The Inner Circle: The Knowing (17 page)

A gush of air escaped the horse’s
nostrils as she took a menacing step forward and placed a hoof on
the leader’s shoe. She glared into his eye.

‘
Get out of my way,’
came the muffled warning through folds of cloak, ‘or I’ll crush
every bone you have.’

The men fell back, their expressions
revealing disbelief. Seeol took the opportunity to support Emquin’s
threat. ‘And I will bite you so hard.’

‘
Let’s get out of
here.’ Emquin said, taking advantage of the men’s confusion to
hurry back through the city without slowing down until they reached
the woods. From there they moved slowly, Seeol having to guide
every step.

‘
Forward the
steppings,’ he
encouraged Emquin as she
moved through the dark.

‘
I think I can see it
now,’ she replied, peering anxiously toward firelight glowing in
the cave mouth. Seeol wondered not for the first time how such
enormous eyes could be so utterly useless.

‘
There you are.’
Ilgrin stood up as Emquin approached the cave. ‘You got it,’ he
observed. ‘How?’

Emquin dropped the cloak. ‘Drunk people
never take proper care of their cloaks.’

‘
She stole it,’ Seeol
added bluntly.

‘
Our need is greater
than his,’ Emquin replied defensively.

‘
He’s probably gotten
so cold by now.’

‘
Look, do you want to
stop becoming big and scary or whatever it is you think you are, or
not?’ Emquin stomped in frustration. ‘Because I need to be human
again.’

‘
Well,’ Ilgrin said
when Seeol refused to say anything further, ‘we should get some
sleep.’

‘
Sleeping again,’
Seeol snapped. ‘You practice sleeping every night.’

Ilgrin rubbed his forehead. ‘We sleep
at night. It’s what we do.’

‘
I’m not comfortable
with that.’ Seeol puffed out his feathers, tipped his wings toward
the ground, and started swaying from side to side.

‘
What are you doing?’
Emquin cocked her head.

‘
I’m looking big and
scary for intimidation.’

‘
It’s not working.’
Ilgrin raised his eyebrows. ‘You’re tiny.’

‘
Fine!’ Seeol
shrieked and vanished to his roost at the back of the cave. He’d
decorated the small ledge with grass and feathers to ensure a
comfortable rest. ‘Shleepy times now!’

‘
He gets cranky,
doesn’t he?’ Emquin chuckled.

‘
Seems like it.’
Ilgrin crouched on his haunches.

Emquin lowered herself with a heavy
thud, folding her legs at the knee. ‘Goodnight.’

‘
Night.’ Ilgrin
wrapped himself in his wings and closed his eyes, allowing his head
to hang against his chest.

Unable to sleep, Seeol perched in
silence for many hours stewing in irritation. Travelling by day was
stupid. Predators could too easily eat you. These animals thought
they were invulnerable just because they were big and fat, but they
were just being silly. Seeol retracted his leg into his feathers
and tucked his head behind a wing in the hope of finding sleep.

When Seeol awoke to find the cave awash
with bright sunlight, he was astonished that he’d managed to drift
off. He flew over the others and landed on the grass outside. What
was there to eat at this time of day? Seeol took cautious steps,
keeping an eye on the sky for fear of birds of prey.

Something glistening in the periphery
of Seeol’s vision caught his attention. He immediately knew what it
was and hopped toward the unmistakable sheen of a green lizard’s
tail where it poked up out of the earth. He snatched it in his
talons and pulled. But something was wrong. The lizard was dead and
had been for some time. To make matters worse, the whole collection
Seeol had gathered for Ilgrin came up with it. Why had he rejected
all that food? Seeol felt hurt, but chewed idly on the lizard’s
tail nevertheless as Ilgrin exited the cave with a yawn and a
stretch.

His eyes widened in surprise. ‘Oh
. . . Seeol.’ An awkward silence followed before the silt burst out
laughing. ‘I’m being ridiculous. It’s just an owl.’
H
h
e chuckled.
‘Guess you caught me, huh?’ He smiled as though Seeol’s labour
meant nothing.

‘
It took me ages to
get these ones.’ Seeol flicked his tail in distress. ‘You didn’t
even eat the green lizard,’ he said, squeezing the mangled reptile
between his toes.

‘
I didn’t.’ Ilgrin
raised his hands arbitrarily. ‘I don’t eat that kind of food,’ he
said, without bothering to suppress his mocking smile. Clearly it
was all a big joke to him.

‘
The green ones are
especially delicious!’ Seeol threw the lizard into the dirt and
scurried to hide behind a tree. He could hear Ilgrin laughing. He’d
thought they were friends, but had clearly been mistaken. Seeol
wanted to find El-i-miir and Seteal more than ever. They were his
real friends, not this stupid silt and stupid horse. They’d taught
him to talk and stroked his head. He couldn’t wait to tell them all
about how mean Ilgrin was. They would have cups of tea and laugh.
They would all laugh at Ilgrin together and see how much he liked
it. Seeol had a feeling he wouldn’t like it at all.

It didn’t take long before thoughts of
El-i-miir and Seteal caused Seeol’s mood to further degrade. After
what he’d done in Sitnic, how could he expect them to even want to
be his friends anymore? They probably hated him now. So much blood
. . . Seeol cringed inwardly. Why couldn’t he stop it? There had to
be a way to resist it. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He loved
humans.

No . . . finding El-i-miir and Seteal
could not become his priority. He needed to remain focused on what
was important, getting to the Frozen Lands so the gils could fix
him.

When Seeol emerged from his hiding
place, he did so to find Ilgrin chewing on some kind of orange
root. So he’d eat bits of trees, but not proper food? Ilgrin sure
was a confusing animal.

‘
Hurry up,’ Seeol
ordered. ‘We have to hurry about our way.’

‘
He’s right,’ Emquin
agreed as she exited the cave. ‘You should try on your new
cloak.’

CHAPTER
Eleven

Stranger on the Road

To describe Sitnic as a mess would be
to profoundly understate the truth. Far-a-mael felt regret for that
which the people had been forced to endure, but contempt for their
desperation in pretending the truth to be contrary. They were given
away by solemn expressions and auras that oozed with anxiety. The
seeol’s attack needn’t have turned out so badly. For a city of its
size, too few people carried weapons. There were no pistols or even
swords. A country obsessed with peaceable ways was a country bound
for destruction.

Something glimmered against the road
ahead. Far-a-mael narrowed his eyes to read the slender tendril of
an aura. He yanked on the reins and drew his horse to a halt as a
small boy raced across the road following a path already laid out
by the Ways.

‘
Fool,’ Far-a-mael
barked at the child, his heart pounding.

Across the road, there was a familiar
stain that lead further down the street. Far-a-mael followed it
until he spotted Briel's unmistakeably bulky figure leaning against
a bright red wagon. Beside him stood a portly woman who could’ve
been none other than his wife.

‘
Good morning, Mister
Keaco,’ Far-a-mael announced when he was within earshot. ‘Mistess
Keaco.’ He nodded at Fes.

‘
Gil’rei.’ The dark
woman wobbled as she curtsied. Atop her head sprung innumerable
lengths of plaited hair from beneath a bonnet that’d once been
white. Her clothing revealed the status of a commoner, just as
Far-a-mael had expected from his meeting with her
husband.

‘
My name is Gil
Far-a-mael of the Eighth Cleff,’ he stated grandly. ‘I thank you
both for your kind hospitality in regards to this unfortunate
matter. Rei El-i-miir is assisting the young woman of whom we spoke
yesterday. It shouldn’t be too long before they join us. The girl’s
name is Seteal Eltari, but at the moment I doubt she’ll answer to
anything. And be careful of any abrupt movements. The child was
skittish before all of this. Now she’s jumping at
shadows.’

‘
That be her?’ Briel
nodded down the way, but Far-a-mael didn’t need to turn to
recognise El-i-miir’s tenacious aura. Seteal on the other hand . .
. had changed. She was still beneath it all, just a little more
difficult to find amongst all that noise.

Far-a-mael nodded at Briel’s question
before turning to welcome the girls with a forced smile. Displaying
affection had always proven difficult for him.

‘
Her poor face.’ Fes
put a hand to her mouth when she noticed the bruising, scabbing,
and purple welts marring Seteal’s features. ‘Ye poor dear,’ she
cried as the young ladies approached.

Instead of responding favourably,
Seteal hid behind El-i-miir and refused to raise her eyes. The rei
took her hand and guided her away.

‘
I warned you,’
Far-a-mael reprimanded, sparing a disdainful thought for Briel’s
failure to control his wife.

‘
Ye just rest now,’
Fes cooed, approaching Seteal more cautiously. ‘I’ve made ye up a
nice cot in the back. Make yeself at home, dearie.’

Seteal nodded with downcast eyes, but
otherwise failed to acknowledge the couple as she entered the
wagon. ‘Is she quite comfortable?’ Far-a-mael asked when El-i-miir
returned.

‘
She’ll be okay,’ the
rei replied sharply, her aura shimmering disapproval. Far-a-mael
couldn’t think why.

‘
Good, then. I think
she’s had enough fussing over for now. We should be on our way.
This whole debacle has been a terrible inconvenience,’ he murmured,
flourishing his hand absent-mindedly. El-i-miir’s jaw dropped and
she stormed away without rhyme or reason.

Far-a-mael waited impatiently for
several minutes before at last El-i-miir and Seteal’s horses could
be seen trotting toward them from down the street. The pair had no
riders, which didn’t surprise Far-a-mael considering El-i-miir’s
extraordinarily high achievements in affiliation.

A
less-than-reputable-
looking young man
glanced about for the owners. His aura spoke of ill-intention and
Far-a-mael had to suppress a laugh when he tried to lead the
animals astray. The poor fellow had only to take hold of the reins
before he too was affiliated and turned to sprint into the
distance. If El-i-miir was in a particularly bad mood, he may have
not stopped until his feet bled.

With a shaking head, El-i-miir
approached from the other side of the wagon to mount her horse.
Seteal’s animal would continue along beside her and be made useful
as a packhorse. Far-a-mael released the reins and unfurled his
fingers to watch a translucent strand of affiliation penetrate his
horse’s aura. It was visible only by the way it warped all that was
behind it in a manner not dissimilar to the effects seen through
glass figurines.

Although his strength of affiliation
paled by comparison to El-i-miir, animals offered little resistance
and a moment later Far-a-mael felt a saddle on his back and the
road beneath his hooves. The horse was filled with alarm as it lost
control, but Far-a-mael soothed it by manipulating the colours
drifting about its aura. He didn’t always bother to do so, but
found affiliation was more easily maintained when the animal was
congenial to its presence.

Far-a-mael glanced along the road and
got a fright when his vision altered to observe fewer colours. He
realised his mistake immediately, that he’d been looking through
his horse’s eyes instead of his own. This was followed by
embarrassment. He hoped El-i-miir hadn’t noticed the blunder. It
was one not typically seen in reis above their third year of
university.

As the group made their way out of the
city, stone-paved streets gave way to dirt roads. The crowds
diminished and then vanished. The final farm houses fell away and
suddenly they were quite alone . . . well, almost. There was a
solitary rider on the horizon and he remained there the entire day,
a constant, unescapable black shadow in the distance. When
Far-a-mael and the others increased their speed, so too did the
rider. The same was true when they slowed their pace. Naturally
suspicious, as he was of all things, Far-a-mael started wondering
at what the stranger had to hide.

As the day wore on, Far-a-mael
began to notice the limitations of his aging body. This would be
his final mission away from home. His age and experience made him
more than worthy of eldership. They couldn’t possibly refuse him.
He might even offer to lecture a couple of days a week at the
university, thereby being able to keep a closer eye on El-i-miir’s
progress. Seteal, too, for that matter. Yes . . . most importantly
of all, he was delivering
her
into the arms of the Elglair.
And if all that wasn’t enough, he still had Gez-reil to vouch for
him.

After years of fighting and scheming
against an endless stream of obstacles, Far-a-mael’s plans would at
last come to fruition. His name would echo through the pages of
history, the man single-handedly responsible for the total
destruction of Old World. At last he’d have his peace. At last, he
could rest the memory of sweet Sar-ni. A rare, sincere smile graced
Far-a-mael’s lips.