Call of the Wolf (The Kohrinju Tai Saga)

by Nelson, J P

  Our team was trading opponents, running up and down the walls, across the ceiling, vaulting through the air and doing well, until Deak plunged in and got his sword into Hnugh’s midriff. The blow was a good one, but the cog hammered Deak hard in the back and I knew he was all but dead. I saw his face and he looked at me. The former Clan Chief grabbed Hnugh by the legs and wouldn’t let go as I saw his life fluid dribbling out of his nose and mouth; and then he locked eye contact and with a grin gave me a nod.

  L’Nahr leapt away from his opponent as a piece of roof fell on the ugly, and bracing himself against a laver, aimed his wand at one of the elves in the circle and let him have it. How many more shots did he have? The elf went to pieces, if you get my drift, but it didn’t stop the energy flowing. Was it too late, or did their incantation have nothing to do with it? No. They were harnessing it. So how was it generated? And where was Aydrian going? He was backing toward one of the doorways, and then turning to it he began pressing the runes over it in some kind of combination.

  Patriohr broke his sword fighting against Hnugh’s morning star as Deak was still hanging on to his legs; Dudley caught the wizard elf on the far side in the back with his blade, and as the elf turned around Dud cut him down; L’Nahr aimed his wand against the final wizard elf; I finished one of my warrior-elves.

  L’Nahr fired his weapon as his target attempted to loose an effect simultaneously. The two effects met in the middle and the blast was as beautiful as it was deadly. The elf was thrown through the lightning net of energy and alongside the elemental, which in turned let loose with a horrific scream and tore the elf into shreds. L’Nahr, however, was smashed into a piece of falling roof and was buried by tons of ancient brick.

  Slicing at my remaining warrior elf, I leapt over with a flip as she rolled away from my blade. T-bone then hit her broadside as if a living missile and cut her legs from under her. I yelled at Izner, who was currently on the ceiling, and at Patriohr. Taking a wild chance, I *Channeled* my blade as strongly as I could, then tossed it to Patriohr hoping the effect would last long enough for him to use it.

  Swirling my finger around the air toward Izner, I looked toward Aydrian, who was still working some kind of combination from the door runes.

  Izner and I both leaped toward each other as I saw Patriohr catch the still glowing blade and slice through Hnugh’s weapon, then his midriff, then cleanly cutting off his head. Meeting each other in the air, Izner and I hooked arms, spun around, and released each other at just the right moment to completely change our trajectories. I added a triple tuck and curl to add momentum, then extended myself in time to dive into Aydrian and knock him sprawling.

  If you think any of this happened in slow time, you’re wrong. In fact, everything happened so fast it takes my breath just remembering. But when I hit Aydrian, I didn’t intend to let go. In my hands was the person who called himself Xiahstoi. As I held him I knew I had laid hold of a physical coward, small, boney, and a manipulator. But he was powerful in his own right. More importantly, he was smart and he knew how to control this ancient technology.

  Holding him secure with my right hand so I wouldn’t float away, I smashed my left against his face and felt the wizard’s teeth break. Another blow to his cheek and I followed with an uppercut to the soft belly and felt the wind rushed from his body. He tried to grab at my hands and mouth words, but the jaw didn’t work. I saw a ring on his right hand and giving a hard under-hook twist against my own shoulder, I broke his elbow. Screaming, he grabbed for a wand in his belt and I seized his hand.

  My feet firmly on the floor, I smashed the wizard into the wall, lifted him up and did it again. He wasn’t human. He looked human, but there was a tensile strength within him that was unbelievable. And he wasn’t skinless like he first appeared, his hide had a marbling running throughout that made me think of a snake, and his skeleton was taking my abuse against the wall. A medallion hung from his neck with a gem at center. I grabbed it to twist, but this sent him into an outright panic.

  The necklace broke in my hand and the look on his face was one of terror. Frantically he tried to grab for it and I took the wand in his belt and held it against his belly. There were no dots, so I *Channeled* again and into him. An explosion resulted and I was flying in the air, landing inside the pentagram with the elemental directly over me. The wand was no longer in my hand, and my hand burned.

  All around me I felt that unnatural power, stronger than before, and the pain was quickly coming back. I couldn’t hear because of the beast’s screaming, but my *Awareness* directed me to move quickly and in the left direction. It was incredibly fast and I was trying to focus through the pain and screams in my head. Y’nesia’s thoughts were in my mind, “He is not complete. Make him to cease and he will return to his realm.” My first concern was how to keep him from making me cease.

  Not complete? His breath was complete enough.

  The pain was excruciating and my sword was gone, I couldn’t direct my ...

  Another roll and I pulled my new stick batons.

  ‘I ... have to … focus,’ my mind screamed as I tried desperately to out-maneuver the creature.

  Roll-tuck-faster-*Faster* … THERE! I felt myself under the massive abdomen where I could strike. Directing energy into the sticks, I expanded them into *Thorn Blades*, struck straight up with both, and *Pushed* all the energy which was pummeling my essence through the sticks … the wave of exploding power smashed me into the eye on the floor.

  Where …? I couldn’t tell where I was. But there was no elemental, I did it. Or did I? The pain was still there, and I could feel the engraved eye beneath me. The energy was still pulsing all around me and I was all but blinded by the lightning web around the pentagram. I could sense the ceiling was breaking in, but Y’nesia was still in my head, “You must be strong …”

  I wasn’t finished, there was more to do. Looking up into what I thought was the ceiling I saw something like a tornado, and I was at the bottom. This was the source, I knew that. Streaks of colored lightning were coursing through the funnel and I could feel it, it hurt. I had to close this thing. The wand in my belt … I had to try.

  I tried to speak and couldn’t hear my own voice. “Y’nesia,” I thought, “get my friends out … NOW!”

  Attempting to stand, I got the wand and held it in my hand. The energy was trying to rise up, into that funnel. Then I must focus down, into the Eye of Anu-Rah. I reached for So’Yeth, to tap into my own source of energy … merging with the unnatural power around me, I took all I could … and then aiming down I rubbed down over as many dots as I could, as fast as I could, all at once, and *Channeled* everything once more as it felt my insides were being ripped out … the boom deafened me and I was sure I had been killed.

  For a long time it seemed I was floating like a feather carried by a storm. Then I heard a buzzing sound of some kind, and a hard textured hand grab mine. ‘Wihlabahk,’ I thought. ‘I had stopped Wihlabahk.’

  “No. Wihlabahk is not yet.” Then there was the flash of heat, being bashed from side to side against something I couldn’t see, then air, a sense of falling, and my ribs breaking as I hit something with just a touch of give.

  Heal, I knew I had to heal, but was there anything left? Just barely. I was back at the mountain. Cielizabeg had knocked me into a crevice. But the stuff under my fingers wasn’t rock; what was it? It was grass. How -? Was I outside the Pyramid? Did we win?

  My ribs and lungs were healed, but I still hurt like Hades, but there was still fresh blood in my mouth. Wait … something was out there, human sized, and only a few rods away and getting closer. I had heard the Shaman Lady’s voice. She had followed me, what was her name?

  “You are most difficult, but a worthy opponent.” The language was Elvish, so who? Phostein! Phostein was here.

  Slowly I scrabbled to my knees. In my hand I still had the wand. Why hadn’t it blown up like Aydrian’s? Wobbling up to one knee I turned to see my adversary.

  “Is it t
rue? You are the one they call Timber Wolf?” Phostein looked bad, as bad as I did, maybe worse.

  “Yeah, why?” I asked, weakly.

  “It is said,” he was staggering for breath himself, “it is said you created the quick-throw.” I saw the fingers of his right hand, his only hand, flexing themselves over a knife he had slung into a low position and the sheath tied down to his leg.

  “Huh?” Was the only thing I could think of to say, “What are you talking about?”

  “At least it is you.” he said

  Suddenly he jumped up into the air and spun to one side, grabbing his blade, and as he landed he fashionably drew and whipped the blade my way. He was fast, I’ll give him that, and his aim true. But I was faster. The blade came to where my heart would have been, but my senses were ahead of him and well trained. I caught his knife and whipping around I let it fly into his own chest.

  His expression was one of amazement. He slowly dropped to his knees and I swear he was almost smiling. That smile made me mad, and I glanced at the wand. One dot was left. I hadn’t hit all of them. I aimed it at Phostein and fired. Watching him smolder as I staggered to my knee and back up, I noticed off in the distance three men were riding my way. They were leading seven horses and they were coming with a purpose. What I mean is, they were riding fast.

  As the riders advanced, I spent a moment or three looking around. To my south was a bluff with one of those old, square ruins. To the east I saw hills and mountains in the horizon. All around me were gently rolling hills and some flatland. I was nowhere near the Pyramid. In my throwing hand was still the jeweled medallion I had taken off of Aydrian, only the jewel had cracked. It must have broken when I caught the knife, so I tossed it into the grass.

  I was hungry, thirsty, sore, and my possible pouch was gone. My clothes were tattered and burned, except for my boots, and I stank. What happened at the Pyramid? Did my team make it out? I was getting anxious, but not as much as I was confused as I saw Hoscoe was the first of the three, but he was coming from the wrong direction. After him was Gohruvae and … okay what I saw didn’t make me very happy. Once I identified Hoscoe, I left Phostein lying among the billowing grasses and started walking in their direction

  As we met I looked up at Hoscoe with bewildered curiosity.

  He, on the other hand, was excited and pleased. Sliding down he grabbed my forearm, and then gave me a manly embrace and said, “Wolf, Timber Wolf my boy, am I glad to see you. We must hurry, there is very little time. You know Gohruvae, and this is his manservant, Sormiske. You must needs mount quickly and let us be on our way.”

  It seemed I was in a bad dream. Gohruvae led a saddled mount up to me, and Sormiske looked the other way. What was going on here? I touched the horse’s reins, and then asked, “I don’t understand. The battle … what happened … did my team get …?”

  Quickly, Hoscoe said, “The Battle at the Pyramid was eleven weeks ago. Ander led your unit out when the floor started to shudder … but none of your team came out. We thought you all had perished in the explosion. One of the statues fell over and broke into pieces and the Gate of Tio closed in unto itself. Lahrcus rode for the diamond mines with an army and we made it to Brosman.”

  He hesitated for a moment, “The cognobins have been defeated, I think, but Chitivias is dead. Aldivert claims to have found him dead and has declared himself heir to the throne.”

  I swung up with thoughts of my friends’ death on my mind. And there was Patriohr, I had failed and was being washed through with guilt. I barely heard Hoscoe say, “You and I have been declared criminals and have been sent for, for transport to Kiubejhan to stand trial and execution.”

  Turning to Gohruvae, my look was questioning and he answered, “I have no reason to stay, and I know a shortcut to Cherron’s Road. The General says you know the phrase which can get us all through.”

  “Wolf,” said Hoscoe with empathic urgency, “There is a large patrol not more than an hour behind us, at best.”

  “How did you know where - ?”

  “The Shaman Lady …”

  And with that we were off, riding hard west by southwest. Two canteens were on my saddle horn, and Hoscoe tossed me a pouch full of some food, the saddlebags were full of jerky as well. Everything was happening so fast, there was so much I wanted to know. But we weren’t riding at a conversational speed. My head was reeling and I was overcome with depression. We had won the battle, but it seemed I had lost. I had let my chums down and got the legal heir killed. Now we were fugitives riding from judgment and death from the very country we had just fought for.

  Everything was wrong. And what about Riana? Now I was breaking my promise to her by running. Wasn’t there anything else I could do? And once more there was Sormiske. I thought he would be dead by now. Gohruvae’s manservant? What did that mean? I was disgusted. Obviously Hoscoe didn’t want Gohruvae to know we knew each other. Alright, I could play along, but would Sormiske? I noticed he had grown his hair back, and he was still wearing it short cropped … it looked like he was trying to coax some facial fuzz into a mustache and beard, it made me think of a teenage human entering puberty.

  The food was basic, but good to my innards, and the water was refreshing. They had made camp twice before, and had one brush with Aldivert’s troops already. In command was former Lieutenant Davolet, now the new Commander of the Army. We were close to what is called Donce Canyon, where the cul-de-sac and ancient gateway could be found, so there would be no camping tonight. The plan was to make it to the other side of Cherron’s Road, then we could relax a little and rest a day or two as there was no other known way to the river; not without traveling north for several days, that is.

  Afterward, we would go our separate ways; Hoscoe and me headed south to the coast and seek passage to N’Ville.

  I rode because I was in the saddle, as beat as I was. If I were to lay down, I believed I could sleep for a week. Switching the horses twice, we rode all night with only short breaks. I was able to learn that the top of the Pyramid had blown like a chimney, two of the statues had gone back down halfway, and one was still standing. Flame had shot out of the southern doorway and smoked for days.

  The eyes had been plucked out of the fallen statue, but the diamonds were still in the others. I briefed what happened below, and told them about Phostein. But as I said, there was little time to talk. As I gave my reports, Sormiske glanced at me from time to time and I could see jealousy in his eyes. He hadn’t changed. Simply put, he was a man with a lot of natural ability who believed he had none, and was willing to cheat, lie and compromise his standards to get what he believed he deserved.

  I did learn Gohruvae had purchased Sormiske about a year beforehand due to exhibited skills with cooking. Gohruvae had chosen Sormiske for this venture in part because of apparent usefulness in setting up camp, handling the chow, tending to riding stock, and the fact he was skilled in riding.

  In a brief moment of secrecy, Hoscoe mentioned to me Sormiske would most likely not say anything about our past association in fear Gohruvae would cast him off. Sormiske was afraid we might say something.

  “It is a thing we can use to our advantage. He will want to be a good little eunuch,” Hoscoe said with a tone of scornful amusement. “We can deal with him later.”

  It was then that I understood Sormiske. Self-pride and arrogance were his primary problem. Sormiske truly believed he was better than others and would never get it that all he had to do was some honest work. His kind would be shortcutting their way through life for as long as they existed, and loathing those who have more than they regardless of the means.

  For a moment I softly chuckled, but only for a moment. When I did he looked sharply my way. In the four years since I last saw him, I had risen to a rank beyond anything he had accomplished while he had been reduced to a much lower class than mine had been … and it burned him because of it.

  It was near to twilight and we had changed horses the second time when it all got quiet. We were in t
he mountains bordering the Teshucarr River, and the old gateway was only a few miles off. I had nothing left and was doing all I could to stay in the saddle, so I didn’t feel the warning signs from the ground. A crossbow bolt whipped across the air, a horse screamed and reared, the horn of my saddle was knocked off by another bolt and we knew we were being attacked.

  Someone had anticipated our direction and headed us off while we were being chased by the patrol. Letting the spare horses go we rode like the Winds of Torsham down a hill toward the pass to our goal. We had to make a rise, cross another hill and we would enter the canyon … if we could just make it.

  We were strung out with Gohruvae in the lead, then Hoscoe, me, then Sormiske when Sormiske’s horse was hit and went down. Almost at the rise … Gohruvae turned and saw Sormiske’s horse go down, and he turned to go back and help. Hoscoe and I both drew up at the top of the rise, and saw seven riders riding hard to Sormiske and Gohruvae. Hoscoe whipped up his Mark VII and charged down to help and I couldn’t let him go alone.

  Gohruvae dropped from his horse as bolts began to fly, and he took one as he was pulling Sormiske from under his horse. He took another as he turned his own crossbow and caught a soldier in the chest. Sormiske scrambled onto Gohruvae’s horse and I saw the panic in his eyes. Hoscoe’s back was to me, but I saw him take two riders, and as they came close he got another with his Ace in the hole.

  Gohruvae was trying to get into the saddle when Sormiske kicked him off and turning, fled toward the mountains in a totally different direction. Hoscoe pulled his sword and engaged one soldier as I, weaponless, vaulted from my horse onto another soldier and carried him to the ground. A bolt went clean through my tattered garment and into Hoscoe’s mount, which reared up and backwards onto Hoscoe.

  Adrenaline coursed through me as I desperately searched So’Yeth for more energy. Pulling my opponent’s knife I sliced him across the throat, then pulled the last soldier down, grabbed his sword and ran him through.