Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (21 page)

Please pass my greetings to your parents.

I will see you all soon.

Captain Amias Natan Filbar Doran

He handed the man the letter and watched him drop the wax on the flap of the envelope, then Amias pressed the blunt head of his hatchet into the wax to seal it. He stared at the letter from Karl, undecided if he should open it. His heart told him to open it and read every word. His head told him to tear it up. This time, he listened to the advice from the gods, and listened to his heart.

Amias,

I took a chance
writing, hoping to find you.
I
truly
do not want
to
leave our friendship in tatters.
It means too muc
h to me to discard.
Since th
e
day
we parted I have felt remorse for your anger.
I know you thought
I was pleased with
the news you received
about your betrothal
but, please, believe me, my reaction was not what you thought it was.
There was something I had needed
to share with you so you could
have understoo
d. It is best
done
in
person, but since that is now impossible
,
since your obligations and heart lie elsewhere,
it is best left unsaid. I no longer
want to torture you
. Please know, what you said about how we felt about each other was
very
t
rue. I regret it couldn’t be expressed
at the time.

Yours, In the eyes and hearts of the gods,

B. Karl

He read the letter over and over from start to finish many times before the messe
nger made a noise in his throat to get his attention. “A response, sir?”

She deserved one. He hadn’t attempted to reach her. He hadn’t tried to find out if everyone was safe. He hadn’t bothered to tell her he was sorry. “No,” he said, sh
oving the letter into his coat.

Whispering words filled his head as nine voices prodded him, repeating, “
Fool,
fool, fool
,
” over an
d over.

“Wait, yes,” he tol
d the man who had turned to go.

Again he wrote out a letter, this time to the
woman who truly held his heart.

Karl,

Please know how deeply sorry I am at how we parted. I fear I exposed a monster within, a monster who felt hurt and jealous and sacrificed our friendship. If there were feelings unexpressed between us, they should have remained hidden. I am sorry I forced them to the surface unnecessarily. It has driven us apart. I deeply regret this, my friend.

Currently I am traveling west to present myself to the family of my betrothed and return to my home with her. If Kel is still with you I’d like us three to meet, perhaps at the outpost garrison
as soon as you get this notice.

Yours apologetically,

Amias

The messenger was told to ride like the wind back to the young woman who’d sent the second letter. He was to delay a day before giving his response to the other young woman. Amias gave him extra coins to ensure the proper order of the deliveries. The messenger looked at him confused, since it was the same young woman who had sent both letters but he took the money and agreed. Amias was riding behind him and would know if he stopped for more than to relieve himself or to eat or sleep. The messenger would pass through the outpost for a fresh horse and continue west while Amias would wait there for Kel and Karl.
He was nervous but knew this was the first step to mending a broken friendship.
That’s all he was doing, he promised himself. Just making amends.

Coral received the letters of response from the messenger, who looked confused and told her, “He told me to give you this one first and then the other, but he thought they were from two different people.”

“You didn’t tell him otherwise, did you?” she demanded.

“No, Lady!” he said. “I know better than to expose a Lady’s trickery on a man.”

She stared at his back as he departed. She shrugged, not bothering to stop him to explain the truth. It was somewhat hard to believe. She laughed, finally having heard from Amias and he was safe. It didn’t matter if he raged at her in the letters. All she cared about
was
that he was alive and at least healthy enough to pen a letter.

She tore open the one to Karl, unable to wait a second longer. Her heart beat rapidly and a wave of heat rushed through her. She pored over each of his words several times
, monster, friendship, feelings, apologize. Oh, thank goodness, she breathed to herself. He wasn’t still angry. She read the second letter bu
t went back again to the first.

He wanted to see her. He was still a day or two away, she calculated.
It would be impossible to meet him then be back for hi
s arrival at the Marden estate.

“Was that the post?” Mother called.

“Yes, Mother. Amias Doran is on his way.”

Her mother disappeared into the house. Kel emerged so she handed him the letter. H
is eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“So we are going to meet him?”

“I can’t see how. He is coming here for Coral Marden. I have to be here. But then the King…it’s all too confusing now.”

Coral breathed steadily and deeply in the quiet library. She’d told everyone not to disturb her so she had the place to herself. She fingered a few of the spines of books then turned to face the fireplace. She had no idea if she could do it. She wondered briefly if th
ey would be angry with her
. But with determination she again imagined the grey world and pushed herself through it, her feet became unsteady as she jolted from one direction to the other, and then she was there. Among the gods. She stood in front of the
m and they stared back at her.

“Welcome,”
the soothing voiced woman said.

“Thank you,” she replied then looking around to all of them she told them, “I am sorry if I did something wrong the last time. I just wanted to stop her and I didn’t know how.”

“We were sim
ply surprised,” she told Coral.

“I meant no harm.”

“We understand. We sent word through the little one to let you know all was fine.”

Coral nodded her thanks. “She told me I am able to bring others here. The children and the Marshalls only.”

“Yes.”

“I would like to bring the Captain, if I may.”

“You have our permission.”

“How do I do it?”

The woman laughed. “We don’t know how
you
do it. I’m afraid we can’t instruct you.”

An image flickered inside the stone arch. Coral recognized him immediately. He rode his horse at an easy gait, his back straight, his hair longer still and he wore three or four days gr
owth of beard. He looked tired.

“You don’t want to frighten
the horse by b
ringing it here,” one told her.

But it wasn’t long before Amias yawned, looked up at the darkening sky of the evening and dismounted. When his feet hit the ground Coral imagined herself reaching through the arch
to pull
him with all her concentration into the world of
grayness
and opaque shapes. He lurched then slid into view, standing across from her among the gods.
Some of them shook their heads in disbelief and looked at the others in surprise.

Amias
gasped at the disorientation of sudden change of location. And there was Karl, facing him.
He first turned to bow at the gods before him
and they smiled their welcome.

“I was on my way to see you,” he told her, “and Kel.”

“We can’t meet you, I’m sorry. But I did want to talk to you.”

“Here?” he said motioning wi
th his hand their surroundings.

“I received your letter.”

He nodded. “How are the girls?”

“Krisa has gone to the forest with the Siri,” she said but to his protest she explained, “Pat is with her. Her mother was Siri as we
learned. T
hey have offered to train her. Glory and Pearl are with me. Both have shown talents and strength
,
I am proud to sa
y, that are well beyond my own.”

“And the fever?” he asked.

“We have had none since our return.
And your father? How is he?”

“Much improved,” he answered.

An awkward silence fell on both of them. The gods simply stood with gentle sm
iles watching them.

Amias took a step closer. “I’m sorry about…I had no right to be upset. I had no claim on you and you had none on me. I let my feelings get the best of me.”

“It’s okay to feel, Amias,” she said gently. “Neither of us was in a position to make more of it than it was. I was a Brother and you were betrothed. Both of us would have betrayed the obligations we’d already committed to. I understand.”

“You are no longer a Brother. You are free to love if you wish.”

“I am.”

“And I am still not.”

“You can love.”

“I love,” he told her, looking into her eyes.
“
But I am not free to love.”

She stared at him with that look again, and this time it was mixed with a sadness that broke his heart. It took all of his strength not to rush toward her and take her to hold forever.
This was a bad idea. He should never have agreed to meet her. Why wasn’t Kel
here to help keep him sensible?

Karl took a step toward him and he froze. His pulse quickened in excitement but he made a decision and forced himself back, through the pulling and lurching of the
grayness
, back to his
horse on the side of the road.

Again the gods gasped and cried out in surprise. Coral denied sending him back and they whispered amongst themselves, though Coral wouldn’t have heard them, she was so distraught over his departure. They all watched him through the arch as he spread out his bedroll, ate his bread and dried meat an
d finally lay down in the dark.

Coral’s eyes spilled tears. She had been so close to him, had wanted to tell him so badly.
He should love me
enough to leave the betrothed, C
oral thought selfishly to herself.

“He loves you more than that,” a goddess said to her gently. “
Lust would drive a man to leave his betrothed, real love will f
orce him to leave you unkissed and
untouched
.
He has much more respect and love for you than he will for her. He is going to a woman he must touch out of obligation. He refuses to kill your heart by taking you and leaving
for another
. He is a good man. A very good man.
”

“I should have told him. I need to tell him.”

“Yes, you should have. From the very beginning.”

Coral watched him until the n
ight was too dark to see any longer, waved gently to the nine figures around her and returned herself to the library, falling into a chair unsteadily.
In the morning Coral Estel Teres Marden would get in the Marden carriage and go to the King’s court, where she would present herself for the official engagement to Captain Amias Natan Filbar Doran and wait for him to arrive. It would all be over soon. The lies, the trickery, and she hoped he
wouldn’t be too angry with her.

When Amias reached the outpost at the crossroads he didn’t bother to enquire if Kel or Karl were there to meet him. He had received another notice from the King
to appear before him, but this time it was an official call to duty.
He was told in the note that his
Marshalls had all been summoned.

New
s
at the garrison was that there had been many incidences with
the
Sisters. They no longer wore the yellow robes and veils but they were entering
towns, taking what they wanted and creating havoc. Less and less frequently were they seen with men or Brothers but a
cted on their own or in groups.

Duke Strenn, Amias was told, had reported that just before the King had ordered all Sisters and Brothers to be detained, an entire boat load of
veiled Sisters had arrived in Brynntown
. They were assumed to have gone to the Sanctuary but they were never found. The men at the post speculated that they were from another land altogether as
their
own Sisters had never behaved that way. Amias thought they could be right. The women were all very tall and slender like the Siri, but
without the dark hair and eyes.