The Forgotten Stone, page 9
Canukke put his left foot in the stirrup of his horse’s saddle and swung himself up. “It would behoove you to learn some break falls, if you plan on falling often.”
Enouim wrinkled her nose. “Break falls …” Her fingers nimbly worked the girth beneath her horse and pulled the straps through to secure the saddle.
“It’s a good idea, really,” said Pakel, offering her a hand.
Enouim swatted it lightly. “I know how to mount a horse!”
“Honestly, it should have been one of the first things we focused on,” Pakel continued, unconcerned.
“You’re going to be doing a lot of falling,” Gabor said. “If you’re going to learn to do something well, falling is a good place to start.”
“Not avoiding falling down?” Enouim asked.
“No, no, you should plan on falling down. You can hardly stand up straight without anyone fighting you. Add someone trying to lop your head off, and you’re definitely going to fall. And then they’re going to lop your head off.”
Kilith smiled and nodded at Gabor. “If you’re good at breaking your falls, you can fall off a horse without breaking a bone, or off a high wall and survive.”
“You look like you’ve been in a scrap or two,” Vadik said, turning from Kilith back to Enouim. “I mean, you don’t look like you could have done very well, but you’ve got scars on the back of your neck.”
“Just because she’s a girl, she can’t be a good fighter?” Oloren shot back.
Gabor laughed. “I think it’s the physical mass, and that clueless look she gives when fighting.”
“Your father was a trader, right? Did he teach you anything?” Pakel asked.
“Adopted father, as I recall,” Canukke said, surprising Enouim that he’d interject in a conversation totally focused outside himself.
She’d always known she was adopted, but she’d been so welcomed into her adoptive family that the surname Cokanda had always been just as much hers as it was her brother’s. Her father had found her abandoned on one of his trading trips, and he’d brought her home and raised her as his own. She’d been stung by some sort of water creature, and the wounds had never fully healed. “He was my father, and a great one,” Enouim responded evenly. “He passed away. But somehow I think Vadik may have the best childhood story!”
Vadik laughed and launched into his tale.
Canukke had brought them nearly to the end of the cliffs the night before, and as the morning passed away into afternoon, the cliffs dropped away. Canukke left the shoreline and pushed further east, following the coast at a distance.
The group seemed eager to keep the lighthearted feel going, and Pakel started her break-fall training that very day. Of all her training so far, she hated break falls the most, mainly because she was terrible at them, but also, as a rule, she avoided doing things that inevitably led to significant amounts of pain.
Break falls regularly incurred physical pain, mostly by doing them incorrectly; they also incurred psychological pain because it was discouraging trying to do things she was bad at. Repeatedly, she practiced falling and smacking the ground with her arms to absorb her impact, and repeatedly Pakel told her she was more likely to break her arms than save her body. Enouim’s imperfections and failures faced her every time she tried, and her failures only escalated with each unsuccessful attempt. Sometimes she simply told Pakel they needed to work on something else for a while.
The days passed, and uneventful travel allowed them to settle into a routine. Three weeks later, and Enouim was grateful for any prattle that would put off break-fall practice. Currently, there was a disagreement over how to approach Levav. They had over a month to decide, but Enouim was hardly about to offer reasons for them to stop talking about it when it kept her on her horse and off the ground.
“We should send several of us in as a diversion, then Silas and I will sneak in separately, scoping out the city,” Baird said to Canukke. “You can use your reputation and position to gain access to Levavin leadership and information on the stone itself. Silas and I will steal the stone and meet you outside.”
Canukke shook his head. “The two of you shouldn’t be alone. We can negotiate first, get the information in a straightforward manner, and come up with a sad story to tug on their pitiful heartstrings. If that doesn’t gain us more information, we can get close enough to threaten the lives of the monarchy and take it by force. I do agree with having a few of us free to roam the city, however. Levavin are unlikely to have all nine of us inside, and you will need an excuse to slink in until we give some sort of signal so as not to raise alarm prematurely.”
“Why shouldn’t we be alone?” Silas inquired, an edge to his voice. “We are the ones with the most updated information on the fortifications and weaknesses of the Levav fortress.”
“I am the leader of this mission. Kalka’an has been good to us, excellent allies, and good fighters, but Gorgenbrild is the head of this venture. Some Kalka’aners tend to think they are greater and more capable than they are. Quarot spoke highly of you, so I am sure you are skilled, but I don’t know you well enough yet to let you have control over the purpose of our mission.”
“Silas was trusted with many missions in the past,” Gabor said, sticking up for his new friend. “He knows what he is doing.”
“I am happy for him. But even so, I know better than he does. We’re doing this my way.”
“We need to talk about this,” Baird spoke up. “If we aren’t working together, no plan will be effective.”
“He’s right,” Vadik agreed. “So how do we choose?”
“We don’t do anything,” Canukke responded.
“Missions are effective because there are leaders who are in charge of making decisions when there is a disagreement,” Pakel said.
Canukke nodded at Pakel. “I haven’t seen Baird and Silas’ skills with my own eyes, and the plans of a Kalka’aner are different from the plans of a Gorgenbrilder. The Ecyah Stone is for Gorgenbrild, and it will be Gorgenbrild that takes the stone. I was appointed the leader of this venture for a reason. I am the best.”
Silas spoke up several more times to revisit the topic, but Canukke had apparently said all he believed he needed to, and devolved into sharing his daring exploits and credentials when questioned further. The bitterness between Canukke and the Kalka’an members showed up only a little later as Enouim rode behind them and overheard Silas mentioning to Baird that Canukke was “messing with his bracelet again. Surely a bracelet branding him as the greatest gift to earth.”
Enouim noticed that Canukke was, in fact, running his fingers over engravings on a leather band around his wrist. Now that she thought about it, she’d seen him do this many times.
Several days later the group started out in the morning and had gotten about an hour through the day when Canukke suddenly stopped his horse. “Where is my leather wristband?”
“What do you mean? You never take it off,” Oloren responded.
“I know.” His face darkened and he turned toward Silas and Baird. “One of you took it.”
“Whoa! Just because we are from Kalka’an, we stole from you?” Baird returned. “We don’t steal pointless things. I have no reason for it.”
“You’re the only two with motive. Perhaps you are bitter about my rightful leadership or simply wish to anger me out of spite—an idea no one has taken lightly in quite some time, except perhaps naive Enouim. And she obviously lacks the competence for a successful theft. So that leaves you.”
“Maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are, and you lost it,” Silas suggested.
“Is this important?” Kilith asked.
“Yes!” Canukke snarled. “It’s … well, it doesn’t matter why it’s important, but it is.”
“Seems to me if it was that important, you would have done a better job holding onto it,” Baird observed.
“How dare you? I know it was one of you, maybe both of you. The venture we are on is for the lives of our people. The Sumus have closed in, Gorgenbrild is likely under siege, and matters are steadily growing worse. If I don’t feel comfortable with you in my space or with my belongings, how can I trust you as a comrade in arms?”
“Son of a zegrath, come now,” Pakel reasoned. “Perhaps it was a prank. Whoever it was, produce it now and let’s get on with it.”
After a pause, Oloren added, “Go on, he’s not going to rest until it’s settled. He’s right, we need to be able to trust each other. This is ludicrous.”
Silas looked intently at Canukke. “Look, what do I know? Maybe it fell off and you didn’t notice. If someone did take it, however, it was so easy to take that you deserved to have it lifted.If you are as good as you say you are, and if the bracelet is stolen as you say it is, it will be no trouble at all for you to find and take it back.”
Canukke pushed his horse forward, drawing his sword. Silas drew his just in time as Canukke swung at him, but Canukke slipped the blade past the block and nicked Silas on the neck with ease. Glaring at Silas and daring him to retaliate, Canukke snatched one of the bags off the back of Silas’s horse. “I’ll find it if I have to search every bag and body. No one toys with me.”
Baird leaned over to Gabor and whispered, “Apparently they do.”
“There is no humor in this,” Gabor answered curtly. “The games of children, stirring up trouble. I smell immaturity and insecurity.” He abruptly turned his horse and followed Canukke.
“Did you really take it?” Vadik asked Silas, hanging back.
Silas’s face was hard as flint. “You’re welcome to search if you like. You won’t find it. In Kalka’an a successful theft either reveals a fool or highlights someone who deserves respect. Perhaps, if the bracelet isn’t lost after all, today accomplished both.”
“This isn’t over,” Oloren said sourly. “If it continues, he will not be satisfied with a scratch on your neck.”
Canukke rode with Silas’s bag and rifled through it as he went. It wasn’t long before he declared it was time for a break, during which he pored over every pack Silas and Baird possessed. The group rested the horses and ate, while Pakel took the opportunity to practice break falls with Enouim. They started small, kneeling and falling forward facedown on the ground. Enouim was supposed to stop herself with her forearms, but only an instant before the rest of her hit the ground, distributing her weight and lessening the impact. She couldn’t help throwing her arms out in front of her as soon as she felt the falling sensation, and she ended up repeatedly striking the ground with her elbows.
“How am I supposed to be able to do this from standing or from a horse if I can’t even do it from here? My elbows are already scraped raw,” she said.
“It’s the fear of falling,” Pakel said. “You need to accept that you are falling and lean into it.”
At that moment, Canukke threw down Silas’s pack in frustration. He had thoroughly examined the bags on the horses, watched to see that Silas did not return to the horse, and gone through the pack yet again. Approaching Silas with a knife, he growled, “Hand it over, or I strip your wrist of skin and make that my ‘bracelet.’”
“Aren’t you the most cunning, intelligent man in Gorgenbrild? But you are thrown into a tizzy by such a small thing.”
“I do not know what Quarot saw in you, but it will not earn you any points here. I owe you nothing. Respect is earned by honor, of which you have none.”
“In the cliffs, skill is respected,” Baird countered. “This looks remarkably like a child throwing a tantrum … not a mighty warrior.”
“We’re not in the cliffs! Gorgenbrild leads this mission, and it is Gorgenbrild’s standards that prevail!”
Baird shook his head. “This mission is not solely for Gorgenbrild, or your people would not have involved ours. You do not hope to locate the Ecyah Stone or fight off the Sumus alone, or Bondeg wouldn’t have elicited our help months ago. We have much to offer you. You would do well to honor our codes.”
“And you would do well,” Canukke retorted, “Not to test me. You have until morning to return the wristband to me. If you do not, I will exact my revenge with force according to my people’s ways, in equal measure with the value I attribute to my stolen item.”
11
The day passed and still no one came forward. Silas got several more nasty looks throughout the day, and they weren’t all from Canukke. Night fell and the company stopped, settling in to sleep. Enouim lay down and closed her eyes, but sleep refused to come. Her mind was busy with the events of the day, with what would happen in the morning if Silas didn’t return the wristband, and with why on earth it was so important to Canukke. And what would happen when they reached Levav, as Baird and Canukke still held very different ideas of how to approach the situation. Would there be more conflict before reaching their destination? Would Levav have the Ecyah Stone? What if they couldn’t retrieve it?
She lay still and quiet while her mind whirled with questions and unpleasant possibilities. Still unable to sleep, she snapped her eyes open in frustration and registered a dark figure bent over Silas. Six feet tall. A stranger? Canukke? Alarmed and frightened, she watched, unmoving. Should she wake the others? If it was Canukke after all, he would hate her even more for disrupting whatever shady business he was into. At the same time, attacking Silas before morning would be cowardly and dishonorable. Enouim wasn’t sure it was in Canukke’s blood to be cowardly. At the very least, he would betray himself if he did so.
Just then the figure turned, and in the dimness she saw the outline of a beard. Baird? As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Enouim realized that Baird was not hunched over Silas, he was rifling through Silas’s pack. He pulled something out and studied it. The moonlight revealed Canukke’s leather wristband in his hands.
Canukke had looked through the very same pack multiple times. Curious, Enouim slowly brought herself to her elbow for a better view. Baird turned toward the sound. Seeing Enouim, he smiled and put a hand to his lips, gesturing her silence. Noiselessly he crossed over several of his sleeping companions to Canukke’s sleeping form. Enouim’s eyes grew wide, but she said nothing. Baird drew out several leaves from his pocket, crushed them in his hands and held them up to Canukke’s nose, then he fastened the wristband around Canukke’s wrist where it belonged. Grinning at Enouim, Baird motioned her to be quiet once again as if they had just shared the most amusing of secrets, then he returned to his place and lay down. Minutes later Enouim heard the deep, steady breaths of blissful sleep coming from his dark shape on the ground.
Morning came, and Canukke said nothing about the sudden reappearance of the leather wristband on his arm. Enouim imagined it would be rather embarrassing for him to admit someone had been able to get so close to him without his knowledge. Canukke was a warrior through and through, and unlikely to be a heavy sleeper. He was rather smug toward Silas, believing he had intimidated him into returning the bracelet, but kept quiet rather than bringing up exactly how it was returned.
They ate breakfast and began loading up for the day, Silas scowling at Baird. Clearly, he didn’t approve and surmised that Baird must have been the culprit. But Silas was in a similar bind as Canukke. He must now either admit that Baird had outwitted them both in their sleep, or accept the story that he had surreptitiously returned the wristband with flair.
Enouim sidled up to Baird as he saddled his horse. “How?”
“Scars, what could you mean?” he said with mock surprise. His eyes gleamed with mischief.
“Oh, come now. You know I know, so out with it.”
“No one is better than a Kalka’aner at hiding valuable items. Silas’s bag has false bottoms and hidden compartments that Canukke didn’t know how to look for. I happen to be extremely good at it.”
“And the leaf?”
“You saw that too, did you? Good eye. Ethanine. The seeds of the berry will kill you in the most relaxing of ways, but a whiff of its crushed leaves will render even the strongest of men unconscious.”
Enouim raised her eyebrows. “Huh.”
“I told you, judge me by my actions. I just saved us unnecessary bloodshed and united the group so we are ready for Levav. Infiltrating a city is less efficient when not everyone has their limbs.” He winked.
“Infiltrate? I thought the plan was to arrive out in the open, gain entry, and negotiate, and use force as a last resort,” Enouim responded, eyes narrowing slightly.
A subtle shadow fell over Baird’s face. “Yes, well, that’s the plan. I only said infiltrate because of the sob story bit—and we will be taking information from them as we go. Hardly a plan if you ask me. Even if they are so gullible, or we can so easily prey on their emotions, we may not be able to truthfully extract all the information we need. A waste of precious time. But if the greatest warrior to ever live says we go in directly and then raise their defenses under their watchful eyes, so be it.”
The plans for entering Levav were hammered out over the next several weeks. Enouim continued to practice hand-to-hand combat, knife throwing, and fighting with her dagger. Break falls remained the bane of her existence, and though she had improved somewhat, the scrapes and bruises she constantly wore were reminders of how far she still had to go. She saw the landscape change yet again, this time to dry grasses, and only a day out from Levav it transitioned to patches of green grass and trees dotting the plain.
Finally, the fortress city of Levav came into view. White stone walls rose before them with four turrets along the circular outer wall, and entire buildings built on top, showing off its depth. A large moat ran around the walled city, spanning anywhere from thirty to seventy feet across at any given point. The moat was supplied by a river that had been diverted toward the city from its run west into the ocean. Several outposts sat along its edge, supervising its journey into Levav. The tops of the towers and turrets within the city up rose above the walls in a vibrant display of a variety of surprising colors—blue, orange, red, purple. Silas and Baird informed them some of the turrets rose from a smaller tier wall acting as a second line of defense beyond the first, and this wall was thick enough for several buildings to be built onto it.
