by Emmett Swan
Laughlin followed Yasna. He stayed close to her, his gaze moving down her back. He couldn’t help but notice the curve of her hips and buttocks beneath the thin shift she wore. Instinctively, he reached out and gently placed his hand high on her right hip. He simply wanted to feel her move. To experience everything about this enchanting creature, though he had only just met her. He saw the absurdity of the thought the instant it came into his mind. Yet there it was, and he felt it. She casually glanced over her shoulder at him and put her hand to her hip, covering his. He breathed in her lovely scent, paying no attention to where they went.
Truly, I would follow this lass anywhere.
They rounded the corner of her dwelling, and Laughlin saw a wide, stone-paved plaza before him, with a large natural pond on the opposite side. He assumed it was the Pool of Solace. Large shards of yellow crystal were positioned at several places along the perimeter of the plaza. The pool was rimmed with clusters of reeds, like the other pools they had seen, though this pond was many times larger.
The courtyard was empty except for a group engaged in conversation on a bench near the edge of the pool. As he and Yasna stepped into the open, the members of the group halted their conversation and peered at them with curious faces.
One standing among them stood taller than the others, with a thin frame and narrow shoulders.
“We are in luck,” said Yasna. “There’s Iragram now, standing by the bench. You’d better wait here.”
Laughlin watched her walk up to the group and exchange greetings with them. She then pointed to Laughlin and spoke quickly. Iragram glanced at Laughlin, studying him. He then walked with Yasna to where he waited.
“Greetings,” he said. “I am Iragram, mystical adviser to King Brecan. And you, as I understand it, are a traveler from Earth with a problem.”
“That is correct,” said Laughlin, encouraged by Iragram’s friendly manner. “My brothers and I have been cursed by the Lady of the Mist. Keeva, you call her. We have stood as trees in a forest on Earth for over two hundred years. We have been given temporary relief from the elixir’s power, but in mere hours we return to our tree forms. We seek to have the curse lifted before that happens.”
“Strange,” said Iragram. “I have never heard of a luth application being temporarily reversed. Hmm. May I ask why she cursed you?”
Laughlin saw no reason to keep anything back. Their cause was just, so hopefully a wise man could see that.
“One called Thallach was stealing gold from our estate. We wished to capture him and bring him to justice. Keeva preferred we not interfere with his workshop activities. So she tricked us and turned us into trees.”
“Ah, yes, Thallach. A master distiller of mirclair.”
“That is him. Keeva gave us temporary relief from the curse on the condition that we acquire a vial of mirclair from Thallach before she would lift the curse for good.”
“I see. And did you succeed?”
“Yes. I mean, we got our hands on the vial. But we chose not to give Keeva the mirclair, for we did not wish to be catalysts for war.”
“And Keeva refused to help?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask her?” asked Yasna.
“We did! But she just got angry at us. Her last words were for us to return to the forest forever.”
Iragram nodded, rubbing his chin. “Though some think the wisest course of action is to destroy the vial, it is true that Keeva covets the red elixir. She wishes to punish Panagu but cannot until the armies of Derfaria have enough to transport their forces.”
“So I have heard,” said Laughlin.
“King Brecan is not a rash man,” said Iragram, “but the men of Panagu have done despicable things to the fair maidens of Derfaria, so he has declared war on that realm.”
“Now we live in constant fear of attacks from invisible Panaguan armies,” said Yasna.
“I acknowledge the transgression was grave,” said Laughlin, “but my brothers and I do not wish to give your army the means to slaughter the innocent people of any land, no matter how guilty this Neasan and his compatriots may be. There must be other means of resolving this.”
“She is my mother,” said Yasna, looking at Iragram, “and I have heard the tale of these acts of Panaguan men many times in my life. Yet I agree with Laughlin. Justice must be served. But war is not the answer.”
Iragram continued rubbing his chin. “Yes, war is a terrible thing.” He walked to the Pool of Solace and looked out at its clear waters. After a few minutes of contemplation, he turned back to them. “I may be able to help. Please, wait here and I will retrieve a vial of luth from my dwelling. It is close.”
As Iragram strode away, Laughlin watched the breeze from the pool shift his long white hair. He allowed himself to hope. Perhaps salvation was at hand.
He took a furtive glance around the plaza. “It’s not good waiting out here in the open. Is there somewhere we can go to wait?”
“Iragram lives close,” said Yasna. “And as long as the others only stare there can be no harm.”
Laughlin felt exposed and vulnerable. But Yasna was at his side. That was what mattered most.
Forty-Six
King Brecan, along with four stout guards, led Jessica and Conall down the grand staircase they had ascended an hour earlier. Each guard held ornate spears decorated with inlay of silver. Two guards walked in front with the king, their white robes billowing as they descended the steps. The two in the rear pointed their spear tips at Jessica’s and Conall’s backs.
At the bottom of the stairs, they passed through a hall and were led into a large atrium. Dim light filtered in from a large skylight above. It was a cavernous room large enough for tendrils of thin mist to be seen in the upper corners.
As they neared a large door, the king stopped and raised his hand, and the party halted. One of the guards opened the stone doors, and Jessica realized it was the main entrance near which they had waited while the guard and his buddies on the steps had chatted away.
King Brecan put his hands on his hips and looked over Jessica and Conall again. “You do not strike me as dangerous, but I must be sure. I cannot take chances with the security of my people. But I assure you I will speak with Keeva and get to the bottom of things. In the meantime, you will be taken to our holding cells not far from here.”
He gestured at the four guards. “These men are members of my elite royal guard. They are not to be trifled with. If you make any attempt to escape, you will very likely be skewered. I will come to you later. It may be to release you or it may not. Though I say you seem harmless, your presence here concerns me. I fear it bodes evil.”
King Brecan turned to one of the guards. “Lock them up and watch them carefully. Though they do not possess elixir, if you see anything strange, such as one of them turning into a tree, do not open the cell door. Come and inform me.”
The guard nodded and prodded Jessica and Conall in the back toward the door. They had but taken a step when four funnels of green light appeared inside the atrium. An instant later, four stocky men with red hair stood before them, swords at their sides. Jessica recognized Thallach as one of the four.
“Panagu!” cried King Brecan, taking a step back. “Royal guards, attack!”
The Derfarian guards approached the newcomers, their spears extended before them. The four Panaguans drew their swords.
“Halt!” one of the Panaguans cried. “We are not here to make war. We wish to speak.”
“We will speak with you through the bars of our cells!” called King Brecan, and the Derfarian guards continued to advance.
Then several more vortices of green appeared, and four more Panaguan warriors materialized behind the first four. These newcomers drew their swords.
“Please listen,” continued the Panaguan who spoke before. “We will defend ourselves, but we are not here to fight. We seek an audience.”
“Wait!” cried King Brecan. “I know your vile visage!” His face flushed red
and distorted into a scowl. “You are that foul Neasan. Your treachery will not work here. Gryphons, attack!”
The four Derfarian guards, now outnumbered, pulled out vials of blue elixir. Giant funnels of blue light appeared, and the guards were transformed into huge gryphons with great wings and ferocious claws. They stood on their powerful hind legs, and flapping their feathered wings for balance, they approached the Panaguan warriors, towering over them.
The Panaguans cowered before such formidable beasts. “Norl!” called out Neasan, and in an instant, there were eight whirls of green light and the Panaguans vanished.
“They are here somewhere!” called out King Brecan. “Find them and destroy them.”
“But we may destroy you first,” said a voice, and the eight men reappeared, surrounding King Brecan. All pointed their swords at him, inches from his throat.
“Have your gryphons stand down,” said Neasan, holding his sword to King Brecan’s throat. “I repeat, we are not here to fight but to talk.”
King Brecan looked down briefly at the sword poking his neck and at the determined face of the man holding it. He held up his hand as the gryphons approached, drool oozing from their giant beaks. At the king’s sign, they halted.
“If you insist, we will parlay,” said King Brecan. “But be forewarned. Unless what you have to say is truly remarkable, it is back to arms.”
Neasan looked up at the gryphons. “If you would, please have them return to human form while we speak. I feel uneasy with their evil gaze upon my back.”
King Brecan pulled out a vial of luth and gestured to Jessica. “You, please administer this to the Gryphons, as they cannot do this themselves,” he said. “One drop on their front left leg, just above the talons.”
Jessica took the vial and gaped at the four menacing creatures. “Are you sure they won’t hurt me?”
“They obey my command,” he replied, “and I have ordered them to stand down.”
Jessica tentatively approached the first gryphon, sidestepping a steady stream of drool, and kneeled before its large form. Its wings continued to beat slowly back and forth, helping the creature keep its balance, and Jessica could feel the puff of wind each wing beat caused. A hiss issued from the creature’s beak. It was contained and low, and though the hairs on her neck pricked up, she carried on with her task.
Standing as far away as she could, she slowly reached out her arm to place a drop of the luth onto the creature’s leg. She had to lean forward and became aware that her neck was exposed to the creature’s bite. One simple snip and her life was over.
Despite such thoughts, she managed to drop the elixir where it needed to go, and the Gryphon was swallowed up in a huge swirl of blue and howling wind. A second later, the monster had reverted to a Derfarian guard.
“Here,” she said, handing the vial to the guard. “You do the others.”
She stepped back and watched the three other guards return to their Derfarian form.
“Now,” said King Brecan, turning to Neasan, “what is it you wish to say?”
The Panaguans lowered their swords. Neasan bowed. “Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am King Neasan, the sovereign of Panagu.”
“So you are king now? Be that as it may, you have disgraced my daughter! You still must pay for your transgressions.”
“I have no doubt transgressed, but not in the way you think. Shall I tell you a story?”
Forty-Seven
For several minutes, Laughlin waited with Yasna on the wide plaza. He felt increasingly uneasy as the Derfarians on the nearby bench continued to stare in their direction. The thick heat made him sweat. He could feel rivulets of water trickling down his back.
“What keeps this Iragram?” asked Laughlin. “My skin begins to crawl waiting for him.”
“I’m not sure. His dwelling is just beyond the far bank of the Pool of Solace.” She pointed to a line of small dwellings visible across the expanse of the pond. “Perhaps he is searching his stores for the vial.”
“Or alerting the constables!”
“Ah, I see him now.”
Iragram rounded a dense cluster of reeds that grew along a corner of the pond.
And he was not alone, for beside him walked Keeva.
She strode with short, brisk steps. Her long white robes flowed behind her. Her beautiful face, clear now that she was in her full form rather than the wispy apparition Laughlin had seen in Saler Swamp, was scowling. In her hand she held a vial of blue elixir.
“Does she come to free us?” For a moment, Laughlin’s hope soared. But though he did not know Keeva well, he could see her face was teeming with anger.
“My ally has turned against me,” said Yasna, gripping Laughlin’s hand tightly. “Be prepared to fight for your life.” She called out to Keeva and Iragram as they approached. “So Iragram, my mentor, you have betrayed me.”
“I am sorry, my dear, but I serve Derfaria and its king. Not those that act in the service of Panagu.”
“Yasna, it is you who is the betrayer!” cried Keeva, her pale skin flushing crimson red. “My own daughter, my flesh and blood. You who should have the most sympathy for my plight. Yet you give succor to those that would protect the Panaguans! The thought stabs my breast like a sword to the heart.”
Laughlin felt cowered by this raging woman. She was a formidable presence. Yet, to his surprise, Yasna took a step toward her and looked her mother in the eye.
“You do me injustice,” she said. “Have I not, for many years, lain beside you as you wept tears of pain and anger toward Neasan? Have I not comforted you as you cried out in the night? Have I not heard you describe the face of Neasan in great detail as you expressed a longing for his destruction? I know what you have endured, for I endured it with you. And I have great sympathy for you.”
Keeva pointed at Laughlin. “Yet you stand next to one who would keep justice at bay. One who would assist the base citizens of Panagu and their vile queen? For this earthling and his accomplices hold the red elixir.”
Yasna shook her head. “No, mother! That is how you see it, but it is not that simple. How can unleashing death and destruction upon the people of Panagu serve justice? Most of those living in that realm are innocent of Neasan’s actions. Just as innocent as are this boy and his two brothers. Yet you ruined their lives, forcing them to live as trees for hundreds of years. How is that serving justice?”
“Panagu!” spat Keeva, angry fire blazing in her eyes. “Its citizens are not innocent! They protect Neasan, who now lives in their royal palace with Princess Velthia. I will smite whoever would protect them.”
She walked up to Laughlin, disgust written on her face.
“And these earthlings, who possess a full vial of mirclair sufficient for us to send our army into the heart of Panagu, have also chosen to protect Neasan and his compatriots. If they shall not cooperate, they must face the consequences of their indiscretion.”
Laughlin desperately considered what to say. He was in great danger. And though Yasna was Keeva’s daughter, she had stood up to her mother, and he sensed that she, too, was at risk. But how could he convince this woman, who was full of long-entrenched rage, that what they were doing was reasonable?
He decided that truth, reason, and respect were his best options.
“We do not wish to stand in the way of justice,” he said, trying to look braver than he felt. “But there must be another way besides wholesale war.”
“There is no other way!” erupted Keeva. “The Panaguan queen sits on her throne, believing her vile husband safe from the reach of Derfarian justice. She will die. He will die. And everyone who stands in the way of their destruction shall die as well—every child, every woman, and every earthling!” She spat out these last words. “So, earthling,” she continued, “I will have the mirclair. Either you will give it to me now or you and all of your comrades will be destroyed.”
Laughlin looked into Keeva’s face, so distorted by her passion that her natural beauty was
lost in base ugliness. There were no lubricating words of logic to which she would listen. No soothing of her anger. Keeva was bitterly determined. It was clear she would not rest until all of Panagu and even Earth, if need be, were destroyed. But still, he could not change his stance. He tried his best to return Keeva’s piercing gaze.
“I do not know the people of Panagu, but I know as long as my brothers and I hold the red elixir, both Panagu and Derfaria are safe. I can see your lust for vengeance. You seek to destroy, to kill innocents, even though your land is not under threat. I do not possess the mirclair, but if I did I would not give it to you.”
Yasna took Laughlin’s hand in hers and turned to Keeva. “You are my mother, but your heart has been blackened by your desire for revenge. I stand with this earthling.”
“Then you both shall die!” screamed Keeva, spittle flying from the edge of her mouth.
With those words, she dropped a blue drop of elixir on an elaborately drawn rune on her forearm, and an instant later, a stupendous funnel of blue light shot upward as high as a house. A violent wild wind rushed around them, almost knocking Laughlin and Yasna to the ground. A second later, a horrifying monster appeared before them. They both cowered before the towering creature. It had the body of a serpent as thick as an aged oak tree, and it stood taller than a building with a tail nearly as long. The great serpent had powerful, leathery wings and an oversized head. Its mouth gaped, revealing rows of perfectly sharp teeth behind two pronounced fangs, each of which was as long as a handspike. The creature hissed loudly and slithered toward them.
Laughlin was stiff with fear. He huddled with Yasna, his mind racing, trying to think, while his eyes darted around to espy a weapon of some sort. But they were completely unarmed, and there seemed no hope of escape.
Droplets of venom dripped from the creature’s fangs and its head shook with anger. Laughlin tried to steel himself against the inevitable and bravely face this giant viper’s wrath, but panic gripped him.