When Ravens Call by Bruce Blake

Author:Bruce Blake [Blake, Bruce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-19T23:00:00+00:00

XIX Teryk – Somewhere in Time

Swords, spears, and axes hammered against the translucent green wall, each impact sending verdant lightning scintillating across its surface. The men on the outside—most of them now dismounted and wearing rage on their faces—howled and shouted, shook their fists and brandished their weapons.

On the near side, the silvery creatures—Small Gods, he'd become sure—danced.

If the magical barrier didn't separate them, the distance between gray gods and enraged men was short enough to reach out and touch each other, dance together, kill one another. But the blockade held, as the Small Gods appeared to expect, and their knowledge of the wall's impenetrability angered the warriors further.

They watched for a while, Rilum at Teryk's side, the sailor's breath shallow and quick, fearful. In his mind, the prince realized he should fear, too; they bore no weapons to defend themselves, nor possessed any idea how the Small Gods might react if they found them. But these thoughts held no sway with his body. Calm and relaxed, intuition suggested he found himself in the right place, seeing and doing the necessary things without understanding how or why he understood this. For the first time in longer than he recalled, he felt on the path meant for him.

"Gotta get out before it's too late."

Rilum tugged at his arm, trying again to coax the prince into moving. He pivoted to face his companion.

Sweat sparkled on the man's furrowed brow; his widened eyes darted from Teryk to the Small Gods, the men beyond them, and back. His expression softened the prince's heart, and he nodded. They faded behind the brush they'd used to hide them while the gray warriors raised the mystical veil, then stood. Teryk's knees creaked after having remained crouching for so long, but they loosened. As they crept away from the raging soldiers and dancing folk, he noticed the same wasn't true of Rilum; his companion hobbled for several paces before his gait evened out.

They picked their way deeper into the forest in silence, choosing their footing to keep noise of their passing to a minimum. Teryk considered it unnecessary. He assumed the small ones intended to dance before the wall as long as the men continued their anger, but he did it to help Rilum overcome his fear. They crept from tree trunk to tree trunk, hiding wherever the opportunity afforded itself until the men's fury and the gods' delight faded to a distant hum and disappeared. The prince wondered if it meant they'd gone far enough to distance themselves from it or if the sounds had ceased. He didn't voice this thought—one possibility might disperse the sailor's anxiety, but the other refresh it.

Birds chirped and sang in the branches high above them. Teryk tilted his head back, looking for a glimpse of the colored feathers they'd seen as they fled into the forest, but they eluded him. He spied the occasional bounce of a branch or rustle of needles as an unseen bird flitted from one place to another.

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