by Darrin Long
“Yes, a Tunai named Brun found it and King Moghn asked him to test the powers of the stone. The stone gave Brun great powers and the ability to control other Tunai and make them do whatever he wanted but what the stone wanted was more power. Soon Brun had convinced the Tunai to attack the Dragoine and they capture many.” Iri looked down with a frown. “He drained the magic out of them and then he murdered them all.”
“So, what happened?” Neilan asked.
“Kaylu happened,” she said, “of course he was a lot younger then. He caused a stone to fall on Brun and it knocked the crown off his head. Then, Kaylu cut Brun’s head off so he could never wear it again.”
“Wow,” Neilan said.
Iri gave him a half smile.
“Afterwards, the Tunai and Dragoine entered into an agreement called the Brune agreement,” she said, “The Tunai entered into Catuee, which changed them.”
“Catuee?” Neilan asked.
“It’s a ceremony that made it so they could no longer use magic,” she said, “but magic would also have no effect on them. The Dragoine on the other hand simply stopped using magic and soon we had all but forgotten how to.”
“But, not Kaylu right?” Neilan asked.
“Right, not Kaylu, he practised in secret for he would not give up what we are. For you see magic is more than what we do, it’s a part of us and when we refused to use it, we caused our people great harm. In fact, our people began to die.”
“So, now yer people use it,” Neilan said.
“Well, they use it enough; for small things in everyday life, but nothing more than that,” she said. “They do not want to forget what can happen when the magic is misused.”
“Well, they are being reminded now, aren’t they?” he said.
“Yes,” she said sadly “they are.”
“Iri, if ye’re the daughter of the King, do ye live in a castle?” he asked.
“Oh, no” she laughed “but we do have a large dwelling.”
“But where is it?” he asked “I have travelled over these mountains many times and have never seen any cities. And the Tunai, where are they?”
Iri smiled, “did you see the flowers that change colours when they are picked?” she asked.
Neilan thought for a moment.
“Well, no; at least not until ye gave me the soup.”
“If you could not see the flowers that you have stepped on several times, how do you think you would have seen a magical city?” she asked.
“Wait a minute,” he said, “would I be able to see the city now?”
Iri smiled at him, “You need to sleep” she said, not answering his question.
That thought made Neilan smile because he was sure that he would now be able to see the city. He was able to see so many things that he could not see before. He kissed Iri on the cheek and rolled over onto his back and tried to relax. He needed to dream and in order to do that he had to think about that horrible place where he had been so many times. When Neilan finally started to dream, he found himself among the cages again. The Dragoine people were screaming at him to help them, but he knew he could not.
“I don’t see Caudee anywhere,” he thought.
He took note of where everything was, trying to familiarize himself with the valley. He needed to remember as much as he could for strategic reasons. Then, he heard a voice yelling from a large tent nearby; telling the captives to be quiet and he headed towards the tent to see what Caudee was up to. Caudee was sitting at a table that seemed dwarfed by his immense size. There were three short, strange looking men sitting at the table in front of him and he was going over something with them.
“I can’t see what they are looking at,” he thought, so he decided to take a chance and slipped into the tent.
He waited a few seconds to see if he would be detected, but no one turned in his direction. Then he took a few more steps closer trying to see what was on the table. When he was about three steps from the table Caudee looked up and Neilan froze in his steps. The three men turned around as well and not seeing anything, they gave Caudee a strange look. Caudee sniffed the air then, looking around the tent again, gave a grunt before returning to the map that was sitting on the table. Neilan was very relieved that no one could sense his presence and he tried to relax and listen to the orders that Caudee was giving to the men. Neilan had never seen men like these before; they were very strong looking and had large slanted foreheads with black eyes and what looked like warts all over their faces. They were dressed in dirty leather and cloth outfits and smelled very bad.
“Listen,” Caudee said, “you must approach from this direction or they will sense your presence.”
Neilan could see Caudee pointing to a passage through the side of a mountain.
“I recognize that area,” Neilan thought “I’ve been there once but there was no passage where the map says it is.”
Then, Neilan remembered what he was able to see after he ate the soup and he realized that there probably was a passage in the rock after all. Caudee traced his finger through the mountain to an area north of the mountain. The magic of that place must have been very strong because he had walked that mountain and had not seen the passage. Caudee placed something on the table that looked like a green bug of some sort and one of the men put it in a pouch at his side.
“All you have to do is get it into the dwelling, it will find its prey,” he said with a smile on his face.
The man who put the bug in his pouch spoke up.
“How will we know which dwelling is the King’s dwelling?” He asked.
Caudee reached across the table and grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him into the air. The man was whimpering and struggling to breathe.
“It will be the largest dwelling in the entire city” Caudee yelled as he threw the man across the tent, where he landed on top of an empty cage.
The other men cowered in fear as the first man climbed down from the cage and stood looking at the ground.
“Get it into the dwelling or you will not live to see another day,” Caudee said quietly. “Now, go.”
The three men bowed and made their way out of the tent.
“We will leave in the morning,” one of the men said to the others.
Neilan took a few steps back as Caudee looked around the tent again.
“Who is there?” Caudee said.
“Can he sense my presence?” Neilan thought, “Maybe now that Iri has been helping me, my magical half is giving me away.”
Caudee sniffed the air again then, stood up from the table and began walking around the tent sniffing the air. Neilan was not going to stick around to see if Caudee could find him, so he ran out of the tent as quickly as he could. But once he was outside, he could hear Caudee coming out of the tent right behind him.
“I know you are here,” Caudee said swinging his arms wildly through the air hoping to hit something.
Neilan slowly walked backwards putting some distance between Caudee and himself. He didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances. There was too much at stake to make a mistake now. Neilan found a place to hide and closed his eyes trying to think of Iri and the cave. He could feel the dream start to fade when he heard Caudee’s voice right next to him. He opened his eyes in fear to see Caudee’s face very close to his.
“Who are you?” Caudee said.
Neilan let out a scream in his sleep that woke him up and caused Iri to sit up.
“What is it?” She said, “What’s wrong?”
“Caudee is sending men to kill yer da,” Neilan said, “we need to warn yer people.”
“Quickly, tell me what you saw,” Iri said.
Neilan explained to her the map and how Caudee had given a green bug to the three men to take into the village.
“What did the bug look like?” Iri said.
Neilan went over by the fire and drew a picture of the bug on the ground.
“The watu,” Iri said with panic in her voice “an assassin bug. It will only kill the one who it
is sent after.”
“It’s yer da,” Neilan said, “we must warn him.”
“I will try to be back by morning,” she said, standing up and walking over to the door. “I have to find Kaylu.”
Neilan went over to her and held her in his arms.
“Be careful,” he said, “I think Caudee could sense me there. He asked me who I was.”
“What did you say to him?” Iri asked.
“Nothing, the dream faded just as he asked me, but it was like he was looking right at me.”
“You will have to be very careful from now on,” she said, “If Caudee suspects anything, he will send creatures out into the countryside as spies. I must go now, but I will try to be back soon.”
Iri kissed Neilan and turned and walked out the door. He stood by the doorway and watched her as she transformed and flew towards the mountain, disappearing into the darkness. Neilan realized that this was the first time she had kissed him on the lips and he smiled.
“It will be morning soon,” he said, so he put some wood on the fire and started a pot of water to make some tea. “Please be careful, Iri.”
Chapter 5
A Time of Desperation
Iri flew rapidly towards a strangely crooked looking mountain on an island to the northwest. A small light could be seen flickering from the opening of a cave about a third of the way from the top. That is where she was heading, to the cave of Gomore; to the lair of the Dream Crier. No one had ever entered that cave before, no one dared to. Kaylu may have been friendly enough at times, but his incredible powers also made him unpredictable at best.
“I have to take the chance,” she thought “Kaylu is my only hope of stopping my father’s assassination.”
She wasn’t sure if Kaylu would help her at all. He was interested in destroying Caudee, but he was not interested in any of the other affairs of their people. There was a lot of bad blood between Kaylu and the council. Many years ago, Kaylu was on the council, but during the time of Lomar the council agreed to side with the Tunai King against the men from the south, but when the battle began, they betrayed Kaylu and did not send aid to Lomar’s side. When Lomar was killed in battle, the Tunai blamed Kaylu and turned on his people. The result was a fifteen-year war. Iri swallowed hard as she approached the mountain. She must face her fears and take her chances with Kaylu; there was no other way.
“Why would Caudee want to kill my father?” she thought “what would he have to gain?”
As Iri approached the cave opening, a blue light could be seen glowing in the cave. Suddenly that blue light shot out of the opening and struck her in the wing, knocking her out of the sky. She came down with a hard thud and lay motionless on the rocks below the cave. Pain shot through her body as she tried to move, but she was not able to. Then darkness overcame her and she lost consciousness. As she lay there, scenes flashed through her mind. She remembered as a child, how Kaylu used to show her amazing magic. Well, at least it was amazing for a girl of six. He used to laugh a lot back then, now his eyes were white and always full of tears. She remembered the day that Kaylu became the Dream Crier. There was a great argument within the council. Iri use to sit on a ledge above the council room and listen to their talks. This talk seemed to be an urgent one for Kaylu. Many had died in the war with the Tunai and the council acted as if it was of no consequence. But Kaylu had a better understanding of the old ways and the old magic.
“Why won’t they listen to him?” She wondered.
“If the council does not honour the fallen and give their deaths meaning, then a great curse will befall our people” Kaylu said.
“Wives tales,” Councilor Bact yelled, “there is no proof of such things”.
Iri remembered Kaylu pulling out a large book and showing the council what was written in it.
“A Dream Crier must take up a lament for the fallen immediately or the curse would begin first with those who had been opposed to it,” he said, looking around the council room.
But in the end, the council sided with Councilor Bact and Kaylu took his book and stormed out of the meeting.
A month later, Councilor Bact died a horrible death that no one could explain and after him, Councilor Segnu, then Krept and finally Councilor Agline. Iri could remember how scared her father was for he was the only member of the council still alive who did not listen to Kaylu. He had many messengers sent to find Kaylu, but Kaylu had left the land and created a new home for himself on mount Gomore. Iri remembered sitting at her father’s bedside as some unseen evil ate away at his body from the inside.
“Please Kaylu, please come home. My father needs you.” She prayed.
As she stood up to leave her father’s side that day, Kaylu entered the bedchamber. She could see the tears running down his face from his white eyes. Kaylu had taken up the lament on his own in order to save her father and their people. He walked over to the King’s bedside and leaned down.
“I am here brother,” Kaylu said, “but the price I have decided to pay for your ignorance cannot be forgiven.”
Iri could hear a soothing voice coming from somewhere close and slowly her dreams faded. She opened her eyes to see a human woman sitting by her with a damp cloth in her hand.
“There ye are young one,” the woman said, “I thought ye was deed for sure.”
Iri tried to sit up but felt pain in her shoulder.
“I thought that healed,” she said.
Then she remembered the blue light and realized that it had struck her in the same shoulder that the arrow had pierced.
“Ye better lay still, Yer not strong enough yet.”
“I have to get up the mountain,” Iri said.
“Up there?” the woman asked, “why would ye be goin up there?”
“I must speak to Kaylu, my father is in danger.”
“And who might yer father be?” the woman asked with a frown.
“King Lamu,” Iri replied.
“Aye, I thought ye was familiar to me,” the woman said. Then turning to someone in the room the woman gave orders for someone to go up the mountain. Iri closed her eyes, for she was too sore and for some reason, too weak to move. The old woman put another damp cloth on Iri’s forehead. “Imagine, me entertainin royalty,” she said with a smile.
Iri drifted off to sleep again and she began to dream. She was flying over the mountain range to the south looking out over a vast army of evil brown creatures prepared for war. She was turning back in order to warn her people when she was engulfed by a very bright light that seemed to penetrate into her body. Every muscle in her body tightened up as heat and pain shot down her arm from her shoulder. Then, she was falling from the sky and the light around her faded away and as she fell, the dream faded too.
Iri opened her eyes and could see from the window that it was night outside. She could hear someone in the room, but she could not move.
“Hello,” she said, “is someone there?”
“Yer finally awake,” the old woman said coming over to Iri’s bedside.
“How long have I been out?” Iri asked.
“Oh, not too long,” she said.
Iri was happy that it was still the same night.
“Did someone tell Kaylu?” Iri asked.
“Aye, he is here,” the woman replied.
Suddenly Kaylu was standing at her bedside.
“Don’t you know that it is not safe to fly directly towards a wizard’s abode?” he asked.
“I wasn’t thinking,” she said, “my father is in grave danger and I had to reach you.”
“Lamu?” Kaylu asked “what kind of danger?”
A Watu is being smuggled into his dwelling” she said, “someone needs to warn him.”
“I’m sure he has security in place,” Kaylu said sarcastically. “You flew all this way and risked your life for that? Isn’t that what his imperial guard is for?”
A tear ran down Iri’s face. ”Please, Kaylu,” she said, “it’s a Watu.”
Kaylu turned from
the bedside waving his hand.
“I have a lot of things to do right now to be chasing after bugs,” he said.
“Neilan has agreed to help us,” she said, “please, help my father.”
Kaylu turned back to the bedside. “He has agreed?” he asked.
“Yes, but he will need help from you,” she said. “His mind is still too slow.”
Iri could see a smile form on Kaylu’s face as he turned from the bed again. She could hear Kaylu speaking to the old woman and then there was a loud popping sound and the room grew quiet.
“Kaylu,” Iri said “Kaylu.”
“He’s gone young one,” the old woman said, “to the city, to see the King.”
Iri breathed a sigh of relief. “Why can’t I move?” she asked.
“The Dream Crier said it was the protection spell ye was hit with, it will wear off soon.”
“Thank you,” Iri said.
“Doon thank me,” she said, “thank the Dream Crier. He fixed yer shoulder as well.”
“Where am I?” Iri asked.
“Yer in my cabin at the base of Mount Gomore,” the woman said “I’m Martha. Ye relax now, ye need yer rest.”
Iri closed her eyes and tried to relax. As soon as she was able to move again, she would head back to Neilan. At least Kaylu would keep her father safe. This wouldn’t be the first time that Kaylu had saved her father’s life. In fact, he had already saved his life twice. The first time was when the entire council was wiped out by a curse and Kaylu saved him by becoming the Dream Crier. Then, from what she understood from the stories, during one of the great battles, the Tunai army had driven a wedge through the centre of their ranks and split their army in half. Then, they attacked the side where the King was fighting. It was obvious what their goal was; kill the King and end the war. But when fighting was at its worst and it looked like the Tunai army would be victorious, Kaylu flew right into the midst of them and cast a powerful spell that made the Tunai army turn and run away. It must have been a very powerful spell because the Tunai are impervious to magic, or at least most magic. As far as she knew, her father never thanked Kaylu for his help either of those times.
“Seems like my father owes Kaylu everything,” she said. “I wonder what it was that had driven such a strong wedge between the two brothers.”
