by Chogan Swan
“Fine,” Kane said, “but I don't think I will put my sword down just yet.”
“As you wish,” Seth replied. “After all, the blades were made to fight the dark.” He pulled Gidrun from its scabbard as well. Rather than putting it into position for battle, he stood with the blade across his chest and bowed his head. “This one is beyond me,” he said.
He looked into the night. The wind whipped up, gusting at them from one direction then another. The odor cloyed and stank like vile incense. A shadow suddenly rushed from the darkness, halting before them.
Even his eyes could not see much, but the impression was vivid in his mind. The shadow cloaked itself with fear. Panic scraped and scratched at his heart.
Seth gasped, a burning power had grabbed his mind, poking and prodding at his defenses, sloughing them off like the dry layers of an onion. Without warning, a blinding flash lit the clearing. The pressure released straightway Seth’s entire body tingled.
Dazed, he gathered his defenses. A familiar presence seemed close.
Jyrmak!
Though not here in the flesh, his power was. The demon had triggered his warding hedge.
He must have repaired it after the icewyrm while I was unconscious.
Seth felt the shadow pull back, not crushed, but daunted—for the moment.
“What happened, Seth?” Alaina asked.
“We have a respite,” Seth said. “Let's go, we might keep ahead for a while.”
He didn't stop to think. The unease hadn't gone away, but he wasn't dead—yet. He’d keep fighting even if it seemed hopeless. For so long his life had depended on secrecy, and now he was found. It might not be much longer...but now it was time to run.
He ran; Kane and Alaina followed—the shadow at their heels.
Chapter 12 (Mountain Tryst)
Re-Hidalg jutted up like a blunt, stubborn fist that rose ever higher the nearer they came. Boulders of all sizes, the last bones of the mountain’s brothers, sprawled across the waste. Behind him, Kane and Alaina gasped as they worked their way through the stones.
After pushing through the night, they’d stopped running several hours ago, but they pushed on, stumbling and dazed, haunted by the shadow following them.
At times, they saw the dark figure, herding them.
If we can't throw it off, we'll have to make a stand.
He had little doubt of what the outcome of that would be.
The foot of Re-Hidalg started with a steeper slope. The pieces of the mountain—strewn and tumbled about the landscape—grew into monstrous slabs jutting up through the rubble.
They picked their way along, scrambling, now and then slipping, in their haste. Halfway up the talus, Alaina dislodged a stone with a stumble. The stone hit a boulder which came loose from beneath a castle-sized slab they’d just traversed. With a groan, the slab tilted then collapsed with an ear-numbing thunder, taking acres of lesser stones with it in a wild careening ride down the slope. It seemed an eternity of clinging and praying the ground beneath them would not follow before the last of the boulders stopped bounding into the distance.
Shaken and wary, they climbed on. It was only a flaking of skin to the mountain.
For a few hours, the menace drew back, but Seth still struggled with despair. His path was now leagues south and west of his goal, pursued by something too powerful for him that would return soon.
If I'm dead, it won't matter where I am, I guess.
He shook his head and sighed.
At last, they reached the vast vertical wall of Re-Hidalg.
“Neither of you can see well enough to climb in this dark,”
Kane looked up at the summit towering above them. “I don’t think I could climb that under the best conditions. Maybe it’s time for us to separate.”
He couldn’t leave them alone to face the shadow. It would only devour them first then catch him too. “We can make a fire,” he said. “We haven't shaken it off, and I'd rather not meet it with no light at all.”
Alaina built a fire with wood from a fallen juniper, laying sticks in a pyramid over a pile of tinder. Soon the fire was blazing, giving off aromatic incense as it burned. Kane filled the cookpot from a rain pool he found behind a leaning boulder and upended a food bag into it. “That's the last of the dried meat,” he said.
The soup was weaker than usual and failed to drive off their hunger.
Darkness came on fast in Re-Hidalg's shadow. Seth stared into the flames, watching the patterns they formed. They burned lower and more red than they ought. The fragrance of juniper changed to a foul stench. Black smoke twisted from the fire and blew in their faces. He whispered all the covenant promises he could remember. The flames grew bright again and the smell of juniper returned, but the menace still loomed in his mind. Gidrun tingled under his hand.
Kane and Alaina set their backs against the cliff. “Come on then. Let's have a look at you,” Kane muttered beneath his breath.
But, instead of attack, the sense of danger faded. Alaina looked at Seth with a puzzled expression. Seth shrugged; he'd done nothing.
He tilted his head, listening to the wind. Was that a voice... calling? No, singing... somewhere out in the waste, coming nearer.
Seth stepped away from the crackle of the fire, quivering. Did he know the song? It fell on his ears like he did. There was peace at its heart. The sound came close, and then the singer stepped into the firelight.
It was a man—a tall man with laughing eyes. Seth felt lighter than he had for days. After the terror chasing them, it was like waking up after a long sickness. He knelt in the homage reserved for kings. Though the man's head was bare, he seemed crowned with majesty. Seth felt he might laugh or sing or something beyond either that he’d not yet tried.
“What is your name, sir?” he asked.
“You know me already,” said the man, sitting on a rock near the fire. “I have many names. You can call me, Captain. That's enough for now. Today I’m just a messenger. Seth, your father asked me to watch for you, so I have been expecting you to come this way. Have you anything to eat?”
“Bread, and a little wine, but that is all,” Seth replied. “You are welcome to what we have. Your coming has driven off a dark power that has been driving us.”
“That was not I. It has more to do with who you will meet on Re Hidalg than with anything I’ve done today,” said the man.
Kane passed the last, almost empty, food bag across the fire.
The man took it with a soft word of thanks. “It’s enough,” he said as he broke portions for each of them. And somehow, the bread tasted fresh again, though it had been stale this morning. They even felt satisfied when they finished, and the wine, which had been vinegary in the skin, was sweet and new.
The fire died to embers as they ate and watched the stars breaking through the haze. It cleared soon and bright stars stretched the length of the sky.
Kane and Alaina had fallen asleep. Curled up together in their cloaks they breathed in slow unison. Seth felt rested. Had he fallen asleep too? They’d been speaking in the tongue of Evelon, a language better for talking about important things that sounded incomplete or far-fetched in most of the tongues of men. Had they been talking for a long time, or had he dreamed that? The stars were a third of the way across the sky since supper.
“Was it you I saw at the gate?”
“Enough talking now,” said the Captain with a laugh.
Kane and Alaina stirred.
“You all have farther to go tonight.”
“I have been trying to get to Dragonsmere,” Seth said. “I thought it was important, but we were driven off course.”
“A dark agent has been pushing you. He wanted to be sure before he shut his trap on you. For that delay, you can thank Jyrmak's hedge, but Maru has finished probing. Tonight, he would come after you. You must be far from his reach. Though he drove you this way for his own reasons, a stronger magic drove him.” The man smiled and patted the cliff face.
“R
e-Hidalg was a place of tryst between dragons and men in ancient times. The council of dragons has called for a tryst, and it matters not if a shadow has tried to darken the place. I am sure Maru does not understand the trystcall used his actions for its purpose.”
The Captain laughed. “Dragonkind has need of old allies, and you are the one their trystcall has beckoned.”
Seth sat stunned. First the prophecy, and now dragons expected him to honor the dragontryst—a call unheard for over a thousand years.
“But, sir, am I the only one on whom destinies fall? Surely now is not the time.”
The Captain smiled. “It may seem that way, but remember, few of your race are left who could answer the call. Perhaps, the two are—connected. Weren't you trying to go there already?” He threw another branch on the fire. “And were you never taught the value of strong allies?”
Seth considered it like a small light lit in a dark place. What might someone do with dragonkind to aid him?
“Dragons,” whispered Seth. “Jyrmak told me they were a subtle folk.”
“That is only one of their traits,” said the Captain. “But time for you to find these things out for yourself. Before dawn you must be at the summit of Re-Hidalg.”
Seth took a deep breath. That would cut it close; he’d have to take the direct route to the top, and—from what he’d seen—that would be a difficult ascent.
He picked up his pack and slid his arms into the straps. Now he was glad it was almost empty; the remainder of his journey tonight was straight up.
Kane and Alaina were awake now. They looked better for the rest. The worn look had left their faces.
Seth slung his sword across his shoulder and turned to them. “We must part, for now.” From the look on their faces, they knew as much already. Maybe the Captain had talked to them as they slept.
Kane nodded and clapped him on the shoulder, remaining silent.
Alaina stepped close and kissed him on the forehead. “Blessings on your path,” she said in a soft voice.
Seth tried to smile, but this was difficult. They had been through struggles together, and it had drawn them close.
“Thank you. I expect our Captain will have a task for you,” he said. “I expect we will meet again at the proper time.” He hugged them both together and turned to the mountain.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
Kane smiled, how very like his own older brother's the goodbye had been. “In the creator's timing,” he called into the darkness.
“There are many tasks,” said the Captain, “and all too few to do them.” He turned and looked off into the night in the direction they had come. “Maru will return soon.”
Kane spoke up, “Sir, I have heard that name in old tales. Is that the one who has hounded us across this land?”
“He is, but he need not concern you now. Your tasks will take you far from here and him. Arod has need of your help, now more than ever. Go to him.” The command, though soft, held urgency.
They donned their packs and trotted down the slope to the south.
Behind them, they could hear singing.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
With arms like lead, Seth pulled onto a narrow ledge above one thousand feet of vertical cliff. After a moment, he pushed himself to his feet and walk-wobbled, breathing hard, up the slight rise to the pinnacle of Re-Hidalg.
As he neared the summit, he noticed the eastern horizon was turning light. The top of the mountain was an almost flat plateau. In the exact center—silhouetted against the brightening sky—stood a circle of stones. A rounded boulder in the circle towered above the others.
No dragons.
Disappointed, Seth walked toward the circle. He’d never seen a dragon, but he’d read stories and seen drawings, so he thought he knew what to expect. He paused outside the stones and searched the horizon; nothing moved. Perhaps above? It was still somewhat dark, and he couldn't be sure, but he saw no dragons circling overhead. It appeared he’d have to wait.
He stepped into the circle of stones as the sun shot a beam of light across the sky, and something changed. The large stone in the center of the circle regarded him with a pair of the most amazing eyes. He sensed the barest wisp of illusion fading like morning mist from what had seemed a stone a moment ago.
He bowed, but kept his eyes up. Morning sun glinted from the horizon, and Seth got what he had been waiting for at last, the sight of a dragon.
The dragon dipped his chin. Seth recognized it as a sign of acknowledgement. It was a male—a drake—his face was broader and the fine scales of the head were more colored than a female's would be.
When sitting—like a stone—he had been about four times as tall as a man. But that had been crouching, and—now that Seth knew of his presence—he could sense the power that made everything next to a dragon seem tiny in comparison.
There was an Evelonian word for the effect: dragonsruck. He seemed bigger than a castle, bigger than a mountain.
Seth bowed as he delivered his greeting. “Seth Arodan.”
It took Seth a second to interpret the baritone rumble from the dragon. For him, the first words from a dragon speaking its own tongue, “Windsinger.”
Windsinger regarded Seth. “Good,” he rumbled from his broad, scaled chest. “You have come in time to greet the day with me.” The dragon turned to face the east.
The ball of the sun rose above the horizon now. Windsinger's great flight wings and secondary wings fanned out in a colorful eclipse of the morning light. The skin and scales were somewhat translucent, and the sunrise shone through them like immense panes of stained glass. The desert below turned a soft red.
When the sun was halfway above the horizon, Windsinger threw his head back and sang. Like birdsong, no words, only music. The sounds weren't birdlike, but deep, sustained calls, rising and falling like a great brass horn. His wings cupped like a great bell and projected the sound over the stony desert. It lifted the heart and made the spirit soar.
Seth sang out too, the music rose in him, streaming out like a banner of joy. He’d survived the shadow of fear. Though his voice disappeared in the storm of the drake’s call, Seth hoped Kane and Alaina could hear them, somewhere down there.
After the last note, Windsinger was still for a moment before turning back to Seth. “The Father has given us another day.”
“We rejoice,” replied Seth, picking up the end of the litany. “What next, Windsinger?”
“We shall ride the skyroads. It is not for me to tell you of our need,” said Windsinger. He turned to the side and lowered his secondary wing, making a path for Seth to climb to his back.
Without pausing, Seth mounted. Some things needed doing before you thought about them too much. There was a space between the first and second set of wings with a leather strap to keep him from falling.
Windsinger turned his head, and Seth looked into the dragon's eyes—a dark whirl of space and stars. They reminded him of Jyrmak's eyes—great age and great vigor reflected at once.
“Hold tight, son of the Isle, we will go swiftly when we reach the skyroad.”
Then, as if at Windsinger's command, a strong breeze blew across the desert from the west, scattering dust as it came. It hit the cliffs and shot up them. Windsinger leaned forward—catching the wind in all four outspread wings—and rose into the air. In a moment, they spiraled up, riding the updraft.
The mountain grew smaller below them. “We are soon at the skyroad,” called Windsinger. Seth heard a rushing sound above them and, looking up, noticed scuds of mist shooting northwards. He almost fell from his perch as they entered the wind stream; then it was quiet. The gale they’d come upon seemed now only a gentle breeze blowing over his shoulder. When he looked down, he saw they were moving fast, high above the desert, but the sensation was subdued, as though they were gliding over a map.
It's like a boat riding a current.
Ahead, the edge of the desert was now a faint line in the distance—their destination—a lan
d of high mountains skirted green with forests and capped white with glaciers. And, somewhere within them lay... Dragonsmere.
Chapter 13 (Gathering)
As Kane and Alaina walked, the barren rocks and stones gave way to tufts of scrub grass and parched ground. On the second day, He noticed that the clumps of grass were closer together and greener. On the third morning, they came to a river flowing east. It was a pleasure to wash the grime from their bodies and out of their clothes. After three days of using rags to soak up dew for moisture, drinking deeply again was like a feast.
He touched his clothes to see if they'd dried yet, but they were still damp. The sun was still low on the horizon and hiding behind scattered clouds, the first they had seen in days. Alaina sat on the bank, idly tossing stones into the rushing water. Kane went to sit beside her.
“The rocks don't make ripples,” she said, tossing another.
They’d often visited this metaphor.
“Not like a mountain lake,” Kane responded.
“Sometimes I believe that's all we are; just stones in a river. I once thought I made a difference.”
“The ripples are there, you have to seek harder.”
Alaina smiled. “You always take the optimistic outlook... But can we ever go back and undo what we start, Kane? If I hadn’t misjudged him so, almost from the start. Why didn’t I trust what my heart told me when we first embraced? I drove him away before I knew I was wrong … Then it was too far to go back. Pride. Just stupid pride.”
She sighed.
“But, he didn’t hold it against you,” Kane said, troubled at her sadness.
“I hold it against me. What did he do that I should have been so far wrong? He looked young... he was merry... he stumbled. Everyone stumbles. Was that cause for me to treat him so…?” She had started in an angry rush, but ended with a whisper.
Kane was silent, knowing she was right; you can't start again.
Alaina’s head jerked up.
Over the sound of the water, Kane heard hooves drumming and men speaking in harsh voices. The noise sent him diving into the bushes, with Alaina beating him there.