Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (2 page)

The bird chirped and flashed a picture of the coyote
in human form and Tyler felt the sadness it felt at the sight of
him.

“You’re right. He’s not well.” He remembered how thin
he had looked. “Can you find him?”

She bobbed her head and flew away. Tyler shifted into
a grey wolf and headed in the opposite direction toward the meadow
and the hill crossing. Maybe that was what he needed to do, he
thought to himself. He should try to get himself a crossing stone
and cross over to the other world. As soon as the thought entered
his head he rejected the idea. His uncle had told him it was the
most painful thing he’d ever done. He tried to imagine how it would
feel to live without his wolf half and shuddered. It seemed
impossible. How would a being hunt?

He spotted a dark brown rabbit in the shade of a tree
and his mind focused on the hunt. He let the wolf take over and
though it would have been easier had he had another dog with him to
help, he was well trained and the rabbit met a painless death as he
clamped his jaws on the back of its neck after a short chase.

His form blurred and he felt all of his bones
rearrange themselves as he turned back into his human form. He
grabbed the rabbit and started walking back to his campsite.

“I wonder if Bird found him,” he wondered to himself.
He set himself to the task of lighting a fire so he could cook his
supper. He felt the bird’s irritation even before she had made it
back to the clearing. He looked up as she settled herself on a
branch not too far from him. “What happened?”

Pictures of her flying along flashed through his
head. He saw her spotting the coyote as he ran away, saw him turn
to look up at her as she swooped down to try and talk to him.
Tyler’s deep brown eyes widened as the image turned to one of him
stopping short.

“He tried to eat you?” A growl made its way up his
throat. “What did you do?”

A picture of the bird pecking the coyote on the nose
made him laugh.

“Well, he deserved it.” He checked on the rabbit over
the fire. “Is he gone?”

She bobbed her head.

“Alright.”

She flashed a picture of him with his pack on his
back and his blankets rolled.

He nodded. “I’ll be heading out in the morning.”

He saw his parents reading a note.

“If you don’t mind. You just got back.”

She did her impression of a head shake and showed the
two of them together again and a feeling of questioning.

“Of course you can come back.” He pulled the rabbit
off and set it aside to cool while he wrote a note to his
parents.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I’ve spent the past week at the waterfall near the
hill crossing. Tell Aunt Hayden that she’s right; it is beautiful
here. I’m going to be heading farther south tomorrow and am
thinking of stopping in Growlen to top up my supplies.

I love and miss you both. Give everyone a hug from me
and please thank them all for the birthday wishes.

Love,

Tyler

He carefully tied the note to the bird’s leg and gave
her a pat on the head. “I’ll be in Growlen in about a week or so.
I’ll wait for you there.” He felt more than saw her smile then
watched as she flew toward Sageden and his family.

Once supper was eaten he busied himself setting out
his blankets for the night. He’d have to sleep lightly just in case
that boy decided to come back, but he wasn’t too worried about it.
If he was running at the sight of Tyler, chances were he wouldn’t
pose a threat. Tyler frowned. One of the first things he’d be sure
to tell him if he came back was that Bird was off limits in terms
of snacks. He shook his head. Who in the world tried to eat blue
birds? There was nothing to them.

He took a deep breath and looked at the two moons
appearing in the darkening sky.

“Happy birthday, Trent.” He closed his eyes and
wished that for his birthday, tonight, he wouldn’t dream of the
moment his brother had died.

Chapter Two

The sun was high in the sky and the warm rays
streamed through the trees. Tyler looked up and smiled. The Blue
Woods. He never tired of being here. The dark blue trunks with
their even darker blue leaves varied in shades of blue greens to
midnight purples. It was the only place he knew of in Quelondain
where the grass beside the streams and lakes was green instead of
blue.

He adjusted his pack on his shoulder and hopped onto
a fallen log before jumping to the ground on the other side. Bird
had asked him why he chose to travel on two feet when he could get
where he was going much quicker on four. He’d shrugged. He wasn’t
really in a hurry to get anywhere. In fact, other than the odd town
he would enter to stock up his supplies, he really didn’t have
anywhere specific he wanted to go. The only thing he was sure of
was that he didn’t want to be in Sageden. The sound of the woods
around him; the birds chirping, the small animals scurrying, the
wind blowing through the brush, all of it was so familiar and
comfortable that when he did enter a town nowadays, the hustle and
bustle of it all made him edgy and nervous. It was rare for him to
stay for more than a day or two before he was back in the
woods.

A yelp broke through the peacefulness of the day and
Tyler stopped, listening. The yelp came again, this time louder,
like the animal who had uttered it was in pain. Tyler snuck in the
direction it had come from.

“What the…” He frowned and watched as the coyote he’d
seen a few days before gathered and launched himself at a large
buck. The deer was ready, its head lowered. It threw the Maj into
the air with a flick of his antlers. The coyote yelped as he hit
the ground and tried to scramble away as the buck charged.

It shifted back into a boy in time to wiggle so he
fit between the antlers as they tried to spear him into the ground.
Tyler shifted and ran at them, hoping the buck would be too busy
trying to kill the man under him to notice the wolf coming at him.
He jumped onto the deer’s back and shifted back, reached around
with his dagger and felt his blade cut through fur and flesh. The
buck reared its head up and Tyler grunted in pain as the back of
its head connected with his face. He felt the blood pour from his
nose. He wrapped his legs tightly around the deer to stay on while
it jumped and bucked in an attempt to get him off its back.

Something crashed into the buck’s side and Tyler
found himself lying under it as it thrashed about, trying to get
back to its feet. He looked up and saw the blond Maj fumbling with
his dagger. The buck scrambled upright and tried to run into the
cover of the woods. Tyler shifted and ran after it. The deer
stumbled and fell to its knees, leaving him enough time to catch up
and jump onto its back once again. He pulled his dagger, leaned
forward, and slid the blade across its neck, pulling back as hard
as he could. He felt the blood rush over his hand just as he was
tossed to the ground. The buck fell, twitching.

Tyler lay on his back, his eyes closed, trying to
catch his breath. His right side ached, though not nearly as much
as his face. He reached up gingerly and felt along his nose.

“Is it broken?”

Tyler cracked open one eye to look at the blond man
sitting a little way away. “No.” He closed his eye once again and
winced as he put pressure on his nose to stop the bleeding. “By the
moons, what were you thinking? You can’t take down a buck by
yourself!”

“That’s not true; you just did it.”

Tyler grunted. “Barely.” He glanced to the side to
make sure the buck was indeed dead. When he was sure his nose had
stopped bleeding, he sat up and wiped his face on his sleeve. “I’m
Tyler.” He eyed the other Maj curiously. From this distance, it was
easy to see why he’d tried to take down the buck and even why he’d
tried to eat Bird. The young man’s clothes hung on him and his arms
stuck out of the sleeves like pale sticks.

The man looked away from the buck. “John.” He stood
as Tyler did. “Do you think you’ll eat it all?”

“What?”

John looked at his feet. “The buck. Could I have a
piece?”

Tyler’s eyes widened. “Take what you want.”

John scrambled to the carcass and proceeded to cut
some of the meat off of the buck’s side. He shoved it into his
mouth and Tyler gagged at the sight of the blood running down his
chin.

“Wait! Stop! That’s disgusting! Aren’t you going to
cook it?”

John shook his head and jammed another piece into his
mouth. “I’m not good at lighting fires, so I don’t bother.” He was
about to cut off some more when Tyler pulled him back.

“I’ll make a fire. Just, ugh, just stop.” Tyler found
the sticks and leaves he needed and brought his flints out of his
pack. “Look,” he said as he struck the flints together. “It’s not
hard.” It took him three tries before the spark caught and he blew
on it gently to help it along.

John watched as Tyler found sticks to spear through
the pieces of meat he had cut and set them over the fire. His mouth
watered at the smell of the meat cooking.

“Here.” Tyler tossed a piece of cheese in John’s
direction and watched as the other man crammed the whole piece in
his mouth. John swallowed and eyed him curiously.

“How old are you, Tyler?”

“Eighteen. You?”

“Twenty. Where’s your pack?”

Tyler shook his head. “You’re looking at it.”

“You don’t run with a pack?”

“It’s none of your business really, but my pack is in
Sageden.” He frowned. “What about you?”

“I don’t have a pack. When Rainen announced we were
going to attack Paradin, I ran away. I’d just turned of age
then.”

“Why run?”

John shrugged. “I didn’t want to die. I can’t fight,
I don’t know how.”

Tyler nodded; that much was obvious. “So you’ve been
on your own for four years? Why haven’t you gone back?”

The older Maj paled. “Haven’t you heard? Damian was
killed in Paradin. That makes Rainen head sorceress now. You have
to know she’ll kill whatever deserters she finds.”

Tyler remembered the Maj sorceress with her long
curly black hair and midnight blue eyes. He smiled at the memory
that came to mind. He’d been sitting on a crate in Sageden’s
courtyard, a drink in his hand and Jenna beside him. They’d all
just finished helping with the wounded in Rainen’s pack. The forty
year old sorceress had smiled as the last of her pack had walked
out to find their mates and loved ones. Though she portrayed
herself as a vengeful and hard woman, he knew better. He’d seen the
tears in her eyes as she’d looked over the bodies of the men and
women who hadn’t survived Ternach’s attack.

“I don’t think Rainen will be quite as hard on you as
you think she will be.”

John frowned. “How do you know?”

Tyler shrugged. “Just a hunch.” He took the meat off
of the fire and handed the bigger piece to John. The two were quiet
as they ate.

Tyler looked at the buck and up at the sky. There was
still plenty of daylight. He stood and went into the woods in
search of the sticks and vines he would need to make a stand.

“What are you doing?” John watched as he strapped the
sticks together with the vines over the fire.

“I’m making a stand to dry the meat on.” He tested
the sturdiness of his contraption by pushing on the table shaped
stand then moved to the buck where he proceeded to cut the meat
into fine strips, all the while thinking that some salt to make
some brine would have come in handy. “Here, just hang them on the
horizontal sticks that run across the top.” He handed them to John
who did as he was told.

How in the world has this man survived on his own for
four years, Tyler wondered to himself. It was a bloody miracle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tyler pulled his tunic over his head and stepped out
of his pants before wading into the lake. He walked until he had to
swim then ducked under the water. He came up sputtering, running
his hands as quickly as he could over himself to clean off the
blood. Sure that he had gotten most of it, he swam back to shore
and quickly dried off and pulled on some clean clothes.

“By the moons, that’s cold!” Though shifters were
more tolerant to the cold than other beings, the lake was still
partially frozen this early in the spring and Tyler pulled on an
extra tunic to warm himself. He shook his head to get the water out
of his hair then sat on the bank and looked up at the darkening
sky. The two moons were full and just over the tree tops. As the
sky lost its light, the trees turned a dark purple in the
moonlight. The waves on the lake rippled in the white light. He
wrapped his arms loosely around his knees. He had four or five days
before the meat was ready to pack away. What was he to do in the
meantime? He got to his feet, grabbed his things and headed back to
camp.

John was already sleeping, his snores reaching
Tyler’s ears before he’d gotten back to the fire which was now
simply smoking to help dry out the strips hanging over it. The
smell was heavenly and Tyler plucked one of the strips off of the
stand and went to his blankets. He glanced at John. Would he be
able to keep himself alive one they parted ways? Tyler grunted.
Probably. He’d done it for four years.

Tyler took a bite of his snack. Well, he’s not coming
with me, he argued with himself. I don’t need a pack and I most
certainly don’t want one.

John snorted in his sleep and rolled over. Tyler
rolled his eyes. It was a miracle no one had managed to kill the
coyote in his sleep. It was almost as if the man died with the loss
of sunlight. He plucked a pebble from the ground and tossed it,
grinning at the lack of response from John as it landed in his
hair.

Tyler yawned and lay down. He’d think of his little
dilemma in the morning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tyler awoke with his arms behind his head. He looked
to where John lay, still asleep. First thing on the agenda for the
day was going to be a sparring lesson for his new friend. He
smiled. There was no time like the present.