B008P7JX7Q EBOK (8 page)

Jon shook his head, snagged on his painful
memories and unable to follow the other man’s words. He didn‘t know what to
believe at that moment. “Can’t the King send men to recover it for him? Why
must he need Adrian?”

“Only an Ascillian can touch the Source. Any
other who tries will be killed, as was discovered by King Aeiron’s seer when
searching through Cathanin’s books. And there is also the matter of reaching
the Source, which no man will have an easy time doing. It lies in the heart of
the Ruins. I take it you have heard of the Ruins. Let me tell you that whatever
you have heard is likely true.” Hamar sighed then, as though all this talk had
wearied him. “Thus, for the hope of the world, we come searching for one mere
boy.”

Jon looked up, his eyes swollen red and
accusing. “You truly mean to take him away from us?”

“Only because it has to be done,” Hamar
answered.

“And if I object?”

“Do you really believe that you have a choice in
the matter?” Hamar asked plainly.

And Jon realized that he didn’t have a choice,
and he didn’t have a say. It didn’t matter what he wanted, these men would take
Adrian away one way or another.
But I can try and protect him, at least.
Tarak would help defend the boy.

But he could not shake the feeling that he had
already lost.

“It would be safer for everyone if we left here
in peace,” Hamar said, as if reading his thoughts.

“But he is just a boy,” Jon pleaded. In some
depth of him he knew that such words were lost on such men. They only obeyed
their duty.

Owain answered. “True, but he is a crucial part
to the future.”

“It doesn’t matter what I say,” Jon admitted
painfully to himself.

“Perhaps not, but he will --”

A wooden crash, muffled by the thick walls,
erupted from the rear of the room. The three men sprang to their feet and
rushed to the small window. Jon slumped in his seat and stared blankly at the
wall.
He knows. God, help me, he knows.

5

Adrian fought free of the mess of collapsed
wooden crates, unmindful of the scratches he took. He pushed himself to his
feet and looked at Connor’s worried and nervous gaze. He shook his head. He
wanted to tell his cousin he wasn’t an Ascillian, but found that he couldn’t
get the words out. Infuriated, he turned and bolted from the alley.

He ran down the street, silently cursing all
that turned to regard him with suspicion and curiosity.
I’m not one of them!
They lie! They lie!
He ran down the street screaming the mantra in his head
and crying helplessly.

And before he knew it he was at the docks and
there was no where left to run. The ships lay swaying gently against a gray sky.
On some men still moved about doing repairs or some still trading, but for the
most part the ships had a calm air about them. Adrian stared at the ships and the
sailors, feeling a strong loathing for everything and everyone around him. Some
of the sailors turned to regard him curiously as he stood there watching them.
Adrian walked to the small wall to his right on legs that felt stilted and
huddled down.

He wiped his nose on his sleeve and wiped the
tears from his eyes and stared out into the swaying waters of the harbor in a
hollow daze. It was not long before the tears started again.

6

“There you are.”

Adrian’s head jerked to the left to see Alexis
walking towards him.

“Leave me alone,” he warned the other man,
returning his gaze to the water. He didn’t know how long he had sat there, only
that the sun was dipping behind the horizon and the sky was cast blood-red. His
tears had dried on his cheeks. He no longer felt any of the anger he had felt
before, only a deep sense of emptiness and loss and weariness.

“You know I can’t do that,” Alexis said as he
sat down beside him.

Adrian refused to look at the other man; instead
he stared at the sinking sun with impassive interest. At last he said, “The
others sent you, didn’t they? Was that the only reason they brought you along,
so you could get close to us and find out as much as you could?” At this Alexis
remained quiet. “How did you find me?”

Alexis looked towards the horizon. “Connor told
us where you might have gone.”

Adrian felt a momentary hatred towards his
cousin, but let it pass. He was not angry at Connor, only at himself.

“What distresses you?”

Adrian didn’t bother to answer.
Such a stupid
question.

“Is it learning that you’re an Ascillian?”

“What else would it be?” he demanded.

“There’s no reason to feel the way you do.”

“How would you know?” Adrian demanded, turning
to stare at the other man. “How would you know what it feels like to discover
that you’re part of a race despised by everyone?”

“I wouldn’t
know,” Alexis said simply.
“But I would have more sense than to hate myself simply because others do.”

Adrian didn’t say anything and the two sat in
tensional silence. At last Alexis said, “We must leave tomorrow morning.”

Adrian remained quiet. After a few moments of
silence filled with the cries of gulls, he said, “What if I don’t want to go?”

“You must. It’s your duty, just as it is ours to
guide you to the Source.”

“Curse your bloody Source!”

“If not for yourself, then come with us for your
uncle and your cousins. If this Source dies, terrible things will happen.” They
sat there staring at the sinking sun until the light left the sky and darkness
began to creep in. Alexis stood up. “Will you come with us?”

For a long time Adrian was silent, pondering the
Legionnaire’s words and his choices. “If I don’t, are you going to tie me hand
and foot to the saddle and carry me there?” he asked sarcastically. Alexis’s
silence was answer enough. “It’s not as if I have any choice,” he muttered.
And
there is nothing left to keep me here
. He remembered the look on Connor’s
face.
No one will want me here now
. Would they all look at him as if
they didn’t know him anymore?

Alexis offered him his hand. Adrian took it
grudgingly and let the other man pull him to his feet. The two made their way
back towards the Golden Lilly.

7

The young legionnaire glanced at Adrian and felt
a wave of pity towards him. Hamar had told him to stay out of the conversation
with the innkeeper, and he had done so, but that didn’t mean he liked doing
this. They walked up the small hill, the legionnaire and the boy, beneath a
dusky sky growing darker by the minute.

“How long will it take us to get there?” Adrian
asked. He spoke mildly, with no great interest in the answer.

“I don’t know,” Alexis answered truthfully. “Perhaps
a month or two, depending on how fast we travel.”

“What must I do once we reach the Source?”

He makes it sound simple
,
Alexis thought.
He doesn’t realize how dangerous this mission could prove to
be.
“I’m not sure,” he told him, hating to admit it.

The boy understood that he must do this, and
that was for the good, it might make things easier, though Alexis doubted
anything would be easy henceforth.

“Are you really a Legionnaire?” Adrian asked.

“Yes.”

The streets were mainly deserted now, the shops
closed and few people walking about. The sounds of merriment came from some of
the inns and houses they passed, but there was no merriment in the streets.

“Where are your guns then?” Adrian asked.

“In my room with the rest of my belongings.”

“Do you have the mark of the Legion?”

For answer Alexis peeled off the glove on his
left hand and showed Adrian the mark tattooed on the back of his hand. It was a
maroon circle of vines with a maroon eagle in flight in the center and flaring
sunbursts along the outer brim. Adrian looked at the tattoo and nodded
slightly. Alexis slipped the glove on again.

8

They walked the rest of the way in silence. As
they reached the inn, Alexis told him, “You should pack your belongings, we
will be leaving early in the morning."

As they entered Adrian noticed many of the faces
turning and looking at him, and every one he seemed to know. He saw Hamar and
Owain sitting at a table in one corner of the common room. He ignored them all.
He headed for the stairs, and as he did he looked past the bar and into the
kitchen. There he saw Anne, Bertha, Connor, and Nina looking at him as though
he was some odd creature that puzzled them. It was harder to ignore them or the
looks on their faces, but he did so and marched up the stairs, feeling more
alone than ever before.

As he opened the door to the room he shared with
Connor, he saw his uncle standing there staring out the window. On his bed lay
a small pack. Uncle Jon turned away from the window and looked at him. Adrian
could see that he had been crying. He stood in the doorway, looking at the
floorboards beneath his feet, unable to meet his uncle’s eyes.

“I am sorry,” Uncle Jon said with a deep sadness
as he walked over and led him into the room, closing the door behind him. Jon
sat him on his bed and knelt beside him. “We should have told you sooner. You
shouldn’t have had to find out in this manner.”

Adrian let go of any of the remaining vestiges
of anger he held towards his uncle. At first he had been angry with Jon for not
telling him sooner, and even when he had seen his uncle’s reasoning he’d still
felt a little anger towards him. But as he watched his uncle now, with his
solemn face and reddened eyes, Adrian couldn’t help but forgive him for his
efforts to try and to keep him safe. His uncle had risked so much for him, had
risked everything in fact.

“The ... the Legionnaires will take you away
tomorrow morning,” Jon said. “I brought you a bag to pack your belongings.”

“Thank you,” Adrian said.

Adrian picked up the bag and went to the
dresser. He began stuffing it with shirts and trousers. Jon came over and
helped him. When they were done a listless silence hung in the room.

“You mustn't blame Connor or the others for how
they behave,” his uncle said. “They ....”

“I know,” Adrian said sadly.

 “You must be hungry. I’ll bring you something
to eat.”

Adrian thanked him quietly. He sat on the bed
and stared at the floorboards, trying to comprehend everything that had
happened today.

When Jon came back carrying a tray of food he
was followed by Connor. Adrian looked at his cousin, who could not look him in
the eyes for very long.

“You ... you’re leaving?” Connor asked, his eyes
picking out the laden bag.

“Yes,” Adrian said as Jon set the food on the
bedside table and sat down beside him.

“Why?” Connor asked hesitantly.

Because you don’t want me around, Connor.
“It’s
something I must do.” He looked at his cousin and thought:
He’s frightened
of me. Does he think I will set him on fire?
He turned to his uncle. “Will
you tell me about my mother and father?”

Jon looked at him, and then his eyes drifted to
his son. “All right. Sit down, Connor, you should hear this as well.”

Connor went to the other bed and slumped down.

“Your father’s name was Jared and he was my
older brother,” began Jon as he wrung his hands. “We lived on a farm in those
days, in a small town called Dillo, and all we both wanted was to move away and
start our own lives. When we decided we were old enough, we left home and set
out to create our own lives. We lived alone for months, working at a mill,
saving our money whenever we could. Then Jared met a girl named Lysa and fell
in love with her. A year later they married and left to live on their own, even
after she’d told him she was an Ascillian, and this at a time when the
Ascillians were still being hunted down. But it never fazed Jared; he loved her
too much.”

Adrian listened in quiet silence. He glanced
towards Connor and saw that his cousin was listening just as attentively.

“I met Helen soon after,” continued Jon, “and we
married. She came from a prosperous family, and she believed in my dream of
opening my own inn. Without her this place would not exist. She gave birth to
Anne soon after the Inn was built. In those years we saw little of Jared and
Lysa, but at times they came to visit and spent weeks here. Helen and Lysa
formed a strong bond, as if they were sisters, and spent all their time in one
another’s company.

“Then early one morning Jared showed up on our
doorstep with a small child in his arms. He was bedraggled and bleeding, but he
refused any help. He only said that Lysa was dying, and that the child was
their son. He had to get him out of harm, he said. But Helen would not let him
leave without asking about Lysa, and when she realized the peril that her
dearest friend was in, she insisted on going with Jared. There was nothing I
could do, not when she had her mind set as she did, and I couldn’t follow, for
who would watch the children and the inn? I watched Jared and Helen both
disappear galloping into the night. It was the last time I ever saw either one
of them.”