Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (46 page)

I sat back in my chair. “So, now
that we are all together, what is the plan?”
Tas
asked
the question, but everyone stopped talking and looked to me for the answer.

We were not all together, Brant
should have been with us, but what I said was, “We go to Magtisanya. I will get
an update from Markai on what is happening there, but that is where they will
all be, including Rakadamon, so that is where we need to go. We must bring the
fight to them and catch them by surprise if possible.”

“Do we know how many of them
there are?” Malion asked, his face was smooth, but he could not keep the slight
waver out of his voice.

I shook my head. “Not yet, as I
said, I will get an update from Markai, but it is likely that by the time we get
there, there will be more still. One thing I know for certain is that we will
not overpower them, we will need to fight smart.” And pray for a miracle, I
thought. Looking around the table, I knew that together, we were a formidable
force, but at the same time, there were still only nine of us.

The conversation resumed first
in a subdued hush, but picked up until laughter rang out again. I could not
stop thinking of Magtisanya and what might await us there. Finally, I slipped
away and went outside.

The cool night breeze was
refreshing after the stuffy common room. Markai came strolling over to me. I
walked to meet her and we went over to a nearby green. We sat down side by side
on the grass. “What news do you have?”

Her ice blue gaze held mine.
Their power grows by the day. They are
sacking villages as a method of recruitment. Hundreds are arriving at
Magtisanya from these villages.

Suddenly the night air did not
seem so refreshing anymore. “What of Rakadamon? Is he there?”

With regret in her voice, she
answered,
This,
Beratus
does not know yet. He directs what goes on, but he has not seen him.

I nodded, I had expected as
much. “Do you know the way to Magtisanya?”
 

Her face did not change, but I
could feel her smiling.
Of
course.
When do we leave?

I rubbed my hands together.
“First thing tomorrow morning.”

She stood.
May the stars watch over you until
then.
With that, she was gone.

My talk with Markai had only
served to stretch my nerves further. It was late by now and most windows were
dark around me. I stood up and unsheathed Sunder. I fell into Shea-Rin. I had
not done it in a long while, but it was like putting on an old cloak. I swept
from one stance to the next. Flowing like water. It felt good. I could feel my
muscles stretching and lengthening, the tension oozing out of me. I did not
even have to think of what I did, it came naturally. It was good to clear my
mind of all my worries. I was not aware of time passing; I was lost in the
motion. By the time I finished, my breath came quick. I sheathed Sunder and
spun at the sound of clapping.

A short distance away stood
Alathaya. She was smiling appreciatively. When I saw her, she started walking
towards me. “Now that was something to see. Where did you learn to do that?”
She said, as she got closer.

I gestured for her to follow and
walked back to where I had sat with Markai. She sat down next to me, smoothing
out her skirts with her legs stretched out straight in front of her. “That was
part of my training to become LemMestari.” I had told them that I’d had
training, but not the details of it, just as I had left out the details of my
branding by Boryka.

She nodded. “I have never seen
you do that before. It looked hard. How could you do that so well without
having done it for so long?”

I shrugged. “It had always
seemed to me that I was born to do that. That my body had been waiting for it
and knew what to do.”

We both fell silent. She shifted
in her seat and after a short pause she said, “Aliana seemed nice.”

 
I had no idea where that had come from. It
felt like a long time since she had left. I looked at her, but she was studying
her toes with great interest. “She is. She is kind and she always seems to make
me laugh.”

She was pouting. Perhaps that
was not the answer she had hoped for. She pursed her lips before finally
speaking. “Were you more than friends, back in Predaki, I mean?”

I laughed softly, but quickly
swallowed it when she scowled at me. “No. I liked her. I thought I wanted to be
more than friends with her.”

She cleared her throat.
“And now?”
She asked in a small voice.

“I must admit that it was nice
seeing her again in Sinsai.” I looked at her then, but she turned her face
away. “Seeing her made me realise one thing though; we will never be more than
friends.”

She looked up at me. “Why do you
say that?”

I sighed.
“Because
I do not like her in that way.
Plus, I think she was trying to make me
and Brant jealous of her attention to the other.”

She sighed, a small sigh. When
she did not say anything else, I continued. “There was one other thing.” She
looked up at me frowning. “She really did pale in comparison to you.” I tried
to keep my voice level, but my heart was hammering at the words. I did not know
I was going to say them until they were said.

She looked up into my eyes, a
small smile spreading across her face. Without even thinking about it, I leaned
over and kissed her. Her lips were as smooth as velvet and as soft as silk.

When I finally, reluctantly,
pulled back she was smiling. I thought she had never before looked as beautiful
as in that moment. We walked back to the inn hand in hand.

I walked her to the door and
with a fluttering stomach, gave her another good night kiss. Then I floated
back to my room on a cloud of euphoria. All my senses were filled with her. I
could still smell her, a faint fruity smell; I could taste her lips and feel
her hand in mine. I was the happiest I had ever been.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The next
morning I went down to the common room to find
Tas
,
Malion and Roscien already at the table. Xain and Dhillion soon followed. We
talked a while waiting for the rest to join us before starting breakfast. My
stomach skipped when Alathaya walked in. A smile blossomed on her face when she
saw me. Trissa started giggling and I could feel my smile stiffen a bit. She
knows. It should not have surprised me, women talked to each other over
everything, but my nose was still a little bent that it was not just between us
anymore. Seran came in soon after them and he gave me a knowing grin. For
blood’s sake, when did he have chance to find out already? I fought to keep the
colour from my face.

We had a good breakfast before
we all went back to our rooms to collect our things and meet at the stables. I
called Markai to let her know that we were ready and she appeared in an
instant. She was excited to be on the way. Dhillion and Xain had not met her
yet and this was not the place for an introduction so she kept herself hidden
from all but me. The horses were sniffing the air. Although they could not see
her, they could smell her and it was making some of the new horses nervous.
Dhillion’s gelding started stamping a hoof and shaking its head. He laid a hand
on his flank and it calmed within moments. He looked around with suspicious
eyes. Did he suspect something or
was
there more than
one-way communication between him and the horse?

With Markai leading the way for
me and me leading the group, we set off out of town. We were heading north. We
were not long out of town before Xain rode up next to me. “Did you get the
update from Markai? Did she tell you where Magtisanya is?”

I looked over at him with a grin
on my face. Markai revealed herself to the rest of the group, which made a
couple of the
horses
rear up in shock. I laughed. Xain
was expertly calming his horse, bringing it under control in moments without
looking as though he was trying. He stared at her with big eyes.

Dhillion rode up next to us. “Is
that Markai? She is incredible! Why do you not ride on her?”

I burst out laughing. I did not
think of Markai as an animal at all. She was of the Fae and the idea of me
riding her like a common horse was ridiculous. The idea amused her as well. I
explained as much to him. “I would ride her.
If she were
mine.
Why not? She looks strong enough to carry you.”

I shook my head. “Believe me,
she is more than strong enough, but think on it like this. If Trissa was a bit
bigger, would you ride on her back?”

He shrugged. “I remember when I
was little she would give me piggy back rides. That is riding on her.” I
sighed. Bad example maybe, but I was sure he was being obtuse.

I rode up next to Markai. “How
far is Magtisanya?”

She kept her eyes straight
ahead, as she answered.
A
few days.
It is not precise.
You must prepare yourself for the travel.

That did not make sense. “What
do you mean by that?”

She looked at me then.
Her blue eyes looking at me as if searching for something.
When you had your ‘Seeking’, you did what no
other human has done in over four thousand years.
Since
shortly after the Severance.
I knew what she was referring to, but I
waited for her to continue. I was hoping that I was wrong.
You created a bridge to another plane of existence.
The
place where Fae walk freely.
You will have to do that again, but this
time, you will have to bring eight others with you. It will not be easy and if
you should go wrong, they may all die and with your deaths, will come the death
of our existence, as we know it.

I shuddered. She certainly did
not put any honey on it. That simply did not bear thinking about. I was not
even sure that I remembered how I had summoned that bridge. Quiniewa had told
me then that I had risked my own life by walking across it.
Especially
since I had had no instruction.
“Do
you
know how I did that? How I crossed between the planes?”

She looked at me and I could
feel her confusion.
You have done this
before. I did not think you needed instruction.

I nodded. “But, this time I am
not only risking my own life, but all theirs as well.”

Not wanting to raise concern, I
dropped my voice to a whisper. Not to mention not wanting to have to answer
difficult questions about how I would do it. “I did not know the risk the first
time around.”

Her tail swished back and forth,
making a snapping sound much like Seran’s whips.
Last time you crossed in ignorance of the risk. This time, you know the
risk. You will need courage, but if you have done it once, you will be able to
do it again.
She looked around at the group.
They all have faith in you. If they did not they would not be here now.
You have to believe in your own ability as well.

“Why do we not cross now? Why
are we travelling in this plane, when we need to be in the other?”

A soft rumble came from her
throat, her version of a snort.
You are full
of questions today. We travel here, because now it is safer. There, he will be
watching and waiting. Here as well perhaps, but less so. The two planes are
parallel. Travelling a day here is the same as a day there. We must get to the
right place, a safe place to cross over.

We continued in silence for a
long time. When we came upon a stream, we decided to make camp a bit earlier
that day. We went about collecting firewood and refilling water skins. Markai
trotted towards the woods and when I looked at her questioningly, she answered
without looking back;
hunting
.

It was not long before she came
back carrying a small deer in her jaws. The others all exclaimed at her
generosity and they started gutting and skinning it. By dusk, we had the deer
on the fire, turning it on a makeshift spit.

Alathaya came to sit next to me.
She had her long blonde hair in an intricate braid, which hung all the way down
to the small of her back. I took her hand in mine and she smiled up at me. I
did not care what the others thought; I was half-sure that they all knew
already anyway. A suspicion that was confirmed when none of them blinked at us
holding hands.
 
We started chatting of
the day. I told her of what Markai had said of Magtisanya.

She kissed the back of my hand.
Light as a feather, brushing her lips against my skin.
It
made my heart skip and my stomach flutter.

She looked at me, her eyes pools
of beauty that I could drown in. “I trust you. I will follow wherever you go.”

I gave her a tremulous smile. I
fervently hoped that her trust was not misplaced.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

We spent
a relaxed evening around the fire. Anyone looking at us would have thought we
were simply travelling, not on our way to a battle that might change the course
of the future. My thoughts kept returning to Magtisanya, but Alathaya’s
closeness made even that seem a lighter burden.