28. The Dawn of Moonstone

ENTIN

CHAPTER 28

Entin recognized the faces of the scouts who confronted them. They were blood-smeared and armed with the weapons of the Wolves, yet they were familiar; they were of Summerhome. But they refused to speak to him or Aiel, let alone Cascade and T'reer. They'd snuck up on them in their sleep, and when the four had awoken, they were outnumbered two to one. Their ambushers' weapons were enough of a deterrent that Entin hadn't bothered to protest.

But he hadn't been expecting Nailah.

The scouts thrust the four of them to their knees before her. She sat atop a pile of bones, and he realized they were human. Balru sat on the ground beside her, barely raising his head to acknowledge Entin or Aiel. His shoulders were slumped, and he looked like he'd lost half of his weight since Entin had seen him last. The rest of Summerhome had begun to gather around them. He stared at his sister incredulously.

She wore a wolf pelt strewn about her and held one of their cruel weapons in her hands.

"I never expected I'd see you again," Nailah said.

Her voice was cold. Detached. Entin knew at once that she had changed just as he had, though not in the same way.

"What is all this? What have you done?" Entin asked.

"What have I done?" she retorted. "What have you done? Your tribe saw you, Entin. I saw you. You abandoned your people. Summerhome is dead. It was flawed. It was weak. This world needs strength. It needs fury. It needs order. And so I will tame it."

"My tribe? These people treated me like an outcast my entire life!"

"They fed you. They housed you. They made you one of their own. What more could you ask for?" she spat.

"Equality. Love. Openness?—"

"Weaknesses," Nailah interrupted.

"Nailah, what happened to you? When did you become like this?" Aiel said.

Nailah turned to her.

"Aiel, you may join us if you like. The others must go. And if I ever catch you in my lands, I will have no choice but to kill you. The laws have changed—and the treachery of men is no longer welcome here. Entin, I have traveled the world and met many men with stupid ideas, but yours are by far the worst. Your ways would have let the Wolves slaughter us. Cascade, I lived amongst your people for many years. They were weak and primitive. The Wolves were feral and barbaric. I have taken their weapons. I have killed what remained of them. And now, I will embrace their ways and pair them with ours. I will remake the world."

It was then that Entin knew what the God had meant about new dangers rising out of the ashes of the old. Nailah was just like him and yet nothing like him. He was love, and she was fury. They were, as they always had been, two halves of a whole. He felt a tear trickle down his cheek. For years, he'd dreamed of her and him coming back together. He'd imagined a warm embrace. He'd imagined laughter and kinship. He'd imagined she'd still be his tribe.

But that wasn't what this was. This was an end, not a beginning.

"I accept," he said. "I will leave. If Aiel wishes to stay, I will not force her to remain with us. I'm sorry you've chosen this path, sister. I'm sorry I couldn't love you enough to show you how wrong you are. But I'm glad you're alive. It was good to see you again, however brief and sad."

He was crying openly now. The tears fell harder and faster as he witnessed the disgust he caused in her. Balru lifted his head and looked at him in a way Entin had never seen him do before. He was looking at him with love. Like a man would look at his brother. His eyes were hollow, and Entin recognized himself in him. He knew the look of the downtrodden and the hopeless. He wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I do not wish to stay. I wish to remain with Entin," Aiel said.

"Fine. You can take some of our food, then use a few of their boats to see yourselves out of here. Don't come back, Entin. I mean it," Nailah finished.

"Thank you. I won't, you have my word. May I ask for one last thing, sister?" Entin said.

She regarded him levelly from her pile of bones. "What?"

"May I take Balru with us?" Entin asked.

Balru, who for his entire life had been his tormentor, began to cry. The disgust Nailah had shown for Entin inflamed into downright disdain at the sight of the hulking man's tears.

"I don't know what you'd want with him, but if he wishes to leave with you, I will not stop him. He has grown weak, and I desire fresh meat," Nailah said coolly.

"I do desire it," Balru said at once.

Nailah and Entin both looked at him in surprise. She sneered at him, but Entin caught a glimmer of hurt, or maybe anger, flash out behind her frigid persona.

"Then go. Now. Before I change my mind," she said.

She turned her head away and stared off into the hills. Entin waited for her to say something else, but her guards were ushering them to their feet and shoving them to the boats mere moments later, Balru with them.

The canoes were not like those of Summerhome. These were vast logs with the insides hollowed out. Entin watched as Nailah's servants filled two of them with food and waterskins, then accepted the paddle that was being handed to him by an old woman who had once disdainfully taught him about mushrooms. She practically shoved him into the boat.

They were cast off once and for all. A team on either side pushed the vessel out into the water. Aiel and T'reer were in one boat, and Cascade, Entin, and Balru in the other. For a moment, Entin panicked, wondering what direction to head in. But then he remembered the Moonstone. He pulled it from the bag, and this time it glowed brilliantly in the light of day. The beam that had been faint the night before shot out like a ray of sunlight. It seared his eyes when he looked at it. But the destination it pointed him in now was undeniable. They were to go north.

There was a commotion at the seashore, and he realized that the others had all seen the orb's magic.

"What is that?" Nailah cried.

Entin stuffed the orb back in the bag.

"Get back here and give me whatever that is!" she shrieked.

Balru grabbed his paddle from the canoe's floor, then grunted at Cascade. The two began to paddle furiously away. Nailah cursed incoherently, and Entin watched as she commanded two teams to board their canoes and come after them.

But Cascade and Balru were strong and tireless, and Aiel and T'reer moved nearly as swiftly. Minutes went by, then hours, and as they paddled northward, their pursuers fell away little by little. Eventually, they were mere specks on the horizon, and finally disappeared altogether. It was only then that Entin let himself breathe.

"Thank you for saving me," Balru said. "I know I don't deserve your kindness. I was terrible to you. I am so sorry, Entin. I was a monster. And when I met another, I saw myself. Will you forgive me?"

He was seated behind Entin, Cascade far to the rear in the back of the canoe. Entin turned to the man and searched his eyes. The carefree cockiness that had always been so frustrating had been eroded. He looked tired and worn.

"You are forgiven," Entin said.

And he meant it. Ever since he'd met the God, he had known that love and forgiveness were one and the same.

"And you will allow me to be a part of your tribe? Even after all I put you through?" Balru whispered.

He was crying again, though not as terribly as he had when he'd been seated beside Nailah.

"We are of Summerhome—of course you are my tribe. But there's someone I need you to meet first and something I need to tell you," Entin said.

He motioned for Cascade to join them near the bow.

"This is Cascade. He is my partner and lover. Is that something you can accept?"

It was the first time he'd ever said the words aloud, and he was surprised at how freely he could speak them.

Balru's eyes widened a bit. He looked from Entin to Cascade, and then a confused sort of grin spread out across his face.

"Entin, I couldn't care less who you fuck. I owe you my life and my future. You have my spear and my support from now until the end of ages."

He reached out and embraced Entin like he had never done in all their years together. Balru squeezed him tightly and clasped the back of Entin's head with his huge hand, drawing him in with fraternal familiarity. Over his shoulder, Entin saw Cascade smiling back at him. Beyond, the great scar of the Slumbering God reminded him of the hardship they'd overcome to get themselves here. He knew there was a long way to go before his adventure was over. But the future was open. And it was waiting for them in the north. He had at long last found his people, and he knew his Journey was to find more.

Today was the Dawn of Moonstone.