Embers at Galdrilene (16 page)

“We headed straight back to Taragen. Nobody understood what happened and nobody worried too much about it. Because of it, we only lost two men instead of all. Jesten, my best friend from childhood was one of the men lost.” Mckale paused and took a long drink. He didn‘t want to think about Jesten right now. The pain was still too new. “My father seemed to understand what happened. He told me I used magic and I had to leave before anyone found out. He told me to seek out the city of Galdrilene; he said those who reside there could help me.”

Maleena looked startled. “The city of Galdrilene is dead. It no longer exists. Why would he send you on such a journey?”

“I don’t know, but I might as well go. I have nothing else to hang onto. My father’s words, they are all I have to follow.” He looked into her violet eyes. “Like you said, I can do magic.”

“What I do is magic, too. My grandmother told me years ago.”

Her casual acceptance of magic surprised him. “Was she not upset?”

Maleena shrugged. “Nana could use it, too. She is the one who taught me what control I have. She said that all of the women in our line could.”

“How have the women in your family avoided the Members of Peace?” he asked, astonished that she knew of so many who could use magic.

Maleena studied her hands, slowly turned her cup in them. “They only come to this tiny place once every couple of generations. For most of the women, no one ever knew. I’m the first that’s been this strong. The town’s people wanted my grandmother to send me away. If the Members of Peace showed up here tomorrow, I would be handed to them in a heartbeat. That’s why I am leaving this place.”

“Where will you go?” he asked.

She looked up. “I will head east. There is a woman I will meet.”

“What are you going to do once you find her?”

“I don’t know. Since I have no other direction to head in, I will start there.”

They sat in a comfortable silence, each occupied by their own thoughts. Maleena studied the man unobtrusively. He couldn’t be more than a couple of years older than she. He had a strong face, and the muscles of one used to wielding swords and wearing armor. His dark hair hung to his broad shoulders, held back by a braided leather cord around his temple. It was easy for her to forget how tall he was while sitting at the table with him. When he first climbed up onto the road, she had thought he must be a giant. The people of her region were short and she was one of the shortest.

Weariness from the day’s events settled over her and exhaustion seeped through her body. She sighed, rising from the table. “I’m going to have to go to bed. I’m getting too tired to think straight.”

He nodded. “I think I will hang my clothes by the fire and then try to get some sleep, too.”

Halfway to the door of her room, a vision exploded into her mind. Gasping, she swayed under the impact and would have fallen if Mckale hadn’t leaped from his chair and caught her. He eased her to the floor as the room faded in a swirl of colors.

Huge creatures with curling horns charged across a rolling, grassy plain, their breath coming in heavy clouds in the cold night air. They moved in a fast, unrelenting march toward rain-laden mountains in the distance. Colors swirled again. The beasts broke down the door of her home. They moved through the rooms, tearing apart beds and overturning chairs. Again the colors swirled. The beasts charged toward her. A vicious downward chop of one of the beast’s swords was stopped by the curved blades of the man she traveled with. Another swirl and the woman she had seen in the bowl ran toward her, yelling something Maleena couldn’t hear as white light flooded the vision, so bright it drowned out the last swirl of colors.

Maleena jerked and her eyes flew open. Her heart pounded and she looked around wildly, panic charging through her body.

“Are you okay, Maleena?” Mckale’s voice cut through the fear.

She looked up at him. He knelt next to her on the floor, his arm keeping her in a sitting position. Maleena nodded and placed her hand on his chest to push him away. She hated the weakness that accompanied the visions. He hesitated a moment and Maleena could tell he wasn’t sure if she could support herself. He pulled away, rocking back on one knee, his arm resting on the other. His voice full of concern, he asked, “What happened?”

“Something,” she stopped and swallowed hard. “Something is coming for us. They are coming here.”

“How do you know this? Is it your ability to see things?”

“It was a vision, a strong one.” She pushed her hair back from her face with a trembling hand.

“Do you know what it is that is coming?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like them. They were huge with horns that curled.”

“Kojen.” His voice was flat and the silver of his eyes darkened to iron gray.

Outwardly he seemed unmoved, but a dangerous quiet radiated from him. “You fought those things?”

He nodded. “Could you tell how far away they were?”

“I’m not sure. I saw the mountains to the east of us in the distance. They were headed toward them,” she said, trying to think. The impact of the vision left her shaky and drained.

“If they are that far out, it will take them a few days to reach this house.” He looked down at her. “They will not be here tonight; why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep.” He rose and paced to the window looking out into the night.

Maleena watched him go from gentle to the half-tamed wolf she’d first met. She sensed the tension in him like a bow string pulled taut. There was a readiness in him echoed by the presence in his mind.

She climbed slowly to her feet. “I’m sorry; this must seem so strange for you.”

He turned from the window. “Everything has been strange for me since the last time I went to the Border. At least now I know I’m not alone. Go on and get some sleep. I get the feeling it’s going to be needed.”

She sighed and nodded, unsure if she could sleep after the nightmare of the vision. Her legs trembled, threatening to drop her on the floor again. If nothing else, she would lay down for a short while and get her strength back. “Fair night then, Mckale.” Turning, she forced her legs to carry her to her room. Despite her fears, fatigue pulled her into sleep as soon as she lay down.

Mckale stood for a long time staring out the window into the night, thinking about the beautiful young woman with such strange powers. He felt an inexplicable attachment to her. Deep inside, he could feel that they were bound together in some way he didn’t understand. He had felt her exhaustion and her anxiety. Even now, as he stood at the window, he could feel her in the next room. Without knowing how, he knew she had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Despite his advice to sleep, he got very little. He dozed in one of the chairs, waking often to move from window to window, ensuring they were safe on the chance she hadn’t seen the vision clear.

They left before dawn the next morning. With the eastern sky barely paling, they set off on the West Road. By the time the sun cleared the mountain tops in the east, they were miles down the road.

V
addoc looked around the city of Yari as they rode in among the southern-most buildings. In the full flush of spring, people and wagons crowded the streets as the Traders prepared to leave for the trading season. Adults packed items and crates into large covered wagons while children dashed in and out of the brightly colored vardos that were like small box houses on wheels. A haze of dust hung in the air, stirred by the herds of horses being brought up from winter pastures to smaller corrals.

Serena and Kellinar rode ahead of him. He reflected back over the last two weeks and marveled at how much they had changed since the battle with the Kojen. Every evening, either Kirynn or himself, worked to train them in the use of a sword. A task they both fell to eagerly. Their experience with the Kojen, although a bit blurred in their memories, left them desperate to learn to defend themselves. Kellinar, extremely adept with the short knives he carried, appeared determined to become as skilled with the sword. Even Loki worked to learn.

They also focused on the presence in their minds–another lesson Emallya refused to skip and seemed intent on drilling into them. All of them improved under her arduous tutelage.

Vaddoc shivered inside at the thought of what this new type of Kojen would do to the ranks of Shaderian guards. The Kojen in his homeland were wild, undisciplined and disorganized. This new kind was opposite in every way and much stronger mentally.

Emallya said they were not new, they just had leadership again. Something dark and dangerous stirred in the Shadderack Desert. Emallya refused to say anymore on the subject, insisting she would tell them when it was time. Comments like that bothered Vaddoc. The more information one had when going into battle, the better the odds were of winning. He didn’t like being kept in the dark.

Emallya led them to a large, three storey inn. Vaddoc could see three other inns farther down the street. Sitting at the crossroads of the Tradeways, Yari was a major stop for those who traveled. Smaller merchants made their way through several times a year, purchasing their goods from the Traders and taking them to out of the way places the Traders weren’t interested in going.

They dismounted and followed Emallya into the inn after a groom appeared to take their horses. Inside, merchants crowded the main room, their voices raised in conversation and the occasional argument. Entertainers played several instruments in one corner and harried looking serving girls wove in and out of it all.

A heavy-set woman, her hair in a neat bun, appeared in front of them as they stepped through the door. “Lady Lorant, how pleasant to see you again.”