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Greasy fish, burnt and sooty. The odor invaded my dreams, summoned memories of the One-Eyed Pelican, Major Jadd’s favorite tavern. A run-down, rat-infested dive whose cooking caused my stomach to churn. The only thing edible besides the stale bread was the fish soup. Fish chunks floating in a red and greasy broth.
I drifted out of the dream to take in a smell that was real, as was the nearby crackling fire. Instead of the dream pub’s rafters lined with rats scampering to and fro, a tent—our tent sheltered me. And sleeping next to me under a blanket was Enchanter Jonas. His face was pale and his breathing shallow, but he was alive.
And so was I, but with an aching head added to by a throbbing pain behind my eyes. I sat up slowly while the battle against the ground raptors filled my thoughts. I gripped my sword. My spear must have been outside.
The odor of cold sweat, mine and Jonas’s mingled with the aroma of cooking meat outside. Was it fish? Maybe from the stream. I heard water flowing against rocks, and Grand Wizard Seelain talking quietly with Ormb attempting to reply.
“You gotta practice being a better healer, Flank Hawk,” Lilly said as she lifted the tent flap and showed me a big smile.
From what I could see, it was a few hours until dark. “Is that fish cooking?”
My question seemed to surprise her. “No. But I’m glad you’re okay.” The smile fled her face. “Really, I’m serious about your healing, Flank Hawk.” She leaned over Jonas and listened to his breathing. “Grand Wizard Seelain said trying too hard—doing too much—could kill you.”
Had it been that close that Wizard Seelain was worried? I rubbed my forehead. Lilly had a point. More than once people around me got hurt really bad. But what did Lilly and Wizard Seelain expect? We’re at war, in the wilderness, and I’m a neophyte healer. I know one spell. And not very well.
Lilly stared at me. “How’s your head?”
“Throbbing inside like a bullfrog filling his throat.”
“You asked about food. Are you hungry?”
“Not really. The smell reminded me of a place Major Jadd likes to eat at.”
She laughed. “The One-Eyed Pelican. Road Toad told me about it.”
I smiled. “Don’t go there, even if he invites you.”
“You’ve told me that more than once.” Lilly looked over her shoulder. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah,” I said, starting to crawl out of the tent.
“Can you think straight?” Lilly asked, moving in front of me.
“Yeah. My head hurts but I think so.”
“Okay,” she said and pointed in the direction of the fire. “Grand Wizard Seelain and Ormb could use your help.”
Near the fire Ormb and Grand Wizard Seelain stood, speaking to a centaur.
The horns, I thought, getting to my feet. My spear leaned against a sapling that they’d secured a tent line to. I took my spear. Ormb or Lilly had cleaned it.
Lilly said, “His name’s Cloud Chaser, we think. Ormb can talk to him in Sea Spittle. But nobody but you can talk to Ormb. Mostly.”
“Mostly? What happened, Lilly?”
Ormb turned a spit that held one of the raptor’s legs over the fire. I recognized it by the dangling claw. Grand Wizard Seelain and the centaur looked up the hill, toward me and Lilly.
The centaur had the body of a muscular brown horse with black hooves and tail. He stood about seventeen hands high. But where a horse’s neck and head should’ve risen out of the shoulders, the torso, arms and head of a man was attached. The man’s skin was dark and his hair matched the color of his tail. Leather straps secured saddlebags just behind his withers. Paint or tattoos covered parts of the centaur’s face and body, and a copper horn hung by a cord over his human shoulder. Leaning against a nearby tree rested a long spear. It had a broad metal head much like my boar spear but it was decorated with white feathers and lacked a crossbar.
“Three of them showed up a few minutes after you passed out,” Lilly said as we began walking toward the fire. “Like I said, we think his name’s Cloud Chaser. I think he’s the one that’s been following us.”
“Why? Are they allies with the Colonel?”
Lilly shrugged. “Not enemies, we don’t think. He tried a language that sounded like the Colonel’s soldiers spoke among themselves. Grand Wizard Seelain agreed.” Lilly shook her head. “If it was, he didn’t speak it too good.”
After a deep breath I followed Lilly to the fire. There was little breeze, so the smoke drifted up into the trees. About fifty yards away I saw the boulder Enchanter Jonas had leaned against just before the ground raptors attacked. On the far side of the stream, over the hill, I noted the sound of gore crows feeding.
The fishy odor of the cooking raptor leg sent a shudder through me. How close had it come to them feeding upon us?
The centaur’s eyes studied me. They were dark and filled with confidence.
“Grand Wizard,” I said, standing at attention with my spear.
“How are you, Flank Hawk?”
“Uninjured,” I said. After a pause where she scrutinized me, I added, “My head aches something terrible.”
“I can imagine,” she said and gestured toward the centaur. “Lilly may have told you, this is Cloud Chaser. We suffer a language barrier.” Then she gestured to our trog companion. “Ormb can speak with him, but he is unable to adequately translate what he learns to us.”
Ormb had picked up some of our tongue over the past two weeks, but not enough to make a difference. “You fought well,” I told Ormb in Sea Spittle.
He stepped back from the fire, stood straight and grinned. “You did, too.”
I looked up and met the centaur’s gaze. It was paint on his face, not tattoos. Three black horizontal stripes under his left eye and one finger-width vertical stripe ran down his right cheek. A similar pattern was painted on his chest.
“I’m gonna check on Jonas again,” Lilly said, “and then return to watch.” When Wizard Seelain nodded, Lilly hurried back up the hill.
The centaur held his right forearm across his chest and stamped the ground with his front left hoof. “I am Cloud Runner,” he said. “You speak Trade like Ormb.”
“I do,” I said, deciding not to waste time or words. “Are you allies with the Colonel of the West?”
“The Undying Mountain Chief Toward the Setting Sun that Ormb serves,” Cloud Runner said, glancing over at the trog. “Our peoples are friends. He calls us to battle at his side. Our tribes gather.”
The centaur pointed at me and Wizard Seelain, and then up the hill. “Do you answer the Undying Mountain Chief’s call?”
I translated for Grand Wizard Seelain and corrected her interpretation of the centaur’s name. “What would you like me to tell him?”
She replied, “Cloud Runner sent two of his tribe to bring help. I did not know your condition and Enchanter Jonas is unable to travel. I believe we need their assistance. Just tell him the truth.”
“We come from across the big ocean,” I said to Cloud Runner, and pointed east, back across the stream. “We battle common enemies of the Colonel of the West. The Undying Mountain Chief. I have negotiated with him once before and we journey to seek his counsel and assistance again.”
“You are a warrior. Are these your words or the wizard’s words?”
It shouldn’t have surprised me that Cloud Runner knew Seelain was a wizard. Her staff suggested it, or maybe Ormb had told the centaur. But that she was a wizard seemed to matter to him. “Grand Wizard Seelain leads our mission. They are my words because they are the same as her words, because they are the truth.”
“I know of Ormb’s people. They serve the Undying Chief of the Mountain. What he said is identical brother to what you said. You ask for help. To my chief, I will add my words to your words.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Ormb told me you are a skilled warrior.” Cloud Runner gestured from himself toward me as he said, “My people help you.” Then he gestured from me back to himself. “You help my people.”
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TWO HOURS BEFORE dawn centaurs bearing torches approached the camp. Lilly’d just roused me from a deep sleep to stand my watch, so I met them along with Cloud Runner while Lilly awoke Ormb and Wizard Seelain.
After we’d been introduced to the party’s leader, a shaman named River Runs Down who also spoke Sea Spittle, they entered the camp. The shaman wasn’t the smallest of the centaurs, but he was the oldest, with streaks of gray throughout his hair and tail. His paint markings were the only ones to include red.
Enchanter Jonas was awake, occasionally groaning despite the brew of tea laced with extract from leaves Cloud Runner had given us. It was stronger medicine than we carried. Wizard Seelain had held off any attempt to sew closed his leg wound once Cloud Runner sent for assistance as she believed they had a healer among them. If necessary, once there was enough sunlight, it could be done. She hoped by then I’d have regained some ability to stem bleeding should it be necessary.
After a quick exchange between Cloud Runner and River Runs Down, the shaman asked to see Jonas and examine his wound. He carefully knelt down as Grand Wizard Seelain and I undid the clean wrapping.
“Infection is there,” said River Runs Down after examining Enchanter Jonas’s leg. He was probably right. Despite Grand Wizard Seelain and Lilly’s efforts to clean and dress it, the redness around the wound didn’t appear healthy. “We must take him to our healer.”
“Aren’t you a healer?” I asked him. Goblin shamans had healing spells.
“Not for this,” he said, running his rune-carved spear above the length of Jonas’s wound. “Star Before Moon has the strength.”
I explained to Wizard Seelain and Lilly what the shaman said, allowing Jonas to overhear. Then I asked River Runs Down, “How far is your healer?”
“One day gallop, bearing your wounded spell man.”
The shaman must have sensed Jonas’s magical abilities. I am sure he sensed my frustration. “Didn’t those sent by Cloud Runner tell you how injured our man was?”
“They did,” he said with confidence. “Chief Fleet Hoof sent me.”
“He cannot travel that far,” I interrupted. “Even by stretcher.”
River Runs Down stood and crossed his arms. “I can prepare him. We rest now.”
He said something to Cloud Runner in their own tongue. Then the shaman addressed me again. “Tell the white-haired spell woman, at sunrise we will go.”
The next morning, using some herbs combined with spells, River Runs Down put Enchanter Jonas into a deep sleep. The shaman appeared surprised how quickly his spells took effect. The shaman must not have known that enchanters had less resistance to spellcraft.
It was more than a deep sleep. The enchanter’s breathing had slowed to one breath a minute and his heart beat one time compared to my heart’s six.
We made good time riding on the centaurs’ backs. It was difficult to see ahead, around the human part of the centaurs. It was also uncomfortable without saddles and stirrups. Blankets helped and it was better than trying to keep up running alongside. Four of the centaurs bore Jonas on a stretcher between them. I rode ahead upon Cloud Runner. River Runs Down bore Grand Wizard Seelain, while Bear Chaser carried Lilly. They even had a massive warrior that stood nineteen hands, enabling Ormb to ride. That centaur was aptly named Strong Back.
The terrain remained hilly, mainly wooded with scattered meadows and glens. Large furry animals that looked to be half horse and half sheep wandered the area. The adults stood four or five hands taller than Strong Back. Cloud Runner named them llamas, and said they were protected by his people and a main source of food and leather. He said they also hunted the giant, tusked boars, as did the ground raptors. As well-armed and fierce as the raptors were, going up against a giant boar had to be dangerous. I wondered how the centaurs did it. I’d only seen them armed with spears.
As we neared the centaur tribe’s home camp, which they named the Ground of Our Ancestors, we passed by grottos and deep overhangs cut into cliff sides. Grand Wizard Seelain said they were cut into the stone over the centuries by the small streams that criss-crossed the area.
I’d spotted several outposts along the way. Lilly caught sight of two I missed. The last one sounded a horn. A few minutes later a dozen centaur warriors joined us as we approached their home camp established under a massive overhang. Cloud Runner blew his horn, announcing our arrival. We passed through a thick stand of pines backed by a high split rail fence. They’d added sharpened wooden shafts, dug in and pointing outward, to make it a difficult barrier to breach.
Female centaurs, slightly smaller than the males, galloped down well-beaten paths to welcome the returning warriors. Unlike the males, their arm-length hair grew both from their head and down along their human torso’s spine. Colt-sized children raced after them.
The females wore colorful chest wraps with lacing that allowed their straight black hair to flow in the wind as they ran. All of the females wore necklaces of beads and fancy stones, including the young girls or fillies. I guessed the red, green, blue, black and yellow striped designs and the necklaces had some cultural meaning, just as the feathers on the weapons carried by the males did. It reminded me of the purple and gold that soldiers of Keesee wore and carried into battle.
Their encampment appeared permanent with circles of tents of varying depths evenly spaced in the cleared area around the overhang. The tents were tall A-frame structures made of leather hides stretched across wooden poles. Central fires smoldered in each tent circle and appeared abandoned for the moment. The overhang looked to be the public area with permanent wooden structures built underneath it. Above, along the rim, I spotted two sentries.
Dozens of dogs joined the return celebration. Brown, with narrow snouts and white-tipped tails, lean and built for speed, they leapt and yelped for several moments before racing off to whatever they’d been doing before.
A female centaur rode up next to Cloud Runner, smiled at him and greeted me. She was a brown-eyed beauty who rivaled just about any woman I’d ever seen. My thinking struck me as odd. A year ago a horse-human crossbreed would have been a strange creature—a beast or monster, no different than an ogre or dragon. Maybe because they were potential allies. Or maybe life experiences, including befriending Lilly, had changed my view.
We continued up the hardened paths wide enough for three horses to gallop abreast. I wanted to dismount and walk but wasn’t given the chance. I knew my legs would be stiff and sore at first.
Grand Wizard Seelain was riding next to me so I said to her, “I’d prefer to meet their chief standing on my own two feet.”
“My thoughts are similar,” she said.
I rested my hand on Cloud Runner’s shoulder. “We would prefer to walk the rest of the way.”
Cloud Runner signaled for the procession to halt while we climbed down. I looked back and said to Cloud Runner, “I bet even Strong Back is happy to give up his rider.”
Cloud Runner looked over his shoulder and laughed. “I agree, Flank Hawk.”
I was right. It took about five minutes for our legs to loosen up. Lilly, Ormb and I watched as Grand Wizard Seelain checked on Jonas. The enchanter remained in a deep sleep and only a small amount of blood had stained his newest wrap.
“I feel more than strong enough to heal any re-injury caused by the ride,” I told Wizard Seelain.
“The enchanter appears stable for now,” she said. “Offer your assistance after we meet and speak with the healer.”
The four centaurs returned to their place around Jonas.
“Want us to carry him?” Lilly asked.
“They bore him this far,” Wizard Seelain said. “If they choose, let them finish.”
As we started the final distance into the encampment, Lilly said, “I sure hope some of them speak Mainland or Crusader.”
I smiled back over my shoulder at her. “Me too.”
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THE LODGE WAS dark inside, lit only by a central fire that was more coals than flames. It made the two-story log cabin uncomfortably warm inside. Before the meeting we’d been given food and water, and the chance to wash up, only to be soaked with new sweat.
The packed-earth floor had a wooden ramp leading to a second tier that overlooked the ground floor’s center. The second tier had small slit windows just below where the roof angled upward like a squat steeple.
“I bet this was hard for them to build,” Lilly whispered to me. She stood on my left. Grand Wizard Seelain stood to my right and Ormb stood behind me. They’d placed Enchanter Jonas on the floor to Wizard Seelain’s right.
Three dozen male centaurs lined the walls behind us, standing between leaning posts and facing in toward the fire. An equal number of female centaurs on the second tier edged up to the railing between similar posts. On the opposite side of the fire stood Fleet Hoof. He appeared middle aged with red striping painted on his face and chest. To his right stood the shaman, River Runs Down, and to his left stood Cloud Runner with feathered spear in hand.
The chief held his right arm across his chest and stamped with his left front hoof. “Travelers in need, welcome to the Ground of Our Ancestors.” Although the words were oddly accented, he spoke in Mainland. That greatly relieved me.
A smile crossed Grand Wizard Seelain’s face as she bowed her head slightly. “We thank you, Chief Fleet Hoof, and your people for assisting us in our time of need. I am Grand Wizard Seelain, on a mission in service of King Tobias of Keesee from across the Great Ocean. These are my companions.” She gestured toward us in order of naming. “Flank Hawk, my guide and protector. Lilly, our scout. Ormb, our bearer and emissary from Outpost Four to the Colonel of the West. And this, our injured companion, is Enchanter Jonas, counselor and advisor in the ways of magic.”
Chief Fleet Hoof stood silent for a moment and then said, “Cloud Runner, Warrior of First Rank, has told me of you and your mission. We will assist you, but for this boon, I request of you a service you and your companions are better suited for than my people.”
Well, I thought. Fleet Hoof gets right to the point.
Wizard Seelain asked in a pleasant yet even voice, “What boon do you offer and what service do you request?”
The chief signaled to the tier above and a female centaur backed away from the railing and made her way down the ramp.
“Star Before Moon will cure your counselor of his wounds.” He waited for the young centaur to move between himself and River Runs Down. She was the centaur who’d greeted me along the path to the camp. Despite my weak ability, had she identified me as a fellow healer? Even though she appeared young, it made me wonder how powerful she was. Maybe it was her magic that made her appear so attractive. But I didn’t sense magic like I did with Enchanter Thereese’s enamor spell back in the King’s Palace.
Fleet Hoof’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
“I and my warriors answer the call of the Undying Mountain Chief Toward the Setting Sun. We will bear you swiftly to that gathering. If one of the Undying Mountain Chief’s flying chariots is not there to take you to him, six of my warriors will bear you swiftly to the home of the Undying Mountain Chief.”
Fleet Hoof offered exactly what we needed. Faster travel and guides, and strength in numbers that assured a safer journey.
That was the good news. But knowing bad news was to follow reminded me of my father’s saying: Now it’s time for the ogre to grin.
Fleet Hoof continued speaking Mainland. Even so, he not only addressed us as he spoke, but seemed to be reinforcing what all the others in the lodge knew. “A blood devouring creature has invaded the Ground of Our Ancestors.” He made a sign with two hooked fingers. “It stalks the night. Those of our people it feeds upon fall ill and weak. Those it tries to remake into its kind cannot be. They die. When it cannot feed upon the people, it feeds upon the llamas, killing them.”
My thoughts began to form on a vampire, especially when Fleet Hoof said, “We hunt it with silver and fire, and blessed spears and darts. My people, as we are, cannot reach it.”
He then switched his focus on me, on us. “We have tracked it. Attempted to bury it within its daylight lair. It is cunning and the caves are many and offer endless escape.
“We have seen the creature take the form of both a two-legged woman and a black-winged bat.
“The service we ask of you is to enter this creature’s lair and end its life. So that my people may live and prosper.”
Fleet Hoof crossed his arms and said no more. River Runs Down and Cloud Runner crossed their arms as well. Star Before Moon stared down at Enchanter Jonas before meeting each of our gazes.
Grand Wizard Seelain asked, “Is this creature of which you speak a vampire? Or a lycanthrope?”
The second possible foe Wizard Seelain mentioned hadn’t occurred to me. I’d heard horrid tales of vampires that sometimes stalked the cities. I’d rather face a lycanthrope, any lycanthrope.
Fleet Hoof leaned close and consulted with his shaman. “We do not know what a vampire creature is. What you name a lycanthrope, we also name werebeast.”
I wanted to see Lilly’s reaction, but at the same time didn’t. I chose the latter.
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“FLEET HOOF’S REQUEST seems equitable,” Wizard Seelain said. “His people can provide what we need. We can act where his people cannot.”
I stared out between the tent flaps made of llama hide and drank cool water from a wooden cup. The sun was near setting and warriors of the centaur tribe had already scattered throughout their territory. In addition to their spears, they carried an atlatl, a carved stick with a hook at the end that enabled them to throw their narrow four-foot javelins at impressive speeds and distances. Lilly had pointed out that their javelin tips were silver.
The centaurs were spreading out before nightfall to spot and track the lycanthrope back to its cave in anticipation of our hunt.
Wizard Seelain was right. Our mission’s success depended on the aid the centaurs could provide. And from their view, we would be able to enter the caves and root out the werebat. Something they couldn’t do.
“Are we sure there’s only one?” asked Lilly. “Ever heard of a cave with only one bat?”
They’d brought Enchanter Jonas out of his sleep. He lay flat on a cushion of llama pelts. “I can provide light within the cave,” he said, struggling to keep his voice even despite the pain racing through his leg. The medicine was wearing off.
Lilly shook her head and stared up at the high cross pole supporting the tent. “Anyone here ever been in a cave?”
“I believe Ormb has,” I said.
Lilly crossed her arms and huffed out a deep breath but didn’t say anything.
“Look,” I said, “if we don‘t slay this werebat, then Fleet Hoof will have to leave more warriors behind to defend his women, children and livestock. If we help, maybe that’ll count for something when Grand Wizard Seelain negotiates with the Colonel of the West. Action on our part will enable more centaur warriors to aid the Colonel of the West in his war.”
“The caves may be narrow and twisting,” said Wizard Seelain. “We may not have access to Ormb’s subterranean skills and knowledge.”
“Whatever we decide,” I said to Wizard Seelain, “you’re not going underground.” She started to protest but I cut her off. “What spells can you summon underground—in a narrow, twisting cave?”
Lilly reminded us, “Their healer said she’d heal Enchanter Jonas whether we went or not.”
“What are our chances to make it the rest of the way to the Colonel overland?” I asked. “We may not cross paths with allies of the Colonel next time we run into trouble.”
“They were following us,” Lilly argued. “Your friend Cloud Runner only showed up to help after the fight.”
“They didn’t know if we were enemies or not,” I said. “Even if they haven’t said it, they probably feared us being attacked by that werebat if we entered their lands.” Wizard Seelain nodded even as I finished my thought. “The last thing they need is more werebats.”
“And that’s just what you’re volunteering to be if you go after it,” Lilly said.
“River Runs Down said he and their blacksmith could add silver to my sword’s blade.” I patted my boot sheath. “Like my dirk.”
“How good are you with a sword?”
“Competent,” I said. Lilly rolled her eyes.
“You’re not going after it alone,” I said to her. “Enchanter Jonas already said that next to werewolves, werebats are probably the most vicious.”
“I can be pretty vicious.”
Grand Wizard Seelain placed a hand on Lilly’s shoulder. “You will go. It is not the full moon, so in your muskrat form, you will have greater control. Flank Hawk will need your senses and ability to fight in tight quarters.”
Before anyone could say anything else, she added, “Enchanter Jonas, you will use your spell strength to create glowing ropes to supplement their torchlight. If something goes wrong, I may need you to accompany me.”
“You will not come after us,” I said. If we failed, I suspected Fleet Hoof would still take Grand Wizard Seelain and Enchanter Jonas to where allies of the Colonel were gathering.
“If you fail, Flank Hawk,” Wizard Seelain said, “you shall not have a say in the matter.”
That made me even more determined. I gripped my spear and looked through the tent flaps again, watching two puppies playing tug-of-war with a scrap of leather.
Lilly asked, “What about Ormb?” The trog had sat quietly through our debate.
“It is up to him,” Grand Wizard Seelain said. “But for the sake of Keesee and our people, we have no choice.”
I finished the water in my cup and set it on one of the tent’s leaning posts. “Let’s go get Enchanter Jonas healed then.”