Bearers of the Black Staff

“I was just wondering how big a threat those of us living in the valley might face from those of you who don’t. If agenahls are the worst of it, maybe it isn’t so bad, after all.”


Deladion Inch was silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on Sider. “Well, I wouldn’t be too quick to make that presumption from anything that I’ve told you,” he said finally. “Ask yourself this. Do your people have weapons and armor? Do they have training in the use of both? Do they know how to conduct themselves in a fight where the loser gets wiped out and the village gets burned back into the earth? If the answer is no, you’re all in a lot of trouble.”

Sider Ament didn’t say anything in response. He nodded wordlessly and thought that the other man had an important point to make. He didn’t know this world and its inhabitants, and any presumptions about what they might do or not do to his own community, once they found out about it, were reckless. The only thing he could be certain about was that if some of the former found their way into the valley and discovered some of the latter, it would happen again. The mists had dissipated, the protective walls were down, and his wards had been violated more than once. It was the beginning of the end of their old way of life and a signal that a new way must be found.

He wondered how the boy Panterra and his young friend were doing in convincing anyone in the village of Glensk Wood or in any other place they might choose to visit that this was true.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” he said finally, looking over at Inch. “I thank you for doing so.”

The big man smiled. “My pleasure. I hope it helped.” He reached over and touched Sider gently on the arm. “One more thing. Something I have to ask. When you’ve healed sufficiently to leave here, will you go back to the mountains and your valley home? Back to where you came from?”

Sider nodded. “I expect I will.”

“Do you have family there? A wife or children? I have none, so I have nothing to go back to and moving ahead is all I know. No ties of any sort. But is that so for you or is there someone back there who still means something to you? A loved one you think about when you’re out alone and far away from your people?”

“No, no one.” Sider hesitated. “Once, but not anymore. Not for a long time now.”

Deladion Inch shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t change what I want to say. You speak of the way you watch over the people of your home, of the commitment that black staff requires of you once you choose to carry it. That sort of dedication, that’s very rare. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it before. I just thought that maybe …”

He trailed off, the sentence left unfinished. “Do yourself a favor. When you get there and you’ve told your people whatever you think you need to tell them, stay there. Keep your people there, too. Don’t come out here again until you’re better prepared for it. You haven’t seen enough of what’s out here. You’ve no idea how dangerous it is. I do. And I’m telling you that you’re not ready for it.”

“Maybe that’s so,” Sider acknowledged. “But maybe I won’t have a choice in the matter.”

The big man chuckled softly. “You always have a choice, Sider. Do what I say. Stay in your valley and stay safe.”

After that, they were quiet for a long time.





TEN




I DON’T LIKE IT THAT WE RAN AWAY,” PANTERRA WAS saying as they climbed out of the valley in which Glensk Wood was now little more than a darker shading of color amid the green of the trees. “It makes it look like we did something wrong.”

Prue, walking to his right and just ahead, gave him a look. “It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. What matters is the truth, and the truth is that we were just trying to help.”

“You and I and Aislinne know that. But no one else does. No one else even heard me once I got to the part about the protective wall breaking down. No one wanted to hear that the things that killed Bayleen and Rausha were from outside that wall and might be just the first of an entire world of monsters trying to break in. Who can blame them? They’re terrified of the possibility. Aren’t you?”

“I’m fifteen. Everything terrifies me.”

He laughed in spite of himself.

The sun was just cresting the jagged line of the mountains east, spearing the retreating dark with lances of gold and silver daylight, the clouds of the previous night dissipating and leaving only heavy fog that pooled in the gaps of the peaks. The boy and the girl had been walking steadily since they had left home during the night, heading east and north toward the Elven city of Arborlon. It was a two-day walk at best, but there was no reason for them to believe that anything ahead might obstruct their passage or anyone behind find their carefully hidden tracks.