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The following morning when I awoke I smelt the sweet simmering smell of oat meal over an open fire. Yawning I sat up to behold Serinae, Teouso, Łĩnwéé and Jondris talking by the fire side, I got up quickly and made my way over to them overjoyed to see Jondris returned from Dor’iesnal.
“Good morning Mini,” he said.
I placed my hand upon his shoulder whilst yawning again. “So you slept well then?” he said with a smile.
I nodded my confirmation and Serinae offered me a bowl of the hot steaming brew and a mug of tea which I accepted gratefully. I began to blow on the oatmeal to cool it, but before I could take my first mouthful, Jondris leant close to my ear and whispered to me, “it seems we are to go traveling Mini.”
I looked at him questioningly.
“I spoke to the abbot at Drinal last night. He told me that the monks are to spend the next few month’s helping the towns folk in Corbond to rebuild their homes and generally help get things back on the straight and narrow again, so there will be little time for the training of initiates. In fact they have given the initiates the opportunity to return home if they wish to see their families.”
“Oh,” was my response, “return home? I have wanted to do that for ages, yet it seemed that now the opportunity may have been given me it was not the first thing on my mind. “But surely we can help out with the town,”
“Yes, - we - could,” was the reply said slowly and purposefully, with a hint of sarcastic emphasis on each word. “But the Abbott had explained to me that several weeks back a certain person, an elf in fact, a well-travelled elf and HER companion, a rather quiet easterner, had sort an audience with him specifically to ask if he would provide a monk guardian for some journey SHE was going to undertake and apparently SHE had asked for me personally.”
At this he stared at Serinae who just sipped her tea, looked into her bowl and blew onto the contents of her spoon nonchalantly.
“He agreed that I should go and to also take my initiate too, as the travel experience would broaden her mind. He suggested I take you to.”
At this Teouso made a strange sound, a sort of whistle between his teeth. Jondris looked at him with a frown. I looked at Serinae; she smiled and winked at me, a shine in her green eyes. A thrill of excitement shot down my spine, I giggled with excitement, it seemed we were to go and accompany Serinae after all. The choice now seemed to have been made for us. I looked at her once more; the corners of her mouth were raised into a discrete smile. Little wonder she had acted as if Jondris would change his mind and accompany her wherever she was going to. Many strange things beyond my control were happening all of a sudden and I felt I had so many questions that remained unanswered. “ok, but before we leave I need to know a few things.”
Everyone looked at me and as no one objected or spoke so I began. “Serinae, how did you know you wanted Jondris and me to go with you wherever it is you intend to go, if you asked the Abbot weeks ago about releasing us for this journey?”
She raised her hands in submission and replied that she had actually arrived in the area some weeks before but had stayed out of sight waiting for the appearance of Tezrin. Whilst watching out for him she had also seen Jondris and myself about the place, she noticed that we got on well and my being a T’Iea, a kinswoman, this persuaded her that we would satisfy the requirements for her travelling companions, primarily she desired a fighter and a healer. She went on to explain that after the battle yesterday we had confirmed her thoughts, she was now sure we would be ideal for her needs.
A period of silence followed and my thoughts turned to the events of the previous days, “but you weren’t the only T’Iea to arrive in Corbond, there was Tezrin and the mage that seemed to be in command of those hideous things that attacked the town, the pyromancer, he looked like a T’Iea to?”
But as before, not one of my companions could shed any light or answer my questions, no one had seen the like of those dark creatures before and none had any idea what they were or where they came from. Only Łĩnwéé muttered something about ancient evil and minds of malice.
Serinae glanced at me briefly then glanced at Jondris, who lowered his eyes to the ground.
“Evil takes on many forms Minervar,” said Jondris.
At this Teouso made a snarling noise and spat onto the ground.
I flinched at this display.
Serinae smiled at me saying, “excuse Teouso Minervar, because he cannot talk he shows his responses to what he hears in many other more visual ways.”
This prompted me to ask about our easterner friend and his uncanny ability to change his form.
Serinae replied. “Teouso hails from the clan of men from the far south eastern edge of Dahl’Ambronis, they are not a race that exceeds great numbers for over the centuries they have been shunned and persecuted, even experienced extreme forms of genocide from their fellow men for what they are. Most of Teouso’s people are shifters, able to change their form from man to a beast. The region where they live was tainted long ago in ancient times by a great chaotic release of arcane energy. Some say that the people who used to live there when faced with an approaching enemy decided to destroy the land rather than allow their enemy to claim it. So in their ignorance they poisoned all the land about themselves for hundreds of miles with great enchantments of warding and arcane snares. It is believed that everything that lived in this region over time became affected by the raw power that was so carelessly and liberally used without any thought for its long term affects. After many generations of being tainted and polluted, the majority of the population found that they were able at the whim of thought change from human form to a beast and back again at will. It is speculated that the spirits of man and animal over many, many generations have been somehow linked because of the long term effects upon them by the arcane power that infects their very existence. They also noticed that all of the people with this capability could only change into one type of animal and still to this day they do not know for certain why this should be the case. They have lived a secluded life ever since. On the occasions where outsiders have stumbled across them, or Teouso’s people have attempted to make contact with their fellow man beyond their region, they have most times been shunned and hailed as freaks, abominations of men.”
Then looking at Teouso again, his eyes burning brightly, flared with a look of outrage, he confirmed with a nod that the story was accurate.
So Serinae continued, “Teouso, curious about the world beyond his own, sometimes wandered from the shifters lands. As his confidence and curiosity grew he would roam farther and farther from the safety of his clan. He was but a youth at the time and on one such occasion he was unlucky enough to be captured by a group of mercenaries. They took him prisoner and he became a slave to them. But even after many years his proud demeanour and toughness remained even though he was subjected to tortures and abuse by the mercenaries. For his spirit both in words and actions was strong and they wished to subdue him. So in amongst the regular beatings they cut out his tongue in an attempt to try and curve his spirit. However one of the mercenary clan felt some liking for Teouso and managed to persuade the leader that Teouso’s spirit should perhaps be encouraged in training to be a fighter. After much persuasion the man was given Teouso to train. Of course as you have witnessed Teouso took to training well and excelled at the craft of hand to hand combat. The group leader however didn’t trust Teouso enough to agree to him being trained in sword and other more fearsome weapons. Then one day an unknown person or persons hired the mercenary group to do the unthinkable. They were hired and tasked to destroy the very community of men that Teouso had known as a child, the shifter community. The day came for the planned attack and the group set off to do the deed, Teouso didn’t at that time know what the mercenaries had been tasked to do and who was to be attacked, he just assumed it was to be just another raid. But when the group arrived and started to make preparations for the impending attack something stirred
in Teouso’s mind a premonition or a long lost memory. He managed to sneak away from the mercenary camp to take a look at the place and the people they were tasked in destroying, for he needed to answer questions and suspicions in his mind. He shifted into his wolf form, for he was better disguised and all his senses were heightened. As he neared the shifter camp he was spotted by another shifter, a girl called Resola, she was in her animal form, a black panther, and she immediately recognised Teouso for what he was. She carefully made her way behind him and uttered a low growl to announce her presence, Teouso hearing the sound turned his head slowly and as he set eyes on Resola she shifted back into human form so that Teouso could understand her true nature, he in turn shifted back and recognising that there were others of his kind in the world went with Resola to the shifter camp where he immediately sort council with their leaders to warn them of the impending attack. So it was when the attack came the shifters were not taken by surprise, they were fully prepared and ready. As you can imagine a bloody battle commenced. The shifters took losses but the mercenary group were entirely routed and none lived to tell the tale. So it was Teouso found himself home again, back amongst his own kind.”
I asked Serinae how she knew all this as Teouso couldn’t have told her very easily. She explained that as they travelled they had plenty of time to discuss things in a written and pictorial format. Teouso beckoned to me so I stood and made my way to where he was sitting. He had been scraping at the soft peaty ground with a stick, I looked down to where he gestured, two stick like figures were depicted in the earth each had a hand held high in friendly greeting. He pointed to one and then placed his hand over his heart, then taking my hand he touched my fingertips to the other figure and placed my hand over my heart. He then smiled at me broadly, and a tear came to my eye as I realised he was expressing friendship towards me; I held his hand in both of mine and smiled at him in return. He nodded in understanding.
I asked my next question. “So Serinae, how did you know that Tezrin would come to Corbond?”
“Well that was just a hunch. When we first met up to embark upon our little venture as he called it, he said he would meet me in a small town near the Great Spine after nine days. Apparently he had something to settle first elsewhere. I’m afraid I have a slightly, well, shall we just say that I like to know as much about my employers as possible before embarking upon any arrangement with them. I wondered why the delay, so I followed Tezrin to Corbond. He met someone there in the Tavern, another T’Iea I think, but this may not be so, the figure kept his hood over his head at all times. Much discussion went on between them, they didn’t seem to be old friends, more like comrades in arms. Anyway they had a lengthy discussion, as if they were planning something elaborate. But then Tezrin left and so did I. I took a different route than he, I travelled without rest so that I could ensure I would arrive before him, we met in the small town as planned and embarked upon the journey to recover the necklace. The meeting he had in Corbond was never mentioned and I didn’t ask him about it. So my hunch was that after getting the item Tezrin would return to Corbond to again meet with this other secret person.”
"Do you think that Tezrin had anything to do with the attack on Corbond then?”
Serinae smiled at my question, it was a melancholy smile, she almost seemed to flinch at what I asked. She took a sip of tea. She then looked at the ground in front of her. “I hope not.”
I was a little confused by her answer, but before I could ask anything else she stood and walked away from the group.
I went to stand and follow her, but before I could gain my feet Łĩnwéé grasped my arm and cheerfully said, “Hey lassie, ye’s full o’ questions eh? How ab'ut I be a tellin’ ye abut m’ people eh? There be a lot o’ tellin’ fo’ we may be short, but we be ‘avin tall stories!” He smiled and laughed.
I sat down once more as I watched Serinae walking away.
Chapter 6 Embarkation
Extract from ‘Journeys in my own Company’, an Auto-Biography by Solin De’Teinde.
I quickly found that the correct choice of footwear was of paramount importance. For equally as nice as it was to enter an unknown place with seemingly smart apparel upon one’s feet, it was also wise to have on footwear that allowed one to run swiftly back out again should the need arise.