The Scholars: The Hidden Heritage II

by Derek Palmer

  Maybe. Then, why did I have a feeling that it could have also been mental training that would make sure that I'll do even better when the next time comes?

  Another consequence of the things that happened was the sharpening of my magical skills. I just wasn't sure if better skills were worth all that torture. The most stupid thing that helped me was watching Tariel. My cat had adopted several other willing servants, but every now and then she made sure to visit us and especially my lap. Looking at the cat purring in my lap, it was hard to think of her as the beast she was when she was hunting. In a way, I felt envious of her, since I was quite sure that Tariel didn't have any nightmares because of the rats and mice she had killed.

  Most importantly, I did get better with time.

  ""There are some people approaching the village, coming from the west.""

  I had been on one of my missions checking the surroundings when I noticed that group. I was almost certain that there were five people heading towards the village and staying hidden in the forest.

  Mylaela nodded at me.

  ""Took them long enough. I expected them a bit sooner, but those heavy rains on the coastal side must have slowed them down a bit. Those high passes are difficult enough in good weather. At least they were wise enough to wait.""

  I could only nod at her. There was a nice, deep lake that collected all the rain water in this valley and a stream that delivered the water through the eastern mountains into another river and finally to the ocean. Following the stream might seem like a nice way to this valley. Only, it wasn't passable. Unlike the sides of the stream leading away from the next valley - the one the Ugly People inhabited. From both valleys there were some narrow paths leading though some high passes through the higher, western mountains, but those weren't suitable for bigger groups and they weren't safe if the weather was bad.

  I looked at the mountains to the west. We had just passed the autumn equinox without any big festivities, since the growing season wasn't over here, yet. You could sense that the summer was over but it wasn't that bad. I knew that it was quite different on the other side of the mountain ridge. Even if it wasn’t too cold, the rain would make life miserable. Getting through that high pass while walking inside the clouds wasn't for everybody. Not even something for every Guardian.

  ""Far from it. I'd suggest we send a group of twenty, all fully armed and very cautious.""

  ""Would you go with them?""

  ""Maybe, but I'd stay out of sight - just close by making sure that nobody gets lost.""

  Things worked out just as planned. The group that had entered the valley were indeed Guardians and they were very talented when it came to moving in the forest without getting noticed. That just didn't help them in this case, and the group of five was soon surrounded and disarmed. It was almost too easy.

  It was too easy, indeed. As soon as the escorted group started moving towards the southern pass I did some more sensing and was alerted by another group coming through the pass. I stayed behind and waited until I was sure. I sighed mentally and moved to my next agreed position where I would meet some warriors from the escorting group. We had agreed that twice a day I'd meet someone from the escorting group during their breaks. Someone would stay behind and I'd contact her. Today it was a younger woman called Eruraina.

  ""Eruraina, I need two of you. There's another group of three coming behind these five. Somehow I believe that these are even less normal Guardians than those five were. Maybe you should send someone to the village, too.""

  The group of five had indeed been Guardians, in Guardian uniforms of some sort - even if they clearly were a special group. However, I had been told that they behaved well and accepted that they were caught, even if they didn't like it. I wondered what they might think if they heard that they just might have been used as a decoy.

  When I got the first glimpse of the second group of three men later that

  day, it was clear that they weren't normal Guardians. First, they didn't wear any kind of uniforms, rather, some specially made clothes of green and brown patches. A bit more worrying was that they were moving quickly and consistently towards the village avoiding all paths and open areas. Without my special skill, finding them would have been almost impossible. The most worrying thing was the number of weapons they carried. Crossbows, a sword and at least two knives each. Maybe they weren't sent to assassinate somebody. They just looked like a group that would be able to do it quickly and efficiently.

  The following day I knew that I needed to make a decision, since my two companions had serious issues keeping up with those three men, even with my help. We were closing the village now and there was no way that I could let those men get any nearer the village that was also my home. Unfortunately they didn't look like people that could be persuaded to surrender, not when asked by two women - and there was no way we could get any more warriors to help us. Not without being noticed. I was sure that they were way too close already. No, I knew that I had to make a decision that would probably cause me more nightmares afterwards.

  The Trolls had been ferocious fighters but the tactics they had used had relied purely on surprise and speed. Besides that, most of the attackers had been of the younger generation. These men were in probably their thirties, barely talking while moving and they moved in such a way that you usually were able to see only one or at most two of them at the same time. Besides that, they moved like shadows. When I shot the first of them I did it without any warning. Shit, I was sure that they were much better warriors than I was.

  Without my extra skills I would not have had any chance against the remaining two of them. Even if I was able to cloak myself, it didn't help me when I moved. There was always some noise and I couldn't fully prevent the foliage or the twigs from moving. When I released my second arrow, the remaining man was able to estimate my position from the incoming arrow. He didn't quite hit me, but it was way too close. We played cat and mouse for some time until I finally decided to cheat. I created a magic wire and attached it to a small tree on my left. When the branches moved he released his arrow. I released mine when he moved. I felt terrible after that last shot.

  Mylaela and Immianthe looked somber when we showed them the special clothes and the armament those three men had been carrying. In their backpacks there had been ropes, masks and a gag. It was as though they had been on a mission to capture someone. We undressed the bodies and then dumped them into the stream. It would be very unlikely that somebody would ever find them. Personally, I hadn't really been able to process the fact that I had just killed three fellow Humans. Not those Ugly People, but Humans.

  ""There was nothing more with them?""

  Immianthe looked me when she asked that question. I shook my head.

  ""Nothing else. But they were good, really good. Without my special skills they would have caught me for sure.""

  Mylaela went through the ropes, mask and the gag.

  ""I just wonder. During the years a few of us had just gotten lost, without a trace... I guess now we have one more reason to be grateful to you Stian, even if the facts behind it just make us more worried.""

  The major thing that changed after that was that obligatory training started. That included crossbow, sword and knife training - and I learned that I had really mastered only the crossbow. I could do something with my sword, but that was due more to the superiority of my sword than to my skills. When it came to knives, there were several women who were better than me. But my real humiliation came from the fighting without weapons. And I had been teaching that to the Guardians!

  Sabariel was definitely pregnant - and yet, she was able to put me on the ground and on my ass if she wanted to. She had a younger assistant who could and wanted to do all the same things and even more. Since she didn't need to avoid contact she could make me fly. Literally - and sometimes painfully. I was told that I first needed to learn how to fall so that I wouldn't hurt myself. Of course, they told me that after I was bruised all over and moving like an old
man. What a way to treat a hero! And I was really grateful that they did it like that, since the nightmares had started again - and this time I was sure that both Mylaela and Immianthe also knew about it. That was confirmed one morning when Immianthe came to talk to me after another bad night.

  ""You know Stian, I'd be more worried about you if you'd be okay with all that killing.""

  ""Maybe. I'd still be happier myself without those nightmares.""

  The small woman surprised me with the tight, almost fierce hug she gave me.

  ""You poor young man, is there something we old women can do to you in order to make you feel better?""

  I managed to mutter that I’d probably start feeling better with time before I really embarrassed myself, since Immianthe didn't really feel that old to me. I was sure that she felt it, too. Right now, I just didn't want to make my life any more complicated than it already was. Luckily, I really started getting better.

  It was one lunar month before the winter solstice when there finally was an official request delivered to the Elders to accept the visit of some official visitors. A courtesy visit, as it was called. A group would be coming in some ten days’ time. There hadn't been any other attempts to disturb the peace in the valley, but neither had the Elves sent any groups outside the valley as they had done before. There hadn't been any accidents or disappearances lately, but there had been a few some years back. A few women had disappeared from this very valley - and the last group of three invaders had made the Elders think that not all the former disappearances had been accidents - if any.

  Just a day before the group was supposed to come to meet the Elders, Mylaela came to see me.

  ""Stian, we would like you to be able to be close by and even follow the meetings that will take place. We have prepared a hiding place for you. You'd just need to be really quiet. If not for any other reason but just to show how much we now trust you.""

  ""As long as listening is all that I need to do, I'm okay with it.""

  ""Trust me, nothing more happens. Besides, we'll probably be speaking Anglon since they are afraid of us using the Old Language. However, there's no way that we want them to see you or any of the babies. Or those of us who are pregnant.""

  ""I take it that you don't trust them much.""

  She just snorted and I took Luna for a ride - just to check that there wouldn't be any surprises following the approaching group. We didn't suppose that there would be, but we took nothing for granted anymore.

  The beginning of the meeting was just as boring as Mylaela had said that it would be. Pleasantries were exchanged and, if you had no idea what had just happened, you might even think that they were - pleasantries. That lasted until the moment the leader of the visiting group turned to Mylaela.

  "I'd like to meet and apologize to the group that was harassed by those terrible savages. I'm so sorry that our Guardians were too late when it came to warning and protecting you."

  If I had been there, facing those comments, I probably could not have been able to keep a straight face. I had enough problem staying silent in my little hideaway from which I was following the meeting. From the narrow slits, I was able to see the two leaders of the visiting group and Mylaela and Immianthe if I moved slightly. Now I could only admire those women, who gave nothing away. Nothing of their posture showed that they knew their guests were lying their teeth off.

  "We can deliver your apology. You can visit the grave of the guard who died, but as the others are still recovering there's no way that we can let them see you. If you know anything about us Alfar, and how we react to that kind of violence, you'll also know that there's no way that they want to see a male. Not for a decade or so."

  Too bad that they wanted to use Anglon in these discussions since now Mylaela and Immianthe had no problems in lying if they needed to do that. However, I couldn't help noticing the smug smile that flashed in the face of the other, silent man. The idea of not wanting to see a male for a decade seemed like a good thing to him.

  "Oh, that's too bad. Then, is there any possibility that our Guardian officers could talk with your people about the tactics you used while defeating the attackers?"

  "No."

  "Excuse me?"

  "No."

  "But we are here to help you, to protect you in the future. Actually, we are here to suggest that we'd make a permanent position from where we could keep an eye..."

  "No."

  "Ma'am, I think that you don't understand your position here..."

  ""Shut up, you fool!""

  It was Immianthe who had been waiting there silently and now she used the Old Language with all the authority she could master - which was quite a lot and she was well able to make you feel it even more. From the way the two men reacted it was clear that both of them could understand at least that much of the Old Language and even the people without any understanding of the language would probably been affected some. Interesting. Mylaela just kept on smiling. It seemed that understanding the Old Language was a two-edged sword: It also made you at least a bit receptive to magic, even if you couldn't do magic yourself.

  "I'm sorry that my friend here lost her temper a bit. I'm afraid that she's a bit disappointed because of the fact that neither of you has apologized about the breaches you made against the Royal Agreement and now you are suggesting that those very breaches should be made permanent."

  "We are just worried about your safety." Those first words coming from that second man proved that he wasn't just anyone. Even if he was - apparently - shaken by Immianthe's outburst he was totally calm almost immediately afterwards.

  "Really. Maybe we should show you those one hundred crossbows and the pile of arrows for them. A bit heavier than the ones we have usually used but well manageable."

  "So I heard."

  "You should also be aware that since you haven't been able to deliver any official explanation or apology for breaking the agreement, we feel obliged to make an official complaint because of those illegal trespasses."

  "Are you really sure that you want to do that?"

  "Are you telling us that our Royal Agreement is void?"

  I had no idea who that man was, but for sure, he was someone with authority. There was something in him that reminded me of the Guardians but then he didn't really look like one. But once he started talking, it was clear that he carried authority. At the same time, the other man started to look smaller and smaller even if he might have been physically more impressive - but this second man had character, or presence, that the first one lacked. The second man actually let out a little laugh as a response to Mylaela's question.

  "If I'd say yes, my cousin might think it was treason, so no - it's not. However, you Alfar should remember that we Humans do have much shorter lifespan than you do and we also tend to forget. Something that happened several generations ago doesn't necessarily have the same influence now that it had back then."

  "In that case, certain people should probably be reminded about the promises that were made back then. As our neighbors were painfully reminded quite recently."

  "Ma'am, I hope that you aren't threatening the kingdom. To a representative of the family that might almost sound like one."

  "Threat? I was referring to the promise made by your royal line and their Magicians to carefully look out for people important to us. As you gracefully pointed out, you have had a time span of several generations to fulfill that promise."

  The smile on Mylaela's face was sweet. Much too sweet. The message was clear: ‘You aren't our friend anymore and we're well aware of it.’ However, the man just nodded.

  "I guess that I need to ask about the content of the agreement from the right people back at the capitol. Unless you want to share the details with me?"

  A lie. An obvious lie, since I was very sure that this man knew all there was to know about his hostesses. Just the easy way he let the word 'Alfar' out of his mouth had told me that. Mylaela just waved her hand.

  "No need to waste time on tha
t. After all, we have already waited for so long that waiting a bit longer doesn't change anything. I'm also sure that you are fully able to deliver the message we want to send to your cousin. Now, we all are probably hungry and I'd like to ask you to join us at our table."

  So, the meeting was over. I stayed in my hide-hole until somebody came to tell me that the way was clear and I was able to leave the building without anybody seeing me. Which wasn't until much later. I used the time in memorizing everything I could from the discussions for possible future use. Whatever or whenever that might be.

  Once the evening finally came, I was able to get out and by that time I was hungry as hell and really needed to pee. Or maybe I wanted to help myself with those things in reverse order. Once inside the half-ready new building, Bellcauniel brought me some bread and cheese.