“I just want to ensure that we get to Asador safely.”
“We will. With you traveling with us, I have faith that we will.”
Haern wished he had the same faith, but he had already seen too much. Even in the few weeks since they had left Dreshen, the journey hadn’t been completely uneventful. They’d come across a wagon train of merchants, and though the merchants should’ve posed no threat to them, when they were moving onward, three of them had tried to attack. Haern had left three dead bodies in their way.
Elise had watched him, a hint of sadness in her eyes he hadn’t fully understood. It had taken him a few days to grasp why she might have been troubled—it was the fact he had killed on their behalf.
“I see the way you look at things these days,” she said.
“How do I look at things?”
“As if there’s darkness in everything.”
“That’s not how I look at it,” he said, turning away and staring out into the night.
“You do. And given what we’ve encountered, I don’t think anyone blames you. These women appreciate that you have stayed with us, Haern. They know you have fought for them. Killed for them.”
“I have,” Haern said.
“But has it been necessary?”
Haern turned to Elise, studying her for a moment. “If I hadn’t done that, they would have—”
“Done nothing,” she said. “We had the numbers, and we had just as many swords as they did. We might not have as much experience with them as you, but I still think a dozen women armed with swords would have been more than a match for three merchants who decided to cause us trouble. Eventually, you’re going to leave us, and when you do, we need to know we can defend ourselves.”
“Which is why I continue to work with as many as I can.”
“Haern…” She took a step forward, reaching for his hand and squeezing it. As she did, the strange throbbing intensified. Would it ever stop? “I just don’t want you to lose yourself in helping us find ourselves.”
“I don’t think I will.”
“I don’t want you to have to think about it. I want you to know it won’t happen.”
Haern smiled at her. “I’m not sure that can be the case.”
She sighed. “Is this what it’s going to be like for us?”
“What do you mean?”
“When we get to Asador. Is this what we have to look forward to?” Elise turned and looked behind her, her gaze drifting across the collection of women. One hand touched the hilt of the sword she wore. “Are we always going to have to fear for our safety, worrying about how we will protect ourselves against another attack?”
Haern shook his head. “I don’t think it’s going to be like that for you.”
“Then why is it like that for you?”
Haern sighed. “It’s all I know.”
“Fighting like this is all that you know?”
“Not like this, but preparing. My whole life, I grew up hearing about the Forgers, men and women of incredible power, their magic meant to harm my people. My father chased them, leaving us alone, disappearing for weeks and sometimes months at a time, coming back only for a little while before he would venture out again, prepared to fight once more.”
“And so this is normal for you.”
“I don’t know if it’s normal or not, but it’s how I know to keep those I care about safe.”
“How come he didn’t take anyone else with him?”
“I think he tried, but when he did, others got hurt. He was determined not to let that happen again, and so as much as he might want help, he thought he was doing others a favor by excluding them.”
At least, that was what he could come up with. Haern wondered what he would have learned had he been able to work with his father sooner. How skilled could he have been had he begun to understand his abilities and the connection to them before now?
Maybe his father would have been able to help him learn how to connect to the metal and use that connection in a more effective way than he had discovered on his own. Then again, it was just as possible that his father wouldn’t have been able to teach him anything. Haern used his connection differently than his father did. There was nothing wrong with that, especially as it was all he knew. Now that he had increased connection to lorcith, Haern wondered if he would have been able to learn from his father.
And now he never could.
It was times like these, times when he thought about what could have been and what should’ve been, that he felt the sadness and sorrow of that loss.
“My parents wanted me to be a seamstress,” Elise said.
Haern looked over, smiling. “I never knew that.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t something that I wanted. I never enjoyed trying to thread the needle, and I hated poking my finger.” She held her hands up, tapping her fingers together. “The only problem was that it was something my parents knew. They thought by teaching me that skill, they could make me more than they were.”
“Why? What were they?”
“My father was a farmer. My mother worked the farm with him, though she also collected honey.”
“It seems like a nice life.”
“It was a nice life, but at the same time, I was like anyone else. I think I wanted to know if there was more for me in the world.”
“How so?”
“I went in search of something else. That’s when I was taken.”
“What sort of something else did you go in search of?”
Elise turned away.
“What was it?” Haern asked, smiling. Whatever it was had left her somewhat embarrassed, and that aroused his curiosity.
“I wanted to sing,” she said.
“Would you sing for me now?”
“I don’t think I can. I don’t have any accompaniment, and I don’t know that I want you to hear me sing.”
“Why not? I bet you have a lovely voice.”
Shook her head. “I don’t want you to laugh at me.”
“I’d never laugh at you.”
She looked up, and she stepped away from him, out into the darkness. As she did, she sang softly, her voice gentle and sweet, carrying a soft and happy tune. It was a song he didn’t know, but he found himself humming along with her. When it was done, she stood in silence for a while.
“That was… beautiful,” he said.
“You’re just saying that.”
Haern moved to stand next to her, shoulder to shoulder, and, taking a chance, he slipped his arm around her waist. She tensed for only a moment before sinking against him. “It was beautiful. Much like you.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know. If there’s another attack out here tonight, I’ll stop it, but I’d like to know who it is and what weapon was attacking us.”
Elise lifted her head off his shoulder, looking over at him. “That’s not what I mean. What’s going to happen to us when we get to Asador?”
“I intend to get help for you. That’s where the Binders—the real Binders—will be found.”
And he had every intention of getting them to the real Binders, to a place of safety. Once he did, he wouldn’t have to worry about others harming them. They would be safe, far from the Forgers and their grasp, and he could alert Carth or one of her people about what he’d witnessed. She would need to know that others pretended to be with the Binders. He had to believe she would deal with that quickly.
“That’s not what I mean. What’s going to happen to us?”
Haern licked his lips, swallowing. “I don’t know.”
Elise studied his face for a few moments before resting her head on his shoulder. Together, they stared out into the night.
2
Haern
Morning came quickly, and Haern was exhausted from staying awake, but overnight there had been no other sign of movement or of whatever attacker he’d encountered. As the sun crept above the horizon, the you
ng women all awoke, stirring and yawning, some stretching, and they quickly began to go through the motions of breaking down the camp for the night. There was no sense of organization. Each morning, someone would take the turn of burying the coals, something Haern thought was necessary, though he couldn’t quite remember why he would believe it to be so. Dried meat and stale bread were passed around, everyone getting something to eat, but not nearly enough to fill their rumbling stomachs. They had plenty of water, and the streams in this part of the world were plentiful enough that he didn’t have to worry about when they would find another, so they drank freely. If only they had more food.
Unfortunately, villages were few and far between along the way, so they were forced to depend on the food they’d brought out of the city. It wasn’t much, not enough for them to dispense openly, but it was enough for them to share.
By the time they reached another village, Haern wondered if they would even have enough money to purchase food. He hated the idea of stealing, but he would do so if it came down to it.
Elise sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She had rested on his shoulder after they had taken a seat, and he hadn’t wanted to move her. She looked up at him, the rising sunlight glittering off her blue eyes, reminding him of the ocean that crashed along the shores of Elaeavn, a sight he hadn’t seen nearly as often as he probably should have.
“I take it there weren’t any more attacks?” she said.
Haern shook his head. “No other attacks.”
“Did you sleep?”
He met her gaze. For a moment, he thought about claiming he’d rested, but she would likely see through him. She usually did.
“No. I thought it best if I stayed awake.”
“What did you expect to see?”
Haern shrugged. “I don’t know if I could’ve seen anything, but I focused on the sense of the metal.”
“And you haven’t detected anything?”
“Nothing more than what’s with us.”
Elise had some understanding of Haern and his connection to the metal, and she glanced down at his sword before her gaze drifted to her own. “One of these days, I’d like a sword like yours.”
“Are you sure? Mine’s a little heavy for someone as weak as you.”
She shoved him on the shoulder as she sat up. “I’m surprised with your bony arms you’re even able to carry it.”
Haern glanced down at his arms. He wasn’t nearly as strong as he would be if he had worked at the forge his entire life like his father or grandfather, but the time he had spent there had bulked him up, giving him strength most others didn’t have.
“I’m sorry I disappoint you.”
She shrugged. “I don’t mind bony arms.”
“I don’t have to use my arms with the sword, anyway,” Haern said. “I just use my connection to the metal.”
“That’s not something you can teach us.”
“Unfortunately not.”
“I think you want to hide that from us, anyway. You think to use your own special abilities to cheat us out of techniques you don’t want to teach.”
“That’s definitely it,” Haern said.
“Haern?”
Haern looked up and saw Erica, a younger girl with a mess of brown hair that seemed to get more and more tangled with each passing day. She was smart and knew this area better than some; she claimed she’d studied maps when she was younger.
“What is it?”
“We’re running out of food.”
Haern glanced back toward the other girls. How could they be running out of food so soon? He’d thought they had another couple of days, maybe more than that, before that would become an issue.
“What happened to our rations?” Elise asked, getting to her feet.
Erica blinked, glancing over to Elise before turning her attention to Haern. He didn’t want the women looking to him for support. He’d rather they looked to others like Elise or Jayna or the other older women. Too many of the younger ones turned to him, their eyes practically begging him to take on a role he didn’t want.
“We’ve been rationing, but I think someone’s been sneaking a little bit more than their share.”
Haern glanced over to Elise. That had been their concern. With as many women as they had here, they ran the risk of someone deciding they didn’t want to cut back on their portion.
“Some of the girls are quite young,” Elise said. “They don’t understand why they’re being asked to ration. We can’t get too angry.”
“We aren’t going to have enough food for much longer,” Erica said.
Elise glanced over to Haern. “Then we have to find a place where we can stop and get more.”
“That’s just it, we’re several days away from the next village, and another week or more from the next city, not to mention how far we have to go before we even reach—”
Elise touched her gently on the arm, trying to soothe her. “We are going to be okay,” she whispered.
Erica nodded, and she turned away. “I know, it’s just that we’re hungry. We’re tired, and quite a few of us are scared.” She twisted her hair in one hand, forming a bit of a knot with it. As she did, she glanced from Haern to Elise. “Can we get going?”
Haern nodded. “I didn’t realize you were waiting on me.”
“Not on you, but… well, on the two of you.”
Haern shared a look with Elise. They would have to be careful or they would start rumors, if they hadn’t already. How many times had they slipped off into the night, if only to talk? He wouldn’t be surprised if their sneaking off had raised a different sort of question that he should’ve anticipated, and yet he had been thankful just to have time with Elise, time where they could sit and talk and get to know each other better.
“The two of us are ready to go,” Haern said.
In the daylight, everything around them was a little different. They had made their way through a flowing grassy plain and moved into an area dotted with clumps of trees. Every so often, Haern would use his connection to lorcith to hover in the air and get a better view of where they were and what was around them. Each time he did, he was able to see everything all around quite a bit better, but he still only knew they were heading north, making their way toward Asador, though there wasn’t a particular road they followed.
“What is it?” Elise asked.
“Where did our attacker come from?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t like the fact that there was something here,” he said.
And the fact of it was that there was lorcith here.
Because of that, he should be able to find it. In the darkness, he’d wanted only to ensure the safety of the others, but once he’d made certain they were safe, he should have gone in search of lorcith. If they had a weapon like that, chances were good they had more than one.
“Head north. I’m going to meet up with you in a little bit,” Haern said.
“Are you sure?”
“Keep on guard. Be ready for whatever might come.”
“Aren’t we always?”
Haern smiled. These days, they had been better and better about staying on edge. It was their way of protecting themselves. By maintaining their alertness, they were going to be able to defend themselves more effectively.
Elise took his hand, squeezing it.
Haern pushed off using a pair of coins, taking to the sky. Once airborne, he focused on the sense of lorcith.
This was something he should have done the night before, and he chided himself for not having done so before now. There was the sense of lorcith that he carried with him. It was more than just the sword, and the knives, and the coins; it was the sense of lorcith from down near the camp. There were knives there that he had forged.
What he was searching for was nothing like that. He wanted to find the sense of lorcith that had come at him, threatening him, and as he focused on it, he found it.
The sense was far too close to the campsite.
Haern lowered himself carefully, prepared to push off on lorcith if some other attacker came, or if the sphere exploded, sending more nails at him.
Only… he didn’t feel there were more attackers here.
There was the sense of metal, but there wasn’t anything else mixed within it as there had been before. It was smooth.
Haern dropped to the ground in knee-high grasses. He approached carefully, slowly, using his connection to lorcith to follow the sphere, and when he got close to it, he crouched down in the grasses, reaching for it. He held his hand above the surface of the sphere, focusing on the lorcith within it. As far as he could tell, the lorcith was pure, not an alloy, and it was almost a perfect sphere.
Haern lifted it. Small holes within it revealed where the nails—or whatever they were—had been. There was nothing left, so whatever they had triggered and fired at him was gone.
Interesting.
He stuffed it into his pocket and looked around. He wanted to find the nails to better understand how he’d been attacked, another example of what they had used, but he didn’t see any here.
Launching himself once again, Haern hovered, though this time he stayed closer to the ground. As he did, twisting in place, he focused on lorcith. There were faint connections to the metal all around him, dozens and dozens of them, none of them very significant, and all of them spread out in a circle around where he had found the sphere.
Haern dropped near a particularly large cluster of them and found three of the nails. Picking them out of the grass, he held them up to the light. They were sharp, shaped like needles that reminded him of Galen’s darts, and he frowned to himself.
Could these be poisoned?
He didn’t like the idea of that, but it had some merit. It wouldn’t surprise him to learn that someone else would have poisoned a weapon like this, especially a weapon designed to explode and rain down nails.
He would have to be careful. He decided to keep these three, but he wrapped them in a strip of cloth before stuffing them into his pocket. It wouldn’t do for him to accidentally stab and poison himself. When he returned to Elaeavn, he could ask Galen to help him determine whether or not they were poisoned.
The Coming Chaos Page 2
