhaps he had turned in the opposite direction. Had he gone the right way he would have been out of the mountains by now. Mostly likely he was wandering in circles.
Twice he had considered just giving and letting the mountain have him. Then he thought of Lissandra and the babe. His father had been killed when he was a small boy; he had no memories of him. He could not knowingly do that to his own child. He could not leave Lissandra wondering for all time what had become of her husband. Even with his resolve to stay alive he could feel himself growing weaker. He stumbled; he had seen something moved in the distance. Eranen tried to focus on what he had seen for that split second. It was the only thing that had not been white that he had seen in days. It had been golden he thought. He had seen a golden light, with new purpose he forced himself to continue. After a few small steps he felt the snow give way under his feet. Frantically his arms searched for something to hold on to but he felt only air. The last thing he remembered was the sound of his own scream echoing through the storm.
"Is he ever going to wake up?" Kale said frustrated at how long she had been waiting. She had always thought of herself as a patient person, since meeting Tobias she had changed her mind. Nothing ever seemed to happen fast enough.
"He was half frozen when I found him and that is more than just a bump on the head he has." Tobias answered her. He was growing impatient as well. The man had been sleeping for days. "We are not really in a hurry yet anyway. It will be a few more days before the weather is clear enough for us to travel,"
he added to remind her that even if he woke up now it would still be a few days before he saw her.
He turned back to his fire and added more meat to the stew. He always ate well the first month or so after getting supplies. After that any unused fresh meat or vegetables would no longer be edible. He would be left to dried meats and porridge after that. He was grateful that Eranen had arrived when he did. Now he would never have to eat porridge again.
"I will make you an apple pie," she said softly. "The trees have more on them than we can carry, might as well use what we can before they go to waste." She knew it was his favorite. The man could spend hours dwelling on the taste and feel of warm apple pie. Of course he was like that about everything. If he thought about something, he dedicated his mind to it fully until every aspect of it had been picked apart. "Once the storm has passed I will come down even if I have to carry the man," Tobias said already tasting the tart apples.
"It will be an easier journey to make with him awake. If you decide to leave the cave before he is awake I will send Menas up to help you." He knew what she was doing. When she had first discovered she was being watched she had been unnerved, but then she discovered who was watching her. Every since then she had been trying to come up with a reason to expose him and invite him inside to wait for Lord Palek. Menas had no idea she knew he was there, watching her. He spent most of his time hiding behind a tree that gave him a clear view of all the windows on the east side of the house. He was probably watching her now nestled in front of the fire, while the night air chilled him. She spent as much time during the day as she could watching him, watch the house. Tobias usually only let her do it a few minutes at a time. Tobias could always think of better things for her to do. She really hoped he did not get sick in the cool wet weather. It had been raining for days. The storm raging with snow and ice at Tobias's cave was nothing more than cold rain where she was.
"He is waking" they thought at the same time. Tobias moved to his little table and poured a cup of water from the bucket of snow he had brought in the cave a few hours earlier. He sat the cup of water on the table and moved the other chair from the far corner of the cave to the table. Tobias mused; no one had ever sat in the chair before. The only reason it was in the cave was for the man lying in the bed. He was the only other person who had been in the cave since with Tobias since he left the world down below. He was also the only person Tobias had ever expected to be in the cave with him.
Eranen shook his head as he sat up trying to remember what had happened to him. He remembered the storm, the ice and the snow. He opened his fully to take in his surroundings. He was in a bed which appeared to be carved from a stone wall. Several furs were piled on top of him, which explained why he was so hot. He started to throw them off when he realized he wasn't wearing any clothes. There was a small little table next to the bed and to his relief his clothes laid neatly folded on it next to a candle. Near the center of the room was a larger table positioned in front of a fireplace, which had also been carved out of the cave's stone wall. Eranen assumed the carver must have also created a chimney of sort because the room did not fill with smoke from the blaze. Eranen saw a pot hanging over the fire spreading an aroma that reminded him of his grandmother's stew.
The room was so quite Eranen had assumed he was alone until he saw a man pushing a chair to the table in the center of the room. The man looked to be about the same age as Eranen. His hair was wavy and golden like so many Hikirians where Eranen lived. He kept it neatly trimmed and his face clean shaven. Absently Eranen ran his hand across his chin. His own face had the good beginnings of a beard. It had been a while since he had done anything as simple as shaving, trying to survive had been his foremost thought of late. The man was wearing coarse brown robes and fur boots. Eranen had noticed his own boots and packs lying on the floor next to the fire. His furs were hung next to what looked to be the entrance to the cave. A sturdy piece of leather hung over the hole to keep the cold air outside from getting in.
Tobias watched Eranen as he took in his surroundings. He was probably surprised that he was alive at all. He had Clarissa's eyes, Tobias thought. It suddenly occurred to him that this was her flesh and blood. This was her grandson. She probably had held him in her arms when he was just a babe. He felt a kinship with this man, they had both loved her. While it was not the same, she had meant something to both of them. "Where am I?" Tobias cleared his thoughts of her memory and carried the cup of water he had just poured over to Eranen. He took it and began drinking greedily.
"This is my home," Tobias said taking the empty cup from Eranen and setting it on the little table next to his clothes. "Get dressed," Tobias said heading back towards the fire. "The stew is ready. We will talk while we eat." Eranen did not argue, but began dressing while Tobias pulled two bowls down from a shelf carved near the fire. He was just filling them with stew when Eranen walked across the room barefooted to the table. That was when Eranen noticed the floor of the cave was covered in a carpet fine enough for the castle in Rorgrim.
"Who are you?" Eranen asked seating himself in the chair Tobias indicated as his.
"My name is Tobias Headrick Ro…" Tobias caught himself, "Just call me Tobias."
"Do you live here?" Eranen asked impressed that a man could survive in cold of the mountains. Tobias nodded his answer while blowing on his stew. "How long have you lived here?" Eranen asked curious to see if the man could tell him about others living in the mountains.
"Most of my life," Tobias answered truthfully. He had imagined this conversation in his mind several times. It had always progressed much faster.
"Do others live in the mountains?" Eranen asked.
"Why?" Tobias asked trying to appear interested in the answer. He knew that Eranen had not yet realized he was the one Eranen was looking for.
"Come spring an army will pass through these mountains on its way to battle Calandoria. Anyone they find here will more than likely become the first casualties of the war. I need to warn them to leave now, while they still have the opportunity." Tobias had not expected that answer despite what he and Kale had heard in Moristine. The blond men had been passing through the mountains for several years, content to steal children and plunder goods from the kingdoms of the South. It was strange that after so many years they would launch an attack.
"Is that why you are here, to warn any on the mountain?
"No," Eranen replied before tasting the stew in front of him. "If there are others to warn though, I would like to save them if I can." He took another bite of the stew. "This is wonderful," he said shoveling more stew into his mouth. "It tastes like my mother's."
"Really!" Tobias said delighted by the news. "Most people season wrong. It's the Pornack root that makes the difference."
"Pornack root is scarce in Hokaren, but I have found that Welc Berry Blooms tastes similar enough to use," Eranen said. Tobias almost started to argue with Eranen over the ingredients to the stew. Eranen would not know that it was called the Food of Enlightenment and when made properly enhanced the abilities of those who possessed powers. Only those who had attended their studies near Kern would have known its abilities. To someone like Eranen who had no powers it was just a tasty meal.
"I am sorry," Eranen placed his spoon next to his bowl. "I have slept in your bed, eaten and drank my feel of your provisions, all without giving you my name. My grandmother would have scolded me for such manners after you saved my life." He said offering his hand to Tobias. "I am Eranen Palek" Tobias grasped the offered hand, "Welcome Eranen Palek to my mountain."
"Tell me Eranen why are you here if not to save those living in the mountains," Tobias asked at Kale's request. She did not possess the patience to allow the conversation to flow naturally.
"I am searching for an old man," Eranen said casually. "Do you by chance no if an old man lives in these mountains?"
"I have lived here most of my life," he said. "I know these mountains better than any man alive. I can assure you I am the only one who ca
lls them home." Eranen showed no emotion at Tobias's words, but he was disappointed. He knew more than likely he had been chasing a fairy tale, but it had seemed as if every force in the universe had wanted him to come.
Tobias was surprised by Eranen's reaction to his answer. He had expected more questions, but it seemed as if Eranen was ready to give up. Tobias was starting to having serious doubts about this generation. Seeing he was going to have to give Eranen a little push towards destiny he said the only thing he could think of. "I will turn One thousand one hundred and thirty two on my next birthday. Is that old enough to qualify and the one you are looking for?" he flashed his best smile at Eranen.