by Jacob Cooper
Jayden pushed the wood-dwellers aside as she approached their intruder. “Up! Off!” she commanded, clapping her hands as if she were speaking to her wolves. “Is that how you treat a guest, you oaf?”
Realizing their visitor was not some monster, Aiden released her but remained wary. Crimson Snow also backed up and, seeing Jayden’s acceptance of the visitor, sat down on his rear legs and licked her face. His three cubs followed suit, clamoring for attention.
“Back! Back you devils!” Jayden snapped. She grabbed the woman and helped her up. “Why dear, you’re shaking like a leaf. The cold must have gotten into your bones. Come, sit at the hearth. Reign, bring some hot tea.” Jayden wrapped warm furs around her and guided her to the fire.
Aiden and Hedron stood at the threshold, the decrepit door still ajar. “What is it?” Hedron asked.
“The earth. It still echoes. It pulses. Can you feel it?”
“Yes,” the Kerr boy replied. “What could it be?”
“I’m uncertain but—”
“We have to get out of here! We have to warn the High Duke! Please, my name is Ehliss and I’m from the Ministry of Terran Studies. We have to leave! It’s a storm of men and beasts that—”
The rest of her speech was cut off by a terrible shriek that shattered the relative silence of the night. Crimson Snow bounded out the open door and disappeared. Jayden slowly rose from cradling Ehliss, concern swimming across her face. Her eyes, though wide, did not register complete surprise.
“They’re here!” Ehliss screamed.
Two dozen howls filled the night, followed by vicious growls and yelps of pain.
“It has started,” Jayden said simply.
THIRTY-THREE
Reign
Day 27 of 1st Dimming 412 A.U.
“STAY HERE AND SHUT HER UP!” Aiden commanded, motioning to Ehliss. “And douse the fire. No light!” He disappeared through the door into the snowy night.
Ehliss sat in terror, Hedron and Reign in apprehension mixed with confusion. Jayden stood by the hearth, her face placid. After a moment, she extinguished the fire and pulled down a covering around the two small windows of the home. The three wolf cubs started for the door after their father, but Jayden spoke with a loud timbre of command.
“No! Huksinai, Alabeth, Thurik! Inbrideo vash yaldah!” At that, the three cubs stopped instantly and formed a defensive pattern around the small company, Thurik at the point.
“What the Blasted Heavens is going on?” Hedron swore. Another shriek thundered in the night followed by a thud hitting the roof. Ehliss started at the sound.
“I can feel the wolves and Aiden sporadically—” Hedron began.
“But no one else,” Reign finished. They were listening, feeling. The earthen floor of the cottage proved to be somewhat conducive to following the vibrations. In the North, the trees did not speak, did not open themselves as catalysts as they did in the West. Still, for the wood-dwellers, almost any vibration could be discerned and interpreted. These vibrations were coming through as shock-waves all around them: wolves running, snarling and dying; Aiden in sprint and jumping from one barren tree to the next; Crimson Snow howling and barking commands to the packs. But there was no one else they could sense. No enemy. It was as if they were battling against a ghost, a specter, lethal and silent.
A wolf came through one of the windows, its lifeless body broken and bloodied. The terrifying shriek once again filled the night air, followed by another—a second demon. Thurik started to run forth, his eagerness not able to be contained.
“Vash yaldah!” Jayden repeated. Thurik stopped but did not immediately return to his position. “Aramandt!” Jayden hissed. With this last word, Thurik resumed his original stance.
A shock blasted through the ground, startling Reign.
“Something big just hit the ground, about thirty paces to our right,” Hedron said.
The sounds of battle continued, the sounds of death and things being torn apart. Reign stood stiffly next to Hedron, her short blade gripped tightly. It pushed against her.
The chill of the wind hit Aiden as soon as he emerged from Jayden’s dwelling. He looked to the left and saw Crimson Snow break open the wooden gate to the kennels. A mighty howl tore through the air as two dozen wolves answered a bone-chilling shriek that came from…above. Aiden looked up and briefly marveled how large the sky looked. In the West, the forest’s canopy hid most of the sky. One would have to scale the trees and ascend above the canopy line to take in the starry expanse unobstructed. Here, however, in the Gonfrey Forest, the trees carried little to no foliage this far into the Dimming Season and the forest was not half so dense. Aiden heard a large gust of wind high above followed by the sound of what he identified as wings—large wings. The wolves started to snarl as they gathered around Aiden, Crimson Snow at his right hand. The quarter-lit first moon provided all the illumination necessary for the look that Aiden and the white wolf shared, a brief communication that said they would stand and fight together, whatever had come against them this night. Aiden focused and took in his surroundings. He drew the sword he had been gifted by Moira after Thannuel’s fall, the pewter colored blade of Jarwyn steel reflecting the moon’s rays. Think of nothing but this moment. As he silently recited the old adage Lord Kerr had taught him, his mind shut out all possible distractions and allowed only those environmental elements that could assist him to remain present upon his consciousness. He felt things more deeply, almost as if he were connected to the Arlethian forest. Anticipation of events a miniscule second before they happened was a side effect of quieting his mind; either that or his reflexes were quickened – he was not sure which.
The sound of air being violently displaced was followed by a yelp of pain. A winged beast larger than three horses came down from above like a demon from the sky and snatched a wolf up with its talons, piercing flesh and crushing bones before tossing the carcass effortlessly aside through the air. The dead wolf thudded down on the roof of the cottage. Crimson Snow barked at the packs and they dispersed through the forest, bolting across the snow.
Aiden’s concentration was broken. He had just beheld a dragon of sorts, as in the mythical scrolls of the Changrual. He spied a second creature streak through the sky and eclipse the moon for an instant. He tried to understand and qualify the situation, making it fit into something he could mentally process. Another cry from a wolf broke Aiden’s stupor. Chiding himself for being distracted no matter the cause, he refocused and sprang into action.
He bounded forward, soaring a short distance through the air before pouncing upon a tree and instantly kicking off of it, propelling himself higher toward another tree. He felt the air change around him and twisted his body a moment before foot-long talons found him. An arrow chased him but he easily dodged it with a reflex faster than the arrow’s flight. Landing on the third tree in his ascent, he was high enough to look down upon the scene. A dragon beast was swooping down near the cottage, but every time it closed the distance, half a dozen wolves leaped up in defense, reaching for any part into which they could sink their fangs. The winged creature of myth whipped its head with such speed that it appeared only as a blur. It connected with a wolf, sending it flying through a window of the cottage. Aiden heard a scream. Where is the other—
The screech that came from behind him was ear shattering. He turned in time to see the attack come but knew he could not defend against it. He let himself fall from the tree through the air some sixty feet and deftly landed in the snow below. Without hesitation, he sheathed his sword and bounded back up the tree to regain his vantage point. Aiden saw the creature that barely missed him, twice now, turn sharply and swoop down toward the cottage. Two riders upon the demon’s back he noted and simultaneously jumped to another tree, using it as a ricochet point. Once he was in range, he coiled his legs and pushed off hard without ever truly landing, launching himself downward. He collided with the winged beast, but its thick scales were hard and smooth. He would have bounced off a
s quickly as he hit had his belt and scabbard not caught on some boney protrusion from its wing. The force of his aerial assault deflected the trajectory of the creature enough to cause it to abandon its target. Aiden desperately reached up for anything with which to grab and haul himself upright. He found nothing. The creature was flying low to the ground, attempting to dislodge the parasite that had grappled on to it. But Aiden, though he had never fought a flying opponent, was in his element. Focused. Lethal.
One of the riders came out of the harness and stood over Aiden as they soared jaggedly through the air just above the ground. A heavy voice yelled out something that could only be a curse and raised a blade above his head. The glimpse that Aiden caught from the corner of his eye made him half smile. It looked like a violent blizzard rushing from the other side of the flying creature and sounded like death. Crimson Snow vaulted from the earth and took flight. He caught the warrior in the throat as he turned to investigate the ominous sound approaching, the wolf’s fangs cutting through his thick beard and finding purchase. No cry escaped his crushed throat, only the taint of red blood, allowing the wolf to once again live up to his name. The rider departed his station, lifeless. Aiden reached a hand up and grabbed hold of Crimson Snow’s thick coat and righted himself upon the back of the winged beast with a mighty effort. The remaining rider sat in a saddle of some create, holding the reins that controlled their flight. His long beard, frosted by ice and snow, flung in the wind.
The rider glanced backward, finding a dark-haired man with no beard drawing steel from his sheath and a wolf resembling a small bear snarling. He instantly pulled back on the steel-chained reins, forcing the mount upward. Crimson Snow dove off into a small snow bank and sprinted back toward the cottage, toward the sound of screams. Aiden fell forward and clutched the saddle in front of him but lost the grip on his sword. Higher and higher they climbed. Aiden feared they might strike the moon before long, but the creature turned downward and spun at dizzying speed like a cyclone of terror. Aiden’s body flung out horizontally as the beast dove vertically, his grip upon the saddle loosening.
Reign did not know how to feel in this moment. The presence that pushed upon her came more forcefully in moments when she needed her mind the most. It plagued her more strongly when the circumstances seemed more desperate. The first time she had felt it was those many years ago not far from where she now stood, when she and Hedron hung onto life through starvation and exposure by the thinnest of threads. Why now! she demanded. Leave me! But it did not leave her.
It was terrifying, being inside a dark and cold edifice with the sounds of pain and death swirling around them everywhere. Hedron and Reign could not feel their attackers. This added to the fear coursing through them immensely. To be attacked was a frightening experience in itself, one with which the Kerr children were most acquainted. But to have no idea what stood against you would cause the bravest of souls to shudder with unbridled fear.
“It has to be demons of some create,” Hedron said with a tightly clenched jaw. “Why else would we not sense them?”
“No, son, not demons,” came a knowing voice. Jayden left her position next to Ehliss and knelt before Reign.
“You feel it, don’t you?” she asked.
Reign looked down at her eyes, not moving her head. The three cubs snarled low warnings. “Feel what?” Reign answered tensely. Jayden reached up and took Reign’s hand in hers.
“Child, I know. You know that I know. It is not to be feared.” Reign flinched at a pitiful cry echoing through the woods. Jayden reached up and took her other hand, pulling Reign’s attention back to her.
“How are you so calm?” Reign hissed. Large wings cut through air and a horrifying scratching noise sounded on the roof, followed by scrabbling claws and barking, howling, flesh tearing.
“When your father died, Reign, you were there. You saw it. Tell me.”
Hedron glared at the old woman, incredulous. “You want to ask her about this now?”
Jayden ignored him. “Child, how did he fall? What was it? Tell me.”
It encircled Reign and felt as a warm embrace, like the Rising Season coming upon the frozen land after a long, dark Low Season. Her lower lip quivered and her eyes welled with tears.
“It is not to be feared,” Jayden coaxed once more in a whisper.
“How do you know what it is?” Reign snapped as tears spilled. “I’ve never spoken of it, never made mention of it. How do you know?”
“It’s getting closer,” Hedron warned. “We might be able to outrun them.” Ehliss cried out with every bang and shriek.
“Tell me…”
“Aiden!” Hedron cried. Before anyone could stop him, he dashed through the open door.
He was in free-fall, the inertial force too great for him to resist. As soon as Aiden had been flung free, the nightmare of a bird stopped its downward spiral. As it spread its wings to recapture the air, Aiden saw it glide away. He, however, continued to fall. From such a height and with no thick-leaved canopy to help break his fall, Aiden prepared himself as best he could.
A yell interrupted his peaceful yet terrifying fall just before being struck and hurled horizontally into a tree about thirty feet from the ground. He reached out and fumbled for a hold against the bark, digging his fingers to find purchase. The pain of the effort seared his hands, but he recycled the pain into strength, feeding on the friction.
He hit the ground hard after slowing the fall enough to be survivable. Turning about, he found his unlikely rescuer. Hedron lay on the ground ten paces from him. The boy rolled over onto his hands and knees, slowly bringing himself back to his feet.
“What the Blasted Heavens were you doing, boy?” Aiden roared. “I told you to stay in the cottage!”
“You know, Aiden,” Hedron answered, breathing heavily from the effort exerted, “we’re going to have to work on your gratitude.”
“Tell me,” Jayden gently entreated.
Reign trembled under Jayden’s calm hands. She didn’t want to do this. Not here, not anywhere, not ever. Hedron was not here to save her from this moment.
“No! No, not until you tell me how you know what you know. What was that language you spoke to the wolves? How do you know what this is that’s against me? Why do you live here in this wasteland alone? Where are you from? Where are your kin? Your children?”
“My child, I know a great many things. And I promise, when this is over, we’ll have some tea and a long talk. But now, right now, you need to tell me of that night. You must go back to that place that you have hidden from.”
Reign’s vision blurred as the tears came down, leaving light salty streaks upon her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to kill him.” At that, Reign Kerr collapsed into a trembling ball of grief and tears. She shook uncontrollably and buried her face into Jayden. Deep sobs escaped her, the pent up sorrow, guilt, pain, and anguish of years began to flow. All around them this night a battle raged on the outside and throughout the forest; inside Reign Kerr raged a struggle of greater desperation.
Jayden said nothing but held Reign as she heaved on the ground with her head in her lap. When she seemed to grasp a modicum of control, Jayden gently encouraged her.
“Go on, love.”
“The forest—I was lost but not afraid.” She trembled now as she recounted it. “There were men in the forest, strange men. I wanted to see what they were doing, I was just a child. Curious. I was in my forest where…where my…where my father ruled. It was his, so I wasn’t afraid. Not at first I wasn’t.
“Duke Wellyn was there.” She paused. “A strange man, tall with a long beard also. Others as well.”
“Yes,” Jayden said, patting her back. “Let go of it.”
“I’m so scared,” Reign admitted. She was now numb to the frightful sounds outside the walls, replaced by the petrifying memories she brought forth. She trembled. “I can’t! I can’t speak these words!”
Jayden could see how the fear gripped the girl’s mind. She was starting t
o shut down again and force the memories back into their mental prison. “Do you know what the Gyldenal are, Reign?”
She bit her finger as she did when she felt uncertain. “No.”
“The Gyldenal are an order that date back long before the Realm, before the Senthary. They are keepers of knowledge and wisdom,” Jayden explained.
“Archivers?”
“Not exactly. An Archiver is a keeper of facts, of history. The Gyldenal pass down knowledge that enables, that empowers.” She considered for a moment. “It’s more akin to abilities that are learned because of knowledge, through it. Do you understand?”
“I think so. Maybe. No,” she finally settled upon. Another blood-curdling shriek sounded from above, answered by deep growls and howls.
“One thing that is taught,” Jayden continued, “is how to channel emotions into energy or strength. I cannot explain this much to you now, but you must trust me. The fear you feel can turn to power, fortitude, strength, whatever you wish. You must allow it to fill you, to engulf you but not to overtake you. It is energy that can be harnessed and redirected. Recycled. The stronger the emotion felt, the more difficult it can be to control, but also the more potential is carries.
“Embrace the fear you feel, child. Welcome it in. Do not fight against it. Let it flow through you, and then command it. Divert its energy as a river is channeled. You command the currents. You are the current.”
Reign did not understand and continued to tremble, the fear of that night long ago pulsing through her being. Something heavy banged against the back wall of the feeble home and caused Ehliss to yelp once again.
“Feed on it, child.” The old woman coaxed.
“There was a light,” Reign finally went on. “Blue, like nothing I have seen before or since. One of them touched a tree and—” She broke off, hoping somehow the words would speak themselves. “—and I saw it turn to stone!” she cried out. “I saw it. The tree became gray and withered in front of me. The leaves fell from it and the trunk and branches turned from brown to a dark gray, cold and lifeless. The forest screamed with silent fear, I could feel it all around me. That’s when…” New tears came to her eyes but she didn’t stop. “That’s when he saw me.” Now Reign did stop as new fear gripped her. She inhaled a fast breath and her lower lip quivered violently. Her whole body shook as if caught in a great torrent.