He turned his body slowly, locating Andr, who was leaning against the side of the black wagon.
“It was with the assistance of this same man that that the vile sub-master of Tabenville met his deserving demise,” Ryl announced as he met the eyes of Andr. He stretched out his hand, extending his pointer finger toward the mercenary. “It was again with his assistance that I survived after my Harvest. He has become my steadfast companion, my closest friend. He followed me on a seemingly hopeless mission through the wastes of the Outlands, carrying me when I could go no further.”
The beginnings of a smile cracked across Andr’s face as he gave a subtle, approving and thankful nod.
“Though they have been silenced for fear of death, there are those out there who hold more ill will toward the Ascertaining system than to the tributes,” Ryl continued. “Left alone, we offer no threat to them. They’ve been denied the knowledge, been denied the truth of their history for generations. They’ve been fed tales of a wonderless existence, a life lived in perpetual servitude. The teachings have been so pervasive that they infected the very fiber of their beings. Ignorance is now a trait tragically passed down to our children. The wonders of the world have been relegated to nothing more than myth.”
“How do we expect to live, how do we survive when we have no treatment?” the question was met with a chorus of voices all talking over one another, echoing a similar sentiment. “We’ll be dead within a moon.”
Ryl raised his hands begging for quiet. At the same time, he sent out a wave of calm. The emotion had a clear effect on some, while others looked more confused as they realized the distraction of the unwarranted emotion.
“I stand here before you now, do I not?” Ryl asked rhetorically. “The treatment that’s been forced down your throats since the day you stepped foot inside these walls is a lie. It is a poison that acts as a barrier that prevents your body from accessing its rightful powers.”
Ryl turned slowly in a circle regarding the tributes that surrounded him.
“I warn you, the sickness that will come is very real, though it is not the death sentence that it has been made to seem,” Ryl admitted. “It is an excruciatingly painful result of the alexen in your body fighting back at the vile poison that has choked your veins. We carry with us a remedy which should lessen the effects, though the sickness may linger for weeks.”
The voices from the surrounding tributes again spoke in a chorus of distinctly differing opinions. Ryl could make no sense of the noise as they shouted over each other. Out of the corner of his eye, Ryl saw Captain Le’Dral working his way forward to the front of the group.
“There’s nowhere in The Stocks that we can hide for weeks,” a voice shouted over the others. “We’ll be hunted down in days if they haven’t begun already.”
“Aye, they will come,” Captain Le’Dral announced as he stepped into the inside of the circle that had formed around Ryl. “Inside these walls, we are visible virtually anywhere we go. Rest now, we will use the cover of darkness to move ahead unseen.”
Ryl observed the faces of the tributes as the captain spoke. He was curious to see their reactions. Only a few hours earlier, he had been a high ranking representative of the Kingdom that kept them enslaved. A Kingdom they now knew had designed to milk them of every last drop of the blood, of the power that lived within their veins. He was surprised to see that most watched him intently, listening with rapt attention as he spoke.
The actions of the tributes spoke more to the character of the captain than the words that issued from his mouth. He had again kept his promise.
He’d treated them with the respect they deserved.
“They are disorganized, though I expect a scouting party to be moving in our wake as we speak,” the captain continued. “I want them to find only the smoldering remains of our fire when they arrive. The army will undoubtedly march into the night. By the time the scouts report back we should be miles closer to our destination.”
“Where will we go?” it was Sarial who spoke up as the captain’s words faded.
“We march for Tabenville,” Ryl responded confidently. “It is the only defensible position left within The Stocks.”
“When the sickness falls there will be a force of less than fifty to hold off an army of nearly ten thousand,” Cray interjected “Not for hours, but for weeks. How will we survive the attacks?”
Ryl took a deep breath, letting the crisp, refreshing air satiate his boiling blood.
“The force standing between you and whatever army marches forth will be miniscule,” Ryl acknowledged. “Yet, our enemies will find that they have more to fear than a handful of soldiers and a few cloaked warriors.”
The tributes around him went silent as they pondered the meaning of his cryptic response. Ryl was hesitant to divulge more information than necessary. He paused for a moment before continuing. The wind circling around his body began to intensify.
“You are all phrenic,” Ryl stated plainly. “You are unawakened, yet the power of your alexen unites us all. We are the last of a race pushed to the brink of extinction. You’ve carried on for so long with only the faintest glimmer of hope. Close your eyes and tell me what you see with your mind; the light
