The Channel (The Gifted Book 2) (29 page)

Daen stood. "I'll wake them. We should be ready in about fifteen minutes."

29
Future

Rhea packed her things and finished getting ready for the day while she waited for her friends. Before they left, she informed the commander they were going to go for a walk and would return shortly.

Randell was the first to speak as they strolled through the woods. "Assuming the leaders of the three realms get the messages and believe them, we've completed our first goal. What's next?"

"That was going to be my question to you," said Rhea. "I assume we need to continue our efforts to find the man behind the attacks. Of course there is the chance the queen will want to see me, now that word of my existence has been sent." She stepped over a log and continued walking.

"I agree," said Tauilin. "We should find the man behind the attacks, but where would we start?"

"There's no telling what this …
troublemaker
will do now that he knows you're here, interfering with his plans," Daen added.

Rhea noticed Randell was quiet. "Randell, do you have an opinion?"

"First, I have a question. When will we know if war has been stopped?"

"I assume if, or when, we hear back regarding the messages we sent," Daen offered.

"How long do you think it will take?" Rhea asked.

Taulin sidestepped a tree branch. "The message I sent to my father won't be received until sometime past midmorning today. If he sends a reply right away, we should know tomorrow, sometime past midday." He pushed another branch aside. "I would guess the same amount of time from Taulomi. Sentran should be faster, maybe as early as this evening, or in the morning."

They stepped out of the trees, onto the road they had traveled the day before and started working their way back towards camp.

"Will the replies be sent to Cauhill?" Rhea asked.

"Yes," said Daen. "We'll need to go into town and retrieve them."

She paused for a moment and scanned the area, but they were alone, except for the Sentran camp up ahead. "I need to tell you something. I did a little mental walking early this morning and saw the dark-haired man through the veil."

Randell stepped in front of her. "Rhea! What were you thinking?"

"Randell. Mental walk." She tapped her head with her finger and smiled. "He looked right through me."

Randell blushed. "Oh, yeah. I must be more tired than I realized."

Rhea smiled at him. "What I saw was strange." She told them about the room, the runes, and the crystal. "He was talking to someone, but I couldn't see who it was, nor could I hear what he said. I think he said something about prisoners before the room vanished and a parking lot appeared. Have you ever heard of such a thing? How can the opening show a room in some building one minute and then a parking lot the next?"

All eyes were on Daen, but Daen wasn't talking. Rhea could tell from his expression that he was trying to remember something.

After a moment or two, Daen shook his head. "I can't recall anything about a crystal in the histories, but that doesn't mean anything. I didn't have a lot of time to study them before being sent to the world of shadows. And, as for the room of runes disappearing, I can't explain it."

They walked in silence for a moment.

"So our next step is Cauhill to wait for messages?" Randell asked.

Daen nodded. "Seems that way."

Rhea looked at each of her friends. "Does anyone have any ideas as to how we can find the dark-haired man?"

Daen kept his eyes on the road. "Have you tried asking the Libraim?"

Rhea was startled by his question. "Um, no. Why didn't I think of that? I'll do it when we get back to camp."

They walked in silence until they reached the camp. Rhea noticed Bandon's shoulders drop in relief when he saw Taulin return. She felt a little sorry for him. Taulin wasn't an easy person to guard, and she wondered if he had pulled the short stick for this duty.

While they ate breakfast with Commander Nauylor, he explained he was breaking camp and heading into Cauhill and that a new patrol would be taking over.

"We're heading into town as well. When will you be leaving?" Daen asked.

"In a few hours, once we get packed. You're welcome to ride with us if you want to wait."

Daen looked at Taulin, Randell, and Rhea to see what they preferred.

Taulin shrugged. "Might not be a bad idea. Safety in numbers."

Randell nodded.

Rhea agreed. "Thank you, Commander. We'll be ready when you are. Now, if you will excuse me, I have something I need to do."

She returned to her tent to see if the Libraim could help her find the troublemaker. Once inside, she lay down, closed her eyes, and imagined the cavern with the blue and silver mass she'd seen before. It didn't take long before she was standing in the vast open space, looking at the entity of energy.

In her mind she asked, "Can you help me find the man with the long dark hair, the one you showed me and the one I've seen?"

An image of the dark-haired man appeared on the edge of the blue and silver mass. It was one of the images she'd seen before.

"Yes, that's the man. Do you know where he is?"

The image of the man disappeared, replaced by an image of a two-story stone building.

"Where do I find this building?"

The image disappeared, and no other image was shared. She wondered why the Libraim showed her the building but not its location. She started to feel frustrated but managed to keep calm, thankful for what she was being given.

She remembered the comment about the prisoners. "Do you know if there are any prisoners in this building?"

At first, it didn't look like the Libraim was going to be of further assistance. Rhea was about to give up when the vision of the Libraim started to change.

It happened slowly. At first, all she could see were flickering shadows bouncing off a dingy surface. It was as if she was watching a movie, as the camera panned back, slowly revealing more and more of the image. The dingy surface turned into walls, and then faces started to appear. It wasn't long until she could see part of a room with five men and three women.

Their clothes were tattered, their hair and skin spoke of years of neglect and abuse. They sat at a table on small wooden benches, all looking in the same direction, but at what, she couldn't see.

One woman looked familiar. As Rhea studied her face, it came to her. The woman looked like an older version of Raisal, older than the Raisal in Randell's photo and older than the image the Libraim showed her in the coffee shop. The more Rhea studied her face, the more she became convinced it was the same woman.

She scanned the other faces, anxious to see if she recognized anyone else, and hoping to confirm the man with the long, dark hair was there. She couldn't see the face of the man at the end of the bench. His long, scraggly, sandy hair blocked her view. She wished he would look up. She felt herself willing him to lift his head so she could see his face.

As if on command, his head tipped back, and his light green eyes turned to her. He said something, one word. "Help." The scene faded, and Rhea was back in her tent.

She gasped. Her heart was racing as she lay on the cot trying to calm her nerves.
What had just happened?

"Rhea? You all right?" Taulin asked through the tent flap.

"Yeah." Rhea slowly sat up. Her head was light, and the images in her mind were starting to fade. She dug through her sack for her journal and pen, and she started to draw.

Daen stuck his head inside the tent. "Rhea?"

"Oh! Yes. Sorry. Come in. I'll be just a minute."

Rhea continued to sketch the stone building from her vision. It was similar to a hacienda, with its indoor/outdoor walkways, arched openings, iron fixtures, and red tile roof. Two stories tall with a small bell tower at the top, it once could have been the home of a wealthy family, but the unkempt vines that had crawled up the walls indicated it was no longer a well-loved and cared-for home.

Taulin, Randell, and the commander joined her in the tent as well.

Rhea was not an artist, but she'd gotten a lot of practice over the last six months drawing scenes from her dreams, so drawing a building wasn't too difficult.

She could feel the others watching over her shoulder.

"What is it?" Taulin asked.

"The Libraim showed me a stone building when I asked if it knew the location of the dark-haired man. It looks a little like this." She showed them what she'd drawn so far. "I wanted to get it on paper before I forgot."

Randell watched as she continued filling in the details of what she could remember. "It looks like something you would find in southwest."

Rhea nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

When she was done, Rhea showed the others, including the commander. "Does this look familiar?"

None of them recognized the building in her sketch. Of course, that didn't mean they didn't know it, her sketch wasn't a work of art.

"Did you learn anything else?" Randell continued to study the drawing.

"Yes." She watched Randell. "Raisal is in that building."

Randell almost dropped the journal.

"Along with several other people," she quickly added.

"Seriously?" Randell's jaw dropped. "Are you sure?"

Taulin looked back and forth between Randell, Daen, and Rhea. "Who's Raisal?"

"My great-grandmother." Randell didn't take his eyes off Rhea.

"It looked like her, older, but her." Her answer came automatically, as her mind was stuck on the man with the green eyes, how he looked at her, and ... no, it couldn't be.

Daen placed his hand on her shoulder. "Rhea, what is it? What haven't you told us?"

She rubbed her hands over her arms as a chill ran down her spine. The look in the man's eyes, there was something about that look. She glanced at Daen who patiently waited for her to respond.

"The image of the prisoners was different. It was as if I was there, and ..." She breathed deeply. "One of the men looked at me. He saw me, and I could swear he said 'help'."

Rhea waited for one of them to question her, doubt her, but they just stared at her. "There's one more thing. He looked ... I don't know, there was something about his eyes, something familiar." She shook her head and stood up from the cot, starting to dismiss what had to be her imagination. "It was hard to tell, he was so unkempt. I doubt I saw anything important."

Daen stepped in front of her as she tried to leave the tent. "Rhea. What do you think you saw?" His voice was firm, but caring.

She chewed her lower lip, still not sure if she should say anything, but decided to get it all out. "I think he was one of the men the Libraim showed me before, in the coffee shop."

Daen and Randell knew what that could mean.

Randell started to think aloud. "Of the faces you were shown, three so far have been related to you. Lanne, Gaibel, and Raisal."

Rhea nodded. "True, but remember, one the images was that of the man with the long, dark hair. So, I can't know for sure who the green-eyed man is."

She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she had to know. She looked to Daen and the commander, the only ones old enough to remember. "Have either of you ever met Kalaub Baurden or seen a picture of him?"

"He kept to himself a lot," said Naylor, "but I met him once."

"We grew up together." Daen's voice was quiet.

Rhea's jaw dropped as Daen's comment sunk in. She felt a moment of excitement and then hurt. "You knew my father? Why didn't you say anything before?"

Daen knew he should have said something earlier. "It was a long time ago, we were just kids. I had planned to tell you about him, but it never seemed the right time."

Rhea pushed down the hurt feelings and focused on the present. "How well did you know him?"

Daen grinned and chuckled to himself. "Let's just say we had our fair share of adventures before I left to train to be a guardian. After which, I think I saw him once."

Rhea looked at Daen and then at the commander. "Can you describe him to me?"

"It was a long time ago," said the commander. "I remember he has light brown hair, light eyes. I remember the eyes because most Baurdens have dark eyes."

"Do I remind you of him, at all?" Rhea glanced at both of them. "Gaibel said I have his nose and his coloring." She felt like a child asking these questions, but she had to know.

The commander studied her face for a moment. "It's hard to say, it was so long ago."

"You remind me more of your mother," said Daen, "but I suppose if you stood next to Kalaub, I could find the resemblance."

Rhea tried to ward off the feelings of disappointment that threatened to bring her down. She told herself that not all was lost. "That's all right. I understand. Thanks for trying."

The commander opened the tent flap and started to step out. "I'm going to check on my men and their progress. Please excuse me."

Randell slipped his arm around Rhea and gave her a brotherly hug. "We'll find them. Don't worry."

30
Cauhill

Soon after Rhea's vision, the Sentran camp had been broken down and packed, ready for the trip back to Cauhill. Two of the warriors rode out before the others to scout the road ahead. A few minutes later, the remainder of the small force headed out: two warriors took the lead, followed by the commander, the foursome, Bandon, and the remaining guards.

As Rhea rode next to the commander, her thoughts drifted to the queen and whether she would be forced to see her. "How long is the ride to the palace?"

"From Cauhill, riding hard, you can make it in two days, but I don't recommend it. It's not good for the horses. If you want to go to the palace, allow three to four days. Why? Are you heading there next?" He asked the question, but he felt he already knew the answer. The queen was likely preparing a message, ordering him to escort Rhea to her.

"I don't know. We need to hear back from the messages we sent before deciding our next step. You wouldn't happen to know of anyone in Cauhill who might recognize the building I drew, someone we can trust?"