L’iam passed his hand over his eyes
wearily. “How goes the planting on the new farms?”
“Better than expected, your
Majesty,” was K’eb’s prompt reply. “Cultivating all of that extra land was not
a simple task, but it looks as though the planting will be done in time.”
The king of the L’avan nodded,
breathing a prayer of gratitude to the Creator. They were going to need every
bit of extra food once the enemy army arrived and cut off the L’avan supply
lines from the rest of Sehar.
Of course, whether the new crops
had time to mature depended on when their enemies arrived. Even with some of
the L’avan using their
vyala
to help the crops along, it would take time
for the plants to be ready for harvest. L’iam had estimated that it would take
around three months to move a sizeable army from the far south of Sehar to the
Thieves’ Forest. There had been no word from the L’avan spy network of the
Shimat army moving, so L’iam hoped that they had time to build up supplies
before the siege began.
“Have we completed the camp for the
refugees?”
K’eb again gave an affirmative. “All
of the refugees have shelter and supplies, but we are still preparing for any
new arrivals we may have in the coming weeks.”
L’iam made a soft sound of
approval. He anticipated the number of refugees to grow by a large amount by
the time the enemy army arrived. Seharans had spent generations avoiding
conflict, so their first response was to flee at any sign of trouble.
The young king looked up at the
painted portrait of his wife that was always in his tent. His heart ached as he
traced the lines of her face with his eyes.
What do you think, Adesina?
He asked her silently.
Am I forgetting anything?
The sound of a distant commotion
reached L’iam’s ears. He frowned and walked out of his tent with K’eb following
close behind.
His tent was pitched atop a small
hill where he could overlook the entire L’avan camp and the Thieves’ Forest to
the south beyond. If he faced the north he could also see the refugee camp on
the Rashad grasslands.
The noise was coming from the south
and he turned his spyglass to the edge of the forest.
Hundreds of wagons were approaching,
accompanied by people on horseback and on foot. The wagons were brightly
colored, and L’iam recognized them instantly.
“The Northern Tribes,” he said in
surprise.
“They must be more refugees from
the violence of the Scepter of Cha-sak,” offered K’eb.
“Yes, you are probably right,”
agreed L’iam. “I just did not think they would come here. They tend to keep to
themselves.”
Rajan, the leader of the Rashad,
came loping up the hill. His glossy black fur was touched with grey, but his
golden eyes were still sharp and lively. A feline smile spread across his face
and his voice was filled with suppressed excitement. “I wonder what convinced
them to join us,” Rajan said in exaggerated calm.
L’iam took the hint and looked
through his spyglass again.
A smaller group of travelers seemed
to be leading. He pointed his spyglass in that direction and immediately
spotted Hestia. L’iam chuckled at the sight of her familiar face. Of course she
was the one…
The smile slipped from his face and
his heart skipped several beats.
Without speaking a word, L’iam
dropped his spyglass on the ground and sprinted down the hill toward the
arriving wagons.
***
Adesina was overwhelmed by the
reception she received as she rode into the grasslands of Pevothem. From the
moment she was spotted by the L’avan patrol guards, a mighty cheer sprang up. She
saw tears flowing freely down the faces of her devoted subjects, and the crowd
pressed in to try and touch her as she rode toward the center of the camp.
The young queen’s heart felt as
though it might burst.
She had grown to love her people
very dearly, and it was touching to see how much they loved her in return.
Hundreds of voices called her name,
but Adesina’s keen ears picked out one voice in particular. Her purple and gold
eyes darted to the source of the sound, and she saw that the mass of bodies was
parting to make way for a single individual.
Her throat constricted as she
stifled a sob. She leapt from her horse’s saddle and hit the ground running.
L’iam was also moving as quickly as
he could. He held out his arms to her and Adesina ran into his embrace.
His strong arms held her close, but
Adesina felt that it was not nearly close enough. L’iam kissed her again and
again, crying and laughing at the same time.
Sitara may have said that Adesina’s
life returned to her body after the ordeal at the Threshold, but Adesina knew
that her soul had been waiting for
this.
She was certain that she had
not been truly alive before this moment.
L’iam cupped her face in his hands,
his light green eyes drinking in her features eagerly. His entire being glowed
with joy.
“I love you so much, my darling,”
he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard above the crowd.
Adesina could hold back her tears
no longer.
“I love you, too! Oh, how I have
missed you.”
They embraced once more, longing to
be as near to one another as possible.
When the crowd’s celebrating grew
too riotous to ignore, L’iam put one arm around his wife’s waist and raised his
other hand for silence.
“Today is a day of great
rejoicing,” he called out to the surrounding L’avan. “Our beloved queen has
returned from a long journey.”
Another cheer erupted.
L’iam waited for the multitude to
settle down again before continuing. “Tonight there shall be a great feast to
welcome her home. All who have found refuge in the camp of the L’avan are
invited to join us.”
The king of the L’avan barely took
note of the crowd’s response to his words. He turned his loving eyes back to
Adesina and led her to the tent on the hill.
Adesina would have loved nothing more
than having some time alone with her husband, but such luxuries would have to
wait. There was work to be done.
She greeted K’eb warmly and was
once again touched by the genuine happiness her return brought to the L’avan.
The former soldier didn’t say much, but it was clear that he felt very deeply.
Ravi approached Rajan and lowered
himself in the Rashad version of a bow. The leader of the Rashad surveyed his
heir with approval and affection.
“You have changed much since you
left, Ravi.”
Ravi acknowledged the truth of the
statement. “Much has happened.”
The Immortals, who had been
following at a discreet distance, topped the rise of the hill and came into
view of those waiting.
Rajan’s eyes widened and he lowered
himself humbly to the ground. “Queen Adesina, you bring with you very honored
guests.”
Adesina suddenly felt rather
foolish. In her excitement to see L’iam, she had completely forgotten about her
companions.
She gave her husband’s hand a
squeeze. “L’iam, I would like to introduce you to some very important allies. This
is Ruon, leader of the Laithur.”
The Immortal inclined his oval head
somewhat haughtily. Adesina could only imagine what he thought of “half-breeds”
that didn’t even benefit from the status that came with a prophetic title.
“This is Sitara, leader of the
Serraf.”
The angelic woman smiled
graciously. “
Former
leader of the Serraf,” she corrected.
Adesina was rather flustered by the
confirmation of what she had only suspected about her new role among the
Immortals. She struggled for a moment to regain her flow of thought. “And this
is Riel…” she trailed off in confusion, realizing that she wasn’t certain if
Riel was the leader of
all
Rashad or just the Immortal ones.
Riel’s expression became amused. “I
am companion to Sitara,” she said simply.
Rajan shook his head. “You are our
leader, Lady Riel. The Rashad have waited long for the return of their rightful
ruler.”
The Immortal Rashad gave him a
kindly look. “You would not bear the mark of a leader if you were not worthy. I
am, in essence, a newcomer to this world. I would prefer the hierarchy to
remain as it is.”
With this settled, L’iam turned his
own questioning eyes to Sitara. “May I ask, Lady Sitara, why you are the
former
leader of the Serraf?”
She gestured gracefully with her
hand. “Because Adesina is the new leader of the Serraf.”
Silence fell over the group.
L’iam’s jaw had dropped at Sitara’s words. It looked rather un-kingly. “Adesina…is…”
The young queen of the L’avan felt
her cheeks warm. She suddenly felt self-conscious. “Perhaps we can discuss my
journey later. For now I would like to know where we stand in preparing for the
upcoming battle.”
L’iam seemed to do his best to
recover and led the group into the tent, where a large table displayed various
maps and documents. Everyone gathered around the table, including the three
Rashad. Adesina stood by her husband and put an arm around him unconsciously.
Their desire to stay close and connected automatically transferred into action.
“There are almost fourteen hundred
L’avan soldiers training day and night. I would say that only half of them have
any real experience fighting, but all of the inexperienced soldiers are
receiving extra training.”
“Who is in charge of the training?”
queried Adesina.
“Your father, Me’shan,” answered
L’iam. “He has been working closely with Ri’sel, Than’os, and Mar’sal. It seems
they learned much on their journey to the desert.”
Adesina’s thoughts turned to the
two men who had accompanied her during the search for L’iam. In the flurry of
her return to Pevothem she had not asked how they were. She did not even know
what had happened to her friends after she had crossed over the Threshold.
However, like L’iam, Adesina set
her curiosity aside to focus on the matter at hand.
“What of the refugees?”
L’iam referred to the most recent
report. “There are almost a thousand refugees that have come to us for
protection, but we believe that we will see many more as the Shimat forces
travel north.”
Adesina rested a hand on the table.
“I am surprised that there are so many, but I am pleased. It shows that the
L’avan are gaining the trust of Seharans.”
L’iam nodded in agreement. “I do
not believe that any of them would have come to us if it were not for the High
City refugees.”
Adesina looked at her husband with
a smile. “They are here?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “At first it
was just a small group of them who joined us in the settlement. Then, as the
Scepter of Cha-sak became more active, the rest of the High City refugees from
Emerald Harbor came to us. Rumors spread that we were offering protection from
the Scepter, which brought even more people to us as we travelled to Pevothem.”
Adesina found this information to
be heartening. “Are there any among them who are willing to fight?”
“Around three hundred,” K’eb
answered readily.
Adesina stared hard at the map in
front of her, focusing on the breadth of the Thieves’ Forest. The forest was
wide, but not deep. It formed a band that covered the gap between the eastern
mountain range and the western coast of Sehar. It was the only way to reach
Pevothem by land. In the past it had only been visited by thieves and other
unsavory characters, which kept most of the population away from the borders of
L’avan territory. Rumors of ferocious beasts had kept the criminals from
venturing to the grasslands beyond the forest. It had been an easy way to
ensure privacy for the northern magic-users.
Now the forest had been deserted by
the criminals, due to the increased L’avan activity south of the borders of
Pevothem. It was up to the L’avan to protect themselves and their homes—not
just from marauders, but from an army of highly trained assassins who were set
on the destruction of the L’avan race.
The numbers of their allies were
not what Adesina had been hoping for. “Not all of the Northern Tribes came with
us,” she said slowly. “There are probably only sixteen hundred volunteers among
them. So that brings our army up to three thousand three hundred soldiers, most
of them practically untrained. That is not enough to defend the borders of
Pevothem.”
L’iam smiled mysteriously. “We do
not need to man the entire forest.”
Adesina furrowed her brow. “Why is
that?”
“Do you remember how we returned
home after infiltrating the Shimat fortress?”
Adesina couldn’t forget such an
experience. Even though it had happened six years ago, it was burned into her
memory as if it had only just happened.
She had led a rescue mission to
save her father and other L’avan from the clutches of the Shimat. Their escape
would have failed, were it not for the aid of the spirits who lived in a nearby
forest. They had used their own ancient
vyala
to transport Adesina and
her companions to safety.
“Of course I do,” Adesina replied.
“The spirits have relocated to the Thieves’
Forest.”
“What?” blurted Adesina and Ravi
together.
“How is that possible?” asked Ravi,
bewildered. “Their
vyala
was tied to that forest. They should not have
been able to leave it.”
“We were trying to cultivate the
natural
vyala
of the Thieves’ Forest,” explained L’iam. “We have never
tried anything quite like that before, but we were hoping that we could develop
enough natural
vyala
to mimic the defenses in the L’avan outpost in the
central lands.”
Adesina nodded in understanding.
The L’avan outpost was a small pocket of natural
vyala
that repelled people
who could not use their own
vyala
.