The Hungering Saga Complete

by Heath Pfaff

  "That peak," Telistera explained as we began to walk. She was pointing to a particularly jagged mountain in the distance, one that stood slightly above the others around it. It was difficult to judge actual travel distance, since I couldn't be certain how tall the mountain we were seeing really was. "there is a cave at the base that leads down into the Hungering tunnels. There are entrances all along the mountain range, but that is the one which I am most familiar with. If you keep walking in that direction, keeping the very point of the mountain in front of you, you should be able to find the cave opening on your own."

  I tried to shrug off the feeling of sadness that was attempting to take hold as Telistera gave directions as though she would not be there to finish the journey.

  "Thank you, Telistera. Do you know how long it will take us to get there from here?" I asked, eager to know how much time remained before I might rejoin my daughter. It was difficult to believe that I was so close to being with Kay again. Of course, I was assuming that nothing had befallen her on her trip across the sea with the Hungering, or since. If the Hungering had hurt her. . . That thought trailed away. What would I do if they had hurt Kaylien? I didn't know. I held firm to the belief that I would find her well, because they had given their word. What if that proved not to be true? I wasn't sure what I would do then. Vengeance, certainly, but it would be a hollow and hopeless battle.

  "Three weeks if we keep a strong pace. We don't want to completely deplete our energy. We still do not know what lies ahead of us." Telistera said, and I could sense that she was attempting to give me advice.

  I nodded. "Three weeks. We'll maintain a good pace, but I'll try not to run us into the ground." I reiterated, letting her know I acknowledged her concern. It was far too tempting to just begin running and not stop. I didn't know my limits anymore. I felt as though none remained, as if I could run forever without resting. Somehow, the immense feeling of power inside of me did little but make me feel estranged from the others. Were they growing distant, or was I pulling away from them?

  Telistera left me, taking the lead, though it wasn't strictly necessary. As she left, Malice came up beside me, falling into pace at my side. Her presence was always comforting.

  "You're worried." She said, after a time.

  "I am. The closer we get to Kay, the more I feel that something terrible is waiting for us. I. . ." I let the words trail off because a realization was forming in my mind. It wasn't an epiphany born from thin air, but a slow realization pieced together from everything that had occurred over the past few years.

  "What, Lowin?" Malice pressed.

  "I think the Hungering are waiting for me. I'm beginning to believe that they took Kaylien just so that I would come here." As I spoke the revelation aloud, I understood just how absurd it sounded. How self-centered of me to believe that an entire race of creatures had orchestrated events just to draw me in. I expected Malice to laugh, but she did not.

  "What do you think they want with you?" She asked, and from her tone of voice, I could tell that she was taking my suspicion seriously. Knowing that Malice was willing to listen, and hear me out, even when what I suggested seemed strange, filled me with warmth. I didn't deserve someone like her in my life.

  "I don't know what they want, and I could be entirely wrong. Maybe there is something about Kay that they want. Maybe I wasn't part of their considerations at all." I said, doubting myself. It was the ship with the strange woman and the Hungering that had first sent my mind spiraling in these new directions. Why hadn't they done more to keep us aboard? Why had they let us aboard at all, and why had they been taking us into shore?

  "They never attacked us. They were taking us exactly where we wanted to go." Malice voice echoed my thoughts, as though she were able to see inside my mind. "That's what has you upset, right?"

  I smiled half-heartedly. Her guess was uncanny, but it did little to comfort me that she saw the connection as well. If they had taken Kay just to attract my notice, didn't that make it my fault that Kay was gone? I shook my head to dislodge that thought. It couldn't be me. I didn't have anything that the Hungering would want. Besides, they had already come to me, why would they need me to cross the ocean? If they wanted something, they could have taken it while they were invading. They'd had plenty of chances.

  "It doesn't matter what they want. We're going to get Kay, and we're going to put an end to the Hungering." Malice attempted to comfort me, her voice brimming with confidence.

  I looked at her, surprised by her assertion. My goal had always been to find my daughter and bring her to safety, but I had never considered what that would mean for the Hungering. Certainly I was in no position to destroy them all on my own. Could they be reasoned with? They spoke our language, so certainly that implied that it was possible. The question was what motivated them? What could I offer them that would end the threat they posed? Stopping the Hungering was a daunting prospect. Did I have a responsibility to do more than save my daughter?

  I did. So many lives had been spent to cross the sea that it would be a terrible slight to those who had fought for me to simply take Kay and leave. That is all I wanted to do, but I knew at that moment that I could not get away so easily. I owed it to everyone to do more than serve my own selfish purposes. How could I ever look my daughter in the eyes if I let thousands of men die, and did nothing to honor those lost lives?

  I had come so far, but it was only at that moment that I accepted that my fate involved more than saving my daughter. I would have to save everyone, or die in the attempt. The Hungering must be stopped.

  "Lowin?" Malice's voice swept across my thoughts. "Are you alright?"

  I shrugged. "Yes, I just realized that we still have a long way to go."

  Malice leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. "We've come this far. There is no stopping us now."

  I hoped she was right.

  A great blue stone circle stood before me. Its opening was large enough to pass a meager house through. It stood amidst a clearing in the woods, with no other sign of man's presence around it. I thought of it as a circle, but it appeared as little more than an arch, because the bottom edge of the circle was buried in a rock footer, made of the same blue stone. I wasn't sure why I believed it to be a circle, and not merely a rock arch, but I had a vague sense that the structure was somehow vaster than what was immediately apparent. The stone was blue, and smooth, so smooth I almost did not believe it was stone at all. As I gazed upon it, I felt as though I were being drawn in its direction.

  Why would such a structure be standing all alone in the center the woods? It looked like it should be the portal to a city, or an important piece of statuary, yet there was nothing else around it. I noted that no plants had grown over it, and the smooth blue stone was unmarred by the passing of time. Was it a fresh structure, perhaps something built by the Hungering as they routed Telistera's people? Were those creatures even capable of such an artistic endeavor?

  "You mustn't go near it." Telistera voice cut through my thoughts. "Those rings are cursed."

  "Cursed?" I asked, stopping in my tracks. I had been moving towards the ring, though I didn't exactly remember when I had begun to do so. I studied it more intensely, without moving any nearer. I could make out no discernible sign of threat. The rock was smooth, and the ring seemed solid. I had heard of curses, and I believed in magic, but I did not think that word applied to the structure that stood before us.

  "My village wasn't near a ruin like this, but I've heard that some villages used them as a form of punishment. Criminals, those who'd been caught committing truly terrible deeds, would be forced to walk beneath the arch. I'm not sure what happened to them, but I know it was not pleasant. We call them ghost rings. They say you can hear the voices of the dead if you stand too close." I could see that Telistera was honestly troubled by the strange artifact. Still, it was difficult to pull my attention away. I took another step in the direction of the blue circle.

  "She's right. Don't get any closer to the
ring, Noble. It would be dangerous." Ethaniel spoke up, and I stopped again, turning to face the old Knight. How would he know anything about the artifacts of the Telistera's land?

  "What do you know of this ring?" I asked him, my curiosity overwhelming my common sense. I'd received two warnings. Under other circumstances, I might have heeded the advice of Telistera without hesitation. The ring, though, called to me.

  "Do you remember when Lucidil attacked Fell Rock?" Ethaniel asked, and I sensed, for once, that I was actually going to get an answer to one of my questions. With the first Knight, answers were rare indeed.

  I nodded for I had not forgotten that horror. Lucidil had used an ancient and dangerous magic to transport his entire army across a great distance instantly, so that they could arrive by surprise at the fortress of the Knights of Ethan. His attack had been incredibly effective. He decimated half the remaining Knights in one move, and left the kingdom in a state of complete confusion. He'd also broken one of the great magic prohibitions, and incidentally drawn a creature of darkness from the place between worlds. That demon had killed Lucidil's army as well as the Knights, and had finally been stopped at a great expense of life.

  "He used a traveler's gate to transport his men to the battlefield. His gate was a temporary structure; it crumpled after his men retreated back through it. Men have long lost the ability to master the energies and techniques necessary to use such power efficiently. This ring though," Ethaniel explained, pointing at the strange stone structure. "is from a time when man had mastered magic, and brought the greatest forces of the world under their own control. This is an original traveler's gate. It has stood here for thousands of years, unscathed by time. They are nearly indestructible."

  I looked at the stone ring with a new respect. "So it is dangerous because we might draw another creature like the lantern eye out if we were to pass through it?" I asked.

  "That is the least of it. No, it's really dangerous because almost none of these go anywhere, anymore. The other side of this one is likely gone. If you were to step through that ring, you would get stuck between places, forever. That which goes into a broken traveler's gate, does not come out." The old Knight was looking at the gate, his eyes distant.

  "It doesn't look like it goes anywhere at all." I said, my own eyes scanning the circle. The far side of the gate looked just like the other side of the clearing. There wasn't so much as a ripple of distortion across the opening to indicate that what I was seeing was anything other than a circle of strange rock. "Maybe it's just dead?"

  "No." Ethaniel shook his head. "They never die. So long as the gate stands, it keeps functioning."

  "If they're so dangerous, why were they not completely destroyed?" I pressed, still not sure I bought the old Knight's story. I maintained little trust in his words. Besides, where was he getting his information from? I had read many books in my times, but I knew nothing of what he was speaking. I could tell by the confused expression worn by Telistera that she was equally at a loss. If any of us should have known more about the artifact, it should have been her, a native of the land.

  "They can't be destroyed. At least, not by any means that we could muster." Ethaniel replied.

  "Then what happened to the other end? Why are the traveler's gates broken?" I thought I had found a flaw in his logic. Certainly if we couldn't break the gates, no other could.

  "The ancients were far more powerful than are we." Was Ethaniel's answer, and something about it sent a chill up my spine. "Look," Ethaniel walked in the direction of the gate, but off to the side. He stopped when he was standing a few feet away from it on the left side, but level with the edge of the stone. "look here." He pointed at the gate. I came forward hesitantly.

  "I don't think you should get any closer." Telistera protested as I moved forward.

  "Lowin, don't." Laouna said, but I shook my head, curiosity had long been a failing of mine. I would not be satisfied until I had seen all there was to see.

  "I'll be careful." I said, as I drew next to Ethaniel. I had not feared the ring before, but Ethaniel's story, true or not, had given me a hefty respect for it.

  "Look across the ring, from the side. What do you see?" He instructed, and I did as he asked.

  At first, all I saw was stone. I could still feel that tugging at my chest, as though the stone were trying to draw me closer, but I resisted that pulling firmly. I was about to ask Ethaniel what he was trying to show me, when I saw it. I had to get my head at just the right angle, but if I looked flat across the surface of the gate, from the side, I could see a shimmering black curtain at the opening edge of the stone. I watched it for a moment, as it shifted and churned. The strange, rippling blackness filled my heart with a terrible sense of despair. I had to look away.

  "A working gate would look similar, but it would be white. The blackness means that this gate is dead. That which goes in, will not come out." Ethaniel said, moving back away from the gate. I followed him, doing my best to avoid looking as afraid as I suddenly felt.

  Even though I could still feel the compulsion of the gate, I no longer had any desire to draw nearer. I had seen enough. That blackness had been terrifying. It had been as though it were trying to reach into me. I felt shaken.

  "We'll cut a wide path around any further stone circles." I told the others, an informal order that clearly needed not be made. "It would be wiser not to take any unnecessary risks." There were no protests from my travel companions.

  We set out again, back on path, but it was a long time before I felt the dark pressure from the ring leave me. It was as though it kept watching me, expectantly, ready to devour me and my travel companions. I felt as though I had just denied a monster the feast it desired.

  We drew closer to the mountains with every day of travel. We ran day and night, only stopping when it was necessary for the others to recuperate from the hard pace. I did not grow tired, no matter how far I ran. I could run for two days at a hard pace and I felt only mild fatigue in my muscles that would quickly flee as we came to a stop. My strength and energy seemed to be increasing with every step I took nearer the mountains. I knew that, in truth, it wasn't the nearness to the mountains that was giving me strength, but the life of a Uliona woman, somewhere far across the sea. I tried not to dwell on that fact. The process, once began, was irreversible. Ethaniel had doomed another innocent, and I would have to accept that burden upon myself, since I would reap the benefits. To take the power and feel no guilt at all would be a crime unto itself.

  Our first week of travel had gone the fastest, but Telistera was beginning to slow down. She could still run for days at a time, but her pace was beginning to fall off. I knew what it meant, and I could tell by the sadness in Malice's eyes that she was only too aware of the truth as well. All of us knew what was happening. Only Ethaniel seemed completely unperturbed. His cold indifference raised my ire, but I had done my best not to come to any further confrontations with the old Knight. He had begun to act strangely. There was a certain excited exuberance about him that worried me. He should have had nothing to be excited about, certainly the rest of us were more troubled than eager.

  "We should stop for a time." I heard Malice's voice, soft and close, and I drew myself out of my thoughts. "The others are tired. We could use four or five hours of rest." She finished.

  I looked at the others as I drew to a stop. They looked worn. It had been four days since we'd taken more than a brief break. I'd promised Telistera that I would not push everyone too hard, and I had been on the verge of doing just that. I looked at Malice's face, and I could see the fatigue written across her features. Had she not come to me, I probably would have run for another day without even thinking about it.

  "Of course, you're right. We should have stopped hours ago." I admitted, realizing that I was slowly losing touch with the others. It was far too easy to get lost in my thoughts and just go on forever. My travel companions dropped their packs in place and fell to the ground. We were running across hills with only
a light covering of brush and sparse patches of forest, and just about anywhere was a good place to rest. The hill we'd just crested gave us a nice view of the surrounding area. It was a good place to keep watch.

  I was not certain keeping watch was entirely necessary. We had not seen so much as a single sign of the Hungering since arriving. The day before, we had passed through a large open clearing that Telistera assured us had once been a village of her people, but all that remained was an open field of grass. There were no buildings, no wreckage, and no signs of war. Animals had freely entered the clearing, wary of us, but apparently unworried about any other threat. I had feared we would be fighting constantly from the moment we made land, but we had received no resistance at all. There were no signs of the Hungering, and there were no signs of Telistera's people. We had passed three different places that should have once had villages, but all of them had been like the one we'd seen on the previous day.