Chapter 1

Sitting under the awning of his home, the old man looked out at the village where he had lived for more than forty winters. Watching the snow still drifting down from the trees from the storm the night before, he called out to his wife, asking for another cup of tea before laughing at his own senility, realizing she had died before the first snow fall of the year. Feeling foolish for calling out to a woman who had been dead for more than three months, the old man leaned forward to pour his own tea, hiding his embarrassment from the other villagers who looked his way. With his cup filled the old man sat back to watch the smoke rise from the fire, loosing himself in his thoughts about his granddaughter until the wolf lying next to him growled low in his throat, letting the man know someone was approaching.

Looking up, he smiled as the granddaughter whom he had been thinking of, with her fiery red hair, tattoos, and imposing height, came towards him through the snow. Walking tall and proud, her feet crunching through the snow of the last storm, she approached her grandfather and mentor, bundled up in his furs against the cold he complained about whenever she visited him. Seeing him watching her at her approach as well as his wolf next to him, she smiled as she knew even with his complaining about the cold, her grandfather was a great warrior and shaman who when they hunted together could be as silent as a mountain cat. Approaching the two of them she stepped heavily causing the snow to crunch beneath her feet, announced her presence with the crunch of the snow underfoot, letting Ferot know someone was approaching.

"It is okay Ferot, I know she is coming, I invited her to come and sit with me today," the old man told his companion.

Hearing the old mans words, the old wolf returned his head to lay upon his legs, curled up in the pelt of a mammoth the villagers had given him years before as a gift for being the eyes and ears of the village. Many a bandit or orc raid had been beaten back with his keen hearing giving warning of their approach, allowing the villagers plenty of time to arm themselves saving many lives. In seconds his eyes were closed and the wolf slept though his ears constantly moving at the sounds around them revealed the lie the old wolf slept.

Never taking his eyes off of his granddaughter as she approached, he smiled to himself thinking she looked just like his previous wife, her grandmother. His wife had been a warrior in her own right as many women in the north would fight alongside their men when their villages would be threatened earning many honors of their own. With her red hair, most men feared her, saying her fierceness was due to her being touched by the gods as she had killed men with more than just her spear as she had been very good with a battleaxe. Now their grandchild with her own mane of red hair would follow in her steps carrying a spear and shield. Unlike her grandmother though, the woman child walking towards him could talk to the spirits as he could.

He was thinking about his late wife when the woman stopped at the edge of the awning and knocked to get his attention as she could see the mind of her grandfather was elsewhere. When he focused his eyes on her, she took a breath and asked, "You asked me to visit you grandfather?"

Smiling at his granddaughter, the old man offered, "Come and sit with me so we can talk, Wahleia." The man was silent after his invitation waiting patiently for his granddaughter to sit and pull one of the pelts that always laid around the fire for when guests visited to keep the chill away.

Looking at her grandfather once the pelt was in place across her lap with her newly crafted ironwood spear lying across her lap, the old man spoke, saying, "Your mother came to me this morning saying your intentions were no longer to move into my hut when I depart to the spirit world."

Looking at the fire, she answered, "I am sorry grandfather; I had every intention of moving into your hut and take your place as the shaman of our people. On my way to the mine in the escarpment, my dreams became troubled as I saw Mipal with men and creatures battling around him."

"So you go to find your brother then?" the old man asked.

With her grandfather's question, her mind leaped to the vision of another man she had seen. He was far from the largest man she had ever seen even as the men of the valley were exceptionally tall and fierce. The man in her vision was fierce in his own right as she witnessed him besting other creatures using more than just his sword as he wielded the elements as weapons; not like the sorcerers she had seen who required time to perform their rituals. In her mind she knew what he was as her grandfather had named him in the stories he told her as well as other children about his journeys when he was younger. In those stories he called the man who could wield the elements like the man in her dreams, a Wizard.

"No grandfather, I do not seek my brother. He has his own life and his own family now and I would prefer not to intrude into what he has." Taking a breath to build up her courage, she added, "I go to find a different man, one who will appear near where my brother lives now."

"What do you mean appear? Does he not live there now?" the old man asked intrigued by his granddaughter's words.

"I looked for him in the spirit realm but I could not find him. I have searched the realm for him twice, both times I have found nothing. My dreams tell me he will be there but now the man I seek does not exist."

"So you are saying you are willing to leave the valley and our people to search for a man that does not exist? Why would you do this granddaughter?"

There was quiet between the two of them for a moment while she collected her thoughts and built up her courage before she finally said, "Grandfather, I am to be his wife."

"His wife?" the old shaman Lobok asked. Looking at his granddaughter he added nothing else as he looked at her as if waiting for a response. When she offered nothing else in her defense and the silence between them grew long, the shaman offered, I suppose Wahleia; I will need to meet this man you will leave your people to seek."

"Grandfather, I already told you I have searched for him already and I could not find him. I only know where he will be."

Reaching down to pet the wolf lying next to him, Lobok answered, "I understood what you said and you may be correct that the man you go forth to seek is nowhere to be found. What you do not have is Ferot as your guide as I do. With him leading me, I can go places where you, with all of your strength could not go. Now if you would give me your amulet, we shall go and see if this man of yours exists."

Wahleia did as she was asked, pulling her dream catcher from around her neck, handing the amulet over to her grandfather who instead of simply taking it from her grasped her hand with the dream catcher pressed between both of their palms.