by Thomas Rath
“We will resupply at the armory before we go,” Thane announced before tying up his pack and placing some gold on the counter for the baker.
Tam watched him for a long moment, the sudden sense that she was no longer seeing the childhood friend of her youth blanketing her in a shroud of sorrow. He was different now; especially since Jne had left. She supposed it was out of necessity to their situation and that need had hardened him to the tasks he was forced to complete, yet she longed for those days of greater innocence when a smile came more quickly to his lips than the seemingly permanent scowl that, of late, had taken up residence there. Dor, on the other hand, seemed unaffected. He was serious when the moment called for it, but his childish side was still ever present, the mischievous part of him lurking just behind his dark eyes. Cinching her pack she followed Dor, who flashed her a quick smile, before they all exited back onto the street.
It was obvious that word had gotten around about them as the street, that would normally be overcrowded in any other city this time of day, was almost completely empty. Thane turned to the left leading them deeper into the city’s center while the others fell in behind without a word. She supposed that having the crowds dispersed at their coming was a blessing in that it allowed them to be quick about their business, but Tam couldn’t help the feeling of eeriness it caused her.
Thane finally pulled them up short at a shop that was obviously an armory by the stack of swords in a barrel outside. Though simple on the exterior, with not even a sign to announce itself, the inside was a complicated mosaic of every sort of weapon anyone could possibly want or think of. Crowding the walls and more barrels throughout the space it was almost dizzying to look at. They all entered, eyes darting about and Tam almost missed a step when a form suddenly emerged from the shadows behind one of the display counters. A thin man, though muscular in build as would be expected of one who spent his days at the forge. He was clean shaven and nondescript in appearance though he exuded confidence without the slightest show of fear. Not the sort that was brought about by too much ale but the quiet assurance that ability and expertise brought to a person who had developed the skills to defend oneself in battle.
“Finally,” Thane said, the slightest taste of derision tingeing his voice, “someone with the backbone to deal with us directly.”
The man bowed slightly at the backhanded compliment. “Unlike the others,” he said easily, “I understand the honor of the Tjal and welcome it.”
For the first time that morning, Thane finally felt himself at ease. He hated pilfering through the property of others while searching out the goods they needed. Even though they paid them more than was fair upon leaving, it still left him with a dirty feeling that had placed him in a foul mood. He knew all too well the way people were and he imagined that more than one of the places they visited would make claim that their goods had been stolen by the Tjal while pocketing the overpriced amounts they received. Thane bowed his head slightly. “We need arrows and a sword and dagger for our young friend.”
Domis’ head snapped from the swords he was looking at to where Thane and the shopkeeper stood. Did he hear correctly? His own weapons? “Do not be so excited,” Thane said, as if he’d heard his thoughts since his back was still to the young boy. “We fit you with weapons only because we know that more than likely you will need them to keep your own life.” Turning his head to look Domis straight in the eyes, he added, “Killing is a dreadful undertaking.”
Domis dropped his eyes, his lips creasing into a frown. Tam slipped an arm around his shoulder while burning fire from her glare through Thane’s skull but he merely glanced at her before turning back to the merchant. “Come and let’s look at the daggers,” Tam said pulling Domis to the far side of the shop.
“And the types of arrows?” the merchant asked, poorly masking his surprise. Tjal-Dihn didn’t use arrows. “Where might you be using them?”
Thane turned back to the man, his face a cold mask. “We take to the Underwoods.”
The man nodded slowly and then caught himself. “Then you will want something for close distances and maximum penetration,” he said returning to the man of business who’d met them when they came in. “I have just the thing.”
Though Thane had placed a slap of reality to Domis’ excitement over getting his own sword, the stable boy could not help the extra bounce in his step as they exited the smithy’s shop. Somehow he now felt older and of greater significance with the sword belted to his waist and swinging against his leg to the cadence of his stride. Thane routed them back toward the Inn and would have left them all behind had they not quickened their pace to keep up. Though the streets were all but empty it became no easy task as Thane was determined in his step.
They met Ranse and Jace just coming out of the Inn as they approached. “We were just looking for you,” Ranse said after hailing to them. “We should be prepared to leave in the morning. I assume that is when you will depart as well?”
Thane shook his head. “We were just coming to see that all is in hand with the soldiers and then we are prepared to depart immediately.”
Ranse reached a hand out and grabbed Thane’s arm. “But it is nearly midday. You will be starting into the forest with most of the day behind you already. It would be best if you waited until the morning.”
Thane shook his head again. “No, we are ready now and we have not the luxury of time to dawdle away. If there still are some of my people’s trees left, we need to find them now and get back to the fight.”
“But the forest is evil, Thane. Yes, the orcs are gone, but there are other things that lurk about in those woods that would give the bravest man pause.”
“It will be just as evil in the morning as it is now,” Dor interjected. “The forest is our home. We will be safer than most within its cover.”
“Not this forest,” Ranse countered.
“It matters not,” Tam added, not willing to be left out. She’d been cowering for so long now since her captivity with the trolls that she was becoming sick of her own skin. It was time for her to tap into the feisty girl she once was and make a difference. “Our minds are set. We go now, and the mother help anything that gets in our way; within or without the forest.”
Thane and Dor stared at her as did the prince until her challenging glare made them all turn away. “We will make the Keep as soon as we are able,” Thane finally said. “There is yet hope in this war and we tend to bring it to you.”
Ranse just nodded his head and then pressed a firm grasp on Thane’s arm. “Stay well, my friend. We need you.”
Thane nodded back but said nothing.
Then, to everyone’s surprise, Jace spoke. “Keep your blades sharp and your enemies at your feet.”
Thane nodded to the weapons master and then turned and strode up the road toward the south gate. Each in turned did the same until Domis, who bowed deeply, and then ran after the others, his sword flopping against his leg.
Reaching the others, and the secure arm that Tam draped kindly around his shoulders, Domis looked up at her quizzically as if he might ask a question but then dropped his head with a slight shake and a sigh. Catching his mood and recognizing that a inquiry burned in his skull, Tam gave his shoulder a squeeze and gave him an encouraging smile. “What is it, Domis?” she asked. “What has you so tied up inside that holds you back from the question I see desperately trying to escape?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just that…”
“Yes?” she encouraged.
“Well, I don’t quite understand what we’re about, exactly. I know we seek some special sort of tree that makes special arrows, but I don’t understand what Tjal-Dihn have to do with the Underwoods forest. Don’t you come from the Enn?”
Thane and Dor turned to stare at the young boy as Tam looked up at them questioningly. All stopped in mid stride and Domis took a step backward suddenly fearful at having three sets of Tjal eyes boring into him.
Tam coughed, trying to dispel the
sudden tension that seemed to come over them. “Well, Domis, that’s an interesting question that…”
Thane cut her off. “Let us remove to a less conspicuous spot to discuss this,” he said motioning to a nearby alleyway.
Domis had never had cause to fear his Tjal friends, always finding them friendly and nothing like the stories he’d heard—accept maybe for Jne. But he couldn’t stop the shiver that suddenly seemed to take his frame in convulsing pulses. Had he offended them? Why the alley? Was he to be killed and his body left in the trash piled up between two buildings?
Tam flashed another questioning look at Thane but he ignored it and moved to lead them into the dim lighted alleyway situated between two competing bakeries. Checking to make certain they were alone, he regarded the young stable boy whose eyes darted back and forth between them.
Tam placed a hand on Thane’s arm, as if to beg him to not scare the boy anymore than necessary but he seemed to ignore her. “You ask a valid question, Domis,” Thane finally spoke, “and you deserve an honest answer. But, before I give it, I must have your word of honor on your life that you will keep what I am about to reveal in strict confidence and silence, agreed?”
Domis looked at Tam, who smiled warmly at him. “It’s all right,” she said. “We are your friends and would never harm you.”
“Are we agreed?” Thane pressed.
Domis swallowed hard, but then straightened his back bringing himself up to his maximum height. “On my life,” he breathed with only the slightest quiver to his voice.
Thane eyed him hard as if daring him to change his mind. “Hold him,” he said to Dor.
“What?” Tam and Domis asked in unison.
“For his own protection,” Thane replied. “We can’t have him running into the street screaming.”
“But why would I do that?” Domis asked, his voice less firm as Dor moved behind him and took a strong hold of his arms.
Tam flashed him a withering look but Dor just shrugged. “There is no reason to fear,” Tam said to the young boy as Thane reached up and started removing his Dihne.
“We are not Tjal-Dihn,” Thane said as he pulled the last of the cloth from around his head. “We are Chufa.”
Domis’ eyes widened as he took in the pointed ears that broke through Thane’s black hair. Dor tightened his grip on his arms while Tam rubbed a soothing hand down his arm.
* * *
Aleron’s southern wall soon loomed over them as they approached the cities only real defense. Made of tall, sturdy timbers with mortar packed seams, it was twice Thane’s height plus a little more making it impossible to overtake without hooks and ladders. In the past, such a wall may have served them well, but the war they now faced was something completely different. And should Bedler’s Keep fall and they fail in its defense, the safest place to hide would most likely prove to be on the wall’s southern side, in the cover of the Underwood’s forest.
Domis almost skipped along next to them, the smile on his face barely contained as his eyes darted back and forth between his companions. His reaction to Thane’s revelation had been a surprise to all of them. No screams of terror escaped his lips or struggling attempts to flee, but instead an overwhelming sense of awe had come over the young stable boy. In fact, it had taken them near one half of an hour to extricate themselves from the alleyway with all of the questions that had poured out through his lips. It was Thane’s final insistence they be on their way that finally stemmed the curious assault Domis lashed out at them. If anything, he seemed all the more content now that he knew that he kept company with three Chufa instead of three mere Tjal-Dihn warriors.
As they drew near, the guard that had been at the bridge the night before stepped from the small building that marked his post and moved silently toward the gate. Apparently, Commander Garet had not forgotten the guard’s blunder and as punishment was making him face the Tjal alone. Turning a wooden handle attached to a wheel next to the gate, he freed the mechanism that released the many gears and bolts holding the gate closed allowing the single large door to swing outward.
Standing a distance back, he motioned them through stating flatly, “I was left to open the gate for you and told to tell you that you should not try to return this way as the gate will be shut behind you and none will be left to attend it. The road into the woods is to the left about a quarter of a mile.”
Thane simply nodded and without hesitation, walked through the large gate moving to the left. The others followed quickly until Domis, the last of their group, passed through, suddenly not so carefree and full of excitement as he had been mere moments before. Immediately the large gateway was pulled shut and the locks reengaged into place giving a sense of finality and irrevocability. And though the guard had said that they could not return that way, the sound of the locks against the closed entry gave Domis the distinct feeling that they wouldn’t be returning at all.
A short fifty yards of dirt was the entire buffer offered between the wall and the forest whose trees looked dark and twisted. Those on the edge almost appeared tortured as if they yearned for the covering offered just beyond. Even the three Chufa, who were keepers of the woods, stayed almost pressed to the wall as they walked eastward seeking the road into the Underwoods. Thane kept his pace steady though he had the distinct feeling that they were not alone, that they were being matched in their strides by something just within the tree line.
All too quickly, a crack in the trees revealed itself as if made by a large wedge. Though not appearing as a normal road, or even a path, it was obvious that this was the entrance they searched for. Thane held them up shortly as he closed his eyes and sent himself forward, reaching out to the trees, trying to decipher what was just beyond that might threaten them. As his senses brushed past the first row of vegetation he immediately pulled back his eyes snapping open. He was surprised to find his swords in his hands and a look of shock on his friend’s faces as they reached for their own weapons.
“What is it?” Dor asked just barely bringing his own swords to bear.
“Pure evil,” Thane breathed, forcing himself to replace his weapons. “I have never felt anything like it before. This forest is tainted with hatred and malevolence.”
Tam and Dor looked at him dumbfounded while Domis just nodded his head in agreement. Never had the Chufa ever encountered anything in the natural plant world that would even come close to being considered evil; angry they had encountered, but never anything that was actually evil.
“What do we do?” Tam asked.
Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, Thane looked at her and then turned and started walking toward the opening. “We go on,” he said.
Closing the distance quickly, Thane paused a brief moment before passing under the Underwood’s canopy. Immediately his eyes switched to night vision as the sun was almost completely shut out. The air suddenly felt thick and oppressive as if a wet cloth had been placed over his face making it difficult to breathe. The others followed him in, experiencing the same sensations then Domis cried out, “I can’t see!”
Reaching in his pack, Thane produced a rope that he tied around Domis’ waist and then attached it to Tam’s. “I will lead,” he said completing the last knot. “You will follow me with Domis attached to you and Dor will stay at the rear.”
Tam felt a sudden surge of protest at being stuck in the middle like a child to be protected but she quickly brushed it aside, seeing the wisdom in what Thane was doing. It wasn’t her that he was protecting, but Domis.
“Keep close,” he said, almost in a whisper. “If need be, we may have to tie the rope around all of us to keep us together. We don’t want to lose anyone in here. I’ve a feeling that only a few steps from the road would swallow any of us up in this darkness.”
Moving forward, the road almost immediately curved to the right and them back to the left as if with purpose to snuff out the tiny light that the entrance had afforded. Even the Chufa trio were hard pressed now to see in the dimness. To ei
ther side the trees grew so close together as to appear almost as one trunk creating the illusion that they walked through a corridor. The air was oppressive, not only in its weight but also in the dank, stale smell of compost created by the decaying undergrowth that got little to no sunlight. Neither was there any airflow or movement creating a humid mire of damp that pressed against the body and made breathing difficult.
Thane’s skin seemed to prickle with the desire to be free from this cage of massive trees that should have given him a sense of home. Their type and breed were foreign to him in the way they twisted at the trunks and limbs. They were so tightly wrapped together that it was difficult to determine where one tree ended and another began. It was as if they were locked in a timeless battle for supremacy over the small spot of ground they occupied. No foliage could be seen at ground level, the leaves keeping to the highest reaches where they were used to shade the rest of the tree from the sun. Thane wondered if they all wouldn’t wither and die should the life-giving light be allowed to shine through the canopy high above. The road was no wider than what would be needed to pull a small cart though he couldn’t imagine a horse that would enter such a place.
The others followed without a word though their thoughts of gloom fairly scratched at the back of his head. He could almost sense the fear that gripped poor Domis whose desire for adventure had been suddenly quenched with the grim deluge of reality. Straining his ears, Thane was disturbed by the lack of sound that should fill a forest full of life. This one spoke only of death and its still echoes of silence were unsettling. The dirt on the road seemed to absorb the sound of their footfalls as well, making it unnecessary for them to use their skills of silent passing.