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Part 2: The Red Warrior

Chapter 13: Travels of the Red Warrior

Valdigt was no runner, but she made good time. She had left the others near the bay, headed straight down, and pushed through the hills. The going was hard, but the hills were largely empty and she found little reason to stop.

No one rules these beasts, she thought, looking upon every camp and caravan she came across. But these were not lawless beasts; so what kind were they? They offered her food and shelter, and though she accepted the former, Valdigt never stayed to rest.

After two days in the hills she came to the rocks. Big slabs of stone stuck out of the ground, rising into cliffs and outcroppings, imposing across the skyline. Behind them the sun was dipping, and daylight hung on by threads. The days of constant travel made her weary, and Valdigt was too tired to go on. But the walls here were high and the wind was low, so she felt safe on her own. She rolled her cloak into a neat pillow and slept wedged between stones.

Three dreams came to her that night. One of love, one of deceit, and one she could not understand. First she saw a cottage, snug amidst a hundred others in one of Gryning's populous quadrants. Inside were herbs and vegetables and stacks of dried meats. Warm rugs covered floors and walls. The bed was a mess, and flowers lay scattered on the floor amidst books and clothes. The place hasn't been cleaned in a while, not for neglect, but because it was cozier that way. Valdigt felt a buoyancy inside her, a sense of love in the place. A smell wafted up of steaming clams and hot butter and there at the counter, humming to herself, was the one she'd left behind. Nashil! she thought, but in her dream she could not speak. Nashil didn't notice and kept on cooking. Please just turn, just see me, Valdigt thought, reaching out. But a wind blew through her and the scene lost shape, morphed into something else. At the first touch of that wind Nashil turned to bone and then to ash and then was swept away with the floor, the walls, everything. She saw Besegrare's face flash in the darkness and she was in Gryning. Yes, it was Gryning, but not the one she knew. The marble walls had turned a hideous dampening black, and where window panes once glittered she saw only the knots of hundreds of drawn curtains. Some kind of light penetrated them but it was not light of the outside world, of the sun and the Flame, and it did not dispel the darkness. The walls and ceilings crawled with mad friezes and frescoes, with writhing reliefs and jittering images. And at the end of the hallway was the face she'd seen, glowing. But it wasn't Besegrare. The wolf's fur was silver all over - even, she saw when he turned around, along his nape and the back of his head. He glowed like the moon, and his eyes were like two blue flames. Her breath caught in her lungs. She'd seen this wolf before. Molokhn! Her body tensed, but she realized it wasn't him. This wasn't a vision of the past but of the future. She didn't know this wolf, no matter how familiar he looked. He looked like the rest of the royal line, down to the sloping shoulders and tremendous height. But as he turned, he vanished deeper into the darkness, and Valdigt was alone in the hall.

A scuffling noise awoke her. The sun had not yet risen, and Valdigt stretched stiffly, securing her cloak around her neck with a clasp. Someone was scaling the smallest of the outcroppings just beside her. Further on the walls went many hundreds of feet into the air, but the nearest wall was only about fifteen feet. Small stones cascaded beneath the feet of the climber, and he ascended quickly. Then he noticed her standing there, her fur very red in the pale light of dawn. His robes flapped raggedly around his ankles, but his face was hard to make out. His fur was black as night and difficult to see. Valdigt saw no belongings of any sort and guessed him for homeless. Had he been kicked out of one of the caravans?

"Let me help you," he said, reaching down a hand. She began to hoist herself up, still nearly ten feet of empty wall between the two, but Valdigt hauled herself up just as quickly. She grabbed his hand and he helped hoist her the rest of the way. Surprisingly strong, she thought. He looked skinny and perhaps she had mistaken him for weak.

"Thank you," Valdigt said. She brushed the dust from her padded shoulders and stretched. Her fingers didn't stray far from the blade - she still didn't know who she was dealing with - and she kept her muscles tensed and ready. She didn't know anyone from these parts of the world, and didn't want to end up in trouble.

The other wolf noticed.

"Not from around here?" he said.

"No," Valdigt answered. Don't tell him more than you need to. Let him offer what information he will.

"Planning to use that?" he gestured to the blade she kept her hand on.

"Only if I have to."

"Rest easy, traveler. You won't need it with me."

She was reluctant to remove her hand, and said nothing.

"Look, I've got no weapons," he raised his hands to prove it. "I'm clean."

"Okay."

Finally she withdrew her hand.

"You looked about ready to use it too. You heading somewhere important?"

"Brand."

"By ashes, that's quite a walk. But nothing you can't manage, if the look in your eye or your grip on that blade means anything."

As he spoke he noticed the gilded oak clasp that fastened her cloak around her shoulders. He looked down and saw the same mark emblazoned on her gauntlets, on her sword. His eyes widened with recognition.

"A guard! All the way from Gryning. I should have guessed."

The look in his face was awe, and Valdigt realized that he was young.From far away she'd guessed him to be much older; now, under all the knots in his fur and the streaks of dirt, she saw a face that almost looked younger than her own. He was lean, but scrappy; young, but strong like a beast full grown.

"You really are on quite a walk."

"It's a big world," she agreed.

"I suppose it is."

Their conversation reached an impasse where neither had anything to say. Valdigt was still skeptical about his intentions. What was another wolf doing out here all alone? He seemed content to leave the conversation at that, and she thought, If he wants to leave, I will let him. But instead he asked something else.

"You haven't seen anything out of the ordinary around here, have you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Say, perhaps, a strange rock. Or a cliff or hill that looked different from the others. Maybe a cave?"

"I've seen my share of hills and caves around here."

" I'm sorry, I must sound absolutely crazy. Of course you would have seen caves and hills. I won't bore you with my life's story, but my mother died. A few years back. I haven't been in all this time but I'm finally here. She's buried in an old family tomb somewhere around these parts, and I don't know where. There's no one left in the family to show me the way either."

"No one? Who brought your mother to the tomb?"

"Some other family, quite distant. After the burial they sailed across the Wide Sea. I think they may have died as well, though I wouldn't know. Now I can't find my way back to her tomb. I was hoping to mourn and pay my respects."

"I've seen no tomb."

"I see. I'd better leave you, then. I have a lot of ground to cover. I'm sure you do as well. Good day."

He gathered his dirty robes up around his feet and began to walk away.

"I'm looking for a wolf," Valdigt said. The other beast stopped where he stood and looked around.

"You mean me?" he gestured at himself, caked in dirt and ragged cloth.

"I don't know you. But my suspect could be anyone."

"Suspect? Sounds serious. If it could be anyone, though, why would it be me?"

"The one I seek is named Vacka. Know you anybeast by the name?"

"No."

"He's got dark fur, black as night. Much like yours."

"Is that all you have to go on? There's lots of beasts to meet that descriptor."

"He was last seen in a white robe."

"This doesn't look quite white, does it?"

The wolf lifted the hem of his robe, grey and tattered. No, she thought. Not white. But it could have been, once. It was hard for her to say, for the stains and spots covered it so that it was impossible to tell what color it had once been. And who's to say he hasn't gotten a new robe either?

"Listen," he said, "If trying to find my mother is a crime, I'm guilty. But I never met a beast who didn't want a chance to mourn. Not even the most cold-hearted of us."

"I never said you were guilty. Just that I'm keeping my eyes open."

"I'll keep mine open too."

"Send word to Gryning if ever you do hear word. Do you have couriers out here?"

"In Ilkja, maybe. In Inthil too."

"Not likely in Inthil. You haven't heard? Most of its citizens are dead, or have fled to safety."

"It was attacked?"

"Nearly destroyed. That's why I'm looking for this wolf."

"Vacka."

"Yes, Vacka."

"It wasn't the Sonderians? Those bats all cooped up in that mountain are bound to come back out eventually. They're not starting trouble?"

"No trouble from Sonder. We know who's responsible, just not where he is."

"Not a land struggle?"

"You don't sound very concerned about the destruction of a city. The other beasts I've met reacted with fear."

"Whatever for?"

"War? We don't yet know why the city was attacked."

"It won't come to war."

"You sound awfully sure of that."

"It just hasn't come to that in the past. Not even when that last king of ours was out running around, burning villages."

"Yes, that's one attitude to take," Valdigt finally loosened up. A strange beast, she thought. But not the one I'm after. "I suppose I've been harsh on you. My apologies if I made you uncomfortable. I'll bid you farewell now, and good luck. May the good Flame guide your way."

He seemed not to hear her, and continued the conversation as before.

"Would a war be that bad anyways? No one's stood up to the wolves in... How many hundreds of years? All these other kingdoms shut themselves away and let us do as we please. Maybe it's time that changed."

Valdigt was stunned.

"Are you not a wolf too?" she asked.

"Yes, but I never had the privilege to live in Gryning. That luxury makes some beasts feel entitled."

"The royal family?"

"Amongst others."

"Plenty of wolves live in other kingdoms. It's not the place that makes the wolf."

"No. But it's not everybeast who remembers that."

"Maybe not always."

"And now I've talked too long as well. Farewell, traveler, and good luck. The road to Brand is long, and the road to Gryning longer. I'll return your own blessing. May the good Flame guide you as well."

"Indeed."

The little black wolf went away up another hill, and she turned to go the other way. He had been right. The road was long, and the road back would be longer, and she now had a lot to think about. There was a full day ahead of her.

More and more she thought about the length of her journey. How long could she walk? In her quiet way she meditated on that question. The journeying was weary and taking a toll on her. Maybe she had been too stubborn. Maybe she hadn't been stubborn enough. Nashil should have come in her place; she'd have made the trip in half the time, and with more ease too. Valdigt's muscles ached, and thinking about Nashil made her whole body feel heavier with grief.

This had been her first time leaving Gryning, hadn't it? Valdigt felt her youth for the first time, and suddenly felt very foolish. What was she doing traipsing across the country? What was she doing wearing armor, carrying a sword? She began to feel like a pup instead of a grown wolf.

She sat down on the top of her hill and breathed deeply. This will pass, she thought. Don't let the fear control you. For a long time she waited, and she didn't feel better. But after some time she felt like, perhaps, she could get up and keep going.

She did.

Ilkja, the coastal town, was very small. Valdigt almost missed it while she walked by, so quietly did it creep onto the horizon. She headed in its direction, and made her way to the top of a tall hill to survey it.

She had read about it before, and knew all there was to know. The coasts here were violent, along the Strait of Eyes, and the waters crawled with pirates. Standing on the hill above Ilkja, she could see faintly in the distance the landmass of the Middle Isle. It looked like a long line of moss, faint and fuzzy, so far beyond the waves. Ilkja was a relatively safe town, but across the Strait on the Middle Isle was Grey Port, ruled by vice and fear. The pirates there sometimes came and ransacked Ilkja, for the trip across the width of the Strait took only a day. As she looked down at Ilkja, she saw that these were a nervous folk, wary of all, and hustling quickly from place to place. She hoped they would giver her no trouble.

Valdigt headed down the slopes of the hills and approached the town. The beasts she encountered shrank from her path, scuttling behind posts and stepping through doors. Not everyone was so quick to vanish, but if she tried talking to them they'd shrug or go quiet or just look away. She had a hard time reaching anybeast, and wanted to find anyone, anyone at all who would talk to her. Even showing her Gryning oak insignia brought her little success, until she talked to some of the beasts down by the docks.

There she met a young sea otter, a girl named Thess. Thess was quick to inform Valdigt that she'd been the one to ferry the priests from Himmel all those years ago.

"And I'll take you wherever you need to go, too. If that's what you're looking for."

"I'm trying to get to Brand."

"Why, that's easy. A straight shot there."

"You aren't afraid?" Valdigt asked.

"Me? Afraid?" Thess grinned, revealing huge rows of pearly teeth. "I've been sailing the Eyes for years. What's to fear?"

"The others seem afraid."

"That's why I ain't the others."

"What about the pirates?"

Thess shrugged, a non-committal look flashing across her face.

"I've got a little agreement," she said. "They leave me alone. Let's leave it at that."

"But you're not one of them?"

"No."

Before Valdigt could respond, the otter girl stood up and squared her shoulders.

"So? Whaddya say?"

And this is how Valdigt, guard of Gryning, and Thess, Conqueror of the Hatskav, finally came together. Neither of them had lived up to their titles yet, but by the time their journeys were through they would have had their shot. One to guard, the other to conquer. And so they were bound by fate, and set forth into the world.