Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (35 page)

The creatures saw what I had
done and I could see it gave them pause. A moment later though, they came at me
three at a time, apparently having now learnt I was a threat. I drew on the
flames repeatedly, but I started to hone my skill and could give quick short
bursts of flame and so use it more effectively. In quick succession, I must
have killed more than ten of them. Only four bodies lay around me though, the
rest burnt to nothing. Repeatedly, the curious slowing down of all motion
around me gave me a few extra vital moments to react to what was happening.
Without that, I think the dizziness would have jarred my perception so much
that I would likely have been dead already.

It was all chaotic fighting one
moment and deathly
silence
the next. I looked around
and saw a few of the creatures fleeing from the green. I noticed that the
motion around me seemed to speed up until it reached normal time again.

The town around us was in ruins.
Bodies lay everywhere, human and beast, but more of them human. There were only
a couple of buildings in sight that were not burning, but the flames from
adjacent structures were already threatening them as well. Slowly survivors
came out of hiding places calling out for their loved ones. It was heart
rending.
Men finding their dead wives, women their husbands,
mothers and fathers cradling little ones who had been killed.
Wails of
despair filled the air.
  

I walked around in a daze, not
really paying attention to where I was going, but I ended up standing where the
man had been. The sound of someone crying was coming from inside the building,
so I walked in. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness inside. A man
sat hunched over the body of the man I had seen standing outside. The moment I
laid eyes on him, the heat was there, like an ember glowing and burning ever
brighter. The heat was spreading and I clutched at my chest as though I could
take the ember out. He was rocking back and forth and murmuring to himself, or
maybe to the deceased. He did not stop or look up as I walked in.

“Without his warning, we would
all be dead. He was a brave man.” The man did not answer, but kept on with his
rocking motion. As long as he did not acknowledge my presence, the burning
would continue and seemingly only increase, so I turned to go, but stopped in
utter confusion.

I was not standing in the
building anymore; I was deep in a forest. The whisper of a stream close by
intermingled with the soft calls of birds all around. I looked around in
wonder. How in the heavens did I get here? The kneeling man was still
whispering to the dead.
“Father, look where I have brought
you.
Do you remember this place? You brought me here when I was only
five turnings old. You said it was so peaceful that you would not mind having
this as your final resting place one day. You should not have gone Father; it
was not your time. You still have so much to teach.” Racking sobs shook him.
“It was not your time.”

I felt as if I was intruding on
an intimate moment, but desperate as I was to get back to Eranidin, I had no
idea how. I did not even know where I was. One thing I was certain of though
was that I had found who I was looking for; my chest felt as though it was on
fire and I could not guess how long we had been in this place. I could get a
glimmer of where the sun was above the canopy of the trees, but it did not seem
to move. Eventually the man calmed down. He wiped the blood from his father’s
face and sat holding his hand. After a while, he folded his hands across his
chest, kissed him on the forehead and stood up.

As abruptly as we had arrived in
the forest, we were back in the dim room and he strode past me without sparing
me a glance. Only when he disappeared out the door, did the heat in my chest
abruptly go. I followed him out and the heat of the fire of the surrounding
buildings hit me like a physical blow. Markai came up to me as soon as I walked
out. Concern flowed over me.
I looked in
that building a moment ago, and it was empty. Where have you been?
She was
looking at the young man who had preceded me out while she spoke. “I do not
truly know, Markai, but I think he took me somewhere for a while. I am
unharmed.” She turned and loped away. No explanation was necessary. Now that
she knew I was unharmed, she was going to make sure no more attacks were
coming.

I looked around for the rest of
my group and found Alathaya. She sat hunched over a young boy, using a piece of
her dress to make a tourniquet around his thigh. He had a deep cut and it was
bleeding profusely. He did not seem to be conscious, but he made occasional
groaning noises. She looked up at me and relief was clear in her face. “I need
to get him to their physician. I have taken a few over already, but I need you
to help me carry him.” I picked him up, cradling him in my arms. She set off at
a pace and I had to hurry to keep up.

The physician turned out to be
working from his home as his sick room had burnt down. I set the boy down on
the floor on a sheet and the physician came scurrying over, looking harried. He
looked at his leg and was tutting and shaking his head. He hurried into another
room and came out with a small case. He opened it and took out string and a
needle. He started working on the boy without any sedation, but the boy hardly
moved. The physician worked quickly, stitching him up and finished by handing
Alathaya a strip of cloth and instructing her to wrap it up tightly. She worked
deftly and I was taken by her calm composure.

She secured the bandage and
walked past me, pulling me along behind her. Grim determination was etched into
every feature of her face. “Help me find and bring injured people here.” She
did not wait for a response or look back to see if I was following. We carried
in seemingly countless men, women and children. The house soon had no space
left for more injured and we started using the neighbouring houses as well. The
physician and his three apprentices were overwhelmed. It was only a small town,
but he was only one man. Some of those we brought in, he simply shook his head
over before moving on to the next patient. Alathaya had only protested the
first time.

“Child, I only have two hands. I
do not have time to spend on patients that I cannot save.” He moved on.

I could see that she bristled a
bit at being called ‘child’, but she had the sense not to say anything.

We worked late into the evening.
When at last there were no more people to bring in, we helped as best we could
among the injured. Bodies lined the street outside the makeshift medica. As
soon as someone died inside, they were brought out to make room. Anxious people
walked the road, looking at the faces of the dead, looking for loved ones.
There was no joy if their lost one was not in the line, only more searching. In
a town this small most people knew almost everyone else. I doubted there would
be anyone who had not lost someone dear.

We finally found the rest of our
group. Brant, Seran and
Tas
had been busy with much
the same as us, but Trissa seemed to be somewhat traumatised. She refused to
leave Seran’s side and went around with large staring eyes. Seran saw me
looking at her. “She was not able to handle this very well. The physician gave
her some herbs to calm her and she has been like that ever since.” I nodded. We
went to the nearest inn that was still standing. With dawn already lighting the
horizon I fell into bed and the moment my head touched the pillow, I was
asleep.

I woke
to find it was dark outside, which confused me for a moment before the events
of the previous night came flooding back. I went to my window. I could see some
people moving about. Evening then perhaps? I yawned. I could have slept another
whole night, but I knew there would be much to do.

As soon as I walked out of the
door, the acrid smell hit me. It was thick and cloying and seemed to enter not
just through my nose, but every pore of my skin. Smoke billowed up from where
the village green was. I rounded the corner and was unsurprised to see a
burning stack of dead bodies of the creatures. As they burned, the flames
flickered to a dark shade of blue. “What are you using to burn those things?” I
asked one of the men stacking more wood on the fire. He shrugged holding up the
log in his hand. If not something strange they were using to burn them with,
then…?

I walked the short distance to
the medica and immediately I could see that the number of bodies in the road
had increased. Markai came up behind me just as I was about to enter. She had
been keeping a watch outside the town. There was not much else she could do and
I knew she felt frustrated by it.
You
must find the member. Remember that is what we are here for
.

I scrubbed a hand through my
hair. “I know Markai, but there is so much to do. I feel responsible. I must
help them first before moving on.”

She looked at the bodies.
I understand, but remember, if you do not
succeed in what you must do, this town will be considered to have had a light
escape. You have limited time.
She turned and vanished as if made of smoke.

 
Inside the physician’s house, it was hard to
move around for the number of injured lying everywhere. Some lay moaning in
pain, others deathly still, I was more worried about the latter. Finally, I
found the physician in one of the upstairs rooms, changing a women’s bandage.

He looked up as I entered. “We
did not get a chance to be introduced yesterday.”

He held out a hand. “I am
Dener.” I went to shake his hand, but he gripped me firmly by the forearm so I
did the same.

“Kadin.”
He gave
my arm a shake. “May the sun warm your soul,
Kadin.
” Looking
around the room, he shook his head and scratched absently at a day old beard.
“There are too many. I will run out of supplies soon. I have already sent one
of my apprentices to go to Kresda, a town north of here. I had to send six men
with him for fear of him being murdered on the journey.” He was shaking his
head, whether at his words or at the patient’s wound I was not sure.
Maybe both.
“Your lady friend has been here already. I
believe she is in the house across the road, helping where she can. I spoke to
young Malion. He seems to think this attack was orchestrated all for you.”

Malion?
I did
not know who he was talking of, but guilt must have shown on my face for he
continued, “Oh, do not worry. I do not blame you, but I am curious why those… things
were after you. It seems an awful lot of trouble they went through to try and
get you.”

I realised I was chewing on my
bottom lip and spat it out. “I think it was a lucky, or unlucky, depending on
how you look at it, coincidence for them that they found me here. The attack
was most certainly related to why I am here, but I do not think they came here
thinking to find me.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “He was
angry at you at first. Thought his father gave up his life to give you what
warning he could.”

Realisation struck me.
“The man who was across the green from us when we entered.
His warning certainly helped us. I know that he died in the ensuing attack and
I am deeply sorry that it cost his life.”

He was finishing up with the
bandage and was rinsing his hands in the bowl of water behind him. Looking at
the water in the bowl, I was not entirely sure that he was getting his hands
any cleaner. “Malion knows that in truth. You and your friends are the reason
that some of us are still alive. Do you know then what those things were?”

I shook my head. “I do not know
what they are called, but I do know they are evil and serve evil purposes.”

He sighed heavily. “I assume you
have come here to make yourself useful, not regale a curious ear with stories,
so be so kind as to fetch some fresh water from the well.” Holding up the bowl
he had used to wash, he continued, “As you can see we are running low.” He
clapped me on the shoulder and I went out, grabbing a bucket on my way.

I hauled bucket after bucket of
water and started a fire in Dener’s hearth to heat some of it up. On my last
trip into the house carrying a heavy bucket, Alathaya came out of the opposite
house. She smiled when she saw me and somehow it all seemed the better for it.
Smiling back, I said, “Dener said you were around, helping out.”

A small frown creased her brow.
“There is so much to do. I fear we will lose some people for lack of hours in
the day.” Her nose wrinkled as she looked at the bodies lining the street. “We
will have to start arranging burials as well. Whole families have been lost and
many of these are not being claimed.” Looking at the number of deceased, I
could not help but wonder if I could somehow have prevented this happening.

“I was about to have some dinner
before turning in for the night. Would you like to join me?” She asked.

I nodded wearily. “I just need
to take this last bucket in and take the previous one off the hearth. I will
meet you there.”

Despite the circumstances, I
enjoyed my dinner with Alathaya. We steered the conversation away from current
events and spoke of small things. She told me of her childhood and games she
used to play. I told her of my brothers and Lilana and growing up with them.
Talking of my little sister made me miss her so I steered the conversation
elsewhere. When we said good night, I packaged up some bread and cheese, took
some wine and walked back to Dener’s house. He received the food gratefully. I
doubted that he had eaten much since it all started. I resolved to bring him
regular meals.