by Jeff Gunzel
“Then why act at all?” asked Jade. “If he is not the Shantie Rhoe, what concern is it of the Crimson Empire? Why pay so much gold just to kill a mortal?”
“A question for Empress Ilenaya Moki, not for myself,” said Kelus. “Short tempered and intolerant of fools, that one is. But she is no fool herself. If she ordered this strike against Eric, there had to be a good reason.”
“If I am now a marked man, then all the more reason to get on with this,” said Eric. He stood from the corner and walked over to them. “I don’t mean to interrupt you two while you talk about me as if I weren’t even here, but I think I’ve heard enough.” He turned to Jade. “I don’t see any other way, Jade. An entire kingdom has limitless resources and bottomless pockets. Whatever the Crimson Empire’s reasons for wanting me dead, it’s clear they won’t stop trying just because of one failed attempt.”
“So you’re just going to go on these trials and get yourself killed in the name of nothing?” said Jade, nearly in tears.
“No, not in the name of nothing,” Eric whispered, pulling her in close. “This may be my only chance to prove to them I’m not some false god, as many have called me. If I don’t do this, the attempts on my life will never stop. We have nothing to lose here.”
“We have everything to lose,” murmured Jade, her face buried in his chest, arms around his back. “What if this Mountain of Dreams takes your life? Takes you from me? Then what was all of this for?”
“Then it was all just a dream, Jade. Nothing more,” Eric said softly. “They say that only the Shantie Rhoe can survive the Trials of Ashbarn. If I die, then none of this was ever real.” She held him tighter, but said nothing.
The door opened and Nima entered the room. She gazed around, looking a bit unsure of the situation. “Is everything alright in here?” she asked.
Jade slowly pushed away. “Yes, everything is fine,” she replied, wiping underneath her eye.
“Eric, you need to prepare,” said Nima. “You’ll have to be ready when—”
“I’m ready when they are,” he said, dismissing her words with a wave. A puzzled look crossed his face. “Nima, have you seen Jacob today?”
She swallowed, looking away. Then she began chewing her bottom lip nervously.
* * *
The night air was pleasantly warm—a nice break from what had been a string of several cool nights in a row. The gentle breeze shook the treetops lightly, rattling the leaves and sending down a shower of greenery. It was well into spring, and many of the trees already had a full coat of leaves.
Jacob poked at the low-burning fire, making it pop and fizzle. Tiny orange sparks floated upward, spinning around each other before winking out. “We’re only about a mile out from where I saw her last. Did we really need to stop now?” asked Jacob.
Amoshi stood up, then faced away from Jacob and the fire. He began pulling at the string on his white bow, testing its tension. The little jewels sparkled, reflecting bits of light from the fire. He pulled the string a few more times, making the bright red wheels on the top and bottom squeak. Still ignoring Jacob, he sat back down.
“So, did you know I have the ability to read fortunes, Amoshi? Yep, it’s true,” Jacob said. Amoshi kept examining his bow, rubbing circles around some invisible spot. “Ah, we have a doubter here. That’s fine, I’ll prove it to you,” said Jacob, grinning. He raised his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes, then began rubbing his temples while humming off-key. “Let me see. Oh, yes... I see it. It...it looks like a stick. Yes...and it’s flying at your head.”
Opening his eyes, Jacob reached down, grabbed a small twig, and flung it towards Amoshi. Even though the errant throw purposely missed high, Amoshi jumped to his feet and turned on him angrily. “It seems I’ve finally got your attention,” said Jacob, grinning smugly.
“Fool boy,” growled Amoshi, waving a dismissive hand at him. “Of course I hear you. Half the forest can hear you running your mouth. It’s a miracle we haven’t been discovered.”
“Fool boy?” repeated Jacob. Amoshi was only a few years older than he was. “If you had just answered my questions, I wouldn’t have to try so hard to get a rise out of you. If there is something on your mind, maybe now is a good time to get if off your chest. Remember, no one made you come with me.”
Sitting back down in the grass, Amoshi slumped his shoulders. “That’s not exactly true,” he muttered. “Although, in a way, we are both here for the same reasons.”
“I’m here in search of someone I care for deeply. I will not stop until I find her or find out what became of her. What reason could you possibly have that compares to—” The look on Amoshi’s face spoke a thousand words. “What? Nima? I mean, I know she asked you to go, but—”
“Yes, she asked me to aid you,” grunted Amoshi. He sighed, then looked off into the woods. “I swear, sometimes I feel powerless against her will. And what’s worse, she knows it. Her smile weakens my knees. It makes me do stupid things.”
“Like go on a fool’s quest for someone else’s girl.”
Amoshi let out a hearty laugh, the first time Jacob had seen him smile this entire trip. “Yes,” Amoshi said. “A far better example than I wanted to hear.”
“Stupid things, yes. And yet we do them anyway, don’t we?” said Jacob, matching Amoshi’s grin. “I remember the first time she smiled at me. My neck felt like it was on fire. I nearly forgot my own name. I thought to myself, I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.” He chuckled nervously to himself. “I just kept staring at her. It made her uncomfortable, so she looked away. But I just couldn’t help myself.” He let out a sigh. “After a time, one thing led to another, and...” Jacob shook his head. “It seems so long ago now.”
Amoshi scooted closer to Jacob and began poking at the fire with a stick. “I admit I was not exactly thrilled about going along with this. The way I saw it, I had been asked to go on some wild chase with a lost boy with stars in his eyes, a young man who had no idea what he was even looking for. But I can see now you’re serious about this.”
Jacob held his gaze. Low light from the dying fire cast moving shadows across Jacob’s face, making him look older all of a sudden. “I’ve never been this serious about anything in my life. I miss her. I need her.”
Amoshi patted Jacob’s knee. “Don’t worry. We’ll get this all figured out.” He stood back up and walked over to his bedroll, untied it, then rolled it across the dry grass. “Better get some rest while you can. We’re heading out early, so be ready.”
Amoshi crawled between the soft fabric. He was almost asleep when he heard Jacob say, “Thank you, Amoshi. I don’t think I could do this alone.”
* * *
Jacob stirred in his sleep. It felt like the ground was moving underneath him as he rolled back and forth. A swift kick to his leg did the trick. Now fully awake, he bolted upright, mumbling curses under his breath. “Come on now. Get up,” grumbled Amoshi, not sounding all that awake himself.
Jacob rubbed his eyes, then looked up to the stars in the clear sky. “It’s still dark,” he groaned.
“I told you we were leaving early. This is the perfect time to move. You said we’re about a mile out from where you saw her last, correct?” Jacob shook his head. “Good. It will be first light by the time we get there. In the meantime, very few predators will be prowling at this hour.” He gave Jacob a pat on the shoulder. “On your feet. Let’s go.”
The two of them packed up the camp. Amoshi stomped out the few hot embers that remained from last night’s fire, then poured a bit of water on it. The moon was bright, even through the moving leaves trying to hide it. Bright enough that they probably wouldn’t need any other source of light. Determined, they set out.
The trees here were sparse, so they were able to move along quite well. Amoshi led the way, every now and then lifting his hand for Jacob to stop. He would then go through his monotonous routine: sniffing the air, scratching at the ground, then using his superior vision to scout ahead. Each
time Jacob tried his best to show patience while the pattern played out. No matter how much time it took, he understood that Amoshi was only trying to look out for their safety. “It’s always best to see your enemies before they see you,” Amoshi kept saying.
After traveling another hour or so, Jacob tapped Amoshi on the shoulder. “There it is. I see it up ahead.” Sure enough, there was the clearing a short way up. Ignoring Amoshi’s protests of a possible trap, Jacob ran up ahead of him. He stopped near a fallen tree, the base frayed and splintered like it had been struck by a boulder. The shattered tree still gave off the scent of freshly cut wood.
When Amoshi caught up, he whistled through his teeth at the awesome sight. “You telling me about this was one thing, but seeing the damage with my own eyes...” He shook his head in disbelief, wondering how much force it must have taken to actually do such a thing. “She was thrown so hard that her body did this to a tree? How could anyone have possibly survived such an impa—” Jacob’s sudden glare stopped him short. “Um...yeah, sorry.”
Jacob rushed up ahead. Faint recollections of a far-off battle assaulted his memory in incomplete fragments. It was like trying to remember a dream he’d had a long time ago. The memory was fuzzy; several pieces were missing. He stopped running and started to walk, looking down at the torn grass. The sun was coming up now, and he could see clear signs of battle everywhere.
“Just stay where you are,” Amoshi called out, catching up to him once more. “I need to look around.” Jacob didn’t reply. He only gazed about, trying to remember what happened that day. Why had he lost Athel? He glanced back over to the broken tree and shivered. Had she been killed, then dragged away like some sort of prize? No! I refuse to believe that. What then?
He paced back and forth, thinking hard, trying to piece the facts together. Just what happened that fateful day? He remembered regaining consciousness after someone had hit him from behind. When he came to, Athel was engaged in battle with Zhou. He snuck up on the beast, then attacked him from behind. Yes, that’s when he threw her into that tree. It was really coming back to him now. We fought. That beast was so strong. I broke my staff on his jaw, but he was still standing. The memory was coming back faster now. I still held a broken piece in my hand. I rushed him. I-I was going to kill him with it! Then... Then... Then what? He couldn’t remember anything beyond that point.
“Jacob.”
I just can’t remember what happened after—
“Jacob, snap out of it,” called Amoshi. “Come over here.” Jacob wandered over, still in a haze. Amoshi kneeled on the ground and ran his fingers across some dead grass. “Athel’s footprints are all over this area. Can you see?”
Jacob bent down to look, straining his eyes. He couldn’t tell anything out of the ordinary. Maybe a few blades of bent grass, nothing more. “So what? I told you we were both here,” Jacob said a little defensively. He just didn’t want to admit he couldn’t really see anything.
Amoshi shook his head in agreement. “Yes, but you didn’t tell me you had company.”
“What are you talking about?” said Jacob, now getting so close to the ground he could have kissed it.
“Here, here, over here.” Amoshi pointed out several prints that even Jacob could see.
“Paw prints?” said Jacob, panic beginning to swell up inside him. “She was taken by wolves?”
“No. That’s not what I see here,” said Amoshi, the uncertainty in his voice doing little to comfort Jacob. “For one thing, these prints are enormous. I’ve never seen wolves this big. And something else is wrong here.” He bit his lip, stalling, as if not believing it himself.
“What? What else is wrong?” said Jacob, looking down to the ground, then back to Amoshi.
“They don’t walk like wolves, or any other four-legged beasts, for that matter. They walk on two legs, just like people.” Jacob didn’t know what to say to that. “There is good news, though.” Amoshi moved forward, hunched, trying to make sense of the crisscrossing tracks. “There are no additional signs of battle here. It looks like she went with them...willingly.”
“Went where?! Which way did they take her?”
Amoshi looked up, his gaze falling on a patch of forest up ahead. It was here that the vegetation became much more thick and dense. Thorny vines wrapped themselves tightly around massive trees, making that part of the forest seem impenetrable. “The tracks lead that way.”
Chapter 9
Eric ran his hand along Asami’s thick, scaly neck. The krackledon snorted, then lashed out with her long, thin tongue. It swiped across Eric’s face several times before snapping back behind two separate rows of razor-sharp teeth. It tickled, forcing Eric to pull back. “I’m sorry, Asami, but you can’t come with me this time.” She snorted again, a piercing, windy rush that sent clouds of mist from her nostrils. “I know,” he said, stroking her again. “I’m going to miss you too. But don’t worry. I’ll be back soon enough.” He avoided her eyes when saying that.
Most in the village still marveled at the fact that Eric had somehow tamed a krackledon. They were wild, savage beasts known to kill on sight. As a general rule, if you spotted one flying in the sky, it was already too late. Few ever laid eyes on one and lived to tell of it. Yet here it was, a loyal mount for the Shantie Rhoe himself. She had even been fitted with a new saddle made of strong black leather with hanging foot straps.
After she had destroyed the barn upon trying to reach her master, they thought it was best if she were no longer enclosed. They built a freestanding shelter with no walls, only a roof held up with wooden posts. Here she remained chained most of the time, even though Eric took her out for flights nearly every day.
“Here, I’ve got something for you,” said Eric, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a shiny red apple, then held it under her muzzle. She sniffed it a few times, mostly as a courtesy, before a lightning-fast tongue snatched it up. Crunching away happily, she seemed to forget he was even there.
“Eric, we’re ready. The Circle is waiting for you,” said Kelus from behind. He watched Eric stroke Asami’s neck. “Take your time, Eric. We’ll be ready when you are.”
“I’ll only be a moment,” said Eric. He heard Kelus leave, then continued stroking Asami’s neck. “I have to go now. Don’t worry, I leave you in good hands.”
“Were you planning to say goodbye to me too?” came a familiar voice.
Eric sighed. “Of course I was, Jade. I guess I’m just...stalling.” He turned and saw her with Nima. The three of them stood in awkward silence for a time.
“I’ll uh…I’ll leave you two alone,” said Nima, taking the hint.
Jade watched her go, then turned and ran to Eric. She threw her arms around him, holding him tightly. “I know what you’re afraid I’ll say,” she said softly. “That we should leave now while we still have a chance. That the two of us can find a quiet place out in the countryside where no one will ever find us. We can live in peace, and leave all this madness behind.” She squeezed him harder, then slowly pushed away. “Well, deep down inside, I do want those things. I would give anything in the world to know you’re safe. For us to live normal lives like everyone else. But there is still one problem.” She looked into his eyes, her cheeks wet with tears. “I know you, and no one in the world is ever going to stop you from doing what’s right. You’ve never turned your back on anyone in your life. It would be foolish of me to think you might do it now.”
Eric kissed her tenderly. She ran her hands along the rigid black scars burned into his arms. Those scars were now a part of who he was. Jade accepted that. She loved him unconditionally.
“It seems you know me better than I know myself,” he whispered. “But that also means you’re aware of how stubborn I can be. The gods themselves will not keep me from you. When this is over, I promise to return.”
He turned and left without another word. Jade dropped to her knees and covered her face, not daring to watch him go. Some illogical part of her mind convinced her tha
t if she didn’t see it, it wasn’t happening. That somehow none of this was real.
* * *
“So where is he?” asked Wara, impatiently tapping a bony finger on the tip of her chin. “The final preparations have been made. The sooner we send him off, the sooner our village can rest easy. Once he’s gone, we will no longer be a target for the Crimson Empire.”
“He’ll be along shortly,” said Kelus, eyes on the beads hanging along the doorway. He glanced at the twins briefly, both sitting in identical wooden chairs. Their eyes were closed, hands resting on their knees. He turned his focus back to Wara. “If I may speak freely?” he asked. She nodded, those piercing green eyes boring into him like a cat watching a mouse. “I’m sorry you feel the way you do.”
“And what way would that be, Kelus?” she growled, sounding every bit as impatient as she looked.
“I mean no disrespect,” he added quickly, giving a slight bow. “I, too, fear for the safety of our village, but there is a lot more at stake here. This is far bigger than you or I. I feel in my heart that Eric really is the true Shantie Rhoe. And if I’m correct, he will be the first to ever survive the Trials of Ashbarn. The world as we know it will be changed forever.”
“And if he isn’t?” said the twins, sharing a single dry voice, heads bobbing to the side, then up again with a cracking sound.
“Then he has all but doomed us,” said Wara, her eyes still burning into Kelus. “The Takeri Clan will forever be recognized as the fools who worshiped the feet of a mortal man. A village of simpletons who harbored a false idol, then incurred the wrath of the Crimson Empire. And deservedly so... Forgive us for not sharing your optimistic views, Kelus, but I assure you we are viewing this situation from multiple angles. Even the spirits themselves have been known to be wrong.”
“It matters not,” said Kelus with a shrug. “Our opinions will have little influence on the trials themselves.”
“Which is why we shall delay no longer,” said Eric, swiping back the beads and entering. He was now wearing the dark-blue hooded cloak they had asked him to wear before entering the trials—yet another peculiar tradition he didn’t understand, but chose not to question. Underneath the loose fabric, Spark was strapped tightly to his side. His sword was just about the only equipment he was allowed to bring. “It seems I owe you an apology,” he said to Wara. “If your clan has been marked as you seem to believe, I am truly sorry for the trouble. I can only hope that when I go, the danger will go with me and leave this place in peace.”
