by Pedro Urvi
Camu, I’ve come to see you.
There was a moment when nothing happened. Lasgol imagined that Camu would be trying to locate his mind just as he had done himself.
Lasgol! The message came together with a feeling of immense happiness. A few moments later. Camu appeared at a run. He gave two huge bounces and leapt on to him. Overjoyed, Lasgol hugged him tightly.
Ona, taken aback, crouched ready to attack, while Camu began to lick Lasgol’s cheeks.
“Ona, stay.”
The panther was not altogether convinced. She was mistaking Camu’s affection for an attack.
“Ona, stay,” Lasgol repeated.
She did as she was told. But she stayed two paces away, watching with her ears flattened back on her head, which was not a good sign.
Happy! Camu transmitted.
And so am I, very happy to see you too.
He hugged Camu as if he had lost him all over again, and his little friend went on licking his face and wagging his long tail very excitedly.
You take too long, he complained.
I’ve been very busy with my training...
I with you.
Soon. I’m almost finished. One more week and we’ll be able to be together the way we were before.
Soon. Yes.
Soon, I promise. Lasgol said and petted him all over from head to tail.
Camu, very happy about the news, began to flex his legs on Lasgol’s body in his dance of happiness.
Viggo shook his head. “And now he’s dancing...”
Viggo!
Yes, it’s Viggo, Lasgol said with a smile.
“No, you fiend, not to me!”
Camu had leapt on to Viggo’s torso and legs and clung there, licking his face.
“Stop, you fiend!” Viggo protested. He had turned his head to avoid the licking of that blue tongue, but Lasgol noticed that he did not make any effort to get him off. Deep down, Viggo was really very fond of Camu, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
Camu slobbered all over his face and then leapt down to the ground. Viggo cursed the Ice Gods.
Very happy, Camu transmitted to Lasgol, who smiled.
I’m very glad. I have a surprise for you.
Surprise?
A new friend.
Friend! Camu said, sounding very excited.
This is Ona. She’s a friend. She’ll be with us. He pointed at Ona, who was still staring at Camu, looking as though she was ready to launch herself into an attack.
Camu looked back at her for a moment.
No tiger.
No, she’s a snow panther.
Camu put his head to one side and watched Ona with interest. Ona, feeling herself being watched, gave a low growl.
“Ona, easy.”
She’s nervous, he explained to Camu.
Camu approached Ona, doing his little dance, flexing his legs and wagging his tail as if it were a game. Ona watched him in puzzlement. She was uneasy, but seeing him dance his way over to her, she began to watch him with interest instead of distrust. Instead of coming straight to her, he went around her, still doing his eccentric dance.
“If he’s not careful, the panther’s going to lash out...”
“I don’t think so.”
“One lash and you’ll see.”
“They’ll get along.”
“Well, you’re very optimistic.”
Ona’s ears stiffened. Camu circled her again, then began to move away. Ona watched him for a moment, then to Viggo and Lasgol’s surprise, she began to follow him. Curiosity got the better of her. She had never seen a creature like this before. He turned around and began to walk toward her. Instead of putting herself on the defensive, she watched him. Camu went past her, dancing. She came alongside him and tried to imitate him. She did not succeed and was left lying on the ground. Camu stopped, came back and went to stand beside her, then licked her forehead. She got up, looked at his huge eyes and everlasting smile and licked his forehead in return.
“What on earth...?” Viggo said. His mouth was open in amazement.
“I told you they’d get along,” Lasgol said delightedly.
Camu bounced playfully to one side, and at once Ona imitated him with a still bigger bounce. Camu leapt to the other side even more energetically, and Ona leapt higher still. Then they both began to chase each other through the cave, running and bouncing.
“They’re playing,” Viggo said. “It’s amazing.”
“They’re a pair of cubs. It’s perfectly normal for them to play.”
“But one’s a weird creature and the other’s a bloody snow panther!”
Lasgol smiled. “Which makes it even more special.”
They watched Camu and Ona playing enthusiastically. Lasgol felt so happy that he could not stop smiling. He had found a playmate for Camu, and he knew this would make his little friend very happy. And Ona would be happier too with the company of the mischievous Camu.
Watching them play for a long while, Lasgol knew they would become great friends. He bent to give thanks to the Ice Gods for allowing him to have these two wonderful companions.
“What are you doing?” Viggo asked him.
“I’m thanking the Ice Gods for those two.”
Ona had jumped on Camu as if they were fighting, and they were rolling on the ground in an embrace that looked very friendly.
“Don’t thank the Gods for anything. If you have them it’s because of you, not the Gods.”
Lasgol thought about this and nodded.
By now the storm had passed, and they decided to go back before a new one took its place over the great valley. At this time of year one storm was followed by another almost continually.
Camu, we’ve got to leave.
No.
Sorry, but we really do.
Play. Friend.
Yes, Ona’s your friend, but just now we can’t stay to play.
Ona yes.
No, Ona can’t either. She has to come with me.
Camu clung to Ona, and Lasgol’s heart melted.
I promise you we’ll be back very soon and you’ll be able to play with Ona.
Soon.
Yes, soon, I promise.
Camu jumped on to Lasgol’s chest in two bounces, and he hugged his little friend. He stroked his head.
Be good.
Me good.
Yeah, well, as if I didn’t know you. Say goodbye to Viggo.
Camu leapt off Lasgol and on to Viggo’s chest.
“You monster! Don’t lick my face!”
It was in vain. He licked it all, and Lasgol laughed.
“Let’s get going!” Viggo protested, and they set off back to the Lair.
Chapter 43
It was the day before the Proficiency Test, and Lasgol was so nervous that he did not know what to do with himself. Nor was he the only one. The Elders had given them the day off so that they would be rested and ready for the great test. Everyone was relaxing in a different way: Ingrid and Molak were talking about strategies as they prepared their bows and arrows; Erika and Luca were wondering what their lives would be like once they had gained their Elite Specialty; Erika was trying to persuade Luca to let her go with him on his Man Hunter missions; Luca was telling her she would have enough on her plate with her own; Viggo and Astrid were preparing their Assassin’s knives as they discussed what form the test might take and the best way of facing up to possible enemies.
In fact, nobody knew what the test was going to be like. Lasgol decided to go out for a stroll with Ona and try to feel a little calmer. It was snowing lightly, but there was no storm on the way, so it would be a pleasant winter walk. The cold was sure to calm his body and mind.
“Where d’you think you’re going?” came a voice behind him as he was leaving the Lair.
He did not need to turn around to know who it was. “Out for a walk.”
“Alone?”
“No, with you.” He turned to her with a broad smile.
Astrid loo
ked at him and smiled. “You’d better.”
They went on toward the forest, with Ona leading the way.
“She’s a beauty,” Astrid commented.
“She certainly is.”
“So graceful and beautiful.”
“Just like you.”
“I’m jealous.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’ll always be with you.”
“Oh... I hadn’t thought of that.” Then he realized what she was really hinting at. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Whereas I won’t,” she said, spelling it out clearly.
“I’m afraid we’ll go our separate ways once we finish here.”
“Yeah... unfortunately.”
“I’m sure we’ll go on seeing each other between missions.”
“Promise me you’ll do everything possible so that we can be together whenever we can. Promise me that.”
Lasgol stopped and turned to her. He looked into her eyes. “I promise. Always. Nothing’ll stop me finding you.”
“When two people are made for each other, distance, time or situations don’t matter, nothing can separate us.”
“Nothing and no-one will ever separate us.”
Astrid threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with passion and a love deep as the ocean.
“Are... are you all right?” Lasgol asked. He was still holding her.
“I don’t ever want us to separate.”
“We won’t.”
“It’ll be difficult. We’re not going to see each other very often.”
“We’ll find a way to make it work.”
“You really think that?”
“I don’t only believe it, I’m sure of it.”
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
“You’re the best,” she said, and kissed him again.
Lasgol held her close, as though making sure he would never lose her. A shiver ran down his spine, and he had a sense of something ominous.
“Shall we go on?”
“Yes, sorry.”
They went on walking, and Lasgol tried to shake off that dreadful feeling from his mind, but was unable to.
Ona led them to a lagoon, and he went up to it to look at the water. He took out his mother’s pendant.
“D’you mind if I try?”
“Not at all. Go ahead.”
“It’s been a while since I tried. The last few times it didn’t respond. I still don’t know how to make it show me images when I want it to.”
“It might not work that way.”
“What d’you mean?”
“That maybe it becomes activated when something happens, not because you want it to.”
“Maybe...”
“Let’s see, try it now.”
Lasgol moistened his eye, then rubbed the jewel. He waited anxiously. For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly it activated itself and emitted a blue flash.
“Or maybe it’s me who activates it,” Astrid said with a mocking smile.
Lasgol smiled back at her. There were two more flashes, which frightened Ona. The panther was finding it hard to get used to the magic of the jewel.
An image began to take shape over the lagoon.
Lasgol recognized one of the people in the image at once; it was his mother. He could not see her face, since she was dressed as Darthor, but he knew it was her all the same. She was with someone whom he also recognized as soon as the image became completely clear: it was Asrael. Judging by the frozen desert landscape around them, the glacial tundra and the immense blue glacier they were heading to, he knew they were in the Frozen Continent. What were they doing there? When had this scene taken place? Asrael looked the same, so it could not have been very long before. On the other hand, it was difficult to tell the passage of the years in an Arcane of the Glaciers, and particularly so in the case of Asrael, who seemed immune to the passage of time.
He went on watching, intrigued. Astrid joined him by the lakeside and watched what was happening with great interest. Lasgol felt uneasy because he was seeing his mother, or at least a memory of her. Suddenly he realized he would never see her again, and his feelings overwhelmed him. When Mayra and Asrael reached the glacier, Asrael went up to a vertical wall of blue ice and began to conjure, with his eyes closed. Mayra meanwhile waited at his side.
Lasgol did not have to wait long to find out what the Shaman was doing. In front of him a section of the vertical wall of ice opened from side to side, revealing an open passage. Asrael and Mayra went into the glacier and sheltered there from the icy wind. They were now inside an icy cavern of enormous size.
“Wait here, my lord,” Asrael said to Mayra. “I’ll go and fetch her.”
“Do you think she’ll see me?”
“I don’t know. Her wishes are always a mystery to me.”
Mayra nodded. “Try, please. It’s very important to me.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He vanished through one of the many doors of ice carved into the walls of the cavern. All of them were of blue ice, and enormous. It was some time before he came back. Mayra meanwhile waited patiently, neither moving nor making any gesture.
“Did you have any luck?” she asked him when at last he came back.
“Today we’ve been fortunate.”
“She’ll see me?”
“Yes.”
Asrael led her along a colossal tunnel whose walls were of blue ice. An entire army could have marched through that frozen landscape. They reached a fork, and Asrael turned left. Lasgol could not even imagine how cold it was there, but the vapor coming out of his mother’s helmet told him it was extremely cold. They came to a cave, gigantically deep and high. Icy stalactites hung from the ceiling and the floor resembled a frozen lake, so white it was almost blue, and perfectly smooth. In the middle of the great cave a lonely figure was waiting.
Asrael knelt before the figure, and Mayra did the same. This must be someone very important if his mother was kneeling before it. The image now allowed him to see who this person was... but it was not a person, it was a being he had never seen before, and he was petrified by it. It was tall and thin, with the bluish skin of the inhabitants of the Frozen Continent, and it resembled a human being. The blue skin of its face was marked by countless white freckles. It had no eyelashes, and its eyes were closed. On its head, arms and legs, which were uncovered, could be seen a series of white crests, like the teeth of an icy saw. Lasgol guessed that they must cover its whole body. The being wore a simple short coat of polar bear skin which reached to its thighs. In one hand it held a staff which appeared to be made of blue ice, as if it had been carved from the walls of the cave itself. At the tip of the staff a blue jewel flashed. Lasgol sensed that this being possessed the Gift and was very powerful.
“Thank you for seeing me,” Mayra said in a voice of great respect.
The being opened its eyes, and Lasgol muffled an exclamation. They were enormous, twice as big as a normal eye, and completely round. The huge iris was silver and shone with intense brilliance. It looked as though the being had two enormous flashing diamonds instead of eyes. It was impossible for him to keep his gaze fixed on them.
“You are welcome to my home,” said the being in a voice as cold as its appearance.
“It’s an honor.”
“Anyone who helps my people has my favor.”
“Thank you, Izotza, Lady of the Glaciers.”
“I see you are wearing the gifts I gave you.”
Mayra showed her the ring on her right hand. “The Ring of the Frozen Languages has served me very well. Thanks to it, I’ve been able to communicate with all the leaders of the peoples of the Frozen Continent.”
“And you have managed to unite them under your flag.”
“Yes, my lady. They’ve listened to me and decided to follow my leadership.”
“That is a great achievement, and worthy of my recognition.”
“My lady could do it herself. They
would all follow you.”
“No, I cannot leave this cave. I am a prisoner of my own longevity. My power is great, but I cannot take it outside. I have lived too many years already, more than I should have, many more. If I left my dwelling, it would be my last walk of all. The magic that keeps me alive comes from the glacier. Outside, I would be consumed and turned into crystal dust, which the north wind would scatter to the infinite.”
“I understand.”
“You are wearing my pendant, the Marker of Experiences.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“May I try it?”
“Of course, my lady.”
Mayra handed the pendant to Izotza, who put it around her neck and closed her eyes. Suddenly a powerfully intense blue flash issued from the pendant, followed by two more. For a long moment she kept her eyes closed. She opened them at last and gave the pendant back to Mayra.
“My lady,” Mayra said respectfully.
“I have been able to re-live all your experiences since you first wore the pendant. It is a delight to be able to feel what is happening in the outside world, because that is no longer possible for me. It is a privilege, and it has made me feel young again, as if I were walking in your footsteps and living through your experiences. It has filled me with joy and satisfaction.”
“Whatever the Lady of the Glaciers needs.”
“It has been a long time since I heard anyone address me like that. It is a very, very long time since I bore that title. But I am glad it is still remembered.”
“Our Lady is the Matron of our people,” Asrael said with deep respect.
“It’s an honor,” said Mayra.
“One day indeed I was. Not any more. Time forgives no-one. Not even me. I have outlived the millennium, and the moment for my last sleep is nigh. I feel it coming closer all the time.”
“No, my lady,” said Mayra. “It would be a great misfortune to lose you.”
“Who will lead us in the bad times?” Asrael asked.
“The one I trust. Her.” She pointed her staff at Mayra.
Mayra bowed respectfully. “With my life.”
“My people suffer. They are fighting for their survival. You must lead them to victory.”