I had grown accustomed to the four walls that surrounded me. The only hint of the passing days came from the one window overlooking the small courtyard where Marren’s people gathered to do dances and rituals customary of their ways. Lately, it was the beating of their drums and chanting voices that soothed me the most. They tried to find him, which brought me hope.
Sometimes their music sent me off to sleep, and I dreamt of peace and lush, green meadows with bright fragrant flowers, and a warm wind blowing through my hair gently. The ends would tickle my cheek and nose. But then, darkness would creep in, and Marren’s screams would surround me. He called out to me, begging me to find him. The wind blew colder and fiercer, the grass and flowers would wilt and crumble to ash. The ground would start to shake and break apart, forcing me to my knees. As the earth opened to swallow me whole, I desperately clung to a thick root sticking out of the side of the gorge. But it wasn’t able to support my weight. It gave, pulling free from its grip of the earth. I would then plummet into a dark abyss, only to wake up just before the darkness consumed me.
I had a plan to leave—sneak away if I had to. There was more to those dreams than just fears playing themselves out. Definitely more. I felt Marren in my head. I heard him, and I could almost touch him. Him! Like he lay in bed next to me or speaking to my mind with our private way of communicating. He called to me. I was the only one who could find him and bring him back safely.
Just as my determination set in, the door opened. Enid stormed through, hand on sword, in dire need of a bath. His eyes found mine, and I realized, he came for me.
“A’lainn, are you absolutely sure you can find Marren?”
I nodded.
“Very well, gather your things and meet me outside the doors. I think I know where to find him. If you can speak to him, as you told me before, I think we stand a chance to find him alive, yet!”
I nodded once more and started changing into traveling clothes. I had told Enid about our private way of speaking, using it to hold weight on my needing to help find him. He wasn’t at all surprised and explained he would see Marren and I become silent but acted like we still somehow communicated. He had knowledge of it happening in a few stories regarding heart songs, but he had yet to actually observe it. Of course, at the time, I was turned down immediately. But, he did promise to return if he got anything solid to follow.
It seemed I would have company after all.
***
Make that a small army
I stepped out the doors of the mountain and found a small group of werewolves, a few centaurs, and Ildir waiting for me along with Danst and Enid. I stared at Enid quizzically and stepped even slower out into the open.
“I’m sorry, A’lainn, I had no choice. They simply wouldn’t let you come along,” Enid said.
“Aye, that is true. A rare gift ye and Marren share. It’s one more notch in our belief in ye and one less in Jiren, which can’t bode well for him.” Ildir spoke with his hands resting limply over the blade of his axe. It had to weigh nearly the same amount he did, but he gripped its handle and laid it over his shoulder as though it was nothing more than a feather—a mere extension of himself.
“It’s okay. I understand you are just as desperate to find him as I am,” I said to Enid and then turned to Ildir. “I’m glad you are still on my side. It will make Marren very happy to know you continued to stand by me when he wasn’t around.”
“Well, all this talk is doing us nothing good in the way of finding him,” a woman’s voice spoke. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I peeked around the group to find a woman, tall, lean and dark skinned. Some of her features remind me of Danst, but I didn’t need that comparison to know she belonged to the elven race. The most fascinating feature being her eyes. Crystal blue, like shards of ice when the light touched them and dark gray like storm clouds when the shadow graced them. Her hair was streaked with different colors, yet all dark brown.
“It must be the setting sun,” I told myself, low enough only I could hear.
“You’re right,” I said to the woman. “This isn’t going to find Marren any sooner. I would suggest keeping the pleasantries while on foot.”
Chapter 20
What is Lost can be Found
The last light of the day had finally faded into the night sometime after we left the mountain village. We moved past the mountains further north, deep into the heart of a forest nestled against the foot of the sinking peaks of the earth. The night seemed to insist on carrying on forever, making the trek seem to last for days, despite our speed. I kept thinking eventually the light of day would start to brighten the sky above us, which remained riddled in an ink so thick not even the stars were visible. Instead, the night remained.
The night seemed to grow darker and darker, making the shadows blend into one another, despite my being able to see the auras of the living things around us. They grew dimmer, like their life was slowly zapped away into nothingness and eventually, they disappeared altogether. I had to stop.
“What is wrong?” Danst asked.