Page 126 of Earthbound

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lettle

Lettle thought blisters on her feet were bad. But six weeks of riding an obeah had proven that there were worse places to have blisters than the soles of one’s feet.

‘We’re nearly there,’ she said to Alder. He had withdrawn into himself over the last few weeks. Barely eating, barely sleeping. His past life haunted him, robbing him of all joy.

Though the obeah had made the journey much quicker, it had in some ways felt longer than the way there. This time they were not buoyed by the hope of possibility but laden with the weight of the truth.

There was also a lack of entertainment now Farhan was no longer with them. Mortah didn’t quite have the same repertoire of jaunty fireside songs that the fae had.

The journey had been swift, and brittle with cold. But the closer they had got to the Wasted Marshes, the warmer the weather became. Until finally snow was a thing of the past.

‘I never want to see a snow-covered conifer ever again,’ Lettle said. ‘Do you know how many times I was struck by a snowdrift from their branches? Nine times.’

‘Asase’s children are vindictive,’ Mortah said with a grin.

It shocked Lettle into silence. Asase’s children. Alder had told her before that it was the nickname the Nomads had given to conifers.

They were the trees that Afa had planted over the graves of the humans.

His web continues to glint through time, Lettle thought.

Alder had seen her face reach the realisation he must have already come to. He gave her a sad nod, his brow etched with grief.

‘Are you excited to see Golan again?’ she asked gently, changing the subject.

A small smile grew on his lips, and then he grimaced and looked away. ‘I cannot bear to tell him the truth of who I am.’

‘Afa is not you, Alder.’

‘Sometimes I believe that, but other times…’ Alder looked at the pack of fifty obeah who had followed them the whole way. ‘Bow down,’ he commanded, and as one the obeah dropped their haunches and dipped their heads. Then Alder turned to her, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. ‘I have his power, I have his faults, I just don’t have his memories.’

‘That accounts for a lot,’ she said.

‘I hope so.’

They dismounted on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the swampland below.

‘Rayan is so close now,’ Lettle said softly to Ajax. ‘All we have to do, is cross that.’

The elven army sprawled across the Wasted Marshes. The camp was as large as a city, spreading out in neat rows of tents as far as Lettle could see.

Soldiers moved like hornets around a nest, swarming across the marshland, their weapons glinting like stingers. There were so many of them that Lettle struggled to comprehend the sheer number of soldiers they were up against.

‘I never thought I’d live in a world where all four elven tribes stood together, side by side,’ Mortah said.

‘I wish we lived in a world where they didn’t have to raise arms at all,’ Lettle said.

‘I’m not sure that world will ever exist,’ Alder said quietly. ‘War comes and goes like the tide. We never learn.’

It was in moments like these that Lettle wondered if Alder had changed a little. Of course the truth had affected him deeply, but it was more than that. Like his innocence had been tarnished with the knowledge that he was now an ancient being.

‘I’m going to scout ahead,’ Mortah said. The elf strode off before Lettle or Alder could protest.

Lettle thought that Mortah’s limp was less pronounced than it had been in Caperly. The journey had invigorated her just as much as it had fatigued Lettle.

‘We should sling up the camp here,’ Alder said as he inspected the eucalyptus trees around them.