The Descendants Book One: The Broken Scroll (31 page)

“I know for a fact that they have not been to the mountains yet,” he burst out to them all.  This bold statement caught everyone off guard. 

Davin’s excitement exploded from him, the fire in his voice growing with every word.

“One of the places mentioned in the text is the Ancient Forest, I am sure of it.  ‘The forest where our fathers’ bodies lie forever’.  When I saw First Captain Deverell and his men there the last time I went hunting, I knew that something else was going on.  Something else besides the governor’s burial and the order of supplies from my godfather, the blacksmith
of Lemirre.  They created these excuses to come to Lemirre and the Ancient Forest so they could look for it.  ” 

Egan’s face dawned with understanding.  Kayleigh and Teague looked confused. 

“How long ago was your father taken?” Davin asked the girl. 

She shrugged, “It has been a couple of months now.” 

All eyes in the room were on him.  When they stayed mute, he continued.  “It makes sense, doesn’t it?  They knew where to look for the Scroll because of her father.  He gave them any information they needed to find us.  After issuing the order to Roland for equipment and the criminal campaign, they had their excuse to come.  Then they used the burial of the governor to enter the forest without suspicion.  Everyone knows that the governor is dead.  Simply going in to hide the body wouldn’t make any sense.  They covered up their entire agenda.  It was the only way to keep the Scroll a secret,” he concluded. 

Davin felt a great weight lift from his mind.  The resolution of something so heavy allowed a great catharsis, even though their troubles were far from over. 

“Then our fate is sealed,” Egan replied gravely.  The other two pieces were too vague yet to pursue.  The southern mountains and a confrontation with the Auki were where their fates lied. There was no doubt of that. 

“Before we make any plan about leaving, we need rest,” Egan told Kayleigh.  “Traveling straight for several days will wear out any man, no matter powerful he is.”

She nodded understandingly.  “This is not a problem.  Take beds wherever you like and as much time as you need.  I will gather the essentials for long travel so that when you are rested we can leave quickly.”

Egan didn’t respond the way Davin had expected at Kayleigh’s kindness.  Instead of thanking her he frowned, looking upset.  Davin felt like stepping in and responding for Egan.  But then Egan spoke again. 

“My lady,” he started, “this is not a quest I would ask you be a part of.  No one in this company would force you do this against your will.  I would not like to witness a poor death placed upon one so young and fair.”

She accepted his compliment with only the slightest flicker of grin.  It was repressed quickly though, as if it showed weakness.  “Master Egan, I know that none of you force it upon me.  I want to join you if your group will have me.  I know what may lie ahead but I am no weak house maiden.  If it becomes necessary, I can take care of myself.”  She hesitated before saying more.  “Besides, this is my task as much as it is all of yours.  My father is everything to me and now there is something I can do to help him.”

“Is there no deterring you from this mind set?”

“I’m afraid not,” she replied firmly. 

“Then so be it,” Egan conceded.  Davin’s stomach did a flip-flop in his body.  This attractive girl would be joining them.  He would have to spend more time in conversation with her.  The thought was frightening, but he couldn’t explain exactly why.  He would have to make sure he didn’t sound like an idiot when he spoke.  That was for sure. 
And no childish fighting with Egan. 

Egan continued as those thoughts rattled around in Davin’s head.  “Let us have our rest while you run your errands.  If all goes well we should be ready by daybreak tomorrow.”

“I look forward to our journey together,” she said, almost happy at the thought.

Egan frowned.  “I only wish I could say the same.” 

Chapter 18 The Company of Fugitives

The three weary travelers slept through the day and awoke around sundown.  They noted quickly Kayleigh wasn’t anywhere to be found, so they settled in to filling their empty bellies.  It was an odd sight.  Each of them looked lethargic and grumpy as they sat munching on various fruits and bread from the house.  They had in fact slept through the entire day and still Kayleigh had not returned. 

As the evening grew later, though, another emotion grew inside him.  He realized he was concerned for Kayleigh’s safety.  Strangely, he wanted to rush to her, make sure everything was alright.  But he kept his feeling to himself and tried push it away uncomfortably.  It was a silly notion.  He barely knew the girl. 

Teague and Egan have to be thinking the same thing
.  He quickly hid it behind a display of simple curiosity. 

“It is getting later than I ever expected her to return.  And this town doesn’t carry the nicest reputation.  Perhaps it would be wise to go look for her.”

Egan agreed. 

They each gathered up their packs and stepped outside into the gloomy, cloud covered night. 
The breeze had picked up since their first arrival in the city, causing signs and shutters to creak as they passed.  A chill resided in the air that reminded Davin of winter at home in the foothills.  It wasn’t a normal kind of chill though.  There was the possibility that the lack of moon made the darkness feel more complete, but Davin couldn’t rid of the feeling that something was out of place in city.  The three of them kept silent as they strolled aimlessly through the streets. 

As
the stumbled upon an open air market place, they were greeted by carts and stands as poorly maintained as the men that ran them. Each grinned in a way that said they would as likely   to take a knife to one’s neck as sell them their goods.  It was hard to ignore their sallow faces, broken teeth, and scarred skin, but they all did their best. 

Does no one live a descent life here? 

In the middle of the market place there was a crowd of people gathered.  They all seemed to be surrounding something in a circular fashion.  The merchants who had been packing up for the evening had even stopped to watch the event taking place. 

Drawing closer, they heard a man’s voice yelling out loudly from within the circle of people.  As he came into sight, they saw that he was mostly naked except for undergarments around his waist.  Stopping, they watched him for a couple of minutes. 

He seemed to follow a pattern of sorts.  He would say something incoherent and then grow silent again.  Then he would lie on the street like a baby, shivering, and start the process over.  

When Davin, Egan, and Teague had moved closer still, they saw the man fully for the first time.  He did not look well.  He was currently laying on the damp street, mumbling to h
imself. He appeared sickly in appearance like so many in this city, but his eyes were bulged and wild within their sockets, as if they weren’t his own. 

Clothes sat on the g
round next to him, ripped to shreds, as if he had torn them off in his insanity.  Davin blinked, hoping his eyes would see a different sight when he opened them again.  Sadly, they didn’t. 

Egan spoke to a middle-aged man next to them.  “Who is this person?”

The man answered in a voice just above a whisper, as if he didn’t want the sick person on the ground to hear him. 

“He is merely a street wretch, lost in his mind.  I think he’s an old veteran of the army.  He was first noticed here a couple of weeks ago.  Most of the time people just ignore him, but tonight he’s been especially insane.”  The man paused for a moment and sighed.  “I personally have pity for him.  He doesn’t seem to be getting any better.  But there’s nothing we can do.  We do not have the means to help him in Tilea.  Poverty is a way of life here.”

No kidding,
Davin thought, almost rolling his eyes
. 

The wretch stood up suddenly and yelled some gibberish into the night and then became still again.  Had it not been so sad, it would have been funny.  Davin couldn’t help but feel pity for him as well.  He wanted to take the man to a Cureist. 

Davin looked away for a moment and only a few feet from them stood Kayleigh.  She was watching the wretch with great interest.  Davin pointed her out to the others and they went over to her.  She was alarmed at first by three men closing on her position at the same time, but then she realized who they were. 

“I am sorry,” she said when they approached.  “It took me awhile longer to gather what we needed.  I had to travel outside of town.  But then, when I returned, I grew fascinated by the wretch here.  He was acting a bit more strangely than usual.  The soldiers just ignore him usually, but they may do something about him this time.”

Egan obviously had trouble being firm about her mistake.  He softened into a smile.  “We were merely concerned about your safety.  With your father already gone, we feared you had suffered the same fate.”

“I appreciate the concern-,”

She was cut off by the wretch’s yells.  Except this time he wasn’t yelling incoherently.  He spoke in the common tongue.  Real words were coming from him.  A new disquiet began to emerge from within the crowd, beginning to gain new attention from passersby. 

“Where are they?!  I can sense them ar
ound me!  You must show yourself to me,” he yelled into the night, whipping his head back and forth violently. 

Egan turned to Kayleigh again, looking even more interested.  “Has this happened before?” 

“Not like this that I know of.  This is a new development.” 

Egan concentrated on the wretch.  He seemed to be looking for something that wasn’t obvious. 

Davin had decided that he was done staring at this poor man’s pitiful state.  He felt like he was mocking the man by standing there and not doing anything.  Realistically, he couldn’t really help, but he’d rather leave than watch a hopeless loon deteriorate in front of their eyes. 

He spun around to speak to Egan.  Egan had started step forward.  Kayleigh grabbed his arm.  Egan jerked as her sudden move surprised him. 

She whispered.  “We can’t help him.  It has to be this way.  And you are going to attract the soldiers to us.” 

“Trust me.  This may be worth the risk.”

She looked at Davin and Teague and shook her head.  Davin nodded.  He had to agree that this seemed foolish. 

When Egan pushed through the last of people he came face to face with the wretch.  Everyone watched, waiting to see what Egan would do next. 

Suddenly the wretch yelled out, angrily this time.  “Show yourselves! I know you are here somewhere!  Come to me!”  His voice rumbled through the street, drawing more to the crowd.  Just as Kayleigh guessed they would, soldiers were beginning to pay attention.

To everyone’s surprise, especially Davin’s, Egan answered him with confidence that said he knew what the other was talking about. 

“No need to shout.  I’m right here,” Egan cooed, speaking as if trying to calm a young child.

The other’s eyes grew wide and afraid.  His previous rage was halted.  He put his hands above him, shielding his head as if he thought Egan was going to attack him.  

Egan calmly reached into his pack and pulled out the Driocht orb of wind.  Davin frowned.  He didn’t understand anything that Egan was doing.  Was he going to attack the man?

In a soft voice Egan said, “Please, will you take this?  I want you to have it.”  Davin nearly cried out.  How could Egan give this crazy person one of their sacred orbs? 

The soft, kindness of Egan’s tone must have made him feel better.  He uncovered his head and reluctantly took the orb from Egan’s hand.  It began to glow.   Everyone surrounding the wretch gasp at the sight.  This was impossible, wasn’t it?  This man couldn’t possibly use Driocht.

Wind shot forth outward from the man’s location in all directions.  The gusts were strong and they knocked many of the people in the crowd over.  The wretch himself flailed about as if unable to control his power.  He cried out in fear, trying to stop what he was doing. 

Egan attempted to bellow over the shrieks of the crowd dispersing.  “Who did this to you?  How can you have this power?” 

Davin called out to Egan, “Grand soldiers are coming.  We have to go.  They can’t find out we did this.”  Egan stood stubbornly, waiting for an answer. During this wait, he grabbed his orb back. 

After a few more seconds, as he turned to leave, the man screamed in sudden pain.  The four of them spun around and saw that the wretch had been struck with an arrow straight in the heart. Davin remembered the feeling of an arrow ripping through his flesh.  He winced at it. 

The man called out before he fell, “The First Captain…he promised us…”

But he didn’t finish.  They didn’t have time to ponder his words.  It was time to go. 

The group of four was prepared for the journey and made it to the edge of the city in an hour’s time.  They kept to a walking pace so that there would be no suspicions about their sudden departure.  This time they were not seen. 

Davin almost thought he heard the screams in the distance that sounded like the wretch.  But that was the least of their concerns about him.