Some hours later, having scouted the valley, you rejoin the caravan at the rendezvous point. On the hillside above, there is indeed a pillar of rock reminiscent of a warrior with a spear, visible even in the lowering sun. The valley seems clear of all dangers, and you realize it has been almost two full days since you last slept. Fatigue is evident even in strong Thragga's eyes.
Thragga bears a string of skinned rabbits over his shoulder, having hunted for food on the way back.
The armed Refuge sentries greet you as you approach. Then two boys and a full grown man race up to you, excited.
"You're back!" Ronan cries. Tyrin and Ronan's Uncle Bran are right behind him, all thrilled to see you return to the camp.
Kane slumps out of his saddle and raises his hand in greeting to the welcoming party.
"What news?" asks one of the sentries, Gareth's right hand man, Bailent, an archer with a warbow slung over his shoulder.
Khom-Bei slips from his ponies' back and scratches the animal under its' chin, "Go rest, friend, you have done well."
Cakilgan gives a snort and totters off to graze and rest.
Kane says, "All clear ahead, any signs that you've been followed?"
Bailent shakes his head. "Little chance of that, sir, with Aryse on the job. That girl's magics could hide ten times the number of wagons we have." He indicates a slight blond girl seated nearby, her eyes bound with a blindfold. "We're lucky t'have her."
Khom-Bei spots the greybeard, Colyn, in the camp and strolls off to speak with him, tossing a short good-night over his shoulder, "Wake me if there's trouble."
Kane nods. "Is there a cook fire started? Thragga has promised to cook dinner."
Thragga rumbles, "And you boys can have the liver...eaten fresh and bloody, it will make you strong like an Urag!"
Ronan and Tyrin make faces of disgust, but don't protest.
Kane claps Thragga on the back and leads the small group towards the communal cook fire.
Behind you, the sentries close ranks and resume their patrol.
Colyn greets Khom-Bei warmly. "Good to see you, lad. How went the scouting?"
Khom-Bei smiles a tired smile, "Well enough, we found no sign of patrols." His smile fades, "But I would speak with you of other things, things that you alone might know."
One-legged Colyn pads along on his crutch. "Perhaps Lady Naylah will let us go in peace...He pauses. "But of course, lad. How can I help you?"
Khom-Bei frowns for a moment, unsure how to speak the questions in his head. "I have begun having dreams, dreams that are more than simply dreams."
Colyn sees the Northerling's troubled state of mind and gestures him to sit on some camp stools near one of the wagons. He watches intently, listening with patience, settling into his own seat and leaning on his crutch.
Khom-Bei sits and continues, "I would speak with one of my people who have experience with the Dreamworld, but so many of them have gone to meet their ancestors. Much of the knowledge I seek has passed from this world into the next."
Colyn nods. "Even here, we've heard of the slaughter of your people on the border. Much has been lost, but there is still time to save some....Your people may now be suffering the same agony ours did, a hundred years ago. How can I help, son?" he asks, paternally.
Khom-Bei looks up into the old mans' eyes, "I come to you seeking the wisdom of your years and of your Powers."
Colyn says, "My faith is alien to yours, yet you would seek out its wisdom? You are a true pilgrim, my son."
Khom-Bei nods, his eyes losing focus and going to a place far away before a smile flits across his face, "My father once said that even the greatest Powers do not have all knowledge."
The old man nods. "The Powers are not all-wise, it is true. Even they cannot answer every question, not since the Creators went away. Tell me...tell me more about your dreams, Khom-Bei."
Gareth and Elianel call greetings to Thragga and Kane as they approach the fire. Wine is poured, although it's poor and watered, and offered to the two Hunters. Others in the camp also greet the Hunters, including Hobb and the old man from the village, Llurgan.
Kane gladly accepts the wine offered him, he then turns to Thragga and says jokingly, "Don't forget, I like my rabbits cooked not half-raw like you."
Thragga scowls and tells Tyrin, "Food is ruined by too much fire. You should taste the blood, hey boy?"
Tyrin looks a little queasy but nods, laughing.
Kane takes a long swig of the wine skin and hands it off to Thragga.
Thragga gulps some down and passes it to Tyrin and Ronan, who sniff at it and sample it. Then the Urag sets to butchering his kills, expertly wielding his knife.
Already roasting over a spit is a freshly killed deer, seasoned with forest herbs, and the smell is mouth-watering.
Elianel, seated beside Gareth near the fire, says to Kane, "It's good to have you back in the camp, Kane."
Kane inclines his head and replies, "Well, it's good to have a place to return to and rest for a change."
Thragga slices the rabbit livers free and impales them on his knife. He holds the knife with its raw, bloody bits of red flesh out to the boys. "Eat them," he orders, glowering.
Kane looks at the Urag and rolls his eyes.
Aryse sits near Kane, a girl of no more than sixteen, but with a strange presence. Her eyes are blindfolded, but she moves confidently anyway. "You hunt the Vorghol, do you not?" she asks.
Tyrin takes one liver, Ronan another, Bran a third. The three look at each other, hold their noses, and gulp down the livers whole. Then they turn green, their lips tremble...but they hold it down.
Gareth and Elianel laugh good-naturedly at the boys, as Tyrin's sister Dula makes mocking faces at him.
Kane replies to the girl, "Yes, when they are not hunting me."
Aryse says, "Elianel says you are wise in the ways of killing them."
Kane says, "We do what we can. Your own fighters seem to be able to handle them as well."
Aryse says, "They tried to kill me when I was an infant. Because of my powers, of course. But my father hid me from them, smuggling me here and there....and then Gareth helped rescue me from them, and brought me here."
Kane pats Aryse's hand and says, "You are a very lucky girl indeed. Not many escape the eye of the Vorghol once it has been cast in their direction."
"Elianel says it is more than luck...it is destiny." Aryse says. "She talks about destiny often."
Kane says, "Perhaps you are right. As for me I make my own destiny and refuse to let the blood suckers rule my life."
Khom-Bei frowns again, "The dreams are difficult to tell, Colyn. I see friends recently gone from this world, asking me for help, but what they need is not clear. They speak as if I should know what they need, but I do not."
Colyn studies the flickering fire. "The Far Fields, where the dead live, are distant from here, Khom-Bei. It is only the strongest voices that reach us." He thinks a moment. "There is also the possibility that these are not the voices of the dead, but your own. Sometimes we know what we need but are afraid to face it. So we clothe our own desires with the faces of others."
Khom-Bei nods, silent for a moment before looking to Colyn again, "I hear the wisdom in your words. Is there a tent where I might be alone for a time? A place to meditate and seek what guidance my ancestors may give?"
Colyn says, "Of course. A tent has been prepared for you It's the one on the end there, with the orange tassels..." he points with his crutch. "Perhaps we can--" he's interrupted as Salena, Hobb's daughter, races up to you both, breathless. "Master Colyn!" she cries.
"Salena, whatever is the matter?" asks the old man.
She huffs, "Tammet, her birthing has begun...and there is much blood. I think she is torn inside..."
Khom-Bei stands quickly, "Take us to her."
Thragga slices meat expertly from the haunches of the roasting deer now, passing it out like the jovial host at a Dragonsday Feast. The boys assist him, bringing sweet roast venison to Kane and others around the camp fire.
Kane takes a cut of meat and nods thanks to the young men.
Gareth rises from his seat and approaches Kane. "How is the deer? She put up quite a fight, I can tell you. A fine, strong beast."
Kane takes a bite of the deer and says, "Tastes like a fighter."
Gareth chuckles. "You know, I owe you, Kane, " he says quietly.
Kane looks up at Gareth and says, "Hmmm...why's that?"
"Who wants the cheeks!" cries Thragga, merrily, holding up the roasted delicacy from the deer to the crowd at large. "What? No one? Come come! A tasty morsel!"
Gareth says, "Ronan's a fine boy." He doesn't go further, but meets Kane's eyes.
Kane looks Gareth in the eyes and says, "I can see that. You and his mother must be very proud."
Gareth shrugs. "His blood tells...His aristocrat blood, which I do not have. But he does not know that. I am all the father he knows."
Salena takes your hands and leads you off towards the edge of the camp, to a cramped tent where the Tobon woman, Tammet, lies in her birth pangs. A muffled shriek goes up as you enter. The semi-naked Tobon bites down on a bit of saddle leather. Blood pools between her thighs and she writhes in agony. The baby is due soon.
Salena leans over Tammet, mopping her brow. "They've come, Tammet, they'll fix everything."
Tammet emerges from her haze of pain and blood to seize Khom-Bei's hand. "The child, please, he must live. His father is dead...his memory...."
Khom-Bei drops to his knees at the womans' side and places his free hand on her swollen stomach, "The child will live, and so will you if I have any power to make it so."
Colyn examines the Tobon. He pulls some herbs from his pouch and sets to mixing them in a mortar and pestle. "I can help dull the pain. But the bleeding will kill her if we do not stop that first."
Kane says, "I'll not tell him different if that is bothering you."
Gareth says, "I thank you for that. Although he and I are not blood, we are kin. I have high hopes for him, one day. I think he will make us both proud, Kane."
Kane tosses a stick he has been chewing on into the fire then replies, "He has already made me proud, as have you and his mother." He announces he needs some air and gets up and walks to the edge of the camp.
Thragga quits his playful wrestle with the boys and calls to Kane, "Kane! I'm stuffed. How about some shuteye for an hour or two? Our tent's over that way." He points to a tent on the edge of camp marked with orange tassels.
Kane waves then turns and heads in that direction.
Khom-Bei looks upward, eyes closed, and calls out in a clear voice, "Ancestors, the time has come to welcome a new voice to this world. Guide the child into the light and give this woman the strength she needs for her labors." Looking back to Tammet with a brief smile, Khom-bei bows his head, "Be comforted, good woman, and be healed."
Colyn bows his own head in prayer. "Life joins to life."
Tammet gives another shriek as blood gouts from her womb. Her stomach shudders. The baby is on its way.
Harsh, holy light, that has driven so many Vorghol to their final end, flares out from the Northerling's hands, filling the tent. It suffuses the Tobon's swollen belly, seeping in softly. The blood flow ceases. Tammet's pain relents.
Thragga sets down his weapons, strips off his armor, and grabs the largest bundle of sleeping furs he can gather up in the tent. He pushes Kane the leftover furs. "Did Gareth challenge you? You should have let me duel him, Kane," he says, sleepily.
Kane gathers up the remaining furs and says, "Part of me wishes he would friend, but he has done nothing wrong. I, on the other hand..."
Thragga says, eyes closed, "You worry too much...In the morning, I'll...kill...him for...you..."
Kane lies down and tries to sleep. He tosses and turns for a while, but finally exhaustion gets the best of him and he sleeps.
Salena tells the Tobon, "Now bear down, Tammet. Now is the time." Colyn gives her a draft from a goblet to sip on.
The Tobon grits her teeth, takes a sharp breath, and bears down. Veins stand out on her neck from the effort.
Khom-Bei sees the tiny child's bloody head begin to emerge from the birth canal. He grips Tammet's hand and gives her a smile, "The child is coming now, not much longer."
Salena cries, "That's it, Tammet! Yes!"
Colyn kneels beside Khom-Bei. He reaches in and takes hold of the baby, helping it forth. He pulls it clear of Tammet, and then wedges it forth, signaling to Khom-Bei to cut the cord.
Khom-Bei ties the cord in two spots with bits of leather offered by Salena and cuts the cord between the ties.
Colyn passes the baby to Salena, who seizes the tiny bloody form by the ankles, and gives it a good slap. Cries of the newborn fill the small tent. Colyn, Salena and Tammet smile, sigh, and giggle.
Salena quickly washes blood from the baby, wraps the child in blankets and offers it to Tammet, who leans against Khom-Bei as she sits up to take her newborn Tobon son. The exhausted Tammet beams proudly and shows the tiny wrinkled boy to the Northerling.
Khom-Bei leans close to the smiling mother, "What will you call him?"
Tammet says, "I was planning to call him Thrint after his father...how I wish he were here to see this!"
Khom-Bei brushes a bit of hair back from the woman's face, "I'm sure that his father looks down on you both with great pride."
Colyn says, over the cries of the child, "You should rest now, little mother. You and Thrint both. We travel soon." He indicates the door to Khom-Bei, as he lifts himself up on his crutch.
Khom-Bei stands and turns to the tent exit, "We will announce the happy news to the others."
Khom-Bei strides from the tent and calls out to the camp, "Rejoice, all who gather here, there is new life among you! Thrint, son of Thrint and Tammet has come this day!"
Outside the tent, Hobb and Llurgan drink a toast to the new baby, merrily, and a general quiet cheer goes up from those still awake.
Colyn tells Khom-Bei, admiringly, "That was well done, lad. I know you've other things on your mind, but have you ever given thought to staying on with us?"
Khom-Bei turns to Colyn, "I have a task which I must finish. When that task is done, the need for Refuge will be no more. But perhaps I will return to you in a happier time, if it is granted to me that I live so long."
Colyn smiles and tells Khom-Bei, "I think that fate has something special planned for you. Your dreams speak it. You should get some rest, son."
Khom-Bei nods and walks off toward the sleeping tent Colyn pointed out earlier.
Kane lies sleeping silently in a corner of the tent. In another corner is an immense pile of furs that snores, loudly. No head, arms, legs or body are visible. Khom-Bei's gear is stowed in a third corner.
Several hours have passed since you last spoke to one another.
Khom-Bei smiles and shakes his head before picking up his pack and walking back out of the tent. He stops a passing guard, "Is there a place where I might wash and find a quiet seat to think?"
The guard points. "On the way here, we forded a tiny creek to the south, sir. No more than a few hundred long paces off, that way."
Khom-Bei nods to the guards and walks off seeking solitude.
The pile of furs that snores rouses. "Boys never woke us," he grumbles, reaching across and shaking Kane awake.
Kane awakes and stretches. "How mich time has passed?"
"I make it half a watch," the Urag says, with a quick look outside at the moons. Three hours by Tol Nedran reckoning. He sets to strapping on his gear again, and passes Kane his bundle. "Looks like Khom-Bei was here..." he says. "He took his pack. Did you let him borrow your sword, too?"
Kane quickly looks around for Light Bringer, "What do you mean?"
Kane's armor is in one bundle, his personal gear in another, a small bag of provisions in a third. He has a dagger in his boot. But Light Bringer and its ornate Selandri scabbard are missing.
Thragga says, "What would Khom-Bei use it for? He can't hit a blind Ukk-ra in a fight, anyway."
Kane does a quick look around the tent for Light Bringer, then takes up his wicked-looking Urag blade and heads out of the tent in search of Khom-Bei.
As Kane exits the tent, Khom-bei walks up the path. He is freshly washed and shaven, his hair pulled back into the beginning of a ponytail and tied with a leather strip.
Thragga lingers behind in the tent a moment.
Khom-Bei says, "Sleep well, Kane?"
Kane looks at his friend and says,"Khom-Bei, have you removed my sword from the tent?"
Khom-Bei looks at Kane oddly, "Why would I do such a thing? I can't hit a blind Ukk-ra in a fight."
Kane nods then sticks his head back into the tent flap, "Thragga, who has been in here since we slept?"
Thragga hurriedly emerges from the tent, pulling up his bootstraps. "Tyrin did come in here, but he never woke us...he left his spoor behind." He adds, "I say we tan his hide."
Kane says, "Was he the only one?"
Thragga nods. "Ronan stayed outside, I think...I can smell his scent right here, but he didn't go in."
Kane says, "Those boys may have bit off more then they can chew. That sword can be dangerous." He looks to Thragga and says, "Lead the way."
Thragga cracks his knuckles. "They must be punished!"
Kane says, "Let's just find them first, hey?"
As Kane and the Hunters cross the camp, Elianel and some others rush up to him. "Kane, thank Ardis you're awake. The boys, they went missing a few hours ago, and Gareth went to look for them, but he hasn't returned..."
Kane says, "Yes, and they seem to have borrowed my sword. Perhaps Thragga will have better luck in finding them."
There's the sound of a struggle behind a nearby wain. A cry of pain, and Thragga hauls Bran into the firelight by one ear. The simple man is wailing in protest, crying and blubbering.
"I found one of them!" Thragga snaps, triumphant.
Kane says, "Let him go, Thragga, so we can have a word."
"No! No!" Brannais is shrieking. "They wanted to play with Kane's sword, but I tol' 'em no! Palladians, they wanted to play, and wanted Bran to be the Dragha!!"
Kane says, "Where did they go Bran?"
Thragga relents his grip. Bran rubs his ear, crying.
Kane walks up to the crying man boy and says, "Bran this is important, where did the boys go?"
Elianel sets her hand on Kane's shoulder, gently. "He's just a child, Kane. You don't know how to speak to them." She cradles the simple man's head. "Tell Kane where they went, Bran dear." she soothes Gareth's brother.
Bran blubbers, "That way!" he points to the north, into a tall stand of Nedri oaks. "Are they in trouble, Kane?"
Kane says, "For now no, later we will see. But they have been missing longer then is comfortable." He turns to Thragga, "Can you pick up their sent?"
Thragga nods. "Does a Gholibin crap in the woods?"
Kane grabs his horse and says, "Well, let's be off then."
The Urag leads the way. He leads you north through the line of sentries.
Bailent spies you as you pass, calling. "Where do you go, my friends?"
Kane calls back, "Off to find a couple of wayward boys. And may the Powers grant we are the only ones to find them."
Khom-Bei says, "Tyrin and Ronin, have you seen them?"
Bailent shakes his head. "No, but we'll keep an eye out."
The scent heads into a thick stand of old Nedri oaks, tough ancient trees whose leaves still cling to them, even with this early winter coming on fast. You travel half a mile or more through the windy path, until you enter a clearing, where Thragga stoops and then lifts a scrap of cloth in his hand. It looks torn from a jerkin you saw Tyrin wearing earlier.
There are signs of a struggle. Scuff marks in the dirt, hoofprints from two horses. A third set of hoofprints leads from the camp along the path you have followed. Gareth's horse, no doubt.
Gareth saw the signs, and then he pursued them north.
Thragga doesn't speak.
Khom-Bei notes the look on Thragga's face and whistles loudly for Cakilgan.
Kane looks grim then turns his horse north and gallops off in that direction.
The stout steppe pony races up from the camp. Khom-Bei jumps onto the pony's broad back and kicks it into a gallop behind Kane.
It is four miles and more to the north of the Refuge camp through narrow forest ways before you come upon a figure shaped like a man, seemingly clinging to one of the old oaks as it embracing it. It's not moving, you can tell that even from thirty yards off. Thragga unslings his axe and looks over his shoulder to Kane and Khom-Bei.
Kane rides up to the figure.
Khom-Bei trots alongside Kane.
Gareth was tied to the tree, his arms behind his back, and the cords still bind him there. His tongue was torn from his head, his mouth lies agape, his torso split open from throat to groin, his organs visible. His sightless, dead eyes stare into the chill night. There is not a single drop of blood anywhere on him, nor on the ground.
Thragga scowls, darkly. "The boys..." he breathes. "They've taken the boys..."
Khom-Bei nods silently, frowning.
Kane spares Gareth a glimpse then spurs off. He thinks coldly to himself that this one is beyond help.