Souls of Aredyrah 2 - The Search for the Unnamed One (23 page)

Gair and Dayn moved to a new location to
fashion their weapons after that. The smithy, they decided, was too
close to the main entrance of the city. They labored to produce
additional armaments, but all were crudely made; there was no time
for fine craftsmanship. The Jecta, meanwhile, gathered up every
tool at their disposal—hoes, sickles, stakes—anything that could be
used as a weapon.

Reiv remained at Mya’s to heal. Few knew he
was there, but it was only a matter of time before word got around.
He grew restless and grumpy, anxious to leave the confines of the
bed and the stuffy room where Mya’s three children never seemed to
stop jumping, running, and shrieking around him.

“Gods, Dayn, get me out of here!” he said the
afternoon of the third day. Dayn had come to check on him as well
as give him an update. But Reiv was in no mood for company or
reports, only rescue.

“You have to stay a while longer,” Dayn said.
“You’re not yet healed and—”

“I am healed enough! Look—see? Healed.” Reiv
pulled down the bandage wrapped around his ribs. The wound had
begun to scab, but it still oozed a bit, and a puffy patch of red
circled it menacingly.

“You’re dreaming, cousin. Just be
patient.”

Reiv tossed his head back against the pillow
and clenched his hands, kicking his feet beneath the covers. He sat
up and grabbed Dayn’s arms. “I swear I will go mad here, Dayn. I
will! You will come in one day and find me drooling and pouring
porridge over my head. You have to help me. I beg you; save me from
these—these—ruffians!”

Reiv threw a glare at the children, then
toward the partially opened front door. Mya sat outside it, working
a wheel. She seemed oblivious to his plight, as well as the assault
of nervous energy and high-pitched voices going on in the room
behind her.

“What is that woman thinking, leaving me
trapped in here with these three? Those girls, squealing at all
hours. And that boy…I swear, if he asks me one more question! Has
Mya no mercy? Gods!”

Dayn laughed. “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe
we can get you moved somewhere more to your liking.”

“Today, Dayn. Please,” Reiv begged. Then his
eyes brightened. “What about Torin and Jensa? I could go back to
Meirla with them.”

“They’ve already gone…left day before
yesterday.”

“What? So soon? Why did they not take me with
them? I cannot
believe
this.” Reiv raised himself on an
elbow and threw off the covers. “You would think they would have at
least had the decency to come by.” He slid his legs to the side and
dangled them over the bed, then scooted to the edge and pushed his
feet to the floor. “Fine. I will get there on my own.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Dayn said, placing a firm
hand on his shoulder. “You’re staying right where you are.” Reiv
fell back onto the bed, his legs still dangling over the side.
“Well what is going on then? No one has told me a thing.”

Dayn grabbed Reiv’s legs by the ankles and
deposited them back onto the mattress, then pulled up a stool and
sat. His face grew serious. “The Jecta are preparing for battle,”
he said.

“You must be joking. The Guard is
thirty-seven hundred strong. How could the Jecta possibly—”

“They say the raid was a call to war.” Dayn
waved his hand in response to Reiv’s obvious need for argument. “I
know, but their resentments have been building for a long
time.”

“They are making a terrible mistake,” Reiv
said.

“Maybe, but right now they’re only making
preparations for defense. If the guards come back, they want to be
ready.”

“Speaking of guards, how is our friend
doing?”

“Crymm is doing well. He sends his
regards.”

“I have had enough of his regards for one
lifetime. So, what do you intend to do with him?”

“We intend to keep him in a state of
discomfort until he can be used as leverage. He’s not good for much
else. That’s one of the things I came to talk to you about. The
Guard hasn’t returned. We expected them back long before now. You
know their ways, Reiv. What do you think they’re planning?”

Reiv winced and inched himself up stiffly,
then leaned against the wall at his back. “It depends on what they
know, or think they know. I am surprised they did not return for
their dead, at least. That should have been the first thing they
did. And for Whyn not to send a great show of force in response; it
is odd. Possibly he is trying to build up tension or is honing up
the forces. The Guard has strength in numbers, but they have grown
somewhat complacent over the years. It is possible they are
reorganizing in preparation of a major assault to take care of us
in one clean sweep. How many weapons do we have?”

“Not enough.”

“Are you armed?” Reiv asked.

“No, and I only will be if absolutely
necessary. I have no intention of using a weapon again if I can
help it.”

“That sounds very noble, Dayn, but you have
to defend yourself. You had best have one ready.”

“I know, but we haven’t enough weapons to go
around and there’s little time. We’re going to have to find another
way to win the battle with Tearia.”

“In the meantime, what is being done?”

“More spies have been posted. At least if the
Guard comes, there’ll be enough warning to run in the other
direction.”

“How long do you think people can keep
running?”

Dayn threw his arms up with frustration. “I
don’t know, Reiv! God, you act like I’m some sort of expert. We
have few weapons. We have no plan. All we have are some people to
watch the perimeter of the city and keep an eye out for a possible
assault. Maybe the Guard won’t come back. Maybe that was the end of
it.”

“I would not count on it,” Reiv said.
“Listen, Dayn, I cannot lie in this bed a moment longer. I have to
get out of here.”

“Oh? And where do you think you would go?”
Brina asked from the doorway.

“Brina!” Reiv exclaimed. “What are you doing
here? You know it is forbidden for Tearians to come to Pobu.”

“That is true,” she said, crossing over to
the bed, “but I am no longer Tearian.”

Reiv looked her up and down. She was no
longer dressed in her usual gown of yellow, but in a simple frock
of brown. “What are you saying?” he asked.

“I am saying I have made a choice. For
sixteen years I have been secretly working against the customs of
Tearia and have been forced to sneak around like a common criminal.
Now I have been ordered by Whyn not to utter your name. I will
tolerate it no more, Reiv. I will say your name proudly and with
all the love I feel in my heart for you. No one, not even a king,
will tell me I cannot. When word reached me that you had been
injured, well…that was the catalyst I needed. I am here now, at
your side. But I have also come to offer a service. I understand
the Jecta demands were drafted the other night, but have yet to be
presented. I intend to present them.”

“No!” Dayn and Reiv cried.

“Oh, so now you two are going to tell me what
to do?” She smiled and leaned over to inspect Reiv’s wound. “I see
you still have some mending to do.”

“Do not try to change the subject, Brina,”
Reiv said. He brushed her hand away from the bandage. “It is too
dangerous. To turn against your own family and then deliver a
message of demands from the Jecta? What do you think it will
accomplish?”

“I think it will send a very strong message.
I think it will drive a point home to your brother that his
proclamations and continued persecution of the Jecta is reaching a
breaking point. After all, if his own aunt would turn against
him…”

“I will not allow it,” Reiv said.

Brina laughed. “Well, I do not think you can
stop it. You are, after all, confined to a bed.”

“Well,
I’m
not,” Dayn said.

“What will you do, son? Tie me to a
chair?”

“If I have to.”

Brina smiled. “Thank you for your gallant
offer to tie me up, Dayn, but I think you will not do it.”

Dayn did not respond, nor did Reiv. Both
remained silent, working individual plans in their minds.

“Reiv, is the Lion still in Meirla?” Brina
asked.

“Yes, I think so. Why?”

“It seems your brother wants it back. Perhaps
it could be used as a means of negotiation…unless you have reason
to keep it.”

“You mean, give it back to him?”

“Yes, unless it still holds value to
you.”

“No. I have no more loyalty to it, but Whyn
must not have it.”

Brina narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You
say that with a purpose. Why must Whyn not have it?”

Reiv glanced at Dayn. “I have my reasons. I
would rather destroy it than let it fall into my brother’s hands
again.”

“
Destroy
it? But it has been in your
family for generations. Why would you wish such a thing?”

“You must trust me on this, Brina.”

“Why did Whyn give it to you in the first
place?” Dayn asked. “If it’s so valuable, why would he part from
it?”

“An interesting question,” Reiv said. “I am
sure my brother had an ulterior motive.”

“That he did,” Brina said. “I became an avid
listener after you told me your suspicions. I overheard him say the
Priestess had expected you to use the sword against him that day,
then the guards could have taken care of the problem for her.” She
shook her head. “I fear Whyn is tightly bound to her now. He is not
the brother you once knew, Reiv. He has every intention of
retrieving the weapon.”

“Well, the mystery is solved,” Reiv said.
“What a disappointment it must have been for him that I did not try
to run him through with it.”

“Yes, quite a disappointment.”

Dayn shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll ever
understand the workings of the Tearian mind.”

“Be thankful for that, dear,” Brina said.

“Is there anything else we could use to
persuade them to listen?” Dayn asked.

“I am not certain even the Lion could do
that,” Reiv said.

“Perhaps you are right,” Brina said.
“Regardless, I understand the Shell Seekers are sending
representatives to Pobu today. Jensa and Torin will be amongst
them. We will revisit the issue of me presenting the demands when
they get here.”

Dayn and Reiv nodded reluctantly.

Brina turned to walk toward the door. “I am
off to see Nannaven,” she said. “She does not know there will be a
new guest under her roof. Dayn, will you join me?”

“You are both going to just
leave
me?”
Reiv cried.

“Brina, Reiv’s going mad here. Do you think
we could find him other accommodations?”

Brina studied Mya’s children who had been at
quiet play in the corner since her arrival. A sudden shouting match
arose between the boy and his sisters, and the room filled with
torrents of high-pitched screams. “We will see what we can do,
Reiv,” she said. Then she and Dayn exited the hut, leaving Reiv to
burrow beneath the covers.

* * * *

When Dayn and Brina arrived at Nannaven’s,
Jensa and Torin were there to meet them. Nannaven had not yet
returned from her rounds, but Alicine had been there when the Shell
Seekers arrived and was busy in the kitchen preparing buttered
bread for them. She was delighted by Brina’s unexpected arrival and
ushered everyone to the table for refreshment and conversation.

“Brina, what are you doing in Pobu?” Alicine
asked. “I’m happy you came, but I thought—”

“I have come to stay,” Brina said. “It was
time I made my choice.”

Everyone around the table smiled, seeming to
understand her meaning, and no further discussion was made of it.
There were more pressing issues at hand.

Brina turned her attention to Torin and
Jensa. “How many came with you?”

“Three hundred,” Torin replied. “The rest
stayed in Meirla to hold things in check.”

“What about weapons?” Dayn asked.

“We brought what we could, but didn’t have
much. Additional spears were fashioned. There are some knives, the
dirk you made, and Reiv’s sword.”

Brina gasped. “You brought the Lion?”

“Of course. It’s the best weapon we could lay
our hands on. Why wouldn’t we?”

“I had just suggested to Reiv that it could
be used as leverage,” Brina said, “but he insisted it be
destroyed.”

“
Destroyed
?” Jensa said. “But we may
have need of it. Reiv must have said that for emotional reasons.
Maybe he doesn’t like being reminded of what it once meant to
him.”

“Perhaps,” Brina said, but the twist of her
mouth and the arch of her brows indicated she had other thoughts on
the matter.

They had only visited for a short while when
a loud rap sounded at the door. Nervous eyes darted in that
direction.

Alicine made her way over and pulled the door
open cautiously. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Mya, come in,” she
said.

Mya stood outside the door, an expression of
anguish lining her face. Her youngest was clutched to her breast,
the girl’s chubby arms clasped around her neck in a stranglehold.
The other daughter clung to her skirts, while the boy stood
solemnly behind her. Mya shooed the children in and glanced over
her shoulder before entering.

“What is it, Mya?” Jensa asked, rising from
the bench.

Mya lowered the child from her arms and
stepped forward. “It’s the prince,” she said. “He’s gone.”

“
Gone?
” a round of rattled voices
exclaimed. Benches were pushed back noisily as everyone rose and
stepped toward her.

“What do you mean, gone? Where did he go?”
Brina asked.

“I don’t know. He must have gone out the
back.”

“Did the children see anything? Did he say
anything to them?” Brina asked.

Mya motioned her son over to her, but he
lingered back. “It’s all right, Farris,” his mother said. “Just
tell them what you told me.”

Farris lowered his eyes in shame. Mya placed
a gentle hand on his head. “Come, now. No one will be cross with
you.”