***
In another part of the Mossy Woodlands, while Orin made a cold camp in the gathering darkness, Allric returned from his raid. Via saw the animals come lumbering back into camp, exhausted, but Allric seemed to disappear.
Earlier that day she had seen more human men carried into the camp by the creatures Allric called mi’nochs. She loathed the frightening eagles with their hideous snake body legs dangling and coiling around tree limbs while the birds roosted in the leafy branches. She was revolted by the cruel creatures. And she felt sorry for the men. She knew what they had endured, and she even recognized some of the markings on their tunics. They were from the Darnish Counties, at least some of them, but there was nothing she could do to help them.
Via watched the strange, enchanted creatures and prisoners from a distance, wondering where Allric had gone. When she finally discovered him, she regretted it immediately.
“Why didn’t you tell me!” he shouted when he saw her.
He was thirty paces away, yet with one magical leap he closed the distance and struck her down with a savage, back-handed slap. She hit the ground hard, her face throbbing with pain, and her heart surging with fear.
“What?” she cried.
“Why? Did you hope I would fall, you sniveling worm! Did you really believe that I was so weak that I would let a human cast me down?”
He raised his hand and slapped her again as she struggled back to her feet. The blow snapped her head to the side and she dropped like a stone in water, her vision going dark for just a moment. When she came around again, a massive bonfire was roaring behind Allric, who was pacing back and forth in front of her.
“You will tell me what you know,” he said. “And I mean everything.”
“I will,” she said, raising her hand to ward off a blow.
“Stop sniveling and speak, woman!”
“Her name…” Via said, trying not to stammer with fear. She could feel the magic inside her like an angry swarm of bees, reacting to her panic. If she had known a powerful spell she would have cast it on the hateful elf, but so far she had only learned simple tricks and she had yet to master the willful magic she had roiling within her.
“Her name is Feray. She’s a sorceress,” Via managed to say.
“This much I know, you dimwitted human filth. Tell me what you know about her!”
“I met her at Glory Keep. She was healing the sick.”
“Of course she was,” he snarled. “What else?”
“She fought the earl. I saw it. The war band couldn’t touch her. They couldn’t go near her. Even their horses were afraid.”
“Yes, she has strong defensive inclinations, most females do. Keep going!”
“She… she killed the earl. Well… she let it happen. His horse threw him and then stepped on him in panic. Her dog finished him. She travels with a dog. A big mastiff hound.”
“Yes, I saw this too. Tell me something I don’t know!” He screamed.
“She travels with her son, Luc. He’s only a child, four or five years old I think. And with the king’s son, Orin.”
“The king of your people sent his son to be this woman’s companion?”
“No,” Feray said. “The dragon made Orin be Feray’s protector.”
“What dragon?”
“I don’t know,” Via admitted. “She told me she was touched by a dragon and that’s how she got her powers.”
“Crude,” Allric said, continuing to pace.
“Orin fought the dragon, but he was overcome, and the dragon made him her protector.”
“From what I saw she was protecting him, but that is not the point. Why didn’t you tell me you traveled with a sorceress?”
“You didn’t give me much of a chance,” Via said. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, I just didn’t think about it. We were in the Evergreen Forest when your creatures kidnapped me. How was I to know they had come so far?”
“Humans have no sense of what is important. You are so concerned about yourself that you don’t give thought to the things happening around you.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It’s not? And have you noticed what has happened here?” His tone was accusing. “Do you not realize I am on the verge of harnessing the most valuable magical force known? Do you not see the future before your very eyes? I will be the greatest sorcerer of all time. I will rule the Western Realm. Would you rise on the tide of my destiny, or will your petty self concern drown you? I will not hold your hand forever, child. You must do better.”
“I will,” Via exclaimed. “I promise.”
“Good, we shall change the world. In due time, your own power will outshine the sun, but first you must learn who your master is. Now watch and learn.”
Via scooted away as Allric turned back to the fire, which grew brighter and hotter, the flames shooting up into the night sky. She could feel the heat on her face, but even more evident was the power massing around the elf. Via wasn’t a sorceress and couldn’t detect magic in the world the way that Feray could, but her own inner magic was reacting to the magic building around them. It was like feeling the lightning in the air before it struck.
Eventually, Allric bent low, uncovering something that was wrapped in a velvet cloth at his feet. A strong odor hit Via and made her gag. It was a foreign smell, not the taint of putrefaction, but a strange, potent odor. Allric cut a sliver from the strange flesh, and held it in his hands. The wind picked up, and the fire grew wild. The meat began to glow in Allric’s hands. Via knew the sorcerer was infusing the foul meat with power, but she had no idea why. She didn’t understand what was happening or what Allric had meant by harnessing the most powerful magical force, but she felt as if something important and frightening was happening.
Hollis appeared out of the darkness. He had a long pole in his hands, and at the far end was a chain that wrapped around the throat of one of the captured men from the Darnish Counties. The man’s feet were hobbled, which forced him to take tiny steps. His hands were bound behind his back and another chain connected the loop around his neck to the one hobbling his feet, keeping him hunched over as he was pushed along by the rotund elf.
When the man was close to Allric he fell to his knees. Via could see the fear on his face as the sorcerer turned toward him. Sweat was coursing down the elf’s body, and had sprang up on the prisoner as well. The look of horror on the man’s face brought tears to Via’s eyes, but there was nothing she could do to save him. Allric pressed the glowing meat against the man’s forehead and he screamed a wail unlike anything Via had ever heard before. She shivered, despite the heat, wrapping her arms around herself and trembling but unable to look away, as the man fell down and shook all over as a terrible transformation took place.
***
Orin awoke as a storm suddenly broke. Rain fell in a torrent. The horse hung his head and shivered, neighing miserably. Overhead lighting rippled through the interior of the dark clouds, illuminating them up in flashes of light, but strangely enough no thunder rolled. The wind was whipping the rain so that it flew sideways and made the trees creak and shake. Old branches broke loose from the canopy and fell to the ground. Orin knew his chances of sleep were non-existent and worse than that, the trail he had been following would be washed away. The best he could do was continue in the direction he had been traveling before nightfall. The trail had moved northwest, through the towering forest. At dawn he would begin again, and hopefully get lucky. As he shivered in the cold, driving rain, he thought his luck had to improve, it could get no worse.
At dawn the rain stopped, leaving the forest a muddy bog. The ground was so wet it sucked at Orin’s boots and the horse’s hooves as they set out in hopes of finding the sorcerer. It was late in the afternoon when he heard the screams. Human voices were screaming and inhuman voices were wailing as well. The horse was nervous, and Orin tied the animal to a thick tree, hoping it would calm down and not bolt free.
Once the horse was taken care
of he proceeded toward the sounds ahead, wishing there was more brush and foliage to hide behind. Instead he had to move from tree to tree, hoping that he would see the enemy before he was spotted. He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to help Via, but he knew he had to try. Two nights ago he had come face to face with death while fighting the huge wolves. If they discovered him sneaking through the woods, they would tear him apart. He had no weapons, and he couldn’t hope that Feray would come to save him again. Never before in his entire life had he felt so close to death, yet so alive at the same time. Every step was taken with care, and he made sure the wind was in his face so that no creature in the camp would catch his scent before he arrived. If he died fighting the huge wolves, or trying to help Via escape from the evil sorcerer, it wouldn’t be because he had been careless.
He moved up through a group of trees, and finally caught sight of the camp. It was filthy, and littered with junk. The trees weren’t bunched together, leaving plenty of room for work on the ground. Unlike the elves in Braa’dun , there didn’t seem to be structures in the tall trees, but Orin saw creatures of all kinds — huge eagles, vultures, and falcons in the treetops, snakes of all colors and sizes climbing through the crooked branches. There were animals in pens — wild boars the size of small horses, bison, and oversized raccoons. Other animals roamed loose, huge tigers with curving fangs the size of daggers, scorpions as big as dogs, and of course the dire wolves. Even more disturbing were the living experiments. Most of the animals that had limbs replaced looked sick or on the verge of death. Several carcasses were left rotting, the stench of sickness, death, and excrement was powerful.
Orin felt a sinking feeling. There was little chance of being able to sneak into the camp undetected. And with so many ferocious and obviously magically enhanced animals, trying to get to Via would be deadly. Still, he was desperate to know if she was okay. He watched the camp for nearly an hour before he spotted her. There appeared to be very few people in the camp, despite the signs that it had been lived in for quite some time. Orin saw a fat elf, which seemed strange after the tall, slender elves in the village. The fat elf didn’t get close enough for Orin to make out much detail, but the pointed ears were all too plain to see. When Via finally came into view, Orin was relieved to see that she hadn’t been experimented on. She was wearing her tattered dress, which was dirty and stained, but she had no animal parts or strange growths. She was also moving about the camp freely, but Orin realized trying to run away would be useless. The animals in the camp could easily track an escapee down within a few hours, no matter how quickly they fled.
It also occurred to Orin that if the animals caught his scent they might come hunting him as well. He would need to get as far away from the camp as he could as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t force himself to leave. Via needed his help and he hated the thought of giving up. Leaving her behind wasn’t an option, but dying in a rescue attempt would mean failing in his oath to protect Feray. He was torn as his logic and emotions battled inside him. Finally, after watching the camp for almost two hours, he knew he would have to leave. He forced himself to move backward slowly, keeping an eye on the nearest animals, to ensure that none caught sight of him.
His heart nearly stopped when he heard a deep-throated growl behind him. Orin turned, just as the big alpha wolf moved out from between two trees. The creature was as large as a horse, with a huge muzzle that Orin guessed could probably cut him in half. It could certainly take off an arm or a leg with one bite. His only hope was to distract it long enough to inflict a wound serious enough that it wouldn’t pursue him. He cursed himself for not finishing the javelins before striking out after the sorcerer. He had nothing, not even a dagger to fight with, although he knew if the wolf was close enough for a dagger to do it harm he would almost certainly be dead.
Before he could do anything, the wolf threw back its head and howled. Orin didn’t have to guess what the creature was doing, and he didn’t hesitate to act. He dashed away, sprinting as hard and as fast as he had ever run before. Behind him he heard the snarling, barking pack of wolves pursuing him. The last thing he wanted was to die running away, but he had no way of fighting back. The huge predators were gaining on him, and he pushed himself harder, knowing it was useless, but refusing to give up. If he could get to his horse, he thought, he might have a chance. The horse wasn’t fast enough to outrun the wolves, but it was a bigger animal and they might choose to ignore Orin in favor of devouring the horse.
He didn’t see the tree root that his foot hung on. One second he was running, and the next he was falling, then rolling through the forest. His head smashed hard into a tree, and the world went mercifully black.
Chapter 21
Wind whipped across the mountaintops in a vicious gale, but Crucifus hardly noticed. The flight from the forest had been difficult. The wound on his stomach wasn’t serious, but it was bothersome. Never before had an animal wounded him so easily and it made him feel old. Perhaps his age had made his scales soft, his strength fleeting. Whatever it was, he knew he needed to eat soon, and rest. Fortunately, he had the time. Humans were slow creatures, even on horseback they traveled at a frustrating pace.
Crucifus guessed he had a few days before Feray made it out of the forest. He had time to hunt, to sleep, and hopefully to heal. The wind was cold, and Crucifus longed to let fire billow across his body but he didn’t want to alert the small herd of big horn sheep that was ascending the mountain below him. Sometimes hunting was fast and exciting, at other times it required patience. He had been eyeing the sheep for a while, the sure-footed creatures had come up from the foothills and seemed undeterred by the foul weather. They were headed for a fissure in the mountainside, and as soon as they were out of direct sight, Crucifus would move down toward them. He needed to be close enough to single out the creature he wanted from the herd.
It was hard to concentrate on the task at hand when his mind kept reverting to other thoughts. He couldn’t get the strange creatures he’d seen of late out of his mind. The dire wolves who attacked and killed without mercy were unnatural. No other animals were as carelessly cruel as he’d seen the huge wolves be. And in the forest, he’d seen scores of huge raptors. Under different circumstances he would have used his fiery breath to deal with the huge birds, but in the homeland of the Ivory Elf Clan he’d been forced to hold his natural tendencies in check. The wound on his stomach, irritating as it was, was proof that the strange creatures were a threat. Perhaps it was their magically enhanced nature that had allowed the eagle to rip into his flesh, and if that were true then none of his kind were safe.
Even more disturbing was the thought that perhaps other creatures were being turned into senseless killing monstrosities as well. What new threat would they be forced to deal with, he wondered? And what would the Ivory Elves do once they learned the evil sorcerer behind the attack was one of their own? He couldn’t be sure his fellow dragons would succeed in convincing the other races to attend a council, much less inspire them to fight.
The sheep finally progressed into the draw on the mountainside where they couldn’t be seen. Crucifus dropped down from the pinnacle of the mountain, staying close as he moved behind the ridge to wait for the sheep to appear again. The Devil’s Teeth were rough, craggy, and filled with caves. There were boulders perched precariously on minuscule ledges, and vast, crumbling cliff faces. Very few animals had the ability to live on the Devil’s Teeth, but the big horn sheep thrived there.
It was late spring, and the days were growing warm through most places in the Western Realm, but the high elevations were still cold, and Crucifus could see a storm brewing in the west, preparing to sweep over the mountains. He would need to find a place to ride out the foul weather, a place where he could rest in peace once he’d eaten. Feray and her fledgling would reach the mountains soon and he hoped to be ready to continue on their journey with them.
A sheep with shaggy white fur crept carefully over the ridge. The wind was blowing from the
sheep toward Crucifus, who stayed low to the ground, his body perfectly still as he tried to blend into the stone and shadows. He was so focused on the animal he was hunting, that the dragon didn’t see the huge lion who went slinking from a cave a little higher up the mountainside. Crucifus was just about to blast the sheep with his fiery breath, when a terrible roar rang out above him. The ram bolted back down the far side of the ridge and Crucifus was just turning to see what had ruined his hunt, when a heavy weight crashed onto his back. The big dragon nearly lost his grip on the mountainside, but managed to hang on. The lion, as big as a knight’s charger, ripped through Crucifus’ right wing as it scrambled higher onto the dragon’s back.
The massive, red head found the attacker just as the lion sank its huge fangs into Crucifus’ neck. Pain like the dragon had never known shot through his body. The nearly impenetrable scales held back most of the teeth, but the curved fangs on the lion’s oversized jaw stabbed painfully into Crucifus’ long, sinuous neck. The dragon was on the steep mountainside, its huge talons gripping the rock to hold it in place, but the pain of the lion’s bite shocked him and he toppled from his perch. Dragon and lion rolled down the rocky mountainside. The lion roared and clawed, but was quickly crushed by the dragon’s weight that slammed onto the oversized creature’s body, smashing its head into the stone and wrenching its neck as it released its hold on the dragon.
Free of his attacker, Crucifus should have taken flight, but his downward momentum was too great and the shock too much to overcome. Crucifus the Red, oldest and wisest of the dragons, crashed and tumbled down the steep terrain, one wing shredded by the lion’s claws, the other broken in the fall. Bones snapped, sharp rocks gouged and even punctured the dragon’s tough hide.
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