by Bob Blink
“Ho,” he said with a certain delight. “He lies; a further sign he is one of the evil ones.”
“Wait a minute,” Randy started to say, still surprised at how easily he had slipped into the language he had never learned.
He wasn’t given time to continue.
“I saw you the other night,” the boy snapped back at him, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “You started your fire with all the calm and assurance of one well skilled in the black arts.”
He realized if the boy had been watching him the other night, it meant he had probably been following him all day, just as he was following those in the grove up ahead. Randy had been considering the abilities he had tapped the previous night as he walked along, reconsidering things he had avoided thinking about all his life and combined these experiences with what he had seen of the intruder over the past several months. He’d been uncomfortable where his musings had led him, but the idea of magic kept forcing its way into his thoughts. Could there be such a thing as magic? Did he have some magical ability? Was magic something that worked on this world, and was that why he found his talent so much easier to use and so much stronger the previous night? It didn’t sit well with the physicist in him. Besides, that would imply that magic actually worked back home, although not very well. It also raised questions about what else was different here. The boy implied that magic was considered evil, suggesting it might be dangerous to possess the ability here.
“I never knew,” he said lamely. “Where I am from such power exists only in stories. All my life I had a tiny ability to do a few things that could not be explained. I was very surprised by the ease at which I could start the fire last night.” He hesitated and looked directly at the boy. “Is such an ability considered bad here?”
The boy looked at him curiously as if considering his words very carefully. “Why do you ask this, something you must already know?” he said after a few seconds hesitation. “Your friends have long been enemies of the people of Gaea.”
“They are not my friends,” Randy replied emphatically. “I don’t know who they are.”
The boy didn’t react to Randy’s protest. Instead he said, “No one comes to this place except them, and you have demonstrated you possess the power. I have followed them for days, from the time they left the Trailways, and I know you did not come here with his followers. That means you arrived with Cheurt. There is no other explanation.”
“Cheurt?” Randy asked, already knowing whom he meant. That was the real name of the man he had been after. Randy felt a chill even as he rolled the name over in his mind.
“Their leader. He is one of the most powerful wizards in all of Gaea. You already know this.”
Randy started to answer; then hesitated. Something here didn’t make sense. If the boy had been watching him, then he had to know that Randy had been tracking the others, not seeking to join them. There was also something in the way the boy had said Cheurt’s name. There was something personal there.
“You know I’m not with them, don’t you?” Randy asked suddenly.
Something in the boy’s eyes flickered telling him he had read the situation correctly.
“For some reason you are after Cheurt, not the others. You claim to have followed them for days, without taking any action. You’ve never seen me before, so you can’t have a reason to be after me. If you thought I was with Cheurt, it would be a bad move to attack me, because it could potentially warn Cheurt of your presence. From what I understand, you would have no chance prevailing against that group if they suspected you were here.”
Grudgingly, the boy nodded. “I cannot explain you,” he said. “You are obviously one who commands the power. You are in this place where no one comes, either waiting here for them, or having arrived with him. Yet, you seem uneasy here, and follow the others and spy on them. I don’t think they know about you, yet. Since I cannot be sure of you, I think it is best to be careful and simply kill you.”
“I’m here because of the man you call Cheurt,” Randy said, which caused the boy’s eyes to widened in surprise.
Randy held up his hand. “Cheurt is my enemy also,” Randy added quickly. “If I appear uncertain about this place, it is because it is new to me. I was trying to catch this man who seemed to periodically appear from nowhere at my home, when suddenly I was here, in this place. I have no idea where I am, how I arrived here, or why I arrived here and Cheurt did not.”
“He arrived here also,” the boy said with grim certainty. “He arrived yesterday in the camp you found this morning after much useless wandering in circles. I was spying on their camp and saw him appear. Afterwards, knowing he would be surrounded by his friends anxious for news for the rest of the day, I made my way back to my own camp, not so far from where you set up. I saw you by accident when you came to the edge overlooking the ancient valley and was puzzled as I was certain you had not been in the area the previous day when I arrived and made camp. Other than the wizards I have never seen another person in all the time I have walked this region.”
“So you decided to watch me instead?” I asked.
He nodded in agreement. “I already knew what they would do. I have watched them many other times, and the pattern is the always the same. There would be no opportunity to kill the wizard last night, so I decided I needed to see who you were.”
“You think you can kill him?” Randy asked. “By yourself? And still get away? Aren’t the men with him wizards as well?”
He nodded grimly. “I must try. I know this place better than they do, so there is a chance I could elude them, but I must make my move before they know of my presence. He is far more dangerous than the rest of them combined. He is also careful, leaving little chance for an opening. But some day he will be careless. All I need is once. Once he is dead, it matters less if they catch me.”
“You said that people generally don’t come here, but that you have followed them here often. What are they doing that they return to this wilderness frequently?”
“I have no idea why they come,” he replied. “It’s always the same seven of them. Initially they stayed a short time, a day or so, then all returned back the way they came. More recently they all come, but only six return home. He is not with them. Later the six return, and when they leave, the number is again seven. I have searched after they leave, but have been unable to find any sign of him.”
“Because he has gone to my world,” Randy said softly.
The boy looked at him with the question plain on his face.
“Earth,” Randy said, although the word had no translation into the language they were speaking.
“Erth?” the boy questioned, trying the unfamiliar word out. “What is this?”
“I told you I came from somewhere else. Earth is my home, another whole world if my guesses are correct. Cheurt has been showing up there for the better part of the past year. Initially his visits were short, but lately they have been much longer. He appears and disappears from a small knoll in an area out back of my house. From what you have been saying the pattern fits and it sounds as if he disappears from here, and shows up there. When he leaves there, he returns here. But only him. Never anyone else.”
The doubt was obvious on the boy’s face. “I am not sure I believe this story, but if it is true, why would he do this?”
That is my question also,” Randy responded. “It is why I wanted to detain him in the first place. I knew he was up to something, but couldn’t understand what, or how he was coming and going. Why are you following him, and what has he done to you?”
“He killed my father,” the boy replied angrily. “When he discovered my father had stumbled onto his visits into this area, he destroyed him to protect the secret. He did not know I was here as well. My father had ordered me to hide and the wizard was not careful in his anger at my father.”
“So there is something about this area. Something Cheurt can only do here, and he doesn’t want others to know about his visits.”
; “That appears so,” the boy responded. “”However, I have been unable to learn what, and I have found no opportunity that offers me a certain chance of killing him.”
Randy pointed to the bow that the boy still held at his side with the arrow half cocked. “Are you any good with that thing?”
His chest swelled a bit with pride. “It is a master’s bow,” he said. “Most cannot hope to master it until they are beyond the marrying age. I have worked long and practiced daily. I could place my arrow in your heart at more than fifty paces. Few could do better.”
“There has never been an opportunity for you to shoot from ambush and kill this man you hate?” Randy asked.
“Wards,” the boy said simply. “He always sets out wards. If an arrow or other danger were to approach him, the wards would be triggered and the arrow would be burned from the sky by the magic triggered.”
“Couldn’t you defeat these wards by getting close enough?”
“It is a good thing you never attempted to sneak into their camp,” the boy said shaking his head. “There are many types of wards, and they would know you were there before you got within twenty paces, let alone within five or so that would be necessary to make the warding against the arrows ineffective. Besides, even then it wouldn’t matter. Knowing you were there, he could use his shields.”
“Shields?” Randy asked, now really curious.
“Shields are harder, take more of the power, and cannot be maintained all the time as they limit the user in a number of ways. They are, however, a much stronger form of protection. No sword or arrow could penetrate the shields of a wizard as powerful as these men. One would be foolish to even try.”
“So how can you hope to kill this man? It appears he has all the advantages. Can you tell if he has set up these wards?”
“There are ways. My father was skilled in detecting the artifacts of magic, and taught me much. Besides, the wizard can make mistakes like other men or be careless, especially if he feels safe. The best approach would be to dose him with the Karonabark if he was foolish enough to leave me a chance.” He looked at me knowingly.
Randy grimaced. “Just what is this Karonabark?” he asked.
“It is made from the living layer of the bark stripped and dried from a certain tree. It is not that common, but not all that rare either. It has long been known as a means to dull the power of the wizards.” He smiled at Randy. “Have you tried to use your power? Go ahead, make fire.”
Randy wasn’t certain he wanted to take any action that further supported the boy’s belief he was a wielder of the power, but he was also curious. He focused on a pile of leaves near his foot and concentrated. Nothing! It wasn’t as if he felt blocked, it was as if he had no idea what he wanted to do. He couldn’t for the life of him imagine how to start. He stared at the leaves and thought fire, knowing that wasn’t how he accessed his ability, but knowing he couldn’t get his mind to focus on what needed to be done. It was like he had never had such an ability.
The boy was watching him smugly, seeing by the surprise on Randy’s face that he was blocked, and that he was surprised by his inability to access the power, which was further proof to the lad that Randy was one of those who normally wielded the power with ease.
“You should learn the spells designed to detect the presence of the bark,” he said. “They are supposed to be easy, and you would be able to check for its presence and protect yourself from being dosed by someone like me.” His lips pulled back in a self-satisfied grin.
“I’ll make a note,” Randy said a bit annoyed. “Learn how to detect the presence of . . . . .”
He halted in mid sentence, because suddenly he knew the spells. He not only knew how to check for the bark, but if warned in advance, he knew how to block the root’s effect, something few wizards knew was even possible. He knew how effective the bark was, how long he would be blocked from accessing the power by the amount he had been given, and subtle things he could do to lessen the duration of his blockage. He was confused. How did he suddenly know these things? It was as if the boy’s suggesting the knowledge existed, he suddenly gained it.
He was about to tell the boy what had happened, and then held back. Despite a fairly civil conversation, they were not friends, and he needed every advantage he could find if he was to get out of this. He’d bide his time and see how things developed. Slowly, he turned and looked at the boy.
“You have the upper hand,” he said. “Where do we go from here? I think we have a common enemy, but perhaps you still are thinking of putting that arrow into me.”
The boy sighed, scratched his head with his free hand, and let out a breath. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get a bit further away and talk some more. I don’t know about this ‘Erth’, but you clearly don’t know things anyone should. No one would pretend to be ignorant of things so obvious. It would be like saying you didn’t know the names of the three moons.”
“Three?” Randy asked inadvertently. “I only saw two the other night, although that was one obvious clue what had happened to me.”
The boy shook his head. “You must have missed Zeirr while it was raining. She’s the small one, and only stays in the sky for an hour or so at a time, but will pass through the heavens a couple times each night. She is a playful one as well. Sometimes, if you know where to look, you can see her rise in the east. But then she will hide her face and disappear, only to peek back briefly before she disappears in the west. Other times she fails to appear at all. Still others she will shine for much of her time across the sky. Like a woman, she is hard to understand.” He slipped the arrow from his bow and placed it back in the quiver, then pulled his knife and quickly retrieved the one he had shot into the tree earlier.
“Asari,” he said pointing to himself and then holding out his hand in a gesture reminiscent of home.
“Randy Foraster,” Randy responded, holding out his own hand. At Asari’s gesture, he grabbed his pack, and they headed down the back of the hill away from the camp of the wizards.
Chapter 3
Asari set a brisk pace as he led Randy down the slope and away from the path that he had taken earlier in the day while following the group of wizards into this area. They didn’t talk as they made their way deeper into the trees and rocks, always staying well below the tops of the hills to prevent their being silhouetted against the bright sky as they made their way. It didn’t take long, as their destination was less than a mile from where Randy had planned to set up camp, but Asari had found a far better site. Hidden behind a stand of medium sized pine-like trees in a jumble of rocks, was the entrance to a small enclosure that allowed passage of only one person at a time, yet opened into a comfortable space large enough for several to camp. While it was open to the sky, the steep sides of the rocks precluded anyone from climbing up the sides to gain entrance, and the trees provided sufficient cover to protect against all but the fiercest of storms. It was clear that Asari had been here earlier from the wooden framed backpack he has placed against one wall, and the stack of firewood he had already assembled. Randy wondered how he had found the time to gather wood, locate the camp, and still keep watch on him.
“This is a safe place,” Asari said suddenly. “I have used it many times before. It is not easily seen, the fire is hidden, and the wood I have stored here burns with very little smoke. Even if they were to look, which they never have – they are very confident that no one knows of their activities, it is unlikely they would find this place.
“You have stayed here many times?” Randy asked, realizing now that Asari had probably done no more than drop off his pack and check on the hide earlier. The wood supply and other preparations had probably been completed on previous visits.
“I told you I have been watching them for some time. They are very predictable in some ways. While I have not figured out what controls when they will come here, their travel and stopping points never vary. This has allowed me to prepare places like this near each of their rest stops.”
/> “It sounds like you expect them to move on in the morning,” Randy said.
“They will break camp at first light,” Asari replied with certainty. “It is a long walk tomorrow to their next stopping point. Besides, they always appear anxious to leave and return to Ale’ald after Cheurt returns.”
“Ale’ald?” Randy asked frowning.
“You really know nothing of this place, do you?” Asari asked. “Ale’ald is the country from which they come. The dark wizards control Ale’ald and all that live there. It is a bad place, and no one can enter who does not belong. Their control there is absolute. Many fear they will eventually train enough wizards to challenge the rest of Gaea, and secure control of everything. Their attempts in the past have failed, but they are certain to try again.”
This was a lot for Randy to take in, but once again, as Asari used names, the words and some nuances behind them were revealed in Randy’s mind. It reminded him of something his father had once told him with a touch of wonder. His father had made contact with an old friend, someone from decades in his past. As the two of them talked, names were raised and questioned. His father later told him he was amazed how he had carried around memories, all but forgotten, with names he couldn’t have dredged from memory to save his life, yet once his friend raised them, suddenly the names and a whole set of memories surfaced, having been stored somewhere all those years. It felt like that for Randy, except he knew he had never heard these names before, despite how familiar they suddenly felt. While his mind revealed the names, he had a deep sense of knowledge he should associate with the names that was sharply limited, making his awareness very incomplete.
“Cheurt and the others are all from Ale’ald?” Randy asked.
“They are his followers,” Asari explained. “Each is a wizard, some very powerful in their own right, but none can approach him in strength. I think he is training them, and preparing for something, but I have been unable to learn very much. Their activities here are limited to escorting him wherever he goes. I cannot follow them back to Ale’ald. Without some indication of what they are doing, I doubt I could even convince the College of Mages in Angon they are even coming to this inhospitable land.”