Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (16 page)

     
              He quickly stood up and stared down at her.
Was that love I was feeling coming from her
? He suddenly felt very uncomfortable being alone together.

    
              “Thane?” Tam pressed getting a bit worried. “What is it?”

     
              “Uh…nothing,” he replied pacing back and forth. “I’m…uh…fine.”

Tam stared at him in disbelief.

“The reason I, uh, knew you were behind me is because you, uh well, you...made too much noise. That’s it, you weren’t being silent.”
I must be mistaken
, he thought while Tam went into a fury.
How could I feel what she was feeling
?
Even if I could, she wouldn’t be feeling things like that about me. She hates me, and she’s still a brat.

             
He felt a sudden sting across his face tearing him from the thoughts that kept plaguing his mind. “What was that for?” he cried, rubbing a hand over the red fingerprints that appearing on his cheek.

             
“You’re a pile of troll dung, Thane of the five Tane,” Tam answered in a broken voice while trying to hold back tears. “I have worked long and hard to perfect all the skills you have taught me in the last four cycles and all you can say when I ask for your help is ‘you were too noisy’? Not to mention the fact that you just stand there like a dumb log staring at that rock.”

             
Despite the cold wind still coming off the mountains, Thane began to feel hot within his blanket as his anger suddenly clawed for the surface. “Now just one moment TamVen,” he said tightly. “I have been giving up my time, risking my skin if we’re caught, trying to help you learn these things and this is the thanks I get? Do you think it’s been easy for me to put up with your constant whining and complaining when you don’t get something right? And let’s not forget that everyone in the village keeps teasing me because they think we’ve chosen each other. Even Dor thinks we have!”

     
              Tam suddenly looked up with wide, gleaming eyes matched by a broad smile, “Really?”

     
              Thane stopped, not quite sure what she meant or how to react to her sudden change of mood. “Really what?” he said a little less angrily.

     
              “Do people really think you and I have chosen each other?”

     
              Thane looked at her quizzically as a nervous shiver shot up his back. “Uh, yes they do,” he said reverting back to his original dumb state, the anger gone. “And I’m sick of it,” he continued a little more forcefully than he had planned.

     
              Tam’s face turned back to hard stone. “Sick of it, huh? And what is so terrible about me that it makes you so angry that people might think we have chosen each other?”

             
“It’s not that,” Thane stammered, not sure of how he got back on the defensive. “It’s just that...well, that would be ridiculous. I mean, you and me, together?” Thane forced a chuckle. “Well, it’s just too hysterical.”

             
Tam’s face became redder than an overripe Shue berry and Thane knew he was in for a tongue-lashing. But he was wrong. Tam pulled a knife that must have been hidden behind her back and then dropped to an offensive crouch.

     
              “What are you doing?” he asked a little surprised. “Where did you get that knife?”

     
              “Come on Thane, you pile of troll puke. We’re going to see how good of a teacher you really are.”

     
              He started to object but Tam shot in low with an upward slice designed to gut her opponent in one lethal stab. Thane barely escaped with his life. Pulling his dagger with instinctive quickness he stopped her blade just as it began to pierce his skin. He jumped back and looked down at the blood that was beginning to run a trail down his stomach. His eyes opened wide in disbelief. “You could have killed me? What do you think you are doing?”

             
“Just that, you pompous bag of lake rat gas.”

Tam lunged again, this time passing to the right and then swinging around in an attempt to bury her blade into his kidney. Thane shot back with pure instinct, causing her blade to slip past harmlessly. He was off balance, still not believing she was actually trying to kill him. Tam reversed her momentum throwing her other elbow into his gut and knocking the breath from his lungs.

                   “Tam,” Thane wheezed gasping for air, “stop this right now before someone gets hurt.”

    
              “I think someone has,” she sneered as she came at him again.

    
              Thane fended her off as best he could barely escaping injury while trying to get his lungs to work properly again. Tam was coming at him with everything he had taught her and it was obvious that she had learned quite well. Long moments passed in desperation before he was finally able to regain his breath and balance. They now crouched facing each other in preparation for a deadly dance.

“All right, Tam,” Thane said, his breathing labored but finally filling his starving lungs. “You’ve proven your point. You have become quite good with the skills I’ve taught you.”

              “That’s not enough!”

Tam lunged again coming in high for a shot to his face and then crossing it down at the last second for a slice at the chest. She was met easily this time by Thane’s own blade, which he then threw up high, taking Tam’s knife with it while extending her arm way above her head. Tam suddenly found herself thrown off balance. Then, with a little kick of his foot, Thane caught her leg and pulled it out from under her sending her crashing hard to the ground. He was on her in an instant with his free hand holding her dagger against the ground, his own blade pressed against her throat.

              “Now that’s enough, Tam,” he said tightly, ripping the dagger from her hand. “You may have learned how to shoot a bow, use a dagger, and track in the woods, but you’ve still got a lot to learn, little girl.”

             
Thane wanted to scold her more but he was suddenly interrupted by a strange sound coming from the direction of village. He cocked his head to see if he could hear it better while Tam began to protest and squirm underneath him. “Be still Tam, something is not right.”

             
Again the sound came and this time he could make out the faint words of alarm. Immediately, he jumped to his feet dropping Tam’s dagger on the ground next to her. “You run to the fields and meet the other women there,” he said looking down at her. “And don’t argue with me.”

             
Tam grabbed her dagger and shot to her feet. “What is it?”

             
“Something is attacking the village.”

     
              “The village? It’s the middle of winter! The raids won’t be coming for another moon or two when the sun warms. You know that.”

     
              “I know it’s strange, but I just heard the warning cry. Now go! I have wasted enough time with you already.”

     
              “I’m coming too,” she said replacing her dagger and facing Thane with pierced lips. “I’m as good as many of the other men at fighting. I’m coming.”

     
              “Tam, we don’t have time for this. Go where you are supposed to and leave this to the men.”

     
              “You listen to me, Thane of the five Tane,” Tam began pointing her finger into his chest.

     
              “No, you wait,” Thane said quickly, fire igniting his green eyes. “There are other things you must learn before you are ready to use your skills in the open. If you use them now we will be found out and all that you’ve worked for will be for nothing. Do you want that?”

     
              “Of course not,” she said disappointedly.

     
              “Then take these blankets and go to the fields where you belong. I’ll meet you back here tomorrow for your final lessons. Then you’ll be ready.”

     
              Tam hesitated for a moment and then sighed heavily in acceptance. Taking the two blankets, she ran off towards the fields to meet the other women while the men fought for the village.

             
Thane watched her go to make sure she didn’t stop or turn back before he headed with all speed towards the village. “I hope I can come up with something to tell her tomorrow,” he said to himself as he darted through the trees. “Or it may really be my life this time.”

             
He shot through the woods in silent ease pushing himself harder and harder trying to gain more speed. He was further from the village than usual because of the relative safety from attacks enjoyed by the Chufa during the winter moons. Plus, it gave him greater security from being caught teaching Tam. He could not remember any time in his life when the trolls had threatened his people in the winter.

     
              He reached the river and, without missing a step, jumped into the freezing water and waded across. The sounds of battle were quite loud now as he exited the icy water and approached the village outskirts. He pulled his dagger knowing he had no time to seek out his bow and ran headlong into the center of the small town.

             
As he broke past the huts on the outer rim, he was suddenly overcome by what he saw. All around him Chufa men were in desperate battle wielding knives, bows and, in some cases, staffs to defeat the enemy that had invaded their home. But it wasn’t the enemy trolls Thane had expected. Never in his life had he seen such beasts. They were on four legs like the fox but much larger. They reached almost to the shoulders of the Chufa men in height, with thick, black and gray fur coats. Their muzzles were long and held huge, sharp teeth. He watched in horror as one swiped a large paw of dagger like claws across its opponent’s chest opening the skin and leaving a gapping wound. The blood splattered his face snapping him back from his watchful terror as the huge beast bore down with fury onto the wounded man. Within two steps he was on the beast plunging his dagger into its neck as it flung itself about in a rage of pain and desperation withdrawing from the downed Chufa warrior. In moments, Thane extinguished its life in a bloody mass of slashes almost completely separating its head from its body.

     
              He ran quickly to the injured man only to discover in shear horror that it was Dor. “Are you all right?” he asked while checking his wounds.

     
              Dor coughed and then grimaced in pain before opening his eyes and focusing on his friend. “Hey Thane, how’s Tam?” he waved, smiling weakly.

     
              “Very funny,” Thane answered while placing his hands on Dor’s chest. With a small stream of smoke he quickly cauterized the gash marks. Dor grimaced for a moment and then passed out. Thane could tell that his friend was suffering from broken ribs and also a broken collarbone as part of it was poking through the skin. The beast had also put a large gash through his leggins and into his leg, which he quickly healed before carrying his friend to a nearby hut where he sat him up to help ease his breathing. Dor’s face twisted in agony as he opened his eyes.

     
              “Looks like you robbed me from death again, my friend,” he whispered.

    
              “You just rest here while I go help the others. And don’t worry about Tam, she told me to tell you that she loves you.” Thane smiled at his friend as Dor’s face twisted again, but this time not from any physical pain.

             
“Where’s my knife?” Dor wheezed.

     
              “What?”

  
              “My knife, rat gas. So I can cut out your lying tongue.” Dor broke off in a fit of coughing that almost robbed him of consciousness from the extreme pain it caused.  

  
              Thane hesitated. “Maybe I’d better stay here with you after all.”

  
              Dor looked up and smiled. “Go on, you’re not my mother. I’m fine.”

  
              Thane stared at his friend but finally just nodded. “I’ll come back when it’s over.”

Turning back to the fight, he was just in time to see one of the huge beasts leave the ground as it leapt for an unsuspecting Chufa’s back. Thane recognized the victim instantly. It was his father. The world went silent and time slowed to a crawl as he watched in horror, knowing he could not reach his father in time to save his life. All the pain of rejection and disappointment returned in an instant. The lack of his father’s love, the times he silently cried as his parents argued over him, missing the closeness he wanted so desperately. Fourteen cycles of life filled with an eternity of hurt because his father did not accept him as his own. And with all of that, he could still not understand or deny the love that filled his heart for this man who was about to die.

                 Everything inside of him suddenly reached a fevered pitch until he felt he would explode as the beast’s flight began to descend toward DelVen’s turned back. Thane felt his hand rise as if to reach out and grab the attacker away from its kill. And then, with all the fabric of his soul the lonely boy shouted in agony. “NOOOOO!”