Avalyne Series 02: The Easterling

by Linda Thackeray

  It was not the Mage's desire to create a soldier but to fashion a form of life possessing the singular beauty of the elves and the fiery passion of men. He wanted to create a new race that was capable of beauty and endurance and in his determination, never considered once how that work could be twisted into something so terrible that neither race would be able to withstand its assault. After the Disciples overseeing his work departed Tor Iolan at Balfure's call, the Mage found himself contemplating what came next.

  The Mage stood within the cell of his favourite, favourite because she had been so strong while at the same time because of all the others, she was the one who wept more bitterly at her incarceration. He knew only her name and the possibility of a husband and child because during her torture, she would utter unfamiliar names that were not of her sisters. Within the cocoon of flesh she remained encased, only a faint outline of her body could be seen through the viscous shell.

  What was once beauty personified was now a horrific parody of life.

  There was only one chance to end this before the nightmare became any worse than it already was and he took it. There was only so much time before she and the others like her emerged from the pods in which they were transforming. The Berserkers who remained here in place of the Disciples were of little threat to him. He could take his creations and disappear.

  Avalyne was on the brink of war. It was entirely possible that Balfure would be too busy defending his territory to bother with one mage and the twisted fruit of his misguided dreams. The Mage would take them far away from Tor Iolan and hide in the belly of the earth, perhaps in Gahara Plateau and be forgotten. Perhaps with enough time, he could undo what he had done to them. He could save them.

  He did not know if this hope was any more misguided than the one that had led him to this place but he knew he had to try. He had to do it before they emerged from their cocoons.

  Before they woke up.

  ******

  Scrape.

  Scrape.

  Scrape.

  The sound filled the world almost as completely as the overwhelming darkness. The darkness was the world, its sides pressed against her, wet sliminess against her skin. She pushed against it but it would not yield. It was like being trapped in amber hardened around her. She could move inside its hollow innards but she could not escape it. Her nails scratched at the membrane but it would not tear, it simply stretched taunting her with the possibility of rupture. Fluid filled her ears, oozing into her terrified mind. She took a breath and it only followed the path into her lungs, making her cough. She opened her mouth and it flowed down her throat, blocking her scream.

  The need to escape was overwhelming but she could not even see where she was because the darkness was everywhere. There was a faint memory that it was not always like this, that there was a time when there was light and sounds that were not this slow, turgid flow of liquid that filled her eardrums. There were memories buried in a place so deep that it was no longer possible for her to remember anything, except the disconcerting sensation when she tried to bring them into focus.

  Sometimes, she could feel the presence of someone beyond her prison. This ‘Other’ as she called it, was able to reach through the wall and touch her mind, the connection weak but there nonetheless. She could sense the Other’s confusion but could not explain because connection between them always withered into pain.

  Someday she would get out and find the Other. All she had to do was keep scratching at the walls, searching for the tear that would help her escape.

  Scrape.

  Scrape.

  Scrape.

  ******

  Melia woke up gasping.

  Her first impulse had been to scream but somehow she maintained enough restraint in the dreamscape to avoid it. There was so much and it almost swallowed her whole. Melia sat up struggling for breath as she tried to cope with the images swirling about her head like she was being sucked into an emptying drain.

  For the first time, what she saw in her dreams did not diminish with wakefulness. Vivid images of things she could not possibly know but was certain to be the truth entered her mind through the lingering magic in the walls of that cell. Melia’s intent was to open a door inside her mind that would give her the answers she sought but not even she had expected the sheer force and potency of the infusion. At best, she had hoped for a clue as to where her search should take her next but she now had more than that.

  She had a destination.

  It only after the images had assumed their final resting place in her mind that Melia realised where she was.

  The sun shone above her head through the canopy of leaves and she realised she was surrounded by forest. She was lying on her bedroll and a blanket was draped about her body. The tasty aroma of something cooking made her glance at the fire in the centre of the campsite. Melia saw her horse and another waiting patiently under the shade of a nearby tree, nickering at each other in their secret language. She recognized the animal beside her own and supposed she should not to be surprised by the gelding’s presence. Sweeping her gaze across immediate area, Melia saw no sign of its rider.

  After a moment of contemplation of what would soon be upon her, Melia attempted to stand and found her legs rather shaky. She wondered just how long she was unconscious. Her mind still felt drowsy from her slumber and it was a few seconds before she was able to brave a step forward. When she did however, her legs ached from the sudden demand for activity. Walking gingerly to the horse, they raised their heads in interest at her approach.

  Melia stroked the brow of her horse gently before running her hand over the flank of the other.

  ‘Where is your master?’ she asked gently as she petted the horse’s flank.

  The horse had no ability to answer other than to snap its head back in reaction to something behind her. Melia turned around and saw Aeron staring at her from across the fire. He was carrying his bow, indicating he had just made a quick scout of the area to ensure they were safe. His first reaction upon seeing her was one of relief but then his blue eyes bore into her mercilessly without a word spoken. Under the scrutiny of that gaze, Melia had no defence.

  ‘You came after me?’ She asked after a long pause.

  ‘You left.’ Aeron returned shortly. ‘I had little choice but to follow.’

  ‘You found me?’ She ventured a guess and then imagined the fear he must have felt finding her in that cell. She felt an immediate surge of guilt at making him endure such worry.

  ‘Yes,’ he answered nodded slowly. ‘You were unconscious for almost a day. I thought your mind may have been lost forever.’

  ‘I am sorry you have to worry,’ Melia apologized and somehow guessed that it would not nearly be enough to soothe his anger. Despite the concern for her she could see in his eyes, Melia could also see his rage. Rage he was keeping under tight restraint at present. ‘It was the only way I could find him.’

  ‘Did you?’ He asked tautly.

  ‘I did,’ she nodded, feeling the fear that of a child about to receive punishment for particularly bad behaviour. She could not meet his gaze as she continued, ‘I think the Mage went to the Gahara Plateau to hide. I am not certain of everything I saw but he did something to his prisoners, something that he did not intend and hopes to help there.’

  ‘I see,’ Aeron answered curtly. ‘Then we will go there.’

  Melia raised her eyes to his. ‘We?’

  ‘We,’ he repeated, his jaw flinching in controlled rage. The tension between them was so thick it could have been run through with a sword. ‘We will go there together and deal with what menace he has wrought upon your mother's people.’

  ‘I cannot ask you to do that…’ she started to say and realised her mistake but it was too late. The words had already escaped her.

  ‘It seems that there is very little that you can ask me.’ Aeron retorted as the last vestiges of his restraint finally snapped free. ‘You have been making all the decisions that affect us both since w
e met. I suppose I should hardly be surprised that you would simply ride off without the decency of a farewell or for that matter an explanation. I suppose the irony of it should not be lost upon me. After all, how many times have I left some lady’s bedchamber the next morning without a proper goodbye? Still you could have at least left the customary benefice on your departure. What is the going rate for a Prince these days?’

  ‘I thought I did what was best!’ She exclaimed because that was harsh even from him. Of course he had a right to be furious. She had behaved badly. The more resolute she was to her decision to keep away from him, the more she had broken the rules of conduct between them. Every decision her mind had made regarding him was broken by her heart.

  ‘What was best?’ He glared at her. ‘Do you know how sick to death I am of hearing what is best for us?’ He shouted and she jumped at the sharpness of his voice. It was quite something to hear the controlled elf suddenly lose his temper. Aeron crossed the distance between them and was standing by her in seconds.

  ‘I woke up that morning filled with hope,’ he replied softly. ‘I thought that perhaps we may find happiness together. You speak as if I have a choice in my decision to love you. I have no more ability to harden my heart against my love than you do! You wish to spare me but what you do not understand is that it is too late, I love you! I will love you until the end of time, whether or not you stay with me or leave now forever. I have done all that I can to convince you. If it were possible for me to become mortal such as Arianne has chosen, I would do so without thinking twice but that way is not open to me. So I seek desperately to reconcile our lives so we can share what time we have together while we still can.’

  Melia did not know what to say. All she knew was that since she had left Halion's court, her heart had been a heavy stone inside her breast and each time she allowed her mind to drift, invariably it would drift to the Prince of Eden Halas. He was a part of her now, no matter how much she sought to deny it. Yet fear still lingered in her heart for she knew what was at the heart of her refusal. She had not wanted to say it because she had clung to it for so long but now was the time the words they could not speak had to be uttered if anything good was to come out of this.

  ‘I am scared,’ she replied simply and it was from the heart.

  His gaze softened, understanding that at last the watch guard had stepped aside, it was the woman speaking now. ‘Of what are you frightened, that I will hurt you?’

  ‘That you become like my father.’

  ‘Your father?’ He stared at her in confusion. ‘I do not understand.’

  Melia exhaled deeply because it was so hard to speak of this. ‘My father met my mother on the banks of the Yantra River where I was born. When I was but an infant, he chose to return home and wished her to go with him. The morning we were to leave, she was nowhere to be found. He waited for her to come back but she never did and finally he left without her. It broke his heart to be abandoned by her. He never recovered from it. I swore that I would never be the cause of such pain to anyone. I will leave you Prince, that is a certainty and I do not want you to spend the rest of eternity suffering that loss, being trapped and unable to move on.’

  Aeron said a came to her, his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her eyes and spoke in earnest, ‘You will cause me pain Melia but I will have a lifetime of happiness to take comfort in. Furthermore, we will have children, children that will see me through the days ahead. That makes it worth it.’

  ‘I do not know what to do, I still fear for you and I wonder if I am being selfish,’ she started to weep.

  The tears he saw running down her cheeks were enough to break the back of his anger completely, until all he wished to do was bundle her in his arms and promise her that he would never regret being with her. Not while there was breath in his body.

  ‘I only know that I fear someday this woman you love will disappear and perhaps you might become angry at yourself at binding yourself to me.’ She confessed.

  Aeron took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly before saying, ‘I promise you on all that I hold dear, that I will never regret loving you Melia. If this is all we have, I will gratefully accept it as long as we spend it together.’

  Melia could not see so far ahead but for the moment, she chose to believe him. Perhaps what love they held for one another would be enough to sustain them through the years and perhaps it would not. Melia needed time to think about what he said. She had a lifetime of prejudice to overcome for him and to make a spur of the moment decision, despite how earnestly he spoke was difficult.

  ‘Then give me time Aeron,’ answered after a moment. ‘I cannot think of my future until this quest is done. For now, please know that I love you but I am still afraid but I cannot deny how I feel or ignore it. Let us leave things as they are between us now and I swear to you when this is all done, I will know my mind. You said you would aid me in finding my answers, do you still hold to that?’

  ‘You know I do,’ he answered. His arms were still about her as he absorbed what she had to say. He did not agree with her words but he understood her need for time. As much as he wanted her in his life, he also had patience enough to know that her admitting the truth to him went a long way to aiding their cause. He was not so ignorant that he could not see the tremendous step this was for her and he was willing to accommodate her some of the way.

  ‘Help me find the truth, my love,’ she whispered as her lips sought his and they indulged in a searing kiss of deep, smouldering passion. ‘Help me understand who I am so I can choose my fate with you.’

  Chapter Thirteen:

  The Wilds

  At dawn's break, they set out again, this time leaving Eden Halas and bound for the Gahara Plateau. Melia believed that if the Mage was there then so was her mother.

  Aeron was grateful that she slowly accepting the idea of being a part of his life and knew with more confidence than before that their future did lie together despite her fears of it being folly. Melia herself seemed more comfortable at having him at her side and Aeron could not deny that the night before when spent under the stars, adjusting to this new part of their relationship, exploring each other without the entire court of Eden Halas watching closely, was very liberating. When they were alone, they were simply Aeron and Melia, two lovers caught in the same net, not the elf and mortal.

  Aeron wished it was like this always.

  To reach the Gahara Plateau where the Mage had gone, they would first have to cross the Wilds of Avalyne. Much of the Wilds were the eroded escarpment of the Gahara called the Nazkaad Gorge. It was a maze of narrow canyons and rocky hills covered in deciduous trees that came to life only during the spring season. The vegetation across the escarpment was sparse, confined to waist high shrubs that owed their existence to the water seeping into the ground from Yasnil River that flowed because of the thawing ice from the plateau.

  Aeron travelled this far east only once in his lifetime and it was to track a goblin party that had entered the border of Eden Halas and was driven out by the Forest Guard. Aside from the canyons preceding the plateau, it was also home to the Syphii Chasm where the spiders that decimated Caras Anara had originated. It took only a few days of travel to see the gradual transformation of the lush green hills of Carleon into the sparse, harsh landscape of the Wilds.

  The goblins originated from the caverns beneath the Gahara Plateau but they were not the only predators to occupy the mesa. It was also home to a nest of animals known as the krisadors. They were four footed beasts that were as large as a horse with tusk like teeth and possessed the surefooted agility of a mountain goat. On first sighting, one would think they were lizards. However, they were warm blooded creatures who nursed their young with milk and stalked the hills for the food of their choice, which was more often than not goblin.

  As they journeyed eastward, it was still the goblins that concerned Aeron the most. Since the conclusion of the Shadow War, goblins had been driven from the lands along the
eastern borders by elves, humans and dwarves. However, instead of returning to the caverns of Gahara, they instead took refuge in Nazkaad Gorge. The reasons for this were unclear though it was believed that the numbers of krisadors had grown so large that the goblins were falling prey to them easily.

  While it was an easy business to cross Eden Halas in good time, once they entered the Wilds and began moving through Nazkaad Gorge, the Prince's wariness grew. Aeron saw no way forward that would not result in an encounter with goblins. His elven senses began to feel the danger the instant they entered the gorge with the many cracks and fissures in its canyon walls. However, he also knew that not all of the danger he felt was coming from the goblins or the krisadors. There was something else lurking at the edge of his consciousness.

  Something that was awaiting them at the Gahara.

  ******

  ‘What is it?’ Melia asked as they travelled through the gorge, noticing the uneasiness in the Prince the further into it they went. By now, she had some insight into his moods and the dark expression that fallen over his handsome face was telling.

  ‘Nothing,’ he answered promptly, having no wish to alarm her unnecessarily while he surveyed the area trying to determine where they could camp safely for the night. The sun was already making its way towards the evening and the darkness would follow soon after.

  ‘You do not have a face that says nothing,’ she retorted. ‘You have a face that tells me that something is worrying you but you do not wish to tell me because you are trying to spare me undue concern.’

  ‘I have a face that says all that?’ He stared at her.

  ‘Oh yes,’ she smirked and added, ‘You cannot hide anything from me.’

  ‘I will remember that if we are ever married,’ Aeron retorted uncertain whether he liked being read so well.