The Raiden

by Shelley Cass

  “We did miss you, but now that you’re here ….” Wolf began, then wheezed as Dalin spun free and shouldered Wolf to send him sprawling backward.

  “Now that I’m here?” Dalin inquired as Wolf chuckled from the ground.

  Vulcan wrapped his massive arms around Dalin’s waist then and tackled him to the ground too.

  “Now that you’re here, you can join in the fun!” the other, colossal warrior finished.

  Dalin rolled out from the big man’s grasp and promptly sat on Vulcan’s stomach.

  Vulcan spluttered.

  “Yes. I am having fun,” Dalin decided.

  “Dalin, we were warned not to break you,” Noal commented, and pulled Dalin up from Vulcan’s stomach.

  “At least not on the very same day that Ailill warned us against it,” Thorin resolved.

  “Ailill’s not watching,” Dalin protested.

  “We won’t test it today,” Phrixus informed him. “There’ll be plenty of chances for us to challenge you in the future.”

  Dalin gaped in exasperation at the unyielding men surrounding him. “You’ve all turned soft,” he criticised, throwing his hands up.

  “And don’t you love us for it?” Tane joked, pinching Dalin’s cheek and steering him toward Asha and I as the others began packing up to follow.

  “Ooooh, did we miss the training?” Nova and Naira drifted out of the trees nearby and stopped to balance on the frame of the fence. Nova’s purple eyes were mischievous as usual and Naira twirled her floating pink hair flirtatiously.

  “We would have loved a good physical display,” Nova pouted.

  Lydon, Roth, Gideon and Aiolos’ eyes were boggling as Naira puckered her lips suggestively at them. Their even quieter comrade, Rendor, reddened noticeably when she winked at him especially.

  “You missed it,” Asha told them curtly as Nova set her eyes on Noal. “Have you a message or something?”

  Nova tore her eyes from Noal’s golden good looks to turn to her superior Nymph.

  “We’ve been sent to spread the word to Council members and the Three that a final meeting will be held before their departure,” Nova reported.

  “It will be tomorrow morning,” Naira informed us. Then added slyly: “and we’ll be escorting the Raiden and Noal again.”

  “Message received,” Asha nodded gruffly, and the two other Nymphs lifted into the air with cheeky grins, blowing kisses at the warriors before shooting away again.

  “So our stay in Sylthanryn is coming to end,” Noal reflected disconsolately.

  “We’ll be back to having the time of our lives, getting chased and hunted on the Quest in no time,” Dalin told him with distaste.

  Yet while I was dismayed as I rose early for the Council the next morning, I was aware of how far the three of us had come while in the City. And how ready we were to evolve further on our Quest – beyond the enclosed Forest.

  My own progress was clear as I returned to the Lady’s colossal tree tower, which was already abuzz with Forest dweller activity, and was able to use my own magic to travel up to the Council room.

  Most of the Elves on the Council could only nod politely with welcoming smiles, being unable to speak the mortal languages, before there was an invisible rippling effect throughout the room and the Lady entered with Dalin and Noal.

  She led the way for all gathered to take their seats beneath the great model of soaring spheres, and the Lady let her gaze fall gloriously upon the three of us as we took our seats in the circle.

  “Beloved Three,” she began. “The moment is drawing near for you to move on from us, and now is the time to discuss plans to aid you on your journey.”

  Dalin looked grim while Noal petted the Granx forlornly as she made her way into his hand.

  “We plan to hold to our original course,” I told the Lady. “We will pass through the Forest to reach Jenra and ask for their allegiance, as was our initial Quest.”

  The Lady inclined her head, waiting and knowing that I had more to add.

  I tried not to grimace. “And I will be continuing on from there alone,” I said carefully.

  “Beg your pardon?” Noal spluttered, and the Granx waved its legs indignantly.

  Dalin’s composure slipped just a little as his shoulders lowered and his brow furrowed.

  I took a deep breath. “I’ve known it was necessary from the moment I held my earth stone and first formed my wings. I am the Summoner, and I must go to the other lands beyond the seas to at least try to gain the support of the remaining magical races. I must seek to give us a chance, and to bind the races in unity as the tenth age and the threat of Darziates approaches.”

  “But, Kiana,” Noal said weakly. “We’re a team.”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “But I am the only one on the team who can fly across oceans to reach the other races in time.”

  Noal slumped back in his chair in surprise, at a loss.

  Dalin was unhappy but understanding. “So we will journey to Jenra with you. We’ll hopefully enlist their help, and then split up. Noal and I will lead the Jenrans to join with the Awyalknian armies while you lead the magical races to unify with us.”

  “It is the course of action that has the best chance,” the Lady affirmed.

  Ace rubbed his green beard. “The Questers have any aid I can give them.”

  Frey nodded. “They have any aid that each of us can give.”

  Another Elf who had been sitting back thoughtfully motioned as if to speak, but then he leaned back again, knowing we would not understand when, though he could comprehend our mortal tongue, he could not speak it.

  I pondered him for a moment, and then I caught his eye. “Try it in Aolen,” I suggested encouragingly.

  “I don’t know if I can,” he responded apologetically in perfect Aolen.

  The Elf started in shock, his astounded face mirroring everyone else’s.

  Dalin turned to me with amazement dancing in his green eyes.

  “I understood exactly what he said,” Dalin informed me in flawless Aolen, a smile covering his face now.

  Noal’s eyes were wide. “I did too,” he grinned suddenly himself, forming words of the ancient tongue without trouble.

  Asha laughed and clapped her hands.

  “It is a wonder!” another Elf called gleefully, at last with no restriction in communicating.

  “Tree tower! Nymph liquor! Squirrel! Cake!” Ace cheered in Aolen, soaring into the air.

  Everyone stared at him and he sank back down, flustered – until abruptly everyone in the circle began to speak and to test the words at once as well.

  Finally the Lady held up her hand with a smile, and silence eventually settled.

  “It seems the One’s powers are beginning to affect us all,” she spoke in Aolen too. “Now we can spread the lost language of the Larnaeradee all around the City, and like a song it will come back into the minds of all who have forgotten it.”

  “What was it you were going to say?” I politely asked the Elf who had first spoken, and he composed himself to return to the serious discussion we’d been having previously.

  “I wanted to say that there is at least one way that the Elves can help you on your next part of this journey,” the Elf said, beaming. “We can escort you to the end of the Forest.”

  The other Elves nodded.

  “It is risky though,” I replied. “For those Elves to run close to the Cursed Valley again.”

  “All Elves must be stronger than ever now,” Frey stated. “There are tremendous things calling us forward more clearly than the enchantments of the Cursed Valley and our own internal thoughts. The world is drawing us out, and we must look outward.”

  I inclined my head, trusting them. “We accept your offer then, with great thanks.”

  “It would be a great asset to have the Elves speed us through the Forest,” Dalin agreed gratefully. “It would reduce months off the journey. And even if time flows differently within the Forest, our own bodies would feel the
impact of such an expedition without magical help.”

  “I can offer further aid,” the Lady said, settling back into her chair. “I can extend my magic to adjust when in time you leave the Forest to re-enter the world beyond.”

  “That would be a mighty blessing!” Noal breathed appreciatively. “We have spent a great span of time here, but if we left the Forest and time had not passed on the outside …”

  “The best I can do is to make it so that barely a week has passed beyond these trees. But you must also treat this blessing as a risk and be cautious, because though the storm will have passed, the beasts and Agrona may still have been hunting you a week after you came here.”

  The three of us considered her point gravely as the reality of our situation, and the danger we had evaded while in Sylthanryn, started coming back into focus.

  “Gods, I can’t believe our time here has ended,” Noal sighed, stroking the waving Granx again.

  The Lady regarded him kindly. “The Elves and Nymphs shall not meet with you again for a short time,” she acknowledged. “But when you have rejoined with your Awyalknian forces, our troops of Forest dwellers will be marching to join you. And if you secure the friendship of the Jenrans and the other magical races it will be hard to despair. The Army of the World will again be arising.”

  “You will not be coming?” Dalin asked the Lady.

  She shook her head gently. “My hand in this has passed. I have done all that the Gods sent me to do, and now my power remains here. I am as much a part of the Forest now as it is a part of my magic. Yet if the world is healed again I will be able to touch every inch of Nature, and be reborn.”

  Asha had been quiet for quite some time. “I personally would like to offer my support to the Questers, and have had many Nymphs ask if they could go with the Three when they leave. While I know the Forest dwellers ought not to give away their strength to Darziates until the right moment, is there nothing I can do as we wait?”

  Dalin suddenly straightened with an ardent expression. “There is something you could do for us Asha!” his voice now held a keen note. “You could give Queen Aglaia and King Glaidin a message. In fact you could give the whole of Awyalkna a message,” he said eagerly. “You could tell them that we are alive and mean to bring help, for we seek to forge alliances and secure aid. You could give them hope when they think there is none. They’ll believe you, when the words are coming from a being straight out of the stories of old,” he finished enthusiastically.

  “I love it!” Asha cackled. “If it’s only me out in the open the Sorcerer will hardly notice. But the Awyalknians have to learn about us before we turn up to help them, so they’re not too shocked to fight when we arrive anyway,” she grinned impishly.

  “It’s settled then,” the Lady said, still maintaining an appearance of total calm.

  And when the Council ended, with everyone hardly seeming to notice that they were speaking in Aolen as they left the room, the Lady rose serenely before the three of us to offer her farewell.

  “Lady,” Dalin said seriously, “we can never truly thank you for all you have done. We will never forget you, and for as long as Awyalkna stands, your memory will live on as freshly and as treasured as it has since the beginning of time.”

  He and Noal bowed before her in deepest respect before they withdrew sorrowfully, and I was left with her alone, warmed by her tender expression as she turned to me.

  “Kiana, I have just a few things left to tell you,” she said at last. “I want you to remember that you have great power from everything natural around you and you will learn as you have need. Just use your instincts and you will be able to do all that needs to be done.”

  I nodded, and she put her hand upon my shoulder so that I felt her magic dance through my body.

  “Lastly, I wish also to say that I am already beginning to heal, simply because of your presence. You are everything this world needs, and really are the Tru Larnaeradee. I know that you have the pride and blessings of all who came before you.”

  I took her hand in mine, as if reaching for my own mother.

  “Thank you,” I whispered before releasing her, and turning to leave the Council room for the last time.

  I passed under the swirling spheres and across the glimmering floor to leave the tower of the Lady, and the warmth of her magic, with a feeling of both sadness and acceptance.

  Chapter Forty Seven

  Dalin

  I was sitting across the bonfire from Kiana, watching as she concentrated with all of her might, glaring down at a rock in her palm.

  A pensive mood had settled over the three of us after the Council, but we had joined a gathering of the men of Krall outside to inform them that we would be preparing to leave. Now they weren’t making much of a racket either.

  “Well, we’re ready to move out when you are,” Thorin had replied – already used to the fact that he was miraculously using Kiana’s gift of Aolen.

  “We could never leave all the adventures to you,” Tane had reassured us in the tongue as well, rolling onto his back on the grass with his hands cushioning his curl covered head.

  “How long do we have to prepare?” Thale asked, watching Kiana stare at the rock now too.

  “A couple of days,” she said gruffly, not taking her eyes from the rock.

  “It’s a bit sad,” Purdor commented suddenly. “I’ve never had such fun, or even such stability in my life. Despite all of the uprisings, surprise battles, poisonings and such.”

  “That’s because you’ve never been anywhere but Krall and the battlefield before you came here,” Ferron told him, breaking some branches for the fire.

  “I was not always completely miserable in Krall,” Cadell noted. “It’s the King who makes the land so rotten.”

  “I admit,” Kiana grunted, “the first time I travelled to Krall, I was taken aback.” Her gaze did not waver from the rock. “The borderlands were as barren and foul as predicted. And when I reached the City sectors themselves there was an abundance of soldier patrols and fearful, strained, unhealthy looking citizens. But aside from the fact that I was there in the week of the cycle change, there weren’t lurking villains and dark spirits on every street corner as I’d expected.”

  “What is the week of the cycle change?” Noal asked curiously.

  “In Krall there are only two seasons,” Phobos explained. “And the change between them occurs in just one week.”

  “In a week it changes from bitterly cold, muddy and wet, to sweltering heat, vicious sand storms from the wastelands, and dry earth,” Wolf elaborated. “It’s as if Darziates’ unnatural power has made Nature confused in Krall. The seasons are too corrupt to follow the natural pattern and simply move from one extreme to the other.”

  “How does the population survive if the weather changes so much?” Noal asked in perplexity. “Surely agriculture is impossible in such conditions.”

  “The land is arid, but not dead,” Thale told him. “And Darziates continuously pumps dark magic into the earth so that it keeps producing.”

  “Which is what ruins the natural cycle further,” Vulcan commented dryly.

  “AHAH!” Kiana cried abruptly so that our entire party jumped.

  “What do you mean, ‘AHAH’?!” Thorin gasped, clutching his chest.

  Kiana was grinning as she held her hand out for us to see her rock. Or what had been her rock.

  My eyes widened as I saw that it had changed shape to become smooth and pointed. It had morphed into an incredibly well made arrow head.

  “Gods!” Phrixus breathed in awe. “You just made that stone into an arrow head with …”

  “With my mind and magic,” she finished, now examining her creation critically. “Though I still prefer using my own skills to make them, it will be helpful to stockpile some before we go.”

  “If the Elves and Lady are going to aid us by adjusting time, there may not be a need to rush,” Thorin speculated.

  “If they are helping us all
to exit the Forest at the time when you described, our troop would have been marching into the Forest to intercept the three of you at that point … So will we also be marching into the Forest somewhere else at the same time as we’re leaving it?” Gideon pondered.

  Purdor shuddered.

  “Best not to think about it,” Kiana surmised.

  “We won’t,” Thorin remarked. “At least not once we’ve decided it’s all settled,” he said, looking around at the other men. “Are we all in agreement?”

  Thale nodded his head slightly.

  “Let me be the first then,” Thorin said, standing up. “To swear my allegiance to this Quest and to pledge to do all in my power to help and protect the Three.”

  I was surprised by how formal he sounded, until Tane stood beside him, his usually grinning face now serious.

  “Let me be the second to swear my allegiance and pledge my strength,” he said, and then Wolf stood beside him.

  One after the other, each of the sixteen warriors repeated the same oath. But when Thale had finished speaking last of all, a noise from the dark bushes behind us made us all look up. And a dark, small figure shuffled timidly out from the trees, his shadow dancing across the ground from the flames – wavering and broken.

  “Agrudek …” Thale growled with warning in his voice, for the inventor was meant to remain in his tower.

  The little man’s patchy orange beard twitched nervously.

  “Please, I,” he sounded close to tears. “I want to pledge myself too … I want to help.”

  I glowered at him and his eyes darted away from me, to Noal.

  “P-please let me redeem myself.”

  Thorin stepped forward angrily. “You cannot be redeemed in this way. Innocent or not, how can we trust you enough to come with us?”

  “And what use would you be in your condition?” Vulcan questioned bluntly.

  Agrudek flinched. “I-I cannot live with myself. I have to make up for what I did.”

  “We would not help you in times of danger,” Ferron told him. “We’d be busy.”

  “You’d be a liability,” Phobos scowled.