Whispers Of Peace And War

6

6

Both Gythryn and Kaninzir sat and listened to the news that Mythrd had learned, back in the village and in the valley where they had found Agarang. Gythryn appeared more concerned about Abbot Llwnthrn than anything else, her hand smoothing down the blade of her new sword. The old man showed no concern at all.

Once he had finished, he looked between the two listeners, trying to gauge their thoughts. The old man shrugged, lifting himself up and walking with his bowed legs back to the fire and Agarang. Crouching beside the Gaeradine, he pressed his fingers against the man's forehead, as he had the night before, and shook his head.

Gythryn appeared lost in thought. Never one to keep her own counsel, Mythrd expected Gythryn to impart her opinions about the entire tale. Yet she sat there, musing, while she looked at her sword. She had become quite attached to that blade, he noticed, but now she looked a little sad. With care, she placed the sword on the ground beside her.

"If the Gaeradine come, I'll be next to useless against them." Deflated, she ran fingers through her hair, causing her braids to bounce against her cheek. She glanced at the sword once more. "Our play-fighting can't prepare us for fighting real soldiers."

Mythrd's own hand fell to the battle axe in his belt. She was right, of course, but he had expected her to show her usual stubbornness. Her determination. He hadn't expected her to give up before they had even thought of anything they could do. It appeared they had few options to begin with.

Looking around at the stone circle, he felt a little sad, himself. After the night before, he had gained an affinity for the henge that he had never felt before. A connection to it. He had always seen the stones as nothing more than a relic of a lost time. Now, he felt a deep need to preserve them, to keep them safe from any harm and, if the Gaeradine had their way, the henge would become destroyed, like all the others the invaders had found in their stolen territories.

"We have to do something, don't we? We can't let the Gaeradine find him." He waved a hand towards Agarang. "If he is the one they're looking for, he could prove important for our own armies. We have to keep him safe, somehow, until we can get him to someone who knows better than us what to do with him."

"I don't know." She glanced towards the injured man. "He's hurt pretty bad. I don't know if we made it worse moving him, but I don't think we should move him again. At least, not until he wakes up."

"He will awake by the morning. Moving will be difficult for him for a few days, at least." Returning to them, staff in hand. "The stones will ease his pain. Meanwhile, I have tasks for you both."

Hooking his arthritic finger at them both, the old man turned, moving towards one of the large monoliths. Exchanging frowns, Mythrd and Gythryn rose to follow him. When they caught up with him, Kaninzir had started to rub his hand against the face of the stone, his movements revealing elaborate carvings that Mythrd had not seen until now.

"Is this writing? It doesn't look like the Common Tongue." Mythrd reached out to the stone, stopping short of touching it. He knew that, at one time, there were many languages in the world, until a Patron had given all folks, human and Other-Kin, the Common Tongue. "It's like they were carved yesterday."

"This is the story of the stones and of the Guardians that created them." Using his staff, Kaninzir pointed at the other two monoliths and then to the two outer circles. "The three stand for the Guardians themselves. The circle of twenty-four middle stones represent the hours of the day. The fifty outer stones are for the first fifty kings of Iibar."

Mythrd followed the movement of Kaninzir's staff, fascinated at the history of the stones. He doubted anyone in the village knew about the story behind the stones. Not even Abbot Llwnthrn. Looking to Gythryn, he wondered what she thought of the stones. Whether she felt the same connection he did. Though she hadn't experienced the Aura, as he had.