Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (74 page)

             
“Yes, I remember that but I don’t remember you mentioning anything about seeing with it.”

             
Thane forced a chuckle. “Is that what I said? I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well. I meant, you know, that she told me, on the wind.” Thane turned his face back to the ground in mock queasiness so as not to have to look Jack in the eyes.

             
“What is wrong with you anyway?”

             
Thane turned his face back relieved that the direction of the conversation had changed. “I don’t know. Must have been something I ate.” Jack lent an arm as Thane gently pushed himself up into a sitting position. “I’ll be all right, really. We need to get going now, though. If those trolls burrow down into those mountains, we may never find Tam again.”

             
Jack turned and looked to the west and the mountain range looming on the horizon. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Thane.”

             
Thane stood up with effort trying to ignore the pain that shot through him. “Why do you say that?” he asked, following Jack’s gaze.

             
“Those are the Mogolth Mountains.”

             
“So?”

             
Jack turned back to him, lines of worry etched across his bearded face. “Trolls are frightened of the Mogolths. They normally wouldn’t come within twenty miles of it.”

             
“So why then are they going
into
them?”

             
Jack turned a worried scowl back to the mountains beyond. “I don’t know. But, I intend to find out.” Jerking around he suddenly spat “Are you well enough to ride?”

             
Thane nodded weakly trying to convince himself that he actually was.

             
“Good. If we ride hard, we should reach Haykon by nightfall. Then we can find out more about what is going on.”

             
Thane passed on the morning meal busying himself instead with gathering the horses and loading them up to leave. His body still ached all over making movement difficult and uncomfortable but not impossible. Luckily, the nausea had subsided completely taking the dizziness with it. That didn’t stop his head from pounding like a drum though. Jack settled on a couple of hard biscuits from his pack and washed them down with cold water from a nearby stream before filling their water pouches and lending Thane a hand.

             
Thane tried unsuccessfully to trap the groans that escaped his mouth when Jack helped him into his saddle.

             
“Are you sure you can ride?”

             
Thane only nodded afraid of what might come out were he to speak.

             
Jack shook his head but said nothing and then easily jumped up onto the back of his own horse while still holding the reins of the third.

             
Suddenly, Thane grabbed his arm. “Did you hear that?”

              Jack looked around quickly. “What?”

             
“Like a yell.” Thane pointed behind them. “Over there.”

             
Jack strained to pick up any unusual sound but was only greeted by the brush of the wind past his ears. Just then, a faint shout rang out far off in the direction Thane had indicated accompanied by two small, dark images moving quickly through the grass towards them.

             
“Erl?”

             
Jack squinted his eyes trying to coerce them to see as far as Thane’s.

             
“It is Erl,” Thane confirmed. “But what’s he chasing after?”

             
Jack glanced at him with a perturbed look. “Got me. I can’t even make out which one is Erl from this distance.” Jack shrugged. “He’s probably just catching his breakfast. He’ll catch up later. Come on, let’s get going.”

             
Thane kept staring as another shout touched his ears. “Wait a minute. It’s...can it be?”

             
“Can it be what?” Jack insisted growing irritated.

             
“DOR!” Thane suddenly yelled causing his horse to shy back.

             
“Dor?” Jack swung his head back in the direction of the two approaching figures. Sure enough, Dor came flying through the grass yelling and screaming, his arms flailing in the air while Erl trotted behind nipping at his heals. Before Jack could say anything, Thane had his horse at a dead run quickly closing the gap between them.

             
“Dor!” Thane cried.

             
“Get this thing away from me!” he cried in return. Paying the two Chufa boys no further attention, Erl continued on past and into Jack’s waiting arms.

             
“I thought you weren’t coming back,” Thane said lightly suddenly avoiding his gaze.

             
“What?” Dor flushed. “Why, of course I was. I just wanted to get a good look at the woods once more. When I came back, you had already left. I tracked you until about a mile back when that huge ball of teeth and fur found me and started chasing me.”

             
Thane looked at his friend knowingly. Searching his eyes, he could see none of the mistrust or anger that had been there two nights previous. Only the devious twinkle that was Dor’s personality mingled with a slight hint of sadness remained. Thane sighed in relief. “Well, I’m glad you found us.” Quickly looking down his mood changed in a breath. “Dor, I’m...”

             
“No, Thane,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry.”

             
Thane’s face split into a grin and all the inner pain seemed to melt away into a huge smile. “You should have seen yourself,” he chuckled, “with Erl chasing behind you like that and you running and yelling like a girl.”

             
Dor took on an indignant look of mock anger. “Why, that thing almost ate me!”

             
Thane laughed heartily and was quickly joined by Dor.

             
Jack and Erl trotted up and abruptly ended their moment of mirth. Dor eyed the HuMan carefully locking his dark eyes suspiciously upon the sword on his hip and the wolg at his side. Jack stood silent under the scrutiny waiting for Dor to make up his mind while Erl just flopped to the ground, as if bored with the whole thing, and started licking the blood from his jowls that was left over from breakfast.

Thane suddenly felt his head spinning again, threatening to close in on him, when he realized he was holding his breath. Forcing himself to exhale, he also remained silent and still, knowing that this was between his two friends. He realized that nothing he could say or do would change anything between them. It was up to Dor. Only he could bridge the gap.

              After long moments of silence, Dor’s face softened into a smile. “Eelo Geenok Kusheeno.”

             
Thane stepped up quickly. “That means I’m sorry.”

             
“I know what it means,” Jack interrupted with a scowl not taking his eyes off of Dor. “Don’t you think I pay attention when you teach me that heathen language of yours?”

             
Thane closed his mouth with a snap.

             
“Lan Cho Cheelo CheeloNok No Cho PoShono Chee Deyneeshi Jhikir,” Jack responded before turning to Thane with a satisfied grin. “Which means, ‘Let the dreams of the night vanish with the sun’.

             
Thane’s mouth dropped open.

             
“I told you I listened.”

             
Thane’s hanging jaw quickly curled into a grin. Such a statement to the Chufa meant that all that may have happened before was like a dream, which is forgotten when one wakes to a bright new day. Dor’s smile widened as he clasped Jack’s outstretched hand, the HuMan way of forgiving and forgetting.

             
“Now that that has been settled,” Jack said, a serious and urgent edge touching his voice, “we’d better get going.”

             
Thane only nodded. Retrieving Dor’s mount from Jack, he quickly explained what he had discovered while his Chufa friend climbed ungracefully onto the horse’s back. When Dor pressed for how they knew such things, Thane spoke quickly trusting that Jack would not be able to understand their language at such speeds. “One of Jack’s men reported it to us.”

Sensing they were finished, Jack turned his horse about and all three kicked their mounts into a quick run across the open prairie toward the looming Mogolth Mountains. Dor was at first
clumsy with his horse but seemed to settled into riding the great beast a lot quicker than Thane had.

The terrain didn’t change through the morning remaining
an open grassland with an occasional rise and completely carpeted with tiny yellow flowers. Thane was struck by the beauty of it all.  The cascading wind brushing through his long, black hair seemed to take with it the pain in his head while relaxing his muscles and relieving some of the aching that had overwhelmed him earlier.

             
As the sun approached its peak in a cloudless sky, the riders overtook a road that turned with them heading almost due west. “This is the road from Calandra to Haykon,” Jack supplied. “The Corrin River intersects it not too much further ahead. We’ll stop there for a quick meal.” Thane nodded and then translated for Dor.

             
“I’ll be glad to get off of this Mother cursed beast and back onto my own feet,” Dor added.

             
Before Thane could reply, Jack burst into a deep, rumbling laugh and in almost perfect Chufa replied, “I’m sure your horse feels the same way.”

             
Thane stared at him in shocked amazement.
He has been paying attention.

             
Just after the sun reached its zenith in the clear, blue sky the riders came to a narrow bridge spanning the high runoff waters of the Corrin River. The bridge was just barely wide enough for one horse drawn cart to cross to the other side. The river was not very wide at this point, being so close to the mountains that fed it. Wild flowers, in a sweep of rainbow colors crowded the edges while clumps of willow trees stood back stretching their roots to drink the life giving waters. A gust of wind swept down from the north out of the snowcapped mountains forcing the three riders to pull up their cloaks against the chill.

             
Jack took the horses down near the river for a drink while Thane and Dor unloaded a meager lunch of roots and hard cheese. “I’m glad you decided to come back, Dor,” Thane said quietly, keeping his eyes secured to the cheese he was cutting.

             
Dor plopped unceremoniously down beside him and grabbed a piece. “What,” Dor replied with a chuckle, “and let you go out and have all the adventure yourself? This is what we’ve been yearning for since we were a mere four cycles.”

             
Thane looked up and smiled weakly at his friend. “I only wish that Tam wasn’t involved like she is. I never really thought about it before.”

             
“About what?”

             
“What being a Protector really means.”

             
Dor grabbed another piece of cheese and wrapped it around a radish. “What are you talking about?”

             
“The need for Protectors means that someone is at risk; that their lives are in danger. I’ve always wanted to be a Protector because of the excitement and glory of it. There really isn’t any of that when someone you care about is in danger.”

             
Dor swallowed with a grimace. “You’re right Thane, but that doesn’t take away the necessity of having Protectors. That’s like wishing for the stars to quit shining. Without us, our loved ones would die for sure. With us, they have a chance at happy lives.”

             
Thane put away his knife and bit into a piece of cheese without really tasting it. “I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make it any easier on Tam.”

             
Dor looked at his friend knowingly. “Don’t do this to yourself, Thane. It’s not right. You can’t keep blaming yourself for anything and everything that goes wrong in this world. Tam and I are out here because we care about you. Now, you and I are here because we care about Tam. We’ll get her back. Now, whether you want to help or not is up to you, but you aren’t going to do us any good trying to carry everyone’s problems around on your shoulders. Tam’s life can’t afford the luxury of such distractions. We do the best we can with what we have and what we’ve learned and then leave the rest in the care of TehraMae.”

             
Thane looked at his hands trying to hold back the tears that were welling up inside. Dor was right. He had to let go of all the weight he carried. He had to do his part
because
he cared.