♦ ♦ ♦
The next two days were quiet and mostly uneventful. Shaya spent most of her time at her uncle’s bedside. He would wake every now and again, not sure where he was. After mumbling something incoherent, he would then slip back into a deep slumber. Shaya spoke to him, sometimes for hours. She didn’t know if her uncle could hear her or not, but she would talk none the less.
Quill finally let Shaya take her itchy bandages off one morning. She still had some bruising and a few cuts that were slowly healing. All in all, not too bad after going toe to toe with a God. Her body still ached in places, reminding her every time she climbed some steps, that it had not all been a horrible dream. She spent a few hours each day with Ellesia and Rowan, training. It wasn’t surprising that Elle was a good teacher, swordplay seemed to be her passion. She spoke about it with more excitement than Shaya had ever seen from her before. The warrior woman never seemed complete without a sword in her hand or strapped to her waist. As she barked orders, Elle moved fluidly, her steps quick and precise. Swinging her sword effortlessly as she swayed from side to side, dodging make-believe attacks. She moved as if she was teaching the children how to dance, not how to kill eight-foot lizards. Battle was a part of Elle, as important to her as air, it appeared to be her way of life. Shaya couldn’t tell if that was inspiring, or deeply sad.
When she wasn’t with Benjin or training, she was with Jinx exploring the peaks and meeting the locals. Most of them were excited to have an outsider staying with them. She was treated almost as if she was famous. She would be given free food from the street vendors, and one Volanti gave her a fur shawl to wrap around herself, which Shaya was incredibly grateful for. The icy winds got extremely cold seeing as she didn’t have a body covered in feathers to keep her warm. Every now and then she would drop in to see Rowan outside of their training sessions. He spent most of his time with Elle planning their worryingly futile attack strategy. Hours they spent pouring over old maps of the eastern regions of Arrolyn. They looked at the best routes to take, from the most direct to the ones that would keep their approach unnoticed, hopefully. Fortification points, attack patterns, ambush sights, flanking manoeuvres, this was Ellesia’s forte.
Smatterings of people arrived over those days, soldiers, mercenaries and everyday folk who were willing to fight. Word had spread to Tetra, just south-west of the peaks and Serran to the east. The willing fighters made camp at the base of the mountains. Elle and the prince were hoping for a force of five hundred or more. By the end of the second day, they had thirty-six. No one had come from Bastion. Which was understandable, it was far to the south-west, it would take time for people to make the journey north.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. The days seemed longer, dragging to a sluggish grind as they waited for word. Shaya found herself staring out at the horizon, hoping to get a glimpse of a returning messenger with word of a thousand Men and Boaruss coming to help.
Wishful thinking.
On the morning of the third day, Shaya was forcing down her third salmon breakfast in a row courtesy of Myana. She was too polite and grateful for Myana’s hospitality to tell her she didn’t really like fish. She had just washed down her last salty bite with a mug of cold milk when a grumbling noise reached her ears. It sounded like shouting, an angry voice blaring out in the quiet of the mountain. Shaya jumped to her feet, she would know that complaining, grumbling tone anywhere. Without even putting her boots or her new fur shawl on, Shaya dashed to the door and ran outside, leaving a confused Myana sat alone at her dining table.
“Then you should have woken me up damn it,” roared the voice.
“You were unconscious, you old fool,” Elle was ranting back.
“That’s no excuse. She has been here for days, and no one bothered to tell me.”
“Because we knew you would jump out of bed.”
“Damn right.”
“Stubborn old man, get back into bed.”
“Old? You’re only five, ten years younger than me?”
“More than that damn you. Bring up my age again, and I’ll drag you back to that bed by your tongue.”
“You’ll have to if you think I’m laying around a minute longer without seeing my little girl.”
Shaya raced around the corner, and there he was. Bandaged and walking with a wooden cane propping him up. Uncle Benjin hobbled towards her, too furious at Elle to even notice her standing there.
“Uncle Benjin,” she shouted. Her voice caught in her throat as she felt her eyes welling up with tears.
His face turned to her and suddenly broke into a quivering smile. She ran to him as he threw his cane to the ground and took a few hurried, uneven steps towards her. He opened his arms, tears streaming down his face and into his bushy moustache. Shaya’s heart leapt. She was scared that she was still dreaming. That he would disappear before she reached him, or that the cobbled path would elongate forever. It was no dream. He grabbed hold of her and wrapped his tree trunk arms around her and nearly squeezed the air out of her lungs.
“Oh, my girl, my little girl,” he sobbed.
Shaya hugged him back as hard as she could. She didn’t care that he was nearly crushing her, or that her bare feet were freezing and turning blue. She hadn’t felt so happy since before she left home before this whole nightmare had started. They hugged and cried and laughed in the middle of the street, for how long they didn’t know. As they finally let go of each other, Shaya could have sworn she saw Elle wipe a stray tear away as she watched them with a satisfied smile.
Neither of them noticed the small crowd of teary-eyed yet smiling Volanti that had stopped and started watching them. Leaving his cane in the snow with a careless wave of his hand and a grunt of “Don’t need the damn thing,” Benjin hobbled inside Myana’s house with the help of Shaya and Ellesia. He slumped heavily into one of the dining chairs as Myana berated him for being out of bed. He clasped his hands around her clawed talons and thanked her for looking after Shaya.
“From the bottom of my heart Myana, thank you.”
“Oh, it’s no bother Benjin, you’re very welcome.”
It was a good job Myana’s face was covered in feathers. Otherwise, it would have gone quite red.
“I’ll make some tea, you both must be freezing,” she said as she wandered over to her little kitchen.
Benjin wore a pale grey top and had thrown a knitted blanket from the bed around himself as he had run out the door. His earthy brown trousers were rolled up on the right leg where a tight dressing was wrapped. He caught Shaya staring at the wound on his shoulder, the bandages poking out from beneath his clothes. Her were eyes fixed on the ashen skin with a concerned gaze.
“I’m fine kido, don’t you worry,” he smiled softly under his sopping wet moustache as he wiped the now cold tears from his cheeks.
“Does it hurt?” She asked, still staring.
“Not much,” he said moving his shoulder up and down “It’s going to leave a nice scar though,” he smiled “One more to add to the collection.”
Ellesia stepped forward “I’ll take my leave Greyborn,” she said stiffly, she turned to Shaya with a stern gaze “Get him back to bed soon, he should be resting.”
“I will.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Benjin grinned up at Elle “I’m a stubborn old man remember?”
Elle smirked “Yes you are,” she said as she made for the door.
“Thank you, for everything, my lady,” Benjin said in a more serious tone as he sat himself up in his chair.
Elle stopped for a moment, “I told you not to call me that,” she said with another smirk and with that she was gone. Myana placed two mugs of piping hot green-brown tea on the table. She said she had some errands to run.
Probably to buy more salmon for tomorrows breakfast, Shaya thought.
The Volanti grabbed an embroidered pouch of jangling lorals and left the two alone. They immediately burst into conversation. Both had a hundred different questions to ask the o
ther.
How’d you get here?
Did you really fight off all those Krarg in the castle?
You met a God? Two?
You fell from the castle’s turret?
What is a Rootling?
“It was a Volanti scout called Aesal who carried me here,” Benjin said as he told the story of his journey to Volanti Peaks.
Shaya was sat quietly, her head in her hands, her elbows on the table staring at her uncle. It was almost as if she was a child again, sat quietly listening to one of Uncle Benjin’s war stories. The only difference being she hadn’t heard this one a hundred times, and she actually had war stories of her own to tell.
“Poor lad,” Benjin continued with a giggle “Nearly killed him carrying me” Benjin slapped his ample belly and roared with laughter. Shaya joined in. It was nice to sit and chat, it felt like months since they last had time to really talk. Now sitting and talking for hours, she realised just how much she had missed him. Benjin took a swig of his now ice-cold tea and continued.
“Don’t remember much after that, pretty much been in bed ever since. Damn monster nearly finished me off.”
“Me too.”
“What?” Benjin looked dumbstruck “You saw him too?”
Shaya realised that for as long as they had been talking, she hadn’t mentioned their battle with Rakmar. It was Benjin’s turn to sit and listen to a story. However, his elbows weren’t on the table. His arms were crossed, and every time Shaya told him about something horrible that happened to her, Benjin jolted back like he had been prodded with a red-hot poker.
“But at least I got a shot in,” she said proudly “I stuck a dagger in his neck.”
“And it hurt him?” Her uncle looked surprised.
“Oh yeah, he screamed, and I saw blood.”
“So, he can bleed,” Benjin said almost to himself.
“Perhaps he was weakened by his fight with Rayne.”
“Maybe,” Benjin said stroking his moustache.
They talked a little longer, mostly about what was going to happen next. Benjin wasn’t impressed when she told him what the Volanti elders had said about helping.
“I’ll give them old birds a piece of my mind,” he grumbled as he climbed out of his seat and hobbled for the door. Shaya reminded him that the elders were on the very top of the peaks, up several flights of icy stone steps. With an angry mutter, the old man reluctantly sat back down. She told him about the messengers being sent to Serran, Tetra, Bastion and the Boaruss mines.
“Ortuskuss will come, mark my words,” Benjin said looking a little more pleased “I’ve never met a more loyal soul in my life. I know he and the king were firm friends. He’ll send every Boaruss he can spare.”
“Let’s hope you’re right. It’s been two days, and we’ve heard nothing.”
“Patience kido.”
She didn’t feel very patient, she felt anxious, like any minute something terrible was going to happen, and they would be powerless to stop it. She forced the thought from her mind when she noticed Benjin looking at her with an oddly curious expression.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A voice rang out from behind Shaya. They both whirled around to see Jinx leaning against the wall on the windowsill looking expectantly at Benjin. “You are-,”
“Supposed to be in bed,” Benjin finished her sentence for her with a great sigh “I’m aware.”
“I’ll drag you back myself if I have to,” Jinx shot over and was inches from Benjin’s bulbous nose.
“I’d love to see that,” Shaya giggled.
“Nice to see you too little one,” Benjin chuckled. Jinx grinned and planted a quick kiss on his nose before landing on the table between them. The beaming sprite quickly joined in on the storytelling. How she had taken on a Krarg all by herself in the kitchen back home, conveniently leaving out the part where she had almost been killed. After a while, Benjin relented and begrudgingly admitted he felt a little weak. Jinx flew off to find Quill, the Volanti healer and Shaya helped her uncle back to his bed. They walked carefully down the snow-covered pathway, the sun now high in the midday sky. After a couple of near tumbles on the slippery stone, they made it back to Benjin’s temporary home. Quill arrived with Jinx as Shaya lifted her uncle’s legs up into bed and draped the thick woollen quilt over him. Just like everyone else Quill shouted at the old man for galivanting around. Benjin just lay there with a tired, but satisfied smile on his face; his eyelids drooping as Quill continued his rant.
“You won’t go far will you?” Benjin asked, his eyes suddenly snapping open as he lightly grabbed Shaya’s arm, an abrupt note of panic in his voice.
“No, I’ll be back soon.” Shaya patted his hand reassuringly.
“Good, that’s good,” he said sleepily letting go of her. He must have been scared she would disappear again. He had nothing to fear, she wasn’t about to leave him again.
Quill mixed some herbal remedies with a collection of leaves, mushrooms and powders as Benjin’s eyelids became too heavy for him to keep open. Shaya closed the door softly and made her way up the long stone stairs to Storm Bird House while she and Jinx talked about her uncle’s condition. He was certainly a lot better than he had been a few days ago, but they were both still worried, worried that the old man was just putting on an act and that he was secretly in agony. Elle was right, he could be very stubborn.
The guard outside Rowan’s house nodded and opened the door for them as they approached. Inside Elle was talking to several other royal soldiers. Shaya caught something about weapon counts and food supplies, then with a quick salute the iron clad guards turned and rushed passed her and Jinx and out the door.
“How is the old goat?” Elle asked without looking at Shaya.
“Asleep, I think he pushed himself too hard too soon.”
“I’ll make sure to rub that in his face the next time I see him,” Elle said with a note of satisfaction. She was reading something on a long piece of parchment that nearly touched the floor. Rowan was in the back, sitting on the edge of the bed scribbling something quickly with a quill and an ink pot by his side.
“Any news?” said Jinx before Shaya could ask the same question.
“We’re up to fifty-eight,” sighed Elle “One of my scouts sent a raven saying she has twelve more coming from Tetra, but they won’t be here for another day.”
“Any change with the Volanti?” Shaya asked hopefully.
“Don’t hold your breath,” Elle spat angrily “I’ve spoken to Aesal, Brawk and Falca, the three scouts that found your uncle and me. They’re not too pleased with their elder’s decision, but won’t go against their wishes,” Elle said sternly.
“You can’t blame them,” said Rowan’s voice from the back of the room “They are loyal to their leaders, you can’t fault them for that.”
“I suppose not,” came a reluctant sigh from the warrior woman as she rubbed her eyes.
“Uncle Benjin says he believes that the Boaruss will come.”
“Ortuskuss was a great friend of my father,” Rowan stood up and tossed his quill back into the pot of ink “I’m sure he’ll do what he can. We’re counting on him. His people are great warriors, and they make the best weapons in Arrolyn.”
“Which we’ll need plenty of your majesty,” Elle cut in “Most of the soldiers who came brought their own swords and shields, but the civilians don’t have weapons,” she threw the parchment she was reading on the table and looked up for the first time since Shaya had walked in. “Did I see someone with a garden hoe yesterday?” She asked.
“His brother brought a pitchfork” Jinx stifled a laugh.
There was silence for a moment, then Jinx, Shaya and Rowan all burst out into laughter while Elle watched them shaking her head, trying to hide her smirk with her hand.
Another hour passed by. It was spent staring at lists of soldiers, hoping they would magically quadruple in number and going over battle plans that could prove useless without the numbers. Eventually,
they all agreed that they needed a break, except Elle, who Rowan had to order to “Put the pen down, now.”
The four of them left the house with a handful of purple grapes, and bright green apples Rowan didn’t even realise were in a small fruit bowl in the corner of the room. The prince stretched his arms as high as he could and yawned heavily. They wandered over near Song Bird Hall and leant against the wall of the pathway looking out to the late afternoon sky. Elle muttered something about going to “Give them a piece of my mind,” as she looked over at the great stone hall.
“You sound like my uncle,” Shaya remarked, which was met with a sharp look from Elle. Shaya quickly looked away and shoved a handful of grapes into her mouth.
“Good afternoon,” said a voice from behind them. Turning around they saw a tall, slender Volanti, his feathers a dark brown colour, almost black. He wore a deep red sash with a silver lining. A silvery medallion was stitched to the sash with a bird’s eye emblazoned upon it. The sign of the Volanti scouts. He smiled as he walked over, and his dark eyes glinted brightly.
“Good to see you again my friend,” Elle touched the Volanti on the arm.
“And you as well Ellesia.” The tall bird turned to the young prince. “A pleasure to meet you finally your highness,” he bowed low with an exaggerated sweep of his feathery arms.
“Ah, your highness,” Elle said as she turned to Rowan “This is
Aesal.” The Volanti bowed a second time, somehow even lower. “He was one of the scouts that found myself and Benjin Greyborn and brought us here. He has become a good friend.”
“It was you?” Rowan asked, surprised.
“Myself and two others your majesty.”
“Then you have my thanks, Aesal. You saved two lives that mean a great deal to us,” Rowan stretched out his hand. Aesal hesitantly took it and shook his hand vigorously as if it was a huge honour. He had to bend down to do so, he was so tall.
“Think nothing of it your highness,” The Volanti beamed. He glanced over at Shaya and Jinx who was as always sitting on Shaya’s shoulder.
The Shattered Moon (A Divine Legacy Book 1) Page 27
