by Jacob Cooper
Hedron directed Aiden to his fallen sword, having marked its location mentally when it landed and sent out vibrations like a small beacon through the forest. They both erupted into furious speed back to the cottage. They were probably a mile away, maybe more. The shrieks and howls could be heard for several miles all around them.
“You must stay out of reach, Hedron.”
“Not likely, not after just saving you. I’m in this now.” Hedron said defiantly.
“I will leave you unconscious on the ground if I must, boy!” Aiden promised. “This isn’t a time for boyhood dreams of danger and heroics being acted out. You are my Lord’s son. I will not fail him twice by putting you in harm’s way.”
“If you haven’t noticed, harm’s way found us! If you feel some loyalty to me because of my father, then do not restrain me. Consider it an order.”
“Sorry, no. It does not work like that. In times of danger, a lord obeys his master of the hold guard.”
“Well, Master Aiden, I’m not a lord!” Hedron retorted. They were sprinting through the night, a powdery dust of white in their wake.
“In that, lad, we are agreed.” Aiden grabbed Hedron by his collar and yanked him backward. Simultaneously, he swept his leg forward and under the Kerr boy, bringing him down hard on the frozen ground. He cuffed him just hard enough to break his consciousness but leave no permanent damage. Hedron’s eyes rolled in to the back of his head and his body went limp. Aiden laid the boy gently between two trees and then continued on toward Jayden’s cottage.
“I don’t know how he saw me. How could he have seen me?” Reign said between shudders. “I didn’t make a sound! I didn’t even move!”
“But you felt fear,” Jayden said.
“Yes, of course. The tree one of them had touched changed in front of me. It died, and several others as well. The tall man with the beard seemed excited by this. But then the other man—” She squeezed her eyes tight as if to hide from her own memories. “The man who saw me, he chased me. He was so fast! His footfall was deafening. He was catching up, but then father came.”
“Yes, and he fought the Helsyan to save you,” Jayden filled in.
“What?” Reign asked. “What’s a Helsyan?”
“Not a man, not in the way you think of one. Just as Arlethians, or wood-dwellers as you are more commonly known, are not normal men. Helsyans are of ancient descent, long before the Realm and even the Hardacheon Age. Monsters of the Ancient Dark’s create. He did not see you, Reign. He smelled you, smelled your fear. He tracked you through your emotions. This is how they hunt, but they must first be released, given a Charge. It is called a Dahlrak in the ancient tongue. Someone Charged the Helsyan with you, child.”
“How do you know this?” Reign exclaimed. “What ancient language? I don’t understand.”
Jayden shook her head. “Not yet. And so, Thannuel gave his life to save his child from the monster, yes?”
“He told me to run home and wake Aiden,” Reign continued almost as if in a trance. “But I didn’t. I wanted to see. I wanted to watch. Everyone spoke of him as a great warrior.” Her serene expression crumbled. “I killed him! I should have listened. He would still be alive! I should have gone to the hold as he said. Aiden would have come. He would have come and he could have helped! But I didn’t! He didn’t have to die!”
“No, child, that would only have brought death upon Aiden as well.”
“But he should have killed him!” Reign growled. “He should have beaten him! He was Lord of the West, a wood-dweller! No one had ever overcome him in steel combat. He failed me! He left me! He promised I would always be safe! He left mother and Hedron, too! Mother died because of him! He killed her. I hate him!”
“Where did you go?” Jayden asked.
“I hid in a Triarch tree.”
“No, I mean where did you go inside?”
The sounds of the fray outside intensified. The three wolf cubs remained alert and reacted to every new sound. Thurik was spinning around at his post, salivating heavily. A terrible high-pitched roar of pain shook the walls of the house.
“I couldn’t feel anything. I saw him fall, saw him die, but the fear left me. I felt cold, like I died, like the trees that turned to stone. He called my name, but I didn’t come to him.”
At this, Jayden’s look became penetrating. “Was it his last breath?”
“What? What do you mean?” Reign looked at the old woman with some confusion.
“Think, young one, was it his last breath? Did he have a Triarch leafling in his hand? Think!”
“I don’t know, I can’t—”
“You must remember! Think! See the place he died. See his hands. See his chest rise and fall. See his mouth form your name upon its lips.”
Reign felt as if she were floating as she closed her eyes and roamed the dark halls of her memory. She was filled with foreboding, but the force that pushed against her all those years now aided her, not pushing her but strengthening her, augmenting her mind. She seized upon the vision in her mind and held it.
“Reign,” Thannuel whispered in her remembrance, the girl mouthing the word as she recalled the scene from her childhood. Thannuel’s chest did not rise again.
“Yes, his last breath,” she mumbled.
“And his hands, what was there?”
“His sword.”
“Look closer.”
As she peered into her mind’s eye through the caverns of memory, Reign caught the sight of a small three-pronged leaf that extended above her father’s hand where he loosely gripped the hilt of his sword. He let go of his sword as he died and it fell away from his grasp. There, in the palm of his hand, was a Triarch leafling.
Aiden did not hesitate when the scene came into sight a few moments later. The second large beast with its two riders hovered barely above the cottage. The wolves were desperately clamoring to find a way on to the roof. Deadly and tenacious though they were, being earthbound was a distinct disadvantage to the wolves against an enemy that struggled with no such hindrance. The creature screamed its shrill cry and whipped its tail down hard upon the roof. Aiden did not know how much longer the structure could take such punishment before cracking open and revealing those within.
Aiden drew his sword and again quieted his mind. And then, he watched with some amazement as he witnessed the wolves adapt and overcome their deficiency. A short but thick and husky gray wolf brought itself within a nose of the east wall of the cottage. It seemed to brace itself. Next, a medium-sized breed climbed onto its back and stood on its hind legs, placing its front paws up against the wall, then likewise braced itself. A stream of three wolves ran toward the lupine ladder and sprang upon it, ascending the backs of their siblings and on to the roof. They scampered across the top of the cottage toward the flying demon and sprang with single-minded intent at the long-bearded men upon the winged devil’s back. Two of the wolves made the leap, but the third found itself impaled by a dozen boney spikes around the beast’s maw. A small whimper escaped the dying wolf before it was cast down to the earth, its blood seeping out through a myriad of punctures and mixing with the snow and mud of the earth. The other two landed deftly upon the backside of the beast but then struggled for purchase against the hard smooth scales. Clawing desperately, one of the wolves scraped a paw toward the creature’s head, against the grain of the scales, and finally breached the armored surface. It dug in the wound, enlarging it, clawing free the dark gray flesh and making a foothold in the welling pool of blood. The other wolf soon followed suit and the shriek that emanated this time from the huge creature was one of pain rather than terror. It jerked its head up to the sky and stretched its wings outward, preparing to escape upward. It would never be granted the chance.
Aiden appeared to be in flight, his body arched as it sailed through the night with his dark-bladed sword held above his head, his muscles coiled tightly in preparation to strike. He soared directly toward the shrieking head of the creature with its hideous maw agape.
A savage yell exploded from Aiden that startled the beast and he swung his steel downward as swift as lightning. The molecules of the air burst into small blue flames around the blade from the incredible friction created as he forced Thannuel’s sword through the atmosphere with impossible momentum. The sword was driven down through the crown and continued cutting through the neck until it met the top of the demon’s torso where it lodged, smoking. Aiden let go of the hilt and fell a dozen feet to the cottage roof.
With its head and neck now cloven in two, the beast’s wings fluttered in nervous reaction as it fell to the ground. The forward rider who held the reins was pinned to the earth under the girth of the demon. He feverishly tried to free himself but the wolves were on him instantly and excused him from the realm of the living. The second rider leaped from the saddle before hitting the ground and grabbed up a short blade from his belt in his left hand and wielded a flail in his right. Several wolves attacked but were driven back as he swung the spiked ball and chain in a circle, forcing distance between himself and his assailants.
So focused were the wolves with their downed quarry that they did not hear the approach of the other wretched fiend until two of their number were scooped up, one in each claw. The abductees continued to snap and snarl at their captor even as the talons dug in and strong-muscled claws crushed the life from them. Their bodies fell to the earth.
Aiden recovered his sword and blitzed toward the man swinging his flail. He held his weapon low behind his body as he closed the distance and swung upward at the bearded man, ignoring the danger of the spiked ball approaching his head. The man amazingly deflected the strike with his short blade but the effort stole his balance and he teetered backward. Aiden moved closer in, a breath from the man making the flail largely ineffective. The man was taller than him and Aiden found himself at eye level with his beard, adorned with trinkets of strange create. It looks like skin and bones, Aiden shuddered in realization. The large man brought his head down on Aiden’s brow. The force of the blow dazed the wood-dweller and now he stumbled back, providing the distance the man needed to whip back his flail and swing it down. Aiden flung himself free from reach of the swing and steadied himself. The man swore. The shriek of the remaining demon was heard not far off, as it no doubt was preparing for a return attack. He needed to end this. Now.
The man resumed his whirling of the flail, creating a lethal circle of protection around him. Jayden’s packs were tightening their circle and Aiden felt a soft tremor that he focused on, ignoring the other sounds he felt in the forest. It was a slow sound, coming from behind the man. Aiden caught hold of it long enough to identify the vibrational signature.
He feinted forward, forcing the man to turn in his direction. As the flail-bearing man took a step forward in response, Aiden yelled, “Elohk!”
The large white wolf emerged from the snow at the man’s feet, growling and howling as a ghost from the frozen abyss. The great and terrible eruption from beneath the foreign warrior caused him to jump in surprise, his face turning paler than a decaying corpse. Crimson Snow clawed his way up the man’s back, digging into hot flesh until he was atop the man’s shoulders and vying for his throat. He cried out with pain as he swung his flail wildly over his shoulder. One blow connected on the wolf’s back but Crimson Snow, unfazed, continued to attack. Elohk’s weight caused the man to stumble and falter. The opening caused by the wolf’s distraction was enough. Aiden shot forward with his sword extended and sheathed it in the man’s heart. His death was ironically quiet.
The remaining winged creature screeched from above but the sound was far in the distance and fading. It had fled.
“And you were in a Triarch tree yourself, yes?” Jayden asked firmly.
“Yes,” Reign answered, coming out of her dream-like state.
Jayden brought her hands together in front of her mouth. She was considering something heavily by the look that played across her face.
“Reign, listen to me.” She again took her hands. “Why do you hurt so much inside?”
“Because I killed him,” she muttered.
“Hardly, dear. Truth, Reign. Why are you searing with pain inside?”
“He left me! He promised he never would! He abandoned me!”
“We both know that’s not true, child. Why did he fight so fiercely? It wasn’t for his own life. Why did he die for you?”
“Because…” Reign began but hesitated.
“Say it, child.”
Reign bit her lower lip. “He loved me,” she said simply.
“And?”
For Reign Kerr, all the past years of her life flashed before her in an instant. All the fear and hardship after Thannuel died, the sorrow and regret, the guilt and anguish, the endless longing; all the joys of her early childhood, the times she giggled as her father held her, the safety she felt in his arms, the times she ran to him for reassurance after a nightmare, and learning to speak with trees for the first time. She faced the memories as they rushed forth, the dam she built so long ago bursting in her mind, the rubble of fear being washed away until she caught the vision of her father’s face in her mind’s eye. She did not thrust it aside as she might have before, but held it before her. His auburn brown hair, gentle eyes and firmly set jaw faced her. She remembered how he always smiled with the left side of his face first before breaking out with a laugh, the way he kindly smiled upon her now. “Reign,” the image whispered.
“I loved him,” Reign said, choking back a sob. “I still love him.” That love surfaced within her, cresting and breaking through her hardened emotional barrier.
“Love will let him finally find a place in you after all these years.”
The force that had seemed a plague to Reign for so many years presented itself yet again. It was not aggressive, but gentle, as if seeking permission. Reign pursed her lips, trying not to let them quiver, and closed her eyes tightly to hold back the tears. She finally understood.
“Will you let him in, child?” Jayden asked softly. “Let him stand free from the shadows of your heart.”
All Reign could do was nod.
A howling warm wind came up from within the cottage and swirled around Reign. She was lifted into the air gently and felt the pressure push against her. This time, she did not fight. A light enveloped her until Reign herself became luminescent. She opened herself completely to the impetus and into her mind cascaded all her father’s last breath. All his memories, all his fears, all his joys, all his skills and strength, all his knowledge and wisdom, all his abilities, the flood of power all consuming. Her mind threatened to fracture under the stress, but it held. Thannuel’s last breath lodged itself in a cavern within Reign’s mind, not overtaking or controlling it, but rather becoming a well, a reservoir of power and wisdom and strength to be drawn upon.
When it was over, Reign’s feet again touched the ground but it felt almost foreign to her, like it was her first time standing on her own. As she opened her eyes, she saw the world anew.
The soft, kind voice of Jayden sounded in the now quiet night. “Welcome back, Thannuel.”
THIRTY-FOUR
Ryall
Day 28 of 1st Dimming 412 A.U.
RYALL JUMPED AT THE TOUCH on his left shoulder and knocked into the obsidian tablet in front of which he crouched. The echo of a scream was heard reverberating through the vast cavernous library. Its decrescendo seemed to languish on with unnatural length, as if the echo was determined to make its brief life last as long as possible before fading below decibels of an audible threshold. Ryall realized that he had been the screamer. Breathing fast and shallow, he whirled around to see the silent terror that would no doubt now use some forbidden Influence to make him disappear to a realm of interminable pain or perhaps turn his body inside out before devouring him whole. Neither happened.
Holden stood before him, wearing a smug expression on his face.
“Did you actually think I was sleeping, genius?” the stockier boy asked. “I swear you’re so predic
table.”
“What are you doing here?” Ryall demanded. “You scared the Fallen Heavens out of me!”
“Watch your tongue. You are an adherent, after all. And, I’m not so sure you have any right to be asking me what I’m doing here.”
The fright on Ryall’s face was slowly replaced by a smile. “Wait, you came because you can’t ignore it either. You’re as tempted by this place as I am.”
“Hardly,” Holden countered. “I came to make you see reason. And if that won’t work, I’m prepared to knock some sense into you.”
Ryall rolled his eyes. The two had been at odds with how to handle their discovery.
“Listen to me, Ryall. You don’t know what this place is. It’s amazing, I’ll give you that, but can’t you see it’s been sealed off? And no doubt for a good reason.”
Ryall had heard this before and knew what his friend would say next, so he mouthed the words as Holden spoke them. “If we’re caught here, they’re not going to make us mop the monastery as punishment. This is more serious than our little pranks.”
“Yes, Mother, thank you, Mother, I’ll do better, Mother.”
Holden punched him in the arm, hard. “I am not kidding about this. I followed you here because I’m your friend, jackass, not your mother.”
To this, Ryall started braying louder and louder, mocking his friend.
“Dimming Light, you are an idiot! And what’s worse, I think you know it!” Holden’s frustration soared.
“Now who needs to watch his mouth?” Ryall jeered.
Their voices carried, meshing and creating dissonant echoes as their verbal volleys increased, overlapping each other.