When Gillio and Jekka returned, they helped Bierno and Rheen unload what would be their dinner for the night. Bierno had been in too much of a hurry to stop for a meal on the way up, and Rheen had only had a few bites of bread that morning and hardly any more than that the day before. She’d been feeling queer most of the day but was too ashamed of her poverty to say anything. Now it was all she could do to keep from biting into one of the raw potatoes she was carrying.
Rheen thought they might have trouble getting the fire started because the dew was settling, and she was startled when Aenin leaned over the pit with flames bursting from his hands onto the wood. She suddenly understood where he had come from and that his home was not among men.
The stars that hung above Eilinland were living beings. They could travel down to the lands below if they pleased although they rarely did aside from Aenin and a few others. When they were on land, they left behind a remnant of their spirit in the sky that moved along directly above them. Rheen looked up and tried to pick out which of the lights hanging above belonged to Aenin. He saw her looking and figured what she was trying to do.
“It’s one of the faintest between the bright star that’s moving south and the one that’s still to the west of it,” he volunteered, pointing up to indicate the stars that he was speaking of. The fire was blazing now, so he was sitting back on his heels. “Some of its brightness is gone while I’m away.”
“It’s beautiful,” said Rheen. “What can you see?”
Aenin closed his eyes. His mind was still connected to his light in the sky, so when he concentrated, he could focus in and see the view from above.
“I see our fire, the wall beside us, and all of the lights of the city in the distance,” he answered, “plus a few from farmsteads scattered between here and there. I can mostly make out the edge of the forest based on the shadows.”
“Can you see anything at my home?” asked Bierno. He knew this would be his last chance of hearing news of his family because when they crossed over to the other side of the wall in the morning, Aenin’s star would pass through the wall with them and the view of home would be blocked.
“I see light in the windows of the house,” said Aenin. “I’m afraid that’s all.”
Bierno nodded. “That’s as it should be, now. They’re probably in for the night.”
Rheen, feeling a little faint, lay back on her bedroll to enjoy the sweet aroma of the boiling meat, potatoes, and vegetables. A little while later, she was pleasantly surprised to hear music from a mandolin.
Rheen lifted her head a little and saw that Gillio was playing. Jekka was watching him with a raised eyebrow while Bierno just kept stirring the soup with an amused expression on his face.
“I suppose you haven’t learned any new songs since our last trip?” Jekka asked, and Gillio ignored her.
“I think it sounds wonderful,” said Rheen. “How long have you been playing?”
“For three years,” cut in Bierno. “I remember him buying it when he first joined the team.”
“I’m sure we all remember it quite well,” said Jekka.
Gillio stopped abruptly. “Well, do you have any other suggestions for our evening entertainment?”
“Aenin could tell us a story,” said Jekka.
“Yes, you haven’t told the one about the wall for a while,” said Bierno. “Have you ever heard it, Rheen?”
“There are plenty of stories about the wall, and I have heard some of them.”
“You haven’t heard anything until you’ve heard Aenin tell it,” said Gillio.
And so, in a slow, thoughtful tone, Aenin began.
“There was nothing but a light:
Bright,
White,
Blinding.
“Time passed along unhindered:
Fast,
Wild,
Flying.
“Then everything stopped.
“This bright, white light was pulled apart by a voice:
One light red, the other teal.
The lights had been ordered, and now there was color.
“The voice called again for the teal light to split:
One light blue, the other green.
The colors considered this caller their ruler.
“They called it their King.
“There was nothing but the lights:
Soft,
Cool,
Shining.
“Time passed along unhindered:
Quaint,
Calm,
Quiet.
“Then darkness broke in.
“This stark, harsh dark had been pushed aside by light:
Into corners, out of sight.
Now it pushed back, and the green light let it come in.
“It mixed with the light, creating disorder:
Hiding beauty, marring shine.
When the King saw this darkness he gave it a name.
“He called it ‘shadow.’
“The lights began fading:
Dull,
Snuffed,
Dying.
“Time passed by in mourning:
Pain,
Strife,
Pining.
“The King built a wall.
“The shadow was now blocked to only one side:
Ruling over, spinning lies,
While the King maintained order on the other side.”
“A shadow was spinning lies?” interrupted Rheen as she took the bowl of soup that Bierno handed to her. “I’m confused.”
“The story is believed to be allegorical,” said Aenin. “The darkness itself represents Rundyl, the ruler of the north, and the shadows are his minions, the sniws. You will find that much of the story is hard to understand if taken literally.”
“Or at least that is what the stars believe,” said Gillio. “Most of us down here believe that history is history, and it’s best not to expound on the allegorical meanings of things. The light and shadow must have become embodied later because the story is clear that all of existence is still only light and darkness at this point.”
“The lives of men are so brief and disordered compared to the stars, so it is easy to see how the interpretations could be lost. Since that is the case, maybe it really is best if you stick to what is written,” said Aenin. “But where I come from, the interpretations are passed down with the story itself. There is little room for error in interpretation.”
“Unless the interpretation being passed down was wrong to begin with,” said Gillio.
“With that logic, couldn’t the story itself have been copied down wrong to begin with?” asked Aenin.
“No,” said Gillio. “The stories were given to us by our ancestors to guide us. We have to at least believe in that.”
“Aren’t you just drawing a line at some arbitrary point then?” asked Jekka. “Besides, I don’t see how it matters if we take it literally or not. We walk away learning the same lesson at the end of it either way.”
“We have some differing opinions on history, Rheen, in case you didn’t notice,” said Bierno. “It comes up every once in a while.”
“I can see that,” said Rheen already halfway through her food. Her interest in the conversation had dropped dramatically as soon as she’d started eating. “I know there are many different understandings about the wall which makes it hard to tell what’s true and what isn’t. They’re entertaining stories though. I was enjoying yours, Aenin.”
“I would be happy to continue it,” said Aenin.
“The glow of the lights in the north throbbed slowly:
Almost taken, almost gone,
When the King of the south sent a fresh blast of light.
“He called it his fire.
“The lights started growing:
Sparked,
Cured,
Spreading.
“Time passed expectantly:
Helped,
Cheered,
Hopeful.
“The door was opene
d.
“With the fire’s light, the colors fought the shadows:
Fanning out, winning back,
Until the fight was fair between the two forces.
“The war will rage on until the end of time:
Clashing forces, taking sides,
Until the day darkness is destroyed completely.”
“And that’s where we come in,” said Gillio.
“Yes,” said Aenin. “It is now a struggle between us and Rundyl, trying to expose the lies that Rundyl and his sniws use to keep their followers in misery and give them the chance to come live in the southern kingdom. We tend to be under very direct attack when we travel to the north of the wall because of the threat that we pose to Rundyl’s dominion. Many times he will just try to kill us off, but if he thinks that he has a chance of convincing us to join his side, he will try.”
“So that’s what this mission is all about?” Rheen asked. “Collecting more subjects for a King no one’s ever seen?”
They were all silent for a moment.
“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say it like that,” said Gillio.
“Mostly what we do is give people the strength and encouragement they need to fight off the sniws that are controlling them. Then they can draw their own conclusions,” said Bierno.
“I honestly just don’t understand why you do it,” said Rheen. “Can’t everyone just figure out their problems themselves?”
“Well,” said Aenin, “Sometimes powers hold us that are stronger than what we can handle ourselves. That’s why we have each other.”
“Hmm,” said Rheen. She stared at the fire a little longer, thinking over Aenin’s story and the conversation. Before long, everyone began drifting off to sleep as the fire died, the crickets chirped, and the horses munched nearby.
Chapter 3
Rheen awoke the next morning to hushed voices. Sitting up, she saw Jekka, Aenin, and Bierno off to the side of the clearing. They had saddled a few of the horses but then apparently stopped partway through the task to discuss something. Gillio still lay asleep in his bedroll on the other side of the fire pit.
Rheen pulled her bedroll up around her shoulders. The fire pit was now cold and she was feeling slightly chilled, but overall she felt much better than the day before when she had been hungry and tired.
The conversation by the horses ended, and Bierno motioned her over when he saw she was awake. Meanwhile, Aenin and Jekka started searching through the pile of supplies.
“Aenin and Jekka are piecing together a set of armor for you,” said Bierno when she reached him. “It will be mostly Jekka’s. She hardly ever wears it anyway. While they’re doing that, I wanted to start out your training. It won’t be anything near enough, but you have to start learning sometime and the earlier we start the better.”
“Alright, what kind of training?” asked Rheen.
“We will begin with swordsmanship,” said Bierno. “Eventually we’ll be working with other weapons as well, but right now all I have for you to use is a sword.”
He handed her a small, steel sword and a shield, and then he proceeded to show her the basic parries and attacks. The sword felt heavy and awkward at first, but she started to understand how to use the momentum of it to take some of the strain off of her arm. When they finished, Bierno instructed her to gather the armor left out for her and go out into the woods to change into it.
Aenin and Jekka had left the armor in a pile on the ground for her and had moved on to tacking up the remaining horses. She picked it up and went to the other side of a thicket outside of the camp to change.
Jekka’s armor was relatively light. Rheen began by putting on the set of loose-fitting gray pants and stuffing the ends into the leather boots she was wearing. Next was the studded black leather tunic. It had a built in chest piece and shoulder pads, and the flaps of the skirt went down to her knees. It was meant to be worn with armored boots that came up to the knee, providing protection for the whole leg, but the boots would have been much too big for her. The tunic itself was a little large, but with the belt as tight as it would go, everything fit rather comfortably. She carried the helmet and gauntlets with her to put on later.
By a half hour later, they had finished packing up the camp and making their way back out of the woods to the path they had been on the night before. Now they stood in front of the doorway in the wall that separated the north from the south. Spanned out on the other side was a land cloaked in browns and grays. There were dark mountains silhouetted on the horizon to the north and the west. The path they would be taking twisted through thick, dry brush and around boulders. As they rode through the opening, Rheen looked to her right and saw Aenin close his eyes, scanning the path ahead of them for possible dangers from his star’s vantage point in the sky.
The path narrowed quickly to one horse’s width and they had to fall into a line. Jekka leapt forward to take the lead. Bierno suggested Gillio follow, then Rheen, Aenin, and himself.
They rode through the morning with no trouble. Jekka was their scout and rode a ways out in front. She checked around bends in the path and watched the skies and the rock formations for any sign of movement. The air was hot and dry, and it whisked moisture away from skin as it blew past in a breeze that got stronger and stronger as the day went on. It was a relief to everyone when, in the mid-afternoon, they descended into a gorge and rode in its protection from the sun and wind.
Rheen took a sip of water from the canteen attached to her saddle and rode up next to Gillio. There wasn’t much underbrush at all now, so the path was plenty wide enough to ride side by side.
“Hello,” said Gillio. “How are you faring?”
“Well enough,” laughed Rheen. “My knees feel like they’re going to break in half, my throat is dry, and I have a headache. I’ve been worse though.”
“We can adjust your stirrups next time we stop if you think it will help your knees,” said Gillio. “They do look a little short.”
Rheen shrugged. “If you think it will help. How much farther do we have to go?”
“Today or in general?” asked Gillio.
“Yes,” answered Rheen with a smile.
Gillio laughed. “Well, today we have a few more hours until we get to the cave we’re staying in for the night. In general, I have no idea.”
“Does Bierno know?”
“No.”
She scrunched up her eyebrows at him while he stared ahead and tried to hide a smile.
“Are you playing with me?” she asked suspiciously.
“No,” said Gillio with a teasing expression on his face. “Honestly, none of us know exactly where we’re going.”
“Then why are we taking this specific path?” asked Rheen. “Are we just going to wander around looking for trouble until we find it?”
Jekka, who had dropped back to the group and was now only ahead by a few paces, turned in her saddle.
“If it was only a matter of finding trouble,” she said, “the King would have sent Gillio up here alone.”
“So there is a specific purpose,” said Rheen.
“The purpose, as of now,” said Gillio, “is to find a purpose.”
Jekka rolled her eyes. “Gillio, you can’t even answer the simplest question without wasting half the day getting around to it. The road we’re on will take us to a town called Welton. We’ll go there and wait for further instruction. It usually comes within a week.”
She faced ahead again and went back to smoothing down her hair and getting as much dust off of her clothes as she could.
A few hours later, when the shadows of evening had filled the gorge completely, Jekka led them off of the main path, up a trail, and onto a small shelf attached to a cave. They loosed the horses so they could nibble on a few bushes out front and went inside to set up camp.
They didn’t light a fire. Bierno told Rheen that Rundyl had sniws patrolling the region they were in because it was so close to the door, and a fire would make them very easy to spot.<
br />
“Actually, I’m surprised we haven’t run into any of those blasted creatures already,” he added. “We rarely make it this far without trouble.”
**********
“Send the scum to the wall,” whispered a voice. “That’s what he said. Scum. As if that’s all I am.”
The words were hissed out of a hooked beak. “I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.”
“Still stewing?” hissed another voice to the right of the first.
“Silence!” hissed the first. “I’ll stew if I want to, and you’ll not speak to me unless I ask you to.”
“What if we have something important to report?” asked a third on the left.
“Like what?” snapped the first.
“Southerners.”
The first creature whirled its head around to look at the third.
“Have you seen southerners?”
“They were riding up to a cave about a quarter mile back,” said the third.
“Why didn’t you say anything?!” screeched the first.
“Probably because you were busy stewing about being demoted,” said the second.
With an ear piercing cry, the first veered into the second and sent it hurdling into the rock wall they were flying next to. It dropped out of sight into the growing darkness of the gorge floor as the remaining ten figures soared in a wide circle to go back the way they’d come.
**********
“So, how’s the family doing, Bierno?” asked Gillio, breaking the silence that had fallen when they all started eating.
“Very well,” said Bierno. He looked down at his food for a moment. “I imagine the boys were disappointed to wake up and find me gone yesterday though.”
“I’m sure they’ll find things to occupy themselves with until you get back,” said Gillio.
“Oh, they always do,” said Bierno. “Last time they decided to surprise their mother and paint the chicken house. They used up two quarts of some nice, green Kileernin paint that we bought to refinish the wagon.”
“I bet she was surprised,” said Aenin.
Bierno smiled. “She reacted much better than I would have. It wasn’t until after she had said thank you and told them it looked beautiful that she mentioned they should probably ask before using things like that in the future. I don’t know how they respect her at all when she hardly ever disciplines them, but they’ll do anything she tells them to.”
Eilinland- Through the Wall Page 3