Author: Andrew Q. Gordon
Category: LGBT
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He smiled back and searched further. Kar Dresmun stood to the side with the other kars. “Though your gift to me was part of a dream, I promise to live well to honor you, Favored One.”
“You….” He turned to Basje. “They were really there too?”
“For the test to feel true, it needed to be accurate. All who you spoke to were part of the lesson.”
Farrell crossed to stand where the kar stood and held out his arm. “I wasn’t sure you’d go without me pushing you.”
“I shouldn’t have.” He smiled and accepted the greeting. “You would have died alone.”
Farrell shook his head. “Too many I could have saved died because I didn’t act. I’ll not allow that to happen again. Not even if I had to die alone.”
The tent felt stuffy and close. Knowing why the Bendari had tested him eased some of his anger but not all. He needed to feel the cool air on his skin. On his way to the exit, he stopped in front of Nerti. He stared into her eyes and lowered his shields. “It is time to forgive. See for yourself.”
Nerti’s familiar touch entered his mind, and he fought hard not to block her. She didn’t stay long. After she withdrew, she winked.
“You did well.”
“I have good teachers.” He rubbed her below the horn. “If you don’t mind, I will let you, She Who Guides, and the Shaman explain this to Kel. I need to go outside for a bit.”
“My children will go with you,” Tojas said as the other two snow panthers moved toward the exit.
“Children?” Kel stared at the pair next to Farrell.
“In time, Ancient One,” Basje said.
“With your leave, Grandfather, I’ll join them,” Esward said.
“Go,” Basje said. “Let the old talk while the young learn their roles.”
Farrell didn’t wait for someone to suggest he stay. He quickly put some distance between himself and the Shaman’s yurt. When he couldn’t hear their voices, he stopped and took a deep breath.
“The air in the Endless Snows is refreshing like nowhere else,” Esward said. When the snow panthers caught up, he gestured toward the one on the left. “This is Pojas.”
“It is an honor, Favored One.” She dipped her head.
Before Farrell could answer, Esward pointed to his right. “This is her brother, Rojas.”
He mimicked his sister’s bow. “Welcome to our family.”
“Thank you both.” He nodded to them and scanned the area for open ground. “None of you need to keep me company. I can fly off to give you an excuse for leaving me.”
“We are happiest out in the Endless Snows,” Rojas said. “If they discuss something important, they will tell us later.”
Farrell laughed. “I can tell you what they will talk about, but that doesn’t answer me. All I wish is an open space to sit and think. You don’t need to come with me if you don’t want to.”
“Our fates are entwined more than you realize,” Pojas said. “Unless you wish to be alone, we are happy to stand watch while you reflect on what you learned.”
“Company, real company, not people in my head, would be welcome. This way.” He pointed toward a small hill that marked the southeast corner of the camp. “Unless that is somewhere I ought not go, that should be quiet.”
Esward placed a hand on Farrell’s shoulder and squeezed. “There is no place off-limits to the Favored One, but we will tell you if you are being rude.”
He laughed and noticed Esward appeared more relaxed. He even let Farrell lead the way. Small knots of Bendari littered the camp. The clans intermingled freely. It wasn’t unusual to see people welcome each other like long-lost family. Though their basic dress was the same, each clan had little bits of color that set them apart.
After seeing a particularly colorful group, he turned to Esward. “Will I get to choose my clan or will you assign me one?”
“No one clan may claim you,” Pojas said. “Like She Who Guides and the Shaman, you belong to all.”
“Come,” Esward said. “We should find your place of quiet in case someone thinks of a question to ask.”
Rojas and Pojas led the way. Distance wouldn’t matter if someone had a question, but it felt good to get outside. Compared to the barren world Basje and Tojas had sent him too, the Endless Snows teemed with life. At that moment he needed to feel the energy again.
“NO,” FARRELL shook his head and helped Esward to his feet. “Engage your energy as soon as you lift your leg. It will steady you and keep you afloat when you lift the other.”
Demonstrating, Farrell moved through the spell so Esward could watch. The shaman’s failed attempts marred the pristine snow, but Esward refused to give up.
Rojas and Tojas stood watch. They appeared amused by what they saw. When Esward pulled Farrell over with him, the pair chortled. The snow panthers assured Farrell they were not laughing, but he didn’t believe them.
Not that he’d been upset. Tumbling in the snow like a child lightened his spirit after the serious mode of his test. It didn’t match sitting on the walls of Yar-del City listening to the ocean, but it was close.
Farrell steadied himself on one leg. Esward’s face furrowed in determined concentration.
“Now the left.” Farrell barely gave it a thought as he raised his other leg.
Esward’s body tensed and he wobbled for a second as he raised his left leg. For a moment he appeared unsteady, but he remained aloft. Finally he settled into position. His triumphant smile earned him a growl of appreciation from the snow panthers.
“Tell me.” Esward twisted and leaned forward to test his balance. “How came you to find this so… so…”
“Relaxing?”
“Yes.” Esward nodded. “You say it’s relaxing, but the effort needed to achieve this position is a struggle.”
“At first it was something I did to annoy a fellow student who tormented me when I was a teenager.” Even a decade later, anger bubbled up at the thought of Quonus’s name. “After studying like this enough, I realized it was helpful. I didn’t have to worry about my surroundings during periods of deep concentration. Soon it became second nature.”
Esward practiced getting up and down without falling into the snow. Farrell tuned out his surrounds and reflected on his day. Did the Shaman realize they were doing more than testing him? Or had the Six asked that the Bendari test him to impart the lesson? Maybe it didn’t matter. Or it did and he didn’t know why.
Sorting his thoughts felt like wading in chest-high snow without ice shoes. The harder he tried, the more he floundered. A commotion behind him broke his concentration. He turned but replaced the defensive spell with a laugh.
The snow panther siblings wrestled in the snow. Their efforts kicked up a cloud of fine powder that drifted in the breeze. The sun had almost reached the horizon and the angle made it hard to find Pojas and Rojas as they rolled in the snow.
“We should get back,” Farrell said.
He was not in a hurry to return. Kel would ask for more details on what had happened during the test. Farrell hadn’t finished processing the events, so he didn’t know how to answer him. That wouldn’t stop Kel from asking. In fact, he’d press harder in hopes he could guide Farrell to the “right” answer.
Esward stepped down with more grace than when he’d started. “You were correct, it does get easier with a bit of practice.”
“It isn’t hard once you know how.” Farrell lowered his legs. “It’s the—”
A sense of foreboding surged through him, and he twisted about to find the cause. Nothing appeared wrong, but the feeling continued. He closed his eyes to locate the source and was surprised to find it coming from the snow. Dropping to his knees, he plunged his bare hand into the frozen liquid.
“Is something amiss?” Esward asked.
Farrell opened his eyes and met Esward’s gaze. The panthers had stopped wrestling and padded closer. “I’m not sure, but something feels wrong. I don’t know what, but it is so strong it leaps at me.” He wigg
led his fingers in the snow and attempted to make contact. Though the connection was a bit sluggish, he found he could manipulate it like water.
“I feel nothing,” Pojas said, moving next to him. She focused her attention at the point where Farrell’s hand met the snow. “If there were a problem, I think the Shaman or She Who Guides would know and have sounded an alarm.”
“I sense nothing either,” Esward said. “But I wouldn’t discount the Favored One’s warning.”
Tuning out his surroundings, Farrell focused on the feeling. After some time, he recognized the danger—demons of Neblor. How they had gotten here or why wasn’t important. Finding them was. Them? He didn’t have evidence there were more than one, but he was certain there were several.
He pushed his thoughts out in an expanding circle and scanned as far as he could reach. The probe hadn’t gone far when he found the source.
“There!” He leapt to his feet and pointed southeast.
“Where?” Esward scanned the horizon where Farrell indicated. “I see nothing. What is it?”
“Evil.” The word barely left his lip before Farrell started to run.
He didn’t have time to explain. A small group of Bendari fled the demons. If the brief glimpse held true, they wouldn’t stay ahead for long. Farrell prepared to fly off when Rojas raced in front of him. The snow panther turned around faster than his size suggested he could and reared back on his hind legs. He slapped his front paws onto Farrell’s shoulder and pushed.
“You must not go alone!”
Farrell almost tossed Rojas aside, but he didn’t want to hurt him. “There isn’t time. Six Bendari are in the demons’ path. They won’t make the camp before they are caught. Either I go, or they will die.”
A flash of white announced Pojas’s arrival. Esward was on her back shooting daggers at Farrell.
“What in the Six are you doing? The clans act together. It is our strength.”
With a thought, he expanded his shield and pushed Rojas away. “I’ll let Nerti and Kel know, but those people don’t have time for everyone to come together.”
Rojas turned in the direction Farrell needed to go and pawed the snow. “Then we must go. I will carry you.”
The sudden change surprised Farrell and he suspected a trick. Before he could fly off, he heard a sound coming from the main camp.
“A Bendari does not fight alone,” Pojas said. “The others will follow, but you are correct. Only we can save them.”
In his test, Dresmun fought to remain just to die with Farrell. If he trusted nothing else, he knew the Bendari would move the earth to stand with each other.
He climbed onto Rojas’s back and nearly fell off when the snow panther moved. Lacking the connection he had with Nerti, Farrell grabbed a handful of fur and leaned forward.
RACING INTO the growing darkness, Farrell enhanced his sight. A Bendari woman coaxed two preteen girls to run as she cast a nervous glance over her shoulder. An adult male and two young teenage boys trailed the woman. They alternated running and walking. The male appeared to speak and looked back toward their pursuers.
“Farrell.” Nerti’s voice startled him. “What are you doing?”
“We’re trying to get to a family fleeing a pack of demons.” He opened a link for her. “Take what you need from my memories.”
Extending his sight beyond the Bendari, he saw the black shapes loping across the snow. He counted ten bodies. The one on the far right turned its head, and it felt like he made eye contact with Farrell. Whatever happened, he opened his mouth and the group put on a burst of speed.
A moment later an earsplitting scream filled the night. Rojas increased his speed, and they ran past the woman and children. Just ahead, the man shouted to the teens and all three ran faster. The smallest of the group looked over his shoulder and stumbled. He dropped his sword and kicked up a plume of white as he fell headfirst into the snow. The man and the other teenager had put a few feet between themselves and the boy before they noticed he’d fallen.
Rojas launched himself into the air. As they soared over the startled Bendari, Farrell pulled the Arm of Khron from his pocket. They landed a foot in front of the shaken youth, and the panther let out a ferocious roar. The Arm burst into flames.
A second later, Pojas and Esward joined them. She repeated her brother’s warning and positioned herself to his right.
The spawn of Neblor stopped a few horse lengths from them. They were barely visible in the murky dusk.
Farrell jumped down and scooped up the frightened child with his free hand. Twisting to his right, he put the boy on Pojas’s back in front of Esward.
“Take him and protect the family.” He looked up at Esward and hoped his friend wouldn’t argue. When he appeared on the verge of objecting, Farrell shook his head. “They need your help more than I do. If any get around me, they’ll be defenseless.”
Esward wrapped his arm around the boy and nodded. “Help will be here soon.”
Pojas ran off before Farrell could answer. He motioned to Rojas.
“You too.” He’d seen snow panthers fight Chamdon, but they’d have no defense against these creatures. “I’ll hold them off until Kel arrives.”
Rojas dug his claws into the snow and shook his head. “I cannot leave you. A Bendari does not fight alone.”
Farrell had begun to hate that saying. A movement from the demons prevented him for forcing Rojas to go. He pulled his staff over his head and pointed a tip at his foes. “Go back to Neblor. You have no place here.”
Unlike the demon he faced in Trellham, these didn’t speak. He didn’t care. Delay was Farrell’s ally. It allowed the family to get closer to the camp and reinforcements to get closer to Farrell. He kept the spell ready and let the standoff last as long as he could.
A howl that sounded like steel on stone shattered the silence. Farrell released his spell as a dark shape moved toward them. The blue energy sizzled as it sped toward its target. It exploded against the creature’s black form in a flash of brilliance.
A second ball of fire cut short the demon’s scream. An inky-black shield appeared and surrounded the rest of the pack. They closed ranks and moved closer.
Farrell erected a wall of fire in their path and fired a dozen balls of energy in rapid succession. They struck one after another in the same spot until finally the dark barrier shattered. Two dark masses rushed forward before Farrell could target the individual creatures. They walked through the wall and little wisps of fire burned on their skin.
The flames winked out with a puff of smoke, and the pair advanced on Farrell and Rojas. As they drew closer, their formless bodies coalesced into dark imitations of Rojas and Farrell.
Too quick for Farrell to hit with magic, the two leapt at them. His opponent’s arms stretched and twisted, creating a black reproduction of Farrell’s staff in one hand and a dark sword in the other. Ebony flames danced along the edge as it drew the blade back to strike.
Farrell swung the Arm across his body to parry the blow. Khron’s Gift flared angrily as it sliced through the dark mockery. The hideous smell of burned fetid flesh filled the air as a black substance dripped from the wound. It hissed as it melted the snow it struck.
The creature’s arm continued and it stumbled forward. Farrell energized the end of his staff and smashed it into what he assumed was the head. An explosion of black flesh and power scattered the remains of his enemy into the night.
To Farrell’s left, Rojas and his doppelganger rolled around, sending snow everywhere. The pair were so entwined, Farrell couldn’t get a clean shot at the demon. As he waited for an opening, a new shield surrounded the enemy. Farrell waited for them to charge, but they didn’t move. When he turned back, he realized time had slowed.
Rojas flipped the demon over, and Farrell used the opening to cut the creature in half. The two black pieces hissed as they melted the snow around them.
Time returned to normal and the others rushed at him.
“Retreat!”
he said into Rojas’s mind. The white panther scrambled to his feet, the fur on his left side stained with blood. Rojas ran back as directed and Farrell joined him until the panther reached his full stride. Then Farrell stopped and turned to face the enemy.
Strung out in an uneven line, seven black shapes loped toward him. They looked remotely human but lacked any discernible features. He pointed his staff and sword at the group and fired a wide burst of power.
The new shield repelled his attack, but the force of his blow slowed the group. Farrell kept up the attack and pushed them back. The two creatures at the ends moved away, elongating the line. With a soft pop, the group shield disappeared. Each of the seven created their own protection.
He readied a string of attacks and prepared to retreat. The two in the center led the assault while the others tried to flank and surround him. He released his preset spells to slow the group and used the delay to attack the two in front of him.
His wizard’s fire engulfed the black domes in blazes of blue energy. He applied more force and felt the resistance weaken until the one to his left burst apart. Before he could focus on a new target, the remaining six moved closer and recreated the group shield.
A pair of Kel’s red bands wrapped themselves around his waist. “Fall back,” Kel said.
Farrell allowed his grandfather to pull him backward as a pack of orange shapes ran by him. The flaming snow panthers rushed past and surrounded the remaining demons.
Kel deposited him onto Nerti’s back. She slowed her gallop as Kel and Flemin joined them.
“Thank you for coming.” He patted the side of her neck. “Your timing is excellent as always.”
“I’m glad you aren’t hurt, Little One.”
“It will take more than that to stop me.” He doubted his bravado impressed her.
Dozens of real snow panthers ran by, led by Basje and Tojas. Each feline carried a shaman into the fray. They created a circle around their fiery images and roared at the dark creatures who invaded the Endless Snows.
Basje led the chant, and the other shamans took up the song. A blue ripple radiated from the edges of their formation. It grew stronger with each wave. The orange cats disappeared, leaving nothing between the two groups.