Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (29 page)

We ran as fast as we could with
Master Almeida half carrying a weak Alathaya. He led us out the back of the
house to the stables. The groom was standing ready the moment we came out of
the house. “Prepare their horses.” His voice carried a note of urgency, but
with cool command. The groom sped away.
 

“Are you not coming?” I asked.

He looked at me. “Take her to
safety. I must stay here. I cannot leave all the estate workers undefended. If
it is safe, stay close by in hiding, I will find you. If by tomorrow evening I
have not made contact, leave.”

“We can stay and help to fight.”
I protested.

He shook his head once, firmly.
“You three are too important for what comes. You are not at full strength yet.
Run and live to fight a more important battle.” He helped Alathaya onto her
horse and we galloped away towards town. I was worried that she might not be
able to stay mounted. She was clinging onto the pommel of her saddle, her
knuckles white with the effort. Her head lolled alarmingly though.

We rode to our inn. I ran in and
was greatly relieved to find both Brant and Trissa in their rooms. I burst into
his room first. “There is an attack. Get all your things, get Teeka and meet us
at the front.” He jumped up without question and disappeared down the hall.

I ran to the next room along and
after a rapid knock let myself into Trissa’s room. Her mouth dropped open in
surprise and she started to protest at my unannounced entrance, but I cut her
off. I told her the same as Brant. She looked around the room. “But, it will
take me a while to pack everything. I did not expect to have to leave in such
urgency.”

My temper bubbled. “You have two
minutes. If you are not out front we leave you here.” Without waiting for a
response, I turned on my heel. Before the door closed behind me, I heard
mutters of ‘ill-mannered brute’, but at least I heard her scurrying around to
pack.

She appeared moments after Brant
and as soon as she came around the corner, I urged Balder on to a gallop. I
headed for a high hill just to the south of Andos. I reasoned that a better
vantage point would be welcome and we would still be close to the town. We let
the horses
slow
when we reached the uneven ground at
the foot of the hill and made our way to the top. As soon as we stopped,
Alathaya swayed in her saddle. I dismounted and helped her down and onto the
ground. I was only half-surprised when Markai appeared. She had felt my urgency
and the feel of danger. She trotted off to check around our perimeter to ensure
that we had not been followed. Seran and Brant went about hobbling the horses
and gathering firewood.

I sat Alathaya down and gave her
some water from a skin. She drank gratefully, but I thought more spilled down
her chin than went in her mouth. She started dipping in and out of
consciousness. Each time she woke, she said the same thing. “Where is Father?
Why is he not here?” I worried that if something should happen to him, she
would hate us. I had a thin blanket in my saddlebag and I wrapped it around
her.

Dusk soon set in and Brant
started making a fire. “I do not think that is wise. We may want the light and
the warmth of it, but exposed as we are up here, it will light our position up
like a beacon.” I pointed out the obvious.
 

After a moment, he nodded and
sat down with a huff. “Now that the excitement of the moment has passed, do you
mind telling me what we were running from?”

I told him what had happened
after we left them at the tavern. He looked at Alathaya as if through new eyes
when I told him of her Talent and his eyebrows rose at her warning. Trissa had
been listening and she rubbed her arms as if suddenly cold. She looked at
Alathaya with an unreadable expression.

We divided up shifts for the
night watch and I tried to find the most comfortable position to sleep on the
hard ground. After having satisfied
herself
that we
had not been followed, Markai lay down tightly next to me and I was glad for
her warmth. Try as I might though, I slept fitfully at best. It was almost a
relief when Seran came to wake me for my watch. Everything was quiet in the
depth of the night, but I could smell smoke every now and again when the wind changed
direction.

Markai sat down next to me as I
stared out over the sleeping town. I wondered what the morrow would bring. I
looked over at Alathaya’s sleeping form. From where I sat, I could make out
only a vague shape. There was something about her... I felt intrigued by her.
For the hundredth time, I hoped to the heavens that her father was still alive.

I can go have a look for you.
Sometimes it still surprised me
how deep my connection with Markai had become. She did not only suggest that
she would look on my behalf, but my worry was her worry. She felt my anxiety as
if it was her own. I put an arm around her. The now familiar feeling of my skin
on fire at the same time as having icy water running through my veins filled my
being. The first time it happened, it had been a shock and even after that, it
had felt strange. Now it felt invigorating.
Like it was
strengthening me.
It is too
dangerous Markai. We do not know what happened there. I will not risk you.

I went to wake Brant for his
watch, but after several soft shoves, he only grumbled at me. I sighed and sat
back down. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep in any case.

As the first rays of dawn lit
the hill, Markai again suggested having a look at the Almeida estate. “At the
first sign of danger, come back. Do not go too close. We only need to know if
the attack is over and if there may be survivors.” She loped off, and after a
few steps disappeared like mist in the morning sun.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

I
cleared my mind and focused my Navitas. I put every bit of my awareness into my
bond with her. I took several slow deep breaths and when I opened my eyes, I
was looking through hers. We were within sight and smell of the estate. The
smell of burning and blood was thick in the air. There were other smells on the
morning breeze. The smell of dark creatures, but we could not name the one it came
from.

The only noises were those of
birds in the woods. This was a good sign, for if the Dark One’s pets were still
close by, the birds would be the first to go into hiding. We carefully made our
way closer through the trees and as we approached, the corrupt smell became
stronger. We were sure that this was a diminishing smell, though, meaning that
whatever had been there was now gone.
  

The estate came into plain view.
The stately house was gutted by fire. Smouldering ruins stood where just the
day before we had sat in a grand sitting room. Faintly we smelled humans as
well. Some smelled of death, but we were certain that some were alive.

Markai started to trot towards
the ruined house. I tried to pull her back and only succeeded in nearly pulling
my awareness away from her. With wary eyes, ears and nose we approached,
circling around to the back of the house. There were dead humans scattered
around, but also what appeared to be Dark Children. They had no fur, but
instead thick scales covered their bodies. Their tales were thin and long with,
what I thought looked like a stinger at the end. One creature’s muzzle was long
and thick, the mouth half open. It had several rows of extremely sharp teeth.
The grass around its head looked to have been burnt. I shuddered mentally and
was relieved when we moved on.

We followed Markai’s keen nose.
There were certainly people alive, but I reasoned that they must have had an
underground room for we could not pinpoint where they had gone, the trail
simply disappeared in the middle of the yard. Putting an ear to the ground, we
could make out muffled voices. It was too faint to discern much of what was
said, but we heard a gruff voice which Markai assured me, was the voice of
Master Almeida. It took me a moment to realise that she had used my memory of
our conversation to make that judgement. Satisfied she returned to our
makeshift camp.

I was unbelievably relieved that
Alathaya’s father was still alive. The others started waking up. Brant suddenly
sat bolt upright. “You never woke me for my watch. Did you fall asleep on your
watch?” He had an accusing finger pointed at me.

“No, I had trouble sleeping so I
thought I may as well stay up.” I went over to the still huddled shape of
Alathaya. Her eyes were half-open and she was shivering despite the sheen of
sweat on her forehead. “How are you feeling Alathaya?” She opened her eyes a
touch wider.

When she spoke, her teeth
chattered. “I am s-s-so cold.”

I rubbed her arm. “We will get
you some help.” Everyone was either sitting up or already packing up the few
belongings that we had.

“The attack is over at the
estate and Master Almeida is alive as well as some others. He said that he
would find us by tonight if it was safe to do so, so I suggest we go back to
the inn.” There was a couple of murmurs of agreement and nodding of heads.

I unsaddled Balder and put my
saddle onto Alathaya’s horse. “Seran, I am going to have to double up with her.
She will not be able to sit her horse. I am going to get up and then I will
need you to help get her up in front of me.” He nodded. She was hardly able to
help us in our effort at all and it was a bit of a struggle. Finally, she was
on and I slipped a hand around her waist and let her body lean back against me.

We made our slow way back. The
town seemed to have been left untouched, but it was astir with rumours about
the Almeida estate burning down. It did not seem that anyone as yet knew that
there had been more to it than that. At the Happy Boar Inn, the groom looked
worriedly at Alathaya. We got her down from the horse and I cradled her in my
arms. “Can you send for a physician please?” He nodded quickly and scurried
off. Another groom had come out and was taking care of the horses. I carried
her in and up to my room, carefully laying her down on the bed. She was going
in and out of consciousness and mumbling incoherently. I had been so concerned
about what her reaction would be if her father should die, I had not even
considered the possibility of her dying.

The physician showed up soon
after and shooed us out of the room. I anxiously waited outside. It felt like
hours before he came out and closed the door behind him softly. “She needs to
rest. Give her plenty of water, as and when she will drink it and whatever food
she will take. She should be fine in a few days.” His words were supposed to be
comforting, but his grave face counteracted them. I simply nodded.

I sat with her through the rest
of the day, having my meals brought to the room. Brant stayed with me through
most of it while Trissa and Seran went out to get provisions for the journey.
“You realise we cannot stay here for a few days more?” This was the third time
he had said this.

I sighed. “I know, but I think
we can afford to wait until morning. We must wait until this evening at least
for Master Almeida to come, after all, we cannot leave him wondering if
something has happened to us, to his daughter. We are certainly not leaving
during the night.” He gave a grudging nod, but I wondered whether he would
raise the subject again. He probably thought that I was going to do whatever I
needed to in order to take care of her. Perhaps he was right.

I took out the Book of
Remembrance and looked through it for the Twisted Ones that had attacked. I
thought I had seen their picture before and it was not long before I found it.
It was a Lakreay, a scaled beast with a venomous bite as well as venom on their
claws and tip of their tails. It said that a single scratch or bite from it
would kill. Slow acting venom, which spreads through the bloodstream destroying
the body from the inside out. Further down the page the writer had added, ‘a
favourite of Rakadamon, for its intelligence and brutality.’ I shivered,
wondering what had happened the first time around. Clearly we had been attacked
and Alathaya had risked her life to come back to warn us of it.
           

Soon thereafter, there was an
urgent knock on the door. I stood up to answer it, but before I could cross
half of the small room, my visitor walked in. Master Almeida’s face may as well
have been carved from solid rock, until he saw her lying on the bed. His
expression melted into a mixture of relief, concern and love. He knelt by the
bed and took her hand in his. “Sweetheart, daddy is here. You are going to be
fine.”

Her eyes fluttered open and she
smiled weakly at him.
“Daddy.”
Her voice was raspy and
he quickly grabbed a cup of water and tenderly helped her take a few sips.

“I am so happy you are alive.
You should not have stayed behind.” She broke off as a fit of coughing overtook
her.

“Hush my darling girl. Do not
fret. It all worked out for the good.” She closed her eyes again and soon was
taking the slow deep breaths of sleep. He gave her a kiss on her forehead and
came over to the small desk where we sat.

“We managed to defeat them, but
we took heavy losses. All of my employees apart from some of the kitchen staff
are trained fighters. I knew we may someday need them to defend us and if I had
not taken that precaution we would not be having this conversation today.” He
looked over his shoulder at her. When he looked back, his mouth was pulled
tight into a thin white line. “She will be weak for days yet, but you cannot
delay later than first light tomorrow. You need to be moving again. We may have
killed all of the attackers that we saw, but there may yet have been some
watchers who will report to the Master of the Dark. And
even
if not, when they do not return,
he will send more.”