“Thank you, Cosmo. I think that will be necessary, but no one must know I was here.”
“I’ll be discreet,” the voice from above assured.
Darnuir must have drifted off to sleep for his eyes sprang open when the thing holding him stopped moving.
“Wait here, I will signal to you when it is safe to come in,” the voice from above said in a hushed whisper. There was a creek, and the thing carrying him moved forwards, the soft, crunching noise of its steps rapping against something harder underfoot. The air suddenly felt much warmer. Darnuir approved. Another noise approached, a lighter, more hurried tapping.
“Cosmo? What are you doing here? Oh? Who is this?” The voice was light and motherly. Darnuir felt himself being handed over. He blinked up at the face above him. It was a smiling face with bright eyes, rounded pink cheeks and bouncing brown curls. After a few moments, she drew her eyes from Darnuir and looked up at something above her. “Oh not another one,” she said miserably. “Did the poor woman tell you her name?”
“No, Grace. I’m afraid she didn’t,” he said solemnly. “It was all she could do to hand him over to me. How she managed to make it as far as she did I’ll never fathom; must have been walking without rest for days.”
“Well, he’s in safe hands now,” she said in a bubbly fashion, returning to smile at Darnuir.
“I’ll just check if we have enough sheets for him.” Darnuir was once more transferred from one pair of arms to another. Light footsteps tapped away.
There was a momentary pause before the deeper voice from above hissed, “Come now. Quickly!” Another face appeared, drained almost entirely of colour but with sparkling eyes. “Head up to the third floor. Second door on the right should be free. Go. I’ll bring you some needle brew.”
The colourless face hurried silently off.
“Good news!” rang the motherly voice. “There is space for him along with little Balack and Eve.” The rosy-cheeked face reappeared above him.
Darnuir found himself passed yet again. He only wanted to sleep.
“He’ll be in good company then,” the voice from above said. “I’m afraid I’ve caught a chill from outside. I’ll just boil some needle brew myself and run upstairs to change my boots before I head off.”
“Yes, I’m sure you have celebrations to get back to.” The smiling face with the rosy cheeks began scrunching her lips at Darnuir. She did this a few times, over and over. Suddenly, she stopped. “Oh Cosmo, I think we are running low on the silver pine needles. You’ll see yourself. Could you tell the next party heading out to gather more for us?”
“I will!”
*** Two Weeks Later ***
Darnuir gargled at Olive above him. He knew she was Olive, as everyone always made that sound when she was around. Her face was thinner than Grace’s and she did not scrunch her lips at him as much. There was a lot of thudding from above them. Olive peered towards the ceiling, confused. Then the knocking came closer and Olive bustled off towards it, her thin frame disappearing briefly out of sight. The pounding feet grew closer still until a breathless Cosmo appeared over him.
“Are you really so doubtful that we can look after him, Cosmo?” Olive snarled. “You’re here almost every day!”
“Please, forgive me,” he panted. “You and your sister do fine work. There has been an urgent call to mobilise and retake the lower mountains, and I wanted to say goodbye. Apparently Castallan’s forces have withdrawn almost entirely and we’re going to seize the chance.”
“Just like that?”
“It would seem so,” Cosmo began still breathless. “Our scouts report that the demons were already well out of the mountains and heading north. Garon was amongst them and I trust him entirely. We have teams stationed to keep watch over the situation. If the demons suddenly return, we’ll know in plenty of time.”
*** Six Months Later ***
Darnuir was being held by Grace as Olive changed his bedding. He liked the soft, swaying motions and the warmth from being pressed up against her.
“You would have thought after this much time that we might have heard some news?” Grace asked anxiously.
“Normally, no news is good news, little sister.”
“Yes, but for this much time?” Grace said.
Olive ignored her and busied herself in lugging chunks of wood into the fireplace. “We’ll need more wood soon, Grace. We’re always running low these days.” She stopped to wipe her brow. “You’re not the only one who is worried you know,” she added. “But I don’t think we should be too concerned. If the demons have wiped them all out, then we would have been attacked.”
“I know,” Grace admitted. “It’s just, I… well…”
“I know who you are most worried for,” Olive said exasperatedly, swooping down upon one of the crying babies. “There, there, Balack, nothing’s wrong,” she said, cooing. “Were we making too much noise? I’m sorry,” she hummed, rocking him back and forth.
“I feel safer holding this one than him,” Olive said, nodding at Darnuir in Grace’s arms. “The other day he reached out and squeezed my finger. I didn’t feel it at the time but when I put him back down, my finger was caked in bruises.”
“Really?” Grace asked, peering fondly down at Darnuir. “You must be stronger than you look,” she said, tapping his noise affectionately. As she did so, Darnuir heard loud cheering coming from outside. The merriment grew louder as though each contributor was bursting with joy.
“What in the world is going on?” Grace inquired, placing Darnuir back into his cradle. Olive did the same with Balack and both women ran eagerly to the window.
“It’s them!” Grace squealed. “It’s the hunters, they’re back!”
Some of the crowd must have entered the lodge for the noise began to seem deafening to Darnuir. He wiggled his head to better see what was happening and wailed loudly to indicate his displeasure.
“Such a story to tell you both!” one hunter yelled.
“You cleared out the lower mountains then?” Olive asked, and yelped in surprise as she was lifted into the air.
“What, over half a year?” another voice asked incredulously. “No, we did much more than that!”
“What then?” Grace shouted, half-laughing and half-crying with relief as a beaten-looking Cosmo stepped to embrace her.
“We shouldn’t have to worry about demons for quite some time!” Cosmo announced, releasing a blushing Grace and fighting his way through to Darnuir’s side. His face was haggard; a red line stretched across his withdrawn cheek. A rough beard had sprouted on his dirt-smeared face but his smile and bright green eyes shone as warmly as ever. As he bent lower over Darnuir, he whispered something into his ear. “Well, we certainly bought you some time.”
*** Five Years Later ***
“Tell me again!” Darnuir demanded, swinging his head from side to side. He was perched on top of Cosmo’s shoulders as the pair sauntered through one of the valleys, not far from town. A ragged and severely beaten-up target dummy was squished under Cosmo’s left arm.
“You’ve heard this story too many times, Darnuir,” he laughed. “I think you should be the one who tells me.”
“Fine,” Darnuir squeaked enthusiastically. “Basically, you and Garon, and all the other hunters, went down the mountains and they were empty.” He paused to think.
“A good start, Darnuir. Do carry on.”
“Well, nobody was there. So you all went out of the mountains to find out what was going on and you met lots of men on horses!”
“A company of Chevaliers reduced to such lowly terms?” Cosmo teased.
“And then the men on horses told you that everyone was gathering to fight the demons in the north and then you, erm, you…” Darnuir hesitated, “erm, you went there. And there were fairies and dragons too, and you beat the demons!” he said, concluding his tale on a gusto of joy.
“I suppose that is a decent enough summary,” Cosmo said. “And what is that battle’s name?”
“
Demons’ Folly!” Darnuir said. “That’s easy to remember.”
“Well I’m glad of that,” said Cosmo.
“Cosmo,” Darnuir began, “were there trolls there too?” he asked. “Grace tells us stories about frost trolls and how they have big, pointy teeth and will eat you up!”
“No, Darnuir,” Cosmo sniggered. “There were no trolls. There are no such things as trolls.”
“But Grace told us!” Darnuir said. “She tells us stories just like you do. Eve gets scared of frost trolls but I don’t,” he said as fiercely as he could, waving his little, wooden stick in the air.
“I think Grace tells you about trolls so you will behave,” Cosmo said. “You do behave with Grace and Olive, don’t you? Remember, I won’t take you out to practice if you are naughty.”
“I know,” Darnuir said glumly.
They continued their leisurely pace through the valley until the ancient trees on the mountainside offered some variance to the otherwise white landscape. As Cold Point poked itself over the horizon, Darnuir saw Grace and Garon awaiting their arrival at the town gates. Garon marched out to meet them.
“Cosmo, Captain Tael has requested your presence to help organise the reinforcements,” Garon informed him briskly.
“When did they arrive?” Cosmo asked, putting Darnuir back down on his feet. Darnuir hurried to wrap himself around Garon’s leg, as was his custom.
“Earlier today, while you were training with Darnuir,” Garon said. He shook Darnuir playfully and winked at him. “They say their journey was demon-free.”
“Thank you, Garon. Wait here for me while I return this one.” Cosmo pulled Darnuir off Garon and scooped up his hand, leading him over to Grace. She did not come to meet them but stood coyly, twirling the ends of her hair deliberately around her fingertips. As they drew closer, Darnuir rushed forward and hugged her.
“Hello Darnuir,” she said, picking him up and kissing him on the cheek. “Did Cosmo have you whacking things again?”
Darnuir grinned.
“One little handful back, he’s all yours,” Cosmo said, stopping so close to Grace that Darnuir was the only thing between them.
“Thank you Cosmo, although I do wish you would let Balack go as well. He gets terribly upset when Darnuir isn’t around.”
Cosmo put his hand upon her free shoulder. “Very well. Next time, I’ll take both of them.” And then he leaned closer to Grace and whispered something into her ear that Darnuir could not hear. The two drew apart and Cosmo walked back off to join Garon. Grace spun on the spot and strolled off into town with Darnuir, humming under her breath.
*** Four Years Later ***
Darnuir sparred against Balack with their training swords in the yard of the lodge. The weapons were new and thus deserved a proper bashing. The boys were joined by Eve, who sat on the steps leading to the backdoor. The yard was tightly rammed between the buildings on either side. A thin layer of snow had melted under the first warmer rays of summer and a few determined knots of grass could be seen. Today, there was the addition of a dismantled chair, which owed its destruction to Darnuir. How he had managed this just by kicking it was a mystery, even to himself. Darnuir, mud-stained from head to toe, jabbed at Balack. His auburn-haired friend, equally muddy, was giving him no quarter.
“I want to play too!” Eve piped up from the stairway.
“You don’t have a sword,” Darnuir jeered at her as he slammed his own into Balack’s side. Balack buckled for a moment then pulled himself upright.
“She could use one of those broken chair legs,” Balack gasped, clutching his side. He ran over to pick one up and delivered the makeshift weapon to Eve.
“Thank you, Balack,” she said very pointedly, keeping her gaze on Darnuir. “I think we should team up on Darnuir, don’t you?”
“If you think so—” Balack began, but Eve did not wait for an answer. She bounded over to Darnuir, waving the chair leg violently in front of him. Darnuir blocked her first strike easily and Balack stood awkwardly.
Darnuir had his hands full with Eve but her savage blows were soon undermined by her clumsy footwork. She stumbled, fell and, on her way down, Darnuir was able to knock the piece of wood out of her hand.
“Ha!” he cried triumphantly. “Do you yiel—”
Balack took him by surprise as he slammed into him. The pair tumbled onto the rest of the broken chair and the sodden ground.
“Darnuir,” Eve squealed, “you’re bleeding!”
Darnuir sat up and put his hand to his head. Upon retracting it, he found a warm red patch on his palm.
Balack looked horrified. “I’m sorry, I d-didn’t mean too…” he stammered.
Eve shoved her would-be teammate aside to reach Darnuir, gruffly saying, “move” as she did so. “Oooh, it looks bad!” She produced a clean handkerchief and pressed it against Darnuir’s head.
“I’m fine,” Darnuir told them, “it’s just a scratch.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” another voice said sternly from the doorway. Olive was standing there, looking harassed. “Now come inside all of you. It’s bad enough that Grace ran off all day with Cosmo, the last thing I need is a head injury.” Following her lead, the three of them trooped back across the yard.
*** Two Years Later ***
“Cosmo, why was Grace angry with you?” Darnuir asked, tugging at Cosmo’s padded leather arm. His free hand remained close to their campfire for warmth.
“She’s just worried about you three, that’s all,” Cosmo said. “She’s afraid a wild animal might come and bite you.”
“But you said there aren’t any bears this close to town?” Eve said, a tinge of fear in her voice.
“Or wolves?” Balack asked hopefully.
“Oh, none of them,” said Garon. “But there are big mountain cats with teeth the size of your arm and—”
Eve gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth.
“Thanks for that, Garon,” Cosmo said. “I’m certain we are quite safe here, Eve. We’re only thirty minutes from the gates of Cold Point. You all want to be hunters one day, right? Well you need to get used to camping out in the snow.”
“I imagine Grace is also afraid you’ll get a nasty scar a week before your wedding,” Garon added.
“Occupational hazard,” Cosmo said, raising his skin of ale for a good glug.
“I’m getting too cold,” Eve shivered. She pulled her thick fur cloak around her.
Darnuir flexed his fingers over their slowly dying fire, pretending he was not in any discomfort. His teeth betrayed him by shuddering.
“Well then,” Cosmo announced, “another aspect of camp life is collecting wood for the fire. I felled a tree a little ways back.” He pointed into the darkness behind their campsite. “Darnuir, why don’t you go get some for us? Balack and Eve, you two can learn from Garon how to set up our cookpot.”
“I hope one of you is a more natural chef than I am,” Garon said, opening one of his larger knapsacks and rummaging around.
Darnuir got up hesitantly and faced the night. Light, falling snow further obscured the way ahead, but he was used to such conditions. He walked away from their camp.
“Remember, it really isn’t far,” Cosmo said.
It wasn’t long before Darnuir could no longer hear the others. His breath steamed in the chill air and his feet sunk a little into the snow beneath. He stumbled onto the fallen tree long before he saw it, stubbing his toe. Groaning, he bent to pick up the first small branch, then another. Soon, he had a nice pile between his arms.
A powerful gust of wind whipped through the valley, catching him by surprise and sending him sliding to the ground.
Darnuir got to his feet, grumbling at his scattered branches. As he was setting about picking them back up, he heard another pair of feet crunch through the snow.
“Eve? What are you doing here?” he asked when he saw her.
“The wind blew out our fire,” Eve said, her breath fogging the air around her. “Cosmo asked
one of us to collect more wood.”
They both set about their task. It was harder than it ought to have been, for their heavy furs weighed them down. He even heard Eve breathing hard nearby.
“Are you alright?” Darnuir asked.
“Yes,” Eve said confused, “I’m fine. Why?”
“I can hear you out of breath,” Darnuir said. “If you want to head back then—”
“I thought that was you…” she said.
The snow crunched from somewhere in the darkness.
“Balack?” Darnuir asked. No one answered, but the heavy breathing returned, increasing to a pant. He took a few steps back, dropping his new pile of wood in favour of holding the largest branch he could in two hands. His heart forgot to beat. He nearly screamed when Eve drew up beside him.
“We have to go back,” she whispered.
“If we run, we’ll only make it worse,” Darnuir said.
They backed away as quietly as they could. The heavy feet drew closer, the panting became a heave.
“Come on,” Eve said jerking at his arm. She began to run.
Darnuir turned just in time to see the white wolf bound out of the darkness at her. Eve screamed and fell as it padded up to her, sniffing at the air. It didn’t seem as big as it ought to but it would easily overpower them. It opened its jaws wide.
“No!” Darnuir shouted, leaping over to Eve and clubbing wildly with his branch. The wolf let loose a squeal, snapping at the wood. Eve got up and ran off. The wolf bit into Darnuir’s makeshift weapon and yanked on it hard. Darnuir pulled back and found he somehow won the contest, falling back with the force of his own heave. It only made matters worse.
The wolf was pulled closer to him and he lost a grip on the branch. The animal’s tongue stuck out greedily as it closed the gap. Darnuir cried out, shutting his eyes, not wanting to see the wolf sink its teeth into him. Fat tears welled at his eyes; his heart worked so fast, it would surely burst.
The panting was right above him. He could feel the beast’s hot breath on his face. Then there was a thump, a muffled grunt, the sound of steel being unsheathed and a yelp of pain. Silence reigned for a long second.
The Dragon's Blade: The Reborn King Page 8
