Avandor's Gift
Shackles and Silence

“How in Avandor’s name am I going to get to the other side in time?” I asked this question mostly to myself as I looked at the expanse of water which they called the River Nain.

So much has changed in Gé Addar in the time I was away. The most dramatic being the appearance of this river and the lush plain it ran through.

The name Desert of Sigh I reasoned was only kept for posterity as the beckoning gardens and the new town that was springing up and thriving around it suggested it to be much more than the wasteland its name suggested.

A new bridge was under construction connecting the two halves of Gé Addar however it was far from finished. All the boats along its banks were quite inadequate. I had reverted to the habit of having luxury at my beck and call and thus packed quite heavily for this journey.

“We could wait for the barge to be finished. The men assured me that it would be done within the week.” said Sonis who determined not to let me out of his sight, decided to accompany me on this trip.

“Yes a week if they have all the wood they need to go ahead and build. The bridge is an important development and it is best that we not delay it.”

“This would be a lot simpler if we went around the head of the river, but you already made it clear that was not an option.”

I remembered the odd dream that I received that started me out on this mission. “Yes, but at that time I didn’t know what I had to contend with.” I said looking back out at the agate waters. The different bands of colours streaking the water river indeed quite a sight to behold. “We might have to go to the head of it after all.” I frowned slightly.

“I will make the arrangements to restart the journey tomorrow. We will set up camp here this evening.” said Sonis in a business like tone.

“Very well then.” I said. Something at the back of my mind told me that was going to be a bad idea to ignore the warning, but I pushed it aside. The faster I met this Roland and sorted out these issues, the faster I could go back to being dead.

“How much further is the head of this blasted river?” I complained for about the hundredth time today.

“We will see the head any moment now Your Majesty.” said a soldier whose name I didn’t bother to remember.

“I have been waiting on that brilliant moment since yesterday and it has yet to arrive. I would take that to mean that you don’t know the blast where we are going.”

“The pace that we are travelling is much slower than we anticipated.”

“Is that an inference to the size of my caravan?”

“Of course not Your Majesty.”

“Good, as the only useless baggage I have are of the animate type.” I saw him cringe slightly.

“If I may speak Your Majesty,” started Sonis as he rode up beside me.

“You may not. I already know what you are going to say and I would rather not hear it. I know who I am or rather who I am supposed to be and I am going to behave as such.” I said cutting him off.

“I have postulated as much from your behaviour, which at best has been rotten.”

“Are you lecturing me about my manners?” I said surprised and a little impressed at his bluntness.

“I wouldn’t dare to do such a thing. What fool would chastise a king especially one of your standing.”

“Ah I am quite aware of my standing commander and your message has been received. But this standing as you call it has always put me ahead. My uncle and my adopted father were the last two persons to underestimate that and we both know what happened to him in the end.”

“As Avandor would have it sire, I am neither your father nor your uncle. I have seen your cunning first hand and I must say that I am very wary. But one thing has changed since then.” He cut back.

“And what would that be commander?”

“You have always been charming and won over many people that way. Now you have been nothing but nasty since we’ve started out and that has hardly won you any admirers here. At this point the men would be just as willing to rescue you from a viper or throw you into a pit of the same.”

“It is comforting to know that loyalty is such a cherished virtue in my court.”

“It once was so, men used to give their devotion blindly but time has taught them otherwise.”

“I will take your council under advice.” I conceded as like I or not he was right.

The suns were close to setting and the wind had a slight chill to it which made me suddenly more alert. A small forest of pine had sprung up around the valley and even thought the suns were still up they seemed to cast no shadows. I looked behind me and even the mountains behind us failed to hide the light.

I felt sudden unease among the men and the horse spreading as a preternatural silence overcame us. The stomping of hooves and rattling of the caravans had stopped. I would have thought that I had been struck deaf if not for the bubbling of the river nearby.

I noted that Sonis seemed to be talking to me as his lips moved to form words.

“I cannot hear you.” I said. I heard my voice clearly enough but he didn’t. He pointed to his ear and shook his head.

I stopped the horse and pulled the sword from my scabbard. All the men followed suit.

Sonis pointed in the direction from which we came, meaning that we should turn back. I shook my head and pointed forward. I had come this far and I refused to go back now, a small part of me wanted to see where this was leading to. I could see his disapproval but we continued forward, swords drawn.

I saw a flash of white moving among the trees and then another. I waved to Sonis pointing to my eyes and then to the trees. We were being watched. Two of our guards rode up from the back to stand guard at each of my sides, Sonis was in front and the other two remained behind.

More flashes of white appeared around us until we were surrounded. What were white wisps solidified into bodies that stepped from behind the trees. There were at least twenty of them. All opalescent as the moon itself, with hair of silky black and fine gold. None of them spoke.

One of our guards charged, mists of blood painted the air. The soldier fell. His throat was slashed open and his eyes looked beyond. None of the men in white moved, but one of them must have as how else would the guard be killed.

These weren’t regular men and I knew that human weapons wouldn’t prevail against them. I flung my sword on the ground and raised my hand in surrender. All the other men with me followed suit. They took our horses and led us away in shackles and silence.