Chapter 3

 

Seline tasted the fresh morning as she soared gently through the air. Taruk rode beneath her on an old brown mare he had borrowed from his parents. He had to return home to retrieve his gear and say his good-byes. Both his parents had sobbed and begged Taruk not to go. Seline had been shocked when she first saw them with their small statures. Neither was taller than five and a half-feet and each looked as though their willowy bodies would blow away with a strong wind. His father had quiet brown eyes and speckled gray hair. His mother had still retained much of her rich brown hair but it was streaked with gray hairs that would soon spread and reign supreme on her head. It was so hard to imagine that these small, thin people had produced Taruk. Seline began to strongly suspect that they hadn’t; though none of the family members showed any sign that this could be true. However, is beriaforin-life pulse-beamed a strong, dark blue. While his mother’s was a elegant rose and his father’s a stately green.

The couple had also avoided Seline every chance they got; their eyes betrayed fear and distrust when they looked upon her. Seline knew better than to expect any more than that from them. She was fortunate they didn’t attempt to force her to leave and Taruk to stay. They may have been small but she had a feeling they knew how to use the thin, steel swords that were mounted upon the wall.

Eventually, they had managed to get out of the house and to the stables. The moment they stepped out with the mare a large glanuc descended from the sky and plopped himself right in front of Taruk’s mother.

"’Ello," it said to her, lifting a small, dusty bag. "Would yew like a ta’t?"

At that point the frightened mother promptly fainted at the feet of the creature. Taruk and his father quickly began working to revive the poor woman while the glanuc, Baxter, loped quickly over to Seline. Her head came about up to be about even with the peak of his back and his dark black hair matched the depth of her cape. His coloring contrasted as much as Seline’s. Pure white wings stretched from the dark landscape of its back. Their chaotic sides may have been why they were so close. She had watched Taruk huddling with his mother and father. He puzzled her. While Taruk was certainly gifted, he didn’t seem the type that the fates would send to her. He was the sort of person who conformed to what he was given by the big, bad world and not ready to rush out into that world and save it. The fates must have known what they were doing though. She watched his large hands gently move over his silly mother’s body, trying desperately to revive her to consciousness. There was definitely something about him. He had suddenly looked up with worry, meeting her gaze, but Seline quickly turned her eyes to the glanuc beside her.

"Oi dina mean ta’ sca’ tha poo’ ol’ la’ie," he said to Seline, apologizing. Seline just chucked and shook her head at him.

"No harm done Baxter," she assured, patting his neck hair. The creature had been her best, her only, friend for much of the time that she had been traveling.

"No harm?!" cried Taruk’s father, dropping the head of his slowly reviving awaking wife roughly on the ground. "Look what it’s done to my wife!"

Seline sighed and pointed at Baxter saying, "For starters, it has a name, Baxter, and secondly, he was only being polite. If your wife has a fear of tarts there’s no way he could have anticipated it."

The man simply glared at Seline and Baxter, anger apparent in every feature. Then he returned to fussing over his now-awake wife. Seline turned and motioned for the glanuc to follow her. She began walking down the dusty road, a few bold particles of dust attempted to cling to her sleek cape but they found themselves settling back down on the ground a moment later. Would Taruk follow? This was her final test of him. She hadn’t invited him to come; he had to do it by his own inhibition. With his mother’s performance added to the lot, she hadn’t been entirely sure he would follow.

Upon reaching the edge of town, Seline climbed onto the back of the glanuc and the two launched into the air. She had let a small tear roll down her cheek. Taruk hadn’t joined them and now it was less likely he ever would.

"Tha man is’na goina’ jon us?" asked Baxter as they flapped along.

"Doesn’t look to be that way," she had replied, returning to her composed state.

The noise of horse hooves slapping against the hard soil soon greeted Seline’s ears and she smiled with a quiet satisfaction.

"Hey you up there!" called Taruk from the ground. His voice panted heavily, in-sync with the horse’s strained breaths. Seline quickly sent a small pulse into the glanuc’s mind and he dropped to the ground, landing where Taruk’s mare had been running moments earlier. In front of them, Taruk yanked on the horse’s reigns and turned her around, walking slowly back to where they were. She had sat on her seat with a satisfied smile and a slight crinkling to her eyes. He gave her a puzzled look. "Why’d you run off like that?" he demanded.

Seline shrugged and swirled her fingers within the silky fur of the glanuc’s back. "You seemed quite busy and looked as though you had submitted to your parents wishes. If you were going to stay I needed to be on my way," she said plainly, lifting her eyes to stare into his.

He seemed unable to respond for a moment but then finally spoke again. "My mother needed me. She was very upset by that," he said, pointing at Baxter. The glanuc had lifted an indignant arm, shifting his balance and nearly upsetting Seline from her seat, to his chest and made an innocent look.

"If’in oi did affen’, a’cept mi ‘umblest ‘pologies," Baxter replied.

Taruk had looked at the glanuc with utter confusion. This had obviously been his first encounter with a glanuc or perhaps even a creature of magic, particularly one with the ability of speech. Seline broke the silence this had created with these words, "Well, whether Mrs. Semantic was really upset or simply as good an actress as a swordswoman, we needed to be on our way."

"It wouldn’t have killed us to stay a little longer," Taruk said with a slight bit of anger.

"Perhaps not us," Seline had replied furiously, surprised at her own anger toward his ignorance. "But certainly others. Don’t you see? Every moment we spend indulging your mother is one that brings Barob closer to more innocents, and thus them closer to their deaths."

After that, Taruk had closed his mouth firmly and now they rode up and out of the valley that was home to his small town, Shinaria, and some assorted villages. On the end of their second day of traveling, they reached the peak of one of the western mountains, for his valley lay far in the east of the world they knew as Gerbick. They had spent the previous night with a friend of Taruk’s family, who lived at the base of the mountains. After a long day of traveling up hill, she knew they needed their rest. Seline brought Baxter to the ground in front of Taruk. He had begun dozing off in the saddle and her sudden appearance cause the horse to throw him from its back. Taruk tumbled to the ground and just lay there, looking up into the cold, black night.

"I think now would be a good time to stop, we have traveled far," Seline told him, staring with amusement at his reclining figure.

"Yes," he affirmed, his mount opening wide to let out a loud yawn. Then he managed to lift himself from the ground and grabbed his sleeping bundle from the back of the old mare. Without a moment of hesitation, or even a goodnight, he spread it on the soil and fell asleep.

Seline chucked to herself as she brushed he back of the glanuc. When she was finished she moved the kind mare, Gertrude, and relieved the horse of some of her bondage. Seline was sure to lay Taruk’s mattock near his side. It was an old weapon and one you wouldn’t expect to see a Tal’Shin wield. Its double ax blades were polished meticulously, however, and one could tell that its owner had spent many hours making sure that it didn’t deteriorate more than possible. She gave the weapon a final pat and returned to Gertrude.

"Well old girl," she said to the tired animal. "Should we let him learn his first lesson of travel?"

Gertrude’s muzzled seemed to give a slight nod of ascension. Anyone observing would consider it an extreme coincidence but Seline knew better. She led the horse over near Baxter. The two didn’t seem to mind each other, though the mare was slightly wary of the strange creature who stood beside her.

"We’re going to get a cloak of invisibility tonight Baxter," Seline said.

He grinned a toothy grin. "Tha man isna thow, is ‘e?" the glanuc answered, realizing his mistresses intent.

Seline nodded and smiled, then began preparing for the spell. It was one that took moderate preparation so she only used it in territory where they were at risk without it, even with objects like fire that Taruk had neglected. However, tonight she was going to instill the importance of preparation into him. Seline’s mind formed a circle of bright white around her mental image of the other three and then she raised her arms, in her mind and in reality. Gertrude gave a slight whinny as Seline’s arms came down, covering them with a dark blanket of blackness.