The Stewards of Reed, Volume 1: The Rise of Fallon

by Wark, RM

  “We can go to the Cadian Forest some other time,” offered Gentry. “You should be with your grandson.”

  Fallon nodded in agreement with Gentry’s words, but although he was concerned for Calvin, he was also disappointed that he would not be going on his first journey out of the village after all.

  The Steward pondered the situation for a moment. There was no question that he would go to his grandson, but he did not want to delay the trip to the Cadian Forest either. There was much for Fallon to learn. An idea occurred to the Steward and before he could think better of it he started to speak. “Gentry, would you mind taking young Fallon to the forest by yourself?”

  “It would be my pleasure, Steward,” Gentry said, though the surprise in his voice was clear.

  Steward Isaiah retrieved a botany book from his bag. “Be on the lookout for these plants,” he said, pointing out a sketch to Fallon. “I had wanted to collect some leaves from the bionna plant for a future potion lesson. We shall need at least seven leaves.”

  “Aye, sir. I shall look for it,” said Fallon, taking possession of the book.

  “I shall expect you back in a week’s time.”

  Steward Isaiah guided his horse over to Fallon before jumping onto Adam’s horse and galloping off towards his son’s house.

  “Now that it seems you are without a horse, shall we give you a lift back to the Council Chambers?” asked Gentry.

  “No, that is all right. Walking is good for one’s soul – especially in times like these.” Adam waved good-bye and started walking back down the way he came.

  *************

  Lord Quaid’s home was beautiful, with high ceilings and grand stone fireplaces in almost every room. There were also windows everywhere, allowing the outside forest to be as much a part of the visual experience as the interior decor. Although partial to her castle of white, Lady Dinah had to admit it was charming. She had never been inside before. She had only seen the outside briefly as they made their escape to Reed, when the Second War took a turn for the worse all those years ago.

  Lady Dinah looked curiously at the aging man who brought her some tea. “Thank you,” she said, but the man only nodded in response before shuffling off. She turned her attention to Lord Quaid, who was sitting on the other side of the fireplace, nursing his own tea. “You have quite powerful spells at work in this forest,” she said.

  Lord Quaid chuckled. “Aye, but we must be careful, no?”

  “I suppose, though your fairies are quite nasty little creatures. One even had the audacity to bite me,” replied the wizard.

  “Aye, they are a bit temperamental,” he mused. “But they are the primary guardians of my prize white deer, so I find that trait to be quite useful.”

  “Hmph.” Lady Dinah made her annoyance clear.

  Lord Quaid said nothing.

  “You are probably wondering why I am here,” she said at last.

  “You are welcome here anytime,” he wisely responded, keeping his curiosity in check.

  “I am searching for some of my mother’s old journals, from her library. Did any of her materials end up here before the Second War?”

  “Aye. I did not take much but I do have some things.”

  Lord Quaid was visibly relieved, and Lady Dinah found this to be incredibly odd, but then again, so much was odd about Lord Quaid and the place he called home.

  “If you follow me, I shall be happy to show you to the library,” he said eagerly, standing up.

  “Perhaps tomorrow,” sighed Lady Dinah. “I am afraid I have a bit of a headache at the moment, and would rather be shown to my bed chambers.”

  “I understand, my Queen. I shall have Geoffrey show you to your room.” With that, Lord Quaid rang a bell and the aging man who had brought Lady Dinah her tea reappeared.

  “Lady Dinah shall be staying with us for a little while. Please see to her every need,” Lord Quaid commanded.

  *************

  The ride to Graves was uneventful and somewhat boring for Gentry, who had made this trip many times before. But Fallon was giddy with excitement. Sleeping under the stars by a campfire the first night was a particular treat for the boy. Fallon was not at all tired and kept Gentry up with an endless sea of questions.

  “Gentry?”

  “Aye?”

  “Have you ever been to Graves before?”

  “Aye.”

  “What is it like?”

  “You shall find out soon enough.”

  “Have you ever been to Jessum?” Fallon was now thinking of the wayward visitor that had once stumbled upon his classroom.

  “Aye.”

  “I shall like to go there someday. It must be quite exciting with all the gold and silver everywhere.”

  “Hmph. Mining towns are not all about riches, Fallon. They tend to be full of thieves and other foul sorts of people.”

  The boy was silent for some time and Gentry grew hopeful that Fallon had finally fallen asleep.

  “Gentry?”

  “Aye?” he responded, clearly annoyed.

  “Thank you for coming even though Steward Isaiah could not.”

  There was a pause, followed by a much softer, “You are welcome.”

  Fallon finally closed his eyes.

  Late the following day they crossed the River Nye over the Sutter Bridge and headed into the Town of Graves. Fallon was amazed at the size of the town and could not believe how many buildings and people there were all around him.

  “If you think this is big, wait until you visit Bartow,” said Gentry, amused at Fallon’s wonderment.

  They stayed the night at the aptly named Lumberjack Inn and then headed into the Cadian Forest the following day. Gentry sought out a good campsite that was close to a stream. He showed Fallon how to pitch a tent and start a fire. Fallon was not exactly successful at the latter but it was not for lack of trying. Gentry also showed Fallon how to hoist a bag full of all their foodstuffs over a tree limb with a rope in order to keep it safe. He did not know for certain if bears lived in this forest, but he did not want to take any chances.

  After their campsite was constructed, Fallon spent a bit of time practicing his archery skills, with mixed results. It was Gentry who first spotted the wild boar only a few yards away, noisily sniffing at the ground. As quietly as possible, he pointed out the beast to Fallon and encouraged him to take a shot. As Fallon shifted his position for a better line of sight, his foot snapped a twig and the boar looked up, startled. The boar caught sight of them and immediately took off running in the opposite direction.

  “Shoot him!” cried Gentry.

  Before he could even think about what he was doing, Fallon let an arrow fly. It followed the boar through some brush and they lost sight of it, but a squeal from the boar was heard shortly thereafter.

  “I think you hit it, Fallon!” exclaimed Gentry as he rushed off to find the boar.

  Fallon stood in his place, shocked that he might have actually hit something with his arrow, something that was moving, no less. He watched as Gentry made his way through the same brush that the boar and arrow had entered only moments earlier. He heard Gentry mumble something and then shortly thereafter he heard a scream. Fallon took off running towards the brush.

  The mumbling had been Gentry’s disappointment that the arrow had not hit the boar after all. He had gone to retrieve the arrow from the thick of the brush when he was struck. He watched as the black and green snake with a mouth as dark as coal hissed at him and then slithered away. Almost immediately his heart started racing and he felt faint, so he sat down against a nearby tree.

  Fallon arrived only a few moments later. He could see that Gentry was sweating and breathing rapidly.

  “Snake bite.” Those were the only words that Gentry had the strength to speak. He was already getting dizzy and nauseated.

  Without thinking Fallon took off his shirt and tied it around Gentry’s arm above the bite mark. “Try not to move. I shall find something to help you.”


  Fallon’s mind was racing. He needed to act fast. Had he seen the snake, or if Gentry had been in a position to tell him, Fallon would have known that Gentry had been bitten by the most venomous snake in the region, the deadly black boca. Victims rarely last more than a few hours after being bitten. The venom attacks the brain and the victim has an increasingly difficult time breathing. Without breath there is no life; there was no time to delay.

  The sight of Gentry was enough to let Fallon know the situation was serious, even if he did not know that the black boca was the culprit. He knew that certain plant species had special anti-venom properties and he cursed himself for not reading more of Steward Isaiah’s botany book before arriving at the forest; he was not quite certain which plants to look for. Fallon was about to run back to the campsite to find the book when he spotted the wild boar in the distance, stumbling along on a bum leg. Without exactly knowing how he knew, Fallon was certain that the boar had been bitten by the same snake that bit Gentry; and without exactly knowing why, he grabbed an empty bag that Gentry had been carrying and began to follow the creature.

  For what seemed like forever, Fallon followed the boar down dirt paths, through bushes and trees, and across shallow streams and over fallen logs. The boar’s walk was clumsy, and he frequently tripped over his own feet, yet still he pushed forward with every ounce of survival instinct he had. This continued on for quite some time.

  There was a moment during the chase when Fallon became overwhelmed with a strange feeling – a sense of dread. He stopped for a moment, looking about him. In the distance he saw the faint outline of a little cabin, mostly obscured by trees. He was inexplicably drawn to the cabin – to the desperation, the fear, the agony – emanating from within. But the boar did not go towards the cabin, and Fallon could see he was getting further away. He glanced once more at the cabin and then turned to follow the beast.

  Eventually the boar came to the edge of another stream and started to dig near some tall weeds garnished with a dark purple flower. Fallon moved closer and saw that the roots of those weeds were bright red. The boar began eating the roots as fast as he could and paid no attention to Fallon when the boy walked up beside him.

  Following suit, Fallon grabbed a small stick nearby and began digging in the purple-flowered weeds until another set of red roots was exposed. He carefully pulled the roots out of the ground and put them into Gentry’s bag, along with the dark purple petals of the flower. Fortunately Fallon was blessed with a good sense of direction and he was able to make his way back to Gentry without getting too lost.

  Gentry looked absolutely awful. His color was gone and he was breathing even more rapidly than before. He barely had the strength to look at Fallon.

  “I must go back to the campsite for a moment,” Fallon said, trying hard not to show how scared he was. “I shall be right back.”

  The embers from the campfire were still hot and it did not take long for Fallon to bring flames back to life. Using a knife he found in one of Gentry’s other bags (Dennison’s knife, actually) he chopped up the root. He threw half of the pieces into the tea kettle along with the dark purple petals; the other half he tried to mush into a paste as best as he could using a stick and a little water from his canteen. It had been more than an hour since the snake had bitten Gentry. Fallon raced back to him with his canteen now full of tea and a stick coated in paste. He knew he must act quickly.

  Gentry did not even acknowledge Fallon when the boy returned. Gentry’s eyes were closed and his body was slumped even further down along the tree; he was sweating and shaking a little. Fallon held the canteen to Gentry’s mouth but it took some effort before Gentry was able to drink. After Fallon was satisfied that Gentry successfully swallowed some tea (most of it seemed to have dribbled down his chin), he started to rub the paste substance into the bite mark. Now there was nothing to do but wait and see if the strange purple flower with the bright red roots would help Gentry or not.

  Fallon stayed by Gentry, who proceeded to fall asleep, though his breathing was quite rapid and shallow and not at all like that of a person resting. Staring up at the darkening sky, Fallon knew it would be nightfall soon. There was no chance of getting Gentry back to the campsite given his condition and his size, so Fallon did his best to make the spot by the tree comfortable. He brought back several blankets from the campsite and wrapped them around Gentry before laying him on the ground as gently as possible. He went back to tend to the horses and then returned to Gentry, keeping careful watch over him until there was nothing but darkness, and his own eyes grew heavy.

  Fallon awoke the next morning to find Gentry still sleeping, but to his relief the breathing was no longer shallow and rapid. He made some tea and brought it back to Gentry in hopes of waking him. “Would you like some tea, Gentry?” he asked, holding out his canteen to the sleeping man. But Gentry did not stir.

  It was not until almost dusk that Gentry finally opened his eyes. He was still weak and a bit dizzy, but he was alive! Fallon helped him to sit up and ran to retrieve some more tea and food. “How is it possible that I am still here?” Gentry did not realize he was speaking his thoughts aloud.

  “Perhaps it was not your time to go yet,” Fallon responded, smiling brightly.

  “Alas, I was bitten by a black boca.”

  Fallon’s face fell. For the first time it became clear how perilous the situation had really been, how close Gentry had come to dying. After more prompting from Gentry, Fallon recounted how he followed the boar to the purple flower with the bright red roots. “I am just glad it worked,” said Fallon.

  Although still weak, Gentry decided he was well enough to start the journey back to Reed the next morning. Fallon had wanted to stop in Graves to see a physician, but Gentry just wanted to go home. “You already healed me, Fallon. You saved my life.”

  And with that, a lifelong friendship was forged.

  *************

  After a good night’s sleep Lady Dinah felt much better. She spent some time walking around the large fortress of a house, trying to find her way to the dining hall. She noticed there were several attendants walking about. She found them odd in many ways. For one thing, they were all men. Also, they barely seemed to notice she was there and just shuffled about their business. They had vacant stares and rarely spoke. Geoffrey’s only words thus far had been: “Aye, my lady.” His voice was always distant and monotone.

  She eventually found the dining hall and Lord Quaid, and was delighted to see a vast array of colorful fruits and breads and cheeses spread out before her upon the table. “You have outdone yourself, Lord Quaid,” she said, sitting down. After watching yet another lifeless attendant pour her some tea, she could not refrain from asking, “So where did you come by your attendants, anyway?”

  “Oh, they are mainly locals, or outdoorsmen that stumbled across my humble abode and decided to stay,” Lord Quaid replied casually. “You should definitely try the cheese pastry. It is divine,” he said, taking another bite from one of the pastries before him.

  Lady Dinah pretended not to notice the feeble attempt at changing the subject. Her suspicions were that these attendants were not necessarily there of their own free will. They definitely seemed to be under some sort of trance or spell – but their plight was not of her concern at the moment. She lifted a cheese pastry to her mouth. “Aye, it is quite divine,” she agreed.

  Lady Dinah spent the next few days going through Lord Quaid’s library. She had found a few interesting spell books, but nothing on the history of Reed, the twins or the visit from Steward Elijah.

  “Did you find what you were searching for?” inquired Lord Quaid at dinner that evening.

  “No,” she replied, the disappointment in her voice obvious. “They must be with another wizard.”

  “I seem to recall Lord Clintock took a sizable portion of the library,” Lord Quaid offered. “Perhaps you should visit him next.”

  “Aye, thank you.”

  The following morning Lady
Dinah and her horse were again lifted up in a swirl of fairies and brought to the edge of the forest. For a moment she considered making her way to Lord Clintock’s house upon the western cliffs of the Cook Mountains, overlooking the West Samora Sea. But the trip to the Taiga Forest had exhausted her, and Lady Dinah knew the weather would soon turn, so instead she started back east towards her home in Mt. Xavier.

  *************

  The Steward was getting ready to head back to his son’s house when he saw Gentry and Fallon riding up the street. He went out to greet them and find out how the trip to the Cadian Forest had gone when he saw Gentry’s arm, which was still a bit red and swollen around the snake bite.

  “What happened?” the Steward asked, concerned.

  “Black boca,” Gentry replied.

  The Steward took a step back in shock and eyed Gentry carefully. He was at a loss for words. He had never known anyone to survive the bite of the black boca, and yet Gentry was there before him, still breathing.

  As if reading the Steward’s mind, Gentry explained, “Fallon saved me.”

  Isaiah looked at the boy, waiting for further explanation, but Fallon just stared at the ground. Seeing that Fallon was not eager to speak, Gentry happily told the tale of the snake bite and the boar and the purple flowered plant with red roots for him.

  “Fallon, do you still have that botany book I gave you?” asked Isaiah.

  “Aye, sir,” replied Fallon, and he began searching in his bag. “Here it is.”

  Steward Isaiah flipped through several pages until he came to one with a sketch of the very plant that Fallon had found. “Is this the plant?”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “It is called the kurrin root. A very rare plant that is rumored to have special healing powers. I have never actually seen one myself.”

  Isaiah looked again at Fallon and after a while he asked, “How did you know the boar was going to lead you to something that would help with the snake bite? You took quite a risk. You might have become helplessly lost and for all you knew the boar was just trying to return to his den to die.”