Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (41 page)

He started talking, trying to
defend himself, but I lifted my voice to drown out his protests. “You collect
vulnerable people and you sell them like sheep to the highest bidder. You make
them slaves.”

He was shaking and cowering.
“No, you have misunderstood completely. These people I take, they have nothing
left. They need help and I help them. I find them employment and a way to
support themselves that is all.” His eyes stretched wide and he was clearly
putting on a mask of innocence.

“Trissa
and Dhillion.”

He looked at me with confusion.
“I do not know them.”

I gave him a shake. “Yes you do.
You took them from their village in the west and you first sold Dhillion and
then Trissa. Her you sold to Rose of the Rose Inn in Medirea.”

He shook his head, pulling his
brows up in a deep frown. “I honestly do not know what you are talking of!”

A snarling growl ripped from
deep within Markai’s throat and she stood up threateningly, pinning him with an
ice blue stare that could freeze his soul – if he still had one. A scream
erupted from Nassarit and he scrambled back into the corner of the little
garden, trying to get as far away from her as possible. She had revealed
herself to him at exactly the right moment. He looked so scared that I thought
he must have soiled himself.

I stalked closer, and with
Markai shadowing every one of my steps, I said, “Now, I am going to give you
one more chance. If I were you, I would think very carefully before I spoke.
Trissa and Dhillion, do you remember them now?”

He was still feebly trying to
scurry back as if he could go through the wall behind him, if only he tried
hard enough. “Yes, yes, it is coming back to me. You know I meet so many
wonderful people, that sometimes I lose track of all of them. Yes, it is as you
say, Trissa was employed by Rose.” He stopped and I heard my fury echoed in the
half bark-half growl from Markai.

He whimpered. “
Dhill
…
Dhill
… Dhillion… he… he
was
aaa
…. adopted.
Lovely couple.”

I unsheathed Sunder and lifted
his chin up with the tip. “You will, this instant, tell me where I can find
him. If you are such an imbecile as to give me the wrong information, Markai
here,” I gestured with my free hand to her, “will hunt you down and tear you
limb from limb. You will not know when she is coming, but every night will be a
night spent in fear for it will be one day closer to your slow and painful
death. Do you understand me?”

He started to nod until his chin
pressed into my blade. “You will find Dhillion with Thopher and Raminda Windle
in the village of Warrendil. Here, I will sketch you a map.” He took out some
parchment and charcoal and sketched a rough map with shaking hands.

“One last thing, if I ever find
out that you have been trading in people again, I will make you wish that your
father never even met your mother.” I whispered dangerously and Markai snapped
her jaws an inch from his face before we turned on our heels and strode away.

It was an exhilarating feeling.
Not only had I put a man – not worthy of that name – in his place, but I now
knew where to find Dhillion!

As we walked away, Malion was
laughing. “You actually scared me a bit back there. You seemed like you really
meant what you said.” I gave him a flat stare and his laughter faded. “Oh, you really
did.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

We
reached the inn just after sunset and met Roscien as he was arriving at the
door. “You seem very happy?” His voice turned up on the last word making it a
question.

“I have some good news to give
one of the members,” I said with a grin.

He looked at me questioningly,
but I only smiled and brushed past him to get inside.

The others were already sitting
around the table having a drink. We joined them and I ordered wine from the
serving girl. “We have had quite a day,” I said it to no one in particular and
it had the desired effect. They all stopped talking and looked at me.

I introduced Roscien to them all
and asked him to tell them what his Talent was. They looked suitably impressed.

When he finished speaking, I
filled in, “Even better, we will be meeting our next to last Alliance member in
a few days. Roscien is able to contact him and we are arranging a meeting with
him.”

Tas
looked
at me, frowning. “What do you mean next to last? Quiniewa told us there were
eight families left including you Kadin.” He looked pointedly around the table.
“At last count we are seven members around the table right here, which would
make him the last outstanding member.”

A laugh escaped me. “Brilliant
understanding of numbers there,
Tas
, but you are
forgetting one thing. Or should I say one person.” I looked meaningfully at
Trissa. “I know where Dhillion is.”

Her eyes went wide. Joy was the
first expression to cross her face, but it quickly darkened until she had her
mouth pulled into a tight line and spots of colour appeared on her cheeks. “You
mean to drag him into this mess. You mean to use him. He is only a boy!” She
wagged her finger in my face. ”I will not allow it. Mark my words; I will not!”
Her voice had risen to a shriek. She spun on her heel, nearly knocking her
chair over and fled the room.

I was astonished. I had pictured
telling her the news in my mind and although there had been several versions in
my head of what she might say, none of them resembled what had just happened.
What had just happened?

Even more surprising was the
glare Alathaya shot me across the table before she followed Trissa out. Brant
was hardly suppressing a chuckle, which earned him an icy look from Seran. The
serving girl brought my wine and scurried off without a word. She had obviously
heard the uproar. Malion looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “How old is the
boy?”

I opened my mouth to answer when
I realised I did not know. I looked at Seran. “I think he is about twelve
turnings now.”

Incredulity flooded me. “Seran,
you were only what, fourteen turnings when you fought in battle, right? And you
were already battle trained at ten. So what is the problem here?”

He looked up to the ceiling as
if asking for help from some deity.
“Several problems really.
First, you are right, I was battle trained at age ten, the key word being,
‘trained’. He is most likely not. Second, like my mother, she as his sister
will never be ready to let him go to battle. Third, she has not found him alive
again yet, and now she is already imagining him dying on some unknown
battlefield. Are you starting to see where you went wrong here?”

I did. “I only thought she would
be happy at finding him. I did not really think beyond that.”

I stood up, but Seran held a
hand up. “Where are you going?”

I shrugged. “To go and explain.
If she does not want him to take part in any battles then he need not, but we
can still go and find him.”

He gestured with his hand for me
to sit. “She needs some time before you go and try to make it better and you
need to think this through. If you find him, she will not let him out of her
sight. That means one of two things. Either she will leave us and stay with him
or he comes with us.”

“But we will need her in the
battle. Her Talent alone has saved us already,” I protested.

He nodded solemnly. “Agreed, but
she still has a choice in the matter. I do think she would stay and fight, but
who knows, because by default, if she and therefore, he
stays
with us, we are dragging him into this. At the same time, now knowing that we
could go and find him, she will not be able to leave him there. We will go and
find him, she just needs a bit of time to think it through and arrive at that
conclusion.”

Roscien started laughing
uproariously. “How is it that you,” he jabbed a finger in Seran’s direction,
“know so much about women and you,” his finger jabbed towards me, “know
nothing?”

I assumed his question was
rhetorical and ignored his laughter. I still wanted to go and talk with her,
but he knew her better and I accepted his advice. Instead, I pulled out the map
from my pocket. I laid it flat on the table and gestured for them all to have a
look. They leaned forward and studied it carefully.

Finally,
Tas
pointed to a village on the map. “I know where that is. I think I have been
there once before. At a guess, I would say it is probably about ten days’
travel from here, although I could be out by a few days.” I smiled; it was more
than we had a few moments ago. Despite Trissa’s reaction, I was still excited to
go and find him.

After what seemed quite a while,
the women returned. Trissa’s eyes were red rimmed and her expression was stiff.
She refused to look at me, to even acknowledge that I was there. I opened my
mouth to explain, but a severe look from Alathaya silenced me. Why would
Alathaya be upset with me? I had told her before that I thought Dhillion may
also have a Talent. The conversation was halting at best after that. Not the
best introduction to our group for Roscien.

It was at that moment that Aliana
came in. I groaned inwardly, not because I did not wish to see her, but because
the tension was still thick enough to cut with a knife. She walked over to the
table and greeted us with a broad smile. She looked at me expectantly and it
took me a moment to realise she was waiting for me to fetch a chair for her.

She smiled graciously as she sat
down. “Ah, I see you have found Roscien.” She turned to him. “I hope you do not
mind. I had been telling Kadin of your concern over my travelling plans and he
wanted to thank you for your concern by buying you a drink.”

He shrugged and seemed to be on
the brink of responding when she continued. “That merchant was as much of a
dragoon as old Mistress Frieda. Perhaps it is the profession that sours them
so.”

I plastered a concerned look on
my face. It was hard to feel genuine concern for such a trivial matter after
what had just happened in our group. “Did it not go well?” I tried to hide my
utter disinterest.

She brushed her hand against my
arm. “No, it went fine. Luckily, I have had some practice in dealing with such
men. I managed to get him to drop his price by a quarter before accepting the
deal.” Her face shone with pride.

I wondered where she had gained
such experience. Apparently, I had worried needlessly about Aliana feeling
uncomfortable with the tension in the room for she appeared not to notice at
all. I caught a glimpse of Alathaya’s dark expression and thought that she had
picked up on that as well.

“Aliana, I had not even had a
chance to ask you yet, how are Moma and Lilana?” I asked.

 
She gave a small smile. “I am afraid I have
not seen all that much of either of them recently. I have been so busy with my
apprenticeship. You understand, don’t you?” She stroked my arm again.

“Of,
course.
So, when do you leave?” I queried.

She sighed and looked at Brant.
“I will set off early tomorrow morning. I do wish I could spend more time with
you here.” She looked back at me.

“Well, I suppose we should enjoy
our last evening together then. I think we are all about to order some dinner.
Would you like to sup with us?” I offered.

She beamed. “That would be
lovely.”

We spent a long evening talking
late into the night. Eventually, the people around the table started trickling
away to bed.
Until finally, it was only Brant, Aliana and I
remaining.
We talked and laughed about growing up together and the mischief
we got up to. It did however remind me that Brant and I had not always got on
well.
An understatement.
There had been a time when he
hated me. How much of that had really changed and how much was simply being
civil so we could travel together in peace? Was the Cha’s plan of keeping him
close to keep him on our side working? I certainly had not seen any signs of
him changing or looking to leave, but then he had been very quiet of late.

Eventually, we all decided it
was time to say goodbye. Since she would be leaving at dawn, I was sure I would
not see her in the morning. She actually seemed to have tears in her eyes as
she gave first me a long hug and then Brant, who then walked away. I glanced
after him before pulling out the necklace I had bought for her in Brailen. She
exclaimed over it as though it was made of gold. Truth be told, I had been
wondering whether to give it to her at all, but decided that I would only throw
it away if I did not. She thanked me profusely and gave me another warm hug.
Before walking away, I asked her to keep her wits about her while travelling,
but she laughed my comment away.

I climbed the stairs to my room
on the second floor and nearly jumped when Alathaya suddenly appeared in front
of me.

“I thought you were staying up
all night,” she said, and folded her arms across her chest.

It was dim in the corridor, but
I could see the anger on her face. “I need to talk to you, but not out here.
Can we talk in your room?” She continued.