The Naming Page 4

  ‘Falk never told me to change the order.’

  Even as the words were coming out of his mouth, he realised how childish it sounded, blaming his master, but he felt that he had been betrayed. The young man had really begun to see himself as a passable swordsman, but the priestess had shattered his illusions in the blink of an eye and with a simple variation of his exercises.

  The red-haired elf smiled good-naturedly and gave him an encouraging pat on the back.

  ‘Falk isn’t to blame. His own training was more in the classic military style. Practising the basics until they became second nature, and then the rest followed. That’s what he’s done with you and he can’t be blamed for that. But now we have to break the pattern before you get stuck in a rut. Don’t look so sad. Look on it as progress. You’re now ready to climb the next rung of a very tall ladder’, she said, encouragingly.

  Ahren was feeling a little better now and gave her a smile in gratitude. He was determined to master this new challenging phase of his swordsmanship.

  Jelninolan stood upright in front of him, took her stick in both hands and swung both ends back and forth.

  ‘Right, then. Now try to hit me’, she commanded.

  Ahren looked doubtfully at the naked blade in his hand and said hesitantly, ‘but…but I don’t want to hurt you’.

  An energetic smile creased Jelninolan’s face.

  ‘Then I had better be careful.’

  Daylight had re-established itself in Evergreen and Falk and Uldini had decamped when a merry, whistling elf and a badly beaten, hobbling apprentice returned to the horses.

  Falk couldn’t believe his eyes and asked in disbelief, ‘what happened to you? Did a tree fall on you?’

  ‘Something like that’, muttered Ahren and felt one of his molars with his tongue. It was feeling a bit loose since it was hit with a particularly mean blow.

  ‘We were just doing a bit of training’, said Jelninolan airily.

  ‘Auntie, if you’re determined on dismantling our would-be Paladin here and now, then do let us know so we can spare ourselves the long journey’, said Uldini sarcastically.

  She glanced over at Ahren and pensively placed a finger to her lips.

  ‘I’m a little out of practice and I hit him more often than I had intended’, she said regretfully.

  Then she went over to Ahren and carefully put his head in her hands. She whispered something in Elfish and the pain disappeared, while a gentle coolness spread throughout his body. Jelninolan gave him a critical look, then nodded in satisfaction.

  ‘As good as new. Everything should be healed by midday. Thank you dear, I think we’ll do the whole thing again tomorrow morning’, she said sweetly.

  Ahren looked at his master in horror and pleaded silently for help.

  ‘If you’re planning on beating my apprentice to a pulp, then please ask me for permission beforehand. In fact, I’d planned on taking a hard line with him today, but if I overdo it, he’ll break down altogether. You can thrash him…sorry, I mean train him, every second day.’

  Ahren was flabbergasted and looked at his master, who was holding out the prospect of the priestess torturing him regularly without batting an eyelid. Falk looked back at him and his voice took on a serious tone.

  ‘I’m doing you a favour. Jelninolan has more experience than all of us in fighting and that means something. She can teach you a lot, especially the fundamentals. And if you’re in this state after such a short training session, then you could certainly do with the practice. Now, get ready and have a bite to eat. We’re setting off shortly’, he said firmly.

  That was the end of the matter and Ahren realised soberly that his cranky old master was back again after only one day of high spirits caused by the lifting of his banishment. Maybe Ahren should have wished for something different as reward.

  He went over to his armour and bent down to put it on when Culhen suddenly stopped and fixed his eyes on the bundle of leather panels and bands. Ahren looked suspiciously at the bundle and spotted a barely perceptible movement among the narrow leather ribbons. He strained his neck forward very slowly to see what was hiding in there when a small wraithlike shadow jumped towards him. All Ahren could see was a collection of furry legs and a red barb that was bounding towards his face. His reflexes, ingrained through exercise, kicked in immediately and without thinking he dropped straight to the floor.

  The thing, whatever it was, whooshed over him and landed with a slight rustling sound on the forest floor.

  Ahren spun around and saw how the thing was crawling to him at lightning speed on its eight legs, when an arrow whizzed past the apprentice’s head and landed with a satisfied crunching sound in its little black body, pinning the thing to the ground. Ahren thought he heard a furious hissing, and then the creature moved no more. Just to be safe, he crawled back half a pace before picking himself up.

  ‘What sort of a thing was that?’ he gasped. His arms and legs were shaking, and he suppressed a shudder with difficulty.

  ‘That was a Needle Spider’, said Falk with disgust. ‘I haven’t seen one in a long time. I didn’t know they lived in Evergreen as well.’

  ‘They don’t’ responded Jelninolan, who was clearly in shock. ‘At least, they haven’t until now’.

  Uldini made a gesture with his hand and the arrow released itself from the spider’s body. Another wave of his hand and the insect was lifted into the air where it turned slowly on its own axis.

  ‘The common Needle Spider is actually to be found only in the southern jungles. HE, WHO FORCES made a tiny alteration to their needs, and as a result they have spread out into every region. The beasts are naturally aggressive and extremely territorial. They were a real plague because, being normal animals, they are immune to Magic Charms against Dark Ones.’

  Uldini had fallen into his lecturing voice, all the while turning the suspended animal so that Ahren could examine it properly. He could see eight long hairy legs protruding from a dull-black, knotty body. A fiery red barb stuck out of the spider’s back, which looked quite flexible. Ahren could make out neither eyes nor head, just an enormous mouth on the underside of the spider, in which were several rows of teeth, all of them barbed. Feeling nauseous, he took a step backward.

  Uldini made another hand movement and the body was consumed by magic flames until nothing was left but a heap of ashes.

  ‘The things are extremely poisonous, both the barb and spittle. One sting or bite and within ten heartbeats your lungs have stopped working and you suffocate. I think Culhen has just saved your life, young man’, said Falk seriously.

  The wolf sat down on his hind legs and tilted his head when he heard his name. And when Ahren embraced his furry friend, he gave Ahren’s face a good lick with his tongue.

  Uldini addressed them again with a look of alarm on his face.

  ‘I don’t think this was a coincidence. I wouldn’t be surprised if HE harried the animal into your armour with an insinuation’, said the wizard, tensely.

  ‘An insinuation? What do you mean?’, asked Ahren nervously.

  ‘A little suggestion, rather than force. You can ensure that a creature performs an action that it would willingly do anyway, given the right circumstances. A hungry person eating a loaf of bread, or an exhausted animal resting under a palm. But with an insinuation you can decide which loaf of bread or palm the object of the magic will seek out. This is a very subtle kind of magic which, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t really part of our enemy’s armoury’, Uldini responded.

  Jelninolan interrupted with an edge in her voice. ‘Then it can’t have been HIM. Someone whispered to the spider how warm and snug the bundle of armour was. I’m thinking it was more likely a Doppelganger’.

  Ahren froze. Doppelgangers were the most dangerous of the Dark God’s weaponry. They were a spurned experiment of the gods, and the only living beings in creation who served the Adversary of their own free will. They were highly intelligent, dangerous and completely unscrupulous. And t
heir master could transform into any form that suited his plans. They were his most important agents, generals and assassins.

  ‘You think one of the elves here is an assassin?’ Ahren asked Jelninolan, his voice trembling.

  Falk responded by shaking his head. ‘That’s impossible. The emotional connections among the elves would immediately alert them to the alien spirit of a Doppler. I’m thinking more in terms of an animal. Something small and unobtrusive that one mightn’t even notice’, he mused.

  Jelninolan made some hand movements and spoke a long and complicated Elfish sentence. A ball of blue light appeared above her hand and she addressed it.

  Ahren recognised the object as a Rillan, a magic ball that could deliver messages. Jelninolan finished her torrent of words, the ball rose up from the palm of her hands and flew off into the forest at speed.

  ‘The others have been informed and are going to comb the forest with a magic net. The Voice of the Forest will stay where he’s safe for now, in case another attempt is made to kill him.’

  Uldini nodded in agreement. ‘Well done. This Doppelganger is in for a hard time. I’m pretty sure the Titejunanwas will be furious about his meddling and will be searching for him too’, he said gleefully.

  Selsena reacted with a snort and everyone felt her indignation clearly.

  Jelninolan watched the Rillan disappear and her concern for her home place was written in her face.

  ‘Don’t be afraid’, said Falk calmly. ‘Evergreen can look after itself well. It always has done. By this time tomorrow every elf, every plant and every animal in the forest will be hunting down the intruder. In two days at the latest the Doppler will be dead or will have scarpered.’

  She smiled at Falk in gratitude and turned away from the disappearing Rillan. Then they silently packed up their things and strode off, leaving only a little pile of ashes behind them, which was finally caught up in the gentle spring breeze of Evergreen. It wasn’t long before the ashes had been scattered and lost to memory.

  The rest of their journey through Evergreen that day went without incident. Jelninolan was true to her word: the strange coolness had disappeared from Ahrens body by midday and he realised that all his wounds had disappeared. He briefly wondered what it would be like if she had been his teacher. Then she would have been able to heal him any time he was injured. But it wasn’t long before the unfortunate realisation dawned on him that Falk’s method was more effective. Whenever he had made a mistake or injured himself, he had been urged by his master to be more careful and skilful. Ahren’s instinct constantly drove him to internalise the Forest Guardian’s instructions quickly so he would avoid further injury. Even when the young man couldn’t move anymore because of cramps, Falk found a way of turning this into a lesson, describing to Ahren how he could run more economically, climb with more ease, and shoot with more precision. The fact that Jelninolan could make all traces and consequences of Ahren’s missteps disappear with a few gestures of her hands also lessened their significance. It was true that at this moment he was only too happy to be uninjured again, but in the long run he would become careless and neglectful if he had a teacher who cured him in the blink of an eye every time.

  He smiled in gratitude over at Falk, who responded with an irritated frown. The old man signalled to Selsena to drop back until he was riding beside his apprentice.

  ‘Are you alright again?’ he asked shortly.

  ‘Yes, master. The next time I practise with her, I’ll be more careful’, responded Ahren, eager to please. He wanted to show Falk that he had learned his lesson.

  ‘What exactly happened?’ the Guardian wanted to know.

  ‘I was supposed to attack Jelninolan with Windblade because she wanted to practise. But I was very careful because I was afraid of hurting her. She swung her stick in complicated patterns and parried every one of my blows. Then it became painful.’ Ahren winced at the memory of it. ‘She said now it was her turn and I should parry. I didn’t see half of her attacking blows coming. And she hardly said a word. You’re always shouting at me and telling me what I’m doing wrong. But I only heard her say individual words and they weren’t connected, so I didn’t understand a thing. “Left”, “lower”, “more from the middle”, those sorts of things’. Ahren shook his head in frustration.

  Falk laughed out loud and looked at him in amusement. Selsena too seemed to be greatly amused.

  ‘It seems as though your master isn’t that bad after all, what?’ And without waiting for an answer he continued, ‘Elves teach in a completely different way to humans. Because of their emotional connections they need considerably fewer words in many situations. Jelninolan was probably just as annoyed as you were because you weren’t listening to her, but were just allowing yourself to be beaten to a pulp. When I learned from the elves in those days, they had to invent specific exercises for me because I didn’t understand things that every school elf would have picked up on the first day. So, remember that, the next time you’re cursing your master.’

  Ahren nodded eagerly and then looked a little guilty.

  Falk started to ride to the front of the group but then dropped back again. ‘Thank you for ending my banishment. That means a lot to me and Selsena’, he murmured in an almost inaudible voice. The Titejunanwa sent a wave of deep gratitude to him, then galloped forward so that the two them were positioned one again at the head of the group.

  Ahren looked thoughtfully after his master. The old man might not have realised, but he had certainly adopted a few of the elves’ traits. When it came to expressing emotions, he didn’t say much either.

  By afternoon they had reached the edge of the forest. Even from a distance they had already seen the two defence towers rising into the sky near the trees and trying in vain to defy the majestic treetops of the elf forest. Ahren was surprised that the defence fortifications were so near the trees. When they had travelled along the trade path alongside the Red Posts, there had been a respectful distance between the last manifestations of human military power and the elf forest.

  He was about to make a point of this to Falk when his master sat bolt upright in his saddle and signalled to the others to halt.

  ‘What’s up, old man?’ asked Uldini impatiently, drawing up beside him.

  ‘I’m not sure, but it looks like trouble’, said Falk, hesitantly.

  Ahren pushed his way forward as far as possible to just behind the pair and peered beyond the wizard. He could see a mounted posse of armed soldiers wearing tabards, who were keeping their eyes peeled on the forest border. Their weapons were not drawn but the expressions on the men and women were grim and almost hostile.

  Uldini turned to Jelninolan with a quizzical look.

  ‘Is the local baron in conflict with Evergreen? That doesn’t look like a normal border patrol. The next convenient crossover to the Knight Marshes, which becomes a plastered road, is two days’ journey away. It isn’t really much of a detour but after having found Ahren’s visitor in his armour, I would suggest getting away from these trees while the Doppelganger hasn’t been found.’

  ‘Actually, Baron Gralon had always a good relationship with us. We haven’t heard anything from him over the last five summers, but we never thought it odd. You know how slow elf diplomacy is. If we don’t like a ruler, we just wait a generation and talk to his successor. Five summers is a blink of an eye.’ She looked suspiciously at the towers. ‘But the fact that he’s manned the towers again is new and disturbing. They’ve been unoccupied for over two hundred years’, she added.

  ‘We should turn around. It can’t be a coincidence’, implored Falk.

  Uldini didn’t seemed convinced and rubbed his bald head thoughtfully.

  ‘Let’s give it a shot anyway. The baron won’t risk starting a war by attacking guests of the elves. If the worst comes to the worst, we’ll have to turn around, but at least we’ll know what the border watch means. The best-case scenario – they’re just trying to catch a thieving tramp who’s slipped int
o Evergreen, thinking he might try his luck among the elves’, said the Arch Wizard.

  They strode slowly nearer and Ahren’s hands began to sweat. He fidgeted with his body armour and straightened his sword and bow, all the while indicating to Culhen that he should disappear into the undergrowth. There were too many guards and he didn’t want one of them to get nervous because he saw a wolf, and fire off a bolt at him.

  He relaxed a little once he couldn’t see the animal anymore and concentrated on the guards in front of him. They had taken up position and presented a row of bodies, blocking the route.

  A woman with a plume of feathers in her helmet stretched out her arm towards them and thundered in a commanding voice, ‘halt! In the name of Baron Gralon, ruler of the Northern High Marshes, I command you to stay still or we will use force!’

  ‘Would it have been better if I’d put on my knight armour again?’ whispered Falk to Uldini.

  ‘We never thought anyone would be here, not to mention a small army. No, I don’t think we’ll reveal your title, this is all a bit too bizarre. We’ll find out what the problem is and disappear back into the forest. They look really angry. Even if they let us through, I wouldn’t like to have any of these armed guards behind me’, answered Uldini quickly.

  Falk nodded and sat up straight in his saddle as he trotted a few paces forward to show that he was their speaker. The reaction of the guards was immediate and surprisingly aggressive. Swords were drawn, crossbows raised, and shields positioned at the ready.

  Ahren gasped while Falk slowly and deliberately raised his hands and his eyebrows.

  ‘The hospitality in the Knight Marshes seems to have deteriorated rapidly since the last time I was here’, he said furiously. ‘What has happened exactly to make you so hostile towards innocent travellers?’