“What was Nareena talking about when you struck the wall... my Lord.” Said Elsa. Her direct unblinking gaze told Antonin that if he was really looking for trouble all he had to do was start going on about not being a Lord again. Antonin swallowed.
“She... She spoke of the noise summoning dragons. She said I should be careful, or I would ‘loose the dragons’, and that it was mentioned in the old stories.” Antonin sat on a rocky ledge.
“I have no idea what caused the noise. All I did was strike the cavern wall like this.” Antonin struck the rocky wall behind him with the heel of his hand. Again, a low booming echoed away through the earth, shaking the cavern slightly, bringing down more dust. Antonin looked at the wall with surprise on his face.
“Catharina, you strike the wall in the same place, in the same way. We will see.” He said.
Catharina stepped over and struck the wall hard. Nothing. She stepped back muttering under her breath and nursing her hand.
“No more tests my Lord goat keeper.” She almost spat the words. “Accept the fact that you are what you are. We depend upon you. I do not know why, or how, but you have been chosen as the one. It can only be true that your ancestors blood stirs in your veins. Beckoned to share in defence against the Dark One. If this girl knows of things that will help you – us – in the battle, then you must treat her well, and honour her faith in the ways of her people.” Catharina had crossed to where Nareena lay. Nareena was now softly moaning. “This girl seems to know things you should know. You cannot fight the weaving that draws the threads of time closer about you. About all of us. You will calm her. You will help her. Your honour, and that of the Mare Altan rests on this thing.”
Antonin walked over and looked down at Nareena. Only her face was showing in the folds of the think furs wrapped about her. He admitted to himself that it was imperative that the girl live. Well, perhaps when this thing was done, he could return to his simple life on the Star Field Plain. Antonin straightened his back and took a deep breath. “Then I will accept this duty that has come to me unbidden. I will be The King of the Malachites returned. The Lord of the Dragon Armies, the Defender of the Light, The Cormorant, The Keeper of Goats...” He looked about him and said quietly. “And the lord of the chamber.” He looked down at Nareena. She had her eyes open and was watching him. At his words she smiled.
“My Lord, forgive me.” She whispered. She tried to struggle out of the furs, and suddenly realized from the look on Antonin’s face that something was very wrong. Elsa stepped between them, and motioned to Nareena to look down. Nareena realized she was naked and had been about to show herself in front of the Lord of the Dragon Armies. She then realized that she had already done so completely, by stripping off her clothes as she ran into the snow storm. With a wail she rolled herself back into the furs. Antonin had not waited though, and had already spun about so that he had his back to her. Elsa had hardly needed to move. Nareena was still very weak from her ordeal on the ice and lay back panting deeply, trying to get her strength back. In between breaths and sobs, she kept whispering, “Forgive me my Lord, I shame myself in front of you.”
Catharina squatted down beside Nareena and patted her shoulder. She had no idea what Nareena was saying, but the tone was enough.
“Elsa,” said Catharina standing up. “Perhaps there is food and drink stored here. If this is their camp, they should have supplies.”
Both girls started a systematic search through the various leather scripts and packs that were stashed about the cavern. It didn’t take long to turn up a supply of dried meat, some vegetables of unknown type and some flasks that contained a strong alcohol. Nareena had struggled into a sitting position now, the furs clutched tightly around her. Catharina showed the various items to Nareena who tried each in turn to show they were edible. A sip from the flask left her coughing and watery eyed, but it also brought colour to her cheeks immediately. Catharina and Elsa tried a sip each, with much the same effect. They laughed at each other's discomfit, and passed the flask to Antonin. A quick sip spread warmth throughout his body. The use of this liquid was obvious in such a climate.
“I have also found new cloths for the girl Antonin. We will have her dressed again in a moment.” Catharina gave him a cheeky smile. “As well she was covered in snow when we brought her back into the cavern then.” She said. “You will be able to assure her that she has not been shamed in your presence.”
Nareena had not in fact been covered in snow, but in the frantic activities surrounding her rescue he had not registered the fact that she was naked when brought back into the cave. Certainly she had been as white as the snow, of which there had been plenty anyway. In any case he had been busy building up the fire.
“Er, yes. Yes Catharina, I will assure her it was so.” Antonin placed a hand on Catharina’s shoulder. “Thank you my friend.” He said humbly. “Truly I owe you a great deal. You are more than a friend. You are my companion.”
Catharina looked into Antonin’s eyes for a long moment, then with a secretive smile to herself, gave that very familiar flick of her hair and turned to Nareena.
“You will dress?” She said, and pointed to the bundle of clothes they had found in their search. Nareena did not understand the words, but she understood the clothes were hers. She glanced as Antonin’s back, and back to Catharina, hesitating.
Catharina gave a dismissive wave of her fingers at Antonin, using the finger talk of the Mare Altan so that Elsa would also understand. Nareena’s eyes opened as big as an owls. She let the furs fall from her shoulders and answered Catharina with finger talk. It was Catharina and Elsa’s turn to look surprised. Catharina clapped her hands together in delight. They could communicate with the pretty girl with the golden skin and tilted almond eyes.
“Antonin, do not turn around just yet. What is the girls name?” asked Elsa.
“Nareena – it is so in her language.” Antonin replied. He heard giggles and hand clapping, but would not chance a quick look to see what was happening. He still smarted from the last whack that Catharina had given him.
●Chapter 15
Catharina was delighted. It seemed that in Nareena’s society, hand talk as she called it, was a closely guarded secret of the women. No man was ever taught it. Quickly Catharina told Nareena how she had been covered in snow when they had returned her to the cavern. She also told how Antonin had finally accepted his duty, and told a little of the story of how the whole series of events had begun.
Nareena was now fully dressed again, and seemed to have regained her strength, although she was still a little unsteady on her feet. She was young and healthy though, and would soon regain her strength.
“Antonin, it is all right to join us now.” Nareena said.
Antonin came back to the fire and joined the others.
“Well, I think we should make some plans. We seem to be in a strange situation here.” Antonin sat down again on the rocky ledge by the fire, now little more than a flickering pile of embers. He poked some unburnt ends into the coals, the flames rising instantly about the dry wood.
“Nareena,” he said in her language, the circlet pulsing on his forehead. “I will accept what has been thrust upon me. Your friend did not die in vain. Indeed, it seems that his death, the gift he made in death of his cloths, has saved the life of the Dragon Lord. Your quest has succeeded. He has saved me, and you have found me. I would ask that you forgive me. I nearly caused your death, when in fact I owe you my life. Neither have I shamed you by seeing you undressed. You were frozen about with snow when the girls carried you back here, and meanwhile I tended the fire to warm you.”
Antonin’s speech was mostly truth, but the slight flush of red in his cheeks told Nareena that perhaps the snow had not been as thick as he insisted it was. ‘No matter’ she thought, ‘as the weaver weaves, so shall the pattern emerge.’
With some surprise Antonin realized that the three girls were conversing in finger talk. ‘I can’t believe it.’ He thought to himself. �
��I travel somehow to a far country, where on this world I know not, and still the women share secrets. Will I ever understand them?’ His only outward sign was a muffled grunt. All three girls looked at him with that inscrutable gaze he had come to expect.
He cleared his throat. “Well, Nareena spoke of me summoning dragons if I pound the stone walls. It seems I can call up a portal when I least expect it. It seems I speak a language I have no knowledge of. I need to learn how to control these things if I am to be of any use in the coming battle against the forces of Ba’al.” The words died in Antonin’s throat as the howl of the wind outside the cavern suddenly stopped. It just cut off as though sliced with a knife. Nareena was on her feet, mouth open, struggling to get her words out. “No!” She finally cried. “Do not use the name... ohhh, it is too late.” She stood very still. Everyone looking toward the entrance now, expecting they knew not what in the sudden quiet. Finally, as though from a great distance, they heard the deep rumble of boulders and rock moving. A slight tremor shook the ground, and then all noise faded away. Slowly the wind outside picked up again until once again it was shrieking across the crags, and swirling snow in great drifts past the cavern entrance.
“Sorry...” Was all Antonin could say. The girls shook their heads as if to say ‘what are we going to do with this person?’
Sure that the danger had passed, Nareena said. “We should leave this valley my Lord, and find our way to the Blue Tower. It is told that therein lives a person who has lived for all time. This person keeps the secrets of the Dragon Lord until he should return. I only have the old stories as a guide but I believe we can find the Blue Tower, and it’s keeper.”
All the while, Nareena had also been using her hand talk to pass on the same information to the girls.
“I am not a warrior Lord, but I am a hunter, and if it pleases my Lord, I will serve you as long as you wish. Just as your warriors serve you.” Nareena indicated Catharina and Elsa.
Antonin strongly doubted Catharina and Elsa served him in that sense. This was born out by a disbelieving laugh from Catharina.
“We don’t serve the Dragon Lord Nareena,” said Catharina. “We guard and protect him. We stand in his place in danger. We do not serve.” She paused and to soften the words, added in finger talk for Nareena alone. “Mostly we protect him from himself.” And smiled.
Nareena laughed. She would enjoy the company of these strange girls. Truly they were warriors. Hard as iron, yet capable of the gentlest compassion, and possessed of a great good humour. They were sure of themselves, and their place in the pattern being woven about them. They would be good companions.
“We must depart this place my Lord.” Nareena said carefully. “I did not like the sound of falling rock a short time ago. If our path out is destroyed, we could be in serious trouble.”
She wasted no time in gathering up her belongings, and showed Catharina and Elsa how best to fasten the furs about themselves. Nareena explained that she had used this cave as a base for many years, and had collected a good supply of spare cloths and food here. Finally all was ready. Nareena led the way out of the cavern, Catharina next, Antonin then Elsa. The snow storm had abated somewhat and now there was just a cold wind keening across the ice. The landscape as far as the eye could see was white and unreadable under a thick blanket of snow.
The group walked over the hard snow for some distance along the base of the cliff, then started to climb up a steep track that was part fault in the rock and part hand cut. The track was very steep and cut into steps in places, and seemed to continue up into the very clouds that occasionally swirled across the blue of the sky. Nareena stepped onto a wide ledge and rested on her pack.
“We rest here a moment, we are half way.” She said. She was short of breath a little, she was still not fully recovered from her earlier ordeal.
“Look!” She suddenly called and pointed out into the distance. Everyone looked, but could see nothing out of place.
“What is it?” Asked Antonin.
“The mountain pass,” replied Nareena. “It is clear. That must be what we heard. It is very far away, but that gap between those two mountains. It was filled with rock, but is now clear. Truly the Dark One stirs.” She shivered, and not from the cold.
“Come, we must continue. We have a long way to go and we must reach my city. The Lord of the Dragon Armies has returned, and the mountain pass is once again open. The wheel of time is grating into motion once again.” Nareena did not add, that should the ice now melt in the valley as well, the old city would be once again exposed. She turned up the track, giving Antonin a strange look as he muttered “and don’t forget, Lord of the Chamber.”
The small party struggled on, the sun well down on the horizon by the time they finally stood on the level stony ground at the top of the sheer cliff face. All were sweating profusely from the exertion as they stood surveying the vast icy valley at their feet. It was little warmer here on the heights, but there seemed to be less wind. It was still much too cold to remove the furs though, and it soon became apparent that their perspiration would freeze their clothes to them if they didn’t keep moving to keep the heat up. Antonin passed along strips of dried meat, and turned and trudged on in single file after Nareena.
She was obviously on her guard, for all the seeming emptiness of the landscape. Catharina and Elsa’s eyes never rested in their constant scanning of the surrounds. Antonin was careful, but he was deep in thought and almost bumped into Catharina, stopped in mid stride, directly in front of him. He looked back, and saw that Elsa was in a half crouch, her bow half drawn, slowly scanning the rocks and low scrub off to their right, toward the cliff edge. Then Antonin heard it too. A low pitched howl of some animal away out of sight. It barely reached them, but the hair stood up on Antonin’s neck.
“Nareena, what is that?” He whispered.
“I do not know my Lord. I have not heard this animal call before.” She replied quietly. “It is a very long way off though.” As she finished speaking, an answering howl came from the direction of the cliff that they had left some time before.
“I think we should run if we can,” Said Antonin. “I don’t like the sound of that. I would rather be inside a village than out here in the open if we are to face this new unknown.”
They set out at a steady jog. Nareena leading the way through the low bushes and shrubs that dotted the plain. A faint track showed on the stony ground. Occasionally the howling could be heard behind them, drawing steadily closer. Antonin had the feeling that he knew this sound, but could not yet place it. It seemed somehow familiar, like a distant memory.
“Nareena, how far to the city you spoke of?” Antonin asked.
“Not long now My Lord, just a few more spans.” Replied Nareena.
Antonin didn’t think they would make it in time. Whatever was making that noise was drawing closer at an alarming rate.
“We must take up a position on a hill top.” He panted. Jogging in these thick furs was hard work, even for someone as fit as Antonin. There was a small rise over to the right, as yet a little way ahead.
“There, that rise.” He pointed to the low hill. It had no growth at all on it. Bare and gently sloping, with a pile of stone on its summit.
“We must face whatever it is from there.”
The party scrambled up the slope and gained the summit. The sun was well down, long shadows forming from the rocks about them, and casting the low land into gloom. Elsa and Catharina had removed their furs and ignored the biting wind gusting about them. Nareena had removed her furs, and although she was only lightly clothed showed no ill effect. Her hunting knife held in one hand and spear in the other. Antonin stripped off his furs and strung his bow. His sword he swung free at his side by its leather thong. He made ready the chisel pointed arrows at his waist. Together they quickly gathered what fire wood they could from the boundaries of the slopes.
As though sensing that their quarry no longer ran, the howls of the pursuers increased in pitch a
nd frequency, the blood curdling wails a frenzy of blood lust.
Antonin peered into the gloom, straining for a glimpse of whatever it was that was on their trail.
There – flickering through the low scrub. Huge animals like hounds. Great shaggy brutes the size of small horses. White shaggy fur that told of animals built to live in the cold places. They covered the ground in long graceful strides, heading as true as arrows directly at the small group on the hill top.
Antonin looked at the beasts in alarm. there were five of them, and they would be on the hill in moments. He didn’t think arrows would stop these beasts.
Catharina and Elsa stood out at the edge of the stone rubble. They had no fear, and would be the first to meet these brutes whatever they were. Suddenly Catharina took her stance and loosed an arrow at the lead beast, now almost upon her. The arrow buried itself almost the full length of the shaft into the chest of the beast. It didn’t even break stride. Even before the first arrow struck though, both Catharina and Elsa were drawing and loosing arrows faster than the eye could see. The animals were almost on them. All five animals had arrows deeply embedded in them now, and with the huge arrows of Antonin added to these, the beasts faltered. They were upon Catharina and Elsa in a stride though, but simply knocked them sprawling and ran on. They were aimed at Antonin. He loosed one of the huge chisel head arrows he had taken from the dead hunter, and the chisel point almost took the beasts head off as it buried itself between the animals eyes. The animal dropped in its tracks. Antonin shot at the next, with the same effect, and as he did so Nareena leapt in from the side, and her long thin needle pointed spear ran through the third animal. It’s blood chilling cry echoing across the plain. Two still came on, running straight at Antonin. The two girls were back on their feet and launching themselves at the hounds. As the hounds closed on Antonin he thought he was about to die. He had none of the great arrows left, and his sword, now in hand was going to be of little use against two such animals. They stood at least half his height, and their huge jaws would tear him apart in seconds. Whoever had set these beasts on his trail had surely directed them to him alone.
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