Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (21 page)

He took a few moments before
answering, his eyes far away. “My people take pride in this skill. We are
taught it from a very young age, but those were just whips I use for the sheep,
not battle whips.” Battle whips? The ones he had used were enough to reduce
that man to a crawling sniffling ant. I wondered what he could do with his
‘battle whips.’

I shook my head.
“How rude of us.
We invite ourselves to your table without
so much as an introduction. I am Kadin Aken and this is Brant Almeer. We have
travelled here from Predaki.”

He nodded as I said each name.
“I am Seran.” I noted that he did not give a last name or say where he was
from. He turned his green eyes on me. “I know you have been looking for me. I
do not know why.”

It struck me that I had not
given much thought to exactly what I should say to him. I tried to buy myself
some time by turning the question back on him. “I have followed some rumours
here. You do not seem happy here, why do you not return to your own people?”

He shifted uncomfortably. He was
wringing his hands together. Suddenly anger blossomed on his face. “You come
here, you sit with me, you ask me all these questions, but you do not reveal
much. I do not think I want to talk to you any longer.” He started rising.

I reached out and took hold of
his arm. “I believe you are different.” His face went tight and he tried to
pull his arm from my hand. Desperately I tightened my grip. “I believe you are
different, like me.
 
I have been called
to a destiny that I have not chosen.
One that I have no idea
how I am meant to fulfil.
I believe you are a part of that destiny.” His
face was still tight and his mouth pulled into a thin line, but he sat down
again.

“You seem even more crazy than
most, so I will stay because I am curious. Now, you tell me your story and I
will consider telling you mine.”

I smiled with relief, but his
face remained stony. I told him everything. I started with my parents and my
birth, my adoption into the Tretakai society. I told him of sneaking off to
learn the Navitas. This he found very interesting and asked many questions when
he thought I did not explain it properly, listening with rapt attention. I told
him of my Hunt and of the Seeking. I did however, leave out Markai, but I
thought the time for disclosing this secret was coming close.

By the time I had finished my
mouth was dry and I drained my glass before ordering another. He sat mulling
over my story for some time. Asking for more details a few times. Finally, he
sat up.

“One
thing that still bothers me.”
He paused before continuing.
“You arrived here with the trader. How do you know this man?”

It was the last thing I expected
and it caught me off guard. I took me a moment to realise who he meant. I shook
my head. “You mean Nassarit? He is a gleeman, not a trader. We came across him
and his family about a day’s travel outside Medirea. His wagon had a broken
wheel and we helped him fix it. We travelled the rest of the way in.”

Brant broke his silence to put
in, “
You
helped him fix the wheel. I
never liked him.”

Seran’s eyes flickered to Brant.
He gave a small nod. His mouth pulled down at the corners with distaste. “You
have good instincts not to like this man. He is most definitively not a
gleeman. He is a trader and a criminal in my eyes.”

I was still confused. “What do
you mean a criminal?”

He shook his head. “He is a
trader yes, but not only of goods. He claims they are all street children.
Homeless, starving urchins that he rescues and finds jobs and homes
for.”
He snorted with disdain.

I frowned and shook my head. “He
was only travelling with his wife and daughter.” He laughed harshly. “That scum
has no daughter, thank the Highness. The girl you saw must have been some of
his ‘goods’.” He put a twist on the word making it sound a curse.

I shook my head dumbly.
All those tales of travelling as a gleeman.
Could they
really all have been lies? Cold anger started building up inside me. I hate few
things more than being lied to.
No wonder the filth did not
show his face that first night or any night since.
I grimaced wondering
where Mai, if that was even her name, were.

Seran was watching me. His eyes
were as sharp as an eagle’s. It felt like he was searching my soul. It made me
shiver. He saw that and a small smile played on his lips. “Now, I suppose, it
is my turn to share.” His eloquent nose wrinkled in disgust. He was still
reluctant and sighed heavily.

“As you have probably already
worked out, I am not from here. I come from a city far away to the north.
Gheldea is the northernmost city within the civilised world. Of course there
are bands of rogue villages dotted around further north, but they are only
barely more civilised than the apes.”

I wondered at what apes were,
but I did not want to interrupt him, so stored my question away for later.

“My family is one of the most
prestigious. We own more sheep than any other family there and we have three
houses on our estates. My uncle is one of the most successful horse traders in
the whole region. Growing up in a family like this means two things.” He held
up one finger stiffly. “First, you have a great many prospects open to you.” He
held up a second finger. “Second, you have a great many expectations put upon
you.” He shook his head sadly. “These two together, tie you down into a neat
little package and if you do not fit into that package, well, the result is
something like this.” He cleared his throat.

“I grew up knowing that someday
I would take over my father’s estate. It is what I had been trained for since
birth. Early on though, I knew this was not truly what I wanted, but as I
said…heavy expectations. It became clear to me that I had considerably more
talent with the whips than any of my peers. By my tenth turning, I had the blue
crescent awarded.”

Our faces must have gone blank,
because he looked at us a moment before starting to explain. “A blue crescent
necklace is awarded to those who reach supreme level. The crescent is actually
a tusk from the blue spotted boar. It is larger than its cousin the wild boar,
and ten times as ferocious. You must kill this boar as a final initiation and
they use its tusk for your necklace.”

He reached inside his shirt and
pulled out the tusk.
 
“It marks you out
as battle ready. This was the first to be awarded to anyone under the
eighteenth turning. My master teacher had to argue long with the city elders
before they agreed to it.”

He went quiet. Brant opened his
mouth to say something, but I silenced him with a severe look. Seran gave his
head a small shake. “Not long after my fourteenth turning, the war finally
came. Gheldea had been at odds with Dresnin for some years at this point. They
were a trading partner, but the Dresnians are a dishonest people. They of
course name this astute business sense,
bhah
, barely
short of criminals. Well, this time they had been too ‘astute’ for their own
good. Our good King Jadea ordered the attack. As a blue crescent wearer, I was
called upon. Age does not matter. Of course, I was eager to go, to test myself
among men.”

His eyes drifted off to a
faraway place. He took a long drink and ordered another glass of wine before
continuing. His face was set in grim lines. “They say your first kill in battle
is the hardest. This is not true. At least, for me, it was the second. The
first you respond almost with a reflex. It is to save yourself.
But then…
You watch as the man in front of you cries out in
pain. You watch as the life light grows dim and then disappears from his eyes.
With the second, you understand exactly what you are doing. You know it is
another whose life light will be taken and returned to the sky.”

He shook his head and deep
crease between his eyes. “No, the second, that is the hardest. After that, the
battle consumes me.
Me more than most.
This is where
my story digresses from what it should have been. When I am in the battle,
a frenzy
consumes me. My skill multiplies. I am stronger,
faster, and accurate to a hair. I do not even tire. That in fact, is one of my
weaknesses. Even though I do not tire, my body can only take so much. It burns
what energy I have before moving on to consuming my body’s reserves. It
continues at full force until suddenly, I have nothing left to give. I can
easily allow exhaustion to kill me, going from fighting to debilitated, in the
space of a heartbeat. I have come close to this.”

He took another long drink
before clearing his throat and continuing. “You may be thinking that I am exaggerating
or that this all seems that merely the fight for my life that fuels my skill,
but there is more. I said already that I have nearly died in battle from
exhaustion. It was not luck that saved me. Once my body started to shut down,
something, uh, unexpected happened. Instinctively I had reached for more
energy. I took this energy from my enemies. I drank their life light. At first,
I did this almost unknowingly, but when I realised what I had done, I knew I
had to know if I could control it. With the next battle, I tested it. I could
use this at will. I could draw on the life light of several people at once. I
take their energy and so, if I continue, I could take it all. I realised I
could kill with this.”

I realised my mouth was hanging
open and I shut it quickly. I looked at Brant and his face looked the way I
felt. “This must be an extremely powerful skill in battle! You could kill
several people at once then.”

He nodded, but said, “Yes, but
it works very slowly. So in truth, the man you are trying to kill in this way
will have you sliced in half before a significant fraction of his life light
has disappeared. Also, it seems that if I am not in battle frenzy and battle
tired, I cannot use this. It seems only to replenish what I have lost.” I nodded.
“So it works as a self-preservation system as opposed to an active attack?” He
smiled.
“Exactly.”

He went quiet for some time.
Brant was chewing on the corner of his lip. “So, I do not understand how
this…power, got you to where you are today. From what I have seen and heard
that seems to be working as a farmer.”

His eyes went sharp and
glittered with something close to anger. “From what Kadin said, it does not
seem that your people, including you,” he stabbed an accusatory finger at
Brant, “accept someone who is different to them very well either.” Brant was
clearly taken aback by this display of temper. He held up his hands and kept
quiet.

I asked him softly. “So, they
exiled you when you told them of what you could do?” He gave a mirthless smile.

“Not at first. The war was
raging. My whips master was commander of our battalion and I went to him with
it. I explained what happens to me during battle. I think initially he did not
believe me, or at least he thought I was mistaken. He posted me close to him
during the next battle and he saw for himself. After the battle, he questioned
me for a long time about it and afterwards, I was always posted on the front
line. In name, at least I was promoted to captain. Everyone wanted to speak to
me, to be close to me during battle. I would even say I was popular.”

He shook his head. “The day came
that the war ended and we returned home as heroes.
At least
at first.
My father was supremely proud of me. Until he learnt of how I
had attained such status. The elders convened and declared that I must be
working with dark powers. That it was unnatural. They declared me disowned and
exiled.”

I gaped. A man who had obviously
come from such an important family was thrown out that easily. They had known
him his whole life, known his family. It even sounded as though his own father
had turned against him. I wondered if I would have suffered the same fate had
they found out about Markai.

The night was getting old and we
all decided to go. When we walked out though, I said to Seran, “Do you mind if
I walk with you for a time?” He shrugged.

I turned to Brant. “I will see
you tomorrow. We can discuss then what we do next.” His face went a bit sour,
but he simply nodded and strode away. I waited until Brant was well out of
earshot. We were walking along towards Seran’s house. He looked at me with
sharp green eyes. “So tell me what you did not want to say in front of Brant.”

I grimaced. I hoped that Brant
had not concluded the same. “There is a part of my story that I left out. Brant
does not know and I am not sure that I want him to know yet.” He nodded and
waited for me to continue. “I think it is easiest if I show you.” I called to
Markai. She appeared and showed herself to Seran as well. He hastily took a few
steps back, reaching for his whips. I held up a hand. “Do not worry. She will
not harm you.”

He gaped with his mouth half
open. He looked from me to Markai. “You control this animal?” I could feel her
indignation at being called an animal. I hastily explained the bond between us,
and that she was Qupari, of the Fae.

He still looked awed. “You are
blessed with this bond, I think. Better than having even a brother next to you
in battle. Why have you not told Brant?” I squirmed a bit at the question. I
have been asking myself that over and over. “I am not certain yet if I can
trust him. We have not yet told you his story.”