In Wilder Lands

by Jim Galford

  Estin thought back, remembering the two giant golems, smashing at the countryside with legions of undead for miles around them.

  “What can a war golem do to save us, if the ones out on the plains haven’t won it yet?”

  “That’s the new project,” the human explained, grinning. “We got the dwarves and elves talking and we think there’s a way we can funnel raw eldritch energy into one of the golems, filling it up until it detonates. That much energy should punch a hole in the world large enough to swallow any number of undead.”

  “An arcane explosion?” asked Asrahn, skeptically. “Do you think that might be overkill?”

  That question seemed to anger the human, who puffed up, saying, “Not at all! If you haven’t been inside a city where the entire population has turned, you really have no place guessing at how bad it has gotten out there.”

  “Silence,” cut in Lihuan, glaring at both of them. “You say this is already being enacted?”

  “In two or three months. That’s how long it will take to create the proper magical formulation and get the majority of the undead army in one place. We’ll need to get our forces on the ground down there to deliver the charge into the golem. I’m thinking about fifty volunteers, so we can get in and out without the undead army paying much attention to us. I’ve sent word to Lantonne to ensure they don’t prevent us from getting to the golem.”

  Lihuan nodded gravely.

  “Will your troops be remaining here, or do you expect me to move the children and others elsewhere?”

  “There is nowhere safe,” the man admitted. “Before we came here, we were halfway to the southern border of Lantonne. The same problems were pouring over from the south. I know they’re happening to the east. I intend to move much of the force elsewhere in the mountains to keep hidden, but a portion would need to stay here.”

  The Turessian raised his hand meekly, adding, “I hate to say it, but we’re struggling with much the same in our homelands to the far north. I believe it was under control when I left, though. Maybe.”

  “Then I will keep our families here,” Lihuan concluded. “If you dispatch anything from here, you will speak with me first and then a path will be determined to get them out of the mountains without leaving a large trail back here. Understood?”

  The two soldiers bowed before Lihuan, apparently accepting his decision, then left the tent.

  “Pass this along to Feanne, Estin,” Lihuan told him as the others began gathering the newcomers outside. “She needs to know before Insrin makes any plans for where to travel. I do not want him taking my grandkits into harm’s way.”

  Estin gave a short bow of his head, then departed, heading back to his tent to get dressed properly. He was still getting dressed when he heard the tent open behind him.

  “If that’s Alafa, I have not changed my mind,” he said, not looking up. The girl had tried once more recently to sneak into his tent after a bad breakup with a suitor.

  When he heard nothing, he half-turned, then froze, seeing Feanne standing in the doorway of the tent. She stood there, hugging her bearskin cloak with tears streaming down her face, shaking both with restrained sobs and what looked like fear. She was still dressed in a night garment and her fur was disheveled as though she had run straight here from her bed. Belying that appearance, her feet were covered with dirt and there were pine needles stuck in places to her fur.

  “Feanne,” Estin asked, trying to get his feet under him. “Feanne, what’s wrong?”

  “They’re gone,” she said softly, burying her face in the fur cloak, sobbing softly.

  Estin walked towards her, only to have Feanne collapse to the floor in front of him.

  “Who’s gone, Feanne?”

  “The children. Insrin took them during the night.”

  His head falling in shared pain, he felt the weight of her loss on his own shoulders as he sat down in front of Feanne, trying to determine what he could do.

  “I can send trackers…”

  “Insrin is a master tracker, Estin. I doubt anyone here could find him if he was trying not to be found. I can’t even find him and I would know his scent anywhere.

  “Last night he said he was going for a walk to decide if he could return to my bed after finding out what I was. I had left the kits with Sohan, so that we could be alone and work through it…or fight…or whatever Insrin needed to forgive me.

  “When he went out, he went right to Sohan and took them, then left town immediately. It’s been hours since he left. I…can’t even find their scent in the woods. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried to track them and it’s like they just vanished.”

  “I will send the trackers, anyway,” Estin told her, touching her foot lightly where it poked out from the bear fur. It was as tender as he dared be with her, even though he knew she likely needed a friendly hug right about then. “Everyone we can muster. If there is a force in this world that can bring them back, I will find it. You have my promise on my life. You will have your children back as soon as I am able.”

  Feanne touched his muzzle in thanks, then buried her face in the furs again.

  “I will be right back, Feanne. Please wait for me.”

  She just nodded into the furs.

  Hurrying from the tent, Estin checked to see if Lihuan or Asrahn were in sight, but they had already left. Cursing, he hopped the ropes of his neighbor’s tent and ran up to Sohan’s low-hung tent.

  “Sohan,” he called, running inside. “Where are you?”

  The ferret peeked out from a dark corner, where he was curled into a trembling ball.

  “Are you alright?”

  Sohan shook his head violently.

  Coming into the tent on his knees for lack of room, Estin scurried back to his friend, finding that Sohan’s face was bloodied and his arm hung weakly. As he approached, Sohan inched away, trying to disappear into the corner, as if Estin was about to strike him.

  “He hit me, Estin,” crooned Sohan sadly, “I tried to keep the kits like Feanne asked. I really tried! He just kept saying that his children would not be raised by monsters. I’m not a monster…”

  “I know,” Estin said, taking Sohan’s face in his hands. He let his magic take over for a moment, barely noticing the voices anymore. When he opened his eyes, Sohan looked physically better, but still trembled and appeared ready to run and hide. “This is not your fault.”

  “Find them, Estin. I don’t want Feanne to hate me. I really did try!”

  “Did you see which way he took them?”

  Sohan thought, then shook his head.

  “No. My arm hurt so badly…”

  Estin nodded and turned to go. As he began to leave the tent, he stayed low to the ground a moment longer, sniffing the dirt, trying to pick up any hint of Insrin or the kits, but he could only smell Sohan, Feanne, and himself.

  “Estin…tell Feanne that she’s not a horrible mother.”

  “What?”

  Sohan inched towards him.

  “Insrin said he was doing what was best for his family by taking them from her. He said that he was protecting them from their bad parent and the monster.”

  Estin snarled angrily and took off again, this time going to Ulra and Doln’s tent. As he had hoped, Finth sat out front, smoking some noxious plant he had managed to stuff into a pipe.

  “Let me guess,” the dwarf said, blowing a smoke ring. “You need someone with no bloody morals to do something that Lihuan would cut me from balls to nose for even thinking about? Seems like the only reason you come running up like that.”

  “Can you track Insrin?” he asked quickly. “If not, who here can?”

  “No one, lad,” Finth said grimly. “I learned that the last time we followed him. I could track one of his guards and sometimes another, but he just vanishes. He’s the best I’ve seen. If he doesn’t want to be found, he’s gone if he’s had more than an hour’s head start.”

  Estin stood there, panting and wondering what to do next. He had a
lready exhausted his options and reluctantly made his way back to his tent.

  As he entered, Feanne’s eyes popped up from the furs, her ears alert, then her posture sank as she saw him coming in alone.

  “You can’t track them, can you?” she asked, her voice muffled by the cloak.

  “No,” Estin admitted, sitting down in front of her. “I made a promise and I intend…”

  “A promise that you could not keep!” roared Feanne, leaping forward and slapping him. “I trusted you, Estin! I came here to protect my kits, because I thought the people here might actually try to shield them from the dangers of the world. This is where it leaves me? Alone?

  “If you cannot help me, I’ll go back to the Miharon and see what he will do. At least I already know that he will betray me for his own ends.”

  She got to her feet and stormed out of the tent and was gone, heading northward.

  Estin sat in the tent alone for a long time, wondering what he had missed, what he could do to help. He felt like he had failed the kits and Feanne, though he could not have known. Finally, he got up and left, going back to Lihuan’s tent.

  Though Ulra told him not to enter as the pack-leader had already bedded down for the night, Estin pushed past her and walked into the dark tent, finding Lihuan and Asrahn just stirring under several pelt blankets.

  “You’re becoming as pushy as my daughter,” Lihuan groaned, sitting up slowly. “To what do I owe this obnoxious intrusion?”

  “I was taught to be a warrior and a healer,” he began softly, trying not to think through what he was about to say. “I doubt there are many among the armies that can claim the same. I want you to send me with the soldiers to detonate the war golem. I cannot help here, without losing my focus. Everything I had here is gone. I need to find myself, no matter the risk.”

  Lihuan sat up and shook his head, even as Asrahn eyed Estin warily.

  “That is exactly why you should not go. The generals believe that the chance of the soldiers surviving all the way to the golem is slim. We cannot afford to lose you, Estin. This is a suicide mission you speak of.”

  “They need to reach that construct alive if we are to have any chance of succeeding in this war. I’m going, but I want your blessing, pack-leader.”

  Lihuan looked to Asrahn, who just shrugged.

  “Very well, Estin,” Lihuan finally conceded, giving Asrahn a gentle hug. “You will go and represent our people in the war. I will send a small contingent with you. Make good with the rest of the pack over the next few months, for when you leave, you might never return.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Martyrdom”

  Knowing that you will likely die in a couple months is somewhat liberating. I found most of my concerns and burdens lifted more so than I could have imagined. My dreams were mostly of my own death, but they were a good vision of the future.

  In them, I walked through our army, helping guide them against the last bastion of the undead forces. We were holding strong against them, driving them back into the valley where they would meet their end. I watched so many die, but it was all in the name of saving our species and many of the others, so I felt no pain at their loss, so long as I did all I could to help.

  The ending of every dream was the same. I was standing at the heart of the undead legion, the growling, wheezing, gurgling corpses surrounding me for miles in every direction. I could see the hills surrounding the area and I knew that we were in the valley where the explosion was to be set off.

  I falter there in the dream. I held the magical device myself and could find no way out. My breed’s instincts cried out to flee or to curl up and let the undead destroy me, but all of my training told me to stand strong. Still, my life was incomplete and I could not utter the words to trigger the weapon, even though it would save thousands of lives.

  It would be then that I look up at the hilltops. Atop one, I saw my parents and my sister, Yalla, standing proudly with the sun setting behind them. They were there to see me succeed where others had failed.

  Turning, I would see another hilltop, where Feanne, Insrin, and the twins stood with the sun rising beyond the peak. It was this horizon I faced as I lifted the weapon, knowing that they would be safe once and for all if I could do what I had pledged. Their lives could go on, if I found the strength to set aside my own selfish need to find peace in the world.

  The claws of the undead tore at me as I began the words…then I would wake.

  Estin woke in his tent and lay there for a time, pondering whether he was truly ready. From what he had been told, after these three months, the humans finally had their great weapon ready. It was their only chance to strike back at the undead. He had hoped and dreaded that announcement, doing his best to pass each day with a smile on his face in dealing with his people. Now, that was at an end.

  For the whole time they had waited, rumors and messages had arrived detailing the war. Things had only gotten worse as summer wore on, with the undead army decimating much of the lands between Altis and Lantonne, having pushed the war almost to the gates of the other city.

  Estin sat up and stared at the clothing that Feanne had left him the night before, as she was hurrying off towards her routine searchings of the mountains for her children’s trail. The garments had been crafted by her hands to be what she felt were the finest that a warrior-healer could garb themselves in. He could hardly guess when she had found time to make it, let alone the presence of mind to design the garment. When he had asked her, she had mumbled something, rubbed at her eyes, then hurried off…more of a conversation than they had managed in over a month.

  Unlike his usual light-weight clothing, what Feanne had left him was undoubtedly armor in the purest sense of the word. Deep chocolate brown leather was ornamented with steel bits that helped reinforce the softer material. The whole thing had been made in layers of plating that had then been lacquered and hardened to the point that Estin guessed it could turn a weapon with ease. She had even thought to include heavy protection for his legs and a thinner lightweight scalloped covering for his tail. He would be the finest armored person on the battlefield and recognizable to anyone looking for him.

  Estin ran his fingers over the clothing and saw in it Feanne’s worry that dominated her life now. Since the loss of her family, she rarely spoke to anyone, least of all him, yet here her concern was evident. In every layer of protection she had built into the armor, he could see her worrying about a specific attack that could have killed him. Shy of standing in front of him to guard him, this was the most Feanne could possibly due to protect him.

  He took his time fitting the armor over his clothing, finally feeling like he might be able to move freely in it. He was truly amazed at the work she had done, especially without ever sizing him for the armor. It would be hot to wear during the summer months, but he would much rather be panting than dead.

  Striding confidently from the tent with his layered helm under his arm, Estin nodded greetings to an elf that passed by on his way to the morning meals that now included many non-wildlings who were more comfortable around the animal people than some of their own. The whole camp had become a strange conglomeration of acceptance that Estin would never have imagined and doubted Insrin would have tolerated, had he stayed.

  The conflicts between the groups had proven relatively minor, with Lihuan managing to smooth over most of the hard feelings that had occurred. Estin still had no idea how the pack-leader managed to convince almost anyone of anything if given a few minutes to talk, but his gift of speech seemed almost impossible for anyone to refuse. Those few that were not swayed by his words were still intimidated by the fox, even at his age…or were cowed by his mate and protectors.

  Estin walked through the camp, politely speaking with all who approached him, most coming to offer their concern for his well-being, or to try one last time to talk him out of going with the army. He talked with them all, but reassured them all that he had made his decision and would be leaving that afterno
on as planned.

  At last he got past the majority of the residents and headed into the woods, traveling north a short distance towards the grove. Despite all the additions to the camp in recent months, the newcomers were forbidden to use this part of the woods, leaving it in its pristine condition. There had been brief debate about leaving so much nearby space unused, but Lihuan had been firm about it and any who disagreed had backed down.

  With Feanne’s return, the trees had flourished once more, their boughs recreating the heavily-covered grove where she had communed with the fae. He had to push his way through the dense trees to enter the clearing where he hoped to find her.

  Feanne knelt there, her hands dug into the loose soil, speaking to the ground itself. As he approached, she pounded at the dirt with one fist, crying as she lay her face on the ground.

  “No answer,” she said, sitting up and vaguely looking at him, though she seemed to stare right through him as she always did during his visits. “It still will not answer me.”

  “Feanne, please come to see me off this afternoon. You have been trying to call to the Miharon for months. It’s time to come back to us.”

  “No, no, no!” she cried, sounding as though her mind was gone, going back to scratching at the dry ground. “He will answer me! I have to keep trying.”

  Estin knelt in front of her, grabbing her wrists as she tried to push him away. She whimpered and mumbled the names of her kits over and over.

  “Feanne,” he said softly, “they are gone.”

  Weeping openly, Feanne collapsed against him, beating against his armor with her hands.

  “Find them, Estin,” Feanne begged, as she had a hundred times before. This conversation was not a new one, but each time Feanne asked, it sounded as though it were new to her. “Look at what he’s turned me into. Please find them.”