Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (44 page)

Making his daily appearance, Kahvel glided in from the north, touching down with a gentleness that was unbecoming for a creature of his size. No one even bothered to look up, let alone say a word of greeting.

Kahvel snorted. “Missed something, have I?”

“
Where were ye last night, dragon?”
Rhenyon
finally asked. “We could have used yer assistance.”

“
I take it that ye are referring to yer little skirmish with the griffins, are ye not?”

“
If ye knew about it, why did ye not help?” Rhenyon got to his feet. “If not for Sir Steve, we would have been done for.”

Kahvel leaned low, inspecting the soldier up close. “Ye sound like a man and smell like a man, yet ye whine like a human female not yet grown. Ye are still alive, are ye not?”

Rhenyon grunted. “No thanks to the likes of ye. Ye could have taken them out with one bite.”

“
The griffins were yer problem, not mine, human.”

Trying to stave off open hostilities, Sarah stood up. “Rhenyon, I think what Kahvel is saying is that he couldn’t do anything without creating a feud between dragons and griffins.”

Rhenyon turned back to the large dragon. “Is that the truth, dragon?”

Kahvel nodded. “I believe I already said that.”

As the soldiers stowed away the tents and gear, Kahvel approached Sarah and Steve.

“
Held off a flock of griffins, did ye?”

Bursting with pride, Sarah turned to the huge dragon. “
From what everyone told me, he
held off a half dozen griffins by himself while those who were wounded could seek cover.”

“
So-”

“
And,” Sarah interrupted, “he managed to
negotiate
a truce between the soldiers and the griffins as well.”

“
Then-”

“
To top it off,” Sarah continued, steam-rolling right past the dragon, “he convinced the king to send food for the griffins, who had been interrupted in the middle of their hunt by their nests being attacked.”

The massive dragon paused, waiting to see if the small human female was finished speaking.

“
Well? What do you say to that?”

“
Are ye finished then?”

Sarah smiled. “For now.”

“
Ye have done well, Steve.” Kahvel’s piercing gaze rested briefly on Sarah, before returning to Steve. “Ye did not dispatch any griffin?” Steve shook his head no. “Ye are to be commended. I could not say the same if I felt my mate threatened.”

“
I could have, very easily,” Steve admitted, “but I didn’t. Something didn’t feel right. So I showed them that I could, and that’s when they started listening. I’m just glad that one of them could understand me.”

“
Ye will find most species can understand one another,” the dragon explained. “Whether or not they choose to reveal that information falls within their discretion.”

****

By midday, the travelers finally spied the small, worn path leading northwest up into the mountains. Clutching the painful stitch in his side, Steve scowled as his eyes followed the path uphill.

Great, just great, he mused. Uphill. He hated anything uphill. Downhill hiking was just fine. This, however, was probably going to kill him.

Sensing her husband’s thoughts, Sarah came up quietly behind him. “Just take it slow and easy,” she advised, knowing full well that one of Steve’s strengths was not travelling uphill.

“
And if everyone else outpaces me?” Steve muttered darkly.

“
Let’s just see how it goes.”

Steve grunted, his mood souring quickly. Fortunately for him, the pace adopted by the soldiers was a gentle one, with frequent breaks. Unbeknownst to Steve, the soldier setting the pace out at the front of the procession was
Pheron
, who was deliberately going slow for Lady Sarah’s sake. Heal a shoulder and get a devoted friend for life!

The Bohani Mountains were not what Steve had expected. He paused long enough to stoop down and scrape away at the ground. Aside from some loose pebbles, and a thin layer of gravel, there was no vegetation, no soil, just rock. Were all of these mountains as barren as this?

He was used to the peaks of northern Idaho, which were covered with evergreens, various wildflowers, and so on. Steve thought momentarily to the last experience he had exploring those woods. Squirrels had darted up and down the long trunks of the tall trees. Woodpeckers searched for food in the distance. The incessant chirping of insects sounded from all directions.

These mountains, however, were as barren as a prison cell and as quiet as a library on Sunday. The dwarves lived somewhere up there? Their cities were underground? Steve shook his head. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the amount of manual labor necessary to bore through solid rock.

The pace was slower than Rhenyon would have liked, but at least it was progress. They had discovered a small mesa that had the remains of several campfires scattered about. Steve had sighed gratefully. Was this the equivalent of a rest area then?

“
How long will we continue to follow this path?” Sarah asked.

Steve, taking a long swig of water from his leather canteen, snorted. “All the way, right?”

Sarah smiled, gently patting her husband’s arm. “We’re going into the heart of dragon territory. I seriously doubt a man-made road will take us within range of the dragons.”

Pheron smiled, nodding his head. “Well spoken, Lady Sarah.” Walking up to the female half of the Nohrin, the friendly lieutenant pulled out a folded piece of parchment: a smaller version of the map hanging in the Antechamber. Pointing to a spot just northwest of the boundary between forest and mountain, the soldier tapped a thin blue line.

“
We are searching for this river,” Pheron explained. “Its source originates high in these mountains. Now, we do not need to find the source, but if we travel upriver, it will take us to here,” the lieutenant pointed to a small area devoid of hills and peaks just south of the lake. “This plateau is our destination. We believe the dwarven entrance lies somewhere around there.”

“
The entrance to the dwarven realm lies on a plateau?”

“
Yes, milady.”

“
A plateau is flat. How can a door be on a plateau? I’d think it would be on a wall somewhere, and according to this map, there isn’t any. Not unless we try here, west of the lake, or possibly the east, where the mountains start again.”

Pheron was silent as he studied the map. The lady’s logic was irrefutable. There could not be any doors there. Questioningly, he looked at the captain, who had overheard Sarah’s remark. Rhenyon, in turn, stood and walked over to the map.

“
The exact location of the dwarven entrance is unknown. The dwarves are said to be masters of illusion.” The captain tapped the map, directly over the plateau. “The entrance is there. We have but to find it.”

Finding the mountain stream did not prove to be an arduous task at all, nor was it difficult to follow it upstream. The river had done a wonderful job of burrowing into the rock, creating footholds everywhere. Countless years of erosion had created a naturally flat embankment on both sides of the fast moving river. In this manner, they were able to make close to ten leagues before they found a suitable place to camp for the night.

As the gear was unpacked and Sarah prepared to teleport the nightly provisions from R’Tal, Steve found himself giving Jalen a hand stocking wood for their nightly campfire. However, scraps of wood were scarce, and only a few pieces of driftwood could be found.

“
Let us try searching over there, Sir Steve,” Jalen suggested, pointing farther upstream. “There might be some wood up there.”

Steve looked up at the dwindling daylight. “We have maybe fifteen more minutes before it’s gonna start getting dark.”

Following the sounds of splashing water, Steve and Jalen came upon a small waterfall.

“
You check around here, I’ll look up there,” Steve instructed, climbing up the rocks to scout around the river upstream.

“
Yes, sir.”

If there were any branches or driftwood to be found beyond the waterfall, Steve wasn’t able to find any. A splash of water and a curse announced the presence of his companion.

“
Find anything down there?” Steve asked, turning around. A blinding flash of pain brought him to his knees. Spots appeared in his vision as he viciously fought off a growing sense of dizziness. The second blow knocked him forcefully to the ground. Steve blinked his eyes a few times, trying to ward off the darkness that was threatening to envelop him. He managed to make out a few blurry faces before finally slipping into unconsciousness.

****

“
Has anyone seen Steve?”

“
I have not, Lady Sarah.” Kern gestured in Rhenyon’s direction. “The captain will know where he is.”

Smiling weakly, Sarah hurried to find the captain. This just wasn’t like her husband. He would either be by her side at all times or else let her know what he was doing, especially in a situation such as this.

She found Rhenyon writing out his progress report on one of the blank pieces of parchment. He looked up as she approached. He nodded. “Lady Sarah.”

“
Have you seen Steve? I can’t find him and it’s not like him to wander off.”

Rhenyon frowned. He quickly rose to his feet. One of the Nohrin was missing? Not good.

“
All hands, report in.”

Alarmed, all soldiers dropped what they were doing and snapped to attention.

“
Pheron reporting in.”

“
Kern here.”

“
Darius reporting in.”

“
Rhein reporting in.”

A pause. “Jalen?” Rhenyon called. “Report in, now!”

Another pause. “Where was the last time anyone saw Jalen?”

“
I saw him earlier, captain,” Rhein reported, “I believe he was searching upriver for firewood.”

Sarah and Rhenyon nervously eyed each other.

“
That’s the type of task that Steve would want to help with,” Sarah said quietly to Rhenyon.

That did it. Rhenyon strapped on his sword. “Sir Steve is missing. Jalen is missing as well. Split up. Find them both. Signal if ye find anything, no matter how trivial.”

The soldiers scrambled into their arms.

****

Sarah gently kissed her husband awake. The smell of bacon was in the air, along with the enticing aroma of fresh cinnamon rolls. Steve sighed. He loved Sundays. Why was she bouncing on the bed, though? That’s not like her. Maybe it was an earthquake? Semi driving past their house perhaps?

Reality came crashing down on him as he regained consciousness with a pounding headache. He was lying flat on his back in complete darkness. He also appeared to be in some type of cart that creaked and groaned over every rut in the road.

Gingerly he tried moving his arms. Tied. Legs? Tied as well. His eyes? Blindfolded. That explained the constant pressure over them. Was he in this cart by himself? Where were his captors? A soft whisper sounded nearby. Lying perfectly still, pretending to be asleep, he silently eavesdropped on his kidnappers.

“…
s’posed to do if he wakes up?”

“
The potion will keep him out for a few hours more. Be silent.”

“
Can we not give him another dose now?”

“
Too much can kill him. He’s too great a prize to risk it.”

His blood boiled. Son of a
bitch
! Not again! Hell no! Time to get out of this predicament and cause of few of his own.