The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 01 - The Healing Spring

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “What condition did you have in mind?” Jonson asked, as he rose and grabbed his betrothed around the waist.

  “I want to take a couple of skins with me so that I can fill them with the water from the spring and bring it back here,” Kestrel replied.

  “See! I told you women set better conditions! That’s no challenge at all!” Dewberry answered. “Go get your skins and let’s get going!”

  Kestrel rose and searched in his closet until he found three empty skins, whose straps he draped over his shoulder, then stood and waited as Dewberry and Jonson hugged him tightly.

  “I am pretty sure that just two of us can move you,” Jonson said, giving Kestrel a moment of doubt just as he felt the same sensations he had experienced before, the blackness and the queasiness, and then everything was alright as they stood on the bank of the spring waters. Kestrel undressed and got in the water, then received each of the sprites as they too entered the water, and he laid them down on the sandy shelf, where they quietly lay in their state of refreshing repose, while Kestrel carefully filled each of his water skins. He laid the stoppered skins down on his pile of clothes, then lay down in the water next to the sprites, and watched the sunset create a changing tableau of colors in the sky.

  He thought about his month of looking like a human. He had grown to accept it, but still regret it. The emphasis at his training base was all directed towards the value he would give to the elven leaders, and the ability he would have to learn about the human plans to attack the elves; through the constant reinforcement of the message that he could singularly aid his people, he now accepted the duty he needed to fulfill. But he still mourned the loss of his elven appearance, and the deception Alicia had used to trick him into the operation still rankled. He had enjoyed her company for those few hours together, and the betrayal that he felt from learning her truth was still a cold ember in his heart.

  When the last of the colors were gone and stars twinkled brightly overhead, Kestrel lifted the sprite and the imp from the water, and laid them on the ground, then gave their bodies a few minutes to adjust before he shook them awake.

  “Gads! How long did we soak?” Dewberry asked, sitting up.

  Minutes later they all were dressed, and the two blue beings took Kestrel back to his dark room.

  “Good night friend Kestrel,” Jonson told him.

  “Kestrel, after our wedding we’ll be on our honeymoon for two weeks,” Dewberry explained.

  “Don’t think she’s going to come see you then!” Jonson laughed raucously.

  “Best wishes, Dewberry. I know you two will make each other happy,” Kestrel told the small blue body, giving her a gentle hug and a delicate kiss.

  And then the two were gone, and Kestrel thought he was alone.

  “Kestrel? How did you get in there?” he heard Belinda’s voice call from his porch.

  “Belinda? What are you doing here?” Kestrel asked.

  “I’m going to be your language tutor tonight,” she spoke in the human language as she stepped into the room. “I’ve been waiting here for hours, and I just gave up. I was starting to go down the steps when there were suddenly voices in your empty room.” She looked around in the darkness.

  Kestrel put his water bags down, then fumbled at his bedside table to strike a spark and light a candle. He quickly got the wick glowing, then placed the glass cylinder around the flame and looked at Belinda.

  She was sitting in a chair in the corner, near where the instructor’s cot was set up, and she was staring at him intently.

  “Well? How did you do it? How did you suddenly appear in your room?” she continued to ask in human. She placed a large bag on the table beside her.

  “I would rather not say,” Kestrel replied, after several seconds in which he failed to come up with any better answer.

  “In the human tongue, please,” Belinda corrected him.

  “Why won’t you tell me?” she asked.

  “Please, Belinda, ask me no more questions about this. I cannot answer,” Kestrel responded in the human tongue. He looked at her in the candlelight; she had removed her light overcoat, and beneath it wore a revealing nightgown.

  “You can put the light out if you don’t need it,” she told him, realizing that she was the subject of his intense gaze. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have worn this.”

  “How do you speak human?” Kestrel asked as he blew out the candle, but continued to sit on the bed, befuddled by the unexpected circumstances.

  “I’m one of the best human speakers in Firheng,” she answered. “My husband was a human. Is a human,” she corrected herself. “You didn’t know that?” she asked.

  “No,” Kestrel replied. “How did you marry a human?”

  “My father was a trader when I was growing up, and I went with him to Estone on several trips. I met a human, we fell in love, and we parted, because both our families disapproved,” she said. “But Ranor was determined. He came to Firheng, found me, and took me back to Estone with him.

  “We were married as soon as we got there, and then he brought me back here, and settled in to live among the elves here, working as my father’s trading partner.

  “After a while, the guards decided they could trust him not to be a human spy, and a while later they decided they could trust him to become a spy for the elves,” she continued her story. “And he agreed, because he wanted to do anything to help the elves, because he loved our race.

  “He went out for several months on a long mission, and he learned a great deal of useful information. Then he went out on another mission the following year, and brought back more information, and the spymasters were delighted.

  “So he went out on his third mission; he missed our fifth wedding anniversary, and when he came back, he was delivered on the back of a horse. The humans had figured out what he was doing. They cut off his ears, and they blinded him. They cut off his hands, poisoned him, and bashed in the back of his head, then sent him back as a warning,” she spoke in a husky voice, and Kestrel knew she was crying.

  “And he’s been a vegetable ever since. I take care of him at our home, and we have aides who help watch him. One of them is with him tonight,” she finished her tragic tale, and let silence envelope the room for a long time.

  “You look so much like the way he used to look,” she said at last. “I get chills when I see you now, now that you’re humanized.

  “I want to help you. I want you to speak the human language perfectly, so that nothing happens to you like happened to Ranor. So tonight, I am your new instructor to help you work on your language skills,” she told him.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kestrel said at last, horrified by the story he had heard.

  “Don’t be sorry, be smart,” she answered. “I want you to learn to do this right. Work hard at it.”

  “I will,” Kestrel pledged solemnly.

  He heard her rise from her chair and climb into her cot. “Now, in human, tell me about the girl who came to see you last month, the one who brought the message for you to return to Center Trunk.”

  And so they lay in the darkness in their separate beds, conversing in the human language. Belinda gently corrected his pronunciation from time to time, until at last she said “good night, Kestrel,” and their conversation was over.

  That night, Kestrel dreamed in human languages for the first time. He dreamed he was caught and was being tortured by the humans. He called upon Dewberry to help him, but she told him she was on her honeymoon and couldn’t be interrupted. He screamed from the pain, until Belinda woke him up. She was on his bed, shaking his shoulders. “Wake up, Kestrel, please. It’s only a dream, dear,” she told him. When he awoke at last he sat upright, and she hugged him tightly.

  They slept together the rest of the night, Belinda in his bed, her body pressed against his, and he had no further dreams.

  When he awoke in the morning, Kestrel knew he was late for the start of his training. He sat up and looked at Belinda, her head still on hi
s pillow, her eyes blinking sleepily.

  “I have to go to training,” he told her, standing up and hastily pulling on clothes. “Belinda,” he said seriously, picking up one of the skins of water from the healing spring.

  “This water has healing powers. It comes from a special spring. Give a little of it to your husband today; give him some every day, and see if it helps. I don’t know if it will, but it might. It can’t hurt anything,” he said awkwardly.

  Belinda looked at him skeptically. “Just try it,” he urged. “I know the water helped me, but I soaked in it. I don’t know for sure that just drinking it will be as powerful, but I think it will help.”

  “I’ll try it, as you suggest,” she replied, reaching for the skin with one hand as the other hand modestly pulled the blanket up to cover her.

  Then he was gone to practice for the day, thinking about her story about her husband. His language instructor was able to teach him in the afternoon and was back in his quarters that evening. Kestrel didn’t see Belinda again until the following week.

  Chapter 16 – The Yeti Battle

  After more days of further training, Kestrel was called to Cosima’s office, and when he arrived, Belinda was working at her desk. “Good morning,” she said demurely. “You’re to go on into the commander’s office.”

  He gave a perfunctory knock, then opened the door and entered.

  “Kestrel, today is the start of your first assignment away from Firheng,” Cosima said as soon as Kestrel was settled into a chair. “You and Arlen and Artur are going to ride horses to the edge of the Water Mountains. We’ve had reports of a yeti that is coming down out of the mountains and terrorizing the elves that are settled in the area.

  “Check into the matter, then come back here and make a report,” he finished the explanation.

  “Just check a Yeti? No human activity?” Kestrel asked in surprise.

  “There may be some human interaction. You’ll be near the Estone border, but it’s not a heavily populated area, so you might or might not see humans; for that matter, you might or might not see elves. Just see how you handle traveling and using your weapons and language on the road, away from the comforts of Firheng,” Casimo told him. “Go pack anything you need, then report to the stables.”

  An hour later the three soldiers were atop horses and riding away from the city; Kestrel had grabbed a change of clothes, his weapons, and one of the bags of healing water. “You’ll speak to me only in human languages, and translate our conversations to Arlen so he knows what we say,” Artur explained to Kestrel as they rode along the empty trail.

  Although he knew that according to elven traditions he wasn’t supposed to, Kestrel enjoyed riding atop a horse. The trio made good time thanks to the horses, and the animals were intelligent companions. Within three days they were in rugged foothills, the outcroppings of the Water Mountains, and trying to decide how to find a yeti.

  They found a cabin in a clearing, and stopped to watch for signs of life. There was no smoke rising from the chimney, and the doors were shut, but there were chickens running in the yard, and after several minutes of observation, they were rewarded when they saw a figure leave the cabin and walk across the yard to the shed.

  “He’s a human,” Kestrel stated the obvious. “Are we too far north?”

  “Maybe, or he may have settled a little south of usual. There’s no real border out here,” Artur commented.

  “Alright Kestrel. You go approach the shed, talk to the man. Let him know you’ve heard there’s a yeti, and find out if he’s heard anything about it in this area. Then come back and tell us what you’ve heard,” Artur instructed.

  Kestrel dismounted, and approached the shed, leading his horse. “Settler! Hello! I’m a visitor,” he called loudly.

  A man’s head popped out of the shed, and he heard a noise as a bolt was thrown on the door to the cabin. The man had a bow and arrow already sighted on Kestrel. “Come no closer!” he called out.

  “I’m not here to harm anyone!” Kestrel protested hastily. “I’m here with a couple of companions. We were sent out here to check on reports of a yeti in the area, bothering settlers. We’ll be on our way after we talk to you. Do you know of any yeti problems in this area?” he asked.

  The man remained behind the shed door, and kept his bow pointed at Kestrel. “About ten miles north of here, across the river. They’ve talked about the yeti up there. Now if that’s all, I’ll ask you to peacefully leave us alone.”

  Kestrel turned his horse and walked away, back to Arlen and Artur. “He says there’s talk of a yeti a few miles north of here,” Kestrel explained to both of them, in both languages. Translation skills came relatively easy for him now, and Artur was pleased with his progress.

  They rode north until they reached a river. The faint trail they followed reached a bluff that looked out over the river, and they followed the trail as it followed the river bank, moving west towards the mountains. The trail descended to a spot that plausibly provided an opportunity to ford the river, and they rode their horses through the wide, rippling spot in the river. It was a larger stream than Kestrel had ever seen before, and neither Artur nor Arlen knew what river it was.

  “Can’t we just run across?” Kestrel asked, referring to the elven ability to run atop water for short distances. Sprinting at their highest running speeds, and with their light frames, agile elves could cross over a hundred yards of water surface before they sank. It was an ability they delighted in, and was often a fiercely competitive sport to see who could reach furthest across a lake or pond before going under.

  “We can. The horses can’t,” Arlen pointed out the obvious to the sheepish Kestrel, and so they forded slowly through the cold water that flowed from the mountains.

  That night they settled into a camp spot, but made no fire. Kestrel was assigned first watch. Two hours into his shift he heard an unearthly scream, and the horses nickered uneasily. The scream came from some distance away, and Kestrel stood up, unsure of what to do. The scream seemed too far away to be in their immediate vicinity, yet it was close enough to hear.

  He decided to awaken Arlen, the armsman who knew something about the yeti. Arlen had described the monsters to Kestrel during their ride. “The creatures are immensely tall, incredibly strong, cunning and deceitful, and full of hatred. You seldom manage to avoid a fight with one if it knows you’re around. They don’t like to let any challengers survive in their territory, and they each claim a very large territory,” the elf had told Kestrel, who had translated for Artur.

  Arlen sat up in the darkness in response to Kestrel’s prod, but before Kestrel could even explain the reason for the untimely awakening, there was another scream, and then immediately a third scream, a different voice, one that sounded full of fear, not anger. “It sounds like you’ve found our yeti, Kestrel,” Arlen said softly. “And it sounds like he’s on the attack. Can you tell what direction the screams came from?”

  “Yes, over there, away from the moonrise,” Kestrel pointed west.

  “Awaken Artur, and get your weapons. We’ll see if we can do something tonight,” Arlen directed him as he rose from his bedroll.

  Kestrel awoke the linguist, then gathered up his bow and arrows, his staff, and his sword, then went to wait by the horses.

  “Come over here, Kestrel. We’re going to go on foot,” Arlen said, standing next to Artur, and holding a small lantern. “The horses won’t be able to travel quickly in the forest at night, and it’s not far anyway if we can hear the screams. We’ll use the lantern to try to find the path. I’ll take the lead, Artur will follow, and you bring up the rear. Let’s go,” he commanded as they started heading west, relying on the lantern to show them a narrow forest path that went in that direction.

  Five minutes later there was another yeti scream, much closer now, as well as the sound of breaking timbers. They redoubled their pace for three more minutes, then stopped suddenly when a woman’s scream came from their left, very nearby. Kes
trel looked and saw a light visible less than a hundred yards away, and Arlen started leading them through the brush and the forest, crashing through the undergrowth on a pathless charge towards the yeti’s apparent location.

  Within a minute the trees abruptly halted on the edge of a small opening in the forest. A small shed was on fire on one side. Its blaze illuminated three things that stood out in Kestrel’s mind: a body lay still in the ground nearby, a cabin had suffered such a violent assault one wall had been virtually torn away, and a huge creature, a dark malevolent entity, was entering the cabin, threatening a woman who pitifully attempted to protect a pair of small children using only a stick.

  Kestrel pulled his bow and strung an arrow, then released a shaft that hit the yeti in the back. He’d pulled his string taut, and the force of one of his shots, at such close range, should have been enough to deeply penetrate the flesh of any living creature. The yeti roared its displeasure and turned away from the small family, then plucked out the arrow that had barely penetrated its fur near its kidney, as it spotted the three elves on the edge of the clearing.

  “Okay, you’ve made it mad. Now what do we do?” Artur asked.

  “Yeti’s have the toughest hide I know of,” Arlen answered quickly. “They’re vulnerable in the groin, the eyes, the mouth, and not much anywhere else.

  “Spread out. I’ll try to attract him towards me,” Arlen said as the yeti began to leave the cabin and approach them. “Kestrel, you try to put an arrow in him wherever you can. Artur,” he added as he started to go right, “see if you can go help that woman get her kids somewhere safe, out of that cabin, so they’re not trapped in there.”

  Kestrel strung another arrow, and took aim at the yeti’s groin, then released the arrow and immediately pulled another arrow from his quiver, and let it fly too.

  The yeti screamed in pain as the first shaft hit it. The arrow was close to the target, hitting the inside of the upper thigh, while the second arrow arrived a second later only to bounce off the monster’s hip. The yeti paused as it reached down and pulled the successful first arrow free from its flesh, screaming its outrage upon the removal. It looked up at Kestrel, and started limping towards him.