Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (59 page)

She turned to where Taugh and his companions stood, on the very edge of the campsite. They didn’t dare come any closer since they knew they weren’t welcome. Lore had made certain of that. The Ogre weren’t fond of the vir, any more than the vir were fond of them. Of course, it didn’t help with Alex bombarding them with question about their race and the culture. She could always rely on Alex to make anyone feel comfortable, or was that uncomfortable? He just didn’t care who, or what, you were, as long as you had a story to tell.

“Alex, you’re going to wear them out with all your questions.” She said, approaching the Hunter from behind.

“Yeah, but Kile, they’re Ogre. Nobody has seen Ogre since, well, not since the Mudd Wars, I guess.”

Ertgoth made a sound under his breath which Kile read as a kind of warning, that the subject of the Mudd Wars should not be brought up again.

“We’ve traveled far, Alex. I’m sure Taugh and the others would like something to eat and a place to rest before you start in on them again.”

Alex wasn’t actually bothering all of them, he was only bothering Margog, who seemed delighted in sitting with Alex and telling him every little detail of the Ogre and Cabargbu. Taugh was watching the small Hunter closely. Anyone who would confront three Ogre warriors without fear was something of a curiosity. As for Ertgoth, he just made sour faces in the background.

“Alex, why don’t you show them where they can rest up,” Kile told him.

“Sure thing,” Alex said, jumping to his feet. “Come on.”

He grabbed Margog’s hand and the Ogre had no choice but to follow.

Maybe there was hope for the races yet, Kile thought.

“Are you sure… okay?” Taugh asked. He was watching Lore as the dog slowly paced back and forth in front of them.

Lore made no attempt to stop Margog, and he and Alex walked right past the dog. Lore didn’t even turn to acknowledge him, he never took his eyes off Taugh.

“What is it, Lore?” she finally asked.

-The smell is wrong.-

He replied, and Kile got the feeling it wasn’t the Ogre, Lore had a problem with.

“Taugh, are you still carrying the sacred artifact?”

The Ogre reached into the sack, which hung at his side, and with one hand, pulled out the stone. Lore backed away.

So, she wasn’t alone. She also felt there was something off about this stone. Could animals determine evil by smell? She couldn’t, or maybe she could, but she didn’t know what evil smelled like. She smelled death before she knew what death smelled like. It took the dogs of Moran to explain it to her.

“What doesn’t smell right?” she asked Lore.

-Don’t know. I’ve never smelled that smell before. It’s not right.-

The old dog replied.

“Well, I’m afraid we’re stuck with it for now,” she explained, and motioned for Taugh to put the stone away. “We’ll deal with this later, right now. We have to think about the others.”

-Yes, Nora and I will keep watch for them.-

Lore replied. He gave Taugh one last suspicious look before heading back up to the rise.

“Well, now that we’ve got that settled,” She said, waving for Taugh and Ertgoth to follow her. She spotted Alex and Margog on the far side of the campsite, sitting beside the paddock. They appeared to be deep in discussion, and she was sure Alex was composing another one of his stories for the pub crawlers, when they get back home. He was creating some intricate illusions of Cabargbu, based entirely on Margog’s descriptions. From the looks of it, he had already achieved a fairly accurate version of the underground city. Kile walked toward them, but as they got closer to the paddock, the horses started straining at their leads, trying to break free, and raising a lot of noise.

“Keep those things back.” Sandson shouted, pointing at the Ogre. He had come running out the tent when he heard the horses. Daniel and Anurr were close behind him.

“What’s going on here?” Daniel asked.

“Those… Ogre, are spooking the horses.” Sandson replied. “I knew it was a bad idea having them along.” He said, trying to calm down Fiv.

Daniel reached out to Miliea, but she pulled away from him.

“Kile, maybe he’s right.” Daniel said, glancing over at Taugh, “you should probably tell them to stand back.”

Kile looked at Taugh and Ertgoth who seemed just as confused and as worried about the horse behavior as the rest of them, then she glanced over to where Margog and Alex were sitting. Margog was a lot closer to the horses than either of the other two Ogres, and like Lore, they showed little concern for him.

Why was the stone causing this much problem, she wondered. The only one not affected by it was Grim, who stood off to one side watching everything with quiet amusement.

“It’s the stone, Taugh,” she said, pointing to the sack. “Take it away, down to the tents.”

Taugh quickly moved back, away from the paddock. The farther he was from the horses, the calmer they became. Ertgoth didn’t move, and the horses didn’t seem to care about his proximity, which only proved what she already knew.

“Leave the stone there and come back,” she told Taugh, when he was far enough away. The Ogre hesitated, he was reluctant to set the sacred stone of Zaheeg down and just walk away from it, leaving it unprotected, but he did. As he came back up the hill and stood beside Ertgoth, the horses remained calm.

Sandson was still suspicious, but even he couldn’t deny the effects of the stone.

“Just keep that damn rock away from the horses.” He said and abruptly turned around and headed back to the tents.

“What was all that about?” Daniel asked. He saw Miliea calm down as the rock was moved away from her. “What the hell is that thing? Why did it spook all the horses?”

“Not all of them,” Kile replied, looking at Grim. When she approached the mountain pony, she had the feeling he was laughing.

“Okay, out with it. What’s going on?” she asked.

-That was one stupid thing to do, child,-

Grim replied.

-I thought you were a little smarter than that.-

“What are you talking about?”

-Bringing that thing here. What did you expect was going to happen?-

“What, the rock? You know what that rock is.”

-You don’t?-

“Well… no.”

-Wow, I thought you were a little more in tune with the natural world. I guess maybe I was mistaken.-

“Out with it. If you know what’s going on, tell me.”

-I don’t know. It might be more interesting to see how this all plays out.-

“I’m afraid you’re caught up in this as much as we are. If something happens to us, what's going to happen to you?”

-Mountain ponies are survivors.-

Grim replied, and if horses could shrug, she was sure he would.

Kile turned around and started back for the camp. “You have no idea what that rock is,” she said casually.

-Oh, I see. And this is where I say, ‘Oh, I so know what that rock is’, and let it slip out. Isn’t that how this little scenario plays out?-

Was she that desperate she was resorting to playing mind trick on the pony?

“Okay, so you know. Why won’t you tell me?” She asked.

-I didn’t say I wouldn’t, I only said it might be more fun if I didn’t. The fact is, I’ve grown fond of having you around, child. I must have, if I came all the way out here into the wastelands.-

“Well, that’s good,” she replied, “because I’ve grown fond of having you around too.”

-Oh, stop with the sappy stuff, please.-

Grim begged.

“Only if you tell me what you know. Is the rock magic? Has it been enchanted or something?”

-For starters, it’s not a rock.-

“Then what is it.”

-It’s an egg.-

“An egg? It can’t be.”

-Fine, it’s not an egg. You figure out what it is then.-

“It really is an egg?”

-That’s what I said.-

“What lays an egg like that?”

Grim snorted.

-What else. A dragon.-

And suddenly the missing piece fell into place. Kile slowly turned and looked at the mountains. It wasn’t just any old dragon, it was the drake of the flatlands, the last of the class A open scripts.

Eric’s unnatural interest in dragon lore, back at the Academy, his thief of the artifact associated with the two Hunters who were known to have interacted with dragons, it all made sense now. The two stones he tried to steal the night the great hall burned down. They had once belonged to Jamuson Flint, the only Hunter, who supposedly tamed a dragon. Was that what those stones were, a means of taming a dragon? Was that what they were planning all along, to find and tame the drake of the flatlands? Was that their secret weapon? They were planning on releasing the dragon to wreak havoc on the Kingdom of Aru.

If it was true, she had unwittingly postponed a disaster by preventing Eric from getting his hands on both the stones. Was that why they captured her, was that why they wanted her alive, so she could tell them where the other stone was? The problem was, she didn’t know. She had given it to Master Latherby, and that was the last she saw of it.

-Now you see why it’s going to get interesting.-

The mountain pony laughed.

Kile left Grim and headed back to the camp, but more importantly, back to the egg. She had to know if Grim was right, she had to know for certain, if what she feared was true.

Daniel ran to catch up to her. “What’s going on? What’d he say?” he asked.

“That we may be in more trouble than we originally thought,” she replied.

“Why, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” she said when she reached the place Taugh left the sack. She pulled out the stone and gave it a closer inspection, but it still looked just like a stone. Could it actually be an egg, she wondered? They had studied dragons back at the Academy, although, not in great detail, but she knew they laid eggs. She had always pictured them as looking like large chicken eggs, not round stones. Sitting down with the stone in her lap, she closed her eyes and fell into her Edge. She reached out with her consciousness and made a connection with the stone. There was something in there, and it was ancient.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Daniel, staring at her. She carefully set the stone on the ground.

“So, what is it?” he asked.

“Go get Sandson,” she told him.

Daniel quickly got up and ran back to the tent. Kile left the egg where it lay and put a little distance between her and the camp. She didn’t want everyone to know they were the custodians of a dragon’s egg, especially not the Ogre.

“What is it now?” Sandson asked when he finally reached her.

She motioned for him to keep his voice down.

“I don’t want the others to hear, not just yet.” She told him.

“Kile, what’s going on?” Daniel asked. She could tell he was getting impatient.

“The sacred artifact isn’t just a rock.” She explained.

“I know, I know, it’s a part of their rich, diverse, culture.” Sandson replied in a mocking tone. “I’ll try to be more respectful in the future.”

“I’m afraid it’s a little more than that. It’s not just a rock, it’s an egg.”

“What are you saying?” Daniel asked.

“That sacred artifact is a dragon’s egg,” she replied.

Wasn’t that clear enough for him?

Sandson turned and looked at the rock. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes, I am now. There is something very old sleeping in that rock,” she replied.

“Do you think Eric knew what he had?” Daniel asked.

“I’m almost sure he did. I think that’s why they’re out here. You remember how interested he was in dragon lore back at the Academy? I think they’re looking for a way to control the drake of the flatlands.”

Sandson let out a long slow whistle and turned to where Taugh and Ertgoth were sitting. “So, the Ogres worship dragons,” he said in disbelief.

“No, I don’t think so,” Kile replied. “I don’t think they even know it’s a dragon’s egg. To them, it’s just an artifact of Zaheeg. You saw the crude statue in Sugorim’s cave. That's what they believe their god looks like.”

“How can we be sure of any of this?” Sandson asked. “Let’s say this is a dragon’s egg. It doesn’t mean there’s a dragon in those caves.”

“Yes, it does.” Daniel replied.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, it spoke to Kile,” he added.

The two of them looked at her.

“I… didn’t consider that,” she replied.

A whistle from the camp caught their attention. Anurr was pointing to the sky. At first, Kile thought she would see a dragon flying in to claim his egg, but instead they saw about a dozen black spots on the horizon, and they were getting closer. Bakara, and the ravens, had returned. Running back to the campsite, they stopped and waited until Bakara landed. The old raven was preening his feathers when Kile approached him. The others stayed back and watched.

“What did you learn?” she asked.

-Your friends have been captured.-

He replied.

“Show me.”

She closed her eyes and let the raven take her on a flight over the wastelands and through the cannon. Flying low over the stone city she headed toward the foot of the mountains. It was there she spotted the mouth of a large cave, where the valrik had gathered. Tullner, Carter and Marcus were on their knees with their hand bound behind their backs, two brunrik watched over them. Eric stood off to one side, and didn’t appear to be in a very good mood as he paced back and forth, kicking at the ground. Kile landed on the branch of a dead tree and waited. She was too far away to hear what Eric was complaining about, but she did hear her name mentioned a few times, and it wasn’t very flattering.

“Calm yourself,” Ravenshadow said as he emerged from the darkness of the cave, his black robes dragging the shadows out with him.

“I had her, sire. I had her,” Eric shouted.

“Yes, and you lost her,” he replied, but there was no anger in his voice. It was almost as if he expected his servant to fail.

“Give me the Valgar and I will find her for you,” Eric pleaded.

“There is no need for that. She will be here soon enough.”

“Why would she come here?”

“Unlike you, she is honorable. She will not abandon her friends.”