Mortica
07-30-2007, 06:02 PM
Hidua put his hand on Yichimet’s forehead. The secrets the old bull hadkept from his pupil and friend seemed to push up from his lungs to histhroat, where they made a knot. Yichimet’s milky eyes made a brief,darting appearance as the young Shu’halo mumbled in Grimtotem andanother language that Hidua did not recognize. He touched Yichimet’ssweat-spotted snout and then pushed aside the tent flaps to walk intothe thrashing wind of the Needles.
Hisbraids whipped his face. The list he had assembled from the parchmentand kodo hide replies of his elders was hidden in his robe. The thoughtof its contents turned his heart stone-gray for a moment.
SwallowsRats Whole had taken the message that Hidua was ready to Snowfeather’shands, and she had gathered the Grim, that much he could see from thisdistance. The faces of orcs and trolls and Forsaken and Shu’halo,almost all in the black and red tabard, all turned to him as he walkedup. He heard Mohan say, “Here is the one who can answer the questions.”
Many,many faces he didn’t recognize. But he would take time to know theirnames later. For now, he explained why they were assembled and quicklymoved on to the list. He looked at the list in his hands and blinkedhis eyes rapidly. He was an old bull, but he was still strong, and hewould not show this weakness.
“I am not hopeful,” he said to Yichimet’s brothers and sisters.
“Look around you, old one,” someone said. “This is all the hope you need.”
It is true, he thought. “It is true,” he smiled weakly at them.
“From my elders I have gathered this list. But I must explain some things first.
“Assome of you already know, Yichimet and I share a totem animal. In someof our first ceremonies together, we bound ourselves to the wisdom ofthe owls and then bound our wisdom to each other. I don’t know whereYichimet’s owl has flown to, and so we must search for him as his owlwould.
“First, we are to make a medicine that will bindYichimet’s spirit in place. It should calm his fever and allow him torest easier,” he explained. I will not tell them that it also locks his spirit in a cage.“We will need large bundles of the plant you call swiftthistle,liferoot and the purple lotus flower. To grind them, I need a dulledkodo tooth. With that we will mix the medicine.
“But that is theeasiest part. I am afraid the rest…” Murmurs filled the crowd: Mohanand Snowfeather encouraging him, another large Shu’halo lookingconfused and worried, many of the Forsaken ones watching him.
“The next part involves a ceremony, and for that we must gather more for the sapta we will mix for ourselves.
“Yichimetis lost, as you know. He is lost because of me, but now that does notmatter. My elders say he must be somewhere in Nightmare. His spirit isin a broken piece of the Great Dream, and it will take much to bringhim back to us.
“First, we must fashion a pouch to hold thesapta large enough for all of us, and it needs to be sewn from thescales of green dragons. Once that is pieced together, we must mixmedicines of dreamless sleep and dream vision with the eyes of eaglesand the claws of elder owls. After that is done, we must perform theceremony.”
“Then there’s hope,” someone said from the crowd.Eelai shouted about knowing where to find the eyes; Pincus begandiscussing his laboratory and where to clip the freshest lotus; Ashrevacalled out the name of some swamp where dragons could be found.
“Hold,”said Hidua, softly but forcefully. “I have not finished.” The facesturned to him. So many faces were here. More had shown while he talked.There were near thirty of them. His heart pumped with love of theseBraves, and then failed again when he thought how impossible their taskwas.
“For the ceremony, we will need the blood of an owl of theWorld Tree,” he said. Gasping and cursing erupted from the crowd. “Andit must come to me fresh. It must be killed during the ceremony,” hechoked out. Ceryna swore. “Because his sickness is tied to the Tree,because the Vision hunt that made him sick was to seek out answersabout the Tree, it must be this way. The owl will help us find him.”
Oneof the Forsaken he had not met before looked at him coldly. “And we areto do all this to save one who can’t even save himself?” the dead mansaid.
“It is too much to ask, I know,” Hidua began before the Forsaken cut him off.
“And why should the weak be saved by the strong?” he said, crossing his arms over his poke-bone chest.
Murmursfrom the crowd erupted and Snowfeather shouted, “Be quiet, Abric, or Iwill quiet you.” Mohan yelled a threat across the crowd at Abric, andlove and fear for the hunter welled in Hidua’s chest. Abric’s eyesnarrowed.
“Know this, dead one. If I were younger, I would beusing your fingers as toothpicks right now,” Hidua said. Blood flushedHidua’s skin and his ears hammered, drowning out what Abric replied,but he watched as the Forsaken ducked stealthily out of the back of thecrowd.
“Also, before any of this can be done, I must get to thewildlands of Feralas,” Hidua finished when the crowd was staring at himagain.
“Why Feralas?” someone asked.
“The Grimtotem,” Snowfeather muttered, and Hidua nodded at her.
Groupssplit to gather the medicines. Pincus took Apachrune the shaman tocollect herbs after a young warlock named Nomas had offered a smallamount of swiftthistle to Hidua. Ceryna and a large, shaggy shu’haloTrilok flew as fast as possible to the swamp to gather dragon scales.Eelai and Gluush, a thickly-plated and thickly-skulled orc, went togather the eyes and claws. Ashreva and several younger Grims went togather the tooth from the kodo.
After they all left, several ofthe Grim stayed behind to escort Hidua to the wildlands. His heartperformed the same dance it had been all night: flush with courage andhope, dead with desperation.
* * *
The group walked intoCamp Mojache more numerous than when they left, and Hidua gathered theherbs that Pincus and Apachrune had brought along the way. Slowly, allthe Grim were trickling in with their gathered things, and still no onespoke anything but brave words about heading in to Teldrassil. Hiduacould see, though, that some were not as steeled as they claimed.
Slowlythe others trickled in with their assigned tasks finished. They allstood around him, watching, most anxious or curious, some disdainful orapathetic. He turned to the hearth oven and put the herbs in a bowl,then placed the kodo tooth into the oven. While it warmed in the fire,he sung a rhyme in Taurahe from his childhood. It seemed appropriate—ithad to do with finding another’s “spirit” in a game—and it calmed himfor the next step. He placed some of the eagle eyes into the bowl andreached into the oven for the tooth. It seared his fingers and palm,and he gritted his teeth as he mashed the herbs, flowers and eyestogether into a paste. He spit in the bowl when the medicine was groundto his satisfaction, and then he cupped the bowl with his hands andwalked to Mohan.
“Please, spit in the bowl,” Hidua said, andMohan took the bowl and spat in it. When Hidua took the bowl into hishands again, he walked to Snowfeather, who repeated the act. He walkedaround the circle, asking each of the assembled to spit in the bowl.Several of the undeads’ ichor made Hidua’s gag reflex rise, but hestifled it and continued around the circle, hoping that nothing of theplague remained in their fluids.
He ground the paste with thespittle and fluids and passed it to Mohan. “You are like his brother,Mohan. Run this to him, put it in his mouth and on his forehead. Heshould calm.”
Others volunteered to ride with Mohan, and theyset off, urging their mounts to run as fast as they could. Theydisappeared into the trees very quickly.
“What do we do now?” asked Ceryna, who was the first to find his son wandering in the Kaldorei lands.
“Now,we must plan our next step. We will think about how to get an owl ofthe World Tree. But tonight I am tired.” Hidua’s hand ached, and heknew that no small spell of healing would help the feeling. Again,worried glances passed around the circle. Hidua didn’t know if theywere worried for him, or about him, but they were worried. And so washe.
Hisbraids whipped his face. The list he had assembled from the parchmentand kodo hide replies of his elders was hidden in his robe. The thoughtof its contents turned his heart stone-gray for a moment.
SwallowsRats Whole had taken the message that Hidua was ready to Snowfeather’shands, and she had gathered the Grim, that much he could see from thisdistance. The faces of orcs and trolls and Forsaken and Shu’halo,almost all in the black and red tabard, all turned to him as he walkedup. He heard Mohan say, “Here is the one who can answer the questions.”
Many,many faces he didn’t recognize. But he would take time to know theirnames later. For now, he explained why they were assembled and quicklymoved on to the list. He looked at the list in his hands and blinkedhis eyes rapidly. He was an old bull, but he was still strong, and hewould not show this weakness.
“I am not hopeful,” he said to Yichimet’s brothers and sisters.
“Look around you, old one,” someone said. “This is all the hope you need.”
It is true, he thought. “It is true,” he smiled weakly at them.
“From my elders I have gathered this list. But I must explain some things first.
“Assome of you already know, Yichimet and I share a totem animal. In someof our first ceremonies together, we bound ourselves to the wisdom ofthe owls and then bound our wisdom to each other. I don’t know whereYichimet’s owl has flown to, and so we must search for him as his owlwould.
“First, we are to make a medicine that will bindYichimet’s spirit in place. It should calm his fever and allow him torest easier,” he explained. I will not tell them that it also locks his spirit in a cage.“We will need large bundles of the plant you call swiftthistle,liferoot and the purple lotus flower. To grind them, I need a dulledkodo tooth. With that we will mix the medicine.
“But that is theeasiest part. I am afraid the rest…” Murmurs filled the crowd: Mohanand Snowfeather encouraging him, another large Shu’halo lookingconfused and worried, many of the Forsaken ones watching him.
“The next part involves a ceremony, and for that we must gather more for the sapta we will mix for ourselves.
“Yichimetis lost, as you know. He is lost because of me, but now that does notmatter. My elders say he must be somewhere in Nightmare. His spirit isin a broken piece of the Great Dream, and it will take much to bringhim back to us.
“First, we must fashion a pouch to hold thesapta large enough for all of us, and it needs to be sewn from thescales of green dragons. Once that is pieced together, we must mixmedicines of dreamless sleep and dream vision with the eyes of eaglesand the claws of elder owls. After that is done, we must perform theceremony.”
“Then there’s hope,” someone said from the crowd.Eelai shouted about knowing where to find the eyes; Pincus begandiscussing his laboratory and where to clip the freshest lotus; Ashrevacalled out the name of some swamp where dragons could be found.
“Hold,”said Hidua, softly but forcefully. “I have not finished.” The facesturned to him. So many faces were here. More had shown while he talked.There were near thirty of them. His heart pumped with love of theseBraves, and then failed again when he thought how impossible their taskwas.
“For the ceremony, we will need the blood of an owl of theWorld Tree,” he said. Gasping and cursing erupted from the crowd. “Andit must come to me fresh. It must be killed during the ceremony,” hechoked out. Ceryna swore. “Because his sickness is tied to the Tree,because the Vision hunt that made him sick was to seek out answersabout the Tree, it must be this way. The owl will help us find him.”
Oneof the Forsaken he had not met before looked at him coldly. “And we areto do all this to save one who can’t even save himself?” the dead mansaid.
“It is too much to ask, I know,” Hidua began before the Forsaken cut him off.
“And why should the weak be saved by the strong?” he said, crossing his arms over his poke-bone chest.
Murmursfrom the crowd erupted and Snowfeather shouted, “Be quiet, Abric, or Iwill quiet you.” Mohan yelled a threat across the crowd at Abric, andlove and fear for the hunter welled in Hidua’s chest. Abric’s eyesnarrowed.
“Know this, dead one. If I were younger, I would beusing your fingers as toothpicks right now,” Hidua said. Blood flushedHidua’s skin and his ears hammered, drowning out what Abric replied,but he watched as the Forsaken ducked stealthily out of the back of thecrowd.
“Also, before any of this can be done, I must get to thewildlands of Feralas,” Hidua finished when the crowd was staring at himagain.
“Why Feralas?” someone asked.
“The Grimtotem,” Snowfeather muttered, and Hidua nodded at her.
Groupssplit to gather the medicines. Pincus took Apachrune the shaman tocollect herbs after a young warlock named Nomas had offered a smallamount of swiftthistle to Hidua. Ceryna and a large, shaggy shu’haloTrilok flew as fast as possible to the swamp to gather dragon scales.Eelai and Gluush, a thickly-plated and thickly-skulled orc, went togather the eyes and claws. Ashreva and several younger Grims went togather the tooth from the kodo.
After they all left, several ofthe Grim stayed behind to escort Hidua to the wildlands. His heartperformed the same dance it had been all night: flush with courage andhope, dead with desperation.
* * *
The group walked intoCamp Mojache more numerous than when they left, and Hidua gathered theherbs that Pincus and Apachrune had brought along the way. Slowly, allthe Grim were trickling in with their gathered things, and still no onespoke anything but brave words about heading in to Teldrassil. Hiduacould see, though, that some were not as steeled as they claimed.
Slowlythe others trickled in with their assigned tasks finished. They allstood around him, watching, most anxious or curious, some disdainful orapathetic. He turned to the hearth oven and put the herbs in a bowl,then placed the kodo tooth into the oven. While it warmed in the fire,he sung a rhyme in Taurahe from his childhood. It seemed appropriate—ithad to do with finding another’s “spirit” in a game—and it calmed himfor the next step. He placed some of the eagle eyes into the bowl andreached into the oven for the tooth. It seared his fingers and palm,and he gritted his teeth as he mashed the herbs, flowers and eyestogether into a paste. He spit in the bowl when the medicine was groundto his satisfaction, and then he cupped the bowl with his hands andwalked to Mohan.
“Please, spit in the bowl,” Hidua said, andMohan took the bowl and spat in it. When Hidua took the bowl into hishands again, he walked to Snowfeather, who repeated the act. He walkedaround the circle, asking each of the assembled to spit in the bowl.Several of the undeads’ ichor made Hidua’s gag reflex rise, but hestifled it and continued around the circle, hoping that nothing of theplague remained in their fluids.
He ground the paste with thespittle and fluids and passed it to Mohan. “You are like his brother,Mohan. Run this to him, put it in his mouth and on his forehead. Heshould calm.”
Others volunteered to ride with Mohan, and theyset off, urging their mounts to run as fast as they could. Theydisappeared into the trees very quickly.
“What do we do now?” asked Ceryna, who was the first to find his son wandering in the Kaldorei lands.
“Now,we must plan our next step. We will think about how to get an owl ofthe World Tree. But tonight I am tired.” Hidua’s hand ached, and heknew that no small spell of healing would help the feeling. Again,worried glances passed around the circle. Hidua didn’t know if theywere worried for him, or about him, but they were worried. And so washe.