The Guided Journey (Book 6) (39 page)

Kestrel felt his stomach flip with sickness at the revelation.  He did not want to think about Viathins returning to the land, spreading death and cruelty through the lives of millions of people.

“I know, Kestrel, it seems grim,” the goddess read his unspoken fear.  “But all is not as bad as it seems.  There are two problems here, and we have faith that you can resolve these.

“The first problem is the return of Viathins.  There do not seem to be many; your great solution in the last war was very effective.  There were none left in our world after your blessed waters spread across all the lands.  So somehow the water that you caused to flow has ceased to protect us, perhaps because the Viathins were able to use Krusima’s power to circumvent it.

“Go back south Kestrel; go back to the land where you won the battle, and restore your protection so that no more Viathins will come among us.  There cannot be many here now – for we beli
eve there were very few of them to survive.  Only those who were already beyond our world, starting to plunder their next victim, could still live, and we do not want them to come back and multiply here once again.

“And beyond that,” she continued, “I ask you to go to the world beyond ours, where Krusima and Morph must be held.  Set them free – bring them home.”

Kestrel stood in dumbfounded silence.  The goddess had just revealed an extraordinary set of circumstances, scenarios that he would have never imagined, situations that were beyond his comprehension.

“These are great challenges,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

“They are great, but they are not beyond what you and your companions can accomplish.  You have shown before that you can do great things, Kestrel,” the goddess’s voice was wistful.  “And we will help you as we can.  My strength is not so diminished now as it was before, thanks to you,” she told him.

“What companions do you mean?  Who will you provide?” Kestrel asked.

“The companions who are here with you now, of course – the ones who came here with you, and who will go with you,” Kai said.  “And also the imps, and the others who you will find along the way.”

“There,” Kai pointed to a dim corner near the entrance to the sanctum, and a light suddenly shone there.  Two figures stood suddenly revealed, as Kestrel stared in confusion.

“Wren?  Putienne?” he said in astonishment.  “What are you doing here?”

“They came with you,” Kai replied.  “And since they are so loyal to you, they shall make great companions.  Here,” she held out her hand, open palm up, with two rings lying atop.  “Give each of them one of these, and tell them to wear them at all times, to provide new abilities they will need.”

“Kestrel?” Wren replied.  “We followed you.  Who have you been talking to?  Yourself?”

Kestrel looked at the goddess in confusion.  “They cannot see me, of course.  I came here to talk to you, not them,” she replied.  “Take the rings, Kestrel.  Tell your companions to wear them.  They will make your journey easier.”

He reach out and plucked the rings from her palm.

“We shall talk again, do not fear,” the goddess told him.  “Go back to the palace and play with your daughter for a few days, then be on your way.”

“Where should I go first?” Kestrel asked.

“You’ll go the right way, whichever way you go.”  She smiled at him.  “Take care Kestrel; your heart’s desire is waiting for you at the end of this journey.”

And then she was gone.

“Kestrel?  Are you okay?” Wren cautiously asked.

“I’m,” he paused, not sure what to say as he reeled from the astonishing revelations of the goddess.  “I’m fine,” he said.

“What were you doing?” Putty asked, as Kestrel approached them.

“I was talking to Kai.  You saw her there,” he answered.

“We saw you,” Wren replied.

“And Kai – the woman I was talking to,” he finished the observation.

“We didn’t see a woman – just you,” Wren contradicted him.

“But she was there.  Talking.  She told me so much!” he said.  “She made the light shine on you, and she gave me these rings,” he held out the two bands of metal that rested in his own palm.

Wren stared at his hand.

“What rings?” Putty asked.

“These,” Kestrel raised his hand and thrust it forward.

“Kestrel, there’s nothing there,” Wren told him in a concerned tone of voice.

“There’re two rings, plain as day!” he asserted.

“There’s nothing but the skin of your hand,” Wren replied heatedly.

“Here,” Kestrel took one of the rings, held Wren’s hand, and easily slid the band onto her finger.

As he removed his hand from hers, the ring suddenly glowed brightly, for just a moment.

“Where did that come from?” Wren cried, suddenly seeing the ring.

Kestrel didn’t reply.  Instead, he turned to Putienne, gently took her hand, and slid the remaining ring upon her finger as well.  A moment later the ring flashed brightly, and the girl squealed in surprise.

“This is good?” she asked.

“I hope so,” Kestrel said.  “Let’s go back to the palace and I’ll explain,” he suggested, and he led the way back out of the temple.

“We’ll do our best for you, my goddess,” he said softly as he looked back when they parted through the doors.

“Kestrel, I don’t discount anything you say or do,” Wren told him as they started walking.  “But this is all very strange.”

“Why were you two in the temple?  Why did you follow me?” Kestrel asked.

“You left so abruptly, it didn’t seem right,” Wren told him.   She looked at Putienne.  “Your friend seemed so upset, we decided to follow you to see if you were in some kind of trouble here already.  I know you’ve just arrived in Seafare, but I don’t put anything beyond you,” she added with a grin.

There was a sudden flurry of shouts from the interior of an alleyway they were passing, and a small group of men came rushing out at them, armed with clubs and knives.

Putienne was walking on the side closest to the robbers, and before Kestrel or Wren could react in any way, the girl suddenly transformed from her delicately beautiful form back into a large, muscular, hairy yeti, and she roared at the oncoming attackers.

One of their number was nearly to her already, a club raised over his head.  Putty swung a long arm at him as the men from the alley stopped in their tracks, astonished by the changed circumstances.  Putty’s aim was true, and she struck the man in the chest, sending him flying backwards to land in a crumpled heap.  The other attackers screamed in fear, and fled back down the alley, as Putty started to chase after them.

“Putty!  No!” Kestrel managed to shout, astonished by the unexpected change.  “Don’t chase them,” he added.

The yeti froze in midstride, then turned and looked at Kestrel, a murderous gleam in her eye, but one that faded as the heat of the moment faded.  She looked down at the unconscious robber she had disabled, then she transformed back into her human-elven-form once again.

“Kestrel!  What in the name of all the gods and demons just happened?” Wren shouted at him, as she grabbed his arm.  “Did you use your powers to change her?”

“I had nothing to do with it,” he replied as he broke free from her grip.

“What happened?” he asked an obviously shaken Putty.  “Are you okay?” he asked.  He felt his heart fill with compassion for the girl, and he enveloped her in a hug.

“I saw them, and I got mad at them,” Putty explained in the limited vocabulary she had learned.  “And then I was big and strong again,” she replied.  “When you said ‘no’, I stopped and grew little again.”

“You didn’t make her change like that?” Wren asked.

“No, not at all,” Kestrel replied.  “I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“How did it happen?  Can she change herself?” Wren asked.

“Maybe,” Kestrel said specul
atively.  “Maybe Kai’s ring lets her control her own shape,” he followed an intuitive leap.

A moment later he shouted in surprise and jumped back, as Putty erupted while he hugged her, and turned back into a yeti.

“Putty!” he wheezed, as the yeti gave something like a laugh, then turned back into a beautiful girl once again.

“I did it!” she said.

“What does my ring do?” Wren immediately asked.

“Heaven help us. I don’t know,” Kestrel replied with a worried grin.

“Fortunately for you, it doesn’t let me throw thunderbolts,” Wren growled.  “What does it do?”

“Let’s go back to the palace and figure this out,” Kestrel replied.

He took Putty’s arm and hooked his own through it, then proceeded to lead the two women back to the palace gate.

Chapter
33 – Following Kai’s Direction

“Kai told me two things,” Kestrel told Putty and Wren, along with Picco, Creata, and Ruelin, when they were back in the palace.  He had insisted on calling his other friends together to hear the grim news that the goddess had delivered.

“The goddess spoke directly to you?” Ruelin asked.  “You saw this?” he asked Wren.

“We followed him to the temple, and saw him standing there talking and listening for a long time,” Wren affirmed.  “And then he made these two rings appear out of nowhere on our fingers,” she said.  “But we didn’t see the goddess herself.”

“But we know Kestrel and the gods are allies,” Picco spoke up.  “Remember the guards who saw the goddess speak to him in the battle for the palace?” she reminded her husband.

“She told me the Viathins have found a way around the protective water I set in place at the mountain lake,” Kestrel said.  “And she told me to go fix it.

“She also said that,” he paused.  He could not reveal that gods were missing, he decided.  That would be too frightening a story to spread among the kingdoms of the Inner Seas.

“She said that I had to go rescue some captives the Viathins are holding in another world,” he amended his report.

“And,” he looked at Creata as he said the next statement, “she told me that Wren and Putienne would go with me.  She gave me the rings for them, to help them with new abilities on the journey,” he added.

“No!” Creata immediately replied, as Kestrel had expected.  “You cannot take my betrothed on such a perilous journey.”

Kestrel said nothing, knowing what was about to occur.

“Well of course I’ll go with him,” Wren said matter-of-factly.  “He needs someone with him who can fight and protect him.  We all know how fragile he is.  Even with the yeti-girl along, Kestrel needs a lot of help.”

“You can’t go!” Creata pleaded.  “Our wedding is only a few months away.”

“I’ll hurry him along, so that he doesn’t dawdle around the pretty girls the way he usually does,” Wren said lightly.

“And the girl?  You’d take her on this dangerous quest?” Ruelin spoke up.

“Believe me, she can take care of herself, better than Kestrel in a knife fight,” Wren snorted with laughter.

“Wren, why are you making such light of the dangers of this journey?” Creata asked.

“Show them, Putienne,” Wren ordered.

Putienne’s eyes grew large, and she glanced at Kestrel, who nodded in agreement.

The room erupted in shouts, as the girl induced the change in her form, frightening the others as she suddenly towered over them all.

“And she’s still young,” Kestrel said lightly as she shifted back into her Moorin-form.  “She’ll be even bigger soon.”

“How did she do that?” Picco asked, still standing wide-eyed.

“She was a yeti when I first met her,” Kestrel explained.  “And we became friends, but for some reason, a yeti draws a lot of attention in a city, so we changed her shape, and now the goddess’s ring allows her to control her own appearance.”

“And you have a ring too?  Can you become a monster?” Creata asked.

“She doesn’t need a ring for that,” Kestrel said in a stage whisper, drawing a punch to the shoulder from Wren.

“I don’t know what the ring does for me, but when I find out, I’ll test it on Kestrel, believe me,” she responded.

“Kestrel, one time you went into the mountains and lived with
gnomes.  This time you befriended a yeti.  I’m afraid to know what will happen next time,” Creata joked.

“It is liable to be a dangerous journey, but the imps will be with us, and the goddess, and perhaps even others,” Kestrel tried to address the concerns.  “The goddess says this must be done, and from what we know of the Viathins, we know it as well,” he said.

“He’s right,” Picco addressed her brother and husband.  “We know he is.

“Just tell us how we can help you on your way to success,” she spoke to Kestrel, as the others nodded agreement.

“Thank you, Picco,” Kestrel smiled at the girl, wondering for a flicker of a second what his life would be like if he had married her.

“I’d like to take a look at any maps you have.  Tomorrow we can see if that helps decide the route to follow, and we can prepare for the journey,” he said.

The group broke up and went to bed soon afterwards.

In the morning, Kestrel awoke to the sight of a yeti hovering over his bed, incongruously grinning with a mouthful of sharp and dangerous teeth.  Putty reverted to her other form.

“Were you scared?” she asked eagerly.

“How could I not be?” he replied.

“You weren’t scared at all,” she accused.

“How many days have I lived with you as a yeti?” he asked.

“I know,” she moaned.

“Don’t worry, there will be many times for you to change shapes, I’m sure,” Kestrel comforted her as he got out of bed.  “And you’ll frighten lots of people.”

Happier, Putty waited in the hall for Kestrel to dress, and they went to breakfast together.

That day Kestrel was shown all the maps that were available showing the lands south of Seafare and Lakeview, along the coasts that were charted.  Kestrel found that the lands he had traveled through the previous autumn, the Western Mountains and the lands of the gnomes and elves of the south, were unknown, as was the Dangeaux River and the route to the high mountain lake he expected to visit.  The maps were of little value.

“Stillwater, Stillwater, Stillwater,” Kestrel called after studying the map.

“Lord Kestrel friend, traveler of the lands, we have not been here in many months,” Stillwater spoke as he looked around the otherwise empty room.  “How have you been?  Has the evil one attacked recently?”

“The evil one is temporarily vanquished, but the story that remains is troubled.  The human goddess tells me that the Viathins are coming back to our world, and I must go back to the land where we beat them before, to seal off and prevent their return.  Will you and your companions help my company on this quest?” Kestrel asked.

Stillwater’s countenance grew grave.
“This is a troubling message, my friend,” the imp replied.  He floated down to the floor, and began to pace about, deep in thought.

“We will help of course.  Tell me what plan you have,” he said.

Kestrel led the way to the map he had studied.

“My cousin Wren, Putty the yeti, and I will travel to
the place where the Viathins can be stymied,” he pointed to an unmarked area of the map.  “It is a long journey.  I would ask you and the other imps to carry us to the place where Canyon was harmed in battle,” Kestrel moved his finger to the approximate location of that site, also unmarked on the map.  “That help will make the journey shorter, and help a great deal.”

“And then we would remain with you?” Stillwater asked, peering at the map, and slowly rising off the floor as he examined the plan.  “That is all?”

“There is more, but I will not trouble you with the future’s problems yet,” Kestrel answered.

Stillwater was silent momentarily, and then more blue bodies started to arrive.

“Acanthus!  Mulberry! Odare!  Killcen! Why, Dewberry, queen most magnificent!” Kestrel spoke in wonder at the gathered forces.

“Kestrel, wonder of the elves, and friend of the imps and sprites,” Dewberry replied.  “I understand that you go on a deadly quest, and I understand that you need assistance and advice, so I have offered to be your leader once again,” she said in a regal voice, then smiled and hugged him tightly.

“Would you like to see my daughter?” Kestrel blurted out the question, anxious to show Merea to the queen.

There was an uproar of approval, and Kestrel set the palace alive with astonishment as he led a parade of imps through the halls to the nursery, picking up Putienne on the way.

“She is a beautiful child,” the imps unanimously agreed, as the frazzled nurse maid wordlessly backed away from Kestrel, who held the baby as the small blue beings gathered around.

“She must take after her mother,” Mulberry pronounced, “for she is far more beautiful than any child of Kestrel’s would be expected to achieve.”

“Shall we go ask Picco who the real father is?” Odare asked.

The general disparaging of Kestrel went on between the two witty imps, but Kestrel paid little attention, as he held the infant, and looked down at her as she rested in his arms.

He wanted her to have a good future, one that was safe from fears about Viathins.  Going on his quest was the way to give Merea freedom, and he intended to do it, no matter how hard the road, or how long the journey.

Watch for the continuation of Kestrel’s adventures, as he travels to the southern lands and encounters former friends and adversaries while carrying out his quest to seal the land of the Inner Seas from a second Viathin invasion.

The travelers assembled in the garden of the palace early the next morning.  They carried light packs of limited supplies for their initial foray into the southern lands.  Kestrel expected that the imps would provide a means of easy resupply as they needed, and he wanted to travel as fast and light as possible.  He knew what Wren and Putienne were capable of, and he was pleased with the prospect for their speedy trip ahead.   

“Take the imps to our destination and make sure there is no trouble waiting for us,” he told Stillwater.  “Odare went last night and reports that the site was peaceful.”

“I have already heard her report,” the leader of the imp contingent answered with equanimity.  “We will go now,” he agreed, and all the imps disappeared from the air over the garden, as the humans of Seafare stood and watched.

Kestrel carried a purse with a few gold coins, and a few pearls.  He had been astonished to hold a meeting with a Seafare jewelry trader during his visit to the city.

The imps had helped him fetch a small chest of pearls from his Oaktown treasury, and he had discovered that the jewels were even more highly coveted in Seafare than they had been in Hydrotaz or Graylee.  He’d sold a substantial number, arranged for many others to be woven into a necklace that would be a future princely gift for Merea, and given more to Creata to do the same for Wren.

He didn’t anticipate there would be opportunities to spend the wealth in the wilderness, but he felt slightly more prepared for the unexpected.

“Our landing place remains empty, Kestrel friend,” Stillwater reported as the imps reappeared.

“Good bye, Creata,” Wren gave her fiancée a final hug and kiss.

A chorus of farewells broke out, and then the imps surrounded the travelers, and the group disappeared from Seafare.

The impact of revisiting the campsite in the former Southern Forest was immediate.  As soon as the imps restored Kestrel to the reality of the site, his eyes took in the fateful place where so much had happened.

The hillside was greener than he remembered
from the previous fall, as was to be expected.  But the new greenery had grown rampantly, and young trees appeared to have achieved three or four years’ growth in the span of a few months.

He saw the spot where Canyon had been killed, and he saw the fragmented stones on the hillside, where he had expended deadly energy killing the southern elves.  He had been driven to excessive violence by the spirit of the Viathin energy that had possessed him at the time.  His eyes had been black, as his spirit had been while he fought off the possession by the energy within him.

But above those sights, he saw the hidden entrance to the cave.  In that cave, Hierodule had given birth to a son, to a little boy who had been named Canyon in honor of the imp who had died in the battle there.

“Let’s go visit the cave,”
Kestrel indicated to the others.  He started walking up the hillside.

There was a roar behind him, and he whirled to see that Putty had returned to her native form as a yeti, and was celebrating her joy by roaring and stretching.  He turned back around and smiled, then continued up the hill.

“Why visit a cave?” Wren asked as she caught up with him.

“Just because,” Kestrel replied.  “I know it’s here, and I remember a little baby boy who was born here.  He’s still alive today, as far as I know.”

Kestrel had considered the prospect that his group might run into the small band of southern elves.  He might see Hierodule and her sister Hye.  He might see Moorin.

But if they did not run into the elves by happenstance, he told himself, he would not
lead them out of their way to find the elves.  He would not lead them to find Moorin.

He reached the hidden entrance to the cave, and twisted around behind the stone that obscured it from view.  Even if they did not run into the southern elves, he certainly intended to try to find the gnomes of the Western Mountains.  He would see friends among the gnomes – Greta and Hansen, among others – and he was sure to receive a warm welcome as a surv
ivor of the unusual Garrant Spark that had helped sustain him and take him to victory over Ashcrayss.