by R A Oakes
Feeling confused, Eldwyn backed up a few steps, but Zorya followed and turned sideways bonking him on the head with something solid that was hanging from her saddle. Rubbing his sore forehead, the cobwebs began clearing from his brain. Glancing at what had hit him, the old wizard shouted, “Baelfire, what are you doing here? And where have you been? It’s been years!”
Reaching out and touching the sword, the wizard instantly seemed younger. Eldwyn was standing a little straighter, and his skin no longer had such a ghastly pallor to it. A few moments before, he’d seemed more dead than alive, but now the reverse was true.
With quick reflexes that seemed beyond someone his age, the old wizard unsheathed Baelfire swinging the sword in a mighty arc, the blade whistling through the air.
“Stop it, Eldwyn! Put me back in my scabbard!” the sword commanded.
“Put you back? But I haven’t seen you since the civil war,” the wizard said in frustration though still feeling younger and more animated than he had in years.
“A man can’t wield me anymore,” the sword explained.
“What do you mean? You never complained before.”
“Eldwyn’s so fickle, first me, now the sword,” Zorya
said smiling.
“You just can’t hold me anymore,” Baelfire said firmly.
“Before, you liked me gripping your handle. You
always said I had a gentle touch.”
“Oh, please spare me the details,” the horse said in disgust.
“I’m sorry, but I can only be touched by a woman now,” Baelfire said speaking telepathically like Zorya, but Eldwyn hardly noticed any difference between that and the spoken word.
“I think you’re being pretty fussy,” the old wizard grumbled.
“If I had a hand, I’d smack him,” Zorya said wishing she could kick him but held herself back not wanting to risk breaking his leg.
“I heard that! Why would you want to smack me?
Anyway, you’re a horse for goodness sake.”
“Some say I am, and some say I’m not,” Zorya huffed.
“Enough!” Corson said. “Enough of talking horses,
fussy swords and crazy old men! I came here seeking answers, not more confusion!”
Taking a look around, Eldwyn said, “Oh, yes, I forgot. We have company.”
After Eldwyn slid Baelfire back into her scabbard, Corson overheard him mumble something to Zorya that sounded like, “A horse? What are you doing being a horse?”
Walking briskly over to Corson, the old wizard said, “Answers? You want answers? What do I look like, the town crier?”
“I didn’t know who else to ask,” the warrior woman said noticing the marked change in the old wizard. A minute ago, Eldwyn had been hobbling about barely able walk, let alone move quickly.
“Okay, so I cured a farmer’s sick cattle, ended a prolonged drought and performed countless feats requiring great skill and imagination, but why should I help you?” the old wizard groused though secretly pleased that Corson had heard of him.
“Well, I’m not exactly thrilled by being in the company of a talking horse and sword, and this young woman can ride a warhorse better than most men,” Corson said glaring at the wizard. “And you seemed to recognize Aerylln.”
“Never saw her before in my life,” Eldwyn said in a distracted tone of voice and going back into the cottage.
“What about the horse and sword?” Corson said sputtering in anger. “You did everything but kiss the horse, and you’re all upset that the sword won’t let you fondle her anymore. Would you care to explain that?”
“Never saw them before.”
Corson and Aerylln followed Eldwyn into the cottage, but when Zorya came in behind them, Corson’s patience snapped and she exploded shouting, “What are you doing in here? You’re a horse!”
“Well, I’m not going to miss out on this. Anyway, you’re being picky. How do you think we like being around a prissy warrior?”
“That’s going way out of bounds,” Corson said instinctively reaching over her shoulder, clutching the handle of her sword and sliding the blade an inch out of its scabbard. “Who are you calling prissy?”
“Well, if you don’t want such things being said about you, stop complaining,” Zorya huffed.
“At least I wasn’t born in a barn,” Corson snarled.
“Neither was I,” Zorya declared haughtily.
“How would you know where you were born?” Corson shouted in exasperation.
“I was there, and I have a very good memory.”
Tilting back her head, Corson screamed, “I’m having a conversation with a horse!”
“Well, I don’t want to talk to you either,” Zorya said feeling offended and turning around facing away from the warrior woman, which also put the horse’s rump right in Corson’s face.
The warrior woman looked wild-eyed, like she was ready to pull her hair out.
“Zorya and Baelfire can be quite frustrating,” the wizard said in a sympathetic tone. “But they are women, and you know how they are.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, I’m not a man,” Corson snapped.
“Not a man?”
“Hey, grandpa, it’s okay not to have the best eyesight, but if I were you, I wouldn’t insult a woman’s personal appearance,” Corson purred menacingly.
“You are a woman, aren’t you? I was just hoping against hope, I suppose. It would have been nice having some moral support now that those two are back,” Eldwyn said nodding at Zorya’s backside and Baelfire, who was holding her peace and gently hanging from the saddle’s pommel.
“That bottom used to be so small and shapely,” the wizard said recalling days long ago.
“When she was a foal?” Corson asked.
“Not exactly,” Eldwyn sighed.
“I thought you didn’t know Zorya and Baelfire.”
“Some people you try to forget,” the wizard said still smarting from being rebuffed by them.
“Well, you shouldn’t be so grabby,” Baelfire said speaking up. “You always were so forward in your affections.”
“Well, excuse me, but I haven’t touched a woman of your high quality in a long time,” Eldwyn said feeling annoyed. “And I haven’t heard from any either. I guess some people have forgotten how to write.”
“Maybe we’d have more to say, if you were more polite,” Zorya said in a snippy tone of voice.
“I’m out of here,” Corson said dragging Aerylln with her.
“Why are we going outside?” the teenage girl asked.
Heading over to her warhorse, Corson said, “I don’t understand what’s going on in there, but it has all the earmarks of a family squabble, and it’s better not to get involved in one of those.”
“A family squabble?” Aerylln asked following Corson away from the cottage. As the bickering got louder, the young woman thought, Even when Mistress Xan got angry and scolded me, I knew she still loved me. If people truly care, you can feel the love no matter what they say.
“I think they love each other,” Aerylln said looking back at the cottage and listening to the angry voices carrying through the still night air.
“That’s exactly why we’re getting away from them.
Stay out of other people’s arguments, especially when they’re between men and women,” Corson said putting her hand squarely in the center of Aerylln’s back and pushing her further away from the cottage.
“But it’s a horse, a sword and an old man.”
“Maybe, but we’re playing it safe and sleeping outdoors under the stars.”
◆◆◆
Early the next morning, Aerylln awoke to the feeling of Zorya’s sandpapery tongue licking her cheek. As the teenage girl yawned, Zorya tried to keep her from falling back to sleep. The warhorse nuzzled Aerylln’s neck and snorted right next to her ear, which sounded as loud as thunder to the young woman. Then, using her snout to nudge Aerylln’s chest, Zorya rolled her onto her back. Cover
ing a big yawn, Aerylln sighed realizing that she wasn’t going to be allowed to go back to sleep and began rubbing her eyes. Looking up, all that the teenage girl could see was a white horse leaning down filling her vision, but she found Zorya’s closeness reassuring.
Turning her head, Aerylln looked over at Corson who was just waking from a troubled sleep. The young woman suspected that, for Corson, a fitful night’s sleep was nothing unusual.
Back at the wizard’s cabin, Eldwyn awoke from a nightmare worried it was real and not just a dream. Jumping out of bed, he reached into a bucket throwing a handful of water into the air. After transforming into a wall of dense, white fog, Eldwyn’s nightmare seemed to come alive within it. First, Lord Daegal appeared whispering, “Aerylln has surfaced, hasn’t she?” But the warlord quickly vanished being replaced by another image that was even more disturbing. Eldwyn gasped as he saw a spy lurking about in the woods outside his cottage.
Hurriedly getting dressed, the wizard thought, Zorya and Baelfire must be warned. Lord Daegal is having us watched, and he knows about Aerylln!
Hearing someone calling her name, Zorya stopped nudging a sleepy Aerylln and looked up. One glance at the wizard’s face said it all. Zorya knew the worried look meant bad news, very bad news.
“Zorya, there’s a spy in the woods behind my cottage!” Eldwyn shouted.
Watching the old wizard running towards her, Zorya sighed and thought, Now it all begins. Then looking down at Aerylln, the warhorse said, “Well, little one, your destiny approaches.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked sensing the quiet urgency in her horse’s voice.
“Leap up onto my back, Aerylln, quickly.”
Without a word, the young woman obeyed.
“Now take Baelfire out of her scabbard and hold her high over your head.”
Again, the young woman did as she was told. An enormous shock wave poured out of Baelfire knocking Eldwyn off his feet, then swept past the wizard flowing over his cottage and finding its prey. The spy was incinerated instantly.
“Wow! What was that?” Aerylln asked breathlessly.
“That was hardly anything, my dear, hardly anything at all,” Zorya said lowering her head and feeling a profound sadness knowing Aerylln’s time of innocence was coming to a close. A tear ran down the warhorse’s cheek.
Not completely understanding what had happened, Aerylln watched Corson going over to Eldwyn and helping the old wizard to his feet. The teenage girl could tell he was upset, but wasn’t sure why. But the most disconcerting thing was the look on Corson’s face. The warrior woman was positively radiant wearing a big, wide smile. And as Eldwyn and Corson got closer, Aerylln noticed one more thing about her friend. Corson appeared to be not only happy but contented as well.
A chill went down Aerylln’s spine, and she thought, What could make such a dangerous woman so happy?
Aerylln recalled the reassuring sense of security that had surrounded her during the years she’d spent growing up at Mistress Xan’s castle. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, the teenage girl felt the weight of the sword in her hand and took comfort from it. Aerylln realized Baelfire belonged with her and could sense the sword’s happiness, as if it had found its way home. But, in a way, that also disturbed her and she wondered, What’s all this mean?
Aerylln glanced once more at the anxious wizard and the radiant warrior woman. She listened to the quiet sobbing of her horse and felt Baelfire’s incredible energy, strength and power still lingering inside of her.
Something’s not right, she thought.
After Eldwyn and Corson reached them, Aerylln put Baelfire back in her scabbard and left the sword hanging from the saddle’s pommel. Sliding off Zorya’s back, the young woman gave Corson a tentative hug wanting to be supportive of the warrior woman’s good mood, but still a bit unnerved by it.
“That blast of energy was pretty exciting, what else can Baelfire do?” Corson asked.
“I don’t really know,” Aerylln confessed. “But Zorya and Eldwyn have more experience with Baelfire, at least I believe so.”
“Well?” Corson demanded.
“I’m just a horse,” Zorya said.
“Oh, don’t start that again. You’re a talking horse.”
“Not really. Technically speaking, I don’t talk at all.”
“We all hear you well enough.”
“You have good ears.”
Suspecting that the wizard, horse and sword wouldn’t speak openly in front of the teenage girl, Corson said, “Aerylln, how about if you go for a short walk?”
“Why?”
“We need a few minutes alone.”
“It’s my sword and horse. I should be allowed to stay.” “True, but humor me, please. And don’t go far. Stay in plain sight.”
“Oh, all right,” Aerylln said sulking a little but going for a walk in the field.
When the young woman was far enough away, Corson turned to Zorya and said, “Okay, let’s get down to business. Eldwyn says the dead man’s a spy. A spy for whom?”
“Lord Daegal,” Zorya said.
“Lord Daegal? He’s bad news, I mean really bad news,” Corson said. “Why would he want to spy on us?”
Zorya and Eldwyn both looked over at the teenage girl.
“Aerylln?” Corson asked in surprise.
“Yes, she’s a catalyst, like her grandmother, Lyssa. At least we hope so, and only she can wield the sword,” Eldwyn said.
“I wouldn’t mind wielding Baelfire myself.”
“It wouldn’t work as well for you.”
“Why not?”
“It just wouldn’t.”
“The girl is special is she?” Corson asked.
“Yes!” Zorya and Eldwyn said in unison.
“How special?”
“Special enough to make a talking horse seem like small potatoes,” Eldwyn said.
“Watch it,” Zorya said. “I like potatoes.”
“What can Aerylln do that makes her so unique?” Corson asked.
“What she can’t do is a rather short list,” Zorya sighed.
Corson’s eyes widened considerably, then looking over at Aerylln, the warrior woman said, “She knows nothing about this, does she, Zorya?”
“No.”
“What happens now?”
“Lord Daegal won’t stop till he has her.”
“So, why doesn’t he just come and get her?”
“Coming and getting her isn’t as easy as it looks,” Zorya said with a hint of pride in her voice. “If, like her grandmother, she can be trained to sense rivers of energy flowing through her and blend them into a combustible mix, well, things could get interesting.”
“And Baelfire’s certainly a deterrent, isn’t she?” Corson asked reaching over and unsheathing the sword as Eldwyn gasped!
“Hmm, very well balanced,” Corson said, swinging Baelfire back and forth a few times and twirling the sword in her hand.
“If Baelfire didn’t like you, you’d be dead by now,” Eldwyn said.
“Because I unsheathed the sword?”
“Because you even touched her.”
While putting Baelfire back in her scabbard, Corson asked, “So Aerylln’s invincible, is she?”
“Not quite, at least not now,” Zorya said. “Lord Daegal could take us with a couple hundred warriors at this point.”
“I’d feel a lot better about all this, if I was at my friend Balder’s military encampment,” Corson said.
“You have a friend with more than 200 warriors at his disposal?” Zorya asked.
“Not quite, more like 15.”
“Where is this massive military presence?” Zorya asked.
“I’m not sure. They never stay long in the same place.”
“Are they on some sort of patrol?”
“Reconnaissance.”
“They’re spies?”
“No, an enemy sends out spies. Allies go on reconnaissance.”
“If we can’t find them, they wo
n’t do us a whole lot of good,” Zorya said.
“There’s one place I know where they go for supplies. It’s about a half-day’s march from here.”
“My marching days are behind me, way behind me,” Eldwyn said. “But if I walk next to Baelfire, that should help.”
“Why?” Corson asked.
“Why not?” Eldwyn countered.
“You could ride the horse,” Corson suggested.
“Oh, so I’m back to being a beast of burden, am I? You might want to keep in mind that I’m Aerylln’s horse, no one else’s.”
“Well, I have to say, it wouldn’t be the first time I straddled her,” Eldwyn said wistfully.
“It’ll be your last, if you try it now,” Zorya said glaring at him.
“Save your energy for the trek, guys. Let’s head out,” Corson said.
Aerylln strolled alongside Zorya stroking her mane, as Corson was on point walking a bit ahead of the rest. The warrior woman was always alert and ready, but this time there was an actual threat, and she felt a sense of anticipation. Fighting was the stuff of life for Corson, her reason for living. Everything else was just waiting for the chance to become embroiled in conflict. She was a scrapper, a fighter, and a warrior woman who felt at home in battle.
With Aerylln to defend, Corson had a sense of purpose. She didn’t know how much danger they were actually in, but the promise of conflict lurked invitingly around every bend in the road. And what was even better, at least from Corson’s point of view, was that things were probably going to get a lot worse.
As the warrior woman walked along, she felt a soft, warm pressure against her back as if a pillow was pushing her. Corson knew it was the sword, and what she felt was Baelfire’s aura.
Eldwyn was daydreaming and walking along next to Zorya. The wizard was on the side of the horse opposite Aerylln. Baelfire was hanging from the pommel of the saddle and Eldwyn had his hand on the sword’s scabbard. The elderly wizard seemed to be handling the miles without effort.
As for Zorya, she was walking along thoughtfully, wondering what the future held for them all.
Chapter 6
A hundred miles away, Lord Daegal was meeting with Tark, the captain of his personal guards. An imposing, intimidating structure, the warlord’s castle was perched high atop a huge outcropping of solid rock. Sheer cliffs protected three sides, and bonfires lit the fourth at night making it impossible to approach unseen. No trees or shrubbery grew upon The Rock, and the access road was so steep many horses became exhausted from the arduous climb.