Dennis McKiernan - Once upon a Spring morn

“Some sort of huge, man-headed beast,” said Celeste.

Roel nodded. “Still, cherie, beast or no, I deem we must take the sinister way, for if left is right, and right a mistake, then somewhere ahead we must cross.” Celeste nodded and said, “Even if this isn’t the right way, we can follow the wall till we find the three boulders.”

“Just so,” said Roel, and he turned to the scout and shrugged. Then Roel touched his shield and lance and said, “Large or not, my spear and a swift charge should do.”

The scout moaned and shook his head and said, “La, la. Inte raltan.”

“Whatever he is telling us,” said Celeste, “he thinks we are making a mistake.”

“Nevertheless. .,” said Roel, and he turned up his hands and shrugged, and then heeled his mare and started down the path, Celeste following.

For long moments the scout watched them ride away.

Then he shook his head and turned his camel, and starwise along the road he fared.

A candlemark passed and then another, and nearer to the bound rode Celeste and Roel. Finally, “There are the boulders,” said Celeste, pointing ahead. “I deem we have chosen aright.”

Roel nodded and said, “If indeed we were to continue duskwise, though Lady Doom did not say.” Finally they came to the crossing and stopped. Roel dismounted and tethered his mare to Celeste’s gelding, then tied a rope ’round his waist. He handed the coil to Celeste, and she tied the end to her saddle cantle. As Roel took his shield in hand and drew Coeur d’Acier, he grinned and said, “Try not to drag me across all of Faery, my love.”

Celeste tentatively smiled but said nought.

Roel strode into the twilight, Celeste following, horses in tow. As they reached the midmost ebon wall, she stopped and payed out the line as Roel stepped on beyond. More and more length he took, and finally all rope was let out. Then it went slack, and Celeste began drawing it in and coiling it. At last Roel came through the midpoint, and in the darkness as he untied the line from his waist he said, “ ’Tis good that we filled all skins with water, for ’tis sand, all sand beyond, great dunes for as far as the eye can see.”

“What of the monstrous man-headed creature?” asked Celeste.

“No sign of such,” said Roel. “I believe the scout was speaking of a mythical beast that only exists in fable or imagination.”

Though Roel could not clearly see Celeste in the twilight, she shook her head, saying, “Forget not, love, ’tis Faery.”

Roel groaned and said, “Ah, me, you would have to bring that up.” He stepped to his mare and hung his shield on its saddle hook, and then untethered the horse and mounted and rode forward to Celeste and said,

“Shall we?”

“Let’s do,” said she, and laughed, and smiling, together they rode into the desert sands.

Cient

Over the sea raced the Eagle and into a raging storm, and the decks pitched and men were hard-pressed to keep control of the animals. Many members of the warband lost their breakfasts and lunches and other meals throughout the day, and yet they persevered as under foul weather they ran. Yet the winds were strong and in their favor, and three days later they arrived in Port Cient just as night drew across the land, and they spent much of that eve off-loading the animals and equipment and men.

It was here that Vicomte Chevell and some of his crew declared they would go with the warband, and so they depleted the fund of horses in that port city.

And running at a fair pace, the combined force rode away from Cient the very next dawn.

There were but six days left ere the night of the dark of the moon, and they had far to go.

Sand

Into a world of dunes the chevalier and princess rode under a cloudless sky. The desert stretched out before them like a golden ocean of long, rolling waves frozen in place. They had entered in midmorn, and the day was mild, rather than scorching, as across the sands they fared, as if spring or autumn lay upon this part of Faery, rather than a time of torrid summer or that of frigid winter.

As they had entered this domain, Roel had looked about and said, “I see no markers to get us back. What does the chart say?”

Celeste had then unfolded the vellum and had looked at the notation. “It says there is an obelisk at hand.” She looked up and ’round. “Yet I see none.” Roel sighed. “Covered by sand, I think. Is there any other means to find our way to this very place again?” Once more Celeste peered at the chart. “The Spx lies due duskward from here. Hence if we ride due dawnwise from whatever it might be, we can come back. .

Ah, yet wait, there is a way to the Changeling realm from the Spx; hence we do not need to return.”

“Another way?”

“Oui. Across two borders. If we find the gray arrow at Spx or El Fd or Ct Dd or mayhap somewhere beyond, it will be the shortest way to the Lord of the Changelings’ tower.”

“Bon! Then let us ride.”

And so they had ridden.

And the day had waxed and waned, and in midafternoon they had fared beyond the dunes and into an arid wasteland with nought but sparse patches of thorny scrub dotting the barren, rock-laden ’scape.

On they went across the desert, and as evening drew nigh Roel said, “Watch for birds.”

“Why so, love?”

“We need water and a place to camp, and at dawn and dusk they will lead the way.”

“And you know this because. .?”

“Some of the war took place in an arid waste; I learned it from those who had been there as we rode home.”

Celeste asked no more, for she was yet shaken by Roel’s revelations with regard to armies in war, and she knew that he was deeply troubled by his experiences in battle. Oh, my love, my dearest heart, do you see blood on your hands? What was it you said? That good men had died on both sides? Oui, that was it. Until that very moment I had never thought of the enemy, the foe, as having good men as well. Non, but mayhap I have an ex-cuse for never thinking such, for all I have known as an enemy are Redcap Goblins and Trolls and Bogles and other such vile beings. . Yet I wonder: are Redcaps ever good? Trolls? Bogles and the like? I do know that some Goblins are pleasant and well-mannered and kind: House Goblins for one. Barn Goblins for another. And I have seen-

“There!” called Roel.

Celeste looked where Roel pointed. In the near distance directly ahead two swift doves flew toward what appeared to be a great jumble of boulders. They spiraled ’round and down and disappeared among the huge rocks.

“We should find water there,” said Roel, and he urged his mare into a trot, with Celeste following after.

Downslope they went, into a broad basin, in the mid of which there rose up the enormous pile of massive stones. As they approached, they could see enshadowed openings here and there, dark slots where the gigantic boulders rested against one another. “We’ll have to be wary,” said Roel, “for we know not what might reside within: asps, vipers, scorpions, jackals, even desert lions.

If it’s a large beast or a den of snakes, I deem the horses will give warning.”

“Would doves likely go into a nest of vipers?” asked Celeste as she strung her bow.

“Mayhap,” said Roel, cocking his crossbow and laying a quarrel in the groove. “Who knows what birds and other creatures will do for a drink?” Celeste smiled. “Well, my love, we are about to find out, n’est-ce pas ?”

“Indeed we are,” replied Roel.

They rode to the foot of the great mound of monstrous boulders, rising up out from the barren plain much like a rocky tor. Roel said, “Cherie, I would have you wait with our horses while I go within, for who knows what might come running out? And I would not have the animals bolt.”