Bertan`s quest by Michelle Tarynne (ereader android .txt) 📕

into the ground in the heat that could not be foreseen. That was the only way into the inner Wall territories, to trade slaves in. The Swords themselves had liked just to fly over. Whoever didn't make it through the examinations was killed on the spot. There are stories that at times mountains of the dead bodies reached almost to the half-height of the Wall. All those dunes we walk through are the ashes of those who would not get in, and could not stay alive to tell."

"How do you know all this? How could your tribe learn so much of the times and monsters if no one lived to tell?" Genes asked, trying to hurry up even more minding what lay beneath his feet.

"I know a lot of things Genes, I have to and I wish I knew everything someday. I was sent to the southern tribes by my mother, who wanted me to learn as much as I can. I haven't seen her since then. I learned all I could on top of my schooling before that," Bertan paused, visibly debating on whether or not she should tell him all the truth.

"What was your school before that?" He asked, half afraid of her answer, half genuinely curious. He could not help but notice the heavy hesitation on her part, she seemed to pick up her pace even more before confessing.

"I'm a daughter of a Sword mother, and I was raised as a Sword," she muttered and sped away even faster.

"But it's impossible!" Genes yelled at the distant figure after realizing she wasn't jesting, "They are slave hunting giant monsters, and you look just fine and normal."

That stopped Bertan in her tracks. When she turned to face him, her eyes burned with fury.

"I know! That's why I was sent away before I got into my first live-or-die training. It was obvious I would never kill a slave opponent, so I had to go, I'd be killed otherwise," she yelled just as loud as he did.

"So you are not like them." his eyes brightened up at the thought, "It's good, isn't it?"

"It's marvelous! Really! I hate every one of them now just as I hated myself for being so weak. And now I have to go to talk with my mother because nothing adds up anymore. To go back means to go back into their ways too!" She walked away quickly while muttering under her nose, "Can we just go now? Why am I even telling you all this?"

"Um… wouldn't that mean we would have to go to the Swords territory so that you could have a chat with your mother?" Genes asked looking at disappearing in the darkness Bertan, a very bad thought sparked in his mind.

"Of course, it would," she scoffed at him, motioning for him to hurry up.

"When?" He would not relent. He liked the freedom Fates had granted him at birth.

"Soon. Just don't be afraid, I swear to protect you," she said lightly, too lightly, he knew deep inside. That promise carried the weight of her whole world.

"But you are not like them, how can you protect me from them then?" Genes asked, aware that the chances of keeping his freedom were getting slimmer with each step he took. "Wait! Is this a new way for them to hunt for slaves? Are you a Sword, slave hunter?"

"Can we just walk?" Bertan rolled her eyes at this accusation.

"Where?" he demanded, uneasy that his choices were limited to two options only, stay or walk and only one option granted him a hope of survival.

"North," she gritted through her teeth. When she heard him grasping his breath to ask one more question she quickly added, "Can we walk in silence? The ashes will get to your lungs otherwise."

 

That enough to shut him up for at least some time. They walked in silence ever since until she realized he was weakening and slowly crashing. They stopped so that he could rest for a while. Her thoughts were heavy with worry and the never leaving her core feeling of urgency made her consider the unthinkable. She hoped she could delay that option in time for she feared she was bringing the boy right into his doom. All she was doing since the Calling and meeting him went against all of her well-trained instincts… and still, it felt like the only right thing to do.

" All righty. We need to cover a few points before we even try to get in close…" she started to talk once they walked again.

"Get in where?" Genes asked wearily, so tired his mind worked slower, and his questions took longer to pop up.

"We'll get to that in a moment… So you do not talk. At all. You do not answer any questions, just look at the people, but never, ever talk to them. You sound so foreign you would be dead before we reach the city…" she recited quickly.

"What city?" the boy asked, slowing down even more.

"In a moment. Could you please repeat what have I just said?" Bertan scoffed at him impatiently, "You have so much to learn to at least aspire to stay alive, my protection notwithstanding."

"Basically, I'm deaf, not too bright, and mute," he sighed, suddenly feeling the sadness and weariness seeping right into his bones.

"Yes, basically you are right. The most important thing is: you don't talk to the Mother under any excuse, under any circumstances. Do not let her get you in any kind of chit chat. Do not eat or drink whatever she might offer, and by the Gods, do not let her touch you," she explained.

"Are you having issues with your mother?" Genes asked, surprised at the level of caution she wanted him to apply to that person.

"Of course! Who does not have issues with the Mother?" she raised her hands to the sky in exasperation, "It's the Mother of my life and death," she added gently, "She holds the rights to me. I don't want her to get her hands on you too."

"How do I do that?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around this complicated family issue. He didn't know who his own parents were.

"Do what?" she seemed at a loss to answer his question.

"Avoid your mother, am I to fight her off with my fists?" he asked patiently.

"Don't tempt me," Bertan giggled, "No. I hope that you won't even meet her, it's a private talk I'm planning on to take place. In any case, with any people around, just stand a step or two behind me. I will answer any question that is directed to you."

"Are you not curious?" he asked with a huge grin lighting up his tired face.

"Curious? Of what?" she looked at him wearing a frown of confusion.

"What do I think of your proposition?" his smile got even wider for he suspected her answer.

"No… not really. Once we leave this valley, we are entering the Royal City of Naam, the Swords oldest stronghold. One wrong gesture or word and both of us die right on the spot," Bertan answered truthfully. It was clear that she decided that shielding his mind would be of no help in the future, if they intend to stay alive.

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to enter the Swords territory now!" His smile was long gone when he yelled furiously, one last drop of energy seeping out of him then.

"You already entered it Genes, where do you think have we been traveling through since we had landed outside the wall? The Swords had reached the northern parts of the Wall over thirty Great Cycles ago," she yelled back.

"That's impossible, nobody on the inside and outside the Wall is aware of that," he argued unwilling and unable to walk any further.

"Of course, they are, why do you think, they are hiding it?" she snorted amused with his ignorance once again.

"Why would the Red Axe hide the truth?"

"If everyone knew the war was imminent at some point, they would leave. No warriors would be born and trained. The Axe population had more than tripled in the last hundred Great Cycles. The peace pacts reached the Unseen Corners, the prosperity lured in many people that call themselves Axes now and call this their land. You will see for yourself, the only way for Axes to win is with their numbers, anything else would fail. The numbers are the only thing that has been keeping the Swords at bay after the initial shock after the Skyfire Storm had passed," she concluded softly.

"How do you know all that? How can you be so sure?"

"That is what I do, I learn things, I steal facts, truths, and plans. It's what the Daughters of the South do."

"You don't really look southern," Genes was surprised with her explanation.

"I don't?" she was perplexed, she thought she had blended in well enough. "How's so?"

"Your skin-tinge goes into a different shade than the southerners usually have, just a shade or two off. You can't be a purebred," he narrowed his eyes to see her more clearly through the wave of sleepiness slowly taking over his body.

"You are right, I'm not," Bertan admitted. "Apparently, the Mother took a foreigner for a mate. Or something. I suspect he must have been a Southerner, for my looks now."

"It's a logical explanation. Why do you seem to be ashamed of that now?"

"You will see for yourself soon. But for now, we have one thing to do and I'm afraid you will hate every part of it," she sighed heavily.

It was becoming clear that Genes would not be able to walk any farther. It was a place as good for a camp as any other, in this never-ending wasteland. She took a seat right on the ground to be eagerly followed by the tired boy.

"What is it now?" Genes yawned.

"Have you ever seen a Sword male?" she asked cautiously, not looking into his direction.

"Nobody sees a Sword male and lives to tell, you know that well Berts… Just tell me what it is."

"You need to shave," she admitted, still avoiding looking into his eyes.

"I have nothing to shave, haven't you noticed? Seekinglanders grow their hair so long since they have none other," he chuckled sleepily, "Haven't you noticed that? Everyone has."

"I'm not talking about your face Genes. I'm talking about your head. No Sword would let their hair grow more than a nail would, no one would risk that liability in a fight." She had no heart to tell him yet, that he would never be taken for a Sword male or child, even mistakenly. His role in her world would have to be even more demeaning.

"I want to go back to Inner Block now," he frowned, fighting the last sane thoughts leaving him. "I do get to keep my hair there, like everyone else."

"I hope you do remember why you left that place, your friend with a bird would not help you in any way." Suddenly his memories flooded his mind, with the sounds and pictures of that fateful moment.

"Do you think he still lives?" he asked softly, "That any of them still does?"

"I don't know, I know lots of things, but that I don't, and I'm sorry for not knowing," her voice was filled with an unexplainable sorrow.

"You can't know everything," he reassured her.

"It's my job to know everything, Genes, it's my job." She tried to reassure herself too, through the constant repetitions. "Gods, but you are right, that just will not work, and nobody will even think of you as a Sword child," Bertan sighed wearily, hating the truth with all of her being, "You need to become my slave then."

"Is that supposed to be better? How? Why are all your ideas so grim?" his voice trailed. He almost fell asleep right then, snuggled tightly into the sheet salvaged from the kite, that was surprisingly soft, warm, and aromatic. Invited into sleepy awareness, he barely registered her answer.

"Because you will look so much out of place that I hope they just