The Warrior (The Hidden Realm)

by A. Giannetti

  “I will return here someday if I can,” he thought to himself as he turned away to follow Ascilius.

  Despite the reappearance of the sun, the forest was still sodden. As the two companions walked under the trees, water dripped from the canopy overhead, making sudden, soft pattering sounds on the matted carpet of leaves underfoot. There were shallow puddles everywhere, and the ferns were beaded with drops of water like clear crystal.

  There saw no sign of the Goblin renegades or anything else for that matter. The drenched forest seemed deserted except for the singing birds over head. With each mile Elerian and Ascilius traveled south through the wet, empty forest, the mountains on their left grew closer, rising up in a great, pinnacled wall, bare gray stone on the upper slopes, dark and mysterious forests lower down.

  As they drew near to the old Dwarf road that led through the mountains to Calenus, Ascilius grew increasingly nervous, as if he expected Goblins to leap out at them from behind the trees at any moment. When they came to another of the numerous meadows that dotted the forest, Elerian was surprised when Ascilius walked out into the middle of it. Turning to the east, he pointed with his right hand over the tops of the trees to a notch between two tall peaks that rose up in the distance.

  “We must travel east again,” said Ascilius to Elerian. “That is the pass that we will take over the mountains. Once we reach the top of the pass, we will turn north, skirting the valley that lies before Calenus. At the northern end of the valley, there is another road which will take us north through the mountains to Ennodius. We must exercise the greatest care now, for the old forest road is barely ten miles to the south of us. There are likely to be Goblins about this close to the road.”

  “Perhaps I should use my ring to make us invisible then,” suggested Elerian as they crossed the meadow. Remembering how he had weakened himself in Nefandus, he had mostly refrained from using his ring up to now to conserve his strength.

  “It is difficult to walk when you cannot even see your own feet,” replied Ascilius, who did not particularly like being invisible. “Wait until we are closer to Calenus and the danger is greater.”

  They entered the forest again with Ascilius in the lead, walking in single file beneath the low branches that encircled the clearing. Elerian started as a sleek black form dropped silently onto Ascilius’s shoulders, crushing the Dwarf to the ground.

  Reacting instantly, Elerian drew his knife, intending to help Ascilius, but a heavy weight dropped onto his own shoulders, bearing him down to the ground. A paw covered with sleek black fur slipped under his chin, hooked claws digging into his throat. Elerian cast a shield spell just as a fanged mouth closed on the back of his neck. The creature behind Elerian snarled in fury as the shield spell held its teeth at bay. Bracing itself against his shoulders, it began to pull Elerian’s head back with its thick, muscular paw. Knowing that his shield spell would not prevent his neck from being broken, Elerian tensed his neck muscles. His sinews creaked and popped in his ears as he momentarily stopped the backward motion of his head. Desperately, Elerian lifted his right arm, which still held his knife, and stabbed blindly behind the back of his head. As the blade sank into his attacker, his ears were momentarily deafened by a shriek of pain. Then, the knife in his hand was torn away from him as the creature on his back went into a fit of biting and clawing as it tried to penetrate the magical shield covering Elerian’s body. Without its protection, the great claws and teeth of the creature would have torn him to bits in an instant.

  Suddenly, Elerian’s attacker went limp. He heaved the creature off of his back and sprang to his feet, ready to rush to Ascilius’s aid, but the Dwarf was already standing. On the ground in front of him lay the body of the leopard that had attacked him; its neck twisted at an odd angle. When Ascilius had felt the weight of his attacker on his back, he had reached back with his powerful hands, seizing the creature’s head and breaking its neck with one mighty twist of his wrists and arms.

  “I should never have let us walk under those low hanging tree limbs without looking first,” Elerian berated himself as he ended his shield spell. Bending down, he retrieved his knife from the beast which had attacked him. By good fortune, the blade had entered the leopard’s right eye, piercing its brain and killing it almost instantly.

  “There was no harm done, except maybe to your pride,” said Ascilius as he retrieved his ax.

  “Still, I should have known better,” said Elerian angrily. “I grew up in leopard country.”

  “You may not have seen them even if you had looked,” said Ascilius, pointing to the slender iron collars around the thick necks of both leopards. “The collars they are wearing are no doubt enchanted. These creatures may not be natural animals either. If they are creatures of the Goblins, they may have been altered to suit their needs.”

  “In that case, we had best disappear,” said Elerian, feeling slightly mollified by Ascilius’s observations. “Their masters may not be far behind.”

  Calling his silver ring to his hand, Elerian extended the golden cloak that it cast over him so that Ascilius was covered too. No sooner had they disappeared than a tall, slender Uruc, dressed all in black leather armor, rode up through the trees on their left, mounted on a sleek black atrior.

  Motionless, hardly daring to breathe, Elerian and Ascilius watched the Goblin approach.

  THE HUNTING PARTY

  The Uruc’s atrior smelled Elerian and Ascilius at once. Flaring its red nostrils, it stopped, pawing the ground nervously with its right foot. Long, corded muscles flexed under its sleek hide as the cruel black claws on its foot tore three deep furrows in the carpet of brown leaves which covered the forest floor. The Goblin mounted on its back frowned when he saw the dead leopards. After sweeping his dark eyes over the surrounding forest, he raised a curved iron horn, tipped and banded with polished silver, to his thin lips and blew a harsh blast that echoed through the trees.

  Lowering his horn, he spoke in a soft, yet penetrating voice as his fiery mount shifted nervously beneath him.

  “I cannot see you for some reason, but I know that you are here,” he said conversationally. “Rest assured that you will not stay hidden for long. My atrior has your scent, and my Mordi are on their way. In a few moments, you will be surrounded. Give yourselves up now, and I promise I will spare your lives and allow you to rejoin your companies.”

  “He thinks we are Goblins,” thought Elerian to himself. “He must be hunting the outlaws we chased from the cave.”

  Elerian knew the Uruc was lying, of course. He only meant to delay anyone hiding nearby until his Wood Goblins arrived. Taking Ascilius by the left arm, Elerian silently urged the Dwarf to move. Heading east, they slipped quietly through the forest, leaving the Uruc and his mount behind. Before long, they arrived at the banks of a shallow stream, flowing west out of the mountains in front of them.

  “Let us follow the stream for a while,” whispered Elerian to Ascilius.

  Removing their invisible shoes, the two companions entered the cold water. Careful not to make any splashing sounds, they walked quietly upstream, using the water to hide their trail. When they were well out of earshot of the Uruc, they began to run.

  Ascilius threw up great fountains of clear water with his heavy footsteps, but Elerian left barely a ripple as he ran lightly through the stream a short distance behind Ascilius. All too soon, Elerian heard the baying of hounds, signaling that the hunt was on.

  “The stream will not hide us for long,” thought Elerian to himself. “Once the Goblins realize that we have entered this brook, they are sure to divide their party in half; one group traveling upstream and the second downstream. If Ascilius and I stay in the stream, they are certain to overtake us, for the water will slow us down. If we leave the stream in order to run faster, the hounds will pick up our scent and run us down.”

  Elerian looked longingly at the thick branches overhead. The Goblins would not be able to track them through the upper pathways of the forest, but Elerian kne
w Ascilius would refuse to take the high road of the forest. Something would have to be done to throw off the pursuit.

  ”Keep going. I will slow them down a bit.” Elerian said to Ascilius, thrusting his pack into the Dwarf’s hands the same time.

  Before Ascilius could object, Elerian left the stream, running back along the north bank toward the sound of the hounds. Grumbling to himself about being left behind again, Ascilius, who was visible now that Elerian had withdrawn the invisible cloak cast by his ring, commenced running upstream again.

  Before long, Elerian saw the first of the canigrae. Running like dark shadows under the trees, their eyes glowing like crimson lamps, they were following the stream, some on one bank and some on the other. They constantly tested the ground with their noses to see if their quarry had left the water.

  “Time to play the part of the hare,” thought Elerian to himself. Despite the dangerous situation that he found himself in, a sense of anticipation swept through him at the prospect of matching wits with his enemies.

  After casting an illusion spell over himself, Elerian sent his ring away. Disguised now as one of the renegade Wood Goblins that he and Ascilius had encountered in the cave, he briefly revealed himself to the canigrae before turning and running north. Behind him, the Goblin hounds began baying excitedly, signaling to their masters that they had sighted the prey. Harsh horn notes rang through the forest behind Elerian, answered by more horns farther to the west as the Goblins who had gone downstream turned back to join in the hunt.

  “I have the whole pack after me now,” thought Elerian to himself with satisfaction.

  Despite being badly outnumbered, he was not particularly afraid as long as he had a well developed canopy of branches above him. If the canigrae closed in on him, as well they might if there were lupins among them; he would simply take to the trees. The shape changers would not be able to follow him through the branches overhead.

  Elerian’s one concern was that leopardi might be hunting him as well as canigrae. The catlike creatures were not scent hunters, but if they caught a glimpse of him, he would not be able to lose them, even in the canopy. He cast many anxious glances over his left shoulder as he ran, but no four footed shapes appeared behind him on the ground or in the branches above him.

  “Luck has favored me so far,” thought Elerian to himself as he sped through the forest on silent feet. “I will lead them on a merry chase before I lose them.”

  Running easily, he led the four footed hunters behind him and their Goblin masters north through the forest, taking them farther and farther from Ascilius. He had actually begun to enjoy the chase when, abruptly, he burst out of the forest into one of the stony meadows that were so common in the Broken Lands. This glade was quite large, with thick, knee high turf covering the wide expanses between the exposed bedrock that thrust out of the ground. Grazing on the lush spring grass was a herd of wild forest oxen, already wearing their sleek red summer coats. They snorted in alarm, the bulls bellowing and pawing the ground when they saw Elerian.

  A mischievous light immediately appeared in Elerian’s eyes. He called his ring to his right hand, the oxen starting and staring wildly with wide, white rimmed eyes when he suddenly disappeared. Running north through the herd, nimbly taking advantage of every gap between the great beasts that blocked his way, Elerian swiftly twisted every ear and tail in his path that he could reach, leaving pandemonium in his wake.

  Suddenly, the herd bull, an enormous mountain of muscle standing higher than a tall man at the shoulder, appeared before Elerian. Showing himself by sending away his ring, Elerian slapped the beast’s nose with his right hand before spinning on his right heel and running back the way he had come. Bellowing angrily, the ground shaking beneath his huge hooves, the bull pursued him with lowered horns. The cattle scattered before the approaching juggernaut, leaving Elerian a clear path to the forest. Once he broke free of the herd, Elerian felt the ground tremble beneath his feet as the oxen fell in behind their leader, all of them intent on trampling him into dust.

  Calling on every ounce of speed he possessed, Elerian opened a gap of several hundred feet between himself and the enraged cattle. When he entered the trees on the far side of the clearing, he immediately ran into the pack of canigrae that was tracking him. Before they could rend him with their fangs, Elerian leapt high up onto the trunk of a great oak. Behind him, the herd bull entered the wood, seeing and smelling the canigrae for the first time.

  The king ox hated wolves with all his mighty heart. Forgetting about Elerian, he charged the pack of canigrae that had appeared before him. Behind him, a wall of bellowing cattle appeared as his herd followed him into the forest. Stopping in their tracks, the startled canigrae yelped in fear as they took in the tossing horns and razor sharp hooves approaching their way. Tucking their bushy tails between their legs, the Goblin hounds spun around and ran back the way they had come, leading the enraged cattle right into the ranks of the company of Wood Goblins that was following close behind them.

  Throwing away their weapons, some of the Goblins climbed trees while the rest fled in all directions, pursued by the furious cattle. The Uruc leading them sped away on his atrior without a backward look, concerned only with saving his own skin.

  From a branch high above the ground, invisible again with his ring on his finger, Elerian watched the scene below him with tremendous enjoyment. For all their size, the oxen were quick and agile as deer, and they made things warm for the Mordi who, for all their fleetness of foot, were hard put to escape their determined pursuers.

  “Who would ever have thought that cattle were so vindictive,” thought Elerian to himself, as he watched a young bull resolutely pursue a screaming Goblin, matching every twist and sudden turn the fleeing Mordi made with one of his own as he sought to skewer the Wood Goblin with his needle sharp horns. Eventually, the entire rout moved south, out of Elerian’s sight. When the last scream and bellow faded away, he suddenly thought of Ascilius.

  “If he is still running, he must be almost on the border of Calenus by now,” thought Elerian to himself. “I had best hurry back.”

  Turning toward the south, he began running lightly over the interlaced branches of the forest canopy. He saw no sign of any oxen or Goblins below him, but occasionally, off in the distance all around him, he heard screams and angry bellows that were like music to his ears. When he reached the stream where he had left Ascilius, Elerian followed it east into the mountains without descending to the ground. Eventually, he saw Ascilius below him, plodding wearily through the chilly, swift flowing waters of the stream.

  The Dwarf looked wet and cold. Water dripped from his hair and beard as he splashed along, often slipping on the slick rocks and gravel that formed the bed of the stream, and he kept looking over his shoulder, appearing both worried and irritable, as if wondering if and when Elerian would appear again.

  “He will have something to say to me when he sees me,” thought Elerian with a gleam in his gray eyes.

  “Another mile or two and you will begin to grow fins,” shouted Elerian cheerfully from his perch high above the stream.

  Ascilius stopped at once and looked up. When Elerian sent away his ring, revealing himself, Ascilius shook a clenched right fist in his direction.

  “Where have you been?” he shouted angrily. “What do you mean by running off like that?”

  “Were you worried about me?” asked Elerian, his eyes glinting with laughter.

  “I only worry when I know that you are nearby,” retorted Ascilius, wearily leaving the stream and sitting himself down on a thick tree root. “How far behind are the Goblins?”

  “They have given up chasing us,” said Elerian in a pleased voice. “They have other, more pressing matters to occupy them at the moment.”

  He climbed down from his perch and, while Ascilius rested, related all that had happened to him in the time they had been separated.

  “Even if the Goblins are able to regroup, they are unlikely to strike o
ur track again,” Elerian concluded.

  “Just the same, we need to find some safe place to spend the night,” replied Ascilius. “Tomorrow, we will begin our ascent into the mountains. The valley that lies before Calenus is not far ahead of us now.”

  They continued on their way, both of them entering the stream and following it up into the mountains. They found no cave that night, but not far from the north bank of the stream, they did find a great oak at least twelve feet across with a crack in its side. The crown was still green and vigorous, but when Elerian squeezed through the opening in its trunk, he found a hollow chamber at least eight feet across and a dozen feet high. The floor of the cavity was covered with a soft layer of decayed wood at least a foot thick.

  “We can spend the night in comfort in here,” said Elerian after Ascilius squeezed in after him. “I wish, however, that we could have a fire and a warm meal.”

  “That might be arranged,” said Ascilius, “if you could manage to brew some of your excellent wine.”

  He disappeared through the crevice, returning a few moments later with a large, flat rock from the nearby stream in his arms. Ascilius set the rock in the middle of the hollow while Elerian hung his cloak over the entrance to the cavity so that no light would shine out into the night At a word from Ascilius, a red fire the size of his clenched fist sprang to life in the center of the stone, filling the cavity with warmth and light.

  “Even though, the fire spreads its heat only where I allow it, this is a dangerous thing to do,” said Ascilius to Elerian. “At the least inattention on my part, the fire will escape and burn out of control. As soon as we have eaten and dried off, I will put it out so make haste and fetch the wine.”

  Elerian returned to the stream and filled their water bottles, transforming the clear water inside them into red wine. When he returned to the tree, Ascilius was sitting by the fire, wearing only his cloak. His clothes hung on the interior walls of the tree, drying in the heat of the fire. Elerian placed one of the water bottles in Ascilius’s eager hands before hanging up his own clothes to dry. Then, side by side, he and Ascilius sat comfortably by the fire, toasting bits of bread and cheese and drinking their wine while their clothes dried out.