Heir of Scars I: Parts 1-8 (60 page)

“We will find enough food,” Preinon insisted at council, and pledged the Runners to this task. All knew, though he did not say, that the food would be stolen from the Others. The tribe already feared that the recent destruction of the camps were reprisals for the Aesidhe Hunters who had clashed with Aeman, but there was no alternative. “Ask the Spirit Helpers and all our ancestors to send the Runners guidance, and we will not fail you.”

Ateglokala, an elder among the tribe who rarely spoke, looked about at all the new faces, and asked for her granddaughter to help her rise.

“
I see poorly. My eyes are weak. But I listen well, and I hear many tonight who I did not know when the youngest among us was born. And many more will be born to all of us in the moons that we follow through the sky.
”

“
It is true,
” many agreed.

“
I am among the few who remember our naming,
Shema Ihaloa Táya,
They Watch the Walking Birds. We were those who survived the great flood by following the birds to find a safe camp, far from here.”

“It is true.
”

She breathed slowly. Her eyes watched the fire, and Adria knew that her milky eyes could only see great changes in light and darkness.

“
So many born in so many seasons, and though we may flee floods one day again, we now flee fire, and smoke, and those with swords. We survive many things in many moons and many places, and so we are new People.”

“It is true.
” Many nodded respectfully and in agreement.

“
There would be a ceremonial for this, in other times, and perhaps there will yet be. But I will not see it. And before I join my stars again, I will speak a new name for all the People here. We are new People,
Shíme Okshowaniya
. We survive.
”

There was silence for a long time, and many who had joined them in recent months wept now openly. And many more. Preinon, Mateko, and Adria herself.

Slowly, singly or in groups, Adria was certain that all present old enough to understand Ateglokala’s words nodded, and spoke the same.

“Yachaiotosu… Shíme Okshowaniya.”
It is true… We Survive.

For days, Adria debated whether or not to tell anyone on The Echo of the note she had found. The possibility of danger itself was an obvious concern, but Adria had lived so long under the threat of possible violence that it had become something of an innate assumption.

Of more interest to her was the warning itself — who aboard felt not only the need to warn her of an assassin, but to keep their identity a secret.

If an assassin sees that I am cautious already,
Adria had considered.
They might even feel some advantage in confirming my fears, in increasing my distrust of all those aboard. An enemy without allies is an easier target.

Given this, and given what she had learned so far of those aboard, she decided to do the exact opposite.

Captain Falburn kept the wheel steady with his left hand while he turned the note over in his right, though there was little more to consider than the seal and the handwriting of the single written word —
assassin
. He nodded and met Adria’s eyes without expression.

“When?”

“Three nights ago,” she admitted. “I hesitated to inform anyone. I have been… estranged from my family and from Windberth for three years.”

He said nothing, his eyes on the note again.

“But you surely knew that,” Adria nodded. “Even without your… informative Novice.”

Falburn nodded again slowly, returned the note to Adria. “Your Highness, I might make my own suggestions, but… I believe you may very well answer this better. Is there anyone you trust to guard your door?”

He met her eyes openly, honestly, his hand returning to the wheel as she folded the warning back into her belt pouch.

You…
Adria knew, her eyes fluttering just a little as she looked through his flesh to the thread of his spirit.
I would trust you.

And so she decided to test his trust of another.

“No doubt there are men of yours you trust with your life, Captain, and I would honor that trust with my own. Still, when this ship embarks, I will be left with a contingent of Knights, of Sisters, and with a good deal of mutual wariness…”

Falburn smiled a little, nodding.

“So tell me, Captain,” Adria asked. “What do you think of Sir Elias?”

She could see that he reflected, that it was not a simple or an obvious answer.
Given the likelihood that they have had only small acquaintance, but that the Novice has likely given an estimation… a quick answer would likely be a bad one,
Adria reasoned.

After a moment, he nodded again slowly. “Who else has seen this note?”

Adria blinked, a little surprised at the response, though it seemed reasonable after a moment’s thought. “No one.”

Falburn nodded more quickly. “You use it as a test of trust. I am, if I may say, impressed. And I am honored I have seen it first.”

That seemed to be, perhaps, the end of the conversation, but Adria was not finished.

“And Elias?”

Falburn chuckled. “You will give him the note next and see what he says, M’Lady. I’ve no doubt of that.” He paused. “But you have already decided to trust him. If I had to choose one among the Knights to guard your cabin door, it would likely be him.”

Adria nodded slowly, and they watched the sails, the top flag, and the horizon for some time.

“And what would the Novice say of Elias?” Adria asked finally.

“Your Highness,” Falburn said after a long steady breath. “I see the storms as they come, and remember the signs that predicted their approach, so that I will know a little sooner when to turn the wheel, when to raise the sails. There is only a moment’s grace before the lightning strikes. A breath.”

Adria nodded slowly.

“A storm is coming, Adria Idonea. You are safe upon my seas, but…” Falburn frowned. “I cannot say well what storms may strike the land.”

“
We walk together today
,” Preinon told her one autumn morning soon after their return to camp. He led her in a different direction than usual, away from the Shíme Okshowaniya, away from where the Hunters in Rows had trained.

They walked wordlessly, at a steady but relaxed pace, and Adria enjoyed the colors, sounds, and scents of the autumn life. Dried pine needles and broken leaves littered the ground, birds and squirrels prepared for winter’s long slow rest.

When they came to an area of relative clearing, Preinon nodded his satisfaction, and turned to consider Adria with an expression she had not seen before.

“
Tell me what you think
.” he said simply. It was an odd phrase in Aesidhe, the closest in Aeman being,
name your spirit.

What does he mean?
 Adria wondered, glancing around at the knee-high grass, the surrounding mixed trees, and the late morning sunlight. She answered, “
It is beautiful.
”

“That is what you say,” Preinon said in Aeman, then repeated in Aesidhe, “
Tell me what you think.
”

She blinked several times, an uncertain smile growing on her lips, but nodded, saying, “I try to think what you want to hear, and then choose something to say.”

“
And do you think in Aesidhe or in Aeman?
”

Now she began to understand a little, even as she had to think about the answer. “
I think in both,
” she realized, with a little pride. “
Sometimes in one or the other, but often with whatever best suits my thoughts.
”

“Do you always think in words?” he asked, now in Aeman. Still, his tone was neutral, even searching, as if the questions came to him only as he asked them.

She shook her head, but out of effort instead of denial. 
This is a difficult question.

Then she realized, “Yes, I suppose I do, mostly.”

“There is an Aesidhe saying you would do well to remember,” Preinon said, after nodding for a moment. “At’e so wateme choacho, tegoni wateme watemeio thhuksho. It means,
the divided mind can only defeat itself.
”

She nodded. “
I should think in Aesidhe.
”

He smiled, shaking his head.

Adria frowned. “Then what…?”

And she was lying upon the ground, filled with vertigo. Preinon stood above her, reaching down to offer his hand to help her up. Even as she took it, more sensations came, along with pain — she had fallen.

No…
 he has pushed me down.

“
The ground is soft here,
” he explained. “
And no one is around to distract you.
”

“
I don’t understand…
” she said, as the vertigo subsided and she massaged her elbow, which must have taken the brunt of the fall.

“
You think you don’t understand,
” he said, releasing her hand when he was certain she was not too dizzy to stand. “
That is why you don’t understand.
”

Before she could make any sense of his words, much less ask her own question, he had walked past her and started back to the camp.

Apparently that is the lesson for today,
Adria sighed as she turned and followed.

For the rest of the day, Adria considered what had happened in the clearing. She realized that it had something to do with what she had done while saving Náme, and the times before.

This must be what it seems like from the outside, 
Adria realized. 
The Knights who moved too slowly, the arrows which seemed to suspend while I fought with Tabashi…

Obviously, this was something she shared with Preinon, and he was trying to teach her something about it, but strangely.

It is something I can learn to control, as he has…
she reasoned as they walked to the clearing the following day. And it is some sort of thought process.

“Do you think in words?” he asked.

“Yes...?” she said, uncertainly, already bracing herself for the blow. 
What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to thin
k?

“Who are you talking to?” he asked, his mouth curled in the slightest of smiles.

A riddle? 
She wondered, and answered aloud, even as she flinched in expectation, “No one…”

And it was the same as before, and she followed him home, elbows and ego bruised. She seemed the worst, even, for having prepared herself for the blow.