Ahren- the 13th Paladin

by Torsten Weitze

  ‘The elves have made you soft, old man’ said Uldini.

  Falk shrugged his shoulders and carried on. ‘Why don’t you throw out a magic net and see how near the danger is. This here is going to take a while but we’ll be all the faster afterwards’.

  The wizard paused, then nodded, and began murmuring quietly and staring into his ball, which started to emit warm yellow rays of light. Ahren sank down at the foot of a tree and gazed into the distance, thinking again of all the things he had heard and experienced. Culhen came to him, rested his muzzle on his knees and began to whimper until the young man started tickling him in the neck absent-mindedly. The familiar contact with his furry friend had a soothing effect on his nerves and he gradually nodded off.

  How much time had passed before he woke up, he couldn’t tell, but he knew what had woken him. Falk and Uldini were just finishing a heated debate, the wizard’s ball was still emitting light. A strange picture presented itself to Ahren. Falk had not only put on the familiar armour for legs, arms and neck, but also a light breastplate and a knight’s helmet made from the same whitish material as the rest of the armour. The way the pieces all fitted showed that they belonged together and made up one piece. The armour looked very old-fashioned and the helmet was engraved in the form of a stylized falcon’s head. Falk was in the process of rubbing ash onto the new pieces so that they would look worn and worthless too.

  But Selsena had made the most dramatic transformation. A broad, white, leather saddle with matching saddle-bags adorned her back. The upper part of her body was covered with metal panels made from the same material as Falk’s armour, and her head was in a metal helmet that enclosed her forehead and horns, so it looked as if these were features of martial equine body armour. The Titejunanwa looked like a strong but standard war horse in an exotic suit of armour.

  Falk was finished with disfiguring his own armour and now approached the Elven-horse. The chorus of disapproval she emitted grew louder and louder and was now physically palpable, as if a thousand ants were scurrying over Ahren’s body. Culhen gave a low yelp and Falk shouted at the magical horse, ‘You wanted to go back into the story. You’ve been sulking since time immemorial and now you’ve found your will. So, stay still’. The feelings ebbed away and Falk, undeterred, began to transform Selsena’s proud war horse into an impoverished nag and relic from a bygone heroic era.

  Uldini was giving orders on how to improve things further and seemed to be enjoying the whole experience.

  Ahren pulled himself up and walked over.

  ‘What does all this mean?’ he asked.

  ‘We want to journey through Three Rivers and head up north from there, past the Red Posts as far as Evergreen. Falk is going to be a wandering knight escorting yours truly, an alumnus of the lesser nobility, while you and your ‘dog’ are our guides in this region’.

  Mention of the places that Ahren only knew from the stories was like a slap in the face and the serenity with which he had woken up disappeared in a puff of smoke. The impossibility of the situation felt like a millstone around his neck and he heard himself asking, ‘and what if I don’t want to go with you?’

  Forest Guardian and Wizard gave him a searching look and his master was about to issue him with a sharp rebuke when the little man raised his hand. ‘no, old man, I’ll take care of this. Firstly, no-one can force you. A Naming can never be made against the will of the chosen one. That would presuppose force and goes against the nature of the Three’.

  Ahren nodded. That was only logical. In all the stories where great victories were won against the Betrayer, free will had played a decisive part. Rule and force were the tools of Him, who forces.

  The wizard continued, ‘but it is nonetheless important that you understand one thing. The magic spell that is holding him captive is fading. That’s a fact. It has been getting weaker since the day you were born, and this process has quickened since your selection. He can only work through his servants and his orders are diffuse and poorly focused. But the more he awakens, the clearer they become. You can hide away or spend your short life on the run but eventually the Dark Ones will find you and kill you, and the world will have no chance against Him, who forces’. Uldini didn’t need to explain the rest. Ahren understood that he had no other option but to accept the role. And anyway, something inside him harmonized with the words of the master wizard, washing away all doubts regarding his mission.

  Ahren knew that he had to fight, whether he wanted to or not.

  They spent the rest of the night in the protection of the trees. The wizard’s magic had shown that they were in no immediate danger and it wouldn’t be long until daybreak anyway. Ahren hadn’t believed that he would be able to fall asleep again that night but his decision not to run away from the future events had a strangely calming effect on him and he dropped off within a few heartbeats.

  The two adults looked at the brown-haired young man whose face was free from all worry as he slept.

  ‘You have a fine young boy there under your wing, old man’, said Uldini softly. Falk grunted under his breath, ‘I know, but don’t let him hear it. He has a very long and dangerous way to go yet and it would be better if he kept his two feet firmly on the ground’.

  ‘If we know anything, we know about long ways, isn’t that right?’

  ‘Yes, you’re right there. What are the other Ancients up to? There’s been hardly any news from you for centuries’. Falk looked at the magus with interest.

  ‘I gave out a new doctrine in the third century after the Betrayer’s fall when it became clear that the matter would take a while longer. The peoples were beginning to forget so we pulled back and didn’t engage as much as in earlier times. In this way old wounds could heal more quickly and we could move more freely. The others still like practising their little power games but I find things like that boring’, answered Uldini.

  Falk nodded knowingly. Of course his counterpart wouldn’t enjoy that. Who wanted to play a game that he’d already won centuries previously. The others had been tussling over second place since forever.

  ‘You know you’re going to have to come clean with him soon, don’t you?’ asked the wizard. ‘he’ll find out at the Naming by the latest, and that wouldn’t be the best way’.

  Falk nodded. ‘I’ll talk to him before that. But he needs to digest this first. We need to sleep for a bit too. Selsena will stand guard’.

  The little boy’s figure nodded and the light in the crystal ball went out. The forest lay in darkness and soon all were asleep.

  Ahren woke up to the sounds of an argument. The little boy and old man were shouting at each other, their faces red. The newly awakened apprentice watched the two in amusement. They looked like a grandfather and a cheeky and disobedient grandson. When he felt the soft and amused waves coming from Selsena, he knew he wasn’t the only one who found the scene amusing.

  ‘It’s a massive detour and you know that! If we follow your route, we’ll have to go right across the Knight Marshes twice. That will cost us weeks’, shouted Falk and waved his arms.

  Uldini responded forcefully. ‘You’re just trying to delay the meeting with Jelninolan but that makes even less sense. If we go to the Silver Cliff first, then we also have to go to Kelkor to trap the Finder of the Path. Do you really want to go into Evergreen with a dwarf and one of the Wild Folk?’

  Ahren sighed. He had hoped that after the previous day’s revelations the conversations between them would make more sense, but he was obviously mistaken. Culhen yawned and stretched out beside him and then he began to sniff the rucksacks.

  Uldini had brought their few belongings when they had left the village but there was nothing edible among them. The two were still squabbling with each other and so Ahren decided to make himself useful by going hunting. He slapped his knee once and Culhen was immediately by his side. Ahren looked into his eyes and Culhen sat on his hind legs and looked questioningly at his master with his head tilted to the side and his ears pricked. ‘Cul
hen, search!’ said the young Forest Guardian.

  The white wolf spun around with a low bark and leapt into the undergrowth. Ahren followed him at a distance and watched as his companion ran zigzag through the forest, his nose sometimes in the air, sometimes to the ground. Then he found a fresh scent and began to follow it. Ahren ran after him and the hunt was on.

  He returned to their temporary camp an hour later with two rabbits hanging from his belt. The yield was less than he had hoped for but Culhen and he had only hunted on their own three times previously and so they had been unsuccessful several times this morning. The fact that Culhen with his white fur was more at home in the tundra and the frozen north didn’t help matters either during the hunt.

  But at least they had enough sustenance for the day and Ahren had also collected some herbs so that they had enough ingredients for a good stew. Ahren had bled out the third animal and given it to his four-legged friend who chewed around it fussily until it became clear to him that there was nothing else to eat. Then he gulped down the rabbit in next to no time.

  The two squabblers had sunk into a sullen silence and hadn’t noticed the young Forest Guardian at all when he returned with Culhen. Once Ahren had lit the fire and prepared the stew, they came back to life. The smells of the food drew them to the fire and Falk grunted, ‘so you did learn something’, as he filled himself a large bowl and began to eat.

  Uldini smelled at the stew simmering in the little metal pot and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  ‘Well, if it doesn’t work out with saving the world, you can always try your hand at being a cook’. Ahren looked at the little wizard in consternation. Uldini continued in the same lighthearted tone. ‘Stop staring at me so wide-eyed. When you get to my age, you’ve no choice but to develop this sort of sense of humour’.

  Then he helped himself and also enjoyed it. Once they had all had their fill, Ahren asked, ‘is Deepstone safe now?’

  After the attack of the previous night and the wizard’s bleak pronouncements on hordes of Dark Ones, he wanted to be sure that his home village would be left in peace, before he turned his back on the place.

  Uldini seemed to grasp what he was getting at. ‘No need to worry. I hid the two other boys that took part in last year’s ceremony from the traitor’s eyes. That was quick and easy as they were of no importance. His senses are still very groggy, otherwise he would have recognized immediately who represents the real danger, and all the Fog Cats would have chased you and you alone. After my little firework display last night we have become the sole focus of the Adversary’.

  This led Ahren onto his second question. ‘Why are you two so quiet now. It was a completely different story last night.’ He shifted position nervously.

  ‘I think we have to thank the old Blood Wolf for that. Your master only told me about her this morning. The magic web that I wove last night detected no Dark Ones in the vicinity. Falk and I think that the old woman drove everything away that could have been dangerous to her pup’.

  ‘And the Fog Cats, where did they come from?’Ahren wanted to understand what exactly had happened.

  ‘They were sent out the moment you were selected. That pack was probably the greatest danger nearby, and even they took over a week to get to you. I think we’re safe for the next two or three days as long as I don’t do any major magic which might reveal our location’.

  ‘So the Dark Ones can sense your magic?’ Ahren pressed on.

  ‘Only the very intelligent ones but they then pass it on to their less intelligent counterparts. But He notices the magic too, depending on what he might be listening to at the time. His attention is just as groggy and somnambulistic as his sight. That’s our greatest advantage for the moment’.

  Falk cleared his throat. ‘that’s enough talk for the moment. We need to get cracking, or we’ll never get anywhere’.

  ‘Where exactly are we going?’, asked Ahren curiously.

  Suddenly there was a tension in the air as the Forest Guardian and the wizard stared venomously at each other. Uldini spoke in a remarkably diplomatic voice. ‘First we can head towards Three Rivers. That’s the nearest big town and we can pick up provisions and weaponry there. Three Rivers is a good starting point, no matter which way we go after that’. Falk was placated and nodded in agreement as the three broke camp.

  Chapter 14

  Ahren brooded to himself as he walked quickly beside Selsena, trying not to fall behind. They were on a wide dirt road, typical of the travel routes in Hjalgar. They had left the Eastern Forest and were now heading northwards. They were hardly clear of the trees when Uldini abandoned his normal floating.

  ‘We don’t want to attract attention’, he said. Falk then mounted Selsena’s back, picked up Uldini, planted him in front of him on the saddle and then they carried on without saying a word, leaving Ahren open-mouthed in their wake. He ran in pursuit, swallowing dust, and demanded an explanation but received none. And so he ran beside them in a foul mood and with sweat running down his back. The sun shone brightly in a clear sky and intimated that summer was on the way.

  After a while Falk relented and explained the situation to Ahren. ‘We’re playing our parts. I’m the paid escort, this is my charge and you’re our guide in the wilderness. Only speak if you have to, leave the talking to us’.

  Ahren could only nod, he was too tired to start an argument. He could understand the reasoning but it didn’t make the role he had to play any easier.

  He was surprised how effective their disguise seemed to be when they started encountering other travellers. Hardly anyone took notice of them. There were one or two curious glances at Selsena’s and Falk’s exotic armour but Falk had taken care to make it appear so dilapidated that everyone passed by quickly without exchanging a word.

  Ahren seemed practically invisible and so he had all the time in the world to study the various figures they encountered. The travelling merchants made up the largest proportion, most of them on their own or in pairs on carts filled with all kinds of bundles and boxes or covered with canvas. They all shot suspicious looks and quite a few were armed with daggers, one even had a crossbow. The wealthier merchants had one or two guards with them who made the same impression as Falk did. None of them carried a broadsword, rather truncheons or short swords. There were several envious glances in the direction of the massive blade, now in the scabbard affixed to Selsena’s flank.

  When a pair of scruffy figures, who were travelling the road without any merchants, examined them particularly intensely, Falk mumbled, ‘I don’t like this. There should only be a few peddlers around here’.

  Uldini answered quietly, ‘you’ve spent too long hiding in the forest, old man. Highway robberies have become more common and there have been more forays coming from the Border Lands, be they Borderlanders or Low Fangs’.

  Ahren looked up, shocked. The Border Lands was the large area which surrounded the Pall Pillar. The Adversary was lying there in chains cast by the magic spell, trapped in silence and smoke. Only the daring or desperate lived there. The rate of miscarriages and stillbirths went up, the nearer one came to the crater which had been blown up when the magic spell released its power and the physical manifestation of the Betrayer, who had been fighting and slaughtering to the last moment, was forced to the ground. No-one knew exactly how deep the crater was, for from that day smoke had been rising from the place where He, who forces now existed, and as Ahren well knew, bided his time. Nobody dared to enter, and anyone who had, came out again as the Adversary’s servant. There were enough tales of bold heroes who had tried it, only to be horribly transformed into Low Fangs who hunted down their nearest and dearest. Ahren was on the point of asking how true these stories really were but he’d had his fill of unpalatable truths for the day and so he stayed silent.

  Falk quietly answered Uldini. ‘From what we know already, these ambushes are no surprise. The Border Lands will fall under His control sooner or later no matter what we do’.

  The app
rentice shuddered when he heard these words. Thousands of people lived in this area that no power had claimed for its own. No kingdom wanted the cursed place within their dominion. The travelling merchants who came to Deepstone reported that it was populated by eccentric wizards, maverick farmers or those who had been up to no good and couldn’t return to civilization.

  ‘Couldn’t we warn them?’ asked Ahren.

  ‘They wouldn’t listen to us. Nobody would believe our story of returning villains and there’s no ruler we can speak to. And we hardly traipse from one farmyard to the next. We can only hope that common sense will lead them away from there before it’s too late’.

  Ahren remembered that his father had originally come from the Border Lands and suddenly he was grateful that his father had had the presence of mind to choose Deepstone as his new home. He trotted on beside Selsena and looked uneasily at the wayside as they passed through a little wood, afraid that a band of highway robbers might ambush their little group.

  By evening Ahren was exhausted and bathed in sweat from all the running. Falk said to him, ‘if you’re in luck, old Giesbert’s farmyard inn is still in existence. Years ago they used to have sleeping quarters and good food. Not a real hostel but more luxury than setting up camp on the side of the road’.