Bloodwalk - James P. Davis [31]
Dreslya's easy smile faded as she approached her sister, and Eli felt instantly guilty for banishing the spirit of their reunion. Years could not erase the events which had taken their parents, nor the vast difference with which Eli had dealt with the loss compared to Dres. Always, she felt burdened with secrets, though it was in Brookhollow where they seemed stored.
"It's good to see you, Eli," Dreslya said hesitantly, as if addressing a distant acquaintance.
"Would that it could be under better circumstances, Dres." Elisandrya heard the tone in her own voice and felt ashamed. "I-I'm sorry, Dres. It's been a long ride and things-"
"It's all right, Eli. I know… we all know."
"It's good to see you, too," Eli managed, but she struggled to reconcile the memory of her older sister with the woman she now saw. Was she truly happy to be back in Brookhollow?
The white walls of the temple loomed above the wooden and stone barrier of the main perimeter. Eli avoided looking at them, content to wrestle with matters of family and time before confronting those of memory and faith.
She instead studied Dreslya's face and almost smiled, seeing the image of their mother. That understanding look had driven her to indignant rage at times, and at others it had been all that she longed to see again. It was pleasant now but bittersweet. Only days ago had she visited their parents' graves to the north along an empty stretch of the Low Road to Littlewater. Turning away, she fidgeted at her horse's saddle and bags, avoiding that familiar emerald gaze.
"How are signs of the blush within the city?" Eli asked while working at a loose harness on the saddle.
"The plague is evident in some, but not so much as the rumors from the north are telling. We do what we can, but a cure is still elusive at best."
Eli was quiet for a moment, attempting to choose her words, but then felt little need to as the narrow line of darkness on the horizon rumbled with thunder.
Well-chosen words will do us no favors now, she thought.
"There are no rumors from the north, only truths." Eli stopped and stared blindly at the worn leather of her saddle, remembering. "I chanced upon a merchant caravan just north of Littlewater. It had been through Logfell and Targris and was turned away at the gates of Derlusk.
"The hired guards spoke to me when I rode near to inquire of their business and wares. They said Logfell was lost, completely overrun with the disease, and that Targris had its fair share of victims as well. Several of their own caravan weren't feeling well, and they suspected those at Derlusk knew something but would not even open the gates to them."
"Turned away at Derlusk? But surely the sages there have some information, some knowledge of a cure?"
Eli knew the defeated and confused tone in Dreslya's voice, had known the same when confronted by these horrible truths.
"The sages have their books and magic, Dres, but the merchant princes hold the gates and the money. They'll not see their decadence ruined by plague, and I suspect Littlewater will hold much the same opinion-too long have they courted Derlusk's nobles and favor."
Dres was quiet, absorbing the news as Eli thought a moment. Then the hunter leaned forward to whisper in her sister's ear, "What is happening here? Why have we not heard news from the high oracle?"
Dres pulled back quickly, her eyes darting in all directions. She shook her head as if to say, Not here, not now.
Eli's concern grew at her sister's strange reaction, though something within her already sensed the nature of her anxiety. After a moment, she nodded and dropped the subject. Dreslya calmed, then turned as the long horns on the walls began to trumpet across the field, announcing the arrival of the lord hunter.
In older times, the Lord Hunter of the Hidden Circle had been selected from the greatest and most respected warriors-those renowned for prowess on the field of battle and powerful devotion to Savras and his temple at Brookhollow. As the unarmored figure of Lord Hunter Baertah rode through the ranks of the