Hungry Heart - Book #4 - Ch. 16 (Patreon)

Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven / Chapter Eight / Chapter Nine / Chapter Ten / Chapter Eleven / Chapter Twelve / Chapter Thirteen / Chapter Fourteen / Chapter Fifteen 

Chapter Sixteen – The Ties of Destiny

Toru rushed through the snow, with Elpis light on her feet following him, as the creature flew away. “What is the name of that beast?” he asked, only turning his head a smidge for his voice to carry to his companion.

“Its name is Drahlung,” Elpis replied.

She was fast and running almost side by side with him. That had to be because of how she was part of the forest and a spirit. After knowing Shearah, he knew a thing or two about spirits of the wind, the forest, and whatnot.

“Drahlung? But what kind of beast is it?” Toru continued his inquiry.

The creature had wings, and it had spread them, covering half of the night sky as it did so. It appeared to have a particular destination in mind because it didn’t choose to come confront them, if it could tell they were there. Could it be that it was already rushing to take down the castle walls and destroy the only safe haven the people of Niverborg had? Toru increased his pace.

It wasn’t hard to follow the beast. Its breath of fire left a black trail through the snow, and Toru ran alongside it, cautious of its nature.

“The heart of the forest told me,” Elpis began, “that when the balance of life here is upset, Drahlung wakes up. I’ve known of it only from the tales spoken by the oldest trees in these parts. Even though I know the heart of the forest never lies, I doubted that there was any truth in the tale. Because I did upset the balance of it all by having Lakan, and nothing happened. Your coming here must have awakened it from its slumber.”

“Tell me all you know about this beast,” Toru asked hurriedly. “We will need to force it back into its lair or kill it. What is this trail it’s leaving? It’s fuming and it stinks.”

“Everything about Drahlung is poison. This trail scorches the ground beneath. Nothing will ever grow again in these parts, if what the old trees told me is true.”

“Where do you think it’s heading? It moves so fast it makes me want to have wings, too.”

“I don’t know for sure. But it does have a plan in mind, and the only way to find out is to follow it.”

That was just what Toru had in mind, too. His friends could be in danger if he didn’t hurry and he willed his entire body to move him forward faster.

“Drahlung,” Elpis continued without missing a beat, “is said to be the bringer of doom for this forest. When Aneros’ tribe emerged victorious from all their battles, Drahlung was forced into an endless sleep. Seals of magic and curses kept the gate to its place of rest secure from the world outside. But it appears it found a way to release itself.”

“Why is it bent on destroying this place? Is that the only purpose it was created for?” Toru didn’t doubt that the creature had to have been brought to life through unnatural means.

“It is its only purpose. Roots of evil once grew underneath this forest, legends say,” Elpis explained. “From them, Drahlung grew and had it not been vanquished by Aneros’ tribe, it might have engulfed not only this place, but others as well as it grew stronger and stronger.”

“One evil or another, it doesn’t matter. It will go the way of the others,” Toru said with conviction.

***

“What is that thing?” Lakan asked out loud as they rushed to follow the flying beast.

Duril wished he knew the answer to that question. Such a fearsome creature was like nothing they had seen so far in their adventures. Its skin or coat was black as night and it appeared that no light cast on it was reflected off, lost in that vast darkness that covered it to the tips of its large claws that Duril had noticed as the beast had flown over.

Something appeared to be dripping from its claws, and where those droplets fell, dark spots could be seen on the snow. He slowed down a bit to look at those spots and saw fumes rising. The smell was unbearable, and Duril shielded his nose and mouth. Whatever that was, it must have been made with a single purpose, to destroy and kill.

Deciding that now was not the time for examining the marks left behind by the creature, he hurried after the others. Only then, he realized that they had all stopped at the edge of a clearing, assuming fighting stances, and shouting at something.

The winged creature appeared to have landed in that clearing. It stood reared up on its hind legs, a pair of burning eyes the only thing visible of its head. Duril moved closer, fascinated by those fierce eyes that seemed to belong to an intelligent creature, and not some ordinary beast.

“Lakan,” the creature spoke, opening a frightening maw and showing rows of sharp white teeth, so bright in contrast to the rest of its dark body that Duril had to look away for a moment, his eyes unable to adjust to that brightness.

The head of Niverborg stepped proudly forward. “Do not speak my name so rudely, beast,” Lakan said. “Who are you and why are you here?”

The young ruler of Niverborg was fearless, Duril noted and remained quiet. It seemed that everyone else respected Lakan for responding to the creature’s call.

“My name is Drahlung, and I am here to witness your blood being spilled,” the beast replied.

“Ha! It will be your blood spilled,” Lakan replied. “You don’t belong here, and you better go back to where you came from.”

“Listen to me, foolish half-tiger!” Drahlung spat a globe of fire right at Lakan’s feet, making him jump to one side.

“Who are you calling a half-tiger?” Lakan bellowed.

“I’m calling you what you are. It will not be me spilling your blood. He will be here soon enough.”

As if the creature’s words had the power to conjure newcomers to the scene, at that very moment, Toru and Elpis emerged from the opposite side of the clearing.

***

The creature had stopped in a clearing, and it seemed that everyone was already there. Toru quickly took in how Lakan must have stepped closer to the beast, while the others kept back, as well as the mark of soot and tar not far from him. Could it be that Drahlung was already trying to kill his brother? Pure rage lit a fire in his bones. He would allow no creature to take his brother away from him, now that he had found him.

“Leave him alone,” he called aloud.

All heads turned toward him. He saw everyone there, Lakan’s people, and his friends. Varg, Claw, and Duril were looking at him, and they understood each other without words. If a battle against this legendary creature was about to break out, they would all jump in at a moment’s notice.

“I have every intention of leaving him to you.” Drahlung turned and looked at Toru, towering over him from such a height that he had to tip his head back to glare into a pair of blazing eyes. Oddly enough, those eyes reminded him of something or someone, but he couldn’t tell what or who.

Maybe it was a trick the creature was using to try and persuade his mind that he would be within his rights to spill his brother’s blood.

Toru put his hands on his hips. “I have no intention of fighting Lakan, and Elpis told me everything.”

“What’s an Elpis?”

That was a strange question.

Elpis stepped forward. “That is me,” she said. “I am Lakan’s mother.”

“The foolish fae,” Drahlung said with disdain. “This is your doing.”

Elpis cast her eyes down. “It is,” she admitted simply.

“Mother,” Lakan started, “what is the meaning of all this? Why does he call you a fae?”

“That is because I am,” Elpis began. “I am not a tigershifter like the rest of you.”

Lakan took a step back, shaken by learning such an astonishing thing about his mother. Toru wished he could go to him and tell him that he was his brother, and that they would fight this Drahlung together and emerge victorious from it all. Still, he had no time for such things. He needed to keep his eyes on the beast, as it appeared as fully intelligent as a human or shapeshifter.

Or Demophios, or Amaranth, he recalled, and that feeling of having known this creature before engulfed his mind yet again. What was the meaning of it? He shook his head.

“Then I am not a tiger?” Lakan asked, his voice unsure and full of comprehension. “What am I, mother?”

“You are the ruler of this place,” Toru said loudly. “You’re the head of Niverborg.”

Lakan’s set his eyes on him.

“That is not true, and only his mother’s foolishness kept this place alive until you came back,” Drahlung intervened. “True tiger,” he addressed Toru, “destroy the undeserving and claim your birthright.”

“I will not,” Toru said.

“Why is it his birthright?” Lakan asked sharply. His question was directed at his mother. “What am I?”

Toru stepped forward. “You’re my brother,” he said loudly.

Elpis came to his side. “That is true, Lakan. Zaion didn’t sire you. It was Aneros I lay with and had you. And then he left and had Toru with his chosen bride.”

Lakan appeared shaken to his core by such revelations. He staggered for a moment, and his next question came as an anguished cry, a repetition of the same words from before. “What am I?”

“You are the one to die,” Drahlung said. It suddenly opened its maw and drew a ring of fire, catching Toru and Lakan inside it, and pushing the others to the sides, making them tumble like clumps of weed over the snow.

Toru stood in front of his brother, feeling his pain. He wished he knew all those beautiful words some people could say when wanting to soothe an injured soul. But he was not adept at that, as much as he raked his mind. However, he could speak from the heart.

“Play with your fire all you want,” Toru said and crossed his arms. “I have no intention of fighting my brother, who I love.”

Lakan stared at him in surprise and outrage. “I’m not your brother,” he spat and hunched his shoulders, the burden of the truth too much for him to bear.

“Yes, you are, and you’ll accept it, like I did.”

“Did you know? Did you come here to laugh at me?” Lakan asked. He tried to appear strong and tall, but his entire body was trembling, and Toru saw it all too clearly.

“No, I didn’t know until your mother told me the whole truth. It doesn’t mean anything regarding who has the right to rule over Niverborg, because that will always be you.”

“I don’t need your pity!” Lakan threw a hand at him in accusation. “You’re here to claim your birthright! If that means we must fight, we will.”

Toru hadn’t expected his brother to be so hard-headed. In a way, however, it didn’t surprise him. “And if I refuse?”

“That is not a choice you can make,” Drahlung intervened in their little brotherly spat. “You two must fight until only one stands.”

“And why should we do what you say?” Toru asked. “I will not fight my brother.”

“Then that means you choose to let this place die,” Drahlung said. “Elpis, as the foolish fae prefers to be called by the tigers she chose to live among, condemned it the moment she decided to go against destiny.”

“What do you mean? Is Niverborg dying its slow death because of me?” Lakan shouted.

“Don’t listen to this Drahlung,” Toru warned. “He only wants what he wants, for this forest to die, because he spent thousands of years or so locked up in a cave somewhere, and now he’s just upset.”

“You are trying to diminish my significance and my power,” Drahlung boomed. “You do have a foolish streak in you, Toru, like all of Niverborg blood.”

“You don’t really know why I should fight Lakan, do you?” Toru turned his head to stare at Drahlung, as much as he could.

“How can you doubt such a thing? I am the truth,” Drahlung said in his sonorous voice.

“You’re nothing but a big lizard bird or something,” Toru countered.

A collective gasp from those present let him know that maybe he was playing too close to the fire. But the ring of fire was all around him and Lakan, and Drahlung towered above them, which meant that fighting fire with fire was the only way out.

“I see. Others must have allowed you to speak out of turn too many times. You have no humility in you.”

“Nor do I care to have,” Toru retorted. “Lakan, don’t listen to him. As brothers, we must come together and defeat the only threat to this place.”

Lakan just continued to observe him with wary eyes. “You haven’t been here for the last decades. You haven’t witnessed the slow death of this place. The truth may be hurtful, but now I understand everything.” Toru started when Lakan knelt in front of him. “Now, brother or not, strike me and let this curse end. I don’t even intend to fight you anymore, if my life and my blood are what are needed to make Niverborg live again.”

Toru took his brother by the shoulders. “Lakan, you need to stop. I’ve always wanted a brother. I’m not just going to give up on him now that I found him.”

Lakan shook off his touch. “I said what I had to. Now, kill me!”

Toru took one step back. “I can see you are very stubborn. I think I’ve seen the likes of Drahlung before. They all think they know all the truth, but they are just some legendary creatures that don’t know as much as they believe. Come on, get to your feet, and fight for Niverborg as you should.”

He smiled as Lakan got up from his kneeling position. But his relief was short-lived, as Lakan rushed toward him, shifting into his white striped coat in midair.

***

Varg pulled Elpis to his side. “Fae of the forest,” he said in a tone that brooked no contradiction, “how about you enlighten us as to what’s going on there?”

They had heard all the words exchanged between the brothers, and now they saw how Lakan was trying to take a bite out of Toru, clinched as they were in a fight which was supposed to end with only one of them alive.

“That is the destiny,” Elpis explained, while heavy tears fell from her eyes. “Your healer heard the forest, and I couldn’t stop him from listening in. And Toru asked the fountain of truth the only question I didn’t want to answer. Today, my child will die,” she added and hid her face in her hands.

Surprised as they were to hear that Toru and Lakan were brothers, Varg was very inclined to discover a way to help them all get out of this dilemma. “Why did you do it? Why did you have Lakan?”

“Were you in love with Aneros?” Duril asked. “And when did I listen to the forest? I don’t remember doing so.”

“I made you forget,” Elpis replied. “No, I wasn’t in love. Or maybe a little. My soul is sworn to Niverborg, and I did it because I thought that I could save it, with Aneros going to die in battle.”

“And you created a half-tiger,” Varg said, “one who is now fighting our friend to the death within that ring of fire. Now, tell us, how do we defeat this Drahlung?”

Elpis stared at him in disbelief. “You cannot defeat Drahlung. It’s part of the forest’s soul, its keeper.”

“We’re asking the wrong person,” Claw intervened. “I know a thing or two about forests. With all due respect, Elpis, you’re nothing but a simple fae of the lowest rank. Am I right?”

Elpis nodded. “Yes, a simple one indeed. And foolish. I should have not trifled with destiny.”

“We might be a little glad you did, because otherwise we would have never found Niverborg. Toru would have been sadder for it, without a doubt. Now, how about you take us to the very heart of the forest so that we can hear how we can defeat Drahlung?”

Elpis stared at the bearshifter in astonishment. “How do you know the answers can only be found there?”

“As I said. I know forests,” Claw explained.

“Is it safe to let them fight here while we’re searching for this heart of the forest?” Duril asked.

Claw took a long look at the fierce battle going on within the ring of fire. “I think that neither of them will get the upper hand anytime soon. Lakan doesn’t have the strength to defeat Toru, since he’s only a half-tiger, and Toru doesn’t intend to overpower his brother and destroy him. But let’s not dally. Elpis, lead the way.”

It appeared that Claw’s demand was enough to convince the fae to move. They all followed quickly after her, leaving only the tigers of Niverborg to watch the impossible fight between the two brothers.

***

“I do not intend to hurt you, and I told you so already,” Toru hissed as Lakan’s fangs closed very close to his skin, scratching it lightly even through the heavy coat.

“Can’t you understand that you need to fight me?” Lakan shouted at him. “You must kill me, Toru, and I will force you to do it, even though you do not want to. Consider it my family’s curse, passed on to me by my mother. You have no blame in this.”

“I do,” Toru shot back and rolled over to give them both a breather. “I came here to learn about my place of birth and disturbed your peace. You would have all been better off without my coming here.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Lakan said and circled him slowly, searching for an angle to launch his next attack from. “You came here because your destiny beckoned you. And we would have continued on our path to a slow death if you hadn’t come. I see that I was right to believe you to be a tiger coming after my birthright the moment I saw you. And now I also see that I shouldn’t have been afraid at all because that’s the destiny I have. Now, live up to your own destiny, Toru, and fight me.”

His brother was too stubborn and also quite strong, so Toru struggled to find a way to subdue him without hurting him much. That appeared to be impossible at the moment. The same blood of their father coursed through their veins, and it made them almost equals on that improvised battlefield.

Almost. Toru knew he was stronger and if it had been any other enemy in front of him, that enemy would have been defeated by now. He wasn’t one for striking a delicate balance when it came to using his power, and, with the next strike, his sharp claws went through Lakan’s tough skin and drew blood. The few drops that fell touched the frozen ground beneath their paws. Drahlung’s fire had caused the snow to melt, and it was now naked and hard under their feet.

Where Lakan’s blood fell, small sprouts raised their heads. They twisted and turned into tall stalks, and small fruits emerged at their ends. Lakan shifted into his human and gripped his injured shoulder. Toru thought he was trying to stop the blood, but then he understood that he was squeezing his wound to spray the ground with more of it, causing new plants to grow everywhere. Those outside the circle couldn’t see what was going on, but they could hear Lakan’s shouts of wonder.

Toru watched his brother in horror as Lakan dug into his own wound with his hand to make more blood come out. “Stop it, stop right now!”  he growled and pushed violently against him. He turned into his human, too, so that he could pin Lakan’s hands to the ground and stop him from hurting himself. “Why would you do such a thing?”

“Let me be!” Lakan struggled. “Can’t you see that this is the only way to make this place live again?”

Toru saw Lakan flinching and only then realized that tears were flowing freely from his eyes and falling onto his brother’s face. The fight seemed to have gone out of his brother, like a snuffed flame. “Toru,” he said, gently this time, “you must let me. If I had known this was what was needed from me, through all these years, I would have done it in a heartbeat. I don’t want Niverborg to die. I know that this name and this place cannot mean anything to you, but they are everything I live for. And I will die for them if this is what is asked of me.”

“You’re wrong!” Toru said sharply and squeezed his eyes shut, in hope of pushing away the tears so that he could see more clearly. “I care about this place, and I care about you. I don’t care about old lizard birds wanting us to fight and kill each other. Such creatures are nothing but evil.”

A flapping of wings rushed over their heads, but Toru didn’t look. If Drahlung wanted to kill his brother, he would have to go through him first.

“I am not evil, Toru,” the beast spoke from above. “I am a keeper of order, I care for this place, and I remained silent for these many years in the hope that you would come and remove the false ruler of Niverborg.”

“You’re the one who’s false!” Toru shouted. “If you truly cared for this place, as you say, you would have done something to save it. I refuse to be a ruler of Niverborg in Lakan’s place, because that would bring only falseness and hurt into my heart. I refuse!”

“Lakan is slowly dying,” Drahlung said. “The choice is no longer in your hands. It was enough to hurt him just a little, and within my ring of fire, his tiger blood cannot make him whole again. It is a noble sacrifice on his part to want his demise to occur faster.”

Toru watched Lakan slowly closing his eyes. He shook him. “No, this cannot be,” he whispered in dismay. “You can’t die. I won’t allow it.”

***

Elpis had taken them deep into the forest, and none of them spared any effort to follow her, as she was truly fast. Duril understood now what she had said, about making him forget, because, with only one look, she had given him back those memories. Claw was right about wanting to discover the heart of the forest and make her understand why it would be wrong to force Toru to fight his brother to the death.

The temperature was falling, too, as they moved deeper and deeper into the darker parts of the woods. Duril had to rub his hand against his body to keep it from becoming numb from the cold. He stole a look at Varg and saw that he, too, was fighting to stop his teeth from chattering. Claw was the only one who didn’t seem to mind the cold air.

Elpis stopped at the center of a small clearing. In its middle rose a single tree, its trunk so twisted and hardened that it must have been there since the beginning of that forest. “Mother,” she said in a trembling voice, “I come here with guests.”

The tree trunk appeared to move, like an old lady shaken from her slumber. “Guests?”

Duril didn’t see a mouth or anything remotely similar, but the voice he heard was crystal clear.

“Yes. You see, they came here with Toru, Aneros’ son,” Elpis explained. “But Toru doesn’t want to fight my son. He wants to spare him and denies his claim to Niverborg.”

“If he denies it, then this place will die altogether. There is no other way. Don’t shed your tears, Elpis. You knew you were going against the order of things when you lay with the shapeshifter. To have a son out of that man was the wrong thing to do.”

“She kept the place alive through Lakan,” Duril intervened.

“Who’s speaking?”

“I am Duril. I am a healer and a half-orc and I come from Whitekeep. I have traveled with Toru since he came to our town. I know that he speaks the truth when he says that he doesn’t want to fight his brother. He will not accept ruling here. Sacrificing Lakan, one way or another, would be in vain.”

“A skillful wielder of words, I see,” the voice from inside the trunk commented. “But the order of things must be restored. And Toru doesn’t have to accept anything. Once he removes the false ruler, he is free to roam the world. As long as he’s alive, and his blood is alive, Niverborg will survive. He only has to say the words and accept his rightful claim to this world.”

“He is a stubborn one,” Duril said. “He won’t do anything that goes against his heart.”

“We never get to do what we want all the time,” the voice replied calmly. “Toru will have sons and daughters of his own, and they will always be seen as the true rulers of this place.”

Duril considered his next words carefully. “I don’t think Toru will have sons and daughters of his own, unless he changes his mind.”

“What do you mean?”

Duril set his chin high. “Toru is my lover.”

“And mine,” Varg said.

“And mine,” Claw added.

The voice remained silent.

Elpis was the one to speak. “Aneros’ blood lives in Lakan, mother. You only have to accept him. And the sap of these trees, these old trees that have been here with us since the beginning of time, flows through his veins, too. His sons and daughters will love this place like no other. Aneros felt the call of destiny and went away, and this world stopped. But tigershifters with the sap of the forest in their blood would never leave. Niverborg will live forever.”

How many times must have Elpis rehearsed those words, trying to convey all the conviction she had so that she could save her son? Duril observed her carefully, the clenched hands, the pleading look in her large eyes, her tensed body.

“If you need someone’s blood, take mine,” Elpis said passionately. “Why wouldn’t that be enough?”

“You know you cannot die, Elpis,” the voice said. “Yes, you see, I’m not as hardened in my heart as you think. I’m using the name you chose once you left us. I love you that much.”

“Love my son, too,” Elpis begged.

“No, I can’t allow it. Cry your tears. They will dry. And you will return to where you belong. Ah, the trees are speaking to me. Neither of you need to worry anymore about the outcome of the battle. Lakan is dying as we speak, and his blood mingles now with the soft earth beneath us to give it life.”

Elpis let out an anguished cry and coiled into herself, falling to the ground. She dragged herself to the old trunk and slammed her small hands against its bark. “Don’t let him die, please, don’t let him die. My tears will never dry up.”

As she said those words, she started wailing, and Duril witnessed helplessly as the tears falling from her eyes turned into a small stream of water at her feet, only to grow and grow, until they became a tiny river. Her entire body transformed, too, first becoming luminous and then turning into glass as she froze in place, a statue holding her hands to her face, a look of pain crystalized into that column of ice forever.

“No, no, my child,” the voice whispered desperately, “you cannot do this.”

“Your unmoved heart pushed her to this,” Duril accused, feeling revolt growing inside him. “You are all powerful in this forest, are you not? Then return Elpis to life and save her son.”

Claw put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He hadn’t realized that he had taken a few steps forward and clenched his hand into a fist. “I can see that this heart of the forest is not all powerful at all, as I see it.”

“What do you know, bearshifter?” the voice asked him. “Ah, I see, oracles speak to you. But that doesn’t mean--”

“How about you stop right there and tell us what needs to be done to save Lakan?” Claw cut her short. “It is all about Drahlung and his power, isn’t it?”

Duril didn’t know how Claw was capable of seeing right through that old trunk, but it had to do, indeed, with the way oracles spoke to him, as the voice said.

***

Toru understood one thing, and that was all that mattered. Drahlung had said that within his ring of fire, Lakan couldn’t heal. That left him with only one choice, and he would take it. He hiked Lakan up in his arms and began walking toward the blazing edge with sure steps.

“What are you doing?” Drahlung asked, the incredulity in his voice a sign that he hadn’t expected that move on Toru’s part.

“I’m breaking free of here,” Toru said with determination. “You cannot keep us.”

“You cannot cut the ties of destiny, Toru,” Drahlung warned.

“You think so? Just watch me,” Toru said and hissed as the flames touched his skin, making pain shoot through him.

TBC