Origin (35 page)

Since she hadn’t gotten much meat from the rabbits she hunted the night before, Elwyn decided to go hunting again before she left the village. With Keroc awake and eating meat, the little she had would go very quickly, and while she was prepared to live on trail biscuits and water, she would not allow Keroc to do so. He had already been through too much on her behalf. Besides that, she had always been taught that a person experienced in woodland survival tries to have food for at least forty eight hours, if not longer, in his or her pack. Elwyn felt she needed to have twice that amount in case the hunting ahead was sparse. The morden seemed pleased by her decision, as did Keroc when she went back to the hut to collect her bow and quiver. She had the feeling though, that they would be happy at anything that caused her to delay leaving the village.

It took Elwyn about three hours to catch a small deer and carry it back to the village. She had again refused the offer from the morden to come along with her. She was afraid that their scent, which would be unfamiliar in this area, as well as the noise they would make, would cause any game to move farther away from her. Instead of hunting to the northwest into the lush forest as she had the day before, she sought game to the south of the village. The land was sparsely vegetated, but game was plentiful. At the same time, the further south she ventured, the greater her sense of danger. She felt as if there were eyes on her but saw nothing to substantiate the feeling. Elwyn had never been one to frighten easily, but she was frightened now. She turned and headed back toward the village. On her way, she was able to kill a small deer that would provide enough meat for her and Keroc. She was relieved when she arrived back in the village within sight of the morden. Neither Gemma nor Raffe were reacting as if they sensed danger, but Elwyn couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something very dangerous south of Kren; possibly a Salissian scout sitting in wait in case she showed up.

Before returning to the hut, Elwyn collected some more firewood from the old tree in the meadow. She cleaned, skinned, and butchered the doe. She made a drying rack with some of the wood she’d collected and placed it close to the fire pit. She then used the rest of the wood to build up the fire. Elwyn hung most of the meat she’d butchered on the drying rack and hoped that the jerky would be ready in a few hours so that she would be free to leave the village. Elwyn went to check on Keroc, and was pleased to see him more physically active and mentally aware. The slight buzzing in the corner of her brain had grown louder and was almost annoying, but she still encouraged him to try to contact her as often as he was able. He had been good about keeping his broken wing immobile and Elwyn could tell that it was healing well. He did squawk a lot when she mentioned food, so she put a pot of water on for tea and another on for stew. She put some of the meat scraps that were too small to dry into the stew and fed Keroc some of the rest, reserving a small bit for a bit later. She told him that she would bring him some stew when it was ready. She then went over to her saddle bags, sat down with some hot tea, and began to explore her options while the stew simmered.

The first option was to try to return to Tarlon. Her uncle’s house and shop was still there and if she arrived safely, she knew that the villagers would do everything they could to protect her. Once there, she could wait for either one of her uncles or her father to show up. The down side of that option was that there could very well be more assassins waiting for her. In fact, after today’s hunt, she could almost guarantee that some type of serious danger was waiting south of the village. She wasn’t sure that she had the stamina to deal with any more killing after what she had just been through. That made her think of another problem in going back to live in Tarlon. She knew that many of the villagers there would willingly die to keep her safe. She didn’t think that she could live with the blood of any more friends on her hands. She still had dreams about Thane sacrificing his life to save hers. And it had all happened because she made a stupid mistake and forgot to check the assassin she shot to see if he was dead.

The second option was for her to try to find Amarni and her uncle Rhys. While that option really appealed to her in many ways, she had no idea where Amarni was. She dug out the map that Ayron gave Thane to help him find Kren, but it didn’t extend far enough for her to determine where the land of Urafiki or the village of Amarni was located. She knew that Ayron said they were traveling west, but the woodlands in Unity were very thick and she had no desire to get turned around in them and risk getting hopelessly lost. The idea of getting lost made her imagine what she would look like if she had to wander around lost in the woodlands of Unity for forty seasons. In her mind, she saw the picture of a wrinkled up old woman, wearing a torn tattered party dress from her coming of age celebration, with bright reddish gold hair that drifted down to her ankles in tangled wisps emerging from the woods and scaring some poor villagers to death. She had to giggle at the image that popped into her mind. But thinking of the reality of the situation made her realize that she could get lost for a very long time looking for Amarni, and no one would know where to search for her.

Another option was for her to continue to stay where she was. The problem with it was that, it was at best, a short term solution. The feeling of danger that kept nagging at her had only grown stronger with time. Elwyn had to admit that resting here had been very good for all of them. The downside of continuing to stay in the village was that if no one arrived, she could be living here alone for a very long time, or someone other than Ayron might come looking for her. Her uncle was very late and Elwyn had no way of knowing if he was dead or alive. She had already rejected the options of returning to Tarlon, or trying to find Amarni as too risky. Her supplies were running low and she would run out of food very shortly. It was also too late in the season to try to plant anything and expect it to grow before the cold weather came. Elwyn just didn’t see the sense in staying put. She felt too unsafe.

The only other option that came to her was to travel north, making sure to leave Ayron a note letting him know where she’d gone and when she left. She knew that Silvendil was directly north of Kren. She also felt that once she got into Silvendil itself she would be able to ask directions to Findara from the people she met. The only downside that Elwyn could think of was that Ayron mentioned that the woods were treacherous and held many dangers. Elwyn had been trained since she was a young girl to deal with all sorts of dangers encountered in the woodlands and swamplands. She knew all of the animals, including the predators that lived in this area, and did not fear them. Given that Kierra and the other drakenhawks had not contacted her or arrived to show them a different path, Elwyn felt that going ahead was the only viable option.

Elwyn walked outside and stood in the abandoned village square looking at the huge forest that rose ahead of her like an impenetrable barrier. Tendrils of fog, which had not been burned off yet by the rays of the morning sun, reached out from the huge trees threatening to envelop the last remnants of the small dilapidated village in which she stood. She walked over and leaned against an old overturned cart, her mind working hard trying to make a decision. While Elwyn was confident in her abilities to move forward into the huge forest, she couldn’t just dismiss the possible imagined and real terrors that she remembered Thane briefly describing to her during their time together. He’d mentioned that the woods were mysterious and that many people who’d entered them had gone missing. But, at that time, Ayron had no knowledge of her skills. By now, Kierra would have told him that she was capable and he might feel differently about her traveling in the woodland without assistance.

Elwyn knew she had to decide shortly whether to move forward into the dark, unwelcoming forest alone, or commit to spending another night here in the village with only the morden, Keroc, and the shades of the missing villagers to keep her company. It was with great fear and trepidation that Elwyn made the decision to venture on alone. Elwyn walked over to the meadow where Gemma and Raffe were grazing and informed them of her decision. While she sensed that they were not happy about moving forward, they offered no resistance to her plan after she walked them through the options she’d considered.

She then hurried back to her hut to tell Keroc of her decision. After walking him through her decision process, the drakenhawk seemed unhappy and agitated, but Elwyn couldn’t tell if his head bobbing and squawks were frustration with his own helplessness, or objections to her decision. He settled down after a few moments, even though he was obviously still unhappy. He drank some water and ate the raw meat Elwyn had kept aside. He even ate some of the stew, squawking at the vegetables and bobbing his head at the pieces of meat. After Keroc was settled and fed, Elwyn ate about half of what was left of the stew. She planned to bring the rest along with her in case there was no place to camp that evening. Elwyn had no idea just how thick the wood were and wasn’t sure how long it would take her to cross them into Silvendil. After finishing her meal, Elwyn checked her drying meat. She felt that it would be safe to pack in about another hour. Drying meat so quickly like this had its risks, but Elwyn felt that she and Keroc would eat it before it had a chance to spoil. She packed everything left out into her saddlebags and went to refill her waterskins.

As she passed through the village to get to the creek, she checked out a few of the dilapidated huts and found some material she could use to fashion a bag to carry some extra meadow grass for the morden to eat in case the woods were so thick that grass did not grow there. She filled the waterskins, quickly returned to her hut, got out her sewing material, and in a short time fashioned a sack that would carry meadow grass for the morden. As she searched the huts she also found a small sack of dried grain she decided to take along as feed for the morden as well. Her next step was to go to the meadow and cut as much grass as she was able in an hour. She then hurried back to the hut with her full sack of hay and packed the dried deer meat into her saddle bags.

Her preparations complete, Elwyn brought the morden to her hut, saddled them, and loaded Raffe with most of her supplies and feed. She then picked up the special carrier that she made for Keroc. She put the little drakenhawk into his carrier and then lashed it to Raffe’s saddle, so that Keroc would be able to look around and see as they traveled. She went back to the hut with a note she wrote letting Ayron know where she was heading and when she left. Elwyn looked around the village one last time. She wondered what had happened to force the villagers to flee. She was also sad not to have had the chance to meet Owen, the village elder. Ayron described him to her as a kind and generous leader as well as a loving and compassionate family man. Elwyn knew that people like that were few. Besides, he’d also been kind to her mother and she would have liked to thank him for that. Elwyn refocused her thoughts to the task ahead of her and mounted Gemma.

With Raffe following carrying Keroc, they left the village heading north towards the huge trees that loomed ahead. Elwyn searched for a way into the thick woodland in front of her. After a while, she noticed a small animal trail that led into the woods from one end of the village. She hesitated for just a moment, and then plunged forward into the dark forbidding forest.

A
yron rode steadily southeastward throughout the night, stopping only to refill his waterskins and to let Gerrack graze. By dawn, he felt so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open. It was obvious to him that one night’s sleep just hadn’t been enough to prepare him for another grueling ride. With barely enough light to see by, he located the trail that led to the east. He stopped for a few moments to eat a small meal from the supplies that Zuri bade him take. Ayron was reluctant to get down from Gerrack’s back and stretch his sore muscles, for fear he wouldn’t have the strength to climb up again and keep going. After letting Gerrack rest for a half-hour, Ayron began to travel toward Kren.

At some point he must have fallen asleep, because he woke to unfamiliar surroundings and Kierra gently calling his name. She let him know that Elwyn had not yet left Kren and had decided to wait another day before she left the village. She wasn’t sure how they were all doing, but knew that Keroc was still alive, since she could sense her connection to him. For some reason, Kierra seemed extremely worried about all of them. She either had no details or chose not to share any details with him as to why. She just told him that she hoped he would be able to reach Kren in time to prevent Elwyn from entering Wheryn. Kierra also mentioned that all her efforts to contact Elwyn directly had failed and she was beginning to think that there was something about the land or the village that was causing the communication problems.

She added that the last time she communicated with the drakenhawks she sent to help protect Elwyn; they reported that they were on their way around the eastern edge of Wheryn and would not be able to reach Kren until sometime the next day. Since then, she had been unable to reach them as well. One of her biggest concerns was that Ayron would reach Kren and not be able to figure out what had happened. She wanted to communicate what she knew to him and warn him, because she was certain that when he reached Kren, she would also lose the ability to contact him.

Ayron was having a great deal of difficulty assessing his position relative to Kren. He knew that he was traveling east skirting the edge of Wheryn, but had no idea how far he’d come or how far he had to go.

“Kierra, I honestly have no idea exactly how far I am from the village so it’s difficult for me to assess how much longer I have to travel to reach her. I have to believe that I have at least eight or ten more hours of hard riding to get there though. Since it is already late in the afternoon, it will probably be very late tonight or early tomorrow morning before I arrive. If my timing is correct and she does wait until tomorrow to leave Kren, I should be there in time to stop her from entering Wheryn.”