Splintered Fate (20 page)

Days blurred together as they
traveled through the southernwoods, the grasslands and forests
until they reached the northern mountains of Lana’s homelands. Donn
would leave them whenever they came close to a town in order to
gather some supplies. Otherwise they all stayed together on their
path to Alogrin.

Lana enjoyed the journey, the
beautiful woods and forest that surrounded them felt like home. She
felt safely concealed by the forest, finding comfort in the company
she traveled with.

Staring at the view from the
mountain side, Lana rubbed her tender shoulder. It was a beautiful
scene, peaceful even. The rising sun was casting a painting over
the sky of blue, pink, and orange, blending around white streaks of
cloud. The green of the rolling hills surrounding the mountain was
beginning to show as the sun's rays crept up on them. In the
distance a hawk was silently gliding in the sky amongst the
hills.

"I'm sorry about your shoulder."

Lana flinched at the sudden sound,
disrupting her moment of peace. She turned to Kaiden who now stood
at her side, watching her hand as she rubbed her throbbing
shoulder. He was worried about injuring her in their sparring
practice the other night.

Lana gave him a small smile,
dropping her hand from her sholder. "It's no big deal." She didn’t
want him feeling guilty over it, nor did she want to seem
weak.

The rising sun hit Kaiden’s blue
eyes in the most perfect way, making them seem even bluer,
sparkling like blue diamonds. He was so handsome, his light colored
eyes, tanned flesh, strong arms. She had to remind herself not to
stare whenever catching glimpses of him hunting, building fires,
working with Alex, or even riding a horse.

Peeling her eyes from him, Lana
turned to the serene scene around them. Following her lead, Kaiden
also looked out at the view but then turned his sights back on
Lana.

"What were you thinking of up
here?" he asked. Such an easy question. If only it beckoned for an
easy answer. Lana was trying to enjoy the beauty of the world while
her mind began to race.

"I was thinking
of my people... It's incredibly beautiful and peaceful here, I
almost feel guilty enjoying it.” She sighed. “I left them, my
people, at a time when they need me. To go on this journey
to
maybe
find
help. I left them in danger, under the influence of great evil, for
something I am not even sure of."

Lana fought to hide the emotions
that had suddenly surfaced. She had not told anyone what Ardin had
shared with her about Arkhip. She worried for those she had left
behind, hoping that her General could hold everything together in
her absence. Not only that but she worried for the people she
traveled with, how long could they be safe on this
journey?

Kaiden's hands reached around
Lana's arms, turning her to face him. The pressure under his hand
caused her shoulder to throb but she didn’t flinch, not wanting him
to release her.

"You are an amazing leader. All
that you are doing is for your people. You could have stayed,
buried your father, lead the war, which would have been the easy
option. It is easy to hold on to what you had been given and not
take risks. But you acted. You left a General, knowledgeable of
war, in charge and left to go find help to fight a different war.
To some day make a better life for the people of these lands. You
are brave and a skilled fighter, getting better by the day." It
astonished Lana how he could go from an easygoing lighthearted guy
to serious so quickly.

She stared at the Rami standing
before her. Wanting to just fall into him, to let him wrap his arms
around her, but she didn’t. She would not allow herself to fall
apart. Her mind was racing with not only thoughts of her people but
of Kaiden too.

For this entire journey she had
been trying to avoid the way her stomach fluttered when he smiled
at her or the way she always seemed to almost lean towards him when
he was near. But this couldn’t happen, not right now. For the two
of them to care about each other would make them huge targets for
their enemies and possibly end the only true friendship outside of
Ardin she had left.

"Thank you." Lana managed to say
softly before turning to leave. She had to get away, return to the
others.

"Lana." Kaiden called for her. Her
heart nearly skipped a beat with his voice saying her
name.

She turned back to Kaiden's blue
eyes.

"What do you think of Donn?" He
asked.

"Donn?" Lana almost didn’t
understand, unsure of where this question came from. "I don’t know
much about him. I met him the day... the day I saw you but I think
he is a nice old man, perhaps a little strange. Why?"

"Well, we have been zig zagging around this
mountain for a week now. Doesn't Donn know where he is taking
us?"

"I don’t know, but I don’t think he is
dangerous.” Lana paused at the thought before adding, “He warned us
of your brother."

"Who we never even saw."

"You think he lied?" There was an
uncomfortable feeling that accompanied this conversation. Lana did
not like where this was going.

"I don’t know why he would, what his reasons
may be, but I don't trust him."

"He hasn't given me a reason to
question his intent." Suddenly she felt the need to defend
Donn.

"But what is his intent? Why is he helping us
when it’s dangerous to do so?"

Lana was beginning to feel
agitated, she liked the old man. A part of her found him mysterious
and maybe a little dangerous but she had grown to trust him. He
would never harm them. She believed that.

"He is one of my people... He grew up in
Gorthyn. I think he knows a lot and perhaps pretends not to but I
don’t think he is trying to mislead us, certainly not act as a
threat to us."

“
I know you are fond of the
children, especially the little girl and her little Aorra, but
children can be used as a tactic to mislead.”

“
Donn wouldn’t do that!” She
snapped.

“
Can you be certain?”

“
That’s enough. Do you have some
sort of proof?” Lana grew angry. Kaiden did not respond. “Enough of
this unless there is evidence suggesting that Donn shouldn’t be
trusted. What are your intentions for helping, Kaiden?”

Kaiden stared at her with no
response. She did not wait for one before turning to head back to
the group. The sound of his footsteps followed her back to the
camp.

Lana couldn’t help but begin to
think over the past several weeks in her mind. Analyzing everything
that had to do with Donn. The truth was that the old man was a
total mystery to her. He never shared much yet seemed wiser than
she had initially thought. But she had always felt safe with him
and before this day she didn’t think she had a reason to question
him. Could she really have been so gullible? Lana wished Kaiden had
never said anything to her of his distrust of Donn.

When Lana and Kaiden finally
joined the others there was a silent heaviness in the air that was
impossible to ignore. Immediately Lana began gathering her things.
Following her cue, everyone sprang to action, packing and doing his
or her part to get going.

Over time the group had created an
unspoken routine to quickly get everything, mount their horses, and
get going. They had become quite efficient in the art of getting on
the road. As a team they worked well together, she had thought they
trusted eachother.

Once everyone was ready and on
horseback they began making their way around the mountainside. The
group rode in complete silence. Even the children were oddly quiet.
Lana figured that they could feel the tension that had suddenly
wrapped around the group. Even Ardin had extraordinarily not asked
about it.

Lana tried to think of things to
say to break the thick silence but nothing good came to her mind.
Her mind constantly wondered back to questions about Donn. How much
could she trust him?

About mid-day Kaiden's voice was the first to
break the heavy silence. "Where are we going Donn?"

"To Alogrin," Donn simply
responded.

"Then why are we walking all over
this mountain and in no particular direction?" Kaiden said as he
brought his horse to a complete stop. “My brother is not the only
good Rami tracker around.”

Everyone stopped moving along with
him. Lana turned her horse around to face them all. Nadina looked
up at Lana with furrowed brows before turning to Donn. Ardin came
back from upfront and stood next to Lana’s horse, looking between
Donn and Kaiden.

Lana could feel her cheeks blush with heat at
the uncomfortable feeling of the conversation.

This is what you
have been brooding about to yourself all morning?
Ardin's gentle thoughts came to Lana's mind and
she realized that she had closed him off.

Kaiden doesn't
trust him, I never questioned Donn's intent before.
Lana replied to her Aorra.

A small slow smile spread across Donn's face
and Lana was genuinely shocked by the old man’s reaction. "It's
about time you two realized!"

Everyone's gaze
focused on the old white bearded man sitting atop his mount,
waiting for an explanation.
Lana sat on
her horse, dumbfounded.
Was Kaiden
right?
She asked herself, shocked. She
could see by the children’s confused reactions they too did not
know what was going on.

The sound of steel being
unsheathed rang in the air, pulling everyone's attention to Kaiden
who was now holding a sword and now on foot.

"What kind of game are you
playing, old man?" He sneered, approaching Donn with several quick
strides. There was anger coming off of him in crashing waves. It
tore at the silent awkwardness that had been following them,
turning it into a storm of unease.

Lana's eyes grew large, in shock
at what was happening. Ardin quickly acted, jumping between Kaiden
and Donn's horses growling a small warning towards
Kaiden.

Alex, who had been sitting in front of Donn,
had wide eyes of shock. He stared at the sword in Kaiden’s hand as
if he were in a trance, unable to pull his eyes from the
weapon.

"Put the sword away, Kaiden." Lana
said sternly as she climbed off of her horse, leaving Nadina on top
it. Her eyes never left Kaiden. He spun to face her, but kept his
blade pointed towards Donn.

"You have got to be kidding me, the old man
basically just told us he had been lying, we can’t trust him and
you are protecting-”

"You are scaring the children, now
put it away!" Lana cut him off.

"It's all right, the boy has
reason to mistrust me, if holding that sword makes him feel
safer..." Donn interjected as he too dismounted his horse, leaving
Alex, and turned his gaze towards Lana ."You know that hawk you
have been seeing?"

Lana nodded, unsure of how he knew
that.

"It's an Aorra, Alogrin’s council is probably
debating on whether to let us in or not, they eventually will but
in the mean time we must keep moving to keep away from
Garin."

"If that is even true, when were you going to
tell us this?” Kaiden said with an edge to his voice.

Donn shrugged, "no one asked."

"And you did not feel like volunteering the
information?"

"No fun in that."

"So you do not know where Alogrin is?" Lana
asked.

Donn smiled "Oh I know where it
is... Right here." He raised his hands gesturing to the whole
mountain they were riding on for days. "I just don't know how to
get in," he added lowly, almost as if he meant to think it to
himself.

Staring at Donn, who was now
scratching his white head, Lana shook her head in disbelief. She
hoped that they had not been traveling all this time following a
crazy old man. A sudden queasy feeling came over her at the thought
that all that time may have been just a waist.

"You said you have been there!" Kaiden almost
screamed at the frail old man in frustration.

Donn let out a small giggle. "But I have...
beautiful place it is... I just never knew how to quite get
there.”

Lana watched
Donn as he spoke.
Is he crazy?
She asked, mostly to herself. Ardin did not
reply.

Everyone stood still for a moment,
unsure of what to say or do next. Then Ardin suddenly turned away
from the discussion. Alert, he looked into the forest. A faint
growl rumbled in his throat.

I don’t think we
are alone.
He said to
Lana.

She could feel the urgency in her
Aorra and not a moment later the ring of her sword being drawn
filled the air. All eyes abruptly turned to her.

"Ardin think's we are being
watched." Lana answered, to everyone's questioning eyes. A low
growl came from Ardin's chest, vibrating though him. The hair
around his neck stood. Kaiden turned his attention to the forest
around them, sword still in hand and no longer pointing towards
Donn.