The Guided Journey (Book 6) (26 page)

“Who are you?  Where did you come from?” Hampus asked in astonishment.

“Never mind,” the woman said.  She knelt next to Kestrel, peering at him intently, then she placed her hand over his heart, and when she did, her hand and his whole body began to glow with a pure, white light.

His eyes popped open, he stared at her intently, and the glow faded away.

“My goddess,” he said softly.

“You can think of me as your aunt if you want to,” she smiled at him gently.

“Thank you for being here.  Thank you for your help,” he told her.

“You did the work yourself,” she replied.

“What was that thing?” he asked her.

“I don’t know, my child,” she answered.  “I don’t know,” she repeated.   “This must have something to do with the silence of the human gods.  If they’ve stirred something up and haven’t told us, there’s going to be a heavy bill to pay,” she muttered angrily.

“You be careful.  It came here looking for you.  It got more than it bargained for though, I’d wager,” Kere told Kestrel.  “We will stay in touch,” she told him.  She reached her hand over and squeezed his, then vanished from the side of the spring.

“Impossible!” Raines said, as she climbed out of the water, her eyes focused on Kestrel, her own nakedness forgotten, of no importance in the extraordinary moment.  “Was that a goddess?” she asked.

“It was,” Kestrel raised himself up onto his elbows, and looked around.   The imps were still in the water, oblivious to the events that had just occurred.  Putienne lay unconscious on the ground nearby, a victim of the strange entity.

“
Let’s carry the yeti over to the water,” Kestrel suggested, feeling surprisingly good after having just fought the challenging battle with the otherworldly opponent.

“What’s happening?” Hampus asked.  “Was that Kere, our goddess?” he asked.

“That was Kere,” Kestrel agreed.

“We are in a dream or a nightmare,” Orren said.  “Yetis, imps, and now monsters and elven goddesses – I never thought I’d know anything like this.   I’m not sure I want to,” he added, as he rose and followed Kestrel to help put the yeti in the healing water.

“I never thought I’d meet a goddess,” Hampus said wonderingly, as he too helped move the heavy creature to the waters of the spring.

They wrestled Putienne into the water, and then Kestrel sat on the shore beside the unconscious yeti, letting his body respond to the fear he felt at being hunted by a powerful, supernatural enemy.  He shivered, then felt Raines place an arm around his shoulder.  She had discreetly pulled her clothes on, and now was trying to comfort him.

“You fought that thing!” she said.  “You used great powers – you’re more than just an ordinary man, or elf,” she thoughtfully appended.

“No one better could have saved us from the evil in the mine,” Orren agreed, sitting on Kestrel’s other side.  “Was this the same evil power?  Was it Krusima after all?”

“I don’t know Orren.  I couldn’t tell.  This was much stronger than the evil in the mine,” Kestrel considered the question.  “I don’t think I really beat the evil this time, and I had the power of the spring to help me here.  I couldn’t have fought like that on my own.  I don’t have that much power.”

“But you do have powers, Kestrel,” Raines reminded him.   “Great powers, plus an enchanted knife, a yeti and imps and I don’t know what else.  Oh, and a goddess who watches over you personally!”

Putty started to revive at that moment, raising her head and looking about, wild-eyed.  She flailed an arm and stood up in the water, ready to fight the opponent that had attacked her.

“Putty, calm down!” Kestrel urged her as he and the others scrambled back from the water, seeking a safe distance out of the yeti’s reach.  “The fight is over!”

The wet creature stared around, then gave a plaintive sound.

“You did well.  Thank you for helping,” Kestrel told her.

“We should go wake up the imps and leave this place,” Kestrel told the others.  For the first time, the spring no longer felt like a safe haven, a retreat he could always go to for comfort and rest.  That atmosphere of security had been shattered by the arrival of the red entity.

He went across the spring and raised the numerous imps from the water.

“Kestrel-friend!  I had such dreams about you fighting!” Mulberry said, the first imp Kestrel roused.  “I had many good dreams, but then the dreams changed suddenly to show you fighting a monster, right here at the spring!  Never have the spring waters given me such terrors before,” she told Kestrel with agitation in her voice.

“Those were more than dreams, Mulberry-friend,” Kestrel replied.  “A thing of evil came here and attacked me.  The spring gave me the power to fight it, but the evil one was terrible, and I do not know what it was, or where it went.”

Other imps reported the same unpleasant experience as they awoke, and Kestrel came to realize that the spring had broadcast his story to all the imps who had been present and resting in the water.

“We fear for you, great warrior,” Stillwater said, as the last of the imps began to recover from their time in the water.  “That enemy we saw is one that we do not understand.  We see that it has terrible power, but we do not know its weaknesses.

“Our own god spoke to us!  He told us to be your strength.  What does that mean?” Acanthus asked.

“I’m not sure,” Kestrel said.  “But it sounds comforting.  Your people have been my greatest strength before,” he gave as much of a smile as he could.

“He spoke to me too,” Mulberry said.  “He said that the evil one was looking only for you; he could feel it’s hatred for you, and it’s fear of you.”

“Do you not know why it was hunting you?” the imp asked.

“I do not, my friend,” Kestrel replied.  “I will watch out and be careful, and ask the gods for help and information,” he said reassuringly.  “They have always been my friends.”

“And rightly so,” Stillwater said.

Minutes later, the group of travelers was assembled together, and the uneasy imps circled overhead, looking about in the darkness for any sign of further danger.

“Where do you wish for us to take you, Kestrel-friend?” Stillwater asked.

Kestrel looked around at the group.

“Hampus and I have to go to Kirevee, in the Northern Forest, to see the elves there; there’s no point in traveling any further by foot or boat, so I’d ask you to take us directly there.  I want Putienne to come with us,” he spoke, knowing that he would have to deal with the issue of the yeti’s presence at the court and the complications it would cause.

“I cannot speak for the humans,” he told the imps.  “Let me ask them what they wish to do.”

He repeated his report to Raines and Orren.  The two humans looked at one another.

“May I travel with you to this elven kingdom?” Raines asked.  “There’s nothing for me to go back to in Narrow Bay.

“Is there harm for me to travel to the elven kingdom with you?” she asked.

“There will be no harm.  The Northern elves see humans as often as folks in Narrow Bay see elves, I imagine.  You will not know the language,” Kestrel slowly advised.  “It may not be the best place for you to stay in the long term, but for the next few days, it would be good.”

“If Raines is going, may I go too?” Orren asked.  “That way she will not be the only human there.  It would be better for her to have someone who she can talk to, I think.”

Kestrel smiled.  “Of course you may come as well,” he said.

He relayed the report to the imps that all would be traveling to the Northern Kingdom, and the imps descended to surround their passengers, as Kestrel closed in on Putty to travel with the yeti once again.  Moments later they left the dark, quiet setting of the healing pool, where the twinkling stars reflected silently off the surface of the waters that had been troubled by the appearance of evil.

Chapter
25 – At Kirevee

The group arrived atop the roof of the tall apartment building that Kestrel had stayed in during his previous visit to Kirevee.

“Where are we?” Raines asked loudly, as the steady winds at the high altitude whispered in all their ears and the windmills slowly turned.

“Stillwater, thank you to you and all your companions for the assistance tonight, and my apologies for the troubles that interrupted your dreams,” Kestrel said formally to the imps, preparing to release them from their service.

There was a murmur among the imps.

“We do not hold you responsible for the evil, of course, friend Kestrel,” Stillwater replied.

“Though I have no doubt we could find something you are guilty of,” Mulberry’s voice sounded from the back of the floating pack.

“You will be careful, and call us if you need our assistance, I’m sure,” Stillwater said.

“If you don’t, I’ll come punish you myself,” Mulberry said.

“She really does care about me, doesn’t she?” Kestrel asked the assembled imps, drawing a ripple of appreciative titters.

“Kestrel-antagonizer!” Mulberry screeched.

“Farewell,” a chorus of imps called, and then they disappeared, so that only one imp remained three seconds later.

“Be careful Kestrel-friend,” Mulberry said, drifting closer to her elven charge.  “That nightmare was frightening, so very frightening.  Call me first when you need help!” she insisted.

“Unless it is help with your love life, of course,” she added after a pregnant pause.  She leaned forward and kissed his nose, then vanished.

Kestrel stood, bemused.

“What do we do now?” Orren asked.

“We go downstairs, and we’ll go to see my friend, Lord Ripken,” Kestrel answered.  “I hope that we’ll be able to stay at his home tonight,” he answered, then he translated his plan for Hampus.

“So this place – this great building – is a part of the elven kingdom?” the other elf answered in wonder.  “We do not build things like this in the Eastern Kingdom,” he noted.

Kestrel began to lead the group around the churning windmills, then through the door that led into the attic space, the upper floor of the tower, where pulleys and cables and gears powered the lifting devices of the building.

“No,” Hampus repeated, “there’s nothing remotely like this in the Eastern Forest.  It’s like we’re from a different race.”

“Not so completely different,” Kestrel assured him.  “But they do talk with a different accent than we do.  Faster – they’ll clip the end of one word off so that they can get to the next one quicker, it seems.

“But the accents are nothing compared to what we’re about to do!” he grinned, as he stopped in front of the improbable mechanical lift that provided transportation up and down the tower.

“Watch what I do, but don’t try to copy me yet,” Kestrel told his audience in two languages.  He eyed Putienne speculatively, making the yeti cock her head inquisitively in return.  She continued to grow, but she wasn’t too large to fit on th
e lift, he decided.  “Stay here; I’ll be right back,” he said, then he stepped into one of the descending compartments, grabbed hold of the passing netting as he stepped into the tube, and disappeared from the view of his friends on the eighteenth floor.  It was easy, not nearly as intimidating as it had seemed the first time he had tried it – though Lucretia’s bold personality had contributed to his nervousness then as well.

He hopped off moments later on the seventeenth floor, stepped over to one of the rising tubes, and rose back up.

“This is faster and easier than climbing stairs,” he assured all his companions, using both languages.

“You really just ride inside that to go to places?” Orren asked dubiously.

“Try it,” Kestrel urged.  “Ride down one floor and hop off on the floor below this one, then just wait for the rest of us to come along.”

The two humans looked at one another.

“You two could ride together if you’d feel safer,” Kestrel suggested.  “That’s what I did the first couple of times I rode it.”

“Let’s try it,” Orren urged Raines.  He stepped over to one of the tubes and looked back at her.

“You think we can do it?” she asked, timidly.

“Here, take my hand, and we’ll step on together,” Orren suggested, holding his hand out to her.

“Put your feet up and step on it before it reaches the floor level, then just step in and hold on,” Kestrel directed.

The next descending platform approached, and Raines counted down.  “Three, two, one, now,” she spoke, and their feet rose then took a position on the flat platform, and they stepped – or almost fell – into place a second later.  They were facing each other, and they squeezed their torsos against one another as they held each other’s hands on one side, while grabbing a white-knuckled grip on the netting with their free hands.

They stared at each other, then looked at Kestrel and grinned, as they sunk out of sight.

“Alright Hampus, you go next.  Go down just one floor if you want, or go all the way to the ground if you feel confident.  We’ll be there in a little while,” Kestrel instructed the elf.

Hampus bounded over to the tube, appearing full of confidence.  “It’s amazing to think that elves would do something like this,” he grinned, then hopped lightly onto a platform and withdrew from the area.

Kestrel looked at Putty.  “There’s only you and me left, my friend,” he said.  “Are you ready to go?”

The yeti looked at him without comprehension.

Kestrel walked over and took her by the hand, then led her to stand next to the tube.

“We’ll just go down one floor and see Orren and Raines.  Just one floor this time, to test it.  It’s easy.  You’ll like it,” he said reassuringly.

He watched the platforms move past, rumbling and squeaking as they traveled their appointed rounds, and he judged the timing, then grabbed both of Putienne’s hands, and at the proper moment, pulled her onto a platform with him, using all his might, and embraced her tightly as they left the solid floor and stepped onto the confined space in which they would travel downward.

Putty panicked.  The yeti cried, loudly.

“It’s okay,” Kestrel comforted her.  “We’ll get off right here on this next floor and you can see Raines and Orren.  Don’t worry,” he told the creature.

The seventeenth floor came into view, and Kestrel prepared to push Putty off and to jump after her.  Only, as they dropped, he discovered to his shock that his two traveling mates were not where he expected them to be.  The floor was empty.

“Where are they Putty?” he asked wonderingly, and he was so astonished that he missed the opportunity to maneuver the frightened creature off the lift.  They descended down another floor, and Kestrel saw the two humans standing beside one another just aside from the lift.

“Ready Putty?” he asked, then pressed the yeti with all his effort and moved her aside, so that she started to lose her balance and jumped onto the sixteenth floor of the tower, with Kestrel directly behind.

“We’re sorry; we missed the first floor, but we made it onto this floor,” Orren explained.

“As you see,” Raines added.  “And we saw Hampus go by.”

“Are you ready to ride down to the bottom?” Kestrel asked.

“We can do it!” Orren said brightly.  “Are you ready?” he asked Raines, and the two of them quickly hopped onto another platform and started their journey down to the ground of the Northern Kingdom.

“Well Putty, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kestrel asked the yeti.  “Are you ready to go again?”

The monster shook her head.

“If we don’t go down the platform in the tube, I’m going to ask the imps
to come back and carry us to the ground their way.  Would you rather do that instead?” Kestrel asked.

Putty looked upward, towards the ceiling, searching for the imps.

“We can go down the tube, or the imps will come.  Let’s go down the tube,” Kestrel coaxed, as he led the unwilling passenger to the tube, then shoved her onto a platform and squeezed onto it with her.

The ride was fairly simple.  Only the scream – a loud, piercing one – from an elf maiden on the eighth floor who was shocked by the sight of a yeti riding the tube, interrupted their trip, and they gladly hopped off when they reached the lobby level.

The others were waiting, and Hampus was standing next to the lobby watchman, holding his arm to restrain his as he urgently spoke to him, assuring him that Putienne was a calm and gentle creature, while the yeti lunged off the tube platform and onto the solid floor of the ground level.

“Where did that come from?” the elf asked in fear.  “I didn’t see it go up.”

“Oh, the imps brought us.  Didn’t I mention that?” Hampus said merrily, delighted at the opportunity to be the more knowledgeable party in a conversation.

“Imps?” the lobby guard asked.  “Did you say imps?” he asked, Hampus’s accent sounding strange in his ears.

“Yes, just like last year, when I was here and rescued Princess Aurelia,” Kestrel too treated their arrival as ordinary.

“We are on our way to go see Lord Ripken,” Kestrel explained.  “Can you give us directions to his home?”

“His lordship,” the elf answered in faltering tones, “has a manor on the north side of the palace grounds.”

“I’ve been there once,” Kestrel vaguely recollected, “but then I stayed here in this tower most of the time.  Could you s
end a messenger to Ripken’s home, to ask for Tewks to come guide us back here?  We’ll stay and keep watch on the lobby.  Who would stir trouble with a yeti standing here?” he asked, motioning to Putienne.  He spoke distinctly so that the guard would be able to understand his accent.

“And don’t tell Tewks why he needs to come; just tell him he’s been summoned,” Kestrel added, as the bewildered guard walked over to the door of the tower lobby.

The group stood together uncertainly as they watched the guard leave.  They all felt comfort, even the humans who did not speak the elven language, as the sophisticated surroundings and the civil tone of the conversation.

“We can sit over there,” Kestrel motioned and spoke to the humans, pointing at a pair of sofas that were in a corner of the high-ceilinged lobby.  He led the way over.  When Raines and Orren sat on one of the couches, Putty tried to mimic them by sitting on the other, making the framework of the furniture piece groan and sag.

Kestrel and Hampus stood nearby, speaking quietly, as the two humans likewise chatted.

“He had such a strange way of talking,” Hampus commented.

“Their accent is different from ours,” Kestrel agreed.

“We don’t have an accent!” Hampus said indignantly.

“To them, we do,” Kestrel answered.  “We drawl our words out, while they clip them off like they’re in such a hurry to say something they can’t even finish each word.”

Out of the edge of his field of vision he suddenly caught sight of movement, something approaching him stealthily.  He had his back to the tubes, and he swung around quickly, in time to see a blur, and then he heard his name called.

“Kestrel?  Kestrel!” it was Lucretia who came bounding over to him and wrapped herself around him in a luxuriant hug, her arms and even a leg woven around his body to embrace him as she kissed him with a scorching intimacy, that left him breathless.

“Let me look into those extraordinary amethyst eyes,” she purred as their lips parted, and she looked at him with a smoldering examination.  “You came back for the wedding!  This is so perfect,” she told him.

She parted from him, then ran her hands down the front of her smock.  “Let me smooth out these wrinkles you put in my outfit when you mauled me.

“You saw him maul me, didn’t you?” she said to Hampus, who was standing next to Kestrel, staring in slack-jawed astonishment.

At that moment, Putty moved, and Lucretia’s attention was diverted to the sight of the relaxing yeti.

“Oh Were and Powson and Morph!” she screamed, throwing her arms out to grab Kestrel.  “There’s a monster!” she pointed.

“They’re human, but hardly monsters,” Kestrel said off-handedly.

“Kestrel!  What is that?” Lucretia’s fingers were digging into his arm.

“Come here, Putienne,” Kestrel beckoned, and the yeti rose, then lumbered over.

“Lucretia, this is my friend, Putienne, a yeti – a very young yeti – from the Water Mountains,” Kestrel introduced.  “She’s been traveling with Hampus and me for a month.

“Putty, this is Lucretia.  She a good friend, but she’s dangerous in her own way,” Kestrel grinned.

The yeti warbled pleasantly.

“And she’s not attacking you?” Lucretia asked.  “And what do you mean, ‘dangerous in her own way’?” the girl asked in a dangerous tone.  “And who is this?” she turned to examine Hampus.

“Hampus, at your service,” the elf gave an extravagant bow to the intriguing woman.

“Hampus is betrothed to the Princess Elwean of the Eastern Forest.  He is here to establish official relations between the two courts,” Kestrel explained, seeing the predatory look in Lucretia’s eyes, and the answering look of interest in Hampus’s.