Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (16 page)

His assumption of leadership was
starting to grate against my nerves, but in light of the situation, I gritted
my teeth and swallowed my irritation. I reached for Navitas and instantly felt
less nervous. We set off again. The tracks followed the road for a short time,
but then veered off east into the forest.

Markai said that she had tracked
the smell last night for several miles into the forests where it abruptly
disappeared. I looked at her confused. How could it simply disappear? Did she
lose the track over a stream or river? She looked at me with indignation.

I never lose a scent. This scent went to where no one can follow. Not
here any longer.

Did that mean to a different
plane of existence?
Perhaps to the Fae?
The denial
from Markai was forceful.
They are not
Fae. We would sense them entering. They would not survive long there.
No, not to the Fae.

As it obviously had not been
Dyrrendrel that searched our rooms, this still did not explain the tracks. The
only assumption to make therefore was that whatever had done the searching,
were working alongside the Dyrrendrel or perhaps were in command of them. One
thing seemed certain; it was not the same creature that had destroyed the
village. If not I, then Markai would have recognised the scent immediately.

I thought back to what I had
read in the Book of Remembrance. I could not recall reading about either a
Twisted One or a Dark Child with such a distinctive putrid smell. That,
however, did not mean it was not in there. I had not read half of the Book yet.

I happened to look over at Brant
and saw that he was staring at me.
His eyes cold flint again.
I stared back at him and raised my eyebrows. “What?”

His eyes narrowed an instant
before he looked ahead. I wondered what I must have looked like, staring off at
seemingly empty air as I talked with Markai. I will have to remember to be more
careful.

The next village along was still
a day’s travel away so when dusk fell, we set up camp. We did not have any
fresh meat that evening so I made a simple vegetable stew. My empty stomach was
all too grateful for a fresh meal to even miss the meat.

Brant looked at me over the edge
of his bowl. “We cannot take any chances. It is clear that there is something
out there watching us and maybe more. We should take turns to stand watch. I
will take first watch.”

That tone of assumed authority
again. It took me a moment to respond. I forced my voice to be firm, but level.
“Watches are a good idea, but we will draw lots to decide them.” I was not
bothered about who took which watch, but it was time to put a stop to his
attempt at leadership. He looked at me consideringly before giving a firm nod.

I picked up two twigs of equal
width and while concealing the bottom half in the palm of my hand, held them
out to him. “Short twig you do the first watch, long twig, second watch.” He
drew the long one. I showed him the other for comparison. Face like stone, he
nodded.
 

Markai had checked a large
perimeter around our camp for any signs of tracks or suspicious odours, but
came back saying it was all clear. Brant settled in his bedroll and was soon
snoring. I was sure that the thunderous noise he was making would scare away
any unwanted visitors.

I took out the pot of cream and
removed my shirt. Small dark scabs covered the brand. I started picking at
them; I had never been one to leave scabs alone, even when Moma warned me she
would give me some more to pick at if I did not stop. Most came off very
easily; a few I had to scratch and peel at a bit before they would lift. By the
time I was done, the brand looked nearly healed. I wished I had a mirror to see
it in its entirety.

The night went by uneventfully.
I woke him up a few hours later and curled up in my bed. Even though we had
been more civil to each other, I was a long way off from trusting him. I kept
Sunder by my side and Markai curled up next to me on the other side.

All too soon, I got a rough
shove to wake again. I squinted up at him angrily for the harsh wake up, but
did not say anything. Civil. Better to be civil, I reminded myself. We packed
up and set off. Teeka was thankfully getting more used to Markai, only eyeing
her warily every now and again until she left us again in the late morning.

With the sun high in the sky, we
heard the rush of a nearby river. By wordless agreement, we veered off the road
in search of a bath. It took us longer to reach the river than I had thought it
would, but the cool clean feel of the water washed away any regrets about
coming.

I kept my shirt on while
swimming. I still was not prepared to try to explain away the massive brand on
my front. Brant gave me a sidelong look when he saw I did not intend to remove
my shirt, but he did not say anything.
 
I
took out my razor and did away with the itchy stubble. Refreshed we cut across
the forest diagonally to make up for lost time.

It was still long past dark when
we arrived in Pharea. It was quiet in the streets with the flicker of lamp
light coming from only a few houses that we passed. We stopped at the Well
Wined Inn. After handing our luggage and horses to the stable hand, we walked
into the common room.

There were a few tables taken
and a murmur of conversation drifted through the room. The conversation hushed
when we walked in and more than a few mistrustful gazes met us. After we sat
down the conversation slowly picked up again, but there was still palpable
tension in the air. Wilm’s father, Master Haer, was always sharing his tales of
the road and many times, he had mentioned stopping over in Pharea. He had never
a bad word to say about the town or its people. I could not help but think that
this would not have been the welcome that he had received. Brant was scowling
at everyone.

When it became apparent that no
serving girl was going to come, I walked over to the bar. The large woman behind
the counter wore a frilly dress with large skirts, which only served to
accentuate her size. Her hazel eyes were sharp though. She was drying a glass
with a cloth that almost made me reconsider ordering a drink. She said not a
word to me, but stopped drying the glass and lifted her eyebrows at me.

“Good evening. Could we have two
mugs of ale and whatever food you have on offer tonight?” She resumed her
perpetual drying and her eyes looked past me.

When I did not move, her eyes
whipped back to me and she snapped, “Well go on then. It will be brought to
your table. Do you think we are uncivilised here?” She was waving the glass
around while speaking making her three chins
wobble
. I
hurriedly sat down again and I noticed that we were still getting sidelong
glances from the other patrons.

 
A gaunt looking man came out with our drinks.
I looked up in surprise when he sat down at our table. He looked agitated, his
eyes kept flickering between Brant and me and then across the room.

A bead of sweat slowly tracked
down the side of his face and into his scraggly beard. He sniffed loudly.
“Where have you folks come from today then?”

Brant’s face looked pinched. He
frowned and his nose wrinkled up. “Who do you think you are, joining our table
uninvited without even the courtesy of introducing yourself?”

The man nearly jumped out of his
seat at the tone in Brant’s voice. He shook his head vigorously. “I do
apologise, sir. I am Davin. Good innkeeper of the Well Wined Inn.” Pointing
over his shoulder at the large woman behind the bar, he added. “I believe you
have met my good wife, Melit. I do not mean to be rude, but I wonder if you
would spare me a moment of your time, kind sirs?”

I gave Brant a stern look. “Go
ahead.”

He nodded his head several
times. “Thank you, thank you.” He folded his hands together on the table. His
pink tongue darted out, ran across his top lip and disappeared again. Still
nodding, he continued. “We have had a couple of…shall we say, unpleasant guests
recently.
Rough folk.
Wore cowls and refused to take
them off. They asked all sorts of questions of me and all my patrons. I do not
appreciate folk being scared away from my inn. They left not a few hours before
you came in. You have been on the road, have you seen anything unusual?”

We both answered at the same
time. “No.”

He looked from Brant’s face to
mine, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
“
Mmm
.”

“Seems
like these folk upset you some.
What kind of questions did they
ask?” Brant asked.

The innkeeper nervously glanced
about before answering. “They wanted to know who had stayed with us recently.
Asking us to describe any strangers.”
He gave a small snort.
“We have many travellers staying with us. I cannot remember all of them. I told
them as much, but they did not like that as an answer.”

His hand went unconsciously to
his throat. When he let his hand drop again, I could see it was shaking. “There
was one more thing.” It was a long moment before he continued. “They were
looking for two young travellers.” His eyes flickered over us and then back
down to his hands on the table.
“Described you two down to a
hair.
They left a message.”

Now I could feel sweat dripping
down my face. When he did not continue, I said, “What was the message Davin?”

His eyes flicked over us again,
his tongue traced his lip. He cleared his throat. “They said the others were
wrong to choose you. You will stumble and you will fall and when you do, they
will be there to make sure you never get up again.” He shivered. “I do not
think these men were the type to make idle threats.”

I looked at him intently. “What
did these men look like?”

He shook his head miserably.
“Like I said, they were wearing cowls pulled low over their faces. Besides, I
did not truly try to get a good look. To be honest with you, I do not even know
that I would tell you if I could. I do not wish to bring their anger down on
me.” He sighed loudly. “I will see what is keeping your meals.” He all but ran
into the kitchen.

Brant looked pensive. “
They
seemed to think they know what we
are meant to be doing. I wish I were more certain of what that is.” The last
part he seemed to add more to himself, but I knew how he felt. I only had a
very vague idea of what I was supposed to do. Find some people with talents
similar to mine. Not a whole lot to go on. Even the Cha did not seem to have
much more information.

Finally, our food was brought
out. The serving girl dumped our plates on the table and darted away without a
word, apparently fearful that association with us could be dangerous for her.
From what Davin had said, I could not really blame her.

Between mouthfuls of sweet
potato pie, Brant asked, “Do you think this is linked with the thing that
searched our rooms?”

I thought it over and answered,
“No, it does not feel the same. These men came in broad daylight openly asking
pointed questions regarding us. Also, why would they be asking if we had been
here if they knew that we were in Searille the night before last?”

Slowly he nodded; his face was a
grim mask.
“Perhaps.
You had better know how to use
that pretty sword of yours. It seems we have enemies on all sides.”

The superior note in his voice
nearly made me lose control of my tongue, but things had been relatively
amicable between us and we still had a long road to travel together.
Best to keep it that way.
He was right about one thing. We
had more enemies than we were aware of and I was sure that soon enough we would
be all too aware of them.

We did not stay in the common
room for much longer than we needed to in order to finish our meals. We were
both feeling the stares from the other people in the room boring into our
heads. I even heard a few muttered curses in line with complaining about
troublemakers.

 
I was tired from the day’s travel so I did not
mind the early bed. The room was small with a narrow bed and small side cabinet
taking up most of the space. It smelled slightly musty, but at least the
mattress was considerably more comfortable than at the Brown Water inn. On the
other hand, maybe I was just more tired.

I again put the Book and the
sentinel next to me under the bedding alongside Sunder. I took my shirt off and
had another look at my brand. I ran my hand over it picking off any remaining
scabs. I was amazed at how quickly it had healed. If I closed my eyes and
simply ran my hand over it, I would not have known that there was any mark
there at all.

Thankfully, I had no late night
callers and only woke up when the sun shone bright through the window. The room
was stuffy with sleep so I threw the window shutters open. I stood there for a
moment drinking in the clear morning air. It was a beautiful day.

I arrived to breakfast before
Brant. The bony innkeeper greeted me with a bright smile that did not reach his
eyes. “I am sure you still have long to travel. We have a good breakfast today
of hard-boiled eggs, bread and some freshly picked peaches from our own trees.
I expect you will need to be leaving after you have eaten. I will ensure we
have your bags and horses ready for you.” His smile became fixed, his eyes
determined. The message was all too clear. We were to leave in a very timely
manner.