The Awakened Book Two (6 page)

It was unclear to Ajani how much time had elapsed as he found himself standing outside of the stables, staring at the blue expanse of the sky. The tears had stopped flowing and now he felt a deep hollow in his soul, a void left by the only person that mattered to him. He was alone in the world now, the last of his family.

The silence was finally intruded upon by the unmistakable form of Lemus stumbling through the northern gate into the courtyard. He was limping badly and his tunic was cut open at the back and soaked with blood. He didn’t seem to notice Ajani as he lurched awkwardly toward the entrance to the garden.

Ajani watched with a mild curiosity, as though an ant were crawling by.
How easy it would be to stretch out a foot and crush it!
Then Ajani found himself moving, following the man only a few paces away. They were in the garden now and Ajani’s pace was quickening, the gap between them closing.

Lemus heard the footsteps and turned. “Oh it’s you,” he grunted. “Help me. I must get to my study.”

But Ajani ignored him, rushing forward and shoving the Governor to the ground.

Lemus winced as he fell on his back, gritting his teeth. “What do you think you’re doing? I’ll have the guards hang you by your neck. You’re nothing but a treacherous bastard, all of you. Even my own wife betrayed me.”

Ajani kicked him in the stomach as hard as he could and the words immediately stopped.

As Lemus struggled to breathe, silence once again returned to the garden. In the distance, Ajani could hear that several people had entered the courtyard. He assumed that they were the guards Lemus had spoken of, but it didn’t really matter who it was. He had already made up his mind about how this conversation would end.

He leaned down toward Lemus and whispered into his ear. “The best part of the betrayal…” he paused for effect. “…is that Aelia isn’t even your daughter. Maeryn was pregnant by Adair before she met you.”

The presence in the courtyard was growing louder; the footsteps were getting closer. But Ajani ignored them. Instead, he widened his stance, bent over Lemus’ struggling form and clenched his fists. He could see the panic in his master’s eyes, eyes that used to show only cruelty. Ajani hoped that Lemus understood what was about to happen. He hoped that the scars on his own face would communicate what he couldn’t say because he didn’t feel much like talking anymore.

Chapter 5

After leaving Dacien, Kael made his way uphill, carefully to the north. His path was erratic, taking him from building to building, staying out of sight to keep from being caught up in any more confrontation. Not that confrontation bothered him. Indeed, it had become a way of life for him. But now that he knew where to start searching for his mother, and surprisingly, his sister, confrontation would only slow his progress.

After the better part of an hour, Kael crested the rise upon which the mansion stood. He stepped cautiously through the gate; the courtyard spread before him. It was eerily silent, but the sound wasn’t the strongest assault on his senses. The sight of the mansion and its surrounding buildings, situated within the graveled expanse of the courtyard, was almost too much to bear. Kael felt emotions that had no names. It wasn’t sadness. Neither was it joy. It was an odd mixture of too many feelings and Kael shut them down immediately. He didn’t have time to waste.

Dacien said that Maeryn received a visitor, so the first place to inspect was the house. The embedded gravel crunched on the dirt as Kael strode across the courtyard. It seemed much smaller than he remembered, though still large by anyone’s standards. The garden entrance came into view and more memories began to flood Kael’s mind. He heard laughter. He saw his father’s mischievous smile. He heard Ajani scream. These things were distractions that he chased away with one conscious thought.

The trees and flowers, the half that were still standing, seemed fuller and more mature. Even in its state of ruin, the garden still held a peaceful ambience. Suddenly, Kael slowed at the sight of a dead man lying in the dirt. A quick glance around told him that there were no longer any threats present, so Kael moved forward again. Recognition came almost immediately, even though the man no longer had any distinguishing features to his face.

“Lemus,” Kael said aloud.

The gangly man lay on his back, with one arm on his chest. His tunic was blood-soaked and his face was so swollen as to be unrecognizable as human, had it not been attached to the man’s body.

“…looks like the Syvaku hated you as much as I did!”

Kael waited for a moment, staring down at the object of his hatred. This man’s presence in Kael’s life had changed everything. In his early years at the monastery, when Kael wasn’t missing his family, he would lie awake in his bed, imagining the ways in which he would end Lemus’ life. And now, many years later, the man was reduced to a cold lump of flesh,
by an enemy of his own making, no doubt.

Kael wondered what kind of policy would have provoked such a violent reaction from the Syvaku. But he brushed the thought aside and stepped around Lemus’ body, heading for the main entrance into the house.

His search began in the master bedroom and when that produced nothing, he initiated a systematic check of every room in the house. After searching in vain for some sort of clue for over an hour, Kael began to believe that the Captain had spoken correctly. There was nothing to see. Everything looked just as it should, deserted and ransacked. Refusing to give up, Kael moved his search to the other buildings around the mansion. Other than the body of an old slave woman that he found in the stables, his searching had turned up nothing.

The sun was now high overhead and Kael sat on the stone steps leading down to the bay of
Bastul
. The wall that surrounded the estate also included a portion of the harbor which was reserved for sensitive shipments that could be offloaded within the security of the enclosure. From the docks, cargo would be pulled in horse-drawn carts on a paved path that zigzagged up the hillside to where Kael now sat. His vantage point gave him a view of the entire city and as far as he could see, smoke filled the horizon.

The hot sun burned down through the haze clinging to the city and beads of sweat began to form along Kael’s forehead. For months he had been traveling with
Bastul
as his goal. Though he had called many places home over the years, cities and villages that had never even heard of the Orudan Empire, they were all temporary.
Bastul
was always his home. He wasn’t exactly sure why he didn’t return immediately after leaving the monastery. Maybe it was just a series of events that kept him away. Or maybe he just wasn’t ready. Whatever the reason, it all seemed meaningless now. As he sat on the steps and watched the burning city below, Kael felt more lost than ever. His mother was missing, gone without a trace, along with a sister he had never met. He had separated himself from all the people he called friends in order to come back to
Bastul
. And now, his journey had proven pointless.

I could use your help.

The words of the Captain came back to him.

Kael sat motionless for a moment, wondering if there was any value in joining the fight. After all, what loyalty did he have for Orud, except that his father was a soldier? He wasn’t sure why he had chosen to fight the Syvaku men in the city. Maybe it was because they were taunting the Captain and would certainly have killed him.

After several minutes of silence, Kael rose to his feet and began to move. His decision was simple. He would take the only opportunity presented to him—to help the Captain of the Guard. Perhaps later, Kael’s life would move in another direction, but for now, this was enough. It was something he could do.

He left the estate by the northern gate and skirted the city to the north, staying just off the main road. He retraced the route he had taken earlier in the morning and found the clearing where he had tethered his horse. There was no sign of the animal, but that was to be expected. With the city in chaos, Kael left enough slack in the reigns for the horse to pull free if necessary. Within minutes of a sharp whistle, his horse appeared at the edge of the clearing. Kael quickly mounted and headed off to the west in search of the remaining soldiers.

The rest of Kael’s day was spent riding along the foothills between the mountains to the north and the farmland to the south. As the sun dropped to the west, Kael found signs of movement, disturbed earth along a riverbed. The same river flowed from the mountains through the center of
Bastul
before emptying into the bay. Kael followed the tracks upriver, deep into the mountain range, until they diverted into the surrounding forest. Less than an hour before sunset, Kael caught his first glimpse of human life since leaving his parents’ estate.

He was aware of the soldier’s presence several minutes before the man jumped out from behind a thick hedge of shrubbery. The terrified soldier held his spear in front of him, ready for an attack.

“Identify yourself,” he commanded.

Kael raised his hands to show that he wasn’t a threat. “I’m looking for Dacien Gallus, Captain of the Guard. He said that he could use my help with the rest of the Syvaku.”

“You look like one of them. What is your name?”

“Caleb.”

The soldier turned and waved his spear. In response to the signal, another man stepped out from the cover of trees, twenty yards away, and headed off through the forest to the east. The first man turned his suspicious gaze back to Kael and held tight to his spear.

Kael waited patiently while his story was checked out and, after a few minutes, he was surprised to see the Captain himself walking through the trees.

“You’re later than I expected,” he called out.

Kael smiled. “I don’t remember making any agreements, but I’ll try to be more punctual in the future.” As the Captain neared, Kael dismounted from his horse and shook his hand.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to join us.” Dacien nodded his head back in the direction from which he had come. “Walk with me; I’ll explain our dilemma.”

“…dilemma?” Kael questioned. “What’s happening?”

“Well,” Dacien breathed. “As far as we know, there are about thirty barbarians left. We chased them into these mountains a few hours ago, but they suddenly stopped running. I lost two men in their counter attack. Now they’re using the cover of the trees to keep the fighting spread out. It’s their strong point and our weakness.”

Kael didn’t have to look around to get his bearings. Though he was never allowed to venture far when he lived in
Bastul
, he had a firm understanding of the surrounding areas from studying maps with Saba. “They have open fields to their north and the forest thins out to the east. Your horses and archers give you the advantage if they move into open terrain.”

“Exactly,” Dacien replied. “We think they are waiting until nightfall before they begin to make their way northwest, through the forest. If they split up, they will be impossible to contain in the dark.”

“If you put the majority of your men in the trees to the west, is there no way to keep them here and wait them out? Eventually, they’ll have to leave.”

“Unfortunately, I have less than fifty men and I don’t have time to spare. I have to make haste to
Nucotu
in order to send a dispatch rider to
Leoran
. They have to be informed of what has happened here.”

Kael lifted his head in understanding. “So you need to go into the forest after the Syvaku before sunset?”

Dacien nodded. “We’re just trying to work out a plan…and work up the nerve. None of us can stand the thought of letting them go after what they did. But it’s not going to be easy to go in after them.”

The two men had come upon a small clearing in the midst of their conversation. Soldiers from
Bastul
stood at attention, grouped by their weaponry. Spearmen, archers, swordsmen, and a handful of cavalry readied themselves for battle, tightening straps, sharpening blades. Each man wore a look of determination with a hint of fear.

“Here we are,” Dacien said quietly. “Caleb, I wouldn’t normally discuss battle plans with a complete stranger, but these are unusual times and I don’t sense any deceit in you. Thank you for your help.”

Kael nodded distractedly, taking note of the resources at their disposal.

“Well, your specialty seems to be the spear, so let’s head over to the men and get you outfitted.”

“Actually, my specialty is the sword, but might I make a suggestion?”

Dacien paused. “After what you did in the city, I would welcome any advice you may have.”

Kael looked back to the roughly equal groupings of soldiers now lining themselves up in standard attack arrangements—spearmen in front, followed by swordsmen, then archers. “The standard formations would leave your men vulnerable in this instance. You said that the Syvaku are spread out, hiding behind trees?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” he replied hesitantly.

“You might consider three-man groups spread ten yards apart. Each group would contain one spearman, one swordsman, and one archer. Have your riders cut sideways in front of these groups to flush out the barbarians on an individual basis. Their strength in this scenario is their ability to attack and hide, which appears undisciplined and chaotic to you. But lining up your men in one large group will only leave them unable to move and react to the barbarians’ random attacks. A small group still retains the advantages of long, medium, and short-range attack capabilities, yet allows for flexibility to deal with the enemies’ tactics.” The words flowed from Kael’s mouth with more authority than he intended and when he was finished, he hoped that the Captain was not offended.