Legends of Marithia: Book 2 - Darkness Rising (14 page)

“
Yes, continue on until you
reach a well beaten path and we will arrive at Crondor when the
moon is at its highest. I am completely exhausted, so I hope you
don’t mind if I rest on your back? I’ve been waiting for that cruel
demon for days in those woods and my muscles ache from the earlier
battle.”

Anakari could really use her help, and
she seemed a valuable ally for her journey. She also had the chance
to kill her and didn’t.

If she trusts me enough to
ride with me then perhaps I should trust her as well,
she thought.

“
Sure, make yourself
comfortable and I will rouse you once we arrive at Crondor,”
replied Anakari.

Yuski wrapped her arms around
Anakari’s slender waist, snuggling up to her back. At first, the
young elf froze in shock when Yuski put one of her hands inside her
coat, but she relaxed when she realised that Yuski was just looking
for a way to secure herself on the horse.

Yuski took a deep breath and casually
said, “If the orb glows bright blue in my pocket on our journey and
I fail to notice, let me know before Wumvarn gets to your elven
heart.”

Anakari almost jumped out of her skin
and yelled, “What!?”

“
Just kidding,” giggled
Yuski, “You are
so
jumpy! Neither of us are likely prey for Wumvarn. She prefers
men who she can easily seduce.”

Anakari sighed deeply, forcing herself
to relax.

“
I’m sorry Yuski, something
has been bothering me today.”

“
What has been bothering
you?” asked Yuski.

“
Earlier today, the sun was
blotted out by the moon. I studied the stars for most of my life,
and my master Aldorus taught me how to predict when these events
would happen, and it wasn’t time for an event such as
this.”

“
Plenty has happened in
Marithia lately that is strange, why is this any different? We have
a red moon, does that not worry you?”

Anakari’s voice broke and her eyes
watered as she said, “I know, but that’s not all. When the sky
darkened, I looked to the stars and I saw a singular star shoot
across the sky, but I swear that I saw it fall to Marithia, far out
to sea. It would not be so bad if I didn’t feel as if I somehow was
connected to that star. I, I can’t explain it, but I suddenly felt
saddened… as if I had lost something or someone close to
me.”

Yuski held her tighter and tenderly
rubbed Anakari’s stomach.

“
Hey, I’m sure everything
is alright. Shooting stars have been a common sighting over many
ages. Maybe you feel that you miss your master, Aldorus? Or you
feel far from your home? Don’t worry, I will protect you,” Yuski
said, the warmth of her voice radiated through Anakari’s
body.

Anakari knew deep down that something
was wrong with the shooting star but she felt comforted by Yuski.
More than anything else, she felt safe in her company.

“
Yuski. What town was it…
the town from your story, where Wumvarn massacred all those
people?”

“
I thought you would have
worked that out by now… Crondor of course,” answered
Yuski.

Anakari’s sharp intake of breath gave
away her fear.

Yuski breathed deeply, falling asleep
almost immediately. Anakari was wide awake, her eyes darting around
their surroundings as they continued toward the tragic town of
Crondor.

Chapter 10 : Fangs For The
Memories

“
One’s fate can be changed
throughout life’s journey.

We may think that we know what will
become of us as our years go by, but something unexpected can block
the road ahead and divert our path in a new direction.

Sometimes we have a choice, a
crossroad, to decide our new future.

Other times, that choice is made for
us.”

(Makya, She’Ma’Ryn trader)

They ran tirelessly for days, stopping
only to feed on unlucky Marithians they chanced upon. Hiding in
caves and abandoned farmhouses during the day, they avoided a
horrid death by sunlight. Daytime was the only time they rested and
as time went on, Tusdar became accustomed to his new waking hours
by the pale red shade of the moon.

Tusdar found that he could sleep, but
he had been stripped of the ability to dream.

Mestal taught him how to hunt and
feed. He quenched his thirst for blood and quickly adapted to his
new source of food. It all began to feel completely natural to him
in his new form. It was a feeling that he accustomed to far quicker
than he thought he would. Constant feeding maintained their
strength and gave him newfound abilities.

With the changes came a gradual
acceptance of what he now was, and although at times he felt ill
when he remembered his human life, he tried to look only ahead to
the possibilities that the future may hold.

Mestal focused on a singular purpose;
taking him to the vampire city, Zhendur.

She yelled excitedly, “We’re almost
there! Zhendur awaits us!”

Tusdar leapt over the deep fissures in
the dying lowlands, sucked dry of any life left in them by the
Forces of Darkness, his movements becoming more animal than human
at a rapid rate. A thick fog covered them like insects within an
endless wispy soup; he relied solely on Mestal’s familiarity to
guide them safely through it and blindly followed her.

Each time the fog thinned, he caught a
swift glimpse of the surrounding lands.

Mestal’s voice echoed over him, “Far
ahead of us is Kassina’s tower.”

Until now, Kassina’s tower
had been nothing more than a rumour to him and a place to avoid at
all costs. He yelled between puffed breaths, “I don’t see much, let
alone the tower. But you know, if I had come here before you turned
me, I would be running, the
other
way! Where is Zhendur?”

“
That was then Tusdar,
forget your old life! You won’t see Zhendur because you do not know
where to find it,” she laughed.

She turned sharply to her right and
Tusdar barely caught sight of the shift through the fog but was
able to keep up.

Her voice was distant as it reached
his ears, “Far ahead of us are the famed cliffs, known as Eagle
Drop. They were named Eagle Drop as Marithians thought that only an
eagle would be foolish enough to leap off its edge.”

Between the cliff and horizon was a
long path of dense, foggy wasteland which led to Mount Wayrin, a
dormant Marithian volcano. All of these parts were said to be
controlled by Shindar and were the domain of the feared vampire
sorceress Kassina.

His voice crackled as he
warily asked, “Mestal! You
do
know where you are going, right?”

She replied in annoyance,
“How many
times
do I have to prove that you need to trust me?”

With a sudden thinning of fog ahead of
them, he saw that they were nearing Eagle Drop. It would only take
a handful of leaps before he would go right over the
edge.

“
But…” he began.

“
Just trust me!” she
snapped.

In one final leap, Mestal must have
stopped in her tracks as he didn’t see her again. Tusdar almost
crashed into her body as she caught him, dragging him back from the
edge as he lost balance and leaned over waving his arms wildly, his
reflexes not yet as mature as Mestal’s.

He saw nothing but fog and darkness
below the edge.

“
By the gods! Where is
Zhendur? There is nothing here but a fall to our deaths,” he
squealed, regaining his composure.

She only smiled and spoke through
fangs that glittered in the moonlight, “Patience is a virtue, young
man. Some secrets cannot be unveiled by anyone without great power
or our gifts.”

Mestal turned to him with her back to
Mount Wayrin and the seemingly endless gap of air in between. The
wind from below flicked her long hair around her face and caused
her clothes to cling to her body in resistance.

She leaned in to land a
soft kiss on his lips, and purred as she said, “I have so many
things to show you, and this… is
only
the beginning.”

Mestal took a step back to the edge,
spread her arms wide and let herself fall over the edge with her
eyes shut.

Tusdar’s voice echoed far below,
“No!”

His instincts took over him and he
desperately tried to save her. Almost catching her coat as it
rhythmically flapped in the wind, he caught nothing but
air.

Her voice disappeared in the darkness
within the fog as she screamed, “Come with me!”

“
Grrrraahhh!” he roared,
pacing by the edge. “Why is it that I always end up leaping off
edges?” he said, thinking back to his narrow escape from the Forces
of Darkness at Greenhaven.

Tusdar realised that he was suddenly
free, able to decide his own fate and for a moment, he contemplated
turning and running the other way.

I could try to find Vartan
and maybe I can still help him. But where is he? I wouldn’t even
know where to start,
he thought, a pang of
guilt filled his heart as he saw the faces of the people he had fed
on that day,
but
Mestal did save my life and Vartan failed to save me when
that vampire slit my throat. What welcome would I receive? They
would probably kill me now that I am a vampire… it’s what I would
do.

He hesitated for a moment longer and
the realisation sunk in that he had only one solution.

“
Gods, be damned!” he
yelled as he leaped over Eagle Drop and fell through the fog, it
felt as if his stomach jumped to his throat and latched on for dear
life.

The wind caught his body as he fell
through the fog barrier and emerged into clear air. He continued to
plummet into darkness and forced his arms and legs out wide. Using
the horizon and Mount Wayrin as a guide, he could see that he
descended quickly but he could not see where he was going. Far
below him he began to see tiny flickering lights through the
darkness at what seemed in line with the cliff’s wall.

He yelled frantically into the black
space below, “Mestal!”

He could barely hear her voice through
the rush of wind past his ears and couldn’t make sense of what she
was saying. He leaned toward the cliff edge and brought himself
closer to it. The flickering lights became a little clearer in his
vision and he was beginning to see the flamed torches far below. It
appeared as if there were two figures standing on a lowered castle
gate.

Puzzled in his panic, he asked
himself, “There is a castle gate opening from a cliff?”

He began to hear noises. They started
as a few squeaks, and then shrieking cries filled the air as
hundreds of bats flew from the opened gate and headed upward,
rushing straight towards him like a blizzard emerging from
below.

Tusdar raised his arms to defend his
face instinctively, but the move wasn’t necessary as the bats were
not attacking him.

“
Wha…?” he exclaimed as
many bats grabbed hold of his clothes and tugged him upward, madly
flapping their wings in an effort to stop his fall.

Feeling his descent slowing, he began
to relax again.

First I’m saved by a
dragon, and now I’m saved by bats… I sure have moved up in the
world,
he thought.

The bats brought him close to the
lowered gate and abruptly dropped him, returning to the roof of the
cliff entrance. He stood up and shook off his clothes, his eyes
adjusting to the change in lighting.

He smiled nervously, trying to regain
his composure and said in a deep voice, “This was not what I was
expecting.”

Standing in the entrance were Mestal
and a tall, strong vampire. The vampire looked important as his
clothes were ornately woven and were laden with jewels.

“
Welcome to Zhendur. It is
a pleasure to meet Mestal’s chosen. I am Lord Aryun,” he said,
extending his hand as his smile revealed his pearly
fangs.

Mestal’s eyes were wide with annoyance
as Tusdar took his time to shake Aryun’s hand, but was relieved
when he finally took it.

Warily but politely, he addressed the
vampire lord and said, “The pleasure is all mine.”

Looking over Lord Aryun’s shoulder, he
could see that a short distance inside the tunnel was a large
opening, and from that came the familiar sounds of a city bustling
with activity.

“
I see you are eager to
come inside. How could I blame you? Come, let us walk,” said Aryun,
putting his arm around Tusdar and walking inside, Mestal following
closely behind.

Elite vampire guards were posted at
the city’s entrance, heavily armoured and brandishing crossbows
with arrows that appeared to be emitting an eerie green smoke. They
watched Tusdar closely as he neared the city entrance.

Aryun looked at him with curiosity,
“Master Mestal has waited a long time for her chosen. She has
turned many to join the ranks of our forces, but this is…
different.”