by M. M. Perry
“Females have the gift of children,” Gunnarr said breaking in. “My people are a little closer to that. The women do all the bartering for marriages. But because the women are the ones who can have the children, then the men must earn the privilege of being fathers. We must prove we can be someone worthy of that responsibility.”
“They do that by fighting each other?” Nat balked.
“No,” Gunnarr said quickly. “No, the fighting is different. I was attempting to explain the matriarchy, and why the women hold the power here. No, the fighting among Cartan males has nothing to do with impressing their women. The men here usually win favor through elaborate courtship, great deeds, things like that. The women here view the fighting among the men as distasteful. They have removed themselves from it. They tolerate it but dislike it. The men, they fight for hierarchy among other males. Status.”
They watched Droog continue to go about the market trading the goods they brought on the ship for things they’d need in the forest. The Cartan angrily took his pouch from his waist and paid a merchant for some provisions, slamming the coins on the table before him. Cass spoke again, quietly as if the Cartan could hear her.
“Well, we should try to appease him. I’d be much happier if Gunnarr did not have to fight him.”
“You don’t think I’d win,” Gunnarr teased.
Cass smiled. Gunnarr had been very solemn for quite some time. It was nice to see him in the mood to joke again.
“I’d bet on you, big guy. But, we could really do without the potential injuries to either party. I don’t really know what to expect when we meet this seer, but anyone who can organize and mobilize elves, against the Cartan, successfully, must be… well, we should be ready for anything.”
Nat took Cass’ warning to heart and decided to double check his pack to make sure he hadn’t forgotten something that might be useful. As he looked down into his gear, a question occurred to him.
“What if the scale hadn’t worked? Or what if Droog does cause trouble. Is there a backup plan? I know we’re not leaving until we find the seer, so surely we have one.”
“Yes,” Cass said. “There are a few small human settlements on the northern shores of Ledina. Mostly fishing communities. They don’t come this way often. The Cartan resent them settling here and they share the space with a tenuous peace. Though the settlers are familiar with what would happen to them should they wander into a forbidden area, a small number of them still venture deep into the woods, looking for ledinite, a highly valued stone found around the rocky outcrops in the forests south of here. They might be able, and willing, for a hefty fee, to lead us where we need to go. But we’d have to go to them and hope we happened on a stone hunter in the settlement, or wait for one to return. And it wouldn’t be as useful. The Cartan know these forests far better than any of the human settlers. Worse, if we were to enter against their will, the Cartan might actively hunt us then. And we’d have the added disadvantage of the Cartans already knowing why we are here, what we want, and where we intended to go. So if we made enemies of them, it would be very bad for us. Obviously this is the better option.”
“I see,” Nat said. Then his eyes widened as an idea popped in his head. “That must be where Korick said he was going. Those villages up north.”
“Korick?” Cass asked.
“A young warrior Nat struck up a friendship with,” Gunnarr explained. “I invited him along when we were out searching for you. He needed the training and was a good fellow.”
“Yes,” Nat said. “I’ve been out of touch with him for ages. I almost forgot this is where he’d be. I wonder if I could get a message to him, at least just to say hello and let him know I was in Ledina. Anyway, he said he was coming to Ledina to help out with the elf problem. His sister was raped by elves, so he felt it was his personal duty to come here and aid people however he could. I never really asked him where in Ledina he was headed, even though at the time I wondered why the Cartan would seek help from warriors with the elf issue. I didn’t know then that there are no elves in the Cartan cities. His sister must have been in one of the human settlements. He must have gone there.”
“Likely so. You think he’s still there?” Cass asked.
“When he spoke of it, it certainly sounded like he intended to be here for a while.”
“How long has he been here, do you think?”
“I’d say,” Nat tapped his finger on his arm as he did some quick reckoning, “probably close to a year now.”
“And he’s a warrior, not just a villager or stone hunter. He probably knows the area by now. You’d have to learn fairly quickly to survive. I think your idea of a getting a message to him is a good one, Nat. Only, I’d add that you should ask, if he has the time and ability, if he’d be interested in meeting us. Tell him where we are starting out and where we are headed. You might even just be able to say who we are seeking out. I doubt the news of a seer who leads elves hasn’t spread like wildfire. In any case, he’ll know better what route a Cartan would use to take us south than we do, and it would be good to have someone who knows the terrain besides Droog, in case things get out of hand.”
“I’m on it.”
Droog trudged through the forest like an angry mountain bear, breaking limbs from trees and bushes, crashing noisily through the undergrowth, his boots leaving deep brown depressions as he stomped across the green foliage that carpeted the forest. Nat, Gunnarr and Cass followed quietly behind, hoping he’d calm down and not feel the need to take out his fear and frustration on them.
The forest was not remarkable except for one thing, how utterly unremarkable it was. Nat had travelled through many forests with Gunnarr over the last couple years searching for Cass. He found that each of them had some unusual life that was unique to it—strange looking trees or beautiful flowers, small insects colored like jewels flitting about, or huge beasts, both dangerous and gentle. But the forests of Ledina had none of these things. Nat realized then that so far, he had seen no wildlife. He strained to hear the tell-tale signs of creatures, but heard no birds squawking a warning of their approach, or even the oft unnoticed background sounds of insects, but found nothing, save the sounds their own party were creating. Now that he was aware of it, the silence became eerie and oppressive.
“It’s… very quiet in these woods,” Nat finally broke the silence.
“Noticed that, have ya?” Cass said following in Droog’s path. “It’s the elves. They pretty much devour anything that will sit still long enough. So everything out here is quiet and high up. You won’t see the birds or any insects, because the only ones that survived are the ones that just don’t make much noise.”
Even with that explanation, Nat continued to find the silence off putting. Then he noticed another oddity about the forest.
“Why do all the plants look the same? Usually you see a lot of different, interesting plant life in a forest.”
“Well, the elves devastated these forests,” Cass replied. “There are stories of what the forests here used to look like before the elves. Cartan tales of how beautiful these places once were. But the elves will eat anything that doesn’t make them sick. Pretty soon, everything just begins to collapse. Flowers that relied upon the fuzzy flies to make their seeds, no long have those fuzzy flies because the elves dig up all the grubs that turn into fuzzy flies. Tree climbers die away because the elves eat every piece of fruit they find, and they aren’t kind enough to crap out the seeds in one piece, either. So those trees have trouble procreating. It goes on and on until the only things that are left here are those things that are inedible and can feed off the detritus of the elves themselves. Some species of bird live off the elven trash. A few insects. Not much else.”
“Why haven’t we seen any yet? Elves I mean.”
Cass pointed at Droog’s back.
“You can thank him for that. Elves know how much the Cartan hate them. They tend to steer clear. For a while. Right now every elf in the area knows we’re here. They s
ee me, which will tempt them closer, eventually, Cartan be damned. They don’t know they won’t be able to charm me into bed yet. And they are thieves as well, so they might see our packs as worthy of a closer inspection. But they’ll wait until a large enough swarm of them has gathered before they get too close. Trust me, when that happens, you’ll see all the elves you’ll ever want to see.”
They continued making their way through the woods until the skies began to darken. Droog carefully wound them through the woods on a path only he could discern, sometimes suddenly veering east or west, and once Cass was certain they had been going north for a short time before resuming their path south. Cass tried to keep track of where they went, in case the worst should happen and they had to return without Droog. She hoped Gunnarr and Nat were doing the same. Wandering too close to one of the Cartan’s protected lands would be deadly for all of them. The Cartans would be watching the woods armed with long bows, wielded by archers who had trained their whole lives for the privilege of guarding their gift from the gods.
Cass watched them training once, in the city of Tendo. She watched as Cartan were scolded for not being able to hit their target, reload, aim and fire again within three seconds. The best could do it under two in one fluid motion of drawing back, releasing, pulling another arrow from their quiver as the bow string snapped and reloading it. It was an impressive feat to watch when dealing with stationary targets. Then she saw them move on to moving targets. She’d heard that during competitions, they captured and released live elves as targets to truly show their mastery. Despite how much the elves disgust her, Cass had never wanted to seek out and watch any of those exhibitions.
Droog held up his hand in the gloom of the forest. Cass realized it had gotten so dark she could hardly see him anymore. Cass was loathe to slow them down or to further upset Droog, so she hadn’t suggested they camp earlier. Now, however, she thought it might be dangerous even for Droog to continue. She knew the Cartan would hold their fire near their protected lands if they saw that a Cartan lead their group, but despite their excellent eyesight, mistakes could be made. Before she could make any suggestions, Droog spoke up.
“We will camp here for the night. Tomorrow we will reach the site around midday.”
Cass, Nat and Gunnarr set about gathering wood and putting together the camp. They knew well enough not to stray beyond several feet of where Droog had stopped, but old dead wood was in abundance so fuel was not a concern.
“You were right about the elves destroying everything. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fallen trees. There are teeth marks all over it, too, like they ate the bark off of it,” Nat said examining one of the chunks of wood in his hand.
“Parasites,” Droog said angrily. “A great blessing if the gods would wipe them from this world.”
“They are pretty awful. Cartan are lucky they can’t be hosts to the elven young,” Nat said unpacking his tent. He forgot for a moment how angry Droog had been and continued on conversationally.
“I can’t imagine what would happen if they were somehow released upon other continents. It’d be dreadful. It might be the one thing that could unite all of Tanavia.”
Cass and Gunnarr both chuckled at the idea of it, but Droog scowled as the fire began to crackle to life.
“You humans squander your soft life. You know nothing of the suffering we go through to keep your untroubled lands free of the parasites. Your people willingly travel here just to see them, thinking them fanciful. Pah! Why the gods even acknowledge you at all is a mystery to all of the Cartan people.”
Cass and Gunnarr exchanged a wary look. Nat simply closed his mouth around some dried fruit and chewed silently. He suddenly felt very sorry he had said anything at all to the looming Cartan. Cass saw Gunnarr tense up, his hands rolling into fists. Droog began pacing, his great clawed feet now free of his boots. It was not a good sign, and Cass knew it. Cartan rarely took off any of their clothing in the presence of humans. She had always believed it was because they didn’t like the way they were stared at. A cross between animal and human, they already had to contend with prejudiced people that considered them more animals than people, without their physical differences reinforcing that belief.
His feet were even hairier than his face, with thick black pads just visible beneath tufts of red, wiry fur. Droog removed his gloves, revealing hands much like the feet. Claws tipped fingers lined with tough, leathery looking black pads. They were large hands capable of delivering blows strong enough to knock most men out in one blow. Gunnarr stood.
“Calm yourself. You have no true quarrel with us. We are not your adversaries,” Gunnarr said, his voice low but firm.
Droog stopped and looked at the Braldashadian. Gunnarr was one of the largest humans Droog had ever encountered, but he still stood a head shorter than Droog. The Cartan had wondered several times during the trip what it would be like to defeat one of the great men of the north. They were said to be among the strongest of their kind, hardy from the bleak environment they were raised on, brave from their long lives in perilous waters, and smart enough to survive in a land that had little to give its inhabitants. Droog knew he was courting this confrontation. All through the trip he wondered if an excuse would arise for him to challenge this human and best him.
“Are you not, human? You come to my land with my aid, only to force the council members to allow you on to our protected lands. An insult to all Cartan. All because you have some shiny bauble you claim comes from a dragon? I do not believe you have any allies of such strength. From the very beginning I decided to join you to make sure you wouldn’t cause trouble. I can see that I am the only one who isn’t fooled by your trickery. I will take you down human.”
With these final words, Droog removed his tunic, revealing the heavily muscled body underneath, a fine layer of red fur covered all but the area just below his belly button, where the skin showed through, pale and white. Droog clenched his fists and roared into the evening air. The crackle of the fire was the only sound that answered him. Cass sighed and stood up next to Gunnarr.
“Right. Well then, be careful, both of you. I’m pretty sure you’re both essential for getting back out of these woods after we meet the seer. Soooo…” Cass put her hand out and Gunnarr carefully removed his sword from his back. He handed it over and faced Droog.
Cass stepped back and Nat stood to join her.
“We just watch?”
“Yeah. Not much else can be done now, unfortunately.”
Gunnarr and Droog began circling each other. Gunnarr knew his tactic would have to be to remain defensive. There wasn’t any use in him attacking as Droog had greater reach and strength. He hoped to either wear him down or find some way to out maneuver the large Cartan. Droog’s extra bulk in the cluttered forest environment was possibly a disadvantage, Gunnarr thought, so he planned to do his best to use that in his favor.
Droog however, wasn’t much interested in waiting around and planning. He lunged forward and grabbed Gunnarr’s arms, wanting to quickly pin the man down so he could dominate him. Gunnarr, expecting a little more time, was taken by surprise. He strained with all his might to break the hold. Droog’s hands squeezed uncomfortably on Gunnarr’s upper arms, causing the big man to grunt angrily.
“Do we have to worry about… well, one of them killing the other? I mean, I’m pretty sure Gunnarr wouldn’t kill Droog, but I can’t be so sure if Droog will show him the same courtesy,” Nat said.
“From what I know, these fights aren’t to the death. One of the fighters must submit to the other, then it is over,” Cass said as Gunnarr finally managed to break out of Droog’s vice-like grip.
“Why doesn’t Gunnarr just say he submits, then? Would be quicker and less fear of harm.”
“Droog would then decide what we do next. And it sounds like he decides we leave Ledina pretty much immediately. Obviously we can’t do that.”
“Sooo… that would also happen if Gunnarr loses?” Nat said.
C
ass sighed again, frustrated that she could do nothing to help in this situation.
“I have faith,” she said forcing an upbeat tone.
Gunnarr caught the doubt in her voice and gave her a look as he pushed Droog backward into some brush, the brambles temporarily stymieing the Cartan.
“What? I do. You get ‘em, you leviathan, you!” Cass said in an encouraging tone.
Gunnarr shook his head just before Droog charged him again. Once again, the two were locked in a hold, fighting for control.
“You aren’t really good at cheering people on, you know that?” Nat said.
Cass turned to Nat, her eyebrow cocked.
“You could give it a go. Say something manly and encouraging.”
Nat turned to the two fighters, now dripping with sweat from their efforts, grunting and straining, neither giving much ground.
“Erm… okay, I got nothing.”
“See, not so easy, is it?”
The two resumed watching the fighters in silence. Droog finally looked to be overpowering Gunnarr. He shoved Gunnarr backwards, pinning him against a tree. His hands began to grip tighter, the tips of his claws pushing into Gunnarr’s skin. One of the claws pierced through, causing blood to trickle down Gunnarr’s right arm. Droog grinned at Gunnarr, pleased in his prowess. Gunnarr took advantage of Droog’s gloating and tried to kick the Cartan’s legs from beneath him. It didn’t quite work, but it did knock Droog out of balance. Not wanting to fall, Droog released Gunnarr and tried to regain a sure footing but as he stumbled backward, he stepped on a jagged stick, the wood stabbing into his foot.