by Aaron Bunce
Roman’s eyes slid towards the fire as he went quiet. Dennah knew what “or” was. They would execute him. Roman only had one path to safety Dennah could see. Exile.
“We could travel to the Burroughs, to my family. They would welcome you with open arms. You would be safe there. Lord Kingsbreath’s seat is in Klydesborough. Yarborough is quiet, and there aren’t many soldiers there. It is peaceful. It is quiet,” Dennah said.
“Six brothers, all serving the province?” Roman asked, not looking up from the fire.
Dennah had just been thinking the same thing. She knew her brothers. They were all good men, honorable, and mostly honest. But like her father, they were loyal to family, and protective of their home. If they saw him as a threat, they would not hesitate to turn him in. If she were Roman, she would see it as a risk not worth taking.
“The Reach, or the western coast beyond that? There is plenty of open country.”
Roman shook his head, the firelight reflecting in his brown eyes.
“South then? New Dilith or Freedom’s Point?”
Roman shook his head, and when he finally spoke his voice was so low she almost couldn’t hear him above the wind rattling their windbreak.
“I’m not running,” he said.
Dennah cleared her throat and held her hands a little closer to the fire. The air suddenly felt a little darker, and colder.
“Bardstown?” she dared ask.
Roman nodded, his jaw set determinedly.
The thought made Dennah’s belly squirm. Images of the burned out barn, Banus’ charred remains, and the stump where they were going to execute Roman instantly popped into her mind.
She wanted to argue with him, to make him see reason, but she couldn’t form the words. She remembered them parading her through the snow, past the bodies as the town massed around them. They wouldn’t have Teague or Tilith there to hold the townsfolk back this time.
“To what end? You can’t stay there. Those people, they’ll never accept who you are,” Dennah said, instantly regretting saying it. Roman’s face grew tight, his eyes narrowing.
“I don’t need them to accept me, but one of those…things is preying on the people. They don’t even know about it. How long before the entire town is gone? If I know about it, and can help them, but choose to do nothing, then I am no better than the monster Teague thinks I am. They may hate me. That is fine. But I can’t see all of them killed like that. It’s not right. Lucilla, Noble, Berg…they deserve better than that. Greta deserved better,” Roman said, looking up and meeting her gaze.
Dennah looked back into his eyes for a moment, but had to look away. Of course he was right. She just didn’t want to admit it out loud. For doing that meant that she would have to consider facing whatever monster was responsible.
“What if we cut further north? We could approach the town from the bluff, perhaps even explore the woods and fields a bit first. We could use the old watchtower to keep an eye on the town for a while. If we don’t see anything suspicious, we move on,” Dennah offered.
Roman listened, jabbing at the fire with a long stick, before bending over and adding some fresh wood. He cleared his throat, which he usually did when he didn’t know what to say, or so she noticed.
“Fair,” he said, finally.
Dennah took a deep breath to speak, but he cut her off.
“What of you? Will you rejoin the caravan if it is still in town, or find them on the road after? What does it mean for your folks if you return, especially when the Lord Constable tried to kill you? Or, what would it mean for them if you don’t return?”
It was Dennah left searching for words this time. She scratched at her nose and settled on a shrug of the shoulders. Roman was still staring at the fire, but seemed to know what her silence meant. Her mind hung on his words, and she suddenly felt the need to think it all out loud.
“If I am pledged to satisfy my parents’ debt, what happens to them if I die?” she asked.
“I suppose that would depend on the provincial lord and who his tax collector is.”
“I mean, would my life satisfy their debt?” she asked, her throat tightening.
“A fair person would say yes. Of course…are we talking about fair folk?” Roman asked.
Dennah winced, and feared that she already knew the answer. She had to consider the fact that life for her family might be better if she were to disappear. If the right people thought she was dead, they might just consider her folks’ debt paid, and leave it at that. Of course, there was also the possibility that the tax collectors would consider them at fault and try to collect anew.
“Arrgh,” she rumbled, punching at the snow on the ground next to her. “Can’t go forward, or back. You have no home, and I can’t go home to mine.”
Roman simply nodded and straightened, stretching to fix a part of their windbreak that had fallen. “Look on the bright side,” he said, turning back.
“Oh, there is one of those in all of this?” Dennah laughed hollowly.
Roman nodded quietly, and without looking away from the fire said, “at least we have each other.”
Dennah bit her lip and instantly felt the ass. He was right, of course. She wasn’t stuck in a fort surrounded by people she didn’t trust, and he wasn’t locked in a pitch black, freezing cell underground. Dennah pulled a stick free from the windbreak next to her and stirred the fire, shifting so she was sitting a little closer to Roman.
“And think, even when I’m not around, you won’t be alone,” she said, breaking the silence and trying to make up for her dour mood. He’d just saved her life, and now she was whining.
Roman snorted, “That is true, but you try sharing thoughts with a spirit dog sometime. I swear, when he was tracking you through the snow, I could smell every tree animals have peed on from here all the way to the lakes.”
Dennah laughed, and felt the tension lift a little as Roman joined in. And yet, as much as she didn’t want to, she found her thoughts pulled right back to the uncertain road ahead of them.
“Honestly, what do you think we should do?” she asked, finally.
Roman leaned back in the snow, pulling his collar up a little farther before saying, “First. Deal with tomorrow. Then, the day after that, and so on. We find the one responsible for the deaths in Bardstown. The rest might just fall into place. There is nothing we can do beyond that, so there is no need twisting ourselves up over it.”
Dennah nodded, before scooting over and lying down next to him. His hand flinched, but she pretended not to notice. She wasn’t whole yet, and there were still a great many things she had to figure out before she would be, but Roman was not one of them. He’d died trying to help her, and at the moment, he felt like one of the only sure things in her world.
Chapter Four
Strange And Wonderful
Henri followed Luca, the girl, and the strange old lady out of the boat and onto the small, stone dock. They progressed up a steep stone stair, before exiting onto a grassy expanse. Bluffs extended out to his left, where the sky was shifting from inky black to a murky gray.
“Luca, I don’t like this,” Henri muttered, turning around and finding the other three already well ahead of him.
He bounded forward, the unusual grace and strength allowing him to catch up in just a few strides. The trio approached a small cave set in the bluff, the interior so dark Henri couldn’t see inside.
“This is going from bad to worse, Luca. I don’t trust her…” Henri said, his voice rising desperately.
He turned back, looking to the sun as it broke the watery horizon. In the phantom road, the light splashing on his face from the rising sun had no warmth, but also no color. He missed both.
“Beyond this cave…” Henri spun, driven by the sound of the old woman’s voice. He ran over just as she pulled the strange orb Luca stole, out of her robes. The old woman started to change as soon as her hand wrapped around the object, and Henri swiped ineffectually to pull Luca back.
“Don’t do it, Luca,” he yelled, but his boy didn’t seem to hear him.
The old woman held the orb out in an extended palm, and said something to the two kids. A strange light filled her body, sparkling like a million pale fireflies. The lights coiled and flexed inside her, forming up in the shape of her old, wrinkled face. In a heartbeat they changed, making the woman look young and beautiful. The lights continued to flex and change, repositioning themselves just under her skin, forming different faces. So many different faces.
“What are you?” Henri asked, stepping cautiously to the side as she turned and placed the egg-shaped orb on a stone pedestal.
The phantom road was bathed in a blinding wave of light. It shimmered over the mouth of the cave. Heat rolled forth, driving Henri back. He pushed forward, covering his face with one hand, and reaching out for his son with the other.
Henri made out the three just ahead of him, but they were just shadows against the glare. They moved into the light, disappearing instantly. He opened his eyes wide, accepting the burn and crying out in shock. Henri wasn’t looking into the cave anymore, or the singeing light, but a lush, forested island, surrounded by crashing, blue-green water.
Another step brought him closer, and then another. The shimmering image floated just beyond his fingertips, the ripples of energy crashing against his body. The force repelling him increased, until it felt like a mountain of hot stone smashing against him, threatening to tear his astral body apart.
Henri was straining to move forward one moment and soaring through the air the next. He felt his body strain, his being stretched apart until he was sure it would tear. The phantom road became a place of both light and dark, twisted shadow blurring together in a dizzying display.
The bright light flickered, the colorless landscape resolving into something glassy. Water, he realized and then everything went dark as he tumbled in a heap. He remained on his back for a long moment, staring up into the dark, starless sky, trying to make sense of what just happened.
“Luca?” he groaned, finally sitting up.
His hands dug into the ground as he rolled over. Sand? It felt like sand, squishing between his fingers, but it was gray like everything else on the phantom road.
Henri stood, taking in the wide expanse of dark water and turned, almost jumping back as he came face to face with a tall, angry creature. He cursed quietly, realizing that the statue was just a carving. Hewn from a colossal tree, the statue depicted a creature with a dozen curving arms, a long, vicious tail, and a head unlike any beast he had ever seen. It looked strangely like a bear, if they had horned ears, arm-length teeth, and twice as many eyes as Henri was comfortable with.
Giving the horrifying carving ample room, Henri moved to walk past it and into the trees, but a sharp force smacked against him, throwing him backwards. He scrambled, just managing to keep his feet beneath him. The carving glowed with an intense inner light, the flash of color rippling sideways in both directions, splitting the concealing shadow of the phantom road as far as Henri could see. In that brief moment, Henri took in the breadth of land around him before the darkness could flood back in and cover it all again.
It was an island.
“Luca!” Henri whispered, walking forward and raising his hand. The strange carving buzzed next to him, the faint light blossoming around it. Henri tried the other side to the same result. He walked to the edge of the phantom road, his toes dipping into inky darkness. It would not let him past, and if he took his chances in the darkness beyond, it was likely that he would lose himself completely.
“All right, Luca. Now what?” he asked.
* * * *
“Luca!” Emma yelled from somewhere in the distance.
He groaned and rolled over, pulling the soft blanket up to his chin. He drew in a breath, savoring the aromatic fabric. It smelled floral, like fresh cut flowers. And yet, it smelled entirely different when he drew his next breath, not unlike the festive candles back in Pine Hall.
“Luca! Are you awake?” Emma called again. She sounded closer now. In fact, he could hear her footsteps on the stone walkway.
“Yow!” Luca gasped and jerked, his body rejecting him as he tried to sit up quickly. Fire erupted in his back, arm, and legs.
The luxurious blanket slid down from his shoulders, his waist, and onto the floor before he could grasp it. He clutched his throbbing arm and swung his stiff leg over the side of the fluffy mattress, followed by the other. He looked down at the rumpled blanket. It was only an arm’s length away, and yet it might as well have been across the room.
Luca looked around the room, taking in every bit of detail. The bed he lay on was small, oval shaped, and crafted out of a strange, black wood. The mattress didn’t feel like any he had lain on before. The cloth was thick and the stuffing soft. There were no sharp feather tips or bunches of bristly straw poking through either.
The room was reasonably tall, the ceiling curving gracefully overhead. Tall, narrow windows sat in three of the four walls. The odd, swirly glass was held in place by thick pieces of a rose-colored metal. A sweeping shelf, covered in thick, cloth-wrapped books, dominated one wall.
A gentle, if not incessant knock sounded at the door straight ahead. Luca could see the shadow of a person through the gap at the bottom.
“Luca,” Emma hissed, knocking again.
He reached up to rub his eyes, but his sore arms wouldn’t lift that high. He groaned in frustration, before saying, “Yes, I’m up.”
The odd, curving handle turned and the door clicked. Emma’s face appeared as the door opened, her dark hair spilling over her face.
“Oh, good, you’re awake. Did you sleep? I don’t know how you could,” she whispered, pacing across the floor before standing above him.
Luca rolled over onto his side and tried to sit up, but his body felt like a rigid statue.
“Here, let me help you,” Emma said and helped him sit up. “I’ve been up with the sun. You know? I’m usually up serving first meal long before first light. But now, well, I don’t have hungry priests and clerics to serve.” She paced back and forth, her fingers twisting animatedly in her hair. “I don’t know what to do, Luca. Sixth arm, I don’t even know where we are. I’m scared.”
“Have you seen anyone?” Luca asked groggily, looking into her face and struggling with the same questions.
Emma’s expression softened a bit as she shook her head. “My room is right next door. I got up, dressed, and waited outside your room for you to wake. Hells, I’ve been back and forth between my room and your door a score of times. I haven’t seen anyone since last night. Weird, don’t you think? That she would bring us here, give us these clothes, and then leave?”
Luca nodded, sliding from the bed. His knobby knees buckled as his feet hit the strange floor. It had the texture of bark, but it also wasn’t wooden planks like the Chapterhouse in Pinehall. It was quite odd.
Emma dropped his crutch onto the bed next to him and sat down, before bouncing back to her feet. She started pacing between the door and his bed, wringing her hands.
“Back in Pinehall…those guards chased us. They think we’re thieves…we are thieves,” Emma said, stopping next to the bed and bending low to look him in the face.
Luca swallowed, took a deep breath to speak, but thought twice about it and closed his mouth. There was something off about Emma’s voice, and yet, it was her eyes that set him on edge. They looked wild.
What do I tell her? I can’t tell her that I’m scared, too. It’s my fault that she’s here, that she’s in trouble, and that I have no idea what is going to happen to us, Luca thought. His panic rose up uncomfortably, until he thought he might be sick. I wish Hunter was here. He’d know what to tell her, Luca thought.
“Hunter…Hunter!” Luca cried out, jamming the small crutch under his arm. He took the first step, wincing as the hard wood smashed against his sore underarm.
Emma ran forward, a shocked and scared look on her face as he staggered forward, pla
nted his good leg, and hoped in a circle until he was facing her.
“A…hunter?” Emma asked, grasping his arms.
“No…it’s a he. Hunter is someone. I think he’s my brother. I remember him,” Luca cried out, his wide smile making his face hurt. “I was just thinking about what to say to you, and he just jumped into my mind. I thought, ‘Hunter would know what to say’.”
“Luca, that’s wonderful!” Emma said, beaming. “What do you remember about him?”
He pivoted on his good leg, took a painful step, and turned. He felt that if he moved, more memories would break loose. Or, maybe that it would keep the one memory he had managed to find from slipping away.
“Hunter is…my big brother,” Luca managed, but once he concentrated on the idea of his brother, his head started to hurt. He couldn’t picture Hunter’s face in his mind either. It was like he was covered by a heavy mist, so he closed his eyes and concentrated.
“He was tall, and strong. He had sandy-colored hair, and blue eyes, just like me…and my pa! My…ma, she has dark hair,” Luca said, excitedly, talking faster and faster. “Hunter had a knife that someone…my father maybe, gave him.”
“And…and?” Emma asked, prodding him on.
He could feel her standing directly in front of him, her hands clamped onto his arms. She was holding him up, but he didn’t dare open his eyes to look at her. Not now.
“We were somewhere. I don’t know. Someplace dark. There were other people with us. I can see their faces. They feel familiar to me, but I can’t quite remember them. Arg,” Luca moaned.
“Easy, Luca. Where were you? Focus on the place. What were you doing?” Emma whispered.
“I, uh…” he stammered, the pain throbbing horribly behind his eyes. A dark, circular room appeared through the fog in his mind. His nose was filled with stinky mold and rat poop. Something sparkled in the darkness. “We were someplace dark, and old. I see something, something shiny. They were talking, no, yelling at me. I think I got lost, or,” Luca trailed off as a disturbing sight flooded into his head.
