The Hollow Men
By
Jeslyn Nighthawk
A/N: Twice in one week! Are you proud of me or what? Anyway I hope you like this chapter- there might even be some plot.
Review responses:
Smack: Thank you and I do promise to keep updating until this story is finished.
Kari Al'thor: Thanks.
James: I think that may have been one of the most flattering reviews I have ever gotten. Thank you.
Last but not least, Ilona: Your continued putting up with my erratic updating and short chapters astounds me. Thank you so much, and although you no longer have to tell me you are actually waiting for more, it is always nice to hear.
Chapter 6
This is the dead landThis is the cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
The pass is entirely barren. There are no plants, no animals that make themselves known. There is no color. Just an endless grayness. When the sun finally set, and dark fell, we set up camp. None of us felt comfortable trying to traverse the pass in the dark.
It was Mat, once again, who finally voiced the question we all wanted to ask. "Why are we doing this? We've known all our loves that these Mountains are cursed. Explain why we are going deeper into them than necessary."
I look at him and know that there is ice in my gaze. "Can't you feel it, Mat? Something up there is calling to us. I intend to find out what it is."
"Why?" His eyes now are desperate- he needs to understand what he is risking his life for. What he doesn't seem to understand is that I cannot give him that answer. "Why are we going to risk our lives like this? We could have long lives ahead of us. I might even have a decent chance at a future in the Andoran army."
"My fate has been decided," I cannot help but let some of the bitterness seep into my voice. "What awaits me up there cannot possibly be worse." Perrin and Mat both look at me now questions visible on their faces. I know that they wonder what passed in the woods on that night. How I managed to survive, even if my father didn't. Perrin will not pursue this- he will not ask of my secrets if I do not ask of his. With Mat though, one can never tell what he will or won't push. Finally, when I avert my gaze and look into the blank distance, he decides to leave it be.
"You do not have to come," I say, my voice harsh, my face still averted, "Leave if you want." He won't leave; he never does. What he says about the Andoran army is true. Mat has a gift for leadership, one that is unhindered and perhaps even aided by his natural suspicion. But for some reason, he has always looked to me. Now, that tendency to follow me is unsettling. Like I said, my own fate has been decided- theirs have not. I don't want to be responsible for what happens to them.
Once again we let the silence take hold, and go to sleep.
***
With the sun came the howling. Now there was light, so were there wolves. For three days it followed this pattern: the wolves would surround and howl at us during the days, never close enough for us to catch, and come night the howling would suddenly cease. It was almost as if the wolves themselves were afraid of what might lurk in the darkness here in these cursed Mountains. For three days we wondered what could scare the wolves into silence. For three days, Perrin became more and more anxious, jumping even when there was no sound. Perhaps especially when there was no sound.
On the sunset of the third day, the howling ceased not with the fall of the sun, but with our entrance into the ruins of what had once been a city beyond mortal imagination.
We had finally come upon Manetheren.
***
I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I enter the cold gray stone of the dead city. Mat and Perrin are close by my side, and I know they feel it too. After all, the Old Blood sings in our veins. Behind me I hear the scrape of claws on stone and I whirl to find the source. Although I see nothing, I know the wolves are back there. It is only now, when we have reached our destination, that I pause to wonder why.
I look at the others and we reach a silent accord. Together we head deeper into the clutches of this once great city, until we reach the very center.
High above us, stone arches and spires fly. At the very tops, the gray of the stone merges and blends with the gray of the sky. Ahead of us, in the center of the circular courtyard we now stood in, were two statues made of a milky, pearlescent, white stone.
The Man was commanding, with broad shoulders, and a square, stubborn jaw. His expressionless eyes were cold as they gazed out from a neatly bearded face. His long hair was caught in a neat tail. His armor was that of a king, and his sword was pointed outward as if in challenge.
The Woman could have been the mother of the Two Rivers. She was short when compared to her consort, but her bearing no less regal or commanding. Her face was not delicate in its beauty, but fierce, the only things marking her as exotic were her slightly tilted eyes. Otherwise, she appeared as if she could have passed as the cousin of Nyneave, or Egwene. Certainly, at times, both had proven themselves capable of that particular bearing. It was the bane of all of the men in town. Her dress had long flowing, bell cut sleeves, and flowed in one smooth line from her shoulders to her feet where it pooled upon the ground. It as belted by a chain of large rings, which matched the necklace she wore on her neck. Her arms were raised high above her head, and her face barely tilted up towards the sky as if she were commanding, summoning…. something.
Drawn forward once more by that overwhelming call, I lurched to the base of the statues and fell to my knees at their feet. Distantly, I heard Mat and Perrin do the same. We had come home, the Old Blood had returned to its givers.
TBC
***
A/N: Okay… that was long. And I apologize for any inconsistencies. I am aware of them, but do not at the moment know how to fix them. I will as soon as I figure it out. This was by far my longest chapter yet, nearly twice the normal length. I hope that it satisfied those of you who keep telling me to make them longer. I would like to point out as I have in earlier author's notes, that this fic has been emotionally draining to write and that is at least a major part of why my chapters are so short. Thank you to all who have read this and please leave a review…they really do make me update faster.
Ja ne.
Jeslyn.