Chapter Thirteen
Lesson Learned
My head hurt! I moved and winced, my back hurt to. I ignored the pain and pushed up from the ground. The sun was gone and it was twilight.
Relentless was still tied up where I had left him. I scanned the area and my attention focused on the traitorous witch that sat on top of her horse a short distance away. I should’ve left them both in the mud!
I got to my feet feeling a little dizzy. I touched the back of my head and it came away bloody.
“I’m sorry! I truly am, but I couldn’t risk you following me back. Contact with daylighter’s is strictly forbidden. I should’ve never visited your campsite.”
She turned to go and I saw my sword fastened to the side of Starfire and my hand went reflexively to my side noting the absence.
Bitterly I said, “Have you turned thief too?”
She stopped briefly, “You would use it to follow me. I will see that it is returned to you safely. I am not a thief!”
“You expect me to believe you about anything after this?”
She didn’t say anything but started up the trail at a brisk trot with my sword in tow. I stumbled to Relentless and pulled my bow off the saddle and notched an arrow and brought it up so Raya was clearly in sight.
‘Release the arrow Zevin! She betrayed you!’
But my fingers wouldn’t obey and I relaxed the tension on the bowstring, even as I felt so angry inside that I thought I might break apart in wrathful pieces.
Darkness closed in fast and any hope of tracking her faded with the coming of it. Relentless pawed the ground aggressively snorting. I glanced at him and then back out into the darkness. I climbed into the saddle fast and untied Relentless. He bucked around a little being in a bad mood, which I wasn’t in the mood for.
“Enough! You want that mare then go get her!”
I let the reins go slack and Relentless surged forward into the night. His senses were far more acute than mine were and he had the beastly desires of a stallion in search of a fertile mare giving credence to his actions.
It was a strange ride. I couldn’t see anything at all. I kept my head low and let Relentless make his own way through the darkness.
Relentless’s head was to the ground with his ears perked forward as he trotted fast through the dark like a hound dog on the trail of a fox. Horses when they wanted to could follow a scent trail better than a dog could.
At one point I saw the greater darkness of an abyss of some magnitude off to my left and my mouth went dry. I was putting a lot of faith in Relentless and I hoped he didn’t disappoint me.
On and on into the night we went. No stallion had ever worked harder to get a mate I was convinced of that. The early gray of morning began to lighten the dark up some, for which I was very grateful for as I could see again some. It looked as if we were headed towards a solid wall of rock up ahead. I saw a darker hole at the base of it. A cave entrance.
So it was true these people of the mountain lived in caves. How was I going to find her in there in the dark?
What if she found me first?
It didn’t matter she had taken my sword and I had to get it back. Victory could depend on it. I saw something moving up ahead of us. It was Raya. I saw her for only a moment before she disappeared into the black hole of the cave entrance. I quickened the pace and we were soon at the opening into the mountain.
I pulled Relentless up, after all his hard work I hated to disappoint him, but it was unavoidable. It was better that I go from here on foot. I tied him off securely and he tossed his head at me angrily.
“Sorry buddy some other time.”
I wrapped some rope around a stick and lit it with a spark. Makeshift torch in hand I stepped into the cool damp darkness of the cave and followed the clearly delineated tracks on the cave floor.
I had a bad feeling about this, but it was all I could do at the moment.
“Creator help me get my sword back!” I begged softly into the stillness of the cave’s atmosphere.
It was an eerie feeling walking through the cave. After I had gone several hundred yards the cave made a series of sharp curves and the awakening daylight outside could no longer be seen from behind me, even Relentless’s disgruntled snorts faded away to nothing.
I was alone in the cool silent darkness of the cave with only my crude torch to light my way. The cave floor was even and quite worn looking as if it had seen a lot of traffic.
Suddenly the unwelcome thought occurred to me that instead of just traveling into the darkness to face one thieving opponent what if I was met by several. Were there more people like her? There had to be as there was enough knowledge of them that Zalisha had known to warn me.
You can’t blame anyone but yourself Zevin. You were warned about the dangers of these mountain demons.
Icy cold water showered down on top of me and the torch in my hand sputtered and went out plunging me into a dark oblivion devoid of any light. Where had the water come from?
“You shouldn’t have followed me here!” Came a familiar voice from the darkness.
“You have something that belongs to me, something that is very precious!” I said addressing the darkness in general.
“It may be precious, but the question you have to ask yourself is was it worth your life, because you’re not leaving this place alive!”
Sudden glows in the darkness lit up everywhere and half turning I saw that they were pairs of watching eyes of at least one hundred individuals. They encircled me in an icy glowing force that cut off all chance of escape. I looked back around and a pair of eyes opened directly in front of me and some instinct caused me to throw myself backward.
I heard the swish of a sword blade and I felt it cut through my shirt and nick my chest. I was knocked to my back on the floor as two feet contacted my chest in a hard body kick.
Out of breath I rolled away hearing the swish of sword blades behind me. I half stumbled to my feet looking for my hidden opponent within the circle of silent watching eyes.
I didn’t have to wait long. I felt the tips of two swords nick me in half a dozen places within the twinkling of an eye and all I had seen was the brief flash of Raya’s eyes and the swing of her hair.
They were gone from before me suddenly and then I felt two feet planted firmly in my back that sent me falling head over heels forward to the cave floor.
I coughed because of the stirred up dust on the cave floor.
“Are you ready to die daylighter?” Came the cool voice of Raya from behind me.
I sat up and started laughing softly. She didn’t know how much she had made me angry!
White hot seething anger coursed through me at her cowardice of tactics. I closed my eyes and things became clearer to me.
“Do you think this is a joke? Answer my question fool!” Stormed the hotly offended sounding voice from behind me.
I stopped laughing and said, “A better question Raya is, are you ready to die?”
My left hand shot out and gripped an artfully crafted ankle and I lunged to my feet taking the body attached to the ankle with me and twirling sharply I flung Raya through the air to smash into the silent watchers gathered around us.
There were surprised grunts and the squeal of an enraged wildcat. She untangled herself from the jumble and jumped to her feet and I knew that she was now ready to kill me.
I didn’t care I was so mad I was ready to kill her too. I didn’t wait for her to start it. I advanced to the center of our little arena and then reaching up I drew both of my sabers out and stuck them in the sand before me. I pulled a folded cloth out of one of my pockets my hands slick with blood from one of her inflicted nicks on me.
Taking the cloth I unfolded it and raising it to my head I tied it around my eyes and head. I heard a general murmur of consternation from the surrounding watchers and then once again silence.
My hands found my saber handles and my mind focused in on the still form of trained outward consciousness that had been drilled into me for years by my father’s beloved friend Rolf.
I could hear his firm words of instruction in my ears even now. I let all the turbulent emotions of anger, fear, uncertainty and so on fade away inside of me, until I was completely devoid of feeling and all that remained was a deep awareness of the present.
With my last sigh of emotion I said, “Let’s see what your made out of little coward!”
I heard her scream of indignant rage and I felt her onrush and my body and sword blades shifted into the movements of the dance. Steel clang sharply against steel sending off sparks in a flurry of action reminding one of a turbulent lightning storm, every move choreographed and yet instinctively felt.
I swirled and lunged swinging my blades in unison of determined movement. Her onrush of me had been one of furious attack, but now she scrambled to defend herself. Parrying her swords apart I lifted my foot up against her hard stomach and sent her flying backwards to the cave floor.
“Again!” I said sliding my swords down one another gratingly in direct challenge.
She came at me more cautiously than before, but I knew the confines of my arena well and I pressed in on her not letting her have a moment’s respite. The cave echoed with the clamor of our onslaught against each other.
Sweat ran off of me in rivulets, but my breathing stayed the same. Not so for her. I heard her ragged gasps for air and I knew she was weakening.
She was the most skilled opponent I had ever faced, but she wasn’t fighting for a cause like I was and she hadn’t had the benefit of hours and hours of training one on one like I had with Rolf. My greater will and determination were proving out and I knew that she knew it too, but she showed her gameness and kept fighting on.
I swept a leg out causing her to trip to her knees and then I swept around her and planted a foot against her back and shoved her sending her face down into the dust as she had done to me.
Deliberately I turned my back and walked away across our makeshift fighting arena, “You have skills little thief, but not enough righteousness of purpose to win the battle.”
A scream of rage burst out from behind me at my demeaning words and I heard her bang a sword off the ground. Turning I met her onslaught of fury and matched it with my own.
Toe to toe we faced each other swinging away with a passionate will each of us seeking the others demise. If I could have seen it the fury of our clanging blades had caused them to glow red.
It was time to end this passionate exchange, as I felt that I had gotten my point across sufficiently. I smacked the tops of her hands with the flats of my sword blades so hard that she dropped both of her swords. Before she could stoop to retrieve her swords one of my blades rested just above the skin of her throat. Before she could step back from the blade’s edge my other blade rested across the back of her spine as I stood to the side of her.
She panted for breath carefully, as she stayed still between my blades knowing that with the flick of either wrist I could kill her.
“Enough! I have seen enough!” Came a deep voice from the crowd of onlookers.
I lowered my sabers and pulled the cloth away from my face. Raya still stood before me breathing heavy watching me. I slid one of my sabers down and scooped up both of hers and brought them both up to me.
Looking at her directly I said, “Don’t ever steal anything from me again or seek to belittle me or anyone else in front of others to show off your own great skills and strength!”
I saw her head illuminated by her eyes and hair nod slowly. I extended her hot bladed swords back to her and she took them back hesitantly.
I turned away from her towards a man who had separated away from the crowd of silent watchers. Once again I was struck by the difference. His features were Berniam, but physically he was taller and more muscle bound like Raya was, more so than the native people who were on the surface.
What could cause such a physical change, within the same bloodline? Not to mention the glowing eyes and hair, the sharp teeth, and the hard taloned fingernails.
“I believe this is yours.”
The man tossed my sword through the air towards me. I caught its scabbard grateful beyond words to have it once again in my hands.
“You are free to go. Our people have strict orders not to interfere in the matters of uplanders.” The speaker for the group said as he looked pointedly at Raya, who ducked her head low in shame.
“A warrior of your greatness however has leave to visit our lands, whenever he sees fit to. Tell me what is your name uplander?”
A plan was starting to form slowly in my head and I flowed along with it. I sheathed my two sabers and then I pulled my sword free of if sheath and the familiar reaction of pulsing icy blue color that was so similar to these people’s glowing eyes and hair happened once again to the chorus of surprised gasps and looks of wonder displayed on the faces of the encircling people.
“My name is Zevin Ta’lont. I am a direct descendent of the man who brought the peoples of Berniam to this land and I need your help to save it from the state of bondage and tyranny that it has fallen into!”
Light peeled off the sword illuminating the cavern and those gathered in it.
“Will you help the people of the surface in their time of need?”
Their spokesman looked around uncertainly before replying, “Such a decision would require a gathering of our elders and leaders. There is much that you do not know as well. Secrets the uplanders are not aware of.”
I stepped forward and extended my hand to the spokesman in front of me, “Then let us discover them together my friend!”
He nodded and shook my hand. The crowd of watchers parted and the spokesman indicated for me to go ahead of him. I traveled a short distance down the cavern walkway as my sword lit the way for me to see.
“Welcome to Lanoria!”
I stepped on down the cavern and turned a corner and stopped abruptly drawling in my breath in complete shock at what I saw.
“It is beautiful is it not?” Asked Raya, who had come to stand beside me.
I looked at her and gazed for a moment, “Very beautiful!”
She blushed catching my double meaning and looked away. Even her blush glowed slightly.
I looked away from the beauty of her face to the beauty of her land, Lanoria. A land within a land.