Chapter 4

 

Taruk awoke to the sound of heavy scratching around him. His eyes flew open and scanned the area. Beside him, his mattock stood ready and his right hand found the hilt quickly. There was no sign of Seline, Gertrude, or the strange creature, Baxter, the magician had been riding earlier.

"Dear fates," he thought to himself. "Has this all been some sort of trick?" His gear had been unloaded at his feet but the witch had vanished with his horse. Had she created that story and the pain he saw in her eyes simply to steal a horse? It certainly didn’t seem logical to him but where was she now? He dispelled these thoughts from his mind, leaving them for later. He knew he must locate the origin of the scratching or face certain doom.

He didn’t have to wait long because three tearhounds sprang on him from the shadows nearby. He had never seen one but their reputations proceeded them. Not a year went by without reports of the terrors they enacted upon unfortunate travelers and locals. They were all the color of dark chocolate, decorated with red eyes and noses. This red was often spread to their glistening fangs; a sign of the carnage they caused regularly. These fangs now snapped at Taruk while he swung his mattock at anything that moved. The night was bright but not bright enough. He had to attack what he heard and felt, not relying on his untrustworthy vision. He begged the fates silently that he would not come to such an end.

Suddenly, it connected with a sickening crunch on one of the hounds’ head. Its eyes rolled back in its head and it fell to the ground at Taruk’s feet. Unfortunately for him, his weapon remained lodged in the beast’s cranium. He pulled and pulled at it, then realized he wasn’t being attacked by the other two creatures. They were not above cannibalism. The two remaining tearhounds snapped and tore at the body of their fallen comrade. It made Taruk’s stomach turn and he staggered backward, falling onto his pallet. There were no limits to their cruelty, even with regards to their family.

The pickings of the hound’s remains soon grew slim and the hounds began to snap at each other over the remaining meat. They soon realized their folly and turned toward the fresh meat that was lying sick nearby. Taruk looked much more appetizing than the bones of their fellow. With sly grins, the tearhounds stepped toward him slowly, relishing the fear on his face. When suddenly their eyes widened in fright at something behind Taruk. He didn’t want to look back and find out what new level of terror had entered the camp. If it was enough to scare the hounds, it would destroy his unarmed self in a moment. When death had not come after some time, he turned slowly to see a figure illuminated by a blazing torch.

Seline’s face didn’t stared at him, simply in front of her. The fire danced in and out of her pale features and she looked like a specter in the dead moonlight. Taruk took a final look at her and passed out from fear and exhaustion. This time, the figure beside him spread the fire to a small pile of branches she had collected and let him sleep peacefully.

When he awoke, he noticed that Seline and the two mounts were asleep near him this time. Had the night’s occurrences simply been a dream? The pain in his shoulder from a small cut one of the tearhounds had dealt him told him otherwise. If that were true, why were the other three here, sleeping casually. He rose and stepped quietly toward the bunch. Seline was leaned against the belly of the glanuc, who lay stretched out on his side. Even in slumber, Seline managed to look regal. The glanuc looked as silly in sleep as it did awake. Its bear-like, leathery black face was scrunched together and one set of paws was resting beneath its head.

When Taruk stepped right beside Seline, her eyes appeared open. She stared at him for a moment and he searched for some reaction to the night’s events. She had seemed so distant when she held the torch in the night yet he saw that she had built a fire after she fell asleep again, obviously for his protection since she slept away from it. Seline finally spoke. "Good morning Taruk," she said. "I trust the night’s experience was one of learning for you?"

"Learning?" he said sarcastically. "Terror and pain are more like it."

"Yes but if you did not learn than the event was even worse, it was useless."

"And what was I supposed to learn?" he asked with a frown. "That my traveling companion doesn’t care what happens to me? That she leaves me to tearhounds?"

"Tearhounds?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied with a spit. "That’s what we call them here, because they cause so many tears. They ravage my people and our villages. I once had a brother, you know, the hounds earned their name with my family when they tore his child body apart in the woods. Forgive me if I find it hard to learn when encountering such bad memories."

Seline’s beautiful features turned sad and regretful. "I’m sorry," she said. "I really am. I’m sorry for your memories but do not blame me, I did not know."

"I’m not blaming you for that," he cried. "I’m blaming you for letting the hounds at me."

She let out a sigh and replied, "You brought them upon yourself. That is what I was trying to teach you. We must be prepared for anything out here. Did you see their reaction to the fire? They’re terrified of it and building a campfire would have been enough to keep them far away from. Instead of finding out what had to be done, you took the lazy road and fell asleep. Furthermore, I didn’t leave you to them. I saved you before your own cowardice could let anything happen to you."

These were the wrong words for her to say. Taruk lunged at her and gripped her chin. "Never call me a coward," he hissed into her frightened eyes. "And, "furthermore," I don’t appreciate these little lessons of yours or the way you seem to constantly test me. If you doubt my abilities than let me return to my home in my forge. Otherwise, remember that you chose me and then bewitched me with your tale, which I doubt the truth of." He finished talking but didn’t release her chin. The terror in her eyes persisted, it was cutting, but it didn’t seem to be aimed at him. Her sight looked past him. Then he realized what she was seeing because he remembered who had held her that way, according to her story. He let her chin go quickly and stepped back, upset with himself and Seline.

She returned gradually to their world then looked up at him, ashen. "I am sorry for trying to teach you something that could save your life, and for calling you a coward," she said quietly. Then she mounted Baxter and sat on him, staring forward along the road they would be taken. He was surprised that she had concluded talking and sensed an utter finality in her words. The day would pass with few words between them. He gathered his supplies and saddled Gertrude. Her soft brown eyes looked at him accusingly and she groaned with extra emphasis under his large weight. Taruk turned and looked down at the valley that had been his home. Small villages were scattered around Shinaria’s central located. Fields of crops and meadows of grass spread all around them, smoothing out a serene picture that was kissed by the dawn’s early light. He gave it a final look, he had a feeling it was the last time he would see it this way or possibly even see it at all. When Taruk moved Gertrude into motion, he rode past Seline silently, who didn’t even glance at him. The glanuc walked on all fours behind Taruk today, confused at his mistress’s lack of instructions.

The day turned out to be bright, contrasting with their dark moods. Tiny birds zipped around their heads and sang sweet songs. A few times, he glanced back at Seline who was smiling quietly at their tiny musicians. Whenever she caught his gaze her expression turned unreadable and she averted her eyes. On one such occasion he gave a sigh and said, "We can’t go on like this you know. Especially this whole deal with me leading, I have no idea where we are going."

"Your guess is as good as mine," she said, speaking for the first time since her apology. "The fates haven’t given me any directions except a feeling to stay on this road."

Utter silence reared its ugly head again but this time Taruk swatted it away by keeping their conversation going. "I’m sorry as well," he said. "I was too harsh and I swear to the watchers that I forgot what I was doing when I gripped your chin like that."

His efforts were rewarded by a forgiving smile from Seline. "We were both unknowing fools," she admitted. "Lets not let today’s events ruin our friendship. Otherwise, it’s going to be a very miserable trip."

Taruk smiled and nodded, not noticing the strain of Gertrude beneath him. He had ridden her before on flat lands where her exhaustion of carrying such a large man had been minimal. She was also not as young as she had been before and her old legs had begun wobbling half way through this day. In their attention at ignoring each other, the two humans had also ignored the poor old horse, who was nearing her final legs of travel. She pushed herself to the edge trying to keep Taruk on her back but soon she went over it, figuratively and literally.

Taruk felt himself falling through the air and his first reaction was that Gertrude had bucked him but then he realized that he could still feel her between his legs. He hit the slope beside their path with a thud and was thrown from the saddle. Both he and the poor old horse began rolling down the rocky incline. Everything was a mass of confusion as he was thrown around on the ground. Somewhere in the distance he could hear Seline yelling his name and saw she and Baxter begin to fly down the side of the hill. As quickly as she was approaching him, the edge of a cliff was coming quicker. Seline was so close, he could see her fumbling with the straps of her staff, which was attached to the glanuc, but then her expression betrayed that she knew there was no time for it. "Hurry," his mind called to Seline. "H-h-e-l-p m-m-e," he called as he bounced closer to the edge.

He could see Seline reaching for him and their hands almost touched but then he felt himself sailing out over the edge of the cliff. A spray of rocks and grass pelted them. Seline continued reaching for him as they fell through the open air, and then their hands met, gripping each other tightly. Unfortunately, Seline hadn’t been attached well to Baxter and the force of Taruk’s weight ripped her from its back. They sailed down through the air together and Taruk saw her mumbling words of magic. However, all she could do before they hit a surging river beneath them was entwine their hands in a magical bond. This seemed to matter little to Taruk as the waves engulfed the two and carried them far beyond the cliff edge and the howling glanuc.