by Adams, A. D.
“Terra!” she gasped out. “It’s you,” she said recovering her voice.
“How do you know my name?” he asked with a curious look on his face.
“You’re my son. You were taken so long ago from us. So long ago,
“ she said with sadness so deep it tore at Terra’s heart. Faray was standing next to the huge man and both looked at her with surprise in their faces.
“This is my brother?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure mother?”
“No other can heal like that,” as she pointed to the healthy powerful cat between the two of them.
Faray looked up, and it seemed for the first time his face came into focus. It was that of her father, except younger and larger.
“By the Solans, he has father’s face,” Faray said almost not realizing she was talking out loud.
“Yes he has,” Reicka said in a voice overwhelmed with emotion.
“What is your name?” Terra said.
“Reicka, do you remember it?”
The name seemed to echo to a past he had long since forgotten.
“No, I don’t,” he finally said in a hesitant voice.
Terra stood not quite understanding what was happening. Could this be his mother? He couldn’t really remember anything from the time before he was with the dragons. How could he know for sure?
Suddenly, he heard a low moan of pain from outside the cabin, and he walked to the door. He could see the bloody crumbled body of the man that was attacking the woman. The cat growling tried to scoot out the door between his legs. He picked her up with one arm holding her around the middle of her body. She twisted her head up and licked his face. He carried her out the door as if she weighed nothing. He handled a cat as big as a man like a common farm cat. Faray helped her mother from the floor, and they went to the door and saw Terra walking toward Wistack’s broken body. Both ran to stop him.
“He’s a dangerous man,” Faray said as they reached Terra.
“Not to me.”
Terra dropped Suti and bent down picking up the knife that was being eyed by Wistack through a fog of pain.
“What is this?” he asked while spinning it in his hand.
“It’s a knife. It’s the kind used only to kill with. No good man would carry a long curved blade of that type. It’s a blade for killing other men,” she said with great hatred and contempt. Terra lifted the knife in the air. It appeared he was going to drive it into the limp body before him, but instead he drove it into the stone above Wistack’s head. The force of the blow caused sparks to fly from the point of impact. The blade was driven into the great rock until it struck the hilt, and then Terra snapped off the handle as if were a twig. Both women recoiled back at the sight of the sparks. Reicka could not even imagine the strength it would take to drive a blade into stone. Then Terra reached down and his hand began to glow.
“Stop. He should die for what he did,” Reicka said with a hatred she did not even know she could possess.
Terra looked up with a gentle expression on his face and said, “I do not like killing.”
Reicka could not oppose the will of such a man. Faray watched in amazement as Terra healed the man in only a few heartbeats with a power beyond anything she had ever seen. Wistack lay there without moving. Terra stood up and looked down at the little man.
“You will leave here and never return. If you ever say anything about what happened this sun-rising, you will again become the pitiful heap of flesh that I just healed. Never come into the view of these women again, or you will be what you just were,” Terra said in a voice so powerful that the ground itself seemed to shake under the man’s body. He crawled to the road and rose to his feet and ran for his life.
Terra turned to the two women.
“My mate is with child, and Faray says you can tell us when the small one will come. Will you come with me and see her?” he said in a gentle loving voice.
“Yes, I will come my son,” she said to the son that was now a man.
“I need a little time. My clothes are torn.”
“I’ll wait.”
“Come Faray, help me,” Reicka said as she walked to the cabin.
The two women walked into the cabin, and Terra sat down near the rock. The great cat nudged him, and he began petting it. It purred like a kitten with his touch.
“Faray, it is your brother. He was taken so long ago,” Reicka said in oddly low tones as they entered the door.
“Are you sure mother?”
“Yes. I never told you much about your brother. It was partially because of the pain and also to protect you,” she said with a far off look.
“Protect me from what?”
“Your brother was different than others from the time he was born.
He tamed Suti just by touching her. He was the only male ever known by myself or your grandmother who had the magic power of healing.
He had infinitely more magic than I did, and he was only a crawling infant. I was afraid you would be the same, and the people around us would take you if they discovered it. So I told you little about your brother. I also tried to stop you from using magic because I didn’t want to lose you. That’s why I have been so slow to teach you healing. You have stronger power than I, but nothing akin to your brother. You saw what he could do.”
“Yes, but you said he was killed by animals,” Faray said looking confused.
“That is what your father and I thought. Your grandmother thought we should take Terra to see the old one in the Mur Mountains after he began showing his magic. None of us knew quite what to do, and we thought she might be able to help. So we went. The old woman was little help, and on our return, Averons attacked. Terra was carried off by one, and your father was injured. Suti was almost killed. I was never able to really heal her. The Solans only knows where he has been all this time and why he’s dressed like a beggar.”
“Mother, you must know something before you go. This man lives with dragons. He took me to his wife on the back of one. I went because every time he touched me my fear dissolved into nothing, and I seemed to trust him with my life. I can’t explain it more than that.”
“Even as a child he could make anything trust him with a touch. I can’t believe that he could even influence the great dragons, but somehow he must have. I don’t think he believes that I am his mother.
He was so small when he was taken. I doubt if he even remembers what happened.”
Chapter 73 - The Past Rises
(The Past Sometimes Invades the Present.)
357 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons
The two women walked from the cabin and could see Terra sitting by the rock petting Suti. The great cat seemed almost in a state of ecstasy over having the man near her. Reicka walked toward Terra and Faray followed. Terra stood up when he saw them approach.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes, we are ready.”
The three of them plus Suti walked to the place in the trees where Terra had created a path through pure strength. This time though he healed the plants as they moved through them and into the clearing, leaving no sign of their passage. There before Reicka was the most magnificent and frightening sight she had ever seen, a great bronze colored dragon. She seemed frozen with fear until Terra’s hand took hers. Suddenly, all the fear was lifted, and she knew nothing would harm her. Suti recoiled back against the wall of plants at the sight of the dragon. Terra simply reached down and petted the cat, and it immediately returned to his side as fearless as ever. They walked toward the giant beast as if it were nothing more then a pet. Terra stooped down and petted the cat’s head.
“You stay here we’ll be back soon.”
Suti seemed to understand him and moved off, lying down near the place they had entered. Faray had never seen a man control any beast with such ease.
They walked to the dragon, and Terra put his hand on its side and patted it.
“This is Lowlack, my oldest
friend,” he said as the great head of the beast came around and gently nudged his body.
Terra then took hold of Reicka and lifted her to the back of the dragon and then he swung up behind her. He reached down, pulled Faray up, and set her behind him. He told Faray to hang onto him. She put her hands around his middle, and his body felt like a hard indestructible piece of metal except he was warm to the touch and smelled sweet as honey. As soon as her hands touched him, she seemed rooted in place like a great tree in the ground.
The great dragon vaulted into the air like some magnificent bird.
Both women could feel the massive muscles of the beast flex through their legs. Neither could have imagined such a thing only that morning.
Terra’s magic held the two in place, and they flew with astonishing speed back to the crevice. Reicka was as awe struck as Faray had been.
The flight was beyond her wildest dreams. She thought back and remembered what the old woman at the cave had said.
“If he is, he will leave you for a time. He will have to find his own way to the path that his destiny lies along.”
The words rang through her mind. “A time, his whole life is more than ‘a time’,” she thought to herself in anger. “Why was he taken from us?” she thought to whatever gods that were listening.
She was suddenly brought back to the world as they flew over the ridge of the crevice, and she could see the incredible sight below them.
As the great dragon descended in a circular path, she could see people waiting for them. As they dismounted, the most beautiful woman Reicka had ever seen walked up with three odd-looking creatures. At the mouth of a great cave an even larger green dragon stood looking at them with suspicion in it’s eyes.
“This is my wife Fienna,” Terra said as the tall beautiful woman nodded.
“And these are Sea Nymphs, Setilan, Seana and the Old Sinut.”
They too nodded as introduced.
“The dragon in the cave entrance is Dawra.”
“You say you’re my mate’s mother, how do you know this?” the multicolored woman said in broken and very hesitating language.
Reicka was surprised at the question; Terra had not said a word to her about it.
“A great Averon carried my son away many seasons ago. He had an amulet around his neck. It had nine prongs on it with gems at the end of each. It was identical to the image on his chest and yours. His name was Terra, and he was very small. He was also the only man alive that had the power of healing.” With that, Fienna turned to Terra and began talking to him in a series of growls and other noises. Terra spoke back to her in the same language. Then both of them spoke to the dragon that had brought them to this place, in the same odd manner, and he talked back to them.
“You may be my mother, but I need time to consider what you have said. Will you look at my wife and tell us when the child is to come?”
Terra said in a warmhearted voice.
“Yes, of course, I will. My son’s wife after all is my daughter,” she said in the most loving manner possible.
They all walked toward the cave, and the dragon Dawra moved to the side and allowed them to pass. Reicka placed her hand on Fienna’s stomach and concentrated for several moments.
“It will come in four full moon risings. It is a girl child and very strong. Almost as strong as Terra was when he was within me,” Reicka said with a love that only a grandmother could have.
The dragon at the entrance had moved close, and her head was now within a man’s height from them. She began talking to Fienna. At least that is what Reicka took it for. The two talked for sometime while Reicka moved away and was again struck by the absolute beauty of the cave that her son obviously lived in. She stumbled back as her foot struck a rock, and she could feel a powerful hand come up from behind and support her. She could feel a presence within her reaching deep into her memories of the past. The presence was so gentle and loving she felt no fear when she realized it was Terra. She allowed him to find what he wished. Then he was gone. He stood in front of her with Fienna and now eight of the spokes on his chest were lit.
“You are my mother,” Terra said as Fienna stepped forward and hugged her with the strength of ten men her size. She could hardly breathe, and when Fienna realized what she was doing, she released her grasp.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t; I just need to get my breath back.”
“Perhaps the two of you should sit down,” Terra said to both Reicka and Fienna.
“You see,” he continued. “I came to the dragons very young. I remember virtually nothing of my life before I came to live with Fienna and her mother Dawra,” he said as he pointed to the great dragon above them.
“But Fienna’s a woman not a dragon,” Faray said in a confused tone.
“Right now she is, but she is really a dragon. She became human at the full moon, but the last time she never changed back. Now we know why. She was with child.”
Terra went on to describe his life with the dragons and how he met the nymphs. As he was finishing, darkness began to creep across the crevice floor. He did not tell them everything only what he felt important. His mother made a point of asking about the lake’s color, and he reluctantly explained what had happened. The two had grown tired, and Terra felt they should stay the sunset. They agreed, and the nymphs arranged bedding. Terra and Fienna walked to the back of the cave as the ceiling crystals slowly lost their light.
Chapter 74 - New Clothes
(Men Care Little About what They Wear.)
357 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons
In the morning, Faray awoke just as a single ray of light struck the first ceiling crystal. It slowly lit up like a brilliant torch causing the ones around it to also light. It was the most incredible thing she had ever seen. What a world her brother lived in. She remembered the stories Terra had told them and wondered how anyone could have survived such a life. Her mother stirred at her side and opened her eyes to the rainbow of light igniting above them. It was breath taking.
“Do you like the show?” Terra’s voice came from behind them.
“It’s beyond description,” Reicka said with wonder in her voice.
As the two got up Reicka saw a man that looked like a beggar.
“You need good well fitting clothes not those rags. Can you take me to my cabin? I’ll get some cloth and make you clothes that fit,” she said while pulling at the rags he wore.
“Yes, I guess so, but these are fine for me,” he said as Fienna walked up in a beautiful glistening dress.
“You need better clothes my love. Those are only rags that we picked up after all,” Fienna said as she put her arm around his waist.
“Fine,” he said with a shrug.
“First, I need something to measure you with. Do you have a rope or vine?” Reicka asked.
Fienna walked over to a small hole in the wall of the cave and pulled out a basket used by the nymphs when they helped fit Fienna with clothes. She reached in and pulled out a knotted string.
“Is this what you want?”
“Yes, that’s perfect,” Reicka said as she took the string.
“Now Terra take off that thing you have over your head.” Terra took off the cloth that he had cut a hole in for his head.
“Now stretch out your arms even with the ground. Come help me Faray.”
Terra did as he was asked. Reicka could hardly believe the size of his body. She and Faray could barely reach his head, and his arms seemed to stretch out forever. He didn’t seem incredibly muscular, but when she touched his body, it was a hard as rock. His chest was twice the size of her husbands’, and his waist was only slightly smaller than his chest. His arms were bigger around than one of her legs and just as long. “He was a big child, but he is a massive man,” she thought to herself as she completed her measurements with Faray’s help. Both women suddenly began smelling something cooking. Two female nymphs had a fire going and had someth
ing roasting over it. They both suddenly realized how hungry they were. Terra seemed to understand what they were thinking as they looked at the fire.
“Come, let’s eat you must be hungry,” he said to them as all four of them walked to the fire.
One of the nymphs handed Terra a basket of small cakes. He held it out to the two women.
“These are called sea cakes; they are very tasty. Please try one.”
They seemed to be hesitant so Terra and Fienna both took one and ate them. Reicka took a cake it seemed heavy and slowly bit into it. It tasted very good, and she quickly ate the rest. Faray did the same. Over the fire the nymphs were roasting something that looked like a swimmer, but much larger than the ones in the waters around their cabin. They took it off the fire, broke it into four chunks, and placed them onto four large scooped shaped things that seemed to have all the colors of the rainbow in them. The two women did not hesitate this time and quickly ate all the white sweet tasting flesh given to them. Terra offered them more sea cakes, and both took several more. While they finished the cakes, Terra seemed to be eating long green leaves smelling of swimmers. They finally were full and thanked the two nymphs.
“Why did they not eat?” Faray asked.
“They only eat unfired creatures. They do not like it heated through; they say it ruins it. I don’t like the taste when it has not been roasted, so they fire it for me. Fienna will eat it either way.”
Reicka seemed to be thinking as they walked away from the fire.
“I don’t think I have near enough cloth to make you clothing. I will need much more, but we have precious little to trade for more cloth.”
“Trade?” Fienna asked in a questioning voice.
“Yes, we give the people who make cloth something, and they give us the cloth. But we have very little to give,” Faray said.
“What type of things do you trade? “ Fienna asked in a slow manner trying to say the words correctly.