Hand of Fire: Book 1 of the Master of the Tane

by Thomas Rath

  Suddenly, she ran into what must have been a wall. How it had gotten in front of her she didn’t know but she thought she felt a sting on her face and then she had the sensation of falling. She was floating in space, gently falling back into a great void. What she thought was her body suddenly felt unusually heavy as she continued to increase her speed. The wind blew her hair up into her face and she reached back to feel for anything below her. Then, as if in a rush, she hit the ground with a loud thud that sent shock waves of pain up through her back and skull. A blast of noise invaded her mind chasing out the silence that had come to rest there and bringing with it the sounds of hundreds of grinding voices. She felt pain crushing into her side and opened her eyes wondering at the boot that greeted her. Again, it crashed against her and the thick mire that had overcome her mind was quickly dispersed.

  Tam just made out the grinding sound of her capture’s voice as he brutalized the Chufa language telling her to get up. She had been forced from the comforting void that had swallowed her and now every part of her body screamed at her in protest. Reaching for the wall at her side, she used it for support and forced herself back onto her feet. She tried to catch an understanding of her surroundings but was abruptly yanked forward by the ropes that bit her wrists. She was amazed that her feet responded at all as she found herself moving forward again.

  It was then she realized that they had entered another large cavern at least twice the size of the first yet just as full of trolls. As they passed through the crowds, many paused in their conversations to spit on her or make disgusting gestures as if they were eating her. She tried to dodge the spittle that seemed to rain upon her from every side but her body would not respond fast enough. She was an easy, and wet, target.

  At one point, she thought she heard someone calling her name over the clamor of sound that echoed throughout the cave. She tried to concentrate on it but it didn’t come again and a sharp pull from the rope replaced any thoughts of recognition with excruciating pain. The ugly faces passed like a blur with their snarls and lobs of spit. She didn’t know where she was being taken or why but soon they were through the main body of trolls and at the far end of the cave where it was relatively free of trolls and their spittle. Her rope was tossed to another before her captor turned back and disappeared again into the throng. Her new ward pulled her roughly to the cave wall and then removed the rope from her wrists and pointed to the floor. Tam gratefully obeyed and simply collapsed into a heap onto the ground.

  A kick to her legs brought her out of the slumber she had unknowingly fallen into and a bowl of gruel was shoved into her hands. Tam took the food and choked it down followed by the dark poison they had been forcing her to drink. The brew’s affects were the same as always but for some reason, this time they were not as severe. She blamed it on her exhausted state but did not complain; grateful that at least something was a little less excruciating.

  When the last annoyances of the drink finally dissipated, she propped herself against the wall and tried to clear her mind enough to take stock of her situation. She knew she had to get away soon before they did eat her but the condition she was in and the complete exhaustion she felt made it almost impossible to even think. The other obvious problem was the hundreds of trolls milling around her impeding any real chance of success. Tears were starting to pool in her eyelids as the hopelessness of her condition crushed her with its weight.

  Come on Tam, she thought, trying to push away her despair. You’ve got to stop acting like a baby and grow up. Thane and Dor are counting on you. What would they do in a situation like this? She looked around trying to ward off sleep and depression while searching for anything that might help her.

  The area she was in was slightly raised allowing her a full view of the mammoth cave and its inhabitants. It was filled to overflowing with the bodies of stinking trolls and more seemed to be jamming in from the many passages that dotted the walls. Tam couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It sent a shiver through her. Never in her darkest imaginings would she have ever thought so many trolls existed. It made her want to curl up in a ball and return to the numb state she had been in earlier that day.

  So much evil around us and we never had the slightest idea of our fragile existence. At any time they could have massed and wiped us out.... Her heart skipped at the thought. But how is it that so many trolls are joined in one area without killing one another? Her face suddenly paled. She steadied herself for a moment fighting to stay conscious as she allowed herself to finish her line of thinking. “They’re gathering,” she whispered under her breath. “The Chufa will be wiped out.” Already she had lost her only friends, certain that they would never meet again in this world, and now this. Her family, those she loved, her whole race, would be snuffed out because of the bloodlust of the trolls that were now massing in this very cave. It was all too much.

  Slowly, she leaned forward with unseeing eyes and lay down on the cold, hard ground. With her sudden realization, her mind had locked itself into a state of numbness as if shutting down before it destroyed itself in the complete sense of loss and hopelessness that had flooded it. Already forgotten were the words of encouragement she had tried so desperately to give herself only moments before. A tear slipped down her face as she closed her eyes and gave herself over to the darkness that awaited her.

  Tam gradually began to lose herself and the identity she once possessed. Everyday was the same as the last, running together in a mass of thick emptiness. With a kick to wake her, she was greeted by a bowl of gruel and a mug of dark brew. The harsh side affects of the drink had completely worn off by the third day to the point that she now almost welcomed it. When she finished eating, her hands were tied and she was forced to walk the dread caverns of the Shadow Mountains following in step behind the troll leader. Her body had given up its protests of pain long ago and now just gave her a dull ache that her lifeless mind ignored. Everyday they entered a huge cave, each seeming larger than the last, and everyday it appeared as if their numbers grew by two fold. She didn’t think of her home anymore, she didn’t think of her lost friends, she didn’t think of anything except keeping her feet moving and waiting anxiously for the time when they stopped so she could have more of the dark liquid to drink. She was slipping away. The once strong willed Chufa girl had become nothing but a shell; an empty husk.

  The drone of her existence abruptly changed one day when a bright light suddenly enveloped her, blinding her from all sight. A slight sense of her ancestry returned in a rush as the thought of a great forest, where all was peaceful, suddenly popped into her head. You have journeyed beyond, her mind said to her. You have left that dark place of yesterday. A cool wind brushed against her face bringing familiar scents she couldn’t quite recall. She squinted and moved her eyes around, trying to focus on her surroundings but all she could see were blurs of shadows. The great engulfing light felt warm on her skin and she knew that this must be paradise. She must have passed on.

  Something yanked at her wrist and she toppled forward onto the ground. The smell of grass and dirt engulfed her senses forcing her mind to try and restart itself and remember. She was lifted up by rough hands and sat down. A bowl was placed on the ground in front of her that gave off a familiar smell. She looked at the bowl in wonder feeling as if she should know why it was there.

  “Eat!”

  She started at the sound and looked up into the hideous face glaring down at her. It was a troll. The recognition jolted her. “This isn’t the great beyond,” she whispered. “We are outside. We’re out of the mountain.” The realization was like a slap in the face but she wasn’t sure why. A feeling of dread and fear began growing inside of her creating a strong urge to react and do something. But do what? What was it that she could not remember?

  She ate the gruel slowly while glancing around trying to understand what was pressing her. It had to do with where she was—she could feel it. They were in a brightly lit meadow full of tall grass that grew right up to the foot o
f the mountains they had just exited. Hundreds of trolls poured out of the small opening behind her and all she could do was stare and wonder at the great numbers as they passed by on their way towards the few trees that dotted the landscape below.

  Her breath suddenly caught. “The trees. The forest.” She sat up stiffly knowing there was more. “What about the trees?” she whispered. She dug through her mind willing herself to remember—to understand. Then it came. “The Chufa!”

  Like slowly coming out of murky water, Tam’s mind reawakened to the realization of who she was and the danger her people faced. With the memory also came the fear and the pain that for so long, she had not let herself consider. She stood up and looked frantically about drawing the attention of the two guards that flanked her. She had to warn her people. She had to give the alarm.

  Without another thought, she rushed headlong down the mountain slope and through the field toward the small clump of trees all the while screaming at the top of her lungs. Many of the trolls brought up their weapons thinking they were under attack and soon the whole camp was in an uproar. She dodged a pair of hands that reached for her and ducked under a club swung at her head while her guards chased after crying for someone to stop her.

  She smiled to herself for having successfully sounded the alarm when she suddenly stopped, planting her feet firmly into the ground. Her face fell. “Wait,” she breathed in confusion. “This isn’t the Ardath.” Uncertainty engulfed her as she turned her head about trying to understand what was happening. She looked up at the sun as it rose slowly from behind the mountains not noticing the approaching guards and the ugly glares that pinched their faces. “We’re on the other side,” she said still trying to convince herself it was true. “We’re moving away from the Chufa.”

  Tam suddenly crashed to the ground as a large troll landed on her and pushed the air from her lungs. She wheezed, struggling to get a breath while another troll tied her legs and then her arms together. She smiled, no longer caring about what happened to her. They are not going to attack after all, she thought happily. The Chufa are safe.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Tam’s head ached as if it had been under a mountain all night. She lay still, with her eyes closed, not wanting to face another day of the nightmare she was now living and prayed that it would all somehow wash away. A shadow fell across her face making her stiffen slightly in anticipation. She was still not completely convinced that she was not a living meal that would soon be used when the other resources ran out. The shadow remained unmoving making her skin crawl at the thought of whom it might be and what they might be doing. A chill shot through her body when something touched her cheek. She jerked back and quickly popped open her eyes trying desperately to focus on whom or what it was that had invaded her rest. The shadowy outline of a dark figure materialized, gripping her heart in a block of ice. Her mind raced back to memories of the dark one who had come to her once before and her throat began to constrict in fear, cutting off her supply of oxygen and making her dizzy.

  “Tam, are you all right?”

  She gasped at the voice that seemed so familiar but was still just beyond her memory. Her body relaxed slightly as she realized that it was not the dark one returned to torment her. She gulped in great breaths of air that removed the spinning feeling in her head and helped clear her muddled mind. “Who are you?” she asked hesitantly.

  “What? Don’t you recognize me?”

  Tam’s thoughts raced through her mind frantically searching for the door that would open up the memory of the face behind the voice that seemed so familiar. The sound of it made her relax even more as if the one who owned it was someone she felt close to. Then it suddenly struck her like a splash of cold water as the face and name burst into her recollection. Could this really be him after all this time? “Thane?” she whispered, not sure she believed it herself.

  “Thane?” the stranger asked incredulously. “No, Tam, it’s me, Dor.”

  Tam’s heart sank at the revelation. She knew it was too much to hope for. Thane was dead. She had to accept that. Wishing him back would do nothing but add to her misery. He was gone. Then it hit her. “Dor? Dor!” She shot up, her heartache replaced by sheer joy. She reached out for him, wanting to hold him in her arms but then, just as quickly, she recoiled.

  “What’s wrong?” the voice asked.

  The fear returned in a flood as Tam moved back, trying to put distance between her and the shadow that leaned over her. “No,” she whispered as tears ran down her face. “It can’t be. You made me leave you behind. I didn’t want to, you made me.”

  “What are you talking about girl?” the voice shot back in disbelief. “It’s me.” A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. She let out a small whimper before realizing it was flesh that had caught hold of her.

  “Dor?” she whispered. “You’re not dead?”

  “Of course not,” he laughed quietly. “Do I look dead to you?”

  Tam stared at him for a long moment. “I don’t know. I can’t see you.”

  Dor moved to the side placing himself in plain view and allowing the fading sunlight to splash on his face. She drank in his all too familiar features complete with his smirking grin and mischievous eyes. Relief washed over her like a refreshing spring and a broad smile broke across her face. Without warning, she reached up and grabbed hold of him in a great bear hug. Dor stiffened a bit, a groan of pain escaping his lips. Tam didn’t notice but released him anyway and started running off with her mouth. “Oh Dor, it was terrible. I had the worst dream I have ever had in my life. Thane was dead and you and I had gone to find him in the mountains but we got caught in the snow and you got eaten by rats and left me to climb up a huge mountain...”

  Dor stared at her, the look of pity obvious on his face as she continued rambling on about what had happened to her as if it actually were a dream. She suddenly noticed the sad look on his face and stopped, the fear flashing back.

  “What’s wrong Dor? And why are we outside the village?”

  Dor dropped his head and sighed as he pointed to the rope wrapped tightly around her ankles and also his. She stared at it for a moment, her face a blank slate. Her expression was no more than had she been looking at a log. Then, all the pain and fear of the previous days returned and she thought she would die. The tears ran unchecked down her face as she leaned forward and placed her head on Dor’s chest sobbing quietly. He put an arm around her and rocked her back and forth trying to give her as much comfort as he could. Strangely, he enjoyed the closeness of her body and felt guilty for feeling so at such a moment of grief. Tam reached up and placed her arms around his shoulders causing a spasm of pain to shoot through him. She pulled away quickly. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to dry her eyes. “Did I hurt your arm?”

  Dor smiled weakly, cursing himself for flinching and ending their embrace. “It’s not that,” he said while slowly turning around.

  Tam gasped in horror at the sight of old and fresh whip marks running across his back and shoulders. “What happened?”

  Dor turned back, the smirk on his face returning. “Trolls just don’t have a good sense of humor,” he laughed, trading his smirk for a big smile.

  Tam couldn’t help but smile at the silly look on his face and the relief that came with having him there with her. “Oh Dor,” she sighed, “I thought you were dead for sure.”

  “Well, to be honest with you, so did I. But thanks to our friendly hosts, I am still here to cause what trouble I can.”

  “How did you get here? I mean, what happened to you after I left?”

  “Actually, I’m not quite sure for the most part. I was sitting by the ledge, where the rats were gathered, trying my best to get away from the heat. I must have dozed off for a while or something but I felt as if I was beginning to slip away. I moved back from the ledge, not wanting to fall in and feed the local inhabitants, and my mind began to get all fuzzy. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a cave full of trolls. At first
I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating because I was so dehydrated. I figured that my mind was playing a trick on me and turning all the rats into trolls.” He trailed off for a moment, a sardonic grin playing across his face.

  “So,” Tam prodded, “then what happened?”

  “Well, I figured it was best to act like I was still passed out until I could figure things out. I didn’t have more than a minute or two to watch before one of them came up to me and kicked me in the side. I wanted to return the favor but thought better of it at the time. The amazing thing was that he spoke our language; well, gurgled it would be a better description. He asked me a bunch of questions I can’t remember now but it doesn’t matter because I wouldn’t answer. Actually, couldn’t answer was more like it. I was so thirsty. My tongue felt like a huge cotton ball. When I tried to speak, nothing came out but a rasping sound. I guess he figured I was faking because every time I didn’t answer, I got a kick to the stomach.”

  Tam brought her hand to her mouth. “Oh Dor, how terrible.”