Origin

by Samantha Smith

  She was totally unprepared for the flood of emotions and images that poured into her mind. She saw fleeting images of several other drakenhawks, some black and some blue. She also experienced a range of emotions from joy and love to loneliness and grief. Elwyn learned that the drakenhawks had a strong sense of family and community, and that they could contact each other instantly if need be. This was very helpful in times of danger. It allowed them to work together to protect each other and the companions they were life-bonded to. Keroc then flashed the image of the most beautiful creature Elwyn had ever seen. It was a drakenhawk, a female, much larger than Keroc. Her body was a beautiful shade of cobalt blue and parts of her shimmered so brightly, it looked as if she was encrusted with precious gems. The ridges on her head created a circlet of shimmering gems that resembled a crown. Keroc introduced her to Elwyn as Kierra, queen of all the drakenhawks.

  Kierra then asked for permission to communicated with her directly if need be during her trip. Elwyn gladly gave her permission, hopeful that she would be able to see the beautiful creature in her mind again. She got the distinct impression that Kierra was waiting for her to arrive in Findara and was anxious to meet her. Suddenly the images and sensations were gone, and Elwyn was left alone to wonder if she had imagined the beautiful creature. Getting back to the business at hand was her only solace, so she joined Thane in keeping a watchful eye on the woodlands that surrounded them.

  They rode for several hours continually watching for signs of danger; gratefully finding none. While she rode, Elwyn also enjoyed watching the sun making its journey across the sky, and listening to the woodland creatures going about their busy lives. Eventually, her stomach began to growl noisily. When she mentioned her hunger to Thane, he suggested that they eat while traveling so they could make as much progress as possible toward Kren during the daylight hours, when they had the best chance to see and avoid any obstacles blocking their way. Grudgingly she agreed, knowing that his suggestion made sense and that he would miss noon tea as much as she would. Elwyn pulled some jerky and biscuits from her saddle bags, and washed them down with some of the water from the waterskin she kept hanging from the pommel of her saddle.

  Suddenly Keroc plummeted downward from the sky, shrilly keening as he flew. She started in surprise as he landed on the pommel of her saddle and impressed her with sensations of intense hunger. She started feeding him choice pieces of her jerky by hand while they rode along the trail. Thane was so shocked by this that he started choking on his lunch and had to drink some water to catch his breath.

  “I’ve never seen a drakenhawk eat from someone’s hand before. I know of no one who would offer food, even to their own companion, with a bare hand. Would you like one of my leather gloves?”

  “No, that’s entirely unnecessary. Keroc has excellent manners and would never consider causing me harm. Besides, he says that there has never been anyone brave enough to try sharing food this way before I came along. He thinks all those safety rules that the Companionkeeper teaches, don’t take into account the fact that they are intelligent creatures, not just animals.”

  “Perhaps we should begin addressing our questions to the drakenhawks, rather than relying on our own judgment. We were also taught not to offer human food to a drakenhawk. They are said to only hunt, kill, and consume their own prey.”

  “While that would normally be true, Keroc has not had time to hunt since early yesterday morning. If he was older that wouldn’t be a problem, but since he is young and still growing, he doesn’t have the same energy reserves and stamina that older drakenhawks do. Flying takes a lot of energy and Keroc is not only ravenously hungry, he is getting increasing tired as he flies.”

  Thane’s expression grew grimmer and grimmer as she spoke. By the time she finished speaking, he’d slumped down in his saddle and lowered his head in shame.

  “I feel terrible for neglecting to see to Keroc’s needs, Elwyn. How will I ever deserve to be chosen as a companion of a drakenhawk, if I can’t even remember to see to the basic needs of one placed in my care for a few days?

  Keroc, I am so sorry for neglecting you and not allowing you the time to hunt, eat, or rest.”

  Keroc immediately communicated his sincere feelings of forgiveness and good will, along with an image of hunting when they were camped that evening. Elwyn and Thane both agreed that they still had a lot to learn about their journey and each other, if they were to be successful on their own. His hunger sated for the moment, Keroc flew off again to scout the terrain before and after them.

  As they rode, Elwyn shared with him her earlier communications with Keroc, including meeting Kierra. Thane looked as if he was going to fall off Raffe in a faint as she described the queen of the drakenhawks to him along with their brief exchange.

  “This whole situation gets more extraordinary by the hour. Tell me how it came about and everything she said to you. I think that you are the first person that the drakenhawk queen has ever communicated with. She’s always limited her contact to other drakenhawks, and only through them have we been able to ascertain her wants or needs. Are you sure that you weren’t just seeing and sensing her through Keroc?”

  “Well, I am very new at this mental communication thing, but there was a distinct difference in the feel of the communication. Keroc feels excited and young, tending to hop from one thing to another fairly quickly. Kierra felt very calm and peaceful, more like an older presence. She asked for permission to contact me if necessary during our travels. She also said that she was waiting for me to reach Findara and would like me to come and meet her when I arrive.”

  “When we reach Kren, we should spend some time together and write down all the things you have learned so we can share them with the companionkeeper when we arrive in Findara. I am actually surprised and humbled that we are chosen as companions by a race that we misinterpret and misunderstand in so many ways.”

  “I get the feeling that the companions are very patient and more understanding than we realize. After all you keep telling me how amazing it is that Gemma hasn’t taken offense to being called a horse for so many seasons. She obviously loves me anyway.”

  The two of them continued riding, each silently processing what they were learning on their journey. One of the things that kept bothering Elwyn was her lack of knowledge about shadow squads. Since she wasn’t sure she would be able to help kill them, she felt her best option would be to try to avoid them altogether. In order to do that, she needed to know more about them. She decided to pick Thane’s brain for every bit of information he knew.

  “Thane, I would like to know more about shadow squads, so that we do everything we can to avoid them.”

  “I think that would be a wise idea. We should not only go over what we know about them, but also strategize what we are going to do if we do encounter one.”

  “I’ll start with what I remember. It is a four man team of assassins that move very quickly through shadowy areas and are extremely difficult to spot. I guess the first thing would be to understand how they move so quickly through the shadows.”

  “I’m afraid that I don’t know, Elwyn. I’m not sure that anyone, who isn’t a member of one of their squads, knows the answer to that question. What we do know is that they seem to emerge from the darkest shadows surrounding trees or tall rocky overhangs. We have no idea how they travel or how they become suddenly present in the shadows. The only warning we have of their presence is the behavior of the morden and warnings from the drakenhawks. The companions can sense their presence once they appear. At best, that only gives us seconds before they attack."

  “That certainly doesn’t give us much to go on, does it? No wonder people fear these attacks so much. What about their camouflage; what type do they use? I remember you saying that they are very difficult to see until they are almost next to you. Do you think the companions can see them and is that that how they know to sound the alarm?”

  “To be honest, we know almost nothing about their camouflage tech
niques. There are very few people who have faced a group of these assassins and lived to talk about it. Ayron has, but only as an archer who was positioned up in a tree. After Ayron’s soldiers defeated the shadow squad, his unit got out of the area quickly to minimize the chance of being attacked again, so no one stopped to study them. I’m also not sure how the companions sense their presence.”

  “Wow, that certainly doesn’t tell us much more about them does it? Ah, Keroc says to tell you that both the morden and the drakenhawk can smell them as they emerge through the shadows. Apparently they smell somewhat unpleasant; he says that it might be the poison they carry on their weapons. However, they are also very difficult for the companions to see.

  Well, I guess another important piece of information would be how they locate their prey. Do you know anything about that, Thane?”

  “I’m afraid not. These were not topics covered in my training and I’ve never had a conversation with anyone who knew enough about them to answer questions like that. To be honest, most people who encounter them end up dead. Also, there have been very few attacks in Unity or in Silvendil over the past twenty seasons. Azavon and his father, the former ruler, informed the Salissian government that they viewed attacks of this nature on their land as a declaration of war by Salissia itself.

  Something else that makes studying these assassins very difficult is that they take a suicide pact. If they cannot escape into the shadows, they will kill themselves so that they are never captured.”

  “That leaves us at a definite disadvantage when trying to prepare a defense or avoid them entirely, doesn’t it? I have to admit that I feel very vulnerable and don’t like the feeling much at all.”

  Thane was obviously embarrassed by his ignorance and tried to redeem himself in her eyes by switching the subject of their discussion to the methods of defense and attack most successfully used against them.

  “Why don’t we spend some time going over what we do know about them? The most successful defense against a shadow squad is to avoid heavily wooded land or other areas of deep shadow, because they won’t launch an attack out in open meadows and fields. When they are forced to attack during the day or out in the open, they lose much of their advantage and become more vulnerable to attack themselves.”

  “Why? Does it affect their ability to attack in some way?”

  “No, they’re still able to attack, but they lose the advantage they normally from the element of surprise. These assassins are normally able to kill their targets very quickly, because no one realizes they are being attacked until it is too late to respond. Every moment of surprise they lose is a moment more that we have to prepare to fight or evade them altogether. Because they can only appear in deep shadow, the farther we are from shadow, the farther they have to travel to reach us. That gives us and any companions with us more time to detect them. I did hear from my instructor that they move incredibly quickly and are able to overtake anyone running on foot with ease. We can’t do anything to slow them down, but they can’t run as fast as a horse or a morden. Whenever possible, we are instructed to mount up and ride away from them. That’s why every second of warning we have is critical.”

  “I can see why Ayron wants us to avoid them at all costs. We really don’t know enough about them to know what to expect or when to expect it. Can they be killed like anyone else?”

  “Oh yes, they are as mortal as we are. They are just very well trained and totally focused on killing their target. We have found the best weapon to use against them is a bow and arrow, or any other weapon that can kill at a distance. The greatest danger in fighting them is that each weapon they carry is dipped in a poison so lethal, that even a tiny scratch from one proves fatal. If we wound them in a fight, they may be able to continue fighting, while if we are wounded by them, we’re rendered unconscious or dead in seconds.”

  “Well Thane, I can’t tell you that our conversation has left me feeling more prepared or more confident about possibly encountering these killers. I’m not sure if I even want stop to rest or get down from Gemma’s back as evening approaches.”

  Elwyn spent the rest of the afternoon searching the surrounding woods and rocks with much more diligence than she had previously. The time came and went fairly quickly, with no sign of a threat. She shared Thane’s discomfort at finding that the farther north they rode, the more wooded and overgrown the land became. As they continued to ride, he contacted Keroc and asked him to look for an open area where they could set up camp for the evening. Elwyn could sense that the later it got the quieter and more serious Thane grew. He didn’t seem to want to talk about why and she decided not to push.

  Elwyn felt very inadequate trying to support Thane in dealing with the potential dangers that faced them on the way to Kren. While she knew quite a bit about woodland survival and hunting the creatures of the forests, she felt woefully ill-equipped to deal with human attackers, especially those brandishing poison-tipped weapons that could kill in less than a minute.

  Elwyn recognized that she was letting fear get the best of her. She worked over the next hour to focusing on what she did know in an effort to calm her mind. She began to concentrate on what she’d learned from the hunters in the village about archery, and what she learned about sparring with a short sword from her uncle Rhys. At some point, Thane broke her concentration, interrupting her thoughts to seek her opinion.

  “Keroc senses nothing threatening in the area, but he’s also been unable to find a large open campsite for us. We have two choices, since it seems to be getting more wooded and overgrown as we travel north. We can, either stop at a small clearing that Keroc located up ahead and make camp, or we can try to ride through the night. Which option do you think makes the most sense?”

  The grim look on Thane’s face and the slump of his shoulders told her that he favored neither choice.

  “As reluctant as I am to stop with evening coming on, I do have some concerns about trying to ride through the night. I worry about our mounts. Raffe and Gemma have had a rough couple of days and deserve some rest; especially if we have a rough ride ahead of us tomorrow to reach the village. And then there is the matter of Keroc. He has been flying scout all day after standing watch all last night and probably needs some rest as well. We did promise him time to hunt and eat his fill. If we don’t see to it that he eats soon, he will be weak and not much good to us if we do run into a fight.”

  Thane thought it was probably a good thing that she didn’t notice the snorts that emanated from both Raffe and Gemma at her concern over their need for rest. He was not overly concerned for them, because they had both eaten and rested well the night before. He was however, concerned for Keroc, who had neither eaten nor rested. He’d seen drakenhawks stay strong under the harshest of battle conditions, but he also knew that Keroc was very young and might not have yet learned his own limitations. He didn’t want the young drakenhawk causing himself physical harm, or exhausting himself to the point where he couldn’t fly and scout the area ahead of them as they rode.

  “I know the right thing to do is to take a break and camp for the night. Why don’t we stop up ahead, as soon as Keroc leads us to the small clearing he located? We can set up camp and allow Keroc to hunt and eat his fill right away. If we do that he should be back by dark. He’ll then be able to keep watch during the night as we sleep, or if sleep eludes us, we can break camp and ride north again. We can make the decision whether to stay or go after Keroc returns from his hunt. I have to tell you though Elwyn that I, for one, can’t wait to reach Kren and the comfort and safety it will provide us.”

  Within minutes, Keroc sent them an image of a small clearing he found and then flew back to join them and lead the way. As the sun was beginning to settle in the west, they arrived at the clearing, dismounted, and began making preparations for the evening. Elwyn unsaddled, brushed, and curried Raffe and Gemma, while Thane gathered wood, made a fire, and got some water from a nearby stream. They put a pot of water on to boil for tea and anoth
er for stew. She dug up some edible roots, while he added some dried beans and herbs from one of the pouches in his saddle bags. She then finished up the stew by adding in some of their jerky, and putting out some of Clayre’s biscuits to heat up on the rocks that surrounded the fire. The aroma from the stew made their mouths water. They were both famished and waited impatiently for dinner to finish cooking.

  Thane, remembering his promise to Keroc, sent the drakenhawk away to hunt as soon as they’d arrived in the clearing. Thane assured him that he and Elwyn would take turns standing watch until he returned. Keroc happily agreed with this arrangement, having just completed a search of the area and sensing no danger. The more the shadows deepened and seemed to draw closer, the more Thane hoped that Keroc would return quickly from his hunt.

  Chapter 14 – Port Strabo

  As Ayron rode toward Port Strabo, he could feel the warm sun on his back as it rose higher over the tops of the eastern mountain range. He was focused on finding a small spring or pond so that they could stop to take a rest, replenish their waterskins, and allow their mounts to drink. Stopping for a meal and a short rest from the rigors of travel would allow everyone to refresh themselves. Ayron did a mental review of how his plan was progressing. From their end, everything was still proceeding reasonably well. Aside from the attack the previous night and a short delay while they stopped to fix the broken wagon wheel, they’d made good time and would reach the city by mid afternoon. If there were no other mishaps, they should be able to conduct their business in Port Strabo and get underway, headed toward Amarni, before evening. Ayron hoped they would be able to make their purchases and set up the new wagon before evening meal, because he was strongly leaning toward having them travel again throughout the night. He knew he was pushing everyone very hard, but felt he could not rest until he had Rhys and Clayre safe from harm and was free to join Elwyn.