Origin (26 page)

They rode together in silence for a few moments before he asked, “Have you ever been to a morden choosing, Alea?”

“Yes I have, but only once when I was a young girl. I stood in the background with my parents and watched my childhood friend Thane life-bond with Raffe. It was an experience that I will never forget. I was so happy for him. We have been close friends as long as I can remember and I happily shared his joy at being chosen by Raffe. I have wanted to attend a choosing as a potential partner, but I was away on duty for the last two and my parents still feel that I am too young to life-bond. After this trip though, I now believe otherwise.

“Alea, I would like to give you something to consider while you are riding to Amarni. Both you and Raffe loved Thane; that much is obvious to me. Unfortunately, given the current circumstances, you both have to continue to perform a duty to Silvendil and will not have the time to properly grieve until this mission is completed. When I pick up Elwyn and take her to Findara, I plan to bring Raffe along with us. Maybe, when you return from Amarni, you should consider letting me call a special choosing of one to see if Raffe is willing to life-bond with you. I know that Raffe is a stallion and would normally choose a male, but you both had a strong bond with Thane that I think is more important than the traditions of either species. The companionkeeper may not approve, but I have a feeling Raffe will. Besides, if Raffe is unwilling to establish a life-bond with you, he will be unwilling to establish one at all. I know that will make him unhappy though because he would much rather be in the thick of things that put out to pasture for the rest of his days. I believe that you and Raffe will life-bond easily.”

“Oh Ayron, would you do that for me,” Alea said, giving him the first real smile he had seen in days.

“Of course I will. I can’t think of anything that would make Thane happier. He was all about beginnings, not endings. You just let me know when you feel ready. And if you decide that you want to spend some time alone with Raffe before taking such a big step, please let me know and I will make it happen.”

That said, he turned slightly and maneuvered Gerrack over to the wagon hoping to catch Rhys and Clayre both awake. They were indeed awake and engaging in a heated debate. Clayre wanted Rhys to take a draught to help him sleep, and Rhys felt that he had slept enough for a dozen men and wanted to be awake for awhile. Ayron stepped in and acted as mediator by getting them to agree that Rhys would be allowed to be awake for a few hours, and would then take the draught that would help him fall asleep. Since they were both quiet and in a good frame of mind, he told them of his conversation with Kierra. Both Rhys and Clayre seemed troubled by the attacks on Elwyn’s life, but at the same time relieved that she’d been able to evade them and suffered no harm. Rhys puffed up like a proud papa when he told him the steps she took to avoid detection.

“See Clayre,” Rhys said, gently poking her in the arm and smiling. “Our girl has great instincts. I always knew that. You just worry too much,” he added rolling his eyes and smiling at Ayron.”

“I understand more and more why he calls you “Old Man” Rhys,” she replied laughing. “When you don’t know anything you are like a little old man fretting because he can’t find his pet goat, and when you do hear something you go into denial about ever fretting at all.”

Ayron could hear Rhys mumbling something under his breath, but couldn’t quite make it out. Within minutes, the two of them were bickering again about who was responsible for the training that had given Elwyn such great survival instincts. Their bickering was difficult for Ayron to listen to and it soon got on his nerves, so he bade them farewell and rode off to check on his men. As he rode away he realized that he had never seen two people enjoy bickering with each other so much. Elves tended to speak quietly and avoided arguing as much as possible. And as commander of an army, he was not used to having his troops argue with him. If they argued among themselves, it was quietly and out of his hearing. Ayron found that he was very uncomfortable with the type of banter that Rhys and Clayre enjoyed, and knew that he had no desire to engage in it, or worse, get stuck in the middle of it.

Ayron spent most of the afternoon riding with his soldiers and making sure that they remembered to eat, to take turns resting for short periods, and to let their mounts feed from time to time. The day passed uneventfully, allowing Ayron to mentally plot the fastest way to get to Kren from Amarni without crossing into Wheryn, the dangerous land that ran along most of the northern border of Unity. Many seasoned hunters never returned from trips to Wheryn and he had no desire to become another victim to its dangers. The main problem with the land was that no one actually knew the nature of the dangers that lurked there. He’d never heard of anyone who entered it and lived to tell the tale of who or what lived inside. That was exactly why he’d warned Thane and Elwyn to wait for him in the village. He didn’t want either of them risking death by attempting to cross it. His plan upon leaving Kren with Elwyn was to travel west to circumnavigate Wheryn and then head north to Silvendil. Traveling east would be a bit shorter, but he didn’t want to travel too close to Avrelan. He made a mental note to ask Kierra to warn Elwyn not to leave the village without him. He was beginning to get the impression that, while his niece might appear to be an elf and have many of the attributes of an elf, she also had a large dose of her mother’s temper and a bit of her uncle’s impatience and stubbornness.

Late in the afternoon, Ayron stopped by the wagon again to find out how Rhys was holding up. Rhys was sleeping, but Clayre was awake and told him that he seemed to be tolerating the movement of the wagon well. Everything in him wanted to speed up their progress, but he was not willing to risk Rhys’ health by asking Tomak to pick up the pace. As he rode, he was able to spot some of the landmarks he recognized from previous trips. This confirmed his fears that they would not reach Amarni until long after nightfall. He passed the time by speaking to each of his soldiers and encouraging them to stay alert.

As the group slowly approached the border between Unity and Urafiki, they all noticed the trail beginning to narrow with clusters of large trees and brush starting to replace the broad grassy meadows. Ayron had no desire to frighten Clayre or Rhys, but the back of his neck was prickling, which was a sure sign of trouble. Even though he and his soldiers should be more than a match for a shadow squad attack, He still felt uncertain. His original mission was just to check the border and the troops he brought will him were unseasoned and inexperienced. Galdor, Stuart, Kormir and Alea were the only soldiers with him that had any experience in the field or in an actual combat situation. Ayron was already heart sick over losing Thane and was determined not to lose any more of his soldiers. Realizing that dusk was upon them, he quickly shouted a warning to his soldiers to keep a sharp eye for any movement coming from the shadows. The group traveled unimpeded for another half-hour, with the scouts reporting no sign of danger. Just as they were emerging from a particularly wooded area, Ayron heard Alea shout a warning.

A
s Elwyn rode Gemma toward the distant village, she was puzzled to see no people or animals around the huts, or in the surrounding fields. The fields had been planted but were overripe and past harvesting. This puzzled her because she knew from experience, that most villages depended on the crops they grew during the growing season to sustain them during the colder weather. As she drew closer, it looked more and more as if the village was deserted. Many of the huts were in poor condition, with some actually falling down. She had a bad feeling as she approached the center of the village. It was clear to her that there was no one here; not even the older residents, or the women and children. Something must have happened to cause an entire village full of people to leave. However, this is where she was told to wait, and since she had no idea where the villagers had gone, she had no option but to wait here for Ayron. She dismounted in a small grassy area near the center of the village. She asked the morden to wait for her there while she took a better look around.

The first thing Elwyn noticed as she surveyed what was left of the small village was that most of the roofs on the huts in the village had collapsed, or been torn down. She could also see that the few huts that remained standing looked unstable. It looked to her as if someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make the village seem uninhabitable. Before looking around any further, she returned to the morden, unsaddled them, and told them to eat and rest. Both the village and the small field lay adjacent to a small stream so Raffe and Gemma would have easy access to water. She took Keroc with her so she could give him some water and warm him by a campfire. She then picked out the hut that seemed least likely to fall in on her, and decided to risk camping there.

She had to stoop to enter the doorway of the dilapidated hut. She noticed how nature had moved in and established residence. The inside of the hut was a dark, dingy gray color, and the air was stale with a slightly smoky odor. The only sounds came from the reeds in the thatched roof that rustled as the early morning breezes danced overhead, accompanied by soft coos from the birds nesting there. There were also occasional scratching noises made by whatever now inhabited the leaf strewn floor. As she looked forward, she saw her own silhouette reflected on the far wall from the still rising sunlight. The only other source of light in the hut came from a small circular smoke-hole in the ceiling, which had been blackened by the soot of many fires. Elwyn was exhausted by her ride and by the traumas of the past few days and just wanted to sleep. Before she did that, she went out and asked the morden to stand watch as she slept. She gathered some firewood and built a small fire in the ring of stones located in the center of the hut. She fed Keroc some water and made sure that he was still bundled tightly so he couldn’t injure himself. She then took a long drink of water herself, spread out her bed pad, lay down, and was quickly lulled to sleep by the sounds of nature around her.

Elwyn woke feeling refreshed just as the sun began its decent behind the trees of the thick woodland that surrounded the village. She put some wood on her small fire, ate a simple dinner of jerky and trail biscuits, and settled in to wait for Ayron to join her. Feeling a sense of safety and calm for the first time in several days, she remembered her mother’s diary and thought about finally finding some answers to the questions that had remained unanswered for such a long time. There were so many times over the past several seasons that Elwyn longed to know more about her mother but, prior to receiving the diary, she’d never found a way to connect with her. Rhys had always been unwilling to talk about either Rhianna or Alesia. Elwyn hoped that one day he would be able to find a way to express the feelings that were bottled up inside of him, just waiting to come out. He’d come close to doing that on one or two occasions when he’d partaken of one too many mugs of ale. She could see just how much Rhys cared about Clayre, but until he was willing to express how he felt about the past, he would be blind to how much he loved her and as unable to move on with his life as, apparently, her own father was.

Elwyn was getting sleepy again so she checked on Gemma and Raffe once more, gave Keroc more water, banked her small fire, and lay down on her bed pad. Her muscles were so sore from her experiences over the past few days that it actually hurt her to relax them. She began to focus on relaxing each part of her body. She was about half way through this exercise when she felt Kierra touch her mind. It felt different from the other times Kierra contacted her. It felt as if Kierra was fighting to stay connected. She quickly impressed upon Kierra that she was in Kren and that Keroc was still the same, but before she was able to explain to her that the village was deserted, Kierra was abruptly gone. It felt to Elwyn almost as if she had been torn away. She waited for a while, continuing her relaxation exercises to see if Kierra would contact her again, but all was silent. At some point in time she drifted off into a deep but restless sleep.

Elwyn woke to the light of the sun shining down through the hole in the roof of the hut. She got up, stretched, gave Keroc some water, and went to check on the morden. Gemma and Raffe both greeted her with a whinny and nuzzled her neck. They showed no signs of distress, so Elwyn was fairly certain that she was safe from harm; for the time being anyway. She went down to a nearby stream to bathe and collect more water for herself and Keroc. Refreshed by both the sleep and the bath, she walked around the village for a while searching for clues that might shed some light as to why the villagers left and why all the structures looked torn down, rather than worn down by nature. It occurred to Elwyn that she might have gotten turned around and found another village, until she found a plank hanging on a pole near the center of the village that had the name Kren carved on it. Shortly after that, she discovered several pieces of paper that had the village elder Owens’s name on them in one of the dilapidated huts. In that hut, she also found some cooking utensils and blankets she could use that would make her wait a bit easier. It seemed as if the villagers left in a hurry, not bothering to pack up all of their valuables. Elwyn thought she heard a strange noise and laughed as she realized that it was her stomach rumbling. It reminded her just how long it had been since she had eaten anything but trail rations. She searched several more huts and found some ingredients that she could use to make bread. Her search also turned up some spices she could use to perk up the taste of her food, some potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables, as well as a fishing pole that she could use to catch her lunch.

As she sat by the little stream fishing, she began to wonder how long it would take for Ayron to join her. For a person who, until four days ago, had enjoyed being alone, she was amazed at how lonely she felt as she waited for him to arrive. During her journey to Kren, she had Thane as company for part of the distance and then the last part had been so horrific, that she had no time to think about how she felt. Her actions and stamina for the last part of her journey to this small village had been driven by instinct alone. She had so many questions about so many different things, she sometimes felt as if she would just explode. She wanted to know more about her father, she wanted to know more about her mother, she definitely wanted to know more about what happened so long ago to cause this King Stefan to want her and her uncle dead so badly. She also wanted to understand more about the part of her that was Elven. Unfortunately her questions were just going to have to wait until her uncle joined her. She really hoped it would be very soon. But, in the meantime, she had some fish to catch.