SciFi and Fantasy Stories: Terramorn 04: Chapter 4

      “Oh, yes! What about the woods?” asked Sabe, glancing at the darkening trees surrounding them. “Are they safe enough to spend the night?”
      Turning sharply to the right the horse headed straight towards the greenbelt. “Safe enough if you keep watch. Not as comfortable as the emperor’s stables, of course. Oohp! Watch it!” He jumped a particularly thick bit of undergrowth. Sabe’s back was beginning to ach every time Traevor clutched her over the jumps.
      “Aah! Ow.” There was a loud snap accompanied by a swear word. Traevor flung the offending branch out of the way and pulled bloody fingers back from the cut across his forehead. Hishra suddenly stopped short when Traevor uttered another word Sabe’s mother would not have approved of.
      “I beg your pardon, young sir, but however neglected your education might have been, do have the courtesy to curb such language in a lady’s presence.” Sabe suspected that the ensuing jolt was deliberate as Hishra resumed the delicate maneuvering through the woods. “As I was saying. So far as I know, lady Sabe, the woods ought to be safe enough if you keep watch during the night. I mean, of course there are always wild creatures and all, and there is the possibility of pursuit, but we don’t exactly have much choice do we? No, not really. So, ooph, sorry bout that. So, we might as well make do with what we have. At least here there are trees for shelter. Of course there are stories of strange creatures in mountain forests, but the Empire supposedly drove anything strange way out west long ago. Nothing strange in Terramorn anymore, at least not that I’ve ever seen.”
      “Excepting yourself, of course,” added Sabe. Hishra’s ears leapt back.
      “And just what are you implying, my lady?” He sounded rather miffed.
      “Well, I wouldn’t imagine that talking horses that can travel forty miles in half a day can be all that common.”
      Hishra’s ears tipped up slightly, and he tossed his head with a self assured wicker. “No, indeed. As far as I know, I am something of a mystery.”

      They made camp in the tiniest of clearings. It was little more than a bare patch between the boles of two spreading elms. The sun was now setting in earnest. Sabe gave up trying to tell Hishra to be quiet, and as it turned out, they picked up quite a bit about Terramorn by simply listening to him ramble on about the crazy Empire.
      They light a tiny fire in a hollowed out bowl in the ground, and ate a bit of the food left in the saddle bags. Between the two of them, they had figured out how to take off the saddle. It wasn’t all that different from the saddles on Earth, really. But then, how much different can you make a saddle, Sabe thought.
      Sabe took first watch. Hishra collapsed ungraciously on the forest floor and was asleep almost instantly. Traevor followed soon afterwards, slumping almost adorably into the crook of a tree trunk.

     The watch passed slowly enough. To pass the time Sabe continually stretched and re-stretched, and tried to keep her blood pumping. She tried not to look too hard at the horribly dark wood around them, and not to listen to Hishra’s mind numbing snores.
     Sabe was not afraid of the dark necessarily, but looking at it reminded her that this was not the comfortable wood outside her house on Earth. She really didn’t know what could be out there, and that thought did frighten her some. After she had built up their pitiful fire three times, she glanced up and noticed that above the softly fluttering leaves of the elms the strange constellations had changed completely. During their afternoon ride, she had decided that her watch was either broken, or time on Terramorn was different than earth. Sabe finally took it off when it said the time was half past one for the third time.
      She glanced over at Traevor. The strange boy actually looked rather sweet when he was sound asleep. This thought was completely shattered when she remembered his less than gentlemanly fighting skills. Traevor must have personally killed at least half a dozen, and brutally, if not fatally wounded nearly ten others. During the course of the day his mood had shifted rapidly between curiosity, bewilderment, and cold stoicism, leaving little clues to his true nature at all.
     Sabe sighed. Acknowledging that she both had little reason to trust this stranger, and that she was always too easy to trust others, Sabe found she already trusted him. Sabe knew that he really needed the rest, but he’d likely be more upset if she didn’t wake him.
      “Traevor,” she said lowly, crouching next to him. “Traevor, it’s time.” She reached out to touch his shoulder. Something tickled the back of her mind and she looked back over her shoulder at the wood. It was still and quiet. Hishra’s breathing was deep and slow, which Sabe took for a good sign, as she had always understood horses to have much clearer senses than humans.
      Slowly Sabe turned back to Traevor. “Traevor,” she whispered again, lightly poking his shoulder. Sabe almost shrieked out loud when he twisted over rapidly and grabbed her out-held wrist. In one swift movement he pushed her on her back and pinned her to the ground.
      “Whoa! Ouch, watch it, Traevor!” she said harshly. She tried to sit up, but as Traevor had both her arms and her torso pinned, her attempts had little success. “Let go of me.” The blue eyes blinked at her for a second, as though confused. Then he smiled.
      “Tsk, tsk! You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that,” he winked and rolled off her.
      “Thanks,” she answered sarcastically. “How about next time I throw a rock at you?”
      “Fine with me.” He walked over and began to poke at the flames, trying to hide an enormous yawn.
      Sabe sat down by Hishra, being careful not to wake him. “Well,” she said, “Good luck, I’ll see you in the morning.” Traevor nodded.
      Just as she closed her eyes Sabe got the feeling she was being watched. She sat bolt upright and stared at the forest, willing herself to see what was watching her. She glanced at Traevor. He looked up questioningly from the stick he was lighting on fire.
      “Do you sense anything?” she whispered at him. He scanned the forest line, straining his ears to hear anything.
      “Well, there’s some kind of bird or something in a bush over there,” he whispered back.
      “No,” she said, “not that. Something else, or someone.” Sabe pushed herself up into a crouch, and peered into the gloom around them. Traevor looked around skeptically.
      “Sabe, I don’t see anything.”
      “There’s something there I know it!”
      An old crackled voice croaked out. “If you mean me, girly, you’ll have to do better than that.” Their tiny fire suddenly flared up, chasing the night shadows out of the tiny clearing. Startled by the blaze the two were even more surprised to see a stranger sitting next to it. Squatting beside the fire was a small, ancient woman. The red fire light threw her impossibly wrinkled skin in to sharp relief. Long gray hair was pulled stiffly to the back of her head, but wisps stuck out in a silver frame around the woman’s face.
      “Dahg!!” cried Sabe, jumping up and away from the figure. “Who are you?”
      The woman eyed the two youths, and cracked a dry smile. “he eh! I could ask you two young’uns the same question. Wanderin’ round my forest at night, bringin’ soldiers after ye and smelling up the whole wood with smoke! Who be yous two, that’s my question? An’ ye’ll be telling me that ‘afore I tells you anything meself.”
      “Our fire didn’t make that much smoke!” protested Sabe. “It’s tiny! Or it was. It doesn’t smell that much. You can’t even see it from the road, I’m sure.” The old woman laughed. It was a rasping sound, like an autumn wind shuffling leaves over the ground.
      “The road, is it, me dear? Ye think all tha’ could be chasin’ ya would be on the road, now? Why every family o’ squirrels for miles ‘round ‘as been comin’ this night tellin’ me a wild tale of fire in my wood! Fire! Forest creatures can smell that smoke much further away than ye’d dream, deary. An’ not all o’ them are as friendly as my squirrels, let me tell you!”
      Sabe had nothing to say to that and it unnerved her. She opened her mouth a few times but nothing came out.
      “Just who are you?” Traevor demanded. He, at least, seemed to still have his voice. She cackled again.
      “Like I told ye, I’ll no be tellin’ you who I be until I knows good an’ sure yous no be spies from the Shazza.”
      “Shazza?” asked Sabe. “What’s a ‘shazza?’” The woman’s eyes widened.
      “Yous no be from around here’s, aint’ it the truth?” She leaned forward and squinted at them across the fire. Her piercing gaze swung from Sabe to Traevor and back twice. “Aye, yous no be from ‘round heres. An’ if’t be sos, an’ you don’ know whats a Shazza ain’t no ways ye can be they’s spies.” She nodded sharply as if to punctuate the statement.
      “We’re not spies,” said Traevor, “for anyone.”
      “Heck,” said Sabe, “we don’t know anyone!” The woman nodded again, though her eyes were still not entirely trusting. “So,” persisted Sabe, “what’s a shazza?” She couldn’t be certain, but Sabe thought she saw the woman chuckle.
      “A Shazza be a wizard, more sorce’er like,” she kept her eyes glued on the two youths as she spoke, still slightly suspicious. “Yous two knows ‘bout the soldiers, das fer shur. Do yous also know bout the empe’er?” They shook their heads. The woman sighed. “Weel, the ol’ empe’er o’ the Misque Empyre a’ been the one destroyed many a nation to bring it back under the ‘Ol’ Empyre,’ he says. Though, the Ol’ Empyre were full o’ nuthin’ but free folk and none o’ these tyrannical, blundering, straw brained fools the empe’er has harrangin’ the commons.” She spit into the forest, as if getting a bad taste out of her mouth. “T’would none o’ it worked though, but for the Shazza, and a mighty powerful one at that. Don’ suppose neither a’ yous would’s noticed, but they earth quakes an’ fire weren’t natural, not by no long how!”
      “Wait!” said Sabe suddenly as memory dawned on her. “I remember, I think I saw him!” The woman’s eyes widened. Traevor, too, was looking at her in surprise. “He was up on the cliff behind the city…the City of the Southern Mountains? Yes, that was it! And the clouds, the way they came in like that.” She brought her hands together in a shrinking circle. “And when it started…” she lowered her hands, “I could hear him laughing…” her voice trailed off. They were both staring avidly at her, and it made her nervous.
      “You could see the workings of the Shazza?” asked the woman, crawling closer. “What be your name, child?” she asked.
      “Sabe,” she answered. “Sabe O’Kyian.” The woman’s eyes turned inward for a moment. Then she nodded.
      “Aye, that be a good name. In every language I know it means something good.” She continued to peer closely at Sabe. Reaching out a thin, tight claw the woman motioned for Sabe to come sit before her. “Come here, child.” Sabe slowly walked around the fire, after a nervous glance at Traevor, and sat in the dirt in front of the old woman. The woman placed her hands on Sabe’s face. She removed Sabe’s glasses and Sabe found herself trying not to blink as the now unfocused face leaned close to study her.
     Finally, releasing her, the woman sat back. “Boy,” she watched Sabe nervously replace her glasses and scoot further back, “come here.”
     Still eyeing her darkly Traevor stepped forward. “An’ you can put that there blade ‘way where’t belongs.” Traevor reluctantly slid the blade back in to its hidden sheath strapped to his calf. The woman chuckled. “Eheh! That’d be no use ‘gainst me anyways.” She gently pulled Traevor down next to Sabe. The small, penetrating eyes of the old woman scanned the boys face, taking in every detail, and then came to rest on his uncertain, skittish gaze. “What be your name boy?” she rasped.
     “Traevor.”
     “Traevor? Traevor…” Traevor shied away from her brown hands as they reached up for his temple. The old woman instantly dropped one hand to grasp his wrist and hold him under her measuring glare. Frowning, she leaned even closer and said “Yous two aint’ from no where’s in Terramorn, aye?” She glanced over at Sabe, who nodded. “Tell me, Traevor, what business ‘ave ye in Terramorn?”
      For a second Traevor’s eyes flickered in surprise, but it might have been merely a flicker of the firelight. “That is my own business and no one else’s,” he said coldly. The woman’s eyes darkened.
      “It do be my business, boy.” Sabe saw her hand tighten on Traevor’s wrist. “This be my home, and it’ll not be the first time strangers ‘ave come ‘ere…nor the first they brought no good will neither. I will be answered. Why ‘ave you come here, Traevor?”
      Though his face did not alter in the slightest, Sabe felt that his mood was becoming very dark indeed.
      “I don’t know,” he answered at last.
      “You killed the enemie's soldiers,” the woman said levelly. “Tha’ makes a statement. They will hunt you, are hunting you, boy. What will you do?”
      Traevor jerked his arm out of her grasp and backed away from her.
     “Why do you care? You didn’t ask her any questions.” Traevor nodded at Sabe.
     “There be no need to ask her anythin’,” the woman responded. “She don’ hide nothin’. I’s all written right there in ‘er face fer all ter see.” The wrinkled face turned towards Sabe. The deep, wild eyes looked right into Sabe’s head, eyes that saw things Sabe had never thought could be seen, eyes that saw, and knew. “Tha’s what innocence an’ as’urance’ll do fer ya. You, boy, on t’other hand, keep et all in ‘ere,” she poked a gnarled finger into the rough frock over her chest. “You won’ be telling nobodies what you be feelin’ or why, an’ you’ll hide it if ye can.
     “But, now I be needin’ ter know, an’ you, Traevor, be needin’ me ter know. I can’ help yous if I can’ trust yous, and if’n you aren’ siding wi’ the Emperor than yous be needin’ my help.”
     The look on Traevor’s face was quickly changing from cautious, to stubborn, to dangerous. “What exactly is it that you want to know? I told you I don’t know why I’m here.”
     “What I be needing’ to know, is what side you be on. If you don’ give yerself to them soldiers and join wi’ the Empe’er an the Shazza, then you won’t never be safe nowheres in Terramorn.” After a pause, she glanced sharply at Sabe. “I assumes that you realize dat they be huntin’ fer you too, Sabes.”
      Sabe nodded acceptingly. She wasn’t sure how this news affected her.
      “I would have fought them anyway,” she said. “Other than just facing facts, I don’t really see that knowing all this would have changed what we did, and as to the future it only prepares us for what we’d have to do anyway.”
      “And that would be?” prompted Traevor, looking testly.
      “Traevor, are you honestly going to walk out there and say, ‘here I am, take me?’ After that you know they’d never leave you alone and they’d make you tell them everything you know, which at the moment includes only me, but still. I think,” she looked over at the woman for assurance, “that what our friend here wants to do is help us run from them. I mean, what else can we do right now? In order for us ever to be safe anywhere, we’ll half to depend on other people, who will in turn probably be risking a lot themselves to help us.”
      “That is true.” The woman. She looked again at Traevor again, testing, questioning, imploring, him to trust her. Then she sighed and hunched forward over her knees.
     “Well, boy, whatever the result, it do be in Chaddaih’s ‘ands, not mine.” She nodded as if a large matter were resolved. “I be Katchana. Since the time of the old king Elhorai I ‘ave lived heres in the trees, and learned all tongues but the Black, e’en those o’the beasts an’ the birds. And I no think yous be spies for nobodies I no like.”