Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (4 page)

“Why?” Pearl demanded. “You can’t be.”

Karl didn’t reply but left the statement as it was.
She heard a soft sound behind her like a cat had jumped from a high table landing softly on the floor. She turned to find another child emerge from the shadows of the walkway. She was very plain, slender and looked at Karl with eyes that seemed to peer into her. Karl smil
ed at her and nodded a welcome.

“
The Brothers and Sisters here have welcomed us in this Sanctuary. In a few days we’ll be leaving to travel north
to a retreat where you will begin your studies. I’ve asked the Sisters to prepare clothing and supplies for us. If there is anything personal you’d like to bring please bring it to me and we will try to make room.”

Glory’s face had gone terribly pale against her soft
green
dress. She looked frightened for
the first time. Krisa stared
into the distance of the gardens and Pearl tilted her head at
Karl with an unasked question.

But it was Krisa who had
spoken. “We will be gone long?”

“Until you are ordained,” Brother Karl replied. “Then you will be stationed at a needy Sanctuary.”

“But…” Glory started, now visibly shaken. “Mama and my sisters. They are coming to see me next week. I am to visit at holidays.”

“I’m sorry but you will be gone by then. We are traveling far.”

The girl began to sob quietly. Pearl watched her, though offered no comfort. Krisa seemed to
disappear behind a tree but would emerge again several
steps away then walk away
, movin
g around the garden in thought.

“You aren’t teaching us?” Pearl asked.

“Sister’s teach Sisters. I am simply taking you to them.”

“We can’
t stay here?
” Glory quietly pleaded.

Karl shook her head slowly. She knew the pain the little one was going through. She’d been taken from her family at the age of ten also, put into the hands of some very stern
Sisters and told to grow up. She hadn’t wanted to leave her home
but knew she was called upon.

“It will be fine,” she encouraged them. “Have you met with the Sisters already?”

Pearl and Glory shook their heads. Krisa had disappeared again. She led the two girls toward the door she’d come through. She looked back into the gardens and called out, “We are going down to the Sisters if you’d like to come but if you feel the need to stay and pray to the gods here that’
s fine.” There was no response.

Two days later, after experiencing life at the Sanctuary,
the three girls were anxious to get on their way with Brother Karl. The Sisters were
glum.
T
he rooms the Sisters occupied were dark and underground like a dungeon. To Glory’s dismay they never gathered to serve tea or tell stories. They looked at the girls with no emotion or interest at all but did answer questions and take care of their needs, such as food and preparing baths and clothes. And from the time they were donned in pale yellow
,
scratchy Sister robes the Brothers
were no longer
permitted to
spend time with them. Only Brother Karl was allowed,
so
she made an effort to spend most of her time
talking and sharing stories about the trip they’d take and the people they’d see
.
If they made good time she would take them to Danyc, the cap
ital city and home of the King.

Krisa had disappeared completely twice. Brothers had been sent to get her at her father’s house each time. She refused to tell them how she had left. Her first attempt had been thwarted by the lady Brother arriving in the Gardens
that first day
. Krisa
had been
on top of the wall under the roof, one leg over the edge ready to drop to freedom when Brother Karl introduced herself. She’d been so intrigued
by the lady Brother
she decided to find out who she was and jumped back down. The next afternoon she made it home. And the next morning again. The Brothers told her father that they expected his full support in her calling and he’d have to leave his home if they felt it necessary. That scared Krisa into obedience
so
she agreed to
stay in Brother Karl’s custody.

Glory’s dresses and fine things were returned to her mother. She was able to keep enough underclothes for several days, warm leggings, a sweater, a bonnet and a cloak. She shared extra items with the other girls and got a hug of approval from Brother Karl for her generosity. 
Glory
even made Pearl some ribbons for her short hair, and even though Pearl feigned disinterest, she hid them away
in a pocket and cherished them.

The morning of their departure they were thankful to be out of the dungeon of the Sanctuary. The sun shone and there was a bit of a chill to the air but it was not cold enough to wrap blankets around them in the small wagon the Brothers had given them. Even Krisa was in a decent mood as they slowly moved through the city. Karl noted that the girl’s eyes never stayed still. She looked at everyone and everything, her eyes flitting back and forth, pausing occasionally, maybe on someone she recognized. Perhaps she was taking it all in since she wouldn’t be
back for a long time, if ever.

Pearl waved at shopkeepers and
ladies of
ill-
repute as she passed. They seemed almost not to recognize her at first, all cleaned up, but they’d smile and wave back and a few blew her kisses. She barked at a dog in an alleyway, to Karl’s surprise, and its tail started wagging and it barked back.

“He’s very kind,” Pearl told Glory. “He once saved me from a ra
t
t
en
that got into our bed.” Glory blanched and stared at the other girl in horror. Pearl grinned at her, having got the
exact reaction she’d hoped for.

Farmlands met them just beyond the city limits, stretched out over hills and
off into the far distance. It reminded Karl of her home, swaying crops and stately homes, fruit trees and ponds to swim in. Glory grew up here, on one of these vast estates but Pearl had never seen the ocean of green before and she beamed in pleasure. Krisa
sat on the seat with Brother Karl
watch
ing
the passing vistas but
appeared to be lost in thought.

She was most worried about Krisa. She was so quiet and had tried to run away twice.
She didn’t want to favor any of the girls but wanted to make this one less miserable. Karl did understand how the girl felt, leaving her home, but it didn’t make it any easier to help her. Krisa looked at Karl then glanced away again.

“Eve
rything okay?” the woman asked.

Krisa nodded then turned back to ask, “Who is visiting the city?”

“I don’t know that anyone is,” Brother Karl replied honestly. “I just arrived myself before I met you.”

“Everyone is…”
she started,
“
different, edgy.”

“How do you mean?” Karl asked her. It was good that Krisa was talking and sharing. She didn’t know anything about the girl except that she lived with her father and had a knack for escaping a building that was practically a fortress.

“Someone important is visiting the Keep,” she told them all. The other girls were listening now. “They have increased the guard and the streets have been swept. The market square held the first of the week
and
the mid-week vendors. The ladies from the pubs have moved up closer to the Keep but
they
ge
t
shooed away by guards. And
the shopkeepers within view are very interested to find out who it is because they’ve set their chairs out on their stoops.”

Brother Karl considered the girl beside her for several moments
having no idea how any of that could have been noticed on a quick ride through the city streets.
“And who do you think it is?”

The look of concentration on Krisa’s face was unmistakable. It was one of calculated problem solving at its best, like she was following a long string of scientific notations.
Several minutes passed before a look of decision crossed her face.

“It is a single unit of his King’s army, but more important, not just soldiers. Maybe officers or…no, not the Duke’s kin but maybe…”

“Oh!” Brother Karl declared, “I think I know exactly who you mean. It didn’t occur to me when you mentioned it but I did pass some fellows in the road the other night.”

Krisa stared at her almost begging for more information.
The girl had a desperation about her that drove her to prove she was correct about her deductions of the facts as she saw them.

“He introduced himself to me as a Marshall in the King’s army. His name was…oh, I was so tired. What was it
again?
”

Krisa almost bounced in excitement that she had been correct. She beamed back at Glory and Pearl who seemed impressed.  “How many were there?” she asked.

“It was very dark when I arrived and barely sunrise when I left the camp. Maybe a dozen. No, wait. They had more horses than that.”

“I would say more than that but no more than eighteen,” Krisa told her. “They only opened one row of stalls at the Keep for the horses. Each row holds eighteen.”

“Doran, Amias something Doran.”

Krisa nodded, her eyes now not focused on anything but she’d turned inward again and her mind was churning. This time she ha
d a peaceful smile on her lips.

“Was he handsome?” Glory asked, blushing at her own question.

Brother Karl looked off up the road and thought back to the man standing in the firelight, his head tilted slightly, his
dark shaggy
hair in his eyes
and his strong features that she had paused to study
while he slept
the next morning
b
efore quietly leaving the camp.

“I’m not sure,” she fibbed with enthusiasm. “Brothers don’t notice that sort of thing about men.”

The three girls giggled and Karl laughed and winked at Glory, who was satisfied with that answer.
Glory
sat back with a little smile and imagined him a big strong man in uniform charging off on his horse t
o save her from imminent peril.

Rain set in during the night as they all slept cramped in the back of the cart. There was barely enough room for all four of them but
body heat
made for
comfortable sleeping.
Brother Karl felt the first mist turn to drizzle and got up to pull a thick blanket over the top of the cart
trying
to tie it down as a shelter. It worked somewhat until the rain soaked right th
rough it. She brushed down H
orse
, as the girls
had
named him,
as
he
stood tied to a tree and fed
him
some grain they’d brought with them. They had enough food and water to get to the next town later in the day. She reminded herself to seek out a waxed
tarp to shelter them at night.

At the first hint of dawn, with enough light to see the road, she hooked the horse to the cart and they were off again after she checked to make sure all three girls were soundly sleeping and safe.
The rain was miserable, chilled her to the bone and kept running into her eyes.
Pearl
was the first to rouse and poked her head from
beneath their makeshift cover.

“Brother Karl, can we stop?”

The girls snuck off the road to relieve themselves behind some bushes one at a ti
me then scampered back into
the cart.
Pearl
came
to sit with Karl at the front.

“We need one of those fancy carriages the Duke rides around in,” Glory called from under the blanket. “He came to see us one time in a shiny black one. He let me sit in it.”

“The Duke?” Pearl demanded.

“Yes, he is my father’s
brother
. We run his farmlands. He has beautiful hounds that ride around with him. You would love them, Pearly.”

“Does his carriage have a roof?” Pearl asked holding the hood of her cloak closer to her chin.

Glory nodded and said, “It’s like a big box on wheels. It has windows and a door you open and when you step down a gentleman holds your hand to help you. The seats inside are cushioned and soft. It’s marvelous.”

Brother Karl was envious of the cushioned seats. She was sure after sitting on this solid plank for the last day her backside was taking the same shape. The rain didn’t seem to be letting up, if anything it was steadily getting heavier. The road began to get muddy due to the run-off from
the
hillside to their right. A deep gulch to their left led down to a
stream
that had developed into a swiftly moving
creek. She wanted to get them to some kind of shelter soon since the sky looked as though the cloud mass had settled in for a good long time. Ahead the road appeared to lead out into more open land. She was thankful they wouldn’t be stuck on this road betw
een a hill and a steep descent.