The Warrior (The Hidden Realm)

by A. Giannetti

  As they had nothing to eat for breakfast, they set out on their way immediately, following the river. The Arvina maintained its strong flow, and they walked for several miles behind the thick screen of brush that lined the bank, searching for some suitable place to swim across.

  “That is the Catalus,” said Dacien to Elerian and Ascilius, pointing to the outflow of a small river on the far bank. “We are only ten miles or so from the Tanicus. That may be the best place for us to attempt a crossing.”

  As they continued walking, Ascilius and Dacien were in high spirits at the prospect of reaching Dacien’s people before sunset, but Elerian did not share their optimism. He remained cautious, walking far ahead of his companions, his footfalls light and silent, even on the carpet of brown leaves that covered the ground. The woods seemed strangely silent, making him uneasy. Even the birds were quiet. As he paused for the hundredth time to listen, Elerian suddenly heard the rough, snarly voices of several mutare through the trees ahead of him.

  AN UNEXPECTED OBSTACLE

  Hardly daring to breathe, Elerian froze in his tracks. Careful to make no noise, he slipped out of his pack and set it out of sight behind a tree. Wishing to creep up on his enemies unseen, Elerian looked up, thinking to take the upper pathways of the forest, but the branches overhead were not large enough to support his weight. Forced to remain on the ground, he called his ring to his finger instead and promptly vanished. After stealing silently from tree to tree for several hundred feet, Elerian eventually found himself looking at a small pack of mutare loafing in the shade of a large chestnut tree, out of sight of the river. They wore black leather armor, and despite their relaxed poses, had their weapons nearby. Two of them were arguing. It was their voices that had alerted Elerian to their presence.

  Unseen and unsuspected, Elerian silently walked past the changelings, downwind so that they would not catch his scent. Barely thirty feet from the first group, he found another pack, also heavily armed. Beyond them, he could now see another group, larger yet. He could also see the slim figures of Mordi as well. Everyone was resting in the shade of the trees, but Elerian sensed a restlessness in the company and in their voices, as if they expected something to happen soon.

  Behind a screen of brush near the bank of the Arvina, Elerian saw five narrow rafts made of logs. They were lying under the trees close to the river but out of sight of anyone standing on the east bank. Each raft was about eight feet wide and twenty feet long, with stout iron chains fastened to each end. Joined together, they would easily span the width of the river. Most alarming to Elerian were the black clad Mordi archers concealed along the bank of the river, keeping a close watch on the far shore.

  “Something is afoot,” thought Elerian to himself. “This looks like an invasion force, but Dacien said nothing about Goblins gathering this far to the north.”

  Silently, he made his way back to where he had left his pack. After reclaiming it, he continued west, along the river, meeting up with Ascilius and Dacien after only a short distance. Both of them started when he suddenly appeared before them after sending away his ring, for they had heard no sound to warn of his approach.

  “We cannot go any farther east,” said Elerian quietly. “The woods are stiff with Goblins and their allies. They are wearing the uniforms of Nefandus and have a number of rafts piled under the trees, as if they mean to construct a temporary bridge over the river. There are also archers hidden all along the bank of the river, keeping watch on the far side. Our only hope of crossing the Arvina is to swing wide around them and to try and cross the river farther to the south.

  “The Goblins must be planning an invasion,” said Dacien in a worried voice. “The army they have gathered at Silanus must be a ruse to draw attention away from the north. I do not understand how they plan to remain undetected, however. There are Tarsi sentries hidden on the far side of the river charged with keeping watch on the western bank day and night. If the Goblins were to attempt a crossing, an alarm would go out at once to Silanus. On the open plains, the Goblins are no match for mounted Tarsi. Their only refuge would be in the Nordaels, forty miles to the east as the crow flies, but they would be overtaken and destroyed long before they reached the mountains by the mounted companies sent from Silanus to intercept them.”

  “If the sentries along the river and the Tarsi encampment to the east of us were eliminated before they gave any warning, the Goblins would have plenty of time to reach the mountains,” pointed out Ascilius. “By following the Tanicus and sheltering under the groves of willows that grow along its banks, they could stay out of sight until they reached the Nordaels.”

  “If that is their plan, then there is no time to travel farther south. We must cross the river now and somehow warn the sentries on the east bank,” said Dacien grimly. “Once one of them sounds his horn, the others will be warned, and the element of surprise will be lost for the Goblins.”

  “We can cross the river here instead of farther down by the Tanicus,” suggested Ascilius. “The water runs swift and deep, but if we can find a large enough piece of wood, I can use it to support my weight while you and Elerian push me across. Your ring, Elerian, will conceal us from anyone who may happen by.”

  “A risky plan, but it may work,” said Elerian thoughtfully. “Let us see if we can find a large enough piece of wood to support your weight then.”

  After they had retreated to what seemed a safe distance from the Goblin encampment, Elerian climbed into a tall oak tree. Casting a parting spell at the junction of the trunk and a branch that was almost eight inches thick, Elerian separated the limb from the tree. The branch, which was about fifteen feet long, fell without a great deal of noise, cushioned by the smaller, springy branches that grew along its length. Even so, Elerian remained in the tree for a long time, listening for any sounds of the enemy. Satisfied at last that they remained undiscovered, he climbed back down to join his two companions.

  Dacien and Ascilius were already standing by the limb Elerian had procured. Dacien was examining the large end curiously, for the wood was cut as cleanly as if sheared off with a great sword.

  “I used a parting spell to cut it off,” said Elerian in answer to the questioning look on his face.

  He and Ascilius hung their packs and cloaks on two smaller branches, where they would remain above the surface of the river. Then, together, the three of them lifted the branch. Before they could take a single step, their luck suddenly took a turn for the worse. Elerian heard a rustle of leaves off to his right. He froze in his tracks, and his two companions wisely did the same.

  Turning his head, Elerian saw five Mordi approaching through the trees. No more than thirty feet away, all of them were intently examining the ground in front of their feet and were still unaware of the three companions. All five Goblins were armed with short, powerful bows that would be deadly at this close range.

  “Probably a hunting party out for a bit of sport,” thought Elerian to himself as he called his silver ring to his finger.

  As he vanished, he extended the cloak of golden light flowing from the ring to cover his two companions and the branch they were holding. They had no sooner disappeared than one of the Mordi looked up. There was a disgusted look on his thin, cruel face, and Elerian guessed they had seen no game worth pursuing thus far.

  Hardly daring to breathe, the three companions waited tensely as the hunting party of Mordi drew closer. Dacien found it an unsettling experience, not being able to see any part of his body or the part of the branch he was carrying in his hands. At any moment, he expected that they would be discovered.

  Ascilius was calmer, for he had grown accustomed to being invisible and had every confidence in Elerian.

  “He will get us out of this somehow,” thought Ascilius to himself, even as the Goblins drew ever closer.

  Meanwhile, Elerian was racking his brain for some way to create a diversion. If the hunting party maintained its present course, they could not help but run into the branch that the thre
e companions were holding and which they dared not set down lest they alert the Mordi to their presence.

  Suddenly a shaggy, black shape with fiery eyes appeared behind the hunting party. The canigrae raised its head as its questing nostrils caught the scent of Elerian and his companions. Ascilius and Dacien felt their heart sink at the sight of the Goblin hound, but Elerian smiled, for here was the diversion that he needed. Before the canigrae could bark and give them away, he extended his right hand. With his third eye, he saw a small golden sphere fly from his fingertips. His aim was good, for the orb struck the canigrae squarely in the chest, instantly covering the Goblin hound in a golden shroud of light.

  Dacien and Ascilius started as the shaggy black hound suddenly took on the appearance of a great red stag with half grown antlers still covered by velvet.

  “Look there,” shouted Elerian in a voice like that of a Mordi but which seemed to come from nowhere in particular.

  The Goblins looked around them with startled eyes and, spying the false stag, raised their bows at once without bothering themselves about where it had come from. There was a thrum of bowstrings, and the frightened hound, forgetting all about Elerian and his companions, turned tail and fled south into the forest, barely avoiding the arrows which the Mordi shot at it. Without a second thought, all five of the Mordi chased after him, each eager to be the first to bring down what they supposed was a fine buck.

  “I knew he would do it,” thought Ascilius triumphantly to himself as the Wood Goblins’ light footfalls faded into the distance. “Quickly now,” he said to his invisible companions. “Let us enter the river while we can. There may be other Goblins prowling about.”

  Together, at a faltering pace and with a great deal of grumbling as Ascilius and Dacien awkwardly contended with their invisible feet and their invisible burden, the three of them carried the branch down to the river. At the river’s edge, after a long look around to make sure there were no Goblins nearby, Elerian slipped into the cold, chest deep water near the bank, holding the thicker end of the branch in his hands. He drew the branch in after him and held it steady against the tug of the swift flowing water. Dacien entered the river next, gasping aloud from the shock of the cold water. He helped Elerian draw the limb into the river where they strained to hold it steady against the current as Ascilius dithered on the bank.

  “Where is the cursed thing?” he whispered to Elerian as he knelt on the bank, groping for the invisible branch near Elerian’s end.

  Elerian saw Ascilius’s shade plainly with his third eye. Despite the risk, his left hand seemed to reach out almost of its own accord. Seizing Ascilius’s right arm, Elerian pulled him head first into the water with a loud splash. Then, with a strength that would have surprised Dacien had he been able to witness it, Elerian immediately pulled the sputtering Dwarf up above the water. Ascilius’s wildly flailing hands quickly found the main trunk of the branch and immediately latched on to it with a death’s grip. Although the branch sank alarmingly, his head remained out of the water when Elerian released him, and he calmed down somewhat.

  “You pulled me in on purpose,” he whispered furiously to Elerian.

  “You fell in and I pulled you out,” Elerian whispered back, his voice full of pretended outrage. “Did you ever hear such ingratitude?” he asked of Dacien, who had no idea as to what had happened since he had seen nothing of what had taken place. Wisely, Dacien kept quiet, staying out of the argument.

  Ascilius was now making incoherent, sputtering noises. Elerian have dearly loved to make him visible for a moment in order to see the expression on his face. From the sounds the Dwarf was making, he was probably mad enough to make the water around him boil.

  “Too dangerous,” Elerian reluctantly decided. “Someone might see him.”

  Kicking strongly with his legs, he began pulling the branch away from the shore out into the current. Feeling the pull on the branch, Dacien also began to swim away from the bank, and the limb began to move slowly toward the opposite shore. The farther they got from the bank, however, the stronger the current became. Despite Dacien’s and Elerian’s best efforts, they were swept along at the speed of a fast walk, moving diagonally across the river instead of in a straight line. Elerian and Dacien fought hard against the current, but despite their best efforts, they were carried past the place where they had planned to land their makeshift raft. Before long, they were drifting past the Goblin sentries hidden on the western bank of the river. Fortunately, none of the Goblins under the trees marked the occasional odd ripple that resulted from Elerian and Dacien kicking against the strong current in their attempts to force the branch toward the opposite bank. The sun shone brightly on the water, and they avoided looking at it directly, for it hurt their eyes.

  “Swim harder!” whispered Ascilius impatiently to Elerian and Dacien, for he was extremely uncomfortable at the thought of the deep water beneath his heels and was anxious to reach the opposite shore as soon as possible.

  “You could help, instead of hanging there like a great lump!” Elerian whispered back.

  “I will raise a lump on your head with my fist as soon as I see it again,” Ascilius shot back angrily.

  “Both of you be quiet before you give us away!” whispered Dacien anxiously. He was mortally afraid that their voices would carry back across the river, bringing the whole Goblin army down on their heads.

  “He started it,” whispered Elerian.

  “I did not,” said Ascilius indignantly in a barely audible voice. “You insulted me first.”

  Dacien ground his teeth in frustration, wishing he could knock both of their heads together to silence them. Thankfully, they were finally drawing near to the far bank. Dacien saw that they had drifted down almost to the mouth of the Tanicus, a shallow stream perhaps thirty feet in width. He knew there was a submerged gravel bar there, where the Tanicus flowed into the Arvina. Reaching down with his feet, he suddenly felt hard ground and dug in his heels.

  “Help me!” he whispered to Elerian and Ascilius as he began to pull the branch toward the east bank of the Tanicus.

  By now, Elerian also felt the bar under his feet, and he helped Dacien pull the branch close to shore. Dacien scrambled out of the water first, followed by Elerian. Together, they pulled the invisible branch, with Ascilius still clinging to it, out of the water and into the willows and alders lining the bank of the stream. The three of them then picked up the branch and carried it deeper into the trees where it would not be visible to the Goblin sentries on the far shore once it became visible again.

  Once he was sure they were out of sight of the Goblins, Elerian sent away his ring so that they could see each other once more. Setting the branch down on the ground, Ascilius and Elerian retrieved their packs. Ascilius immediately donned his wolf skin cloak, for all three of them were soaked from their plunge in the icy waters of the Arvina. Elerian, who was not as affected by the chill in the water as his two companions, passed his own cloak to Dacien, who was shivering violently.

  “We must travel east along the bank of the Arvina until we find one of the sentries,” said Dacien as he gratefully wrapped the warm cloak around his bare shoulders.

  “That is easier said than done,” grumbled Ascilius. “We have no idea where they are stationed.”

  “One of them will not be far,” insisted Dacien. “This part of the river is well guarded.”

  “If we are to travel near the river, then we must use my ring again,” sighed Elerian.

  He was used to being invisible, but he still found still found it an awkward way to travel where the going was difficult. “Ascilius, hold Dacien’s cloak so that you do not lose him. I will follow along behind.”

  Elerian called his ring to his hand again. Once they were all safely invisible, they traveled east in single file along the west bank of the Arvina. They made slow progress, for the brush between the trees along the riverbank was quite thick and made for slow going. Despite their slow pace, Elerian found it difficult to keep the
three of them invisible and began to worry that they would be discovered, for despite his best efforts, a disembodied body part would suddenly appear out of thin air and then vanish again if Ascilius or Dacien stumbled or slowed unexpectedly.

  Dacien quickly grew impatient with the slow progress they were making. He was about to turn and ask Elerian to make them visible again, but before he could say a word, a long, strong hand lightly touched his left shoulder. He stopped at once, as did Ascilius when he bumped into Dacien.

  “Look ahead of you,” whispered Elerian softly to his two companions.

  Dacien looked carefully through the trees and saw a tall shape clad in brown leather facing the river.

  “One of the sentries,” was his first excited thought, but after a moment, he realized that he was mistaken. The sentry was too slender to be a Tarsi, for his leather armor hung loose on him. When he suddenly turned in their direction, Dacien saw the thin, handsome features of an Uruc beneath the rider’s helm. “The sentries must have all been murdered this morning,” was Dacien’s sad thought when he saw the Goblin’s face.

  When the Uruc turned his head back the other way, Dacien did not resist as he and Ascilius were drawn backward by Elerian, away from the Goblin. When they had retreated a safe distance away, Elerian ended the invisibility spell once more by sending away his ring.

  “What now?” he asked Dacien. “If one sentry has been replaced, then it is likely that they are all dead.”