by David Wind
Mikaal went to it, but rather than take anything from it, he looked at the dirt by the road. There were small footprints leading up to and then away from the road. He glanced at Areenna. “Someone brought the basket. A child?”
Areenna went to him. She knelt near the footprints and carefully touched one of the impressions. When her fingers grazed the earth, there was a sense of warmth. “No, not a child, it was a woman, young, but not with strong magic—not yet anyway. Bekar must have summoned her. Feel it.”
Mikaal did as Areenna asked and when he touched the earth, he too felt the warmth rise. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the sensations and, without trying, sensed the footprint had been left by a young woman whose magic was not strong. For just an instant, he saw a vision of her placing the basket by the road. She was young, with deep bronze skin and raven black hair.
“I feel it, too,” he said. He looked at the bread just as Areenna picked up a small loaf and broke it in half.
She sniffed drawing in the bread’s delicate fragrance. She handed Mikaal the other half, took a bite and then, smiling, said, “It’s wonderful, eat!”
Ten minutes later they were on their kraals, following Queen Ilsraeth’s directions. Each was silent, searching inside themselves to discover what Bekar had done.
<><><>
Later in the afternoon—hours after the ancient road had ended and opened into a wide meadow—they turned in a northwesterly direction. Gaalrie flew above them, sharp and watchful eyes sending Areenna visions of the area ahead and guiding them to where Northcrom’s queen had directed.
A short time later, they crested the top of a hill and Areenna saw the place Ilsraeth had brought them to. A small cottage built of split trees and surrounded by rolling grassy hills sat near the edge of a long oval, finger-shaped lake, perhaps thirty miles long and a mile across at its widest point. Smoke rose from the cottage’s chimney. There was no stable, but three kraals roamed within a fenced hold.
Mikaal, who was studying his father’s maps as they rode, said, “The lake is called George.”
“Look left,” she said.
He did and saw the cottage. “Yes, it seems right. The lake is called George,” he repeated absently.
“George? What a strange name.”
“My father marked the map clearly.”
“What do you suppose it means, George?”
Mikaal shrugged. “It’s a name. The old ones had strange names. My father’s names…Solomon and Roth…. Had you ever heard of them before?” he asked.
Areenna shook her head. But then, there has not been anyone like your father before, has there?
“No, that’s true,” he said.
Areenna jerked Hero’s reins and stopped the kraal. “What did you say?”
Mikaal stopped Charka. “What? That’s true?”
“Yes. What’s true?”
Puzzled he stared at her. “You just said there has never been anyone like my father.”
“No I didn’t,” she said.
“I heard you as clear as day.”
Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she worried it for a moment before saying, “Mikaal, I never spoke those words, I only thought them…”
Mikaal looked at her. Her coppery skin glowed with the lowering sun. Her eyes were alive, and her full lips were pulled into a frown as she continued to worry her lower lip between white teeth.
“How is this possible? It is not like before…not like the feel of thought. I heard words.”
Bekar did this, she directed the thought toward him.
Yes, Mikaal agreed.
“Tell me what I am thinking,” she said aloud, and concentrated on a thought of her father, Nosaj.
Mikaal’s brows furrowed in concentration, but a moment later all he could do was to shake his head. “Nothing,” he whispered.
Areenna sighed. “Good,” relief filling her exhalation. We can communicate better but that is all—for now.
“For now?” Mikaal questioned aloud.
Areenna shrugged. “Yes. Whatever gifts were given to us, were done for a purpose. It will be up to us to discover the purpose.”
“To defeat them,” Mikaal said.
“Yes, but I sense there is more. No one can know about this.”
“Of course,” Mikaal said, dryly.
Areenna glanced at him, his tone making her smile. “Frustration is it?”
“More like irritation. These little bits and pieces… What’s the point? Why not just tell us and be done with it?”
“The point, my impatient…what did she say last night? You are my complement?”
When Mikaal nodded she said, “Then, my impatient complement, self-discovery is the lesson for today. A woman’s powers are found through self-discovery. We each look inside ourselves to find what it is that lives and grows within us. If we are told, how do we really know? How do we draw this power out? Only through our own recognition can we learn not just what our powers are, but how to use them. Can you not see this, even if you are a…man?”
Mikaal leaned back on Charka. “So, because I am a man, you wonder if I will be able to do this.”
Areenna shook her head, the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth fled. “No, Mikaal, it’s your impatience, your frustrations, not your sex that concerns me.”
“Then it is upon you to teach me patience, is it not?” he asked with a lopsided smile.
She started to give him a sharp retort but stopped herself as the weight of his lightly spoken words struck her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. Yes, Mikaal, it is upon me.
“Areenna—”
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It is all right, Mikaal. It took me a little while, but I understand more now.” And she did. She realized Bekar had left her with many things, and understanding her role was one of them. She knew what had to be done and, more importantly, how to do it.
In that very moment, the door to the cottage opened and the Queen of Northcrom stepped outside. Next to her was a black rantor, among the fiercest of the animals of Nevaeh. Ilsraeth, with one hand resting on the rantor’s head, looked toward the hillside to where Areenna and Mikaal rode and waved.
“Come,” Mikaal said, “we are seen.”
CHAPTER 18
THEY DISMOUNTED A few feet from where Ilsraeth stood and, as a young boy raced out to them to take the kraals to the small corral, Mikaal said, “Water and feed them.” The boy bowed, took the reins, and led the kraals off.
Mikaal and Areenna turned to Northcrom’s queen and bowed slightly. Ilsraeth returned the courtesy before saying, “Welcome to Northcrom my Prince, Princess. Please join me inside. I have a meal prepared.
Her aoutem, a large pure black rantor, almost half again the size of a gorlon, walked with them. Its cat-like head moved side to side, looking from its mistress to Areenna and Mikaal. The rantor’s muscles flexing beneath its clinging black fur rippled in the remnants of sunlight.
The rantor stopped at the doorway and remained outside when they followed Ilsraeth into the cottage’s main room. A long table was set with three places and several trays of food in its center, all illuminated by the soft glow of luminescent night-moss. There were two other doors in the cottage that led to sleeping rooms. The kitchen was at the far end of the main room. The walls were covered with woven silks and the windows were closed off to the remaining daylight.
When they were seated, Ilsraeth poured each of them a glass of wine. Before lifting her glass, she said, “I know why you are here, and I am very afraid.”
“Why?” Mikaal asked.
“Because of what you and Areenna, represent…the legends. Your presence here makes them real.”
“I don’t understand,” Mikaal said while Areenna maintained her silence.
“Let us eat and then talk.” She lifted her glass toward them. “To Nevaeh,” she whispered before taking a sip.
Areenna and Mikaal had not eaten since the bread that morning and ate in the silence Ilsraeth ha
d called for. When they had eaten their fill, and pushed their plates away, a woman came and cleared the table. A few minutes later, she left the cottage by the back door and the three were alone again.
Ilsraeth looked from one to the other. “Areenna, I have known you since you suckled at your mother’s breast. I have watched you grow and I have been waiting for this day. But at the same time, it frightens me more than I can express.
“You have been chosen to do what no mortal woman has ever done before. The days ahead will be terribly hard and,” she continued, turning to Mikaal, “for you, Mikaal, I can only imagine how hard the days will be in your attempt to accompany Areenna. I know you must, for last night I had a foreseeing. Although it was not clear, I foresaw you somehow play a part in what is about to happen.” She stared openly at him, her expression one of deep confusion. “You are a puzzle. There is something about you…what is your purpose here?”
She paused, the pale skin of her forehead grooving deeply in concentration. “Why do you travel with Areenna? Has your mother a death wish for her only child to send you into hell’s maw? What is it about you, young man? Who are you to be?”
In that instant, Areenna pushed her senses toward Mikaal to make certain his block was set. Finding it so, she exhaled slowly. “Why so puzzled, My Lady? Enaid sent him to help protect me.”
Ilsraeth glared at Areenna and then shook her head. “Protect you? I think not. There is more to it.” She fell silent, her eyes flicking from one to the other. Her brows knit as she sent a probe at both of them. She took in a sharp breath and looked at Mikaal. “Who are you?” she whispered. “How can you block me?”
She turned to Areenna. “You are protecting him.”
Areenna shook her head. “Not I, My Lady, it is Enaid. She had laid a spell of protection on Mikaal.”
Ilsraeth’s deep brown eyes bored heavily into Areenna’s. Her tongue moistened her lips, but no words followed until, moments later, she said, “It is a huge risk, taking him to the Island. He may die, as might you.”
“We understand the risks.”
“Do you?” Turning to Mikaal, she said, “Leave us, young heir, we must talk the talk of women.”
Mikaal rose silently and went outside. He stopped a few feet from the cottage and looked around. He sensed Charka behind him while he gazed upon the blue waters of the lake but he didn’t see them as he concentrated on Areenna. An instant later he joined her mind.
“Why is he with you?” Ilsraeth asked when he left.
“Enaid has sent him with me for protection. The dark ones…”
“Areenna, do not treat me as an imbecile. It is you who will have to protect him….”
Areenna shook her head. “It is…complicated, Highness. Enaid had a vision and Mikaal was important in that vision. She believes I need him in order to be successful with the last of my training.”
Without any visible warning, Ilsraeth directed a powerful probe at Areenna, which Areenna deflected easily. Ilsraeth’s eyes widened, her brows knitted together. “You are holding back. I see that, but…you have grown very strong.”
Areenna reached across the table and took Ilsraeth’s hands and clasped them tightly. “My Lady, I have no desire to deceive you. I cannot speak further. You must trust the Lady Enaid, and you must trust me as well. Can you do that?”
The queen looked down at their clasped hands and opened her mind. Slowly she nodded. “Reluctantly and sadly for I sense much in what you carry within you. Note this, child—I see choices will have to be made, hard choices governing life and death for many. Weighty choices will be given to you and you must be careful in how you make them.”
Ilsraeth paused. Just as she was about to speak, she stiffened and her eyes went distant. A few moments later, she blinked. “The darkness from Tolemac…it is still around. It is tracking you here is it not?
Areenna nodded.
“I understand more now. Listen carefully, for I have not much time and must return. When you leave, go back the way you came for a day’s travel. Then you must head directly southeast. By the end of the second day you will reach the outer border of Aldimor. Turn and go directly east for two days to Dees. When you are outside of the capital, send for Lady Atir. She will tell you where to meet her.”
“We cannot. The wraith is tracking us by scent. It will find us if we go that way.”
Ilsraeth closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she smiled. “Yes, I see it.” She exhaled loudly. “Very well, there is another way. Though it may take longer, it will be safer. When you leave here, go directly east. A half day’s travel will find you at a river. The river is…” She closed her eyes and grasped Areenna’s hand. “Here,” she said, and drew a mind picture of the exact spot she was directing Areenna to. “From there, you will need to take a boat for another half day. You will find a road at the small town of Keepsie. Take that road to the borders of Aldimor. From there proceed east to Dees.”
“The boat? How—”
“—when you reach the river there is a house, well hidden—here,” she said, weaving her forefinger over the table to draw a picture for Areenna. “There is a man, Timon is his name. He is…dangerous if he does not know you. You will tell him I have sent you, and you will show him this,” she added, slipping a ring from her finger and handing it to Areenna. “When you show him the ring, he will do whatever is necessary to help you.”
“How can you be so certain?”
Ilsraeth looked deeply into her eyes. “He is…a friend.”
Areenna felt, more than heard the word. Her eyes widened slightly and then she nodded her understanding.
“Yes, it was…before I became queen. He is a good man, humble yet strong.”
“I understand,” Areenna whispered. While no words had been spoken, the knowledge of who this man was came easily to her. How difficult it must have been for Ilsraeth to decide to marry another. But such was the lot of a woman of great power, and Ilsraeth had more than just her heart to be responsible to.
“I know you do. But, young Areenna, your reason to be here is for this,” Ilsraeth said. She leaned across the table and placed her hand over Areenna’s heart.
At the instant of contact, Areenna felt a lightning bolt enter her chest. First there was an explosion of heat, then a rush of cold that sent chills racing through her body. Three heartbeats later, it was as if nothing had happened. But Ilsraeth did not release her until she fed Areenna the knowledge of how to work the gift.
Areenna opened her eyes and looked at Ilsraeth. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Ilsraeth stood as did Areenna. “You must be careful with the gift. It is not easily used and a heavy price is paid for that use.” Northcrom’s queen walked around the table and took Areenna into her arms. “Be careful, child, your path is a hard one. Take all precautions. Sleep here this night, leave in the morning. I sense no evil nearby. Once upon the river, you will be safe.”
“Thank you, Ilsraeth,” Areenna said when the Queen released her.
<><><>
The fire burned a sickly green-yellow, the flames reaching toward the cave’s ceiling. She threw another mixture of chopped bark, flesh and herbs into the flames. The fire mushroomed against the roof of the cave.
She stepped back, nodded, and bent. When she straightened to its full height, she held a bowl filled with the rotting flesh of a baby. She stepped toward the fire and held the bowl into the flames and stood there for a full minute. When she withdrew its arm from the flames, not a single piece of flesh was burned, but the bowl was bubbling and smoking.
She set the bowl on the floor and began to speak the unintelligible words of the formula she was casting. She called upon all the powers her masters had bestowed upon her, which had added to her natural powers.
A moment later a small whirlwind of black mist rose from the bowl and grew until its visage almost filled the cavern itself. This was her third wraith since the two had begun their journey. The wraith she had sent out to track by scent had
lost the two. This could not be allowed.
She turned and looked up at the burning eyes of the beast and sent a malevolent thought at it. Seconds later the beast screamed and flew out of the cavern, went high, and headed east.
She began to laugh. She knew they would not escape this one!
<><><>
Areenna awoke to the first bands of light breaking across the horizon. She dressed and went into the main room, where she found Mikaal already sipping hot tea. “Have you been up long?” she asked, going to the table and sitting across from him.
There was a bowl of fruit and a plate with bread in the center. A steaming pot was there too, with an empty cup next to it. Mikaal smiled at her and shook his head. “Not long. I’ve been trying to understand what Ilsraeth did to you last night.”
“The gift… You have been trying to use it?”
He nodded. “Trying seems to be all I can do.”
Areenna closed her eyes and explored within herself. Slowly, carefully, she studied the internal change created by Ilsraeth’s gift of power. A moment later she opened her eyes. “Watch me carefully,” she said and thought the words of the new formula. Within her, there was no rising of the heat signaling her power; rather, a chill raced through her. And then everything shimmered before her. She saw Mikaal’s eyes go wide and a startled expression transfix his features.
She released the formula and the world returned to focus. “You saw what?”
“You…you disappeared. You vanished before my eyes,” Mikaal said, his voice slightly shaken.
“Such a gift,” Areenna said. A band of weariness descended on her. She exhaled sharply, realizing how much strength she had used in so short a time. “It can last only a short time and there is a price. It drained me. I need a few minutes to regain my strength. We must practice this new gift, build our strength to use it when we need it.”
Mikaal poured her a cup of hot tea. “Drink,” he said, pushing the cup toward her.
“It is a truly powerful gift, but one which must be used sparingly—and it’s dangerous if not used wisely.” Here is how it is done, she said within his mind, and explained every step necessary. “But do not use this unless absolutely necessary. The longer you hold the formula, the weaker you become. For short periods it will be safe,” she finished and drank the tea. A few moments later, her strength returned.