CHAPTER XVII
They were deep in the forest now and the trees were thick around them, but they came to a clearing. Dylan could see that the trees had been chopped down to make it and to make the small huts that were inside it. It wasn’t a big clearing but it was full of busy people. Some were carrying wood, some were cooking at a fire in the centre, others were sword fighting.
They got off their horses as they entered the clearing and two men came to take them away somewhere. Hallorn led them through the camp and just about everyone stopped and looked at them. Dylan felt a little uncomfortable as everyone, men and women, looked mean like fighters. But no one said or did anything and they reached a larger hut with two men standing guard.
“Hallorn,” one said. “You are all expected, go in.”
Inside the hut another smaller fire was burning and the smoke went out a hole in the thatched roof. The other side of the fire sat a big man in large furs. He looked up from the fire when they came in and Dylan could see he had long sandy coloured hair and quite a long beard.
“Well, well, look who we have here,” the man said in a deep voice. “The Shadow Ranger and the Defender of the Forest Way.”
“Hello again, Perr,” Mattaeus said.
“It’s been awhile, where have you been skulking?”
“Here and there.”
“Hmm,” Thunderground grunted. “And you Bell? How is the farming life?”
“It suits me.”
“Rubbish. You are a fighter not a farmer.”
“Things change, Perr.”
“And who is this rabble you bring to my camp?”
“This is Lucas; Connor and Dylan of the Shed and the Twin Magicians, Alura and Kaitlin and finally d’Gaz.”
“How do we go?” Lucas asked
“It is well with you all. My men have told me that you gave them passage, I thank you. Do sit,” and they sat on the logs arranged around the fire. “So, the Pirate d’Gaz, I have heard a lot about you.”
“Not all of it is true,” d’Gaz replied.
Thunderground gave a short laugh. “I know propaganda when I see it, Pirate.”
“Pirate no longer,” d’Gaz told him.
“It all gets more and more interesting, doesn’t it?”
“You have not yet heard the full tale, Perr,” Mattaeus said.
“Well what are you waiting for then?”
Mattaeus went through the story again as Thunderground listened silently.
“Fifth Worlders, huh?” he said looking at Connor and Dylan.
“How do we go?” Connor asked him and Thunderground laughed.
“Well, well, you are picking up our ways, I see. It is well, Connor of the Shed and with you Dylan.”
“Thank you,” Dylan replied.
“Enough with the pleasantries, I like your plan, well I like the idea of your plan,” Thunderground said. “It seems this is the one, best time we have to overthrow the Chinerthian hold, but it is of such magnitude, I cannot imagine doing it.”
“It is well spoken,” Bell said. “But we can only and must try.”
“Words it is good to hear you say, Protector, so what is it that you would have us do?”
“Firstly we need your help in freeing the True King,” Mattaeus explained. “Then you will need to go ahead, to lay plans and ease the way for the Foreshadow.”
“I will have to call Council with my troops; for now you should eat and rest.”
Ate they did and then sat around the fire in the middle of the camp. Mattaeus seemed to know people and went and talked while Dylan sat between Lucas and Bell listening to the conversations they were having with Stormclouds.
“Why does Thunderground have a last name and you don’t?” Dylan asked Bell.
“Well, in this world our second names are a description of who we are or what we do. So if your Father was well known in his town or village you might call yourself Connorson, ‘son of Connor’, so that everyone would know who you were.
“Take Lucas, his second name was Guardsman of the Mountain City, but now his job has changed so he is Lucas Protector of the Guardian.”
“That’s why you call us ‘of the Shed’.”
“Exactly.”
“So why is his second name ‘Thunderground’?”
“That I do not know; it is perhaps something better not to know.”
Dylan nodded and looked back into the fire. After a while Kaitlin brought him a hot drink.
“It will help you sleep and feel refreshed in the morning.”
“Thank you,” he took the drink and held it in his hands, the night was getting cold. She sat down next to him as Bell had left with Mattaeus to talk with Thunderground.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Fine, I guess.”
“It must all be very strange for you.”
“I guess,” he shrugged.
“It is strange for me too, this idea of fighting.”
“I thought you had fought before. With d’Gaz.”
“Alura more than I, she is a fighter, I am not.”
“But now we’ll have all these Stormclouds to help us.”
“Hopefully, yes, that will increase our chances.”
“Only hopefully? They might not help?”
“We cannot assume. It is a difficult path we choose to tread.”
“Then why do you?” Dylan just couldn’t see why anyone would choose to do this. If he could have chosen he would have stayed at home, not gone to war.
“The same reason we all are, we must find our Balance.”
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The next morning the sun was up when Dylan awoke. It must be about midmorning, he thought. The drink that Kaitlin had given him had really worked; he had slept long and felt really good, not sore and tired. He wondered if there had been magic in the drink, he didn’t like the idea of putting magic in his body.
He got up, dressed and went outside, the day was warm and flies buzzed around. In the trees birds sang and fluttered around. People were all talking in little groups, but the Foreshadow of Balance stood in another group and watched. Except Lucas who was standing there next to his door.
“What’s happening?”
“They are deciding whether they want to join us or not.”
“They just seem to be talking.”
“Well, yes, they are. Each talks with others he or she wants to talk to and then some who are higher up are going from group to group to see what they think.”
“Some people are higher up than others?”
“Come let us join the others, Bell or the Shadow Ranger can explain better than I,” and they walked over to the Foreshadow.
“Dylan is interested in the hierarchy here.”
“Well as I remember,” Bell said, “most of them are troops, called Rainmakers, then there is a smaller number of lieutenants called Lightningstrikes and then there is the chief, the Lord Stormcloud.”
Dylan laughed.
“What is it?”
“They’re pretty corny names.”
“I wouldn’t let them hear you say that,” Dad said and smiled.
“No, I guess not,” he blushed a little.
Dylan watched and, yes, he could see some men and women walking between the little groups. There were nods and shakes and words spoken, everything seemed quite polite and he thought you couldn’t really argue when you lived so close to each other. That was the same with the Foreshadow, they were too close to fight, it would ruin everything. But how could they not argue? How could they all believe the same thing, agree on everything? Once again everything just seemed too hard.
“They’re going in to see Thunderground,” Alura noted.
“Now we see how far our plan goes,” d’Gaz said.
It was not a good time for Dylan, waiting to see. What if they decided not to help? They wouldn’t give up, but everything was going to be much harder.
Last night he felt happy going to bed, maybe it was the drink, but he was sure that the Stormclouds w
ould join them. They fought the Chinerthians, why wouldn’t they try to stop them once and for all? But now they were talking about it, like they didn’t want to go, what else would they need to talk about? He felt a little sick in his stomach at the thought of carrying on without them now.
And then Hallorn came out of the hut and motioned for them to come over. The Shadow Ranger, Bell and d’Gaz entered the hut and again they were left to wait for a decision.
“I hope they say yes,” Dylan said.
“So do I,” Dad agreed.
“Well we set out to do this alone, if they say no we have not lost anything,” Lucas mused.
Bell came out and nodded for them to enter. Dylan felt like his heart was in his throat. Thunderground, Mattaeus and d’Gaz sat together, but none of the others sat down.
“It has been decided to join this Quest,” Thunderground said and Dylan nearly fell over with relief. “There are some here who do not want to join a war, they are used to living on the outskirts of society, but realize the importance of this time.
“They will go far and wide in this land to gather the True King’s troops together. The rest of us will go with you to free the True King and after that my elite ‘Strikes will follow me through the Portal ahead of the Foreshadow.”
“Thank you so much, sir,” Connor said.
“The Stormclouds do not know you, Guardian of the Shed, they do not do it for you, but for the Freedom of All, that is our sworn Oath.”
“I understand, but I’m still grateful to have the help.”
“Oh, Guardian, you are truly unaware of whom you have in your Quest,” Thunderground said. “You do not need our help; we give it for our Oath.”
“I don’t understand, who do we have on our Quest?” Dylan asked and looked around. He knew who was on his Quest, so how could they not know? Was there someone else?
“It is not coincidence that these people have gathered around you, young Guardian, it is some of the reason the Stormclouds have chosen as they have.”
Dylan looked at the people around him, but he still didn’t really understand.
“Right, so where are we going now?” Dad asked.
Thunderground gave a laugh. “Not so fast, Guardian, we need to prepare and I will not send my people out on such a Quest without a feast first.”
Connor wanted to say something, wanted to say that there wasn’t time for such things, but he was a stranger in a strange world and could not argue. He just wanted to get on with it, get it done one way or the other and get his son home.
“Let us prepare for the journey ahead,” Mattaeus said and stood.
They all walked out of the hut, but Kaitlin asked for a word with Thunderground. Dad looked back at her, but she waved him to go. Dylan wondered what was going on, wondered what was going on between his Dad and this Magician.
But she was nice, nice to him; he couldn’t be mean to her. But he, well, it just didn’t seem right. His Mum could be here somewhere, his Dad should think about that. What if they did find her and Dad was laughing with Kaitlin? That would hurt his Mum’s feelings. They had the Stormclouds now, they would understand if he and his Dad went to find his Mum.
Everything was busy in the camp now and there was no time to talk to his Dad who had already gone off with Bell. He sighed. Again nothing for him to do.
“What is wrong?” Lucas asked.
“Doesn’t matter, I guess.”
“Let’s practice sword fighting. You’ve learnt how to use a sword now.
“Why?” did they really expect him to fight?
“Just in case you need to defend yourself.”
“I have one here,” he said and pulled aside his coat.
“Well, I hadn’t noticed that, when did you get it?”
“Er, from Bell I guess. It was with the clothes you gave us?”
“I am not the sharpest tool in the box,” Lucas shrugged. “Let me show you a few actual fighting techniques.”
They walked to an empty area and Dylan started to pull his sword.
“Oh, no, not yet,” Lucas said and went to the edge of the forest and came back with two branches. He stripped the leaves off of them and gave one to Dylan. “First we practice with these so we don’t hurt ourselves. This is how my Father taught me.”
“OK.”