Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (25 page)

They are of the Fae,
Markai suddenly told me.

“I know you are of the Fae, but
who are you exactly?” They looked at each other uncertainly for a moment and
then looked over their shoulder at Markai.

The shorter one spoke up stiffly
in a high voice. “We are of the Guardians. I am Luan and this is Pharis. We
were entrusted with finding the Preserver and Protector. We do not believe he
has been found.” Looking me up and down he said coldly, “You are not him.”

I frowned. “Do you mean to say
the guardians are divided on this matter?”

They looked at each other with
exasperation. “No we stand strong together.” Loudly he continued. “Of course
that is what I am saying. Once it was announced that they believed they had
found the one we seek, we discussed the merits of the claim. We voted on it, it
was a narrow margin, but they won. We were forced to acquiesce and accept.”

Brant looked from them to me
with eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. “How would you know that you have
found the right person? Is there some sort of test you could do?”

Pharis clicked his tongue and
sighed. “You humans need to learn to think about things before asking. What do
you think, little human? Do you think that if there was some sort of magical
test we could do, that we may have done it by now?” His voice had risen as he
spoke to a near shout. They certainly were in bad humour. He looked at me with
an unreadable expression, almost as if he would be willing to cut me open and
have a look inside if that meant he could see if I were the one.

I shivered under that gaze, but
kept my voice level. “So what are you doing?”

He flicked his long hair back
over his shoulder almost regally. “We are watching. We see you have gathered
two followers already. Perhaps if you manage to gather them all and then muster
the army that will be required, you are the one. Either way, we have other
people searching for a replacement should that become necessary.” He looked at
Brant with ice in his eyes. “We do not understand why you would allow him to
follow as well.” He looked back at me his head cocked to one side and one
eyebrow lifted.

I was taken aback. I thought the
way he had said I had two followers meant that it was a good thing.

I must have looked lost for
words, because Brant gave me an irritated look. “I follow, because I mean to
fight in the Resistance. Why should he not let me follow anyway?”

They both narrowed their eyes.
In his high voice, Luan said, “You must be aware of who you are of what you
will do. It is a noble pursuit to try to better
yourself
,
if in most cases futile.” He turned his grey eyes on me. “You must know you
have a wolf among sheep. He may be wearing a woolly coat, but he is still a
wolf.”

I had had enough of this pious
talk coming from these two who had been sneaking about in shadows. “People can
choose which destiny they follow. Nothing is written in stone. I believe he
will choose the right path.” I was relieved my voice did not betray the doubt I
felt.

Luan held up his hands. “Every
man’s folly is his own.”

Seran who had been quiet all
this time spoke. “Where do we go from here? You sneak after us like thieves in
the night, or you join our party?”

Their laughter was like bells
ringing and as annoying as a stone in your shoe. Luan managed to contain his
laughter long enough to say, “We will not be joining your little party and yes
we will be watching, but we will come to you to take reports of progress. After
all, as Guardians, we are obliged to help the chosen one.” His mouth turned
down at the corners as if the words themselves tasted foul. Still chortling,
they turned and strode off. They walked back toward the trees where Markai had
found them. I wondered where they were going, but while I was still watching
them they disappeared into thin air.

I had not even noticed the light
failing. We started back to our inn talking of what they had told us. I
wondered at the apparent division between the Guardians. Quiniewa had never
said anything about any of them having doubts. In fact, she had reprimanded me
when I found this all hard to believe and I truthfully thought that I had been
rather open, considering the enormity of what she had told me. However, it was
becoming clear that things were not so straightforward.

For blood’s sake, what if I was
not the one? I was risking my life, being hunted by nightmarish
creatures,
surely they could not have been wrong about me,
could they? Thinking about it in this way, I realised how much I had believed
and accepted it. I guess everyone believes that their life was meant to be more
than what was right in front of them, more than the normal. Some find that meaning
in travel, some in romance or their children, some in war. I believed that my
destiny was beyond the petty, beyond the self-gratifying. Had I been so
desperate for my life to mean something more that I had deluded myself in this?

That evening we went back out to
see the night market. We took a seat at one of the lantern lit tables and a
serving girl quickly appeared. I did not even know from which establishment she
came. Her long brown curls swayed as she walked. She smiled brightly at us.

She let her eyes linger for a
moment on Brant before sweeping them over the table. “What can I get you?” She
nodded to each order and gave Brant another smile showing a flash of white
teeth before hurrying to get our drinks.

I grinned at him. “I think you
have caught her interest Master Almeer.” He squirmed in his chair and shook his
head, but did not say anything. When she returned with our drinks, I could have
sworn he looked shy. I would attribute a great many descriptions to him, but
shy would never have been one of them.

Our conversation quickly turned
to where we were going next. Seran was shaking his head. “Surely there must be
an easier way to find these people. You do not know who they are, you do not
have a description of them, you do not even know how many there are to find!”

I sighed. We have had this
conversation before and it was starting to taste stale in my mouth.
 
While we were talking, a young woman caught
my eye. I would know those eyes in any crowd.

I stood up as she approached.
She was wearing a red woollen dress, finely embroidered along the collar and
hem with sparkling flowers. It may only have been a woollen dress, but on her,
it seemed to be the finest silk.

She walked around the table and
gave me a tight hug. When she let me go, I saw the others were gaping at me.
Brant’s mouth was actually hanging open. I drew out a chair for her and she
gracefully sat down.

Before I sat down, I made the
introductions. “I would like you all to meet Quiniewa,” she inclined her head
slightly, as elegant as a queen. “Quiniewa, this is Seran, Trissa, and Brant.”
I indicated to each of them in turn. She smiled and it transformed her from
merely beautiful to stunning. I saw Brant’s mouth starting to drop open again
before he caught himself and snapped it shut. Trissa was pouting and looking
from Seran to Quiniewa, clearly jealous of his appreciation of her beauty.

She sat quietly looking at each
of us in turn. She waited until we were all paying rapt attention to her before
speaking in her melodious voice. “As Kadin has told you I am one of the
Guardians. I have come for two reasons today.” She looked at me, her golden
eyes sparkling. “First, it has come to my attention that you have met Luan and
Pharis. They are of a mind that if they observe you for long enough, you will
make some error that will prove them right.”

I kept my voice level as I
asked, “That I am not the one meant to lead the Resistance?” She nodded. “I did
not tell you of this faction, because there was no reason to. They are wrong.
They had always assumed it would be one of the Fae that would rise up to lead
the Resistance and they cannot accept that it is in a fact a human. Their pride
has blinded them. When you assume something for so many years, to you that
assumption becomes a fact. They are egotistical and that will be their
downfall. Having said that, they are still Guardians and therefore, I do not
believe they will hinder you. You will have to tolerate them.”

She paused a moment before
continuing. “The second reason for my presence is to clarify who it is you seek
and where you must go. In all, there are seven that you seek. You have found
two already,” her eyes went to Seran and Trissa, “we are tracing the rest, but
as of yet we know only where one resides. Four days’ travel to the west of
Brailen, you will come to a town called Andos. This is where you will find her.
She is a merchant’s daughter, her name is Alathaya Almeida. We will pass on any
information we can find regarding the rest of them.”

I smiled gratefully at her.
“Thank you Teacher, we were feeling at a loss for where to go next. I am
curious though, why did you not tell me that Brant was the first of those I
seek?”

She frowned, her golden eyes
perplexed. A moment later, her expression cleared.
“Why,
because he isn’t one that you seek.
He is here for other reasons.” She
pointed a slim finger to Trissa. “She is the second you have found.”

Trissa looked like a startled
mouse cornered by a very big, very hungry cat. Her mouth opened and closed
making her look like a fish. I was sure that my face showed my surprise as
clearly as hers did. Quiniewa looked amused. “You have fine luck if this one
happened to fall into your lap by accident. Apparently, she is not aware of her
own power yet, but I can sense it in her.” She looked at me. “Once you become
more attuned to your own nature, you will be able to sense this as well.”

I shook my head. “But, what can
she do?”

She shrugged her shoulders.
“That, I do not know. She will find it and she will show you, maybe even before
she is able to tell you.”

Trissa finally found her voice.
“But, I cannot do anything. I cannot fight in a battle. I carry no weapons and
have had no training for anything such as this.” Panic was near to the surface
of her voice.

Quiniewa gave a tinkling laugh.
“The luck of the humans.
We have always believed you have
enormous luck.
Luck that you do not even know of.
Without it I do believe your species would not have made it this far.”

Brant snorted. “I don’t think
you want to say that to
humans
. They
may not take too kindly to that.”

Raising one eyebrow, she simply
looked at him as if she was looking at an errant child. I could understand his
point of view though. The Fae did seem to feel annoyingly superior to us. Her
face went serious again.
“One more thing.
If we are
after these remaining five, you’d best accept that Dark powers will be stirring
in that direction as well. You would do well to make haste. For every one of
these five that you find, your collective power and therefore, your ability to
stand against the Dark Master, will grow. He will do all that he can to stop
you. If you fail to reach all five in time, calamity will be upon us.”

She stood gracefully and as if
to some command we all rose. She smiled, making her golden eyes sparkle as if
they held all the light in the world. We bowed to her and even Trissa gave a
stiff curtsy. She inclined her head and walked away into the crowd. Staring
after her, I wondered why I had not had the same reaction to Trissa, as I had
when I had first seen Seran.
Perhaps because she was not
aware of her power?

We did not sit down again, but
trawled through the market to gather supplies. Now that we knew where we must
go, we would leave at first light. As we wandered among the stalls, I
remembered my promise to Aliana that I would bring her back a memento from my
travels. This night market was something I had not come across and I thought it
a good place to keep an eye out for a gift for her.

After looking at, and turning
down, several bracelets and rings, I came across a necklace. On
a leather
cord hung what looked like a rock hard drop of
honey. Encased inside it was a beautiful blue flower. When I asked the stall
keeper about it, she said that flower was the town’s emblem. It was perfect. I
paid a silver coin for it, which I thought a small price to pay for the smile
this would earn me.
 

When we had all the provisions
we needed for our journey, we went back to the inn. Seran had stayed at the
market, only saying there was something else he needed. We had a quick dinner
in the common room before going up to our rooms.

Knowing we would most likely
spend the next four days filthy I had wash water brought up to the room.
Revelling in the fresh feeling of being clean and smooth cheeked, I
lay
down and immediately fell asleep.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

We
started out before even having breakfast. When we went down to the stables, the
bleary-eyed stable master brought out our horses.
Four in
all.
I looked a question at him and was about to point out that we only
had three horses, when Seran spoke. “I thought since Trissa is going to be
coming with us, she needs a horse of her own.” She gaped at him with such open adoration
in her eyes that it made me wince a little.