Tranquil Fury (25 page)

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Quietly the next morning, Alron woke Panry and the Ironhouse brothers, had them saddle the mounts and pack up the camp. He hoped an extra hour of sleep would make the weary travellers think they were more refreshed than they were, allowing him to push them harder. Alron gently coaxed them from their dreams, got them on their feet, but they were so tired, they did not realize that the cold field rations were not set out. Alron and Panry had them all on their ponies before they realized they were awake, heading back to Ironhouse. Panry quickly took the front guard, Alron advised Bor and Aaro to ride with the group today. With the ever-changing landscape, Alron thought it would be more likely they would ride into a trap, than be overtaken from behind.

It was about noon when they rode out of a small valley, into a large expanse of grassland, where they found Panry waiting for them. A front guard did little in this flat land, threats easily seen for miles. It looked to be at least a three-hour ride to the nearest forest, and with the group complaining of sores and hunger, Alron turned them all back into the valley for a rest. The cold field rations managed to stop them from complaining aloud, but only until they had swallowed the impediment that both fueled and stifled their complaints.

They were over half way to the distant forest, surrounded by open grassland, when the powerful elf eyesight saw the first head crest the next ravine, black-clad soldiers heading south, straight for them. Alron quickly turned the party south, smacked the ponies, scaring them into a gallop. All glanced over their shoulders and could see the dust cloud building as the opposing forces sounded their alarms. They may have been an hour apart, but the hard ride on the ponies and stags was beginning to show. The little valley in which they had taken their lunch was too far away, as they would not make it in time, and even if they did, there were no defensible positions. Alron and Panry scanned the grasslands, and Panry pointed to a small hill in the close distance, that might provide enough cover. Alron shouted to Aaro and Bor, who were now at the front of the pack, pointed to the hill on the right. They cut their mounts into the field of long grass, dug their heels into the beasts, and forced them to pick up the pace. The other ponies instinctively followed the lead ones, the riders holding on for dear life, no longer in charge.

As they burst into the peaceful field, startled birds erupted from the long grass, squawking as they sounded their own warnings. More birds took to the sky, attempting to flee the sudden invasion, and soon the entire grassland was an explosion of feathers—birds by the thousands, then hundreds of thousands, filled the sky, their calls drowning out the commands from Alron. The long grass was even more devastating to their progress than he had anticipated, and with his vision obscured by birds, he could not determine how close the threat was.
It does not end like this Mother
. He pushed his stag forward,
Must protect Earth Daughter.

The birds soared higher and began to swarm, flying left to right, then right to left. Their patterns became tighter, like an aerial ballet in the sky, and if not for the imposing threat chasing them, one might have enjoyed the display. With the field clear of birds, Alron looked for the black-clad men, and discovered that they had pushed their mounts even harder than Alron had pushed theirs. The leaping of his stag made it hard to focus on the horde that chased them, but he caught glimpses of white sweat on the black horses, and realized they would be on them in twenty minutes, thirty at the most. As Alron’s stag leaped through the tall grass, an uneasy feeling flooded his elf senses, and he looked over his other shoulder, saw Logan standing in the middle of the field, his pony hobbling on three good legs. Alron screamed to Panry while pointing at Logan. Panry turned,
a death sentence to rescue outlander, too close they does be
. Still, he turned hard and reached for his bow, as he saw Logan raise one arm to the sky, and when completely extended, Logan closed his open hand, brought it down, throwing the contents at the black-clad men racing towards him. But Panry did not see anything leave Logan’s hand, figured it was a sign of defiance. Gripping his stag tightly with his knees, Panry had his bow off his shoulder, reached for an arrow from his back. He knew he would never hit a target, just hoped it would slow them down, and buy him time to save Logan.

Before Panry could focus on a target, the sky went black. Birds so thick formed a swirling cloud which consumed both the blue sky, and the black-clad force. Vision obscured, horses stumbled, tripped, tossed their black-clad riders, and then trampled them under their hooves. A swirling vortex of small black birds completely shrouded the horde that had been chasing them, and Panry slowed his stag, watched in amazement. Black-clad men swung their swords at the small birds, struck their own, and even killed their own horses. As the birds continued, Alron and the rest circled back to Panry, listened to the horrified screams that were barely audible over the squawking birds. For twenty minutes, the black cloud of feathers engulfed the riders as more and more riders fell to the ground. Occasionally, a horse would break free from the black cloud, and bolt down the road, dragging a screaming rider.

After another ten minutes, Logan brought his left arm up in front of him, and motioned as if he was pushing something away. Slowly the swirling whirlwind of black birds began to take to the sky as they fled in all directions, and the group looked at where the birds once tormented the riders. On the ground, surrounded by thousands of dead birds, lay the black-clad men that had chased them with such confidence. That confidence, much like their breath, now gone, they waited silently for more black birds, the vultures.

Alron looked to Lauren, “Earth Daughter, does this be thou?”

“I don’t think so,” Lauren replied.

Logan walked over to the group, rubbing his forearms, the tattoo feathers now gone, “I think I need a ride. Can somebody give me a lift?”

“Thou does this,” asked Alron?

Logan shrugged his shoulders, “The pony tripped and threw me. When I got up, I saw the birds attack. Maybe they were upset?”

Mirtza rode his eight-legged horse over to Logan, and helped him up. Silently, the group trotted up to the massacre scene, three dozen riders and horses, lifeless on the crimson ground, black feathers still twisting in the breeze, floating on small scarlet colored puddles of blood.

The silence continued as they rode for the remainder of the day, with Alron pushing them hard, the sight of the snow-capped mountains had come into view that afternoon. As they grew in size, each thought that they could smell Gor’s cooking, and could feel the comfort of their large warm beds calling to them. With those thoughts, they pushed their mounts harder, pushed all of the odd visions to the back of their minds, and even Ryan looked forward to sleeping in a cave. The third sun was low behind the mountains as Alron smacked the stable door, and after a short time, Hakk opened it, and let the tired group enter.

They all quickly stripped the gear from their mounts, and put the animals in their pens with fresh grain and water. When Alron turned around and scanned the group, he saw Mirtza heading to the exit, but the odd eight legged horse was nowhere in sight. Gingaar had gone to the stables with Hakk, and when she was sure that all had returned safely, she retreated to the upper levels to report to the Earth Mother, and to help her down to the dining hall.

Gor had prepared most of the meal in advance of their return, and was setting the table as they opened the door. With the aroma of hot bean juice thick in the air, Logan headed for the smell before Gor could start his welcome home speech. Zack was already sitting in the back of the dining hall, a pitcher of dwarf ale beside him, and one by one, the other dwarves and elves came to the dining room. Both Dawnfalcons were rubbing their arms, and Eric was favoring his legs as well. Gingaar helped the Earth Mother in last, who looked older, more fragile, and Lauren was shocked at her withered condition.

Starved from the field rations and strenuous travel, the nine quickly filled their plates high with food, the report could wait. As Lauren ate, she maintained a watchful eye on Gingaar and the Earth Mother. The fiery little elf, she had left behind not long ago, had been replaced by a shriveled old lady whose ears now drooped. Alron and Panry had also noticed the change, and the glances they shared demonstrated their mutual concern.

After the meal, Panry stood, explained the events at the first settlements, and concluded with, “Friend John does be best to explain the rest.”

John looked at the Earth Mother, explained what they had found at the gravesites and his conclusion was simple, “The plague in your lands walks on two legs, wears black, and kills with swords.”

Then Lauren continued the story, “We then went to the large settlement to see if we could find any more evidence. That night, more darkly clad men attacked us, but Alron, Panry, Aaro, Bor, and Ryan stopped them. I don’t know why they attacked, but they did not approach asking for help, they approach with swords drawn. I think John is right, war has been declared on your lands.”

The Earth Mother looked to Alron, who realized there was only the end of the story to tell. He rubbed his eyes, and then started, “We then does head back to Ironhouse. Black-clad does surprise us in the grasslands, but birds many does take flight and then fight, does attack black-clad. When they does fly away, all black-clad does be dead.”

The Earth Mother looked to Lauren, but her response was quick and prepared, “It wasn’t me! I have no idea on what happened.”

 “Birds? Attack?” The Earth Mother looked confused, “How can this be?” She then saw Logan rubbing his forearms, “Alron, in private thou will speak with me.”

Alron took his chair over to the Earth Mother, pulling in close to her. She told him of the meeting she had with Logan the night before they left. Of the cold water, the fire, the markings on his forearms, and that he spoke elfin words, of his eyes, concluded by calling him Sister touched. She continued, “Birds does live in Sister’s realm, answer her call they wilt.”

Alron had a confused look on his face, “Thou does think Logan does this? Sister?”

 “Alron, sure I does be, her marks he does bear. Water and fire, thou does hath allies new.” Then she turned to Gingaar, “Please does help me to mine room, tired I does be. Earth Daughter, tomorrow we shalt talk.”

As Gingaar helped the Earth Mother out of the hall, John went over to Eric, who was still rubbing his left leg, “So how does the training go?”

 “Damn training. Little bastards are fast. As for padded armor, what a joke. Seven days of having the crap beat out of me, it hasn’t been a lot of fun.”

“Been there, done that. It just warms my heart to see the little guys inflicting that kind of pain on one of your size.”

Eric ignored the comments, “John, you know something about everything. Can you train me? Or train them how to train me? Because right now, I don’t know what you would call it, but it wouldn’t be
training
.” Eric slowly got up, “I have to go soak in a hot tub like a little girl right now. It helps bring down the swelling, so that I can receive more
training
tomorrow.”

John smiled, “I might be able to help the elves. Find flaws in their attacks, increase their damage capabilities?” Eric let out a hollow laugh, as he hobbled away.

Chapter 19

It was late in the evening, and John had retired to his room, was looking forward to a warm, long overdue restful sleep, when somebody knocked on his door.

Logan stuck his head into the room, “We need to talk.”

 “Can’t it wait till morning, I am really, really tired.”

 “No, it can’t.” Logan entered, rolled up his shirtsleeves, displaying the red and blue feather tattoos in the light from the open door.

 “Does your mother know you got those? She is going to kill you.”

 “It gets even better, watch this.” Logan rubbed the red feather against the grain, the small segments of the feather broke apart, and when he rubbed it the opposite way, the segments married back together. “I didn’t get them back home. I got them here in that forest, where Lauren picked up that strange staff of hers.”

John shook his head, “I don’t understand what you are saying?”

“Makes two of us. I found some sort of park benches in that forest and fell asleep on it. After I rolled off, and tried to get up, I touched both of those weird-ass stones, and this is what I got.” He held up his forearms, “It hurt so bad that I blacked out. When I woke up they were gone, and I thought I had dreamt them. The night before we went on that trip, the Earth Mother brought me to her room, and questioned me about the cold water. You remember when Lauren was bathing Eric? Well, it seems it was me that made the water cold. And I forgot to mention, when I went to her room, I started a fire without matches. Before I left, I pulled the fire from her fireplace into my hand, and extinguished it.”

 “Slow down Logan. Let me take some of this in.”

 “And I don’t remember what I said to the Earth Mother, but I am pretty sure I did a decent impression of Lauren, you know,
the new Lauren
? Thought my head was going to start spinning around. Those street lights, that was me. Those birds, also me. No idea how I did it, and didn’t know I could. Now these damn feathers won’t go away, and I am remembering everything I did.”

John shook his head, “Get in here.” As Logan closed the door, John reached for the candle from the nightstand, hoping it might shed some light on this riddle. Before he could find the matches, a flame appeared on the wick, and John slowly turned, looked at Logan.

 “If you would like more light, maybe this will help.” Logan extended his arm to the fireplace with his fist closed, then quickly extended all of his fingers at the same time, and a fire burst upwards filling the fireplace.

“Wow!”

“John, what is going on?”