The Marenon Chronicles Collection

Chapter Twenty-Four





Night fell more quickly than either Silas or Inga had anticipated. Both of them had spent most of the afternoon in their designated rooms, secluded from each other. At this point, it was the preferable plan for Silas. He didn’t need to be around Inga. Seeing her in Lorcan’s desiring arms sparked more jealousy in him than Silas could have imagined. He had to tell himself over and over that it was the desperation of a person facing his own mortality, mixed with the vulnerability of a female friend who hated to see him in such a state. Whatever the case, it proved that Inga and Lorcan’s relationship went deeper than friendship.

He tried to shake the thoughts from his head as he sat up at the end of his bed. He knew he couldn’t be angry with Inga. Lorcan had put her into the situation. He couldn’t be mad at Lorcan because he hadn’t known about Silas and Inga. He was also facing death. Silas hated this. He wouldn’t speak to Inga about it at all. If she wanted to talk about it, he would let her do it. Silas just decided to focus on the task at hand. No kissing, no love, just the mission.

The mission.

No one had really said this, but the thought came to Silas’ mind that what he and Inga were about to do was a huge step in the direction of completing The Reckoning. The operation conceived by his grandfather would still be carried on through Silas and the others. Silas doubted Garland Ainsley had expected that most of the people who would help to accomplish The Reckoning weren’t technically members of the Dunarian group. Kaden was the exception, but no one else on the council seemed to be very involved.

Garland Ainsley had paved the way for Silas to be where he was at this moment. He sat in his room deep within the confines of the Erellen city. Jiaros had kept Silas’ presence a secret from the people. Though no one would recognize him by sight, Jiaros knew that if Silas’ identity was discovered, the Erellen people might have thrown him a parade. He was the Meshulan and was respected not only by Humans, but Erellens as well. Silas assumed this was because he was an anomaly; he knew of no one else in Marenon who was half Human and half Erellen.

Thoughts of his parents would come to his mind from time to time. He wondered what they might have looked like and what kind of people they were. He had spent much of his childhood wondering about them, but once he had grown, he did not give it much thought. His grandfather had been the only parent he ever needed and he was fine with that. He never felt like he missed out by not having a mother and a father. Sure, he wished their lives had not ended so tragically, but what was done was done. Dwelling on them would not bring them back to life and would only deter him from finishing his purpose in Marenon.

He rose from the bed. It was time.

He walked across his bedroom and grabbed the staff of Uriah, which leaned against the door. He pulled the cloak hood over his head and took a deep breath, knowing that what he and Inga were about to do needed to be flawless in execution. He opened the door and Teymus greeted him in the hallway with a smile.

Such a courteous guard, Silas thought. Too bad he’s about to be unconscious.

“Going somewhere?” Teymus asked him.

“So, I have to tell you where I plan to go now?” Silas asked.

“At this hour, yes.”

Silas shook his head and walked a few paces until he reached Inga’s door. He knocked softly and Inga came out, dressed in a hooded cloak much like Silas’. Inga’s guard gave Teymus a curious look and Teymus placed a calm hand on his sword.

“Are we just going for a midnight walk or something?” he asked.

“We are,” Inga said. “But you aren’t going with us.”

“I beg your par…” Teymus was cut short by the flash of light that flung him and his companion guard against the wall. Their heads smacked against the stone with a loud thud, and they lay unconscious on the floor.

“Nice one,” Silas said. “You didn’t kill them, did you?”

“Of course not,” she answered with a scowl. “We’ve got just enough time to get to the stables.”

Silas led the way down the hall and up a flight of stairs leading to a door to the outside. The stables were located near the middle of the city and it would take a while to get there in secret. Inga could make them invisible, but only for a short time. They decided it was best to try to move quietly to avoid detection until they were forced to use the magic. Their plan was to attempt to make the two of them and the sarians invisible for takeoff, but she wasn’t sure how long she could make that last.

The outside was dark and cold, but there were more people moving around the city than they had anticipated. Guards and citizens alike were wandering through the streets, but the guards were ushering people back to their homes. Something was going on, but neither of them knew what it could be. Guards were running around in groups, seemingly searching for something or someone. Silas and Inga kept to the shadows, avoiding any kind of contact with anyone. Even with their hoods up, the frantic guards probably wouldn’t ignore them.

Silas guessed it had been about twenty minutes or more when they finally reached the stables. Teymus would surely be waking by then, and someone would be looking for them. When they walked into the stables they noticed that only Skarret and Storm were sitting there peacefully. Cole and Autumn were nowhere to be found. Silas and Inga looked at each other curiously and walked over to the sarians. Storm was saddled and ready to go, while Skarret preferred no saddle. There was, however, a note tied by a small string to one of Skarret’s feathers on his back.

Silas carefully untied the string and unfolded the hand-scribbled note as Inga stood next to him to read it over his shoulder.

Don’t have much time. Something has happened that requires my attention. I decided not to contact you through the wristband. I didn’t want to interrupt anything you might be doing. You may have noticed that Autumn and Cole are both gone. Won’t say much, but just know that it’s good news for us and our mutual friend. I will contact you soon. Take care.

-Kaden

“He got Lorcan out!” Silas said.

“I wonder where they had to go?” Inga questioned aloud.

Silas shook his head. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter right now. We’ve got to move.”

The two of them mounted their sarians and Silas looked at Inga, waiting for her to work her magic. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Silas instantly began to feel the icy sensation of becoming invisible. He looked below him seeing only the ground. He looked to his right and could no longer see Inga either. It worked. Skarret reared back slightly at the unexpected feeling of disappearing, but Silas stroked his neck and whispered calm words into the animal’s ear. He nudged Skarret forward. The bird used its head to open the stable doors. Silas felt exposed to the outside world with the guards moving about, but it seemed that no one had noticed the doors come open.

With one hand, he held on tight to the staff and with the other he grabbed a fist full of feathers to steady himself. He felt the bird’s wings fling out to its sides as it prepared to fly. Skarret lunged upward and the ground beneath them soon became smaller and smaller until all they could see was the moonlight reflecting off the summer night’s clouds. When they were a safe distance in the air, Inga released her magic and appeared next to Silas.

“Amazing work,” he told her.

She smiled in appreciation. They flew north for a long while until they decided they were a safe distance from the city. They chose to land in a clearing several miles away. Now it was up to Inga to try to sense her former master.

“Do you feel anything now?” Silas asked her as she stood in front of Storm.

She nodded. “I’ve been feeling him for the past week. It is stronger the further north we go.”

“What if Silandrin is the Gatekeeper?” Silas asked.

“I suppose I will have a lot of questions for him then,” she said simply. “Part of me wants him to be, but another part of me really doesn’t. All I want is a good reason for why he abandoned me.”

“I’m sure whatever reason he has is a good one,” Silas said, slipping off of Skarret to stand next to her.

She looked into his eyes, revealing a sadness that almost didn’t belong.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Lorcan before,” she said.

Silas was taken aback by the words. He had not expected to be talking about this now, but it had been invading her thoughts.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she continued. “I thought I might never see him again. We’ve been close for a very long time. I knew he thought of me as more than a friend, but I had never really felt that way about him until I saw him behind those bars.”

Silas understood. But it didn’t make him like it any more. In that moment he had a choice. He could be cold to her; question her feelings and make her choose; or he could decide to let it go.

Forgetting it wasn’t an option, but neither was being cold to her. He couldn’t deny his feelings for her, and he knew it had to be love. Nothing else would have produced the jealousy within him like the moment when Lorcan kissed her.

“So you love him?” Silas asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, wiping away a stray tear. “I’m obviously torn. So much is happening. When I’m with you, I feel happy and I don’t want to be away from you. But when I was faced with never seeing Lorcan again, I was crushed. Obviously I didn’t plan to kiss him, especially in front of you. I’m sorry that happened.”

Silas reached his hand out and placed it on her shoulder. “You listen to me,” he said. “This isn’t what we need to worry about right now. All of that stuff will be figured out in time. Right now, we’ve got to find Silandrin. He’s our only answer to finding the Gatekeeper and being done with all of this mess.”

Inga nodded, wiping away another tear. “Thank you,” she said. She reached out and hugged Silas tightly. It was a show of appreciation, rather than deep affection. She needed him to be strong, and the idea of feelings getting involved was not an option either of them had at the moment. Though he didn’t want her to ever choose Lorcan over him, it was part of his duty as the Meshulan to not allow his feelings get in the way of the mission.

They decided to keep moving north. Every hour or so, they would stop and Inga would tell him whether the feeling of her old master’s presence was stronger or weaker. When it was weaker, they would alter their course and when it was stronger they would remain on the same path. In the early morning hours they finally decided to make camp and sleep.

Inga’s senses were getting stronger every time they moved. Both of them knew they were very close to finally finding Silandrin, and hopefully, the Gatekeeper.