by Duke Kittle
* * *
The ride north had been quiet as Luna's long strider led the way to the Dragon's Mouth caves. Conversation was limited while Kravek was controlling his breathing to keep pace with Little Bit. Tina had thought to strike up a conversation with Luna, but the mink had been keeping a fair lead as she showed them the way. The wizard decided to relegate herself to holding on to Kravek's mane while she let her mind wander.
The trip was shorter than Tina expected. Governor Keldo had told her it was a few hours on foot. Apparently, the governor hadn't taken into account Kravek's speed while keeping pace with a long strider. The landscape was rising after forty minutes, and both Kravek and the long strider had to slow down to make up for the resistance of the terrain. When they finally settled into a steady walking pace, Luna had slowed her strider so she could walk it next to Kravek.
“I'm impressed, Akoan.” Luna turned her head to look at Kravek. Tina noted that on Luna's strider, the mink was eye level with the black bull. “There aren't many who can keep pace with any strider for so long.”
Kravek was breathing more heavily than Luna, but was gradually slowing down as their pace changed to a walk. “I was a warrior before I came here.”
Tina adjusted her glasses and straightened up on Kravek's head. It had been a bumpy ride, but they were making good time. She removed her rucksack from her back and put it down in Kravek's mane. After pulling it open, she produced a small vial with pink fluid in it. Tina pressed on the stopper and shook the vial for a few seconds before opening it.
The pleasant smell of vanilla and brown sugar flowed into the air around them. Kravek blinked as he detected the smell in the air. It was a refreshing scent. “What is that?”
Luna sniffed at the air as well and seemed confused by it. “Is someone cooking something?” Even Luna's long strider apparently picked up the scent as it sniffed at the air and rumbled with delight.
Tina giggled as she held the vial out with the stopper released. “It's just an herbal mixture.”
“It's... refreshing.” Kravek looked toward the top of his head. “Magic?”
“A little, but mostly alchemy. The Council of Stars has a handful of wizards who dabble in chemical mixtures.”
Luna gave Tina a questioning look, “Chem... what?”
Tina replaced the stopper and put the vial away. “To put it plainly, alchemy is the study of turning one thing into another through a means which most often doesn't require magic.” She gestured toward Luna. “In some ways, it's like baking. You take flour, yeast, a little water, and a pinch of sugar or drop of honey, go through the process of mixing the right ingredients at the right times, let it rise, cook, all of that, and the product is bread. Alchemy is much the same. The process is different for whatever you want to make, but you probably get the idea, yes?”
“I think so,” Luna replied, “but how can baking make what you had in that vial?”
“There's a lot to explain to understand alchemy entirely,” Tina pulled her glasses off and started cleaning them with the hem of her robe, “but that particular mixture comes from the idendra flower, a tiny amount of vanilla extract, a sugar called kurovadia which isn't much more than sugar and molasses, and a little magic on the vial itself to help spread the scent.” She replaced her glasses on the bridge of her muzzle and smiled. “It's meant to help refresh the mind a little.”
“It worked,” Kravek commented. He pointed ahead toward a sharper rise in the terrain. “We're almost there.”
As Luna, Kravek, and Tina approached the rise of the cliffs, they could all hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. The scent from Tina’s vial was replaced by the smell of salty seawater. It was a smell that had been everywhere on-board the Thorn’s Side.
“That is the top of the cliffs.” Luna pointed to a hill crest which, from their point of view, had nothing behind it but sky.
“Governor Keldo said there's a path leading down to the Dragon's Mouth caves.” Tina leaned over the edge of Kravek's brow to look for a dip in the terrain where a path might start.
Kravek walked toward the crest of the hill. Once he reached the top of it, he lifted his hand to the top of his head and held it in front of Tina with his palm turned up. When she stepped out onto his hand, he went to a knee and set her down on the ground. Leaning out over the edge of the cliff, Kravek pointed down to the waters below. “The entrance to the caves should be right there.”
Tina leaned over the edge of the cliff and looked down. She could feel the moment of vertigo accompanying the illusionary feeling of falling over the side one gets when looking down from a great height. “It's a long way down. But I don't see any kind of entrance.” She looked up at Kravek. “Are you sure that's the spot?”
Kravek nodded and pointed to an outcropping of rocks sticking out of the cliff face near the bottom. “It's called Dragon's Mouth for a reason. Those rocks there that look like teeth are at the top of the cave.”
“The Maldavians tell a story about Dragon's Mouth.” Luna dismounted from her strider and let her bushy, bound tail sweep behind her as she turned to face Kravek and Tina at the edge of the cliff. “Its name is practically literal.” She opened one of her long strider's saddlebags and pulled out a tightly packed backpack and slung it onto her shoulders.
“Wait.” Tina sat back on her heels and looked at Luna. “This isn't the Maw of Kaelus, is it?”
Luna blinked in surprise at Tina, and her ears swiveled forward to focus on the mouse wizard. “Maw of Kaelus?”
Tina nodded. “The Maldavians tell a story of two dragons named Kaelus and Malidath. Both of them were bound in the earth at the edge of the sea for killing the dragon king's consort, Alysryzara.”
Luna folded her arms. “You know the story.”
Tina nodded. “I've visited Maldavia before. As the story goes, Kaelus and Malidath were the sons of Shahdazhan and both born of Alysryzara, his prime consort. They were sun dragons, just like their father. But they turned against him in an attempt to overthrow him as the rulers of Maldavia. Shahdazhan battled with them for days before Kaelus was able to capture Alysryzara. He threatened her in order to trade her life for Shahdazhan's compliance. Not believing Kaelus would kill his own mother, Shahdazhan refused to stand down. He was correct about Kaelus who stayed his jaws. But Malidath wouldn't back down.”
“Malidath tried to use Shahdazhan's distraction to strike a killing blow, but Alysryzara protected the dragon king.” Tina folded her hands in her lap. “She was stricken instead. The wound was a mortal one. When Alysryzara died from it, Shahdazhan was enraged, as were the rest of Alysryzara's children. Kaelus and Malidath were eventually captured and stripped of their power as dragons. Instead of executing his own sons, Shahdazhan turned Kaelus and Malidath to stone and imprisoned them in the earth at the edge of the sea.”
“How do you know this is Kaelus?” Luna walked up next to Tina and knelt down.
“Well, if the story is true, and I believe it is, the Maw of Malidath is always submerged so he would forever suffer a drowning undeath. Because Kaelus would not slay his mother, Shahdazhan left Kaelus's mouth exposed to the air so he can breathe.”
Luna folded her hands in her lap. “You know the story better than I do. But that still sounds pitiless of Shahdazhan.”
Tina adjusted her glasses. “Though he didn't kill her, Kaelus was held responsible along with Malidath for Alysryzara's death. Shahdazhan, having lost both of his eldest sons and his most beloved consort, eventually returned his body to the sun and bound his spirit into the Monolith of Maldav, the first dragon.”
“That's a tragic story.” Kravek rumbled.
“Not every story has a happy ending.” Tina looked up at Kravek. “But the Maldavians still revere Shahdazhan as their king, even though he no longer roams the world.”
“Does it make a difference if this is the Maw of Kaelus?” Luna's bushy tail bobbed behind her.
“I don't get it.” Kravek settled onto his seat.
Tina looked up at Kravek in expectation of an explanation. When he offered none, she spoke up. “What don't you get, Kravek?”
“I know magic can do a lot of things, but I didn't think that wizard was here long enough to build a tower.”
Tina smiled. “A wizard's tower isn't always literally a tower, Kravek. But whether it is, wizards powerful enough to create a wizard's tower usually bind its entrance to an object.” She rubbed her thumb over the face of her necklace. She didn't feel the familiar doorknob usually placed in the necklace but the rigid edges of the lava-colored crystal. “It can be placed in a rock face to form a door, summoned out of the ground to form a tower, or even be as simple as drawing a doorway in a wall with a special kind of chalk.” Tina rose and folded her arms across her stomach, letting her shawl drape in the crooks of her elbows. “The tower itself sometimes resides at a fixed location in the real world, or it can even be bound in a small pocket dimension.”
Kravek and Luna both blinked at Tina as if neither of them understood what she was talking about. Tina cleared her throat. “That aside... we should probably find the path leading down there and hope the wizard left the entrance to his tower behind. It's near impossible to enter a wizard's tower otherwise.”
Luna nodded. “The path is this way.” She looked back at Little Bit and whistled. The long strider lifted her head and looked at Luna. Luna made a fist with her hand and held it out parallel to the ground at hip height. The long strider lowered its head and lay down in the grass in response. The mink then turned away and headed for a dip on the far side of the rise of the cliffs.
Kravek held his hand out for Tina, and she quickly climbed on to get up to his shoulder. Once she was in place, he followed after Luna but turned his head to look at the mouse on his shoulder. “Do you think it likely he left his door open?”
Tina took a moment to consider while Kravek walked. “Open, no. But revealed, possibly. I wouldn't think he'd bother to hide it in a secluded place like this, especially since I doubt he was planning to be killed the last time he left it.”
Kravek grunted. “Most don't expect to die in a day.”
Tina sighed. “That is a truth.”
The path leading down to the caves was a little wider and more direct than Tina had expected for the Maw of Kaelus. It was a flat, rough stone path broad enough to accommodate someone of Kravek's size comfortably. The coarse surface of the stones made them safe to walk on in spite of the humidity. Tina thought the path was too perfect to be natural, but with a wizard wanting to go back and forth from the cave to the outside world, she guessed he'd probably cultured it for safe passage. It wound back and forth across the face of the cliff all the way down to the mouth of the cave.
Upon reaching the cave, Tina thought 'maw' was an appropriate word for describing it. From above, the sharp outcroppings of rock resembling teeth had been evident. But the matching set at the bottom of the cave mouth had been less apparent. At an even level with the cave, the sharp rocks could easily be seen in a row which matched the sharp rocks at the top. The sides of the mouth were slanted away from one another like the jaws of a long, dragon's snout with another row of teeth which faded into the walls where the cave narrowed a little at the back.
Luna looked at Tina on Kravek's shoulder. “Why would a wizard want his tower in the body of an imprisoned dragon?”
Tina folded her hands together in her lap. “Well, there are a number of reasons, but most of the ones that come to mind have nothing to do with dealing with Maldavians. In fact, it would probably upset them if they found out a wizard had made Kaelus's body a home.”
Kravek glanced at Tina. “But they won't mind us trespassing?”
Tina shook her head. “Big difference between exploring and taking up residence.” She looked down to see the water splashing against the teeth at the front of the cave. “The cave mouth looks as if it would probably flood during high tide.” She turned her attention to the back of the cave. “The cave slopes upward at the back, though. We're probably safe from flooding, but it wouldn't do to get trapped inside.”
“The other wizard probably would have thought of that,” Luna put her hands on her hips, “wouldn't he?”
Tina nodded. “I imagine so, but if it was by means of magic, any ward he placed might have faded by now. Unless specifically enchanted to be a permanent spell, a dead wizard's magic fades after death. Either way, we shouldn't linger for long.” A thought occurred to Tina, and she took a moment to tap the side of her glasses. The runic circle she used to examine magical equations appeared.
She instantly pulled her glasses off and rubbed her eyes. “Mm. That was a bad idea.” Tina put her glasses back on after canceling the runic circle in the lens.
Luna looked up at Tina again. “What? What did you see?”
“The magic in this area is somewhat erratic and very strong.” Tina swiveled her ears forward. “I wanted to look for any lingering wards, but it's like looking for a barbed wire fence in a field of bramble bushes. And the power of it is all but blinding. I should have expected it in a dragon's grave.”
“Why don't we feel anything from it?” Kravek questioned.
“There's magic everywhere in the world. Only those sensitive to it can really detect it.” Tina seated herself on Kravek's shoulder. “You can learn to feel the difference, but most often, it's too subtle. A shiver running up your spine for no reason, the feeling of a breeze brushing your fur when there's no wind, even an apple falling out of a tree could be a manifestation of a disturbed magical equation.” Tina giggled. “Of course, that doesn't mean all these things are disturbed magic. Sometimes, there's just a breeze. It takes talent and/or thorough training to tell the difference.”
“Couldn't you tell when we approached the cave?” Luna swept her tail toward the cave.
Tina smiled. “I might have. As I said, sometimes it's very subtle. Even the notion to look could have been part of it. But since we're not inside the cave yet...” She let her statement trail off.
Luna nodded. “We should fix that and get along with this.” The mink walked toward the row of teeth going down one side of the cave mouth. Kravek and Tina watched her for a few seconds as she walked toward the back of the cave where it sloped upward as if expecting something to happen. When Luna reached the back, she turned around and looked at them with one hand on her hip and the other gesturing deeper into the cave. “Well? Are you coming?”
Tina adjusted her glasses and looked up at Kravek. “And sometimes, they simply don't manifest. Much of magic remains a mystery.”