Anne was hurrying to find Troy before he left. Word had gotten around to her, through Jacob, that there was worry of something dangerous having moved into the area and that Sam and Troy were going to be going to find Renni just in case. She and some of the younger wards, all the kids that were likely to know where Renni was, had been called to talk with her father in the gorge but she had sort of ignored that. She did not know exactly where she was so she felt she would be more productive elsewhere.
So, after Jacob went to round up some of the others, Anne left the wagon and moved towards the back of the caravan. They wouldn't be moving for a bit anyway and she'd already watered the peshmies Sylvie and Lesni.
The Green wagon was one of the ones that actually used mules instead of peshmies. The walls of the wagon were painted a deep green colour with some grey and brown accents. It was significantly more muted than most Reader wagons but at the same time it was one of the more impressive ones. In the months after he had first been given the wagon Sam had spent hours during every stop, making carvings on the outer walls of the Green wagon and accenting them with colour. They were mostly carvings of tall trees making the lower parts of the wagon look like a dense, dark forest, but if one looked carefully they would also spot a few animals and nature spirits hiding among the trees of the carved forest. A deer poking its head out near the back door, an owl flying next to the window, usually hidden when the shutters opened outwards, a Faery carved above the driver's seat looking out for danger on the long road ahead. Anne had spent a lot of time trying to find all of the hidden critters when she was a kid. Everyone had, there was just something so captivating and alive about his art.
As Anne approached the wagon she saw Sam waiting by the back door. He was holding two longbows, they were almost of a height with Anne's shoulder, and had a quiver on his side. He was wearing sturdy boots and a green tunic that matched the wagon, he was well into his middle ages and traditions seemed to become important when one reached that age. He had long grey hair tied with a leather cord in a bun, Anne always thought that it was suspiciously placed where it would hide a bald spot. He also had a beard that much like her father he kept very short except for his long twirled moustache. He turned to look at her as she approached.
“Anne! Hello! We were just going to come find you!” He smiled at her reassuringly.
“Anne!” Troy Green exited the wagon and took the bow his husband held out for him. He was of a similar age to Sam but the two did not really look anything alike. Where Sam was a tall man with long grey hair and tan skin, Troy was originally from Tel’Morén and he looked it. He was only a little taller than Anne herself, his dark copper coloured hair was kept short, and he was always clean shaven, most Morenise struggled with growing facial hair and Troy was not an exception.
“Sam, Troy” she smiled and gave a polite nod to both of them. “I was actually hoping to join you, I am a little worried, and I know Da will feel better if I am also out looking for her.” That was probably not true but she had been the one to send Renni out earlier, and she did not think that she could stop worrying if she stayed.
Troy frowned as he turned to face her. “I don’t think so, Anne. We were just going to ask you for the direction little Renni left in. Unlikely as it is, there really could be something dangerous out there, and I do not think Jonah would appreciate us taking his eldest ward along while we are looking for his youngest specifically because he is worried.”
“Please? I am worried too, you know. And besides I could probably help. I know the area around the stop better than you two.” Anne tried to affect a look of concern mixed with pleading, she had a talent for making people go her way. Besides, her argument might actually have been true. None of the Readers knew this, or any other, area particularly well as they were almost always on the move; many of them however, Anne included, were used to foraging around the stops for herbs, berries, and the like. In contrast, Sam and Troy, while used to tracking and moving quickly through the woods, usually went a significant distance further, sometimes going away for days at a time before returning with a deer or wild goat.
The older hunters looked at each other for a few seconds, seemingly having an entire conversation through eye movement and slight nods alone. Finally Sam turned back to her.
“Alright, alright the three of us are likely to scare away any animal before we see it anyways. But you will be doing as you are told, okay? Now let's not waste any more time, Magtha will be in a hurry for us to move our wagon. What direction did your sister leave in?”
Anne smiled brightly. “She went directly south but it's been about an hour and we’ve kept moving since.”
“She’s not likely to be very far. If she was foraging she would likely have thought to move at least a bit towards Redstone-Stop so that she wouldn’t have had to walk as much afterwards.” said Troy “Let’s get going.”
With that they started walking along the path a ways before turning from it and heading in Renni’s presumed direction.
A few minutes later a young man wearing a bright yellow tunic and blue pants, passed by the Green wagon. Jacob was looking for Anne. She hadn’t shown up down in the stop and he was now worried that in his efforts to not worry the young woman, he had failed to communicate the level of danger. After walking the length of the caravan twice and asking the increasingly impatient people, Reknah Crimsoncopper told him that she had seen Anne, Sam, and Troy Green all leave together. That was also when Jacob realised that no one had thought to catch Sam and Troy before they left to tell them about the injured woman they had found, or the thing that had tried to kill her.
“Magtha is absolutely going to kill me.”
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Renni held on to her friend as she cried. Tell’Abim had tried to get her attention several times, but they had stopped after a while. That had been at least ten minutes before. She hadn’t been able to let go, to open her eyes. She had never been as scared as she had been just then, as she still was. The trunk of the ancient tree was surprisingly warm and comforting, hugging it with her eyes closed seemed so much more preferable at that moment. She did not know what she’d do, what she would have to do, if she let go. Some part of her realised that the man might still need help and that both he, Renni, and possibly even Tell’Abim could be in danger, but that part of her was small, weak.
Then suddenly she thought she heard a voice. No, not heard, more understood or imagined a voice deep inside her own head. It was telling her that she needed to be strong, she needed to move, make herself move.
“Tell’Abim?” she whispered “Is that you? Were you speaking just now?” She opened her eyes, and tried to focus on the many small things that let her understand her friend.
No. I thought you needed some more time. It is ok. You need not wake now if you do not want to.
Renni had managed to stop crying. She slowly let go of the tree. “Thank you. But it is ok. I can’t just stay here crying. Do you think that whatever hurt that man is close?” Renni walked towards the man. Tell’Abim had slightly shifted their roots so that he was raised a little off the ground, and in a more comfortable position. His face looked more serene now and he was breathing deeply and evenly.
There was a loud groan from the tree that Renni associated with moving branches. She smiled faintly when she realised that the sound was their version of hmm.
Hmm. This person’s wound. I know it. It was from something old. Something that was here long ago. I do not perceive it nearby. Do not worry. I will keep you safe.
“But how? Like how you made him better? Was it a Pricing? Or was it like a Hymn since you used the light?” Renni felt better when she spoke. Asking questions. The faint voice told her to keep talking, and she did. It helped her forget that there was still blood on her hands from the man’s wound.
I do not know those words. I wanted to help and I remembered how. I am remembering more as I wake. What I did was a Wyrding. That is what humans called it at least. It had something to do with how I was born. I think it was maybe part of why I can think more than other trees. I know that you are safe here. Beneath my leaves.
Wyrding. Renni did not know much about things like that. She had seen Mages use their Pricings to impress and entertain, creating spectral fireflies of different colours, or small bees that each carried the scent of roses, or honey, or cinnamon. Her Da had even said that a Mage had once been part of their caravan but that was before she was born. There were Mages in every city. Many of them were scholarly types working in libraries or schools, others became artisans like glassblowers or silversmiths, and others became soldiers or mercenaries. There were many things they could do with their Pricings but nothing like Tell’Abim had.
Hymns were another thing entirely. They were the power of the Solic priesthood and none of them would ever join a Reader caravan or even go into their camp, but Renni had once seen them use several large crystal plates to purge the blight out of a wheat field. One of them had stood at each corner of the large field, they started humming in harmony as they lifted the crystalline discs above their heads, causing sunlight to pass through them and create beautiful complex patterns on the ground in front of them. The wheat had then glowed in brief waves. Each wave had started from the position of a priest and passed through the entire field before disappearing. They had said that the field had been spared but Renni and her caravan hadn’t stayed long enough to see the result.
Renni had of course never seen a Wyrding before but she had heard that Druids used them. The Sollic Priests that proselytised in squares, and sometimes outside their camp, always warned of the Druids, or sometimes Dark Druids, and they spoke of their power to spread disease to crops and to people, and how they cursed and kidnapped people. But they never used the word Wyrding, that she had learned from the older Readers. They always told local stories and songs around the campfire, it was a way of appeasing the residents of the places they visited, but also of paying respect to the people that had been here before. And when they were south of the cities of Tel’Morén, they talked about the Druids and their Circles, using the power of the forests and of the earth, through what they called Wyrdings. There were not very many of them left, however. Mister Harris had said that when they circled through Aberimm and the other peninsulas there were more Readers there, than there were locals or their Druids, which, he said, he had always found sad.
“Tell’Abim are you a Druid?”
No. Only humans can be Druids. It is not just someone who can use Wyrdings.
“Then what is?”
I do not know exactly. Some of the people who spoke to me were Druids. Not all of them. I think it was a new word when Helen and Hastor were here.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter right now. What should I do? I could go get help for him but I don’t want to run into whatever almost killed him.” Renni placed her hand on the stranger’s forehead, looking for a fever. There wasn’t one, as far as she could tell.
It might be better if you wait. He will be fine. He just needs to sleep for a while.
Renni tried to look through the many leaves to spot the position of the sun. Anne had sent her out in the early afternoon, so she still had a couple of hours before sunset but she really did not want to risk having to walk through the forest at night.
“I can’t stay here forever. It will be night in a few hours and I want to be at the camp before then.”
Tell’Abim seemed to think on that for a while.
Walking through the woods in the dark. It would be unwise. Perhaps you should wake the other human now then. But I could keep you both safe here even at night, and your people will be looking for you if you do not return.
Renni shook her head. “They do not know about the danger. Maybe this person can help me get back. He knows exactly what the trouble is afterall.” Of course a man she did not know, one that was wandering an area where very few people lived while wearing armour could also be dangerous, but Renni didn’t say any of that. The thought made her uncomfortable and scared, and she could not afford to freeze up again so she pushed it to the back of her mind.
Renni grabbed the unconscious person’s shoulder, and she gently shook him. It was only a few seconds before he woke.