Fireclaws - Search for the Golden (16 page)

The pooka cross had been acting strangely, changed somehow, ever since that first night when she rejoined us. She lost all pretense of coquettishness, worked hard and was unflaggingly cheerful on the trail. She kept Andi’s mind occupied by asking question after question about what life was like in the human world, seemingly fascinated by it all. Around me, her behavior became almost shy, even going so far as to conceal herself when she changed forms.

When I mentioned this to her, she looked down self-consciously and replied, “I have come to realize that my previous behavior was born of need, envy, and desperation. With Andea’s help, I have resolved to become more than just a tree wench or a mischief-making freak. I am turning over a new leaf.”

“Really? I’ll match you idiom for idiom, a leopard can’t change its spots.” As soon as I said it, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. Instead of being funny or clever, it came out as just plain mean. I instantly saw the reflected look of sharp pain and sadness in her eyes.

She took a short, ragged breath and glared at me defiantly. “My birthright may define what I am, but it will not define who I am, Oh Great Wizard!” Tears streaming down her face, she turned abruptly and marched off into the woods, head down, defeated, and leaving me too shocked to say anything.

“You should be nicer to her, Kerrik,” Andea announced coldly from where she was sitting by the fire. “She is trying so very hard…fighting against her own nature.”

“I don’t know what to say, Andi. I didn’t intend for it to come out like that, I mean, I think she is adorable. But I promised Ryliss I would treat her like a sister, and besides, how can I know how much of her infatuation with me is real and how much is just her nymph half acting out? Is there any kind of long-term relationship even possible with a half-nymph, half-pooka? Neither of her sides is even remotely human, after all.”

“Men…” Andi clicked her tongue dismissively. “Don’t they say that love conquers all obstacles, Brother? Daffi has all the emotions of any human girl and then some. Truth be told, Daffi is a much better match for you than Ryliss, who, by the way, isn’t human either.”

“Well, we’ll never know now, will we?” I said bitterly, still smarting from the last time I saw the dark elf woman, reliving her death at the hands of the Canna. I walked over and sat closer to my sister, hands spread out to the warming fire. The only sounds were made by the crackle of the flames as night settled its comfortable cloak over us.

Ryliss

Donatello? Diori and I both stood up and backed away from the table in shock. It didn’t help the situation that we were both watching the Auric’s letter char and turn to ash in the construct’s hand. What? Another quest? What is this, my third already this trip? I seriously need to talk to Rosa about a raise when I get back…if I get back.

“Ryliss,” Diori said quietly, plainly saddened by the ashes sifting through her stone fingers. She wouldn’t even be allowed the comfort of keeping the last words of her mentor. “May I call you a friend? I perceive I really need a friend right now…”

Humans always seem to offer consolation at times like this, usually in the form of holding the other person or a hug of some kind. I put my arms around her, and it was immediately awkward because I don’t think she was used to being touched at all. But it didn’t take her long to bury her head in my shoulder and let the tears pour out. I expected her to be cold, hard and rock-like, but not at all. In fact, her body movements and spasms from the sobbing were amazingly human.

Finally, she straightened back up and attempted to dry her face with her hands, speaking in a whisper, “I’m sorry, I did not intend to presume that we had a friendship. If the physical contact was distasteful to you, I sincerely apologize.”

I took a deep breath and waved off her concern. “I remember how I felt when my mother and unborn brother died, Diori. Sometimes, you really do just need to know there is someone who cares. Now, it seems we have a young dragon to find.”

Diori searched my face with her eyes, which in itself was a little disconcerting as she has no pupils or irises, but still her face could still come alive with expression. “You would be willing to accompany me on this quest?”

“Well, it seems your quest and my missions are intricately tied together so, yes, of course I will help you. Do you have any idea where this egg chamber might be?”

“Thank you, Ryliss. But to answer your question, sadly no, she had laid a number of recent clutches in a special chamber here in Anorthosite, but she had a string of bad luck and they were all infertile. Knowing what I know now, I believe it is possible that it wasn’t bad luck at all, but murder. Judging by the tone of the letter, I am reasonably sure Donatello is not within the Anorthosite complex. The Auric’s letter made it plain that she felt security here was compromised. Knowing how Kailemora’s thought processes worked, the egg is probably in a location that she discovered centuries ago and kept secret. Close enough so she could keep an eye on the site, but revisiting it only once to lay her egg. She would have been wary of showing too much interest in a spot in case she was being watched.”

“So we have no credible clues for a place to even start looking? How long do you think Dawn and Dusk can sleep before they begin to die? It’s already been months.”

The construct tilted her head as if in thought. “Strong, vibrant luminaries like your silvers should be fine up to the six-month point. Beyond that, they would start to enter the first stages of inertness…”

“Death,” I interrupted. “Humanoid races on the topside call it death.”

“Thank you, Ryliss; I will remember your correction. The very young and wounded or weak dragons could face death sooner, possibly as early as the four-month mark.

“We’re running out of time and answers, then.”

“Agreed, we will need to act quickly, but Kailemora also implied we would need to recruit others to our quest to succeed,” Diori said.

“Your Auric was a powerful seer. The events she set in motion foresaw this unique situation for us or she wouldn’t have followed that path and left us without direction.”

“Meaning?” Diori coached.

“Meaning my presence here is not an accident. As you originally surmised, outside forces were at work, just not one you expected…your own Auric. I was brought here by a strand of fate that Kailemora separated with great care over five years ago and set to run its course.”

“And what brought you here was another seer!” the construct interrupted excitedly. “According to the books, they are extremely rare. One to three of them are born in a generation on the entire planet, almost non-existent…what are the odds?”

“Ahuh… She’s still young and nowhere approaching the peak of her powers, but Andi is very good at finding things. She could lead us to the egg the same way she led me to you…well, hopefully, not the exact same way.”

The stone version of me paced back and forth for a few seconds, contemplating. “Ryliss, we must find this Andi and hopefully recruit her to our cause immediately.”

“I know. Unfortunately, the last place I saw her and her brother was in the green elf village above. As you know, our last meeting didn’t go well, but it’s a place to start looking. If we are very fortunate, they may have already found their way to Xarparion, where we can recruit some really top flight help for our search.”

Diori put away the last book and motioned for me to follow. “We have much to get ready for, Ryliss; let us begin.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two small black dots, which could easily have been mistaken for rodent eyes, followed the dark elf and construct as they left the library. Shifting a book from a high library shelf, it stepped out onto one of the heavily-built shelves. It appeared as a small, twisted, misshapen human with a face as gnarled as its legs and arms. Barely six inches tall, dressed in ichor-stained rags, it shook with silent malevolent laughter as it turned and skipped away to report to its dark master.

“A golden dragon egg? Surely you’re joking, Lebahn,” Verledn snarled as he slid out of bed in his private chambers. As before, a large red spot had appeared on the wall, its blood-red edges scintillating like the air over a hot fire. He threw on a robe and hissed at his bed companion. “Get out!”

The dazed, peasant girl nearly collapsed on the floor as she scrambled painfully out from under the covers. She hurriedly gathered up the remnants of the clothes she wore when she was dragged from her frantic parents earlier in the evening. The young woman managed to keep her tears at bay until the solid wood and steel door snapped shut behind her, but then they came in a deluge. The armed guard outside the room leered at her suggestively but, apparently, couldn’t leave his post and made no move to stop her from escaping down the hallway. Still sobbing and shaky on her feet, it was a long trek down cut stone circular stairs that ringed the outside of the tower, this being the public entrance.

Finally, at the four-story mark of the structure, the inner stairwell side stopped being wall and turned into railings, the better to view the grand central throne room far below. A furtive glance around showing no guards close by, she paused quietly for a dozen deep breaths or more. The expression on her young face changed from despair to resolve. With great poise and deliberation, the girl smiled at last and climbed the rail, not so different in height from the one that enclosed the loft of their landholder’s barn. It was a special place where she and her younger brothers had played games endlessly as children. She balanced expertly on the top banister, arms out to make adjustments. Images of friends and better times plastered a frozen grin on her tear-stained face, her damaged mind no longer lingering in this foul place. She spun her arms gleefully, pushing off for the last time; a child no more, but at least a soul intact.

Back in the room, the wizard was unaware and unconcerned about what was occurring far below him. He was pacing and firing questions rapid fire at the sending disk on the wall.

“So if we manage to obtain this egg, Lebahn, what would your Mistress grant me for such a prize?”

The image shifted as the fire mage’s eyes lit up in unholy glee. “You would but have to ask, Lord Wizard! Gold, more than you can imagine, tantalizing unearthly concubines, demon magics, necromancers to provide you with armies of undead at your command. There would be no limits to your power! You could leave this squalor, and after crushing the pathetic resistance, make Sky Raven itself your throne of authority on this world! All this could be yours…if…!”

Verledn’s eyes shifted greedily at the words and, unconsciously, he nodded at everything Lebahn promised. A savage grin spread over the face of the image on the wall as he knew his mark had taken the bait.

“Find the seer! Use whatever resources you need, but capture her before this day is out!” the wizard sputtered, his mind already organizing his new world order.

Lebahn nodded stiffly. “They are still at large in the Wollren foothills, My Lord, not far from the green elf forest. If they retreat back in there, it will make our job much more difficult.”

“Don’t bother me with details, Lebahn; just get me the damn girl.”

“Might I suggest this would be a good time to employ the gargoyle, Lord Wizard. This would assure success and the cost is…”

“Yes, yes…I know, fifty souls…do it!” the wizard spat impatiently.

“A wise decision My Lord; and when we have the girl, do you want her brought back to your castle?”

Verledn thought for a moment and made a snap decision. “No, finding the egg is paramount. You, Marl and the fifty troops you have should be sufficient. Take her and immediately begin the search, you know what to do if she’s not cooperative. But Lebahn…”

“Yes, My Lord Wizard?”

“I want her brought back to me largely intact when this over. That rebellious tart has much to answer for, and I will personally take great pleasure in breaking the last of her resistance. I was much too tender with her the first time. With her visions and the power of your Mistress behind us, the world will soon be ours for the taking.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kerrik

An hour before dawn, I opened my eyes. It had been a restless night and the low clouds overhead promised the possibility of rain. As was our habit, the three of us huddled near the now extinct fire with a simple blanket over us; myself, Andi in the middle, and Daphne in her goat form on the other side to preserve warmth. Daffi, for some reason, eschewed sleeping with us in her human body, and the horse was too big, and the rabbit too small. If someone had have told me that I would have appreciated sleeping with a goat, I would definitely have told them they were crazy. But the pooka was clean and fragrant-smelling, while Andi and I had definitely been on the trail far too long. Breathing in the soft scents of the forest, I drifted back to the land of dreams.

Dawn broke as promised, cloudy and cool; I was just about to sit up, when I felt small hands around my throat. I jerked fully awake to see my sister placing Ryliss’ protection medallion around my neck and she looked upset.

“Andi…what the…?”

“You’ll need this more than I brother.” As she finished the task, I noticed she had removed the scarf from around her neck and had tucked it into my shirt pocket, as well. By this time, I had tapped the goat and she was sitting up regarding us with alarm. I grabbed my sister by the shoulders and gave her a little shake.

“Andi, what do you know? What’s going to happen? Please tell me!”

“No time, just bits and pieces…” she mumbled. I jumped to my feet and pulled the bone dagger out of my boot. Daffi changed to human form and began frantically breaking camp, stuffing the blanket into the bag of dimensions as well as the few other mugs and essentials that were still lying around. Leaving the two of them, I ran to the edge of our camp and started to scan for any signs of our pursuers or other danger. I saw nothing, smelled nothing.

Daffi walked up behind me and put a solicitous hand on my shoulder. “We are packed up,” she whispered, placing the magic bag into my belt pouch and lashing it down. “We should leave this place. I’m strong enough to carry you both for a while, at least until the danger is past. I patted the pouch confidently and snagged her hand with mine, giving it a grateful squeeze as she turned to go. “Thank you, Daphne.” The pooka looked down at my hand and then smiled shyly; with a curt nod, she turned back to rejoin my sister. Whether it was Andi’s forecast of doom and gloom or my own senses kicking in, I still couldn’t lose the feeling that something was wrong. Yes, we should leave this place, right now. Taking one last verifying glance at the perimeter, I returned the dagger to my boot and turned back to my companions. Daffi had made the transition to her graceful black horse form and was prancing impatiently next to Andi.

Suddenly, a huge gray form dropped straight down from the equally gray sky. With one flick of its bat-like wings, it batted the horse, screaming in terror, her feet cartwheeling over her head, crashing into a copse of trees thirty feet away. It was a huge brute, easily twelve feet tall. It appeared to be made from flat gray stone, except for the cruel eyes which gave off a blood-red color as it glanced at me and smirked. I had heard of creatures called gargoyles before and had even seen carved representations of them on some city buildings but, believe me, none of them did justice to this specimen. Andea, of course, could see none of this and was standing in the middle of the camp petrified with fear. Before I could even make it half the distance to my sister, the monster grabbed the back of her clothes in its talons, launched itself back into the still air, and carried her screaming away.

I pulled the bone dagger, our only weapon, back out of my boot. Thankfully, Daffi had staggered back onto her hooves, her sides heaving with pain, but I couldn’t attend to her now. The gargoyle carrying Andi was already starting to pick up airspeed and height. Casting my fly spell, I felt the reassuring air pressure build under me and I was up. If you aren’t used to it, the amount of concentration needed to fly in a straight line was daunting, but years in the military had honed my skills with a couple key spells at least.

By the time I had reached the same height above the ground as the creature, I had already closed two-thirds of the distance between us. It was single-mindedly headed in one direction and either wasn’t aware of, or more likely wasn’t concerned about, my presence. Putting everything I could into additional speed, I approached him from slightly above. Below me, the ground was passing in a blur, but a dark movement caught my eye for just a second. It was a black horse, running impossibly fast across the uneven ground below us, her mane and tail swept back by the force of her gallop.

Reorienting on the gargoyle, I lost a little altitude and moved to my attack. By now, the creature had shifted Andi into one of its heavily-muscled arms, which left it with only one taloned hand available for attack, and I would come in from the other side to avoid it. The only weakness I could see in this creature was the thin leathery wings so they became my first target. If I could somehow shred those so that he had to land, I would at least have a better chance of a rescue. If nothing else, I would make it fight me and possibly give Daffi time to make off with my sister.

All these thoughts ran wild through my head as I moved closer to plunge the dagger down into the wing surface between the fingers. The razor sharp tip just skidded across the leather, doing no damage whatsoever despite my putting everything I had into the strike. With a roar, he inverted and I felt a wing buffet crush into my face and chest, sending me flailing backward. Stabilizing, I rushed to rejoin the attack and again struck with the dagger. The first inch of the blade snapped off with a crisp bone-breaking sound, again doing no damage, and again I was pounded with an offhand wing slap. We had been flying for the better part of twenty minutes now, and I could feel the extra magic I had put into the spell starting to wane.

I was thinking about the advisability of trying to land on its back to force it down, but it seemed that the creature was already losing altitude. The earth swells we had been flying over were gradually turning to actual hills with more serious cutbacks and small cliffs, so it wasn’t an area to crash land in. My inattention was nearly the death of me again, as the gargoyle snapped over on its back and just missed me with one of its wicked claw swipes. But still, he was sinking lower; perhaps he was tiring. Unfortunately, it appeared my fly spell might fail due to fatigue first. I had put everything I had into speed and I was feeling a little wobbly.

We were approaching a long hill line that it appeared the stone monster was only going to clear by about twenty feet or so, when I mustered the last of my energy and sped up to catch him. This close to the ground if I could bring us both down, it probably wouldn’t be fatal anyway.

Imagine my surprise when he cleared the ridge and dropped down to land, me hot on his tail and concentrating on his back. Suddenly, I realized we were right in the middle of a large encampment of heavily-armed and armored men. My army training kicked in and I estimated fifty or more. Crap! Mentally backpedaling, I slowed my airspeed and pulled up, just in time for a dozen longbowmen to draw arrows and nock them. I tried to duck back behind the ridgeline just as I saw a small black cloud of projectiles rise up from their position. At least three of the arrows hit me directly in the chest and stomach. The force from the yew-propelled shafts knocked the air out of me and I didn’t even feel the steel tips pierce my body.

The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, blood running in streaks down my scraped up face. A large black shaggy horse stood over me as more arrow shafts rained down upon us and impacted her body. With a supreme effort, Daphne reached down and grabbing my collar with her teeth, and started dragging me down the back side of the hill away from the bowmen. Pulling me into a swale behind a boulder where there was some immediate short-term shelter, Daffi wheezed, shakily.

“Kerrik! Can you ride for a bit? We have to get out of here; more men are coming down the hill to finish you off.”

“Andi,” I croaked, still unable to draw a full breath.

“You can’t help her if you are dead,” the pooka snorted weakly. That’s when I looked up at her and saw at least a dozen arrow shafts buried deep in her heaving sides. “Climb on and ride, Wizard!”

Struggling to my knees, I got a foot under me and barely managed to sling myself over her back, holding on around her neck. Somehow, she managed a burst of speed and, using gravity, we tore madly straight down the hill away from the line of archers that was descending from the ridge. My mind wandered to some of the folk tales of people lost in the wilds who happened upon a strange black magical horse that carried them to their deaths. Then again, for all I knew, I was already dying; my chest hurt like I was. We ran like this for several miles, me hanging on for dear life, and the pooka oozing lifeblood like rain into the trail behind us. It was almost surreal; the sweat, blood, heat and sense of loss, fading consciousness to black.

The bright sunlight of mid-afternoon beating on my face finally roused me enough to pry open my eyes. I was lying on my side, half under a downed log on a grassy bank, the burbling sound of running water telling me a stream ran nearby. Cradled in my arms, her tousled, dark-haired head just under my chin, Daffi lay breathing evenly. Physically, I felt better than I had any right to, and I cautiously reached down and ran a hand over the spots where the arrows had impacted my stomach and chest. Sore and bruised, yes, but no actual bleeding wounds were evident. Propping myself up on one elbow, I looked around curiously. A few feet away, there was a small pile of arrows scattered on the ground.