Vedientir

  "There is some left. Not enough to open a Path as there would be in a traveling acorn, but there's enough for one blink of a Path. Enough maybe to jump into the Putodrvo, but the Path will close almost as soon as it opens. One would have to be very quick to walk that Path."

  Vedientir nodded contently.

  I would have to boil the branch to extract the magic out of it and have one of them drink that potion."

  "Do that for them," said Vedientir.

  "I would also have to boil my amulet along with their branch to increase the potency of its diminished magic."

  Vedientir nodded.

  "This is the last piece of the World Tree that is left in this world. All else has fallen into Chaos," explained Bor as he untangled the leather strap that was strewn through the hole in the amulet. His eyes were set on Vedientir. "Are you sure you want me to use it for this?"

  "Completely sure. They have come to us for aid. This much we can do for them."

  "The last piece," repeated Bor.

  "I know," replied Vedientir, understanding more than anyone how hard this was for Bor.

  "All right," accepted the forest god. "We have fire. All we need is some sort of a pot and some liquid. A helmet would be useful. Water or milk for the liquid, nothing else can be used."

  "We have water. No one has a helmet," replied Kerkio and gave his flask to Bor.

  "I have a jar of honey," added Dion, offering his unadorned baked-earth jar half-filled with honey that Odea had given him.

  "Honey? Good. It will make it easier to swallow, lessen the bitterness, but it won't help with the feeling of dryness in the mouth."

  Bor removed the jar's cover and placed it at the center of the fire fern whose fronds gripped it tightly and began heating it. He then placed his amulet into the warmed up liquid honey and filled the rest of the jar with water from Kerkio's flask.

  Bor carefully broke the branch into many small pieces as he waited for the bubbles to start rising to the surface and then placed them gently into the excited liquid that now and then spilled a little over the side of the jar and hissed on the ferns as it transformed into a sweet smelling mist.

  "This is far too dangerous for a human to drink, at least because of the amount that has to be ingested in order to obtain enough magic to open the Path. It would be best to have the dragon drink the potion, otherwise Vedientir or I must drink it and go with you."

  "Zmai," Vedientir called him, and the dragon rose slightly on his front legs to show that he was attentive.

  "Will you drink the potion that Bor is preparing for us?" asked Vedientir in the old language. Dion kept looking straight into the fire, trying to appear as if that interested him most, but he only wanted to avoid looking into either Zmai's or Vedientir's eyes.

  "By doing that you will help return your friends home and help them in their time of need. Do you wish to do so?"

  Zmai looked at the boiling liquid and hesitated for a few long moments, but finally nodded in agreement.

  "Your home is somewhere beneath this world," said Vedientir, as if he sensed the dragon's thoughts.

  "It is somewhere in Chaos, a world which I no longer know, and a world into which I am not brave enough to send you. It may also not be beneath us any longer now that the Storm has been broken. You will be safer if you go with them."

  "Ada," replied Zmai and nodded once again.

  "You will have to run into the Putodrvo as fast as you can," he explained to the dragon in the old language, but then changed languages and repeated everything so Eya could understand his plan. "It would also be prudent to have Eya's wings give the dragon an additional push through the Putodrvo. The dragon really needs to be swift when the Path opens."

  "I will not give up my wings," argued Eya loudly, struggling to hide a sudden burst of fear and anger.

  "You do not have to give them up, Eya, nor would I ask you to. You will accompany the inheritor and his group," said Vedientir in a mild tone that made it sound like everything was already agreed upon, even though it was obvious to everyone that she was still disagreeing, albeit silently.

  "I need someone whom I can trust, someone who can see to it that the inheritor keeps his promise, but also someone who can help him if need arises. You can do all of those things. A maestra would not refuse such an important task, especially when asked by me or one of my kin."

  "I accept," she replied immediately, and allowed herself to blush a little.

  "Will we really be able to reach the Great Oak in Syevnor when Zmai drinks that potion?" asked Dion. "We cannot be sure that the Tree in Syevnor still exists."

  "In that case you'll reach only the hard inside of this Putodrvo in Arvinia. Watch your heads," replied Vedientir, but decided to advise also. "If that Tree is gone, return to the hidden Putodrvo from which you came here. You said you have its Pathmaker acorns with you. But remember, the promise you made is binding even if you fail to reach that Syevnor of yours."

  "I will return," said Dion.

  "Is that a promise?"

  Dion nodded in silence at first, but an honest feeling of gratitude for making the potion to Syevnor nudged him to speak out.

  "I promise, I will return to you if only to tell you that I have failed to find anyone."

  Vedientir seemed greatly satisfied with Dion's answer and turned his attention to Bor.

  "Are you done?"

  "Yes. It is ready to be consumed," Bor answered and gestured to the dragon to take it and so he did, but instead of drinking from the jar he simply ate the entire jar and its contents.

  "I hear footsteps. They are quick and are getting closer," whispered Bor as he turned to face south toward the sound.

  "Do you see that?" he asked Vedientir, looking at two red fires that briefly appeared over the edge of the world where the stone wall used to be.

  Vedientir nodded and stood up quickly.

  "Parvi!" shouted Vedientir and closed his eyes. The eagle flew away toward the sound and the fleeting fires.

  "Gospar!" A bewildered shout from a creature that sought refuge came from not too far away.

  "My earth elemental!" remembered Dion suddenly and tingles of panic shot through his body. "I forgot about him!"

  "Go nowhere!" commanded Vedientir without hesitation and without opening his eyes. Dion obeyed.

  The eagle Parvi had already flown past the elemental and was above the edge of the world now, seeing once more the red lights that were now three in number.

  "Byes," whispered Vedientir and that single word momentarily drew the spark of health from Bor's cheeks.

  "Byes!?" Bor cried out with nothing but disbelief while Vedientir's eyes still darted here and there behind closed eyelids.

  "The Nightmare! It really is he!" spoke Vedientir loudly now, his voice trembling from fear that his eagle felt in the presence of the Nightmare.

  He opened his eyes and looked at Bor and they understood each other without uttering a single word. Bor turned to the nearest tree and placed his hand upon it. The tree shivered, as if waking up from a dream.

  "Run! There is no more time for talk or for anything else!" yelled Vedientir to Dion and the others.

  "Plamensin! Hitar bidni an Putodrvo!" pleaded Vedientir with words spoken hastily in the old language, commanding the dragon to get to the Tree as fast as he could.

  "Bel! Charn! Sah Zmai et nasledni!" he commanded the ravens now. Go with the dragon and the inheritor!

  The earth elemental appeared then beside the fire, but the fire did not spread to him as it did when Bor joined the group. Seeing what fear gripped the unfortunate creature, Vedientir released its spirit to return to the ground from which it came.

  "Brother, I have no weapons with me. I hurried to reach you!" yelled Bor as his eyes searched for the Nightmare.

  "Dion! Pack your things!" yelled Kerkio, even though Dion was already busy packing.

  "Yes! Yes!" he replied nervously, but also sped up his arms. He learned by now that Kerkio had a nose for dangerous situ
ations, and this one felt more dangerous than any before. He threw his grandfather's book into the bag, and when only a single acorn remained on the ground, he paused before throwing it into the bag.

  "Bor!" shouted Dion and threw the acorn over the fire fern into Bor's ready hand. He opened his fist and a surprised smile grew on his face when he saw what he caught. He looked at Dion with renewed interest, and then he slowly blinked with both eyes to show his appreciation for the received gift.

  "Vlat gromah!" Bor called out the acorn's rune, and a lightning spear grew in his hand. Unlike Dion in Echa Rei, whose strength had succumbed to the power of the acorn's magic, Bor now stood as upright as ever, and the white light of Grom's lightning illuminated his muscled arm and torso.

  "Run to the Tree as fast as you possibly can. We two cannot hold Byes alone, but we will do what we can to help you escape. Run now!"

  Those were the last Vedientir's words before he and his brother Bor turned away from them and ran to meet the Nightmare. The fire fern vanished as if it never had been, and Dion and the others found themselves in the dark. Only the spear was visible, but it too vanished from sight soon.

  "Parvi! An Vetr!" they heard Vedientir's distant cry.

  The forest began moving around them, and Eya, Zmai and the Aelans started running deeper into the forest. When Dion turned to see if they could spot Bor or Vedientir he noticed that the trees behind their back moved their branches to hide them from the Nightmare, and new trees sprouted where they had passed to block the path.

  "Bor is hiding us!" shouted Dion when he understood what was happening.

  "And he is showing us the way," added Kerkio, seeing that the trees in front of them slowly moved their branches up or away to make sure they did not trip or bump their heads into their low branches.

  Then they heard a cry that made their minds swirl in panic, a cry that seemed to hate itself, and then another cry that seemed to hate and devour that first cry.

  "Vedientir!" shouted Byes and laughed as he called out Vedientir's name. His laugh sounded like the howls of an entire pack of tormented and hungry wolves.

  "We have returned!" Byes roared in the old language.

  They lost track of time or space as they ran through the dark of the forest and then they found themselves out of it suddenly and back in the village of Arvinia.

  They made their way between huge rocks and the debris of houses crushed beneath some of them. Many small and a few larger fires burned in the village - the remnants of warm hearths spread around by the impacts from the sky.

  The uphill run slowed them down and tired them quickly, but the fresh memory of the Nightmare's voice pushed the forward and up. They reached the top winded and in pain and found that the Great Oak was still there waiting for them, in what now appeared to be the darkest of nights. It seemed like the clouds and the grip of Chaos banded together to hide the world from almost all light.

  "You will not be able to carry all of us," said Dion to Zmai, remembering Vedientir's plan. "We will run beside you."

  "Climb on!" answered Zmai angrily. "Vedientir said so!"

  Dion saw there was no need to translate this to the others. He climbed on first and leaned onto the dragon's neck. There was not a lot of space behind him on the dragon's shoulders, even though the dragon was now larger than he was the first time Dion rode on his back in Tialoch.

  The dragon moaned when Kerkio climbed on.

  Dion grabbed hold of his battle standard tightly, and pointed it forward, trying to get it beside and a little behind the dragon's head so it does not hit the Tree before the dragon opens the Path.

  "Kerkio, help! Grab the end of the standard and hold on to it."

  "I will fly above you," said Eya. "Let us move while the dragon still has strength in him."

  The dragon moved, but the combined weight of the two men was almost too much for him. He snarled and Dion could feel the dragon's skin become hotter as he tried to gain more speed.

  The dragon was slow and tired, but he was running. He could sense Eya flying above him and he felt Dion's heart beating heavily against his neck. He was worn out, but he was needed so he pushed on even harder, and Eya found herself having to catch up.

  The shadow of the Great Oak engulfed everything around them. They were only a few steps away from the entrance, and Eya and the ravens dived lower and flew between the dragon's curled up wings.

  The Great Oak.

  The entrance.

  "Hodam!" roared the dragon clearly and loudly when his head entered the opening in the Tree.

  A flash of white light appeared inside the Tree in answer to his word, and then only silence remained on the hilltop in Arvinia.

  Chapter 18 - The Gathering

  "Night spots!" Dion cried out carefully and quietly as the dragon slowed down to a halt.

  "No broken bones!" answered Kerkio with same excitement in his voice, a moment before the dragon stumbled and threw them off onto leaf-covered ground.

  They both muffled their moans and laughter as they rolled on the ground.

  "We've made it!" celebrated Dion, still careful not to be too loud. "We're in Syevnor!"

  They quickly stopped fooling around and rose to their feet.

  Apart from some noise created by the dragon's moans and the ravens' talons scraping on the leaves on the ground, there was silence and darkness all around them.

  "Trees and shadows," thought Dion as he looked around to see where they were.

  "And Eya," he panicked for a moment before realizing that she was that one shadow that moved just then.

  Dion's eyes finally located the Great Oak and found the Path already closed. A swarm of thoughts assaulted his mind as he watched the closed Tree, but gradually a sense of renewed gratitude and happiness prevailed over all other thoughts and fears. Vedientir and Bor came through for them.

  "Where are we?" asked Eya. "Are we close to Arvinia?"

  "You are probably as far from Arvinia as you ever were," answered Dion but her question reminded him that he did not know exactly where his grandfather had planted his Tree.

  "North seems to be on our right," he mapped what little of the world he could see in the dark.

  "How did you find this place?" he spoke as though his grandfather was standing next to him. "You hid it well, grandfather," he added with a grin.

  "Perhaps your parents had told him of this place?" he asked Kerkio.

  The Tree was hidden inside a small stone cave whose roof gave in long before Daedar had planted the tree. The Tree used that to its advantage and pushed out its branches through the opening toward sunlight, hiding the cave and itself from unwelcome eyes. The trunk that was inside the cave grew so large through the years that the opening in the Tree now looked like the entrance to the cave itself. It melded with the surrounding stones and moss so thoroughly that not even on a second look would someone think that there was a Great Oak hiding there.

  "What now?" asked Eya.

  "We go to Landir. The capital city of the kingdom of Syevnor is the last place where we know for certain the legion was. We go farther from there if the news about the legion is not dark. If it is..."

  "We rest now and worry about everything else in the morning," Kerkio gave her an answer too. "We won't get far if we continue moving or actually if we try doing anything other than resting. We've been on our feet since this morning, and we all saw what happened in and around your village."

  "Or we can rest," agreed Dion, laying his plans likewise to rest, and nodded to himself to confirm that it really was time to stop and recuperate. "We could get a small fire going there at the entrance to the Tree. It will give cover to us and the fire until morning."

  "Are we going to be lazy again and ask the dragon to help with the fire?" asked Kerkio.

  "Of course!" laughed Dion.

  "Zmai! Hodysh ti vatru zapalyt?" Dion called the dragon as he walked back towards the Tree.

  "Which direction do we take in the morning?" asked Kerkio as he collecte
d wood for the fire.

  "Which direction?" repeated Dion while he cleared the fallen leaves in front of the Tree.

  "I thought we were going to reach Syevnor by ship from Phares to Phares Nova. Seeing as that is the southernmost tip of Syevnor there was no question as to the direction we needed to take after we disembarked - the road leads north to Landir. Now I'm not sure anymore because I honestly do not know where we are. If we go blindly north we might miss the Internal Sea and end up in the abandoned west behind Valan's wall, and that is a place I do not wish to visit any time soon. We can't see anything until morning anyway..."

  He stopped midsentence.

  "Charn! Bel!"

  It didn't take long for the ravens to hop from where they were busy dining onto a pile of leaves next to Dion, narrowly missing the flying bundle of wood that Kerkio threw towards Dion without looking.

  "How far away from me can you fly and still be able to find me again?" asked Dion in the old language and crouched to collect Kerkio's branches into a neater heap.

  Both ravens shook their heads and answered nothing, but Dion wasn't sure if they knew nothing or got frightened by the dragon's fire-snot that he blew into the heap of branches to start the fire.

  "The first time you came to me was when I was almost in Tialoch. That means that you can fly for several day parts without fear of losing my scent. That is more than enough for what I have in mind."

  "Charn," he said to the black raven only.

  "Grak!"

  "Fly there," he said. "I think that's north. If you see a stone wall, a road, a village or any large body of water return with that news. Do not go far. Understand?"

  "Grak!" the raven complied and flew away instantly, blowing a few dry leaves he stood on into the fire.

  "Bel! You fly in the opposite direction. If you see a stone wall, a road, a village or any large body of water return with that news. Do not go far. Understand?"

  He understood.

  "You hungry?" he heard Kerkio ask as soon as the raven was off.

  He, Eya and the dragon had already found their places around the fire while Dion talked with the ravens, and Kerkio was busy dealing out food he had bought in the inn in Barda Rei.