Chapter 8: The Danger Revealed

 Granye

Before I open my eyes, I sense her presence. Sharna is sitting close to my bedroll, studying my face.

“They’re alive, Granye. I saw them last night.”

I sit up and stare at her face, her deep-set eyes are earnest and tired.

“I’ve been waiting for you to wake up so I could tell you.”

I shake Astiah. “Wake up! Sharna’s found Hanasorsha.”

Astiah bolts up, tears prick her eyes, “You’ve seen Hanasorsha?” Her voice sounds so hopeful. She hugs me and turns to Sharna.

“Where? How? Is she safe?”

Sharna rubs her hand over her face. “I traveled to the East Mountains. They are in a cave, together. I couldn’t tell much about their condition. It was dark.”

She turns to me and nods, “I think Fengranye is taking care of Hanasorsha.”

I rise and begin rolling up my bed. It'll take minutes to pack and be back on the road. Knowing they are alive is a relief but adds urgency to our journey. Astiah shoves her belongings into her pack.

“Were you able to speak to them?” I ask.

“No, I could only enter Hanasorsha’s thoughts and she’s so young…and frightened.”

Astiah pulls on her boots.

Solis enters carrying a tray of twig tea and offers it to us.

“What’s going on here?” she says.

Astiah ties her bed, roll into her pack, and says, “Sharna has seen the children. We have to go.”

Solis sets the tray down and places her hand gently on Astiah’s shoulder.

“We will go very soon, but we are here to borrow horses. And before we do that, we’ll all need to learn to ride.”

Astiah shakes her hand away.

“You aren’t a mother, Solis, you don’t know what this is like! I can’t wait.”

Solis stares for a long moment.

“I know more than you think, Astiah. The horses will carry us twice as far is half the time. And Sharna will be able to heal.”

Something about the firmness of her voice settles all of us. Astiah nods, but I can tell she doesn’t agree.

##

The horse hearth minders have provided us with close fitting pants and short cloaks for our riding lesson. We stand inside of a corral looking uneasily at the horses. Aside from Solis, none of us has experience riding horses. The horses look so much bigger when you stand next to them.

Astiah stands next to me, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She’s like an animal trapped in a pen, searching for a way out. I’m as restless as she is, but Solis is right. We need to learn to ride to speed up our progress on the road.

Two girls, Stacia and Steena, have been assigned to train us. A younger boy seems to be their assistant, but they don’t introduce him by name. They spend a little time explaining about the care of the horses, making sure they get enough water, checking their hooves for stones, cleaning their legs and checking for cuts and burrs. The horse stand by patiently as though they are listening, too.

Together, the two girls interlace straps padded with lamb’s wool around one of the horse’s body. It looks complicated, but I’m eager to get on the road so I struggle to pay attention. There’s such a long distance still to go and I’m worried about our sheep making it through the winter without me.

Sharna sitting on a fence rail behind me, says “Don’t worry, Granye. The Hearth will care for your sheep.”

 I nod, a little disconcerted that she’s monitoring my thoughts.

Astiah looks at me sideways. “Are you thinking about going home?”

“No, I just…”

Steena says, “Come here so you can learn to tie this knot.”

She points to the straps now fixed at the horse’s shoulder. She ties a knot, and we all look on, nodding.

She reaches under the strap and says, “Check if it’s too tight and adjust it if necessary.”

She waves to Astiah. “You, come and try it.”

Astiah steps forward and pulls at the straps. Steena nods.

“Good, very good.”

The rest of us all take turns practicing the knot and adjusting the strap. Solis stands by, watching.

Stacia says, “Next, we ask the horse’s permission. Never mount a horse without permission.” She lays her hand lightly on the horse’s neck. She grips the strap on the top of the horse's shoulder and swings easily onto its back.

We take turns trying to mount the horse, always taking care to ask permission first. Most of us find the task awkward or impossible. But not Astiah, it’s as if she were born to ride horses. She quickly masters mounting and riding her horse. The rest of us have achieved varying degrees of success. With some difficulty I’ve learned how to mount a horse. I fear this will never be easy for me. Mixa has an easier time. It’s encouraging to watch her and Astiah ride comfortably around the corral together. We end the day dusty and exhausted. When I walk back to sleep hearth, my legs feel as if they’ve bowed out to fit around the horse's girth.

#

Solis wakes me from a deep sleep. In my dream, I'm running away from a giant black beast, but my limbs are lethargic as though I am moving through water.

Solis holds a torch and signals to me to be quiet. I pull on a sweater and follow. We walk for some time, but she says nothing. Her pace slows, as though she is looking for something. She stops, hands me the torch and consults her Vahgen. She takes the torch and goes on more confidently. After we few minutes, we come to a dark opening in the earth and an earthen staircase.

Solis turns to me. Her face looks grave.

“You must never tell anyone where this is. It is only for a few.”

“But, I…” I realize there’s no point in protesting. I don’t like the idea of going down into the earth.

“Take the torch and follow me.” I take it reluctantly, holding it aloft to light our path.

The air outside is dry and dusty, but as we descend, I can smell water and feel damp air. The surrounding darkness is absolute. I’m unable to gauge the size of the cavern or the depth we are under the earth. Solis walks forward, turning confidently through openings and walking forward. She stops occasionally and studies the cave walls. I notice indentations that she seems to read. If the torch goes out, or if I lose track of Solis, I fear I won’t be able to find my way out.

We are following along the edge of an underground river, that moves silently along next to narrow path. I imagine frightening things emerging from its depths. I don’t want to go wherever she is leading me.

At last, we enter a massive open cavern. I can tell because the sound changes. Solis takes the torch and leaves me standing in the dark. After a moment I see her lighting a torch on the wall. After a few minutes, she has lit torches all around us. The effect is amazing. The walls of the cavern are pale reddish color. Every inch is painted with illustrations.

The ceiling is adorned with hand painted warriors on horseback, animals escaping in every direction, and everywhere there are lakes of reddish brown that look like blood. A strange text is interwoven, running like trails around the images.

“What is this place?” My voice sounds small and insignificant in the giant chamber.

“It is a dark place. This is the history before our memory. The ancient hearth minders recorded this history of the time before dragons. I told you before that dragons appear when the world is out of balance. There was a time when our kind ruled the earth, all the dragons had disappeared and left the world in our care.”

I look up at the ceiling again. The effect is beautiful and terrifying.

Solis sits and consults her Vahgen. She points at a single line of text in a far corner.

She reads the translation from the book, “In the time before the dragons returned, the world tipped out of balance.”

She points up at an image I hadn’t noticed before. It appears to be a line of people lashed together with horses, cows, and sheep. There’s a short line of text underneath and she reads out a translation.

“A single…” she pauses, “this word is hard to explain ‘landholder’….” She looks up at me, and nods. “I guess that’s the best translation. It’s something like that, or ‘owner of places and things’ maybe.”

The practice of owning anything, especially land, is unheard of in hearth culture.

I look again at the image. “But there are people in the picture, not just land.”

“Yes, at that time, things were held by individual people. They could own other people and it caused war and greed and selfishness. People did not live in the way we do in the hearth.”

“Are you sure that it’s true?”

She stares at her Vahgen, as though the answer might be there. “The horse hearth minders are the keepers of very ancient stories. It is said that these stories have been handed down very carefully for hundreds of generations, though it isn’t known exactly when this history was painted here.”

Solis reads out many of the lines, pointing out specific figures and explaining images that aren’t easy for me to understand.

She points to a lake of red blood pooling beneath the ornate battlefields. Here there is a larger line of text, “And lakes of blood were the testimony to their ownership.”

The cave is cool. I shudder involuntarily at this last sentence.

“This is what the Drakdarekam fear. They fear a destruction of our way of life. A return to the chaos of life on earth without dragons. They fear that the world is out of balance and growing worse.”

I nod, but I feel like running away.

“This journey, Granye, is to find your son and Astiah’s daughter, but I have another purpose. I’m growing old and I fear that many of the Drakdarekam are as well. We need to awaken hearth minders to the danger that is creeping into our valleys and hearths. It isn’t the dragons, it is us. We are the danger.”

I sit, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of the knot of figures overhead. I want to return home to my hearth, tend my sheep, reap the hay in our fields.

Solis shakes her head sadly. “I’m sorry. Your peaceable days of tending the land are behind you. That is not your path, Granye.”

I don’t want to believe her, but something inside me whispers she is right. I’m in two minds. The return of the dragons to our valley may be a good thing or a bad one. The only way I can find out is to move forward.

I stand to extinguish one of the torches on the wall. As the cave grows dark, I can only think that I’m so tired, and tomorrow will be another exhausting day of trying to master riding a horse.

Solis’s words echo through my mind.

‘We are the danger.’