Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (38 page)

Malion sagged in his grip, dry
heaving sobs shaking his whole body. He was muttering in a low whisper. “No,
no, no, no. Not my Karina. No!”

Seran uncoiled his whip and half
carried him back to where we stood, his chestnut gelding following meekly.

Seran stayed with Malion as we
searched the rest of the town. We only found one more person who, like Karina,
had been
Twisted
. He scurried away as fast as he could
when we approached and disappeared into the woods beyond the edge of town. I
was sure we had seen more people moving about from the top of the hill, but
perhaps they had seen us coming and had run away already.

We looked through every building
still standing. Strangely, we did not find any bodies. Having seen these
creatures killing, I could not see them restraining themselves to take
hostages. For what purpose would they need hostages?
And if
not hostages?
It simply did not bear thinking about what they might have
done with the town’s dead.

I looked into the last house
without any hope. The inside, as all the others, had been ransacked. Pots,
pans, broken plates and mugs lay strewn everywhere. All of the chairs had been
thrown about and some lay in pieces. I stepped over them and into the second
room. It was in such disarray that it was hard to tell what it had been used
for. There was only one bedroom leading off from this room. I stepped in. The
occupant’s feather mattress had been torn open and feathers covered every
surface. I heard my name outside. The window glass was broken and I leaned out.
“Just finishing up in here.
I will be out in a
moment.”

Suddenly I heard a banging
noise. It came three times and then stopped. Just as I thought I must have
imagined it, it came again. I realised it was coming from underneath the
floorboards. I walked to where it came from. The bed was in the way and I
pushed it away. It revealed a trap door. When the room had been sacked, the bed
must have been moved and by chance covered the hatch. I lifted it up to find
six sets of eyes looking up at me.

“It is all right. They have left
now. You can come out.”
 
A hand reached
up toward me and I helped them out one by one. They all looked weak and weary
from what must have been over four days spent in that hole. I led them out and
called to the others. The survivors were all covering their eyes and squinting
in the harsh light of day. Alathaya was first to see and came over with her
water skin. They all drank greedily and I was glad when
Tas
handed them his as well. The rest followed them over and Trissa handed out some
of our food to them.

“Can you tell us what happened
here?” I addressed the group as a whole, not knowing who would be the head. A
bald man with a narrow, drawn face looked up after a deep drink of water. His
voice was hoarse, his eyes haunted as he told the tale.

“I do not know how many days ago
it was now. We had but a scant idea of days passing with no light down there.
It was what I guess as about five days gone, early morning. The dogs went all funny.
That was the first thing I noticed anyhow. They were all quiet and nervous,
lying down whimpering. Then we saw them coming.”

His eyes stared off into the
distance, his face contorted in fear, as though he was seeing them arrive all
over again. “They came from all directions. They had hands like claws, animal
eyes and nasty teeth. It looked like they had a long head as well, but they
were wearing these capes with hoods over their heads so I could not tell for
sure. We had no way out. They stopped just inside the town and one of them started
talking to us. It was not exactly screaming, but its voice carried to every
corner of the town as clearly as if he was standing right next to you.” The
memory made him shiver. “It said the high lord
Raka
-something
or other…”

“Rakadamon, Juid.” A woman
supplied from the back of their group. Her eyes were staring into the ground.

“Yes, that was it, Rakadamon,”
he continued. “Well, it said that this fellow sent them. They asked us to swear
our allegiance to him and have salvation or else we forfeit our lives. If it
had not been for the way they looked, we probably would have laughed right in
their faces with a threat like that. Well you can understand that we did not
want to swear allegiance to someone like that, but then they carried out their
threat. Some people gave in.
Said they would serve this
person as long as they were spared.”

“Karina would not have given up.
She would not have promised to serve someone like that. You are lying!” Malion
broke in angrily. He scowled darkly and was breathing heavily.

“Ah,
Karina.
No, she did not want to give in. She would have fought until her last
breath, but they had Baher with a black blade to his throat. She gave up her
freedom, begging them to only let her little brother go.” Tears stood in his
eyes and realisation dawned on Malion’s. “They let him go... Just long enough
to take her soul and then they cut his head off. He was only seven turnings
old.”

Malion had tears running down
his face and hatred for what they did to her written in every fibre of his
body.

“How did they do it? What did
they do to her?” He forced the words out through clenched teeth.

Juid shook his head. “All I know
is that they put a filthy claw on her head and then what looked like white mist
drifted out of her while red mist seeped from his hand and surrounded her. It
then seemed to flow into her before she collapsed. I thought she was dead lying
there so still, but then a while later I saw her get up, except it was not
really her anymore.” Malion turned and stalked a few paces away, standing with
his back rigid.

“So how did you manage to escape
into the cellar?” Alathaya’s voice drifted in softly.

Juid looked at her without
seeing her. “After what they had done to Karina, everyone was running, trying
to hide. We had been watching through the window there,” he gestured vaguely to
the house, “when we saw what happened, we knew we had to get out of sight. I
called whoever I could see to come with me and we climbed down into the cellar.
Mind, it was just in time when we closed the hatch. We could hear them
searching through the house. Throwing things around, making the most awful
noises. Screeching and screaming. We sat frozen with fear. I was convinced they
would find us, but thank thunder we remained unseen. Eventually the noise died
down, but we were too scared to come out and have a look. We waited what must
have been hours before deciding to go out.” He smiled humourlessly. “Of, course
you can imagine what happened. The door did not budge. We pushed with all our
might.” He shook his head. “We gave up with that after a while. Strangely, we
did hear some noises afterward. At first, we thought they had come back for us,
but I do not think so. I thought I heard two people talking once. The one asked
where they were supposed to go and the other had said
Magiana
…”

“Magtisanya, Juid.” The same
woman as before corrected him.

“That was it; they had to go to
Magtisanya. I have never heard of this place, but they sounded like they knew
it.” He had a thumb pointing over his back as though he was showing the way.

“It was the ones that had been
Twisted
. They were still here when we arrived, but ran off
at the sight of us,” I said.

He nodded as if I had simply
confirmed what he had suspected. “What will you do now?” I asked it of the
group as a whole, looking at them in turn, but they looked at Juid for the
answer.

He shrugged. “We rebuild. What
else can we do? This is still our home. I still hope some may have escaped as
well and will return. We will be here when they do.” I admired his hope, though
I could not help but feel it was in vain.

Markai had been sitting quietly
listening to the conversation. She had hidden herself from the villagers to
avoid giving them another fright.
We
should follow these new Twisted Ones. Magtisanya is from the tongue of your
ancestors. It means mighty gathering. I think he may be preparing
. I knew it
made sense, but I also knew we had to find the final two Alliance members and
perhaps Dhillion as well. I had not told Trissa yet of my suspicions of her
brother. I did not want to raise her hopes.

Without having to tell her, she
knew my reason for hesitation.
I will ask
a brother or sister to go for us. They can tell me if they find this place,
leaving us free to find them
.

I nodded and she went.

Not only did I have to deny my
first instinct, which was to stay to help these people rebuild their village,
but also I had to argue that point with Alathaya. “If we had not spent so much
time in Eranidin, then perhaps we could have stayed a while longer to help, but
as it stands…”

She huffed in frustration. “But
we could not have left them, just as we cannot simply leave these people.”

And so on it continued until I
finally snapped at her. “Alathaya, there are bigger things at work here than
simply one village,” I held my hand up to stop her from interrupting, “and you
know that. If we fail at what we must do, this village will be the norm. We are
leaving at first light and that is the end of it.”

She crossed her arms, brows
pulled together in an angry frown, but said no more.

We spent the next while cleaning
up one of the houses while, Zira, whose house it was, made us all soup and
freshly baked bread. Most of the survivors ate, but sat staring into nothing. I
wondered how well they would cope with rebuilding. Would their lives ever be
the same again?

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

No one
wanted to stay alone that night so we made a large makeshift bed on the floor in
Zira’s
house and took turns keeping watch within our
group, but we let the rest of them sleep. When Alathaya came to wake me up for
my watch, I was surprised when she sat up with me. “I worry about them. About
how they will fare once we go and leave them. They all still look so scared,
so…lost.” She echoed my thoughts.

I sighed heavily. “I know me
too, but we can’t stay.”

I expected her to start arguing
again and was relieved when she nodded. “I know. Of course, you are right.
Any idea where we go from here?”

I winced. The dreaded question
rears its ugly head again. “I am not sure. I am hoping that perhaps Markai may
find some information.” Markai appeared striding towards us as if my words had
summoned her – and perhaps they had. Alathaya smiled at her approach. I was
relieved. Finally, they were starting to get used to her. She sat down across
from me, now looming so high that I had to crane my neck to look at her. In
response, she lay down.

My brother is tracking the scentless cubs. There are many of them.
They travel slow, but follow a sure path
.

I smiled gratefully. “Thank you
Markai, may the sun light the smooth roads for him.”

Alathaya looked at me perplexed.
I explained what had passed between Markai and me. Her brows lifted at the
mention of Magtisanya. “One of the tales we guard is of the gathering of power.
We believe it was about five thousand years ago when Rakadamon gathered his
army in his first attempt to take earth. He called together his forces, the
Dark Children and the Twisted Ones and orchestrated his attacks.”

Excitement lit up her whole face
making her look radiant. “If we can get there in time, before he sends his
forces out, we have them all together; even the Dark Master himself will be
there. That is our opportunity to strike!”

She was right. “I agree. If we
allow him to send them out, they will spread havoc before they can be stopped.”
This – if it turned out to be correct – was a massive step forward. It would
mean having a solid plan of action. If only I did not feel so woefully ill
prepared!

“Now more than ever, we must
hurry to find our last members and I would like to find Trissa’s brother,” I
stated.

She frowned at me. “She has told
me of her brother and kind as your heart is, I do not think that can be all
there is to it, so why do you want to find him?”

Clearly, she did not miss a
trick, not that I was going to keep my reason secret. “Markai thinks they have
the same biological parents and if that is the case that might mean that he
also has a Talent. We will need all the help that we can get.”

She clapped her hands together, beaming
a smile at me. “Why have you not told Trissa? She would be happier than a
foxfly
in flight!”

I could not help but smile at
her beautiful enthusiasm for someone else. “What happens if we do not find him?
Or worse, something happens and we cannot even go looking? She would be crushed
all over again.”

Her smile did not fade. “Fine,
fair point, but oh, how wonderful would it be! This is the best news since all
this started!” She gave me a tight hug, which made my heart jump into my throat
while butterflies erupted in my stomach.

She leaned back, still holding
my shoulders. “Now I can go get some sleep. Good night Kade.” She walked away
before I had enough sense back to say anything.