Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles

by A. J. Norfield

  They traveled through the giant tree forest for a number of days now. The trees started to vary in species. The ground held various leaves next to an abundance of thin needle leaves. Despite the differences, all trees still had massive trunks towering upward. And although the branches of some trees twisted, with complexity, through the air in comparison to the more straight branches of the needle trees, there were still very few low branches……it often felt like walking in a hall of pillars.

  As Galirras became more adept at hunting, he and Raylan took over some of the hunting trips from Kevhin and Rohan.

  “Would you like to take a leg back to camp? Maybe even two?”

  The dragon sighed heavily. It had been a successful morning hunt, perhaps because they went out before dawn.

  “I think that’ll be a great idea.”

  As Raylan cut through the hind quarter of the deer, Galirras moved to the side. He lay down on a flat slab of rock, which had been warming up in a rare ray of sunlight falling through the roof of leaves.

  Raylan tied the two hind legs together and slung them across his shoulder. The group would not go hungry today.

  As he approached Galirras, he found the dragon staring intensely at a spot on the ground. A ray of sunlight touched the ground, not far from the stone slab Galirras sat on. In the beam of light were three leaves twirling, moving around each other in circles, almost dancing.

  Raylan looked at the leaves with a mesmerizing look, one similar to the small dragon’s look, then something struck him as odd. Looking around, he saw no other leaves moving, no branches swaying, nothing. There was no wind this morning as they stood there in the dim light of the forest.

  “That’s odd,” he said, aloud.

  Galirras looked startled, as if he had not seen Raylan approach him. Immediately, the leaves dropped to the ground.

  “What is odd?”

  “There’s no wind at all, yet those leaves moved as if touched by it.”

  “That was not the wind. I think that was me.”

  Galirras sounded a little surprised at his remark.

  “What do you mean, that was you? Can you do it again?” asked Raylan.

  “I think so.”

  As he returned his gaze to the leaves, Galirras raised his head, in concentration. Front legs crossed, head raised, the dragon looked focused and relaxed at the same time, as the end of his tail twitched, back and forth, every now and then.

  After a moment where nothing happened, one of the leaves started trembling. Shortly after, the other two leaves that had been in the dance started shifting. The movements increased, until all three leaves suddenly lifted in the air, as if carried by a breeze. The leaves swirled around, just above the ground, sometimes touching the green moss, sometimes flying to the side. But each time, some invisible force pushed the leaves up into the air, or back into the odd dance.

  “That’s amazing! How are you doing this?” Raylan wondered.

  Looking at Raylan, the dragon beamed with pride. Right away, the leaves scattered, as if hit by a gush of wind, and fell to the ground. Galirras let out his breath.

  “It takes a lot of effort, but I am getting better at it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have been practicing.”

  “But how can you move them without touching them?”

  “I am touching them…in a way.”

  “I didn’t see you move. How can you be touching them?” said Raylan, who grew more confused and more interested.

  “I touched the air around it. At least, I think that is what I did.”

  “The air? But how? You can’t even see the air…”

  “You cannot?” asked Galirras, as he turned his head and twirled his three pupils at Raylan, in wonder.

  “When I look at things, I see little sparkles flying everywhere. They light up and fade away really quickly, like flowing water sparkling in the sunlight. I see them better in direct sunlight. It’s harder to see them in the shadow of the trees.”

  “It must be a dragon thing,” said Raylan, “but what does that have to do with the leaves moving?”

  “Well, I thought the sparkles looked pretty, so I wanted to catch them. But my claw moved right through them, or perhaps the sparkles flowed around it. I tried several more times, but it had no effect. So, I started watching the movement of the sparkles. They were random, at first, but I noticed a few days ago that if I concentrate on them, they started moving in the same direction. The more I concentrate, the faster they move.”

  “So, you are able to move things by moving the sparkles?”

  “Not at first. One night, I noticed the flames of our campfire got larger, if I moved the sparkles toward them. I saw I could push against a flame and make it bend. That got me thinking what else I could move. I was not successful, until I just moved these leaves today.”

  “And here I thought you just liked to look at the flames every night. Who knew you were doing such an amazing thing.”

  Galirras yawned.

  “It is very tiring to do. I would like go back to camp and sleep for a bit, if that is okay.”

  “That’s fine. We got enough meat for today’s meal,” said Raylan. “Besides, I want to ask Xi’Lao if she knows anything about thi—”

  Raylan turned around slowly, mid-sentence, as a low growl originated behind him. He saw a dark brown timber wolf with a lowered head and pulled back lips. The animal let out another deep dark growl, looking Raylan in the eye, as two wolves joined it from behind the tree. The soft snapping of a branch made Raylan look to his left. Another wolf moved, in a circular motion, around them.

  In total, seven wolves came into view, surrounding them from all sides. The smallest one was as big as Galirras.

  “What do they want?” said Galirras, as he rose to his feet.

  “They must have been drawn here by the smell of your kill,” said Raylan, as he held out a hand to Galirras. “Make no sudden movements, there are too many of them. If we’re lucky, they’ll only want the deer remains…”

  Carefully, Raylan moved his hand to his shoulder, lifting the string with the two hind legs. The brown timber wolf let out a deep rumbling growl and took a step forward.

  “He must be the alpha…the leader of the pack,” said Raylan, more to himself than to Galirras.

  Another wolf moved up beside the alpha and was greeted with a quick snarl and a snap of the jaws, before the wolf’s yellow eyes focused on Raylan again. By now, he had the deer legs in his arms. Trying to make no sudden movements, he dropped the pieces of deer in front of the wolf, where it landed with a heavy thud.

  The wolf brought his nose down and sniffed. As it looked up at him, Raylan hoped—for a brief moment—their offer had been accepted. A brief moment was all he got, as the brown leader sprung forward, jaws open, aimed at his throat.

  Chapter 9

  Friends

  Raylan’s muscles were more prepared than his mind. Reacting automatically to the danger was more instinct than training as he let himself slump to the left. Falling sideways, his right hand moved to his sword. The wolf had already adjusted its trajectory, but still overshot him nonetheless thanks to its ferocious speed. Rolling across his shoulders, Raylan moved even further to the left. His hand darted out in full swing as he rolled on his feet again, hoping to slash the wolf’s neck. But the wolf reacted too fast, shifting sideways, and the blade only nicked the wolf’s right ear.

  The wolf gave an angry growl, after which, it moved forward to pounce on Raylan once more. But before it had the chance, Galirras came in from the side with a deep roar.

  “Stay away from him!”

  With his mouth stretched wide, baring all of his teeth, Galirras crashed full force into the wolf’s flank. The wolf, unfamiliar with the dragon species, clearly underestimated the danger of his presence.

  Galirras showed an unrelenting ferociousness which topped the vicious predators. Driven by his will to protect Raylan, the dragon slashed his claws into the wolf’s ri
bs and sunk his teeth into his back. The long rigid hairs of its fur protected the timber wolf, somewhat, against the heavy attack. Flipping around on the spot, the wolf tried to lock its jaws on Galirras’ neck, but only managed to reach his shoulder. Despite the rapid growth Galirras had gone through over the last few weeks, the wolf still had a size advantage over him. Galirras let out a short yelp, before clawing furiously at the nose and eyes of the wolf.

  Raylan wanted to move in to help, but had no time to focus on anything but his own safety. The remaining six wolves had followed their leader’s example, although less aggressively and more opportunistically. One tried an attack to see if Raylan would react, while another made use of the reaction to see if he left an opening in his defense.

  To his side, Raylan heard another loud yelp which drew his attention, even if he did not want to look away. Luckily, it was the wolf who cried out after Galirras’ claw scratched him right in the left eye. Being distracted, the other wolves used the moment and closed the gap on Raylan, in an instant.

  Raylan, noticing his distraction mistake, turned back immediately. He tried to slash the incoming wolf across the face, but the wolf actually caught the sword’s tip in its jaws and held it tightly between its teeth. A smaller, black wolf immediately jumped for Raylan’s unprotected right calf. Trying to react, he found his sword, immobile in the wolf’s jaws. His only option was to let go and take the wolf on barehanded. But before he had time to take on the attacking beast, without warning, a strange sound swept through the forest. A whirring too foreign to be an animal or nature. The swishing toink and loud thud were more familiar to Raylan’s ears, having traveled with Kevhin and Rohan for a number of months. The black wolf, which had been moments away from putting its teeth into Raylan’s leg, was thrown to the side by the force of a black bolt hitting its ribs.

  Looking around, Raylan expected to see Kevhin or Rohan—hell, perhaps even both—with their crossbows at the ready again; but the sight was much stranger and completely unexpected. Two figures came down from the trees, above them a tall rope—or cable—reaching all the way into the lower leaf canopy. Their faces were almost fully covered by leather masks and hoods. In their hands, one-handed crossbows, which looked really small for the punch they packed. As one reloaded, the other shot a bolt in the hind leg of the wolf with Raylan’s sword. It immediately released the sword, and it leaped away from Raylan, whimpering. As the two figures reached the ground, the whirring stopped. Both men pulled on levers, before firing another salvo. One hit another wolf, the other barely missed, burying itself deeply into a tree trunk.

  Shouts were now heard in the distance.

  “Raylan! Where are you? Answer us!”

  “Galirraaaas!” another joined, as the voices closed in, rapidly.

  The alpha wolf, which Galirras had been fighting, raised its head, ears erect. With an unknown danger coming from the trees, along with the shouts of at least a handful of people quickly approaching, the odds turned against its pack. They would find other prey to feed on, more familiar prey. As the wolf broke off the fight with the dragon, it was chased by Galirras, for just a few steps. But noticing the unfamiliar men, Galirras stopped before he lost sight of Raylan. He was not about to leave him alone in such a dangerous place.

  Returning to Raylan, Galirras walked slowly and deliberately. Blood ran down the dragon’s shoulder where the wolf had bitten him, but it did not seem to bother him much. Moving in front of Raylan, he kept a steady eye on the two mysterious men with their strange backpacks and ropes going up into the trees.

  Running footsteps approached rapidly. Richard, Kevhin, Gavin, Xi’Lao and Ca’lek came skidding around one of the large tree roots.

  Kevhin noticed the two strange looking men first, and aimed his crossbow at them in less than a heartbeat. The others, with swords and knives in hand, slid to a stop, spreading out around the unknown danger. One of the two men turned around and aimed his crossbow at the arriving party, while the other kept his gaze on Raylan and Galirras.

  “Who are you?” demanded Gavin. “Put down your weapons!”

  “Hold on, Gavin. They helped us,” spoke Raylan.

  But Gavin was not that easily convinced.

  “Tell us who you are. Do you understand me? We have you outnumbered, so lower your weapons and let us see your faces.”

  The situation quickly grew tense. Raylan saw the larger of the two men slowly shake his head at Gavin, gesturing with two fingers at his own eyes and then pointing behind the small group up in the trees.

  At the same moment, the strange whirring disrupted the sounds of nature once again, as three additional people came down from the trees. One twisted around a large tree trunk, running along it, spiraling downward until he reached one of the root plateaus. Another halted halfway down along the trunk, and rested his feet on the tree trunk, while balancing his crossbow, taking aim. The third, dropped just to the right of Gavin.

  The distance between them was close enough to be dangerous, but was far enough to be reactive to any attack Gavin might attempt. Raylan saw his brother shift nervously, back and forth, trying to decide the best course of action.

  “Listen to me, Gavin,” said Raylan. “They really helped us. There were wolves, big ones! They helped chase them off. I don’t think they mean harm. They’re clearly not the men we fought before.”

  Gavin did not move an inch. This was enemy territory. What were the chances that they would actually find allies, or even friends, this far from home. It was his duty to protect everyone, not to expose them to any unnecessary risks.

  The man, who had made the gesture to them, slowly lowered his crossbow. One hand in the air, palm forward, he slowly put the crossbow down on the ground with his other. Turning around, he gestured for his companion to do the same. The other man rolled his eyes, in disbelief, before he, too, lowered the crossbow. The other three soon followed.

  Raylan saw his brother and the others relax a little. Once everyone lowered their weapons, the man—who put down his crossbow first—pulled off his hood and mask. Underneath was a man with a rugged beard and long dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. On his cheek, a large scar was visible, as if someone had branded him. It was shaped like a closed fist.

  The man looked at Raylan and produced a big smile on his face.

  “Who are you?” Raylan posed, even though it was unlikely the man understood.

  “Someone who’s overjoyed to hear free people speak the language of his motherland in these uncommon lands after so many years!” he replied, to Raylan’s surprise. His grin grew even wider.

  The man had a thick accent but definitely spoke Terran.

  “You speak Terran?” Raylan said, surprised.

  “Ever since I was little.”

  “You’re all Terrans?”

  “No. Some are from here, some are Southerners. Me, I’m Terran…it’s a nice mix of things. But we all have one thing in common.”

  “Oh, and what’s that?”

  “We’re all former slaves of the Stone King.”

  With this, the other men removed their hoods, showing different skins tones, but all wearing the same burn mark on their faces.

  “Slaves? But how did you all end up here? How did you survive?” Raylan fired off questions, rapidly.

  “Easy there, mate. You’ll have plenty of time to get to know us, I expect. You and your lizard.”

  “He’s a dragon, not a lizard.”

  “A dragon? You don’t say. I thought those existed only in stories.”

  “Not anymore, as you can see.”

  “Interesting!”

  The man looked at Gavin.

  “You’re the commander, correct?”

  “Indeed I am, and you are?”

  “The name’s Sebastian, but my friends call me Seb. I would like to invite you back to our base. I believe our council would be interested in meeting y’all.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Cause they’re the curious type and it’s not e
very day that we run into fellow Terrans in these parts. In fact, we never thought anyone would get this far without being killed or captured. As you may have noticed, this part of the world isn’t exactly safe. We spotted a soldier patrol half a day’s walk from here yesterday, so I suggest we start moving. Since no one knows we’re here, I assume they’re looking for you guys. There are more people of your group nearby, right? I think we better get them and be on our way.”

  “Hold on, how do you know there are more of us out there?” Gavin said, voicing his suspicion.

  “We spotted your group a few days ago and have been following you ever since. You didn’t seem like normal soldiers, so I got curious. Imagine my delight when I heard you all speaking my native language around the campfire at night. But we can talk later. Let’s get everyone somewhere safe, first.”

  Sebastian whistled and motioned upward to the two farthest men. They pulled a handle on the side of the strange contraptions on their backs, and pushed off hard, descending all the way to the forest floor. As soon as they touched it, they pushed off, forcefully, while pushing the handle the other way. The metallic whirring filled the surroundings as both men shot into the air to the lowest branches. Raylan could not believe his eyes, and he felt Galirras share his feeling of awe, in his head.

  “What is that?” said Galirras.

  “I have got no clue,” replied Raylan, privately.

  Sebastian called out to the younger guy who had landed close to Gavin.

  “You take the high road, too, Twan. Tell Otis and Martin to follow us and keep an eye out for trouble. We’ll be heading for the stables. Ivar and I will stay on ground level, so unclasp us when you get topside.”

  The one called Twan, released his lever and pushed off just like the others had done. With crazy speed, he shot upward, disappearing into the lower canopy.