Rohvim #1: Metal and Flesh (26 page)

He silently ascended the steep, narrow trail leading to the top and approached the campfire. He lowered himself to the ground and after a moment he felt someone sit beside him. Betha’s voice warmed his ears, “When we came to join the fight, I saw you. You were amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. It reminded me of my father—he was the finest swordsman there ever was. I thought you’d like to know.” He had no reply. “Really, you must have been holding out on me during our duel.” He did not answer. She got up, “Please get some sleep Aeden. We’ll need you in the morning.” And the girl left. Aeden breathed in her fading scent, exhaled, and got to his feet. “Goodbye, Priam,” he whispered to the north, and he too lay down by the fire and slept.

Chapter Sixteen

“’She will change the world. She will right all wrongs. She will exalt the poor and the meek, and cast down the strong and the mighty, though they too, at last, will be saved. The friend of the King of Healers shall she be, but greater than he. And at the altar of time, on the mountaintop, she will seal her gift with her blood.’ And when he had said these words, the people all praised Ilien, and looked forward to their day of salvation.” –The Adventures of Ilien, 45:50

When they awoke the next morning, the sun gently warmed the dew-kissed earth, and the crisp fall air carried the smell of turning leaves. They broke camp, and sent the freed townspeople south to seek lodging in the town of Lofgren. The freed soldiers they allowed to travel north with them to find their former homes. They travelled for many days in this arrangement, and after two days one of the soldiers approached the master healer.

“Master?” the woman asked.

“Yes, my daughter?” smiled the old man.

“I’ve been remembering more and more of my ordeal. At first, it was all cloudy and I could remember very little, just that a year ago I forgot who I was and saw my body do strange things that I could not control. But now I am remembering more detail. Soon after I lost control of my body, I travelled east with a group of other people entombed in their own bodies. We travelled for two weeks at least, crossing mountains, hills, wastelands, until at last we came to a stronghold. I lived there for a year, watching the amassing army, until we were sent out last month with the intent of capturing several cities and eliminating the nobility in each. That is all I remember. I’m sorry if it is not enough.”

Diana, listening in, asked the woman, “Which of the northern kingdoms do you call home?”

The woman replied, “The kingdom of Vaasa.”

“And you travelled roughly two weeks to the east?”

“Yes Milady. I do not know if it was due east or slightly to the north or south, I just remember following the waking sun.”

Diana turned to the master healer, “She must have passed though the land of Volda before reaching Lord Shiavo’s stronghold. It may even be within the borders of that land.”

The old man replied with a grim smile, “To Volda we go, then.”

They continued their travel for several days more, at last coming to mountains, a tall, snowy peak ascending to the sky behind the range.

“To the northwest of this range,” said Diana to the freed soldiers, “lies the land that most of you hail from. We, however, must travel northeast, and go to the kingdom of Volda, where I was born, and root out this evil that has made slaves of many.” The freed soldiers thanked them and praised them, and took their leave to the northwest. As they approached the mountains, they began to turn east and hug the southeasterly slopes of the foothills. The terrain was rough, clogged with thistle and weeds, and thorns clung to their clothing.

The weather turned, and rain began to fall, carried on a wind out of the west. As the sky turned from a gloomy grey to a darker shade of grey, Aeden realized that the sun must be going down, and longed to stop and make camp, dry off, eat, and rest his feet. He did not, however, want to be the one to ask for rest, cocky teen as he was. He needn’t have worried, though, for Diana and Gregory both announced that their tired old metal bones had had enough for that day, and they climbed to the top of a hill amid a thicket of trees to establish their camp for the night.

Aeden dropped his pack and lay on the ground for a few minutes before getting up to help gather firewood. Rupert bounded up behind him, like an eager dog, Aeden thought, to offer his assistance. “Hey Aeden! Mind if I join you? I can carry a lot!” Aeden nodded, a little reluctantly, and the two wandered off a short distance into the woods.

The master healer sat on a fallen log to relieve his sore feet. Stuart lay down immediately on his bed pad and fell asleep. Frederick and Darla wandered off into the woods together, supposedly to gather firewood as well, though they did not return for at least twenty minutes and carried just a handful of fallen branches on their return. Betha and master Arturo gathered some large rocks and assembled them into a fire pit.

“I wish your father was with us, Betha. They call me a master swordsman, but truly he was greater than me,” said Arturo.

Betha nodded in agreement, “He is rather amazing, isn’t he? You served in the royal guard with him, no?”

“I did. He joined several years before I did, and took me under his wing when we discovered that we were fellow society members.”

Betha dropped a large stone into place. “Who invited you into the society?” she asked.

“Alastair.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know Alastair.”

“You wouldn’t. He was one of the original members that the master healer brought in, but he was older when he joined, and died about twenty years ago. He was very devout. Very humble. Very kind. He wanted to make your father a member of the elder council before he died. But then your father left ….”

Betha grimaced. “He can be quite stubborn sometimes ….”

They had nearly finished the circle, and when Aeden and Rupert returned with some wood, Arturo continued, “Alastair was someone I would have loved to have on this mission. A highly skilled swordsman and a fine rohva. Much like your father. In fact, I wish your father would have come.”

Betha shrugged, “I asked him to consider it, but he refused.”

Arturo frowned. “Is it still the same old thing?”

“Yes. And so it’s left to me to do his job.”

Aeden looked up at her. “Why does he not like the society?”

She sighed. “Oh, it’s not that he doesn’t like the society, he just doesn’t like certain members. He sees many in the society as too … unfaithful, I guess the word would be. There are many healers who think that with our knowledge of the human race, the Creator has no place in it. After many of these people gained seats on the council, he left and won’t come back.”

“So these members aren’t faithful? I know a lot of people who don’t seem very faithful and they seem ok.”

“Well, these members were a little more vocal in their opinions than those unfaithful that you’ve met. There is a large portion of society members that believe we should not associate ourselves with the priests or the Creator in our healing.”

Arturo piped in, “But if we did that, then the people would ask: ‘by what power then do you accomplish your miracles?’ and we would be either forced to claim witchcraft, or tell them the truth, both of which are unacceptable.”

Aeden asked the man, “So you consider yourself faithful, then?”

Arturo affirmed, “I do. Most of those on this mission consider themselves faithful, with the exception of Diana and Edwin, though I am not sure of some of you younger folk.” The wood had been properly arranged in the circle, and Aeden retrieved his tinder.

“Use your sword!” said Rupert.

Aeden looked at the thin boy, puzzled. “Use my what?”

“Use your sword. It’s much faster to light a fire that way.”

Aeden, still puzzled, asked, “How do I use my sword to light a fire?”

 “Just like you would use it to shock someone in a duel, only you point at some kindling or dry moss or something, and give it a quick burst. Try it!”

Hesitantly, Aeden unsheathed one of the swords from the scabbard on his back and approached the firepit. Once again, he attempted to do as Arturo had tried to teach him. He reached back into his mind, and tried to be in two places at once—in his head and in his body. He entered his mind, found his wall, and then tried to return to his surroundings. His mind’s surroundings faded away as he pointed the sword at the firepit. Frustrated, he entered again and repeated the process.

“Aeden. Let me help.” Betha approached and stood next to him. “May I?” she asked, raising her hand near his head. He nodded and she rested her palm on the back of his head. Darla, returning from the woods with Frederick, flashed her a thumbs up, which Betha rolled her eyes at. She entered his mind and approached him there.
Come here, by your wall.
She said. They stood before the right section of his mind’s wall, and she continued,
Put your hand on mine, here, on the controls.

Aeden, in his mind, unable to control the emotion broadcast from his face, blushed and beamed at her. She returned a small smile, and they placed hands together on the controls.
Now, follow me out. Don’t worry about losing your place here, just go there.
He exited his mind, and in the waking world Betha looked in his eyes and said, “Now, let me hold your sword hand, and we’ll both aim at the firepit.” He offered his hand, she wrapped hers around it, and they both aimed at a small piece of kindling. “Now, think of my hand on yours in your mind. The one on the controls.”

His eyes glazed over a bit, and he said, “I can! I can feel you still there. No, I can still see you there.”

She continued, “Now, give it a blast. Your hand is on the controls with mine. Use it. Give it a small shock.” His eyes unfocused, and after a few seconds a jagged white stream arced out of the tip of the sharp sword, igniting the kindling.

Arturo, Rupert, Darla, Frederick and Betha all cheered. Aeden smiled broadly, a little stunned, and remarked, “I can’t believe it. I finally did it. You helped me do it.”

Betha removed her hand from his and lowered her other hand from his head, breaking the connection. “I knew you could do it. Good job.” She slapped him firmly on the back a few times, letting her hand linger there for a few moments before she withdrew and walked over to Darla, asking where the rest of the firewood was.

“We brought some, we brought some! We’re tired! It took us awhile to find any! Give us a break!” She stormed in a mock-offended voice, and continued, “Come on, let’s go get some more.” And the two girls wandered off back into the woods.

 Aeden let his eyes wander after them, and when they passed out of sight, he returned his attention to the fledgling fire, which had gone out and was now only a faint stream of smoke. He raised his sword again, pointing the tip just inches away from the kindling, and reached back to his mind’s wall, where Betha had left him. He found it, and manipulated the controls. A large spark shot out and reignited the fire. This time he got on his knees and blew, feeding the fire with other small pieces of kindling until it was a roaring bonfire, sufficiently large to drive the moisture from their wet clothing and warmed them to the core.

Priam awoke with a start. He could not see, and realized he was blindfolded. He struggled a bit and felt that he was tied to a table—his hands tied to the edge above his head, several ropes keeping his torso and legs down, and his feet were secured to the other end. He heard people talking nearby, but the voices seemed distant and muffled. He gradually became aware of his aching headache, and a sharp localized pain on the back of his head. He had been knocked put, he remembered now. He was in battle, fending off ten, no, twenty warriors. One slipped in behind him and knocked him down, then bashed the back of his head with a stone or a sword hilt or something. He remembered nothing after that, and had no idea of how long he slept.

He struggled a bit more, then heard footsteps behind him. From their echo, he could hear that he was in a closed stone room. Through the edges of the blindfold, the room appeared quite dark, lit only by a candle or two. The footsteps paused behind him. There were two, possibly three people standing there.

One of them spoke. “Welcome Priam.” The man said.

Priam answered, the slightest quiver in his voice, “How do you know me?”

“I’ve been watching you for awhile now.” The man replied, and continued, “I keep an eye on all new society members, though none suspect it.”

Priam pondered this, and asked, “So you are a member of the society? Did you see us off from Ramath?”

“Yes. I noticed you upon your arrival—you stood out. You seemed special. Did you know you are special, Priam?”

Priam shrugged, “Sure. Why not?”

The heavy voice went on, “You are special—I’ve seen it. While you were asleep I entered your mind, my apologies, but I had to be sure. I looked, and indeed you have the mark of prophecy about you. You are far more special than you realize. Much more than that royal brat you associated with.”