“My people,” he cried, “I love you, and Ashhur loves you. These events may indeed indicate troubling times ahead, but there is no reason for you to panic. You are safe here. Our land is remote and sprawling, and it is our own. Our laws govern it, laws passed down by Ashhur himself.”
“But what of the rumors?” someone shouted. “What if Karak wants to kill us all?”
“Then so be it,” he said, earning gasps from the crowd. “Should the brother god march on us, we shall lay down our arms and praise our Lord. We shall praise him as he was and honor his teachings. But it will not come to that. The desert is too wide, the terrain too formidable, for an army to risk traversing it. And our shores are protected by high cliffs and a rocky coastline. I believe that if we remain true to ourselves, we shall be safe. If Karak comes for Ashhur, it is because Ashhur has turned his back on his own teachings. We will not. We will remain perfect as we have always been, and no one shall trouble us.”
The murmurs grew louder by the time he finished, and he gestured for the people to disperse. Rather than quelling their fears, his words seemed to have cast them into a deeper state of despair and worry. Not that he could blame them. Deep down, Bardiya feared he was wrong.
Ki-Nan lingered after the others had left. He gazed at Bardiya with compassion in his soulful brown eyes. In the months since his parents’ death, it had been Ki-Nan who’d helped assuage his sour moods and the feelings of doubt. The man always seemed to know what to say and was as reliable as the sunrise, a fact that Bardiya appreciated more than he could express.
“What would you have me do, brother?” his friend asked. “I know you hid the harshest of the truths from them.”
“You know me too well,” Bardiya replied, shaking his head. “Honestly, the threats on land don’t frighten me. We’ll order our people to keep their hunting and foraging journeys to the desert and lower grasslands. No one will step within five miles of the Gods’ Road or Safeway. We’ll reign in our boundaries and stay out of sight.”
“But the dangers by sea do worry you.”
He nodded. “Our land pushes against the sea. Should any decide to make landfall…”
“The unknowing is the worst part, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Ki-Nan grinned. “If you’ll allow it, I will take one of the smaller skiffs and search the Canyon Crags for Onna’s lion ships. Would that help ease your worry?”
“It would, Ki-Nan,” said Bardiya, feeling greatly relieved. “You would be willing to do this?”
“Of course. Anything for you, my friend. And when I return many days from now, I will have your answers.”
He laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder, and then they embraced, Bardiya dwarfing even Ki-Nan’s ample height.
“Let us pray,” Bardiya said, “that those answers are not the ones we fear.”
Aullienna Meln watched the gathering from afar. There was a mob of people down there, a sea of simple clothing and dark skin that almost swallowed the gentle giant Bardiya. She hadn’t seen that many assembled since the day after she and her ilk had arrived in Ang, begging for sanctuary.
The last six months had not been easy, but life in the quaint fishing village was far superior than it had been in the dungeon beneath Palace Thyne. Here she did not starve, filthy and afraid, waiting for captors to come and take away another of her countrymen. Here she had a roof over her head and was surrounded by people she loved. But still it was difficult. Each day brought with it the fear that Neyvar Ruven’s spies would find her and her companions. She was all too aware of the distrustful looks some of the Kerrians gave her, and she found their judgment unfair. She hadn’t been among those who had murdered the seven innocents, after all. Yet as Bardiya had told her, no one had died before their time in Ker prior to that day. Her fellow Dezren elves had shattered that.
This discourse between self-pity and empathy constantly warred in her head, threatening to drive her mad.
The only thing that made life bearable was Kindren Thyne, her intended. Although they were required to remain far from the boundary of Stonewood to the west and the Gods’ Road to the north, they still enjoyed walks in the empty plains, picnics in the forest, and hikes through the desert cliffs. They spent time alone on a small raft while the waves of the Thulon crashed against the rocks, and even practiced magic together, levitating sticks and lighting tiny fires with the tips of their fingers. They did everything together, and with each passing day, their bond became more powerful. During their stay, Aully had turned thirteen and Kindren, seventeen, and he had promised her that as soon as they found a permanent place to live, they would be married.
Married to her love. That was the shining beacon in the distance that kept her hopeful, even though she didn’t know if they would ever find a home to call their own. And now, months later, those precious moments they enjoyed alone were becoming few and far between.
Kindren’s arm slinked around her waist, and Aully grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her close. Surprise made her smile. Just when I’m at my lowest, she thought. She caught a whiff of his scent, salt and fish and smoke, and she realized she had come to appreciate those smells because of him. His lips kissed the pointed tip of her right ear, and she felt a quivering feeling in the pit of her stomach. She fought the urge to whirl around and kiss him fully, given that so many of her people were milling about.
“What are they doing?” asked Kindren, pointing a finger at the assembly that was just now dispersing.
Aully shrugged. “Don’t know. Some talk about gods and soldiers and boats.”
“Should we be worried? And why were we not invited?”
Aullienna shrugged.
“Those are their concerns, and this is their village. We’re just visitors.”
Kindren frowned. “What if this ends up being our home permanently?”
“It won’t,” she replied in defiance. “It never will be. We’re going home.”
“But Aully…”
She spun around on him. “Don’t ‘but Aully’ me. We’ve talked about this. We belong in Stonewood or Dezerea, with our own people. Not here.” She huffed from her nose. “And besides, they’ll never accept us. We’ve been here for months, and we’re still outsiders. That will never change.”
“Aully,” Kindren said, “I know you want to go home. I do too. I want to see my parents again; I still love them in spite of their betrayal. I want to walk through the palace and marvel at the paintings of Lords past. I want to explore the crypts and be amazed by history. But that might never happen, and it’d be foolish of me to refuse to accept that possibility.”
“So you’re giving up?”
“No, not giving up, just being realistic.”
Aully pulled away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll die if I never go back. I’d rather rot in the ground than spend the rest of my life here.”
“You don’t mean that,” Kindren said. “Please, say you don’t mean that.”
“What if I do?”
He dropped his arms, letting them dangle there. He looked so sad in that moment, more a little boy than an elf on the verge of manhood. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his drab, dirt-smeared breeches.
“If that’s the case,” he said, “then I don’t know you like I thought I did.”
With that he walked away, his bare feet kicking up sod as he scuffed them against the grass.
“Kindren, don’t go,” she called out after him. “I’m sorry-I was being silly. Please come back.”
“I think you need some time to think about what’s important,” he said without turning around.
She heard snickers from beside her and glanced at the six elves sitting on a log beside the cookfire, roasting cubed pork and shallots at the end of a skewer. They pointedly turned their gazes away from her, focusing instead on their mid-morning meal.