ANUNDR: THE EXODUS (15 page)

She narrowed her eyes and said, ‘I could hear a voice—the talisman—it spoke to me.’

‘What did it say?’ the general asked.

‘I cannot say. It spoke to me in ancient Gudlief. It’s been many years since I heard the tongue.’

‘Try harder.’ he said, pacing the room.

‘It would take me sometime to understand what it said.’

‘Then break through its defense and find out where it is.’

‘No,’ she said, turning to face him. ‘The power is too strong. If I tried to fight it, it could kill me.’

‘Please, try again.’ said Gisilfried. ‘We’ve journeyed this far to see you. All we need is an image or a name.’

She eyed Tharstin, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, raising her arms. ‘
Expositus mei paculi recto si lander
.’

Blood ran down from her nose and eyes. ‘Ah.’ she cried, dropping to her knees and covering her face. Gisilfried rushed to help her.

‘What happened?’ he said.

‘What did you see?’ Tharstin asked. She shook her head, her hands trembled.

‘I couldn’t see. The power of the talisman fought back. It’s far greater than mine and ancient…’ She stared into space and gasped, ‘power from the gods.’

‘So we risked our men’s lives for nothing.’ said Tharstin.

‘Can you remember anything about the voice?’ Gisilfried asked as he knelt beside her

‘It spoke of the key of Royer.’ she said, rising with his help.

‘Ida’s star? But her magic is destroyed.’ said Tharstin.

‘As long as Naphdael stands, her magic is never truly gone. It’s said Ida hid the star somewhere in the city where it can never be found except by the one with the jewel.’

‘So the talisman is the jewel we seek?’ Gisilfried asked.

‘I cannot say but it’s possible. But if the talisman is the jewel, I fear for Naphdael. The lesser unlocks the greater. I only got a glimpse of the talisman’s power and I cowered in fear at what it could do.’

‘How do we find it?’ Gisilfried asked.

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know?’ Tharstin said, his face was red and contorted in rage. She remained still, her brows clumped together in thought as she looked out of the window.

‘No. I don’t, Tharstin. I’m not a dog you would expect to sniff out everything.’

‘Maybe we should have gotten one instead of risking the lives of our men.’

‘You knew the risks before coming here so don’t clean your smeared conscience on my doorstep. I didn’t ask you to come.’

‘Gisilfried, come. We’re only wasting our time.’ Tharstin turned and headed for the door.

‘Wait.’ she said, turning around. ‘The only way to find the jewel is to find the girl’

Tharstin turned. ‘How?’

‘As the day of Ida approaches, she who wears the jewel grows stronger in power. She becomes a priestess of Ida. The forces of nature would be at her beckoning. Her injuries would heal quickly. However, if the jewel doesn’t fulfill its destiny on that day, she’ll die.’

‘So how do we find her? We can’t go around cutting every maiden in the city.’

‘I feel something else could be hiding the talisman from my view—like a cult or a coven.’

‘An occultic rebellion.’ Tharstin said, narrowing his eyes. ‘That’s impossible. Witches have no power in our city. The covering--’

‘The covering?’ She sniggered. ‘You did be surprised how weak it’s grown. Ida cannot protect you against darkness anymore. Her vengeance is darkness.’

‘Where can we find them?’ Tharstin’s face was set in calm resolution.

‘I’ve told you all I know. Do the rest yourself.’

‘It’s not enough.’

She touched her head and groaned. ‘I have no more to give.’

‘What are you hiding?’ he said, approaching her.

Gisilfried stood in his way. ‘She is weakened. Let us make do with what we have.’

‘Explain that to your father when he asks how we lost many good men for scraps.’ Tharstin made for the door.

‘Wait.’ she said as she wiped her face. ‘Before you do something foolish--which is inevitable--I have a feeling the girl with the talisman could be innocent. I saw her heart was pure.’

‘I have no interest in her heart,’ said Tharstin, ‘all I want is her head. Besides, no one from Helmford is innocent.’

‘Don’t start a needless war. I can feel she’s innocent—I can swear it.’ she said, her eyes pleading with him.

‘And a moment ago you said you saw nothing, now you say the girl is innocent. I care not for your words—they’re watered down to nothing.’

Her eyes changed to rage. She approached him and said, ‘Then never come here again or I’ll make sure I fill this house with your screams as I tear you apart piece by piece. And even if I don’t drink blood I promise to pour yours in a goblet and have my fill of it, you ungrateful boor--now, get out!’ The door swung open.

‘This is not the end.’ Tharstin said in a teeth-gritting whisper.

‘I hope not, because I look forward to it.’ she said.

He stormed out. ’Prince Gisilfried, we must leave.’

Gisilfried turned back to her. She had gone to lean on the window sill.

‘If you’re wondering how you’ll get out of here,’ she said, ‘I’ll shine a light from here. It would wither the plants in your way and keep the monsters at bay.’

‘Thank you, but there’s something I want to give you.’ he said, removing the wooden horse from his belt.

‘What is it?’ She turned to him. She saw the horse in his hand and her face froze. Her hands shook as he put the horse in them.

‘How did you get this?’

‘A little girl I met in the woods gave it to me. She said you would understand.’

‘Yes.’ she said, caressing the horse. ‘Yes, I understand.’ She looked up at him, her eyes were glazed. ‘Thank you.’

‘What does it mean?’ he asked.

‘Death.’

‘For who?’

‘You must go.’

‘Tell me your name.’

She turned around. ‘No one calls me by my name any more.’

‘What was your name?’

‘Hilda.’

‘Thank you for everything.’ he said.

She smiled. ‘You are your mother’s son. Tell the queen I said I do not forget.'

Gisilfried made to leave but stopped and turned around. ‘My lady,’ he said, ‘there’s something I don’t understand. Why would the talisman announce its powers to us--like it’s unafraid of being found?’

She stared at the toy as she said, ‘Because some powers fear nothing. The foundation of their strength is built on the fear they cause others. That is how they win.’

‘This one won’t win. Farewell, Lady Hilda.’ He left the room. She stood motionless for some moments, taking labored breaths to control the emotion welling up within her. She raised the horse to her face and flung it across the room. She took a deep breath and turned to the open window, raising her hands.

Gisilfried came out of the house. Tharstin and the men were already on their horses.

‘I thought you wanted to spend the night.’ said Tharstin.

‘I changed my mind.’ he said, getting on his horse.  Golden light shone from the window into the path.

‘We need to go now.’ Gisilfried said.

‘It could be a trick.’

‘It’s not. No harm will come to us.’

They rode out of the gate and down the path. The plants close to the path had wilted and the road was clear. They crossed the field unscarred. Gisilfried looked back. The light had stopped and the house looked as gloomy as it had been to him before.

‘General, who was she?’ he said as they rode.

‘She’s always been a witch.’

‘I mean how did she come here?’

‘You ask many questions to the wrong person.’ he said. He remained quiet throughout the journey, except when giving orders.

‘Amse, who was she before she become the Witch of Wisgurn?’ Kalani asked as she helped him load a camel. The orange glow of the sunrays seething through the horizon foretold of the heat to come. Everyone was gathering up, preparing for the journey ahead.

‘She was a woman much admired, yet struggling to suppress the power inside her.’

‘It seems she’s accepted it.’

‘No,’ he said, scratching his goatee as he pondered on it, ‘not really.’

‘What do you mean? She’s using magic.’

‘Yes, but she hasn’t fully accepted who she was born to be. Having a power and using it isn’t the end. You must accept it and become one with it, then you’ll know it cannot control you.’

‘Is that her fear? That she would be controlled by it?’

‘Yes and no.’

‘So what about the little girl and the horse? What did she mean that she is her past and her future? Is Hilda going to die?’

‘Yes and no.’

‘Why yes and no?’

‘Because her past is catching up with her and all that she has sacrificed would be for nothing.’

‘Aargh! Amse. At least can you tell me if the talisman is the jewel they spoke of?’

‘The talisman is a jewel but is it
the jewel
? To answer that, you have to wonder why it’s in Naphdael of all places. It calls to question many things.’

‘Amse, why do you speak in riddles?’

‘But I speak the truth.’

‘Yes, but you have a way of saying it that I wouldn’t even know the truth if it walked past me. You are so…Behozi-like.’

He laughed, his baritone voice was like a cackle of warmth in the cold. ‘Behozi-like, you say?’

Kalani smiled at him and said, ‘You know Natalia shouldn’t have spoken to Anistral like that. Anistral has been kind to her.’

‘And so was Amira.’

‘No, Amira betrayed her.’

‘Yes, so you cannot blame her for distrusting her. In fact, that is the wisest thing she has learned. Trust makes a man vulnerable.’

‘But there are still some people you can trust, aren’t there?’

‘Yes, there may be but trust is a luxury.’

‘Amse, I know this story is important but I don’t know why. Is there a relationship between me and Natalia? Every time you talk about her, I have a feeling that I’m somehow connected to her--like I know her. Is she related to--or is she my mother?’

Amse sighed and stared into the horizon, ‘Your mother…the time draws near when I must tell you all.’

A strong wind swept across the camp heading north. Amse bent over the camel to look in the direction it had gone.

‘What is it, Amse? Is it Kaheem?’ Kalani asked.

‘No.’ he said, rising, ‘someone else. We must go now.’

                                                                      ***             

The wind blew hundreds of miles north into civilization. It went over the thick stone battlements that surrounded the kingdom and sped through the crowded streets. Women in armor guarded the walls and in every turn were women going about their businesses. The only men on the streets were the men in chains, clad in loin clothes and with branded crests on their chests, carrying loads or being dragged by their female masters.

The wind stopped in the middle of two large iron female warrior statues that stood in front of a massive white building. Inside the building, a man stood by the window studying the wind. He was tall and his brown skin shone like polished dark leather from his clean-shaven head down to his gold-sandaled feet. He wore a red and gold colored damask tunic that bared his bulging chest and arms. His chest was branded and he wore gold armlets which signified he was a eunuch. He stood unmoving, his hands clasped together as his eyes watched, his glowing amber pupils dilating.

‘Dimetheos, what does the wind show you?’ said a woman behind him as she sipped from her silver goblet set with diamonds. She sat in the darkness, shielded from the sun.

Dimetheos said, without turning, ‘My queen, it shall soon be the day.’

‘Even a blind man can see that. Every day brings it closer to us.’ she said, rising and descending the steps to him, coming into the light of the sun. She wore a black, scaly and stiff bodice with a short skirt that was made of dark peacock feathers and her dress train was long with a golden lion crest imprinted on it. She was tanned and her legs and arms were lean and muscular, a body that had seen many fights. A large iron table separated her from Dimetheos. On it was a map with many small figurine pieces. She picked up a white tree-shaped piece.

‘Where are they?’ she asked as she examined the piece.

‘Amse leads them to Halldorr.’ Dimetheos turned to watch as she placed the piece further on the map.

‘Hmmm…the home of the clouds.’ she said, then she picked up a black horse-shaped piece. ‘What about the Helmford soldiers?’

‘They’re just a day away from them now.’ He moved towards the table. ‘My lady, aren’t we to make our move on the child?’

‘No.’ She placed the black piece behind the white one.

‘But the king would want to hear what we’ve found.’

‘We’ll tell him nothing. I’m sure he wouldn’t even believe it until the prophecy is fulfilled.’

‘But if Helmford lays their hands on her, they’ll kill her.’

‘That’s what we want. When she’s reborn and he hears the call himself, then he would believe and search for her but we’ll find her first.’

‘You forget the clouds want her as well.’

She chuckled, flashing strong white teeth as she picked up a grey piece on the map. ‘But they will not have her.’