NexLord: Dark Prophecies (52 page)

Niler stepped up face-to-face with Mara and
shouted, "You do not make Gandarel's decisions for him… I do."

Mara raised an eyebrow and didn't flinch at
the man's close face or his loud words, "Stop shouting before you
bring down the Togs on Gandarel and the rest of us.  As
for Gandarel's decisions, he will make them for
himself.  I will not force him and neither will you,
though you may give him your council, as will I."

Niler scowled, but he didn't say anything
further.

"I think we should go back as well," Gandarel
stated, the last thing he wanted to do was continue on to the
capital
.

"There, you see, he listens to me because he
knows I am right," Niler exclaimed, though he controlled the volume
of his voice.

Mara turned to face the young heir to the
Seat of Stone.  "Gandarel, if you go back to Strakhelm
the Bluecoats will only escort you on to the
capital
eventually.  Wouldn't it be
better to arrive on your own, not escorted in like some stray dog
they brought in on a leash?"

Gandarel considered for a
moment
and then smiled.  "You are a
tricky old woman, Mara."

"I've been called worse," she noted, glancing
in Niler's direction.

"Gandarel, I am your
counselor
, and I am telling you it is too dangerous to
continue.  We should go back and fetch your Guardsmen
before attempting this journey," Niler argued.

Mara laughed, "And then what, empty the city
to guard Gandarel on a journey that he could just complete
now?  What happens if the Togs attack the city while you
have stripped it of the Guard?"

Gandarel considered for a
moment.  "Mara's right, we're going on right
now.  As much as I want to go back, it's not the right
thing to do."

Niler started to say something but he bit off
his words, then turned away in frustration.

Mara turned to the
rest
as if the power struggle had never
happened.  "Let's get moving, the Togs will be gorging
themselves on the meat of the dead by now and not be in a mood to
search in the dark."

"There's an image I didn't need," Dono
noted.

Mara continued, ignoring his comment, "Let's
saddle up and put some distance between us and them by
morning.  We can pull up and rest during the hot part of
the day, tomorrow, and look for signs of pursuit.  You
four have had adventure enough, get some rest in the back of the
wagon," she said, pointing to Lor, Dono,
Katek,
and Aerin.

With Yearl out scouting ahead of
them,
they avoided any confrontations with
Togroths, and morning light found them entering the
foothills.  Ahead, rising out of the low morning mists
like great teeth, the mighty Dragonback range dominated the
sky.

Aerin poked his head out of the wagon and
beheld the awesome sight for the first time.  The
Dragonback was the largest mountain range in the
Kingdom.  He had been born to the north, on the eastern
side of the Dragonback, and only traveled south toward
Strakhelm.  He had heard the Dragonback described in the
histories he used to read with his father, but nothing prepared him
for this magnificent sight.

Aerin ducked back inside the wagon and
grabbed Lor by the foot.  Lor grumbled in her sleep and
dug deeper into her blanket.  Aerin crawled up next to
her and spoke near her ear.  "Togroths are
everywhere!"

Lor
leaped
up with the wooden spoon, she had mistakenly grabbed in her sleep,
held like a knife ready for combat.

"Please, don't spoon me!" Aerin cried in a
faked voice of fear.

Lor looked around blinking and Katek buried
his head in the cloak he was using for a pillow as he tried to
muffle his laughter.

Lor rapped Aerin on the top of his head with
the spoon, "Aerin, you have also made my dirt list, beware."

"Come on, I didn't lie, there probably are
Togroths everywhere around, but you HAVE to look out front and see
this."

Lor looked at him suspiciously and then
glanced longingly at her warm blanket.

"It's worth it, Lor," Aerin said
seriously.

With a low growl, Lor scooted passed Aerin
and poked her head out the wagon front, where Tocor was
driving.

"Sweet Megan, look at that.  Those
aren't real, are they?"  Lor asked anyone.

Tocor chose to answer her.  "They
are real, and we've got to go into them.  You'll be less
impressed as it gets colder.  I miss my desert
already."

At the mention of cold Lor realized that
goose bumps were standing out all over her exposed
arms.  She was only wearing a sleeveless vest and short
pants.  She crawled back over
Aerin
and managed to give Katek a kick as she went by,
achieving a nice ‘whooshing’ sound from him.

As Lor got back under her covers she noticed
Mara sitting at the back of the wagon, propped up by the
backboard.  She was using the morning light that came in
through a crack in the canvas to read an old document.

"Morning, Mara," Lor said, pulling the
blanket up until just her eyes were peeping over the edge.

"Good morning, Lor, this is early for
you."

Lor poked Aerin with her
foot.  "It's his fault, though I have to admit that those
mountains were almost worth the effort."

"They are an impressive
feature.  No doubt one of the reasons humans settled
here."

Lor had no idea what their teacher was
talking about, so she did what she normally did when Mara said
something cryptic, she ignored it.

"What are you reading?"

"I was surprised by the Togroths attacking
where they did, so I'm trying to look at the prophecies and see
where else I need to anticipate possible variances.  I
don't want to be surprised again, that last one could have been
fatal.  By the way, good job catching sight of that
reflection on the cliffs.”

Lor felt a warmth flood through her, it was
difficult to get compliments from Mara; the woman expected you to
do as well as she did at all times.  "So what is in store
for us?"

Mara smiled.  "I'm not reading
about what is in store for us, Lor, I'm seeing what to avoid."

"All right, what is there to avoid?"

"Far too much to go into, I'll keep you
informed if I think something is pertinent, you can count on
that."

"Why don't you just let us read them?"

"I have my reasons," Mara
stated
but didn't elaborate.

Aerin was listening from under his blanket,
and again, he was worried about what the Dreadmaster had
said.  Mara kept hiding things from them and he wondered
why.  He suddenly remembered that she had told him they
were headed for the 'Chamber of the Nexus', but she told Gandarel
that they were headed for the capitol!

Aerin pulled the covers from his face and
looked over at Mara on the far side of the
wagon.  "Mara?” he said.

"Yes, Aerin?"

"Why did you lie to Gandarel?  Or
aren't we going to that chamber place?"

Mara's eyes were dark pools as she gazed back
at him, but he was stubborn and refused to drop his eyes this
time.

"
Well,
that
was a rude good morning.  Calling someone a liar is not a
way to endear them to you, or get straight answers."

"I'm sorry, that just came out
wrong.  Let me try again, you told Gandarel we were going
to the capitol.  Is that
where
we are headed?"

Mara smiled, "Better, but you still infer
that I was lying, but I'll answer you.  Yes, what I said
was the truth, our final destination is the
capital
, but I did not say we wouldn't be stopping along
the way."

"The Chamber of the Nexus," Aerin said,
though it was not really a question.

"Yes, Gandarel has a meeting with
destiny.  I must make sure it happens or many things in
these dark writings shall come true.  Not the least of
which is many of us dying."

"What will happen to him in the Chamber?"

Mara set down the paper she was
reading.  "Aerin, I will tell you this, I will make sure
you, Gandarel, and the rest of my students, past and present, know
the answers to that question before I ask Gandarel to
enter.  I don't want to explain the possibilities many
times over, is that satisfactory?"

Aerin felt the blood rush into his face at
her last question; he had been grilling her pretty
hard.  "That would be fine, thank you, Mara," he added
lamely.

"Fine then, so if you don't have any more
questions right now, may I return to reading my papers?"

"Sure," Aerin said, getting back under his
blanket before Mara melted him with a stare.

"Good," she
said
and lifted the document she had been
reading.  And though her eyes were on the paper, her mind
was on other things.

At
noon,
they stopped in a small valley and rested the
horses.  Mara wouldn't let anyone start a fire, so they
had to eat cold cheese and hard crackers that she brought out from
the wagon stores. After everyone had rested she had them
gather firewood and load up the wagon.  From here out,
until they cleared the mountains, the kids would have to walk or
ride like the others, as the wagon would be hauling the
firewood
they needed to make it across the
cold pass.

"Is there snow up there, Mara?" Dono
asked.  He had never seen snow before.

Mara looked up at the tall white
peaks.  "Yes, but not down in the Eigen Pass, at least,
not this time of year, unless we are unlucky enough to hit a
storm.  Let's hope that doesn't happen."

"Oh, OK, I was, well, I just wanted to see
what it was like," Dono said.

Mara smiled, and Aerin noted it was that look
she had in her eye when she was cooking up something for her
students.  "I think there will be an opportunity for you
to experience snow before this journey is over, I do indeed."

From the tone of her voice, and that same
look in her eye, Dono suddenly didn't like the idea as much.

They headed out and soon the road started to
climb steeply.  Looking back from where he was walking
along the road, Aerin could make out the hilly lands they had just
left behind.  He wondered if he would ever return to
Strakhelm and the childhood he had known there.  He could
remember traveling with his parents, but the last few years with
Mara seemed as the bright colors of daylight compared to the
shadows of night that were previous memories.  Each foot
they traveled into the Dragonback took him from that bright time,
and he felt he would never reclaim it again.

"You look sad, friend Aerin," Katek
noted.

The taller boy was walking alongside him.

"I feel I'm losing something.  In
the last few
years,
I found my
friends in the city
streets
and we
had some great times there. Even Strakhelm’s darker side has become
familiar.  Ahead I only see a mighty range of mountains,
and beyond that, mystery and the unknown."

Katek slapped him on the
back.  "That's just it, Aerin, when you first entered
Strakhelm wasn't it strange, unknown and mysterious?"

"Well yes, now that I think about
it.  I had just lost my parents; I didn't know what was
going to happen to me."

"But now you look back at those adventures
you had in fond remembrance.  This is no
different.  Ahead of us lies the adventures of the
future, and one day you will look back on this time in fond
remembrance, and you will say, 'I was there, with Mara and Katek,
and there was nothing like it, nor will there be
again.'   So instead of being sad about leaving the
memories of the past, enjoy the making of new memories, for this is
a time of adventure, and you may find you only have a few in your
entire lifetime."

"How did you get so wise?" Aerin asked with a
slight smile for his friend.

"I've always been smart, but I can't claim to
have come up with that bit entirely on my own.  My old
master Temmen told me much the same when he took me from my first
home.  His words are my gift to you, they are precious to
me."

"Thank you for sharing them with me,
Katek.  You have cheered my heart."

"Aerin, you are my friend, I cannot have you
dragging along like a dead rat on a string."

"Thanks for the picture," Aerin said
dryly.

"Don't mention it."

During the next three days of
travel,
the walls of the Eigen Pass rose around
them and soon bracketed the small band of
travelers.  Ahead they could see the sheer walls of the
pass winding off into the mountains.  The road still
climbed steeply, but the sides of the Dragonback Mountains to
either side of the pass soared upwards to heights ten thousand feet
above.  It was a humbling sight.

That afternoon, Mara called a halt to their
progress through the pass.  Gandarel was puzzled; it was
far earlier than they had stopped on the previous nights.

"Here it comes," Lor whispered to Aerin.

"You think so?" Aerin asked.

"Why else would she stop here?"

Aerin looked around.  This place in
the
pass
seemed
unremarkable
if any part of this pass could be
termed that.  The sheer walls of granite still towered so
high above the floor that Aerin grew dizzy when he looked up for
too long.

"I don't see anything," Aerin noted.

Mara climbed down from her wagon, and
Gandarel trotted his horse over to where she stood.  "Why
are we stopping?"

"We're going to be departing from the road
for a time."

Gandarel looked around, much as Aerin had
just done.

"Why?” he asked after a
moment.  "Is there someone pursuing us?"

Niler gave Mara a puzzled look, he didn't
know what she was up to, but he was wary.