“You forgot about the caretakers,” nudged one on the old men. “Tell them about the guardians.”
“Very well,” nodded the storyteller. “The elves were to destroy the ancient civilization completely, but they found just a few people who were so good, that the evil had not touched them. They chose these people to be guardians of Angragar. It is their job to make sure nobody ever does find the ancient city. Legend says these ancient dwellers still watch over Angragar and will until the end of time. Should anyone stumble upon the lost city, the guardians will destroy them.”
Bakhai was still trying to get Rejji’s attention and Rejji finally thought he had figured out why. He sipped the last bit of goat’s milk out of the cup, realizing that there was only one cup and he had been holding it the whole time. The woman smiled at him and reached across the children to retrieve the cup. The distance was a bit too far and Rejji placed the cup in his palm and stretched his arm over the heads of the children. The woman took the cup from his hand.
As Rejji watched, the woman screamed and dropped the urn of goat’s milk. The urn shattered spilling milk over the children. Everyone jumped to their feet to see what the trouble was. Bakhai was frantically waving now and Rejji’s attention was torn between Bakhai and the turmoil with the woman, when he heard someone shout, “Demon!”
Everyone started running in every direction and Bakhai grabbed Rejji’s arm and started pulling him.
“Come! Hurry!” shouted Bakhai. “We must run for our lives.”
Rejji was still trying to figure out what was happening when the first rock struck his back.
Chapter 16
Brakas
The sting of the rock propelled Rejji faster as he raced out of the village. Mistake appeared alongside him and started to pull one of her daggers out if its sheath.
“No,” shouted Rejji. “Just keep running.”
Eventually, the din of the crowd chasing them tapered off and Rejji stopped to catch his breath. He bent over with his hands braced on top of his knees and looked at his friends as he panted. Slowly, he caught his breath and turned to gaze back towards the village.
“What was all that about?” he asked.
“I tried to warn you,” Bakhai said. “The Jiadin were here this morning. They are searching for a demon.”
“I know that,” interrupted Rejji, “but what does that have to do with the village turning violent all of a sudden. Do they think we are spies for the Jiadin?”
Bakhai reached over and grabbed Rejji’s arm and twisted it so his palm faced upward. “The Jiadin told them that the demon carries a crescent on his palm,” explained Bakhai. “The old woman saw your mark. The Jiadin promised to kill them all if they harbored you.”
Rejji’s mouth hung open as he stared at his palm and then looked back at the village. “They can’t possibly think I am a demon,” he said shaking his head. “Do I look like a demon?”
“Actually, you do,” offered Bakhai. “They were told that the demon masqueraded as a young man, but the crescent palm would always give him away. One of the farmers made me show him my palms before he would talk to me. The villagers are scared, Rejji. The army that was here today was not a small raiding party like they are used to seeing. It was hundreds of riders. Don’t blame the villagers for wanting to live.”
“I don’t,” sighed Rejji. “I just didn’t understand what was going on. They were very generous people. I do not want them harmed. We should leave this area now in case the Jiadin return.”
“And go where?” questioned Mistake. “I found out nothing about the Sage. The women told me to go to the well and when I got there, you had the elders occupied with children’s tales.”
“Only because I had already found out about the Sage,” grinned Rejji. “We are headed for the Bone Mountains, like Brakas said. The storyteller couldn’t be more precise, but at least we know where to start looking.”
Mistake pulled out the map she had taken from the Chadang tent and spread it on the ground. “Here they are,” she said, pointing to the mountains in the northeast. “Just on the other side of this green area. It will be a long walk, but we can do it.”
“That green area is the jungle,” frowned Rejji. “We are not going through that. The elders warned me about it and said not to enter it.”
“I caught that part of the story,” nodded Bakhai. “Not the type of place you want to walk through, never mind sleeping in there.”
“All right,” conceded Mistake, “then we go around it. Can’t take that much longer.”
“The first thing we need to do is put some distance between us and that village,” Rejji stated. “They will tell the Jiadin which way we went if they return, so let them see us going east. When we can’t see the village any more, we will turn north. With any luck, the Jiadin will go into the jungle to look for us.”
“Is that bad?” asked Mistake.
“No,” chuckled Rejji. “It would be good. The elders said nobody has ever gone in there and returned.”
They headed east for over an hour before turning north. After two hours on their northward trek, the sun sipped below the Giaming Mountains and Rejji selected a spot near a creek to camp. It was Rejji’s turn to prepare the meal, but they had nothing to prepare. Bakhai offered to go find something and disappeared into the trees. Mistake pulled out the map again as Rejji gathered some deadwood for the fire. By the time Rejji had a decent fire going, Bakhai returned with a quail.
“It is not much,” Bakhai offered, “but it was the best I could do.”
He handed the quail to Rejji and sat next to Mistake and stared at the map. “Show me where we are going,” he said.
Bakhai’s face grew dark as Mistake traced the path they were to take.
“We may not want to go that way,” he said.
“Why not?” asked Mistake. “That is how we have to go.”
“There are tracks on the other side of the creek,” explained Bakhai. “Lots of tracks. The army hunting for Rejji went up that way several hours ago.”
“Well they are on horses,” Mistake pointed out. “We will never catch up to them, so why worry about it?”
“Because they will not find Rejji up there,” Bakhai continued. “Sooner or later, they will turn around and come back down here. That is when we will run into them.”
“We can’t really stay here either,” Rejji interjected. “In fact, it doesn’t matter much which way we go. They can cover much more ground than we can in a day. If they are determined to find us, I don’t see how we can escape.”
“And the next time they come in the night, we may not hear them like last time,” added Bakhai.
“I wish we had some wire,” Rejji murmured.
“Why wire?” questioned Bakhai.
Rejji explained the trick he had learned from Gunta about rigging a trap for people sneaking into a camp at night.
“So that is what Sebastian had been doing,” surmised Mistake. “Very clever. If I had tried making a run for it, I would have fallen flat on my face.”
“And he would have been there to pick you up,” nodded Rejji.
“Speaking of intruders,” Bakhai said softly, “someone is coming.”
Mistake dashed behind a tree in a blur, as Bakhai silently backpedaled behind another. Rejji stood and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword as the single rider approached.
“Ah, Rejji,” grinned Brakas, “I was hoping it might be you. Where did your friends go? And your horse?”
“Welcome, Brakas,” greeted Rejji. “I am glad it is you approaching and not the Jiadin.”
Bakhai emerged from hiding and took Rejji’s position at the campfire. “I will try not to burn too much of this bird,” he said.
“That is your dinner?” frowned Brakas as he dismounted. “I have food I can share.”
“We were attacked several nights ago by Jiadin,” Rejji stated. “We lost our horses and gold. We are grateful for any provisions you can spare.”