by Pedro Urvi
Lasgol nodded. He knew Luca had said it to encourage him, and he was grateful.
“On we go. I’d like to be able to tell you where we’re going, but today Lasgol will be the one in charge of guiding us.” Gisli indicated his own footprints beyond the stream.
Lasgol understood. He would have to follow the trail.
“Very well, Master, I’ll do that,” he said, and crossed the stream. He squatted and studied the tracks, which were clear and heading northwards. He followed them, with the rest of the group after him and watching what he did. For half the morning he followed the trail without too much difficulty, which he found odd, knowing the Elder’s teaching methods. But after they had left the last wooded stretch behind, the trail began to fade gradually and he found it increasingly hard to follow.
“From now on it’s going to be a tad more interesting,” Gisli said.
At the entrance to a gully, he lost the trail. Gisli had hidden it so well that he could not find it. He spent some time searching for it, but without success. He began to lose confidence; he was a good tracker, but if the Elder was intent on hiding his trail, he was not going to find it. That was something he knew perfectly well, but he would not give up; it was not his style. He would keep going.
“Any trouble?” Gisli asked.
Lasgol turned and found the Elder with his arms folded and his own partners behind him, looking at him. He felt ashamed.
“I’ve lost it...”
“Do you know the meaning of ‘Tireless’ in Tireless Tracker?”
“I’m not sure...”
“That he never gets tired?” Axe said.
Gisli shook his head. “It means he never gives up searching for the trail, never admits defeat.”
Lasgol nodded. “I understand,” he said, and went back to search the lower part of the gully.
“The Tireless Tracker doesn’t have the help of bloodhounds and hawks?” Luca asked. He was trying to help Lasgol, who was having a hard time.
“The Tireless Tracker must be as good as a bloodhound or hawk.”
Lasgol felt personally affected by the answer.
“Oh, I thought they used them,” Erika said.
“They know how to manage them, but the best trackers never use them. They’re just as capable of following a trail as their animals are.”
Lasgol, growing more and more disheartened, went on searching without luck. He thought of using his Gift, his skills, but did not think any of them would help in that particular situation. However, he thought better of it. He had no desire to ‘cheat’; he had to find the trail without using magic, or else he would never get any better.
“Come here, Lasgol,” came Gisli’s voice from where he was watching him from the top of the gully.
Lasgol climbed up to the Elder and the rest of the group. “I’m sorry, Master...”
“Don’t be sorry yet. Let me show you something. It’s an advanced technique. Whenever you lose a trail and can’t find it again, it’s best to stand a little back from the problem. Look at it from another angle.”
“I’m not sure I understand...”
“Look at the gully from up here, from a distance. Look at it from this new point of view. Look carefully.”
Lasgol squatted down and watched as the Master had told him. At first nothing caught his attention, but then he looked harder and studied the area carefully. Suddenly his eye was caught by something out of place.
“There, Master. In the northeast of the gully, by that fallen branch, I can see a crack that doesn’t look natural... though it doesn’t look like a footprint either...”
“Could that be because someone wants you to think it’s not a footprint?”
Lasgol understood. The Elder had wiped his tracks, and what he himself had just made out was what he had been unable to erase, or else had left for him to find.
“Yes, Master, I can see that now...”
“Often if we pay too much attention to detail we miss what’s really happening. We lose perspective, the complete image of the situation. We mustn’t just focus on finding the footprint, the broken branch, the displaced tree-trunk, we must find what doesn’t fit in with what our eyes are seeing. Always look for something out of place, even if it doesn’t look like a trail. That’s the only way you’ll manage to see what the enemy doesn’t want you to see.”
“I’ll do that, Master,” Lasgol said. He was interiorizing everything Gisli was teaching him. He would have given anything to have the Elder’s knowledge. But that would take years, not only years of instruction but of continuous learning. He breathed out in frustration. He had so much still to learn...
“Where to?” Gisli asked him.
Lasgol pointed. “Northeast.”
“Lead us on, Tireless Tracker.”
The fact that Gisli addressed him with the title he did not have yet, filled him with joy and optimism. He would gain the right to it; it was just a matter of keeping up the good work and learning. Maybe that was why Gisli had referred to him that way, to encourage him. He went back to his tracking with renewed optimism. Nothing would stop him; he would succeed.
In the early evening he no longer felt like that.
He was squatting in the middle of a clearing in a forest, unable to find the trail. He had tried everything. From near, from far, from the south, from the north, from the east and finally from the west, and had found nothing. He glanced aside at his partners, but to judge by their faces they were as lost as he was himself. The trail had vanished.
He sighed and turned back to the Elder with a look of defeat on his face.
“I can’t find it...”
Gisli smiled. “That’s not surprising. Only a true specialist would find the trail in this situation.”
It seemed to Lasgol that he was being made to feel he still had a lot to learn if he was to be a Tireless Tracker. He knew this, but even so, the lesson in humility was painful. He stood up and went to the Elder’s side.
“On some occasions, though not many, the trail simply vanishes. This can be for two reasons. The first is because of the weather. Rain or snow can wipe out a trail, and it might be practically impossible to find it again. The other is the enemy’s skill. He might be as skillful as the Tracker, or even more. Never believe you’re the best. There could always be someone better than you. Tremia is very large and her peoples very diverse, with skills that often evade our understanding.”
“Magic?” Erika asked.
“Exactly. The enemy may be a master at hiding his trail, as in my case, or he might be someone gifted with the Talent who by using Magic will erase all trace of his trail. It’ll be the same when you’re being pursued: if the enemy’s an expert or has Magic, you’ll be in a fix, and you’d better take every possible precaution and always wipe your own trail as best you can in the situation you find yourselves in. And it won’t be easy, but it’ll mean your life. So you have to learn.”
“Yes Master,” Lasgol said very seriously.
“Right. I’ll teach you what to do in these circumstances. It’s an advanced technique that not many people know.”
He went to where Lasgol had lost the trail and put his hand in the Ranger’s belt he was wearing, then brought it out again with his fist clenched.
“Move back fifteen paces,” he ordered them.
Suddenly he turned powerfully on tiptoe, spinning to the right and keeping his balance, with his left leg held up at a slight angle. He did this three times, as if rehearsing. Lasgol watched him, deeply intrigued.
He spun around once again, but this time, as he was spinning, he spread his right hand so that a whitish dust flew from it and covered the area around him. He put his hand back in his belt and repeated the movement, sending the dust further and further away, creating two concentric circles around himself. Finally, he spread the dust around at his feet until he had covered the whole area.
“What do you see?” he asked the four of them.
“A large circle covered with white dust?” E
rika said.
“Wait a moment.”
The dust began to blend with the earth, as if it were being assimilated.
“It’s disappearing,” said Axe.
Luca pointed in front of the Elder towards the north. “And it’s marking something.”
Lasgol narrowed his eyes and saw it. In one small area the dust was not disappearing, because that was where the trail was, where the Elder had stepped. He was stupefied.
He pointed. “It’s the trail...”
“That’s right. That’s where I stepped, and when I did that, even though I tried to erase it – and I did it quite well, because Lasgol couldn’t find it – the earth was left lightly crushed, even though the eye can’t appreciate the fact. And you know what happens then? It doesn’t breathe, and hence doesn’t let the white dust vanish. It stays on the surface and marks where the footprint is.”
They were all very impressed by this.
“Master, what is this dust?” Lasgol asked.
“I’ll teach you how to prepare it. This kind, and three others for different types of terrain and weather. They’ll help you find the hardest or best-hidden tracks.”
“Thank you very much, Master,” Lasgol said, feeling thrilled by the things he was going to learn.
“Don’t thank me. Once I’ve taught you everything you need to know, you’re going to have to show me how good you are in the end-of-year test. And it’ll be a difficult one. The weather won’t help...”
Lasgol realized at that moment that the test would be in winter, so that the cold, ice and snow would make the tracking far more difficult.
“I understand... I’ll work harder...”
“I expect nothing less. And the same goes for all of you.”
Luca and Erika nodded at once. Axe let out his breath heavily.
Lasgol took up the trail once again, and Gisli explained to him the best way to deal with each difficulty he was confronted with. He also showed him a couple of more advanced techniques. Lasgol enjoyed each explanation, each comment by his Master, and could not believe how lucky he was to be there training with the Elder Specialist. What he was learning would serve him for the rest of his life, and he was eternally grateful.
They reached the foot of one of the mountains that sealed the valley to the north, not very far from the cave where Camu and his new adoptive family lived. Night was falling, so Lasgol thought they would call it a day, but he was wrong.
“Lasgol and I are going to camp here. You others are going back to the Lair.”
Luca and Erika looked disappointed. Axe expressed the general feeling.
“Can’t we stay too?”
“No, the next thing I’m going to show Lasgol only concerns a Beast Whisperer.”
“Oh...”
The three of them took their leave and went back. Lasgol was surprised. It was not unusual for each of them to receive part of their instruction alone with the Elder, but to spend the night with Gisli was unusual. To Lasgol, it felt like an honor.
“Come with me, Lasgol.”
They went to a cave surrounded by an area of dense vegetation. The entrance was narrow, and Lasgol guessed it was not a cave used by humans or bears.
“Now be very quiet. Follow me and don’t make any noise or any sudden movements.”
Gisli got down on the ground and went into the cave, and Lasgol followed him. They crawled on in silence, and as they went on it grew darker. At last they came out into a medium-sized cavern. Gisli lit an oil lamp which had been put by the entrance.
There came the threatening hiss of a cat.
Lasgol’s blood turned to ice.
“It’s me, Ilsa, don’t worry,” Gisli said in a soothing voice.
He shone his light on the far end of the cavern, and Lasgol saw a Snow Panther with her cubs. He felt a shiver run down his spine.
The panther hissed again aggressively and made as if to attack. She was big, and her fur was beautiful.
Lasgol swallowed hard. His heart was beating fast; the panther was both beautiful and dangerous.
“This is Lasgol, a friend of mine,” Gisli said in the same soothing voice.
The Snow Panther did not seem very convinced by Lasgol’s presence. She gave him a lethal cat-look, then an irritated hiss.
“Lie down on the ground, on your stomach. Let her sniff you.”
Lasgol obeyed at once. Snow Panthers were lethal, still more so when they had cubs. She would go for his neck and kill him if he was not very careful. He laid his face on the floor of rock and earth and kept himself as still as a statue. The big cat padded across and began to sniff him. He was terrified, but he could not move or he would pay for it. He felt the big cat’s breath on his neck and was about to give way to terror, but he managed to master it, while the panther circled around him several times.
“Stay still and quiet for a while until Ilsa calms down.”
Lasgol was still so terrified that he could hardly breathe. He could not even swallow. He shut his eyes so that he could not see what was happening and gave himself into the hands of the Ice Gods. Why had Gisli brought him to the lair of a wild Snow Panther? Was he out of his wits? His fear intensified, and his stomach began to churn. The panther passed over his body. He began to tremble, and made an enormous effort to control himself. He could not let the panther feel his fear or he would be done for, that much he knew perfectly well.
“Control that fear of yours,” came Gisli’s warning.
He tried with all his might. He had to be brave. The situation was horrible, but to avoid anything happening to him he needed to master his fear. To show himself to be calm and harmless before the great cat – or else he would suffer an accident, a fatal one.
“You see, Ilsa?” Gisli said to the panther in a gentle whisper. “He’s a friend and means no harm.”
Lasgol could hear the cubs playing at the end of the cavern. If the mother feared for them, she would not let him out of there alive. He swallowed his fear and kept as quiet and relaxed as he could. He needed some good thoughts to soothe him, so he thought about Astrid and how happy it would make him if he could share dinner with her in the evening as usual. It was a simple wish that made him very happy. A small joy that allowed him to go to sleep satisfied every night. He thought about Camu, about playing with him in the forests and fields, and how happy that too made him. He thought about his friends Ingrid, Viggo, Gerd, Nilsa and Egil, and in the end he managed to relax completely. He had the best of friends and unconditional support from people he really loved.
He remained like that for a long time, while Gisli whispered to the panther as if she were an old friend.
“You can look up now,” he said.
Lasgol raised his head slowly and took in the scene. Gisli was stroking Ilsa with one hand and one of her cubs with the other. Ilsa looked at Lasgol and gave a small hiss. Lasgol kept still and looked aside at Gisli.
“Get up very slowly, until you’re on all fours,” Gisli said.
Lasgol was not very sure this was a good idea. The panther did not seem very convinced about having him there. But he had to trust Gisli, so very carefully and slowly he started to get up. He stopped twice because of two more hisses. Gisli told him to keep going, so he did.
“Come closer, very slowly.”
This did not convince him at all. Approach a panther with cubs? That was a definite no-no in his mind, His instinct and knowledge told him not to do it. The panther might trust Gisli, but it would not trust him, and she could easily misinterpret any move he might make.
“Go on, don’t worry, Ilsa won’t attack you.”
Lasgol filled his lungs with air and then let it out in one long, silent breath. He obeyed against his will, very slowly. When he came to Gisli’s side he was still, looking down at the floor. The panther came up to him to sniff his hair and he felt his fear return, but somehow, he managed to control it. He must not tremble, he knew that perfectly well.
“This is Lasgol,” Gisli whispered to the panther,
and stroked Lasgol’s hair as he was stroking her fur.
One of the cubs came up to Lasgol and chuffed at him. The other two were playing further back, taking no notice of them. This one seemed to be more inquisitive. There was a black spot in the middle of its forehead, but the rest of its body was white as snow. It looked like a beautiful kitten. Its mother hissed to it to move away. Lasgol forgot all about the ‘kitten’ idea when he heard the hiss. The little one did not want to go and protested at its mother in return with a shrill whistle, a mixture of protest and whine. The mother, without hesitating, seized the cub in her jaws by the scruff of its neck and took it to join the other cubs.
“She doesn’t trust you,” Gisli whispered. “She won’t let the cubs come near you.”
“Master, this is really dangerous... shouldn’t we leave?” said Lasgol, very nearly begging.
“Aren’t you brave?”
“Yeah... well... not particularly.”
Gisli smiled. “Don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.”
Lasgol was not entirely convinced by this, despite Gisli’s assurances
The panther and her cub had a little argument, and then Ilsa came back to them, while the little one whined unhappily at the far end.
Gisli, seated on the floor, allowed Isla to rub against him and smiled with pleasure. It was impressive to see the Elder so much at ease as the big cat rubbed her face against his. Lasgol could barely believe his eyes.
“We’re old friends,” Gisli explained. “I’ve known her since she was a cub. I knew her mother too.”
Lasgol began to feel a little calmer, and even managed to relax to some extent. The panther must have felt it, because she rubbed herself against his side.
“Good, Ilsa, good girl.” Gisli whispered to her.
Ilsa circled around Lasgol again and rubbed against his other side.
“She seems to be coming to accept you.”
Lasgol said nothing. He was trying as hard as he could to be relaxed, or at least look as if he was so that Ilsa would not sense his fear. He reconsidered this; probably she did sense it, she could smell it in him. He went back to thinking positive thoughts to get rid of his fear.
