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Chapter 38 - Quicksand
Metheus
My men and I slept in one of the Seers’ Village huts. The two witches who usually lived in them had to join two more Seers in another hut to accommodate us.
It was small but cozy.
There were two rooms. I took one while my men took the other. The bed was a lot smaller than I was accustomed to, having been made for a young woman. Nevertheless, I vowed to rest well that night to travel further South to Rama.
I was not asleep for long when I heard shrieks. Alert, I grabbed my knife from beneath the mattress and my sword, resting on the wall across my bed.
“Clem! Darvo!” I shouted on the way out of the hut but saw that the two were ready with their weapons. They were waiting for me and my orders, but their gaze was on the burning hut next to the main one.
“Let us find out what is happening!” I commanded.
Then, the three of us made a run for it. We saw figures moving in the darkness. Men. It could not be the Seers. Clem ran fast to catch up with the fleeing intruders, while Darvo stayed at my back as I raised my arms to the sky and closed my eyes. My palms pulled at the blazing fire. The hut was already in danger of being burned to nothing, but I still tried. I pulled, trying my best to absorb the heat and the fire.
There was a breeze again that night, strengthening the speed of the flames. Still, I felt some progress. In the background, I could hear Clem shouting. I could swear I heard the clink of swords and the muttering of spells. Yet, I needed to focus.
The heat that was pouring into me was overwhelming. I had not tried absorbing live flames before, but I tried. The flames continued to dance with the wind. I pulled. The dance started to settle closer to the roof and the walls, crawling now instead of leaping and running. I bellowed, both in the effort of the pull and the triumph of seeing the end of the fire. Then, it was gone.
My initial feeling of victory faded as I saw that the hut was destroyed in many places. It would take a lot of effort to rebuild it. Darvo and I ran towards it. Inside was a hysterical young Seer, and one burned to the crisp on the ground. We pulled her out of the hut. She was too weak and in shock. So, I just picked her up and placed her over my shoulder.
As soon as we reached the main hut, we heard wailing. Aruna was in the middle of the hut, on the floor. Her hands were on the floor as she steadied herself. Her back was bent and undulating up and down. When she finally straightened herself, she did so with ferocity and dignity.
“Seers, we will fight back. We may be down now, but we will rise again.’
“How can we do it, Madame Aruna? There is only half of us left,” Rifi cried.
“We can do so much with that. Come all of you. Rifi, Samara, Tessa, Lidia,” Aruna said, and seeing the witch on my shoulder. “Lara. The older ones did not survive the attack, I am afraid.”
“Who attacked us?” I asked.
“Your Majesty, whoever did it was after one thing – releasing Rowan. She is gone,” the head Seer revealed, her voice trembling with anger.
“I am sorry for bringing terrible luck onto the Seers’ Village,” I said, slowly planting Lara on her feet. She was still crying and shaking so hard that I was afraid she would fall to the ground. I could not blame her. Seven Seers died that night, all because of this little war that had been brewing. We did not even know who our enemies were.
“There is nothing to apologize for. We voluntarily placed ourselves right in the path of these invisible enemies. We will eventually feel the effects in Tarkus even if we do not help you, Your Majesty.”
I nodded sadly. The Seers Village had always been one of the most beautiful places I had ever been to, even if it was a small strip of cool land in the middle of a desert. Perhaps it was that tiny size fighting against vastness that made me feel that way.
“You have lost so much, and I have lost the stability of my kingdom. I will go to Rama to see what I can do. It is time.”
“Wait for your wife, Her Majesty Queen Luella,” Aruna advised.
“For my wife? She is in Queenspell. I wanted her as far away from here as possible.”
“Well, I can feel her energy strongly right now. She wants to return to Arrowspear.”
“No! She should remain there.”
“But you’d rather have her stay there while that oily duke is making advances on her?” Aruna sounded skeptical.
“Is that what he is planning to do?” I growled.
For a little while, we forgot that there were dead Seers that still waited to be buried. At that moment, my mind was focused on Luella and whatever she was planning. Was she afraid of Ari?
“She is not afraid of anyone, Your Majesty,” Aruna said, reading my mind.
