The Descendants Book One: The Broken Scroll (6 page)

“Yes, sir,” the other spoke again.  Davin realized that the Lowman
who was holding the dead man’s arms had asked the question. 

“Remember, soldiers, no one is to believe this death occurred except those who witnessed it.  If word gets out that there is one of their kind left, there will be inquiries.  We must not let people have the hope that one is still among us.”

“Sir, no disrespect, but surely word has already spread of this story?  People will not keep quiet about it.  The whole kingdom will know of the governor’s death soon,” said one brave soldier. 

The leader waited for a minute.  The soldier began to cower, fearing a verbal lashing from his superior.  “Don’t worry, we will deal with that Descendent soon enough.  The public is to think we are here to resupply.  If all goes well, he will no longer have anywhere to hide soon.”

“Yes, Captain,” the soldier said.               

The leader looked down at the hole that was dug.  “That is good enough.  Put him in.”  The men did as they were told and began covering the hole back up.

“When will we join the others?” one of the other Lowman asked. 

The
Dous
Captain looked at the man with an utmost loathing, but didn’t let it creep into his response.  He answered cordially. 

“As soon as their task is done, First Tenant.  I hope I will have good news for the First Captain.  Otherwise our efforts here in this location become meaningless.  And our great commander will not be pleased.”  His tone returned business-like.  “I am going to meet rest of the regimen.  Finish here and then meet us.  Remember that if you reveal our true reasons for being here you will be executed.” 

The men gulped, but again called out strongly, “Yes, sir.” 

Davin stepped forward further still.  A stick rolled under his feet and he fell to ground, yelping loudly.  The soldiers all turned their heads toward his direction and marched toward where he was standing. 

Davin scrambled to his feet and shot away from the scene of his clumsy fall, fearing the sound of soldiers’ armor behind him. 

“What is going-,” Roland started. 

Davin quieted him with a finger over his mouth and pulled the older man into a run.  They hurried through the forest at as fast a clip as they could.  The swish of leaves and branches loudly marked their trail. 

When the sounds of the soldiers faded, Davin risked a glance back. 

Roland,” he called, and Roland came panting over to him.  “I think we lost them.  That was close.” 

“Too close for me,” said Roland.  “Let’s get on with the hunting so we can get out of here.” 

Davin stood still.  “I want to go back and see what they did.” 

Roland laughed, clearly thinking Davin was joking.  Davin didn’t break his straight face.  Instantly he began back the way they came.

“Are you crazy, you will be arrested if you are caught,” yelled Roland, but Davin didn’t stop. 

Roland followed on behind Davin.  In a few more minutes they reached the grave.  It was deserted. 
The soldiers must have thought I was just a large animal.

Davin looked back.  Roland had snuck around to see the body.   He stretched out with his hearing.  The soldiers had completely left from what he could tell.  He called out to Roland when he realized the soldiers were out of range.  Roland stepped to Davin’s side and put his hand on Davin’s back to steady himself. 

“You’re either really brave or really stupid…probably the latter,” said Roland.  

Probably, but it was interesting wasn’t it?” 

Roland shook his head at the boy, but Davin had already moved on.  “I didn’t understand a thing they were talking about.  What’s a Descendent?”

“N
o idea,” Roland answered quickly.  “Let us go see who this poor man is.”

The two men bent down to uncover the body.  The soldiers had barely dug a hole at all.  There was a minimal amount of dirt and a layer of loose leaves and vines.
              Roland gasped as the man’s face came into view.  Davin looked at Roland blankly. 

“Bless the Ancients
, I know who this man is,” Roland said in a hushed voice. 

“Who?” Davin asked eagerly.  His excitement caused Roland to glare at him before answering. 

“His name is Rufus Gradis.  He is…was the governor of the town of Daust.  I saw him once on a trip to the Capital.”

Davin returned his gaze to the fallen governor.  “So why is he dead then?”

“I don’t know.”  Roland thought for a moment, rubbing his chin.  “Maybe he betrayed the king in some way.  I doubt that though.  The governors were appointed as such because they were the king’s most loyal servants.  They would do anything for him.”

“That still doesn’t explain why they would need to keep his death secret, right?  I’m mean, someone’s bound to have seen him die and word will spread.”

“I feel like there is something else they were doing here.  But it’s also none of our business.  We would do well to stay out of it.”

It took a second for Davin to process Roland’s sudden change of interest.  Davin realized that he himself didn’t want get caught up in the army’s doings, but the mystery still intrigued him. 

“You’re right,” Davin agreed, though still hoped vaguely that Roland would want to pursue the matter.  “Definitely not worth the trouble.  But it would have been fun to know what they up to.”

“I suppose it would,” confessed Roland, smiling.    “Whatever this means though, it’s not our place to worry about it.  It’s more trouble than I’m willing to risk.” 

A short walk later they arrived at the edge the clearing Davin mentioned earlier.  It wasn’t a clearing in the traditional sense.  There wasn’t bright sunlight and wide open space.  The trees were less thick here, but they still stretched wide enough to blo
ck out most of the sky. 

Instead, there was different kind of presence here…a feeling, really.  Some beauty resided here that seemed to make the two men stand in awe.  Davin felt the same way he did every time.  Problems no longer pained the mind and the rest of the world was an age away.
 

“Incredible isn’t,” Davin whispered, barely audible. 

“Yes it is.”  He then asked, “What is this I am feeling?” 

Davin shook his head soundlessly. 

They both wandered farther into the glade, pulled in by the sensation coursing through them.  The formless substance seemed to run within their bodies, sharing veins with their blood.

Roland spoke again, pointing ahead of him.  “What is that light?” 

Roland eyes fixed on the center of the area.  There was a soft white-blue glow that appeared to have no source.  This, Davin had seen many times when he came here.  He still could not explain its existence. 

“I don’t know,” Davin replied.  “I discovered this place some time ago, and I still
don’t understand what it is.  But ever since then I come to this place every time I’m hunting.”  

Roland continued.  “I almost feel a presence here.”

“I knew you would say something like that.” 

Davin looked around.  No animals were present at the moment.  “So now we wait.”

Roland answered distantly.  “Yes.” 

There was nothing for the better part of an hour.  It was quiet.  Almost a spiritual sort of silence was radiating from the place.  They enjoyed the serenity and peace around them, neither one growing impatient.  Both of them let their beings became filled with the aura of the secret place.

Davin dropped into a pleasant dose and then it happened.  The dream woman had come back. 

Her image was still vague, but her voice was more comprehensible than ever.  She reached out to him. 

“
Davin, you must let me in.  What you see in this forest is linked to you.  You must Awaken.”

Chapter 4 The Wanderer

Davin shot up and grabbed Roland’s arm.  Gaining his bearings, he smiled sheepishly.  “Sorry, bad dream, I guess.”

Roland raised his eyebrows.  “Seems that way, you ready to get moving here?”

Davin became lost in his thoughts.  The woman had come to him again. He hadn’t avoided it like he thought.  He had just opened his mouth to talk to Roland when the older man broke his line of thought.    

“Over there, look at what it is,” he said, pointing across the clearing. 

Davin turned and looked in the same direction.  There, on the edge of the clearing, was a cockatrice.  With the bodily shape of a large lizard, but the legs and head of a bird, it was an odd sight to behold.  Davin hadn’t seen one often, but they were prevalent in the Ancient Forest.  He noticed it a couple hundred feet away.

“Finally,” Davin sighed.  He rose to aim his bow at it.  Roland gaped at him. 

“You can’t hit him from here,” Roland told him.

Davin smiled.  It was time to impress Roland with his skills.  “Watch this.”  He took aim with his bow and stretched out with his vision.  The creature came into better focus.  Davin released his bow and the arrow shot away from him.  He followed it all the way to its target.  The arrow struck at the heart and the animal dropped immediately. 

“Great dung heaps,” Roland gasped.  His mouth hung open like a panting dog. 

Davin turned to him.  “You doubted me,” he said. 

“I just have never seen anyone hit a target that small from this distance.”  He finally turned to Davin, “How did you do that?” 

Davin stood silently for a moment.  He realized in that moment that should have been shocked, not cocky, at what he had done.   He was still battling with telling Roland about his new abilities and this new dream.  He had come to no yet.   Deep down he knew that if he told Roland about it, the man would want him to serve the kingdom in some way.  Worse than that, he knew Roland would never give up trying to persuade him to do so.  It made him tired just thinking of all the arguments that would ensue. 

“I’ve been practicing,” he said at last, shrugging his shoulders.  His attempt to sound nonchalant was weak at best, but Roland didn’t question him again.  

Together, they walked over to the fallen creature.  Davin bent down and hoisted it over his shoulders.  It was a smaller cockatrice than he’d seen in the past, but it would suffice.

They began to trudge back out of the forest, using the same path they had followed before.  Davin, having been reminded in the forest that Roland knew much of the world and the people in it, requested tales of his past.  Roland was happy to oblige.  He told Davin about his journeys all over the kingdom as a young man learning the blacksmithing trade.  Davin never knew that Roland had been quite the traveler. 

Once they had reached the forest edge, Roland stopped suddenly and looked back in the direction they had come.  He frowned. 

“What’s wrong?” Davin asked.

“Nothing,” Roland shrugged, “that’s the point.  I don’t know why this place has acquired such a bad reputation.”

“You know people,” Davin reminded him, “it doesn’t take much to spread a rumor and make it believable.” 

“You’re smarter than you let on,” Roland said.  Sobering a bit, he continued, “There
is
something special about this forest, but it’s not haunted.” 

Davin stared at him.  Neither of them spoke for what a short minute.  An obnoxious bird’s screech filled the silence. 

“You ready to go, or shall I give you and the forest a moment?” Davin asked cautiously.

Roland nodded vaguely and said nothing, not even registering the jab.  Davin flicked him on the arm with a backhand. 

“Roland!”

Roland stirred.  “Sorry, guess I really must be getting old.”  And then he started away from the forest at a clip. 

Davin had no explanation to the strange behavior, which forced him to accept that Roland’s words as truth. 

They finally arrived at the bowl shaped clearing that held Davin’s home.  Both men squinted at the sight.  Its ability to trap the cool needed to preserve his meats sometimes came at a price.  It also trapped all the brightness of the sun on very clear days.  There was no shade to be found anywhere near the cabin.  And the morning dew didn’t burn off for several hours after sunrise in these temperatures.  This left reflective surfaces at every angle. 

Despite this, Davin loved his landscape.  He hadn’t chosen it for its convenience or comfort.  He’d chosen it for the seclusion. 

It was time to take apart the animal anyway.  Roland said his goodbye and left Davin to his work. 

Everything about butchering an animal he’d self-taught through trial and error and now fancied himself a great butcher.  The worst to get over had been the initial process to remove the innards and the head.  Blood usually found itself all over, including into Davin’s mouth.  He had only recently learned to control his gag reflex.