by Philip Smith
“Because, I know everything there is to know about you Alwasu, second born of Alaire, chief of the Alatarians and Eleness the elven maiden of the Whisperwood. You’ve no idea how good it is to meet you after all these years.”
“Sir, I don’t know how you know all that but I request that you explain yourself immediately,” Paige stammered, her breathing in short, anxious breaths.
“I’ve been searching for you for a long time. In fact, I’ve followed your lot since you set out on this journey a month ago,” he said, gesturing again to the group. “I know the price you have paid, Paige of Kapernaum. I know about Olivian. I know about Aschin. I know it all.”
He paused for a moment then looked Paige directly in her eyes. “And I know about the leather scrap you carry in your boot because I was there when your father tore it from the Book of Death.”
Chapter 12
Tears in the Rain
Paige stared at the stranger in absolute shock. Her expression matched that of every member of the company, including Hanburg. Her father had stolen this scrap of leather scrawled with ancient gibberish from the Shahir? But why?
“How… how...?” she tried to force out more, but she couldn’t seem to formulate a sentence from the million and ten questions exploding through her mind. How had she never heard of this from her father?
“My dear, it is a very long story that we don’t have time to get into at present. Morning is breaking, and we need to put some considerable distance between us and this wretched village.” He looked toward Hanburg. “No offence meant, Councilman.”
“You can’t just make a statement like that and not explain!” shouted Paige in frustration. She yanked the leather out of her moc and shook it angrily at his face. “My father and mother, my entire village suffered because of this, and I don’t even know what it is! Now you tell me this instant or I will gut you myself!”
“Claigvaghn heylagh,” the man said in a soothing elvish tone.
“Don’t dare to tell me to ‘calm down’ sir,” Paige hissed through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing. The magician regarded her almost with amusement but also admiration before he sighed.
“Alwasu, you’ve known such pain these many weeks. But take some slight amount of comfort, if you can, in knowing your father single-handedly stopped the Shahir from wreaking havoc across this entire world by taking that piece of parchment. I cannot tell you what it says. You think it’s hard finding a human-born natural magician, try and find a one that can read spells written in Archaic Elvish from a book over two thousand years old. But I can tell you this: whatever is on it was worth the Shahir marching three divisions of soldiers into the Wild to find it, and you single handedly have foiled an empire this last month. I am here to ensure that his sacrifice and your suffering are not done for naught.”
“So that’s it then? We’re supposed to just trust you and let you walk away?” Twostaves said, taking a menacing step forward. He stared down at the man in clear indignation.
“What you believe is of no consequence to me,” Woodcarver said, walking over to the oak tree and picking up a particularly gnarled and knotted staff. “But I am not planning on walking away at all, Mr. Giant. In fact, just the opposite; I’m coming with you.”
Robert snorted.
The man glared at him with those piercing clear eyes. “The fact is you’ve lost the element of surprise with your enemy. They are actively hunting you. You can see that by the presence of a seren in the walls of the village you just escaped from. The main path to Aschin is too dangerous now. You’ll be caught the moment you step too close to a main road or well-known pass.”
“If what Jesnake heard is true,” Hanburg commented, “this man is not wrong. If the Shauds have come this far and sought out my village this deep into the Wild, they will have all the main routes of travel blocked or ambushed for you by now.”
“So what are we to do?” Paige asked, worry etching the edge of her voice almost to a quiver. “Going back is not an option for me.”
“I can take you,” Woodcarver said, leaning against his staff. “I know a way around the main roads and passes.”
“How?” Duelmaster asked quietly, staring at his boot in heavy contemplation.
“I know these lands better than any,” he said. “I’ve seen the Wild from vantages most men can only dream of, and I tell you plainly, there is a way. If we hike through the highlands and go over the ridges south of us rather than follow the passes due east, then circle back, we can get to Aschin undetected and possibly make up for some lost time.”
“Go through the Raychel Range?” Dinendale scoffed. “Those mountains are as barren and desolate as a dragon’s cave. You’re suggesting we try and cut across them?”
“I did not say it would be easy,” Woodcarver countered. “But the best way to avoid the soldiers is to take the path they will not travel.”
“And we’re going to just have to take your word as truth and let you lead us blindly into the Wild?” Broadside laughed. “Dinendale, you can’t seriously be considering this as an option!”
“He did go out of his way to save the princess,” Duelmaster said, still in his pondering pose. “He didn’t have to warn us. And we frankly owe him Paige’s life.”
“I would have gotten to her in time if he hadn’t nabbed her first,” Robert grunted.
“No, actually,” Paige said curtly. “Duelmaster is right. I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for this… Woodcarver.”
“May we have a moment to counsel your proposal?” Dinendale asked.
The magician rolled his eyes but nodded with some annoyed reluctance. He took his staff and walked beyond the oak tree’s shade and into the first rays of sunlight the morning had to offer. Hanburg excused himself and opted to go stand beside the man and engage him in conversation. The group congealed together and began discussing their options in hoarse, hushed whispers.
“Can we trust him?” Jesnake asked bluntly.
“I don’t think we should risk it. What if he leads us into the middle of nowhere? What if it’s a trap? I say we risk our route and just take extra care.” Robert argued. Twostaves nodded a gruff agreement. Dinendale looked at Paige, uncertainty etched into the frown lines on his forehead.
“Princess, he saved your life. But he appears to know much more about your business than even you do. This either makes him a Creator-sent miracle, or a very dangerous enemy. Regardless of what we think about him, you are the one that has the most to lose in this adventure. If you do not want him to come, then we will end this here and now and leave him tied to a tree or something. It is your call.”
“He’s also a human magician,” Jesnake hissed. “They have always been volatile. You know that, Din. What’s to say he won't cast a spell upon us in the night and take the scroll for the Shahir?”
“Again. I’m leaving this to the princess. It is her burden and her safety that are paramount. On that can we at least all agree?”
There was a chorus of grunts and ayes from the men. Paige thought long and hard. On the one hand, she had no particular reason to trust the stranger. That alone was a good enough reason to wash their hands of the magician. However, he’d had several opportunities at this point to do her harm if he’d wanted to.
“If he was after the scroll, and knew where it was this whole time,” she reasoned, “he would have had every opportunity to let Locamnen kill me and then take it. Or drag me off into the woods and take it. But he brought me to the very spot I needed to be. And he’s right. The way we would have taken would now be crawling with guards on the lookout. Because of that, I think we almost have no choice but to trust him.”
“I still am not a fan of that plan.” Robert muttered.
“We will have to be very aware. If there is even the slightest indication he proves false, we sack him. Agreed?” Dinenedale asked.
The others nodded assent. They broke their little huddle, walking over to the edge of the tree. Hanburg and Woodcarver stood chatting about th
e coming winter.
“Master Magician, we would be happy to have you accompany us,” Dinendale said, extending a hand for the man to shake.
“Under one condition,” Paige interjected.
The magician eyed her up and down. “And that is, my lady?”
“You will tell me everything. About my father, about this scroll, all of it,” she demanded.
The man cracked a half smile. “On my word my dear, I will give you the full narrative. But on my own terms, and not before.”
“Why can’t?”
The man’s smile vanished. His brow creased and furrowed. “There are things in motion right now I can’t tell you about. The more people that know the whole story, the more danger people would be in. I swear I will explain it all, but for the safety of everyone in this company, you have to trust me to tell you on my own terms.” He lowered his voice and looked directly at Paige. “Do you want them all in danger?”
“We’re kind used to that at this point,” Robert snapped.
Paige shook her head.
“No. I’ve put everyone here in enough danger. But you will explain this to me. Swear it.”
“I swear it. Do we have an accord?”
Paige nodded, and the man took Dinendale’s still extended hand and shook it firmly.
Hanburg clapped his hands together. “Well!” he said, energetic as ever. “Now that this has all been sorted out, I must concur with the magician. Time is growing short my friends. We must get you further on your way before the village sends the whole garrison out to find you!”
“Agreed,” Dinendale affirmed. “Lead on.”
The band of riff raff, now counting eight in their company, finished getting their commandeered equipment from Hanburg. They were quick about getting packed up and dressed, taking only a momentary pause for a hunk of bread and cheese for breakfast at Hanburg’s insistence.
Paige was quick to discard the dress in favor of the shirt and trousers once again. Her leather jerkin had been oiled and scrubbed clean, and her britches were white once more, complementing the new dark blue, long-sleeved shirt she wore under the leather padding, the sleeves tucked into a new pair of leather bracers. Her knee-high moccasins were new, a parting gift from Abenya. She pulled her flaxen hair back into her classic single braid allowing it to cascade down her back like a waterfall. A new belt wrapped around her hips, and she had an antler-handled knife tucked into it before she checked herself over.
“My dear, I believe you are missing one thing,” Hanburg said, a twinkle in his eye. With a flourish he removed a small object from his robes, flashing in the sunshine of the morning as he proffered it to Paige.
“Mother’s hairpin!” she squealed with delight.
“Abenya knew where it had gotten off to and was quite insistent it was very special to you,” Hanburg smiled. Paige felt tears brimming up into her eyes. She threw her arms around the man’s beefy neck and kissed him on the cheek. The man chuckled and returned the embrace.
“I don’t know how I can ever thank you, Hanburg, “ she cried into his coat.
“My dear, just stay sharp, be careful, and come visit me once before I am an old man, won’t you?” he chuckled, scratching her back comfortingly with his beefy fingers. Paige could hear his heartbeat through the coat and was quite sure she’d never met another person, barring her own father, with a heart so kind as dear Hanburg’s. She felt all the pain and emotion she’d been struggling with for a month burn within his warm, fatherly embrace. She could feel the tepid patches in his coat where her hot tears were wicking into the fabric before they had a chance to slide down her cheeks.
“It’s a deal,” she said, wiping the tears from her face and sniffing quickly to regain her composure in front of the boys.
Dinendale smiled over at Paige as she stuck her magic hairpin into her braid and secured it safely.
“You know I never got to hear how the rest of you all got out. Were there any other difficulties?” he asked the others as he finished getting his pack ready to strap on. Broadside grunted something unintelligible, but Hanburg clapped his hands excitedly as he laughed.
“I don’t mind telling you, Dinendale, there was more than one harrowing close call last night. Enough to make my hair turn grey!” Hanburg laughed. “Jesnake told me about the plans he’d overheard in the trough after he crawled all the way out to Puddledew Stream on a hill outside the village. He stumbled through the woods to meet us in soaked clothes to relay the plot he’d uncovered.”
“I would have stayed to fight but I hadn’t the strength to be of any use should she be in danger,” Jesnake added bitterly.
“Jesnake, if you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t be here at all. Do not spend another moment kicking yourself, do you hear?” Paige demanded sternly. She looked at the Jesnake with great gratitude, and he smiled slightly, though he still wore an expression that told her he was annoyed with himself.
With that Dinendale turned to Hanburg and held out his hand. The man grinned as he took the elf’s extended arm with his own in an embrace of camaraderie.
“We can never repay you for the kindness you’ve shown us, Hanburg,” Dinendale said seriously. “We are forever in your debt.”
“There is no debt, my friend. I like to think there is still good in this world,” Hanburg said. “Good that needs no alternative motive. Just one person helping another person because, simply, it’s the right thing to do.”
“I hate to rush this cheery reunion,” Woodcarver muttered. “But we don’t have time to waste. The best way to get through the Raychels without going all the way around them is to pass atop a small plateau not known to many in these areas. That will be the quickest way to get to Aschin without taking the main passes and pathways there. It’s a long, hard road and we have who knows how many soldiers nearby.”
“Quite right, of course,” Hanburg agreed.
“And this plateau. You’re sure it exists?” Broadside queried.
“Like I’ve said,” the magician smirked. “I’ve seen this land from many vantage points most men could only dream of. It is there, and it is the best chance we have.”
Paige lashed a bedroll to her wood framed pack she’d quickly constructed. Hanburg was getting nervous; they were not terribly far from the village at this point, and he feared that by now they had probably discovered the slaves were gone and were mustering the warriors.
“There are no more than a hundred able-bodied men to be honest,” Hanburg said, glancing back in the direction of his home. “So it could take them a few hours to even venture this way.”
“It’s not the village I’m worried about,” Woodcarver said, scanning the treeline around the gully. “It’s the soldiers. A seren doesn’t come back, that tends to get noticed at an encampment. And where there is a dispatch of one hundred, you can be sure the three regiments that raised Kapernaum are not far ahead of them.”
“Either way we can’t tarry here,” Paige said, tying the cord tightly around the scratchy wool blanket. Her brow was so furrowed in concentration, she didn’t see Broadside come and sit beside her until he belched loudly. She jumped, and he grinned, wiping his hand onto the back of his trousers.
“Are you done yet?” he asked.
Paige gave him an annoyed look and he raised his hands in mock defense.
“Don’t stab me with those Paige. I’m just trying to make conversation!”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Do you need something?”
“No,” the dwarf said. “Just bored. I finished packing earlier.”
“I see,” she said. She glanced up, spotting Dinendale. He was stuffing some blankets into the leather satchel he used as a pack. He looked stronger now that he was back in actual clothes with a sword strapped to his hip. She also noticed he hadn't looked so haunted in recent weeks; his eyes seemed less empty than they had been when she’d first met him nearly a month ago.
“Hello?” Broadside said, waving a hand in front of her face.
Sh
e blinked. “What?”
“By my beard, princess, were you staring!?” Broadside gasped in fake astonishment, wiggling his dark, bushy eyebrows mischievously. Paige felt her face grow hot.
“I was not,” she said defiantly.
“You were, princess!”
“Shut up,” she snapped. “Surprised you can see anything being so close to the ground.”
“At least I’m not as low as a blow like that!” Broadside said, sticking his tongue out. “That’s the lowest hanging fruit, Paige!”
“Have some experience with low hanging fruit have you?” She laughed.
The dwarf chuckled. “Just thought you’d be above that.”
