“What!”
“It is called a Trappist,” Arghen informed us while getting his breath back under control. “I had not started telling you about spider creatures yet. Perhaps with this terrain I should.”
Jason groaned. “What else is this loco world going to throw at us?”
Arghen clapped a warm hand to our shoulders in turn. “You both did very well. I am extremely pleased with how you took direction. In actuality this battle could have been ended long ago, but I wanted to give you both practice in dealing with a monster and in cooperating with each other.”
Jason and I simultaneously turned a scowl on him.
“You mean to tell me you had us fight longer than we had to, hombre?” he asked with incredulousness.
Arghen gave a self-satisfied nod.
I shook my head slowly. “Unbelievable. Well, never mind that now, Jason. We have something bigger to worry about.”
“We do?” he asked.
I pointed over his shoulder. “Yeah. Like, how are we going to get Maris out of here?”
It took some effort, but between pulling on the reins and pushing at his rump, we got Maris up the steep crumbly pit ramp that had sort of developed by accident during the course of the fight.
Later that day, after finding a small spring that allowed us to clean up from the battle and bind the small wounds we’d taken, I asked Jason about his fighting techniques. That led to a conversation about his gang activities in general. It was weird, but also kind of interesting to hear about. From the way he talked, it seemed like he wasn’t part of a criminally-minded gang who dealt in drugs and stuff; they seemed more of a survivalist kind of gang. Yeah, they stole from businesses and people, but they did it to stay alive. It was surprising to me to learn the amount of different things he’d either picked up on his own or had been taught to do by his buddies—like lockpicking, climbing the outsides of buildings to get to upper story places, sneaking about without being caught, and stuff like that—things which would get him locked up back home if he were caught doing them. But that was something he didn’t have to worry about since there were no cops out here.
But even if there were, I didn’t’ feel like I could turn him in. Since that fateful campfire argument we’d started opening up to each other about our lives, and he’d told me things like how it was he knew about camping and camp cooking. It had turned out that he and his gang had sometimes gone out of town when things got too hot for them activity-wise, and they’d go camping in the woods away from the city until it was safe to return. Learning about him bit by bit made it much easier to think of him as a friend.
Arghen said, “You have a surprising variety of skills, Jason. I will just caution you to use them only when it seems right, especially in settled areas.” Then he turned to me. “I think it would be a good thing for you, Lise, to develop some new skills of your own.”
“What, like Jason’s?” I asked.
He smiled. “No. Like directing a fight.”
“Me?” I was astonished.
“Yes. What if for some reason I am rendered unable to speak but still able to fight? Someone else needs to be able to direct. Since I am to assist you on your quest, I believe this is something you need to learn. We can start tonight.”
I gulped. “But we had our fight for the day!”
He said seriously, “And now we can have one for the night.”
CHAPTER 16
Three days later the mountains were much closer now, or at least their foothills were. Arghen, Jason and I had left the sandy soiled area behind and were back among the grasslands, crossing a meadow of blue-green grass with the occasional scrawny tree here and there. I saw some birds in the sky circling around the far end of the meadow and pointed them out.
“Vultures?” I asked.
Jason looked at them. “I dunno about that, Lise. They look a little off in size, know what I mean?”
Arghen asked, “What are ‘vultures’?”
“They’re a kind of scavenger bird in our world. They look for dead things to eat. They will circle in the sky above something if they’re not sure its dead, and they’ll wait ’til they haven’t seen movement in a while before swooping down to, umm, eat it,” I replied.
“How big are these vultures in your world?”
I frowned. “I dunno. Bird-sized. Minus the wings, maybe as big around as this?”
Dropping my reins, I used my hands to make a basket-ball-sized circle.
That was a mistake.
A loud swooshing sound came from behind me accompanied by the fetid smell of bird droppings. Before I could even turn to see what it was I was hit from behind and shoved forward in my saddle almost onto Saffron’s neck. Large grey talons at the end of horny grey legs grasped the shoulder parts of my armor, huge sky-blue wings made a terrific downbeat, and I was lifted right off my horse! I screamed.
“Lise!” Jason yelled.
He jumped from his saddle and managed to catch hold of my legs. I heard Maris’ frightened squeal as the bird thing bobbled Jason and I away from the horses, Jason’s extra weight preventing it from rising into the sky. I craned my head around to try and look at it, but my armor kind of got in the way of me moving my neck—all I could see was a huge breast covered in sky-blue feathers and a bit of the head sporting a big grey beak with a wicked looking hook. Arghen yelled at me for fighting directions, sounding further away than I liked hearing, and I remembered I was supposed to lead the next fight.
Really? I wondered. While I was being carried away?
But in a flash I knew that actually that was the perfect time—if my skin was going to be saved, I had to help do it.
“Arghen! Spear this damned thing before it gets any higher! Jason! Let go and throw your knives at it!”
“But it will fly away with you!” he yelled back, arguing.
“You can’t fight it while clinging to me like a limpet! Wait for Arghen to hit it and then drop and throw! Or go get your bow!”
The bird thing squawked loudly—Arghen must have gotten it from someplace I couldn’t see. Jason dropped, and that freed me to draw out my long knife from the right side of my belt. I drove it into the right foot about where the ankle would be just as one of Jason’s knives flew up and struck a little above where I’d hit. I flinched from the close miss as blood spurted out from the two hits, and the bird monster squawked again. The talon of the hurt claw opened and curled up against the body, partially dropping me. I dangled off balance, held up only by one bird foot.
“Arghen! Spear it again! Jason! Watch where you’re throwing, and stay away from the legs!”
I swung up at the talon still holding me and scored a deep hit this time. Blood squirted out, and it squawked again. The talon holding me opened and I fell about ten feet to the ground, which knocked the breath out of me. The bird banked, and I saw Arghen standing on Stalker’s saddle and attacking the bird repeatedly with his spear. Jason, I saw, was out of throwing knives. But for some reason, instead of getting his bow, he had drawn his paired dirks instead. He crouched, looking like he was ready to stab the monster by jumping up like a basketball player going for a slam dunk.
“Jason! Your bow!” I wanted to scream, but couldn’t.
The bird, deciding discretion was the better part of valor, flew away squawking.
Jason ran over to me. “Lise! Lise! Are you okay?”
I nodded but scowled, still not having enough breath to talk. He helped me to stand, not understanding my expression.
Arghen yelled, “Jason! I am going to retrieve Maris—you stay with Lise!”
He hurried Stalker away across the field on Maris’ trail.
My scowl melted into panic for Saffron and I swung my head wildly around looking for him, but I saw the golden horse placidly cropping some of the blue green grass nearby. My mouth hung open.
“Why’s he just standing there? Shouldn’t he have run away too?” I managed to gasp at Jason.
Jason made a half smile. “I’m not com
plaining. Maybe he’s war trained, or whatever the equivalent is over here. Maybe he’s used to things like that blue bird monster.”
Huh. If he was war trained, that would certainly explain why he’d not been afraid during any of the battles we’d been through lately. I sent up thanks to Caelestis for that.
When I had a little more breath back, I asked Jason, “Why didn’t you use your bow?”
He threw up his hands and said in annoyance, “Because I was a little busy at the time, it wasn’t strung, and I still don’t know how to use it all that great yet. Okay?”
I nodded. I went slowly over to Saffron to get the rest of my breath back, and I stroked him to calm myself down. Jason followed me, his eyes tight with unease, but I waved him off to hunt around and find as many of his throwing knives as he could.
“Hey, Jason?” I was able to say to him when he’d come back.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
He flipped one bronzed-colored hand dismissively at me, grinning. “Don’t mention it. I owe you for the spider after all.”
Arghen returned not long afterwards with Maris in tow. Though still somewhat wild-eyed, Maris allowed Jason to mount him while I got back on Saffron. After that attack none of us wanted to take a break out in the open, so we headed for the tree line we could see not too far away. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the woods away from the blue-green field, and then also decided to spend the night there because it was time for a long rest.
Around the campfire after dinner Jason asked, “Why are we risking our lives again?”
I frowned at him. “You know why.”
“No, actually, I don’t,” he complained. “And neither do you. You said that yourself. For all we know, Quiris and Caelestis have us off on some wild goose chase just to fill our time until another mist gate opens and Caelestis can fulfill her promise to you.”
Next thing I knew a strong, pale hand came out of nowhere, gripped Jason by the neck strap of his armor, and hauled him up to his feet to within an inch of Arghen’s scowling face.
“You will always speak of the Goddess Quiris in words and tone of politeness within my hearing, Human. I will not tolerate anything less in my presence. Understand?” Arghen’s tone was thick with suppressed anger.
Jason’s face drained of color a little, knowing from the last couple of weeks just how deadly a fighter the Under-elf was. “Yeah, Arghen, not a problem! I didn’t mean anything by it! Sorry!”
Arghen let go of him and returned to sitting by the fire, composing himself.
Once Arghen looked calmer I asked him cautiously, “Why did you take such an issue with what Jason said?”
The Under-elf frowned again but made an effort to smooth out his features. “You know that I was sent to the surface, and to you, at the behest of the Goddess Quiris. But what you do not know is that I had just made Her acquaintance not long before I did. I had been banished from my House and my City-state, and was alone. I had been fighting for Relkanav against an invasion force, and mercy-killed an opponent I’d been dueling one on one with who was too wounded to take prisoner. This was to spare her from being tortured to death for information. For my actions I was slandered by my Captain and then cast out of my military company, my House, and the city as well. I was wandering in the tunnels of the Sub-realms, not sure what to take as my next step, when She came to me.”
“Hey, you never mentioned this before! Your story is kind of like mine! I mean the alone-in-the-wilderness part, not the cast-out part. And,” I hooked a thumb at Jason, “what happened to him too, sort of, though not in a positive way.”
Jason scrunched up his face in remembrance as Arghen said dreamily, “Meeting the Goddess Quiris has been the most incredible thing that has ever happened in my life. I will defend Her name or anything that is Hers with my heart’s blood. She is my White Rose. I am Hers, body and soul. I am …,” and he went off in an adoring vein.
Jason and I exchanged uncomfortable glances, and Arghen cut himself off as he became conscious that he was talking unrestrainedly. His cheeks turned a bright red over and above the ruddiness that the campfire’s light provided his skin.
“Speaking of the Gods and Goddesses, Lise, have you yet prayed seriously to Caelestis and let her know what you have been doing?” he said to change the subject.
I became scarlet-faced in turn, remembering what Caelestis had said about worshipers telling their gods things that have happened. “Uh, no. I haven’t. I guess I should go do that now.”
I rose and went some distance away to sit down on the opposite side of a pine tree, out of line-of-sight. It wasn’t far enough that the others couldn’t easily reach me should something else attack, but it was enough away that I felt like I was alone.
“Umm, hi, Caelestis ….” I trailed off.
I wasn’t too sure how to have a conversation with a Goddess. I’d tossed up the occasional quick prayer asking her for help in the middle of doing something, but this felt different. I decided to tell her everything that had happened since I last saw her like I would tell it to one of my girlfriends back home. It took a while.
“So there you have it. I, uh, hope that helps you in some way,” I ended.
As I opened my eyes I experienced what felt like a warm and caring mental pat on the back that was tinged with some amount of satisfaction. I jumped, scattering dirt and pine needles with my knees. Had that been from Caelestis? I felt it again, and my face glowed. It really had happened—she had heard me, and she responded! I almost floated back to camp.
“But how does it work?” Jason asked Arghen incredulously as I returned.
It seemed I’d come back in the middle of a conversation. I sat down to listen, still feeling warm inside.
Arghen smiled slightly and shook his head. “If I had not already known that you were Human, this would have confirmed any suspicious I would have had. You must come to understand that the Gods and Goddesses are real, Jason, and take an interest in us and our world. They have their own spheres of influence where They are supreme, but when involved with things outside of Their area, They have to move carefully to not upset the natural order. It is a divine balancing act that gets played out both in the godly realms and here on the world as agents work for and against the Deities they represent or oppose. This is why there are adventures to be had, rescues to be done, monsters to fight, and love and friendships to be won all across the world.”
Jason held up a hand. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean we’re just the playthings of gods over here? Like chess pieces or something?”
Arghen looked amused. “If you are referring to a game played on a board, then yes.”
An outraged look passed across Jason’s face, but I interjected, “It does make a certain amount of sense, Jason. You know I’ve read a lot. So far Caelestis and Quiris, and probably all the others deities here, are acting like the ancient Celtic and Greek gods and goddesses of our world. In legend those deities took a personal interest in their followers and used their powers to do things both for and against humans. Or so the myths say.”
“But myths aren’t real! At least on our side, anyway. They’re the stuff of comic books!” Jason argued.
“All myths are stories, and all stories have a grain of truth in them somewhere. And some have more grains than others,” I replied with a smile, remembering that Mrs. Higgson in the school’s library had said those very words to me when I checked out all those fairy-tale books for my term paper. “Look at how long they have been around. If the stories and myths were completely false, wouldn’t they have been forgotten?”
When Jason had no reply to give me, I turned to Arghen.
“But I’m curious, though—how did all this happen?” I swept my hands about to indicate the world around us.
Arghen shook his head. “I did not truly understand just how magic-poor you have lived until now. I will tell you the story of the Disjoin, if you wish.”
“Oh, I’d love to hear it!”
<
br /> Jason added, “The Disjoin? Hey, Quiris used those words when she first talked to me about being over here. You can explain that?”
“I will,” replied Arghen.
CHAPTER 17
Arghen made himself comfortable cross-legged on the ground before speaking. “From the very beginning of the origin of Elves down through to the origin of Man, all creatures both mundane and magical shared one world. The Gods used magic to make Their creations and endowed Their creations likewise with magic. Elves received the most since they were created first, which lessened with each race until Man, the last-created, had very little-to-no magic. For a long time all races co-existed peacefully enough, though mostly apart from each other.
“But at some point Man turned completely from magic and the Gods and went his own way. The Gods thought nothing of it, figuring that Man would eventually return, but the Elves grew suspicious as Man started behaving in a far more territorial fashion than before. As time passed the Gods grew wroth at what Man was doing—but by the time They thought to step in and do something, They discovered that They could not because Man no longer believed in Them. They had lost Their sway and abilities over him. Because by then Man had so infused and changed the landscape, magic was no longer as prevalent as it once was.”
Jason interrupted, “Hey! Does that mean that if I try and disbelieve that someone can cast a spell at me, it wouldn’t work on me?”
I frowned at him for interrupting, but Arghen looked thoughtful. “I truly do not know, Jason. You are Human, but you are in a land where magic exists and has increased since the Disjoin. The only way to know that would be to test it, but as I am not a magic user of any kind, I cannot help you discover if that is so. But to continue: The Gods then withdrew from the world, leaving all Their creations more to themselves. The Elves felt this happen and grew concerned. They became worried when Man, somehow feeling the lack of the true Gods’ presences, made up his own gods. Man’s idea of gods had no substance, but Man went out anyway and acted in those gods’ names to terrorize and wipe out the magical races and creatures, calling them abominations. This started probably about three thousand seasonals ago.
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