“Thank you. That’s more than I would have asked for and more than I would have hoped for.”
“Next question?”
“You are Ishalla, aren’t you?”
“That is one of my names.”
“Why were you crying so long ago?”
“That is a conversation to have when we meet again.”
“I look forward to that meeting.”
“Anything else you’d like to know?”
“Not really. My mind is muddled, and anything else I could think of to ask could only be turned around. The mechanics of the archway for instance. I’d be interested to learn more, but I’m not in the mood to take it all in. I can think about it some more. That way I’ll know the questions I want to ask about it when we meet again.”
“Don’t you even want to know when that will be?”
“Not particularly. The future is a fuzzy thing, and I think I like it like that.”
“You amuse me.”
“Good. I’d hate to be remembered as boring.”
They smiled at each other. Then the Lady motioned and the door opened. Maya entered to ask her questions, and Justin helped Lucy into the other room. She was able to change into her pajamas and ate some food before falling into a deep sleep on a comfortable bed. It was a wonderfully dreamless sleep. None of them discussed their experiences in the archway, and none of them discussed what questions they had asked the Lady or her answers. Even Justin and Lucy only had one small discussion about the whole experience.
“I’m glad you bent instead of breaking,” said Justin.
“I didn’t do either. I was the storm,” responded Lucy.
That was it.
Chapter 53
They woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the potentially dangerous journey back to Taran’s cabin, the doorway, and the school. The Lady provided them with a filling breakfast of fruits, breads, porridge, and sausages. She also supplemented their packs with nuts, more travel bread (hers was flavored with honey and thus much better than the ones they had bought in Plint), and plenty of fresh water. It was never good to underestimate the importance of plenty of fresh water. The Lady wished them safe travel and put them on the plateau they came from.
They looked at each other. Each was wondering if the whole strange ordeal had really happened or not. Perhaps that was why everyone who survived the archways was marked with a tattoo. To remember what had happened, what they had overcome, and what they had learned. Also, Justin had the Eye of Elicion on his forefinger. Another reminder of what had passed and what still lay ahead. Finally, Gavin mounted up and motioned to Maya, conveying that he was ready to follow her lead back across Kinowenn. The rest of the group mounted, and they rode for quite some time in silence. Each was concentrating on his or her own thoughts but did not feel like discussing them out loud.
Justin and Lucy did talk enough to establish that Lucy would watch the way behind them and Justin would concentrate on what was ahead. This gave Lucy practice and also allowed Justin some time to think. They rode hard that first day. They did not know how long the Lady would wait until she started letting people out of Kleth, but knew that the faster they reached their destination, the sooner they would be safe. By the time they camped that night, some of the pensiveness of the individuals had waned. They joked and laughed while they ate dinner.
The next day of the journey went like the ones leading up to Kleth. Lucy and Gavin went through drills on horseback. Lucy was getting much better. Justin joined in periodically as well. He liked to keep his skills fresh.
“Come on Maya, you should practice too,” said Gavin riding up next to her to try to convince her.
“I’m busy trying to lead us in the right direction,” she replied.
“Justin or Lucy can lead long enough for you to run through some forms with me.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You need the practice. What happens if we are attacked?”
“You don’t think that the three of you can handle anything?”
“Oh, I’m certain that we can, but we wouldn’t want you to later accuse us of stealing all the fun for ourselves.”
“I promise to refrain from doing that no matter how difficult it becomes for me,” said Maya.
Gavin gave up trying for the day. Maya seemed determined, and Gavin had learned he could only push her so far before she became irritated with him. Maya was one of those people who held on to irritation for longer than the initial irritant warranted. He still thought she should practice more, but he also felt he could try again tomorrow.
Lucy continued to learn about herbs from Maya. She also agreed it was good to know multiple ways to accomplish things, and you never knew when herb knowledge could come in useful. Besides, it was a good way to pass the time. It would have been boring to do nothing but ride day in and day out no matter how much you loved horses.
They stopped at Plint on their way back. It was enjoyable to stay at the inn again. Clean and serviceable mean a lot to a traveler. Molly was happy to see them again so soon and placed them in the same rooms. The food was good, and they bought supplies while in town. They discussed whether or not they should stop in towns or avoid them. Justin argued it might help to listen to rumors and find out if the Lady had started any. After they knew how the land lay, they could choose to avoid other towns or they could use them to find out more information.
The inn was busy that night. It was easy for them to blend in with the crowd, enjoy the fresh rye bread and noodle soup, and listen to the talk around them without seeming suspicious.
“Have you heard the rumors?” one man asked his dinner companion.
“No, I’ve heard nothing. I’ve been on the hills with the sheep of late and not made it in for a drink,” his companion replied.
“Rumors of Kleth are coming around again.”
“Pah, they are only rumors. Don’t pay so much attention to them. They don’t affect people like us,” said the man with the sheep as he took a bite of bread.
“These rumors might,” continued the first man. “I’ve heard tell that the latest few men have seen the Eye,” he whispered the last couple of words.
“Now that is a rumor. A rumor of a rumor even,” laughed the first.
“I’m not saying it’s true, but it could still affect people like us.”
“How do you figure that? A mythical city and object of power has little to do with my sheep.”
“True enough, but the rumor is the man not only saw the Eye, but he saw some great Lady give it to a group of people and then send them back here.”
“So the Eye is loose in the world again?”
“That’s the rumor.”
“I suppose that could affect us. Whether the rumors are true or not, rulers get it into their heads that they need things like that. Then, if they get them, they get even crazier ideas into their heads like the object might help them get their neighbor’s land. The neighbor doesn’t like that, and then we have war. War is not good for people like us.”
“You’re right there. War does us no good. We don’t see any of the spoils and pay most of the costs.”
“Well, I can’t say that I believe your rumors, but I’ll keep my ears open just the same. Sheep don’t say much, but you never know.”
“You never know,” said the companion, taking his last sip of ale and motioning for the serving girl to fill it up.
Most of the tables had conversations of that type going on at them. Some people believed. Many didn’t. Most people feared possible repercussions, but not today. None of them seemed concerned about the four travelers sitting at a table eating supper. It wasn’t to the point yet where rumors made town folk suspicious of travelers. They slept well that night, and left early the next morning, glad they had listened to the rumors. It didn’t seem like they were in any immediate danger yet, but it might be a good idea to stay at the next town they came to. It seemed prudent to be informed of current rumors.
A day after
leaving Plint, Lucy was doing her usual mental sweep of the area behind them when she sensed something that she hadn’t sensed before.
“Justin, I think there is something behind us.”
“What is it?”
“If I knew I would have said that I think there is a bear, person, snake, or whatever it was following us. I have no idea what it is. But it is behind us and might be tracking us. I thought you should check.”
“Good idea,” said Justin. He sent his thoughts back. “I’m sure it’s tracking us.”
“How can you be sure?” asked Gavin. “Lucy wasn’t sure if it was tracking us a minute ago, and you are sure. How does that work?”
“It works because Lucy doesn’t know what it is. I do. It’s an erdette.”
“That’s not good,” said Maya. “Is it because of the Eye?”
“I don’t think so,” said Justin.
“What’s an erdette?” asked Lucy. If something was wrong, she wanted to know what it was and how to fight it.
“An erdette, to put it simply, is a creature that feeds off magic. It is attracted to magic. It can smell it. That’s why I’m sure that it’s tracking us. Unless I’m missing something we’re the most magical thing in the area and it’s behind us,” said Justin.
“Rather implicit,” said Maya.
Justin nodded.
“How does it feed on magic?” asked Lucy, not at all sure she wanted to know.
“You can’t fight an erdette using magic because it absorbs it. That only makes it stronger.”
“Can you overfeed it? Can you stuff it so full that it doesn’t want any more?” asked Lucy.
“I’m sure that such a point, at least theoretically, exists. However, due to their high magical metabolism, I suppose we’ll call it, no one has ever reported such a thing happening.”
“Right, so no fighting with magic. Can we kill it? Can it use magic against us? Will it try to kill us or can it only feed on us using magic against it?” asked Lucy.
“That is a lot of loaded questions. How long can you eat meat off a deer before you kill it whether you intend to or not?”
“Gruesome analogy, but I think I see your point,” said Lucy.
“It can absorb magic without us using it on it, but it has to get close to do that. It can eat spells out of the air. To eat off us, it has to touch us. We can kill it with weapons, but it is a time consuming process, it’s more like starving it to death than anything else. It can’t use magic against us, but it can use magic to heal itself. If we stab it, it will heal itself. The trick is to stab it enough that it runs out of its own magic to heal, while at the same time staying far enough away that it can’t touch us and use our magic to heal itself.”
“This sounds complicated,” said Lucy.
“It is,” said Maya. “Not very many people live through an erdette attack.”
“What if it is after an item, like the Eye?” asked Lucy.
“If it were after an item, it would do everything possible to acquire it. Killing the person wearing the item is not a deterrent. If a person knew that they were being followed by an erdette, and if they knew what it was after, they could drop the item and let the erdette have it. It would suck the item dry of magic and search for its next meal,” said Justin.
“Could we let it drain the Eye?” asked Gavin.
“We could, but the Lady said it wasn’t really magical, remember?” said Lucy.
“What’s it after then?” asked Gavin.
Maya and Justin exchanged a look. Lucy caught it.
“It’s after me, isn’t it? We didn’t have any problem on the way in because we weren’t powerful enough to register as worth tracking. If one had stumbled on us, it would have enjoyed the meal, but we weren’t worth a lot of effort. Now, since Kleth, since we are all magically marked, and since my power has grown, we must be like a beacon to it,” said Lucy. “I’m sorry.”
“Lucy, don’t apologize,” said Justin. “My power has been growing also. Yours happened to explode, in a sense, but eventually, between the two of us, we would have begun to attract them anyways. I hadn’t mentioned them before because I was hoping we could avoid them on this journey. Don’t start feeling bad. Remember you have to embrace your power or it will control you.”
Lucy did her best to not feel bad, but it was hard to succeed in that goal completely.
“Our best way to fight it would be to let Gavin do most of the close fighting. He doesn’t have enough magic to attract an erdette. It will most likely try to get past him to Lucy, the much more appetizing meal. Not paying attention to Gavin is a dangerous thing to do, and I’m sure it will regret that decision. The rest of us can use daggers or arrows to wound it and wear it down,” said Justin.
“That sounds like a decent plan,” said Gavin. He was happier fighting close up than from a distance even though he was very good with arrows. It gave him more of a sense of satisfaction.
“There is one more thing I almost hate to know the answer to, but feel the need to ask,” started Lucy. “Does it hunt in packs?”
“It does not normally hunt in packs. It’s too greedy to share the spoils and generally strong enough to get what it wants on its own,” supplied Maya.
“However, given how strong Lucy is, we may start to draw in more of them. They are unlikely to attack us together, but having to fight one every day isn’t going to make our journey any easier or more enjoyable,” added Justin.
“Let’s not jump to any conclusion,” said Gavin. “After this, we might be experts in defeating erdettes. That’s a useful skill. If this quest thing doesn’t work out well, we can travel around offering to rid areas of erdettes.”
They enjoyed some much needed laughter at that thought. Now that Lucy knew what an erdette felt like, they became even more diligent about sweeping the surrounding areas with their minds. Now they had something else to worry about. It was bad enough wondering when there would be armies, mercenaries, or greedy individuals surrounding them. An experienced erdette would not need to be on their trail to find them.
Chapter 54
The erdette continued to dog their trail and gain on them. It was no use to try to make their trail more difficult to follow. It followed them by the smell of their magic. Obviously, using magic to cover their trail would only make them more noticeable. Justin was sure it would only eat any wards they laid to convince it that it needed to go another direction, and none of them wanted to feed it. They didn’t have much choice other than to travel as quickly as they could and hope it didn’t catch up to them.
Luckily, erdettes avoided towns. They liked to prey at the outskirts surrounding towns, but they avoided the towns themselves. Towns had too many people in them, and erdettes tended to die due to the sheer numbers against them. As the sun set, Justin greeted the next town, Narten with a sense of relief. It wasn’t fun being tracked. It filled you with a sense of worry, and it would be pleasant to spend the night not worrying about an erdette pouncing. Justin was also interested in finding out the latest rumors. Who else could they expect to track them?
Narten was large enough to have two inns. Each was located on an opposite end of town. That way The Sleeping Dragon usually got most of the travelers coming from the east and The High Dawn got the ones from the west. The Sleeping Dragon, despite its name, had loud raucous music emanating from it, and as they passed a patron was thrown into the street.
“No one would notice us amidst all that,” commented Maya.
“Hardly,” said Lucy. “You’re too pretty, and Gavin’s a walking target. We’d be noticed.”
“I’m going to agree with Lucy here,” said Justin.
They made their way through town, taking note of where they might want to stock up on goods the next day. The High Dawn looked as though it generally served patrons of a higher class as well as travelers from the west. This probably meant that it would be more expensive, but it would also give them an ear to the people they wouldn’t otherwise mix with. Taking back roads
gave them less of a chance of being disturbed, but also less of a chance of running across other travelers.
The High Dawn’s door was freshly painted. The windows were clean, and the tables were of good enough wood to imply it was not a common occurrence to have them broken on a nightly basis. The innkeeper was a clean, small man with spectacles, a mustache, and a sense of briskness about him. He barely looked at them when they entered. They looked like they were dressed well enough to pay for a room, but not well enough to be important.
“Yes, what can I do for you?” he asked.
“We’d like rooms, if you have any,” said Justin.
“How many would you like?”
“Two.”
“Horses?”
“Four.”
“Baths?”
“Of course. In a place like this I would assume they are included in the price of a room,” said Justin smoothly.
“Of course,” the innkeeper replied, taking a closer look at Justin.
“We’d like dinner also.”
“Brought up to your rooms? That will cost extra.”
“I expect it would. However, we’d like our dinner in the main room, after we’ve freshened up of course.”
“Of course. Ale is not included.”
“I wouldn’t expect it to be,” replied Justin looking scandalized. “Soup and bread should be though.”
“They are, but you’ll be wanting more than soup and bread,” he was trying to find out how much money these people had.
“Aren’t they any good?” asked Justin.
“Not what I meant at all,” said the innkeeper starting to feel frazzled. “They are so good, you’ll want to try more of what my cook prepares,” he recovered quickly and named the price.
“Done,” said Justin. He put half the money on the counter, showed the other half, and put it back in his pocket. “We’d like to see the rooms before we pay the other half.”
“Sir, I assure you, the rooms are first rate,” he wasn’t sure if they were being cautious or insulting.
The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 Page 41
