Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (35 page)

Jarin smiled at the joke. “What kind of game is Kara playing at?”

The smile slipped from Derek's face. “What? What do you mean?”

In answer, Jarin held us five cards, the two, three, six, seven, and nine of farmers. The suit of farmers was in reference to the god Adel. “I don't understand. What does this have to do with Kara?”

Jarin pointed to the cards, “These were her cards. Her flush draw beat Deanna's straight run, but yet she pretended that she had lost. Why would she do that?”

Derek stared at the cards for a moment, confused, “I honestly don't know.”

He found Kara a few minutes later in the tent the two of them were forced to share. He stood in the doorway, bent over looking down on her. Her back was to him, and she was on her knees furiously shoving clothes into a pack. From this angle, she appeared to be quite angry. “Kara?”

She turned and looked up at him, and he blinked in surprise. He had thought that she was furious, but there were tears running down her face. “Kara,” he repeated. “What happened? Jarin showed me your cards. You beat her. Why didn't you claim the pot, and why are you crying?”

Kara quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, and scooted further into the tent. “Come in. I don't want the others to hear.”

Confused, Derek knelt down and crawled into the tent. “What is it?”

Kara sighed a deep sigh; another tear ran down her cheek. She sat down on one of the blankets, near the back of the tent. “I think I know why those men are able to follow us.”

Derek reeled back from her. Of all the things he had thought she might say at that moment, that was not one of them. “Why are they following us?” He finally managed.

“I met with an arch-bishop just before I left, and he gave me that silver bracelet that I have been wearing.” She paused, studying Derek's face before continuing, “He already knew about the mission.”

Derek's considered this for a moment and then nodded. “Makes sense. I would imagine that even King Darion would want to consult with the church before he sent Flare after the sword. And you think that the bracelet was enchanted?”

Kara nodded, “He told me it was.”

She spoke so quietly, that for a moment Derek wasn't sure he had heard her correctly. Then the implications of what Kara had just said hit him. “Kara, how long have you suspected that those men were following the bracelet?” He fought hard to keep the anger from his voice, but he wasn't sure that he had been successful.

Kara's eyes moved downward, and her hands were folded in her lap, but she kept fidgeting with her hands. “Ever since you described the man in the purple robes.”

Anger was cutting through him like a knife, “And you never told me about this?”

Kara shook her head, “I had been ordered by the arch-bishop not to.”

He clinched his jaws several times before he spoke, the anger building that she had kept secrets from Flare and him. “You are a guardian first.”

Kara's head snapped up, “How can you say that? How can anyone put their country or anything else ahead of their god?”

She spoke with such a vehemence that Derek was taken aback, that thought had not occurred to him. He glared at her, and she glared right back at him.

After a couple of moments of silence, Kara spoke, “Do you know what this can cost me?” Her words were quiet, and the look on her face softened as if she was about to cry. “I could be kicked out of the church. I have not loved anything as much as I love serving Adel, and now I may lose the very thing that I live for.” She broke off speaking, and choked back a sob. She seemed on the verge of tears.

Derek already knew that he was in trouble, but he couldn't quite figure out how it happened. He knew that he was completely in the right, but somehow Kara had turned the tables on him, and he now felt like it was his fault. “I hadn't thought about it like that.” He admitted grudgingly. “But come on. They can't really take away your ability to serve Adel, now can they?” A tear ran down Kara's left cheek, and Derek felt panic starting to set in, he knew that the tears could really start to flow at any moment.

“Yes, they can.” She replied quietly, as a second tear ran down her cheek, but this one was on her right side. “I could be kicked out of the church for this, and never allowed to server as a priestess again.”

Derek opened his mouth to speak, but stopped short. He hadn't thought that the church could kick out a priest, or a priestess for that matter. He supposed it was possible, but he had never heard of it. “Surely they won't do that.” His tone was now completely a soothing one, all traces of the anger gone.

Kara shrugged, “It is rare that the church releases a priestess from her vows.”

“Well, there you go!” Derek interrupted quickly. “Surely, they won't let you go for this.”

Kara frowned at him, “You didn't let me finish. The church rarely releases a priest or priestess from their vows, and then only for minor infractions. Betrayal is not viewed as a minor infraction. There is only one sentence for betrayal.”

Derek's stomach tightened at her words, and he felt the first knots of fear in his belly. “What is that sentence?” He asked quietly.

“Death.” Kara stated simply.

“To the abyss with that!” Derek exploded. “We'll just have to take you away from Telur. You know, not let them get a hold of you.”

Kara shook her head, “No. That can never happen.”

Derek pulled back confused, his anger momentarily forgotten. “What do you mean that can never happen?”

Kara raised her eyes from the ground to meet his, and there wasn't any flinching in them. “I have taken a vow. I am sworn to follow the church no matter they tell me to do, but yet I have betrayed the church.”

Derek gulped. “Kara, you did the right thing. When we get back, we'll talk to the king and I'm sure that he will intercede on your behalf.”

Kara shook her head again, “No. After we complete this mission, I will submit myself to the church and confess my sins. I will accept their punishment.”

Derek reached out and touched her shoulder, “Over my dead body.” He said.

She looked up at him, a mirthless smile touching her lips. “I appreciate your concern, but you have no say in this.”

Derek let that particular avenue of conversation drop for the moment, knowing in his heart that there was no way he would allow Kara to walk quietly to her death. Surely, she would see sense, and if she didn't, he quietly vowed to hit her over the head and spirit her away until she did.

Several moments passed in quiet, before Kara spoke, “I overheard several of the entertainers talking today. It appears that there is a road that branches off, not too far ahead of us, that heads to the east. We can take that road, while the entertainers and our followers continue on to the south. And if they check on the entertainers, they will see Deanna with the bracelet and assume that it is me. With any luck, we should be able to make our escape and at the same time leave them a trail to follow.”

Derek thought about it for a moment, “That's not bad.”

Kara half-smiled at him, the tears had dried up for the moment. “Thank you.”

Suddenly, he realized what she had a few moments ago. “You said that you recognized the man in purple robes. Who is he?”

Kara shook her head, “I didn't recognize that particular man, but what he is wearing.” Derek's forehead creased in confusion, but Kara continued, “The church trains certain warriors to be ready for the re-appearing of the Dragon Order. They are always excellent fighters, and for some reason they are always in purple robes.”

“But that would seem to make them easy to identify. Why wouldn't they disguise themselves when they are outside of the church?” Derek asked in confusion.

Kara shrugged, “I don't know. I always assumed that they did, but I guess they don't. Have you ever heard of them?”

“I guess it doesn't matter what he's wearing, he's still only one man. They only outnumber us five to four.”

Kara shook her head, a sad smile playing across her lips. “You don't understand. These fighters are almost unstoppable. Think about it! These men are trained to stop the destroyer that Kelcer prophesied about. They are trained to stop a fighter who can use magic and command the demons.” She paused for just a moment to let the words sink in, “What can you or I do against such a man?”

A dread slowly settled down on Derek, although he still wasn't convinced that the man was unbeatable. “Okay. So what do we do?”

Kara nodded to the half-packed clothes, “Pack and leave, tonight.”

Derek nodded, “We'll have to let Philias know, and then we start out going south.” He rubbed his chin as spoke, “Probably can't go too far south, undoubtedly they will have someone to watch the road. We'll have to sneak off of the road just a little ways south and wait for the entertainers to pass us by in the morning.”

“How do you know they will have someone watching the road?” Kara asked.

“Simple. I would have a guard south along the road, if I were them.” Derek said, as he started packing.

Chapter 14

Heather pulled her cloak tighter at the neck. As she plodded along on her horse, she looked around at the bleak lands that surrounded them. Once, all of these lands had been covered with farms and villages, but the bandits had changed all that. Now, the farms were only near the bigger towns, and only then because the local lords protected them. The bandits were making quite a fortune by preying on the merchants along the main roads, but the bandits were becoming a victim of their own success. Few merchants would dare to travel the roads these days without a sizable number of guards. And since most of the farms and small villages were gone, the caravan had passed a few camps where the rogues had simply starved to death. Even here, where they were so close to Falda, most of the farms were close in to the city. She wondered how the city could feed itself from these small farms. But then again, they probably were buying most of their food these days.

The king of Aramonia had been hard pressed to control the larger cities, not to mention the country side. The road north of Falda was completely wild, with no one enforcing the king's laws. The king and those loyal to him were fighting to take back control, but it was a long slow fight. He was making strides, or perhaps it was more truthful to say that he was making baby steps. The southern half of Aramonia was reported to be secure and acknowledging the king's authority.

She shivered and pulled the cloak even closer to her body. It felt like winter had finally arrived, and although there wasn't any snow yet, there was a layer of ice on any exposed water in the mornings.

The temperature did not really bother her though. She was too excited. Tonight, they would camp several miles north of Falda, and Falda was where they would say good-bye to Master Elridge's caravan. Good-bye and good riddance. That made it seem as if it was a beautiful summer day to her.

She hadn't had any more problems with Jefflem, since his public whipping. And none of the other caravan guards had bothered her as well, but she still would be glad to see them gone. All of them, even kindly Shim. Ever since the fight with Jefflem, Shim had made it a point to stop by from time to time and check on her. Sometimes he even brought firewood, or an extra blanket, and he never stayed long, just long enough to speak to her.

But what bothered her about the guards, was the looks she sometimes got from them. It seemed to be a knowing look, and whatever they thought they knew, it wasn't good. Those little looks made her nervous and sometime kept her from sleeping at night.

“Hey! You planning on running that wagon over?” Aaron called out from behind her.

With a start, Heather realized that the wagons had stopped and she hadn't even noticed. She silently berated herself. One of the city guards from Falda was on the other side of the road, and he let out a quiet laugh at her mistake. She scowled at him, which just made his smile that much bigger. The city guards were everywhere, this close to the city.

Aaron pulled his horse near hers, smiling as he did so. “Daydreaming?”

Heather let her embarrassment go, and returned Aaron's friendly smile. “Yeah, I can hardly wait to be away from the caravan.”

Aaron nodded, “At least the road east of Falda is safe, or at least it's supposed to be.”

“We'll take our leave first thing tomorrow morning, and then we're on our own.” If possible, Heather's smile got even bigger.

Aaron looked around to make sure that no one was too close to hear what he was saying. “Why don't we leave tonight? For some reason, I just think it would be better to get away now.”

“Why? Is something wrong?” Heather asked, suddenly wary.

“I don't know. I just have this feeling.” Aaron answered, looking a little embarrassed. “You know, like something bad is about to happen.”

Heather studied the fighter for a moment; Aaron wasn't a man to spook easily. Finally she nodded, “Okay. We'll wait until after the camp goes to bed, and we'll take our leave.”

Master Elridge came by their fire later that evening, just after they had finished dinner. Heather stood at Wylon's approach, noticing as she did so, that Shim was trailing along behind him.