“They cut themselves off entirely from the Bough. That was the largest split and a loss most deeply felt. Well over one hundred of those who now call themselves ‘frost elves’ relocated to the Quel’dethain Mountains and started new lives there. They continued to hunt and gather, but they also tirelessly trained in the arts of warfare, strategy, and weapon skills. They thrived and grew in number, and they became strong indeed. I think they would be a formidable foe for most invaders.
“And, of course, you know of Saige and her cliff elves, which was a fairly recent development—ten or twelve years ago that they struck out on their own. They believed it was long past time to open the borders with the other worlds, and if possible, to resume living and trading with other races. The last I heard, they were overtly seeking a way to find Valyn so that she would help them do just that.” Maw’thryn finished off his biscuit.
“Can you tell me how to get to the Quel’dethain Mountains and the frost elves?”
“Oh, my my, let me see. There are two paths to Quel’dethain from here, and both are quite long, but one is less so and not as arduous as the other. You would head north from the Bough, and on the third day you will approach a crossroads. The more direct path will be from there heading northwest. You could also continue north through the Stormhill Wilds. It is a magical and unpredictable path, and one fraught with danger, both seen and unseen. The more northern route is not generally taken, except by those who are in desperate need of taking it. No one goes into the Stormhills unless….” Here Maw’thryn became quiet and thoughtful for a minute, as if struggling with his last comment.
“Tell me, Marzi, what is your interest in the frost elves and the Quel’dethain Mountains?”
She had to think quickly of a reason that might satisfy the old man. Valyn, are you there? Please help me. “Oh, well, it is just an idle curiosity. I heard someone refer to the mountains and thought I would ask. I’m just trying to learn more about my new home. It seems, that as long as I am lost, this is indeed my home.” She smiled disarmingly at him in hopes that the explanation would satisfy the eccentric old man.
“Some might say that if you have a home, then you are not truly lost.” He opened his eyes wider and returned her smile.
“If you allow me some time, my dear, I will perhaps be able to locate my maps. Unfortunately, my assistant has traveled northeast on a family matter. He knows where all the maps and important scrolls are.” Maw’thryn whirled around the room as if to indicate with his arms the untidy mass of books, scrolls, and parchments laying about. “As you can see, he has his work cut out for him when he returns.”
Marzi nodded and politely agreed with him. “Yes, I can see that.”
He gave her an appreciative look and chuckled.
She looked at him thoughtfully while she nibbled on her honey oat cake. “Can you tell me about the sundering? Why did it happen?”
“As to why, well, it was because of the deceitful guile, greed, and recklessness of humans and elves. These two races conspired against the ogres and ultimately against each other. In the end, it simply became impossible for the three races to continue living and trading peacefully with each other.”
Marzi had trouble understanding this whole chain of events—greed, hatred, and war were not words often used in her realm. They were barely a part of her vocabulary. “Okay then, can you tell me how the sundering happened?”
Maw’thryn set his mug down and looked her squarely in the eye. “Hmm, that is a very good question, my child. And one best reserved for the gods themselves.”
Marzi nearly spilled her tea as she thought, gods?
Chapter 31: Marzi
Marzi joined Saryn in the large open area on the ground beneath the Bough. The two stood back at the edge of the clearing as they watched the others say goodbye to their families. A brief wave of sadness swept over Marzi. She had not had the opportunity to say goodbye to her mother and father or even her brother. She had been suddenly whisked away to another world and, as it looked, she had little chance of getting back.
Ariessa stood facing Arien, the two holding hands and speaking quietly. Ryshara and Lothran embraced. Elle’s mother and father talked to her while the young woman appeared to listen dutifully. They appeared to be giving her last-minute instructions. Ran, on the other hand, seemed to dominate the conversation with his parents. Marzi thought they looked weary. Maybe he was giving them last-minute instructions. She chuckled inwardly at the thought.
Saryn shuffled about, glancing up at the sky and then to the east, where the sun was just beginning to peek through the trees. “I had hoped to be on the trail by this time.” Of course, he had already said his goodbyes to his mother. He added, in a softer voice, “I am surprised that Ariessa is sending us off with no accompaniment. Her daughter is only now speaking to her after all these years. And yet she watches her leave, bound for the dangers of the north country with nothing but good wishes.”
The question was a good one and puzzled her too. She didn’t have a clue as to Ariessa’s thinking. But Marzi kept coming back to her last conversation with Valyn. She turned to face Saryn. “Does the term teeth of the storm mean anything to you?”
The elf considered her for a moment. “Why do you ask?”
“I just heard the term and wondered what it meant.”
He turned his attention back to the eastern sky as he spoke. “It can mean a number of things, depending on the context. It could refer to a battle, especially against a superior force. Literally, I suppose it means facing storm winds head on.”
“Oh, so, if that’s what it means, then keeping our face into the teeth of the storm would just mean going in the direction from which the winds come, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do storm winds always come from the same direction?”
“No. Depends on where you are when the storm hits and in which direction it is headed. Also, summer storms and winter storms can be different.”
That last part surprised Marzi. It was the end of summer when she left Pangrove and it seemed like summer here. Was there a winter? How would it be different? Back home, winter was a little colder but mostly wet. A lot of rain fell. “Is it summer or winter here now?”
Saryn offered a muted laugh. “It is autumn, but that holds little meaning here. The seasons around the Bough and the cliffs remain much the same. As we journey to the north and west, that will change. Weather will become colder. At first, there will be rain and wind, but as we move farther inland, we will be forced to contend with snow.”
“Where will the winds come from, I mean, when we get up to the north?”
“That’s easy. The storm winds in that region blow straight out of the north. When we leave we will head in that direction. As luck would have it, your three friends from the Bough will journey with us to begin with. And if a storm hits, we will indeed travel into the teeth, as you say.”
Marzi’s spirits lifted. “Then that’s good, right? They will be able to stay with us.”
Saryn shook his head. “Only until we reach the Stormhill Crossroads. At that point, we veer to the west and they continue north to their destination—the Wilds.”
A deep foreboding filled Marzi. If Valyn was to be trusted, the party must continue to the north and not change directions. That most likely meant a confrontation with Saryn. I’ll deal with that when it happens.
Ariessa interrupted Marzi’s contemplation. “May I have a brief word with you before your party leaves?”
“Of course.” Ariessa ushered Marzi to a private area beneath the Bough.
“You carry a great burden. I know that you have not told the others about Valyn, which means that, in order to accomplish your goals, you must be able to convey directions in a way that convinces them. That will be no small task. Despite friendships, you remain an outsider. I will give you this bit of advice. Take it or not. Your success will most likely be determined by chance and opportunity rather than planning. Pay attention to the world around you. Do
not hesitate to take advantage of things unanticipated. And one other thing—remember that not everything is as it seems. Questioning assumptions can give you another range of options.” The empress bowed her head. “Go with my best wishes for a speedy and safe return. I would leave you with the customary blessing to ‘Go with Valyn,’ but I know that she will be with you.” The Empress gave a hint of a smile before she nodded and turned away.
The departing group gathered, shouldered their packs, and turned northward, waving at those who watched them. Lapis ranged ahead while Elle and Rys led the column. Saryn walked beside Arien, and Marzi tagged alongside Ran who, as Ran was known for doing, oozed excitement at the prospect of a new adventure. “I will be the first to take a stag when we arrive. The larger ones could keep us in meat through the winter.”
But what puzzled Marzi most was the concept of winter and whether their clothing would keep them warm. She’d heard of snow but had never seen it. One time back in Pangrove, one of the small ponds froze, but it melted the next day. And her mother had not let her out of the house until the weather warmed. She thought to ask Ran about the clothes, but decided she’d get a more reliable answer from Saryn.
As the trees of the Bough receded behind them, a pleasantly cool breeze came from the north, just enough to keep the sweat at bay. With patches of blue showing through the canopy of branches above them, everything felt right, well, as right as possible under the circumstances.
Chapter 32: Marzi
Marzi felt comfortable so long as the group continued moving. When they stopped to rest or eat, though, she felt a chill making its way through her clothes. And it was only the first day. She sat next to Saryn alongside a bubbling stream. “I guess I should have asked this sooner, but what are we going to do about clothes. You said it gets cold, even snows.” She shivered at the thought as she rubbed her hands vigorously on her upper arms.
“Empress Ariessa graciously offered the use of cold weather clothing. It is stored in caches along their frontier. We will find it once we reach the crossroads.”
“Are there really roads up there?”
Saryn chuckled. “No. It is just a name given to an intersection of trails or paths. From there, your friends will proceed north, and we shall turn west. Ariessa said that we would easily locate the supply caches in that area.”
Marzi’s foreboding returned with a vengeance. Ever present in her mind was Valyn’s charge—to proceed into the teeth of the storm. According to Saryn, that meant they were supposed to continue due north, the direction in which her friends would travel. “Why do we need to go west? Can’t we go north with Rys, Elle, and Ran and then turn to the west later?”
“There are two reasons. First is time. It is three days’ journey to the crossroads. After that, we still have another two to three days to the Quel’dethain Mountains. I have no knowledge of the Stormhill Wilds, but I assume that your friends must travel an additional two or three days to their final goal. Detouring that far north for us will add time, which, if I understand correctly, we are already short of. Second, I know from my conversations with my mo… Saige, and with Maw’thryn back in the Bough, the route to our destination. But that route veers northwest at the crossroads. I have no idea how to reach the mountains from the Stormhill Wilds. If we keep to the north, we would end up re-tracing our steps back to the crossroads in order to finish our journey, costing us more valuable time.”
Marzi had no response to those arguments. “Oh, okay.” She knew even less than Saryn about this world. The only thing she knew, or thought she knew, was that the voice of Valyn had, without explanation, directed her to go north. And only to trust—always to trust. She wondered if trust would be enough.
Saryn stood and shouldered his pack, announcing loudly to the group, “We should get moving again.”
The party, almost as one, stood and began to re-secure their loads without comment. Marzi did notice, though, that Ran cast a scowl at Saryn. Maybe the young warrior considered himself a better choice for group leader.
Was there a real leader here? No one had really spoken of it, although Saryn had more or less assumed the role. This raised another troubling question—who would make the decisions about where they went and what they did? And how would it work when they finally reached the frost elves. Valyn, after all, had given Marzi the task of bringing the elven people together. And yet she knew next to nothing about any of these groups. And finally, it still troubled Marzi that Ariessa had sent the group off with no representation from the Bough.
As the group finished preparations, Lapis slipped into the forest ahead of them as was his way. Saryn nodded to Rys and Elle, who eased out of the clearing in the direction that the wolf had gone. Arien fell in silently beside Saryn, which left Ran and Marzi paired up.
“Have you ever been to the north of the Bough?” Marzi knew that Ran scouted to the south in the direction of the cliffs but wondered if he knew as much about this part of the world.
“Some, but never as far as the crossroads. It should be fun.” He grinned as he turned his head one way and then the other, observing his surroundings.
“But won’t you miss your family?” She found it hard to believe that he would just walk away, leaving his mother and father, and still joke around. Marzi wished that she could take it all so lightly.
“Not so much. They are still my mother and father and they care about me, no matter where I am. And I will go back sooner or later. But for now, I intend to make the most of this.”
Marzi heard Rys’ voice break through the buzz of idle trail conversation. “Hold up.”
Saryn broke into a run in the direction of the voice. Ran strained his neck to see what was going on. “Come on, let us see what has happened.” He continued toward Rys and Elle who seemed to be studying something on the ground.
By the time the rest reached Rys and Elle, they found everyone staring down at a body.
Marzi’s stomach turned. “What is it?” The remains looked to be slightly shorter than an elf and even thinner. The body was torn and bloody. The vacant eyes stared lifelessly into space. It looked much like what they had encountered on the way back from the Ruins of Koror.
“Human or used to be.” Saryn bent down, examining the corpse.
“Let me have a look.” Arien spoke aloud for the first time since they’d departed the Bough. She knelt and put two fingers on the right side of the being’s neck. “Still warm. Whatever killed it has not gone far.”
Ran, Elle, and Rys immediately turned their gaze outward from the group, surveying the surroundings. Lapis kept vigil beside Ryshara. Saryn continued to stare at the body.
“So, what are we going to do?” Marzi had little experience dealing with dead bodies.
Ran, in typical Ran fashion, shrugged. “The animals of the forest have to eat.”
Ryshara pushed back. “No. Regardless of what we may think of these beings, in death we are all equal. We should bury it.”
Arien stood and nodded. “I agree. Should others come across our corpses, I would like to think they would extend that respect to us.”
Ran chortled. “You can hope for anything you want. But most likely, they would spit on our bodies and go about their business.” He grew quiet and then added, “But we will bury it if that is what you want.”
Saryn, who had not weighed in on the argument, stepped back and surveyed the clearing where they stood. “Whatever we do, let us hurry. I would prefer to put some distance between this,” he gestured toward the body, “and us. Also, whatever killed it may not differentiate between elf and human.”
Lapis turned its gaze briefly toward the cliff elf before resuming his focus on the forest. Marzi wondered what the wolf thought of all this.
Chapter 33: Marzi
A pall of gloom blanketed the group as they sat around the fire that evening. The elves, while being good in a fight, were not veterans of battle, and they seemed overwhelmed at finding the ravaged body. Someone or something had perpetrated a horrible
violence upon the being before killing him.
Marzi, more than any of them, though, had been shaken to her soul. Watching the fire, dancing flames and sparks rising into the air, she desperately wanted to say something. She wanted the others to talk about it. The image of the lifeless eyes staring out at nothing haunted her.
But no one spoke of it. The meal, which consisted of smoked duck and dried vegetables, was a subdued affair. Saryn stood and made his way to the edge of the clearing. “We need to have a watch at all times. I suggest we work in two-hour shifts. I will take the first shift. After that, Elle, Rys, Ran, and then Arien.”
Ran looked as though he wanted to challenge the orders but held back. The others nodded their assent. Saryn stoked the fire and continued, “Very well, then. If there are no objections, we should try to get some sleep.”
Marzi looked around, waiting for someone to mention her. When none did, she spoke up. “What about me? Should I take a turn?”
Ryshara responded, “Thank you, Marzi, but no. We are all trained in combat. If anything were to happen with you on watch, you could be hurt. We cannot afford that.”
The Azyrean thought it a nice way of saying that she wasn’t up to the job, not that she would have argued with that. But on top of the day’s events, now she felt even more useless.
The buzzing of insects ceased. Stillness hung in the air and silence descended over the small glen. Out of the darkness, a single wolf appeared. It crept closer, its baleful yellow eyes fixed on Lapis, who stood, crouched and appearing ready to spring.
To Find a God Page 11
