The larger part of Brandt’s distraction was Faldun itself. Brandt’s initial suspicions, upon closer inspection, were true.
The masonry and the construction were simply too perfect. Rocks were fitted perfectly with barely any mortar, and the stone was smooth, far smoother than any imperial chisel work Brandt had ever seen. Even more noticeable to Brandt’s eye, the perfection in construction was ubiquitous. Every house and building exhibited the same craftsmanship. Even the stones in the square exhibited an exacting level of care and attention. This town had been wrought with affinities. A strength of affinity that no longer existed in the world save for a select few.
Though he couldn’t be sure, he had a suspicion. There were no coincidences in life. The Falari capital had been built by the same people who built the caves outside Landow, a people that had disappeared a long, long time ago.
The gate was here, and this whole city had been built to protect it.
28
Say one thing about the Etari: once they reached a decision, it was as good as done. She’d seen some examples when she lived among them, but never experienced that truth as directly as in the days leading up to their departure. At times, it seemed every Etari in sight was aiding them.
They were outfitted with new clothes, lightweight and durable. Alena received lighter clothes for the plains of Etar and heavier ones for the mountains.
Other supplies soon followed. They received food for the road and horses of incredible quality, prized among the clans, given by the elders themselves. Unfortunately, the horses wouldn’t actually travel into Falar. The steep and narrow mountain paths allowed travel only on foot. But until then, the horses would speed the journey to the border.
All of this happened within a day, and on the next they were sent on their way. Alena offered Sooni a proper farewell, and a promise to return when she could. They rode to the Alna river, where a trade boat awaited them and their horses. Before Alena had even had time to properly reflect on her past few days, she was beyond any land she had traveled before.
Her party was small, a decision the Etari elders had reached quickly. This expedition required stealth, not force. The terms of the treaty that bound the three nations of the continent together in relative peace contained strict stipulations on what size groups were allowed over the borders.
Alena would have felt safer with her whole Etari clan beside her, but a party of such size would have amounted to a declaration of war.
In the end, only three traveled toward the border.
She was accompanied by Jace and Toren. By now, Alena knew Jace wouldn’t be turned aside, no matter how poorly she understood his reasoning. Toren had surprised her, though. He was a promising soulwalker with the opportunity to develop his skills near a gate. Even the elders had implied he should remain. But he wanted to join them, and no other Etari was eager to do so. Being as the elders insisted on having a full-blooded Etari on the expedition, they’d been trapped into accepting Toren’s offer. Even after all she’d done for them, Alena still felt the sting of the elders’ distrust.
Alena led the group, though she felt nothing like a leader. A leader possessed a vision and a map to get from where they stood to the desired future. Alena had neither of those things. Doubts constantly worried at her but she kept them hidden.
A leader was also supposed to be confident.
The first days of travel passed by in a blur. They traveled, they talked, and at times they trained. Alena admired Toren’s determination to learn soulwalking, but she wasn’t sure her lessons were very helpful. So much of what she knew had developed as an intuition. She didn’t have a certain set of steps she followed, nor did she have the equivalent of a martial arts form that she could give him to improve his skills. Her method was trial and error and reflection. She fell down, got up, then repeated the process until the technique felt right. It worked for her, but it made her feel like a poor teacher.
Toren never complained, but she sensed the frustration lurking in his attempts.
Of the three of them, Jace seemed the most content. He possessed an ability to flow with changes in life in a way that boggled Alena’s mind. He spent his days learning about rivers and currents from the crew of the boat, and he regularly sparred with all takers.
Nothing quenched his energy, and Alena grew to depend on her brother as a source of stability.
They followed the river for as long as it made sense, then disembarked to cross the empire on horseback. A small group of Etari rode with them. Here they made good time, and long days of travel ended with them exhausted as the sun went down. As Alena had guessed, the horses possessed the strength and stamina to carry them faster and farther than even lesser horses.
Then one day they found themselves at the Falari border. Though many days had passed, the first part of their journey passed far quicker than Alena expected. When they reached the border, marked by a small stream, she dropped into a soulwalk, curious if the Falari had put in place any defenses similar to those of the Etari. She sensed nothing. The border was nothing more than an imaginary line dividing the two lands. Alena and her group left the horses in the care of the Etari who had accompanied them this far. From here on, they traveled alone.
They shouldered their packs and crossed the border.
The experience was something of a disappointment. Alena had hoped for some difference she could point to, something that separated Falar from the empire where they had crossed. But there was nothing. Less than a league away from the stream rose foothills that would very soon become the mountains that grew larger with every step.
After
