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  Keeper of the Mists

  Book Two of The Absent Gods

  David Debord

  Keeper of the Mists

  Published by Gryphonwood Press

  Copyright 2010, 2015 by David Debord

  Cover art by Drazenka Kimpel

  Edited by Philip Berrie and Michael Dunne

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright conventions.No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons is entirely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to my mother Barbara in thanks for all the stories you read to me.

  Chapter 1

  “You cannot find me now, Harvin.” Jayla giggled and pressed her body deeper into the farthest recess of the tiny cave hidden behind a stand of brush. The cool stone surface leached the warmth from her hands and her belly as she lay in the dark, listening for the sound of her brother’s approach.

  At six summers, she was still small enough to wriggle in and out of tight places where Harvin, nearly nine, and big for his age, could not fit. When chores were done each day they would spend hours exploring the warren of rock ledges, chimneys and tunnels they called “the castle.” Neither of them had ever seen an actual castle, but they agreed that a real one could be no more majestic, and certainly no more fun than this, their special place. Hidden by thick stands of blue-gray panon trees and dense tangles of briar, the network of caves, crevasses, and passages wended its way down the steep side of Marlat Mountain. One could climb down if he or she was very careful, though incaution could lead to broken bones, or worse. It was a much faster way down, however, than the meandering switchbacks of the old mountain road the grownups traversed.

  One of these days Jayla was going to surprise Mama and Papa when they took the cart to Galsbur. She would clamber down through the castle and be waiting for them when they finally reached the bottom. She would lean against a tree, looking bored, and when they finally arrived, she would say, “Hello Mama and Papa. What took you so long?” Mama and Papa would want to know how she reached the bottom first, but she would tell them it was magic, and they would laugh.

  Harvin was taking his time about finding her. He was bigger, stronger, and faster than her, but he was a daydreamer. He had been known to let the smallest thing distract him—a colorful bird or an oddly shaped rock—and forget all about their game. Where was he? She did not want to wait all day for him to remember to look for her.

  Careful to remain quiet, she slid toward the front of the cave and, squinting against the afternoon sunlight, she saw nothing but forest. The snows take him! She had not spoken aloud, but she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. Mama would punish her for even thinking such a foul oath, but it would be just like her brother to leave her hiding in a cave all afternoon. He had done it before.

  When she was certain she had given him sufficient time to discover her hiding place, she crawled out of the cave and began her climb back up to the top of the castle, where the dakel bushes lined the road and hid their secret place from passers-by. The going was more difficult on the way up, but she had made this climb countless times, and she raced up the rocky face like a squirrel dashing up a tree.

  She had almost reached the top when she heard hoof beats and men’s voices. Lots of them. She slowed down, wary of what might wait at the top. Few people lived in their tiny village among the foothills of western Galdora. She was taken by the conviction that these were strangers, and therefore to be looked upon with suspicion.

  “Nothin’ but a farming town. And not even a town at that. More like a village. Told us we would have all the loot we could carry home. All the women, too. But what do we get?” The speaker cleared his throat and spat. “Farmers. No gold, no silver. Not even a copper among them. Bah!” Several other voices muttered in general agreement.

  “But there was women, wasn’t there, Garge?” The second voice was soft, and oily, putting Jayla in mind of the squishy brown newts that lived under rocks in mountain streams. “Healthy farm women and a few young girls, too. Can’t complain about that now, can you?” Someone barked a sharp, mirthless laugh.

  Jayla did not know what the men were talking about, but it frightened her. She stayed very still, her feet and legs braced in the sides of the cleft in the rock face. She was getting tired and her arms burned, but she was not about to move. She closed her eyes, and whispered a prayer to the forest fairies, asking them to lead the bad men away. Harvin did not believe in the little people of the forest, but Jayla did.

  “Not hardly enough to go around.” Garge was closer now. “Though we made a fair job of sharing them around like good little boys, didna’ we? I tell you, Tarn, there’d better be sweeter pickings when we come down outta’ these hills, or some of the boys just might up and leave this outfit.”

  Other voices chimed in, most echoing Garge’s sentiments, others disagreeing.

  “You can’t do that. You made a blood pledge. Do you think they’ll let you out of it just like that? You know what they do to deserters. Besides, every farming village we raid brings us that much closer to the cities. And in cities there will be gold.”

  The voices began to fade.

  “I declare, there had better be gold, or blood pledge or not, I’ll walk away.”

  When she could hear them no more, she counted all her fingers and toes twice before climbing the rest of the way to the top. Trembling from fright and fatigue, she crawled beneath the shelter of a dakel bush, careful to avoid the thorns, and sat clutching her knees to her chest, and rocking to and fro. Silent tears ran down her chin, dripping onto her plain woolen dress. Where were Mama and Papa and Harvin? She wanted to know what had happened, but she was too afraid. She hurt all over and she wanted to go home.

  Something scraped on the dirt road. Someone was walking toward her hiding place. Her heartbeat pounded out an angry rhythm in her ears, and she felt as if the whole world could hear her.

  “Jayla? Are you here?”

  “Harvin?” she called back, her voice thick with emotion. “Is it really you?”

  “Where are you?” The panic in his voice was plain, and it frightened her all the more. “I can’t see you. Are you all right?”

  “I’m in the bush, over here.” She was still afraid to come out, so she waited as he crawled to her. It was a relief when his broad, freckled face finally peeked out through the wall of greenery. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to squeeze some courage into her heart.

  It did not work.

  “Jayla, you must listen to me.” He gently untangled himself from her embrace and held her at arm’s length so he could look her in the eye. “Something very bad has happened. You cannot go back to the village. Mama and Papa say that you must climb down the castle as fast as you can.”

  “Wait! How do they know about the castle? Did you tell them?” The surprise had momentarily driven all thoughts of the bad men from her mind.

  “That does not matter now. You must climb to the bottom and then go east. Do not walk. Run. Do you know which way is east?”

  She nodded. In the morning, east was toward the rising sun. In the late afternoon, the shadows pointed east. At mid-day, or if there was no sun, you just put your back to the mossy side of the tree and turned left.

  “Good. Go east as fast as you can until you come to a village. Keep to the forest and hide if you hear anyone coming. Do you understand?”

  “I want to go home.” She hated the way her voice sounded right now—like a little baby, but she did not care. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and she tasted the salt in the corners of her mouth. “I want Mama and Papa.”

  “We will come for you.” Harvin’s voice was soft, but insistent. “We will come east, too, and we’ll find you. But you have to get away as fast as you can. Promise me you will.”

  “But what will you do?”

  “Promise me!” He gripped her shoulders and gave her a shake.

  She nodded, and Harvin seemed to accept that as her oath. “Time to be going then. Come on.” He crawled out the way he had come. She bit her lip as he vanished into the foliage.

  “You there. Stop!” The man’s voice froze her heart. Who was out there? More bad men? She heard a rapid scuffling and she knew Harvin was running away. Booted feet pounded the dirt, chasing after him. She had to help him!

  She crawled out of the bush, thorns raking across her back as she went. At the edge of the bush, she thrust her head out and looked up and down the road. To her right, she saw a tall, lean man with silvery hair and a gray cape dashing down the road.

  “You leave him alone!” She screamed as loud as her little lungs would permit. She regretted it almost immediately.

  The man stopped in his tracks and whirled about with catlike grace. His eyes narrowed as his gaze met hers, and then his whole body seemed to ripple.

  Jayla gasped as he changed before her eyes. In a span of two heartbeats the man had transformed into a creature from her worst nightmares. He stood as tall as a man, but his muscled body was covered in sleek gray fur. His hands were tipped with wicked black claws, and his head was that of a cat, something like the puma that Papa had killed last winter, but she w
as sure that no puma’s eyes had ever shone with the cunning malevolence with which this beast gazed at her. It threw back its head and screamed a primordial cry, dropped down to all fours, and took off up the road toward her.

  Survival instinct took over, forcing her paralyzed limbs to move. She scrambled back through the bush, ignoring the scrapes she received. Reaching the ledge, she dropped feet-first down into the crevasse. There was precious little slope, and she had to use her feet and hands as brakes to keep her from plummeting to the bottom. The stone was mostly smooth, but her hands found every imperfection as she slid down, and soon they were slick with blood.

  She hit the first ledge hard, the pain shooting up through her legs and into her back. She was too afraid to permit so much as a whimper to escape her lips. She ducked down into the little tunnel on her right and crawled to the next chimney. She heard a scrabbling sound like claws on rock somewhere far above.

  The monster was still chasing her.

  She slid down the next chimney in the same manner she had done the first. Her hands were now numb to the pain, or perhaps her whole self was numb. She did not care. She no longer thought of Mama, Papa, or Harvin. She only wanted to get away.

  At the bottom of the next chimney, she wriggled beneath a low-hanging rock, coming out at a ledge above a precipitous drop off. She hoped the monster would be too large to force itself through the tight space through which she had just come, but she would not wait around to find out.

  She took a deep breath and looked out at the gap that lay before her. She could not climb around it—the sheer rock face to her right offered no handholds. The only way across was a thick vine that spanned a gap thirty paces wide. To cross it, she had to stand on the vine and scoot across sideways, keeping her hands against the wall for balance. Lean too far, though…

  She shook the frightening thought out of her head. Harvin had done it once, but she had never tried. If Mama knew of Harvin’s reckless indifference to his own safety, she would have taken a stick to him. Now Jayla would have to cross it. She took a deep breath. This was going to be the scariest thing she had ever done.

  Gingerly she stepped out onto the vine, and was pleased to discover that it supported her weight with ease. She placed one hand against the rock wall and found her center of balance, just the way she had seen Harvin do it. Holding her breath, she slid her right foot onto the vine. It continued to hold her. As quickly as she dared, she scooted across the vine, letting out a small moan each time it swayed beneath her feet.

  She heard the monster sliding down the chimney, and she started to cry, but she kept moving.

  Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

  She remembered Harvin saying that same thing over and over as he made the crossing, so she took his advice and kept her eyes on the rock. So surprised was she when her foot touched solid ground that she almost lost her balance, but caught herself just in time.

  She could still hear snarling and scraping as the monster climbed down. He was not moving as fast as she, but he was coming fast enough. If only there was something she could do.

  She spotted a broken stone with a sharp edge, snatched it up, and began hacking at the vine where it met the ledge on her side. She was strong for her age, thanks to hard work and lots of climbing, but the vine was tough. She struck it again and again, feeling each blow all the way up to her shoulder.

  She had cut almost one-third of the way through when she heard the creature’s ragged breathing. It was close. Reluctantly forsaking her task, she scooted away on her backside, squeezing into a narrow fissure. Surely the thing would be much too big to get to her back here.

  The beast appeared on the other side of the gap. It stood on its hindquarters and peered down over the ledge.

  And then it looked up.

  Its eyes fell upon her. It dropped down again on all fours, and tensed to jump, but seemed to think the better of it. It took a long look at the intervening gap, its silver-flecked eyes taking in every detail. Making its decision, it bared its glistening fangs in a sinister mockery of a grin, and once again stood on two legs.

  As Jayla sat mesmerized in horror, its form blurred again, and once more a man stood before her.

  “I did not mean to frighten you. I was afraid you would fall over the edge, and my cat form is much faster than my normal shape.” He smiled. Perhaps his intention was to reassure her, but the shadow of the beast was on his face and in his eyes, and he looked every bit as deadly as he had moments before. “Just stay there and I will come and help you back across. You have nothing to fear.”

  As the man-beast crossed the vine, Jayla tried to press deeper into her hiding place, her hand gripping the sharp stone, seeking comfort in it, but it was no good. She could not get away.

  Her pursuer was much heavier than either her or Harvin, and the further he moved out onto the vine, the farther it sagged. Soon his bottom half had sunk out of her field of vision.

  There was a loud crack, and the vine gave a little. He gritted his teeth and snarled like the cat he had been, his fingers splaying out against the rocks. Jayla imagined she could see claws sprouting from their tips. But the vine held, and the man-cat thing crept toward her, slower this time.

  The vine gave again, dipping the beast lower. She realized it had not noticed the cut she had made in the vine. As this thought occurred to her, the vine gave way again.

  Please fall. Please fall.

  But the vine continued to hold. He was now ten paces from the edge. As he looked up at her, his mouth twisted into a depraved grin and he made a noise in his throat that sounded nauseatingly like purring. He took another step across the space that measured the moments of the rest of her life.

  She tore her eyes away from his and looked at the place where she had cut the vine. With the added weight, the vine had almost broken in two! Not pausing to think about it, Jayla squirmed out of the narrow cleft and dashed to the cliff’s edge. Startled by her sudden movement, the beast froze for a moment.

  That was all Jayla needed.

  She raised her sharp stone above her head.

  “No!” The man beast realized what she was doing a moment too late.

  She brought the stone down with all of her might.

  Crack!

  The vine snapped clean in two. The man-cat monster, whatever he was, seemed to freeze in mid-air for a moment, the malice in his eyes having given way to disbelief.

  Then he fell.

  He clawed at the cliff face as he plummeted to the ground far below. Down, down he fell, screaming with insane rage, until he finally struck with a wet sound.

  And then it was quiet.

  Jayla sat there for a long time, wondering what she should do next. She wanted to climb back up and find Mama, Papa, and Harvin. She knew other paths up, so the broken vine was not an impediment. But what if she reached the top only to learn that her family had already left? In any case, she did not know if she had enough strength left to make the climb.

  She did not want to climb down. The monster thing was down there. But he was dead, wasn’t he? She peered down over the cliff, and her eyes fell upon the tangled remains of his body lying broken on the ground. He was definitely dead. Still, she would keep her distance. She never wanted to be near one of those things again.

  Her mind was made up. Mama and Papa wanted her to go east, and they had promised they would come for her, so that was what she would do. She would make her way east as fast as she could, and one day, she would find her family again.

  Chapter 2

  The world was tilting, spinning. Shanis’ memory shattered into miniscule fragments; images she could not understand dancing through her consciousness like fireflies, always evading her grasp. She bolted upright, her heart racing, and gasped for breath. She felt a strong hand grip her own.

  “Relax. You are safe.” The calm soothing voice was familiar, and in her state of delirium it seemed to hold a mystical power of command. Her breathing eased, and her confused eyes took in her surroundings.

  She was in a hut. Its walls were supported by rough posts, the gray, peeling bark still clinging to them in places. The walls were of woven branches, with gray-green moss stuffed into the largest holes to help keep the weather out. Something dark and solid, probably deer hide, formed the outer layer.