Jaleigh Johnson - Unbroken Chain - The Darker Road

Above her, she heard the sudden rush of flapping wings. Ilvani lifted her head and saw a bird’s wing. Though she couldn’t see it clearly, she had an impression of light brown plumage and darker spots on the animal’s body. It landed in the tree above the rabbit’s den. Ilvani lay on her back on the pine needles so that she could see the bird clearly.

It was an owl-a brown-plumed owl with eyes like garnets. The bird turned on its perch and surveyed the area. When it saw the shadar-kai woman sprawled across its hunting ground, the bird cocked its head, questioning, Ilvani thought. What was this thing, this spot in the snow? How did it come to be here? How long will it stay?

Ilvani closed her eyes. She didn’t know the answer to any of those questions. Then she heard again the swish of wings, and when she opened her eyes, there were two more owls perched beside the first. She stared up at the sky and saw the shadows of more birds circling. They glided down in a slow spiral and landed in the pine tree, five, six, ten owls all looking down at her. She’d never seen such beautiful feathers.

“Ilvani?”

The sound of Ashok’s voice broke the stillness and made the birds tense. Ilvani expected them to fly away, but they stayed on their branches, silent watchers in the snow.

Ashok’s face came into view above her, blocking out the birds and the pale sun. His long gray hair hung about his face in tangles, and his black eyes watched her with the same questions swimming in them as in the owls’.

“I don’t know the answers,” she said.

He sat down next to her. “Aren’t you cold, lying on the ground?”

She thought about it and discovered she was actually very cold. Until he said it, she hadn’t noticed.

He took his cloak off and held it out to her. The gesture, so vivid an echo of another time he’d done this, made Ilvani’s breath catch in her throat. Hearing her soft gasp, Ashok stiffened. He realized it, too, but it was too late now to take it back. Cautiously, Ilvani reached out and took the cloak. She spread it over herself. Her body warmed immediately from the latent heat of his, but now she felt a different kind of cold, a remoteness that made her want to retreat into her mind.

The owls made her stay. Their beautiful feathers and calm eyes-there was no threat here. If there were, the owls would cry out in warning and fly away. She was safe here, as safe as any person could be.

She looked at Ashok. He sat quietly waiting, expecting nothing from her. He was the only one who did that, now that Natan was gone. She wondered, if she said nothing, just lay there in the snow, would he stay beside her until the snow covered them both?

“It’s not a good idea. We’d have to dig ourselves out eventually,” she said, resigned.

He smiled faintly. “You were making much more sense earlier,” he said. “I knew it couldn’t last.”

“My fault. It’s because I say only half of what I think and half of what I see,” Ilvani said. “You can’t see the owls, can you?”

He tilted his head. “Did you see some in the trees?” He looked around at the wood. “I’d like to see what one looks like outside the Shadowfell.”

Ilvani glanced up. There were thirteen owls now. “So would I,” she said.

“Do you want to go back to the camp?” Ashok asked.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m not afraid to dream,” she said.

That got his attention. “The woman from your dreams-she’s gone?”

“Not gone. But she’s different. She’s not being hunted. She’s at peace, so I can be at peace.”

“The nightmare hasn’t reacted to you the way he did on the Shadowfell plain,” Ashok said. He made a gesture toward her as if to lift the cloak, but he stopped himself and let his hand rest on the spiked chain hanging from his belt. “Your arms are healing?” he asked.

“Yes,” Ilvani said. “But there will be scars, and I won’t know what they mean.”

“The symbols,” Ashok said. “Don’t worry, when we get to Rashemen, the witches will explain why you were seeing them in your dreams. Or maybe …”

“What?”

“Couldn’t you ask … Him? Surely Tempus could give you some hint as to what the dreams mean?”

Ilvani sighed. “He might, but I haven’t talked to Him since that night-you know when.”

“I know.”

She scowled. “I’m not afraid. But I haven’t decided what I think or feel about Him.”

“Neither have I,” Ashok said.

They sat in silence after that. Ilvani heard Skagi and Cree moving through the trees. There was the sound of a blade, a heavy thud-in that instant she felt the pulse of life quicken and fade. The owls rustled their wings and made soft keening sounds that caused Ilvani’s heart to quiver in her chest.

The soul’s flight-tonight there will be another long journey, Ilvani thought. Another creature will have to find its way home.

“Cree killed a deer,” she said.

Ashok nodded. He didn’t ask her how she knew. “Cree is doing well without his eye,” he said.

Ilvani sat up and shook the snow out of her hair. “Your words don’t match your face,” she said.

He fingered the spiked chain, heedless of the sharp edges waiting to bite his skin. Ilvani sensed new magic crawling along the links, magic that smelled like smoke. “You told me once that I should value my companions and keep them safe,” he said. “I failed in that.”

“You didn’t understand what I was asking you,” Ilvani said.

“That’s not truly surprising.”

“You’re not ready to understand.”

The snow had stopped falling. Skagi and Cree came trotting through the trees, carrying a deer carcass between them.

“Not to worry, you two,” Skagi said dryly. “You just keep on sitting there. We can handle this hunt. It was no effort at all, really.”

Ashok grinned. “Skagi and his great enemy, the woodland doe.”

“He needs the training,” Cree said.

Skagi dropped his end of the deer, which caused Cree to stumble and curse. “Can we go back now? If those brigands return, I don’t want to miss any of the fun. We haven’t had a good fight in days.”

“We’re all feeling it,” Cree said. He flexed his gloved fingers. Ilvani knew he was holding back a tremor. When he could no longer control it, he would need satisfaction, in one form or another. Their shadow selves had been too long at peace on the road. She could see them, the shadows clawing restlessly at their skin. She saw the thing they feared, she heard the whisper they tried to ignore. But she could never put a name to the things she saw, or tell Cree, Skagi, or Ashok that the menace was so close all the time. It would make them afraid of her.

She was not always aware of her world or the workings of the people in it, but Ilvani knew enough to know that she would rather the shadar-kai thought she was crazy than fear her.

“We’ll spar tonight,” Ashok said, “the three of us. Maybe we can talk the Beshabans into joining us. They have to be hurting too.”

“So long as they know ‘spar’ means you stop short of ‘kill,’ ” Cree said, but there was a spark in his black eye, a hint of excitement at the possibility of challenging the other shadar-kai.

Ashok knows what to say to them, Ilvani thought. Maybe he is beginning to understand. She looked up at the tree, but the owls were gone. They had fled the shadows too.

When they got back to camp-the brothers had made Ashok carry the deer-he deposited the meat with the cook, who’d managed to get several fires going, some for cooking and some for warmth. The presence of the invigorating flames and their arrival at the trade route more or less on schedule had put the camp into an almost-festive mood. Tatigan, the Martucks, and the dwarf merchant-Tatigan had referred to him only as Thorm-sat around one of the fires and discussed their expedition into Uzbeg. Ashok couldn’t hear what they said, but by their expressions, the trip must have gone well. Even the boy, sitting close to his parents, seemed at ease.