NIGEL

CHAPTER 10: IN TROUBLE

I woke up one morning after getting maybe two hours of sleep, which is pretty good for me. Unfortunately, I was forced to wake covered in my own sweat, the vision I saw back at Rosalie Loveland's haunting my memory. The terrifying familiar silhouette of the monster that killed my mother. The monster who I didn't want to admit was my father. Kieran would often insist that I was going to find "N." but Lily and I would just shrug him off. I didn't believe in gods or prophecies, and even if I did, all I knew I truly wanted was revenge. Whoever "N." was, they couldn't help me. I wanted to find my father so I could end him the way he ended the life of my mother. My father's name was James, so I couldn't see how that fitted into someone called "N."
After weeks of quite awkward travel with Lily and Kieran, we finally crossed over the border from Laitharia to the eastern kingdom of Andella. Andella was a strange place in comparison to the other kingdoms. Both the Andellian and Severnian people looked quite the same, but there were distinct cultural differences. Despite not looking much like Laitharians, with their slightly darker skin and almond shaped eyes, there were more cultural similarities between Andella and Laitharia. I think it was mostly because they bled over so much into each other. There were always people of Laitharian descent in Andella, though the further east you went the less there were and vice versa. Once it a while you would see an Ibhanian in one of the other kingdoms somewhere, but very rarely. Ibhan was probably the only kingdom that continued to thrive after the fall of Sanctuary. Their capital city of Sandstorm was an oasis far south, past dry savannas and deserts. There isn't much for the dragons to burn and only the northernmost part of Ibhan is used once a year in the dragon's migration pattern. Very few people have ever seen Sandstorm who do not live in Ibhan and one of those people was Lily.
Lily described Sandstorm as truly a sight to behold. It's very difficult to get there and you would have to know all the right paths to travel so as not to wander into dragon feeding ground or an empty vast stretch of desert. King Aarman of Ibhan took an isolationist stance, and to keep his people safe, decided to let the subjects of Ibhan come to the great capital city but leave the rest of Drancaria to pick up their debris alone. Lily said that Sandstorm was a city full of modern wonders and when her father Taji was still alive, their most popular items to sell to the Lords of the other Kingdoms, were Ibhanian fabrics, baskets, jewelry and whatever else. I unfortunately never had the chance to go. Lily didn't know how to get there the way her father did and we didn't want to take the risks.
Kieran found all this information about the various towns and Kingdoms of Drancaria endlessly fascinating since the poor boy hadn't ever left Robin's Nest before. I think Lily tried to dislike Kieran because she was so threatened by him, but it was practically impossible to feel negatively towards such a kind person who took genuine interest in literally anything anyone talked about.
Kieran's clairvoyance was useful occasionally. He couldn't see things very clearly like his mother with the crystal ball, but he could feel when we should and shouldn't make camp based on weather and whatever else. He would stare out into oblivion and return a moment or so later with some strange comment such as, "We should make camp now." when it was only the middle of the day. I oddly trusted Kieran and Lily trusted my judgement, so we often did as he said.
We stopped at a few towns in Andella, the forest getting more and most twisted and thick as we went further east. Lily and I typically kept west and north because the roads in Andella were not as safe and the forest was far more dangerous in terms of the creatures that lurked there. I think it was because in the southernmost part of Andella lay The Hushwood, the largest enchanted forest in the continent. Most of what leaked out from The Hushwood ended up in the Andellian forests. Lily and I heard from somewhere that some of the mages in the very eastern part of Andella were coming up with ways of putting up magical shields around their entire towns. This was exciting news naturally. Andella, next to probably Ibhan but nobody ever really knew, was the Kingdom that retained most of their magic users because they were the furthest kingdom from where Sanctuary used to be. However, they were never magic users more powerful than a mage level. Despite all this, we couldn't avoid making trips to Andella because the people there were more than willing to buy Laitharian goods.
One day Kieran asked Lily if she could teach him how to use some weapons and she agreed. Lily's weapon of choice was a Falchion sword, a one handed single-edge blade with slight curve towards the end of the blade and is narrowed at the top. It was a more Laitharian design of a weapon, but she didn't think that was the best fit for Kieran.
Kieran was better with weapons that didn't require too much training to use. She tried teaching him how to shoot a bow and arrow, which he seemed alright with, but it didn't look like he was going to be an expert anytime soon, so there had to be a better option. Finally, she dug through what we were carrying for trade in our merchant cart and came across a long flail. A stick with a chain attached, and at the end of the chain was a spiked metal ball. Kieran was flexible and fast, so he picked it up pretty quickly. He also found it fun to swing the bloody thing around to the point of almost killing me and Lily multiple times.
After a long morning of Kieran and Lily training, we sat around a small fire and waited. This was another instance of Kieran telling us to set up camp earlier than we normally would because he had a feeling or vision that told him that's what we needed to do. I stopped questioning it by this time and Lily was visibly tired from having to teach Kieran who was still at the most basic level of training.
We all sat in an awkward circle, Lily's head on my shoulder and Kieran sitting across from us, chewing on some dried meat and petting Evie the cat who purred in his lap. Lily said in a hushed and dry tone, "who knew waiting around for destiny was so boring!" I chuckled at her sarcasm, and so did Kieran who I don't think realized she was making fun of him. "My sentiments exactly darling." I said, patting her on the back. Kieran eventually shrugged. "It could be worse."
Again, there was what should have been a comfortable silence, but it just ended up being a profoundly uncomfortable silence. Neither Lily nor Kieran gave any indication that they felt as strange as I did about this situation, so I figured it was just me and my guilt. It drove me mad why I felt so guilty about everything! I had my conversation with Lily who said she understood and everything was supposedly worked through. Kieran, I was keeping at a safe distance and he was actually spending more time with Lily by this point than with me anyway, so why did I feel so terrible? I decided to shrug it off and make some conversation to ease my own discomfort. Besides, there were questions I had for Kieran that had been bothering me for a while and I was ready to get on with it and ask.
"Kieran?" I said. He looked up eagerly, ready to say anything. "Yes Nigel?" his tone was far too excited. I could feel Lily rolling her eyes, but I just decided to ignore that. "Can you please tell me if you know anything about who this "N" person is or why you think I'm supposed to find him?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. I didn't want to admit to myself that I might believe what Kieran was saying so I rarely entertained his mad assertion that I was following a destiny.
Kieran nodded, "Like my mother said, you will find your inner peace. You have such a cloud of anger surrounding you Nigel."
I groaned, "Yes but do you have anything more specific to tell me?" I asked, visibly frustrated.
Kieran was taken aback slightly. "I'm sorry, but that's not usually how this works. I can only relay what the gods are trying to tell you and they are often quite vague. It's not always a good thing to know your future and it's especially harmful to know too much. We only give suggestions and/or a direction in which to follow so as to seek out the goal that will ultimately help your soul to heal." He said, his demeanor calm, his hands on his heart.
"But how do the gods know what I want?!" I asked, probably louder than I intended.
"Nigel calm down." Lily said firmly.
"It doesn't matter what you want Nigel. It's what you need." Responded Kieran.
I snorted. "And what do I need?"
"Acceptance." Kieran said, his face expressionless, his usual grin gone. I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but something interrupted. I could hear the familiar sound of horse hooves galloping through the forest behind me. I turned, wondering where that was coming from. Almost immediately, something came bursting through the trees into our little camp site and it had friends. There was an absurdly tall horse standing before us, only instead of a horse's head, there was the upper torso of a man. "Centaurs." I whispered to myself, my heart pounding. This hairy man horse and his pack of friends behind him towered over us. Kieran looked up from the ground, still with a piece of food in his mouth because it all happened so fast. I stood up slowly, my hands in the air. The centaur glared at me with a more than unfriendly expression.
"We're in trouble now." Said Kieran.
Lily's eyes darted to Kieran, and through gritted teeth she uttered "You think?!"