Khorim found a suitable location for the night, and I set about placing multiple traps around the perimeter. When I had finished casting Create Trap, I joined my friends and laid out my bedroll. While Venna remained next to Stel as always, I noticed as she subtly adjusted her position to be slightly closer to me as well. My bond with the elven woman had only grown stronger with the day’s events, and I was glad to see that she felt the same way too.
Broda had the first shift, and we did our best to get some sleep while she watched over us. It wasn’t an easy thing to do as we were in territory that was both dangerous and unfamiliar. However, the hard day’s march and the strain of my revelations had taken a toll on me, the twin stresses combining to overcome my sense of wariness. Before I knew it, I had fallen soundly asleep.
I awoke in the morning to Venna gently shaking my shoulder.
“Dreya,” she whispered softly.
I opened my eyes slowly and was greeted by the sight of Venna’s beautiful face all too close to mine. For a split second I was gripped with fear, terrified that she intended to kiss me once again, repeating the disastrous series of events that had occurred the day before. My eyes flew open and I pushed myself up and away from her abruptly.
“I’m sorry,” Venna apologized. “You were sleeping so soundly, and I didn’t want to startle you awake. It seems like my plan backfired.”
“Sorry,” I recovered. “You just surprised me is all.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Stel joked. “She has the same effect on me sometimes.”
“Oh,” Venna replied. “Is that how it is then?”
Realizing his error too late, Stel’s face fell with a look of horror.
“Um, oh. Well… I mean, no dear, that’s not what I meant. It was just a joke is all,” he sputtered
“You know,” Broda interjected. “It seems to me that our husbands have been getting a little too full of themselves lately.”
“Hmm,” Venna replied thoughtfully. “You may be right about that.”
Khorim and Stel looked on dejectedly as their wives continued their discussion.
“Oh, I know I’m right,” Broda replied. “The question is, what do we want to do about it?”
“Well,” Venna intoned mischievously, “I think I might have just the idea.”
She paused for a moment, leaving the two hopeless men to twist in the wind for a while. Venna and Broda stared at their husbands, letting their fate hang in the balance before Venna finally pronounced her judgement.
“Perhaps the next time we stay at an inn, we should only get two rooms,” she offered. “One for us, and another for the boys. They’ve been so pleased with themselves lately, I’m sure they’d be happy to spend the additional time together. I for one would certainly enjoy a night reserved for just the ladies.”
“You know, my dear Venna,” Broda replied conspiratorially, “I believe I would like that very much as well. Consider it agreed to.”
The men stood by helplessly as their wives pronounced their fates. I couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible as I had been involved in much of the jesting that had brought this all about. Whispering so that only Broda and Venna could hear, I offered an apology.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble for you.”
“Hah!” Broda laughed. “I know what you’re trying to say, and I’ll have none of it.”
Venna looked over towards the two forlorn men, shooing them away so that we could continue our conversation privately.
“Really, Dreya,” Venna added once they had left. “Do you think you’re the only pretty woman Stel has made a careless remark to?”
“Oh!” Broda chortled. “Remember that one in Lauder? I swear you had his head spinning for days after that one. Didn’t know if he was coming or going half the time with you!”
“Wait,” I said, confused by the conversation. “You four go through this all the time?”
“Of course we do, dear Dreya,” Venna replied. “Our husbands love us dearly, as we do them. But they are neither blind nor are they saints, and on occasion, they seem to possess the tongues of fools. We don’t expect them to be perfect, but we do make them pay a price for their stupidity.”
Venna smiled broadly as she finished speaking while Broda simply nodded in agreement with her words. I, on the other hand, was still a bit bewildered.
“So,” I asked, “you’re not mad at me?”
“Certainly not!” Broda declared. “If my husband is going to make an idiot out of himself, I’d rather it be over you than some pox-ridden tavern wench!”
“True words,” Venna agreed. “You may have been the foil, but it was my fool husband who chose to duel.”
I thought I understood. While the women were irritated by their husband’s actions, they still trusted and respected me. Someone else, someone like the ‘pox-ridden tavern wench’ for example, might not have escaped their wrath so easily.
Broda’s parting comment completed my understanding of the situation.
“You just keep doing as you have,” she said with a wink. “Helps me keep the bastard in line, if you know what I mean.”
The three of us shared a laugh, knowing that her words only foretold the further misery and confusion that lay ahead for Khorim.
With our private discussion concluded, we rejoined Stel and Khorim as they waited for us morosely by the roadside. Broda simply gestured for Khorim to take the lead once more while Venna clasped my hand and strolled right past Stel.
We traveled the road quietly, with Khorim in front, likely grateful for the relatively peaceful diversion of only having to scan for the threat of traps on the road or ambush from the forest. Behind him, Venna and I walked hand in hand, with Broda close beside us. Still further back was Stel; marching alone, he brought up the rear of our group, his solitary figure keeping watch on our backs.
Although we spoke very little, there was a certain bond in the quiet silence. I found comfort in our growing closeness, realizing that the companionship was filling an emptiness I never knew was there. I always knew I needed friends, people I could count on. But now that I finally had friends, and true friends at that, I knew the full depth of the loneliness I had experienced before.
Deep inside me, where I had thought there was nothing, I realized there had been emptiness inside me. An emptiness that was now filling up with the warmth from my companions. I thought I had been strong, that I could endure anything for my own sake, but my former resolve was merely a pale shadow of the determination I now had to do whatever it would take to protect my friends.
I had gained a certain strength in my forced solitude—a strength that would serve me well, I knew. But now I was gaining a new kind of strength, the kind of strength that only comes from truly loving and caring for another. The willingness to endure for someone else a burden you might never bear on your own, and I knew the path ahead of me would require that strength. I also knew that with my friends beside me, I would not fail when that strength was eventually put to the test.
9
My moment of self-reflection came to an abrupt halt when Khorim signaled that he saw something ahead. After peering into the distance momentarily, he waved for us to join him.
“Looks like the village wall just ahead,” he declared as we reached his side.
I looked ahead where Khorim had indicated. Through the narrow gap between the trees, I could make out a clearing, beyond which appeared to be a palisade made of logs, the faint outline of a gate barely visible. I hadn’t thought I would be able to see so far and in such great detail; I couldn’t help but wonder if my new-found status as a Sintári was responsible for my improved visual acuity.
“Why aren’t there any guards at the gate?” I thought aloud.
“You can see the gate?” Broda replied incredulously.
“Just barely,” I answered her. “It looks to be open.”
Venna cast a knowing look my way, but I just shook her off—now was not the time.
We approached the town cautiously, keeping our arms visible and our hands away from our weapons, lest the inhabitants mistake our intentions. As we drew closer, I could feel the tokens tugging at me. They seemed to give off an anxious vibration, eagerly anticipating the upcoming reunion with their lost mate. The pendant gave me a vague sense of distance to our goal, and I knew that we were growing ever closer to finding the next piece. Leaving the forest, we entered the clearing that surrounded the town. From our new vantage, we could see that the people had obviously taken great efforts to secure the land around their walls.
While the tall, sturdy logs of the palisade wall provided a great deal of protection, the villagers had also cleared the land outside those impressive walls for many dozens of yards. Open fields lay outside the protective walls, allowing the citizens to see, and even more importantly, to fire upon any approaching threat long before it could reach those walls. Alongside several livestock paddocks, a few low-growing crops had been planted inside the cleared perimeter. The well-protected land had clearly been used for more than its obvious defensive purposes.
I was surprised that we were not immediately hailed as we emerged from the woodlands—a remote village like this would certainly have a vigilant guard on duty at all times. The sense of something being off only increased as we drew closer without receiving any response from inside the walls.
“It’s open,” Stel whispered, pointing at the gate.
Sure enough, on closer inspection, it was clear that the thick wooden slabs serving as the town’s gates were hanging slightly ajar.
“Draw your weapons,” Khorim uttered softly.
No one questioned his suggestion, and we all quietly brought forth our arms. A frontier village with an open gate and no watch could mean only one thing—total destruction would likely be found inside. We needed to be prepared to face whatever had wrought that devastation.
Khorim creeped ahead of us cautiously, stealthily advancing to the gate before peering through the open gap. He stayed there for quite a while and I began to grow nervous, wondering what could possibly be holding his attention for so long. Finally, after several tense moments, he left the open gate and walked back to rejoin the rest of us, dropping any attempt at stealth in the process.
“It’s deserted,” he informed us. “No bodies; no damage that I can see. Just empty. Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Do you still feel that the next piece is here?” Venna asked.
“I can’t tell its exact location,” I replied honestly. “The indications are a bit vague, but I know it’s close, and the trail leads straight through that gate.”
“Then we go in,” Venna concluded, leaving no room for any further discussion.
To emphasize her point, she immediately began to walk confidently towards the gate. Although she outwardly showed only confidence and resolve, I could see Venna’s hands flexing nervously as they gripped her shield and mace tightly.
Stel ran to catch up and pushed the gate open wider, allowing us all to pass through together. Inside, the village was just as Khorim had described. The town seemed abandoned; nothing was damaged or destroyed or even out of place. It was as if all the people had suddenly decided to leave at once and everything remained behind, silently awaiting their return.
We searched a few houses to make sure no one was there, perhaps hiding for some reason, but we found no one. The homes proved to be even more unsettling than the empty streets outside. Laundry lay out as if to dry and food was even set out on a few of the tables, left to slowly rot in the still air. It seemed more and more as if the entire population had simply gotten up and left all at once.
After searching for a while, nothing we found provided any indication of what had happened to the villagers. Frustrated and deeply disturbed, we could only return to our original purpose.
“Which way now, Dreya?” Venna prompted me.
The tokens continued to pull me in a straight line away from the town’s gate. I had been ignoring their incessant tugs while we had been searching, but now focused on them once again.
“This way. Follow me,” I responded, taking the lead.
The tokens led me on a path across the small town and out again through its back gate. As we left the town behind us, I thought I heard Khorim grumbling.
“You mean we could have skipped that whole mess?” I thought I heard him mutter.
His grumbling was followed immediately by an ‘Umph!” and I caught a glimpse of Broda smacking him in the ribs with one of her hammers.
I ignored both of them, intent on following the impulses from the pair of tokens as they led me across the cleared field and back into the forest once more. However, on this side of the village there was no road, only a thin game trail that the tokens seemed intent on guiding me down. Following the trail for just a few hundred yards, we came upon a small cottage nestled in the woods. To call the place a cottage was a bit generous; truthfully, it was more of a shack. However, as soon as I saw the place, I knew that the token I had been seeking lay inside its dilapidated walls.
The hovel appeared long-abandoned, and unlike the village, there were no signs of recent habitation. The rotten walls and moss-covered roof showed clear indications of long neglect. Determined to recover what we had come so far to retrieve, I began walking towards the open doorway of the cabin, but as I drew close, a voice called out to me from among the trees
“Hold traveler. You have no business here,” the unseen voice commanded. “You may go no further. Return now from wherever you came and do not come back.”
I turned to face the direction of the speaker and saw a being that I somehow knew to be a Dryad. She stood tall, with graceful, elegant features and hair that was more like a delicate bouquet of flowers rather than mere tresses. Although she had green-tinted skin, her color was completely unlike that of any orc or half-orc I had seen before. Her skin tone defied description with any of the usual terms, and the soft green hue could only be described as springtime after a fresh rainfall, of healthy growth, and the promise of new life. I couldn’t help but feel that my sense of perception was based more on her very essence rather than her physical being.
I had been distracted by the Dryad’s presence and hadn’t noticed the approach of the others that were with her. Tearing my eyes away from her, I looked around and saw that we had been surrounded by a host of forest animals. As I glanced around quickly, a multitude of wolves, bears, and forest cats glared back at me balefully, all obviously under the Dryad’s control and ready to tear us to pieces on her command.
But after coming so far and being so close to my goal, I was not about to be denied. Despite the odds, I thought we still might prevail if it should come to a fight, but perhaps it would not have to be that way.
“We mean you no harm,” I said, pleading with the Dryad. “I have only come seeking something inside this cabin. I just need to retrieve it and we will leave you in peace.”
The Dryad looked me over again, as if truly seeing me for the first time.
“What is your name, traveler?” She finally asked when her apparent examination of me was complete.
“My name is Dreya Dae.”
“Dreya Dae. Your name suits you, traveler,” she replied. “I see the good inside you. It shines with the brightness of your namesake, but I also see the darkness… Your own touch of night.”
“We all bear our own portions of darkness and light, Dreya. This is a useful thing, for sometimes there is a need for the darkness. But I will caution you as I would caution anyone—take care, lest the darkness blot out the day.”
“Yet these things, shadow and light, they are found in everyone in various degrees. But it is in you alone that I see something else. Something… more. I believe that something inside you is what I have been waiting for all these many years.”
The Dryad appeared to grow wistful for a moment, staring off into the distance, perhaps recalling some powerful memory before her attention returned to me again.<
br />
“The owner of what you search for came here long ago. He sought to hide his treasure from the world, to bury its secret far away from any who would seek it. He asked for my aid and protection and I agreed, promising to continue his guardianship when he passed from this world.”
“How may I claim this object from you?” I asked as she paused once more.
“You cannot,” she replied. “It is not yours to claim; it is only mine to deliver.”
“The charge that was laid upon me was to protect this treasure with all my power, to surrender it only to its rightful heir. The Warden who passed it to me instructed that I should yield it only to ‘The one who is, but never was.’ Even now, I don’t pretend to understand that riddle, but seeing you standing here before me, seeing not only your darkness and your light, but also what else lies inside you, I know that it is you who was destined to receive this gift.”
“You may go inside now and claim what is yours,” she said, gesturing to the open door of the cabin. “But first know this too. It is not only a gift; it is a burden as well. More than that, I cannot say, for that is all I know. Whatever else there is, you will have to discover for yourself.”
As she spoke, the beasts surrounding us had slowly withdrawn, leaving us alone in the forest with the Dryad. Stepping inside the cabin cautiously, I looked around for the token that I knew lay somewhere inside.
The interior was a mess of dust and cobwebs. Leaves and debris had blown in through the open door, making the floor a jumble of forest litter. Amongst all the chaos, in one of the cabin’s dark corners, sat a small desk, and on top of that desk was a little box. I knew instantly that the token lay hidden inside that box, even if its pristine condition amid the chaos and clutter had not completely given it away.
Opening the box hesitantly, I saw the tiny figure of a small jeweled bird lying inside. The token appeared to be carved from an exquisite combination of ruby and sapphire, somehow melded together and cut to form the image of a hummingbird in flight. Even in the faint light of the cabin, the tiny figure shone brightly, as glints of light reflected off its surface. Before I could do anything more, the token revealed itself to me.
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