Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (32 page)

His sharp brown eyes flickered
from Alathaya to me and back again. She gave him a small nod and he rode up to
us, still eyeing me suspiciously. She gestured to me. “This is Kadin Aken from
Predaki.” Her hand moved to gesture to him. “Kadin this is Tasolin Hollis.”

We both acknowledged the
introduction with a nod. The moment he acknowledged me, the heat dulled and
then disappeared entirely from my chest. I breathed a sigh of relief. He turned
to her. “Can we trust him, are you certain?”

She smiled reassuringly at him.
“I trust him as much as I trust you or my father.”
 

I tried to hide my startlement
at such a bold statement; I kept my face carefully blank and avoided looking at
her. He nodded, apparently that satisfied him. Turning to me he said, “It’s
just
Tas.
” Without another word, he turned his horse
around and we followed.

He led us deeper into the
forested area. A small clearing held a dark wooden cottage, smoke curling up
lazily from the tall chimney. We tied the horses to a post outside and followed
him in. An old man sat inside in front of a crackling fire even though it was
still quite warm out especially for autumn. He even had a thick brown blanket
around his legs. Holding a steaming mug of tea, he sat staring into the fire.
When we walked in, he looked up with glazed eyes. Those eyes fixed me with a
stare that seemed to search my soul. “Everything is fine, grandfather. Alathaya
is here and she has brought Kadin with her today. He is to be trusted like our
own.” He said the last in a steady tone matching the rest of his words, but his
eyes still looked at me searchingly.

His grandfather waved his words
away though. “You have brought the Protector.
The Preserver.
You have brought here the leader of the Resistance who will be our only hope.”
His hoarse voice gave way to a racking cough. He took out a handkerchief and
wiped at his mouth. “That is the hope of humanity for I do not think I will be
here long enough to witness it.”

Tas
looked
at him with confusion, a deep frown knitting his brows. “Are you certain,
Grandfather? You know the viewings are not always clear.”

A rasping laugh bellowed from
the old man. “Now you question, Tasolin? I am certain about this one.”

Alathaya looked smug as if she
had rooted me out of Predaki and led me here by my nose.
Tas
gestured to some chairs and we sat down around a large table. It was
intricately carved along the edges, but it had seen a lot of wear and some of
the carving was worn completely smooth. He poured strong tea into two cups and
handed us each one. I took a sip and suppressed a shiver before reaching for
the slice of lemon on the table.

Master Hollis walked over to the
table with surprising agility, hardly using his thin white cane at all. He felt
his way around and touched the chair before sitting down with a grunt. It was
clear that he was blind or nearly so. He had a sip of his tea and with his eyes
now fixed before him on the table he spoke. “Kadin, tell me your story boy.”
Alathaya and
Tas
turned expectant eyes to me.

I self-consciously cleared my
throat and started speaking. The old man listened with rapt attention and at
the third question from
Tas
gave an exasperated sigh.
“How about we let him tell the story and then we can ask questions.”
Tas
looked more chastised than a four year old who has been
caught stealing sweet cakes. I took a sip of my tea before continuing.
Tas
certainly had stored up many questions for when I was
done, he fired one after the other at me.

When he finally fell silent, the
old man pursed his lips. “There is one question you have not asked Tasolin.
The most important one of all.
What is the plan now?” That
was a difficult question, but not entirely unexpected.

“Well, I am gathering together
the Alliance members…” I began, but he held up a sharp hand, his face stern.

“Yes, yes. You have said this.
Once these members are all together, what are you going to do with them?”

I tried to find an answer that
would not make me look an entire fool. “Uh, um, I, well…To be honest, I do not
know what to expect. I cannot imagine what will happen when Rakadamon rises and
therefore, I am finding it difficult to plan for unforeseen circumstances.”

He was nodding along while I
spoke. “Mm, yes, your lack of education in terms of your destiny has no doubt
hindered you in this. All Alliance members should be taught the Knowledge from
birth. This is not only to make sure all is remembered, but also that we start
thinking and planning from the time that we are first able to comprehend what
we are taught.”

He took a long drink of tea and
gestured to
Tas
to refill his cup, which he obediently
did. “You must have realised that the eight of you will not be able to defeat
the Dark Master, his Dark Children and the Twisted Ones, all on your own. So,
the question is, how will you defeat them?” I did not have an answer to that
and I was grateful when he continued without waiting. “The answer my dear boy,
is that you cannot defeat them all. We, even if we manage to garner armies,
will be outnumbered terribly. However, you see, Rakadamon will fight with brute
strength. He will rely on numbers to lead him to victory. He does not care if
thousands of his followers are slaughtered. This is why we will have to fight
smarter than they do. We will have to not only find their weaknesses, but we
have to work out how to defeat Rakadamon himself.”

A fit of coughing overtook him
and he sat for a moment breathing heavily. Alathaya took the opportunity to
speak. “Do we not simply need to kill him? Surely, he must be like all other
living things, therefore, able to die.”

He was wiping his mouth with his
handkerchief and shaking his head. “You are looking at it too narrowly, my
child. First of all, we will have to find him and then get through his defences
to reach him. Secondly, it will most likely not be a simple case of dagger
through the heart and job done. Thirdly, we are not looking to send him back to
the outer reaches of the universe, only to have him regain his strength once
more and attempt to overtake us for a third time.” A slow smile spread across
his face. “Lastly, when you picture him in your mind, do you see a man?”

She lifted an eyebrow and tilted
her head to one side. “I suppose I do, yes.”

His smile was mirthless. “Why?
He is not a man. His followers are certainly diverse enough to feed your
imagination with possibilities. He may yet appear as a man to us, but do not be
fooled, never allow yourself to be fooled, he is not a man.”

Tas
’ face
was grim. “Grandfather, you are showing us the boulders in the road, without
telling us how we are to remove them.”

He blinked as if he had
forgotten
Tas
was there.
“The
impatience of youth.”
He shook his head and
Tas
grimaced. “Tasolin has always been one to want the answer before you have even
told him the question.” He looked at him with an affectionate expression, but
Tas
simply glanced away.

Something occurred to me. “You
spoke of a viewing earlier. What did you mean by that?”

Tas
and the
old man’s head shot up at the question.
Tas
looked to
his grandfather. “The Alliance members had a promise given to them in return
for swearing the Oath of Preservation. We were to receive
an
ability
; a Talent, so that when the Great Threat rises, we would be able
to stand strong in the hour of need.”
 
He
went quiet and now turned to look with cloudy eyes at
Tas.
A look of sorrow passed over his face, which was mirrored in the younger man’s.

“You tell them, Grandfather.” He
turned and busied himself with the kettle making another pot of tea.

The old man sighed. “When
Tas
was about four, I had come over for a visit. His parents
had sent for me. They were concerned that they had been discovered. They told
me a man had come to visit them a few days before. He came to the door claiming
that he had seen Bretha in the market that day with
Tas.
That he had recognised her from childhood. They invited him in for a cup of
tea. That is when he started acting odd. He started looking around the house
and asking all sorts of questions. No direct questions about the Threat or the
Alliance, but alluding to much. He left them shaken that night. They thought of
running, but Prao did not feel it necessary. That is when they called me to ask
for advice.”

He looked distant for a moment.
“The night of my arrival I had a dream. It was a terrible dream that woke me in
the middle of the night and I was convinced that it was more than just a dream;
it felt different. Colours were more vibrant, sounds crisper… it is hard to
describe. Suffice to say it unnerved me. I told Prao and Bretha of it. We
discussed it before they decided that it was not possible for me to have a
Talent, because the Threat was still a distant possibility and even if it were
coming, it would not be the eldest of the Alliance family to receive the gift.
It made sense, but I was still worried.”

He gestured for
Tas
to pour him another cup of tea. He sat inhaling the
steam above the mug first, but I thought that perhaps he was trying to take a
moment to gather himself. He shook his head. “I had not been able to find sleep
again and
Tas
as usual would not settle for the night.
To give Prao and Bretha a chance at some rest I took
Tas
for a ride on old Swift. He loved riding and I thought it would give me a
chance to clear my head.”

“Just after dawn they came. It
was exactly as in the dream. I heard the attack. Her screams have stayed with
me ever since. I rushed back as quickly as I could, but by the time I got
there, the house was burning. The Twisted Ones were gone already. I fought to
get into the house, but the flames had taken hold and I could not get past the
front door.
 
I called out to them, but
got no answer. I searched outside, but it was clear that they did not get out.
I took
Tas
away to get him to safety. The next day I
went back to the house. At least to what remained of it. After that, I took
Tas
and we left.
Made a new life for
ourselves here.”

It was a terrible story. It
again made it clear that the Alliance members had been hunted.
“So the Talent manifested in you, because Rakadamon’s followers
were coming for you.
Because you were threatened by
them.”
He nodded.

Tas
was
standing at the window staring out, his arms folded across his chest. These
events had shaped his life, much as they had mine. I turned back to Master
Hollis. “Can only one member of a family receive a Talent?”

He looked over to
Tas
and slowly shook his head. “No. At least with us, it was
endowed to both
Tas
and myself. Whether it can happen
across the same generation, I do not know. Perhaps siblings could each receive
one. I cannot see why not. Surely, the more people we have the better chance we
stand.” He shrugged. “My boy, would you like to show our guests your Talent.”
He raised his voice and
Tas
turned around.

I looked over at him and nearly
swallowed my tongue with a gasp that was echoed by Alathaya. So she had not
known either.

I snapped my eyes back to Master
Hollis, but he had not moved and he was wearing a smile that never touched his
eyes. I stood up and walked over to
Tas
who now looked
identical to his grandfather. Alathaya sat with eyes the size of plates and her
mouth half open. I could not believe my eyes and I kept looking from one to the
other. There was no telling them apart.
Tas
laughed
harshly. “You like my little Talent? Grandfather was the first I copied. It was
an accident and I think I scared myself more than him. I was so angry about
their murders and I blamed him. Not because of the viewing, I was too young to
understand that, but because he survived and they did not. I was asking him one
day why he had not helped them. I held him by his arms and started shaking him.
I thought that if only I had been as big as he was or as strong as him, or if I
had had the viewing, I would have saved them myself.
A futile
thought… for most people.
In me, it awakened my gift and I got my wish,
except that it was still too late and they were still dead. I did not even know
how to make myself go back to being me, it simply happened.”

I did not know what to say, what
could you say to someone who had been through such a tragedy? “And could you? I
mean could you see the future as well?” Her soft voice cut through the silence
of the room.
 

He grinned showing more teeth
than was pleasant. “Not that first time, I was so scared I stayed in my room
for three days until I changed back. The next time though, yes, I also had a
viewing.”

She nodded as if he had
confirmed something she had already known. “Does that also mean that when you
change back, you do not retain his gift?” He simply nodded. I looked back at
Master Hollis. He was listening solemnly to his grandson. I looked back at
Tas.
He seemed to shimmer for a moment and then I was seeing
Tas
again. I wondered how that worked. Whether it was
an actual physical transformation or whether he was simply somehow tricking
your mind into seeing him differently. I supposed that it must be physical, if
he could take on another person’s gift as well…