Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series (19 page)

The next day Heather was shaken awake by Mikela. She pushed off her blanket and sat up, stretching the kinks in her neck and back. Several of the others were already up and moving, and Atock was tending the fire. Heather carefully avoided looking in Enton’s direction.

Closing her eyes, Heather shuddered as the memories of last night came flooding back. She had messed up and there was no doubt. What could she have been thinking? A headache began to form and she started rubbing her temples.

She opened her eyes again and realized that Mikela was trying to pull together a breakfast while the others went about their early morning activities. Pulling herself to her feet, she walked over to help Mikela.

Breakfast was not very inspiring. Another hunk of the cheese, some dried fruits, and more of Dagan’s colla. Nevertheless they all ate the food, it would undoubtedly be a long time to lunch.

Taking her pitiful breakfast, Heather sat down next to the fire. The warmth of the flames feeling good in the early morning chill.
She looked up and locked eyes with Enton. He and Atock were getting their portion of the food. Heather was pleased to see that he looked unsure of himself as well. She popped a dried piece of apple into her mouth.

“You don’t look too good,” Atock said, squinting at Enton. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

Atock’s question nearly made her choke and she spent the next several moments coughing. Perhaps it was for the best as it helped her avoid hearing Enton’s answer.

As soon as everyone was done eating, Heather got them packed up and moved out. She didn’t want to waste any time, and to be honest, she really wanted some time to herself.

Once again she took the lead and moved them off to the north. It was another beautiful day and they made good time.
She kept a steady pace but was careful to stay alert.

The terrain was gradually getting hillier and the woods were getting thicker. They were still days from the mountains and she began to fear the vegetation might slow them down some.

They travelled all day, with only a brief break for lunch.
While they were eating, she got the feeling that Enton wanted to talk to her. It spurred her to keep the break a short one and get them moving
again
quickly. No one was much pleased but she didn’t much care.

She kept the group moving through the afternoon, not stopping until just before sundown. In truth, she didn’t want to stop then but they came across an excellent campsite. The area was actually a little unusual. Numerous small hills dotted an open field. The hills were steep but not high and it didn’t take long to find several that were in an almost circular shape. The depression in the middle was shielded from both the wind and from any prying eyes. In no time at all, a small fire was burning and everyone collapsed to the ground.

A little guiltily, Heather realized that she had driven them a bit harder than usual
.
N
ot wanting to give Enton a
chance to start a conversation,
Heather ate a hurried dinner, assigned the watch scheduled, and then quickly turned in. Truth be told, she was a bit tired as well.

It felt like she had just laid down to sleep, when someone shook her awake.

Gasping, she sat up quickly and looked around. “Enton?” she asked, thinking it had to be the big man who was waking her.

It was a big man, but it wasn’t Enton. It was Atock.

“What is it?”
s
he demanded, suddenly alert because of the worried look on his face.

“I’m not sure, but you will want to see this.”

Heather threw her blanket off and quickly climbed to her feet. Atock led her t
o the northern side of the camp. They walked for a ways, threading their way through the strange hills until they reached the very edge of the clearing. Here they
climbed the small
grassy
hill
, it look
ed to be the hill located the farth
est to the north
. At the top of the hill, Mikela, Dagan, and Agminion was already lying there staring out to the north. It didn’t take long to discern why.
To the north and perhaps a little east of their current position, lights and fire were dancing in the night sky.

“What is that?” Heather asked.

“It’s very hard to tell at this distance, but I think it could be sorcery,” Dagan said after a minute.

Heather started in surprise and then glanced to Agminion, who only shrugged. “Why do you think that?”
s
he asked Dagan.

Dagan took a deep breath, “We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, but something woke me tonight. It wa
s a feeling. I got up and that’
s when Mikela came down from the hill. Apparently,” he waved his hand at the lights, “this had just started.”

“You felt them?” Heather asked.

“I’m not sure,” Dagan answered with a rueful smile, “perhaps.”

“And you,” Heather asked of Agminion. “Did you feel anything?”

Agminion didn’t answer immediately. Finally he shook his head. “I did not.” He paused
looking uncomfortable
, like he didn’t want to say the
next wor
ds, “B
ut I have to admit
that Dagan is stronger than I am. He can feel sorcery being used at greater distances than I can.”

Nodding, Heather turned to Atock, “How far away do you think
it
is?”

Looking out to the north, Atock considered. “Two days, maybe three,” he answered.

Heather judged the distances for herself and had to agree with Atock’s assessment.
She looked back to Dagan, “And you think that’s sorcery?”

“Well,” Dagan began slowly. He seemed to be searching for the best way to explain, “Sort of. I believe I felt sorcery, but I don’t think the lights we’re seeing
now
are sorcery. That’s not anything I know how to do. My guess is that they have a magician with them.”

Sorcerers and magicians,
Heather thought,
both here at the same time we are.
It seemed rather unlikely that it was just coincidence.

They lay there for another half an hour watching the lights to the north
. Finally the lights and fires
stopped, but they continued to lie there, staring out to the north in silence. Each of them wondering what the lights could mean.

“I think the show’s over,” Dagan said after almost another half an hour. He sat up and turned around so that he faced back down the slope of the hill. “I’m going to bed. If anything else happens, wake me.” With that, he began sliding down the steep slope.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Heather said, looking around at the others. “Why don’t all of you go get some sleep?” She nodded to Mikela, “You too. It’s probably time for my watch to begin anyway.”

Mikela smiled thankfully at Heather as she and the other two returned to camp.

All alone now, Heather continued to watch the northern sky. All the serenity and peace that she had been feeling was gone. Worry was beginning to seriously set in on her. Perhaps her group was simply too far from the main Faerum cities for the curse to affect them. Could the lightning and fire tonight have been some other group tripping a millennia old trap?

Slowly an hour or so passed and still Heather lay there, looking out to the north. Nothing else unusual could be seen. Lying in the soft grass, with all the surrounding night sounds, was very relaxing. Her eyelids seemed unusually heavy and they were just about to close when Heather sat up with a start. She took a deep breath and stretched her neck. “That was close,” she muttered to herself. It had been years since she had fallen asleep while on watch. She was the leader and the thought of one of the others finding her asleep was almost too much to bear.

Turning around, she began to slide down the steep hill but froze. At the bottom of the hill, grinning up at her, was Enton.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said.

“No,” Heather an
swered after just a brief pause,
“
j
ust tired.” After a moment of consideration she decided
that she really couldn’t stay at the top of the hill forever and
so she
began sliding down.
She stopped just short of the bottom, watching Enton warily. “Why are you here?”

Enton looked confounded by the question. “Uh, well, I thought that perhaps we should talk.”

Sighing, Heather nodded. “You’re probably right.” It was true that they needed to talk, but she really wasn’t ready for this. “I’m sorry about last night,” she began, “I don’t know what came over me.”

Her statement was apparently not what Enton had been expecting and he looked even more confused than normal. “Well, I’m not sorry about last night,” he said, “I rather enjoyed it.”

Heather closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hating to have to agree with Enton. “It wasn’t unpleasant,” she finally managed to say, without opening her eyes. “But that’s not the point. We can’t be doing things like that.”

“And why is that?” Enton asked. His confused looks were gone and now he just looked sullen.

“Because I’m in command. It would be totally inappropriate for me and you to,” she trailed off, not knowing what words to use.

“Maybe,” Enton agreed, “but it was also wrong for Murleen and Flare and they didn’t let that stop them.” Murleen had been an original member of their Guardian squad who had died at the battle of Fort Mul-Dune.

“Yes, but they thought they were going to die.”

“We could die tomorrow,” Enton said. “I think you’re being foolish.”

Anger began swelling within her and Heather took a deep steadying breath. “Perhaps, but I think it’s the right decision.”

Silence lasted for several heartbeats before Enton nodded his head. “As you wish.” He turned to go, but halted as Heather called after him.

“Enton
,
”
s
he waited until he had turned back around before continuing, “I would appreciate it we could keep from letting this affect our group.

After a moment he nodded, and then he grinned. “Even though it may have gotten me into trouble last night, I will go back to thinking of you just like Atock.” Still grinning, he turned and walked back towards camp.

Heather watched him walk away, not entirely pleased with the way the conversation had gone. It was true that he had agreed to her wishes, but just because she didn’t want to kiss him didn’t mean that she wanted him to start treating her like one of the men.

The night passed rather slowly. Nothing else exciting happened on Heather’s watch and she was relieved by Aaron, who in turn was relieved by Enton.

The next morning, Heather woke to the sounds of someone stirring a fire.

Atock was preparing breakfast and he noticed her watching him. He smiled at her, “Morning,” he said. He was holding the last of their bread. It
was
hard and definitely getting moldy. Atock spent several moments picking off the moldy pieces and then he stuck a stick through the bread and began holding it over the fire, apparently hoping
toasting it
would soften it enough to make it edible.

Despite still being exhausted, Heather forced herself to sit up. Her whole body ached and she began stretching, trying to loosen her muscles up. She glanced around the camp.
It was early still, the sun was not really up and the sky was still a deep gray. It was still cool and a thin fog hung over the ground.
Dagan, Agminion, and Mikela were already up and packing away their blankets. Aaron was awake, but like her, he had only managed to sit up on his bedding. He was looking around through blurry eyes, his hair sticking out at all different angles. Heather grinned before she realized that she must look as bad. She glanced around one more time and then frowned. Enton wasn’t there.

“Where’s Enton?”
s
he asked.

Atock looked up from the fire
. “He’s on watch, probably just hasn’t realized what time it is.”

“Hard to miss the sun coming up,” Heather said, pushing herself to her feet. “And I’ve never known him to miss a meal.”
Ignoring the ache in her legs, she walked over to the nearest of the small hills and quickly climbed to its top.
Standing at the summit gave her an excellent view of the large field and there was no sign of Enton anywhere. It was possible that he was walking amongst the hills and hidden from view, but it seemed rather unlikely.

Just then a thought occurred to her.
Surely this isn’t about our conversation last night! He’s not that much a fool!
Sill, a feeling sense of worry was growing in her.

She quickly slid back down the hill and returned to their camp.

“See him?” Atock asked.

“No,” Heather answered causing Atock to look up. The first real signs of concern began to show on his face as well.