by Anna Logan
There wasn’t much that could be done in the way of freshening up, but she did what she could. Put on a clean dress, let Brenly painstakingly brush out the tangles in her hair, while she brushed Alili’s. Kae gave Alili a smock that was far too large and promised to alter one of her own dresses down to her size.
After that, there were no excuses she could think of to stay in the shelter. In fact, she didn’t want to. It was too dark, too cramped. They went back to the fire, Kae bringing the dress she was going to cut down and sew to Alili’s size.
At their return, more soup was given to Alili, and more was offered to Talea. Again, she hesitated.
“Surely you’re hungry,” Grrake said, kneeling near her. “Is it because your throat hurts?”
A nod. Her only option for communication.
He frowned. “I’m sorry. But by the looks of things, it’s been awhile since you’ve eaten. Maybe you can at least eat some of it?”
Another waft of it reached her. This time, it triggered a sudden eagerness. Despite it, she took the bowl slowly, and took the first spoonful even slower. The flavor flooded her mouth, bringing an expectant grumble to her gut. Much of the initial satisfaction was lost with the pain of swallowing it, however. It became a tug-of-war between the hunger in her belly and the ache in her throat. The hunger had its way through most of the soup, until finally she put down the near-empty bowl with a wince, touching her neck.
At first, no one spoke. That hardly helped her nerves. She was grateful when Naylen offered a report on how they’d infiltrated the Asyjgon base and explained how it had taken a while to follow the trail. Haeric picked up the narrative to tell her the rest of what happened the night of her capture: how the Asyjgon had attacked Yhkon to distract him, how Seles, Brenly, and Kae had been tied and gagged but unharmed, how the Wardens had gone out to find the tracks. After that, the conversation eased into the usual banter, small-talk and exchange of stories. That much, she could relax to.
Until Yhkon’s footsteps startled her, and suddenly she was on edge again. Every nerve was fine-tuned, ready to react at the slightest provocation. He was carrying the large water-skin that they used to when traveling in an area with little moisture. It was full, dripping and obviously heavy. The discussion had already died upon his arrival. Everyone remained silent as he hauled the flexible jug toward the fire and dumped its contents. Sizzling and hissing, the flames vanished, plumes of steam in their place. Darkness replaced the tranquil glow.
A chill swept over her skin. Her grip on Alili’s hand tightened.
“Everyone get some sleep,” was the lead Warden’s muttered announcement, as he sat down. “Tarol second watch, Wylan third.”
A moment of uncertain silence. Haeric got up first, and they all followed his example. Talea wavered as she stood up. Not from the wave of fatigue that came with movement. Her focus was on Yhkon. Could she do something to help him? What was it even that was wrong? His jaw was set, brow drawn, eyes narrowed and glaring at nothing. Approaching him sounded about as intelligent as approaching a wild dragon.
Brenly put her arm around her shoulders. Kae said something about getting a good night’s sleep. With a final glance at the Warden, Talea went with Alili and the girls into the shelter. Crawled into the blankets they had arranged for her. Returned their hugs, smiled gratefully at their repetitions of how glad they were she was okay and how worried they’d been, and closed her eyes.
~♦~
Lerrip’s calloused, massive hand enclosed around her neck like a steel trap. His voice, thundering in her ears. Alili’s wide, terrified eyes—a scream as shadowy figures loomed over her. Talea tried to scream. Tried to tell them not to hurt her. Not a sound.
Talea gasped, bolting upright. Strands of hair were stuck to the perspiration on her forehead. The constant, dull ache in her rib cage became an inferno as her chest rose and fell for each ragged breath. She squeezed her eyes shut. Balled her fists. Begged for relief from the pain.
“Talea?” The whisper made her jump. Kae was sitting up, head tilted with concern. “Are you okay?”
She looked to her left, then her right. Alili was safe. Tucked away in a pile of blankets, asleep. Brenly slumbered peacefully on her other side. “Yeah,” the word hitched in her throat, raspy, as everything she said was. “I’m going to…” she made a vague gesture toward the flap of the tent that served as a door. By the pale light seeping in through the seams, it was almost morning anyway. Realizing that would just make Kae think she was taking a short excursion into the woods for natural reasons, she painstakingly finished the sentence. “Get up.”
“Alright,” Kae relaxed, propped up on just her elbow now. “Do you want company?”
An artificial smile, a shake of her head. Having satisfied her friend, Talea crawled out of bed. Pulled on her boots, wrapped a shawl around herself. Stepped out into the crisp morning scene: sunlight just beginning to filter through the trees, a pastel sky, dew on the grass and a nip in the air. Haeric was on the last shift, the only other person up. He smiled at her, indicating for her to sit next to him. “You look cold,” he said.
She shrugged, but he was already taking off the outer cloak he wore and draping it over her shoulders. Done, he went on in his mild manner. “How’s the voice this morning?”
“Getting there,” she rasped out. Even if she could talk now, she still thought she sounded pathetic. But her voice concerned her less than her dreams. It was the fourth night since she’d been rescued from the Asyjgon, and she was still having nightmares.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Another shrug. Since it hurt some, she didn’t talk unless it was necessary.
They sat quietly after that. For some reason, she found herself imagining Asyjgon bursting through the woods into their campsite. What would she do? How would she react?
In that horrible room with Lerrip and the other men when he’d first threatened Alili to persuade her to demonstrate her ability, she felt certain that she could have killed every man in the room, taken Alili by the hand, and probably fought her way out of the base completely. Other than the time she’d defended herself against the Asyjgon attackers and accidentally killed two of them, she had never used the lightning for violence. Yet she knew. Knew she could have escaped.
That meant that if Asyjgon were to flood the camp in another attack, she could fight them. Defend herself and her companions. The question, the doubt that haunted her…was whether or not she would.
Alili meandered out of the shelter rubbing sleepy eyes, spotted Talea, and climbed into her lap. The little girl still never spoke. Still observed the Wardens with distrust, sometimes fear. Still was wary of Wylan, Naylen, and Ki; still hesitant around Brenly and Kae. But she remained glued to Talea’s side.
Talea took the excess of the cloak Haeric had given her to bundle Alili in. How was it the girl didn’t despise her? Fear her? No doubt Alili’s enslavement to the Asyjgon had always involved mistreatment, but it was because of Talea that she’d seen additional abuse. Yet here she was, snuggled up in her lap, trusting her more than anyone.
She kissed Alili’s wavy black hair, now silky smooth and clean. If Asyjgon were to attack then and there, she would fight. She would fight because Alili couldn’t.
Gradually, everyone drifted out of their tents. Breakfast was eaten, everything was packed, and they were on their way.
Yhkon claimed they would reach the outpost within a week. As far as she was concerned, it couldn’t happen soon enough. The Garney Mountains had lost their majesty and grandeur to her. Now, all she could associate them with was discomfort and fear. Asyjgon were at the top of the list, but there were other things, too. Such as the zorcs—large, aggressive birds that had attacked them twice, each time fended off by the Wardens—the rugged terrain, the soreness and physical exhaustion of each day’s toil, the monotony of the travel, and the homesickness…made worse by the knowledge that she would probably never see her home again.
Since they were no longer in Asyjgon t
erritory and the threat was past, they walked instead of rode to prevent injury to the celiths. As usual, Talea walked with Alili. Brenly and Naylen joined them some of the time, Brenly and Kae later. Then just Alili. Then Yhkon for a while. He had recovered from his dark mood of four days ago. Not that he was particularly cheerful or amiable, but cordial, and she could tell he was trying to be friendly. It just wasn’t something that came naturally to him, apparently.
Today, he was in a “fixing” mood. He got the impression she was gloomy and went about trying to solve the problem. He wanted to know if her ribs hurt. How her throat was doing. If she was feeling almost back to full strength yet. Had she not slept well? Was she dehydrated?
As if any of those things were of much consequence. She was on her way to a legendarily wild, uninhabitable land to lead a persecuted people group into war with her freakish ability that she had been unwilling to use to save herself and a little girl from abuse. So what if she hadn’t slept well or her throat was a little sore?
They stopped at a creek to refill their canteens. Yhkon insisted on filling hers and Alili’s for them, as if the minor task might do her in. She sat down and watched him and most of the others carry the flasks to the water’s edge a stone’s throw away and fill them up, one by one.
She didn’t hear Wylan’s approach until he had already sat down next to her. “How are you feeling?” he said the last word as if it was foreign to his tongue.
“I’m alright,” she eyed him sideways. He looked relaxed. Not uptight or nervous, like might be expected of someone who wasn’t naturally social or outgoing.
He was observing the rest of the group as she had been. Either someone else had taken his canteen, or it didn’t need to be filled, because he made no move to fill it. “I think I was wrong about them,” he said abruptly.
“About…” she followed his gaze to where Yhkon and Grrake were knelt at the bank. “The Wardens?”
A nod. She’d long ago decided that that was Wylan Cravei’s preferred method of communication. He didn’t offer further explanation, and she didn’t ask for it. After all, she’d come to the same conclusion, without even realizing it. It had been some time since she’d remembered to be suspicious, to be wary of the potential murderers. It had been some time since she’d thought of the Wardens as anything other than what they claimed to be: their guardians.
She cleared her throat. “Hey, you’ll see your sister soon. Then we can forget we ever thought they were assassins.”
Another nod. “And you’ll see your father again,” he said quietly. After a moment, he looked at her. There was something in his expression, something out of place. Something like…loyalty, friendship, but tainted with worry. Whatever it was, it flashed through his features for only a moment, and was gone.
As everyone began returning from the spring, Wylan stood up, offering his hand to her. An exhilarating tingle of heat and the spark of blue as she took it. After helping her up, he gave Alili his other hand. Wylan was the closest thing to an exception of Alili’s distrust of men. Talea guessed it was because Wylan was the first one she had convinced her to trust, and the one she associated being rescued with the most, since he’d carried her out of there. Alili accepted his help. With them both on their feet, he walked away without so much as another glance.
Talea smiled to herself. His gesture had been sweet, yet the whole thing had been without so much as a smile, and he’d ended it as abruptly as he’d started it. That’s Wylan for you.
17
The Lead Warden
E nisham tossed the letter onto the table, gesturing to where it landed. “This is exactly what I’ve been saying for years.”
“Oh, come on.” Bactah was wearing one of those infuriatingly nonchalant smiles of his. “What you’ve been saying for years is that you don’t like Yhkon because he doesn’t let you boss him around.”
Leveling a glare at the young councilman, Enisham folded his arms on the table. “You should watch your—”
“Enough.” Ilidyu silenced each of them with a calm, stern stare. His thin white eyebrows puckered as he continued. “Enisham, you are too hard on Yhkon. Bactah, you are too easy on him. Let’s not let our personal bias affect such a significant decision as this.”
“It’s not a decision!” Bactah was on his feet. He’d never been good at sitting still when he got excited or upset. “Yhkon has been Silquije Eun for five years. We aren’t going to boot him out just because Tarol—who has always been jealous of him, might I remind you—sends us a letter saying he did something stupid!”
Hoppenfietzel, who everyone just called Hop, started to reply. “But what—”
“For all we know, Tarol is grossly over-exaggerating it.” Bactah swept on. “His account alone is not enough to—”
“Bactah,” Kwin interrupted him, wearing a rather distressed frown. “You’ve been Yhkon’s close friend since you were fourteen. We get it. I don’t think most of us are eager to take such a drastic step, or even to question him. But we must be rational about this. We have to consider all the facts. If the facts say Yhkon is fulfilling his role as Silquije Eun well, we’ll be glad. If the facts say he isn’t…then we have to at least discuss taking action.”
Bactah sat down, expression taut, eyes lowered.
Juplay cleared his throat. “What Tarol described can only be called reckless aggression. If it’s true, if he was not exaggerating out of resentment of Yhkon’s authority, that’s a problem. The leader of our top military division, of the men tasked with protecting and mentoring the wards, can’t be reckless and prone to malevolent violence. I do agree with you, Bactah. Tarol has been known to paint the worst possible picture of Yhkon, and that should be kept in mind. But,” he sighed, “I don’t think any of us can argue that Yhkon hasn’t sometimes shown aggressive tendencies.”
“What is he, a dog?” Bactah glowered at all of them. “He’s a warrior, the top warrior in all of Calcaria! Of course he’s aggressive! What good would he be if he were passive and benevolent?”
“There’s different types of aggression, and you know it,” Enisham snapped. “If he is thoughtlessly attacking Asyjgon before taking the time to make sure the other Wardens are in position, before thinking of the wards’ safety, then he is not fit for his position. And according to Tarol, that’s exactly what he did. Which, I might add,” his gaze hardened, “forced Talea to defend herself with her abilities, which is what caused her abduction by the Asyjgon. How is that acceptable?”
Reller swallowed, rubbing his palms together nervously. “I just want to say…shouldn’t we acknowledge his qualities? And shouldn’t we acknowledge the reason he’s the way he is?”
Enisham rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, we all know his qualities. Grrake makes sure of that. And we all know he’s a turbulent, unstable individual because of what he’s dealt with over the years. I know. It’s beside the point.”
“Um,” Kwin raised two fingers as he spoke up, “I would like to point out that isn’t it beside the point, because what will he do if we try to revoke him? Perhaps more importantly, what will the other Wardens do?”
“Exactly.” Juplay nodded. “There isn’t a shadow of a doubt that Grrake would resign without a second thought. I suppose the other Wardens wouldn’t, except perhaps Ahjul. And it’s not certain. They might all put up a fight.”
Bactah grunted. “Yhkon wouldn’t take any of this nonsense well, I can tell you that. By this point, he probably has Talea’s loyalty too. I think this is all ridiculous, but even if it wasn’t, we’re too late. Simple as that. They’ve already gotten their wards. We can’t ditch them now. This is too crucial a stage.” When no one replied, he clasped his hands and continued. “I know some of you never have thought Yhkon to be a wise choice for lead Warden. And I suppose I understand why. But the fact is, we gave it to him, and he is Silquije Eun. All of Calcaria admires him, even those that don’t believe us about the Eight still respect the Wardens and look to them as leaders. If we had a chance to get rid o
f any of them,” he shook his head, “it’s gone now.”
Enisham frowned at nothing in particular. “It’s not that simple. But for now, I consent that we do nothing drastic. But we will summon Yhkon to a meeting at the earliest opportunity and we will let him know that he needs to keep his personal problems separate from his work. We’ll—”
“What we won’t do is say it like that.” Ilidyu scowled at him. “We’ll talk to him. We’ll let him know that we don’t want to hear any more stories about recklessness or unnecessary violence. But we won’t make a personal attack on a young man who has faced a lot more hardship in his two decades than you have in your five, Enisham.”
Though glowering, Enisham didn’t argue. “Fine. But don’t think we can tolerate continued misconduct.” He leaned forward. “Yhkon either gets himself together, or someone takes his place.”
~♦~
“They’re making breakfast,” Yhkon gave Ki’s shoulder a whack. “That’s why. Now get along with you.”
Talea watched with a smirk as Ki huffed good-naturedly about the girls “never doing any real work” as he left to do his assigned task. Yhkon wore a smirk too. It was always nice to see him in a good enough mood to be visibly amused by Ki’s antics.
She turned her attention back to her own task: breakfast. With Asyjgon territory days behind them, and almost no risk of Kaydorians this deep into the mountains, they were allowed a campfire, which meant something other than dried provisions for breakfast and supper. This morning, she and Brenly were doing their best with limited resources to fry strips of barbsit meat and the zorc eggs Tarol had—ignoring Yhkon’s chastisement—stolen from an unguarded nest while he was on perimeter check an hour earlier. There wasn’t much to do about seasoning, or even much oil to fry with, but the smell was still delicious enough to make her stomach growl in anticipation.
