by Toni Cox
Maia looked across the wide river, trying to estimate its width, but the sheer cliffs on either side made it difficult to tell. She thought the river to be as wide as the cliffs were tall.
“The river flows gently for many miles down this gorge,” Blaid said behind her. “There are three docks along the way, the last one on the border with Bron. From there, the barges turn around and make their way back here.”
“What comes after the last dock?”
“I don’t know. I have never been that way. But, between here and the third dock, this is one of West Grildor’s busiest Trade Routes. I came this way when I first came to Grildor and have travelled the river twice more since then.”
“Why did you come to Grildor,” Maia asked, curious. This was another subject they had never spoken about.
“Because of you,” Blaid said simply. “I shall tell you about it some other time. Come, it is time to board.”
They led Lilith onto the barge behind the other two horses. She hesitated when she stepped onto the unsteady deck of the barge, but the horses in front of her walked calmly on, reassuring her it was safe.
The Traders tied their horses close to the prow and then took their personal belongings to the first cabin in the centre of the barge.
“You can tie your horse here,” the Ferryman said, pointing to a railing at mid-ships. “The cabin in the middle is yours.”
“Thank you, Sir,” Blaid said and led Lilith to the railing to tie her up and to remove her burdens, before coming back to Maia at the rails. “I will sleep out on the deck with Lilith. You can have the cabin for the two nights we are on board.”
Maia stared out across the opaque water, knowing it was correct, yet disappointed at the same time.
The barge rocked gently beneath her, but she did not mind the motion. She had travelled across water before, usually on a skipper across Nithril Deep, and it did not bother her. Yet, being here sent cold tendrils of fear down her back and she shivered, unsure where the feeling came from.
“Are you all right?”
“Just cold,” she said.
Blaid put an arm around her shoulder, holding her close. His touch felt good and she soon forgot about the feeling as the barge left the dock and cruised downriver.
The Traders disembarked at the second dock, leaving Maia and Blaid alone with the Ferryman. During the past two days two other barges went the other way, carrying full loads of cargo, horses and people.
That strange feeling that had settled over Maia on the first day had not returned and she enjoyed the diverse scenery along the river.
The sheer walls receded in places, giving way to narrow strips of land, lush with vegetation. Sometimes a smaller river joined, opening up the gorge, and they saw animals on the river banks; mostly deer and water birds.
Midnight stayed with them, flying high above the clouds on their first day, but then took off to go hunting. He was by now over a hundred miles from them, investigating mountains places no one had set foot in before. Maia marvelled at some of the beautiful areas he showed her.
“By evening we will be in Bron,” Blaid said shortly after breakfast. “From there, it is open terrain for most of the way until we reach Elbendal, which is mountainous again. It should take us ten days to travel through Bron, then another five to cross Serengate and not more than three to travel through Levandor.”
Maia had heard about these countries, as they belonged to the greater nation of Grildor. Fourteen countries surrounded Grildor and, together, formed Greater Grildor, of which her father was king. It was from these neighbouring countries that her father had asked assistance during their time of war, but as those countries had not been directly affected, they had not sent warriors to their aid. Maia now wondered why her father had not invoked the Council of Kings; also known as the Kings Rule; and commanded those countries to assist, as Silas had been urging him to do for a while.
“Is Elbendal the country after Levandor?” she asked.
“Yes, but there is a mountain range between Levandor and Elbendal. Much like between Bron and Grildor, only bigger.”
“Bigger?” Maia asked.
Next to the Crystal Mountains, the Grildor-Bron Mountains were the largest she had ever seen, with peaks so tall they were covered in perpetual snow and valleys covered in glaciers.
“Yes. It is one of the reasons we do not belong to the nations of Grildor. Our allied nations all lie to the south and west of us, as the mountains divide us from all eastern and northern countries. We do not even trade directly with the nations of Grildor. All goods from Elbendal travel through several southern countries before they are brought to Grildor.”
“I remember the history of Elbendal, but I know little of its trade.”
As the day went by, clouds moved into the mountains, obscuring their view. Soon, all they could see were the sheer cliffs on either side of the river. Maia felt uneasy and even Lilith was restless.
By afternoon, a heavy fog settled over the river, blocking even the cliff walls from sight. The barge moved along silently; every sound muffled.
“Something is not right, Blaid,” Maia finally said, unable to keep the feeling in check.
“It is just the fog. It is unsettling.”
“No, there is something else. I can feel it.”
Blaid narrowed his eyes, and nodded. “How far to the dock, Ferryman?”
“An hour, at most.”
“How will you find it in this fog?”
“I know where I am going, do not worry yourselves.”
Blaid looked back to Maia and shrugged. “We’re almost there. There is not much we can do until we reach the dock.”
“I know,” she said, the strange feeling growing stronger with ever mile they covered.
The fog did not let up and she stood next to Lilith, patting her neck, more to calm herself, than the horse. Blaid paced the barge, speaking to the Ferryman at regular intervals.
“He said we should be there any moment. He is already steering us towards the left bank.”
Maia looked out over the railing of the barge, but could not see the shore through the thick fog, even as they moved from the middle of the river closer to the bank. By now, her hands had balled into fists with anxiety and all her senses strained to compensate for the lack of vision.
Then, she heard it, a scream, and the Life Elemental in her could not take it anymore.
“There are people in need of help,” she shouted towards the Ferryman.
“There are people dying,” Blaid said beside her and she knew his Death Elemental senses had finally felt it, too.
“Hold on,” the Ferryman said, “we are almost there.”
Lilith whinnied, pulling at her reins and rolling her eyes. Something was definitely not right. Maia held on to the railing of the barge, her knuckles white, and strained to see the approaching dock.
The smell alerted them to the dock ahead first. Grey smoke mingled with the fog and the smell of fire was strong in the air. Even the Ferryman could hear the screams coming from the dock and moved his barge ever closer to the shore until the dock finally came into sight.
Tall, red flames licked there, its timbers burning brightly. The wooden barn on the shore also burned, bathing the grisly scene before them in flickering, orange light.
Maia estimated that there must have been at least thirty Traders on the dock before the attack. Now, most lay dead, with one or more Vampyres feeding on each. A few still fought, but they were soon dealt with by more Vampyres as they swarmed out of the surrounding forest.
Maia’s stomach roiled as the smell of blood reached them through the smoke.
“Pull in to shore,” Blaid yelled at the Ferryman and then dissolved into back smoke beside Maia.
She stared wide-eyed at the spot where he had been, then looked to the burning dock to see him materialise, blades swinging, amongst the Vampyres. She reached for her own weapons, but then remembered they were packed in a blanket roll tied to their bags. She ran t
o retrieve them and then back to the railing to jump off the barge as soon as the barge would hit land.
Maia watched Blaid battle at least thirty Vampyres, swinging his blades with such speed, her eyes had trouble following. She had the chain of the railing undone, ready to jump ship, when she noticed that the barge was drifting further away from shore, instead of getting closer to it.
“What are you doing? Get to shore. They need our help.”
“There is another dock a few miles further on,” the Ferryman yelled back to her. “I am not stopping here. You can swim, if you like.”
Blaid!
She saw him hesitate for a moment, receiving a cut on his upper arm for his lapse in attention, and immediately regretted distracting him.
Go.
Maia clenched her jaw. “How far is the other dock? How long will it take us to reach it?”
“Soon. No more than five miles.”
Impatiently, she clasped the railing, staring out into the fog, the dock now out of sight and the noises from the fight so muffled, she could barely hear them. Maia untied Lilith. She would ride back to the other dock the moment the Ferryman brought the barge in. She tried to calculate how long it would take her to ride from one dock to the other. Five miles along the river would not necessarily mean five miles along the river bank, especially not with these sheer cliffs.
“How far from this dock to the other?”
The Ferryman shook his head. “No direct way. Five-day hike through the mountains.”
“What?” Maia asked, aghast. Blaid!
With a mass of twirling, black smoke, Blaid materialised beside her, startling even Lilith.
“I am here,” he said reassuringly, pulling her close. “The dock is still burning and more Vampyres are coming down the path from the mountains towards it. I cannot hold them off by myself.” Turning to the Ferryman, he asked, “Where are you taking us?”
“We will reach the last dock any moment. It is not a trading dock, but we can go ashore there.”
“All right, take us there.”
Blaid did not pay the Ferryman any further attention. Leaving Maia with Lilith, he went to retrieve their things, ready to disembark. Around them, the fog lifted slightly and they could now see the cliffs to their left, with a narrow strip of pebbled shoreline.
“Do you hear that?” Blaid asked.
“I do,” Maia replied, disheartened. “It does not sound good.”
“Ferryman, approach with caution. We think this dock might be overrun too.”
“It better not be,” the man replied. “This is the last dock along this stretch of river.”
They all gazed ahead, trying to see through the thinning fog and, soon enough, the dock came into view, engulfed in flames. Two Elves lay dead on the shore, a Werewolf making a meal of the one.
“Archers,” Blaid shouted, and pulled Maia down beside him just as two arrows thudded into the floor planks beside them.
Both lifted to look over the railing. The Werewolf had stopped feeding and stood beside his master, clearly the General of this raiding party of about twenty. He gave a command and they all notched new arrows to their bows and took aim. The Werewolf howled.
“Take Lilith to the other side. Hide behind the cabins,” Blaid ordered. “Ferryman, steer us away.”
Maia heard the twang of the Vampyres’ bowstrings behind her and hurried to get Lilith hidden behind the cabins. Arrows thudded into the wood all around the barge. When one arrow found the heart of the Ferryman, Maia screamed in pain.
Lilith, already terrified by the thudding arrows and the Werewolf howling on the shore, reared high and pulled the reins from Maia’s clasp. The mare came down with hooves thundering on the wooden deck, turned and, with one leap, jumped the railing into the river.
“Lilith!” Blaid shrieked after her, and watched in horror as the arrows rained down into the water all around her.
Maia felt it then; that same black rage that had consumed her when she killed those Vampyres outside Shadow Hall. This time, she knew it was not hers. Blaid dissolved into black smoke, only to reappear amongst the Vampyres, wielding death with beautiful precision.
She watched only for a moment, then ran to grab their bags and tied them all to her back, even the ones Lilith had been carrying.
I can do this, she thought and channelled her energy, generating a bubble of air around her and pushing off from the deck of the barge, which now bobbed dangerously in ever more violent waters.
That fact startled her. The river had been wide and calm throughout their journey. Now she noticed, despite the mist, that the walls had closed in and the river flowed ever faster along its narrowing bed.
She heard the unmistakable thundering of a waterfall ahead. The barge bumped a rock in the river and Maia was thrown to the deck. She struggled to get up, the bags holding her down.
Frantically, she got her legs beneath her and, holding the railing, built up her bubble of air once more, concentrating on pressure from below to lift her. She wobbled for a moment, and then she rose, slowly, off the deck.
The thundering grew louder and she released the railing. Immediately, the barge moved along without her and she hovered in the air as it went by beneath her. Once the wood of the deck was gone from under her, she only had water to push off from; it would get more difficult. Thus, as the end of the barge neared, she increased her power and rose higher.
She concentrated so hard, she did not notice the flagpole as it went by and it snagged on one of the ropes that held the bags, violently yanking her along just as it tipped forward and plummeted down the raging waterfall.
Blaid materialised out of black smoke beside her, falling with her. He shouted something, but she could not hear him over the roaring of the waterfall. He grasped her hands with so much strength, she thought he might break them. Then, suddenly, the pressure was gone as Blaid dissolved into black smoke.
Strangely, she thought of nothing as she fell. The heavy bags had her falling backwards and she stared up at the sky and the spray of the towering waterfall, thinking how peaceful it was.
Once more, Blaid materialised, his face anguished. He wrapped himself around her and then tried again. The smoke wafted around her, but did not take her. Her plummet continued as if time stood still. She noticed every drop of water, the rainbow at the top of the waterfall … and the sudden black shadow that covered it.
Her heart raced as her mind comprehended what was happening. She would crash and perish on the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall unless she did something about it.
Every lesson she had ever had with Silas ran through her mind in the blink of an eye. She had power over water and air. She could use it. She could help herself. Then, accepting the fact that she could not act swiftly enough, she curled herself as small as she could so that Midnight’s talons would not hurt her as he snatched her out of the air.
Midnight’s wings snapped loudly as he spread them to stall his dive and Maia’s neck jerked violently as her downward motion was abruptly reversed. Making herself even smaller within the confines of Midnight’s talon, she slowed her racing heart to the beat of her dragon’s flapping wings as he rose into the sky.
“I will need to teach you how to shadow travel before I teach you how to shift shape. I think the incident has shown us what is more important,” Blaid said as he strode through the charred remains of the Vampyres on the beach.
Midnight had made short work of the remaining Vampyres after he rescued Maia. Blaid managed to get Lilith to shore unscathed after he was sure Midnight had her.
Maia glowed red with embarrassment. How had she gotten herself into that situation? Surely, as a Prime Elemental, she should have power enough to overcome situations such as those. She now seriously questioned her abilities. Everyone thought of her as so powerful, yet she couldn’t even levitate herself and some luggage over water.
Unthinking, she cupped her right hand and drew water into it from the river with her mind. Once in her hand, she spun
it into a ball and let it swirl floating above her palm; a magic similar to that of the floating Silva ball during the process of making the precious liquid.
Walking behind Blaid, they investigated the destruction. There had been warehouses and other storage facilities at the other dock and it did not surprise them that the Vampyres had attacked there.
Here, however, there had only been a simple dock house, the dock itself, and a post to tie up horses. It made no sense why the Vampyres attacked here.
Dropping her ball of water, Maia helped Blaid move the remains of the two dead Elves and they buried them as best they could in the rocky soil of the narrow strip of land. Maia made the strings of ivy growing along the shoreline cover their bare graves, intoning the Mother’s prayer as she wove her magic.
“Let us get out of here,” Blaid said when she was done. “I have never been this far down the river. I hope there is another way towards the border and we do not have to hike five days through the mountains just to get back to the other dock.”
See a road. Heading west. Easier to fly.
Blaid and Maia looked at each other as Midnight shared the image of him holding Lilith in his talons and flying over the mountains. It would be so easy, so fast.
They turned and looked at the mare standing away from the massacre around the dock, trying hard not to breathe in the stench of burning Vampyre flesh all around her. She appeared terrified.
“Maybe now is not the right time for this,” Maia said, looking at the anguish on Blaid’s face. “She has been through enough for one day. Let us follow the road and find a place to shelter for the night. We all need the rest.”
As gently as they could, they tied the sodden bags to Lilith’s back. Maia was relieved that Midnight had managed to save her, as well as their supplies, but Lilith was not impressed with the burden that now weighed almost twice as much.
While they walked; Blaid ahead, leading Lilith, Maia following behind; she spared some of her energy to expel the water from the bags. After a while, Lilith walked easier over the uneven terrain, but by then the sodden blanket and wet straps had chafed Lilith’s back raw and Maia kept up a constant stream of energy to heal the chafing as they moved along the narrow path to a destination Midnight had chosen for them about an hour’s march from the dock.