The Ashes of Allmau: The Orfolk of Allmau

Chapter 9

Memories swirled about him. There was no order to them, they did not come in sequence, but all at once. Like a frayed rags on the wind, they weaved and wove all about his mind with equal urgency as they tried to rebuild his life right before his eyes. Kydd closed his eyes to cope with these confounding cognitions. He turned away from this new world and curled up into a ball. Ahna caught him as he rolled from her shoulder.

Hoping the shadows would subdue his seizure, Ahna hurriedly made her way into the dunes and through the corroded corridors in search of a cool, calm place. The shadows made it all the more clear that Rune was up to something. And while tucked away at Kydd's side, the pith began to glow. An odd steam seemed to flake away from it, exuding form the creases across its surface.

When Ahna saw this, she yelped. Almost to the beat of her reaction, the light of Rune swelled and swallowed the pair of them whole. She blinked and refocused, no longer in the corridor of the old corsair, she found herself above a brick red silt and sand riverbank.

At the far side was a crumbling cliff of grey-red clay, over which brittle brambles spilt. The air was filled with exotic flavours, and the sound of insects chirping could be heard in the distance. The vision was so vivid Ahna was struck dumbfounded. Her hands lowered, Kydd rolled from her grasp and fell to the floor, limp. The moment he struck the floor the vision ended and Ahna found herself standing in the darkness of the ship once again. It had lasted just longer than a second but left her stunned.

After refocusing, she found Kydd lying on the floor, motionless. Beside him was Rune, cooling off like a dying ember. This was all getting stranger and stranger by the moment. She didn't feel comfortable revealing Kydd to other humans just yet, but perhaps she could find out more about his peculiar artefact.

Closed off to the world by tall sandstone walls, Mendace sat at the end of a workbench in the carpenter's yard. Here he diligently applied a new coat of paint to some puppets for a show he planned this evening. Focused on his work he didn't look up, but noticed in his peripheral vision, Ahna's bonnet and head poke around the corner.

"Alright there, little bandit?" he called out, "Here for Netti?" the carpenter.

"No," she said, looking around the yard, Netti was nowhere to be seen, meaning it was just the pair of them.

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"Depends," he said, engrossed in his work, "Who's asking?"

"Me." she said, "I'm asking."

"I can spare a minute. What do you want?"

"Do you know what this is?"

She pulled Rune from her pocket and presented her to Mendace. He regarded Rune for a moment then opened his hand to Ahna.

"Be careful with her."

He looked at Ahna, then to Rune, "Of course."

Her eyes narrowed, "I mean it."

He crossed his heart and bowed his head, Ahna approved, and handed Rune to him.

"Let's see." He inspected Rune through the lens, "Interesting, interesting. Where did you find this?"

"The common." Ahna said.

"Ah, well that's not a surprise. I believe you have yourself, a baby tree."

"A what?"

"It's a seed." He said, flicking it back to Ahna.

She clapped her hands over Rune, catching her mid-flight. She opened her hands to see rune sitting comfortably in her palms, much to her relief.