by Kim Fedyk
"Yes, certainly."
"Great." Winn said. "Would you be able to organize the adult Talywag in 2 hours time? Tell them to meet us on the ground in front of the main upper we came up on yesterday. We will hand out weapons and organize defence."
"I can't guarantee that all the Talywags will be willing to fight, but I will do the best I can." Crean turned to Arleth and shuffled his way across the room towards her. "Arleth, my dear. It was very nice to meet you." He held her hands in his. "Thank you for being such a good friend to my son. I know you will do the Amara name proud."
Arleth blushed, "Thank you sir. I am glad I got to meet you as well."
Crean smiled and crawled across his son to reach Selene. "Good luck Selene, and please remember to pass on my message to Aedan."
"I will," Selene said softly. "Please take care of yourself."
Graydon and Winn moved back out of the door to allow Crean to pass. "I will see you two in two hours," the Talywag said.
Winn nodded at him and Crean walked bristly down the hall and out of his sight.
"Arleth, it's time for us to go as well." Selene said
Arleth nodded and crawled her way over to the door. She reached Winn first and gave him a big hug "Bye Winn. Be safe."
Winn hugged her back "I will Arleth, don't you worry. Just focus on your training. Next time I see you, you will be a powerful sorceress."
For the second time, Arleth blushed. "I don't know about that.."
"I do." Winn squeezed her again and released her.
Arleth turned to Graydon. "Bye Graydon." Hesitantly she reached her arms out to give him a hug and then dropped them. Graydon shuffled awkwardly and then pulled Arleth into a bear hug. "Bye Arleth, good luck."
Surprised, Arleth hugged him back. "Good luck to you too."
"Winn," Zeeshan called out to him. "Would you be able to train me with the rest of the Talywags? I know I am only a child. But I'm part snow bear now and, well that will probably count for something."
Winn smiled at him, "Of course you can train with the rest of the Talywags. And you are right, the snow bear in you will likely make you quite a skilled fighter, even though you have never fought before."
"Oh I hope so." And then with true snow bear menace, "I want Absalom and his shitty armies to pay for what they did to me"
"Then you shall. We will meet you in two hours with the rest of the Talywags." And with that Winn and Graydon turned and left the room.
Selene turned to Zeeshan "Goodbye Zeeshan. Remember all that I have taught you about controlling your anger?"
Zeeshan nodded.
"Forget it for the next few days. You will need all your snow bear instincts for the battle. Unleash all your fury when the fighting starts."
"I don't think that will be a problem. When I even think of Absalom, I can feel it boiling under the surface."
Selene nodded, "understandable."
"Thank you for all your help Selene, and safe journey."
"I will leave you two to say goodbye in private, I will be waiting down the hall Arleth."
"Bye again Zeeshan," she said as she left the room.
Arleth, with tears already forming in her eyes, crawled across the room to sit in Zeeshan's lap.
Over an hour later, after a long and tearful goodbye and struggling to convince their skittish horses to get in the upper and not freak out during the ride down; Selene and Arleth were finally on their way to Edika.
* * *
"Where the hell is everybody?" Zeeshan stormed. "Where are all the Talywags?"
Winn and Graydon just looked at each other: they had the same question.
2 hours had come and gone since Winn had asked Zeeshan's father to gather the adult Talywags and still not a single Talywag (other than Zeeshan) had shown up.
Winn looked out at his army of Jayan soldiers, who were growing ever more impatient, and tried to think of something to say to the boy.
"I'm so dissapointed in them." Zeeshan said quietly, shaking his head.
"Don't be too hard on them," Winn said. "Talywags are a timid race, you know that. Smart as all hell, but fighters, they are not." He was just as dissapointed in the Talywags as Zeeshan was, if not more, but it wouldn't help to show his true feelings now. Zeeshan needed him to keep his spirits up and so did his men. He looked at his army again. His men were risking their lives, all be it willingly, to defend a city that clearly had no interest in helping itself. He certainly didn't need to add to the morale killling.
As if reading his thoughts, "But you and your men are risking your lives to save us," Zeeshan continued."Us Talywags could at least have the decency to show up."
A creaking sound behind Winn saved him from having to answer. He turned around,"Ah there you go Zeeshan, some Talywags have come after all."
The main upper had just reached the ground and a dozen Talywags stepped hesitantly out. At the top of the platform were another 20 or so Talywags waiting for the upper to return so they could descend as well. So in total, 32 Talywags.
When Zeeshan turned to look at the Talywags headed their way, Graydon shot Winn a "Is that seriously it?" look behind his back. Winn responded with a shrug and what he hoped was a "I guess its better than nothing look."
"Dad!" Zeeshan said proudly. "You came."
Winn looked over at high councilman Crean in barely disguised suprise. He was one of the last people he had expected to show up, based on his outburst last night. "High Councilman Crean, it is really good to see you here."
Crean walked over to his son and laid his arm on Zeeshan's huge paw. "I wasn't going to come, but I thought if my son was brave enough to be here, than so was I. There is no harm in learning a bit of weaponry I suppose."
It was hardly the confident answer he wished the leaders of Occa would have, but at least it was something. It had gotten him here, which was more than could be said for the other councilmen or most of the adult Talywag population.
"We are glad to have you." Winn said extending a hand to Crean.The councilman shook his hand firmly and gave a brief smile.
By this point, the rest of the Talywags had reached the ground and the group of them were standing hesitantly behind Crean, a bit apart from the Jayan soliders. Winn surveyed them; all were tall and musclar - by Talywag standards - meaning they were about the size and build of a 10 year old human. Some were openly fearful, some were trying their best to put on a brave face, but to a man, it was clear just by looking at them, that none had ever picked up a weapon before. Winn and Graydon hadn't expected anything less. They knew that the defence would come down to them and their men. However they had hoped for a bit more Talywag support - 10 arrows badly fired have a better chance of hitting a target than 1. Winn fought back a sigh.
"Alright," he boomed, "Let's get started."
Chapter 30
Aedan snapped the twig in half and threw the pieces on the ground. They hit the top of the small pile he had created and he watched as they ricocheted down to land at the bottom. He sighed and picked up another twig.
"If you are that bored, I'm sure there is something else you could be doing," Val said dryly. Just before dusk, they had set up camp at the northeast edge of Frasht Forest. Since then, Val had caught a pair of small hares for their dinner, chopped some branches for firewood, gathered kindling and he was now starting a fire. Aedan on the other hand, had plopped down on the ground and set about breaking every twig in his vicinity. "Like skinning these hares," Val continued, throwing the hares at his friend. They landed on the twig pile crushing it.
"What!? Oh. Sorry," Aedan said picking up the hare in his lap. "I was thinking." In his other hand, he grabbed the hare from the middle of the broken twig pile and got to his feet. "I can't stop worrying about Occa."
"Winn and Graydon are very resourceful. I've seen them succeed many times in situations that were almost as daunting."
"Exactly, Aedan said, "Almost as daunting." He grabbed his knife from his pack and sat down across the budding fire from Val to skin the hares.
"They're in a damned spot, that's for sure," Val agreed. "But what choice did you have? You couldn't leave Occa undefended. The Talywags can't defend themselves. The only chance they have is with the Jayan army. Selene had to take Arleth to Edika. We both know you have to be the one to go to Kalshek, anyone other than an Amara would be disrespectful." Val paused for a second looking into his friend's eyes. "Winn and Graydon have to do this on their own."
Aedan sighed. "You're right, I know."
"Of course I am."
The two fell silent. After a few minutes, Val got up and added another log to the fire. Aedan stared into the flames, his mind lost in thought. His practiced hands continued to skin the hares with deft strokes. Suddenly he smiled. "Do you remember when the travelling magician 'Harold the Magnificent' came to Iridian when we were all young children and Winn was visting with his father?"
Val laughed, "Winn couldn't have been much more than three, it was before Graydon was born. He was so enamoured with the man that he made us call him 'Winn the Magnificent.'"
"He wore that blanked wrapped around his shoulders like a cape for weeks."
"Oh and he had that stick that he insisted was his magic wand." Val added.
Aedan laughed. "And he performed 'magic tricks' for us."
"That lasted for weeks. And then he saw Selene's mother perform real magic and it broke his poor little heart."
"I wonder if he remembers that?" Aedan asked. He gave Val an impish grin "We will need to be sure to remind him the next time we see him."
"Oh for sure."
Aedan laughed again at the thought and handed the skinned hares back to Val. Val skewered each one with a sturdy stick he had chiseled into a point and handed one back to Aedan. "It was always such fun when Winn, and later Graydon came to visit the castle with their father." Val said as he settled back down beside the fire to roast his hare.
Aedan nodded holding his skewered hare above the fire beside Val's to cook.
"Remember when they came in the winter one year, and Winn was convinced that he could skate along the outside open pathways."
"Despite not knowing how to skate, or in fact even having skates." Aedan cut in. "Didn't he convince one of the kitchen maids to make him some?".
Val shook his head laughing, "Make is a strong word. He convinved her to give him some kitchen knives which he then strapped to his boots."
"Oh right!" Aedan watched a drop of fat drip off his hare and fall into the fire with a sizzle. "I still remember his face as he tumbled head over heels down the pathway... many many times." He laughed at the memory.
"I sure learned a lot of swear words that day," Val chuckled. "From him," Aedan agreed "And from the man he fell on when he tumbled off the pathway."
Val let out a big belly laugh, "It sure was a good thing he had the sense to try on the lowest platform."
Aedan grunted, "No kidding."
"I would say our dinners are almost ready," Val said abruptly changing the topic. He held his hare up to his face for closer inspection and nodded approvingly. "Yep I would say maybe 10 more minutes and they should be done."
The two friends continued cooking their dinner and trading stories back and forth about Winn and Graydon's childhood exploits. They continued long after the hares had been eaten, the skewers consumed by the fire and the fire itself reduced to embers. Although neither wanted to admit it out loud, they both felt like next time they would be sharing stories of their friends it would be as a eulogy. And so they continued talking long past the point of exhaustion, desperate to recall every fond memory they had.
* * *
When Aedan and Val were just sitting down to roast their hares, on the other side of Frasht Forest, Arleth and Selene were just about to reach the southernmost edge.
Selene had hoped to have left the forest hours ago and be much closer to Samara in Edika by now. But they had made very slow going.
Arleth's nausea from the day before had come back with full force after they had been riding for less than an hour. They had to stop many times so Arleth could dismount and throw up. Eventually they had given up riding the horses altogether. Selene had hoped that without the constant bumping up and down in the saddle, Arleth may feel a bit better. She had been right, and after a while Arleth's nausea lessened enough so that they could ride the horses again slowly.
A lot of time had been lost and Selene was worried. She looked over at Arleth who was sitting on a boulder and carefully nibbling a loaf of bread they had brought with them from Occa.
Arleth's nausea was getting worse.
Arleth looked up from her food, "Selene," she said hesitantly. "I saw things this time."
"What do you mean?"
"Back in the forest when I was throwing up. Whenever I would get an especially strong bout of nausea, I would see flashes. A giant white paw, talons, terrified eyes as large as dinner plates. And the noises..." Arleth put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes as if to shield herself from the memory. "Screams, so many screams. And then...the most terrifying laughter I have ever heard."
Selene had walked over to her when she had been talking. She now sat down on the boulder by her side and wrapped her up in her arms.
"Was I seeing... real things?"
Selene nodded "I am afraid you probably were." She didn't want to scare Arleth any more than necessary, but she also didnt want to sugar coat it either. "It sounds like you may have saw flashes of Rogan's enchantments."
Arleth thought back to the white paws and talons. "He is making more creatures like Zeeshan." She said it matter of factly.
"Yes," Selene hesitated, unsure whether to continue. "I would say probably a lot, based on how sick you felt this afternoon." She looked over to Arleth to gauge her reaction.
Arleth just nodded, she had already suspected this. "What is going to happen to me when the battle starts?"
Selene' s heart sunk. She had been dreading this question. She turned to face Arleth and looked into her eyes. "I don't want to lie to you Arleth."
Arleth nodded.
"You will know when the battle begins. You have visited Occa, and you have met and developed friendships with people still there: namely Zeehsan, Winn and Graydon. Your mind has a connection there so your empathic powers will be heightened. Before any weapons are fired, or anybody is killed you will be able to feel the growing threat to Occa. I am not sure how this will manifest, but I do know as the battle begins and then worsens, you will get sicker and sicker. If the battle continues for any length of time, your mind will eventually seek to protect itself and you will fall into a coma."
Arleth gave a sudden intake of breath, "Will I come out of this coma?"
"The truth?"
"Yes," Arleth said quietly, not sure she actually wanted to hear it.
"Ok." Selene continued "First, let me say that if we are safely in Edika when the battle starts, Samara will take control the first moment you feel anything and she will protect you from feeling anything further. So this next part is only if the battle starts before we get there. If you fall into a coma and we get to Samara's in time, she will still be able to help you. If we don't.."
"I die." Arleth finished for her.
"But that isn't going to happen." Selene tried to reassure her. "Samara is very powerful and she has been helping Amaran women with their gift for thousands of years. You would have to be in a coma for a long time for Samara to not be able to help you."
Selene wasn't too sure about this last part, but she wasn't going to take away this bit of hope. "Besides," she continued. "We will get to Edika in time, before the battle starts, so this won't be an issue." She tried to force a smile onto her face, but only partly succeeded.
Arleth saw the gesture and gave a small smile herself. She appreciated the intent. "Thank you." She said to the older woman.
Selene let Arleth sit in silence for a while to process her thoughts.
After a while, "You should really try and eat some more of that bread," she poi
nted at the barely eaten loaf Arleth was still holding. "And some cheese too. Regardless what happens, you will need your strength for what comes next."
Arleth nodded and did what she was told.
While she was eating, Selene walked around her and the two horses in a big circle, waving her arms and muttering under her breath.
"What are you doing?" Arleth asked her.
"I'm setting up some invisible barriers. Anyone or anything walking by us will feel the sudden need to turn in a different direction, away from our camp. I am also setting up a few surprises in case we have any magic-wielding guests. Absalom and Rogan and their army shouldn't be anywhere near this side of Frasht Forest, but I don't want to take that chance."
Arleth nodded in agreement through a mouthful of cheese.
"We will rest here a few hours. Try and get some sleep if you can. I will wake you up a few hours after midnight and we will continue our journey overnight. I want to be at Samara's by sunrise."
Arleth was quite happy to travel through the night if it meant she reached the safety of Edika sooner. She was going to voice this thought to Selene, but she could tell that the woman was deep in thought so she stayed silent.
Selene was so focused, that she didn't even hear Arleth get up from the boulder and lie down in her bed roll. It wasn't until Arleth's deep breathing broke into her train of thought that she realized Arleth was asleep.
Good she thought. Tomorrow will be better for her if she is less exhausted from today. Selene, still sitting on the boulder, pulled her knees up into her chest. She knew she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight - her mind was too heavy with worry.
Chapter 31
Steve shuffled back and forth on his feet nervously. Something didn't seem right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. For the third time in as many minutes, he squinted his eyes to look through the binoculars.
Still nothing. He couldn't see any shadows moving down in the forest below, no signs that an army was approaching. All seemed peaceful.
So why was he so on edge?