“We do not doubt his heart,” Ilagon said, “nor do we doubt yours, Fayn. We have complete faith in your captain’s judgment. If he says you are the men for the job, then we are fortunate to have you both as our guides.”
“Then you have accepted my offer!” Avin exclaimed with great satisfaction.
“We have,” Ilagon acknowledged. “And though we have enjoyed your company and hospitality, it is our hope to leave as soon as your men are able.”
Kane stood up suddenly with such abruptness that his bench was nearly knocked to the floor. His jaw was clenched tightly and his nails dug firmly into the tabletop. With all eyes upon him and the room locked in startled silence, he glared at Ilagon and then at Kazen with daggers in his eyes. “If you’ll excuse me,” he finally said, barely containing the anger in his voice, “I am on patrol this morning.” He stormed out of the room, bumping Kazen’s stool on his way out.
Avin jumped to his feet as if to chase after him, but instead lowered his chin to his chest and shook his head slowly. “I give him much latitude because he is my cousin, and because he has lost much in this war. But his unruliness has gone too far, even for him.”
“It’s understandable,” Kazen said, “after all that has happened.”
“You are kind to forgive his ill temper. But he will have to be dealt with. In times like this, it is order that keeps men alive. I will not allow his insolence to cost me the respect of my men.” Sitting back in his chair, Avin took a long drink from his mug. “Back to the matter at hand. I am pleased that you will have Gillus and Fayn along on your journey. They have, however, only just returned from a long night of patrolling. They will need rest before setting out again. I know you are anxious to be on your way, so they shall be at their best by first light tomorrow. In the meantime, you may find rest here in any way that suits you. As our welcome guests, you shall be afforded every courtesy, such as we have to offer in these humble times. If it interests you, I would consider it an honor to give you a personal tour of our barracks, though I regret my duties may pull me away from time to time.”
“No, no,” Ilagon insisted with a wave of his hand. “That will not be necessary. We do not wish to keep you from your important duties. We will find our way about just fine ourselves, I think.”
“Very well, if it pleases you. There shall be no room closed to you. However, you may find these passages more vast and winding than imagined. It is not uncommon, even for those who dwell here, to occasionally find themselves disoriented within the dimly lit corridors. If you do find yourself in need of direction, or anything at all, just say a word to any of my men and they shall fetch me at once if they cannot see to your needs themselves.”
Kazen and his friends bowed courteously as the captain and his men left the room. Together, the company sat back down to finish their meals. Picking at his food, Kazen had a difficult time concealing his disappointment at another day’s delay. And more frustrating than losing a day’s travel was the chance of having another run-in with Kane. Kazen was ashamed to admit to himself that he was intimidated by the man.
“Well,” Ilagon said, popping a last morsel of food into his mouth, “I am going to see about acquiring a few extra water skins. I do not want to have to worry about running out of water again.”
“And I’ll see to the food supplies,” Shanks volunteered. “Someone’s got to make sure we get more of these crunchy biscuits for the trip!” He winked with a sly smile to E’enna and Kazen. “You two can catch us up after you’re done.”
Watching Shanks and Ilagon leave, Kazen sipped noisily at his tea, very aware that he had been left alone with E’enna, who had still not spoken a word to him. Try as he might to muster the courage to utter a simple apology, he just couldn’t seem to find his voice. Instead, he kept losing his thoughts in the perfect vision of E’enna’s hair, tied neatly back off her neck, except for a single strand, which lay against her pale cheek despite her repeated efforts to keep it tucked behind her ear.
“And what are you smirking at? Or are you just trying to think up another offensive comment?”
Abruptly snapped from his wistful daze, and more than a bit embarrassed, Kazen fumbled for words. “E’enna, I did not mean . . . I wanted to say that I—”
But before he could finish, Avin suddenly appeared in the entranceway. “Good morning again!” he said with a flashing smile. “I hope I am not interrupting,” to which Kazen only shook his head silently. “Ah, good. Then I was thinking, E’enna, before I get too wrapped up in my tedious duties, if you would care to see the extensive collection of fine quarterstaffs we have in our armory? None of them are near as grand as yours, but there are a few wooden staffs that have some exquisite carvings that I thought you might find attractive, if only to look at.”
E’enna shot an expectant glance at Kazen before hesitantly replying, “That would be delightful, Captain, thank you.”
Avin offered his arm to E’enna and the two made their way up the short stairs. “Oh, Kazen!” he called back as a second thought. “I know you’re a swordsman, like myself, but you may find something of interest there, as well. Would you care to join us?”
Growling on the inside, Kazen smiled as politely as he could manage. “Thank you, no. I think I will better spend my time readying for tomorrow.”
“Very well, then,” Avin bowed his head. “Then I shall promise not to detain the Lady E’enna for long, for I am sure her duties are equally as pressing.”
With a firm arm around her waist, Avin whisked E’enna to the doorway. She glanced despondently over her shoulder at Kazen, who stared silently on. Kazen watched as she disappeared down the hall. Flopping down on his stool, he crossed his arms over his chest and sighed bitterly. “Well, if she thinks I am going to sit here and wait for her all day, she has another think coming! I have a hundred things I would rather be doing, anyway.” Snatching the last biscuit from the table, he huffed out of the room.
Chapter 21
Kazen made it quite a ways down the hall and past many rooms before finally admitting he had no idea where he was headed. So, he roamed the halls, peeking into rooms, trying to find an unoccupied space where he could sulk in peace, but there seemed to be busy workers in every corner of the underground warren. Sneaking past one of the more dimly lit rooms, he was spotted by a group of enthusiastic soldiers, who whooped and hollered, shouting his name and beckoning him to join them. Kazen tried to decline politely, but the men were quite insistent, and soon he found himself seated on a wobbly, three-legged stool, surrounded by half a dozen wide-eyed young men.
“Awright! Awright! Back off, you uncivilized dogs!” bellowed one of the men as he pushed the others aside. “Give the man some room to breathe!” Smiling, the man pulled a cloth hat from his head and absently kneaded it between his fingers. “You’ll have to forgive the boys, they ain’t neva been so close to royalty afore.”
Kazen could not help but smile back at this spirited young spokesman. Extremely short, more than a full head shorter than himself, one might have thought him a child at first glance. His frame was narrow and slight, with little more to him than skin and bones. Well-worn clothes, patched and belted, hung like drapes from his gaunt body. His sand-colored hair was chopped short and uneven, causing it to stick out in most every direction. Unbefitting whiskers sprouted in patches across his knobby chin, bringing a roughness to his otherwise friendly face. He spoke with a voice uncharacteristic of one so small in stature. Thick and heavily accented, his speech was as lowbrow as that of the wandering mercenaries.
“I am afraid I’m not royalty,” Kazen admitted.
Tossing his thumb over his shoulder, the man smiled brightly. “Close enough for this lot.” Wiping his filthy palm on the back of his pants, he stuck his hand out to Kazen. “The name’s Rabbit!” he announced proudly.
“Your name is Rabbit?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “Well, it’s what me mates calls me, anyways.”
“Why do they call you Rabbit?”
A slew of comments were shouted out from the men with some very interesting, and explicit reasons as to the origins of the nickname, all of which was quickly followed by an explosion of laughter and hollering.
“Ahh, stifle it, you mangy mutts!” Rabbit chuckled with a swat of his hand. “They calls me Rabbit on accounta there ain’t none faster at stretchin’ a bow’n me. Why, I could get four shots off before any a these duffers even notched their first dart!”
“Sure!” called out a man from the back of the pack. “And the day you hit something you be sure to let us know!”
The room once again exploded into a roar of booming laughter. Kazen was soon laughing right along with them. It felt good to laugh like that, boisterous and brash, along with the rest of this rowdy bunch. These men were an anomaly of sorts, somehow finding joy in each other’s company even in the darkest of places.
“Well, m’lord,” Rabbit said, still chuckling, “alls I can say is that Rabbit’s a kinder name than me mum gived me, bless her heart. But you don’t wanna hear no more ’bout ol’ Rabbit, no, not much of a story there. It’s the boys and me that hopes to beg a story or two from you, sir. We suspect that a wizard, such as yourself, might likely have tales of great adventure, and, well, to hear one straight from you, that’d be a great honor for us all.”
“Oh, well . . .” Kazen hesitated, knowing full well he had no story to match the vivid imaginations of a group like this. “I really am not a very good storyteller. Besides, I don’t think I have any stories that you’d find interesting.”
Clearly disappointed, Rabbit’s head sank into his shoulders. “I understand, sir. You got better things to do than entertain a buncha brutes like us, that’s for sure. It was improper of us, anyways, draggin’ you in here like that. Well, you don’t have to worry ’bout the boys botherin’ you again, m’lord, ol’ Rabbit’ll make sure you ain’t disturbed no furtha.”
Recognizing that he was being shamelessly manipulated by the crafty Rabbit, Kazen nevertheless gave in to his guilted conscience. “Well, I suppose I could try to think of just one story.”
The men cheered joyously and gathered around on the floor like school children.
“A drink!” Rabbit yelled. “A drink for Lord Kazen! Ain’t no man should have to tell a story wit’ a dry mouth!”
A barrel was quickly placed alongside Kazen’s chair, and upon it was set a tall drink of some purple, fermented liquid. Sniffing the beverage curiously, Kazen’s face contorted involuntarily as the offensive odor caught on the back of his tongue.
Chuckling with delight, Rabbit patted Kazen on the shoulder. “In the wee hours of the night, when you’re half asleep and bleary-eyed, it almost passes for wine. Mostly though, we just use it when we don’t wants to remembah where we is.”
Still trying to forget the dreadful smell, Kazen smiled warily and shoved the mug to the far edge of the barrel. “Perhaps later, thank you.”
Staring at all the eager faces, Kazen began telling the tale of his encounter with a giant serpent. The story began very modestly and with little drama or embellishment, nevertheless, the men all gasped and cheered with great enthusiasm at all the appropriate moments. In fact, they insisted on hearing the account again and again, and each time it was told, Kazen would add in a bit more flare and performance to his storytelling, much to the delight of all the men. Kazen had a wonderful time, laughing and howling with the men as each took a turn offering their own outlandish embellishments to the story.
Hours passed, and as much as he did not want the merriment to end, Kazen could no longer ignore the rumbling in his stomach or his thirst for something that wouldn’t burn quite so much on the way down. Reluctantly, he bid his goodbyes to the men, and awkwardly returned their formal bows and salutes. They shouted out their praises and thanks as Rabbit led him from the room and down the hall with the promise of a hearty supper.
It was only a short walk to a near chamber at the end of the narrow corridor. Entering the room, Kazen’s stomach gurgled as the smell of food wafted over him. The room was small and square with low-lying beams across the ceiling, which all men but Rabbit had need to stoop beneath. On either side of the entrance were two hearths of stone set into the clay walls. Within the ovens, cheerful fires snapped beneath black, iron cauldrons, which bubbled over with stew. All about the room, men huddled around boxes and tables, eating platefuls of food and talking casually among themselves.
“Well, it ain’t as comfy as the cap’n’s quarters,” Rabbit said, “but least you can wipe your face on your sleeve without anyone lookin’ twice.”
Snatching a few wooden bowls off a vacant table, Rabbit ushered Kazen over to the food line where they filled their dishes to the brim. After making their way back to the table, Rabbit disappeared for a few moments, and then returned carrying two large flagons of liquid, which Kazen eyed suspiciously.
“Only water this time, I promise,” Rabbit said, smiling wide, taking a seat beside Kazen.
As he slurped down his stew, Kazen suddenly remembered he hadn’t seen any of his friends since breakfast. He felt terribly guilty, knowing that while he had been lazing about, telling stories and making new friends, they were all hard at work, readying for the morning’s departure. That is, of course, except for E’enna, who was likely dining in the charismatic captain’s company at that very moment.
“Tell me, Rabbit,” Kazen said, dutifully wiping his chin on his sleeve, “how did such a young man come to be captain of your company?”
“Cap’n Avin? Can’t says I know exactly how he got his rank. S’pose some men are just meant to be leaders, and Cap’n Avin, well, they don’t come no bettah than him. He ain’t the strongest of us, and maybe not even the fastest neither, but there ain’t no one I’d trust bettah to get us out of this mess, that’s for sure. He’s a man of his word, he is—if he says he’s gonna watch your back, you can rest easy knowin’ your going home to suppah that night. And I can tell you, there ain’t no man here wouldn’t lay down his life for Avin.” He paused for a moment to nod assuredly. “I guess he’s the cap’n on account he brings out the best in us louts.”
Kazen could have guessed as much. It was not hard to see the respect the men had for Avin, and it was plain to see that he was indeed a good man and an excellent leader. In fact, Kazen imagined he would be hard-pressed to find any man there with anything negative to say about their captain. All of this was well and good, but it did little to quell the pangs of jealousy that stabbed at Kazen’s heart.
Before he could slip back into his sullen state of self-pity, Kazen was startled by a sudden ruckus out in the hall. Shuffling feet and anxious voices resonated through the winding corridors. A man, fully armored, burst into the room and began barking orders. “On your feet, men!” he hollered with a snarl in his throat. “The alert’s been sounded! Every man to his post!”
The room erupted into a blur of motion as men rushed from the room, knocking tables over in the process and sending full bowls of food splattering to the ground.
“What is it, Norel?” Rabbit asked, leaping to his feet. “What’s happened?”
“Kane has not returned from his patrol. He’s an hour past due. The captain has ordered all men to their stations until further notice.” With a hesitant nod to Kazen, Norel hurried out of the room and after the other men.
“What does it mean?” Kazen asked.
Grabbing Kazen by the arm, Rabbit pulled him along as he rushed from the room. “It means the cap’n is fixin’ to button the place up tight. Can’t be too careful, you know. Not that any man here thinks Kane would ever tell no one ’bout where we is, but I s’pose if it came down to it, every man’s got his breakin’ point.”
“You think he could have been captured?” Kazen gasped. “But it has only been an hour. Do you go through this every time he is late?”
“Kane ain’t nevah late,” Rabbit said in an ominous tone.
They stopped outside a crowded room, where men were hurriedly fitting themse
lves with armor and weapons. Rabbit dashed in, and befitting of his name, zipped through the mob with ease, coming out with two bows slung over his shoulder and an armful of red-feathered arrows. Wasting no time, they set off again through the maze of winding corridors, past hosts of men who scuttled feverishly through the underground passages like busy ants.
Kazen followed Rabbit to a small alcove, which narrowed into an even smaller tunnel. Crawling through on elbows and knees, the dark tunnel went on for quite a stretch before stopping at a small wooden blockade, which Rabbit shoved aside with a heave of his shoulder. The tunnel opened up into a cramped hollow, just big enough for the pair to sit across from each other. A sheet of burlap hung over the opening to the outside, letting in the last rays of the colorless twilight.
“Nothin’ above your breath here, m’lord.” Rabbit whispered as he handed over a bow. “There ain’t nothin’ between us and them but this slip of flax.”
“It’s so dark, already,” Kazen whispered back. “If anything happens I will not be able to see a target.”
“You needn’t worry ’bout that, m’lord. Anything comes strollin’ through this ravine without the proper signal, there’ll be enough arrows flyin’ that you won’t need a target. Just make sure you shoot down. Don’t wanna catch any of our mates on the other side.”
The weary sun soon surrendered, and the still, black night flooded their tiny recess. Swathed in darkness, Kazen felt alone and exposed. There was no breath of wind or rustle of trees to bring life or measure to the hollow night. Even Rabbit, as close as he was, had been swallowed by the darkness, and Kazen fought the urge to reach out for him.
Together, they sat as the night dwindled on with nothing disturbing the darkness. For Kazen, what had seemed a comfortable starting position was now torture. His legs, one crossed over the other, felt like twisted knots, and his toes tingled with numbness. He yearned to stretch his muscles and rub his sore neck, but mostly he longed for sleep. The long days with little rest had begun to take their toll.
The Flame Weaver Page 26
