The Exodus Sagas: Book II - Of Dragons And Crowns (71 page)

“Another elf? Perhaps one with a gre
at treasure of magicks?” Salah looked at the ripe young body of this elf, a body that would remain healthy and strong for centuries. His power in the arcane was obvious, and his elven features handsome and intimidating. The old wizard wanted to know more, and wanted what he had.

“Yes, exactly. Where is Lavress Tilaniun!” Eliah thought of destroying each and every one of them, including this husk of a wizard that floated toward him now. He was tired, in pain, starving, and having difficulty keeping pace with the hunter that had his stolen book. Perhaps, he could use these fools to widen his net.

“I am not sure, but a bit farther north and west is Southwind Keep. We believe he is there and have been tracking him for days now. Stand back filthy ones, this elf is
with us
.” Salah began radiating his foul aura and concentrating on the entrancing words he spoke. The tr
olls and ogre, despite the flaming
hisses of three
dying
, stood down as he suggested.

“I am not with you, old necromancer. Your tricks will not work on my will, so do not try them again. Where is your stronghold…?” Eliah waited for the name with a gaze of false curiosity.

“Salah Cam, Lord Salah Cam of the Sullan swamps. Yet, I have a place much closer within the walls of one of my allies. The tower of Arouland in the ruins to the south of here is home to king Avegarne of the ogre. I plan to invade Southwind Keep in but a short time, you could
rest there…
the ogre king is an ally of mine
” Salah played the name game back to the elven wizard.

“Eliah Shendrynn of Kilikala, and your hospitality is most welcome Lord Cam. Yes, I could use some time to rest and heal this atrocious injury to my hand. Perhaps you could assist me in finding what was stolen from me. Do you have a seeing crystal or ma
gick
s
of the sort?” t
he traitorous highborne knew this was better than stalking Lavress alone in his wilderness environ he was accustomed to. A little arcane treachery and spying would help his cause by way of this old wicked skeleton of a man.

“I do, I do, yes, yes. And help you with that hand, I may
be able
. To Arouland beasts! Bring my things and hurry!” Salah hoped he would make this Eliah very comfortable, learn much from him, and then take his body in lieu of this rotting one Kendari had left him with when he interrupted the
rituals
. The hunter would
have to
wait, for life eternal was vastly more important than some elf that wanted to kill Johnas
and steal satyrs and books
.

His bow, quiver, falcata, kukri dagger, and the book of High Elven Magick were all hidden in a small cave with a family of wolves he had befriended this morning. Knowing that the black robed wizard, and Eliah, could track the arcane auras
on his belongings
, Lavress was a mile south of the cave, spear in hand and hiding in the trees awaiting his one chance to kill at least one of his pursuers.
He had been still for hours now, watching the wolves try and determine why his trail went further north yet they smelled him near. He had been perched in an old banyan twenty feet over the ogre and trolls that Salah Cam commanded, waiting for his moment that the rotten wretch walked underneath him. Eliah Shendrynn, of all possible reasons, had interrupted that and now the two left south in apparent cooperative aquaintence.

Lavress Tilaniun crept down slowly, without a sound, and ran steadily to the north to his cave.
The ogre, trolls, and wolves had turned back with both of his enemies and now was his chance.
His mind raced from oaths to the Hedim Anah to deliver the stolen book, to warning the people of Southwind Keep of the coming invasion
he had just overheard
, and lastly
to his grievous and still seeping wounds from harpy arrows days ago. His strength fading, his body tired and worn from the hunt and battle, Lavress staggered as he ran to the small hole of a cave where he had calmed the two gray wolves and their four pups into letting him stay.
He was freezing, but that was his last concern as of now.

The wolves yipped and licked him, sensing his ties to nature and his injuries. The dirt and moss covered his leather clothing as he crawled past the canine guardians
. He petted the male as he passed
, then the female, and curled up in the back of their home and laid his head on his pack. The pups rummaged him over with licks and snarls of playful nature, yet Lavress could not participate. He felt for the book and his weapons under the pack, assuring himself they were still there. They were
in the hard dirt
, and he drifted into a forced meditation that would hopefully allow him to rest enough to travel again tomorrow.

“Thank you my friends.”
h
e whispered in the fey tongue of Seirena, sure that the words or intent would be understood by these animals of the wild. He fell asleep as the wolves kept close around him, kept him safe and hidden, and watched over him for reasons only
divine
instinct could explain.

Exodus II:XVII

Cavern Temple atop Mount Bailey, Willborne

“This is absolutely evil
,
and far from any religious belief I have ever read. That pit there is filled with bones and skulls. The altar is, oh by Siril
,
this is foul
.” Shinayne whispered as she carefully stepped around the stone table covered in stains of old blood in the torchlit cave. She looked at the size and horrific grandeur of the place, then
again
at the
massive stone
hole half full of remain
s of the dead
. Her eyes closed at the sight of what she knew to be against any natural order or spiritual morals.
Her stomach churned and her body felt ill in every area by just being here.
The noble elf covered her mouth with the back of her hand and tried to center herself and not breathe.

“There are three passages that lead off from here, which one?” Saberrak would normally have known, but the smell permeating the cavern blocked his instincts. He paid no mind to the old carnage, having seen worse in his slave days underground.

“By Vundren, what the hell have these poor people been praying to all these years? How could they not have known and done something?” Azenairk felt great sorrow upon seeing the blood and knowing that centuries of this had endured.

“Because they live in fear obviously.” Just as the words breached his lips, James turned in time to see a dark robed young man and a contingent of soldiers enter the cavern behind them. “We have visitors behind us!”

Taira fell to the ground, shaking, repeating the words over and over in her mind.
God is heard and never seen, heard and never…

Backs to walls, crouching behind the altar, weapons drawn and ready, the five companions watched as ten soldiers took armed stance in front of the young Agarian man that stared at them. “You are on sacred ground, foreigners. I have come here ahead of the army to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed and to retrieve what you have stolen. The girl, please.”

“Your men and Lord Marcell planned on us being thrown in here as it was, Veuric. Try and---“ Shinayne stopped her defiant words as she saw the ten soldiers and the man she knew as the priest Veuric, bow their heads, gasp, and get on their knees.

Taira screamed a shrill horror into the cavern
, Saberrak roa
red as he dove across
, and James and Zen ducked and covered their bodies with their shields. Red glowing eyes in the dark preempted a carnivorous screeching warning cry as orange flames from a shadowy mouth spewed through the center of the temple cave. Shinayne rolled back to the wall and ran toward the massive black and red scaled horror. Gwenneth raised her staff as the emerald radiated a blue glow all around her. The deafening roar of incinerating heat engulfed the soldiers and the priest as their burning carcasses hurled from the entrance and scattered down the slope. The dragon closed its mouth and turned toward the blue glowing woman, smoke rolling out of its nostrils as it huffed another breath in through blackened fangs.
The black tongue flicked in and out repeatedly as its eyes focused with shadowy slivered pupils on the female it smelled
, its meal cowering in fear
.

“
Huasix derth diarixith merrgith!”
t
he echoing voice came from the entire hundred or more feet of the
dark scaly
beast as it stalked on all fours with wings and tail stretching out in the
open
cavern.

“
It just called for
---“ Gwenneth stopped as the flames erupted directly over her arcane shield of cold, forcing her to concentrate all she had in repelling the flaming inferno that surrounded her.

“Kill it!” he roared over the deafening blast of draconic fire.
Saberrak charged in with his horns and head lowered just as Shinayne slid quickly past its left side under the wing. James stood, pulling Azenairk up with him and each went different directions to
ward the massive reptile
. Taira lay with her
ears covered in shock, screaming barely audible in the flaming cacaphony
.

Carice and Elicras plunged deep into the ribs of the dragon, releasing hot blood onto the cave floor all around Shinayne’s feet. Just as she pulled the enchanted elven blades free to strike down again, the whip-like tail caught her in the legs and sent her lithe form tumbling ahead with a
crack
. Her swords skittered across the stone, her wind knocked out, and eyes tearing as she tried to reach for the pommels.

Saberrak dove headfirst into the chest of the mammoth dragon, horns barely piercing the scaly hide. He swung his axe with all his strength
, using both hands, and saw only a blue haze as he landed cut after vicious cut into the beast.
A giant clawed hand
tore into his leg and shoulder as he was hurled through the stone altar and ro
lled with chunks of broken rock to a stop in the rear
of the temple.

The breathing stopped, though the room was quickly filling with choking smoke. James cut at the dragon
’
s throat as it reared back from its
bleeding chest wounds. Azenairk Thalanaxe smashed his warhammer fearlessly into the bleeding ribs Shinayne had left
for
him.
Gwenneth looked at the elf and the minotaur, seeing movement from both, she backed up toward the wall to put distance between her and the mighty wyrm. Concentrating on the sphere of cold, she pointed her staff and allowed her arcane words and chant to release crackling lightning from within her body and through her pointed fingers. The blast ripped through s
cales, muscle, and bone, leaving
a blackened hole smoldering in the now fiendishly raging creature.

“It was calling to---“ t
he arcane woman stopped again, having to crouch low and focus as the f
laming breath showered her once more
, stopping inches from her body as the heat met the magical cold. She saw tufts of flame shooting from a set of cuts in the neck and one in the side, yet the blast was still far too intense to for Gwenneth to do anything but concentrate on not being devoured in fire.

Fighting off claws and dodging wicked teeth biting for him, James backpeddaled with shield raised. He kept its attention, as did the dwarf who was having his shield smashed with wings and a tail over and over from his pinned position against the wall. Shinayne ran at full speed and leapt up at the face of the dragon, its mouth opened wide in anticipation. She tucked and rolled and fell short of her destination purposefully. Both enchanted blades in hand, she stood fast and plunged upward through the jaws of the rampaging reptile. Not waiting for it to make a meal out of her, she turned her shoulder back and withdrew her swords
,
then turned her whole body round in a quick flash that sliced twice clean through the neck
to bone. Steaming blood doused her and puddled rapidly on the floor as the dragon fumbled back trying to breathe one last time before its eyes closed forever. The brutal greataxe that chopped through the bone and small horns on its face between the eyes stopped the feeble attempt. Saberrak, staggered from injury, looked around to see if everyone was still alive and then to Gwenneth.

“I do not care what it was tryin
g to say, just kill it and---“ h
e heard the distant roar, a wicked hunting screech of ear piercing pitch not far from the cavern entrance. Saberrak turned from Gwenne to the front, blood running down his shoulders
through his torn scale armor
.

“It was calling for its mate!” Gwenneth saw the broken cave temple grow very dark a moment later, as if something had blocked the cloudy light from the entire entrance. Everyone froze as the sound of heavy breathing echoed in the chamber filled with smoke and blood.

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Katrina watched as a black winged shadow raced through the cloudcover above the mountain. She had seen the flames erupt from the hazy peak where the temple entrance was. The lady of Willborne raised her hand to steady the men around her, and silence them, as they witnessed the bodies tumbling in trails of smoke lifeless down the side of the slopes. She feared nothing, and knew that Faldrune the red was the same, but the soldiers, veteran as they were, had never encountered a dragon. Let alone two. She hoped that no one would actually see what she and Marcell knew was in there. Katrina looked to a nervous Marcell.