Gift- Book 1

Chapter 19

For the next few days, they continued to Galerus. The heat of the plains is still present and doesn't subside until they reach the rocks and hill outcroppings of the northern mountains. Leiea looks forward to lower temperatures, which is strange considering the horrible cold she's seen so much. Anything is better than all the sun.

True to his word, Sheyric doesn't bring up anything of what happened even avoiding any conversation of home. He lets Leiea hide inside the caravan to stay away from interacting with him or the outside. Still, he offers comfort and cares when she's upset. Inside, she'd bundle up in blankets or lean against the wall, not moving much, only eating crackers and the pancakes Plei made. Not nearly drinking enough water.

For some reason, she's merely numbed by everything. Not nearly as emotional and hysterical as she was before leaving for Karyk. The last time she saw Fleya. Possibly the last time forever.

Many times she asked Sheyric what he did with the emerald after she returned it. Buried it? Let a horse stomp on it? Stored away to sell later? He never answered explicitly, but the latter was probably true. It's impossible to imagine him getting rid of something like that. She would prefer to have it crushed, but choices haven't been too good for her part for a while.

Yet, nothing he could do will help her improve, although it's not surprising. Nightmares of Mother getting ambushed by Soteseg, her insides being devoured. Fleya to walk into the room to find the scene, only to be taken down herself. These horrid dreams she's never able to awaken from, keep everything fresh in Leiea's mind.

She doesn't bother telling Sheyric about them. As long as she doesn't wake up screaming, it'll be fine.

Yet it makes her wonder: does he feel bad? Does he regret being the first cause of it? Maybe he doesn't even think he is. Well, he's not the type to think that. Still. She doesn't want his guilt. It's nice, but not welcome.

The next week of travel is like a month, filled with simmering sadness, anger, and boredom. The only interesting thing is the gradual change in the landscape. The plains start appearing more alive with the slightly cooler climate. From the trees and living grass comes the incline and patches of rock, indicating the mountains. At one point, Leiea watched the mountains rolling up through the window for hours. They're taller than anything she's ever seen, making her feel tiny. The minor hills around the villager are nothing to this. The gray rocks and thick rain clouds that never seem to dissipate make the area incredibly dreary, and it gets old fast.

"Leiea!" Sheyric calling from the seat up front snaps her out of her thoughts. She inches off of her seat and sticks her head out the door, a gust of wind hitting her face. He continued over the noise, "There she is,"

Galerus. The first thing she notices is how sprawling it is. Much wider than she had pictured, and it's hard to tell how far on it goes. Far more than some Karyk-sized mining community.

The visible houses are mostly two-story but made of obviously flimsy materials, even from a distance. Through the cracks and down roads are much smaller houses, but more sturdy than the bigger ones, with rock foundations.

Looking up is the whole of the mountain they had been viewing the peak of for a week. The way it's dotted with dark specks and surrounded by piles of rubble means that's it's main mining area. It must be full of very valuable material because it's not a very complimentary thing to be right in view of the city.

The closer they get, the poorer it looks. In between buildings are ruined bases of other houses, like it fell over and it was rebuilt a foot over. Broken roofs are patched with canvas. Some of the people walking around are in very raged hand-me-downs, especially the children playing in groups. Goats and chickens are wandering on the dirt roads. It's hard to tell if they are wild, or maybe branded as someone's livestock.

Unlike at Karyk, no one runs up to greet them, let alone look their way. In front of the first house they pass, a woman using a washing board appears to glare at them through thick locks of brown hair. Probably directed to Leiea, the only newcomer here. They should be used to Sheyric's weird business coming to town by now. She dips her head and doesn't look up again the caravan turns left down another big road.

What must be their market comes into view. To Leiea, it's repulsive. All the "stalls", which are just canvas-covered planks of wood, are being used. Even worse, every one has at least five customers, yelling over each other and waving offers of trade and coin. There's no way Leiea could function here, not even under normal circumstances. She shouldn't even bother when her mind isn't sound.

They pull in through a small opening between "stalls'', trying to move through the throngs of people, which infuriates Leiea further. It's not like they could park anywhere here. What about the horses? They need somewhere to graze, and it's not like the people here will let them picket two giant work horses on their tiny, goat-filled pastures. The only other spot is a mile in either direction, even more on the sides. Now she regrets agreeing to go to Galerus.

After at least 15 minutes of searching for a spot, she gives up and hides back in her spot in the caravan. Sheyric just has to do this, she thinks, This place is trashy enough, why don't we set up on the side of the road? Advertise at some half-torn-down tavern, while we're at it. Go door-to-door looking for someone to buy something? No one here can buy something worth 100 coins, anyway.

Leiea continues her vile thoughts until The caravan stops with a lurch, making an empty crate somewhere next to her fall over. She hears Sheyric swing from the driver's seat, making the car rattle again. He pokes his head inside, only his hair visible to Leiea, who somehow made her way behind a stack of decorative containers.

"We're here... wherever you are." he says, then disappears again. He didn't specifically say she had to come out of hiding, so she stays put. It's a childish thing to do, but maybe he'll understand with everything going on in her mind. At least it makes sense to her.

He doesn't return for the rest of the day, but Leiea hears him unloading supplies and the clanking of chains while leading the horses away. The constant noises of people yelling outside make her recoil, wishing to be alone. It's hard to tell being so curled up, but the sounds seem to come closer to the caravan over a while. They must have gotten customers. Or rather, he did. Leiea's not doing anything anymore.

By the time the sun's barely shining, Sheyric walks in quietly. He pears around the corner and frowns at Leiea, who's sitting between the wall and stack of containers, her face buried into her knees. He sighs and squats down beside her.

"Are you alright? he asks in a soft voice. "Remember, we can still leave."

He head shots up. "No. I'm staying so you can still get money. I don't want to be the reason..." she trails off, knowing he'll understand, but likely not agree.

"Okay. Tell me when, and if, we need to leave. I don't want to pressure you and your... stress." he nods and slowly retreats, going to the front of the room.

Leiea lets her face fall back into her knees and takes a deep breath. She doesn't doubt she'll want to leave soon, especially since he's offering it so constantly. It's just a matter of what breaks her first. It'll probably become a horrible mix of paranoia and stress from the noise of Galerius and the death of family hanging over her head. After multiple weeks, it's not like that will change in a night.