by B. T. Narro
Desil nodded. “I had no idea you were here.” He glared at Beatrix.
“I didn’t know what you would’ve done if you’d found out,” she said.
“You could’ve at least told me and my mother he wasn’t dead!” Desil couldn’t stop the fury in his voice. “We spent the last year mourning him, yet now I find out that all that pain could’ve been avoided!”
“I’m sorry.”
That’s it? She’s sorry? But as he saw the hurt in her eyes he realized that none of this had been her decision. It had been her father, the king, who’d chosen to keep the truth from Desil and his mother. Beatrix wouldn’t blame her father, even to make it easier on herself. Desil had to respect her for that. As furious as Desil was, he let it go.
He felt a hand on his back. His father looked as if he wanted to deliver a lecture.
“I know it wasn’t up to her,” Desil said, the anger gone from his voice.
His father nodded, then glanced at the princess. “So war has finally begun?”
“Yes,” Beatrix said.
“You mean it’s about to,” Leida corrected her.
“It started soon after we left,” Beatrix specified.
“Oh my stars,” Leida said. “The Academy…are they fighting now?”
“Soon, if not now. But the declaration has been made.”
Everyone fell silent. Desil could feel Leida and Adriya’s torment in the long look they gave each other, though Desil couldn’t tell what bothered them most. Was it that they were stuck here when their friends were fighting, or were they imagining returning to a world at war?
Eventually Leida stopped chewing on her bottom lip to ask Desil’s father, “Will you tell us why they were trying to kill you?”
“Basen and I came up with a plan that would allow him and your mother to separate from the Kanoans, but they caught us lying.”
“There was a hidden psychic,” Desil added. “A boy.”
“You saw?” his father asked.
“The memory ended just as the boy was proving his ability.”
Wade shook his head. “That child and his mother have always been a bother to everyone. Many people had asked me to send them north, never to return.”
“They do that?” Leida sounded incredulous.
“Only to the worst of the worst in the beginning. But once those people were gone, they started turning on the bothersome ones. It was chaotic when I first arrived.” Wade looked up as he tilted his head. “I suppose I brought them order, which is why it was easier for them to choose me as their leader when the last one was killed by Marros. I tried to remind them of the truth when they found out Basen and I were lying, that I had their best interest in mind. I explained Basen could make a portal for them back to Kyrro, but that they would be worse off there than they are here. Many are still the same criminals they’ve always been, which got them exiled in the first place. The rest would become beggars back in Kyrro. Only those who know how to hunt and would leave the cities behind might be better off. There aren’t many of those men and women here, as most everyone longs to return to Kyrro. Meanwhile, when the king finds out what Basen’s done, he will probably have him killed.”
Beatrix didn’t say anything, confirming the possibility.
“I tried to tell them,” Wade continued, “but that boy said I was lying. I don’t know why. I think he just wanted to see what they would do to me. He’s never been helpful to others, but I hadn’t known he was becoming like his father, who was caught trying to rape a woman. Perhaps evil breeds evil. This place is full of it.”
“Captain Mmzaza said they weren’t so bad,” Adriya brought up.
“But I heard he stayed with his own group of capable sailors until they betrayed him, then he was mostly on his own after that. He doesn’t know what the people are really like here, and how the Marros have changed them.”
“My father sent people here years ago,” Beatrix said. “They spied until they determined that these exiles were not worth bringing back. That information is not to be spread around.” She threatened the group with a finger. “Basen knew everything about these Kanoans that my father did through the same report, and yet he still chose to come here.”
“And he still heads toward the center,” Desil’s father said, “even after being attacked by the Marros. His and Alabell’s determination to stop this war is admirable, not a flaw.”
Beatrix looked down as Wade challenged her with his gaze before he changed his focus to Leida.
“But as admirable as their bravery is, it’s going to get them killed. I’ll need your help convincing them to stop once we catch up to them.”
“I’m sure I’ll be able to.” She sounded confident. “How did they escape the Kanoans while you didn’t?”
“Psyche and Majlan.” At seeing their confusion, Desil’s father specified, “Majlan is what the Kanoans started calling it when I arrived and showed them what I could do: the manipulation of the earth, like you saw earlier. The word is a combination of land and magic.”
Desil grinned as he remembered how his father often diverged from a topic when telling a story. He and Desil had spent hours chatting in the kitchen of the tavern long into the night after Effie had gone to sleep, jumping from one subject to the next and then forgetting to come back. This was not the time for that, however.
“So the Elf with Leida’s parents hurt the people with psyche,” Desil prodded, “and you did what?”
“There were too many for the Elf to stop, even with my help. We didn’t have enough of a head start to get away cleanly, but damn did we try.” Wade paused for a long while. Desil couldn’t keep from staring at the face he’d missed for so long, but he couldn’t quite figure out the torment he heard in his father’s voice. Was it possible Wade cared for some of these exiles? Is he holding onto a piece of another woman’s heart?
“Some of them are fast,” his father told Leida. “And your mother is not.”
She nodded fearfully. “But she’s all right?”
“Yes,” Wade said. “One caught up to Alabell just outside the encampment. With hundreds coming, we couldn’t manage to get him off her in time, and we lost our lead. The Elf pained as many as he could, but it wasn’t enough. I screamed for your parents to keep going as I let the Kanoans at the head of the mob tackle me. Your parents hesitated, and it almost meant their deaths, but soon they took off again. I broke the bond of the ground just enough to make it loose, like mud. It slowed the rest of them from giving chase, yet I wasn’t about to give up. I somehow managed to get onto solid land again. I knew I wasn’t likely to escape, however. I saw the tower. I had no plan and no other options. Thank the stars the rest of you arrived.”
He let out a grunt that almost sounded like a laugh. “I wonder how the Kanoans will try to make sense of your rescue. Even after talking with all of you, I still can’t figure out where you came from and how you ended up there.”
Having been away from his father for so long, Desil was starting to notice a few things about the way the man spoke that he hadn’t noticed before. There was a cadence to Wade’s words that had seemed more than just familiar. Now Desil realized it was similar to his own cadence, with subtle waves of pitch with the same choice of words. Desil wondered whether he’d picked it up from his father or if it was the other way around.
He knew this situation was dire, and yet he couldn’t stop smiling. His father was alive! He hoped Leida was right and that she could convince her parents to give up their quest. Desil didn’t want to do anything that would put his father at further risk. But if Basen refused, and Leida followed him…Desil would help, whether he wanted to or not.
Eventually they’d walked all the way to the mountains. There was a smooth slope made from years of water runoff. It would get everyone quite far up the mountain, but there wasn’t enough morning light yet for them to tell if there was anywhere to go from there. Adriya aimed her staff as if she was about to make her own light, but Desil put out his hand to stop her.
He didn’t have to say anything to make her realize her mistake of showing the searching Kanoans where they were.
The others didn’t seem to notice. They stared at Desil’s father while Wade glanced up with a sour face. Eventually he checked the other directions.
“I was hoping we would catch up to them before now. I don’t know which way they would’ve gone from here.”
“It’ll be morning soon,” Beatrix said. “We shouldn’t be somewhere we can be seen by someone up in the tower.”
“My parents probably had the same thought,” Leida said as she pointed left. “So let’s go this way. The bend of the mountain will give us cover in less distance.”
“What if they wanted to get to the center as quickly as possible?” Desil asked. “They might go to the right, wouldn’t they, Leida?”
“That’s a good point.”
“Or they could’ve risked aiming light up there,” Adriya suggested. “They could’ve seen something they liked about the route and chosen to go up.”
“You decide, Leida,” Beatrix said. “You know them best.”
She sighed in between her sharp breaths. It had been a long way without rest, after many long days, and the fatigue had caught up to Desil long ago. For the last few miles it felt as if he’d been walking underwater. It was probably even worse for Leida.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I think left.”
“You have to be sure,” Beatrix insisted.
“I can’t be about this.”
Desil felt confident that Basen’s party would be even more eager to reach the center now and be done with it. They would choose the route around the mountain to the right, to the north. But his confidence had made him into a fool before, and if Desil was wrong this time, the consequences would be much worse than being the arse of a joke.
He would leave it up to Leida.
“We can’t stand here all night,” Beatrix complained.
“Then we go left,” Leida decided.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
They walked through the night and partly into the morning before everyone started looking dejected, clearly ready for rest. Leida was the only one who’d refused to abandon the idea of finding her parents before stopping. Her head was bowed as she walked, fatigue no doubt pulling down her shoulders, but there was still fire in her eyes.
“They must’ve gone one of the other ways,” Beatrix told her eventually. “We will find them, but first we need rest. We should be far enough from the Kanoans here to be safe.”
Leida took in a deep breath. “Fine. Are there any animals nearby?”
“No. I’ve felt none in the last few hours.”
“These mountains are barren,” Wade said. “Nothing to forage, either.”
“We’ll be using the last of our rations, then,” Desil said. “First we should sleep. There’s a decent chance Basen’s group will have walked the same distance and are now resting. I’m sure we’ll catch up to them.”
“They might make their way to the forest north of the Dead River,” Wade told Leida as she rubbed her brow. “I told Basen it was the best way to the center if he was intent on getting there no matter what.”
Leida dropped her hand to show Wade a dubious look. “What are the chances we can find them in the forest if we’re there at the same time as they are?”
Desil’s father looked over at him as if silently asking how much he should soften the punch for Leida.
“She can handle the truth,” Desil told him.
“The chances aren’t good,” Wade said. “But we will try our best.”
“Is there some way through the mountains?” Beatrix asked.
“No,” Wade said. “We have to go around.”
“How many more miles to the forest?”
“Let me think.” Wade sighed as he grimaced. “About eight more to reach the river, then another four.”
“My stars…we should’ve gone to the right.” Leida looked as if she might vomit.
“There’s no way we could’ve known which way they’d go,” Desil assured her. “And they might’ve taken the mountain path in the middle. That wouldn’t put them very far ahead of us.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Wade gestured with his head. “There are caves just ahead. We can rest in there.”
Although curious, Desil was too exhausted to ask about these caves. He would find out soon enough.
The first were little more than dents in the mountainside, barely deep enough for a few people to fit. But the others went deep into the stone. With twisted entrances, each of them required Wade to poke his head in before he came back and told the group they were too shallow to provide appropriate cover.
Soon enough he looked into one cave and waved for them to join him. The rock ceiling dropped down steeply until it was too low for any of them to stand. The ground was covered in small rocks that dug into Desil’s knees as he crawled in last behind a grumbling Kirnich.
Desil was thankful when the ceiling rose and the small rocks were sparse. He stood and had a look around. There were a few tunnels branching out from each side just wide enough to crawl through if Desil was crazy enough to try. He directed light but couldn’t see past the early turns. Their current space was just wide enough for them all to lie down with some room between them, but everyone seemed interested in the small tunnels for now.
“What made these?” Desil asked his father.
“We don’t know. They were here before the first Kanoans. Many believe there used to be creatures here that could dig into the mountain but the Marros killed all of them.”
His sobering comment caused a heavy silence. Everyone began taking out their sleeping gear. Desil shared his blanket with his father. They lay down beside each other, the ground more unforgiving than usual. Then Desil remembered his cloak had been ripped off, the minor cushioning it provided now gone.
It was strange to hear everyone fall asleep, their rhythmic breathing making Desil suddenly feel vulnerable. He’d gone on many adventures with his parents, but never had he faced danger like this. Never had he felt so mortal.
How pleasantly odd it was to see his father right there next to him. Wade slept with his arm slightly stretched out toward Desil, his fingertips resting against Desil’s hip. He held a tiny smile as if having a pleasant dream.
Desil shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but he heard someone rustling and trying to get comfortable. He looked over at Leida, her back to him. She squirmed slightly to adjust her position, then stopped and sighed. Desil could feel her torment. She must want to be with her family more than anything.
Basen’s party had left their weapons behind when they fled the settlement. Perhaps they had given up and already taken a portal out of this place, meaning Leida had missed them. If Desil could somehow find out where her parents were, this would all be much easier. He wished there was some way to communicate with Basen in the same way he could experience the headmaster’s memories.
Desil closed his eyes and tried to focus on the distant waves in his mind that had first connected him to Leida’s memories in Lake Kayvol. They became loud and powerful, his mind searching for a memory. But there was no past event to fall into, nothing waiting for him. He didn’t give up, forcing his mind to search.
He saw a vast sea of dark blue. It calmed, and he could see all the way to the horizon. He suddenly became aware of himself within this vision, hovering and fearful of falling, but he remained floating above the water. A sound came into his ears, but it was not the usual lapping of waves. The ocean hummed like an enormous ball of bastial energy fighting to break free from a mage’s grasp.
Desil could feel its power the same way he could recognize the strength of a mountain when considering knocking it over. He was connected in that moment to some greater force. Suddenly he felt another soul somewhere out there…within reach.
Basen?
Whoever was here with Desil was familiar and close. And yet this person was obscure. It was just l
ike the first memories Desil had experienced in the lake, where he could feel more than he heard or saw. Someone was trying to speak to him. Wait, no. They were calling for someone else.
He wanted to say something, but how? The water brightened until it was red. It buzzed and undulated until it looked like rolling land made of energy. Desil could hear another voice clearly now, not with his ears but with another sense of which he knew not the name. Was this some kind of psyche? He could feel someone wanting to know who he was. And then where he was.
Here, he tried to tell them, but it was no good. Desil Fogg.
Nothing.
The building strain suddenly became too much for him to bear.
He fell.
It felt as if he’d just come out of a dream as he sat up.
Something had changed within his mind—a piece of him was still connected to that ocean of energy. He was more than just awake. Something had awakened.
Rather than sleep, as he should, he spent the following hours exploring this ocean. He tried to figure out some way of speaking in case someone returned, but neither happened.
He accomplished very little by the end, only that he was able to stay floating above this ocean longer. Each time he came out of his trance, Desil felt as if his mind had been holding him up and needed a reprieve.
Sleep finally took him after a while.
He awoke to the sound of Leida getting up. After she yawned, she gave Desil a look as if he had done something that made her curious.
Had she been in that ocean of energy with him? He opened his mouth to ask, but what could he say? Were you in my dream just now? Except it wasn’t a dream. He would sound like he was going mad. The moment between them passed as everyone was now rising groggily as well.
“We’d better find something to eat soon,” Kirnich grumbled. “I anger easily when I’m hungry.”
“And you don’t when you’re full?” Desil quipped.
“Test me, and you will see the difference.”
Actually, Kirnich did seem even more irritable as Desil looked into his eyes. But Adriya had the same spark in her brown irises, as did Beatrix and Wade, and even Leida. They were all prepared for the worst.
