Severed Destinies (14 page)

Khir made his way into the gutted house, stepping over the rubble as he moved. His eyes scanned the debris as he picked his way through. He hoped that something had survived, anything that he could take as a reminder of his home. He also looked for signs that would indicate his parent's fate. As he moved around the charred fireplace, towards the bedrooms, he could see that the rear of the house was nearly intact compared to the front. A door still stood, almost defiant in the aftermath of the attack. Khir knew that the door had led to his parent's bedroom and, with a deep breath, he entered.

In the street, Rynn glanced around at the destruction, shaking his head. "This will happen to every town unless these men are stopped."

"I wonder where they have gone to now," said Varayan, trying to recall the other locations situated north of the river.

Gorric looked across at them. "They will not head north, as that leads to Morassia. They would not go unnoticed there for long."

"Surely they would not continue west," frowned Rynn. "A force like that could not strike at Boraila. Towns are lightly defended, but a city would be able to repel them easily. Guard Commander Vohlkern has many men under his command."

"Perhaps they should have sent some men here and then this catastrophe may not have befallen my home," snapped Gorric.

Rynn bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Gorric. I didn't mean any disrespect."

Gorric shook his head slowly. "No, I apologise. This is all too surreal. Barentin destroyed, my father lost and now this." He swept his hand out towards the remains of Tamriel. "This invading army will pay for the deaths that they have caused. I don't care who they are or what their motive is. It's no good tracking them any longer. We must let people know, so I suggest that we make for Turambar. The soldiers there will know what to do."

Varayan shifted uncomfortably at the thought of being locked inside a fortress with a fair number of soldiers. "Perhaps we should just head straight for Boraila. Rynn is eager to get home."

"These invaders may have gone to the forest west of here to make camp," stated Gorric. "If we make for Turambar, then we can continue on to Boraila after. It's a safer route."

"I agree," nodded Rynn. The acolyte noticed Gorric slump slightly in his saddle.

Gorric, seeing the concerned look on Rynn's face, forced an unconvincing smile. "I'm just tired."

"We all are," added Varayan.

The three turned as Khir emerged from the debris, clutching something in his hands. As he drew closer, they could see that he held a bow and a narrow leather quiver containing five arrows. The bow was slightly blackened, but seemed to be usable.

"My father's hunting bow," Khir said to them. "I could only find five arrows that were any use." The forester's son looked at Gorric. "They weren't in there."

Gorric could see the relief in his friends' eyes. He could not bring himself to ruin Khir's hopes that his parent's were still alive. He knew that they could have been in another part of Tamriel when the attack happened, but he simply smiled weakly at Khir. "I hope there wasn't another bow. You know how bad I am with them."

Khir smiled back and nodded, then shouldered both bow and quiver. As he remounted, they realised that night had fallen completely.

Gorric stared into the darkness at the end of the street, where he would find out the fate of his family.

"I'm sure they're alive," said Khir, knowing his friend's thoughts. "Let's go."

The four made their way along the street, glancing into the ruins for some sign of life. Ahead, they could see the wall to the Orgillian estate and the gate was wide open. As they approached, Gorric dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to Khir. He then stepped through the gate and looked across at his home. His heart sank as he saw the damaged building. It still stood, but windows were broken, walls were charred and the front door was hanging from it's hinges.

Behind him, the other three dismounted and, whilst Varayan stayed back to watch the horses, Khir and Rynn moved alongside Gorric.

"It still stands," said Gorric proudly.

"Your father had it built to last," remarked Khir.

Rynn glanced to his left and saw a body lying near to the wall. He tapped Khir on the shoulder and pointed, then made his way to the fallen figure. Khir left Gorric watching the house and made his way to the body. As he saw the face, he felt both relief that it was not one of the Orgillian family, yet sorrow at the fact that he had known the person now laying dead before him. He did not even hear Gorric move alongside him.

"Varro," sighed Gorric, looking down at the body of the guardsman.

Varro lay on his back, his eyes glazed and staring up at the night sky. A crossbow quarrel had taken him in the chest and it seemed that, not content to let the poor guardsman die from that lethal wound, his killer had cut the man's throat.

Gorric felt nauseous at the sight of someone whom he had seen and talked to nearly every day lying cold on the ground. Fear gripped him as he imagined finding the same scene inside his home, but he spun away from Varro's corpse and strode towards the house.

"He was a friend?" Rynn asked Khir, looking down at Varro.

Khir nodded. "He was one of the guards for Gorric's estate who we had known since we were children. Gorric was planning to make time to talk with Varro, as he had been too busy of late."

Rynn laid a hand on Varro's shoulder. "May Ardan guide you," he whispered to the corpse.

Both men then followed Gorric, leaving Varayan feeling somewhat vulnerable on his own with the horses. As he watched them disappear from view, he became aware of the sudden silence. It was eerie that nothing stirred within the town. He ran his hand along the side of one of the horses and found comfort at the warmth of the beast.

By the time Khir and Rynn had entered the Orgillian home, Gorric had already started to search frantically through the debris littering the many rooms. All of the possessions deemed valuable had been taken and furniture had been tipped or broken. Finding no signs of his family downstairs, Gorric sprinted up to the next floor, leaping three steps at a time. He began searching the bedchambers, first his mother's and then Kithia's.

"I'm going to search down here," Khir said to Rynn. "Why don't you go help Gorric?"

Rynn moved to the base of the stairs, then turned to look back at Khir. "Gorric's already searched this floor though. Why search it again?"

"In his frantic state, he might have missed something." Khir headed away down towards the kitchen.

Rynn stood for a second in thought then, upon hearing a curse from Gorric, made his way to the upper floor. He peered into the first bedchamber and, seeing the state it had been left in, moved on. As he went to look into the next room, Gorric strode from it, his larger frame nearly sending the acolyte reeling backwards as the connected briefly.

"What can I do to help?" asked Rynn.

"Search in that room," ordered Gorric, pointing at a closed door without even turning to look at him.

"What room is that?"

Gorric had vanished around a corner, but his voice called back. "A spare bedchamber."

Rynn sighed and headed into the room. Inside, he found a spacious bedchamber which seemed to have been overlooked by the invaders when they had been ransacking the rest of the house. It was untouched and Rynn thought to himself that it would not have been a bad thing to have been a guest of the Orgillians. He glanced out of the window as he passed it, looking out to the south over the silenced town. He noticed a large wardrobe opposite the bed and made his way to it. As he opened it, he heard Gorric curse again and realised that he could never understand how his companion must have been feeling at that moment. His home had been torn apart. People he knew were dead or missing and there were no signs of his family.

A scream startled the acolyte and a figure leapt from the open wardrobe, landing heavily on him and knocking him to the floor. It gripped a knife in one hand and raised it's arm to strike. For a split second, Rynn was back in the muddy courtyard of the tavern in Barentin, the dark magic-user standing over him ready to deliver the killing blow. Suddenly, Rynn instinctively reached up and grasped his assailant's wrist, stopping the knife from being plunged into his chest.

"Gorric, help," was all he could cry.

The attacker's strength was not great, but Rynn could not shift the weight in his favour. It seemed that this person was determined to end his life. Then, Gorric was in the room. With a cry of utter rage, he lifted the figure off Rynn easily and the knife fell to the floor. Rynn jumped up and watched as Gorric gripped the assailant in a crushing embrace. Then, they could only hear sobs.

Confused, Gorric looked up at Rynn, who shrugged. Spinning the thin figure around violently, Gorric's eyes widened. "Kithia?"

He relaxed his grip as tears welled in his eyes and he kissed her on the cheek then held her close. Rynn frowned at the strange scene before him. Seeing the acolyte's expression, Gorric smiled. "Don't worry, Rynn. She's my sister."

Chapter 12

"I really am sorry."

Kithia was not sure whether apologising to Rynn for trying to kill him would ever create a better atmosphere between them, but she would keep trying.

They were camped just inside the Great Northern Forest, sat around a small fire which they believed it had been safe to light. As they chewed the remnants of the food from the fishing village, they watched Kithia closely.

When the invaders had struck Tamriel, they had executed the attack with the same tactics used in Barentin. They had swept through the town, ransacking homes and dragging people off into the night. The men who had fought for their families had died in the streets and it was mostly the women and children who had been taken, although some men had survived. It was all over quicker than the attack on Barentin.

Kithia had told them of how men had entered their home and that she had been upstairs alone at the time, giving her chance to hide. Elna and Cassi had been taken, but the foreigners had not found Kithia, who could only find the small knife to protect herself with. She was unsure as to why they had not searched the spare bedchamber, but the entire force had left the town soon after she had hidden and had headed west.

All of them knew that this meant the invading army were in the forest, but whether their destination was Boraila or not was unknown. A small force would not be so bold as to attack a city.

Gorric watched his sister as she devoured her food ravenously. He was so glad to see her alive and yet a feeling of despair ate at him whenever he thought of his mother and baby sister. Would he ever see them again? He pondered as to why the invaders had taken so many prisoners. Where exactly were they taking them all?

Kithia looked around at the four men. She still could not believe that Gorric and Khir had escaped the attack on Barentin and, with these other two strangers, had made their way back to Tamriel. When Gorric had told her of their father's bravery, she had wept bitterly. She could not bear to think that she would never see her father again and so had pushed the grief deep down inside. She had always been strong-willed and she needed to be now more than ever. Gorric would need her.

"Kithia, are you sure that they didn't…?" Gorric's question trailed off as he found the words hard to say.

She smiled warmly and shook her head, understanding what her brother meant. "No, they didn't touch the women in that way."

Gorric nodded and his head bowed as he became lost in his thoughts once again.

"How're you feeling, Rynn?" Varayan asked the quiet acolyte. "That was quite a scare Kithia gave you."

Kithia caught the mischievous glint in Varayan's eyes and noticed Rynn blush at the question. "He's fine," she said, drawing the attention of both men. "That knife of mine couldn't have cut butter."

Varayan laughed and nudged Rynn, whose colour deepened still. With a brief glare at Varayan, the acolyte rose and moved away from the fire to sit against a tree.

"I think you upset him," Kithia whispered to Varayan.

"Ah, he knows I don't mean any harm by it," chuckled Varayan, loud enough for Rynn to hear. Then, all amusement vanished from his face as he lowered his voice. "In Barentin, Rynn watched his friend die and the killer turned on him too. He was lucky to survive…we all were."

Kithia glanced at the darkened figure of Rynn in the shadows and then turned back to Varayan. "What happened? I mean, how did he get away?"

"Timely intervention," Varayan replied.

"What do you mean?"

Khir cleared his throat quietly. "What he means is that he saved Rynn's life?"

Kithia looked across at Khir. "Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised," snapped Varayan, looking hurt. "I had to do something so that these two didn't hand me over to the nearest guard." He nodded towards Khir and Gorric.

"They had their hands full," said Khir. "Is that the only reason you saved Rynn, Varayan?"

Kithia could tell that there was still some contempt between the two so she waved her hand to get their attention. "Let's not dwell on that time. Is Gorric asleep?"