Wanderer

by Nancy E. Dunne

  “Yes, sir,” Nelenie said.

  “And for you, Taeben, will you bear witness to this proceeding and inform Nelenie’s family of the outcome?” Ben turned to stare at the General.

  “If I may, sir, why can’t she bear this news to her own family if she is not being banished?” he asked. “I am happy to vouch for this former soldier and take her under my wing that she may see the error of her ways and perhaps one day be permitted to return to…”

  “Silence!” The General stared at Ben. “Will you carry the information, yes or no? The matter of her punishment is resolved.”

  “Yes.” Ben fought back the urge to let loose a few well-placed lightning bolts on the head of the General as he stood up straight and turned to face Nelenie. “Your family will be told of your countenance and acceptance of your fate,” he said, following the ritual of trials as held in Alynatalos. He turned on his heel to leave, still fuming.

  “WAIT!” Nelenie cried out, stopping everyone in their tracks. “Will you take care of my sister?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears that she had held back since the quad came to fetch her from her cell earlier. “Please, Ben, look after Tairn? She is young and impressionable and…powerful.” Her voice caught in her throat as the guards moved closer to her to keep her from running after him.

  “Aye, Nel,” he said without turning back to face her. She did not need to see the wickedness that crept into his gaze as he thought about her redheaded younger sister. “I will look after her. You can be certain of that.” He would indeed look after Tairneanach, and all the beautiful redheaded children she would bear him. The power that the blending of their bloodlines would impart was staggering. Taeben barely managed to wait until he was out of the building before he grinned.

  Eight

  As Dorlagar sped across the verdant expanse of the southern end of the forest, Gin kicked and scratched at him like an angry cat. Thankfully, he had thought to sheathe his blade before he picked her up at the lift by the Aynamaede, or he would not have had a free hand to cover her mouth and she would have been screaming as well. Finally, he decided that he was far enough away and it would be safe to put her down. For such a small thing, carrying her was starting to slow him down. He skidded to a stop but held onto Gin for a few minutes longer. “If I put you down, will you promise not to run?” She nodded. “If I take my hand away, will you scream?” She shook her head. He took his hand away and she remained silent, her eyes burning twin holes in his own. “Okay, I’m putting you down now, remember, you promised not to run.”

  Her boots made no sound as they hit the grass. She shook herself, her indigo tinted armor making a soft tinkling sound as though it was made of bells. Dorlagar could see that she was tempted to run. Her emotions were clear in the scowl she wore as she stared up at him. He took a chance and bent forward to stretch out his back, groaning loudly as the knots under his shoulder blades loosened a bit. His neck muscles were still as tight as a bowstring so he could not see the wood elf from this position and he was certain that there would be a blow or some sort of defensive magic hurtling his way soon. “Stop staring at me, wood elf, it’s unnerving.”

  “My name is Ginolwenye.”

  “Gin..ol…what?”

  “Just call me Gin.”

  Dorlagar stood up and looked down at her, smirking as she took a step backward. “You look like a little blueberry in that armor. I heard the guard say something that sounded like that word, must have been your name.” He made a show of dusting off his chest plate. “These tiny boot prints might not be noticeable.”

  “Was there something you wanted,” Gin asked, her hands on her hips, “or are you just going to stand there and tell me how small and apparently blue I am?” Dorlagar studied her. There was fear behind her words and her eyes.

  “No, just needed you to make sure those guards didn’t just shoot me in the back as I ran. They did not and now I am no longer in need of you.” He found that the shocked look on her face hurt him a bit, but he pushed that feeling into the back of his mind and concentrated again on the task at hand. “I have urgent business and the people in your cursed city were of no help so I must be on my way.”

  Again, the look on her face surprised him, as the fear and anger melted into compassion. “Your…sister, yes?” she said.

  “What did you say?”

  “You are searching for your sister, are you not?”

  Dorlagar grabbed Gin up by the shoulders and pulled her close to his face. “What do you know of my sister?” he demanded. Her eyes widened as she averted her gaze toward the ground, but she said nothing. He shook her slightly. “What do you know of Raedea?”

  “Nothing, really,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I only know what I saw in your mind as you were being attacked by our guard.” The wood elf swallowed hard before continuing to speak, and Dorlagar put her down hurriedly. No need to terrify her if she was willing to speak. He marveled for a moment at this surge of compassion that he felt toward this strange female. It was a feeling buried long ago, not seen since… “I tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen because you are a human and…” She hung her head.

  “I did not realize,” he replied, chagrined. This was another strange emotion.

  Gin stared up at him for a long moment. “Is there…oh, I can’t believe what I’m about to ask you…can I help?” He stared back at her in disbelief, quickly followed by suspicion. “Her name is Raedea, yes?”

  “Why are you offering to help me?” he asked, one eyebrow raised as he glared at her.

  The wood elf looked genuinely dumbfounded by his question. “Because you need help,” she said matter-of-factly. “Where was the last place you saw her?”

  “I have not seen her since we were children,” he replied flatly.

  “Okay, that was not the right question to ask,” Gin said. She thought for a moment before she spoke. “Where was she the last time you heard from her?” He noticed her shoulders sag with relief when he nodded.

  “She told me that she was going to join the Order at the Temple of Isona, in a letter many seasons ago.” Dorlagar bit the inside of his cheek as his fists clenched. “She had waited for me to return home for a long time, I think. Finally, she gave up and left to join the Order. I didn’t get the letter right away, but several seasons after she wrote it, so I don’t know if she is still there or…There was another letter, from the Sisters of the Order, that stated she was dead but I don’t think that is true.”

  “If it is a lie, that is a very good place to start, at that temple,” Gin said. “I am not familiar with this Isona, is she a human goddess?” Dorlagar sighed loudly. “I have never left the forest,” she said, pride clear in her face and her voice. He tried not the laugh, but his amusement broke forth in a grin.

  “She is a goddess, yes,” he said. “Her main Temple is located at Calder’s Port, on the Dark Sea. She is a light shining in the darkness, or some such.” He shook his head. “Silly superstitions.”

  “So then we need to head to Calder’s Port?”

  “I am going to Calder’s Port,” he said, his smile fading. “You are free, my little blueberry, do as you wish.” He turned on his heel and began walking in the direction that he thought would take him out of the forest and toward the Dark Sea to the west. Forgetting that her boots made little to no sound on the lush forest floor, he looked over his shoulder after a few minutes and was surprised to see her in step behind him. “What are you doing?”

  “Helping,” she said, her eyes on the ground. “It is what I feel I must do.” Dorlagar smiled. At the very least, it would be nice not to be alone for the journey. At best, he thought as his eyes began to smolder a deep blood red, she would be good collateral for any humans with a taste for elven females that might have information for him. After many hours of the same trees and low hanging canopy and just general green color all around, the landscape began to change signaling their closeness to one of the human settlements near the Dark Sea.

  Many
weeks of walking almost silently followed for Gin as she kept pace as best she could with Dorlagar. She wasn’t ever sure when she put her head down at night that he would still be there in the morning, and she tried to keep track of where they were in her journal in case he left her behind. Nevertheless, he did not, and even though their conversations were limited to directions and food choices for the most part, she felt safer, somehow, when she would open her eyes at first light and see him sitting with his back to her, scanning the expanse of the grasslands for danger.

  “Will we be staying in Calder’s Port long?” Gin asked on the third consecutive day of hiking through the tall fields of the Grasslands. She had noticed that the terrain had started to flatten a bit, so she thought they must be close.

  “I will stay there as long as it takes to find my sister,” came Dorlagar’s curt reply, the same as ever. Gin sighed as she trudged along, making mental notes about their path that she would enter into the map she was keeping in her journal. “Why?”

  Gin’s head snapped up to look at him and she almost ran into him, as he had stopped in the path and turned to face her. “I…was just making conversation,” she stammered. Dorlagar exhaled loudly and then turned back to the path, continuing in silence.

  Calder’s Port was a bustling city but was just as insulated as the tree city where Gin was born. She stared in amazement at the tall buildings made of a mixture of stone and wood and at the humans that seemed to all be in a hurry as they moved about the city’s cobblestone streets. Dorlagar was not the first human she had ever seen, but there were so many of them! She was gawking at a couple that strolled arm in arm and did not notice that Dorlagar had stopped until she ran into his backside. “Oof!”

  “Do you have magic that will make you invisible?” he asked.

  “Um, yes, but I need to consult my spell book,” she replied. “Why do you need it?”

  “I don’t, little one,” he said, smirking at her. Gin’s hair on the back of her neck stood on end when he made that face, her entire being sounding an alarm, but she tried to ignore it. “Your kind is not often seen here and I’d rather move quickly to the temple.” They were just inside the main gate that led to the inner parts of the city, so Gin took out her spell book and plopped down in the grass to look for the spell. “I suppose I could get us some food,” Dorlagar said under his breath. “Don’t move.” Gin had not intended to move until he was back, and nodded at him as he stalked away. She had just found the right section in her spell book when a shadow fell over her from behind. She turned around to ask the creature casting the shadow to move so that she could read her spell book and laughed aloud at what she saw.

  “You working on any spells other than the healing ones?” Nelenie said, grinning down at Gin who hopped to her feet and threw her arms around her oldest friend. “Hey! Watch it; you’ll knock yourself out on my armor!”

  “Oh, Nel,” Gin said, big tears springing to her eyes. “When I heard what they did to you and Elys, it just wasn’t fair, I…” Nelenie stopped her with a look, pushing Gin back to arm’s length.

  “I knew what I was getting into,” she said darkly. “So did Elys. I just wish I knew how they found out. They said it was Ben, but…” Her eyes narrowed. “He had better not cross my path again if I find that to be true.”

  “You mean Taeben? He would never do anything to hurt you, Nel,” Gin said, her eyes wide as saucers. “Never.”

  “I don’t know, Gin,” Nelenie said, joining Gin on the grass as she resumed her seat and began packing away her spell book. “You haven’t seen him in a long time. I thought that he was apprenticed to become a wizard, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, he can use transport magic and cast spells like a wizard, but can use other, darker magic as well. I didn’t know that was possible,” Nelenie said, her expression grim. “I have been trying to find my sister since I was exiled, but my family…well…they will have no contact with me. I asked Ben to look after Tairn, but knowing what I know now…” She bit her lip.

  “I’m sorry, Nel.”

  “No, don’t be,” the knight said, removing her helm and wiping a tear from her eye. “Now, what are you doing these days?”

  “I am…on a quest,” Gin said halfheartedly. What had seemed exciting and new moments before now seemed silly with Dorlagar not there. “There was…a human that I met in the forest and he needed my help and…well, here I am, still helping but I fear I cannot do much more than keep his cuts and scrapes healed.” She studied a stray thread on her tunic. “I do not seem to have it in me to hurt another, even if that other is trying to hurt me.”

  Nelenie smiled at her. “Tis the hand of our Mother Sephine that has led me to you today, Gin,” she said. “I know of a place where your talents will come in handy, and you will learn to use your other druid talents in battle.” Gin cocked her head to one side, looking quizzically at her friend. “Before I left Alynatalos, I spent some time working as a mercenary in secret. I worked for anyone that had enough platinum pieces, and often found myself in well over my head.” She looked off into the distance for a moment, clearly reliving some of those awful days, and shuddered. “But then I met Naevys and things changed. After my exile, she took me in and gave me shelter, food, and work. She is one of the most talented druids I have ever met in my life.”

  “Would she…teach me?” Gin asked tentatively. “I don’t know if I can abandon the human I am sworn to help, do you think she would understand and perhaps lend aid?”

  “I’m sure she would,” Nelenie smiled. “She’s a wood elf like you.” Gin returned Nelenie’s broad smile. “Now, how long will it take you to pack up your things?”

  “I’m packed,” Gin said, “but I don’t know about Dorlagar, he’s just gone off to get us some food.” She paused, noticing Nelenie’s slack-jawed expression. “What is wrong?”

  “Did you say Dorlagar? Dorlagar of the Dawnshadows?” Nelenie asked, making a display of saying his full name that made Gin laugh at how much it looked like him.

  “Aye. Do you know him?”

  “I’d say she does,” Dorlagar said from behind Gin. She cursed herself inwardly at the surprised squeak that escaped her lips. “And Nel, you know full well that Naevys won’t help me in my quest to find my sister, I’ve already asked and that’s why I’m out here alone.” Gin cleared her throat loudly. “Well, I’m being followed by a blueberry but otherwise I’m on my own.” He and Nelenie laughed and then Nelenie threw her arms around Dorlagar’s neck, hugging him tightly.

  “She sent me after you, idiot,” Nelenie said as she cuffed Dorlagar on the ear. “She has changed her mind and has sent me to help you, and it seems the All-Mother and Kildir have sent us our Ginny to help as well. What?” she asked as Gin scowled at her.

  “Don’t call me that,” Gin said. “It’s just Gin now.”

  “Right, Just Gin,” Dorlagar said with a grin, “Shall we go find my sister? Or do you need to go back home first?”

  “I don’t have a permanent home anymore. Let’s go!” Gin said, matching his grin. Nelenie spoke some strange words and an icy cloud surrounded them for a moment, obscuring her view. She jumped at the sound of a loud whinny, moving quickly away from the white horse that appeared next to Nelenie, who swung up into the saddle on the back of the magical steed.

  “Do you have a horse?” Nelenie asked as she pulled Dorlagar up onto the horse behind her. Gin shook her head, frowning. “You’re in luck, then. Here.” Nelenie dug around in one of her packs and produced a rope, which she tossed down to Gin. “Repeat what I just said while holding the bridle. Beau is one of the best magical horses in Naevys’s stable.” Gin did as she was told, and then gasped as a smaller black pony appeared next to Nelenie’s massive white horse. The magical animal nuzzled Gin’s shoulder until she turned around and stroked his nose.

  “Hello, Beau,” she said softly as the horse let out an equally soft whinny into her hand. “Oh, Nel, he is magnificent!” She swung up into the sad
dle as she had seen her friend do moments before, giggling like a young elf as she settled onto the back of the pony. “It’s like he was made for me!”

  “In a way, he was,” Nelenie said. “It’s part of their magic. Now, shall we?” She kicked her horse lightly in the ribs and it moved into a slow trot. Gin did the same and she and Nelenie’s horses headed for the front gate leading away from Calder’s Port. “We are camping near the grasslands,” Nelenie explained as Dorlagar protested the direction. “We need to check in with her and introduce her to Gin.” She winked at Gin who smiled back at her childhood friend. “You’re going to love Naevys, I just know it!”

  Months went by, and Gin was accepted into the little “Family of Misfits” that the druid called Naevys had fashioned for herself. The hunt for Raedea had resumed immediately, but the trail grew more and more cold and soon Naevys again called it off. Dorlagar’s disappointment and anger were palpable with every interaction with his sworn leader, but he always managed to stop himself just short of attacking verbally or physically.

  Many nights that found Dorlagar sitting by the fire talking strategy with another member of the group, Lyrea, a half-elf, as Gin wrote hasty letters home to Cursik and Lairky. Gin had never met a half-elf before, though she had heard of their existence. Like most of her race, Lyrea had chosen to live with her human relatives rather than her Elvish ones, but she had returned to the forest to seek out her mother’s people and met Naevys. The two became fast friends and started hunting together. They met Dorlagar along their travels and he fell in with them, hoping they could help him find answers about his sister’s death. Finally, Nelenie had become a part of the family and with Gin, Naevys declared that they were complete and ready to take on all that adventuring through Orana had to offer.