Monday, November 22, 2004

Part 8

Raven and Synthia reached the Iekah Samarsa just as the snowfall ended. All around Synthia could see a very light dusting of white on the new spring grass beginning to grown in front of the hillside temple. The marble stone steps that lead up to the building were clear and she was relieved to find that they were still warm. Synthia forgot that Raven could not see, and said, “Isn’t it beautiful Raven?”
“I don’t know Syn, I can only see a few feet in front of me,” Elizabeth answered.
“Oh I forgot. Let me describe it to you. The temple is over one hundred feet long from northwest to southeast. It is all white marble and the roof is copper. When I was younger the roof was polished every year to make it shine in the sun, but now it is a strange sort of beautiful green. The southeast portion is open with columns that rise in height from the middle of the building to the southeast end and the northwest end is the sanctuary. The steps, in the middle here lead up to a small gathering area where the lowest columns meet the sanctuary. There is no snow on the steps because the whole temple was built on a natural hot spring and the builders engineered channels inside of the stone to allow the hot spring water to flow all through the stonework. Once we get inside the sanctuary it should be warm enough to change into some new cloths. Oh no!” She exclaimed suddenly, “I left the pillowcase on the ground back where we stopped.”
“What? I thought you were carrying it?” Elizabeth could only whimper the words through her chattering teeth.
“I could kick myself!” Synthia shouted. “Well let’s get inside anyway and at least warm up. Maybe I can find the bag in the morning.”
Synthia helped Raven find the steps in the dark and in only a few moments they were inside of the sanctuary.
“There used to be two large doors right here,” Synthia said making a gesture with her head to each side as they crossed the threshold into the sanctuary. “The doors were taken down and sent to Pierraehal when I was 12, that is when people stopped coming to the temple. A priest in Eysturlun decided the doors were some kind of sacred artifact and ordered them returned to the temple there so that they could not be defiled. You know at one time there were over a thousand Eysturluns living in this area, but now there are only a handful.”
Elizabeth could feel the warmth radiating from the walls in the sanctuary and began to feel a strong sleep overcome her. “I’m so tired Syn, can we rest here? Is it really safe?” she asked.
“Not here. Come on lets go back to where the altar is. See there are four small cubicles on each side of the sanctuary where we are now, and a large alcove against the northwest wall where there is a small icon of Iekah, the rising sun, carved from a single piece of yellow marble. It is the altar room and it should be even warmer there,” Synthia said as she led her deeper into the temple sanctuary, “I’m tired too, and I know we will be safe there.”
The two of them sat down on the floor in front of the altar. Synthia leaned her back against the marble statue of the Eysturlun Sun God, and Elizabeth rested her head against Synthia’s shoulder, and together they fell into a deep sleep.
Elizabeth woke several hours later to find Synthia was gone. The room was still dark, and she felt very afraid.
“Synthia,” she called out trying to whisper and project her voice at the same time. “Synthia, where are you? Synthia.”
“I’m coming Raven Stay right where you are. Everything’s all right,” Synthia said in reply, as she was coming through the sanctuary doorway.
“Where did you go?” Elizabeth asked as Synthia sat down next to her. Immediately she could feel coarse wool against her check as she pressed against what she expected to be Synthia’s shoulder.
“There’s a small room off of the central area of the temple where priests once lived. It’s hidden very well, and still has some things left behind when the temple was abandoned. I found four wool robes. Here take one. It might be a little large for you but I found some lamp cord as well, and you can use it to tie up the robe so it’s snug,” Synthia said and worked the robe over Ravens head pulling her arms through the large sleeves.
“Why did the Eysturluns abandon this place?” Elizabeth asked as her head emerged from the garment.
“Because of the curse,” Synthia answered.
Elizabeth was startled and pulled away from Synthia saying in a hurried whisper, “You said there wasn’t any curse.”
“I said this place isn’t cursed, at least the curse locals go on and on about is not real. But, and I shouldn’t be telling you this, there is a curse sort of. I think we are finding out it is more like a disease than a curse, and it is slowly taking its toll on our people,” said Synthia.
“Are you trying to scare me or something Syn?” Elizabeth asked.
“No. I’m only being serious. If you really want to know, and I want to warn you, I’m not sure you will like what I might tell you, my life is what it is because of this curse.”
“You said it was more like a disease, than a curse. I don’t want to know about any curse. Where I came from some people had the power to cause a lot of hurt and misery by placing curses on others. There’s no secret to that. I’m from the islands, originally. You know what I am. I know you’ve heard them say Bascondes with the hard zee sound. No one in my family ever practiced that craft, but I saw how it was. That kind of magic scares me.”
“Magic scares you? Magic doesn’t scare me. I’ll tell you what scares me. The knowledge that some day, and I know it will be a long time from now even though that doesn’t comfort me, but someday I will lose my mind. I will not know you from a shade. I won’t be able to tell right from wrong, and if I am lucky I will die a natural death, or take my own life before the madness grows so strong that I destroy everything and everyone I love and eventually have to be put down like a rabid animal.”
“What are you talking about Synthia? Why would you think you are going to lose your mind?” Elizabeth asked, and took Synthia by the shoulders, as she could sense a great sadness welling up in Synthia’s words.
“Almost everyone of us does. That is the curse I am talking about, and why the temple was abandoned. It might take a while for me to tell the story, and if I cry that’s okay because I want you to know about me, all about me. Someday I will fall in love. Do you remember how we used to sit in the kitchen and compare our dream lovers?” Synthia chuckled and Raven relaxed her grip on Synthia’s shoulders. “I want to be a mother some day. I want, I hope, that if we, the Eysturluns, keep trying to find a cure to this affliction that I can live a happy life knowing my children might be spared the consequences of their birth. When I marry I hope we will still be friends, and I want to be able to put my trust in you. What you did for me last night was the bravest thing I have ever seen. If I live long enough, for us women it usually starts when we are in our middle to late sixties and the men sometimes as early as forty, but if I live that long and I do begin to slip away I would want you to be the one to put an end to me before I end up like my father.”
“Synthia!” Elizabeth gasped, “Don’t say those things. God forbid never happen, one, two, three,” she added, speaking an old Eshian oath meant to ward of bad luck.
“Raven, please listen to me. I want you to understand that this is something that is going to happen. It started almost three hundred years ago, and no one really knows why, and it is getting worse. When it started it only seemed to affect the very, very old, but then the next generation it was worse. Now it happens to all but only a few out of a hundred. The luckiest just drift away, rambling, they’re no danger to themselves or others, but some, maybe a third, end up like my father. Do you want to know what happened to my father, my mother, brother and sister? Do you want to know how I ended up at Camilla’s? You know if it wasn’t for her I would have died like my brother and sister.”
For some reason, sadly, Elizabeth felt she didn’t want to know. She was ashamed of herself. Always in the past she ran away from the things that hurt her emotionally. Avoiding attachments, and not letting herself feel trapped was the story of her life. Synthia had been the closest friend she had ever known. Only Synthia accepted Raven for what she was, and yet who was she after all, Elizabeth, or Raven? Why was it that she still thought of herself as Elizabeth Gilenka? If she had doubts about who or what she was, one thing was clear Synthia did not. She was Raven Hessington, Synthia’s friend and Raven wasn’t going to run away from her friend. “I want to know Synthia, about your family,” she said, “And I want you to know that you wont ever have to worry about trusting me. You’re my friend. I hope that never changes.”

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Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Poxdrab the Barbarian in;
Where walks the witch wolf or
Which wolf walks were?
In the silvery light of a full moon they took cautions quite steps through the underbrush. Five members of the Barbarian tribe, and three elves of the Barbari-Anne’s all armed with short steel swords and wearing leather armor. The night air seemed still, and the torches they carried glowed brightly with nary a flicker. Poxdrab was second in the line, behind Rhoad, Lokkin was at the rear, behind the elves, and secretly Poxdrab wished Lokkin could be up at the front with him. Where the was little chance of his friend being distracted by the long silky hair, the slender legs, fine muscled rear…
“Poxdrab!” Rhoad snapped without raising his voice above a whisper. “Don’t follow so closely. We need to keep five steps separation at all times.”
Poxdrab stopped thinking about the elves and remembered why they were out on this chilly fall night. It was a wolf. It had killed five sheep from the heard, and just the other day Walters milking cow. It was hunting alone, this they knew for sure, and only at night. The village demanded an end to the creature, or at least relocating it to the other side of the river, where other wolves normally stayed.
“Could someone tell me why were out here in the middle of the night again?” It was Drake, the newest member of the village hunting party, and recent winner of the annual wheel ritual, who asked.
Rhoad stopped and raised his hand giving the signal for the others to stop and be alert. “It only hunts at night,” he said over his shoulder.
Poxdrab had admired Rhoad for many years. The older Barbarian was soft spoken, level headed and a trusted leader.
Rhoad signaled for the group to move on and this time towards the right, moving toward Holsten Glade, and Poxdrab held his torch up high to acknowledge the instruction.
“Why don’t we just set out a few traps,” Drake said innocently.
Rhoad snapped to a stop and turned slowly. His lips pulled tight in a frightening grimace of disapproval. Poxdrab shrugged and got out of line to move back to the young Barbarian’s position.
Speaking in a whisper Poxdrab said, “Drake, look we know you’re eager, and no one will question your courage or strength, but seriously do you have any idea how irresponsible that would be?”
“Not only that, not only that,” Ulan, who was right in front of Drake and had been quiet up till now suddenly spoke up with excitement, “ have you any idea what kind of irreparable damage a trap can cause to a animals leg. Oh, oh and not just the animal you want to trap. Those damn things are indiscriminate. Why once I had to pull a black bear free from a beaver trap. Poor thing lost two toes,” Ulan lowered his head with a disapproving shake.
There was an unmistakable sniffle, and a choked-up grunt from one of the elves and Lokkin moved up, putting an arm around the elf in the middle, the one with the red hair.
“Are you happy now? Tell me, you happy now? Now you’ve made Robyn cry. There now Robyn, the bear was okay. We still see him time to time down by the falls. Really Drake, traps. For Crom’s sake.” Lokkin moved Robyn away from the rest of the group so the young Barbari-Anne could regain her composure. It was certainly fortunate that Robyn’s tremendous compassion was very nearly matched by her tremendous bosom, putting at least one of Poxdrab’s fears to rest.
The little group was now clustered close around Drake, and unprepared for the shocking scream that came from where Lokkin and Robin had moved.
Blades flashed in the torchlight as men and women readied themselves for anything, Poxdrab and Rhoad ran to a small clearing to see Robyn on one knee her short bow pulled, as she carefully swept the glade from side to side straining to make out a target. Lokkin was on both knees, his short sword prodding at the carcass of a large elk.
“Lokkin, did you see it?” Poxdrab asked, unable to contain his excitement.
“Only a glimpse, I think. It must have heard us coming, but didn’t want to stop feasting. It darted off as we entered the glade. Look at this,” said Lokkin pointing at the flank of the elk with his sword.
Rhoad examined a slashing wound on the flank and said, “The claws are two, maybe three inches apart. He’s big, very big.”
The wolf surprised them all by returning. It charged into the glade with a howl and snarl, and went straight for Robyn. The elf did not panic, but timed her shot poorly. The wolf was to close and the arrow thudded harmlessly off the thick hide. Poxdrab moved right as Rhoad moved left, but the wolf was too fast. It leaped over Robyn and crashed into Lokkin, its fangs biting into Lokkin’s forearm, only inches away from finding the barbarians throat. Before anyone could strike the creature it bounded off through the underbrush again.
No one spoke, as Lokkin dressed his own wound, and everyone else closed in around the elk carcass, waiting for the beast to return and defend its kill. An eerie howl echoed through the trees as the group prepared for another confrontation.
Slowly, with almost an air of smugness the wolf entered the glade again. This time everyone could see how enormous the thing was, and when it stood upright on its back legs, its body changing in the moonlight mixed with torchlight to a frightening and all to familiar half-wolf half-human form standing nearly eight feet tall a new terror filled their hearts. The low growl coming from deep in the creatures chest, and drool dripping from its mouth broke down the last bit of resolve the group had and some of them fled in random directions, only Poxdrab, Robin and Rhoad stayed to face the monster. It circled in slowly, snarling and snapping, wary of the sharp blades and focusing its yellow-green eyes on the arrow ready in Robyn’s bow.
Could it dodge away in time, Robyn wondered. The adversaries measured each other with intensity, and then Poxdrab charged. He tumbled across the glade as a distraction hoping to come up right below the monster’s belly with a thrust, but it was too smart for that and leaped high above him. The wolf landed just to the right of Rhoad and the more experienced Barbarian had stood his ground. Taking the opportunity Rhoad made a strong backhand swing at the beasts’ snout. Rhoads’ sword was dashed from his grip by an almost unholy in strength downward smash of the monster’s paws, but Rhoad responded without pause and threw himself at the monster’s chest. Wrapping his arms around the beast, the old barbarian was at last startled when he realized he could not get his arms all the way around the beast. Rhoad lifted the wolf from the ground and slammed him back down with all his strength. The beast was stunned for just a moment as Rhoad yelled out, “Quick away to the river we must regroup and make a new plan!”
The three of them, Poxdrab, Rhoad and Robyn sprinted at their best speed, and were surprised to find Drake and Nell, one of the other elves, join them from the forest. Rhoad led them through the tangle of trees and shrubs at an impossible pace. Finally rounding Conner’s Rock the group threw themselves to the ground struggling to catch their breath, a cloud passed in front of the moon, their torches long since abandoned the group was now in darkness.
“Its Smart,” Poxdrab gasped.
“Huge,” Rhoad added.
“So strong. Did you see how high it jumped?” Robyn said.
“And I’m fast too,” said the wolf from his position sitting on top of Conner’s Rock.
A chorus of screams rose from the group as the wolf rose again taking part human form. Rhoad fumbled around with his hands along the ground and found a tree branch and said up at the thing, “Come and taste my wrath monster.”
The cloud moved away from the moon and silver light reflected strongly off the river. Another wolf, smaller and almost pure black bolted across the fields leaping at the Monster and knocking it to the ground. Robyn strung another arrow and tried to move away quietly to get a premium shot. The black wolf, and the were-wolf snarled at one another, the distracted were-wolf never saw the blow coming as Rhoad swung at the monsters belly. The wind was knocked out of the beast’s lungs with a loud poof sound, and Robyn let fly her arrow. The Arrow struck true, deep into the monster’s left leg. The were-wolf collapsed onto its snout with a whimper.
“Kenny!” the black wolf cried out in a woman’s voice that Poxdrab knew was unmistakable.
“Grandma?” Poxdrab managed to stammer out. In a quite different transformation, this one filled with twinkling lights and popping sounds, the black wolf transformed into a beautiful, mature, dark skinned woman with raven tresses, in a very revealing silk nightgown.
“Another were-wolf,” Nell shouted and pointed, which at this point looked ridiculous.
“Witch-wolf, actually,” the woman said as she moved toward the injured were-wolf.
“What?” Robyn asked.
“Witch,” said Poxdrab as he started towards his grandmother.
“Which?” Nell asked.
“Where?” Rhoad added, puzzlement spreading across his face.
“No,” the woman said calmly, and gesturing at herself with both hands said, “I am a witch-wolf. A witch with the ability to transform at will into the likeness of a wolf. My ex-husband here,” and gesturing again with both hands this time at the wolf on the ground, “is a were-wolf. His transformations have for years been easy for him to suppress and are only brought about by the new moon,”
Robyn interrupted her saying, “You mean the full moon,” as she pointed at the sky with her bow.
“No that is a misconception. The transformation it always brought on by the new moon, and normally lasts for three to five days. He had been able to suppress it for years, until this new moon, but the transformation kept happening and he contacted me to try and help him find the answer why. I researched for days but could not find anything to explain this behavior. We were both becoming exhausted from trying, and so we decided.” The dark woman, who up till now seemed confident and cool, began to lower her voice and seemed embarrassed to go on.
“You decided on a little kinky late night escapades.” It was Lokkin’s voice, who now moved out of the shadows from the other side of Conner’s Rock holding his injured arm in pain.
Suddenly the small clearing in front of Conner’s Rock began to fill with strange shadows. Everyone looked to the sky to see the moon appear to disappear as a dark shape moved across its face.
“Of course,” the dark woman cried. “An eclipse, why didn’t I think of it. Kenny it’s just a lunar eclipse. Just like that time eight years ago,” she said as she knelt by the fallen wolf’s head.
The wolf on the ground regained its breath and finally spoke, “Lucy I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause all this, and embarrass you,” the were-wolf said as he transformed into Chief Runtotheleft.
Seeing his grandfather naked was perhaps the most frightening thing Poxdrab had ever seen.

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Monday, September 20, 2004

Part 7

“I can try to go slower if you are uncomfortable,” Leto said as he paused in the morning sun. The clouds had vanished, and the temperature was warm. The ground all around was soft and muddy, and the going had been rough. Yarrine had been quiet since they left the cave. Leto was moving as fast as he thought he could without causing the litter Yarrine laid upon to bounce or rattle against the uneven ground.
“I’m fine,” she said.
Leto immediately recognized a tone of resentment in her words. “We can stop whenever you feel the need,” he said.
“I have to pee,” she said meekly.
“Oh, of course, I’m sorry. I should have asked you about that before we left,” he said. Quickly he lowered her to the ground and undid the cords that held her in place. “Can you make it alright on your own, or do you need help?” He asked as the last rope was removed.
“I think I can hop over to those trees,” she said pointing to her left.
“Good, but don’t be afraid to call out if you need anything,” he said.
For the first time since he found her lying on the ground Leto saw Yarrine standing up. She was a good deal shorter than him. Her head only came to the middle of his chest. She steadied herself against him with one hand holding his forearm. Her touch gave him an unfamiliar chill. He wanted to touch her, innocently, but did not.
“Alright here I go,” she said smiling up at him. She was strong, and obviously had good coordination. She turned and with her right foot held off the ground in front of her, which he thought was an odd choice, hopped with ease away from him. She reached a cluster of small evergreens not thirty feet away and moved out of sight.
Quiet moments passed, and Leto adjusted his pack to ride higher on his back. He waited nervously, and when he was about to call out to her, just to see if everything was alright, she suddenly appeared from behind a tree and waved for him to come to her. He didn’t hesitate. When he was still a few feet away from her she turned and pointed toward the southwest saying over her shoulder, “Do you know what that is?”
Through the trees, down a gentle slope to the southwest, perhaps a mile or less in the distance Leto could make out what looked like a patch of strewn boulders and smoke rising from the ground. “I don’t know. It looks like smoke. It could be hunters, or prospectors. I don’t really know this area very well,” he said.
“We should check it out, maybe we could get some directions,” she said. Her face was twisted up in pain.
“I can carry you back to the litter,” he said.
“That would be good, very good. I didn’t think it would hurt so much, being up,” she said as she held up her arms inviting Leto to pick her up.
“Are you all through, with, well you know?” He asked.
“Oh, sure. All done. But I feel pretty week from it,” she answered.
Leto put his arms behind her legs and back and was surprised to find she was heavier than she looked, but still easy to lift from the ground. He held her high against his chest and she laid her head on his shoulder. He walked slowly back to the travois enjoying the closeness of her smell.
After he had her secured to the rig again he said, “So I think we can detour over to those rocks and check out that smoke, but it might get a bit bumpy.”
“I’ll be all right don’t worry, I’ll scream if I fall off,” she said with a laugh.
It didn’t take very long to reach the rocks and they were both surprised to find that it was not smoke after all, but steam. The ground was broken and dropped off sharply where it looked as though a hot spring came out of a wide and deep cave. The river was only a dozen or two yards below them and Leto could see from this vantage that it turned sharply southward to his left and if he had kept going the direction he was headed he would not have found it for hours. To his right, to the west the river grew wider and splashed slowly among more rocks. There were large patches of ice in the river still and particularly at the base of the little cliff he stood on now, only pot marked with little holes where the trickle from the hot spring fell over the rocks and into the river. “Lets check out that hot spring,” Yarrine said.
“I don’t know Yarrine,” Leto was finding it was becoming easier to talk with her. “It might be to hot. We have a hot spring in Crystal Glade, we collect the water for its mineral content, but it is far too hot to touch. And the smell is not good.”
“Well I want to see, and I could use a little break before we go on. I’m hungry. Please Leto,” she begged.
“All right but I will have to carry you again. It is to uneven to try the other way,” he said.
“Can you carry the little with me in it?” She asked.
“Yes,” and he did. The cave had a high and wide opening, and once they reached the front of it the saw that it was not very deep, deeper than the one they had stayed in the night before, but they could see the back wall, and the whole cave was well lit from a good southeast facing. There were three pools inside two near the front side on the east and a large one at the back of the cave where they could see water seeping right out of the rocks, the steam was light and the temperature in the cave was mild. The left side of the cave was dry and the ground sloped up to an elevated area. Leto set Yarrine down on the ground of the higher side of the cave and began to untie the cords holding her down.
“I know this is going to sound crazy,” Yarrine said as he helped her off the litter, “But I think I want to try and take a bath in that big pool, could you check it for me. I feel dirty all over, and a hot bath would feel real good right about now.”
“ I suppose I can, but let me do something else first. My coat is very wet, and I am not sure how much longer it will hold out as a support for you unless I can dry it out a little. I am going to set up a small fire, and put these spears in the ground. Then I will hang all of the wet things up to dry,” He said as he went to work as he described.
“Okay, great idea. You can dry my things to,” she said and started to remove her large coat.
“Wait,” Leto said as he tied some cord from the litter to the first spear already stuck in the floor, “You are not going to disrobe are you? I think you should wait until I can finish with this, and then I will try and hunt something for us to eat. You can have some privacy then.” She just smiled and continued to undue the buttons on her shirt.
“Oh don’t be concerned. I have very good undergarments on. Full pants, and a linen wrap. I wont embarrass you though, if it bothers you,” she said.
“No, that’s fine. Go ahead and I will…” He did not finish as the sound of rocks clattering down the slop outside caught his attention.
He had the second spear in his hand but was not able to ready it as the Troll charged him. The thing was more that one and a half times his size and built like a bull. It moved on all fours, but Leto knew it could stand upright if it wanted to. Its head was as large as a barrel with a long snout filled with short, fat, sharp teeth. It struck him in the side and knocked him off his feet. The Troll did not pounce on Leto, but instead turned sniffing in the direction of Yarrine. Before it could move toward her, Leto slashed at it with the spear tip. He did not have time to get to his feet and he knew the move put him in great danger. He cut the beast on the left hip, but it was only a superficial cut. It leapt toward Yarrine. Leto scrambled to his feet and lunged at the Troll, dropping the spear, he tried to wrap his arms around its body. Yarrine, for her part kicked at the snout with her good leg. Surprised by Leto’s weight on its back, the troll fell sideways down the sloping rock floor toward the small pools near the front of the cave. Leto used the momentum of them both rolling on the ground to throw the creature toward the mouth of the cave. It worked the Troll was unable to get a foothold and was sent tumbling across the rocks, but not for long. It regained is balance and rose up on its hind legs, letting out a terrible roar it made an awkward rush on two legs, arms flailing in the air. Leto rolled across the floor to where he had dropped the spear and found, with great luck, it to be lying in a perfect position. Putting one foot on the butt end of the spear he raised it just as the Troll was about to pounce. The spear was driven completely through the thing just below the breastbone. Leto threw his own body at the thing, grabbing its fur and placing one foot in its groin he somersaulted with the Troll propelling it out of the cave and down the rocks. Leto wound up on his stomach looking down across the cliff face, and saw the Troll strike the ice with a splattering effect. The ice shattered from the impact, and the Troll disappeared beneath the fast moving water of the river under the ice.
“Leto, Leto,” Yarrine was screaming, and he turned to see her standing in the cave opening several yards behind him. He raised himself up on one arm and his knees, and waved to signal her he was all right. He was out of breath, and could not shout back. He wanted to tell her he was fine but then he saw the blood on his raised arm, and watched helplessly as Yarrine collapsed at the mouth of the cave.



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