The Lay of Lomaxla
With the morning came a cold drizzle accompanied by dreary salmonbellied grey clouds. Yet the companions' spirits were not dampened. They had made much progress over the night and the hills that never seemed to get any closer were suddenly within reach. The prairie was finally coming to an end. Chyna told Chiapos that most of the country between here and Tanejul will now be made up of hillocks, valleys, woodland and field. There would not be the monotony of the grasslands any longer. This was welcome news to Chiapos although he was somewhat troubled that with the variation in the topography and the vegetation, Samarin would have a multitude of opportunities to veer from the course and forever be lost to him and Chyna. She assured him that there was only one swift passage through this country and that Samarin would stay true to that course. It was the Highwayman's Trail - a terrain that has been the hunting grounds for thieves and killers ever since the heraldic days of Cenan, Appointed Servant to the Mammoth.
When Chiapos asked her how bad these lands were Chyna gave him no doubt that they could expect to be assailed at least once during their passage. It was grim news to him especially now without the Redeemer to protect them. It was small comfort in knowing that they were travelling light and did not have anything ostentatious to steal. He wondered how Samarin would fare seeing that he was hauling a cart filled with attractive trinkets. Challengelore had always had the axiom that there was no honour among thieves. What may belong to Samarin now could easily be in the hands of another thief later. Chiapos doubted that Samarin would be able to use the Redeemer against any assailant. And without any display of its magical powers, the Redeemer could easily be passed off as just a piece of wood. Practically all thieves would disregard it. Samarin could be robbed but the Redeemer should remain in his possession.
Chyna showed no signs of growing fatigued. She nibbled at her bread on occasion and this seemed to suffice in sustaining her. Her gait was still strong and energetic. She was no stranger to this journey, Chiapos realized. She had been making the trip between Tanejul and the prairies ever since she was a young girl. When he asked her if she wanted to rest, she said no, they had lost too much time already. She was strongly motivated to get back to the town and come to her brother's rescue. This pleased Chiapos because he wanted to make up as much time as possible on Samarin. The strength that had been zapped from him with the sickness had now been completely restored. He felt that he could walk a week straight without stopping to admire the scenery and catch a breather at the same time.
The land was gradually starting to climb up hill. The ground was wet but it was not muddy. It supported the travelers' weight without impeding them with any kind of suction that sought to keep them in one place. When he turned to look behind him, he could see that they had achieved an elevation of several hundred feet. In that rear vista under its foreboding sky sprawled a vast, monotonous countryside that was as featureless as an egg. It stretched as far as he could see and he knew that it continued much, much further. It was more than a day's journey back to Stoon's homestead and that was not visible to his eye. The prairies went all the way back to the Tester and that was several weeks' worth of traveling to get back there. Chiapos recalled how long it had taken him to cross that forest and how long it took him to make his way across the breadth of the prairie and he realized that he was a far, far way from home. Rainwater was two months travel back there to the west. Its image was still crystal clear in his mind, as were the faces of his kin but it had been so long since he set eye upon them. For the first time in a long, long time he was missing them badly and as he walked upon this highland with its long grasses and its collection of deciduous trees, he started to cry. Why was he doing this? He could be at home learning some new skill from his father, Chakka. Not many people from the village bothered with the Challenge any more. Why did he decide to embark upon it? From the outset, what was he to gain from taking it on? At first it was just a venture of ambition. But it had grown in scope since then. The knowledge that he had acquired since his encounters with Martok, Cenan, Samarin and Chyna told him that it was now imperative for him to continue on this adventure. But if he had not left Rainwater in the first place, wouldn't the sweet ignorance of the terrible fates falling upon the lands to the east have left him and his villagefolk in a state of obscurity and thus relative safety? Yet, he allowed his ambition to push him into that first step of the Challenge. The grave things that he has learned since then will now forever be a part of the group knowledge of the village. Rainwater was no longer a pristine island set apart from the rest of Mallog’mor’ach. Rainwater was now deeply in the melee for one of its sons was now playing an integral role in the new reality that was being forged.
One of its daughters as well, for Straye was not a spectator in all of this either. She was in the fight for Tanejul. She was in need of help and if he had not left for Tanejul, there would not have been anybody from the village that would assist her in her struggles. He did not regret taking that first step, he would have forever persecuted himself if had he not taken it. He was on the Challenge and his Challenge was no longer an adolescent romp in the country. It was a trial of courage and fortitude and the testing of all the morals and ethics that his father and the rest of the village had ingrained into him. His tears stopped and he cried out "Rainwater! Do not brood over me!" as he and his companion came to the crest of the first of the hills that marked the end of the endless grasses.
Chyna looked at him as if he had gone mad. "I have to say that you Rainwatermen are certainly a different type of people," she said with an eyebrow raised. He took the comment in stride. This woman was a blessing to have come across. She was filled with passion and energy, her causes were noble and her goals were synchronous to his. Her knowledge of the lands that lay ahead would certainly prove to be a boon whereas any suggestions that Samarin would make would at best seem dubious. There were no counter motives in Chyna. She was not seeking fortune or recognition. All that she wanted to do was to salvage what remained of her family and to hopefully get her grandfather's house back in order.
"We are different," Chiapos admitted, "But you will not find an evil man or woman in our lot. We believe in simplicity and a wholesome life, the kind of life that I believe you had in your grandfather's home."
Chyna smiled. "It was not what I would call an ideal life there. The work was hard, the weather was harsh, and the rewards were far between. But it was a good life." She sighed. "You would have liked my grandfather, Stoon. He was a man that would do anything for you. He helped me many a time with my problems as I grew up. He defended my being there at the homestead when the rest of the prairie men made it be known that it was no place for a girl or a woman. They all respected him and they heeded his warning to let me be. Stoon was a special man and I miss him with every breath that I take."
"It sounds like I would have liked him," Chiapos admitted.
"Everan is a lot like Stoon," Chyna added. "My brother sacrifices of himself so that others would not go without."
"It seems to me that you are much like your grandfather too," Chiapos said. They were walking across the upper ridges of the first hill and the sky was starting to break up. In the distance ahead of them, a thick and brilliant shard of sunlight was piercing through the gray clouds and reaching to the ground. The exact spot they could not see for they had not quite reached the peak of the hill. The conversation and this single beam of light served to lift the Rainwaterman's spirits. In the sun there is always hope.
Chyna did not respond to his comment. Her eyes, too, were affixed to the sunbeam. "I would wager any money that that light is falling on the grave of Lomaxla. It is said that the sun will never fail her again."
The name was unfamiliar to Chiapos and he asked Chyna to explain. "You have not heard of Lomaxla? I would have thought that your Challengelore would have some tales about the girl who came from the May Shores to return the little bird that she found floating on the waves. Does that stir your memory any?"
Chiapos shook his head. "I don't know of any tale that has that storyline. Tell me about her."
"There's not much to the story, really. Lomaxla was a young girl-woman who lived with her clan at the edges of the May Shores. She had been promised to wed a son of one of the richest merchants of the May Shores. This man was handsome and had a good heart and would have made an excellent husband for Lomaxla. He had no problems and he was skilled at solving the troubles of others. Like any other girl, Lomaxla was very thankful that she was to be given such a noble man. But one day, a grey day just like this morning has been, Lomaxla was by the oceanside collecting shells that were to be made into her wedding day necklace. As she was searching through the sand, her ears caught a desperate peeping coming from the water. She looked up just in time to see a frail bluebird plummet from the sky into the frothing waves. Without thinking about her own safety, she ran into the angry waters and searched frantically for the little bird.
“The waves were mercilessly pounding Lomaxla, knocking the air out of her many a time and nearly drowning her before she finally found the tiny blue body tangled in a mess of seaweed. With bird in hand she struggled to get to shore. The undertow kept dragging her out into the deeper water but somehow she managed to make it to the beach, the little bluebird still clutched in her hand. She looked at the tiny creature in her palm and was taken back by its beauty. Never had she seen such a wonderful bird flying around her village. To her surprise, the bird was still breathing, its wee little heart was still causing its breast feathers to move ever so slightly. At once, Lomaxla ran back to the village and sought the counsel of the elders on how to restore the bluebird back to health. When the Mayshori shaman saw the bluebird, he at once told her that she should have never retrieved it from the waters for now the fate that was to be the bluebird's was now to be hers.
“This sickened Lomaxla but when she saw how the little bird was fighting desperately for its life, she knew that she had done the right thing. The shaman went on to say that this was the Bird of Fate and usually only dwelled in the hinterland, the name that the people of the May Shores gave to the territory between the Tester and Tanejul. There, the Bird of Fate was just an ordinary avian and considered not to be ominous. The shaman said if Lomaxla were to return the bluebird to the nest where it was hatched, she would be able to free herself from the bird's fate. She had to do this by herself without the help of anybody else. It was in respect what you Rainwater people call a Challenge.
“So Lomaxla embarked upon this journey, her only companion was the little bluebird. She had many adventures in the lands to the west of Rainwater and in the Tester and the prairies that I will not tell you right now. Suffice it to say that for the most part it was a terrible trek that she was upon and things rarely fared well for Lomaxla. The skies were constantly dark and overcast. There was a steady rain and heavy winds her entire trip. She did her best to keep the bluebird alive in the little cage that she had constructed for it. The bluebird never sang, its mood was somber and sullen, and this did little to keep Lomaxla's own spirits up. In fact, the further Lomaxla went, the weaker she got. She was cold and wet and was having great difficulty just breathing. But the girl-woman endured and finally came into the country where the bluebird was indigenous. She knew this because she saw other bluebirds in flight in the hills and gorges of the hinterland. Her companion also saw its cousins, but it did not show any signs of cheering up although it was as strong and healthy as it ever was. The reason was that the bluebird abhorred the cage that was built around it. It wanted its freedom. Lomaxla did not know this and she searched desperately for the nest that gave life to the bluebird. But how was she to know exactly where this was.
“She hoped the bird would give her some sign as to the location, but the bluebird was morose and despondent. Days turned into weeks which turned into months and still Lomaxla was not any closer to finding the bluebird's home. The only thing that she was getting close to was her own death for the weather never brightened up, it stayed cold and rainy.
“Finally, when she realized the impossibility of her task, Lomaxla resigned herself to her fate and decided to let the miserable little bird go. She had brought it back to the lands where it was reared even though she did not find the actual nest. With a heaving chest and a wheezing breath, she broke apart the cage and watched through her dying eyes, the little bluebird take wing and join other bluebirds in an aerial dance over the hilltops. Lomaxla died a few minutes later, but she did not die unhappy for she had brought life and vitality to the bluebird whose original fate was to die cold and wet in a faraway land.
“Shortly after she took her last breath, the sun did come out through the clouds and its first beams came to rest on the lifeless face of the little girl-woman from the clan who lived just outside of the May Shores. It is said that the spot where the sun first shines in this valley is where Lomaxla's bones are laid to rest. That," Chyna pointed to a copse along a hillside several miles away, "Is where Lomaxla can be found."
Chiapos stared at the spot and tried to imagine the face of a forlorn but courageous girl. It was a very sad story that moved him deeply. "That is a wonderful story Chyna. I am surprised that it isn't in the Challengelore. Perhaps it isn't in our tales because it does not involve any Rainwater people. Still I will make Lomaxla's tale part of the telling of my Challenge. The girl deserves it. Tell me was she close to where the bluebird's nest was?"
"No one truly knows. It is nice to believe that the nest was within feet of Lomaxla but that would make her story a child's tale," Chyna pensively remarked. "She deserves to be remembered as a heroine for all people, children and adults."
"I have set that spot where the sun shines in my mind," Chiapos said. "When we get to that spot, let's have a quick look to see if we can see any sign of Lomaxla."
"We can't take long. We have to get to Tanejul," Chyna rued. "But we can take a few minutes to pay homage to her."
Three hours later when they came to the spot that the Rainwaterman had memorized, Chiapos and Chyna could find nothing to indicate that this was where Lomaxla finally came to rest. There were no bluebirds flying about. In fact, there were no birds at all. It was not the time of day for them to go to roost. There should have been all manner of avian species flying about - finches branch-hopping from tree to tree, sapsuckers working trunks, robins searching the grounds, vultures and hawks soaring above. Chyna commented that she had noticed that the bird population did not seem quite what it used to be but that she had seen some avians on her journey to the prairie.
This struck an ominous chord in Chiapos's heart. The Aura in Ascension had to be behind this even though he often chose the shape of a woodcock when traveling about. If the bird population was being depleted or worse devastated, it made the urgency to get to Tanejul an even higher priority and he told Chyna this. She agreed and said that they could pay homage to Lomaxla some other day.
Silent Sentinels
A day later after following several deeply gouged gorges that meandered through the uplands, Chyna said that she had to stop and rest. They had travelled continuously without truly resting for anything more than an hour and her legs just could not take the constant hiking any longer. Chiapos told her that he was surprised that she had gone this far without eating and sleeping. They chose a knoll along the side of an escarpment that gave them a clear view of the land that lay ahead of them. It was very rugged and did not seem to have any clear-cut trail that a wagon could be carted along. Samarin could not have possibly taken this route, he uttered to Chyna as she nibbled on her waybread.
"He has come this way," she said between bites. "It is the age-old path and to go astray from it would add many days to one's journey."
"But what about the wagon?" Chiapos pointed out. "He could not possibly be towing that thing along in land that looks like that!" The terrain was rugged and fierce and would be a challenge to anybody just to walk it let alone pull a stubborn, creaky cart that had weak axles over it.
Chyna yawned. She was stricken with a deep fatigue and was not particularly in the mood to make explanations. "Believe me, he has gone that way. Thieves who have a purpose are seldom stifled by lack of ingenuity. That man has figured out some way to carry out his task. Greed is a great inventor."
Chiapos paused to ponder what method Samarin would have used. The land was herky-jerky, climbing up and then going back down, veering to the left and then to the right. It was littered and cluttered with boulders, fallen trees and stumps. The feed cart would have to undergo many convolutions in direction, vertically and horizontally, in order to negotiate that terrain. He recalled the fumbling, complaining, and weak Samarin when they first started to haul the carts back at Stoon’s house. It just did not seem possible for such a man to be able to maneuver along such a grueling path.
"I'm sorry," he said to Chyna, "But I just can't see how he can do it with the wagon! He had to have gotten rid of it!"
His words fell on deaf ears as Chyna had fallen to sleep. She was curled up in a grassy enclave that helped to shield her body from the wind but did not completely shelter her. Chiapos found her blanket in the backpack and pulled it out and covered her. She did not even stir. She was in the deepest of slumbers. The poor woman was beyond exhaustion. She had been so brave thus far, without once complaining of fatigue or hunger. She was not like him, immune to the vagaries of the body, she had not taken of Cenan's milk. She had walked the better part of two days. He doubted that he could have sustained such stamina had he not been altered by the Appointed Servant. Now, as she slept, she looked so peaceful and at ease. Chyna trusted him, he realized, and this made him feel good. He would have felt even better if he had the Redeemer by his side. He did not know what kind of defense he could provide if they were to run into some of the rogue bands that were said to wander this trail. Thus far, they had not encountered any. Chyna had said that they were lucky up to this point. She still believed that their time would come. But they were on this Highwayman's Trail for nearly two days and they had not seen so much as an abandoned campfire let alone a living human being. Perhaps the strange phenomena that had taken the birds away had also taken away the bandits? An interesting possibility but one he doubted was true . Vermin always seem to survive the bad times.
As Chyna slept, he kept himself company with his thoughts of what adventure he had already seen and what adventures lay ahead. His friends and family will call his Challenge one of the great ones of the last five hundred years. The village elders will be a little more conservative in laying on the accolades but they, too, would acknowledge that he had seen more than what the ordinary Rainwaterman would expect to see on the great trek.
The skies started to darken with the approach of night. The vista ahead of him which had been plainly visible for at least ten miles when they had stopped, slowly started to be enveloped in the deep shadow of evening and soon all was dark as night had fallen. There were no sounds in the darkness. No hoots of owls, no chatter of insects, everything was deathly quiet, except for the steady drone of Chyna's slumber. Chiapos found himself wishing that he could sleep. To pass the night away, inert and awake was a drudgery that ate at his nerves.
Then, in the dark distance, along a hillside far ahead, he could see the flickering presence of a campfire. It was barely perceptible, a mere trickle of light in an ocean of blackness, but at once memories of another campfire filtered through his mind. A campfire lit by Pitak and his nefarious partner, Samarin. That fire had filled Chiapos with fear and dread. This new fire along the hills stoked the flames of anger in him. He wanted his revenge on the highwayman. He wanted to recover Chyna's carvings, but more than anything he wanted his Redeemer back.
Could it be Samarin? He could not be that much further ahead. He had the cart to tow and he was not in the physical condition that Chiapos or Chyna were in. There could be no doubt that a great deal of ground was made up with the diligence that they displayed especially Chyna in forgoing sleep and battling fatigue. Chiapos wondered if he should scout on ahead and investigate the source of the fire, leaving his companion behind to rest.
There was a very big urge in him to do so, he could almost feel the Redeemer reaching out to him and begging him to come to its rescue. It should not be a major problem to overcome Samarin. The highwayman proved that he was not a very strong man. Everything could be set back in order with a few quick decisive blows. But what if he was wrong? What if it wasn’t Samarin or it wasn’t Samarin alone? What if the campers ahead were made of thicker skins and rougher temperaments? They might easily slit his throat and leave him dead in the wilderness. What kind of end would that be to his Challenge? But more importantly what kind of assistance would he be to Chyna and through her, Everan and Straye, if he were to be snubbed out in some meaningless mugging that should not have occurred in the first place? Wisdom dictated that he stay put and for once, he decided to act wisely.
The fire burned for several hours in the night. It was so far away that it was impossible to detect who may be by its side and even though sounds carry well at night, there was nothing to be gleaned through listening either. Whoever tended that fire must either be alone or be amidst a company of sleepers who trusted their silent sentinel to be watching out into the darkness for any possible threat to their little encampment.
It grieved Chiapos that he could not do anything about the situation - he could not sleep and he could not conduct a surveillance. On several occasions, he found himself cursing Cenan for casting this inhuman condition upon him. To sleep was one of the beautiful blessings of life, even when one was not in need of its resustenance, sleeping was always a pampering luxury. But he was not in a state where even if he wanted its peaceful dalliance, he could fall asleep. To watch others enjoy the sublime sanctity of slumber filled him with envy.
Perhaps Chyna was tuned to his angst. She could certainly have slept easily another six hours. But suddenly she stirred and mumbled probably louder than she would have wished, "Are you ready to start again?"
Even though he wanted to say yes, he found himself saying to her, "No, you get more sleep, you need it. We can wait until morning."
"There's no time for me to waste any more on sleep. I will get plenty when all of this is through," Chyna answered and rose groggingly to her feet.
A feeling of tiny elation came to Chiapos. His endless dealings with infinite drudgery were coming to an end. Chyna was truly a remarkable woman and his fondness for her increased even more. He pointed out the fire to her and said that it might be Samarin but he also gave voice to his misgivings if it was not the highwayman. "Do you think we should investigate?"
"If there is a chance that your Redeemer is there, of course, we investigate!" Chyna whispered as she fumbled in the darkness to gather her belongings.
The two adventurers were off again. They tried to keep the campfire in their sights as they moved quietly yet steadily through the night but often the terrain or the vegetation would cloak the fire and disorient them. Invariably, the fire would reappear and each time it did it was a little bit closer than before. Still no sounds were issued from the eerie flame and it was yet uncertain who or how many people tended it.
Ghostly ruminations of his encounter with that previous fire and how Pitak and Samarin were able to jump him in the darkness kept Chiapos on the cautious side. It was Chyna who was more eager to engage the camp. A half an hour later, they were close enough to see the shapes of three adult figures lying supine upon the ground, huddled close to the fire. All were apparently asleep and none seemed to be Samarin. This group was definitely composed of bandits for swords lay against a tree, their metallic finish glittering in the firelight. Both Chiapos and Chyna simultaneously came to the conclusion that they had best move on and avoid this gang of cutthroats before they awakened.
They walked sure-footedly and quickly at a perpendicular angle away from the fire and when it seemed that they had gone far enough, Chiapos said in a low whisper, "We should have taken their weapons."
"Be thankful that we didn't," Chyna replied. "If they woke up while we were in their camp our stomachs would have been splayed wide open. Those men are definitely killers."
"Did you recognize them?" Chiapos asked, still maintaining a vigorous pace and keeping his voice as soft as possible. The notion of having his entrails spilled all over that fire was one that kept him cautious.
"I couldn't tell for certain who they were but there are dozens of these rogues drifting along the Highwayman's Trail - all of them out for booty and for the joy of watching people suffer. The one that I am most afraid of is just a young lad not much older than you or me. He goes by the name of Rager. He killed his entire family at the age of seven all over a squabble about who got to eat a goose liver. From then on, murder has been a way of life for him. And it came easy for him too. He grew to become a large man, he would go at least a head more than you and he was a master at the sword and the bow. He was in Tanejul about five years ago and slew a dozen men in one terrible rampage before my brother, Everan, managed to slice him in the arm and send him running. I have heard that he has sworn vengeance on my brother and his family and that he has grown even meaner and nastier nowadays. It is said that he travels this trail and that he stalks all those who wander upon it. When he comes upon you, he looks you in the eye to see if you are the man who nearly amputated his arm. If you are not, he kills you anyway in a fit of disappointment. I have heard it said that if he ever finds Everan along this trail my poor brother would be a victim to a long and anguishing torture specially concocted for him by this murderer. Everan still suffers nightmares over Rager."
The chilling description left Chiapos feeling even more helpless and weak. He wanted to have his Redeemer back so bad. "Yet, you, sister of Everan, travel this road frequently. Does this not strike a deep fear within you?"
"Of course, it does. But I can't have fear ruling the actions of my life," Chyna replied. "There is always something that has to take precedence over your fear. If there isn’t, life would not be worth living."
"Do you think Samarin knows Rager?" Chiapos asked.
"Those types always know each other."
A pall of gloom came into Chiapos' throat and he was barely able to say, "Samarin knows who you are and he knows that you are on the road."
"I have thought of that and all that I can do about it is live with it." Chyna spoke undauntingly. She truly was a brave woman and worthy of respect.
"If I had my Redeemer, I would have searched out this Rager and killed him then and there and you and Everan would not have to worry about him any longer." Chiapos' words were gallant and they were foolishly spoken louder than any of the other words the pair had exchanged as they tried to slip away from the sleeping thieves.
"I don't think your Redeemer would have allowed you to carry out such a vengeful action. For you to act that way would only put you on the same level as Rager. You have to be above that kind of thinking, Chiapos." Chyna had stopped and had turned to look behind her.
"What is it?" Chiapos whispered. He too turned to view their rear. In the pitch of the night, there was nothing that could have been seen. The campfire seemed distant. Its nervous flames gave the impression that everything was as at had been when they had been near its edges earlier.
After a moment of silence, Chyna said, "I thought that I heard something behind us. But, I don't think there is anything there. It must have been the wind or something."
"It couldn't have been the wind. There is none tonight." Chiapos continued to strain his eyes in the hopes of catching some movement. He remembered how he was surprised in the darkness by Samarin and Pitak. He did not want that to happen again. The main focus of his vision was that campfire and he felt ill at ease at the idea that there were three men there and all that kept them away from him and Chyna was their dreams. Dreams could come to an end very suddenly and he wished that he had not spoken so loudly earlier.
"Don't you worry about it. It was nothing." Chyna started along the trail again.
Chiapos followed, every now and then looking back to see if there was anybody behind them. The campfire soon fell from view, whether from distance or the lay of the land or some other obstruction. He hoped that it wasn't the case that it had disappeared because it had been dowsed by its makers who were now following the trail of two people who had dared to come to their camp’s perimeter.
Moving among the trees in the deep blackness of the night was an art in itself. One never knew where the roots climbed out from the ground or how far down the branches hung, yet Chyna maneuvered through them with an adeptness of a nocturnal hunter, silent and sure.
The two travelers remained mute for the better part of an hour as they walked through the night. There was still no sign of dawn. The days have been growing shorter, winter could not be that far in the offing. Chiapos hoped that they would reach Tanejul before the first snows. He had not given much thought to the winter aspect of his Challenge although he knew that it would eventually have to become part of it. Most Challenges take almost a full year to complete and he had started his relatively late in the season compared to others. He just did not want to wait for next spring. All the blood within him was stirring him to get on the road as soon as possible. The notion of whiling away the autumn and winter in Rainwater seemed more difficult to endure than the thoughts of being in faraway and strange lands in the cold and icy weather. Winter was not far off and he was not as far away as he imagined he would be but he had to admit that his journey thus far was far stranger than he would have suspected.
Then Chyna stopped again and dislodged him from his walking musing reverie. "I heard something again. Didn't you?" There was an edge of worry on her voice.
Chiapos turned to look behind them. The campfire was now long gone. He had not heard anything and he told Chyna so. Inside, he was wishing that he would stay more attentive. "What exactly did you hear?"
"I'm not sure. It came from behind us and I would say that it wasn't too far away. It sounded like the snapping of a twig. It was sharp. You didn't hear it?"
Chiapos was about to say no when suddenly the air was disturbed by the soft rustling of leaves not twenty feet behind them.
"Take cover!" Chyna cried, grabbing him by his arm and hauling him to the ground where the two of them quickly crawled to a nearby decline in the land that should shield them from view from the path that they were taking.
At that moment a grumbling, half-hearted roar rent the air. It was accompanied by the crunching sound of heavy footsteps. Whatever it was, Chiapos could not see it because of the darkness but he could only surmise judging by the lumbering weight of its walk that it was big whatever it was. He could almost swear that the earth shook as it moved along the trail that he and Chyna only moments ago had wandered upon. One thing for certain it was not human. But was it animal or spirit?
They waited silently in the eroded away section of the terrain that they had luckily found while they sensed the intruder trodding casually about only yards away. There was a beastly odour emanating from it and its breathing was loud and heavy as if it were panting. It paused along its tracks not three feet away from where Chyna lay. There was a snorting sound as it tested the air for scent. It groaned and moved away. It somehow did not pick up the smells of fear that was emanating furiously from Chiapos and Chyna who were only feet away.
Then, a little further off, there came the sounds of a crackling tree and deep basal grunts that Chiapos could only interpret as signifying the creature, whatever it was, was deriving some form of satisfaction. From his vantage, he could see the shadow of the tree against the starlit sky and saw it sway back and forth in unison to the groans coming from the creature. Still, he did not dare move nor did his companion, Chyna. They lay motionless upon the cold ground waiting for their visitor to wander off. They were ready to run like demons at the first sign that the creature had become aware of their presence.
Suddenly, the tree stopped its undulating against the sky and the creature became as silent as its unseen spectators. In the distance, Chiapos heard the faint snaps of twigs coming from the same direction that they had passed through. Accompanying the crackling was the low murmur of conversation. There were humans back there and it was no large step for the Rainwaterman to assume that these were the highwaymen that had made camp several miles back.
The conversation was unintelligible but was definitely being made by men. Chiapos tried to focus in on the words but was unable to do so. He was able to capture a few odd snippets and phrases but could not arrange them into any congruent whole that made sense to him. As the minutes passed, some words did become clearer. It seemed that the unseen men were only talking about their bodily discomforts as anybody would do who was pulled away from the comforts of sleep and forced to walk in the cold, crispness of the pre-dawn.
Without any pre-notification, Chiapos was startled when Chyna nudged him and whispered, "Come on, let's go! Now's our chance!" She rose to her feet and started walking briskly. It was only then that Chiapos was aware that their tree-swaying visitor was gone.
He ran after her as she had broken into a jog. There was now sufficient light to allow them to see any stumbling obstacles along their path. His blood suddenly curdled as the silence of the dawn was ripped asunder by the hysteria of animal roars and human screams. These chilling sounds were coming from behind them.
Chyna slowed down and whispered to him, "Hopefully, the bear will make them forget about us." And with those words it all became clear to Chiapos who the visitor had been. Although bears were not very common in the lands around Rainwater, out here in the highlands they were the true rulers of the terrain and not the human beings who dared trespass upon ursine territory.
"That was a bear?" he still asked out of his naïveté.
"It was not just any bear!" Chyna huffed. "That was a grizzly! We were very lucky that it did not spot us. I don't understand why we had such good fortune. Those robbers were far enough back that the grizzly should have been more concerned with us. Maybe it can smell the witch's milk in you and it wants no part of you?"
"A grizzly bear?" Chiapos said with astonishment. There were passages in the Challengelore concerning grizzlies, most of them having less fortunate outcomes than the one he and Chyna had just survived through.
"Yes, a grizzly bear," Chyna replied in an intonation that suggested that she considered the incident just run of the mill and not worthy of further conversation. But as Chiapos mulled over it, he realized that Chyna's voice was actually betraying a mortal fear. She had been scared to death over what had transpired.
"Do you think that it killed our followers?"
"I doubt it. Those men spend most of their lives out here in the highlands with bears. I’m afraid that the bear will only slow them down if their intent is to still catch us. But I believe that that bear has paid the supreme price in buying us some time for our safety by giving up its life. The teeth and the claws of a grizzly fetch a good price in Tanejul," Chyna said.
"It kind of makes you feel sorry for the bear, eh?" Chiapos felt a remorse at what Chyna had just said. “This land belongs to the bear and not to people. It’s sad to think that it had to be the ultimate loser in a contest that it was not even really a part of.”
"It's the way of life," was all that Chyna answered. "As long as people want to have bear teeth and claws, these grizzlies will continue to be slaughtered. It's sad but that's the way it is."
The couple did not spend any more time musing over what had become of their followers and the bear. They had to get to Tanejul and every second wasted in other matters was delaying their arrival in Tanejul by a second. And every second counts.
Three Brothers
Daylight came and they found themselves traversing the upper rim of a winding gorge that fell hundreds of feet below them to a brown and angry tormented river. "That's the Allefry," Chyna pointed out. It is one of the longest rivers in all of Mallog’mor’ach. It's said that if you follow it to its source you will find an ancient iron mine that is inhabited by a people who hail from the centre of the earth."
"I have heard about that but I don't believe it, do you?" Chiapos scoffed. The tale had been told in the Challengelore on a number of occasions although no Rainwaterman had ever tested its validity.
Chyna was not as skeptical as her partner. "I've never been to the source of the Allefry so on that account, I don't have the right to dismiss it as a child's story." She paused for a moment, her eyes watching the raging, turbulent waters below. "You know, for someone who has seen some pretty unbelievable things, I'm frankly surprised that you would so readily find something unbelievable. You should keep an open mind Chiapos the world will be more wondrous to you."
The comment made Chiapos feel somewhat disconcerted. He did not like criticism from anybody and to have it come from someone whom he was beginning to feel a true affinity for hurt him all the more. He remained silent as they ambled along the top of the gorge. There were no grasses up here - only smooth granite and basalt rocks that made their footholds feel very tenuous. The slightest slip might send one of them down the hundreds of feet and into that wild water below. Each step had to be planned out and dutifully executed. He had no time to mull over petty feelings of injured pride.
After about a couple of hours of this acrobatic hiking, a rope bridge appeared when they had rounded a large curvature of the cliffs. The bridge did not look like it was very well constructed. It seemed that it could be torn from its moorings even from the light weight of a child crazy enough to try and walk it. "We're not going to be taking that, are we?" Chiapos exclaimed.
"That's the route," Chyna responded.
"That's not the route!" Chiapos rasped in disbelief. "Samarin couldn't have taken that with his cart. There's not enough room to haul a cart across that!" He had found it unbelievable that the highwayman could have even gotten this far in the highland with the cumbersome and awkward cart, yet, up to this point and with an incredible leap of faith, he had accepted it as a possibility.
"Believe me, your former cohort crossed that bridge," Chyna answered. "The next place to cross the river is more than a week's journey from here. To get there you have to go over ground that makes what we have passed seem as tame as a buffalo's meadow. Believe me, your friend crossed here."
"But how?"
"There is more than one way to move a cart, Chiapos. He got it across. There's no doubt because we have not come upon him as of yet so he is still ahead of us. And as far as my eyes can see, I don’t notice him hanging around at either mouth of this bridge. Or do I see any debris down in the river to indicate that he and his cart had fallen off."
Chiapos had no choice but to accept what Chyna said, although he could not see how Samarin could have done it. As they drew upon the bridge and Chyna saw that he was still mystified by the method Samarin employed, she told him that these carts are easily dissembled and put back together again. The highwayman would have had to take the cart apart and reassemble it back together again on the other side. This, nonetheless, would be time consuming and that Chiapos should take heart that they would have gained that much more time on him.
Chyna was the first to arrive at the rope-bridge. Up close it looked even more weak and frail than it did from afar. It hung across the two hundred yard divide over the river. At its lowest point in the centre, the bridge still had to be at least three hundred feet above the furious waters of the Allefry. The bridge was made up of a series of thin tree trunks rapped together by a thick hairy twine. On each side of its base were two ropes that acted like support lines to help their brave passers to keep their balance.
"I will go first," Chyna said. "You will have to allow me to get about a third of the way across before you start. Otherwise, the bridge may collapse or we might set vibrations in motion across it which would make it very difficult indeed for either one of us to maintain our footing."
She started out onto the bridge. She moved swiftly yet carefully like a black squirrel racing across spindly branches at the treetops. It was clear from her agility that she was experienced on this bridge. Chiapos only hoped that he would exhibit the same skill.
When Chyna was about a third of the way across, Chiapos gulped and worked on getting the right mindset for his trek. He placed each of his hands on the guide wires and put his first foot on the treed bottom. Just as he was about to take the first step, something caught the corner of his eye. Turning to see what was there, he could see three men coming up the trail behind him. They were not more than five hundred yards from where he was. His suspicions told him that they were the thieves that they had encountered overnight. He had the notion that whoever they may be, they were not to be trusted.
Chyna must have seen them at the same time, she signaled Chiapos to get moving along the bridge. Just as she waved her arm at him, he heard one of the strangers call out, "Hold on there!"
The tone was friendly and not threatening, yet he had to remind himself that this was the Highwayman's Trail - there would be nothing but the lower elements of human society out here.
He heeded Chyna's urgings and started out on the bridge. The movement was dizzying as the rope-bridge flew out in the opposite direction of his motion. His grips upon the handguides had tightened and he was struck by a wave of vertigo. Heights were not his thing especially when they involved uncertain safeguards. He wished he had the Redeemer with him as he had inside Mount Corvyx. The Wood of Faerie had given him the assurance that he would not fall to his death. But he did not have the Redeemer and he had three large men whose purposes he did not know following him.
The waving of the bridge had set instincts within him in motion that told him that he had to cling and move cautiously. But he had to overcome these primordial reactions if he wanted to make it to the other side before the band of rogues set upon him.
Chyna was moving swiftly and agilely like a cat ahead of him. She was almost across. The three men were now running and were about four hundred yards behind him. They would assuredly overtake him if he did not defeat the nauseous vertigo that made his mind feel like jelly.
"Hurry!" Chyna cried when she reached the other side.
"Hold on, neighbour!" one of the men yelled out to him. "There's no need to hurry."
Had this been any other place than the infamous Highwayman's Trail, Chiapos might have heeded the call. There was nothing, absolutely nothing nefarious in the man’s tone. But this was the Highwayman's Trail, this was the route where people have been accosted by cutthroat criminals since time immemorial.
He kept on moving despite what his body was telling him and despite what his senses were telling him. He kept on moving across that bridge. Twenty yards. Thirty yards. Forty yards. Fifty. He was moving steadily but he was not getting the hang of it, it was completely reckless. He believed that what progress he had made he owed to just sheer luck, that it was only luck that kept him from slipping off the bridge and into the torrid Allefry below. He dared not look down. His eyes were fixed only upon Chyna waving him on desperately on the other end. She did not seem to be getting any closer.
Sixty yards. Seventy yards. Eighty yards. He was about a third of the way across now. He was about at the spot where Chyna was when he took his first tenuous steps upon the bridge. He kept his mind focused on his feet. One errant step and he would no longer have to worry about his plight.
When he got about half way across, he misjudged his footing and his leg slipped over the edge towards the roaring, frothing watery abyss below. Fortunately, his tight instinctive grip upon the guiderope had saved him from continuing his plunge into catastrophe.
"Friend!" the man called out. "Be careful out there! That is a pretty dangerous bridge. Move more slowly if you want to be alive when you get to the other side."
The man's voice sounded very close. Chiapos did not have it inside of himself to muster the courage to turn around to see where the man was.
"Keep going Chiapos!" Chyna cried. Chiapos could see that she was working on something at the other end.
"Chiapos!" the man said behind him. "I thought that it was you. I have a message for you from your partner Samarin!"
"Don't listen to him!" Chyna called. "Don't forget that he is a thief and they all know each other out here. Samarin probably told him that we were coming."
But how would Samarin know that he was alive, Chiapos wondered. Pitak’s former partner had left him dying out on the plain. Why would he leave a message for someone that he believed to be dead? With his mind being befuddled by this inexplicable inconsistency in the facts, the Rainwaterman once again nearly slipped through the bridge.
"Just keep moving!" Chyna urged him along. She was now only sixty yards away or so from him. He could now see that she was planning to cut the bridge loose as soon as he was across. In her hand she held a cleaver in that she started to use to carve the twine that was tying off the bridge that he was struggling to span.
"Samarin says that you are the only one who can make the magic work in the Wood of Faerie," the man said to him. The thief seemed to be closer to Chiapos than his companion was. They had narrowed the gap so much that the Rainwaterman was beginning to lose hope in his escape from them.
The curiosity got the better of him and Chiapos turned and saw that the three men were now all on the bridge and moving across it with a veteran's second nature. They might indeed catch him before he made it all the way to the other side. They were all big men and all were not very much older than he was.
"Where is Samarin?" he ventured to ask while maintaining his nervous pace across the bridge. How did he get into such a situation? In the back of his mind he realized that the events in the next few seconds would determine if he stays alive or he dies.
"Samarin has met his fate," the one man announced in a voice that was begging for the Rainwaterman’s trust. Chiapos may have given it except for the response of this man’s partners. They were prompted into a hideous giggle by the man’s comment.
The answer itself was too oblique for Chiapos. It gave him no information at all. Was Samarin dead? Was he alive and in the hands of his victims?
"Don't talk to them!" Chyna warned. "Hurry!"
"What are you doing?" one of the pursuers cried out at the prairie woman. "Don't do that!"
"You'll be meeting your fate soon too!" Chyna glowered. She was cutting through the rope with the cleaver. The twine was beginning to fray.
"You don't know who we are?" another of the three men called out.
Chiapos, who was only a dozen yards away from his freedom, dared at this moment to turn around and look at the trio. All three bore expressions of fright in their wide eyes. They did not have the appearance of criminals. They seemed to be just common citizens and not shady thugs. All three men had short-cropped hair the colour of pitch. They had strong yet friendly faces resting on short necks above large and noble frames.
"We are merchants from Tanejul making our way home to fight for the cause,” the man who was closest to Chiapos said. Chiapos could almost smell the fear emanating from him.
"We are three brothers," another of the men said. "I'm Dayne, the eldest, and these are my two brothers Rando and Tollamide."
For some reason the three brothers had stopped on the bridge not thirty yards behind Chiapos. "We trade in precious metals and workings of art," Dayne continued.
One of his brothers, Rando or Tollamide, pulled an artifact out of the sack that he was toting. To his great surprise, Chiapos saw that it was one of the bird carvings that Chyna's great grandfather, Lak, had made. It was a carving of a woodcock!
Seeing that shape produced a sudden schism of thought in the Rainwaterman’s mind. The pity that he was nurturing towards the three men fell away into non-existence as he thought of the wooden carving. The woodcock was the symbol for the Aura in Ascension! In an explosion of action, Chiapos became completely reckless and dashed headlong for the end of the bridge.
By the time he had footing on the anchored rock of the other side of the Allefry, Chyna’s cleaver had sliced all the way through the ropes that held the floor to the bridge together. The interlocking logs that may have been erected centuries ago suddenly collapsed and fell like bombs into the churning river waters hundreds of feet below.
Somehow the three brothers managed to get grips on the guiding ropes and hung desperately and dangerously in the air above the river. Chyna set no time aside to start working at these guiding ropes with her cleaver, splicing through the hardened twine, with all the fury of a winter storm. Chiapos, who was convinced that the three men were some manifestation of the Aura, worked along with her. His eyes never left the three men clinging hopelessly to the rope. The brothers were slowly making their way towards him and Chyna by shuffling their hands forward in a monkey style of locomotion. They were screaming frantically for mercy and begging Chyna and Chiapos to believe their story that they were not going to kill them.
A part of the Rainwaterman wanted to believe them. Yet each time previously when he had encountered the Aura, it had seemed believable in its guise. He made himself stone to their pleas. And not once afterwards did he consider that these three brothers may truly be who they claim to be, merchants from Tanejul.
And when the last fray of rope was severed and Dayne, Rando, and Tollamide fell to their deaths along the sharp, rocky banks of the Allefry, did he realize that they were not a polymorphous manifestation of the Aura in Ascension. They were indeed human beings. A heavy weight of conscience fell upon his mind when he realized that he played a part in their horrendous demise.
Chyna did not seem to be laboured by any guilt. "It's a shame," she said, "That we had to lose my grandfather's carvings but they would have killed us if we had have let them get across."
"Is that all that you can think of?" Chiapos cried in dismay. "Three men were just killed by our hands and all that you worry about is the loss of some pieces of wood!"
Chyna was affronted by the comment. "You are possessed by a piece of wood, yourself, Chiapos of Rainwater! Don't start playing that kind of game with me! They were killers and thieves and they probably had slit the throat of your friend, Samarin!"
"How do you know that! They may just have been merchants. I don't think that you would ever see the fear that I saw in their eyes in common thieves!"
"Thieves know fear better than any of us!" Chyna countered. "They live with it every day, their lives are always being threatened by their cohorts or vigilantes who are seeking to appropriate justice. Of course, thieves would be pissing their pants when their lives are on the line!"
Chiapos thought of her remark and even though it bore some truth, the fact of the matter for him was that he and Chyna had never ascertained that the three brothers were thieves and murderers. They had told him a story that made sense on the surface. They did not deserve to die without first being heard out.
Chyna must have sensed what he was thinking. "Did you listen closely to what they said?" she asked. "They said that they were from Tanejul. You don't know Tanejul because you would have immediately realized that their clothing and the way that they wore their hair is not the fashion of the citizenry of that town. Only prisoners in Tanejul have their hair cut that short! Also did you think about why they laughed about Samarin meeting his fate? Good folk do not laugh at the mortal misfortune of others. And how did they come to be in possession of my grandfather's carvings anyway? Your Samarin would not have parted with them freely on the road to any passerby. He would have wanted to take them into town and get a true market price for them. And finally, don't forget where we are. This is the Highwayman's Trail. The only people who travel it are thugs and villains and those misfortunate enough to have no other choice but to travel in fear along its dangerous route."
To Chiapos, it was like Chyna was grabbing at any excuse that would hide the fact that they had just killed three men without any bonafide justification. This irked him. His whole Challenge was now tainted with the ignominious murder of the three brothers.
“Still, we are not certain that they were thieves!” he said. “They could have been among the misfortunate that you just mentioned." The image of the horrified eyes of Dayne and his brothers crawled through his veins like a scavenging spider eating up all that had died within him after this tragic incident over the Allefry.
"What were we supposed to do?" Chyna screamed. "Wait for them to catch up to us and then watch each other die all over the paltry possessions that we are carrying?" She was righteously indignant. "I have watched people die helplessly before - my brothers and uncles all died before my eyes and I could not do anything about it. This time I had something that I could do and damn it, I did it!" Tears began to cloud her large eyes. "I'm not proud that we had to kill them but I assure you, it was either us or them and it was our only chance. I don't need you to second guess me and make me feel that I am a ruthless assassin. I did what I had to do and you should be thankful for it or else it would have been you and me down there battered against the rocks!" She was sobbing and turned her head away from Chiapos.
He was bewildered and he hated himself for ever setting out on this Challenge. Dayne, Rando and Tollamide would have been alive, whether they deserved to be or not. Chyna would not have been vilified by his unsympathetic words. He wanted to console her but she had started walking briskly up the shallow slope to the summit of this side of the gorge and onto the lands that lay ahead. She did not bother waiting for him and he felt that perhaps that she did not even want him with her any longer. Nonetheless he followed her at her trudging pace.
So much had happened in those few minutes that he had to digest it all slowly in his mind to figure out answers of his own. Chyna had her answers and she was reconciled to them. He would have to rectify the incident in his own mind. What Dayne and his brothers told him about Samarin just did not feel right. The wily villain was too smart to have met his fate at their hands. They seemed young and naïve. They were just bullies who were just starting out their apprenticeship into thievery, if they were thieves at all. Still, how did they come to own the carvings? How did they know about the Redeemer, the Wood of Faerie? They must have encountered Samarin along the trail. Yet, what Chyna said was true too. Samarin would not give up the carvings to adventurers of the road. He would wait to fetch the highest price that he could get and that could only come in Tanejul. Maybe it was all a canard? Maybe Samarin gave them the carvings, (carving? he only saw one in their hands), as a ruse to make him and Chyna believe that he was dead and get them off of his trail? Maybe he gave Dayne the tidbit of information concerning the Redeemer to make it appear that they knew something about it? And maybe Samarin had asked them or paid them to kill Chyna and him? These intuitions felt true in his mind and he could sense that the pall of disdain that had descended upon him was now slowly beginning to lift.
Yet, how did Samarin know that he was alive? He had left him for dead. Samarin was a cagey old bandit and would not take anything for granted. It all added up to Chiapos, but the main thing was that Samarin was still on the road ahead of them and that he was still holding onto the Redeemer.
Share
Print
Save