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

by Thomas Rath

  The dragon dipped its head as if it were a child being punished and its gigantic body began to shrink. Its wings rolled up into arms and its tail disappeared while its neck retracted into its body replaced by a human head. A dark figure now stood before them covered completely in black, from his boots to his cloak, which he wore with the cowl pulled up to hide his face.

  “That’s better,” the old man said calmly as if his veins had not boiled with wrath only moments before. “Now, Craklor, what news do you bring?”

  “As you have commanded, Master,” Craklor started softly, “I have been to the trolls in the Shadow Mountains and they now gather. Soon they will fall on their ugly faces at the base of The Raven’s Eye and worship your name.”

  “That is good my dear friend,” the old man said with a slight smile. “You have done well.”

  “There is one more thing, Master, that I am sure you will find of interest.”

  “Oh?” the old man returned raising his eyebrows as if to challenge Craklor’s statement. “And what might that be?”

  “The trolls carry with them two Chufa; a male child and a female child.”

  “What?” the old man breathed incredulously. “Chufa? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Master. I saw the woman child myself and heard tell of the man child by others.”

  Resdin let out a loud laugh drawing the dragon-turned-human’s fierce eyes toward him. “Come now, Craklor,” he said mockingly. “You can’t be serious. The Chufa are nothing but old legends told by old women. Tell me,” he added feigning a serious tone, “you’re not hiding gray hair and sagging breasts under that cloak are you?”

  Craklor’s body trembled in rage at the insolent manner in which such a puny human dare speak to him. This human would die, he promised, and very painfully. The old man held up his hand silencing them both before turning his hardened glare on Resdin. “And what would you say, dear boy, if I told you that I have seen many Chufa in my days?”

  Resdin took a step back pressing his body hard against the stonework behind him. “I meant no offense, Master,” he stuttered, unaware of the smile that danced joyfully over Craklor’s lips. “I was just having a joke with Craklor, nothing else.”

  The old man turned away, focusing his attention once more on his messenger, leaving Resdin in a state of uncertain panic. “So,” he said pensively as if his confrontation with Resdin had never occurred, “the legends of the past have been brought back to life? Are there more? There must be more than just two.”

  Craklor snorted, unable to control his delight at seeing Resdin still cowering in the corner. “The trolls say there is a village on the far side of the Shadow Mountains which they have raided for centuries.” Then, in a silky voice, he added, “They say the meat is very tender, even better than human flesh.” A small streak of drool slid from Craklor’s lips as he looked ominously at Resdin. And one day I will taste your flesh, human.

  “And you will taste both soon enough,” the old man said as if reading his thoughts. “For now, we will continue on as planned. The Chufa will keep until later. Make sure the two are brought to me alive and relatively undamaged.” The old man’s eyes glossed over for a moment as his mind drifted off, to a time long past and a place far away. Then with a whisper as if only for his own ears to hear, he added, “I would be interested in learning more about these demons come to life.”

  Resdin and Craklor watched him silently as a tiny breeze attempted to invade the castle bulwarks without notice. Suddenly, the old man turned towards the door knocking Resdin out of the way but then stopped just before he entered. Returning his attention to the reforming dragon his eyes took on a mad look and a smile creased his parchment-like lips. “Soon, your brothers and sisters with bring their flocks to me and then will the time be ripe to strike.” His voice rose to a pitch seeming too high for his meager frame as he shouted to the wind. “Then all will tremble at the sound of my name. All will cower in fear at the name, BEDLER!”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A large hawk floated calmly on the wind searching the snow covered ground far below for what would hopefully be its next meal. A slight movement near a passing tree called its sharp eyes to full attention and it circled back for a closer look. A dark figure loomed ominously behind the tree’s gnarled trunk instantly revealing itself to the hawk as a man animal looking for prey. The bird swung its graceful body up towards the sky and reached for the relative safety found at higher altitudes away from any threat of arrow fire. Knowing it would no longer be able to hunt in that immediate area, the hawk let out a loud screech of warning before turning toward the afternoon sun and flying away.

  At the sudden sound, Thane looked up from his hiding place and caught a glimpse of the hawk just as it disappeared over the next peak. He was sure the bird had seen him given his inability to remain still for any extended period of time. Jack had loaned him HuMan clothes to wear and, although quite warm, they rubbed terribly against his skin making him itch all over. The boots he wore pinched tightly on his feet making it difficult to walk, let alone with any amount of silence. He scratched his leg again trying to relieve the itching so prevalent under the new leather pants and cursed himself for letting Jack talk him into wearing them. The shirt he wore was made from cotton and was not so foreign to his skin, but the wool cloak clasped like two hands around his throat and was almost unbearable. He felt confined in his new apparel but Jack insisted he wear it, afraid that he may grow sick again in the cold. He’s worse than my own mother, he thought moving the cloak to get a better shot at the itch on his backside.

  Thane’s mind wondered back through the past few weeks spent with his newfound friends and he couldn’t help but smile. He learned quickly that Chufa and HuMans had different ideas about life and death and how each was handled. His first lesson had been the small rabbit he had cast to the refining fires giving it, what he thought all would consider, a proper death rite. He immediately found out that he was wrong in his assumptions. Jack wouldn’t talk to him the rest of the night or for the whole next day.

  At first, Thane couldn’t understand how anyone could eat the flesh of something else and enjoy it. The thoughts of Chufa body parts strewn around the base of the mountain had instantly come to mind making his stomach feel sour. Not long after, Jack got back at him by slipping a couple of pieces of meat into his soup. The taste had been strange at first but he had to admit that it wasn’t repulsive like he had originally thought and when Jack told him what he had done, at first he didn’t believe him. Since that time, Thane had tried meat a couple of other times but decided he preferred his grains, still not sure how he felt morally about eating the flesh of another creature.

  Much of their time had been spent on the problems of language and the barrier it had set against them. In the beginning, it was a difficult wall to climb and both of them often became frustrated, feeling it was hopeless. With some time though, which they had plenty of, and some forced patience, they finally began to make progress and slowly began to communicate. At first, it appeared that Jack was learning Chufa quicker and easier than Thane learned, what Jack called, common. But, soon after, Thane began to catch on more quickly and ended up surpassing Jack with his language skills. Now, they almost exclusively spoke common only rarely reverting to Thane’s native tongue. He was far from fluent, but at least they could talk to each other now and Jack was always willing to correct him when he made a mistake.

  With the holes they had punched through the walls of language, Thane was finally able to tell Jack of his home in the Ardath Forest. Jack was amazed at the thought of a whole village of Chufa so close for so long but Thane was the more affected of the two when he learned of the thousands of humans that flourished just on the other side of the mountains. He, like most of his race, had always figured the stories the Kinpa told about the humans were just that, stories. No one ever really thought anything existed on the opposite side of the Shadow Mountains. It was all just a myth. Thane anxiously absorbed all that Jack had told
him and he soon began to wonder if what he’d been taught about the HuMans was true. Could it really have been like the Kinpa told it?

  Thane found himself pondering the same questions again when the movement of a large mountain goat broke into his peripheral view. It was a male. It paused for a brief moment to sniff the air and then, in a blur of movement, it burst down the mountainside heading directly for Jack’s hiding place. Thane smiled in amusement as Erl casually climbed over the ridge the ram had just occupied and then sat down to lick his paws. The sound of scattering rocks drew Thane’s attention back to the ram as it tried to make quick its escape. It did not realize it was running headlong into death’s grasp. He watched as Jack pulled back on his bow and readied himself to fire the life stealing shot. A loud crack rang out followed by a shout and then curses.

  Erl was in the air before the first echo passed, running with all speed towards Jack’s position and the fast approaching mountain goat that, by now, had spotted him and was racing towards him—the hunted now the hunter. Thane just stared in disbelief.

  Jack’s bow had broken. Never in his life had he seen such a thing. He didn’t believe it was possible. He watched dumbfounded as his friend pulled his dagger anticipating the possibly fatal confrontation with the desperate ram as it closed the gap between them. Erl shot through the snow in heated pursuit but Thane knew he would not reach Jack in time.

  Without thinking, he nocked an arrow and sighted in on his target. Thoughts of wind and distance were determined in a heartbeat as if by mere instinct as the bow was pulled taught and readied to fire.

  Jack raised his dagger in anticipation, preparing for impact as the ram covered the last few feet between them. Every muscle tensed when, to Jack’s surprise, the ram stumbled and then rolled in a lunging mass to Jack’s immediate right where it landed under a small tree, dead. He looked at the ram in amazement scarcely believing the luck. Jack had always known mountain rams to be the surest footed animals to inhabit the mountains. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought one would trip and breaks its neck right before his eyes.

  Erl crashed into the small area a fury of bared teeth and claws ready to defend his friend. “Easy boy, easy,” Jack soothed placing his hand on Erl’s head. Both stared at the ram for a moment as if it would get up and run away, when Jack suddenly noticed a small splash of color protruding from its neck. “What’s this?” Reaching down, he grasped an arrow’s fletches and pulled out half a broken shaft.

  Just then Thane stumbled into the clearing, tripping on his new boots. “You all right?” he asked breathing heavily thanks to the excess weight he was now forced to carry.

  Jack stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. “Did you shoot this arrow?”

  Thane fidgeted a bit before turning a blushing face towards the dead ram. “Uh, yes,” he said quietly.

  “My boy,” Jack burst with a laugh throwing his arm around Thane’s shoulder. “How in the world did you learn how to shoot like that?”

  Thane looked down at Erl who had placed his muzzle into his hand begging like a puppy to be scratched. “I do not know,” he said with a shrug while obliging Erl’s pleading. “Practice, I guess.”

  “Well, I should say so. I guess what they say about your kind is true after all.”

  Thane’s head popped up. “What do you mean?” he demanded a fiery glow turning his green eyes dark.

  “Easy there son,” Jack said forcing a smile. “All I meant was that everyone knows that Chufa were, that is, are legendary with the bow that’s all. No reason to get your loin cloth in a bundle.”

  Thane blushed a deep shade of red. You should be ashamed of yourself, he thought. All this time spent with Jack and you still don’t trust him? But he can’t find out about the other things. He can’t know about.…

  “Come on now, Thane,” Jack said interrupting his thoughts. “Why don’t you get us a fire going while I take care of our friend here.” Jack knelt by the ram and pulled his knife all the while mumbling about how touchy Thane was and that he couldn’t even take a compliment.

  Thane watched him for a brief moment feeling guilty for how he had treated his friend and wondered if, eventually, he wouldn’t scare Jack away like he had Dor. Letting out a heavy sigh, he suddenly felt terrible and moved away to search out some dead wood.

  By the time Jack had skinned and gutted the ram, Thane had gathered enough wood to last the night and had cleared an area to camp. Jack busied himself making racks to dry most of the meat as jerky and then set up a spit to roast what was left for that night’s meal. Erl lay down by the fire keeping an eye on the meat, as if on guard, making sure it didn’t get away before he had his portion. He would devour what he was given but would no doubt take off during the night to hunt down some fresh meat of his own. Thane sat with some arrows he was working on while Jack kept his nose in the ram’s hide scraping it down. All was silent save for the crackle of the fire and the distant cries of life and death as night slowly settled over the mountain.

  Thane looked up at Jack, still feeling guilty at the way he had acted. “You know,” he said breaking through the hush, “we learn to use bow and knife from start of our eighth year. Is probably why we have such reputation as great bowmen.”

  Jack’s eyes rose from his work and rested on Thane, a smile cracking his whiskered face. “That would explain it sure enough.” Jack chuckled as he went back to work on the skin. “I guess you could say we were even now.”

  Thane looked puzzled. “What do you mean, ‘even’? I do not know that word.”

  Jack kept working. “Even? It’s like me doing something for you and then you returning the favor. We’re even. I saved your life, and now you’ve saved mine. That makes us even. You owe me nothing now.”

  “But I not save your life, Jack. I only do what we had planned. You could have killed the ram with your knife.”

  Jack stopped his work once again and laughed. He moved to the sizzling meat on the spit and turned it. “Of course you saved my life. There is no way I could have taken that thing with my puny dagger.”

  “Well then, Erl would have got it.”

  “Gotten it,” Jack corrected before continuing. “Sorry, Thane. You’re just going to have to accept the truth. You saved my life. There is no way in Dren’s frozen hells that Erl would have gotten to me in time. We, my friend, are even.”

  Thane had no idea what Dren’s frozen hells were but he felt certain that Jack could have handled the situation. It didn’t really matter though. He would always feel indebted to Jack for saving his life and taking him in. He just wished he could trust him enough to tell him everything. He knew it was his own weakness that wouldn’t allow him to tell Jack about his strange abilities but for the moment it really didn’t matter, did it? After all, what would it help?

  Minutes passed in silence before Thane finally asked, “Why you all alone up here? With many humans below, why would you choose to live in danger?”

  Thane could see the uneasiness suddenly filling Jack before he quickly covered it up with a resounding laugh. “I’m not alone boy, I’ve got Erl. Anyway,” he continued becoming quite sober again, “I like the solitude. Too many people got, as you put it, too close. But that’s old and boring news,” he said becoming his jolly self once again. “Let’s talk about something else; something a little more exciting.”

  Thane stared at his friend knowing that he had hit a sore spot in Jack’s life and wondered what could have happened to send him away from all of his people below. He couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to be alone, especially when he had fought his whole life for acceptance and friendship.

  Jack tested the meat and then started cutting it. Having kept an attentive vigilance, Erl sat up at full attention and let out a small bark.

  “All right, you mutt,” Jack said cutting off a slab. “Here’s some for you.” He tossed the rather large chunk to Erl who caught it easily and gulped it down without bothering to chew. He then inched closer, begging for
more. Jack gave him another piece and then settled down with his own piece. “You going to have some meat tonight, Thane?” he asked before shoving his mouth full.

  “No, thank you,” Thane smiled. “I will finish the turnips and carrots I have.”

  “Did you hear that Erl?” Jack said reaching out to the giant wolg. “We get to eat this all by ourselves.”

  Thane couldn’t help but laugh as Erl moved in closer to Jack and then drenched his face with a lick bath. Thane was amazed at the bond between them. It made him think of his own first encounter with those of Erl’s race. “How did you make friends with Erl? The ones that got my village were not there to lick faces.”

  “No, I’m sure they weren’t,” Jack said pushing Erl off with great effort. “Wolg’s aren’t generally the friendliest of creatures, that’s for certain.” Jack bit off another piece of meat before continuing. “Erl here came about by pure luck. Not too long after I first came into these mountains, I was exploring the high ridges on the peaks just north of here in search of a better place to live. I had seen just about all I cared to, finding out quickly that there was nothing up there, when I caught wind of what sounded like a battle. Curiosity got the better of me and I soon found myself audience to a scrap between a troll and a wolg. I figured I would watch for a while and then slip away quietly, not really in the mood for a fight myself. I watched as the troll connected with the wolg’s skull and dropped it lifeless to the ground. I felt then was a good time to pick up and leave, but the troll turned and started coming at me. The whole time, I thought that I had not been seen, but here was this giant mass of troll flesh coming down on me in a fever of rage.” Jack stopped abruptly and leaned forward to cut another piece of meat for himself and Erl.

  Thane watched him, anxious for the rest of the story. “Well, what happen next?”

  Jack shrugged, wiping away the meat juices that dripped into his beard. “I filled him with arrows, what do you think? A might better then today I assure you. He didn’t know what hit him. Dropped like a falling tree.”