Tales Of Nevaeh: The Trilogy and Backstory of the Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy Series Tales Of Nevaeh: (The 4 Book Bundled Box Set)

by David Wind

  “I have had no sense of them for the last day,” she told Mikaal. “You?”

  Nothing.

  I hope that is for the good, she added.

  They moved on in weary silence. Each had slept in short spurts on the backs of their kraals, one sleeping while the other stayed alert. Gaalrie had found enough food for herself, but nothing large enough for them to hunt. What remained of their supplies was barely enough to help keep the kraals moving. Neither Areenna nor Mikaal had eaten since last night.

  The relentless cold was taking its toll on their bodies and minds, and it was only the heavy fur cloaks they wore that kept them from freezing. Two nights earlier, Mikaal had taken one of their sleeping silks and split it so they could wrap the pieces around their faces. The thinness of the silks allowed them to breathe while the material’s protection kept their skin from freezing.

  When Gaalrie’s call came, Areenna had no idea how long it had been, but at the mind-touch, she grew alert. The treygone had found a place for them.

  She shared what Gaalrie was showing with Mikaal, who raised his eyes to stare ahead. She sent Gaalrie onward to seek game, if there even was any in this forsaken and frozen land.

  “We are near the chasm as well,” Mikaal spoke aloud, needing to talk aloud, to move his mouth and jaw in an effort to shake the cold claiming him.

  When Areenna did not respond, he turned and saw her head bent low. He pushed toward her and found she slept. He sent his thoughts to Gaalrie and reinforced Areenna’s asking for the giant bird to search for food.

  Fifteen minutes later, Mikaal reached the spot Areenna’s aoutem had found. It was little more than an indentation in the rock wall mountainside but large enough for them to lay down and be shielded from the cold winds. He drew Charka to a stop with only a thought, dismounted and went to Areenna, who had just raised her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Mikaal laughed. “Are you apologizing for sleeping? Don’t. Let’s get the kraals and the kralet fed. Then we can rest. Gaalrie seeks game.”

  Without a single mew of protest, Areenna slid from Hero and went toward the kralet. Mikaal stopped her.

  He untied her sleeping silks from the back of the saddle and taking her hand in his free one, walked to the open area where he spread her silks and without a word, pointed to them.

  Areenna forced a smile. “Thank you, My Prince.” Then, she went to the silks and laid down. “Where are your silks?” she asked just before her eyes closed.

  Mikaal stood there for a minute and in that short time, Areenna fell asleep. He called to Charka, who responded by nudging Hero toward him. When they were next to him, he stroked both kraals and went to the pack animal. He removed the last of the grain bags and spread half on the ground for the two kraals. He put three handfuls out for the kralet and took the supplies from its back.

  When he took what was left of his sleeping silks and placed them next to Areenna’s, there was a tug in his mind from Gaalrie. Instantly he was in her mind seeing with her eyes. What he saw amazed him. Gaalrie was at the chasm. The separation between the mountains was very wide. The trail cut deeply into the mountainside, and the water below was not frozen but raced with the speed of rapids. In the water, almost like a sheet, were fresh, huge silver and red freeshes, their scales casting iridescent flashes in the waning afternoon light, swimming and jumping into the air as they raced against the water’s current.

  Mikaal sent Gaalrie a quick thought; the bird wheeled, spun in a circle and dove straight to the water. Two heartbeats later the treygone rose skyward, a large squirming freesh in its huge claws.

  Mikaal had never seen this type of freesh and only hoped its meat was edible. A few minutes later, Gaalrie was overhead. Instead of landing, the bird flew twenty feet over Mikaal and dropped the freesh to him. The freesh, still fighting in its clawed grip fell hard but did not die.

  Mikaal used his knife to end the freesh’s struggle while Gaalrie landed on Charka’s back and settled herself comfortably. Thank you, Sister.

  He saw she had not moved during the last few minutes. Smiling, he looked from her to the mountainside and his smile died. There was no wood.

  He thought about climbing upward in hopes of finding one of the old dead trees but knew he was too tired and was reluctant to leave Areenna alone; instead, he gutted the freesh, scooped up snow, packed it into the freesh and giving into his own exhaustion, laid down next to Areenna, his cloak tight around him. Instantly, he fell asleep.

  He woke two hours later, stiff, cold and screamingly hungry. The night was upon them, if the half-light of this strange place could be called night. He turned to Areenna, who was still asleep. He toyed with letting her sleep, but realized how hungry she had to be as well. He leaned toward her and shook her shoulder. She did not respond. He shook her once again, harder. Nothing. He opened the cloak and slipped his hand under the leather tunic, grasping her shoulder. Her skin was icy.

  He cut off a sharp surge of fear, closed his eyes and pushed his thoughts to her. He almost withdrew when he caught a strangely fragmented dream of a little girl walking with her mother in a forest. Then she was older, kneeling at the side of a bed. Her mother lay in it, her face drawn, her skin sallow and her body thin and weak. Areenna was crying, pleading for her mother to be healed.

  Areenna, he called, Areenna, you must wake. Come back, come now, he pushed, forcing his own energy to her. Wake!

  With his last thought, he went deep into himself, awakening the powers laying within and tasting the hot surge of his abilities roaring to life. He pushed it all to her, willing his own powers to fill her, to warm her and to wake her.

  Nothing happened for an unending minute and then a loud gasp echoed from her mouth. Areenna sat upright before the sound died. She grasped her chest with both hands, her breasts heaving, as her wide eyes searched everywhere until they settled on Mikaal.

  She knew the minute their eyes met what had happened. Reaching out, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight, her body trembling with emotion. When she settled down, and her breathing returned to normal, she loosened her hold on him and leaned back.

  “How long,” she asked.

  “A few hours. You were sleeping too deeply. I could not wake you.”

  You used your powers. I heard you call me, but I could not leave the dream. I…

  I understand. It’s the cold. It was claiming you.

  “It was more. I had dreams from which I did not want to awaken. I was with my mother.”

  “I know, I saw.”

  “And you rescued me from them.”

  “We have food.”

  “You hunted?”

  He smiled. “Gaalrie did. A large freesh. A strange one. How do you feel about eating raw freesh?”

  “What else have we?”

  Nodding, he stood and offered her his hand. “You need to move about.”

  She took his hand and pulled herself up. “There are no old trees around?”

  He shook his head. “We must eat it uncooked.”

  Her brows furrowed. “I wonder…”

  What?

  Your weapon.

  On the freesh? There will be nothing left.

  You control its force.

  He focused on the freesh and then on his hands. He called up his powers and the response was immediate. Flames encased every inch of his hands. He raised them and pointed his palms at the freesh.

  “Wait!” Areenna called. She went to the freesh and drawing her knife, cut the head free. She placed it a short distance away. “For Gaalrie,” she added and called to her aoutem.

  Mikaal took another step closer and began. Having never done this before, he moved ahead with caution. He cut off his first try instantly, realizing there would be nothing left but ashes. He stared at the freesh for several moments before he moved to it, squatted above it and very, very carefully increased the flame. He held his hands a few inches away and watched the fire created by his powers cook the freesh. It took three minutes. Th
e outer skin was darkly crisp, but the scent of cooked freesh was tantalizing.

  He separated the skin and pulled a small piece free. He sniffed the strange scent and popped it into his mouth. Then he smiled. The best I have eaten in days.

  It’s the only real food you’ve eaten in days, Areenna retorted.

  Mikaal picked up the freesh and brought it to where they had slept. He motioned Areenna to sit with him and when she did, they ate in earnest. They did not speak, did not smile, and did not look anywhere but at the freesh. When they finished, there was enough left for one more meal, barely.

  "How do you feel?” Mikaal asked after using snow to clean his hands.

  Areenna, doing the same, paused for a breath. “Good. I feel better, stronger, less tired.”

  “Then we move on?”

  “Yes. We move on.”

  He turned to where he had placed the remaining supplies he’d removed from the kralet, grabbed the map and opened it. “The chasm is close. If the trail stays true there, the crossing will be level, and we should make it to the western side in two days. There are freesh aplenty in the water. And fortunately, the water in the chasm is not frozen.”

  Areenna shook her head. “This part of Nevaeh is so strange. How can the water be frozen down there and not in the chasm?”

  “You might as well ask how I can have the powers of a woman.”

  “The answer to that, we know,” Areenna replied.

  “I have been thinking about that. My father has no powers. Why would I?”

  Areenna gazed at him. “What brings this question?”

  He shrugged. “It comes to me on and off. It’s a puzzle.”

  “Your father is the last of the old ones. He is… how did he explain it, he is not mutated.” She paused, seeking an elusive thought. When she caught it, she smiled. “I think it is because he is an old one and your mother is so powerful that when you were created, you were open to your mother’s powers and somehow…”

  Areenna stopped. She shook her head. I don’t have the words. I believe you must accept your gifts because they make you who you are.

  He gazed at her a few seconds before smiling. Your thoughts are enough.

  Areenna stiffened. She sensed something at the edge of the block she’d created. They are following, getting closer.

  CHAPTER 22

  “How far behind?” Mikaal asked.

  “A day at the most. We need to go.”

  Standing, Mikaal offered his hand. She took it, ignoring the ever-constant tingle when their skin touched. Together, they gathered what supplies remained and set them on the kralet.

  It took them just over an hour to reach the divide separating the two sections of the Frozen Mountains where they turned to follow the trail westward. The chasm was wide, perhaps a thousand feet across, while far below the water roared along with frothing urgency. Large freesh jumped madly into the air as they threw themselves against the current. They fought to swim eastward where they dove below the frozen artic ice fields, going to a place of which only they knew.

  A quarter mile in, riding the kraals single file, Areenna said, “I have never seen the likes of this. So many freesh they almost hide the water.”

  Mikaal tilted his head upward. The top edges of the mountains on both sides of the chasm reached so high their outlines faded against the dark gray sky. Yet, in the hazy heights, the mountains appeared to come toward each other, the gap between the two sides narrow at the top. When he looked ahead, it was as if he were staring at the walls of a huge tunnel.

  He turned in the saddle to look behind. The outline of where they had started appeared even more tunnel-like from where he rode. “I feel as though I am inside the mountain itself.”

  “It does feel so,” she agreed. Her brows knitted together a minute later. “I like it not, knowing those… creatures are moving faster, getting so close. We have nowhere to hide, nowhere to find safety.”

  Her words triggered a deep response; he closed his eyes and sought it for what it was. He took several breaths and opened his eyes.

  “What did you see?”

  “The other side of the chasm to where we go. I saw us reach it and know the wolves will stay behind us. They herd us there.” He shook his head to clear the foreseeing. “Something awaits us, but of what, I saw nothing.”

  She started to speak but stopped when she sensed he had turned inward, searching for more of the foreseeing. Instead, she urged Hero forward—Charka and the kralet followed. She called Gaalrie to her. The aoutem dropped to her perch on the saddle horn. She held her thoughts to herself as they moved deeper into the chasm. After an hour of riding, there was a change in the chasm trail and she turned to Mikaal. “The trail is widening and we are descending.”

  He sat straighter, his eyes alert. He moved Charka next to Hero. “We must find what lies ahead.”

  Areenna stroked Gaalrie’s head with the back of her forefinger. “This is a strange place.”

  “We need to know if it goes up or down, and whether it ends at water or land.”

  Areenna sighed. “I understand.” She joined with Gaalrie, asking the aoutem to fly ahead, but she also placed restraints upon the bird. “Not far,” she whispered and joined with her.

  She reached across and clasped Mikaal’s hand, pulling him into her mind as Gaalrie flew ahead. Everything appeared the same as the bird flew a dozen feet over the pathway, which descended slowly but steadily. A short time later, Gaalrie leveled off as did the path. It ended in what appeared to be a valley carved into the bottom of the chasm.

  Gaalrie flew into the valley, rising and falling as she gave them a view of what should not have been possible. There were trees, plants, and animals. How can it be?

  Mikaal gave a mental shrug. The Eight knew we would come this way. They knew we would find food.

  “The wolves?” she said aloud as she called Gaalrie back to them and released Mikaal from her mind.

  He understood her unspoken question. If they spent a day hunting and resupplying with what they could find, the wolves would be on them. “I saw them herding us to the other side. I…” He stopped, his mind searching through the memory of Queen Ammie’s training. She had spoken of how a foretelling told only of what might happen. The future was not absolute. Change something in the present and the future adjusts.

  “We will meet whatever awaits us on the western side of this chasm on our terms and not herded there by whatever she has sent. As they ambushed us, so should we return the favor.”

  Areenna thought on his words and a moment later nodded. “We cannot afford to sacrifice the kralet. We need it.”

  “Then we must be sure when we strike.”

  She lifted her arm and Gaalrie dropped to it. Areenna accepted the treygone’s weight and held her arm steady. She gazed into her aoutem’s eyes and offered a gentle ‘asking’ of the bird.

  Gaalrie spread her wings, and Areenna tossed her arm upward to give the treygone a lift. The bird rose with an easy double flap of its wings. It circled the two riders and rose higher until its gray and cinnamon feathers disappeared against the high walls of the mountain.

  We will know soon enough.

  They moved forward and down, the sound of rushing water growing loud. Fifteen minutes after she’d left, Gaalrie sent them their answer: the wolves were two hours, not a day, behind.

  Another quarter mile further along the path, Mikaal drew Charka to a stop. There was a notch in the mountainside, wide enough for both kraals to get through. Inside the opening, a path rose upward. He wondered where it led. “Send Gaalrie up there,” he said, pointing to the notch. “Let’s see where it leads.”

  Gaalrie flew into the notch swiftly and Mikaal joined with Areenna to see through the treygone’s eyes. The trail widened slightly and rose steeply but not too much so. As the giant bird ascended, the path it followed lightened as well. After what seemed like intolerable amount of time, Gaalrie burst from the side of the mountain and flew in a circle above the pathway’s
exit.

  Mikaal’s sharp indrawn breath echoed around them and matched Areenna’s own exclamation. “The mountains almost touch. The other one has a trail as well.”

  “Yes,” Mikaal said with a smile. “Come, we must prepare a trap for the wolves. I have a thought,” he said and sent a picture of what he planned.

  Understanding his idea, Areenna called Gaalrie back to her. The bird came straight down the sides of the mountain rather than return through the strange pathway. They moved on and entered the valley that should not have been there. Trees and shrubbery flourished everywhere. In the distance, stood a forest.

  “How can this be?” Mikaal asked. There was no sun; yet, within the grayness the trees and vegetation held a riot of greens and reds.

  Unable to answer, Areenna rode Hero silently, but her eyes scanned everywhere. Craves flew between the branches; she spotted a rabt hole not ten feet from the rocks they rode upon. The temperature kept rising the further in they rode. The breeze blowing over them was now warm, not cold.

  Mikaal drew Charka to a halt. Dismounting, he knelt and put his palms to the ground. He snapped them back quickly. “The ground is warm, almost hot, as if there is fire below.”

  Areenna dismounted, joined him and touched the ground. Instead of drawing her hands back, she dug her fingers into the earth, between small shards of rock.

  Closing her eyes, she let go her senses, exploring not around them but under them, feeling for whatever lay below. She remained locked with the earth for several minutes. Then, withdrawing her hands, she turned to him. “You have been to the mountain in Welkold, the one that shoots fire and gives off burning melted rocks like streams of water?”

  “Yes.” A long ago memory tried to break through. It took a moment but he finally remembered his father’s explanation of the mountain in Welkold they had seen when he was very young. At the time, it was smoking and spitting fiery rocks. “Lava,” he said. “My father once told me it is called that. It comes from deep within the earth and as it rises, it turns rock and dirt into liquid fire.