Kared's Children - Chapter 18

As Shaerden sat, Piskin eyed him back, his face a mask.

Karec removed his own cloak and hung his and Ned’s next to Shaerden’s, near the door. Shaerden was across from Piskin, who gazed at him placidly. Karec draped a blanket across Ned and then joined them.

Shaerden pushed the bowl of tea leaves aside. "What happened out there?"

Piskin frowned. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. What?"

Piskin shrugged.

"Don’t shrug at me. Don’t tell me you don’t know. What do you know?"

"It was the strangest thing I’ve seen," Karec said. "And I’ve seen a lot of strange things these past several days."

"I know." Piskin’s voice was small. "I just don’t-"

They waited.

"You just don’t what?" Shaerden finally asked.

Piskin pushed his hair out of his face. "I don’t know what happened."

Shaerden studied him silently.

"What do you remember, Piskin?" Karec asked.

Piskin looked from one to the other. "Everything. I remember everything! It just doesn’t make any sense."

"What was that thing?" Shaerden asked.

"What thing? Oh." The frown returned.

"It was-he was-he thought he’d been-oh, it makes no sense!" He buried his face in his hands.

Karec reached out for an arm, patted it. "Just take it slowly. You don’t have to make sense of it right now. But you know more than we do. And maybe we can help you make sense of it."

"The first thing we knew," Shaerden said, "We were in here. That noise had started, and we were going to see what it was, and then you started-well, I’m not sure what you did."

Piskin looked at them again. "I’m not sure what I did, either. It was like, suddenly I wasn’t in here at all. Or I was here, but I also was out there. I saw the people, I saw the wagons, the rain. I saw the soldiers. And it was like, somehow I almost recognized something. Something I hadn’t seen in a long time. Something I’d thought was a dream."

"What did you see?" Karec asked.

"It wasn’t just what I saw, but what I recognized. Somehow I recognized the wagons. And I don’t mean because we’ve been walking among them. It was a different kind of feeling. It was as though they were something I hadn’t seen in what seemed like a lifetime." Piskin looked from one to the other. "I know this makes no sense. I mean, I’ve been here with you guys. I know what this sounds like. I know where we are. But, well, you know, while I was seeing that, while I was feeling that, I also was in here. I saw the three of you at the door, that other fellow, the soldier, and I wanted to get up. I wanted to go with you, to go out. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t move! I couldn’t speak."

"You did talk," Shaerden said. "You said something like, ‘You have to stop. Don’t kill it. Stop.’"

Piskin’s expression changed. "Exactly. I was out there, and I saw the-the wagons, and I recognized them. And I tried to come tell them-"

"Tell who?" Karec asked.

Piskin shook his head. "I don’t know." His voice was trembling. "I don’t know."

This time, Shaerden touched his friend. "It’s okay. It’s okay."