Secrets of the Stonechaser (The Law of Eight Book 1) (11 page)

PART TWO:  XENEA DOLCHIN

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Chapter Eleven

NERRIS WOKE TO the steady
tap-tap-tap
of rain water. Not that he had been sound asleep in any case. He had sheltered under a large oak tree the night before, which kept him drier than the other trees of the forest. He resisted the urge to go back to sleep and sat up. The sound of rainfall intensified, and he figured he better move before a downpour caught him.

He belted Noruken to his waist and grabbed his satchel before hurrying out in search of better shelter. This part of the world was known for its rapid shifts in weather, but he knew this oncoming storm was going to get worse before it got better. The morning mist made it difficult to see the trail, and he found himself tripping over logs and roots stretching across the path.

Nerris sighed. It had been too long since he had visited the Great Oak Forest. Woodland debris would have never hindered him back when he was twelve, when he knew the woods like an old friend. The forests of Faerna had not changed much since he left, unlike himself.

As the rain picked up, Nerris used the satchel to shield his head. In times like these, it was easy to miss sleeping in a tent or a stuffy bed in some palace. A little breakfast, a mug of milk, and a warm body to share it with... but that had not worked out well for Nerris either.

It had been almost six months since Rade spirited him from the dungeons of the Aeternica and out into the free world. His friends in the city proper had been true to their word; they sheltered Nerris for weeks while Qabala sent out patrols into the countryside, looking to bring him back. When she had finally given up, Rade sent a message for him to go. That was the last he ever heard from the old man.

Nerris made his way north and then east, to the Raddonite border. He stopped in the ramshackle town of Coquimtal, a city which had been built for the purposes of trading Agossean slaves when Yahd the Enslaver had invaded the east thirty years prior. The town’s fortunes ended with the war and it was now a dump, caught between the Cosette Watershed and the jungle known as the Doni Zad with no reason to still exist.

He wasted little time in hiring a guide to take him through the Watershed, a vast area of swampland surrounding the Cosette River and Lake Lilo. He journeyed north to Alicanos in time to get caught in a snowstorm, and waited until spring before continuing east. Rade told him to make his way home, and the Great Oak Forest was the only home Nerris had ever truly known. However, even the trees were not much of a solace. He had grown used to life on the march, listless nights before a battle, the Queen of the Yagols in bed beside him. He had not had a good night’s sleep since leaving Palehorse.

The rain came down hard now, and Nerris made a run for the underside of an old beech. The main limb of the branch was as thick as two normal trees, having split off from one of the larger surrounding beech woods when it grew too long and heavy. A similar one stood on the outskirts of Haladast, he remembered, lying next to the huge tree it had fallen from, whose gray trunk bore carvings of their initials. He, Jhareth, and Dist used to play there as children, turning it into a fort, a house, or a castle, depending on whatever they imagined themselves becoming on a particular day.

Though oaks were dominant enough to give the forest its name, the beeches were perhaps the most impressive looking. Some were so old it took two grown men to wrap their arms all the way around their trunks. Those ancient trees tended to shoot up a hundred feet into the air, and some went even higher. Returning beneath their familiar canopy was like being in the embrace of a long-lost parent.

The squall soon moved on, and a few raindrops sprinkled down, dripping off leaves and bushes to fall to the moistened earth. Nerris trudged through the grass and mud, cursing the mess they made of his boots. It was not as if he could purchase new ones at his leisure. All the money he earned through his soldiering had been left somewhere back in his room at the Aeternica; no doubt Qabala had decided to requisition it back to her own treasury. He sighed again. It had been quite a hefty sum, too.

As he reoriented himself, Nerris found he did not recognize this part of the wood. He knew the way to Haladast well, and should have been no more than half a day south of the village. But in straying from the footpaths and going cross-country, he had somehow gotten himself lost.

He was about to turn back and find the path again, until the rain’s
tap-tap-tap
reduced itself to a whisper, accompanied by a stiff breeze. A new sound replaced it, a muffled sobbing. Nerris turned his head toward the sound, but when he did so, it seemed to come from another direction, though far off. Nerris trampled through the foliage, attempting to hone in on the location of the noise. A smell wafted into his nostrils as well, and he gagged in revulsion. The burnt homes of Gelnicka had emitted a similar odor.

Looking around, Nerris found a stout beech to climb. The thick, evenly spaced limbs made it easy to get above the forest canopy, where the surrounding trees were more visible. A glance to the north revealed smoke rising from a clearing a short distance away.

Nerris clambered down the smooth, slick bark as quick and safe as he could, and hit the ground running. He headed north, crashing through the bushes and emerging into the clearing. Toward the opposite tree line, he spied the remains of a ruined house. The walls were gone, replaced by ash and cindered wood. The roof had collapsed, though  some thatch had been saved by the rainfall. The rest had burnt away.

He located the source of the sobbing. Several feet from the rubble, a tiny girl, no more than a child, sat on a tree stump, her knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped around her shins. She was soaked from head to toe, and her body shook as she wept.

Nerris approached her. “Pardon me, miss.”

The girl looked up. Her green eyes stared forlornly, and she stood. She was not a child, as Nerris had first thought, but a grown woman. She had long, blonde hair dampened by the rain and wore a light, plain dress. Much like her face, it was covered in soot.

The girl backed away from him. “Please. Please, go away!” She turned and ran, and Nerris moved after her.

“Wait,” he called. “I’m not going to harm you!”

The girl’s ankle caught on a root before she made it to the trees. She fell to the ground with a surprised gasp, and Nerris closed the distance. He knelt before her, wincing at the fall.

“Ow,” she said, her tone much more comical than the weeping from a few moments before. She rubbed at her ankle.

“Are you hurt?” Nerris asked.

“I am sorry for running,” the girl said. “You startled me.”

Nerris held out his arms. “Let me help.” She considered him for a moment, but grasped his hands. Nerris pulled her to her feet and let go. “Your ankle—”

“I am all right,” the girl said, wiping the tears from her eyes, “though I cannot say the same for my home.”

“What happened?”

She sighed. “A stray ember from the fireplace, perhaps. I do not know. I was asleep. I went down to the creek with my bucket to try and put it out, but...”

“Do you live here alone?” Nerris asked. “What I mean is, was anyone in there with you?”

She shook her head. “No, I was alone. My mother has been gone for a year.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Nerris said. “My mother is dead as well.”

“Oh, no,” the girl said. “She is not dead. Just gone.”

“Really?”

“She said she had things to do,” the girl said, “and that I would need to live on my own, and be brave. That was the last I saw of her.”

Nerris frowned. It sounded like her mother had abandoned her. It didn’t make sense to leave a young woman out in the woods by herself. Though fully grown, she was a little thing, the top of her head barely clearing Nerris’s chest.

“I am sorry,” the girl said. “I have not given you my name, or thanked you for your concern. I am Len-Ahl.”

Nerris gave her a smile he hoped was encouraging. “It’s nice to meet you, my faermaid. My name is Nerris.” He sat on the tree stump. “So what are you going to do? Do you have any relatives you could live with?”

Len-Ahl shook her head. “No, my mother and I were the only ones here. You are the first traveler I have seen in some time.”

That was not a surprise. The girl’s speech was so formal and correct that it sounded like she had never had a real conversation with the outside world. Nerris frowned. He hadn’t been much for company these past few months, but he could not leave her here with nowhere to go.

“I’m heading north a ways, to a village called Haladast,” he said. “Ever been there?”

“No,” Len-Ahl said. “I have never strayed far from this clearing. My mother told me the outside world is very wicked, and I should never let the light of home out of my sight.”

Nerris rolled his eyes. It was one of
those
. The Great Oak Forest played home to all sorts of strange folk, if one probed deep enough. Still, he had seen enough wickedness in the last few years to last a lifetime, so her mother was not wrong in her own simple way.

“Well, unless you’re going to wait for enough laborers to wander in here to help rebuild your home, you’ve got nowhere to sleep tonight.”

Len-Ahl cast her gaze downward. “True.”

“Let me take you to Haladast,” he offered. “It’s full of good people who have never turned away those in need. Someone there will give you a place to stay until you figure out what you want to do.”

“I do not know,” Len-Ahl said. “A village... I cannot imagine living close to such a large number of people.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Nerris said. “Besides, humans shouldn’t live in isolation like this. Before you know it, you’ll start talking to the oaks and people will be spreading tales about the crazy tree lady deep in the woods.”

Len-Ahl giggled. “Maybe it is time.”

Nerris stood and offered his arm. “Then come with me.”

Len-Ahl grasped his arm and they walked back into the forest. It was lucky for her Nerris had come along. Once she got past her initial shock, Len-Ahl was very trusting, and it could have gone badly for her if the wrong sort of man happened on her.

He found he had to slow his pace, since Len-Ahl’s short legs could not keep up with his long strides. They stopped for the evening, and Nerris built a fire, though he was not confident he could strike a flame with all the wet wood. If Dist were here, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Ever since they were little, his friend had been obsessed with fire. He could have poured some of his magic fuel on the logs, which was no magic at all, but a concoction of chemicals Dist had devised. Nerris didn’t know the secret recipe, since Dist had always guarded it like a daughter’s chastity, but the wood would have burned.

Len-Ahl wandered off for a while, and came back cleaned up and clutching a slender piece of wood. For the first time, Nerris saw what she looked like. Her blonde hair held a bright sheen. She had a heart-shaped face with full lips atop a petite body. Her small frame gave her a younger, coquettish look. He took his gaze away, not wanting to seem rude, and concentrated on getting the fire going. It took some doing, but he managed to strike a flame.

After checking the snare traps he had set, he returned with a rabbit, ready to skin and throw on the fire. However, Len-Ahl was using his knife to whittle at the piece of wood she had brought back from her own excursion. She worked fast and with practiced ease, and the vague shape of a fipple flute was beginning to form in her hands.

Nerris dropped the dead rabbit at her feet. “Supper time.”

Len-Ahl glanced at the animal and shrieked in revulsion. “Nerris, what have you
done
?”

Nerris shot her a confused look. “I’ve fed us.”

“I cannot eat that!” Len-Ahl backed away as if the rabbit was cursed. “It is an animal!”

“Of course it’s an animal,” Nerris said a bit irritably. “Don’t tell me you don’t eat meat.”

Len-Ahl shook her head. “I never.”

“Well, what do you eat?”

“Berries, fruits, vegetables, nuts,” Len-Ahl said. “I kept a small garden behind my home. Or at least, I did.”

“I’ve never met a person who didn’t eat meat,” Nerris said.

“Well, now you have.”

“All right.” He grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of the neck and dropped it in the bushes. “We’ll eat your way tonight. I think I saw an apple tree a little to the east of here.” He tromped off somewhat begrudgingly. He had been looking forward to fresh meat, but he did not have the heart to argue with her. She had been through enough for one day. Once they made it to Haladast, he would be shot of her and able to eat what he wanted. Until then, he would treat her as if she was a guest in his home.

“Don’t forget the blueberry bushes,” Len-Ahl called.

“Of course,” Nerris said. “Whatever you say.”

“And Nerris?”

He turned around. “Yes?” he said between clenched teeth.

“Thank you.”

He gave her a small smile. “You’re welcome, Len-Ahl.”

After they ate, Nerris told Len-Ahl about some of the adventures he had throughout his life. Since she had been living in the middle of the forest for all of hers, she may have been the only person left in Tormalia to never hear of the Thrillseekers. He told her about Gauntlet, the elite military school in Agos, run by a man named Owen Palwell. That was where he, Dist, and Jhareth had not only learned to fight, but educated themselves as well. Until King Ullas came calling for Headmaster Owen’s life.

“Gauntlet had been set up by outside forces,” Nerris told her. “They were trying to discredit the school by bringing down the King’s wrath on it. Instead of submitting, Owen and his son rose up in rebellion. King Ullas was not loved, and we were joined by the lord of Orrigo and his vassals. That war came to be known as the Liberation of Agos. Owen was chosen to be the new king, but he died shortly after from wounds he suffered in battle. His son, also named Owen, inherited the throne from him.”

“And this Owen the Second was a friend?” she asked.

Nerris nodded. “I  saw him a few months ago in Alicanos, when I got bogged down for the winter. His queen is Lailea, daughter to Faerna’s own King Maerlos.”