Chapter 44
The afternoon raced by and Kestrel found herself busy helping the survivors set up makeshift sleeping quarters and listening to their stories. The rag-tag camp now held close to two score of survivors. None were in a hurry to return to what was left of their town. Especially after Kestrel and Belac told them of their encounter.
The town’s people voted to wait until the clansmen arrived before re-entering Treaty Falls. For none were left to reapply the destroyed town wards keeping the Terijar denizens from raiding across the Uris River. And less than a handful of any strength remained to fight off an attack.
Kestrel bid peace and safety to her new friends and meandered down toward the river as the shadows of the late afternoon took over the camp. It wasn’t long before Belac joined her.
“Did you plan for your horse?” She asked.
He flopped onto the ground next to her with a harrumph. “He will stay here for now. I know the clan will set camp near Treaty Falls while they send riders to the other nine clans. Mayhap we shall return victorious by then.”
They sat together quietly, the sun just peeking over the treetops, and Kestrel wondered how long the scout was going to allow her indiscretion of the morning to taint the way he treated her. She sighed, drawing Belac’s attention away from the river.
“What?” He asked.
“Nothing really, I, I wanted you to know that I realize how foolish I was this morning. I will try to do better,” Kestrel blurted out.
Belac’s face softened, but before he could reply, the river in front of them erupted in a froth of bubbles and Shel seemed to flow upward out of it.
The water elemental glanced at Belac and nodded to Kestrel. She appeared to be standing in water waist-deep, garbed in a tight-fitting vest-like shirt made of shimmering scales. “Have you spoken to your companion?”
“I have. She understands and even now approaches.”
As if on cue, the tinandra dry foliage on the far side of the river seemed to shiver in expectation, and the majestic head of the yanzul crested the tips of grass. With a mighty flap of her great dark wings, she leaped into the air and across the river, landing next to Kestrel. Her head swiveled so that her unblinking golden eyes followed the water elemental gliding across the water’s surface. Shel stepped onto the bank.
“May I greet your companion in mind-speak? I have long admired the nobility of her kind and although she and I know of each other, before this day, we never had reason to interact.”
Kestrel nodded, unsure what to say.
The yanzul didn’t move from where she sat, eyes locked on the elemental. I greet you, once again, Shel Of The Many Waters.
Kestrel blinked, doing a double-take between Sirrsi and Shel as she realized somehow her companion allowed her to be included in the silent conversation.
Comfortable hanging back and listening, Kestrel tried to get some gauge on who it was they followed into the wilds.
May the rain always fall softly upon your wings Sirrsi, ward and friend of Urilith Ta’Sarith, Shel greeted the yanzul.
But before the conversation got any farther, Belac cleared his throat, coming to his feet. “I can see my voice is not needed and my hearing not appreciated in this silent conversation,” he said, moving toward the riverbank. “I will scout the river to the,” he looked pointedly at Shel waiting for her to give him a direction.
Shel glanced at him, amusement a flicker at the back of her eyes. “If you would be useful, scout, the craft you and your friend will ride upon lies hidden between here and the town. Prove there is a reason behind your coming. Find the craft and speak to the crew. Board the craft and ride it here and when you arrive, we will depart.”
Belac tipped two of his fingers to his head and pointing out toward the elemental, he said, “You’re on, be ready to sail.” He stretched out his long legs, loping the rest of the way to the bank before rounding the probing finger of land protruding out into the river.
When Belac disappeared, Kestrel turned back to her companion and the elemental. She once again hung back to listen and watch.
What of your daughter, B’ryl? Is she close? Sirrsi asked the elemental.
Whoa, Kestrel thought, a daughter. A daughter? She felt the air change at the mention of the girl and a silent tension sung between the elemental and the yanzul. But after a moment, the corner of Shel’s mouth twitched into a half-smile and, with a slight nod, she said aloud.
“She is. She follows Urilith and the captives and informs the water of their movements.”
Curiosity over this new addition to their group and the tension she felt between her companion and Shel had anticipation fairly bubbling in her veins. But glancing between the two gave her the distinct impression that it wouldn’t be one of her wisest ideas to question. She sighed, hoping perhaps Sirrsi would inform her at a later time. For now, she decided it would be best to find that boat Shel spoke of.
Kestrel, Shel and Sirrsi headed for the river while Shel gave them a silent rundown of what she witnessed thus far. But they didn’t have long to wait, as the most interesting boat Kestrel had ever seen sailed around the last knob of land jutting out into the current. She had to admit she was not privy to many boats or ships growing up with the clans on the Theracan Plains, but she had seen them in Silver Port at different times.
Still, even with her lack of sailing knowledge, she knew this one was out of the ordinary. The masthead, a sinuous neck and head of a water elemental in dragon form, appeared made of softly shimmering mother-of-pearl. The hull covered in scales, not unlike the ones covering Shel’s vest, seemed to hold the last of the sun’s rays in their depths and shone with the unwitnessed afterglow. Sails so delicate as to look more like the mist rising from the falls than fabric graced slender double masts. Sleek and elegant, it cut through the water like an arrow, and yet stopped before them with ease.
Shel swooped her hand out before her. “No time like the present, ladies, your ride.”
Our kind has never been fond of riding upon the water, although I am willing to try if I can not follow where you go on overland trails. The owly head of her companion rotated to look Kestrel full in the face. I fear my size will hamper the utility and comfort of all… me most of all.
Belac waved to them from the rail as a gangplank detached itself from the side of the boat gliding into place only steps from where they stood.
Kestrel got to the top of the plank and turned to the yanzul, still on the shore. She spoke out so that Belac and Shel also heard. “Perhaps you should follow overland. Our connection will keep us in touch and you always know where I am.” She paused, waiting for Shel to give her approval or descent.
With a slow nod, Shel followed Kestrel up the plank and onto the deck. “If you are willing to part, I can see an advantage in having two angles of approach.” She turned back to the shore and the waiting yanzul. “We head to Sorrow’s Heart, to the Forsaken Temple of Ituryblis. Kestrel can reach you if we need your help and you the same. Have a care for danger lurks in unexpected places in Terijar.”
Sirrsi gave a strange hoot and with a hop and a flap flew across the river to disappear in the gathering shadows of evening.
Both Kestrel and Shel turned to Belac at the same time. Kestrel grinned at him, proud he found the boat so handily, but he was so enthralled by the elegant craftsmanship of the boat that he did not respond to her accolades. Instead, he cornered Shel with a string of questions. Surprised, she shrugged and scanned the ship, looking for a place to stow her pack.
They stood at the deck railing watching the river grass change to a thickly wooded area and then back to grasslands and the evening slipped by. Although certain she heard Shel mention a crew, there didn’t seem to be anyone else on deck. She soon realized the reason for the lack of crew. The boat did not sail, it flowed and in places where the current ran sluggish; the boat was propelled forward and guided by Shel’s crew of water elementals.
Rasia’s silver-white light battled for the last time this year the crimson shadows cast by Sangryl’s red light. The boat slipped slowly through brackish water. Until beneath the full-faced glory of both of Hebryll’s moons, it came to a halt.
“I cannot send my crew out into that.” Shel groaned, staring at the debris obstructing the width of the river.
Looking sideways at her host, Kestrel held her hand lightly across her mouth, finger and thumb pinching her nose. “Ugh, what is that smell?” Her face a grimace of disgust, she came away from the rail, scanning the sky for signs of the usual scavengers such a stench drew, but the sky remained blank.
“Do you hear that?” Belac asked, standing next to her.
“Hear what? Kestrel again looked around.
“There isn’t a sound, it’s like the world around us has gone dead,” Belac said, his voice overloud in the sudden silence.
Shel raised her gaze from her investigation of something in the water. She held a finger to her lips and tilted her head slightly as if she strained to hear the silence speak. And speak it must have, for suddenly she came to life like an ocean wave crashing against the Grieving Cliffs on the Rana Straights. “Get off the boat. Run… Now!”
The power of her voice seemed to propel Kestrel across the deck to the rail closest to the riverbank. She glanced over to see Belac close by. With a slight nod shared between them, they took a running jump over the railing and into the waiting water below. Shel’s crew of water elementals were there to assist the two forward, and they found themselves on dry land before their clothing got wet.
Kestrel and Belac pushed their way through the thick river grass, searching for higher ground when they were knocked off their feet. Kestrel turned back, looking for Shel to see the water of the river roiling around the boat.
“What’s happening?” she asked as Shel caught up to them and another earth tremor almost brought her to her knees.
“My warriors fight the corruption advancing from Sorrow’s Heart, but it is too great here. They will retreat and hope the advance is slow enough to give them time to set up a better blockade. Come, we must hurry…” Not waiting for an answer, Shel trotted inland, away from the river.
Kestrel glanced back at the boat. It stood silhouetted, traced in an eerie green light for a moment. The light ran through the boat like a lurid wildfire and when it finished; the boat was gone. She blinked and, shaking her head, turned back to see Belac disappear after Shel into a stand of pine trees.
She picked up her pace, reaching out to her companion as she ran. It had been just after dusk when last she and Sirrsi mind-spoke. Now the sister moons were halfway to their zenith. Kestrel sensed the yanzul ahead in the same direction as her two allies.
She filled her friend in on what transpired at the river, but the constant uneven trembling of the earth eroded her concentration. And she soon grew silent as she scanned the area ahead, searching for her friends. Kestrel reached the shelter of the woods and although the trees groaned with the unusual movement, she sensed none of them would topple.
Shel and Belac were deep in conversation with a newcomer as she approached. They stood on a ridge looking down into the vale known as Sorrow’s Heart. Kestrel slowed, taking her time to glean what she could about this new person before meeting her.
She stood slightly shorter than Shel, and watching them together, Kestrel decided this must be B’ryl, the daughter Shel spoke of earlier. B’ryl was well-formed with hair the milky silver of Rasia’s light and skin like the first blush of the sun on Silver bow lake. She looked little older than Kestrel. But she wasn’t sure exactly how elementals aged or what someone that was only a half-elemental would be called. One thing Kestrel decided for certain, B’ryl was most assuredly her mother’s daughter.
Shel turned as Kestrel drew near, her face a mask of distress. “We must hurry, the dragon’s egg has cracked and Hebryll shivers with revulsion at what they have wrought.”
Kestrel stopped, her mouth suddenly dry. She swallowed hard, her mind racing. She tried to fit together all the images flashing in her mind, but there wasn’t time. Shel and B’ryl urged her forward, but Belac stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“The clans have to know what has happened.”
With a nod of her head, Kestrel glanced at the water elemental and her daughter as they wove their way through the trees. “Go, you are right, the clans must know and prepare.”
Although brush and undergrowth now hid the two elementals, continuing down the ridge, Shel’s voice seemed to flow around them as she spoke. “One of my elemental warriors will meet you back at the river and guide you out of Terijar to Treaty Fall. Fare thee well, Belac, travel swiftly and let your words be heard and their import understood.”
On impulse, Kestrel threw her arms about Belac, hugging him. He hugged her back for a moment and then, holding her at arm’s length, he winked at her and said, “I know I can not convince you to come with me, so don’t make me have to come looking for you… again. There is more out there, far worse than that big ugly spider creature in town, girl. Just use your sense and your sight and make the Thorn-Wolf clan proud.”
He headed back the way they came at a quick trot and was on the other side of the ridge before Kestrel turned back to the trail and the waiting elementals. As she caught up with them, Sirrsi came padding out of the trees. And together they headed toward the Sorrow’s Heart.