Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (49 page)

In the far distance, raised up
on a smaller hill, was the castle. It appeared to be at least four storeys
high. Constructed of some sort of pitch-black stone, it had a tall watchtower
at each corner. That had to be where Rakadamon was. One part of me was eager to
rush headlong into their midst, simply to finish this, but another part was
shaking in my boots at the sheer expanse of the enemy’s force. We were going to
have to plan very carefully how to go about destroying them.

We stood
simply watching the camp in silence for quite a while. As if on cue, Markai and
Beratus
turned and started back. With one last look
at the camp, we followed. No one said anything until we reached the rest of the
Qupari. Even then, we simply went about making camp. We would only have a small
campfire that night, lest the light attracted unwanted attention. The Jerieghen
even went as far as digging a hole and making the fire inside it. We finally
all sat down.

“You can see that, going by
numbers, we are on the small side. However, I do believe a large percentage of
their force is untrained and will fight by brute force.” Markai’s sonorous
voice filled the air.

I could not help but think of my
own training. Before my Hunt started back in Predaki, I had received little
training. Of course, I had basic training with a sword and some more with a
bow, but that hardly qualified as battle trained. Looking around at my
companions, I knew that they at least had been preparing their entire lives for
this possibility. For the most part their faces showed unwavering resolve, their
eyes were flints of steel.
Tas
saw me looking at him
and he gave me a grim nod as though to assure me that he was ready.

“We will need each and every one
of your Talents if we are to be victorious. We must be victorious,” she
continued. “We face more than defeat, more than our own deaths. We face
enslavement and the end of life, as we know it. Each of us,” she looked at us
each in turn, “must be willing to go to our deaths, if it is required.” She
paused a moment to let that thought seep in.

Malion’s face spoke of grim
determination, no doubt he was thinking of his Karina and what he would be
willing to do, to endure, to get her back. Seran looked at Trissa, a worried
frown creasing his brow. I also wondered how she would cope with what was to
come. Dhillion’s face was in stark contrast to everyone else’s. Eagerness and
excitement burned in his eyes. He was young and he would soon come face to face
with the reality of this situation.
 

“You must all be tired from your
long travel today. We will therefore, start our planning tomorrow. Think on
what you may contribute before then.” It was clear from Markai’s tone that she
had dismissed us and everyone started dispersing, but she called me to one
side. “Where do you think Brant is?”

I pursed my lips together. I had
pushed my thoughts on him to the back of my mind seeing as I could not do a
stitch about it. “I do not know. I suppose a part of me hopes he simply went
back to Predaki.”

She shook her head. “Stop
hoping. I sent a sister to check and he has not been back. She managed to pick
up his trail from his last known whereabouts, but then they vanish. That is
worrying.”

My stomach twisted. “You think
he has been murdered?”

Again, she shook her head. “No.
I fear he has been brought here.
 
He may
have been turned. It is a possibility we must consider. I think it was a fool
notion to keep him close to you for so long. I believe the Cha had good
intentions, but he now knows a lot of crucial information.
Information
about your companions, about you.
Things that could
tip the scales to favour Rakadamon.”

I already thought the scales had
tipped against us, but she was right. He knew all our Talents. My skin crawled to
think of him working against us. “I understand that, but what is done is done.
We cannot do anything about that now.” I could feel her frustration and it fed
my own.

Something occurred to me. “How
would he have been brought here? For that matter, how were these new… recruits,
brought from our plane to here?”
 

She looked away towards the
enemy’s campsite as though able to see it through the dense forest. “I am not
certain. There once were Walkers. People and Fae who could take others from one
place to another, but that has not been known in this world since the first
time the Great Threat came. Perhaps it is Rakadamon himself who does this.” A
faint rumble came from her chest. “In times like these, we could expect
anything to be possible.

We were silent for a long while.
“Markai, why does Rakadamon attack us? Why again? Is it simply a struggle for
power, that
he wants to rule?”

She pinned me with her icy
stare. “That is a good question, but one that no one knows the answer to. That
is one piece of information, which he has managed to scour from memory.
Personally, I think there must be some other motivation.”

That was what my thought had
been. “I have heard some talk of another object that must be destroyed in order
to kill him. Do you know anything of that?”

She blew a puff of air from her
nose. “That is speculation only. I do not think he has placed such power in an
object. There may be something to it. Perhaps there is only one way to kill
him, but I am sorry to say that I do not know.”

I was sorry too. I felt as
though I was being sent to get rid of a weed, unaware that you could not simply
cut the flowers from it, but also had to dig out the roots.

I did not sleep well that night.
I kept having nightmares of the battle to come. One particular recurring dream
was of me cutting Rakadamon’s head off only for it to keep regrowing until I
was too tired to even raise Sunder. I woke from that dream each time as his
blade was about to bite into my neck.

I sat up on my bedroll after yet
another dream. I was drenched in sweat and my breath was coming quickly. In the
dim light, I saw Alathaya pick up her bedroll and walk over to me. She laid it
down right next to mine.

With a firm hand on my chest,
she said, “Lie down.”

I did not need telling twice, I
lay down and she snuggled right up to me and put an arm across my chest. My
heart was hammering for entirely different reasons now and I doubted whether
this was going to help me sleep, but moments later, I could hear her breathing
the rhythmic breath of sleep. I closed my eyes and exhaled a long, slow breath.
The next time I opened my eyes, was when dawn rays came slanting in through the
canopy of branches overhead. She was still sleeping and I made sure to keep
still so that I did not wake her. How could I be so happy on such a grim day?

When she eventually did wake up,
she looked up at me with bleary eyes and smiled a beatific smile. I leaned over
and kissed her on her forehead. “Thank you.”

She gave a small nod. I was
loath to move, but I knew we had a long day ahead of us. It seemed as though
everyone else was already up and regretfully we rose as well.

We had a small breakfast of hard
cheese, harder bread and a few overripe fruit that Malion had in his bag.
Laskia and Wulik were eating some sort of porridge that smelled wonderful and
made my own meal seem even blander. We cleared away the bedding and without
having been called together, everyone gathered.

Once we were all sitting down on
the ground, Markai spoke. “I hope you have all thought about how you could
contribute in the war to come. I have some of my own ideas, but I would like to
hear what you have to say first.” She looked at us expectantly.
 

 
Tas
was first to
speak. "I think my use is rather obvious. I can copy Kadin's appearance
and therefore create a distraction."

She gave a nod. "Good.
Let's see it."

He looked at her, an exasperated
frown on his face. "It’s not that easy. I said I can copy him and I meant
I still need to copy him." When she continued to look at him in silence,
his eyebrows rose. "I cannot just look at someone and change at will; I
need to first copy them." He enunciated each word carefully as though she
simply did not understand what the words meant.

This time exasperation filled
her voice. "And you have not done this yet? Do it then."

He jumped a bit at her tone, but
nodded all the same. He walked over and sat down facing me.

"Hold out your arms toward
me."

I did as he asked and he gripped
my forearms with his hands.

"This will feel... uncomfortable.
Try to relax." There was a hint of distaste in his voice for what he was
about to do.

He closed his eyes. I thought
this a bit strange - as he was about to try to copy me, surely he would want to
have a good look? I became aware of a cold wet feeling on my arms and I looked
down at his hands gripping me except, his hands did not look like hands
anymore. They looked like they had melted and the fluid that was created by
that started spreading across my arms, my hands and then started creeping up towards
my shoulders. It felt most peculiar. Once it reached my shoulders, I was
relieved when it went down across my body instead of my neck. It now looked as
though his arms up to his shoulders had melted.

My relief was short lived
however, because then it started creeping up my neck. My panic rose with it. I
knew I should just relax. It was not as if it was going to smother me, surely
not, but knowing a thing and totally believing it can be two separate things. I
felt it creeping along my cheeks and I squeezed my eyes shut. The strange
substance was probing along my mouth when it found my nose; it went right up,
forcing me to open my mouth to take a breath and then it plunged in. The cold
spread down the inside of my throat and I did not know if I wanted to scream or
choke. I could not take a breath. I tried to stand up, to move away, but found
I could not move. My breath was running out, my lungs screamed for air. My head
started to swim and just as I thought I would lose consciousness, it retreated.
I sucked in several gasping breaths and feeling it slide down my neck, I opened
my eyes. Luckily, it retreated much more quickly than it had come.
Tas's
face was contorted in pain. I had been so consumed,
literally, by what was happening to me, I had not even considered what this had
to be like for him.

It dawned on me then how
terrifying this must have been when he accidentally copied his grandfather. His
hands took shape and solidified and the moment that happened, he let go and
scrambled backwards away from me as if burned. Markai stepped up. "Is it
done?"

Tas
was
breathing hard and he only nodded.

Alathaya moved over to me.
"Are you okay? That looked more than just uncomfortable."

I shook my head. "I am
fine."

Markai's attention was still
focused on Tas. "Can you show us, or does it take time to settle?" I
heard the impatience in her voice.

One moment I was staring at
Tas
, the next moment, it looked as though I was looking in a
mirror, except I was wearing different clothes in the reflection. It was a very
bizarre feeling looking at a copy of
oneself
.

"Do you think I will pass
for Kadin?" His words were thick with sarcasm and aimed at Markai.

She pretended not to notice
though. "Most certainly
Tas.
Well done, but more
importantly, do you have his abilities?"

He was silent for a moment and
to the casual bystander, it would have appeared that he was daydreaming. I knew
that look though, he was focussing his Navitas. A slow smile crept along his
face. “This is incredible. I can…”

“Enough!” Markai’s harsh tone
clearly broke his Navitas.

He looked at her with startled
eyes. “I was only seeing what it is that he can do. You told me to try it.” He
said defensively.

She had not technically told him
to try it, but I did not understand what bothered her so about it. “You must
not do this unless absolutely necessary.”

“Why
not?”
Malion had spoken, but I had been wondering the same.

She did not take her eyes from
Tas. “Navitas is not the only Talent Kadin has. Hand-in-hand with it is
Enchantment. When you focused Navitas, you were calling. Each and every Qupari
would have felt the tug and perhaps one would have come only to find the call a
lie. You must not allow that to happen.” He nodded slowly.

She turned back to the rest of
the group. "Right, what else do we have?" She looked at Xain. “You
look like you have something to say. Out with it.”

He shrugged casually. “As you
know, I can copy myself. Five is the maximum I have managed with any real
success. I do think, however, that
Tas’s
and my
Talents complement each other nicely.”

Tas
, who
looked like himself once more, was pensive. “You mean, I copy you and then I
can copy myself. That would work, but I think my Talent would be better spent
impersonating Kadin and drawing the attention away from him.”