Raven Quest
Page 10
“Your parents were killed and eaten by trolls? So were mine, years ago, when I was 12-years-old,” the male warrior said, shocked to meet someone else who’d lost his parents at such a young age.
“Mine were murdered only a few weeks ago,” Dynarsis said, feeling sick over the mere mention of the ordeal.
“I thought you two looked alike,” the leader of the warrior women said to the male warrior.
“Whom are you talking about?”
“You and the boy,” the leader of the warrior women said.
“The boy’s name is Dynarsis,” Raven informed them.
All four of the adults looked around at each other, and then the leader of the warrior women asked, “So, your name is Raven, and his is Dynarsis?”
“Yes.”
“And how old are you?”
“I’m 13, and Dynarsis is 12-years-old.”
“How did you two meet?” she asked.
“He was out riding with his horses, and he saw me up on a hill.”
“In the dark, and you were sitting by a campfire?” the leader of the warrior women asked.
"Yes."
“And did you pick up a log that fell from the fire?”
“Yes, but how would you know about that?”
Turning to the boy, the male warrior asked, “The horses you were riding that night, were they your parents?”
“My parents were human, and they were murdered.”
“I mean a week after that,” the male warrior said. “Did you go out riding with your horse parents? Is that when you first met Raven?”
“Yes.”
Switching to the Equestrian language, a language known only to horses, the male warrior asked, “Can you understand me now?”
“Yes,” Dynarsis said, stunned that anyone else could speak Equestrian. “Yes, I can. Who are you?”
“A friend and you’re my second chance,” the male warrior said, continuing to speak Equestrian. Then, witching back to English, the male warrior looked at the leader of the warrior women and said, “If these two
youngsters are 13 and 12-years-old, then we’ve come 20 years into the past.”
“20 years?” the leader of the warrior women asked in disbelief.
“Yes, and we’ve got our second chance because that means the quest hasn’t started yet.” Looking at Raven and Dynarsis, the male warrior asked, “Has Aldwen been talking about the need to go on a quest to find megentum?”
“Yes, but why not ask him about it yourself? He’s right over there,” Raven said, pointing at the elderly wizard making his way across the field towards them, Zorya’s scorched stone residence clearly in the background.
“I haven’t seen that cottage in a long, long time,” the leader of the warrior women said.
“I live there with my mom,” Raven said.
“I know,” the leader of the warrior women replied without further explanation.
When Aldwen arrived, the vegetarian troll looked directly at the wizard and said, “I’m not a regular troll, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t hurt me.”
Aldwen’s eyes opened wide as he looked over the golden-eyed troll, and he said, “I saw you save Dynarsis’ life, so I won’t hurt you. But you’re right, you sure are a different sort of troll. For one, you’re standing under the full glare of the sun overhead, and you haven’t turned to stone. How can that be?”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“And that keeps you from turning to stone?”
“Yes.”
“Please don’t let the other trolls know about that.”
“I haven’t, and I won’t. But I’m not the only vegetarian troll. There are several hundred of us living in a village far to the west. And although we eat the same vegetables as humans, ours are grown in megentum- enriched earth and have mystical properties.”
“You know about megentum?” Aldwen asked in a startled tone of voice.
“All four of us know about your quest, the quest to get megentum from Gratuga for a magic sword.”
“Do other trolls know about this?”
“No one else at this point in time.”
“Do you expect me to just allow you to walk away with such important information?”
“No, in fact, we’re going with you, all four of us,” the leader of the warrior women said speaking up.
“And who are the four of you?”
“I’m Raven, a 33-year-old version of the 13-year- old girl you’ve always known by that name. He’s Dynarsis, a 32-year-old version of this 12-year-old boy. My vegetarian friend’s name is Starlight, and the warrior woman checking on the two little girls over there is named Andylan.”
“Two females named Raven and two males named Dynarsis?”
“You should know, since you’re the one who brought all four of us from the future.”
“Me?”
“What’s that charred cinder you have hanging from that thin chain around your neck?”
“It was megentum.”
“Potent stuff.”
“Why do you think I’m the one who brought you here from the future?”
“I’ve known you all my life, so what else did you do? I mean along with using the megentum, what else did you do to bring us here?”
“What makes you think I did anything else?”
“Like I said, I’ve known you all of my life.”
“Which means?”
“What else did you do?”
“I might have used a bit of an unpredictable incantation.”
The adult Raven smiled, shook her head and asked, “Has the College of Wizards thrown you out of their little band of mystics?”
“Not yet, why? Will they?”
“I’m not sure. It seems that coming into the past has clouded my memory somewhat, and I can’t recall the future very well, at least I can’t at the moment.”
“Do you recall a magic sword, a sword of light that will be a scourge to the trolls?”
“No, nothing like that. How about you guys? Do any of you remember anything about a magic sword?” the adult Raven asked, glancing at her friends. But they all shook their heads and said that they did not.
Aldwen looked stricken, and the adult Raven said, “You have good reason to be upset. Where we come from, the last fortress held by humans is falling to the meat- eating trolls. The human race has been decimated, and the vegetarian trolls are no better off.”
“The quest? Do you remember the quest?” Aldwen asked, his eyes pleading for good news.
“I can’t seem to recall specific details, Aldwen. But I can tell you that your quest failed, and everything you fear has come to pass.”
“All hope is lost?”
“Where we come from, yes, all hope is lost.”
“Then why did the megentum pluck you from the future?”
“You mean the megentum and your outlawed incantation.”
“Yes, why did they both bring you here?”
“Ask the King,” the adult Raven said, pointing at the adult Dynarsis. “He’s the one who believes in second chances.”
“The King?”
“Forget she said that, Aldwen. It means nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Well, it better mean something,” little Raven said, putting her hands on her hips, “because I’m too young to be hearing such bad news. And if we’ve got a second chance, a chance to make the quest succeed, then we’re going to take it.”
“What makes you think the quest will succeed this time when the first one obviously didn’t?” the adult Raven asked the younger version of herself.
“I believe in miracles!” little Raven exclaimed with an innocence so pure it wrenched the heart of the 33- year-old Raven, an adult heart so long devoid of hope that the mere mention of miracles or second chances made her feel like she was being torn apart inside.
“Believing in such things will only cause you pain,” the adult Raven said, looking at her younger self with haunted eyes that had seen nothing but darkness for m
any, many years.
“Not believing is worse, if looking at your tortured soul is any indication of what I have to look forward to someday,” little Raven said, immediately regretting her words, not wanting to bring the older version of herself any more pain than she’d already experienced. Trying to make amends, little Raven quickly said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”
The adult Raven looked at the field surrounding them, looked up at the deep blue sky, and looked at the troll statues on the ground and said, “We’re about to go on a failed quest for a second time, and yet this is the least pressure I’ve been under in years.”
“I’m sorry,” little Raven said, coming over and taking the adult Raven’s right hand in both of hers. “But with you and your friends here now, maybe we’ll have a better chance of succeeding this time around.”
“Sure, maybe,” the adult Raven said, not believing her own words, and it had been a long time since she’d been able to believe in anything.
◆◆◆
At that moment, Uncle Thaddeus reached the edge of the woods, having run the length of the path from Woodcliff Village to here, and raced across the field till he reached little Raven and little Dynarsis. Sweeping the boy up into his arms, he gave Dynarsis a hug and said, “I’m glad you’re safe.” Next, after glancing around at the stone trolls lying on the ground, he looked at Aldwen and the four adult warriors with him and said, “I don’t know most of you, other than Aldwen, but thank you for rescuing Raven and Dynarsis.”
And then, as he saw Andylan coming towards him carrying the two kidnapped girls who were now wide awake and unharmed, he smiled and said, “This is more than I could have hoped for. Thank you all very much.”
Whispering to the adult Raven, the adult Dynarsis said, “Shouldn’t those little girls be dead? I mean, I don’t recall saving them back when we were 12 and 13, do you?”
“No, we didn’t save them, and we were lucky to come out of it alive.”
“So, we’re already changing the course of events.”
“Maybe, at least for the girls and their parents.”
A moment later, Dark Shadow, Swift Arrow and over a dozen wild horses came charging out of the woods into the field and headed right for little Dynarsis and his Uncle Thaddeus. Dark Shadow reared up on his hind legs and pawed at the air with his hooves, daring anything or anyone to hurt his new son, and Swift Arrow went around to each of the troll statues making sure they were all as lifeless as they appeared.
“What happened here my son?” Dark Shadow asked little Dynarsis, using the Equestrian language.
“They rescued us from the trolls,” little Dynarsis said, pointing to Aldwen and the four adult warriors.
“Thank you,” Dark Shadow and Swift Arrow said in unison.
“You’re welcome,” the adult Dynarsis said, though neither Dark Shadow nor Swift Arrow noticed that he’d responded in Equestrian, so happy were they that their young son was safe.
Swift Arrow began sniffing the air and caught two distinct smells, one good and one which she was completely unfamiliar with. The good smell came from the adult male warrior, and the unfamiliar smell came from a . . . troll!
The adult Dynarsis quickly stepped forward, immediately understanding his horse mother’s anxiety, and he said, “It’s okay, Mother, this golden-eyed female troll is safe. She’s one of us. She’s a vegetarian troll from far away, and she has nothing to do with the bad meat- eating trolls who killed my human parents and who killed your foal.”
Seeing his mother’s uncertainty and his father’s confusion, the adult Dynarsis unbuckled the belt that was around his waist and let his swords and scabbards drop to the ground. He slowly approached his horse parents and then lay down on the ground in front of them, placing his head next to Dark Shadow’s front hooves. Now, the adult Dynarsis was totally at his horse parents’ mercy. He knew Dark Shadow could crush his skull in an instant.
Keeping his face buried in the grass, the adult Dynarsis said, “Father, Mother, it is I, Thundercloud. I come from 20 years into the future, and I come seeking a second chance at life, for where I come from, the trolls have taken over the world and all humans are either dead or have been enslaved.”
“What second chance, my son?” Swift Arrow asked, knowing without hesitation that this was indeed their son who was lying before them.
“Aldwen wants to organize a quest to find enough megentum to create a magic sword which could be used to defeat the trolls. He believes that without such a magic sword all will be lost, and the human race will be destroyed. Having come from the future, I know that Aldwen’s quest has indeed failed, and his prediction has come true.”
“What can be done? If all is lost, what are we to do?”
“We are here to try again, Mother and Father. We have come from the future to have a second chance. We will begin again. We will start anew. And this time, we will succeed.”
“Where must you go for this megentum, my son?” Swift Arrow asked.
“Gratuga.”
“Son, that is madness. No good can come of going to Gratuga.”
“I understand and we failed the first time for there is no magic sword. But this time, we will succeed.”
“Why will you succeed? What’s different?”
“The last time, I think we actually tried to go directly to Gratuga, and I don’t think we made it. I don’t think we even got close.”
“How could anyone expect to get near Gratuga?”
“Well, we tried and we failed. But our golden- eyed friend might be able to get us closer to Gratuga via an indirect route.”
“What indirect route?”
“I don’t know exactly, since there was never any reason for us to talk about it. Humans and vegetarian trolls didn’t become allies until some years from now, and then only out of a desperate need to try to survive. But there might be another way to approach Gratuga, one we didn’t know about before.”
Dark Shadow, Swift Arrow, Aldwen, both Ravens, both Dynarsises, Andylan and Uncle Thaddeus all looked at Starlight who nodded and said, “Even in the future, however, it has been kept secret from humans. A bond of real trust was never developed between humans and vegetarian trolls. Humans have a deep-seated mistrust of any trolls, even vegetarian trolls, and we have never been comfortable around humans. And that’s not exactly a recipe for open communication and the telling of closely-held secrets.”
“When were you planning on leaving?” Swift Arrow asked her adult son.
“As soon as we return these two girls to their parents and as soon as little Raven can tell Zorya about our plans.”
“I can take the children back to Woodcliff Village,” Thaddeus said. “But I won’t be able to go along with you. If anything, I should stay behind and try to strengthen the stockade around the village.”
“Do as you feel is best,” the adult Dynarsis said. “But there’s no way you’ll be able to keep your nephew from going along. And if he goes back with you after the meat-eating trolls kidnapped those children, some of the villagers will blame him even though he had nothing to do with it. They’ll chain him up and might even try to put him to death.”
“I realize that, but you’re still going to have a heck of a time convincing Zorya to allow any of you to go anywhere near Gratuga.”
Hearing a roaring sound overhead, everyone looked up in the sky and saw Zorya blazing across the heavens like a fireball, and when she landed, she surprised them all. Walking up to Aldwen, Zorya at first said nothing and then heaved a great sigh and said, “We’re going to Gratuga.” Next, after extinguishing her flames, she sighed once more and walked slowly towards her little stone cottage.
“Mother!” both Ravens exclaimed, concerned about the cloud of despair that seemed to be enveloping her.
“They’re dead. They’re all dead,” Zorya added without further explanation.
Chapter 10
After dark on the same day, the adult Raven was sitting outside under a huge oak tree, one of
the oldest in the grove surrounding her mother’s cottage, along with little Raven, both Dynarsises, Starlight and Andylan while Zorya and Aldwen were together inside. Uncle Thaddeus had already returned with the girls to Woodcliff Village, and Dark Shadow and Swift Arrow and over a dozen of their wild horses were out grazing in the fields. Roosting on branches throughout the oak grove were at least 100 ravens, their keen intelligence, sharp eyes and acute hearing providing a natural early-warning system should any trolls be foolish enough to get anywhere near Zorya, especially on this given day.
“How do you think Mother is?” little Raven asked the older version of herself.
“Not well, if I’m remembering correctly.”
“Did you find out what’s wrong, what’s upsetting her? I didn’t think Aldwen was allowing anyone near her. He said she was grieving over a great loss and needed time to be alone.”
“He’s right, and Mother’s loss is what triggered the quest the first time.”
“It must be something terrible, something really awful, for her to change her mind about our going to Gratuga.”
“It is.”
“What happened?”
“We should wait until Mother’s ready to talk about it. You should really hear about it from her. When she’s ready to talk, she’ll welcome a good listener.”
“Are you going to remember every aspect of the quest, each and everything we do from now on, day by day?”
“No, this will probably be the last thing I’ll know about.”
“Why?”
“When we start out, we’ll be heading north towards Hawthorn Village, and that’s a completely different direction from before. The first time, we headed west. So, from the moment we begin, nothing I remember will matter. Everything will change, everything will be different.”
“And that’s a good thing.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Silence enveloped the woods, and both Ravens, both Dynarsises, Starlight and Andylan were alone with their thoughts. After a while, little Dynarsis spoke up and said, “I’m going by the name Brianuk from now on, and that will eliminate the confusion of there being two people named Dynarsis.”
“And I’ll go by Renivy,” little Raven proclaimed.