Dragon Spirit, page 27
part #12 of Path of the Ranger Series
“Is nobody going to tell me what the bug’s saying about me?” Viggo asked, annoyed.
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t want him to send you any messages? Lasgol said, laughing.
“Well, there you are,” Gerd said, holding his sides.
“I don’t find it funny at all!” Viggo said and left outraged, waving his arms.
The friends laughed and shared their good humor for a while as they welcomed Camu and Ona warmly.
A few days later, Ona and Camu were once again integrated in the group and had gotten used to their friends’ training and rests. Camu was fine, although he limped a little still and could not do his happy dance, which he had promised to do for them as soon as his leg allowed. Annika and Gisli continued looking after the creature and deemed that in a few more days his leg would be completely healed.
Camu insisted on going up to the Pearl every evening to try and activate it. Lasgol would not let him. He felt responsible for Camu’s accident and did not want his friend to have another one while experimenting with his power. The experience with the two Magi had taught Lasgol that to improve his skills it was better to do so under the supervision of someone with the necessary experience and knowledge. No more experimenting haphazardly with new skills and powers.
Must go to Pearl, Camu insisted one evening when he was very restless.
You know what I think, it’s too dangerous. You could have another accident like the one at the pass and it could be much worse this time.
I must learn use power.
There’s no urgency for you to do so. In fact, there’s no need. So rest and finish recovering so you can do your happy dance for us.
But… I need learn…
No buts. Listen to me and do as I say, you hardheaded creature, Lasgol said to end the discussion, because Camu had been insisting ever since he had returned.
Not right.
Yes I am. Let’s not argue any more. Do as I say and forget the idea.
Ona moaned because they were arguing.
Ona, good, Camu messaged to her.
See? These arguments make her sad.
Fine, Camu messaged, although unhappily.
The following night Lasgol woke up in the middle of the night. He had been having a nightmare in which Camu was on fire in the midst of great flames and Lasgol could not reach him to save him. He sat up in his bed soaked in sweat. He instinctively looked to the corner on the floor where Ona and Camu slept comfortably on a pile of blankets.
“By all the…” Lasgol muttered when he saw they were not there. He jumped down from his bunk and searched for them all over their area within the screens, but he could not find them, and he went out to look for them in the contenders’ area. They were not there either. He came back to his bed and got dressed quickly. Astrid heard him and, realizing something was wrong, got dressed too.
“What’s the matter, Lasgol?” she asked him in a whisper, her Assassin’s knives ready in her hands.
“Ona and Camu are gone,” he said, looking into her eyes.
“Oh, oh…” they heard Egil say as he got up too.
“I don’t know where they are,” Lasgol said, worried.
“Will they be playing?” Astrid suggested.
“I’ve told them again and again not to play in the caverns… but it’s not as if they pay much attention to what I say…”
“Perhaps Sigrid has taken them away for some test or experiment…” Egil suggested.
“At night? and without telling us?” Astrid said, surprised.
“That would be most suspicious,” Lasgol said.
“Have you checked in the other caverns?” Egil said.
“It’s what I was going to do now.”
“Let’s go then,” said Astrid.
“Do we wake the others?” Egil asked.
“No. Let them sleep, they’re exhausted and it’s surely nothing, they must be playing in either the Caves of Summer or Autumn.”
“As long as they’re not in the Cave of Winter,” Egil said, raising an eyebrow.
They ran out of the Cave of Spring as stealthily as they could. The group checked the other two caves but did not find Ona and Camu. They did see Snowflake, who greeted them with a warning growl. Finally, they stopped at the Chamber of Runes.
“What do we do now?” asked Astrid, looking toward the Cave of Winter.
“No need to look there,” said Lasgol.
“Why do you say that?” Astrid asked.
“Because I think I know where they’ve gone,” Lasgol said and pointed to the closed entrance of the Cave.
“Do you really think they’ve gone outside?” Astrid said, surprised. “The door is shut.”
“Camu can open the door with his power. Close it too,” said Lasgol.
“Well, our little friend is full of surprises,” said Egil. “But I’m not surprised. It’s not the first time he’s activated magic runes or objects of power.”
“That’s right,” Lasgol said. “Come, follow me.” Lasgol opened the door of the Chamber and they stepped out into the snow-covered night landscape. Luckily, it was not too cold that night. Lasgol led them to the top of the Lair. Astrid and Egil knew at once what Lasgol was suspecting.
They arrived at the White Pearl and found Camu and Ona beside it.
“I told you not to come up here,” Lasgol said angrily.
“Are you all right?” Astrid asked as she went over to check them.
Yes, fine.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” Egil asked. Before Camu could answer, Egil self-replied, “Of course, you were trying to activate the White Pearl to open a portal.”
Yes, try to activate.
“Any success?” Egil asked, curious.
Not manage, Camu said, looking downhearted.
“Are you all right at least?” Lasgol asked a little more gently, although he was still mad because they had not listened to him, something that was not rare in these two.
Be fine.
Ona chirped once.
“Did you make some kind of progress, even though you didn’t manage to open the Pearl?” Egil asked.
Think so.
“Really?” Lasgol was intrigued. “What kind of progress?”
Manage a pulse.
“A pulse? I don’t follow…” said Astrid.
“I think he means a flash,” Egil guessed. “Did the Pearl answer with a flash?”
Yes. That.
“It’s fantastic to be able to communicate directly with Camu. No offense, Lasgol.”
“None taken.”
“And nothing else happened?” Egil asked Camu, very excited.
No. A pulse. Then nothing.
“Do you know whether the pulse was a response to your waves of power or if it was just a coincidence?” Lasgol said.
No coincidence.
“How can you be so sure it wasn’t a coincidence?” Egil asked.
Begin to activate so.
“Well, we seem to be getting somewhere. What you’re trying to tell us is that you have to cause a pulse or flash to use the Pearl. I’m guessing your initial pulse is followed by others you couldn’t cause,” Egil said.
Yes. That.
“Any idea why the rest of the pulses didn’t come and the Pearl wasn’t activated?” Lasgol asked.
No idea, Camu admitted, along with a sense of failure.
“How come Drokose didn’t teach you how to use the Pearl when you were with him?” Lasgol asked.
Drokose not enough time. Say I discover alone.
“Wow, that’s a funny way of teaching,” Astrid said, baffled.
I have to work very hard, Drokose say.
“To develop and master your power and activate the Pearl?” asked Lasgol.
Yes. Work a lot, more power. New power.
That sounded familiar to Lasgol. It was the same thing that had happened to him. He had needed to experiment with his skills until he mastered them. There was no given. He had to struggle and learn. Suffer and overcome.
“I see. You’ll have to keep trying until you get it right on your own. It’s like what happens to me,” Lasgol said.
“But you’re alone, and he had a mentor. I don’t think it’s appropriate to leave poor Camu to find out on his own,” Astrid protested.
Nothing come without struggle. Drokose say.
“That’s very true,” said Egil. “I think their teaching system is slightly different from ours. It would seem they let their young learn from experience. From failure to victory.”
“It sounds harsh and archaic,” said Astrid. “I’m sure he’ll learn, but only by hitting his head against a mountainside.”
“And he didn’t tell you how long it would take you to master the use of the Pearl?” Lasgol asked.
Not say. I must try until learn.
“Well, that could take some time,” Egil said.
Drokose say everything come in own time.
That’s another truth, a universal one,” Egil agreed.
“Well, we’d better go back to the lair before they find out we’ve gone,” said Astrid.
“Yeah, I’m beginning to get cold,” said Egil. “You’ve advanced enough for one night,” he told Camu, who nodded but was not very happy.
“Come, let’s go back to the warmth of the cavern,” Lasgol said, and they started down. He was not surprised by the fact that Camu had disobeyed or that he had made an improvement in his search of a new skill to activate the portal. What really surprised Lasgol was that Camu wanted to open the portal so badly. Why? Was he hiding something from them? Did he want to go back with Drokose? What was he after?
Chapter 30
In the midst of one of the worst winters, both the Snow Panthers and the rest of the Rangers, who were trying to get a Specialization, were working without pause to achieve their goal. The problem was that now the weather was so bad they could freeze to death if they were not careful. They had already rescued two contenders who nearly froze to death when they got trapped under a snow avalanche. Luckily, they had been rescued in time.
That afternoon was a day off, and the Panthers were watching the storm moving toward them and would soon reach them. They were looking out of the Chamber of Runes with the door open, wrapped in their winter clothes. They had wanted to breathe a bit of fresh air, since spending the whole day inside the caves of the Lair, even if they were resting, boggled their minds, and they already had enough of that with their training.
“Wow, this is what I call a true winter storm!” said Gerd, watching the thunder and lightning that seemed to tear apart the dark glacial sky.
“Makes me want to go for a stroll so much,” said Viggo, puffing steam out of his mouth.
“Oh, I can give you a shove so you start walking,” Nilsa told him as she hopped at the threshold of the Lair from one side to the other.
“No way. Then we’d have to go out and get him because surely he’d definitely get lost,” Ingrid said as she watched the sky.
“If I get lost, the only one who can save me is you,” Viggo said with a lovesick gaze.
“Only a bloodhound would be able to save you out there.”
“The bloodhound would save my body, but my heart can only be saved by you,” Viggo said, looking at her and opening his arms.
Ingrid’s reply was a snowball full in the face.
Nilsa burst out laughing while Viggo choked on the snow that had gone into his mouth.
Astrid and Lasgol were returning from outside at that moment seeking shelter, Ona and Camu beside them. They saw the hit and smiled broadly.
“Now you’ll see,” Viggo said as he ran out to counterattack, scooping a ball of snow and throwing it at Ingrid. His beloved ducked quickly and the ball hit Gerd in the middle of his chest. The giant went out to the snow and scooped up another ball to counter. He threw it at Viggo, who was running to shelter inside. The ball hit Nilsa in the shoulder, and in a moment the entrance to the Lair became a battlefield of snowballs amid laughter and shouting.
Lasgol was throwing balls at Ona, who was leaping in the snow. Camu was a little further back and, camouflaged, was throwing snow at Viggo, who seemed to be everywhere, throwing snowballs at everyone. Ingrid and Nilsa were snowballing one another and laughing their heads off.
Egil came from inside the Cave of Spring with his control notebook under his arm to find all his friends throwing snowballs around like children.
“What big kids,” he said with an amused smile, but before he finished smiling Viggo had already hit him in the chest. Egil chewed on the snow that had got into his mouth and smiled—a little fun was exactly what they needed. The Higher Training was too intense, more so now in the Cavern of the Frozen Dragon, and they needed to shake off all the accumulated stress.
A second ball hit him center chest; this time it was Nilsa who was laughing.
“Come on, Egil! Leave the notebook and join the war!”
Two balls hit Nilsa, who fell backward, laughing. Ingrid was sliding from one side to the other without stopping. Astrid and Viggo were rolling in the snow to get on one knee and attack. Camu was throwing snow at everyone with his long tail, and since they could not see him they could not hit him. Ona was jumping here and there, trying to catch the snowballs with her jaws.
Lasgol threw a snowball at Egil from outside, and he had no choice but to leave his notebook on the floor and join the fray. A moment later he was throwing snowballs at everyone and giggling like a tot.
“Let’s get the smartass!” Nilsa cried.
“Aim at the head!” Ingrid joined in, smiling mischievously.
Viggo looked indignant. “You’ll never catch me!” he cried and threw himself behind a pile of snow.
Five snowballs tried to get him, but although they brushed by him they did not hit him.
“You’ll pay for this villainy!” he shouted from behind the pile and threw a snowball at Gerd that caught him in the leg.
“Let’s go for Lasgol!” Astrid cried amid laughter.
Lasgol opened his eyes wide. “Treachery!” he cried as he ran away. Three snowballs sought his back, and Ona jumped and caught one in her jaws. The other two grazed Lasgol’s ears as he crouched evasively.
Very funny! Camu messaged.
It is! Lasgol replied.
Snow!
Lasgol felt a pile of snow falling on top of him.
That’s not fair!
Yes is!
Lasgol, who was crawling on the snow, saw Camu’s footprints. He could not see him, but his tracks were visible. He calculated more or less where he was and threw a big snowball at him while behind him the battle went on as if they were fighting in a real war. The snowball hit its target.
Hey! protested Camu, who did not like Lasgol hitting him at all.
The snow betrayed you, Lasgol told him.
Not like snow.
Oh no? I thought you did.
When you see me, no.
Lasgol laughed. Yeah, yeah…
The ruthless snowball fight went on for a long while. The Panthers ignored the cold and the storm above their heads and only thought of having fun.
“Will someone tell me what in the name of the Gods is going on here?” they heard Sigrid say.
“Mother Specialist…” Ingrid began.
“This is no way to behave!” Sigrid interrupted her.
“No… it’s not…” Gerd admitted.
“I am truly disappointed by this behavior!”
“We’re sorry…” Nilsa said.
“Do not be sorry and behave as you ought to! You are the best among the best—act as such!”
“Absolutely, Mother Specialist,” Ingrid said, bowing her head, ashamed. They looked like naughty kids all covered in snow.
“Go inside out of the storm. Only a madman or a fool is not afraid of a winter storm, and I do not think you are the former.”
“Right away,” Ingrid said and signaled to the others to get inside.
As they went down to the Cave of Spring with Sigrid’s eyes glaring at their backs, the Mother Specialist smiled, amused, but they did not see her.
Inside the cavern they got dried and changed clothes.
“Did you see how elegantly she called us fools?” Viggo said as he searched for a clean change of clothes.
“Very, yes,” said Egil with a grin.
“We were being fools,” Ingrid said. “That’s a fact.”
“And it was good for us,” Astrid commented with a chuckle.
“That too,” Lasgol replied, also grinning widely.
They sat down on some solid, old stools Gisli had found and started to chat as usual. Camu and Ona threw themselves on the floor, listening to their conversation, although it did not interest them much and half the time they spent snoozing.
“How’s the training going, Gerd?” Astrid asked, interested.
“I think it’s going well, although I feel like my head might burst at any moment.”
“From all the theory Elder Gisli’s giving you?” she asked.
“Exactly. I just finished with Man Hunter and Beast Master and this last one had me all messed up, I can’t say it better.”
“But you managed to finish, didn’t you?” Lasgol asked him.
“Yes, I finally made it.”
“Then you’ll start with the practical part of the Experience Stage,” Ingrid said, impressed.
“We start in the next session,” Gerd said, looking at Nilsa and Egil.
“Well, well, why were you keeping it so quiet?” Viggo said.
“So you wouldn’t mock us,” Nilsa replied.
“Me? Mock you? Never,” he said with his eyes open wide and shaking his head.
“Well, then let me tell you I’ve finished with the theory of Archer of the Wind, Natural Marksman, and Mage Hunter.”
“Ohhh, Mage Hunter…” Viggo said, faking interest.
“Don’t mock me, and yes, I’ll make it. I’m going to be a Mage Hunter no matter how much it annoys you.”
“Me? Why would it annoy me that you get rid of all those troublesome magi, I’d be delighted!”
“Well then, less irony in your comments please.”
Viggo smiled from ear to ear. “I have to amuse myself a little.”
