In the Riverwood/Fairytales and Arguments?

Chapter 3 of FFN

Chapter 3: In the Riverwood/Fairytales and Arguments?

 

After a time, Gryphon spoke. “Madam, is there anything...how can we repay you?”

The stranger held her step for a moment, and then continued. “It will cost you nothing, of course. I go the same way,” she said, looking sideways at Gryphon.

“I’m sorry. Did I offend you?” Gryphon asked anxiously.

Andra rolled her eyes. Sometimes he was just too bloody nice.

“You do not offend, boy. I just do not know many people who would offer to pay for a service when a price was not asked for.”

After a few more hours of walking, the woman stopped them at a river. “This is the Lithe. We will reach Lithe’s Bend tomorrow, but your horses can rest now.”

Andra nodded, then relieved Midnight of his saddle and let him roam freely; she knew he would not stray far. Midnight was the first warhorse Andra had trained, believing him to be for a general in the Almanian army. She had done her best to show her patriotism. She had been more than a little surprised when her mother said that Midnight was her own to keep. After seeing him with Cralden and then the bannis, she was more than a little proud.

After brushing his almost purple-black coat, Andra sat down by the fire with Gryphon and the stranger. They were eating several fish that the woman had caught. Andra had been with Midnight longer than she had thought. Gryphon handed her a fish on one of the wooden plates he had packed. Andra took the plate, but she was still curious about their saviour.

“Not to be rude,” Andra began, “but I still don’t know who you are and I would feel more comfortable if I did.”

“Aye, of course,” the woman said. “I am Eyrie Do’hera. A simple traveller.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Andra said, imitating the heroes of her books. “I am Andra and this is—”

“Gryphon,” Gryphon finished.

“Aye, a pleasure,” Eyrie said with a slight smirk. Andra felt her face heat.

Gryphon picked up the interrogation. “Earlier this evening, you mentioned you were going the same way we are. Where are you for?”

“Home. I live in Lithe’s Bend when the road doesn’t lure me away.” With a far off look into the fire, she added, “And ‘t’as been a very long time.”

As Gryphon talked to Eyrie, Andra listened, but she also racked her brain. She knew she had heard the name “Eyrie” before, she just could not recall where.

“Child, I couldn’t hel’ but o’erhear your conversation earlier, when I was following you on the road. What did you say about Mierin Aheron?” At Andra’s questioning glance, Eyrie elaborated. “Mierin is more or less the reason I came to live here. I met her while I was exploring the Solisian countryside. We became close friends and travelled all o’er Dunuhndier fighting draken on the borders of the Lands of Darkness or raiding elves in the east.

“When Mierin met Pae’dran, they fell in love, and Mierin and I parted ways. I know not what happened after. The War of the Races separated us. I had no idea she had even borne a child,” she finished.

 

Andra’s eyebrows rose in shock. If she hasn’t heard from Mother in so long, how does she know about me?

Her expression voiced the question for her.

“You look just like her. I would know those slanted brown orbs anywhere.”

Andra shifted nervously under Eyrie’s searching gaze, the sword stiffly rubbing at her ribs. She needed to get that abominable pommel out of her side. The sword’s presence made it impossible to sit comfortably. Andra was aware of Eyrie’s eyes on her as she stood up and removed the sword belt. The sun on the pommel glinted in the firelight.

“Where did you get that?” Andra glanced up. “That sword, where did you get it?” Eyrie whispered incredulously.

“My mother gave it to me. Just before Gryphon and I left,” Andra answered warily, sitting back down.

“Well.” For a brief moment, Eyrie looked somewhat troubled, but quickly regained her calm, knowing demeanour. “You two had best get some sleep. I shall keep watch.”

Andra thought this a very strange turn from where the conversation had been going. She had been sure Eyrie was going to ask what she and Gryphon were doing on the road all alone, and where Mother was. Oh well. Perhaps she is not that interested in our affairs. Besides, Andra wasn’t sure she had come to terms with all that had happened. Andra scooted a little way from the fire and laid her bedroll next to Gryphon’s and her sword and bow between them. I am not sleeping here. I’m just going to rest... The last thing she saw before she nodded off was Eyrie walking off to patrol the area.

Andra felt that she had barely closed her eyes when she was woken by grunts and yells. She bolted upright, eyes wide. Not another bannis! Then her eyes fell on the nearest moving object. Which happened to be Eyrie. Fighting an extremely tall and heavily armoured creature. Andra’s eyes trailed from the feet, which were like great scale-covered claws, over its bulky body, all the way up to the scaly face Andra could barely make out. Not a bannis. Andra frowned in revulsion at what could only be a draken, and groped about for her bow and an arrow.

Being the best friend of a bowyer has its benefits, Andra thought as she aimed carefully at the draken. If she missed, the arrow could hit Eyrie.

“Don’t shoot!” Eyrie yelled.

But too late. Andra loosed the arrow just as Eyrie managed to twist the draken’s broad back to Andra, giving her a wider target. Andra had expected a fatal shot, but she was mistaken. With a metallic ping, the arrow bounced off of the draken’s armour. The draken didn’t even look Andra’s way.

Andra abandoned the bow and took up her mother’s sword. The sword rang as she unsheathed it, and it was warm against her palm. Andra began to run over to help Eyrie, twigs and leaves crunching under her leather boots, until Eyrie yelled, “Wake up the boy!”

Gryph! In the commotion, Andra had forgotten all about him.

Andra ran back towards the dying embers to Gryphon’s bedroll where he yet lay, but she was intercepted by another draken. It bellowed angrily and ran at Andra, its blade held high, as if it were splitting logs.

Fear swallowed Andra and she started to back away, her sword held in front of her. The draken advanced, its wickedly edged blade gleaming in the light that seeped into the clearing.

“Gryph!” Andra yelled at her slumbering friend.

The draken swung its blade down and Andra quickly moved to her left to avoid being cloven in two. Again, it chopped at her, and again she moved. The beast blinked slowly, as if wondering why its quarry kept moving. It occurred to Andra that the beast really was quite as stupid as it looked, because it continued to hack at her in the same way until Andra had circled half-way around. Now she was between Gryphon and the draken.

Andra hopped back a bit, leaving the draken to blink stupidly in confusion and nudged Gryphon with her boot. “Gryphon, you clod, wake up!” Andra yelled, annoyed. Gryphon was an odd sleeper; sometimes he slept like a rock and other times he slept as light as a Tory soldier on patrol near the Tainted Lands. This, however, was impossible. Well, he wanted to sleep; Andra would just have to make sure it didn’t become a permanent slumber.

She moved back to the draken so that it would move no closer to Gryphon. This time, when the draken lifted its blade for its familiar attack, Andra awkwardly ran forward, her mother’s sword pointing at the vulnerable spot between the creature’s helm and breastplate.

Andra missed.

Instead of the scaly neck of the draken, her sword pierced its armoured chest. Andra’s eyes widened as the long blade went through armour, chain mail, scaly flesh, and bone, and then all of these again as it exited through the draken’s back.

Suddenly, the draken was naught but dead weight, much of it, and Andra was underneath. Its stench was overwhelming; Andra thought she would have vomited if the draken hadn’t been crushing the life out of her.

Andra tried to push the draken off of her, but it was far too heavy. She called out to Eyrie, who was leaving a second dead draken. With Eyrie’s help, Andra was soon free from underneath the disgusting beast. Andra removed her mother’s sword from its corpse. Dark blood dripped from the sword onto the dead vegetation littering the forest floor.

Eyrie was restarting the fire and Andra knelt by her. “Patrol the camp for more draken,” Eyrie commanded. “You may want to fetch your horse while you’re at it. Your friend tethered his.”

Andra had forgotten about Midnight. She ran off into the woods and called his name. At an answering whinny, Andra rushed to him and led him around camp as she patrolled. She was about to tell Eyrie all was clear when a movement caught her eye.

She saw something that looked far too black to belong to the forest, so she poked it with her sword. In a flurry of brush and twigs, another creature came from the woods. The next thing Andra knew, she was flying. She rose through the air, the creature’s claw-like hand around her neck.

“Swordbearer!” the draken growled through massive fangs as it stepped fully into Andra’s view. Large, scaly, bat-like wings protruded from this draken’s back.

Andra had no idea what the winged draken was talking about, but its claw was painfully cutting off her air supply. She tried to choke out a call for help, but luckily Eyrie was already on her way, a branch of fire in her hand. Several grunts and another flurry of wings later, Angara knew Eyrie was in other ways occupied.

 

Andra began thinking as much as her oxygen deprived brain could. I need fire, I need fire, I need—

The winged draken was consumed in a burst of flame, and Andra was suddenly on the round, gulping in air and blinking spots from her eyes.

Eyrie came rushing over, having made short work of her own foe, but stopped when she saw the pile of ashes. Then she helped Andra to her feet.

“Child,” the older woman said softly, “We need to talk. Then you need to wake up the slumbering bear so we can leave.”

Andra and Eyrie walked back to the campfire, Midnight trailing along behind them. This time, Andra tethered him, and then left him with a gentle pat on his nose. The women sat down, and then Eyrie said, “Has your sword…changed at all?”

“Changed?” Andra said, confused.

“Aye, changed. Assumed a shape other than what it has now?”

“I don’t think so?” Andra was sceptical, and now only slightly puzzled. More Sun sword stories.

“Here, let us start at the beginning,” Eyrie said. “I am a descendant of a line called the Guardians. My job is to find the human Swordbearer, the Sunbearer, and protect him. Or her.” Her implication was clear.

“The winged draken back there called me ‘Swordbearer,’” Andra said. “Does that mean…?”

“Well…there is a way to know if you are the Sunbearer. If you can get your sword to change into its true form, you will be recognised as the true Sunbearer.”

“I imagine this would hold true for the Moonbearer as well?” Andra asked tentatively. Mother told Andra to look for “the elf with the Moon,” and it was starting to make sense. As much as something like this could make sense, anyway.

“Aye, I would imagine so,” Eyrie said, “though I shan’t pretend to know much about the subject. As you know, such tales about enchanted and godly weapons and draken are considered to be the flights, fancies, and nightmares of children. I already know too much about the latter, but if I poach the subject to forcefully, people may begin to question my…sanity,” Eyrie finished with a wry smile. A sparkle danced in her eyes. She suddenly looked younger and older at the same time.

Andra, however, saw nothing insane—well, almost nothing—about the Swordmaster sitting next to her by the fire. For Andra had seen the white Swordmaster’s band under the hilt of Eyrie’s blade. Aside from the sun on her mother’s sword, the Sun sword and Eyrie’s sword were almost identical to Andra’s eye.

“Can you teach me?” the young woman asked softly.

“What?” A pale eyebrow rose.

“I’ve seen you. With that sword, I mean,” Andra explained. “When it’s sheathed, it seems a second skin to you; when you fight, it becomes an extension of your arm.” Andra wanted badly to acquire the skill and grace Eyrie had with a blade.

“Aye, I suppose I could,” Eyrie consented slowly. A happy font of excitement began to swell inside of Andra. “It couldn’t hurt while you’re in keeping of the Sun sword. But there are several conditions.” The excitement faltered.

“The first of which being to not pull a stunt with Fire until you know what in the Twin Hells you’re doing!” Andra flinched from the accusatory whisper, remembering the ball of flames that had consumed the winged draken. Truth to tell, Andra had no idea how she had done it, let alone how to prevent it. “Don’t shoot at me with that bow, either. The rest,” Eyrie continued, “you will find out soon enough.”

Somehow, Andra didn’t like the sound of that.

“Very well,” she said. “I’ll try.”

“There is one more thing I want to know,” Eyrie said after a moment. “Again, I ask, what did you say about Mierin?”

Andra’s gaze lowered from Eyrie’s piercing blue eyes to the litter on the ground. “She sent Gryphon and me away. To find ‘the elf with the Moon.’ Then she left to hold off a score of draken,” Andra said, angrily choking back a sob. You don’t know for certain she’s dead, she berated herself.

Eyrie, however, held no such illusions. Tears took turns silently streaming down her face, and she whispered, “No. That cannot...” followed by a firmer, “She’s gone.”

 

“She’s not dead!” Andra stood, yelling angrily. Tears now ran unchecked down Andra’s face. She can’t be dead. She can’t!

“Child, calm down and be reasonable!” Eyrie whispered, gripping Andra’s shoulders in an effort to control the girl’s shaking. Even through her grief, Eyrie still managed to be condescending. “Think about what you just fought, then multiply that by twenty. After that, you can throw in a couple of those winged commanders like the one you caught alight. Do you think anyone could have lived through that? Do you?”

“How can you say that?” Andra said.

“Child, Mierin was the closest friend I had in my life. Do you think I want her to be dead anymore than you do? I’m being practical.”

“You are not being practical; you’re being cold and cruel! If you were her friend, you should have faith! I think you’re hiding, you’re being weak and heartless—”

Andra stopped when three things happened simultaneously: Eyrie’s green eyes flashed with a dangerous inner fire, anger suddenly replaced Eyrie’s grief, and cold steel met Andra’s throat.

“Don’t ever say that to me,” Eyrie told Andra in a deadly whisper that made Andra curl her toes in her boots. Her husky voice, deep for a woman’s, was even harsher because of the choked back sobs.

Andra swallowed hard, her throat touching the cold steel of Eyrie’s blade, but she held her head up defiantly. It wasn’t as if she had much choice; much movement from her head and her neck would be sliced. The older woman was a fighter. Andra could see it in the darkened hollows of her face, the tough skin emphasised in the frail moonlight of the clearing. But she still looked young.

 

Eyrie sheathed her sword. She sat down on a log and cradled her head in her hands, threading her fingers through her thick red hair.

A loud snore from Gryphon ripped through the tense silence.

Author's Note

preferences on the title? is the action interesting or humdrum?

Reviews

[Chris]

The title and the action are both good. I liked how you ended the chapter with a small bit of humor after having the two women fight (or at least it was kind of funny in my opinion anyway). One thing though; you don't need to put a double-space in between the paragraphs (for a lack of a better phrase) unless a good amount of time has passed since the previous paragraphs. So unless like ten or so minutes had passed from the time Eyrie says Mierin is dead to when Andra yells that she couldn't be dead, then you don't need the double-space there.

[Gaiamethod]

In the Riverwood!
Great writing. I used to read this genre when I was younger but I really enjoyed this. Good emotional expression too. 'Felt' emotion rahter than 'mind' emotion. Nice one.