Night Calls the Raven (Book 2 of The Master of the Tane)

by Thomas Rath

  Thane glanced at Tam, her face just as red as his. If not for the heat coming from his own face, he certainly would have felt the heat coming off of Jne’s as she glared at him.

  “Come,” Jack said, directing his comments to the Tjal woman, “let’s go and give these two a chance to get some rest.”

  Jne’s fiery stare turned on Jack as if she meant to will him to ash on the spot. “I belong here with Thane,” she hissed.

  Jack glanced at Thane who didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the building tension that threatened to steal the air from the room. He didn’t want to press his luck, but at the same moment, he didn’t think it would be good for Jne to stay in the room with them while they tried to rest. He was half afraid to find Tam strangled when he returned if she did.

  Thane suddenly waved a hand and then yawned. “It’s up to you, Jne,” he said smiling once more at Tam before pulling his legs up onto the bed. “We’re just going to be sleeping. Maybe you should go with Jack and see the town or something.”

  Jne’s angry stare turned back to Thane. “I stay with you,” she demanded.

  He laid his head on his pillow and sighed. “It’s your choice,” he answered, closing his eyes.

  Jack hesitated at the door but Tam turned her tired smile to him and nodded. “Thank you, Jack,” she said, before lying down. “For everything you have done for us. You are a great friend.”

  Jack suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. Nodding back to her he glanced at Jne who had moved from the cot and was now sitting with her back against the wall in between Thane and Tam. He sighed. This was going to reach a head soon, and when it did, he hoped he was at the wall fighting trolls, goblins, and orcs—where it was safe.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Thane opened his eyes and found Tam’s cot empty and Jne gone. Looking around quickly, he spotted Tam standing by the window, looking out as if mesmerized by what she saw. “Oh, there you are,” he said, making Tam jump before she turned and flashed him a warm smile. “Have you been up very long?”

  She moved away from the window and sat next to him on his cot, her smile warming him. The bags under her eyes, though still evident, had receded some giving her a healthier look. It seemed she was recovering quickly. She just needed a few more good nights of rest and some hearty meals and she would be back to normal again.

  “Only for a little while,” she answered, suppressing a yawn.

  “Where’s Jne?”

  Tam shrugged. “I don’t know. She was gone when I awoke.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know why, but I don’t think she likes me much.”

  Thane smiled and sat up. “I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s Tjal-Dihn. They don’t seem to like anyone.”

  Tam nodded slightly and reached for his hand. “It’s just so strange on this side of the mountains.”

  His heart ached for her. Tam had been through so much for him when she could have been safe this whole time back in the Ardath forest with their people.

  Looking back at the window, she sighed. “I long to smell the forest again and hear the soft crunch of pine needles under my feet.”

  He let out his own sigh. He had been dreading this ever since Jack had found him in the Shadow Mountains and he discovered Tam had been searching for him. “So do I,” he said simply, but his heart ached with the thought. “The sooner we can get you back there, the better.”

  Tam turned abruptly, capturing his gaze with her dark eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

  He tried to hold off the inevitable. He didn’t want to replace the joy they had been sharing at their reunion with the burden of necessity. What had to be would come all too soon for his liking. Why couldn’t they just enjoy the time they had together?

  “N-n-nothing,” he stammered, trying to postpone it. “I just meant that it will be good when you can do those things again.”

  Tam’s eyes narrowed slightly as she considered his words. She opened her mouth as if to speak, and Thane could tell by her look that he had failed in his attempt, but to his great relief, the door suddenly opened and Dor’s head popped in. Thane let out a silent breath and smiled at his friend.

  “Am I interrupting?” he asked, the strain heavy in his voice. “I can come back later.”

  Tam didn’t move, her eyes still locked searchingly on Thane’s face. “Of course not,” Thane smiled and waved him in. “I was just beginning to wonder if you were ever to return.”

  Dor glanced at the back of Tam’s head and then ran his eyes down to her hand, which was now empty of Thane’s, before finally moving completely into the room and walking slowly over to Tam’s bed where he sat.

  “Tam and I were just talking about how much we miss home.”

  Dor glanced quickly at Tam as if sizing up her condition before turning his full attention back to Thane. “I’ve been talking to Jack. He told me all about what has happened to you and the things you’ve discovered. He thought I should wait and have you tell me but I fear we don’t have much time left before it’s too late.”

  Thane’s eyes hardened slightly. “Too late for what?”

  Dor glanced quickly at Tam and then took a deep breath as if finally coming to a decision. “We need to get Tam out of here and back to the Ardath as soon as she is able to travel.”

  “What!” Tam exclaimed.

  Thane rested his eyes on her, the longing and sorrow clearly reflected in his green orbs. Instead of putting it off, Dor had brought it quickly to a head. “Dor is right. Haykon is not safe. Any hour, the hordes of goblins, orcs, and…” he hesitated, not sure how she might react to the idea of thousands of trolls pouring over the walls of the city, “…and trolls will be knocking down the gates.” Glancing quickly back at Dor, he continued. “You need to get out while you can and get back home.”

  Tam’s eyes widened slightly. “You mean we need to get out of here,” she exclaimed, catching the subtle use of the words Thane had chosen. “We need to get back home.”

  Dor didn’t say anything, but Thane could see on his friends face that he’d figured out what he’d meant. “Listen, Tam,” he started but was interrupted.

  “No,” Dor said, his voice becoming hard. “No! I won’t let you do this, Thane. You won’t waste all that we’ve been through just like that.”

  He held up his hand, “Dor, listen…”

  “He’s right,” Tam quickly interjected. “We’ve all suffered to get you back and now that we have you again we’re not going to let you just piss it away like it doesn’t matter.”

  “You don’t understand,” Thane started, his voice becoming harder.

  “Yes, we do,” Dor said, the strength of his voice matching Thane’s. “You expect us to just up and leave while you stay behind as if nothing has happened. Tam’s right.”

  “Will you just listen for a moment,” he pled, but Dor rolled right over him.

  “You’re coming with us.”

  “NO!” Thane finally shouted, bringing them to silence. He’d had enough. It was tearing him up inside but he had thought it through over and over again ever since he first woke up in Jack’s cave in what seemed like a lifetime ago. The choice was not his to make. The choice had been made for him and now he would have to live with that choice, no matter how much it hurt him to do so.

  He looked at his friends, his eyes pleading. Tam just stared back, the tears pooling on her eyelids. Dor looked at him defiantly, coiled as if ready to strike. He sighed heavily. “Please, will you just listen for one moment? I love you both. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to go home with you and return to our old lives. But you aren’t thinking it through. I know what you have gone through. It tears at my heart to think of what you both have suffered for me. I am not throwing that away by asking you both to leave.”

  “Then what was the use of all of this?” Dor asked, motioning around the room. “If not to bring you back with us, then what was it all about?”

  “But I am back safe,” he said softly. “You’ve succeed
ed in what you came to do.”

  The tears were running freely now down Tam’s face. “But you aren’t, Thane. Every minute you are here your life is in danger. In danger from the HuMans and now from what waits on the other side of those mountains,” she pointed in the direction of the Mogolth. “Please, Thane,” she continued, reaching out to take his hand. “Please. We lost you once already.”

  He looked deep into Tam’s eyes, the care radiating there was fierce. His heart ached doubly now for the pain he was causing her and the love he knew he could never return. He did love her. With all his heart he loved her and wished that the dream that had been in his heart could come true for him, but he had no power to make it come to pass. It was beyond his reach and there was nothing he could do about it.

  “And what do you think would be waiting for me when I returned?”

  Tam suddenly swallowed and glanced quickly at Dor. Yes, Thane thought. You understand, don’t you?

  “That doesn’t matter,” Dor quickly interjected. “We will face it together. We’ll force them to see the truth.”

  Thane shook his head. “You know that it won’t work, Dor. As wrong and misguided as our people have become, I won’t be the one to cause such trouble among them. It would only serve to prove them right about the prejudices they hold against me. My return would cause more problems than it would solve.”

  Dor shook his head. “It’s not right, Thane. It’s not right. You have done nothing wrong.”

  He nodded. “I know, but I can’t change the circumstances in which I find myself. I can only do the best with what I have been presented. The greatest way for me to show you my thanks for all that you’ve done for me is to stay here and fight and make sure that the HuMans don’t fall.”

  “The HuMans!” Tam spit the word out like it was poison. “Why should we care anything for the HuMans? It is their fault we are in this situation now.”

  Dor kept his eyes locked on Thane as he answered Tam’s question. “Because, if the HuMans fall we will be next.”

  Thane smiled, but there was no light in it. “Rather ironic, don’t you think? Me, fighting to save the same people who almost destroyed ours.”

  Dor returned the same smile but Tam just looked down at her hand now resting securely in Thane’s. “I’m staying,” she suddenly whispered.

  “What?” both Dor and Thane asked in unison.

  “Oh no,” said Dor immediately. “No. You are not going to stay here another minute longer than absolutely necessary. I am getting you out of here and back home where it is safe.”

  Thane opened his mouth to voice his agreement but Tam’s fury ignited instantly as she turned it onto Dor. “Safe? Haven’t you been listening, Dor. There isn’t anywhere safe. Thane’s right. If we don’t make our fight here, then there’s no use going home and waiting for the fight to come to us. By then it will be too late.”

  “You don’t know what you are saying,” Dor retorted. “There are thousands upon thousands of those creatures out there just waiting to overrun this place. How well do you think you’d fair if you got captured by those trolls again?” Dor’s voice was rising now as he spoke. “If you go back to that poison again, there will be no getting you back. That’s assuming they don’t just tie you up and roast you on a fire.”

  “I’m willing to risk it,” she shot back, her eyes blazing.

  “Well, I’m not!” Dor shouted. “I don’t want to be glued to your bed for days on end again wondering if your next breath will be your last. I don’t want to sit around with a stomach tied in knots worried about what vile thing those monsters are doing to you. I don’t want to wake in the middle of the night screaming because I’ve been dreaming about you skinned alive and eaten.”

  Thane watched his friend, listening to his words and agreeing with what he was saying yet, surprised at the passion behind his voice. Then it suddenly hit him. It had been so obvious from the start if he’d only been paying attention. It explained why Dor had been acting the way he had. “He’s right, Tam.”

  Tam’s fiery glare settled on Thane. “Not you too!”

  “You are too weak to fight,” he soothed, trying to get her to calm down enough to see reason. “No one is saying that you are not capable of taking care of yourself. It’s just that you have been through so much you need time to recover. And there is no better place for you to regain that strength than in the Ardath.”

  “I don’t believe this,” she fumed. “Yes, the trolls took me and they got me to drink their mother forsaken draught that had me bound ferociously to it. I admit it. I was an addict and I did terrible things because of it. But now that I am free, and feeling better than I have in months, you would have the gall to try and preach to me about staying safe while you go out and put your head back against the blade that had you trapped not so long ago yourself.”

  “It’s not the same,” Thane said, his eyes pleading with her to understand.

  “It is the same,” she retorted, the tears still falling unchecked down her face. “I want to get back at those trolls for what they did to me. I want to see their surprise as I bury my steel into their bellies. I want them to see that TamVen is no longer their toy on a string that they can manipulate as they please. And you will not rob me of this justice. Neither of you will!”

  Thane shook his head. “I understand your anger. I do. I feel the same way. But throwing yourself into a fight with such anger will only make you reckless and careless. And that sort of fighting will not help you or the ones around you who are counting on you to defend their backs.” He paused for a brief moment and then lowered his voice. “Plus, I could not stand the thought of losing you. If you care for me at all, please do this for me, Tam. Please go home so I’ll have something to fight for.”

  Her face softened slightly but she still glared at him, her tears slowing but not stopping completely. “I would ask the same of you, Thane.” Turning to Dor, she added, “And you. You ask me to do what you refuse to do yourselves. You ask me to just turn away and go home so I can sit around with my stomach tied in knots wondering if you are still alive or if you have fallen to tragedy. You want me to have sleepless nights wondering if I’ll ever see either of you again. You ask me to wait for fate to take me in the Ardath should you fail. You ask me to submit myself to all the same tortures you mentioned, but you’re all right with it as long as the trolls take me in the Ardath and torture me or eat me there. You have no right to ask such of me.”

  Both Dor and Thane opened their mouths to say something more but then shut them. Of them all, she had suffered the most. How could they ask that she leave without the chance to fight back? If they did lose, it would be better that she die in battle than cooked alive over a fire in the Ardath or worse, kept alive to suffer a life of dependency and addiction. In their honest desire to see her safe they had not seen the reality of the situation in which they now found themselves. Once again, the choice had been made for them. Circumstances had made the decision without them.

  Thane and Dor looked at each other for a long moment as if coming to the same realization together. Dor nodded slightly and then looked over at Tam. “You’re right,” he said softly. “It kills me with worry about what could happen, but you’re right. We have no right to ask you to wait out your fate at home.”

  Thane also nodded his head in agreement. “I’m sorry, Tam,” he said just above a whisper. “Please forgive me.”

  She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him hugging him close and sobbing. He glanced at Dor who suddenly turned away. He returned the hug, reaching a hand up to stroke her hair. “We’ll get through,” he whispered into her ear, while still watching Dor. He could see the pain flash across his friend’s face and he understood what had been bothering Dor all this time. It was so obvious. He couldn’t help but smile sadly, fore he knew that the pain that Dor was suffering now would soon be his for the rest of his days.

  “Well,” Dor said suddenly, getting up from Tam’s bed, “I need to be going.”

/>   “Wait,” Thane said, quickly reaching out to grab his arm. Pulling himself away from Tam’s embrace, he brushed the hair away from her face and looked deeply into her dark eyes. He could see his reflection there, which only increased the pain he was suddenly feeling deep within. “Why don’t you lie down a while and get some rest before dinner. I need to talk with Dor.”

  She looked at him curiously for a brief moment, the thought of them scamming to kidnap her and take her home flashing in her mind, before she just nodded and lay down on his cot. Dor looked uncertain but allowed Thane to push him to the door and out into the foyer beyond.

  “What is this about?” he asked softly after Thane shut the door behind them.

  Thane took a deep breath while regarding his friend. “Dor, I know what’s going on with you. I can’t believe I didn’t catch on before but I have been so preoccupied with the happiness I have been feeling of finally being with you and Tam again that I let my own feelings crowd my mind.”

  Dor shuffled his feet slightly, not meeting Thane’s gaze. “What are you talking about?”

  He smiled. “Tam.”

  Dor looked up. “Tam? What do you mean?”

  Thane reached out and squeezed his friend’s arm. “I know how you feel about her, Dor. It’s so obvious in the way you look at her, in the way you look at me when she’s near me. I’m just sorry I didn’t notice it before.”

  Dor stared at him blankly, his feelings completely masked. “What are you saying?”

  He took another deep breath to steady himself. He had to be convincing or it would never work. He was actually happy that Dor had such feelings for Tam. At least he approved of the match even though he knew his pain would equal, if not exceed what Dor had been showing so blatantly since the day before. He would definitely have to put on a better face than his friend had. It would get easier over time, he figured. It had to. “I know how you feel about Tam.”