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Cassie stood in silent shock at what Morgan had said. They
only had two weeks to gather an army and defeat Pravus or he would win and the
Agrestis would fall under his evil reign.
"How far away are the swamps to the east?" Cassie
asked softly. The mages looked at each other uneasily.
"Well, I'm not really sure where they are or
how far away they are." The old Aisha glanced at her fellow mages for confirmation,
and they all nodded in agreement. "The swamp is isolated and seldom visited.
In fact, I believe that there is only one person here that has ever been there.
Anshi, come here."
An island Kyrii cloaked in green came out of
the corner where he had been sitting unnoticed. He was small for a Kyrii, a
few inches shorter than Lana, but he seemed smaller than that because of the
way he carried himself. He walked timidly forward gazing out at them through
large grey-green eyes.
"This is Anshi. He was born in the swamps but
came here after his parents were killed in an accident. He's not much use as
a seer or mage, so you can take him as your guide." The Aisha looked rather
disgusted as she regarded the small Kyrii It was obvious that she disliked those
that didn't posses her art.
Anshi looked at the group of them ashamedly.
The words of the old ashia had evidently hurt him, but he was unable to say
anything in his defense. Lana looked at his solemn expression, and then looked
at the old ashia.
"We are very pleased to have Anshi as our guide.
He will undoubtedly prove to be a very good one, and I am honored that you allowed
him to join us." Lana's eyes glared defiantly at the robed figure in front of
her.
Anshi felt a little taken aback. No one had ever
stood up for him before. He had been hated from the moment he found his way
into the Palace. The only one who had ever been civil to him was the old gatekeeper,
Aergon. The residents here didn't take kindly to failures.
Cassie sensed a conflict and quickly made an
attempt to stop it before it got off the ground. "Thank you all very much,"
she cut in giving Lana a meaningful look. "We don't know how long this trip
will take, so we had better get on the road. We really appreciate your hospitality."
Morgan, catching on added, "That was a great
room you guys let me use. I really liked it."
Cassie smiled at him gratefully as the ashia
turned to him and smiled, ignoring Lana and Anshi entirely. They were ushered
out of the chamber back along the dark torch lit corridor by Aergon. After exiting
the passageway, they were led back to the gate at the edge of the Palace grounds.
"Fare thee well Caesius and companions," said
Aergon looking at Cassie. "Feel free to come back and visit us whenever you
wish. We are not warriors, but we will help you and your friends in whatever
ways we can."
She smiled at him and patted his wizened shoulder.
"I can't think of a better place to come and visit." Aergon smiled broadly as
she turned away.
"I have no doubt that you will achieve great
things Storm Eyes. If any one is to save this land, you are they."
Anshi was thrilled to be free of Emrallis. He
was with friendly creatures now who wouldn't look down on him because he wasn't
a seer. In fact, they relied on him to get them to the swamps. He was important
to them.
This thought cheered him and he smiled to himself
as he walked. Lana came up beside him and saw the smile.
"You must be glad to get out of there," she
said.
"Yeah, it was horrible. Every one except for
Aergon treated me as if I were something unpleasant like a slug." He looked
at Lana and was surprised to see her nodding sympathetically.
"I know that feeling. My parents were awful
creatures. They never wanted a child, but they got stuck with me anyway. Every
time came into their sight they would make a disgusted face and pretend like
I wasn't there. If they absolutely had to talk to me, they did it as nastily
as they could."
Cassie and Morgan were shocked to hear Lana's
story. They had never known that she had had such an appalling childhood.
Lana continued, "The village elder came to my
rescue though. He was vaguely aware of my family situation, but never knew how
bad it was until one day when he came to visit."
"My mother was trying to get the house cleaned
up for the elders visit, and had told me to stay out of the way. I was sitting
on my cot when an Airax flew through the open window and crashed into a vase
she had placed on the table. The vase shattered and the Airax lay stunned on
the floor. I ran to it, but so did my mother. I got there first and carefully
gathered the hurt bird into my arms. Mother went into a hysterical rage like
she often did, and began kicking at me. I sheltered the poor bird as much as
I could, but I'm afraid it still received a few blows."
"While my mother was beating me, the elder walked
in. He saw what was happening, guessed what had happened, snatched me away from
my mothers vicious blows and took me to another home," Lana concluded.
Every eye was on her. Morgan and Cassie looked
slightly sick and Anshi was staring open mouthed at her.
"I don't want your pity," Lana said seeing their
faces, "I just want you to know how glad I am to be in with a friendly group."
***
They came to the edge of they forest at about midday. Morgan got out some food
and Lana began building a small fire. Cassie began to talk to Anshi about the
swamps where they would be going.
"The swamps are known as Hutan Rawa. It is the
word for marsh in the old language," Anshi explained. "The inhabitants live
deep inside them in villages called kariahs. They are pretty isolated from each
other, but are usually on friendly terms."
Cassie listened as Anshi told her more about
Hutan Rawa. She learned about the buildings that were constructed on stilts
and the canoes made from woven rushes. Anshi told her stories that were passed
down through the generations and about ceremonies and customs. He talked about
the strange powers of the elders, and of how they knew how to use the power
of the land. This was particularly interesting to Cassie because she was familiar
with the might of Agrestis and was always curious to find out more about it.
After lunch, Cassie walked next to Anshi as
he told her more about the rich land he had come from.
"Every year during the wet season, we always
had a celebration. The younger men would race their canoes and those too old
for it would judge. We would feast and tell tales of the ancient ones and stay
up late into the night. This was one of the biggest and most looked forward
to events of the year," said Anshi as he described Hujan Keraian or Rain Festival.
"It sounds like a wonderful place," said Cassie
after listening to Anshi talk about the canoe he had built with his brother,
Jalur.
"It was," he replied wistfully. "I would never
have known the cruelties of Emrallis if I had stayed there."
"Why didn't you stay?"
"My parents and brother were killed in an accident
when I was about eight. They were helping a neighbor repair his house when the
roof caved in and the stilts collapsed. They were trapped inside and drowned
in the swamp."
"I so sorry," said Cassie truthfully.
"It was hard. I left because I couldn't stand
living with all those reminders of my family. The house, the canoe, it was all
too painful. After the funeral I left and tried to find something new. It would
have been better to just stay there though. I see that now."
Anshi fell silent after that and didn't speak
for a long time.
Cassie felt bad for ever bringing up the subject,
but Morgan sensing this told her, "He was going to have to relive it eventually.
I think it's better for him to do it here than back at his village."
"He's right," said Anshi quietly. "I would much
rather remember it here than in my village where everything will be so familiar.
Don't worry. I'll be okay."
They traveled on for the rest of the day over
grassy hills and small valleys. It was a pleasant day and the going was fairly
easy. By the time it began to grow dark, they had made good progress.
They found a good spot to set up camp, and began
making dinner. After a satisfying meal, Cassie went looking for some scrub wood
in order to keep the fire going for the rest of the night.
It was a dark, peaceful night and there was no
noise except for the quiet chirping of crickets. Cassie sighed and breathed
in the cool air of Agrestis. It tasted sweet and fresh, and she found herself
thinking that it would be a great loss if this wonderful land fell into the
clutches of one so evil as Pravus. She could not allow it.
But how, with only two weeks left, could she
assemble an army powerful enough to defeat Pravus and his mighty forces?
Back at camp, Morgan sat gazing idly into the
fire. Lana had gone off to attend to something, and he had no idea where Anshi
had gotten to. Nor did he care.
His mind was on a silver Zafara with bright
stormy eyes who was off collecting fire wood. He thought of all the trouble
that await them and blanched at the idea of any harm coming to her. He couldn't
let that happen. Despite of all the danger she had in her way, Morgan decided
that he couldn't allow her to come to harm. A spirit as vivid and strong as
hers couldn't be allowed to be blotted out by a darkness as evil as Pravus.
A scream split the dark night shattering any
pretence of calm. It sent an icy chill through Morgan that caused him to spring
to his feet.
"Cassie!" he cried.
To be continued…
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