The sun was taking its time rising so he started from the beginning again and tortuously went through all the exercises again. When he was finished, his arms and shoulders felt like rubber and his back ached all over, but he felt better and less wound up. Wearily he went back to his sleeping place in order to catch another short sleep, but no sooner had he stretched out on the bed when the camp started coming to life. He only managed a short nap but at least he could lift his arms again and he’d be able to carry his rucksack. He was just given a little dry fruit for breakfast, and then they carried on.
Two hours later and they had arrived at the edge of the settlement. Ahren had expected some uproar - angry and disgusted elves with perhaps one or two defending their actions. Instead , everything was as normal. They were led to their lodgings and then left alone, none of the residents behaving in any way different to normally. Polite and friendly looks, sometimes a little bow, other times a friendly wave before he or she continued on their way. Nothing suggested that they had committed a transgression. Once they were alone, Ahren could contain himself no longer. ‘Have they changed their minds? Are we free to go?’
The others shook their heads and Jelninolan answered, ‘we decided a long time ago to submit ourselves in these cases to the verdict of the Voice. Controversies like this used to lead to horrible outcomes on account of our emotional natures, and we don’t want this to be repeated. That’s why no party tries to grab power, and why everybody behaves in as open and friendly a manner as ever. And no, we can’t leave. Without an acquittal we cannot reach the borders of Eathinian. The treetop guards would detain us’.
‘No, they wouldn’t’. Uldini’s face was a mask of scarcely contained rage. ‘I can get us out of here and you know it!’
Jelninolan smiled and put a hand on his cheek. ‘Of course you could. And you’d destroy half the forest as well, and conjure up a war between humans and elves at a time when unity is needed’.
Her gentle warning and her reference to the consequences were effective. The anger drained from his face and he sighed. ‘This trip isn’t doing me any good. I’ve become more used to commanding and ruling than I thought’.
Falk gave a deep laugh in response and said, ‘that’s exactly why this journey is good for you. At last we have a little humility in that ageless body of yours’.
Uldini was about to contradict him vehemently, which would have let to another fight full of taunts and jibes between them, but Ahren intervened by asking a question. ‘So what happens next? What about the Call you wanted to put out?’
Jelninolan took Ahren’s bait gratefully. She didn’t seem to want to experience another verbal dual between these two squabblers either. ‘I’m going to have to ask about fifty other elves to give my prayer to the goddess, beseeching her for advice. That could attract the Voice. But as was mentioned already, it doesn’t usually work with a young Voice’.
Ahren began peeling of his leather armour and putting the individual pieces on top of each other. It seemed they wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while and he might as well make himself comfortable. While he was doing that, he asked another question regarding something Jelninolan had said earlier.
‘You mentioned horrible conflicts among the elves earlier. What did you mean by that?’ He’d wanted to break the oppressive silence with this question but obviously he’d picked the wrong topic. The elf priestess looked as though she’d bitten into a lemon, Falk threw him a disapproving look and Uldini covered his eyes with his hands and let out a groan.
The apprentice first thought he wouldn’t get an answer, but then the elf priestess began to speak. ‘In the Dark Days the elves fought on the front line against the hordes of Dark Ones, our losses were many and the horrors we suffered were worse than the other races, as they were less susceptible to strong emotions than we were. There were…differences of opinion as to how we should deal with the chaos and suddenly swords were being drawn, bows tautened, brother against brother, father against daughter, and that in the middle of the war against the Betrayer. Two groups developed among our folk. One group began creating rules and rituals which would ensure harmonious living together and they concentrated on supporting the war in a less aggressive manner. We began to play to our strengths as healers, scouts and path-finders and badgered our enemy with our archery regiment. But we steered clear of close combat so that we could maintain our emotional health. The Eathinian that you have come to know grew out of this movement and spiritual mentality’. Jelninolan took a deep breath and Ahren noticed that the less comfortable part of the story was about to follow. ‘The other group believed that only with the full potential of all our emotions, both good and bad, could we enjoy victory over the Betrayer. They embraced the state of intoxication which our emotions could awaken in us, and they experienced euphoria and blood lust, sacrifice and atrocity as they reaped a bloody harvest in the ranks of our enemy. They began setting ambushes, then night attacks, they poisoned foodstuffs, and some of them even allowed themselves to be taken as slaves so they could sabotage the enemy armies from within. All of these deeds dramatically altered their soul and spirit until it was no longer possible to live together with them. In order to prevent a bloodbath, they agreed to move away and find their own homeland. They travelled south and settled in a forest at the front so they would be as close as possible to the fighting. When the war was over, they swore they would roam in the Border Lands and keep guard against the enemy’.
Ahren was beginning to understand what the elf priestess was driving at. ‘You’re talking about the night elves from the Forest of Ire! They were normal elves? You’re one folk?’ He’d really meant to be more tactful, but every second horror story he’d heard was about the pale elves with their poisonous daggers who would move around soundlessly at dead of night, leaving corpses lying around that had been living and breathing the day previously. Jelninolan nodded in silence, then went to the entrance of their dwelling, stretched her face towards the sun, closed her eyes and stayed there.
Uldini went over to Ahren, laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered, ‘maybe you could come to me if you have questions like that, what do you think?’ Ahren nodded, embarrassed. Then he turned to put away his leather armour, which had been lying there unnoticed while the dark story had been related. He noticed the rucksack and he felt twice as guilty. His little foster child, the chipmunk! He hadn’t seen him since the previous morning. Hopefully the little chap had made himself scarce at some point. He opened the rucksack and there the little animal was, a little white ball of fur with its silvery lines gleaming in the light. The nuts had all been eaten and he seemed in good health. He took the rodent out carefully and examined the cut on its side. If he hadn’t known where to look, he’d never notice the fine line in the fur.
‘Culhen really did a good job on you, isn’t that right?’ whispered Ahren. The rodent’s little head turned towards him and the animal was making an angry noise when suddenly there was a clattering noise behind the apprentice. He turned around quickly and saw his master, sprawled on the floor beside the upturned stool he’d been sitting on, staring open-mouthed at Ahren. The young man instinctively wanted to apologise but then he noticed that Falk wasn’t staring at him at all. Uldini looked over curiously too before uttering a brittle laugh, creaking with dry humour. ‘Auntie?’ he called over his shoulder, ‘come in, please, you really have to see this’.
The elf came back into the lodgings, her eyebrows quizzically raised. Meanwhile Falk had picked himself up and righted the stool. The priestess was about to ask a question when she spotted Ahren with his little charge. She stood stock still, went white as a sheet and then walked over to him and stretched out her arms. ‘Could I have a look at your chipmunk?’ she asked with a nervous glance over her shoulder towards outside.
Ahren was quite intimidated by his friends’ reaction and handed over the little animal, which was now chirping cheerfully and scrabbling about the priestess’s robe.
‘It’s not mine’, expl
ained Ahren quickly. He was sure now he had done something wrong and didn’t want the others to be jumping to premature conclusions. ‘I only nursed it back to health after the Swarm Claw had almost killed it’.
But all eyes were on the animal, which had calmed down, clambered onto the priestess’s palm and was now looking deeply into her eyes.
Uldini took a deep breath and then let out a sigh. ‘I think we’re at fault here’. He turned to Ahren. ‘Everything’s been going so quickly and none of us wanted to put too much pressure on you. But…would the situation become clearer to you if we told you this: you recognize the Voice of the Forest, if it dwells in an animal, by its silvery-white fur and its silver eyes?’
Ahren felt faint and sat down. ‘Are you telling me that…?’ He couldn’t finish the sentence. It was just too difficult to acknowledge that he had carried the goddess’s sacred animal around in his rucksack. Mind you, he had saved the life of the elves’ most holy animal and there was a very good chance that the Voice wouldn’t sentence to death the person who saved its life and his friends.
‘That explains the strange behaviour of the Swarm Claws too. They weren’t after us. They wanted to kill the Voice’, added Falk when he noticed that his apprentice needed time to process the situation. ‘Bestowing the Voice costs the goddess a lot of energy every time. If a young Voice like this one had been killed by a Dark One, the elves might have had to manage for years without leadership’.
‘And we’d have been neutralized. At least with the Voice’s rescue, the complaint against us should be off the table’, added Uldini resolutely. Falk and Jelninolan nodded in agreement, grinning cheerfully. Uldini turned to Ahren and gave a little bow. ‘Young man, you’ve saved our skins twice in the last two days. One thing is clear. I don’t need any ritual to tell me that you’re worthy. I was giving out about the lack of support from the gods yesterday, but tonight I think I’m going to pray long and hard and apologise. I’ll go and spread the news before I start getting all sentimental’.
As the little figure was going outside, Falk called after him in an exuberant voice, ‘but leave out the bit about the rucksack. The fact that a human has saved the Voice of the Forest will be enough for them’.
Jelninolan was still standing deep in silent conversation with the little creature in her hand when Ahren suddenly leapt up. The first shock was over but instead of the joy he should have been feeling, he was uncontrollably angry. All the dangers in the Weeping Valley had been completely unnecessary! Had he been told everything earlier, he would have walked into the elf village the day before yesterday, he would have presented the Voice, he would have been hailed a hero, and he would have been handed the soundless lute with a ribbon around it and been congratulated with lots of backslapping!
An angry red mist had descended on Ahren. He drew himself up to full height and jabbed a finger into Falk’s chest. ‘From now on you won’t treat me like a small child. Selsena and Culhen could have been needlessly killed yesterday because nobody bothered to tell me anything more than the bare minimum. But that’s over now!’ While these words were being uttered, Falk’s eyes had narrowed to angry slits and his whole body-language suggested to Ahren that the old Forest Guardian was on the verge of getting into a fight with him. But he didn’t care. Neither of them pulled back by even a hair’s breadth and the tension in the air was palpable.
‘He’s right’. The elf priestess’s words, spoken in a soft and gentle voice, brought the two back from the brink.
Ahren’s anger evaporated with the understanding that resonated in her voice, and Falk nodded hesitantly. ‘Alright then. You have free rein. From now on you can ask whatever you want, and you will get all the answers. We only wanted to protect you, but that didn’t work too well, so we’ll try it his way. But don’t think you’re going to be happy with all the answers’. He held out his hand and the young man took it. Falk gripped Ahren’s hand firmly and said in a voice of steel, ‘and don’t forget that I’m still your master. If you turn on me like that again, I’ll have you running up and down trees until you think you’ve turned into a squirrel, is that clear?’
Ahren nodded silently. Then his hand was released and he found himself in a bear hug.
‘You’ve been brave and clever and I’m proud of you’. Falk said that so quietly into his ear, that he didn’t understand him. Before Ahren could react, his master had released him and said loudly, ‘and now go wash yourself, put on something clean and polish your armour. The elves are going to want to see you and the hero of the hour can hardly appear looking like a snotty nosed kid in a filthy jerkin who doesn’t know how to hold his bow’.
Ahren quickly grabbed his armour, went outside and marched to the nearby stream, which served all the village’s daily needs.
The old man stared after him and Jelninolan came up beside him. ‘He’s not a boy anymore but he’s still not a man and has to deal with so many things. I understand why you acted the way you did’.
Falk glanced at her and answered. ‘Still, we did overdo it. He has earned our respect and it’s time we gave him more leeway’.
The priestess’s voice then took on an amused undertone. ‘Do you really want to answer every question he asks?’
Falk grunted and said quietly, ‘I just have to make sure he doesn’t ask the wrong questions’.
Only Uldini was present when Ahren returned to their lodgings. He was sprawled out contentedly on a large cushion. ‘Good that you weren’t here. It was all rather turbulent. Of course all charges against us were dropped on account of your heroic deed. I think two of the older elves almost had heart attacks when they heard the news that a little human child was their saviour in their hour of need while their tree-top guards were sitting around on their bottoms, oblivious to it all’. The Arch Wizard giggled sarcastically and rubbed his hands.
I’m not a child any more’, protested Ahren wearily. The wizard sat up and raised a defensive hand. ‘Most of the villagers here are two hundred years old and more. What do you think they see you as?’
The Arch Wizard tactfully hadn’t mentioned that he himself was considerably older than that, but Ahren got the message anyway. He sighed and began to get changed. It would be quite some time yet before everybody was taking him completely seriously.
‘I’m responsible for you looking as impressive as possible, then we should go to the main square. The whole village is going to be there and a few representatives from the nearby settlements’.
‘I thought the whole settlement was here’, answered Ahren in amazement.
Uldini gave a friendly laugh and said, ‘Eathinian stretches across the whole continent. Do you think there are only three hundred elves living in the whole forest?’
Ahren wanted to protest but Uldini raised his hands reassuringly. ‘there are about fifty thousand elves living in Evergreen, in settlements like this one, and in most cases it takes many days to get from one to the next. We came to this one here because it was easy to get to by the Red Posts and Jelninolan was waiting here for us. She hasn’t said anything, but rest assured she’s been trying to make contact with the Voice of the Forest since she found out about you. Now we know why the old Voice never responded’. He drew his finger across his throat.
Ahren felt a little uncomfortable when he heard the Arch Wizard speaking so sarcastically and dismissively about such serious matters. But then it dawned on him that this little creature must have seen so many terrible things and that this was his way of dealing with them. Ahren himself had changed considerably in the previous months and his confrontation with Falk was evidence of that. Centuries full of responsibilities and change must take their toll on a person’s spirit, even someone as mighty as the Arch Wizard.
Uldini’s lifted his hands up to his face in feigned shock. ‘Oh no! Are the green sparks there again?’ he called and Ahren realized that he had been staring, lost in thought, at his companion. He turned away guiltily and hurried to finish his preparations.
The wizard sni
ggered behind him. ‘I’m familiar with your reaction. You get used to it’.
Ahren wasn’t sure if he was referring to his sardonic manner or to the distressing events of the last few days, and he came to the conclusion that the clever magus had probably meant both.
After a time Ahren turned around and said, ‘I’m ready. We can go’.
Uldini tilted his head and scrutinized the apprentice with a critical eye. Ahren may have put in an effort but he was still an apprentice in tatty armour. The Arch Wizard produced his crystal ball and let it float around Ahren a few times while he quietly uttered some words. The young man looked down at himself and saw that his leather had taken on a bright shine, as if it had been polished for hours. His clothes didn’t have a speck of dirt on them.
Ahren- the 13th Paladin Page 34
