His Ancient Heart (14 page)

Or they could circle around, and be waiting to welcome him when he arrived.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Eryn

"Captain, where are we going?" Eryn asked, lifting the hem of the skirt Fehri had given her to avoid a bit of mud. She was thankful to be out of the stained and worn clothes that she had been wearing since their trip into the Dark, though she would have greatly preferred a pair of pants, even ones made of burlap, to the hassle of trying to move through the wood in such clothes. They left her feeling exposed, vulnerable.

"Varrow City, of course, my Lady," Fehri said.

Eryn stopped. They had already been walking for quite some time, long enough that the sky was growing dark and night was looming. Travel had been slow, and while they hadn't seen or heard any soldiers, they were in a constant state of wariness. Even so, there was one thing she was certain of. She held her arm out and pointed. "Varrow is that way."

Fehri turned and smiled. "You have a keen sense of direction. Yes, Varrow is that way, but by Amman, I can't bring you in there looking like a rag of a girl. You're to be Overlord Prezi's charge. Her niece. You'll need to dress, and act, the part."

"I don't know anything about being a noble, or a lady."

"Neither do I," Fehri said with a laugh. "I suppose the Overlord will teach you."

His answer wasn't reassuring. Eryn put her hand to her forearm and pulled up the sleeve, revealing the remains of the scaly grey skin that refused to give way. "How do you suppose the Overlord is going to explain this?"

Fehri glanced down at it. "Gloves." He pointed ahead of him. "There's a small town about fifteen miles from here called Ember. It was a village once, but it grew as the trade routes from Portsmouth to Varrow grew. The General's man, Trock, is waiting for us there with everything we'll need for you to make a proper entrance."

Eryn let go of her skirt. "I suppose if I'm going to need new clothes, I don't need to take care of these. I was nervous to meet the Overlord covered in filth."

Fehri smiled. "Somehow, I get the feeling whatever you wear, it isn't going to stay pristine for long."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eryn put her hands on her hips, glaring at the soldier.

"Amman has bigger plans for you," he replied. "Too big to be contained by cloth and stitches."

She calmed immediately. "I never thought about it like that." She started walking, moving up next to him. "I can carry that for a while. They are my things."

Her pack was slung over Fehri's soldier. In it were Aren's journals, Jeremiah's journal, and the cans of thick liquid they had gathered for Oz. It didn't look that heavy, and she wanted to feel like she was doing something besides following.

Fehri seemed to recognize it. He dropped the pack from his shoulder and handed it to her. "Too big to be contained in a small burlap pack," he said with a smile.

"Are there many soldiers who follow the Words of Amman?" Eryn asked, taking the pack. It was heavier than she had realized, though she didn't say a word or let her effort show. Fehri's eyes suggested he picked up on that as well, even if he didn't say anything.

"There are many people who say they believe in Amman. Out of those people, there are many who say they follow Amman. Out of those people, there are a few who have studied his Words, and who have taken them into their hearts." He shook his head. "Even then, they try to find a different meaning in the Words, how they will work for them, instead of understanding what Amman intends for us."

"What about the priests who collect for the poor? Aren't they following Amman's Words?"

"Again, many are. Some are not. Amman's greatest blessing is also Heden's most powerful weapon. He gave us the will to choose, to think and act for ourselves. There will always be those that use this to their advantage, as much as others use it to create an opportunity for all. How did you come to know Amman, Eryn?"

Eryn's thoughts returned to her mother. She realized how little she had been thinking of her lately, since she and Silas, no, Talon, had found the map to the Dark, and then when she had met Wilem. Even the things she had told him were fabrications. She had promised her mother she would survive, and so far she had.
 

She looked up at the sky, barely visible through the overhang of trees. It was getting late, and she had a feeling Fehri would stop them for the night soon. Sooner, now that she was carrying the pack. "My mother. She believed in Amman. She would read his Words to my brother and me some nights, mainly during the winter when we would gather around the fireplace. I don't know if she was a good follower. I don't understand all of what she read. I do know she was a kind and strong woman, and she cared for everyone. Roddin and me best of all. Well, except for Papa. She always loved him the most."

As she was talking, as she was remembering, tears began to fill her eyes. She wiped them away with her sleeve, defiant against her sadness.
 

She wanted me to be strong. To survive. To fight.

"You joined
his
army," Eryn said. "How do you accept both his law, and Amman's Words? There was nothing Mother ever read to me that made killing children acceptable." The words left her mouth before she gave them any thought. She held her breath while she waited for the man to become angry.

"No, there isn't," he said, remaining calm. "Though many priests would point you to His Writings and tell you how they prove the Cursed are creatures of Heden, and such monstrosities are to be met with harsh judgement."

"Then what do you think?"

"I'm here with you."

"You weren't always. When I was in trouble in Varrow, you helped me."

"A beggar and her blind grandfather. Too many soldiers would have reacted as Sexton did. I joined
his
army to speak the Words of Amman, to bring compassion to the soldiers around me. My success in that way was limited, though it did bring me to the Overlord's attention, and earn me fast promotion through the ranks. Now I understand that Amman had a different path for me, one that I just couldn't see."

"Then what do you think? If you are part of the army, and were called on to help a Mediator capture or kill a Cursed-"

"I would do my duty first, Amman help me. Because I cannot spread His Words from a hangman's noose."

"Did you ever do your duty?"

Fehri stopped walking and looked back at her. His face was the only answer she needed.

"I prayed to Amman for forgiveness, for understanding. Every night I prayed. He answered my prayers by bringing you to me for help, twice now. He has told me His will. I am remorseful for what I had to do, but I am not sorry. Does that make sense to you?"

She was fifteen years old, and she had killed how many people? They were fighting for
him
, fighting to continue the killing and the imprisonment. She had thought all of them were evil and heartless, but Fehri had shown her that wasn't always true. She did feel badly that she may have killed someone with a family, maybe someone who had joined the army to support their mother. Even so, if she could do it again, she would kill them a second time. She wasn't sorry about that. "Yes. Perfect sense."

They kept walking for another hour. Fehri recited some of the Words of Amman to her. Words of compassion towards living things, of caring for your elders, of strength in suffering. After each sentence or paragraph, he would pause and tell her what it meant to him, and ask her what it meant to her. Each time he would pause, his eyes would dart from her face, to her shoulder, to her legs.

"This is a good place to make camp," he announced.
 

Eryn knew right away he had said it because the pack had become too much for her to carry any further. Her legs were tired, her shoulders were sore. She slid the pack off and dropped to the ground with it.

"We can't risk a fire," the soldier said, opening the pack and rooting around in it until he found some cured meat. "Road rations. Salty and chewy. Better than starving." He had a water skin on his hip, and he handed it to her. "Drink."

They shared the meager meal in silence. While Eryn chewed the tough meat, her thoughts wandered to Wilem and Talon, making their way north towards Edgewater.

Amman, I pray that you keep them safe, and return them to me, or me to them. Thank you for my family, Mother and Papa and Roddin. For Talon and Wilem, Robar and Sena, and the Troupe in Elling. Thank you for Captain Fehri.

She looked over at the man. He was a few years older than her. Closer to Roddin's age, which meant he was old enough to be married. He was a handsome man, strong and confident in his beliefs. He would make a fine husband to someone.

"Are you well?" Fehri asked, noticing her looking at him.

"Yes. Thank you for the food."

He smiled. "You're welcome, my Lady. Please, rest now. I'll keep the first watch."

"Promise you'll wake me before morning, so you can sleep some as well," she said.

He was silent.

"Captain Fehri."

"I promise." The words were reluctant, but she believed them.

Eryn laid back on the grass, using the pack as a pillow, and closed her eyes.

Whether here in the Empire or above with Amman, I love you all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Eryn

She woke with Fehri's hand on her mouth.

"Shhh," he whispered. He was leaning over her, his face inches away from hers. His dark eyes were narrowed in concentration. "Stay quiet. Soldiers."

She remained still, and he removed his hand. She could hear it now, the motion in the darkness, the creaking of leather and the soft smacking of scabbards against legs and brush.
 

"How many?" she whispered.

"Six. No horses. No torches."
 

"Do you think they were following us?"

"I didn't see or hear a thing. Soldiers aren't quiet."

"Someone else? Not a soldier? Maybe they led them to us?" She remembered Master Lewyn, the woodsman of her village, who had turned on her to protect his wife. It seemed like it was a lifetime ago.

He held his finger to his lips again and moved to his feet. Eryn pushed herself up as quietly as she could.
 

"I can take care of them," she said, moving close to whisper in his ear.

"No Curse," Fehri said. "On the General's orders."

"Give me a sword."

"I only have the one."

"A knife?"

He glanced over at her and smiled. Then he pointed up. "Can you climb?"

She grabbed the hem of her skirt again. "In this?"

"It is either that or fight, and fighting might draw more attention. I'll give you a boost." He crouched down and cupped his hands together, ready to receive her foot.
 

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you."

She stepped into his hands. He shifted, tossing her up with enough force to get her within reach of the lowest branch. She grabbed on and pulled, thankful for her time spent at her father's forge, and the strong muscles that had been borne of it. She mounted the branch, ignoring the way her skirt rode up around her hips, found her balance, and continued to climb higher. She watched Fehri grab their pack, stick it at the base of the tree, along with his sword and water skin. Then he began sweeping a layer of leaves and twigs and other debris over it until it was invisible in the darkness.
 

The footfalls were growing closer, and moving with enough certainty that she was sure they knew where they were going. Someone must have been following them, and had returned to the soldiers once they had settled for the night.

The tree shook a bit when Fehri grabbed the branch and pulled himself up. He navigated it easily, reaching Eryn and urging her higher.

They climbed further up, until they could barely see the ground past the other branches and leaves.

The soldiers appeared a couple of minutes later. Except... they weren't soldiers. Even in the dim light Eryn could see that their armor was a little too loose, or a little too tight. The clothes underneath were too thick, too long, or otherwise poorly fit. Of the six, only four of them were carrying a sword.

Eryn and Fehri looked at one another, both confused. Even brigands would have been better armed than this lot.

"Silas," came the whisper from below. "Silas, you 'ere?"

"Someone was here," a second voice said. A woman. "They were laying right here."

"How long ago?" another asked.

"Hard to say. The ground doesn't hold the heat well at night."

Eryn reached out and tapped Fehri's shoulder. She motioned down when he looked at her. They weren't soldiers. Maybe they had come to help? He shook his head, and then opened and closed his hand to mime talking.
 

If there were any soldiers nearby, their noise was going to attract them.

"Silas? Urla told us you was a General. We come to join your army."

Join his army? What made them think there was an army to join?

They crept slowly through the area, looking for any clues to where they might be. One of them approached the tree.

Eryn tapped on Fehri again and pointed down, past the stranger to where he had buried the pack. The man was standing right next to it. If he had gotten any closer, he would have kicked it already. Fehri shrugged. There was nothing to do about it now.

"Thought mentioning Urla would bring 'im out," the first voice said.
 

The person under them turned. "It's probably your smell." It was the woman. She turned back to the tree again, and then knelt. Had she seen the pack? Her hand reached out, touching the ground where Fehri had disturbed the brush.

"Umbert," a new voice said. "I think I see torches."

The woman stood again. "I told you this was a bad idea. These woods are crawling with soldiers."

"Let 'em come," Umbert said. "I didn't come out 'ere to find General Talon Rast if I didn't want to fight."

"We won't stand a chance against them," the third man said. "Not without the General."

"Ah, piss on that."