by S C Gowland
‘Admit it.’ challenged Kubrean.
Kaoldan’s head sank. ‘She should be alive.’ He said simply.
Kubrean looked lost. ‘How?’
‘She should never have come with us.’ said Kaoldan looking up at his friend and Master. ‘I told you it was too risky, I told you she wasn’t ready. This could all have been avoided if you had simply said no.’
‘Say no to Duke Lomman?’ said Kubrean defensively
‘Yes.’ said Kaoldan shortly. ‘Or even if you hadn’t said no, you could have sorted something else out. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve bent the rules.’
‘And I remember what happened last time!’ thundered Kubrean, anger rising within him. ‘As do you.’
‘This is different.’ yelled Kaoldan kicking a stone on the ground in frustration. ‘He was ready, she wasn’t.‘
‘No.’ said Kubrean taking a step forwards. ‘I don’t think so. I think your memories are slightly wrong my friend. She was as good as him, if not better. She was prepared, she fought well, she was just unlucky.’
‘As was he.’ said Kaoldan quieter this time. ‘As was he.’ He looked into the distance as if trying to gain some perspective and then looked back at Kubrean.
‘You think I wanted any of this?’ Kubrean asked, spreading his arms as he stepped forward.
‘No, but it still happened.’ said Kaoldan.
‘There are less of us than there have ever been’ said Kubrean, ‘we can’t keep them hidden in the background while we sort the world out.’
‘We can, until they are ready.’ he said looking at Kubrean.
‘None of us are getting any younger. ‘ said Kubrean with a sigh.
‘Perhaps.’ conceded Kaoldan with a nod. ‘but this could have been avoided. This is not what I wanted.’
‘Me either.’ said Kubrean. ‘But sometimes what we want and what we need are two entirely different things and rarely do we have as much of a say as we would really like. So, it seems we have much to deal with and much to discuss’.
‘Save it for tomorrow,’ waved away Kaoldan. He had suddenly become aware of how tired he felt. The combination of the fight, the drink and the travelling had sucked the energy from his body. He turned and slowly moved towards the stable.
‘The world is not going to end tonight…’ he said sloping off.
Kubrean was about to say something, but he hesitated, and the words never came. He bit his lip as he watched his friend, shoulders hunched, disappear into the darkness.
‘Tomorrow it is…’ he muttered to himself.
Chapter 7 - Suspicions
Being raised in the country, Kaoldan had developed a fondness for sleeping in stables and this stable was amongst the best he had seen or slept in for that matter, he considered as he awoke.
The simplicity, the warmth of the hay and straw, that familiar smell always helped him to sleep. He stretched his arms and sat up, dust swirled in the sunlight breaking through the wooden slats. At least the weather had improved, Kubrean had been right about two things. The weariness that had consumed his body the previous evening had left him, and he could not recollect any dreams. He felt refreshed and the prospect of better travelling weather raised his spirits further still.
A black head popped up from under a heap of hay to his left. Dref seemed almost at home in the stables, twigs of stray straw clumped on his head as he looked around and popped his tongue out.
‘Morning.’ said Kaoldan stifling a yawn. ‘I trust the accommodation meets with your approval?’
Dref sneezed, making the straw on his head vanish, he blinked then looked around.
‘Suit yourself.’ muttered Kaoldan.
A gurgle from his stomach brought his attention to food. He rose unwrapping himself from within his cloak. The wool and fur mix had more than kept him warm and his muscles were not too sore. Stretching before leaving the stables, closely followed by Dref. He took in their surroundings, thick trees, covered with leaves, daylight popping through here and there. The muddy path had mostly dried out, and the tavern seemed smaller today and slightly less regal than it had appeared last night.
White paint was peeling off the outer wood and stone walls, and the sign above the entrance creaked in the breeze as they made their way in. Still smelling heavily of burning peat, sweet beer and stale sweat the windows allowed a good deal of light in which illuminated pictures on the walls and the straw on the dusty floor.
‘I hoped you’d be back.’ said a thin wheedling voice from behind the bar.
It belonged to the apparent father of Naween, who was stooped behind the bar, cleaning a tankard before placing on the table at his side.
‘Seems you owe me some money after all that trouble you caused last night.’ he flicked his dishcloth in the direction of the crushed plaster wall and cracked window.
‘Cost me valuable custom that would have, but your friend has sorted things out. More money than sense that man.’ he laughed with a nasally wheeze, twitching his head as he did so.
‘I am sorry for the trouble.’ said Kaoldan flatly.
The father missed the edge in Kaoldan’s voice, absently nodded and then carried on cleaning his tankards.
A call from the far corner of the room caught Kaoldan’s ear. Kryst, Zalen and Dalon were sat around the same table as the previous evening. On the table where bread, cheese, meats, eggs, a bowl of fruit and a large clay jug of creamy milk. He approached shaking his head.
‘Did you even move or go to bed last night?’ Kaoldan asked.
‘I think so.’ pondered Zalen. ‘Lost track of time after your little scrap. Feeling better, are you?’
Kaoldan smiled sarcastically at his friend.
‘Nice of you to help me.’ he quipped back.
‘No point really, you seemed quite happy fighting the world by yourself and by the time we knew what was going on you’d sorted it out.’ shrugged Zalen. ‘Kubrean is none too happy with you.’
‘What’s new.’ sulked Kaoldan.
‘Don’t talk rubbish.’ scolded Zalen. ‘You went too far and you know it.’
‘Maybe...’ said Kaoldan avoiding eye contact before reaching for an apple from the bowl on the table, inspecting it before taking a large bite.
‘Definitely...’ said Dalon with cool eyes. ‘Much as that man needed teaching a lesson, what you did was over the top. What on earth got into you?’
‘Nothing, just got carried away, there were a lot of them and they seemed to want to hurt me. You might have noticed?’ said Kaoldan defensively, nibbling at his apple before eating the core as well in two big bites.
‘Alright, if you must know what happened.’ he said unfolding his arms and leaning forwards on the table. He then told them with the full details of the incident about Naween while eating some hard-boiled eggs, covered in black pepper, as well as helping himself to cheese and a half a loaf of not altogether bad brown bread, which tasted of honey and seeds.
Zalen and Dalon hummed nodding their approval in the right places.
‘Kubrean has smoothed things over with the owner.’ said Zalen.
Kaoldan nodded.
‘You could have just walked away and we could have sorted it out together and saved all this hassle.’ insisted Zalen twirling his spoon to show the damage from the previous night.
‘I just… snapped.’ shrugged Kaoldan looking at the others, almost as confused as they seemed. ‘The way that she reacted to what he said. I had to do something.’ he said helplessly.
‘Not sure I understand why, but you must control that temper of yours. It’ll get you into all sorts of trouble and besides since when do you go off having fights without at least letting us join in.’ said Zalen leaning forwards and pointing his spoon at Kaoldan.
At this point Dref’s head slowly appeared at Zalen’s side from under the table and quietly grabbed several slices of meat from the plate in front of him before disappearing under the table again.
‘Point taken.’ said Kaoldan shrugging
his shoulders, trying not to look at the dog’s eyes which had reappeared eyeing more breakfast. He was about to try again when Zalen exclaimed in delight.
‘Here he is. Good morning fleabag.’ he said roughly rubbing the big dog’s head.
Dref had no idea what a fleabag was, but it seemed to be a good thing.
‘So well behaved you are, yes you are’. He continued to make a fuss of the dog. ‘Bet your starving. Have some of this.’ He said dropping the remainder of the meat onto the floor. Dref’s eyes smiled before he dived under the table to claim his reward for being such a good fleabag.
‘Love that dog.’ said Zalen.
Kryst had said nothing so far, he sat back silently chewing on his breakfast. He was about to speak when heavy footsteps and a familiar voice spoke.
‘About time you were up.’ Kubrean appeared behind Kaoldan. ‘Thought we could all use some extra rest.’ he continued. ‘I want to make good progress today and the weather seems to be in our favour for a change.’ he gestured outside.
The seated Walkers nodded in agreement.
‘About time we left?’ he said. ‘and feed that dog before we leave would you?’ he looked at Kaoldan and then pointed at an innocent looking Dref, who whined.
Kaoldan gave the dog a withering look before throwing him some cheese.
As they finished their breakfast and prepared to leave. Kaoldan noticed the young girl, Naween, moving chairs and a table around near the front of the tavern. Wearing identical clothes to the previous night, her long brown hair was trussed up into a loose untidy ponytail.
She saw him, stopped what she was doing smiled, mouthed ‘Thank you’ and nodded.
He nodded back, a small wave of satisfaction washed over him.
As he turned towards the door, he saw Kubrean stood silently watching, a broad grin on his face.
‘Come on.’ said Kaoldan waving his hands towards the door, suddenly embarrassed. ‘Let’s go… Master’. He added mockingly.
Kubrean’s grin widening, his nostrils flaring.
Kaoldan shook his head, muttered something under his breath and went through the door.
The old man bowed towards Naween, who curtsied back then got back to her work, scraping chairs on the floor as she did so.
The air outside was crisp and fresh. Re-saddling the Pantheras and re-securing Yasmina’s body took almost no time at all and before they knew it they were surrounded by trees and birdsong.
Dalon had gone on ahead with Dref to scout.
Zalen and Kryst argued quietly amongst themselves about something nobody knew about nor wanted to know.
Kaoldan’s mind wandered as they rode along the soft breeze tugging at the emerging beard on his face.
Perhaps Kubrean had been right, he had confused himself with his own action the previous night. He had a temper, that much was true, but the careless disregard he had shown and the lack of any feeling he had experienced as he fought the hog-man and his cronies had been an entirely new sensation and not a welcome one either.
Something about the way the hog-man had eyed up the young girl had rattled him, made something fragile snap. Zalen was also correct, it could have been dealt with much more discreetly and professionally.
Seeing her as they had left had not helped his mind either. Her gratitude was muted, but entirely sincere.
It had embarrassed Kaoldan, making him feel even more foolish for his actions the previous night and although she did not seem to disapprove of what had happened, Kaoldan took no pride in it. If anything, it made it sit even more uncomfortably with him. He was not naturally a violent man, but something had snapped within him; the question was what.
He had meant what he had said to Kubrean. Yasmina should not have come, Kubrean had the power and the cunning to have changed that, but he hadn’t and now she was dead.
Her death seemed to have got to him in a way he had not expected, on a deeper more personal level. Above all else he wanted to protect people, maybe that explained his actions in the tavern last night. They had wanted to protect the young Walker but collectively they had failed, and the terrible news now had to be broken to a father and mother that their only child was no more.
Taking her body back home was unusual, but it was the right thing to do. Helping the parents to grieve and to bring her back home. His mind began heading towards ghosts of the past when Kubrean shouted him from up ahead.
Kaoldan kicked Tren into a jog and the great panthera bounded forwards.
‘Listen.’ said Kubrean awkwardly, looking his friend in the eye as he licked his lips.
‘Our talk last night.’ he began ‘I meant what I said. I need to know what got into you. You can take care of yourself, that I know from experience.’ he laughed nervously shifting in his saddle. ‘But that was another level of cruelty, some of those men knew no better, they were probably as scared of that giant as half the people in the tavern were, some won’t be able to work again. Or at least not to the same level. I made arrangements to put things right. Two of them have families to support, you know responsibilities.’ he impressed on Kaoldan.
‘People make their own decisions, regardless of who you are and your circumstances. Everybody has a choice and you’ve got to live with consequences of the choices that you make.’ said Kaoldan blankly.
He said it but didn’t really seem to believe it. The argument seemed pathetically hollow.
‘Anyway, I think you may have been right.’ offered Kaoldan, sensing the awkwardness and was as keen to be rid of it as was his friend.
‘Losing her has got to me more than I thought, brought back feelings that I hoped I’d left behind.’
He looked mournfully back at May carrying the blue shroud containing Yasmina’s body.
‘She was talented and capable. And if you felt it best to bring her, then that is your decision and although I disagree with it, I do respect it. I spoke out of turn and I am sorry for that.’ he said sincerely.
‘Thank you.’ said Kubrean clasping his friend on the left shoulder by the pauldron. ‘That means a lot to me.’
He settled back in his seat, but there seemed to be something else nagging at him. He glanced at Kaoldan who sensed a half-told story.
He hesitated, but Kubrean remained silent. He smiled weakly averting his gaze but still no words came.
A silence grew in the space between them.
‘What do you think of the claim?’ asked Kaoldan eager to change the subject and move the conversation along.
Kubrean looked at him blankly.
‘Reng? Back at Grihr. The soldier babbling about the return of Reng. You think there is anything to it?’ Kaoldan said squinting away from the sunshine.
Kubrean shrugged. ‘I doubt it. The ramblings of a mad man if you really want to know. Reng has been dead a thousand years. He’s ancient history. A myth of darker times. Him and his magic army.’
‘But surely if the Krund want to re-establish the old ways, that has to be a cause concern? It’s not as if they are not already giving us enough to worry about.’ said Kaoldan. The images of carnage and death in Grihr made him shiver. Senseless, remorseless and no mercy shown.
‘It would not be a good development and it will be hard to keep quiet, once the secret is out. We may be fortunate that Grihr is, or should I say was, not a real centre of commerce or anything for that matter.’ said Kubrean taking in the scenery.
‘Then why the interest in it?’ asked Kaoldan.
‘Duke Lomman grew up there, spent most of his childhood there in fact. It must hold an emotional attachment for him, unfortunately now it will hold another.’ said Kubrean glancing back at May.
‘Was there something else you wanted to discuss?’ asked Kaoldan sensing something still wasn’t quite right.
Kubrean hesitated.
He licked his lips, looked back at May again then at Kaoldan, a small uncomfortable grin grew on his face.
He sighed. ‘Nothing that can’t wait.’ he said.
Kaoldan di
dn’t believe it for a second.
‘You sure?’ he pushed his friend.
Again, Kubrean hesitated. ‘It is nothing really, just another decision I made some time ago that will be fulfilled soon.’
Nerves washed over Kaoldan.
‘What decision?’ he asked. Not really wanting to know the answer.
Kubrean laughed, ‘Nothing bad, I assure you. The right thing given the circumstances, really. It can wait. Honestly.’ he said finally, and discussion was over. ‘I’d better go and swap places with Dalon or I’ll never hear the end of it.’ Without waiting for a response, he clicked his heels and Max charged off at pace.
Kaoldan was left with a sense he was ill at ease with. Kubrean kept secrets, this he knew. But this was different. How, he couldn’t figure out, but it seemed that whatever the decision was it had been a difficult one.
***
They saw the tall tulip like towers of Thura a full half day before they arrived back at the big yellow stone city wall. They paused at the south east of the city an hour after sunset.
‘Keep tight.’ said Kubrean as he delicately laid a large grey blanket over the top of the blue cloak containing Yasmina’s body. ‘No one must know what has happened before we speak to the Duke.’ he insisted.
They entered the city via big imposing reinforced iron-studded gates just after dusk. The city streets were quiet and although they were forced to take cobbled streets back to the chapter house, the padding of the Pantheras paws made very little noise.
‘Thank goodness we aren’t on horses, with all that clip-clopping.‘ whispered Zalen.
‘Indeed, too many things to worry about with horses.’ agreed Dalon.
A short sharp shush alerted them to Kubrean, looking most disapprovingly at them.
‘Sorry.’ said Zalen. Raising a hand in acknowledgement.
Kubrean buried his head in his hands.
‘Sorry…’ whispered Zalen again partially covering his mouth with his hand.
Kubrean groaned.
Dalon chuckled silently in the darkness.
Tall houses bathed in moonlight gradually melted away to reveal open green spaces with trees transformed into grey and silver by the evening gloom. They arrived back to a quiet chapter house. Given the hour the plan had worked perfectly, no hired help or staff around. Lauden saw them approach and walked out to meet them. His short black cropped hair matching his black loose clothes and slippered feet.
