Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (51 page)

Tas
took a
while to recover fully. He was obviously reluctant to continue with copying,
but I admired the fact that he did not voice a single complaint. I watched the
first two, Roscien and Xain, but stepped away after that. Being the one that he
was copying had been disturbing, but watching it happen to someone else was
even more so. Laskia was working with Trissa. They had walked a small distance
away from the camp and its distractions. I did not know how he hoped to teach
her to control her Talent, but several times I heard exclamations of
frustration as well as some curses I did not even know she knew, come from
their direction.
 

Once
Tas
had copied everyone, he started trying them all out. He was as happy as a Lady
with a completely new wardrobe of ball gowns. Seran was spellbound when
Tas
transformed into him.
Tas
took
two whips from him and started trying out his newfound Talent. Seran challenged
him to a friendly whip duel. I sighed in relief when they picked up the sheep
herding whips for their exercise. It was clear that although
Tas
knew what to do and how to fight with the whips, it was all muscle memory or
lack of it. His mind knew what to do, but his body had trouble keeping up. They
sparred for the better part of two hours before, drenched in sweat, they put
their whips away. It fascinated me, because it was the exact opposite of my
experience when I first started to practise the Shea-Rin; my body had flown
through it with little input necessary from my mind.
 

Dhillion was very quiet that
day. It seemed as though he had compelled Trissa to argue his case for going
with us into battle. I knew that she would have been happy with the decision to
leave him in relative safety, but since she had come back from her training
with Laskia, she had been relentless and finally Markai snapped at her.

“Enough! He will not go and that
is final.”

She looked at Dhillion as she
spoke. She also knew that it was not really Trissa asking. “Take Dhillion and
go and gather more firewood. We are running low.” When Trissa did not
immediately move, she growled, “Now!” and they both scampered like scared
rabbits into the forest.

I knew we had enough firewood to
last another week. I tried to hide my smile, but she still glared at me as she
stalked past.

Alathaya came walking up to me.
“Just to let you know, I am coming with you tonight.”

I frowned and shook my head.
“No, it is too dangerous.”

She patted my shoulder soothingly.
“I have already spoken to Markai and she agrees that it is a good idea. If
something does go wrong, if it is a trap, I can come back and tell us all not
to go.”

I kept shaking my head. “You
cannot come back if you are dead. I don’t…”

She put a hand over my mouth. “I
am here to help make sure we are successful. As we all are. I have a role to
play here and I cannot hide out when my Talent could save us all.”

I clenched my teeth to stop from
arguing further. I knew what she said was true, but it did not make accepting
it any easier.

After casting about for a while,
I realised why I could not find
Tas.
He was
impersonating Trissa. I should have realised, but he was sitting down so I did
not notice that ‘she’ was wearing breeches and a shirt.

“Tas?”
He
jumped when I spoke.

He ran a hand through his hair
and then looked at it strangely as if for a moment, he had forgotten why he had
such long hair. “I don’t know what it is. Everyone else I just copied and I had
easy access to their Talent. With Trissa though, it is as if I can feel it
there in me somewhere, but it is like trying to catch bee with a lasso.”

“Perhaps you should ask Laskia
if you could sit in on his lessons with Trissa. Might just turn out to be
useful,” I suggested and he nodded thoughtfully.

“Listen, since you are working
on perfecting your use of everyone’s talent, I was wondering whether you wanted
to come along tonight. As Roscien, I mean. What I mean is, you impersonate him
and spirit walk with us. It will be useful to have another set of eyes and ears
out there,” I continued.

His face lit up. “I was going to
ask Markai if I could go with you. I think it would be a good chance to try out
his Talent.” I smiled and clapped him on the shoulder before walking away.
  

 
The day was passing quickly and light was
already starting to fade. I called together Alathaya,
Tas
,
Roscien, and Markai. “This is how it is going to work.
Tas
you transform into Roscien and you both spirit walk to the meeting place. We
will follow, but at a safe distance. If you see anything suspicious, come back
to us and we abandon the plan.” With great effort, I did not look at Alathaya.
“We protect Alathaya at all costs.”

 
She started to protest that she could take
care of herself, but I held up a hand. “If something does go seriously wrong,
the only way to remedy it is by you using your Talent. Correct me if I am
wrong, but that entails you being alive.”

She pouted prettily, but did not
argue.

“Anybody want to add anything
else?” I asked.

They shook their heads and all
looked to Markai, but she kept her silence as well and I nodded.

“We leave at nightfall.”

Tas
and Roscien had been gone a few minutes and I
was eager not to leave too far behind them. Markai held us back for a moment
longer before she agreed to follow. It turned out to be very useful to have
Markai’s extremely sensitive senses along to guide us. Even with Navitas
focused, I could not see much - even if they had left massive footprints, I
would not have been able to follow. As it was, Markai had to stop, listen, and
peer ahead a few times in order to guide us.

We walked in silence. I
constantly expected to see them return, warning us to turn back to camp. Markai
called a halt after what felt like a couple of hours of trekking. I still could
not hear or see them so I linked in with Markai’s senses to enhance my
perception.

Faintly, I could hear
Tas
and Roscien talking. “Yes, I am sure. This is where he
said.” Roscien sounded agitated.

I was sure
Tas
must have asked the question several times already, but underlying that was
nerves and a touch of fear. “This does not feel right. Why is he not here yet?
I think we should go back and say this was a trap.” There was more than a touch
of fear in
Tas’s
voice.

A faint clicking noise, I
thought from Roscien’s tongue. “Just wait. We do not know either way yet.
Remember they cannot do anything to us, not when we are like this.”

After a short silence,
Tas
whispered so softly that even Markai’s ears had to
strain to catch it. “Not as far as we know. Who knows what Rakadamon and his
followers can do? What if they can catch our spirits and lock us up somehow?”

Roscien shushed him. “Now is not
the time to think of such things.”

There was utter silence before
the soft tap of a footfall broke it. “Are you alone?” Roscien was clearly
addressing Brant.

“Of course, I told you I would
not bring anyone, and I have not,” he replied indignantly.

I am going to search the perimeter to make sure there is not an ambush
waiting for us
. Markai had not spoken to me in this manner
since we arrived on this plane and I had half assumed it was because she could
not.

 
In a heartbeat, she had disappeared into the
dark and with her, my ability to hear what was going on.

I strained my senses to be aware
of what was around me, but I heard no noises and in the dark moonless night, I
could hardly see anything at all. This close to the forest, I would have
expected to hear at least some rustling in the undergrowth or night birds
calling… something. The quiet was eerie.

I nearly yelped when Markai
suddenly spoke to me.
Everything seems to
be in order. Keep walking straight in the direction we had been going. The
scrub will open up into a clearing; we are at the far end of it.
I nodded
before realising that she could not see me.

“Come, Markai says the way is
clear.” Without a question or hesitation, Alathaya followed me into the dark.

Just when I was sure we had gone
the wrong way, the clearing appeared abruptly in front of us. I could now hear the
men talking in the distance, although I could not make out what they were
saying.

As we drew nearer, I caught some
snippets. “That was the only reason, I swear!” Brant sounded exasperated.

“How are we supposed to believe
you when we find you here,” Tas gestured expansively at the area in general,
“in the midst of our enemies?”

His voice was hard and
unforgiving. Markai was sitting quietly studying Brant’s every move and it was
making him visibly uncomfortable; he was shuffling his weight from one foot to
another. At that moment, they spotted us approaching.

Brant started towards me with a
broad smile, but a low warning growl emanating from Markai stopped him in his
tracks. His smile faded as well. “Kadin, please, tell me you still trust me
when I say I have not turned to the enemy.”

I sighed. “That is what we are
here to decide. You cannot blame our suspicion on anyone but yourself.
Disappearing without any explanation, and then sending a messenger to warn us off
trying to find you… What did you expect?”

He held up both hands. “I
understand that, but here and now, I can explain.”

I raised my eyebrows at him.

“I left without warning, because
I had not planned on leaving. After we were attacked, I had to turn back to get
my arm stitched up. I could have done it myself, but I thought since we were so
close to a village I might as well have it done properly. I arrived there late
afternoon, saw their physician and then decided to wait till morning before
riding to catch up.
 
Except, the next
morning, I woke up and just thought how nice it would be to be rid of it all;
all the worry, all the responsibility. So, I decided to keep on going back,” he
explained.

Roscien was shaking his head,
his eyes suspicious pools of murk. “That still does not explain why you are here,
working with the enemy.”

Brant shot him a baleful look.
“I am not working for the enemy and I am getting to that. I was on the road one
day and more of the Skell attacked me. I thought they were going to kill me.
They asked me if I knew who I was, which I thought was a particularly peculiar
question, especially coming from creatures such as those. I told them I am
Brant Almeer from Predaki, of the Tretakai people. The Skell laughed at me.
Laughed! One of them said to look further back; that who we are, was more than
just who we are now. It all sounded so strange. They were not making much sense
until they told me who I was. They said that I was the descendant of
Rakadamon’s first general. I did not understand what they meant. How that was
supposed to change who I am now.”

He shook his head; his eyes had
a faraway cast in them. “They said they had planted my forefathers in Predaki,
in among the Tretakai, so that they would have an ally who grows up alongside
the Protector. They knew about Navitas being preserved all along. They only let
everyone believe they did not so that they could use this situation against you
Kadin.”

Tas
was
shaking his head, a sneer on his ghostly lips. “You did not have to agree to
follow them. You had a choice and you made it.”

Brant shook his head in vehement
denial. “They would not take no for an answer. They said my choice was either
to go with them or die there and then. I thought I could probably be more use
alive than dead.
 
I decided that if I
could get on the inside, make them believe I was on their side, I could help
you. I could feed you information about their plans, about how to win this
war.”

Roscien was still looking
doubtful. “You will have to prove that and earn our trust. You could just as
easily be working the double against us.”

Brant’s face looked sincere. “I
am working on finding out how to kill Rakadamon. It is not easy, not without
giving
myself
away, but I believe it is something to
do with the Skell. I think Rakadamon took something of himself to create them.
They hold the key.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I
saw Markai stiffen and then crouch a moment before they burst through the
bushes. An arrow whistled past my ear. I threw myself in front of Alathaya.
Tas
made to reach for his sword and then cursed in
frustration.

“Alathaya,
back now!”
I yelled at her, but with all the chaos in front
of me, could not look back to check that she
had
heard.