"I asked you to stay hidden."
The repetition didn't make her more inclined to listen, so she sat cross-legged with her hands on her legs waiting for him to elaborate.
Instead he held his hands before him like a poor man.
Finally, she said,
"Why do you hide me?"
"I don't hide you. The crew knows you are here." He tilted his head in confusion. "You are without protection here. I only protect you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you have seen the Lascha. They have seen you. We enter into waters where they will become stronger. I do not want you where they can see you. The wood will shield you, but only so much."
The Lascha, the lost ones, the ones stolen by the sea who wanted nothing more than to make more of their own. The fear in Mekan's eyes said he certainly thought the stories were true and how he had hustled her out of Cross after that revelation spoke of his fear.
"Do you think they will try to take me?"
"They will not only try to take you, they will succeed if we are not careful. You are one who has come before and will come again."
"What does that mean?"
"On the mainland, you would be called one of the Fate Circle. Leaf will have to tell you because he is a better storyteller than me." Jalcina did not miss the tiny smile Mekan evidenced at the idea of Leaf telling her a story. She did not press him, but she wanted to meet this Leaf. "Among my people, those who have come and will come again are those who will change the fate of the world because they are tied to it. In fact, it is said of those with destinies to be one who comes again is the best of destinies."
His talk of Fate and destinies reminded her so much of Vad'Alvarn she heard his voice in her head. Of course, whenever she heard that she also heard him calling her to bed by the name of Leviana, his former lover. It soured her mood.
"What are you thinking?" Mekan's question made her shake her head.
"You sound like someone else."
"I sound mad, you mean."
"I have no room to speak of madness." She had spent the last three hundred years trapped inside of her own body while someone else used it to fight wars and start kingdoms. "Will you have Leaf come tell me the story you won't?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea," he said after a moment's thought. "I don't know that I want him so close to you."
Jalcina did not have to pretend to be offended.
"Why?"
"Leaf has a weakness for beauty and you are certainly that. I would not want him to try something he shouldn't."
Always someone to protect her virtue except when it mattered to her.
"If he is your man, your crew, then I doubt he will jeopardize your wants to satisfy his."
"Perhaps that is true. I will still ask him to keep his distance."
For Jalcina, she counted it a victory. She would get to hear what Leaf knew. His answers might allow her to do something worthwhile instead of wait.
"Send him soon."
Mekan took her words as a dismissal and shut the door behind him as he went. Soon the room would be sweltering, but Jalcina didn't dare open the door, not until she got what she wanted. If she did as he asked, Mekan would not go back on his word.
When the rap came to the door, it was afternoon and Jalcina reclined across the floor with her skirts hiked up around her thighs to get what air she could. She didn't scramble to cover herself, but did tuck her legs under her as the door opened and Leaf entered. He certainly did not look like one of the others. It would be easy to see why they called him foreigner. He looked as much like them as Jalcina did.
Without announcement, he sat down on the floor and adopted a cross-legged position before notching his head to the side and taking her in.
"Mekan said you wanted to hear the stories of the Fate Circle." There was a slight chuckle in his words as if he didn't expect her to hear about the world as it had been.
"Please, tell me. He keeps saying that I am one who has come and will come again, I don't understand what that means."
"Old stories from the bones of the world. Legends from before men had words," Leaf intoned.
"How can there be legends from before men had words?"
Leaf's chuckle sounded like a myriad of small stones tumbling around in his chest. "It doesn't matter, does it? The stories are old."
Jalcina shook her head. "True."
"Good." He folded his hands in his lap. "Now what would you have me tell you? Mekan said you wanted to hear all about everything, but there is a great deal to everything and I don't think this voyage is quite long enough to get to it all."
Leaf's easy manner made Mekan seem all the stranger in comparison. Leaf made her think of what her brother might have been like had he ever been given the chance to grow up, a merry enough prankster just looking for a chance to make away with a joke.
"I want to know about the Lascha and the ones who will come again."
"I don't suppose you know the name of Ancel, do you?"
It was Jalcina's turn to chuckle. Ancel, the god of war who ruled the Burning Island had been Vad'Alvarn's patron. There was not a day went by when his name was neither praised nor cursed in her hearing.
"What of him?"
"Did you know he was once a man?"
Surprise must have lit up her features because Leaf grinned and stuck out his tongue. "It's a story is all, but there are those who hold that once, long before everything as we know it, the gods walked the world as men. No different from us. In fact, they were us and we were not yet to come." He kept his words light though Jalcina hung on every one. "It also says there are those who were with him, those who would become those who would come again, the cursed ones."
Cursed ones. Vad'Alvarn once spoke of himself as cursed. Saying over and over again of himself and Leviana that they were caught in a web from which they would never escape. Of course, he hadn't tried very hard either. He had little to escape from with the world bowing at his feet and a bevy of beautiful women vying for his affection. The thought brought a vision of Curcula chasing her around with a blade. She had been the most in love and perhaps the most mad of them all. Jalcina had not envied her. Fate had not been kind.
"In the ancient days," Leaf began again seeing that he had her attention. "Ancel walked with those he called his friends and they sought strength from the bones of the world. In those days, the world had it to give and they took. Except some wanted more than others. Ancel allowed himself to become content with his power, seeking nothing more and then giving to his own children to see them prosper. His confidantes were not so gracious. Instead, they sought more. They brought death and destruction upon themselves and in their wake came those who would come again. It is said, they were the first to die in the quest for power."
"But what does that have to do with now?"
"Wait, wait." He cautioned her with his hands. "I'll tell the story if you won't rush."
Her cheeks colored, Jalcina sat back and made herself wait for him to continue. Of course, he drew out the silence for long moments allowing her impatience to come to the fore. "Well?"
"Well, what? You're listening, aren't you?" Again with that grin which had less and less power over her as he used it. "I promised a story and a story I'll tell." Leaf shifted his weight to get comfortable. "I'll tell you of the cursed ones now and perhaps the Lascha after." Clearing his throat, he began.
"When the world was young and the stars new, there were those who strode across it with strong steps. They took what they wanted and made sure they always would. At that time, Ancel kept company with his family and them, calling them brother and sister to his life. In those days, Wrepta walked."
The idea of something so massive as to make the Crystal Spire walking brought Jalcina pause, but she didn't interrupt.
"Along with the others, they traveled, seeking out the strange places where the world was thinner but stronger like a spider's weave. And it was in one of those, Nalcet, the master of the winds as he called himself
, found and hatched a wild thought. It was the thought to change the world and have power over it."
Leaf's voice had dropped to a drone and Jalcina felt it more than heard it from far away. "Of course, not everyone agreed. Ancel wished to take his own and go his way without interference. Nothing could make him want to rule the world. It was a place that needed no ruler. Nalcet did not agree. He thought the world and man should be brought to heel and the once friends parted ways."
The name Nalcet didn't mean anything to Jalcina, but previously neither had Wrepta. She put the name away in her mind in hopes it would make things make sense before long. Leaning against the cabin wall, she let him continue.
"Now Nalcet, he was a strange one. He wanted to make all things his, even those who were his equal. He didn't really have any in his mind. There were just those who thought they might be able to stop him from doing what he wanted. To his end, he lured two of Ancel's party away, his own two children, and sacrificed them to spite the other. Worse, those who could have stopped him did nothing. They allowed him the blood on his hands. Ancel grieved for his lost ones and in his power began what would become a cycle unbreakable."
"Nalcet killed Ancel's children?"
"Sacrificed them for power. The old goat thought because they were of Ancel's get and he was the strongest among them they would be more than strong enough to crack the bones of the world and release the power he sought."
The very idea of cracking the bones of the world, or even wanting to made Jalcina's head spin. Why would anyone want something so foolish? Then again, why would someone make a promise to bring the world to heel if they did not intend to carry through? Some promises came with prices and were never allowed to be broken.
"Why do you call him an old goat?"
"Who?"
"Nalcet."
"Tales simply say it of him. Just an old goat who eats whatever comes to mouth. No more discriminating than a slaughter animal."
Goats, far from being stupid creatures, seemed to delight in their own type of mischief as Jalcina remembered it. Not quite as capricious as puppies but not far from it. The ones in Sartol wore winter coats most of the year making them shaggy and warm, but also quite heavy. Large enough to be used to cart goods, but not ride once one got away from child's age.
"It doesn't matter what you call him, in truth. He still exists to this day legend says. And I'm inclined to believe."
"Why?"
"The legends say that once Wrepta walked."
"So?"
"If that is true, then Wrepta, the Wrepta we are headed to see, was once mortal. She once walked with her feet upon the earth and she still exists. If that is true, then how could it not be true that Nalcet is also still with us?"
Jalcina's mind returned to the rock garden outside of the summit temple and the fight there.
Ancel.
He said she would rise but not yet. That she would have the strength, but only if she went with those who could protect her. Only if she went with Mekan who now sought to bring her to someone else who might do far worse to her. With a shudder, she pushed the thought away.
"Leaf," she said. "What does Mekan plan to do?"
"I don't know," he said. "I'm not sure he knows. He's been trying to awaken Wrepta for a long time and it wasn't until recently, the past ten years or so, he's been rewarded with anything at all."
Mekan had said he went to see Leviana and tried to get her to come with him to see the city. That must have been some time ago. She wouldn't remember anyway, but it made her wonder. If only she could remember Leviana's life. There were so many things she wanted to know, but might never. A blessing or a curse depending on one's outlook.
"I don't know what he's going to do."
If she stared into his face, Jalcina almost saw fear at the edges of his eyes. While it should have brought her own fear to the surface, she found herself wanting to comfort him. To offer him something that might make it bearable. In the end, she would never be less than a caretaker.
She breathed slow and fanned the still air waiting for the tension to pass. Leaf kept his lips pursed tight over whatever might come spilling out. Time to change the subject.
"What about the Lascha?"
"The lost ones," Leaf said. "There isn't as much to tell. They are the souls taken by the water who want to bring others to the same end. Some say it is vengeance that drives them. Others loneliness. It comes out the same either way when you get right down to it. They kill whoever they can and those without ties are the ones they come for first."
"Without ties?"
"Yes, only those without ties can even see them and they use that to drag you into the depths with them. Mekan says you saw them in Cross. That's not uncommon, but to see them so soon means they can see you. If they can see you, they will hunt you until they have taken what they can."
"My life."
"Just that."
"I don't understand why anyone would want to do that."
"Just a man telling a tale, but if you were lonely, wouldn't you want to be not alone anymore?"
With a slow nod, she agreed.
"There it is then. They are dead and alone. They want to not be alone. Therefore, they make others like them. It isn't hard. It's not good, but it isn't hard."
"How do you know I have no ties?"
Leaf shook his head. "You are the Immortal. Who has lived as you live? Who do you hold to? Trust or even care about? Who are your people?"
If she were Leviana, she might have said those of the empire were her people. Except she wasn't Leviana. The face they shared was the only thing and she would not lay claim to anything else. If he expected some great profound answer from her, she had none to give him. Leaf's eyes reflected the play of her face in the half-dark of the room and she found herself having to turn away. His gaze only made her more aware of the truth of the matter, no one knew her. They knew of her, but they didn't know her and wouldn't care if they did. Jalcina did not matter. Only Leviana mattered.
Just as she had when Vad'Alvarn was alive. He had not seen her, not truthfully. He had seen the woman behind her face, the woman in her eyes, and that was not the woman Jalcina ever wanted to be.
"I think you should go," she said finally folding in to hide her face.
"You seem more in need of company now than ever," he said. "Did I steal your joy?"
"No, life did that."
He didn't argue with her and soon she was alone with the first touch of tears in her eyes again. A sob shook her frame and she knocked her head against the wall by throwing it back. She would not be Leviana. Ever.
Wrapping arms around herself, she let the pain shake through her until she trembled like the last clinging leaf of autumn. Whatever Mekan decided to do, she would go forward as herself and perhaps die that way.
Nightfall came and she peeked out the door looking for her erstwhile captor. Mekan was not on deck. A single man sat on the edge of the deck with a strange contraption on the wood beside him. Curiosity made her want to get closer to him, but she didn't dare without giving herself away. Padding out onto the deck, careful to keep him in sight, Jalcina searched for the hatch to the lower level. Mekan had not shown her the ship, but that was because he didn't want her wandering around.
Leaf's tale about the Lascha and how they wanted to not be alone anymore made her wonder if there were those who simply went into the arms of the creatures to save themselves from emptiness. There had to be those who chose surrender.
The steps were even and even a bit polished under her feet as if someone expected they would be walking about without sandals as she made her way down.
Soft voices greeted her as she ducked into the shadows beside the short staircase.
Mekan was not one of them, but Leaf was. She recognized his restrained but jovial tone.
"She's a beauty, she is," he was saying. His companion asked a question in Xernian and Leaf muttered a response that sounded a bit like he was turning a bit red. Jalcina stifled a laugh.
"Now I didn't say that at all. You're putting words in my mouth."
From her hiding spot, she could just make them out in the light streaming down the stairs. Hugging her arms around her body, she made herself small. It seemed strange to tell her to hide in one cabin to stay behind the wood when all the ship was wood to her knowledge. Certainly she should have been safe anywhere.
Leaf walked away from his companion and the other man settled down with a hat over his face to sleep. Letting out a slow breath, Jalcina looked toward Leaf's departing back. If she went after him, the other man would see her. If she didn't move, she would likely become trapped there when he did fall asleep.
With a shake of her head, she stepped out into full view. Let Mekan do what he wanted. She would not make her decisions based solely on what would please him or make his life easy. He wanted her there, he would have to bear the burden of her presence.
The man under the hat didn't move and Leaf entered an uncovered doorway just in sight.
So much for that.
Jalcina padded down the hall to the doorway Leaf had gone through and stopped. He turned to the sound of her gasp and rushed back to hustle her away.
"What?"
For all the things she had seen, that did not prepare her for the vision before her eyes.
Leaf pressed his hands over her face.
"You have to go back on deck," he whispered. "You cannot see him like this."
"Come." He didn't give her a chance to protest but dragged her back up the stairs. "You were not to be down here," he said. "Mekan told you not to come down there."
Getting over her feelings, Jalcina stared him down. "What did I see?"
"You know what you saw," he said. "And I know you will forever see it behind your eyes when you sleep, but do not tell him you saw," he whispered.
Jalcina cast a glance back at the staircase in expectation of Mekan returning like some monster from the deep to threaten her with death. He would do no such thing, but that didn't stop her from thinking it. Leaf shook her when her attention wandered.
"You will not tell him what you saw," he told her again.
No, she would not. Just finding the words to say what she saw would be enough for her. He ushered her back to the cabin door and held it open for her.
Ruins of Fate Page 14
