by Thomas Rath
“Though it is not what we had hoped,” he said, trying to force a smile, “your swords are most welcome. Though I fear your coming here may not have been the best choice.”
The prince nodded at Jack’s show of concern for his safety. “There comes a time when a life not lived is not worth living at all.” He smiled. “Do not fear for me, Jack. I am no longer the clumsy pup you used to see at court.”
Jack nodded, but cut off his thoughts of simpler days when he used to see the young prince causing mischief throughout the halls of the keep. Those days were gone now and may very well never return again. Tugging on his beard, he took a deep breath. “I understand your desire to show the people that they are not abandoned, but I fear that should your presence be known more harm than good would come of it.”
The prince leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
Jack glanced at Myles. “Out of duty to protect their liege, I am afraid that more men will die than need be. Though a token of your good will may boost some moral, the fact that you are who you are, no matter how far down the line, will cause too many to forget their real duty in favor of protecting the prince.”
“I understand your point,” the prince countered, “but I will not leave for you to face this alone.”
Jack looked hard at Myles willing him to say something in support of his position. Myles shook his head slightly. “I will not go against the wishes of the prince,” he said flatly. Jack shook his head. He’d been away in the mountains too long, or possibly, just long enough. He was a man of duty, but survival in the Shadow Mountains had taught him more about practicality and necessity than mere whimsical desire. He opened his mouth to argue his point but was cut off.
“Though my intentions are firm,” the prince said tapping a finger on his lips, “I see that there is wisdom in what you say. It is not my will to place any man in more danger than his mere being here already places him. So, I will do this. Since I doubt that anyone, save those in this room, would recognize me, I will claim to be an envoy representing the palace. That way I can show that someone does care, while at the same time keep my identity secret so as not to cause more trouble than good.”
Jack still did not like the idea of having the prince in the city, but he recognized a decent compromise when he heard one. It would have to do. After all, he was not about to try and command the prince, no matter how insignificant his actual power may seem. He nodded his head in agreement and then looked at Myles. He too nodded his head, ready to do whatever the prince commanded, as was his duty to do so.
CHAPTER TWENTY
They were still two days from Haykon when Thane finally allowed them to stop for the night. They had been pushing hard since he saw Tam held by the HuMans. His thoughts had not wondered far from her as they pressed on, stopping only to feed and water the horses and walk them in short intervals to give them rest. He had to get to her and free her. But something else was also troubling him. What of Dor and Jack? If Tam was in Haykon, where were they? He knew that Jack would not have turned her over to be tied down and mistreated, so where was he?
They had been on their way to rescue Tam when the dragon took him. If Tam was in Haykon then they must have reached her and been successful. He didn’t think the trolls would have let her go. Was Dor also in prison? Maybe Jack had been taken as well for helping the Chufa. It was all too much to ponder without more information. He’d thought of using the wind again to search for them, but since Dor was not of the ArVen Tane he would not be able to find him like he could Tam. And, if Dor had been taken, he would most likely be locked up some place where he would not be able to reach him. It was hopeless then until he got to Tam.
Attending to the horses while Jne prepared camp, Thane rubbed them down with the brush Jne had provided, cleaning the mud and burs from their legs and underbellies. The rain had only just let up that morning but the sun never did fully appear so the mud was still thick everywhere. The horses whinnied softly in appreciation as they ate the large grass that grew in abundance throughout the plains.
“Eat and rest well tonight, my friends,” Thane said, patting Chtey’s side. “You have both earned it and over again.”
Finished with the horses, he walked over to where Jne knelt striking a stone against a steel rod trying to create a spark hot enough to ignite the wet wood she had gathered. He smiled. There was a time when he’d watched Jack do the same thing, striking fire to wood. He had been amazed the first time he saw him do it. He never imagined that fire could be placed on wood instead of being pulled directly from it. Reaching over to her, he rested a hand on her arm to stop her. “Let me help.” To his surprise, she glared at him.
“I am capable of starting a fire,” she spat, jerking her arm away.
He sighed. “I meant no dishonor, Jne. I just have a faster way.”
She eyed him skeptically but finally acquiesced.
He gave her a half smile in return. “Do you remember when I told you about my Tane?”
She nodded, watching him more intently now.
“Well,” he said placing his hand on the wet wood, “this is one of the benefits of the QenChe Tane.” Speaking the word, he pulled the fire from the timber, immediately causing it to ignite. Glancing at Jne to catch her reaction he was somewhat relieved to see the smile on her face. He was no longer ashamed of what he could do or who he was, but he was still cognizant of the fact that those not of his race may find his powers a bit frightening. He had grown up seeing how the unknown often set people at odds with each other.
“That is a wonderful gift,” Jne said, her rarely seen smile brightening her face.
He felt his breath catch. Whenever she smiled like that he was always overcome with how beautiful she really was. He never knew quite how to react to her in such situations. He felt grateful, in a sense, that she didn’t smile too often because of the dizzying affect it had on him.
Forcing his eyes away he reluctantly cast them toward the fire sad to let go of her face.
Jne caught his reaction and felt a tiny tingle of joy by it, her smile widening for a brief moment before she forced it down and returned to her serious look. Turning away a bit flushed, she quickly rummaged through her bag in search of the cooking pot.
Since the orc’s passing and their distance from Haykon, both thought a fire would not pose any danger and would be a welcomed alternative to another wet and cold night. They needed to dry out before their push in the morning and another fire would not be allowed as they approached the HuMan fort. They would have to go through the front gates, deciding to do so in the open during the day, but they also decided not to announce themselves either while still out alone on the plains. In the bustle of the city they would have a better chance at defending themselves because of the innocent passerby then they would as two against many in the open. And, as Jne had reminded him, the Tjal do not “skulk around, but face their enemies straight on.”
“What other gifts do you have?” Jne finally asked breaking the sudden awkward silence as she placed water in the pot and put it on the fire to boil.
Thane chanced a look at her, relieved and disappointed that her smile was gone. “Well, you have seen me ride the winds. That is one that only I have. All Chufa of the QenChe Tane can pull fire from things that are dead.” He looked at the flames licking the air above them and then continued. “I can also draw it from the living.”
“That is a powerful weapon,” was all she said.
He stared at her for a moment then turned back to the fire. “Yes, but I have not yet learned how to control it as such. The day you found me unconscious I had used fire to kill something very large and it nearly killed me.”
Jne just nodded, tossing some chunks of dried meat into the pot. “So, you must not use it on anything large,” she said flatly, as if the answer were obvious.
He decided not to argue. He had rolled the question around in his mind for quite some time. When he had first used it against the wolg, it had taken most of his energy. When he
used it against the dragon, so much had been required of him that it was almost more than he could give and still support his own life. He had already made the correlation between size and need but that didn’t help him with control. Could he just burn something enough to send it away or hurt it? Or was it all or nothing? For it to be of any use to him at all, he would have to be able to control its force.
He decided to change the subject. He told her of the other Tane and their inherent powers, also speaking of his ability to find water and communicate with animals. At first he thought she might be mad at such revelations, worried she may think that he cheated with his tests to become Tjal-Dihn, but she merely nodded in understanding. She had told him once before that his Tane helping him made no difference to her when it came to who he was or her feelings toward him. It was part of him and therefore was not an excuse for anyone else to use when their own abilities failed them.
She added some herbs and garlic to the mix, the smell causing his stomach to growl in anticipation. “And these are all the powers that you have?” she asked, as if what he had told her were not enough by themselves.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. For right now, yes. With the others, they have only manifested themselves during great need. I have to learn them on my own since there is no one else who can teach me.”
She regarded him for a moment looking from his face to the medallion shaped skin piece that was strung around his neck. “Is that not the same mark as your own?”
He looked down at the TanIs he had taken from Bedler’s room and now wore around his neck. “Yes,” he answered softly, shuddering at what that person must have gone through when loosing the mark of his Tane.
“Is it a trophy from someone you killed in battle?”
He was horrified at the thought. “Of course not!” he spat, his voice much harsher than he intended. It was a simple and plausible question though since he wore it like a trophy. “No,” he said more softly. “This is the TanIs of one of my people. When someone’s TanIs is removed in such a way that person’s soul is banished forever. No one would do such a thing unless they were extremely evil.”
Jne shrugged at the explanation, not seeming affected by the awfulness of it at all. “Then you must not be the only one,” she said matter-of-factly as she stirred the stew. “There was at least one other. Maybe there are more who could teach you.”
Thane’s spirits lifted briefly at the thought but he knew it was not possible. Yes, there had been another, but his secrets had gone with him when he was killed. Since the only other Chufa alive were from the village he’d come from, he knew there wasn’t any other who could help him. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “I am the only one.”
“Well,” she said, scooping some stew into a bowl for him and then passing it over, “then you will learn as it comes. It is not to be forced or rushed.”
He ate his stew but looked at her from the corner of his eye. A feeling of contentment washed over him. She was different from anyone he’d ever known. She placed no expectations on him other than he be what and who he was. He had never felt so free and comfortable in his life.
Taking some stew for herself, Jne sat back and took a quick taste and then questioned further. “If that flap of flesh you carry is, as you say, the TanIs of another, why do you keep it?”
Her question stunned him. She had not said it accusingly but in the same matter-of-fact tone. It was a simple question. Why indeed did he keep something that represented such pain and torture? When he’d left Bedler’s castle, the only thing he could think of at the time was that he didn’t want Bedler to have it. After that it had merely just stayed around his neck without much notice. He had studied it once before but since then his mind had been so caught up in finding Tam that he had never really thought of why he kept it. But what would he do with it? It was not something to be merely cast aside. It deserved the proper rites of the SeiEeDu.
He shook his head. “I don’t know why I have kept it. You are right though, it is a vile thing to have.” Taking it from around his neck, he looked at it. Whose was it? It was an exact replica of the one on his ankle. That there had been one like him gave him a small sense of hope but what had happened to that person seemed too close to what had almost occurred to him for his liking. Still, without it, he would never have known another like him had once lived.
He placed the TanIs on the ground in front of him, suddenly very glad to have it off of his neck. He had to get rid of it. Settling the argument in his mind, he knew what had to be done and would not hesitate anymore to see to its completion. Stretching forth his hand he laid it gently on the skin medallion. It was the right thing to do and the right way to do it.
“Shonosh.” He spoke the word to draw out fire and then pulled back his hand expecting the skin to ignite and burn quickly into ash, but to his utter shock, the piece of leathered skin remained undamaged and perfectly whole.
“What happened?” Jne asked. “Why did it not ignite like the cook fire?”
Thane stared at her briefly and then looked again at the TanIs at his feet. “I don’t know, unless….” A thought suddenly entered his mind drawing away his breath with it. “It’s still alive.”
“What?” Jne gave him a look that suggested she thought he was either making a bad joke or that he had lost his sense. “How can a mere piece of flesh still hold life?”
He moved to pick it up but then recoiled from it. “It must still hold the spirit captive. That is why to remove a TanIs means instant death and spiritual banishment.” He turned to Jne with a half-crazed, half-excited look. “The TanIs must hold the spirit intact.”
Jne shook her head. “You speak as one who has fallen hard from his horse.”
“No,” he said, his excitement growing. “No, listen. A Chufa baby, when it is born, is not a real person until, on the eighth day, it receives its name and TanIs. It is the first time the child opens its eyes and is welcomed as a new member of the community. It is also when it receives its spirit. But that doesn’t happen until it is given its TanIs in connection with its Tane. That is why the TanIs remains intact to the body during the skinning of a SeiEeDu, because the spirit is held to the body there. It is only able to find release at the burning!”
Jne’s look turned from incredulity to concern at Thane’s babbling about fire, skinning, TanIs, and Tane. “You make no sense, Renja of the Chufa.”
Thane stopped talking and held up his hands. “I’m sorry,” he said, the excitement still in his voice. “It would not make any sense to anyone who knows little or nothing of Chufa culture. Let me slow down and try to explain.”
She eyed him warily but nodded her head and waved her hand for him to go on.
He smiled. “When a Chufa baby is born it waits eight days before it is brought before the leaders of each Tane and is given a name and the Tane it will carry. At that moment, the TanIs is placed on the ankle and the baby opens its eyes for the first time. It is at that same moment that the child receives its spirit and becomes Chufa.”
Jne nodded her understanding, encouraging him to continue.
“Now, when a Chufa dies the body must pass through the SeiEeDu to release its spirit to paradise. It is a very specific ceremony that must be followed exactly. The blood is drained from the body and all the skin is removed except for the TanIs. The TanIs remains intact on the body. Once that is done, fire is called from the body and the body and the skin are burned. Then the remaining ashes are sent on the wind. There’s more to it than that but that is the basics of it.”
Jne was starting to catch on. “So you think that the spirit is connected to the TanIs and that is why this one will not burn. Because it is not dead and only something dead can have fire called from it?”
Thane threw his hands into the air. “Exactly! To remove the TanIs from a Chufa, alive or dead, banishes the soul forever and now I believe I know why that is.”
“Because the spirit is still connected to the TanIs making it alive and unable to be burned by
one holding the QenChe Tane because they can only call fire from something dead.”
Thane smiled at her. “Right.”
“But you can call fire from the living.”
His breath caught. She was right. He could call fire from the living. He still had not figured out how it was possible or how he did it, but he had done it twice already. He looked down at the TanIs still lying at his feet. “You’re right,” he breathed. “I could call fire from it.”
The thought brought a rush of questions that all begged to be answered at once. What would that mean for the spirit connected to the TanIs? Would it be released or snuffed out with the Tane marking? Did the spirit know what was going on around it? Could it see him now? Was it cheering him on to burn the marking or was it crying out in dread of being destroyed? But the biggest question of all was could he actually do it? Could he pull fire from it? There was no great need. He was not in any peril. The TanIs posed no threat to him. He had already decided to be rid of the thing and now he had the answer on how. The other questions, he knew, could never be answered. He didn’t know if it would work, but he knew that he should try. He looked at Jne and bit his lip. There was nothing else for it but to try. It was the only way. Reaching his hand down he stopped just before touching the marked skin. “I can’t touch it,” he whispered.
“What?” Jne stood and moved to his side.
Looking at her, he shook his head. “When I called fire from the living before, I was not touching them. That must be why I could not call fire from the TanIs earlier. I was touching it like I would something that is dead.”
Jne nodded. “That sounds reasonable.”
He looked back at the TanIs. “You better stand back,” he said, his voice suddenly firm with resolve.
