The leader of the band of warriors gradually eased into open conversation with Janus and the others as they continued forth through the sprawling forest. Janus listened with great interest to Ayenwatha’s words, hoping to learn a little bit more about the lands within the new world around him.
Their new host, Ayenwatha, was a war leader within his Onan tribe, referred to among his people as a war sachem. The Onan, in turn, were part of a broader alliance of five great tribes.
That alliance, called the Five Realms, had come together for common protection and fellowship long ago, under the guidance of a very wise individual, named Deganawida, who was deeply revered by all the tribes.
Ayenwatha also informed them that he was of the Firaken clan, reflecting no small amount of pride in his expression and voice. Though Janus did not have the first idea as to what a Firaken was, or what it meant to be in such a clan, he could sense that clan affiliation was a very important element of the tribal society.
Janus was also able to glean more about the enigmatic figure known as the Unifier. Ayenwatha’s tone was little different than that of the old wanderer when he was speaking of the highly mysterious Unifier.
There was no mistaking the bitter hatred that Ayenwatha felt towards the Unifier, an animosity that clearly reflected the feelings of all the tribal warriors. To Ayenwatha’s knowledge, the Five Realms were one of the few civilizations remaining in the whole known world that still remained openly opposed to the Unifier.
Ayenwatha related that a state of war had recently arisen between the Five Realms and the followers of the Unifier, who would accept nothing less than the utter submission of his people. The Five Realms had long before rejected the Unifier’s overtures to seek the tribes’ loyalty to Him, which Ayenwatha described as a tacit demand to submit fully to the Unifier’s authority.
A stark, more overtly worded demand recently delivered to the tribes had been refused outright by their Grand Council. It was a fateful rejection, which the tribal sachems had known would likely conjure up a violent, raging storm upon their own people.
As luck would have it, Janus and his companions had come into the tribal lands just as those storm clouds were building to the verge of bursting. That fully explained the extreme caution displayed by the warriors when they had emerged to confront Janus’ group.
Ayenwatha informed Janus and the others that his Onan war party had been shadowing the army that they had witnessed from the edge of the forest.
The large force’s appearance along their borders, Ayenwatha believed, was the sign that an invasion was imminent. Ayenwatha surmised that the force was making its way towards a position central to the westernmost borders of the tribal lands, a place that also afforded access to ample amounts of fresh water in the forms of a sizeable lake and attendant streams.
According to Ayenwatha, it was an ideal locale for a massive number of warriors and animals, putting the enemy force in an advantageous position where they were well-poised to cleave through the heart of the tribal lands.
Janus learned that the bordering kingdom where this force had mustered and come from was called Gallea. According to Ayenwatha, it was just one of many strong kingdoms that had implicitly submitted their authority to the Unifier.
Janus could tell that Ayenwatha greatly lamented the impending conflict. The war sachem remarked that Gallea had not always shown such outward hostility to his people. Ayenwatha spoke with a very conspicuous sense of wonder about a great Gallean city called Carcasse, which he had once been to in earlier, and more peaceful, times. He described with unmistakable admiration how the city was surrounded with high stone walls, and many prominent towers, filled with traders and guests from all over the Gallean realm and far beyond.
The tribes had until fairly recently enjoyed a steady trade with the Galleans, as there was evidently a large demand in the Gallean markets for beaver furs. In return, the tribes had regularly obtained many iron implements, such as cooking pots, axe, arrow, and spear heads, and knife blades.
Ayenwatha spoke with outright fascination of other massive, stone-walled fortresses that he had seen on his journeys into the Gallean lands. These were not cities, he explained, but rather where the Gallean sachems, as he called the Gallean leaders, resided with their families.
Ayenwatha held a high and very respectful regard for his tribe’s powerful neighbor. It was obviously a point of considerable distress that Gallea had fully enjoined with the Unifier, enough such that it was gathering its military might to threaten and beset Ayenwatha’s woodland people.
Derek had then interjected into the discussion, querying Ayenwatha regarding the non-humans that he, Logan, Erika, and Mershad had seen marching with the great enemy force.
The presence of non-human races had been an incredible revelation, one that greatly intrigued Janus, as he had remained behind in the camp when the others had gone forth to investigate the source of the tremors. He too wanted to learn a little more about the strange beasts that Derek, Logan, Mershad, and Erika had seen and described.
From the snippets of their descriptions and other comments, Janus had been able to cobble together a rough mental image of the unusual denizens of this new, mystifying world. As Ayenwatha elaborated in response to Derek’s inquiry, that picture became much more clear.
The non-humans that Derek and the three others had seen amongst the marching forces were not from Gallea, but had been summoned from other, faraway lands. Like the Galleans, they were each just another part of the enormous coalition being gathered under the Unifier’s dominion.
The rat-like beings were called Atagar, from a distant land called Yanith. They were reputed to be nimble, formidable fighters, highly-suited to a forest environment as they occupied one themselves back in their native lands. With their natural abilities, it had come as little surprise to Ayenwatha that they had been brought in for an attack upon the woodland tribes.
The cat-like creatures with the extensive canines that accompanied the Atagar also came from Yanith. Not unlike war dogs used by humans, these creatures, called Licanthers, were raised and trained by the Atagar to serve as guardians, companions, and living weapons of war.
Hearing about the fearsome Licanthers, Janus was not sure that he ever wanted to see one within any short distance of himself. It was disconcerting enough just to know that such fantastical entities truly existed, and were not simply beasts of myth or legend.
The massive, brutish creatures witnessed by Janus’ companions were called Gigans. Ayenwatha explained that they were native to the north-central regions along the borders of a very large realm called Kiruva, a place that Ayenwatha claimed he knew little about. As a whole, the Gigans were still fairly unfamiliar to the tribal people, but Janus could tell that Ayenwatha was not eager to discover all of the attributes of the hulking race.
It was hard for Janus to envision these weapon-wielding behemoths, but he could tell that Derek had been entirely awed by them. That was enough to daunt Janus, as Derek was not one to be easily impressed.
Janus also learned that the Five Realms were not likely to be the only ones that were imminently coming under the shadow of assault from the Unifier. From some trading exchanges with other people still friendly to the Five Realms, Ayenwatha had learned that the far-reaching power of the Unifier was already moving to conquer another large kingdom that had steadfastly refused Him.
It was a realm located across the waters of the ocean to the south of the Five Realms, called the Kingdom of Saxany.
The Unifier, from His citadel in Avanor, had also begun turning His eyes towards a land known as Midragard. Janus could sense the marked distress that Ayenwatha felt at this prospect in particular, quickly recognizing that Ayenwatha felt an affinity for the Midragardans.
The people of Midragard were apparently masters of the oceans, great seafarers whose main homelands were located much farther to the south. They had numerous settlements stretching far beyond the main lands of Midragard, even including some on islands located just offshore of the Five Realms to the east.
The seafaring people, according to Ayenwatha, were legendary warriors and traders, whose travels in war and trade had taken them to many foreign lands.
Once ferocious raiders of the tribal lands, the Midragardans were now in a longstanding state of friendship with the five tribes. The enmity that formerly existed between Ayenwatha’s people and the Midragardans had ebbed over time, finally disappearing as open trade replaced violence.
The relationship had grown strong, bringing the Five Realms more than just material items of trade. The Midragardans brought Ayenwatha word of rumors and happenings from many distant lands. It had been Midragardans that had brought Ayenwatha the tidings of war involving Saxany.
While Janus could sense that such reports were troubling enough to Ayenwatha, he understood that the sachem’s own concerns were very immediate in nature. Ayenwatha’s war party had been tracking and shadowing the marching army beyond the border for the better part of the last two days. Prior to encountering Janus’ group, the war band had been very close to returning back to the Onan village called the Place of Far Seeing, where the eternal Sacred Fire of the Five Realms was kept. This village, as Janus learned, also happened to be Ayenwatha’s own home village.
Ayenwatha’s war party been sent out by the village to learn everything that they could of the enemy forces, in order to gain as much information as possible for the consideration of future councils.
There had been some fighting over the course of the two days, though none of the enemy that had been encountered by Ayenwatha’s band had escaped the forest. Janus had seen the evidence of those melees in the form of the gruesome scalps being carried by a few of the warriors.
It had been late in that very morning that the war party had become aware of the seven humans’ presence within the woods. They had come upon their campsite not long thereafter.
Derek perked up and drew closer when Ayenwatha spoke of how the war party had fanned out and quickly surrounded the campsite, moving into place right after the Wanderer, as Ayenwatha referred to the old man, had departed. Oddly, they had not encountered the Wanderer as they had closed in and encircled the seven foreigners, though there were only a handful of moments between the old man’s departure and their emergence. Once they had taken their positions, Ayenwatha’s warriors had been content to stay concealed for a few more moments, as they observed the unusually attired, strange interlopers.
Janus was sure that the revelation of the warriors’ successful encroachment and surveillance was of great interest to his friend, who prided himself on his own senses and acute alertness.
“A whole war party… encircled us, and crept up, without anything seeming remotely amiss,” Derek murmured to Janus, the appreciation for the skills of the tribal warriors very evident in his voice.
Janus realized how lucky they were to all be wearing their own clothes. As Ayenwatha explained it, their unfamiliar attire was the sole factor that had stayed the hand of the war band from killing them outright. Their highly unusual clothing had prevented the tribal warriors from instantly mistaking the seven to be some sort of scouting offshoot from the nearby enemy forces.
After the brief observation, Ayenwatha had come to the fortunate decision that there was a real possibility that Janus and his companions were not aligned with the forces of the Unifier. It was at that juncture that Ayenwatha and the warriors had made their presence known.
The thought of how precariously close Janus and the others from his world had come to dying that day was quite sobering to contemplate.
Janus and his companions were not the only ones hungry for new information. It did not take long for Ayenwatha to begin probing for answers to his own questions, regarding the seven and their recent experiences.
Janus related in detail his own interactions with the Wanderer. It was clear that the tribal people regarded the Wanderer with great esteem, holding a deep respect for his wisdom in particular.
While frustrating to Janus, Ayenwatha offered nothing specific about the old man’s nature, even though Janus could clearly sense that there was much more that Ayenwatha could have said about the Wanderer. Janus felt a tantalizing urge to try and press Ayenwatha on the matter, but then thought better of it.
Janus did learn that the Wanderer was known to possess great powers, gifts that Ayenwatha said came from the One Spirit, which the Wanderer used to help humankind and all of creation. Ayenwatha was insistent to assure Janus and the others that the Wanderer was no shaman or witch, and that his powers had nothing at all to do with dark magic.
Janus had already noticed that Ayenwatha’s war band had shown a pressing interest in determining whether Janus and his companions were shamans or witches. The determination of their status in that regard had appeared to be of the utmost importance to the tribal contingent. The seven had been carefully evaluated by the quartz-holding warriors, and had been deemed blameless of such pursuits.
That judgement, in Janus’ estimation, had also been immensely fortunate for his group, with dire consequences had it gone otherwise. With the very adamant declaration of the Wanderer’s full innocence in relation to dark magic, the truth was made very clear to Janus. The tribal culture that Ayenwatha was from regarded witches, shamans, and dark sorcerers as baleful adversaries, in a very hostile sense. The practicing of dark magic was most certainly among the most serious of transgressions in the eyes of the tribal people, an odious and unforgivable affront to their culture and beliefs.
A few of the other warriors in the immediate vicinity of Janus and the others had then begun to relate their own tales concerning the Wanderer.
Every story and encounter regarding the Wanderer boded no ill or danger for those that had experienced his presence. Rather, all of the described experiences of the tribal people with the Wanderer were of a very positive nature. Janus was left with few doubts that his own encounter with the esoteric, woodland wanderer had been a stroke of excellent fortune. Without the pendants the Wanderer had given them, he did not wish to think of what might have happened after the tribal warriors had come forth from the shadows.
With the tone of a jest, Ayenwatha had then remarked that the Wanderer had often appeared to his eyes and sensibilities to be a wayward elder from Midragard. According to Ayenwatha, the Wanderer’s fair countenance, luxuriant blue eye, staunch fortitude, and seemingly relentless passion for adventuring strongly reflected the kind of blood found flowing in Midragardan veins.
The only significant difference in Ayenwatha’s eyes was that the Wanderer had always been encountered solely by the tribal people within their own woodlands, well within the territories of the Five Realms. The tribal people had never met the Wanderer out upon the Great Waters, or around the Midragardans that they interacted with. In fact, the Midragardans that Ayenwatha knew had claimed to have had no encounters with the Wanderer. As the sachem stated with emphasis, had the Wanderer been of a Midragardan origin, it was inconceivable that the Wanderer would have had no interactions with Midragardans living and traveling in the vicinity of the tribal lands. It was also unbelievable that he had never been seen out on the seas that the Midragardans so loved.
Janus steadily came to realize that it was the great reverence that the tribes held for the Wanderer that had also helped the cause of the seven lost foreigners. The warriors undoubtedly had been encouraged to even greater restraint when it had been revealed that the seven exiles had not only interacted favorably with the venerable, blue-robed elder, but had also been bestowed by the Wanderer with powerful gifts.
Janus gave a brief shudder as he considered again just how perilously close they had all been dancing to the edge of a razor sharp blade. One slight inclination by Ayenwatha in another direction could well have resulted in arrows hissing from the forest to impale Janus and all the others, before they even knew what was happening.
Ayenwatha was rife with curiosity about the seven exiles, and Janus was not surprised when the warrior-leader began to venture the inevitable cascade of questions regarding the foreigners and their circumstances.
Logan and Erika took most of the turns explaining the course of the events that had brought them to the very moment where Ayenwatha and his warriors had revealed themselves. Janus did not mind the others speaking for the group, as it gave him some more time to observe the reactions and responses of their host.
Ayenwatha listened to the accounts with manifest interest, and undisguised fascination. Janus could tell that it was very difficult for Ayenwatha to even conceive of the concept of someone coming from another entire world.
Ayenwatha rarely interrupted, openly encouraging all of them to go into great detail. Many of the surrounding warriors walking with them edged closer to catch pieces of what was certainly to them a wild and incredible tale.
As Janus watched Ayenwatha closely, he eventually came to understand that Ayenwatha was no individual to be underestimated, or taken lightly. The sachem possessed a subtle intelligence, and was clever in using it, as Janus slowly realized what the sachem was truly up to in the prolonged dialogue with his comrades.
Ayenwatha’s questions kept the others talking, often backtracking over areas that they had covered before. Janus came to understand that there was a cogent reason for the seeming redundancy.
It dawned upon Janus that the sachem’s desire for considerable detail was not the result of simply wanting to feed casual interests. As he listened to the foreigners, Ayenwatha was actively sifting through the many elements of their story. He was looking for any inconsistencies or conflicts in their accounts, as well as working to gain deeper insights, seeking to discover anything that would tell him more about the real truth involving the seven’s unexpected presence in the lands of his people.
Janus hoped that the greater amount of information given by his companions was reinforcing to Ayenwatha. Everything being said by them regarding their ordeal was the truth, and not some intentionally deceptive concoction.
From Ayenwatha’s continuing relaxed posture and amiable countenance, Janus suspected that their stories were measuring up well with the war sachem’s assessments. Janus felt confident, as the sachem’s correlation of the group’s various accounts would have revealed no incongruities, for there were none to be had.
Like the crystals, Ayenwatha’s pursuit of extensive detail was merely another bout of testing, woven shrewdly into an atmosphere of casual conversation.
“I believe that great magic was used upon you. It was wielded against you, or for you,” Ayenwatha remarked at long last, after the stories of the group’s travails had been thoroughly rendered. “But which kind of magic, I cannot yet tell. Perhaps it was the miraculous work of the One Spirit, the Creator and Sky Lord. Maybe it was the Mother of the World, whom the Sky Lord sent to us… or the Light Brother. Maybe it was the work of the Dark Brother, or malevolent spirits from deep in the underworld. Who can now say? Even so, in time, I am sure that it will become clear which kind of magic brought you into our lands. There is much to consider, and…”
Ayenwatha’s words were interrupted as the sound of flapping wings filtered down from the skies above the thickly foliated tree branches. Abruptly becoming silent, the war sachem froze in place, right as all of the other warriors snapped to a halt.
Janus instantly took their cue and stood still, holding his breath as he watched Ayenwatha for an indication of what to do. The sound of the wings grew louder, as if something was approaching. From what he could tell, whatever was coming was not far above the trees.
“Down, all of you, and press against the trees,” Ayenwatha commanded them sharply, in a voice laced with urgency.
The other warriors had already faded into the forest’s foliage, dissolving into undergrowth and shadows. For them, the act of vanishing into their surroundings was probably a mere reflex. For Janus and most of the others with him, everything was unfamiliar, including the nature of this new world’s dangers. Only Derek could have been expected to possess some kinship with the instinctive responses of a trained warrior.
Following Ayenwatha’s directive, Janus crouched low and pressed himself tightly against the trunk of a great maple tree. Looking around, he saw that the others of his group had taken similar positions at the bases of nearby trees.
Like himself, most of the others looked anxious and uncertain, and only Derek looked to be confident and more at ease with the task. Ayenwatha moved around quickly, nimble and light of step, as he took appraisal of the seven and their postures. His purpose became apparent as he made Antonio adjust his body position, aligning him closer to the base of the tree that he had sought cover under. The flapping sounds drew ever nearer, prompting Janus to start looking skyward.
“The sky scouts of the Unifier’s forces are above us. Stay still. Stay to the trees and do not move at all. Do not speak, until I tell you it is safe,” Ayenwatha cautioned them as he moved to a tree close by, drawing Janus’ attention back to the war sachem.
Ayenwatha then nodded towards the skies, compelling Janus to look upward again. Through the few breaks of light in the interlaced mass of branches and leaves overhead, Janus observed a number of winged forms passing through the air a short distance above the tree canopy.
A rapidly occurring assortment of brief glimpses transpired, as the winged group flew over the war band and the exiles. Shadows flitted all over the ground with their passage. Janus remained motionless, staring intently above, though he could not make out much detail out about the flying creatures. He did see enough to determine that whatever the winged creatures might be, they were large, and they were bearing riders.
A sizeable group continued over their positions, and by Janus’ best estimations it was at least twenty riders strong. After several more tense moments, the flapping of the wings faded and the skies became fully silent once again.
Cautiously, Ayenwatha crept out from his own hiding place, looking upward and listening carefully. After waiting for many long moments, he finally raised his hands to his lips and gave a signal that sounded like the call of a bird. The trilling call brought all of the warriors forth from the shadows, and they reassembled in the area around Ayenwatha and the seven.
“You may be at ease now,” Ayenwatha said to the exiles, indicating for them to come forward from their places. Derek and the others converged, rising up and striding from the trees towards Ayenwatha, one by one.
Ayenwatha waited until all seven of the foreigners had drawn near to him before continuing. His voice was thick with anger. “Those wings herald the doom of our lands, and the power that commands them is the bane of all our people… and, in truth, the bane of all people.”
“What… were those?” Logan asked Ayenwatha in a low voice, standing at Janus’ side with a furrowed brow.
Janus looked back to the sachem, the same question perched on the tip of his own tongue. Shifting over a couple of paces to stand next to Logan, Antonio kept his widened eyes fixated towards the skies.
Janus glanced over at Kent, who was at his other shoulder.
The right side of Kent’s face looked like tree bark, from where he had mashed his face into the trunk that he had taken cover by. One half of his face smooth, the other the inverse pattern of the bark, the resulting effect was undeniably comical. Janus had to stifle the chuckle that threatened to burst forth, given the very serious circumstances.
“The Unifier calls upon the power of many lands, and the forces gathering against us have far greater numbers than do we. It is no different with their sky warriors. We have winged steeds, but we must keep our steeds upon the ground, lest we become overwhelmed by their numbers in the sky,” Ayenwatha replied in a grave tone. “The enemy has brought a very fierce race with them from afar, warriors whose great steeds are stronger and faster than are ours.
“It is said that the dog-faced warriors that ride upon those steeds come from the great, mountainous lands to the west of the Gigan lands, those huge creatures that some among you saw marching with the human forces this day. The dog-faced ones are powerful and courageous warriors, known as Trogens.”
Janus could hear the sincere respect that Ayenwatha held towards these particular enemies, though Janus had not the first inkling of what Trogens were.
There was so much to assimilate since that morning. Learning of the existence of a strange race of dog-faced warriors riding upon winged beasts was now added to everything else. Janus already had to contend with thoughts of the passing of a massive army on the brink of war, Ayenwatha and his people, Gigans, Atagar, Licanthers, the Wanderer, all manner of foreign realms, the apparent reality of magic, and the talk of the foreboding Unifier.
Janus had no answers for any of it, and it was almost enough to send his head spinning. From a quick look at each of the others of his party, it did not look like any of them had a full grasp of things either.
Starkly confronted by the growing maelstrom of an unknown, very dangerous world, Janus knew that, like himself, his companions were only just beginning the quest of coming to terms with their new reality. It was a challenge that none of them had chosen, but one that all would have to face outright.
“We must not delay here,” Ayenwatha said after a few more uncomfortable moments, “We must continue onward to the village.”
There were no arguments forthcoming from anyone, warrior or exile alike, as Ayenwatha resumed the march, leading the war band at a brisk pace through the woods.