The Elder's Path

by J. D. Caldwell

  The next morning Lyn stood facing the entire village, Alir on her arm and her belongings packed on her back. Nana had said her bond with her companion would grow with time and exercise of it, so for the time being their presence in each other’s mind was small. Still, Lyn could feel that Alir shared her excitement and trepidation both. But having even the small reassurance of his presence solidified her resolve, and his weight on her already seemed familiar. Incredible, she thought, that the day before had yielded such a large change. Strange that before this day, she had been more alone than she had ever known, and had thought it would always be so.

  As per tradition, she and her companion would begin their journey after being presented to the community, and they would see her off as the very first World-Walker in ages. She had been gifted tools to help her along her way. Simple, but strong and reliable just like her people. With her she carried her bow and knife, a new pack, her sleeping provisions, extra clothes, and food. Nana had even been kind enough to provide a glove and shoulder pad for Alir to use. She was also provided with tough and light leather armor to aid her in her struggles to come. Lyn had resisted the armor at first, refusing the idea of needing it more than the armor itself, but had acquiesced when her mother had begun crying. Ah, Lyn thought, the lengths children go to for their parents’ peace of mind.

  “Be aware,” her mentor had warned her when instructing her on care for her leather, “that the world has not seen us for some time. In ages past, it was a privilege to assist a Walker on her journey, but the minds of people are fickle and tradition is easily forgotten when out of practice.”

  Equipped thus, she was prepared to begin her journey in earnest. At least, she was physically prepared. Her stomach churned unpleasantly and she felt her eyes moisten as she looked out to her people for what could be the last time.

  “No,” she steeled herself, and straightened her back, “I cannot afford not to return.” She blinked away the impending tears, forcing a smile to her face. Weakly, she raised a hand in farewell, and a great cheer erupted from the gathered folk. As she looked among them she marked each face well, for she knew them of old and would need the strength of her memories to guide her. As she stepped forward, Alir spread his wings grandly and let out a cry. The cheer rose, and the crowd split in half to allow her to walk among them. She touched hands and shared smiles with her family and friends, and before she knew it she was to the edge of the village ready to depart. She looked back once more, and left her home behind.

  --

  It took Lyn and Alir two days to leave the forest entirely. Not because they were lost by any means, but Lyn wanted to take her time before delving head-first into the outside world, and she suspected Alir would also appreciate roaming his familiar grounds before their departure. As they approached the edge of the forest and the trees begin to thin, Lyn steadied herself and decided to take her first steps running.

  “Ready?” she prompted Alir, and with a heartfelt cry she lunged forward. Alir took flight and raced above her, circling the open air and letting the sunlight soak into his wings. Watching him as she ran, she felt that she too was flying high, and for a moment it was almost as if she could see the wide world through his eyes; her awareness unfurled and stretched to the rolling fields before them, the snowy mountains in the north, the plains in the west, even to the crashing waves in the southern ports.

  Abruptly, she was back on the ground again as she ran headlong into thick brush and tripped into it. Alir let out a stuttered call as he circled above, watching as Lyn tried to disentangle herself from the mess she had fallen in to.

  “Oh quit laughing,” she muttered as she finally regained her footing. Brushing herself off, she took a look at the now setting sun. “Well…time to find a place to make camp, anyway.”

  They made good progress the next few days, finding their way eventually to a walled city that seemed large indeed to the inexperienced Lyn, but in reality was rather small. After all, the East was a place of forests and fields and rather little else; there was small need for much civilization in such a wild and empty place. None the less, the city was a marvel to Lyn, who had never seen such walls or establishments made of stone and glass. Cities and the people therein were as foreign to her as she must have been to them. In spite of her awe, Lyn was not yet ready to spend time within the confines of such a strange place; as such she took refuge in her own camp outside the city, only just in view of its walls.

  As she was preparing a modest meal of dried fruit and bread, she heard something of a commotion. Alerted to it as well, Alir ruffled his feathers and jerked his head about. Unprepared for what could possibly be a regular source of such noise outside the wood, Lyn was not ready to take chances. She drew her bow and nocked an arrow, staying low. She may have been unfamiliar with Arc as a whole but she knew how to take care of herself in some capacity, and she was not about to simply stand down to the world at large.

  As it turned out, the commotion was a group of horsemen making their way rather noisily towards her position. She waited patiently until they came nearer, and with subtlety, put her bow down but in reach. No need to appear aggressive, after all, she thought. The horsemen drew up a polite distance away, one man in particular stopping in front of the rest.

  “This must be their leader,” Lyn surmised to herself, still not knowing what to expect.

  “Ho,” he called out, “ho, there.” He dismounted and signaled for the other men to do the same. Only, Lyn suspected they were men; they were dressed rather peculiarly, even to one such as Lyn who had no experience with standards of fashion. Each being wore dark clothing that was rather tight, and each had multitudes of bags and pouches about their person. Additionally, each individual had what appeared to be a tight piece of black cloth tied about half their face, obscuring their identities. As such, it was rather difficult to decipher who was male or female, and while Lyn could not see any outward weapons there was no telling what the outfits concealed.

  The apparent leader stepped forward a few paces, coming within range of the firelight. Accustomed to the dense forest, Lyn’s vision in dark was much more acute than that of a regular individual and she was able to make out details from the man. What she saw surprised her, indeed. He was a tall man, slim of profile, with a grace in the way he moved. His hair was brown and longer than she had seen men in the woods wear it, but none of this was what surprised her; it was his eyes. Bright green, they twinkled with merriment and good humor, and she could practically see the outline of a smile beneath the mask. Why would such a man feel the need to go about concealing his face, Lyn could not help but wonder? Alir made no sounds at the fellow’s approach, but watched intently with the fire reflecting in his eyes.

  Seeing no immediate reaction from either Lyn or the bird, the man took a couple steps more, seeming very at ease.

  “Well,” he began, his voice melodious and amused, “what have we here? They told me pretty girls grew like wildflowers in the Eastern province but I didn’t think they meant literally sprouting up all around. What are you doing out here all by your lonesome, hey?”

  Lyn raised an eyebrow and nodded towards her companion, “I’m not alone; he’s with me.”

  The man chuckled slightly and replied, “Yes, yes he would be, wouldn’t he? But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself.” With grandiose movements he bowed and said dramatically, “Satora, bandit extraordinaire, at your service my lady.”

  As she heard the words, Lyn’s eye’s narrowed and her fingers twitched towards her bow. She began counting the men and their distance to calculate an escape. Feeling her tense, Alir responded by ruffling his feathers and flapping.

  Satora rose from his bow and looked about as if surprised. Seeing the girl visibly tense, he amended with, “Oh no, I’m not that kind of bandit.” Amusement colored his voice as he continued, “I’m rather something of a liberator, actually. I take only from those who will not suffer for what’s gone, my dear. The world is such a dreary place; I try me
rely to spread what remaining color there is equally amongst the folk.”

  While he was clearly being dramatic, the self-proclaimed bandit seemed earnest as he spoke, though Lyn did catch a few small headshakes and shrugs from the other men with him. Confused, Lyn kept her guard.

  Seeing her eyeing the men behind him, the bandit turned about to look at his followers. “Oh don’t mind them,” he said flippantly with a wave of his hand, “some of them are still of the tedious mindset that bandits should keep the riches for themselves. Bah, profit. How dull, yes?” As his men chuckled, he brushed some invisible dust from himself dismissively. “Actually, in that regard, we have a job to do here.” He swept his arm to indicate the city behind them and continued, “And speaking of sharing, please take this.” He reached into a small bag and procured a jingling pouch, which he tossed Lyn’s way. Lyn caught it without thinking, and took a peek to find it full of gold pieces.

  She paled at the amount, for she had never seen such. “I cannot take this,” she stammered quickly, “this is too much. Why would you give this to me?”

  As she met Satora’s gaze, he winked at her and said quietly, “Because, my lady, unless I miss my mark you've just come from the forest, yes? And some of us still remember to honor the Elder’s Path, and what it is you’re doing. Rain or shine, you can always count on Satora and his merry men to aid a Druid in her journey.” He bowed again quickly and strode back to his horse. “Come on lads, we’ve a jolly good time on our hands with this next one. Let’s get paid!”

  The next morning, Lyn made her way to the city. Grateful as she was for the monetary assistance, Lyn felt compelled to alert whoever was in charge to the impending bandit raid. In fact, given time to think over the entire situation, she had decided she was mad at Satora; after all, his gracious gesture seemed empty knowing it was not his money he was giving away but rather that he had stolen it and simply passed it on to her. How could he expect her to keep it in good conscience?

  “Perhaps he didn’t, though,” Lyn mumbled, “perhaps this is some sort of test! Wait; is that what this really is? Some kind of moral initiation?” As she moved towards the gate with these thoughts, her anger grew. She felt it was unfair that she should be tested thus and not have even the slightest warning of it. “Bandit extraordinaire, indeed,” she hissed under her breath. Alir, sensing her mounting ire, let out a cry and beat his wings. Startled out of her musings, Lyn calmed him and took a moment to study the gate she had arrived at. It was large enough to allow traffic in and out in a steady stream, but rather ordinary besides. The gates themselves lay open, and beyond them she could see the city was full of movement and activity. It was crowded, even, and Lyn drew a sharp intake of breath at the sheer scale of the humanity she witnessed within.

  Within the forest, Lyn was accustomed to a rather small community. This was due to the fact that her people historically had always been a rather small community, but also because in the last few generations, their numbers had been dwindling steadily. It was never much spoken of, but the suspicion was that the lack of an Elder was involved somehow. It was conceivable that her people were tied so deeply to the forest and the great Sage Tree that the apparent decline of its magic affected them as well.

  Even more reason to press on, Lyn thought. As she passed through the gates, she calmed herself with a deep breath. Realizing the situation would be equally strange for Alir, if not more so, she thought it best to keep herself as centered as possible so he would not react to her distress. However, as they moved in to the crowd, Lyn found it harder to keep herself composed. She was comfortable being surrounded by trees, not people, and the bustling mass of bodies and loud calls through the market stalls began to make her panic.

  To her surprise, the hawk remained stoic. Lent strength by his composure, Lyn took one of her deep calming breaths and moved on. After all, she could not be deterred by a mere market crowd; far more punishing trials awaited her than making her way through teeming streets and surviving the calls of vendors and pushers. But such is the way of the world; even mundane concerns like busy marketplaces have a way of making themselves large and overwhelming in one’s mind. Pondering this, Lyn could not help but chuckle at herself. Her people’s future was at stake and she balked at passing through city gates. Shaking off her unease and replacing it with amusement, Lyn strode forward easily and moved through the throngs of people. Watching her silent laughter, she felt a small hint of curiosity coming from her companion. That she could recognize such thoughts from him, even in small amount and intermittently so, meant their bond was deepening.

  Lyn smiled openly at this knowledge, and the last vestiges of her anxiety were burned away. Locating the nearest guard, she requested directions to the leader of the walled city and was instructed that the magistrate’s office was located in a larger structure at the end of a street close by. She thanked the guard and continued on. Looking around her, she noticed the number of guards was markedly few; despite the commotion of the marketplace, Lyn surmised this place must be relatively peaceful. Unfortunately for them, the news she was to deliver was of an uglier nature counter to this evident peace. She frowned at this, and wished she had not been put in such a position. She pulled out the pouch of coins that Satora had given to her and contemplated it. While she understood she would eventually need money on her journey, she was resolved to earn it herself. She would take it to the city magistrate and allow them to do with it what they would.

  Turning to make her way to towards the indicated street, a young man bumped in to her soundly. Stumbling and attempting to maintain Alir’s balance, she glared up at the man to find that he was already off down the street, moving through the crowd with a grace that belied their supposedly accidental collision. Lyn considered yelling after him but thought better of drawing the attention to herself. She regretted that decision, however, upon finding that the purse of coin was missing.

  “A cutpurse!” she exclaimed, “How could I fall for that? Hey, someone stop that man! He has taken my coin!” To her great disappointment and surprise, not one person stopped to heed her words. In fact, no one even turned to look at her in spite of her outburst. So caught up were they in their business that they seemed not to hear her at all.

  By the time she had pressed her way to her destination, she was thoroughly over her earlier amusement. In fact, she was tired of civilization in so far as she had seen it at all, and was ready to move back outside the city to familiar wilderness. As far as Lyn was concerned, she would complete her obligatory duty to warn the city magistrate and take her leave; she could see no lesson to learn from this place or any of its like.

  But as Lyn came to the doors of the magistrate’s office, she was stopped very suddenly by two guards.

  “You are here to see the magistrate?” One addressed her brusquely.

  “Yes,” she began, “I am here…”

  “The magistrate is available by appointment only,” the guard interjected rudely, and pointed away.

  “But, I have...” Lyn stammered, flustered at the behavior.

  Again, the guard interrupted with, “By appointment only, girl, and even if he were to see you, you couldn’t be dressed like that.” With an air of superiority, the two guards looked her over and scoffed.

  Angered now by their disrespect in the face of her attempts at assistance, Lyn straightened her back, clenched her fists, and said sternly, “Now listen here, I am Lyn from…”

  Before she could finish, the second guard yelled over her, “We don’t care who you are, girl. But we do care that you aren’t leaving by your own accord.” He stepped towards her menacingly, and Lyn retreated. “Now,” he continued, his voice low, “are you going to be a good girl and leave, or do we need to show you the way?”

  Chapter 3

  6th day, 8th lunar cycle, 700th age of Arc

  “So soon into the journey, and already it becomes interesting. Last night Alir and I had an encounter with some self-proclaimed bandits. While they did not seem overly h
ostile, I was obliged to inform the local magistrate of their presence. Despite my intentions, Alir and I were quickly disappointed with the city dwellers we came across; everyone was in such a hurry! Not one gave a passing glance for anything outside their concerns, even when a cry for help was let. And such density of humanity I have never seen, packed in so tightly I don’t know how they breathe. Yet we pressed on, determined to begin on the right foot morally. To no avail, however, as we were very severely denied any audience with the local official and very rudely cast aside. Ironically I am finding the company of the bandits preferable to that of the ‘civilized’ folk, and cannot help but be somewhat pleased that ‘Satora, bandit extraordinaire’ shall be paying them a visit. But I cannot stay on the outskirts forever, and I suspect this city is rather insignificant compared to the others I shall visit. In that regard, I am making my way to the north, and the cold. What shall await me there?”

  With no coin to speak of, and no desire to stay long enough to obtain any, Lyn set out from the city with gusto. The Eastern province was a quaint place, characterized largely by the forest and small rolling hills. This landscape provided ample opportunity for growing and cultivating of life, and as such Lyn had little trouble finding small game for sustenance. Aided by Alir, she was easily able to track rabbits and the like for their food, and with the addition of wild berries and nuts they could survive comfortably enough on the simple fare.