Through the Dark Wood

by Geno Allen

“Don’t worry, Zam,” Galwen said as he stood. “Neither age nor stature will win a battle. Rather heart and skill are what’s required. Dorrin is an excellent swordsman. Even at his young age his reputation with a blade will keep certain thieving fools away.”

  Zam thanked everyone for a wonderful meal and Galwen for rescuing his purse.

  The old innkeeper chuckled. “Well, I couldn’t leave you without a way to pay for the room.” Molly gave him a good-natured jab with her left elbow. It made Zam smile.

  All the children were clearing out, and just before Zam stepped into the hall he heard Barea say in a hushed tone to Molly and Galwen, “Did you see the way Tearis was looking at him? What was that?”

  Galwen said mater-of-factly, “She sees something in him.”

  Molly agreed. “That's true, but it seems more as though she knows him.”

  Dorrin pulled on Zam's arm. “Come on, Zam… you don’t want to wait around here. You’ll need some shuteye if Grandfather and I are to teach you how to fight tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I can fight, Dorrin… just not with a sword.” He listened, but heard no more of the hushed conversation.

  The morning dawned with a thirteen year old boy waiting, hovering, at Zam’s door. “Come on. Enough sleeping. It’s time to fight.”

  This must be what having a younger brother is like…

  “Come on, I said.”

  I think I might like that.

  Dorrin was ready with two wooden training swords. Once he and Zam were outside he threw one to Zam. “Here’s yours.”

  Zam looked around. The morning was beautiful, the brightest day he had seen in weeks even before leaving home. Many of Galwen’s grandchildren were gathered around to see the bout between Zam and Dorrin. Galwen hadn’t come out yet.

  Dorrin struck Zam in the back.

  “Hey! I wasn’t ready to start!”

  Dorrin's impish smile returned. “Your enemy won’t say, ‘By the way, would you mind if I attacked you now?’ Will he?”

  “All right then.” Zam set a large grin on his face and took a battle ready stance.

  Dorrin took a swing. Zam tried to block it, but Dorrin’s sword came down on his fingers and Zam dropped the sword. “Ouch!”

  “You have to protect your hands… they’re important.” Dorrin chuckled at how clever he was and continued swinging. Zam dodged each swing as he reached for his sparring sword.

  “You’re pretty fast,” Dorrin said as he moved around for another strike.

  For a moment it seemed the world slowed down, and an unpleasant change came over Dorrin. Something crept into his countenance, some ill toward Zam. He violently swung for Zam’s face as Tearis shouted a warning.

  Zam moved just in time. “Hey! Be more careful, Dorrin! That would have really hurt!”

  Dorrin's eyes were glassy, almost vacant. He didn’t speak at all as he lunged at Zam, becoming more aggressive with each swipe of the wooden blade.

  Zam couldn't understand the rancor coming from Dorrin and the darkness that seemed to gather. He blocked several blows in Dorrin’s onslaught, but one struck him in the shoulder. It hurt. He looked for a moment at his shoulder and found blood there. When he looked back at Dorrin to protest, he wasn’t there.

  Nor was Zam himself, it seemed. Instead he found himself standing in a clearing, surrounded by a dark and tangled wood. Panic began to take hold of him as he looked about for Dorrin and the other children. They were all gone. Zam turned a circle about the clearing. And when his gaze fell to the place he had last seen Dorrin, a large black dragon with armor-like scales, razor-sharp talons, and teeth like scythes was standing in his place. Terror ran through Zam.

  The black dragon spoke. “You will not claim my prize, Boy. I have captured her and she is mine. I will have my supper, and I might add you to the meal. Or, perhaps I’ll save you for breakfassst.” A swipe of the dragon’s massive talons tore past Zam’s ear as he dodged the blow, but just barely. His wooden sparing sword was gone, and he was holding the sword that once belonged to Mort.

  Zam tried to spy the prize of which the dragon spoke. Dodging another strike, he saw: on a large rock at the edge of the clearing, with a wall of dragon’s fire separating her from the rest of the forest, Tearis lay unconscious. Zam was first seized with fear and then confusion as he tried to understand how the dragon had taken Tearis and how he himself had come to be here.

  A rage began to boil up in him, and recognition struck. Tearis looks at me as though I’m a hero. Now she needs me to be one. Otherwise she will die, and she is far too young for that!

  To this point the dragon had been toying with Zam, but now it leapt on him like a lion on its prey, its right foreleg pinning him to the ground under its massive weight. Its razor teeth snapped shut so close Zam could feel the breath on his face. He wedged the sword between himself and the dragon’s head to keep its maw from closing a death grip about him. The sharp point slipped between two scales and cut the dragon. The beast reeled back.

  Tearis awoke and looked around in terror. “Zam!” He turned to her and the dragon swept him aside, coiling most of its frame around his body. It began toying with him again, snapping its monstrous jaws shut inches from his arm, his chest, his head. It repeatedly knocked him to the ground with its horns. Tearis stood on the rock watching in horror.

  Bruised and bloodied, Zam refused to give up against this impossible foe. Standing once again, on legs less steady than he desired, Zam pointed the tip of his sword at the dragon’s heart, “Beast, she is not your prize! You may try to claim her, but she... is... not yours....” His strength was failing, and that struck a deeper fear in him for what would befall Tearis, who stood now in shocked silence.

  The dragon spoke in a sickeningly peaceful tone. “Boy, you are going to die, as will the girl. But for all your valiance perhaps I’ll dine on you this night and save her for breakfassst.”

  “No!” Zam shouted and leapt with all his remaining strength, striking the dragon with his sword. The force of the blow hurt Zam’s hands but the dragon was unfazed. Zam swung wildly at the dragon’s neck, chipping at scales, which threw sparks with every strike.

  The dragon coiled back and hissed out a trail of smoke. “Careful, Boy.” The smoke made Zam’s eyes burn so badly he couldn’t keep them open.

  Eyes closed and burning from the fumes, he continued swinging, hoping against hope he would strike some weak point. He couldn't see that the dragon was scheming, slowly bringing the lance-like tip of its tail into position behind him.

  Sulfurous vapors still blinded Zam, yet slowly he began to see all that played out. His eyes were still closed, he was still swinging his sword without any real aim, and he still felt a mix of terror and rage, but somehow he could see Tearis on the rock, see the tears running down her cheek. He could see the dragon coiling its tail behind him—his own stature so small and weak in comparison. Then, as the last moment of his life was about to pass, he saw the razor tip of the dragon’s tail swing around and strike him squarely in the back, piercing him with a deathblow.

  Tearis screamed his name and Zam slumped forward, away from that part of the beast which claimed his life. The scaly lance flowed back down to the ground stained with Zam’s own blood. As these visions passed through his mind, the world slipped into inky black, and Tearis’ sobs echoed through his mind along with sorrow for his failure and the second great loss that Galwen’s family would now have to endure. Then he saw nothing.

  “Zam! Zam are you all right?” The voice was Dorrin’s, then Galwen’s.

  “Zam, speak to me!”

  Zam wasn't yet sure what was happening. Didn’t I just die?

  Dorrin said hurriedly, “I only hit him once. Well, twice. Once when I gave him the sword, but that was nothing, and once I hit his fingers when he was blocking wrong. I was going to go easy on him, I promise. I didn’t–”

  Galwen held up his hand to silence Dorrin. “Quiet!”

  Zam was moving, coming around. He opened his eyes to see
Galwen looking down on him with concern then noticed that Tearis was also at his side. There were tears welling in her eyes.

  Tearis!

  Fear for her surged through him as he flashed back to what might have happened once the dragon finished him. But we’re here…! He was more than a bit confused, but thankful.

  “There you are, Lad.” Galwen leaned down and whispered, “You should really save those visions for moments when weapons aren’t being hurled at you.”

  “What? How did you...? ” Zam was bewildered again, and growing quite accustomed to it.

  “Later, Zam... we will discuss it later.”

  Zam looked around and saw that the whole clan, as well as several others who dwelt in Rivertowne, had gathered around in concern for him. It was an odd feeling since Zam couldn't recall anyone ever having been concerned for him until recently. He gazed at the family, still disoriented.

  From the corner of his eye, he spied Mort standing among the townsfolk, eyeing him, Galwen, and the children. There was malice in his countenance and he was plotting.

  Galwen dusted Zam off and spoke to the crowd. “Look at these sad faces. He’s fine. Go back to what you were doing, and thank you for your concern.”

  Some of the villagers nodded and went on their way, but the family all closed in to be sure Zam was truly unharmed.

  Keer, the seven year old, asked, “Did Dorrin hurt you? I’ll kick him for you.”

  Zam smiled at that, “No, Keer, your brother did me no harm. I’m all right.”

  Keer and Tearis grabbed Zam by the hand, attempting to help him up.

  Having heard that interchange, Galwen ruffled Keer’s hair playfully and took Zam’s hand also, helping him to his feet. “Breakfast first,” he said. “Then after, Dorrin and I will teach Zam to use his sword.”

  Zam agreed, and finally feeling stable on his feet, he picked Tearis up and carried her. He needed to keep her safe. The dragon’s fire and Tearis’ terrified look flashed through his mind. The effects of the vision would linger, as would the weight of Mort’s evil glare.

  Zam shifted Tearis to his other side, farther from Mort, and whispered, “I’m all right, Tearis, and I will always protect you.”

  She leaned her head close against his shoulder, contented. “I know, Zam.”

  This must be what it’s like having a little sister…. I think I would like that as well.

  Breakfast was over. The women and children cleared out, and Galwen sat with Zam alone at the table. “There are times when my granddaughter just knows things. She often will not share what she knows, but she knows nonetheless.”

  “She knows something about me. I heard you, Molly and Barea talking about it. That was all I heard, but I’ve felt since our first meeting that she knew something about me. It was unsettling at first.” His demeanor was grim. “But now it’s more.” Zam started to choke up, thinking of what would befall her if his vision proved true.

  Galwen sensed a deeper issue at hand. “Outside you asked how I knew about your vision.”

  Zam nodded.

  “Well, sometimes that's just how it is. Like my granddaughter knows things, when you came to, I simply understood what had happened.” Zam didn't understand so Galwen changed tactics. “Do you know Elyon?”

  There’s the question of the year. “No... and yes.” He sighed. “It was he who sent me on this quest… but I knew nothing of him until the messenger came….” he tried to find the right words.

  Galwen chuckled and shook his head. “Elyon and a messenger? That’s why you don’t know the aim of your quest, Lad. That’s often how he does things, in my experience. Tell me what you can, and I will counsel you as well as I am able.”

  Zam shared all that had transpired since his first vision while watching over the flock to his vision of the dragon.

  When he was done, Galwen sat deep in thought with much heaviness on his heart. “You have done well thus far, Zam. I believe, though it chills me to say, that this most recent vision may truly be a vision of things to come.”

  Zam was heartsick at such a thought, and sorrow filled his voice. “Tearis....”

  Galwen paused a long moment, looking at Zam, before he smiled and spoke again. “Do not fear, Zam Windwater—truly. Instead hear this. I just told you, in essence, that you may die soon, and this is the man that you are: your concern was not for yourself, but for my granddaughter. You’ve shown me Elyon’s scroll, and from all I know of him, he would not send you north simply to die—leastwise to die in vain. I believe this is a vision of what might be. You were allowed to see it so you may thwart it. Take heart.” He clapped Zam on the shoulder. “Elyon will decide in yours and my granddaughter’s life.”

  Oddly those words did bring Zam comfort; even though they’d said the same about Raine who was now living as a slave in territories unknown. They had moved to Galwen’s study when it became obvious the conversation would consume most of the day. Now, after many hours discussion, Zam and Galwen were exhausted.

  Handing Zam a belt and sheath for his sword, Galwen said, “We’ll pick up your training in the morning. Your charge for the remainder of this day is to rest. Think not on dragons or tragedy.” Zam smiled halfheartedly in acceptance of his mandate. They returned to the dining area just as Tearis and Keer came bursting in.

  Tearis said. “Zam, come and play with us!”

  Keer added. “Yeah. The sun won’t be up much longer. There isn’t much time left to play. Come! Quick!”

  Galwen smiled. “Well, that might be just the kind of rest you need. Go on.”

  Zam’s heart lightened as the two children took his hands and pulled him out the door.

  Molly entered as Galwen took a seat at the table. He shook his head and said, “That boy has a good heart.”

  Molly nodded. “He reminds me of Raine.”

  “Indeed… though he still needs to learn to use a sword.” Galwen’s brow furrowed. “Molly, ask Darik to keep a lookout for dragons on his watch tonight.”

  “There hasn’t been a dragon cross out of Darlandis in your lifetime, Galwen.”

  “Nonetheless, ask him. And, Molly… pray.”

  CHAPTER THREE: THE DARK OF DARLANDIS

  The children had run him ragged, but he enjoyed it. Dinner passed and Dorrin gave Zam an archery lesson before the sun set. “Trapping works if you want to catch food, but bow and arrow is the best way to hunt.” Zam only missed the target once and after he came close to bull’s-eye nearly every time. Tearis and Keer cheered him on and Dorrin was surprised at how well Zam did. Frankly, so was Zam.

  Now it was bedtime, and Zam lay on his bed in the River’s Edge pondering these people—this beautiful family—and the visions he’d had of late. He read a bit from Graffeon’s book… a poem about understanding that things aren’t always as they seem. That theme must fill many pages of this book.

  After a while he closed his eyes and slowly began to feel the most content he had ever felt. It was as if he were lying face to the sky, floating on a raft in a cool stream on the warmest, most radiant summer’s day. The wind whispered through leaves somewhere in the distance. A smell like apple blossoms and honey drifted through the air, only more potent and with some other addition to it. As strange as it seemed, it was akin to… love, only tangible.

  This can’t be real. When he tried to open his eyes, he could see nothing. Though unsure of where he was, he was sure of one thing: nothing could go wrong here.

  A bell rang in the distance and Zam awoke. Have I been dreaming, or is this the dream? He knew in an instant, This is not the dream.

  A watchman in the outpost on the far edge of Rivertowne had rung the bell. Something was wrong. Zam grabbed his sword belt and stepped into the hall. Several other travelers were there, looking dismayed at having been awakened in the dead of night. Zam pushed past them into the dining area.

  Barea was huddled, barely conscious, at one of the tables with several of her children. She was crying, bleeding from a wound on her head and mumblin
g something to herself. The children were crying as well, and the locals were moving swiftly to gather their weapons and react to some great threat. Galwen was nowhere to be found.

  He must be leading the effort. Keer, Dorrin, and Tearis were not with Barea. Something’s horribly wrong.

  As Zam approached Barea, Molly rushed in with a bowl of water and some cloths to tend her wound. It was obvious she still had her wits about her.

  “What’s happening, Molly?”

  She was, for a moment, startled. “I... I don't know. The bell rang and the townspeople sprang into action. Galwen should have been out here already. I was on my way to find him when I found Barea here.”

  Zam was shocked. “You mean Galwen hasn’t responded to the bell?”

  “No, and that is not like him.”

  A new fear clamored through Zam. “Which way to Galwen’s room?”

  She hurriedly told him and added, “Zam, this isn’t right. Be on guard.”

  Zam promised and drew his sword, which felt a rather clumsy thing to do as he had only yesterday been bested by a thirteen year old.

  He hurried down the halls leading to Galwen’s room. Reaching the door, he found it open. Galwen lay pierced through his chest and leg with arrows.

  He spoke haltingly, “Humiliation... vengeance... that is why he did it....”

  Zam rushed to his side. “Who? Who did this.?”

  “Phillip.” Galwen gasped. “There’s no time! The children!” He coughed and the pain was obviously acute.

  “Galwen, I don’t know what to do. Will you be all right?”

  “It doesn’t matter, Zam! Tearis… Keer…. Phillip and Mort saw you playing with the children. They will use them to punish you... punish me… They’re taking them to Darlandis.”

  “Where is that? How can I find it?”

  Galwen’s eyes grew wide as pain rolled through his body. “Zam... there are dragons in Darlandis.”

  Zam’s heart stopped beating. The vision! The world began to close in around him. Just then Molly and Dorrin rushed in. Zam quickly focused and recounted what Galwen had shared. Dorrin drew his sword and turned to run after the villains, but Galwen called after him. “No, Dorrin! You must protect the family here. I cannot. Zam must go for them.”