The Warrior (The Hidden Realm)

by A. Giannetti

  Elerian was unimpressed. A stone, after all, was only a stone, but the large trees ahead of him, ancient, enormous, and no doubt full of the wisdom of the ages, caught his appreciative eye. Walking on a narrow, well-worn path that wound between the trees along the left bank of the stream, Elerian and Ascilius followed their guide up the hill. Halfway to the summit, the trees abruptly ended, and a meadow covered with ankle high grass began. Gray outcrops of stone, some of them large enough for the bear to hide behind, reared up out of the grass. The path threaded its way between the stones, following the stream that ran down the side of the hill. It led them to the edge of a small, fairly level meadow that covered the entire summit of the hill. The path continued on to the far side of the meadow where an enormous gray slab of rock leaned against a huge boulder. The stream, which flowed down the front of the hill, had its source in a spring that welled up near the base of the boulder.

  “That is my home,” said the bear, pointing with its right front paw to a dark opening beneath the slab.

  “You have a most impressive view,” said Ascilius as he and Elerian looked out over the endless forest that reached to the horizon in all directions.

  “Yes, it is rather fine,” said the bear, “and there is always a breeze to keep me informed of who is moving about in my forest.”

  “We could have a fire near the base of that boulder,” suggested Elerian to Ascilius.

  “That would be risky way up here where it would be visible to the whole countryside,” objected Ascilius. “Besides, we have nothing to cook. All we have is dried meat.”

  “I may be able to catch some trout out of the river,” said Elerian. “It is not dark yet.”

  “There is no need to go that far,” said the bear. “There are deep pools in the stream that flows down the side of the hill. I will bring you fish from there.”

  The bear padded silently away, following the stream back down the hill, leaving Elerian and Ascilius to gather wood and start a fire. Before Ascilius lit the fire, Elerian cast an illusion over the space before the boulder so that it would appear empty to prying eyes.

  He and Ascilius then sat near the fire to wait. Ascilius frowned at the flames, still unhappy about the risk, but Elerian remained unconcerned. The dry wood they had placed on the fire gave off little smoke, and in any case, they were safe from view behind the screen of his illusion. By the time the fire had burned down to coals, the bear returned, carrying an enormous silver trout with black and red speckles on its sides in its mouth. He stopped at the edge of the illusion with a puzzled look on his face before cautiously advancing through the golden curtain of light which shielded Elerian and Ascilius but which he could not see.

  “There you are,” he said in relieved voice, after dropping his fish onto the grass. “Have you cast a spell over this space?”

  “I have set an illusion over it,” said Elerian. “It will keep us and our fire from being seen.”

  “Unless someone or something with mage sight passes by,” muttered Ascilius to himself, but he knew there was no point in arguing with Elerian about the fire.

  Elerian picked up the trout the bear had dropped. From his belt, he drew out the stone knife he had made after escaping from Nefandus. Sharp as a razor, the knife sliced easily through the trout’s orange flesh.

  The bear watched Elerian for a moment and then asked quietly, “Would you like a metal knife and perhaps a sword too? I also have axes in my hoard,” he said turning to Ascilius.

  “Indeed we would,” said Ascilius before Elerian could reply. His ears had perked up at the mention of treasure.

  “Follow me then,” said the bear. He led the way toward his cave, closely followed by Ascilius and a reluctant Elerian.

  “It is madness to follow this great creature into close quarters,” thought Elerian to himself, but he refused to let Ascilius enter the cave alone.

  The narrow entrance to the bear’s home led into a tunnel that angled to the left, down into the summit of the hill. Ascilius kindled a small mage light, for it was too dark to see, even for Elerian. The firefly sized light hung just above the Dwarf’s head, following him as he walked and casting a faint light around them.

  The passageway they were following ended in a low chamber about twelve feet wide and twenty feet long. The ceiling was just high enough for Elerian to stand without ducking his head.

  Against the far wall, piled almost as high as Ascilius’s chest, was a shining mound of coins, chains, and belts, wrought of gold and silver. Glittering green emeralds, red rubies, and blue white diamonds reflected the rays of the mage light back into their eyes. Heaped carelessly together to the left of the treasure were swords, knives, axes and other implements of war.

  Ascilius’s dark eyes gleamed with curiosity as he examined the treasure, exclaiming over some fine piece or other, but he was careful not to touch anything.

  “Take what weapons you will,” rumbled the bear in a strange, distant voice.

  Alarmed, Elerian looked into the bear’s face and noticed immediately that its eyes had taken on a strange red glow as it stared fixedly at the treasure heaped before them. A peculiar tension suddenly filled the small chamber, and Elerian had the sudden sense that he that he and Ascilius were in grave danger.

  Masking his apprehension, Elerian took a slender sword in a rotted sheath from the pile of weapons as well as a long knife, and a second shorter knife that was barely the length of his hand. The handles of the weapons he chose were plain and unadorned, but the blades were still sharp and gleamed brightly in the faint, golden rays of Ascilius’s mage light. Ascilius chose a short, double bladed ax with a steel handle and a knife. He, too, seemed to feel the tension in the air, for he thanked the bear and hurriedly left the cave, with Elerian following close behind him. Their savage host remained sitting by the pile of treasure, his eyes smoldering like coals in the dark.

  When they emerged from the cave, Elerian breathed a sigh of relief and said in a whisper, “For a moment there, I felt as if we were in real danger.”

  “We were indeed,” said Ascilius in a relieved voice.

  Elerian noticed for the first time that shiny beads of sweat had broken out on the Dwarf’s broad brow.

  “I was a fool to follow that creature into his cave and worse than a fool to light a mage light,” continued Ascilius, berating himself for his actions. “The desire to see his treasure trove drove all sense of caution from my mind. When the bear saw his treasure illuminated, he became caught in its spell. Arum vesania, we call it among the Dwarves. It is a fever and a lust that takes my people sometimes. Under its influence, they become a danger to any who threaten their treasure. I think if we had tried to take anything besides the weapons, we might have been attacked. In such close quarters, he would almost certainly have killed both of us.”

  “I think we have found ourselves a most uncertain host, and the sooner we part company the better,” said Elerian quietly.

  Back by the fire, Elerian finished cleaning the trout with the small knife he had obtained from the bear’s treasure trove.

  “This steel knife is no better than my stone knife,” he commented to Ascilius.

  “Your stone knife has a flaw which could be fatal to you,” said Ascilius. “Hold it in your hand.”

  Puzzled as to what the flaw could be, Elerian took out his stone knife.

  “Mollier,” said Ascilius, at the same time striking the knife blade with his stone ax. The blade and the ax handle both shattered, leaving a startled Elerian holding just the handle of his knife.

  “Anything made by magic can be undone by magic,” said Ascilius, casting away the remains of his ax. “When I spoke the counter spell, the stone our weapons were made of reverted back to its natural, brittle state. I would rather trust my life to a steel blade than such an uncertain weapon.”

  Ascilius sat down by the fire, leaving Elerian to ponder his words.

  “It would seem that magic can be an untrustworthy weapon in the hands of a warrior,” t
hought Elerian to himself as he set the fillets he had cut from the trout over the embers, skewered on green sticks. “A spell can miss its target or be undone in the blink of an eye.”

  Leaving Ascilius to tend to the trout, Elerian took their tankards from his new pack, filling them in the small spring that welled up nearby.

  “What is your choice tonight?” he asked Ascilius. “Perhaps we should drink spring water for a change.”

  Ascilius favored Elerian with a dubious look.

  “Surely you are joking,” he said with an air of disbelief. “Why would any healthy Dwarf drink water when he could have ale or wine instead?”

  “Why indeed?” asked Elerian with a smile.

  He passed Ascilius a tankard that was now filled with sharp brown ale. The fish were soon cooked, and they ate in companionable silence as night fell around them, and the dome of the heavens turned black. The nets of bright stars scattered across it were dimmed tonight by a silver moon, which sat low in the sky.

  After they had eaten, Elerian extinguished the fire and ended his illusion spell. Seated on the ground with their backs against the boulder that rose up behind them like a gray wall, he and Ascilius sat in the dark, sipping their drinks and thinking their own thoughts. Like a shadow, the bear emerged from his cave and sat down nearby. The red glow was gone from his eyes, and he seemed himself again.

  Seeing that their host had recovered and appeared to be in a good mood, Elerian decided to indulge his curiosity. “If you do not mind my asking, how did you become a bear?” he asked.

  The bear remained silent for a moment, as if pondering whether it was safe to trust Elerian with his history. Then he spoke in his rough, growly voice.

  “I am a changeling. My form was altered by the Goblin King long ago, for he wished to use me for some purpose of his own. I pretended to be amenable to his will, but when the opportunity presented itself, I escaped, wandering far until I came to this place. I have been here ever since. This is my home now.”

  “Would you like me to try and lift the enchantment?” asked Elerian.

  The bear considered the matter carefully before answering.

  “It is too late,” he said sadly. “I have worn this shape for so long, that I cannot remember what I was before. All I remember is that I was called Durio in the days before I became a bear. I am better off as I am, living here on my hill with my treasure.”

  “Do the Goblins ever come this way?” asked Ascilius, changing the subject.

  At the mention of Goblins, Durio’s eyes reddened again, and he gave a low, rumbling growl.

  “In the past, I fought many skirmishes with them, but now there is no reason for them to venture this far north,” said the bear. “The Broken Lands have become the empty lands. The three kindred that lived here long ago have all been driven out or enslaved by the Goblins. The two of you are the first travelers I have seen in many years.”

  “That is good news for us,” said Ascilius. “It will make our journey east that much safer.”

  “How will you reach Ennodius?” asked the bear inquiringly. “The only safe way left is through Ancharia and then north over the plains.”

  “That way is dangerous now,” said Elerian. “There are Goblins in Ancharia, and some of the people there have become their allies again.”

  “We mean to cross over the mountains near Calenus,” said Ascilius, making a sudden decision to take the bear into their confidence.

  This information visibly agitated Durio. “You must not go that way,” he said sharply. “Calenus has become a very bad place since the Goblins took it from the Dwarves.”

  “We have no other choice, if Ancharia is closed to us,” said Ascilius. “The only other way is through the Trofim, where the Trolls guard all the passes. If Elerian and I succeed in winning past Calenus, it is only a short journey north to Ennodius along the old north road.”

  Durio shook his head sadly. “You and your friend will be captured or killed before you ever see Calenus, but it is your decision to make.” He rose to his feet and stretched. “I bid you good night now, for it is time to sleep.”

  Elerian and Ascilius watched in silence as he turned away and retired to his cave.

  “He may be right you know,” said Ascilius moodily. “I may be leading both of us to our deaths.”

  “I am willing to chance it,” said Elerian in an untroubled voice. “I have no wish to stay here, pleasant as I find this land.” He fell silent for a moment and then asked hesitantly, “Ascilius, what people of the Middle Realm have both black hair and black eyes?”

  “East of the Murus, only the Ancharians to my knowledge,” said Ascilius absently, for he was still pondering the bear’s warning. “Why do you ask?”

  Elerian remained silent for a moment, wondering if it was wise to tell Ascilius about the woman he had seen in the orb.

  “I may never hear the end of this,” he thought to himself ruefully as he decided to take Ascilius into his confidence.

  A moment later, the orb appeared in his right hand as he called it through the portal that led to the place where he kept his spell book and his silver ring. He offered it to Ascilius, who turned it over curiously in his powerful hands.

  “I made this long ago,” said Elerian quietly. “It is but a poor copy of another sphere I found in Ancharia. I fear there is some flaw in it, for it is an unreliable instrument of magic, usually showing only images of things that are nearby or nothing at all. Last night, however, it showed me a woman’s face,” he said hesitantly, “but I think she was far away, for the pattern of stars in the night sky was different from what we now see overhead.”

  A delighted smile spread over Ascilius’s face. Here, at last, was an opportunity to exact some revenge for Elerian’s mischief.

  “And now you wish to find her,” he crowed softly. “You have been smitten by love!”

  “I am only curious as to who she is and where she might live,” protested Elerian. “Love has nothing to do with it.”

  “You are love-struck,” exulted Ascilius. “I can see the signs, but you need not fear that I will make fun of you. It will be sufficient entertainment just to watch you endure the torments of love. In fact,” he said happily, “after we reach Ennodius, I will join you in a quest to Ancharia to find your true love.”

  “She did not look like an Ancharian, and she is not my true love,” insisted Elerian, irritation creeping into his voice. He was already beginning to regret confiding in Ascilius.

  Still chuckling, the Dwarf glanced down at the orb he held in his powerful right hand. Lacking mage sight, he did not see the silvery glow that had covered it at the touch of his hands, nor did he see it fade. The orb, which had first appeared dark to his eyes, began to lighten from some source within it. Suddenly, a huge green eye, seemingly glowing with its own light, completely filled the sphere, its dark, slit pupil staring directly into Ascilius’s face.

  The Dwarf started and dropped the sphere with an exclamation of surprise. Thrusting out his left hand, Elerian caught the globe just before it struck the ground. It had gone dark again as soon as Ascilius released it.

  Elerian had not seen what the sphere had shown Ascilius, for the Dwarf’s hands had shielded it from his view. When he looked back at the Dwarf, intending to poke fun at him for dropping the sphere, he saw that the Ascilius had grown pale.

  “That was a dragon’s eye,” said Ascilius in a shaky voice, “a very large dragon. Why would your device show me a dragon’s eye?”

  He looked to the east, and Elerian could see that several unpleasant reasons had already occurred to him.

  “It may be nothing,” said Elerian soothingly. “As I said before, the orb is both erratic and unreliable. It shows things from the past as well as the present.”

  “Perhaps at times it is untrustworthy,” said Ascilius gloomily, “but I think we have both seen something in it which is bound up in our own lives. I, for one, wish I had not looked into it. You would have done better to let it fall and s
hatter,” he said grimly.

  “It can be of great benefit to us if I can get it to work properly,” replied Elerian defensively. He covered the sphere protectively with both hands.

  “Let me harden it then, if you insist on keeping it,” said Ascilius. “In its present state, one sharp blow will damage it.”

  Elerian considered the Dwarf’s offer. “Could I still make changes to it once it is hardened?” he asked.

  “No,” said Ascilius. “Once I harden it, it will become fixed and immutable.”

  “Better to wait then,” said Elerian. “I may still be able to fix the flaw that is in it.”

  “Put it away then,” said Ascilius. “I, for one, do not wish to see it again.”

  Draining his tankard, he went off to bed in a somber mood, leaving Elerian to sit alone under the stars. Wrapped in his fur cloak, Elerian looked into the orb for a while, but tonight, the silvery film of light that covered it at his touch stubbornly refused to clear. Eventually, he sent it away. He lay down and attempted to walk the dream paths in his mind, but the image of the woman he had seen returned to trouble him. The desire to see her had not diminished, tugging insistently at his breast like a silver chain that sought to draw him to him to her.

  A SURPRISE ATTACK

  Elerian roused suddenly from his uneasy slumber, his warm fur cloak sliding off his shoulders as he sat up and looked around. The moon was full tonight, illuminating the summit of the hill with a pale light. Nothing seemed amiss, but when Elerian looked up, he saw that Durio was standing on top of the flat stone that formed the roof of his cave. A cool breeze had sprung up out of the west; rippling his moon silvered fur as he stood with his nose pointed into it, making wet snuffing sounds.

  Sensing somehow that he was awake, Durio turned toward Elerian and said softly, “There are Goblins approaching up the side of my hill.”

  Alarmed, Elerian sprang to his feet and woke Ascilius, nudging him cautiously with his right foot. The Dwarf came awake instantly, groping for his ax with his right hand as he emerged from his warm cloak.