The Fallen
Page 41
As soon as they arrived Jenko sought the aid of Orchid once again and after a brief, yet amended retelling of what had happened with Reya and the ever vigilant bodyguard Tellan, the madam had personally done all she could in persuading the Surian merchant captain safe passage for Jenko and Vella’s pilgrimage home.
They travelled hidden among the cargo of the merchant’s ship, anonymous and blissfully without danger, but Vella had become increasingly concerned at the nervous energy that sparked from Jenko’s being. And one night, at the request of his generous benefactor, Captain Gaelan found his spyglass curiously missing when a two man boat dropped silently into the water and headed for the rocky face of the western coast.
A sleeping pedlar that had made camp on the breezy cove nearby woke up in confusion at the sound of hooves on stone and as his horse was galloped away, he shouted furiously at the two thieves that had left his wagon stricken. Jenko and Vella travelled down the Ilema trade road on their stolen horse, past the crossroads that would have taken them home, and Vella turned back with a frown at the now distant post that pointed for Ilema.
“Jenko, we’re going the wrong way.” She said as he led the horse in the opposite direction of home.
Jenko said nothing in return and for once, Vella stayed her frustration of his silence with the realisation that a great trouble lay upon his already sombre heart. Eventually they reached the outskirts of what looked like farmland and as Vella sketched her eyes uncertainly around herself, she felt disquieted at how overgrown the fields looked. She remained silent however when Jenko led the heaving horse onward through the broken wooden posts of well–neglected fences, and Vella frowned apprehensively at the blackened ears of wheat that swathed the ground thickly.
When they reached the destroyed remnants of what used to be a clearly busy farming town, Vella looked despairingly at the broken houses and shacks that spoke of a great battle. What happened here? She wondered in horror as they trotted along, but her question was left unspoken until Jenko gently brought the horse to a stop.
“Is…is this Fieldhaven?” She whispered harshly in her shock, stunned by the sudden realisation that slammed into her mind with astonishing clarity.
“What’s left of it.” Jenko murmured in return and Vella frowned in curiosity when she realised the low timbre of his voice was not of sorrow, but of concentration.
When Vella looked over his shoulder, she realised he was staring intensely at the noon sky above, and her heart skipped in hopeful shock when she saw the small smile on his face. The intensity of his gaze compelled her to look herself and Vella gasped at the light that flared so brightly across the clouds, like a last flash of sunset before the call of night. She shielded her eyes and squinted at the flurry of motion across the sun’s face that for all the world looked like a falling star.
“What is that?” She muttered in wonder and gasped at the sudden rumble of thunder that resounded so heavily throughout the sky above.
But Jenko whipped the reins with a roar of encouragement and the horse galloped onward down the dusty road before them with so breathless a pace, Vella clung onto her partner’s waist for dear life. It seemed to her that Jenko rode with everything he had, eagerly racing the light that blazed across the clouds above until its twinkling light disappeared with a single flare; but still he urged the horse on faster.
The horse was thoroughly exhausted by the time they reached the ruined graveyard of what had once been a marketplace, and as Jenko looked at the debris of collapsed buildings and destroyed carts that littered the ground, his mouth was set in a grim line. He realised quickly that negotiating the horse through this mess of destruction would be far more of a hindrance than was necessary and so, with a last flash of his gaze at the horizon, he simply dropped the reins.
Vella watched in stunned silence when Jenko jumped onto the ground without a single word and as he ran down the road, all she could do was hobble ungracefully from the horse herself. She ran after him in a desperate bid to keep him in sight and it wasn’t until Jenko reached a particular turn in the road that he stopped suddenly.
When Vella caught up with him with heaving breath, she leaned upon her thighs for equilibrium and glared at him in irritation. “If you wanted rid of me you only had to say!” She joked in a breathless grumble.
But when Jenko carefully approached a ruined street that bridged from the destroyed market, Vella became aware of how apprehensive he had become. She followed him a few paces back as he walked along in silence and when he stopped before a little lane that led up towards an abandoned house on top of the hill, he stared at the skeleton of its remains.
Vella’s eyes widened when she saw the ploughed gouges that raked deeply along what was left of a garden, and she looked on in dumb silence at how Jenko’s stare never left the house. Not the house…Vella thought with the hitching of Jenko’s breath and as he ran forward with his heart soaring, she watched him vault over the ruined teeth of a garden fence.
Unlike the rest of the town, the cause of this particular destruction was clear, Vella saw as she followed Jenko under the beam he tossed aside. A giant hole in the side of the house hissed with steam, but incredibly there were slashes of ice across the edges of its gaping mouth.
“…my favourite tree back home. I wish I could show it to you, Jenko. I used to sit under it for hours…just letting everything bad slip away.”
“Reya!” Jenko shouted as he pushed through the mess of broken fence and shattered walls, his eyes darting up at the canopy of a huge oak tree that stood tall behind the ruination of debris. He slogged over what remained of the destroyed side of the house, for it had collapsed messily onto the neglected back garden in a riot of broken timbers and roof slates.
Reya? Vella thought in confused, yet hopeful wonderment and she followed her companion as best she could with a new faith in her heart.
“Reya!!” Jenko shouted again as he fought through the rubble doggedly, lifting what he couldn’t throw aside in his search and his eyes were ever firm on the tree that Reya loved so much. Vella followed haltingly as Jenko tripped and struggled through the cloying ruin of his niece’s childhood home and then, finally, he clambered onto the reasonably clear path that led to the tree.
Jenko stood there in dumb shock and looked upon the girl that lay sleeping peacefully amid the gnarled roots of the grandest oak tree Vella had ever seen. Vella’s breath halted in stunned silence as Jenko walked forward slowly, as though frightened that his footfalls would wake the girl’s gentle slumber and when he kneeled beside her, he gently scooped her into his arms. He sat down beneath her then and as he cradled her against his chest, he looked down upon the soft golden hair that snuggled drowsily into his embrace. Jenko stroked Reya’s cheek even though it felt as though his heart had stopped and, when her wonderful violet eyes finally opened, he smiled adoringly at her.
“You’re here…” She whispered with a sigh of such happiness that his mouth trembled and as she took his hand in hers, Jenko frowned at the cold object she pressed into his palm.
Jenko opened his hand then and with the sobering realisation that she had given him back his little silver telescope, he closed his eyes in gratitude that even in death, Tellan had somehow helped their niece find her way home. Thank you, brother. He thought in heartfelt gratitude.
Jenko then gathered Reya tighter against his chest and with a trembling exhalation of breath, he murmured, “You’re a fucking nuisance, you know that?”
Reya laughed exhaustedly and as she returned the ferocious squeeze of his arms, she whispered in grateful return, “I love you too, Uncle Jenko.”
And as Reya snuggled contentedly into the warm safety of her Uncle Jenko’s embrace, together under their favourite tree, they let everything bad slip away.
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