by H. M. Clarke
“Well, if we are going to do this, then I’m not going anywhere on an empty stomach. I need breakfast. Adhamh, you have to remember at some point that I am not a Hatar and cannot go for days without eating.”
‘I am aware of this Kalena. Go and eat your breakfast and I will meet you on the parade grounds when you have finished.’
Kalena flashed the Hatar a large grin.
“Thank you Adhamh, and my stomach thanks you as well.”
Adhamh grinned back at her in response though his toothy grin made him look more like he wanted to eat her than smile at her.
Kalena pushed herself up from the comfort of Adhamh’s feathered leg and quickly made her way over to the Dining Hall. Hopefully Kral and Holm will be there as Kalena will have to explain to them why she will not be going to watch the stickball match with them. Second Wing will not miss her cheer from the crowd at any rate. And stickball is a much better game to play than to watch. Watching stickball is like watching a snail race. It goes slow and steady for a while, then one veers and collides with their opponents only to be slowly pulled apart and set back down on the track to continue the race.
All mind numbingly boring, but Kral and Holm absolutely loved the game.
Kalena entered the Dining Hall and after quickly scanning the occupied tables, made her way through the crowd to one near the back. As she threaded her way across the hall, greetings and good natured stickball barbs were thrown at her from other Kalarthri as they ate their breakfast. Kalena only paused once in her progress when she stopped in the middle of the hall to ladle out a bowl of hot, thick porridge for herself along with a mug of milk.
“Oi Kalena!”
Kalena recognized Holm’s voice and his waving hands made sure that she could not miss him. Kral was sitting across from him, smiling a lop sided grin at his friends enthusiasm.
She slid onto the seat beside Holm forcefully sliding him further along the bench, and making him drop a spoonful of porridge into his lap.
“Aw Kalena.”
“That’s what you get for shouting my name across the crowded hall you big lummox.”
“Holm, you should be embarrassed that a slight thing like Kalena is able to push you like that in the first place,” Kral said with a snicker.
“She didn’t push me. I let her move me,” Holm replied defensively as he wiped away the congealing spill with his hand.
“If that’s the case, then it’s not my fault that you got porridge on you.” Kalena beamed at them both and then popped a large spoonful of porridge into her mouth.
The thick porridge tasted so good and after some fearful rumblings from her stomach, she swallowed it quickly.
“I see you didn’t manage to have your sleep in this morning,” Kral said as he finished the last of his food.
“No. Adhamh had other ideas about how I should be spending my Freeday.” Kalena tried not to let her grumpiness show, but she could not help it.
“What has his feathers in a twist this morning then?” Holm asked through a mouthful of porridge.
“He wants me to help him chase a myth.”
“Huh? A what? A moth?” Holm asked after he cleared his mouth.
Kalena closed her eyes in exasperation and shook her head.
“No. A myth. There is some Hatar legend that ends with a Hatar locked in crystal hidden in a cavern somewhere around Darkon. Adhamh wants to find it, and he wants me to help him.”
Kral’s eyes unfocused for a moment before he nodded to himself.
“Trar thinks she knows the legend you’re talking about. The fable of Sethi’de’hasma. Trar seems rather excited about it.”
“Maybe Adhamh wasn’t exaggerating when he said that this was a well-known story with Hatars,” Kalena said as she loaded her spoon up with more of her breakfast.
Holm suddenly coughed and a spray of porridge shot across the table to hit Kral in the chest.
“Hey!” Kral said holding his hands away from the mess on his shirt.
“Sorry Kral,” Holm mumbled as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “But it looks like we are not going to be watching any stickball today.”
“What? Why?”
Holm turned and gave Kalena a sour look before replying to Kral. “Our Hatar have just volunteered us to help Kalena and Adhamh find this Cavern.”
“No. They can’t!”
“They already have.”
Kalena tried not to snigger. At least she will not be suffering alone.
“Now I know that Adhamh wasn’t spinning me a tale if Trar and Motta know of this legend.”
“Come on Kalena, you know as well as anyone that Adhamh is not that liberal with the truth. If Adhamh says it is so, then it must be.”
“Yeah, you’re right Kral.” Kalena watched as Holm pushed his now empty bowl away from him. “I’m sorry to have ruined your Freeday.”
“Doesn’t matter. We probably would have ended up sunburnt prunes anyway. You have rescued us from suffering the ultimate pain tomorrow.” Holm grinned. “Anyway, I don’t mind climbing around in the hills. I love finding all the nooks and crannies that are hidden about the place.”
“I don’t,” Kral grumbled. “I hate sand. And dirt.”
“Don’t be such a wet fish-“
Kalena bit down quickly on her words and twisted back to look behind her.
Something had touched on the edges of her mind, like a cloying scent that lingers in the air long after the wearer passes. Whatever this presence was, it was not looking for her. It flowed around her as if she was a rock parting a stream.
“What is it Kalena?”
Kral’s question cut through her thoughts and drew her attention back to those seated around the table.
“I thought I felt something...like I did when I met you and Holm,” she said.
“Well, don’t follow it. Remember what happened the last time you did that,” Holm said pointedly, jabbing a thumb at himself.
“Yeah, I remember. But this did not feel the same.” Kalena shivered as she spoke, the unknown mental touch made her fell a little ‘unclean’. “Whatever this was felt like it was up to no good. And it was heading in that direction.”
Kalena turned and pointed directly behind her.
Holm turned in his chair to look in the direction Kalena indicated. Behind them was only a table with four Hatar Kalar seated at it.
“The only thing there are four new recruits Kalena. And they have already awoken and taken to the Krytal.”
“I know, but I just can’t help feeling that I’m eavesdropping in on a mental conversation that is not in the best interests of one of the party.”
“Kal-“
“But what if this is someone else who can hear things like I can? I might not be the only one.”
Kral frowned at being rudely cut off by Kalena’s words, but quickly shook it off. He leaned forward and clamped a hand on Kalena’s arm.
“Come on Kal. Get a hold of yourself. Remember what happened last time? If there was someone here like that, the officers would already know.”
Kalena dropped her head in defeat, letting the slight hope she had that she was not alone fade. She nodded to Kral.
Kral gave Kalena a small smile. “Hurry up and finish your breakfast, and we’ll go meet the Hatar to start this cave hunt.”
Chapter Four
The Searchers
KALENA, HOLM AND KRAL made their way to the Parade Ground and found Adhamh, Trar and Motta already there waiting for them.
To Kalena, the three Hatar looked like feathered balls of pent up excitement; acting like giddy hatchlings who were told they were getting a treat.
“Look at them. I’ve never seen them act like this,” Holm said to both Kalena and Kral in a low voice.
“I wouldn’t have thought that Hatar would give this much effort to finding the truthfulness of a story,” Kral murmured back.
“They would if they thought they could prove it was real,” Kalena told them both. “Adhamh told me this mor
ning the legend they are obsessing about. It was basically about some female Hatar’le’margarten that bought conflict to Monarstros and then bought her war to Alleron. She was only stopped by the Spellcrafters from Arran and Hadria. She trapped herself in Crystal to stop the Spellcrafters from capturing her. Before she did so the Hatar promised to release herself when the others trapped by the Spellcrafters were released.”
“Who were the others?” Kral asked.
“Adhamh said they were Ice Tigers.”
“Ice Tigers?” Holm scoffed. “Now we all know that they never existed. Just tales invented to scare us kids.”
Kalena shrugged.
“Adhamh believed it, and because he does I will help him. What matters to Adhamh, matters to me.”
Holm and Kral nodded their agreement.
”Adhamh’s Quest seems to have gotten all our Hatar excited,” Kral said.
‘Kalena, I see you found us some help for the search.’ Adhamh’s voice danced happily through her mind and Kalena could not help but smile.
“You’re lucky that its nice out a the moment you feathered freak, otherwise I’d be plucking your tail feathers for a hat.”
‘The waterproofing only works when my feathers remain on me Kalena. You know that if you smudge the coating with your oily human fingers even just a little, the water will get through.’
Kalena rolled her eyes.“Yes Adhamh, I remember. I was making a joke.”
‘Oh?’
The look on the black Hatar’s face bought a burst of laughter from both Kral and Holm. Trar and Motta glanced at Adhamh, then at each other and then cocked their heads to the side, not really getting the joke.
‘Kalena, can you take this map and help me open it up? We need to show the others where to search,’ the Hatar asked giving the large scroll of parchment lying on the ground by his feet a nudge with a claw.
“Sure Adhamh.”
Kalena picked up the map and rolled it out on the Parade Ground using rocks to hold down each corner to stop it curling back up.
The six friends gathered around the map with not much room to spare considering how large the Hatar are. Adhamh leaned forward and placed a large curved claw delicately on the group of red crosses in the foothills to the North.
‘We will start here today as this is where I think Sethi’de’hasma’s last resting place is likely to be found. And with all the extra help,’ Adhamh nodded to the two boys and the Hatar, ‘We should be able to check these five places before sun down.’
Adhamh then waited a moment to allow Trar and Motta to pass on what he said to their riders.
‘Any questions?’
“You will let us stop for lunch won’t you?” Holm asked.
Kalena could hear the worry in his voice, she knew Holm could not go for long without eating something.
Motta gave Holm a friendly nudge with her hip and Kalena ‘overheard’ her telling Holm not to be silly.
“Of course Adhamh will let us stop to eat. Won’t you Adhamh,” Kalena said to give her friend a little vocal support.
Adhamh stared hard at her a moment and then nodded. Grudgingly.
“See. No need to worry Holm. You will not be starving today.”
Holm gave everyone a sheepish smile. “I have my priorities set, and nothing gets in the way of that.”
Kalena gave Holm a smile, and then turned back to the map.
“Where shall we look first Adhamh?”
‘Let us start with the cross furthest from us and work back from there.’
Kalena pointed out the cross on the map to the others.
“Sounds like a plan,” Kral said. “Let’s get hunting.”
Kalena pushed away the rocks and rolled up the map as the group began to disperse and tucked it into her jacket pocket.
The Hatar offered their foreleg to their riders, and the three humans gripped a handful of feathers and hoisted themselves onto the back of their respective Hatar partners. They then moved off towards the northern foothills to begin the search for this fabled cavern entrance.
“What signs are we looking for Adhamh?” Kalena asked once they had arrived near the position of the first cross.
‘We should keep a look out for a man made opening, or a cave or tunnel entrance of some sort at the very least. So much time has passed since the legend occurred that the landscape around here would have changed. We have to remember that Darkon did not exist then. This was all uninhabited wilderness.’
Kalena swung her leg over Adhamh’s withers and slid down to the ground. She heard a very satisfying crunching sound as the soles of her boots hit the dried grass and stones of the red earth.
They all stood at the mouth of a small valley that curled north up into the high foothills. The land about them was arid and dry with many species of dried spinifex grasses and saltbush. And there were rocks.
A lot of rocks.
“Adhamh, what if this cave of yours has been covered over by a rock slide. If enough time has passed, we wouldn’t even know it had happened.”
‘It might have, but if we do not make the effort to look, then we will never find out the truth.’
Kalena screwed up her nose, a little annoyed by Adhamh’s logic. But he was right. Kral and Holm were looking at her expectantly and she relayed to them Adhamh’s reply. Their shoulders sagged as their last brief hope to return to Darkon faded.
“Are we looking for a big opening of some kind? Or what?” Holm asked.
‘It would have to be something small, but large enough for a Hatar to squeeze through, and probably concealed.’
Holm nodded when Motta relayed Adhamh’s answer.
“It would have to be to have remained hidden for so long. But if, as you say, Darkon had been founded to guard the cavern, wouldn’t there be a record some place of where the cavern is?” Kalena asked.
Adhamh shook his head.
‘I have been looking through the archives for any mention of this. But there are a lot of gaps and most of the oldest records are missing.’
“Missing?” Kalena raised an eyebrow. “How can scrolls and documents go missing? We Suenese are renown for our record keeping.”
‘Ah, but you are forgetting that back when this occurred, the land on which we are now standing was called Hadria. The Great Suene Empire did not yet exist - Not for another five hundred years. During the upheaval of war and of being conquered, many records were lost to posterity.’
“Oh.” Kalena had forgotten about that. She always found history a little boring and always had trouble in class trying to be interested in it. Especially when Kral and Holm are doing their best to distract her.
‘We will split our search. Kral and Trar can search the right hand side of the valley. Holm and Motta can search the left hand side.’
“And where do we search?” Kalena asked.
‘I am going to fly up and do a reconnoiter of the valley from the air. I will call back to you to direct either of the teams to go and investigate anything that looks interesting if it is on their side.’
“You don’t want me to search at all? I could go up with you and you can talk to Trar and Motta to tell the boys where to go.”
‘We did not bring the riding harness. If I have to turn quickly or get caught in a thermal you could come tumbling off.’
“We are not going into battle Adhamh. We’ve ridden without a harness before. You just don’t want me pulling your neck feathers.”
Adhamh jerked his head up and snorted. Trar and Motta made noises that were the Hatar equivalent of sniggering. Kral and Holm, hearing only one side of the conversation just glanced at each other.
The Hatar fluffed his black feathers and glanced around the ring of faces staring back at him.
‘Oh very well! You can fly with me. But do not come crying to me if you fall. Remember, the oil that waterproofs my feathers can also make them slippery.
“Yes Adhamh. I’ll sit back over your shoulders so my legs can grip better.”
The Hat
ar nodded agreement.
“Does everyone know where they are going and what they are to look for?” Kalena asked the group. Everyone gave her an affirmative.
“Okay, let’s get searching and see what we can find.”
“Knowing my luck, all we’ll find is a nest of cita snakes or the smelly remains of some dead animal,” Holm muttered to Motta.
Kalena overheard Motta’s reply after the Hatar had scented the air.
‘I cannot smell any dead animals nearby. As for the snakes? No snake in their right mind would come near a Hatar’le’margarten.’
Holm laid a hand on Motta’s blue feathered neck. “Thanks Motta.”
Adhamh offered his foreleg and Kalena used it to climb up onto his shoulders. The Hatar waited until the others had moved away to their search areas before spreading his feathered black wings.
‘Ready?’
“Ready,” Kalena replied tucking her legs under Adhamh’s wing joints and taking a firmer grip on Adhamh’s feathers.
As soon as Kalena answered, Adhamh pushed up from the ground with his powerful back legs while bringing his wings down in a powerful down sweep.
Adhamh circled lazily around as he gained height, and then two began their search.
Chapter Five
The Stranger
“NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY nothing.”
“Same here. Not even those cita snakes.”
“We didn’t see anything much interesting either.”
Kalena and her friends leaned in closer around the map which was laid out in the dirt back at the mouth of the valley. She pulled a small stick of charcoal from her pocket and circled the red cross that marked their current location.
“One down, several more to go,” Kral said as Kalena slipped the charcoal back into her jacket pocket. She then placed that hand on Adhamh’s shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.
“I’m sorry Adhamh. But nothing seems to have happened in this valley since it was created.”
The Hatar turned his head to look at her, his black feathers caught the noon day sun as he moved making them flash briefly blue green before returning to black.
