by R A Oakes
“Whinnneh hieeehhe iiihhhee,” Dark Shadow neighed, watching Thaddeus carefully to see if the man understood any of what he was saying. But Thaddeus had no idea the stallion had just spoken to him in a coherent language, one that had been evolving over thousands of years. And so, patting Dark Shadow on the neck again, Thaddeus said, “Whatever you did, I owe you my undying gratitude.”
Eventually, Dynarsis cried himself out, dried his eyes, turned to his uncle and said, “I can speak to horses. I can speak their language.” And although this claim was premature, Dynarsis was certain he’d soon make good on his boast.
“Great, I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from them,” Thaddeus said smiling, not actually believing the boy but not wanting to discourage any signs of a healthy imagination, especially in a youngster as deeply traumatized as his nephew.
“I’m going for a ride, Uncle Thaddeus,” Dynarsis announced, grasping Dark Shadow’s mane with both hands, jumping as hard as he could and swinging up onto the stallion’s back.
“Don’t be gone long, it will be dark soon,” Thaddeus cautioned his nephew.
“What’s the difference between night and day when my soul is already shrouded in darkness?” Dynarsis asked, looking deeply into Uncle Thaddeus’ eyes.
Thaddeus was shocked by such a profound insight coming from a 12-year-old boy, but quickly recovered and kept things on a practical level saying, “During the day, those who love you worry less when you’re gone. But at night, your aunt and I will be getting little sleep if you’re not back. You are not alone, Dynarsis. You are still loved, and we would be worried about you.”
“What good is love if it can’t keep evil at bay?” Dynarsis asked, once again taking his uncle by surprise with such a profound question.
“Having love in our hearts is what keeps us from becoming evil. Love may not control evil lurking in the hearts of others, but it can keep evil from gaining a foothold in our own hearts,” Thaddeus said, wondering if someone as young as Dynarsis could understand such emotional complexity. But after pondering his uncle’s words for a few moments, Dynarsis said, “That’s an interesting point, what you say makes sense.”
“Well, hear this, don’t stay out too late.”
“Yes, sir,” Dynarsis said laughing, not noticing his momentary break with having been totally despondent, at least until now. However, Uncle Thaddeus, Dark Shadow and Swift Arrow were all quick to pick up on this one ray of sunlight that had penetrated into the boy’s deep gloominess. In a way, his mind, emotions and soul had been completely engulfed in flames during that long, awful night when his parents were roasted by fire.
Heading away from Woodcliff Village, Dynarsis was unaware that he was riding directly towards a date with destiny, but he was. For a legend, known only to the College of Wizards, a band of warrior mystics, said:
Fire burning to the core,
Going deep, revealing more.
A sword, an heir, a king for thee,
A Trinity of Fire to set us free.
Chapter 3
Having ridden only a few miles south, Dynarsis was disappointed when he saw it was already beginning to get dark. Yet he pushed on, desperately trying to outdistance his nightmarish memories. Galloping at breakneck pace, Dynarsis sped past Coldstream Village, which was downstream from Woodcliff Village, and continued on with reckless abandon until he couldn’t see a thing.
It was a moonless night.
Even so, the half-crazed boy wanted to keep on riding, but Dark Shadow had more sense and refused to go any farther, unwilling to put his horses at risk over his son’s madness.
Reluctantly turning around and heading home, Dynarsis was surprised to see a campfire lighting an outcropping of rocks perched high atop a nearby hill. “Why would anyone build a fire outside the protective wall of a stockade at night?” Dynarsis asked Dark Shadow. “It could invite unwanted attention.”
“Yiiieh?” Dark Shadow asked, neighing the horse word for trolls.
“Yes, you’re right, it might be trolls. How about if we take a closer look?”
Dark Shadow shied away, having no desire to go looking for trouble, but Dynarsis insisted, saying, “If you won’t take me over there, I’ll walk.”
Not wishing to leave their new son unprotected, Dark Shadow, Swift Arrow and the entire herd of horses headed for the rocks. “Stay together,” the stallion ordered. “But at the slightest sign of trouble, we’re all getting out of here, Thundercloud included.”
As Dynarsis and his new family got closer, they could see one solitary person resting by the campfire. A girl!
“I don’t believe it! What’s a girl doing out this late to begin with? Doesn’t she realize she could be killed, or worse?” Dynarsis asked, both annoyed and frightened for her at the same time.
The herd of horses went as far up the hill as it could, but eventually the incline got too steep, and Dynarsis slid off Dark Shadow’s back and began climbing up the rocks on his own. Hearing the stallion neighing in alarm, he said, “I’ll be careful.” However, when he neared the top, Dynarsis was still in for a surprise for the girl took one look at him, saw it was a boy and scornfully asked, “What do you want?”
“It looked like you could be in d-d-danger,” Dynarsis stammered, suddenly feeling confused.
“Why?”
Dynarsis didn’t know what to say, but he wanted to shout, What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?
But instead, he just remained silent.
After glaring at Dynarsis, the 13-year-old girl grew bored and looked away, contented with watching the flickering flames and the shimmering embers. She was wearing tight gray pants and top and had a slender athletic build and long brown hair that was so dark it was almost black.
Climbing up onto the rock ledge that the girl was sitting on, Dynarsis quickly assessed the strategic nature of the location. The girl’s back was up against a giant rock that was so steep even a troll couldn’t reach the high ground above her. The campfire was large enough that it cast its light almost 30 feet down the hill, and Dynarsis could easily see Dark Shadow and Swift Arrow. The mare was nervously pawing the ground, while the stallion kept moving his head from side to side looking for trouble and flared his nostrils seeking even the slightest hint of troll scent. There was none.
Dynarsis saw Dark Shadow looking right at him. When the horse nodded his head, signaling all clear, Dynarsis relaxed and said, “You’re safe.”
“I know that,” the girl said, irritated by the boy having intruded on her privacy.
“Well, I was riding around and saw you up here all alone and thought maybe you needed help getting home.”
“Aren’t you a little small to be playing the hero?”
Dynarsis cringed at the rebuke, aware that he was little for his age. When the girl saw how much her comment hurt him, she said, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wasn’t exactly expecting company.”
“What about trolls?”
“I’d see them coming.”
“My parents saw them coming but not until it was too late,” Dynarsis mumbled quietly to himself, depression beginning to fog his mind, its darkness cloaking him more deeply than a moonless night ever could.
“What did you say?” the girl asked. But when the boy didn’t respond, she ignored his silence and asked, “What are you doing out so late anyway? Won’t your parents be worried?”
“My parents are dead,” Dynarsis said, looking down at the ground and feeling the madness tugging at the corners of his brain again. “Killed and eaten by trolls.”
The girl’s eyes grew wide when she heard that, and she wondered, Is this the crazy boy everyone’s talking about? The one who heard his parents screaming while they were butchered alive?
“When did that happen?” she asked.
“Less than a week ago.”
The girl quickly looked next to her for a stick or something to defend herself with in case this half-crazed boy went berserk. She’d heard about his screaming all night and t
hrashing his sword about all day.
When Dynarsis realized his presence was scaring the girl, he forced himself to pull back from the brink of insanity and said, “I get upset a lot, but I’m okay right now.”
“That’s good,” the girl sighed.
“What about trolls? What if they see you here?” he asked, unable to stop feeling afraid for her. However, at that moment, a small log fell from the fire and rolled toward the girl. It was covered in flames, but without the slightest hesitation, she reached out, picked it up and placed it back on the fire.
“Your hand!” Dynarsis shouted. “It must be all blistered with severe burns. We’ve got to get some help. Coldstream Village isn’t far, is that where you live?”
“Yes, but don’t get upset. I’m okay,” she said, holding up the palm of her hand for him to see.
“How can that be?” Dynarsis asked, wide-eyed with surprise.
“I picked it up by the end that hadn’t been in thefire.”
“No you didn’t. The whole thing was in flames.”
“Was it?”
Dynarsis paused for a second, then looked at herin alarm and said, “You’re the witch, the one who lives near Coldstream Village, aren’t you?”
“No,” the girl said calmly. “I’m her daughter.”
Dynarsis began backing away. Glancing at Dark Shadow, he tried to judge how long it would take him to reach the horse and get away as far and as fast as he could.
“Please don’t be frightened of me,” the girl said pleadingly.
“What?”
“I’m tired of everyone being scared of me all the time. I’ve never hurt anyone.”
“I’ve heard about how your mother lowers herself down into a deep well. After she reaches the bottom, flames erupt out of it shooting over 100 feet into the air.”
“The Lady of the Well.”
“What?”
“Zorya, the Lady of the Well. That’s what people call my mother.”
“What most people call her is terrifying.”
“And you’re going to take that out on me? You’re going to hold my mother’s quirks against me, is that it?”
“A quirk? You call a river of flame blasting like a raging inferno up into the clouds a quirk?”
“At least we don’t eat people.”
That got to Dynarsis and gave him pause.
“No, you don’t. At least I’ve never heard anyone say anything like that.”
“She goes deep into a well and shoots fire into the air. But who is she hurting? Anyone?”
“No, I’ve never heard of anyone getting hurt from that.”
“See. Mom doesn’t come back up until all the raging fire is gone. At that point, she’s as normal as anyone else.”
“I suppose,” Dynarsis said hesitantly, glancing at his horse once more.
“Go ahead, run away. I don’t care. I don’t care if I ever have a friend,” the girl shouted, her eyes filling with tears. “Go ahead, run!”
Dynarsis was surprised, not because she was yelling but because of her intensity. The girl appeared to have a temper, possibly one bordering on being uncontrollable. That pleased him.
I’ll bet she’s really moody, too, he thought. Good. That means she’s a lot like me, at least how I’ve been since my parents died.
But the girl, exhausted by what appeared to be yet another rejection, leaned back against the rock wall, pulled her knees up against her chest and lowered her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I’m not afraid, not really,” Dynarsis said walking slowly, cautiously, over to where she was sitting.
“You’re not?” she asked doubtfully, looking up at his face and trying to decide if he was only pretending to be unafraid.
“No. I know what fear is. The trolls ripped my parents apart. You should have heard them screaming. I can still hear them even now. It was awful.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. And I shouldn’t have picked up that log while it was on fire, at least not while you were around.”
“That’s okay, but are you serious about not caring? Not caring if you have a friend?” Dynarsis asked.
“Yes, people are too easily frightened.”
“What else do you do that scares them?”
“Not much, not really.”
“Like what?”
The girl held her right hand out in front of herself, palm up, and asked, “Are you sure you want to see this?”
“Yes,” he said, sitting down next to her.
“Okay, here goes,” she replied, and a little ball of fire formed on her palm.
“That’s not so bad.”
“No, but when I get mad or frightened, it gets worse.”
“In what way?”
“Maybe you’ll see it happen sometime, but I’m not that mad at the moment.”
Dynarsis and the girl fell silent, painfully aware that being different caused other villagers to treat them like outcasts.
“I don’t care, either, if I ever have a friend. If I end up being alone, it makes no difference to me,” Dynarsis said, trying to be brave.
“I’m already alone. And I don’t care!” she shouted, her anger suddenly flaring up. Then, reaching out with both hands wide open, streams of flames exploded from them surging to over ten feet in length.
“Wow! That’s neat!” Dynarsis said.
“Really?” the girl asked, closing her hands and extinguishing the fire.
“Yes, no wonder you’re not frightened of trolls finding you.”
“They could still get pretty close. I can’t shoot flames very far.”
“Far enough to protect yourself.”
“I suppose.”
“I scare people, too. They’re frightened of my anger,” Dynarsis lamented.
“Everyone gets angry,” the girl said, very aware of her own hot temper.
“Not like I do.”
“People are afraid of anything they don’t understand.”
“If that’s true, then I don’t understand myself either because I scare me, too.”
“What’s your name?”
“Dynarsis.”
“Mine’s Raven,” she said, shifting over a little closer to him.
“That’s a nice name.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s getting late, and we should be heading home,” Dynarsis said, recalling his uncle’s request that he not stay out all night.
“It won’t take me long to walk home. Coldstream Village isn’t very far away.”
“How about if I give you a ride?” Dynarsis asked, smiling sheepishly and pointing at the huge herd of horses, most of which were now waiting patiently at the bottom of the hill.
“I’d appreciate that, thank you,” Raven laughed.
Being a head taller than Dynarsis, Raven was able to leap up onto Swift Arrow’s back without any help. But Dynarsis looked worriedly at Dark Shadow hoping the stallion wouldn’t embarrass him by kneeling down, enabling him to have an easier time climbing onto his back. Fortunately, Dark Shadow remembered how embarrassing it had been when he was a very tiny, scrawny foal and didn’t lower himself even an inch.
Then, knowing he’d done it before, Dynarsis took hold of Dark Shadow’s mane with both hands, jumped as hard as he could, pulled with all his might and swung up onto the stallion’s back. Much relieved, the boy sat there smiling broadly.
“Well, which way?” Dynarsis asked.
“Over the next hill.”
“Could I see you again sometime?” he asked shyly.
“What would you like to do?”
“Climb up the mountain by Woodcliff Village.”
“That’s a high mountain.”
“There’s a path leading almost the whole way to the top.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you want to go up there?”
“For one, if we had a mountaintop village, it would be easier to defend. A village up there would be safe.”
“How wide is this path you’re talking about?”
“The trail’s pretty narrow, almost impassible in some places.”
“Widening it enough to be of any practical value could take years,” Raven said.
“Not if we had enough people living at the new village. And such a strategic location would give us dominion over all the land around us.”
“Dominion Village, that’s what we could call it,” Raven said smiling.
“Yes, that’s a good name.”
“But adults will never go for the idea. Older people don’t like change.”
“They might, once they considered the advantages. One day, we’ll force back the trolls and make this land safe for everyone to live free from fear!” he shouted with an intensity that Raven found frightening. However, she caught herself and didn’t show it.
“Today, we’ll settle for getting home safely,” she said calmly.
Forcing himself to focus on the present, he said, “Yes, you’re right. But someday, my name will strike fear into the hearts of trolls everywhere. I, Dynarsis Kardimont, swear this on the graves of my parents.”
“You’ll never defeat the trolls by yourself. And as far as relying on others, well, courage is in short supply these days.”
“I’d need an army, that’s true. However, at the beginning, if no one joins me, I’ll go up against them by myself,” he said defiantly. “I won’t allow the trolls to go unchallenged. I won’t allow it!”
She could tell the boy was about to burst into tears of rage. Seeking to calm him a little, she said, “I’d be glad to hike up the mountain with you.”
Dynarsis shook his head, clearing his mind, and asked, “Won’t you be frightened about being alone with a crazy person?”
“Not if you’re not afraid of being alone with a witch,” Raven said laughing.
“Hey, it’s great knowing someone who can start campfires with her bare hands. Anyway, you’d never hurt me intentionally.”
“Not if you’re respectful, but I won’t tolerate being treated like a dumb girl.”
