Storm Holt (The Prophecies of Zanufey Book 3) (5 page)

‘He’ll be all right after proper rest and food,’ Issa said. ‘It isn’t far to Corsolon.’ She nodded at Coronos ahead of them and squeezed the younger Draxian’s arm.

Asaph smiled at her. ‘But only time can heal his heart, if it can at all when you lose a daughter.’
 

He took her hand in his, taking her by surprise. Tarry was the only boy who had held her hand before, but this felt different. Yes, Asaph’s hands were bigger and stronger, a man’s hands and not a boy’s for sure, all calloused and rough from manual labour and sword fighting, but why did she blush and feel self-conscious? She dropped her eyes and carried on walking, surprised again when he didn’t let go and instead matched her pace.
 

What if they could forget this whole thing and the war? Find a house somewhere in a nice village in Southern Frayon. They weren’t warriors or trained Feylint Halanoi, they were just people who had been forced from their homes and lost those they loved.

‘We don’t have to do this,’ she started and then wished she hadn’t spoken.

‘Do what?’ Asaph’s blue eyes looked at her intently.
 

If she stared hard enough she would see the dragon sleeping within. She swallowed and looked away. He was a prince of a once great and noble country, how could she expect him to live in a hovel with her? And what would they do? Toil the land day and night to feed their children and then die of old age? How could a prince, an exiled king, ever be satisfied with that?

‘It’s nothing, I meant nothing,’ she sighed and looked up at the sunlight falling through the leaves.
 

‘Tell me,’ he urged, a frown creasing his brow.

‘It’s a silly thought. We don’t have to do this, fight the enemy like vigilantes and warriors. We are so few and they are so many, we cannot make a difference… Unless we join the Feylint Halanoi. I was thinking we could find a house somewhere in a nice village and live like everyone else does…’ she trailed off, feeling foolish and weak.

He smiled. ‘I like the sound of that, especially with you.’ She blushed. ‘But I don’t think that will ever be enough for the Raven Queen, for one chosen by Zanufey.’

‘I’m not the Raven Queen, I’m Issa,’ she said abruptly and stopped. She tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t let go. He turned to face her and waited as the others passed until they were alone.

‘I will not leave your side, no matter how hard this gets,’ he said, his face serious. She looked at the floor, feeling like a coward running away, and ashamed to have mentioned such things. ‘Zanufey calls to you whether you want it or not, and I think in your strongest moments you really are the Raven Queen - you’ve always been the Raven Queen, whatever that ends up meaning. Besides, for all that I want a quiet life with you, Feygriene calls to me also. Drax calls to me. The exiled sleeping dragons all call to me. I know they are out there, somewhere. I would not be content in a quiet boring village either.’

Issa nodded. He was right, they would grow bored and old and probably go senile. He stroked a strand of hair back from her face. Whether she wanted it or not they
were
warriors now. He bent to kiss her then, his lips touching hers gently, taking her by surprise a third time that day. She responded without pause, almost instinctively, and definitely too eagerly, or so she thought. It wasn’t like the first kiss they’d shared, all fire and energy and passion. This kiss was soft and gentle, nourishing. For a blissful moment all her worries and sorrows were washed away. He pulled her closer and her heart began to flutter.

There came a loud stamp, a rustle of leaves, and a cough. They pulled away reluctantly to gaze at Palu’anth. His majestic antlers looked rather impressive against the backdrop of the green forest. She steadied herself against Asaph, feeling dizzy.

‘Love might have to wait,’ Palu’anth winked. ‘We’ve reached the edge of the forest, and the city is in view.’

They clustered at the forest edge, the karalanths stayed back behind the humans to keep out of sight. To ensure their own survival they kept themselves as secret as possible, encounters between humans and karalanths rarely turned out peaceful.

Patchy sunburnt grass stretched down a long sloping bank towards Corsolon’s city walls. In the distance within the walls stood a wide squat castle on an elevated position atop a gently rising hill. Surrounding it was a dense array of buildings with slate roofs, tall thin chimneys and round turrets. The light grey walls gleamed in the sunlight, and above the west gate the city’s flag depicting five white crosses on a royal blue background swirled in the breeze.

Asaph turned back to the karalanths, ‘I guess this is where we part once more, though I’d prefer not to. Good luck in finding your cousins. Feygriene protect you.’

Cusap’anth nodded and then smiled. ‘We will meet again, Draxian. Our totems will let us know where you are and if there’s trouble.’

‘Likewise the ravens,’ Issa added, coming to stand beside Asaph. If she needed the karalanth’s she could send Ehka, maybe even other ravens if they came when she called like before.

Rhul’ynth embraced her roughly and she returned her friend’s hug. ‘I too would rather we didn’t part,’ Rhul’ynth said, reluctantly letting her go, ‘but we must gather our kin. Those immortal bastards are everywhere, and who knows what they are up to.’

‘At lease we both know we have friends amongst our races,’ Issa said. Rhul’ynth grinned.

Not wanting to draw attention to themselves they hid their weapons. Issa hid her short sword as best she could in her pack on Duskar’s saddle, but Asaph’s long sword was a trickier affair. Rather than put on his cloak in the sweltering heat he instead wrapped it around his sword and Issa sneaked it under the other packs on Duskar’s back whilst he was busy chomping on grass.
 

They didn’t have a bridle, and instead tied a piece of rope around Duskar’s neck. He didn’t need a halter since he never strayed too far from Issa - but a horse without a harness, and a fine looking one at that, was ripe for stealing. The rope made them look poorer too - that and their dirt-stained, travel-worn and torn clothes hopefully meant no unnecessary attention would be drawn to them.

After a brief farewell the humans departed from the karalanths and headed towards the city. When Issa glanced back there was nothing to see but the thick foliage of trees. The karalanths had already melted back into the forest. She immediately missed Rhul’ynth’s company. The karalanth woman’s wit and warrior spirit had taught her much, but the karalanths would be safer the further they were away from her. She turned back towards the city.

Issa stared at the thick line of people queuing to get into the city’s West Gate. She felt nervous faced with such a throng, and following Coronos’ lead, nonchalantly joined the long trail. She noticed Asaph looked equally uncomfortable. They had all been away from large groups of people for a long while, living as they had amongst the karalanths in the middle of the forest.
 

As they moved closer to the gate, it got even busier. She realised she had never seen so many people or been to such a big city. Even Kammam, what she thought was a busy bustling port on Little Kammy, was only a tenth the size of this. Given the number of people flooding the gate, the city must already be bursting at the seams, and many more now joined the queue after they had. She found herself gawping up at the high walls and trying to glimpse that huge castle beyond them.

Asaph seemed to be gawping as well. Perhaps he had never seen a city or even a town before.
 

‘They live in there? Within bricks and stone?’ he said. Issa giggled. He looked at her. ‘It just seems so unnatural, especially when you’ve lived a lifetime in tree houses. And look how many people there are. So many all crammed together and cut off from nature. How do they see the stars above? I guess it’s exciting though, being around so many people from all over the Known World.’

Coronos cleared his throat. ‘Don’t gawp so much you two. I haven’t been in a busy city for over twenty-five years, so it’s a shock to me too. I’ve never been one for crowds, but it’s a relief to be back in the Old World, with all its familiar ways. You are right, Asaph, the life of a city is busy and exciting. It reminds me of the thronging streets of Drax, and the bustling halls of Castle Draxa,’ he sighed and smiled, but to Issa there seemed a pained look in his expression too.

‘Just relax and act normal, or at least like everyone else,’ he added under his breath. ‘We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. If we get searched and are found to be carrying weapons, it won’t go down too well. Cities expect commoners to declare their weapons, but I won’t be leaving my old sword at the gate. Not when they sometimes don’t return a nice sword, and instead see an opportunity to arm themselves cheaply. I won’t hide it in the forest for vagabonds to find either, or worse come under attack without a weapon. We also have the orbs to consider. Imagine those falling into the wrong hands. It simply looks like we’re bringing a horse to market to sell.’
 

Issa stopped gawping, and Asaph gave a serious nod. They certainly couldn’t risk losing the orbs at any cost. They were turning out to be more troublesome than she’d thought. Perhaps she should have given the Orb of Water back to the Wykiry somehow. If only she could find a place to hide it and keep it safe, but nowhere was safe from Baelthrom.
 

Dropping their stares they tried to match the mood of those around them, which was either boredom at being stood in a slow moving queue, or anxious to get in. Most people seemed to be buying or selling their wares at the markets, others possibly looking for work or going to work or looking for trouble.
 

The people themselves were mainly tanned brunette Southern Frayonesse mixed with some paler fair-haired northerners. She noticed a few black-haired swarthy looking Davonians who reminded her instantly of her music teacher on Little Kammy. She even spotted two tall dark-skinned Atalanphians. The men had staves and were dressed simply in cream robes. Because of this she suspected they were religious, possibly on a pilgrimage. She’d heard of the blue-eyed people from the desert continent, but never seen any. She knew they worshipped Doon, something she’d always found odd because Doon was Lord of the Forest and Atalanph was not known for its trees, being a desert continent.
 

Remembering not to stare she dropped her gaze again. At least with such a mix of people she hoped they’d be unlikely to stand out. Though there were no other Draxians that she could see, and she also did not look like most other Frayonesse people either, being tall, dark-haired and pale. She wondered where her mother and father had come from. Tall, pale and dark-haired did not really match any race description that she knew of.

Many walked pulling their loaded carts behind them, whilst the richer ones had their carts pulled by horses, either way they all went the same pace. They were close now and she could see the guards checking everyone that entered the gates with as equally bored expressions as those they let in. She didn’t envy them, their heavy chain mail tunics and helmets were already making them sweat in the morning sun, and they had a long day ahead.

A guard caught her with his gaze. She swallowed and carried on walking. His gaze lingered too long, making her angry, then Ehka landed on the turret above him with a loud squawk. The guard turned to shoo it away and stabbed his pike menacingly at the bird. Issa stifled a laugh. Ehka flew off. He would have to find his own place to stay tonight, she thought. She didn’t need to worry about him, he was more capable than she was of looking after himself.
 

Now forgotten by the guards they passed through the western gate without pause or incident and made their way into the packed square.

THE hooves of Marakon’s horse thundered beneath him as he led his knights along a wide path through the jungle. He gripped the stone Jarlain had given him, fancying he could feel it leading him on. He could smell the sea and the scent of smoke from cooking fires somewhere in the distance. Soon they would be with the Gurlanka, where much needed food and water would be consumed in great quantities.