After that, Colin pulled up the hood of his cloak and settled in for the ride, nearly everyone else following suit.
They rode for three days, angling northwest as soon as the roads allowed. On the fourth day, they entered Nuant House lands, the maroon-and-gold House colors supplanting the blue and red of Rhyssal. Away from Aeren’s lands, the lord received more piercing looks and second glances, but it was the Order that caught and held nearly everyone’s attention. The only connection the commoners had to the Order was through their acolytes in the local temples. Seeing the Order of the Flame passing through their village caused a stir. More than one acolyte emerged from his temple to offer the group a place to rest and refresh before continuing on their journey. Vaeren rarely accepted, except when Siobhaen caught his attention and murmured something for his ears only. On these occasions, Siobhaen spent most of her time within the temple, kneeling before the small basins that mimicked the large one in the Sanctuary back in Caercaern. The acolytes would hastily fill the basin with oil, perform a short ritual, and then light the basin so that Siobhaen and the other members of the Flame could pray before it. Always at the end of her prayers, Siobhaen would remove a pouch from her satchel and toss something into the flames, the acolytes in attendance gasping as the fires in the basin burned a harsh, brilliant white. Then she’d run her fingers through the soot beneath the basin and mark her face before rising, the others often doing the same.
“She’s solidifying their ties to the temple,” Aeren said at the third such temple, even as he genuflected while the flames were burning white.
“What do you mean?” Colin asked. He knew the ritual she performed, had studied it in the Sanctuary before being allowed to pass through Aielan’s Light beneath the mountain. It was a simple enough rite, one used to calm the observer, to center them so that the problems they faced might be made clearer. It was one of the basic rituals of the Scripts, although it did not require the basin actually be lit, and the addition of the white flames generally only occurred at significant bondings or rituals.
As the white flames died, returning to normal, the acolytes murmuring to each other in awe and excitement, Aeren turned away, his brow troubled. “She’s using the ritual and the white flames to remind the acolytes of their ties to the Order, their ties to Lotaern and the Flame. There’s no need for the theatrics otherwise. These acolytes all trained in the Sanctuary at one point. She’s reminding them of their time in Caercaern, of their loyalties.
“And these acolytes will spread that to the common people in this area.”
“But why does Lotaern want them to remember?”
Aeren shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’ve learned through the course of the years that Lotaern does nothing without a purpose. He feels he’s going to need the commoners’ support for something soon. Siobhaen did not stop at any of the temples before you reached Artillien?”
“No. Why? What are you thinking?”
They watched as Siobhaen and the others circulated among the gathered acolytes and villagers who happened to be in or near the temple when they arrived.
“I’m wondering what changed in Artillien that prompted them to begin this… little campaign,” he finally murmured.
“We need to find out,” Eraeth said.
Colin thought back to his first conversation with Siobhaen, on the road down from Caercaern, when she thought he despised the Alvritshai. “Perhaps we shouldn’t isolate ourselves anymore.” When Aeren and Eraeth looked at him, he added, “We’ve separated ourselves into two groups: the Flame and Rhyssal House. For the last few days we’ve eaten separately, traveled separately, even slept in separate rooms or sides of the outposts. We need to mingle more.”
Eraeth grimaced in distaste, while Aeren’s eyebrows rose. “They haven’t been overly friendly toward us since Artillien.”
“And we haven’t been overly friendly toward them. The distrust is mutual.”
One of Aeren’s Phalanx coughed lightly and they turned to see Vaeren approaching. The caitan nodded, the rest of the Flame preparing to depart behind him. “We are finished here.”
“Very well,” Aeren said.
Vaeren hesitated and frowned, as if he sensed something hidden in the tone of Aeren’s voice, or in the slightly awkward silence that had settled over the Rhyssal House contingent. Then he shook his head and turned, motioning the Flame outside.
They reached an outpost near dusk, the wayside stop nothing more than a stone hut a few paces from the road tucked into a niche beside a stream of snowmelt, its wooden roof covered in dark green moss beneath dangling cedar branches. Colin scanned the mountains, a hand shading his eyes, the sun a burnt orange glow to the west. He called out to where Vaeren and a few others in the group were refilling their waterskins. “We’ll stop here for the night.”
Vaeren stood, looking toward the setting sun. “We could make the next village, perhaps even the next outpost.”
Colin shook his head. “We’re close to the pass now and it’s getting dark. We’ll have to leave the road tomorrow, after leaving the horses in the village.”
Vaeren eyed him for a long moment, suspicion touching the corners of his mouth, but then he waved to the other members of the Flame, who had begun to remount. “Unpack your saddlebags. Boreaus, hunt us something decent to go with what the acolytes gifted us at the last temple. Petraen, gather some wood for a fire. Siobhaen, take care of the horses.”
All three hesitated, trading confused looks, but the two brothers shrugged and hauled their gear from their horses before handing the reins to Siobhaen. Boreaus drew a short bow from a cylindrical case, leaped the small stream, and vanished into the woods to the north. Petraen headed in the opposite direction, scrambling up a small embankment before the trees claimed him.
Aeren dismounted at Colin’s side. “Is there another reason we’re stopping early?” he muttered under his breath as he began working at the ties of his bags.
“We need to learn more about Vaeren and the Flame. I’d rather do it on this side of the mountains, where the weather is calmer and the terrain is decent, than in the White Wastes. If we reach the town, the Flame will join the acolytes in the temple and we’ll lose our opportunity.”
Aeren grunted in agreement, then passed a silent command to Eraeth.
The Protector turned immediately toward where the other three Phalanx members were unsaddling their own horses. A moment later, two were headed off after Petraen, the third stringing his own bow as he followed Boreaus. Eraeth himself drew their horses closer to where Siobhaen had already begun combing the Flames’ horses’ flanks. She gave him one hard, suspicious glance as he began pulling saddles from the Phalanx mounts’ backs, then resumed her work.
Vaeren had vanished inside the stone hut.
“I’ll go check on Vaeren,” Colin said.
Aeren nodded. “And I’ll join Eraeth and Siobhaen with the horses.” He muttered something under his breath as his own mount snorted and stamped its foot against the stone of the roadway. One hand brushed the animal’s neck in a long soothing motion.
The lord caught Colin’s look. “Why are you smiling?”
“I was just thinking about when we first met on the plains. You shied away from our horses then. You were terrified of them.”
Aeren’s eyebrows rose. “They were strange and terrifying beasts. And I was young.”
Colin shook his head, then grabbed his staff from his own mount and headed toward the hut.
As he ducked inside, Vaeren looked up from where he used a branch to clean out a fire pit sunken into the middle of the hut. “Whoever used this last left in a hurry,” he said as he pulled charred ends of sticks and thicker branches toward him. “But they did leave behind some firewood.” He pointed with the branch to one side, where wood had been stacked. His eyes never left Colin.
“That should make Petraen’s job easier.” Colin scanned the rest of the hut. The roof was steep, to keep the snow from piling up too heavily. Smoke would be funn
eled from the fire pit up to a hole shielded against the weather at the top. The rest of the rounded interior was mostly bare, a few stone benches that could be used as sleeping pallets against the walls. There were no windows, only the main entrance and a covered hole in the floor against the back wall for the disposal of garbage and waste. The stale smell of smoke and musty dampness cloaked the small room.
“It’s not much of a wayside,” Vaeren said.
Colin caught and held his gaze. The undertone in the caitan’s voice suggested that they could find better accommodations in the village. “It will suffice for tonight,” he said. Then he knelt down and began dragging the black, sooty remains of the previous fire from the pit.
After a moment, Vaeren helped him.
They worked in utter silence, Vaeren studiously ignoring him as they scraped the last of the dead coals from the hollow that reminded Colin of the rounded depressions in the middle of the dwarren keevas, where they held their most serious consultations. The silence became strained, itching at Colin’s back, until he finally sighed and asked, “What House are you from?”
Without looking up, Vaeren said, “I am a member of the Order of the Flame. I am associated with no House except the Order.”
The caitan said it as if by rote, and Colin grimaced. He knew that acolytes of the Order renounced their ties to their previous Houses. Their allegiance was given to Aielan and the Order, their previous House abandoned, although erasing those ties completely was impossible.
“I meant, what House were you originally from?”
Vaeren glanced up at that, his brow creased, as if he were trying to determine why Colin would ask, what his ulterior motive might be. But finally he answered, “Uslaen.”
“Lord Saetor’s House, Khalaek’s caitan before Khalaek was banished and his own House declared fallen.”
“Yes,” Vaeren said shortly. His shoulders stiffened, his soot-greased hands clenched hard on the branch he now held defensively before him. “What of it?”
Colin sat back, surprised by his reaction, by the sudden tension in the room. “Nothing. A simple question, nothing more.”
Vaeren watched him intently, then visibly forced himself to relax, letting his held breath out in a long sigh. “I… apologize,” he said, his voice rough. “I should not have reacted so… forcefully.”
Colin brushed the apology aside with one hand. “No offense was taken. But I’m surprised. Khalaek and his House were destroyed over a hundred years ago. I thought the ascension of the new House had gone smoothly, that the emotions of that time would have been laid to rest by now.”
Vaeren sneered, the expression twisting his face for a moment, then gone, replaced by a troubled brow. He busied himself with the fire pit, drawing the last of the coals close enough to be retrieved.
“Alvritshai have long memories,” he said finally. “I was part of Khalaek’s House before his betrayal, proud to be Duvoraen. I wore the black and gold of the Phalanx on the battlefield at the Escarpment, fought for Khalaek there and before.”
Colin silently adjusted his estimate of Vaeren’s age. “You must have been newly risen into the Phalanx to have been at the Escarpment.”
“Yes. I was only thirty-three, had been part of the Duvoraen Phalanx for barely a year. When the Evant announced Khalaek’s betrayal, when they declared him khai and banished him.…” Vaeren paused to stare off into the distance, his face open and easy to read. Colin could see the young Alvritshai soldier he had been, could see an echo of the shock and disbelief that young warrior had felt.
Then Vaeren’s face hardened with pain and the anger of the betrayal, and Colin again saw the warrior of the Flame he had first seen in the Sanctuary.
He turned to face Colin. “It felt as if Khalaek had betrayed me personally. I was young; I was newly risen to the Phalanx. It crushed me. And I was not the only one that felt lost and adrift after that.”
“But the Evant declared the rising of House Uslaen almost immediately, appointed Saetor as the new lord and gave all of Duvoraen’s lands and people over to him.”
An echo of the sneer returned. “You can’t declare a new lord and House and expect the people to follow so easily. I’d been part of Duvoraen for decades, had been raised to serve Lord Khalaek, been trained to protect him, to revere the black-and-gold uniform, to live under the Eagle’s Talon.” Vaeren stood abruptly, brandishing the branch, the fire pit between them. “I couldn’t do it,” he muttered, the sneer seeping into his voice. “I couldn’t shrug the Duvoraen House mantle aside so easily. I couldn’t simply vow to serve Uslaen after all that I’d done, after spilling my blood for Duvoraen on the battlefield. The Lords of the Evant should not have expected that of us.”
“Even though Khalaek had betrayed you, betrayed all of the Alvritshai?”
“That was only what the Lords of the Evant claimed,” he said sharply, but his conviction faltered even as he said it, the branch he wielded lowering. “I didn’t know what to believe. Neither did anyone else within the Phalanx. None of us understood, but we all know of the games the Lords of the Evant play.”
Colin held Vaeren’s gaze. “They needed stability. For the treaty with the humans and the dwarren.”
Vaeren’s glare hardened. “And I needed time to adjust, to come to terms with Khalaek’s betrayal.”
Colin shifted where he sat. “But you said you were part of House Uslaen when I asked.”
Vaeren snorted with derision. “I was. Duvoraen had fallen; Uslaen had risen in its stead. The Evant declared me Uslaen. No one can claim to be of House Duvoraen anymore without the risk of becoming khai themselves, of being shunned by everyone, being cursed or spat upon. Duvoraen is dead. But I couldn’t stay with Uslaen, couldn’t pretend to a vow to Saetor that I’d never made, not in my heart.”
“So you joined the Order.”
“Yes. I joined the Flame. What better way to deal with the betrayal of Khalaek and the Evant than to remove myself from them altogether? Nearly a hundred of the Duvoraen Phalanx fled to the Order after the Escarpment. Hundreds of others abandoned Uslaen completely.”
Colin frowned. “They shifted to another House?”
Vaeren shook his head with a grim smile. “They left. They vanished, departing in the night, abandoning their watches, their posts. They became khai-roen, a self-imposed exile. They could not serve under Saetor, could not serve under any lord at all.”
Colin felt a shudder pass through him. The fact that hundreds of Alvritshai had simply left their House and lands behind, had vanished, disturbed him deeply. He understood being disillusioned, understood feeling betrayed by your own people-the refugee families who’d fled Andover nearly two hundred years ago before the onset of the Feud, families like his own, had been betrayed by the Proprietors in New Andover. That betrayal had driven Colin and his family onto the plains, had ultimately killed them all.
All except for Colin and Walter, and neither of them were exactly human anymore.
He reached across with his right hand and massaged his left arm, where beneath the sleeve of his shirt his skin was mottled black with the poison of the Wells and their Lifeblood. It was an old habit, one that he’d thought he’d broken. With a disgusted wince, he snatched his hand away, glanced up to find Vaeren watching him intently.
“Where did they go?” he asked, his voice harsher than he’d intended. “Where are the Alvritshai who abandoned Uslaen now?”
Vaeren shrugged. “No one knows.”
The unease Colin felt sank deeper into his chest. He held Vaeren’s gaze a moment longer, then motioned with his soot-stained hands toward the fire pit and the wood. “We should get the fire started.”
Ten minutes later, he stepped from the hut as a thin, white smoke began to drift from beneath the small aperture in the roof. Aeren, Eraeth, and Siobhaen were still grooming the horses, Aeren talking quietly with Siobhaen, although it didn’t appear Siobhaen was participating much. Eraeth shot Colin an irritated look and shook his head slightly. At the sam
e time, a burst of laughter echoed from the woods south of the road. Petraen and two members of Aeren’s Phalanx approached, ducking under the low-hanging branches of the trees, arms laden with firewood. All three were chatting amiably, Petraen grinning as he related some story about his brother and himself stealing apples from a neighbor’s orchard.
“-and then Boreaus took off as if Aielan Herself had lit a fire under his ass, leaving me behind with the sack of apples,” Petraen said as Colin stepped to one side, allowing the three into the hut. “I scrambled as fast as I could, but the sack got caught on the rail fence and I couldn’t get it free. The next thing I knew the overseer’s hand dug into my shoulder and jerked me back-”
The door to the hut closed, cutting off the words.
Colin looked down at his blackened hands, then moved toward the stream to one side, stepping over the smoothed rocks to the water’s edge. He shoved back the sleeves of his shirt, ignored the swirling darkness that seethed beneath the exposed skin on both arms, and plunged his hands into the water with a sudden sharp breath. The frigid water numbed his fingers immediately, but he scrubbed at the greasy soot nonetheless.
“That won’t come off with water.”
Colin drew his hands out of the water and shook them vigorously, snapping his fingers in an attempt to get the blood flowing again. “I’m used to having darkened skin,” he said, drying his hands on the cloth of his shirt, leaving black smudges behind. Eraeth’s eyebrow rose at the comment, but he said nothing. Colin motioned toward Siobhaen and Aeren, the two tying the horses up near the hut. “No luck with Siobhaen?”
Eraeth grimaced. “She responds to your questions, but she reveals nothing. She’s too guarded.”
Another bout of laughter, muted by the hut’s walls, broke through the gurgle of the stream.
“At least one of the Flame has opened up,” Colin said.
“Vaeren revealed nothing?”
“More than I expected, actually. He’s originally from House Duvoraen. He joined the Order rather than become a permanent part of Uslaen.”
Leaves of Flame ch-2 Page 9
