by D. C. Payson
“Then?” Julia pressed.
“Then I don’t know. But the last time the Party chased a Vorraver, they sent an army, and your grandmother barely escaped.”
Julia fell silent, frightened by the images running through her head.
“I’m telling you the truth,” said Thezdan, offering a hand to help her up.
She took it. “So, you’re going to keep me safe, then?”
Thezdan’s eyes locked on hers, and he suddenly seemed at a loss for words. A moment later, he offered a shallow nod and turned away.
Julia was impressed by the litheness with which Thezdan moved through the forest. Despite the large, well-stuffed pack on his back, he never seemed even slightly encumbered as he climbed over obstacles or uneven stretches of ground. Scylld followed behind, a chorus of cracking and snapping sounds suggesting that the Ogar had a more direct approach to dealing with obstacles. Though stressed by their pace, Julia was happy to be traveling with them. Yesterday, the forest had seemed a dangerous labyrinth; today, with two companions to guide her, it was a place of ancient and pristine beauty. She had been on many hikes in her life. Still, there had always been signs of humanity: trash left on a trail, signs pointing the way, and other cars or tourists nearby. This was different. Old trees soared overhead in all directions, their trunks covered by thick, green climbing vines and patches of green-blue moss. They passed a few trees in particular that stood out, remarkable not just for their height or circumference but also for their thick, rough bark. By the light streaming through the canopy, Julia traced the canyons that crisscrossed the surfaces of these trees. She imagined them as wrinkles on the faces of wizened elders who kept silent watch over life in the forest.
Thezdan noticed her fascination. “You keep looking around like it’s your first time amid trees. Are there no forests where you’re from?”
“I went to see the redwoods once,” Julia replied. “So, I’ve seen big trees, but we spent most of the time in the car. I never really felt like I was in nature. This is what I imagine the redwood forests were like a thousand years ago, before anyone discovered them.”
“This forest shall remain as it is until the end times,” said Thezdan. “The Sylvan will see to that.”
“They protect the forest?”
“Yes. They attack any human who is not a Guardian or accompanied by one. For centuries, the Guardians ensured that those who entered the forest made respectful passage through, only traveling along the paths the Sylvan themselves had cleared.”
“Your Clan lives here, in the forest?”
Thezdan’s pace slowed. He took a deep breath. “In the past, only a small number of Guardians lived in the forest. It was how we paid tribute to the Goddess. The rest lived in the Trebain, just east of Riverstride.”
“My grandmother mentioned Riverstride. I think she lived there.”
“Yes, that was the royal seat. The Trebain was close by because, in the old days, the other duty of the Guardian Clan was to protect the royal family.”
“That’s why your grandfather died protecting my grandmother,” Julia said somberly.
“Yes, along with many other Guardians. The Revolution was a disaster for all Aevilen, and the rule of the People’s Party even worse.”
“I didn’t believe my grandmother when she said it wasn’t safe for her to go home. It’s been fifty years! How can this still be going on? How can it still be so dangerous? Why haven’t they been toppled yet?”
Thezdan grit his teeth. “Because no one has been able to unite a population scared into submission.” He stopped walking and looked over at Julia. “Can I ask you something?”
Julia leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She was grateful for the break. “Sure. What’s up?”
“Why did Princess Elleina send you? Why didn’t she come herself?”
Julia looked down. “It’s not really like that. I don’t think she meant for me to come.”
Thezdan cocked his head. “No?”
“No. I found her necklace in a trunk and put it on. I didn’t know what it was.”
“That it was a powerful artifact held by the royal family of Aevilen? How could she not have told you about it? Why would she have put it in a trunk to be forgotten?”
“I don’t know,” said Julia. “She didn’t really talk about Aevilen much when I was young.”
Thezdan crossed his arms in front of him, a forlorn look in his eyes. “My father always believed she would return, and that when she did things would change. I’m glad that he never found out that she had forgotten us.”
Julia shook her head. “Don’t say that. That’s not what happened. Ina’s not like that.”
Thezdan turned and started walking again. “It doesn’t matter now. Let’s keep going. We’re not far from the road.”
True to his claim, only a few minutes later they came upon a road snaking its way through the forest. Julia expected things to be easier from then on, but the opposite was true: the even surface allowed Thezdan to pick up his pace. She had to jog to keep up, and it wasn’t long before she had to stop, cramping and out of breath.
“Hold up! You’re going too fast!”
Thezdan stopped and walked back to her. “We have a lot of ground to cover today. If you’re too tired to continue, perhaps Scylld can help.”
As if on command, the Ogar presented its back to her and knelt down.
Julia looked back at Thezdan disbelievingly. “You want me to ride him?”
“If you’re too tired to keep a good pace, yes.”
“Uh, how would I even get on?”
“Just climb up and put your legs on either side of his neck. You can hold on to his head.”
As unsettling as the idea of riding the Ogar seemed at first, it grew on Julia as she thought about trying to keep up with Thezdan on the road. Rising from her stump, she went over to Scylld and began awkwardly clambering up his back, surprised that the Ogar could tolerate her groping and kicking. Soon, she was seated with her legs around his neck, gripping his head like a giant pommel.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now?” said Thezdan, smirking impishly. “Now you hold on.”
Julia looked down, panic-stricken, as the creature began rising to its feet. She hugged its head for dear life, one of her arms partially covering its eyes.
“Careful!” laughed Thezdan. “He won’t know where he’s going!”
The vines that were part of Scylld’s body suddenly started growing, forming loops in the areas around Julia’s feet. Though unnerved by the sight, Julia knew that these vines were meant to help; she tucked her feet in the loops and instantly felt more stable.
“There! That’s better!” said Thezdan.
Julia shot back a cold stare.
Thezdan laughed again as he turned to head up the road. “Enjoy the ride!”
Julia managed to keep her composure as the Ogar started moving. His plod made for a bumpy journey, but after the first few steps, she relaxed a bit. It was indeed better than walking.
“Wait, Julia! Don’t go too far ahead!”
“Chill, Mom! It’s not my first time on a horse!”
“There’s no rush. Take a deep breath and enjoy the—”
“Giddyap, Bluebird!”
“Julia! JULIA! WAIT!”
“Julia? Is everything alright?”
Thezdan’s voice snapped Julia out of her daydream. “Hmm?”
“You were kicking Scylld,” he said, looking up at her with a mix of amusement and confusion. “Is something the matter?”
“Oh,” said Julia. “Sorry about that, Scylld!” She reached forward and rubbed the Ogar’s stone hide where her heel may have struck. “I guess I got a little carried away. Riding Scylld reminded me of going horseback riding with my Mom in Montana. I would kick my horse when I wanted him to go faster.”
“You want him to go faster?”
“Oh, no! No, this speed is just fine.�
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Thezdan chuckled. “Good. I don’t think you’d enjoy the ride very much if Scylld were running!”
The forest was brighter here, and the sunlight brought rich plant life to the understory. Flowering vines grew along the trunks and lower branches of the trees nearby. Much of the area surrounding the road was blanketed with low-lying shrubs. There was also a slight dampness to the air, matched by the churning hum of a nearby river.
“Why is the river so much louder in this part of the forest?” Julia asked.
Thezdan slowed his pace slightly, answering in a hushed voice, “The earlier stream was just a small tributary. By the time it gets here, it has combined with a hundred other streams from the western mountains. The river you hear stretches all the way to the Giant Steps at the end of the plateau. It is an effective boundary between the forest and the Aevilen plain.
“Why are you whispering?” Julia whispered back. “Do we have to be careful?”
“We will be alright, it’s just better to be quiet.”
Something was amiss. Looking around them, Julia thought she could see some mist from the river, and maybe even a trace of the plain Thezdan had mentioned. Then ahead of them, she noticed that the road they were on intersected with a wide, well-traveled footpath.
“Thezdan, where does that lead?” she asked, pointing toward the path.
Thezdan glared at her and shook his head. He covered his mouth with his hand.
Julia fell silent, chastened. She peeked up the path as they passed, seeing little more than the same trees, shrubs, vines, and roots that she had seen for hours now. But then she caught a glimpse of something in the distance, well-camouflaged against the surrounding trees: a wall made from whole logs! It looked like something from the old frontier forts she had seen pictures of in her history books. Her mind raced. Was it a human settlement? The city of the forest people? A gate? The only thing she knew for sure was that Thezdan wanted to avoid it. She wondered why it made him so uncomfortable.
Only a short distance past the footpath, the road turned toward the sound of the water. The forest opened up in front of them, a flood of brilliant daylight filling Julia’s eyes. Ahead of them was a stone bridge over a wide river, a vast stretch of open grassland beyond. The bridge was very old and so narrow that a man could not have lain down across its width. There were no handrails, ropes, or walls, and the guardrail stones, like those of the mountainside road, came up only just high enough to keep a wagon wheel from slipping over the side. Beneath the bridge ran the angriest river Julia had ever seen. The roaring, yellow waters in the canyon raised the hairs on the back of her neck.
Thezdan stopped a few yards shy of the crossing and spun around. “You’ll have to cross under your own power.”
Julia swallowed hard. “Wait, what about Scylld?”
“He is not coming with us. He will remain in the forest.”
The Ogar kneeled, and Julia climbed down from her perch on its shoulders. She stared nervously at the bridge. “That doesn’t look safe at all.”
“Safe?” said Thezdan. “The bridge has stood for a thousand years. Surely that makes it among the safest in Aevilen.”
Julia glowered at him. “That’s not what I mean.”
Thezdan looked back askance for a moment, then he turned and waved her forward. “It’s only walking. Let’s go.”
Julia followed, but her will gave out once her feet met the first stones. She watched Thezdan move farther and farther away; he seemed to pay no mind to the lack of handrails and the rushing waters below. Queasy from the sight of the raging river, Julia decided there was only one way across. She dropped to her hands and knees and began to crawl. It was slow, and the old stone hurt her knees, but it was getting her where she needed to go. Then she heard howling laughter.
Thezdan.
She clenched her jaw and continued, inch by inch, to make her way across the span. Arriving at the far side a few minutes later, she stood and stomped over to him, her face twisted into an angry scowl.
“What’s the matter with you?” she snarled. “Why are you such a jerk?”
“I’m sorry,” said Thezdan, trying to appear sincere. “But … ” He started to laugh again under his breath. “ … in Aevilen, we walk across bridges!”
Julia deepened her scowl. “Call me crazy, but I don’t like narrow, little bridges over killer rivers. And at least I’m not a lunatic who screams at trees!”
“No. But you did choose one as your guide!”
Julia’s cold façade started to crack. She looked up at his twinkling eyes and started to laugh, giving him a playful eye-roll.
“A bridge-crawler and a lunatic—what a fine pair of traveling companions!” said Thezdan as he turned up the road. “Come, Julia. Even if we stick to walking, we’ve got quite a ways to go.”
The dirt road leading east from the bridge stretched out into the distance and disappeared over a hill more than a mile away. The landscape reminded Julia of the Carmel Valley back home, with its gentle undulations and fields teeming with golden grasses, wildflowers, and scrub. There were also occasional patches of bare, dry earth and signs of past settlements peeking out from the growth, including a low, partially collapsed wall that ran along the road.
“Is it safe for us to be out in the open like this?” Julia asked. “Couldn’t somebody see us?”
“There is virtually no patrol activity west of Breslin during the day. Anyway, I know most of the hunters out here. I give them braeden bark to tan their skins. They won’t give us up.”
“How far are we from Breslin?”
“About seven rests,” said Thezdan. “At a good pace, we should be able to make it before midday. Are your legs feeling any better?”
Julia shrugged. “Not great, but I’ll make it.”
“If you get tired, we can take a break up the road. We’re going to change our clothes in an old storage house not far from here. We’ll need to wear Party garb as we get closer to town.”
“Disguises? Just who exactly are we pretending to be?”
“Peasants. I keep a number of field tunics with all the proper insignias. One of them should fit you, don’t worry.”
They came to an intersection with a rough road that cut its way into the fields. Thezdan turned onto it, leading them into the seemingly empty countryside. As they came up over a small hill, Julia caught sight of a dilapidated stone structure, alone among the meadow grasses.
“That’s the storehouse up ahead,” said Thezdan. “It was a crop house once. All that you can see around here were some of Aevilen richest farmlands. My father once told me that when he was a boy, this whole area was an endless sea of beuwit stalks so tall that a man could have hid among them.”
“What happened to all the farms?” Julia asked. She looked over, recognizing the pain in Thezdan’s eyes.
“The Revolution happened,” he said. “The All Aevilen People’s Party happened. And while your grandmother escaped, there was a Purge, and then a Second Purge, and then a Third. Party soldiers destroyed all of these farms and killed most of the farmers.” He pointed at a nearby patch of dried earth. “That was once a home. Burned, like the rest of them.”
Julia tried to imagine the farmhouse on a cultivated plain. She could see small clusters of brick peeking out from the ground, which reminded her of her burned house in Malibu. She had to fight back tears. “Why? Why would they do that?” she asked distantly.
“Control. They wanted to move the farms closer to the city so that they could watch the farmers. Though these lands are more fertile, the Party believed that the farmers here were spoiled by their plenty. Too hard to control.”
“Why hasn’t anyone done anything?” Julia said. “Why doesn’t the world know about this? This should be in the LA Times, CNN!”
“We have no contact with the lower continent, if that’s what you mean. The Giant Steps are only passable several times a century, and not even once in my lifetime.”
“Yes. The People’s Party used the difficulties of a few bad harvests to prey on everyone’s baser instincts. They told the suffering tradesmen in the towns that the farmers were hoarding food; they told the farmers that the monks had angered the gods and brought about a drought; and they told everyone that the Vorravers were the greatest evil of all. The Party started a Revolution. By the time the fires had stopped burning, the most influential farmers were dead; the temples and monasteries were destroyed; and the entire royal family—your family—was slain.”
Thezdan’s face twitched. “The Party’s cruelty knows no limits. We have suffered three great Purges. Countless deaths. They boast of the ‘paradise’ they have created, but all around, there is only misery. The people of Aevilen now do just about anything to survive. Most would send their relatives to the headsman if they thought it to their advantage. We live in a trying time, Julia. Before long, none will be left who remember the Aevilen that once was, and the old ways will be lost forever.”
Julia had read about man’s capacity for evil in history books, but it had always seemed distant. Seeing the burned landscape around her and the deep pain in Thezdan’s eyes, knowing that he’d lived through it, shook her to the core. “How have you survived?” she asked, her voice quivering.
“The Party sent its armies against us during the Third Purge. I fled with the children and women to the forest while my father, Eobax, and the warriors stayed behind. I’ve heard that each of their swords had the blood of forty men on them by the time they were overwhelmed.”
Julia didn’t know what to say. She placed a hand on his arm, but Thezdan didn’t respond to the gesture.
“Let’s go,” he said, turning away.
Julia followed Thezdan in silence. These were blood-soaked grounds. Unlike Malibu, most of the families in these houses had not escaped their fires. She imagined what it might have been like for her grandmother to be trapped like that with her family. She could no longer suppress her emotions in the face of the violence and tragedy surrounding her. Tears welled in her eyes.
