Origin (15 page)

The horrid reality of yesterday came rushing up to meet her. There would be no going home to Tarlon later today with game for the table or herbs for Clayre. Life as she knew it would never be the same. Sighing deeply, she got up, rolled up her bed pad, and went to look for some more wood to put on the embers of last night’s campfire. Somehow doing the mechanical things familiar to her kept her from focusing on the horrible mess that was now her life. As she walked around the area surrounding their camp picking up the dried dead branches in her path, she saw Thane also rise. As soon as the fire was stoked, he put some water on for tea and porridge. While breakfast was cooking, they both took the time to wash up in a nearby stream. The cool water felt good on her face and helped her feel more awake. After a quick breakfast, they broke camp, saddled their mounts, and started off again on the trail to the north toward Kren.

They rode along in silence for a short time, avoiding the heavily wooded areas and keeping to the open fields as much as possible. Even though the shadow squads that Thane described to her were only known to attack in the evenings, he told her that they would skirt all wooded areas taking no chances. As they rode, she would often look up to the sky where Keroc was flying overhead in large lazy circles, touching their minds occasionally. They were relieved to learn that he’d discovered nothing threatening. Keroc did convey that he’d been in contact with Ayron several times, and that Clayre and her uncle were doing well. He let them know that they’d been attacked by another assassination squad during the night, but had handled the threat and expected to reach the city of Port Strabo late that same afternoon. Elwyn, although concerned about the attack, was happy to hear that her uncle was doing well. She was still sad and disappointed that she couldn’t be with him. She missed her uncle and Clayre terribly. Somehow she felt that all the danger would be easier to bear if they were together. Elwyn sensed that Keroc knew exactly what she was feeling. It made her curious as to why, so she tried to think of him while forming a question with her mind.

She was totally unprepared for the flood of emotions and images that poured into her mind. She saw fleeting images of several other drakenhawks, some black and some blue. She also experienced a range of emotions from joy and love to loneliness and grief. Elwyn learned that the drakenhawks had a strong sense of family and community, and that they could contact each other instantly if need be. This was very helpful in times of danger. It allowed them to work together to protect each other and the companions they were life-bonded to. Keroc then flashed the image of the most beautiful creature Elwyn had ever seen. It was a drakenhawk, a female, much larger than Keroc. Her body was a beautiful shade of cobalt blue and parts of her shimmered so brightly, it looked as if she was encrusted with precious gems. The ridges on her head created a circlet of shimmering gems that resembled a crown. Keroc introduced her to Elwyn as Kierra, queen of all the drakenhawks.

Kierra then asked for permission to communicated with her directly if need be during her trip. Elwyn gladly gave her permission, hopeful that she would be able to see the beautiful creature in her mind again. She got the distinct impression that Kierra was waiting for her to arrive in Findara and was anxious to meet her. Suddenly the images and sensations were gone, and Elwyn was left alone to wonder if she had imagined the beautiful creature. Getting back to the business at hand was her only solace, so she joined Thane in keeping a watchful eye on the woodlands that surrounded them.

They rode for several hours continually watching for signs of danger; gratefully finding none. While she rode, Elwyn also enjoyed watching the sun making its journey across the sky, and listening to the woodland creatures going about their busy lives. Eventually, her stomach began to growl noisily. When she mentioned her hunger to Thane, he suggested that they eat while traveling so they could make as much progress as possible toward Kren during the daylight hours, when they had the best chance to see and avoid any obstacles blocking their way. Grudgingly she agreed, knowing that his suggestion made sense and that he would miss noon tea as much as she would. Elwyn pulled some jerky and biscuits from her saddle bags, and washed them down with some of the water from the waterskin she kept hanging from the pommel of her saddle.

Suddenly Keroc plummeted downward from the sky, shrilly keening as he flew. She started in surprise as he landed on the pommel of her saddle and impressed her with sensations of intense hunger. She started feeding him choice pieces of her jerky by hand while they rode along the trail. Thane was so shocked by this that he started choking on his lunch and had to drink some water to catch his breath.

“I’ve never seen a drakenhawk eat from someone’s hand before. I know of no one who would offer food, even to their own companion, with a bare hand. Would you like one of my leather gloves?”

“No, that’s entirely unnecessary. Keroc has excellent manners and would never consider causing me harm. Besides, he says that there has never been anyone brave enough to try sharing food this way before I came along. He thinks all those safety rules that the Companionkeeper teaches, don’t take into account the fact that they are intelligent creatures, not just animals.”

“Perhaps we should begin addressing our questions to the drakenhawks, rather than relying on our own judgment. We were also taught not to offer human food to a drakenhawk. They are said to only hunt, kill, and consume their own prey.”

“While that would normally be true, Keroc has not had time to hunt since early yesterday morning. If he was older that wouldn’t be a problem, but since he is young and still growing, he doesn’t have the same energy reserves and stamina that older drakenhawks do. Flying takes a lot of energy and Keroc is not only ravenously hungry, he is getting increasing tired as he flies.”

Thane’s expression grew grimmer and grimmer as she spoke. By the time she finished speaking, he’d slumped down in his saddle and lowered his head in shame.

“I feel terrible for neglecting to see to Keroc’s needs, Elwyn. How will I ever deserve to be chosen as a companion of a drakenhawk, if I can’t even remember to see to the basic needs of one placed in my care for a few days?

Keroc, I am so sorry for neglecting you and not allowing you the time to hunt, eat, or rest.”

Keroc immediately communicated his sincere feelings of forgiveness and good will, along with an image of hunting when they were camped that evening. Elwyn and Thane both agreed that they still had a lot to learn about their journey and each other, if they were to be successful on their own. His hunger sated for the moment, Keroc flew off again to scout the terrain before and after them.

As they rode, Elwyn shared with him her earlier communications with Keroc, including meeting Kierra. Thane looked as if he was going to fall off Raffe in a faint as she described the queen of the drakenhawks to him along with their brief exchange.

“This whole situation gets more extraordinary by the hour. Tell me how it came about and everything she said to you. I think that you are the first person that the drakenhawk queen has ever communicated with. She’s always limited her contact to other drakenhawks, and only through them have we been able to ascertain her wants or needs. Are you sure that you weren’t just seeing and sensing her through Keroc?”

“Well, I am very new at this mental communication thing, but there was a distinct difference in the feel of the communication. Keroc feels excited and young, tending to hop from one thing to another fairly quickly. Kierra felt very calm and peaceful, more like an older presence. She asked for permission to contact me if necessary during our travels. She also said that she was waiting for me to reach Findara and would like me to come and meet her when I arrive.”

“When we reach Kren, we should spend some time together and write down all the things you have learned so we can share them with the companionkeeper when we arrive in Findara. I am actually surprised and humbled that we are chosen as companions by a race that we misinterpret and misunderstand in so many ways.”

“I get the feeling that the companions are very patient and more understanding than we realize. After all you keep telling me how amazing it is that Gemma hasn’t taken offense to being called a horse for so many seasons. She obviously loves me anyway.”

The two of them continued riding, each silently processing what they were learning on their journey. One of the things that kept bothering Elwyn was her lack of knowledge about shadow squads. Since she wasn’t sure she would be able to help kill them, she felt her best option would be to try to avoid them altogether. In order to do that, she needed to know more about them. She decided to pick Thane’s brain for every bit of information he knew.

“Thane, I would like to know more about shadow squads, so that we do everything we can to avoid them.”

“I think that would be a wise idea. We should not only go over what we know about them, but also strategize what we are going to do if we do encounter one.”

“I’ll start with what I remember. It is a four man team of assassins that move very quickly through shadowy areas and are extremely difficult to spot. I guess the first thing would be to understand how they move so quickly through the shadows.”

“I’m afraid that I don’t know, Elwyn. I’m not sure that anyone, who isn’t a member of one of their squads, knows the answer to that question. What we do know is that they seem to emerge from the darkest shadows surrounding trees or tall rocky overhangs. We have no idea how they travel or how they become suddenly present in the shadows. The only warning we have of their presence is the behavior of the morden and warnings from the drakenhawks. The companions can sense their presence once they appear. At best, that only gives us seconds before they attack."

“That certainly doesn’t give us much to go on, does it? No wonder people fear these attacks so much. What about their camouflage; what type do they use? I remember you saying that they are very difficult to see until they are almost next to you. Do you think the companions can see them and is that that how they know to sound the alarm?”

“To be honest, we know almost nothing about their camouflage techniques. There are very few people who have faced a group of these assassins and lived to talk about it. Ayron has, but only as an archer who was positioned up in a tree. After Ayron’s soldiers defeated the shadow squad, his unit got out of the area quickly to minimize the chance of being attacked again, so no one stopped to study them. I’m also not sure how the companions sense their presence.”

“Wow, that certainly doesn’t tell us much more about them does it? Ah, Keroc says to tell you that both the morden and the drakenhawk can smell them as they emerge through the shadows. Apparently they smell somewhat unpleasant; he says that it might be the poison they carry on their weapons. However, they are also very difficult for the companions to see.

Well, I guess another important piece of information would be how they locate their prey. Do you know anything about that, Thane?”

“I’m afraid not. These were not topics covered in my training and I’ve never had a conversation with anyone who knew enough about them to answer questions like that. To be honest, most people who encounter them end up dead. Also, there have been very few attacks in Unity or in Silvendil over the past twenty seasons. Azavon and his father, the former ruler, informed the Salissian government that they viewed attacks of this nature on their land as a declaration of war by Salissia itself.

Something else that makes studying these assassins very difficult is that they take a suicide pact. If they cannot escape into the shadows, they will kill themselves so that they are never captured.”

“That leaves us at a definite disadvantage when trying to prepare a defense or avoid them entirely, doesn’t it? I have to admit that I feel very vulnerable and don’t like the feeling much at all.”

Thane was obviously embarrassed by his ignorance and tried to redeem himself in her eyes by switching the subject of their discussion to the methods of defense and attack most successfully used against them.

“Why don’t we spend some time going over what we do know about them? The most successful defense against a shadow squad is to avoid heavily wooded land or other areas of deep shadow, because they won’t launch an attack out in open meadows and fields. When they are forced to attack during the day or out in the open, they lose much of their advantage and become more vulnerable to attack themselves.”

“Why? Does it affect their ability to attack in some way?”

“No, they’re still able to attack, but they lose the advantage they normally from the element of surprise. These assassins are normally able to kill their targets very quickly, because no one realizes they are being attacked until it is too late to respond. Every moment of surprise they lose is a moment more that we have to prepare to fight or evade them altogether. Because they can only appear in deep shadow, the farther we are from shadow, the farther they have to travel to reach us. That gives us and any companions with us more time to detect them. I did hear from my instructor that they move incredibly quickly and are able to overtake anyone running on foot with ease. We can’t do anything to slow them down, but they can’t run as fast as a horse or a morden. Whenever possible, we are instructed to mount up and ride away from them. That’s why every second of warning we have is critical.”

“I can see why Ayron wants us to avoid them at all costs. We really don’t know enough about them to know what to expect or when to expect it. Can they be killed like anyone else?”

“Oh yes, they are as mortal as we are. They are just very well trained and totally focused on killing their target. We have found the best weapon to use against them is a bow and arrow, or any other weapon that can kill at a distance. The greatest danger in fighting them is that each weapon they carry is dipped in a poison so lethal, that even a tiny scratch from one proves fatal. If we wound them in a fight, they may be able to continue fighting, while if we are wounded by them, we’re rendered unconscious or dead in seconds.”