“Why are you here, Keane?” Maerek whispered as Keane lead them in and out of alley ways. Maerek could smell a crowd in the distance, upwind from where he was, and they were getting closer to his keep. “I thought you were supposed to be in Ruiska, or at least in your homeland by now. I haven’t seen you since before the wedding.”
“All of the traders are here, Japeth, Aelex, Naeru, Thomas, and Ledría even. We are all here. When we first got here, you remember how Mearto pulled us aside in private. She told each of us, and the message got back to me, that we all needed to return here last month, but remain unseen from you until we needed to make ourselves known.”
“A month ago. That would have been when Drake hatched. Did she tell you where she would be?”
“She didn’t say anything more to us. I thought she would be with you, but she might also be on the ship.”
“What ship? Your ship? We are going back to the Western Wiles?”
“When was the last time you fed?” Keane asked. “Fed properly, I mean? Two weeks ago, or so?”
“Yes, thereabouts.” Maerek sighed. “I am asking too many questions.”
“Yes. Trust me. We need to get you on the ship before anyone knows you left.”
Keane continued to lead Maerek around back alleys and side streets, avoiding the main roads. Maerek assumed that other hunters or spies would be set out to watch for him and then sound word if he was spotted.
“What if there are spies in the backroads?”
“Then you are already dead. Quickly now.”
Homeless lined the back alleys, hidden underneath soiled rags and warm garbage as shelter for the night. A few looked up from being disturbed as Maerek and Keane passed, but shrugged and squirmed deeper into their shelters. At each intersection, Keane and Maerek would wait and watch from the shadows, looking for anyone who was looking for them.
“The ship is just ahead, past this next road,” Keane whispered so only Maerek could hear. Ahead, Maerek could see Japeth and the other traders preparing the boat for departure. On the road, there were three large men, clad in leather vests, black trousers and boots. Each held a metal rod. Maerek squinted and focused on the rods, and then shivered. The same emblems were on the rods as the one used to beat him with when he was in captivity.
The only distinguishing characteristic between the men was a piece of red fabric tied around their right wrists. Each of them also had a small cut across their left forearm. Maerek was relieved to see that the wounds were not healed, and that meant whoever these men were, did not consume any tainted dragon blood.
Maerek deducted that each member of Erith’s band didn’t know who the others were until the night they were told to meet together. A red wrist and cut forearm were simple ways to make yourself known to others. Then he remembered what Erith was really after. He would have instructed his band to capture the young dragon at all costs. Erith was after Drake. The death of Maerek and Mearto, if it occurred, was inconsequential.
“Maerek,” Keane whispered, “hand me the blanket. I am going to draw them away.”
“They could kill you, and probably will. I have a better idea. Do you still carry a knife with you?” Keane smiled and pulled a knife from his belt.
“Hold still. I’ll do the honors,” Keane said. He cut a piece of fabric from Maerek’s white, cotton tunic, rolled it up and bit down on it. Next, he held out his arm and made a quick and thin cut across the outside of his forearm. Blood oozed out easily, and the cotton fabric, partially saturated from Keane’s spit, did well to soak up some of the blood on his forearm. With the fabric sufficiently stained, Keane tied it around his wrist using his mouth and free hand.
Keane took a deep breath, sighed craned his neck to relax, and then walked out of the alley. The three men looked at him, Keane nodded to them and then looked around.
“Did they find the female yet?” one man asked.
“The crew is working her over. She has the hatchling, but the male hasn’t been found yet.”
“What about their nest? He said that we would find the male there,” said another.
“He was gone. The boss expects him to show up soon, so we need all hands. He asked me to replace the watch here, just in case.”
“Where at?”
“Just outside of the gates, not more than a mile.”
The three nodded to each other and then took off at a jog. Maerek waited, sweat building up on his forehead. Confident that the trio of hunters was gone, he came out cautiously, clutching Drake across his chest.
“Quick thinking on your part, Keane,” Japeth said from the boat. “But who’s that third fellow trailing up behind you?” Maerek turned on his heel, smoke steaming out of his nose, one hand holding Drake, the other on the sword at his side.
“Wait! Wait, take me with you,” the stranger said. Keane stepped up to the side of Maerek, knife already drawn.
“Take Drake to the boat,” Maerek hissed. “I’ll sort this out.” Keane put away his knife and carried Drake away. Maerek changed his stance and drew the sword, holding it in front of him with both hands. “Stand where you are!” Maerek called out to the stranger. Maerek sniffed the air, trying to sense the individual. There was a subtle smell of charcoal on the ocean air.
“Maerek, put that away before you hurt someone,” the stranger said, slowing his run to a walk. He was a smaller, older man and hid most of his figure in a thick brown, linen hooded robe. The hood shadowed over most of his face. The man stopped just outside of reach from Maerek’s sword, rolled up his sleeves and then pulled back his hood. Maerek took a step back.
The stranger was thin. Weak and tired were the first two words to come to Maerek as he looked on him. Thin, sandy blonde hair came down to his shoulders and covered cuts, bruises, and scars across his face. He walked jaggedly, favoring his left side. Scars formed on top of scars from his wrists and ankles being shackled for too long. The stranger stretched his arm out in front of him and his shoulder gave an audible pop.
“Boshk? It can’t be…” Maerek whispered.
“After years in those cages, and that Conduit healing me, my shoulders still aren’t right.”
“You died. You went back into the fire. Simmons said he killed you.”
“Maerek, you have much to learn about humans. You must never trust them.” Something within Maerek screamed Danger, the Instinct was slowly beginning to rise, and he had yet to sheath the sword. His mind raced with questions, but so few found the right words, or the right order of importance. Maerek shook his head slightly to clear his mind.
“How are you alive? That is the bigger question,” Maerek asked.
“That is why I need to come with you,” Boshk replied, taking a slow step forward. “I need to tell you everything, everything that happened before we met, and after.”
“No!” Maerek yelled, taking a step backward, gripping the sword tightly. “You didn’t speak the truth then. You will not speak now.”
“Come now, Maerek. You don’t mean to stand there and tell me that you omitted certain truths from your traders? That Vaalkún didn’t tell you things, that your greatest of sires didn’t speak the entirety of the truth to you.”
“It is not the way among kin.”
“It is not the way among kin,” Boshk said laughingly. “Maerek, there is so much you don’t know. But this I will tell you. I am ensuring the protection of our race. If you let me come with you—”
“How, Boshk? Be quick.” Something wasn’t right. The comfort that came from being around kin was void. And instead of warmth, there was a constant numbing chill that didn’t come from the evening breeze over the ocean.
“I made a deal with the Tessírans to protect our lines, to protect our families.”
“What have you done?”
“I’ve done what is needed. Do you think a human mind could have carefully guided the Seer in his questioning, to ensure that the proper experiences were in place to ensure that you kept moving forward, that you kept on being pushed f
aster to get across the Blades? Who do you think planned everything in advance so that you would constantly be on the verge of letting the Instinct out?”
“But why? Why go through all of that? Why, Boshk?”
“The Tessíran government wanted the Seer dead. They assumed he was gaining too much power, but they needed a plan to kill him without him, or any of his allies being any the wiser.”
“To what end, Boshk?” Maerek yelled.
Boshk let out a little chuckle.
“When our lives our bound to his, we will become gods among man. We will be worshiped and live forever, freely upon the whatever sky our wings touch, and whatever ground our claws tear. We will no longer be hunted. You and your son have a key role to play in that.”
Maerek frowned and lowered the sword to his side. He looked back at the boat. Japeth and Aelex looked on from the dock, eyes wide in shock, like surprised prey. Boshk stepped closer to Maerek.
“You should have died in that fire,” Maerek whispered. “I know what you’ve done, how you live. You bound yourself to him.”
“And there isn’t a thing you can do about it,” Boshk said. “I am coming with you on that boat.”
“No, you are not.” Maerek regripped the sword, and in one smooth, fierce motion, slashed the sword through Boshk’s neck, severing flesh and separating bone.
“How?” That was the last question Boshk asked before his head rolled from his shoulders. His torso wriggled back and then collapsed on the dock as dark blood spilled ran between the wood planks into the waves below. Maerek wiped the blade on his shirt before sheathing it and turned to the boat.
“Thank you for being here,” he said as Japeth and Aelex helped him aboard.
“What was that about?” Aelex asked.
“Not the time, Aelex,” Japeth scolded.
“Where is Mearto?” Thomas asked from the wheel.
“I don’t know. I woke up and she was gone,” Maerek replied.
“There’s no time to wait,” Japeth ordered. “It won’t be long before those other three know you’ve lied to them. If we are to protect the hatchling, we need to leave now. I’m sure if Mearto was smart enough to plan this whole thing years ago, she will find us later. Maerek, it’s best if you get below deck. Keane’s already there with your little one.” Japeth opened a trap door that had a rope attached to it. There was a ladder that led below. Slowly, Maerek turned and stepped down the ladder.
It was a cargo hold filled with vibrant smells. There was the scent of peppercorn, turmeric, paprika, as well as softer smells like lavender oil, cotton seed, and vanilla. Above all of the scents was the pervasive aroma of salt. Barrel after barrel were stacked along the walls and extra spaces of the ship’s cargo hold, each lid encrusted in salt, with the word “SALT” stamped in a large burned brand across the middle of each barrel. After a few minutes of careful navigation, he found a spot between two crates to sit. The floor was partially covered in straw, which made for a nice bedding. Keane walked up to him and gently gave the hatchling back to its father.
Maerek moved the straw with his feet, and then sat in the spot with his legs crossed. He unwrapped Drake from his blanket and felt around his wings and feet, making sure he wasn’t hurt during the quick escape.
He brushed his fingers over every dimple and vein on Drake’s wing, softly stroking portions of it repeatedly. He let out a low, affectionate rumble as the boat moved away from dock and the traders made their way to the sea, out toward Ruiska. Drake chirped and cooed back, nuzzling his father’s hand with his snout.
“This will be a first for both of us, little one,” Maerek said softly. “But know this, till my last breath, I will protect you.” Content that no harm had come to his son with their sudden escape, he swaddled the hatchling back in the blanket and held him tightly against his chest. As the boat exited the calm harbor and made to open sea, the slow rolling waves of the ocean gently set the boat rocking back and forth. After a few minutes, both father and son were asleep.
CHAPTER 27
The first week of the four-month journey around the southern continent of Caite was the most miserable Maerek ever felt in his life. While Drake ate up provisions of dried meat and salted pork that Mearto, again, had thoughtfully instructed the traders to bring, Maerek could hardly hold anything down. It seemed to the crew that the hour could be determined by the position of the sun and whether or not Maerek was leaning over the starboard or port side of the ship.
The trip did include some anchoring in hidden bays and natural harbors so that Maerek could hunt, feed, and satiate the Instinct. The first month, Maerek hunted in an area of Caite that translated into the Eastern Waste. It was an expansive desert, filled with box canyons, solo pillars, crevasses and cracks for all types of birds and other game to hide in until the heat of the day passed. Falcons, hawks, blackbirds, jack rabbits, and other smaller game were present enough amongst the thorny and spiked plant life. But Maerek needed large prey. The first night he hunted, he tracked and stalked a six-hundred-pound boar that was leading a group of sows to a watering hole. Maerek snatched the hog from the ground, talons puncturing the sides and neck, killing the behemoth instantly. He tore chunks of flesh and ate as he flew back to the ship. The smell of the beast and flesh was violently pungent, riddled with the scent of fermented urine. Maerek decided to land at the beach, finish his meal and then return to the ship.
At the next hunt, in an area to the south of the Waste, Maerek tracked another herd of wild hogs along the edge of the thorny underbrush, waiting for a larger individual to break off from the group. When one did, Maerek banked and began his dive, but pulled up as he spotted a sudden movement. Something that he dismissed as a strange rock formation, lashed out like snake, fast as lightning, and coiled around the hog. The hog screamed for a few seconds before the coils of the large predator crushed the air out of its lungs.
Maerek considered striking down on the giant snake creature and the hog but was unsure if the snake creature was venomous and ruined the hog’s meat. But that snake creature was too large not to pass up. The hog looked like a large rat, or rabbit in the giant snake’s coils, comparing it to other venomous snakes Maerek had seen. The snake had to be as long as he was, possibly longer, and dense with meat that he hoped, did not smell as bad as boar. If he was successful in killing the snake, he estimated that there would be enough food for him to last the remainder of the trip. It was a risk he was willing to take.
Maerek hovered high above the giant snake as it uncoiled itself from the prey and began to unhinge its jaws. Maerek could see slimy pools of spit collecting under the snake’s head, an instinctual response in preparation for engorging prey. As the snake turned to the head of the boar, Maerek tucked his wings and dove on the black, slithering thing. He aimed one claw for the back of the snake’s neck, and the other for its head.
The strike was perfect as Maerek crushed the snake’s head and snapped its neck simultaneously. The snake coiled and writhed, nerves firing and then still. Maerek heaved against the warm dry air, struggling to gain altitude, but pressed on, pushing against an air that almost wasn’t there. It took two hours of rigorous flight after the kill to make it to the bay the traders were anchored at. With a relief, Maerek dropped the giant snake on the sand before circling down and landing next to his kill. The traders let out a “whoop” when Maerek landed. Maerek smiled and gestured for the traders to come to the beach.
They met him on the sandbar, rowing a small dingy across the calm water. Keane had carried Drake over, holding to him tightly as Maerek had. Aelex and Naeru elected to stay behind so that they could help lower, and then raise the boat back up to the main ship.
“Do any of you know what this is?” Maerek asked, hoping that their experience would provide more answers than the songs of his memory. The snake was as long as he was, and its back was a smoke shade of grey. The belly was pearl white, with red and yellow coloring at the edges of the scales. The snake also had a large hood that stretched from t
he back of the eyes down the spine at least ten feet. Maerek rolled the head of the snake over to show the traders, and a sweet, calming smell surrounded them. It was like similar to rosemary, but stronger with something that made the mouth water. The hood of the snake had blood red scale patterns in long triangles that jutted out from the neck and curved outwards and descended the length of the hood.
“Turn it over Maerek, hood down, for all our sakes,” Thomas said, covering his nose with his shirt with one hand and tossing Maerek’s satchel of clothes over to him with his other hand. “That’s a Caitian basilisk. You must have killed it hours ago, because from what I’ve read, the musk of the basilisk is very hypnotic. That’s one way they catch their prey or defend themselves when they are newly born.”
“So, this is safe to eat?” Maerek asked, staring down at the carcass.
“Boars prey on the smaller ones,” Thomas replied, “and considering that their anatomy is similar to a human, lacking any glands or organs for processing venom or some type of toxin within the snake itself, I would infer that this is safe for consumption.”
“Since when did you become such the naturalist?” Japeth asked, shock and amusement in his voice. “I thought you stuck to studying plants and the like.”
“Just read a few books I picked up in Tessír. I also had the chance to visit with other naturalists from Caite that came to Tessír to study the ecology and bio-diversity of the desert.”
“I think we have a bigger problem,” Ledría commented. “How is all of this,” she said gesturing to the snake, “going to get on that?” she asked gesturing to the larger vessel anchored out in the bay. “Maerek, you can’t eat the whole thing, can you?”
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