Terry Simpson - Etchings of Power

“Malka.” Ryne gestured toward the man.

Malka turned to regard Ryne. His nose and eyes peeked out from the brown bush that covered his face.

“Gather some kinai and help Sakari tend to the others.” Ryne nodded to the sweet, red fruit growing in thick clusters within the stand. “Keevo and Dren, check for signs of the boy. Shout if you see a woman with golden hair or that so called Devout, Mariel.” The men nodded and hurried off to do as he bid.

As Ryne surveyed the clearing, he removed the paste the sisters had given him and applied some to his wounds. The mixture had a sweet smell, but it stung enough to make him wince. Droppings from the lapra indicated the creature had used this particular area for some time. Bits of bone and carrion from the beast’s previous feasts littered the ground. Besides their footprints and the Alzari’s, there were no other human tracks. Ryne’s brow furrowed. If the creature dragged Kahkon here, why not kill the boy once it reached its lair? For that matter, why didn’t the assassins finish the job? He still pondered the question when Keevo and Dren returned.

“There be a blood trail and the animal’s tracks from the direction you came.” Keevo pointed south to an area with disturbed undergrowth. He shook his head, clearly baffled. “Why not return to the Rot or go farther north toward Alzari territory?”

“I think something worse must have forced the lapra out here. The assassins were trying to fight back.” Ryne lifted his chin toward broken branches and brush dragged across the stand’s easternmost side. “There’s wards carved into those tree trunks to hide a path there. I’ve only ever seen those symbols used by the Alzari clans when protecting their territory. Whatever it was, they didn’t want it to follow, and the lapra was too afraid to return to its home.”

“Burning shades,” Keevo hissed. “Do you think it could be Amuni’s Children-”

“No,” Ryne snapped. “Things are worrisome enough without you dredging them up. There’s enough fear in Carnas already. Besides, none of the wards I placed in the Rotted Forest have been disturbed. Even the Children aren’t strong enough to bypass those.”

“If not them, then what else?” Keevo’s face relaxed visibly, but he still glanced out toward the blockage to the east.

“I don’t know yet, but it’s best not to start any rumors. Extra scouts will need to be posted when we return,” Ryne said.

Footsteps behind them announced Sakari’s arrival with the other men in tow. The wounded hunters both chewed on kinai. Paste from the fruit dyed their bandages a brighter red, but the mixture appeared to be doing its work. Denton no longer gasped, although he did wince with each breath, and his color appeared close to its normal tan. Lenka, his leg now wrapped in bandages, moved with a less pronounced limp. For Ryne, his cuts had subsided to a dull ache.

“What about this person with golden hair?” Dren asked.

“None of you saw her?” Ryne asked in disbelief.

The hunters gave him blank looks.

“I did,” Sakari said. He tilted his head to the hunters. His green pupils expanded ever so slightly while the silver flecks crowding his eyeballs flickered.

The men looked away from Sakari’s stare. Ryne wasn’t surprised by his companion’s answer, but the villagers’ response troubled him. They were all experienced hunters. It would take a person with considerable skill to avoid detection from every one of them.

“Master Waldron, no offense, but you sure it wasn’t Mariel again? Maybe the light in the woods played tricks with her hair.” Lenka peered out into the woods.

“Or maybe an Alzari woman?” Dren added.

“No,” Ryne said, “this person is taller than Mariel with a more muscled build. And an Alzari with golden hair? Listen, you five head home. Lenka and especially Denton need to be seen by the menders. Me and Sakari will find Kahkon.”

The men protested, but Ryne shushed them with a wave. They gave in with curt nods.

After a few moments of preparation, they parted ways. Malka and Dren assisted the two wounded while Keevo scouted ahead. Ryne watched the men leave before he and Sakari headed south to follow Kahkon’s bloody trail.

“Why not send one of them to help Lenka and Denton and have the other two come with us?”

“Whoever was in the forest,” Ryne said, “She managed to elude their tracking ability. And she escaped me even after I read her aura. In the seventy years since I’ve woken, that’s never happened. One moment she was there, and the next she didn’t exist. My ability to see auras is unique among my people, how could someone-.” Ryne’s mouth dropped open at his last sentence.

Never before had I thought of any skill in reference to my people. Who are my people?

“Has a memory surfaced?” Sakari cocked his head sideways.

Ryne attempted to connect his words with an image of his people, but as usual his efforts were met by a thick fog. He pushed deep into the white mist clouding his mind until he encountered a red wall. There, he stopped. He wanted to will himself to go further, but his brief trips past the wall rose fresh in his mind. The excruciating pain and dread he experienced when he became lost within its glare became palpable. The faces of slaughtered innocents and him poised over them with his sword in hand swirled about him. Sakari’s touch had rescued him from insanity back then. He couldn’t afford such again, not now, maybe not ever. Ryne withdrew, his eyes focusing on Sakari.

“Well?”

“No, there were no memories, just a stray thought,” Ryne answered. “As for the stranger I saw, Keevo and the others would be no help if she proves to be an enemy.”

“Sometimes a distraction is needed to complete a task.”

Ryne scowled. “I won’t put them at any more risk than I already have. A person who can avoid my power? That’s unheard of. We need to move with care. My presence has already cost Carnas and its people too much. They’re as much a part of me as you are. I will not see them harmed.”

Sakari’s head dipped briefly. “As you wish.”

They continued their search in silence with Sakari gliding ahead. Occasionally, they discovered torn strips of cloth left along the wayside as the tracks changed course.

Ryne resisted the temptation to open his senses and gain a better awareness of what lay ahead. Luring another lapra or worse would only serve to hinder the boy’s chances at survival. Dear Ilumni, I beg of you, keep the boy safe. Dizziness swept through Ryne. His jaw grinding with the effort, he fought the feeling off and concentrated on their search.

Almost a mile farther, they found Kahkon. The boy lay curled between two large tree roots. His right leg was a jagged stump and his shirt no more than tattered cloth covered in dry blood. Hair that should have been a healthy dark color now contained several white streaks.

Ryne rushed to the boy’s side, resisting the urge to cry out. He removed the pouch of kinai paste and passed it to Sakari. “Here, the sisters had Taeria prepare this before I left Carnas. It should be potent enough to help.”

Sakari took the pouch and inspected the contents as Ryne bent and eased Kahkon over onto his back. Ryne sucked in a gasp at what he saw. A gash ran down the left side of Kahkon’s chest all the way to his stomach. How the boy had lived, much less dragged himself this far was beyond Ryne. Rage and grief warred within Ryne at the sight.

Kahkon’s chest heaved, each breath a gurgle, and his brown skin was a pale shadow of itself. His eyes snapped open and stared sightlessly before they focused for a moment then widened with terror.

“Ma…Master W…Waldron h-help me,” Kahkon said in a hoarse whisper. “Sh-shade”