by Thomas Rath
Thane sank to the ground, a tear falling from his eye. He was there. He had been connected. A mere second longer and the dragon would have been his. His opportunity had passed and with it the very real possibility of hundreds, even thousands, of lost lives. A thunderous cry from overhead shook him from his misery as three large shadows passed over his position. Could it be more dragons? He jumped to his feet forcing with effort the ghosts that tried to haunt his failed attempt. The thought of more dragons loose made his stomach turn. They could not fight a foe in such numbers. Even if they could get the arrow from TaqSagn, it would mean very little against such a threat as five dragons.
Thane hurried ahead, thinking to still lend a hand to save his friends when a thunderous cry broke out above the dragon as it rose up over the trees. He paused, uncertain, but watched as Teek suddenly broke from cover to search the sky. He new that sound well, but where there had previously been only one, now there were three.
EEEEERRRRROOOCCCC! Three giant birds attacked with vicious precision as the dragon continued to labor against its colossal size and weight to free itself from the trees and escape the barrage of beaks and talons that continually pounded it overhead. The rocs worked in unison as if firmly planted in each other’s minds, knowing what each would do and working it to their advantage. The dragon tried to take them down with its decaying breath but the rocs were too quick and agile to be caught in an open position.
Darting in and out of the trees and keeping to the rear and above the dragon, they were able to harass it until it finally turned northward pumping its powerful wings as fast as it could to get away. The three large birds followed after until the dragon cleared the city before turning back to the castle and settling into the courtyard where the nine companions now gathered and hurriedly checked each other for wounds.
Teek ran up to Tchee as she set down near a statue of Dagan posing with a sword. Chirping happily, she bobbed her head back and forth, singing like a child that had just done something particularly well and was awaiting the praise it was due. Teek wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled his head into the soft feathers on her chest. “Tchee!” he cried, his voice muffled against her. Pulling back he pointed to Tryg. “Look, this is my new friend, Tryg. I am not the only one to survive.” The emotion Teek felt was obvious, but was overshadowed by Tchee’s sudden change in demeanor. Gone was the happy chirping, replaced by a low grumble in her throat. Tryg stepped back, the concern on his face obvious. Teek regarded his large friend with shock. “It’s all right, Tchee. He’s our friend. He’s one of us.”
Tchee was not so easily convinced though with her feathers laid back and the rumblings in her chest continuing. Tryg’s demeanor also changed to one that was almost raptor like as he glared at the bird, almost challenging it but, at the same moment, taking two steps backward. All eyes wandered back and forth between the two, shocked into silence by the exchange.
Finally, Thane stepped forward, sending one last sidelong glance at Tryg. Smiling, he patted Teek on the shoulder. “It would appear that your friend has kept her word,” he said, looking up at Tchee who watched him with her deep blue eyes. Thane wasted no time, turning his own gaze toward her and willing himself forward and quickly making contact. Almost immediately he found himself staring back at his body, his mind filled with the roc’s thoughts and concerns. He found himself glancing once again at Tryg with feelings of distrust and danger. He wanted to discover why her reaction was so harsh toward the boy but his own press for time weighed heavy bringing their thoughts back to the issue at hand. You are welcome, friend Tchee, he thought, though not with words but something more pure in its communication.
I come with others who have agreed to carry you to your destination. It is against our ways to offer love where it is not returned but the sacrifice is needed.
Thane tried to grasp the significance of what she had just communicated but was uncertain he fully understood it. What do you mean by offering love?
Tchee let out a mournful sound that Thane felt came from his own throat. It was something so heartrending in its resonance that all present suddenly felt enveloped in sorrow and pain. These are life given. They are beholden to one another. To carry you will destroy their bond to never again be rewelded. They will be lost to each other and to my kind.
Thane almost pulled back from the connection. Suddenly he understood what had been offered with a keenness that threatened to rend his heart at the mere thought of it. The rocs with Tchee were mates and would lose their bond forever by giving flight to him and his friends. Neither would they ever be able to return to their own kind. He didn’t understand the reasons completely, but he knew that it was true and that what was being offered him was of the greatest sacrifice. He pulled back, letting go the connection between them and once again in his own body, felt the crushing weight of what he would be taking away from these innocent creatures by his need to return with speed to his homeland. Tears fell unchecked down his face as his friends stared unknowing at him. “We cannot do this,” he whispered.
Jne stepped forward. “We must, Thane. We need the arrow your people hold.”
He shook his head. “There has to be another way.”
“Unless you have the power to carry us with speed over the mountains,” Jne pressed, “then there is no other way.”
He turned away. “No. You don’t understand. You don’t understand the cost, the sacrifice that will be made to do this.” Turning to her, he gripped her arm. “We don’t even know that he will give us the arrow.”
Jne’s face was hard and unyielding. “You dishonor me anew,” she said, her voice low and steady. “I do know what is required. I fully understand the sacrifice. I am well learned in the ways of the roc. These two are life partners. They are joined, and by offering flight to us, they break the bond forever never to reforge it in this life or the one beyond.”
Tam gasped audibly at Jne’s explanation bringing her hand to her mouth while the others looked to the two giant birds standing resolutely by. Thane’s eyes widened slightly. “You know, and you would still ask me to do this?”
Jne’s eyes hardened briefly but then suddenly softened, her shoulders drooping slightly. Gone was the Tjal warrior he was so accustomed to when he needed to borrow strength. Gone was the rough exterior that deflected emotion. Gone was the proud woman that had only moments before stood with her face gladly looking to death with a smile of welcome. Left was the beautiful woman that had stayed by him. Left was a person who cared deeply for the lives of others ignoring what cost it might require at her own hands. Left was an open heart that warmed his own with the honesty that made Jne what she was to the core of her being.
“I know what it is to love. I know the sorrow and pain of a desired heart that may never receive in return what it offers constantly.” She looked deep into Thane’s eyes and he couldn’t help the feeling that she was a part of him. “I know the anguish that comes with letting go the only one that makes you feel complete inside.”
Thane suddenly felt that he and Jne were the only ones left in the courtyard. Her words held him for a long moment, warming him while at the same time filling him with grief matching that which he’d felt while connected with Tchee. It was at that moment that he realized that she had laid herself bare before him. Stripped away were all the walls of protection most people carried to keep themselves from being hurt and now Jne was offering it all to him, allowing him to see her as she truly was, with all the insecurities and uncertainty and she was giving it to him to do as he pleased. It was like a volcano of ice erupting out of her and filling him with its promises of warmth while chilling him to the core.
And then he understood. He’d grown up knowing disappointment and hurt coming from those who should have loved him or been his friend but now he finally comprehended what it was to give. What it meant to strip oneself of all false pretense and offer up what was left to another without thought or care as to how it would be accepted or handled. It was love in its purest form and
nothing could destroy it. The sacrifice in its offering was what made it infinite. To hold it back in even the slightest degree was what weakened it and made it of less worth; what starved it and withered it to the roots. And to deny the offering, to cheapen the sacrifice by turning away when it was offered so freely, was to blaspheme it and desecrate its purity.
He held Jne’s gaze for a moment longer before turning to stare at the two large birds standing silently and proud behind him and for the first time he saw beauty. For the first time he truly understood honor.
“We go.”
Chapter Seven
Jne pressed her face against Thane’s back; her arms wrapped like securely tied rope around his stomach becoming a noose that threatened to choke off his breathing. She dared not look down or even open her eyes for fear that the ground might see her and snatch her back like a jealous lover. Though at such altitudes the wind was certainly cold, her constant shiver was not a result of the air temperature but instead revealed her perceived shame at the terror that gripped her while soaring at such heights. Never would Thane have thought there existed such a thing that would cause the Tjal woman to manifest the slightest inkling of fear but, apparently, flying was it. His first reaction was amusement with a slight desire to rib her for what he identified as an exhilarating experience. But the image of her in Calandra standing before him completely open and exposed quickly reminded him of the total trust she had exhibited and he realized that he would never tease her when it came to her sense of honor.
Thane, on the other hand, felt more alive and free than he ever had. His ArVen Tane was filling him with utter exhilaration to the point that he felt he never wanted to touch the ground again. His hands lay slack against the roc’s body that had freed them from the confines of the earth and brought him to a point of such total communion with the ArVen that it bordered on worship. Never before had he given himself over so completely to one Tane allowing it to fill his body and senses so fully. He felt a sudden connection to it that all at once exhilarated him yet filled him with fear that he would be consumed by it to the point of losing his identity, his body becoming an integral part of the air surrounding them. It was pure and raw power wholly at his bidding to command as he wished to the degree that he knew it had no capacity to deny even his slightest whim. He was the master of the air.
Tam was also experiencing a sacred moment as she too communed with the ArVen, though not in the slightest bit equal to what Thane enjoyed. She could feel the faintest pull as if invited to be free of the roc and merely fly on her own. The wind caressed her senses and seemed to be calling for her to join it offering up promises of complete freedom and an uninhibited life.
Dor had agreed to let her sit in front, knowing full well before they even elevated the slightest distance from the ground that this was not going to be an experience he would cherish. He too held tightly to Tam though, unlike Jne, he was still able to appreciate the beautiful vistas offered to one soaring so high above the ground.
Once Thane had given the word of acceptance to the roc’s offered sacrifice, they wasted no time in mounting the giant birds. It was a sad and sacred moment as the life-given rocs relinquished their hold to one another, giving all in sacrifice to carry them. At the last moment they turned their sharp eyes onto each other and let out a mournful cry that reduced all present to bitter tears.
Jack agreed that he and those remaining would gather as many as would come and start heading west toward their ultimate goal of Bedler’s Keep. Thane, and those with him, would catch up as soon as their mission was complete whether that meant success at retrieving the arrow or not.
He tried not to think too much about what it would be like to return to his people after having been beaten mercilessly and left to die at the hands of trolls. He wondered about his father. Would he be happy his son was still alive or would he turn his back in disgust. He had not thought much about his home since being left on the Shadow Mountains, blocking out, he supposed, the painful life that had been his up until that time. It was ironic to the extreme that he finally found acceptance and love from one whose race had almost annihilated his own many centuries past. Jack had been more a father to him in the relatively short amount of time he’d known him than his own father had been his whole life. Though he had come to embrace who he was, no longer ashamed of the powers he possessed, the darkness of his past still clouded over him stealing the exhilaration he’d been feeling while communing with the ArVen. Doubts began slicing through his confidence like water freezing in the cracks of boulders that eventually expand to the point of breaking them into pieces. Still, he would give almost anything to have even the smallest relationship with his father.
He thought of the jealousy he’d felt toward Dor and the love and respect he shared with his own father and suddenly Thane worried for his friends. His return could not be any worse than when he’d been exiled, short of losing his life, which he now felt confident would not happen. Dor and Tam, on the other hand, had left behind loving and secure homes to come after him and now they were returning to what would most likely be joyous reunions to real homes full of happiness and family that wanted them. He suddenly felt conflicted. In the face of all they confronted west of the Shadow Mountains, would they not rather stay with their families? Tam had chosen Dor and now, in the presence of the kinpa, they could be joined and be a family of their own. Though he would miss them terribly, they had lives waiting for them in the Ardath. They would be welcomed home and wanted. They had a responsibility to the Chufa race. Against the great host of evil that threatened, two Chufa would most likely not change the tide of the war. It was the arrow that would make a difference, not Dor or Tam. And even then, the arrow would not provide the power to eliminate the massive army now bowing to Zadok’s bidding. If they failed and Zadok’s minions won the conflict, it would not matter where their lives were ended. At least, should they stay in the Ardath, they would know happiness for a time. He knew he would not be able to convince them otherwise, but he hoped that once they were back home, with their families around them, that they would finally decide to stay. He, on the other hand, knew already in his heart that his return would be ill accepted. Only his mother would show any joy at seeing him, and he hated knowing that it would probably cause her more pain to see him again than if he’d just never returned. He wanted her to know he was safe though, to know that he loved her and that he was fighting to protect her. And no matter if they never saw each other again, she could be proud, and know in her heart, that her son had given all so that those who hated him most might be safe. He had chosen the correct course no matter what others thought.
Even with the added speed and ease that flying offered, they still figured it would take the better part of three days to finally reach their destination. Then at least one day, if not more, to try and convince DaxSagn to give up his most prized possession before turning back toward Calandra. By that time, Zadok’s army would most likely be in the process of stripping the city of its remaining life and wealth. He only hoped the trip would be worth it. A part of him felt guilty for leaving Calandra at such a crucial time but as Jne had pointed out earlier, there were no easy choices in war, only those that were of most benefit to the greatest numbers. War was not for the weak or faint of heart.
As the sun reached its zenith, the birds slowed and then circled lazily before descending to the ground. Thane knew they must be tired and need something to eat, as did he and his companions. As the ground reached up for them, he tensed, bracing himself for a rough landing but was surprised to find the giant bird set down gently onto the soil. It took a moment to peel Jne’s arms away from his waist and convince her that they were indeed on the ground and that she could open her eyes. When she finally did, she almost tripped in her efforts to set her feet firmly on solid ground. She glared at the three Chufa as if daring any of them to say something about her fear of flying but at once relaxed when she realized no one was even looking at her, each happy to be free of their mounts so t
hey could stretch their legs and search their packs for something to eat.
Before leaving Calandra, they thought it best to return to camp and retrieve their packs and weapons. The two rocs descending on the crowded refugee camp caused no small stir as many thought the dragons had returned. The relief they felt was short lived though as the call went out for everyone to pack up again and start for the western gates where they would meet up with Jack and the others. Thane quickly spoke with Bren and Kat apprising them of the situation and urging them to retrieve all healers from the city. A number of the refugees had refused to leave, placing their trust, as it were, on Calandra to protect them. No amount of pleading or arguing would dissuade them so they were finally left to their fate as they willed it.
Tam shouted a protest as the rocs suddenly leapt into the air and took flight, leaving the four of them behind. “They’re leaving us!” she cried, reaching a hand skyward as if to pull them back to earth.
“Do not worry,” Thane soothed, as they all watched the magnificent birds turning south before racing away. “They go to feed and replenish their strength. They will return soon enough.”
“They can take all the time they like,” Dor complained while trying to rub feeling back into his legs. Jne just nodded while Thane and Tam shared a smile.
Everyone busied themselves with pulling from their packs what they wanted for the midday meal and then sat in the late spring grass that was plentiful in the area and spread across the many small knolls and mounds that rippled the landscape. Little patches of wild flowers lent color to the area and the slightest buzzing sound was heard as honey bees hungrily supped on the flower’s nectar. An occasional tree or shrub sprung up haphazardly, breaking up the terrain with chaotic splendor and lending the slightest patches of shade against the day that was warming up quite nicely, giving a sense of peace and security that contrasted greatly with the terrible circumstances that threatened.
