by R A Oakes
“There’s no point in any of us hanging back now,” Dynarsis admitted, and Brianuk, Starlight, Andylan, Aldwen and he nudged their horses and rode off in pursuit of their friends.
Upon reaching the woods, they found that Renivy and Zorya had remained mounted, and they followed suit, unable to do anything but stare at Raven in wide-eyed amazement. Taking everyone by surprise, including herself, the trees nearest to the warrior woman had begun glowing with subdued light as soon as she entered the forest, subdued prism light. Faintly, ever so faintly, a dozen trees had turned from objects cloaked in darkness into ones made of purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red light.
It was almost like a fall season with the leaves just beginning to change, the colors not being nearly as bright as when at their peak, yet with varying hews of green, yellow, orange and red making their presence known. In addition, shades of purple and blue enhanced the usual fall colors, creating reddish-orange leaves with blue accents and yellow leaves with streaks of purple. And tree trunks and branches were no longer just gray or brown, as each of the dozen trees seemed to have chosen a single color for its bark with deeper hews being nearer the base and becoming lighter in color the higher one looked.
Though the light emanating from the trees was both faint and subdued, it presented a startling contrast to the nighttime darkness now enveloping the rest of the forest. Marveling at the prism light all around her, Raven spread her arms wide drinking in the wondrous beauty, all the more tantalizing since it was so unexpected.
Looking at the amulet he wore around his neck, the one that was little more than a charred cinder, Aldwen thought about the blast of megentum energy that had struck Raven. The full force of it had slammed into her back immediately after she’d materialized from the future. The wizard had been wondering what effect such an intense blast of megentum energy might have on the warrior woman, and it seemed that he had his answer, at least part of it.
“So, Aldwen, what do you make of all this?” Raven asked, looking up at the wizard who was still mounted on his horse.
But Aldwen didn’t reply because he was too busy observing the forest and how it was behaving while Raven walked back into the field. To begin with, as the warrior woman left the forest, the trees that had been glowing with prism light lowered their branches, holding them over Raven as if basking in her warmth. But as soon as the warrior woman was completely away from the trees, they stopped glowing, and darkness enveloped everything, both the woods and the travelers.
“Well, that was rather short-lived,” Raven said, looking behind her.
“I wonder what would happen if you walked back under the overhanging branches?” Aldwen asked.
Raven did so, with no results, and then she strode past several trees but again nothing happened. The prism light did not return.
“What did you do differently the first time you entered the woods?” Aldwen asked.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking about the trees. I was looking for trolls.”
“Did you touch any of the trees?”
“I might have touched one of the tree trunks,” Raven said, turning to a large tree and reaching out, but she stopped short of placing her hand on it. “If this tree and the trees around it start glowing again, is that a wise idea? I mean, what if there are trolls around? What if they’re attracted to the light?”
“Attracted by megentum light? I don’t think so.”
“Megentum light?”
“Starlight, what do you know about these woods or about any of the forests between here and Hawthorn Village?” Aldwen asked.
“Not much, I’ve only been up this way a few times,” the vegetarian troll said as she dismounted and walked over to the edge of the woods. Taking a breath, she entered the forest, walked up to a tree trunk and placed her hand upon it. Nothing happened.
“Did you expect something to occur?” Aldwen asked.
“No, not really, but I wanted to see what the woods feel like, and more importantly, what the land feels like.”
“Feels like?”
“This land feels good. It’s like standing on a strip of megentum-enriched land back home.”
“You think there’s megentum right here?”
“No, at least not in any measurable quantity. But back at my village, there are strips of land, strips maybe only 100 or 200-yards-wide, and they’re like this land. At home, it feels good to stand on such ground and walk in the woods.”
“Why do you call it megentum-enriched land?”
“The strips include the grassland along the edge of the woods, and that’s where we plow and plant our vegetables. Vegetables grown in such soil taste much better than vegetables grown anywhere else. And when we plow the grass-covered ground to prepare it for planting, and if the sun’s shining, you can see light reflecting off tiny bits of golden-colored earth no bigger than grains of sand.”
“And you feel the same here as you do back at your village? You’re absolutely sure?” Aldwen asked.
“Yes.”
“Have you ever seen trees glowing at night before?”
“Never, but I can tell you one thing.”
“What?”
“Meat-eating trolls don’t like megentum-enriched land, and they’ll go out of their way to avoid it.”
“So, there won’t be any meat-eating trolls on this entire hill?”
“Probably not, that is if the whole hill’s enriched with megentum. It might be, or might not be. I don’t know.”
“If meat-eating trolls see light from trees grown in megentum soil, what will they do?”
“I don’t know, but if they don’t like the land, then maybe they’d avoid such light as well.”
“Meat-eating trolls have always been afraid of sunlight, since it turns them to stone, but are you suggesting that megentum light would be deadly to them as well?” Raven asked.
“I’ve seen meat-eating trolls walking near megentum-enriched land but not on it, though I once saw a young-adult troll take a few steps into the woods, but he came out rather quickly. For some reason, they just don’t like it. However, I doubt that megentum light would actually kill them, though it could drive them away. Yet that’s just a guess, and I wouldn’t want to risk my life on a guess.”
“I understand your concern but, in this instance, maybe the degree of risk is acceptable. Raven, what do you think?” Aldwen asked, and the warrior woman, who had already arrived at the same conclusion, placed a hand on the tree trunk closest to her. Immediately, that tree and those around it glowed once again with subdued prism light. Not bright enough to be seen off in the distance, but visible to anyone looking directly at it within a hundred yards. It was like the glow of the embers of a campfire after the flames had gone out, if you added a touch of purple, blue and green.
“Father, can you and the other horses make it up this hill? It is rather steep,” Dynarsis asked Dark Shadow using the Equestrian language.
“Without riders, we could make it.”
“Hey, everyone, please dismount so the horses have an easier time getting up the hill.”
“Certainly,” Zorya said. “I was going to walk anyway.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to state the obvious.”
“It’s okay. No one could love these horses more than you do.”
“Thank you.”
With Raven leading the way and touching tree trunks as she went along, the travelers and their horses proceeded up the hill, through the woods and out into the grassy hillside leading to the rocky knoll. Raven was the last to leave the forest, even though she’d been the first to reach the upper edge of the trees, because she figured the trees might stop glowing when she stepped out from under them, and she was right. The moment she left the trees, the gentle glow of prism light disappeared, leaving nothing but darkness behind her.
With only stars overhead on a moonless night, the travelers and their horses made their way up the grassy hillside and eventually reached the rocky knoll. There were no tre
es at the top of the hill, not even one, which was better since even one tree glowing gently from such a height might have attracted attention.
Zorya, Raven or Renivy could have provided light by having a hand or even just a finger burst into flames, but any fire, no matter how small, would have been much brighter than the subdued prism light, so using fire wasn’t an option. Yet the stars created a breathtaking display of their own, one that anyone could see and enjoy.
“When was the last time we had a quiet moment like this?” Raven asked Starlight, Andylan and Dynarsis who were standing next to her. However, before any of them could respond, they heard Renivy’s voice coming from the top of a large rock behind them.
“People say the night sky is empty, except for the stars. But what if the sky is solid, and stars are tiny holes letting in light from whatever’s outside?”
“I don’t know,” Brianuk replied, sitting beside her on the boulder. “What if the sky is empty, and stars are simply flaws in the emptiness?”
Surprised by their insights, Raven turned around, and the young friends looked like two shadows sitting next to each other. Then, turning to Dynarsis, she said, “Did we ever talk like that?”
“I remember you scolding me for always seeming to say things that were depressing.”
“Well, maybe what Brianuk said is a little depressing. I mean, he’s looking up at the stars and still says something negative. But I have to admit what he said is insightful. And how old is he, 12? When was the last time you heard a 12-year-old say anything interesting like that?”
“Thank you.”
“I’m complimenting him, not you,” Raven said smiling, knowing what Dynarsis was going to say next.
“Yes, but he is me. So, in a way, I did say it.”
“Well, in a way, I’m Renivy.”
“Yes and her thoughts about emptiness and stars were interesting. However, maybe stars are little bits of sunlight captured by the sky during the day and displayed at night.”
“Being that you’re such a philosopher, why not sit on that boulder with them?”
“Because I’d rather be close to you.”
Raven said nothing but knew Dynarsis meant it. He’d been telling her things like that almost from the time they’d first met.
Dynarsis took a step closing the distance between them, their shoulders touching, though not quite standing in front of each other, being more like a door that’s open halfway. And he said, “We have a second chance for the quest, but we also have a second chance for us.”
“There was never any time before,” Raven pointed out. “And we couldn’t afford any personal distractions. Just struggling to stay alive took everything we had.”
“And where did that get us?”
“We were in the last fortress under human control, it was going up in flames, and we were trapped in a stone tower with thousands of trolls swarming all around us.”
“Things don’t get any worse than that.”
“You’re right, we were finished.”
“We spent our lives being cold, calculating and pragmatic, and it got us nowhere.”
“Yes, I can’t argue with you on that score.”
“This time, things will be different.”
“In what way?”
“This time around, we get reckless.”
“You’re serious?” Raven said, feeling a ray of hope awaken inside of her, knowing all too well that she was bone tired of the endless drudgery of conventional warfare.
“This time around, we take risks, and we live without regrets.”
“What you’re suggesting isn’t a responsible way of waging war.”
“No, it’s not.”
“I don’t know what you’d even call what you’re suggesting.”
“It’s called being spontaneous and unpredictable.”
“Spontaneous and unpredictable?”
“Yes.”
“I like it.”
“And I love you,” Dynarsis said, getting literally to the very heart of the matter.
“Love is irrational.”
“Yes.”
“It’s spontaneous and unpredictable.”
“Yes.”
“And love fits in with this new kind of warfare.”
“It’s the very foundation of it.”
“We’ll be inventive and creative,” Raven said, smiling at the notion of war being an art form.
“We’ll do the unexpected.”
“I like this guy,” Raven said, smiling and looking around at her friends.
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Starlight said, smiling as well.
“I love you,” Dynarsis said.
“And I love you,” Raven replied, feeling the invisible shackles that had been holding her spirit in bondage and weighing her down for years suddenly falling away.
Taking Raven in his arms, Dynarsis kissed her, and not a friendship kiss like they’d done many times in the past, but a real kiss, a passionate kiss, a kiss filled with a sense of complete and total abandon. And the kiss lingered, and lingered some more.
Finally, Raven pulled back a little, her instincts for survival that had been honed to a razor’s edge over the years reasserting themselves, and said, “This kiss won’t help us get any closer to finding the megentum to create Baelfire.”
“Baelfire? So the sword has a name now?”
“Yes, if we’re going to risk everything for her, she needs to have a name.”
“She? So the sword’s a woman?”
“Yes, and calling a megentum sword ‘it’ is just plain wrong.”
“Does Baelfire mean anything?”
“Bael is the ancient word for woman.”
“And so Baelfire means . . .?”
“Woman on Fire!”
“Which I suppose makes perfect sense, given the fiery personality of the woman who’s naming her. And when did you come up with this name?”
“Just now.”
“During our kiss?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if a kiss can create a name for a female sword, maybe love can triumph over evil.”
“There’s more evil in the world, a lot more evil than there is love, and there are far more meat-eating trolls than there are humans. We need to be realistic about what we’re up against.”
“I’m tired of being realistic. This time around, I’m fighting for a better way of life. I’m fighting for a chance for us to be in love and have a family.”
“I don’t know who’s more frightening, you or the meat-eating trolls.”
“If they get in the way of our having a family and having some love in our lives, then meat-eating trolls will find out just how dangerous I can be.”
“I like it when you talk reckless.”
“Raven, I’m being serious.”
“So am I, so tell me more about how dangerous you are.”
“Meat-eating trolls had best not get in our way.”
“And why not?”
“Because if I have to, I’ll cut every last one of them down. I will not stand for their taking our lives from us again. I will not allow them to rob us of love for a second time. I can’t live like that anymore. I just can’t. And I won’t,” Dynarsis said as he looked around wildly, and a madness that had taken him over after his parents were killed began taking hold of him.
Knowing the warning signs, having seen them before, Raven realized Dynarsis was about to cut loose with one of his fits of rage. Not wanting to scare the others, though Starlight and Andylan had seen Dynarsis lose control before, which during a battle wasn’t such a bad thing, Raven slapped him as hard as she could.
Dynarsis stared at her with a blank look on his face, not really seeing her, so she gripped him by his shoulders and shook him, and this time he at least blinked.
Pulling back from him, she hauled off and slapped him again with all her might, and Dynarsis staggered from the sheer force of the blow. Then, shaking his head a bit, he looked at her with clearer eyes
and smiled.
“Okay, Dynarsis and I are going for a walk, and I want everyone to stay here,” Raven said with such a hard edge to her voice that no one was going to challenge her on this matter, that was for sure.
“Come on, dangerous man, walk with me.”
And taking Dynarsis by the hand, in a grip as firm as steel, she walked her man off into the darkness.
Chapter 13
After having splashed a few handfuls of lava onto her face, Balzekior’s strength had increased dramatically, so much so, that when she gave Jaren a shove, he’d been sent flying over the stream of molten magma.
“Transform!” the old crone shouted, pointing a finger at Jaren while unleashing a surge of energy that penetrated deeply into every fiber of his body.
Months ago, when Zorya had inadvertently burned the left side of his face, Jaren had thought he’d known pain. But that experience was nothing compared to this one as he plunged headfirst beneath the surface.
Gasping, he took a deep breath, the liquid fire pouring down his throat and into his chest causing him to scream out at the top of his lungs, which was incredible in that he still had lungs and vocal cords. Touching bottom, the stream being only a few feet deep, Jaren pushed off, shot to the surface and shouted, “I’m dying! I’m dying!”
“Well, no, not exactly,” the old crone said calmly. “I’m dead, at least technically, but you’re doing quite well.”
Climbing out of the stream, Jaren was covered with flames from head to toe, looking like a raging bonfire. Screaming and screaming with all his might, Jaren’s agony echoed off the cavern walls, which was much to Balzekior’s delight, who was smiling with genuine amusement.
“I’m on fire,” Jaren shouted, slapping his chest and legs, trying to put out the flames.
“You’re wasting your time.”
“I feel like I’m burning up.”
“Well, you’re not, and you would have died if I hadn’t intervened. Have you forgotten how difficult it was for you to breathe the air here in the cavern?”
“The air was bad in the tunnel getting here, too.”
“Not as foul as it is in here, at least for a human. You were dying.”
