*This is a draft. Errors will occur and story is subject to change.*
"What's wrong, Ara?" Cohen asked.
Ara looked up to see Cohen standing in the doorway of Myrel's tavern. He had claimed it as his headquarters upon his arrival. Now, the numerous tables had been replaced by one enormous one. A desk, map, and various other items took over the rest of the room.
Ara had been sitting idly at the large meeting table. Unable to restrain the flood of foreboding that kept sweeping her heart, she forced a smile—he already had so much to deal with. "Nothing."
"I found them, Ara." He smiled, clearly pleased with himself.
Immediately, the fear that had gripped Ara over the past few days rinsed from her soul. Cohen stepped aside and both Cashelle and Myrel bounded past him. The women hugged her desperately, nearly tipping Ara off her chair as they. Ara pulled them back. "What happened after I left?"
"A miracle happened Ara." Myrel peered inward. "I fled with the weak. We headed to the place you said. I didn't really believe you about the cave, but then I would have never believed you as a Priestess, either. Perhaps it stunned me enough that, for once, I did what I was told."
"We entered a rocky canyon and searched desperately for the cave or this Benin. I felt so helpless. It was then that this massive brown bear sauntered over to me.
"I figured he must have smelled the blood of our wounded, and I certainly wasn't going to let him near them! I picked up a rock and launched it, but it dropped before it ever hit him. Others joined me as we attempted to pelt him, but he just kept walking towards us—staring right at me. He got close enough that he could have touched me, when this warm, peaceful feeling washed over me, and I understood he was trying to help. 'Benin?' I asked. He nodded, and I must say I dropped that rock—ashamed of myself, but I never imagined Benin was a bear!
"He gestured for us to follow him. The others must have thought I was crazy, but they came along—I guess they were too stunned to argue, just like I'd been earlier. Benin headed up the mountain by a rivulet of water. I'd been to this spring before, when Layward was courting me, and I knew it was just a dead end. But we all followed him to the head anyway. There, a stream gushed out from under solid rock. He blew hard on that rock, and suddenly the rock rolled back on themselves until there was nothing but a big black hole in the ground."
Myrel shook her head at the memory. "Benin looked at me like he was sad to be losing his secret. Then he ambled inside. Tessa was inside, blinking at the brightness, and I rushed to her. When we were all inside, the bear left us and the rocks rolled back into place.
"No one dared light any torches for fear the smell of the smoke would bring the Kanovians upon us, so we sat huddled by the entrance, too afraid to wander into the depths of the abyss. Hours passed before Benin returned with all the women that had stayed to fight—including some very nervous horses. He locked eyes with mine and gestured for us to move back. Too afraid of the dark to listen, I shook my head no. He gestured again. Again, I refused. It was then that a feeling of such fear washed over me. He roared so loudly that everyone jumped and all the babies started screaming.
"I knew he meant business, so I convinced everyone to move back. He sealed the mountain. We were lost to the blackness for a while, when I heard him piling sticks in front of me. Finally it occurred to me that he was building a fire. I knew that's what he wanted me to do, so I did. Everyone settled down as soon as the light bit into the darkness. Benin must have known that the Kanovians wouldn't smell the smoke, for it wound its way deeper into the cave. The entire time, he sat by the entrance—staring intently at it.
"No one spoke, even the babies felt the intense need to be quiet. I'm not sure how he did it, but Benin's the one who calmed them all. At one point, we heard voices outside the wall. Talking following tracks here before losing them at the spring. They argued for a time, and then the leader called them idiots that couldn't tell a day old track from an hour and stormed off. Benin forced us deeper into the cave."
Myrel's eyes darkened. "We stayed in the darkness with nothing but a fire for warmth and light for a very long time. Benin would go out every once in a while and bring us back food and wood. Each time I asked him if we could leave, he would shake his head no. The horses were starving, and we couldn't gather hay. If we released them they would fall into Kanovian hands." Myrel swallowed hard and stared at the wall. "We had to kill them."
Ara had to steel herself to keep from flinching. How she hoped that her old gelding, Talbot, wasn't among the horses killed. Myrel brought her gaze from the wall to Ara. "Tessa had been healing until the fever took her. She fought long and hard. Benin even brought her the herbs she requested, but she died Ara."
Tears spilled over Ara's lids, but she held Myrel's gaze. Her mother once told her never to drop anyone's gaze.
"She called for you at the end, and then it was almost as if she saw you. She relaxed and said that she loved you." Myrel's voice caught, and Ara felt Cohen's hand, unseen, resting on her back.
"I know." Ara said softly. She leaned forward, needing Myrel to believe her. "I was there."
Myrel's eyes widened. "Yes, I suppose you were." They both stood, and Myrel grasped Ara to her again. Then Cashelle stepped forward, but Ara sensed an awkwardness between them and suspected it might have something to do with a certain brother of hers.
Myrel smoothed her clothes. "I've people to see to. You've added quite a few that need looking after." With a final wave, they walked back out.
Cohen's hand still rested on Ara's back. Remembering what he had done for her that after her mother's death, she felt an incredible longing to share her return home with him. "Come with me. I'll show you my home the way you showed me yours."
Ara watched as Cohen's carefully placed mask slipped. "Would you not rather take Zacar?"
Hot waves rolled slowly from the top of her scalp down the sides of her face. Unable to bear the look of anguish on Cohen's face, Ara looked away. "What did Tenan tell you?"
Cohen gave a dry laugh. "He didn't have to tell me anything, Ara. I know you better than I know myself. I've seen the way he looks at you, and the way you look back."
Ara felt his hot gaze leave her. "All these years . . ."
Ara forced herself to look back at him. She would not be a coward, not now. "Cohen, I don't . . ."
He held up his hand and shook his head curtly. "Don't, Ara. I can't bear it." Turning on his heel, he yanked open the door and slammed it hard behind him.
For a long time, Ara stared at the door. She'd hoped that she could sort out her feeling before Cohen found out. That way, she could spare either Zacar or Cohen the anguish.
Dazed, she went to the stables to fetch Kodan. "I want to go home."
Kodan nodded his head, "I know all too well how heavy homesickness can rest in one's gut."
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