Wandering Lark

by Laura J Underwood

  “She sees,” Ronan whispered in Alaric’s head.

  How? Alaric thought.

  Talena turned back and realized Alaric was watching her. He saw her face flush before she quickly looked away again.

  “We need to find a place to make camp,” she said. “It’ll be dark in another hour. They say these moors come alive with spirit folk once the darkness falls.”

  “Good idea,” he agreed. “Where shall we stop?”

  She glanced at the nearest copse and pointed. “Up there, in those trees. It’s not safe to be out in the open once darkness falls.”

  That sounded good enough to him, especially since he did not see any stones, black or white, in that area. Just a heavy patch of trees. “All right,” he said.

  They directed their horses towards the copse. It quickly proved too thick and low limbed to ride into, so they dismounted and walked around it until they found a path. Talena took the lead, snarling when Kessa balked at the track.

  “Come on you stupid...” Talena growled at the mare.

  Alaric held back enough to keep from getting backed into. It took more than one try to get the mare going, and he started to wonder what she could sense in there that would have her so upset. As he stepped into the green, he noticed the shadows were almost as dark as the gloaming. Mage eyes quickly adjusted to the dimmed illumination, allowing him to peer into the thickness of the trees. He could see vines and shrubs and quite a lot of trees with holes in them. And now and again, something resembling a small black squirrel would dart from one hole to the next.

  Well, he thought, if there are squirrels here, there is very little chance of danger.

  That thought died when he reached the end of the trail. It passed under an old stone archway that opened into what was the overgrown courtyard of a small keep. He frowned. He had not seen any sign of a structure when they were approaching these trees, yet here it stood, old white stones rising in a ragged shell. There were lots of vines, and the top of the small tower in one corner had a tree growing out of it.

  That would explain it, he thought.

  “Wonder what this place is?” he asked aloud.

  Talena was staring at the structure in uncertainty, but she shook her head. “Just ruins,” she said. “Probably one of the old border keeps.”

  “Then we are on the border already?” Alaric asked.

  “No,” she said wearily. “There used to be a number of old towers up and down this moor, according to legend. They are probably all that remains of the walls that once marked the old borders. But Synalians and Tannish folk both find this place too spooky to exist on, so they keep to the edge of the mountains over there, and we stay at the edge of the forest we left earlier.”

  Alaric nodded. It was getting darker, he noted. He glanced around at their chosen site. Those black squirrels seemed to be everywhere now. Talena did not seem to notice them as she tied Kessa to a branch. The mare nervously tried to pull free. Talena fussed at her and started to remove the saddle and the packs.

  Alaric decided he had better lead Vagner someplace more private since removing the demon’s saddle made it disappear. He crossed the open area, ferns swishing against his calves. Beneath the growth he could feel cobblestones.

  Talena glanced around at the ruins of the tower. “Why don’t you check inside and see if it’s secure enough. I’ll gather wood. We’ll need to set a ring of watch fires around us, just in case we can’t sleep inside there.”

  “Watch fires?” Alaric repeated. “Why would we need a ring of watch fires?”

  “To keep the raveners away,” she said. “Not that we have to worry about them for now, but when night falls, they come out and hunt.”

  Alaric frowned. He left Vagner to head for the door of the tower. The wooden structure that once covered it was long ago gone. Carefully he mounted the steps and stopped just at the opening. Peering in, he saw that vines and plants had managed to work their way through the windows and the walls. Patches of light were scattered about the floor on inside. Beyond them lay thick shadows, as well as at his feet.

  Alaric wrinkled his nose. The odor of death was in the air. He took a step and kicked something that shot across the floor. A skull bounced against the far wall and landed upright so it faced him.

  He froze. The shadows moved like small vermin. Rats? No, these looked larger. He let mage eyes adjust.

  Several black squirrels peered at him with red eyes. Their stares were enough to chill his blood. He stepped back outside and turned to look for Talena. She had already gathered a stack of wood, and was piling it in a cleared spot. “Plenty of wood,” she said. “There’s a lot of deadfall.”

  She stopped when she saw the look on his face.

  “Are you sure we’ll be safe here?” Alaric asked.

  “Well,” she said. “We’re not visible from the road. There’s water, and the ground is high and dry. And we’re away from the stones where all the spirit folk...” She paused as though realizing she was about to say something, then continued. “...That one can supposedly see out there at night. What more could you want?”

  “A sense of security,” Alaric said.

  Talena frowned. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  This is a bad place, Ronan said.

  I was getting that same impression myself, Alaric thought back.

  We should leave...

  “I think we should leave,” Alaric said aloud.

  “Why?” she insisted.

  “There are bones in there...that have been picked clean. And I am not certain I want to meet whatever could pick bones clean.”

  Alaric hurried over to where Vagner stood. The demon was pricking ears back and forth in a nervous manner. Alaric was about to compliment the performance, when with mage eyes, he saw movement again. Just a bit of shadow, it seemed. No larger than a squirrel, it flitted from the bole of one tree to another and vanished.

  “They’ve probably been there a long time,” Talena said. “I don’t know what you’re worried about, but we’re leagues from the nearest nest.”

  “Nest?” Alaric said as another shadow appeared in the crevice of a tree and flitted away. This time he was certain he saw beady red eyes that winked as though blinking before the creature hid again. Just like the creatures inside the tower, as a matter of fact. “What nest?” he asked.

  “Raveners,” she said. She frowned. “Just what did you see inside that tower?”

  “That depends. Describe these raveners to me?”

  She frowned. “They’re like little shadows, about so big. Some folks think they look like little black squirrels.”

  Another one leapt from limb to limb of the tree, and Alaric followed the motion. Kessa snorted and threw up her head and began tugging at her reins. As Alaric watched, the little beast stepped out onto the limb and slowly stalked the mare. Kessa flattened her ears and pulled harder.

  “You mean like that one?” Alaric said and pointed.

  Talena turned and frowned. With a shout, she hauled up her scabbard and knocked the black furry creature off the limb. It shrieked when it landed in one of the last patches of sunlight and charged for the trees as though its tail was on fire. In fact, Alaric would have sworn it was smoking.

  “Nasty little vermin,” Talena snarled.

  “Was that...?”

  “Yes, that was a ravener,” she said. “Really, there’s nothing to worry about. One ravener is no danger to a child.”

  Alaric frowned. More of the little shadows were gathering in the crooks and limbs of the trees.

  “What about more than one?” he asked.

  Talena turned and looked into the trees. Her face went white as milk. “Toad turds,” she hissed. “Quick, get your flint and tinder! We need fire!”

  Alaric scrambled for flint and tinder. Talena untied Kessa and led the mare into the center of the clearing as he found them in his pack. The trees began to rustle with the weight of a multitude of small bodies, and Alaric could see them gathering like a shado
w among the leaves. Horns, he thought as he looked around for something to ignite.

  Talena weighed the mare’s reins with a stone and seized up some of the wood. She had dug an oil flask out of her own pack, and now she was desperately slathering the ends of the wood with it.

  “Light it!” she shouted and thrust the dripping end at him.

  Alaric hesitated. Instinct was to call white fire to the wood, but that would mean revealing his power to her. He struck the flint and tinder several time until a spark ignited one of the staves of wood. She used it to light the other and handed one to him.

  “Get the horses in the middle,” she said.

  Alaric was busy noticing that the ferns were fluttering as well, and it occurred to him that the groundcover might be just enough dark for the raveners to travel across the ground. When something bumped against his ankle, he yelped and kicked at it. A small furry weight shot away with an angry squeal.

  “They’re under the ferns!” he shouted.

  “Get inside!” Talena ordered. “We need clear ground.”

  “There are more of them inside!” he snapped back at her.

  “We’ve got fire! That will drive them away!” she said. She seized Kessa’s reins and rushed for the door, dragging the reluctant mare. “Come on!”

  Alaric seized Vagner’s reins in his free hand, though the demon needed no urging. Talena was already through the opening. Kessa was blocking the way, balking until Vagner ran right up behind her and butted her flank with his head. The mare squealed and kicked, but it had the desired effect and she bolted on inside with Vagner right behind her. Alaric was last through the door, and he turned back in time to see that the trees were actually leaning under the weight of the raveners. One of them charged out from under the ferns. Alaric thrust his burning stave of wood at the creature and it squealed and rushed back into the groundcover.

  Good, at least they are afraid of fire, he thought.

  “Damn!” Talena shouted. The sching of her steel rang. Kessa screamed in fright.

  Alaric stepped inside the ruins and looked up. The rafters and walls were swarming with raveners. They were keeping just at the edge of the light, but with all the commotion of Kessa’s stamping about, it was hard to keep light in all corners. Just as soon as Talena thrust her torch one way, they moved like a wave into the next shadow and tried to come at her from behind.

  “We need a ring of fire!” she cried.

  A couple of the raveners swooped out of the rafters and landed on Kessa’s back. The mare reared and they latched small teeth into her withers and neck. Vagner saved the day. He snagged one of the beasts with his teeth and ripped it off Kessa’s throat, just as Talena pushed her torch at the other.

  And then he ate it.

  Vagner! Alaric thought sharply. Don’t eat them!

  The demon shied like a horse. Alaric looked around for a means of making a circle of fire and saw none. There was no time to contemplate further. The gloaming outside was allowing the raveners to swarm in mass. If he did not do something, there would be no means of escaping.

  “Solus mhor!” he shouted, and white light filled his hands then swelled to fill the tower. Screams filled the air. The raveners close by began to burn, and filled the keep with a gagging stench of rot. Those farther away fled for what corners of darkness they could find, though there were little because Alaric let his white light fill every crevice of the keep, all the way up into the rafters as well.

  “You fool!” Ronan shouted inside Alaric’s head, but he ignored the bard and concentrated on setting his light into the stones. There was more than enough essence to feed the spell.

  At last, the horde was gone, and the smoldering corpses of a few vanished.

  Alaric turned to find Talena standing as far across the open space as she could get. Her sword was in her hand, and her face was white as ash. He met her gaze, unsure of what to say.

  “I knew it...you really are a heretic,” she said.

  He sighed. “I’m mageborn,” Alaric said carefully. “Where I come from, my powers are not considered evil.”

  “Just where do you come from?” she asked.

  “It’s a very long story,” he said.

  “I think we have all night,” she assured him and lowered her sword.

  “Just don’t tell her about me or Vagner,” Ronan said.

  I won’t, Alaric thought.

  Outside, the angry screams of the raveners sounded like the maddening chatter of starlings in the twilight.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  Talena tried to hold her tongue as she listened to his tale. Some of it seemed rather farfetched. He claimed he was seeking an elder because someone he knew in his own land was demon-bound. Talena didn’t know whether to laugh or call him a liar.

  All these years, she had taken men and women to the temple, hoping to earn her place. None of them had come from a foreign place.

  He even spoke in his own tongue just to prove he was not Garrowye born.

  She had no idea there was anything past the mountains of the west. All Synalians were raised to believe that the mountains were impassible and that nothing but wastelands existed outside their fair haven. Oh, she had heard her father once say something about Stone folk having hidden passages there, but to speak of such things was forbidden.

  Now here she was sitting with a heretic—a heretic she had helped to escape the temple because Desura felt sure he would lead them to a greater enemy—and all she could think was how he might help her.

  Maybe he was the key Desura spoke of, but as far as Talena was concerned, he was a key with a different purpose.

  A key she could use to act out her revenge.

  “What makes you think there will be one of these elders as you call them in Taneslaw?” she asked.

  He seemed to contemplate how to answer her. “Let’s just say I have a gut feeling.”

  “You know it won’t be easy to cross the border when we get there,” she said. “The raveners are playthings compared to what awaits us there.”

  “And what does await us there?” he asked.

  “Trow warriors, monsters, and the evil Tannish folk. I hear they are twice as tall as normal men because they are all descended from giants.”

  Lark—Alaric, he told her was his real name—smiled. “Stories like that are not always to be believed,” he said.

  “You sound like my father,” she said and looked at the fire they had built in the center of the keep. Then glanced at the magic light he had attached to all the walls. “He would have said the same thing.”

  “What happened to your father?” Alaric asked.

  Talena hesitated. She was not so willing to trust him with such knowledge. Still, if she wanted to gain his trust so he would lead her to the White One. “He went away and never came back,” she said. “I was still a youngling at the time.”

  “Then he could be alive?” Alaric suggested.

  Talena shook her head. “My father is dead. I know this in my heart.”

  “I see,” he said.

  She looked at Kessa over in the corner with his horse. The mare had suddenly changed her mind about the big yellow beast. She was actually leaning into him. In fact, they were rubbing withers as though they were old friends. Just because he saved you from a ravener, Kessa, you’re turning into a slut. She wondered if the yellow monster was gelded.

  “Your horse...he ate one of the raveners,” Talena said.

  “Ah...not really,” Alaric said. “He bit it, but he spat it out.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Quite sure,” he said. “Horses don’t eat meat.”

  “Your horse doesn’t do anything quite like other horses,” she said. She reached into her jerkin and drew out her seeker medallion and held it out. It vibrated in her hand like the beating of a small animal’s heart. She saw his eyebrows rise. “In fact, this tells me that your horse is a heretic as well, just like your dog was.”

  “I don’t quite understand,” Alaric said a
nd eyed the medallion.

  “Look, you came clean with me, so I shall tell you all I can,” she said. “I’m not just here because you need a guide. I’m a mercenary, it’s true. But I work for the Temple of the Triad...or want to. You see, my job is to capture heretics and bring them to the Temple for justice.”

  “Sounds like a barbaric profession.”

  “We have to do it, according to the Temple, to keep the heretics from bringing back the days of darkness,” she said. “It was the heretics who brought destruction on this world. Heretics who gave rise to the dark powers and let the Shadow Lords rule.”

  “Shadow Lords,” he said. “Then your people know of the Shadow Lords too?”

  “Of course,” she said. “They brought the Darkening on the land. They made the dragons fight, and in the end, the White Dragon won, but then she went away. Instead of helping the world to heal, she went away and left us to remake our own lives.”

  He looked thoughtful. “In my land, we believe the Old Ones were responsible for part of the Great Cataclysm. But they fought against the Shadow Lords. And then they just went away...sort of like your dragon.”

  Talena nodded. “Then these Old Ones were no better than the dragon,” she said.

  “I wouldn’t say that entirely,” Alaric said. “You see, we believe that mageborn are descended from the Old Ones. That they bred themselves into the bloodlines of mortalborn folk in order to keep the magic alive.”

  “And we believe that heretics are descended from the Great Dragons,” she said. “And that is why magic is forbidden. By all rights, I should take you back to the Temple to be purged of your power and burned alive.”

  As she spoke, she saw the yellow horse turn towards her, his eyes narrowing in a menacing manner.

  “But I have a feeling that your horse would not let me,” she said.

  Alaric smiled. “I have a feeling you’re right,” he said.