Ardalia: The Breath of Aoles

Chapter Fourteen - HOPES AND DANGERS

Pelmen felt like he was walking next to a moving mountain. Given Fekkar's mass, each of his footfalls should have made the ground vibrate loudly, waking the sleeping inhabitants with a start—Pelmen assumed the malians slept, although he didn't have visual proof. On the contrary, as the enormous feet met the ground they produced a muffled sound that could not have been heard more than ten yards away. The saddlebags on Fekkar's shoulders made him look even more massive. They glistened in the light of the two moons.

Pelmen readjusted the quiver on his back. He had picked up his bow with a feeling split between satisfaction and sullenness. Although it permitted him to hunt and feed himself, and protected him against enemies, Pelmen knew that for each one of them he shot, there was a price to pay.

Had the comfort of life in the Canyons made him too sensitive? Things were doubtless simpler for the Cilamenites, as they faced danger on a daily basis. Laneth had confirmed that her clan had faced gangs of the Banished in the past. "Sometimes, we have to put them in their place. Afterward, they leave us in peace for a long while." A disagreeable but necessary task. Pelmen wondered whether he would ever reach that level of detachment. Perhaps it was not desirable.

Fekkar's opposing arm suddenly forced him to stop. The enclosure was visible on the horizon. The field was empty, the nidepoux presumably having been put away in the stalls. The krongos seized one of the saddlebags and withdrew a leather bottle containing beer.

"You've been getting drunk in the tavern of the Descendants of Aoles," he murmured, in his profound voice, the glow in his eyes fixed on Pelmen. "As I know your uncle, and I saw you staggering in the street, I decided to accompany you back to the stable. He asked me to keep an eye on you and I'm going to inform him of your conduct when he returns. Is that story all right with you?"

"Er... I suppose krongos don't drink?"

Fekkar shot him a disapproving look.

Pelmen cleared his throat. "Do I have to?"

"We don't know how far Sinistan's network extends. If the stable was to be occupied and hevelens were to talk about a krongos and a compatriot arriving in the middle of the night and leaving again shortly afterward with no explanation, it would arouse suspicion. Drink now. And sprinkle some on your face—you need to reek of beer."

They resumed walking, Fekkar supporting Pelmen, who was advancing unsteadily. When the door of the stable opened, grating, under the pressure of the krongos' hand, the hevelens stirred in their sleep. One of them opened his eyes. As he raised his head, his eyes widened with incredulity. Hiccuping with terror, he flattened himself against the wall as if he wanted to push it backward. Fekkar showed him the symbol of the Traveler, although it was too dark to make out anything but its shape. The hevelen's respiration became even more broken, and Pelmen thought that he might be about to faint.

"Pardon me for troubling you in your sleep," said Fekkar, in a low voice—which woke the other two with a start and make them recoil in fright in their turn. "This wretch here"—he shoved Pelmen, who tottered and then collapsed against the side wall, a blissful smile on his lips—"has been drinking most of the night. He was celebrating setting off for home, it seems." Fekkar picked up a torch attached to the wall and used his striking-flint to light it.

The travelers watched him do it with raised eyebrows, not daring to make a sound. He produced the cloth embroidered with the emblem of the Traveler for a second time, which seemed to reassure them. At least, they almost ceased trembling. Pelmen started singing something incoherent. One of the hevelens wrinkled his nose in disgust while another looked at him reproachfully.

"You, come with me," said Fekkar, grabbing Pelmen with his free hand, and dragged him into the next room, opening the door as he went. He took him to one of the large troughs in front of the stalls. Before Pelmen had recovered from his surprise, he had plunged his head inside.