THE LIGHT OF A'LEST

CHAPTER 21

Zander fell to his knees beside the water, scattering several small fish from their hiding places and sending their silvery forms thrashing downstream. The sound of water trickling over and around moss-covered rocks was welcome, as it muffled any who might be close enough to listen.

     "Where is Atus?" Kara sat back on the shore and struggled to catch her breath.

     "He's gone," Zander replied.

     Keko looked at them both. "So, we are alone then." "Ero and his men might have made it," Kara replied.

     "Shouldn't we wait?"

     Zander gazed up at the gray, overcast sky and thumbed at the glowing Keeper Stone he had lashed around his neck. The soft green light was harder to see in the light of day, but peering deeper, he saw it pulsed. "There is no time. This way." Without another word, he trudged through the stream and out onto the coarse gravel bank of the far side. "Come on!"

     The forest soon gave way to a mostly empty plain. Cool mountain air blew steadier now. Unhindered by the trees, it whistled over their far-too-thin clothing and began numbing their fingers and toes. Broad leaves of oak and ash disappeared behind them and were replaced by the occasional copse of pine and spruce. The terrain turned from a bed of soft underbrush to one of shattered slate and thistle. The forest's lush grasses gave way to its sharper cousins, and lichen- encrusted crevasses sought out their ankles at every misstep.

     "I don't know how I just do."

     Zander's ears pricked, and he released the steadily glowing light from his necklace. He called over one shoulder, "What are we talking about?"

     "Keko was just asking me how I use... you know... it." Kara gestured towards her arm.

     Keko chimed in. "It's the same for me. I don't really do anything, it just comes. Like it knows or something..."

     "Hmm." Zander shrugged, turned, and again looked at the glowing stone about his neck. He hadn't really thought about it. There hadn't been much time to ponder trivial things. Thinking back to the time his powers first appeared, he only remembered Lord Alaric pummeling Keko and wishing it to stop. "I don't know either, but I intend to find out."

     As the day wore on, the wind grew colder. Light gray clouds seemed to almost touch the ground in the high places and irregular- shaped patches of snow coated the backsides of the hills. They came upon a line in the ground. A patch of earth where no plant grew. It was beige and beaten down, obviously compressed by untold years of use. The cart path cut a line through the otherwise mean terrain of the Steps and continued north before finally disappearing behind a cloud bank. Up ahead and peeking through the clouds at the base of a hill, square shaped forms appeared in the distance. Though too far away to be sure, Zander thought they resembled buildings.

     A small black dot appeared just above the skyline. It grew and grew as it neared. "Settlement!" Pebble squawked, his voice erupting from high above. As their friend swooped down out of the sky, touches of sunlight illuminated the iridescent sheen of his feathers. Keko threw out an outstretched arm and gestured to the bird, but Pebble avoided it altogether and came to rest on his head before thinking better of it and sliding with some reluctance to his shoulder. "Many cages ahead!" he said in his singsong voice.

     "Cages?" Keko said with a curious tone.

     Pebble bounced up and down, obviously frustrated, as he sought out different words. "Pebble sorry. Homes." He spat the word out like it tasted funny. Humans had a different word for the places they slept, but he was unsure of the difference. To him, they resembled cages. Small secret places where they hid behind walls, doors, and the occasional window.

     "Pebble?" Kara asked in a gentle tone. "Are there people?"

     Pebble swayed back and forth and tucked his head underneath one of his wings. The girl's voice reminded him of Amara's, and of the three still left alive, he liked her the most. "YES!" he squawked. Kara smiled at him. "None alive though!"

     Kara's smile faded and was replaced by a stiff grimace.

     Keko stepped forward and puffed out his chest. Chin held high, he looked at the buildings in the distance. The wind toyed with his hair as he checked his sword. "I'll go first, you two stay behind me."

     Kara rolled her eyes. Keko turned to find Kara marching towards the buildings with Zander close behind. "Hey, wait up you guys, sheesh!"

     The settlement was more of a small village then one of the temporary outposts constructed by herders or bands of traveling merchants common to these parts. It was set upon the only flat land within sight of the beaten path leading north and tucked in tight to the base of the Shirni Steps. Its paddocks were fixed structures. A sure sign whoever lived here harbored no intentions of moving on. The family, or perhaps two, had chosen well and built four rather squat buildings from wood, reed, and thatch. It was a good spot that was protected from the wind by the hulking mass of mountains to the north. Kara watched as the sun's fading light bounced off the light brown roofs and disappeared between the buildings. To her, the chest- high fence that surrounded the place seemed sturdier than the homes themselves, though it was shattered in several places. Crouching low, she peered over and was careful to use the thin layer of brush on the other side to conceal her movements. Two saddled horses meandered about inside the enclosure. Both looked rather unconcerned as they nibbled away at what little grass they could find. She was about to call out when she saw Pebble land on the eave of the second building. "Looks like the coast is clear."

     Pebble was right; the place was deserted save for the corpses that littered the ground out front. Zander tried not breathe as he cautiously entered the first building and surveyed the carnage before him. The horrid stench of death mingled with the smoke, resulting in a nauseating concoction of charred flesh and rotted meat. Every door and window lay open and swinging. The wind banged several of them against their frames.

     "These people have been dead for a while." Keko coughed and covered his mouth and nose with his forearm as Zander re-emerged from the main building, gripping the porch railing tight.

     "We should take the horses. Gather whatever food and clothing we can find and leave this place."

     Kara looked up from one of the corpses, a small child with long black hair and beautiful braids. Beside her, a larger form, nearly identical. "Couldn't we stay the night?" The thought of a warm hearth and a decent meal outweighed her ever-growing disgust.

     Zander looked back over his shoulder into the darkness of the home he'd just left. "I don't think that's an option."