by Thomas Rath
Dropping easily into the spacious courtyard, he regretfully changed back into his pitiful human form and strode up the staircase that led to the main hallway and the thrown room beyond. Having captured the once king’s favor so easily, he’d become rather adept at maneuvering his way through the many halls and corridors that was the governing seat of the land. How appropriate, he thought, that Zadok now filled the vacant throne where he commanded real power. His master looked up as he entered the grand hall, the damage he’d caused earlier a mere blemish on the grandeur of the room.
“Ah, Luvik,” Zadok crooned, “back so soon?”
He hated it when Zadok called him by his human name. It was so demeaning to the powerful serpent that he really was. But, as other things, he patiently endured it finding the ultimate prize great enough to keep him loyal, not to mention Zadok’s magic that was a constant tick in his head. “Yes, master, I have returned with another gift,” Gorbrak hissed, preferring his own voice to his human one. He could at least hold to that. “The pile of rock and wood the humans called Waterford is no longer.”
Zadok smiled, his grin so evil as to give even Gorbrak pause. He licked his lips as if tasting the victory in his mouth. “After the others report their successes we will then be ready to leave this dung pile for the real prize that waits us. I think the army has had sufficient playtime and that their bellies are plenty full. Tomorrow we will march.”
* * *
Erl’s constant growling finally brought Jack to his feet and to the tent’s flaps. Erl beat him there but stood aside when Jack pushed at him with his leg. “What has gotten into you?” he practically growled back while exiting the tent. To his surprise, Tryg was setting out his bedding for the night his eyes narrowing fiercely at Erl who followed Jack out, his hackles raised.
“So, you’ve come back to us,” Jack stated flatly.
Tryg released his glare for a face that was as close to innocent as he was ever able to draw up. “Yes,” was all he offered in reply.
“So, where have you been to all this time,” Jack probed and then added as an afterthought, “if I might ask.”
Tryg regarded the old king for a long moment and then lowered his head as if in trouble. “It’s still hard sometimes,” he said with a somewhat melancholy voice though a touch of the typical acid still remained. “You know,” he continued, “with what has happened to my people and all.”
Jack just nodded though his eyebrows were knit in contemplation. He still could not figure out this boy. So much hatred for one so small. Though, he supposed that might be normal for one in his situation Teek seemed completely the opposite. “Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Teek’s missing.” He watched for a sign of shock or worry, or anything from the boy, but he just sort of shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe he just needs some time alone. You know, like I did.”
“Maybe,” Jack said. “Anyway, are you hungry?”
At that, Tryg looked up at him and smiled sardonically. “No, I’ve already eaten.”
Jack was about to press him but Wess suddenly appeared out of the chaos of tents that made up their camp. Rubbing Tryg’s head, he completely missed the daggers the boy shot him before turning back to his bed roll mumbling something to himself that Jack figured could only be some type of threat.
“Good news,” Wess announced.
“I could use some,” Jack half smiled pulling back his tent flap and inviting him in. They both settled into the chairs that occupied the tent’s first chamber while Erl dropped down in font of the doorway as sentinel.
“We’re getting low on supplies,” Wess stated to Jack’s surprise.
“That’s good news?”
Wess smiled, “No, but I figured I would throw that in at first when your spirits were up.”
“It didn’t help,” Jack breathed pulling at his beard.
“Well, maybe this other bit will help. We’re no more than a week from the fortress.”
Jack just nodded. He’d guessed the same earlier in the day but with his Chufa friends gone there was no way of telling how close the enemy was or if they’d even left Calandra yet. With the slow pace they were forced to travel, he figured it wouldn’t take too long for Zadok’s forces to close the gap once they caught sent of their quarry.
“You’re a hard man to please, Jack,” Wess said when he didn’t reply. “Well, I guess than this last bit won’t be anything either, but we just got word from an advanced rider that Aleron’s forces are marching at a quick pace and might even beat us to Bedler’s Keep.”
At that, Jack’s face broke into a large smile. “Now, that is good news.”
* * *
Soyak strapped her swords to her back, the worn leather almost becoming one with the contours of her body as if a piece of her returned. She smiled at how they felt, the welcomed return of a beloved family member. Reaching for the hilts, she drew her swords in one quick, fluid motion that would not have seemed possible for one of her advanced years. She relished their feel in her gnarled, old hands and swung them about in a complicated pattern before returning them to their scabbards just as quickly as she’d retrieved them. She breathed in the fresh plains air, taking in all her lungs would hold and then slowly let it out, knowing she would never have its scent on her nostrils again. She was going to war. She was going to die. But her swords would be bright with the enemy’s blood when she did so. She was finally going to have her chance to leave this life with her honor intact.
Jne checked the supplies in her pack before hoisting it onto her shoulders. Placing a hand against a pocket on her belt, she felt the small lump that assured her the svaj she’d purchased just the day before was still there. Now with her honor and place returned she could pursue her purpose from the beginning when she’d first encountered Thane’s limp form. It seemed so long ago now. The stone was a bright green emerald that she’d had the stone cutter shape into the sign of the five Tane and hung from a silver hoop. She would pierce his right ear with it as soon as they were together again and then on the day they married, he would remove it and pierce it through her left ear, claiming her as his own and she would remove the ruby svan from her left nostril and pierce it through his right nostril making him hers.
“You think of your man,” Soyak stated plainly.
Jne looked at the woman now ready to depart and sighed. “And why do you say that?”
Soyak smiled knowingly. “Only thoughts of ones chosen can bring such a smile to ones face. I would see that glow in your eyes if we were in the deepest cave without so much as a spark for light.”
Jne blushed slightly and turned away at having been caught. “I know not of what you speak,” she said, though her voice seemed to say otherwise.
Soyak’s smile only grew larger. “As you wish,” she said simply and then dropped the subject. She would not shame Jne by forcing her to speak of something so private if she did not wish to. She gave her a long moment to compose herself and then ask if she was ready to depart.
“I am,” Jne replied with resolve. The Tjal would spend a few more days discussing what she’d said before making any kind of collective decision. She’d done her best to convince them of the approaching danger and now it was up to each individual and each Tja collectively to decide their own path. They knew where to find the fighting if they so chose. Her path was set and she would not veer from it.
* * *
The pounding of drums was all Teek could hear as he raised his hands to his ears and tried to block out the noise; but it did no good. If anything, the pounding was louder and was now so intense as to shoot through his head like steel spikes. He had to get away but he felt as if he were shut up in a dark closet. Boom, boom, boom it came like a steady cadence that seemed to match the beating rhythm of his heart. Far in the distance he thought he heard a familiar sound; something that he felt he needed to find. Straining against the pounding he tried to focus on the recognizable noise that sounded again, but this time a bit more clear and near. Though it was
no more pleasant on his head than the drumming, it filled him with a strange sort of warmth to hear it. Again it came, this time more demanding, more persistent. He wanted to race to it, to leave the drumming behind, but his body didn’t seem to answer his commands. Boom, boom, boom it continued. He wanted to scream, the comforting noise, though grating, split through the drums again as if in desperation. He needed to get to it.
Consciousness suddenly crashed into him like a breaking wave, jarring him awake with such a jolt that he turned his head and threw up. He knew now what the drum sounds were as his head pounded with each beat of his heart. Again he heaved, his face screaming in pain as he did so. Tchee’s screeching ignited the air with her cry as she called out in anguish over him and then suddenly cooed as she saw him moving. Darting her razor-like beak down she gently rubbed the side of her head against him while making what could only be exultant bird calls at his being alive.
Pressing the ground away, he forced himself into a sitting position and waited while the spinning in his head had completed its circuit and allowed him to focus once more. Tchee continued with her bobbing dance of exultant joy at his return to consciousness while Teek tried to grasp a greater sense of the reality in which he currently found himself. That his nose was broken was the first painful truth to force its existence into his mind as blood seeped from his nostrils, his sinus cavities aching. Looking down, he realized that he was covered in blood; some of it dried and flaking while most of it was set in the gel-like state of congealing. At first he was alarmed, thinking that perhaps he had suffered greater injury than he at first thought, but then he saw the dark, lifeless form of the large roc that had attacked them; the dead bird that he had killed in rage when it had swooped upon them from above.
A cold wind bit against his skin as he retrieved his fallen dagger and staggered to his feet. Anger pulsed through him at seeing the black bird as he remembered what had happened. Lifting his knife to the darkening sky, he let out a feral scream that reverberated across the mountain’s face chasing vermin to their holes as it gained strength and then was cut short as his consciousness again betrayed him to the darkened corridors of oblivion.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The companions stood motionless as they took in their latest threat, all hope of survival with the coming attack gone. Dor found himself pushing back the Tjal head covering, not willing to give his life as anything other than the Chufa male that he was. He would not die pretending to be something else. As the material dropped to the ground, his short hair, wet with sweat dropped down just behind his ears leaving them in full sight. The snarling face of the enemy closest to him suddenly dropped to a look that almost appeared to be one of surprise as the beast abruptly sat back on its haunches and let out a strange whining sound. All the others did the same leaving the four defenders to wonder.
At that instant, Thane’s mind was overpowered by the thoughts of the huge animal standing in front of him who had suddenly changed from a vicious and wild animal to something more akin to a favored pet. “You have returned, forest child!” his thoughts spoke cheerfully. “Long now have we awaited your return to once again reclaim these woods. We are honored to be the first to serve.”
“I can hear him,” Dor gasped in astonishment.
“So can I!” Tam added just as amazed.
“I don’t hear anything,” Domis complained. “What is happening? Are they going to eat us or not?”
Thane turned to the others sharing their wonder. “You can hear him?”
“We speak to all the forest children,” the creature said. “We are the Kybara, servants to the chosen. Has it been so long? Are we forgotten?”
“What do you mean, servants to the chosen?” Dor asked.
“We serve the forest children. We serve those chosen to shepherd the sacred woods.”
“And we are the chosen ones you speak of?” Thane asked.
“Do you not know your own ancestry? Are the days so long that memory has been lost?” the Kybara asked, his tone turning from elation to sorrow. “Have you not returned to make right the forest again; to cultivate what is left and return it to its former glory?”
Thane looked at his friends whose faces bore the same confusion that muddled his own thoughts. Domis’ calls for explanation had ceased as he determined that they would not be eaten today though he knew his dreams would overflow with these creatures in the coming nights; if he could ever sleep again.
“What do you mean cultivate what is left?” Tam voiced the question before either of the other two could.
The Kybara seemed to be getting somewhat restless and frustrated now by their questions. His growing sorrow was evident as he mentally replied. “You are the tree shepherds, the keepers of the sacred woods, the cultivators of the great anchors. We thought you lost forever, but we have remained and protected what is left hoping someday you would return. And now you are here, but have you not returned to make what was lost right again?”
Thane suddenly felt his heart begin to pound with growing excitement. If he understood the Kybara correctly then hope may not have abandoned them after all. Tree shepherds, sacred woods, and what had really made it seem clear, great anchors. Were not these all things that pointed to the once sacred woods of the…. “Do you speak of the YeiyeiloBaneesh?” he asked, the thrill evident in his voice.
He thought he could almost see the Kybara smile as his mental reply crashed into them, the sorrowful tone gone. “You do remember! And are you here to make things again as they once were?”
“So there are still some left?” Tam asked before the others could.
“Yes,” the Kybara replied. “We have kept them as best we could since the day of sorrow.”
“Will you show us?” Thane gasped.
“We will take you there. There are few that remain so their song is not as it once was to guide you but we know the way. Climb up and we will carry you as in the long ago days of peace.”
As the others quickly scramble up the backs of the nearest Kybara, Thane turned to Domis. “Climb up,” he said pointing to the great beast that had laid down to make it easier for him get on.
“What?” Domis asked in protest as the others seated themselves comfortably.
“Get on,” Thane repeated. “They will take us to our destination. Your services as our guide have been given over to the Kybara.”
“The Ky what?” Domis asked but was already moving to his patiently waiting carrier with Thane’s prodding.
“Do not fret, my young friend,” Thane soothed. “We will explain it all as soon as we understand ourselves.”
That did not make Domis very confident but it was obvious that these great beasts meant them no harm and he was relieved that no longer would all eyes turn to him for direction, as if he could have given any. He understood that the only reason he was really even there was because he’d been promised he could go before Teek disappeared. The thought of his friend pricked at his heart. Where was Teek? He climbed onto the Kybara’s muscular back; its dark skin was rough and felt thick. He reached forward and grasped the mane of hair that grew on its head, draping down its powerful shoulders brushing against its back.
Once all had gained their perch, the Kybara lurched forward, digging their sharp claws into the loamy dirt and pushing through the woods with the greatest of ease and speed. At first, all thought they might be immediately thrown only to crash headlong into one of the thick trees and break their necks, but the Kybara seemed to adjust to their movements so as to keep their passengers firmly attached to their backs. As if having memorized their surroundings, they passed through the close growing trees and thickets avoiding the great trunks and even the sting of the vine armed plants that had almost taken down Thane. The mist swirled at their passing as it continued to thicken with the darkness that crowded in as if trying to squeeze out any speck of light, but the Kybara didn’t slow.
With night embracing the woods, the eerie quiet that blanketed the forest during the day was soon replac
ed by the sounds of the hunting and hunted as the struggles over life and death seemed to rise and diminish in a discordant symphony of death. None hunted the Kybara though as they raced through the killing ground unmolested or challenged. Looking back, Thane was shocked to realize that more had quietly joined their group increasing their numbers to near twenty that now fanned out on all sides as if a vanguard against anything that might dare challenge them.
Deep into the night the group continued its race through the woods as if chased by the specter of death itself. But neither did the Kybara slow or seem to tire. In spite of the constant jarring movements brought on by riding, all the companions at different points of the journey found themselves dozing off as the excitement of the ride and the possibilities surrounding their discovery faded into the exhausted recesses of their minds. All were jolted awake when they suddenly stopped allowing for a short rest and a quick meal. Others of the Kybara soon arrived with different carcasses of one type of animal or another leaving those who had been chasing through the night to fall upon the carrion and feed themselves. Thane was amazed at how organized the Kybara seemed to be. He also found, as the sun again battled to reach through the canopy overhead, that their numbers had grown even larger. All around were found the large, fierce looking creatures who had revealed themselves as ancient servants to the Chufa.
The one who had carried him approached, licking the blood from his jowls as he did so, and lay down next to him. “With all that happened last night,” Thane said, cutting a piece of cheese from one of the rounds in his pack, “I did not have opportunity to thank you for saving us. We are fortunate you found us when you did.”
“It is I who should ask forgiveness,” the thoughts flowed into Thane’s head. “We have tracked your progress since before you entered the woods. I should have come sooner.”