by BJ Hanlon
Rihkar raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never… it doesn’t matter, it was a game people played in Calerrat. Anyways, these particles move quickly and bounce off each other, but they’re so compact that you feel completely solid.”
Horston had said something similar. “Okay…”
“Well, everything is like that, and as they move, energy is passed from one to the next in a constant supply. What you need to do is dig deeper. To feel the energy bouncing inside you, inside the air and the sea and even the rocks. Yes, rocks are made up of these particles too. Then you summon the energy to the forefront of your mind and let it flow out…”
“Like poo in a sewer,” Edin said but Rihkar frowned, no jokes during lessons apparently. Also Horston-esque.
Edin shifted and said, “Grent told me something like that.”
A moment later, Rihkar laughed so heartily and deeply that Edin was shocked the sound had come out of the serious man before him. “You have no idea how hard it is to try and explain anything to that man. It’s like smashing rock on rock.”
Edin chuckled because it felt like the right thing to do at the time. Yes, Grent was stubborn and serious, like Rihkar, but he was loyal and brave and a friend.
Rihkar waved with a dismissive hand. “Anyway, your poo analogy isn’t bad... despite how much it pains me to say… But it’s more like rain forming a river in a gutter. If you were standing in the gutter what would happen?”
“Um… I’d get wet?”
“The water would pool first and then flow around your boots reforming on the other side. Although you don’t become one with the rainwater, you become an obstacle to it.”
Edin nodded.
“Nod all you want, but it takes much work, practice, and patience. It took me years before I could do it.”
“And what you can move whole mountains now?”
Rihkar looked up at the ceiling above them. There was a curious look on his face. “I’m not sure…”
“Don’t try now.” Edin spat out.
“I wasn’t going to.” Rihkar seemed genuinely shocked that Edin would say such a thing… then he smiled. “Sarcasm… I get it. Back to my story, if you were in that gutter—”
“The water is meant to be the particles right?”
“Of course, now instead of having the water flow around you, you want it to flow through you, merge with your body and then come out the other side… but in a whole new form. A stronger form that you can control.”
His father closed his eyes and laid down. “Ponder it for a bit, I’m going to sleep.”
Edin stared at the arched roof of the tunnel and thought about the particles. He hadn’t thought much about it since those first days in the woods.
A short while later, he fell asleep on the uneven stone floor.
His dreams were blackness surrounding him like a cold dark cloak. Unseen in the world but he could feel it. The soft motion of water bubbling and lapping at bare stone walls and fallen rocks. She hit something and began spinning, holding onto the center post as it whirled twice and ended up going backward.
Arianne whispered. “Find me Edin.”
“I’m coming…” he tried to say.
Edin snapped awake. His heart was pounding and he needed to go… and quickly. He had to find her.
Then he found Rihkar snacking on some of the eel. It was a weird word, but easier than sea snake he guessed…
“Done? We should get going?”
“You haven’t eaten… you need your energy.”
He took a deep breath. Rihkar was right but that didn’t stop the urgency. Eat, and do it quick.
Edin grabbed a hunk of the eel bit and then looked at Rihkar. He then nodded to the arm. “You never told me what happened,” Edin said. He was unsure if asking about it was like asking a woman her age or weight.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Then Rihkar looked down at his right arm, his sword arm if Edin remembered correctly and sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. I opened the shutters and then the door. As soon as the wyrm appeared, I sent the rock and debris flying. A few shards seemed to hit and the thing bucked and jerked around. It cut and scrapped but didn’t pierce much. After the attack, the beast seemed to get its bearings and opened its mouth. I saw the great yellow beam charging… I sent a boulder toward its head but it hit the chest.” Rihkar paused and closed his eyes.
“The beam was fast, I leapt to the left to dodge it and drew my sword. Its beam blasted inside, though the wyrm could barely fit. I didn’t see the dematian on top. The thing snapped at me, its jaws crushed the dwarven god as I slipped out of its way.”
“Then I saw the dematian king. He was strong with spells that confused me and had a talent that I couldn’t understand. There was something else in my head.” Rihkar shook his head. “I tried to keep fighting to give you more time but I couldn’t. I turned to run but the wyrm screamed, nearly piercing my earmuffs.” Rihkar drank from the waterskin as sweat was pouring down his face. “Only too late did I see it. I tried to dodge the beam but it caught my arm. It was beyond painful and I blacked out…”
“I found you on the first lowest rampart…”
“I woke briefly… I was delirious but I remembered what happened.” Rihkar looked down. “I ran to find you… then that was it.”
“It’s alright,” Edin said. “I’m sorry the plan didn’t work out.”
“In my experience, they rarely do.” He pushed himself up with his one good hand and moved to the cart. “Ready to find your lady?”
“I hope.”
They went faster in keeping with the urgency Edin felt. After barely an hour, Edin spotted a ray of yellow light sitting in a circle near the left of the tunnel. It shocked Edin, like seeing a naked woman riding on the back of a stallion, something that was said to have happened.
Edin let go of the wind and they rolled toward it slowly. Edin got off and walked within a few inches of it but didn’t break the light. For some reason he pictured someone breaking the plane of the light and letting loose a giant boulder that would come rumbling down the tunnel. He wondered why he thought that…
The light came from a small shaft that went up at a rather steep angle. Built into the stone were ladder rungs. Edin hadn’t seen anything like this before.
Rihkar moved toward it and broke the plane of the sunlight.
Edin cringed and waited but nothing happened.
“I can’t climb this…” he muttered. “You better go… we need to see where we are.”
“Even if I go, I don’t know how I’ll be able to tell.”
“The stars,” Rihkar said.
“It’s daytime.”
“The sun then. We can at least see how far north we are by the height of it.”
“You’ll have to show me that trick.”
“Later.” Rihkar said. “Just go take a look.”
Edin strapped his sheath to his belt and began climbing. The air grew fresher and the opening grew larger. Bright and hopeful sunlight called to him.
After two minutes he put his hands on the top and hauled himself out. The cool air rattled him and he covered the sun with his hand. It was morning sun, he guessed about ten and it wasn’t very cold.
As his eyes adjusted, Edin saw that below him and a bit further east were tents. Hundreds of them with armed soldiers standing about. He saw the crests of noble houses. Towers, falcons, stags, swords, serpents, crillios, and many more he couldn’t recognize.
They were humans. A great army. Ten thousand strong, maybe more, Edin couldn’t be sure. But he guessed it was a battle encampment.
Near the center, he saw a huge tent with at least ten post points lifting it into peaks and valleys. The tent was red with yellow embroidery and bunting. The Alestow stag covered the wall facing him.
It had to belong to the commander of the army, a general, prince, or duke. To the north men were training in an open field with wooden dummies. He saw pens of horses, cows, and pigs. Women milled at the edges and seemed to be offerin
g water, food or comfort to the soldiers. To his right and down a little on the hill was a guard.
The man had a bow slung over his back and was leaning against a rock. Held lazily in his grasp was a spear.
In the midst of the army he spotted four bald and shiny heads. Por Fen nearly running toward the commander’s tent as if they had grave news. He thought he recognized one. The beast that had been there when his mother was slain. “Merik.” Edin growled.
They disappeared for a moment behind a tent and reappeared on the other side. What message were they bringing to the command tent and why were they camped here?
Edin glanced behind him and was staring up at a sharp mountain with sheer walls.
Beyond the camp, a forest spread to the south and a prairie land to the north. He saw one peak to the east. Tall and wide like a pyramid.
As he surveyed the scene, it came to him. With backs against the mountains and the forest and facing an open field, Edin knew what was happening. They were preparing for battle.
Edin remembered the army beneath the dwarven bridge.
“What is it?” Rihkar called up after a few minutes.
Edin quickly ducked beneath the rim as the bored guard’s head swiveled his way. “Shhh…” Edin sent back down and waited for a few moments. Then he slowly poked up again feeling like a mole.
The guard was looking the other way again.
He saw the Por Fen being shown into the command tent. How long would they be in there? What were they discussing?
Edin climbed back down and at the bottom he told Rihkar what he’d seen.
“A pyramidal mountain to the east? Were there anymore that way?”
Edin shook his head.
“We’re at the edge of the Crady Mountains, south of Glustown. The mountain is called Andorloy’s Fallow.” Rihkar tapped his only fingers to his chin. “It’s a good defensive position, there’s little chance of retreating and it is the only pass large enough for an army to cross through.”
Edin saw the gears turning in Rihkar’s head. The old soldier wanted to play. “You don’t think they’d welcome a pair of magi to their army would you?” Said Rihkar.
“A one-armed mage and the most wanted man in Dunbilston? Probably not.”
“Then we should move on.”
“I saw Por Fen going toward the command tent. They were moving as if the dematians were riding their cloaks.”
“You want to know what they’re doing.”
Edin nodded.
“And how exactly do you do that?”
Edin walked toward the cart and looked at their weak supply of food. He picked at one of the last pieces of eel. “I need to get in camp.”
“Then what? Listen to what they’re saying right now?”
“Not sure,” Edin said.
“And Arianne? She’s in some dwarven city, what if it’s just around the next bend in the tunnel? What if you wait till nightfall and in that time she is killed?”
“She escaped the city… she’s on a raft in an underground river.”
“Headed where? A dematian city?”
He hadn’t thought of that… Edin gulped, what if there was such a thing… He glanced up at the sunlight. “I don’t know.” He wanted to find her. But what of the army above. Thousands of men, tens of thousands. He thought of Grent’s friend Lieutenant Elva, what if he was up there.
How long could it take? What if she was right around the corner or through that waterfall?
But something inside him said Arianne wasn’t, something told him he’d see her, but not yet. Edin rubbed his eyes and glanced back up the ladder.
“We stay,” Edin said and laid down on the ground. “I have a bad feeling that we’ll be needed.”
15
The First Battle for Bestoria
It was dark outside and Edin could see small snowflakes dancing in the firelight. He approached the top of the tunnel with a rope linking him to Rihkar’s stump as his old man tried to climb one handed up the ladder.
Edin reached the top and leaned back, helping his father up the last few rungs. To his right, a guard sat on a rock with his spear in hand. He was looking away toward the south seemingly uninterested in the job.
Men milled about the camp as fires and torches lit the night sky with an offering of piney wood smoke. It was a light snow that floated softly on a cool breeze then melted on the ground. Only a few small dustings were appearing on the tops of dark tents and rocks. All on the northern flank of the object.
About a hundred yards to the left, Edin spied another guard looking north-ish. No one was watching the mountain shrouded in shadows.
“I’ll take him out and get the uniform,” Edin said.
“And when someone comes to replace him? Even if he is rotated out now, my guess is someone will take the new guy’s place in an hour at most,” Rihkar said. “I rotated my men in half that time to keep them on their toes.”
“I can’t exactly sneak by him and into camp dressed like a hobo,” Edin said brushing snowflakes from his hair.
“I’ve seen worse in military encampments.”
“I don’t want to be worse. Besides, what hobo could get anywhere near the command tent?”
Rihkar shrugged, “a spy.”
“Well I’m not one of those.”
“You seemed to think you were a few hours ago,” said Rihkar.
Edin grunted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the nearest guard turning his way. Edin ducked. He looked at Rihkar. “We’ll try it my way.”
“Like your mother,” Rihkar said with a sidelong grin. “Be safe.”
Edin nodded. He took a last look at the two nearest guards and shimmied out of the tunnel and down a small embankment. He started crawling across hard stone toward a fallen boulder that looked like a teardrop. Edin moved slowly and felt extremely exposed despite the light from the camp not reaching him.
After about twenty yards, he was directly above the guard sitting on the boulder. He heard an audible yawn and the man stood up looking around.
Edin pressed his body to the hard stone as if he’d somehow blend into the rugged landscape. He watched, waiting for the man who was looking his way to shout for an alarm. It didn’t happen.
The man’s gaze turned skyward; he opened his mouth for a moment collecting snow like a five year old child. Then began doing some sort of exercise. He was clapping his hands above his head and jumping off the ground making an X.
It was a weird dance. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom and was trying to keep his mind off it. Edin wasn’t sure that’d work.
If he’d been facing away, Edin could’ve snuck up on him, the sound of his feet crunching the stone would cover Edin’s approach. But instead, the man was still facing him.
Then there was a voice rising up the hill and the guard turned that way. Approaching was another soldier clamping up the mountain, metal greaves clinking against stone.
Edin glanced back toward where Rihkar and the hole were. He couldn’t see either.
“Aye, there’s food in the mess,” the approaching one said. “Better get there quick ‘fore it’s all gone.”
“Right, it’s been quiet. Not sure why anyone is guarding here,” the exercising guard said. “Be back in an hour.” He began trotting off down the slope, his feet kicking up rocks that rolled down after him.
Edin took that moment to move a few feet closer. His heart was pumping like crazy and his tongue went dry. Edin stepped on a sturdy rock and pushed forward on hands and feet with his butt thrust in the air. He felt like a crillio stalking its unsuspecting prey. Then something bumped his hand.
A small stone, a pebble really, decided it’d be a good time to go for a slide down the mountain and take a few friends.
Still about five feet away, he saw the guard turning.
Edin kicked off the mountain and summoned a small breeze to give him distance and speed. As the man’s eyes opened, Edin’s knee knocked him in the jaw.
The man tumbled over the
boulder in a loud crash as Edin dropped before him. He looked around quickly but saw no one. A moment later, he pulled off the man’s helm and embroidered tunic. It was a fish circling a scepter. He didn’t know that noble house. Edin left the man his armor and sword.
“Hey what happened?” A voice called from over his shoulder.
Edin quickly stood and turned. He saw a guard standing thirty feet away. “Lost my balance… took a tumble.”
The man laughed. “Well done Frestils. Learn balance you bunch of blotards. It’s why ya’ll can’t win the tourney.”
It was Alestow heraldry on the man’s tunic.
He knew he had to insult the man back, it was like a rite of passage in the military as Berka had so often said. “Alestow can’t put forth a competitor stronger than my great aunt Caesum, she’s a hundred and would whip you lot.”
The guard chuckled, “keep dreaming.” He turned and headed back to his post.
As soon as the guard turned, Edin stashed the fallen soldier behind a boulder and turned toward the encampment. He half ran, and half slid down the gentle slope of the mountain.
The fires lit up the space around the command tent but Edin didn’t want to head directly there. He rested his hand on his hilt and cut between a few smaller tents and stepped over many anchor lines. He heard dice being thrown, tankards slamming together, people laughing and singing.
Not prepared for a night battle…
Edin stopped before one as he heard sounds of what most people would do behind closed doors. Then woman’s moan, fake most likely, said it was time to move on.
The constant clinking from a smithy sounded from near the training grounds and the smell of cooked meat assaulted his stomach. Anything that wasn’t rat or eel would smell great.
A troupe of twenty soldiers, with an unknown heraldry walked past him. Edin quickly got out of the way. The man walking in front glared at Edin as if he’d done something wrong.
Edin moved on quickly, keeping his head down.
A group of drunks crashed through the tent, the stench of booze wafting from them like heatwaves.
Edin was wasting time. He had an hour… maybe. He glanced up and saw the command tent at about ten ’o’clock. He turned and made his way in that direction.