by Dana Marton
The Guardian of the Cave waited for me at the top of the cliff. He stepped forward, then back, unable to hold still. “You must come at once.” Worry lined his face. “Selaila the Seer calls for you.”
With my heart in my throat, I followed him.
A man about my own age waited for us at the fork in the path. His robe hung ill-fitting on his lanky figure, the sharp lines of his face inscrutable. He bowed to me, but when he spoke, his voice held no warmth.
“I am the Guardian of the Scrolls. The Seer awaits you, my Lady.” He joined us as we hurried on, keeping his gaze on the city ahead. He avoided looking at me.
He had the right, I thought sadly, to blame me for his father’s death. I wanted to ask for his forgiveness, but that was something not best done in a rush.
We reached the city and hurried toward Selaila’s hut. The streets were never crowded, for the people who lived here saw their numbers much reduced over the centuries, and those who remained were shy around strangers. We passed but a handful of men and women who peered at me with curiosity but kept their distance.
At our destination, the Guardian of the Cave called out a greeting before he entered. I followed him, the young Guardian of the Scrolls stepping inside behind me. The hut had but one chamber, round, with no furniture but some old pelts scattered on the floor. Swirling, painted images decorated the wall, mesmerizing my eyes. I had to turn from them to keep from growing dizzy.
“Lady Tera.” The girl in the middle of the chamber, not yet a woman, bowed and took my hand. Her hair fell to her ankles and was completely white, as were her eyes, without irises.
“Have you seen him?” I blurted, inexcusably impolite but too anguished to stop myself.
She did not the least take offense. Nothing but kindness sat on her face, even if her tone was somber. “Since the High Lord of the Kadar left through the gate, I went to him each day to follow his fate, but now I can no longer see. It is all darkness, my Lady.”
Dread weighed down my limbs and my heart, and a thick fear clogged my lungs. She led me to stand under a round metal medallion fixed to the ceiling, then moved it aside, revealing a hole in the roof that looked straight to the sky.
“If I take you there, you might be able to find him, for your spirit is connected to his.”
“I am ready.”
She lifted her face into the beam of light. “Close your eyes.”
I did as she asked. I would have done anything to find Batumar.
She hummed an ancient spirit song I could not understand, but my mind floated along with the melody. The sunlight shone through my eyelids, strengthening into a blinding white. And then I saw stars over a city like Karamur, only some of this city lay in ruins. A great black tower rose to the sky in the middle. On the city wall hung ten black flags. No, not flags, I saw as I reached closer. Ten men hung from ropes by their necks, all dead—Batumar’s guard.
I cried out and pulled back to return, but a presence behind me pushed me forward until I stood inside the city gates. Smoke rose from some of the houses, but no one bothered to put out the fires. Destruction everywhere, the bodies of men, women, and children piled high along the streets. Soldiers fought over the belongings of the dead, snarling like animals. They did not see me.
I moved toward the palace and its broken gate, the building cold and dark inside like a giant grave. I floated forward and suddenly felt alone. The presence that had been all this time behind me could no longer follow.
I moved through hall after hall, chamber after chamber, staring in horror at the beast-like warriors who passed me unseeing. Soon I felt something pull me forward, and I descended under the halls of the palace to the dungeons. And I found Batumar there, covered in wounds, barely hanging on to life.
I screamed, and the force of the sound ripped from my throat brought me back to Selaila’s hut. Tears streamed down my face, but I wiped them off, thanked the girl, and rushed outside.
“I must go to Mernor.”
The two Guardians did not question me. We returned to the cave for enough food for the journey and started out for the gate.
“They seek you,” the Guardian of the Cave said suddenly. “Your woman servant and the Palace Guard. They are here in the valley. Do you wish to see them, or should I direct them back from whence they came?”
I thought of my trip through the gate, a journey that might yet prove a journey into death. Leena had been like a mother to me. I wished I could embrace her one more time, wished to make sure she would not blame herself if something happened to me. “I would see them for a moment.”
The Guardian nodded, and as we cut through the deep woods toward the gate, we soon met Leena and a small group of warriors, along with the Captain of the Guard, on the path. Quickly I told them what I had learned from the Seer. Of course, they insisted upon escorting me to the gate. Leena held my hand the whole way, tears washing her face.
We traveled faster than Batumar’s army had before, for we carried few provisions and were on foot, able to cut over the ridge. For once, I barely noticed the biting cold of the high mountain or the burn of the snow and ice on my feet. I leaned into the cutting wind when we walked and huddled with Leena for warmth under our thick robes when we rested.
When we arrived at the gate, we wasted no time. I said farewell to the Guardians and then embraced Leena. I prayed to the spirits that I would live to see her again in this life. “I thank you for all your kindness toward me.”
She drew herself straight suddenly. “I shall go with you, Lady Tera.”
Tears flooded my eyes at this display of loyalty. “You cannot.” I walked toward the pillars the Guardian of the Gate had selected for me.
“We will guard her well,” the captain assured the Guardians and Leena.
I turned to face him. “I go alone.” I had no plan, only the hope that having brought me this far, the spirits would not desert me now.
“Lady Tera, you cannot,” the captain protested.
“I can and I will. Your armor and colors would be instantly recognized.” I thought of the Kadar guards hanging from Mernor’s walls. “You would only get us all killed.”
The captain thought on that for a moment but shook his head.
“The Lady Tera is right.” The Guardian of the Cave intervened on my behalf. “This is no longer a matter of force but of destinies.”
A longer silence followed his words.
The captain nodded gravely at last. “We shall wait here.”
Leena stepped in front of me to speak in a whisper not to be heard by the others. “I abandoned my son once to save his life. I cannot abandon him again. I offended Rorin and his goddesses by trying to outsmart my fate. He is dying anyway.”
Her great love for Batumar made sense suddenly. “Is he your son? The one you left behind as a babe?”
She nodded rapidly, tears washing her face.
I took her hand, part of me stunned yet another part not so surprised, and we stepped into the circle together. I saw the gates around us, but when I looked through them, I saw not the mountain and the men but wondrous places of faraway. Only one gate stood dark as if a black fog had swallowed up everything behind it. And through this gate we leaped.
The journey passed in a bright flash of light and a moment of dizziness, a smell similar to that of lavender, and air so thin it forced my lungs to gasp. But one gasp was all. We came out on the other side, and even in the starless night, I could see that we were on an island no larger than Batumar’s palace, surrounded by dark waters.
Warriors guarded the gate, their campfires like giant fireflies dotting the island. They seized us at once.
~~~***~~~
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
(Journey through a Forsaken Land)
The soldiers stank of sweat, mead, and dried blood that caked their armor—a heavier kind than worn by the Kadar. Their hands were rough upon us, and they had bloodlust in their eyes and filthy words dripping from their leering lips. At once, they confiscated our
traveling supplies. They spoke the language of the Kerghi—harsh growling sounds—and so I addressed them in that same tongue.
I looked above their heads and said in a clear voice, “I am Queen Manala of Chebbar, coming to surrender to your Khan to save my people. Take me to him at once.” I could think of nothing else that could purchase us time enough to escape. I had not come this far only to be raped and killed.
They stepped back, snarling in anger and disappointment at being robbed of a night of entertainment, but more than they wanted to abuse us, they feared their Khan, it seemed, for two of the men took us to the tent of their captain.
The burly giant of a man said nothing as he listened to his man report our arrival and claims. His gaze swept my golden gown, very much the worse for wear. Not unreasonable for a queen in the time of war and on a great journey.
“You travel without your guard?” he asked after some time.
“If the Khan favors my plea, I have nothing to fear of his warriors. If he does not, my guards cannot protect me.”
I stood tall and would not flinch under his inspection, hoping my short hair would not give me away. With luck, the Chebbar customs were not like those of the Kadar, and hair had less significance. And even if that was not the case, I wondered if a Kerghi captain would know much about the customs of the Chebbar.
“Queen Manala.” He glanced at Leena, then back at me. “You will go to Mernor in the morning under escort. Rest here for what remains of the night.”
“Thank you, Captain.” I nodded gratefully, and after he strode out, I sank onto a wooden chest, relief suddenly turning my knees weak.
Leena looked at me with open admiration. “Well done, my Lady.”
“Pray the spirits are with us, for I do not know what I have gotten us into this time.”
Even though the captain had promised to send us to Mernor, I had no wish to travel with his men. I did not know how long the journey to the city would last. Chebbar might fall before we arrived, and our ruse would be discovered. I did not want to be close to so many swords when the truth came out.
“It would be best if we traveled on our own.”
Leena moved to the front of the tent and listened. “Two guards outside.”
I slipped to the ground and lifted the edge of the tent in the back. “None here,” I whispered.
We were not prisoners and were on an island besides. The guards at front were probably more for our protection than for fear that we would escape. We had come of our own free will, after all.
We waited as the night wore on and the camp grew quieter around us. When I was afraid to wait any longer, for we needed the cover of darkness for as long as we could have it, we crawled out the back.
Most of the men slept in their tents, some snoring the stars out of the sky. One of the twin moons peeked from the clouds, enough so I could tell the island was in the middle of not a lake but a wide river.
We crept in the cover of bushes toward the water, to the boats that lay like great dead fish on the shore. But when we reached closer, we found the boats well-guarded and the men watching them alert.
Shivering, we crept back in the other direction and down to the water’s edge until we found a large log wedged into the mud. I waded into the river, Leena close behind me. My feet went numb in the icy water long before we managed to push the log into the water.
We did not let go of it but went along, submerging our trembling bodies. With our heads hidden behind the log, we floated down the river to find the palace of Mernor, and in it, Batumar. Or die in the trying.
My wet gown pulled me down, but I hung on with all my strength. I did not dare even to whisper to Leena, as the water would have carried my voice well and far.
I could barely feel my limbs by the time we floated out of sight of the island. I tried to angle us toward the bank, but we floated downriver for some time, as the current was strong and the log not easily directed.
The first light of morning dawned on the horizon by the time we finally reached land. We pushed the log back into the water, then sought refuge in the thick forest ahead. Shivering, we lay on the cold ground, holding on to each other for warmth, too exhausted to rise.
But we did not dare to stay long or to start a fire. When we were able, we stumbled deeper into the woods, feeding on the succulent leaves of lenil bushes we passed. What we did not eat, we saved, as we did not know when we might have food again.
The wind picked up and swayed the giant trees above, but low to the ground the bushes protected us. Still, even the fraction of the full wind proved enough to chill us further. My sunborn body shivered without stop; my skin stung with pain. Leena seemed to carry on better, having been snowborn. She had lived through a lifetime of frigid winters.
We did not find anything else to eat, although we saw many strange plants and birds and tracks of other smaller animals. A lot of the trees and bushes had thorns, some I suspected poisonous, so we forged ahead with great care.
In a valley, we came upon an abandoned tar pit, the smell turning my stomach. “Boil her in tar.” I heard the cries again for a moment as I remembered the boiling cauldron in the alley. I told Leena about Shartor and his mob. She prayed loudly to the goddesses to burn off his braided beard and other parts that stuck out from his body.
We walked that whole day and into the night but never saw the end of the forest. I told Leena some stories about my childhood and my mother. In turn, she told me how she had been a powerful warlord’s favorite concubine but gave up all the luxuries of his Pleasure Hall and became a servant to save her son’s life.
When we could walk no more, I made a nest of branches and leaves high up in a tree. No thorns had this, but giant leaves that covered us from any prying eyes below. We fell into an exhausted sleep, huddled together for warmth.
Not until midmorning did we wake and then started out at once, continuing our journey. Soon we reached the end of the woods and, guided by the smell of smoke, came upon some overgrown fields and the ruins of a small village.
The handful of wattle-and-daub huts were scorched, and we saw the remains of many others that had been burned to the ground. Weeds grew tall around the huts, and I knew they had no grazing animals or enough people to trample down the grass. The forest was slowly reclaiming the village.
Would this be the fate of my people once our lands had been conquered by the Kerghi?
We walked into the dying community, hoping for food and shelter, the warmth of their fires. But they seemed in worse shape than we were. No men, only women and children—little girls, not a boy among them. They looked at us with such hunger in their eyes, had we any lenil leaves we would have given it to them, but we had eaten them all before starting out that morning and had found nothing edible that whole day since.
They spoke a language I barely understood, similar to Tinfa, and some time passed before I could explain we were looking for the way to Mernor.
“We do not know, Mistress,” said one, her gaze roaming my gown. She wore thin strips of animal hide, her ribs visible under her bruised skin. “But there is one among us who might. She is hunting. You must wait for her return.”
Behind her stood two little girls, thin and dirty, their eyes fearful and wild at the same time, like that of small forest animals. None of the children talked or played, as we would have seen had we walked into a Shahala village. These all hid behind their mothers.
The air was silent, missing their voices and the noises of household beasts, the sounds of work—clanging of metal, and axe falling onto wood, and the other little things that made up the music of the usual village.
The huts must have been empty, all the people outside to greet us. I looked at their wounds, bones that had been broken and had not healed well, some infected cuts on the arms and legs, some other small things that even though they did not threaten a person’s life, gave pain enough to make it miserable.
“We shall wait.” We could wait awhile for the one who knew the way. I could do som
e healing in the meanwhile.
And then another woman, her lips covered in festering sores so I could barely understand her when she spoke, said, “Come rest in our hut, Mistress. The fire burns warmer inside.”
I looked at the low flames of the cooking fire between two huts. Nothing cooked today, but they had food at one time, for I saw blackened bones stick out from the ashes.
Most had been cracked for their marrow and were hard to recognize, but some smaller ones stuck together still, held by charred sinew. A narrow paw of some sort drew my eyes. It had five fingers, half of one missing. No, not missing, just shorter than the rest. And when I looked closer, my stomach rolled. A human hand.
“Thank you,” I said to the women, who watched sharply as they moved into a half circle around us. “We will share your hut, but let us go into the woods and gather some food first. I am a healer and know many plants that would help your wounds and others that are good to eat.”
I stepped back, and Leena followed, although I could tell she did not understand why we were leaving when we were cold and we had not seen anything edible for a long time before reaching the village.
The women hesitated.
“I will come with you,” said the one with the sore-infested lips. “So after you leave, we might find those plants ourselves.”
And for the first time, I noticed the blade hanging from her rope belt, half-hidden among the animal skins that covered her. I could do nothing else but nod.
We walked for some time in the opposite direction Leena and I had come from but found all edible plants already harvested. I collected a few healing herbs along the way, explaining their use to the woman. She kept looking back as we went, and I wondered if others followed at a distance.
They probably were, although she could have killed the both of us alone, for she had the thin strength of those who worked too hard to keep on living. Leena was old and tired from our journey, and although I was younger, I had no knowledge of fighting. And too the woman had a knife.
