Kelfor (The Orthomancers)

Chapter 5

The following day dawns bright with sun. Soon the rivers of water which have churned through the landscape give way to dry sand and clay.

Torch is worried. There has been no sign of the skulks so far. Apparently, they must have sensed the outsurge coming, for they ran. They may not have survived the rushing waters. Even though they can run very fast and possess great stamina, Ballen doesn't know if they can have traveled far enough away from the Abaloss Rift to escape the floods.

Torch is straining to the south, his whole body trembling, trying to pick up their scent, trying to find traces of their passing. He has a greater affinity to the skulks than to the people he is travelling with. I move to touch him but he flinches. I see the whites of his eyes as he moves away, and he half raises one arm as if to ward me off. I shrug. He turns to his mother. It is a question. She gives a small nod, answering him. The two of them begin to distance themselves from the rest of us, covering the terrain quickly and economically, leaving us behind within moments, it seems. I wish I was with them. They have a freedom I lack. I wonder if I will ever be like them.

The rest of us stand up and begin to load up with our carricks and the rest of the equipment. Kalyka is still beside me; I help her with her own small pack. She is shoeless and enjoying squeezing the mud with her toes. The damage to her feet is improved, I'm relieved to see.

Her grandfather comes up. His face is even darker than usual. He drags Kalyka away. She cries out, reaching back with her free hand to me.

I frown. "Stop, Fimbrian! Whatever is the matter?"

"These timeworn will be the end of all of us," he says shortly. "I should never have brought my granddaughter out here. What was I thinking?"

I am to blame for this. I can feel myself reddening. I bend my head quickly. Tears that I don't want him to see have welled up in my eyes.

Kalyka seems to know how I feel. She squeezes my hand gently. "It is all right, Remeny. It is not your fault." She fixes her grandparent with a glare. "Now see what you have done!"

Fimbrian sighs. "I am sorry, Remeny. I did not mean to accuse you of anything. You are a victim."

I straighten my shoulders. "I am not a victim!"

"This is not of your doing."

I shake off Kalyka's small hand and walk on ahead. I am confused and angry. Why does Fimbrian have to bring politics into everything? Why did he have to come? He could just have stayed in Istak, couldn't he? Nobody asked him to drag Kalyka out here.

I am making pretty good headway through the mud when there is a sudden flash. Lightning crackles: a huge discharge which makes my hair fly outward. There is a boneshaking thump as it hits one of the mushroom-like rocks right in front of me. The whole thing explodes and I dive for the ground as large chunks of rock rain down over my position.

"What the ...?"

Another crackle hisses past my ears and I realize – finally – that we are under fire. Nobody except the Scoriats would have the blasters of the Raths at their disposal. Which means that the Scoriats have found us. They did manage to get across Abaloss Pass. I don't know how, but they are here.

I wriggle like a worm to get behind the nearest column of rock. Perhaps I can hide. I try to map a way out of there. The firing has ceased, but there are sobs coming from behind me. I turn around. Kalyka is lying in the mud, her eyes tight shut and her small little body is shaking with terror. One of her knees is bleeding. She has been hit by a rock. Blood is oozing out to mix with the ochre earth. Her grandfather is determinedly pulling his own prone body over to hers.