by Cory Huff
As they rounded the next hill, they were both startled when two men arose from a stand of waist-high sun-dried grass. Aidan dropped Liam and drew his weapons. Sophronia watched as they made no move to attack and they both held up their hands, making placating motions.
Sophronia spoke up, “I don’t think they’re the same people that were chasing us, Aidan. They don’t have the tattoos.”
She was right. They had the same blue makeup on their eyes, the same long blonde hair, and similar leather pants and similar weapons, but they didn’t have raven tattoos. Instead, they had a small cluster of three red gems on the left pectoral muscle. They were still tall. So intimidating, notwithstanding their placating palms out.
Aidan lowered his weapons. “Who are you?”
The two warriors looked at each other and nodded. “Your friend is injured?” His voice was deep and sonorous.
Aidan nodded, “We were in an accident, and he is unwell. We don’t know how to help him.” Aidan swallowed and asked, “You are not with the men with the raven tattoos?”
Their faces became closed off, and the one who spoke before spoke again, “We are not of the Black Raven tribe. We are Bloodstone.” He pointed to the gems tattooed on his chest. “My name is Neill. Where are you going?”
Aidan hesitated for a moment, but Sophronia spoke up, “We are going to Ghealdar.”
There was a much longer silence from Neill. He seemed to be weighing something. He appeared to reach a decision and said, “You cannot go to Ghealdar with your friend like this. You will die. You will probably die anyway. You are not great warriors.” He pointedly looked at Aidan’s weapons. “We will hide you until your friend recovers. Or dies.” He looked up a hill to their side and nodded. Four more men magically rose from the ground. Aidan hadn’t thought there was enough ground cover for them to hide, but he was, apparently, wrong.
These men were much like Neill and his companion. They were tall, blonde, healthy, and tan. They all had the Bloodstone tattoo as well. They began walking down the hill. Two of them picked up Liam’s twitching form, and they all started walking Northeast.
Neill clamped his hand down on Aidan’s shoulder. “The Ravens god is a dark god full of vengeance and pettiness, but they have not brought their entire tribe here. Just a handful of warriors. They will not risk fighting all of us.”
Sophronia looked at him, stilling her suspicion, and asked, “Why are you helping us?”
“Our druid said the spirits told her that people from Atania were here and needed help.” He smiled.
They stared at him blankly. Sophronia spoke, “Your what?”
“Druid.”
“What is that? Like a priestess?”
“Not like your church. The people of the Thir respect the Creator, but we listen to and heed the voice of the Spirits.” He turned and looked at Sophronia, “Are you also a part of their church?”
She shook her head emphatically.
“Then how do you speak to the Spirits? Do you not have a druid?” Sophronia shook her head. Aidan thought she looked uncertain. Neill looked concerned, “This is not good. I knew the Atanians were losing touch with the earth, but this is very serious. How do you stop fires or prevent evil spirits from entering your homes?”
Sophronia immediately thought of Mindee, the Tuatha assassin. Perhaps she needed to more about how to ward off evil spirits. “We haven’t had one of those in my lifetime. Perhaps you can tell me what they do?”
Neill shook his head in disbelief. “We must travel as far from this place as possible. We will talk when we are safe.”
Sophronia and Aidan walked quickly with the Bloodstone warriors.
Aidan stood at the bottom of a hill, nervously watching as Neill and five of his fellow Bloodstone warriors stood at the top of that same hill. An hour ago they had seen their pursuers catching up. Neill had confirmed their fears: they were Blackraven clan, the same warriors that had murdered his father and taken away his brother.
Neill had decided to wait for them to see what they wanted. There were dozens of Bloodstone clan warriors here, many of them hidden nearby to take advantage should the Blackravens try to sneak around and ambush them.
He saw Neill raise a hand in greeting. He walked down the hill, and a moment later he could hear Neill speaking to one of the Blackravens. Unable to contain himself, he duckwalked up the hill, dropping to his belly before the crest and attempted to eavesdrop. One of the Bloodstone warriors looked back and saw Aidan. He smiled when he saw the young man and made a gesture, palm down as if to indicate that Aidan should stay down.
Aidan could barely see Neill and the other Bloodstone warrior speaking to a feather-cloaked figure at the bottom of the hill. The cloak was black and voluminous, awkward and unwieldy for fast travel across the plains. Raven tattoos covered the man. He saw the chest tattoo, familiar from the warriors he had fought before. The man had blue coloring painted his eyes Aidan felt his stomach tighten and his jaw clench. He wanted to run down the hill and make the man tell him why they had killed his father. Where was his brother Auley?
He looked around. There were more Blackraven tribesmen at the top of the opposite hill. He quickly counted six warriors. There might be more if they knew how to hide as the Bloodstones did.
The man in the feather cloak spoke with a condescending tone as if he were speaking to an inferior, to a child. “Have you seen three people from Atania? A young man, a young woman, and a skinny man in his thirties? They have wronged us, and we must deal with them.”
Neill stood with his back to Aidan, unmoving. His tone carried a sense of humor, “The Atanians have fled to Ghealdar.”
The feathered man stared in confusion, “To Ghealdar? Why?”
The blonde warrior smiled and shook his head, “Ask the wind, Raven.” The other Bloodstone warriors shifted. Aidan looked up, and they were all suppressing smiles. Was that some specific kind of insult?
The man flinched. Yes. An insult, Aidan decided. “If you are hiding them, your tribe will pay,” the man said.
Neill took two k sudden quick steps forward, towering over the feathered man, who cowered a little bit. “Where is your tribe, shaman?” he growled. “Carrion eaters weren’t meant to fly alone. It’s much harder to steal what’s not yours that way.”
Ok, thought Aidan. He’s a shaman. That’s why he dressed that way.
The shaman pushed his quarterstaff into Neill’s chest and shoved. The warrior grabbed the staff to shove it aside. The shaman seemed to distort and twist. There was a weird pause in time, and suddenly he cawed. Neill cried out in pain and surprise. He let go of the staff and stepped back, keeping an eye on the shaman. The warriors at the top of both hills began shouting, and Neill held up a hand to let them know that all was well.
“The wind is helpless in the face of a true god, Bloodstone. I am Cail, shaman of the Black Raven!” Cail spat at Neill’s feet. His voice rose to a shout, for the benefit of the Blackraven warriors. “We will find the Atanians, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He spun around and walked up the hill slowly, with dignity. Cail looked at his warriors for a moment, turned, and led them to walk North. Aidan heard him faintly, shouting, “reach them before they figure out how to cross the Great River.”
Sophronia walked alongside the Bloodstone warriors, keeping her eye on Liam. She pondered the fact that their name, and the Black Raven tribe, were mentioned as the names of noble families in the books she had found in the library. What was the connection?
Sophronia watched, and grimaced, as Liam slowly woke. She smiled to herself as she thought about how she would tell this part of Liam’s story. The heroic figure was bravely recovering from his injuries.
He groaned and held his head. He leaned sideways, grabbing at his stomach and pulled his legs in, and promptly fell to the ground as the warriors who were carrying him accidentally dropped him. He rolled down a hill and came to a rest at the bottom. He groaned, “What in the world?”
Sophronia, after a
moment of stunned shock, ran down the hill and knelt next to him. “Are you OK?” asked Sophronia. “How’s your head?”
Liam waved away their hands as he sat up. He was holding his head in hands as he asked, “Were you carrying me? Where are we?”
“We found some help,” said Sophronia. “They were carrying you. They’re from a different tribe. I have to say, as hero stories go, yours sure goes in fits and starts. One minute you’re destroying everything in sight. The next you’re as weak as a baby.” She smiled as Liam looked up, groaning and half-smiling.
He saw warriors standing at the top of the hill. “Is that the hill I rolled down?” He then threw up, barely missing Sophronia’s feet.
“You saved us back there,” said Sophronia.
“I thought I buried us,” responded Liam after wiping his mouth.
“You did,” said Aidan. “We had to dig you out after getting ourselves out.”
“So, I nearly killed us. This power is a curse.”
Sophronia sighed, “We would have been dead for sure if it wasn’t for the Ogham, Liam. There were too many of them for us to fight.”
Liam clenched his eyes shut, “What about the Black Ravens?”
Aidan said, “They were here, but the Bloodstones turned them away. We’re safe for now.”
Liam nodded, and the effort made him throw up again. After taking a deep breath, his eyes rolled up, and he passed out with a sigh.
Sophronia gnawed at her lip. She hoped that Liam would be better before they arrived in Ghealdar. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she thought she might need his help figuring out the Ogham.
She watched as Aidan helped the warriors get Liam back on the stretcher.
She felt like they made good time, carrying Liam for the first two days before he was coherent and able to walk on his own. After that, they had to slow down a bit. He refused to be carried, saying it was humiliating. On the third day, they came to another tower carved out of a rock spire on the cliff. The Bloodstone tribe explained that the towers were spaced evenly along the coast, about a days journey apart if you were in a hurry or had a horse. They didn’t know what the towers were for either. Some speculated that the towers were ancient fortifications against a sea-based invasion, but others ridiculed that idea because how could an army possibly climb those cliffs?
Sophronia inwardly admitted that she admired Liam’s grit. It took everything he had to walk that day, and he collapsed when they stopped at the tower. Sophronia and Aidan gently placed him in a niche inside the tower and kept watch over him that night.
Liam was speaking to a Bloodstone woman. She was a religious leader, based on her garb. “This tattoo shows up in a book that my family kept. The book is full of instructions for tanning leather, but the inside front cover contains a painted version of this tattoo.” Liam pointed to the three gems tattooed on various warriors’ chest. “I’ve seen it sketched in several places in that book. We also have a sword scabbard with that same symbol. I’ve never seen it anywhere else.”
Liam felt like he was starting to recover. He had ended the last three days so exhausted he practically collapsed where he stopped, with just enough willpower to force himself to eat before he fell asleep. This morning he had woken up with his head clear for the first time. When he noticed the tattoos, he didn’t think it could possibly be a coincidence. He had seen too much of the collapsed, forgotten society to believe they weren’t related.
The druid, her name was Aliah, shrugged her shoulders. She was tough and sinewy like the others, with long blonde hair woven in an intricate knot that sat atop her head. She wore a simple jerkin made of hide with the same Bloodstone symbol painted on the left side. She too had her eyes painted blue. She also had several pouches attached to a belt that she was holding. Liam had seemingly asked his question as she was preparing for the day. She spoke in a kind voice, “Perhaps our families knew each other in the distant past. You look a little bit like Toth over there.” She sighed, “but, we are all related in some way, so perhaps I am only being fanciful. I cannot explain your book, but I am greatly interested. If you survive Ghealdar and attain the answers you seek, please return to the Thir, and find us.”
Liam sighed and nodded. He deflated for a second, unsure of what to say next.
“Why are you helping us?” asked Aidan. Everyone looked at him.
“The spirits smile upon you, young one,” responded Aliah. “The rules of hospitality apply to you and your friends, despite the danger it poses our tribe with the Black Ravens. However, all is well, for the spirits guide and protect us as they always have.”
Liam noticed Aidan’s face go blank when Aliah mentioned the spirits. Aidan turned away and busied himself with other things. Liam wondered at the faith crisis that he must be experiencing in the wake of the death of his father.
He took a deep breath and began preparing himself to walk another day.
As they headed out for the day, Sophronia walked beside Liam. “How are you?”
“Tired,” he admitted, “but better to walk than be carried more. Yesterday was difficult, but I feel much better today. I’m not sure why it made me so sick this time, and not last time with Mindee and those creatures. This was more like the time before, by myself after I watched Aaron and the others die.”
Sophronia listened intently, then said quietly, “Liam, I wonder if I can help.”
Liam raised his hands and shrugged. “How?”
“The Ogham works pretty methodically. We haven’t had much time since the library to sit and talk. I think I can teach you the basics of how it works. I know that what you’re doing is very powerful. I can feel it. But perhaps you need some training to understand how to control it?”
Liam sighed, “I don’t want anything to do with the Ogham, Sophronia. I feel horrible. The thought of trying to access that power again and reliving another experience like that is more than I can take right now.”
Sophronia was quiet for a long time.
Liam sighed again, “You disagree with me?”
Sophronia spoke slowly, “We are going somewhere dangerous. We don’t know if you can even get the help you need. Kaufmann said that we might get help; he didn’t say it was guaranteed. Perhaps if we start sooner, you’ll make better progress when we meet…whoever.”
Liam shook his head. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
Sophronia shrugged, “Fine. Change of subject. I wanted to ask what you thought about the fact that the old books we looked through mention the Bloodstone and Black Raven names?”
“What?” asked Liam, suddenly more engaged.
“Yes. I am almost certain of it. One of the books, I think it was about using Ogham to power farming equipment, mentioned that the Bloodstone family had offered Ogham experts to help other houses and it sparked an argument with the Black Raven family. I think there were others.”
Liam was speechless. “The Bloodstone family was a magical family. That’s my family. Maybe that helps explain what I’ve been doing?”
Sophronia shrugged, “Maybe. I’m not sure.”
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Liam walked, forcing himself to keep going through nausea and dizziness. His thoughts wandered back to the Bloodstone tattoos on the chests of so many of the warriors. Why did his family’s tanning book have an insignia that matched this tattoo? The answer had to be lying in the missing history of Atania. But he was too tired to figure it out, so he put one foot in front of the other.
The Bloodstone scouts reported that they saw the Black Ravens, shadowing them. Like carrion birds waiting for the opportunity to feed.
The next day, Sophronia tried again.
“No, Sophronia.”
She was persistent. She tried the next day again.
“Stop it, Sophronia. Stop bothering me. I need to concentrate on keeping up.”
The next day, day seven of being on the Thir, Sophronia approached Liam once they’d set out. She had a determined look on her face. “Liam, you were str
ong yesterday. You walked the entire day and even helped us cook dinner. You have the strength to learn.”
“Fine,” said Liam, in an exasperated tone. “What do you want to teach me? You’ll have to do it while we walk.”
“Of course,” she responded, waving her arms and smiling. “Let’s start with the basic forms. Think of my arm as the central line that we see in the written Ogham.” She raised her left arm and rested the four fingers of her right hand on it. “Remember when I said that I spell out what I want to happen with my fingers?
Liam nodded, “But I never understood how that makes the Ogham work. How does power come when you do that?”
“You have to learn how to feel it. You already know how to do that, to great effect. One of the things I’ve noticed is that everything I do is simple and subtle. You blasted those creatures in the woods with a wave of raw energy and threw Mindee down a hill. You collapsed a cave. I’ve been far more subtle because that’s what the books I read taught me how to do. I use simple misdirection tricks, making people think they heard something that wasn’t there. I made my body lighter in the water. The most overt thing I’ve done is to make the grass catch those goblins in the woods, and it knocked me out.”
Liam was quiet as they walked. He was silent for a long time. He wondered why he had this power. What was it about him that allowed him to do something nobody else in Atania had done besides Sophronia, and why by accident, with no control.
Maybe he could learn to control it.
“Liam?” said Sophronia.
“I’m thinking.” He said firmly.
They walked in silence for a while.
“What are the Ogham letters for the word itch?’”
Sophronia laughed. She showed him the correct formation for the letters.