The priestess hadn’t been lying. A short time later and Ahren was sitting upright with a cup of herbal brew in his hands and he blinked with some effort at the oncoming night. Twilight had already progressed considerably, but he couldn’t see anything clearly as even a small amount of light stung his eyes.
They were cowering in a sort of depression, in the middle of which was a pond, out of which they had come when they had risen up from the Wild Paths. Steam was still rising from its surface on account of their entrance into the normal world. A thin covering of snow was on the outer edge of the depression and Ahren realised that the warmth of the pond ensured that they wouldn’t be miserably cold.
Tlik came over to them in his strange gait, sometimes waddling and sometimes hopping.
‘I had a little look inside your head while you were eavesdropping on the elf melody. It was very revealing, I must say’, he said in a provocative voice as he pointed over at the pond.
The thought that the goblin had been rummaging around in his reason while Ahren was powerless, enraged the young man, and he hit the creature without even thinking. Ahren’s fist smashed right into the middle of the fay-creature’s face, and there was such power in the blow that the little body flew several paces through the air before landing with a splash in the pool and sinking out of sight.
Ahren looked in amazement at his hand, which was still balled into a fist and shaking with anger, when Falk towered over him and stared down at him in a furious rage.
‘Have you gone totally mad?’ he growled, with a look of incomprehension on his weathered face. ‘We never hit our allies, no matter how infuriating they may sometimes be. That applies especially to fay-creatures who can make mincemeat out of us in a fit of raving madness.’
While Falk continued to scold, trying hard to keep his voice down, Tlik clambered out of the pool, now soaking wet, and staring directly at Ahren. The goblin looked more than ever like an odd kind of frog now, and Ahren couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
The rest of the group had sprung to their feet, and Uldini and Jelninolan were about to position themselves between Ahren and the goblin, but the fay-creature made a quick hand movement and they were all thrown to the ground where they were held fast, even Falk, who had been taken completely by surprise in the middle of his tirade. Tlik took a surprisingly long leap and landed right in front of the flabbergasted, not to mention terrified young man. The strange looking eyes bored directly into his own, and the young man could see that the skin, where his fist had met the creatures face, was beginning to turn an even deeper blue.
The apprentice was frantically considering what he could do to appease the unpredictable creature, when the goblin broke into a bleating laugh.
‘And I thought you couldn’t fight your way out of a paper bag’, the little figure called out. ‘Everywhere in your head it’s all about protecting and evading and avoiding violence and all that. Oh yes, and also about a certain elf, but that was amusing at least.’
Ahren’s face went a deep red and he avoided looking in Jelninolan’s direction, but Uldini’s sarcastic laugh was impossible to miss, and Trogadon giving him a wink of recognition didn’t help the matter.
‘If you want to succeed against HIM, WHO FORCES, then you urgently need to become harder, boy. You won’t be able to save everyone, and you’re going to have to fight, and those fights will be long and hard. That sometimes includes boxing someone who appears to be weaker than you’, added the dwarf.
Then he snapped his fingers and Ahren began to sink down into the ground. The earth just didn’t seem to want to carry him anymore and the more the apprentice tried to escape, the more quickly he went down. Three heartbeats later and he was already having to stretch his chin upwards to get air while the earth was beginning to cover his ears.
Just as the first crumbs of earth were forcing their way into his mouth, the goblin snapped his fingers again and the sinking stopped.
Ahren was panicking as he tried to breathe, feeling the ground around him pressing into his body and preventing his lungs from expanding sufficiently for him to inhale properly. Over his own panting he could hear the voice of the goblin speaking quietly and slowly to him.
‘If you touch me again, I will, once I’ve honoured my vow, leave you just like this in the wilderness for the ants and the birds to take care of you.’
The goblin wanted to continue talking but suddenly there was a threatening, deep snarling sound behind him.
Culhen had crept up towards the fay-creature and was standing now with fangs bared and hackles raised, ready to pounce.
The frog-like creature pursed his thin lips, which made him look even stranger, and clapped his hands.
Ahren was spat upwards and out of the earth in a high arc and came down in the pond. He came up to the surface of the unnaturally hot water coughing and spluttering and looked into the eyes of the goblin, who pushed himself passed the still snarling Culhen.
‘I think we’re quits now’, said Tlik and with another snap of his fingers he was gone and the group were left to consider what had just happened.
While Ahren was drying himself off, he was glad that the others couldn’t be too loud as they scolded him. His companions showered him with accusations and warnings. Even Khara admonished him by repeatedly saying, ‘stupid boy’. Selsena did her bit too, submerging him in a wave of disappointment. Trogadon was the only one who occasionally threw him a sympathetic look from where he was standing guard.
Ahren quietly let his companion’s criticisms wash over him, all the while stroking Culhen’s fur, while the wolf stood, a bastion of calm, his head leaning in against the apprentice’s leg. Ahren knew he had deserved his dressing-down, and couldn’t work out why he had overreacted so impetuously.
They had finally expended all their negative criticism and were now looking at him with expectant or demanding faces, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders.
‘He spent the time when we were on the Wild Paths prowling around in my head, and I was completely unable to defend myself. The thought of it threw me into a blind rage. First the Adversary, trying to control my mind on the ship, then the Grief Wind playing with my emotions, and then only a short time later a frog-faced creep rummaging around in my innermost thoughts.’
‘It was just too much!’ he blurted out.
His eyes caught sight of Jelninolan, who gave him an understanding smile.
‘Sometimes I forget how young you are’, she said in a friendly voice.
‘Tanentan’s song put you into a twilight state, but if Tlik was really browsing around in your reason, then he would have pulled some powerful feelings out of your memories up to the surface, which are now wreaking havoc.’
She turned to Falk.
‘He should really spend the night in the Void, and at the same time you can run through his past with him. The last thing we need is another eruption in the wrong place and at the wrong time.’
Falk nodded thoughtfully, and Uldini laid a hand on Ahren’s shoulder.
‘Once you have been named, the blessing of HIM, WHO FORMS should protect you from most tricks of the mind. All going well, you’ll be safe in three days’ time.’
Ahren knew the little wizard well enough by now to recognise the statement as his version of an apology, and so he thanked him with a nod of acknowledgement.
Falk waved him a few paces away from the rest of the group and indicated to him that he should sit. He too sat down in a cross-legged position and looked soberly into Ahren’s eyes.
‘We call this phenomenon Shadow Anguish, and it doesn’t happen often. But there’s been a lot of tinkering around going on in your skull the last while, and you’re still too young to have got over the traumas of your childhood, so there’s no doubt that it’s hit you hard.’
A wave of anger came over Ahren as he heard himself being described as weak and inexperienced, and he was just about to protest vociferously when it suddenly occurred to him that he was over-reacting again.
He bit his tongue until it hurt and was thus able to keep his emotions in check.
Falk recognised his inner conflict and nodded approvingly.
‘Have no fear, you’ll be fine. We might need more than one night, but by the time of your Naming, we’ll have put your old self back together again.’
And so they began their work, with Ahren forcing himself towards the Void. It took half an evening for him to battle his way past all the disturbing pictures from his past, which were preventing him from achieving the trance-like state. Things he thought he had overcome a long time previously were now painfully present. His father, his days as an outsider in Deepstone, even Holken, who had become his friend by the time he had left his home village, surfaced as a threatening figure before his inner eye.
When it was finally time, Falk began asking him questions about his past, going back so far into Ahren’s childhood that the apprentice was sure he wouldn’t be able to answer them. But to his own surprise he was able to give long and detailed answers to each of his master’s questions. The goblin had brought many things to light that Ahren had gone to great lengths to forget, and only the Void enabled him to speak on, confidently and in a firm voice.
He spoke until deep in the night of the lonely days with his father, who was regularly violent to him, and of how he was bullied by other children in the village. Finally, Falk said he had spoken enough.
When Ahren emerged from the Void, he felt strangely exhausted and jaded, as if a storm of emotions had swept over him, while he had sat tight, under the surface, and so had escaped its devastating force.
Falk seemed contented and even smiled for a moment.
‘That wasn’t bad. But you still need your sleep, so we’ll carry on tomorrow evening. I’ve taken the opportunity of killing two birds with one stone. Every aspirant is supposed to think back over their lives before their Naming in order to purify their spirit, and in preparation for their future tasks. My mother prepared me that time, and now I’m doing the same with you. I’m just being a little more thorough, because I also want to rectify the damage that Tlik has done.’
His master stood up and Ahren followed suit. His head was heavy and light at the same time and he could only give a dazed nod. Falk grasped him by the arm and led him to his blankets, which the others had already prepared for the young man. The apprentice quickly finished off his herbal brew, and then fell into a deep, dreamless sleep brought on by emotional exhaustion.
Chapter 24
2 days to the winter solstice
Ahren woke up to the smell of roast meat and fresh bread.
At first he thought he was in a dream, but when he opened his eyes there was a wooden bowl with venison and millet cake in front of his face. He sat up quickly and the painful stabbing in his stomach made him realise how hungry he was as he set greedily to his food.
He looked around as he gobbled up large chunks of meat and bread. The others were eating just as heartily, except for Jelninolan and Falk who were observing their companions with a look of satisfaction.
‘Eat as much as you can. Once we set off, we won’t be able to enjoy a proper meal until the Naming has been carried out’, said Falk quietly. ‘Uldini weaved a small charm net this morning and the route between us and the Place of Ritual is teeming with Dark Ones. Around here is safe enough, but from now on, proceeding quietly and carefully is the name of the game. A fight is always dangerous anyway, but any kind of a skirmish is likely to attract more creatures, and then we’ll have to fight them, and on it goes.’
‘According to Tlik, it’s nineteen miles to our destination’, explained Uldini. As far as Falk, Jelninolan and I can make out, we’re on the foothills of Geraton, a town that was destroyed during the Dark Days.’
Concern could clearly be seen on the faces of the three ageless companions when the town’s name was mentioned, and Ahren asked himself if they had experienced its fall.
‘The most direct route is through the town and so we have to be doubly prepared. There are so many hiding places and many opportunities for ambushes.’
A silence followed Uldini’s words of warning until finally Trogadon spoke.
‘On the other hand, that can also be an advantage, isn’t that right? If we use the ruins as cover, then they won’t spot us so quickly’.
Falk nodded reluctantly. ‘It could turn into quite a dangerous game of cat and mouse. We have to make sure we avoid turning into the mouse’.
There was nothing more to be said, and in total silence and with full concentration the travelling party broke camp and began their journey to the ruins of Geraton.
No sooner had they set off when Ahren was badly shaken by the sight of the ruined city. He had felt relaxed and calm after waking up, the pain in his legs had gone and the bright sun had had no effect on his eyes. But as soon as he raised his head over the top of the depression in which they had spent the night, his good humour was gone.
Together with his companions he walked through the ruined streets in disbelief. The cobbled paths were covered in moss and their stones were hidden or pushed up by little plants. Left and right were ruined buildings, some small and others towering above them, all of which seemed to have been destroyed by fire in the dim and distant past. The architecture seemed strangely contoured in a style that he had never encountered before. Sometimes the stumps of delicate pillars were visible, at other times mighty pedestals, which once had statues standing proudly on them. A porous covering of snow bedecked everything, strengthening the impression of decay and loneliness. Ahren had so many questions on the tip of his tongue, but as the group made its way slowly from ruin to ruin, constantly seeking out cover, he knew that this was neither the time nor place to ask questions.
Falk, ever alert, led them through the ghostly city, which was a timeless reminder of the destruction wreaked during the Dark Days and which seemed to be telling them that the tragic events of the past were soon to be repeated.
In the distance they could hear the cries of strange creatures and sometimes they heard the scraping of claws on stone or the beating of mighty wings. And every time Falk would indicate to them to make themselves as small as possible and not move a muscle and he would wait with steely expression until the sounds had died away and the group could move onwards again. If he thought a street looked too dangerous, they would take a wide detour and so their progress was painfully slow. Culhen and Selsena were invaluable helpers when Falk needed to decide on a direction and more than once the powerful senses of the two animals saved them from certain discovery.
The constant danger the Dark Ones posed, and the mournful backdrop of the city began to upset the emotional equilibrium which Ahren had felt since he’d woken up. He became irritable and impatient and at one point he was about to jump up and scream madly and wave his arms in the air, just so the terrible tension would come to an end.
It was Khara of all people who stopped him. He had tensed his muscles and was about to leap when out of the blue he felt a slap on his face from his left, which left him flabbergasted. It was Khara looking at him pleadingly, and unusually there was neither scorn nor accusation in her eyes.
‘Fear makes Reason dead. Fight it against’, she whispered quietly.
The sight of the one-time slave, down on her haunches with Dark Ones all around, doing not her own bidding but her mistress’s, brought Ahren back to his senses. Khara had had to wait for so many battles in the arena in those days, that this game of hide and seek they were playing now could be little more than a walk in the park for her. At least that was how she was behaving.
And so Ahren bit his lips and made his way into the Void so that he would do no harm to himself or to others.
The longer the afternoon went on, the more times Falk made the group stop. He looked sourly over at a large ruin which had to have been the impressive dwelling of a nobleman once. The travellers hid behind a plinth on top of which was a little stump, which might once have been a memorial to a knight and Falk gestured to Ahren to
approach him.
The young man crawled up to him as quietly and carefully as he could. Falk nodded approvingly once his apprentice had reached him, then pointed silently at two points on the walls of the ruined house.
Ahren squinted and was able to make out two Swarm Claws that had settled down on the dilapidated stone walls and were watching their surroundings. The blood-red beaks of the large black birds glistened in the sun. Bad memories resurfaced in Ahren’s head. The monstrous birds had tracked them down once before, when they had been on their way to Eathinian. A whole swarm of Dark Ones had almost hunted them down that time. And later, in the Elfish forest, Ahren himself had been involved in a daring duel with one of the creatures as he fought to save the life of the Voice of the Forest.
He looked around nervously but could see no other Swarm Claw. Falk pulled the apprentice up to him.
‘Scouts’, he whispered in the young man’s ear. ‘No doubt the swarm is perched all over the city, and if there’s any worthwhile prey, they call to each other.’
Falk pointed to his bow and to the animal on the right, then he pointed to Ahren’s bow and to the bird on the left.
‘Simultaneously’, he whispered in a warning voice.
Ahren’s hands were suddenly sweating. His master expected him to hit first time and at exactly the same time as the arrow of the old Forest Guardian. There would be no second chance. There was no possibility of hiding from the razor-like beaks and claws of the swarm here, and if Uldini had to protect them with some powerful magic, then that would attract all the other Dark Ones, which they had so far successfully avoided.
The Void collapsed under the feeling of increasing tension and he was left with his trembling hands. Uncertain, he drew his best arrow from his quiver. His fletching had been excellent, and the shaft was perfectly smooth and straight. The tip was sharp and glinted in the sun as he positioned the arrow on the bowstring. He remembered to hold the tip pointing downwards so as not to reveal himself, just as Falk had taught him.
The Naming Page 38
