Aurora Wolf

Isle Of Shadows

By Lance Young

Yet another in an endless chain of waves splashed over the side of the two-man canoe; the eight foot long vessel wobbled violently threatening to toss its occupants into the swirling sea.  Rinn gritted his teeth and shook sea spray from his eyes as he clutched the canoe’s side trying hard not to let his uncle see his fear. 

Not that Marko needed an excuse to berate him.  To the others in the party, Marko exemplified the mighty warrior who had won many battles; to Rinn he was overbearing and arrogant. At first glance there was little resemblance between them.  Marko had dark hair, Rinn light.  Marko was heavily built, while Rinn was lean.  The only thing they had in common was the blue of their eyes.

Marko delighted in calling him ‘boy’ despite the fact he was nearly a man.  From others, it might have been a sign of affection but not from him.  That he had negotiated such a profitable deal would no doubt swell his head even further.

The day had started brightly.  They were returning from a successful trading expedition with a tribe to the south for a quantity of jade. 

Marko had seemed particularly pleased by a jade dagger he had acquired. Rinn didn’t know why, he had seen far better for sale, but his uncle was not one for listening to others opinions.

Rinn had wanted to travel with his friends on one of the other canoes, but Marko insisted his nephew travel with him, as if he was a child who couldn’t be trusted. 

He carefully nursed his anger for the rest of the day, but as the sun vanished behind a nasty swarm of dark grey clouds, he felt a queasy unease replace it.  An eerie white mist bellowed around them, swallowing up the group and hiding them behind its wispy walls.  Their increasingly panicked shouting died away until only Marko and Rinn were left.

Rinn turned back to read Marko’s face for some sort of reaction but Marko was oblivious to the worsening weather and their missing comrades.  He stroked away with his paddle no doubt eager to reach home and brag about his success. It needn’t have been this way. 

When Rinn had first raised the idea of heading to shore together with the others, Marko raised his chin and laughed.  “What’s the matter boy? Scared?”

Rinn bristled at the insult.  He had been tempted to reply in kind; but instead he kept quiet and prayed that his uncle was right.  He was eager to see Marko taken down a notch, but not at his own expense. 

It was only now with thunder and lightning roaring overhead and waves as tall as the forest trees that Marko relented.  “Now is the time to find safe harbour.”

Rinn only hoped it wasn’t too late, the coast terrifyingly absent.   He suddenly thought of Apry.  He pictured her bright green eyes and long brown hair done up the traditional knot style of their tribe.  He wished he had spoken to her before leaving.  There were so many things left unsaid between them.

 

Just when despair threatened to overwhelm him Rinn’s heart jumped.  “Uncle! I see an island.”

Marko grunted.  “Good to see you’re not totally useless.”

Their muscles throbbed with exhaustion, reaching the island seemed an impossible task, though Marko still had the strength to berate Rinn for not paddling harder.  “Come on!  Your mother could do better than that!”

Like the waves that had already drenched him, Rinn let the words wash over him. He was far too tired to argue.  The island suddenly loomed large before them.  It had a jagged mountain peak at its centre, while dark green forests extended right to the shoreline.  Rinn scanned the coastline but could see no obvious signs of habitation or the others in their party.  He hoped his friends were all right.

Marko spotted a small sheltered cove and guided them in.  They pulled up to the beach and collapsed onto the sand.  After they had changed into what dry firs they had, Marko said.  “We’ll rest here till morning.  The storm will have cleared by then and we’ll meet up with the others.”

Rinn couldn’t stop himself from expressing his disgust.  “You really think they’re still alive?”

Marko’s eyes narrowed.  “You have something to say, boy?”

Rinn considered letting it go, but he was sick of just letting things go.  “Yes I have something to say.  You saw the storm coming, but you kept going anyway.  If they are dead, it is because of your absence.” 

An angry Marko knocked Rinn to the ground with a vicious backhanded slap.  “You know nothing!  Missing does not mean dead.  I knew bringing you was a mistake.  You’re as insolent as your father and just like him it will get you killed.”  Then, as if regretting his actions, he turned away.  “Go get some firewood.” 

Rinn wearily got to his feet and promised himself, one day Uncle, one day.

The storm that had almost killed them on the way in seemed to have mysteriously bypassed the island, making the task of finding dry wood easier than Rinn anticipated.  Eager to be away from Marko, he took the opportunity to head deep into the forest.  It was a tangle of trees, vines and ferns. 

He bent down to add another stick to his bundle; he looked up to see a pair of big yellow eyes staring back.  The eyes jumped out at him.  Rinn fell back in terror only to discover that they belonged to nothing more menacing than an owl.  He laughed at his error, glad that no one else had been around to see it. 

A hair-raising cackle echoed all around him.  Thousands of yellow eyes lit up the forest.  Everywhere he looked the eyes blinked back at him.  Rinn dropped his wood and sprinted for the safety of the cove. 

He ran into Marko approaching from the opposite direction, sending the two of them sprawling to the ground. 

“Careful fool!”  Growled Marko.  Seeing the fear on Rinn’s face his tone softened.  “What’s wrong?”

Rinn shuddered.  “There’s something here, a spirit.  We should leave while we have the chance.”

Marko laughed.  “For someone who was so anxious to get to dry land, you’re eager to leave.”

“Something was watching me while I collected firewood.  I know it was.”

Marko folded his arms.  “And what did this spirit do that was so threatening?” 

“It laughed,” mumbled Rinn, eyes alert.

Marko smirked.  “Yes I can see where that could be quite unmanning.  Honaa, or one of the others, must have landed on the island.  They spotted you and decided to have some fun.”

“I didn’t imagine it,” snapped Rinn.

Marko studied him with his cold, blue eyes.  “Show me.”

Rinn traced his path back to where he dropped the wood.  Afraid as he was of it happening again, Rinn wished it would, just to prove he was right.  They reached the spot without incident and Marko just shook his head, a bemused look on his face.  He picked up the wood and shoved it in Rinn’s chest.

Rinn walked silently back to camp.  Once they were settled in he reached into his tunic and pulled out the bone-carved amulet he wore around his neck.  Despite the situation he couldn’t help smiling.

“She give you that?”

“Her name is Apry,” grumbled Rinn.

“I know her name,” replied Marko.  He spat into the fire.  “She is a poor choice.”

Rinn narrowed his eyes.  “What do you know about her?”

“Enough,” said Marko.  “Her father’s a baker.”

Rinn rolled his eyes.  “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’re from a family of warriors and traders.  Your mate should be the same.  Besides she’s all skin and bone.  Never last a bad winter.”

Rinn bristled at discussing such things with his uncle he muttered.  “I will pick my own mate.”

Marko removed a couple pieces of dried meat from their supplies and tossed Rinn a piece.  As he bit into his own he said.  “She’s too pretty.  When you are away hunting or trading you will always be wondering what she is doing.”

Rinn shook his head.  “You don’t know her.  Apry isn’t like that.”

Marko sighed.  “They are all like that.”

A question formed on the tip of Rinn’s tongue about Marko’s failure to ever take a wife, but his courage failed him and his chance to learn more about his uncle vanished when Marko continued. 

“Is she worth risking your life in the challenges?”

Despite his feelings Rinn hesitated as he pictured taking the traditional bear hunt into the mountains.  “Of course.”

Marko shook his head.  “Hardly the tone for someone who knows his heart.”

Sick of this discussion Rinn turned away.  “I will take first watch.”

Rinn felt Marko’s keen gaze study him.  Finally Marko said.  “You sure you can handle it.  I wouldn’t want you to get scared.”

Rinn threw back at him.  “A man can do anything can’t he?”

Marko smiled.  “Yes a ‘man’ can do anything.”  He lay down to sleep and muttered.  “Good night boy.”

Through gritted teeth Rinn relented.  “Good night uncle.”

Rinn gazed up at the moon and wandered if Apry thought of him back home.  Usually thinking of her calmed him but not tonight.  His stomach tied in knots over the encounter in the forest.  It was possible that some of the others had come ashore and tricked him.  But he doubted it; he knew what he saw, just like he felt the others were dead lost forever to the sea.  And the man responsible lay just a few feet away. 

Rinn was confident he could re-trace his steps. With the others all dead, would it make a difference if there were only one survivor instead of two?  Before his thoughts could get any darker, a scuttling noise emanated from the nearby undergrowth.  The sound grew louder and louder to only vanish.

Something was out there and he intended to discover it.  Leaving Marko asleep by the fire, he grabbed his club and rose to his feet.  For once grateful for all those hours Marko had spent drilling him on his hunting skills.  Humiliating as it might turn out Rinn really hoped it was the others.  He would beat them out of their hiding place, put an end to this nonsense and regain some respect. 

Gripping his club tightly, he triumphantly pulled back the bushes.  “Honaa, I knew it …”

Something dark and smelling of decay flashed past, causing Rinn to stumble back and fall.  As it scurried into the undergrowth, the trees around him shook like they were coming to life.  The sound of thousands of leaves flapping together overwhelming; then just as suddenly it all stopped.  Rinn stumbled to his feet wild eyed.  He ran back to Marko and started shaking him awake. 

Marko growled.  “This had better be good.”

“There’s definitely something here.”  Rinn paused to look around.  “I scared it off, but we should go before it comes back.”

Marko snorted.  “This again?  You want us to leave in the middle of the night while the fog still surrounds the island.  I thought you were made of sterner stuff.  Perhaps I should’ve left you with the women.”

Rinn’s mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed.  “Insult me all you want, Uncle, but there is something evil here, far worse than that storm.  Father wouldn’t back down and neither will I.”

“And that’s just why he died,” muttered Marko.  “He never knew when to quit either.”

“A backhanded complement Uncle, but I’ll take it.”

Marko slowly sized him up and a tiny smile crept upon his face that Rinn didn’t trust.  “Before we go fumbling about on the sea in the dark, let us confirm that there is a monster.  When we return unsuccessful, I expect to hear no more of this nonsense.”  Marko threw on his cloak and tossed his sack at Rinn.  “You can carry the jade bag and knife.  If there is someone here, they’ll be after this.” 

Rinn doubted a demon would be interested in such things, but wasn’t about to disagree resigned to carry extra weight.  As they prepared to leave, Rinn couldn’t help but notice that the elusive moon had disappeared behind a thick blanket of clouds.  He exchanged a weary look with Marko, but the thickset warrior merely grunted and handed Rinn a torch.

The pair descended into the jumbled forest of the island.  Rinn strained his senses for any sign of the creature, but the forest remained agonisingly silent.

They searched in vain for what felt like an eternity until an irritated Marko finally lost the last shred of his patience.  “That’s it!  I’ve humoured you long enough.”

“I’m telling you something’s here.”

Marko shook his head.  “If this is some scheme to annoy me; congratulations, you’ve succeeded.  Now if you value your hide, I advise you to stay silent till morning.”

Rinn frowned, but decided there was no point in aggravating him further. 

Marko spotted a small pool, the spring bubbling out of a nearby cluster of rocks.  He tossed his torch to Rinn.  “Here, do something useful and hold this while I get a drink.”

Rinn took Marko’s torch and watched sullenly as Marko dunked his head in.  Rinn peered around still hoping to catch sight of the spirit and prove that he wasn’t imagining things.  But still nothing emerged through the foliage.  Was he going mad?

A sudden gurgling sound pierced the quite; Rinn spun around to see Marko hauled beneath the surface.  Rinn dropped the torches and ran to help his struggling Uncle. He pulled and he pulled, but to no avail.  Within seconds Marko's whole body had been dragged in, and the water turned blood red.

Rinn stumbled back, realising he preferred the dream of his uncle’s death far better than the reality.  Cackling laughter echoed around him.  With Marko gone and far beyond any mortal help, Rinn felt no hesitation to run for his life.  The ominous laughter made it hard to concentrate as he tried to remember the way back to the beach.  In his fevered mind the forest changed; Rinn recognised nothing.  The trees, the bushes, even the stones on the ground seemed subtlety different.  Rinn skidded to a stop trying to find something, anything familiar. 

The laughter slowly faded away to eerie nothingness.  A pair of sickly yellow eyes lit up before him.  Slowly a face took shape, but it was so wrinkled and ancient that Rinn found it impossible to tell if it was male or female.  The pale spirit body beneath also provided no clues.

Rinn swung wildly with the club, but it was like hitting smoke.  The demon reached forward and jerked the weapon from his grasp.  Rinn drew the small stone dagger he kept in his belt and thrust forward, the demon whacked it from his hand and pushed him roughly to the ground. 

“Stop struggling, you don’t need to die yet.”

Rinn gazed up the side of his face held in the dirt.  “Who are you?  What are you?”

The cackling started up again.  “Your mortal brain is far too feeble to comprehend.  All you need to know is that this is my island. I control everything here.  You cannot escape.  Give up.  Make it easy on yourself.  There is no place to run, no place to hide.  Many have come to my island; none leave.  Some fight, some beg, but they all give up in the end.  Don’t make me break you, mortal.  Just give up and it will be much easier for you.  You cannot escape, so why do you run?”

“You killed my uncle, demon.  You’ll not do the same to me.”

“I thought you would be a little more grateful.  Did you not want your uncle dead?” 

Startled that the demon should know his thoughts, Rinn shook his head so vigorously that his shoulder length hair came loose from the bond tying it back.  “I said no such thing.”

“It was in your heart that is enough.”  The demon stabbed his gnarled finger at him.  “I’ll let you in on a little secret I learned as I was choking the life from your uncle.  He was a brute, but he was only hard on you because he felt guilty about letting your father die.  He didn’t want you to share the same fate.  He never started a family, because you were his family.  He tried to make you a man and you hated him for it.  Does that make you feel better?”

“Liar!”  Tears in his eyes, Rinn looked away in shame. 

The demon smiled coldly.  “Such a lively talker.  But I know the reason for your silence.  I can taste your fear.  So much richer than your Uncle’s, I can harvest it for years.  Your Uncle was too stupid to be scared.”

Rinn’s mind raced.  He tried to think of a way anyway to escape the demon’s clutches.  His eyes darted around looking for an opening, any opening as his mind ran through the items he was still carrying.  Playing for time he muttered.  “You do not scare me.”

The demon’s mouth opened in a wide smile revealing sickly yellow teeth.  “Yes I do, for I am forever and you are just a boy.”

His eyes darkened.  “Don’t call me boy!” 

His hand whipped out from under his cloak clutching the only weapon he possessed, the carved jade dagger that Marko had traded for.  He sliced its throat, releasing a torrent of energy.

The demon screamed in surprise.  “No! This was not part of the deal!”

It went into spastic convulsions before disappearing in a burst of bright green energy that threw Rinn back several feet.  A bruised Rinn slowly climbed to his feet, ecstatic at surviving, but within seconds of his apparent victory, the island shook violently.  Cracks opened in the ground, trees toppled and Rinn knew that if he wanted to live he had better run. 

He barely ran a few steps when he was forced to jump over a massive chasm.  As he landed he narrowly avoided being crushed by a falling tree, only to face an obstacle course of toppling tree trunks, which he ducked, dived, and leapt his way through.  Despite the island crumbling around him, Rinn pulled up abruptly when he reached the beach.  “I saw you die!”

“A trick,” said Marko standing beside the canoe, his eyes fixing behind Renn.  “That’ll become reality if you don’t move!”

The island crumbling around him, Rinn put aside his reservations and followed his supposedly dead uncle in pushing the canoe into the sea.  With the island sinking, the sea churned wildly. The canoe nearly capsized several times as it dove into the surf, but finally it abated like the island had never been there.

Rinn slipped the jade dagger from his belt, reached around and held it against Marko’s throat.  “Who are you?”

Marko laughed.  “Your uncle, idiot.”

“It killed you.  I saw it.”

“An illusion,” replied Marko.  “The Demon thought it would provoke stronger emotions from you.  It liked that in a sacrifice.”

Rinn pulled the dagger closer to Marko’s throat.  “You were working for it?”

“I summoned the demon, I didn’t work for it.”

Rinn shook his head.  “Why would you do such a thing?”

“It was a test.”

“For what?”

“To make you reach your potential.”

Rinn shook his head in disbelief. “I could’ve died!”

“A risk,” said Marko.  “But I gave you the jade knife and bag for a reason.  It was up to you whether you had the wit to use it. Jade was its weakness. ”

“And the others, what happened to them?”

“They’re fine,” said Marko.  “The storm was simply something the demon uses to keep itself hidden.  We were the only ones on the island. The others would’ve had no trouble reaching the coast.”

After several seconds of silence Rinn said.  “Is what the demon said true?”

Marko’s voice was strained.  “It said more than it should have.”

“But was it true?”

Marko sighed, “I let your father down.  I swore to protect him, but I ran off seeking glory.  Every time I look at you I see my failure.  Do you know how hard that is?”

“Doesn’t make you less of a bastard.”

Marko turned his head as far as the edge allowed to look at Rinn and smirked.  “If it keeps you alive, then I don’t care.”

Silence descended between the pair.  “So what now?” asked Rinn.

“Up to you, either use that blade on me or help me paddle to shore.”

For several seconds Rinn kept the dagger tight against Marko’s throat.  “Did I pass the test?”

“You’re sitting here aren’t you?”

Rinn grimaced with indecision before slowly lowering the dagger.  “I forgive you uncle.  But if you hit me again or insult Apry that will be the last time.”

“Spoken like a man,” said Marko.  “Shall we go home?”

The grey mist lifted to reveal a bright sun-filled day and the beckoning coastline of home. He said softly, “Yes, let’s go home.”