Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (67 page)

             
“You cannot be serious!” Dor shot throwing the stick down. “You cannot mean you have taken up with a HuMan!”

             
Thane looked down at his feet, suddenly afraid that his friend would reject him again just as he had back in their village. “I know it is strange,” he sighed, “but I can explain all of it.”

             
Dor just stared at him, his own feelings twisted into knots of guilt, relief, and disbelief at what had just happened. How had they gotten to this point? How was it that his closest friend, whom he had given up for dead, rescued him only to turn them both over to the company of one of the beasts that attacked their village and then into the hands of another HuMan? It was all too much for him to take. He suddenly felt exhausted. Sitting down hard, in the wet mud, he looked up at Thane through the dripping trees. “I’m glad you are still alive,” he whispered,

             
Thane smiled, feeling a wash of relief as he sat down next to his friend. “As am I. If it were not for that HuMan and Erl, I would have certainly perished.”

             
“Erl?”

             
Thane smiled. “The wolg.”

             
Dor shook his head. “I’m not sure what to think of this, Thane. What has happened?”

             
Thane stared sadly into his friends glowing eyes and sighed heavily. “I will tell you Dor, but I am afraid you will think badly of me.”

             
Dor cringed at his comment remembering all too well how he had deserted Thane at a time when he needed an understanding friend more than anything else. He was about to apologize for what he had done but Thane started his narrative before he could open his mouth.

He started with the night visit from PocMar. Dor listened intently growing in anger and sorrow when his suspicions about PocMar were confirmed. He then felt himself dip deeper into a sense of shame for not being there for his friend who had saved his life more times than he cared to remember.

Thane continued on with waking up in Jack’s cave and how he and Erl had nursed him back to health. He explained how he had come to trust Jack with his life and that all the stories about the HuMans were not true. He was careful to avoid the stories they told about the Chufa and he skipped over his experience with Tam, still fearing how Dor might react to his abilities. He figured it was best to reveal things gradually. He finally reached the part about seeing him in the cell and then the night’s rescue and then silence followed after and neither of them seemed able to look at the other. Both were lost in thoughts of shame, sorrow and regret and neither seemed able to voice the feelings that rushed upon them like the torrents of rain that had begun to fall.

Dor jumped when Jack’s voice suddenly shattered the relative still as he motioned for them to come.

              Glancing at Dor, Thane sighed. “We have to leave Dor. There is still one thing that I haven’t told you that makes it necessary for us to be on our way as quickly as possible.”

             
Dor stared at him blankly as if nothing could change his life anymore than what he had just heard and experienced.

             
“Tam has been taken by trolls and they are headed toward a HuMan fort called Haykon. We were on our way to get her back when we found you.”

             
Dor’s face suddenly lit up. “You know about Tam?”

             
Thane looked confused. “You know about what happened to her?”

             
Dor couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I know about Tam. I was with her!”

             
Thane’s jaw dropped. “You were with her? How? I mean, if you were with her, how did you get here? With them?” Thane pointed back over his shoulder obviously meaning the caravan of soldiers.

             
Before he could answer, Jack came through the thick trees once again silencing them both. “We have to go, Thane, if we are to reach Haykon before it no longer exists.” Motioning to Dor, he added, “is your friend well enough to travel?”

             
“Yes,” Thane replied. “He’s still a bit shaken by all that has happened, especially seeing that homely face of yours when you came out of the trees like a lingering troll, but I think he will be all right.” Jack smiled only slightly. “He knows about our other friend, Tam, who was taken by the trolls. He says he was with her.”

             
Jack’s eyebrows lifted. “Well then, let’s get him on a horse and he can tell us all about it on the way. By the looks of things, we’re going to be stuck with this weather for a little while longer. It might help hide our passing some but it’s also going to slow us down.”

             
“Do you think Wess will follow after us?”

             
Jack shook his head. “By the time they discover Dor is gone they will be half way through the forest. He doesn’t have the time to go looking for him. His orders are to get to Calandra immediately and that is what he will do. Wess would leave his own mother in the arms of trolls if he was ordered to.”

             
Dor stared at them in disbelief, not understanding a single word that was being spoken. Jack made a slight motion to Thane who looked over and smiled. Changing back to Chufa he said, “We have to go Dor. You can tell me about Tam on the way.”

             
Dor’s head raced in a whirlwind threatening to suck him away into nothingness. It was all too much. Jack touched his shoulder lightly causing Dor to flinch and almost pull away. “Ka Shon Jwee. Wees Shos Oonteedi.”

             
Thane smiled. “So I see you’ve been practicing a bit. At least you didn’t tell him to stay with his mother.” Thane laughed while Jack only made a grunting noise before turning away and leading them to the horses. Dor was still in shock and had to be gently prodded along by Thane.

             
Dor’s reaction to the horses was not as dramatic as Thane’s had been, the evening’s other revelations making riding such a beast seem a simple thing in comparison. Thane quickly showed him how to climb up and how to use the reigns and then they were all mounted and racing north and west. No one spoke. The only sounds were that of the beating rain and the rattling gear bouncing on the horses’ flanks. The sounds mixed together soon became an orchestra that lulled the mind towards numbness.

Matching the gloomy darkness that surrounded them, everyone fell into their own brooding thoughts while miles and hours passed in the drenching torrent. Dor struggled against the hammering thoughts that plagued him overcoming his joy at finding Thane safe. He still fought the guilt of deserting him in the village holding to the fact the he was alive and well like a branch to a drowning man. It would be too easy to turn his back again having found his friend in the company of the enemy. But Thane had insisted they could be trusted.
But how? All Dor knew to this point was the ugliness and cruelty that marked the race of HuMans just as his mother had taught him. How could Thane see different?  All that he had known before, all that he had been taught as a child had been stripped and made bare in front of him bringing the truth of his very existence and that of his people into question. Every instinct told him to run and be away but having found Thane, having been rescued by him, after all they had been through together was the anchor he fiercely held to for now. He had to trust his friend.

Wrapping himself tighter in the cloak Jack had given him, he looked over at Thane riding silently next to him and his pondering thoughts took another course. He wondered if they would ever be the same again. They had only been away from each other for a relatively short time, but with all that had happened, it seemed like years. How was he going to gain Thane’s trust again after what he had done? He noticed that the childish features that had before been so obvious on his friend’s face were no longer as prevalent. They had been replaced with premature age as if experience had robbed him of his smooth, boyish looks. He thought of all the things that had happened to him and then wondered if he had not been changed as well.

Looking ahead to Jack’s cloak covered back, he still felt unsure and uneasy about the HuMan. He realized that Jack had helped save his life, but he couldn’t understand, especially after his own experiences, why a HuMan would do such a thing. After what they had done to him, Dor had been certain that the old stories must all be true. Yet, there was Jack. After helping him escape, he was walking towards a mass of trolls to help them save Tam. It didn’t make sense. Was Thane right about all HuMans not being bad?

His head started to ache but his mind continued to race after understanding and a firm grasp of this new reality. He tried to concentrate on finding and saving Tam and press all other concerns away until he saw her safe again. He could watch Jack and Erl closely and come to a better decision about them later.

              Thane’s voice broke through the drizzle that had become a constant buzzing in their ears and brought Dor out of his own disturbing thoughts. “So, what of your story Dor? What brings you to this side of the mountains?”

             
Dor felt a deep sorrow suddenly overtake him as he turned to his friend who had taken on a timid look as if waiting to be stung by an angry hand. “Actually, Thane, I’m here because of you.”

             
Thane chuckled mirthlessly. “I did’t mean why you are here, with us, now.”

             
“I know,” Dor answered.

             
Thane examined his friends face, his own pushed into a wrinkled mass of confusion. “Me?”

             
Dor’s face suddenly betrayed his pain and he quickly looked away so the tears that had gathered would not show. “I...” He stammered and then paused waiting to regain control. “I’m sorry, Thane,” he finally whispered barely loud enough to penetrate through the droning rain. “I...I never should have turned from you as I did. I betrayed you as a friend and I can never forgive myself for it.”

             
Thane didn’t know what to say. Was he really talking about what he thought he was? It was almost too much to hope for.

             
“I came by your hut the next morning looking for you. I felt terrible for what I had done and…and I wanted to apologize, but you weren’t there. At first I thought you might have already left the hut at your father’s bidding but then I noticed your bow was still inside. I knew you would never leave that behind so I started searching.”

Thane sat silently, trying to hold back his own tears as his friend continued on with his story of how he and Tam had come looking for him all the time fearing the worst. He explained
about getting caught in the cave by trolls and his eventual escape. He choked a bit again when he explained why he had to leave Tam behind and then finished quickly with his capture by the HuMans, not willing to speak much of it.

“I thought I was dead for sure this time,” he chuckled trying to relieve the gloom he felt. “Too many times I have escaped death’s icy hand to have thought luck would save me once more. Then you came and I almost broke your neck.” He paused before finally adding, “I can’t tell you how good it is to know you are alive, Thane. I have to admit that I had given up hope.” He turned to his friend, his eyes pleading. “Will you forgive me for deserting you?”

              Thane couldn’t control the stream of tears that now mingled with the falling rain that drenched his face. He smiled brightly. “All is forgotten my friend. It is I who should apologize to you for doubting your friendship.”

             
“Never,” was all Dor could manage while smiling back.

             
Thane felt as if a giant weight had been shed from his shoulders and left on the trail. He had to confess that he had feared releasing Dor because of the risk of another rejection and he didn’t think he could handle that pain again. He should have known he could trust Dor.

             
As if reading his thoughts, Dor brought that trust into question immediately when he suddenly asked, “So how did you know about Tam?”

             
Thane panicked. After telling himself he could trust his friend his first thought was to take the easy way out and lie. He was finding out quickly, though, that the so-called “easy way” was no longer such a simple path to follow. He tried to remember what he had told Jack but quickly cast it aside since Dor knew Tam’s Tane did not allow her to speak on the wind. Reminding himself of what he had just told Dor about their friendship, he briefly wondered if the truth wouldn’t be, in all actuality, the best thing.
But I can’t
.
Not yet
.
I can’t put Dor on the spot like that
.
I can’t make him feel like he must choose again about our friendship after all that has happened and especially not after what he just said to me
.

Thane felt himself a coward, but saw no other way. He could not risk it again. Not yet. “Actually,” he started, making sure his voice was low enough so Jack wouldn’t hear, “we found out from the HuMans that captured you. They had somebody scout out the trolls and he noticed another Chufa with them.”