The Orphans' Promise (7 page)

“Since yesterday, I’ve had this feeling that I’d already seen the
other world
before. As if I knew what it was. Last night as I was asleep, I remembered that someone had described it to me once. Not an heir, a traveling Maz from Yoos who spent a season with my
clan. I was still a little boy. He knew lots of stories and loved telling them. He may have invented some of them, but one of them frightened me in particular: one about demons. About the
land of demons
, to be exact. A place supposedly just as beautiful and peaceful as its residents powerful and cruel. A sunny valley covered in fruit trees, home to hundreds of affectionate animals, but from there the black gods cast their curses upon the world of men.

“I’m happy that no one was able to pass through the portal,” he concluded solemnly.

Yan fixed his gaze on Corenn for a few moments. If he hadn’t just witnessed the miracle of a coin rising in the air and spinning, he would have thought she was joking. Even now, he wasn’t sure.

The Mother was offering to teach him magic!

She had just proven the existence of this legendary power. Just seeing the wonder was exciting by itself. The fact that Corenn was one of those exceptional beings, capable of manipulating invisible and mysterious forces, would be an inexhaustible subject of conversation itself. Now, on top of all that, she was offering to share her knowledge. No wonder Yan was overwhelmed and couldn’t digest it all in a single morning.

Corenn waited patiently for his response, amused by the effect her question had. Yan opened his mouth, moved his lips, but couldn’t pronounce a single word. He cleared his throat, and then settled for just a nod of his head, thereby signaling his answer: He accepted.

“Perfect!” The Mother responded simply, as if they were just deciding on a recipe for the next meal. “Well, we have a lot to go over.”

Yan fell to his seat on the still wet grass, hardly considering this inconvenience. From then on, Corenn had his complete attention. He still couldn’t believe that the Mother was really going to discuss magic with him, with the incredible intention of teaching him! He wondered to himself when the dream would end, when Corenn would confess, laughter on her lips, that this was all just a bad joke, but the dream persisted. He was almost as exhilarated as when he was in front of Ji’s grand portal.

“I should start by warning you. I’m still uncertain that I will be able to teach you anything. People gifted with the power are very rare, and those apt enough to control it, even more so. You could well be part of the first group, or you might not possess the power at all, like the majority of people. Prepare yourself now for disappointment.”

Yan nodded, the joy coursing through him hardly lessened. Never, in the course of his different apprenticeships, had he felt so much interest in the subject. He was already Corenn’s disciple, as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow. Out of boredom or necessity, he had been trained in ironworks, woodworking, gardening, and even fishing. He would learn magic with a passion. It was already a certainty.

“Do you know why I am even suggesting you try?”

Yan had not thought about it very much. His mind raced to the night on Ji and the unexplainable events on the island. An answer emerged through the fog, clear and obvious.

“It’s what happened on the cliff. Getting Léti off that ledge was impossible. Yet, I did it. She’s still with us.” He tried to finish with some modesty.

Corenn looked to be sizing him up and commented, “You are smart, Yan. Very smart. It took me a few days to realize that. And you have a great heart.”

The young man’s face went red. He wasn’t used to hearing compliments. What a shame that Léti wasn’t there to hear it! And Grigán too.

“Unfortunately, having these virtues proves nothing about the existence of your power. About your Will. Do you understand? It has nothing to do with being intelligent or dumb, knowledgeable or ignorant, old or young, honest or without morals. It has nothing to do with being a woman or man either. You can, or you can’t. That’s it. And we can’t do anything to change it. Do you understand?”

“There is nothing to be ashamed of if I don’t have it, that’s what you’re trying to tell me?”

“Mother Eurydis, if all the people who had gone through the test had reacted like you, my life would have been much easier.”

“A test?” Yan repeated. “What is this test?”

The young man was boiling over with impatience. The multiple warnings and Corenn’s reluctance were starting to have an effect, and he found himself suddenly preparing for disappointment. He wanted to know and move on as fast as he could.

“I can’t make guesses about your powers, if that idea has crossed your mind. The only way to prove the existence of your Will is to demonstrate it.”

Corenn leaned over, took the three-queen coin from Yan’s hands, and put it on the ground, standing straight on its edge. The young man dreaded what would happen next. He was right to dread.

“Your turn now; make the coin move.”

Rey was trying to remember
why
he had been so intent on accompanying Grigán. Oh, fear wasn’t the cause of his self-doubt,
although he was a lot more scared than he would ever admit. No, it was the warrior himself who frightened him. Rey seemed of no use to Grigán, and the warrior wasn’t making the slightest effort to be good company.

Even Raji’s donkey was friendlier and a better conversationalist, he joked to himself.

Fortunately, they were almost at the end of the tunnel. Lorelia couldn’t have been more than a league and a half from the smuggler’s farm, but Rey felt like they had already walked three. He had long ago taken off his novice’s robe, which had made him so hot that he was still swimming in sweat. Raji cursed the actor for removing the novice robe, since the Zü costume underneath made him excessively nervous.

The little man had stopped twice to repair sections of the ceiling that were threatening to cave in. Grigán had protested at length about this waste of time, but nothing could convince Raji to ignore his duty. He shook his head at each of the warrior’s complaints, and kept on digging, nailing, and reinforcing the walls, pulling out the necessary materials from his donkey’s cargo. Finally, a grumbling Grigán got his own hands dirty in order to speed things up. Rey refrained from helping them, claiming that he didn’t want to soil his disguise. They resumed their walk in silence until Raji announced that they were near their destination.

Rey finally admitted to himself that he had only come because he didn’t know what else to do. He had flirted with the idea of leaving the group to try his luck on his own in the Old Country, or elsewhere. But despite the unpleasant character of a few, the heirs were the first true friends he’d had in a long time. What they experienced on Ji united them for eternity. He realized that now, and it was a strange, disconcerting feeling. Rey had never before been bound to anyone.

Lost in his thoughts, it took him a few hundred yards to notice the changing slope of the tunnel and the improved finishing of the walls. The exit was near. He reluctantly slipped the novice’s robe back over his Zü tunic.

Shortly after, the three men found themselves in front of a heavy hardwood door. It had no lock and looked a lot like the one in Raji’s farm on the other end of the tunnel.

“How do we open it?” Grigán asked.

“We wait for it to disappear, and then we walk through it,” Rey joked, referencing the wonder on the island of Ji.

The warrior shot him a dark, threatening look. Rey acknowledged that he may have gone too far. He had promised not to reveal the island’s secret, and was determined to respect his promise at all costs. He gave Grigán a subtle apologetic gesture. It was the first time he had ever felt the need to apologize to someone.

Raji didn’t notice a thing. He was busy repeatedly tugging on a hidden cord that stretched along the ceiling right next to the wall.

“What’s that?” Grigán asked with a distrustful expression.

“It rings a bell above,” Raji answered without pause. “To tell my partner to come down and open the door. It’s true, I swear, you have my word!”

The warrior gauged the little smuggler in silence. A dagger had appeared in Grigán’s hand as if by magic. Rey understood that if this were a trap, Raji would be the first to regret it.

The actor also prepared himself for the possibility, drawing a dagger. For a moment he thought about using the
hati
, but he pushed the idea away in disgust. His sense of morals, peculiar as it was, didn’t allow him to use a poisoned blade.

A knot in the door disappeared, allowing a ray of light to pass through. An inquisitive eye appeared for a brief moment.

“Raji?” yelled a worried voice. “What’s going on? Who are these guys?”

“Friends,” Grigán responded calmly. “We’re unarmed.”

The warrior was discreetly holding Raji at knifepoint.

“How’s it going, Bellec?” the little smuggler asked, cheerfully. As a connoisseur, Reyan admired Raji’s acting performance.

The eye reappeared in the knothole briefly, quickly examining Rey and Grigán.

“Do we know each other?” Bellec questioned the strangers.

“We’ve done business together,” the actor declared. “Through Raji. Do you remember the
centenarian’s
liquor? I’m the one you ran it for.”

The man behind the door remained silent. Nothing proved that the strangers were telling the truth. They could have extorted that information from Raji.

“Bellec, please open up,” the little man groaned. “Everything’s fine.”

There was a renewed silence before Bellec complied and set about unblocking the door. The three men and the donkey quickly passed through the opening, under Bellec’s worried watch.

He had the typical look of a Lorelien satisfied with his commercial success. Rather small and plump, with a tanned complexion from the sunshine of the southern Upper Kingdoms. His appearance was well kept, as was natural for any innkeeper or civilized trader, and it was obvious that he had never known hardship. But above all, Rey suspected he was nothing but an oafish, unsophisticated, crass man whose only concerns were monetary.
My fellow countryman
, Rey pondered in amusement.

After some quick introductions orchestrated by Rey, Bellec rushed to close the door, as if some more strangers were about to invade his cellar. It was a considerably smaller cellar than Raji’s storeroom, but just as well organized. The two smugglers went
to work placing the goods on the shelves. Grigán waited for them before continuing on.

“I hope that you trust your friends, Raji,” Bellec commented. “I myself have never shown our tunnel to anyone.”

“
My
tunnel,” the little man corrected.

“That ends in
my
cellar. Try to remember that in the future. And see to it that you spare me this kind of situation again.”

Raji was about to protest that he hadn’t had a choice, but let it go as soon as the thought struck him. No one ever listened to him anyway.

Once the stores were on the shelves, everyone moved into the side room, Bellec’s real cellar.

Bellec concealed the door to his secret storeroom behind a large shelf unit, while Raji tied the donkey’s reins to a ring on the wall designed for the purpose.

“It’s the first time I’ve entered an inn through the cellar,” joked Rey.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Bellec said with a sneer. “Mind you, it’s also the
last
time. I run goods, not fugitives.”

“Whoever said we were fugitives?” Grigán asked.

“Why didn’t you go through the city gates?” the Lorelien countered.

“Point taken. Just know that we have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Of course. I couldn’t care less what you’ve done. I don’t want to see you in my cellar anymore, that’s all.”

“Well, we’ll have to come back through this way.”

“That’s not my problem. If you want, I can open the tunnel again right now, and you could disappear. The tunnel is not a toll road.”

Raji watched Grigán in anguish. It was all going to end in a fight, he was sure. But it was Rey who launched the attack.