Excerpt: Through Struggles to the Stars

It had been a strange first day.

After their meal, Schauss was certain Kali might want to ‘sample the life’ and stay down in the pub, listening to the local bards or mingling with the residents of the town. After barely touching his food, however, and taking far longer than was necessary to dissect a piece of bread, Kali asked for a key to the room, claiming he was tired, and gathered up his things.

Schauss had stayed long enough to finish both his food and a glass of warm cider ale offered to him, casually flirt with one of the rather attractive serving wenches, and listen to a song or two before making his way after Kali, carrying the remainder of their things. Just because Kali wasn’t enjoying himself did not mean he couldn’t. If he was going to be stuck on this wretched trip, he was going to make the most of it.

When he finally did enter the room, he found Kali curled up in one of the beds, using the light from a candle on the bedside table to look at one of the many maps they had brought. He jumped nearly out of his skin when Schauss closed the door and tried hard to cover it up, snuggling more under the blankets and making a muttered comment about ‘being cold’.

“You don’t have to worry about anything,” Schauss muttered as he set down his things and began to dig through them. A dry pair of socks was going to feel like pure bliss. “We’re as safe here as we possibly could be anywhere. Quit jumping at every noise or shadow.”

Kali put down the map slowly, gazing at Schauss from over the rim of his glasses. “Pardon me,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Just because you’re used to this doesn’t mean I am. I’m tired, my feet hurt, and I’m jumpy. And we’d both get along a lot better if you quit pointing it out.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you wanted to leave for this ridiculous quest of yours,” Schauss snapped, glancing at Kali from over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed. “You’ve never traveled outside Kadel in your life. Did you think it was going to be easy? Did you think there was going to be stops to rest every few leagues? We would never get anywhere. You were whining about us stopping for the night, now you are whining about being tired. This isn’t a casual sight-seeing trip. We don’t have the luxury of taking our time or stopping whenever it pleases you.”

Having found his beloved dry socks, Schauss paused for a moment to quickly change, before walking over to his own bed, sitting on the edge of it and regarding Kali with a serious look. “Honestly – what were you expecting?” he asked. “Things will most likely only get worse from here. The weather may get better, but what do you plan to do once we reach Cyloria?”

“Check out the temple… ask the locals questions,” Kali began slowly, and Schauss shook his head, interrupting him yet again.

“What kind of questions are you expecting to ask without drawing too much attention to yourself and your ‘quest’, as you keep calling it?”

“I… Just about what happened…” Kali was looking smaller by the minute, squishing against his pillow as if he were trying to squirm away. “I mean, I’m sure I could pass for a student just filled with curiosity about this sort of thing…”

Schauss shook his head. “Maybe, but they’re going to wonder how a student would know what happened to Aello in the first place. Do you have an answer for that?

Kali slowly pushed the map out of his lap and wrapped his arms around himself a bit, before quickly changing the subject. “Your father said when we were done in Cyloria, we should head for Eigion City, to meet with… with that family he mentioned, and go from there…”

“Yes, and Eigion is quite a few days’ walk from Cyloria,” Schauss pointed out flatly. “I told you, things were only going to get increasingly difficult from here. Again, I ask – what were you expecting?”

Kali stared at Schauss, again with that look that brought Schauss back to that haunted-looking deer in the woods. He actually shivered, although it was quick and he doubt Kali saw; why was Kali giving him that look?

Without another word, Kali slowly turned his gaze from Schauss and instead picked up the map once more, rolling it up with great care, and a bit of difficulty – the boy’s hands were shaking something terrible. Afterwards, he gently lay the map on the floor beside him, before blowing out the nearby candle and flopping into the pillow, his back to Schauss.

Schauss sighed, before standing up and again walking over to his things, to change and settle in for the night himself. If this is what he was going to have to deal with, he’d sooner turn back to Kadel, promise to his father be damned.

Things are only going to get worse from here, he thought to himself once again.