The Blinded Journey Read online

  “I don’t think any doctor can treat what happened to me, but I can walk, and I’d like to. I’d like to get away from this place,” he told the others, who immediately agreed. Withing five minutes the group was in motion, putting space between themselves and the location of the terrible incident.

  Kendel held hands with Sophie as they walked and listened to her warnings about bumps on the road or changes in direction, but mostly he let his mind dwell on the extraordinary disaster that had befallen him. He was at a total loss as to how he would accomplish the goals that had been divinely set for him. He couldn’t navigate this group to safety; he wouldn’t be able to recognize landmarks along the way in Four Borders to let him lead the others to the safe haven he had in mind for them all.

  Of greater importance was the fact that he wouldn’t be able to navigate his own way through the world to travel east. He knew that Shaiss was counting on him to restore Miriam to life. He had never understood how he would be able to be a mortal and have the ability to give such aid to a divine being, but he had never had to face the full impossibility of the task when it had always been so far in the future. He had hoped that visiting the wizard of Mount Cru Jolais would provide the directions – and the tools needed – to carry out the task.

  Shaiss, can you help me?” he asked softly.

  No, this is in a field I do not touch for now. Your healing will come when the time is right, Shaiss answered promptly.

  He felt a tiny morsel of comfort from the goddess’s reply. She clearly implied that he would be healed and regain his sight at some point in the future. In the meantime, he would have to adjust to blindness and make do.

  Now, someone would have to serve as his guide to travel to see the wizard. Perhaps Weber, the guard from the palace, would agree to travel with him. And perhaps when they reached Mount Cru Jolais, the wizard would be able – would have the great magical power – to restore his vision.

  That seemed to be the logical place to expect healing to be carried out; that had to be his hope. The wizard might provide all that he needed. If not, then Kendel would not restore Miriam, so the goddess would not be in position to fight against the great wave of evil that she predicted was going to come upon her world.

  And if all that failed, then his decision to leave his own world would have been a failure too. He would have left Liza behind for naught. And he would have abandoned the cross-country team, as well as him mother. And Flora – he would never again see Flora to laugh with her and talk with her and perhaps do more with her., opportunities that might be lost for nothing.

  Chapter 16

  “We’re almost to the top of this hill,” Sophie told Kendel as they both breathed heavily.

  “We should see the River of the Lands on the other side,” Kendel felt a small amount of personal pride in remembering the name of the long river that apparently flowed across the continent. “And there will be a ferry we can use to cross it at the village on this side of the river,” he added as he remembered his previous trip through the region. He and Flora had sat in a tavern there and he’d drank wine for the first time. That conversation had been the first time the two of them had let their guard down – Flora in particular – and had talked as friends.

  He listened to the sounds of their journey as they traveled, paying attention to the noise of the rickshaw wheels and the treads of the others who were walking. They provided clues of what was happening on the trail. It was more natural than he expected it to be, until he realized that he’d unconsciously been doing something similar while running cross-country. When his heart had been pounding and his breath labored on a fast-paced run, he’d relied on the other senses like his hearing to help him adjust to the challenges on the course. He’d heard squishing sound ahead and prepared to cross mud and water, for instance, he’d panicked at the sounds of those catching up to him from behind, or the chatter of runners jostling against one another foretold spots where the path narrowed.

  He felt a slight sense of comfort in choosing to believe that he was bringing a talent from his old life into use in this new life – the newly altered life without vision.

  “Is there some place to stay in the village? Is it safe?” Elline asked. The knight must have been close by, Kendel realized, and overheard the conversation with Sophie.

  “There is an inn and a tavern that seemed safe enough when we were there before,” Kendel answered. He listened to the sounds of the footsteps around him, trying to identify which stride was Elline’s.

  “When we cross the river into Four Borders, we’ll need to travel for a full day to get to the capital city,” Kendel began to explain.

  “Wiebe,” Sophie named the city.

  “A squalid place, by reputation,” Elline added.

  “And a few hours away from there, to the northeast, is an estate,” Kendel added. “I’d like for us to go there on our journey.”

  He had to be cautious, and not reveal too much. The trip would be tricky, and the arrival would be trickier still, but he thought it would work out for the best.

  “What estate? Whose?” Elline asked.

  “I don’t know the name; I just know it’s a place we’ll be safe,” Kendel remained vague.

  It’s a cunning game you have afoot, mortal, Shaiss spoke to him. I didn’t expect you to be so bright. I pray that your machinations prove successful.

  “Phew,” Kendel muttered, unsettled by the comments from the goddess. He had known in a general way that she could read his mind, but he hadn’t expected her to be paying attention to his words and thoughts at that moment.

  “Are you well?” Sophie asked, misinterpreting his remark.

  “As well as can be. I’m okay. Thanks for asking,” he assured her.

  He felt the slope of the trail ease, and realized they were at the crown of the ridge.

  “Such a glorious view!” he heard Grace exclaim.

  “That land across the river is Four Borders, our guide reports,” Waxen commented.

  “There, that must be the village he told us about. We can spend the night there; they’ve got an inn,” Sophie chimed in.

  It was afternoon when the group started down the slope that faced the river, with Vivienne serving as Kendel’s guide for that part of the journey. He felt the air start to cool when they reached the bottom of the hill, as the sun started to set, and when they entered the village night had already fallen.

  “I don’t have enough rooms for all of you,” the innkeeper told them when they left the main street of the village and entered the inn to ask for sleeping accommodations.

  How many rooms do you have?” Elline began to bargain, and the group accepted the four rooms that were available.

  “We can share a room,” Vivienne said of the three ladies of the court.

  “Let Kendel stay with us,” Grace spoke up. “He can’t see us, so it won’t be scandalous,” she said in response to the surprised expression on the face of Vivienne.

  “It’s not his eyes I was thinking of,” Vivienne answered, making Grace blush.

  “But he is a good man and will do us no harm, I know. We can tend to his needs,” she agreed, and so the four youngest members of the group were all assigned to a room together, as the older refugees smiled and shook their heads.

  Soon after, the group left the inn to find the tavern where they could eat a cooked meal for the first time since they’d abandoned Sunob.

  As soon as he was led into the inn, Kendel recognized the odor of the tavern. It was the same place he had visited before, when he and Flora had drunk wine together. The wine had been at least partially responsible for him losing control of Parker’s body that night, he was sure; it had addled his wits like nothing else he’d ever experienced.

  The group sat down at three tables while Rachel stayed at the inn with the king, and with a promise that food would be delivered to her.

  Kendel was with his roommates for the night, who talked about the adventure of traveling.

  “I’ve
never been so far from Sunob,” Grace admitted.

  “Starting the first night I traveled further than I ever have before,” Sophie agreed.

  “But you’re a traveler, aren’t you Kendel? You do this all the time, traveling around as Miriam’s acolyte, fixing the problems she assigns you?” Vivienne asked.

  “I’ve traveled some,” he agreed. “That’s the same way the priestess in Shoreline described me, as Miriam’s acolyte,” he reflected.

  A pair of men abruptly interrupted the conversation.

  “Why are three pretty girls sitting alone with one middling scrawny boy?” one of the inebriated men asked. “Come take a stroll with us outside and enjoy our company.”

  The man reached down to grab Grace by the arm.

  “I’m going to stay with my friends,” she replied as she tried to shrug her arm free of the man’s grip.

  Kendel could hear the stress in her voice and felt angry.

  “Take your hands off her,” he said as he awkwardly tried to stand up.

  He heard the sounds of other furniture moving as well.

  “A blind boy playing hero?” a voice sneered, and a fist suddenly struck Kendel in the jaw, toppling him backwards over the bench so that his head struck the wooden floor of the tavern with a resounding thud.

  Two girls’ voices screamed, and Kendel faintly heard Weber bellow in anger, then a melee broke out as Kendel tried to clear his head.

  “Kendel, are you okay?” Vivienne was on the ground by him, holding his head in her hands, and the noise of the fight seemed to have already ended, while the inn buzzed with conversations all about.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Waxen and Elline and Weber took the two ruffians outside in a violent manner,” the girl replied.

  “Are you okay?” Grace’s voice was suddenly on his other side, and he felt her hands helping to cradle him. The two girls must have shared some signal because they both started to simultaneously lift him into a sitting position.

  Minutes later the group left the inn, Kendel nursing a bruised jaw and a bruised ego at having been so helpless. Sheenda had the presence of mind to carry a pail with dinner for Rachel, and the group dispersed to their separate rooms when they arrived, agreeing to get an early start the next morning for their departure from Palatenland.

  There were two beds in the room that Kendel shared with the girls.

  “I’ll sleep on the floor,” he insisted.

  “So will I,” echoed Grace. “The beds are narrow; Sophie, you and Vivienne take the beds tonight, and tomorrow we can switch when we get to our next inn.”

  When all was agreed and the protestations were over, everyone bedded down to sleep after a few minutes of friendly chatter.

  And later, after Kendel and the others were settled into sleep, further adventure arose.

  The handle of their door rattled repeatedly, disturbing Kendel, who sleepily wondered what the noise was, until his mind grew clear of cobwebs and he recognized the sound for what it was. Someone was trying to enter their room.

  Kendel grabbed his staff from the floor next to his position and listened as the latch on the door gave way and the door opened inward.

  “Here’s our little pretties, waiting for some fun,” Kendel heard a man’s voice growl. He knew the voice; it was the voice of the man from the tavern, who had somehow tracked them to the inn and found their room. The man was intent on violating the girls.

  You may be my channel this evening, Shaiss whispered in his soul, and Kendel knew what she meant.

  He couldn’t see the man, but he cautiously called upon the blue energy to come forth as he grabbed for his staff. He felt the power flow, and he knew the staff would start to glow.

  “What is the world?” the inebriated assailant querulously asked at the sight of the blue light.

  Kendel let his own awareness follow the blue energy; it was the unintended lesson he had learned when he had recklessly pursued the two energies to try to save Elline. He let a part of his own consciousness depart from his body, and even without vision, he was able to locate the man who was standing in the doorway, hesitating in his assault as the man tried to comprehend the strange phenomena occurring in the room.

  And then, carefully, Kendel released a bolt of the green energy, directing it towards its target, the malevolence he could feel that was the man at the door. The green energy followed the direction of his awareness, intermingling with him as it traveled to carry out the attack.

  There was a chorus of cries. The girls in the room screamed in shock at the bright bolt of light, while the man cried in pain at the blast of energy that struck him in the chest and flung him back out into the hallway of the inn.

  For a split second, Kendel felt elation. He’d used his sightless ability to take action and protect his friends. Then, before the thought was even complete, he felt a powerful pain in his own chest, a rebounding echo of the pain the green energy had inflicted on his target. He cried out in surprise and pain and slumped back to the floor.

  Grace saw the villain hit the far wall of the hallway and gave a cheer, while Sophie saw Kendel slump and cried out.

  Moments later, he felt several hands on him, straightening out his tangled body that was curled up in pain.

  “What’s happening?” he heard Elline’s voice ask sharply from the direction of the doorway.

  “That drunkard from the tavern opened our door, but Kendel used his magical powers to drive him away,” Vivienne answered. “And now Kendel is hurt.”

  “He shot a bolt of green light!” Sophie said excitedly. “It knocked the bad man away!”

  “Grace, go ask Rachel to come here, and light a lamp,” Elline ordered. Kendel was starting to feel less pain, and he heard the soft pad of Elline’s unshod feet enter the room, as well as the patter of Grace’s bare feet running down the hall.

  “Kendel lad, do you hear me?” Elline asked. Kendel could still feel hands that were rubbing him, soothing and massaging him in a kind and gentle manner. Those were probably Sophie and Vivienne, he guessed.

  Kendel nodded his head slightly, then spoke. “I hear you, my lord,” he replied.

  “I’m hardly likely to be called a lord by the boy who throws lightning bolts around, am I?” the knight asked gently. “Do you know what happened? Can we do anything to help?”

  “Here she comes,” Grace called as her voice re-entered the room.

  “And you’ve got a lamp, well done,” Elline spoke.

  “What do we have here? Step back please,” Rachel’s voice was next, sounding a nurse’s professional calmness. “Where does it hurt, Kendel?” she asked.

  “My chest,” he answered.

  “Here, let me open this up,” he felt fingers gently opening the front of his tunic, and then he heard gasps.

  “He’s badly burned! I can’t stand to see it,” one of the girls’ voices was a cry.

  “How did this happen?” Rachel asked. “Grace, go back to my room and get my bag. I’ll see if I have anything to treat it.”

  “I don’t know how it happened,” Kendel answered dully. “I knew where the attacker was, and I send just a small amount of the green energy at him to drive him away.”

  “You hit him right in the chest,” Vivienne spoke up. “I saw him hold his chest as he hit the wall,” she explained.

  “Is he still out there?” Vivienne asked.

  “No, he’s gone,” Elline answered. “He must have survived and staggered away. But I’ll bet his chest couldn’t have looked any worse than Kendel’s.”

  “Here’s your bag,” Grace’s voice re-entered the room. “Oh Kendel!” she exclaimed as she saw his blistered chest.

  “It’s actually looking better already,” Rachel’s voice had a puzzled note.

  “Please take good care of him,” Grace requested. “He saved us just now. That man would have been in here and attacked us if Kendel hadn’t acted.”

  “What’s happening to our boy?” Waxen’s voice sounde
d nearby.

  “He fought off a man who wanted to do harm our girls, but he suffered some too,” Elline summarized.

  Kendel could feel the intense pain diminishing in his chest as the conversations unfolded around him.

  “Look at that,” Rachel murmured. “The blisters are healing! Are you doing that Kendel? Is this something your powers can do?”

  “It’s nothing I’m trying to do, but I welcome it. I’m feeling better,” he answered. “Whatever is happening is good.” He sighed and relaxed.

  “Rachel?” Elline asked, and Kendel heard the shuffle of feet as the two stepped out into the hall, where they held a murmured conversation.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you Kendel,” Grace apologized.

  “I’m sorry that man thought he could attack you,” Kendel answered. “I’m glad he’s gone, and if he felt anything like what I felt, he won’t come back.”

  You wouldn’t make a particularly good acolyte for me, so don’t consider the position, Shaiss’s voice suddenly filled his head. I would have dealt with him more severely than you did.

  But considering the consequences, your weakness served you well, she told him.

  “What happened, my goddess?” he asked aloud.

  “What do you mean? Grace asked.

  Because your own consciousness led the green sun’s energy to the target, when some of the attack rebounded off the villain, it followed the path of your consciousness back to you as the easiest channel to flow through. You suffered a portion of what he suffered. A fairly sizeable portion in this case, Shaiss was informative. The staff you are using is a crude tool for the purposes of directing the energy; if you used the witch’s own staff as you formerly did, the energy would react more positively and effectively, and you won’t have to use your own will so heavily, so you would suffer much less. I wouldn’t advise using that staff on a regular basis, she added snidely.

  “And I’m feeling better already; why is that?” he asked.

  There you go again! I do you a favor and give you information, and you just ask for more and more and more, Shaiss chastised him. You’re like a child. The injury you suffered was only an echo of what you delivered, so its effects on you are not as severe or lasting as the injury you gave your target. You’ll be healed completely in a few minutes more. Now leave me to my work, she commanded.