The Mountains Rise (22 page)

For the first time since coming to Ellentrea, Daniel felt that his life seemed to
be taking a turn for the better. The cittern allowed him to rediscover music, like
an old friend returning from a long journey. He remembered the songs he had learned
in the past
,
and with all the time he had on his hands
,
he created new ones to fill his waking hours.

He quickly realized, through his playing, that he had changed profoundly. The old
melodies were familiar and strange at the same time, while the new ones he made for
himself seemed to express one of two main themes, sorrow or anger. It was listening
to his own music that showed him the bitterness that had settled within him.

Amarah also seemed to have been changed by the introduction of music. She lingered
more often, staying to listen to at least one song whenever she brought him food.
Occasionally she would stay longer, enjoying his company in a more direct manner.
Daniel learned more about her in the span of the next week than he had in the entire
year prior.

Her emotions seemed to have been released from whatever dark place they had been locked
in, set free by the sound of music. She cried often
,
and sometimes rewarded Daniel with smiles when she visited. Amarah’s newfound feelings
were much like her
;
rough and unsophisticated, reminding Daniel of a child in their honesty.

She never stayed very long, fifteen or twenty minutes at the most. Amarah was fearful
of punishment if she was caught spending too much time with Daniel, but they made
the most of their short time together each day.

“What was your mother like?” Daniel asked her one day when she seemed particularly
open.

Amarah frowned, “I do not remember.”

“Who raised you then, your father?”

“Raised?” she asked. “No one lifted me.”

Daniel was
used to
their constant misunderstandings. “Who took care of you as a child?” he clarified.
“I’m curious about your childhood.”

Her face took on a pained expression, “That was a bad time. The pens are
a
bad place. No one wishes to remember them.”

“The pens?”

She nodded, “The She’Har keep the children there,
after
they have been weaned, until they are old enough to be blooded.”

Daniel immediately remembered the girl he had been forced to kill when he was first
brought to Ellentrea. “
When you
say ‘blooded’, do you mean forced to fight?”

“Yes, the fit are given the chance to earn a name. The rest remain nameless, like
me. We are made to serve,” she explained.

Daniel had already had a year to get over his shock at the violence and cruelty inherent
in what passed for human society in Ellentrea. “What are the pens like?”

“Bad,” she replied. “The larger rule the smaller. Food is brought twice a day, but
many starve, unable to hold their share. Sometimes they kill one another, or worse.”

He was beginning to see the picture now. Human children
were
taken from their mothers once they were old enough to eat solid food and walk, forced
to live in pens like animals. Fed and watered twice daily and otherwise left to fend
for themselves.

No wonder the people here seem cruel and stupid. They are stunted, starved of love
,
and allowed to grow without teaching or guidance.
Even after a year of murder and bloodshed
,
Daniel found himself somewhat shocked.
What would I have been like without my mother and father’s love? What would life
be like, locked in with cruel and ignorant children?
The people he had met over the past year made Ronnie Banks seem kind.

Amarah left, having run out of time
,
and Daniel was
again
alone. He settled on the floor and closed his eyes. Today was an arena day
,
and he knew Garlin would be along soon to collect him. Meditating in silence
,
he listened to the strange voices of the world.

Over the past months his strength and magesight had both grown. The arena battles
were no longer even a challenge for him. His opponents almost invariably had
much less
experience in the arena
than he did
, since few survived many battles before dying. They were also almost universally
weak and unimaginative. The tricks they used were old and oft repeated.

The voices he heard with his mind, in a fashion that seemed related to the way he
experienced vision with his magesight. Listening to them soothed him in a fashion
similar to his music, which also seemed to have a voice of its own.

Daniel finished clearing his mind and decided to play for a while, taking up the cittern
and running through a lively ditty to waken his mind and imagination before his upcoming
battle. The door opened and Garlin looked in, a curious expression on his face.

“What is that?” he asked in a tone
of grave solemnity.

Shit!
Daniel normally stopped playing when any of the wardens were near enough to hear,
but he had been so caught up in his playing that he had forgotten to keep watch.

“It’s just music,” he said defensively, praying inwardly that Garlin wouldn’t create
some reason to confiscate his cittern. Briefly
,
he considered killing the other man. The thought of another session of punishment
with Thillmarius was enough to make him break into a cold sweat and nearly lose control
of his bowels, but losing his music again was too terrible to contemplate.

Garlin stepped inside and closed the door. He saw the desperate look on Daniel’s
face and suddenly realized he might be flirting with death. “Now, Tyrion, I won’t
tell anyone. I’ve just never heard anything like that before.”

“Isn’t it time to be going to the arena?” suggested Daniel, uncomfortable with the
other man in his room.

“Yeah,” said the warden, “but we can spare a minute. Make it do that thing again,
the sounds…”

“You really won’t tell?” asked Daniel.

Garlin nodded.

Taking up the cittern again, Daniel ran through a short playful melody. The original
song had been something to do with a small boy and an old man hunting in the forest,
but Daniel had forgotten the words.

He finished and looked at Garlin, “We should go.”

Garlin seemed lost in thought as they walked to the arena. “Will you let me hear
it again afterward?”

“I’m worried that I’ll be punished if they discover me playing music,” said Daniel.

The warden struggled for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “Please?”
he said at last.

Daniel wondered then if he had ever heard anyone use the word ‘please’ since he had
come to Ellentrea. He was fairly certain that that was the first time. “Alright,”
he answered, “but you have to keep it a secret.”

The battle that day proved to be different than those in the past.

Daniel found himself facing three opponents now, rather than two.
How many people do I have to kill before this ends?
He wondered.
One,
came the answer in his mind,
kill yourself
,
and then it’s done.

“Like hell I will,” he muttered to himself as he strode out to take his place. A
sudden thunderclap shook the arena, as if in response to his determination. Glancing
up, Daniel saw that the sky was clear, except for a few clouds.

When the lights turned red
,
he started forward, drawing lines and shapes on the ground as he went, seemingly
at random. It was something he had begun doing at the start of every fight. Frequently
it confused his enemies, making them hesitate as they pondered, trying to anticipate
his tactics. In reality, it was just as random as it appeared. Often he would dance
with his opponents, creating shields and walls, to trap or defend as the occasion
demanded. He tried to avoid having a discernable plan.

One of his opponents, a woman wit
h short black hair, transformed;
her flesh flowing and sprouting feathers as she became a giant hawk of some sort
before launching herself into the air. She shielded herself even
during
the transformation, a notable feat.

A Gaelyn mage, and a strong one,
noted Daniel mentally. Her mobility might complicate matters, depending upon the
talents of the other two.
T
oo distracted by thoughts of Garlin and his musical interest
,
Daniel had failed to take note of the names of his opponents.

The hawk sent several probing attacks downward at him while the two men remaining
on the other side of the arena walked sideways, moving apart from one another. Daniel
stepped into a large circle nearby and raised a dome shaped shield around himself.
He immediately regretted the mistake.

Both of the men vanished, reappearing beside him inside the shield. They were both
Mordan mages. They struck instantly, using brute force to try
to
shatter his weaker personal shield.

A year before it would have worked, but he was much stronger these days. Now, it
was merely painful. Straining to hold his inner shield and maintain the outer one,
Daniel
swept his bladed arms outward, spinning in place to bisect his enemies. They teleported
away before his weapons could strike.

Cursing his own stupidity
,
Daniel released the outer shield and began running. If he had paid attention when
the announcer had been speaking
,
he would have been ready for the teleportation ambush. His delayed response had
cost him a valuable opportunity to kill two of his three enemies. The fight might
be a lot more protracted now.

The hawk was becoming annoying. It flew too well to be caught by the rocks he sent
whistling toward it and moved too fast to be struck by any of his truly powerful attacks.
Given a chance to concentrate on just that, he could have killed the Gaelyn mage rapidly,
but Daniel had to keep moving to make it difficult for the Mordan mages to focus their
attacks on him.

The space is too large,
he realized. His opponents
’
mobility in such an open area gave them a large advantage.

Dodging to one side to avoid another attack from the hawk
,
Daniel drew a new line as he ran, bisecting the arena. Once it was complete
,
he raised a gigantic, although relatively weak shield across the entire field, separating
it into two parts. The hawk was forced to veer away to avoid striking the wall as
it flew.

The Mordan laughed, ignoring the shield
,
as they teleported to join their ally inside the half that Daniel occupied. He continued
running and drew a new line to further bisect the half they were in into quarters.
Each time he made a new line
,
it reduced the area the hawk had to fly within. As the area grew smaller
,
he released the larger shields that he no longer needed
;
they didn’t affect the
Mordan
mages
’
mobility anyway.

The two Mordan were forced to stay close, though. Their presence was necessary to
prevent Daniel from killing
their Gaelyn ally
. If they retreated to the more open part of the arena they would lose
the hawk,
and the match would soon be over after that.

When the area the hawk was trapped within was no more than thirty yards across Daniel
stopped, creating a small circular shield around himself. This shield was different
than others he had used in the past, for he created it as a cylinder, open at the
top and rising all the way to the top of the arena, where the She’Har shield prevented
them from
escaping
. At the same time he sealed the rest of the area that the other mages were within.

Their assaults on his shield became more intense
,
and one attempted to remove the earth from beneath his feet, but Daniel had already
created a solid platform beneath himself.

Before they could do more
,
Daniel ignited the air within the small area, turning it into an inferno. The temperature
soared
, though
the flames failed to touch any of the shielded mages
,
but Daniel kept them going. After ten seconds the heat became so intense that the
Mordan mages teleported out, unable to refresh the air within their shields.

The Gaelyn wizard was not so lucky.

Once the fight had been reduced to a mere two against one
,
things got much easier. No longer forced to defend against three strong attackers
,
Daniel moved to the center of the arena and shielded himself with a small dome, too
small for the Mordan to teleport within. Then he raised the wind and used it to scour
the earth, whipping up dirt and small stones. It was one of his favorite methods
for disposing of Mordan and Prathion mages.