Falk slumped into himself and whispered, ‘it’s true then’.
The magician spun around to face him. ‘Of course it’s true. Anyone who wants to see it can see it. Do you think I came here just to perform this little trick? I just wanted to play it safe and make sure I was rescuing the right one of the four’.
Falk was really paying attention now and the Uldini nodded. ‘Exactly. A large pack of Fog Cats are on their way here and are going to destroy the whole village. We have to get out of here as quickly as possible’.
Falk leapt up and ran to his trunk. ‘How many?’
‘How do I know, two dozen or thereabouts. I didn’t stay to count them’, the wizard spat out. I let myself be carried here by the Wild Wind so I wouldn’t be noticed’.
Ahren was completely confused now. Nothing made any sense and so he clung on to the information he could make sense of. The village was being attacked by Dark Ones and the villagers were in danger! He jumped out of bed and began to get dressed. Falk did the same without saying a word. Within moments they were ready. The old man had put on the armour he had worn when they had chased the Blood Wolf and attached the broadsword.
Uldini looked at him with his head tilted and asked, ‘and where is the rest of the armour?’
‘Later’, said Falk tersely and walked towards the door followed by the others.
Selsena was standing in front of the house and neighed quietly in greeting. There was neither animosity nor rejection in her attitude. Whatever row the Forest Guardian had with the magician, the Elven-horse wasn’t involved in it.
Ahren turned in the direction of the village and trotted off. Culhen trotted beside him with his nose in the wind, when the young man heard Uldini’s voice behind him. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
Ahren stopped, confused, and turned around. While Falk was looking uncertainly and Selsena was prancing on the spot, the little figure of the magician stood there, his clenched fists on his hips before pointing to the north of the forest. ‘We’re disappearing as fast as we can’.
‘But the village needs our help!’ Ahren was perplexed.
Then Falk spoke. ‘Boy, I had my work cut out for me dealing with one Fog Cat, but combating more than twenty? That’s suicide’.
‘I think he’s such a great magician, he can help us, or am I wrong?’ answered Ahren fiercely. He wasn’t going to let his friends die!
‘You don’t know the first thing about magic. If I intervene, it will be like a magnet. There are far worse things than a few Fog Cats out there that can find us’, warned Uldini.
Ahren looked to Falk for support, and it was clear from his master’s face that he wanted to help. The Forest Guardian hesitated for a moment, then nodded to his student and ran towards the village. Selsena neighed triumphantly and joined the group.
Ahren and Cuhlen ran with wild determination beside the Forest Guardian and the four of them disappeared into the undergrowth leaving a flabbergasted master magician standing in their wake.
‘Hell-fire and damnation, of all the…!’ thundered the now strangely old sounding voice of the boy into the night. He broke off his tirade of curses and shook his head. It had never been easy with Falk, and the youngster seemed to have made these tendencies even stronger. This was going to be some amount of work. He raised his hands out from his body with a sigh until they were at a shallow angle to the ground, rose a hand’s width up from the ground and floated after the others.
It wasn’t long before Ahren and Falk had reached the edge of the village and all seemed quiet.
‘Perhaps there’s still time. We should sound the alarm bell. If we get everyone into the Village hall or the chapel and light as many fires as possible, we can sit out the night. The battle would be much easier in daylight’, whispered his master.
Ahren nodded. Falk had taught him much about combat with Fog Cats. They had originally been lynxes from the Fog Forests before they were employed by the Adversary as trackers and assassins. They had matt grey fur and could melt into the shadows and jump in among them within a heartbeat as long as they had a clear field of vision. Fighting them in an environment of no light was almost impossible. Because of course they could see in the dark and they also had superior hearing. Falk had defeated Grey Fang that time by smoking him out of his lair with a smouldering fire at midday. As soon as the furious beast was forced to spring out into the sunshine, Falk had shot an arrow through it before it had a chance of reaching the shade.
Ahren looked around him and shivered. Yes, it was a starry night and the moon was shining brightly, but here on the edge of the forest were many places the light didn’t reach. And no fires were burning in the villagers’ houses at this time. Every residence was deathly black.
The two Guardians crept slowly forwards, Culhen stalked in the undergrowth and Selsena stood stock still and listened with her thoughts. They had just arrived on the village square when Selsena neighed shrilly.
‘They’re there’, whispered Falk and looked searchingly around. Ahren did the same and saw spots of moving darkness, that were appearing everywhere between the huts. They were leaping from shadow to shadow and he saw in horror how some of them were jumping onto the roofs of the huts and staring down the chimneys. A heartbeat later and they were gone and terrorized screams could be heard from within the buildings.
Ahren felt sick. He raced over to the alarm bell in the middle of the square and banged it as hard as he could so all of the citizens of Deepstone became aware of the imminent danger. At the same time Falk pulled out his flint stone and ran with Culhen by his side. Selsena in the meantime had spotted one of the Dark Ones, hiding between two houses and charged at it.
The shrill sound of the bell resounded through the night and the heads of all the Fog Cats that were out in the open turned around. Ahren saw little red eyes narrowed to a slit, looking him up and down. Falk had quickly lit one of the large torches that were attached to the iron holders at the entrance to the Village Hall and was already lighting the second one.
Ahren yanked an arrow out of his quiver and shot at one of the shapes that was coming towards them slowly and furtively. The weapon would have hit its target but the animal leapt at the last moment into the shadow of a hut, where it vanished, only to re-appear two huts further on.
‘Save your arrows until they’re nearer and the light lessens their possibility of escape’, shouted Falk.
Both torches were now brightly lighting Ahren and his fighting companions within a circle with a radius of five paces, which dissipated the darkness. But now Ahren could only make out the eyes of the creatures, which were jumping hither and thither and circling ever closer around the two Guardians and Culhen, who was running around growling but remaining within the light. From the darkness they heard a wrathful spitting sound that suddenly broke off, followed by a loud whinnying. ‘Selsena’ got one’, said Falk grimly and set a bow on his arrow too, taking aim into the darkness.
Torches began to flare up behind the huts. The inhabitants had been abruptly torn from their sleep by the ringing of the alarm bell and the screams of the dying.
Falk roared with all his might, ‘Fog Cats! Stay in your houses, stoke the fire! Don’t open your doors or windows!’
Ahren screamed the same but for some the warning was too late. They heard more screams coming from the darkness as windows and doors were torn open, allowing the night attackers a way in. With tears in his eyes Ahren shot another arrow and could only hear helplessly, how the unequal duels came to their bloody ends.
‘We have to do something’, he said, turning in frustration to his master.
Falk glanced at him before aiming once again into the darkness beyond the torch light. ‘Count them all. We’re holding at least half of them at bay for the moment and Selsena has already killed three’. Every time the Titejunanwa was victorious, Falk was filled with a wave of joyful euphoria. ‘If everyone stays in their homes, we should be able to prevent further victims. As long as we survive’, he a
dded.
Meanwhile the Fog cats had slunk up almost as far as the blazing light and could now be made out as grey spectres. Falk let fly with an arrow and one of the shapes was spun around spitting furiously before it collapsed and was totally still. Ahren followed his master’s actions and both began to fire off arrows as quickly as possible.
They had already hit five or six Fog Cats when the rest of them began moving together towards them, emitting a most terrifying caterwauling sound.
‘They’re calling on others for back up’, said Falk between shots and pulled out his broadsword. ‘Make a bit of room. You keep to the right and let Culhen cover your left side’. Ahren moved to the side and pulled out his dagger and gave the wolf a firm hand signal to follow the order given.
Seven of the animals now stormed into the circle of light and finally Ahren could see details. Time seemed to slow down as the wiry, slim, matt grey bodies jumped towards them. Their grey fur was patterned with thin black stripes and the broad heads of the feline predators had long pointed furry hairs at the tips of their ears, almost like lynxes that had been bereft of their colour, so that they looked like the embodiment of the night.
All this went through Ahren’s mind within a heartbeat and then the attackers were directly in front of him.
With a roar Falk started swinging his broadsword in a complicated pattern and caught two of the cats in one go while Culhen jumped on another cat. Ahren saw as if through a tunnel a grey face with bared fangs jumping towards him. He dropped his arrow, yanked his dagger upwards, went into a defensive position before the body of the creature crashed against him and pulled the ground from under him. As if in a frenzy, Ahren started stabbing in every direction, the priceless lessons of his master quite forgotten, while the claws of the Fog Cat tried to find a way through his leather clothing and the head lunged forward attempting to bite Ahren in the face. The Dark One seemed twice as big now as it had a heartbeat earlier. Its fangs were snapping shut close to his throat, the muscly body was clasping at him and into him with its claws, and with wild movements it threw him to the ground. The Fog Cat was now standing over him and had the upper hand. All would soon be up with Ahren.
Strangely enough, this thought helped the young man to overcome his panic. He remembered one of his master’s lessons and reacted with lightning speed. Instead of pushing his opponent away and thereby giving him room to manoeuvre, he wrapped himself around the Fog Cat’s neck and pulled it with all his strength towards him, so that its mouth bit harmlessly into his shoulder armour. At the same time, he drove his dagger through the ribs and into the heart of the beast, which crumpled together and became limp.
Ahren looked around frantically and saw that Falk had killed another cat and Culhen had his opponent in his mouth. The wolf shook the Dark One until it was completely still. The other two Fog Cats had retreated to the darkness again and were pacing around them in a semi circle without starting another attack. Ahren shoved the body aside and pulled himself up. He had just regained his breath when another ten pair of eyes appeared.
Falk said in a serious voice, ‘the good news is, that the villagers are safe for the moment. Selsena says, all of them are here. They want to overrun us as a pack’.
Ahren swallowed hard, his mouth was bone dry and his hands, wet with the blood of the Fog Cat, were shaking.
The circle of grey bodies was moving inexorably closer and emitting a low purring sound that bore right into Ahren’s very bones.
‘Killing gives them pleasure. The Adversary has corrupted them through and through’, said Falk disgustedly.
Ahren tried desperately to calm himself. His bow was too far away from him on the ground, and Falk didn’t have time to change weapons, to shoot another arrow and get his heavy sword into position again. Culhen stood attentively at Ahren’s left leg and so the three waited for the remaining Dark Ones to attack. they were seconds away from being destroyed.
Then Selsena rammed through the darkness into a straggler, who died with a shrill spitting. This sound worked like a signal on the mob, which now stormed forward and were ready to pounce in a wave of claws and fangs and wipe the three fighters off the face of the earth.
But then the torches suddenly went out.
At least that’s what it seemed to Ahren because the flame from the torches became so small that they emitted almost no light. A heartbeat later the stolen fire resurfaced again but this time behind the surprised Fog Cats, who hesitated for a moment. This short delay saved the Guardians and the wolf for in the next moment the round creation of swirling fire exploded into a fan that spread in a semi-circle, catching everything that lay in its path. The Dark Ones caught fire in an instant and were blazing fiercely while Ahren threw himself, his arms clasped protectively over his head, on top of Culhen as the wave of fire raced towards them. But just like a real wave, this one broke too and pulled back to its source, until it was once again a circular fireball in the night.
Ahren lifted his head and saw the little outline of Uldini. He was standing with the crystal ball in his raised right hand and chanting some words while the swirling fireball dispersed into sparks. The flames of the torches immediately grew back to their original size and blazed contentedly as if nothing had ever happened.
Falk had watched the magic unmoved and without batting an eyelid. He sheathed his broadsword once it was clear that the burning heaps, which only a few seconds earlier had almost spelt their doom, were not going to rise up again. ‘What took you so long?’ he growled at the magician.
Uldini approached the torch light and Ahren was amazed to see that the boyish figure was floating over the ground and moving as quickly as a running adult.
‘I had to catch up with you and could only use a little magic or they would have sensed where I was and intercepted me. So I had the whole pack in one place and I only needed one conjuration to nab them all’. The magician’s voice constantly changed between a furious hissing and a reproachful grumbling.
‘However I have made all Dark Ones within two hundred miles aware of us so we need to get out of here as quickly as possible’.
Their rescuer’s voice was so full of suppressed rage by this point that Ahren retreated until he felt the wooden wall of the Village Hall at his back.
Uldini made a dismissive hand gesture in his direction and snarled, ‘Explain it to him. I’ll go and heal a few wounded people and then we’d better go, before this place is wiped off the map’. Then he floated off to the cabins where the cries of pain were coming from.
Falk made a conciliatory gesture and nodded, then turned towards his apprentice, who was just checking Culhen for injuries. The blood that was glistening on him seemed to be all from the monster that the wolf had conquered.
Ahren let out a sigh of relief and embraced his true friend. He himself was covered in blood so it made no odds. He was just happy to be alive.
Falk squatted down beside them. ‘We don’t have much time, but you need to know one of the ground rules of magic. The intentions with which a magic spell is cast always have an influence on the spirit of the magic maker. If you conjure in a rage, then this rage recoils on you. This effect is all the greater, the stronger and more quickly the spell is cast. If you destroy or kill with your magic, then the whole thing is much worse’. He gave Ahren a firm look. ‘Whenever he’s the way he is now, then don’t provoke him. It’s hard enough for him to pull himself together. Many war magicians have fallen into a frenzy and have had to be killed by their own people’.
‘Is he going to recover?’ whispered Ahren. He didn’t know how good a furious magician’s ears were and he didn’t want to take any chances.
‘Of course the feelings fade away in time. And constructive magic, which is created from pity or love, has the opposite effect. He’s helping those who can be saved, and so he’ll almost be back to his old self’.
His master slapped him on the back. ‘Now go and bid farewell to everyone. He’s right in one respect, even if I don’t want to admit
it. The sooner we’re gone, the safer Deepstone is’.
Ahren was excited and sad at the same time. Falk would be bringing him along instead of leaving him here. There was something uncannily reassuring about this thought. But it was hard to accept that he would have to leave everything he knew behind him. His thoughts came thick and fast as he remembered his friends and it became clear to him that he didn’t know if they survived the attack unscathed. Ice seemed to flow through his veins when he imagined Likis might have been slaughtered by one of these grey monsters, and so he jumped to his feet and ran off.
Falk looked after him with an understanding look and let him do as he pleased. The wolf would make sure he was safe, and he asked Selsena to keep Ahren’s feelings in sight. He stood up slowly with a sigh and sounded the bell three times so the villagers were alerted that the danger had been banished.
Ahren heard the bell echoing behind him and as he ran between the cabins, doors and windows were carefully opened and frightened villagers peered out into the darkness. Ahren kept calling out as he passed them by, ‘The danger is past. Go to the square and see who you can help’.
It wasn’t far, a few hundred paces, but he felt as if the village path was stretching out to eternity. As he trotted forward, he wiped the blood awkwardly from his clothing until a wet sheen on the dark leather was the only tell-tale sign of his encounter with the Fog Cats. Culhen was stalking alongside Selsena in the trees – the inhabitants were nervous enough without seeing an Elven-horse and a bloodstained wolf.
Ahren reached the northern end of the village at last and saw the merchant’s house. Light came from under the door and there were no cries of pain. In fact, it had been a while since he’d passed any houses that were dark, which revealed the disaster that must have befallen their inhabitants. It was clear that the attackers had attacked the village from the south and the northern part had remained untouched.
Ahren- the 13th Paladin Page 19
