Tanis the shadow years p2-3 Read online

  Tanis hastened to speak. "We'll stay with you until-" The half-elf couldn't finish.

  "Until I die?" the mage told Tanis through clenched teeth. "No. Not you."

  Tanis did not know what to say.

  "We must strike a bargain," the old mage said slowly, with increasing difficulty. "A deal. Knowledge of your father… in return for a favor."

  "Of course," Tanis said without a moment's delay. 'Tell me what you want, and if I can do it, it is yours."

  The blue eyes suddenly turned steely in his ash- smeared face. "I want you to find someone for me… someone who will perish without your help." He cried out the final words, and his hands shot up and grabbed Tanis's tunic. His fire-blackened fingers curled, and he used his handhold both to pull Tanis closer and to raise himself up off the ground. In a strangled voice, he exclaimed, "She must be saved! I need your word!"

  "Was the woman you speak of out there on the plains with you when the fire struck?" Tanis asked in alarm, preparing to rise and search for what, at best, would be a charred corpse.

  The mage shook his head, however, and pulled Tanis closer with strength born of desperation. "She's very far away," the old wizard said sadly.

  Tanis eased the man back down onto the blanket. "Who is she?"

  "She is Brandella," he said simply. "There is no other like her. And you must find her, save her, so that she can live on after I die."

  Clotnik finally interjected, "Kishpa, you haven't explained it to him."

  "Give me water," demanded the mage. Once he had sipped from Clotnik's water bag, he gave a deep sigh and continued. 'Three years ago I cast a search spell, hoping that my magic would tell me whom I should seek. My magic told me to find you, Tanthalas," he said, using Tanis's elven name. Kishpa coughed, and Clotnik offered him more water. The old wizard refused it and went on. "I have sought you ever since. My hold on you is simple. Your father came to my village ninety-eight years ago. I will lead you to him if you will give me Brandella."

  The old man rested a moment, catching his breath.

  Tanis was having nearly as much trouble breathing as the old mage. His father. Was it possible? Ninety-eight years were but a short time to an elf, but Tanis's father was human. He couldn't still be alive. Tanis wondered if his doubts showed in his face.

  "How am I to find this woman, this Brandella?" Tanis asked hurriedly.

  Kishpa's blistered lips cracked into a bleeding smile. "The same way you will find your father. You will look for both of them in my past. They live in my memory."

  4

  The Mage's Plea

  Tanis felt his hopes crash around him like one of the burned-out tree trunks that now marred the landscape. Kishpa's blue eyes gleamed with an intensity that doubly alarmed the half-elf. "The old man is delirious," Tanis said. "Clotnik, help me set up the other blankets to form a tent around him. We ought to protect-" But Clotnik continued to kneel impassively on the sandy dirt next to the mage. "He isn't delirious," the dwarf said firmly. Tanis glanced from the juggler to the mage, thinking, Maybe I'm the one who's delirious.

  "Brandella is living and breathing inside me," said Kishpa hoarsely. "So is your father. Or at least they will be for as long as I live. That's why I need you, Tanis." The mage suddenly coughed up blood. He wiped it off his fire-scarred face, breathlessly forging on. "While I'm still conscious, I'm going to cast a spell. I will send you deep into my memory, back to the time when I knew my Brandella best and when your father came to my village." He stopped and Clotnik gave him a worried look.

  Few sounds broke the morning calm; pieces of charred wood occasionally thumped against each other in the lake, and a branch broke with a crack and dropped to the littered ground only yards away. The smell of smoke was still strong. The half-elf and the dwarf were silent as they waited for the aging wizard to overcome the latest spasm of pain. Tanis watched the mage's shallow breath barely move the charred robes that once, he knew, had been red and velvety.

  A fierce expression crossed the mage's face; he refused to let the pain stand in his way. "Learn what you will about your father," he said, "but find my Brandella and escape from my mind with her so that when I die, she will live on. I don't want her memory to die with me, Tanis. Do you understand? I love her too much to see her perish with me. Find her. Free her."

  The old man slumped back, watching Tanis with a stare that now waned from demanding to hopeful. "Will you do it?" Kishpa asked weakly.

  To actually see his father? To meet him? "Yes," he replied. There could be no other answer.

  The mage managed a smile. "There is much you should know," he said, "but I must concentrate now and build my strength for the spell. Clotnik," he called, "tell Tanis what to expect. And be quick. Time is short."

  Clotnik took Tanis by the arm and led him a short distance away. They seated themselves on the log, now wedged on the bank, that had sustained them during the night. Clotnik looked out over the lake, his thoughtful green eyes soft as moss agates. Wrinkles creased the dwarf's skin around his eyes, and Tanis realized that his companion might not be as young as he'd thought. Clotnik began speaking as if from a long distance.

  "Kishpa knew Brandella long ago, during a time of war," explained the juggler. 'There was disease, and humans were in flight, sending their armies westward to untainted lands. They marched against scattered elven villages north of Qualinesti, vowing to drive those in their path into the Straits of Algoni."

  Tanis knew of the wars between the humans and elves, of course. Those invasions were yet another reason the two races remained suspicious of each other-and another reason members of both sides considered Tanis, a product of those violent years, an outcast.

  "And my father?" he prompted.

  Clotnik looked at him for the first time, his eyes sympathetic. "Your father was among those soldiers. I tell you this so that you are prepared for what lies ahead. Violence and bloodshed will surround you, and you could become their victim. It is possible that you could die in Kishpa's memory."

  "I will be careful," Tanis promised.

  Clotnik shook his head, however, and put one hand on Tanis's muscular forearm. "Death is only one of the dangers," he warned.

  Tanis looked aside at the old mage, lying a few yards away on the sandy ground and marshaling his strength for the ordeal ahead. The half-elf replied, "I must take the risks." Then, when the dwarf remained silent, Tanis looked back at him. "All right. Explain them."

  Clotnik removed his hand from Tanis's arm and ventured on. "Kishpa doesn't know what will happen if a stranger enters his past. You may change the whole direction of his life, you may change only his memories, or you may change nothing at all. He is willing to risk any consequences just as long as you find Brandella and return with her before he dies. If he should breathe no more, neither will you." The dwarvish gaze grew as sharp as one of Hint's forged swords. "At least not in his memory," Clotnik went on. "What will happen to you- whether you will ever be able to return to this life-he does not know, either."

  Tanis sat silently, assessing the situation. All his companions, from huge Caramon to tiny Tas, were off on their own adventures. But he'd be willing to wager they were keeping their booted feet in the present, at least. The half-elf started to speak, but Clotnik hurried on. "All I can tell you," the dwarf said, 'Is that you must find her and get out of Kishpa's memory before he dies."

  "How?" Tanis asked.

  Clotnik looked surprised. "With magic, of course."

  Tanis felt that somehow the juggler was hedging. "And Kishpa will get us out?" Tanis pressed.

  Clotnik smiled oddly before saying, "If all goes well." When moments stretched long without comment from the half-elf, Clotnik chewed briefly on his lower lip, leaned back, and asked, "What is it?"

  "Kishpa looks human," Tanis said, his face hard. "How could he have been a young man in love with a woman nearly one hundred years ago?"

  Clotnik allowed himself a brief laugh before sobering and responding. "He looks human under all those
burns? Reorx's beard, no!" he replied. "His grandfather was elven." Clotnik's voice took on a gossipy tone. "As best as I can figure, he's one-quarter elf and three-quarters human. The elven features, admittedly, are rather hidden. His longevity, though, is obvious proof of his heritage."

  Tanis nodded once, slowly. There were other questions to ask. "How will I find my father? And Brandella? What do they look like?"

  "You will find them both in a village named Anka- tavaka, on the northeast shore of the Straits of Algoni. You will recognize your father because, as Kishpa described him to me, he looks a little like you-in the eyes and in the mouth. There are differences, though. Kishpa told me that, unlike you, your father had long, black hair, a badly broken nose, and, during the short time he was in Ankatavaka, a slash wound in the right leg from a broadsword."

  "What of my mother? Did she live in Kishpa's village, too7" Tanis held his breath. To also meet his mother, who had died shortly after his birth, would be worth all the dangers the old mage's plan could present.

  "No," Clotnik said, his face averted. "Kishpa did not know her. On this question, I cannot help you."

  Tanis sighed deeply. "All right. Then tell me about Brandella."

  "She was a weaver when Kishpa knew her. You will recognize her when you see her, Tanis. Of this there is no doubt."

  "But how?" Out in the lake, a pair of waterfowl tried to land on the scummy surface. Squawking in apparent' dismay, they took off immediately and flew west. Tanis's gaze followed them.

  "You will know her because Kishpa loved her, and you will be in his memory." The dwarf tried to look reassuring. "You will come to understand."

  Tanis wasn't so sure. Nonetheless, he did not pursue the matter.

  The dwarf made motions as if to return to Kishpa, and the half-elf asked, "What about you, Clotnik? Why have you done this for the old man?"

  'This7 This is nothing," the juggler said sorrowfully. "I wanted to make the journey instead of you. Kishpa wouldn't let me. It had to be you, he said; the search spell had been specific." He took a deep breath, glanced back at Kishpa over his shoulder, and said in a low voice, "But I don't believe him. He just didn't want me to go."

  "Why?"

  "For the same reason I wanted to go," he said obliquely, toying with a bit of sodden bark from the log on which they sat. He tossed the bark away and looked Tanis full in the face. "Should you survive your journey, I will tell you. And you will have things to tell me. But enough now. The time for talk is over. Kishpa is ready." The dwarf rose, cutting off further questions, and hurried back to the wizard. Tanis followed more deliberately.

  The mage looked up at them with eyes suddenly malignant, and Tanis fought back second thoughts. He'd always been cautious-too cautious, his companions sometimes told him. This time he would push ahead without continual second-guessing, he vowed.

  With some effort, the ancient wizard plucked two objects from a small, charred, watertight pouch that hung from his belt; he held them up. The first was a tattered piece of cloth that Tanis could see had once been bright and colorful, full of shades of red, yellow, and purple. The second object was a simple wooden writing instrument. The wizard handed Tanis the quill but kept the fragment of fabric.

  "The cloth is all I have left from her," the mage said sadly. "It is the last remaining shred of a scarf she once made for me. Take it and give it to her as a token of my love."

  "And the quill?" asked Tanis.

  'Take it with you, also, and leave it in the past. It was for this that the sligs were after me. This plan is the safest way of keeping it out of their reach."

  Sligs, known for their sharp teeth, ugliness, and generally antisocial attitudes, were rare near Solace. "Why would these sligs want your quill?" questioned Tanis. "It looks ordinary."

  'The quill foretells danger," the mage replied. "Whoever possesses it will never be caught by surprise. You can see how valuable it would be to an army of such creatures intent upon conquest." Kishpa's lips tightened in resolve. "They must not have it, Tanthalasl"

  Tanis was about to ask another question when Clotnik interceded. "Kishpa is weak. We must hurry." The mage stroked the faded piece of cloth and handed it reluctantly to Tanis. The half-elf carefully concealed the cloth and the quill inside his tunic.

  The wizard nodded his thanks and then closed his eyes.

  But suddenly just before he began his spell-casting, the relic of a being that once was full of life lifted his raw, bleeding hands, seemingly oblivious to pain, and pointed at the half-elf. 'There is one more thing you must know," Kishpa whispered. "Someone will try to stop you from freeing my Brandella."

  "Who?" asked Tanis, leaning lower to hear better.

  "Me."

  As Tanis recovered from his surprise, the mage intoned words that Tanis had never heard before. The otherworldly sounds were musical, not so much language as an intricate series of notes. Kishpa repeated them again, then a third time. Tanis glanced at Clotnik.

  "It's not working," the half-elf said softly.

  Clotnik glared. "Shhh!"

  But then the mage closed his hands into two fists, shook them, and then opened them again. Dead skin dropped from his fingers in ribbons, but the mage didn't appear to notice. He closed his fists a second time. Shook them. Opened them. Closed them a third time. Shook them… and then Tanis disappeared.

  5

  The dark pit

  Tanis was still looking down, but instead of seeing Kishpa lying on the ground, he saw the black leather boots of a soldier, toes pointed in his direction. Tanis immediately lifted his eyes, catching a glint of sunlight on the blade of a broadsword swooping straight down toward his headl

  Elves revere life. Before a battle, elven troops and leaders gather to ask forgiveness for the lives they will take in the coming dispute. But this time, there was no time to move, think, or feel. Suddenly, another sword came from out of nowhere to block the downward sweep of the first. There was a loud clang as steel struck steel. and a voice shouted, "Draw your blade!"

  Tanis didn't need to be told twice. Instinct from a lifetime of battle experience took over. He threw his right shoulder into his attacker, knocking him down, then pulled his own silver-inlaid broadsword from its scabbard. He intended to protect himself while getting away from whatever madness he had been plunged into. Standing at the ready, he quickly realized that he was in the midst of a small group of elven and human soldiers engaged in deadly hand-to-hand combat in an opening in a forest.

  The half-elf had but one problem. He didn't know which side he was on.

  A human soldier, his long, brown hair greasy, settled the issue when he lunged at the half-elf, his sword's point aimed at Tanis's heart. Tanis parried deftly. The human countered by swinging his sword in a wide arc, trying to slash the half-elf's left arm. Tanis sidestepped the flashing blade, kicking the human in the stomach. The soldier clutched his belly and doubled over in pain, his groans mingling with the cries of other humans and elves in the glade.

  An elven soldier, seeing the human down and defenseless, stepped in front of Tanis and brought his saber down hard across the back of his enemy's exposed neck. A life ended.

  Tanis wanted to look at the faces of the soldiers and search for his father. But with the air heavy with the stench of blood and sweat, with death at every turn, he didn't have the luxury of studying the features of all these potential killers. Better to get away, he decided. Before he could manage it, though, another human attacked, slamming his shield into Tanis's back. The half-elf went down face first. Leaping onto Tanis's prostrate body, the soldier threw away his shield and pinned the half-elf under his greater weight. From the corner of his eye, Tanis saw a huge, slablike hand scoop up a heavy rock. The half-elf fought for survival, wrapping his arm around one of the human's legs and then heaving with all his might.

  The rock went flying out of the soldier's hands as he fell over onto his back and spun halfway around. Tanis didn't kill this one, either. Instead, he swiftly rolled in the other di
rection, grabbed the human's shield, and used it and his sword to hold back the surging skirmish line of enemy soldiers.

  But not for long.

  "More humans!" cried an elven voice in warning. Tanis instinctively knew exactly where to look. He felt the ground shaking, and he knew it was cavalry. The horsemen could only be coming from the open field to the east. In the strong light of late morning, they thundered across the meadow and swooped down on the small elven defense force with cries of vengeance. Lances impaled the elves, and swords cut them to pieces.

  It was a rout. Tanis managed to knock one rider off his horse and break the lance of another, but there were too many.

  "Retreat!" cried an elven leader. Then, more to the point, he yelled, "Run!"

  Tanis fled, pursued by two humans on horseback. It was a hopeless race, and Tanis knew it. He needed protection fast. Off to his left, he saw a tree stump. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. He veered, the horsemen gaining on him with every step.

  He reached the stump and circled behind it just moments before the pair of horsemen closed in on him. Delaying the inevitable, Tanis swung his sword and hacked off the point of one lance before ducking below the point of the second spear, which whooshed past his ear.

  The horsemen galloped by him, kicking up a cloud of dust that blinded and choked Tanis. He tried to breathe, to clear his eyes, knowing that he had to be ready for the horsemen when they turned to make another pass at him.

  He heard the horses rear and neigh, and then came their pounding hooves, drawing closer yet remaining unseen somewhere beyond the slowly settling cloud of dust. He heard the screams of other elves, unseen beyond the cloud, as they suffered death blows from the humans. Tanis steeled himself, hoping he would see the horsemen before it was too late. Then, just a short distance away, he saw the horses. The riders leaned forward to get a better look at their victim as they charged in for the kill