Westhaven by Rowan Erlking (best sci fi novels of all time TXT) 📕

With a kind smile, Soin replied, “L-lowman said you have been t-talking about aligning with those C-cordrils.”

Key frowned. “So that’s it.”

“I-I don’t like keeping secrets from you, K-kemdin,” Soin said. “B-but I do think that they did bring all th-these people to k-keep an eye on you.”

“Whatever for?” Lanona murmured.

Both men turned, hearing her.

Immediately she blushed. Rising, Lanona looked to Soin first, then Key before backing up.

“Um, sorry. I should be going somewhere,” she said and started off.

“Where are you going?” Key called after her.

Lanona stopped but did not turn around.

“I’m….” But she did not get much further. Instead she closed her eyes, took a breath and turned around to face Key. “I’m still mad at you.”

“That, I figured,” Key said then sighed. “I’m sorry for whatever I said in Calcumum, ok?”

“You are so clueless!” Lanona flushed more, snapping at him. Her hands were balled into fists. Her face grew red, and tears filled her eyes though she looked more likely to hit him than cry.

He just blinked, then glanced to Soin who just stared also.

“You know, for a smart guy, you’re really stupid,” she said, still glaring at him.

Key blinked again. Standing up, he sighed. “Fine. I’m stupid. And I’m tired. I’ll see you later, Soin.”

He walked back to the place where he and his friends had dumped off their packs earlier for the night. He dropped down, opening up the last of his packed rations to eat. Sitting there, he drew his legs into his chest and listened to the murmur around the camp. It was low, rumbling just above a general conversational tone and muted by the shrubbery, giving him an uncomfortable feeling that most of the people in the camp were talking about him. It wasn’t the first time he had that feeling or even the first time people did talk about him. But the feeling of these conversations were more ominous. In a strange way, it made him want to sneak off. In fact, Key found himself rising from his bedroll before thinking of what he wanted to do about it.

Impulsively, he grabbed one of the brown-and-green hats the locals of the camp wore from a nearby rack where someone had abandoned it, and he stuck it on his head. Then he took one of their cloaks from off the line where it had been drying. He slipped it over his shoulders, wrapping the fabric around his body so that his Bekir attire no longer stood out white against the forest greenery, though most of it now was more in the hues of red and gold. Ducking his head low, Key meandered the long way through the camp towards Lowman’s twisted looking hut. There he leaned on the wall as if he were just resting. As he had hoped, he could hear voices from inside. As the afternoon sun passed down towards the evening, he learned a lot.

“…here. Once we get to Ladis we’ll have that woman wizard make those tunnels, and keep him with her.”

“You know, she has been in quite a temper about him. Are you sure she likes Key? I’m starting to think that she’s only going along with this because she was ordered to by her patriarch.”

“Well, actually, that is why she came.” Key recognized Luis’s voice. “But don’t worry. After watching those two interact on the way to Yarrding I think her anger is because he just treats her as a wizard. She likes him. That’s the problem.”

Key blinked then looked back to where he had left Soin and Lanona. She liked him? As in attracted? It sent shivers up his entire body. For a second he almost left the hut to see if it were true. But before he did, he heard someone inside say, “But do you think Sadena’s plan will work? He is thickheaded about certain things. I’d like them to form an attachment soon.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that.” Tiler’s voice came through with a snort. “But you guys are playing with fire if you think matchmaking will keep Key from acting on what his mind is already set on. He is not an easily distracted man.”

“But what else can we do?” Telerd’s voice answered him. “We don’t want to lose Kemdin to a bunch of demons.”

Tiler snorted again. “You know, you already have. Key is devoted to getting rid of those blue-eyes at all costs. And since that earlier meeting with those white ones, he’s not as afraid of those other demons as he ought to be. I still think we should just to watch his back and drop all this pretense. He can see right through it. And he will resent us for it.”

Smiling to himself, Key chuckled with relief. So, Tiler was still watching his back.

Rainold’s voice answered Tiler. “He probably already does.”

“Kemdin?” Loid’s voice broke in. “You know, even if General Gole messed with his head and made him crazy mad, that doesn’t mean that he’s going to hate us for trying to protect him.”

“Key isn’t a person who likes to sit back and let others do things for him,” Rainold snapped.

“No kidding,” Tiler said.

Automatically Loid and Telerd jumped in to retort over acting in Key’s best interests. Straight back the two Herra men barked their objections to messing with Key. By then, both sides argued so loudly that it was pointless for Key to pretend to be just resting rather than listening at the hut. People around the twisted-up shelter looked to see the source of the noise, and everyone knew by then what they were talking about. So Key took it as a sign to go. He didn’t need to pretend he didn’t hear now, but there really was little else to listen to.

As Luis refereed between his different friends inside the hut, Key walked away and meandered towards the cook fires once more, deciding to pick up a meal from them after all. He found a spot on the far logs, took up a bowl of pottage there, and ate in silence. He listened to the murmuring conversations around him. Most discussed subjects more local in interest, such as the price of pork and grain and the latest scuffle with a demon crow from the Kirting Mountains. He noticed Soin and Lanona had both moved from their spot on the far log and were now talking with Bredin Sefisher near one of the cook huts in detail about what they would be doing in Stiltson. Their postures were all business, with Soin being the most vocal, holding a stern look on the Sea Fisher as he talked. Key could not hear much, but then knowing Soin there was no reason to listen in. He never hid anything and was willing to repeat himself if necessary.

As soon as they had finished, Lanona looked around as if searching for him. She sighed with relief when she had not seen him. Fact was, her eyes scanned right over him without even a flicker of an angry flinch. Key wondered again if what they had said about her liking him was a lie. Since Calcumum, she had been so angry. He still didn’t know what he had said to make her so mad.

Lanona started towards the head hut.

Soin walked back to the cook fire. He sat right next to Key.

“Y-you know, th-that girl has been p-pretty patient with you.”

Key chuckled, ducking down more. “You knew it was me?”

Soin glanced over at him. “Y-you have a p-particular smell.”

Taking a bite of his flatbread, Key nodded, chewing. His friend always could pick him out when playing hide-and-seek. Soin had said on a number of occasions that Key smelled like warm iron. as if it were in his blood after all that smelting and steel work.

“Did you g-go find out w-what they were up t-to?” Soin asked, his voice revealing his amusement at the situation.

Sighing, Key nodded.

Waiting for a few minutes for an elaboration, Soin grew tired and asked, “Care to share?”

Resting his hand on his head, Key sighed once more. “It’s nothing. Just more of the same. They don’t want me taking risks, and they invited Lanona along to keep me, uh, distracted.”

Soin chuckled, nodding to himself. “Yeah, sh-she figured it out t-too.”

He could feel his cheeks go warm, so Key ducked his head to hide it. “Does she…does she really…uh….”

Patting his friend on the back, Soin’s smile expanded with humor glittering in his eyes. “Yes. B-but she’s not going t-to tell you.”

Moaning, Key pressed his forehead harder. “Why do women always expect guys to guess that kind of stuff?”

“I-I don’t know.” Soin chuckled deeper. “She’s p-pretty though.”

“More than pretty.” Key groaned.

“Lucky you,” Soin said, smiling at him. “If I h-had a p-pretty girl like that who liked me, I-I would—”

“It is not lucky,” Key muttered, slumping forward. “It’s terrible.”

Soin made a face. “What?”

Nodding, Key sat up. “If she gets hurt….”

“Oh.” Soin shifted on the log then sighed. “Well, y-you know, she is like you. Sh-she’s not just going t-to sit back and l-let you protect her.”

“That’s what scares me,” Key murmured, leaning closer to the fire, setting his eyes on it. “Wizards can get killed too.”

His friend remained silent for a while before he said, emitting a sigh, “So. My friend has come care for someone.”

Key cast him a tired look. “Don’t tell anyone.”

But Soin chuckled again. “Sorry. I th-think they already know.”

“Pretend they don’t.” Key rose, setting his nearly empty bowl with the stack where already someone was cleaning them. “I’d rather have them guess than know. If they knew, the pressure will become worse. They’ll want me to act on it, and I just can’t. I just can’t.”

Key walked away. Soin watched Key drop off his hat on a hook near the laundry and scratch his tufty hair, losing the cloak also.

*

It was best to make a mild ruckus, Gailert decided. No one would listen to him if he didn’t.

Visiting the cities of Marchal and Gibbis where he knew the local military captains well, Gailert went to their offices and personally had started to list his suspicions that the raiders from Herra were branching out into the east. He used that warrior Key as his prime example then cited the raid on the governor of Calcumum’s house as the first point then that of the incident at Wimanus and the Sundri rebellion. He had a few listening ears as he pointed out on the map in their office his suspicions.

“They are going along the coast. It is quite possible that they are already here in the mountains. But what they are up to is still unclear.” Gailert tapped the southernmost coastal city. “But what is certain is that their failure at Sundri and discovery at Wimanus did not stop them from going to Calcumum. That also means that they will still continue south. I predict they will strike in Stiltson before the month is out. The question is from where and by what means and purpose?”

The captain in Gibbis frowned. With a terse look at the map then at the retired general, the captain carefully chose his words. “Shouldn’t we work on motive first before jumping to conclusions?”

Gailert nodded, sighing. “I am working on that. So far the only motive I have is that they wish to be a nuisance—but that doesn’t feel right. There is a pattern. I’m sure the reason for the random attack on the Calcumum palace and prison had a deeper meaning than what we see on the surface.”

“So, you are headed to Stiltson?” the Gibbis captain asked.

Gailert nodded. “Yes, but I want you to be vigilant here in the mountains also. All strange humans about in the cities should be watched.”

“Already done,” the captain said, spreading his mouth into a thin line.

“I mean better than usual,” the Gailert replied, already feeling the captain’s growing offence to his words. “We may pride ourselves