The Hekamon (42 page)

"You say you've never been here?" she asked.

"No." Galvyn replied, following Alyssa and
looking around at the boulder strewn glade.

"But it's only a few hundred yards from where you
live."

"I know. I had thought of exploring these woods but
Mrs. Willard warned me they were unsafe. She said things can get
lawless east of the highway."

"Must be all the Fennreans roaming around here,"
Alyssa said mischievously.

"Well—" the boy began, before seeing her
smile and giving a relieved laugh, "I think Mrs. Willard may
have been thinking of bears."

"Yes, bears are renowned lawbreakers," she
chided, but didn't resent this Willard woman's opinion of them.

Galvyn's gloominess returned and he became quiet again,
before sitting on a rock and sighing, "Yes, she probably meant
Fennreans. I'm sorry."

The rock was large enough for both of them, and so she
sat next to him, "She's right though," Alyssa said, and
they both laughed, but Galvyn stopped abruptly and looked around.

"Hear something?" she asked.

"No, it's just," he searched for the right
words, "is it safe?"

She could guess what he was thinking. Their dangerous
reputation was something the people of Fennelbek actively cultivated,
much like the herbs they grew. They wanted to be feared. They were
few in number, not well armed and surrounded on all sides.

Still,
their reputation wasn't helping right now and nor had her own
behavior. She'd threatened Galvyn with her dagger and now the boy had
followed her into unfamiliar surroundings. It was understandable that
he was nervous, and since he represented her best chance of
recovering her necklace, she would need to reassure him.

"You're safe while you're with me, from Fennreans
anyway."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise. And am I safe from the guards
while I'm with you?" she said, and laughed at his
unintentionally funny expression, a combination of alarm and
incredulity, before falling silent. He was in a predicament,
especially if he was going to go out of his way to protect Hayden.
Alyssa thought he was stupid for doing so, it only made his situation
more difficult, and with the guards now after him, his despondency
was not far below the surface.

"Who can help you?"

"Mr. Croneygee, Tansley and Mrs. Willard. Those are
the three people I know and trust the most."

"Two badly hurt the other probably serving tea to
Tregarron as we speak."

"Did you really hurt Tansley?" Galvyn asked,
looking at her accusingly.

"No, it was the Coralainians that hurt him. I
would have helped Tansley if I could. He had information that I
needed but Tregarron arrived at a bad moment."

"Yes, he does that. Thank you."

"What for?"

"Trying to help Tansley."

"My reasons were a little selfish, he knew the
whereabouts of someone very important to me."

"Who?"

"You."

"Oh," Galvyn said, blushing.

"I thought you had my necklace."

"Oh," his face dropped. "Now I'm not
important?"

"I didn't say that. I didn't leave you did I? I
could have run."

"Yes, thank you for staying."

"Who else do you know who can help, your father?"

Galvyn shook his head, "He died in the war, in an
ambush by—" he looked at her, "it was a long time
ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is your mother still
alive?"

"No, she died last year. It's why I moved to
Tivitay, there was nothing left for me in Billestone and the
workshops seemed a better prospect than the mines."

"And are they?"

"Yes. Mr. Croneygee has been very helpful—"
he trailed off and sighed.

Alyssa sensed his loneliness, she knew the feeling, too.

"Do you have a family?" Galvyn asked.

"Yes, well, sort of," she said hesitantly, "I
never knew my father, and since my mother died my family have been my
brother, well half-brother, we have a different father. Kormak's was
a war hero and he doesn't let me forget it. I also have some cousins
who live with us. Then there is an herbswoman who has lived with us
for a few years. Vondern is the closest I have to a father."

At the name, Galvyn's ears picked up, "Vondern?
Isn't he the lord of Fennelbek? The voight?" He asked.

"The voight, yes, he's distant with us though, and
his nephew, Tolle, mostly runs things at Egret. Tolle is my…patrol
leader."

"What's Egret?"

"The name of our base, a stockade in the southern
marshes, we live there more than Ochre Hill, or it seems that way
lately," she said before remaining silent, wondering if she
should be telling him this.

She probably hadn't said anything that Tregarron didn't
know, it was said he was well informed, but she would need to be
careful. A few details about her relations was one thing but she
shouldn't say anything about their patrols.

Alyssa lifted her flask from her belt and took a drink
of spring water she had filled it with earlier. It was nearly empty,
but she offered Galvyn a drink and he accepted the offer.

"What was your mother's name?" she asked.

"Ava," Galvyn said, taking a few sips of
water, before handing her leather canteen back.

"And Billestone, is that a mining village?"
She asked, finishing off the last of the water and placing the flask
back on her belt,

"Yes, most of Demedelei's villages are, it's a
small place, not much bigger than Tivitay really."

Alyssa nodded. She, along with her brother and cousins,
would sometimes climb the taller trees in the marshes and look out
west. It seemed every small hill there had the distinctive wooden
head-frame structure of a mine, that presumably stood atop a mine
shaft. Surrounded by a few timber framed houses, set among the
parched dusty fields.

"How is it you never knew your father?" Galvyn
asked, "If that's not a personal question."

"It's a very personal question," she replied,
and raised an eyebrow at him. She had only just met Galvyn, yet knew
exactly how he would react to this gesture.

"I'm sorry, forgive me, I shouldn't have pried,"
he said, apologetically.

"It's okay, I asked about your family. You were not
prying but being polite."

Alyssa
thought Galvyn to be considerate of her feelings, more so than
anybody she had met before, more than any of the boys anyway. Maybe
he was like this with everyone, yet something intrigued her, Galvyn
had seemed to understand the importance of the necklace to her before
he had even met her, how could that be? If it
had
spoken to him, what did it say?

Suddenly she jumped off the rock, startling Galvyn in
the process. She wasn't sure if she had heard something or if it was
her intuition, but she started feeling apprehensive. She
instinctively reached for the necklace around her neck. She could
really do with a feeling of intuitiveness and some soothing words
now. Its absence vexed her greatly. It was Galvyn's turn to ask if
she had heard something.

"What can you hear?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think we should stay
here."

"Why? Do you think the guards might look here?"

"It's a place they might try, if they are
continuing to search they might follow the Tivitayall Road, it passes
though here," pointing to the dirt track that ran through the
clearing.

The road was rarely used and barely visible in places,
it could hardly be called a road anymore. But it cut a path through
the trees and the stone circle, and made for an obvious route they
could have followed.

"You might be right," Galvyn said, standing
and looking at the path too, "We are easy to see here. Do you
think we should we go into the forest?"

"I've got a better idea." Alyssa said,
thinking of the times she, her brother and cousins had stayed
overnight this side of the river. It didn't happen often, but when
they hunted game here, during the lean winter months, they made use
of a place that gave good shelter from the cold.

"There are some caves nearby. They are only a
little way off the road and not well hidden but we could try there."

"Wouldn't they be as obvious a place as this
clearing? For anyone familiar with these glades?"

"Yes, but if we are going to stay out over night we
might need to rest somewhere, unless you know of a better place."

Galvyn shook his head, "A few hundred yards from
Tivitay and I'm lost already, let's go with your idea."

"There's something else there too, brambles,
hazelnut bushes and pear trees. So we can get something to eat."
It was only now that she mentioned food, that she realized how hungry
she was.

"Sounds good," Galvyn replied, and the pair of
them started east out of Tivitayall and up the hill, with Alyssa
leading the way.

As she walked, she wondered whether she should answer
Galvyn's question. The answer to which, set her apart from the other
Fennreans and had caused her mother even more trouble.

In the end she blurted it out, it felt like a
confession.

"He was a Coralainian."

"Who was?"

"My father."

It was dark, pitch black. So black, that he moved his
hand in front of his face, while giving serious consideration to the
possibility he'd gone blind. Only after sitting up and looking around
did he see a faint glow of light emanating from somewhere away to his
left. So if he wasn't blind, why were things so dark?

Feeling around his immediate location he could tell he
was somewhere dusty. While the faint echo of the sounds of his
shuffling, suggested a large cavernous space. Could he be in one of
the caverns that lay deep in the heart of the mountain? No, he
immediately discounted that possibility. He was too accustomed to the
look and feel of those caverns. The pale glow, the cold, hard rock
and the sharp, lasting echos it created were too distinctive to
mistake. This was somewhere quite different. He was encountering
wooden posts and a web of ropes as he felt his way around. These were
not surroundings he was familiar with.

He'd walked about thirty paces, when he was
overcome by an intense nausea. Crouching and retching, he tasted
blood, and placing a hand on the back of his neck, he felt blood,
too. The warm and sticky sensation making him feel ill, with the
disorientation caused by the darkness only exacerbating the feeling.
Wherever he was, he needed to get out and quickly.

Staggering towards one of the patches of light, he
started to regain some balance. The improving light meant he could
now navigate from pillar to post, steadying himself each time.

After a few minutes of slow progress, he left the cavern
behind and entered what appeared to be a tunnel. The ground sloped
gently downwards and he placed an outstretched hand on the tunnel wall to
steady and guide himself as he went. Ahead, a cool breeze drew him
on, and before long he was out of the cave's stale air, but his
relief at being out in the open was short lived.

Directly ahead of him, and just visible through the
gloom, was a dark and menacing shape.

As impossible as it seemed, the shape ahead of him was
that of the Demedelei Fort, rising up on its rocky hill. There was no
mistaking it; the rocky motte, the bailey wall with its defensive
ramparts, and the towers of the keep rising above them.

He could see torchlight inside, too, shining through the
arrow loops of the towers and battlements. Light even emanated from
fissures in the motte itself, the cold, dark heart of the fort where
the prison was located. Immediately his nausea returned and he had to
sit down on the grassy bank, a bank he now knew to be part of the Old
Moat Road.

Taking a moment to rest helped to dispel one discomforting
feeling but another soon replaced it. He was the wrong side of the
mountains.

Getting home was now the priority and would need to be
achieved quickly. This thought infused his mind with a sense of
purpose, prompting him to stand and continue on.

Perhaps the cold bracing air had a revitalizing effect,
or maybe it was the sight of the fort that brought him to his senses.
Either way, a number of things came back to him, not least his name
and reason for being this side of the mountains. His name was
Decarius and he was on a mission to recover the most valued of
Coralai's treasures, the Plautius Gauntlets. Just as quickly another
recollection came to him; they were in the fort. His mission had
failed more completely than he had thought possible.

All
he could do now was to try and make it back south.
Get
back in one piece and let Hayden take the blame
.
That was all he could hope to salvage from the situation, and maybe
not the worst outcome. He would have wait until his mind was clearer
but felt some redemption was possible. There was still the matter of
getting back, it was dark and he had miles of difficult terrain to
traverse.

Moving south along the grass bank, he became aware of a
burning, acrid smell so strong he could taste it. The air was also
filled with sparks, the sound of clinking, grinding metal and shouts
of men. For a moment he wondered if the shouts were directed at him.
He stopped and looked about him but saw nobody. It quickly became
clear that the voices were not aimed at him but were the loud
conversations of workmen. Even so, it was enough to discourage him
from venturing in that direction. The sounds he could hear, along
with the fiery red glow that seemed to emanate from all around him,
gave warning of the danger he would face should he make a wrong turn.

Decarius carefully made his way up a narrow dirt path,
climbed a grass bank and stepped onto a more substantial pavement. He
stumbled on and up a cobbled street, weaving from side to side as he
went. The darkness was punctuated by a series of lamps, sitting atop
a cast iron posts. When he reached the first of these, he leaned
against it and it provided him some temporary support. No sooner had
he decided to rest there for a time, bathed in the soft and
comforting light, than he heard footsteps approaching.