The Foreshadow of Balance Read online

CHAPTER III

  The sunlight dappled through the tall trees. In fact the trees were so tall the light could barely reach through to light the forest floor. The air was warm with a light breeze and Dylan felt good just being there. It didn’t feel like a different world; he’d never seen trees so tall in England, he had to bend backwards just to see the tops, but other than that it felt like a normal forest.

  It was a pain though, pushing through long grass and bushes for what seemed like hours until they found a clearing of short grass that stretched on like a road. Already Dylan had cuts on his face and hands and they stung a little.

  “So are we going to your house?” Dylan asked Lucas.

  “We should, you can see how I live.”

  “No time,” Bell said from ahead, “and anyway we can’t risk people in the village finding out where our friends come from.”

  “True,” Lucas said, but seemed disappointed. As was Dylan.

  He didn’t really understand everything that was happening nor why, but finally his dreams of escape had come true and so far it didn’t seem as much fun as he had dreamt it would be.

  “How far is it?” Dad asked.

  “The town? About 5 miles that way,” Lucas said.

  “And the wizard’s castle?”

  Bell laughed. “I’ve never known a wizard to live in a castle. But about three miles West in a village.”

  So they walked on through the road of low grass and shade of the trees, either side bushes grew thickly. Dylan couldn’t remember ever having to walk so far and his feet hurt. Why didn’t they just have cars here? Everything would be faster with cars. He looked ahead of him to see his Dad walking and talking with Lucas who had his axe out. He must be telling Dad about how to use it or something, and he saw Bell drop back to walk alongside him.

  “You look tired,” he said.

  “I don’t think I have ever walked this far, is it much longer?”

  Bell thought for a second. “Not for me, I’m used to it, but I guess it is for your little legs.”

  “I can run fast,” Dylan protested.

  “I bet you can. Look! There’s a Mottled Turung,” Bell said and pointed to a low branch. On it sat a bird about the size of a sparrow, but with bright green wings and an orange belly.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  “It is, but look at its feet.”

  Dylan peered under the bird and could see two large feet, which looked nearly as big as the bird, with sharp talons on each.

  “Very dangerous,” Bell said and Dylan moved closer to him. He laughed. “Not to us so much, but they carry away much larger animals and eat them slowly with their tiny beak.”

  “That’s disgusting,” Dylan made a face.

  “That’s nature,” Bell replied and they watched as the bird took flight tucking its huge feet under it. “They go for rabbits mainly, do you have rabbits?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good eating.”

  “What? We don’t eat them. They’re pets,” Dylan said alarmed.

  “Pets? You mean people keep them in their house?”

  “Yes.”

  “But they don’t eat them?”

  “No.”

  “The Fifth World is truly strange,” Bell mused

  %%%

  “How about you?” Lucas asked Connor. “You know how to use that sword you’re carrying?”

  “I hope I won’t have to.”

  Lucas laughed his hearty laugh. “Aye, that’s a good hope.”

  Suddenly there was a loud thrustling in the bushes, a breaking and twigging, and ahead of them a big cat sprang from the bushes. It was the size of a lion and looked like one, but instead of a mane of hair it had long sharp quills like a porcupine. It stood in front of them and roared a terrifying roar. Lucas already had his axe at hand and Bell unsheathed his own sword and ran up to meet them as Dad drew his sword and fell back to stand with Dylan.

  “What is it, Dad?”

  “I don’t know, like a lion.”

  “But hair like a hedgehog,” Dylan said and they watched as it walked in tight circles in front of Lucas and Bell.

  “It’s injured,” whispered Bell.

  “Aye, it is too,” Lucas replied and took a better grip on his axe.

  “We can’t wait for it to run or die.”

  “Guardian Dylan, hide your eyes,” Lucas said and Dad grabbed him and pulled him into his chest. Dylan knew he didn’t want to see, but he did. He didn’t want to be muffled in Dad’s belly, but still he knew that to see would give him nightmares. He heard though, and saw it in his mind.

  Lucas charged the beast, roaring with his axe held high, and the beast roared back, fanning its quills. It leapt into the air, but with a massive underarm stroke Lucas buried the axe into its body. For a moment they were frozen like that and then Lucas started to tumble back, but with a great heave threw the axe and body high and back onto the ground where it landed with a thump and finally Dad let him go.

  Lucas was already going over and pulling his axe from the beast when Dylan ran up.

  “Stop there, young Guardian,” Bell said as he put out a hand. “It is not dead yet.”

  “What is it?”

  “That’s a Lien, very dangerous.”

  “More dangerous than a Turung?”

  Bell laughed. “Just a bit.”

  “We have similar animals on Earth, but they don’t live in forests or have the quills,” Dad said.

  “A bald Lien?” Lucas said surprised.

  “Well, no they have hair instead.”

  “Hmm,” Lucas said uninterestedly.

  Bell looked at the beast. “It was wounded, that is not good for us; it means there are other people around in the forest.”

  “It could have come miles with a wound like that; never known a hardier beast.”

  “True, but we should make haste.”

  “This is a feast and a cloak, we can’t just leave it,” Lucas said.

  “Then you can carry it,” Bell replied.

  And so they walked on along the forest road, Lucas carrying the dead Lien on his shoulders.

  “Would you have used your sword, Dad?”

  “I don’t think I would have been much help.”

  “I will give you both some lessons when we get to the village,” Bell called back. “Knowing Btolomy, he will want to sit and think before he speaks.”

  %%%

  And so they walked into the village of Doomth as afternoon drew to its middle, Lucas still with the Lien and Dad with Dylan clinging to his back. It was a small village with a number of small wooden houses on short stilts in a circle around a dusty open area. In the middle was a large fire pit with men setting up some kind of wooden poles over it.

  “Here, men,” Lucas said as he walked over and dumped the Lien. “For tonight’s dinner.”

  “Well, here is to you stranger, but what price do you ask?” one of the men asked.

  “Nothing but the skin for a cloak,” Dylan answered.

  “We will not accept unless you feast with us,” another man said and Lucas laughed.

  “That is what I hoped you would say.”

  “Ahh, Ranger of the Woods, how do we go? It has been a long time since we saw you here,” the first man said.

  “It is a day’s work to eke out food since the General took over and you know, Hance, that I have not been a Ranger for many a year,” Bell replied.

  “I know, but I do not accept,” the man called Hance said. “You are here to see Btolomy, no?”

  “That is true and so we must leave you to your duties.”

  “We will take this beast to the women to prepare; it has been a long time since we have eaten so well.”

  “Come,” Bell said to the party and they walked to the other end of the village where a single hut stood outside the circle.

  Lucas sat down on the steps that led up to the hut.

  “You’re not coming in?” Connor asked.

  “No. Wizards make my head hurt
with all their words,” Lucas replied.

  But Bell was already up the four steps and knocking on the door.

  “It is Bell, former Ranger of the Woods, may my party enter?” he called through the door.

  “You may,” a voice called back and the door opened on its own.

  They stepped into the gloomy room, Lucas reluctantly following at Dylan’s urging, to find an old man sitting at a desk by a window. The walls were covered with full bookshelves as was a small table and chair by an empty fireplace. The man didn’t look around at them and seemed to be writing something in the patch of sunlight that sat upon his desk.

  “You will excuse the lack of chairs, I hope,” he said without looking up.

  “It is fine,” said Bell.

  “What is it that brings you to my humble dwelling, Ranger of the Woods and Guardsman of the Mountain City?”

  “You’re a guard?” Dylan asked Lucas and the Wizard stood and turned in one swift movement.

  “It is your companions,” he said.

  “Btolomy, they are from the Fifth World,” Bell told.

  “Impossible. That would mean that a… hmm… a portal.”

  “I ran into it some days ago,” Lucas said. “This is Connor and Dylan of the Shed, Guardians of the portal.”

  “You have been to Earth?”

  “We both have,” Bell said.

  “Extraordinary,” he stroked the stubble on his chin. “And now you come looking for advice.”

  “Can you help us?” Dylan asked. “We don’t know what to do if anyone finds it.”

  “Because you have technological weapons there. And you have thought of bringing those weapons through to defeat the Black Queen.”

  “We did, but Connor of the Shed said that we cannot,” Bell told him.

  “And why is that?” the Wizard asked Connor.

  “Because whoever held those weapons would be undefeatable, they would have the power to control the four worlds and you would swap one dictator for another.”

  “Good, good, we have a wise Guardian, that is good.”

  “But if someone else found the portal,” Bell started. “Well, we could not blame oppressed people for wanting to fight back.”

  “No, indeed,” said the Wizard. “And I believe that the portal will grow, the magicians of Hokino and of Chinerthia will begin to sense it. The Black Queen will send soldiers.”

  “You seem to know a lot about it, what can we do?” Connor asked.

  The Wizard looked, to Dylan, a little sad. He looked at them all, as if thinking, and then back down at his desk before turning back and speaking.

  “No, no, I know very little. The Book of Five Worlds is the only complete source of information about the portals between worlds.”

  “And the Black Queen has it,” Lucas sighed.

  “I have some writings on the Book hidden away, but we would need to find more to glean any useful information on how to close the portal,” Btolomy said.

  “Close it?” Dylan asked.

  “That would be the safest option,” Btolomy said. “Close it before anyone finds it, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”

  “Your book, Dad, you have a whole book about it,” Dylan said excitedly.

  “You’re right, I do. A scholar on Earth pieced together all the stories and myths about the Five Worlds.”

  “Then you must go back and see this scholar, find what he knows. We need to know why the portals closed and why at least one has reopened.”

  “By thunder!” Lucas cried. “What if a portal has opened on Chinerthia?”

  “Then there is nothing we can do.”

  “Let us hope then, that this is not the case,” Bell said.

  “Leave now, I will start reading and find what I can,” and with that the wizard Btolomy sat back down and stared out of his window.

  The group walked back outside to find the fire roaring in the centre of the village and already Lien meat was cooking.

  “Come, come and eat,” a woman said and they followed her to the fire.

  The sun was setting and the air was cold so Dylan was happy to sit as close to the fire as he could. He still couldn’t believe this was another world and that he had met a wizard. He wished the wizard had shown him some magic; that would have been cool. What was the difference between a wizard and a magician he wondered and looked around for someone to ask, but there was only his Dad close by and he didn’t want to leave the fire.

  He also wasn’t sure he wanted to close the portal, he didn’t want to have to go back to Earth and school and all that normal stuff. He wanted to see more of this world and the others. Not Chinerthia though. That seemed like a bad place.

  Lucas came over with a big piece of meat each for him and his Dad. He wasn’t sure he wanted to eat Lien, but he was super hungry from all the walking and he could pretend it was chicken, so he took a big bite and it tasted pretty good.

  “It’s not bad, is it?” his Dad said.

  “I like it.”

  “What do you think?” Lucas asked coming back with cups of water for them.

  “It’s really nice,” Dylan said and Lucas smiled.

  “Your first meal on Sylvae.”

  “Is that what this world is called?” Dylan asked.

  “Indeed it is.”

  They ate and drank; Dad had some beer that he said was excellent and finally people just sat around the fire and talked.

  Suddenly Bell was crouching behind them.

  “Don’t move, but there is a small group of people at the edge of the village,” he whispered.

  “How do you know?” Dylan whispered back.

  “My senses are attuned to the forest.”

  “What does attuned mean?”

  “Later,” Dad said. “What do we do?”

  “The other men know; if we are attacked take Dylan to the nearest house and stay there.”

  And with a sudden cry, a large group of men ran into the circle of houses from all sides. The villagers leapt to their feet and drew swords. Connor did the same, but grabbed Dylan’s arm and pulled him towards a house. One of the attackers sprang out of the shadows and his Dad swung the sword at him. Dylan couldn’t see what happened, but he saw some blood and the man disappeared and then they were at a house being pulled in by two women.

  Outside swords clashed in the dark. Lucas and Bell were moving fast from one foe to another; Lucas swinging his great double bladed axe in mighty arcs, Bell’s sword dancing in tight movements. But it was no good, the villagers weren’t trained fighters and they were being pushed back toward the fire.

  “Surrender your goods or your lives!” one of the attackers shouted, but then blood sprayed from his chest and he fell.

  Another attacker suddenly went down and Lucas swung forward once again. Bell too used the confusion and took down another man and another. Lucas had made a hole in the circle of attackers. One tried to stab him from behind, but was cut down. And finally all the attackers lay dead and the villagers gathered around the fire, the women slowly coming out of the houses to join them.

  “Who is out there?” shouted Bell, but there was no answer.

  “What happened?” Dylan asked.

  “Someone helped us from the dark,” Lucas said.

  “Connor of the Shed, are you hurt?” Bell asked.

  “No, it’s not my blood.”

  “Dad got one of them with his sword,” Dylan said proudly.

  “Why, well done, Guardian,” Lucas said and slapped him on the back.

  “Friend, show yourself that we might thank you,” Bell called out once more into the dark.

  But the dark was silent.

  “It was the Shadow Ranger,” one of the women said.

  “Nonsense,” said a man, “the Shadow Ranger is a myth.”

  “Who were these men?” Connor asked.

  Lucas grabbed a body and pulled it into the light of the fire.

  “Brigands by the look of them, here t
o steal food.”

  “They’d kill us for food?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “Who is the Shadow Ranger?” Dylan asked.

  “For another time,” Bell said, “for now it is time to sleep.”