‘No. This planet is called Ispa.’ Malian confirmed Binks statement.
Aleck froze for a moment, and then he started pacing and muttering to himself. ‘No. This is impossible, unless…Interdimensional travel may be possible through a portal, but you’d have to break through the ether between space and time…Was it when I was in the book? Did the book teleport me? Was it science or magic?’ He threw his hands into the air. ‘It makes no difference since magic is based in science.’ He shook his head. ‘No. This can’t be happening.’
‘Anyone know what he’s talking about?’ Caelan asked as he watched him.
Malian shrugged.
‘Well, we can’t stand in front of a vault all day.’ Caelan shot her a look of concern.
‘Aleck, do you know how to get into the vault?’ she asked him.
‘Yes. Just turn the orb three times left and then twice right. It’s very simple. Of course it is! I’m living in an undeveloped society.’ Aleck strode over to Caelan. ‘That’s why you automatically draw a sword, isn’t it? Like animals, you still fight to survive rather than co-habit.’
Caelan managed to look offended and shocked at the same time. ‘Who are you calling an animal, dog-boy?’
‘He’s not wrong,’ Binks muttered as he eyed the orb in the centre of the room.
Malian quickly crossed the room and turned the orb, three times left and then twice right. Then she stood back as the giant vault door opened with a groan to reveal a chamber inside it. ‘Let’s get what we need and then get out of here.’
Binks nodded before he hurried into the vault.
Malian followed him in. The room was littered with golden coins and ancient-looking scrolls. The coins were piled on the floor in heaps or in old iron chests. The scrolls were bundled on shelves or bursting out of over-filled cabinets.
Binks ignored them all and strode to the centre of the vault, his eyes locked on a single scroll, which was suspended in a glass case and illuminated with a red glow.
Malian stepped towards the case, her eyes locked on the scroll. As she drew closer, she realised that the red glow was coming from the words on the parchment. Each letter was lit up as if it was on fire. ‘How do you know that’s what we need?’ Malian asked.
‘Because with magical items, you can usually spot the one you want by how shiny it is,’ Binks muttered.
She shook her head at him. ‘Oh well, this gold looks shiny to me, so I’ll take that too.’
‘No don’t!’ Binks shouted as she bent to pick up a handful of coins.
She realised why when alarms began to blare through the building. ‘Crap. The gold was alarmed?’
‘It’s a rookie mistake. You should know better.’ Binks broke the glass case and quickly rolled up the scroll before shoving it into his bag. ‘Come on. We need to get out of here.’
He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the vault doorway. Malian tried to snatch up a bag of gold on her way out because why the hell not, but Binks slapped it out of her hand. ‘What part of cursed gold don’t you understand?’ he muttered.
‘What’s that noise?’ Caelan had his ears covered with his hands as the siren blared through the room.
‘It’s the alarm. We need to go now. This way!’ Binks released Malian’s hand and pointed his palms down before he shot electricity at the marble floor, causing it to break apart upon impact with an almighty crash, creating a hole in the ground that led down to the level below them.
‘Jump!’ Binks yelled before he jumped into the hole.
‘Is that the guards?’ Malian asked when she heard footsteps marching behind them.
‘Yes,’ Aleck said as Tagra jumped through the hole, following Binks down to the level below.
Caelan, Malian and Aleck all jumped at the same time, which wasn’t the best idea since they filled the gap and came to a jarring abrupt halt, leaving them stuck in the hole and sandwiched together with Malian in the middle, facing the werewolf with Caelan pinned to her back.
‘Oh, I’m awfully sorry.’ Aleck tried to wriggle his way out of an awkward position as politely as possible, which only made things worse as he pawed Malian’s shoulders and writhed against her.
He eventually stopped with a look of panic in his eyes. ‘I’m so terribly sorry.’ He hung his head in shame.
She heard Caelan emit a menacing growl behind her followed by the heavy footsteps of the guards nearby.
‘What are you doing up there?’ Binks’ voice echoed below them.
‘We’re stuck!’ Malian replied as Caelan started wriggling behind her, his large body grinding against her before he eventually realised what he was doing and expelled a few curse words.
She peered back and noticed a pink blush colouring his cheeks as he offered her a helpless shrug.
She heard a crackling sound before she realised that Binks had shot at the hole to make it bigger. An unfortunate side-effect was that he hit them too. Before she could shout out a warning, they all got a shock and shuddered together in what appeared to be a highly inappropriate manner with their bodies mashing together and their teeth chatting before the gap widened enough for them to fall through.
Then they dropped through the roof of the dungeons before landing in an uncomfortable heap on the floor below.
Malian groaned and rolled over before looking around. The escape plan was almost a good one, barring one small detail. They’d landed inside one of the cells. ‘Oh, that’s just perfect.’
Binks shot her a look of disapproval as he pointed to the hole in the ceiling. ‘I don’t want to see anything that even remotely resembles that scene ever again, and let me remind you who picked up the gold and set off the alarms in the first place.’
‘You were the one who shot us, and who uses a piece of gold as their alarm system?’ She shot him an incredulous glare, refusing to take all the blame for this.
‘People who decorate their houses with it because they obviously have too much if they use it to decorate their bloody buildings!’ Binks gestured to the golden decoration on the walls and awnings.
‘Don’t blame her.’ Caelan came to her defence, which earned him a smile from her until he finished his sentence. ‘Lowly humans don’t understand how wealth works.’
With a growl, she pulled herself up by gripping one of the unbreakable Kalerium steel bars. Her anger seemed to know no bounds as it spread through her like a fire, boiling her blood. ‘Will you stop calling me lowly!’ She snarled.
Caelan’s eyes widened, and even Binks appeared shocked as she stood tall and let out all the anger that had been building up inside her for years.
She faltered when she noticed Tagra backing away from her. ‘What?’
‘You’re on fire again.’ Caelan pointed to her.
She peered down at her hand and widened her eyes. Fire burned around her skin, but it wasn’t burning her. It surrounded her hand, her arm, her entire body, but she couldn’t feel a thing. ‘What the…?’
She trailed off as she watched the Kalerium glow red and begin to melt away. It wasn’t just their cell that melted. All of them did, dripping down to the ground in pools of melted metal, freeing them and every other inmate in the Elvish prison.
Panting for breath, Malian tried to turn off the fire, but it continued to burn until Caelan snatched a nearby bucket of rain water off the ground, which appeared to be there to catch leaks from the roof, and threw it on her. She sizzled as the flames went out.
He reached her in an instant, holding her in his arms. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah, I don’t feel a thing. Am I burned?’ she asked as she wiped water out of her eyes.
‘No. You’re not even scorched,’ Binks muttered as he studied her.
‘Do you often spontaneously combust?’ Aleck asked.
A shout from the guards running into the room drowned out her reply as the veteran soldiers who had been imprisoned took their chance to escape, and a massive fight broke out around them.
‘Can we go now?’ Caelan ask
ed while pointing to the exit, which was clear since the guards were occupied by escaping prisoners.
‘What about him?’ Binks pointed to Aleck.
‘Would you mind awfully if I came with you?’ Aleck asked.
Malian winced. ‘The thing is that we’re not supposed to be here, and you kinda stand out, so…’
‘Oh, that won’t be a problem.’ Aleck closed his eyes for a moment, deep in concentration, and his form shifted before their eyes. The fur fell away, and his face distorted until he no longer resembled a wolf. He looked like a suave young man wearing a tailored suit. His dark hair was slick and curled around his collar, and his big brown eyes were curled with enticing dark lashes.
‘Oh.’ Malian stared at him, surprised at how beautiful he was. ‘Yeah, that’ll work.’
‘You’ll pass for a weak-chinned human,’ Caelan muttered while glowering at him.
‘Excellent! So where are we going?’ Aleck asked, completely missing Caelan’s insult.
‘We need to go through the Swamp of Serenity to get to Thul Gardohr in Dwarven country,’ Binks said while reading the stolen scroll.
12
DWARVES
When Malian leaned heavily against an old tree, it groaned, and she jumped back, expelling a yelp of surprise. She studied the tree, wondering if it was some kind of magical being, but it looked like any other tree in the forest.
I must be going mad from exhaustion.
The journey from Ilsador to the Dwarven Kingdoms had been a long fortnight of trekking through forests and plains, and according to Binks, they hadn’t even left the Elven Kingdoms yet.
After mostly camping out in the woods, she was bone-tired and would give anything for a night in a real bed.
‘Why are you stopping? We’re nearly there!’ Binks said as he peered back at her.
She scowled at him. He’d been telling them they were nearly there for a week. ‘The tree groaned.’ She pointed to the tree. ‘And nearly where?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Trees don’t groan.’ He wandered over and studied the tree.
‘This one did,’ she muttered.
‘Are we having a rest?’ Aleck caught up to them, and he leaned against the tree. As he did, it emitted another groan, and he jumped back in shock.
‘See? I told you it groaned.’ Malian pointed to the tree again.
Binks narrowed his eyes for a moment before he looked up and studied the branches. ‘Something did,’ he muttered.
‘What’s going on?’ Caelan caught up with them, and Tagra followed closely behind him.
‘The tree keeps groaning,’ Aleck said.
‘Trees don’t groan!’ Binks declared.
They all jumped back as the tree emitted another groan, a much louder and more violent-sounding one.
‘That one does.’ Caelan pointed to it.
Binks walked over to a pile of rocks on the ground, kicking at them and revealing an old campfire beneath them, judging by the circle of ash on the ground. He bent over and pickup one of the rocks as if weighing it in his hand. ‘No. Something else is groaning.’ He threw the rock at the branches of the tree, aiming for a wide branch that was covered with bushy leaves.
Malian heard a cry of pain, and then watched a dwarf tumble off the branch and fall out of the tree.
‘Ye gods, man. Why are ye attacking me? I’ll run ya through ya dirty scoundrel!’ The feisty dwarf with a fiery-red beard leapt to his feet, brandishing a lethal-looking axe.
His intimidation was marred slightly by the way he drunkenly wobbled, nearly lost his balance and ended up hopping sideways a few steps to stop himself from falling over.
‘Why were you groaning in that tree?’ Malian asked, attempting to diffuse the situation. She frowned when she recognised him. Then she vaguely recalled him being the same dwarf that she’d bumped into in the inn in Ilsador.
He can’t be the same one unless he’s also heading to the Dwarven Kingdoms.
‘I was sleeping, not groaning.’ The dwarf turned to face her with a menacing look in his eyes, which instantly melted when he blinked a few times, presumably to focus on her. ‘Ah, a sweet maiden, just how I like ‘em; busty, human and in need o’ a little love.’ He winked at her.
Caelan stepped in front of her and unsheathed his sword, as the muscles in his shoulders bunched up. ‘She’s not in need of anything.’ His voice was dangerously low.
‘O’ sweet gods, it’s a giant elf!’ The dwarf stumbled backwards and fell over, landing on his backside with a jolt that made him shimmy for a moment. ‘Was yer mother a lumbering cave giant or a sea one?’
Caelan growled and launched himself at the dwarf, who rolled out of his reach rather deftly for someone who was clearly inebriated. The dwarf scrambled away and ran out of sight over a nearby hill.
‘I’m gonna kill him.’ Caelan stood up and brushed leaves off his pants before reaching down and picking up his sword.
‘I’d rather find a nearby village than hunt a drunken dwarf,’ Malian said.
Caelan stubbornly shook his head and began to walk towards the hill that the dwarf had disappeared over. Then he leapt back and threw himself out of the way as the dwarf charged over the hill, this time riding his steed, which was a flea-bitten donkey that also looked a bit drunk.
The dwarf proudly posed on his donkey as the sun shone behind him, illuminating the ridiculous scene in a holy light. ‘You shall live to fight another day, foolish scoundrels. For I must leave my village of Dinglewood.’ He pointed behind him over the hill. ‘And go on a mighty quest to save an elven maiden! But be warned, I shall return and fight your monstrous giant again.’ Then he rode off in the opposite direction while victoriously waving his tankard of beer in the air.
‘I’m gonna kill that dwarf,’ Caelan muttered.
‘At least we know there’s a village nearby.’ Malian patted him on the shoulder as she passed him on her way to the hill.
13
SUMMIT
Malian gasped for breath as she reached the summit of the mountain and came to a halt beside Caelan, who was leaning against a rock with his chest heaving up and down with each inhalation of air.
She sank onto a nearby boulder, relieved that she could finally rest for a moment. Her legs felt like jelly after scaling the mountain, but she’d been shaky since their escape from the dungeon.
I guess being on fire tires you out a bit.
She glanced back to see Binks and Aleck still climbing with Tagra easily leaping from ledge to ledge behind them in kitten form.
She looked at Caelan and felt a shiver of warmth shoot down her spine when she found his dark eyes locked onto her. ‘Do you think they’ll need some help?’
He glanced down for moment before looking back at her with a glint of mischief in his eyes. ‘They look okay to me, and it’s nice to have a break from them for a while.’
‘Oh, is that so?’ She frowned at him. She still wasn’t sure if he liked her, but she was fully aware that she was drawn to him like a magnet.
He straightened up and walked towards her. Then he sat down beside her on the boulder and looked her in the eye. ‘Yes.’ Their shoulders bumped together due to the limited space on the rock.
She turned to face him and tried to think of something to say, but all she could focus on were his perfectly-shaped lips, which seemed so appealing in the heat of the moment. Realising that she was falling into a kind of a daze, she forced herself to speak in an attempt to snap out of it. ‘What do you think of Aleck?’
Caelan’s lips tightened into a line. ‘I don’t trust him.’
‘Why not? His story sounds true, and we do live in a world where magic happens all the time.’ She frowned.
‘We can’t prove a word he says, and he still hasn’t explained why he was imprisoned in that book. Plus, look at him.’ Caelan folded his arms.
She glanced down at Aleck. He looked quite honourable as he lifted Binks over a ledge that was too high for him to climb. Aleck was in human form,
and he looked like a prince, slender, fast, agile and stylish. ‘I don’t see what you mean.’
Caelan let out a growl. ‘He’s a beast!’
She peered at Caelan, the tanned warrior, all leathers and muscle. ‘You look more beastly right now.’
His eyes bore into her. ‘Is that so? And which do you prefer?’
Her breath caught in her throat.
Is he jealous over me?
She frowned.
But I’m a dirty human to him, right?
‘Why do you care?’
His eyes darkened. ‘Why do you think?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I mean one minute you hate me, and then the next—’
She didn’t finish as a large crash behind them shocked her back to reality.
They jumped apart, and she peered behind them to find Binks shooting sparks of blue electricity out of his fingers at the rocks beside him. Behind him, Aleck was shaking his head.
‘What’s going on?’ Malian shouted as chunks of rock fell away below her.
‘Infernal mountain, you shall not defeat me!’ Binks yelled back as he shot away another chunk of rock.
‘What are you shooting at?’ Caelan jumped to his feet and unsheathed his sword as if preparing for a great battle.
‘He got annoyed with being carried.’ Aleck looked up at them with a pained expression on his face as another spark of volatile magic flew into the mountain, causing parts of it to crumble away. ‘Really annoyed.’
‘Ye gods, stop shooting the mountain!’ Malian cried as the ground beneath her feet trembled. ‘I’ve got an idea.’
She pulled a rope out of her bag and tied it around the boulder. Then she wrapped it around herself, and dropped the other end down the side of the mountain. ‘Climb this instead. I’ve got you.’
She felt a tug on the rope as she watched Binks begin climbing up. But Aleck was gripping to the side of the mountain as the ledge he’d been standing on was crumbling away. ‘Both of you get on the rope, and Tagra, up here now!’
‘You can’t hold us both!’ Aleck cried as Tagra sprang past him in kitten form and easily bounded up the rest of the mountain until she was safely on the top.
Lost Sorcery- Mage of Myths Page 8