Indomitable |
The past is always with us. Even though he was only just of
an age to be considered a man, Jair Ohmsford had understood the meaning of the phrase since
he was a boy. It meant that he would be shaped and reshaped by the
events of his life, so that everything that happened would be in some
way a consequence of what had gone before. It meant that the people
he came to know would influence his conduct and his beliefs. It meant
that his experiences of the past would impact his decisions of the
future. It meant that life was like a chain
and the links that forged it could not be severed. For Jair,
the strongest of those links was to Garet Jax. That link, unlike any other, was a repository for
memories he treasured so dearly that he protected them like glass ornaments,
to be taken down from the shelf on which they were kept, polished,
and then put away again with great care. In the summer of the second year
following his return from Graymark, he was
still heavily under the influence of those memories. He woke often
in the middle of the night from dreams of Garet Jax locked
in battle with the Jachyra, heard echoes
of the other's voice in conversations with his freinds and neighbors,
and caught sudden glimpses of the Weapons Master in the faces of strangers.
He was not distressed by these occurrences; he was thrilled by them.
They were an affirmation that he was keeping alive the past he cared
so much about. On the day the girl rode into Shady
Vale, he was working at the family inn, helping the manager and his
wife as a favor to his parents. He was standing
on the porch, surveying the siding he had replaced after a windstorm
had blown a branch through the wall. Something about the way she sat
on her horse caught his attention, drawing it away from his handiwork.
He shaded his eyes against the glare of the sun as it reflected off
a metal roof when she turned out of the trees. She sat ramrod straight
astride a huge black stallion with a white blaze on its forehead, her
dark hair falling in a cascade of curls to her waist, thick and shining.
She wasn't big, but she gave an immediate impression of possessing
confidence that went beyond the need for physical strength. She caught sight of him at the same
time he saw her and turned the big black in his direction. She rode
up to him and stopped, a mischievous smile appearing on her round,
perky face as she brushed back loose strands of hair. "Cat got
your tongue, Jair Ohmsford?" "Kimber Boh," he
said, not quite sure that it really was. "I don't believe it." She swung down, dropped the reins
in a manner that suggested this was all the black required, and walked
over to give him a long, sustained hug. "You look all grown up," she
said, and ruffled his curly blond hair to show she wasn't impressed. He might have said the same about
her. The feel of her body against his as she hugged him was a clear
indication that she was beyond childhood. But it was difficult to accept.
He still remembered the slender, tiny girl she had been two years ago
when he had met her for the first time in the ruins of the Croagh in
the aftermath of his battle to save Brin. He shook his head. "I almost
didn't recognize you." She stepped back. "I knew you
right away." She looked around. "I always wanted to see where
you lived. Is Brin here?" She wasn't. Brin was
living in the He shook his head. "No. She
lives in Leah now. Why didn't you send word you were coming?" "I didn't know myself until
a little over a week ago." She glanced at the inn. "The ride
has made me tired and thirsty. Why don't we go inside while we talk?" They retreated to the cool interior
of the inn and took a table at a window where the slant of the roof
kept the sun off. The innkeeper brought over a pitcher of ale and two
mugs, giving Jair a sly wink as he walked
away. "Does he give you a wink for
every pretty girl you bring into his establishment?" Kimber asked
when the innkeeper was out of earshot. "Are you a regular here?" He blushed. "My parents own
the inn. Kimber, what are you doing here?" She considered the question. "I'm
not entirely sure. I came to find you and to persuade you to come with
me. But now that I'm here, I don't know that I have the words to do
it. In fact, I might just not even try. I might just stay here and
visit until you send me away. What would you say to that?" He leaned back in his chair and
smiled. "I guess I would say you were welcome to stay as long
as you like. Is that what you want?" She sipped at her ale and shook
her head. "What I want doesn't matter. Maybe what you want doesn't
matter either." She look out of the window
into the sunshine. "Grandfather sent me. He said to tell you that
what we thought we had finished two years ago isn't quite finished
after all. There appears to be a loose thread that needs snipping off." "A loose thread?" She looked back at him. "Remember
when your sister burned the book of the Ildatch at Graymark?" He nodded. "I'm not likely
to forget." "Grandfather says she missed
a page." |
Indomitable © 2003 Terry Brooks |