Hatchling (Tameron and the Dragon) (40 page)

The outline began to fade, but Tam pushed with all his might and it opened anyway. He stepped through and pulled the pony after him, and just in time, too, as the door suddenly disappeared and both of them were left in complete darkness.

It was immensely quiet. He closed his eyes and then opened them again, hoping that would help them adjust. He had remembered to pack the small light from his room, but didn’t want to take it out right now.

He still couldn't see a thing. Tam winced as the pain increased and made him nearly bend double. Maybe his dream had been right after all.
I can't go back no matter what. I'll never have enough courage to refuse them again.

Tameron
stepped forward into the darkness, and slid his feet ahead one step at a time to feel a way he could not see. Mujuk nickered slightly. He patted the pony's back for comfort--though who got the most out it, he couldn't say.

Then he became aware the tunnel had split into several different directions, if only from different air currents flowing into his face. He felt the eerie blackness in front of him more than he saw it. Which way s
hould he go? Did it matter, as long as it was away from Fiallyn Mor?

He waited a moment before deciding. He'd rushed forward before, and had nearly been trapped because of it.
Mother, if your spirit is still here, I beg of you to help me. I don't want to die, but I can't live with honor as a prisoner or their slave
, he silently prayed.

There! It came from the left-hand side this time. Though he was underground, he heard the soft cry of an owl like the great white bird he'd seen soaring in the moonlight only a few nights before. Tam smiled as he moved towards the heartening sound.

He used one hand to guide himself along the wall, and led the pony with the other. This way felt as if it led downwards, and once he made it around one twisting turn, an amber glow began to filter up from the ground.

The light became
brighter as Tameron kept walking down the gentle slope. Every step hurt him now. His whole torso ached miserably, making it hard to breathe.

Mujuk shied, obviously uncomfortable.
He hated losing time, but took the trouble to dig the strip of cloth out of his cloak pocket he’d used before and retie it over the pony's eyes. "There you go," he said to the loyal beast. "Maybe I ought to do the same thing for myself!" But he was afraid that nothing he did would help what was really wrong with him.

Maybe I should have done what they wanted and then m
ade a run for it. But it's too late now. At least if I die it wasn't me who hurt Kiliane.

He staggered forward, unwilling to give up as long as he could put one foot ahead of the other. At last the passage ended, emptying into a large chamber.
He flung up his left arm over his eyes, nearly blinded by the brilliance of the light now flooding the entire room.

WHY ARE YOU HERE? boomed a deep voice. It sounded muffled, as if buried in layers of something. Earth, perhaps?

Tameron gratefully fell to his knees in awe as he was no longer able to stand.
Father, why didn't you warn me this might happen? Were you so sure I'd obey you, or did you fear I would try to strike back if I knew? You said to put all the blame on you. Well, I do.

Then he raised his head to gaze into the light, letting it wash over him. It didn't hurt his eyes at all now, at least not compared to the pain he already felt. "I want to live," he gasped. He leaned against the pony for support. "Help me."

ALL MUST DIE. ALL MUST COME TO ME, AND THEN GO FORTH AGAIN.

"Not now!" Tam cried with the last of his strength. "Not like this..." It was like when
he drank the poisoned cup in the Council Chamber in Kelemath, only this time nobody cared.

Stones began falling from the ceiling, small ones at first, then larger. Tameron groaned with effort as he forced himself to a standing position, and then arched his body over Mujuk to take the blows on his back.

The rain of debris stopped.

YOU WANT TO LIVE. WHY DON'T YOU HIDE UNDER THE BEAST YOU BROUGHT WITH YOU TO BEAR YOUR BURDENS?

He swayed on his feet, amazed he was still upright. "I led her here. It's my responsibility to protect her." He remembered Jarrett's words to him--
You're more of a Protector than the one who sits in Kelemath...
He ought to act like one.

The brightness faded. Tameron's mouth gaped open when he saw the Earth Spirit in his guise as Lord of the Wood, a tall, strong man all horned and
clothed in fur. His green eyes glowed, and the morning light around him now was dappled as if it shone through trees. The Giant was more than stone, but stood for all that depended on the Element of Earth.

WHEN YOU CARE FOR MY CREATURES, I AM PLEASED. I SEE FROM THE BEAST'S MIND THAT YOU HAVE DONE MUCH FOR IT. TELL ME WHY YOU HAVE SUCH ROTTENNESS IN YOUR VEINS?

"That is why I must leave, or die here from it," Tam said, falling to his knees once more. He had to brace himself to keep from lying in the dirt.

The Forest Lord gazed at him keenly, as if seeing clear through him.

YOU HAVE WITHHELD THE SEED AFTER DRINKING THE POTION OF LIFE. WHY IS THAT?

For a moment Tameron didn't know what the Green Man mean
t, then bowed his head once he did. "It was wrong..." he said. "She didn't want me, she wanted someone else...it's supposed to matter, isn't it?" Then he stammered the whole story out. "It's the truth," he whispered, "whether you believe me or not."

THEN REST IN THIS EARTH AND BE HEALED. Suddenly the Lord of the Wood changed into a giant Tree, one that was shaped like a great-breasted woman with green hair. BEFORE THE MAGES CAME, ALL KNEW THAT I WAS MORE THAN MAN. BEHOLD ME IN A FORM NOT SEEN BY ANY BUT MY GUARDIAN!

The dirt in front of Tam also changed. It became dark and soft, as if it were spring already and ready for planting. He reached over to it, and found it warm to the touch. A trickle of strength flowed back into him.

MY POWER CANNOT WORK THROUGH YOUR COVERINGS. REMOVE THEM.

Tam took off his clothes, though he was so weak he almost wept in frustration because the simple task took so long. Then he laid down on the loamy ground face-first. Why, everything smelled like ripening fruit, mixed with the scent of sun-dried grain.
Randor's farm, like the days just before harvest. I never got to stay to help, I always had to return to Kelemath, but oh, how I loved it there!
He sank gratefully onto the soft bed the Element of Earth had made for him.
If I must die, let it be here
,
he thought as consciousness began to fade
, the one place where I was always happy...

At first he was plagued with nightmares. He saw Kiliane, at last covered by a quilt, and smiling in her sleep as his father gazed down at her.
The Protector's face was gray and drawn with exhaustion--but his lips curled upwards in triumph.

Then Tam watched Stine report to the Guardian. The commander's face was as hard as ice,
but her features crumpled into despair as his aunt apparently explained the consequences of this failure. Then the old soldier's face changed again into resolute anger. Tameron had seen that expression once or twice, and it always boded ill for the future of anyone involved. The scene blurred again, and changed to one where Stine, looking much older, stood out in the countryside somewhere and held an arrow with white fletching in her hand. Instead of throwing it down to the ground, as she had the time Tam accompanied her and the other guards hunting bandits, she tossed it up and down in her hand a couple of times, then stuck it in her belt as she walked alone away from a road into a thick band of trees.

He
shuddered in his restless sleep.
I never meant to cause such trouble...
Yet another disturbing vision came to him. Kiliane sat in Council, an infant in her lap, in a chair close to the Protector. But when she thought Lord Sidian wasn't looking, she quickly smiled at Mauric, who was sitting once more in the section given to the Sandega clan.

I must go back, if only to keep this evil from happening...

Then he saw Dever Tower. It was night-time, and lights shone in the windows as they had not since he could remember. He flew inside one of them into the surprisingly bare room as if he were a bird despite the heavy glass that should have stopped him. Then he noticed the still figure lying on a bed.
Why, it's me!
Only, ‘his’ face was slack and foolish, while his open eyes held nothing. Nothing at all. A servant came in with food and drink, but was ignored. The fellow began cutting the meat--apparently his future self was not trusted with anything sharp, or was too incapable to help himself. Then the servant lifted his body into a sitting position and began feeding him.

Suddenly, the empty eyes filled with intensity, and the prisoner knocked the man aside, seized the knife so carelessly left on the table, and smiled in joy as he thrust the blade into his chest. The servant gaped in shock as the body fell to the floor.

No, no, this can't be! Perhaps it's too late anyway. I give up, Earth Spirit. Do with me what you will
.

WHAT DO
YOU
WANT? he heard in return. MY LIMBS HOLD MANY BRANCHES. PICK THE ONE YOU CHOOSE.

I want someone to love me.
I want someone to love me as much as I loved Marysa. Is that too much to ask?

He suddenly breathed in the scent of
geran
, a healing herb that Esa had often used when he'd been ill as a child. Once more the scene before him changed.

He found himself on a high balcony covered with thin mesh cloth stretched on fretwork. Tam easily saw the sky above him through it. The air was warm and moist, with an odd smell like the taste of moon-salt. He listened to the cry of the gulls, like the ones who lived near Kelemath on the huge lake next to the city. He glanced upwards. The Lady was full, and only halfway up the horizon, while the glow of day still lingered in the west.

Tameron looked back when he heard a small sound. A tall young woman, with flowing red hair and a ripe figure her long white night-rail could not hide, walked eagerly towards him. "I've waited so long for this," she sighed, and embraced him. She wore a red ring on one of her fingers. He noticed its mate on one of his.

Her creamy pale skin, blessed with many
sun kisses like pale gold in the light, enveloped his own. Her eyes gleamed with the green light of sunshine through the leaves of the World-Tree. He kissed her with joy, not caring if this were a dream or not. Marysa had told him he deserved someone who would come to him as eagerly as she had run to Jarrett.

The red-haired woman took his hand and led him back inside. The bed's thin covers were turned back already. Waiting for them. She took off her gown, while he trembled with desire at the sight of her lush body.
He soon wore nothing as well, and then they were in the bed together. He gloried in the feel of her hair and skin next to his, and willingly gave in to his body's demands. How wonderful to love without hesitation, guilt, or worry that he wasn't good enough! Tam plunged into the fire several times, and learned how to draw her there as well. At last they were both too weary to do any more than lie in each other's arms.

The darkness that overcame him there was welcome, and without fear. Tameron drowsed and only slowly woke up, as if he were back on Randor's farm and no chores awaited him that day. "Elian..." he murmured, without knowing why.

Tam opened his eyes. He felt tired, but at peace, as he had some mornings when he'd spent the night dreaming of love without nightmares. The shadow of horror was gone now, and so was the pain. The ground was hard and dry beneath him, but he felt whole once more. Even the bruises on his feet were gone.

How long had he slept? Mujuk looked much the same, though someone had taken off her saddlebags. He checked her grain-bag, and it looked like the same amount he remembered. There was a song about a woman seeking Arial up on Mt. Shiast who had come down to find all her family dead and gone, and a hundred years gone past.
Too bad it didn't happen that way for me
, he thought. That would certainly solve a lot of his problems!

He dressed and fed Mujuk. Oh, how wonderful he felt! Judging by how frisky the pony seemed, the Lord of the Wood had done much for her, too. Tameron put the saddlebags back on, this time padding the straps with some of his old clothes.

Only then did he notice that the dim light that came from the ground showed him that this chamber had no exit, except back to the tunnel he'd come in through.

I can't go back. Even if only part of what I saw was true. I don't want to become a body waiting only for death. And that girl isn't in Fiallyn Mor. I have had enough of being a piece on a board moved by someone else's dice. It's
time I find my own game.

He placed his hand on the earthen wall in front of him. It was as hard as rock. His dagger barely made a dent in it, so he got out his sword to see if he could break up the surface. Tam chipped away at it till he was nearly blinded by his own sweat.

Mujuk nuzzled him, as if asking what was wrong. "You're right, this isn't working," he said to the pony. But he'd rather die right here than go back. He thought of the little book of spells in his cloak pocket, and how a mage changed hard dirt to mud. Here in the Giant's own sanctuary, even he might be able to make it work.