The Shadow Of What Was Lost (30 page)

Taeris frowned. “I know. I’m
surprised as well, to be honest; Shainwiere needs to get out of the country,
but there were easier ways for him to do so. It was generous of her to send
him. She has some connection with young Wirr that I haven’t been able to puzzle
out as yet.”

Nihim watched him, smiling. “That
must rub the wrong way.”

Taeris snorted. “You know me too
well.”

They paused, then turned back
towards the camp. “The Boundary is going to fail soon. I'm sure of it. The time
is finally coming and all I can see are the dark days ahead, old friend,” said
Taeris quietly.

Nihim clapped Taeris on the
shoulder. “Then I suppose I’m leaving it to you to shine some light.” His tone
was nonchalant, but he wore a serious expression. Taeris considered him for a
few moments, then nodded.

Now ahead of them, Davian darted
away as quietly as he could.

He pondered what he’d overheard
as he hurried back towards camp. Much of it made no sense to him – but even so,
one thing was clear.

Taeris might be on their side,
but he wasn’t telling them everything.

Wirr yawned.

There was still no sign of Taeris
and Nihim – or Davian, for that matter. No-one had spoken much since their departure;
he had exchanged a couple of friendly words with Caeden, but Aelric and Dezia
seemed happy to keep to themselves.

Wirr was fine with that. Aelric
and his attitude had been getting under his skin; every time the other boy
spoke, Wirr had to stop himself from making a snide remark in return. Perhaps
it was just the young man’s obvious reluctance to be there, or perhaps it was
his apparent belief that he was not amongst equals. Either way, Wirr was going
to enjoy the moment Aelric discovered who he’d been treating with such
contempt.

Dezia, though… his eyes wandered
over to her and remained fixed there. He inwardly cursed his lack of
attentiveness to the girls at Caladel. Ignoring them had been the right thing
to do, of course - but it had resulted in him being woefully inexperienced when
it came to women.

Then he forced down the sudden,
unexpected lump in his throat at the thought of the school. Those girls were
all dead, now. Because of him.

Dezia glanced up, catching his
absent-minded stare before he had a chance to look away. He felt the blood
rushing to his cheeks, but she just smiled at him, murmuring something to
Aelric – who looked displeased and tried unsuccessfully to keep her seated –
before rising and making her way around the fire to join him.

“You look like you might be
better company than my brother right now,” she said cheerfully as she sat.

Wirr gave her a polite smile,
trying not to show any of the grief still sharp in his chest. “That’s a low
bar, but I’ll take it.” He grimaced as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean….”

Dezia grinned. “Yes you did. And
you’re right. Aelric is about as cheerful as an empty barn in winter when he
gets like this.”

Wirr smiled, relaxing a little.
He looked towards Aelric, seeing the young man throwing a fierce scowl in their
direction. “So there are times he doesn’t look like that?”

Dezia snuck a look at Aelric and
then turned back to Wirr, giving a small laugh. “Occasionally. Around
Karaliene, mainly.” She sighed. “The princess told me what happened. She swore
to Aelric that the two of you aren’t… involved, but he’s not the type to let
something like that go easily.”

Wirr frowned in confusion. “You
mean he thought…” He shook his head, chuckling. “No.”

“I know. But he doesn’t know who
you are, so he’s not convinced.” She made a face. “Though he should still be
content to take Karaliene’s word,” she added, mostly to herself.

It took a few moments for what
Dezia had said to sink in. “Karaliene told you who I am?” Wirr asked in a low
voice, suddenly focused.

Dezia nodded. “Not the whole
story, but enough. I hope you don’t mind.”

Wirr shook his head, smiling.
“No. If Karaliene trusts you, so do I.” He was surprised to find it was true.
“You must be close.”

Dezia gave a modest shrug. “We’re
friends.” She cast an uncertain glance at Caeden, who was a small distance away
but potentially still within earshot. “Perhaps we shouldn’t be talking about
this now, though.”

Wirr hesitated, then stood,
offering his hand to Dezia. “There’s still a little light left. Perhaps you’d
like to walk with me for a while?” Dezia raised an eyebrow. “To talk,” Wirr
clarified hurriedly. “I have plenty of questions about what’s been happening
back home, but I can’t ask them around the others.”

Dezia smiled. “Of course.” She
took Wirr’s hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

They were about to stroll away
when Aelric’s voice cut through the quiet, thick with irritation. “Where are
you going?”

Dezia sighed, turning back to her
brother. “For a walk.”

Aelric stood, anger now plain on
his face. He crossed to them in a few quick strides, grabbing Dezia by the arm.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Wirr scowled. “Leave her alone,
you fool,” he said without thinking.

A heartbeat later he discovered
he had the tip of a sword at his throat. The camp had gone deathly silent,
everyone watching on in concern; the air had a tense feel to it, as if there
was violence in it just waiting to happen. Wirr stayed perfectly still, not
sure how far to trust Aelric’s judgment.

“Perhaps you would like to duel
with the fool,” Aelric said in an icy tone. “First to draw blood?”

Wirr shook his head slowly. He
was angry, but he knew he would be no match for Aelric.

Aelric stepped back, lowering his
sword with a look of smug satisfaction. “Just as I thought.”

“I’ll duel with you.”

Aelric’s expression froze.
Everyone turned as one to see Caeden reclining lazily on the ground, regarding
the young swordsman with a half-amused, half-annoyed expression.

Aelric snorted. “Put a sword in
the hands of a murderer? I think not.”

Caeden merely raised an eyebrow
at the insult. “‘Every man who holds a sword in his hand, holds murder in his
heart.’”

“What?” Aelric looked bemused.
Wirr didn’t recognise the reference either – Caeden was clearly quoting someone
– but Aelric’s hesitation only lasted a moment. “Very well,” he snarled,
striding over to one of the horses and locating a well-wrapped blade in one of
the saddlebags.

He tossed the sword at Caeden so
that it clattered to the ground at his feet.

“Aelric, stop,” Dezia said in a
worried tone. Wirr felt as concerned as she sounded. The expression on Aelric’s
face was murderous.

“Caeden, don’t do this,” Wirr
said seriously. “I appreciate it, but it’s not worth getting hurt.”

Caeden shook his head as he stooped
to pick up the sword. He smiled as he hefted it in his hand, gauging its
weight. “Thank-you, Wirr, but I’ll be fine,” he said absently, giving the sword
an experimental swing. To Wirr’s surprise, he seemed to know how to handle the
weapon.

Caeden walked away from the fire,
over to where Aelric was waiting. Wirr and Dezia backed away, giving the two
boys plenty of room.

Aelric's expression reminded Wirr
of a cat looking at a mouse it had finally cornered.

“Let’s begin,” he said, his smile
confident. “Touch.”

Caeden followed the form by
tapping Aelric’s outstretched blade with his own, and then they were on their
guard, circling warily. Wirr watched with trepidation, wondering if he should
intervene and stop the fight before it began. Aside from his personal concern
for Caeden, an injury to either man could spell disaster for their journey, and
Aelric’s temperament was clearly not to be relied upon.

Suddenly Aelric attacked, faster
than Wirr would have believed possible. Caeden’s sword leapt up to meet the challenge;
the sound of steel clashing against steel rang out as Aelric struck again and
again in quick succession, raining down blows as Caeden desperately defended.
Then the attack was broken off and Aelric was back on the balls of his feet,
watching and circling, a little out of breath.

Wirr ran his hands through his
hair in helpless frustration. “This is folly,” he said as calmly as he could,
addressing both combatants. “If one of you gets hurt, it puts us all in
danger.”

Aelric responded with another flurry
of blows; for the first time, Wirr noticed how smoothly Caeden was responding.
For every graceful move forward by Aelric, Caeden had a fluid counter.

And he was
fast
. 

Wirr watched, mouth agape as
Caeden turned aside another of Aelric’s attacks, his sword a blur, every small
movement liquid. Beads of sweat had begun to form on Aelric’s brow, and Wirr
thought he saw a flash of concern on the young nobleman’s face.

Then Caeden attacked.

Everything just…
flowed
;
there was no telling where one move began and another ended. Caeden moved
forward calmly, methodically, as if the motion cost him no effort, no energy at
all. Yet his blade sang in front of him, impossible for the eye to follow,
forcing Aelric back and back until they were almost at the road.

Aelric faltered.

Wirr watched in disbelief as
Aelric’s sword cartwheeled through the air, falling several feet away. Aelric
stumbled backward and fell, raising his hands in surrender as the point of
Caeden’s sword rested above his heart.

A few long seconds passed in
silence, everyone frozen.

Wirr turned his gaze to Caeden’s
face, suddenly nervous for a very different reason. The young man’s expression
had barely changed, but something in his eyes….

Wirr shivered, and it was not
from the cold.

“Caeden,” he called out.

The sound seemed to break
something within Caeden, who slowly lowered his sword, eventually tossing it
aside to join Aelric’s.

“If you want to act the fool in
future, be prepared for someone to call you on it,” he said softly.

He turned and retreated to the
campfire, sitting down without another word.

The others were still staring at
him in shock when Davian emerged from the darkened road, a little out of
breath. He nodded to Wirr, then frowned when he took in the scene before him.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Wirr shook
his head, still unwilling to believe what he’d just seen. He lowered his voice.
“You hear anything interesting?”

“Nothing that made any sense.”
Davian glanced behind him. “They shouldn't be far -”

There was motion just beyond the
light of the campfire, and then Taeris and Nihim were crashing through the
surrounding brush, the urgency of their arrival drawing everyone's attention.

“Sha'teth. Get your weapons,”
Taeris said without preamble, quietly but with such force that everyone leapt
to obey.

Soon they were all arranged in a
tight circle with their backs to the campfire, silent, each one straining to
see into the gathering gloom. Wirr's heart pounded, limbs heavy with dread as
he remembered their last encounter with one of the creatures.

“Which direction?” whispered
Dezia to Taeris, her bow at the ready.

"Out there," said
Taeris, gesturing a little to the left of where he and Nihim had emerged. “We
cut through the forest on the way back, spotted it amongst the trees. It saw
us, too, but....” Taeris shook his head, looking troubled. "It didn't
attack. It seemed like it was just watching the camp."

"Isn't that a good
thing?" asked Aelric.

"I suppose. Just...
strange," replied Taeris, his expression uneasy as he stared into the
darkness.

The silence began to stretch, the
tension almost unbearable. Then the hush was suddenly broken by a low, hissing
voice that seemed to come from all directions at once. It was difficult to
tell, but Wirr thought it sounded female.

“
Darei ildos Tal’kamar
sha’teth
,” it said.

“Where is it?” murmured Davian.

Wirr’s eyes strained against the
darkness, but he could see nothing out of the ordinary. “What did it say?”

Taeris didn’t reply straight
away. “I think it’s telling us to hand Caeden over,” he said eventually. To
Wirr’s left, Caeden gave a small, nervous nod of confirmation.

“
Darei ildos Tal’kamar
sha’teth
,” the voice hissed again. “
Sha’teth eldris karathgar si
.”

Taeris shook his head. “
Eldarei
Tal’kamar
,” he called out. “
Sha’teth eldris gildin
.”

The low, rasping sound of the
sha’teth’s laughter filled the air. “Your Darecian is not what it once was,
Taeris Sarr.”

Everyone’s heads swivelled
towards Taeris in surprise, but he ignored the looks. “What do you want?” he
shouted into the darkness.

“You know what I want,” came the
whispery-hoarse voice. It was definitely female, Wirr decided. “Give him to me,
and I will leave you unharmed.”

“No.” Taeris was emphatic.

“So quick to decide the fate of
all,” hissed the voice. “Perhaps your companions think differently?”

“No.” It was Davian.

“No,” Wirr added. He was mimicked
by Nihim and Dezia.

Aelric gave Caeden a long look.
“No,” he said into the darkness.

“Fools,” whispered the voice.

There was silence.

After a few minutes had passed,
Wirr could bear the strain no longer. “Do you think it‘s gone?” he asked to
no-one in particular.

“Yes,” said Taeris, relaxing his
stance. “I think it has.”

Wirr felt his muscles loosen a
little as he took a deep breath. Beside him, he could hear the others doing the
same.

Caeden looked around at them.
“Thank-you,” he said. He glanced across at Aelric, inclining his head slightly
in acknowledgement. Aelric hesitated, then gave a brief nod back.