There are so many things about myself I do not know, thought Sorak. How could I possibly have hoped to... With a deliberate effort, he pushed the thought away once more, before his mind became preoccupied with Ryana once again. He purposely turned so that he could no longer see the convent. It was time now to look ahead. But to what?
Beyond seeking out the pyreen, he had no idea what lay ahead of him. Would she be able to recall the place where she had found him? And if she did, what of it? He could attempt to retrace his steps, but to what end? Elves, at least those who did not dwell in the cities, were nomadic. Halflings lived semi-nomadically around a tribal grounds, and certainly didn’t live on the flat lands. Whether elf or halfling, the tribe that had cast Sorak out would be long gone by now. How could he possibly hope to pick up a trail that was ten years old?
The answer was, of course, he couldn’t. At least, not in any conventional way. But with his psionic abilities, there was a chance he might be able to pick up some sort of psychic impression that may have been left behind, imprinted on the landscape, some telltale aberration that might provide a clue. Failing that, he would simply have to strike out on his own, in whatever direction fate took him.
Mistress Varanna had warned him that the answers he sought would be difficult, if not impossible, to find. It was likely he would spend the remainder of his life looking for them. But at least he would be actively seeking those answers instead of merely wondering about them. And along the way, he might discover a purpose for his existence. At the convent, he had led a sheltered life, one of training and contemplation, but it had been necessary to teach him how to live with his own unique nature. He owed the Elder Al’Kali a debt of gratitude for having the foresight to take him there. He only hoped that he would find her, so that he could properly express that gratitude. Soon, the twin moons of Athas would be full. And then, perhaps, he would begin to know his fate.
4
As the days passed and Sorak traveled, alternating with the Ranger in dominance over his body, he drew closer to the Dragon’s Tooth. It was now less than a day’s journey away. The trek had been relatively uneventful. At this high elevation, he did not encounter any other travelers and there was not much wildlife above the scrub line of the mountain ridge. Once he had passed that point, the terrain became extremely rocky and desolate.
His body was in peak physical condition, but it needed rest, and even though Sorak could withdraw—“duck under”—when he grew tired, letting the Ranger take over, the body they all shared had limited reserves of energy. He camped for several hours each night so that his body could rest, and by alternating which persona was in control, Sorak was able to make excellent time. The few times he had encountered any animals that could be dangerous. Screech had come to the fore to communicate with them, and any threat was nullified.
Sorak did not fully understand Screech, not in the same way he understood the Guardian, the Ranger, Eyron, Lyric, Kivara, and the others. There were times when he did not understand Kivara all that well, either, but that was because Kivara was young and made no real attempt to understand herself. With Screech, it was different. Screech was not like any of the others. He was more like Tigra. He did not speak in any true sense, but he could understand the others and make himself be understood, albeit on a somewhat primitive level. It was the same as the psionic communication Sorak had with Tigra, and he would not have had that communication with the tigone were it not for Screech.
The others all had their own distinct personas, but Screech had an ability the others seemed to lack. He could either take over entirely or effect a blend of his persona with that of Sorak, resulting in a curious sort of overlay in which both were present and “out” at the same time. It was Screech who had effected the affinity with Tigra, but while the tigone had a bond with Screech, it felt a bond with Sorak as well, whom it knew as being separate from Screech, yet still a part of him. The beast did not concern itself with the complexity of such relationships, it simply accepted Sorak for what he was.
On the fifth day of the journey, a pride of tigones came very close to Sorak’s camp at night. Sorak, through the Watcher’s vigilance, had been aware of the pride trailing him for quite some time. Under ordinary circumstances, encountering a traveler alone, they would undoubtedly have attacked at once, but they were confused both by Tigra’s presence and by the psychic signature of Screech, which they detected with their own psionic powers. Here was something that was completely unfamiliar, totally unprecedented, and they had no idea what to make of it. On one hand, what they saw appeared to be a human, yet he smelted of both elf and halfling, and he projected Screech as a tigone signature. Plus, there was a tigone accompanying the strange creature. This disturbed the beasts and puzzled them, and they had trailed Sorak for the better part of an entire day, venturing closer only at night, after he had lit his camp-fire.
He made no moves toward them, either hostile or defensive, but Screech established contact with them, psionically projecting both a nonthreatening recognition and a subtle dominance. Tigra kept nearby, clearly indicating to the pride its rapport and relationship to Sorak. They approached cautiously and hesitantly, the braver ones—the young males—venturing ahead of the others with tentative sniffs, psionic probes, and challenge patterns of behavior, but Sorak and Screech both projected a calm security, an utter lack of fear, and a disregard of the challenge postures taken by the beasts.
Tigones being essentially large cats, after all, curiosity soon overcame their caution and they came into his camp to smell him and Tigra and get acquainted. They wound up settling down around the fire, yawning and stretching, and just before Sorak went to sleep, he saw Tigra trotting off into the bushes with one of the young females. He smiled and briefly envied his companion its ability to engage in an uncomplicated mating with a female of its own kind. It was an experience that he would never know. And with that sad thought, he went to sleep, surrounded by nine huge, predatory beasts who had accepted him as one of them.
For part of the next day, he traveled with the pride, but as he climbed high up into the mountains, heading toward the lower slopes of the Dragon’s Tooth, the huge, psionic cats went their separate way. Sorak wondered for a moment if Tigra would go with them and take its place among its own kind, but the tigone stayed by his side. The female Tigra had mated with the previous night lingered briefly, giving voice to a few plaintive roars, but Tigra paid her no mind.
“Are you sure, old friend?” Sorak said aloud, looking down at the beast by his side.
“Friend,” came back the tigone’s psionic reply. “Protect.”
With a dejected air, the female turned and ran after her pride.
“All right, Tigra,” Sorak said. “You and me.” It was very cold now, and Sorak bundled his cloak around him. As the dark sun rose higher in the sky, the temperatures down on the desert tablelands far below them were scorching, but at the foot of the Dragon’s Tooth, the wind whistled around them with a bitter chill. Sorak looked up at the towering, curved spire high above him and wondered how anyone could possibly make that climb. The pyreens were shapechangers, and so possessed certain unique advantages, but nevertheless, Elder Al’Kali was among the oldest of her tribe. She had lived for over a thousand years. If, at her awesomely advanced age, she still possessed the energy to shapeshift and scale such daunting heights, he marveled at what she must have been like in her prime.
“I would have to be a crystal spider to make that climb,” said Sorak, as he stared up at the cloud-shrouded summit of the peak. He glanced down at Tigra. “And you, old friend, could certainly never make it.” He sighed. “The twin moons should be full tonight. If she is there, then I shall have to call to her. But how?”