Gilmreth the Awakening

by Raymond L. Weil

  Stretching, she gazed toward the silent Sylvar Stone. A decent night’s rest in her soft bed sounded highly enticing. Already, the chickens had retired to the hen house, and she could barely see the old, ever-vigilant rooster standing guard at the entrance. Down in the darkening meadow, their cattle were idly grazing on the rich green grass that now blanketed the ground thanks to Lynol’s sorcery. “All we can do is be patient and wait and see what happens. We aren’t controlling the events, Jalene is.”

  “That’s what worries me,” her father spoke with a tinge of concern edging into his voice. “We don’t know what she may do next. Gilmreth or her temple guards could show up tomorrow!”

  “All I can do is to continue to work on my studies,” said Lynol, trying to calm her father’s fears. She too had been wondering just what she would do when that fateful day arrived. “Malcon is quite satisfied with my progress. He says my powers are growing very rapidly now.”

  “I wish there was something I could do to help,” her father said quietly. “I fear all this being on your shoulders. I still don’t like the idea that you may have to face the dragon. Is there nothing in what you and Kalvin found in Firestorm Mountain that might help?”

  “We are still studying that information,” Lynol replied, not wanting to sound evasive. She wasn’t prepared to tell him about her mother’s heritage. She wasn’t sure how her father would react. “So far we’re still not sure just what it means or what we can do with it. Don’t worry, Father; we still have time. It could be many months or even several years before we see Gilmreth or any of the temple guards. I feel really tired. I’m going to bed,” she said, yawning sleepily. “See you in the morning.”

  “Get a good night’s sleep, Lynol. We can talk again in the morning,” spoke Damon, standing and giving her a fatherly hug, knowing she was tired and needed her rest. He knew that sorcery took its toll on her.

  -

  Damon watched his daughter, now turned into a young woman, enter the old family home. He’d stood by and watched her grow rapidly the last few years. No longer was Lynol the helpless, defenseless child of a few short years ago. At times, Damon thought he could sense much of her mother in her. They shared so much in common, but Kathryn hadn’t been a sorceress.

  Taking one last, plaintive look at Firestorm Mountain, Damon turned and went into the house. He had to rise early in the morning to begin haying one of the new meadows, which Lynol had cleared and enriched with her sorcery. If not for Jalene and Gilmreth, Lynol’s powers could do so much good for the people who lived close to the mountains. Damon hoped that someday, when this was all over, she could do just that.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Damon and Lynol were in Galvin; much had changed during the last few years in the close-knit agricultural community. The Mystol’s store had seen increased competition from Addison as more of the farms around Galvin began to produce an abundance of healthy crops. Little did the farmers suspect that Lynol was the one responsible for their sudden good fortune.

  Working secretly at night, she had been using her power discretely, in minuscule amounts so as not to risk detection, to clear away much of the Worldfire poison remaining in the soil.

  Her mother had left detailed directions for the spell that Jason Sylvar had used originally around Firestorm Mountain. Many of the local farms had barely provided enough to allow families to meagerly survive on for centuries. Those farms now produced bountiful harvests which could be sold or traded in Galvin. Trading at the stores in Galvin had become brisk and prosperous for everyone.

  Lynol had also used her sorcery to increase the rainfall in the local area. It was something she thoroughly enjoyed; using her sorcery to create the storms and then controlling them. She could control their intensity, the direction they moved, and even how long they lasted. Kalvin had never allowed her to forget the drenching he received during her first storm incantation. Lynol still flushed in embarrassment whenever he reminded her of it.

  Lynol climbed gingerly off the wagon, slightly sore from the long, bumpy ride into Galvin. Rubbing her backside she stretched, looking toward the Mystol’s store as Gwen made an appearance wearing a big smile on her warm face.

  “Good heavens, child!” said Gwen, coming down the steps and giving Lynol a big motherly hug, then holding her at arm’s length and gazing at her appreciatively. “If you and Dresdia continue to grow we’ll have men from everywhere flocking to the village to see you. You’re the spitting image of your mother when she was your age; both of you share the same beauty. You’ve really grown into a fine looking young woman!”

  “She does look a lot like Kathryn,” said Damon, smiling and stopping to look at his grown up daughter and Gwen.

  Damon knew Lynol was now a very powerful sorceress. The years of intensive training in Malcon’s underground crypt had caused her confidence to grow and resolve to become firmer. Lynol had mastered numerous sorcery spells under Malcon’s careful tutelage. Damon had been amazed at what Lynol had learned and could now do.

  “What are all those freight wagons over at Addisons?” Damon asked curiously, taking a sack of grain out of the wagon and placing it on his shoulder.

  Across the street, half a dozen large freight wagons were being loaded with heavy sacks of grain and other farm products. Several rough looking men stood nearby, watching the loading. Damon didn’t like the looks of them at all. Freight wagons in Galvin had become very rare the past few years since trade with Draydon had literally come to a stop. For some reason, Damon felt uneasy at the sight of the men in front of Addison’s store.

  “They’re from Draydon,” Gwen replied somberly, the color draining from her normally rosy face, obviously unhappy with the situation. Frowning at the men in front of Addison’s, she motioned for Lynol and her father to follow her back into the protective environs of her store.

  “Addison has started trading with Draydon again. Several large freight wagons with trading goods showed up about two weeks ago. They offered to pay with gold coins for all of our excess crops,” Gwen stated as the three sat down at one of the small tables inside. “They said they wanted to reestablish trade with our side of the mountain.”

  “I guess I’m not surprised,” Damon said, concerned, not liking this development. He wished he’d known about this earlier.

  They had been so busy the last few weeks harvesting their crops and vegetable gardens that he had delayed making his normal weekly trip into Galvin. Now he wished he had taken the time.

  “From our last reports, Jalene has nearly two hundred thousand people living in Draydon,” said Damon, looking with alarm out the window at Addison’s store. “She has brought in nearly everyone from the outlying communities on her side of the mountain. Only those villages and towns around Draydon that she needs to raise the crops to feed her city and those of us on this side of Firestorm Mountain have been left alone. Now it looks like she wants our crops as well.”

  “How much longer will we be left alone?” Gwen asked worriedly, shaking her head. “Tohm thinks these traders may be Jalene’s first move toward us. If you hadn’t come into town, he was going to ride out when he gets back from Handon’s Ferry to talk to you.”

  “I wish he would have come by before going,” replied Damon, watching the men through the store window. “There has to be a reason why these traders have shown up now.”

  “The first group was quite small and didn’t seem dangerous, nor did they stay long,” spoke Gwen, looking at Damon and Lynol. She wished that they hadn’t picked today to come into the village. “We thought they were just some traders from Draydon wanting to sell their products and buy ours like the old days. They were here for only about half a day and then left.”

  “Innocent enough,” Lynol said, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She wondered if this was the move by Jalene they had been watching for. Her right hand went briefly to her amulet, feeling its comforting presence beneath her shirt.

  “There was another group that arrived several days ago, a
nd they were quite different from the first group,” Gwen continued with a frown spreading across her normally friendly face. “They asked more questions and spent nearly the entire day in the village. The group today is much larger. They rode in early this morning, and they have been over at Addisons ever since they arrived.”

  “Why didn’t you trade with the first group?” asked Damon, noticing the absence of trade goods from Draydon in Gwen’s store. “You could definitely use some of Draydon’s trade goods.”

  “At first Tohm wanted to, but he didn’t feel like he could trust them,” Gwen replied. “He wanted to wait and see what happened. He also wanted to talk to you and Aldin first. After the group left he went on his trip to Handon’s Ferry. He wanted to trade for some smoked fish to sell and trade at our store. He planned on stopping by your farm on the way back.”

  “How soon after Tohm left did the next group arrive?” asked Damon, wishing Tohm had stopped by the farm before going to Handon’s Ferry. Of course, Tohm couldn’t have known the importance of keeping Damon informed since he didn’t know about Lynol and her powers.

  “The very next day,” replied Gwen, noticing that Damon was watching Addison’s store through the window. “All the traders in the second group seemed to be very rough characters. They asked a lot of intimidating questions, demanded that we trade exclusively with them, and limit our trading with the local people and other villages on this side of the mountain. They wanted everything brought in by the local farmers to be handed over. They would set the prices, and they weren’t offering much in return.”

  “What did you do?” asked Lynol, knowing this must have frightened her. It made her feel aggravated knowing how Gwen must have felt with all this going on and Tohm not here.

  “I didn’t know what to do,” Gwen replied in a shaken voice. “Tohm wasn’t here so I told them I would talk it over with my husband when he returned. That seemed to satisfy them for the time being.”

  “Unbelievable,” muttered Damon, shaking his head and becoming more worried. This didn’t sound good at all!

  Damon suspected the traders were much more than they seemed. He wished Tohm had come on out and warned them, if he had then he and Lynol wouldn’t have come into the village today.

  “What kind of questions were they asking?” Damon was worried that this was the first step of what they had feared for so long.

  This could well be Jalene’s first move to bring this side of the mountain under her control. He glanced at Lynol, wondering how she felt about all of this. He could see the look of anxiety covering his young daughter’s face.

  “Questions about our village’s past,” Pausing, she looked with concern at Lynol, who was listening intently. Gwen thought Lynol didn’t look well; it was almost as if her mind was preoccupied. “Their leader, Dalden Sikes, was particularly interested in knowing if anyone knew any old stories about Gilmreth or Malcon Sylvar.”

  “Did anyone tell him about us?” asked Lynol, nervously. Everyone in the village had heard her father talk about Gilmreth and Malcon Sylvar at one time or another.

  “Yes, Addison did,” replied Gwen, sounding agitated when she mentioned Addison. “He’s always disliked your family.”

  “What about this Dalden Sikes?” Damon asked, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve never heard his name mentioned before.”

  “One of our neighbors listened to several of the traders boasting about Draydon in the tavern,” said Gwen, trying to remember the conversation that had been repeated to her. “It seems that Sikes is an important member of the temple guard.”

  “That’s not good,” Lynol interjected, her voice restrained, casting a worried and meaningful glance at her father. “Jalene is probably behind this. It could indeed be her first attempt at moving onto our side of the mountain. We need to be very careful how this is handled. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if these traders were actually members of her temple guard. The freight wagons may only be a disguise to allow them to infiltrate our community.”

  With a slowly growing knot in her stomach, Lynol didn’t voice all of her concerns. If indeed Jalene was trying to extend her control to this side of the mountain, then how much longer would it be before Gilmreth appeared? Lynol had been hoping for more time to prepare. She still wasn’t sure if she was ready to face the dragon.

  “What’s Addison’s role in all of this?” asked Damon, not liking where this was headed.

  “Addison has been buying a lot of the excess harvests from the farmers the last few days,” Gwen continued with a displeased look crossing her face. “He sent his men out to some of the local farms offering to buy their excess crops with gold coins.”

  “I wonder what Addison has told them?” asked Damon, frowning.

  “Knowing Addison and how he has wanted to reopen trade with Draydon,” replied Gwen, “he probably told them everything they wanted to know.”

  The man didn’t know the trouble he was inviting into their community. Damon wished he had known about the freight wagons sooner. He had been so busy with harvesting their crops like the rest of the area farmers that he hadn’t had an opportunity to come to the village until today.

  “You can almost bet if gold coin was involved his tongue has probably been very loose,” said Damon, shaking his head in aggravation. “The man has no common sense!”

  “I have heard rumors from the tavern, where Addison spends his evenings; that’s how I know he has already told them about you and Lynol. He was bragging about it, how finally you might get what’s coming to you,” she continued, looking worriedly at the two.

  “That’s not surprising,” replied Damon, standing up and clasping his hands behind his back. He walked over to one of the store windows and looked out. He noticed several of the men over at Addisons were now watching Gwen’s store. He felt a slight chill seeing their intent stares. He wondered if they had seen Lynol and him enter Gwen’s store.

  “He has boasted to his friends that the people from the other side of the mountain will take care of the Gors and the Sylvars,” said Gwen, looking at Lynol with worry in her eyes.

  “Addison has never forgiven us for not trading with him,” spoke Damon, shaking his head. “He isn’t thinking clearly on this; he could be putting all of us in danger!”

  “Did your neighbor hear anything else?” asked Lynol, trying to keep her voice calm. This was sounding worse with everything Gwen said.

  “He heard that the traders were extremely interested when Addison told them the Sylvar family still existed.” Gwen answered with a worried look upon her face. “Many of the second group’s questions around Galvin have been about your family and its history, particularly whether there have been any Sylvars in recent times that have shown any signs of being sorcerers!”

  “Perhaps it’s a good thing we haven’t had any sorcerers in our family for generations,” Damon replied with a straight face, looking at Gwen. “Maybe the absence of sorcerers on this side of the mountain will encourage them to leave us alone if they realize we are no threat to them.”

  “Perhaps,” acknowledged Gwen, glancing at Lynol with a quizzical look. “But a sorcerer to oppose Jalene may be just what we need now. It could be our only salvation. Someone as powerful in sorcery as you have said Malcon was would be a blessing to our community. Without one, we are powerless if Jalene decides to send her temple guards or even Gilmreth to our side of the mountain. I fear that our days of being left alone are nearly over!”

  Gwen stood up and walked over to the window to stand beside Damon, glancing out worriedly. The traders were still busy loading their freight wagons. Several were obviously watching her store. She didn’t care for that. It made her nervous wondering what they were up to, especially with Damon and Lynol here.

  Turning back to face Lynol, she continued in an anxious voice. “I fear that time is growing short. Jalene eventually will demand our obedience. Yes, a sorcerer or sorceress would be very useful. It’s been amazing how the crops have improved the past few years and how
much more fertile the herds have become. Yes, very mysterious indeed,” she commented, looking at Lynol with a knowing look in her eyes.

  Lynol had a distinct feeling that Gwen was fishing for an admission from Lynol or Damon that sorcery wasn’t quite as dead as everyone thought on Galvin’s side of the mountain. Lynol shifted uneasily in her chair. Gwen was suspicious from the increased fertility of the soil around Galvin, the increase in viable births among the cattle, sheep, and horses, and possibly even from the frequency of the rainstorms Lynol created.

  “Tohm says he can’t ever recall receiving as much rain as we have the last few years,” Gwen went on, her eyes carefully watching Lynol.

  The hints were there. Lynol had hoped no one would recognize them; evidently Gwen was growing suspicious. Lynol knew she would have to be even more careful in the future. If Gwen was suspicious, there might be others. She had hated not being able to tell Gwen the truth. Lynol and her father had discussed it, but had decided that it was safer for Tohm and Gwen if they didn’t know.

  Lynol knew that once she returned home, she would have to have a long visit with Malcon’s simulacrum in the crypt about these traders from Draydon. Lynol’s long period of secrecy about her powers might very well be ending. In some ways that would be a relief, but it would also mean the beginning of a very dangerous time for her. She wondered if she was ready.

  “That would be a comfort, if there was a powerful sorcerer on our side of the mountain,” Lynol ventured cautiously, trying to keep her voice calm. She could feel her heart beating faster. Gwen was so close to discovering the truth! If Gwen asked her directly, Lynol didn’t know if she could deny it. “But if Jalene ever discovered another sorcerer existed, with her power and Gilmreth’s combined they would move to destroy that sorcerer immediately. I don’t know of any such sorcerer, do you, Father?”