Glimpses

by Vincent Trigili

  I took a deep breath and then another. I had to focus on this task. No looking out the window or watching clouds. I needed to concentrate.

  Looking around, I found a table where I could sit with my back to the window with nothing of interest in front of me and slowly began to copy the chart. As I made each stroke of a symbol or number, I compared it to the original. The room darkened around me, but I didn’t stop. It was painfully slow, and my wrist and back ached, but I kept on writing.

  As it started to become too dark to work, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at the healer.

  “The sun is about to set. You had better go home,” he said.

  I had copied about half the chart. “I’ll come back tomorrow to finish this.”

  “Tomorrow I’ll be out. I need to buy sulfur and mandrake, as you noticed.”

  “And wormsroot,” I added.

  “No, the caravan that will be here tomorrow doesn’t sell that. I’ll have to send someone to the city for it.”

  That would triple the price of the expensive root. “I’ll get you some.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Really?”

  I took an empty container from the counter. “I’ll fill this and trade it for an apprenticeship.”

  “Do you have any idea how much that is worth?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I’ve studied the price sheets. This much wormsroot would cover my apprenticeship at the normal rate.”

  “Huh.” He leaned over and looked at the work I was doing. “This is very good work.”

  “Thank you.”

  “If you can raise the money, either by that jar of wormsroot or other means, I’ll give you an apprenticeship.”

  “Thank you!” I yelled and ran for home. I was sure I heard a “Huh” as I left.

  CHAPTER 3

  The next morning, I went looking for my father before sunrise. He was talking with my mom about their plans for the day. When he noticed my presence and greeted me, I said, “Dad, I have to leave for a few days.”

  “Oh? Where are you going?” he asked.

  “I’m running an errand for Healer Tanyl,” I said.

  “And why are you doing this for him?” he asked.

  “Because he’s going to make me his apprentice,” I said with a huge grin.

  “Healer Tanyl is taking you on as his apprentice?” he said with amazement. “Why, I bet every kid in town has tried to get that position. How did you manage it?”

  “Healer Tanyl must have noticed how brilliant he is,” said my mom proudly.

  “I haven’t definitely got the job yet, but this errand will clinch it,” I said.

  He nodded thoughtfully and said, “That makes sense. Take the crossbow and some provisions with you. Opportunities like this don’t come often. Take whatever you need to secure that apprenticeship.”

  “Thank you!” I said and ran off to pack.

  As I left, I heard my mom say, “What are you doing? He’s too young to go off alone like that.”

  “He will remain too young until he does. You have to let him become a man,” responded my father.

  It was a common argument between them. She was always trying to keep me safe, and he was always trying to make a man out of me. I sighed, knowing that they each loved me in their own way.

  I didn’t wait for the rest of the conversation, since I knew if I did my mom would stop me and insist that I take along my older brothers. It would be more a case of them taking me on this errand, and that would not prove my ability to Healer Tanyl. Mom meant well, but my father was right. I needed to do this myself.

  I took the crossbow, some bolts, some clothes, and all the provisions I could stuff into my sack. If things went well, it should only take a few days to hike out to the valley and get the wormsroot, then a few more days to hike back. Still, it would be good to have company for the hike.

  I shouldered my pack and walked to where Ryn lived with his sister Rose. I wasn’t sure if I had any real friends, but they were the closest I had.

  They lived in an orphanage near the town’s outskirts, the same orphanage where my parents had found me. I was too young to remember that day, but my mom often spoke of it. Since we didn’t know my real birthday, we celebrated that day instead. In a way, it was my birthday. It was the day I had gained a family, and the best day of my life.

  Ryn and Rose were not so fortunate. They had entered the orphanage as older children, and they seemed to rebel at any attempts to place them in homes. The story they told everyone was that their parents were famous warriors who had been killed in a battle, but no one really believed them. Most likely they’d just been abandoned, like most of the kids in the orphanage. The hero story was cool, though, so everyone played along with it.

  What was true was that they knew how to live in the woods. Several times over the years, they had left the orphanage and traveled into the wilds. They’d been gone for weeks at a time and then suddenly came back. They didn’t talk about what they’d done, and after a while people stopped asking.

  It would be cool to be a famous warrior. I could see myself racing up a hill, holding a sword over my head and approaching the enemy. I screamed out a battle cry and charged. My men struggled to keep up, and that was good. I would take the brunt of the enemy’s first volley.

  Stumbling into a tree shattered my daydream. Thankfully, this time no one was around to see. With a sigh, I kicked some stones and pressed on towards the orphanage.

  I found Ryn and Rose behind the building, throwing rocks at a grizzled old tree. The tree had been struck by lightning at least three times and was quite dead, but it refused to fall over. The blackened husk was at least three times my own height, and if any balls got stuck in it, they could stay there. That was for sure.

  Rose and Ryn were pretty much my opposite in every way. They were tall, with broad shoulders and fair hair. Rose always wore hers in a ponytail, while Ryn kept his roughly cut at about shoulder-length. They both had fair skin and green eyes. They usually wore clothing made from random pieces of torn leather they had found, and were almost always together.

  “Hey!” I greeted them as I approached.

  “Zero! Good to see you finally remembered how to walk,” commented Ryn.

  “What’s the sack for? Going somewhere?” asked Rose.

  “Yes, and I was hoping you’d come with me,” I said.

  “Where to?” asked Ryn.

  “Into the wilds. I need to collect some roots for Healer Tanyl,” I said.

  “It looks as if you expect to be gone for a while,” commented Rose.

  “At least a few days, perhaps a week,” I said.

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s go,” said Ryn.

  “Beats sitting around here,” agreed Rose.

  “Definitely,” I replied, and we started walking towards the wilds.

  As soon as we were out of sight of the town, Ryn stopped. “We need to pick up our stuff first,” he said. “Stay here. It’ll just take a few minutes.”

  Rose and Ryn ran off, and I quickly lost sight of them. I had assumed they were going to pick up things from the orphanage, but they went off in a completely different direction.

  The sun had risen another finger’s breadth before they returned. When they’d left me they had been wearing scrap leather, but they came back in studded leather armor with massive hammers slung on their backs. At their waists, various bags were attached to their belts, including a pair of canteens each. The equipment appeared to be in very good condition. I knew enough from my father’s forge to recognize high-quality weapons when I saw them.

  Ryn was also carrying a staff in one hand, which he tossed to me. “Take this. I’ll teach you to use it as we go.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I thanked them, and we headed down the trail.

  After we’d walked for a while, I finally asked, “Where did you get all this?”

  “Our parents left it for us. We keep it hidden out here where thieves won’t find it,” said Ryn.

&
nbsp; “With all this gear, though, why are you living in an orphanage?” I asked.

  Ryn shrugged. “Have to live somewhere, and it’s as good a place as any.”

  Rose smacked him in the back of the head, and said, “That’s where our parents left us years ago when they went on an important mission. They promised they would be back.” She paused to take a deep breath, and I saw that her eyes were moist. “At first we stayed in the hope that they’d come back for us, but now it’s kind of become our home.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but I was sure that this was part of their real story. The uneasy silence continued until Ryn began his normal banter.

  The two of them filled the walk with their constant joking until Ryn commented, “It’ll be dark soon. We need to find a place to camp.”

  I looked around and shrugged. “Does it have to be anywhere special?”

  He blinked at me, then looked over at Rose and back to me. “Have you never been out here before?”

  “Sure, lots of times, just never overnight.”

  “You really do need us,” said Ryn. He looked around for a moment and said, “Head towards that clump of trees. We can make camp there.”

  Once we reached the trees, they got to work building a fire and explaining to me about the necessity of setting watches. Ryn started to teach me the staff while Rose set traps: for breakfast, she claimed.

  After it grew too dark to practice, we gathered around the fire. Ryn asked, “Where exactly are we going?”

  “I have to get some wormsroot for Healer Tanyl.” I rooted in my pack and pulled out the container. “Enough to fill this.”

  “Why not just buy some? We can take you to the city where I’m sure a dozen shops stock that stuff,” commented Rose.

  “This is very expensive. I could work for a year and not earn enough to fill this container.”

  “So we collect it, then. Okay, where?” asked Ryn.

  “It has to be harvested under the full moon, and grows in only one place around here,” I told them.

  “When is the next full moon?” asked Rose.

  “Two days from now,” I said.

  “And where are we going?” asked Ryn.

  “Timiren’s Valley.” It was too dark to see, but that seemed to get a reaction from them.

  “Are you serious?” asked Ryn.

  “No, he’s just pulling your leg,” said Rose.

  “I am serious,” I said.

  “But do you know what’s in that valley?” asked Ryn.

  “Wormsroot,” I replied.

  “That’s not all,” said Rose in a hushed voice. “The cat people live there.”

  “Cat people?” I queried.

  “Werecats,” said Ryn.

  “So?” I asked.

  “So I hope you like being ripped to shreds and eaten raw!” said Ryn.

  “Do you know what werecats are?” asked Rose.

  I shrugged. “Well, based on the name, I guess they’re people who turn into cats during the full moon.”

  “According to legend, when great warriors fall in combat, if they have pleased the god of the forest, they can choose to come back as werecats: humans with the ability to take on the form, speed and strength of a jaguar.”

  “Come on, you don’t actually believe that?” I asked. I had heard the legend. The cat people were said to be vicious hunters who lay in wait for hapless travelers to enter their territory and then sprang out and ate them. It sounded like a story invented to make kids too scared to wander off, and I had never believed it.

  “Think about it, Zero. All the strength and power of a jaguar, and the intelligence of a man,” said Ryn.

  “Oh, they’re real. Very much so,” said Rose.

  “Look, I just have to gather enough wormsroot to fill this container and get it back to Healer Tanyl.”

  “Why?” asked Ryn.

  “Because if I do, he’s agreed to take me on as his apprentice,” I said.

  “You?” gasped Ryn.

  “Healer Zero; there’s almost a musical sound to it,” said Rose.

  “Yes, me. Please don’t back out now. I need to do this,” I pleaded.

  “How deep into the valley do we need to go?” asked Ryn.

  “Not very far. Wormsroot’s quite abundant in there. I’m not sure why it’s so expensive.”

  “Probably because most people who try to harvest it end up as dinner for the cat people,” said Ryn.

  “How much will that container be worth when it’s full?” asked Rose.

  “It will cover my entire apprenticeship,” I told her.

  She whistled.

  “The entire thing?” asked Ryn in astonishment.

  I nodded. “Please, this is my big chance!”

  They looked at each other, and Ryn shrugged. “If we wait as long as possible to get close and stay on the edges, we should be able to gather some roots and get out unnoticed‌—‌I hope.”

  CHAPTER 4

  We arrived at the valley a day early, so Ryn spent that time trying to teach me how to defend myself with the staff. His idea of teaching involved telling me what to do, then laughing and making jokes whenever I got it wrong.

  When the sun was directly overhead, we scouted out the edge of the valley. It was eerily quiet as we pushed through bushes looking for a suitable area to find wormsroot. It would grow where the ground was moist and exposed to direct moonlight.

  “Is this it?” whispered Rose.

  She was standing near the edge of a mossy area, partially shaded by the nearby trees. I carefully made my way there, making sure I didn’t step on any wormsroot.

  “You said it would resemble lots of little worms just under the surface, and that’s what this looks like,” said Rose.

  “Wow!” I gasped. She was standing at the edge of a large patch of wormsroot. There was more growing in this patch than I had ever seen, even in pictures; more than enough to fill Healer Tanyl’s container. “Yes, this is perfect.”

  “Let’s go back to camp and rest. We’ll come back when the moon is high enough in the sky to give us light,” said Ryn.

  He led the way back out of the valley and up over a hill. Behind the hill, we made camp and returned to staff practice for a while.

  As night approached, Ryn said, “You should get some sleep. We might have to run all night after picking the wormsroot.”

  “You’re still talking about the ‘cat people’ legend?” I shook my head in disbelief.

  “It isn’t just a legend. Look, I’m serious. The cat people are real, and you’d better be ready for them. I think that patch might be close enough for us to pick the root and get away before they notice us, but you’d better be ready to move fast.”

  His tone was more serious than I’d ever heard before. Something about this valley really concerned him; the cat people myth, or maybe something else.

  I shrugged and climbed into my bedroll. “Wake me when it’s my turn to keep watch.”

  I was tired enough from working with the staff but not ready for sleep. I lay back and studied the sky. It was easy to find patterns and shapes in the stars, and soon I was watching great battles between heroes and monsters.

  After what seemed like a few seconds of daydreaming, Ryn was shaking me and the moon had moved from the horizon to directly overhead.

  “What?” I muttered.

  “It’s time to gather your worms,” he said.

  “Wormsroot,” I corrected him, grumbling. I pulled myself out of the bedroll and tried to wake up as I packed my things.

  Rose brought me a canteen and some dried meat. “Here, drink now and eat as we go.”

  She left to see to her packing, which gave me a moment to move around and try to clear my mind. Images of the war in the stars were still bouncing around my head. When I’d fallen asleep, they had followed me into my dreams.

  I gasped as I tripped over a rock near the edge of the camp. Winded, I pushed myself up onto my knees, my head cleared by the fall. As I placed m
y hand on the ground for balance, I had to stifle another gasp.

  Before me lay a paw print, just like any left by the various cats around town, except for one major difference: these prints were bigger than my hand. The cat that left them must have been massive.

  Was this real? It couldn’t be. No cat is that big. Ryn must have put it here to scare me. Well, I wouldn’t let him have that satisfaction. I would act as if I hadn’t even seen it.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  I stood up the rest of the way. “Sure. Are we ready to go?”

  He nodded, and we headed off. When we reached the mossy area where the wormsroot grew, I handed each of them a bag. “Put as many as you can in the bag. We can sort them out tomorrow in the daylight.”

  They nodded and got to work, all business tonight. There was no joking, no mock fighting, just rapid gathering of roots. Something really was bothering them, and this worried me, so I also worked as fast as I could.

  A low rumbling growl from the woods caused the blood in my veins to freeze. Ryn and Rose stood up slowly, dropping their collection bags and drawing their hammers. They were like mirror images, dropping into a fighting stance with their backs angled towards each other. They held their massive hammers in front of them, just above the shoulder, ready to strike.

  I looked past them to the source of the growl. At the edge of the woods stood three huge jaguars, their black fur glistening in the moonlight and their bright yellow eyes boring through me.

  I lifted my crossbow and released the safety catch. I would only get one shot. Hopefully, Ryn and Rose could take one jaguar each. My mind was unnaturally clear as the danger of the moment washed over me.

  “Take the bags and run,” said Ryn.

  He and Rose moved past the bags and towards the great cats.

  I snatched up the bags, tied them shut and attached them to my belt while the standoff continued between the two humans and the three cats. Once the bags were secure, I took aim again with the crossbow, backing up slowly so that I’d have time to shoot when the cats charged. They would be fast and accurate.

  “Run,” hissed Rose.