Vedientir

by Ivan Hladni

  "How many are there? How many did you see?" he asked while Dion was taking off his pants and placing them near the fire to dry.

  "A hundred, maybe more, even though we did manage to reduce their number quite a bit," Dion answered and unwrapped a sheepskin he sometimes slept on.

  Although he wanted to smile at the end of his son's sentence, the knowledge that he could have lost him allowed no muscle in his face to form it.

  "I'll need you rested in the morning," were the last words Arnos said before he went out the front door. Dion spread the sheepskin on the floor in front of the fireplace and then sprawled on top of it. Weariness rushed to lull him to sleep.

  Arnos tethered Dion's horse to the fence in front of the house and then mounted his horse and headed towards the city gate.

  "News," Arnos asked the guards when he reached the gate.

  "Nothing, lord," answered one. The others shook their heads to give the same answer.

  "Don't raise the alarm just yet. We don't need panic-stricken people in the streets, and besides, we don't know what we are dealing with yet. If anyone asks - there's a fire in Lorei and it's being dealt with."

  "You," he pointed to a guard who clearly proved to be the youngest by a wisp of overly long thin hairs in the middle of his chin. The young man's eyes dilated.

  "Go wake up the other guards. Their orders are to man the south wall next to the gate." Arnos pointed with his head, and the young man quickly understood and ran down the road towards the center of the city.

  "According to Dion," Arnos continued to the remaining guards, "there were more than a hundred pillagers or whatever they are. We have to keep them outside the city until Aris and the legion return from the north in the morning. I'm going to Echa now for reinforcements for the palisades."

  That ended the speech. Arnos turned to the horse and the men went to their posts at the gates and on the wall.

  The horse raced down the quiet city streets and its hooves rang against the well-kept cobbled road. Rare was the house in which a light didn't appear after the horse went by. It reached the city's main crossroads where the Long and the South streets met, and turned west to the Long street. Arnos averted his eyes from the road only for a moment to see what was going on while he was passing their house, and that almost caused him to collide with two sleepyheads wandering on the road. He passed by the city's bakery, and then the sound of the hooves softened. The horse was off the road and on the wooden bridge over the brook which joined the river Calapis a bit further up north.

  The town park covered most of the west part of the town. A thick belt of various trees surrounded the park on all sides, and the only easy way into the park was the road down which Arnos was now riding. He passed the tree line and entered the park that was for the most part plunged into darkness. The only part of the park that was illuminated was the entrance of the Great Oak.

  The road continued for two hundred more yards west and then turned north and led to the Great Tree of Echa Rei. Reaching the entrance of the Tree, Arnos dismounted and called for the Treewatcher who was in charge that night.

  The thick top of the enormous oak, as the townspeople liked to describe it to folk who hadn't seen it, was far above Arnos' head. On the south side of the trunk, where Arnos now stood, was a huge opening. It began at the ground and went up so high along the trunk that even when standing on the back of a horse one couldn't reach its end. Long ago there were two extremely large men who, after enough beers, tried to measure the width of the opening by holding the edges of the opening with one hand while trying to touch each other in the middle, and they only just managed to do it, after stretching out and moaning quite a bit.

  The Treewatcher answered from the darkness north of the Tree, announcing his arrival. Arnos kept looking into the dark opening of the Tree. It looked as though the light of the torches illuminating the park refused to enter it.

  A heavy-set Treewatcher sporting a bushy beard appeared at Arnos' side.

  "I have to go to Echa to get reinforcements. Irion pillaged the southern villages and is heading here in force. Stay with the Tree from now on, we'll need it open."

  The Treewatcher rubbed his eyes, placed his hand in a leather purse hanging from his right hip, pulled out a Travel acorn and got closer to the Tree. He cleaned the acorn with his fingers even though it wasn't dirty nor would the magic be hindered by the fact that the runes on the acorn couldn't be read.

  "Hodam an Echa," said the Treewatcher and cast the spell correctly. Although saying the rune hodam would have sufficed, he always named the place he wanted to go to because it helped him focus.

  The acorn in his hand cracked, revealing a sliver of yellow light. When he cleared away the shell, what remained in his hand was a bright yellow acorn kernel that by size and color looked more like an egg yolk rather than anything else. A moment later the kernel got brighter, bright enough to flood his face with light, and then it lost its shape and started pouring over his hand. The light quickly caught his entire hand and when it stopped, the Treewatcher raised his hand into the air in front of him, like one would hold a lantern. He called for Arnos and they both entered the dark opening of the Great Oak.

  They stood inside the tree in undisturbed pitch darkness. The light coming from the Treewatcher's hand wasn't strong enough to light up the space in front of them. He took a few more steps further and even before his extended hand touched the tree the light escaped his hand and started spreading inside the tree like a forest fire. In a moment's time it spread both far above their heads and down to the ground on which they stood. When the wall of light spread over the entire opening, its strength diminished and a blurry image and some indiscernible movements appeared in front of them. A few moments later the image cleared up completely. The Treewatcher had opened the Path.

  In place of the Tree's trunk in Echa Rei they could now see the inside of the Great Oak in Echa and through it the stone courtyard in which it grew. They could also see two guards standing in front of the the Oak in Echa, dressed in the South legion's silver-blue armor.

  The guards looked at the two of them and moved away from the Tree, and then the Treewatcher made one more step and instead of hitting his head against the tree's inside, he found himself next to the guards in the stone courtyard in Echa.

  Arnos waited for the Treewatcher to exit the Oak to go after him and after only a few steps he too found himself in Echa, ten miles away.

  "Evening," he greeted the guards as he exited the Tree, and then added to the Treewatcher: "I won't be long."

  "What business?" asked one of the guards.

  "I need to speak to lord Taren. Urgently."

  "Follow me," the guard said. They had to get around the Tree first since the exit of the Tree in Echa was to the north and the citadel was in the south. The Wooden courtyard, as it was called even though it was all set in stone, was empty at this time of night so they quickly reached its walls.

  They followed a path south and after a few houses and an inn they came to a clearing in front of the high walls of the citadel. The citadel gate was wide open and lit with numerous torches. Twelve men, six on each side of the gate, stood guard.

  They came upon the lord of the city at the very entrance to the citadel and the guard that brought Arnos there quickly left.

  Arnos immediately disliked what he saw. Eblon, the lord of Echa Doros, stood next to Taren. Arnos approached them, worried, but did not break off their conversation. Eblon was just finishing his sentence "... and we're definitely going to need the king's help."

  Arnos reacted to that.

  "What's going on?"

  "Doros is under attack. They came at us from two sides. We repulsed them in the south where they tried to get into the town across the bridge. A larger force came from the east, but they stopped just out of our archers' reach."

  Even though he was worried about Echa Doros, Arnos became even more worried about his own city. "The villages south of Echa Rei are lost and the enemy is most likely
on his way to Rei as we speak. I need at least a hundred men until the legion returns in the morning."

  "We'll find that many," answered Taren.

  Arnos bowed in gratitude and then added "I have to go."

  He raced back to Echa Rei and ran into the Tree in Echa so fast that he almost hit the Treewatcher when he burst out of the Tree in Rei.

  "Anything happened while I was away?" he asked the stumped Treewatcher whom he almost knocked down.

  "Nothing at all."

  It was the answer he had hoped for, especially after hearing the disturbing news coming from Echa Doros.

  "Expect arrivals from Echa," Arnos said briefly and then headed towards the South gate. He found the gate closed and the walls around the gate full of soldiers. Some were lighting fires, others were preparing spears and bows, and a few momentarily finished their group yawning when they noticed him and found chores to attend to.

  As soon as he dismounted, the barely-bearded young man he had ordered to gather the guards appeared at his side.

  "I found them all," he said with a proud smile and then finished "and no one has yet come from the south."

  "Very good, Pelin. Now I have one more task for you. Go to my house this instant. Wake Dion up if you have to. Go with him to the Tree. You are both to wait there for the men from Echa. You lead one third of them to the western palisades and then return to the Tree - I need you at that end. Have Dion lead the rest of the men to the eastern palisades and report to me here at the gate afterwards."

  "Look!" shouted someone. When Arnos turned to face the walls, he saw one of his men standing atop the battlements with his arm pointing south-east towards the Crossroads.

  "Go," Arnos said to Pelin and then rushed up the stairs leading onto the walls. Two soldiers moved apart to make room for him at the nearest battlement.

  They could see a group of people still far from the city, but moving quickly towards it. Arnos was still hoping that it was the villagers and Senteus's men, but knowing that Echa Doros was under attack as well, he was prepared for everything. The command to close the gate was on the tip of his tongue.

  A larger shape split from the approaching group and started for the city. As it came closer it became clearer that it was a mounted figure. It stopped in the middle of the road, halfway between the group and the city, and a moment later began waving a lit torch from side to side.

  The men atop the battlements cheered. The figure correctly made a signal for "friend", which was agreed to be the signal that night, being one of seven that were used by the night's watch in the kingdom of Aelan.

  But then, as quickly as the cheers went up so did they die out. The figure signaled again and this signal could not be misunderstood - it was the signal for help.

  The men on the walls became distraught. Some voiced worry, others were enraged, but all turned their eyes upon Arnos. He turned to the men at the foot of the wall.

  "How many horses are left at the stables?"

  "Fifteen, sir." The reply was immediate.

  "Take fourteen men. Mount the horses and meet up with Senteus. Go!"

  The guard quickly picked the men to follow him. They laid their spears to rest on the wall and ran towards the stables.

  Arnos returned to the battlements and fixed his gaze firmly upon the incoming group.

  ✽✽✽

  Dion barely slept after his father left, managing at best to drop into some kind of a fatigued state, a half-dream. An image of a horse was in front of his closed eyes. The horse was standing on the road in front of the city gate. It was stamping its front hooves and Dion could hear the sound, but it was softer than what hooves stamping on rock should sound like.

  Then he heard a number of thuds, quick in succession, and the horse in his dream tried to stamp as quickly, but soon the thuds became so numerous and so tightly knit together that the horse could not keep up.

  His mind noticed that something was not right and Dion opened his eyes. The image of the horse disappeared, but the sound remained. Someone was at the door, beating at it mercilessly.

  Dion got to his feet, put his pants back on, and then stumbled towards the door. His eyes were still hazy and showed no intent of functioning properly yet.

  "It's you," Dion muttered when he saw his friend Pelin at the door. Still tired, he turned away from Pelin and dragged his feet back towards the table. He did not sit - he slammed his bottom onto the chair, and laid his head and chest onto the table. He closed his eyes and wished he could fall asleep that very moment.

  Pelin let himself in and closed the door behind him.

  "Your father sent me. The two of us need to get to the Tree and wait for the reinforcements from Echa. He went himself to Echa to get them."

  This got Dion's attention. He scraped himself off the table.

  "What time is it?"

  "I'm not sure. Must be around two after midnight."

  "I barely shut my eyes," moaned Dion, but continued listening to Pelin as he delivered Arnos' message.

  He quickly finished feeling sorry for himself and got off the chair. He glanced at Pelin who was standing by the door.

  "Warm yourself up by the fire while I ready myself."

  Pelin gladly accepted.

  Dion went into the darkness behind the door to the right of the fireplace and returned quickly wearing a new shirt, new pants and a belt with a sheathed sword hanging from it.

  "Come," he said to Pelin, and went towards the front door. Pelin followed quickly and they were out of the house in no time. They mounted the horses that already did their fair share of work that day and ran towards the Great Oak.

  When they arrived at the Tree, they found the Treewatcher talking to a captain from Echa. Behind the two of them, a steady stream of armed men poured out from the Tree. Three abreast they walked.

  The captain from Echa immediately turned his attention to the horsemen and waited until they dismounted.

  "We are sent by lord Arnos," said Dion when he faced the captain and the Treewatcher.

  "A third of your men are needed for the western palisades. Pelin here will lead them to their position. The rest are to follow me to the eastern palisades."

  The captain obeyed without a word and joined the rest of the legionaries from Echa. They quickly split into two groups and Pelin led them west. Dion and the captain waited a few more moments until the last man came through the Tree and then the captain gave the order to move. The Tree's Path closed behind them and the lights and sounds from Echa were gone.

  Dion thought it would be rude towards the rest of the men to ride so he decided not to mount his horse. He walked in front of the column in silence and led the horse behind him. He wondered what he would find once he got back to the gate and was worried because he still felt too weary to fight.

  The column of men passed through the most densely populated part of the city and reached the main crossroads that served not only as the crossing of roads but also as the main city square. To the east of this square was the main city market and behind the market there were only a few houses and the palisades that stretched from the river Calapis in the north all the way to the stone walls and the city gate in the south. The palisades were built more as a deterrent against thieves and their ilk rather than as a proper defense since the kingdom of Aelan had two much stronger defensive weapons - its Great Oaks and its elite legions that could reach almost any part of the kingdom in the blink of an eye.

  Dion noticed not only far more lights in the windows, but many more people in the streets as well. The people were both worried and curious and were almost entirely blocking the legionaries' path. The column wanted to but failed to cross the city unnoticed. A hundred men were hard to hide, even in the middle of the night.

  Dion answered the same thing each time someone asked him what was going on: "We are under attack" and "Don't go back to bed. Stay on your feet."

  Dion then heard one soldier in the column mentioning Echa Doros.

  "Repeat that, pleas
e," Dion said loudly and gestured towards the soldier who broke his way out of the column to reach Dion.

  "Before your father came to Echa, the lord of Echa Doros came as well. I didn't see him myself, but the word is he had blood all over him and that he said that pillagers had burned the villages around Doros."

  Dion was now certain that the men who came to Lorei were no pillagers. This was the beginning of a new war.

  "Quickly!" he shouted. "To the palisades!"

  Dion mounted his horse and the soldiers stopped conversing with the townspeople and quickened their pace.

  "Captain," Dion continued, "place your men as you see fit."

  "Understood," answered the captain and then disappeared in the column which quickly left the square. Dion remained with the people of Echa Rei.

  "I think it would be best if all men and their sons, if they are not boys, go to their houses and fetch what weapons they have. Let's hope that you won't need the..."

  The sound of bells coming from the walls in the south stopped Dion midsentence and brought to their ears a clear message - "The enemy is at the gate."

  He could wait no longer.

  "Arm yourselves," he repeated once more and then rode south towards the gate, but he didn't reach them. In the street in front of the guards' stables he ran into a large group of people and he recognized them immediately - they were the villagers from Lorei and Upper Lorei, led by the horsemen from Echa.

  He felt guilt when he saw them. They were tired and cold but he, unlike these people, had the chance to warm himself up and rest. He tried ridding himself of the guilt by thinking how he had to tell his father what was going on and that he had orders to follow, but all that didn't help much.

  He continued past the long sorrowful column of villagers, all the while unsuccessfully looking for Kerkio. He finally passed the villagers and found himself at the city walls.

  The city gate was closed and behind it stood a large number of men, armed with shields and spears. There were around fifty horsemen as well, making their way through the crowd, and even more men stood atop the walls.