The Dragon' Son (23 page)

Keegan cringed as Walneff’s touch induced pain, but as the old man lathered on more salve, the pain slowly began to fade away. “A gentle breeze? I don’t understand. How can you know that someone needs help from a breeze?” Keegan asked.

Walneff chuckled again and shook his head. “Oh, but you do have so much to learn!” he simply said.

Keegan snorted, “Please, tell me something I did not already know.”

Walneff looked up at Keegan. “Ah! So you admit that your knowledge is lacking and that you do, in fact, have much to learn?” he asked.

Keegan shrugged in reply. “When it comes to talking breezes, I guess,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

Walneff cleared his throat and returned to his work. “Being cocky with me, lad, will give you no upper hand,” he reprimanded as he finished with the salve and began to wrap the cloth around Keegan’s leg and ankle again.

When he had finished, Walneff stood and walked over to a dapple-gray horse tied nearby. Walneff limped, as if his left leg were crooked. He approached the horse and patted it, muttering under his breath. He then dug in the saddlebags for a moment before retrieving some dried fruit and meat.

He shuffled back over to Keegan and lowered himself into a sitting position before handing some of the food to Keegan. “Here. Eat,” he ordered.

Keegan took the dried fruit and meat and was glad to see it. “Thank you,” he mumbled and began to chew on some of the meat.

“Where are your horses?” Walneff asked curiously. “And your traveling supplies?”

Keegan frowned, stared at the food in his hand. “The horses ran off together, and the supplies are with the horses.”

Walneff chuckled heartily. “My! What a fine predicament to be in!” he said cheerily.

Keegan scowled but kept the expression directed at the food in his hand and not at Walneff. He continued to eat slowly and let his mind wonder into thought during the silence. He noted that no dead body or burnt cinders were lying in the area, so this made him wonder what had happened to the beast. He knew it was dead, but had the dragon’s fire completely disintegrated it or had Walneff done something with it?

And how had Walneff come to find them? How did he know about the creature? Keegan paused as he remembered hearing Walneff’s voice just before he blacked out after the whole incident. He looked at the old man next to him, wondering how much of the battle Walneff had seen.

Walneff looked at Keegan and raised his bushy eyebrows, “Have you a question? Your eyes say that you do.”

Keegan let his eyes wander to Saul, who was now sleeping. “How much of our fight with the monster did you see?” he inquired, turning his eyes back to Walneff.

The old man shrugged. “I saw very little,” he answered.

Keegan looked at him suspiciously. “Then how did you know that we fought with a monster?” he asked.

Walneff looked at him quizzically, a slight smile turning up his lips under his beard. “Did I say such? I simply said that you were slow and clumsy.”

Keegan looked down in confusion at the food in his hand. “But…” he started, only to be interrupted.

“You, Keegan, said something about the monster,” Walneff said.

Keegan looked at Walneff again. “But it did not surprise you!” he countered.

Walneff smiled and shook his head, picking at his own food. “Quite so!” he said, popping a dried apple into his mouth, crunching it.

“Why not?” Keegan asked.

Walneff looked from his food to Keegan, his strange diamond blue eyes searching Keegan’s. “Why do you think?” he redirected.

Keegan thought for a moment before shrugging. He had no answer.

Walneff shook his head with a sigh, “Oh, Keegan. If you only thought about it, you would understand.”

Keegan knit his brows in frustration and answered, “Well, the only explanation I can think of is that you saw the monster.” Keegan suddenly paused as another thought came to him. “You’ve seen the monster before?” he asked.

Walneff shrugged ever so slightly. “The likelihood that I have seen the one you battled last night is very unlikely, but I have seen a few Roshar in my time,” he said, biting down on a piece of meat.

“Roshar?” Keegan asked, shaking his head.

Walneff nodded. “Yes, they are a creature of darkness that comes from far away. Many of them live deep in the White Desert,” he explained. “Perhaps you would remember tales of them from your childhood?”

Keegan slowly let his mind wonder back to some stories he had heard at a young age: tales of tall devilish beasts with the strength of 5 men. They were rarely seen during the day, hunting only during the night. Their eyes glowed like hell fires, and they could follow the fresh scent of any creature from a great distance.

“They were called ‘The Souls Wronged’, often believed to be the walking souls of dead humans who sought revenge for some terrible deed done to them before they died,” Keegan recalled aloud. “Because of their vengefulness, they were also called the ‘Demons of Revenge’. Their long-lived vengeance was like no other, and they could wreak the worst sorrows on those who wronged another person,” Keegan shrugged as he recalled this. “But it was just the tales of old men to keep their neighbors from cheating them or borrowing items from them.”

“Perhaps some of it was invented for that purpose,” Walneff chuckled, “but I think you would agree that the creature itself is, in fact, not a tall tale told by cheated old men.” He pointed a finger at Keegan’s wrapped ankle.

Keegan stared at his throbbing ankle and nodded his head, “Yes, I would agree with that.” He looked back at Walneff. “But why would it attack Saul and me? And it attacked Susun, as well! Why would it do that? And if these monsters, these ‘Roshar’ as you call them, come from as far away as the White Desert, then what was this one doing here?” Keegan spoke passionately, jabbing his finger into the ground next to him.

Walneff took his time to answer. He thought about his answer as he chewed on a dried apple slice, his blue eyes staring off into the distance somewhere.

Keegan crossed his arms and waited for a long moment before speaking again, “Well?”

Walneff looked back at Keegan with a quizzical expression. “What? You cannot answer these questions for yourself?” he asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

Keegan refrained from rolling his eyes. “I cannot,” he stated simply.

Walneff sighed and proceeded to coach Keegan, “You could if you tried, for they are not as much as a mystery as your mind plays them out to be.” He finished off the food in his hand then dusted his hands together before speaking. “The Roshar are, in fact, vengeful creatures. Why so is to be speculated. That aside, they tend to take things to a personal level, and they are easily swayed to the side of darkness.” Walneff crossed his arms and began to stroke his beard with his right hand. “Why this particular Roshar was so far away from his native lands is indeed something to speculate. I have formed several theories but have yet to set those theories to fact. Nonetheless, I believe the creature has been tracking you.” He continued to stroke his beard as he voiced his thoughts. “As to why he attacked you, I believe it was because you foiled his attempt at the young lady, Susun.”

Keegan listened intently until Walneff paused. “But, why would he attack Susun in the first place?” he asked. “And why would he be tracking me? How long has he been tracking me?”

Walneff continued the stroking of his beard, his eyes still staring off into the distance as he thought. “I will answer the two latter questions first. I don’t know,” he responded while looking at Keegan. “And as to your first question, other tales suggest that Roshar often took, abducted that is, human females. There are many speculations as to why, but none have been proven.”

“You mean that the monster meant to take Susun?” Keegan replied with disgust.

Walneff nodded his head, “It is most probable.”

Keegan looked across the clearing as his stomach lurched at the thought of what might have happened to Susun if he had failed in stopping the monster from taking her. “I am glad I suffered the monster’s vengeance. This way, I know Susun is safe,” he said.

Walneff nodded his head and said in agreement, “And I am glad you have so noble a heart to think such. Few men would feel the way you do.” He pointed a finger at Saul. “However, I fear that your friend suffered more than you did at the Roshar’s hand.”

Keegan stared at Saul’s sleeping form for a long moment, cringing as he remembered the grievous beatings that he had received from the creature. “He was trying to help me. The beast was only after me, but Saul continued to get in its way,” he said in a low tone.

Walneff sighed. “Ah. Again, the Roshar’s vengeful nature dominated.” He slowly stood to his feet. “Try to get some rest.” With that, the old man hobbled across the clearing and sat next to Saul, observing him carefully with those sharp blue eyes.

Keegan finished his food then cautiously lay back on the ground. He tried to make himself as comfortable as he could, folding his hands behind his head and staring up at the treetops. It was not long before the world and its sounds went out of focus and sleep gently settled over him.

Keegan wandered through darkness, listening to and following the sound of voices. He spotted a large black door with a brass handle standing in the middle of the darkness. The voices he heard were coming from it.

“Open the door…” a soft whisper sounded in the darkness.

Keegan reached out and took the handle, pushing against the door. The door swung open noiselessly to reveal a man and a woman standing together in a room made entirely of crystal and marble. They stood next to a large crystal table and were heavy in conversation, not appearing to notice Keegan at all.

The woman was beautiful, with long golden hair that was braided and twisted in an intricate pattern down her back. She had a pale complexion and a perfectly soft, smooth face that was stern and strong. Silvery eyes stared with great intensity at the man, whose back was turned to Keegan, almost like a lion sizing up its opponent.

A movement in the room drew Keegan’s attention away from the man and the woman to a beast that rose from a sitting to a standing position and stretched its hindquarters like a cat. Keegan gasped and took a step backward as he recognized the creature to be the huge wolfish beast that had knocked his father from his horse all those years ago.

The wolf creature twitched an ear as it watched the man and woman, not seeming to notice Keegan. It licked its jowls, drawing Keegan’s eyes briefly to a jagged scar on its nose.

“The Roshar may have failed, but I will not. I will not return until I have hunted this boy down, and I will bring you his head as proof of his death,” the man said, drawing Keegan’s attention back to the two people. The man bowed low to the woman, and turned, facing Keegan.

Keegan jumped back, shock and rage washing through him. A long, white scar ran across the man’s face, leaving one of his hate-filled eyes white with a cataract. The man was none other than the scarred man who had killed Keegan’s father. He did not seem to see Keegan, and, with a sweep of his cape, he disappeared from the room. Keegan blinked, his heart racing. He looked at the woman and watched as she turned and slowly walked to a large chair that was carved out of the far wall and draped in white animal furs. She sat in it with a thoughtful face, in a near-trance state.

“I am so, so close to achieving my goal. I cannot fail now,” she whispered as she stared vacantly into the distance.

The great beast moved and sat down next to the chair, snapping its jaws with a whine of discontent. The woman turned her head to look at the creature. She slowly raised her hand for the beast to lick, and then she ran her fingers through its thick, bristly hair.

“In time, you will hunt again. In time, you will taste blood… all in due time,” she coaxed, turning her face away from the creature, resuming her vacant stare. The beast snarled and lay down on the bear rug next to the chair, shutting its red eyes. “All in due time,” it snarled with a sigh.