Myth and Magic

Temple Of The Tiger...Part One
Chapter Three...The Journey Begins

Bryntich flew in lazy circles high in the sky, he was not worried about being so far up for he could see the ground perfectly. He could make out every strand of grass; he could see the flick of Spirits tail as he trotted across the plains with Keelagh on his back and Wraith loping along at their side. Which is why he was circling, trying to sight the band of wanderers that had been together in the last battle, or maybe Magryth, but then he knew that if Magryth didn’t want to be found he wouldn’t be.
Little Eli was healed and he flew now far below the Dragon, swooping and swirling as he too looked for the Soldiers that had helped to save Duranbro.

Keelagh no longer worried that she could not fly on her gentle giants back, after all Spirit was fleet and there would be times when she would have needed to walk had she not had the horse, trotting at an even pace across the plains with Wraith at her side she felt free once again, and excited as she had felt when she set out on the last adventure.
The message they had received had been a plea to help to find The Sacred One, completely baffled Kenlyth had to explain to her about this strange land she was travelling to, she remembered his face as he animatedly told her about his journey to this distant place when he was young.
“ They have spices and fruit the like of which you have never tasted, and Materials the like of which you have never seen or touched, the finest silks we have cannot compare to those in the Land of the Tiger” He had said his face aglow “ They have a whole village that is dedicated to the care of The Great One, much as our Temples revere our ancient Lords, but theirs is, or was, Alive, their people travel miles for his wisdom and his blessing. Legend has it that should he die the whole land would die”
“ So how old is he?” Keelagh had asked him
“ Probably older than our Dragon Queen was when she met her end,” he had answered.
“Then is it not at all possible he has merely gone away to die? Don’t some animals do that?”
“He is not like normal animals Keelagh, he is supposedly, immortal, unlike our Dragons that have a new Queen born every so many hundred years, there is only one Tiger of the Temple! “ Kenlyth had answered, “ His disappearance is of grave concern for those people”
“Well if he can be found, we shall do we all we can to find him Kenlyth” Keelagh thought of those words now, if he can be found, what if they could not find him? She shook her head, first they had to find the others and she was looking forward to seeing Paidrech again, and the rest of them of course!

Kal had ridden for two days, he was lost, he had followed the trail the Elders had put him on, for many hours he had followed it. Then it had gone, no trail, no path, he kept going forward in the same direction but the forest seemed never ending.
When at last he had ridden out from beneath the trees he had not known which way he was to go, there were three trails leading from the forest, which one did he follow? He went to take the right hand trail, and the horse refused to move, he went to take the middle one and the horse refused to move, he had no option but to take the left hand trail, as it was the only one the horse would take. He had no idea if he was going the right way, but he had always trusted the animals before, though he had to admit he was totally lost as to where they were.
He had, like the others travelled to other villages, but there were no villages this way. In two days he had sighted no other people, no villages, no wanderers, nothing and right now he was afraid that he had gone the wrong way and was actually going away from his goal and not towards it.

He had slept the first night beneath the shade of a lone tree in the middle of a small valley, while he was afraid of the emptiness, he knew that the horse would smell danger if there was any. The second night, he had slept behind a long wall, this had been the only sign of people that he had seen, but there were no houses, no villages around, just the wall.
Now the morning of the third day had arrived, and Kal was more afraid than ever that he was going the wrong way, as all he could see before him was long plains of grass, with trees dotted here and there, but the horse would not turn so he had no choice but to continue. His spirits were getting lower as he thought of the consequences of going the wrong way, the people that would not be there if he ever got back.
With a heavy heart he mounted the horse to set off on this his third day, when he heard a voice speaking to him “ Follow Brock, he knows the way” he turned swiftly, but there was no one there, just him and plains of grass.
He waited, the voice didn’t speak again, “ Well Brock, seems I am losing my mind, but the voice says follow you, not that I have a choice less I wish to walk” he said to the horse.
Brock let out a slight snort and set off at a trot, Kal did not try to check him as he had been doing, the fates would now decide if the way was right or wrong.

Bryntich had landed and he and Keelagh walked across the long plain together, Spirit ran free ahead of them and Wraith walked at the side of Keelagh as he always did when she was not riding the horse.
The village they had passed through had talked of a band of warriors that had stopped by there some time ago, on their way to a battle it seems. This had to be Paidrech and the others by the description given of them. Though it had been some time since they were there, Keelagh was sure that they would find them soon, she hoped that they would, for time was ticking and the land of the Tiger was fast dying without its Sacred One.

“Are you sure that you will be able to fly when we reach the sea?” she asked the Gentle Dragon by her side
“ Tsk, what a question” he replied
“ But you have not flown long distances since the battle, Bryn”
“ I am as capable of flying to the Land of the Tiger as you are of sailing there, young woman,” he said haughtily, Keelagh laughed at his tone
“Still, we shall hire a large ship, just in case you desire a rest” she said with a laugh
“ Hiring a ship will not be easy Keelagh” Bryntich warned now serious “ Hiring sailors to man it will be harder”
“ I am sure that we will find some that are wanting adventure”
“Adventure gets you killed Keelagh, these are simple folk that we go to see, fishermen, not warriors” he let out a huge sneeze “ Damn Green stuff!” He said sneezing again, Keelagh laughed again “ Lets hope you land on a ship better than you land on the ground Bryn, else we shall all sink “
“Huh! I can land fine tis this Green stuff, so slippy, and slidey and not nice!” he exclaimed as he sneezed again
“Still crash landing I see Bryntich” a voice said at the side of him. Bryntich turned his huge head, and Keelagh turned too, she could see nothing, but Bryn was laughing.
As she watched the large Silver white form of Magryth came in to view.
“Magryth!” she exclaimed running to him and throwing her arms around the Unicorns neck.
“ I am pleased to see you too Keelagh” the Unicorn said laughing as she hugged him “ I would have come sooner but I was busy helping some Elvins with wedding plans”
“Elvins?” Keelagh queried
“Oh you haven’t met them yet Keelagh, but you may, eventually, so you are on your way to the Land of the Tiger, that’s quite a quest you are on Keelagh, you may have need of a Unicorn, might I join you?” He asked already knowing of course the answer.
“Would we do a quest without you Magryth?” Keelagh answered.
And they set off again across the plains, Keelagh, Bryn, Wraith and Magryth to find the rest of the band of warriors

Temple of the Tiger
Part one. …Journey To the Temple
Chapter Two…. Decisions made

He wandered through the forest, tall wondrous trees, small sweet scented bushes, flowers, and grasses. It was not that he hadn’t seen these things before, but somehow they were different, sharper, sweeter, and taller. But something, on the edge of his vision, and every so often a blurring of his sight where the forest disappeared and he saw something else, he knew it was calling him, he knew he should try to remember, but then the forest reappeared and the vision faded.

He shook his great head, and a wind blew through the forest, ruffling the leaves of the trees and stirring gently the tops of the tall trees, he waited until the wind had died down, then moved silently forward, turning his head slowly this way and that to capture every sight, every scent. A tiny bird flew down, and fluttered in front of his face, he lifted his face and it landed on his large snout chirruping away its song for him to hear. Other animals now came out from the forest and joined him in his walk, despite his large size none were scared. He felt peace all around him, and the mist that was threatening to engulf him ebbed away from his vision, the voices in his head became quiet.

Far away, a village died a little more.

The Elders had gathered once again around his bedside, he did not find the release of Death but lingered here, his body wracked with pain, fever befuddled his mind. On his clear spells he would ask questions. The Winged one had come, they had sent out the message,
“ What can we do now” they kept asking him
“ wait” he replied before closing his eyes once more.
The Elders were at a loss; the people were beseeching them to find the way to stop the fever that was plaguing their village, to stop the disease that had the fruit trees in its grasp, to stop the never ending rains that threatened to wash away the mountain and with it, them!
They could do nothing, except pray that the Winged one had delivered the message, and someone would answer their cry.

The Great Beast wandered, he knew not why he wandered, something pulled him, but he knew not where. As Darkness fell the little animals left his side and scurried away to sleep for the night, he needed no sleep. He saw as well in the Dark as he did in the light and so he kept wandering, soon he would reach the edge of the forest but he knew not where he would go then, just follow the call. He stopped and turned his head back where he had come from, he had travelled a great distance already, but he could not remember how far or where from? He knew, deep in the back of his mind that he should remember, that he was needed back there, that something bad would happen if he didn’t go back, he half turned, and then he stopped again and raised his head, the call, the pull was much stronger than the thoughts trying to battle with it. He shook his head, again a wind blew through the forest, and he stopped. He knew that with a shake of his body trees would bend and some would fall in the wind that would follow, if he roared the earth would shake and mountains would tumble, he turned and continued his wandering.

Diseased fruit fell from the trees in the village.

They had called a meeting of all the villagers, it had been decided that they would send out a the strongest among them to follow the way of the Winged one, that person would take the strongest and fleetest riding beast and would travel the long road as swiftly as possible, they were a peaceful people and did not raise warriors, for they had never had the need. For centuries He had protected them, and now they were lost. If word got out that He was lost, they would face the prospect of having to fight to maintain their beautiful lands beneath the mountain, if they were not completely washed away by the rains.
A young man stood in the centre of the circle, Kal, he was a tall strong young man, and for the last few years had been trying to persuade the Elders to allow him to go out in to the world and learn all he could, they had kept him there, after all the Great one knew everything what was there for him to learn?
Now Kal would get his chance, he bowed before the Elders, “ I shall do all that is within my power “ he said to them. Now they all followed him as he walked towards the Black and White beast he would ride.
He mounted the Horse and bowed once more, and then digging his heels into the flank of the Beast he set off on the long road to follow the Winged ones trail towards Duranbro.