Avin blamed himself for not giving Riani more time to recover before they had used the portal to Kanar.
Sil knelt by his side as he sat next to the still sleeping figure of Riani.
“We had to leave, We were discovered there…Avin it was Riani herself who announced she that was leaving and chose when.
This is no fault of yours. Besides, look at me…”
Avin raised his head and looked at his sister carefully.
“No change in my appearance. She’s been like this for three days.
At some level she’s maintaining the glamour she made for me. She’s still with us.”
He hadn’t thought of that. Possibly this was just some sort of process that was necessary for her new skill.
She had thought that it was a healing talent. Perhaps it needed her to rest. He didn’t know.
He was worried about her. That was all he knew. Was it only a few days ago when he’d felt completely confident in himself?
Looking at her he wasn’t certain he even wanted to take this fight on, or do much of anything without her by his side.
He wanted to weep, but found instead he was becoming angry with himself again.
Whatever she had said, he could have persuaded her to wait. He thumped the ground with his fist, as if the pain might
serve as punishment in a small way, and make her come back to him.
It did no good , but he was not going to give way to tears.
She was still alive, and that was hope. It would have to be enough.
Gant and Jan had gone to buy horses, wagons and provisions from the nearby town yesterday.
At least when they came back he could make her more comfortable.
Not knowing what was causing this in her, he'd not chosen to use the shelter of the Portal tower.
He thought perhaps it might have some ill effect on her, so he’d made her a bed and a shelter of branches in the woodland closeby.
Fortunately it was summertime here, and there had been no rain for a few days.
He bent to kiss her forehead. He’d never told her that he hadn’t looked while she was naked in the corridor at the Keep.
He always meant to tell her, it just never seemed to be the right time.
He’d never admitted that he’d stolen her shift with his magic to get her size.
Her spell had been much better than she thought when she’d dried her clothes.
“I’ll tell you Riani, I’ll tell you when you wake up. I’ll tell you that I love you and that the day you stood at my door with that
little dagger held in front of you was the luckiest day of my life.”
Sil stood a little way away watching him, remembering well what love had felt like.
She was happy for Riani and Avin, having no doubt that she would wake eventually.
She didn’t know what made her so sure, she just knew.
Just as certainly she knew also that Avin would never abuse Riani in the way that Hirn had abused her.
She sat down and leant against a willow tree, its leaves casting a dappled shade over her from the hot midday sun.
Had she killed Hirn? She didn’t know. He was a skilled Mage. He had probably healed himself.
Poul had been a fairly nice man. She had met him a few times and had quite liked him. It was the Elite.
It destroyed everyone it touched.
Now she realised that the Order of the Elite didn’t exist as an entity without people.
What existed was people’s need to control and dominate other people. That was what they were fighting.
The thing inside people that demanded they have power over another person.
That was what Avin had seen her fight within herself that day with Hirn in Est.
As she considered it, she felt proud of herself too for what she had done. Hirn didn’t know that Mat was dead.
She almost hoped Hirn was dead, so that he would never know that it had been Elite Order Mages that had killed his son.
Almost, but not quite. Always in her mind she saw them standing together on the balcony of their home on Artez the night before their wedding.
In love and loving, before he had started to bind her to him with magic.
She couldn’t stop the tears, or the regret or the grief. All this time had passed and yet they still stood there under the stars
in a secret place in her mind, she and him, in love and happy.
The tears just wouldn’t stop, and for all her will and all her courage, they vanquished her entirely as at last
she allowed her heart to speak its truth of love. Love’s pain, and love’s joy. Finally it spoke freely,
in the language of her tears. She just let them have their say, making no attempt to silence or excuse them with words or reason.
In the town of Kanar Gant was haggling with the Smithy over the price of one of the wagons. Jan was wondering
about everything. He had a family. That was what they were, had become over the years.
He had never really thought about it before, but he did have a
family in these people he travelled with. He liked it. He liked it that Riani was so outspoken, and Avin so
dry, and Gant so coarse and Sil… he had loved Sil from the first time he saw her in the Scrapyard.
He hated what had been done to her. He had never realised before why she had invited him to the Keep.
It was to save him from becoming like Hirn. He shuddered.
There was no life in the Order of the Elite. Only the life of other people.
He sat on the fence outside the Smithy, swinging his legs.
Gant came out having concluded his business “Ready?” he said.
“Yeah,…Hey Gant?”
“What?”
“How much money have we got left?”
“About three hundred Strants, why?”
“There’s a Lute in the Merchants over there for a hundred. Do you think Avin would mind if I had it?”
“Never mind him, that’s ale money you’re spending!” said Gant laughing.
They sauntered off to buy it. Gant got it for sixty, and the rest of what they needed at a good discount.
They readied the wagons and became acquainted with the horses. Two golden coloured mares, not the prettiest on offer,
but Gant was looking for something else. These two had stamina, and heart. That was what was important to him
in horses, and in his friends also.
Jan had never even ridden in a wagon before, and knew nothing of horses so Gant spent an hour or so teaching him
how to drive. Jan enjoyed it, and liked the horses. He thought he‘d possibly never even seen one this close up
before, at least he couldn‘t remember if he had. Gant was a good trainer and teacher. He knew when Jan was
ready for the trail and they set off in time to rejoin the others before the sun set. Gant hoped that Riani
would be awake when they got back. He didn’t like the look of Avin. He was not the same man.
A herring was a fish, and Avin loved Riani. Avin was less than useful to them at the moment without her, that much was certain.