"Where's Eldan?" He asked Kalen after a few moments. Kalen shook his head. He was still too breathless to speak.
"Eldan can take care of herself. Jaened, you're with me. We're going to get your sister out if I have to burn Fellyre to the ground." Assassin paused for a moment to retrieve the glaive she had hidden in the underbrush. "Are you with us, Elnite?"
She was giving him the choice? "No. Why in heaven or hell would I want to follow you?"
"It was an offer, not a request. I have no need of you. You may live longer with us, but then again, perhaps not. I know your kind--you carry ill-fortune with you everywhere you go. Those who believe such things would call you cursed."
Kalen opened his mouth to demand what made him cursed, but immediately saw the truth of her charge. What other explanation could there be? "Well then, I'll free you of a bad luck charm." He turned to leave. No one protested or moved to stop him, so he kept walking.
Retracing his steps from the pile of bodies Assassin had left to where he had parted ways with Eldan was easy, but following her trail was nigh impossible. She could have gone any direction. Elnites were traditionally hunters, but military only taught basic tracking. The broken rubble gave no space for footprints, and he knew she would not be so idle as to let her clothes catch and tear on thorns and stones. Assassin was right--Eldan could take care of herself. He began making his way towards the trees. She was not his charge--wait, was that blood?
He knelt and touched the dark smear. It was still wet. No wonder she had been lagging. He searched the area, but at the same time hoped that she was not bleeding enough to leave a trail. He sighted along the course she'd taken to guess her direction and followed it into the thicker underbrush amass with willows.
"Eldan!" He dared to call her name quietly as he crept forward. Sloosh The turf gave was to swamp, leaving his left leg soaked to the knee. Why would she go this way? "Eldan!" He called her a few more times, then began retracing his steps. If she hadn't gone that way, there was no telling where she might be.
He stopped at the edge of the clearing and dropped quickly to the ground. The rubble was swarming with soldiers, for more that the thirty Assassin had spoken of. Whatever Eldan had taken was clearly of great value to them. He waited, scarcely daring to breathe, until he was certain no one was looking his way, then retreated back into the swamp. At least they wouldn't be able to track him there.
He found a moderately dry log to rest on, but, as the day grew cooler, the insects began to swarm up from the waters. When he could stand the bites and buzzing no longer, he pressed on, deeper into the swamp, since he did not dare to go back. It had to either dry out or or lead to a larger body of water eventually.
Eventually. Hours passed; darkness slowly descended on the forest, and still there was no change. Every second step landed in deep mud or a small pool of water. What foolish notions of heroism had possessed him to come after Eldan? She was probably safely hidden away with the rest of the Tassin, while he, like the gallant hero he wasn't, was lost in a disease-ridden marsh. The damp worked its way into his bandage, making his shoulder ache and itch.
His mind began to wander. Syriel. What was she doing right now? Was she safe? Free? Was she mourning them? Could his father really protect her? He glanced up at the stars. Wherever she was, she was probably safer than he was right now.
"Kalen?" He started and turned around, finding himself staring down the shaft of a crossbow. Eldan relaxed her weapon. "Thank Ithien you escaped! When you took off, I thought you were dead!" She slid down against the tree she was leaning on to sit on the turf. Kalen joined her.
"Are you hurt? I saw some blood--" Eldan shrugged and pointed to her side. Her shirt was tied up tightly as a makeshift bandage. Dry blood crusted the skin below it.
"It's not bad. I know a serious wound when I see one. I just failed to fully deflect a blow. But how did you manage? I thought you were dead."
Kalen explained in brief what had transpired. "So I came back to find you, but all Terraphel is combing the ruins, so I went this way."
"You came back for me?" Eldan paused for a moment, then added, "So Assassin and Jaened are off to Fellyre? Four against Terraphel, two against Fellyre--that woman is far to confident in her own skills. But I would rather have her attacking Fellyre than on their side."
They sat in silence for a time. Eldan lay back and closed her eyes. In the moonlight, she seemed smaller than she had before.
"What did you steal from Terraphel?"
Eldan opened one eye. "This." She drew out a small, ornate box from her jacket. "I don't know what it is, but it looked important. I wouldn't suggest opening it." Kalen took the box. It was so light it felt almost empty. The wood was deep red, bound with hammered gold and intricately carved. He felt the carvings since it was too dark to see them. So this was what he had almost been killed for. He would normally have been curious about such a thing, but now...
"We should bury it or hide it somewhere that they'll never find it."
"If it's important to them, Fellyre will find it anywhere we hide it. It's safest if we keep it."
"It's safe? What about us? Are we going back to the Tassin?"
"No--not me at least. If those soldiers are after this, I'm not going to lead them to my people. I'll show you the way come morning, but I can't follow until I know what this is and what to do with it."
"If you want to find out what it is," Kalen quickly flipped the clasp and opened the box.
And that was it. No flash, no sound, no sign of magic. Inside lay three pieces of parchment, neatly rolled and tied with black ribbon. Kalen was almost disappointed, but Eldan sat up quickly.
"That's the dumbest thing I've seen you do, but it just might have been the best thing you could have done. We can leave the box for them to find and take the scrolls." She picked one up and began to untie the ribbon.
"Is it safe?"
"You're the one who just opened a box that could have had a viper in it. It's just parchment. It's..." She unrolled it. "Blank." She turned the scroll over. There was not so much as an inkblot, even when she held it up so the moonlight could shine through it. She took the second scroll and found it likewise. Or at least, so it seemed at first.
Kalen glanced over. A long, single sentence was scrawled across it in an unbroken, wavy hand. "Well that says something."
Eldan looked at him, puzzled. "No it doesn't." She turned it to face him. He looked more closely at the writing. It wasn't like any script he had ever seen before. He gingerly took it from her hands. It was hard to distinguish the thin letters in the dark.
"It seems...it's not Fellyrian--or any common Selvran language. Not that I know anything but Elinite and Common Speech, but I've seen a fair bit, travelling with the army." Eldan snatched it back and turned it over a few times.
"Kalen, there is absolutely nothing written on this." She laughed slightly, then stopped, looking him in the eye. "You actually see something, don't you?"
"You don't?" The writing was thin and a little faint, but it was obvious. He ran his finger along it. The slight ridge of ink--it was all there. How could she not see it?
No comments:
Post a Comment