means is that while you are human, you are also a creature of Faerie. You transcend the present world and its peoples. Your origins are very old and go back to the beginning of the world. You are flesh and blood and bones, and you can and will die someday like other humans. But your life is set on a different track, and it is given to you to be able to do things no one else ever will.”
“Things. What sort of things?”
“No one knows. Not even me, and I watched you being born. What you will do and how you will do it is knowledge you must discover for yourself. Your dreams tell you of your destiny, but only by taking the road to that destiny will you discover how you are meant to fulfill it.”
“By going to this place where the people I lead will be safe? By seeing what will happen when I do?”
“Just so, young one.”
“I have to just do this and hope for the best?”
“You have to trust in who and what you are. You have to trust in the dream you have been given. You have believed in it until now, haven’t you?”
“For myself and my family. Not for thousands of people I don’t even know!”
The old man studied him. “Why is it any more difficult to believe in the one as opposed to the other? Is it really so odd to think that you will guide thousands as opposed to a handful? The dangers are the same, the journey the same, the destination the same. It is said that there is safety in numbers. Perhaps that will serve to ease your efforts. You will not be so alone.”
“But I will have responsibility for so many!”
“Ask yourself this: what would their chances be without you? If you believe what you have been told, you know what is going to happen. The old world is ending and must start anew. Most will not live to see that happen. But there will be survivors, and some of those will go with you.”
Hawk shook his head and closed his eyes against what he was feeling. “Go with me where?”
“To where I will be waiting.”
The boy’s eyes snapped open. “What? Here, in these gardens? I’m to bring them all here?”
The ancient face did not change expression, nor the eyes leave Hawk’s. “You are to come in search of me, and you are to find me. You will know how to do this. You will bring those you lead with you.”
Hawk stared at him. “Well, why don’t you just do all this yourself? Why do you need me?”
“I wish it were that easy. But my powers are finite. It is not so difficult to bring one or two, as I did with you and the young girl. It is immeasurably harder to bring hundreds, impossible to bring thousands. They must journey on foot. They must be led. It is given to you to lead them.”
“Why didn’t you start all this sooner? Before everything was destroyed! You could have saved so many more! Look how many are already dead!”
The King of the Silver River watched him carefully, and then shook his head. “You already know the answer to that question. Don’t you?”
Hawk hesitated. “Because you couldn’t bring them until it was certain that the world was going to end. You had to know for sure. When you knew, was that when you sent me back into the world?”
The other nodded. “That was when your destiny was determined. I placed you back in the world with the new memories I had given you and let you build your life while I waited for the time when it would become necessary to bring you here once more and tell you everything. Had your life not been in such danger, I would have left you there longer before speaking with you as I am now. But that wasn’t possible.”
Hawk put his hands on his knees, his back straight and his head lifted as he looked out into the gardens and thought about what lay ahead. But it was what was hidden in his past that troubled him most, the memories that had been taken from him. He wanted those memories back. He wanted to know the truth about himself.
“How long before I go back again?” he asked.
“Soon. A few weeks will have passed in your
“Things. What sort of things?”
“No one knows. Not even me, and I watched you being born. What you will do and how you will do it is knowledge you must discover for yourself. Your dreams tell you of your destiny, but only by taking the road to that destiny will you discover how you are meant to fulfill it.”
“By going to this place where the people I lead will be safe? By seeing what will happen when I do?”
“Just so, young one.”
“I have to just do this and hope for the best?”
“You have to trust in who and what you are. You have to trust in the dream you have been given. You have believed in it until now, haven’t you?”
“For myself and my family. Not for thousands of people I don’t even know!”
The old man studied him. “Why is it any more difficult to believe in the one as opposed to the other? Is it really so odd to think that you will guide thousands as opposed to a handful? The dangers are the same, the journey the same, the destination the same. It is said that there is safety in numbers. Perhaps that will serve to ease your efforts. You will not be so alone.”
“But I will have responsibility for so many!”
“Ask yourself this: what would their chances be without you? If you believe what you have been told, you know what is going to happen. The old world is ending and must start anew. Most will not live to see that happen. But there will be survivors, and some of those will go with you.”
Hawk shook his head and closed his eyes against what he was feeling. “Go with me where?”
“To where I will be waiting.”
The boy’s eyes snapped open. “What? Here, in these gardens? I’m to bring them all here?”
The ancient face did not change expression, nor the eyes leave Hawk’s. “You are to come in search of me, and you are to find me. You will know how to do this. You will bring those you lead with you.”
Hawk stared at him. “Well, why don’t you just do all this yourself? Why do you need me?”
“I wish it were that easy. But my powers are finite. It is not so difficult to bring one or two, as I did with you and the young girl. It is immeasurably harder to bring hundreds, impossible to bring thousands. They must journey on foot. They must be led. It is given to you to lead them.”
“Why didn’t you start all this sooner? Before everything was destroyed! You could have saved so many more! Look how many are already dead!”
The King of the Silver River watched him carefully, and then shook his head. “You already know the answer to that question. Don’t you?”
Hawk hesitated. “Because you couldn’t bring them until it was certain that the world was going to end. You had to know for sure. When you knew, was that when you sent me back into the world?”
The other nodded. “That was when your destiny was determined. I placed you back in the world with the new memories I had given you and let you build your life while I waited for the time when it would become necessary to bring you here once more and tell you everything. Had your life not been in such danger, I would have left you there longer before speaking with you as I am now. But that wasn’t possible.”
Hawk put his hands on his knees, his back straight and his head lifted as he looked out into the gardens and thought about what lay ahead. But it was what was hidden in his past that troubled him most, the memories that had been taken from him. He wanted those memories back. He wanted to know the truth about himself.
“How long before I go back again?” he asked.
“Soon. A few weeks will have passed in your
Similar Books
