Fifthwind (28 page)

Vincent
gasped in excitement and ran with shuffling feet through the snow
until he came to stand in the center of the ring of Murg statues. The
stone beasts were sculpted life-sized, the smallest posed in a
cowering stance, while the largest stood boldly and menacingly over
the rest. At over eight feet in height, Ben was thankful he had not
encountered a living one of such stature.

Letting
Vincent go about his work, Ben moved back out between the boulders,
marveling at the unique shapes and textures. He walked within the
veritable maze of stone, smoothed and twisted as if the wind had bent
and shaped them in a fierce vortex. Some of the larger stones had
windows carved through them where concentrated floodwater had rushed
through the canyon over the course of centuries and worn holes in the
rock. Many of them took on the appearance of strange sculptures as if
nature was an artist and these stones were her work. It would be easy
to get lost within the rocks; the walls around him rose to thirty
feet in places. He was careful to not wander too far, even though he
had already completely lost sight of Vincent and the others in the
nearby clearing.

Ben
sensed movement from behind and judged that Kyla had followed him
through the twists and turns of the scattered monoliths. She could
easily find him by following his prints in the snow, but that did not
keep him from seeing an opportunity for a quick game of cat and
mouse. He quickly ducked to one side and knelt to await her.

The
air was crisp and Ben could see his breath, shallow as it was. He
could hear the slow methodical steps of someone trying their best to
sneak through the telling snow but doing a terrible job of it.
Apparently she had her own plans of catching him unaware. He realized
that the game had started without him and he was the hunted and not
the hunter. So be it, he thought, there was more than one way to win
in any given situation. Tactics was his strength.

A
faint shadow reached the opening first, then Kyla moved through the
tight opening between the two tall stones. She moved forward
following Ben's footprints in the fresh snow and then stopped with a
look of bewilderment when the prints ended. They did not continue
forward or turn to either side, but simply ended in the small
room-like space. She hesitated a moment and then turned to go back
the way she had come. Standing behind her, Ben lurched forward and
grabbed her around the waist. She gasped to scream, but he pulled her
to him and silenced her surprise with a kiss.

Kyla
surrendered in his embrace, but finally lowered her heals to the
ground and slowly pushed away. "This is probably not the time or
place for this."

"I
don't mind," Ben smiled.

"How
did you get behind me?"

Ben
crouched down to one knee and pointed at his footprints in the snow.
"Do you see how the prints are deeper here?"

"It's
like they were made by a heavier person."

"Or
were walked through twice," Ben corrected. "I stopped and walked
backward through my own prints and waited for you back there next to
the opening. It's an old trick that wouldn't fool any good tracker,
but—"

"But
for a city girl like me..." she said, crinkling her nose and
sticking her tongue out. With a smile, she turned and spun in a
beautiful pirouette through the snow. "It feels so wonderful. Can
you feel it?"

Now
that she mentioned it, Ben did feel like his senses were exploding.
The cold air invigorated his lungs and the chill made his skin come
alive. His feelings for Kyla were surely responsible for at least
some of it, but he had to admit... he never quite felt this way
before.

Ben
reached out to one of the nearby stones. His hand slid effortlessly
across a smooth surface polished by time. He could easily lose
himself in the tranquility of the stone, a timeless observer to the
many ages of men and their short-lived affairs. The stone knew no
fear or hatred, nor did it care about the unreasonable wars of men.
The stone had stood as a silent witness and carried the scars of its
brief encounters with the harshness of the world.

Ben
turned to Kyla, "This is a special place."

"The
Fifthwind is strong here," Kyla answered.

They
walked hand in hand through the twists and turns of the boulder field
and slowly made their way back to the center of the clearing where
her father and William were studying the layout of the statues.

The
stone Murg were horribly accurate in their design. Erosion had eased
the details and removed the sharpness of their presence, but even
after a thousand years, they stood remarkably realistic.

Vincent
positioned himself at the center of the semi-circle of statues and
aligned himself with their frozen gaze. Then, turned and examined the
area around his position. He moved through the snow looking intently
about the area.

William
joined him and paced off several steps from the statues to the
nearest large boulder. He placed his hand on the smooth surface and
examined the ground on either side. He moved around the rock, then
moved in a rough circle around the area. He appeared impatient and
frustrated as he searched. "She's here somewhere, you've got to
find her."

"This
would go a lot quicker if you'd help." Vincent said with a sweeping
gaze. He spun on his heels trying to take in the scene all at once.
"Maybe, the statues have been moved."

William
grinned. "Nothing has been moved. Everything is where it should be.
Just keep looking."

Ben's
curiosity took the better of him and he joined Vincent and William.
"What are you looking for?"

"The
girl who broke the Soul of the World," Vincent said absently as he
continued to scan the area.

"The
one from the poem you showed me?"

Vincent
smiled, "Yes, the girl talked about in the Scourge of Stonewall.
We've spent almost a year studying the area and trying to find this
spot. It is an important site."

Ben
said, "These statues are some kind of monument of where it all
happened. So, this is where it comes from? This is the source of the
Fifthwind?"

"Maybe,"
Vincent nodded. "Kyla, what can you feel?"

Kyla
turned slowly with outstretched arms. She held her face to the sky as
if she were basking in the warmth of a sun that wasn't there. She
breathed deep, satisfying breaths as Ben admired the rise and fall of
her chest.

Ben
closed his eyes and let his mind drift. Instantly, he was overcome
with a clarity that he had never experienced. Every tree and every
rock tugged at his awareness. A gentle web of energy flowed to and
from everything.

In
the center of his view was Kyla wrapped in the embrace of a cloak of
energy. She was a creature of pure radiance, as she twirled in a
dance with the strands of energy around her. Ben could not however,
ascertain a source. The Fifthwind seemed to flow evenly from
everything in the area.

William
kicked at the snow angrily. "You're not trying hard enough,
Vincent!"

"Be
patient. I'll find her."

"Me...
be patient? Oh, that's hilarious! I told you that we should have done
this my way from the beginning. I'm sure those dreadful creatures
will show up any minute now."

William
lowered his head and began to quietly chant a rhythmic prayer. He
slowly rocked back and forth on his cold, hard seat in the middle of
the wilderness and rubbed his hands together for warmth.

Vincent
stared at William with a look of contempt and then turned to Ben and
said, "He's not any use to me when he gets like that. You should
have left him back at the inn since he never had any intention of
helping me search anyway. I'm going to need more time."

Ben
said, "I can give you an hour."

"If
we can pinpoint where the energy comes from, then we should find the
girl's statue verifying the location."

Kyla
said, "The Fifthwind is very strong here, but it radiates from
everything with no specific point of origin. We're standing in the
midst of the source. It is this entire place, not just a single
point."

Vincent
seemed unsatisfied with Kyla's observation. He moved away, still
sweeping at the snow and searching for any trace of the statue he
sought. He turned back toward the circle of Murg and walked backward
along the imagined sight line of the rigid watchers. As he moved
backward, he slowly adjusted his position to match the angle of the
Murg's gaze. Then his heel caught a stone and he fell over into the
snow.

Kyla
rushed up to help him. "Father, please be careful."

Vincent
rolled to his knees and dusted the snow from his chest and shoulders.
"I should watch where I'm—"

Vincent
never finished his sentence. He's eyes were transfixed on the strange
protrusion that had tripped him. A series of thin rocky fingers
reached out of the snow. A hand.

In
a rush of excitement, Vincent scrambled over to the exposed hand and
began to clear the snow. Within minutes, he had cleared away enough
of the area to reveal a statue of a young girl, lying on her side and
half buried in the ground. With trembling hands he finally looked up
at Kyla. "It's her!"

As
if in response, a distant call disturbed the peaceful clearing,
"Movement in the trees!"

Ben
turned to the ridge and called back, "How many?"

There
was no response. He spotted Mason moving quickly down the ridge
toward the clearing and several other men pulling back toward the
center. Ben could see nothing from his position, but it was clear
from their reaction that an enemy was moving against them. He gripped
Vincent's cloak, pulled him back and barked, "We will have to come
back later!"

Ben
could not see well from his position, so he quickly closed his eyes.
Effortlessly, he achieved a state of drift like he had never before
experienced. He moved away from his body and lifted into the air
above the clearing. He let his mind reach out into the distant trees,
and scanned the area for movement. It didn't take long for him to
find that which he sought. Moving in from the north was a band of
Murg moving cautiously through the trees. To the south he spotted
another half dozen of the foul beasts sneaking into the clearing no
more than a hundred yards away.

He
suddenly felt a sickening, cold feeling come over him as if he were
about to be violently ill. Something was touching him in a way that
made his skin crawl. He turned and looked back down at his body, and
saw a dozen small shadows converging on him and holding him in what
he knew was death's grip. He pushed back toward his body forcibly
through a thick mass that resisted his effort. Then, he spotted the
shimmering form of a cloaked man in the clearing not far away. In a
moment of sheer panic, he called out Kyla's name and flung himself
into his body.

"What
is it, Ben?" Kyla asked running to his side.

Ben
looked around and saw nothing. The small rodent-like shadows were
gone, and the figure that had stood before him was nowhere to be
seen. He search the area and froze when his eyes came to rest on a
Gray-clad watcher atop a nearby boulder.

"There!"
he yelled, pointing. "The Man in Gray!"

"It's
only a rock," Kyla insisted. "There's no one there!"

Ben
turned to Kyla. "The Murg are coming in from both the north and
south. At least a dozen of them. Take the others and run south to
meet with Mason. Punch through to the south and make for town."

Ben
gave her a quick kiss and turned to leave, but was stopped by
Vincent's restraining hand. "Where are you going?"

Ben
hesitated for a moment and held Kyla in his eyes. As much as it
pained him to leave her and the others alone in time of need, it was
time for him to go. "The Magus Core. They're here!"

"You
have to help us get out of here," Kyla pleaded.

"Run...
now!" Ben screamed.

Vincent
tugged on his daughter's arm impatiently, "Let him stay. He has the
right to chose the time of his own death. As for me, I'd like to wait
a while."

Vincent,
Kyla and the others bolted south. In a matter of seconds, Ben knew
that they would meet with Mason and the others and begin their fight
toward town. He had to believe that they would make it. Mason and
Gordo were both veteran soldiers and even Kyla had proven herself a
force of measure. They would make it.

All
was quiet.

In
the commotion, Ben had lost sight of the Man in Gray. He stood still
and scanned the open forest. The random scatter of bare trunks did
not block his vision, but the vertical pattern of repeated trunks
played with his eyes and tricked his mind. Still, he could feel eyes
upon him. The unmistakable prickly feeling on the back of his neck
that warned of danger.

He
lowered to his knees and placed his hands flat against his thighs. He
concentrated on his breathing and closed his eyes. The stillness of
his surroundings, though unnerving, served to aid in calming his
restless mind.
It was time to meet his adversary.

"I
know you're there," Ben whispered, but his voice carried far in the
still forest.

He
pushed forward with his mind into the surrounding forest. Not simply
to see, but to
feel
the ancient wood as an extension of
himself. To feel the wind brushing the smooth bark of the trees as a
chill against his own skin. This calmed his mind and his reach was
far, as if he ceased to exist as anything other than a thought.

Not
far away, something moved but made no disturbance in the snow and
cast no shadow upon the ground. Like Ben, the presence was a
trespasser in the spirit of the wood; an intruder in this realm. It
was watching him, hesitant to approach.

"I
do not fear you," Ben said softly, knowing that his words would
carry the distance easily to deliver his message. "You will not
succeed... I will destroy you."