Legend of Amberfell - 3. Chapter 3: Varinaris

The sun was somewhere overhead, as Nari rushed me out of the hot spring.

Although, I couldn’t really see much at all, thanks to a dense, grayish fog that seemed to hang in the air around us as we exited the cave. I was still wearing soaked clothing and no shoes or coat of any kind, and so I couldn’t help but groan when I saw the slight blanket of snow at the hot spring’s entrance.

“Hey—there’s snow.” I said, more of a question than anything.

“So?” Nari said, like a kick to the gut!

After all, he wasn't particularly well-dressed either, only putting on a loose-fitted tunic as we departed the cavern, and he didn’t seem to mind the snow at all. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would have said that he was enjoying himself. Merrily skipping about from rock to rock, Nari reached a bend in the path ahead where the sun broke through the fog somewhat, letting it wash over him completely. I could just barely see him smiling and raising his head up into what I imagined to be a spot of warmth, stretching his arms wide above him.

I hated to admit it, but it damned near took my breath away. He looked like a freaking angel with his arms splayed wide like that! His body radiated gold under the sunlight, and that head of hair was practically glistening. Slowly, he stretched with a yawn, before setting his hands behind his head, that little book still clutched in one hand.

Suddenly, he turned to look at me.

“What are you doing all the way back there?” He shouted, his voice echoing loudly. Wherever we were, it seemed like somewhere wide open.

“I said… there's snow.” I replied with a frown, “And I haven’t got any boots!”

“Neither have I.” Nari responded, that delightfully curious tone of voice coming through, “And I’ve made it just fine. Look, jump along the rocks where the snow is melted, like I did! You'll be across in no time.”

“Use the rocks…” I mumbled.

Sure, this was already weird enough. If I wasn't going to go back into the cave and figure things out for myself, I might as well have gone along with it.

So, begrudgingly, I climbed up onto the nearest grouping of rocks, and began forward as instructed.

Slowly but surely, I sort of found my footing. The stone was cool to the touch, and yet after the first few hefty leaps, I couldn’t help but enjoy the sensation a little. It was better than walking through snow, and it was kind of fun, to be honest. One by one, I gingerly made my way up the path along the rocks towards Nari. Though as I reached the last rock, and broke through the fog too, my smile immediately turned to dread. For the overlook was nothing but a vast drop down to the rocky bottom of a mountainous landscape, and I was coming in too fast!

“Woah—”

My feet slipped, and I began to fall forward over the edge. However, Nari was quick. He grabbed the back of my baggy shirt with one hand and yanked, wrapping his other arm tightly around my midsection, and hauling the both of us back in the other direction. We tumbled down off the rocks, freefalling for a split second before we both landed in a large heap of snow, all of which fluttered up around us upon impact.

Sitting up straight, I sputtered and wiped the cold from my face, and found Nari directly in front of me doing the same thing.

“Seriously?” I panted, my heart still pounding from the rush, “Are you trying to get me killed?”

“Say what?” Nari shrugged with a chuckle, shaking the snow from his hair.

“You know exactly what.” I said sternly, “We’re at the top of a mountain! You might warn a guy before he’s about to tumble to his death, you know!”

“You didn’t fall to your death.” Nari corrected, offering a casual smile in response, as he stood to his feet shortly thereafter. He adjusted his garments once, before peering back down at me, “Well, did you?”

“I mean, well, no. But—” I stammered, “You could have at least warned me, couldn’t you?”

“I thought you did know, truly.” Nari insisted, and I believed him, "But look, I can’t say I told you to run like a savage beast towards the cliff's edge, did I?”

I squinted defeatedly. He sort of had me there. Either way, I replied, “…I guess not. But that’s totally not fair. This stupid fog blocked my vision.”

Nari giggled, “I think it’s a low-flying cloud, truth be told.”

Damn it all, he really did have a cute laugh.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what it is.” I shook my head, too busy trying to forget about my last thought, as I said, “I didn’t know we were at the top of a mountain. Okay?”

“Well, now you do!” Nari declared, but pouted somewhat, “And you ought to have known, seeing as how it’s a long walk up here and what not…”

But then, as if we were both thinking the same thing, we frowned at the exact same time. I hadn’t come up the mountain, after all, I’d come up from the pool.

Nari smiled awkwardly at that, and extended a hand down towards me, “You know something, fear and joy are two sides of the same coin, and both have equal value. Or, at least, I remember hearing that somewhere. One of the… great philosophers, or something of the sort. I can't remember. The point being, no reason to fret about it.”

I raised my brow disbelievingly at the proverb, not even sure Nari knew what he was trying to say, but I shook my head and accepted his hand nonetheless, who hoisted me up onto my feet.

“You’re awfully covered in snow!” Nari chuckled, dusting me off as best he could a moment later, “You really ought not to jump from mountain tops, you know. It bodes ill for one’s health.”

I rolled my eyes, but even I couldn’t help but to grin at the ridiculousness of that statement, “Thanks for the advice.”

“My pleasure.” Nari winked. However, his smile shifted into sudden excitement, “Come on, Ben. You can see the southern part of the valley just around that bend over there. Just wait until you see it!”

Once again, Nari grabbed me by the forearm and dragged me down the path like I was a little dog on a leash. A few minutes later, we rounded the bend. We broke through the small cloud entirely at that point, and the sun bore down on us across a cloud-dappled blue sky above. Nari led me up to a small outcropping thereafter, not letting go of my hand all the while.

And at that moment, I damned near forgot about everything; about what had happened to me in the bathroom, about Nari, and I even forgot about myself for a second.

Stretching out before me was a vast valley on all sides, set within a swath of winding mountains. The land was green with dense forests and rolling hills of grass. A large river wound through the thick forest brush to what I could only assume was the east, flowing south towards a sprawling bay, and sea thereafter. Small pockets of tame farmland and clusters of wooded homes dotted the surrounding area. I even noticed several stone structures just poking their heads up and out of the thick forest brush, which I wondered if I hadn't mistaken for tower parapets.

“I…” But my jaw dropped slightly, and the words failed me. My eyes widened as they tried to soak in every little detail—every morsel of color that they could cling to. I’d never been hit with so much inspiration than I was at that moment. I could see this place in my mind’s eye, like that of the world that I’d been trying to build for my own stories. It was incredible, it was, “Beautiful.” I said aloud.

I could see Nari staring at me with that bright smile from out of the corner of my eye. But despite him, I just couldn’t peel my eyes from the valley.

“That's Varinaris for you.” Nari eventually said, a proud tone of voice. Couldn't say I blamed him either.

“What does that mean?” I asked, unable to contain my grin of excitement. A second later, I sounded out the foreign word for myself, “Var-in-nar-is.”

“Something along the lines of river wolf.” Nari replied. As he did, I watched him pick up a small stone and heave it over the edge, “It’s the valley of the river wolf, if you wish to know it fully.”

“River wolf…” I echoed softly.

“It was named after the wolves that live down in the forest, just there along the river.” Nari mentioned, as he pointed down the way to the east for me to see, “They say the waters therein are guarded by the spirit of a great wolf, a legendary monster from the wild ages.”

That was freaking awesome! Was I… could I… had I somehow been brought to a fantastical world? I mean, sure, it was against my will. But come on! Great wolf spirit? My own expression shifted from awe to pure excitement at the mention, and I couldn’t help myself but to grab Nari by the shoulder, shaking him slightly as I asked, “Is it true? Really? Like, an actual legendary monster?”

“Eh—well, I guess so.” Nari shrugged with a look of confusion, somewhat awkwardly, as he added, “There are a lot of wolves in there, I suppose. I don’t know about legendary…”

Damn it, did he even realize how badly that was teasing my freakishly nerdy brain? In any case, I sobered enough to say, as I peered back down into the valley, “Fair enough. Still, this has got to be the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Hands down.”

“Hehehe—really?” Nari chuckled, as if that was surprising to him. I guess if you saw something like this all the time, it wasn’t a big deal, and he even said, “Do you not have places like this one, in your Eu-rope?”

I actually snorted at that, almost forgetting, “Yeah, I’m sure there are plenty of sights like this in Europe. I’ve not actually been there myself, so… I don't know.”

“Wait—hold on!” Nari said in confusion, “I thought you were from that Eu-rope place? Now you’re not?”

“Sheesh, it’s just a place that I know of.” I shrugged. Doubling down on that, and given everything I’d learned thus far, I said, “I’m from another place much farther away. Across a big ocean, it's called America.”

“I’ve never heard of that one either!” Nari protested, folding his arms, “What are you on about, then? Are you sure you’re not just some madman after all?”

“Maybe I am…” I sighed. Everything up to this point seemed maddening enough to me. I wasn’t even sixteen yet and I’d already blown a gasket! Who would have thought?

“Uhm, well—” Nari stammered. I got the sense he felt sorry for me at that moment, because he blushed, and his tone shifted, “It’s alright if you are… you know, mad. My great uncle was mad, remember? We still loved him.”

“Thanks… wait—what do you mean, loved?” I paused skeptically.

“Uhm…” Nari winced with an awkward grin. He sighed once, and explained himself, “The poor old bastard bound some wooden planks together and took off straight into the bay and out to sea, during the middle of a springtide storm no less. We haven’t seen or heard from him since! Though everyone says the storm goddess swallowed him up in a great, big wave and spit him out onto one of those enchanted islands across the endless ocean; the ones from the stories, I mean. So… yeah.”

Why did he have to say things like that? Why did he have to say things that made my brain go crazy! He couldn’t just blurt things out like that and not elaborate. Storm goddess? Enchanted islands? Hello?! That was right up my alley.

However, this was his family we were talking about. So, I felt inclined to at least collect myself, despite my giddiness, and offer, “Man, I’m sorry to hear that. That sucks.”

“It’s no problem at all.” Nari reassured me, rather easily at that, waving his hand in dismissal, “Really, it can’t be helped. I suppose? If you're mad, you're mad. Just… promise me you aren’t going to go wading into the sea like that too?”

That seemed fair, so I nodded with a smile, “Promise.”

“Good.” Nari tapped my shoulder twice, an encouraging gesture to be sure. He then looked out into the valley, and his expression narrowed. That, and his tone become more serious, as he said, “We should probably get going soon.”

“Uh… you, maybe.” I confessed awkwardly, “I’m not exactly sure where I’m supposed to go. Remember? I'm not from around here. At least, I think. I'm still not sold on the whole dream thing.”

“You're coming with me, of course!” Nari insisted, his tone shifting back to a delightful one in all but a flash, “Did you seriously think that I would just leave you up here all by yourself?”

I frowned, feeling a bit pitied, and said, “Uhm… I mean… I wouldn’t hold it against you. I mean, if you wanted to.”

It certainly wouldn’t have been the first time I had to scrape by on my own. Frankly, I was used to it by now. I doubted Nari needed someone like me to be dragged around, or at least to be slowing him down.

“You are mad.” Nari said flippantly, “Besides, I can’t have you attracting any mountain beasts into my secret hideout with your foreign scent.”

“My foreign—ugh…” I rolled my eyes, insult to injury! I said, “So that’s why you’re helping me then, is it? Out of sight out mind, yeah?”

I suddenly felt a hard thump on my forehead.

That boy had just flicked me!

“Ow—” I winced, immediately moving to rub the spot.

“Look,” Nari began sternly, even now his pouty face was too much to handle, “You’re either lost, or mad, or both. Gods help me. In any event, those are three perfectly good reasons to help anyone! Even more so, what would you do for food? Or water? Or warm clothes? At the very least, you’ll need a guide in a strange place that you’ve never been to before; foreign or otherwise. That’s me, if… well, if you'll have me, I meant to say. To be honest… well look, I wouldn't terribly mind some company down in that forest. It's an awful place to walk alone, even during the daytime. So that's that.”

I was completely stunned.

He actually wanted to help me?

Also, who was this cute guy scolding me all of a sudden?

Smiling awkwardly, I nodded, “Yeah, I'd like that… uhm, thanks.”

“Hehehe, you know, you’re pretty lucky I was at the hot spring at all today.” Nari confessed merrily, beckoning me to follow him down the path, “The one other thing I wanted to do was, er—postponed.”

“No kidding!” I practically shouted, unsure of what I would have done if Nari hadn’t been here.

“It doesn’t really matter.” Nari insisted, “This is where we are, and I’m promising to help you; right here and now. So, not another word of it, okay? Though look… you owe me a favor after I saved your life just now.”

“Huh? What? No way.” I shook my head, pushing him slightly from the back, “That one was hardly my fault, you should have told me!”

“And you should be more sure-footed.” Nari replied, glancing over his shoulder with that charming smile of his, a slightly more wicked expression in his eyes.

Seriously, it wasn’t fair. I couldn’t argue with a face like that! And I definitely couldn’t argue with him if he really did mean what he’d said about helping me out here. I was in a pinch, and I needed all the help I could get.

“Fine, you can have your favor.” I mumbled. But a small smile betrayed my feigned discontent, nonetheless, as I added, “But next time? I’ll save your ass, and then you won’t get to hear the end of it either. Deal?”

Nari laughed joyfully, and shouted to the heavens, “Deal!”

And so, with the matter settled, we proceeded to walk side by side, heading down into the forested foothills of the valley of the river wolf.