“Valam? Valam?” asked Jacob. “I am finished.” Jacob nudged Valam a second time with no response. He quickly began to speak again, “I am sorry, gentlemen, for taking up so much of your time, but now I conclude and give you to Prince Valam.”
“Valam? Valam?” said Jacob, louder than he wished. He smiled graciously and then apologized. He shook Valam, who was slow to open his eyes. “My prince, I am most sorry. Perhaps we should delay this meeting until tomorrow.”
Valam opened his eyes, blinked once, then blinked again. “Captain Mikhal?” asked Valam.
“He has not yet arrived, I am sorry.”
Valam sat up straight and looked around the tent. His eyes opened wide. “Ekharn? Where did Ekharn go?”
Sensing something was wrong, Father Jacob dismissed all present saying, “Let us adjourn until this evening, or better still, tomorrow morning. I apologize again most graciously.”
Valam stood, excused himself, and walked out, but just before the entry, he turned back to look at those seated around the table, and he smiled and said, “Eran, brother of Ylsa. I should have caught the resemblance.” Valam fled to the middle of the encampment, waiting for a thing that did not come. Puzzled, he waited, quickly walking away as Father Jacob approached.
He sought refuge not in his own tent, but in another on the far side of camp. He did not seek out Evgej, or Seth, or even Liyan. His search led him directly to another. He did not pause at her door or announce his arrival. Actually, he did not even think anyone would be there. He was shocked to find someone was indeed in the tent.
“You need not lower your eyes,” spoke Tsandra, whispering to his thoughts. “I have no secrets.”
“I am sorry. I did not think—”
“Yes, I know. Just wait one moment. No need to leave. I shall only be a moment,” said Tsandra without even a trace of embarrassment in her words. She stepped into her woolen robe, and then slipped on her boots. She smiled at Valam’s wide eyes and bade him to sit. “Your thoughts read like an open book. I thought the time before last when we spoke that we discussed that problem of yours.”
“I—I—guess we did,” answered Valam. “Wait, wait a minute. This is not what I came here to talk about, so don’t lead me astray.”
“Well—”
“I understand now what you said to me as our journey began; though, to be honest with you, at the time I did not.”
“I thought you would come to understand it, but isn’t your timing a little off? Is this why you walked out of council?”
Valam glared back at her and asked, “You can’t read what I am thinking right now. Can you?”
“Yes, you are still embarrassed, but I think it will pass.”
“That’s precisely it,” replied Valam, confused.
Tsandra sensed the falseness of his words but did not know what made them false. She wondered what he was hiding from her. Carefully, she prodded his mind while she smiled at him, and she grinned even wider as he smiled back. She found no hidden walls in his center, yet there was something she could not see.
“Why did you do it?” asked Valam.
“Do what?”
“Why did you gather your forces? Was it really for the queen? Or was it over me?”
Now Tsandra comprehended where he was going with his interrogation. “It was for the Queen-Mother; I feared for her safety. I am a warrior; mine is to protect.”
“No. The order of the Red are the protectors. Is this not so?”
“It is the right of the Brown to protect also.”
“But you protect your people, do you not? You hold the Queen-Mother in check. Is this not so?”
“Where do you get the audacity to speak of such things to me?”
“Is this not so?”
“I think you should leave.”
“I will go nowhere!”
“Leave, or I will kill you, myself.”
Valam removed his sword from its sheath, and stood eyeing her intent. He considered her words, her tone of voice, and her stance. She did not stand at the ready like one who was willing or wanting to fight. He turned his blade around and handed her the hilt end. “Do me in if you will,” said Valam kneeling down on one knee and bowing his head, an act he knew would infuriate the heart of any warrior, no matter their origin.
“I would not strike you down in such a way. Do you think me so treacherous?”
“No, I do not think there is treachery in you, but perhaps you could find the truth and share it with me.”
Tsandra was stumped. Where had the questions come from so suddenly, and why now? She had not meant it to come to this. She had merely done what needed to be done, nothing more, so why did it now smite her in the face. She did not make it secret this time that she wished to enter his thoughts. She burst into his mind, seeking to tear it apart and search his every thought but was repelled from the emptiness she found. Again, angrily, she forced her will into his mind. Her eyes went wide with fury.
“It wasn’t any of those things, was it?” asked Valam, oblivious to her will upon him.
“Get out!” she yelled, reaching out with all her wrath, again forgetting to enclose its reaches.
“I will not, not until I hear the truth. Tell me, Tsandra of the Brown. Find the words in your heart of hearts and speak them to me.”
“I don’t know what you are saying.”
“The time for playing games with me is over. I remember. I remember it all.”
“Oh, really. You remember what?”
“Do not be coy with me! I am asking you in all honesty. I believe you want to tell me the truth, but what keeps your tongue in check?”
“That would be me,” spoke Liyan stepping into the tent.
“How long have you been standing out there?” asked Tsandra.
“Only a few moments, but I know of what you speak. I heard the name you spoke, though I think others did not catch it. I don’t even think Tsandra heard it.”
“What name are you referring to?”
“Why the name of Ekharn the old, of course?”
“Where did you learn it?” asked Tsandra, confusion showing on her face.
“In a dream of sorts.”
“A dream, or was it Seth?” asked Liyan, searching Valam’s thoughts as he asked it.
Valam stood there staring at Liyan for a time before he responded, but his words were cut short by another. “No, it was not I, brother. You should know I would not speak of such.”
“Tell us of this dream, if you may,” asked Liyan, yet speaking aloud.
“I don’t think I may, Brother Liyan.”
Liyan furrowed his brow, but did not reply to Valam; in thought, he told the others what he knew about Valam’s words and about Brother Ontyv’s visit. Tsandra’s response was only a passing complaint, but Seth’s was anger, anger so strong it turned his face livid. “Please sit, sit all,” begged Tsandra. “Let us talk as friends, as we are all friends in this room.”
Tsandra continued to speak, but not aloud; now she carefully thought to enclose her words only to those around her. “Ours is a tale best left untold, but I will say you are correct in your words, Prince Valam Alder.”
“Yes,” added Liyan, “the Brown began from tragedy and necessity, and so you see, not all our past is bright and glorious either. We, like your kind, also came upon many turnings during the dark times, times that are possibly upon us once more, but now I think we have a correct balance.”
“She said there were two queens and two kings,” said Valam, slipping, moving his thoughts into words.
“She?” asked Seth, and lagging only moments behind him, Liyan stated the same thing.
“The past is best left to remain in the past. Let us progress not regress. I will be honest with you and say Brother Ontyv did come to send your people home, for this is what the Queen-Mother wished. She did not want you to go home to your lands, and to your fate, for she had altered your fate already in bringing you here at the first. She did not want it to return at the last. I am afraid in so doing, she has upset the balance, and many dark things have come to pass in your lands. For this we are forever sorrowful, Prince Valam.”
“No,” said Valam, his voice full of wisdom as he spoke, “the balance is brought back in check. Our past is also catching up to us.”
“You, my friend, have learned much.”
“Yes, and no.”
“What will you do now? Will you return to your home? Or will you stay?”
“I do not know, to tell you the truth. I must think, and there are several I must confer with before I decide.”
“Father Jacob is a wise man. He will know what is right for you where we may not. Go and talk to him.”
“I was not referring to Jacob. Do you know where I can find Teren?”
“Teren?” asked Tsandra, “Why, whatever for?”
“I know where Teren is,” said Seth. “He arrived in camp only a short time ago and he asked for you, but at that time I did not know where you were, and I only now recalled his inquiry to mind.”
“Yes, I would. Seth, thank you,” said Valam rushing out without even saying good-bye. His exodus led him back to his own tent, where he hoped to find Teren waiting. He wasn’t surprised to find another there. Valam closely inspected Jacob’s demeanor before he said a word. What followed was largely an apology and a subtle explanation, neither of which actually said anything.
Luckily, Father Jacob was clever enough to see through it all to find understanding, the only thing he had hoped to attain. The two sat regarding each other for a time and then Jacob left, departing just as Teren found his way to Valam’s quarters. Teren entered without announcement and without offering greetings to Jacob. Neither was surprised to hear an alarm sound throughout the camp moments later. Riders had been spotted approaching from the north, a large group by all accounts.