Quintel. The cell, once crowded with thought, sound and color, returned to its previous condition. Quintel's revelation passed to memory.
“That is all I have to teach you,” Siyer said.
Chapter 9
Quintel was gathering herbs with Siyer outside the fortress wall when he saw the charging rider coming up the road.
A watchman on the wall also saw the horseman and called down to the gatekeeper. With a grinding moan, the heavy gate parted to let him enter.
The rider dismounted and spoke a single sentence to the guards.
“Huk returns in three days.”
Quintel looked at Siyer, but the old man pretended not to hear the news and continued pulling plants from the ground and knocking dirt from their roots.
Since Quintel had deciphered the conundrum of the game, he held a new view of the world. He could control his hunger and amplify his endurance at will. He could detect the approach of people before they entered the boundaries of his senses.
Attaining freedom had ceased to worry him. He knew it was only a matter of time before they escaped. With Huk returning, he suspected that time was short.
Four guards and a lieutenant rode to the edge of the forest to summon Siyer. The officer told him that Huk was ill and would require aid immediately upon his arrival.
Siyer offered to meet Huk with the drugs half way, but they refused, saying the warlord had commanded against it.
“That is not good,” Siyer told Quintel as they walked back to the fortress. “He hides something.”
“A weapon?” Quintel asked.
Siyer nodded.“That is my guess. I believe the god has provided Huk with new technologies to battle our people. We must find out what they are.”
They had been prepared for the warlord's return for many weeks. Doses of the drug had been mixed and stored in adequate, but not self-threatening, quantities.
“At least we know he is ill,” Quintel said after they had returned to their cell. “Our deception has lasted.”
“True,” Siyer said. “But it also means he is running out of the substance, otherwise his health would be good. Meeting him halfway would have eased my anxiety.”
On schedule, Huk returned to the fortress at the end of the week. His caravan of wagons and soldiers waited behind a low hill in the forest, concealing their ranks while Huk's ornate coach entered the gate. He arrived in the middle of the night. Siyer and Quintel were at the entrance, waiting to meet him.
“I am starting to feel better, Vaerian,” Huk said as Siyer filled a small flask with the herbal potion. “I was beginning to think that it was your medicine making me ill.”
“No, your apparent improvement in health is a very bad sign,” Siyer countered. “It precedes the final stages of the disease. We must saturate your body with the herbs.”
Although something that might have been suspicion flickered in Huk's eyes, he took the flask from Siyer. His traveling supply had run out three weeks ago, and he missed his medications.
Siyer dared not question the warlord about his meeting with the god. It was obvious Huk was hiding something. Quintel did not need special powers to figure that out.Quintel discerned some facts just from the energies of Huk's presence. He sensed anticipation – excitement -- in the warlord's spirit. Caution was there, and something else.
Fear?
“I brought you and the Abanshi a small gift back from my journey,” Huk said draining the flask with one swallow.
“Oh?” Siyer said.
“A dozen Abanshi assassins attacked our encampment two weeks ago,” Huk said. “We captured four of them.”
Siyer refused to give Huk a reaction. The warlord was baiting him. He wanted Siyer to know something.
“These you won't be able to save.”
Huk dismissed them. Siyer and Quintel returned to their cell. The news of his captured countrymen swayed Quintel, but not as it would have months ago. He knew he could not help them.
“He will kill them and there is nothing we can do,” Quintel
“That is all I have to teach you,” Siyer said.
Chapter 9
Quintel was gathering herbs with Siyer outside the fortress wall when he saw the charging rider coming up the road.
A watchman on the wall also saw the horseman and called down to the gatekeeper. With a grinding moan, the heavy gate parted to let him enter.
The rider dismounted and spoke a single sentence to the guards.
“Huk returns in three days.”
Quintel looked at Siyer, but the old man pretended not to hear the news and continued pulling plants from the ground and knocking dirt from their roots.
Since Quintel had deciphered the conundrum of the game, he held a new view of the world. He could control his hunger and amplify his endurance at will. He could detect the approach of people before they entered the boundaries of his senses.
Attaining freedom had ceased to worry him. He knew it was only a matter of time before they escaped. With Huk returning, he suspected that time was short.
Four guards and a lieutenant rode to the edge of the forest to summon Siyer. The officer told him that Huk was ill and would require aid immediately upon his arrival.
Siyer offered to meet Huk with the drugs half way, but they refused, saying the warlord had commanded against it.
“That is not good,” Siyer told Quintel as they walked back to the fortress. “He hides something.”
“A weapon?” Quintel asked.
Siyer nodded.“That is my guess. I believe the god has provided Huk with new technologies to battle our people. We must find out what they are.”
They had been prepared for the warlord's return for many weeks. Doses of the drug had been mixed and stored in adequate, but not self-threatening, quantities.
“At least we know he is ill,” Quintel said after they had returned to their cell. “Our deception has lasted.”
“True,” Siyer said. “But it also means he is running out of the substance, otherwise his health would be good. Meeting him halfway would have eased my anxiety.”
On schedule, Huk returned to the fortress at the end of the week. His caravan of wagons and soldiers waited behind a low hill in the forest, concealing their ranks while Huk's ornate coach entered the gate. He arrived in the middle of the night. Siyer and Quintel were at the entrance, waiting to meet him.
“I am starting to feel better, Vaerian,” Huk said as Siyer filled a small flask with the herbal potion. “I was beginning to think that it was your medicine making me ill.”
“No, your apparent improvement in health is a very bad sign,” Siyer countered. “It precedes the final stages of the disease. We must saturate your body with the herbs.”
Although something that might have been suspicion flickered in Huk's eyes, he took the flask from Siyer. His traveling supply had run out three weeks ago, and he missed his medications.
Siyer dared not question the warlord about his meeting with the god. It was obvious Huk was hiding something. Quintel did not need special powers to figure that out.Quintel discerned some facts just from the energies of Huk's presence. He sensed anticipation – excitement -- in the warlord's spirit. Caution was there, and something else.
Fear?
“I brought you and the Abanshi a small gift back from my journey,” Huk said draining the flask with one swallow.
“Oh?” Siyer said.
“A dozen Abanshi assassins attacked our encampment two weeks ago,” Huk said. “We captured four of them.”
Siyer refused to give Huk a reaction. The warlord was baiting him. He wanted Siyer to know something.
“These you won't be able to save.”
Huk dismissed them. Siyer and Quintel returned to their cell. The news of his captured countrymen swayed Quintel, but not as it would have months ago. He knew he could not help them.
“He will kill them and there is nothing we can do,” Quintel
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