The Lost Ranger, page 13
“I don’t really know how to make it work,” I said.
Davond shook his head. “It’s not about making anything work. You just need to try to focus on the connection. Feel it. It’s a bond, whether you like it or not.”
And here I had hoped that he might help me find a way to sever that connection. But that wasn’t what he offered me. He wanted me to use it?
Would it make the bond stronger?
If we managed to survive this, and if we managed to scare the Sundered away—or simply get Asherah and let Davond use her to escape from the Sundered—what would happen to me then?
“I don’t think we have time for this,” Veela said, jabbing her pole toward another creature scurrying along the boardwalk.
Churan snarled. “Why don’t we give them the time they need? And the space.”
Veela nodded and they hurried off, taking some of the others with them. It left me with Davond, which I wasn’t thrilled with, as I didn’t have any answers here.
“You have to close your eyes and focus on the bond,” Davond said. “Feel it. It’s there.”
I looked around. “Davond…”
“No. Not right now.”
“I don’t know how to feel the bond,” I said.
“Remember what it felt like when she was using you?”
How could I forget?
“I remember,” I said.
“Then focus on that.”
I wanted to argue, but he had such an intense gaze that I didn’t dare. Instead, I did as he said, closing my eyes and focusing on the burning in the back of my neck. If that was the source of some sort of connection to a tether, then I needed to try to use that to find her, didn’t I?
I wanted answers.
My mother had a book with a marking that was the same as one Asherah carried.
In order to get those answers, I either needed to get them from Davond or I was going to need to get them from Asherah.
One way or the other, I wanted to know.
So I began to focus.
The burning was there. I could feel it, faintly, but it was definitely there.
“I feel a burning,” I said. “It’s not painful, but I can’t tell if there’s any direction to it.”
“Just describe what you feel.”
How was I supposed to describe it?
“I’m trying.”
“I don’t want to rush you, but we do need you to move quickly with this,” Davond said. “Asherah needs for you to move quickly. If the Sundered take her and finish whatever they have in mind for her, then…”
“What do you think they intend to do with her?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Great,” I said. “That’s quite helpful.”
“Well, I’m telling you all that I can. So focus.”
I continued to focus on the heat. As I did, I began to feel as if there was something dragging on me.
I started following it.
I didn’t say anything. Instead, I just moved.
I thought I was going to be going toward the Three Elders, where the creatures had been gathering and where I had seen Veela and Churan and the other swamp rats heading.
But instead…
Instead I followed the feeling that was drawing on me.
I didn’t even open my eyes. When I thought about doing so, it seemed as if that would distract me, making it difficult to know where to go. We moved along the boardwalk. Every so often, Davond would touch my arm and I shifted my feet in the direction that he guided me so that I didn’t fall off the boardwalk.
Then I felt a flare.
It was little more than a surge of energy, but even that seemed a bit faint.
I opened my eyes. We were passing along a section of the city where the buildings were narrower. These were mostly homes out here, adjacent to the edge of the swamp. It was a dingier section of the city, though many parts of it were like that.
Why would they have brought Asherah out here?
“What’s going on out here?” I asked Davond.
“I suspect they were attempting to escape,” he said.
Which meant that they must have brought whatever boats they had to this part of the city.
It would be hidden. They could slide up alongside one of these homes…
And how many people would have been harmed by the Sundered if they did?
I didn’t have any idea, but I didn’t like the idea of the Sundered harming people in our city. I squeezed the tether sword. Heat flared in my neck again.
I focused. It seemed to be coming from a different place. Closer to the edge of the swamp.
I raced forward, now having a better sense of where it was, and I followed that sense, feeling the heat and the direction.
And then I came to a circular section of the boardwalk. The homes that once had been here had all started to decay years ago, with several of them falling into complete disrepair. One of them looked as if the swamp was trying to claim it, and the home itself seemed to teeter on the stilts that kept it out of the water.
There had to be three of the Sundered along with several of the small creatures forcing someone—Asherah, I assumed—up ahead.
Davond tensed. “Too many,” he said.
“We need to get some of the others.”
“They are too far away.”
“Not for us.”
And not for me.
I raced through town, practically skimming atop the different boardwalks, grabbing a pole at one point and slamming it onto the ground to call to others using a steady thudding. People slowly began to poke their heads out of doors, including Churan who had a half-dozen with him. He nodded to me. Veela answered, carrying her whipstone pole in hand, looking menacing in a way that I doubted I ever would.
Then we marched on the Sundered.
We were swamp rats.
And this was our home.
As we did so, I realized that none of them were Azrael, the Sundered that led them.
As the swamp rats drove whipstone poles into creatures, and even into the Sundered, a burning burst along my neck. A bit of wind started to swirl, and pain surged again in my neck. Then the creatures were thrown free, into the swamp.
One of the Sundered turned, bringing its hand back.
Davond was there, driving both ends of his splintered whipstone pole into the creature, and shoved it into the swamp. The other Sundered remaining turned and dove into the water, disappearing beneath the surface.
It was done.
We had Asherah.
“Now, does anyone care to tell me what just happened?” Churan snapped.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As we were walking back through town, I noticed areas of destruction. I hadn’t been paying attention to it initially as I had followed the tether connection that linked me to Asherah, but now I noticed the strangeness that was all around us. When I said something to Davond, he nodded.
“It took me a while to notice it, as well. I thought we had time before the Sundered caught up to us. They must have been moving faster than I realized.”
“Their leader wasn’t with them,” I said.
Davond looked at me, frowning. “Azrael. That’s who you must have encountered when you first faced him. Are you sure about that?”
“I remembered what he looked like, Davond. That is, as well as you can remember what one of those Sundered look like. They are all a bit strange, aren’t they? I didn’t see him.”
He pressed his mouth together in a tight line, frowning more deeply. “Which means that they may attack again.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The same thing I intended to do before. Get Asherah away from here.”
I felt like all of this was beyond my understanding. I didn’t want anything to do with it, either. Even if I had some connection to this tether magic.
And I did…
I reached into my pocket, pulling the book out that I had taken from my childhood home, and held it up for Davond. He frowned at me before he carefully took it from me, glancing at the cover before opening it and turning the pages inside. He moved slowly from page to page before closing the book, but he didn’t hand it back.
“Why would my mother have added that mark?”
Davond looked as if he wanted to say something before he shook his head.
“So you want me to believe that you don’t know why she would have it? That mark is the same as the one Asherah has on her map. There has to be some reason for that.”
“I didn’t know much about your mother,” Davond said.
“I can tell you’re lying.”
“What you want me to tell you? That your mother wasn’t always from Bastrop? That much like me, she escaped something that she wasn’t supposed to be a part of? I didn’t know that she had any connection to tether.”
I tensed. I hadn’t known that my mother had not always been from Bastrop. I was a swamp rat. I had always been a swamp rat.
But my mother had not been?
“Why would she have come here?”
“Because this place is at the edge of the world,” Davond said.
“Do you think she had anything to do with the map?”
Davond looked as if he wanted to say no, but then he shrugged. “I can’t say. It’s possible that she did. Did your mother know the swamp?”
I arched a brow at him. “I think you and I both know that my mother didn’t spend any time in the swamp.”
“Did you ever draw out the swamp?”
“I…”
I had, actually.
When I was younger, after I had first started working with Churan, I had made markings to try to keep track of what I learned of the swamp and how to navigate it. It was complicated. I had drawn it so that I could memorize it more easily. That was partly how I had managed to learn it as quickly as I had.
Could I have been the reason that a map had ended up in Eleanor’s hands?
“I guess I did. I don’t know if my mother sent it anywhere, but I guess it’s possible.”
Davond handed me the book. “I can’t read any of this. You can show it to Asherah and see what she understands, but I suspect it will be the same. I don’t know what language it’s in or if it’s coded in any way.”
“What do you mean coded?”
“I mean that she would have written it in some way that others wouldn’t have been able to interpret. I don’t have a good explanation.”
“But you were a ranger.”
“I was. I’m no longer one.”
His gaze went to the tether sword that I was carrying, and I realized that he hadn’t even picked up one during the fighting.
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Then at least tell me why you ended up out here. You are in Bastrop for a reason.”
“It’s complicated,” he said. “And at this point, I’m not even sure that it matters. The only thing that matters is that I now feel a sense of obligation to help Asherah. I don’t know what else I might need to do to help her, but I will do as much as possible.”
I followed him and realized where we were heading.
Toward the Bone.
The buildings around the Bone were in a bit of disarray, as well. Some of the local shop owners were out, picking up tables, sweeping along the boardwalk, or generally trying to get reorganized. There weren’t many other people out, whether because of the time of day or because of the attack. I followed Davond into the tavern.
The inside of the Bone smelled of smoke and sawdust, and the tables were all strewn about. There were no customers, and the only person who really looked as if they belonged was Churan, who quickly righted one of the tables, along with a few chairs, before pointing to all of us to take a seat. Janey was working to clean up the mess.
Davond was the first one to do so. He leaned forward, letting out a heavy sigh as he did, and nodded to the others to join him. Veela hurriedly took a seat, sitting close to where Churan would sit, before glancing up at me.
She didn’t say anything, but I could see the intensity in her gaze and the way that she was watching me, practically demanding that I follow suit. I was still holding onto the tether sword, but didn’t know what to do with it, so I rested it on the ground before sitting next to her.
Asherah stood nervously near Davond. She gripped her shirt, which had been ripped during the struggle and was stained with a little bit of blood.
“I’m not going to hurt you, girl,” Churan said.
“I’m not a girl,” she said.
Churan snorted. “Maybe not. Why don’t we sort it out when you take a seat.”
She looked over at Davond, as if waiting for confirmation that she should do so, but still didn’t.
“It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you.”
“What if they return?”
“Oh, don’t worry about those bastards returning. I have people keeping watch now. Had I a bit more warning, I would’ve known that I needed to do so before now,” Churan said.
“Sorry about that,” Davond said. “I thought we would gather supplies and get out of town before anything happened.”
“Seeing as how that didn’t happen, why don’t we talk about what you will do.” Churan rested his elbows on the table, and though I couldn’t see his eyes, it seemed as if he were glowering at Davond. “What can you tell me?”
“I’m not sure what I can tell you that will make a difference.”
“Really? Then this doesn’t have anything to do with the tether that came to town not so long ago, looking for guidance through the swamps. Didn’t make their way here, unfortunately. Otherwise, I would’ve sent somebody who actually knew something.”
“Why?” I asked despite myself. It wasn’t like Churan to offer anything.
“You don’t have to be too clever to know that you help a tether when they need it,” Churan said.
“You know about them?” Veela asked.
“I don’t know them, but I have enough contacts through other cities to know about such things. You hear rumors and such.” He glanced over at Davond, and the way that he was looking at him suggested that the rumors that Churan had heard were tied to him. He looked away, settling his gaze on Asherah for a moment, but I couldn’t help but feel as if he glanced in my direction, as well. Had Churan known something about my mother? Maybe that was the reason that he had helped her when the swamp rot had taken hold. “Whatever it is, we need to help.”
“That’s my plan,” Davond said. “And it shouldn’t take much. She needs to get to the pass.” He nodded to Asherah, who frowned before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the map, unfolding it and setting on the table.
“Eleanor was leading us. She talked about this,” she said, pointing to a section on the map. “But she didn’t tell me why. Just that there was something that we were supposed to find here.”
Churan frowned. “Nothing but rock.”
“She seemed to think that would help me.”
“And why do you need help?” Churan asked.
I wasn’t sure that I appreciated the tone, but then again, I wasn’t sure that it made much of a difference, either. Churan had considerable influence in Bastrop. And if Davond were to leave, he probably needed Churan’s approval. Maybe not. I wasn’t exactly sure what sort of relationship the two of them had, only that Davond often worked with Churan.
It left me wondering if Churan was aware of Davond’s previous experience as a ranger.
I was tempted to ask Churan about my mother, about the book, and whether he knew anything about her, but wasn’t sure if now was the time. There was too much else going on.
“I’m still learning how to control what I can do.”
“And what, exactly, can you do?” Veela asked.
“She’s a tether,” Davond said. “She can draw power from something else.”
“Someone else,” I said.
Davond locked eyes with me for a moment, and then nodded. “Someone else. She can use other items around her, if they have enough power in them.” He took a deep breath. “But a connection to a tether bonded is more potent. It grants her the ability to use power.”
“And these creatures want that power?” Veela asked.
“They are called the Sundered,” Asherah said. “They’ve been attacking. We thought that we could stay ahead of them. Eleanor brought me beyond our holdings and to the swamp, claiming that there was something out here that would help me, and because of that, it would help other tether.”
“And you don’t know what this is?”
“Without Eleanor…” Asherah looked down at her hands and shook her head. “I’m not going to be able to know what more I can do. I’m still learning.”
That had to be hard. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like for her, as I couldn’t even imagine what it must have felt like to lose the one person who might be able to help her understand just what she could do.
She had Davond, but Davond seemed to be quite hesitant about helping.
“We’ve got a tether who needs help,” Churan said. “You have a destination. You intend to take her there.”
“I do,” Davond said.
“You’re going to need help. It can’t just be the two of you. If there are more of these creatures, you’re going to need a few more swamp rats. The raft can take…” He frowned. “Well, depending upon which raft you take, and I’m going to suggest one in particular, you should be able to take five or six people with you.”
“It might make us go too slowly,” Davond said.
“Not with my raft,” Veela said, sitting upright. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
Churan nodded. “Yours is the fastest in the fleet.”
“Then I’m going.”
“You don’t need to do this,” Davond said to her. “You don’t know what we might face or how dangerous it could be.”
Veela shrugged. “You’re not taking my raft without me. And I’m not getting separated from it. So if you’re heading along the swamp, I will guide you. I don’t have to follow you through whatever it is that you intend to do,” she went on, looking down at the map before glancing up at Churan, frowning, and turning to Davond. The shift in her expression left me wondering what sort of communication had passed between the two of them. “But I can get you there.”
