The Questing Game f-2

by James Galloway

  "Tarrin," Dolanna smiled, putting her hand on his forehead gently. "Don't try to speak."

  She looked haggard. They all did, except for Triana. Faalken had at least a ride's worth of beard, and he couldn't remember seeing it there before. Dolanna had on a dirty dress, and Allia's eyes were deeply sunk into her head.

  "H-How… long?" he managed to whisper.

  "You've been asleep for nearly a ride, cub," Triana answered. "And Dolanna told you not to talk. You'll just wear yourself out again." He looked at her, and she seemed to understand the unspoken question in his eyes. "Why am I here? Because I haven't given up on you yet, cub. In fact, things are going to work out just fine now." Just fine? He had no idea what she was talking about. He had no idea how he ended up there, with a deep pain in his chest and his friends looking at him like he may disappear at any moment. "Now just close your eyes and go back to sleep. You need more rest. All your questions will be answered later."

  Sleep. That sounded like a marvelous idea. Tarrin closed his eyes, and almost immediately tumbled back into the black void of unconsciousness.

  Again, he came partially out of his dreamless slumber, nearing consciousness. But this time, there was a curious difference in things. He could feel someone there with him, a bright star with no light that seemed to have appeared within his mind. At first he thought it was the Cat, but then he discounted that. He and the Cat were one now, and he no longer looked at it like it was something alien within him. This was something else, something strange and unusual.

  Something beautiful.

  You shouldn't be all that surprised, the voice of the Goddess resonated inside the dark vaults of his mind. If you'd only stop to feel when we speak, you'd have felt me touching you long ago.

  "Goddess," he whispered inside his own mind, looking out into the blackness for the invisible force that owned that voice. But he could see nothing. "What happened to me?"

  You were shot by a silver crossbow quarrel, she said in a seething voice. The Wikuni decided that you were too dangerous to leave alive when they took Keritanima.

  "Took her? She's gone?"

  Along with Miranda, her Vendari bodyguards, and Azakar, she said in a gentle voice. But don't worry. They are being well treated. Keritanima's father wants her back alive and unharmed. They are treating her like the Princess that she is. Only a captive one.

  "Is everyone alright?"

  Nobody was hurt other than you, she assured him. They did bop Dolanna on the head to keep her from using Sorcery, but it was nothing serious.

  "Poor Kerri," Tarrin sighed. "That was the last thing she wanted. Is she going to try to escape?"

  Keritanima is utterly furious, but she's not being foolish, my kitten, the Goddess told him. She knows now that she has to go back. Her father will never stop until he brings her back, and she doesn't want any of you to get hurt because of her. Let Keritanima deal with her situation. It was what she was meant to do in the first place.

  "What does that mean?"

  Only that I need her more in Wikuna than I need her at your side, she replied cryptically. Don't worry. She knows that you're going to be alright. I told her in her dreams. She may not be very religious, but she believes it. Mainly because she wants to believe it.

  His poor sister. She may have known he'd been hurt when they took her, or been taken away thinking he was dead, or maybe not knowing one way or the other. She must have been going crazy.

  Boy, did he feel sorry for the people on the ship carrying her.

  She's calmed down a great deal since I told her, the Goddess laughed chimingly. Now she is turning her mind to the task of how to deal with her father.

  "I hope she's alright. I'm worried about her."

  She will be just fine, the Goddess said gently. Right now, I'm worried more about you. For a second, I didn't know if you were going to live. Had the quarrel been a finger more to the right, it would have went right through your heart. If it weren't for Triana, you wouldn't have made it.

  "Triana saved me?"

  That she did, the Goddess said with profound relief in her voice. She used her Druidic power to give you the strength you needed to survive the shock of the wounding, and then Dolanna helped stabilize you with Sorcery so your wounds could be cleaned and dressed, and to keep you warm and comfortable to take as much strain off your body as possible. Now it is just a matter of time and rest for you to recover. And that's what we need to talk about.

  "What about it?"

  Triana has found a way to satisfy both sides in your feud with Fae-da'Nar, she told him. She intends to teach you what you need to know while you're recovering. This way, she has you as a captive audience, and you don't lose any time. The time you're going to lose now is time you'd lose no matter what. You may as well do something constructive with it.

  "Is it time I can't afford to lose?"

  It's time I'm ordering you to lose, she said sternly. Your health is much more important to me than your mission. You're not starting out again until you're fully recovered.

  That touched him, deeply, and he felt his love for his ethereal goddess grow stronger within him.

  So for now, I want you to rest and recover, my kitten, she said in a voice powerful in its compassion and love. Listen to Triana, and learn what she has to teach. She's on your side now. You'll find her to be just as powerful a friend as she was an opponent.

  "I will. I just wish I could talk to Kerri."

  Then talk to her, she said impishly.

  "But I can't. She's out of reach."

  My dense little kitten, the amulets you all wear are connected together by my power and the bonds that make you siblings. I told you that once before. It has the power to allow you to speak with your sisters, no matter where they are. Just put your fingers to the amulet and will it, and she will hear your voice. But you will not do that until you are strong enough, she said adamantly. Keritanima knows that you're alright. She can wait a ride or so to hear from you.

  "Alright," he said grudgingly.

  Don't you dare disobey me, she warned. I'm ten times worse than Dolanna and Triana put together when it comes to nagging. My nagging, you can't tune out.

  Tarrin found that strangely amusing. "Yes, Mother," he acquiesced with a slight chuckle.

  Good. I have to go now, kitten. Rest and get better. I'll be watching over you.

  And then her presence within him was gone, leaving him feeling strangely empty. But the feeling of her touch gave him a newfound strength, a strength he used to bring himself back into himself, to reconnect with his senses and his surroundings. He rose up to consciousness quickly and effortlessly, and opened his eyes.

  He wasn't in the cabin on the ship. He was in a modestly sized bedroom. It had a large window to his left which illuminated the room, with brown curtains hanging from a rod spanned over the top of it and pulled to one side. Chairs, five of them of varying types, had been brought in to surround the bed. There was a large chest in one corner, and a small washtable in the other corner. Each side of the bed's head was flanked by a small nightstand, both holding oil lamps that were not lit. The door was to his right, and he found himself looking a tapestry of a large, grand galleon hanging on the wall facing him. He saw his pack sitting on the top of the chest, and his staff was leaning in the corner beside it. Sitting beside him, slumbering in her chair with her hand held limply in his paw, was Allia. She looked much better now than she did before. Dolanna sat in a chair on the other side, reading a book, and Triana stood with her back to him, staring out the window. She made no move to turn around, her tail slashing back and forth absently, but when she spoke, it was obvious she knew he was awake.

  "Good morning, cub," she announced. "It's good to see you awake."

  Allia's eyes snapped open so fast it nearly startled him, and Dolanna put down her book and smiled warmly at him. Triana turned around, her stony face softened by a gentle smile that made her beauty truly radiant.

  "Triana," he said weakly. It was a challenge
to talk, and the pain in his chest intensified when he tried to take in the breath to speak. Every inhale and exhale sent a ripple of pain through him. He felt weaker than a newborn baby. He found that he could barely move, and any attempt to do so sent fire through his chest and torso. The pain was severe, but it seemed somewhat dulled to him, almost as if he could register the pain, but it couldn't affect him as it should have. "Why?" He already knew, but he wanted to hear it from her lips. He knew she wouldn't lie to him.

  "I told you, I haven't given up on you yet."

  "You said-"

  "I know. And at the time, I meant it. But it's our nature to be a bit impulsive. I'm sure you noticed that." He looked at her, his eyes agreeing. "I've been watching you, cub. You have some rough edges and a serious control problem, but I think we can salvage you."

  "Triana has agreed to teach you what you need to know to make them stop attacking you, Tarrin," Dolanna said. "Right now, listening is about the only thing you can do, so it is not a bad agreement."

  "That's right," she affirmed. "It won't take you long to learn. I don't have to teach you about being Were, because it looks like you've managed to get that part. It's the laws of our society you have to learn. And I intend to file off those rough edges," she said bluntly. "You're way too wild, cub. I'm going to reign that in, even if it kills you."

  Tarrin didn't like the tone in her voice, so he covered it by looking to Allia. "Sister," he greeted with a weak smile.

  "You must stop torturing me like this, deshida," she said with a wan smile, squeezing his paw gently. "I am too young to spend my life at your bedside."

  "It's not exactly planned, deshaida," he said weakly. "You need to complain to the people who keep doing this to me."

  Allia laughed nervously, then reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "Tarrin, Keritanima-"

  "I know," he cut her off, squeezing her hand. "While I was asleep, the Goddess spoke to me. She told me that Kerri's going back to Wikuna."

  "Is she alright?" Dolanna asked.

  Tarrin nodded. "They're treating all of them well," he assured her. "She told Kerri that I'm alright, so she's not going crazy worrying about me."

  "Thank the Goddess," Dolanna said in relief. "I was worried for them. Greatly worried."

  "They're going to be alright."

  "You speak to a Goddess?" Triana asked sharply.

  "It's more like she speaks to me," he replied, leaning back in his pillow. Speaking so much was wearing him out. "She tasked me to find the Firestaff, so I guess she checks in from time to time to make sure things are going alright."

  Triana gave him a penetrating look. "You? You're one of those fool Questers?"

  "I do what my Goddess tells me to do," he said flintily, but the effort it required made him cough, and that sent a vicious rack of pain through him.

  "Nothing wrong with that, cub, it's just not normal."

  "Tarrin is not a normal person," Allia said in defense of her brother, giving Triana a direct look.

  Triana stared at her, then she actually chuckled. "I'll give you that. Allia, go get some of that broth I had those cooks make. It's time to put some food in my cub. Then he can rest a while."

  "Yes, Triana," Allia said obediently, then she leaned in and kissed Tarrin on the forehead before she scurried out.

  "I'm sorry I missed that," he said with a wry smile.

  "What?"

  "You taming my sister," he told the Were-cat elder. "I didn't think it was possible."

  "Allia isn't stupid enough to defy me, cub," she said with one of those blood-freezing stares. "Unlike some other people in this room."

  "I guess it's just one of my rough edges," he retorted.

  "One you're going to lose," she said, sitting down in the chair Allia vacated. "Although, I must admit, I found your defiance of me refreshing. Most people mewl at me like sheep. I'm not used to someone standing up to me." She reached down and took his paw, then put the pad of her palm on his forehead much like Allia had done. "I see you're recovering quickly. I hope to have you out of the bed by the end of the month. I think you'll be fully recovered in three."

  "I hope I didn't scare anyone," he apologized.

  "You scared all of us out of our wits," Dolanna told him with a smile. "But that you are getting better is all that matters."

  "Sorry."

  "Don't be sorry," Triana snorted. "Be happy I was close by. That reminds me. Faalken!" she called.

  The door opened, and Faalken looked in. He gave Tarrin a quick look, then flashed him a grin that cried out his relief and elation that Tarrin was awake. "Tarrin!" he said happily. "Allia didn't tell me you were up. Feeling better?"

  "Much," he replied with a weak smile.

  "Faalken, go tell the innkeeper to check again."

  "Yes, Triana," he said with a nod, then closed the door.

  "Triana has usurped Faalken from me," Dolanna chuckled when Tarrin gave her a curious look.

  "He's a good, solid man. And if you tell him I said that, I'll pull off your ears," Triana said with a strong warning look at Tarrin.

  "Yes ma'am," he said in a tired voice.

  "When the others get here, the Wikuni are going to be very sorry they hurt my cub," she said in a hot tone, her eyes flaring up a bit with that green radiance that marked his own when he was angry.

  "Others?" Tarrin asked.

  "Me and Jesmind aren't the only ones of our kind, cub," she chided. "I've called in some of the others. They're already on the way. And when they get here, there's going to be some payback."

  Tarrin wasn't sure how to feel about that. He knew there were others, but he wasn't sure if he liked Were-cats running around and killing Wikuni. It was sure to start a war. It was a bit flattering to know that others would come at Triana's call and fight for him, though. It made him feel like he belonged. After all, he would do the same if Allia called him to come and help her clan against some enemy.

  "Are you sure that's wise?" he asked. "Killing Wikuni won't make me better."

  "But it'll make me feel better," she said fiercely. "Besides, there are other people here that have been trying to find where you are, men running around with silvered swords. When we're done, there won't be anyone left in either city that would dare lift a finger against you."

  "Now those I don't mind," he sighed. "I've already had one run-in too many with them. Where is Dar?"

  "Sleeping," Dolanna replied. "He stayed up most of the night to sit with you."

  The door opened, and Allia entered carrying a bowl of steaming broth. The smell of it, the smell of chicken and herbs, made his mouth and stomach respond to it in a most urgent manner. His belly was completely empty, and he was starving.

  Triana took it from her and set it in her lap, then picked up the wooden spoon that was sitting in the broth. "Alright. Dolanna, you and Allia go get some rest. Both of you are more like the walking dead. After my cub gets some broth, he's going to sleep some more. He can talk again later."

  "We will see you later, Tarrin," Dolanna said gently, patting him on the forearm. "Be well."

  "Sleep well, deshida," Allia added.

  Triana paw-fed him. He felt a bit silly that she was doing so, but he was too weak to hold the spoon himself. The broth tasted heavenly, but had strange zingy tastes and aftertastes that he had never tasted before. He wondered if it was medicine put in the broth. The pain had subsided to a nagging throb that, with Allia's concentration technique, he could partially block out. But not all of it. It was just too much pain. Triana's eyes regarded him as she fed him, that same stony expression making whatever she was thinking or feeling a mystery. When the bowl was empty, she set it aside and took his paw, staring into his eyes. "How is the wound?" she asked gently.

  "It hurts, but Allia taught me ways to deal with pain," he replied in a sated tone. The warmth of the broth in his stomach was radiating through him in the most curiously pleasant manner, washing over the pain in his chest, and it was making him drowsy.

  "Wel
l, that's good to know," she said with a gentle smile. He looked up at her, and realized that her concern was for more than a wayward cub. Triana had genuine affection for him. Perhaps his position and plight had tugged at Triana's heartstrings, her maternal need to nurture children. He was certainly nothing but a raw-boned child to her. And he found that he liked her back. He was deeply appreciative of her help, of her support, but the simple fact that she had some faith in him had touched him. "What?" she asked, noticing his strange stare and quirky, dreamy smile.

  "I love you too, mother," he said hazily, then he closed his eyes.

  There had to have been something in that broth, because he just couldn't stay awake any longer.

  Triana gave the injured cub a startled look, then she chuckled ruefully. The herbs in the broth had been specially prepared to make him drowsy and to dull the pain, to help speed him to sleep. His Were-cat metabolism and regenerative powers would burn their effects out of his system in a matter of moments, but they would have served their purpose of putting him to sleep by then. As they had done.

  This one was sharp. She smiled and pressed her paw against his cheek gently, tenderly. "Jesmind was right about you, cub," she said, the stony mask that hid her emotions melting away, showing the mother, the nurturing woman beneath. "You are something special."

  In his entire life, he didn't think he would ever meet a woman as pushy and willful as Triana.

  She was amazing. Her long years and powerful personality were weapons which she used mercilessly to bully everyone else into doing exactly what she expected them to do. For her, there was only one way. Her way. And she made sure everyone around her was adhering that that singular law.