by Blink, Bob
They had other problems as well. They had spent two days after leaving the mines rebuilding their supplies. That effort had been revealing. One would expect that game might be far scarcer here in this barren land than in the rich mountains they had left far behind, but they were unprepared for the rotting corpses and half eaten antelope that they found in the hills to the west behind them. Something had been attacking and killing off what animals did exist here. Many of the dead animals showed signs of deep burns, while others were marked with ragged cuts from sharp claws. The signs said many had been dragged away, but others had been left to putrefy after being killed. The small herds they found still living were skittish and hard to approach, which had made their hunting more difficult.
Rigo was almost certain the antelope had been killed by the same creatures they had encountered in the cave. The creature had appeared slow, but perhaps that was because of the dark. They have never encountered one in the light, and with the magic they carried, they might be more than capable of bringing down even the fleet antelope. That suggested they needed to be alert to the presence of the creatures, and be prepared for a more vicious attack than they had experienced before. Since only Jeen seemed able to stop them, it was a matter of some concern, especially if they encountered many of the creatures as suggested by the herds that had been wiped out.
Besides food, water was a serious matter. They had filled every skin they had as full as possible. They had left behind anything they didn’t really need, including spare clothes and any gear that wasn’t absolutely essential. Thus far, even with their lightened loads, they had been using water more rapidly than he’d expected. They had been able to replenish at the brackish pond earlier, using Ash’urn’s ability to purify, but since then there had been no sign of more water out here. Two more days and they would have to turn back if they didn’t find another source, otherwise they couldn’t be sure of making their way out of the Ruins before they ran out. Rigo didn’t know how much farther they had to go to reach his destination, only that it was close. He also didn’t know what he would do if they were forced to decide if they would risk running out of water.
Everything they had encountered here was deadly. The small twisted brush sported small sharp needles that left a quickly swelling sore if one were pricked. They had seen a variety of snakes and lizards, which fortunately had given them a wide berth thus far. None were varieties any of them had seen before. Even the widely read Ash’urn didn’t know, but he said certain features suggested they might be poisonous.
Yesterday they had seen a huge black spider apparently feasting on a very large dead bird. The spider had a series of yellow rings on its legs, and Rigo couldn’t help but wonder how it had managed to bring down a bird, especially one so much larger than itself. He kept an eye out for the things, and never saw another, but still couldn’t rid himself of the thought there were hundreds lurking, waiting their opportunity. He hated spiders.
The deadly yellow vipers were another matter. They not only were poisonous, the damned things seemed to be drawn to their camps at night. Rigo and Jeen had been forced to blast dozens of the things with their magic, and one of them had to be awake at all times during the night hours, especially in the early evening and shortly before dawn. During the coldest hours of night the snakes appeared to be less active, but they weren’t comfortable assuming none would appear. None of the deadly snakes had been seen during the day. They appeared not to like the intense sunlight.
Now as they marched relentlessly forward, Rigo wondered once again what was drawing him here. And why here? What was there in this desolate land that would be worth seeking out? He hoped it was worth the risks of bringing everyone into such a dangerous place.
Rigo’s thoughts were interrupted as Kaler tapped him on the shoulder. Rigo looked over at his friend who pointed into the distance. They had just cleared a small rise in the rolling and ravine filled land, and there, still some distance away was a high tower that gleamed brightly in the sun. It wasn’t what they were seeking, Rigo knew. It was off the line they needed to travel. But it was certainly not natural and worthy of investigation.
“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Rigo asked the others as they walked toward the artifact. He looked toward Ash’urn who would be most likely to have encountered something like it given his far ranging travels.
All shook their heads indicating it was unlike anything they had encountered before. It was also farther away than Rigo had expected, meaning it was larger than he’d thought at first. Now that they were finally approaching the base, he could only gape at the incredibly large structure that extended impossibly high into the sky. Rigo checked his staff, but there was no indication that magic was at work here, but then he didn’t know if the necklace could detect non living magical application.
Ash’urn was the first to reach the base, and before Rigo could warn him otherwise, the scholar had placed his hands against the side of the structure.
“It’s hot,” he said, quickly removing his hands. “Probably from the sun. It also appears to be made of metal of some sort. But what kind? This has obviously been here for a long time, yet there is no sign of rust or decay. It is shiny and bright as if it is newly built.”
Rigo could see what Ash’urn meant. The structure was partially buried in sands that had slowly piled up against one side. They could climb more than two man heights up the drifted red sand on the eastward side. Along the north side a smooth gouge was carved out of solid rock that extended arrow straight for fifty paces until the rock dropped away. Rigo suspected for reasons he couldn’t explain that the tower was somehow responsible for the furrow.
While they couldn’t guess how high the tower stretched into the sky, the base was twenty paces across.
“How would you make such a thing?” Daria asked. “The metal is smooth without a joint to be seen.”
“It was made with magic,” Jeen said without a second thought. “There is no other way.”
Rigo agreed with her, but when and how? And for what purpose?
Kaler had the best eyes of the group and had been sighting along the straight furrow in the stone. He climbed a small rise off to one side and after a bit said, “I think there’s another one.”
They all hurried to his side and looked where he was pointing. Most of the group couldn’t see well enough, but Rigo thought he might just be able to see a small vertical structure far in the distance. It might be another tower, and it might be his imagination. They weren’t going to find out. It was so far it would take days to get there, and to what end?
Kaler had turned and was now facing the opposite direction, scanning the distant land to see if he could see anything in the distance that way.
“Sun’s too bright that way,” he concluded finally. “I can’t tell if there is anything out there or not.”
There was little to be gained by staying, and each minute limited the time they had to continue the search for what had brought them here. They weren’t going to unravel the mystery of the towers, but it gave them something to speculate on as they began once again to march slowly in the direction Rigo pointed. At least there was nothing to require large detours. The land was almost identical in every direction. It was simply a matter of knowing which way to go. Without Rigo’s internal beacon they would have been lost a long time ago. The mountains behind them were no longer visible, and there were no distinctive landmarks to guide them.
Late that night while they were camping, they saw the first of the strange beasts. It was too cold to sleep, and Daria was leaning against a rock wrapped in her only blanket since she had the watch, when she saw the distinctive flickering in the distance.
“Rigo,” she said softly.
He’d been lying on the ground with his eyes closed, but hadn’t been asleep.
“Look at this,” she said when he’d mumbled something in response.
Rigo sat up and looked where she was pointing. Quickly he looked at the staff, but they were too far to t
rigger any reaction from it.
“Three of them,” he said softly. “Are there any others?”
“Not that I’ve seen. But three is more than we’ve seen at one time before. I wouldn’t be surprised if others are nearby.”
“They are heading back toward where we came from,” Rigo observed after watching their progress for a while. The creatures were making a wide detour around something out on the flat. There was just enough light he could see the land was flat so it shouldn’t be necessary. He’d seen little that required one to detour around out here. “At least they don’t seem to be aware of us. Is Jeen awake?”
“Over there,” Daria said pointing down the small embankment where the woman was talking softly with Ash’urn. She wouldn’t be able to see the creatures from where she was lying. Daria knew she was awake. Jeen hadn’t slept well since they had entered the Ruins.
Kaler had come over after hearing their voices. “Something wrong?” he asked.
Daria pointed toward the creatures.
“Damn!” muttered Kaler. He hated an enemy he had no way of fighting. “We should get ready to move in case they decide to come this way,” he suggested.
Daria agreed and slid down to go warn the others.
The creatures passed them by without seemingly being aware they were hiding behind the small rise. When morning came he could see what had caused the creatures to change their route. A large cluster of the glowing flowers was growing where they had been heading. They had seen a number of patches of the things since venturing into the Ruins. They were more common out here than anywhere else they’d been.
“They don’t like the flowers,” Daria noted. “Perhaps there is something we can use there.”
“I’d stay away from those things,” Ash’urn warned. “In my travels I’ve frequently come across stories that suggest they are dangerous.”
“In what way?” Daria asked. “I’ve picked them before with no bad side effects. They smell bad is all.”
“Maybe the creatures don’t like the smell,” Jeen suggested.
“That’s one thing we have in common then,” Rigo said. He wasn’t sure why, but he was uncomfortable with the flowers and had no intention of going near them himself.
After another unsatisfying breakfast of dried meat and water, they started on the way once again. Rigo pointed the direction they were to head. Time was running out on them. If they didn’t reach their goal by sometime tomorrow they would have to retrace their steps and reconsider their approach. Rigo would have to go with them despite the strength of the urge pulling him onward. Only he would be able to sense how to get away from this place, although deep inside his mind he wondered whether it would allow him to go. He knew he was intended to complete this trek, and with magic involved, he wondered what control over his actions he really had.
Within a glass and a half they were already feeling the effects of the heat. Today was worse than any of the previous days. Kaler and Jeen looked worn and tired. Daria was holding up at least as well as he was. Ash’urn was a surprise. Despite being much older than the rest of them, he was doing surprisingly well, and allowed himself to observe and catalogue every new item they encountered. Rigo was worn, but was in better shape than the rest of them. He was certain that was because his magic was somehow helping to sustain him.
“Your staff in glowing,” Kaler noted. Rigo had been wool gathering again and hadn’t noticed.
Now that he looked at it he could see it was flickering slowly with the bluish light.
I don’t see any of them,” Daria said, looking around quickly. Jeen had perked up at the warning and was looking around as well. She would be called upon to protect them should any attack.
“They must be close,” Rigo observed, “or something else is causing the staff to glow.” For a moment he thought they might have reached their destination, but while it felt close, it wasn’t immediately at hand.
As they cautiously moved forward, the land suddenly started to fall away, and there in the ravine ahead they saw several hundred of the beasts.
“Down!” Kaler whispered insistently.
They all dropped to their knees despite the heat in the sands.
“Which way?” Kaler asked Rigo.
Rigo wanted to go straight ahead. Whatever he was seeking was on the far side of the creatures, but they couldn’t very well walk right through the herd.
“We’ll have to find a way around them,” he said. Past the creatures he could see an odd rock formation and he was suddenly certain that was where he was trying to go. Impossibly, the place looked familiar to him.
“This way,” Ash’urn whispered. He had seen a way that would allow them to circle around the cluster of creatures.
Moving as quietly as possible, they slowly moved to the right, climbing behind a small depression that hid them as they dropped down into the far end of the ravine. They were climbing out the other side when they heard a strange bellow.
Jeen looked back and yelled. “Here comes one!”
Rigo turned and looked where she was looking. It wasn’t one, but a pair of the beasts, moving in their direction faster than he’d ever seen one of them move before. The strange bleating was earning the attention of the rest of them, and now the entire herd was starting their way.
Jeen released a bolt of the intense energy at the leading creature, dropping it in its tracks. Rigo was certain she was getting stronger, but she was well short of the incredible power that Burke had demonstrated. Still, practice was helping and the lead creature stumbled and collapsed as it burned into an almost unrecognizable pile. The second creature faltered momentarily, allowing them to gain some ground, but as a couple of its fellows came up behind it, it started after them again with renewed energy.
It made no sense to try and make a stand. Only Jeen had the ability to stop the damn things, and she couldn’t take on this many. She shot a bolt at the lead creature, catching it on the shoulder and causing it to squeal in pain and anger, but it continued on. Rigo shot a number of bolts into the rock hillside, trying to tumble the side of the ravine down on top of them. Several large rocks fell, but the creatures quickly found a way around them and now they were climbing up onto the flat where there was nothing to drop on them.
“This way,” Ash’urn urged. “There’s a bit of a hill over here. It might restrict them so they have to chase after us individually. That might give Jeen a chance to blast them one at a time.
Rigo wasn’t certain how long Jeen could keep firing the bolts of energy. She had never tested herself for endurance, and she had told him after coming out of the caves she felt sluggish after calling upon the energy.
Rigo glanced where Ash’urn was pointing. It didn’t look that promising to him. Besides, he noticed another herd of the damn things coming toward them from that direction the others hadn’t noticed.
“There’s another herd over there,” he warned. “We’ve got to go this way,” he shouted and dragged Daria after him toward the jumble of rocks that had looked familiar to him.
“There’s nothing this way,” Ash’urn objected. “They’ll catch us before long. They are faster than they look.”
Rigo didn’t take time to argue. He was certain he was right, although he didn’t know what to expect when he reached the outcropping ahead. He let go of Daria’s hand and yelled after the others. “Hurry!”
They had a lead on the creatures, but by now it was clear that both herds were aware of them and were in full pursuit. A number of the odd energy beams were sent their way, but fortunately they were un-aimed and the distance was still too great. That wouldn’t be the case much longer and the separation between themselves and the creatures was rapidly narrowing.
Rigo was the first to reach the rock formation. Immediately he started to look around for something that would help them. This was the place, he was certain of it. Jeen and Daria dived behind a couple of large rocks, with Jeen sending a couple more blasts of energy toward the advancing creatures. Rigo thou
ght he could sense that the latest beams were less potent than those she’d released earlier. Kaler and Ash’urn brought up the rear, Kaler helping pull the other along as they made their way up the small hill.
“Now what?” Daria asked. There was nowhere to go from here and this certainly wasn’t a defensible spot.
Rigo had been frantically looking around for some clue when he spotted the impressions in the side of the rock. Anyone else would have ignored them, but somehow he knew what they were for.
“Here,” he said, calling to the others. Even as he yelled he set the base of his staff into the lower impression and that allowed the staff to bridge the rock and laid the top into the matching impression up higher.
“That looks as if it were made for it,” Jeen said as Rigo pressed the staff into place.
“It was,” he said agreeing.
For a moment it looked as if nothing was going to happen, and then the rock turned cloudy and a large entryway appeared in the face of the rock under the staff. There were steps leading downward and the way was lighted by a soft glowing in the smooth ceiling cut out of solid stone.
“In here,” Rigo urged. He spared a quick look back at the beasts. They were getting far too close.
There was no time to consider. Several energy bolts blasted the rock near them, and one by one they dived into the opening. Rigo was last through, and once inside he pressed a metal lever set into the side of the wall which caused the doorway behind them to disappear. That left the creatures outside where they couldn’t get at them.