The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (2 page)

‘I am …was, the
Kings aide.’ Rhoàld said quietly, Jed reeled.

‘Yer presented
me with the Champion Student cup,’ he said, shocked at the change
in the man he knew from experience was no older than his father
was.

‘Shh...,’
interrupted Varan who was riding alongside the cart on a gentle
beast from Dotty’s small stable. ‘We must get a little further away
before we start talking without wards.’

The company
fell into a deep silence as they moved quietly but steadily away
from Devilly, although Rhoàld felt Jed’s eyes turn to him
repeatedly in disbelief.

Soon the only
audible sounds were Varan’s singsong mumbling and the clip clop of
the horse as it pulled the creaky cart. The darkness deepened and
the noise of the city gave way to the peace of the night as
gradually the streets turned to rough roads and then into dirt
tracks and the city fell far behind them but still the little group
travelled in silence.

Night turned
once more into day as the group continued to move ever forward,
each member of the party lost in his or her own thoughts and Jed
repeatedly went over in his mind the conversation he had partially
overheard through the window of the tavern.
Why send Toby to get
Gideon?
He wondered
, because, Toby knows Gideon
, his
thoughts continued.
Then iffen ‘e’s the king’s son, what’s ‘e
doin’ at Green Home Village in the first place, ‘n’, why would the
village be in danger?
The more he thought about it the more
confused he became, the same thoughts rolled around and around in
his head before eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep.

Itching skin
and the smell of tea woke him, they were still on the move but
Dotty, managing to heat a little water on a small-unlit stove was
busy handing out tea, bread, ham, fruit and cheese, he could still
feel the faint itching in his skin as he took his tea.

‘I did tell you
that I might have need of my herbs,’ she said, smiling as she
handed Jed a mug and a small platter.

‘Hot?’ Jed
queried, staring at the stove, acknowledging the fact that it was
not actually burning.

‘Ah now, I did
also mention that I could do things…,’ she added with a grin as she
offered a second steaming cup to Varan, still riding alongside the
cart.

Day turned
slowly once more into night and the company stopped beside a quiet
brook to rest the horses and stretch their legs. Varan, as usual
when they stopped, walked in a tight circle around the group
mumbling in his singsong way and although Jed tried hard to ignore
the movement in his peripheral vision, found the constant circling
irritating. As they travelled, Lemba had been by his side day and
night and had noticed his irritation.

‘Close your
eyes to it!’ She said, using her finger-speak.

‘I can’t’, Jed
replied, adding, ‘I won’t be able to talk with you!’ Lemba smiled
shyly and their lessons continued until the moon had gone behind
clouds and it became too dark to see.

Rhoàld seemed
to have become pale and wan once more and was trying to sleep on
the floor of the cart, he had watched Jed and Lemba, happy in each
other’s company and he wished them well but their burgeoning love
had only served to make him miss his Bastian even more.

Before light,
they prepared to continue their journey, loading up the cart in the
dark and sweeping the area to ensure they had left no sign of their
passing. Jed thought constantly of home and of Toby and his crack
troopers all travelling on king’s horses and without a doubt, a lot
faster than they were.

Dawn approached
once more and Rhoàld began to feel uneasy again, Bastian was gone
from him and he felt alone. He thought of Gath and the way he would
smile welcoming him into his presence. He will have missed me by
now, he mused as he watched the sun trying to rise behind the trees
in the distance, turning part of the sky a dappled red and yellow
and cloaking the rest of the earth with a grey blanket. Gath’s
handsome face swam before him and he felt the loss and loneliness
of his king. Guilt plagued him; he could feel Gath’s presence
growing in his head.
I should never have left when my king
needed me so badly,
his guilty thoughts consumed him and he
cried out in his mind.
Here, my lord I am here…!

Varan stopped
his weary horse and stared back the way he had come.

‘Seekers…,’ he
hissed, ‘hold hands quickly...’ he shouted, jumping lithely from
the horse and clambering onto the back of the small cart. Jed who
had been dozing felt his hand grabbed tightly by Rhoàld who had
leant forward as if in great pain, immediately his palm began to
burn hot and his neck itched. He tried to pull away unaware of the
trauma escalating within the man’s mind, Rhoàld was crying and
keening like a child who had lost his mama as droplets of blood
began to ooze from his brow. Dotty grabbed his other hand and felt
the power coursing through him.

‘Varan,’ she
called, her voice sounding shrill, ‘he seeks Rhoàld… do
something.’

‘Fool,’ Varan
shouted at Jed who had finally managed to loosen his hand from
Rhoàld’s vice like grip. ‘Help him man, pour your strength into
him.’ Jed took the hand once more and stared at the blood beginning
to run down the face of the king’s aide, Rhoàld slumped into
unconsciousness. Confused and scared, Jed looked at the man before
him, he looked near to death, not at all like the man who had
presented him with his award and he thought of Rhoàld as he had
first seen him, a tall strong man of about fifty summers.

The wind had
been blowing quite fiercely as the championship competition had
come to a finale and the last of the bouts were completed despite
the worsening weather. Gath had left the ceremony as the wind had
grown stronger leaving Rhoàld, to act in his stead, high up on the
Dias the officers and their wives stood to acknowledge the
champions each one holding onto a railing or even each other as
they braced themselves against the strength of the wind. Rhoàld
alone had stood firm as the champions approached, the wind just did
not seem to touch him. At the time, he had been reminded of the
mighty sentinel oak he and Gideon had often climbed as children. It
stood tall and broad, seemingly immovable, a giant on top of his
tower, steady and sound.
So that’s why I didn’t recognise
yer,
Jed thought as the blood ceased to flow from the man’s
forehead and the air around them cooled rapidly.

‘Well done my
boy,’ said Varan wearily. ‘That vision of Rhoàld was perfect. I
remember him the same way,’ he added as Lemba and Dotty nodded
their heads.

‘You saw me
thoughts!’ Jed stated in a stunned voice.

‘I will explain
my boy but first I will need to put up stronger wards,’ he answered
and moved, ready to jump off the cart. From the corner of his eye,
he noticed the charm that once mended, again hung around Rhoàld’s
neck, he remembered when he had last seen it; he had been in the
king’s chamber within the castle, a prisoner, chained and bound as
entertainment for the king just as Rhoàld had lately been.
No
wonder it’s taken so long for Gath to find us…,
he mused,
somebody loved you very much..., smiling wearily, he passed a
finger over the small charm and mumbled once more adding strength
to the amulets protection.

‘Dotty would
you assist me with the wards please, I am bone weary,’ he asked as
he climbed down from the wagon and taking the reins of the loose
horse lightly tied them to the tailgate of the cart. Lemba laid the
now naturally sleeping Rhoàld onto the floor of the cart and
covered him with a woollen rug taken from one of Dotty’s boxes as
Jed stared after Varan and Dotty.

‘I
will
explain my boy’, he said aloud, peevishly copying Varan’s clear
speech, ‘when, when will yer explain?’ Jed asked Varan’s back.
Jumping down from the cart, he began to walk ahead kicking stones
and dust up in front of him and looking for the world like a
petulant child. Lemba, watching him, hid a small frown, noticing
again the dejection and frustration in the set of his shoulders,
before she too leapt lightly from the back of the cart and jogging
to catch him up, took his hand.

‘Lemba, I can
travel faster on me own,’ Jed began. Her continued silence became
an invitation for Jed to talk and once he started talking he found
he could not stop. Lemba smiled remembering the charcoal burners
shed when he had talked for what seemed hours and she had fallen in
love. He spoke of his worry for his family, his frustrations about
the whole magic/blood thing, as he called it and his wish to
understand. That and the fact that he felt Varan and Dotty were
treating him like a child, he spoke of Toby and the reason he had
turned back to join the group fleeing the city. Lemba shuddered,
remembering that Toby was to be her new owner and his promise to
her,
I’ll tell Jed about Toby just as soon as I can,
she
vowed.

‘We should make
our way toward the river,’ a loud voice interrupted Jed’s speech,
‘we should cross; Gath’s seekers will not be able to locate us so
quickly over the water,’ Varan said. Dotty nodded her head and
pointedly looked from Varan to Jed who was still slowly walking
ahead with Lemba at his side.

‘He wants to go
ahead on his own,’ she said, ‘he doesn’t understand what we are to
do.’

‘Madam,’ Varan
replied in an exhausted voice, ‘even I don’t know what we are
supposed to do.’ Despite his fatigue, he helped Dotty climb back on
to the cart giving her instructions to head toward a nearby copse.
Carefully she drove the cart off the road toward the grove of small
but dense trees as Varan quickly walked to catch up with the young
couple and gently steer them in the same direction.

Cautiously
watching their footing in the still lightening sky the three made
their way unerringly through the tall grasses with the creaky cart
bouncing and jogging along merrily behind them. The sleeping man in
the back of the cart lay undisturbed, despite the incline of the
land lending gravity to his prone body and occasionally knocking
his head against the buckboard.

Jed felt bound;
he did not know why but somehow he knew his fate had entwined with
this strange group. He had known it really from when he had
overheard Toby through the window of the Inn. He looked through his
lashes at Varan, Sonal’s brother and he found it difficult not to
like the man who reminded him so much of his friend. The sun was
still rising and in the early morning light and Varan looked
clearly exhausted, his skin was grey and deep dark circles rimmed
his piercing blue eyes.

‘Have I grown
an extra head lad, in the few minutes that you have been staring at
me I mean?’ Varan laughed to take the sting from his words.

‘I be sorry
Sonal, err, I mean Varan...,’ Lemba laughed aloud at the look of
consternation on her beloved’s face. She was much relieved to see
more than just the unhappiness and frustration that had been so
evident since he had returned silently to Dotty’s house what seemed
now to be a lifetime ago but in reality was only two days. Her
laughter stopped abruptly as both men turned to stare at her.

‘You laughed
aloud child!’ Varan exclaimed. Lemba flushed a bright red echoing
the newly birthed sun as it continued lightening the shadows around
them. ‘Lemba,’ asked Varan looking at the girl intently, ‘do you
have any voice at all?’ Lemba, horrified at the question felt her
face burn, tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them
fall
. I have no tongue,
her heart was screaming in anger and
sorrow believing that they wanted her to try to speak. She pulled
her hand from Jed’s and stood with one small fist clenched tightly
at her side, the other she clasped across her jerkin feeling the
small ornate box sitting inside the lining, the box that she
carried everywhere with her.

‘You have such
a pretty laugh…,’ said Jed as he stared at her and despite his
worry over his family and friends, he smiled and reached once more
for her hand.

‘Of course, now
I understand…,’ began Varan as Lemba stepped away from Jed and
turned to run back to the cart, ‘it’s just your tongue, it was
cut
from your mouth!’ Varan called after her as she fled her
humiliation complete.

‘Lemba…,’ Jed
called, angry with himself for being part of the cause of her
distress as she stumbled away across the grassy ground and back up
the hill.

‘Leave her lad,
her anger will soften…,’ Varan said, also staring at the departing
figure of the seemingly small city boy. He tapped his teeth with a
fingernail, a thoughtful look upon his face. Jed had seen the same
action repeated more than once over the last few days and knew it
meant Varan was deep in thought.

‘Could I have
been any more stupid?’ Varan asked himself aloud as Jed looking
more perplexed than ever, walked over to the hollow trunk of a
large dead tree lying in the long grass, home to tiny creatures
feeding of its bark and bole. Nearby a large ant mound seemed alive
with tiny bodies climbing over its surface. He watched a long line
of red ants scurrying back and forth like an army on the march,
their beautiful copper heads and dark bodies all shapes and sizes
following one another in perfectly ordered lines. Now and again,
one would brush its antennae up against a fellow and a new
direction would be undertaken.
Was I like that?
He wondered,
likening himself and his fellow soldiers to the ants marching
relentlessly back and forth for no apparent purpose but on
instruction of the queen. His frustration complete he sat down
heavily on the damp, still dewy grass and rested his back against
the tree, he looked at Varan pointedly.

‘If yer don’t
tell me what on the journey is goin’ on ‘ere, I swear by … by… me
ma’s bread I’m going ter leave an’ make me own way ‘ome...’ he
said, as the cart creaked to a halt beside him forestalling any
further conversation as it stood between the two men.