Chapter 13

"But I want to go with you!" Katiely is saying as she begins to cry.

"Do you think now that I found that which I have always sought, that I would risk losing it, risk losing you?" Tracer says sternly.

"And now that I found you I'm just supposed to watch you ride out of my life, maybe forever." she says sobbing.

Tracer's heart softens. "If I feel I can't complete my mission alive, I won't try," he says, hugging her.

"You don't even know if completing your mission will do any good." Katiely screams as she pushes away from him. Good point.

It is true Tracer doesn't know what he is going to do. He doesn't know if it will help his people any, or if it is even possible. All he knows is, he has to try. All of his life Tracer searched for love and peace, and now that he found it he has to try and share it with the world.

Tracer no longer believes that it will be his dark nature that will allow him to make it to the heart of darkness. Evil cannot defeat evil; it only makes it stronger. Through his dark paths ahead it will be the light from Katie's love that sees him through them.

Tracer's people aren't the only reason he is undertaking this last leg of his journey. Tracer believes that unless the Dark Priests are stopped, they will search for Katiely for eternity.

In the two days Derek has been staying with them, he tells Tracer much of what he is going to need to know to make it through the enemy terrain. More importantly, Tracer begins to believe and trust in him wholeheartedly. When he looks at this fierce but kindhearted man, he knows Katiely will be safe.

Derek tells Tracer, "The Mountains of the Wolveris be about forty leagues from here. That be the border of Drearson, but the city of Drearson is another thirty leagues past that, through some of the roughest mountain terrain in existence. Unless you use one of our bridges you will have to find a way across the Great River, for it comes from those mountains, and as far as me know no one has ever done it before. Of course no one ever wanted to before, so who knows.

"There is the one easy path through the mountains, but it will be heavily guarded and impossible to get through without an army. First, you have to take main bridge across Great River, and then you cut up into mountains away from road. Maybe one person can slip through at dark, if Wolveris not guarding it too. They have extreme sense of smell."

If these mountains are as steep and rough as Derek says they are, then it is going to take Tracer at least six months to get to the city of Drearson going the hard way. It brings another problem to light as well. There is no way Tracer can take Ram with him.

At first Tracer isn't happy about that revelation, but the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes he wants to leave him here in safety also, and plus he can help protect Katie. Ram isn't going to be happy about being left behind either. He was born a warhorse by destiny. He lives for battle.

It is decided that Derek and Katiely will escort Tracer half way to the mountains. From there they will turn off and head onto the main city of Kinsmerelay, which is named Steeleheart, and inform the Council what is going on, and hopefully they will recall their mercenary children back home.

Derek tells Tracer, "It gonna take us almost two months to reach Steeleheart because it be so far away."

Tracer hopes, "Derek, if your kinsman are anything like you, is there any chance Kinsmerelay can be persuaded to enter the war on our side?"

Derek tells him, "It be unlikely, because rarely does Kinsmerelay get involved with other people's problems as a nation. Even though as individuals we are free to do as we please. Unless someone be foolish enough to attack us first, we mainly keep to our own. Kinsmerelay be the most powerful of all the nations, but it usually takes personal tragedy or betrayal to motivate the population. But I stand with you. May the Divine guide you on your journey."

It is on Katiely and Tracer's tenth day at the cottage that they pull out and head west towards the mountains and Drearson. The only names he can learn about the mountains are the Wolveris Mountains and the Drearson Mountains. Tracer figures since the country of Drearson is nothing but the mountains, he will call them that. Besides, calling them the Wolveris Mountains is too daunting.

Tracer feels Katiely turn and look back at the cottage. In their short, but heavenly, ten days there, Katie's magic has brought to life flowers and other plants beyond counting. Not only is plant life springing forth to share its splendor with Katiely, but her magical aura also attracted all kinds of animals.

Their little cottage had become a sanctuary for birds, butterflies, rodents, deer and even the highly aggressive wolverines. But like Tracer, who agreed not to hunt around the cottage, they also got along with each other and they didn't eat Katie's flowers.

He tells her, "Do not worry, my love, when I come back we will live our lives out here." Katiely nods her head and tries to smile.

This free warrior country of Kinsmerelay feels more like home than Tracer's does.

Derek told Tracer, "Since ye good folks found the cottage abandoned, it be yours by right of law." Derek helped Katiely make a sign to hang that will proclaim that this home is spoken for and whom it belongs to.

They travel slowly, for the urgency that Tracer has felt since he left his valley has drained away to contentment and wonder. With summer well into its cycle, the woodlands floor is drying out and the fallen leaves crunch as they make their way. Tracer notices that every cottage they ride by they ride in front of it. They ride near enough to be seen, but not so close as to be intrusive.

Derek explains, "Though my people are solitary and independent, we have a great kinship for each other. To go around a kinsman's place is considered an insult, because it means that they are not worthy of your friendship and trust."

This tradition is so highly respected and honored that they never ride in a straight line. They go out of their way to make sure they insult no one. Tracer begins to feel like the twenty leagues they are going to travel with him are going to take forever. Now and again there will be somebody outside of his or her cottage, and they will invite them in.

Derek rides up to them and says, "Good folks, we be on a mission, but the very next time we be by this way we will be honored to share your company." all encounters are handled with the most sincere respect Tracer has ever seen before.

In the near twenty leagues that they travel together, they come across only about forty cottages altogether. Kinsmerelay is supposed to have a population in the millions, and if they are this spread out, this country must be huge indeed. With Katiely at Tracer's back and this country now their new home, he has found peace at last.

Within that irony a new torment begins to fester. The further they get away from their cottage the more he wants to stay. Tracer told Katiely that she couldn't come because he didn't want to lose her, or that which he had finally found after thirty years of searching. But isn't that what he is risking by going himself?

Along the way he has made many choices like the one the prophecy speaks of. This instance is just another one of those. Tracer can stay and be happy and at peace here with Katie. But for how long would that happiness and peace last, because his mind would haunt him and torment him with the knowledge that he chose to stay because of selfish reasons? Because if Tracer let his people and the world fight their own battles as if they are not worthy of his efforts or his life, he would not be able to find a new home in a country where such actions are disrespectful.

They aren't fifteen leagues into their trek when Katiely tells Tracer, "Trace, I can sense the Dark Priests again."

Just then a group of five mercenaries come riding out of the woods toward them. Tracer begins to pull his sword, but Derek stops him. It looks like one of the mercenaries is seriously injured. They ride right up to them and stop.

"Master Derek," one of the mercenaries says. Apparently Derek is well known. "An army of Imperial Soldiers and several Drearson Priests has invaded our land. There were thirty Kinsmen with them, and when we see what they do, we told them to hold ye forward progress. They attacked us and we five the only ones survived. They have crossed the Main Bridge."

That means Tracer can no longer take the easier way. He will have to find a new way across the Great River higher in the Wolveris infested mountains.

Derek is thinking quickly. "Boys, ride and warn our kinsman. Tell to rally at Prayers Peak. Did say they why they have done such a dishonorable act?"

"No, sire, all we know is in Escrotry they looking for a witch."

Derek looks at Tracer knowingly.

"Derek, you take Katiely on your horse with you now. I have no choice now but to take Ram. I will release him when I get to the mountains."

Derek hands Tracer a chain with a ring hanging from it. He tells him, "It is my family crest, and if you to hang it on Ram when you release him, whoever find him will bring him to me." Tracer is grateful.