by Greg Curtis
Genivere quickly forgot about the trader though when she reached the main ramp leading up to the southern part of the city. Her thoughts turned again to the elder and the wild heart. The rangers had said that the wild heart had saved them from slavers and had been their escort for three days. They had also said that the elder had appeared to have a fondness for the man. Who could be fond of a wild heart? They were wild, dangerous savages, who did unspeakable things – to women especially.
But it was not her place to judge an elder. Least of all Annalisse Brial Lon, the most respected foreteller in all the elven realms. Especially when there were rumours floating around the city that she'd come to Hammeral specifically to warn the elders about some sort of calamity coming. That others were coming too. And most especially not when she'd specifically sent for her.
At the top of the ramp Genivere turned left and headed across the platforms lining cedar row towards the scholars quarter of the city. It was there that most of the schools were located, as well as the great library and the various academies. And it was there that Annalisse and her family had been found accommodation.
The walk brought back memories of her own childhood. Especially when she passed by the various classes and saw the children sitting on the floor being given their first instructions in letters and numbers, in history and thought. Many of the children turned to watch her as she walked by, and she had to resist the impulse to smile as she saw them. Once she had been just like them. Sitting in those classrooms on the hard floor, trying not to squirm, and really more interested in what was happening outside than what the master or mistress was writing on the slate. Especially on a warm sunny day when the sun was shining and the birds were singing, and all she'd really wanted to do was go outside and play with her friends on the huge common below.
But she'd struggled through her five years in the seedling classes and then another five in the sapling classes before finally being allowed to join the temple and begin her true study. These children would too, even if they didn't want to. What was more they would all master their lessons. In some of the other realms she understood that wasn't so certain. The dwarves in keeping with their venal natures, ran a pass and fail system, where many of their children ended up leaving school early and barely able to read and write. They preserved their most advanced lessons for only a few. Schooling cost gold. The humans had a simple schooling system and then sent all the students out at an early age to learn trades. Their new masters finished their education. The satyrs only had five years of schooling. And the dryads, her own grandmother's people, didn't have schools at all. The children were taught by their parents.
Beyond the few dozen platforms supporting the classrooms was a small merchant area spread out over six more platforms. These were the established traders of the southern city, most of whom were clothiers or carpenters. There were also a couple of food merchants and a hostelry.
Most visitors to Hammeral – at least those who weren't elves – were surprised by how the city was laid out. How there was no one merchant section and one industrial area. But the city was laid out in a giant circle around a clearing that was one and a half leagues across. It was simply too large for everyone to be grouped together. To add to the confusion of course no horses and wagons could make it on to the platforms. So the visiting traders had their own little market areas on the clearing under the base of the trees.
But that just added to the wonder of the city in her view. Especially for the children. It meant that wherever you went there was food to buy, a hostelry to lay your head in, a hall to spend some time with friends in, and of course play areas.
The children of course spent most of their time avoiding the play areas and running around the city, chasing one another along the ramps, through the platforms, and even bouncing in the safety nets that underpinned the entire city no matter how many times they were told not to. But that was simply the way of things. You brought children toys and they played with the wrapping. You built them play areas and they ignored them and ran wild through the rest of the city. It was as it was meant to be. The Mother had created children to play and have fun however they wanted – not however their parents thought they should. It didn't matter whether they were kittens, foals or elves, the young were all the same.
Beyond the merchant platforms she found the ramps leading up to the higher platforms where the houses were, and she took the nearest of them. Elves loved to live in the tree tops with the clear blue sky above them. It was there that they felt most comfortable. Most at home. But it did make for a lot of climbing.
Still, the foreteller's home wasn't far and she soon reached the front door. She knew it was the right one because someone had already painted the family name Brial Lon on the front door. In everything else it was the same as all the others. A little larger perhaps because there were so many in her family, but otherwise identical.
Genivere knocked on the beautifully carved oak door and waited.
“Yes?”
The door opened and a woman of middling years poked her head out, while somewhere behind her Genivere could hear young children laughing and playing.
“I am Genivere Lin, Acolyte of the Mother. Elder Annalisse Brial Lon sent for me.”
“Of course, follow me.”
The woman held the door for her and then led here through the house. Through the large main room where three or four children were playing happily with building blocks and small wooden toys, through the hallway beyond which connected the many bedchambers in the home, to a second living room at the rear of the home where the elder was sitting at a writing desk waiting for her. Waiting with a smile on her face that made Genivere a little nervous. It wasn't that she thought the elder might have some dark design in mind for her. It was that she was a foreteller, and she might well know what was coming in Genivere's life. It looked to her like a knowing smile.
“Elder Annalisse.”
Genivere nodded to the elder as was proper and immediately regretted it. Even before she heard the elder protest. Had she not heard the fifth rangers say that the elder hated formality? But it was too late to take her words back.
“Enough of that child!” The elder sounded annoyed. “Now come in and let me see you properly instead of standing there in the doorway like a statue.”
Genivere did as she was asked, walking into the room, somehow keeping herself from apologising for her mistake, to stand in front of the elder. She stayed like that as the elder stood up and started examining her. But she did redden a little as the elder started commenting on what she found.
“Yes. Just as I saw. Part dryad and an acolyte. Tell me child, you ride with the thirteenth yet your hair is not braided?”
“Yes Elder. I care for the horses, tend to the injured and act as a guide through many of the forests. But my weapons are only the longbow and staff.”
She wasn't expected to fight, and in truth Captain Ysabel would have told her off if she'd tried. Her skill as a warrior was not great.
“So be it. The one I am sending you to assist will not need your help in battle. He is the most capable of warriors.”
“Elder?”
She was being sent to assist a warrior? That didn't sound right to her. Besides, the elder was a foreteller, not one of the council. She couldn't give her orders.
“Yes. Captain Ysabel is being given her orders now and you will join them in time. But her orders are only to meet with Yorik at the appointed place and time. Yours are to accompany him on his journey until your return to Hammeral. And Yorik will need to be treated carefully. That is why I asked that I be allowed to speak directly with you of what will be needed.”
“Why am I to accompany a warrior?”
“Because it is necessary child.” Annalisse sighed quietly. “We are entering a difficult time. A time of darkness and war. I see Yorik as important in this time to come. He is part of the light of the dawn to come. But only if things are done as they should be done. To that end there are things I see and things which have n
ot yet been given to me to see. And of those things which I see I may only reveal some to you.”
“But you may be assured that I see Yorik as important. I see this journey of his as important. And I see your presence on his journey as important.”
War and darkness? Genivere wanted to ask the question but she knew she wouldn't get an answer. For over a week the elders had been locked in meetings as they prepared for whatever was coming. And the rumours had flown. Especially when other foretellers had started arriving. But none were speaking to the people. Not yet anyway. So instead she asked the question she thought she might get an answer to.
“Yorik?”
That didn't sound like an elven name. But she had heard it somewhere before.
“Yes child. The wild heart barbarian that rescued my family and me. You have I believe heard of him from the fifth Hammeral rangers.”
“The wild heart!” Genivere's blood chilled. Nothing else in what she said mattered. Only that she was speaking of a wild heart. A monster in human form. And she wanted her to ride with such a creature? If there was anyone she would never want to meet, it would be him. “He would kill me – or worse!”
“Child Yorik is not a wild heart and he will not harm you. Of this much at least I am certain. He is a paladin, either of the Order of the Lady or the Silver Order. A man of honour with whom you will be safe. You may trust in this. My visions have been clear.”
A paladin of the Order of the Lady! Genivere relaxed a little at hearing that, though not completely. The rangers had said nothing of his being a paladin. And while she knew the foreteller would speak true, she wasn't completely sure she was right. Still, a paladin of the Order of the Lady! That impressed Genivere, more than a little. She did not want to go anywhere near a wild heart. No woman would. But if the foreteller said she was certain he was actually a paladin, that was different. Even if he was human.
She'd always wanted to meet a paladin. Her own brother Geannalee was a ranger of the Order of the Lady, and an amazing warrior with it. He could move like the wind and cast spells even when he had no magic of his own. But more than that he was an elf to be proud of. An elf of valour and virtue. He always had been, from long before he'd joined the Order. And she'd always wondered what the human side of the order must be like. Paladins and clerics instead of rangers and wizards. Humans so loud and rough, but if they were of the Order of the Lady, also brave and virtuous. It seemed like such a strange mix. And from what she'd heard, paladins were covered from head to foot in steel! They were the mightiest of warriors.
“But you will have to walk carefully around him.” Annalisse carried on apparently not noticing Genivere's lapse in concentration. “On this too my visions have been clear. He has recently suffered a terrible loss, and for a time the anger drove him away from his calling. When you meet him he will be stronger. He will be reuniting himself with his patron. Reforging his bond of service. His bond of trust. A paladin in order to serve must have absolute faith and trust in his cause and his patron. He must be unquestioning.”
“As part of his healing he has been given a quest to undertake. One that will leave his path completely in the hands of his patron. One that will be a test of his obedience and his faith. He must not fail that test.”
“A quest Elder?”
“I am unclear on what he has been asked to do or seek. But I know he is unclear on it as well. Instead he is being guided, and he must allow himself to be guided. He must listen and obey. And while it is important that you journey with him, it is also important that you do not steer him from the path set out for him.”
“Elder?” Genivere didn't understand what Annalisse was asking of her.
“His is a test to see how well he can be guided. How little he will resist his patron. You must not say anything that could cause him to doubt. Nothing that might make him wonder if he can still serve with all his heart. You must not guide him.”
“Then …?”
“You will accompany him. Answer his questions. Treat his injuries should he have any. And warn him if he needs warning. No more. And when his mission is complete you will bring him back to Hammeral.”
“Yes Elder.”
“You will also not speak to your patrol of what I have told you. Your captain knows where she is to go and when she must arrive. She knows of whom she will meet and what she must do then. But no more. That must remain as it is.”
“Yes Elder.” Genivere nodded again and then waited to be told off. But it never happened.
“Good. Be sure to remember those instructions. The fate of all of Hammeral may depend on you obeying them.”
“Now go. Captain Ysabel will be waiting for you when you return, and then you will have to ride. Your meeting with Yorik will not be for eight days, but it is a long journey and the captain will surely be eager to set off.”
Chapter Six.
“Let me guess, you would be Yorik the wild heart.”
It wasn't a question but Yorik nodded politely, regardless. Not for the first time he regretted having to travel through the Hammeral Forests again, especially after having told the last elf captain he had no wish to enter their lands, but it wasn't a choice. The man he was to meet and give a message to lay in this direction and he simply had to follow where the Lady guided him. He knew it would be worse when he had to explain that he was being guided by a spirit as the elves would no doubt call the Lady. But at least he was lucky that the captain spoke New Vinnish. Many of the elves of Hammeral did, but not all and his Elvish was barely passable.
She wasn't a spirit though. And despite the stories and the fact that she had once walked the world as a dryad prophetess, she wasn't that either. She was an elemental, a being of supreme power, little removed from the heavens. But the Order did not discuss that with outsiders, and he would not discuss it with this woman.
This new interrogator, Captain Ysabel of the thirteenth rangers of Hammeral, was a woman, and clearly also the leader among her troops, something that would have been unheard of in human lands. He also suspected that for all that she was a woman she would be no less tough to convince of his good intentions than the last captain he'd met. Possibly harder, considering what wild heart barbarians were reputed to do with any women they caught. Perhaps he would have been better to have left his furs off and travelled through the forests in his armour? At least then he might get a modicum of respect from those he met. Of course, bandits would take one look at a man in gold armour travelling alone, and attack, which was why paladins of the Order generally concealed themselves as wild hearts. No one liked wild hearts, but no one generally annoyed them either.
“Not returning any more lost elves to us are you?” The sarcasm in the woman's voice was so thick it would have been obvious to a rock, but underneath it was a large dose of nervousness and perhaps even curiosity.
“No Captain. I am here on a sacred quest. Where I am going or how long I'll travel I do not yet know, I have not yet been shown, but on my service to the Lady I swear to you that I have no intention of creating trouble or harming any of your people.”
It sounded somewhat crazed even to him, but at least it was the truth and the elves had a long history of allowing religious pilgrims into their lands. Even human ones. It was one of the few human purposes they respected.
“Service to the Lady? A wild heart barbarian on a holy quest?”
“I am not a wild heart Captain. I simply dress like one to avoid trouble. By and large no one troubles a wild heart. In truth I am Yorik of Ender's Fall, son of Heric of Stowe, Knight Errant and Paladin of the Order of the Lady.”
The captain did nothing more than arch one eyebrow at him in question, and he knew she didn't believe a word he said. And who could truly blame her? His disguise was good as it was meant to be, and he had done nothing to indicate that he was anything other than he appeared save to rescue a few traders.
In response Yorik just sighed, shook his head slowly, and began removing his ragged fur cloak, exposing the gold of his
armour to the soft light of the woods. That was at least something that he could prove. Despite the fact that it had been covered with dirty animal hides for the best part of a couple of months, his armour gleamed as though it had just been polished, and that was enough to make an impression on the captain. He could see her eyes widening in surprise, and behind her those of her men. But he didn't stop there.
Once he'd started removing the hides, Yorik suddenly decided that he wanted to continue and get rid of the last of his dirt covered rags. They felt like what they were – a lie. And so he dismounted and removed not only the cloak, but also the leather strip vest, fur leggings and soft soled leather boots, and then last but not least the hide helmet. In short order he was standing before the captain dressed only in armour as a paladin should be, while the hides were stowed away in his saddle bags, and he stood there with pride.
He was a paladin of the Order of the Lady. He had trained and studied for many long years to attain that position. He had finally sworn the compact on his blood and soul, and even though he had lost his way for a time in his grief and rage, the Lady had accepted him anew. It was good to no longer have to hide his nature from anyone, be they elf or bandit.