The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (8 page)

Lor kept his eyes on the road but answered
Erin quietly. “I have known Ree for years. I recognized the beaded
bracelet as hers. Since you don’t strike me as a thief or a
murderer I assumed that Ree had given it to you. That got me
curious and I watched you closely. You are strong and get along
well with animals. At first I couldn’t decide if you were a
delicate boy or a girl and after watching you awhile I saw the
swagger slip a few times. Understand, I offered you the job because
you capably filled a need I had with the horses. I trust you and
would like to help. Tell me however much you are comfortable with
sharing.”

So Erin explained about her parents deaths
and how someone is following her. She decided to omit any mention
of her gifts that she inherited from her parents, for the time
being, and she concluded with, “Then I decided that I couldn’t live
my life looking over my shoulder and wanted to find out why my
father was targeted and killed. I could not do that as the person I
was but might learn more as a scruffy boy. I will work more on the
walk so I don’t give myself away. Which brings me to events
today.”

Erin told him about the couple at the tanners
booth and their sadness about “Auntie Jes”. Then she relayed the
conversation she had overheard from ‘Dusty Hat’ and ‘Brown Beard’.
“I don’t know why but it seems to me that those two somehow caused
her death. Though they can’t be the person who is following me,
because I believe he lost my trail, from the way they were talking
it sounded like they could be part of his band. I still don’t know
why they would want good, wise and older people killed but from
what I heard I became frightened for Ree’s sake. She could be in
danger!”

Lor looked very thoughtful. “What were your
parent’s names?”, he asked, in almost a whisper. Erin bowed her
head and said softly, “I haven’t spoken their names since their
deaths. They were Robse and Shamra. My father was of the weavers
guild and my mother, Shamra, had talents with dyes and anything
herbal. She was also gifted with animals and I take after her that
way.”

They road in silence for awhile. Lor seemed
to be deep in thought. Finally he turned his head toward Erin and
said, “Anything else to share?” Erin shrugged. “I have just bits.
There have been rough seas off the Sawblen coast and fishing
vessels lost.” and she related what she overheard from the two
glass guild men. “That isn’t all that unusual, is it? Father used
to tell me about the storms and tidal shifts because we have both
cool, grey Luna and our red turbulent Cear in our sky.” Lor raised
an eyebrow but remained silent, encouraging Erin to continue.

Erin told of the lady at the weavers guild
booth asking for the green silk that her father made and that the
guild member hadn’t recognized her though she had met the woman
some years before. She concluded by telling Lor about the kindness
of the Herbalist and the Tanner. “He gave me this nice jerkin,
which will help me in my disguise, with the agreement that I will
check his beasts every few days. You don’t mind do you? It won’t
take time from what I do for you.”

Lor, shook his head. “No I don’t mind. We
take care of each other. I am pleased that there are guildsmen in
this caravan that are aware of you... AND are aware of ‘Dusty hat
and Brown beard’. Tomorrow we will refine your disguise. The jerkin
will help. Moving your scarf to around your neck and adding a hat
will work. I will also look at your boots tonight. I want to work
on the soles. If I cannot change the sole prints enough I will get
you some other boots.” Erin pondered on the boot print and how she
hadn’t thought of that. It was a slip up that could have gotten her
killed.

They put in a couple of hours on the road to
Morraton before they pulled off the road to camp for the night.
Erin unharnessed the horses and cared for them. She also filled a
couple of buckets at the river for their use. As she approached the
camp fire she could smell something mouth watering in Lor’s pot.
She cracked open her mental ‘door’ and slowly turned around as if
admiring the night sky. Luna had been in the sky for hours. It was
moving out of synchronization with Cear again. Her mother had
called Luna the rabbit moon, not only because its grey pockmarked
surface had a rabbit pattern but because it was the faster of the
two moons. Cear was like a small fretful child. It’s red face
showed turbulence with black and grey areas that shifted. It
sometimes seemed close then farther away and had a slower orbit. As
Lor called her to eat, Cear was just coming over the horizon and
the night was taking on a slightly orange glow. More importantly,
Erin had not detected any followers.

Knowing that sound carried better in the
night air, Lor and Erin spoke of the days sales at Wellyn and the
fair, the day after tomorrow, at Morraton. Lor had had quite a few
sales of the new rose and amber glow stones for homes but for
workshop light some of the customers preferred the brighter white
light. It had been an interesting day. Since Morraton was an older
and more established city he was glad that there was a guild
warehouse there because it was possible that he would have to
replenish his stock before going on to the three fairs beyond. It
had been a long day but there were a few thing yet to be done. Lor
set one of the buckets of water into the wagon bed and told Erin to
go wash the road dust off of the glow stones. What Erin was really
going to do was wash in the shelter of the wagon. Most boys would
just wash in the nearby river but with the lack of privacy out in
the open that wasn’t a good idea for her identity. At the same time
Lor was going to work on the soles of her boots.

Erin got into the darkness of the wagon and
bathed from the bucket, using her scarf with the new sliver of
soap. She then changed her clothes, putting the dirty set aside to
wash later. She transferred the two stones from Ree and her
parent’s mementos to the pockets of her new jerkin and tying her
scarf around her neck she gently touched her face. Her cheek bone
stung and was warm. She figured it was going to be colorful the
next day. Emerging from the deep shadows in the back of the wagon,
she said, “They are all clean and packed back up. I grabbed my
blanket roll and will bed down under the wagon if you don’t have
anything else for me to do.” Lor handed her boots to her. “You sure
have gotten your boots scuffed up. I hope they last through the
winter season.”

Erin looked at the boots, turning them over
in her hands. Lor had taken the rasp from the tool box and had
totally changed the wear pattern from the bottom of the boots.
Hopefully that would do the trick. “Yeah, I have. It happens when I
travel a lot. Good night, Lor”. Lor looked at his now clean
companion.

“‘Night, Terran.
I’m going to check with a few of the guild wagons and will return
shortly.” Erin turned on her side so she was not resting on the
hurt cheekbone and was shortly asleep. Cear was much higher in the
sky and Tempo was curled against her back by the time that Lor
returned. He looked thoughtfully down on the sleeping ‘lad’. It had
been an eventful day. Tomorrow was going to be long and he needed
his rest. As he was climbing into his bed roll he gave a mental
‘thank you’ to the fates for bringing Erin to him to watch
over.

Just before dawn Erin felt a flutter then a
tug on her blanket. She woke to find Nuit looking at her from
inches away. When the owl knew Erin was awake she flew to the upper
branches of the tree beside the wagon. ‘Sorry to wake you but I had
to deliver a message from Ree and if I wait any longer I could be
seen. She thanks you for your message. She said that she has many
bird and animal friends watching the woods around her home. They
will give her advanced warning if anyone is coming which will give
her time to hide in the cave. She said to tell you that ANYONE with
special talent is in danger from these people. She knew Auntie Jes
and will greatly miss her. Ree also said that she knows Lor and is
pleased to know that you are traveling together. He’s one of her
favorite people and you can trust him.’ Erin could make out Nuit’s
profile up in the tree in the early dawn light. She was turning her
head, scanning the area as only owls can. ‘Erin, when Ree trusts,
you know that it is earned. Lor is a good person. I need to get
some sleep. Share Ree’s message with Keir and Tempo. I’ll look for
you near the next town.’ There was a Who-woo as Nuit silently left
her perch and soared to the north-west.

Erin sat up from her blankets and stretched.
She looked down at the curled up skunk and realized that Tempo’s
eyes were open and were watching her. ‘I caught the last part of
Nuit’s conversation with you. I am glad that Ree likes Lor. He is
way too observant! He could be dangerous to you if he was not
trustworthy. But I wasn’t awake for the first part of the message.
How is Ree? Is she safe?’ Erin silently relayed the rest of the
message to Tempo. The little skunk got up then thumped the ground
when he heard that these men were after all people with special
talents.

Erin slapped the ground back, in agreement,
then said out loud, “Go find some breakfast!” She got up and folded
her bedroll. Lor was up and moving and Erin had to take care of the
horses as they would be on the road shortly.

It wasn’t very long and Erin was scanning the
road and calling for Tempo as harnesses jingled with wagons pulling
out. The little skunk came scampering out of the woods, pausing to
catch Erin’s eye then ran over to be lifted to her shoulder. Tempo
liked Erin’s new vest. It was slightly padded in the shoulders and
the braided trim was something the little skunk could hold onto.
They walked beside the wagon for a while until Lor whistled to get
their attention over the noise. He motioned for Erin to come aboard
the drivers seat and she swung up, fluidly, with one hand
stabilizing Tempo and one on the wagon rail as she had done before.
As soon as she was seated he clicked the reins and the horses
increased their speed. All of the wagons had picked up their pace.
Lor handed her a hat with a floppy brim and she put it on.

The three traveled in silence for awhile
before Erin broke it. “Before my parents died I did not travel much
though my father told me about some of the places in the realm. Is
Morraton a town or is it one of the older “Founder
Settlements”?

Lor slanted her a look and with a small smile
answered, “Founder Settlement”.

“Oh, wow,” Erin exclaimed, “I haven’t seen
one of those except Sherroton. Father said that they were always
built into the hillsides to take maximum advantage of the
geothermal energy and to minimize their impact on the arable land.
So is Morraton the “Seat of Law” for the province also?”

Now Lor was grinning. “I enjoy your
curiosity, Terran. You are a surprise of knowledge. There are
things that you are very informed about, like Luna and Cear and how
they affect our coasts, which you haven’t seen, have you?” Erin
shook her head. “Then other things, of which you have sketchy
knowledge, you are incredibly inquisitive about. I have not had one
boring conversation with you! But to answer your question, Yes,
Morraton was built, in the old way, into the side of the mountain.
The rock face, in certain locations, is honeycombed with caves. The
settlers found that they could build a city up and into the cliff
face. Frequently when this rock formation occurred there was also
geothermal energy close by. The insulating factor of the rock made
it easy to maintain living temperature and the energy was
efficiently channeled for all other needs. And you are also correct
that Morraton is also the ‘province seat’. We are hurrying a bit
because we need to set up this evening. The fair starts just after
dawn tomorrow and will go until sunset. The following day will be a
rest day. There may be some slow trade business but Morraton is
also where we replenish our supplies and that’s the focus at that
time. We’ll not leave until early the next morning.”

Lor had barely finish speaking when Erin got
a mental blast. It was a feeling of evil pleasure mixed with
impatience and frustration. It was the ‘seeker’. As was her habit
she had had her mental ‘door’ almost closed or her reaction would
have been visible to others in the train. Lor happened to have been
looking at her when she winced and gave a small shudder. Tempo put
his head against her throat and Erin opened her mind to the little
guy. Lor said very quietly, “What is it? And don’t tell me it is a
muscle spasm!”

Erin gave a shaky breath, “In a way, that is
exactly what it was.” Lor made an impatient noise. “Give me a
minute!”, she said. She rubbed her forehead and eyebrows as if
wiping the sweat away and adjusting the hat, but in reality she was
covering the fact that she had her eyes closed and seeing if she
could get an image with out overtly ‘reaching out’. That would be
detected and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She had a
fleeting vision of three men, ‘Dusty hat’ was one of them, standing
by a bridge. Then it faded.

She took a deep breath and stretched, looking
like a lad without a care in the world. “Lor, I told you that I am
being followed and the ‘seeker’ is, as far as I can tell, trying to
kill or have killed anyone who shows talent in unusual areas. I
have some skills like my parent’s had. My father could ‘feel’ other
peoples emotion, near and ‘loud feelings’ from a distance. He had
never learned to ‘shield’. That’s why we lived in an isolated
place. But this guy blasts his emotions like a really loud shout. I
think father searched with his mind for the source of the ‘shout’
and that is what drew the “seeker” to kill him. I have communicated
with Ree and she said that the ‘seeker’ can sense when one of us
‘reaches out in search’, so I haven’t, but I can open my mind’s
‘door’ a little and receive what is being ‘shouted’. I have to tell
you that with my mind totally shut I could hear this man! So, yes,
in a way it was a muscle spasm. I just got a glimpse of three men
by a bridge and a feeling of pleasure that reeked of malevolence as
well as frustration and impatience. When I was overhearing the two
men at the fair they were talking about how difficult it is to find
their targets, that it wasn’t as if their victims could be
identified by a guild badge.”