Avarii- the Golden Child

by Mark A Herring

  After what seemed like hours in the valley of horrors, we finally come out the other side, unmolested by the giant spiders lurking about in the forest.

  We spend another hour or so on the road to get on the other side of the mountain range to the south before stopping to make camp.

  Everyone else is off their horses, and they notice that I am not moving; I'm still on my horse, holding onto his neck for dear life.

  “Sean? It's alright. We're safe. You can get off now.” Dakanii says to me as he stands next to my horse.

  He puts a hand on my arm, and I guess he can feel my arm trembling.

  “Sean?” he puts his other hand on my back, rubbing it, “Its alright....” Dakanii sighs as he sees just what kind of an ordeal that was for me, and how terrified it made me. “Sean, I am sorry that we put you in that situation. If I had known your fear of those spiders (their word), we would have gone a different way, but it would have taken us days... weeks more of traveling to get around, which we just don't have time for. Please, forgive us. Forgive me. Can you come down?”

  He gently lifts my arm from around my horse's neck, and pulls me toward him, “Come here, big guy...” he whispers to me as he lifts me off my mount, and carries me into the camp. I bury my head against his shoulder, weeping and trembling in his arms as an infant, with my arms and legs wrapped tightly around him.

  Dakanii finds a spot to put me down on by the trunk of a large tree, then he goes back to my horse to unpack it and take the saddle off, then went about his other duties to set up the camp. When he returns to start building a fire, he sees me all curled up; arms tightly around my knees, knees up to my chest, my forehead on my knees, and I'm rocking back and forth.

  I don't see anything, I don't hear anything. I have blocked it all out. I just stay in my little protective cocoon, afraid to come out.

  Me; child warrior, acting like a sheltered babe that has never ventured beyond the high walls of a vast city, and told tales of creatures waiting to devour me if I set one foot outside the walls.... maybe I should have stayed in Kikkierilon after all. Too late now!

  The sun is going down, supper is being served, but I don't even smell that.

  The men are growing concerned that I may not be returning to them, but staying all tightly curled up in a fetal position.

  But I do smell the aroma of a bowl filled with meat, steaming, being waved around in front of me.

  I peek up, just a crack, and see the bowl in front of me. I follow the arm that is holding the bowl to see Anjax kneeling down in front of me, smiling his charming smile.

  “Come on, Sean. You can take it..” he says softly to me.

  Finally, my body is able to relax enough, and exhausted, I take the proffered bowl and spork and start to eat.

  Everyone seems to relax at that, and sigh in relief that I'm moving now.

  I wipe my eyes and my nose, and take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

  A cup is handed to me, which I drink from greedily.

  Feeling humiliated, I sniffle and hide my face from the men as I eat my meal.

  This is the quietest supper we are having tonight.

  Dakanii is sitting next to me to my right, in his usual spot. I feel his hand gently touching my back and starts to massage my neck.

  “I'm sorry.” he whispers to me again.

  I sigh heavily and shakily, and put my finished bowl down, wiping my eyes and nose again. My eyes won't stop leaking!

  Emotionally, I feel empty inside; hollowed out. Like everything that made me a warrior has been sucked out of me just by being in the presence of the demon-spawn, and all that's left of me now is this quivering mass of flesh, spineless.

  “Wh— H—” I try to say, but nothing is making it past my throat. It keeps getting stuck.

  “What is it, Sean?” Dakanii whispers to me as he continues to massage my neck.

  Taking a shaky breath, I finally find my voice, but start to stutter, “H—h—how.. w—w—w—we... m—ma—make it... through....?”

  “How did we get through there?” Dakanii smiles to me.

  I rapidly nod my head, my jaw aching from trembling so much.

  “You have come across them before, yes?” he asks me.

  I nod again.

  “I—I—I touch... the web... w—w—with... my s—s—ss—spear, a—a—and—and—”

  “Shh....” the sound escapes his lips, comforting me. He sees the haunted look in my eyes. He moves his hand from the back of my neck to my left shoulder and hugs me to himself.

  “They came after you.” Dakanii finished for me. It was not a question, but a statement. “This breed of spider... is not very bright.” he explains to me, “Nor is their eyesight good at all, and they have no hearing. They have been in that forest a long time, and as long as you don't touch their webbing, they don't know you're there.”

  I have so many questions running through my mind about the whole issue, but I don't even know where to start, and my current vocabulary with their language isn't there yet to get that deep into it about them.

  I take another calming breath, “What about... Boreth?” I ask.

  Dakanii starts to snicker now with that question. He kisses the top of my head, and says, “The Boreth are even more afraid of the spiders than you are, my friend.”

  Incredulous, I look up to him with disbelief in my expression, and he nods and smiles down to me with assurance.

  “Yes, they are.” he explains, “They have not figured that out about the spiders. Every time they have tried to get through that particular forest, they cut through it like they try to cut through their enemies, only to be taken by the spiders.”

  I start to giggle at the thought; whole Boreth armies entering the forest, never to come out again, “That... why spiders... so... well fed?”

  Dakanii laughs with me, and everyone else laughs with us, “Yes, that's why the spiders are so well fed...”

  The laughter really helps me to relax now, and I start to feel relieved with the humor.

  “So... we... not see... Boreth again?” I ask.

  “I certainly hope not!” Dakanii says, “At least, not until we get back—”

  He steals a glance at me, at my reaction.

  I look down and make a deep sigh.

  “I would rather we never see them again, anyway, regardless which side of that forest we are on.” Dakanii finishes.

  That statement produces a small smile from me, then I frown as another thought comes to me, “But.. if Boreth.. take.. nayfursheth... how.. they.. get past.. spiders.. to hide it... from you?”

  “The spiders infested that forest after the nayfursheth was taken from us by the Boreth.” Dakanii answers.

  I nod in thought, “And the Boreth... not able.. to return...”

  “To the hiding place to retrieve it themselves.”

  I shake my head, trying to understand the whole story. “Why.. not Boreth.. use... nayfursheth.. themselves?”

  “Because they don't know how to use it.” Seberkyne chimes in. “They only know that we can use it, against them.”

  Another question starts to form in my mind, but Seberkyne gently pats the back of my hand with his, “That's enough questions for now, Little One. Let's get some sleep.”

  With that, we decide to bed down for the night, and Dakanii volunteers to sleep next to me, with his hand protectively on my shoulder to comfort me during the night. He starts humming a light tune to me as a lullaby.

  I never thought I would ever actually get on the other side of Spider Valley. Now I am, and it is no longer a barrier for me. The rest of this world just opened up...

  I smile as I daydream about what could be next for us and I drift off to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty

  The next day we come across the first village south of the Valley of Death, and the villagers are excited to see us riding in on that particular road.

  They chatter all around us as they gather about, wanting to know if the road is now open, are the sp
iders gone, etc.

  Even the children in the village are excited too and are gathering around me, the only child of our group. They want to know who I am, why I'm traveling with the men, how old I am, and so on. I look about me, a bit bewildered at all the flowing voices all around me, and it is a little overwhelming for me.

  I look to Dakanii, who has gotten off his horse and leading it to a stable at an inn. He has decided that we will be staying the night here, in more civilized surroundings for a change.

  ….

  I realize this is the first time I'm actually in a village to stay for the night. I have seen many villages before, but always from the tree line of the forest except for the one we rode through before getting to Kikkierilon. Kikkierilon was the first city I've been to here, and it was magnificent by comparison, and this village is like others I've seen: somewhat dirty or muddy, the people in rags or little better, eking out a living with the farm land around, making tools, producing food, and the like. Trading goods with other cities or towns in their area. But this is their home...

  Looking around at the construction of the place, I get the idea that this town was once a thriving, bustling town, but because of the spiders taking over and infesting the valley to the north, these people are cut off from the north, for many years now.

  No news, no trade with the northern settlements. The road we had just traveled on is starting to be reclaimed by nature. And if the spiders make a web closer to the road... Soon there won't be a road cutting through there again, unless something is done about those creatures!

  Everyone in the village accompanies us as we make our way to the inn, the only inn left in the village still in business.

  I notice a number of other buildings; businesses with their living apartments above them, vacant, empty. Families having had to leave here in search of better jobs with the northern road cut off.

  Surely, there are other roads going north and south... but those would be so far off to the east and west from here, away from that valley...

  In the evening, we are resting comfortably well in the dining room of the inn, sharing stories and news with the townsfolk, eating and drinking what is put in front of us, as music is being played by the locals.

  Dakanii for the most part is conversing with the elders of the town, while Seberkyne is telling stories to the children; of adventures to spark their imaginations... Seberkyne is very good with kids, I observe. Some of the things he's telling the children, I have no idea if any of them are true or not, just stories from history. Myths and legends of battles fought long ago, heroes bravely fighting off fantastic creatures that could not possibly exist... right?

  I even find myself enthralled by the kindly old man's narrations, as though I was one of the children who had lived here his whole life, seeing adventures being played before the eyes of my imagination. I hug my knees to my chest with my arms as I listen, too.

  And intermixed with these stories, I discover that he is also telling of our own adventures. Seberkyne begins telling the story of a forest sprite; a golden child described as a beautiful boy who lives in the woods to the north of Spider Valley with the animals, and can speak with the animals. Whose best friend is the king of the forest, a magnificent panther; noblest of creatures as his protector.

  He's talking about me! But, who is this golden child? Maybe I am cute, I admit... but beautiful? I never saw myself that way. He must be deriving his adventures about me from when he read my memories that first evening I stayed with them, and then adding details to make it even more exciting for the children.

  Seberkyne is propagating his own legends about me, without letting the children know that I am the one he's talking about. I see him glancing at me and winking his eye at me. I smile back at him.

  I look to the faces of the kids with me, many of the younger ones still in the laps of their mothers as they sit there listening to him, and I can see the imaginations behind their eyes being lit up by the fires of his stories.

  All the men are careful not to discuss the particulars of our mission, even though the danger of the Boreth is now behind us. The nayfursheth is an object of immense power, as I understand it, and anyone who knew where it has been kept would be trying to take it for themselves. All that could be said was that we are the King's men, on a very important mission.

  The town's people would then look to me; a child among these men, and ask about me, to which the men would all proudly say that I am their best warrior, of course I would be picked to accompany them on such a perilous journey.

  That response always drew snickers from the townspeople and they would walk away, enriched with the tales that had been told to them.

  Jenna has me standing with him the next day as we are getting ready to mount up and proceed out of the town when he tells another group of people about me, and after they leave, he leans down to whisper in my ear, “If only they knew... that you are our best warrior!” then gives me a snicker of his own, our private joke, and pats me on the shoulder.

  Then on signal from Dakanii, we all mount our horses and continue down the southern road, the hooves of our horses thundering as we rapidly travel down the road.

  Chapter Twenty One

  The road eventually splits off in a fork, one branch going to the southwest, the other to the east.

  Dakanii whips out his map from the leather sleeve, and I wonder when and where he got it...

  Dakanii takes the map out and unrolls it. It looks fairly new on some kind of parchment, and he consults it for a period.

  I'm curious, so I try to take a peek, but Seberkyne is conversing with him regarding the best way to get to their destination. So they do know their destination, the mountain that the nayfursheth was reported being under, but from what I can see on the map, there are swamps, vast plains to cross, even a gigantic crack to get around; a... canyon?

  Dakanii notices me looking curiously at the map, and watches me feel the texture of the parchment on one corner. He grins broadly and lets me have a better look at his map.

  I look up at him, see him grinning at me, then I look to the map, and I can see the mountains, rivers, even a lake that was off to the west of us when we went through Spider Valley, and dots with chicken scratch marking the cities. As I have said, the map looks new, and I wonder where he had gotten it from.

  “This lets us know where we're going, and how to get there.” Dakanii informs me, then points out our current position on the map.

  “It looks... new.” I say.

  “Yes,” he laughs, “It was made and copied for us before we left Navarae.”

  Dakanii and Seberkyne decide to take the east road for now, as the southwest road is completely going the wrong way.

  Although the southwest direction would take them around some of these obstacles, the route would take far too long to get around , and I had heard something about some non-nice people? But not the Boreth, another people these men are trying to avoid.

  So we follow the east road for many miles, and the next day we veer off it, continuing on a southern direction. We go up a gradient into another mountain range, and from what I understand from the map, is the vast canyon, and where we are approaching it is about the middle. There is no way around it, it would add even more weeks, possibly months to go around. We have to go through it. Find one of the many trails and paths that people have used over the years to get through it.

  My heart sinks at seeing the sheer drop directly in front of us, with a large river in the center of this deep chasm, and the other side rising up another sheer cliff, at least a mile away it looks like to me, maybe even more.

  Everyone takes a moment to look over the edge and take in the spectacular and breath taking (stealing more like!) sights. Well, I did want to see the world.... and I don't mind seeing it, it is beautiful and magnificent, I just wish we didn't have to go down in there!

  Dakanii urges his mount forward, looking for anything leading to the trails downward. The trails are there, people have traveled
through here before, but I get the idea that it is not too well traveled as it is perilous, and caravans loaded with trade goods have been lost in the past.

  We continue east along the canyon, looking for a trail, until the weather decides to plot against us and start a downpour. There aren't any trees along the canyon up in the mountains, but we do find a nice outcropping of rock to hide under and make a camp.

  Actually, we discover that it is the opening of a cave, so each of us takes a torch to search out how deep the cave goes, and to chase out anything that would also use it for shelter.

  Seberkyne keeps me with him as he holds his torch high and looks above us, and I look along the floor of the cave. Seeing nothing dangerous, although a couple of non-dangerous creatures went skittering out because of us, the cave is declared safe and everyone sets to making camp, far enough away from the cave entrance for the fire.

  Everyone takes a turn to use the far back of the cave to change out of their wet clothing into something dry, then set up clothes lines around the fire to dry off their clothes, without getting in Anjax's way of making supper for all.

  I decide to accompany Anjax at the pot to see how he makes his stew, and he is tickled that I want to learn. Taking me under his wing, he shows me each of the ingredients and tells me how much of each he uses (a great honor, by the way, as he refuses to share his recipes with anyone else!), and explains that the biscuits had already been made before leaving civilization, as he has no oven to make them in out here, and they can stay good for a long while. Although, as Anjax and I both discover, that we are starting to run low on biscuits now, and that we hope to come across another road once we get on the other side of this canyon and find another town or village. Or better yet, another city like Kikkierilon.

  I also listen to Anjax as he tells me stories of the Kikkierii, the kind of people they are (which I already have an experience first hand), a people rich in culture, history, art (especially cooking arts!), literature, and that his own kingdom, Navarae, was very fortunate to have them as allies. The Kikkierii are also brilliant tacticians and fearsome warriors. They have never been invaded, their walls have never been breached, and if they come knocking on your door dressed for battle, you had better be ready to join them as an ally, or surrender under terms. Much of which he tells me I suspect is exaggerated, but that's part of the story telling.