The Dark Age Chronicles: The Fall of Night.
A Gleam of Hope.

Eyla crouched in the denseundergrowth of the Hurfed Wood. In front of her was a clearing. Moonlightstreamed thick and heavy into the clearing. The ferns and grasses tickled herand sharp twigs dug into the soles of her feet. The plants were wet with dew and where she brushed them; the moisturestuck to her skin. She squinted into the darkness surrounding the clearing. Shecould hardly see anything. She twisted her mouth and bit her lip. It seemedsafe but one could never be sure. It was in a clearing just like this that shemet one of the most deadly creatures of the Wood. But it was far more dangerous to go around theclearing. The strap of her satchel dug deep into her shoulder. She reached outand tried to shift the strap to a more comfortable position, it did not work.Sighing she left it alone and decided to risk all and plunge ahead. It may notbe the wisest of choices but the encounter with the Boa still fresh in her mindand she wanted to have space to maneuver in case anything came out of theseshadows.

She clenched her jaw, snortedand dashed across. Darkness exploded into silver light and then into darknessagain as she plunged into the Wood beyond. She did not pause until her way was nolonger highlighted by the moonlight. She crashed through trees; the brancheswiping her and leaving nasty little red lines where her blood leaked through. Suddenlyshe tripped over a log that she did not see and went sprawling onto the floor. Sherolled over and over and finally hit a tree. She lay there absorbing the pain;trying to get her breath back. Her lungs felt empty. She twisted and lay on herback. Her hand clutched her side. ‘That was stupid’ she said to herself, ‘youshould have been more careful. Fear makes you do stupid things.’ She took a deepbreath and leapt up. Her ribs felt like they were broken. Every breath was asharp stab of pain. She felt around, found the satchel and slung it over hershoulder. She only had this night to get back to the village to complete thistest. She looked around. She had no idea where she was. Anger welled in herchest. “You are such a fool Eyla!” she chided herself, as anger changed intounwelcome panic. She fought down the desire to cry. The wood was terriblysilent. Eyla swallowed and then quite suddenly she heard a sound that was notof the forest. Her muscles tensed and the strained her ears and finally sherecognized the sound; it was the faint gurgling of the Egren River.

“Yes!” she exclaimed anddarted off in the direction of the gurgling. Trees loomed before her and shedodged them easily now that she was not running in fear. Then she slowed downto a walk when the moonlight highlighted the Tent Village of Livtr through thethick trunks of the trees. There were many of the villagers standing about.Others were gathering wood into a huge pile. That was for her. As soon as she emerged from the wood, a firewould be set to celebrate the completion of her task. This was the last test inone of the five levels of berserker training. As soon as she stepped out shewould become a Berserker Hishta, therank just below the highest rank. She took a deep breath as she drew to theedge of the wood. There she stopped and fixed her hair and smoothed herclothes. They were dirty beyond comparison and torn in so many places but theheavy satchel on her shoulder pushed aside very feeling of shame. She had doneit.

She breathed out and stepped out of the Wood.Suddenly a huge roar filled her ears. She smiled and looked away, momentarily shyat the applause. Then she un-slung the satchel and walked into the village.Berserkers of all ages and were cheering her as she strode up to them. Herheart filled with pride and love for her people. As she passed the pile of wood,it suddenly flared up as a torch was thrown onto it. She stood before the villagers.Everyone fell silent. There was a moment of complete silence and the air wastense then in a quick motion. Eyla thrust the bag up and screamed. A secondlater everyone followed and the village rang with the voices of the people.Afterward there was chaos and Eyla was surrounded by people touching her andcongratulation her. She smiled and shouted back at everyone. She made her wayto the Elder’s Tent and once inside they sorted out the contents of the bag tomake sure that she had gotten all the required items. Then with a smile theyperformed the Blessings of Ranvarid. Then she was led out of the Elder’s Tentand presented to the people. There was more cheering and she was pulled into adance by a few of the younger Berserkers. She laughed and capered around andsometime in the midst of everything she finally slipped away and ran off to hertent.

Around her began to growlighter as the sun turned the black sky into a dull blue. The path was desertedwith everyone being higher up the village. She ran; the soft grass feeling goodto her feet. She suddenly felt like laughing and she smiled broadly. Then shejumped high into the air and whooped and danced around in circles. She hadnever felt so happy in a long time. Her tent loomed up. Smoke was pouring outthe hole in the roof. She stopped running and slowly walked up to the tent. Shethen lifted the cloth silently and slipped inside. It was warm. Eyla stood abit enjoying the heat then she knelt in front of the fire. Beside her sat awoman whose back was turned to her.

“You should not be kneelingEyla,” the woman said, “You have passed beyond that now.” The woman turned toface her. Soriah’s eyes were pure white like a sheep’s wool. Soriah fixed hergaze on Eyla. Eyla smiled and sat on the ground.

“I take that you have succeeded?”Soriah asked.

“Yes,” Eyla said. Soriahsighed and smiled. She rose and reached out her hand. Eyla reached up and tookit. The blind woman drew her close with sudden strength and embraced her.

“Well done,” she whispered.Eyla swallowed the lump of tears. This meant more to her than all the cheers ofthe village. Soriah had not been allowed to come to the ceremony because shewas not of Berserker blood but Soriah had been her mother after her real motherhad died. There had been and never will be a better person to guide. For Eyla,Soriah was all she had. And only for her would she ever give her life. No onemeant more. Soriah pushed her away. “I will release you to go back to thecelebrations for a bit, but I have something far more important to show younow.” Eyla nodded. Soriah slipped out of the tent and Eyla followed her. Theystrode out of the village and began to make their way toward the east. Eyla wasconfused.

“Soriah, where are weheading?” she asked.

“Remember the story I toldyou about the battle of Cysia?” Soriah asked “Yes,’Eyla replied.

“That story is true, everybit of it.” said Soriah.

“I know,” Eyla said. Soriahstopped. They were standing at the banks of the Egren River. The gurgling fromthe forest was now a roar loud enough to blot out most sound. Eyla could seethe ripples of the water in the morning twilight. She wondered what could bedown there.

“The land is cursed Eyla,”Soriah said suddenly, “the trees are not as green as they used to be, the grassgrown thinner each year.” She paused and continued, “Legend has it that thecurse of the land will be lifted when a certain Griffin is born.”

“Griffin?”Eyla asked, herheart racing as a feeling of dread came upon her, “aren’t’ they all dead?”

“No,’ Soriah said, “No notall. There are a few that still survived, despite the fact that Lyficensearched them out mercilessly.”

“What does this have to dowith us?” asked Eyla after having thought for a while.

Soriah raised her hand tothe east. “Because my dear we are about to see legend fulfilled.” Eyla snapped her head around and looked. Theland was the same. She looked across the river and saw the grasses sway in thenight breeze.

“Soriah,” she began and thenstopped. There was a particular star that was glowing quite bright. Shefrowned. That was not so before. Then suddenly it flared. She stepped back asif struck. That was no star! It was moving. She watched as the object began toget brighter and brighter and till it was an almost blinding streak of moltensliver with a white tail of light following it. Eyla watched with her mouthopen and her heart thumping. The star flew silently and fell to the earth agraceful spiral. She was breathing hard.

“Soriah,” she said breathlessly, “where did itfall?”

“I know not,”Soriah replied.She too sounded breathless. “But I hope that Lyficen’s eyes were blinded to it.That star means his death.” Eyla looked back to where the star had fallen. Theystood there for a while.

“Well there is nothing that we can do now, butremember. And maybe when the time comes…” Soriah trailed off and turned to takeEyla’s hand. “Come my dear, let us go back. You have celebrating to do.”

When they arrived thecelebrations were in full swing and Eyla joined in whole heartedly. But all thewhile her mind was with the star that had fallen in the forest.