by David Wind
The flow of blood had finally stopped. She ignored the pain, cast it from her, and separated from Mikaal’s mind. There was more to do. She could not consider herself. Turning to his legs, blind to his naked body, she bent over the most damaged thigh and again, with the aid of the five women, began to run her hands over his mutilated skin.
Giving no thought to time, she held her hands a hairsbreadth over his skin and channeled all the healing power she could raise. She worked slowly and carefully on first one thigh and then the other. The bleeding stopped, the skin reacted to her healing power and finally—how many hours later she could not imagine—his skin began to knit together. There would be scars, but no permanent damage.
Thank you, she thought, pushing the words to the five. An instant later, they were gone and she was alone.
She withdrew her hands from his skin and her vision returned. She rose and went to where she had thrown his rabt skin cloak and returning, covered him.
She was tired, exhausted, but knew she could not yet stop. She went to Charka and removed his saddle and Mikaal’s sword. Then did the same for Hero. When she turned to where the kralets stood, she saw Charka go to Mikaal and maneuver his bulk to the ground next to him. She knew Charka would not move until Mikaal awoke.
She went to the kralets, untied them, and removed the supplies. She opened a bag and tossed grain on the ground before them so they could eat. She searched for Gaalrie, whom she found perched on a nook-like ledge near her. Watch, she asked the treygone, nodding to the kralets. Gaalrie would not let them stray from the cavern.
Exhaustion claimed her. She staggered, regained her balance, and grabbing her cloak, lay on Mikaal’s other side. Wrapped in the furs, she turned to him, placed a hand on his chest and felt his heart beating steadily. She pushed into his mind and found him sleeping, unbothered by the pain. She fell asleep a few moments later, her mind and his still locked together.
<><><>
The hours dragged by until Roth was unable to wait any longer. He went to Enaid’s personal chamber, took three steps inside and froze. The five women lay in a circle, their hands locked to each other, none of them conscious.
Slowly, carefully, he knelt by Enaid’s side. He reached down, stroked her cheek, and her eyes opened. “It is done,” she whispered, her voice thick. She rose, releasing the hands of the two women on either side. “Mikaal lives. Areenna has done everything she can. But they will not be able to move on for several days.”
She stood slowly, holding on to Roth for support. When she faced him, she whispered, “Those… the powers of the Island, they have gifted Laira with much. Solomon, I… They are using our children to fight the Dark Ones. They send our children to war.”
He put his hands to each side of her face. “Were you not fighting them when you were their age? Their youth combined with their power gives them strength.”
“And puts them in even greater danger. I fear for them, not just Mikaal, not only Areenna, but for the young ones. They have not had a chance to live yet, and many will die before they can.”
Roth exhaled and drew his wife closer. “Then we must do our best to stop that from happening.”
“My Lord, how do we do such?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know... yet, but we will not lose our children.”
Enaid looked at the sleeping women. “I must wake them. Leave now, I will join you shortly.”
Roth followed Enaid’s bidding, and a moment later, she woke the four. Each rose, hugged the others and started out. They paused at the door when Enaid called to them.
Turning, they waited for Enaid to speak.
“Tomorrow, be ready to begin work on what we must do.”
Nodding, they left, each knowing what they had accomplished.
CHAPTER 17
Rise, walk, eat, her hand rested firmly on Charka’s powerful neck. The kraal had lain next to Mikaal throughout the long night and into the late afternoon. Areenna knew the aoutem had to move soon. To lie on the ground for so long was dangerous for an animal who always stood upright.
She concentrated on Charka, urging him to stand. Finally, he gave in to her asking and began to struggle up. She rose quickly and stood next to him, helping him with her thoughts, pressing her hands to him to add what strength she could to his efforts. When the large kraal finally stood on all fours, he lowered his head and pressed his snout to Mikaal. Then he walked to where Hero and the kralets were gathered. He drank from one of the pots they’d brought with them and ate some of the grain spread on the floor.
Areenna sank next to Mikaal. She had slept a few hours after the healing but only fitfully and had woken up often to check on him. His sleep was still that of deep healing and she sensed it would be days before he would be able to travel. For now, their supplies would hold, but they had not planned for this, which meant the food they’d brought would run out sooner than anticipated.
Her shoulder still ached. She did not need to look to know there were two patches of burnt skin in the exact same spots on her shoulder as on Mikaal.
With her hand resting on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart, she turned to look at the ancient building. Earlier in the morning, she had followed Gaalrie outside, and the treygone had led her to an old long-dead tree. Using her short sword effectively, she had chopped as much wood as she physically could. She’d made three trips from the tree to the cavern and when she was satisfied with the amount of wood, she’d built a fire.
Gathering snow and ice, she filled the pot and melted it, boiling the water as she did. Then, using dried meat, grains and herbs from her supplies, she made a thin soup. She ate first. Then, carefully supporting Mikaal’s unconscious head, she dripped as much soup as she could get him to swallow.
With Mikaal sleeping easier, knowing Charka would warn her if Mikaal stirred, she decided to go to the old building and explore. When she reached the first step of the structure, she cast her senses throughout and found nothing of the dark powers or its creatures.
She used her ability to create a floating ball of light and moved through the first level of the edifice. The floor was strong, the wood was solid and not a single plank showed any signs of rotting. She moved slowly, exploring each of the many areas. As she moved from room to room, she found that the furniture seemed to have been made of the same solid and strong wood used to build the structure.
Entering one of the rooms near the rear, she found the frame of what she was certain had been a large bed and next to it was a wide chair of which only the frame and the seat of metal weaving remained. Beneath each were piles of undisturbed dust. Intuitively, she knew it was the disintegrated fabrics and cushions of the chair and bed.
She knelt beside a pile of thick white dust and blew a breath at it. Tiny specs of material lifted and floated randomly before settling back down. How old was the structure? How many centuries had it stood thus?
She leaned toward the bedframe and grasped it tightly, trying to sense its age. Its feel was unnatural. All she could able to glean was that it was older than anything she had ever known and while it seemed to be wood, it was not. She bent and ran her hands over the floor and realized all of it, the floor and walls and ceilings of the structure were the same strange substance that imitated wood, but was not wood.
She stood, the light floating over her left shoulder, and continued with her exploration. She roamed the rooms randomly until coming into what she sensed was a kitchen. In the center, she found a strange contraption. She unable to come up with a word to describe it. It was about three feet tall, wider than it was deep, with four rusted metal circles on the top. Metal knobs, disintegrated into rust but holding their shape, were next to each circle. She knew if she touched them, they would crumble. On the front of it was a door with a glass window in its center. Through the door, she saw a shiny metal rack stood in the middle. Beneath it was a drawer. When she pulled it out, she found a pile of ashes, which as soon as the air touched them, folded into themselves and all but
dissolved before her eyes. It took another second for her to understand the ashes signified the metal box was for cooking.
Rising, she continued to look around. Hanging from the ceiling were several pans. Upon closer inspection, most were only shells, rotted with rust. However, two were different. They were of a metal that did not rust; rather, they held a high sheen beneath the soft glow of her floating light.
She spent another half hour exploring the structure but found nothing of importance. In one room, she discovered a pile of long, bluish metal tubes sitting atop of what must have once been deteriorated wood. The metal rods were long and hollow and at the ends of each, which lay in the remains, were strange metal objects—rectangular boxes with a smaller circle of metal attached beneath it and inside the circle was a curved lever.
Areenna shrugged. She could not come up with any idea of what they had been. Then, sensing she was too long gone from Mikaal, she took the two metal pots and returned to his side.
<><><>
With Mikaal’s breathing softer and easier and the long day ending, Areenna knew she needed to find game and water while there was still some light. Mikaal needed meat to heal—not the dried meats and grains they carried, which were good enough for survival when healthy, but for healing, he needed more.
She called Gaalrie to her. The treygone flew from its perch on the wall to her shoulders. Together, they left the cavern and went into the cold. Areenna stopped two feet later and projected her senses in every direction. When she found no darkness, no threatening dark entities, she opened her eyes and asked Gaalrie to search for game.
Gaalrie rose into the sky, where the treygone flew in ever widening circles. A short time later, Areenna heard Gaalrie’s call. Instantly, she was with her aoutem, looking through her eyes and saw a small tarq on the upslope of the mountain, grazing on a few straggly growths of grass. She sought for any others but found no emanations and returned her attention to the mountain tarq. The tarq, small and dwarf-like, was full-grown. Two horns sat atop its head. A long twisted beard hung from its lower jaw and its fur was a shaggy black and white.
She judged the distance to the slope at just under two hundred yards. Pressing her back to the rocky crevice where she stood, she unslung her bow, drew an arrow, and notched it in preparation. She moved swiftly toward the place Gaalrie was showing her, while making sure she stepped only on solid rocks to avoid any noise. When she reached the area Gaalrie found, she hid behind an outcropping and drew the gut back. She aimed at a spot on the tarq between its belly and shoulder, exactly where the heart sat.
She released the arrow. The shaft flew straight to its target, pierced the tarq’s skin and slipped between two ribs. The animal stiffened, and a few seconds later, fell. Areenna went to it, her knife drawn ready to finish the animal if it still lived. When she knelt beside it, she saw there was no need for a finishing stroke as the arrow had struck true.
She pushed a thought to Gaalrie. The giant bird wheeled and flew to the cavern where she landed on Charka’s back. The kraal left the cavern, pausing near Mikaal before going to Areenna. By the time Charka and Gaalrie reached her, she had bled and cleaned the tarq.
Areenna lifted the dead animal and slung it across Charka’s back. She was pleased; there would be enough meat to last several days, if she kept it packed with ice.
She walked next to the kraal on the return to the cavern and thought back to the gift from Queen Enna. Using what Mikaal’s grandmother had shown her, she searched for signs of water.
It took only a few minutes for her to find an underground stream. The only problem was it was beneath the very path they trod. She followed the water’s flow but sensed it rose not to the surface anywhere nearby, yet the flowing water led in the same direction as the cavern.
Just when she reached the entrance, a dark tendril touched at the edge of her mind. She froze at its tentative touch, her hand on Charka’s neck. Closing her eyes, she reached toward the darkness and recoiled instantly. The feel of it was repulsive and she realized it was some sort of spirit creation of the Black Sorceress.
That it had not sensed her, she was hopeful, as she built a strong block, hiding her and Mikaal as best she could. The knowledge that a creation of hers was nearby unsettled Areenna, especially with Mikaal in so serious a condition.
Kneeling at the opening to the cavern, Areenna closed her eyes. She concentrated on constructing a more powerful shield, building it block by block, solidifying it slowly and surrounding the entrance, setting it into the mountainside itself to hide the cavern. It took her almost a quarter hour of intense focus but the resulting shield was solid and she was confident the shield would block anyone or anything from finding them.
<><><>
Like a cloak made of a hundred thousand buzzing flies, a shimmering black mist surrounded her, clinging to every inch of her body. She stood on the cliff overlooking the sea, watching the tossing waters crash against the high rocks. She could not stop shaking. Fear gripped her. She had failed, and she cowered within the buzz of the mist.
There was no moon this night, but the stars poured forth enough light to cast a low glow to the palisades. Summoned moments before, she’d scrambled out of her cave to stand on the ledge above the ocean, where the black swarm of mist had covered her.
You have failed to secure the two, came the thoughts of her Master with a mind picture of the Dark One.
Within her mind, the Master stood on the prow of the ship, taller than any other being she had ever seen. He was wide and slightly hunched. The cloak he wore, which fluttered madly in the winds, had a tightly drawn hood shielding most of his face. What she could see showed the skin of his face to be a dark gray and almost as black as a starless night; his eyes burned with an amber glow.
Secured them, no, Master, slowed them for you I have. They are powerful… She brought up a mind picture of the attack by her creatures and the wounding of the boy.
His anger lashed at her, sweeping her from her feet and slamming her against the rocks behind her. I said to capture them, not to harm them. Why have you done such?
I did what I thought you wanted, Master. I…
You did what you wanted. You allowed your anger at them to go too far. You will not do this again. We want them alive and uninjured. Find them! Capture them!
She fell to her knees. Master, I but do wh—
—Silence! You do what I command. Only what I command. The Master released a lash of whip-like anger at her. Fire burned her abdomen and she cried out.
If your creations harm them, the same will happen to you. Go now. Prepare for our arrival in two days. Gather those you control. Find the two of power. Capture them!
<><><>
While the tarq meat cooked in a high spit over the flames, Areenna explored the cavern. It was far deeper than she had expected, stretching out behind the ancient building for hundreds of feet. As she walked deeper into the darkness, lit only by the floating spheres of light she had created, she began to scent moisture.
Looking up, she sent the light higher. The spheres rose toward the high ceiling and a shimmering began the closer they came to the top. Moments after they reached the top, the cavern’s stone ceiling began to glow.
Areenna’s breathing all but stopped when a rainbow of color appeared on the dome-like ceiling. She traced the glowing as far as she could, until the light began to dim at its far reaches.
It took but a moment for her to understand what she was seeing. When she did, she smiled. Encased within the stones were pieces of crystal. Each piece reflected light with a slightly different color and, together, they created an iridescence of magnificent beauty from the light of Areenna’s glowing spheres.
She recalled the spheres of light until they floated above her head and the shimmering faded into blackness. Water, she reminded herself and again took up the search.
Beneath her feet, she sensed the rushing water she had found running under the outside pathway. A short time later, she heard the sound of water
and sent the spheres of light toward the sound.
Her breath was stolen for the second time as the light revealed a pool of water, perhaps twenty feet wide, surrounded by rocks. To her left, coming from the rocks themselves, three small streams of water cascaded over the stone in miniature waterfalls.
Staring at the unexpected pool, she sensed the rocks around it were not a natural formation. Everything was too perfect. The rocks closest to her were more like flat-topped boulders. There were no small stones; the large ones seemed strategically placed, almost as if they were benches created for sitting on at the edge of the water.
The longer she gazed at the pool, the more certain she was that the same people who had built the old building had created this pool. She knelt between two large bench-like rocks and dipped her hand into the water, cupping it to capture some. Lifting it to her mouth, she smelled the clean scent and sipped. The water was fresh and cool.
She looked for signs of life, but found only water.
Areenna…
She heard his mind-call and turned from the water. I’m coming. She raced back to where Mikaal was strugglinordered, her face inches above his. “Be easy.”
“I… where are we?” His voice, more a dried croak than spoken words made her heart beat faster.
“In the cavern, hidden.” She reached across him and lifted a skein of water, held it to his lips and let him drink. When he pulled away, she set the leather container down. Before he could ask his next question, she answered it.
A night and day since the creatures attacked. It is the second night.
“Help me sit,” he asked.
Gently, she pulled him to a sitting position. He looked at the cloth wrapped around his shoulder. He moved it and tried to raise his arm. He grimaced with the attempt.