The Gathandrian Trilogy 03 - The Executioners Cane

You are First Elder.”
    He knows this already, but the situation does not inspire any sensible phrases to his mouth; it is not something his father had ever prepared him for. All to the good then; perhaps he can do better on his own.
    Before he can say anything else to the point, whatever the point may be, Hallsfoot leaps towards him with an energy Ralph can only admire and pummels her fists against his chest. The blows make him gasp and step backwards, and she increases her attack. In spite of this, it is a matter of moments only to grab her arms, turn her round and hold her so close to him that she can do no further damage.
    Still, she spits and kicks. “Let me go . Why have you brought me here? You of all people have no right to do this and I will fight you to the death if I have to.”
    “Be still, woman,” he begins before reminding himself this is no way to speak to any leader, whatever the gender or the difference in their cultures. “Forgive me, I mean First Elder . But be still; I have not brought you here deliberately. Believe me. I only wish to save the scribe from death, and you appear.”
    She stops fighting and turns round in his arms before he finishes speaking. Her expression changes. Before he can stop her, she reaches out and presses her fingers to his head. At once, it feels like a new kind of flame has exploded within him and he gasps. He even thinks he might fall but somehow she holds him upright. She’s strong, for a small woman, and how that thought carries her disapproval on its tail as she links to his mind. Her dislike of him, also, but he can’t blame her for it.
    “What are you doing?”
    Hush, be silent. This is the quickest way to speak with each other, though I’ll thank you for not judging me on my height. I don’t believe I’ve judged you on your appearance when there are so many other factors about you that are ripe for judgement.
    She’ll get no argument from him. The flame of her fingers settles to a dull heat in his mind and in a heartbeat he discovers the following, details offered and fed back to him through her: she’d been snatched away from rebuilding the elders’ core to be with him; neither of them understand why the green fire has brought them here; and finally she sees something hidden in him, a secret knowledge, which may somehow help Simon when he needs it most.
    The emeralds are a bond between our lands we have not yet used to the full.
    The words are spoken in his thoughts as well as hers, and then the link is broken. Her fingers are gone.
    “Wh-what?” he stutters. “What does it mean? The emeralds are a passage through lands, that I have seen, but how can they be a bond too?”
    Let me think , she waves her hand at him, but there is no time for thinking. Simon is dying.
    “You do not have time for thinking,” he grabs her arm and hisses in her ear. “Hold the green flame in your hand with me and let it do what it will. Now. ”
    She concurs. When her hand touches his, the green circle of flame begins to dance and swirl around them, knocking them both onto the ground. If ground is what this mystical place possesses. Ralph tries to protect her but it is impossible to tell which way the circle swings or how to stand against its wild movement. Beneath him, Annyeke cries out, staring at something beyond him. When he turns to face whatever enemy is at hand, he sees there is none. Instead the fire around them is exploding and through it, he can see nothing but the fierce emptiness of sky.
    “No!” he clutches Annyeke to him, trying to protect them both from what he cannot understand. By the gods and stars, he will do something right in these difficult time-cycles, even if it profits them nothing.
    Let me go, the woman wails in his head. I can’t …
    In the twinkling of an eye, the circle vanishes entirely and Ralph feels the tremor of the emeralds in his grasp, as if their power has come home to roost. At the same time, he and Annyeke land with a thump on something mercifully soft. Ralph curses in relief they are not dead, that the emeralds did not plant them in the sky, and rolls over. He lets Annyeke go.
    … breathe, she completes her sentence at last and Ralph can only admire her sheer bloody-mindedness.
    He staggers to his feet and dusts himself off before offering her a helping hand.
    I can manage.
    “As you wish,” he dismisses her as the more important mission takes over his mind. “We must help Simon. We have to save him.”
    Yes, we