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‘Sharing drink’ with dwarves ended up meaning a full night’s worth of reveling for Durlag and his newfound friends. And although night never actually came, Mey and the others opted to spend the hours coming up with and executing a better disguise for her. The divine magics Elerbee had placed on her were beginning to fade.
After spending hours drinking and defying all reason on how a person could possibly stay upright after so much ale, Durlag staggered into the small camp the group had put up hastily just beyond the main meeting hall where the dwarves spent much of their time drinking.
The dwarf had just enough sobriety left to tell them his new friend, Raf, had explained that this clan had not heard anything from Chal for weeks. They ventured to check on their neighbors but had been kept at bay by a mysterious force. Fear was virtually unknown to dwarves but each time they tried to enter the pass that lead into the city of Chal, a crippling fear would turn them back and not one of them wanted to try again.
“But I’ll be damned if I let some silly magic…” his words trailed off into a loud snore as the hard dwarven spirits took him into slumber.
“Well, that probably cinches it. Chal is more than likely lost,” Thom said as he threw a rough woolen blanket over the dwarf.
Mey stared into the small fire, watching the flames dance. She couldn’t save them and the profound loss gripped her insides and twisted. She had failed her friend; a proud and trustworthy dwarf, Durlag didn’t deserve this pain. If she was so special, why couldn’t she have saved them?
A comforting hand stroked her hair. Thom sat beside her, silently offering the reassurance she needed.
“He shouldn’t go with us,” she voiced her concern.
“You know that won’t be an option for him. Mey, these are his people – I think he feels it’s his duty to make sure they rest peacefully. No one here is under the false impression that we will find the city of Chal alive and bustling.” He pulled her in and let her nestle into his arms. She should have felt reassured, but the weight of each of her friend’s troubles felt heavy. And this is only the beginning, she thought. The whole world is relying on me.
After a few hours rest, the friends prepared to go on to the doomed city. A somber silence draped their travels and even Elerbee’s normally inspiring presence had not helped ease the burden Mey felt.
They spent the better part of two days burying the dead of Chal. Durlag mourned as only a dwarf knew how; he drank. Elerbee gave rites to each and every soul; surely a painstaking process and Mey admired how much he gave of himself to serve the deserving people of the dwarven city. I should be so giving of myself, she vowed silently.
Durlag insisted he did not want to go further into Stord. He was not ready to face his own people. For now, it was enough to make sure his neighbors had the respectful burial they deserved. He was ready to move on and they all took his cue as he led the way out of Chal and onward toward their destination in the Caves of Endless Time.
TWENTY-THREE
The Forest of Nott. Squat trees with leaves larger than the average person covered the landscape as far as Mey could see. Something twisted low in her belly and she could hear Makagesh humming with delight. She knew, instinctively, she was supposed to be here. A buzz of excitement and fear mixed with adrenaline rushed through her veins.
As they made their way among the trees, Mey stayed close between Thom and her uncle. Not that they would have let her out of their sight, to begin with.
None of them had ever actually been to the Caverns of Time, though she had a feeling her uncle knew more about them than he was letting on. The Idylic was rumored to be in the Caverns and she recalled he had once seen the heart and soul of dragon existence when he was a quickling. That was over four hundred years ago. Maybe it had been in a different place.
When the dragons fled this world, they’d escaped through the Caverns. Lost in time, they mourned the fall of their homeland. She felt their pain profoundly here, just as she felt the pain and injustice of the people who still populated the land.
She reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek, wincing at the scratchy feel of her skin.
The scales on her hands and arms had roughened and the color had darkened to a deep, rich purple, matching the color streaking her hair. She still felt like a hideous monster but her worry about her appearance was fading. There were so many other things that occupied her mind.
The fact that she alone would be the one to save this world was a reality which weighed so heavily on her shoulders she’d begun to feel as if she walked with a permanent hunch. She curled her fists in defiance.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Her feet felt as though stuck in quicksand, struggling to take a step and the harder she tried the weaker she felt. The entire world is depending on me.
“Mey?”
“Lass?”
“Meylaran?”
The voices were mingled and they all spoke at once, full of concern. She looked up to see all of her friends crowded around her. When had she fallen? She reached up with shaking hands. Thom grasped them and helped her stand.
“I need a moment…”
Thom led her to the shelter of a tree and helped her sit.
“We can’t stay here.” Bob said. “Something has been following us. I can hear it but I have yet to catch a glimpse.”
“I can smell it,” Mey confirmed. She inhaled and caught the faint fetid smell on the breeze. Instinct kicked in, and she knew they had to keep moving and get out of here. “I’m alright. Let’s go.”
Their pace quickened with urgency and an edge of fear at what could be tracking them.
“The Caverns are at the heart of the forest,” Thom told them when they finally slowed. They had already been walking for hours, the trees and underbrush getting denser as they traveled. The sunlight had started fading that morning and their last glimpse of the sky was just before they entered the deeper forest. Stars like he had never seen were starting to emerge, but they were all different colors and were beginning to line up in the sky.
“We’re on the right path. I can feel it,” she assured him.
“Why don’t we take a brief respite,” Thom suggested. “Catch our breath.” Grunts and nods greeted the suggestion.
“Mey, let’s talk,” he said abruptly.
Hesitating briefly to consider his intent, she nodded. They made their way through the trees and found a small clearing. Very little light shone through the cracks of the canopy of leaves that spanned across the opening. It was oddly beautiful watching the dust in the air float lazily through the light streamers. She felt Thom’s hands rest on her shoulders, his breath heavy on her neck as he leaned in.
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear.
Squeezing her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling and the anger from boiling forth, she only shook her head. The one thing she wanted in this world was to leave all this behind and run away with Thom. But that wasn’t even an option; her destiny was to see the world righted. Her duty was to serve the people, not her own selfish desires.
“You can’t.”
“But I do. And I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer.”
“Thom,” she said as she turned. “You do realize what is happening to me?”
“I don’t care.”
He pulled her closer and folded his arms around her tightly. It would be so easy to let herself go, let his love take her to a place where only the two of them existed. Without a doubt, she loved him, too. Deeply. This isn’t fair! They could never have a life together. Even if he survived this, it was almost certain that she would not – not in mortal form.
Taking a deep breath, she froze. A wild smell filled her nostrils and sent her mind reeling. It wasn’t right and it was close. Why hadn’t she heard it?
Thom immediately sensed the change in her.
“What is it?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t know. Something is close. We have to get back—“
&
nbsp; Her words were cut short as a feral scream sounded behind her. The blood in her veins turned icy and she felt the heat in her middle rise quickly in response. A low growl rumbled through her clenched teeth. Thom dropped his arms and reached for his pouches of gemstones.
Turning in time to see the two milky white eyes that stared at her from the trees, Mey let another growl erupt. She sent an urgent mental alarm to her uncle. A deep loathing for this creature flowed through her. She didn’t know what it was but she knew it didn’t belong in this world.
Slowly, it stepped from beyond the protection of the trees with another cat-like scream. Its focus locked on her. In a blink, she was holding a dagger in each hand. She could hear Thom chanting in a low voice behind her.
Makagesh’s voice trickled through her consciousness: Gnor.
Gnor!? What was a mythical beast doing standing right in front of her? A mammoth creature, its shaggy hair covered only its head and chin. Muscles in its arms and legs rippled with each move it made. It reeked of evil.
The air in front of her shimmered slightly. Elerbee’s shield. Good, her message got through to them. As soon as it sensed the magical shift around her, the Gnor leaped, hitting the shield that sparked and crackled at the intrusion. Short, barking sounds came from the Gnor’s throat. Was it laughing?
An arrow streaked by her, flying straight at the beast’s face. The Gnor dropped at the last second and the arrow sank into the tree behind it.
Turning, it charged for Mey.
Summoning strength from the dragon blood coursing through her veins, Mey fell into a crouch, daggers in hand. She threw as the creature bounded toward her. They stuck fast in its thick hide. Four more blades appeared, seemingly out of thin air, in her hands.
Three glowing bands materialized, encircling the Gnor and tightening quickly. Silently thanking the gods for the presence of a mage, Mey didn’t miss a beat. She sprang easily to the nearest branch, vaulting over and landing behind the creature. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, she let all four daggers loose. Each one buried to the hilt in the Gnor’s large back.
The monster screamed and thrashed at the binding circles, breaking two of them.
From the corner of her eye, Mey caught flashes of light in the vicinity of where Elerbee had stood moments before. Quickly drawing two more weapons from the bandolier across her chest, she skittered back a couple of feet. In the next beat of the deadly dance, Durlag charged in.
Only she had to check her shock, because it was Durlag but he was almost as large as the Gnor. He let out a massive yell as he brought his axe about to land a solid blow on the creature’s shoulder.
More arrows flew in, exploding on impact with the monster. Mey smiled; Elerbee was certainly working his divine energy just where it was needed most.
She danced lightly around the partially entangled Gnor, placing herself opposite Durlag, who winked at her as he prepared another powerful swing of his axe. Mey planted her feet and put all her power behind the two daggers she aimed at the beast’s face. One sank into the muscular neck, the other struck right on target, through the left eye of this unnatural beast.
The screams from the Gnor rose to an ear-splitting level as it thrashed against the last restraining band. Mey heard Thom’s chanting grow louder. The air around where she last stood shimmered and twisted and moved into a cone of humming energy that hurtled toward the monster’s chest, knocking it back into Durlag, whose curses were drowned out by the gruesome beast’s dying cries.
Quiet settled on the small clearing. Smoke rose in wisps from the unmoving Gnor. Muffled sounds emanated from someplace on the Gnor’s body, though she didn’t perceive them to flow from his mouth. Her weapons back at the ready in the beat of a heart. Mey slowly approached the creature, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the huge, gaping hole in its chest. Another muffled sound made her tense as she watched unbelievably as the Gnor moved. How in Sirrah’s name could it have survived that?
Then she saw the source of the movement. Durlag, trapped underneath the corpse, wriggled his head free.
“A little help?” he growled.
Mey tried not to smile, but the dwarf had returned to his normal size, his face red with the strain of trying to escape the heavy weight on top of him.
“Don’t just stand there gawking, get yerself over here and move this stinking hulk off o’ me!”
Mey and the others moved swiftly to free him. He cursed Thom the entire time.
“Coulda given a body some warning you were about to blow a hole through the nasty thing!”
“I’m sorry. I…I just…threw the first spell that came to mind.” Thom shrugged.
“What in the ten hells was that thing?”
“Gnor,” Bob said. “They have not been seen since the dragons left.” His gaze landed on Mey.
“We have to keep moving,” Mey said.
A sense of urgency compelled her. A scream in the distance confirmed her thoughts. They were being hunted. More of these things, surely but gods only knew what else. “We have to find that cave.”
They made haste toward the center of the forest. Mey caught shadowy glimpses from the corner of her eye as they traveled.
Nerves on end, she jumped at every sound. She was leading them now, instinct and the Heartstone guiding her. The trees started to thin and the dirt path turned rocky. All around them now, the cries and screams of unknown beasts sounded. Oddly, no closer than before. Almost as if they were being herded and watched.
“The things inside that cave are just as bad as what we have already faced.” Bob’s soft voice floated on the slight breeze. “Or worse.”
“I knew it!” She wheeled on him. “You’ve been here. You know what we face. Why would you keep that from us?”
Bringing his hands up in a sign of surrender, Bob’s brow came together. “Meylaran? What are you talking about?”
“You just said we would face worse things inside the Caverns!” she accused.
“I…I do not know what you mean.” He shook his head. “I did not speak.”
Another voice in her ear sounded. “It was me.”
She turned; no one. Then from another direction. “No, over here.”
“Stop it!” she screamed at the voices. Bringing hands to her ears, she tried to block them out, twisting, trying to find who spoke.
A bright light. The voices started to fade as the light grew larger and came closer to her. Hands reached forth from the light. She backed away, but as she drew apart from the light, voices began whispering to her.
“What do you want?” she asked weakly.
The hands came closer. She no longer shrank from them, because they were keeping the voices away. They rested on her shoulders and a feeling of calm descended on her. She sighed and closed her eyes.
“Mey? Mey, can you hear me?”
“What happened?”
“A Confusion spell. A ward of some sort. We must be very close.”
Opening her eyes cautiously, she looked at the hands still resting on her shoulders, following them to their source.
“Elerbee.”
“Good thing I recognized it so quickly or we would have all been drawn in.” He smiled reassuringly at her.
“We should check the area for more,” Thom broke in.
“You’ll be fine,” Elerbee told her before moving away.
She nodded.
“That was a divine spell,” he told Thom. “There has to be several priests here. It takes more than one, working together, to create that level of power.”
Mey moved to the side of the path as Thom and Elerbee called up spells that would reveal both divine and arcane magics. She scanned her immediate surroundings for signs of physical traps. None found, she sniffed the air for any changes. Nothing had changed but her sense of urgency had increased.
Her hands went to the small pouch hanging at her hip where the Heartstone rested. It seemed to vibrate at her touch, as if it too felt an unexplained urgency. She felt tugged in a sout
hward direction.
“Thom.” Unable to resist the energy, she stumbled forward. “This way.” She called the last over her shoulder as she gripped the stone and obeyed its insistence.
Mey led them down a winding path that took a sharp turn to the right, into a grove of thick trees. She took a deep breath, looking at the fracture in the rock, opening into darkness beyond. The others came up behind her.
“This is it.”
Voices from inside the Cavern had them scattering to find concealment.
Two men emerged, both wearing vestments with the symbol of Yenoh. A plan formed quickly in Mey’s mind and she imparted it to the others. Thom was next to her, shaking his head but she grabbed him by the arm and before he could protest further, pulled him out into the opening.
The two priests stopped short, surprised. Their stance changed quickly to one of defense.
“What are you doing, there?”
Smiling her sweetest smile, Mey sauntered forward, careful to pull the cloak around her face.
“We’re lost. You see, we wandered off of the path a while back…” She moved her wrists slightly, allowing the concealed daggers there to release from their harness and slip into her hands.
The younger priest was accommodating.
“You should take this small animal trail,” he began but the elder priest cut him off.
“This area is off limits to anyone but priests. You’ll come with us and we will let the Elder decide what to do with you.”
Mey’s smile turned into a sneer and the cloak slipped, revealing her eyes. The men’s shocked expressions froze on their faces. They didn’t move, held fast by magic. She looked over her shoulder at Thom.
“There’s no sense in killing them.” He moved past her. “Here, help me get their robes.”
They donned the oversized robes and moved the men’s immobilized bodies into the brush where Bob was hiding. They tied them with rope and Bob stood guard in case the spell wore off before they could return. Mey and Thom made their way into the Caverns.
The air was cooler and the smell of rot mingled with beeswax candles and a sweeter smell she couldn’t identify. The walls were smooth rock. There was a lingering sadness that permeated these walls; an ancient sorrow that awakened something familiar.
Reborn (The Dragons of Cantor Book 1) Page 26