The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5): An Epic Fantasy Action Adventure (The Way to Freedom Series)

by H. M. Clarke

  “But what about you? Now you won’t have a knife.” Kalena rubbed her thumb along the leather of the scabbard. Next to Kala, this was the nicest thing that anyone had given her. “Here, I can wait for one.” Slowly she tried to hand the knife back but Harada pushed the blade back to her. “No, it’s yours. I have another one here. There is no need for me to have two.” Kalena glanced around the table and saw the bemused expressions on everyone’s faces. This obviously was a surprise to them.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Kalena let a tentative smile cross her lips before quickly showing Kala and then slipping the knife safely into her own belt. Harada turned back to his drink.

  “You’d best eat up and then I’ll quickly introduce you around to the others here,” Gwidion said after a moment’s hesitation. “For tomorrow you’ll be too busy to even remember your own name.”

  Chapter Six

  Backlash

  Kalena carefully placed the full stop at the end of her sentence and breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. She looked across the table at Wing Lieutenant Bessal who was engrossed in reading a book plucked from the library shelf when she started her exam. Kalena looked again at her thick paper sheets.

  She had come a long way in the four months since she joined the wing and during that time the Wing Lieutenant had run her ragged to the point that she barely knew what week it was let alone what day. Gwidion and his Hatar partner Jolar had both her and Adhamh up before dawn for a quick breakfast and then the pair would spend the morning together learning the theory and fundamentals of paired flight which included knowing and taking care of every buckle, strap and padding of the saddle and tack that had been assigned to them. In the afternoon Gwidion took Kalena into the classroom for intensive book learning so she would be at the same standard as the other new recruits who were five years older than her. The Wing Lieutenant had told her at the start that she had five years of learning to catch up on before she could even consider learning to fly with Adhamh.

  And this exam was the culmination of all that work. The Wing Lieutenant had given her the time it would take him to read five chapters of his book to finish the test and now she had to wait for him to finish reading.

  Kalena started to flick through her papers, quickly reading through her crabbed writing, checking her answers while Gwidion finished reading his book.

  ‘How is your exam going?’

  Kalena sighed as she flicked through her papers yet again.

  ‘Adhamh, I’ve finished it but I’ve got to wait until the Wing Lieutenant says the time is up.’

  ‘I have just finished my examination with Jolar and she had just told me that I have passed with flying colors.’

  ‘Hope I’ve passed-‘

  “Kalena, stop talking with Adhamh, you’re supposed to be taking an exam,” Gwidion said as he marked his page and placed the book carefully on the table. “Jolar has been on mind listening duties to prevent any unauthorized information exchange. Though I am amazed that you two managed to hold off taking to each other for two and a half hours.”

  “Can I hand this in now?” Kalena asked as she shuffled her pages into a dog-eared pile.

  “Of course you can. Your paper shuffling was beginning to distract me from my reading. Plus I’ve read this book so many times that any interruption is welcome.”

  Gwidion got up from the desk and sat in the chair across from Kalena. He then reached across and grabbed Kalena’s exam and began to slowly read through it.

  Kalena watched anxiously as the Wing lieutenant pulled a stylus from his pocket and started to mark her paper. She began to squirm in her seat as Gwidion moved first one marked sheet and then another to the back of Kalena’s pile. The Wing Lieutenant seemed not to notice Kalena’s agitation as he marked down the current page and she felt very tempted to try and read Gwidion’s surface thoughts to see how she was going, but fear of being caught and ruining any goodwill the Lieutenant has for her stopped Kalena from doing it. She did not want to be stood before Captain Jerant for punishment. Adhamh’s constant warnings about not revealing her talent to hear mind speak murmured annoyingly at the back of her mind.

  Finally Gwidion’s stylus moved over the last page and was placed back into his breast pocket. Placing the pile back neatly on the table, he looked across the table at Kalena.

  “How did I do?” Kalena asked as she moved forward eagerly in her seat, Gwidion’s face gave her no hint of how she had done.

  “Well, your writing has certainly improved but you still need to learn not to scrawl when you’re in a hurry to get things written down,” Gwidion said as he lifted a page to point out an example to her. “But overall you’ve done very well considering where your level of education was four months ago.”

  “Yes, but did I do well enough to fly with Adhamh? He said that Jolar has already passed him.” Kalena began to wring her hands nervously. “I’ll never hear the end of it from Adhamh if I did not pass. Our one aim over the last few months has been to be able to fly with each other and I don’t want to be the cause for delaying that.”

  Kalena took a quick glimpse at the last page of her exam paper to see what Gwidion’s stylus had written but all she could see were circled words and a lot of underlining – it did not look good. The Wing Lieutenants face remained immobile giving her no hint as to what he was thinking. It was something he was very good at.

  Once the page was finished, the Wing Lieutenant tucked his stylus back into his pocket and flicked back through the pages, stopping occasionally as something caught his eye. He then repeated the process. Kalena was leaning close enough to feel the breeze from the flicking pages, hoping to get a glimpse of anything that might tell her how she had done.

  “I’ll put you out of your misery.” Gwidion let a small grin cross his lips as he placed Kalena’s papers neatly in front of her. “You’ve passed and you have passed very well. In fact you’ve done a lot better than the usual candidates who have just undergone the Krytal.”

  “I have?” Kalena uttered in relief.

  “Certainly you have, which means that tomorrow you will join the two newcomers that have been assigned to Second Flight Second Wing to have your first flight lesson. You will meet them tonight at dinner.”

  ‘Adhamh, guess what?’

  ‘What?’ Adhamh asked without much curiosity.

  ‘Give me some more enthusiasm Adhamh. It can’t be that obvious.’

  ‘From the sound of your voice I have an idea of what you are going to tell me but just go ahead and tell me any way.’

  ‘I’ve passed the exam, we can fly together!’

  ‘Did the Wing Lieutenant tell you the other news?’ Adhamh asked.

  ‘Yes, he did. Finally we get to meet some new people. I’m to meet the two riders tonight at dinner and the Hatar tomorrow. How about you?’

  ‘I’ve already met Trar and Motta. I’ll meet the riders at our first lesson tomorrow.’

  Kalena arrived late to the Dining Hall for dinner. She had gone to see Adhamh straight after Wing Lieutenant Bessal had released her after the exam. Kalena was also hoping to get a glimpse of the two Hatar new comers to Second Wing but they had both gone to lair to rest. ‘After all’ Adhamh told her, ‘They had only undergone the Krytal the day before.’

  Kalena was disappointed but the Hatar’le’margarten that were in the Hatar Common Room assured her that she should be patient and wait to meet them tomorrow.

  When she got back to her room, Kalena reported everything that had happened to Kala who sat perched at the foot of her bed waiting for her to come home. Over the last few months Kalena had slowly stopped carrying Kala everywhere with her. Kalena’s need to have Kala near was no longer a pressing necessity for her. The members of the Wing had now become her surrogate family and friends.

  Kalena quickly filled her plate and moved in amongst the crowded tables making her way to the table traditionally occupied by Second Wing. She slipped into the empty space nex
t to Second’s other Wing Lieutenant, Ben Ocbar, who sat near the end of the table. As Kalena sat, she glimpsed down the table to pick out the new faces but she could not see any.

  “It’s not like you to be late for dinner Kalena, what kept you?”

  Kalena turned to look at Ben while chewing a mouthful of food. “Nohummm,” she answered, trying not to spit her food out into Ben Ocbar’s face as she spoke.

  “She’s been down at the Hatar barracks trying to get a look at the new arrivals. I expect,” Gwidion said as he looked around Ben to Kalena’s end of the table.

  “I was not there for that!” Kalena said quickly swallowing her food. “I had to go and congratulate Adhamh in passing his exam.”

  “Ah huh,” Gwidion slowly drawled as Ben started to snigger.

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “That was supposed to mean that it does not take two hours to give congratulations to someone, that’s what.”

  “You’re not suggesting that our Kalena went to visit Adhamh with ulterior motives are you Gwidion?” Ben asked with a smile as he mopped up the gravy on his plate with a piece of bread.

  “Maybe.” The Wing Lieutenant quickly took a sip from his cup to cover the smile that sprang to his lips.

  “That’s exactly what he is suggesting,” Kalena butted in. “In any case, the two Hatar weren’t there. Adhamh said that they were resting after their Krytal.”

  “Well, that doesn’t surprise me. The two new guys are still sleeping it off. I thought they would both be awake by now but the procedure always affects everyone in different ways. They can’t all be like you and Adhamh. You both were only out for a couple of hours,” Gwidion said before biting into the last of his bread.

  “How long are people normally out for after the Krytal?” Kalena asked. She had never thought about it before and thought that her and Adhamh’s experience was the same as everyone else.

  “It’s different for each pair Kalena,” Ben answered as he pushed his empty plate away from him. “Look at Bessal here,” Ben said as he jerked a thumb in Gwidion’s direction. “He and Jolar were both out cold for over sixteen hours.”

  “Why don’t you tell her your own ‘sleepy’ time Ben?” Gwidion asked as he elbowed the Wing Lieutenant in the side.

  “We’d like to hear it too,” said one of the riders sitting across the table from them.

  “Ah, it’s not that impressive,” Ben said, shrugging off the requests.

  “Come on Ben, you and Zuta hold the record,” said one of the riders across the table.

  “You know mine,” Kalena added.

  Ben leaned back on the bench, his indecision plain on his face.

  “It’s not like it’s a state secret Ben,” said a voice from further down the table.

  Kalena leaned forward to see past Ben and Gwidion and saw Harada staring back down the table at her.

  Ben suddenly groaned. “Alright. Most people know anyway. Might as well have everybody know. And to hear it from my own lips instead of the exaggerations that I have heard bandied around.” Ben took a deep breath. “Zuta and I were out for just over twenty eight hours.” Ben’s face suddenly broke into a grin. “But I’m hoping that the new comers will break my record.” Ben turned suddenly to Gwidion. “Bessal, what’s their count at the moment?”

  “It’s about ten hours now. When I checked on them before dinner, they didn’t look to be waking up soon. Which reminds me-“ Gwidion paused in his reply as he slipped himself free from the table and the bench. “I’d better go look in on them again.”

  “Can I come as well?”

  Gwidion turned and looked at Kalena as she scrambled out from her bench seat.

  “You can come as long as you do nothing that will wake up the sleepers.”

  “Of course I won’t. I promise,” Kalena said and Gwidion gave a quick nod that she took as his ascent to come.

  “You better not, I need them to stay asleep so they get a chance to break my record.” Ben called after them as Gwidion started to move away from the table.

  She quickly fell into step beside him as they made their way through the crowded dining hall to the Living Quarters. Kalena followed Gwidion quietly through the corridors until the Wing Lieutenant turned down the passage that led to the living area where Kalena’s room was.

  “Are the two going to live near me?” Kalena asked with a shiver of excitement. She was the only one living in her area, maybe now she won’t be.

  “Yes, they are in the two rooms at the end of your corridor.” Gwidion’s words echoed Kalena’s thoughts and she could not help the grin that appeared on her face.

  “What are their names?”

  Kalena was hoping to be able to ask this of the two of them, but she could not wait any longer. Patience was not Kalena’s strong suite.

  “Their names are Holm Lunman and Kral Tayme, who are paired with Trar and Motta.”

  “Kral and Holm?” Kalena muttered. “Those are strange names.”

  “Both are from the south of the empire,” Gwidion said as they passed down the corridor that lead past Kalena’s room. “The lands to the south are not the same as your country to the north. They live in endless seas of sand and it gets so hot there that the desert becomes a furnace intense enough to turn the sand to glass. It can also be several seasons before they even see a drop of rain.”

  “It’s definitely wetter here at Darkon than that,” Kalena said as she tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her ear. “For me its warmer and dryer here than at Kurst Village. I’m still getting used to the weather. How long have Kral and Holm been at Darkon?”

  “Longer than you have,” Gwidion said with a smile. “They’ve been here about five years already.”

  “Really! That means they should be used to the rain here by now.”

  Conversation stopped as Gwidion halted beside the last door on Kalena’s side of the corridor.

  “Now, you have to promise me that you will be quiet. You remember the headache you had when you awoke the first time after the Krytal?”

  Kalena nodded.

  “Well, these boys won’t be as badly affected as you were as they are older but they will still be sensitive to loud noises and smell.”

  “Yes Wing Lieutenant. I understand.”

  Gwidion just stared at her and Kalena began to think that he had changed his mind about letting her see the two new comers. But after a moment, Gwidion turned and placed his hand on the door knob. “This room now belongs to Holm Lunman. Let us see how he is faring.” Gwidion then slowly opened the door.

  Kalena peered around the door jamb into a room lit only by the soft light from a tripod brazier placed in the far corner. The room was furnished exactly like hers. A desk, a chest, some chairs and a bed. It was the bed that drew Kalena’s interest.

  The blankets and sheets were all mussed up and the beds current occupant lay on his stomach with an arm and a foot poking out from beneath the sheets. Unfortunately in the dim light from the coal brazier, Kalena could not tell which way the boy was facing. Maybe it was someone she would recognize from her time in the Children’s Dormitories.

  Gwidion slipped quietly into the room and moved on soft feet towards the bed. Kalena tiptoed quietly behind him.

  As Kalena came alongside the bed, she saw that the face of its occupant was facing their way. The boy had short-cropped hair that looked translucent in the dim orange light from the brazier and even though he looked no older than sixteen, had a close cut beard that glittered as it caught the light.

  Gwidion leaned over the boy and looked carefully at his face. He then tilted his head so that his ear was near the boy’s mouth and listened carefully to the constant, even breathing.

  Through all this Kalena stood quietly, watching everything that Gwidion did. But faintly at the edges of her senses she felt another mind searching. It was a feeling that Kalena had never felt from the humans that surrounded her. It was very similar to a Hatar mind, looking for someone to talk to. B
ut this did not feel like a Hatar mind.

  Maybe it was someone like her?

  As the Wing Lieutenant was distracted by listening to Holm’s breathing, Kalena carefully sent out a mind thread to see if Holm was the cause of the sensation she was feeling. But her thread fell on deaf ears. This person was not the source of the search she was feeling. Where was the thought coming from? Kalena’s frustration made her terminate her mind thread before calling it back in properly. As soon as she cut the thread Kalena knew she had made a mistake.

  Gwidion looked sharply in her direction.

  Kalena held her breath, afraid that with her one lapse she had revealed herself.

  ‘What did you just do Kalena?’ Adhamh’s voice suddenly jumped into her mind. ‘I felt the backlash of that and I am sure that others would have as well!’

  ‘Not now Adhamh.’

  Kalena cut Adhamh’s connection and smiled in an effort to make herself look as if nothing was wrong.

  But Gwidion said nothing about the incident and Kalena breathed a sigh of relief when he straightened from the bed.

  “Holm is going to be sleeping for a long time yet. His body seems to be coping well after the Krytal.” Gwidion’s voice whispered quietly about the room.

  Kalena thought it best not to say anything. She had promised not to do anything that would wake up the sleepers. When Kalena cut her thread without containing the backlash, the searching she felt had suddenly stopped.

  Gwidion signaled Kalena to leave the room with a gesture of his hand. Once Gwidion had pulled the door shut quietly behind him he turned to Kalena in the corridor.