Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (40 page)

Richard did not know what to do or even where to look.

She turned to Gavin.

“Gather your men and have them wait on the platform where your beast is sleeping. The council needs to talk to you and your representatives, right away, in our chambers.”

As Richard was sent to round up the remaining members of their group, Raylan found himself following his brother toward the council chambers, for the second time in their short stay.

“
Everyone is gathering here. What is going on?
” Galirras asked from afar.

“
I don’t know, yet. Something must have offended Svetka. She looks like she’s about to burst into flames,
” Raylan replied.

Svetka waited, deadly silent, back turned toward them, until Jarod and Ann arrived. They talked amongst themselves, in hushed voices, speaking the local language. Raylan heard that it was a heated discussion. Sebastian was fetched, as well, and brought into the discussion—or rather, told what would happen. Sebastian’s face showed shock and anger, as he forcefully disagreed with what was said to him. But Jarod called him to order, and he was forced to simmer down.

Only then were they allowed to approach the council to hear what had been decided.

“Commander,” Svetka began, directly speaking to Gavin, “the council has made its decision. On the subject of your requested support, this village declines. We ask you to head out, first thing in the morning.”

Raylan could not believe his ears. After they followed all of their little rules, helped them get extra food, and nearly ended up caught—or worse—in the process, they were throwing them out?

“What? Why?” His brother beat him to it. It seemed he was just as surprised and just as annoyed as Raylan.

“Please, would you not reconsider?” pleaded Xi’Lao, at the same time. “We could really use your help, and the wounded could use more rest.”

Sebastian stood silently, to the side, his head held down, in shame. With his original reaction hijacked by his brother, Raylan tried the more polite approach.

“Honored council members, if it’s possible, can we please hear your explanation? We did everything you requested. Surely, you must have a reason for not coming to our aid?”

Svetka looked at him as if he had offended her with his polite tone.

“I already had my doubts about bringing you all in, and I believe those doubts have now been confirmed. We fear you all have brought instability to our settlement. Your presence is dividing our people, while the most recent event has completely shattered the little trust you all had built up within this community. People fear your true intentions and the danger you all might bring upon this settlement. That is why we would like you all to leave, sooner rather than later.”

“Does this have to do with that strange dagger Richard had?” said Raylan, already forgetting his polite efforts.

This time Jarod reacted.

“That dagger is a Roc’turr…a sacrificial dagger. It is used in a certain ceremony to bring life to the ghol’ms.”

“Ghol’ms?” said Xi’Lao, looking confused.

“That’s what they call the living statues we fought,” Gavin explained.

“Aye, living statues, but they do not start like that. They need the sacrifice of a human being to be brought to life,” Jarod continued. “Life in the mines was never easy, but High General Setra had a knack for making it almost unbearable. Hundreds of slaves were killed in experiments with the ghol’ms. Some bled out slowly over days, until death followed; others were killed instantly, stabbed in the heart. They tried everything they could think up to see what would work best…they would use scrolls to transfer the light of life from the person they murdered to the ghol’m they created.”

Svetka and Ann fell silent. Tears welled up in their eyes as they recollected those days. Sebastian had no courage to raise his head and look them in the eyes. He knew what Jarod would tell next.

As the tall, bearded man continued, his own voice became less stable, emotion flowed through it.

“After all these tests, mutilations and killings…they eventually found what they were looking for. The younger the sacrifice, the longer a ghol’m would function. They began…to take children from the mines, some who’d never even seen a tree outside, and to drag them into these chambers. Screams were heard, day and night. Blood ran out from under those doors…”

Xi’Lao held her hands in front of her mouth, unable to utter anything that made sense. Raylan saw her hands trembling and tears building up in her eyes. Raylan noticed Gavin slightly inch closer to her.

“Some tried to stop it, but they were only killed in the process. We had no strength. We were outnumbered. Then one day, the sound of a new born baby was heard through the tunnels. One of us had survived long enough to complete her full term; and even in the most miserable of circumstances, the newborn baby girl brought a smile to the face of her mother…”

Tears freely flowed down the women’s faces now, as they stood silently staring into nothingness. Xi’Lao softly shook her head, trying to reject what was yet to be said. Raylan felt a knot in his stomach as it tightened, fearful of where this was going.

“Corza was present in the mines that day…” continued Jacob, as his tone suddenly became very flat. It was as if he was distancing his being from the words he was about to speak aloud.

“He strolled over. As if it was the most normal thing in the world, he came up to the new mother, looked at her in disgust, and spoke the words ‘Take it away and begin the sacrifice ritual immediately’ to one of his soldiers.

“Two men, who jumped at them with rage, were cut down immediately, and the infant was ripped from her mother’s arms. Everyone heard the child, crying for her mother, all the way up the stone stairs to the sacrificial chambers.

“The mother was screaming, pulling out her hair, scratching out her eyes, in despair, right up to the point where the crying of her daughter suddenly stopped. The mother let herself drop on the ground, unwilling to move or get up. After kicking and whipping her without success, the soldiers dragged her away. It was said she died the same night.”

The silence was deafening.

“I was her midwife in all this,” Svetka eventually said. “That was the day I swore I would get as many people out of there as possible. It went from bad to worse. Corza must have been pleased with the result of his infanticide, since from that moment on, all first born babies were taken away from their mothers and murdered, used for ghol’m scrolls……Not only from slave mothers, but from any mother living under the Stone King’s rule.

“It almost took another four years before we were successful in escaping. I have seen too many children taken from their mothers, too many hearts broken. Your presence here has brought all of that back.

“That woman on the platform, she was one of the last that had her baby taken from her. Every day I regret that we weren’t able to save her little boy. Instead, her little boy saved us. The scroll which had sealed the boy’s light of life was retrieved during our revolt, and we used it to let a ghol’m come to our cause. If Corza had been there that day, I would have happily sent the ghol’m after him, but the situation didn’t allow for it.”

Their group was silent, searching for words after hearing such horrific news.

“I’m sorry…sorry we’ve brought back these unhappy memories, but can you not see we’re on the same side here?” said Gavin, eventually.

“Are we? Even if you are not directly an enemy, will you save us? Are you planning to attack the Stone King’s army? Rid the world of his evil? Or perhaps take us all to safety, back to Aeterra? A place where some of us don’t even wish to go as, despite everything, they feel this place is their home? No, I’m sorry, the decision has been made. You
will
leave our village and be on your way in the morning.”

“At least tell us if you know how to get to Dead Man’s Fork,” Raylan said, frustrated.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you there, either. Few of us have ever been to the coast, and this place you describe is not known to any of us.”

And with that, they were kindly but firmly escorted out by the guards. Sebastian never said a word during the whole ordeal.

“What now?” said Xi’Lao to Gavin.

“Little we can do. Let’s inform the others and then get some sleep. We’ll head out first light, tomorrow…”

Chapter 13

Hope

The next morning, Raylan and the others found themselves escorted out of the settlement at first light. The friendly atmosphere was all but gone; the few people that were up and moving around avoided them, uncertain of their true intentions.

Raylan was thankful that Galen had most of his strength back, so he seemed fit to travel. Luckily, they did not have to walk much; when they were lowered to the ground, one by one, they found their horses waiting below together with Otis and Martin.

“Seb told us to bring the horses down last night. Sorry to see y’all go,” said Martin, apologetically.

“We put a new sword in your pack, since you lost yours at the food storage…”

“Where’s Sebastian anyway?” asked Raylan.

They had not seen him since the council meeting last night. Martin shrugged.

“We left last night while it was getting dark. I’ve not been up yet, this morning.”

Raylan wondered if he would be able to say good-bye to him, but as soon as they had prepped the horses, Gavin told them to move out.

“
I would have liked to say goodbye,
” said Galirras.

He stretched his neck while standing on one of the tree roots, to see if Sebastian would show up.

“
Me too,
” said Raylan, solemnly.

Over the past few days, it quickly felt like they had been friends for years, and he was sorry to leave him so soon.

The sun climbed in the sky as they navigated the forest at a walking pace. Ca’lek took up his scouting duties, accompanied by Kevhin or Rohan.

“Where are we headed now?” Richard asked the question everyone had on their minds.

“We’ll continue south, head for the coast, now. I see no other option to find Dead Man’s Fork,” decided Gavin. “We’ll increase our scouting efforts to make sure we’re not surprised by Corza and his men. And, let’s hope the coast area has low soldier activity.”

Galirras used their travel time for flying practice. He looked for high tree roots to jump off, spreading his wings and gliding down. It took a few times, but he soon got familiar with the weightless feel and started correcting course with his head, wings, and tail. By the end of the day, he was experimenting with using a few wing strokes to get from tree to tree without touching the ground.

Galirras put some distance between his practice and the traveling horses, since the unfamiliar flapping of the wings made them nervous. Peadar’s mare had difficulties with the large shape gliding through the air, making Gavin fear for the pigeon on which their escape still very much depended.

Raylan took up position between Galirras and the group, making sure the dragon would not lose track of them in his enthusiasm. He challenged Galirras to reach certain heights or to stretch for hard to reach landing spots as a sort of game and found himself constantly surprised by how fast Galirras adapted to different circumstances. The most difficult challenge at the moment was gaining height, as his muscles were just not yet strong enough to provide the powerful strokes needed to ascend. And landing on a vertical surface like a tree trunk proved difficult, too. His first attempt resulted in a loud crash as Galirras had been unable to turn his body enough to grab hold of the bark properly.

That evening, Galirras used his newly acquired gliding skill to, almost effortlessly, catch two large boars and a deer. They split one of the boars, half for dinner and half for their rations. Galirras was hungry enough to eat the deer and half of the second boar, saving the other half for his breakfast.

It was an exhausting day, with all the flight practice, and before long, both Raylan and Galirras were in a deep sleep around the campfire. They had set up on one of the rock formations. Hearing the stories about the sand devils, Gavin did not want to take any risk, even if he was unsure that there were any in this area.

“
Raylan...
”

Raylan felt a nudge in his side. His head was still groggy from sleep.

“
Raylan, wake up. Something is coming.
”

This woke him up, right away. He checked around and saw most of the group still sleeping. The campfire had decreased into embers, barely giving off any light. As first light had not even presented itself, it took some time for Raylan’s eyes to see their surroundings clearly.

He and Galirras had taken last watch, but he had dozed off against the dragon’s warm skin. Galirras had not minded, he had not felt sleepy anymore; and besides, he had much better night vision, so it seemed only logical he would keep an eye on their surroundings.

As Raylan carefully drew his newly received sword, making sure not to make too much sound, he turned toward the rustling leaves and the occasional snap of a twig. He thought about waking up the others, but it seemed like it was too late, since one of the bushes on the edge of the rock formation started to move as something approached.