Chapter Four

  Told to Rebuild

  While Gwen began what would no doubt be a rigorous study session on the ways and reasons for the turning of Winter to Spring, Gerbil was leading the young Winter Hunter even deeper into the cavern. The network of Bronze lighting had grown duller and duller the further they went inside and Gerbil had the sense to light a torch and hand another to Cailean.

  Cailean took the torch and lit it off the Druid’s torch, “I take it this isn’t one of the more visited areas of the mountain?” he asked.

  “Not been a Winter Hunter here in a good deal of seasons, I tried taking a spell in here, and well, perhaps there's a reason this room should be avoided,” Gerbil smiled.

  “I fought with Hunt Master Baltair,” Cailean thought back on his first days as a winter hunter, grueling training in mud and the rains of late spring in preparation for what could be the longest winter man would see in a generation. “I also trained with Duncan Hightower,”

  “Hightower,” Gerbil laughed, “I told you no one has used this room in a while, take your guess as to the last man to study in these quarters,”

  Cailean sighed, he closed his eyes and thought of the awesome privilege he of all people had been trained by the greatest living hunter, maybe the greatest of all time, “He taught me more in a scant month than an entire year of training, and an entire childhood preparing for the hunter’s call,” Cailean said.

  “The Hightower boy is a fine Huntmaster, a fine man to train you if you’re to take that rank yourself,” Gerbil said.

  “Hunt masters are supposed to have years of experience, to have slain over a hundred monsters if what I’ve heard is true,”

  “In times of winters past maybe, but you’ve seen yourself that this is a most vicious season of cold,” Gerbil said, holding the door open for Cailean to enter.

  The small cavern was round, surrounded by spiraling bronze walls, and a small patch of leather on the ground that was surrounded by incense and candles.

  “I’ve meditated before, will this be different?” Cailean asked, “I’ve seen, quite a few things in my meditations,” Cailean turned to the old man, “Master Druid, will I have to see her again?” Cailean felt a flash in his mind, a vision of the woman in the blood-red dress with blood-red hair.

  Gerbil chuckled, “Not to found of that crimson-haired beauty I take it? That’s a rare man in your line of work, the Lady is said to be the greatest fantasy of any Hunter,” he said as he began to tap his ember laden staff to the sticks of incense that circled the room.

  “I thought she wanted something from me, and when the Dark Stalker had his knife in me, I thought she got it. But I’m here. I’m here when I shouldn’t be. I had made a deal with her,” Cailean said.

  Gerbil cackled another laugh, “Bold you are, tried to bargain with the Red Lady, what did you bargain for?” he asked as he brought his burning staff to the first of four candles at a corner of the room.

  “For Gwen,” Cailean said, not ashamed that he had made such a selfish request to a deity, “I told her I was ready to die, ready to give her my life, as long as she just kept her safe, got her here,” Cailean said as the growing fires began to warm the room he removed his Ursaling coat and tossed it to the ground. Now in just his hunter wear and his two blades hanging on his belt.

  “And you fear that if she hasn’t collected by now, the maiden you fancy lacks her protection,” Gerbil asked, “It is a shame you can’t get a deal from a goddess in writing,” he sighed.

  “I shouldn’t be alive, I gave the Red Lady what she wanted, I died in some kind of damn glorious battle. I did what was asked of me, and I fulfilled my end of the bargain, but I’m still here. I fear I’ve reneged, and earned her anger,”

  “Maybe she’s not done with you?” Gerbil turned to Cailean, the incense and candles around the room lit.

  “No one could have survived that battle, much less me,” Cailean said.

  “So humble you are, take a seat young Hunter,” Gerbil stepped aside and held his arm out.

  “What am I looking for?” Cailean asked as he undid his belt and rested his blades on his Ursaling coat.

  “Only what you need to find,” Gerbil said as he watched Cailean sit cross-legged on the thin wolf leather pad laid out on the floor.

  “I’ll give you two days, I’ll start tutoring the Sun’s Maiden while you’re indisposed, you’ve much to see, much to learn,” he said, his voice dropping the merry tone he usually carried as he turned to leave Cailean to himself.

  “Longest I’ve meditated was half a day, I’ve never gone two days,” Cailean said.

  “You’ve much to see, young Winter Hunter, the rite of a Huntmaster takes two days, two days alone with nothing but the vision of his own destiny,” he bashed the bottom of his staff to the ground again, “Look beyond the field, look beyond what you think you can see, look past the Red Lady and look past whatever debts you think your life on this great rock has earned you,” Gerbil blew on the embers at the tip of his staff and sent a cloud of ash into the room, “You’ll be a Huntmaster soon if you can see your worthy of it, it's your decision,” he said.

  “I don’t know if I can, a Huntmaster, me? I’m just a-”

  “Your just a man, no more, no less, like all Hunters before you were just men, you’ll be training Hunters yourself soon. With what you’ve told me about what you’ve seen, you’re more than qualified, the first and last person you’ll to need convince is yourself,” Gerbil said, turning his back to Cailean. “Find out how to settle your debts, and you will never be enslaved,” he said without even looking back at the young man.

  Gerbil left Cailean alone in the room. The soft fire from the candles gave the small chamber an ethereal feel of calmness to his surroundings. And with each breath, the incense wafted into his lungs. It had no scent of his own, its source was likely derived from mandragora root, one of the most powerful hallucinogenics that Winter Hunters crafted.

  Cailean took a seat on the patch of worn and tanned leather and crossed his legs. He rested his arms on his thighs and bowed his head, closing his eyes. He calmed his breath, and took long deep inhales as the smoke from the incense and burning roots. It reminded him for a moment of that morning in the woods with Duncan. Reminded him of how his heartbeat 0came to a crawl as the passage of time slowed around him. He felt his soul touch the season of cold and could feel a low whistling of winter wind that had somehow found a way to transgress even this deep into the heart of the Severed mountains.

  It began to get colder, so much colder without his Ursaling coat. He could feel the hairs on his arms stand as the winds of winter began to surround him, he could sense the motion of the candle flames waxing and waning in circles with the winter breeze. Cold as he felt, the stillness and sharpness of the climate met a foe. The warmth of his own heart. It started in his chest, with every slow pump his calm heart took, waves of warmth made their way through his body. It felt as if a nice fire was lit in a hearth just in front of him, and the warm embrace of his Ursaling jacket protected his back. His heartbeat was a faint pulse now, but every beat still brought warmth throughout his body.

  When Cailean opened his eyes, he was there again.

  The field.

  The dark low light of the cave was replaced with the might of a shining and bountiful sun high in the center of the sky. A green wave crossed the field in that shade Cailean hadn’t seen even in the kindest of springs. Cailean took a careful step through the field. As usual, he was barefoot, the soft grass cushioned his feet as he explored. Again to his left was that long and bright blue stream that cut the land in half, seeming to go on for miles in front of him, and miles behind. He approached one of the several flowers that spring from the ground and bent down to pick it. It snapped off its stem as he brought it to his face to inspect it. The blue hue of its petals was something unseen in the waking world. He brought it to his nose and took in its scent. Honey, and traces of some kind of scent he had never sensed before. He dropped the flower and a warm wind rose up from behind him, it blew the flower through the air like it was a dandelion and its petals opened up and left the stem as they floated on the wind, up and away from Cailean.

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  Cailean turned to the sapphire blue stream, he traced his eye with its flow as he took a cautious barefooted step towards it, he knelt down and reached his hand into the water. It was cold. It was as cold as a winter’s breeze, but with the warm sun heating the ethereal plane, the cool waters felt soothing as they rushed over his hand. He cupped his hands in the running water and splashed a bit of it on his face to try and shock himself back into reality. Rubbing his hands on his face he looked back up. He thought he could see a figure in the distance.

  “Are you there? Is that you?” Cailean asked as he began to take a step forward and approach it. “Red Lady, I know that you were expecting me here,” in an instant the figure was right in front of him, turned away from him. Long blood-red hair, red dress, it was her.

  Cailean reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder, the form turned and for an instant, Cailean saw a black soot-stained skull shriek at him as he jumped back and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was somewhere else. Still in the field, but it looked different. The lush and soft green grass under his feet was replaced with a yellowing and stiffer growth under him. He looked around and saw no flowers growing on this new land, and the stream was gone, replaced by a barren gash of land filled just a bit with a muddy and unsettling stream. He looked up and was surrounded by dark mountains, and there were clouds in the sky. Cailean had never seen clouds in his meditations before. When he leveled his sight again he saw her again, closer this time.

  “I’m here to talk, at least I think I am,” Cailean said.

  The Red Lady, now a fully formed woman as opposed to a skeleton in a dress, turned her head to him, “Don’t you think that was a glorious battle?” she asked.

  “Do I think being ready to sacrifice my life for the spring was glorious, yes, yes I do,” Cailean said, knowing he was lying. He wasn’t sacrificing himself for spring or for the land, he made his choice because it was Gwen he was protecting.

  The Red Lady approached him in all her beauty. Gerbil, and every Winter Hunter he knew, always talked of how the Red Lady was so beautiful. While Cailean felt the same lusts any man would feel when seeing a woman of such divine perfection, he could only think of Gwen. Could only think of that auburn-haired girl he would lay down his life a thousand times for. “I died,” Cailean said with a flat voice, “Did I square our deal?” he asked.

  “I told you that you would die in a glorious battle, and I told you that your battle was yet to come. You’re still serving my purpose, Winter Hunter,” a sly grin came across the Red Lady’s mouth.

  “I fought and I died, we’re even,” Cailean said, “I got Gwen to the mountains, but she needs to do more, I fight for the spring, you’re a Goddess, you want to see the spring don’t you?” Cailean asked.

  The Red Lady seemed to jump through time as she rushed to Cailean, resting a hand on his cheek. Her hand’s touch was colder than any wind the winter could strike against him “I told you I needed you, needed you for a great battle, did you think some scant gathering of monsters was all I needed you to stop,” she smiled.

  “What do you want from me,” Cailean said, exhausted and looking for answers, “I took a knife to the ribs, damn you spirit, what is it you want? Do you want my heart ripped out? Do you want my head severed from my body? You let me bring her to safety, if she truly is safe here, that's all I asked you for. You fulfilled your end, why didn’t you let me fulfill mine?” Cailean shook his head.

  “Do you want to die?” The Red Lady’s smile faded, and she looked upon Cailean with leading eyes.

  “I-no-I,” Cailean shook his head, “I died for you, I was ready to die for you, but I’m still alive, I still breathe the cold winter winds that our world is besieged by. I was supposed to die, die for the spring,” Cailean shut his eyes tight, just as he did when he started his meditation, but when he opened them he was still in that yellow grass field.

  “I told you, Winter Hunter, your battle is yet to come,” The Red Lady said, leaning in and whispering in his ear as she laughed, “You seek the spring you’ll never see, I find that honorable,” she said, resting her hands on Cailean’s hips, she moved her hands up his body, moving to stroke his chest, “I’ve much too many uses for you to have you die in a faint skirmish that amounted to protecting nothing more than a fleeing maiden,” she smiled.

  “What kind of deal have you roped me into?” Cailean asked, feeling bold and resting his hands on the Red Lady’s hips, “If you want someone to die for you, you have them,” he said, “I just want our deal fulfilled, I told you that I would die for Gwen, so if her being safe needs my death I will lay down my life right this instant,” he said, taking a deep breath and straitening his backbone.

  “Answers in time, Winter Hunter, someone needs to have a role in what's coming. Being that you’re the only honorable man I could find in the most desperate hour for the land my sisters and I created, I still have use for you,” The Red Lady turned and waved her hand across the field. With that, the grass under Cailean’s feet shriveled and turned black. The few clouds in the sky began to grow as the view dimmed and more darkness came over the dying field.

  “This is what your world will be if no one stops what's coming,” she said as the clouds grew so great and dark they began to bash into each other bringing booms of thunder and strikes of lightning that lit the dry grass of the dying field ablaze. “We’ve lost our control of the Voice,” she said.

  “The Voice,” Cailean shook his head, “I can’t stop it, damn you Goddess, you’re the ones who are supposed to protect this world, not man,” he said.

  “Someone needs to stop it,” The Red Lady said, “We were ignorant when we created it, we were angry, so angry at man,” she said, “The Voice is what we created when we tried to create you,” she turned to Cailean, “Destruction comes natural to man, so we tried to create something that could destroy, and we’ve been trying to contain its wrath ever since,” she said. “We thought we could stop it, but we were wrong, mans lust for dominance and destruction knows no bounds, and neither does the Voice’s it would seem,” she turned to Cailean and ran her hand up his chest.

  “You created it, can’t you stop it?” Cailean asked, “If it’s something you made, you should also be able to destroy it, shouldn’t you?” he asked.

  “The Voice was our attempt and creating a new man, unlike the brutes we found when we raised the land out of the frozen seas. We thought we could craft a better nature than the destructive force that is man, but we were wrong. That’s the one thing we never understood about you, we never understood the ability you had to destroy something beautiful,” The Red Lady sighed, “I’m sorry to say, but the Voice is Man’s problem, and Man is the one who must settle it. We see the future, we see many futures, and in many futures we see the Voice destroying the world we made, the world that’s yours now,” she turned to Cailean, “A great battle is still in your future, I’ve still got my eye on you, you will see a great battle, Winter Hunter, she reached up and rested her hand on Cailean’s shoulder. He felt the mark she had put on him burn at her touch. “We created the voice, as only women can create, but we can not destroy that which we’ve made, only man can destroy, and as a man, you must destroy this threat,” The Red Lady looked down, “We will do what we can for you. I’ve given you my mark, I’ve guaranteed your death in an epic struggle, and in doing so I’ve given you the way to that epic struggle,” she raised her head and looked Cailean dead in the eye, “Fight for the spring, Winter Hunter. With the Voice defeated, the creative hands of the Goddesses will consider man’s penance paid, and bless you with all the gifts of the land we created, the land you arose from,” she took Cailean’s hand and led it to her cheek, “Fight for that, Winter Hunter,” she said as a great and cold breeze of winter rushed over them. The Red Lady’s hair was tossed and Cailean felt the chill of the wind on his skin as his eyes shot open, and he was back in the meditation chambers, alone, the candles burned down to near uselessness and the sticks of incense long expired.

  Cailean rose to his feet, reached for his Ursaling jacket, and threw it over his back. Slipping into it as he exited the meditation room and came to Gerbil’s quarters.

  “How many hunters are left?” Cailean asked, already knowing the answer.

  Gerbil, who was having a drink of tea, took a big sip and put down his glass, “There was a night, not too long ago, that in my sleep, in my own meditation, I saw the cleansing. Those who stalk the dark marching in the night and ending our order. I didn’t want to scare the little sun-kissed girl too much too soon,” he looked up at Cailean, “There's a sparse few left, and it will be up to you as the new Hunt Master to rebuild our order,” he said, “We will need an army to fight the voice,” Gerbil smiled, but his eyes were down and had the look of a man who knew a great deal of work would be required of him soon, “I’ve seen her too,” he said, “So beautiful, she hasn’t done me the honor of cleaning my armor though, I’ve no mark from her, she didn’t choose me, she chose you, so it's you who must rebuild the order,” he said.

  “Rebuild, what am I supposed to do, where do I start?” Cailean asked.

  “Go, the Sun maiden is protected in these mountains, know that she is safe and go, find the souls of strong young men willing to die for a cause, find men who can rebuild our order, find men who can give everything to fight for the spring,” he said.

  Cailean thought the Red Lady had given him this battle. If this was the task the Red Lady demanded of him, he would serve her so long as it was a part of his bargain with her. If rebuilding the order could bring the spring, and keep his Gwendolyn safe, then that is what he would do, “Very well, where do I start, how do I even find a boy who can hear the call?” he asked.

  “Use your senses, you should trust them more, yours are keen. I’ve met hundreds of hunters in my time, You may lack the brutishness of some, but I can tell you have senses and intuition far above most of your brotherhood, go, begin to rebuild. Build the army that will bring the spring back,” he said.

  Cailean nodded and went to the library, it was early morning and Gwen was still sitting at a desk, her head laying on a book and her eyes shut as she had fallen to slumber with the candle she was reading by damn near burned to the end of its wick. Cailean approached her and gently brushed her hair past her forehead. Even sleeping she was so beautiful, even unconscious she still radiated a warmth around her, a warmth that touched Cailean’s heart. She stirred awake, “Cailean?” she asked, looking up, yawning.

  “I’ll be leaving for a while, keep up your studies, I’ll be back soon,” he said.

  “Leaving, but why? I need you here, what if-”

  “Shh, you’ll be safe here, you’re on hallowed ground, safe from the darkness,” he said, “You’re going to bring the Spring back, and I’m going to bring you the army that’s going to help you,” he smiled.