The Ancient

EIGHT

To Prove a Point

The five-man craft drifted through the mist with hardly a sound other than the occasional flutter of the single sail in the slight breeze or the splash of water. Androosis sat forward, his long legs hanging over either side of the prow, which angled up high enough so that Androosis’s feet remained comfortably high above the water. At eighteen, he was more than ten years younger than the other Alpinadorans on the boat, three weathered helmsmen and the oldest of the group, the shaman Toniquay. No hair remained on Toniquay’s head, and his light skin was stretched thin with age and dotted with many brown spots, presenting an imposing appearance indeed, as if he had already gone into the grave and returned. The few teeth remaining in his mouth stuck at awkward angles and shined yellow, and the thin mustache he wore seemed no more than a shadow, depending on the light.

Another man curled against the aft rail, working the rudder and the sails, and the other two sailors sat in the middle of the fifteen-foot craft, just ahead of Toniquay. Each held a paddle across his lap, ready to assist at the command of the navigator.

Long lines stretched out behind the boat, each set with a multitude of hooks. The catch had been thin thus far, with only two rather small silver trout thrashing about in the many buckets in the flat hold between Androosis and the paddlers.

“Too calm a day,” said Canrak, the gnarled man working the rudder. Though he was not an old man-in fact, he was the youngest other than Androosis-his face was so wrinkled that it seemed as if someone had piled separate slabs of skin one atop the other in the shape of a head. Add to that a thick black beard that grew in places where it shouldn’t and didn’t grow in other places where it normally would, and Androosis thought the lean and gangly Canrak possibly the ugliest human being he had ever seen. Quite the opposite of Androosis, who, with his fair skin and yellow hair, had caught the eye of almost every young woman of Yossunfier. Tall and strong, with wide shoulders and a solid frame, Androosis also stood out as one of the more promising young warriors among the tribe, and that fact, he knew, had played no small part in Toniquay’s decision to carry him along on these long fishing excursions.

“She is calm and flat this day, but never too much so,” Toniquay replied. “Mithranidoon is a blessing, storm or still.”

He was replying to Canrak, but Androosis knew that the nasty old shaman had aimed those words his way. Toniquay knew well of Androosis’s friendship with Milkeila, and he had led the outrage against her those weeks before when she had dared suggest an expedition to the shores beyond Mithranidoon. Subsequent to Milkeila’s bold suggestion, it was no secret that the tribal elders had purposely carved up the tasks to keep the suspected conspirators apart. In fact some of those elders, like Toniquay, had been boasting of their wisdom quite openly. When the five had boarded the boat this morning, Toniquay had whispered to Androosis that “this is where you will learn the truth. Not in the wandering hopes of a young woman frustrated because she has found no willing lover among her peers.”

Androosis had let the ridiculous insult to Milkeila pass without response, something that still weighed on his proud shoulders. But he didn’t want a fight with Toniquay-certainly not! Because on Yossunfier, there could be no such fight. The structure of Androosis’s people, Yan Ossum, was akin to that of all the Alpinadoran tribes. Elders carried great weight and respect, with the older shamans being the top of the hierarchy, second only to the Pennervike, the Great Leader of Yan Ossum, himself.

“Do you believe that we are wasting our time out here, friend Androosis?” Toniquay asked, catching the young man off-guard. He turned to view the smug shaman, and found four sets of eyes staring hard at him.

“A time on Mithranidoon is never wasted, master,” Androosis obediently replied, and turned away.

“Well spoken!” Toniquay congratulated, and then in more solemn and dire tones he added, “Do you truly believe that?”

She felt the roiling lava far below her bare feet, but she did not summon it to her this day. For Milkeila had no duties to attend at that time and was utilizing her magical bond with the earth for no better reason than to remind herself of her powers-magical energy considered quite proficient among her shaman peers and elders. The woman needed that reassurance at this time, for she had seen Androosis board the boat with Toniquay that morning. Milkeila was no fool; she understood the significance of Toniquay’s unusual trip out to Mithranidoon.

A handful of Milkeila’s friends had joined her in shared fantasies of leaving Mithranidoon, a wanderlust sparked by the arrival of the Abellican monks three years earlier. To that point, none of them had even known that a wider world existed beyond the shores of Mithranidoon, not one inhabited by other men, at least.

It had mostly been idle chatter, of course, teenage restlessness. To Milkeila, though, there had run a string of honesty in that chatter. She wanted to see the wider world! Her relationship with Cormack had only strengthened that desire, of course, since it could never be an open marriage here on Mithranidoon-the elders, particularly surly Toniquay, would never allow such a thing!

The six conspirators had let the matter drop for more than a year and had relegated the plan to a far-distant place when Milkeila had surprised them all by reviving it only a couple of months previous.

The young shaman had recognized her mistake almost immediately. She and her friends were all coming of age now, soon to be celebrated as full adult members of Yan Ossum, and youthful fancies had been lost to more serious responsibilities. Milkeila held no doubts that at least one of the six, Pennerdar, had run to the elders with the news, and while the elders had not confronted her directly, she had noticed the extra glances, none favorable, Toniquay often tossed her way. Oh, but he had given her a fine glower that very morning, right before he had summoned Androosis to join him in the fishing.

“Androosis,” Milkeila mused aloud. The sound of her own voice broke her concentration and connection to the earth power far below. Of course it was Androosis singled out for Toniquay’s special trip onto Mithranidoon, for he alone had shown some interest when Milkeila had suggested a journey to the world beyond the lake.

Milkeila took a deep breath and unconsciously glanced to the southeast, toward Chapel Isle, fully obscured by the mists. With renewed focus the shaman reached deep into the hot powers flowing below the lake. She lifted her hand to fondle the secret gemstone necklace, seeking the added power there. A sense of urgency gripped her; if she could unlock the secrets of the stones, if she could find a way to blend their powers with her own, then perhaps she would find some answers to the questions she knew Toniquay would eventually throw her way.

The power tickled her but would not come true. She could not join the magic as she had joined her soul to Cormack. She spent many minutes straining until she felt the shaman magic flowing through her powerfully, begging for release as if it would simply consume her flesh and blood. At that moment of magical climax, Milkeila reached into the gemstones…

Nothing.

Earth magic burst from her form, a sudden and flashing gout of flame rushing out in a small circle around her. Several leaves curled and crisped, and wisps of smoke rose from the ground in the aftermath.

Milkeila stood there gasping, both physically and emotionally drained. She looked around at the circle of destruction and shook her head, recognizing that it was no more than she could summon at any time. She brought the gemstone necklace to her lips and kissed it, thinking of Cormack, of the promises they had shared. She knew in her heart that they were not so different, these religions of earth and gemstone. And she believed, as Cormack believed, that the greater answers lay in the joining, in the whole.

If ever they could get there.

Milkeila looked back out at the lake, in the direction where Toniquay and Androosis had gone, and her stomach churned with doubts and fear.

Androosis turned back to regard the man and started to respond but bit it back, seeing that there was no compromise here, that Toniquay was goading him into open admissions that could be used to further split apart the group of young conspirators. If Androosis answered correctly here, then no doubt Milkeila would feel the weight of that response. If he did not, Toniquay would use it as further proof that the young adults of Yan Ossum were running wild and contrary to the traditions that had kept the people thriving for generations untold.

So Androosis said nothing.

“Tend the lines,” Toniquay ordered him, not blinking an eye.

“They’ve nothing on them,” Canrak said from the back, but Toniquay still did not blink.

“Bring them in, then,” the old shaman said. “Let us learn if we can waste our time more productively.”

Androosis studied Toniquay for a long moment, and still the old and withered man did not blink. Did Toniquay ever blink? Would he die with his eyes wide, and remain like that through eternity under the cold ground?

Androosis moved deliberately, finally, past the sloshing trout and between the oarsmen. He purposely focused on the back of the boat as he passed Toniquay, for he could feel the shaman’s eyes boring into him, every step.

Canrak quietly laughed at him, but he ignored the fool-everyone on Yossunfier thought that one a fool-and methodically began hauling in the long lines.

Before they were even aboard, Toniquay motioned for the two men before him to dip their paddles. “Bring us right, half a turn,” the shaman ordered Canrak.

Canrak nodded and grabbed the rudder, but paused and looked at Toniquay curiously. “Half right?”

“Half right.”

“Yossunfier’s left and back.”

“Do you think me too stupid to know that?”

“No, elder, but…” Canrak stopped and licked his lips. “Half right,” he said, and turned the rudder appropriately, which presented an obstacle for Androosis as he hauled the long line to Canrak’s right. The young man moved outside the angle of the turned rudder, looking intently at the obviously disturbed Canrak all the while.

“Half right and bring us straight, and open the sail wide to the breeze,” Toniquay ordered. “And paddle, the both of you. Strong and straight.”

“We are not that deep,” Canrak dared say, but if Toniquay even heard him, he didn’t show it.

Canrak turned directly to Androosis then and gave a concerned look, but the young man, not nearly as experienced with the ways of Mithranidoon, had no response. He kept hauling, and tossed one or two sour looks back at Toniquay, who had his back to him and paid him no heed at all. This wasn’t about fishing, Androosis now fully understood. Toniquay hadn’t come out here to secure the day’s catch. This trip was about Androosis, wholly, and about the conspiracy of the young adults who so desperately wanted to get off this smothering lake.

Even so, the boat’s turn had Androosis surprised, as it had obviously unnerved the other three. Beside Androosis, Canrak licked his lips repeatedly and kept his hand tight on the tiller, obviously anticipating, and hoping for, Toniquay’s command to change course yet again.

But the shaman didn’t make a move or utter a sound, and the small craft glided through the mist. Canrak’s warning that they were “not that deep” echoed in Androosis’s thoughts.

A dark form loomed in the water, ahead and to port, a rock, prodding up like a signpost warning intruders.

“Holy Toniquay,” Canrak started to say, but was interrupted when the shaman said, “Androosis, to the front.”

“The line…” Androosis started to reply.

“Leave it, and go forward to watch our depth.”

Androosis scrambled past the old shaman and the two paddlers. He stumbled and knocked over one of the buckets, spilling water and a trout onto the flat hold. He started for the fish, but met the disapproving glare of Toniquay as he bent and thought better of it, practically falling all over himself to get back to the prow.

He leaned far over, putting his face near the water, trying to get an angle in the light that would give him the best view to gauge the depth. They weren’t that shallow at all, he realized to his relief, though another rock showed off to port, protruding several feet into the air above the water level.

He turned back to report such to Toniquay, and met the shaman’s bemused expression, the man pointing past Androosis, dead ahead.

When he looked forward again, Androosis understood-everything. Less than fifty running strides away loomed a dark and foreboding beach, sharply inclined and covered with black, sharp-edged lava rock. Just a short distance up and away from the steaming water, the rock mingled with fingers of ice and snow, creating a stark contrast of white and black, each segment of the mix appearing as hardened as the other. A few scraggly tree skeletons showed among the stones, but they hardly constituted a sign of life, seeming more like a warning, warding away any living thing.

The mist blew across Androosis’s field of vision, alternately thick and thin, and in a moment of clarity, he picked out among that desolate landscape a series of caves.

He knew this place for what it was, then, and he spun on Toniquay as if to scream an accusation.

“This is the destination of your dreams,” the shaman said. “This is the promise of foolish Milkeila. Look well upon the desolation.”

“This is one spot,” Androosis sputtered.

“Too close to the trolls,” the man paddling to Toniquay’s left quietly, almost inaudibly, remarked, and he lifted his paddle from the water and brought it across his lap. His companion did likewise, and both stared at the shaman eagerly, as if in anticipation of an order that would get them fast away from this dangerous place.

“There are many such spots,” the shaman retorted, ignoring the paddlers’ words, actions, and expressions. “And you would need to stumble upon just one to be slaughtered. Nay, you would not even have to find one to arrive swiftly at your grave, fool. We are not like our mainland kin. We have lost their ways of survival, as our blood has lost its thickness. As it has thinned from the warmth of Blessed Mithranidoon. I warn you now, with this fate clear before you, our patience…”

A splash in the water just to the north of their position interrupted Toniquay’s rant.

“Glacial troll,” Canrak warned, his knuckles white on the tiller, and the two paddlers stared hard at the shaman.

Another splash sounded. As he glanced fast over his shoulder, Androosis thought he caught some motion near the caves.

“Do you understand now, young one?” said Toniquay, trying hard to keep himself calm and collected, obviously. “You think this all a game, a play for excitement.”

“Holy Toniquay, we must be gone,” Canrak dared say, and the shaman spun about and glowered at him, even lifted a hand as if he meant to strike at the man.

But the paddlers weren’t waiting for the order any longer, and by the time the shaman turned back forward, they had already splashed their paddles into the water, the man to the right pulling hard, the one to the left reversing his motion, so that even without Canrak’s work on the tiller, they set the boat into a standing turn.

And Canrak did work the tiller to aid them, despite the look from Toniquay. Another splash sounded, then two more in rapid succession. It wasn’t about decorum or who was officially in charge. It was about simple survival.

Even the stubborn shaman seemed to understand that, for when he turned back fully, he did not berate the three, but kept his focus squarely on Androosis. “Mark you well the lesson of this day,” he warned, waggling a long and bony finger at the man.

The square sail fell limp for a long while as frantic Canrak finished the turn, then went to work on the ropes, but the paddlers fell into a swift and efficient rhythm, and the small boat began to move away from the shore into the safety of the mist. After a few moments they all began to breathe easier.

But then both paddlers jerked suddenly. One nearly went over the side before falling back into the boat, his hands empty, while the other put up a brief tug-of-war, hauling his paddle in with all his strength, so much so that he lifted the top half of the troll clutching the other end right out of the water. The Alpinadoran sailor screamed, but to his credit, he did not let go of the paddle-the precious and vital paddle!

Of course, that didn’t help any of them a moment later when a second troll speared out of the water, rising high into the air like a fish leaping for an insect. With tremendous momentum, it climbed up higher than the sailor holding the paddle, and as it descended, it grabbed him by the collar. Before the others in the boat could react, the sailor, the two trolls, and the paddle went over the side.

Androosis started for the spot, but stopped and spun about as another troll lifted into the air before the boat, angled to land on the prow. Androosis timed his heavy punch perfectly, catching the aqua-colored creature square on the jaw as it landed, and before it could gain any traction. The troll’s head snapped to the side as the young barbarian followed through with all his weight, driving the creature over the rail and back into the water. It thrashed about on the surface for a heartbeat, then dived down, and Androosis knew it would be back, leaping high once more.

He couldn’t wait for that. Behind him, the boat erupted in fighting as one troll after another flew up into the air and crashed down inside the hold.

Canrak and the other sailor flanked Toniquay, who held his hands up before him, his eyes closed as he issued an ancient chant to the barbarian gods. A trio of trolls pressed them hard, clawed hands changing strikes against the small knife of the paddler, and the gaff hook Canrak had collected before coming forward.

Androosis rushed back to join his companions, scooping up a water-filled bucket as he passed. He threw that bucket into the face of the nearest troll, who stumbled backward, and then Androosis closed fast to hit the beast with a left hook, smashing his hand against its chest and driving it over the rail. The creature grabbed at him desperately as it fell back, and caught Androosis’s strong arm with both its hands. It couldn’t get enough of a grip to resist the throw, but it did manage to hook its clawlike fingernails under the skin of Androosis’s outer forearm, and that skin peeled down as the troll fell away.

Androosis clutched at his bleeding forearm, but only momentarily as another troll leaped aboard. He met it with a heavy punch, but this one swung as well, and it carried a club. Fist and weapon came together hard, the barbarian’s knuckles shattering under the weight of the blow. He howled and retracted the hand, but went forward instinctively, lowering his shoulder to bowl into the creature before it could strike again with the club.

He and the troll tumbled to the deck, Androosis rolling fully atop the diminutive creature, freeing up his left hand for punch after punch, trying to get his hand past the troll’s flailing arms.

Toniquay tried hard to shut out the tumult around him and concentrate on his spellcasting. He called upon the ancient gods of his people, upon Drawmir of the North Wind, gathering the offered power in his hands as he put them up over his head and began moving them harmoniously in a circle. He opened his eyes when Canrak cried out in pain, and saw a spear stabbing through the navigator’s shoulder-and saw, too, yet another troll leaping high out of the water to the side of the boat. Its trajectory would have brought it crashing against Toniquay, but he reacted by thrusting his hands out in the troll’s direction, throwing forth the gathered wind.

The flying troll looked like it had been flung by a sling, suddenly reversing direction and spinning back out over the water. It landed awkwardly, with a great splash. Toniquay paid it no more heed, turning his attention to the more immediate fighting, and to the sail.

The sail.

The shaman worked his hands again, more quickly and less powerfully this time, and filled the sail with a conjured gust of wind, swiftly driving the boat out toward the deeper water.

He did it again, and a third time, but then he went flying forward as a troll sprang onto his back, clawing at his face and bearing him down to the deck.

Androosis finally got a punch cleanly through, smashing the troll’s face, and the back of its head cracked hard against the wooden deck. Clearly dazed, the creature slowed momentarily, enough for Androosis to set his broken hand below him and lift himself up. He reached back behind him with his free left hand, then let himself fall as he thrust out below him, throwing all of his weight behind the punch.

The troll’s long and crooked nose shattered under the weight of the blow, and the creature again cracked its skull against the boat’s decking.

Androosis rolled off, seeing that the creature was finished, and, now nursing two injured hands, stubbornly regained his footing.

Canrak was down, the troll above him stabbing repeatedly with its crude spear. The poor tiller flailed and blocked, both his arms torn and shredded, blood covering him. More blood than Androosis had ever seen. More blood than Androosis would have ever believed possible from one skinny man.

He shook off the shock and charged back, kicking the troll off of Toniquay as he passed. He stumbled as he went under the sail, but didn’t let that slow him as he threw himself at the spear-wielder.

Forgetting his more serious wound, he slapped a backhand with his right, trying to grab the weapon’s shaft, but a wave of agony assailed him and he couldn’t hang on. That cost him dearly as he came against the creature in his successful tackle, for it managed to extract the spear and angle it so that it caught Androosis on the right hip and drove down.

Fires of pain exploded all along that hip and down his leg, but again he ignored them, forcing himself to understand the consequences of failure here. He bore the troll to the deck and went into a frenzy, battering it with his hands and arms, driving his knee against it hard. He took as many hits as he gave, and the troll even lurched upward, trying to bite him.

Androosis merely tucked his chin in low and drove his forehead right at that biting mouth. He cut himself open on the troll’s sharp teeth, but he smashed the creature into oblivion in the process.

Toniquay’s cry startled him and turned him shakily about, just in time to see the troll he had kicked leap up against the sail, thrashing at it with clawed hands. Toniquay came in fast behind.

Too fast, for as he collided against the troll, it thrust forward and the shaman could not halt his momentum. Both he and the troll went through the sail, tearing the fabric as they went. They hit the deck hard and rolled apart, and the troll sprang up and rushed to the side, right over the side, taking with it the bulk of the sail!

Androosis and Toniquay exchanged horrified looks, and both started for the side rail, until the cry of the remaining paddler turned them back toward the prow, where the poor man was being hauled by a pair of trolls.

Toniquay turned fast and began waving his arms to summon his magic. But then he lurched and doubled over and grasped at the spear that had hit him in the gut.

Androosis staggered past him, but knew he would not get to his companion in time, and he could only gasp and look on helplessly as the two trolls and the Alpinadoran rolled over the prow and disappeared under the water.

Behind Androosis came another splash, and he turned to see that the troll he had smashed had also gone over. He slumped down next to Toniquay, saw the spear embedded in the shaman’s gut, and had no idea of how he might help the man.

A sudden jerk on the boat had him back to his knees, looking aft with concern at the long line he hadn’t completely brought in. He crawled to it and peered out, to see the paddler bobbing along behind them, apparently caught in the hooks. Androosis grabbed the line and began hauling the man toward him, but he knew before he got the poor man against the taffrail of the boat that he was too late. He grabbed the man by the shirt and half hauled him over, but as the man’s head lolled back, Androosis stared into wide-open, lifeless eyes.

Horrified and gagging on bile, Androosis dragged the man up higher on the rail. But he lost his grip and fell backward onto the deck and lay staring up at the sky. Beside him, Canrak whimpered pitifully, and amidships, near the mast and torn scraps of sail, Toniquay growled and grunted.

Androosis felt consciousness slipping away. He fought against it and lifted his head to regard the man half hanging over the back of the battered boat. He tried to reach out and grab the man, but he found that he could not, found that he was inexorably sinking backward to the deck.

He stared up at the sky, but he saw only blackness.