A faithful ally of Crimson Alder, the Mockingbird clan had its seat west of Tar-Fanesh and the Chipped Mountain. From the top of the hill, the halls of Mockingbird looked at the vast plains to the west of Dry River. The head of this small clan, Watchful Finch, was a keeper of songs, famous for his temperance and devotion to traditions. It wasn’t widely known, though, that he developed an interest in magical creatures not long ago. In his quest to gather more information about them, the head of the Mockingbirds eagerly searched for allies. He accommodated the Black Brothers when they arrived in Tar Fanesh. Following the incident with the phoenix, Watchful Finch generously invited all of them into his halls and granted them his protection.
From outside, the hall of the Mockingbird resembled a small fortress. From inside, it had several well-organized courts with plenty of shade in the arcades and privy gardens—a necessity in the southern lands rather than a luxury.
It was a pleasant spring morning, three days after the brothers arrived at the Halls of the Mockingbird, when all four disciples of brother Masho: Belrigan, Antonio, Lauro, and Vincent, were busy cleaning and grooming their horses and ponies in the small stables outside of the main walls. Although the brothers lost three horses near Phoenix Peak, they still had six, and the Mockingbird clan gifted them two more.
The weather was excellent, with the sun shining bright but the air still fresh. And after grooming, the brothers planned to walk some of the horses in the field with the young green grass downhill from the halls.
Vincent and Antonio were brushing two short gray nags used for carrying their thins during the travel. Belrigan and Lauro started with Virasz’s gelding, a dark-brown heavy palfrey. It was the only one of the lot able to carry the weight of his owner, and thus, he always received particular attention as a valuable asset.
”Brother Lukash told me that all dead bodies were burned according to teheni tradition,” said Vincent. He was a short, thin, dark-haired boy who had just turned thirteen.
”And what about brother Peto’s remains?” asked Belrigan. He gave a carrot to Viraz’s horse and started carefully cleaning his foot.
”They burned his body too.”
”Poor brother Peto,” sighted Lauro.
”Brother Viraz said this is good,” hurried to add Vincent. ”Bodies are burnt. Tsar’s men have left for the capital. Nobody is interested in investigating what happened there—that is what brother Viraz said, but I’m not sure what he meant.”
Except for Belrigan, no one of the younger brothers knew that Peto killed the tsar’s soldiers in their attempt to escape. Even some of the elder brothers were not informed. Viraz asked Belrigan to keep it secret; that’s why he felt so uneasy each time this topic was brought up. Thankfully, Antonio quickly found a new one:
”And I heard that you walked the void path, Belrigan,” he said in a casual voice, as if this was routine, ”and got almost eaten by moon wolves.”
Brothers talked freely because there was nobody in the stables except for them, horses, and smaller animals who shared this space. Besides, only a few teheni in the Mockingbird clan knew hilistian.
”It seems I entered it, yes. Did the master tell you?”
”Yes. Please tell us how it was, Belrigan. This is very interesting!”
”Tell what? How did I escape the moon wolves?”
”No! How did you enter the void path?”
”Antonio is right,” sniffled Lauro, who always had a running nose when there was too much horse hair around. ”This’s so exciting! No one of us was on the other side and probably will never be. How did it feel?”
The so-called ”void”—the great and empty vastness embracing the material world—was one of the main concepts of the faith of the Five. This place was mysterious, if not mythic. It was said to contain some mixture of reality and dreams. Things that just happened were about to happen or related to reality—any of these could be found there. Anyone was able in his dreams to delve into this endless vessel of illusions. Some, like brother Viraz, could look into it with their inner vision and try to foresee future events. However, ancient books also mentioned saints being able to step into the void physically and travel through it. It was said to contain paths that, like a web, connected distant parts of the world. One who entered a void path could walk a distance of a hundred miles in just a few hours. Traveling from the eastern coast of Ereia to its western using the void path would only take a few days. No one nowadays was able to confirm it, of course, and books did not share many details about the process either.
Holding a heavy horse foot, Belrigan picked out a small stone stuck in the hoof before answering:
”It felt strange,” he said. ”I’m not sure it was a void path.”
”Now we are all confused, Belrigan. Was it, or was it not?”
”I said, I’m not sure. But what else could it be? Only this explains how I got so fast between different places. And it happened not once but three times that night!”
”Three times?” Antonio’s voice betrayed his surprise.
”Yes. The first time was when I heard the call of the pack. Resisting it was impossible. I lost control of myself and ran uphill, leaving the brothers behind. Just in a few minutes, no more, I found myself standing very high on the mountain. I didn’t even notice how I got there, which is why I said it was strange. It was fast, but apart from that, there was nothing unusual.”
”Maybe you noticed nothing because it was dark?” suggested Lauro. He was slowly brushing Viraz’s horse and petting him while Belrigan moved to clean the hind feet.
”Or maybe you lost track of time?”
”Maybe…” echoed Belrigan.
“And it happened more than once?” interest in Antonio’s voice was slowly fading.
”Yes. I’m pretty sure about that. The second time was when we ran away from the fight together with that teheni girl, I held her by her hand, and we rushed downhill. We ran, I don’t know, maybe for half an hour, not more, but then we found ourselves far away from Phoenix mountain. It was dawn break, and I was in my mind, yet I saw nothing special. All around were the usual things: grass, bushes, rocks—nothing more. And the third time was when I hurried back to brother Gerome…”
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”Wait-wait-wait!” interrupted Antonio. “You say you ran through bushes with whom?”
He reacted too suddenly, scaring one of the horses with a shy character. Leaving Vincent to calm her down, Antonio came out of the stall to see Belrigan.
”Did I mishear it, or was there a girl?”
Now everyone stopped working, listening.
“Yes, it was a teheni girl. Shadow is her name.”
“Come on, Belrigan; you should tell more about such things to your brothers; that sounds even more interesting than the void path!”
“There was nothing interesting, Antonio. When the pack assembled around the tsar’s men, the calling ended, and they started attacking. I came to my senses, and the wolves seemed to pay no attention to me, treating me as one of them. And then I saw her; she was going to die, surrounded by wolves. I grabbed her, and we ran—that’s it.”
“How is that not interesting? How did she thank you for saving her life?”
”Leave him alone,” Lauro tried to pull Antonio back towards the stalls. ”We have things to do.”
”Don’t you understand, brother, what it means?” exclaimed Antonio trying to escape his grab. ”Brother Belrigan is a precious gem! He can walk the void but also can take someone with him.”
”I don’t think I could easily enter the void again.”
”You should absolutely try it! I insist you start practicing as soon as possible, brother.”
”I told you, I have no idea how it works.”
”But I know how brother Antonio’s head works,” laughed Lauro. ”I bet he already thinks to send you Belrigan to the nearest village and sneak a girl for him.”
”Idiot!” Antonio swore. ”Why would I need that? Instead, I will go there with Belrigan and sneak a girl by myself! Belrigan, we should find out how you did it! Let’s practice tonight!” Antonio’s voice felt very excited.
”Shut up!” swore Lauro.
”Our master won’t approve of such language,” Antonio’s tone becomes sour.
”Better tell them about your sneaking out for girls!”
”That’s just a fantasy, brother. One could have a fantasy to entertain himself. Let’s do our job, Lauro, as you say!”
Their quarrel disturbed the animals, and it took the brothers some time to calm them down. Lauro then groomed a small crossbreed of a horse and noo-noo while Belrigan and Vincent moved to a box stall, where two young mares—a gift from the Mockingbird clan—stood. They did not require much attention but needed time to get used to their new owners.
”Did you touch her?” suddenly asked Vincent in a low voice.
”Whom?” didn’t understand Belrigan.
”Teheni girl.”
”Yes, I held her hand.”
”No, before. I heard that you and brother Gerome treated her from poison?”
”Yes, she was in bad condition, but brother Gerome knows what to do, and we saved her thanks to his pango juice balsam—I believe that is what he calls it. We rubbed it into her neck and shoulders. And she somehow managed to bite me, even being unconscious.” Belrigan smiled.
”How did it feel, touching her skin?” Vincent’s eyes sparkled. He gave a treat to a horse and stretched up to whisper something into her ear.
”It was soft… pleasant,” replied Belrigan after a short hesitation, ”but very cold, you know, she was dying from stone poison.”
He took a clean brush to detangle horse hair.
Antonio was not going to miss this exciting topic.
”Could you speak louder?” his voice reached them from behind the thin wooden partition.
”I’m saying that her skin was icy cold on touch! We lowered her shirt to open the neck and shoulders. Washed the wound left by the pango’s tail and then applied antidote thoroughly!”
”For the sake of all saints,” Antonio groaned, ”it sounds like you had fun there. Why didn’t I go in the first place? What for did I grow that tail?”
”It wasn’t fun at all,” Belrigan said bitterly. ”Brother Peto died.”
They became silent at once, realizing that went too far. For a long time, it was only animal sounds around. Finally, when the brothers finished with grooming, Vincent spoke again:
”Yesterday, I heard brother Viraz talking to brother Masho about our plans.”
”You are such a snooper, brother,” Lauro reprimanded him.
”I’m not! I was helping brother Viraz with his pain in the back… and it was not a private discussion!”
”Forget. What did you hear?”
”They were talking about that wolf-man that Gerome and Belrigan met. As I understood, there are more of his kind in the mountains, a village in the Heart of the Ridge where people live worshiping these vile creatures.”
“This is wicked.”
“How could this even be possible? Moon wolves prey on humans.”
“I don’t know, but maybe Belrigan could tell us something?”
“I don’t know either. The wolf-man told us they live together with magical creatures in the mountains. They learn tricks and magic from them and hate Libra because they kill free mages. He suggested cooperating against it. He could also walk the void path, by the way.”
“Cooperate with moon wolves? This sounds like a trap.”
“By cooperation, they mean we need to feed them with our flesh?”
“I don’t know, brothers. But he did not seem too evil. He could kill both of us but didn’t.”
”He is trying to lure more prey, can’t you understand?”
“What could be eviler than moon wolves?”
“Libra,” Belrigan voice exuded hatred. ”They hunted free mages for thousands of years to stop people from using magic! They killed my parents and all my friends! The Libra is more than just evil. They are monstrous!”
It was right after Belrigan and Gerome returned from their deadly adventure when Masho gathered his disciples and explained all they needed to know about the order of Libra and how it managed to keep the magic secret from people for millennia.
”If I need to cooperate with wolves to take them down, I will!” Belrigan clenched his fists, feeling anger overwhelming him.
“But Belrigan, the master said your parents were Libra too…” started Antonio, but Lauro stopped him with a friendly punch in the ribs.
”If the Libra still exists,” said Vincent, ”As master told us, they had this war or something when the magical creatures appeared.”
”It seems they did survive that. At least some of them. Now they are helping tsar Lushee to make his magical menagerie—this could not be good!”
”I believe you’ll have the chance to fight them,” put in Vincent. ”Brother Viraz thinks this wolf-people could be a good ally against Libra. So he wants to travel further south with Masho, Gerome and you. While we stay here with brothers Silvius, Andory, and Lukash to catch more snap-tails and stone pangos for our friends from the Mockingbird clan.”
”He wants to travel to the heart of the Ridge?”
”Yes. And he wants to take you also.”
Belrigan felt a void inside of him pulsating eagerly, ready to rush to the horizon, hear the pack’s calling once again, and experience that pleasant feeling of being among your kindred souls. This is not me; this is him. I have to resist or deal with it somehow. I will manage. Who knows how, but I will manage cause it’s worth it to see the void again, to learn how to get in there, and then, in the void, one can find many things that are gone, lost, or maybe, never even existed.
“Brother Masho was not so fond of this idea,” continued Vincent. ”He was afraid for you, brother Belrigan. He believes you won’t be able to resist the wolves’ call in the wildness and might become one of them.”
“Yeah, you should be careful, don’t let them eat you before you teach me how to walk the void.”
“Shut up, Antonio!”
“Did they decide already?”
“Yes.”
Antonio and Vincent took four mares and left the stables. Belrigan walked out the horse of brother Viraz’s.
At the doors, Lauro stopped.
”Wait, brother,” he said, and his voice changed.
Belrigan looked at him, trying to understand what he was up to. Lauro waited a little until Antonio and Vincent left the yard, then stepped closer to Belrigan, hugging his shoulders.
”We will never leave you to some wolves, brother,” he whispered. ”You are one of us—remember this. We are not only your friends; we are your brothers. You have a new family now. Even Antonio, an asshole who likes mocking people, will not betray you. And I will never do such. You won’t be alone on your way, brother.”
”Thank you,” Belrigan distanced himself a little and looked into Lauro’s eyes. ”I appreciate this.”
I am already among my kindred souls, thought he, walking after Lauro downhill. And the void inside him dissolved, melding with the sunshine.