Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (21 page)

"Killed him? Maybe you weren't watching very closely but that ass wanted to kill me. The boy needs a good beating or two and maybe he would behave a little better!" Trestus hollered. The slap had made him angry and he had already been frustrated from all the waiting.

"Behave better? Do you have any idea what that boy has been through?"

"I can only imagine," Trestus replied a bit more coolly, he managed to speak in more of a normal tone rather than a shout. "Whatever his past, it doesn't give him the right to behave in such a manner. And if no one does anything about it then that boy's going to be a total monster one day."

"That boy's neighbors butchered his parents when they wouldn't turn him over to them. His parents died to protect him, so I guess that he has the right to be a little difficult."

Trestus sighed, "I guess he does but I didn't have anything to do with that. I'm not one of the bad guys." He paused for a moment and Karina moved up near the tree line. He had never noticed how firm and tan her legs were before. He continued to stare until she moved around a large bush and began putting on the rest of her clothes. "Is that why he hates us so much? Because of what happened to his parents?"

"Yes," Karina called. She was still bent over adjusting her clothes and he couldn't see much of her.

"So why do you hate us as much as you do?"

Karina emerged from the far side of the bushes. She wore a serene expression, not an angry one. "You're normal. I'm not. The normal people of my town beat me half to death. The normal people killed my parents and brothers. The normal people drug me out into the forest and tied me to a tree for the animals." Her eyes held his, her anger was nearly overwhelming. "I have no desire to know normal people." She turned and began walking off.

"That wasn't me, Karina," he called softly after her.

"Might as well have been."

He stood there for some time, well after she had disappeared from view. He felt only disgust at the boy, but for her he felt pity. He sighed deeply and turned back towards the village.

Sitting in the shade of two large trees, Derek wondered at their situation. Here they sat, while they probably should be on their way back to Telur. As late as they were, he could only imagine that Flare and the others had gone on after the sword.

It was hard to get upset about his team's failure to reach Helum. After their days in the torture room, he was simply elated that none of them had suffered the horrors that had been meant for them. He couldn't imagine having to watch his friends being tortured, and but for Keenan, that's exactly what would have happe v lou8">ned.

Thinking of Keenan began to irritate him, so he quickly moved on to other topics. He and Keenan had not exactly been in agreement on what path they should follow and both men were unused to being questioned.

He leaned his head back against the tree bark and closed his eyes. Regardless of what he told himself, this still felt like a prison. As far as prisons went, this wasn't too bad, but it was still a prison. Waiting for this Wildling Master was causing all of them to be irritable with one another.

As if his thoughts of irritability were calling her, Kara pushed through the bushes and pulled up short at the sight of Derek.

"Oh," she said, looking surprised to see him. "I didn't know you were here. I didn't mean to intrude."

"It's not an intrusion," Derek replied. "I was just thinking of what to do once we're finally free of this forest." Kara didn't reply and he wasn't surprised. Kara had taken on a defeated attitude recently and it was not something that he was used to seeing. He knew what was causing it. The idiotic Church had ordered her to wear a bracelet so they could track the Guardians on this foolish mission. Kara had agreed for a while but then she had given the bracelet to a woman that bore a striking resemblance to Kara. Now Kara was sick with dread at what the Church would do to her.

The silence drug on for several moments and Kara made to move on past, farther into the woods.

"What do you think we should do?" Derek asked her, before she had gone too far. He was hoping to see the old Kara again.

Kara stopped and turned back to face him, "I think it's too late to go to Helum. Surely the others would have gone on already, and I think the only thing we can do is return to Telur and report what we saw at Dahl-Rucka." She shivered at the very mention of the fort.

Derek nodded. Her thoughts echoed his, but he felt there was more to her desire to return to Telur. "What will you do when you get back to Telur?" Kara blinked in surprise and Derek knew he had guessed right about what she must be thinking.

Kara took a deep breath, "I will surrender myself to the Church and accept my proper punishment."

Anger burst through him and Derek bounded to his feet, grabbing Kara by the arm. "Punishment? Even if they decide to execute you?" he demanded, shouting in his anger.

Caught completely by surprise, Kara shrunk back away from him, her eyes wide.

Scared by both his anger and the way that Kara had responded to it, Derek pulled back from her. "Is that what you're going there for?" he asked in a more subdued tone.

"If that is what is decided," Kara answered in such a quiet voice that Derek almost missed hearing it. Her eyes dropped to the ground.

He shook his head. "No," he said simply and his tone forced Kara to look at him. There was a strength, a fiery determination in his words. "They'll execute you only after I'm dead and I don't intend for that to happen for a long, long time."

Kara's eyes widened in surprise and then she burst into tears.

His strength and determination evaporated in the presence of the sobbing woman and hesitantly reac voups't intenhed out to touch her. "Quiet now," he said softly. "It's not as bad as you think. I'll make sure that everything happens for the best."

She started to turn away but Derek stopped her. No matter how hard she tried, his grip was stronger. After a moment Kara quit resisting and he pulled her to him, hugging her to his chest.

After being so strong for so long, and then so dejected, Kara gave in and wept in his arms.

Chapter 13

Flare took a deep breath and mopped the sweat off of his brow. The weather was actually fairly cool but his pack weighed him down and the ground all sloped upwards, making walking tiring.

It was getting late in the day on the third day of travel after leaving the small town. He had reached the mountains just before mid-day on the first day, after walking all night long. After finding an area enclosed by evergreen trees, he had laid down to take a short nap. When he awoke, the sun was already down, so that prevented any more walking that day. He didn't mind walking to the mountains in the dark but he wasn't about to climb up and down these treacherous hills at night.

For the last day and a half, nearly two full days, he had been walking along the base of the mountains. His legs burned from the uneven ground but he struggled on. He knew he had to be getting close and that was exciting and a little scary at the same time. He wasn't sure of what to expect. He didn't know of any stories that ever mentioned this valley, but Abner had been earnest in his belief that this was related to the Dragon Order. And why did one have to be in the Order to get into the valley?

He paused and looked back the way he had come. He stretched out with his spirit and felt for any followers. Nothing. A sense of being followed was gnawing at him and he kept checking at least once every hour. If the townspeople knew what he was they might come after him, but they also just might be happy that he was gone. He also suspected that those trappers might follow him. He suspected that if they could get revenge, then they would ambush him in a heartbeat. He didn't intend to give them the chance.

There was also the possibility that Telurian soldiers might have followed him over the mountains, but he didn't think so. Abner's insistence about spending a day or two in every town they passed had slowed Flare down tremendously. If those guards had come over the mountains, then they probably would have already caught up with him.

He hoped Abner and Sadah were all right and he even found himself missing them a little. It was true that Abner was stubborn and a little ornery, but he was a good man none the less. It didn't hurt that he knew what Flare was and he still accepted him. Sadah, well, she was just plain mean. Mean but honest. He even missed her some, not much, just a little.

Traveling with Abner and Sadah had been relaxing. With them, he was part of a group and there had been things to keep him busy. Without them, he spent the whole day alone in his head. The old worries were back. How were his friends? Had they been warned before they returned to Telur? He wanted to know, needed to know that they were okay, but he feared the answers he might get.

The worries about his friends battled with other worries in his thoughts. Was he Kelcer's destroyer? Were there any steps that he could take that would prevent the proph vh grooveecy from coming true? He found himself thinking about Kelcer a lot lately and wished the man had never been born.

It was with thoughts of Kelcer and his friends in his head that he crested a rather steep hill and stopped. He had arrived at his destination.

A valley stretched out below him. It was formed by a slight offset in the mountain range. Instead of the range running straight, there was a little gap between two mountains and a long but narrow valley sat between those two amazingly high peaks. He couldn't see much from here, the valley was heavily wooded and curved back into the mountain gap. A stream ran out the valley mouth, undoubtedly the water came from snow melting on the mountain peaks.

There could be no doubt that he was at the right place. The valley mouth had a most unusual decoration. Stretching all across the valley entrance, were enormous stone statues. The statues were spaced evenly, about twenty yards apart, and they stood atop stone pedestals. Even from this distance and in the failing light, the statues were scary looking. Each one was different, but they were alike in their grotesqueness. Each statue was of a different monster, at least that was Flare's first thought, but then something else occurred to him. Perhaps the statues weren't monsters, perhaps they were demons.

Finally managing to pull his eyes from the statues, he looked up at the sky. The sun was already low on the horizon. The high mountain peaks were blocking it from view causing everything to be in shadows. Sighing, he knew what he had to do. He didn't much like the idea of camping in sight of those monsters, but it was preferable to walking amongst them in the dark.

The wind was picking up, whipping his cloak around him. It was going to be a cool night again. He backtracked the way he had come, and soon found what he was looking for. A depression between two hills. The hills would block most of the wind off of him during the night and the evergreen trees would provide cover and firewood. Thankful that he wouldn't be able to see those statues from his camp site, Flare began setting up camp.

The next morning was clear with the promise of a beautiful sunny day. Flare was up early and watched the sun rise, making the eastern sky dance with colors. He watched the sunrise but didn't really see it. His mind was on other things and he was tired. He hadn't slept well and probably only got a couple hours of solid sleep. Waking an hour or two before sunrise, he had already packed up camp and was just waiting for enough light to go to the valley.

He wanted to find out what was so special about this valley and then cross the mountains and head south.

He chewed on a piece of hard bread. He wasn't hungry in the least but it would be a long time till he stopped to eat again. It was a meager breakfast, just bread and cheese. The cheese was getting moldy and he had cut off a large layer before he could eat it. The bread, hard though it was, was almost gone. His supplies were getting low. When he left the valley, he would have to forage and hunt for his food and that would slow him down even more.

He sighed and bit off another bite of the bread. Chewing on one of these evergreen trees would probably taste better.

The sun was still low in the sky, with long shadows all around him, when he finally had enough. He climbed to his feet and shouldered his pack, which was shockingly light compared to just a few days ago, and turned his feet towards the valley. The trees and hills cast long shado ~agai ~agai ws from the sun being just barely over the horizon. He didn't care; time to find out what was so special about this valley.

In the early morning light, the statues cast grotesque shadows that stretched out over the valley behind them. The shadows didn't seem to bother the wildlife though. Birds flew back and forth and he could see squirrels amongst the trees. The stream he had seen yesterday flowed out of the valley and followed the lower ground to the north. He walked west, just along the southern edge of the stream, and approached the statues.

Up closer, he didn't know what to make of them. They were misshapen. The one closest to Flare, on his left, might pass for a goblin at a distance but not up close. It was short and fat with a bald head. It's ears were enormous and more than doubled the size of its head. The worst thing about it, though, was its teeth. They were long, sharp, and wicked looking. It was something that Flare would never want to meet in real life.

The statue to his right wasn't much better. From the creature's feet to his waist, he looked human. But above the waist, the creature was anything but normal. It's torso was twice as high as a human's, making the creature's body appear disproportionate. It's arms were thick and long, hanging nearly to it's feet. And atop the massive chest sat the tiny little head, actually resembling a dog's head.

Flare stumbled several times as he approached the statues. There was a feeling like they were watching him and he didn't want to take his eyes off of them. The way they had been constructed made it look like their eyes were following him. It was a foolish thought, but nevertheless overpowering.