Chapter Seventeen – The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep by Kelly D. Tolman
Posted by admin on January 19, 2009
The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.
Pascalli picked a trail south and west. At first I thought we might return to Havensod, but we veered west long before we came that far south. The snow in the mountains made travel difficult and slow. We were careful not to work hard enough to break a sweat lest the chill wind freeze the perspiration to our skin. As we came lower the weather warmed quickly until we found the snow beginning to melt into spring runoff.
Iven woke me early the morning after we broke the snowline. “Your training resumes now, lad,” he said. “We’re past the danger of freezing, so time to work again.” He pointed at Pascalli who stood by with the long sword he hid beneath his cloak.
“I’m certain you favor that spear, and I’ll show you a trick or two in time, but the sword is a gentleman’s weapon and it’s time you began to learn,” said the wizard. I began to retrieve my sword, but he stopped me. “Not yet.” Iven handed me a stick with the bark removed. “Stand here facing me and mirror my motions. First the stance, then the forms, and eventually the footwork. When you’ve mastered that you can hold a real blade.”
Though I had seen plenty of drills and understood the basics of any blade, Pascalli treated me as a complete novice. He corrected the tiniest flaw in my posture or position until I felt I knew nothing of fighting at all. Each day I practiced before the sunrise and each evening after we made camp. Coupled with the practice I followed the daily routine of cooking and maintaining the camp, although Iven helped when Pascalli wasn’t watching.
“The day will come when neither Iven nor I will be here to watch you,” warned Pascalli. “It will take us at least until next summer to reach Darnuth Keep. You’ve only until then to learn what takes most men many winters.”
As I drilled the forms and mimicked his footwork, Pascalli recounted the great stories of the empire and the lands beyond. At first I found them entertaining, but I soon learned he wanted me to memorize them as well. As we rode along I retold dozens of battles until my head filled with names and places beyond reckoning.
We struck west and south, until we reached a low valley with a few scattered homesteads. We had managed to find enough game to sustain us, and Pascalli did not wish to see anyone just yet, so we took turns watching the darkness at the edge of camp.
“The Eastern Watch, or at the very least the local governors will be looking for us,” said Pascalli as we warmed ourselves from the chill mountain air. “I don’t want you to be found just yet.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because they will try to rob you of your destiny, my boy,” he replied more firmly than I expected.
“What do you care about my destiny? So far you’ve done nothing but use me as a servant,” I said.
Pascalli laughed. He always laughed at the least expected moment. “True enough Scratch. Right you are. Trapped between two old men with nothing but concern we’ve smothered the life out of you. Still, we’ve our reasons for expecting so much from you.”
“What kind of reasons?”
“The kind you’ll not understand,” he said. He saw the disappointment and hurt in me. “I’ll explain what I can,” he said after a moment. “Your father left his quest unfinished.”
“I know that,” I replied.
“He bargained with Tylos, a bargain that cannot be broken. I’m going to see that you fulfill that bargain,” he said.
“And I don’t get a choice?” I said.
“Every man has a choice, except those whom the gods have chosen. I’ll not promise to be an easy teacher, or to make you comfortable. Torbridge and the fools he serves would do that, and by so doing they would leave you unprepared. Tylos will demand her service, just as the Veldmen demanded theirs. The governors and regents will bicker and squabble. Some would raise you to lead their armies, others would have you killed or imprisoned,” he said.
“What will you do with me?” I asked.
“I will take you to Darnuth Keep when you are ready. There you can begin to do the work that I cannot do,” he answered.
“Enough of the heavy talk,” Iven said suddenly. “We’re still in the wild, and some of the wildest wild there is, so stay alert.” I perked up my ears and listened, but there was nothing beyond the sounds of night and our fire popping lazily. Too much pitch in the wood.
“Right you are, my friend,” said Pascalli with a laugh. “Wake me for my watch.” Pascalli wrapped himself in his blankets and dozed off quickly. I looked into the shadows or watched the stars, careful to keep my eyes away from the fire where the light would momentarily blind me in case of an emergency.
“Where are you going, Iven?” I asked him. I had never before thought to ask what he planned to do or why he was with us. “I know you hadn’t meant to stay with Pascalli all this time.”
“Fair enough, lad,” he answered, and for the first time his voice was soft, not just a whisper, but gentle as a warm blanket soothing out the cold. “I hope to go home to a family I’ve not seen since nearly a winter before Havensod. I’ve a wife, Whinnie, and though my boys are grown men now, I miss them. I left things unsettled in my haste. My forge is missing me.”
“You speak of your forge as a person,” I said.
“In a way it was for me. I was younger than you when I first learned the trade. Barely old enough to wipe my own nose. I nearly broke my back a time or two, but I learned early on to watch the masters at work. I had a place in Dynwater for a time until I earned a commission with Lord Nandurak of Anascrag.”
“When he died I fell out of favor, but I kept the place. It is the finest shop in the empire. I had four apprentices there besides my four sons who have also learned the trade. The garrison at Anascrag has the best tools for making war anywhere in the empire, except perhaps for the Veldmen. I developed a kind of armor connected with steel plates so light and perfectly balanced a man properly fitted can stand on his head in it and yet it can turn even arrows.”
He seemed lost as he spoke, and I knew he remembered better times.
“Why did you leave?” My curiosity was insatiable, but I think that night it came as a relief to the smith.
“Pascalli appeared in Anascrag and asked me to travel east to help the army. I knew Pascalli when I was your age, when I was apprentice to Master Steelhander the armorer to the emperor. I learned my trade from the best, and much of that has passed to you. My sons know well the basics, but I’ve yet to show them some of the tricks to folding steel. I’d like to pass on that trick the Veldmen do to cover one metal with another under water. But I’ve sense to listen to the wizard, and my Whinnie had sense enough of duty and love for the land to let me go. So now I’m here, like you far from home in the wild.”
“I hope you get to go home soon,” I said. I know I wanted to say more to him, to take advantage of that one tender moment, but I saw something in the darkness moving, a flicker of reflected eyes and a deep shadow. The shape appeared too large for a wild cat, too large for a dog even, but slanted and unlike a bear. I turned to Iven, but he had seen it as well and put a finger to his lips then knocked an arrow. I did the same and edged closer to the fire where Pascalli slept.
Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman
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