Fiction River: Unnatural Worlds (31 page)

“He’s a barbarian,” her father argued. He
prepared to take the killing blow.

She stepped in front of the boy. “You train
your knights for years, never knowing if their hearts will remain
true in the depths of battle. This boy’s heart is true.”

The king jutted his chin toward her, and the
giant Sir Bandolan grabbed Avahn’s shoulder, pulled her out of the
way.

In the moment, the world went quiet. King
Harrill strained. Up in the forest above, a woodpecker pecked, and
in the distance a squirrel called from an oak tree.

“Hear that?” the king asked his men. His eyes
danced left and right, as if he were thinking faster than a water
strider could dance above a pool. He whirled and looked uphill, to
where green oaks spread over the dead grasses, casting deep
shadows.

He shouted, “Come on, you bastards! I hear
you up there. May you all taste my wrath this day!”

There was no answer from the silent woods for
a long moment.

Suddenly a single archer stepped out from
behind a tree. As a warlord of the Woguld, he wore a crimson
breechcloth. A white silk cape flowed over his shoulders like a
waterfall. A sunmask adorned his face, a silver imale like an elk
with broad antlers, with black-glass covered eyes to guard against
bright light. The blue tattoos of his family tree wound around his
calves, naming his ancestors and their deeds. He was glorious to
look upon, regal and perfect.

He stood with his great bow, its wings
flaring wide, and nocked an arrow.

The king laughed and rubbed forefinger
against thumb, the sign for “trade.” He pointed to Dval.

Avahn did not know whether her father was
offering to buy the boy, or to spare his life for a price.

***

To Dval, it was the worst of insults. The
folk of the Woguld did not trade in slaves. Every man served his
clan. The warlord up above them was his uncle, and Dval felt
certain that his uncle would order his men to waylay these
foreigners.

Instead, his uncle drew the bow and
fired.

The arrow sped toward them, and Dval thought,
“He plans to kill their king!”

Yet even as the thought came, he realized
that the arrow was winging toward him.

A flash to his side, a heavy thud—and Dval
went flying from harm’s way, his face skidding into the leaves. The
girl Avahn had shoved him, thrown him to the ground as the arrow
whistled past. Avahn lay beside him, groaning in pain. Dval saw red
on her bicep, and realized that she hurt from more than bruises.
The arrow had kissed her.

Dval’s uncle called out, “What kind of fool
are you? Do we not have enough enemies? You must save one?” Always
that tone. “The friend of my enemy,” the uncle said, “
is
my
enemy!”

His uncle spat, turned, and strode into the
shadows under the trees.

For a second, Dval knew the sorrow of one who
has been dispossessed.

Dval watched his uncle, and did not know who
was more a barbarian—his uncle, the northerners around him, or Dval
himself.

Perhaps we are all barbarians,
Dval
thought,
struggling to be human.

Only one person here seemed truly human—the
child Avahn.

After that, no one threatened to kill Dval.
Apparently now that he was cast out from the Woguld, his death
sentence was rescinded. By trying to kill him, his uncle had saved
his life.

Avahn took Dval’s hand. Together they rode
down to the sprawling cities of Mystarria, to her home at the
Courts of Tide, where the war fires of the Toth still burned.

Acknowledgements

This project wouldn’t have gotten off the
ground without the Kickstarter support from these wonderful
people:

Karen Abrahamson

Gerard M. Ackerman

Claire Alcock

Susan Allen

JC Andrijeski

Michael Bellomo

Donald J. Bingle

Robin Brande

Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney

AnneMarie Buhl

Tom Carpenter

Brenda Cooper

T. Thorn Coyle

Leah Cutter

Ron Dionne

Louis Doggett

Marcelle Dubé

Eric Edstrom

Lynda Foley

Karen Fonville

Robbyn Foster

Annaliese Furnas

John Haines

Mark-Wayne Harris

Joel Horton

Julie Hyzy

Jim Johnson

Jane Kennedy

Malachi Kenney

Pierre L’Allier

Rich Laux

Stephen Lebans

Christel Adina Loar

John Lorentz

Michael Lucas

Big Ed Magusson

Lisa M. May

Robert J. McCarter

Sean Monaghan

Patricia Nagle

Carole Nelson Douglas

Shyam Nunley

Alexei Pawlowski

Steve Perry

Jeff Rutherford

Jeanette Sanders

David Schibi

Ken Schneyer

Risa Scranton

Janna Silverstein

Kristine Smith

Bob Sojka

Margaret St. John

Christopher Stout

Robert E. Stutts

Lisa Sullivan

Raphael Sutton

Randy Tatano

Melissa Taylor

Scott Tefoe

Edd Vick

Ray Vukcevich

Leslie Walker

Terry Weyna

Sarah Woodbury

Stephanie Writt

Thank you!

Year One

Unnatural Worlds

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine
Kathryn Rusch

How to Save the World

Edited by John Helfers

Time Streams

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith

Christmas Ghosts

Edited by Kristine Grayson

Hex in the City

Edited by Kerrie L. Hughes

Moonscapes

Edited by Dean Wesley Smith

Crime
(Special Edition)

Edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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