Chetwin's Space

How like Urolf (Feyrwarl) looked, except that his face had been used in quite a different way, thought Wycan, noting the laughter lines around his eyes. Feyrwarl wasn't smiling now. “You rejected your own son, you presumably caused his death … You split our clan and wrecked these woods in a fit of pique. You are not fit to rule.” Everyone snapped to. Wycan looked around. A fight was coming. His hand went to his belt. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Looking down, Wycan couldn't even see the ground on which he stood. On a thought, he bent to touch it, and felt … nothing. “The ground's gone too,” he went on slowly. “I am standing in the middle of … nothing.” A clap of thunder cracked the silence. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

You broke up the Yul Kinta clan, you destroyed this realm. Would that you had never been! Wycan whirled about to see two figures there: Thrulvar and the other. Wycan looked into that face and knew. Did he not look into one just like it every day? “Father.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Leana's face was white and anxious. “Gom?” “He's headed for the Concourse.” “Then so are we. Elder Hanselor?” Hanselor raised his arm. “Forward with all speed. Young Althlafor's in danger of his life!” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

“As for one race being better than the other: my lady, like it or not, you are part Yul Kinta now—with your son.” For a moment, it looked as if she would strike him. Then she simply stood and strode away. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

His mother slipped, scraped off the cliff wall, then rebounded off towards the falling water. Wycan grabbed at her arm but to his horror his hand passed right through it! Reaching her, the nearer figure caught her by the mantle. The mantle gave, fully revealing the burden beneath, A baby, bound to her chest with a shimmering gray shawl. That glimpse was all he had before woman and child vanished through the falling water. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

(Gom): “When will (Leana) waken, do you think?” “By this night's end, we should know.” “Know?” Gom's throat was dry. . . . “After living in our woods, Leana may now be part-Yul Kinta. . . . If she is unchanged - if she's still fully human - the moment she awakens, she will die.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

You would have me meet with Vala? You must, if you'd awaken. Mage, the spell that binds me lies beyond her powers. Is there an Elder with them? I don't know. Gom barely hid his dismay. After all the effort and sacrifice, Leana might still die? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

(Wycan) opened his pack and pulled a bite. But he didn't settle down to sleep. Every slightest sound brought him to his feet, empty-handed, defenseless against tooth and claw, until he almost wished for Gom to come again. . . . --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

'Tis my own first knife that I got when I had learned to throw. I long outgrew its heft … may it serve you well. . . . Wycan slid the knife back in its sheath. If you find your father, remember me. For long, Wycan sat staring out into the dark, almost until morning. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

As Keke rose to dive again, Wycan reached out and touched her thought. Not mad, not mad at all. Only deeply anxious to the point of panic. About what? Danger! Beware! Danger! Wycan closed his eyes, caught a flash of boiling waters broken by jagged points. Keke's voice narrated by Anya Eleni. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

[Keke]: “That . . . boy you took up with. Don't say I didn't warn you!” Wycan? . . . “You've seen him? He's down?” “Down and gone! Too far for you to catch.” Keke's voice narrated by Anya Eleni. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Before (Wycan), the track curved towards the right. There, to his left, the smaller one trailed off into mist. One last look he took up the slope behind him, then headed down towards the Dunderfosse. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Heat rushed up, breaking into sweat across his brow. Up under the peak, the song he'd heard coming from her bed: mothers sang it to soothe their newborn into sleep. . . . The strange and lovely shawl with which she'd bound him to her: a baby shawl! They'd taken it from her, just as they had taken him. “You've guessed, I think,” said Ythac. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Maybe passing under [the entrance grille] had somehow dislodged the iron housing. If so, he was well and truly stuck, why he could die down there, except— His eye went to the torch. Those things did not last forever. Someone had set that flame up there, and not so very long ago. A shadow rounded the corner, slid into the light. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Ystrid's scowl deepened. . . . “Explain yourself.” Wycan gazed back at her, unflinching. The fire was still there, undiminished—but overlaid with something else. . . . Reaching out, he nudged her mind's edge: Fear. Wycan watched her beat it down, watched her pride take over. “Lock him up.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

(Ystrid) broke off in mid-cry, a look of blank astonishment upon her face. Wycan half-turned to see what she was staring at. “Wycan?” Too late, Wycan realized that she was gazing right at him --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Gom) pulled a light, sent it bobbing up above his head, and gazed around on utter devastation. Only the bed remained intact. On it lay a small gray-green bird, eyes closed, unmoving --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

“You know—” Ystrid paused. “My father never let us up here. I would see her now.” “Highness.” Ythac climbed onto the dais and drew aside the curtain, but even as Ystrid moved to join him, he let the curtain drop and whirled about. “She's gone!” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

“Oh, I see you now,” (Leana) said. “He's called Wycan, you say? And a young man? I cannot believe it.” “Here. Take my hand, we'll go up so you can see for yourself.” Leana reached out, grasped his fingers. The instant she did so, Gom cried out, his life force streaming out—and down. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Gom couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Was it a waking dream, coming upon him as they used to up on Windy Mountain? Out of nowhere, born of some urgent need, to warn him of some danger, or show him something hidden from his normal sight? “Gom, what is it?” Wycan's faraway voice faded into echo. Then everything went dark. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

The massive gate ground inwards, just wide enough to let men through in single file. A fresh squad moved out smartly, the returning crew went in. The gate groaned shut. The bars screeched back into place. Gom and Wycan were inside. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

“We must move out, heal wounds, repair the damage between the lake folk and us. Take chances, offer what we have for mortal folk out here. Share our knowledge, put our gifts at their service.” "Yul Kinta? Helping mortals? Hah! It is not in our nature.” “Yet I once heard that you would turn aside to save a stranded minnow.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

“You mean you can hear what someone's thinking?” Gom didn't sound so friendly any more. “Not words,” Wycan explained quickly. “More like a feeling or mood. I'm not very good at it yet. I only just found that I can do it.” “Oh, really.” Gom was looking positively hostile. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Gom pulled the stopper and dripped its fulsome contents onto Wycan's tongue. . . . Wycan swayed, grabbed for the table, and held on . . . Gom watched him anxiously. . . . “Are you alright?” Wycan looked up, glassy-eyed. . . . “I'm fine. . . . What is that muck?” “I can't say. At least, not exactly, you see—” Gom broke off. The spell had worked. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

In frustration, Wycan reached inside his shirt, pulled out the tag and chain. Cupping the chain in his palm, he pointed to the woman's clasped hands. Gom stared down in dismay. Whatever Kyr meant, the woman who had held that chain was certainly Leana up in that mountain. Alive—or dead? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Going out the door, he paused. When Wycan was done bathing, there were questions to be asked—and answered. But how? Gom ran to the back of the workshop, fetched out chalk and slate, then ran downstairs. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Wycan was waiting. But what could Gom say? That he now knew to call him Althlafor? . . Leana had scored it through. . . . .Gom turned the tag over. Three words he found there, two together with a single one beneath. Ëalfgren, halfling, the first two words read. Under them, a short and simple name oft-used in the common tongue. Hal. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

The helmet pressed against his chest, Wycan eyed Gom over the top of it. “Well?” Gom stared back. “Oh my,” he whispered. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

At first glance, he didn't seem so old, maybe a year or so younger than Wycan, but a second look at those eyes and he was not so sure. Frowning, the youth opened his mouth and let out a series of piercing shrieks. Wycan started, goosebumps popping out all over. Here was the second bird! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Here begins book 8 of the series, following directly on from the end of book 7, The Foundling of Snawbyr Crygg. One hour to dawn, they mustered: Feyrwarl, Vala, Hanselor, and two dozen fellow-pilgrims. Yul Kinta journeying back to the ruins of their old home. Their baggage stowed, they mounted their horses and rode swiftly like fleeting shadows from their fastness by the High Vargue's edge, heading west. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Chorl in the mountain! And not through the Main Gate. There was only one other way in and that was by the flood gate down in the roots of the mountain that had not been opened in an age. How? And why? Wycan saw and groaned aloud. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

The barracks passages swarmed with guards in full fighting gear. While some were racing up to man the upper levels, more were streaming down. Keeping close to the wall, Wycan watched and listened, and understood at last: Chorl! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Wycan looked around warily, scanning for signs of deeper shadows moving over the mountain face. “Are we safe now?” he said, as they passed the first rock shelf. “Well, chorl have never come this high.” There's always a first time, thought Wycan uneasily. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Wait, Ythac had told him. Wait, wait by the fox and I'll find you. He would wait, all right. So would the fox. But the captain would never find either! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

The captain . . . laughed. "You youngsters. You know it all. Or . . . you think you do. What have you heard about chorl?” Wycan told him of the tales passed around the dormitory after lights out. “They say chorl overran the mountain, but, well, I see that can't be true, not with that gate. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

(Wycan) breathed in the smell of rich moist loam. He never wanted to go back up into that mountain, never. In fact— . . . He didn't have to. Thanks to Ythac, he would make his break that very day—maybe within the hour! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

-ii Some way farther down, the track split into two. . . . another, narrower ridge curved off eastwards . . . "Where does that lead?” . . . “Nowhere we want to go.” . . . “I don't understand.” "Ythac sighed heavily. “There's an old forest . . . we do not speak of it. . . . Now come.” Wycan allowed himself to be led on. But glancing back along that trail he couldn't help but wonder. . . . --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

A pace or two beyond the gate, Wycan stopped. Before him was blind, black space. To either side, ragged torch flames fluttered in the wind. Behind them, the gate ground shut and its bars clanked into place. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

When at last he fell asleep, he dreamed she was smiling down on him—her hair blew freely in the wind, he felt it brush his face—while above her, deep blue sky peeked through a dome of rich green leaves. . . . --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Could that figure on the bed be the dead queen? No, for she was not Cryggmoren. Then who? And why was she so secret? He fell asleep still searching for an answer. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

. . the main tunnel came to a sudden end—not against natural rock . . . but a wall of chiseled stones fit so tightly together there was not a crevice anywhere, not even for a spider. In the middle of that wall was a door sheathed in iron plate with three great hinges on the left side, and three massive bolts on the other rammed deep into its rock frame. Wycan eyed that gate intently. His way out at last? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

He remembered now how . . . he'd resolved to leave the mountain and find his folk, or at least, find out what had happened to them. . . . In that moment he resolved to . . . set out on his true quest, which was to find the place where he belonged. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Wycan gazed down at the dagger, at a loss. That Ythac should give his own first knife to him! . . . It was not until much later that it came to him: You surprised us all, Ythac had said, when the contest was over. Yet that knife had been right there in his bag! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

He (Wycan) put this reed to his lips and blew until his cheeks ached but all that came out was a rush of air. “How? How would you do that?” he called out, quite forgetting to raise his hand --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

"They (Edsyr and Bomac) want to catch you out in something they can take to Morok. . . . They want you locked away for good. Be careful: as I said, they'll be watching you." For a moment, (Ystrid) stayed looking down on him, then, without warning, she bent, kissed his cheek, and hurried out. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Bomac pushed up, and thrusting Wycan down onto the mat stomped hard upon his ribs. There came four short, sharp cracks setting everyone a-gasp. Wycan cried out as pain shot through and dark closed in like a drawstring bag pulled tight. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

When at last the guard unlocked the door and let him go, Wycan looked suitably penitent. But inwardly, he was a hawk about to fly! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Reaching the cavern entrance, Gyral leaned out, craning up and down the passage. “Wycan? Wycan!” No reply. Gyral frowned. “Now where did he go so fast?” he muttered. Children, Gyral was looking straight at Wycan, standing so close they could have shaken hands, but the man didn't see him. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

Why do folk make their homes in such places, when they could live in comfort and plenty in a comfortable village like ours? I can't tell you, yet they do. I suppose that home is where you were born and what you're used to, and where you're not kept standing on the mat. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message

The Dunderfosse's western edge was bounded by a mountain range so high its icy caps were lost in cloud year-round. Gom's spur led up the grandest peak of all, called Snawbyr Crygg. On gazing up at it you'd certainly be awestruck. You'd never dream, though, as even Gom did not, that it was hollow, and that people dwelt therein. . . . --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/grace-chetwin/message