The first signs that someone was wrong awaited us just a couple of miles ahead, in the thick of the forest, as the howling of wolves pierced the muffled calm under the trees.
„Just hunters.“ Tonja shrugged off, as she saw my concern.
“That is exactly what I am concerned about.“ I retorted, one hand on the Ravenbeak.
“Wolves do not hunt men. Especially a larger group like this one.“
“Wolves do not come to greet a visitor, either, and yet one led me here this very morning.“
“They are creatures of Dio. He protects us.“
“He is raving mad. Who knows what machinations lie hidden in his twisted brain.“ I said with an astonishing amount of vitriol in my voice. “Move the young ones, I want something to protect our rear if things go sour.“
This time, Tonja just nodded, hushing the moaning and shivering Wyldlings, none lucid enough to completely grasp their situation.
We saw the first wolf minutes later, just standing there, with its mocking, yellow eyes and his shaggy, black fur, forcing us to change direction.
“Flowers of Izunath, you are right. They are herding us.“ The Nymph at my side gasped, as a second wolf came lazily jogging around a tree, forcing them to alter their path again.
I ripped the Ravenbeak free, gave it a swing through the air, feeling the weight. “I will not allow it.“ Before I made a move, Tonja grabbed me at the shoulder.
“The younglings! You cannot leave their side. The moment you are unaware is the moment they will go for the weak members of our group. I...I cannot fend off a pack of wolves. One or two maybe, but a pack is a different beast altogether.“
I turned, nonetheless. “Is this how you treat old allies, Mad King?“ I shouted into the silence of the forest. “I am warning you, for one last time. I will not allow those under my protection come to harm.“
I was answered with one more howl, and quick, deft steps of wolves retreating back into the thick undergrowth they had come from.
Just as I had decided that the moment had come and gone, I heard the youthful chuckle of a man, closer than I had expected. To my side, a tree just...opened, and through came a man, with only a faint resemblance to either the Mad King I had known or the dying body on the hill.
“Summer fights the darkness, Autumn is dying, Winter lies dead unable to welcome his own season with open arms...I do not share the sentiment of a dying season, Raven, I do not share the cynical view of Autumn, for I am Spring, I am Rebirth. I fear neither death nor darkness, for I am the answer to their threats.“
I walked up to face him, positioning me between the young man and the group of children behind me. “Why do you hinder swift travel? I have young ones with me, desperate for shelter and warmth.“
“THEY ARE MINE!“ Spring roared suddenly, his face twisting into a grimace of rage. “He should never have let them go! He is old, dying, weak, and lived with them for too long. Autumn is too gentle a soul, too long cut off from the rest of us. And complacent, as the ruler of the season, fearless, since winter is dead.“
“I will add Spring to the list if you do not back off.“ I snarled as Zero glided into my hand, curled up and ready to fly.
Spring threw his head back in manic laughter. “You have destroyed everything, Raven. The balance we had carved...CARVED...out of our own flesh...gone with the poisonous whispers of a single man. Your poison.“
“Make sense, man! What it is it you are saying?“
“You made a bargain with a dying man. Of course, he has grown sentimental and soft. He gave the younglings away, but it was not his place! He thinks that all is lost and he should let free what he could. He is a weakling and a fool.“
“What are they to you? They are not yours, to begin with!“ I answered.
“Are they not? Is not Dio the protector of the Wyld? Have we not watched over them, taken their burden, nourished, and cared for them for hundreds of years?“
“That you have. It does not give you ownership.“
“It is just another piece of the puzzle. One more cornerstone you will break in what is Dio and what is the heart of the Wyld. You come and destroy. You leave rotten bones and shriveled grass behind, wherever you walk, Raven. I am the answer to the death you bring, for I am Spring. You want to take the power of foresight away from the Mad King? Let him fight his fight without it? How dare you.“
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“Dio!“ Tonja shouted from behind, a young girl in her arms. “That is not you! You let us go! You know that we need shelter and that the Heart of the Wyld no longer can protect us. Listen to yourself!“
“Oh you, Nymph, most traitorous of all. You denied...DENIED...me the chance to pass on my knowledge. Playing with the small minds of children instead. You bewitched the old man of the yellow leaves, you played him like a fiddle, the senile, old fool. I needed you to be the [Druid] you were meant to be!“
“Please, Dio, calm down.“ She said with a pleading tone in her voice. “You are hurting yourself and the ones you love if you do not stop.“
“What do you know about love?“ He roared again. “If you so eagerly throw away mine?“
“You still have mine.“ A raspy, weak voice joined in the fray with strong calm, the face of the old, the dying Dio growing out of a nearby tree, bark grinding over bark.
“You...“ Spring spat, making a step towards the tree. “You let them go?“
“Have you gotten none of the kindness back as the trees fell?“ Autumn retorted. “It is autumn still, even as the winter draws near. I have defeated you. You are powerless and far from the height of your power. What do you even want to accomplish?“
“Him.“ Spring pointed at me. “I want to accomplish his demise, for he brought the very same about us.“
“Well I do not allow it.“ Autumn simply said. Autumn ruled the season we were in, and thus the last word had been spoken. As spring sank down into the tree he had come from, the face in the bark turned to us.
Confusion and sadness, carved into the side of a tree, and his gaze was full of regret. “I have forgotten about you, Tonja. I am waning, I never even sought to ask...“
Tonja started to speak, but stopped herself, closing her eyes as if to swallow words she did not want to speak. “You have been nothing but kind to us. I do not understand what is happening to you, Dio, but the war had been more important, I understand that at least. But now we have to leave, the younglings and I.“
“The Mad King is splintered and divided. The order has been changed. I have killed Winter, through the hand of the Raven, but I might as well have wielded the blade. A fourth of us is missing and we will never be whole again. I thought to cut out Winter would allow me to control the others...but instead of one we now are three, always. And as the trees fell...we all got different memories and feelings back.“
“You are no longer one being?“ I asked.
The face in the tree nodded. “I have broken myself too many times. Summer and Spring are...different. And wide awake, if greatly weakened. I have no more influence over them than any brother has over his siblings.“
“And Spring is the black sheep of the family?“ I asked with a frown.
“Spring is difficult, but you would have cut him down. It is autumn after all, and he is nothing but threats and words. But come his season you might have made an enemy not so easily stopped.“
“I do not care.“ I said. “By then I will be glad to answer his challenge. Does our bargain still stand?“
The face nodded. “The Nightmares are my creation, I am sure of it, even if the memory of it is foggy at best. I created them out of equal parts of darkness and life, for them to feast on the force of the dying dragons. They are madness made flesh and shadow and have grown fat on the critters of the land. They defend the Wyld, but this beast you describe threatens the balance.“
“It has to go.“ I agreed.
“Then you know what to do. I gave you the tools already. I will be there when you use them.“
I nodded. “Until then.“ I turned to go, then turned back once more. “Can you guarantee the safety of my people under your trees? I can understand that I am hated by your brothers, but what about the rest?“
“I cannot guarantee the safety of your people any longer. The forest has always been dangerous and my fight is to the north. I can only guarantee that my brothers and I will not hunt them down. The rest is on them. We have no quarrel with mortals, quite the contrary. We love that life returned to the forsaken lands the death of the dragons created.“
“I will hold you to it.“ I said. “This is a line I will not allow to be crossed.“
I stared at the rough face in the bark for a while, mostly to hammer the point home that I had been very serious saying that, but then turned and left as time was wasting and I had to shepherd a group of younglings to safety.
That was kind of hard to ignore, even if you were trying to intimidate and strongarm a centuries-old, shattered mind of a godling.
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I had to do all the fighting. I had to do all the hunting. I even had to do most of the chores. But one glorious evening we were found by a patrol of Wyldlings a day out of Beardale, somewhere in the Broken Lands.
Devoured Gods, what a week that had been. The constant barrage of noise and nonsense had ground my nerves to dust. They all, all twenty of them, were on the edge of a nervous breakdown, all of the time. They could not handle the Song of the Wyld, and yet craved it more than anything else. I tried to give them Dragonamber once, but as they were being cut off from the song they reacted with violence and could only be calmed as I removed the amulet again.
That had not been the kind of expedition I had wanted to lead through the treacherous surroundings of the Broken Lands.
We managed with Tonja demonstrating endless patience and a good handling of those she cared for. If not for her, I would have truly lost my mind. She used Skills to calm them if they acted out or got violent, but her presence usually was enough for them to behave.
The relief I felt as the group finally got fed and washed in a tent of the Wyldlings in Beardale, seeing my responsibility for them lighten remarkably, was so high, I immediately felt ashamed.
There was a strategic part of me assessing the asset or danger the group could turn out to be. They were out of the grasp of the Wyldling clans for now, and in mine instead. Or Cogar’s, to be precise. That was a win in itself.
He could rebuild. With them, with the others. The Bear Clan had a future. There loomed another godling on the horizon. Bear. When would he come back and how would he see what we had created here. That was a talk long overdue.
For now, I had to work on the problem at hand. For me, that meant forging a Skill.