Trinity (10 page)

Finally, he nodded uncertainly.
“There’s a village. Norlea. It used to be a temple to Miale and
Pios but was abandoned during the war. The temple still stands. I
visited once with my father.” He closed his eyes and his lips moved
soundlessly for a few moments. “It’s about five days ride from
here. You… we might be able to find answers there.” His voice
sounded weary.

“
Why there?”
Kiana wasn’t ready to thank him.

“
It was the main
temple in Gettryne until it was abandoned. My father told me they
used to keep records through wall paintings. As the temple is still
standing, those pictures will still be there, even though there
aren’t any priests or Guardians there anymore.”

Kiana threw her arms around his
neck, hugging him briefly. Then she rocked back onto her heels and
looked at the Wolf. “Will you come with us?” She pressed her hand
to Nidan’s lips, cutting off his complaint. “You opened my eyes. I
know you want this fighting to stop or you wouldn’t be here with
us. Help us?”

The Wolf looked away from her.

“
We can’t trust
him,” Nidan said.

No.
You can’t trust him
. “We’re all
tired. We should rest.” Kiana edged forward and lightly touched the
Wolf’s hand. “Think about it?”

The Wolf pulled his hand away and
hunched his shoulders.

“
If we’re going
to rest, let me tie him up,” Nidan said. “We can’t trust
him.”

Kiana didn’t want Nidan to be
right, but she wasn’t going to risk their lives. She nodded. “But
use your magic to make sure he won’t die.”

Nidan sighed heavily, rolled his
eyes and finally nodded. Kiana offered him a smile. How could she
restore the trinity if she couldn’t heal the rift between two
men?

Chapter
Five

Skaric woke, gasping for breath.
The lingering scent of burning flesh seemed almost real, and the
force of Berend’s fingers around his neck was almost tangible. The
memory of why he was bound and lashed to a tree by a thin leather
rein evaded him. He fought against the bonds that had left his
fingers and arms aching terribly. Then reality clicked back into
place and the knowledge of where he was and who he was with flooded
into his mind. Skaric stopped struggling and stared about him,
forcing his breathing to calm down.

Grey light filtered down through
the tree canopy, and the first rays of the sun were beginning to
make the air even warmer. Miale… Kiana—whatever she wanted to be
called—was still sleeping. She lay on the ground, huddled up in a
black cloak. A Guardian cloak.

Unfortunately, the Guardian was
very much awake and watchful. Skaric glared at him and then looked
away. The last thing he needed was to look like a fool in front of
the man who could decide to kill him at any moment. He tilted his
head back against the rough bark of the tree and stared up at the
canopy. A myriad of shades of green stretched far above his head. A
few days earlier, that same canopy had sheltered the Wolves whilst
they prepared to attack the tower.

“
Wolf.”

Skaric looked round. Nidan was
chewing on a strip of dark meat.

“
Do you want
some?”

Skaric’s stomach growled. He
hadn’t eaten anything since setting out on patrol with Berend. He
shook his head.

“
It’s food, not
poison.”

Skaric narrowed his eyes. “You got
it from the Wolves’ provisions?”

Nidan nodded.

“
Six men,
travelling light. There won’t be much left. Save it for
yourselves.”

He watched as Nidan continued to
eat the meat. It didn’t matter that he knew the meat would be too
chewy and too salty; just looking at food made his stomach hurt and
his mouth water.

Skaric tried to take his mind off hunger by sizing up the
Guardian. Nidan was shorter than him but much stronger. If it came
to a fight, Skaric would lose. But the Guardian
was
injured,
whilst the worst of Skaric’s wounds—his side, hand and leg—had been
healed the night before as a result of Kiana’s bizarre sense of
compassion.

Nidan had bandaged his own wounds
using supplies from the Wolves’ packs, but they were sloppy and
didn’t apply enough pressure. The wounds would get dirty and fester
if the Guardian wasn’t careful. Skaric bit his lower lip and looked
away. He didn’t care if the Guardian lived or died. It wasn’t his
problem.

“
Was it easy for
you? Killing your own kin? Did you even know the name of the man
whose skull you bashed in?” Nidan said.

Skaric stared at the forest floor.
“You didn’t think twice about killing them.”

“
They were my
enemy. But your kin.” Nidan’s voice was cold.

Skaric shut his eyes tightly.
“Dirk,” he said quietly. “His name was Dirk.” He recalled the faces
of the pack. One by one, he fitted names to them. “Dirk. Erich.
Jurgen. Bernt. Konrad. Rikert.” Skaric choked on each word as his
stomach tightened into knots. He wondered if his father or Berend
could have named each member of the pack.

“
Leave him alone,
Nidan.”

Skaric looked up sharply at the
sound of Kiana’s voice. She was sitting up with Nidan’s cloak
pulled tightly around her.

Nidan shrugged as he handed her a
piece of the salted meat. She took two bites, which took her a long
time to chew.

She glanced at Skaric and then at
the strip of meat in her hand. “Aren’t you hungry?”

Skaric shook his head.

Kiana frowned. “Have you had time
to think about coming with us?”

Had he thought about it? Yes. But
he had to say no.

“
We can’t trust
him, Kiana,” Nidan said in a flat tone. “He killed his kin in cold
blood. He doesn’t even feel any guilt or remorse about
it.”

Kiana looked at Skaric
thoughtfully. He shifted uncomfortably beneath her gaze, wanting
the ground to swallow him up; it was as though she were looking
straight through to his soul, even though he knew that was
impossible.

“
Yes, he does. He
just won’t admit it.”

Of course he felt guilty. He had
known every one of those men and they had known him. They had
trusted him. Horror gripped Skaric as the realisation of what he
had done finally hit him. He wanted to run, to not have to face the
strangers before him. All he wanted to do was allow his emotions to
spill out. A grim smile touched his lips. Even that was a sign of
weakness in the minds of the Wolves.

He wished he could direct his
magic to burn through the bonds. If it were possible, there would
have been nothing that the Guardian could have done to stop him.
Even the thought of such a tiny use of magic made Skaric’s skin
prickle and his stomach churn with the memory of burning. He hung
his head again and bit into his lower lip, forcing down the
emotions that were bubbling within him. There was a burst of warmth
as blood welled at the fresh wound.

Skaric shivered and tried to pull
away as Kiana knelt down before him and placed her soft hand
against his cheek. She looked more than a little hurt at his
reaction.

“
I don’t know
what’s happened to you,” she said, her voice kind despite
everything. “But I can tell that you’re hurting and that you need
answers. So I’m offering you the same choice that I did last night:
will you help me?”

Skaric stared past her, focusing on nothing but thin air. He
shook his head. “Your Guardian is right: you
can’t
trust
me.”

Kiana sighed and shook her head
once. “Fine. Carry on feeling sorry for yourself.” She threw her
hands up. “Curl up and die for all I care!” She pursed her lips
thoughtfully. “Is that what you want? To die? Coward.”

Skaric clenched his bound hands into fists, digging short
nails into his palms. Anger flushed through him. Kiana had no right
to brand him a coward. He strained against the bonds that held him
pinned against the tree, but only succeeded in hurting his arms and
chest with the effort. “Coward?
They
branded me a coward
because I didn’t want to die. And you call me a coward because you
think I do?”

Kiana stood up and stepped away
from him.

“
I
don’t!” Skaric didn’t bother to lower his voice or hide the anger
that was spilling out of him. “But what do you want me to do? Lie?
Tell you that you can trust me? Pretend I don’t want to see you
dead?”
Do I?

Kiana raised her hands to her
mouth whilst Nidan moved to stand in a defensive position. It
wasn’t as if Skaric could focus or direct his magic; Nidan had made
sure of that.

“
I’m
a traitor.” The words cut him as he said them. “Traitors
cannot
be trusted. Do you think I wouldn’t kill you as easily as I
killed my own people?”

Kiana half turned away from
Skaric, which made him feel an even greater sense of anger.

“
Isn’t that what
you wanted to hear?” He strained against the leather
again.

“
I thought you
wanted answers,” she whispered.

Skaric closed his eyes and leant
his head against the rough bark. “I do. I killed my people to ask
you questions. But you couldn’t answer them.”

Kiana’s eyes grew large and her
mouth dropped open slightly. “I’m sorry…”

Skaric opened his eyes and stared at her coldly.
“
Sorry
? What good does that do anyone? You want me to come with
you to search for answers? I could do that. But what do you think
will happen after we find them?”

Kiana shook her head. Skaric could
see tears sparkling in her eyes. He almost held back his words.

“
I’d still want
you dead.” He looked away from her. “That’s all I’ve ever been
taught to want.” Those words had probably just got him killed.
Skaric strained against his bonds, breathing in harsh rasps—partly
in anger, partly in desperation. He didn’t want to die.

“
Thank
you.”

Kiana’s words made Skaric
freeze.

“
Thank you for
finally being honest with us.” She reached out again but didn’t
actually touch him. “I don’t doubt that you hate me and yourself.
It’s clear that you don’t trust yourself. But I want to try to
restore the trinity. I can’t do that without your help.” She
glanced at Nidan. “Or yours.”

What could I possibly do to help
you?

When Kiana looked at Skaric again,
her eyes were wide and imploring. “Do we really have to think about
what happens after that now?”

She tugged Nidan’s dagger from his
belt. Despite a gasp of warning from the Guardian, she cut Skaric’s
bonds.

Skaric rubbed his sore wrists,
realising how easy it would be for him to wrest the dagger from
Kiana’s grasp to stab her before her Guardian could even react. But
he didn’t. He couldn’t. “You are far too trusting.”

Kiana smiled. “Maybe. Will you
help me?”

Skaric stared at her. Something
had to change. Kiana was right. The fighting had to stop. He sighed
heavily. “Yes, I’ll help you. It’s not like I’ve got anything
better to do.”

Kiana grinned, and for an awful
moment, Skaric thought she was going to embrace him. Thankfully she
stayed still, though she did clasp her hands together in her lap.
“So… what is your name? It’s going to be hard to work together
without knowing it.” Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.

He sighed. “Skaric.” He turned his
attention to Nidan to avoid looking at the grin that had spread
across Kiana’s face. “You won’t get far if you don’t do a better
job of those bandages.”

Nidan scowled and folded his arms
across his chest. “What do you know about healing?”

Skaric puffed out a sharp breath.
There was no sense getting into an argument if they really were
going to work together. “Basic field medicine. I can clean and
dress a wound.”

Nidan narrowed his eyes. “You
didn’t do a great job of bandaging your side wound.”

Skaric did his best to smile. “I think we both know how
awkward it is to dress your own wounds, don’t we?”
And I had a broken hand. What’s your
excuse?

Nidan looked like he was about to
argue: his eyes narrowed even further and he parted his lips to
speak.

“
Nidan.” Kiana’s
voice was quiet but laced with authority.

Nidan rolled his eyes. “Fine. But
be quick about it; we need to set off as soon as we can.”

Skaric nodded. It wasn’t a
victory, but it was a first step.

Chapter
Six

Nidan winced as he dismounted.
His side stung bitterly. The other injuries were faring much
better, mainly because the Wolf had changed the bandages every day.
The slashes on his arms were knitting together well; there would be
scars, but Nidan didn’t care. He had earned them defending the
incarnation of Miale. Of course, now he was doing the opposite of
what he should have been doing: he was taking Kiana away from
safety. Nidan had thought about forcing her to go to Valgate, which
was still just about the nearest city; then he reminded himself
that she was the incarnation of a goddess. He’d take her to the
ends of the earth if she commanded him to.

Nidan looped his horse’s reins
over a tree branch at the edge of the clearing and then lifted his
shirt up to inspect the wound. Fresh blood was already beginning to
appear through the white bandage, and Nidan could feel a sharp
tearing pain along the length of the cut.

He became aware of the Wolf,
who was standing a short distance away, watching.