The Black Sword Trilogy: The Poacher

by VanMeter, Jeffery

  She awoke again and saw light coming from the cave’s opening. She listened carefully for any sound of something above the hole and then looked up through the opening to determine if she could see anything. She saw nothing. She climbed up and poked her head out of the hole and still saw or heard nothing out of place. She then climbed out of the hole, and summoning up her strength continued along her way.

  After, what she guessed to be an hour of walking, she found herself in a clearing between the enormous black trees. She saw a clear, blue sky through the opening of soaring branches slightly waving in the wind.

  “That’s so beautiful,” she heard herself say and tears began to form in her eyes. Then she shook her head.

  “I must be crazy,” she said to herself quietly. “Here I am, Lady only knows how far from home. I’m exhausted; being hunted by animals, running out of food and here I am admiring the scenery. I’ve lost my mind.”

  Then she heard a sound that chilled her blood. A Wolfen howled in the woods. She couldn’t see it, but it was the same howl she heard two days before. Feeling a sudden burst of energy, she turned and ran as fast as she could.

  She ran along the trail, not daring to look behind her. Her burst of energy began to quickly fail and the exhausted feeling she had known since the fifteen mile run returned. Her legs felt as if made of heavy metal. Her shoulders and back screamed in pain and she could barely breathe. “You can do it.” She urged herself. “You can do it.” However, the further she ran, the more her remaining strength began to fail. Choking and gasping for air, she came to another clearing. Feeling as though she could go no further, she turned around to look behind for the animals she knew had to be there.

  There were six of them; all laughing their sickening laugh and with their weapons drawn.

  “What’s the matter, woman?” The leader snarled. “Can’t run? Can’t climb a tree?”

  Barely able to stand, she readied her bow and aimed an arrow at the leader. At least she may take one with her, she thought.

  “Brave girl, she is.” Another animal growled. She pulled back the bowstring and aimed carefully.

  “You may get one of us,” the leader barked; “but you’ll still fill our bellies tonight.”

  The creatures all lined up and prepared to pounce.

  “There’s no deer to save you now!”

  Terri shot her arrow and it passed straight into one of the Wolfen’s eye. It howled in pain and Terri tried to ready another arrow, but she couldn’t do it fast enough. The Wolfen attacked. They charged forward and were nearly upon her when the huge branches of the trees came down like hands, scooped the creatures up and then tore them to pieces.

  After the Wolfen’s agonizing screams stopped echoing in the woods, Terri looked up and saw almost the same beautiful sight she saw earlier. There was no evidence of the creatures or of anything having ever happened. Everything was calm and still for a moment and then the sounds of the forest’s animals started again as if nothing had happened at all.

  And then she fainted.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  After passing out, Terri felt her whole body relax. From feeling heavy and in pain, she then found herself feeling light and soft. She couldn’t tell if she was awake or dreaming as the tall trees above her began to move in a slow, turning motion. She felt as if sleeping; and yet everything she saw looked real. She felt hands lifting her up and heard voices. She thought to herself that she needed to wake up; but could not. A wave of soothing and tranquil feelings coursed through as she felt herself being carried away by something or someone unseen.

  Soon, she found herself feeling as though floating gently. She saw human looking shapes near and over her and she began to will herself back to consciousness. As she did, a soft and gentle face looked down on her smiling.

  “Rest,” the voice said in what sounded like something between a song and a whisper and Terri fell back into her trance like state. The face and the voice were familiar, but Terri’s tired mind couldn’t connect the two with any recent memories. Her eyes couldn’t focus on them and the face had looked little more than in a fog.

  When she began to wake again, she felt herself being carried. The blur around her looked like the inside of a house and at one point, she felt as if she were being carried up stairs. The walls moved around her and she saw blurry sunlight coming through a window. Then she felt herself being lowered onto what felt like a soft bed. She thought she could feel a blanket covered over her and then she saw the face smiling down on her once more. A hand touched her gently on her head and she fell fast asleep.

  She dreamed of things she hadn’t known since being made to join the Army. She dreamed of home, he parents and her two brothers. She dreamt of family gatherings at the solstices, of country dances, feasts and celebrations. She dreamed of comforting meals; and of laughter and of songs her family would sometimes sing together. And in the fog of one dream, she saw the pretty girl that first let her know that it was women she would love and not men. All of these visions came and went as caring visitors coming to see her in a time of need. Her last vision was that of a gentle face smiling down on her and this began to become clearer as she felt herself waking.

  “Good morning,” the face told her gently. It was that of a young man, similar in appearance and age as Kenner; only without the rough beard and piercing green eyes. Terri stared at the face for a few moments as the young man came more into focus. She felt her mind reconnecting with her body. Her shoulders and back were sore again; though not nearly as much. Her legs felt lighter, but still heavy and when she tried to raise herself, her body complained.

  “Where am I?” She asked, groaning.

  “Someplace safe.” The young man answered simply.

  “Thanks. That tells me a lot.”

  Terri struggled to get to a seated position in the bed she was in; then she noticed she was in a sleeping gown and not her regular clothes.

  “Where are my…” she began to ask?

  “They are hanging on the wall.” The young man told her and pointing. She saw her clothes hanging on a peg; her weapons and pack sitting on the floor.

  The room was comfortable more than in its appearance. The walls were a calming, light green with soft sunlight coming in from the window over the bed. Next to the bed was a nightstand with a burned out candle.

  “I am to take you to the Sanctuary.” The boy told her. Something in the word, “Sanctuary” caused an instant and excited reaction in Terri. There was only one place she knew that had a place called “The Sanctuary.” Could she really be there? She stood up and stretched her sore back. She then looked at the boy who was still sitting in the chair next to the bed.

  “I need to get dressed.” She said to him.

  “Alright.” He replied but was still sitting in the chair.

  Terri nodded at him, but he still sat in the chair. She then gave him a dry smile.

  “That means you have to leave.” She told him.

  He looked confused for a moment and then almost jumped out of the chair.

  “Oh! I’m sorry.”

  Terri noticed that her clothes had been laundered and smelled clean and fresh. Her boots had also been thoroughly cleaned and she had fresh, new socks for the first time since visiting her family on leave nearly a year ago. She looked at her short sword and noticed that it had been cleaned and sharpened. Her bow had a new string and her quiver was full of brand new long arrows with white fletches.

  “I should pass out in the forest more often,” she said to herself.

  When she came down the stairs of; what she thought was a house, she noticed several people looking up at her and having the same sweet smile as the boy from her room.

  “You’re creeping me out folks.” She said to them.

  The young boy was also waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Shall we go?” He asked her, still smiling.

  “Sure.”

  When she stepped out the door, her breath left her. She f
ound herself on a balcony and all around her were massive, black trees. She looked up and the branches and trunks stretched into the sky, barely visible through them. She looked down from the balcony and saw that she was, at least one hundred feet from the ground below. Wrapping around the trees were wooden staircases and, at each landing were doorways that looked, not so much cut into the wood; but rather as if a natural part of the tree. She saw hundreds of the enormous trees with thousands of points of lights, some like distant stars.

  “Welcome to the Secret City of Avalos.” The young man told her.

  She was led down the steps by the young man and almost tripped over several steps as she stared in awe at the city around her. At the bottom of the trees, the trunks were gigantic, some bigger than two houses stuck together. Enormous roots stuck out through the ground, some intertwined like interlaced fingers. While the boy moved gracefully over them, Terri had to climb; almost like the trees she’d climbed days earlier. He led her to a river a quarter of a mile across and to a small boat waiting at the river’s bank. It was pale white and resembled a canoe; only slightly larger. Four people stood in the boat and she couldn’t tell if they were men or women. Their faces were all fair with no beards and they wore heavy, brown cloaks that hid the features of their bodies. They all had long, thick hair of various colors. They were expressionless and seemed to not even notice Terri and the boy as they boarded the boat.

  All of the seats on the boat looked as if they had grown naturally out of the wood and Terri was shown to a seat at the stern. When all were seated, two of the people pushed the boat away from the bank with long poles and then the boat began to flow gently with the current.

  The boat floated along past the massive trees and Terri saw several people along the banks looking, staring at her. There were men and women of all colors as if they had been selected from a mixture. They all had curious expressions, but none seemed alarmed or frightened at Terri’s presence. It seemed to Terri that she was a curiosity, but not an unwelcome one.

  Terri still couldn’t take her eyes off of the huge trees which towered above her. She saw birds flying high above her from tree to tree and other animals scurrying up and down the trunks. And there was the same odd light she remembered in the forest before she passed out. It was bright enough to see easily; but it didn’t seem like sunlight. It was more like very bright moonlight and rather than coming from one direction like the sun or moon, it appeared to be coming from everywhere at once.

  The river turned around a bend and Terri saw another awesome sight. A massive building, like an enormous temple lay in between two trees as if growing out of them. Floating closer to it, she saw it was made out of roots, branches and vines tightly intertwined. She saw more birds and creatures moving up and down the giant structure and the people standing at the steps looked like mere toys.

  The boat arrived seemingly on its own at the bank leading to this colossal building and Terri was bidden to disembark. There was a steep hill leading up to the building with smaller roots forming steps along which she was led up to the larger steps of the building. She was led on to the large steps when she remembered something.

  She looked around as her mother had taught her long ago for a well. When she found it, she lowered its wooden pale down into the water below. When she drew it up, she found a ladle (also made of wood) and carried it with her to the steps.

  As she slowly climbed the steps, she turned around and poured some of the water on to them. It took longer to make the top this way; but she knew this was the right thing to do.

  Reaching the top of the steps, she placed the pale on a hook on a tree trunk column and when she turned around to see, the boy and even her other escorts smiling approvingly. Half way to the gigantic door, she stopped, removed her bow and arrows from her shoulder; removed her sword from her equipment belt and set them all on the wooden floor. After she did this, the huge doors of the building swung open and she was led inside.

  The inside was like a cavernous temple with the trunks of four trees looking like the stone columns of the temples she knew as a child. Half way to the altar, there was an arched bridge across a small stream. On a table on the near side of the bridge was a table with many wooden cups sitting on it. She selected a cup, stepped down to the stream, filled it with water and then, holding the cup in both her hands as if offering it to someone walked across the bridge and further towards the altar.

  She came to a raised platform with wooden steps leading up. Still holding the cup as she had, she slowly climbed the steps to within two steps of the platform. She then went to one knee, bowed her head low and held the cup higher.

  Had she done it right, she asked herself? This seemed to be the way her mother had taught her. She was nervous and tense as she waited, her head still bowed. Her heart pounded in her chest and she was nearly panting as if she had just ran. Soon she heard soft footsteps approaching her, but she didn’t look up. She knew not to. Appearing in front of her eyes came two feet at the hem of a shining green dress. She felt two hands take the cup from her and then she felt a hand run its fingers gently through her short hair.

  “Welcome my friend,” said a soft, sweet and familiar voice. The gentle hand then caressed her face and guided it up.

  “You?” Terri gasped.

  Standing above her was the woman from the farm.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  “Please stand.” The woman told Terri. Feeling surprised and confused, Terri slowly rose to her feet and then on the platform. At the far end of the platform were seven large chairs with six people sitting in them (one empty). Behind the empty chair was a large, thick, reddish brown curtain that seemed to Terri to have a strange aura about it.

  “We both have questions for each other,” the woman said to Terri. “Which one of us should go first?”

  Terri laughed a little and then scratched her head.

  “This is your Sanctuary,” she said trying to sound funny.

  The woman turned around and looked stern for a second, but then her sweet smile returned.

  “You knew how to wash the steps,” she began, “you knew not to bring your weapons of death into my Sanctuary and you knew how to properly present yourself as if you were born and raised here. How is it that you know these things?”

  Terri scratched her head nervously again.

  “My mother was once a lady of this Sanctuary.” She answered.

  The woman looked at her with great surprise.

  “Really?” She questioned. “What is her name?”

  “Her name is Larana.” Terri replied.

  The woman looked sad for a second and then she smiled with a far look in her brown eyes.

  “That is more than just a name to me.” She said with her voice seeming to crack. “Larana was a friend; a very dear friend.”

  The woman rubbed the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Is your mother still alive?” The woman asked.

  “I’m happy to say that she is.” Said Terri.

  The woman closed her eyes for a second and then breathed deeply again.

  “I can’t say enough about how happy I am to hear that.”

  The woman appeared to take a moment to compose herself.

  “So,” she said after an uncomfortable (to Terri) silence; “what questions have you for me?”

  The only words Terri could think of were, “The farm?”

  The woman looked confused for a second, then seemed to figure out what the meaning of Terri’s question.

  “Ah yes,” she remarked. “The farm.”

  “There are very few things in this world that are as much a test of character as working on a farm. To be clear, I must explain that the farm you were on is a real, working farm that all members of the Sanctuary Council must work on for one year. It’s a character building experience. As for your experience; I must apologize. I used it as a means of testing you.”

  “Testing me?” Terri questioned.

  “Yes, testing you.
”

  “You see,” she continued. “I’ve been watching you since you first entered the forest. That particular section of the forest is usually only frequented by bandits, fugitives or other kinds of people that I’d rather not stay too long. My curiosity was even more aroused when I saw you being pursued by a pack of Wolfen. I also saw your attempts at sleeping in the trees and, to be quite honest, I thought that pretty clever considering the circumstances. I also found it interesting that the deer decided to protect you. Most deer aren’t too friendly to humans; especially not ones with a bow and arrows.”

  “I think I can understand that.” Terri interjected.

  “As I said, I wanted to test you; to find out what kind of person you are; and since you were headed in the direction of the farm anyway, I decided to use that to prove you. I had intended to ask you to work on those chores already. I must say though, that your volunteering yourself impressed me greatly.”

  “Thank you, my lady.”

  “No.” She said with a smile. “As your mother was my friend so too shall you be my friend. My name is Kayla.”