Chapter Seven
The weeks journeying south passed without trouble.
That is not to say that danger did not find us, but as safe as Wade kept me before, he and Yori have made an even more formidable pair. We encountered a number of beasts on our way, great cats and reptiles, as well as other creatures I could hardly describe, but my two protectors led us around all of them with ease, or through them as necessary.
At first, this seemed reason enough for why Wade had insisted we needed Yori, but there is even more. Wade is a fugitive among the fortressed cities along the River Lethe we seek entry to. It’s not that many people will recognize him, but there’s risk enough that we need someone who can slip in and out of the strongholds without arousing too much suspicion.
Yori is a ghost, a memory that even the old will not recall. I was shocked when he told me it had been over fifty years since he left this land the rangers once had for a home. That’s a long time to live without companionship, a long time to forget about people and things. It makes it even more impressive to me just how warm and personable he is.
It also makes me sad to think about the times of doubt and depression he must have gone through, yet I hope that today we can make use of the silver lining in his sacrifice as we approach Vanguard, the northernmost city of the plains. This is where we will find Mavyn, an enchantress Wade says will be able to unlock the secrets of the world stone I carry with me. This is where I hope I can begin to truly understand why my father sent me to this sorrowful land in the first place.
“Kaela, hold up,” Wade calls out from the brush behind me.
I twitch as I stop, his speaking my name feeling like a sharp pinch on the back of my neck, something Mariam did to me often when we were little. What happened in the canyon has refused to leave my mind even though I’ve tried not to be troubled by the darkness I know Wade hides. I don’t want to be uncomfortable around him, but I can’t help it right now.
“You can’t keep running so far up like this if you’re going to have your ears shut. Yori found a hidden cache and called out to you, but you kept going like you didn’t even hear him.”
My head motions downward jaggedly in a slow nod as I try not to upset him any worse. I can tell he’s become bothered at how cold I’ve been of late, even snapping at him a few times. Though he has been respecting my desire for space, he seems pretty irritated by it, which in a way surprises me considering how hard he once sought to remain distant himself. Still, I try my best to recover and appear amiable when I’m feeling edgy, to say something to relieve the underlying tension between us.
“But isn’t it nice to not hear Yori sometimes?”
Wade gives a light smile as he turns to lead me back the way we came. I don’t mind Yori’s tendency to jabber on about things, but I know Wade gets tired of it and sometimes steps away to get a breather, especially now that we are far enough south to be away from the more dangerous predators.
While we retrace the short distance, I find myself surprisingly without fear in this rough and thick landscape. Dense groves of bushes and trees no longer produce much anxiety for me. It is only when we come across ruins that I get nervous. Nature doesn’t seem to scare me at all anymore. Only people do.
I start to hear Yori mumbling to himself somewhere nearby, but then I become confused when we get close and I still can’t see him. He sounds like he’s only feet away, yet there’s nothing in sight, so I continue walking when, suddenly, the ground beneath me disappears and I’m yanked back by Wade.
“Thanks,” I exhale without looking at Wade as I peer over the edge of a hole that Yori has somehow managed to uncover.
“You’re a bit young to be hard of hearing,” Yori teases as I step down dozens of wooden steps descending into a dusty, dirt-filled bunker.
“Maybe you’ve just worn them out,” I smile back, spotting him toward the back of the unexpectedly spacious room.
“That’d take a lot more than a couple weeks, dear,” he says playfully, “and you know, you’re older than you think. Even though I could never study the stars down here below the mist, I did get enough grasp on the seasons that I think I figured out that a year here is nearly a hundred days longer than where we came from. You’d be 26, maybe 27, if you—”
“Enough of the astronomy lessons,” Wade interrupts.
He then scowls at me as I look toward Yori with a smirk. I don’t think I could have handled the last couple of weeks without Yori’s company. He has taught me so much and really helped enlighten me to everything going on in the plains, at least as much as he knows. The history and nature of this world remains cloudy even to those educated and wise like Yori is, but it’s still nice to get a better grasp on things.
Wade walks across the room to talk with Yori, but I ignore what they’re saying and wander over to a shelf stocked with some boxes of ammo. Sadly, there are no arrows, just bullets. Yori did give me a gun that I’ve been practicing with, but we’ve been slowly bleeding ammunition, forcing me to rely once more on the bow resting over my right shoulder. For some reason, I’ve found that I still prefer it to a gun, maybe because it ties me to the world up on the plateau I knew for so long. All these new things, like pistols or explosives, make me uneasy, whereas I feel at home with a bow in my hands.