Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (5 page)

BOOK: Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane)
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Thane quickly felt himself alone and turned for a brief look. He was at once relieved to find that the troll was not following him but was quickly overcome with dread at the peril now placed on his friend’s life. Ashamed of himself for abandoning Tam in the first place and now with Dor in imminent danger he immediately turned back and sprinted after the troll. While he ran he pulled an arrow from his quiver and set it to his bow in the slightest chance he would be able to get off another shot and penetrate the rock troll’s tough skin. It was easy to follow their trail by the broken brush and twigs not to mention the occasional growl or scream.

             
Pushing himself with all the strength he could gather, Thane soon caught sight of the troll’s back as it weaved clumsily in and out of the trees just ahead. With renewed effort, he pushed himself forward desperate to close the gap quickly and hopefully get off another shot.

             
Dor was running out of breath from the exertion and tears began to stream down his face with the certainty that he soon would be dead. He tried to lose the troll by weaving through the trees but he knew it wouldn’t give up until one of them was dead and Dor was sure he would be the one to die. Resigning himself to ultimate destruction, Dor turned away from the village hoping that once the troll had killed him it would then be satisfied and return to the mountains leaving the rest of the villagers alone.    

With the acceptance of his inevitable doom, Dor suddenly felt a strange inner peace envelope him and he immediately stopped crying. The fear left him and he knew that his death would not be in vain. With this new feeling of calm, he almost welcomed the mysteries of death that would soon be his to discover. What was it going to be like? Where would he go? Would he come back? He suddenly found himself anxious to find the answers. He decided then that he was
not going to die running away but that he would face death bravely and with open arms as a true Chufa warrior.

He knew that in mere moments he would be through the thick growth of trees and at the small clearing found at the foot of the Shadow Mountains. It was there he would stop and rush eagerly into death’s warm embrace.

              Ahead of him, Thane could now see Dor as he darted through the trees with the troll trailing closely behind. If not for his young age, Thane knew Dor would have easily outdistanced the clumsy troll by now. Thane felt he was close enough now to take another shot. Stopping quickly he pulled back on the bow with all his strength and let go another arrow. Just then, the troll stumbled forward over a fallen log and the arrow flew just above him striking a tree a few yards beyond. Thane cursed his luck and quickly reloaded hoping for one more shot but the troll was already up and back after Dor weaving through the cover of the dense forest.

             
Dor burst from the trees with a smile and slid to a stop at the foot of the Shadow Mountains. Turning quickly around he looked for the troll. He did not have to wait long. With a deafening cry of frustration, it burst from the tree line and immediately zeroed in on its prey. Dor stood quiet and without fear as he beckoned the troll forward. “Come on my friend, let’s dance. You do not frighten me any longer.”

             
The troll smiled and with a grating voice snarled, “You die now.” It raised its club for a crushing blow. Dor lifted his arms in supplication, his heart pounding with the excitement of the beyond. The troll paused for a brief moment and then released a deafening roar as it reared its head back. Dor was sure this was it and closed his eyes eager for the end but the blow didn’t come. Dor’s smile faded and he opened his eyes only to be greeted by the troll’s back. What had happened? Maybe he had already been killed. Was death so painless? He then noticed the small arrow sticking out of the troll’s left leg. “Thane”, he whispered.

       The troll reached down and easily jerked the arrow free. Thane was already reaching for another arrow when it grabbed a large rock by its foot and heaved it at the Chufa boy. Thane dove to his side just as the boulder was about to strike his head and most likely take it right off. His hand caught on the quiver and his arrows flew in all directions as he hit the ground hard knocking the air from his lungs and temporarily paralyzing him. The troll was on him in an instant. Thane turned his head just enough to see the hulking mass standing over him its club raised for the killing blow from which he had just saved his friend. He closed his eyes as the massive club began to descend. There was another roar and then he heard something immense hit the ground next to him.

             
Could it have missed me?
Thane thought to himself.
Or am I dead?
Just then he felt hands grab him and lift him up.
It must be the angels come to take me back to the great forest
, he thought, his eyes still closed tightly.

             
“You all right Thane?” a voice asked.

             
He opened his eyes in confusion and looked right into the eyes of a Chufa man.

              “Are you an angel come to take me to the great forest?” Thane asked in a slight daze.

“Hardly boy, it’s Dax. Don’t you recognize me?”

“Maybe he hit his head when he fell,” Dor offered as he approached.

Thane looked at Dor with a blank face and then down at the troll, a large grouping of arrows sticking from its neck and chest. Other Chufa men moved about the area making sure there was no other threat.

              “What happened?” Thane asked still not sure that he wasn’t, in fact, dead.

             
“TamVen came screaming into the village that a troll had almost eaten her and that we were all sure to die,” Dax chuckled. “At first we thought she was just playing one of her silly games but when she started crying that you two were probably dead already we decided we had better see if you were all right. We went to the area she said you had been in and picked up your tracks along with those of a very large troll. We got here just as you were about to be pounded into dust.”

             
Thane looked at Dax and then Dor in disbelief. He was alive after all. Dor grabbed his shoulder and smiled. “I owe you my life Thane. Thank you.”

             
Thane became red and turned away reaching for an arrow of his that lay at his feet. “You would have done the same for me,” he mumbled.

             
“You boys can tell me what happened tomorrow morning when you come for your first lessons in bow and knife use, although it looks as if you already know quite a bit,” Dax laughed. “Now you better get back to the village. I’m sure your mothers are in tears with worry.”

             
Thane and Dor quickly gathered Thane’s scattered arrows and then hurried back towards the village in silence. Both were still in a state of disbelief that they had actually survived a troll attack and even though it was laced with the excitement of their dreams as protectors, neither seemed ready to discuss it at that moment. Dor was dumbfounded by the calm he had experienced at the acceptance of death and wondered if everyone felt that way when they finally made the last great journey to the great forest beyond. Thane, on the other hand, was terribly bothered by his actions of the day. It galled him to think he had been such a coward in the face of danger and had actually run away leaving Tam helpless in the bushes. “She could have been killed”, he mumbled.

             
“What did you say,” Dor asked suddenly snapped from his own thoughts.

“Tam,” Thane repeated, his frustration slipping loudly into his tone. “She could have been killed. I ran in the face of danger and Tam almost died. I’m a…coward.” The last word trailed off into a whisper as tears gathered at the rims of his eyes.

              Dor was dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? Do you honestly think you could have killed that thing if you had stayed and faced it alone? This day would have ended in your own death and for a surety mine and maybe even Tam’s. Who knows how many others may have been killed with that thing left to wonder unchecked into the village.”

             
“Maybe,” Thane sighed not fully convinced, “but that doesn’t make me feel any better. I would have rather died bravely as a true Chufa then have to live another day as a coward.”

             
Dor grabbed his friend’s arm pulling then both to a stop. “You cannot place this kind of guilt upon yourself, Thane. It was you who stopped and made us go back in the first place. If anyone is to be labeled a coward this day then it is I. The only thing I could think of was saving my own hide.”

             
“I do not call you coward my friend,” Thane said with eyes hard and down cast. “It was you who led the troll away from the village and then faced him without fear.”

             
“Yes, but if you hadn’t stopped and followed us and then shot him when you did, my fingers would have been more trophies for his necklace.” Dor patted his friend on the back. “Come on Thane, we did well today. No one can expect us to have done any different. Today was the first time we ever faced an actual troll, not to mention we are just eight cycles in life. I would say we did well,” Dor gave Thane one of his mischievous grins. “Did you see the look on Tam’s face when she ran past us with that ugly troll following right behind her?” Dor barked out a belly laugh. “I bet she won’t be following us around for a long while.”

             
Thane looked up at his friend and smiled slightly remembering the almost comical sight before becoming deathly serious again. “Just one thing DorMar,” he breathed while grabbing his arm. “I want you to hear what I now say and never forget it.”

             
Dor stared at him, the laughter dying away as he nodded. “All right, Thane. Whatever you say.”

Thane’s eyes bore into Dor’s head sending a slight shiver up his friend’s spine. “I swear by the five Tane and all that is holy, including my life, that I will never run away and leave my friends to suffer at the hands of our enemies again.
Never.”

             
Dor watched his friend in stunned silence feeling a bit uncomfortable about the seriousness of the words he had just witnessed. For once in his short life, words completely escaped him. What could you say to such an oath? Everything he could think to say in that short moment seemed trivial and base. Were words even necessary? Finally he croaked out dumbly, “As you say, I know it will be so.”

             
Thane gave only a brief nod before releasing Dor from his unrelenting gaze and turned back towards the village. Both boys started home again in silence as the sun made its last good-byes before giving the world over to the night.

             
As Thane and Dor finally neared the village proper they could hear the excited voices of the Chufa populace. The small town had gathered at the council fires in the village center after Tam had run in screaming death and destruction. There was a great commotion going on as each person tried to speak above his neighbor filling the night air with a loud rumble as everyone wondered at the fate of the two boys and those who looked for them. Neither of the boys wanted to be faced by the whole Chufa race at that moment so they said good night to each other and each made his way back to his home alone.

             
Thane snuck quietly through the trees that outlined the village watching intently for any sign of the many guards that would now be patrolling the town’s perimeter. With a quiet step, not common for one of his young age, he made his way around to the back of his families hut and then crouched low in the brush as a Chufa guard made a near silent pass of their home. He waited a couple of minutes to be sure the watchman was well on his way and another wasn’t coming before creeping up to the back side of the hut and relative safety from notice. His mind still raced with the events of the day and what it all meant. How was it that he could sense the troll before it had attacked them? Worse of all, how could he have left Tam all to herself to face the beast alone? No matter what Dor said, he still felt a coward. He wondered how his father would react when he heard of what had happened. Their relationship was cordial at best. Something like this was sure to send his father into one of his blind rages. He could not understand why his father disliked him so. Ever since he could remember, his father had practically ignored him as if he did not exist at all. It hurt, but he had tried to accept it as best he could. One day he knew he would make his father proud and then they would be close like Dor was with his father.

             
“He’s a freak!” Del’s voice crashed through the hut wall and into Thane’s private thoughts. “Maybe it would be best if he was killed.”

             
“How can you say that about your own son?” Lyn countered with horrid shock shaking her voice. “He’s special. Even the Kinpa think he may be of great worth to the whole Chufa race.”

             
“How do they know?”

“DelVen!
Do you dare speak of the holy Kinpa in such a way?”

“The whole town talks ill of the boy,” Del said. “He’s not like the rest of us and I’m tired of hearing the remarks of those around me about how we’ve bred a freak and a bad omen! Because of Thane, I’ve lost standing in the village.”

BOOK: Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane)
10.79Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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