The Sword of Souls

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. At least, that was what Rebane’s grandmother had told him, but she was well known by the people of Hythe for her fanciful tales and ridiculous stories. As a small boy, Rebane had sat at his grandmother’s feet and listened with awe as she described the swift might of the Elves, the powerful wingbeats of the Fae, and the immense strength of the Fenrir. She had guided his imagination through hidden caves, blue lagoons, and over the edge of the tallest mountains. Once, he had believed it all, but now, he was almost a man, and it was time he stopped believing in fairy tales.

The dragons were here, and whether they had arrived recently, or been here for centuries did not matter. A single dragon could set a village the size of Hythe ablaze within seconds, and so the watchman of Hythe remained ever vigilant. A dragon could not be stopped, but the village could be evacuated with enough notice. Once the dragon was gone and it was safe to emerge, they could begin rebuilding.

There had only been one dragon attack in Rebane’s lifetime, but it had destroyed the village. Not a house remained standing and when the smoke had settled sixteen were dead, Rebane’s mother, father, and younger sister among them. His grandparents had taken him in after that, and the reconstruction of Hythe began the moment the ground had cooled. That was the day Rebane learned the most valuable lesson that a person could learn in this trying time. He had learned that a roof over your head did not protect you from the sky above, a lock on your door did not protect you from the dangers lurking beyond, and nothing could prepare you for what was to come. That was the mantra that Rebane had lived by these past nine years.

There would be more dragons to come, and it seemed likely that the next dragon would come sooner rather than later.

Rebane was seventeen, tall and dark-haired, with a splattering of clumsily shaped freckles that had pursued him through childhood and adolescence. Rebane had inherited his sharp nose from his father, and his steady blue eyes from his mother. But despite this, his appearance remained fairly unremarkable, almost half the village had blue eyes, and dark hair and freckles were not strikingly unusual either.

It was a cold and misty morning, two cycles into the freezing season of Moni, that the spirits shifted and brought change to the little village of Hythe. It came in the form of a stranger, bundled in an emerald cloak interlaced with golden thread, the finest piece of clothing that had been seen in these parts for nearly a century.

The stranger emerged from the trees that marked the edge of the Sceotan Forest, and they walked through the village, unbothered by the eyes that tracked their progress. They walked right into the heart of the village, and then, standing before the great hall they collapsed in a crumpled heap on the ground.

Rebane learned of all this later, when he returned home that evening from his duties at the lookout point.

“A demon Rebane,” little Juuli squeaked when she saw him coming.

“It wasn’t a demon,” her brother Seppo huffed, giving the girl a shove. “I heard someone say that it’s a woman, cursed with the form of a bird.”

Juuli and Seppo were eleven years old and already had a reputation for being the two biggest gossips in the village. Their father was Dain Villem, the most powerful man in Hythe. It was the Dain who organised the people each day, he dictated who should work on the fields, who should go out to hunt, and whose turn it was to observe the skies from the lookout point stationed at the valley’s head. Dain Villem had taken care of them these past twenty years, and Rebane had nothing but respect for the man. However, his two children could talk the ear off even the most patient of souls.

Assuming that a rather large crow had just been caught in a trap, Rebane manoeuvred his way around the children. He was tired and it was cold, dinner and a warm fire were waiting for him at home. But the twins followed, still bickering back and forth.

The houses of Hythe were simple structures, made of wood, the only stone used was in the foundations. Pa said it made it easier to rebuild after a dragon attack. Each house had a uniform design, one large main room, two or three bedrooms upstairs, an outhouse, and a small, primitive, dusty floored kitchen.

“She transformed right in the village square, I saw it,” Seppo told his sister pointedly. “I saw the feathers!”

“Demons can have feathers too,” Juuli shot back.

Though Rebane did his best to ignore them, they followed him all the way home.

“You’re just saying she can’t be a demon because she’s pretty,” Juuli huffed, just as they rounded the corner to the little street where Rebane’s lived with his grandparents.

From the corner of his eye, Rebane noticed the way Seppo’s pale freckled face turned a bright brilliant red, almost the exact same shade as his hair. “No, I’m not!”

Rebane paused. So, they were talking about an actual woman and not a bird, a stranger to these parts.

A roof over your head did not protect you from the sky above, a lock on your door did not protect you from the dangers lurking beyond, and nothing could prepare you for what was to come.

His stomach tightened; a sharp feeling of discomfort taking hold. The fingers of his left hand twitched towards the sword at his belt.

“What does your father say?” He addressed the children for the first time, trying to keep his voice steady, he didn’t want their exaggerations or opinions, just clear answers.

“Father won’t talk to us,” Juuli sighed, her lips pouting. “He and the other important men are all huddled up in the great hall, they even locked all the doors. The demon’s been taken to the healer’s hut, but no one will let us in there either.”

“I told you she’s not a demon!”

Sensing that Seppo and Juuli were about to start arguing again, Rebane quickly moved away from them, heading straight for home.

“Gran, Pa?” Dropping his sword by the door with far less care than usual, Rebane made a direct beeline for the small kitchen at the back of the house. He passed through the main room to the back of the house where the three steps that led into the kitchen were waiting. Rebane jumped down onto the dusty floor of the little open space that backed onto the land beyond. Both his grandparents were there. Gran was leaning over the clay oven tending to dinner, and Pa was resting his shoulder against the nearby wall, taking in the warmth, his lit pipe balanced precariously between his fingers.

Neither of them shifted a great deal when he entered the room, despite his flustered state and wide staring eyes.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Gran told him, “Didn’t have any meat today, but plenty of carrots so it should be a good and hearty…”

“Is it true a stranger came to the village today?” Rebane stared wildly from his Gran to his Pa, studying their faces carefully. “The twins were confused, they said something about feathers. Stories of demons and cursed women?”

Gran chuckled, a deep throaty sound, it was the sort of chuckle that reassured everyone that there was nothing to be worried about.

“Those two have such active imaginations. It isn’t a demon or a cursed woman, I’ve never heard of such things.”

Pa tapped his pipe loosely against the side of the oven. “To be fair we don’t know what it is either Aadel.”

But Gran scoffed, waving her arm at Pa in a dismissive way. “Nonsense, of course, I do. I told Dain Villem, and I told that superstitious Eluta at the healer’s hut. Plain as day, she’s a Fae, and I reckon she’s got to be a Fire Fae too with wings like that.”

Fae were creatures from Gran’s stories, and it wasn’t that Rebane had ever wholly doubted their existence, but Gran had always said that they lived thousands of miles to the south. It seemed impossible that one would stray all this way just to collapse in their village square.

He leant back heavily against the wall by the door, trying to find a way to make sense of the events that had taken place in the village that day. Gran and Pa didn’t seem to have much more to say on the subject, and Rebane suspected that in truth they actually knew very little. The conversation over dinner was largely dominated by Gran’s suspicion that the neighbour had been sneaking into their outhouse at night to save water.

But Rebane’s mind was on the stranger, whether they were Fae, demon, or a cursed bird-woman. He could not deny the truth, a stranger had come to the village, her motivations were unknown, her origins were unknown, and her identity was shrouded in a mystery that had kept the village talking all day. This could not bode well, after all, any little change in the weather could be caused by the beating wings of a dragon.

After dinner was finished, Rebane stayed to help Gran and Pa clean the dishes, and after that he excused himself. It was getting late, but hopefully, there would still be enough people on the streets who had seen the events that had taken place earlier.

To save on fuel most people in Hythe based their day on the hours of sunlight provided. The season of Moni was well known for its short days that tended to favour the mornings over the evenings. It was already dark, and most people were already settling into bed for the night. The only building that still glowed with the full force of a well-stocked fire was the great hall where the Dain and other village leaders were still in deliberation.

Upon reaching the village centre, Rebane turned half-heartedly to follow one of the other little side streets. He made a right turn, then another left. Then, all of a sudden, the clouds shifted, suffocating the moon’s light. plunging Rebane and the streets into absolute darkness.

He stood absolutely still. Perhaps it would be best to wait until morning, by then the village leaders might have made their decision. There was no one else out here in the dark, and his furs were doing very little to keep out the wind’s sharp bite. If he could find his way back to the great hall then Rebane was confident that muscle memory would lead him the rest of the way home.

Retracing his steps as carefully as possible, Rebane only had to walk a few minutes before the light of the great hall came back into view. From the village centre, he only had to take the left turn, walk a short way, and then another left to the street where his own grandparent’s house was located.

And Rebane would have continued home without a doubt in his mind that it was the right thing to do if his attention had not been caught by the hushed sound of whispering voices. They were coming closer, progress marked by the faint light of their lantern.

“Hold it lower or people are going to see us!” A high-pitched female voice hissed, it was a child.

“Then we won’t be able to see where we’re going!” A boy.

The identity of the people approaching became very clear, and Rebane stood ready to name them when they stopped two short meters from where he was standing with both arms folded and a firm look on his face. It was dangerous for children to be out at this time of night, and he knew that these two had been warned on several different occasions about sneaking out before.

“Juuli, Seppo, you had better have a very good reason for being out like this.” He did his best to imitate the stance of the other adults, hoping that he would exert the same sort of authority.

For one brief moment, the twins froze in place, their shoulders tense, and eyes wide. Then, Seppo snorted. Juuli’s expression broke into a smile and she giggled like he’d just done something extraordinarily funny. The twins were bent double doing their best to suppress the sound of their laughter.

Unamused, Rebane waited until they had recovered enough to share a conspiratorial glance and return their attention to him.

“And what about you?” Juuli asked with faux sweetness, “What good reason do you have for being out at a time like this?”

Rebane deepened his frown, frustrated that the twins were disregarding any attempt he made to scold them. “Do your mother and father know that you’re out?”

“I c’pect not,” Seppo shrugged. “Dad’s busy at that meeting and Ma’s with her friend because her nerves got all shook up.” As he spoke, Seppo did a little wiggle to emphasise his words, causing both twins to burst into another fit of giggles.

Irritated now, Rebane reached out and took the lantern from them, grateful that his strength at least gave him some sort of power over the disrespectful pair. “Come on, I’ll take you home. It’s dark out here, and it’s important that your parents know where you are in case there’s an emergency.”

“You mean like a dragon?” In the half-light, Rebane saw Seppo reach out his arms and flap them, making a loud breathing sound and laughing. At least Juuli had the common decency to look away when her brother did this, flicking a quick glance in Rebane’s direction, before lowering her gaze to the floor, cheeks dusted pink.

It took Seppo a few moments to realise his error, and his blue eyes widened. “Oh. Rebane I didn’t mean… I just meant, I mean a dragon hasn’t been seen in nine years, all I was saying was…” Juuli elbowed him sharply.

“My brother’s an idiot.” She was still very pink. “I’m sorry.” Fiddling with her fingers, Juuli gnawed on her lower lip for a few moments before raising her gaze to look at Rebane again. “If you really want to know what we were doing, we were sneaking out to go and see that demon lady. Just to ask if she was a demon or a cursed bird-woman.”

Rebane has suspected as much.

“Can’t we just go and have a quick look?” Seppo had recovered from his brief embarrassment. “We’ll be super quick, and the Healer’s hut is only at the end of this street.”

Was it? Rebane had thought he was approaching the great hall from the south, but he must have wandered onto one of the eastern streets without realising. Turning with the lantern in hand, Rebane looked down the empty road. Seppo was right. The clouds had thinned, and in the pale light of the half-moon, Rebane could make out the thatched roof and signature rounded shape of the Healer’s hut.

He cursed himself for hesitating, his own childish curiosity almost getting the better of him.

“No.” He spoke firmly. “I’m taking you both home.” The woman, if she was injured, needed rest, and even if she was injured, she still might still be dangerous. Dain Villem would know what to do, it was not their place to interfere. Rebane moved towards the twins, placing his free hand firmly on Seppo’s back to guide him down the road, motioning for Juuli to follow. He would take the twins home and then return home himself; the stranger could be dealt with tomorrow.

Juuli gasped sharply.

Fearing danger, Rebane spun on the spot, hand instinctively reaching for the place where his sword was usually fixed. But it wasn’t there, he’d left it at home. Rebane’s grip on Seppo tightened, worried that the boy would go running into danger if he slackened his grip.

Both hands clamped over her mouth, Juuli was staring wide-eyed at the road ahead. A shape stood frozen in the darkness; its broad unnatural outline framed by the lantern that hung in the door of the Healer’s hut. The figure had frozen, they must have heard Juuli’s gasp or the sound of his own voice scolding the children.

Their shape was bent as if they were trying to remain low and out of sight. However, the illusion of stealth was distorted by the two large bulky shapes that rose up and over their head, angled like a shelter.

They were watching the shadow, and the shadow was watching them.

Another cloud passed over the moon’s gentle light, and the world was once again thrown into impenetrable darkness. But the darkness did not last long.

Juuli cried out, diving behind Rebane’s legs which remained rooted to the spot. The place where the figure had stood was now ablaze, the appendages that had hung like a shelter above their head, now burned like molten fire. Cracked and flaked like magma, they glowed a golden and brilliant red. Even at this distance, the heat of the flames licked at Rebane’s cheeks like a half-forgotten memory.

Fire. Rebane remembered dragon fire.

His grip on Seppo slackened and the boy tore free, charging like a ram towards the place where the whisper of fire still hung in the air.

“Seppo!” Juuli shrieked, making a grab for her brother, but he dodged around her and disappeared into the darkness.

The little girl’s scream called Rebane back to the present, and he moved quickly. “Juuli go to the great hall, tell your father what’s happened. Go. Now!” The lights of the great hall were still visible, even in the dark, she’d be able to find her way there. Rebane tore down the road after Seppo, lantern held aloft. The boy was fast, but Rebane’s legs were longer, hopefully, he’d be able to catch up before the boy got too far ahead of him.

No longer concerned with staying quiet, Rebane shouted into the darkness. “Stop!” He hoped that his voice would rouse the people sleeping in the houses around them, and he was grateful to hear the stirring mutters and mumbles. Faces appeared in the windows, illuminated briefly by the light of the swinging lantern that hung from Rebane’s hand.

He reached the end of the lane just in time to see Seppo disappearing off the path towards the sloping edge that divided the bottom of the valley from the forest above.

Stumbling, unable to keep fully upright as he climbed after the boy. Rebane hoped that Juuli had been able to rouse her father and the other men, if they were to find Seppo up here then they’d need more light and people, and that was only if the little idiot didn’t fall and break his neck first.

Another flash of fire lit up the sky, it was too far now for Rebane to feel the heat, but he could see its origin. The sudden scream of a frightened child rented the frozen night sky, followed by an agonising howl of pain. Rebane cursed himself again for not thinking to bring his sword. Even if he did reach the danger in time, how was he going to defend himself and Seppo alone, it would take the adults at least five minutes to catch up with them, and by then it would probably be too late.

“Help!” Seppo’s voice rang out in the darkness, pitched with panic and tears. “Help me!”

Not sure what else to do, Rebane felt a large rock glance across his palm as he scrabbled up the hillside towards Seppo’s terrified voice, he grabbed it and bounded the last few steps, throwing out the lamplight to reveal a figure crouched low over Seppo’s trembling form. Rebane lifted the rock high above his head and prepared to bring it down hard on the stranger’s head.

Something soft and solid struck him hard from the side, sending him sprawling a few feet from the place where Seppo lay. The lantern had fallen from his hand and shattered somewhere nearby, but there was no longer any need for it. The great masses on the stranger’s back were illuminated with that same fiery glow, held aloft above the face and figure of a woman. The radiating heat burned the surface of his eyes and the intensity of the light was almost enough to blind him. Instinctively Rebane tore his gaze away, bringing up his hand to defend against the sensory assault. There was a faint twinge of pain when he moved his arm, but Rebane assumed he must have just caught it on a nettle or thistle bush in his progress up the hill.

However, he’d seen enough to identify what he had seen, the great masses on the woman’s back were wings. Spread to their full capacity, every feather set ablaze, the wingspan must have been at least 20 feet. Gran had been right; this was a Fire Fae. Rebane didn’t know how the Fae aged, but she looked like a woman in her early twenties, her skin was dark and her hair a mess of tattered black curls. Two sharp ears were just about visible, not much larger than his own but pointed at the tip.

Scrabbling around for another weapon, Rebane threw his weight forward.

“Stop or you’ll hurt yourself again!” The woman spoke clearly and directly, holding out her hand in warning.

It took Rebane a few moments to understand what she meant, and then he realised that the sleeve of his left arm was gone, and a strange tingling sensation that he’d felt earlier was spreading from his wrist to his elbow, it was the place where one of the wings had struck him. With the realisation came true blinding pain, and much to his disgust, Rebane let out a small whine and staggered. His arm was an angry shade of red, and there were great lacerations where the skin itself had melted down to the bone.

“The boy, I think his leg might be broken.” She turned her attention back to Seppo who was still softly whimpering on the ground, “He must have fallen when I tried to warn him away.” Wings still on fire, the Fae spoke with practised practicality. “You won’t be able to carry him back with your arm like that, but I assume that your people will be here soon and find you. When they do, you should bathe your arm in cold water for at least one stick of candle. Clean it, bandage it, but change the wrappings regularly.”

One stick of candle? Rebane assumed that referred to a measurement of time, but not one that made any sense to him? Candlesticks burned at different paces; one stick of candle could mean just about anything.

Doing his best to ignore the intensifying pain, Rebane blinked back the fog that was starting to blur his vision. “I can’t let you go. You need to come back to the village with us.”

The Fae gave her beautiful dark head a small shake and sighed. “You shouldn’t have followed me, and you cannot stop me from leaving. It was a mistake coming here in the first place.”

And, for the first time, Rebane noticed the bandages wrapped around her right arm and caught the suggestion of more disappearing beneath the sleeve of her shirt. There was a large crimson burn across one cheek, and another on the palm of the hand that she had extended out towards him. One of the powerful wings also hung at an odd angle, trembling as if the force of keeping it aloft was causing the Fae great physical pain.

The flames began to die back, and the Fae slowly lowered her wings. The uninjured wing folded neatly behind her back, and the other jerked slowly downward, part of the tip still sticking out to one side. Before they were plunged once more into darkness, Rebane had time to note that the feathers had changed colour, an ashen shade of black.

He heard the Fae’s feet move and knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent her from leaving, but Seppo was his main concern. The adrenaline was beginning to leave his body, the pain on his arm increased tenfold, and the freezing wind bit deep into the bare skin that surrounded the burn. He took two steps towards Seppo and then fell to his knees. The boy was shaking violently, unsure what else to do, Rebane pulled off what was left of the outer layer of his furs and placed them over Seppo’s shivering body. The adults would be here soon, Rebane was certain that he could hear their voices in the distance. All the blood in his body had rushed to his head, forced up by the pounding pain in his arm. Rebane watched his vision blur and then there was only darkness.