by Bill Albert
She nodded and looked for the best place to dismount and wait. There were heavier bushes ahead and the canopy was thicker so there was lots of shadow to hide behind.
“Soon,” she called over her shoulder as she started to tighten Snow’s reins around the saddle to prevent them from getting caught on anything. She pulled Snow’s mane tight and the horse’s head jerked back and forth. Snow knew what she should do.
She brought Snow to a stop as quickly as possible and rapidly dismounted. Jakobus did the same and Gallif sent Snow and the other horse on. Gallif and Jakobus flattened themselves against some large trees and counted the seconds before their pursuers arrived.
They could see only a few shafts of light coming down from the canopy overhead. She took a deep breath and noticed how warm and damp the air was. The growth was quite thick in all directions with only a few spaces wide enough to travel through and she suspected there was very little breeze here to keep the air cool and fresh.
They could hear by the sounds of crashing through the forest that their followers were getting closer and they prepared for battle. Their weapons were ready and the first two orcs that came through the gap were completely caught off guard and taken down swiftly. As Gallif and Jakobus stepped forward they realized their victory was short. They were badly outnumbered and in a relatively confined space they could be easily overpowered, they knew there was one option available. They turned and ran.
They kept running and before long knew they were in serious trouble. Whenever possible they looked back to see their pursuers were closing in and their numbers were still high. Because Jakobus, as a dwarf, was physically smaller he could not move as fast as Gallif could, but she refused to let them be separated.
“Any ideas?” Gallif asked breathing hard.
“Up there,” he gasped pointing ahead of them to thicker foliage. “It gets darker. Dark enough to hide in?”
“Possible,” she said. “Hold on.”
Watching every step, they ran as fast as they could and soon were within the heavier brush. They instantly knew that coming here had been a mistake. They could barely see into the blackened shrubs and it was harder to move. They were continuously getting scratched as they went and even swipes from the flame sword couldn’t clear their path. Their faces and exposed skin were scratched by the thorns in the bushes and the pain was almost overpowering. They were also hampered by the stale and heavy air and soon their breathing became labored.
The animals behind them, more used to crawling through the forest, were doing better. Though some of those at the front of the pack were trampled over, their numbers were still strong and the number of blades cutting through the brush made movement much easier.
As sweat dripped into her eyes incredible pain struck her. Gallif suddenly lost her sight and fell to the ground. She desperately tried to wipe her face clean.
“Go,” Gallif called through the dark and musky air. “I’ll hold them back.”
“We fight and die together,” Jakobus called back.
She knew that he meant it and found some comfort in his words. Her eyes finally cleared she got to her feet and started forward.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the brush cleared, and they tumbled into an open area of the forest. There was light shining across the trees ahead and the open ground would give them several seconds to gain some distance. They held hands to stay together and at a full sprint were increasing the space between them and certain death.
Gallif studied the area as they ran and suddenly realized how unnatural the light ahead of them was. Despite the canopy overhead, the light strands should have been streaming in from above, but they weren’t. The streams were hitting the landscape ahead of them horizontally. To their left was a wall of large, tightly packed trees, and the light seemed to be coming from the other side.
“I don’t know what that is, but as soon as we find a break in the tree line we’re going through,” Gallif called.
Jakobus looked ahead and then back at her with great worry on his face. He had no idea what she was talking about
The first of the hunters erupted from the brush. Some started running after them and some drew their arrows and started firing. Their shafts struck dangerously close.
She kept her eyes on the tree fence as they ran and started nudging Jakobus towards them. In a burst of energy that surprised them both she grabbed Jakobus by the shoulder and hurtled him through a break. The sudden brightness of the area they were in blinded them, but their momentum kept them going for several yards before they came to a stop and took a look at their surroundings.
There was a stark contrast between the area they were in and the forest behind them. This glade was open and was a giant circle. Inside this circle the trees were covered with the new leaves of spring and rustled in a very gentle breeze. In the center of this circle was a large collection of tents and small fires with various signs of habitation. Damp clothes were drying on lines of rope and various hand-built tools and chairs were scattered around the area. Though no instruments could be seen, gentle music seemed to be coming from everywhere. They breathed deeply and the fresh air of spring filled their lungs.
From the tent nearest them the largest dark-skinned man they had ever seen emerged. He was tall and muscular and smiled at them with pearly white teeth. He wore simple hand-made clothes of natural fibers and walked towards them followed by others of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Despite the surprise in their presence neither Gallif, nor Jakobus, were afraid nor felt threatened in any way.
“Greetings, brother and sister,” the man spoke calmly and gently.
Suddenly several elves and orcs burst through the gap in the tree line behind them and came forward with their weapons slicing through the air. Gallif took a step toward them with her flame sword raised to strike but was stopped as the man grabbed her hand and held it.
“Wait and watch,” he whispered.
As the animals moved slowly forward, they continued cutting at the air around them and Gallif was struck how it looked like they were trying to cut away thick branches. After coming forward several feet they all clumped together and there were several grunts and growls from the orcs. Finally, they turned away and left the area without looking back.
The man released her hand and let out a hearty laugh.
Gallif and Jakobus turned to face him and in confusion looked at the man and the area around them. It was Jakobus who understood what their rescuers were.
“Druids,” he said awestruck. “You’re druids.”
Gallif gasped as she realized that Jakobus was correct. These people, and where they were standing, fit every legend of the druids she had ever heard including the orange and green leaf shaped carving hanging from the trees. The druids, who had been rulers, disappeared centuries ago. Honest, kind, and gentle the druids were so revered that even the giants had bowed to them when they ruled the Land of Starpoint.
“I don’t understand,” Gallif said finally managing to sort through an avalanche of thoughts. “Why didn’t they attack us?”
“They only saw the brush and branches that their minds could accept. All this,” he said as he waved his hands to the surrounding campsite, “was beyond them.”
“How can we see you?” Jakobus asked as his thoughts matched hers.
“They are in the forest. You,” he said looking at Gallif directly, “You are of the forest.” The man looked at her for several seconds and then asked one of the people around him to contact an Elder. The woman, a small light skinned woman with slanted eyes, ran off through the increasing crowd. “I’m sorry,” he said with a gentleness that seemed to contradict his immense size and presence. “You don’t know.”
“What about me?” Jakobus could not stop himself from asking. “I can see you as well.”
“Yes, my dwarven friend. She can see it because it is her nature. I suspect her faith in you grants you the ability as well.”
“What are you saying?” Gallif steadied herself as
she asked.
“I can see our aura in you, sister. You are one of us.”
“NO!” she shouted and took an involuntary step away from him. She pulled Jakobus close and wrapped her arms around him for support.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can see the after image, the glow that comes from your heart, that you have a druid heritage.”
“You have to be wrong,” she protested. “My parents were Henra and Nieta. They were typical people, humans, and our family had been farming for generations. They had two children, just plain humans, Veret, my brother, and me, Gallif.”
As she spoke her name all of the assembled druids froze in the tracks and looked at her. The sudden shift in their expressions hit Gallif hard and Jakobus put an arm around her waist to support her.
“Gallif? Your very name is druid in nature.”
“Yes,” a female voice suddenly joined them. They all turned as a woman dressed in beautifully crafted robe of flower petals joined them. “Your name does lead us to believe that my friend, Alparadis, is correct. My name is Terra,” she said as she slowly approached Gallif. “May I explain?”
“Of course,” Gallif nodded and listened intently.
“You know of our tribes when we ruled the land?”
“Yes, you decided to return to your roots,” Gallif repeated the fable she had been told thousands of times. “Though everyone wanted your sage leadership, you chose solitary life in the forest.”
“Yes,” Terra nodded approvingly. “We left to follow our own beliefs and leave the rest of civilization to itself.”
“Virtually overnight you disappeared,” Jakobus said.
“Also correct,” Terra said. “I am pleased that the myth and the truth have survived together. We broke up into several groups so it would be easier to travel, and not attract attention, and found new homes in familiar and unfamiliar lands. We thrived and flourished like this,” she said proudly. “We are able to communicate with other brothers and sisters through the forest life. But, sadly, some tribes were lost and never heard from even after two centuries. The Oakdow, who traveled to the other side of the Rainbow Mountains, the Levia, who traveled across the waters, and the Galli, who ventured to the other side of the great ice fields. Yes, they were called the Galli,” she nodded at Gallif’s disbelief.
She shook her head and ran her fingers through her red hair. As she did so she looked at her hands with surprise to find them healed and clean from the thorn pricks they had passed through. She touched her cheek and realized it was also healed. She looked at Jakobus to see how he was doing. He had some cuts on his face and one hand, but his tougher dwarven skin had withstood the assault better. The fact that he still had cuts while she was healed only increased her confusion.
“With druid heritage in your blood the natural forest has healing properties. Especially in our own environment,” Alparadis informed her.
“Can you accept that it is possible?” Terra asked.
Gallif thought back and remembered clearly how refreshing inhaling the smell of fresh grass had been when she woke up after they had left the ice fields. She also remembered how her whole life she had an almost unnatural gift in dealing with forest animals. It was not a skill she had learned, more like an instinct, as natural as breathing. Instructors at the school had told her they had never seen a connection with nature as strong as hers.
“Gallif,” Jakobus spoke gently and rubbed her arm. “Is it possible?”
“I don’t want it to be possible,” she said directly to him.
“Is it possible?” he repeated the question.
“Yes,” she said after several deep breaths.
“Please, Gallif, come stay with us for a time,” Terra pleaded.
Feeling the pressure of all of them watching her she turned and walked away from the crowd. There was an ancient oak tree with a trunk nearly five feet wide on one side of the encampment and she went towards it. Standing on the side away from them she leaned heavily against the bark and forced herself to concentrate.
Gallif had to admit she was tempted to stay. She was so desperate for answers to all the questions that had been forcing themselves into her thoughts these past few weeks that this, she hoped, could at least give her some answers. But she did not want to stay. There was so much for her to consider and there was the threat of Zaslow still fresh in her memory.
“She’s a bigger threat to you than I am,” Zaslow had said. She had dismissed it as a lie to confuse her and take advantage of her. However, if this was true and she did have druid blood in her, and the druids were alive and well in the forests of the Land of Starpoint, then she could be considered a threat to the Giant Lords. After two centuries of power how would they react to the return of people more trusted and honored than themselves?
If Zaslow had learned her ancestry what else could he have learned? The answer to that question tore a hole in her heart with as much pain and certainty as an arrow. As she saw the school near the base of Starpoint Mountain, the only home that she knew, Zaslow’s words and their true meanings came back to her. As if the sky had opened, as if the of this place had cleared her thoughts, she suddenly found herself with solid, but still disturbing, answers.
She stood and walked back to the awaiting crowd. “I have to go,” she announced. She saw the sadness in their faces, but before anyone could protest, she continued on. “There is someone out there, an evil man, who is already responsible for countless deaths,” she said. “I know where he’s hiding, and I must stop him.”
Jakobus took a step to her and held out his hand with the palm up to show his support for her. “Where, Gallif, tell me where.”
“Where could he hide and still be in plain sight of the Giant Lords, of everyone else?” she asked him. As she spoke, she remembered her last look at the totem she and Tome had retrieved from the giant’s lair and what it had reminded her of. “Yes,” Gallif nodded as she read the look of understanding on Jakobus’s face. “He’s in Starpoint Mountain.”
Even the druids recognized the significance of what she was saying.
“For a thousand years people have spoken, debated, and whispered about what could be inside, and at the top, of that mountain. Even we could not decipher its secrets,” Tarra said.
“We have to go,” Gallif said to Jakobus and they started walking back to the break in the tree line.
“We wish you luck, sister,” Alparadis called. “We will be watching and listening,” he added.
TWENTY-NINE:
TOWARDS THE STORM
Gallif and Jakobus were reunited with their horses within an hour. Jakobus insisted they wait for Mekon and Brox at least a short time, but after a few hours with no sign of the giant or the hobgoblin they continued on the way to Primor.
They were both intent on reaching the city and rejoining the others, so they decided to ride as fast as possible through the first night. Their thoughts and concerns were so centered on riding they never realized the unnatural sight they were. She rode with the flame sword held high in the air giving off the dancing lights of the fire. He rode with the pure white intensity of his torch slightly behind her and off to one side. From a distance the sight of the two lights bouncing up and down at a high rate of speed were an after worldly image and doors and windows were quickly closed at the few houses they passed.
By the end of the second day they finally stopped from exhaustion to rest their mounts. They decided to sleep some distance away from the road and without a fire so that they wouldn’t attract any undue attention.
They discovered the next morning that it had been a very wise choice. Before dawn they were awakened to the sounds of movement through the trees and they sat quietly and were almost invisible as a dozen armed and armored orcs passed them.
They decided to follow them and for most of the day kept well back and out of sight. The orc pack kept veering further and further away from the road and Gallif and Jakobus finally decided to return to the path and head for Primor.
&n
bsp; For the rest of the trip they met only a few scattered travelers but continued uninterrupted.
It was evening when they reached Primor and there was a cold wind at their backs and a thin layer of snow on the ground. Jakobus left to go check in with his family and said he would meet her the next morning at Kienova’s temple. Gallif continued on to Tebiet’s temple and took Snow in to the stable to keep her protected. There were a few other horses in the stable and as she dismounted she heard movement behind her. She turned quickly and drew her flame sword.
In the corner there was a mound of hay with a cloth bag stretched out on top of it. Very slowly the bag moved, and she realized that it was a thick blanket with someone lying underneath it. The mound moved again as the hidden sleeper tried to get more comfortable. Gallif relaxed a bit, but did not put away her weapon as she approached.
“You okay, there?” she asked trying not to sound threatening. The sleeper groaned a bit and moved slightly. “There’s got to be better places inside to get comfortable and sleep,” Gallif said as she knelt down. She pulled back part of the blanket and was relieved to see by the shape and skin color of the hand that it was a human female underneath. She pulled the blanket back further to reveal the face. “Kavelle?” Gallif gasped. Gallif put her flame sword back in its sheath and softly called Kavelle’s name several times.
Kavelle finally stirred and, with some difficulty, opened her eyes. She looked up at Gallif and a smile slowly came to her face.
“Mekon said they searched the tunnels for you but couldn’t find you. Are you okay?” she asked and gently brushed Kavelle’s ragged hair back.
“Tired,” Kavelle spoke with some difficulty. “Cold,” she said and wrapped herself up in the blanket. “Just couldn’t move anymore.”
“I’ll take you inside,” Gallif said and reached out to her.
“No, I’m okay,” Kavelle said waving Gallif’s hands away. She wrapped the blanket around herself again and curled up near a straw bale. “After the past few weeks this is a paradise,” she smiled.