Page 12 of Earthbound

Alder opened his eyes. Lettle was sitting forward on her knees, her expression full of excitement.

‘That was it.’

Disappointment was like a physical blow against Lettle’s brow and she sat back on her heels.

‘But that’s progress,’ Farhan said. He was watching them both, his eyes gleaming. ‘You might remember more tomorrow.’ His hopeful gaze was too painful to meet.

‘Yes, just because this part wasn’t helpful, it doesn’t mean we won’t learn more tomorrow,’ Lettle said, as though assuring herself.

Alder wrapped his arms around himself, the memory chilling him more than the frozen ground. ‘We should go, we’ve wasted half the morning. It’ll be sunset when we get to Caperly now.’

Lettle stood first then offered him a hand up. ‘Farhan’s right, progress is good,’ she said quietly.

He gripped her hand. ‘I suppose.’

But it didn’t feel good. Why had he been so frightened?

For the first time he wondered whether he was better off not remembering anything at all…

—

They walked until Caperly rose up ahead of them. The town had been built into the rockface of the mountain so that only part of it could be seen from the trail.

What Alder could see had his intestines twisting in knots. Smoke curled up into the sky from large hearths where the Nomads were smoking fish. The earthy herbs they used reminded Alder of cold winter evenings spent around the fire. Elders moved through the narrow streets, laden with furs. Some milled by cave entranceways weaving baskets from hemp, while others simply chatted and exchanged pleasantries in the pale evening sunlight.

‘Could that be Caperly?’ Farhan asked.

Lettle snorted. ‘I would assume so, yes.’

‘That is indeed Caperly,’ Alder said. Lettle looked at him, discerning the fear in his voice.

‘They’ll listen to us, they have to,’ she said, her jaw set in that stubborn way of hers.

Alder wasn’t sure. When he had refuted their ways, he had turned his back on them, abandoned them. There were few rules among the Nomads, but leaving was death to everything he had been to them. It was a form of self-preservation and it ensured that the community was always put first. And here he was breaking the most sacred rule of all.

He was coming back.

Lettle suddenly tore her gaze away from the town and turned quickly on her heel.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

She frowned at the trail behind them. ‘I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye.’

Shera sniffed at the air.

‘Nothing except birds and an obeah in the distance,’ Farhan confirmed.

That didn’t surprise Alder; they’d seen many obeah on their journey east. The beasts were drawn to him.

Though Lettle turned away again, she still looked unsettled. ‘We should go,’ she said.

But when he told his body to move, to take a step off the path and into the village, his feet would not stir.

Lettle must have noticed him in conflict with his limbs, as she looped her arm in his and dragged him forward.

‘Staying still is not staying alive,’ she said, pulling him along. This elicited a smile from him. She always seemed to know what he needed.

It had been a hard journey, made harder by the impending doom he felt as they drew closer to Caperly, and further away from Golan. But Lettle had been a balm to his malaise. He used to think she was too prickly a person to like, but beneath the rough exterior was a vulnerability that was endearing.