“Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem obvious that the correct side is the one with the path leading out of it?” my mimic asked, facetiously.
“That’s the right side to walk out of. Does that make it the right side to walk into?” I wondered.
I studied the engravings around the door. Smoke – like the one that had marked me. Fire. A bird. An oak leaf. The houses of the Ko’Torenth nobility. And the marks on their – our – arms. Carefully, I looked at the other side. It bore the same marks. No hint there. But the backside of the doorway pulled at me. I could see the woven threads of the future swirling into that door.
If I went in through that side, perhaps I could weave them. Perhaps I could find the skill to weave the future.
I gasped. Those had not been my thoughts. How much power did this thing have if it could put thoughts into my head?
“You can’t think thoughts that aren’t yours,” the mimic said.
“I think we’ll go in the side you chose,” I replied, breathlessly. I wasn’t going to be weaving any futures tonight.
“If you say so, boss.”
I planted myself on the beaten trail, took a deep breath and plunged through the door.
The familiar sensation of pain and cold filled me and then I was standing in a place that wasn’t a forest at all, and yet was eerily familiar. The doorway I walked out of was on a cart so much like the one in the forest that they could have been made by the same hands. This one was also strapped to a team of wolf-golems, but here it was blowing sand that had formed around their feet.
And here, in the faint light of the moon, a thousand tents were pitched around us.
Golems didn’t need tents. They didn’t need the fires that dotted the encampment. They didn’t need the luxury of the tent closest to this doorway – though it was still far enough away that it was hard to make out the faces of the guards standing at the entrance. It was a striped pavilion of the finest silk, decorated with swathed silk banners. The colors were faint in the moonlight, but I thought they might be Jade and White. And the braziers burning in front of the pavilion were dead giveaways. They burned with leaping green flames.
Only Apeq A’kona could possibly be in that pavilion.
This is what the Magikas had been discussing so glibly with Eventen. There was an army here – a human army. And they looked ready to rush through that door and descend on us at a moment’s notice. Worse, these doorways on carts meant they could arrive anywhere that a cart could be pulled, to the very heart of the Dominion.
My mouth felt dry as dust and the quarterstaff in my hand shook in my grasp.
“I’m not much of one for camping,” my mimic remarked.
“I don’t think they plan to camp for long,” I replied with a frown.
“We should sneak into that green and white tent and see what’s in there. Maybe he brought interesting devices with him. We could use an interesting device or two. And then he wouldn’t have them.”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion. But I was more intrigued by a ring of wolf-golems three deep off to my left. They all sat on their haunches, looking inward, so tightly grouped that you couldn’t walk – or even see – through the gaps around them. Now ... what could be in there that required that level of protection?
The mimic smiled. “Ah! A better treasure! I like how you think.”
The ground here was so flat that the cart I stood on might be the highest ground around. If I couldn’t see in that ring from here, then I couldn’t go anywhere else to see.
“Except for inside the ring.”
My mimic’s eyes glowed.
I should be a good soldier and go back to Saboraak right now. Before I was caught. Before I gave everything away.
“But then you’ll never know what’s in that ring. You know Apeq is here. You know there’s an army of ... how many would you say that is?”
“Thousands.”
“Mmm Hmm. And a secret weapon in the middle of those golems.”
“It might not be a secret weapon.”
“What else would they hide inside a ring of golems?”
How would you even get in there? It would be impossible.
“Easy. Tell the golems to move. You know you can do that.”
I swallowed. I was moving before I realized I’d made up my mind, skimming over the desert sand toward the ring of golems.
If anyone saw me, I was a dead man. If anyone heard me, I was a dead man. It was a massive gamble to try a thing like this.
“Last time you didn’t push to figure out what the secret weapon was, Katlana destroyed it before you could stop her. This is just being practical.”
I still didn’t even know what the Castelan’s weapon had been.
“Isn’t it obvious? He was a Magika, too. A Magika who had some way to shield the Castel. The whole place was rigged to be used as a shelter.”
Hmm. Even so, that didn’t stop this idea from being completely reckless.
“Recklessly practical.”
Time to play our hand and hope we’d chosen wisely.
“We, who? No one is going to kill me if this goes south.”
I stopped behind the first golem, trying to hide in the shadows behind him. I could hear the “All’s well!” of the guards as they met along the perimeter of the camp. They hadn’t expected an infiltrator from the inside, had they?
Not that I had much reason to look down at them. I was standing behind a bunch of golem rear ends.
“Back up,” I ordered the first one in a terse whisper.
It stirred, shuffling backward but it didn’t stop when it was out of the way. It kept on going, shuffling backward, backward. I bit off a curse.
“Stop!” I whispered frantically. “Stop!”
Hopefully, no one had seen that. My heart was in my throat.
“Well, you can hardly look inside if you’re too afraid to even move the barriers,” my mimic sneered.
I gritted my teeth and softly ordered the golem in front of that one to back up, but he was wedged in place. The scrape of steel on steel sent a quiet, “Stop!” bursting out of me as I moved to the golem beside my original one, trying to move him instead. It was very unthoughtful of the people who built this golem wall to stagger them. It would be easier if they were standing nose to tail.
“And far less amusing,” my mimic said. “You look like you might choke on your own terror. It’s a funny look. Remind me never to try it.”
I rolled my eyes, carefully backing the second golem out to free the third. We were in the second layer now, but I still couldn’t see forward to where the secret was kept. And I would need two more golems from the back layers before I could reach the front layer of them.
This was more complicated than I’d anticipated.
“It always is.”
Maybe I should just go back now. Maybe I should run while I could. We knew enough.
“Don’t be a gutless wonder! You’ve come this far. We haven’t been caught yet.”
But any minute now, one of those sentries might glance inside the camp and notice the moving golems. And then he’d yell, and it would all be over.
“All over but the fun!”
My mimic had a strange idea about what was fun.
I maneuvered the last golem backward, “A little further back, back, back, to the right, back.”
They were amazingly responsive. What would it be like to be one of the Magikas out there beyond the doorway maneuvering thousands of these things at once? Even looking through their glowing eyes ...
“Headache inducing.”
True.
“Stop.”
The golem was out of the gap and there was just enough room for a man to pass through. Oddly enough, now that I could see past them, I could see that a wide metal net had been stretched over whatever they were guarding. It looked heavy and sturdy, held up by tall metal posts. Interesting. Perhaps they were worried about dragons swooping down from above. I took a deep breath and squeezed between the
metal bodies.
Chapter Nine
“Now that is a secret weapon,” my mimic remarked as my jaw dropped open. He burst into laughter. “So secret, that it’s not even a weapon!”
I didn’t feel the same. My breath caught in my throat, sudden emotion flooding me.
There were ten of them, huddled between the sorriest looking big birds I’d ever seen. The birds were probably big enough to fly with a man on their back.
“Oosquer,” the mimic suggested. “Those things Saboraak was pretending to be. She hated that, remember? Look at their bedraggled plumage! I’m on her side. You should never have agreed to make her pretend to be one of these!”
But I wasn’t listening to him. I was grinning like a fool at a smiling Hubric standing at the center of all the others. In the back, behind the sad looking oosquer, was Kyrowat, giving me the evil eye. Of course. I could save him from death itself and he’d look at me like I’d offended him.
“Hubric,” I said casually, like I was out on a stroll.
“I should have known it would be you,” Hubric said. “Bataar said he thought that the Ko’roi should have power over the golems.”
“He should. Over all the golems,” Bataar said from beside Hubric. His eyebrows were raised critically. Seriously! This guy!
“Well, I apologize for not being magical enough for you. Weren’t you supposed to be sheltering my people and leading them while I was gone?”
“Yeah!” my mimic said. “Score!”
I felt a flicker of shame. Anything the mimic thought was good was probably petty.
Bataar didn’t have time to answer. At that moment there was a cry from outside the ring of golems.
“Skies and flaming stars!” I spat. “Come on! We have to hurry!”
I spun, running toward that little gap between the golems. It wouldn’t be wide enough for a dragon or one of those oosquers.
“Back!” I ordered it, but as it shuffled back the first guard came racing forward. I raised my staff to fight him, deflecting his first blow.
“Use the golem, you fool!” Bataar called from behind me. “What good is that stick compared to them?”
Oops.
“Fight!” I ordered the golem and then immediately wished I hadn’t. The golem rushed forward, scooping up the guard in his metal jaws and running toward the sleeping camp like an enraged bull.
“Skies and Stars!” Bataar said from behind me and as my cheeks heated in embarrassment, he pushed past me.
“The doorway!” I shouted, pointing toward where it sat on the cart. “Hurry!”
If they got tangled up fighting an army, we would lose for sure. That was our only chance out of here.
I looked over my shoulder to see the other Kav’ai already mounting their oosquer, hunched low on their backs, belly to back as the awkward creatures flew toward the doorway.
I’d lost track of Hubric. I hoped he was mounting Kyrowat.
Everything was happening too quickly. The Kav’ai were streaking past me, the sentries were sounding the alarm. Screams rose from where the golem had disappeared into the camp, the guard in his mouth.
The door of Apeq’s pavilion opened, and in the light of the green braziers, I could see him clearly outlined. I could have sworn our eyes met over the distance, even though I couldn’t pick out the details of his face.
An icy rush of terror shot down my spine. We needed to get through that doorway. Now.
Soldiers charged toward us from every direction, weapons lowered, battle cries and shouts on their curling lips. I braced myself, staff in hand, counting the oosquer. Six, no seven were past me. Was that all? I thought it was.
Kyrowat squeezed between the golem forms, hopping on the ground beside me like he didn’t know if he should fly or leap.
“What are you waiting for, boy?” Hubric barked. “That’s the last of them.”
Kyrowat flamed urgently to the side, his flame sweeping across the first soldiers to reach us and then he was running forward, leaving me exposed.
I was exposed and alone in the sand with nothing but golems behind me and every soldier who could get here quick enough closing in on me.
“Grawlix,” my mimic growled.
I braced the quarterstaff in my grip, ready to fight.
“Bataar is going to laugh at your funeral,” the mimic said.
He was right. But the oosquer and the dragons had passed. Already, they were diving into the doorway like ducks plunging into a lake for fish.
Everyone else had something to ride. Everyone but me.
My eye caught the nearest golem.
Oh.
Yeah.
If I thought about it, I’d never be able to do it. I gritted my teeth and plunged toward the nearest golem, scrambling up his slick metal back and onto the saddle.
“Forward,” I called as he leapt into a run and I was thrown back into the metal saddle. Ungh! These things had not been designed for comfort.
“You didn’t need that tailbone anyway,” the mimic mocked.
We ran toward the ring of encircling soldiers until they scattered before us like birds on a path. Their shouts and taunts followed me, but I wasn’t worried about them. I was worried about their leader. He’d see this as provocation. He’d follow us as soon as he could move this army. And there were so many more people and golems here than I ever imagined was possible.
I followed the line of oosquer through the doorway and out into the night beyond. We’d escaped their grasp, but only for the moment.
Chapter Ten
We crashed through the doorway and down the cart steps on the other side. Ahead of me, the Kav’ai were whooping in excitement and it was all I could do not to yell curses at them. We’d already ruined our chance of sneaking away. Now Eventen and his whole camp would know we were here.
“It’s your own fault. You didn’t warn them to be quiet on this side,” the mimic said. “You always think with your gut instead of your brain.”
I thought – briefly – of storming Eventen’s camp and taking the Magikas there hostage.
“The last time you tried to take a Magika hostage it only worked because she let it. Then she ruined everything by exploding at the wrong time. I don’t think you should trust yourself to take any more hostages.”
The mimic had a point. I could also send them on ahead while we stayed back and killed the Magikas sleeping in their tents while Eventen and the others pursued the whooping Kav’ai.
“Yes! That’s the perfect plan!”
But in this, Katlana had been right. I was no murderer. As tempting as it was to try, I knew I couldn’t slice a man’s throat while he slept.
“You fight just fine in battle,” the mimic argued.
That was different. In battle, it was desperation that threw me forward. And self-defense. And the defense of others. All admirable things. To creep up on someone in the dark of night and slice the life out of them ... that was different.
“How?” The mimic asked. “They are just as much a threat whether they are attacking now or are sleeping so they can attack tomorrow. And whether you kill them now or later they will be just as dead.”
It was different. I couldn’t explain how, but I knew it was different and it was one line that I just couldn’t cross. Not and still be Tor Winespring.
I blew a whistle through my fingers, trying to draw the attention of the hollering Kav’ai. Kyrowat, just ahead of me, crooked his long neck around to look at me and I could have sworn he rolled his eyes.
Let’s just say I’ve been with this bunch of fools for too long. I thought you were bad. At least there’s only one of you.
I startled at the feel of his mental voice in my mind. Kyrowat almost never spoke to humans other than Hubric.
See how frustrated I am? It’s not like me. I have a half a mind to bite one of those oosquer to bring them into line, but I just know they’d taste awful. Where’s Saboraak?
Waiting for us. To the east of here. Saboraak?
There was no immediate response. Hopefully, she’d only fallen asleep.
Shouts coming from Eventen’s camp drew a sigh from me. Yep. He’d heard the racket. We could expect golems following us any moment now. With a grimace, I urged the golem under me forward at a fast gallop. Ungh! Ungh! The jostling of his metal saddle under my bottom made my teeth crash together and my hip bones feel like chunks were being broken off with every bounce. Maybe that was why I’d seen so few riders. You’d have to be desperate to ride one of these.
I pulled ahead of the oosquer. They flew so low to the ground that their wing tips almost brushed the grass but they flew toward the silent ranks of golems rather than skirting them to the north the way I was.
“Follow me!” I called as I passed them. “Skies and stars, would you follow? I’m your flaming Ko’roi!”
“A Ko’roi is not a King!” Bataar called back.
I didn’t care what a Ko’roi was. If they didn’t follow me, they were all going to end up dead. Scowling, I led them toward where I’d left Saboraak a little to the east, passing the lines of silent golems, but not flying over them. Not yet, at least.
I could feel her sleepy mind waking.
Why do you feel strange? You are speeding toward me too quickly. Oh. Ugh. You’re riding a golem.
Trust me, old girl, I prefer you in every way. You don’t make it your mission in life to shatter my spine.
I could try. If that’s what you’re looking for in a dragon...
It was certainly not. My head pounded painfully as my sit-bones bashed again and again against the golem saddle. I wasn’t going to be able to sit down for a month!
I could see Saboraak emerging from the trees, stretching and shaking.
I see you’ve brought down a cloud of hornets. As usual.
A single glance behind me showed me what she meant. The golems in the careful lines I had passed as I skirted their ranks were waking up and turning towards us while others I had passed earlier were already racing in our direction. It was going to be a merry chase.
Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 9-12 Page 10