The First Life of Tanan (15 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

After the battle, Tanan walked to the area where the army had been camped.  He found three wagons filled with supplies.  He replenished his food stores and filled his canteen from the army’s stores.  He picked up a couple of extra canteens as well.  There were three oxen in a makeshift pen.  Tanan removed their harnesses and set them free and then picked up his gear and started walking west.

He walked a few miles and then set up camp, erected a protective bubble and slept through the rest of the day and night.  Magic was draining.  Even when Tanan channeled energy from around himself, it drained him  And killing took a toll on him in a different way.  He needed the sleep.

The next morning he started walking again.  He had a lot of time to think as he walked.  The Komisani soldiers had been so full of hatred.  Even after they knew they couldn’t hurt him, they just kept attacking.  He could still see soldiers stepping over burning bodies to get to him.  These were not the Komisani he remembered from his childhood.

All the times Gowrand had told Tanan that the Komisani would have to be killed to be stopped, he had never really believed it.  After what he had seen during the battle, he understood what Gowrand was talking about.  The Abbots didn’t have the power or the will to do what Tanan had done.  Tanan wasn’t sure he had the will to continue with this either.  He just wanted it to end.  Why wouldn’t Dannap just stop and let things go back to how they had been for hundreds of years?  Tanan was tired of killing.

Tanan also knew that if the Komisani weren’t stopped, everyone he cared about would die.  He couldn’t protect the Lataki and the Abbots both.  Even if he just stayed at Jesera and let the Komisani murder all the Lataki, they would eventually come to Jesera again.  He wouldn’t be able to stop them forever.

He walked across the plains for weeks, alone with his thoughts.  He had learned that loneliness was a problem on the plains.  All the weeks he’d spent walking alone through the grasslands was wearing on him.  Tanan wondered if he shouldn’t have kept one of the soldiers alive just so he could have had someone to talk to.

When the mountains appeared on the horizon, he was so happy for the change in scenery that he could have cried.  It took him another two days to reach the mountains.  He had no idea where he was.  He might have been north or south of where he wanted to be.  He climbed into the mountains, having to backtrack several times when he found his path impassable.

He climbed to the top of the nearest peak and looked out across the sea.  To the north of him, he could just see the hint of land on the horizon.  He climbed out of the mountains and when he reached the shore he started walking north.

The afternoon of the next day he saw a figure on the beach, far ahead of him.  He continued on and saw that there were several people and they were moving toward him.  It was a King’s Legion patrol.  The first people he had seen in weeks and he was going to have to kill them.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

“Where are you coming from, Abbot?” asked one of the Legionnaires as they came within talking distance.  The man had a look of disgust on his face.

“I just walked across the Lataki plains.”

The man looked to his companions.  “Conspiring with the Lataki, I expect.”

“No,” said Tanan, holding up his hands for them to stop.  “I was actually out there killing the entire Komisani army.  You wouldn’t happen to have a boat that you could lend me, would you?  I need to get to Komisan so I can kill your King.”

The three Legionnaires drew their swords and charged, intending to kill the unarmed Abbot easily.  Instead, they dropped over dead as Tanan sent small explosions of fire into each man’s heart.

Tanan walked past the men and continued up the beach.  There was a large grassy area just up the hill from the beach.  There were about a hundred boats that had been pulled up into the grass and flipped over.  Two large canvas tents stood to one side of the boats.  There was a fire pit, ringed with rocks in front of the tents.  The men had been there for a while, guarding the boats.

He checked the tents.  One had three cots and the men’s gear.  The other contained a cache of dried meat along with relatively fresh bread and tomatoes.  His mouth started watering immediately at the sight of the food.  He didn’t waste any time and dug in to the first fresh food he’d had since leaving Ohlara’s house.  He gorged himself and then sat in the grass under a tree for the rest of the day enjoying the sensation of having a full stomach.

After his food settled, he walked back down the beach to the bodies of the men he had killed.  One of the men was about Tanan’s size.  He stripped off the man’s armor and clothing and carried it back up to the camp.  He washed the man’s clothes in the ocean and then rinsed them with water from a large earthen jug at the campsite.  He spread the clothes out on the hull of one of the overturned boats to dry overnight.

It was getting dark, so Tanan built a fire in the pit.  He sat on the ground next to it and ate more of the tomatoes and bread.  So much food made him tired so he went into the tent and laid down on one of the cots.  There was a thin mattress on the cot.  After months of sleeping on the hard ground, or meditating all night, the cot felt wonderful.  He erected a protective dome over the tent and enjoyed the best sleep he’d had in months.

•        •        •

When Tanan woke up the next morning the clothes he had washed were still damp.  He moved them to a sunny place so they would dry more quickly.  He raided the food stocks again and had a nice, if somewhat less gluttonous meal.

He took a look at all the boats.  They were lined up in neat, military rows.  He picked one of the smaller ones, flipped it over and pulled it down the beach to the edge of the water.  He stripped down and took a dip in the ocean, scrubbing himself, and his filthy robes clean using sand.  It was the first bath he’d had since leaving Jesera and it felt great.  He used water from the jug in the camp to rinse the salt off.

The clothes he’d taken from the dead soldier were dry and he put them on.  He hauled the armor, along with the man’s sword and shield down to the boat.  Then he packed some of the food and full canteens and put them into the boat.  He transferred his things from his pack into one of the soldier’s packs and threw it into the boat too.

He went into the tent where all the food was stored and piled everything together in the center and covered it with a wool blanket.  Using the magic he’d learned from Ohlara, he created a bubble of frozen time around the pile.  He wrung out his wet Abbots cassock and hung it in the door of the tent to dry.

Tanan stepped away from the tent and attempted something new.  He’d only ever created a protective bubble around himself, but he thought that by modifying the spell he’d learned from Ohlara, he might be able to put up a bubble around the tent.  After a few attempts, he was able to toss a handful of sand at the tent and see it hit the invisible barrier.  He didn’t know how long the bubble would last, but if he came back this way, hopefully there would be food and shelter waiting for him.

Tanan walked down to the beach and pushed the boat into the water and climbed in.  He got everything situated and then picked up the oars and started rowing toward the island of Komisan.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

Tanan had made this trip twice before.  The first time had been as an infant after Anin had found him on the beach next to his dying Lataki father.  The second time was when he was eleven years old and fleeing Komisan after accidentally killing the Constable of Port Billen.  This time he was going to Komisan to confront King Dannap and, hopefully, convince the man once and for all to stop waging war on the Lataki and the Abbots.

He was rowing for Port Billen.  Tanan hoped that nobody in the village would recognize him.  It had been nine years and he was no longer the skinny boy he’d been.  He hoped to pass as a King Legion soldier.  He rowed hard, chanting the rejuvenation melody in his head as he pulled on the oars.  He stopped a few times to drink water, and once to eat and rest.

It was getting dark by the time he saw the lights of Port Billen over the water.  That suited him because he didn’t want to be seen by the fisherman who would be coming in at dusk.  He altered his course and aimed for a beach a few miles up the coast from Port Billen.

When he reached the beach it was dark and he was lucky enough that he hadn’t been spotted by any of the Legion patrols.  He pulled his boat up the beach and flipped it over behind a large bunch of bushes, then kicked sand around the beach to try and obscure the marks the boat had made.

Tanan sat on the overturned boat and ate what was left of the bread and tomatoes before setting off for Port Billen.

•        •        •

It was late when Tanan arrived in the village where he had spent his childhood.  The street was deserted, so Tanan walked down to the town square.  It was smaller than he remembered.  He walked over to see the bench where he had spent so many hours talking to Jelak.  The bench had been removed.

The area down by the docks had completely changed.  A third dock had been built and it extended farther into the water than the two old docks.  There were half a dozen boats being built near the docks, and dozens of finished boats lined the docks.  A single soldier was walking around, obviously on guard duty.

It was time for Tanan to test his disguise.  He walked down to the docks and toward the soldier.  As he approached, the man stopped and saluted.  “Lieutenant!”  Apparently the man Tanan had taken this armor from had been a Lieutenant.

“At ease,” Tanan said.  “How are things coming along?”

“Uh, very well, sir.”  The soldier was young and looked very uncomfortable.  “I can take you to Captain Jonel if you’d like, sir.”

Tanan tried to look mean.  “If I wanted to talk to Captain Jonel, I’d go talk to Captain Jonel, wouldn’t I?  Now, do you know when these boats are going to be finished, or are you too stupid to answer even the simplest of questions?”

The poor kid looked like he might soil his armor.  “No, sir.  I mean to say, yes sir.  I think all of the boats will be finished in two months, sir.  I’m sure everything will be finished in time, sir.”

Tanan nodded.  “The next time an officer asks you a question, don’t make him ask it twice.  Dismissed.”

The soldier saluted and quickly walked away from Tanan.

A drunk soldier came out of the Rusty Hook, belched loudly, and staggered up the hill in the opposite direction from Tanan.  Tanan walked over to the Hook and hesitated a moment before going in.  If he was going to be recognized, this would be the place it happened.

He steeled himself and pulled the door open.  There were a dozen soldiers seated around the tables, drinking and joking.  Tanan walked over to the bar and sat down.  The barmaid came over, “What’ll it be, hon?”  Tanan recognized this woman.  It was Pemmy.

“Beer,” Tanan said.  In his mind he sounded like an eleven year old boy.  He knew Pemmy was going to recognize him.  Pemmy hadn’t even looked at him.  She turned and walked down the bar and poured him a mug of beer.  Tanan dug into his pocket for some of the money he’d pulled from the dead soldiers.  He had no idea how much beer cost.  He took a wild guess and pulled out a silver coin with seven sides on it and laid it on the bar.  Pemmy returned with the beer and the coin disappeared.  Close enough, he guessed.

Tanan took a sip of the beer and lowered his head trying to be inconspicuous.  He drank the beer slowly and listened to the conversations happening at the tables behind him.  He learned that the Komisani were preparing for another, larger attack on Jesera.  Tanan guessed that’s what all the new boats were for.

It sounded like Port Billen wasn’t the only village involved.  There was a lot of talk about “the war effort”.  Apparently every town and village on the eastern end of the island was building a fleet of boats to ferry soldiers and supplies to the mainland.

Tanan also learned that two full armies were already on the mainland.  He’d known about one, but hearing that there was a second army came as a shock.  There was no way he could have known about the second army, he just hoped they weren’t attacking Jesera.

Another man came into the tavern and sat at the bar, three barstools down from Tanan.

“Pemmy!” said the man, too loudly.  Tanan looked at the man out of the corner of his eye and saw that the man was already drunk.

“Pemmy!” the man said again.  “Gimme the good stuff!”

Pemmy came out of the kitchen and stood across from the man.  “Show me some money,” she said.

The man looked around and, seeing Tanan, staggered down the bar.  “This young soldier will buy me a drink, won’t ya, buddy?”

Tanan looked up at the man and recognized him right away.  It was his old friend Pessup.  He had spent many days on Pessup’s fishing boat.  This was not good.

“Leave me alone,” Tanan said, trying to sound gruff.

“Aw, c’mon buddy!”, Pessup bellowed in his face.  “Let’s drink a toast to ten thousand dead Lataki!”

The soldiers at the tables were watching now.

Pessup’s face screwed up as he started at Tanan.  “Hey, you know who you look like?  You look like that killin’ bastard Tanan!”

There was a chorus of “ooh’s” from the tables behind him.  Apparently, Tanan had just been insulted.  He decided to use that to his advantage.

Tanan stood up and pulled the sword from the scabbard on his hip, placing the tip on Pessup’s chest.  Pessup backed up and Tanan followed the drunk man.  When Pessup was standing with his back to the wall Tanan moved the sword up and held it to the man’s throat.

“You ought to be more careful what you say to a King’s Legion man, mister.  If you were sober, I’d kill you where you stand.”

Pessup sputtered an incoherent apology.

“Go home,” said Tanan.  He stared down Pessup for a moment before sheathing his sword and returning to his barstool.

There was a roar of laughter from the seated soldiers as they realized Pessup had pissed himself.  Pemmy pushed Pessup out the door and told him to go home and sleep it off.  One of the men at the tables shouted over the laughter, “Nice one, Lieutenant!”

Tanan sat down and resisted the urge to run out of the tavern.  He ignored the men at the tables and finished his beer and then left.

He’d left his pack stashed behind a house a little up the street and he retrieved it before heading up the hill.  Tanan wanted to get out of town before he ran into anyone else he knew.  When he reached the top of the hill, he was sad to see that the Abbey was no longer there.  The burned ruins had been torn down and in its place was a King’s Legion encampment.

Tanan walked a mile up the road and then a quarter mile into the woods, set up his tent and his protective bubble and went to sleep.