Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (85 page)

             
Dor was perplexed. “Isn’t that good?”

             
Jack tugged at his beard. “Well, yes...I imagine it is, but that’s not the point. We should have seen something of them by now. An ambush or something.”

             
Dor searched the sheer mountain walls. “Where would they hide? There’s nothing for cover but for the rare boulder and not more than two could possibly fit behind one of them.”

             
Jack brought his head back scanning the high ridges above. “Attacks don’t always come from the front or the back. Where do you think those boulders came from anyway?”

             
Dor followed the old man’s gaze. “You mean...?”

             
“Exactly! They drop one from above and then come back later to eat up the mess.”

             
Dor felt the hair on his neck stand up.

             
“That’s not all though. A whole mass of trolls passed through here and we haven’t seen one sign of a struggle. Goblins and trolls hate each other. Something’s not right here and it’s making me jumpy.”

             
Dor looked over at Erl who sniffed the air but showed nothing to cause alarm. “Erl seems to be all right. Wouldn’t he give some sort of alarm if he sensed any trouble?”

             
Jack looked over at his fury companion. “That he would. But there are ways of keeping your scent away from a wolg’s nose.”

             
“Are goblins that smart?”

             
Jack glanced at Dor and then smiled slightly. “I suppose you’re right. It’s just so strange that it makes my skin crawl. I’d rather know where they were than be surprised, that’s all.”

             
Dor searched the area again. “Well, let’s not sit here and wait for them to find us.”

             
Jack kicked his horse forward avoiding another pile of troll dung as he did so. Dor fell in behind curling his nose in disgust. “Erl,” Jack called. “Go check it out up ahead.”

             
Erl made a tiny yelp and then bound out ahead quickly losing the pair around a twist in the trail.

             
Hours passed without the slightest change. Erl returned but made no signal of alarm, so they continued to plod along. With the cloud cover overhead, night dropped in early making the pass ominously dark. Jack had Erl lead out trusting in the wolg’s sharpened senses to warn if any trouble should present itself, while Dor did the best he could with his night vision by scanning the mountains above for any sign of falling objects.

             
“How much longer until we’re out of here?” Dor asked quietly.

             
“Not soon enough for my liking,” Jack grunted. “Another mile or so ought to do it, and good riddance. When we do get out of here though, you can thank whatever god it is you pray to for getting us through alive.”

             
“Don’t you mean without a fight?”

             
Jack couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. “No. I mean exactly what I said. I didn’t feel it necessary to tell you this because I knew it wouldn’t make a difference.”

             
“What are you talking about?”

             
“Braxton was right. It was suicide for us to come into these mountains alone. We’ve been lucky.”

             
Dor wasn’t sure how to answer. “Then why did you come?”

             
“I had to try, Dor. Thane is as much a part of me now as he is a part of you.”

             
“But you’ve only known him for a short while. I’ve known him all my life.”

             
Jack was quiet for a long time making Dor think the conversation was over. “Have you ever wondered why I live in the Shadow Mountains like I do, in the midst of all those Dren loving trolls?”

             
Dor shrugged. “To be honest, I thought you were just a bit touched in the head.”

             
Jack laughed but with a touch of sadness. “You’re probably right, but there is a reason.” He paused. “I have never told anyone this before and I would dare say that less than a few know. The only reason I can think for wanting to tell you now is because in the short time we’ve been together, we have been through quite a lot and you have trusted me. I know it was a bit rocky in the beginning, but after what you had been put through, it’s amazing we get along at all.”

             
Dor listened silently not knowing where all of this was going but comfortable in the thought that Jack trusted him.

             
“About twenty years ago, give or take a few, I lived in Calandra with my family.”

             
Dor couldn’t help himself. “You had a family?”

             
“Of course! What’s so strange about that?”

             
He shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. I just never pictured it, that’s all. I just can’t see you with anyone but Erl.”

             
Jack chuckled. “I guess I can’t anymore either. Anyway, yes, I did have a family. My wife, Keely, was the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine. She had a smile that lit up her whole face. Everybody loved her. She was the perfect mother.” Jack paused again, reminiscing back to the brighter, happier days of his youth. “We had a son. His name was Cole. He was the sunshine of our lives, a happy boy. I used to carry him on my back and gallop around like a horse.

             
“We were out in the woods one day. A raid of trolls came out of nowhere.” Jack stopped.

             
Dor could feel the anguish in his voice and felt to tell him to stop but couldn’t get his voice to respond.

             
“Keely was killed before I could pull my sword from its sheath. I took down five before I was finally overcome and left for dead. There were so many of them. Never had I seen or heard of so many trolls gathered together like that before.” His voice quivered with emotion.

             
Dor could feel the tears falling down his own face.

             
“When I woke, my son was gone. They had taken him. I couldn’t believe that I had been left alive. For the longest time I wished I hadn’t been. Friends tried to comfort me but it was no use. I could not function. My whole life had been destroyed in a matter of only a few minutes. Finally, I left Calandra. Only a few of my closest friends knew I had gone. I had to search for my son. At first I went to Hell’s End where I stayed on for a year but it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough action. Not enough troll blood covered my sword to wash away the pain I felt. Finally, I decided it was time to go to them. Taking nothing with me, I made my way up into the Shadow Mountains where I have been ever since. Until now, that is.”

             
“And your son?” Dor asked in a broken voice. “Did you ever find him?”

             
After a long pause, Jack responded in a whisper. “No. I never found the slightest trace. But I have never given up looking.”

             
“But after so long, how will you recognize him?” The words came out before he thought to stop them. He was about to apologize but Jack spoke first.

             
“He was a birthmark on his shoulder that’s shaped like a diamond,” Jack said, looking of in the distance as if seeing again through time.

             
“So that is why you wanted to come with Thane and me to find Tam. You still hope to find your son.”

             
“Partly. I have come to learn a few things about trolls in my years among them. Your friend does not deserve that kind of life. Nobody does. Yes, I still hope to find my son among them, but I have also come to think of Thane like a son. He’s a few years younger than my own son, but he is what I imagine Cole would be like.”

             
Suddenly Jack didn’t seem so HuMan anymore. He seemed more like a Chufa. “I’m sorry, Jack. No one should have to go through what you have.”

             
Jack’s voice lightened slightly. “That’s what I intend to make sure of. I’m just glad we’ve made it through the pass alive to give me that chance.”

             
Dor felt a shiver trace itself up his spine at Jack’s declaration of their coming being suicide. “We’re not out of here yet.”

             
Jack suddenly laughed. “Oh, yes we are.”

             
Jack was right. Not a hundred yards from where they were, the walls of the mountain ended just as abruptly as they had begun.

             
A large barren wasteland greeted the pair as they emerged from the mountain pass. Jack pulled them up short, sending Erl out to patrol the area making sure no goblins or trolls were about. A few gnarled, old trees dotted the ground giving it an air of death and decay.
Fitting
, Jack thought. On the distant horizon a myriad of tiny cook fires lit up the sky as if an invasion of fireflies had taken over the valley floor.

             
Dor stared in disbelief amazed that something so beautiful could represent such a deadly threat.

             
Jack wiped a bead of cool sweat from his forehead. “By Seless’ sacred doors,” he breathed, “how could we have been so far off with our count?”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
“By the number of fires spread out all over this valley, I would say that our troll numbers are at least twice if not three times more than what we originally figured.” Dor looked dumbfounded. Jack rubbed the back of his neck and then pulled at his beard. “But how? Where did the others come from?”

             
Erl came up from behind them in complete silence startling the pair as he plopped to the ground and licked drops of blood from his muzzle.

Dor stared at the wolg with a concerned look.
“Goblins?”

             
“Impossible,” Jack insisted, “they hate each other. Although, with that many trolls, it might explain why the goblins didn’t attack them in the pass.” Jack pulled hard on his beard as though trying to pull it out by the roots.

             
Dor kept his gaze on Erl. “I meant Erl. The blood on his muzzle, do you think that’s from a goblin?”

             
Jack waved him off. “No, no. Just some unfortunate creature that breathed its last breath as Erl’s dinner.”

             
Dor’s eyebrows suddenly knotted. “Why couldn’t it be goblins?”

             
Jack looked blankly at the young Chufa boy. “It’s red, that’s why. Goblin blood is green.”

             
“What?” Dor shot Jack a confused look.

             
Jack returned the look. “What are you talking about?”

             
“The fires, of course. Why couldn’t they be trolls
and
goblins?”

             
Jack shook his head as if he were dealing with a child that had taken a rock to the skull. “Because, it’s like I told you before. Goblins and trolls don’t mix.”

             
“Kind of like Chufa and HuMans, right?”

             
Jack smiled. “Exa....Wait a minute. What are you getting at? Are you trying to tell me that you think trolls and goblins could become friends like you and I have?”

             
Dor shook his head. “Probably not. But, just think about it. Trolls never get along very well in large groups together either, but they didn’t seem to be having too much trouble as they tore through the countryside above Haykon. Why not the same with goblins?”

             
Jack shivered visibly. “I don’t like where this is heading.”

             
“Neither do I,” Dor agreed pulling his cloak tighter around his shoulders. “Although, it would explain why we didn’t come across any goblins in the pass and why there weren’t any signs of a struggle or fighting.”

             
Dor was sure Jack’s beard would be torn from his chin any second by the way he had it gripped.

“I guess we’re not going to find out just sitting here,” Jack finally said, his eyes staring trance-like into the distance. “Let’s get down there and find Tam and find out what’s going on. Although I hate to do it, we best leave the horses here. If your theory is right, they’ll be safe enough. If not, well then, I guess that’ll mean we’ll be walking out of here.”

              Dor reached for the cinch around the horse’s belly. “Don’t you mean running?”

             
Erl scampered ahead into the night’s thick blackness while Jack and Dor carefully picked their way across the valley floor. The fires were a couple of miles from where they had exited the mountains, their glow lighting up the western horizon. The ground was sun-baked and barren affording them no cover or vegetation save for the occasional twisted tree. As they got closer, the fires’ lights sharpened Dor’s eyes granting him clearer vision of their surroundings. They were within a quarter mile of the first fires when he suddenly grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him to the ground. Knowing not to speak, Jack waited.