chapt one

Chapter 1



The woods were calm, green, and peaceful. Warm sunlight filtered through the canopy above, causing shadows to play across the ground. The light breeze that blew between the tree trunks carried the perfume of blooming flowers with it. It had been a good spring and was, so far, a good summer. It was the kind of year that would have brought pleasure to almost anyone.
But as Keysa walked she did not notice the beauty that surrounded her in the forest, she did not feel pleasure from the warm summer afternoon. She was more concerned with the quickly decaying leaves on the trees, the rotting bark, and the vast amounts of fungi covering the forest floor. The stream that ran through her forest village had recently developed a green sludge on the surface. Their pick of fresh, unspoiled fruit was becoming thinner and thinner lately. She had been an Anih for ten years now and had never seen the forest suffer like this. It seemed as if the entire forest was slowly rotting away. This forest was the home of her tribe. They had occupied this area for thousands of years. The written histories did not even tell of a time when they had not cared for the great wood that surrounded their village.
She looked back at her village. Not far enough yet, she could still hear the Elder Council talking. That was all they ever did was talk, while the warriors sat around them in a circle waiting for a decision. Everyone wanted to hear what the oldest and the wisest of their tribe had to say. The talking should have been finished by now, they had to do something or they wouldn’t have a home to live in anymore.
She was an Anih, a caregiver of the tribe, she promised to care for the forest, for their home. She was also supposed to care for her tribe, but she wasn’t the only caregiver. She was sure that they could live without her for a while.
There was something she had to do first. It was time for her calling. She was one hundred and ten years of age now. She had been an adult for ten years, and an Anih. Recently she began to hear the animals calling to her. Not directly, she wasn’t able to speak with the wildlife. But inside, she could feel a need to find the lifelong companion of the Anih. She was ready to find her familiar. Her familiar would be bonded to her. They would share their feelings and their needs. They would protect and help one another. It was like having a best friend with you all the time. As they spent more and more time together the bond would grow stronger and other skills would develop between them. The animal she calls would even live well beyond its normal life expectancy because of the bond. She needed to call her familiar to her today. She would need the help for her journey. The way will be tough in the forest alone.
She looked ahead and could see the small grove that was her destination. Behind her she could no longer see the village or hear the discussions going on there. Her slender frame easily passed between the tight knit of trunks surrounding the small clearing, she knelt in the center and cleared a spot for a small fire. She piled some small twigs and leaves together and sparked them to life with her flint, then reached in her pack and pulled out some dried bark and broke it over the fire. As soon as the fire caught the bark she could smell the thick cent of cedar. Finally she took a drink of water from her water skin and sat cross-legged in front of the fire.
The young elf closed her eyes and started to chant softly. Over and over in her mind she asked the earth, the trees, and the animals for help. To send her a friend and companion that would be bonded to her for life. She rocked back and forth as she chanted, breathing the fumes of the cedar bark and listening to the earth breath. She continued to chant the strange words of her tongue, and then she passed out.



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Kalin looked about their small hut, the small pointed lobes of his ears were turning red. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing from his life-givers. His mother especially should be in agreement with him.
“My sister is missing, and your telling me I can’t go look for her.” He just stared at the ceiling not wanting to look at their faces.
A slender elf reached up to touch Kalin’s shoulder. “We do not know she is missing yet son. She is an Anih, maybe she went to help heal the forest.”
Kalin’s father was taller than him, but with long white hair that marked him past two hundred years of age.
“By herself? What, at this point, can she do by herself? All of our caregivers together can barely heal the trees now. I think something has happened. I just want to go take a look. Is that really asking too much?”
His mother finally stepped forward to speak to her son. She was graceful, even for an elf. Her long dark hair would never turn white and her face would never show lines of age, a blessing from the mother earth to female elf-kind.
“Kalin, you are out of line. Ajith is your father, not to mention first warrior, it is your duty to obey. I would never have imagined such behavior out of one of my children.”
Kalin lowered his head in shame. He had made his parents angry, and had spoken angry words to them. “I am sorry mother, I just think…”
She raised her hand and cut him off. “We will do as your father has first said. We will wait until morning, then we will send out a search. Until then let us eat what has been provided for us and sleep this night.”
The younger elf bowed to his parents and left the hut. He followed the path up to the feast hall thoughtfully. He was still angry. He just wanted his sister to be all right, to be safe. Their duty to each other called for it. Her duty as Anih was to heal and care for the forest and members of her tribe, and his duty as a warrior male and seeker to protect his tribe and provide for them. But their bond as siblings was strong and their duty to family was first.
He looked to the sky through the canopy of the trees, it was darkening quickly, and Keysa was out there. The feast hall was already crowded with the Children of the Sky. Their tribe did not eat all of their meals together, but at the evening meal they could reflect on the happenings of the day before they started the next. There would be a lot of talk at the tables tonight. He would not eat with the rest of his tribe tonight. No, he would go to the forest to pray. He will ask the mother of them all to watch over his sister until they could find her.


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Ajith watched his son head out into the forest. “He is quick-tempered, but a good son.”
His life-mate Linde smiled. “He is a good brother, he cares for his sister and only wants her safe. I worry too Ajith. Only the Great Mother knows what is in that girls mind.”
“Let us join our tribe to feast. We may have a long time ahead of us.” He took his wife’s hand and they walked to feast with their kin.


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A low growling noise woke Keysa. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her blurry gaze to the west, the sun was almost gone. How long had she been out? Her fire only smoldered now and no scent of cedar drifted from it any longer.
A furry head slid against her thigh. She quickly rolled and sprang to a crouch drawing her small bone knife. A small caracal stood a dozen feet in front of her. The forest cat was small. She guessed about four feet long, not counting the tail. Its fur was reddish-brown and it had black tufts on the end of its long pointed ears. Its long tapering tail was about a third of its whole body length, and now it slowly swished back and forth.
The cat moved to a comfortable sitting position as if it was waiting for her to do something. A thought hit her suddenly. Was this her familiar, was this animal sent to aid her, to be bonded to her? She had a strange feeling of anxiety wash through her. She realized she was receiving this feeling from the cat.
She put her knife away and walked slowly toward the animal, reaching her hand toward it. The caracal raised its head to her hand and a low grumbling noise issued from it. She got a feeling of contentment from the cat now. It hadn’t been growling at her, it was….purring.
A wide smile cut across Keysa’s features. She had performed her calling. She had brought her familiar to her. Now she had to figure what to do next. What would be her first step in figuring out how to heal the forest? The Elder Council had said something about the stream that ran through their village. Yes, the stream ran back to the river a few miles, toward the mountains, and the problem more than likely could be found along the river. But the river ran all the way up into the mountains. The problem could be anywhere and it could be anything. This undertaking was already proving more than she thought it would be. They had better get started.
She turned to her new familiar. The caracal lay there waiting for her. “Ok then, let’s go….” She stopped mid-sentence, she hadn’t even thought about giving her new familiar a name. Would it tell her what its name was? No, she could only perceive feelings and images from the cat. “Kiska.” She blurted out suddenly. “How do you like that?” The cat immediately stood and walked to her side. She reached down and scratched the cat’s ears. “Kiska it is then. Shall we start our journey then?”
She figured the stream ran south through the village and she was west of the village. If she headed northeast from where she was she could skirt the village and still intersect the stream headed toward the river. She headed out at a slow jog and the cat quickly leapt ahead of her. It seemed Kiska would keep point lookout. They would need to keep this pace to put distance between them and the village. The village, and particularly Kalin, would look for her soon. But they would not send out a full search party for too great of a distance. That would leave the village unprotected. They should be able to reach the river before morning. If they did catch up to her they would have her return to the village. But she was determined to do something. The time for talk was over as far as she was concerned. Talking would not heal their home. Once she reached the river they would rest for a couple of hours and then start their quest on what was poisoning the forest. She was confident that things had started out well. She could only hope and pray to the Great Mother things would continue on that path.


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The sky had barely begun to lighten but the Seekers, the hunter-warriors of the tribe, were already gathered in the center of the village. First-Warrior Ajith stood before them, Linde and Kalin stood close behind him. Normally Linde would not be present at a meeting of Seekers, but this concerned her daughter, and she had a right to know what was to be done.
Ajith raised his staff for silence. Seeing the brightly adorned staff of First-Warrior in the air the gathering quickly became silent.
“Seekers, one of our own is missing. A member of our tribe has either become lost or something more treacherous has happened. As she is one of the Anih I doubt that she is lost. We all know that these woods, our home, can be full of danger. Even the elf-kind can be taken by surprise. I fear losing one of our blessed Anih, but even more, I fear losing my daughter.”
At this last part the warriors began whispering among themselves. It was no small thing to lose a caregiver. A female elf with the ability came along rarely. But this was also the daughter of the First Warrior. Some wondered how the daughter of such a great man could be so foolish as to wander alone in the woods in the first place.
“Quiet now, quiet.” He raised the staff of his position. “My friends, I can not for one, even for an Anih, take the entire hunting party with me to search. I have also already spoken to the Elder Council this morning.” He lowered his head, the sadness could be heard in his voice. “They have decided that this is too small of a concern for the First Warrior to leave the village unprotected.”
Again the whispering rippled through the gathering. For the council to deny him to look for his own daughter, this could not be right. The duty to family must be upheld. Even First Warrior had a right to search for a child.
“This is what we shall do then.” The eyes of all were intently waiting to see what the plan would be. “I will lead twelve warriors in a search through the outskirts of our village. We will move gradually outward until we reach where the stream meets the river to the north, and where the hills rise to the south.”
A young elf spoke. “Which of us will you take First Warrior?”
Ajith acknowledged the question with a nod. “Let me finish and we shall get to that.” He turned back to the gathering. “Another party, smaller, and led by my son Kalin…”
“Kalin, he is yet a young Seeker, why should he lead?” Ajith did not know who spoke the question, but answered.
“Kalin will lead because he has asked me. This is my daughter who has lost her way from us. If I can not go, then my son will go in my place.” He paused, but no other protests were spoken. “Now, five others will go with him. The Guides have said we can spare these. For three days this party will search, if nothing is found they will return home. This is all I can do.”
Kalin stepped forward next to his father. “I will take five volunteers, we will ride out immediately, and then my father will choose his twelve. Who will ride with me?”
As soon as he spoke three young elves stepped forward. Two of them, Neu and Maki, were close friends of his and Keysa’s. The third, Tem, he knew by name only, but had heard he was a capable hunter.
Kalin motioned to the three elves. “We have three, what others want to ride with us? I need two more.”
Two older warriors talked quietly to one another, then they too stepped forward. “We shall ride with you Kalin. Our swords and bows are yours.” They nodded in respect to him, and then turned and nodded to his father as well.
This would be a capable party to be sure. The two older warriors to volunteer were experienced Seekers, and would be of great help to the search. Aaric, the one who had spoken was his uncle, so his reasons for coming were obvious. He did not know what reason the other may have, but it did not matter. They had their five and they would ride out immediately.
“Very good, gather your horses and your things for the journey. We will meet past the feast hall and ride from there.”
As the search party left to gather their things, Kalin turned to his father. “If she is outside your search perimeter we will find her father. I know most of those who volunteered, they are good warriors.”
Ajith smiled at his son. “They are at that. You have my brother riding with you, and that makes me feel good. If you are unsure of what to do look to Aaric, he can guide you.” He looked to the elves gathering at the feast hall. “Do you know where you will head to first?”
“I think we’ll ride straight to the rivers fork. That is where your search will end, so that is the logical place for us to start I think.”
“Good luck to you then and safe journey.”
“And to you as well father.” Kalin replied the salutation, shook hands with his father and joined his search party.