The Northern Approach

by Jim Galford

  As Raeln watched, the man they were moving against raised his arms out to either side, palms up. Behind him, the fallen zombies that had been contained at the entrance to the tunnel rose to their feet and marched out to surround him. It was with that motion that Raeln saw the man had the old chain On’esquin had been carrying wrapped around his right wrist and Yoska’s cup hanging from his belt.

  The council seemed entirely unsure of what was happening. They looked nervously between Liris and the man, clearly trying to decide where their loyalties lay. The more they balked, the weaker the chains on Raeln became. Soon he would be able to strike if they did not realize their mistake. He needed a few more seconds, but it appeared the newcomer intended to get him more than enough.

  Finally, several of the council members began weaving spells. Bolts of flame and lightning arced across the ravine toward the man near the tomb. Every spell was intercepted by one of the corpses around the man, who threw themselves in the way of the magic, trying to protect him with speed that belied their poor condition. When the council members had stopped casting, the man still stood, though there were none of the zombies remaining. Every corpse lay in an arc in front of him, twitching occasionally.

  The strange man seemed to be actually tearing up as he gazed at the fallen zombies, his shoulders hanging sadly as he looked from one to the next. Wiping at his face, he motioned toward the council members, and the dire wolves that lay broken and dead through the ravine all clambered to their feet. As the wolves raced after the council members, the magic holding Raeln faded enough that he stood again, straining against the invisible chains and almost breaking free.

  The council scattered, the wolves darting back and forth through them, doing more damage than they had in life. The last of the Turessians to run—other than Liris—was the one holding Raeln, who frantically looked between him and the approaching wolves, clearly terrified of both. Raeln just smiled back at her, waiting for her control to slip. He made a point of baring his fangs when the woman paled nervously.

  The instant a wolf tackled the council member and tore into her, the hold on Raeln collapsed and his arms moved freely again. Turning to check on Feanne, he saw that she was still held, snarling and spitting as she thrashed, trying to get at anyone but mostly just knocking stones from the ravine wall. The whole time she only had eyes for Estin, even ignoring Liris and the rest of the battle in her efforts to go to him.

  Liris had moved farther away from Raeln, keeping one hand toward Feanne as she made her way toward the Turessian man near the tomb.

  Looking up, Raeln saw the mists had begun to descend, creating a canopy over the ravine. They had mere minutes left before that cloud was on them.

  “Identify yourself!” shouted Liris, glancing back toward Yoska, who was huddling down to keep from getting mauled by the wolves. “Tell him I want his name, gypsy! Tell him!”

  Raeln ran for Liris, hoping the wolves could keep the others busy. He had closed half the distance before she noticed his approach, turned, and flicked her free hand in his direction. Pain flared through his leg and he fell, much of his thigh torn open from her magic. Crying out in agony, he pulled himself up with his good arm and leg, trying to push on to close the last ten feet to Liris. Blood spread across the trampled snow as he dragged his torn leg.

  “Stop, just stop!” Liris pleaded of Raeln, motioning for him to stay down. The woman looked close to tears and desperate. “Get the gypsy to ask…make him…please. I need to know.”

  Raeln looked to Yoska, who had raised his head and was watching Raeln for instructions. Nodding, Raeln gave him the okay to answer.

  Standing and making his way carefully through the wolves that continued to chase the Turessians around the ravine, Yoska walked straight to Raeln and offered him a hand up. Once Raeln got onto his feet—or rather, his one leg that would support him—Yoska finally acknowledged Liris by turning to the other man. “So’ento bishula kir?” asked Yoska, taking one of the swords from Raeln, allowing him to use his wounded arm to lean more easily on Yoska.

  The Turessian in black and white smirked and walked forward from where he had waited, coming slowly to the center of the ravine, while Liris watched him angrily, ready to attack. The man came close enough to her to have a polite conversation, but stopped safely out of reach, smiling at Liris. He occasionally glanced at Raeln with concern, gradually easing into a relaxed stance and clasping his hands behind his back.

  For a moment the man looked ready to answer, then abruptly turned to walk over to Raeln and Yoska. He stopped in front of them, eyeing the injuries both Yoska and Raeln had suffered. Shaking his head slightly, he reached between Yoska and Raeln and took hold of the bracelet fused to Raeln’s wrist.

  “It won’t come free,” Raeln told him, a second before the man unlocked the clasp and removed it easily from Raeln’s arm.

  Winking, the man put it on his own wrist and turned back to Liris.

  “Turess,” whispered Liris, backing away. Her hand holding Feanne nearly dropped, but she caught herself. “You can’t be him. You aren’t him! No one can bring back the long-dead!”

  Bowing slightly, the man patted his chest and said in a gentle voice, “Turess.”

  Nearly in unison, the council members dropped to their knees where they were, ignoring the wolves that still attacked them. At a gesture from Turess, the undead dogs stopped and waited, panting as they stood over the groveling Turessians. One Turessian tried to sneak off and the wolf nearest him bit into his neck and forced him back in to a kneeling position.

  Ignoring all of them, Turess raised his hand to the sky, the bracelet he wore gleaming despite the dim glow of the mists as the only light source. He closed his eyes and whispered something, and Raeln saw the mists lurch and suddenly retreat. Before they could fully escape the ravine, a thin stream of the glowing cloud fell to Turess’s bracelet, making it glow even more brightly. As he lowered his arm, the entire glowing cloud overhead raced away.

  Liris continued backing away, practically cowering as she looked around for somewhere to go.

  Chuckling, Turess turned back to Raeln and Yoska. Putting his right hand on the bracelet and motioning with his left, he cast some form of spell. Almost immediately their wounds began to close, and in seconds, Raeln could put weight on his leg again. His arm still tingled numbly, but his strength was returning quickly. He had never seen a healer mend wounds without touching the recipient, but Turess seemed to manage just fine. The man immediately turned his attention to Estin, once they were healed.

  “Black and white.” Liris laughed, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Years wasted because my master can’t read worth a damn. Dragged these eight cowards halfway across Turessi to denounce Estin, only to have them recognize you as their lord. What a profound—”

  Liris’s arms abruptly dropped to her sides and her entire posture changed. She blinked, and when her eyes opened again, a faint red glow lit the whites of her eyes briefly. Looking around, she seemed to be taking in her surroundings for the first time. Once she seemed aware of where she was, Liris motioned toward the bowing Turessians and all eight collapsed, their bodies turning to ash.

  “Hello again, brother,” Liris said, her attention settling on Turess. Putting a hand to her chest, she added, “I’m still Dorralt, though I doubt you recognize this shell. You, on the other hand, cause as much trouble today as you did the day you died. You are clearly too ignorant to understand this new language, so I’ll let your new friends translate for you. You always did tell me that I needed to adapt or I would find myself on the receiving end of a knife…it appears that you are the one who has fallen behind.”

  Leaning to look past Raeln and Yoska, Liris then met Raeln’s eyes and added, “You may wish to run.”

  Raeln turned and his resolve collapsed when he saw Feanne drop to the ground, loose of the magic holding her. He had hoped she would have returned to normal before she was free, but she roared and dropped to all fours to run toward them. The insane rage
that gripped her left him wondering if she would even notice if she killed him to get at Liris. As Raeln looked back to Liris, the woman clapped her hands together and her entire form collapsed into smoke. Within a heartbeat, she was gone.

  “What is plan…and make it fast plan,” Yoska whispered, facing Feanne. “Fox lady looks angry and people die when she gets angry. You and I are only threats now, yes? I worked very hard not to be a threat.”

  Feanne slowed briefly and went to Estin, checking on him before turning her eyes on the others again. Roaring, she lumbered toward them, drooling as she walked.

  “Does dead man have idea?” asked Yoska, looking to Turess. The man was wide-eyed and began backing slowly away from Feanne. “No, dead man has nothing. Is you and me, Raeln. I think if we live, we get new friends who have good ideas, yes?”

  From over near the remains of the Turessians, Dalania, still kneeling and clutching at her bloodied shoulder, called out, “Get her close to me and I can help her! I’ll need her restrained, though! I’ll help you how I can!”

  “Sounds like a horrible plan,” muttered Raeln, dropping his weapons and walking toward Feanne, who slowed and stood up straight as she studied him. “I am so very dead. Yoska, get to Estin while I get myself killed. You’re in charge once she’s done pounding me into paste.”

  Feanne approached slowly, as Raeln did the same. She watched him carefully, clearly evaluating whether or not he could be a real threat. Then, without warning, she crossed the distance between them in one leap and landed with a bestial growl, coming up swinging her long arms at Raeln.

  Ducking under her arm, Raeln stepped in and punched Feanne in the side as hard as he could. Hitting her felt like punching a tree trunk, his whole hand going numb without having done any noticeable damage. Stumbling back, he evaded two more swings of her arms, feeling her claws graze his neck and shoulder on the second.

  Raeln ducked and moved, trying to stay out of Feanne’s reach as she threw her strength and size around. There was little grace in what she was doing, but for Raeln to close in and fight her, he had to get within range of those deadly arms. One mistake would be all it would take for him to be torn in half.

  When an opening presented itself, Raeln rushed in and kicked as hard as he could at Feanne’s knee. With all of his strength and weight behind the kick, an ordinary man’s leg would have shattered, but Feanne merely stumbled, her leg muscles tightening visibly as she growled.

  Feanne tried to grab at Raeln, but he was faster, punching her in the throat, hoping to make her choke long enough that he could disable her for Dalania. Instead, once he was too close for her to easily grab, Feanne lunged and bit into Raeln’s shoulder.

  Screaming, Raeln tried to force Feanne off of himself, but she would not budge. Her jaws locked on him, driving her fangs deeper into his shoulder. Before he could find a way out, Feanne’s hands closed on his waist. She intended to rip him in half and might be able to do so. The strain on his spine grew rapidly as she tensed her neck and pulled.

  Using his free arm, Raeln brought his elbow down on the bridge of Feanne’s nose as hard as he could manage from the difficult angle. She instinctively released him, snarling and backing away as she blinked to clear her vision, the broken bones healing as he watched. At most Raeln knew he had bought himself only a second or two, maybe less, given how badly he was bleeding. His right arm already hung limply, the muscles that controlled it severed or torn too badly to work properly, though he could still move his fingers. His left still ached from Liris’s sword.

  Raeln only had seconds before Feanne recovered and tore him apart, and he had no intention of giving her that time. As she howled and pawed at her muzzle, Raeln leapt onto her back, kicking at her legs to throw her off-balance. When Feanne stumbled, he threw his left arm around her neck and shoulders, locking it with his limp arm. He had next to no strength in his right, but he managed to tie up one of Feanne’s arms and hold her off-balance, with his good arm wrapped around her neck. Whatever Dalania was doing for him, he had not expected to even have that much strength, let alone enough to hold Feanne for even a moment.

  Snarling and flailing, Feanne tried desperately to reach Raeln, forcing him to keep adjusting his grip to stay away from her claws. From where he stood, holding Feanne bent backward, he could see Turess helping Dalania walk toward him. The woman looked to be on the verge of fainting and he could not fault her, seeing how much blood had begun to dry all down her face, shoulder, and side. She had lost very nearly as much as Estin, making him worry about whether she would survive the fight without Turess’s help.

  “Hurry!” Raeln gasped as his hands slipped. He managed to hold Feanne, though she was slipping free. All of her strength meant little in the hold he had on her, but her constant thrashing was tearing at his wounded arm and gradually getting her closer to freedom. Sooner or later his arms would give out and she would turn on him, killing him instantly.

  Dalania tried to run and nearly fell, with Turess catching her as she stumbled. The man hardly watched the fae-kin at all, his eyes wide and stuck on Feanne. They went slower than Raeln would have wished, even if it was as fast as Dalania could move.

  Soon Dalania was close and she pushed Turess away, keeping him out of Feanne’s reach. She stepped forward, inching toward Feanne with her eyes down, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. “Do you remember me?” asked Dalania softly, raising her good hand to try to touch Feanne’s head. Another lurching attempt to break free nearly took Dalania’s hand off, forcing her back a step. “Feanne. Think through the anger. Remember me. Remember your father…Lihuan. He told me to watch out for you. Do you remember that?”

  Feanne’s growling eased somewhat and she glared hatefully at Dalania.

  Smiling like a saddened mother, Dalania came closer, raising her hand again as she said, “I know your pain as well as you do. I saw the anger that you have fought your whole life consuming you. I’ve seen your fear of hurting those you love. We fought it together when you lost your children to your first mate.”

  Gradually Raeln was able to relax his hold. He kept it as firm as was necessary to keep Feanne still if she tried to fight, but he made certain he was not choking her anymore.

  Slowly, inch by inch, Dalania brought her hand to Feanne’s brow. This time Feanne did not try to attack or pull away.

  “You are angry,” whispered Dalania, closing her eyes as she pressed her hand to Feanne. She leaned closer and put her brow to Feanne’s muzzle. There was nothing Raeln could do if Feanne chose to attack—Dalania would be dead in a second. “Your child has died and your other children are gone. Your love is wounded or dead. Fight the rage and come back to us. We will cope together. You have mastered this before and we must have you do so again.”

  Raeln could immediately feel the change in Feanne as her muscles relaxed and the rumbling growl in her chest faded away. Had she been anyone else, he would have released her at that point, but knowing she could kill Dalania in an instant necessitated holding her a little longer to be sure.

  “We will help Estin together,” Dalania went on, stroking Feanne’s face. “I remember your pain when you lost him once before. I helped you then and I will help you again. I can and will share your pain.”

  Taking a deep shuddering breath, Feanne turned her head away from Dalania to look at Raeln over her shoulder. In a deep resonating voice that sounded more suited to On’esquin than to how she normally appeared, Feanne said, “I can think clearly again. Release me.”

  Raeln hesitated, looking to Dalania for confirmation. The woman’s jaw was clenched and her face twitched with pain or anger. “Dalania? Are we safe?” he asked, but Dalania nearly fell into Turess’s arms.

  “I…leave me alone!” snapped the normally peaceful woman, pushing Turess away and attempting to stumble off. Without looking back, Dalania called out, “Do whatever you want!”

  Raeln gradually released his hold on Feanne. When he let go, he immediately stepped back, half-expecting her to
turn and attack. Instead, she turned slowly as she stood, giving him an apologetic look—at least it looked somewhat apologetic in the monstrous form.

  “Move,” warned Feanne, taking a step toward Raeln. “You are between me and my mate.”

  Clutching his blood-soaked arm to his side, Raeln moved out of Feanne’s way as she charged over to Yoska, who still knelt beside Estin. Raeln followed, trying to keep his balance as adrenalin faded and pain made him lightheaded. He had lost a lot of blood and knew he would need to treat his wounds, but that could wait a little longer.

  Estin still lay where he had fallen several minutes earlier, though much of the blood he had lost had spread through the snow, creating a wide swath of crimson around him.

  “Estin?” asked Feanne, her tone frantic and demanding. “My love?”

  Raeln came up beside them, trying to gauge how badly hurt Estin was. He had lost a good chunk of skin and fur on his throat, but that wound appeared to be mostly surface-damage. The wound certainly would have hurt, but likely not caused all of the blood loss he was seeing. The wound on Estin’s chest was an entirely different matter. Raeln had thought at the time it was the less severe of the two, but up close he could see Liris’s hands had opened up the flesh, and bits of bone stuck out at odd angles. Yoska had covered that wound with cloth to slow the bleeding, but he took it off as Raeln and Feanne approached.

  Sighing, Yoska shook his head. “He was not breathing when I arrived,” the man explained without looking up. “Bleeding has stopped, but not in a good way. I cannot help him.”

  Raeln turned and pointed at Turess, who had been standing where Dalania had left him, looking somewhat lost. “Turess, get over here!” Raeln shouted at him and motioned toward Estin. “We don’t need to speak the language for you to understand this.”