Antonin suddenly found himself sprawled face down in the snow. The hard surface beneath him was ice. He was looking down into the blue depths of the ice at the remains of a city buried far below. Or was it? He was not sure. The snow was thick all around him. Crawling to his hands and knees he shook his head. What had happened? One minute he had been in the warmth of the inn, the next sprawled in the snow.
Where was he? He struggled to his feet, teeth chattering uncontrollably now. It was very cold, and already he could feel the strength being sapped from his body. His cloths were the light riding gear of a plainsman. Not the furs of those who dwelt far to the north in the snow country. He had never met such people, but the Traders had often spoken of them, and shown drawings of them in old wooden bound books.
Antonin looked about. He seemed to have fallen into a hollow in the snow, as there were steep banks of hard snow all about him. He could hear the wind moaning across the crags of ice he could see in the distance. Turning full circle he could see he was in a deep valley, and then it dawned on him. He was standing on a frozen lake. Quickly he knelt again and brushed away the snow from the smooth ice where he had lain. Perhaps it was a city he could see in the depths. But it was too indistinct. It was probably just piles of mountain rock, tumbled into the valley in times past.
With teeth chattering, he tried to decide what to do. Much longer in this cold and the decision would be taken from him. He would be dead. Perhaps he could open another portal and simply step back to his own world, safe by the fire in the inn. Nothing happened. He thought about it. Envisioned the room in all its detail. Flung his arms out in front of him. Yelled commands into the biting wind. Even flung himself forward as he had done in the inn. He lay panting in the snow, skin bruised from the splinters of ice just under the snow. Perhaps the portal he had used to get here was still open? Calculating where he had fallen, Antonin moved back looking for a clue. There was only a section of compressed snow, and a chink out of an ice wall where something had marked out a rectangular shape. Of a portal there was no sign. Antonin began to realize he was in serious trouble. Even to reach the distant mountains seemed about two days journey. The golden band around his head was beginning to hurt terribly as it turned colder and colder, compressing on his scalp. He had to get out of here, and the distant crags were his only seeming hope. If he could live long enough to make it.
Antonin struggled up the slope of the snow bank, kicking toe holds with his soft boots. He couldn’t feel his feet, they were to cold. The wind slashed across the icy surface in swirling gusts that raised powder fine snow in huge clouds that seemed as if they would bury him one minute then pursue him across the hard pressed snow the next. He picked up speed and ran as he had never run before. He knew he did not have time to settle into a steady trot. He had to get out of this icy bowl as quickly as he could. His exhaustion was being increased by the occasional fall. The surface, while rock hard in most places had small pockets of soft snow scattered across it. A foot stepping accidentally into one of these sent him sprawling across the ice, arms out stretched, trying to save himself. It was getting more and more difficult to get up each time it happened. It was no good, he would have to slow to a trot. The falls were taking too much out of him. At least at a trot he could recover his balance and press on after a few faltering steps. The world seemed to be drawing in on him as in a tunnel. His vision of things appeared to him as though he looked through a long tube.. Blackness was all around, only his distant goal kept in focus. There was a strange humming in his ears. It must be caused by the gold circlet, but Antonin was too cold and exhausted to think about it. Perhaps it was loose. He would throw it away. It would not budge however. As he ran he tried to tear it from his head but it would not move.
Antonin had been running for what seemed like hours now. His strong paces at the beginning were now a shambling foot dragging agony of movement as he forced himself on. It was probably only his movement that kept him alive. His fingers and toes were a dark purple, and hurt more than he thought he could bear. He began to resign himself to dying in this light forsaken waste of snow and ice. In all his life he and never experienced anything like this.
For the thousandth time he stumbled on a hump in the snow and sprawled head long onto the hard surface. He lay there panting, mouth wide, sucking in lungs full of freezing air. ‘Get up’ He told himself. He had to get up.
Antonin tried, but he could only make it to his hands and knees. He crawled back the slight distance to the hummock he had tripped over to try and get some leverage so he could stand. It took a moment to realize that the hummock on the ice was the body of a dead man. A man much like himself, but wrapped in thick furs from head to foot. Without hesitation Antonin began stripping the furs from the body. Soon he had struggled into them. Thick white furs, hood, vest, coats and boots with extra leggings. The only remaining skin exposed now was that area around his eyes, but that was deeply recessed now under the hood with its wrap around face protector. Already he was starting to warm up. Everything had gone on over the top of his existing cloths, and this extra layer began to warm immediately. His feet were extremely painful, as were his hands now inside the thick mittens, but he would live.
Antonin investigated the body of the man on the ice. There were no apparent wounds, so he had no idea what had caused the man's death. Perhaps thirst, perhaps starvation? Who knew. Realising the man was probably a hunter, Antonin began a search around the body for weapons. It didn’t take long to find a huge long bow. Fully Antonin's height the bow had enormous power. The arrows in a tubular holder by the man's side had huge chisel shaped heads. They looked like they were made to pierce almost anything. There was nothing else around the man that Antonin could find. There was also no way of burying him properly. Antonin covered him again with a mound of snow and said the words he had been taught as a child to comfort the man on his long journey ahead. Antonin had no idea if the man even observed such rituals as his, but he was human and deserved to be treated with dignity. He had unknowingly saved Antonin's live with his gift of warm clothing. Already Antonin's feet and hands were returning to something like normal feeling. The furs that he wore kept out all the cold, only his eyes glittering through the narrow gap of the hood, as his breath turned to frost where it escaped around the furry edges.
Antonin turned his attention once more to the destination of the rocky crags. There appeared to be nothing in between. The weak yellow sun was almost behind the ranges to the left, but there was no point in camping out here. He would walk on through the night, calculating he should reach the valley walls sometime early the next day.
Antonin trudged on through the night. It was not possible to even trot in the massive furs, but he felt safe and warm now, and a little hungry. The golden crown had stopped its humming and no longer hurt for which Antonin was grateful. It had once again warmed up. Antonin tried occasionally to form a portal, but still nothing happened. ‘I might well be the King of the Malachites, but a lot of good it does me.’ He thought wryly. A glittering full moon now followed the suns path across the sky.
Under different circumstances Antonin would have found the night time landscape beautiful. Now he only wanted to get off this ice, and find his way to civilisation again. He hoped he could get back to his own land. He had no idea where he was, but he guessed it was a long long way from where he lived. It did get cold on the Star Field Plain in deep winter, but nothing like this.
The moon had long since set, and the sky was starting to lighten again as the new day approached. Antonin was getting very hungry now, and increasingly weaker, but he trudged on, eating hands full of snow to quench his thirst. The mountain wall had drawn closer, revealed now in the weak light of the approaching dawn. It was still many hours, the sun well up and starting to warm the landscape before Antonin began to see the first boulders of the lower slopes. No hills. Just huge boulders rolled out on to the ice when they had come crashing down from the heights, not too far distant now.
They looked un-scaleable, but that man out on the ice had come from somewhere, and he was a hunter. So Antonin had to suppose that he had come down into the valley, and that there was something to hunt here. So there must be a way out. He stopped, and slowly scanned the massif before him. Tracks or trails, even campfire smoke if he was lucky. Any sign of life would be welcome, but there was nothing.
Antonin kept a wary eye on the heights ahead. Some of those boulders looked like they had only been in place a short while. It was hard to tell, but he had no intention of being rolled over by boulders the size of houses. They also provided a maze of cover if there were living things to use it. It would be wise to go carefully. Antonin removed his gloves and strung the bow. It was difficult in his weakened state and his hands started to freeze again, but he was out of the wind now, so it was bearable. Nocking one of the huge headed arrows, he moved on through the maze of boulders. The steep walls of the valley towered overhead. In his caution, senses heightened, Antonin saw there were marking on some of the boulders. They began to form a pattern, and appeared to mark out a trail that was leading straight to the cliff wall ahead. Well, the dead man had perhaps come this way after all. Antonin could do no worse than follow the markings. In time, he was led directly to a cavern low in the valley wall. The entrance was easily high enough to stand in, but only about an arm span wide, and was faced by a low wide ledge, about Antonin’s height up the wall.
Easy to gain access to, but equally easy to defend. There had been no sign of game of any sort, but the cave promised warmth if nothing else. Antonin climbed up to the entrance. He could not see much of the dark interior, and a glance back showed only the windswept icy waste that he had just come through.
Cautiously he felt his way into the cavern. It was much larger inside, opening out from the entrance into a huge cavern that stretched back into the darkness. There was no telling how high the roof was, nor how far back it went. He stubbed his foot. Here was a find. Right at his feet was a hearth of stones, and wood for burning. It must have been carried here from outside the valley. Quickly Antonin gathered scraps and splinters together and dug out his flint stone. In moments he had a small fire crackling with a cheery sound and a bright yellow flame. The warmth of the fire was welcome on his frozen hands. The flickering flames penetrated the gloom showing the true size of the cavern. A whole village could be quartered here. There were piles of furs a little way back, and what was obviously a hide stretching frame. Strips of dried meat hung over a now dead fireplace near the hides. Antonin was chewing on a strip before he knew it, and looking closely at what was obviously a hunters camp. Was it the lone hunter he had found on the ice? Antonin began to investigate more closely. Yes, there were two piles of bedding furs. The hunter out there had not been alone. Moving slowly toward the rear of the cave, Antonin found a trickle of water in a crevice running across the floor. It came down the far wall, and disappeared down into the depths where there was a crack in the floor where it met the wall. It was all he needed though. He had food and water for the moment, and warmth. He thought with a smile that not only was he King of the Malachites, Lord of the Dragons, Keeper of the Dragon Throne, hammer of Truth but he was also Lord of the Chamber.
There was nothing else to discover in the cavern, and the little food, water and warmth were slowly closing his eyes.
Antonin rolled himself in the furs on the raised ledge to one side of the cavern and was asleep before he could even worry about animals creeping up on him. He slept like a log. Strange dreams crept up on him. He was on the valley floor. Out were the dead man was. He was the dead man. He could feel himself laying there in the snow, and someone was kicking him. Was there no peace even in death? The person kept kicking him. ‘Not hard,’ he thought, ‘but I can’t get up, I’m dead?’ He was laying under a huge animal, he could feel it’s warm fur. ‘This was crazy’ he thought. ‘Wake up’ he shouted to himself. ‘No wait.’ That was a girls voice. “Wake Up.” The voice shouted again. Suddenly the darkness whirled away and Antonin sat bolt upright, wide awake. He had been dreaming, but the girl standing before him with a long spear pointing right at his heart was no dream, and she looked like she meant to use the spear if he so much as blinked. He didn’t.
She was speaking in some language that Antonin had never heard. It sounded almost like a song, all rising and falling tones. Yet he seemed to understand her. So he was still dreaming. ‘Oh well’ he thought, ‘may as well lay down again.’ He rolled back into the furs and pulled them up over his head. He still had on the cloths he had taken from the dead man on the ice.
‘What was that woman doing?’ He thought. He could feel her prodding him with the spear and hear her shouting at him in her strange musical voice. Well if this was a dream and he could understand her, perhaps he could talk with her. “Stop it,” he yelled in her language. “Don’t you know who I am?” The girl went silent and the prodding stopped. Antonin smiled to himself. This was a good dream. People obeyed him. Now he could feel himself being dragged along the floor and before he could do anything about it, he had fallen from the ledge onto the hard floor of the cavern. That HURT. This was no dream. Antonin untangled himself from the furs and lurched to his feet. He couldn’t see. It was pitch black. No – it was his hood. It had become turned completely around. And that infernal woman was prodding him with the butt of her spear again. He twisted his hood around so he could see, and turned to face her. She was yelling at him and calling him by another name. ‘She thinks I am the dead man still’ Antonin realized. He backed away slowly and carefully removed the fur hood. The girl could now see his face clearly. Shock was clearly written all over her. In an instant she was in fighting stance, and only Antonin's quick wits saved him as the spear flashed by him, tearing through the coat just under his arm. The girl was now in a half crouch, a deadly blade almost like a short sword in her hand. “Where is Dafong?” She hissed, all song gone from her voice. “What have you done with him that you wear his clothes?” Her eyes kept flicking to the circlet on his head. She was becoming more uncertain by the moment. Antonin relaxed slightly. She would not kill him yet. She wanted answers to her questions. Yet still he could not understand how he knew her language. If this was still a dream, it was like no other dream he had ever had. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The girl jumped at the sudden movement. His head shake had flung his hair away from the golden circlet, and she could now clearly see that it encircled his head, a fine band of white gold inlaid in the yellow. The small script plainly visible. The girl backed away from Antonin. She was no longer interested in attack, although her dark eyes still glittered with icy resolve.
“I found a dead man on the ice. He had no need of these cloths. I took his gift and said the words over his body, that his spirit would take safe journey past the Dark One.”
Antonin stopped, his mouth open in surprises, as he realized he had spoken the language the girl used. He fingered the golden band on his heard, its tingling coming and going as he had spoken.
“What are you called?” Asked the girl in her musical voice. She never lowered her blade though.
“I am Antonin, of the village of Xu Gui, on the Star Field Plain, in the country of Da Altai.” The girl said nothing for a long time. She kept eying the crown.
“Who are you, and where am I now?” Asked Antonin, his own voice stumbling a little over the strange sounds. The girl said nothing still. Her almond shaped eyes as bleak as volcanic glass. Her hair was straight and jet black. Her face was round and her nose was distinct in that it had a very low bridge. Antonin had seen such features on those who traded from the East on very rare occasions. Maybe twice in his lifetime.
Suddenly it dawned on him.
“This is the country of Hua Guo. It is, isn’t it?”
The girl nodded uncertainly. She was now relaxing, her hands going down to her sides, the knife she held, only loose in her hand.
To Antonin’s complete surprise, the girl threw back her hood completely, uncovering her head. She was only about half Antonin’s height. She calmly went down on her knees, then bowed down, touching her forehead on the stone floor three times. The third time she stayed down, her hands on the floor slightly in front of her head.
“What are you doing?” Cried Antonin. “First you try to kill me, now you bow to me.”
The girls muffled voice came to him. “You are the Lord returned. The chronicles tell of it. Even the golden band around your head proclaims it in our language. You are the Keeper of the Dragon Throne. The Cormorant”
Antonin’s surprise was evident, and he muttered “Yes, and Lord of the Chamber as well.” As he fingered the crown. The girl risked a quick look up, confusion on her face. “As my Lord wishes.” She whispered. Antonin thought to himself. ‘Oh no – another title.’
“Girl, I still don’t know your name. Get up. Quickly now. I know nothing of this bowing. I will not have it from someone who is obviously a hunter and warrior.”
The girl rose to her feet, relief on her face.
“I came to this land by accident.” Antonin continued. “I have never been here before, you cannot know me.” Antonin gestured to the fire, now just a bed of hot ashes.
“Let us rebuild the fire. We will talk, and try to sort this out.”
Antonin went and started to rebuild the fire. It was soon going again, throwing a cheery glow throughout the cavern. The warmth was inviting, as the cold from outside still seeped into the cavern.
Although she had bowed to him, and called him Lord, the girl kept a wary eye on Antonin. She thought that this Lord was behaving in a very strange way for a Lord.
Antonin could not puzzle out how he could speak the girls language, even though the words felt unfamiliar in his mouth. It had something to do with this band that was now stuck on his head, of that he had little doubt. It seemed a living part of him. Antonin was not sure he wanted any part of this whole business, but seemed trapped in it. Ever since the arrival of that accursed Wind Reader, Mei’An. Men spoke of avoiding the Wind Readers at all cost. The tales were legion. Now here he was, not even in his own land anymore, and with more people bowing to him. How he wished it were all a dream. He would just step back through the portal and be home. He would collect Catharina and his friends, and simply go home. Back to the peace of the village. But how? Antonin shook his head. His hair was being blown about by a draft. He noticed the girl was looking wide eyed toward the mouth of the cavern. Antonin spun around and there was the portal. It stood on the ledge outside, and the wind and snow was swirling through it into – the room in the inn! Antonin gaped, his mouth hanging open in surprise. He didn’t feel half so surprised though as Luan and Mei'An looked as they struggled to stay on their feet against the wind now howling through the room. A full blown storm was buffeting the ice valley, and the open portal was like a drain hole into which the wind and snow roared. Elsa and Catharina were not to be taken by surprise again though, and had been poised for just such an event. With a desperate struggle both hurled themselves through the portal and rolled across the ledge. The wind slicing down the cliff above them nearly sweeping them away, but in a flash Antonin and the hunter with him had handfuls of their cloths and dragged them inside the mouth of the cave. Antonin turned to the portal and it winked out. He almost stamped his foot in frustration. He must find out how to control it. Elsa and Catharina stumbled to their feet, eying the new and to them strange looking girl standing beside Antonin. The look of pride on her face was unmistakable. So was the hand she rested casually on the hilt of her hunting knife at her side.
Catharina drew herself up and calmly made a show of dusting off her clothes.
“Well my lord sheep herder,” she said softly. “You know where to seek your comforts, even if you can’t control your portal. I’ll warrant Mei'An's teeth are still chattering.” She flicked a glance from Antonin to the girl. The girls almond eyes narrowed. She hadn’t understood a word, but the glance from Catharina had been like a shout to her. She thought to herself, ‘So this half dressed woman had a claim on The King did she? Or thought she had.’
“My Lord,” she said, her musical voice calm and assured. She flicked back an errant strand of hair and totally ignored the two girls of the Mare Altan. “Do you know theses savages?” Her hand had not left her knife hilt.
‘Oh no!’ Thought Antonin. The air in the cavern was electric with tension. If there had been dark storm clouds above the heads of the girls he would not have been surprised. ‘Why do girls always have to be so, so .... inscrutable?’ He thought. Hardly a word had been exchanged, and he knew they didn't understand each other. They had never met, yet here they were after only a glance at each other, and ready to spring at each other’s throats. The two of the Mare Altan were from the Stone Lions, although Antonin thought them better named as She Devils.
He held his arms out, hands palm upward. The others looked at him expectantly.
‘Oh dear,’ He thought, ‘It seems I am stuck with being a Lord for the time being.’
He looked at Catharina. He couldn’t read the look in her eyes. ‘What a mystery girls were.’ He thought. Elsa was poised on the balls of her feet. She looked relaxed, but Antonin knew she was a heartbeat away from springing at the stranger.
“Will you all relax?” He commanded. Catharina and Elsa blinked at him. They hadn’t understood a word. Antonin took a breath. Forcing himself to think in his own language, he said it again. After a moment, and a few glances exchanged between the three girls they visibly relaxed. Antonin was concerned. He had decided long ago that girls could read each other's minds. How else to explain it. He gave up thinking about it. As well wonder how the sun appeared each day.
“Girl, what name are you called?” He said to the hunter who had found him asleep in the cavern. She pointed to her nose and said.
“I am called Nareena.” After a moment she added. “My Lord.” Another glance at Catharina. Elsa she ignored altogether. She was much shorter than the two girls of the Mare Altan, and somewhat fairer in colouring, but whereas Catharina and Elsa were brown eyed and had dark hair, almost a dark auburn colouring, Nareena had eyes as black as ink, and jet black straight hair. Her skin where it showed was a golden colour, sun darkened in places but unmistakably golden. She was also very attractive, but this was the last thing on Antonin’s mind at present.
“Don’t call me ‘My Lord’.” Antonin muttered almost to himself. It was obvious from the look on Nareena’s face that she thought Antonin’s statement was absurd. Of course she would refer to him as a Lord. That’s what he was. Not only that but he was the embodiment of their oldest folk tale. More than a folk tale. A prophesy. It told of strange events leading to the return of their Dragon Lord, he they called The Cormorant. The Dragon Lord because of his ability to travel with dragons. Dragons he could summon at will to do his bidding, dragons that he would lead into battle against the Thief of Light, Ba’al. The new age was dawning. Nareena and her now dead companion had come to the ice valley in search of signs of the return. It was written that this would be the place. They had not thought that they would actually find any evidence – but it was also a good hunting place. The ancient city buried far below the ice was the home of the Dragon Lord. His dragons, along with the city lay entombed in the ice for all time. At least until his return. Long ago, nearing the end of the last great encounter between the forces of light and dark, the Dark One, Ba’al had walled up the valley's only pass. The river having no escape now filled the valley. When the earth shook in those final years, the very climate had changed. Now a permanent winter gripped the land, and the water filled valley turned to solid ice. The dragons of the Great Lord's armies were frozen in their dens beneath the long dead city. All this Nareena told Antonin. All this and more as she told her story. The story of her people. Finally she stopped. Crying softly she told how her friend had gone out on the ice to see if he could find out what it was they had seen flash brightly for an instant far out on the horizon of the vast lake. He had not returned. She had come back from her searching to find Antonin curled up in his furs. For a moment she had thought he was her friend. But he was dead. They had been promised to each other only last Leaf Fall at the annual festival. They would have been wed at New Bloom. Nareena was now crying openly. She dropped to her knees, a thin keening wail escaping her lips. Catharina and Elsa had no idea what she had been saying, but they knew the signs of grief, and knelt by the girl with their arms around her in comfort. Catharina looked over the top of Nareena’s head at Antonin, a question in her eyes with a raised eyebrow. Antonin spoke softly, he felt very bad. “Nareena, this is her name, weeps for her lost love. Her betrothed, her friend, perished out on the ice. It seems in a search for me. So I am a leader who brings grief to the people before I know what I am even doing.” Antonin hung his head and walked to the mouth of the cavern. He left the girls to console Nareena. He had to think. How could he be expected to appear here in this land. As their leader. How could he be a leader in his own land as well. It was too much. It was simply too much. He slammed his fist against the wall, the heel of his balled fist striking the cold stone. To his surprise a dull boom echoed through the cavern, bringing down trickles of stone dust and small rocks. The sound rolled out across the icy plain seeming to halt the wind for a moment before it gathered strength once again. The reverberations continued on for a long time, seemingly coming from deep in the earth.
The three girls were on their feet, eyes wide. Antonin still stood at the entrance, his hand now in front of his face as he stared at it.
Nareena ran forward to him. “My Lord, have a care, you will loose the dragons. I have read it in the old stories. That is how you summon them.”
Antonin turned to her. “Nareena, all I want to do is go home. I didn’t ask for this and I don’t want it.” His shoulders slumped in dejection.
“Then my friend has died in vain, out there on the ice. All our dreams are lost and gone. All these years I have searched for the heroes of legend. I have found a peasant farmer. I will go to my loved one, that he may not travel alone.”
Nareena stepped past Antonin and walked out on to the open ledge. She was already removing her clothes as she jumped down on the ice and started to walk slowly away into the swirling snow. She would freeze to death in minutes with no clothing.
With a shriek of alarm as she realized what Nareena was doing Catharina dashed out of the cavern. She gave Antonin a healthy whack with her spear on the way past. Already Nareena was staggering. She was down to a pair of small woven cloth pants and these were no protection against the cold. They were very thin, and provided only protection against the rougher material of her outer garments. She was trying to get even this small protection off but her hands were now so cold she couldn’t get a grip on the material to get them off. She was staggering like a drunken person as she fought approaching death to get closer to her fallen friend out there on the ice. Catharina felt like she was trying to run through a bog. By now Elsa was beside her. Neither were dressed for this climate, but they were better covered than Nareena now was, who had finally rid herself of her last remnants of clothing, tearing at the pants, which now flapped about her in tatters like so much torn flesh.
Catharina caught up to her and reached out and caught hold just as Nareena started to fall. Elsa came up on the other side and together they picked up the girl and headed back to the cavern at a run, as best they could in the snow and howling wind. Both could feel the cold beginning to sap their strength. Nareena had passed out as she had fallen, and Catharina could see she had the look of death about her. Carless of sharp rocks, the girls bundled Nareena up onto the ledge and jumped up after her. Antonin had the fire roaring, all the available timber in the cavern heaped on it. They rolled Nareena into the furs and placed her so close to the fire that the furs started smoking.
For good measure Catharina stood up and swing the haft of her spear at Antonin again. He jumped back with a yell and wore the solid wood on his forearm as he raised it to protect himself.
“What did you say to this girl?” Yelled Catharina, menace mixed with alarm dripping from her voice. There was no hint of friendship in her eyes. Antonin eyed the spear point glinting in the firelight. Catharina was holding the spear reversed, but he knew she could spin it and run him through in the space of a heart beat. He carefully stepped back a pace. Lord of all he surveyed he might be, but he knew that look from Catharina. He knew he was very close to losing his one true friend, and very possibly his life if he gave an answer she didn’t like. He would not dream of defending himself against Catharina. He would not fight against a woman, Catharina least of all. Defend himself against yes, but not fight. His life was hers to take. He swallowed.
“All I told her was that I wanted to go home. That I did not want to save the world. She then told me that as her friend had died in vain, she would join him on his journey through the afterlife. Before I could stop her she was outside and away.” The amazement in his voice at the speed of her decision matched the look of Catharina and Elsa, although the compressed line of their lips told him to say nothing more.
Catharina turned back to Nareena, still wrapped in the smoking furs. Her eyes were shut and the skin about her mouth had a definite blue tinge.
“Well,” said Catharina over her shoulder as she watched Nareena. “You had better convince her you did not mean what you said. I have never seen anyone make such a decision so quickly. You should do the same Antonin. It is time you accepted your duties.” ‘Men...’ She added with a tinge of impatience in her voice.
Catharina looked about at the cooking area, and at last saw what she needed. “Elsa, please pass me the cooking fat, that old jar near the stones...” She took the jar from Elsa and together they unrolled the bundle of furs.
“Look away you big sheep herder, have you no shame?” She called at Antonin, standing there with his mouth hanging open.
“We must restore her circulation quickly. Elsa, help me please.” Together the two girls rubbed vigorously at the girls inert body, the cooking fat helping to insulate her as their hands massaged the circulation back into her skin. They wrapped her quickly again in the furs. The blue tinge was going from her lips.
“What was Nareena talking about when you struck the wall... my Lord.” Said Elsa. Her direct unblinking gaze told Antonin that if he was really looking for trouble all he had to do was start going on about not being a Lord again. Antonin swallowed.
“She... She spoke of the noise summoning dragons. She said I should be careful, or I would ‘loose the dragons’, and that it was mentioned in the old stories.” Antonin sat on a rocky ledge.
“I have no idea what caused the noise. All I did was strike the cavern wall like this.” Antonin struck the rocky wall behind him with the heel of his hand. Again, a low booming echoed away through the earth, shaking the cavern slightly, bringing down more dust. Antonin looked at the wall with surprise on his face.
“Catharina, you strike the wall in the same place, in the same way. We will see.” He said.
Catharina stepped over and struck the wall hard. Nothing. She stepped back muttering under her breath and nursing her hand.
“No more tests my Lord goat keeper.” She almost spat the words. “Accept the fact that you are what you are. We depend upon you. I do not know why, or how, but you have been chosen as the one. It can only be true that your ancestors blood stirs in your veins. Beckoned to share in defence against the Dark One. If this girl knows of things that will help you – us – in the battle, then you must treat her well, and honour her faith in the ways of her people.” Catharina had crossed to where Nareena lay. Nareena was now softly moaning. “This girl seems to know things you should know. You cannot fight the weaving that draws the threads of time closer about you. About all of us. You will calm her. You will help her. Your honour, and that of the Mare Altan rests on this thing.”
Antonin walked over and looked down at Nareena. Only her face was showing in the folds of the think furs wrapped about her. He admitted to himself that it was imperative that the girl live. Well, perhaps when this thing was done, he could return to his simple life on the Star Field Plain. Antonin straightened his back and took a deep breath. “Then I will accept this duty that has come to me unbidden. I will be The King of the Malachites returned. The Lord of the Dragon Armies, the Defender of the Light, The Cormorant, The Keeper of Goats...” He looked about him and said quietly. “And the lord of the chamber.” He looked down at Nareena. She had her eyes open and was watching him. At his words she smiled.
“My Lord, forgive me.” She whispered. She tried to struggle out of the furs, and suddenly realized from the look on Antonin’s face that something was very wrong. Elsa stepped between them, and motioned to Nareena to look down. Nareena realized she was naked and had been about to show herself in front of the Lord of the Dragon Armies. She then realized that she had already done so completely, by stripping off her clothes as she ran into the snow storm. With a wail she rolled herself back into the furs. Antonin had not waited though, and had already spun about so that he had his back to her. Elsa had hardly needed to move. Nareena was still very weak from her ordeal on the ice and lay back panting deeply, trying to get her strength back. In between breaths and sobs, she kept whispering, “Forgive me my Lord, I shame myself in front of you.”
Catharina squatted down beside Nareena and patted her shoulder. She had no idea what Nareena was saying, but the tone was enough.
“Elsa,” said Catharina standing up. “Perhaps there is food and drink stored here. If this is their camp, they should have supplies.”
Both girls started a systematic search through the various leather scripts and packs that were stashed about the cavern. It didn’t take long to turn up a supply of dried meat, some vegetables of unknown type and some flasks that contained a strong alcohol. Nareena had struggled into a sitting position now, the furs clutched tightly around her. Catharina showed the various items to Nareena who tried each in turn to show they were edible. A sip from the flask left her coughing and watery eyed, but it also brought colour to her cheeks immediately. Catharina and Elsa tried a sip each, with much the same effect. They laughed at each other's discomfit, and passed the flask to Antonin. A quick sip spread warmth throughout his body. The use of this liquid was obvious in such a climate.
“I have also found new cloths for the girl Antonin. We will have her dressed again in a moment.” Catharina gave him a cheeky smile. “As well she was covered in snow when we brought her back into the cavern then.” She said. “You will be able to assure her that she has not been shamed in your presence.”
Nareena had not in fact been covered in snow, but in the frantic activities surrounding her rescue he had not registered the fact that she was naked when brought back into the cave. Certainly she had been as white as the snow, of which there had been plenty anyway. In any case he had been busy building up the fire.
“Er, yes. Yes Catharina, I will assure her it was so.” Antonin placed a hand on Catharina’s shoulder. “Thank you my friend.” He said humbly. “Truly I owe you a great deal. You are more than a friend. You are my companion.”
Catharina looked into Antonin’s eyes for a long moment, then with a secretive smile to herself, gave that very familiar flick of her hair and turned to Nareena.
“You will dress?” She said, and pointed to the bundle of clothes they had found in their search. Nareena did not understand the words, but she understood the clothes were hers. She glanced as Antonin’s back, and back to Catharina, hesitating.
Catharina gave a dismissive wave of her fingers at Antonin, using the finger talk of the Mare Altan so that Elsa would also understand. Nareena’s eyes opened as big as an owls. She let the furs fall from her shoulders and answered Catharina with finger talk. It was Catharina and Elsa’s turn to look surprised. Catharina clapped her hands together in delight. They could communicate with the pretty girl with the golden skin and tilted almond eyes.
“Antonin, do not turn around just yet. What is the girls name?” asked Elsa.
“Nareena – it is so in her language.” Antonin replied. He heard giggles and hand clapping, but would not chance a quick look to see what was happening. He still smarted from the last whack that Catharina had given him.