The Awakened: Book One (17 page)

The strange man walked over to Kael’s group.

The boys shrank against the wall.

“My sons,” he spoke softly.  “Do not be afraid.  They cannot hurt you any longer.  You are mine now and I will protect you.”  As he spoke, the man leaned down and began to hand out the loaves of bread, one by one, to each of the boys.

When Kael accepted his loaf, he looked into the dark, slanted eyes and saw compassion.

“After you’ve eaten, please clothe yourselves.  We will make a journey to my home where you will be my guests.”

Kael accepted the folded brown clothes and sandals from one of the other men, and dressed quickly.  He was relieved to be able to cover himself.  And for the first time in many days, he felt some measure of relief.

Chapter 11

Saba
had been lying low for a while, staying with a friend who lived just outside of the city limits.  He had been trying to keep busy with other things, but it wasn’t working well.  How could he leave Maeryn alone with that murderer?  She wasn’t safe and he felt it was his duty to keep an eye on her, which was why he found himself walking along the busy streets of
Bastul
.  He was trying to keep close to the most crowded areas, working his way up the hill toward his former home, hoping to blend in and thereby escape the eyes of the soldiers patrolling the city.

The market district was teeming with merchants hawking their goods.  Saba had to run off a particular child who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.  He was trying to sell a few small fish that he said he had just caught in the bay.  It was obvious that the child was working for someone else, probably only receiving a small percentage, if anything, for the sale of the fish.  Eventually the child returned, following at a distance.  Saba moved out of the main flow of people and over to a cart of figs.  The fig merchant scurried quickly around the cart to meet this new customer.

“Fine day, isn’t it?” he said, in a shrill voice, easily piercing the cacophony of noises from the surrounding crowds.

“Yes, it is.  I’ll have one please.”

“…only one?  Why, a man of your size could not be filled by such a small…”

“I’ll have one,” he stated firmly, not wishing to barter.

“Fine…fine.  Here you go.  It just seems a shame for a man like you…”

Saba
dropped a coin on the cart and took the fig, leaving before the man finished his sentence.  He walked back into the crowd and continued along the street, waiting for the boy to approach him again.  He wasn’t about to buy the fish when the money would be taken from the boy anyway, but the child could eat a fig and his master wouldn’t even know.  After a few minutes, Saba felt a tug on the back of his sleeve.  He spun around quickly, already knowing what he would say to the child.

But instead of the boy, Saba found a group of soldiers with their spears lowered, spreading out to prepare for a confrontation.  The one who had tugged on his tunic stood close, his spear raised in confidence that the situation would be resolved verbally.

“Sergeant,” Saba said, not at all surprised by the situation.

“Come with me,” the soldier commanded.

Saba
was escorted to an alley between two rows of merchant shops.  There were eleven soldiers in all, including the sergeant.  Five guarded the front of the alley and five guarded the back.  The leader stayed close to Saba and spoke in a hushed voice.

“I have orders to kill you on sight.”  He looked up and down the alley to make sure that no one was listening.   “Since you are a friend of Adair’s, I will only ignore my orders once and I do so at my own peril.  Leave this city or I will be forced to kill you.”

Saba
nodded.  “Thank you, Sir, for your kindness.  I will do as you say.”

“You’d better,” the soldier warned.  As he walked out to the street the others fell in behind him.

Saba
waited awhile in the alley to catch his breath.  There was just no way to keep in contact with Maeryn and the guard was very clear about what would happen if he tried.  He had no choice but to leave.  Someday, perhaps, he would return.

Maeryn will have to fend for herself.
  As the thought came to him, it was accompanied by doubt.  He knew it would not be easy for her.

* * * *

Kael’s body recoiled, anticipating danger.  His breaths were shallow and rapid, his eyes darting back and forth, searching for the threat.  Suddenly, he remembered where he was and a wave of relief washed over him. 
I was just dreaming.  Safe now.

The boys had traveled with the kind stranger and his men for a few days by ocean and land.  Upon arriving at his mountain-top estate, they were fed, bathed, and their wounds dressed.  Kael looked down to the bandage on his left forearm and the splint that kept his broken fingers from moving.  With the other hand, he rubbed the stubble on his head where his hair used to be.  The wound from Lemus had also been cleaned and dressed.

It had been late in the evening when they arrived, so he didn’t get a good look at his surroundings.  But it was light outside now.  His room was larger even than the one he had in
Bastul
.  Gray stone walls surrounded a polished wood floor.  Across the room to his right, was a giant wooden door standing eight feet tall.  It was constructed of thick wooden planks, held together by ornate black hinges which spanned the width of the door and bolted to the frame.  The only other objects in the room were a small table of rough-hewn timber in the corner, and a chest at the foot of the bed.  Along the left wall was a window large enough for him to fit the table through.  It was covered by thick wooden shutters that blocked almost all of the light, except for a tiny amount that seeped through the sides next to the wall.

A whistling sounded as a breeze was trying to force itself through the edges of the shutters.  Leaving his bed, he walked to the window and opened the shutters.  He was at least twenty feet off the ground, staring down at a gently rolling meadow with a high stone wall a hundred yards away.  Beyond the wall, tufts of long pale grass protruded from clumps of snow that clung to the side of rocks and shadowy areas created by the setting sun.  Kael had never seen snow before, though Saba had explained it to him.  To the right, the meadow slowly rose until it blocked the horizon, leaving only a clear blue sky above.  To his left, over the rooftops of several square buildings and one large circular structure, a wall of enormous mountains capped with white snow covered the horizon. 
Where am I?
  The mountains that he knew of, the ones north of
Bastul
, were not this big and never had snow on them.

When he walked back to the bed, he noticed a neatly folded pile of clothing on the chest.  On top was a tunic, which he quickly picked up, expecting to slip it over his head.  But when he unfolded it, he was confused about how it was supposed to be worn.  There were long sleeves, which were unusual for Kael, but at least he knew where to put his arms.  The material was a dull brown color, but soft and slick, like it had been polished.  He slid his arms into the appropriate places and paused, trying to decide what to do next.  The front of the tunic was open, like a coat, with two flaps of fabric hanging in front of him.  He wasn’t sure how to proceed, but it was obvious that he needed more clothing; the tunic only hung down to his waist.  He grabbed the other item of clothing and unfolded it.

“Pants,” he said out loud.

The only reason he knew what they were was because his father had recently explained them to him.  The soldiers in the Northern Territory wore these as the weather got colder.  He slipped them on and fastened them at the waist, using the ties sewn into the front.  He was not accustomed to wearing anything on his legs, but was grateful in light of the crisp chill in the air.

A knock sounded at his door.  His heart quickened a little as he walked over and pulled on the handle.  It didn’t budge and the metallic sound of a lock being opened made him jump.  Kael stepped back and the door opened to reveal a short man that looked like one of the servants.  His skin had a yellow tint and his eyes were wide-set.  Kael assumed that his hair was black, but could only look at his eyebrows for proof; his head was also shaved.  Kael wondered if his own head was shaved for some purpose other than to treat his head wound.

When the man spoke, it was in a language foreign to Kael, but the inflection told him that it was a question.  Kael shook his head to show that he didn’t understand.  The man looked at the floor for a moment before speaking again.

“Awake?” he asked in a strange accent.

Kael thought the answer was obvious, but nodded his head anyway.

“You dress…come with me,” he continued, pointing at the flaps of fabric hanging from Kael’s tunic.

Kael looked down at himself and then back to the man.  “I don’t know how…it’s different than…”

Before he could finish his statement, the man stepped into the room and grabbed Kael’s tunic.  He wrapped the flap on Kael’s right side across his body and secured it with ties on the inside of the left flap.  He repeated the process with the other side, securing it to ties on the outside of his tunic.  Kael watched, confused until the man was finished.

With that completed, the stranger walked over to the foot of Kael’s bed and picked up the footwear off the floor.  He placed them in Kael’s hands and lifted his robe, showing Kael his own feet.  These sandals were not really sandals at all.  They completely covered the feet, but didn’t extend to the lower part of the leg.  They had laces, but instead of wrapping around the legs, they slid through holes and criss-crossed on top of the feet.  It took a moment, but Kael eventually got the hang of it.  The man waited patiently until Kael was finished.

Suddenly, he bent down and patted Kael’s foot.  “Shoe,” the man said.  He stood back up and nodded his head.  “Shoe,” he said again and pointed at Kael’s feet.

“Shoe” Kael repeated, receiving a smile from the man.

“Come,” he said, motioning for Kael to follow him as he left the room.

The tall doorframe opened into a long hallway that reminded him of the one in his home.  The man turned to the left and walked down the hallway and Kael quickly fell into step behind him.  Their footsteps plodded softly on the wooden plank floor, with the slight hollow sound of being above the ground.  As they walked, Kael noticed that everything about this place was foreign.  Not only were the ceilings constructed differently, but the stone walls were a dark gray color and seemed to be fitted together without mortar.  Everything in
Bastul
was built from a white stone and covered with plaster on the inside.

“Where am I?”

The man slowed his pace and looked back over his shoulder, then shook his head.

Doesn’t he know?  Or maybe he can’t say.

“Far away,” the man replied and continued walking as if the answer was sufficient.

“Where are we going?”

“They tell me—wake child, bring him here.”

The hallway ended at a landing overlooking a cylindrical room with stairs curving down to the next floor in both directions.  The man chose the right-hand stairs and quickened his pace down to the lower level.  Kael had to jog to keep up with him.  The pair moved so quickly that Kael scarcely had time to notice the large iron sconces along the wall, illuminating the room as well as a discolored area of the stone wall where something had hung for a long period of time.  There were no decorations.

It looks abandoned.

When they reached the bottom, the man slowed his pace to a walk and turned to the left, entering another hallway that led underneath the one outside Kael’s room, heading in the opposite direction.  The hall terminated at a large rectangular doorway, similar to what Kael was used to seeing at his home.  It led to a spacious circular room lit with many torches.  A crackling noise drew Kael’s attention to the right where he saw a stone fireplace that jutted out from the wall.  He could feel the heat on his face, even though it was twenty feet away.  The walls of the room were stone, like the rest of the building.  He looked up at the ceiling and saw that it was vaulted toward the center of the room.  Thick beams radiated from the highest point, angling down to where they were embedded in holes at the top of the wall.  Doors were placed at regular intervals around the circular wall, mirroring the hub and spoke construction of the ceiling.