“Done,” the knight replied to the great relief of the guide. “I shall return here with my comrades on the morrow’s dawn ready for departure.”
* * *
The sun was newly risen, yet there was no warmth in its rays as fog plumbed from the mouths of those outside, their boots crunching in the fresh coating of snow. None except the most hardy were out looking to their business whilst the majority of the town slept through the dawn. Lined up on one of the snow-covered streets of Menarik were three sleighs loaded down with rugs and supplies. A group of five waited outside in the less prosperous part of town while their guide readied his animals and gathered the last of his belongings.
Maledorian and Defyance secured the last of their things whilst the others stood around in the snow, shuffling their feet around trying to stay warm and awake. Not wanting to get in the way, Darci walked around the already packed sleighs; as much from curiosity as trying to keep herself from freezing. She was marvelling at the similarities between sleighs on Earth to the ones that now stood before her. They looked just like the racing sleds in Northern America, only slightly larger, but strangest of all, there were no dogs to be seen or heard. A metal frame that linked to two long skis at the bottom held a thin but strong wooden base. At the back, the skis hung out just enough for the person steering to stand on them comfortably, hanging onto the handles provided.
Darci’s inspection of the sleighs was interrupted by the sound of crunching snow behind her. Turning, she had to do a double take when she saw the animals the guide was leading. He did not have horses or even Husky dogs, but animals that looked like neither. They were fast- looking beasts with slim, muscle-toned bodies. Their shape somewhat resembled an overgrown and very lanky furless cheetah with a long neck and a smooth, flat disk-like head. Dahnaga, as they were called, surprisingly had no fur like most animals that lived in the snow; instead, they were covered in a thick grey leathery type skin. They possessed feet that seemed unusually wide and flat with their forepaws each finished with a large dragon-like claw. As they walked over the frozen, cobbled road their claws dug into the ice without a single slip, their wide feet then going onto the fresh snow without making a footprint. Both of these traits were useful in the snow with the feet preventing them from falling into snowdrifts and the claws digging mercilessly into any ice that they came across.
Lief yawned wearily into his glove-covered hands as he watched his friends help with the harnessing of the Dahnaga. Maledorian had woken everybody early and without sympathy so that they could leave as soon as the morning light permitted. Thinking to himself, the elf wondered at the black mood he sensed coming from his knight companion. Since the attack on the Elspeth, the young knight had not been his usual jovial self. Maledorian’s hung-over mood of the previous day had not left, causing discomfort to everyone. Even stranger still, he had gone to bed sober and had barely lifted an eyebrow at the lady behind the bar. Yet whatever was bothering the knight, he chose to keep it to himself, forcing Lief to simply wait with his elflike patience. Maledorian would confide in someone only when, and if he was ready.
With the animals finally hitched to the sleighs, Darci moved to the one at the end, hoping that Taslessian would follow her. On the Elspeth they had spent much time exchanging stories, but they had never been alone. In fact, she had not spent much time alone with him since their stay in Chinta and she hoped that they might be able to do so on the way to Sahat’s cave. She waved for him to come with her, but as he walked over, he was overtaken by Maledorian, who instructed him to sit with Defyance.
Any forthcoming objections were silenced by the deadly glare of the knight. Knowing that he would not win the argument, the young wizard shrugged. The book that he had bought was a fascinating journal of a pioneer traveller in the snow dunes of Mengah. He turned to walk back to the middle sleigh, leaving a sullen Darci to sit on hers. Giving the briefest of smiles, the melancholy knight took his position at the driver’s place. He was not going to be far from Darci in case there was any danger. Darci herself could not figure out what could be so dangerous about a sleigh ride, but then again, she had once had the same thought about a sailing ship.
The guide ran to the door of his house to give the woman standing there wrapped in a blanket a quick goodbye kiss. He also bent down to kiss something within her arms before turning back to the lead sleigh. In a single bound he was standing at the reigns and with a “hup, hup” they were off.
The Dahnaga pulled the sleighs swiftly through the sleeping city of Menarik. All the window shutters were closed but there was still smoke puffing out of each chimney. The thick snow covering on the cobbled streets made for easy passage; the wind soon freezing their faces, causing their eyes to tear as they began to pick up speed.
The Dahnaga were keeping up a good pace through the city streets, yet as the houses thinned out, the roads began to disappear under the thickening layers of snow. Muscles began to pump as the Dahnaga began to use their natural talent for distance running. The sensation of speed was invigorating.
Soon, they were traveling through the forest that surrounded Menarik. The fresh scent of pine lifted the spirits of all who had not enjoyed their sea voyage. Yet, all too soon, the edge of the forest lay before them, leading out into the white nothingness that was the snow dunes of Mengah. With a loud “woah” the guide signalled the others to a halt. The Dahnaga would do well to rest before going onto the dunes. Much to everyone’s relief, the guide announced that it was time to eat.
Surprisingly, the sun shone directly above them, signalling that it was already lunchtime; something Darci’s now grumbling stomach was grateful of.
Sitting atop her sleigh wrapped in a thick brown blanket, she turned her eyes to their guide as the short, thickly dressed man began to unpack some of the food supplies; noticing now how much he reminded her of an Eskimo with his furry attire.
“We need not only to eat, but to collect wood for the rest of our journey,” the guide announced. “Such a rare thing will be hard to come by in the snow dunes of Mengah where Sahat’s cave can be found. Though why you want to go there is beyond me.” The last comment was made quietly but not quietly enough to be missed. As if he had overstepped his bounds, the young man hurriedly went about his business of tending his beasts.
“I’ll go,” Darci piped up, for once volunteering for the duty so that she could get out of the sled to stretch her legs. She almost fell off it in her exuberance, getting tangled up in her blanket as she tried to stand. For the first part of their journey, she had sat precariously on top of their belongings. Every bump they went over she found a new lump digging into her behind, forcing her to change her position constantly whilst hanging on tightly so as not to fall off into the snow. After being away from the horses for a while, her rear end had again become accustomed to the comforts of soft wooden chairs or even the smelly, stale hay of a makeshift bed, not the hard, constant moving and rubbing of a saddle or now the inconsistent seating of a sleigh.
The Menarik forest was very different compared to the Jungle Dragon. Pine trees dominated the snow-covered region with their fresh, exhilarating scent permeating even Maledorian’s seemingly indifferent exterior, causing him to inhale with a slight smile. Fresh snow crunched under their oiled leather boots as they walked between the trees, and though the air was cold, the sun radiated from behind the thinnest of cloud covers.
After taking a few steps into the forest, Darci looked up into the youthful face of her knight protector. Her eyes widened, as for the first time, she realised that he was, at most, only five years older than herself. The sound of his footsteps crunching in the snow followed her own as she tried to think of something to say. The only other person in their group that she knew nothing about was Defyance, and after her first attempt at gleaning information from her, she had only succeeded in telling the warrior woman anything and everything of insignificance in her own life.
“So, tell me more about how you became a knight, Maledorian,” she half
shouted so that he could hear her through the icy cold wind that ripped past them, threatening to steel her words.
The young man smiled through the ice that had formed around the soft and almost unseen facial hair around his lips. “I’ve always wanted to be a knight. My father was a knight so it was expected that the oldest son in our family would become one as well.”
For a moment, Darci thought that she caught a frown on Maledorian’s face.
“Unfortunately, I was the youngest in a large family with two sons and four girls. We were not wealthy so my father spent all of his time training my brother Malek, while the rest of the family worked. Being younger, only on the rarest of occasions would my father let us train together. I relished the chance to take part in this activity, yet all my father taught Malek was how to beat down someone smaller.” The young knight clenched his fist for a moment as if he could strike at his brother even now.
“I took the blood noses, the bruises and even a broken arm, but I would not give up. Before my chores, I would wake up every day to train for an hour before anyone in my house woke. I built my strength and I used a metal rod as a sword. Any chance I got I watched the tournaments, and I was even able to sneak off and help the squires with their own chores in return for any kind of training. I often neglected my work at home to the displeasure of my father, but I stood firm and I endured.”
Darci bent down to pick up a piece of wood, never taking her eyes of her friend. She knew that he enjoyed being a knight, yet she had not realised the extent of his devotion.
With a sigh Maledorian continued. He knew that the story of his family was nothing to be proud of, yet throughout his entire life, he had always tried to act with honour. He did not feel the shame that his family had created, yet he still felt the need to try harder. “The years passed and soon my brother was to be knighted. I never shared much love for Malek but my father was proud. Not long after he received the honour of his shield and title, he was found guilty of murder… among other things… My father was broken and when Malek was executed, he turned to the drink, his only hope at his meagre legend being surpassed had been crushed. When I approached him to say that I was to be a squire I don’t think he even heard me – too drunk. So I spent my four years as a squire gladly spending twice the effort of the other boys at my work. When I was knighted, I saw tears in my mother’s eyes but my father did not even turn up. I returned home to tell him that I had finally made it, but there was only hatred left in the shell that he once was. He told me that I did not deserve to be a knight. That I was not half the man my brother was and that if that whore hadn’t destroyed Malek’s life…” Maledorian’s eyes focused onto his young friend as he had the good grace to blush. “I apologise for my harsh words…”
Darci shrugged; she had heard worse. She allowed Maledorian to continue as he too bent down to pick up some wood.
“Since then I entered many tournaments, winning most of them. I have become quite well known in the tournament rounds, and not long after, I was given a strange message from a man dressed in a homely brown robe… It was the command for the quest that I had always dreamed of.
“Perhaps now my father will believe in me.” The sadness in his eyes lingered but a moment as they searched the pine needle-speckled ground for an answer, eventually coming to rest on another piece of wood. Shrugging he bent down to pick it up, adding it to the large pile in his arms. For now, both of them were lost in their thoughts.
After they had dropped off the first load of wood, they realised that wood gathering in this surprisingly barren place was becoming more difficult. Dry, dead sticks and branches, which were usually in abundance in any forest, were hard to come by considering that it had snowed recently. The only sticks that Darci had come across happened to find her boot. Hidden under the snow they caused her to stumble as she walked along. Through trial and error and a mistimed step that caused the young girl to fall, the pair of wood collectors soon discovered that the only dry places were near the centre of the trees amongst a carpet of needles that had fallen from their thick and sappy branches.
Darci was able to creep under the brushwood with the greatest of ease, sweeping the lower pine needles out of her hair as she went. When she turned to look at her protector, he was having great difficulty in getting his large, well-built body under the irritating grasp of the pine limbs. It was not long before they figured that it would be easier to work together. Darci dragged the firewood from under the trees where she could pass it out to Maledorian who put it into an easy to carry pile. In no time at all, they had enough for the both of them to carry. They then went back to their picnic area where Lief was already cooking lunch.
On their last firewood gathering expedition, Darci was passing some wood out to Maledorian when she heard a growling noise emanating from the under tree darkness. She quickly looked around in the gloom that surrounded the undergrowth and saw the unmistakable glint of eyes. This unexpected sight froze her to the spot. Fear, like an icy hand, grabbed her mercilessly around her stomach, and despite her many layers of clothing, with dread trickling like chilly water down her spine, she shivered. There was a predator hiding in the depths of this forest and she was its prey. What was worse, Darci could not see what it was. A slight movement caught her eye; a reflection of teeth in what little light reached the depths of this strange and cramped little world.
It was silly for her to feel such a paralysing fear of anything after her ordeal with the monsters on the Elspeth, yet fear was an unfeeling and unreasonable adversary. She could not move. She could not speak. Her mouth moved emitting no sound even while her mind was screaming. Whatever it was seemed to sense her fear.
“Darci, come out slowly,” instructed Maledorian who, upon hearing the last of the creature’s snarls, had looked under the thick foliage to see what the danger was. “It is a wild Dahnaga.” With one large arm, he lifted the branches of the pine tree to create an exit.
With her fear somewhat abated in Maledorian’s presence, Darci slowly backed away from the wild beast. With a stray branch pulling at her hair, she took another step. She was almost out in the open when there was a scratch on wood followed by a whoosh of air. Suddenly her body was jerked sideways by powerful hands, escaping the deadly claws of the Dahnaga by a hair’s breadth. The beast spun agilely around in the air the moment it realised that its prey had evaded it. It landed softly like a cat, lowering its head to flex its shoulder muscles so that it was ready for the next attack. It now stood just three meters away and it was eyeing off both Darci and Maledorian.
This Dahnaga appeared younger than the ones that pulled their sleighs. Softer grey skin stretched tautly over a frail-looking frame to reveal ribs that protruded painfully. Its eyes flicked nervously from one human to the other as its head twitched slightly, sniffing out the danger. Finding only the two prey, its mouth opened revealing its vast array of razor-sharp teeth. A tendril of drool hung from its lip, refusing to break while it stood there, deciding its next move.
With a quiet grating sound, Maledorian unsheathed his broadsword. Much to Darci’s surprise, he did not raise his sword to simply dispatch the beast with a deft swing. Instead, he passed the heavy blade to her, planning to fight the Dahnaga with his bare hands.
“Maledorian, what are you doing?” she demanded nervously.
“You can use my sword if there are any more around. This I must do with no assistance.” He tensed as he stepped slowly between the beast and his ward, raising his hands in front of him, ready for whatever the beast was going to do.
Behind him, Darci barely lifted the broadsword to a position where she could drop it on something coming towards her; eyes glued on the impending battle between man and beast.
Maledorian was in a low crouch, waiting for the creature to charge. The Dahnaga was now totally focused on this possible threat. Its flat head moved, snakelike, from side to side before finally springing into the air. Front claws brandished for Maledorian’s head, pushing off powerful hind legs wit
h teeth bared, the beast lunged.
It looked as if it was going to land on top of the knight, but at the last moment, Maledorian ducked forward under the attack. His shoulder knocked its hind legs mid-air, sending the Dahnaga sprawling in the snow not far away. As a flowing motion from the step forward, Maledorian spun around and dived for the confused creature. He grabbed it by the sides of its flat head, trying to twist it so that the claws on its feet could not reach him. Writhing in the knight’s grip, the beast managed to drag one claw wickedly along his shoulder, ripping through the thick clothing and biting deeply into the flesh.
Maledorian showed not a flicker of pain on his blank face. He now had the beast in a formidable grip. The Dahnaga screeched in protest as the knight planted his boot in the middle of the beast’s back to keep it in place while he slowly pulled back the struggling creature’s head. Once he had it back as far as it would go, Maledorian jerked with a great amount of effort, and then with a sickening crunch, the creature drew its last breath.
Maledorian’s heart raced and his muscles ached but it was good to be alive. Running a hand through his tousled hair, he stepped over to his ward to retrieve his broadsword, wincing at the pain of his wound. Darci pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket so that she could try to stop the bleeding. With minimum fuss she managed to tie a tourniquet that would keep the wound safe until Lief could tend to it.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Maledorian,” she said.
The knight finally smiled. She had not seen him in any mood other than foul since the attack on the Elspeth, but somehow, the battle with the Dahnaga had broken through his feelings of remorse, lifting a burden off his shoulders. He could protect his ward, with bare hands if need be. No longer would he ever be caught off guard. He was going to be a great knight and he deserved to finally be given a quest of great importance.