Nightfall (Book 1) (3 page)

I opened my eyes and the shuffling sound immediately stopped; I waited for a while and wondered if the sound had been a fleeting memory from a dream. As my eyes began to droop, the sound started again and I jumped to my feet, throwing my thin blanket to the side. My eyes, still bleary with sleep, only saw Ekaitz. He was trying to clean the cut that stretched down the length of his back. I crept over to my friend’s side, trying not to disturb Arrats while he took up most of the floor, lying spread-eagle and half-covered by his moth-eaten blanket.

“Why did you not ask Koldobika to heal that?” I asked.

“It is only a scratch. A broken wrist would have been a greater hindrance.” Arrats moaned and rubbed his eyes before crawling over to the ash filled fireplace, awakened by the whispered conversation. He summoned some magic and a small, but warm, flame began to glow on the bit of wood. In the ample glow of the fire I began inspecting the wound on Ekaitz’ back; the gash had scabbed over during the night and then split open from his movement. Blood and grime clotted around the dried chunks of scab which still clung to his skin, and puss seeped from the cracks.

“Disgusting,” I commented.

“How do we clean it?” Arrats mumbled around a yawn. I shrugged; healing was not one of my strengths—magical or otherwise.

Ekaitz was silent for a moment and then he instructed, “Scrape off the scabs, clean it, and sear it closed.”

“Burn it?” I asked.

He nodded. “That should keep it from getting further infected.” I looked at Arrats, hoping I was the only one too hesitant to do it myself.

He backed off, raising his hands. “I will not do it,” he reiterated. I groaned as Ekaitz handed me a dagger that had been kept from the encounter of the previous day. I polished the dagger on my somewhat clean pant leg and knelt behind my friend.

“Are you sure you want me to do this?”

“No,” was the reply.

“Oh, thanks,” I said sarcastically, as I brought the blade to his back and began scraping away the foul substance, starting with small strokes at the top. Following that, I washed and quickly dried it with the cleanest bit of material we could find. Ekaitz repositioned himself so I could sit next to the fire to heat the metal blade in the flames. Arrats commanded the fire to heat up and I held the blade over the flames until it began to glow red-hot. I held the split flesh together and pushed the heated blade against it, closing the wound and hopefully searing out the infection. Ekaitz whimpered in pain from the heat of the blade against his skin, but I had to ignore his cries and pressed the blade to his back again, and again, until the length of the wound had been sealed.

I handed Arrats the dagger which he stabbed into the dirt floor to let it cool where no one would accidentally burn themselves. In an effort to distract himself from the searing pain, Ekaitz reminded us that we would have to search for yet another place to call home. None of us were enthusiastic about the fact so the reminder passed on, undiscussed.

“I wonder where Koldobika went,” Arrats said aloud to himself. We all wondered the same thing, but
with no known ways to get past the Wall we all assumed that he had gone to a different section of the city. The only comments Arrats got were a couple of grunts.

~ ~ ~

As the rising sun’s light began to warm the air around us and wake the city’s inhabitants we took the three caged rodents that currently shared our place of residence and wound our way through the slowly crowding streets, headed for one of Caernadvall’s many markets. Eventually we came to the marketplace, where many of the vendors counted their stock after we passed their stalls. Their belongings were always there and, though they had come to recognize us, they never failed to check their wares, simply because we were amongst the lesser masses of the city.

~ ~ ~

I glanced up into the meandering crowd and caught the stare of a girl barely older than I; Eskarne smiled as she walked over to our group, and as she passed Ekaitz she made a joke about his advertising skills, which he happened to be putting to good use. Amongst the street dwellers Eskarne was admired for her bravery and also well known for breaking almost every law the King could think to enforce. “Did you tire of infuriating the Guards?” I queried as she neared me and Arrats and she chuckled, shaking her head at the old joke.

She sat on the ground on the other side of Arrats and they began a hushed conversation, their words too soft for me to hear over the noises from the bartering crowds. I gave up on my eavesdropping and leaned back against the short, stone wall that rose behind me, relaxing in surrender to the calming heat of the sun and the hazily distant murmur of the crowds. I tilted my head back and gazed up into the strip of blue sky, watching birds and clouds slip by on lazy winds. The time we spent in the marketplace trying to attract customers was by far the most boring activity I had ever engaged in; it was not too bad once we found a buyer, but lately we had been losing contact with them, so we had to spend more time looking and less time selling.

~ ~ ~

Ekaitz ran back through the cornfield to Arrats and me. He had left us behind a minute ago, saying he would wait at the edge of the field. “Hurry up, you guys. I found something.” Arrats looked at me with a bored expression plastered on his face.

“Shall we?” he muttered. This was the seventh possible place for a relocation we had come upon that day and the three of us had been growing rather discouraged by the poor selection.

“I will race you,” I offered.

“Go,” the two of us charged toward Ekaitz who, at first, had a startled look on his face, then turned and led us on to his discovery.

The cellar of a long since demolished inn lay before us, appearing suddenly as we approached it through the screen of corn husks. Directly in front of us a short flight of stone steps descended ten feet into the ground; further down the cellar split to both sides and formed a large ‘T’. Around the base of the inn, rotten beams of wood formed random heaps that had long since been overgrown by deep grass and, underfoot, we could hear broken pottery crumbling into even smaller shards.

“All we need is a roof and a makeshift wall for winter so that we do not have to heat the entire thing.” Arrats and I nodded, it was a good plan; with the entire structure underground it would take even less effort to heat during the cold months and in our position that was a definite bonus.

~ ~ ~

We arrived back at the shack a few hours before sundown to find Eskarne there, waiting impatiently for us. Whenever she heard we were moving she would follow us to find our new home. Whether or not we told her of our plans, she always remained faithful in her self-designated responsibility of knowing our whereabouts.

Eskarne stood beside the door of the hut, looking murderous. “Why would you not let me go with you?” she growled before any of us had the chance to say a word.

“There was nothing of great interest,” I defended. “We found a cellar, put up a wall and ceiling, and now we are back. End of story.”

She mumbled a few incoherent words then said, “But then, you would enjoy doing something incredibly boring like that—would you not?”

Eskarne helped gather our scarce belongings and accompanied us to the cellar, where we convinced her to stay for supper. Once the food was gone we lounged around the fire and told stories in the dim moonlight, as we usually did when we had visitors.

“Once, in times long forgotten, and in a land which many now believe no longer exists,” Ekaitz began mysteriously, “on a beautiful summer night, the heavens dripped tears of starlight. Within the next week a mythical race began to appear. They were called unicorns. The unicorns were white as snow, their eyes like starlight, and their manes and tails as liquid silver.”

“Do you have to go through the description?” Arrats interrupted.

“I already did, and besides, it is part of the tale.”

“Just shut up and listen,” Eskarne whispered. Ekaitz had always been able to mesmerize people with his voice as he told stories, whether he had only thought of them at that moment or had been reciting them for years. Anyone who knew him well though, had heard this story before so Arrats was able to fight off the spell and sprinkle his criticism on the unfolding tale.

Ekaitz continued, “Many people believed that the unicorns had been sent as a blessing from on High. Wherever the unicorns went they brought prosperity, health, and good luck to the inhabitants of the land, and in their wake was peace. Any unclean or poisoned water touched by the horn of a unicorn became pure and was deemed holy.

“The peace brought by the presence of the beautiful race was not to be long lived, however; one day a dark warlord appeared with his legions of mortal warriors and where the unicorns left goodness and peace, the evil warlord brought death, pain, and misery. The warlord had killed and laid waste to all living things whence he had come, but still his bloodlust was unsated.

“According to rumor the warlord’s bloodlust came from his lack of life. It was said that he had been cursed by the Ancients to roam the lands, bloodless and lifeless, and yet undead. In the accursed warlord’s anger against the Ancients, he had sworn to devour everything which brought peace and happiness to any living thing. The unicorns fought valiantly, but in the end their leader realized that they would perish entirely if they did not leave. The leader did not have the strength to return with his people so he stayed, and with the last of his strength turned himself into a human and disappeared amongst the races of men. So it was that the unicorns left, knowing that one day they would be called back to fulfill their destiny.

“In the absence of such power and wonder the warlord did not notice the loathed spark of hope remaining in the humans, so he left with his legions to track down and slay the unicorns. In his haste to leave, the warlord had overlooked the strange man who slipped quietly away from the deserted encampment of his prey; as the sentinel of the unicorns, the man would wait for the time when his race should return.

“The legend of the unicorns was passed on from generation to generation, telling of the wonders they brought. Somehow—though no one is quite sure of the details—the unicorns will one day return and with them all the wonders they brought at their first visit.”

We sat in silence for a short time after Ekaitz finished his tale. He had become rather good at crafting simple stories into entrancing legends, using only his voice and emotions, and leaving his audience in awe or wonder with their minds strolling along the paths of a far different land.

“I wonder if it is true,” Eskarne mused.

“Koldobika said it was,” Ekaitz and I said in unison.

“What about the warlord? He is said to be following the unicorns to whatever lands they cross, so wherever they go, he will follow,” Arrats said.

“And we will all be doomed,” Ekaitz said with a comically cheery tone to his voice.

When we had run out of tales, Eskarne and I began a series of duels that would last long into the night. I called each of us a blade from Lietha, the magical plane of existence in which beings able to use magic could create things, and then make them manifest in the physical world. The edges of our blades were purposely dulled so that we would not accidentally kill each other.

~ ~ ~

Hours later we still fought on in the dim moonlight and flickering light of the fire, until Arrats called to us, saying that we needed to get some rest before sunup. Eskarne took an unexpected swipe at me and I barely jumped out of the way before her sword whistled through the air, only inches from me. “Hey, that was illegal,” I growled, caught unaware.

“Says who?” she asked sweetly.

“Me. Why?”

“You are so weird.” We sent our swords back to Lietha and walked over to Ekaitz and Arrats, who immediately stopped talking once we were within clear hearing range. Guilty smiles spread across both their faces. “What are you up to?” Eskarne queried.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Ekaitz said, trying to look innocent while leaning back on his elbows, his legs stretched leisurely before him. As was usual of her, Eskarne grumbled something in return which sounded like ‘loser’.

“Actually, we were just talking about Izotz,” was Arrats’ reply.

“Will you let me in on your little secret?” she asked.

“What do you think, Ekaitz?” the older boy asked, speaking slowly in an effort to tantalize the girl.

“Oh, I do not know—she will probably warn him.”

“About what?” I asked and then said, “I do realize that my birthday is approaching.” The boys began searching for a new topic since they no longer had anything of interest to say. I shrugged in apology to Eskarne. “I think I spoiled your secret.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do you three even have these crazy little trials?”

“I told you both that we should never have said a word to her.” Arrats began defending himself the moment her nagging began.

“Hmm.”
Eskarne sat down next to me. “What do you have to do this year? You are turning fifteen, right?”