by Sean Hinn
Trellia nodded. “It’s been a long day. A long several days. And this is new to him. He will be fine. Now, do not use your spirit, Aria. Rely on desire. Are you ready?”
Aria nodded at Trellia and focused her attention on the log. I want this log to burn.
It did not.
I want this log to burn.
Nothing.
I want this log to burn!
Aria shook her head. “I cannot do it.”
“Try again. Harder, this time. Use your desire.”
Aria took a deep breath. She grimaced in concentration.
I want you to burn, log! Burn!
The log was unfazed. J’arn and Trellia watched intently as Aria tried repeatedly. Shyla sat quietly, her eyes closed. Lucan moved to sit beside Aria.
“May I help?”
Aria cocked her head. “How?”
“All right, this is how I do it. Think of something you really want. I mean, really want, but don’t have. Not some noble, selfless thing. Something for you. Can you think of something?”
Aria met Lucan’s eyes in the dimming twilight.
“Yes.”
He lowered his voice. “Good. Now want for it. Want for it with your blood.”
Aria flushed. “I… all right.”
Lucan nodded, holding her gaze. “Now light the–”
A brilliant flame set the log ablaze. Lucan and Trellia both nearly fell backwards.
“Well!” Trellia said. “Seems you found something you want.”
Shyla suddenly erupted with laughter.
Aria blanched. “What’s so funny about that?”
“No, no! It’s not that!” She laughed harder, stamping her feet.
Lucan and Trellia shared a look. Shyla was near bursting.
“Well, what is it?” asked Lucan.
“It’s Wolf! Oh, it’s so gross!” Shyla pounded her fists on her thighs, hysterical.
The three looked around. Wolf was nowhere to be found.
Shyla managed to catch a half a breath. “It’s in my head! He’s lickin’…” she choked. She could not get the words out.
“Ah,” Trellia joined the laughter, understanding. “You’ll want to release the Bond, Shyla.”
Shyla fell to her side, rolling in fits. “I canna! Dunno how!”
“I don’t…” Lucan was at a loss.
Aria snorted as she grasped the situation. “Here, Shyla, take my hand.” Shyla reached for Aria. As soon as their fingers brushed, Shyla’s eyes popped open.
The three women laughed for another turn. Lucan was laughing as well, the emotion contagious, but remained clueless. The three finally gathered their wits as Mikallis edged into the light.
“Everyone all right?”
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Lucan replied. “Although apparently Shyla has lost her mind, and it’s catching.”
The women broke into laughter again.
“What’s so funny?” asked the captain.
Lucan shook his head. “Beats me. Apparently, Wolf licked something at some point.”
Mikallis frowned, understanding. “Ugh. Yeah, that’s never pleasant.”
Lucan remained lost. “What isn’t pleasant?”
“Can ye keep it down!” J’arn called angrily from his tent. “I ain’t no elf, I need to sleep a few times a cycle!”
The five exchanged glances. Shyla called in reply.
“Sorry, J’arn! My fault!”
Trellia leaned over and whispered into Lucan’s ear. The man listened, then pulled a face. “Oh, Shyla, that’s disgusting.”
“Worse fer me!” Shyla exclaimed. “I about tasted it!”
“Oh, please stop.” Lucan choked back a heave.
“Dogs like to be clean,” Mikallis joked. Shyla shot him a look.
“Dogs?” she said.
Mikallis stuttered. “Well, ah, yes, dogs, too. And dogs are much like–”
Shyla stood abruptly, shaking her head. She walked to the tent she shared with Aria without a word. No one spoke for a moment.
“Well done, jackass,” said Lucan to the captain.
“Watch your tone, boy–”
“Shut it. Now,” Trellia warned.
Aria was confused. “I don’t understand. Why is she upset?”
“Mikallis, just resume your watch, please. Let’s call it a night, everyone.” The Vicaris stood. “Come Aria, we rise early. Long ride tomorrow.”
Lucan stood as well, turning towards the tents. Mikallis stepped in his path.
“You’ll not call me a jackass again, Lucan not-Thorne.”
“So long as you don’t act like one.” Lucan pushed past the elf. “Wake me when it’s my watch.”
~
“What’s wrong, Shyla?” Aria knelt beside the gnome as she entered their tent. It was too dark for Aria to see the tears Shyla wiped from her eyes.
“It’s nothin’, Princess. I be fine.”
“Come now. Tell me. I am your friend.”
Shyla took a breath. “Are yeh? Are yeh my friend? ’Cause I ain’t sure I got one, ’sides maybe J’arn. J’arn and Wolf, that is.” As if on cue, Wolf entered the tent and lay beside the distraught gnome.
“Don’t be silly, Shyla. Everyone here likes you.”
“Oh, sure, everyone likes the little gnome girl, look how cute she is, blah blah blah. Yeh think I canna hear?”
“I don’t understand, Shyla, where is this coming from?”
Shyla laid down and pulled the covers up to her chin. She did not reply for several turns. Aria finally decided to let the matter rest and crawled between her own blankets.
“Aria?”
“Yes?”
“What’s a dog?”
“Ah, well, it’s… it’s like Wolf, Shyla. Wolves and dogs are much alike.”
“What’s the difference?”
Aria did not want to reply, afraid she would wound the girl.
“See! That right there!” Shyla sat back up, furious. “Every time somebody talks about Wolf they act like there be some secret I ain’t s’posed to know! I ain’t a child, damn yehs!”
“I didn’t mean–”
“To the Mawbottom with what yeh meant, Aria! What’s the difference ’tween a dog and a wolf?”
Aria was taken aback, but replied. “Well, Shyla, Wolf is a dog. A wolf is much larger, and shaped a bit differently. Wolves generally don’t take to people, whereas dogs do. If they like you. Which Wolf clearly does.”
“Huh.” Shyla considered the new information. “So, Wolf ain’t a wolf?”
“No, Shyla. I’m sorry.”
“Well what are yeh sorry for? Yeh ain’t his mama, yeh didn’t make ’im. What’s the difference, anyhow? I dunno why nobody didn’t wanna tell me as much.”
“Well, as I hear it, Lucan tried to tell you once, and you got a bit upset.”
“Well, ’cause I thought he were makin’ fun. I didn’t know he were just tellin’ me straight.”
“He was.”
Shyla lay back down. “Hmph. Well, then maybe I got one other friend here.”
Aria could think of nothing to say.
The gnome stroked her friend’s fur. “Still gonna call ’im Wolf, though. That’s ’is name, now.”
The women remained quiet for a few breaths. Shyla broke the silence.
“Aria?”
“Yes?”
“Just ’cause I dunno much about the world yeh live in don’t mean I’m daft. I ain’t.”
“I never thought–”
“Yeh try livin’ in G’naath. Yeh just try it. Yeh’ll find out there be a lot yeh don’t know, same as me out here.”
Aria felt ashamed. She had treated Shyla differently. They all had.
“Good night,” Shyla said, her tone making it clear she did not want a reply to her previous statement.
“Good night, Shyla.”
~
“Mornin’, Luc,” Shyla said through a mouthful of bread, nuts, and dried fruits. Wolf harried her every bite, desperately
begging for a scrap.
Lucan stretched and yawned. “Morning, Shyla.” He turned to Mikallis. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I did not need you.”
Lucan understood the unsaid words. Damned elf thinks to hold himself as superior.
“Well, perhaps I misjudged you, Mikallis. Very kind of you to let me slumber. I feel great! You should keep watch every night.”
“I intend to.”
Joke’s on him, Lucan thought.
“Well, ye certainly slept long enough,” J’arn added, strapping gear to Spirit’s saddle. “Think ye might care to pack your tent, or should Mikallis do that for ye, too?”
“Hey, now, you went to bed–”
“Gentlemen. Please,” Trellia pleaded, sipping tea from a wooden cup. “It’s too early for this.”
Lucan helped himself to a loaf of bread. “Here, Wolf. Here boy.” He shared the loaf with the black-haired animal.
“No ash this mornin’,” Shyla commented.
“The wind has shifted again,” said Aria.
“Aye,” agreed J’arn. “Colder today.”
“And it will be colder tomorrow,” Trellia said, standing. “We made terrible time yesterday. If we do not accelerate our pace, we will surely be returning to the Grove through drifts of snow.”
“That be my fault,” Shyla said. “Still tryin’ to get used to Spirit.”
“You will catch on,” Trellia said. “But perhaps J’arn should take the reins today.”
“Yup,” Shyla agreed. “That all right, J’arn?”
The prince nodded. “Aye. Just thought ye might prefer lookin’ ahead yesterday, ’stead o’ starin’ at me backside.”
“Yeh got a fine backside, J’arn. Ain’t no loss,” Shyla teased.
“Shyla!” Aria said, mortified.
“What? Ain’t ye seen it?”
Trellia and Lucan laughed.
“Shyla, please,” J’arn begged, blushing deeply.
“I think she’s got the right idea,” Lucan joked. “Let’s organize the riding order by backside quality. Mikallis, you can take rear guard.”
Everyone save Mikallis laughed. The captain walked away, shaking his head.
“Ye know he’s like to hamstring ye when none be lookin’, right?” J’arn said, not entirely in jest.
Lucan stood. “Bah, he just needs to loosen up. I’ll help him with the tent.” Lucan followed the captain.
“Trouble there,” Shyla said quietly to Trellia.
“Plenty,” the Vicaris agreed.
~
“I do not need your help.” Mikallis folded one side of the canvas on itself.
Lucan bent to fold the other. “Well, you have it regardless. What is it, Captain? Why the hostility?”
Mikallis stood and faced the man.
“All right. I’ll tell you. You’re false, Lucan not-Thorne. Not even your name is real, and you take for yourself an elven name, one that does not belong to you. And you are a swindler. Barris told me about your trouble in Mor. He may find your antics comical, but I name you false. You prey on people’s foolishness. You ply no trade, have no purpose. And here you are, set upon a path beside honorable folk as if you are their equal. You are not.”
Lucan stood and regarded the elf for a long moment.
“That’s it? Huh. Thought you had a reason.”
Mikallis bent to roll the canvas.
“And that is what I mean. You take nothing seriously. The world is falling apart, Lucan. Or haven’t you noticed?”
Lucan flattened out his side of the canvas. “I’ve noticed, Mikallis. But I’ll tell you something. If we’re all to die at the hands of some fated horror, I don’t plan to spend my last days wringing my hands about it.” Lucan moved to help Mikallis tighten the roll. “You have not seen what I’ve seen. What I’ve dreamt. I know far better than you what’s to come.”
“Then how can you be so flippant?”
“Who says I am? I’m here, aren’t I? Heading off to Fury-knows-where with people who I know find me repulsive. I won’t argue your assessment of me. I know who I’ve been. But I also know who I intend to be. I didn’t grow up a favored son of Thornwood, like you. I’m an orphan, and–”
Mikallis turned, his expression grave. “You know nothing about me, Lucan not-Thorne. My father died before I was born. My mother left Thornwood in grief. To this day, I do not know whether she lives. Do not presume me a ‘favored son.’”
Lucan threw a strap around the canvas. Mikallis tied it. The two stood, facing one another.
“Fair enough, Captain. So long as you do not presume to know who I am based on a single story you’ve heard.”
Mikallis regarded Lucan for several moments.
“I presume nothing. I judge you by what I see, no more.”
Lucan shook his head. “I tried.” He bent to lift the rolled tent and turned away.
~
“You may ride behind me today, J’arn. I will assist you with your Bond.”
“Thank ye, Vicaris. But I don’t need help. I can ride.”
“We will not be merely ‘riding’ today, J’arn,” said Trellia. “We will be at a gallop until noon, and again until sunset. Which is why you’ll need to keep Wolf in your lap, Shyla. You’ll need your Bond to keep him calm.”
“We already worked it out, Trellia. Wolf wants to ride a horse, dontcha Wolf!”
J’arn shrugged. “Very well. But I will say, I be having me doubts about this journey. I do not think the Airies will be as helpful as we would all like to hope, and me people–”
“Ah, your people, your people, Lucan derided as he approached. He dropped the tent and leapt astride Hope. “Yeah, we know, you’re a mighty noble prince, but you’re not the only one with ‘people.’ Give it a rest.” Lucan led Hope to the Morline Way without another word.
J’arn frowned. “What’s got into that one?”
“He is who he is,” Mikallis said scathingly, retrieving the dropped tent. He tied it to Triumph’s saddle.
“Alright, saddle up,” Trellia announced. “Before we lose him.”
“Might be for the best,” J’arn scoffed as Mikallis helped him to the saddle.
Aria rolled her eyes. “I’ve had it with you males. Get over yourselves.”
“Seconded,” Trellia agreed.
Shyla nodded. “Thirded. Shut yer bread hole, J’arn, we need him. You too, fancy-pants,” she said to Mikallis. “And he ain’t so bad. Wolf likes ’im.”
Wolf barked happily, tail wagging.
~
The company for Eyreloch caught up to Lucan in short order. Trellia spoke with the young man briefly and returned to ride beside Aria. Lucan would take point for the day, it was decided. He wished to be alone with his thoughts, and Trellia felt his skill with Hope was sufficient to lead the ride.
They rode swiftly throughout the cold day. The path to Shale Bridge, where the Morline Way and the southwestern trail they rode would meet, was wide and clear, and they made fair time. Trellia decided to forgo any extended periods of rest until they reached the bridge, hoping to do so by late afternoon. They did stop more often than she would have liked, but the brief breaks were necessary. Wolf would whine; Shyla would report that the animal needed to relieve himself; and such crises could not be avoided. J’arn and Shyla traded positions each time; they both did a commendable job handling Spirit, but the two were exceedingly uncomfortable, unused to the saddle as they were. While the company’s ride was not perfectly efficient, neither was it a complete disaster, and Trellia was satisfied with their pace.
The trail turned to the west as the light of day began to fade. It then ran mostly parallel to the Morline, signifying that they were less than an hour’s ride from the crossing. Trellia called ahead to Lucan and brought the company to a halt.
“Let us dismount for a bit,” the Vicaris said as the horses and riders gathered. “I want to stretch my legs. Lucan, would you tie the horses, please?”
Lucan nodded and dism
ounted Hope.
“Aria, a word?”
“Of course.” Trellia led the princess out of earshot of the others.
“I meant to say this earlier, but I was not yet sure. Now I am.”
“All right, what is it?”
“You made a poor decision suggesting that we use first names on this journey.”
Aria cocked her head. “Wait, what? You supported the idea.”
“I did. Because once you had suggested it, it was too late to do otherwise. But it was a foolish decision.”
Aria sulked.
“Don’t look so wounded, I’m trying to teach you something. I’ve been thinking about it. Someone must lead. You can see, I’m sure, that Lucan and Mikallis are going to come to blows.”
“I don’t know, they might not–”
Trellia held up a hand. “Oh, you know I’m right. And I shouldn’t be telling you what to do all the time. You’re a princess. It undermines you.”
“Well, I had thought that it would be best if I first earned everyone’s respect. Let’s face it, Trellia, I’m not exactly a storied adventurer.”
“And which of you is? J’arn’s too scared for his people to be decisive. Lucan… well, no need to say anything about that one. Shyla? She’s got potential, but not until she knows the difference between a dog and a wolf, if you get my meaning. It has to be you. Mikallis and I both are your subjects. We have to follow your lead. The others should, too.”
Aria sighed. “Pheonaris said the same thing before we left.”
“Then why didn’t you listen to her? No, don’t answer that. Because you’re a child, and you have some romantic idea of what leadership is. So, let me straighten you out. Leadership is about taking charge, nothing more. Whether you’re any good at it is another matter. If you’re not, no one will follow you. But there’s no way to find out if you don’t first take charge. Unless someone else wants to vie for the role – and believe me, none of these do – you need only step up.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Glad you asked. We have to make a decision here shortly. See those clouds?” Trellia pointed back the way they had come. “There’s a storm coming, and given the temperature, I’d say we’re in for a good snow. Do we ride on throughout the night, try to beat the storm? Or do we hole up now, while we’re still short of the farmlands? Remember, we’re trying to avoid being noticed if we can help it. I’d say, if we ride through the night, we beat the storm and make it beyond the farms just past daybreak. Otherwise we’re at the mercy of the storm, and whenever we do start riding again, it’s going to be rougher going.”
