Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (79 page)

             
“What!” The colonel jumped to his feet. “What madness is this?”

             
Jack dropped his head and looked into the colonel’s dark eyes. “I’m planning to follow them into the mountains.”

             
Colonel Braxton suddenly broke into peels of laughter. “Jack, enough of this obsession. Let the goblins have them. You know these mountains are crawling with them. I told you, I have the pass sealed. They’ve trapped themselves.”

             
Jack finally released his hold on his beard. “You don’t understand Myles. I’ve got to catch up to them.”

             
The colonel looked his friend over as if trying to determine his sanity. “What could possibly be so important, Jack, that you would throw away your life like this?”

             
Jack turned about suddenly and grabbed Dor’s arm. “Don’t worry,” he whispered as he pulled him up to the desk. “I’m getting us help.” Then to the colonel he said, “Did any of your men catch sight of a Tjal girl traveling with the trolls?”

             
“A Tjal girl? What are you talking about?”

             
“Dor’s sister was caught by a group of trolls not a month ago. If they’re all on the move, and I think they are, then she should be with them.”

             
“Jack...”

             
“I have blood debt Myles. I have to find this girl.”

             
Myles stared back at his friend. The sudden silence was almost deafening. Myles finally broke the gaze and looked down to shuffle a few papers on his desk. “I’m sorry, Jack...”

             
“Come on Myles,” Jack interrupted, “I need this. You owe me.”

             
“My hands are tied. You know I’d like to help, by Dren’s fire, I’d go with you, but you know I can’t move until I get word from Calandra.”

             
Jack was desperate. “How long?”

             
“What?”

             
“How long until you get word?”

             
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Probably a week. If you want to stay until...”

             
Jack shook his head. “It’s too long. I can’t wait that long. She could be dead by then.”

             
Myles came around the desk and placed a comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder and then lowered his voice shooting a quick look at Dor. “Jack, she may already be dead. Why don’t you wait?”

             
Jack breathed out a sigh of frustration. “I can’t.”

             
Myles withdrew his hand and returned to his chair. “I’m sorry, my friend. I really would like to help, but I can’t. Is there anything else I can do?”

             
Jack grabbed his beard again. “Fresh supplies and trade me for some fresh horses. Ours belong to Calandra anyway; we got them at Hell’s End.”

             
Colonel Braxton smiled and took out a fresh piece of paper to write the order. “That I can do.”

             
“Oh, and one more thing, tell your men to let us through the pass.”

             
The colonel stopped writing and jerked his head up.

             
Before he could say a word Jack cut in. “Myles, please.”

             
The colonel gripped his writing stylus so hard it turned his knuckles white. “Jack, you keep the strangest company of anyone I know,” he said, his pen suddenly writing furiously again. “Are you still romping around with that wolg of yours?”

             
“Erl? Why, of course.” he chuckled. “He’s probably out scaring your night patrols as we speak.”

             
Myles smiled as he finished writing his orders and then handed the paper to Jack. Becoming very serious, he grabbed Jack’s hand before he could pull it away. “I wish you’d change your mind old friend. We’ve been through too much together to let it all end now, like this.”

             
Jack nodded his head and sighed. Looking at a confused Dor, he said, “It’s blood debt my friend.”

             
Myles stood, releasing Jack’s hand. “Well, I guess with a wolg and a Tjal-Dihn as friends, you should be well protected.”

             
Jack held up the paper. “Thanks, Myles.”

             
The colonel waved it off and then grabbed Jack’s arm and escorted them out of the office. “I’ve done enough damage here for the day, let me get you two a place to stay and then buy you some dinner. I believe I still owe you a tankard.”

*   *   *

              Dor threw himself onto the mattress he had claimed as his own for the night. Staring up at the ceiling, he suddenly wondered how anyone could sleep on something so soft. The room he and Jack had gotten was upstairs from where they had just finished eating. His stomach fairly bulged from the dinner Colonel Braxton had treated them. The food was different from anything he had ever eaten or imagined, but it was surprisingly tasty. In no time, everything placed before him was devoured, right down to the spicy tasting sprig of garnish that added color to his plate. Jack had watched in amazement while the colonel merely laughed and ordered him a second plate, which found the same end.

             
Their room was rather plush. The walls were covered in soft, blue velvet etched with gold designs depicting scenes from the life of a lowly, traveling priest that was a recurring theme throughout the building. Jack had briefly mentioned that it went along with the name of the inn, The Gilded Monk. There were two beds with side tables and a candle on either side of the window on the far wall. The window looked out on one of the large streets that passed the colonel’s office. In fact, the inn was situated just behind and to the right of the large rock building. A chest rested at the foot of each bed and contained a towel, washcloth, soap, and powder for use with the basins that sat on either side of the door just beyond the twin cloak racks. Dor found all the furnishing a bit senseless and over done but after where he had slept for the past moon, anything clean and quiet was welcome.

             
Jack closed and locked the door behind him and then set his things in order on the rack before shuffling through his chest and digging out all of its contents. “I’m sure that was rather boring for you, Dor, but I’m glad to see it didn’t affect your appetite.”

             
Dor just laughed. “Well, I had to have something to do to keep my attention while you two carried on.”

             
Jack just smiled filling his basin with cold water that miraculously ran from a pipe sticking out of the wall. “I guess you’re just going to have to learn a few words of common,” Jack retorted, soaping up his hands and then washing his face. “It would do you good to know what’s going on around you.”

             
Dor only grunted. “So, what did you two talk about anyway? Are they going to help us?”

             
While cleaning himself up, Jack went through the whole story starting at when they arrived and filled Dor in with all the necessary details. “It’s not what I had hoped for, but at least they’re going to let us through the pass.”

             
“What are goblins?”

             
Jack dried his face and hung the towel on the rack before sitting down on his own bed across from Dor. “They’re disgusting little creatures similar to trolls, I guess. They live all throughout the Mogolth Mountains.” Jack leaned back on his hands and sighed. “Since it’s just going to be the three of us, my guess is that you’ll get your fill of ‘em before we reach the other side.”

             
Dor only shrugged and smiled. “If they’re anything like trolls, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

             
Jack didn’t comment on Dor’s bravado. His mind was elsewhere etching deep lines of concern along his face.

             
Dor’s smile faded. “Are you thinking about Thane?”

             
Jack looked up in surprise. “What? I’m sorry, what did you say?”

             
“You’re thinking about Thane, aren’t you?”

             
Jack only nodded and then reached up to pull on his beard.

             
Dor sighed. “We
will
find him,” he said quietly. “And Tam.”

             
Jack forced a smile. “I know. I was just thinking.”

             
“About what?”

             
Jack’s face clouded over and his eyebrows knitted themselves into tiny knots. “Can I...can I ask you a question?”

             
Dor suddenly felt a little nervous. Trying to hide it, he shrugged. “Sure.”

             
Jack paused as if to gather his scattered thoughts. Avoiding Dor’s eyes, he started. “Today, when the dragon was upon us…”

             
“Yes?”

             
“You yelled something to Thane.”

             
Dor’s face suddenly turned white and his head felt like it was floating in the air.

             
Jack looked up almost timidly. “You told him to use his fire. What did you mean by that? I mean, I thought he could only use it on dead things.”

             
Jack’s eyes seemed to pierce right into him robbing him of breath. He
had
said that.
I was in such a panic
.
It must have just slipped out
. Dor felt the walls closing in. “Yes, well, that’s true...I...I mean, it’s true that he can’t light anything...I mean...not unless it’s dead.” Dor tried to turn his head and escape Jack’s stare but his eyes seemed locked in place.

             
“Can Thane throw fire?”

             
There it was. He had broken Thane’s trust again and now he was going to pay. What was he to do? He had said that. He had begged Thane to throw fire and save them. He had turned away from his childhood friend as if he were a freak the first time he used his fire and now he had selfishly begged him to use it again, but this time to save his own skin. Dor felt a sudden wash of shame overtake him. He had done it again and this time his actions may bring tragedy.

He sighed heavily. There was only one thing he could do. Finally, breaking away from Jack’s heavy stare, he went back to the day Thane had saved his father, and probably the whole village, from the wolg attack. Jack listened in stunned silence that soon melted away into sympathy at what Thane and his friends had suffered.

              “So, Thane is the only one with this power then?” Jack asked when Dor finally finished.

             
Dor looked up, somewhat relieved. “Yes, of course. It’s like I told you about all the Tanes.”

             
Jack’s face knotted in confusion. “What about Tam and speaking on the wind?”

             
“What?” Now it was Dor who looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

             
“You mean Tam’s Tane does not allow her to speak to others on the wind?”

             
Dor smirked. “Who told you that?”

             
Jack’s face lifted in alarm. “Thane did. He told me that was how he knew all the information about Tam.”

             
Dor gaped in amazement. “He told me that some of your men told you.”

             
Jack’s face dropped. “I don’t have any men,” he almost whispered.

             
Silence engulfed the pair for long moments as each tried to piece together what it all might mean. Dor suddenly shook his head angrily. “I don’t care.”

             
Jack looked up. “What?”

             
“I don’t care,” Dor repeated, coming to his feet. “Thane is my friend. We are practically brothers. It does not matter to me that he knows things or can do things that I can’t or that I don’t understand. We are in this mess now because others, myself included, turned their backs on him because he is different. By the Mother’s blood, he saved our village and his own father with what he can do. I don’t care if he can sprout wings and fly. I know Thane. He would give his life for any of us; including that bunch of lake rats in the Ardath we call our people!”

             
Jack watched Dor pace across the room in a fit while spouting off what he was sure must have been obscenities since he couldn’t understand what the boy was saying anymore. Rising to his feet, Jack placed a hand on Dor’s shoulder and turned him around to face him. Their eyes locked in an embrace of understanding and Jack simply whispered, “We’ll get him back, Dor. On my life we will.”

             
Dor said nothing as a tear quickly brushed his cheek. And then, without warning, he threw his arms around Jack and hugged him.