Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane)

by Rath, Thomas

  Tam retreated from her thoughts just in time to keep from smashing her nose into Tangar’s wart covered back. A great commotion had arisen in the column ahead bringing them all to a sudden halt. She moved to the side and strained her eyes to see. A cloud of dust rose up stifling the air as all the troll women ran towards the rear seeking shelter. Krog shouldered his war club with a quickness not expected for one his size and rushed ahead, pushing himself past the fleeing women. Tam made as if to follow, not comfortable being far from her master, but was stopped by Tangar’s large arm. “You stay!”

  Tam glared at the ugly troll but did not disobey. A fight with her now would not help her find out what was happening and where her master had gone. From the sound of the noise that suddenly echoed down the column it was obvious that they were caught in some type of enemy encounter but she could not see with whom or how many they faced. The thought of fresh meat for dinner past through her mind briefly but was quickly replaced with an awful sense of doom. What if her master did not return? Who would bring her precious drink? She couldn’t live without it. She had to find him and make sure nothing happened to him.

  Tam looked around desperately. Krog’s wives had long since set themselves in the shade of a small tree and occupied their attention with digging for whatever they could find to fill their empty and grotesque bellies. Without so much as a whisper of wind, Tam was gone, running silently towards the increasing barrage of shouts and screams.

  She could not believe what greeted her when she finally reached the place of battle. The field had turned into a giant mass of death and confusion as trolls killed and were killed by their strange enemies. Tam stopped short as she caught site of one of them. A strange feeling touched her deep inside and she almost felt they were familiar in some way. Memories tried to crash in upon her hazy mind but were blurred by weeks of the troll liquor that turned them into a jumble of incoherent images.

  One of the enemy approached her sitting high upon the back of a tremendous beast. Tam stared in awe as it yelled something in an unfamiliar tongue before kicking the monster forward. She watched in amazement as the animal gained speed bringing the enemy quickly towards her. She knew she should run or be trampled over by the large creature, but for some reason she couldn’t move. The animal and its rider took on an almost majestic look as they continued to close the distance. She knew she would die, run through by the unusually large dagger he wielded, but their beauty as they charged towards her made death a small price to pay to behold such a thing.

  Suddenly, two large trolls intercepted the approaching adversary and knocked it from its mount destroying both in a brutal snap of crushing bones and flying blood. Tam felt a sadness well up inside that threatened to overcome her at the loss of such an inspiring vision when her eyes fell upon the back of another troll just beyond the two that had saved her life. With quick recognition she was overcome with relief at the sight of the hairy, scar covered troll. Krog! My master.

  Tam rushed forward crying out with joy at having found her master alive and well. She would still get her drink tonight after all. As she approached, she noticed a slight stir of movement just behind Krog and to his left that caused her heart to skip in horror. One of the downed enemy was rising slowly to his feet his eyes set hatefully on Krog who was completely unaware of his plight.

  Tam’s pace increased as she unknowingly judged the distance and time it would take to intercept her foe. The enemy now stood, fully erect, and brought its large dagger up preparatory to the final blow that would end her master’s life and, she knew, her own.

  She shrieked a deafening cry, pitched as one who had lost her mind, as she jumped on her prey’s back racking her fingernails savagely across his face and chest. Her victim dropped his dagger and tried to tear her from his body. Krog turned around dumbfound, the bloody finger he had just removed from a fallen foe slipping from his grasp. Tam continued to dig her claws mercilessly into her enemy’s body and face ripping one of his eyes from its socket and soliciting a frightening scream of pain and hatred from her victim.

  Finally, in a last heaving effort, he was able to tear Tam from his body. She kicked and fought like a rabid animal sending drool flying from her mouth as she tried to bite his hands. A powerful blow from the ground stole some of her fight as the one eyed foe cast her forcefully down before stooping to retrieve his elongated dagger. Rising to his full height he towered ominously over her bringing his weapon to bare and preparing for the final stroke. Tam turned her head to the side melting from the vicious animal she was a moment before to a groveling child as she awaited her fate.

  Nothing happened. The man paused as his one eye bulged, staring at the pointed ear that conspicuously shot out through her ratted hair. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, just as Krog’s war club connected with the side of his head ripping it clean from his shoulders and dropping his body flopping down to the ground next to her.

  Tam was at her masters feet instantly undaunted by the gore she knelt in coming from the headless body gushing blood. “Oh master,” she started only to be cut short by Krog’s foot as it heaved into her chest.

  “You not obey. No drink tonight.”

  The words struck Tam harder than any beating he could have possibly given her. Death would have been a more merciful punishment. Her whole body cried out in protest sending her into a frenzy of promises and pleadings as she held on tight to Krog’s feet. Thinking to appease his anger, she quickly scrambled over the headless body and grabbed the corpse’s still warm hand biting desperately into its finger sending blood running profusely down her chin. Chewing and tearing like a starving hound she finally freed the middle digit and turned to present it to Krog.

  “Please master! Anything but that! Please! I must have my drink! I must have it!”

  Krog looked at the pitiful creature she had become enjoying the power he wielded over her. He cursed the day that fast approached when he would have to give her over to the great one and she would no longer be his toy to play with.

  Grasping the finger from her uplifted hand he threw it to the ground in disgust burying it under his grinding foot. “He my kill. I take trophy,” he spat in anger. Tam couldn’t reply; whimpering uncontrollably as the emptiness the lack of drink created in her began to pound out its demands of satisfaction throughout her entire body.

  A distant horn wailed through the air, mocking her own cries, and the enemy suddenly turned and hurried away in retreat leaving the great mass of trolls alone to pick the field clean of any treasures that might be pilfered from their victim’s bodies. The troll women rushed up from the rear and fell upon the dead like vultures, removing all the flesh they could carry for the evening fire and the long days ahead. Tam worked extra hard hoping her performance might change her master’s mind while at the same time trying to keep the tremendous yearning for the dark liquid out of her fevered mind.

  While she worked, Tam noticed how familiarly odd the corpses were as if she had seen them before in a dream. They looked very similar to her own kind, whoever her kind might have been, but their ears were round instead of pointed like hers. They also had hair about the face and smaller eyes. A chill ran down her spine, as if by instinct, warning her that she ought to be fearful of such creatures.

  In no time, the battlefield was picked clean leaving very little to suggest that only moments before death had been dealt out in great and bloody numbers. The enemy wounded were summarily killed while the trolls just left their own to fend for themselves. And quickly, as if nothing of import had occurred, the large body of trolls gathered together and once more commenced their march towards the setting sun. Very few of their number had been lost and those that were would be recycled with the other dead into the troll’s cooking pots the next couple of days. They had no qualms over eating their own.

  Tam walked doggedly along unable to draw her mind away from the thought of a dry night. Just the idea made her feel weak causing her to stumble more than once. Krog’s women sneered joyful
ly at the suffering she was forced to pass through, while Krog just ignored her completely.

  The sun lay low in the western sky, casting long shadows across the land, before they finally reached the great river that had rumbled in the distance for quite some time. Tam quickly found a rope tied tightly around her throat that was then secured to her master’s waist. Before her slowed senses could figure out what was going on, Krog walked into the icy river pulling her along behind. She resisted, knowing she was not equal to the powerful spring torrent, but was quickly dragged in as Krog marched on toward the opposite shore.

  Her head was instantly sucked under the freezing water as she was swept up by the surge and carried down stream. The rope went taught, squeezing in around her throat, just as it began to take in water. She grabbed the rope and tried to kick her way to the surface but the water gushed over her forming an icy cocoon around her head. Her fingers felt numb as she tried desperately to pull herself towards Krog. Darkness dotted her vision and her head spun in a cloud of fuzz that was quickly rushing her towards unconsciousness. Her feet dangled helplessly behind her, following the pull of the river, and robbed her of any chance to reach a foot on the distant bottom. It was hopeless.

  Her eyes suddenly fluttered open and then shut quickly against a blinding light that brought on thoughts of heaven before the tremendous ache in her body told her otherwise. Taking stock of her surroundings she found she was slung over the shoulder of one of Krog’s wives who, upon noticing she had awakened, dropped her mercilessly to the ground where she was almost trampled by those that followed. Gaining her feet quickly, Tam fell into line behind the others half walking half crawling as she tried to force life back into her heavy limbs.

  All around her the land was lit up in artificial light that she quickly discovered came from a huge edifice not far off to their left. A massive work of stone had been erected there and upon its highest towers were great bodies of fire that sent their light reaching far out into the night all around. Small flinches of movement could be detected along the tops of the walls revealing a large number of men like those that attacked them earlier. Tam noticed that most were holding their bows at the ready as if waiting for the right moment to fire. Somehow she knew they were too far away to reach them with arrows and she wondered if the trolls would not stop and store up more meat for the march ahead.

  When no change in direction was ordered, Tam quickly bored of watching the activities along the distant wall and turned her mind to the more important matter of surviving the night without her draught. She could feel the nagging, empty feeling that steadily increased with the passing of each moment and she shuddered to think what the following hours would bring her.

  The minutes passed like days, slowing the world down around her. Each step felt like a week of severe torture as she trudged on trying without success to find a spot in her mind that would block out the ocean of grief that saturated her body and soul.

  Suddenly, strange little creatures started popping up from the ground to taunt her lashing out razor sharp claws to cut at her legs. She tried to move from their path but they were too quick as they continued to spread out around her. Small flying insects appeared, buzzing her head in a loud roar of beating wings, digging their stingers into her eyes and ears and lips. The skin on her hands turned scaly and then began to shrink crushing the bones in her fingers and shooting bolts of pain through her arms. Her head ignited with fever obscuring her vision of the creatures that continued their ruthless attack. She wanted to scream, the pain was too much, but when she opened her mouth, the tiny insects rushed in and stung her throat cutting off any sound.

  Suddenly, something caught hold of her face and squeezed it together as if to pop her head like an overripe melon. Her mouth was forced open and the insects rushed in with such force that she almost choked on them. They passed her throat, stinging her all the way down to her stomach where they quickly turned into liquid fire. She struggled for release as best she could but found she could no longer move as more insects were forced down her throat. The fire quickly spread to her limbs before working its way towards her head where she new it would devour her mind.

  It climbed up her neck slowly, burning through her skin as it did so, on its quest for her brain. Then, with a sudden rush, it shot through her skull turning her head into a ball of fire that blast from her eyes in an explosion of intense heat before quickly flashing out and leaving her body numb and surprisingly free of pain.

  She lay quietly, enjoying the feeling that washed over her before timidly opening her eyes. The creatures that had taunted her were gone. The insects had disappeared. Her body was back to what had become normal for her and all was how it should be. Letting out a sigh of contentment, she closed her eyes again, letting herself drift back into the recesses of her mind where she curled up in the warmth of the darkness and allowed herself to slip into the void.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Thane watched the edge of the woods in silence as Jack finished saddling the horses. Knowing Thane’s distress over Dor’s disappearance, Jack insisted on preparing the horses himself making some comment about Thane messing it up anyway hoping to throw a little cheer back into the Chufa boy. But Thane didn’t make much of an objection still overcome by the hurt and disappointment that tore at his very core. For the first time since he woke up in Jack’s cave, the realization of what had happened to him and where his life was going suddenly broke through the dam he had created to hold back his feelings and now it threatened to drown him in the deluge. The only thing that had saved him in a society that shunned and feared him was the brotherhood he had had with Dor and the love of a caring mother. Now they were both gone. His mother because of his father’s hatred and now Dor because...why? Because he couldn’t accept that Jack was not the nightmare they had been taught he should be? It didn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t people accept one another for the type of person they were instead of passing judgment solely on where they came from?

  The clouds of dark depression began to overshadow him as he scanned the trees again as if looking harder would make his friend suddenly appear. It was his fault Dor was out here in the first place. It was his fault Tam was suffering who knew what torture at the hands of the trolls. It was all his fault. The black fingers of self-loathing tightened their grip around his aching heart threatening to paralyze him with doubt. Only the thought of reaching Tam and helping her to escape kept him from completely giving up. He could still right some of that wrong.

  Tears wet his cheeks in a steady stream as if trying to wash the pain and sorrow away. He was alone in a world that despised and hated him for no other reason than him having been born into it.

  Jack’s voice skimmed across the emptiness sending a small ray of hope and reminding him that there were still two he could count on for the love he so desperately craved. Thane laughed at the irony and then a tiny speck of understanding suddenly forced its way through the dark emptiness that surrounded his soul. Dor had never felt the loneliness he had felt most of his life. Dor had a family that loved him and friends to spare. He didn’t feel that longing Thane was constantly forced to face. Of course it was easy for Thane to trust Jack and Erl. He wanted to. He needed to. It didn’t matter what they were, just that they accepted him. It wouldn’t be so easy for Dor, he suddenly realized, especially after what he had gone through with Wess and his men. But what about him? The fact that Dor couldn’t believe him was what hurt the most.

  Thane’s mind raced in the circle he had placed it in drawing himself in deeper and deeper as it spiraled farther and farther down. He was startled when Jack’s hand rested gently on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Thane. We have to go.” Thane stared blindly into Jack’s eyes as if looking at a stranger. Then with a last fleeting gaze towards the woods, he moved to his horse and threw himself into the saddle. Jack watched him for a moment feeling a sadness of his own before turning to his own horse and saddling up.

  Now that they were clear of the forest, Jack took
them almost due west. Grassy hills spread out all around dotted with an occasional cluster of oak and maple trees. The wind had picked up a little but the new sun on their backs warmed them as if attempting to penetrate the dark moods that surrounded the two silent travelers. As usual, Erl had bounded off ahead, seeming almost playful, if such a word could be placed on the flurry of fur, teeth and razor sharp claws that were his genetic make up. A few clouds dotted the sky as if trying to hold on to the rain of the previous days. Flowers swept past the horses’ hooves in brilliant color each vying for the eyes and admiration of the two passersby but neither seemed to notice, drawn deep within their own thoughts. Jack had tried early on to make conversation, hoping to cheer his friend, but it was to no avail.

  The morning quickly passed into midday bringing with it unusual heat and humidity for the time of year and for how far north they were. Jack stopped them under a small copse of large oak trees and without a word both went to work preparing a meager meal of hard bread and cheese that was washed down with the warm water they carried. Half way through their meal, Erl returned without ceremony and plopped down next to Jack letting out a small whine before lowering his head and falling asleep. Thane looked at the wolg and couldn’t help but envy him his simple life.

  Their meal over, they rounded up their horses that had been left to graze, and quickly prepared to move on. Thane was about to climb up into his saddle when Jack’s large hand suddenly closed around his wrist and pulled him back down. Thane just stared at him unsure of what was going on.

  “Thane,” Jack paused, looking down at his boots. “I’m sorry.”