The Lost Forest

The story so far-2

High on the mountain, Hail and all her kin, the mountainfolk and woodfolk trappers, gather to have the curse lifted. Tarkyn must ask Midnight, with no compulsion, to help the mountainfolk who have reviled and maltreated him all his life. Midnight misunderstands and thinks that Tarkyn has faith in the mountainfolk and therefore not in him. He runs off and it takes the combined efforts of Tarkyn and Ancient Oak to resettle him. Midnight refuses to help but when, true to his word, Tarkyn remains his friend, he changes his mind and agrees to assist.

Stormaway realises that although Midnight can lift the curse from the mountainfolk, he first must be free of the curse. However, he cannot lift the curse from himself. They need Pipeless who is dead, to do that. Stormaway tells them that a forest guardian once drew the parts of a dead person back into one place and resurrected that person but many onlookers were killed. Tarkyn is horrified and fearful at the prospect but agrees to try, provided there are precautions.

With everyone else safely within Stormaway and Danton’s shields, Tarkyn reaches his power deep into the forest and draws together the remains of Pipeless. He thrusts his hands before him and Pipeless, ten feet tall because he is not fully concentrated into one spot, towers above him and still as angry as he was at the moment of his death, sends forth a destructive power ray. Tarkyn just manages to raise his shield in time then demands that Pipeless acknowledge his authority as prince. Pipeless, bewildered by the sudden change in his circumstances, calms down and rues having created the curse. He meets Midnight, his son, and raises the curse from him. Then Midnight sends forth all his memories of his treatment by the mountainfolk and, as a cloud of Pipeless’s blue magic swirls over the mountainfolk, the warped memories are challenged and dispelled. Just before he dissipates back into the earth, Pipeless says that it was too soon for Hail and him. Then, glancing at Lapping Water, the nearest woodwoman, he suggests that Tarkyn may do do better in the future.

A wild wind swirls up the valley and the earth reverberates as the Mountainfolk’s oath is tied to the welfare of the forest. Tarkyn waits tensely for their reaction but their gratitude overrides any resentment.

Next morning, Midnight emerges to find an array of special foods, especially laid out for him by the mountainfolk, and each of them pats or touches him to welcome him back into the fold. He then plays with the other children using his magical shield. Sparrow discovers that now the curse is no longer isolating him, he can use mind images, although still no words, to communicate with her.

Ancient Oak talks to Tarkyn and Rainstorm talks to Lapping Water, as part of an ongoing plan to get Lapping Water and Tarkyn together. They also remonstrate with Tarkyn about being too controlling when Waterstone and Danton had overseen the hunt for Journeyman’s sorcerers.

Meanwhile Danton tells the woodfolk that he had served as Tarkyn’s whipping boy from the age of eight and that Tarkyn, as a six year old had become distraught whenever Danton was punished, forcing members of the Royal Family to be summoned to override him. Eventually, on an occasion that King Markazon had been summoned, Tarkyn threw up his shield and cut his arm until the king ordered the flogging stopped, earning Danton’s lifelong devotion.

When Tarkyn joins the others, he has to apologize all over again and walks off, annoyed. Because he is still very tired, he stumbles over a small cliff and knocks himself out. He follows a silver fox who leads him down the mountain to a group of sorcererswho are escaping from Jarand’s press gangs. To Tarkyn’s surprise they are honoured, rather than frightened, to meet him and he discovers that Stormaway’s machinations have turned public opinion in Tarkyn’s favour. However, Tarkyn makes it clear that he does not wish to become king.

With the help of a crow, his woodfolk find him. Tarkyn writes a letter of introduction for Trey and his family to go to Lord Tolward before he leaves them. A celebration for his efforts with Pipeless await Tarkyn on his return.

Waterstone asks Tarkyn why he doubted Danton’s loyalty after having saved him from being a whipping boy when he was little. Tarkyn can’t see why Danton should be grateful for facing only consequences for his own actions like everyone else. He adds that when they were older, their first loyalties was to the king. So when the king turned on Tarkyn, he couldn’t assume where Danton’s loyalties lay. Remembering how much Danton loved the glitter of court, he revokes his requirement that Danton wear woodfolk garb. Danton is moved by his acknowledgement but does not revert to his own clothes

At the end of the evening, Midnight comes to sit on his lap, sad that his mother has still avoided him even after the lifting of the curse. He tries to get away to lick his wounds in private but Tarkyn holds him close even while he thrashes about, kicking and punching, in his distress. When he has settled, Tarkyn sends out a query about Hail’s whereabouts. Just as he is discussing it with woodfolk trappers, he receives a strong feeling of desperation and determination; Hail is at the edge of a nearby cliff about to throw herself off. Tarkyn sends her a command to wait before running with several others to try to stop her.

As they come into sight, she lets herself drop off the cliff but Tarkyn sends out a shaft of magic and pulls her back onto safe ground. Between them, they talk Hail into living with how she had treated Midnight under the curse.

Next day, as they continue their journey across the mountain, Waterstone is angry, thinking that Tarkyn risked the woodfolk and forests by commanding Hail when she was so emotionally unstable. Tarkyn reminds Waterstone that he refused one of Tarkyn’s commands with a minimal consequence of wind through the trees. However, Tarkyn points out that nearby trees are turning mouldy because everyone has been doubting Tarkyn’s competence behind his back.

Realizing that Stormaway lied when he said that he would refuse a direct order to defuse the oath, Tarkyn quietly commands the wizard to retract the sorcery in the oath. Stormaway bows and obeys. He had promised Markazon to maintain the sorcery in the oath but had failed to mention that this was only until directly ordered to release it by Tarkyn.

The woodfolk are so relieved their forest are now safe, many are in tears. Ancient Oak pulls Tarkyn into the family celebratory hug and reconciles him with Waterstone. Tarkyn remonstrates with woodfolk for talking about dissatisfaction behind his back instead of to his face. They tell him, not unkindly, that he is irritable, autocratic and intimidating so that they hesitate to bring issues up with him. Hail stands up for him saying she is grateful that he is so interfering.

Looking out over the plains to the distant walled city of Montraya, Jarand’s seat, Danton betrays his disdain after he has had to explain to Rainstorm what a ball is. Danton is surprised Rainstorm isn’t offended but the woodman says that disdain and amusement are both ways of reacting to seeing another person’s culture through their own values, which makes Danton realise that he has underestimated Rainstorm.

As they descend the mountain, snow starts to fall. String and Bean lead Tarkyn’s home guard, which is double the size it was at the beginning, to a cave on the lower plateau. The trappers express concern that a mountain lion has been in the cave recently.

Suddenly a deep throated roar and two streaks of gold resolve themselves into a huge mountain leaping at the children playing in the back of the cave. Midnight throws his dark green shield over the children and himself and backs away from the lion until Tarkyn places his shield over the lion. While the other children run crying to their parents, Midnight walks quietly over to Tarkyn who realizes the little boy is shaking with fright.

Tarkyn uses his forest guardian powers to create a standoff with the mountain lion but rather than subjugating it, he uses images of wolves to show that his woodfolk are lethal to mountain lions in a pack, just as wolves are.

They discuss how to locate and talk to Falling Rain, knowing that Falling Rain will not reveal himself to any of sorcerers because of the woodfolk’s bond of secrecy and won’t reveal himself to any of woodfolk because he has been exiled. Ancient Oak and Rainstorm have manoeuvred Tarkyn and Lapping Water to sit next to each other but Tarkyn and Lapping Water are both assiduously trying to act casually.

The home guard work out that Falling Rain will have to be in an area that is inhospitable for sorcerers. String and Bean think of the swamp. With the search area specific, Running Feet guides Tarkyn until he connects with an egret to look for Falling Rain. At first the bird is protective of Falling Rain but eventually takes Tarkyn on a mind journey to Falling Rain’s hideout halfway up a tree in the middle of the swamp.

The woodfolk travel the rest of the way down the mountain and set up camp on the banks of the lake, less than a mile from Falling Rain’s hideout. Summer Rain climbs onto Stormaway’s back, Tree Wind onto Danton’s and Waterstone onto Tarkyn’s. They levitate their way through the swamp. As a warning, an egret flies straight at Tarkyn’s head, rising just high enough to miss him, at the last minute.

As they come into Falling Rain’s view, Tarkyn uses his Shturrum spell to immobilize the exiled woodman before dropping Waterstone off next to him and then retreating to sit among the egrets in a nearby tree. Once Summer Rain and Running Feet have been dropped off too, Tarkyn replaces the Shturrum spell with his shield, which prevent s Falling Rain from flicking into hiding. Once Falling Rain is reconciled to them, the four woodfolk head off through the trees to explore Falling Rain’s domain.

The sorcerers are left behind and eddies of discontent and the odd ripple of anger. whirl through these flooded forests, signalling that Tarkyn is offended at not being introduced. The woodfolk return and once they have repaired their omission, Tarkyn unbends and feeds Falling Rain’s pet egret mentally asking her to accompany Falling Rain when they leave.

Falling Rain is shocked by the changes of twelve years. In a confrontation with Stormaway, it becomes clear that other sorcerers knew of Falling Rain’s presence when he was held captive by King Markazon. Falling Rain only agrees to share his memories with Tarkyn so that he can identify these other sorcerers, on the condition that Tarkyn share painful memories with him. Amid protests from his woodfolk, Tarkyn agrees.

Falling Rain and Tarkyn engage in a furious mind duel, during which Falling Rain realizes that Tarkyn is not like his father King Markazon. Tarkyn shows Falling Rain the scene after young Tarkyn stood up to his father to stop Danton being flogged: Markazon hugs Tarkyn as he cries himself out, then says, “You are the best of us but you will suffer for it. And in the end, you must be the one to bring hope to our nation and save us from ourselves.”

To everyone’s amazement, Falling Rain and Tarkyn return as friends. The woodfolk are horrified to learn that it was Kosar, Jarand and Journeyman who had discovered Falling Rain’s existence, and thus the existence of woodfolk and the oath. Having experienced Tarkyn’s memories, Falling Rain tells them that Tarkyn will not be able to stand by and watch sorcerers suffer under Kosar’s reign. The woodfolk agree that he has earned their support to help sorcerers.

PART I

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER