SEVENTEEN

 

THE DEAD TRAVELLER

 

Karina woke to the smell of cooking food. Her mouth watered, and her empty stomach growled noisily. As she rubbed sleep from her eyes, she realised exactly how hungry she was. She felt almost like her old self, a good sign she was recovering. Due to Lorenso’s intervention, her body had been healed. Now the same process could begin on her mind.

Nira ducked under their shelter as Karina sat combing her tangled hair. Crawling on all fours towards the princess, she said, “The rain’s brought the creatures out o’ their holes. Tano’s cooking up a feast; rabbit and pheasant. We shall have enough food to keep us going for days.”

“Reading my mind, were ye?” Karina asked, rubbing her stomach. “I’m famished.”

“Yer feeling better then?”

“Much,” Karina reassured her.

“‘Tis good, for yer beloved suffers this morning. I never heard a thing, but his bad dreams woke Lorenso and Tano.”

“More memories?”

“Aye.” Nira sucked in her lower lip. “He looks so sad, Karina. Not only doth he feel he hath failed you, but his memories haunt him. I don’ know what he went through, but Tano says he travelled aboard a ship of evil.”

“What happened to him?”

“None of them will say, but think o’ the Pirate Krystos, and the answer seems clear.”

Karina nodded solemnly, instead thinking of Noron, the dungeon master. She’d heard more about him than the pirate Krystos. The evil sea captain had seemed more of a legend than fact, until Alecsis was sent to vanquish him. And now they were travelling to the very place he’d last set up camp. “Perhaps I should talk to Alecsis myself,” she said eventually.

Nira bobbed her head. “Neither Tano or Lorenso seem able to bring him out of his melancholy. Mayhap ye can. The mage said we have much ground to cover over the next few days, and Sir Alecsis’s state of mind won’ help.”

“‘Tis my fault he suffers so,” Karina murmured, scrambling towards daylight. Guilt stabbed at her heart as she reached the section of the overhang where the horses had sheltered for the night. Their distinctive scent still clung to the air, and Karina hurried forward, stepping into a brilliant morning. The sunshine sparkled in drying puddles and glistened off rock faces, making their barren surroundings look almost beautiful. The wind still had a bite to it, and Karina pulled her cloak close.

Antano and Lorenso sat in front of the source of the mouth-watering cooking smell. True to Nira’s word, they were barbecuing several large pieces of meat. They glanced up on hearing her approach, smiled, and raised hands in greeting.

“How do ye fare this morning, princess?” Lorenso asked.

“Still addressing me by title, I see.” Karina flipped a dismissive hand. “Did we not decide to dispense with the formalities?”

“Some habits die hard, Karina,” he amended.

“Where is Alecsis?” she asked.

The smile faded from his face. “Over there.” He motioned towards a cluster of rocks, and Karina saw Alecsis’s distinctive blonde head in their midst. “He won’t answer our summons for breakfast. Food is what we all need right now, particularly with such a long journey ahead of us.”

“Nira said the same thing. Where are we going?” Karina asked. Although she already knew their immidate plans, what were their intentions once they found the ship? Where did they intend to sail, and did their plans include Nira and herself?

“We shall return to the pirates’ camp. Makim and Alecsis’s memories told me that his future lies with the ship on which he travelled to Avion.”

The ship of evil, Karina thought, and shuddered. Lorenso saw her reaction and continued. “If neither of you wish to make the journey with us, we will see ye safely to a homestead on the other side of the Sirmon Ranges...”

He paused, turning over a piece of meat as he contemplated his next words. “The choice is yours, but I fear what ye said a moment ago is true. In all likelihood your days as a princess are over.”

She could tell he hadn’t wanted to deliver this piece of information, but then she’d suspected the same thing herself. In sneaking out of the castle to follow Alecsis she had jeopardised her future in the royal household. When Alecsis asked her if she was prepared to give up her position to be with him, she had made her decision, accepting a future as a commoner.

Nira came to stand beside her, and Karina turned to meet her gaze. “I go where Tano goes,” her friend affirmed.

The slender young man beamed back at her across the fire.

“Ye can count on me,” Karina said. “But what will we do once we find the ship?”

“That be up to Alecsis,” the old mage murmured. “He has to make the decision to go home himself.”

“Home?” Karina queried. “Across the Noiva?”

“Aye.”

She clasped a hand over her mouth. Ever since lying eyes on Alecsis she’d wanted to know where he came from. Never had she dreamt of actually going there. The thought both frightened and excited her. “I guess I had better tell Alecsis,” she said softly.

Lorenso thought that was a good idea. “But don’t tarry. We only be a day or two ahead of yer father’s troops,” he said.

Karina paled. “But I thought ye used magic to convince them not to come this way.”

“I did, but the spell was only a short term one. No mage can leave such a powerful force hovering in the air indefinitely... Not long ago I scryed the surrounding area, and saw them approach the Sirmon Ranges.”

“Is there not something else you can use to throw them off our trail?” she asked fearfully, knowing that if her father’s army caught up with them, not only would Alecsis die, but so would she. King Rostan wouldn’t spare her simply because she was his daughter. He would see her as a traitor who had aided and abetted a murderer.

“I could convince them we had gone a different way, but there is no other way other than the route we’re on. Once we’ve reached the other side such a spell will prove useful. That is why we have to move quickly. If worse comes to worst, I’ll render us invisible, but that is such a cumbersome spell, particularly when none of us will be able to see each other clearly either.”

“I’ll go and speak to Alecsis,” Karina asserted. She left the camp and approached the solitary man perched on a rocky outcrop. From his vantage point, one could see the way they had come, the barely marked trail weaving its way through the rocks and boulders dominating the landscape. It seemed to stretch into infinity. Karina knew it would look the same once they had rounded the mountain, and the thought of several more days in this barren wilderness made her shiver.

She turned to the silent man beside her. He had tucked one leg close to his chest and rested his chin on his knee, his arms wrapped around his thigh. Even though he appeared to be looking out across the landscape, she knew his gaze was really focused inwards. He looked grim, hardened and not at all the kind of man one could approach with kindness, but kindness was exactly what he needed right now. Karina laid a gentle hand against his shoulder.

He flinched, turning to glare at her. “What do you want?” he demanded in a voice as cold and bitter as his face. All the gentleness she remembered was gone. Even his once soft mouth had become a thin taunt line, and his eyes had turned into turbulent pools of misery.

“We have to move on,” Karina said softly. “And neither of us have breakfasted.”

“I’m not stopping you.” He shook her hand off.

“Yes you are,” she said more forcibly. “I know ye had a bad dream last night - ”

“Not a dream, a memory,” he corrected her icily, returning his gaze to the barren landscape. Now that the sun had dried the rock faces, it had returned to its unique dismalness.

“A memory then, but ye can’t let it stop you from going on.”

“Why shouldn’t I? You can all find sanctuary without me. I am the hunted one. What do I really have to live for now? You have rejected me, for which I cannot really blame you. I let ye down - ”

“I forgive you for that,” Karina interrupted. “I know ye had no way of counteracting Leonado’s spell.”

Returning his foot to the ground, he faced her, his eyes still cold and flinty. “Were you and he really childhood friends?”

This question momentarily threw her. It was the last thing she thought he would bring up. “In a way,” she answered uncertainly, not sure what he was driving at.

“You either were or you weren’t,” he persisted.

“What does it matter now?”

He continued to stare at her in that hard, unrelenting way. She had never seen this side of him before, but suspected it was as much a part of his nature as the sweet tenderness she’d encountered by the creek. “Because ‘tis possible that you now carry his child.”

With a shiver she stepped back. “Nay! Never! I would rather die... Why are you like this? What have these memories done to you?”

“Made me see what a truly cruel and evil world we live in. Made me realise that until I landed on Avion’s shores I was a nobody, nought more than a deck-hand... Now I know why I tried so hard to make something of myself here in your country. In my own I was nothing more than a slave, probably bought for the lowest bidder - ”

“You will always be special to me,” Karina insisted, but inside she was shocked and disappointed to find out that he hadn’t been anything more than the lowliest of servants. Her indecision must have shown in her tone, for he went on.

“We have no future together, Karina. You will always be a women of noble birth.”

Suddenly she found another card she could play. “But if I am with child, it could also be yours.”

His eyes widened a fraction, and he sucked in his lower lip, worrying it like he always did when deep in thought. “How will we ever know?” he asked eventually.

“I’ll know. I am certain of it.” She gave a little toss of her head. “Besides, I might not be pregnant.”

“And if you are we cannot take you across the ocean with us.”

“Ye’re sailing the Noiva then?” she asked.

“Why else does Makim want Lorenso and I to find that cursed pirate ship?”

“To destroy it perhaps?” Karina ventured.

Alecsis frowned, resumed chewing his lip, and then said, “That thought crossed my mind too, but I doubt The Crystal Fountain exists on this continent.”

“The Crystal Fountain? What is that?”

Alecsis shook his head. “I have no idea, but according to Makim my destiny lies with it, whatever it is... wherever it is.”

“Then how are we meant to find it?”

“I am sure Makim will send Renso a sign.”

“Do ye realise what you just did?”

Alecsis frowned again. “What?”

“Decided to go on, to keep fighting. Perhaps The Crystal Fountain is a sacred place, something linked to your past you haven’t yet remembered. How old were ye when you left, fourteen, fifteen?”

He shrugged. “Younger, I believe. Twelve or thirteen.”

“Many things could have occurred before you set off on your journey, good things that you have yet to recall. If all ye’ve ever experienced was cruelty then ye wouldn’t be the man you are today. Ye’d be hard and ruthless.”

“I can be, Karina.”

“But ye have a kinder side, a side that loves and seeks to protect. Ye must have had a good life once. And one day ye’ll remember it.”

With a sigh Alecsis reached out and touched her silken hair, brushing it back from her face. She placed her hand over his, noticing for the first time how cold his fingers were. “You asked me once if I was prepared to join you in yer travels, and I said I would follow you to the ends of the earth. That is still true.”

And for the first time in days he smiled. Even though it was only a faint upturning of his lips, it warmed Karina’s heart, giving her hope. His memories hadn’t broken his spirit. He was still the brave, determined warrior she’d fallen in love with. Perhaps one day, when they had both come to terms with all the pain in their lives, they could find tenderness once more.

“Ye’re the truly brave one, Karina. I admire you for that.” He got to his feet. “We had better join the others afore they devour our breakfast as well as their own.”

Hands linked they returned to camp. Her forgiveness had given him hope, hope that he could come to accept his past and not let it destroy their future. But he still found it hard to believe he’d led such a miserable existence.

The shipwreck had in essence saved his life, for he doubted he would have lived much longer under the tyranny of the cruel sea captain whose name he still could not recall. But then he remembered none of the other sailors’ names, or even what the ship had been called. Something impressive, no doubt. If his countrymen were capable of building such a magnificent vessel, then what kind of dwellings did they live in? What kind of food did they eat? What were their lives like?

Why couldn’t he remember?

 

Once they had eaten their fill, they packed and set off, once again leading the horses across the rocky ground in single file. The sun crawled across the sky, the hours dragging by at a snail’s leisurely pace. When nightfall descended upon them, they collapsed gratefully in front of the fire, falling asleep soon after their evening meal. Even though Alecsis feared his memories, he didn’t dream. No terrifying visions of the past returned to haunt him while he slept.

The next day passed with the same mind-numbing slowness. Antano tried to break the monotony with some jokes, but Alecsis insisted he had heard them all before. Karina didn’t find them amusing, and Nira merely groaned.

When the sun hovered low on the horizon, they fell silent again, the only sound the crunching of their feet on the ground and the steady clop clop of the horses’ hooves. The narrow, twisting, cobble-strewn path was still too uneven to ride, but at least it had started to decline. The spirits no longer bothered them. Their shrieks and cries had faded away, until only an occasional wail could be heard. Alecsis thought they might have come across some of them, but nothing, other than the occasional bird or rodent crossed their path.

By this time tomorrow we will have reached the end of this dreadful place, Alecsis thought hopefully, glancing briefly over his shoulder to see the weary expressions on his companions’ faces.

The sudden blast of psychic energy engulfed him like a dragon’s roar. It came out of nowhere, sending him staggering backwards. His right hand grasped automatically for his sword, unsheathing it on instinct. Even though he knew the attack had been a mental one, the familiar feel of The Holy Avenger’s cool hilt helped to stave off the powerful ambush. It was almost as though connecting with his magical weapon helped ease the force trying to take over his mind.

Take over his mind!

Sweet Lorin, that was exactly what was happening! Someone, or something, was trying to force him from his body.

But why? What did it all mean?

The intruder had an awesome power. He felt the painful tug of its presence inside his head, sending great flashes of agony through his brain. Over and over they pulsed, weakening him, draining him.

Alecsis stumbled, almost dropping the sword. Don’t release The Avenger! he ordered himself through the pain.

“What’s happening?”

“What’s wrong?”

He heard the voices of his companions, but the bright, multi-coloured flashes of light blinded him with their intensity.

With a jolt he realised he had experienced this before, directly after he’d slain Krystos.

Did he have something to do with this?

No, the pirate captain was dead. Then who is trying to kill me, tear my brain from its roots and turn it into mash?

Like a great weight crushing down on him, the force tried to worm its evil into his mind. Alecsis clasped the sword, concentrating on its energy, hoping its magical power would save him.

“Don’t touch him, or it will get you too!” He heard Lorenso shout.

“It won’t get me,” Alecsis gritted, feeling a hand touch his shoulder. “Leave me alone! Leave me!”

Miraculously it complied. As quickly as it came, it left him, and he collapsed to his knees, his feet no longer able to support him. He was left with a pounding headache, and brought trembling hands to his throbbing forehead. Finally he looked up to see Lorenso crouching in front of him. The mage had never looked so old, his concerned face as pale as death.

“Thank Makim ‘tis still you,” Lorenso whispered.

“What in the name of Serpon was that?” Alecsis rasped.

“I didn’t have enough time to find out exactly, but I suspect ‘twas a wayward spirit in search of a host.”

“Where did it go?”

Lorenso frowned. “It disappeared so fast I was unable to follow its path... Strange. I have never come across anything like that afore.”

Alecsis motioned back the way they had come. “Could it have been the presence I felt watching us a few days ago?”

“Perhaps, but if it was, it hath incredible power.”

“Do ye think it’s still around?” Alecsis asked uncertainly, not in a hurry for a repeat of such agony. His head still ached, but it was starting to ease, ebbing away like an outgoing tide. Slowly he climbed to his feet.

“Nay,” Lorenso answered, also standing up.

They both turned to face the rest of their party. Karina and Nira stared back in stunned disbelief. Antano had collapsed onto a nearby rock, his head in his hands.

Alecsis approached him, and Lorenso followed. “You touched him, did ye not?” the wizard asked the taciturn youth.

Slowly Antano looked up, but his gaze remained distant, distracted, as though he couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

“Ye touched Alecsis while he was fighting the invader?” Lorenso repeated.

“Aye,” Antano answered in a chastised little boy voice.

Lorenso laid a hand on his shoulder. “Are ye all right?”

Antano nodded, casting his gaze away. “Just a bit spooked. I felt it try to get me too, but Alecsis evicted it in time.”

“I think we should find somewhere to camp for the night,” Alecsis said. “The sun has almost set, and I don’t think anyone is up to more travelling today. I for one have a headache to beat all headaches.”

“I have something for that in my healing pouch,“ Lorenso said.

“Thank Makim for magic herbs,” Alecsis muttered, heading back to his jittery horse. She didn’t let him take hold of her bridle straight away. Obviously his experience had affected her too, and he had to cajole her to come to him, but eventually she allowed him to lead her, and they continued down the track.

“I think there might be a good place to camp through there,” Lorenso called out, pointing towards a gap in the rock to their left. “I caught a glimpse of a cave.”

“I think you’re mistaken,” Antano interjected. “Let’s continue. There should be something further on.”

Lorenso cast him a grim look, but refrained from reprimanding him - this time. He resumed walking, entering the aforementioned area.

He had been right, of course. They entered a protected alcove, with a slight overhang to shelter them if it started to rain. But then Alecsis looked down. Karina followed his gaze, and her scream echoed around the small cavern, reverberating off the walls long after she had clamped her hands over her mouth.

Lying curled up on his side next to an extinguished campfire was a man, his dead eyes staring back at them in the twilight.

Lorenso was the first to approach. He knelt down, placing a hand against his immobile face, and declared all life extinguished. Alecsis stopped at his side, staring down at the dead man. Recognition slowly dawned.

“I know him. He... he was a soldier in my army. I thought he’d died at the Pavlo Inlet...” He wiped a suddenly damp hand across his brow. “But I cannot for the life of me remember his name.” He turned to Antano. “Do ye recall this man?”

The youth glanced down, his smooth brow puckering. “I think... ‘twas Moreshe.”

“That’s it,” Alecsis declared. “Moreshe, but what is he doing here, and what killed him?”

“Do ye want me to examine the body?” Lorenso asked.

“Aye,” Alecsis answered, catching sight of an object protruding from the dead man’s backpack, lying a few feet away. Its smooth reflective surface drew his gaze, and he bent to retrieve it. As his hands cupped the cool glass sphere, he glanced up at Lorenso. The magician stared in surprise at the object.

“A magic looking glass!” Lorenso gasped, extending his hands for it. “How in the name of Makim did he get hold of this?”

“Leonado?” Alecsis suggested, placing the magical item in the mage’s hands.

“Of course!” He nodded at the corpse. “That would explain his death. Once he had no more use for him, Leonado killed him.” He glanced back at the glass sphere. “This could be useful though. I feel a little inadequate without my mirror.”

“He doesn’t look like he’s been here that long. No more than a day.” Alecsis remarked, realising that they would come across a worse sight than this when they reached the Pavlo Inlet. After weeks under the strong Avion sun, the slain pirates would be maggot-ridden piles of flesh and bone.

“Mayhap he died of natural causes. He don’ look like he was a healthy soul,” Nira observed.

“What use could an ordinary foot soldier have been to Leonado?” Lorenso asked, continuing his former train of thought.

“What reason did Leonado have to do anything?” Karina snapped, stepping forward.

Alecsis stuck out his arm, preventing her from coming closer. “Keep away. He could be festering with all manner of diseases.”

“But we should give him a proper burial,” she insisted.

“How? This ground is packed so hard we would be digging all night. We have your father’s army after us, remember? Best if we leave him and find somewhere else to camp for the night,” Alecsis said, straightening up.

“But ye can’t leave him here for the vultures,” she protested.

“They have to eat something,” Antano said. His inappropriate comment drew everyone’s gaze. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“The best I can do is provide a shroud for his body,” Lorenso said. “We’ll seal him in his bedroll.”

Karina nodded in acquiescence, realising they were right. Why waste essential energy digging a grave for someone they barely knew? They were running for their own lives, and if they wanted to survive they had to reserve their energy for the long march ahead.