CHAPTER XVI #5
Stormfall flies above our group for the remainder of the evening until we reach Brierman, the Bird of Ash welcoming the drunken ale town with a caw before landing on my shoulder.
We ride our horses into the stables of The Drunken Stump for the night and pass our reins to the inn’s boys who run out to greet us.
“Dinner and drinks tonight,” Desmond nods to the group, “Alanna and Alexis, you’ll room together.”
I glance at the short Discerni with a smile and watch her roll her eyes.
“I need a bath,” Alanna says when we walk into our shared room, throwing her travel packs on the bed at the right.
“Same,” I reply, uncorking Golem and placing my packs on the left. Alanna looks back at me, her brows arched in a semi-sensual sarcastic question.
“No, Alanna,” I laugh.
Golem’s padded feet greet us from behind the arch leading to the bath, making Alanna startle.
“You’d think with those Discerni ears you’d be better at hearing him,” I laugh again.
“You’re always creeping up,” Alanna scowls at the magical creature in greeting. Golem’s lips curve in slight amusement before he takes his regular stance at the foot of my bed.
“I’ll be quick,” Alanna huffs, pulling at her shirt as I nod in response. I reach for the oak slab in my travel bag and pull it out when she walks away, envisioning Keane’s likeness in my mind.
We’ve reached Brierman.
I stare at the wood for a while but receive no response. I sigh and tuck the slab and pen back under the cloth before hiding both in my bag.
“Alanna!” I yell across the room.
“Alexis,” she replies coolly.
“I’m coming in.”
“Why?” she moves in the water, grey eyes meeting mine as I enter.
I grin and walk around the tub, “because I’ve decided to take up your offer, of course.”
Alanna chuckles as I grab a small stool next to the tub and sit down.
“I need more on Woodlands,” I tell her, “what we can expect.”
Alanna pauses before she grabs the bar of soap next to her. I watch her lift her toned arm out of the water and begin to rub all of the grime of the day off, the rest of her body flexing with the simple movements.
She’s beautiful, sharp and cold, but beautiful. I understand the desire behind Cal. Behind Keane...
“I can only give you what I remember from years ago,” she replies, running the soap down her legs.
“Your sister hesitated when you told her where we were headed,” I watch her face closely, “and the Prince alludes to little things here and there but won’t give me a straight answer.”
“Tell me again how the Woodlands Discerni present themselves in Knowledge,” she asks, “what is the general impression of them in your Court?”
I shrug in consideration, “indifferent. They just keep to themselves. They’ve never been unfriendly or hostile, just quiet and stick with their own company.”
Alanna nods in thought before she dips under the water, rinsing away all the soap.
“I understand it,” I continue, “we’re constantly reminded in Knowledge of your lifespans, so it makes sense that the Woodlands Discerni or any Discerni would be indifferent when greeting us. It was never a bother. It just was.”
Alanna scowls and wrings out her hair, “and do you agree with that sentiment?”
“I used to,” I admit with a nod, “but this past travel has me questioning my own beliefs.”
“Good.”
“Alanna…” I sigh.
Her grey eyes narrow on mine, “Woodlands are certainly known for enjoying their own company, Alexis,” she replies coolly, “their own company.”
“I’ve gathered that,” I reply earnestly, thinking of Troy’s man strapped against the chair, “but why? There has to be a reason, no?”
“Oh there is,” she scoffs, “they think humans are an afront and perversion to the natural magic that is supposed to live in all of the Old World. They treat them as second-class beings and view them simply as a means to an end. To them, humans are a waist of space, but that doesn’t stop them from tormenting those human for the sheer reason that they can. ”
“But we’ve thrived without magic,” I shake my head, angered that anyone could be so cruel as to actually believe that, “we live with every moment that is given to us. How can they have such thoughts when we’ve prevailed and contributed to the Old World?
It belongs to us just as much as it does them. ”
“Your kind has thrived,” she nods with a small smile, “but I truly don’t think they care. In Woodlands, humans amount to nothing more than their service to the Discerni. They’re treated as inferior beings.”
“There’s no way King Zander would ever allow something like that to take place…”
“It is the Discerni way of Woodlands. Their tradition. A sentiment that has been held since the years following the Great Rift when the first humans began appearing from the Kingdom of Aireal. The Discerni saw the lack of summoning and how easily the humans could be overcome and manipulated, and they exacted their strength to force them into servitude. Half of the cities in Woodlands were built on the backs of humans. They’ve always been used for cheap labor. ”
I sit back on the stool in complete disgust, unable to comprehend how this sentiment is allowed in Disce.
“Why don’t the humans fight back? Why don’t they petition for a better life?”
Alanna gives me an apologetic look, “because they’re degraded every day into believing that the lives they have are the only ones they’ll ever know. It’s engrained into their minds, Alexis. From the moment they are born, humans are taught to revere the Discerni as their superiors.”
There’s no way. There’s no way something like this could ever be allowed.
“But Zander is known for his good relations with humans,” I frown, “and I’ve never seen anything from him except kindness and grace when it comes to us. I can’t believe that he’d let something like that exist.”
“The King can only do so much,” Alanna replies softly, “unless he wants a war between his Courts, he has to let the tradition continue.”
“Then war should be his choice.”
Alanna eyes me quietly, “if he chooses that path, then he will lose thousands of human lives in the process. Believe me when I tell you that the Discerni are not beneath sacrificing their labor.”
“I find it hard to believe that the humans in Woodlands would go along with that.”
“The humans know nothing else outside of the life that is afforded to them,” she sighs, “if the Discerni in their city tell them to shackle their hands and feet to form a barrier between them and a warring force, they’ll do as they’re told and ask how tight they want the chains to be.”
“Do they know nothing of what goes on in Knowledge and Warrior?” I scoff, “that they can just walk across the border and into a better life?”
“They don’t…”
“But you knew,” I give her a hard look, “you got out.”
“Thanks to Desmond,” she nods, “and my father falling in love with a human woman. Had he not, I suspect we would still be there.”
“Fuck me,” I slump in my seat.
“Fuck traditions,” Alanna scowls, “you want Zander to choose war? Just know that the Woodlands Discerni are prepared to defend their way of life without hesitation.”
“Is Cal safe to take the travel?” I grimace over the tub, “I don’t want to put him in danger.”
“He’s fine. Our group will be fine. We’ll all be greeted as a guest of the King and his sons. I suspect the Discerni will do their best to avoid showing you what actually goes on behind closed doors.”
“They hide their nature?” I asked confused, “I got the impression this was all done out in the open.”
Alanna shakes her head, “it’s a well-hidden secret, especially when it comes to travelers not of Woodlands. But you’ll see, Alexis. Trust that the Prince and his brother will not let you travel the Court without witnessing its true nature.”
I scowl again, “has anything been done? Aside from relocating those who wish to leave? How are we in Knowledge so ignorant to what’s happening?”
“Again,” Alanna sighs, “it’s a well-kept secret. Anyone who travels from the other two Courts sees only what the Discerni wish for them to see.”
“But what is being done?” I fume.
“I know Desmond has men situated throughout the Court who quietly spread word on behalf of the Prince. They talk to the humans of a better life just outside their borders, but those words are quick to fall on deaf ears. The humans view that life as a fantasy they can dream about, but not quite find the will to actually believe. He relocates at every chance he gets, but Woodlands also actively stops its humans from leaving its lands.”
I take a deep breath and stand in hard resolve, my body trembling with anger over everything I’ve just heard. It almost seems unreal, truly incomprehensible, and yet I know without a shadow of a doubt that what Alanna just told me only scratches the surface.
“This is not how the Old World is meant to live,” I say quietly, steadily, “and everyone will become aware of what is happening in Woodlands when I am done with it. I will disrupt every piece of their cherished land until the tradition is burned to ash.”
Alanna gives me a hard look in approval and stands up as well.
“I know it, Alexis,” she nods solemnly, “it is the sole reason I agreed to take this travel with you.”
We leave Brierman the next morning without haste, already a day above schedule.
Holis and Mana join mine and Cal’s exercises at dawn, the four of us getting one more training in before we part ways in Bardot.
It’s weird to think of our traditional travels officially ending, even weirder when I think about how our lives always took separate paths in the capitol until we were called to meet again.
Our group rides along the Great Road with the intention of not stopping until we reach Bartley’s Clearing. By sundown we’ll be in the capitol, and by nighttime I’ll be in the small room that I’ve called my own for the past ten years.