Wind Rider (7 page)

Not only do I lose my daughter, I lose one of
our strongest fighters and wizards. Ulrike Erikson, you will be missed.

Stand now, anyone else who would accompany
them.

Two young men, little older than me, stood up
together. They were identical in appearance, and I realized they must be twins.
We are Lars and
Gustaf
Larson. Since our birth 17
years ago we have dreamed identical dreams, and for the few weeks we have
dreamed of your journey. In our sleep we have seen you Anders as you sparred
with your
blademaster
, escaped your confinement,
fought the
Keiler
and entered the ancient forgotten
city. We are strong in stealth, skillful scouts, and battle-ready; our minds
are full of magic as well. We feel that we were born to bring a change to this
forest, to bring it back in balance by removing the pollution of the dark lord.

Erik frowned.
Their dreams are news to me, news
I wish they had shared earlier.

Lars and
Gustaf
look
embarrassed for a moment, and a ripple of color went through their green auras.
We ask your pardon, Uncle, but we did not know what to think of our dreams
until we saw they were true, when Anders
Tomason
arrived here among us.

Erik nodded.
They are strong and wise beyond
their years. I trust them to be a strong addition to your voyage.

Elias nodded, and
Woltan
too. I could see why: just a look at their auras and you could see how strong
and pure they were, the one just like the other.

All those who approve their departure, please
stand.

Erik stood and his people stood with him. But one
girl was left sitting.

It was Ulrike.

All eyes turned to her.

I would be heard.

Erik nodded, and we all sat once again.

Just as I do not worry for my own life, I worry
doubly for my cousins, and since there are two of them, perhaps four times
more.

There was a ripple of amusement.

But I too approve their departure. They are
strong, and we will be stronger yet together.

Erik nodded once again.
I risk now my daughter
and my twin nephews. But there is much to gain. And more is at risk than their
lives. Let all now stand who approve their entry into your group.

We stood.

Erik smiled once more.
There then, are our
three. We wish you swift success in your quest.

There was a long pause, and I thought that was it,
that there would be no one else in our party. But then someone stood. He was
tall, broad shouldered, bigger than anyone else in the room. There was
something strange about him. Not just his height, but his features — they
seemed rougher, somehow. I opened my third eye. I could barely look at the man
now — his aura was so bright, and pure yellow, like a flame, like a sun. There
was some pride there, but mostly strength, and intelligence, and good will.

Elias met my gaze as I turned away.
He is part
giant, I think. I have never seen a real giant, but I think they must look like
him, only around twice as big. Look at his aura!

Woltan
looked at me too.
We need him. He is incredibly strong.

I thought nothing back. I just looked at the man’s
face. And found the man smiling back at me, and I couldn’t help it — I smiled
too.

My name is Hans
Arboris
,
and I do not belong here among you folk. When I was but a baby, you adopted me.
No one approved of my parent’s union when they were alive; not the tree folk,
nor the tree giants; but you took me in after they were killed, and this has
been a good home to me. I have felt love here, and my heart which should have
been a cauldron of hate and malice towards the dark lord has grown up to be
good and pure. I thank you all for this. I seek vengeance, but it is not only
personal — my strength is needed. I would help this group meet their friends,
and help them defend themselves against the dark lord.

Erik nodded.
I feared Hans would want to go. He
is strong and good of heart. If he goes his absence will be missed. Please
stand to approve his parting.

The tree people stood as one around their adopted
son, who towered above them, even stooped as he was to not hit the ceiling.

Let the visitors stand if they will have him in
their party.

We stood again. Our party had almost doubled in
number. But perhaps we had more than doubled in strength. Having four more
people who could fight and were nearly invisible filled me with a sense of
hope, something I had lost out on the trail under the storm clouds the dark
lord had sent to harass us.

Anyone have anymore surprises?

There was a short pause.

Then we will quickly provision these men and
women with food and weapons, and give them of our clothes. And then we will say
farewell.

I stood up.
There is something I must do.

Everyone turned to stare at me.

Elias was looking at me quizzically.
Anders,
what are you playing at?

VI

The voice in my head grew clearer,
deep and guttural, and damp like the earth, but also fertile and strong and
somehow feminine.
Anders
Tomason
, come to my gate.
I must give you what is only mine to give.

I nodded, but the others only looked more
confused.
Take me to the gate of the tree mother. She calls me.

Later I would realize that the tree folk were
shocked. Later I would know that only one person a year was granted such
privileges, and that the tree folk had no idea how to respond to such a
request. But now it was Ulrike who stood up and smiled at me.

I will take him, father. Listen, all, for the
Tree Mother calls him now as we sit here staring, and grows impatient with us.

The tree rumbled briefly. Erik nodded.
Take
him, then, daughter. And we will meet again at the base of the tree when he
comes out again. If she lets him out.

I looked at Ulrike as she led me out.

She smiled back at me.
He’s only joking. I
think.

People parted as we passed, and I heard low
murmurs of thought, leakage from the people around me.
He’s so young. He’s
not one of us. I hope he will be all right. Mother can be harsh with her
enemies but she is just.

Soon it was just the two of us. The murmur of
unshielded thought faded to nothing as the thoughts of the mother tree grew
stronger and louder, deep in tone and rich in their tonality; they were
velvety, and stroked me. I could almost understand her, and there were moments
where I did, and in these moments I heard her calling:
Anders, I await you.
I have something for you, that only I can give you.

My skin started to buzz with the energy of the
tree, as we approached a patch of the trunk about the size of a man, lighter in
color, and covered with sap. Without thinking about it, I closed my eyes,
unafraid of falling now. Below me the tree glowed under my feet, to my side was
Ulrike, and in front of me the trunk glowed green. There, outlined in front of
me, was a door, and there were runes on it, in a darker green. I reached out
and traced them and felt the energy of the tree buzz through my fingers as the
tree covered my hand with sticky sap. But my fingers kept moving. Then I was
walking forward, opening my mind to the mother tree as my body entered into the
sap and the wood opened up around me. My body was being covered from head to
toe with warm wood, and I stopped moving. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe
either. Still I did not panic.

My lungs filled slowly with sap. I stopped
breathing, but remained somehow alive. My mind kept thinking. I could feel my
heart pumping, and somehow my lungs got what they needed from the sap. This was
deep magic, magic that moved inside me. There was no way to open my eyes, I
could not move, but my inner eye was open. I opened my inner ears, looked out
and listened.

She was in front of me.

She looked like a woman, old but strong and wise.
Her back was straight but her hair was grey and long, reaching down to her
feet. Her eyes were emerald green, and her teeth shining white. And she spoke
to me then, and now I understood her.

I called and you came, Anders
Tomason
.

I couldn’t move a muscle. Still there was no pain.
You called and I came, Tree Mother.

Call me Helga..

Why have you called me here?

She smiled.

You can change the world, Anders
Tomason
. You can hurt it or you can make it whole again. I
see so much bloodshed. I hope you will come out of it whole and unscarred. That
the world too will come out of it whole and unscarred. For this I give you
several gifts. The first is the sap now filling your lungs — it will fill your
body with plant energy and make the trees your friends, wherever you might go.
The second is a living shield of my own wood, which you will carry on your
back. The third is a breastplate of magical living hardwood, which I will affix
to your chest. It will be light enough to wear underneath your clothes, and
will absorb the energy of bruising blows, and deflect the energy of those who
try to pierce it.

I felt a tingling on my leg and then Carolina was
there as well in front of me, between me and the tree mother.

She was smiling.
I did not know tree spirits to
be so generous with their gifts. I assume there is a hidden price, as well.

I knew that Anders carried a great blade, but I
did not know there was such power as you within it.

Carolina smiled again.
Helga knows that
flattery will get you everywhere with pixies. With tree spirits it does not
work as well, unfortunately. Tell me, tree mother, what is the hidden price for
these priceless gifts?

The tree mother groaned and imprisoned within her
I could feel the whole tree shake.
I wish the deliverance of my peoples,
both human and tree from the man called the dark lord.

Carolina nodded.
Is that all, tree mother?

That is all. I ask only that Anders reaffirm a
pledge already made. One made already in the heavens the day of his birth. And
in return I give him those gifts, and send him and you on your way. Along with
several of my strongest human children.

Carolina looked at me then.
If I were you, I
would pledge. A tree mother’s gifts are priceless, and never have I seen a tree
mother with such a true and good heart.

I pledge to deliver all peoples, human and
non-human, beast or plant, from the reign of the dark lord.

Carolina smiled.
Will that suffice?

Helga the tree mother smiled.
You have my three
gifts and my blessing. I spit you back out into the world of men, tree-friend.

I felt myself moving, and then I was outside, in
the air, the sap absorbing into my lungs, my mouth filling with air again. I
coughed once and gasped, blinked in the sunlight. I looked down at my hands and
saw the sword in my right and a light brown shield in my left. Something light
and hard pressed against my chest. My sword went back in its scabbard.

Around me I could feel every branch of the tree,
the life in every leaf. Down on the forest floor the shrubs, the plants and the
smaller trees raised their voices together in song. I could feel the life in
every plant, the potential for growth in every seed. A tear welled up in my
right eye and fell, hitting the branch below me. I looked down. There where my
tear had fallen the dark bark turned green, and from it burst forth a new
branch, and I reached out and touched it and heard the last words of the tree
mother:
Go forth now, Anders. Your group awaits you as the Dark Lord gathers
his forces.

I caressed the new branch one last time. Then I
walked down the tree. A group of tree folk who had gathered to watch — perhaps
to see if I emerged alive and whole — parted as I approached, and whispered
together words that I could understand now. “Farewell, tree friend.”

Then I felt Ulrike’s hand on my shoulder. When I
turned and stared at her, it was as if I were seeing her for the first time.
She no longer looked transparent. I wondered at her green beauty. I stared at
her for so long without blinking that her face turned red and she turned away.
I
stopped you so you could wave farewell and bless the tree-folk and their tree
mother, not so you could stare at me, tree-friend.

I stare at you because my eyes have been
opened. Your beauty is blinding.

Enough. Bless them and let us move onward.

I nodded and the words bubbled up from my mouth
before I had time to reflect on them, on what it all meant. To me it was just
melodious sing-song, tree-folk speech, and I did not listen to the words. Later
I would wish I had, for a blessing is always a blessing.

I was transfixed by her beauty until she touched
me once more on the shoulder. My shoulder tingled, but I stopped staring and I
listened. She told me in tree-folk speech: “Later, if you want, we can talk.
Now the sap speaks in you. Let us go down and meet the rest of our party,
before they begin to worry.”

Tree-sap or blood, I did not know what made it so
hard for me to stop staring at her. But I touched my sword, and felt energy and
a message rise up from Carolina.
Get going, Anders!

I walked then down behind Ulrike. The song of the
tree that surrounded me and the running sap faded to a dull roar, and I felt my
head clear a little bit. The bright plant life that surrounded my companions
was blinding. But the plant energy was not just around my friends, it was in
them — we had all been marked by the tree mother. As my eyes calmed, I tried to
look only with my two outer eyes but it was no use. Everything was bright with
aura and the inner eye would not close.

My companions came forward to look at me and touch
the shield that I carried still in my hand. Kara fashioned silently for me a
kind of sling, so I could put it on my back. I had difficulty focusing my
vision. Although Kara glowed when I looked at her she was nothing compared to
Ulrike and her cousins, who glowed liked beacons. “It’s too much,” I said at
last, and by the look of Elias and
Woltan
, I realized
I must be speaking in Tree-tongue.

Ulrike spoke to me then in the same language. “I
will try to help calm your sap and your inner eye, Anders. But then you must
focus on the tasks at hand, which are many.”

I nodded.

I wanted to grab her and pull her to me, to
squeeze her in my arms. But she was grabbing my head, and pulling my head to
her lips, and she kissed me, not on the lips, but on my forehead, in the very
center, where my inner eye was blinding me. With my inner eye I saw her lips
come to me, as she spoke a word:
beruhigen
.
Then I saw no more — the eye was closed.

I had difficulty letting her go, and the whole
thing later was very embarrassing.

Kara slapped me gently on the cheek. I looked at
her and saw her as I had before the sap had run through me. I let Ulrike go,
then, and she pushed away. The cousins were smiling at us, and everyone else
looking confused or amused.

I realized that Ulrike had not closed my inner eye
but only calmed it. I could still see everyone’s auras, and the plant life that
glowed all around me. I could see now and think more clearly, and I realized I could
open the eye fully later, when needed. Perhaps later someone would teach me to
open and close it at will.

So it is with our people when they convene with
the tree mother. Anders is the first male for many years, but I remember much
of the same feeling when I was chosen, last year.

I thought I could see Kara’s face soften a little,
once she heard Ulrike’s thoughts, but she still seemed to scowl a little bit,
although everyone else seemed to find it amusing.

Elias especially seemed in good cheer.
You’d
best shield your thoughts for awhile, Anders. You’re likely to make one of
those two women angry, otherwise. Remember strong emotions leak more.

I did feel embarrassed then. I had forgotten to
renew my orange sphere of protection. When I reimagined it, I saw a leaky dirty
brown sphere, little larger than my head, with cracks in it, from which
thoughts came out. I remade it larger, strong and brilliant orange, and doubled
it on the inside. And then I remembered to make it receptive to friendly
thoughts but not to intrusions.

Elias smiled.
Wow, Anders, the earth mother
must have strengthened you a bit. I don’t think anyone could pound their way
through that.