The Trials Of Ashbarn ( Book 5) (13 page)

Jade swallowed hard, the
lump in her throat the size of a fist. “What can we do? If they try to hurt Eric again, I’ll—”

“You’ll what? Seek revenge on the entire kingdom? S
torm the Crimson Empire’s city by yourself? Well then, I bid you good luck.”

Jade wilted, feeling
foolish for allowing her anger to cloud her judgment. Again, she was reminded of how far from home she really was. She was a foreigner and knew nothing of this strange land. This one small village was no indication of what lay beyond its meager boarders. She of all people knew better than this.

“Then what
is our next step?” she mumbled, head low.

Kelus reached out and held her hands. His eyes softened
when she looked at him. “We’re doing the only thing we can,” he said, giving her hands a squeeze. “The Crimson Empire sent those assassins to kill Eric. They obviously paid a large amount of gold, so this proves they are serious. Yet only a fool would try to kill the only man who has the power to save our world, so that leaves me with only one conclusion: They believe he is
not
the real Shantie Rhoe.” He paused a moment, running a hand across his bald head.

“Then why act at all?” asked Jade. “If he is not the Shantie Rhoe, what concern i
s it of the Crimson Empire? Why pay so much gold just to kill a mortal?”

“A question for Empress Ilenaya Moki, not for myself,” said Kelus.
“Short tempered and intolerant of fools, that one is. But she is no fool herself. If she ordered this strike against Eric, there had to be a good reason.”

“
If I am now a marked man, then all the more reason to get on with this,” said Eric. He stood from the corner and walked over to them. “I don’t mean to interrupt you two while you talk about me as if I weren’t even here, but I think I’ve heard enough.” He turned to Jade. “I don’t see any other way, Jade. An entire kingdom has limitless resources and bottomless pockets. Whatever the Crimson Empire’s reasons for wanting me dead, it’s clear they won’t stop trying just because of one failed attempt.”

“So you’re just goin
g to go on these trials and get yourself killed in the name of nothing?” said Jade, nearly in tears.

“No, n
ot in the name of nothing,” Eric whispered, pulling her in close. “This may be my only chance to prove to them I’m not some false god, as many have called me. If I don’t do this, the attempts on my life will never stop. We have nothing to lose here.”

“We have everything to lose,” murmured Jade, her face buried in his chest, arms around his back.
“What if this Mountain of Dreams takes your life? Takes you from me? Then what was all of this for?”

“Then it was all
just a dream, Jade. Nothing more,” Eric said softly. “They say that only the Shantie Rhoe can survive the Trials of Ashbarn. If I die, then none of this was ever real.” She held him tighter, but said nothing.

The door opened and
Nima entered the room. She gazed around, looking a bit unsure of the situation. “Is everything alright in here?” she asked.

Jade slowly pushed away. “Yes, everything is fine,”
she replied, wiping underneath her eye.

“Eric, you need to
prepare,” said Nima. “You’ll have to be ready when—”

“I’m
ready when they are,” he said, dismissing her words with a wave. A puzzled look crossed his face. “Nima, have you seen Jacob today?”

She
swallowed, looking away. Then she began chewing her bottom lip nervously.

* * *

The night air was pleasantly warm—a nice break from what had been a string of several cool nights in a row. The gentle breeze shook the treetops lightly, rattling the leaves and sending down a shower of greenery. It was well into spring, and many of the trees already had a full coat of leaves.

Jacob pok
ed at the low-burning fire, making it pop and fizzle. Tiny orange sparks floated upward, spinning around each other before winking out. “We’re only about a mile out from where I saw her last. Did we really need to stop now?” asked Jacob.

Amoshi stood
up, then faced away from Jacob and the fire. He began pulling at the string on his white bow, testing its tension. The little jewels sparkled, reflecting bits of light from the fire. He pulled the string a few more times, making the bright red wheels on the top and bottom squeak. Still ignoring Jacob, he sat back down.

“So, did you know I have the ability to read fortunes, Amoshi? Y
ep, it’s true,” Jacob said. Amoshi kept examining his bow, rubbing circles around some invisible spot. “Ah, we have a doubter here. That’s fine, I’ll prove it to you,” said Jacob, grinning. He raised his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes, then began rubbing his temples while humming off-key. “Let me see. Oh, yes... I see it. It...it looks like a stick. Yes...and it’s flying at your head.”

Opening his eyes,
Jacob reached down, grabbed a small twig, and flung it towards Amoshi. Even though the errant throw purposely missed high, Amoshi jumped to his feet and turned on him angrily. “It seems I’ve finally got your attention,” said Jacob, grinning smugly.

“Fool boy,” growled Amoshi, waving a dismissive hand
at him. “Of course I hear you. Half the forest can hear you running your mouth. It’s a miracle we haven’t been discovered.”

“Fool boy?” repeated Jacob. Amoshi was only a few years older than he was.
“If you had just answered my questions, I wouldn’t have to try so hard to get a rise out of you. If there is something on your mind, maybe now is a good time to get if off your chest. Remember, no one made you come with me.”

Sitting
back down in the grass, Amoshi slumped his shoulders. “That’s not exactly true,” he muttered. “Although, in a way, we are both here for the same reasons.”

“I’m here
in search of someone I care for deeply. I will not stop until I find her or find out what became of her. What reason could you possibly have that compares to—” The look on Amoshi’s face spoke a thousand words. “What? Nima? I mean, I know she asked you to go, but—”

“Yes, she
asked
me to aid you,” grunted Amoshi. He sighed, then looked off into the woods. “I swear, sometimes I feel powerless against her will. And what’s worse, she knows it. Her smile weakens my knees. It makes me do stupid things.”

“
Like go on a fool’s quest for someone else’s girl.”

Amoshi let out a hearty laug
h, the first time Jacob had seen him smile this entire trip. “Yes,” Amoshi said. “A far better example than I wanted to hear.”

“Stupid things, yes. And yet we do them
anyway, don’t we?” said Jacob, matching Amoshi’s grin. “I remember the first time she smiled at me. My neck felt like it was on fire. I nearly forgot my own name. I thought to myself,
I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.
” He chuckled nervously to himself. “I just kept staring at her. It made her uncomfortable, so she looked away. But I just couldn’t help myself.” He let out a sigh. “After a time, one thing led to another, and...” Jacob shook his head. “It seems so long ago now.”

Amoshi
scooted closer to Jacob and began poking at the fire with a stick. “I admit I was not exactly thrilled about going along with this. The way I saw it, I had been asked to go on some wild chase with a lost boy with stars in his eyes, a young man who had no idea what he was even looking for. But I can see now you’re serious about this.”

Jacob held his gaze.
Low light from the dying fire cast moving shadows across Jacob’s face, making him look older all of a sudden. “I’ve never been this serious about anything in my life. I miss her. I need her.”

Amoshi patted Jacob’s kn
ee. “Don’t worry. We’ll get this all figured out.” He stood back up and walked over to his bedroll, untied it, then rolled it across the dry grass. “Better get some rest while you can. We’re heading out early, so be ready.”

Amoshi crawled between the soft
fabric. He was almost asleep when he heard Jacob say, “Thank you, Amoshi. I don’t think I could do this alone.”

* * *

Jacob stirred in his sleep. It felt like the ground was moving underneath him as he rolled back and forth. A swift kick to his leg did the trick. Now fully awake, he bolted upright, mumbling curses under his breath. “Come on now. Get up,” grumbled Amoshi, not sounding all that awake himself.

Jacob rubbed his eyes
, then looked up to the stars in the clear sky. “It’s still dark,” he groaned.

“I told you we were leaving
early. This is the perfect time to move. You said we’re about a mile out from where you saw her last, correct?” Jacob shook his head. “Good. It will be first light by the time we get there. In the meantime, very few predators will be prowling at this hour.” He gave Jacob a pat on the shoulder. “On your feet. Let’s go.”   

The two of them packed up the camp. Amoshi stomped out the few hot embers that r
emained from last night’s fire, then poured a bit of water on it. The moon was bright, even through the moving leaves trying to hide it. Bright enough that they probably wouldn’t need any other source of light. Determined, they set out.

Th
e trees here were sparse, so they were able to move along quite well. Amoshi led the way, every now and then lifting his hand for Jacob to stop. He would then go through his monotonous routine: sniffing the air, scratching at the ground, then using his superior vision to scout ahead. Each time Jacob tried his best to show patience while the pattern played out. No matter how much time it took, he understood that Amoshi was only trying to look out for their safety. “It’s always best to see your enemies before they see you,” Amoshi kept saying.

After traveling a
nother hour or so, Jacob tapped Amoshi on the shoulder. “There it is. I see it up ahead.” Sure enough, there was the clearing a short way up. Ignoring Amoshi’s protests of a possible trap, Jacob ran up ahead of him. He stopped near a fallen tree, the base frayed and splintered like it had been struck by a boulder. The shattered tree still gave off the scent of freshly cut wood.

When Amoshi caught up, he whistled through his
teeth at the awesome sight. “You telling me about this was one thing, but seeing the damage with my own eyes...” He shook his head in disbelief, wondering how much force it must have taken to actually do such a thing. “She was thrown so hard that her body did this to a tree? How could anyone have possibly survived such an impa—” Jacob’s sudden glare stopped him short. “Um...yeah, sorry.”

Jacob rushed up ahead
. Faint recollections of a far-off battle assaulted his memory in incomplete fragments. It was like trying to remember a dream he’d had a long time ago. The memory was fuzzy; several pieces were missing. He stopped running and started to walk, looking down at the torn grass. The sun was coming up now, and he could see clear signs of battle everywhere.

“
Just stay where you are,” Amoshi called out, catching up to him once more. “I need to look around.” Jacob didn’t reply. He only gazed about, trying to remember what happened that day. Why had he lost Athel? He glanced back over to the broken tree and shivered. Had she been killed, then dragged away like some sort of prize?
No! I refuse to believe that
. What then?

He paced back and forth,
thinking hard, trying to piece the facts together. Just what happened that fateful day? He remembered regaining consciousness after someone had hit him from behind. When he came to, Athel was engaged in battle with Zhou. He snuck up on the beast, then attacked him from behind.
Yes, that’s when he threw her into that tree
. It was really coming back to him now.
We fought. That beast was so strong. I broke my staff on his jaw, but he was still standing
. The memory was coming back faster now.
I still held a broken piece in my hand. I rushed him. I-I was going to kill him with it! Then...  Then
...  Then what? He couldn’t remember anything beyond that point.

“Jacob.
”

I just can’t remember what happened
after
—

“Jacob, snap out of it,” called Amoshi. “Come over here.”
Jacob wandered over, still in a haze. Amoshi kneeled on the ground and ran his fingers across some dead grass. “Athel’s footprints are all over this area. Can you see?”

Jacob bent down to look, straining his eyes. He couldn’t tell anything out of the ordi
nary. Maybe a few blades of bent grass, nothing more. “So what? I told you we were both here,” Jacob said a little defensively. He just didn’t want to admit he couldn’t really see anything.

Amoshi
shook his head in agreement. “Yes, but you didn’t tell me you had company.”

“What are you talking about?” said Jacob, now getting so close to the ground he could have kissed it.

“Here, here, over here.” Amoshi pointed out several sprints that even Jacob could see.

“Paw prints?” said Jacob, panic beginning to swell up inside him. “She was taken by wolves?”

“No. That’s not what I see here,” said Amoshi, the uncertainty in his voice doing little to comfort Jacob. “For one thing, these prints are enormous. I’ve never seen wolves this big. And something else is wrong here.” He bit his lip, stalling, as if not believing it himself.