by Pedro Urvi
He was awakened by Ona licking him. He was frozen to the marrow. He looked around in case there was any danger. He found he was still lying inside the cave, but a little further in. There was no trace of the bear. It was strange. He did not remember having gone further into the cave. Ona was beside him, watchful as always.
“Ona. Good,” he said and tried to stand up. It took him some time, with his body near-frozen. He slapped his sides, and as soon as he could move his feet he managed to stand up with a great effort. It took him an eternity. Every muscle ached when he moved. As soon as he was able, he began to hop around to warm up.
Sleep much, came Camu’s message.
Where are you?
Camu became visible a few paces away. Here.
How did I get here?
Ona, Camu drag.
You dragged me inside?
Outside cold. Inside no.
The gesture of his two friends touched his heart. You’re the best companions anyone could ask for.
I better than Ona.
Lasgol rolled his eyes. You’re both fantastic.
I better.
“Ona. Good,” Lasgol said to the panther and stroked her.
The bear?
Back of cave. Sleep.
Then we’d better leave before it wakes up and gives us a shock.
Storm pass.
Wonderful. Let’s move on.
Lasgol checked his bows and the satchel with his arrows, which turned out to be intact, protected in their leather cases.
“Ona. Come,” he said, and they went outside. The day was dawning grey and cool. The storm had passed, and now a cold calm reigned over the wintry landscape. Lasgol filled his lungs with the winter air and could not catch any strange scent beyond that of the oak forest to the east, which relaxed him. Everything seemed peaceful.
“On we go,” he said to Ona and Camu, and they set off northwards.
They were now beginning their third week of travelling. Lasgol’s body was starting to feel the harshness of the terrain, which was growing steeper and more abrupt, as well as the build-up of tiredness from the journey. But a good Ranger knew how to control tiredness and manage his energy reserves well. Lasgol was a good Ranger and did not falter.
Finally, they reached the Pass of the White Dragon’s Gorge.
“It seems like a thousand years ago that we cleared this pass…”
Cross?
Yes, Camu, we cross, and then we’ll be in the land of the Wild Ones of the Ice. It’s dangerous.
Wild Ones danger?
Yes, they’re not out allies any longer. Now they’re enemies.
Why?
Good question. Because men and Wild Ones distrust one another. It’s hard to explain… they hate each other… they don’t trust each other… there’s been too much bloodshed in the past.
Bad.
Yes, it is.
Trust.
Yes, they ought to, but they don’t.
Friends.
I wish they were… I wish they felt like you.
Not understand.
Hate leads to distrust, which leads to more hate.
Friends. Trust.
Maybe one day, Camu, but it won’t be today.
Sad.
Yes, it is.
Lasgol was left wondering at how perceptive and kind-hearted Camu could be. The fact that a creature without malice like him could see what Norghanians and Wild Ones were unable to see was thought-provoking. This time he was the one who was left feeling sad, thinking about the horrendous situation men and Wild Ones were in.
For three more days they went on northwards without any more mishaps. Lasgol was aware that they were entering the territory of the Wild Ones of the Ice, and this made him nervous. They took every possible precaution, as they did not want to come across a group of them by accident. With things as they were between Norghanians and the Peoples of the Frozen Continent, they would be attacked on sight, which was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.
On the fourth day he spotted a trail in the snow and stopped to study it. It showed the tracks of two men. Soldiers. Norghanian. Infantry. Heading north. He breathed out heavily in relief. Thank goodness these were not the tracks of the Wild Ones of the Ice.
He pointed to the trail. Camu, you’d better hide.
People?
Yes. Soldiers.
I hide.
“Ona. With me.”
The panther fell into step beside him.
Lasgol followed the trail for half a day. He went very carefully to avoid being seen. He would not be the first or the last Ranger to be surprised following a trail, be it a true one or a false. This one seemed to be a true one, but he did not want to be too trustful. He was in disputed territory and there might be Wild Ones of the Ice, Arcanes of the Glaciers, or even worse, prowling around.
They crossed a small wood and the trail became more visible. It was fresher, not older than half the morning. They were not far away. Lasgol, thinking it would be better to travel to the peak in the company of three soldiers, hurried to join them. When it emerged from the forest, the trail went down into a hollow. Lasgol always approached gullies and ravines very cautiously. He stood at the top and looked down into the long ravine.
He found the soldiers. They had stopped to rest.
It had been the last rest they would ever take.
Their dead bodies lay naked on the snow. They had died very recently.
Lasgol looked around.
Whoever had killed them must be very close.
Chapter 12
Lasgol felt a shiver run down his spine. It was the close presence of death. He flattened himself on the ground, and at once Ona did the same. Camu, camouflaged, was on his other side. He could see the prints of his four feet on the snow. When he focused on the scene of death at the bottom of the gully, he could make out several prints around the bodies. They were not human. He was not going to go down to check them; it was too dangerous.
There was no-one to be seen, but he did not relax. He searched for his Gift and invoked his Hawk’s Eye skill, then scanned the whole area around him, but he could not find anything. All the same, he was not completely at ease, because he had the feeling that the attackers were very near, and he always trusted his instincts. With his sight improved by the skill, he checked both bodies and prints. He was surprised to find no blood. Death without blood was unheard-of. And something else caught his attention: the faces of the two men bore a look of horror. Of great horror. He felt his skin crawl.
The soldiers were dead. But how had they died if there was no blood, or indications of a struggle either? It looked as though they had been surprised while sleeping and killed horribly before they could react. Which led to the same question: how had they been killed? They were big, strong Norghanians, and being soldiers they knew how to defend themselves. The only thing he could think of was that they had been suffocated or had had their necks broken. But who could have been strong enough to do that? A semi-giant, perhaps?
The tracks around the soldiers were not those of semi-giants, nor of Wild Ones of the Ice or Tundra Dwellers. He had never seen footprints like these, flat and wide. They did not even look humanoid, more like those of a great bird.
Lasgol shook his head. He did not know what was going on here, but he did not like it one little bit. It did not fit. And when things did not make sense, it always meant that something bad was up.
We’re withdrawing, carefully. Enemies near, he transmitted uneasily to Camu.
Very near?
Yes, I think so.
You see?
No, I can’t see them, but something tells me they’re somewhere nearby. I don’t want them to catch us by surprise.
I search.
No! You stay here with me!
They not see me.
We don’t know that.
Nobody can see me.
We’re not sure of that either.
I investigate.
Camu, no!
Camu, come back!
Soon. The mischievous creature had decided to help and go and investigate on his own. He never listened to reason.
Camu! By all the frozen heavens! Lasgol cried angrily, but his friend paid no attention.
Ona looked at Lasgol with her ears back. She could sense his unease.
“Ona. With me,” he whispered in her ear, and began to crawl back very carefully over the snow. The panther followed him, also at a crawl. When they had practiced this at the Shelter he had had a hard job making Ona understand what she had to do, and watching her now filled him with pride. She was obedient and good, in clear contrast to Camu, who was mischievous and reckless. He would have to follow him and stop him from stumbling on the enemy. The fact that he was invisible to the human eye did not mean that the Dwellers of the Frozen Land could not find him. One thing Egil had told him came to his mind: Any power has its limitations, and there’s always a counter-power. That’s the way Mother Nature neutralizes the poles, preventing either one of them from becoming so powerful it will destroy all others. It’s the law of balance of the forces of the natural world. He had read it in a tome of knowledge: Powers and Counter-Powers, a study by the Mage and Erudite Colpinicus of the Kingdom of Erenal.
Remembering this had made him even more nervous. He followed Camu’s trail through the forest. Luckily, he knew him well. He went at a crouch, very alert to any foreign movement, sound, or scent.
“Ona. Alert,” he whispered, and the panther focused all her senses on being alert to any danger.
Camu was skirting the ravine where the dead soldiers were, looking for the attackers. This was very dangerous. Almost certainly they would be at some point around the ravine. Lasgol could not believe how irrational Camu could be at times. He knew he was doing this to help, but was unaware that in reality he was putting them all in danger rather than helping them.
All of a sudden, his trail vanished.
Lasgol stopped. Camu, where are you?
Hiding.
Yes, but where?
Up.
Lasgol realized that he meant above, in the trees. He tried to make him out, but knew it would be impossible. So it turned out to be. Seeing him staring upwards, Ona began to look up at the treetops around them.
Why did you climb up there?
Creature.
What creature?
Not know.
Lasgol did not like the answer. Where is the creature?
Left. Twenty-five paces.
Lasgol flattened himself on the ground, careful to make no noise. He crawled through the trees, over the snow, and Ona followed him. Ten paces on, he stopped. There was a creature in the middle of the forest. He could not see it properly, because it had its back to him and for some reason it appeared translucent. It was the size of a semi-giant, perhaps even bigger. Or at least its back was. Wanting to take a better look, he tried to move to his right, avoiding the trees which were blocking his line of sight.
Ona put a paw on his gloved hand, and he saw that her hair was on end, both back and tail. She was warning him of very real danger. Her ears were flattened back; she did not like either the creature they were watching or the situation. It was a warning Lasgol decided to follow. He took one last glance and saw the creature starting to move. As it did so he had an even stranger feeling: it appeared to have something on its head which he could not make out clearly. It also seemed to be giving out something like a mist that fell to the ground. And he had the impression that there were pieces missing from its bluish body. He rubbed his eyes in case they were tricking him. Perhaps he was mistaken because he had not been able to see much from his position. What he did know was that the creature was dangerous. It had killed two Norghanian soldiers, and he was getting an ominous feeling about it.
Camu, we’re going eastwards.
Creature going west.
Exactly.
Not investigate?
No. You’ve already investigated enough for today.
Oh… With this came a feeling of regret.
Follow us and be careful. And do as I say.
I good.
We’ll talk later, you and I…
Lasgol moved away from that spot. Like Ona, he had experienced a feeling of danger which he had not relished in the least. More than danger, he had sensed death lurking. He did not know what that creature was, nor did he want to find out. They took a long detour, since he did not want to risk encountering that creature, or an advance group of the Wild Ones of the Ice, or any other dwellers of the Frozen Continent. Once they were at a safe distance, they took shelter in an area protected by great oaks. He did not make a fire; it was too risky. He sat down to rest, while Camu and Ona lay down by his feet. He took some food out of his travelling satchel and handed out a ration each. They gulped them down, and a moment later the two beasts were drowsing on the snow.
“I wish I could sleep on the snow like you two,” he commented under his breath, envious at the sight of his two friends sleeping like babies.
When they woke up, he decided it was time to teach Ona to receive mental messages. They were encountering more dangers all the time, and the more advantages they had, the better would be their chances of survival.
“Ona. Here,” he ordered and the panther came to his side. He scratched her head, and she responded by licking his hand.
“Stay calm, everything’s going to be all right,” he whispered to her, and she looked at him expectantly.
Lasgol concentrated and searched for his Gift. He found his pool of inner energy and called upon his Animal Communication skill. He felt the characteristic tingle of the power being used, followed by the green flash from his head. He could perceive Ona’s mind, like a green-white aura in her head. He focused on communicating with her and sent her a message: Lie down.
Ona looked back at him, wide-eyed. She stiffened, very much afraid, then gave a leap and moved away from him, looking aside at him distrustfully as though he had done something bad to her.
“Well, that didn’t go too well. I was afraid of that.”
He tried again. Now he could perceive Ona’s mind clearly. He sent her another message: Ona. Here. She gave another leap and began to run around him, very agitated.
“Uh-oh… this really isn’t going very well.”
He had not expected the first attempts to go well, since a cat was distrustful and wary by nature. To have someone playing with her mind was not something she was going to accept easily. Even so, Lasgol was not discouraged. Ona was a very good, clever panther. If he could teach mental commands to anybody, it would be her. He was concerned about losing her trust if he mistreated her, because cats do not forgive mistreatment and she might understand playing with her mind as exactly that.
He did not give up hope. He would be careful and not force the situation much further. He watched the panther, whose eyes were full of uncertainty, even fear. He tried again, but this time, instead of sending her normal messages as he did with Camu, he sent her the commands they had practiced and which she knew well.
Ona. Here, he ordered her mentally for a second time.
The panther gave a long protesting moan.
He tried again. Ona. Here. If she did not respond he was not going to try a third time. He did not want to break the bond which linked them.
Ona looked at him and moaned again. Lasgol tapped his thigh with two fingers. When she saw this, she realized it was Lasgol who had given her the command, although it had been directly in her head. Very slowly, she came over to his side.
Lasgol stroked her head and back lovingly. “Ona. Good,” he whispered in her ear.
She chirped lovingly back at him.
Ona. Track, he sent her mentally. With his hand he showed her the area to be searched.
She was looking at him, eyes wide, trying to make sure it was him speaking to her. Seeing his gesture, she
was convinced that it was really him giving her an order. She went and carried it out.
Lasgol could not have been happier or prouder. Ona was a very special panther. She had not only failed to turn against him, she had understood that he was the one who was sending those mental messages. And although she did not seem to like it much, she was accepting it.
Ona. Good, he sent. The panther turned back to him, and he nodded repeatedly. Ona gave a long, sweet chirp.
Camu woke up from his rest. He slept a lot more than Lasgol and Ona, which was becoming something of a problem during expeditions.
Ona well? he asked, sounding worried.
Yes. I’ve taught her to receive mental messages.
Good!
It wasn’t easy… she was afraid. She didn’t understand.
I not afraid, he said, and proudly put his tail up straight.
True, but you’re different from any other animal…
I special.
Yup, that you surely are.
I magic.
Yes, and Ona and the other animals aren’t. That’s why it was so easy for you and a lot harder for Ona.
Not matter. I speak with Ona.
I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. You can only communicate in one direction, from you to her.
Camu was thoughtful, trying to puzzle out what this meant.
I can. She not.
That’s right. She can’t answer you mentally.
Why not? he wanted to know. He was rather annoyed by this impediment.
Because she has no magic. To be able to communicate back, the other person, or creature, must have magic.
Yes?
That’s what Egil and I believe. We’ve been searching in the arcane tomes, but this ability isn’t specifically mentioned. So, based on my experiences and what we’ve been able to study in the tomes, that’s the conclusion we’ve come to.
Camu looked at him and tilted his head to one side and then the other. Not understand.
Lasgol smiled. He sometimes forgot that Camu was still a cub and that his understanding was limited.
No magic, no message,
Camu put his head to one side. Give magic to Ona,