Taming the Elements: Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1

by David Ekrut

  Still, even Fire paled in comparison to the overwhelming power of Earth. Many times, he found himself opening his essence to Earth without thinking about it. The last time he had tamed power without knowledge, he had killed someone. Fortunately, releasing the power was the same as it was with Air; otherwise, the experience could have ended in disaster. Being that there was a mountain on all sides of him and all.

  “We are almost there,” Daki said.

  Without seeing the sun, he couldn’t track the hours. But when they had stopped for lunch a few hours past, Daki had said it was noon. If Elwin had to guess, he would say it was the sixteenth hour.

  Long before seeing the path widen, Elwin felt the power of Air rush toward him. He almost opened his essence to it just to feel the power fill him, but he refrained. His essence felt no lasting effects of the battle for his soul, but he wanted to conserve his strength for what may lay ahead.

  A few more paces, and Elwin could see the bright of day. Judging by the sun in the western sky, he had been correct on his estimation of the hour.

  Taego stopped at the opening and Daki knelt down. He placed a hand on the bear’s back and peered into the valley.

  Elwin looked over Daki’s shoulder. Extending from the opening, countless large boulders, stacked atop one another, sloped downward into a natural stair-like formation. To his right, the rocks of the mountain rose to great heights and stretched far to the north. Below and above, trees had grown as far as the eye could see. Beyond the trees at the edge of the horizon, he could see white peaks rising into the sky.

  “Wow,” Feffer said in Elwin’s ear.

  “Welcome to the Mystic Valley,” Daki said. “My people use this for a training ground.”

  “Training?” Feffer said. “Aren’t there giants?”

  “Of course. How else could we train to hunt giants?”

  “You hunt giants? Why would you do that?”

  “If we don’t hunt them, they will hunt us. And when their populace grows, they venture into the soft lands. We have an agreement with your king to keep this from happening.”

  “Wait,” Elwin said. “Your people have an alliance with Justice?”

  “Of course. We are neighbors.”

  Feffer leaned over Elwin’s shoulder and looked into the valley. “Well. I am not interested in hunting giants. In fact, I would like to never meet one. So, how can we make that happen?”

  “Once we reach the valley floor, we will travel north alongside the mountain. This is where the forest is not so thick with trees, but the pass is narrow. So the giants avoid it. Once we reach the river, we will travel north and west.”

  “What river?” Feffer said. “There is no river on my map.”

  “He has taken us this far,” Elwin said. “If he says there is a river, then I believe him.”

  “I know,” Feffer said. “I believe him. I just don’t understand how a cartographer missed an entire river.”

  “The river comes from snow melting in the mountains,” Daki said. “It then empties into the mountain and travels to the Depths. The men of cities have no use for it. That is probably why it is not drawn on your maps.”

  “Why are we still standing here?” Feffer said.

  “I must warn you,” Daki said. “The giants will sometimes come here for game, and they are rarely alone. We must travel with caution. If you see one, there will be more.”

  “Wait,” Feffer said. “You just said they avoid it here.”

  “They do. Mostly, they visit the river. But sometimes they chase their game here.”

  Feffer took in a deep breath. “Maybe giants aren’t as bad as the stories say.”

  Daki laughed as if Feffer had told a great joke. “I don’t know the stories you have been told, but the Jojindun tribe will kill you simply to enjoy watching you die.”

  “Do they really eat people?” Feffer asked.

  “Yes. But, they will make sport of your death first.”

  “Sport? What do you mean?”

  Daki shook his head. “If we come across any Jojindun, you will see what I mean. We should move quietly.”

  “How is the bear going to move quietly?” Feffer asked. “And what do we do with Haven?”

  “Taego can move with stealth when he needs to,” Daki said. “And I will speak with Haven.”

  “You’ll speak with Haven?” Feffer said doubtfully.

  Daki nodded but gave no reply. He moved to the horse, stroked her side and murmured in her ear. She nuzzled him when he was finished.

  “What did she say,” Feffer said with mockery in his voice.

  “She will move quietly,” Daki said in a serious tone.

  “Are you sure it won’t be better to go over the mountain?” Elwin said.

  “There is less cover for us,” Daki said. “And it will take us a tenday or more to circle the valley by climbing the mountain. We have at most three days through the path I know.”

  “Through the mountain then,” Elwin said.

  “Lead the way,” Feffer said. “Lead the thumping way.”

  Daki nodded and turned from the crevice. He leapt, more than stepped from rock to rock, and he bounded far ahead of them toward the valley. If Daki’s steps made any sound, Elwin could not hear it.

  Taego took precise steps, no louder than Daki’s. In the same fashion as Daki, even Feffer sprung from rock to rock without a sound.

  Haven moved to follow Feffer without being guided. Elwin reached for her reins out of reflex but missed. She moved with more precision than Taego had, and even the horse made little sound. He took a breath and moved to follow.

  However he tried to avoid them, every twig and bramble on the boulders seemed to jump beneath his feet as he stepped. Every step made a crunch, even when it appeared there was nothing to crunch.

  Daki stopped ahead.

  When Elwin caught up to him, Daki turned and whispered, “Do you think that you have the energy to fly?”

  “Yeah,” Feffer said. “Maybe you can make less noise by flying.”

  Elwin felt his cheeks flush. “I can fly, but shouldn’t I preserve my strength?”

  Daki shook his head. “We will attract attention unless we move with stealth.”

  “I could move slower. Maybe I could miss more twigs?”

  “You already move too slowly, and we do not wish to camp in the open. We must reach our destination before nightfall.”

  “Maybe I could just follow you and Feffer more closely.”

  “It is not our path that makes our movements quiet. It is training.”

  Feffer’s voice was a harsh whisper. “What he’s trying not to say is that you move louder than a deer in rut. You need to thumping fly. And try not to make any noise doing it for Life’s sake.”

  Elwin felt a twinge of anger but bit his tongue. He took a quick breath and said, “Fine. I’ll fly.”

  He had no reason to avoid taming, and he had tested his essence many times since waking from the dream. He felt normal. Still, Elwin hesitated before opening his essence to Air. In truth, he wanted to fly. He missed the rush of wind around him. So, why did he fight so hard to avoid it?

  As he opened his essence to Air, memories of his dreams became vivid in his mind, and he realized why he had been avoiding taming. There was a moment in that dream when he had known how to tame all of the Elements. And he had been ready to kill with them. It had been just a dream, but Elwin thought he remembered how to tame the Elements to kill. Above all else, that made him afraid. Anything that had come from Abaddon, even knowledge, could not be good.

  He took a deep breath and tamed flight. A slight breeze stirred, making the leaves on the ground rustle, and knocked a small pebble fall off the closest boulder. It skipped down the mountainside. Reverberations from stone striking against stone echoed into the valley.

  Feffer tur
ned his head and stared at Elwin with wide eyes. He shook his head and breathed, “Dragons take me. After all we’ve been through, we’re still going to die.”

  Elwin felt his cheeks flush as he rose a few feet off the ground. He began to pull Air from above, rather than all around. The leaves below settled.

  Daki breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Come.” Then, he continued leaping down the mountain, and Feffer followed after him.

  Taming Air, Elwin became more aware of his companions movements. He did not have to look behind him to know Haven followed, because he could feel movements in the Air as she stepped. What had Daki said to her to make her step so softly? It didn’t matter. Whatever it had been, it worked. Though the horse was the loudest of their group, he could only make out a faint clopping with her steps.

  Daki led them along the mountainside, and Elwin followed, trying to watch everywhere at once. He did not see how an entire race could be inherently evil, but he did not want to find out why they were infamous first hand either. But, none of the trees rustled or shook. Surely, they would have heard a giant coming a league away.

  The boulders leveled out and gave way to grass as the mountain met the valley floor. Daki moved from boulder to boulder, keeping the forest and trees to his left. They traveled with few words beyond discussing the best path. Feffer’s eyes watched the trees as intently as Elwin. Even Daki’s eyes were wide and alert.

  By the time the sun fell beyond the mountains, Elwin felt exhausted. Not from the exertion of taming Air for an extended period, but from staring at the unmoving trees. When Daki stopped, Elwin almost flew into him.

  “We will rest in this cave,” Daki whispered.

  Elwin looked to the mountainside to his right. He could not see any caves. A boulder the size of a farmhouse nestled up against the mountain.

  “What cave?” Feffer said quietly.

  “Come.”

  Daki walked around the massive boulder. At the boulder’s base, there was a small crack. It was just large enough to squeeze into. Beyond the hole was darkness.

  Elwin eased to the ground and emptied his essence.

  Feffer said what Elwin had thought. “I don’t think Taego and Haven can fit in there.”

  “It is much larger on the inside,” Daki said. “Taego and I have slept here before, but you will have to tether Haven to a tree.”

  Feffer tied Haven off on a nearby tree, then returned to the small opening.

  “So,” Feffer said, “do we have anymore of those berries?”

  “No,” Daki smiled, “but we passed over game tracks. If you will gather some wood for a fire, I will find us a meal. Gather enough to last the night. After the sun leaves the sky the cave will become dark.”

  “I’ll have a fire built before you return,” Feffer said. “I am glad we met you, Daki.”

  Daki’s smile was as wide as his face. “I am glad our fates intertwined as well.” In the next moment his face was serious once more. “If you see any giants, come back to the cave. Even they would have trouble moving this boulder.”

  Feffer’s smile faded as well. He regarded the massive boulder. “They can move the boulder?”

  Daki looked at it. “Well, it would take several of them.”

  Feffer started picking up wood, mumbling beneath his breath. Elwin would wager a farm to a sheep that he was cursing, but he found himself staring at the boulder.

  He shook his head. “I am pretty sure that I don’t want to meet anything that can move that.”

  “They are poor fighters,” Daki whispered. “But one strike from a giant’s fist can crush your skull. They are strong but clumsy.”

  “You have really fought a giant?”

  Daki nodded, “I have crossed paths with a giant.”

  “What happened?”

  “He tried to kill me,” Daki said. “But I killed him instead.”

  “Do they really send you to hunt them so young?”

  “Aye,” Daki said. “Now, we can speak more later. I must find the game before the trail is cold.”

  Elwin watched his new companion disappear into the forest. It took him a moment to realize he was alone with Haven. Feffer had gone for wood, but how did the bear slip away unnoticed?

  He looked at the boulder again. Giants. Something else that had only existed in stories before now. How many creatures and beasts would he find that were no longer just a story?

  He took a deep breath and began to gather kindling.

  Feffer moved over the brush, clenching his teeth at every soft scuff or rustle that he or his companions made. His heart pounded in his chest like a hammer on a forge as he crept along the line of the ridge, careful to keep his head below the dirt and rocks. His hands and knees shook from the effort. And, despite his best efforts to avoid them, he felt like all the dried twigs of the forest littered his path.

  In front of him, Daki led Haven by the reins. The horse had her head low as she took each slow step forward. What had Daki said to Haven to make her move so quietly? Feffer had never even heard of a stable master capable of controlling a horse like Daki could. He would wring secrets out of the Chai Tu Naruo, if he had to do it with his fingers around the stubborn boy’s neck.

  He glanced over his shoulder at Elwin. Just above the foliage, Elwin floated parallel to the ground. The twigs and leaves rustled as he moved over them. Feffer wanted to curse. He couldn’t even fly quietly, but thank the Lifebringer, Elwin could fly. If they had to rely on Elwin’s stealth, they would have been dead, long since.

  Even Elwin wasn’t as loud as Taego. Behind Elwin, the bear shuffled on his large belly. In the forest and on the rocks, the bear had made little noise, but Taego was too big to lumber below the ridge line on all fours.

  Together, the noises from his companions seemed like a cacophony of voices screaming, “Come eat me Mr. Giant.”

  On the other side of the ridge a mirthful laugh, too loud to have come from normal size lungs, rose above the sound of the distant waterfall. The laughter, if it had not been so big, sounded as if it could have come from a young boy.

  The Lifebringer save him. Before this moment, Feffer had been beginning to believe he might actually live through all of this. He could have taken his adventures back to his squad, and maybe someday long from now, he could tell the same stories to children around a fire. Like Poppe.

  The closer he got to Goldspire, the more he thought about them, but who was he kidding? Gurndol was never going to believe this tale. None of his squad would, not even Fandar. And the giant would be the least of it all. But, it would be good to see them all again. Maybe Sir Gibbins wouldn’t make him do extra drills for taking too long of a furlough.

  He would never admit it aloud, but if he lived, it would be thanks to Daki. He and Elwin would have never even made it this far without him. And Taego. It was good to have a bear on their side. Though he wasn’t sure what a bear could do against a giant.

  Once more, Feffer peeked over the ridge.

  To the east, water fell from the mountain’s bend into the mouth of the river and pushed the water west alongside the mountain. If he tuned out the sound of breaking twigs and freakish laughter, Feffer could hear the soft splatter of the falling water.

  Their ridge sloped twenty paces to a sandy embankment that ran alongside the river not more than ten paces wide. Beyond the riverbank on the other side, a cliff stretched into the sky. Feffer could see a small crevice in the side of the cliff face that a normal-sized human could fit into. Maybe even a horse and bear.

  His eyes found the source of the eerie laugh, and his knees began to shake again.

  By the embankment on this side of the river, a LARGE humanoid sat with its back to the ridge. Its arms moved as if the giant played with something in front of it. The giant let out another deep cackle and stood up.

  It looked like an overgrown child. Dark hair e
ncased a boyish face. If it had been a normal size, Feffer would guess that he was not more than ten or eleven years of age. It wore brown trousers and a white jerkin. Its legs were as thick as the Redwood trees, and its arms weren’t much smaller.

  Elwin whispered from behind him, “Keep moving.”

  It took Feffer a moment to force his legs into motion. He continued to peek over the ridge as he crawled.

  Even at this distance, the child giant was as tall as the Scented Rose Inn. Feffer would have been surprised if he could reach up and touch its knees. Its knees! And it was a child? Feffer didn’t want to see an adult one of these.

  The giant gave a slight kick to the thing in front of it. When the giant’s toy bounced to a stop, Feffer recognized the bloody mass as an injured doe. The deer’s hind legs had been twisted backwards. It tried to crawl away with its front legs, but when it got too far from the giant, he grabbed its injured leg and pull it back, laughing.

  With a sudden jerk, the giant picked up the deer by one of its front legs and dangled it for several moments. Then, the giant snapped the leg with his thumb and forefinger. He laughed with the hysteria of a madman as the deer snorted and wheezed. The poor thing squirmed against the giant’s grasp.

  The giant laughed even harder and dropped the deer. Using its head and one working leg, the deer crawled toward the river. The giant picked up a tree that had been ripped up from the roots. It looked like a club in the giant’s hand. It used the club to push the deer toward the water. Then, he stepped on the back legs, while pushing the deer’s face into the water.

  Feffer felt his fear of the giant dissipate, and he grabbed the hilt of his sword. The Lifebringer hadn’t made such evil creatures. This thing came straight from the abyss.

  Snap.

  Feffer froze, as he felt the loud crunch beneath his knee. Daki stopped moving in front of him.

  Feffer peeked back over the ridge. The giant was looking in their direction. Without thinking about it, he moved his head under cover, as fast as possible.