Child of Thunder (Chapter Two)

Child of Thunder

Chapter Two: Slack-jawed and Stupefied

When the darkness gave way, I was laying on my back on dry ground. For a moment I wondered if it had all been a dream. Maybe I'd simply fallen from the wagon. Surely my parents were nearby, searching for me.

As I looked around me, however, I quickly found that was not the case at all. The bison lay beside me, its great chest heaving. It slowly opened one big brown eye and trained it upon me. Suddenly that strangely intelligent eye narrowed, sharpening its focus on something behind me. The eye went from slit to wide with fear.

The bison shot to its feet. "We have to get out of here!" It cried in a gruff but distinctly female voice. "This is a battlefield!" Too stunned yet to register a that an animal had just spoken to me, I stood myself and looked to the horizon that had startled the bison. I spied out dark figures like a moving forest. Tall and spindly creatures with a complex array of antlers growing from their heads.

Deer.

Deer walking on two legs.

Every one of them was armed to the proverbial teeth with swords and bows and spears. "Hurry!" the bison cried. "Follow me!" She didn't run in the opposite direction like I expected but straight out. I wasn't oriented yet, but if the deer came from the east, we ran not west but north. Too bewildered to be ready to think for myself, I followed the bison, struggling to keep up with her from the start.

I was confused as to why she was running perpendicular to our apparent attackers, then I looked opposite to their approach and saw something even more fearsome than the odd sight of the deer. Thick black shapes were ambling from that direction. If the deer were a forest granted the ability to move, then these were enormous boulders sprang to life.

Bears.

Every one of them was armed even more fiercely than the deer and dressed in silver armor that shimmered in the sunlight. The army of bears carried axes, maces, and broadswords as long as my skinny frame.

I could only stop and stare, even more stunned by the sight of the enormous creatures flying up the hillside. The ground sloped subtly upward towards the charging deer, lending their sprightly legs incredible speed. It wouldn't be long before they overtook us.

"Come on, boy!" The bison cried over her shoulder. "Are you just going to stand there slack-jawed and stupified or do you want to live?"

As the two hoards of onrushing figures loomed ever closer like two waves about to crash together, I ran hard after the bison. It was a losing fight, however. Every time I looked to the left, the bears were a little closer, and when I looked to the right, the deer were considerably nearer.

Finally the bison grunted with frustration from several yards ahead of me and stopped, lowering herself so that I could climb on. Panting with exertion I closed that last bit of distance between her and I and threw myself onto her back. Mere seconds later, the deer swept past. We'd only barely managed to get clear in time.

I could see a few heads turn to look our way, but the bears commanded far more attention than a stray boy and bison could. The sounds of battle soon began to resound, grunting and screaming, and clashing of weapons.

The bison hastily sped away, continuing towards what I guessed was north, but wasn't sure about it. But then, I'd woken up this morning convinced that animals couldn't talk, let alone carry weaponry, so I wasn't sure about anything much anymore.

I turned to watch the fight behind me. Indeed, I could scarcely tear my eyes away. "Face forward, child." The bison commanded. "That is no sight for young, innocent eyes." She ambled on, moving at a steady pace. I had no idea where we we going, but I hardly even noticed that we were moving, save to note that the details of the struggle were growing more difficult to make out.

I looked away for a moment, but my eyes were drawn back to the spectacle. I hardly saw it for what a strange battle it was, deer and bear in opposition. I saw brute strength crashing against lithe agility. The deer-like creatures were an economic poetry in motion, shifting and sliding from foe to foe. The bears however had bone-crushing power on their side. Their attacks did not connect as often, but when they did manage a hit, that deer did not rise again.

We slowly, subtly began to move in an arc. North became northeast. I could soon spy rank upon rank of deer-men who had not yet joined the battle, waiting at the ready to swarm the enemy.

Even further than this we went, till we came upon scores of brightly colored tents set up in neat rows. An encampment. Due no doubt to the battle being waged not far off, it looked sparsely populated. I saw one very young looking deer from around the corner of a pale blue tent, but he quickly disappeared from sight.

The bison strode right up to a tent that looked to me almost like a small, portable castle. It was over fifteen feet tall and looked as though it had two levels. Two deer stood with pikes crossing over the entrance. They looked even taller and more imposing than most of the creatures I'd seen on the battlefield. Both had swords at their waists and a quiver of arrows strapped to their backs. They were dressed in dark leather armor embossed with red trim.

"Business?" One of them intoned severely. Neither of them so much as glanced at us. They just kept staring straight ahead as if nothing had changed. The bison knelt, twitching her back a bit. Evidently my ride was over. I slid off to one side and stood in my bare feet.

"My name is Needha. I am here on behalf of Queen Eleanor, to speak to your king. It is of the utmost importance." So Needha was her name. I decided for the time being not to question anything I saw. I felt like if I pulled at that thread in my mind, it would unravel and drive me insane.

"The king is not granting audiences at this time." The deer opposite the the first speaker declared. Like his comrade, he did not look at us. It was meant to unnerve, and it was working. On me, at least. Needha was a different story. The bison did not budge an inch.

"I cannot leave until I deliver my message." She sat her rump down on the ground, looking a bit like an overgrown dog waiting for its master. "I'll be right here. Waiting. Till the sun goes black if need be." When a creature of that bulk makes up her mind not to be moved, she isn't going to be moved.

Finally the guards gave in first. The one closer to us sighed and flipped his pike around, driving it into the dirt. With a swish of cloth he vanished to the interior of the tent, and the other shifted so that he was blocking the entry to the tent with his body rather than his weapon. He eyed me strangely as he shifted positions, but said nothing.

And so we waited, just as Needha had said we would. She was prepared for this, but I was not. I was feeling increasingly vulnerable as time passed, not least of all for my long lost shoes and shirt. When the day crumbled up into starlight, I was going to freeze.

After several minutes of standing around, the deer-man emerged with a scowl plain to see on his features. "You may enter." Was all he said, jerking a hand towards the tent flap that led within. It was clear it irked him that we'd been granted an audience.

Needha turned to me. "Stay close, child," she told me as she barged past the surly warriors. We stepped into a lavishly appointed but very empty room. The carpet was soft beneath my bare feet. A plush rug of intricate design, all purple and blue.

An apparently female deer in a red dress emerged from behind a partition that apparently led to yet another room. She had softer eyes than the others and seemed friendly. "The king is through here. He will see you now." She waved a hand in the direction we were to go and curtsied gracefully in one motion. Needha nodded and ambled on. I followed, feeling it might be best if I stayed quiet. "What are you? The lady deer asked me. "Some sort of giant mole rat?"

"I'm a boy," I replied indignantly. The deer giggled and we kept walking. The next room was just as luxurious as the last. Only, instead of trunks and couches, this one contained an enormous bed. A great silver-furred stag was its only occupant. He coughed fitfully and waved us close.

The old beast looked at us with haggard eyes. One was as milky white as freshly fallen snow, the other an eerie pale blue that seemed to shimmer. "Needha? Is that really you?" His voice was raspy, but kind. "Come close so these wizened eyes can get a good look." We did as commanded. "It is you!" The king cried. "But your form has been altered!"

Needha's voice was dappled with bitterness when she spoke. "I was cast into the dark world. Mine is a long tale. Have you patience enough to hear it?"

"It has been too long since I heard your voice. I think I can manage. Though not too long, dear. I may fall asleep." An eyelash batted over his useless white eye in a wink.

"Long have I served Queen Eleanor as messenger, as you well know. Our people had come across terrible information about the emperor's plans, and I came to inform you. However, I was intercepted by a squad of ursynd, and I never made it. They had a wizard with them. Some sort of goat thing. One of them stabbed me so hard his claw broke off, and then I was thrown into a pool of water to drown.

"When I awoke, I was in the dark world, and I could no longer stand on two legs. And that claw, the one stuck in my side, somehow it sapped my strength. This child," she titled her head towards me at this, "found me. He pulled out the claw, and I regained my vigor. I had a... feeling about him. A feeling he was too important to leave behind, so I brought him with me."

Needha'd used a few words I didn't understand, but I felt I comprehended most of her story now. Except for the claw. If it was merely the broken talon of a warrior, why had it hurt her so? It had been little more than a splinter to a creature of her size.

"A marvelous tale, I assure you," The king rumbled. "But you left out one important detail. What is this message you so direly raced to deliver?" The stag had yet taken little notice of me. I couldn't decide whether to be offended or elated at this.

Needha dropped her voice, speaking low and quiet as a graveyard whisper. "The ursyne... the bears. They're raising an army in secret, one of the largest our world has ever seen. The emperor has decreed that all of your kind will be wiped out, your head mounted on his wall. All they do not already control, they intend to destroy or enslave."

The king did not react to the dire news in the way I would have expected. He threw back his head and laughed. "If that old fart wants my head he knows where to find me! I'm not afraid of the ursyne. In fact, my troops are out there right now, slaughtering his beasts!"

"Yes, yes, no doubt," Needha responded impatiently. "But it's different this time. The queen feels that we must create an allied response. This could be our last chance to work together!"

"And join forces with your kind?" The old stag coughed and laughed again. "I would sooner die!" I was beginning to rethink my former assessment of the deer. Perhaps he wasn't what he appeared.

"Then you're a fool." Needha replied. "A fool of the worst sort. You're convinced you're not a fool at all and that you've got the situation under control. I'll see myself out."

"Excellent! It saves me the trouble of having you thrown out!"

Needha stormed away, fuming with barely controlled rage. I followed the trail of her angry exit like a diver caught in a riptide, helplessly pulled along. We emerged into waning sunlight, the day nearly spent. Needha sounded like a bull, breathing heavily through her nose. I reached out and stroked her shoulder, the way I would any animal that needed calming in the rodeo.

"Come child," she said after a moment. "Let us leave this place. There is nothing more we can do here, having failed."

"Where are we going?" I asked. "I need to understand." It was the first time I had given voice to my confusion, and once I said the words, the floodgates opened, and I was overwhelmed in the rush of my discombobulated thoughts.

"Climb on my back, young one. I will explain on the way. This has been a fool's errand, and I would just as soon waste no more time. We must make haste so that I can report to my queen." As the bison knelt, I did as commanded, situating myself as comfortably as I could.

I was such a small thing to Needha that she never seemed to take any notice of my weight. As we rode I began to ask the questions that were burning in my mind. In this way I learned that much of the world was in the control of the bears, or ursyne, as they were often called. These ursyne controlled a massive empire, and had enslaved many whole races and forced them into labor.

I did not understand some of the words she used, but I gathered that freedom was a scarcity and war terribly common. Only creatures with the might to defend themselves could thrive. Of these, the deer were among the most powerful. There's was a race of warriors, lithe and well trained like the Spartans of Ancient Greece.

The bison commanded an island kingdom that remained a place of safety due to its inaccessibility. The queen there garnered much admiration from Needha. She seemed a just ruler, protecting all who came to her shores seeking safety.

The prairie we strode across could have easily passed for the grassy endlessness of the Kansas I'd left behind. The hills began to reach higher though as traveled, soon reaching a point where they plunged into ever larger cliffs. The grass grew interspersed with more and more rocks.

After I had learned as much as could be gleaned from Needha about her world, she asked me about my own. I spoke without a hint of regret, not yet missing the traveling circus I'd slipped from. I illustrated it in mildly disparaging terms, casting it all in a negative light.

I was describing how wagons worked, to Needha's horror, when a howling pierced the night. The sound immediately caused both of us to lapse into sudden silence. "Well then you... you hitch the oxen to the uh, the wagon and..." My voice trailed away. The howl came again but it was cut off abruptly, as if the beast from which it had originated had fallen harm.

Needha slowed her pace to a crawl. The bison tilted her head a bit to the side, listening. Then she turned to face me, and said in a whisper. "Whatever happens, try your very best to stay alive. I really do think you're important."

Things began to happen quickly after that. A half dozen large shadows materialized out of the night air. Six bears with features obscured by flowing black cloaks. "Look here, prince!" One of the shadows called out. "It seems fortune has favored us after all."

The ursyne spread out quickly, surrounding us and drawing weapons that caught the glimmer of the moonlight. "Fight or die, little cow? What'll it be?" The first speaker taunted. He had black fur, but there was a curious silver stripe across one eye.

At once, the six mighty bears moved in with weapons at the ready, blades and maces that could probably take off my head without even slowing. Needha lowered her head and charged forward. Our attackers might have anticipated this, but they could not expect her to veer right, twisting at the last second. The bison ducked under a blow from one of the creatures to plow into him. The impact was hard enough to stagger the enormous beast. It was all I could do to hang on during all this, gripping Needha's fur for stability.

Before any more blows could be traded, a bear a bit larger than the rest dropped his weapon and swooped in. I gasped, bracing myself as best as I could. I felt helpless and I hated it. Our attacker caught Needha under her legs as she moved in for a second strike and flipped her onto her back. I would have been crushed beneath her bulk but another of the monsters snatched me out of the air, catching me with sharp claws as I flew by.

The pain was so sudden and sharp I was momentarily disoriented, too disoriented to know what to do. I dangled upside down from the bear's enormous paw. Its talons dug deep into my flesh, and I could feel blood creeping down my leg. As the blood began to rush to my head, I struggled dizzily, kicking my foot in an attempt to free myself. The beast only squeezed all the more tightly.

"We got ourselves a lively one 'ere!" The bear called to his fellows as he let me hang there, wriggling desperately. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Needha was being bound, all four feet lashed together. This surprised me, because I had expected them to kill both of us outright. I realized then that neither of us would die just yet.

We were captives now.

We would be prisoners to these creatures, alive and well only at their mercy.

"What is that?" A sonorous voice called. "A mole rat? Can we eat it?" I twisted to look, but I couldn't tell who had said it.

"Not by the breath in your lungs!" Came the confident voice of the bear who had knocked Needha on her back. "These two are prisoners of the emperor, and as such they're under my protection." The bear was a massive specimen with chestnut brown fur. He had a scar across his cheek where no fur grew, and one of his ears was missing. I noticed then that all six bears were bloodied and battered, as if they'd been in battle just recently.

The bear who had spoken first laughed derisively. "What's that, prince? Hoping Daddy will forgive your failure if you give him a little gift?"

"But 'e won't quit his squirming!" My captor cried.

"Well bash him on the head then, if you can't handle one little boy." The confident bear, their apparent leader, replied. A prince? Was he the emperor's son? I could only assume so.

"Oh. Alright." Before I could resist, I was quickly flipped right side up. A large furry face appeared before me, all slavering jaws and greedy green eyes. "Night night." The bear told me. And then a fist crashed down on my skull, and all the starlight and blackness of the evening filled my head.