by Cully Mack
❊ 33 ❊
Mirah sat in the wooden hut’s doorway waiting. She’d woken up, and found the others gone, she presumed to gather supplies.
Armed men with loaded sacks hefted over their shoulders glanced her way as they trekked towards the harbour. She pulled the blanket tighter and wondered if they realised this was her fault.
Sunrays burst from behind the clouds and the ocean changed from muted grey to aqua green. A golden bridge of sunlight rested on the water, its broad pathway diminishing as it stretched towards the horizon, leading nowhere. Over the cliff edge, galleys were already leaving, their blue sails flapping in the wind under a silver blue sky.
Against the flow of men squashing together along the dirt track, she spotted Ayla with her head bowed low coming towards her.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked, when Ayla reached her.
‘I walked with Abela down to Ammo’s ship. We discussed it last night. It made sense for them to have a healer and besides, Abela didn’t want to separate from Sojin.’
Revelation gripped her, she’d been so absorbed in her own world, focusing on Gabe and avoiding Nate, she hadn’t noticed anyone else.
‘Are you all right?’
‘It feels strange. We’ve never been separated before but it’s the right choice. They will need her. Eran said he’d keep an eye on her.’
‘Eran’s gone too?’
‘It seems Sojin is pretty popular.’
Mirah regretted she hadn’t taken the time to get to know him better. Terra swept overhead and landed a few feet away just before Meciel and Gabe rounded one of the timber huts.
Gabe adjusted the sack on his shoulder. ‘Ready?’
‘Where is everyone?’ she asked, looking around.
‘They’re coming,’ he said.
As she rose, the others emerged.
‘I thought you’d like this,’ Nate said, passing her one of two wooden staffs.
Did he expect her to spar? Of course, he did. He wouldn’t let their separation deter him from ensuring she was prepared to defend herself or even fight. Would she fight? She pushed those thoughts into the ever-expanding vacuum of darkness within. She wasn’t ready to consider that yet.
The staff was black with a fine grain. She swung it around testing its weight. Slightly heavier but she could sense the staff’s sturdiness and strength.
‘I found you a new cloak,’ Galia said.
It was deep blue, Hermonial colours and matched the ones the others now wore. She shrugged off the blanket favouring the cloak and its warming embrace. ‘Where on earth did you find this?’
‘That Ammo takes care of everything,’ Galia chuckled.
Gabe headed between two timber huts which opened onto a track drawing them further inland. The others fell in behind him.
Catching up to Meciel, Galia asked, ‘Where is Bina?’
‘I instructed her earlier this morning to go with Ammo.’
Nate roared with laughter.
‘What’s so funny?’ Galia asked.
‘Oh nothing,’ he chuckled to himself.
‘Well, clearly there is something?’
‘Let’s hope Ammo makes it around the coastline alive,’ he said, quickening his pace to catch up to Gabe.
The further inland they travelled the darker the overcast sky became. In the distance, a canopy of dull grey clouds loomed, imprisoning the sun behind their barricade. Mirah was about to mention it might rain when the first patters dripped onto her cloak.
The wind soon hissed towards them bringing sheets of drenching rain. It reminded her of the climate in Barakel. She pulled her hood tight under her chin, focused on the cloak in front of her and plodded on through the pouring rain.
By nightfall, the rainfall ceased. She sat by a fire drying her clothes wondering how she’d stay awake. Nate sat on the opposite side. He sized up everything going on in the camp except her although he watched her from his periphery.
Part of her ached to reach out to him, to stop his pain and to feel his warmth and comforting embrace shielding her from her fears. She missed the wild strength of him and the way he’d always made her feel safe but that was before.
She’d never tell him how much she struggled to let go of their dreams. The torture he’d suffer by knowing was pointless.
Or how she often wondered what it would have been like to have had him, to understand the gift of joining. Would she have been able to fix what he’d broken in her if she’d known? But those were different dreams, dreams which will never be real. What remained were reflections of, what ifs and maybes.
Last night the Beast had chased her through the streets of Nanshe. She’d run into the Dream Diviner’s tent and taken refuge. The Beast circled around, sniffing and snarling whilst she’d held her breath.
I hear your heart thudding, I smell your fear, the Beast accused.
When its claws shredded the tent fabric, she’d screamed. Galia had been there instead of Nate.
She stared into the fire’s flames and wondered if the Beast somehow followed her. Did it know she’d been in Nanshe? No, it couldn’t, the Beast was trapped in the other realm.
But if Shemyaza had tracked them to Nanshe? Then the Beast might know. And if trackers were in Nanshe, then the Beast had revealed their location.
If her suspicion was true, then this was something she could use. As much as the Beast terrified her she needed to know for certain. She walked over to her bedroll, ready to face the Beast and find out what it knew.
The morning arrived too quick, and the Beast hadn’t come at all. It should have relieved her, but she woke up anxious.
Nate came and handed her a bowl of Meciel’s stew. ‘Are you all right?’
She took a long savouring sip. ‘I think they’ve reached Nanshe. The Beast, it chases me in my nightmares.’
Nate frowned as he listened to her explain what she’d dreamed. He stared in horror at the fading white line around her finger.
‘I wish I knew how to break the connection and free you from its grip.’
‘If what I suspect is correct, at least we know where they are.’
‘But it’s not worth the cost.’
He rose and beat his bedroll into his sack. Yes, the cost had been too great Mirah thought to herself.
They travelled until sunrise over grassy fields dotted with white granite stones.
Neviah groaned at Zeev. ‘If you say one more time how you’ve stubbed your toe, I’m going to melt you.’
Zeev held up his hands in mock defence, his widespread grin challenging Neviah’s own. It would have been funny if Mirah hadn’t realised Neviah still considered using her amulet.
She squinted at a wall of green swishing treetops reaching up to catch hold the ascending sun. Terra glided over them, a silhouette against the sun’s rays.
‘The camp is on the other side of that forest,’ Meciel said.
❊ 34 ❊
Covered in tacky resin, cobwebs, and crawling bugs, they picked up a river and followed its flow. It had taken all day to trek through the cedar forest. The first sign they were reaching its edge was the increasing number of fractured tree stumps.
‘We’ll stop here,’ Gabe said.
He examined the sloping fields and the far side of the valley. On the opposite hillside, a thick wall of cloud concealed where he assumed the encampment lay.
He spied Nate giving Zeev a knowing glance and didn’t care. He marched to the river, splashed water on his face and refilled his water skin. How the heck was he going to lead these forces? He’d have to fake it. He hoped whatever Meciel saw in him, those men on the other side of the valley saw as well.
Defeated, he sat on a hacked stump, ignoring the splinters and studied the little-carved wolf. He hoped Tam had found Nuri by now.
Dusty black boots arrived in his vision.
‘I remember the first time I took command,’ Nate said.
He lifted his head to find him sitting down on a stump opposite. ‘H
ow did it go?’
‘I thought I would shit my pants.’
‘And?’
‘My training won over. You’ll be fine but if you sit here like a child waiting for the darkness to shroud you, those men in the encampment will know. You must march over there and make a statement.’
Gabe had no clue about strategy or organising forces but what he knew or so Meciel kept telling him was a voice like thunder. A voice given to him by the Cloud Rider. He waited for Nate to return to the others and then he returned to them as well.
‘If you’re rested. We need to get moving. I want to reach the encampment before nightfall.’
After hiking up the valley it took several paces to breach through the wall of cloud surrounding the encampment and when they were through, Gabe wasn’t the only one to inhale a sharp breath.
The encampment was a scarred, dun-coloured wasteland with numerous pitched black tents, the size and scale of which he couldn’t discern.
‘This way,’ Meciel said, leading them towards the heaving presence of a high towering timber structure set in the middle of the encampment.
They weaved through the maze of blackened tents and pitch ropes. Banners and standards pitched outside the tents divided the encampment into various tribes. The first banner Gabe noted was an adder biting the heel of a rearing horse on a green background.
Men with hardened faces, sat on weathered tree stumps, sharpening bronze sickles, axes and hoes. Gabe cursed to himself. If this was all they had then they were in trouble.
Shouts and cries brought others out of parted tent flaps to watch their procession through the camp. They passed a banner with a crimson lion, its head raised over legs tucked under its body.
Men bowed to Meciel and gave lingering glances over the females. They checked out Nate and Zeev and their weapons, marking them as not from this region. Then they fixed their eyes on Gabe.
As each man weighed their travelling party, they recognised who he was supposed to be. Not by his achievements, he gathered, but by the process of elimination. He didn’t let his eyes linger long enough to gauge their reactions. He concentrated on the timber structure ahead, willing it to open its jaws and devour him whole.
Inside two men sat on the far side of a cedar table. By the amount of the cracks along its grains, the fate of which had seen better days. A third man leaned against a hearth positioned behind them.
Gabe resisted the urge not to swallow against the dry heat and smoky air as he, Meciel and the girls sat down. Nate and Zeev came and stood guard behind them. He was aware of them scanning the room for threats and checking the exits. There were none apart from the door which they’d just come through. He knew they’d already assessed the three men’s weapons, their battered swords at their sides, a few rusted daggers and their potential threat.
He noted all three wore the adder biting the horse’s heel sigil and wondered if the leaders from the other tribes would arrive soon. Meciel made their introductions.
‘I am in charge,’ said the pudgy man by the hearth, slurring through his dark, braided beard. ‘My name is Kesel and these are Tur and Avar.’
Gabe caught Kesel’s unsaid inference. Behind him, Nate bristled as Kesel claimed his right to continue his rule along with the two sitting in front of him. Avar cut Gabe a stare which reeked of disdain.
Out of the three, only Tur stood out among them. His face was clean shaven, his dark brown hair cut short, tattoos spread across his neckline and lowered beneath his shirt. Of the three, Tur’s physique alone was honed for war and his ice blue focus bored into Gabe searching out his weakness.
‘Where’s Ammo?’ Kesel growled out.
‘I sent him with the galleys,’ Gabe answered. His voice wobbled. If he didn’t get control of himself everything would go to shit.
Avar swung in his seat towards Meciel. ‘Why would you allow him to order such a thing?’
Gabe sensed Nate behind him tensing rigid.
‘I don’t need to explain myself to you,’ Gabe said, his voice going deeper.
Kesel strode from the hearth. ‘No, maybe not,’ he snapped at Gabe. His knuckles hit the table as he leaned in-between Tur and Avar. ‘But you do have to explain yourself to me.’
Gabe forced down his compulsion to lean away from the reek of tobacco and stale beer. ‘You’re not in charge here anymore. You’re dismissed.’
The words shot out of Gabe’s mouth. He didn’t care. He hadn’t liked the man from the moment their eyes met.
Kesel’s face turned almost as green as his sigil. ‘You think those men out there,’ he sneered, ‘the ones, I’ve been training all these years will follow you?’
‘I have my own War Chiefs and they’re a darn sight more capable than you,’ Gabe said, squaring off his shoulders. ‘I know what you’re thinking, that I’m young and easy to push around. You’re wrong. You’re just a fat, lazy beer guzzler.’ His tone turned incredulous. ‘I bet you haven’t done an ounce of exercise in years.’
Kesel and Avar had half unsheathed their swords when Nate and Zeev pinned them on the cedar table, their daggers poised at the back of their necks.
‘Don’t move,’ Nate warned Kesel, puncturing his skin with the tip of his dagger. A small trickle of blood ran over the grime on his neck.
‘Meciel, can you ask Terra to escort them from the encampment?’ Gabe said. ‘The far side of the forest should be far enough. I wouldn’t want them spreading poisonous lies amongst my men.’
Meciel rose and left the building.
‘I’ll gut you,’ Kesel snarled.
‘You can’t do this,’ Avar whined.
‘What about you?’ Gabe asked Tur, who hadn’t flinched or said a word.
His ice blue eyes savoured the challenge and his flawless assessment of them took everyone in. ‘I’m here for the war.’
‘Good answer,’ Gabe replied. ‘You can stay as long as you keep your mouth shut.’
He hardly believed it as Tur offered his hand to shake on their agreement.
Nate and Zeev disarmed Kesel and Avar and bound their wrists.
‘Accompany them to the edge of the encampment, let Terra take over from there,’ Gabe ordered. Focusing on Tur, he said, ‘Go and tell the other War Chiefs that Nate will meet them at dawn.’
When Tur rose he towered a good head height over Nate. He didn’t smile but gave him an acknowledging nod. It unnerved Gabe how easily Tur discerned them. He hoped for Tur’s loyalty because without it he didn’t know if even Nate could bring him down.
By the time Nate and Zeev reached the door, Gabe felt his muscles trembling.
From behind he heard Zeev say, ‘Meet Terra, if you cause a fuss or stop before reaching the other side of the forest, she’s been given permission to eat you,’ and then they shoved Kesel and Avar outside.
Neviah stared at him in disbelief. ‘What just happened?’
‘I think it’s called a coup,’ Galia answered.
‘Fat, lazy beer guzzler?’ Mirah questioned.
Gabe sniggered. ‘It was the first thing I could think of.’
He was pacing by the time he heard Nate and Zeev laughing as they returned.
‘Well that didn’t go as expected,’ Zeev said, flopping down in a chair.
‘Consider yourselves promoted,’ Gabe said. ‘Nate you are now my official Captain and Zeev you are still his second. I figure some of us around here should know what the heck we’re doing.’
He caught the respect in Nate’s eyes as he said, ‘As you wish.’
‘Good, because soon we’re to start moving these forces. We’ve got a false god and a portal to destroy.’
❊ 35 ❊
A square blockade of galleys cut through the ocean to the rhythm of beating oar drums. Damn, he was good. Nobody else could have pulled this off. Meciel knew it too.
By the time Ammo reached twenty-one, he’d built up a formidable reputation. And if the price fit the task… well, Meciel paid him well.
He’d chose
n odd jobs on the side, in-between building ships and recruiting the men. Jobs that Meciel definitely wouldn’t approve. He reckoned he always had his reputation to upkeep. The silver kept coming, and he’d stopped listening to Meciel’s stories about the Cloud Rider years ago but darn they appeared to be coming true.
The wind gusted, catching sun-bleached blue sails. Perspiring seamen leaned on redundant oars gulping water during their moment of reprieve.
Before reaching Shargaz’s main harbour, they aimed to offload most of the men onto land. They’d attack from the sea and the shoreline. He planned to use his own galleys as a barricade, raid storehouses for steel and salvage any of Shargaza’s galleys which remained. Once loaded the galleys would return to Chaba Misgab, but the men would stay and cross by land and meet up with Meciel in Isriq.
Ammo found Bina standing at the bow of the ship. Sea spray wetting the deck. He sniffed the salty breeze.
‘There’s something strange in the air,’ she said.
On the horizon, a thick white canvass of sea mist crawled towards them. He sensed nothing, but he’d learned enough about Bina to never doubt her.
‘Sojin,’ he yelled, ‘Get up in the nest.’
A gust of wind caught Bina’s long hair and its black tendrils whipped across his face.
‘Whatever’s out there, we’ll find out soon enough,’ he said.
Bina’s eyes hardened as Sojin made quick work climbing the mast to the crow’s nest. ‘They shouldn’t be here. They’re no older than boys.’
He’d considered leaving Sojin, Eran and Abela in the safety of Chaba Misgab’s harbour but was anywhere safe anymore?
‘They’re better off with me,’ he replied.
Bina shifted her footing and her eyes dilated. It still unnerved him. Even after he’d seen them dilate many times on their journey to join Meciel.
‘Gabe has taken control of your forces. Meciel said it went as expected.’
Her lavender eyes returned to normal, and he exhaled a deep breath.
He swiped his fringe from his eyes. ‘Well darn it, maybe there’s hope for us yet.’
