The Quest of the Kidnapped Dryad
The trail which Illithia and Aliehs were following was climbing steeply now. The gently rolling slopes that rose from the plain on which Prince Sivart's castle lay were well behind them, while to the north the mountains rose in a jagged tumble of peaks and ridges. They themselves were heading north east, the waning moon casting long shadows across their path, and the air growing sharp with chill as they moved steadily upwards. Aliehs shivered and drew her woollen cloak more closely about her. Illithia noticed the movement and turned to smile encouragement.
"Only about another hour till we reach the Enchanted Wood. It's well down in a cup in the mountains and warmed by volcanic springs. You'll find the pine needles make a warm bed."
"And pinecones and boughs make a warm fire - two in the morning is a desolate hour, a fire will be welcome."
She stopped short at the horrified look on Illithia's face, staring in astonishment, for the elf maid seldom betrayed her emotions.
"A fire! No! No flame is permitted within Galogan's realm. He would banish me forever for bringing you there. I'm sorry, I never though to warn you - and while I think of it - did you bring the axe?"
"No, that was in Pendar's pack. I left it with him."
"Good. Humans seldom penetrate into the valley but as an elf-friend you will be welcomed - so long as you bring neither fire nor axe."
She led on. The trail finally topped the ridge and went down into the valley beyond. A stream ran along the bottom of the valley, and the trail led to stepping stones across it, taking a more northerly direction up and out of the valley. A faint path ran west beside the water, looking as if it was seldom trodden and Illithia turned aside on to this. Motioning Aliehs to go ahead of her, she pulled a half handful of leaf debris from a pouch at her waist and scattered it over the path behind them.
"I've seen no sign that Pendar is following, and I've taken steps to obscure our trail several times during the day, but just in case, this will ensure that he doesn't notice this side path."
Aliehs hardly heard her, she was gazing searchingly at the sides of the trail. Vegetation grew plentifully there, but the lobed leaves and long irregular racemes of the blue flowers she was accustomed to seeing beside all the paths were missing here. Illithia followed her gaze and laughed. "No wolfbane grows along this trail," she said exultantly. "The grey kindred are welcome here as friends. That is partly why I wished to come; too long have Nightstalker and I been apart. You do not fear the wolves?"
"I know little of them, but would welcome the chance to know more. If the tales be true they are faithful friends to those who earn their trust."
Illithia nodded. "Wolves and elves have often shared the same hunting trails. I could tell you of some wild adventures. But not tonight, you are tired and the path ahead will need all your attention now."
Indeed it did. The bushes and small trees that had bordered the path gave way to the walls of a rocky cleft and the faint mist that had hung over the water curdled and eddied into a vision hindering fog. The trail petered out among water smoothed boulders and Aliehs scrambled carefully over them as she followed after Illithia's dimly looming figure.
Half an hour of this scrambling progress finally brought them out of the cleft past a bubbling spring that supplied the water for the stream they had been following.
"Care for a bath?" Illithia asked, the hint of a laugh in her voice. Aliehs shuddered.
"No thanks, I'm warmer now, thanks to all that scrambling, but I certainly don't fancy a cold bath at this hour of the night, however much you might think I need one."
"Feel the water."
Aliehs put a cautious finger into one side of the spring then drew it out with a stifled yelp, the water was almost too hot to bear.
"A volcanic spring," Illithia explained. "That's why there's always mist clogging the cleft, it makes a good defence."
"Is there any other way in?" asked Aliehs, gazing round the almost circular valley. It was cupped by mountain walls that seemed to rise sheer on all sides. A waterfall flung a slender thread of white down an opposite cliff but there seemed no other way in, for although it fed into a starlit lake in the middle of the valley there seemed to be no outfall.
"Yes. It doesn't show up in this faint starlight, but by day you can see a faint line of the eastern cliffs, a cleft that leads to a tunnel through the rock and thence to a complex system of caves. It's not safe to take that way though. For one thing it's very easy to get lost there, and for another there are unpleasant things to be found inside. But don't worry, that is not our homeward path, we shall take another way. Come, we must let Galogan know of our arrival. I would not be guilty of discourtesy to the Lord of the Wood."
She led Aliehs westwards around the edge of the valley, moving noiselessly over the matted needles that carpeted the ground, for the trees here were mostly pines with a mixture of other conifers, though towards the centre of the valley these gave way to deciduous species. The elf maid finally halted at the edge of a clearing, uttering a soft exclamation of delight. Ten small wolf cubs were rolling about in exuberant mimic battle with one another, pouncing and tussling with excited yelps in and out of the roots of a tall jagged tree stump.
"Oh! Aren't they darlings!" Aliehs exclaimed aloud, unthinkingly. At the sound of her voice the cubs ceased their play and scurried round behind the tree trunk, peering out from its shelter, not quite certain whether this stranger was to be feared or not. Illithia laughed and stepped forwards into the clearing and the tree stump moved forward to meet her. Aliehs drew in a sharp breath and went cold with shock, for the unexpected is always scaring in the dark night of a forest. Then as the deep tones of his gentle voice reached her, she released the breath and relaxed, leaning back against a tree trunk.
"Illithia, Greenleaf. Welcome, Questmaid, to the Valley of the Enchanted Wood. What friend is this that you bring to Galogan's realm?"
"This is Aliehs, a sorceress in the service of King Jor. She is of lawful alignment and although not always - discreet - in her use of magic, does not use it for ill."
"A friend of yours, and especially one in the service of King Jor, is welcome here. Greetings, my lady."
He held out two gnarled arms and Aliehs placed her hands within his, looking up into the warm brown eyes smiling down at her.
Galogan was about nine feet tall, his brown skin rough and ridged like bark, moss falling like a cloak about him. Broad and deep chested, the majesty of his presence inspired awe. This was not a being one would wish to anger. But his calm brow, smiling mouth and placed eyes bespoke one who would not be quickly stirred to wrath.
The wolf cubs, emboldened by his friendliness to the strangers, rollicked forward again, one pouncing on Illithia's cloak, and another tugging at a flapping corner of Aliehs' cloak. She laughed, and bending down, rolled him onto his back to tickle a woolly belly. A companion promptly pounced on the tickling hand, while another cub jumped up on his hind legs in what seemed like an enthusiastic attempt to lick off her ear. Aliehs tumbled sideways against Illithia, who, already unbalanced by the cub chewing at her boot, was also thrown to the ground. The rest of the cubs joined enthusiastically in the ensuing free-for-all until all that remained was a heap of exhausted bodies panting at Galogan's feet.
Aliehs rolled over. "And I thought I was tired before," she said with a groan, pillowing her head on a recumbent wolf cub. "Are this lot always this playful, and if so, how do their parents cope?"
Galogan laughed. "They use up their energy one each other mostly, and though the wolves are tolerant parents on the whole, any cub overstepping the limits is soon given a sharp lesson in decorum."
"But come," he added, as Aliehs gave vent to an irrepressible yawn, "you must rest now. The cubs will sleep till just before dawn, when the older wolves return, and you must follow their example." At his commanding gesture the cubs trotted sleepily back to the dens in the rocky sides of the valley, as Illithia and Aliehs began to pile pine needles into beds.
"At first light I will take you down to the lake to meet Yllac, the Willow-maid, fairest of the dryads of the valley. Good guesting will you find there - honey from the bees that hive among the tree's roots and wild strawberries fresh with morning's dew."
"The older wolves are not here?" asked Aliehs.
"They do not hunt within the valley. Indeed there is nothing here for them to hunt. No deer or rabbits to gnaw the bark of my trees, no squirrels to hide buts and then forget them so that the young trees come up in a tangle and have no room to grow. Only wolves and birds are there in my forest - and the wolves would not harm descendants of the singing birds of Rhiannon, who keep the insect population within manageable bounds."
Aliehs glanced anxiously up at the sky as a distant rumble followed his words.
"Oh, not a thunderstorm," she said with a groan.
Illithia looked eastwards. The moon had set, but the stars still glimmered in a clear sky.
"It's not thunder," she said in puzzlement. "Galogan - "
He held up a hand to silence her, listening intently. The noise seemed to be coming closer, and now sounded more like muffled hoofbeats. There was a stirring and murmuring among the tree boughs now, almost as if they were passing along some urgent message. The muffled thunder stopped and then suddenly a piercing cry came from near the central lake and Galogan was off in that direction at a pace that neither Illithia nor Aliehs could match.
They caught up with him by the lake. A willow tree was riven down its centre by a blow from an axe, and a slender girl stood beside it weeping, her hair like curling green leaves and her skin the translucent colour of the first buds of early spring.
"It's Aldez, Yllac's sister dryad," whispered Illithia softly so as not to interrupt Aldez in the tale she was sobbing out to Galogan.
"It was the Lord Nraaht. He blasted Norua, her tree, and has taken Yllac. Long has he wished to make her his consort, to rule with him in Rodnarc. But how could Yllac live in that black hole beneath the cliffs? She always refused him and now he has taken her by force, and Norua will wither without her. You must stop him, Galogan."
Galogan nodded and raised his voice. A mighty shout of command rang out, echoing and rumbling back and forth from cliff to cliff until the valley seemed filled with the sound.
Aliehs clutched at Illithia's arm. "The trees - they're moving!"
Illithia nodded, her face sober. "Galogan told them to crowd thickly behind Nraaht, so that he cannot get back to his warrens. But - "
"But what?"
"Nraaht wields the fires of Hercules. If he uses those, many fair trees will die. The whole wood could go up in flames. The trees would gladly sacrifice themselves to save Yllac, but to think of the valley without them - " She shuddered.
Galogan was by this time striding after the riders and they followed hastily after him. Illithia moved surely but Aliehs stumbled for it was dark amid the crowding trees after the starlit brightness reflected off the water.
She lost touch with Galogan and Illithia and would have soon become lost had it not been for an occasional glimpse of the waterfall. By keeping this on her left she managed to stick to an eastward course and finally caught up with the others about three quarters of the way between the lake and the cleft exit Illithia had pointed out to her earlier.
The Lord Nraaht and his party had been brought to a halt for the trees between them and the cleft were so densely crowded as to be impenetrable.
He had turned to face Galogan, Yllac held before him on the beast he rode, a heavy framed reptilian like creature. "Tell your trees to move, herder, before I turn them to ash."
"Yield the Dryad to her friends and you may return to your lairs without hurt, in spite of the harm you have done here."
"The female goes with me." Nraaht lifted his hand and fire blasted in front of the nearest trees. Their boughs tossed wildly away from the flame and a long sighing moan went through the Enchanted Wood.
Galogan stood firm. "Release Yllac. You cannot blast all the trees out of your way before I reach you and even the Fires of Hercules have their limits."
"That we shall see, tree herder." But before the fire could flash forth once more, Yllac intervened.
"No, Galogan. The price of my freedom is too high. Think you I could live in peace here if my liberty had been purchased so dearly? The sacrifice would burden me too heavily to be borne. Clear a passage and let us go. Rather would I live sunless the rest of my days than that a single tree should pass to ash for my sake."
Illithia suddenly clutched Aliehs by the arm.
"There's only once chance left to stop him," she whispered as the crowding trees slowly moved aside to form an avenue leading to the cleft. "Call on Pan, I beg of you. He will exact a price, but only he can aid us now, and you are one of his people, born under the sign of Capricorn."
"Pan!" Aliehs exclaimed in dismay. "But, Illithia, my magic always goes wrong when I try to invoke anyone powerful, you know it does. Why don't you or Galogan call on him? Or Yllac herself? He's a woodland god, so surely he would aid a dryad?"
"I cannot call him. I owe allegiance to Oberon, and Oberon and Pan are at odds since Titania fled from her Lord and begged Pan to change her into a unicorn. And Pan wished Yllac to become one of his maenads, but she preferred to put aside the wilder part of her nature and become a dryad here instead. She will not ask him for aid now, and he will not help unless he is asked. You could do that - if you were prepared to pay the price?"
"What price?"
"Whatever is asked. It will be high."
The riders wheeled their mounts as Aliehs hesitated, scared and uncertain. She caught a glimpse of Galogan's desperate features and with a sudden feeling of recklessness flung back her head and intoned:
"Oh Pan I call to thee for aid.
Rescue thou this woodland maid.
God of forests heed my plea,
Help us set the dryad free."
Pan appeared.
At first Aliehs felt a sense of disappointment. Was this a god? A youth of medium height, clad in skins, his dark curly hair twined about a wreath of leaves. There seemed nothing unusual about him save that his legs led down to neat hooves instead of feet and two small horns were visible amid the tangled curls.
Then she looked into his eyes; yellow, slanted eyes, with slitted black pupils, they held the knowledge of all ages, an ancient acceptance that good and evil were one, that neither could exist without the other. No use appealing to Pan's sense of humanity; there was no humanity here, or pity either at the moment. Then how to gain his aid? There was only one answer, she realised. The way that man had compelled the gods since the dawn of his day - sacrifice.
Pan laughed. "And what will you sacrifice, woman from another world? You who do not belong in this land - what do you hold dearest?"
He knew, of course, but she must say it aloud.
"Never to come back to Diandee."
"And do you make this sacrifice?"
Could she? Go on for years and years, living a ordinary life, dull and uninteresting after knowing the romance and excitement of quests in Diandee? No! It was not to be borne. She could not do it. She glanced round in despair at Galogan and Illithia watching her with sympathy and desperate desire, at Yllac held in Nraaht's tight grasp, at the crowding trees - and thought of the valley smoking and blackened, or Yllac pent forever underground, far from the light and warmth of the sun. Could she bear to share the world of Diandee with the devastated forest or the imprisoned Dryad? No. Yllac was right, some things could be bought too dearly.
She drew a deep breath and raised her eyes to Pan. "I will make the sacrifice. Save Yllac."
"The willingness is enough. A smaller price will be demanded of you. Touch wood," he added commandingly to Galogan and Illithia and as they obeyed, lifted his pipe and began to play.
There was a wildness in that music that made the blood pulse faster through the veins - a calling in it, passionate and insistent, the beasts that Nraaht and his followers rode felt it and they began to arch and curve in a wild dance that soon had the riders unseated. Yllac felt it, too, for as she was loosed from Nraaht's hold as he fell, she came dancing forward in a wild ecstasy. Even the trees began to stir their boughs and move in a ponderous measure.
But the call in the music was not for all its hearers. For some the strangeness held a repellent quality. They should not be here; this was not their place, it was alien to them. Terror broke over Nraaht and his followers and they turned and fled for the cleft through the dancing trees - Aliehs hard on their heels. She had to get away from the fear that trod hard behind her - intangible and overwhelming. She reached the cleft and plunged into the tunnel, unable to stop or think. A little way inside the cleft a number of tunnels branched off and only an inborn instinct guided her to choose one other than that taken by Nraaht and his followers.
There was a sudden deep rumble behind her as a rock fall closed the cleft and the sound of Pan's pipes was abruptly cut off. The panic that had gripped her waned and she leaned against the rough rock of the runnel wall shaking with reaction. Panic! Or course! That was the fear that had infected her. It was named for Pan, that nameless dread that sometimes overcame one alone in the woodlands. Pan was Lord there, and chose that way to let men know of his lordship.
What was she to do now? Cautiously she turned and made her way back up the tunnel along which she had fled so precipitately, a faint luminescence in the wall enabling her to see where she was going. But soon her way was barred by a tumble of rocks that completely blocked the passage. She had not even reached the part where the tunnels branched. There must be at least a hundred yards between her and the valley. What should she do? Wait and hope for rescue by Galogan and Illithia? Pan might cast a spell of forgetfulness over them, and even if not, how could they move this enormous rock fall? Use a spell? She tried to think of one, but her mind stayed blank - she had agreed to pay a price for Pan's help and must abide by it. Hope she would soon be jerked back to her own world? - This year, next year, sometime, never? Aliehs' sigh turned into an irrepressible yawn. It had been a long, long day - what she was going to do was to curl up on the sandy floor of the tunnel and sleep. The Quest of the Lost Enchantress would simply have to wait.