by Thomas Rath
Thane patted Jack’s knee weakly. “Sorry.”
Jack sat back, trying to hide his concern. “Yeah, well, you better be. Yelling like you were is liable to bring the whole putrid nation of trolls down on us.” Jack paused, as if waiting for Thane to reply but when he didn’t, he continued on. “So, are you going to tell me what you were dreaming or are we going to just sit here all night looking at each other and freeze to death?”
Thane smiled, suddenly feeling a great deal better. “Well,” he started, his voice coming out stronger, “I do not know what happen.”
“Happened,” Jack corrected.
“Happened,” Thane said, rolling his eyes. “I stopped here to rest and, I guessing, fell asleep. Next thing I know, I feel like wind floating over the earth.”
Jack gave him a strange look. “The wind, huh?”
“Yes. Then I feel like I moving very fast.”
Both turned their heads at the sound of crunching snow as Erl returned from his search. He was still sniffing furiously, moving his head back and forth, as if searching for a scent. They both watched him curiously as he moved around in front of Thane and then suddenly brought his head up.
“What is it?” asked Thane.
“I don’t know,” Jack answered. “I’ve never seen him act so strangely.”
Erl stared at Thane with great intensity and then let out a small growl.
“What is it boy?” Jack said reaching a hand out to the large wolg’s head.
Erl continued to growl, his hackles rising on his back, as he peered deeply into Thane’s eyes. Thane felt himself being drawn into the wolg’s mind again but this time he did not resist. He could feel his senses sharpen and the animal instincts rage within him. Suddenly, he was engulfed with a horrid smell and the memory of trolls entered his mind attaching to the scent. Thane recoiled from their interaction, suddenly jumping to his feet while pulling his dagger.
“What, in the evil halls of Dren, are you doing?” Jack asked a shiver of worry mixed in with his voice. “What is going on around here, Thane? You’re starting to get me spooked.”
Erl inched cautiously over and started to sniff him once more while Thane tried desperately to pierce the darkness with his night eyes. “There is a troll near. I can smell it. Erl can too.”
Jack was beside himself but pulled his own dagger for good measure. “What are you talking about? How can you smell...?”
Erl suddenly started whining and pawed frantically at Thane.
“Now what has gotten into him?”
Thane shrugged, looking worriedly at the wolg as its giant paw hit gently against his shoulder. “I do not know.” A light breeze blew across the frozen land brushing against Thane’s head and blowing on past Jack causing the older man’s face to curl in disgust.
“What is that horrid smell?”
Thane looked at his friend. “You smell it now too?”
“I smell something, but it’s either coming off of Erl or you.”
“What?” Thane looked at Jack in surprise. How could either of them smell like a stinking troll? The dream! The memory of the trolls passing through him tumbled down on him like an avalanche of rocks. But how can that be? It was just a dream. Wasn’t it? Thane brought his arm up to his nose and took a deep breath. The stench made him gag and he started coughing. “It is me,” he wheezed looking at Jack in horror. Erl kept whining and pawing. Jack unconsciously took a step backwards.
“What’s going on Thane?” he asked, bringing his dagger up in front of him. “Why do you stink like a bloody troll?”
Thane was dumbfounded. How could this be happening? The only thing that he could reason was that it had not been a dream after all. But how could I have traveled like that? And the trolls, how could they have passed through me? The voice of Thane’s father suddenly entered his thoughts. You’re a freak boy. You don’t belong here. You’re a demon child. Tears welled up in Thane’s eyes and started running, unchecked, down his face. “It was real,” he whispered staring at the snow-covered ground. “It must have been.”
“What was real?” Jack broke in, still holding up his dagger and taking another step back. “What’s going on Thane?” His voice was getting louder and more frantic. “What in all the hells happened?”
Thane looked up at Jack, wondering what he should say. Jack was his only friend, something of a father even. He couldn’t let him know what a freak he was. He couldn’t let him know what had really happened. Suddenly, Tam’s beaten face flashed in his mind and the realization that trolls must have captured her made his legs weak. He staggered for a moment before sitting down on a rock. Erl stopped his pawing and now sat at Thane’s feet with his head in his lap whining softly. He glanced at Erl and then turned back to Jack. “You have to believe Jack, I do not know what happened. Please, I need you to help me.”
Jack’s face softened a bit. He could see that Thane was obviously in a lot of pain and anguish. Seeing Erl snuggle up to him as he was, he decided that there must not be any threat and put away his dagger. “What, Thane,” he said gently. “What is it that I can do?”
“We must go to Hell’s End Station tomorrow.”
Jack’s surprise was obvious. “What? I thought you didn’t want to go at all?”
“I did not. But I think a friend has been taken by trolls.”
“Trolls?” Jack’s face became stern. “How did you come by that idea?”
“I cannot say for certain. Please Jack. Maybe your friends at station know about trolls down there. Maybe I find my friend.” Thane’s tone became more urgent. “Please Jack. You my only friend. Please help me.”
Jack lifted up a hand. “All right, all right, just calm yourself. I don’t pretend to understand what this is all about, or even what happened here tonight, but if Erl trusts you enough,” he said pointing at the wolg, his head still in Thane’s lap, “then I guess I have no reason not to. We’ll leave tomorrow then. It’s only a day earlier than I planned anyway.”
Thane’s face brightened and he jumped from the rock and threw his arms around Jack. “Thank you, Jack!” he shouted holding on to his friend’s large body. “Thank you.”
Jack stood a bit stiff, not used to such affection. “Uh, no problem, Thane,” he said clearing his throat. Thane let go and then stood back, smiling brightly. “Now,” Jack said, forcing a stern voice, “you had better get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day of hiking and work.”
“Yes,” Thane replied and walked briskly past Jack and returned to camp.
Jack watched him go for a moment and then called to Erl who sat patiently by. “Come on boy, let’s get back to the fire. I don’t know what is going on around here but if it has anything to do with trolls, then it can’t be good. And, I’m sure we’ll probably find out sooner than we care to.” Erl responded with a small whine and then fell in beside Jack. “Let’s just hope that this strange boy you found doesn’t get himself, and us, into more trouble. It’s enough to cause a man to lose sleep I tell you.”
It wasn’t long before all were wrapped tightly in their blankets by the fire trying desperately to stay warm while Jack’s rumbling snores crashed loudly against the landscape. If my yelling would call down the trolls, Thane thought knowing sleep was not soon in coming, his snoring would bring the mountains down on us before any troll figured out what all the noise was.
Thane’s mind raced unwillingly back through the night’s events still unsure as to what had happened to him. He didn’t want to remember, but Tam’s beaten and dirtied face kept appearing like a restless spirit calling out for relief. Tam, how could you be taken by trolls and what were they doing in the forest? He suddenly sat up. Erl gave him a quick look and then settled back to sleep. The forest. Could it be they invaded the Ardath with shear force of numbers? Maybe Tam was the only survivor. Thane searched back through his memory of what he’d seen when he saw Tam. His head ached terribly as he tried to remember the location. The forest slowly materialized in his mind’s eye as he explored
for any clues that might pinpoint her position.
It didn’t take too long for him to realize that it wasn’t the Ardath. Like every Chufa, Thane knew every part of the forest he lived in. Trees were like people. They were all different. Tam was definitely not in their home woods. Plus, he remembered, I did not feel like I had gone east. He didn’t know how, but he knew he had traveled west and then north. Traveled? Did I actually travel? His mind returned to the events just preceding the time he felt himself lifted into the air. He had felt the same feeling other times in his life but had always passed them off as a pleasurable trance-like state. He thought back to those times and the memories that came of opening his eyes and briefly seeing into the night sky.
A sudden chill gripped him. Did I actually fly? But how could I? The people who found me never said anything about me floating in the air. Again, his experience with the trolls that night returned as well as the sickening feeling that came when they passed through his body. And what of the wind that was constantly around me? He thought back to when the wind had begun to fail and the terrible feeling of being torn apart; breaking away with the fragments of air that seemed to have been holding him. The wind. It must have something to do with the wind, but what?
His heart ached with the recognition of yet another thing that made him different. My father was right. I’m not different, I’m a freak. Tears cascaded down his face at the thought of his father. All he had ever wanted was for his father to love him and to be accepted by his peers. He wanted to be normal. He looked to the sky, wanting to scream. “Why am I cursed?” he whispered. “What have I done so wrong to deserve this?”
His eyes dropped to the fire that had now become a faded blur of light through his tears. The Kinpa’s voices seemed to come to him on the wind, retelling the Chufa’s past. The Chufa were betrayed by one of their own. It was the evil one. He had strange powers also, didn’t he? He had sided with the humans and the Chufa race was almost destroyed. He looked at Jack. And what am I about to do? In a couple of hours, when the sun came up, he was going to travel with a HuMan to a place full of HuMans. Was he like the evil one? Will I betray my people like he did? I can’t. I won’t do it. I will send my soul to eternal oblivion before I will turn against my own.
Thane got to his feet and started collecting his things. Jack has been my friend, but I can’t become like the evil one. I will find my way back over the mountains and live on the outskirts of the Ardath where no one will find me. I will not become like the evil one of old.
He grabbed his blanket and started folding it but then froze in mid motion. “What about Tam?” he whispered. “If what happened to me truly did occur, then Tam needs my help. I can’t just leave her.” He sat down heavily, twisting inside at the anguish broiling within him. He knew he couldn’t leave her. Erl got up and moved to his side then curled up next to him placing his enormous head in his lap. He looked down at the powerful wolg. Erl licked his hand begging for attention while at the same moment offering comfort. A slight smile crossed Thane’s face at Erl’s loving gesture. He thought of the wolgs that had attacked his village and then looked again at Erl. He comes from that same race, yet he is a friend to both Jack and me. Jack is the same way. It doesn’t make any sense. There has to be something else.
Morning found him staring into the dying embers of the once warm fire. He had not slept at all that night, feeling overwhelmed with the decisions he was forced into making. Erl’s head still wrested on his lap, keeping him warm but stealing the feeling from his legs. A small sheet of iced dew covered everything around them in a blanket of white blending almost their whole camp into the snow-draped landscape. Jack snorted loudly, waking himself up, and then grumbled something about mornings being put off until later in the day.
Thane reluctantly pushed Erl’s head off his lap allowing the cool, morning air to rob him of his warmth while at the same time immersing him in the pain that came as his legs regained some of their circulation. After a few moments of pure grief, he was finally able to stand, although rather stiffly, and retrieve some wood for the fire. By then, Jack had gotten out from under his blankets and was already rummaging in the packs for the morning meal; grunting all the while about how cold it was and that it was still too early for the sun to be up.
Thane quickly got the fire blazing sending back some of the chill. He stood close, rubbing his arms and legs trying to warm up his tight and aching muscles. Jack approached and grunted a greeting before concentrating on fixing their breakfast. He took no offense to Jack’s gruffness having become accustomed to his morning rituals and his complete hatred of having to wake before noon. He was actually quite relieved this morning that Jack was this way, immersed in his own thoughts as he was, and not much in the mood for conversation.
They ate their meal of corn mash in relative silence each keeping their own council. When their bellies were full, they broke camp quickly and headed back to the cave. They were almost a day out and had to return to retrieve Jack’s goods for trade at Hell’s End. Thane used the time to practice riding Erl, who, for some unknown reason, was suddenly more cooperative. With Erl behaving himself and not throwing him off, it wasn’t long before Thane was riding the wolg quite nicely.
“Humph,” Jack snorted to himself. “He’s never given me such an easy ride before.”
Thane feigned deep concentration on his riding skills to deter Jack from asking him more questions about the previous night. Until he knew the answers himself, Thane didn’t want his friend to suddenly become suspicious of him or turn him away like most people in his life had thus far. To pass the time, he spent most of the day asking questions about the HuMans and their culture or just working on their language. Thankfully, Jack seemed to want to avoid the subject as well and instead took to Thane’s continued education with enthusiasm.
The day passed uneventfully and somewhat quickly finding the group at the cave’s entrance just as the sun was beginning to hide its face behind the western horizon. Erl sniffed around a bit, going in first to check for any danger, and was followed soon after by his two legged companions. Thane immediately went to the fire pit and got a pile of dead wood ignited.
“You know,” Jack said, putting down his bundles, “it amazes me how swift and easy you can start a fire. You’ll have to show me how you do it some time.”
“Uh, sure,” Thane stammered, turning away suddenly. “I thinking….” He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow, and then smiled and started over. “I think the way you do it is much better though.”
“Could be,” Jack said plopping his tired body down on the fur rugs, too drained to notice Thane’s correction in speech. “But it sure doesn’t seem as fast.”
“So, how long to Hell station?” Thane asked, trying to avoid anymore talk about his fire starting abilities.
“Huh? Oh, you mean Hell’s End Station.”
“Yes.”
“Two days if we don’t get side tracked by any trolls. We have to cross over to the next peak and then go over the top. From there it’s all down hill until we hit the valley floor and the last ten miles or so. If anyone is going to know about troll movements, it will be them.”
Thane looked down, hoping Jack would not start asking about the night before. All day they had avoided the subject and he didn’t feel like starting it up now. Jack was about to say something else but Thane quickly interrupted. “Why called Hell’s End?”
Jack hesitated for a moment as if frustrated by being interrupted. “I think you mean, why is it called Hell’s End.”
Thane shrugged his shoulders and smiled weakly.
“Well,” Jack said with a small grin of his own, “now don’t let it scare you any, but the men that operate it are kind of, well what you might call, outcasts.”
“Outcasts?”
“Yeah. They don’t really fit in anywhere else. They’re, what the rest of the world might call, troublemakers. Instead of throwing them into a dungeon or such, they’re sent to Hell’s End Station to fight of
f troll invasions. That’s where it gets its name. If you’re sent there, it’s basically the same as being sent to the far borders of hell.”
“That is terrible,” Thane whispered, his eyes widening.
“Well, it might seem like it, but at least they can fight for their lives instead of rotting away in a dark cell full of disease, or even worse, getting beheaded at the sharp end of an executioners axe. Most of them are fighters by trade anyway. They’re glad to be there.”
“You are friends with these men?” Thane asked feeling a bit apprehensive.
Jack smiled and then burst out laughing. “Don’t you worry yourself, my boy. I know enough of them to keep you safe. Anyway, I thought you were the one who was anxious to get there. You aren’t changing your mind are you?”
Thane looked across the fire at Jack’s smirking face suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. He wished so badly that he could explain to Jack what had happened to him, but the risk was just too great. He did not want to lose another friend. “No,” Thane finally answered, forcing a slight smile.
“Good,” Jack said easing back on his elbow. “Now, how about you explaining to me what this is all about?”
He froze for a second, and then quickly let out a large yawn and stretched his arms high over his head. “I very tired Jack. Early start tomorrow.”
Jack glared at him disappointedly but didn’t press it. Instead, he just grumbled something and then rolled into his blanket and turned to face the opposite direction.
“Good night, Jack,” came a mumbled voice from the bundled up Chufa.
Jack grunted back. “Sure, but it’s ‘I am very tired. I swear he’ll never get it right.”
Thane smiled into his blanket feeling a strange warmth growing within. I am very tired, he thought with a laugh.
Thane woke to the sounds of Jack moving about the cave in a frenzy. “What is happening?” he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Jack paused for a moment to give him a quick look. “Good, you’re finally awake.”
“But it is not day time yet is it?”