Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (22 page)

“
The lady of the inn tells me that she had help preparing for my arrival. She was very appreciative of the strange man and his powerful abilities.” Rhenyon held Steve’s gaze. “Care to explain the nature of that ability?”

“
Long story short, I can apparently control heat and fire.”

Rhenyon’s eyebrows shot up. “Ye have control over one of the elements? Speak ye the truth??”

“
I don’t know if I’d call it that, but yeah, I do appear to have control over fire. Why? What’s the big deal?”

“
Demonstrate this, if ye please.”

Steve glanced over to the fire in the fireplace.

Poof!

The fire went out, leaving red-hot coals glowing brightly in the flame’s absence. Steve counted to ten, and then re-ignited it.

Rhenyon cocked his head, staring at the newcomers. He was silent for a few minutes as he contemplated what to do.

Sarah peaked around her husband to look at the soldier.

“
Is there a problem? Why do you look as though you were just given some bad news? We aren’t a threat, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Rhenyon met her eyes. “It’s not often that we see someone with an elemental jhorun, milady. I wanted to see for myself if that were the case.” He studied the two of them. “What are yer intentions? Why are ye here?”

Steve elbowed his wife aside and faced
Rhenyon
head-on.

“
We’re just looking to return home. But in order to do so, we need the help of your king and queen. So we’re on our way to R’Tal to seek an audience.”

Rhenyon nodded, pleased. “Then I wish ye well with yer journey.” He unbuckled one of his daggers and handed it to Steve. “Take this. My crest is on the hilt. If ye are stopped by any of my soldiers, show them this. Ye will be able to travel throughout the kingdom unmolested.”

Startled by this unexpected turn of events, Steve took the dagger, momentarily at a loss for words. “Ummm, thanks.” He ran his hand along the hilt, admiring the workmanship. “Is this necessary? Are we apt to run into troubles with your soldiers?”

Rhenyon shrugged. “Two foreigners who are unfamiliar with our customs. My soldiers are trained to ask questions.” He eyed the couple. “At least, they should.”

The captain extended his right forearm. Without even thinking, Steve grasped the proffered arm and gave it a friendly shake.

“
Good journey to ye, then,” the soldier said.

“
Thanks.”

Rhenyon turned and left the room. When the door finally closed behind him, Steve let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He looked at Sarah.

“
What the hell was that all about?”

Sarah spread her hands. “Don’t ask me! Did we do something wrong? Maybe you shouldn’t have used your jhorun to heat those cauldrons up. Apparently you have a really unique ability.”

“
If they knew about yours, they’d say the same thing. But you’re right, we really should use caution. I don’t want any more surprise
visits
from any type of soldier.” He thumped his chest to get the blood flowing. “That scared the crap out of me.” He turned to his wife and cracked a smile. “Couldn’t help but notice that you moved directly behind me.”

“
And be in the line of fire if it came to that? No thank you.” Sarah put her arms around him. “Besides, I know that you really don’t want to hurt anyone, unless they pose a serious threat.”

Steve paused. “Do you think that Thacken turned us in or something?”

Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think so. He seems nice, as does his wife. Rhenyon probably offered up his thanks to the owner of the inn for being ready for him on such short notice, and then Thack mentioned that he had help. I don’t think there was any harm done.”

Steve hefted the jeweled dagger. “So why in the world did he give us this? Don’t you think that it’s a bit odd? I really don’t think he’s worried about his men. I think he had some other motive in mind.”

Sarah took the dagger and ran her fingers over the crest. It was of a stationary griffin, clasping some type of tree branch in his beak. A broadsword and a crossbow rested nearby. This was not some rudimentary dagger. The craftsmanship that went into the creation of this weapon was truly masterful. So why would he willingly part with it? What was his motive?

Confused, tired, and oddly enough, in high spirits, husband and wife fell instantly asleep. The fire in the hearth slowly died down until nothing but coals remained. Sarah, unconsciously noting the absence of the fire, snuggled closer.

Only a little while later, Sarah had awakened, drenched with sweat. When had their room turned into an oven anyway? Propping herself up on her elbow, she looked over the sleeping form of her husband to glare at the small hearth. Only a few coals were still glowing red. That couldn’t be it. What was going on? Steve rolled suddenly until he was flat on his back, his snores threatening to shake the dust of the rafters. The blast of heat had her gasping. Was he having a bad dream? If she didn’t do something quickly, this room was going to become a sauna. Nudging him gently in the ribs, she told him to roll over. There, that did it. She could feel the heat diminishing, like someone turning off a space heater. That was so much better!

Cooler, and much more comfortable, Sarah fell asleep.

Thacken Lodge was still and quiet. It was about an hour before sunrise and the lady of the house was already stirring. Bolli was gathering her fire-making materials to get the hearth lit again as her oaf of a husband had failed to properly bank it from last night. Naturally, it had gone out.

Several floors above, in the farthest room away from the main hall, Steve’s eyes snapped open. Something had just jolted him out of a sound sleep. Had he heard something? Had he detected some type of movement in the room? With all his senses on high alert, he lay motionless next to Sarah. She, however, was still sound
asleep
.

He rubbed his eyes. Sarah was a much lighter sleeper than he was, so since she didn’t wake up, then maybe he had just imagined it. That had to be it. If Sarah wasn’t concerned then he wasn’t concerned. Feeling the matter settled, he closed his eyes.

He had just started to doze off when he felt a sharp tingle, but only for a split second. What was that? Fully awake again, he waited to see if it would happen again. Sure enough, a minute or two later he felt the sharp tingle again, and just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. The sensation was reminiscent of getting a charley horse. Not the actual charley horse but the sensations that lead up to getting one. What was going on?

His jhorun started to awaken, sending his awareness to other areas of the lodge. His attention felt drawn down to the main hall. No, he corrected, that didn’t quite feel right. A room off of the main hall? Was it the kitchen? That was it. What’s going on in the kitchen?

The sharp tingle returned a third time, lasted a moment or two longer than the others, and then vanished. Curiosity piqued, he quietly got out of bed, dressed, and exited the room. With as much stealth as the creaky wooden floor would allow, he descended the stairs down to the main hall. All was quiet and dark, although he did hear some movement coming from the back of the inn. Someone was moving around, cursing softly.

Steve went up to the doorway and looked in to see Bolli angrily poking at one of her cooking hearths and attempting to coax a spark out of her nodule of flint. Throwing her stones down with disgust, she looked up and yelped with surprise.

“
For the love of all that is good and blessed!!” Bolli had slapped a hand over her heart. “Ye scared ten years right off me life! Steve, make noise, knock on the door, something!”

“
Sorry! Man alive, Bolli, I’m sorry. I heard noises, and I came to investigate. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay? Can I give you a hand with something?”

“
This fire is not cooperating. I cannot keep the spark burning. I tried using dried naka dung, I even tried my old fire starting sticks. Nothing. It burns for a moment, then before it can catch, a gust of wind blows it out. Damn all the winds and their makers.” She eyed Steve. “Ye can heat cauldrons. Can ye start fires?”

Steve gently, but firmly, guided Bolli back away from the hearth moments before it blazed up, burning merrily as though it had been burning the entire night.

Bolli visibly relaxed and even started to smile. “That be the second time you have come to my rescue. I will not forget it. As soon as I get breakfast cooking I’ll send up some up for ye and yer wife. Probably be in an hour or two.” She tossed a few more logs onto the fire. “All Thack had to do was bank the fire,” Bolli muttered in disgust. “Think he could remember to do that one simple task?” She looked at Steve and smiled. “Get some more sleep. I can take it from here.” She escorted him to the main hall and gently pushed him up the stairs.

As Steve ascended, a sudden realization occurred. Were those sharp tingles Bolli’s attempts at starting a fire? Did that mean he could sense fire when he couldn’t even see it?

Try it now
, the ever-present voice in his head said.

Activating his jhorun, he cast his awareness about. Standing motionless, he felt his
jhorun
being gently pulled downwards and off to the left. Straight to the kitchen, he presumed. Interesting! He also felt a small piece of his awareness being drawn to a room off the second floor. Apparently one of the soldiers had a fire going in their small hearth.

Easing the door to their room open, he slipped back inside. It didn’t appear that Sarah had so much as moved an inch. Good. Looks like he had managed to avoid disturbing her. Undressing, he slipped back into bed. Sighing, he stretched out and felt himself becoming drowsy.

“
So where were you?” came the voice out of the dark.

Smiling, Steve propped himself up on his
elbow
. “Should have known that wouldn’t have worked. I went down to the kitchen.”

“
You did? Why? Were you hungry or something?”

“
Would you believe that Bolli’s attempts at making a fire woke me up?”

“
Really? I didn’t hear anything. Was she making a lot of noise?”

“
Nope, no noise. I
felt
it. A sharper tingling than the jhorun. But much shorter and more brief.”

Sarah considered, digesting this most recent bit of news regarding Steve’s jhorun. He could now detect the presence of other fires in the area? Did that mean since he could start fires so easily that any other attempts to create a fire alerted him?

“
What do you think it means?” Sarah asked him. “Someone tried to make a fire and it woke you up?”

“
That’s it, in a nutshell. What I’m supposed to learn from that I have no idea. What I can tell you is that I can actually sense other fires in this place. Like right now, for instance.” Steve paused a moment. “Bolli has the fire I started for her going good, and in fact,” he sent his jhorun down to the main floor to investigate, “she has started another fire from that one. It’s in the same room, but how close together, I can’t tell.”

Amazement flooded Sarah. That was so cool! How was he doing it? He was able to determine that there were two fires were burning in the kitchen? How was he learning to control his abilities so quickly?

“
Anyway,” Steve continued, “I’m sorry I woke you up. On the bright side, Bolli is going to send some food up to us as soon as it’s cooked. I thought that was nice of her.”

Nodding, Sarah said, “That is nice of her.” She looked at Steve, who was hoping to get another hour or so of sleep. Not today, dear. “I’m getting up. I want to clean myself up, and I want to try to wash our clothes. I have an idea.”

Steve dozed off and on as Sarah washed, then took handfuls of the powdered soap, the pitcher of water, and the basin, and slowly and methodically washed their clothes. Once finished, she wrung as much water as she could out of them before waking up her snoring husband. Again.