Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (10 page)

After they’d eaten and rested, the campfires lit and the darkness settled around them Amias peered at Pearl for about the tenth time and demanded, “What is wrong with the child? She’s squirming like ants got into her underpants.”

Glory gasped audibly then giggled. Pearl laughed out loud and wiggled more
. Karl chuckled along with Kel.

“She’s got a story to tell,” Karl told him. “But we are going to be polite and let Kel tell it.”

Doran looked to his sergeant, expec
ting to hear a story, looked to
Brother Karl and then back to Kel.

“It would be easier to show him,” Kel said with a grimace, knowing the Captain wouldn’t believe a word of it. It was hard enough for
him
to believe and he’d
lived it.

Kel was right. Amias Doran didn’t believe them. He listened quietly as they told the story of Karl’s disappearance and their visits to the well but when they were finished he asked if they thought he was gullible. He wouldn’t even consider going to the hill to examine the pool the
next
morning. He
was irritated
they didn’t give up on their ruse when he obviously didn’t believe them.

He made busy preparing to leave as Brother Karl and the girls led his other men, who were too curious to not visit the hill, to investigate.
He became more irritated as more of his men became involved in the joke on him. And when he started to believe there might be something to the story he would just slap himself and get angrier.
The introduction of
the females
had cr
eated a much more relaxed atmos
phere
and he wasn’t sure he approved. That woman, that Brother, though fun and kind, pretty and attentive to the girls and his men, was a distraction. She didn’t need to be leading them off on some fantasy while they had a
job to do.

“Don’t be a proud
fool
,” Kel whispered to
him so no one else could hear.

His pride was keeping him from finding out the truth. He was curious but had refused to have them lead him to the hill only to laugh at him. So he stole away when he thought no one was watching and found the winding path up to the top. From the stories they told at camp he knew t
o take off his boots and socks.

The wind chimes in the tree were pleasing in the breeze as he gazed at the brilliant blue pool before him. The markings on the stone were unfamiliar to him.
When he stepped onto the edge of the pool he lost his balance and the world slid out of focus into a grey blur that stopped only when his controlled foot touched the stone. Nine figures surrounded him but he was unable to move. He struggled and fought his solid body, fearful he was in danger.

“Be still, Amias,” the female voice said as she stepped closer to look at him. “If you stop fighting you will be able to breathe.”

She was correct. He relaxed his muscles at her soothing voice and breathed once again. He was able to move his h
ead though it took a long time.

“We are sorry to come to you now, after you’ve had such troubling news from home. We must add to the burdens you carry, but please know it is necessary. As you know, you face a terrible time but you must help the others get the girls safely north to Brother Karl’s homeland. You have other commitments, we understand. Tend to them. Do not stray from your family obligations. We only ask that you assist the gir
ls.

“When you step into the well you will see the futures of the girls, the women they are to become. You will see events that will happen in the future, some involving yourself but you will not see your destiny.
You will not speak of what you see in the well to anyone unless we give you permission.

“We trust you to take great care, as there are evil forces now involved that will try to harm the girls and Brother Karl. The
Faold
has become a cult of politics, sorcery and manipulation. Karl will soon not be one of them and needs protection.

“Your heart is good. It will know which path to take. Do not
sever
the ties
that bind you to your family and to other people. Not everything is as it seems but know the chains of respon
sibility often lead to freedom.

“Do you accept this new burden?”

“Yes,” he thought with mixed emotions.

Warm hands pushed him forward into the pool and he sank deeper and deeper into darkness.

“Did you come to gloat?”
Amias
asked, snatching his boot from the ground.

“No,” Karl said quietly, as the wind chimes tinkled in the breeze. “The others needed my help to enter. I thought you might too.”

“I didn’t.”

“Why are you angry with me?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied honestly, pulling on the other boot.
He stood looking at her. “You sent a child to me with a message saying you were leaving. You didn’t wait for a response. I had Brothers at the Keep gate asking for you like you’d stolen their favorite candles, I had to rush with my work and send two of my best scouts and my first hand searching for you, then you scared them half to the underworld with your disappearance and now you have my entire team thinking they were chosen by the gods to perform some noble task.”

“They were.”

“That’s
beside
the point,” he fumed. “You scared us silly.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And I’ve had word from home. I have to return as soon as I can. I get pulled into this mess, which is going to delay me even more.”

“We will try not to hold you back,” she snapped walking away. “You are the one who offered your help. We didn’t ask.”

“I was supposed to leave you stranded in the mud?”

She marched off not waiting for him. He kicked the ground in anger but gave her a few minutes head start so he didn’t have to argue with her all the way back to camp across the field. Again, that conversation didn’t turn out right. He regretted making it sound like they were a burden to him. That wasn’t it at all.

He had had troubling news from home. His father had the fever that was spreading across the north. His father still lived but Amias was expected to return to deal with the estate. His obligations, as the gods had told him,
were undeniable. He must return. He must marry. He must
become his father. His betrothed was the first daughter of a wealthy land owner, a purely political match made by the King himself, hoping to solidify eastern and western interests. He’d been promised by his father he could have this one last excursion then he’d get a huge chunk of land and settle in. He was ready. He’d looked forward to it. But now everything seemed
to change.

His at
traction to Brother Karl was only one
of his worries. She was a devotee, unable to express love for another as men and women often do. She was untouchable. That he had learned to deal with. He worked hard at trying to forget she was beautiful, intelligent and of what must lie beneath the drab grey robes. He could put that aside most of the time. Now, she was going to leave the Brotherhood, become a normal woman, and although that tempted him, he could
n’t touch her. He was betrothed, and not that th
e infidelity of a tryst with Karl
would cause him great distress since he didn’t know the
other
woman at all, but he was afraid. He was afraid to truly fall for Karl then have to leave. He honestly didn’t think he would be able to
shut his heart down.
His heart knew which path to take,
they told him.
And that was to his duty first.

He had the added responsibility to get her and the girls safely north, into the breeding ground of fever.
He simply couldn’t understand the reasoning of going into the pit
of the underworld
to avoid
a demon
, but he could not deny what he saw, what he experienced and had to trust the soothing voic
e and the visions in the water.

He shook his head then took the path down the hill. No one questioned him when he got to camp, she didn’t act like they’d argued
or that anything had happened to him.
They broke camp and set off as
they had several times before.

Her sister died.
She hadn’t seen her since she was ten years old, but they were still kin and it stung. She remembered Ruby as somewhat preachy as big sisters often were, but she had taught her how to sew a few stitches to make rag dolls and had brushed her hair and they’d giggled at the silliest things. They had scampered through the corridors spying on the maids and kitchen staff then had screamed and run when they’d been spotted. She remembered Ruby crying when she’d
been taken away by the Brother.

With her throat constricted and the sting of tears in her eyes, Karl folded the letter she’d received from home and placed it inside her robes. She sat on a bench
in the sun of the Sanctuary gardens and wrote a letter of her own then
handed
it
to the Brother
who waited
.

“I’m sorry, Brother,” the man said. “Was it the fever?”

“Yes,” Karl nodded in a whisper.

He shook his head and turned to go.
The Sanctuary was no longer her home, no longer a place of security where she could go and mourn. She felt lost. The letter she had given the Brother explained she was leaving the order. She now had family commitments she must attend to. It had been her foundation for so
long;
she didn’t know where to turn.

The streets
of the town
were busy with people moving about, living their lives. Somewhere Krisa was watching them. She studied people like they were a curious species.
Kel and Pat were nearby watching Karl in case she had trouble with the
Faold at their realization she was leaving them
. Captain Doran was meeting with town official
s on King’s business. T
he rest of the men waited outside town with Pearl and Glory. There was nowhere to go to be alone. Not anymore. She would mourn Ruby later, in the dark, when no one could see the tears.

She
left the Sanctuary
in her grey Brother robes but soon found a shop to purchase the first real dress
es
she’d worn in almost twenty years.
The first
was plain, a sandy brown with little embellishment, constricting after wearing the loose robes of the Brotherhood, yet felt liberating. The hem hid her traveling boots well.
The second was a royal blue with white trim of lace around the deeper neckline and cuffs. Her decision was based on
a whiff of a
memory that Amias Doran liked blue.
She also bought some shifts, a new brown cloak and
undergarments fitting a woman.

As she walked down the street toward the north gate, Kel stepped in beside her
to
t
ake
her parcels
. He grinned and said, “Brother Karl! What are you doing in that dress?”

“I’m not sure yet,” she laughed, twisting her hips to make the full skirt flow back and forth. “Do you think Glory will like it?”

He studied her a moment. “She will tell you that you need satin and colour and lace and frills.”

“I also have a blue one. It isn’t much fancier. But I don’t think a ball gown is appropriate for driving a wagon in a caravan.”

“Prob
ably not,” he laughed out loud.

Glory screamed and clapped her hands, practically jumping up and down when she saw Karl. She rushed to her with a big hug, so excited to see her guardian as a real woman. Pearl
beamed too. She dragged Karl
over to the Marshalls to get their approval. Karl was so embarrassed by the cheers and whistles
that
she retreated to the back of the wagon to pack her other things away. She didn’
t stop
blushing for an hour at least.

Another two of the men heard from home that family had passed due to the fever. It was a somber evening around the campfire. Everyone worried privately about traveling further north into the threat but they knew they had to go. There had never been promises by the gods that they would survive; they were simply requested to help the girls. What and who would they find when they got there?

Captain Doran met up with them the next morning
after his business was completed
. He sat stoically atop his horse waiting for the rest of them to
be ready to ride out. He barely glanced in her direction
but gave Pearl a genuine smile w
hen she asked to ride with him.

They made good time through the countryside. The land became more hilly and wild with fewer and fewer communities. Since they needed to go northwest they took the road that led them closer to the great forests, which eventually led past the land of the Siri into mountainous lands most
Danycians
never got to see. Karl’s father’s lands bordered the forest and a great lake far to the northwest. Karl knew the Captain
would
leave them with her father and travel due east to the King’s seat then again further east almost to the ocean to his own land. They were taking him out of his way and lengthening his trip by at least
a
week
. She felt terribly guilty, especially after noting his glowering expressions.