Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (23 page)

She looked up for a moment
before letting her eyes drop back to the ground, but in that moment I had seen
a flash of hate.
 

Her voice was barely above a
whisper, but a whisper with venom in it. “That rat, Nassarit took me from my
home. My ma had passed away and I was taking care of my little brother. It was
hard, but we would have been alright.
Until the nice man
came,” the way she said nice, said anything but, “and said he could help us.
He would get me a good job and I would not have to leave Dhillion, he said
Dhillion can come with, that we would stay together.” Her voice had gone hoarse
and she took a deep breath. I could not bring myself to press her for more details,
but she went on. “That snake sold, sold, my brother a couple of weeks later to
a couple who said they were so desperate for a son. That their son had died and
they needed him. Well, I needed him as well! He is my brother! They took him
from me. I did not know where we were, but even if I did, the couple was not
local to that town.”

Tears were rolling down her
cheeks freely now. She wiped them away angrily. “He forced me to go with him
when we left. It was weeks before we arrived in Medirea and he sold me to that
cow.” Abruptly she stood up and stalked off into the night. Seran gave me a
reproving look and went after her.

Brant was scowling at me. “See
what you did?” He was hiding his smile behind his hand though.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Four
days later, we were still travelling along the northern road and we had not yet
passed a town. Brant was being particularly prickly that day. He had been going
on about having a plan. “I mean, do you even know, have you got even the
faintest clue as to where we are supposed to be heading?”

He was testing my patience. I
looked down at my hands holding the reins and saw my fingers were white from
gripping them. “I told you from the off that I was not sure where to go. Even
the Cha, for blood’s sake did not know!” I had been screaming at him and I
tried desperately to control my temper. Seran and even Trissa were glowering at
the two of us.

Brant spat. “So we are following
some halfwit plan given to you by a cat.” That pushed me over the edge.
Roughly, I kicked Balder to a canter and ran up to Brant. I leapt from her back
and tackled him clean off his horse. We hit the ground hard, but were already
swinging punches at each other.

Seran came running and tried to
pull us from each other. He was screaming at us, but I was not listening.
Suddenly I heard a crack and felt white hot pain sear up my back. Groaning I spun
away from Brant and fell down, gasping. I barely heard the second crack, but I
saw Brant sink to his knees next to me awkwardly clutching his back. Seran was
standing over us, whip in one hand and the other fist on his hip.

In a calm voice he said, “Now,
boys, I told you to stop it. Recover yourselves and then we will have a civil
discussion about what is really going on.”

We sat down in the shade of a
tree. Brant was still glaring at me, albeit only from one eye now since the
other was already swollen shut. I tried to ignore him. Seran was looking at us
as if we were naughty boys caught stealing from his mother’s kitchen. “We need
to stop and really think about what has been happening to us. This little brawl
of yours has been brewing for two days now. I have felt it too. If I do not
feel irritated by the smallest thing, I am feeling paranoid about being
followed or watched. Trissa tells me she has been feeling much the same way.”

When we sat there glowering at
each other and not saying anything, Seran’s voice rose to a near shout. “I
don’t give a tinker’s damn what you two feel about each other right now, but I
need you to think about the last few days.” He continued in a more sedate tone,
“Have you been feeling on edge, scared, suspicious,
irritated
?
Brant I know you feel irritated most of the time, but any more than usual?”

This outburst was utterly unlike
Seran’s usual, composed behaviour and that, more than what he said, jolted me
out of my ill temper to realise the truth of his words. True, Brant and I had
never been best of friends, but we had not been spitting at each other like
cats before this. I became aware of an underlying tug of emotion. It was like a
river current sweeping me along its path. Something tugged at my memory. This
all seemed eerily familiar.

I gasped and desperately called
Markai. She came instantly. I quickly relayed to
her what
had happened and what I suspected. “Can you go and check to see if you can find
anything?”

She disappeared and I turned
around to find all three of them looking at me as if I had just eaten a rock.
It was becoming a familiar look. “I remembered that during my Seeking I came
upon a village that had been sacked. The villagers had been murdered,
tortured.
 
A single boy was still alive
by the time I arrived. He was in a lot of pain and he died soon after, but
before he did, he told me that they had felt them coming. They had been afraid
before they had any idea why!”

“You think it may be the same
people?” Seran’s calm response grated my nerves even more.

“It was not people who sacked
that village. They were Dark Children or maybe Twisted Ones. I never really
found out.
 
I think Dyrrendrel were
involved there as well. Markai is searching the area for us.”

At least Trissa looked suitably
scared. Her eyes were darting from place to place as if trying to watch
everywhere at once. Although, she did not even know what Dark Children and
Twisted Ones were. Brant was watching her as well and with an ugly sneer he
said, “What is the matter, Trissa? Starting to wish you stayed working as a
serving girl?”

She shot him a glare, but it was
Seran who spoke. “Brant that will be enough or I will whip you again.” His eyes
narrowed and his mouth pulled into a tight white line, but he did not say any
more.

Markai appeared from the trees
to the west of us and by the expression on their faces, I knew they could see
her as well. She trotted over to us.
You
are followed. There are Dyrrendrel in the woods, but there is another…presence.
I recognise the scent from the sacked village, but I do not know what it is. I
believe it is directing the Dyrrendrel
.

I fought to keep my fear caged.
“Do you know how many?”

She looked at me with grim
determination in her eyes.
No but however
many, this will not be easy. I can feel the influence of the other and he will
make fighting them even more difficult.

I realised that none of the
others would have heard her so I relayed the information to them. I was
surprised that my voice sounded calm. I reached for Navitas and instantly the
effect of the other, the one influencing us, was magnified. Brant’s face
contorted, going from scared to angry in a moment and then back again. He had
obviously reached for Navitas as well. I knew I must look the same and I tried
to control my emotions. The other two were looking at us worriedly.

Seran turned to me. “What do we
do?”

I was a bit startled that he
looked to me. “Markai tells me there is a clearing in the woods up ahead. We go
there and set up camp for the night. We behave as normal except we will not
keep watch.”

Brant looked at me as if I had
said we go over to the Dark side. “Have you completely lost your mind? We do
that and we are as good as dead,” he shouted at me.

I smiled coldly. “Markai will be
watching and I doubt any of us would be able to sleep even if we truly tried.”
I paused making sure I had their attention. “These things have been following
us for days now. I am not sure why they have not attacked yet, but I do not
intend to sit meekly and wait for them. We lay a trap. We make them think that
we have let our guard down, make them come for us, because one thing I am
certain of, we cannot outrun them.” Brant was muttering under his breath, but
Seran was nodding, eyes sharp, his face set in grim lines.

We remounted and rode on. It was
still a few hours before we reached the grassy area and Brant had already
started muttering about another plan-by-cat. I shut his voice out of my mind
and did not allow myself to be drawn again. The sun was low when we stopped. Tension
was thick in the air and there was not much in the way of conversation.

Trissa made yet another stew,
but for the monotony of the food, it was good fare. We had kept the horses
close, in case we needed a hasty retreat. Also, Brant pointed out that left to
wander away, the horses may prove to be a tasty snack for the Dyrrendrel before
they came for us.

Trissa had her bedroll as close
to Seran’s as propriety would allow, although with what was going on, she could
have tried to sleep in his coat pocket and no one would have raised an eyebrow.
After everyone had gone to bed, I sat up for a while. Seran had his whips still
fastened to his breaches and Brant had his dagger and bow under his blanket.
Seran had shown us his battle whips earlier that evening. The slender whip
ended in vicious hooks that would bite into and tear flesh. It looked a
formidable weapon. Despite the circumstances, I could soon hear the deep
breaths of sleep from Trissa.

Finally, I lay down, but I knew
that I would not find sleep. I still had my Navitas focused and I could feel
the pulse of the emotional suggestions from this creature. It seeped through
me, insidiously prodding my emotions where it wanted them to go. I rested a
hand on Sunder’s hilt for reassurance. I was aware of Markai out there as well.
She was running a wide perimeter of the camp to make sure they were not
sneaking up on us.

Suddenly the push on my emotions
became a shove towards blind panic. A moment later Markai raised the alarm. She
had spotted a pack of Dyrrendrel coming in our direction at a blazing pace. I
could hear Brant and
Seran’s
breathing coming quicker.
So they felt it too. I had to fight down the panic that threatened to engulf
me. Breathing deeply, I tried to take control of myself.

Brant jumped up, followed an
instant later by Seran. I started reprimanding them for giving in to it when
Dyrrendrel burst from the trees a bare sixty feet from us. There were seven of
them.

Brant raised his bow and loosed
an arrow. Seran had his whips in hand and ready. I unsheathed Sunder. The
thumping of their paws beating the ground as they ran sounded like thunder
approaching. My heart was hammering in my throat. Vaguely I noticed Trissa
standing behind Seran. She was holding a small dagger, her face a mixture of fear
and anger. The dagger was shaking visibly in her hands.

Brant’s first arrow struck the
lead wolf; he fell and was trampled by the ones coming from behind. A crack
told of a whip snapping into action. It wrapped itself neatly around the neck
of one of the creatures with the hooks at the end biting into its flesh. It
took a few more unsteady bounds before it collapsed to the ground. Seran yanked
on the whip to tighten its hold. Before Brant could
loose
another arrow, they were upon us. It was as though time itself slowed. A Dyrrendrel
leaped at me snarling, and saliva dripped from its massive maw. I rushed to
meet it and spun; Sunder sliced into his neck in mid-leap. I was so deep into
Navitas that I could hear the blade tearing into flesh. I could feel the life
drain out of it.

I looked up and saw Seran’s
battle whip take a chunk of flesh from another. It gave a sharp yelp. It fell
to the ground and although thrashing about, did not manage to rise again. On my
other side, Brant was attacking. His dagger blade was too short for this sort
of encounter, but he handled it well. He was bleeding from a gash across his
left arm, but it did not seem to slow him.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Markai
appeared behind the three remaining Dyrrendrel. Her massive paw punched into
the side of one of them. It yelped and flew several feet before it landed and
skid along the ground. She was on it in a heartbeat snarling. Her massive
canine teeth tore a piece of flesh the size of my head from its side. It
shuddered and without another sound went still.

I turned from watching this just
in time to see the last two closing in on me. I leaped to the side and sweeping
my blade in an upward arc, sliced across its stomach, disembowelling it. The
last one skidded and swirled around,
then
it leapt at
me. I ducked and it went over my head. When it was directly above me, I thrust
Sunder upward into its belly. It dragged me off my feet as it passed and I hit
the ground still holding onto the hilt with the blade buried deep in its flesh.
Brant leapt onto it and stabbed his dagger into its heart. I heard its final
heartbeat.

We lay there catching our
breath. Slowly I got up and slid Sunder out of its belly. Trissa was still
standing where she had when they attacked except that she had dropped the
dagger and was shaking all over. Seran was recovering his whip from the neck of
the Dyrrendrel. I grimaced when he had to yank at it do get the hooks out of
its flesh. I realised then that the tide of negative emotions was ebbing away.
Even with my Navitas still focused, I could hardly feel its pull any longer.

I walked over to Trissa and sat
her down. I gave her some water and dug around in my bag until I found what I
was looking for. Handing her the sweet cake I saw that she had not taken a
drink yet. Gently I said, “Trissa, you must drink some water and have the cake.
It will make you feel better.” She looked at me with hollow eyes.