“What did you discover? Something about Lins?” he asked.
Her jaw relaxed and a playful smile slipped onto her face. “Not Lins. Better.” She jumped up from the rock and started back up the mountain. “Come on, Tan!” she shouted as she ran.
Tan looked up the slope. The strange hounds were still up there, and with the fading light they needed to return, not risk running through the woods on another of Bal’s whims. “Bal!”
She didn’t answer. Tan swore to himself and hurried after her, determined to drag her back to town if needed.
She stopped overlooking a slight ravine where two smaller peaks merged and turned back, a smile spreading across her face. “Well?”
Tan stared, uncertain what she wanted him to see. “I don’t see anything.”
She tapped her head and then pointed out toward the ravine, a narrow pass through the mountains. “How can you not see them?”
Tan strained to see through the trees into the ravine. Finally, another sound carried on the wind. A light tinkling, like many tiny bells ringing, carried softly up to them from the pass. Only then did the fear that had been sitting in his chest since he first heard the strange howls finally lift.
Though it had been many years, he recognized the sound and felt a surge of excitement. The Aeta had returned.
2
Glimpse of the Aeta
The caravan slowly rumbled through the lower part of the valley, moving upon a barely visible trail. Brightly colored wagons flashed through the heavy foliage. Men and women sat atop the wagons, steering them through the valley, their clothes as brightly colored as the wagons they drove. Small bells hung from posts and it was their quiet tinkling that preceded them, a distinctive musical sound, and one that sparked memories of the last Aeta visit.
Tan could count on one hand the visits during his lifetime and remembered each vividly, the last nearly five summers ago. How had Bal even known what the Aeta looked like? She couldn’t have been more than four or five at the time.
The Aeta were traders and different than the typical merchants traveling through Nor. Visits were almost festival-like when the Aeta came. People from nearby farmsteads would travel to Nor to trade with the Aeta, visit with friends, or simply come to see what new exotic items the Aeta had for trade.
“Where do you think they travel from?” Bal asked with barely restrained excitement.
Tan stared, imagining the direction of their wagons. “There is nothing but mountains this way.” But that wasn’t quite right. Over the mountains and through the passes lay Incendin, though none in the kingdoms traveled to Incendin. The barrier between the two nations prevented all travel. “And Incendin,” he added.
“Incendin? How would they have come from Incendin? Shapers stopped that long ago. That’s how the war was ended.”
Tan laughed as Bal lectured to him. “I know how the war ended. But no one travels there.” The Aeta made the earlier fear a distant memory.
Bal smiled, the annoyance she’d had with him now gone. They crept closer to the wagons, finding the small path the Aeta followed. Foliage covered it, but enough stone remained to mark the roadway it once had been. Tan didn’t know a path into Incendin ever existed here.
The light tinkling of the Aeta bells grew louder as they neared. They hid among the trees as the caravan rolled closer. The Aeta were a happy people, exuberant traders, and part of the excitement with their visits was the carnival atmosphere they brought with them. But at this vantage, a tight expression strained the dirty faces of the Aeta and a dour mood emanated from them.
“Maybe they were in Doma!” Bal whispered.
Tan shook his head. More than just a mood, but also a darkness seemed to follow them. “If they were, then it was long ago. And I’m not sure how they’d get there from here.”
“How do you know they didn’t just come through Incendin?”
Beyond Incendin lay Doma, with Chenir to the north. The simple geographic barrier Incendin presented kept contact with their people limited in this part of the kingdoms. The kingdoms, once the separate nations of Vatten, Ter, Nara, and Galen, had been bound together nearly a thousand years ago and ruled by the king in the capital of Ethea. Within the kingdoms, the ports of Vatten imported goods from Doma and Chenir, but rarely did they make it this far. When they did, the cost was prohibitive to all but the manor lords. It was the fancy Doman silver Bal wanted to see, but he knew his mother would be more interested in Chenir woolens.
“The barrier,” he reminded her. A shaping so powerful it kept the kingdoms safe from Incendin. Not much was said to be able to pass through, at least not easily. Watching the Aeta, seeing the darkness on their faces, the edge of nervousness he’d felt higher in the hills had returned.
Bal glanced from him to the Aeta before shaking her head. “All I see are Aeta.”
Tan looked away from her, wishing he could see the world through her eyes. As the caravan neared, one of the Aeta caught his eye. A woman sat straight-backed atop a bright red wagon. Her dark eyes darted around the forest. Full lips tilted in a slight frown and pale yellow hair pushed behind her ears, flowing down to her mid back. She was beautiful.
Tan stared and found himself sliding out from behind the trees. Bal grabbed at him too late. He stood openly in view of the caravan. The Aeta woman looked over and locked eyes with him.
She seemed unconcerned that he stared at her, hidden within the forest. Her lips parted slightly and the corners twitched, threatening to smile. One long-fingered hand touched the side of her face delicately.
Tan felt a brief fluttering within his chest. He’d never seen anyone like her.
“Tan?”
Tan shook himself, as if awakening from a dream, and looked over at his friend. “What?”
Bal pulled on his sleeve. “We need to get back.”
He glanced at the sky. By the time they returned it would be getting dark. “Now you want to return?”
“We need to be there when the Aeta arrive!”
The train of wagons continued slowly past them. Tan made little effort to hide. The woman stared until her wagon was no longer visible, turning as she passed to keep her focus on him. When the wagons had finally disappeared, he said, “We should hurry.”
“So we can see the Aeta arrive?”
“So you can. I need to see Cobin first.”
Bal frowned at him, as if disappointed he would not be there with her as the Aeta arrived in town. “Don’t tell him I was up here.”
Tan shook his head and chuckled as Bal started down the slope toward Nor.
Tan followed after her, unable to completely shake the vision of the beautiful Aeta from his mind.
The hike back down the mountain went quickly. The heat of the day slowly faded and a soft breeze filtered through the trees, cooling the sweat upon his face. Weeks had passed since a steady wind had blown through Galen and he welcomed its return. In spite of it, sweat still dripped from his brow.
Tan guided them through the woods downward and to the west, knowing almost instinctively how to find his way back. Occasionally, evidence of the strange creatures he’d tracked triggered a memory of the fear he had felt following them. Each time, he felt a little flash of anxiety, a nervousness in the forest unusual for him. The sight of the strange prints only urged him forward faster.
Bal walked ahead of him, humming as she hurried toward home. Every so often she would dart ahead before returning to him. Tan suspected she searched for the Aeta but they saw no other sign of them. He didn’t know the road they followed, but suspected it led into town. Other than Nor, no other towns were this deep into Galen.
As the sun drifted toward the tops of the trees they saw the first signs of Nor. Areas where the woodcutters had felled the trees opened up the forest and the pale sky flashed through. In the distance to the east, above the mountain peaks, dark clouds threatened rain and occasional lightning flashes streaked across the sky. A slow rumble of thunder followed much later. Given the weather re
cently, chances were good that Nor would not even see any rain.
The cleared stretches of trees became more frequent. Finally Tan reached the main road. Bal ran ahead, waving as she hurried toward town. Probably to tell some of the other children about the Aeta. He had no doubt she would find him later. Since the time Tan had intervened and kept her from being bullied, she’d clung to him.
Tan continued on to Cobin’s farm, pausing near the sheep pen to examine the prints there. They were the reason he’d ventured up into the mountains in the first place. Now he saw the evidence of the same beast encircling the pen, and probably at least three of them by the different sizes.
“Tan? Any reason you’re crawling on the ground near the sheep?”
Cobin stood behind him. The large man was only ten years his senior but had a weathered face with gray already speckling his dark beard. Tan had known him almost his entire life.
He motioned toward the prints as he stood. “I found these prints this morning.”
Cobin grunted before stepping over to him. A large axe hung loosely in his hand and his face was streaked with dirt. “Wolf?”
“Not these. Look at the toes. Too small for our wolves.”
Cobin squatted and stared at the dusty soil, his dark eyes squinting in concentration. He grunted again. “Then what?”
“I followed them up the mountain—”
Cobin interrupted him with a deep laugh. “That explains it, then.”
“Explains what?”
“The scuttlebutt coming from the lord’s house.”
Tan looked at Cobin before staring off toward Nor, scrubbing his face with his hand. “Mother?” He already knew the answer.
“She’s not pleased,” Cobin answered before laughing again. “Could be someone else drew her ire. Probably too late for you anyway.”
If only Cobin were right that it was someone else. “These tracked several miles up into the mountains before being joined by another type of print. Like this.” He traced the strange print into the dusty soil, remembering the heel spike.
“Did you find anything?”
“They found me.”
Cobin looked up into the mountains and his face went slack for a moment. “They?” he asked. “You mean a pack?” Cobin’s hand squeezed the handle of his axe unconsciously and his knuckles turned white with pressure.
The appearance of the Aeta had pushed away most of the anxiety from his experience with the animals, but enough remained. Tan shivered, thankful that he’d survived the encounter with the creatures. “There were at least three, I think.”
“You didn’t get a good look?”
He shook his head. “I saw only flashes of fur. I got chased and climbed a tree to get away. Everything got smoky, but it was probably dust from as dry as it’s been. I couldn’t see anything.”
Cobin grunted, making it somehow sound like a question.
Tan shrugged, understanding his friend. “Not sure what it was. The wind picked up suddenly and scared them. I didn’t give chase.”
Cobin arched his brow at him. “Glad I don’t have to be there when you tell your ma where you’ve been.”
Since his father’s death, she wanted him anywhere but in the mountains. Preferably in Ethea, studying at the university. Only, the idea of sitting and staring at books all day left him feeling anxious and fidgety.
“Maybe not all of it,” Cobin agreed.
Tan laughed and tapped the ground. “What do you think this is?”
“Not entirely sure.” He looked up at Tan. “But you want to track it again.”
“I think we need to. If it’s come this close to town, we should know what it is.”
Cobin hadn’t taken his eyes off the track, his brow furrowed as he studied it. “You’re probably right. I’ll get Heller to come, as well.” He paused. “Don’t tell your ma.”
A bit of his anxiety eased. Cobin would provide support as they tracked it, and Heller, though nearly fifty, was a crafty old man and knew much about the woods. Plus, he was still one of the best shots with a bow in this part of Galen.
“Tomorrow?” Cobin asked.
“Probably not tomorrow. Might want to give it a day.”
“Too long and we’ll lose the track. You think your ma won’t let you out of her sight once she hears what you were up to?”
Tan grunted, lifting his eyebrows. “There’s that,” he agreed. “And the other thing we found.”
“We? Bal with you?”
Tan debated telling Cobin, but he’d promised Bal he wouldn’t say anything. Cobin wasn’t quite as protective of Bal as his mother was with him, but it was a close competition. “Just the lower hills. She’s the one who found the Aeta.”
“Where’d they come from? Nothing there but Incendin.”
Tan nodded. “Came on an old road I’d never seen.”
Cobin nodded thoughtfully. “An old trader road. Don’t think anyone has used that path in more than twenty years.”
“The Aeta did.”
“I didn’t think they’d be able to cross the barrier. Wonder where they came from?”
Tan remembered the darkness that seemed to follow the Aeta. “Not sure, but they should reach Nor tonight. Figured they’d get set up and trade…”
Cobin laughed. “What, you think you get to trade with the Aeta?”
Tan hadn’t planned on trading anything. Not that he had much anyway. “See you in town?”
Cobin nodded at him absently, and as he left, his friend circled the pen, staring at the tracks, a troubled expression etched onto his face. Every so often he would glance up into the mountains and frown.
What did Cobin know and not share?
3
An Unlikely Threat
Tan would need to face his mother sooner or later, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steeling himself before entering her room.
She looked up from her massive desk and eyed him, noting his dirt-stained face and clothes, before turning back to the stack of papers she was sorting through. A hand reached up and touched the jet-black hair pulled severely back from her face.
She ignored him while she sat stiff-backed, working through the house numbers. Tan waited quietly in front of her desk like all the other house servants she supervised, trying not to rock anxiously on his feet. Nervous energy welled through him at the thought of the visiting Aeta. Even his mother would be interested in their visit, wanting to see the items they had for trade, and he bit at his lip to keep from saying anything that might make his scolding worse.
“You shouldn’t chew your lip,” his mother admonished without looking up.
“I’m not,” he protested weakly, looking away. The walls of his mother’s office were decorated simply, just a sigil of the Great Mother hanging. A large wrought-iron lantern rested on the corner of her desk, giving the room light.
His mother looked up at him and sighed. “Tannen, you know better than to lie to your mother.” She blinked a moment before setting her hands upon her desk and meeting his gaze. “Where have you been?”
Tan resisted the urge to turn away. He couldn’t lie—his mother would see through him easily—so he decided on the truth. “I found some prints near Cobin’s pens and followed them.”
“All day?”
“Not all day. The last hour or so I was with Cobin.”
“You went into the mountains, then.” When he didn’t argue, she went on. “What of the task you were assigned?”
Tan had forgotten about that. She’d asked him to sweep Lord Alles’s barn on the edge of town. He had put it off, thinking he would have time after tracking the prints, but he had gone farther into the mountains than he had expected. Then the Aeta had pushed all thoughts of chores out of mind. “I didn’t do it,” he admitted, “but I saw something you need to know about—”
“I am sure you did. Cobin told Davum it was probably wolves that got into his stock. The men should know how to protect their stock from wolves, especially in this part of the kingd
oms. I don’t need you tracking wolves and risking yourself like that while ignoring your chores. There’s a reason Lind allows you to remain in the manor house. If you ignore your responsibilities…”
“I’ll get them done. Wouldn’t want Lord Lind upset that I didn’t sweep the stables.” He sighed and nearly turned away. Cleaning the stables felt like such a waste of his time. Had his father still been alive, he wouldn’t have to do it. Tan didn’t know what he would have ended up doing if his father still lived, but not that. “Besides, it wasn’t a wolf. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t a wolf.”
His mother looked up again and pushed her papers away, focusing on him entirely. “What was it, then?”
Tan wasn’t sure if she humored him or if she believed his concern. Cobin hadn’t questioned. And his mother knew he was a skilled tracker and what he’d learned from his father.
“Some kind of hound,” he answered, shaking his head. “I couldn’t see them clearly. There was some kind of smoke or cloud of dust.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. “You came upon a pack while tracking an unfamiliar creature.”
There was a heat to her words now. Tan needed to choose his answer carefully. “We needed to know what had attacked the flock. Father would have done the same!” Immediately, he knew that he’d misspoken.
Her eyes flashed with a quick anger. She clenched her fists before slowly relaxing. “Your father,” she began, taking a deep breath before continuing, “is no longer with us.”
Tan knew she intended to say something different. Almost more than him, she still suffered daily from his father’s absence. Before he’d gone, she smiled easily and laughed often. All that changed when he went to war at the king’s bidding. When he didn’t return, neither did his mother’s mirth.
“Tan,” she said quietly. “I cannot lose you, too.”
“I know.” But she still wanted him to leave Nor. She wanted him to go to Ethea, learn at the university like his father had, but Tan wanted something different. Why should he go to the capital when everything he knew and loved was here?
Chased by Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 1) Page 2
