Chapter One: The Northern Wastes
Tranith Argan: Book 3
Book Three begins after Felanar, Kara, Alessa, and the dwarf Dolen have escaped from the army chasing them, but are now stuck in the northernmost part of the island of Shanaar. They are alone in the world.
Felanar awoke and immediately regretted it. His dream slipping away, he remembered where he was and felt a weight on his chest. He lay there for a few moments not wishing to open his eyes. He stretched on the cold ground and felt pain in his back, sore from spending the night on the hard, uneven earth. He opened his eyes and saw the others still asleep. Kara and Alessa had each picked a tree to sleep under, and Dolen lay in the open between them, snoring loudly.
Felanar sat up and looked around in the grey before the dawn. Nothing was changed from the night before, and this was a good thing. They had assumed the night before that they had put enough distance between their pursuers to camp here safely, and it was reassuring now to see that their sleep had indeed remained undisturbed. For as far as Felanar could see, they were alone in the wilderness. The Northern Wastes, the maps of Shanaar had called this place, the area covering the northernmost part of this great island. There were no markings on any map showing the features of the area. No mountains, no forests, no towns or villages, no ports. Just wintry, empty landscape with the few trees thinning out the further north you went. The only reports from this land came from explorers of earlier times who spoke of the waef murch, the great winter creatures that supposedly inhabited the wilderness. The elves knew of these creatures, as Alessa made clear, and they spoke of them in hushed, fearful voices. That the elves feared these creatures was disquieting to Felanar.
Alessa sensed Felanar’s stirring and awoke. She walked over and greeted him.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“I did, very well in fact,” she said quietly. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” he said.
“Did you not sleep well?”
“I slept well. I slept well enough to dream happy visions, but now have awoken to this bitter reality. It is my emotion that wearies me, not my body.”
“No more determination to wrest back the throne, as you said last night?”
“There is so much that has to be done, and I have to start from a position of such weakness . . .” his voice trailed off.
“I know,” she said and placed her hand in his and squeezed gently.
They stood there together for a few minutes, staring at their wilderness location without speaking. The sun was rising, although through the thick clouds they could only discern a diffuse light increasing. They were in a round depression in the earth, a bowl lined with trees, a spot they had picked for its relative obscurity from possible observers. But because of their hidden location, they could see little beyond their immediate surroundings.
“Shall we wake the others?”
Alessa nodded her head and walked over to Kara.
When all four were awake, they made a simple breakfast from Alessa’s pack and discussed their plans.
“I know we said we had to get to Elaria first,” Kara said, “but I’m wondering how we’re going to accomplish that. We cannot travel to any city in Shakaart, the ships we sailed on by now are either destroyed or have sailed, and we have no other access to a boat.”
“We’ll have to build one,” Felanar said.
“Yes, there are enough trees here,” Alessa said, “and they seem the right kind that would make a good raft.”
“A raft?” said Dolen sounding concerned. “That does not sound safe to me.”
“It will be safe, my friend,” Felanar said. “I am an experienced sailor, and Kara and Alessa are very familiar with water. I have great confidence in the skills of an elf in constructing a seaworthy raft, and mine in navigating it. You will be safe, I assure you.”
Dolen grunted but said nothing.
“We need to find our way to the western coast of this island,” Alessa said, “and then construct the raft from trees nearby. If the coast is as deserted as it is here, we should have little trouble launching toward Elaria.”
“Then it will be just a matter of following the sun and stars for navigation, along with hard rowing from Dolen and me.”
“Aye, that I can do,” the dwarf said quietly.
They gathered their supplies and walked west up the sloping sides of the bowl and into the sparse forest that extended in patches as far as they could see. The sun shone through some clouds and it helped warm them, though it was still quite cold and they could see their breath as they huffed along. There were no paths, so they walked through the trees in a zigzag motion to find the easiest way.
After a couple of hours they came into a clearing. Looking to their left they saw the rising slopes of the northernmost Black Mountains in the distance. They paused momentarily looking for signs of life, any indication that the search parties were still after them. After a few minutes of trying not even Alessa’s eyes could perceive movement, not even a bird in the sky. They were truly alone in this wilderness and glad of it.
That day they marched steadily the five leagues to the coast. By late afternoon they reached the sea and stopped near the rocky beach and made camp. The water crashed violently against the shore, driven by the high winds that rushed through the barren terrain. To the south lay the last of the Black Mountains, with the city of Issk on the far side. To the north there was only a lengthy plain of snow and ice, the last of the tree line not far from where they stood. It was from among those trees they would have to build their raft, and Dolen and Felanar got to work immediately before the setting sun cut off light for the day. Alessa and Kara gathered vines and strands of growth to tie the logs together.
When darkness halted the work for the night, they gathered round a fire for supper. They felt it was safe now to light a fire, but just to be sure dug a depression in the ground so that the fire would not be visible from a great distance. After they had a simple meal they went to sleep.
Kara had the most difficulty sleeping that night. She had trouble finding a comfortable position, though she knew it wasn’t the landscape that was bothering her but her emotions. With the immediate danger over, her thoughts had turned to longer-range plans, and those plans seemed so monumental that she had difficulty focusing on them with any sort of clarity. Her mind raced from point to point without resolving anything, and she felt mental exhaustion adding to her physical tiredness.
Ravesfel’s betrayal was most disturbing to her, for if he had truly turned against them he could be a powerful foe. She thought about her morning on the throne and whether she could have done more to defend herself when she had been arrested. Then her mind raced to Felanar and his dangers, and how if she had not been arrested and later escaped she would never have been in a position to save her brother. By now he would be a prisoner of Vélakk and then what would they do?
“Did you hear that?”
Kara lifted her head and turned to see that Alessa had awoken and was looking at her intently.
“No,” Kara said.
Alessa cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes to concentrate. Kara also tried to hear, but could make out nothing over the sound of the constant wind. Alessa opened her eyes and turned back to Kara.
“Maybe it was nothing. I thought I heard – no, it must have been nothing.”
“What?” Kara asked. “What did you think you heard?”
“It was just the wind, I’m sorry I bothered you.”
Alessa turned over and went back to sleep, leaving Kara in an even more agitated mental state. Maybe it was just the wind that Alessa heard, and who could argue with elven ears? Yet if it was just the wind, why did it disturb Alessa’s sleep? Those thoughts were added to Kara’s worries, and for a long time she listened very carefully for any unusual noise. Hearing nothing, she eventually fell asleep exhausted.
The next morning was overcast. Kara awoke to the smell of breakfast as Alessa was crushing some herbs into a small pot of boiling water over the flame. She stirred the water for a few minutes and poured the mixture into cups she drew from her travel pouch.
“Here,” she said as she passed a cup to Kara, “drink this.”
Kara smelled the mixture.
“Is it tea?”
“Yes,” nodded Alessa, “of a sort. I do not know how it is possible here in these forsaken wastes, but I found this herb growing at the base of those trees over there. It is a good drink for travelers. It will give you strength for the morning.”
Felanar and Dolen were already chopping trees in a nearby thicket, and after Kara drank her tea she joined them and started to help. All four worked hard that day until they had a pile of timber and vines to build a sea-worthy raft. As the afternoon wore on, they began to assemble the base of the raft near the water’s edge. By nightfall they had the foundation of the raft built and needed only to build the sheltering structure on top, along with a rudder of sorts to help them navigate. They decided that would wait until the morning as night was upon them and they could no longer see.
They rebuilt the fire, had supper, and shortly thereafter fell asleep. This night Kara slept well, tired from the day’s activity.
“Awake!”
Everyone woke with a start as Alessa’s voice yelled out repeatedly.
“Awake, it is the waef murch!”
The other three jumped up in alarm and looked around in the darkness.
“Where?” cried Felanar, looking around him trying to discern any movement.
“There, and not far distant now,” said Alessa as she pointed toward the north.
“I see nothing,” said Dolen frowning.
“You will,” said Alessa urgently. “We must flee at once.”
“Flee where? To the south?” asked Felanar.
“No, you cannot outrun these creatures,” said Alessa as she gathered her pouch. “Once they have your scent, they will not cease as long as they are hungry, and in this wilderness there is little to satisfy their hunger. We must take the raft and sail off as fast as we can.”
“But the raft is not ready yet!” objected Felanar. “We cannot steer it.”
Alessa grabbed his arm and put her face right up to his.
“There is no other choice! We can either run as fast as we are able, and I assure you this will not be sufficient, or we can climb a tree, only to have them tear it down with their arms, or we can take the raft as it is and save our lives. Please, Felanar, trust my judgment. I can hear them coming, more than one!”
The inner light in Alessa’s eyes shone brightly with her urgency, and Felanar saw in those eyes a fear he could never have imagined in an elf. She squeezed his arm again, and he responded.
“Quickly,” he said, “get the raft into the water. We will pile on what limbs we can take and in time fashion a means of steering as best we can. Hurry, grab your supplies.”
They ran to the raft and dropped their gear on top and began pushing it toward the water.
“Into the water first,” yelled Alessa, “and then we will grab what we can if we still have time!”
They heaved the large raft foundation along the beach, pushing it across the rocky sand. They had just put it into the water when Alessa pointed and screamed, “They’re here!”
Ankle-deep in the water, Felanar turned back and felt the blood drain from his face. In the dim light he wasn’t sure what he saw among the trees near their camp, but it was huge, whatever it was, and it wasn’t alone.
Dolen began grabbing logs to throw onto the raft, but Alessa was already pushing the raft out to sea as fast as she was able.
“No time, Dolen!” she said. “Everyone on board, hurry!”
Kara hauled herself on board next to Alessa, and then looked back toward the nearby shore. The winter creatures were advancing rapidly, and she yelled at Felanar to get on board. Felanar and Dolen waded out to the raft and gave it a shove, but it was not enough. The creatures had reached the water and were clearly going to rush out toward them unless they could reach deep water quickly. Kara, seeing they were not going to make it in time, dived over the back into the water, turned around, and started pushing the raft while she kicked with her legs in the surf. She told Felanar and Dolen to do the same, and the three of them used the power of their legs to swim the raft out into the sea.
Behind them the great creatures crashed through the surf in their pursuit. Alessa screamed and suddenly Kara felt herself being wrenched away from the raft and lifted into the air by a strength that terrified her. A furry arm, wet and foul smelling, was lifting her to the mouth of one of the creatures. She screamed as she saw the yellowed fangs in the opened mouth grow rapidly closer. Kara then felt something whiz past her face and she saw an arrow strike the creature in his left eye. The waef murch howled in pain, rearing back his head, and releasing his grip on Kara enough for her to wrench herself free. She tumbled into the surf and had the wind knocked out of her by the impact. As she struggled to breathe, Felanar and Dolen hauled her up onto the raft while they continued kicking the vessel further out to sea.
“We have made it,” cried Alessa. “Look! They are advancing no further, it is too deep at last.”
The others turned and saw that indeed the large, white, hairy creatures were now chest deep in the surf and had stopped following, but merely stared at them from a distance as the raft drifted farther from shore. The one wounded creature continued roaring in a mixture of pain and anger. Felanar and Dolen climbed back onto the raft and caught their breath while keeping an eye on the waef murch behind them.
“Are you hurt?” Felanar asked Kara.
Kara shook her head, still trying to breathe, and looking at her brother with wide eyes.
“You do not look injured,” her brother said. “No bleeding that I can see. You were lucky.”
Kara nodded.
“Thank you, Alessa,” Felanar said. “You saved my sister's life.”
“We were lucky my shot rang true,” the elf said.
“We are all lucky, and now safe,” said Felanar, “but I have never seen you so frightened, Alessa.”
Alessa nodded and said, “I have never seen these beasts before, but I have heard the tales and they frighten me. Malevolent beings they are, these waef murch. They cannot be reasoned with, they care for nothing but death and devastation. My people found in the waef murch the one creature we could not understand. So we avoid any contact and pretend such creatures do not exist, for they cannot be explained. To those who think evil cannot exist as a thinking, intelligent being, we merely point out the existence of these creatures and we shudder.”
No one said a word to this. After a while, Felanar noted quietly, “Our raft is unfinished, and we have no means of either shelter or navigation. Alessa, do you think it safe to return to shore at a different point and gather more material?”
The elf thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“We cannot land much further south for then we will be closer to Issk and in danger of discovery. We cannot land much further north for the trees come to an end. I would not go anywhere near where we were, for now that the waef murch have taken up our scent, they will be up and down the coastline for some time in hopes that supper returns. I would not take the raft back now. The supplies we have are what we will use.”
“What we have is very little,” said Dolen. “I trust your skills, young elf, but not the condition of your structure. We cannot steer. As good as you may be at sailing, Felanar and Kara, is it not true that you need something to sail by?”
“I'm not going back!” Kara said, still breathing hard.
Felanar nodded. “It's true we need something to sail by, but we obviously no longer have that option. How do the currents flow in these waters?”
“In our favor, I think,” said Alessa. “The current should take us south, between this island and Elaria. My kinsmen, the Llaráin Erenár, will find us in the water and rescue us.”
“Then we will trust to the current and hope for the best,” said Felanar. “Let us take turns keeping watch through the night, and in the morning let us try to fashion the best rudder or oars we can make out of the few pieces of wood we have. I will gladly stay up first and make sure we do not steer toward the coast. Southward we travel, as best as I can manage it.”
“I will join you in the first shift,” said Dolen quietly. “I do not think I can yet trust this raft enough to sleep on it.”
Kara smiled and said, “Very well, I will try to sleep.”
Thus passed their first night on the raft.