Chapter 21
Farnor’s homeward journey continued to be both quicker and easier than his outward one. But though he was more at ease with himself, many thoughts about the future disturbed him. Not least among these were the practicalities of what he was intending to do.
How should he confront Rannick? He couldn’t sim-ply ride up to the castle and announce himself. Whatever power he might possess, he had learned nothing about either its nature or its use from the Forest, despite his original intentions, and he was loath to assume that it would suddenly manifest itself as need required.
And, mementoes of beating, climbing, and riding – the intermittent aches and pains in his body – reminded him that, power or no, he was not proof against fleshly distress. He could thus not sensibly oppose himself against point and edge, still less bone-crushing teeth. The memory of the creature’s malevolent and powerful presence chilled him.
Gradually he came to the conclusion he had reached before he had been drawn on his strange journey through the Great Forest. He would hide in the woods beyond the castle, watching and listening silently, until he could encounter Rannick alone. He had little doubt that, given the element of surprise, he could seize and overpower him. His darker vision of the future might have turned from Rannick’s death but he would nevertheless relish subduing him by main force. And this time he would sound no challenge that might bring the creature down on him. And too, he was no longer alone. The trees would be watching and listening with him.
His mood was unsettled, however. Despite all his plans, confronting Rannick was still a stomach-turning prospect which became more frightening with each southbound stride. Yet, it also had a familiar quality of inevitability about it, not unlike that which preceded a trip to Gryss with toothache, though worse by far. What was upsetting him more were his thoughts about Derwyn and his family. True, he had advised Derwyn simply to search for the valley and prepare to defend his people against what might come from there. But he had been vague; he had not warned him as he should other than to tell him to take his best men. He cursed himself roundly for his dark folly every time he thought of his last meeting with Derwyn. It gave him no consolation that not for a moment had it occurred to him at the time that Derwyn would undertake such an expedition with a small family hunting party.
That, through his neglect, he might have brought to Derwyn’s kin the pain of loss that he himself had suffered, troubled him greatly. And the trees could not help. He had asked about Derwyn’s fate only once.
‘We are frightened where we are near your home, Far-nor. The power there grows apace. It is terrible. And the fear clouds all. Mar-ken and his company passed into the spreading nightfall and I could not Hear him further.’
Farnor did not need to be told this last; fear and confusion permeated the words, jagged and frightful, and layered through with apologies and regret – and shame.
‘I understand,’ he said, though he added sternly, ‘But we must both of us struggle to face our fears if they’re not to bring us down.’ Then he had tried another approach. ‘Are Marken or the others back at their lodge?’
The answer was starkly clear. ‘No.’
Farnor swore to himself, and unthinkingly urged his horse forward. It took no notice, however, continuing resolutely at the pace that it presumably found most suitable.
There had been such distress in the voice of the trees that, despite his concern, he had not been able to bring himself to pursue the matter. ‘They’re none of them foolish or reckless people,’ Uldaneth had said, but that too gave him little consolation. Though as the words came back to him he heard her saying again, ‘What’s done is done, Farnor. Neither of us can do anything from here.’ Oddly, that had helped. Some quality in her voice had told him that destroying himself with gnawing anxieties about matters beyond his control was to compound one folly with another. He began trying to quieten himself by becoming absorbed in the gentle, drumming rhythm of his journey, and the tranquillity of the Forest about him.
And tranquil it was. The nights were cool, scented and dreamless, and each morning he was awake, refreshed and alive, before the sound of the dawn horns floated over the treetops to greet him. He found streams to drink from and to bathe in, and the food from Marrin’s lodge left him no need either to economize or to hunt.
And sometimes, the trees sang.
Though he met no other Valderen on the way, he noted now their presence in many things to which previously he had been oblivious. He came upon carvings unexpectedly. One in particular struck him forcibly: a great bird, twice his own height, wings widespread, had been carved from the crown of a dead tree in the middle of a clearing. Its glistening, varnished eye fixed itself on him so realistically as he dismounted and walked around it in wonder, that he was almost afraid to go near it for fear it would suddenly lunge down at him. And there were many others: strange man-like creatures with comical faces squatted in families on low branches; large insects peered at him from the undergrowth; faces were carved into trunks, and sometimes he came across shapes, polished and smooth and resembling nothing, yet beautiful both to look at and to touch. And too there were trees whose branches had been shaped and formed in ways that could not have been natural but which yet celebrated life and nature.
Frequently he touched individual trees and talked to them. It was a strange experience, quite different from his contact with their collective voice. They were at once prosaic and intriguing, full of local gossip about matters that he could not begin to understand – subtle images involving branches and roots, sunlight and warm darkness, and, with unmistakable and quite disconcert-ing delight, seeds!
And yet they were full of tales of distant places and distant times as well. ‘They made a magical carving of me in a great castle far away from here, once,’ was a common tale, though he could make little sense of that either except that it was obviously a source of some pride.
Then, quite unexpectedly, one bright morning, he was riding into Derwyn’s lodge. Voices called out to him from above and people began to appear; some walking and running towards him, others bouncing perilously down ladders, touching scarcely one rung in ten. He reined his horse back to a walk as his worries crashed in upon him. ‘Is Derwyn here?’ he asked the first person he came to.
Before he received any answer, EmRan appeared by his side. ‘What have you come back for?’ he demanded. ‘You caused enough trouble the first time ‘
Farnor’s mood curdled into violence at this greeting. He rounded on EmRan angrily. ‘Why did you prevent the Congress from helping Derwyn when he wanted to go south and find the route to my valley?’
EmRan started at this unexpected response, then bridled, but Farnor gave him no opportunity to speak. ‘I told him it was dangerous,’ he went on. ‘And that he should take the best men he could. And travel carefully and quietly.’ He leaned down towards EmRan and his pent-up concerns of the last few days hissed out. ‘It was no expedition for old men, women and girls, you meddling buffoon…’
‘Don’t let Marken, Angwen and least of all Edrien hear you say that.’
Farnor spun round. Standing on the other side of his horse was Derwyn, his arms extended. Farnor almost tumbled out of his saddle in his relief. He took his erstwhile host’s arms in the Valderen manner.
Derwyn smiled. ‘You still have a faller’s grip, Farnor, but it’s good to see you.’
‘It’s good to see you, Derwyn,’ Farnor replied. ‘I was so afraid for you when Uldaneth told me what EmRan had done.’
Derwyn chuckled. ‘EmRan did nothing I shouldn’t have expected,’ he said. ‘It was my fault. I was so preoccupied with you and Marken and everything that I just didn’t look what I was doing.’ He put his arm around Farnor’s shoulder. ‘Besides, did you take us for fools, young man?’ he asked mockingly. ‘Did you think we’d go charging around blindly like fleeing deer? You told me clearly enough that it was dangerous.’