Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

He awoke and found himself tangled in his blankets,hot and sweating. It was still the dead of night and the tent was dark. A night bird called from the woods and he heard someone coughing from another tent across the campsite. Kicking off his stifling blankets, he rolled over and hoped his sleep would take him quickly and deeply.

It must have been the middle of the night when a ruckus outside the tent awoke him. He dragged on his boots and stumbled out into the night air to see what was causing all the commotion.

The clearing was still dotted with numerous campfires, but it appeared that Orrell’s entire company was rushing about, in and out of the woods and in every direction. Goodfellow came out of the tent after Samuel, sleepily adjusting his spectacles into place.

‘Samuel,’ Celios called. ‘Come over!’ and with that the two magicians joined the others beside their fire.

‘The Koians have lost their god,’ Grand Master Tudor explained. ‘And they’re in quite a fluster.’

‘Lost what?’ Samuel asked. ‘That ridiculous woman?’

‘Yes,’ Tudor continued. ‘It seems her attendants took her into the trees for her to relieve herself and the next thing they knew, she’d disappeared.’

‘So their gods need the privy, too?’ Eric put in. ‘That’s good to know.’

But Celios threw him a blazing glance, and alltraceof amusement fled from Eric’s face. Samuel would normally have found the remark amusing, but he was too tired and was not willing to give Eric the satisfaction of a supportive response.

‘Orrell’s men are all out looking for her,’ Tudor continued, looking somewhat dishevelled in the firelight, ‘but we should do our best to help. As you know, she shares Samuel’s lack of presence , so we have no way to find her magically. We can only help them the old-fashioned way, by walking around and shouting a bit. Perhaps make them a few lights. She can’t have gone far, so let’s just help the Koians with this so we can go back to bed.’

‘Is this really necessary?’ Samuel groaned.

‘Yes.’

‘Where is Sir Ferse?’ Samuel then asked, noticing the obvious absence of the man from their group.

‘He’s still sleeping,’ Master Celios replied very matter-of-factly. ‘I tried waking him, but he sleeps like a log. Leave him be. I’m sure we can deal with this.’

‘Go on,’ Tudor finished and gestured out into the darkness. ‘It’s safe. Not even the wolves are awake at this hour.’

Samuel shrugged and did as he was told. They all stepped away into the trees in different directions and began calling out. Without having a name to call, no one knew what to shout, so they cried out ‘ hello’ and ‘ over here’ and the likes. It was worse for Orrell’s men, for they could not even speak the Old Tongue. Anything they would shout would be incomprehensible to her; but Samuel figured it would not make much difference. She would only have to hear their noises to find them and that was all that was required. How she could have become so lost,when she wasso close to such a large number of men, was beyond him.

He could feel the two Erics summoning some mage-lights, so he decided it could not hurt to attempt the same. As he walked amongst the dark trees, atop the thick carpet of fallen pine needles and scattered cones that littered the ground, he slipped the Argum Stone onto his finger and readied himself. He thought he had tapped only the tiniest trickle of power but,as he released the spell, a host of glowing spheres shattered the darkness with their blazing light. The woods bloomed into an eerie,flickering daylight, and dozens of Orrell’s guards were frozen on the spot, looking at the lights with alarm.

‘Sorry!’ he called out to them, realising his spell must have half-blinded the men and he pulled the ring from his finger to extinguish the spell. He was only channelling a small amount of magic from the ring, so he had thought nothing of taking it off, but the sudden release of energy that snapped through him stung him and made him start. He reminded himself not to be so flippant in future, for his connection with the ring had to be reduced as much as possible before it could be removed. The separation from any amount of power could be traumatising.

He would have to do without his spells but,with such a bright moon,he would not have too much trouble finding his way. Wandering further into the deepening woods,he began calling out for the woman, calling ‘god lady’, ‘old woman’ and ‘vile old wench’ in as pleasant a tone as he could muster. He did not bother using the Old Tongue, as he did not really care if he found her or not. His thoughts were firmly set on his tent and blanket, and he assumed he would just have to wander around for a bit until one of Orrell’s men stumbled across her.

After some time, as the shouts of Orrell’s men became fainter, he was surprised as some nearby shrubs rustled and someone came stepping out towards him. It was Horse, the Koian.

‘Magician,’ he said. ‘I have found you. We can’t find our god anywhere. I thought I had tracked her in this direction, but now I am not sure. I will go that way towards that rise, but can you look over there, towards the stones?’ The man’s grasp on the Old Tongue seemed intermediate at best and he struggled to speak some of the words in their entirety.

Samuel agreed half-heartedly and started off as directed, not at all amused with the task. Itwasinconvenient that they could lose their deity so easily. What kind of god was she supposed to be anyway?

The woods were thin in that direction and Samuel had no trouble finding his way. He could still hear distant shouts and could still sense the other magicians nearby, so he was in no fear of losing himself.

After stumbling around a bit, with twigs and sticks catching at his heels, he finally found the outcropping of large boulders that the Koian had mentioned, but could see nothing of the crone. He wandered back and forth a few times, peering into various shadows, and was about to give up when someone began calling out to him in a hoarse whisper.

‘Magician!’ came the voice. ‘Magician! Over here.’

He looked around, and finally saw movement in the inky blackness between the great stones. It was disconcerting for him, as all living things had a visible aura to his eyes-to his unique magician’s sight -but this Koian god-woman was invisible to his special sense. It made him realise he was not used to seeing things with his eyes alone,for the area she occupied seemed strangely vacant and unsettling without such energies to accompany it.

He went closer and found that the hag was, indeed,huddled there in the shadows-blackness in blackness. Peering into the gulf of emptiness, Samuel now felt some trepidation about the situation. He half-suspected, although childishly, that he had been lured out here and now the old hag would devour him in one hideous gulp.

‘I am lost, Magician,’ she hissed from the darkness, ‘and I am injured. Can you help me back to the others?’ She had backed into the rocky recess. Samuel could see the old woman was now wearing none of her outlandish garments, and she seemed half the size for it. Judging from her silhouette, she was dressed in a simple,loose-fitting smock, tied at the waist with a cord or sash. Her frame, although difficult to assess, was much smaller than expected. If not for that cackling voice, he may not have believed this creature to be the same one at all. ‘Do not look at me!’ she ordered abruptly as he observed her outline in the dark. ‘It is a sin!’

Samuel flinched and turned away, waiting in the wan moonlight. He had no intention of ogling her ghastly figure. The mere thought made him shudder. ‘How can I help you if I can’t look at you?’ he finally asked. ‘Come out of those rocks if you want my help.’