Wulik visibly had to force her mouth open for every sip and then shut her mouth to prevent her from spitting it out. It was very hard to sit back and watch her being treated like that, but I trusted that they knew what they were doing and that they were trying to help her. She started pleading with them to stop. She was sobbing in between each sip and twice nearly made herself choke. When it was all finally done, they let her go and she sagged back onto her bed. She was retching and Laskia and Wulik watched with concern in their eyes. “We can make her take it in, but keeping it in… ” he shook his head. “We can only hope her body accepts it.”
I knew he had said it for my benefit, but I only pushed past him and sat down next to her. I felt so helpless. I sat stroking her hair, and she finally fell into a fitful sleep.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Markai came over to me while I was sitting by the fire. “How is she?”
I shrugged. “Sleeping.”
“We cannot delay much more. Beratus reports that the influx of forces to the enemy’s camp is slowing to a trickle. Any day Rakadamon can decide it is time to send his army out and that would be catastrophic.”
I nodded. I knew the moment was coming and I was trying to make sure I was prepared for it. “We will hear Tas and Roscien’s report,” she continued, “but I think at dawn we need to move.”
My stomach twisted. “That soon? What of Alathaya…”
She shook her head. “We cannot delay.”
After a moment, I nodded grimly. “How do you propose we go about this?”
She lifted her head. “I have a plan, but when Tas and Roscien are back, we can discuss it amongst all of us.”
I had not even realised that they had left. Moreover, I had not even noticed it had gone dark. I took a deep breath and walked back to Thaya’s bed. She looked peaceful, her face relaxed. I put a hand on her forehead and was shocked. Laskia must have been keeping a closer eye than I had realised.
He saw my face and came hurrying over. “What is amiss?”
I shook my head. “Her head, her fever, it’s gone.”
He gave an irritated grunt. “Yes, what do expect when we say we will heal her?” Not waiting for an answer he walked away shaking his head.
I was too relieved to be offended by his rude behaviour. I sat grinning like a half brain fool, staring down at her. From where I sat, I could see Tas and Roscien's bodies. First Tas, then Roscien sat up. Tas was blinking and stretching his eyes and giving his head a shake in between. Roscien looked all together more comfortable.
He sat chortling at Tas's behaviour. "Still not used to it, eh? It does get easier."
I walked over to them. "How did it go?"
They looked at each other. "Not bad. We will call everyone together so that we only need to speak once," Roscien said evasively.
When they still just stood there, apparently waiting for me to go, I said. "I will call the others then."
Before they could protest, I stalked away and started letting everyone know we were ready to have the meeting. It did not take them long to gather. It seemed we were all getting a bit bored of waiting and eager to do something. Tas and Roscien were last to arrive.
"What have you learnt?" Markai asked.
Tas shrugged. "We have a better idea of the layout of the place, but it remains a maze. Once in there, it is exceedingly easy to get lost. We have between us, I think, a better sketch.” He handed it to me before continuing. “We did also see more... beings in there this time. We had to be careful not to be seen, but we did manage to catch a glimpse of Rakadamon."
"We think," added Roscien and Tas gave him an exasperated look. Clearly, they had discussed this and not come to an agreement.
Still looking at Roscien, Tas continued. "He was sitting on the massive throne. It must have been him. He is hardly going to let someone else sit on his throne.”
Roscien glared back at him. “Perhaps, but that was a man sitting there. A fairly large man, I grant you, but a man nonetheless."
Tas balled his hands into fists. "That does not mean it was not him. Just because he looks normal does not mean he is. Just take you for example..." He laughed at his own joke.
Laskia and Wulik bore identical grimaces.
"I must agree with Tas, however crudely he puts it. Appearances can be deceiving. He may appear a man to fool his enemies, to lull them into complacency. That settled," Markai gave them each a warning look, "what else did you see? What was he doing?"
They were so obviously not looking at each other that they might as well have been staring daggers. Roscien cleared his throat. "He was talking with some sort of committee. There seemed to be many of the creatures that Kadin and we have come across present in the room. As we said though, we had to stay hidden and that is no easy feat in such a bare room. We could not get close enough to really hear anything."
"Apart from 'we start tomorrow'," Tas broke in, earning him a glare from Roscien.
"What are they starting?" Trissa asked in an anxious voice.
Tas and Roscien looked at her. "We don't know. That is all we heard."
She linked her arm with Seran’s and snuggled against his side. Dhillion was still sulking and had not said much all day. He gave her a reproving look and I wondered what was going on behind those mysterious eyes of his.
"Describe him to us." Tas pressed his lip together into a fine line. "As Ros said, he is tall, broad shouldered. He has curly black hair that comes to his shoulders. I glimpsed his eyes and," he glanced from me to Markai and away again, "well, they look exactly like yours and Kadin’s." I looked a question at Markai, but I could sense that she did not know anything more about that than I did.
"Anything else you can add? Anything else that you saw and thought might be useful to us?" Markai asked.
They shook their heads. "I guess we are ready to decide on the details of the plan. I have already set it in motion. We are all well aware that we do not have numbers on our side so for Kadin to stand a chance at getting to Rakadamon, we will need to make sure their attention is focused elsewhere. Beratus has returned to the main camp and they have marched closer to Magtisanya. They are now only a day away. We will draw the largest part of Rakadamon’s force toward them.”
“How are you planning on achieving that?” Xain asked half-curious, half-incredulous.
If Markai could grin, she would have been grinning then, instead she looked as though she was snarling. “Why, by using Kadin. Or at least, someone who looks a whole lot like him.” She looked at Tas. “You will be appearing as Kadin. We will pretend to be trying to sneak up on them. We make sure they see us, and more importantly, ‘Kadin’. When they realise they may be able to catch him and bring him to their lord, they will not be able to resist. They will come flocking. During the diversion, you, Kadin, will sneak round the back into the castle and confront him. Roscien, you will be with Kadin and Alathaya, if she is well enough, that is.”
“She will not be well enough. She was near to death tonight. Even Wulik and Laskia told her that if she did not drink their tea, she would die.” I looked to them for confirmation, but Laskia was rolling his eyes and Wulik looked at me disgustedly, shaking his head.
He spoke to Markai. “Do humans not understand healing? Only, this is the second time he asks such a question.” He looked to me. “Healing means to make well. And, I do not mean a bit, but to make better, back to normal. Do you understand?” He had adopted a tone I had used when teaching Lilana something. A tone I had stopped using by the time she was four, because I thought it condescending and insulting to her intelligence.
I bristled, to say the least. My jaw started to ache and I realised I had been clenching it while he was talking to me. I opened my mouth to give an acerbic reply, but Markai spoke before I could. “Humans use the term differently. Healing simply means treatment to them.” She looked at me. “Jerieghen have great mastery over illness. When they talk of healing, it is in the fullness of the word.”
Comprehension dawned o
n Laskia and Wulik, but it did not replace the derision in their eyes, only added mockery.
"Moving on, then. Laskia has informed me that the tea he gave her earlier will work well enough that she could potentially perform several returns tomorrow before feeling any ill effects. She will just need to take a water skin of it along and drink as soon as she recovers consciousness after a return."
"What about the rest of us? Are we to be part of the distraction or are we going with Kadin?" Malion asked.
Markai looked at him. "You will go with Kadin and defend him at all cost. Kadin is to defeat Rakadamon, but the rest of you have to make sure that he reaches him. I will let Kadin think about how best to use your Talents and what he would like you to do," she continued.
I nodded and turned to Malion. “Your Talent will obviously come in use once we enter combat. I want you to come up with a few scenarios and describe them to us so that we can avoid confusing our own team.”
He nodded and Markai continued. "Trissa, how do you fare with controlling your Talent?
Her eyes widened a bit at the sudden focus on her and she looked like a rabbit who knows it has stepped in a snare. "I have made some progress. It is still a bit sporadic, but getting better." She looked discreetly over to Laskia who nodded confirmation.
"You are running out of time. Laskia, I want you to spend the rest of the evening working with her," Markai commanded. He grimaced, but nodded.
"Tas, how are you doing with everyone's Talents? Any that you have a problem with?"
He shrugged. "Only Trissa's, but then she can't even control it herself."
She looked at him and made a vexed sound. Both he and Markai ignored that though.
"You will train with her under Laskia tonight," Markai said and then it was Tas’s turn to grimace.
“Dhillion,” Markai said, “you will go with the diversion. Beratus will ensure you are brought safely to the reinforcements."
Dhillion’s only answer was to snort, but Trissa sighed in relief and he shot her a glare.
"Any questions?" Markai directed the question to the group in general.
Xain answered, "Say we are successful, say that Kadin manages to defeat Rakadamon, what then? We still have an army to contend with. We all know we are sorely outnumbered."
She pinned him with her ice blue eyes, but I was sure what she said was for all of us. "Then we do whatever it takes. We do not know what will happen once he dies, but one thing is for certain, we must carry on fighting. We must carry on fighting until his entire army is wiped out." Her voice was pure resolute determination.
It was clear that she did not expect us all to make it through this alive. I looked over my shoulder to where Thaya was sleeping. I knew I had a destiny to fulfill, but I also knew I would not allow any harm to come to her. I could only hope that I would not be made to choose one or the other.
The rest of the evening, I spent sitting with Thaya. She woke for a while and although groggy, she would not let up until I had informed her of all that had been going on while she was sleeping. "Laskia and Wulik are confident that by tomorrow you will be back to normal. They have also prepared another dose of the tea that we can take with us." She apparently had no memory of the tea and I was not about to remind her of it. We would cross that bridge if we got to it.
Malion came over to me. He had worked out a few scenarios and was going around describing them to everyone. I was pleased with what he had come up with. We talked a while over the finer details; before he moved on to speak to Seran.
I slept next to her that night. Perhaps slept was a bit too strong a word. Lay with my eyes closed was probably a better description of it. I kept going over what I had to do on the morrow. My stomach clenched with anticipation every time I thought of the enormity of what we were taking on. I tried not to toss and turn too much though; Thaya was sleeping like a rock next to me, every now and again snoring lightly.
By the time Markai started rousting everyone out of bed, I was half-relieved that the night was over and half-petrified. The light wind that rippled the leaves above me carried a slight chill. It was still well before dawn. I was not the only one with bleary eyes that morning. I was sure that neither Seran nor Tas had had much sleep either. In fact, the only person who looked well rested and ready for this dark day was Alathaya. She smiled at me beatifically and I said, “You look better.”
Her smile widened a bit and she nodded. “I feel as though nothing had happened at all. No ill effects remain. I am going to have to ask them what they put in it.”
I kept my smile in place, but could not help wondering if we even would see them again after that day.
Laskia and Wulik already had a pot of porridge boiling. This time the smell turned my stomach. When I refused a portion, Laskia thrust the bowl into my hand. "You cannot hope to win a fight if you do not prepare your body for the rigours of battle. Eat." He turned on his heel and strode off.
I forced the food down, wondering how something that tasted so wonderful the day before, could taste so disgusting. I could see I was not the only one struggling to get my food down that morning. A hush blanketed the camp. Everyone was on edge, even Laskia and Wulik exchanged some heated words.
We cleared all our things up and Markai gathered everyone into their groups. Only one of the Qupari that had been at the camp when we arrived was staying, the rest would lead the way, with Laskia, Wulik, Dhillion and of course Tas going along. He had made one last feeble attempt at convincing Markai that he should be permitted to stay and fight. She told him in no uncertain terms that he best be on his way. My stomach was clenching and unclenching and a few times, I thought I was going to be sick.
We said our farewells to them and watched them make their winding way down the hill. As soon as they disappeared from sight, I rushed to the edge of the hill, stopping at the tree line to keep from being seen. Markai and some of the others joined me there. All we could do was wait. “Laskia and Wulik left you some aids.” Markai whispered to me.
I looked a question at her.
“They call them flamers. They appear innocuous enough; some dark fluid in a glass stoppered bottle. You could even mistake it for very strong tea, if you are going by appearances. Do not ask me what is in them, or how they made them, but what I do know is how to use them. You throw the bottle against something flammable; it will burst and ignite, creating an intense, but short-lived blaze. Depending on what you manage to set alight with it the flames may well last longer,” she explained.
I nodded my understanding. I thought flamers could come in very useful indeed.
We did not have long to wait to see some reaction in the camp below us. It started slow; a few shouts rising, then movement, first a trickle and then a torrent of armed creatures started flowing to the southwest. More and more of them followed as word must have spread that the prize they all wanted to win, was right there in front of them. My heart was pounding watching the flurry of activity. I fervently hoped that our little group would reach the reinforcements before these creatures could catch up with them. I doubted they would take very kindly to being fooled.
Once the movement out slowed, Markai turned back to camp and we followed. I hurried to my things where I found the Jerieghen’s flamers. There were three of them left in a carry sack. They looked so small that I wondered how big a flame they could really cause. I tied the sack to my belt.
Roscien lay down and his spirit rose. The Qupari who had stayed behind would stay and guard his body, in the hope that if danger did find him, she would be able to wake him, to give him a chance at defending himself or at the very least defend him herself.
Roscien led the way. Xain duplicated himself so that we had six of him. Now that we were on our way and I had my Navitas focused, I felt more in control, more ready to face whatever was to come. Markai and Thaya walked to either side of me with Seran and Trissa behind us and Xain and Malion making up the rear.
We kept to the cover of the forest until the castle reared up in
front of us. Roscien went first to make sure that the way was clear. We waited for his return. Previously, there had been no guard at the door, but this time, there was a Skell. Roscien reported that he had gone in through the wall further down and searched nearby corridors to see if there were others around. The way was clear, but we had to get rid of the Skell guard without raising the alarm. That meant killing it quickly. Xain carried a bow and we all agreed that this was our best chance at it. He moved a bit closer before nocking his arrow and taking aim.
He took a long moment to steady his aim before he released the arrow; it flew perfectly and hit the Skell in the throat. It dropped instantly. I realised I had been holding my breath as if it were me taking aim, and I released it slowly.
We hurried on. Xain and Malion dragged the corpse to a nearby bush and shoved it in as far as possible. Once inside the castle, Roscien led the way once more. We had decided that the throne room was probably the best place to start looking. He was trotting ahead, peeking into rooms along the way. The whole structure seemed to be built of a peculiar kind of black stone. It was ice cold inside the castle despite the mild morning outside and I could see my breath misting in front of me.
The stone walls reminded me of the pitch-black blades the Skell used. I was standing with my back to a wall, not touching it. It seemed to exude something though. I turned and placed my hand on it. The next minute I gasped and tried to pull my hand off, but I could not. It was as if I was connected to the wall, or the wall to me.
I had an acute sensation of being observed. Desperately, I tried to push down a rising tide of panic. Malion was also pulling on my hand, but with no success.
“Let go of Navitas,” Markai said in such a calm voice as to make me even more aware of my panic.
For the first time ever, it was a struggle to release Navitas, but once I did, I flew back so suddenly, I nearly crashed into the wall behind me.
I only had a moment to sigh in relief, though, because at that moment, Markai turned, snarling. Coming up behind us, were three Lakreay. I had not encountered one of these before, but they had been among the dark beings that attacked Alathaya’s house. They were brutal and intelligent. A bad combination in an enemy. Before Thaya had been able to travel back and allow us to escape their attack on the house, one had bitten Seran’s hand off and had the injury itself not killed him, the venom in the bite surely would have.
Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One Page 37
