First Comes The One Who Wanders (6 page)

"That's where you’re wrong. Now get ready, there are crafters on the other side of the door."

Leilas stepped past her mother and brother and stood before the door. It had been easier to react to the crafters who'd surprised her in the passageway than it was to prepare herself to surprise them with an attack. When Joshuas joined her on the landing, she threw the latch and opened the door. Six crafters were waiting for them on the other side of the opening.

Their attack was swift and it was strong. Leilas reeled as the attack of unbinding swept over her, but her defenses held. Summoning her strength, she returned the attack with a spell of fire. The crafters facing her threw it aside as if it was nothing. Leilas found herself facing a crafter with blue eyes and blonde hair. His eyes appeared dead as she stared into his soul. Using his lack of spirit, she intensified the emotion until he began to turn to stone. Leaving him to metamorphosize, she turned to face the next attacker. Joshuas had already disabled two of their enemies using his sword rather than magic and was facing a third. Flicking aside a spell of despair, Leilas returned the attack with a spell of apathy. The man in front of her let his sword drop to his side and didn't return her attack. Leilas ran her sword through him before she could think about it and change her mind.

Turning swiftly, she thrust at the remaining crafter. He parried her attack and spoke a spell of confusion. Leilas felt it make its way through defenses that'd been weakened by the feelings of revulsion and confusion that swept over her as she'd pulled her sword from the limp body of her attacker. Before she succumbed to the swirl of disorientation, she thrust at the man in front of her again. This time, she felt her sword meet flesh. She wasn't sure why she was attacking him, but she had the impression it was important that she stop him.

She thrust her sword at the man who was grabbing her. Joshuas parried it and grabbed her wrist. Looking into her eyes, he murmured some words of magic. Leilas blinked her eyes several times and looked around. She didn't remember how she came to be in the stables or why there were half a dozen dead crafters around her.

"Are you okay?" Joshuas studied her face and again murmured softly.

"It's clearer now." Leilas looked around again and this time knew why she was here. She was lucky Joshuas was with her. "Thank you." If he hadn't been accompanying them, she would be dead now. She hadn't done very well in her first battle against crafters.

"You're welcome. Now let's find that food and get out of here."

Brenth went to the horses and began to saddle them, speaking softly in their ears as they whinnied nervously. Leilas went to the cabinet where the messengers kept rations, and began filling bags with the dried food stored there. It wouldn't be very tasty but it would fill their stomachs.

When the horses were ready, Leilas threw the bags on two of them and mounted a large paint. These were not the thoroughbreds she was used to riding. These were working horses used to being ridden hard, better suited to the task ahead of them. Leilas had no idea how Joshuas was planning on getting them out of Dirth. But since she had no ideas of her own, she was willing to follow him. Bidding a silent goodbye to the School of Sky and her dreams, she offered a silent prayer for the safety of the magiks who were battling above them and urged her mount out into the courtyard.

Joshuas took the lead, muttering under his breath as he led them through the streets. Leilas was too far behind him to hear his incantation, but she could see its results. Soldiers and crafter's alike looked through them as if they weren’t there. They rode through the skirmishes raging on all sides as if they weren't taking place.

When they reached the main street of Dirth, Joshuas urged the horses into a gallop. Racing through town, Joshuas fell silent and Leilas could hear the cries of detection from the soldiers as they passed. Sword at the ready, she hacked at the hands reaching out to stop her mount as she raced past them. She had no idea how many she had wounded or killed. But her hand was covered in the slime of blood and tissue. Her ears rang with the screams of pain. They ran the horses until they passed the outer walls surrounding Dirth and crossed the open field that led to the city. When they reached the shelter of a birch grove Joshuas slowed them to a walk. They had a long way to go and no fresh mounts waiting for them. Leilas turned and looked behind her, expecting to see a cadre of soldiers pursuing them. But they were alone.

"Those soldiers had no idea who they just let get away," panted Joshuas, addressing her unspoken concern as he fell in beside her. "They were just trying to stop fugitives from fleeing Dirth. I wouldn't like to be them when Darryl and Jayram find we've escaped." Joshuas wiped the perspiration from his face, leaving a streak of blood in its place.

Leilas looked at her hand covered in blood as well, still clutching her sword. "Will they kill them?" she asked as she wiped the blade on her breeches before she returned it to the sheath.

"In all likelihood they will. After all, they are just lowly soldiers."

"Who happen to be men, who have families, friends, people who will miss them."

"You won't make much of a warrior with that attitude."

"It's probably a good thing I never intended to be a soldier then, isn't it?"

"Sometimes things don't work out the way we intend."

Something in his voice caused Leilas to look up and find him gazing sadly off into his own memories. If it had been Gidron, she would have joined him there and comforted him. But this stranger wasn't her master and friend, and Leilas didn't believe he would appreciate her trying to help.

"How did you keep them from seeing us as we left?" Leilas purposely pulled him away from his thoughts.

"The same way you would have," replied Joshuas, first looking down at her, then toward Dirth.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it," contradicted Leilas. "They would have seen us."

"This morning it never occurred to you that you could kill a crafter, much less that you would. You never know what you are capable of doing, until you are called upon to try." Joshuas smiled sadly at her and turned his mount in the direction of her mother. Leilas acknowledged the perception of his reply with her silence.

"Are we heading for the cave?" asked Queen Daina, when Joshuas reached her.

"It seems like the best defense for now. Do you have a better idea?"

The queen shook her head. "Will they send someone after us?"

"Once they realize we’ve escaped." Joshuas nodded. "And they won't send common soldiers."

"No, they wouldn't, would they? We should make the best of our head start."

Joshuas took up the lead. Daina and Brenth fell in behind. Leilas brought up the rear. Menas was to the south and to the east. The foothills stood between them and her mother's city. Their destination seemed a bit obvious, but maybe Darryl wouldn't believe they'd head for a place that had rejected her mother so many years before.

With time to catch her breath from the battle and flight, Leilas tried to wipe the rest of the sticky, drying blood from her hands. But it refused to be eradicated, much the same as the memories from the morning were refusing to be put aside. They kept running through her mind. But now wasn't the time to sort through the confusion and doubt. She would deal with them, later.

"Always later", a voice taunted her. "One day it will be too late."

She checked to see if Master Joshuas had whispered the admonition, but he was deep in conversation with her mother. It hadn't sounded like his voice, but she’d wanted to be sure. Who else could have penetrated her thoughts? She glanced around nervously. Could the crafters from the School of Land have already found them? Nudging her mount closer to Brenth's, she satisfied herself that they were alone.

Trying to shrug off her uneasiness, she settled in for a long ride. Yet, she found herself unable to relax. Throughout the two hour ride to the bottom of the foothills, she found herself constantly looking over her shoulder and her hand never left the hilt of her sword. The trees whispered softly in the breeze. Usually, Leilas found this comforting. But today, she heard only danger in each whisper that floated from the depths of the grove.

Joshuas and her mother talked quietly as they rode. Brenth seemed content to ride in silence. Leilas would have liked to join in the conversation between her mother and this stranger, but a premonition told her she needed to be diligent in looking for danger. She couldn't seem to find time to delve into serious conversation or engage in idle banter.

"We can rest here for a few minutes," Joshuas stopped at a small stream. Leilas looked forward rather than back and was surprised to find they were at the beginning of the foothills. The path they were following crossed the stream and continued upward into the hills from this point.

Joshuas slipped off his horse and helped Queen Daina from her mount. Brenth slipped from his and removed the bag of food that Leilas had tied over the saddle horn. Leilas followed more slowly, running her eye over the terrain they had just covered before she was content to take the bag of food from her saddle horn and pick up the water skin that was also hanging there. She picked up each water skin as she passed by the horses and made her way to the stream where Joshuas, Brenth and her mother were washing the dust and blood from their hands and faces.

Placing the water skins by the bags of food, she silently joined them in cleansing the vestiges of the battle from her hands and face. If she'd been with Gidron, he would have pestered her until she began to talk about how she felt about this battle and what she'd done today. He wouldn't have let her go for hours without a word. He'd seen the effects of letting her go too long without intervening, after she'd returned from the Echoes. He'd let her dwell on her experiences for months before he'd realized that she had needed help. After that, he'd always asked and been persistent until she talked about what she was feeling. But she wasn't with Master Frey and it was unlikely that her mother or Master Joshuas would care enough to want to know her feelings.

Looking down at the ugly brown stain on her breeches, Leilas decided cleaning her clothes would have to wait. She wasn't willing to ride for hours in wet pants. Her body was already protesting the unaccustomed exercise.

"With two magiks, we should be able to defend the cave easily." Joshuas' conversation with her mother floated over to her. For the last two hours she'd wanted to join their conversation. Now that she had the opportunity, all she wanted was to be alone. But Joshuas' words brought back the voice from earlier and worry twisted her stomach. It wasn't a voice she’d recognized. The fact that someone had penetrated her thoughts could be detrimental to the safety of their trip. If they could find her thoughts, they could find her. Rather than being a help to Joshuas on this journey to Menas, she might actually be the weak link. She knew she should tell Joshuas about the voice, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She didn't want him to think she wasn't worth much as a magik. For reasons she couldn’t understand, she didn’t want him to think badly of her. He’d already made it clear he thought she was too young and inexperienced to be considered a master. What had he said, he hadn’t wanted an apprentice? She was Gidron Frey’s apprentice and he’d declared she was ready to be a master. Joshuas’ words made it clear he didn’t agree with Gidron.

Sitting down with her back to a rock, facing the way they'd come, Leilas chewed on the hard tack and jerky from her pack and then slipped into her own thoughts. She had much to think about and after the admonition that had been offered by a stranger, she decided to think about it now.

"You okay?" Brenth sat down next to her and intruded on her silence.

"As well as can be expected, considering the circumstances," replied Leilas. Despite her need to be alone, she wasn't willing to turn away any overture by her brother to become closer. "I suppose it could have been a lot worse."

"The students and masters of the school have endured much more," agreed Brenth. "By trying to save mother and me, you saved yourself. The school is gone."

"How do you know about the school?" asked Leilas, knowing from the fluctuations she felt in the magic that he wasn’t wrong.

"The way I know about most things," answered Brenth with a slight air of superiority. "I just know."

Leilas accepted his explanation. She might have been tempted to tell him he was making it all up, except for what Joshuas had said about him earlier. "What about the masters?"

"It's a funny thing about the way I see things," said Brenth earnestly, trying for once to explain himself to her. "I don't see people. I see things, schools, manors and kingdoms, what happens to them. But not what happens to the people in them. Mother is better at people. You might ask her."

Leilas nodded, knowing she wouldn't ask her mother about the school, and stared off in the direction of Dirth. There was no smoke snaking up into the sky. Nothing to indicate a battle had just taken place there, there was only the disturbance moving around her. If the school had fallen, then Dirth must have fallen as well. "I wonder if father managed to save himself," she mused. She shook her head and turned back to Brenth. "Together you and Mother must be a formidable force to face. It’s no wonder I never won any arguments."

"You won your fair share," countered Brenth, finishing off his hard tack and washing it down with a swig from his water skin. "I was pretty sure you'd win the argument with Mother. I saw Menas."