Circle of Reign (22 page)

“No, you avoided the question,” Hedron said.

“Correct. That’s my answer. Are you both quite done then?”

They finished their meals and took their plates to the washbasin.

“Hedron, you finish up the dishes,” Jayden said. “Reign, come outside with me.”

“What? No, I’ll go. Reign can do this,” Hedron protested.

“I’m not sure I asked for further discussion.”

Hedron turned back to the basin and the dishes as Reign left with Jayden.

“And after that,” Jayden continued, “you can see to the roof. Clear it of the last bit of snow and fix any soft spots or leaks that may have happened during the Low Season.

Reign heard her brother mumble something about being cursed before she exited the cottage with Jayden.

It was a crisp morning even with the sun now up. Rare spears of golden light broke through the gray overcast skies and glittered upon the melting snow. Reign missed the canopy of branches and leaves native to the forests of the Western Province and how the veins of the Triarch leaves would sparkle at night. But, she did enjoy seeing the open sky when she looked up as well. The Gonfrey Forest was nowhere near as thick as her home forests and she had a hard time even calling where they now lived a forest of any kind. Before she and Hedron had ventured north, out of the Western Province, Reign had never before been where she could not connect with the forest. It was a truly foreign feeling that widened the sense of being lost within her. She put her palm flush against a tree as they passed by. The bark was rough with crevices and flaked easily at the touch. She closed her eyes and opened herself to the vibrations around her. Nothing. No increased perception was gained.

“Reign?” Jayden asked. “Are you well?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes still closed and palm against the tree. “I’m just—remembering.”

After a moment, she continued their walk. When they were about thirty paces away Jayden said, “I know what you saw, child.”

“What I saw?”

“Yes. It was a monster, was it not? Hidden behind a hooded robe?”

Realizing what Jayden was now referring to, she started to tremble and shake her head.

“I can’t speak of it!” Reign pleaded. “Don’t make me!”

“I never have and I won’t now. You do not have to speak, but I will. And you will hear me. Understand?” She didn’t wait for Reign’s acknowledgment.

“Your father was more than he seemed,” she began.

“I hate him,” Reign said, her tone flat.

“You were not going to speak, girl, remember? But, yes, I know you feel that now. And it is good for the time being. It has changed you and therefore protects you.”

Reign was utterly confused but remembered the old man that had visited her half a span after her father died. She almost thought it had been a dream but he spoke words similar to those Jayden now did.

“But,” she went on, “I know your love for him lies dormant. One day, it will resurface. And you may fear this day because it will force you to face what you have hidden deep within yourself. But you cannot have his last breath until you do. And this, you will surely need.”

“I’ll need what? I don’t understand.”

“No, not yet. But you must remember my words. The time will come when you will understand them and also know that you are a current.”

Reign thought that perhaps Hedron was right about her being a little crazy.

“I—”

“Hush, girl, I know. Your father knew how the Ancient Dark was spreading her Influence over this land and he was not neutral in the struggle. Nor, I suspect, shall you be.”

Struggle?
Reign wondered.
What struggle?

But Reign did not vocalize her question and Jayden did not expound further.

“Remember above all, young Reign, you are a current.”

“Hedron will need help,” Reign said.

“Oh, your brother.” The wolf shepherd sighed. “He’s a stagnant current if I’ve ever met one. It’ll take a stronger one than me to get him flowing again.”

“He’s just…a boy,” Reign said lamely.

“Aye, for now. But I see the seeds of your father in him. And I don’t mean just his appearance.”

“He’s better than him. Hedron never left me.”

Jayden stopped walking. “Thannuel is
not
the one who left, child. You will know this one day.”

She turned around and started walking back to the cottage. Reign followed.

“But, dear girl, as I’ve said, I suspect it will take a stronger one than me to mold that brother of yours. Blockheaded, daft specimen that he is.”

“You don’t talk of how you knew…how you knew my…”

“Your father?” Jayden finished for her. “Yes, you’re right. But I did know him, and very well. In some ways, better than even your mother knew him.”

At that comment, Reign became angry. Jayden saw the change on her face.

“Oh, relax child. I mean nothing improper or any slight to Moira. In truth, I never met her. But, any woman that Thannuel loved, I revered. She was everything to him.”

“And he left her as well,” Reign said.

“I think, underneath all your feelings of betrayal and anger, you know that’s not true.”

“True enough,” Reign answered.

Jayden shrugged. “Maybe. Now, see to your brother. You’re right about him needing help. So much.”

Hedron sat on the pitched roof of the cottage with a pair of deerskin gloves and two sticks lashed together in the form of a T. He pushed the snow and ice from the apex of the roof toward either edge. The slope of the roof helped his effort but sometimes a pile would not slide completely off, so he would lay on his belly, head angled down the slope, and reach his crude snow rake down as far as he could to nudge the mass the last little bit it needed to clear the roof. The wolves had returned from their morning hunt and several stood around the cottage, eagerly prancing back and
forth as they looked up at him. Playful barks sounded like taunts to the Kerr boy, as if they teased him for having to do such menial work.

“Go somewhere else, you fleabags!”

They didn’t leave but continued to run around the cottage, barking. It was only three or four, but they wore on him constantly.

I don’t care if they saved us. I’m not going to grow up to be a wolf shepherd in a frozen forest!

“Yeah yeah, bark bark,” the boy scoffed back. He scooted forward and came to a rather sizeable blob of compact snow. It rested on a sheet of ice down the left slope of the roof—right where one of the offending flea-ridden wastes of hair and flesh stood. With reflexes too fast for the wolf to dodge, Hedron shoved the snow pile forcefully down. It slid down the roof like a miniature avalanche at the speed of a waterfall and crashed into the wolf, burying him up to his neck. The barking turned to a yelp of fright followed by whimpering. It leapt from the snow cocoon and ran away with its tail between its hind legs.

“Ha!” Hedron bellowed as he stood and held the snow rake above his head in victory. “That’s right! Run from me, cowards! What’s wrong, you afraid of a little snow? Come on back—”

A ball of ice and snow collided with the left side of his head; it stung his check and blasted into his ear. The shock of it made him lose his balance and, despite his wood-dweller agility, his feet slipped over his head. He hit hard on the roof and slid down, clawing in vain for grip. He yelled out as he went over the lip of the roof and landed in the same pile of snow he had just introduced to the wolf. Staring up, he saw what he thought was a young, dark haired girl standing over him, laughing.

“Reign?” he asked.

In answer a second snowball, this one smaller, hit his face. More laughter from Reign as she ran away. Hedron didn’t remain dazed for long. Springing up, he reached down and scooped up some frozen ammunition of his own and started to pack it tightly as he chased his sister.

“You’re dead!” he promised.

“You’d have to be able to catch me first!” she giggled. Hedron threw the snowball but missed.

She’s so fast!

Hedron had stamina that served him well in long distances, but Reign’s deftness and nimbleness over short distances made her nearly impossible to catch. She could change direction as if momentum had no bearing on her whatsoever.

“Blasted Heavens, hold still!” Hedron swore as he packed another snowball. Several wolves swept into the frolicking and wove in and out of the twins’ paths as they chased each other throughout the woods.

“Come on brother, where’s your speed?”

“I just don’t want to embarrass you too badly!” he shot back.

She laughed. “After I just embarrassed
you
so badly?”

He sent his second volley down range and this one struck home, pelting her square in the back. Reign stopped where she was and looked out. They were only a quarter league from the Gonfrey Glaciers. No matter how many times he saw them, awe always filled Hedron as he took in their sight.

“It’s like the edge of the world,” Reign said. “Is there anything else out there? Beyond them, I mean?”

“Has to be. They can’t go on forever. Father said he would bring me to see the glaciers someday.”

When Reign didn’t answer, he thought he knew what she was thinking. “This probably wasn’t what he had in mind, but at least I’ve seen them now.”

There was more silence between them as they took in the grandeur of the sight. The air was still with the glacier’s chill.

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I’m not even completely sure what did happen.”

“You could try, sister.”

“Not today.”

“Someday?” Hedron asked.

“Probably. Yes.”

“Friend or foe?” Hedron asked.

“Huh?”

“If someone does live on the other side of these massive ice blocks, are they our friends?”

“It would be nice to have friends again,” Reign said.

Hedron thought of all their friends, the ones they used to have when they were still just normal kids. He would play carelessly throughout the hold, sprinting across the elevated pathways that wove around and through the entire hold, sprawling through the trees and back down again. But mostly, he thought of Kathryn Hoyt. They had been promised to each other since he was eight years old and she seven. Kathryn seemed to be delighted by the prospect, lost in a girlhood romantic fantasy. Hedron, on the other hand, couldn’t stand the thought of marriage when it was so far off, or even girls for that matter. Not at first. Kathryn’s relentless hounding of him, though mostly annoying, had eventually felt flattering and he found he enjoyed the attention even though he would never admit it.

“I miss Kathryn.”

Reign coughed. “You cannot be serious.”

“Why not?”

“Hedron! After everything that’s happened you miss your little girlfriend? That’s what you’re thinking about?”

He did feel foolish now. “I’m sorry I said anything. You brought up friends.”

“She wasn’t your friend, she was your intended. You hardly knew her for Light’s sake.”

“I guess I wish I did better. Know her, I mean. What did you have against her, anyway?”

“Uh, well, there’s the fact she wasn’t good enough for you, she’s not a wood-dweller, she’s annoying with her perfect blonde hair, and what of your children? They wouldn’t even be true wood-dwellers.”

“Wow. I just said I missed her. It’s not like I’m picking out names for kids.”

“And so what if you were?” Jayden asked from behind them. Hedron had felt her approach but didn’t care to truncate their conversation. “It’s not as if children of a single wood-dweller parent are any different than of a couple where both parents are wood-dwellers. The offspring have all the same traits regardless.”

“She’s gone, anyway,” Reign said. “That life is over for us.”

“Is that why you come to the glacier’s edge and stare out? To find a new life, little one? Trust me, there is no life that awaits you out there.”

“There’s no life for us anywhere anymore,” Hedron said.

“Don’t be stupid, lad, hard though that may be currently. I think your feelings for the young Lady Hoyt are well founded. Perhaps someday you will go see about her again.”

“Not while I’m a Kerr. That would have to change first.”

“No lad you have it backwards. See, you’re not a Kerr
yet
. That’s what will have to change.”

“Blah, blah, blah, here we go again,” he mocked and rolled his eyes.

“Like I said, Reign, one stronger than I will have to sharpen this blunt instrument,. And it will take a lot of force.”

Hedron glanced sideways to his sister and saw that she was grinning mischievously.

“Is it time, Reign?”

“I think so.”

The twins simultaneously scooped up a handful of snow, turned in a blur of speed and threw the snow in Jayden’s face. They were darting back to the cottage before she had time to retaliate with her usual threats. Hedron did think he heard a faint chuckle from the old woman as they ran from where they had left her.

SIXTEEN

Tyjil

Day 18 of 4
^th
Dimming 406 A.U.
2 Years and 1 Cycle Ago

TYJIL STOOD WITH THE
rest of the small company several leagues south of Calyn. This part of the forest was not inhabited. There were no towns or villages to interfere with his demonstration this night and yet it was not too far into the Western Province so as not to attract unwanted attention. The wood-dwellers’ ability to feel movement through their cursed trees could be maddening.