~
The next morning, Sofya, Heremon, and Simion were escorted from the Melinkov dungeons to the walls of Volgrad. A carriage was waiting for them to take them back to Vodotsk. Nadezhda made them wait out the night, which was more than Sofya expected, but in the end wordlessly caved to Sofya’s demands. She did not visit them again, and did not give Sofya the satisfaction of seeing her defeated. Instead, two guards carried out the task. They did not speak a word, which was fine by Sofya. She was leaving the Melinkov keep with the Prophet’s Arm.
“I must say, Sofya, I am impressed,” Simion said as soon as the carriage started moving and they were safely on their way from Volgrad. “I did not expect to be rescued without bloodshed.”
“Remember, we weren’t there to rescue you,” Sofya replied. “That was just a very convenient story.”
Simion smiled. “You rescued me nonetheless.”
Sofya tapped the front wall of the carriage, getting the driver’s attention. “That reminds me, we should head for Edun instead of Vodotsk. Our client will want to, hm, negotiate with you over your arm.”
The driver grunted in acknowledgment.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to make a prisoner out of me as well,” Simion replied.
“We’ll be back in Vodotsk by the afternoon,” Sofya said. “I just figured you would want to work something out with out client. I’m sure he’d be happy to provide a new arm, just as good, from Alba or wherever else. Or we could just take the arm as payment for rescuing you.”
Simion smiled. “Let’s meet your client.”
On a mostly empty road, the drive from Volgrad to the Leshin border took less than two hours. Sofya and Heremon sat mostly in silence, listening to the steady hum of the carriage’s fey engine. There wasn’t much they felt comfortable talking about in front of Simion, who was still a mystery to them. It seemed almost unbelievable that a Leshin who lived in Vodotsk during the occupation didn’t recognize the Prophet’s Arm. And he seemed rather reluctant to talk about himself, aside from his business as a banker, trader, and pawn broker for the Leshin remaining in Human territory.
When the carriage arrived at the forest’s edge, it stopped so an Imperial soldier and Leshin border guard could take a quick inventory of the inhabitants. These small checkpoints—barely manned roads into the forest—had replaced the larger camps like the one raided by the IKV.
Sofya, Heremon, and Simion all provided names and seals to the guards and told them they would only be in the forest for a few hours. Fey-powered carriages were only permitted in Leshin territory for passenger drop-off at the nearest city, in this case Edun. If Sofya wanted to go any further into Leshin territory, they would have to hire a horse-driven vehicle there. Fortunately, there was no need for the extra expense.
Once the border paperwork was complete, the carriage advanced forward, where a thick canopy of trees nearly blocked out the sun. The Great Forest that marked the original border between Humans and Leshin was thickest at the edges, where powerful nature magic maintained dense tree growth. Traveling further into Leshin territory, the plant growth thinned and there were even large, empty plots of land where sprawling cities were built within the forest. But Edun was only a small town, with wooden buildings and huts crammed between the trees.
Most people in Edun lived in what Sofya would call treehouses, carefully constructed rooms perched in the high branches of the dense forest. Nestled in the thick trees of the Leshin/Human border, these homes were as sturdy as anything on land, and allowed the ground below to be used for roads and public buildings, as well as the many animals of Edun.
Other wildlife roamed the town with impunity, untamed and generally undisturbed by the Leshin. Some were tame, such as the horses and trash-devouring gnilbeasts. Others were bonded pets, wild animals that individual Leshin had domesticated with magic. But most of the creatures were completely wild, living on their own among the people of the town without an interference.
The Leshin claimed it was their way of living in harmony with nature. Sofya wasn’t sure that harmony was possible. She liked animals, but found the proximity Leshin tended to keep with them rather unsettling. Their tolerance for snakes was especially concerning.
Wildlife, however, was not Sofya’s primary concern as her carriage approached the Edun tavern where Braden ir-Alba was staying. Instead, it was the large number of horses tied outside the building. Six large stallions were reigned to the thick trees surrounding the tavern. The horses wore leather armor on their heads and sported thick saddles with holsters for both sword and bow. These were military steeds, and it was strange to see so many at a single tavern in one of the smallest towns in the forest.
“It does not appear that we will be meeting with your client discretely,” Simion said, peering out of the carriage.
“The AFC might be here on completely unrelated business,” Sofya replied, though she didn’t entirely believe it.
“Let us hope that this is the AFC,” Simion said. “For you may have pushed all the ir-Dyeun out of your lands, human, but they still roam the forest and the western plains. Many think that this is still their land and they may yet take it back.”
The carriage stopped before the end of the road leading to the tavern. “Did I hear that right?” the driver asked. “You think there might be ir-Dyeun here?”
Simion smiled. “Perhaps I should not have said it aloud. I seem to have spooked your driver.”
“This is as far as I go,” the driver barked. “You can get a horse-drawn carriage back. I’m not sticking around.”
Sofya didn’t argue. She paid the driver and let him leave. It wasn’t fair to get anyone else involved. To be honest, she had considered turning around and returning to Vodotsk herself. But they’d come this far. She’d been willing to break into Melinkremlin Keep to steal the arm. She wasn’t about to back off just because of a few scary-looking horses.
“To be honest,” Sofya said. “I’m glad I have two Leshin with me this time instead of just one.”
“You so sure that I’m on your side?” Simion asked, smirking.
“If there are ir-Dyeun in there, they will want to rip your arm off and take it on a crusade. So, yes, I assume that you’re on our side.”
“Fair enough. Let us see what this place holds for us.”
Echoes of the Fey: The Prophet's Arm Page 10
