Call of the Wolf (The Kohrinju Tai Saga)

by Nelson, J P

  He stared at me for a long moment, and then started laughing. It was obvious he didn’t believe me and he said, “I need to see where those things went, and I want you to go with me.” Motioning to a soldier leading a mount my way, Lahrcus said, “Here’s your horse.”

  Seven of us were riding out to follow the trail of those who got away. They brought me a beautiful mount which was fully packed and loaded. Watching each of them get up, I took the horse’s bridle in my hands and put my head against his and tried to reach out and *S’Fahn Muir* with him, [Horse, I need your help]. I think the horse laughed at me.

  Chapter 44

  ________________________

  LAHRCUS WAS SERIOUS, it was to be just him and me. The other five were for support in case we needed it, and on horseback they would be able to come in quick, hopefully; in the meantime guard our own horses while we explored. Me learning to ride on the spot was a whole ‘nother story, but I did the best I could. Thankfully those cavalry horses were well trained, but this one I’m sure had a mind of his own. He didn’t make it easy, but at least I didn’t fall off.

  We rode all around the mesa, but there was no sign of cognobins running, marching, or anything to the back side. Climbing around some at the base of the cliff, we found a scorched place about fifteen feet in diameter, and then huge footprints going to the rocky side. Those things had gone straight up without any problem.

  Lahrcus had a hunch, and we rode around into the jungle by an ancient trail. Looking down and studying the trail, however, Lahrcus was alarmed. “Was Aldivert back here for some reason?”

  I hesitated, and he looked at me. “What’s up, Wolf. You can talk to me. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “I have no evidence, sir.”

  His expression was grave, “Speak your suspicions, then. Whether they may be true or not, what you believe and why.”

  So I told him. In full details I disclosed what I saw and experienced from the day Aldivert joined and took over our camp. I also gave my opinion; contemplating whether to mention the Gadwaur and the wizard or not, I decided to go for it. “I can communicate with animals, sir, to a certain degree. The Gadwaur had a memory of a wizard, I believe it was a wizard and not a sorcerer, putting some kind of spell on her and two of her almost grown cubs. The face was clear. I have never seen the man before, sir.”

  Lahrcus took it all in and thought, and then he asked, “Wizard or sorcerer? What’s the difference?”

  I started to speak, then stopped and shrugged my shoulders, “It is rather difficult to explain, sir.”

  “Fair enough. Can you describe this wizard?”

  “Yes. He had somewhat greasy dark hair, long sideburns, a scraggly goatee and a scar down the left side of his face; a jagged scar.”

  “Soyvette,” said Lahrcus, “His name is Soyvette, one of the Witch Queen’s aides. He got that scar when Lady Joniece smashed a flower vase against his head for undesired gestures. Apparently she has a charm which resists magical influences. She told me she got it from a friend, long ago. Soyvette was exiled from the kingdom when he was caught making grisly sacrifices years ago. He hasn’t been seen since, until now. He’s a manipulator, not a conjurer, which makes me wonder ...” Lahrcus didn’t finish his thought.

  Looking back to the rest of our party he instructed, “Keep special eye for potential wizardry. If you see a hand move, shoot the person moving it.”

  We rode until off in the distance I saw a structure in the jungle.

  “Okay Wolf, it’s you and me,” and he dismounted and got his crossbow.

  Moving carefully he explained, “This is an old ruin, dates back to the days of the Mhn’O’Quai, the people this jungle, even the Jho’Menquita Territory is named for. They disappeared maybe twenty-five hundred years ago. Left all kinds of structures, cliff houses, just up and vanished.

  Suddenly I was *Aware* of the presence of human sized somethings, and our troop were way back with the horses. I put my hand on Lahrcus’s shoulder as a signal. He had his crossbow in hand, I had my sword.

  ‘Whew …’ I thought, ‘… by Shael’s I’m still energy wiped out from yesterday.’ Just then I saw a shape move from behind a tree, a lizard-man shape with a blowgun coming to his lips. Moving fast I jumped up and planting both feet against Lahrcus drop-kick-pushed him hard as three darts hurtled through the air where we had been.

  They blended with the foliage and were hard to see, so I focused in on their body heat and could just make them out as I threw a dagger into one neck. Lahrcus shot another and I got my crossbow around and took two more as fast as I could locate them. Something burned in my back and Lahrcus caught number five with his sword, in moments they were all dispatched, but I was feeling weak, fast.

  It was hard to think, ‘where was I?’ Lahrcus had my tunic off quickly and the barb of the dart took flesh as he pulled it out. He splashed some liquor on it and it burned to Hades. “Come on Wolf, hang in there!”

  By instinct I felt the heat come into my hands. Why my hands? I was hanging onto the foliage. I absorbed the heat, the energy of So’Yeth, into my system, attempting to collect this peculiar cloudy feeling and *Push* it out the way it came.

  “What the …?” I heard Lahrcus say, as the poison came oozing out of the wound. He kept splashing it with the liquor and then the wound closed. He just looked at me, and then asked, “Are you alright?”

  Weakly nodding my head I said, “Yes.” Indicating the bottle I said, “That burns.”

  Again he gave me the blank look, and then quietly laughed.

  We got ourselves back together, and with extra caution made our way around to an old collapsed dome shaped structure. Actually, there were several dome shapes. But I felt a tingling sensation, like the ruin I had scouted before. I said as much to Lahrcus.

  “Then let’s follow it. You take the point and I’m right here beside you.”

  Crossbows out, I found a broken-in piece of wall and I could smell the odor of cognobin. The tingling, however, was strong. Carefully stepping in we saw a big, round pit. Something about it didn’t look right, almost like there was a heat wave or subtle shimmering down inside. As I looked I could recognize runes etched into the walls, runes drawn in the ancient elvin symbols, symbols not used anymore.

  As we stood there, the blur faded away as did the tingling sensation I felt.

  Lahrcus and I looked at each other. Neither of us wanted to step down into that thing. He finally said, “I have what I wanted to know.” And then we went back.

  ___________________________

  King Chitivias wanted to see me. Great! I kept champing at the bit, worried. Standing outside of his smaller courtroom, I waited in a holding chamber beside the great hall. There were mirrors and I appraised myself for a moment. Today I was dressed in a loose tunic and leggings, but I had come to really like my boots which I wore all the time. In here I had to turn in my weapons, which made me feel uncomfortable, but, this was the king I was coming to see.

  When I was let in, Chitivias waved the attendant out. It was just the two of us, us alone, my mouth was dry. I saluted him with a proper bow, but as Hoscoe taught me, I never took my eyes off of him. He wasn’t sitting down, he was walking. He grinned at my salute, and tilted his head my way in acknowledgment.

  “Would you like a drink?”

  Hoscoe had told me if he offered me anything, accept it. To not do so would be an insult. “Whatever you’re having, Your Highness.” He wasn’t my king, I was just here for now serving him, Hoscoe instructed me, nor was he my lord. But courtesy was of utmost importance.

  He poured us a drink, and then offered me a crystal glass. The king never handed anyone anything, I had been told. Don’t even offer to touch him.

  Chitivias said, “I used to be a soldier once, you know. I served in Malone, and in Vedoa.” He sipped his wine, and I mine. It was really good. “I even served on a ship for a couple of years. We were corsairs.

  “My father was a farmer. We were simple folk and I grew
up with a simple life, learning simple values.”

  He was walking around casually, “But, my gallant friend, life is no longer simple. You, you are a brave son-of-a-bitch.”

  He kept walking around the room, and it made me nervous. He asked, “Do you like Patriohr? Is he a friend of yours?”

  “No your highness. I mean, no, he isn’t exactly a friend. But he’s okay, I mean alright. He’s a nice enough guy.”

  “Is he a good soldier? Is he yellow?” There was a sharp edge to the word yellow.

  “He does his job and doesn’t shirk, Your Highness, if that is what you mean. But he isn’t yellow at all. When I was down there fighting, down where he was hurt, when I went to get him … he was trying to get his sword out to help me fight. When we got up the mesa, the first thing he wanted was a crossbow and a pile of bolts.

  “He’s the one who saw the cognobins coming up the back side of the mesa, and he fired the first bolt down and didn’t back off until it was over.

  “Patriohr popped, I mean he shot one, a cognobin, right in the eye at point blank range. No, Your Highness, he could use more work on his wrist action and his footwork isn’t the greatest, but he’s definitely not yellow. In fact, I would say he has a lot of grit, and he stayed cool the whole time … Your Highness.”

  Saying Your Highness so much was tangling my tongue, but Hoscoe said better too much, than not enough.

  Chitivias eyed me carefully, “So, why did you go back for him?”

  That one stayed with me for a bit. Then I answered, “Because, your highness, once somebody came for me when I was down. I felt it was the right thing to do, your highness.”

  He walked around the room a bit, touching this object and that, and then gripping the back of a chair he asked, “You’re a Man … or should I say … Elf of Honor, then?”

  On the desk before him was an old book. It was closed and something like a wooden bookmark protruded from the bottom. I thought I could read part of a word, “—ua,” but it was none of my business and I tore my eyes from it and answered, “I don’t know, Your Highness, but I didn’t feel he should be killed if there was a chance to save him.”

  Chitivias had been looking at something or another, but he turned suddenly at my answer, “So, are there those who you would have had no problem being killed?” He watched me carefully.

  Deliberating hard, I looked the king in the eye and answered, “Yes, Your Highness, there are.”

  He kept going to one object after another, telling me where he got some of them and how. I felt as if he were a very lonely man. And then he said, “Tancine likes you very much.” He glanced at me, “… says you are charming.”

  I became cautious, exceedingly cautious, I might add, as I answered, “I’ve only seen her the one time, Your Highness, but she seems very nice, and attractive.”

  A slow, but calculating grin came across his face. Ambling over to me, he got to within touching distance, and with thumbs looped in his belt he leaned over to me and said, “You teach Patriohr what he needs to know, get him through this war safely … and you can have Tancine for your bride.” He straightened and nodded at me, “With all ranks and privileges according.”

  Standing dumbfounded, my mind went all kinds of directions. My first thought was Riana. But then, Tancine was the heir, wasn’t she … suddenly I knew … all the little threads wove themselves together and I understood. Pursing my lips and chewing my jaw in thought, I leveled my gaze at the king. “Your highness, if you’ll permit me?”

  He tilted his head, his face in a curious wait.

  “With all due respect, your highness, I have a girlfriend … but I also have an idea …”

  ___________________________

  When the king and I finished talking, I went looking for Hoscoe and found him standing on top of the barracks, viewing the beauty of the night sky. Walking up beside him I said, “Good evening. You weren’t in your quarters, so …”

  He turned my way and saw me with the Mark VII and said, “Good Evening. How did it go with the ki- …” he looked at the weapon and he became distracted at the manner in which I was carrying it, “… what is the matter. Is it damaged?”

  Handling it a moment, I said, “No, but I thought you might like it back.”

  “Why would I … I gave it to you …”

  Handing him a rolled piece of parchment, he looked at it, and then broke the seal. As he read it he looked up at me and I saw a growing smile and moisture in his eyes.

  “You better get packed. We leave in three days, and I don’t think they’ll appreciate the kingdom’s new Field Marshal being late.”

  Hoscoe grabbed me by the shoulders, and then after much hesitation gave me a manly hug I thought would break my spine.

  ___________________________

  The mesa where we had our fight was named Wolf-Nobin Mesa, after me, and the fight was named the Battle of Wolf-Nobin. They were even writing it all down in their history books. ‘Sheeze! What about the rest of the boys,’ I thought, ‘I was just …’

  “None of that!” Bellowed Sergeant Cudty when I sat at the bar taking about it in Baldwin’s. “The rest did their job and with valor. But you, Wolf,” he slapped me on the shoulder and gave me a hard shake, “you went far above and beyond your duty. You singly handedly gave every soldier in this army, Shael’s, in the whole kingdom hope; hope of actually beating these bastards.” Cheers were everywhere in the pub, and there was no buying my own drinks.

  “That’s right,” said Sergeant Deakir, a long-timer who cut his fighting teeth in the Clan Battles, “no one really believed they could bleed, before you got in there and started cuttin’ their hay. Master Hoscoe was the only one sayin’ he’d seen bodies, and while he’s well respected … no one else had been able to validate what he’d been sayin’. There’s a lot of proof and belief in somethin’ you see right off.”

  Someone else said, “Six, boys, he took six all to himself …”

  “No, Johqu, seven,” another voice said, “He threw a javelin and got another.”

  “Hey Wolf, you gonna keep comin’ in here? You a captain, now ain’t you? That makes you an officer.”

  I wish he hadn’t said that, not that it was a secret or anything. Commander Lahrcus himself had awarded me and lots of others. I was now officially Scout Captain for the new command, being put together and outfitted as we sat here in the pub.

  “Unless you run me out, I’d kind’a like to keep coming in …” I started.

  “Hey,” a voice shouted out, “you’re one of us, and don’t you forget it.” More cheers, hurrahs and what not rang through the pub. Proud as I was, I have to admit I still felt awkward. Maybe it’s my background, but even today, getting special recognitions makes me feel odd. Not that I outright don’t like it, it’s just …

  And these were mostly seasoned boys, men, grown-ups. I was still a kid, from the human standard, that is. I still couldn’t shave, yet, sort-of, although I wasn’t sure I ever would be able to. I would be giving orders to some of these men and it worried me. How would they take to it, how would I, for that matter. Only four, five years ago I was a slave, now I was a commissioned captain at the age of … by human standards what would it be? Sixteen, seventeen, something like that.

  I was already feeling a lot of responsibility settling on my shoulders. What had Hoscoe told me, manhood, or adulthood, wasn’t the age of the person, but how they made their decisions and carried out their duty. He knew of a fellow in history who led a local militia of farmers into battle, and won, and he was only fifteen … and human.

  Tobin yelled out, “Hey Wolf, you want to play us one tune? For old times sake.” There was a grin on his face and I couldn’t help thinking, it had been scarcely a year ago since I played that first tune in there. So much had happened, it did feel like old times. Looking around at these fellows, several were going out with us, and some weren’t coming back.

  “Yeah,” I smiled, “where is that guitar?”

  _________________
__________

  Seeing Riana was tough. I’d been wanting to see her, but I was feeling troubled. Was it a premonition or something? The thought was in me I may not be coming back. No one in their right mind wanted to die, and lots of folks are convinced it can’t happen to them, especially younger folks. I was of elvin blood, and could live hundreds of years. Of course that’s contrary to what a lot of tales say, about elves living forever and all; supposedly elves were related to fairies and other fey-folk. I shook my head at that thought, br-r-r-r-r-r-, fairies. Who comes up with these ideas?

  But when I went to see her, she had prepared a special place for us to meet. I took my guitar with me, and while I don’t want to go into details of that special time with her, it was a night I will never forget. She was eighteen, now, and most young ladies were married by this time; having children, making a home, planning a future. But I was half-elvin. The common belief was that half-bloods were sterile, that’s why we were called mules. Was I being fair to her? Was I even coming back from this mission? The odds were strong that most of us, maybe all of us, wouldn’t survive.

  I wanted to speak to her about it, but she put her hand upon my mouth and wouldn’t let me talk. “No words,” she said, “Let us just be …” and she looked at me with those beautiful eyes, her hair falling long about her shoulders. Her touch was a magic of its own and her lips sweeter than honey on new fallen snow. Was this love, I wondered? We made music to the stars and our harmony was perfect in its rhythm and flow.

  When the time came for me to leave we passed no words of sorrow. “I want you to keep this,” I said, “Until I return.” With that I handed her my guitar and the Medals of Merit and Bravery I had just been awarded.

  She put her arms around me and said, “And I want you to keep this, for all time.” And she kissed me long, sweet, and tender. “Return for me if you can, Timber Wolf of the Ahnagohr Mountains.” Riana placed her hand upon my heart and I felt a power unlike anything So’Yeth or So’Yahr can lend.