Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (39 page)

Markai was purring. “What, no
needling me about my cool and calm composure with women?”

She lifted her head off her
paws.
I do not know what you are talking
about.
But I could swear I saw a little smile on her face.

“Any
more information about the last two members?”
I
asked, but with little hope.

She stretched lazily.
Oh, have I not said? You must have been busy
with something else. Quiniewa believes she has located one of them. We need to
travel to the city of Sinsai to the south
.

I laughed with relief. “You have
been holding out on me.” She looked at me with big innocent eyes.

When I woke Malion to take his
watch, I knew I would be able to find some rest, reassured that when I woke up
I would know exactly where we were heading.

We left
the next morning soon after first light. Alathaya was still clearly upset at
having to leave them, but fortunately did not present any further argument.
Malion stared longingly at the place where Karina had disappeared into the
woods. To me it spoke of his character that he did not try to follow her again.
I had not told him that we were following these unfortunate villagers to
wherever they were meant to go. What would be the point? Even if we found her
again, it would not be her.

Juid sent young Ghird and Feras
with us. I had asked him where we would likely be able to find some supplies
for our journey when he decided that they also needed supplies. They were to
accompany us as far as Krogha and then would come back here.

We arrived there two days after
setting off. The road had been blessedly uneventful. Ghird and Feras had also
taken a turn standing watch at night, but they insisted on doing it together.
It made me wonder again, how well these people would cope with rebuilding their
town.

We only spent one night in
Krogha. It was a bland little town where the most interesting feature was the
fountain in the middle of the town square. It was a statue of two wolves
sitting on their haunches and howling. Water spouted from their mouths. Looking
at the rest of the town, I wondered at where they had come upon such an
artefact.

We set off the next morning and
travelled along the south road. Malion had a vague idea of where Sinsai was,
but he was not sure how long it would take to reach it. His best guess was five
to six days.

After three days of peaceful
travelling, the illusion of calm was shattered. Markai came to me while we were
sitting around the fire.
We have had bad
tidings. Evil is afoot and hunting. There are reports of four more towns having
been attacked. One was more the size of a city. Hundreds if not thousands have
been murdered. This is a sign that he is gaining power and truly coming out
from hiding. This must raise fear in us. Not because of cowardice, but because
it would be foolish not to fear what may come. Fear provokes us. It makes you
either run or fight. You must make haste. If we arrive at Magtisanya too late
it would mean devastation and destruction, not only for Medirea but also for
all lands beyond
. I did not know of the lands beyond that she spoke of, but
then I was sure there was much that I was not aware of.

I relayed to everyone what
Markai had said and the next morning we set off before dawn. We travelled four
more longs days, setting off before dawn and travelling until well after dusk.
I knew we were making good time, but I was still relieved when we saw Sinsai
coming into view. Malion had been there once before and he confirmed that this
was it.

Tall buildings lined the street
with some going as high as three storeys. I had never seen such high buildings
and I gaped openly as we stood in the shadow of one of them. Alathaya laughed a
tinkling laugh at my astonishment. “Have you never been off the farm then
Kadin?” My scowl only made her laugh more. A few of the buildings had very
peculiar windows, painted with various scenes. Some were of simple animals;
others were of battle scenes and others of divine powers. I thought they were
beautiful. We went into the Queen Larissa Inn. Apparently, it was named after a
Queen who ruled in this area many hundreds of years ago. The windows depicted
various images of a regal, if rotund, woman. Despite her round cheeks, she had
a severe look and ice in her eyes, eyes that seemed to follow me wherever I
went in the room.

After making our arrangements
with the portly innkeeper, we sat down in the common room. I walked in and
immediately a woman sitting in the corner of the room with her back to us
caught my eye. I would recognise her anywhere, even from behind. I walked over
to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Aliana?”

She jumped when my hand touched
her shoulder and for a second I feared I had been wrong. Then, she turned and a
huge smile blossomed on her face. She had a beautiful deep red flower in her
hair. She clapped her hands together delightedly and jumping up, gave me a hug.
“Kadin, I cannot believe I meet you here, of all places.”

Her eyes looked over my shoulder
and saw the rest of the party. “Brant!” Her eyes lit as she saw him and she
rushed over to hug him as well.

I had not thought of Aliana in a
long while, but suddenly I became aware of my jealous stare. Guiltily I looked
over at Alathaya, felt relief that she appeared not have noticed and then felt
guilty for having felt relieved. Women certainly did strange things to me.

Brant introduced her to
everyone. It was clear how he felt about her. He did not take his eyes from
her. Courteously, he even pulled out her chair and bought drinks and food for
her. It all became a bit exaggerated, to my enormous irritation. “So, Aliana,
how did you end up in this part of the world?”

She smiled softly and spoke in a
small voice as if shy, making everyone around the table lean in closer to hear
what she was saying. “I was apprenticed to Mistress Freida.” She looked over at
the rest of the group and added, “The seamstress in Predaki. She can be such a
dragoon.” She blushed prettily at being so forthright. “According to Mistress
Freida, the best quality of cloth is to be had right here in Sinsai. She claims
that in some old language the name ‘Sinsai’ means sensual and refers to the
silk that they trade here. Be that as it may, she sent me to come and procure
the material for some dresses that we have on order from a foreign Lady. When I
asked her why she was sending me, as opposed to some runner boy, she insisted
it was for my own learning. Personally, I think she simply wanted to be rid of
me for a while, but truthfully I did not mind.” She giggled. “Kadin, I told you
before how I would love to travel so really this has been quite the adventure
for me.”

Looking around the table, her
eyes settled on Brant and again she smiled sweetly. “How did you all come to
meet and what have you been up to since you left home? It feels like such a
long time since I have seen you both.”

Brant looked at me, eyebrows
raised. His face asked how much we dared tell. “We have simply decided to
travel a while. We met everyone here at various stages of our journey and they
decided to join us.”

She gave half a nod, her face
perplexed as if she expected more, which I supposed, she probably did. When we
did not say any more, she asked, “And where do you go from here?”

I shrugged as casually as I
could. “We think there may be someone here in Sinsai that may want to travel
with us.” I looked over at Malion as I spoke and nodded my head ever so
slightly at him. “Malion knows him. After that, we will see which way the wind
blows.”

She smiled delightedly at that.
“That all sounds so adventurous. I wish I could come with you.” For a heart
stopping moment, I thought she was going to ask to do just that.
“Unfortunately, I do not think Mistress Freida would look lightly upon me
disappearing from her service and not bothering to deliver the silk.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked over to Trissa and
Alathaya with envious eyes. “I do not know how you have managed to shirk your
responsibilities and your mothers’ tongues to be here with them, but I do envy
you.”

I could tell
they
both bristled at that. “As a matter of fact, I do not have a mother and as for
these responsibilities you speak of, I disregard that as I was practically a
slave when Seran found me.” Trissa’s tone was cutting.

Aliana’s eyes stretched to the
size of plates and her mouth formed a small ‘o’ of horror. “I do apologise. I
certainly did not mean to cause you any offence.”

I looked at Trissa sternly, but
spoke to Aliana. “I am sure she realises, as any sensible person would, that
you are unaware of her situation and did not mean anything disrespectful.”
Trissa had the grace to blush, but stubbornly did not apologise.

I decided it was best to simply
change the topic. “How long have you been here? How long are you staying?”

She
shrugged,
her mouth still a bit tight. “I arrived here a couple of days ago. Mistress
Freida had sent a pigeon to the silk merchant before I left and arranged a
meeting for me. I will be seeing him tomorrow afternoon. I expect that if the
meeting goes well I will be on my way once more back home.”

“Surely you have not travelled
all this way alone, though? The road can be a dangerous place these days.” When
she looked at me questioningly, I continued. “During our travels we have heard
tales of whole towns being attacked and sacked.”

She brightened. “Oh, that. Yes,
we have heard the rumours as well, but the Kichwa assured us that he has it on
good authority that the rumours were wild exaggerations and that it is more
than likely only one group of bandits. Even so, he did send Breen with me. He
mostly likes to hang around with the stable boys here.” Her voice dropped
conspiratorially. “I think those boys are playing betting games back there in
the dim stables. I heard them talking of something called knucklebones, and you
know what, I do believe they actually use bones to play this game.” She sounded
scandalised.

She politely asked everyone
various questions about where they grew up and how they came to meet me,
pointedly skipping over Trissa. I was nervous for the answers to the latter
question, but it seemed they all had caught on to the idea of evading the truth
tonight. We spoke of small things for the rest of the evening and I was pleased
to see the earlier tension evaporate.

We eventually went off to bed. I
was grateful for the wash water that had been brought up to my room, but it was
rather cramped with barely enough space in front of the basin to wash. Feeling
refreshed, I sat down on the bed and was pleasantly surprised at how soft it
was. Voices came drifting into my room. I stopped to listen and could make out
both Trissa and Alathaya. I realised there was a small crack in the wall near
to the floor. Curious, I dropped to my knees and put my ear to the crack.

“…did you not see that?”
Alathaya sounded exasperated with Trissa.

I could not blame her, I often
felt that way when it came to dealing with Trissa.

“I am certain you are reading
too much into this.” Trissa said dismissively.

Alathaya snorted. “I have seen
her type often enough.
The innocent, but oh so expressive
looks, the big eyes and pouty mouth.
Then she is looking at him and then
she is looking past him.
Urgh
, it makes my stomach
crawl.”

Trissa’s voice was low, as if
she was weighing her words carefully. “Have you not considered that there may
be something else going on here?”

“What do you mean?” Alathaya’s
words sounded stiff.

A smile crept into Trissa’s
voice. “I have seen the way you look at him. And for that matter, the way that
he looks at you. You like him. You like him and now you are jealous.” I could
almost see her accusatory finger stabbing at Alathaya.

“Excuse me?” She answered
incredulously. Her tone rose in pitch. “I am no such thing. It is just that I
do not like the way she pretends; the way she leads one on and then the other.
That is all there is to it.”

“Are you certain?” Her voice was
close to laughter.

“Yes, of course. Good night
Trissa.” She spoke in clipped tones and a moment later the light that had
filtered in through the crack winked out and silence fell.

I slowly stood up from my knees.
Part of me felt guilty for eavesdropping on a private conversation, the rest of
me was utterly confused about what they had said.
 

I lay in bed that night, tossing
and turning, staring up at the ceiling for a good long while before finally
falling asleep.

Arriving for breakfast the next
morning, I found Trissa, Alathaya, Aliana and Breen already at the table. On
the surface things looked friendly enough with the women talking of small
things and smiling politely. Look a hair underneath the surface though, and a
torrent of tension was raging.

They all fell silent for a
moment when I sat down. Aliana looked down at her plate and Alathaya shot her a
glare while she was not looking. Breen, clearly, had noticed the strained
atmosphere for he looked like a rabbit in a snare. I was relieved when their
conversation resumed.