The Magic Lands (19 page)

"A thousand men's tears
perhaps," Geheimnis responded, his voice even.

"It is said," Dredger related,
scanning the horizon, ever watchful, "that once within this desert
land, a traveller may see many things unreal, born of
imagination."

"Or desperation," the other man
added. "Certainly mirages and dreams are common in these parts. But
other phenomena exist here besides. Things beyond the understanding
of mortal men."

"Let us remember, if we should
need reminding," Dredger said with irritation, "desert visions are
no more than that and should be ignored."

"Quite so," Geheimnis agreed, a
little scornfully.

As they rode on across the
yielding ground, the animals progress halting among the rising
dunes, Dredger pondered on his situation and whether he was perhaps
making a grave mistake. Could he trust this man who wore a mask?
True, the horse made his journey far easier than he had expected it
to be, but he had deep reservations about Geheimnis. And what lay
behind that mask? What could be so dreadful that it must be hidden
from sight? And what was the stranger's true purpose? The warrior
knew he would have to remain vigilant.

Suddenly, Geheimnis brought his
mare to a standstill. "Look,” he said sharply. "There, ahead of
us." With a gloved hand he pointed into the shimmering
heat-haze.

Dredger blinked his eyes. Out
of the dunes, as if reaching for the sky, there sprouted a
gargantuan hand. Its fingers were spread wide, flesh grey and
pallid, apparently lifeless.

Drawing closer neither man
spoke, Geheimnis' mask impassive, but Dredger sensed that he too
found this monstrosity extraordinary. It is only a mirage, he
prompted himself firmly and yet he pulled up his steed and studied
the giant hand.

"Look closely," Geheimnis
called back, going on a little way ahead, bringing his horse to a
halt just beneath the huge palm. "There are markings here." Dredger
did not move. He looked up to where broad fingers loomed, the long,
opaque nails like great flints. "Very interesting," his companion
observed, studying the hand at close quarters. "Come nearer

and examine them for yourself,
they may be important."

For a moment Dredger hesitated.
His heart told him to stay away from this unnatural

thing, but his mind insisted
that he must learn all he could from this brooding place.

Slowly, he moved his horse
forward.

"Yes," pronounced Geheimnis,
turning toward the warrior, "the way to the Land of

Scars is marked here. If we
follow the direction of the index finger, it will guide us on our
journey."

Dredger saw only unintelligible
symbols etched on the grey skin. At the base of the thumb, index
and little finger there was a different marking, their meaning lost
to the warrior. "You understand these signs?" he queried.

It was almost no surprise when
Dredger saw that Geheimnis' mask had reverted to a smiling visage
once more. "I see that I have impressed you, Dredger, but surely it
had occurred to you that a traveller would be in need of some
direction to find the way across the desert. Otherwise, my friend,
it is likely you would travel a very great distance indeed…in
circles!"

Grunting, the warrior gritted
his teeth in annoyance. "You will have to earn the right to call me
friend." The mask continued to smile merrily at him but the man
beneath said nothing more. "Now let us continue on or do you wish
to study this miscreation further?" Dredger growled.

"No need," answered the other
man. "I have learned all there is to know."

They began to ride again,
passing under the great shadow of the outstretched hand, which
according to the masked man indicated the way to the Land of Scars,
the city of Hydan lost within its estranged heart.

As they left the thing behind,
the heat almost tangible around them though there was no sun
visible in the sky, neither man looked back to see the gigantic
hand very gradually sink into the scorched sand, the desert sucking
it down into its secret depths.

The White Wolf sat upon a
throne and licked its lips with a long, black tongue. "Bring me
news from the west, bring me news from the east, bring me news of
every man, boy and beast," it whispered into the wind. Its
brilliant eyes scanned the surrounding woodland, the throne beneath
a mighty tree, hanging branches like a roof above its head. Before
the Beast two white doves rested at its feet, glassy eyes regarding
it impassively. "I am the law, the law of the land." The birds
fluttered their wings and rose into the air, the Wolf watching them
go with a cunning grin. "Go my pretty ones," it rasped, "go where
my heart sends you. Fly into my dreamland. And if you can tell me
things that I do not already know..." the Wolf laughed shortly, "it
will truly be news to me."

The Beast leaned its muscular
frame back against the throne. It had been fashioned from the bones
of its enemies and stained with their blood. And for comfort
beneath its hindquarters there was a cushion of human flesh.

The White Wolf chuckled
playfully to itself. Everything was moving swiftly now. Almost too
fast. But it was in control. Admittedly not all of its plans had
worked out

the way it might have hoped.
But there would be many other opportunities, many

other weaknesses to exploit.
The land belonged to the Beast, to shape as it willed.

And there was work to be
done.

"The caves lay just ahead," Mo
reported, nodding toward a dark outcrop of rock a few hundred yards
away.

"Maybe it'll be safer inside
there," suggested Jack with no conviction.

"Unfortunately," retorted the
badger, "that will not be the case."

Tom walked beside his two
friends, his mind tired and disoriented. He knew that somehow Jack
had saved his life, but his memory of the incident was patchy and
incomplete. "What happened to me?" he had asked, not long after
Jack had pulled him from the tree.

"The lure of the ice," Mo had
replied without hesitation. "I should have anticipated it, but I
was careless. You were lucky that Jack got to you in time, or you
would have been lost to us. Once you become one with the ice, there
is no return."

Just for a moment Tom glanced
up at one of the many glittering trees, the ice twinkling like a
million stars. But the music of the forest was no longer beautiful
or melodic to him. Now it was discordant and harsh and he quickly
turned his eyes toward the snow covered ground. "That's the second
time the Wolf has almost got me," he mumbled, the realisation of
just how close he had come to death making him feel sick
inside.

Mo nodded his big head. "It is
not my intention to frighten you, Tom, but I cannot

deceive you. The Beast knows
that it must stop you, by whatever means it has at its

disposal. It will bring you
over to its side, if it can, but if not, it will do all that it can
to kill you."

The heat fell upon them like a
rain of fire.

Both horses were sweating badly
and Dredger had begun to doubt if the creatures would survive the
journey. He had already decided that at the first sign of his steed
giving way he would dismount and walk. As for his companion, his
mask was now plain and expressionless, revealing nothing of how the
man beneath might be faring in the humid conditions. Dredger had
long since removed his heavy coat and unbuttoned his shirt, but
incredibly the masked man still wore his cloak and showed no sign
of even loosening it. Before them on every side, the sand appeared
eternal.

"And what is this?" hailed
Geheimnis.

The warrior peered ahead and
saw in the distance amongst the golden dunes, several trees forming
a haphazard circle. "An oasis?" he questioned.

"Surely a mirage," the masked
man said dryly but made off toward it nonetheless, spurring his
mare on at a canter.

Following, his horse quickening
its step almost independently, Dredger saw that indeed within the
trees lay a small pool of clear water. "Can we trust this place?"
he called, reluctant to venture too close.

Turning his mount, Geheimnis
came along side the other man. "The horses need water that we
ourselves cannot spare from our own supply. I think that, for their
sake, it is worth the risk."

Dredger evaluated the situation
and then nodded. Cautiously the two men manoeuvred their horses
into the oasis, bringing them to a standstill at the edge of the
pool and immediately the animals dipped their weary heads into the
water and eagerly drank.

Looking down Dredger saw his
own dry, dusky features reflected there, his hair clinging to his
scalp like brittle wire and he too longed to submerge his head
beneath the refreshing, cool water. The horses continued to gulp it
up, quenching their burning thirst after the arduous journey. If
only he could wash away the sweat and dust, easing his blistered
lips, but he fought against his longing, distrustful of this
convenient haven.

The oasis upon further
inspection consisted of perhaps a dozen small trees and a few
boulders scattered erratically within its boundary. Geheimnis
dismounted, informing his companion that he would take a look
around.

Left alone beside the water,
Dredger peered down once more at his own reflection. He studied his
face, but something about it had altered. And then, quite suddenly,
he understood what it was. Instead of the features of man, a boy's
unlined face stared back at him. Dredger smiled and his mirror
smiled in return, but then beside the boy another face appeared and
the warrior's smile dissolved, becoming a frown.

"No sign," his father told him
from the water.

"Where can they have gone?"
Dredger whispered, looking deeply into the man's grey eyes.

A darkness clouded his father's
expression as he shook his head. "Taken. All taken."

Dredger was overcome by fear
and grief and a tear rolled down past his lips. "Will they ever
come back?" the boy in the pool asked, afraid to hear the answer.
His father did not speak, his eyes blank. "I hate the Wolf,"
Dredger said, his voice hoarse.

The water rippled as the horses
drank and the warrior looked away, his hands clenched into tight
fists.

"There is nothing here," came
Geheimnis' voice, a short distance to his right. "But I think, to
be safe, it would be better for us not to touch the water." Dredger
gave no reply, settling himself carefully, ready to face the other
man. "Are the animals refreshed?" enquired the masked man, drawing
nearer.

"Yes," answered the warrior
curtly, "we can now continue."

Remounting his mare, Geheimnis
nodded. "An interesting place, don't you think?"

As they moved off, although he
did not look up at the man's face, Dredger felt quite certain that
the mask was smiling blithely at him once again.

Above them towered the sheer
cliff walls, the mountain's snow-capped peaks lost in the heavens.
The entrance to the caves was like a black, gaping mouth, waiting
to swallow them and Tom was immediately overcome by a very strong
feeling that he didn't want to enter into that darkness.

"It's pretty dark," mentioned
Jack in a hesitant voice, echoing Tom's thoughts.

"But still," voiced Mo, "we
must go within, for only through the caves of Rith-ran-ro-en can we
find the way that we seek, the way to our goal." The badger did not
wait for any further discussion on the matter. He hurried forward
into the inky opening in the rock-face, drawing a rather wary Tom
and Jack along with him, leaving behind the bright realm of
Issylvan.

"What do we have to find that
can tell us the right way to go?" Tom asked as they moved along a
poorly lit tunnel. The path wound ahead of them, the only light
seeming to infiltrate the blackness from some unknown source.

"It is said," began Mo in a
hushed voice, "that within the caves of Rith-ran-ro-en, a traveller
might ask and find the way that he seeks. But it is also said that
only one of great purpose and courage should ask the way of
Rith-ran-ro-en."

"So who is
Rith-ran-ro-en?" queried Tom, fascinated by the story, although he
had a bad feeling that
he
was
going to be the one who would have to do the asking.

"Who or what," the animal said
thoughtfully. "Once, there was a woman named Sarah, who, though a
great beauty of her time, was unloved by all men, for it is said
that she had a dark way about her that alienated any potential
suitors. So it came to pass that she cast a hex upon a young man
causing him to desire her above all things. Her evil spell even
induced him to shun his own family, craving only her. But this was
not enough for her and whilst a terrible tempest ravaged the land,
as if incited by the storm beyond her walls, Sarah forced her young
lover to murder his kin, fearing they would be able to break her
vile enchantment. But when the deed was done the very act she had
hoped would bind him to her, finally broke the spell and
discovering what he had done, he took his own unfortunate
life."

Tom and Jack remained silent
for some time after the badger had finished speaking. But
eventually Tom managed a question. "So what happened to the
woman?"

In the half-light, Mo looked
very old. "Cursed for her crimes, she was banished to these caves
and became known by another name, Rith-ran-ro-en, which means in
the old tongue, ‘she who will never know love’."

"And she's in here now?"
whispered Jack, glancing fitfully at the shadowy walls of the
tunnel.

"So it is said," the badger
declared.

"And we have to
ask
her
which way to go?"
inquired Tom with disbelief.