Winged Warrior fl-7

by Richard S. Tuttle

  “Oh,” sighed Dobuk, “what is the use? You are a foolish servant of Kaltara. You probably don’t have the character to rule the world. You don’t have the ability to push your feelings aside and crush your enemies beneath your boots. You are a weakling.”

  “No!” protested the priest. “I have no feelings towards others. I am superior to all of them. I always have been, but they will fight me. How can I overcome the multitudes that will rise up against me?”

  “My priest will have powers befitting his station,” smirked Dobuk. “Mortals are weaklings. When you speak in my name, they will either bow or flee, but you will not allow them to flee. You will strike them down to the last child. Can you handle that, Priest?”

  Vand’s eyes glistened as he imagined the power that he would wield. He pictured King Regis kneeling before him, as he demanded the surrender of Angragar. His face broke into a smile.

  “I think you will be surprised with what I can accomplish,” declared Vand. “Kaltara will rue the day that he tested me. You have a bargain, Dobuk. I will be your priest.”

  The Great Demon’s grin broke as his mouth opened wide revealing the rows of sharp teeth. Flames shot from the demon’s eyes as he nodded his head in satisfaction. He waved a claw in the air, and Vand’s body instantly healed. The blisters disappeared, and the charred skin returned to a healthy tone.

  Vand actually felt the sickness flee from his body. He inhaled deeply as he felt his strength returning. His eyes fell to the desert floor, and he saw rich garments before him. He picked them up and dressed. When he was done, Dobuk gently picked Vand up, and the priest stood on the demon’s open palm while Dobuk explained what he was to do. After an indeterminable amount of time, Dobuk was satisfied that his new priest would know what to do. He placed Vand back on the ground and winked conspiratorially. Vand bowed low before his new master. Dobuk waved a claw, and a door appeared in the sands of the desert.

  “You must visit regularly,” warned Dobuk. “I will not stand for disobedience. I am not Kaltara, and my vengeance will be slow and deliberate. Do you understand?”

  “Perfectly,” nodded Vand.

  Dobuk disappeared in a puff of smoke. Vand turned and walked through the door to the small closet. He closed the door and stood in the darkness for a moment. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped out into the cave below the Asylum. The old man gasped audibly when he saw the priest. Vand grinned and motioned the old man towards him.

  “You have something that belongs to me,” Vand declared. “Give it to me.”

  The old man’s eyes grew large as he fumbled inside his tunic for the contract.

  “How have you survived?” asked the old man. “The others either never returned or came back crazy.”

  “The others were not High Priests,” grinned Vand as he tore the contract up and stuffed the pieces into his pouch. “I left a present for you inside the closet. It is the least I could do for one who has shown me the way to greatness.”

  A pall of confusion came over the old man’s face, but his curiosity was strong. He immediately moved beyond the priest and peered through the open door to the closet. He saw nothing. Unexpectedly, Vand pushed the old man into the closet and slammed the door shut. He could barely hear the old man’s cries of terror as he passed through the cave to the stairs leading up to the shop.

  Our story so far…

  Young Lord of Khadora is the story of a young soldier who is unhappy with the culture of his country. His superb military skills, and the loyalty of his troops, enable Marak to take the reins of a minor Situ estate when the opportunity arises. When the neighboring lords conspire against Lord Marak, he uses cunning, courage, and unconventional warfare to subdue them. When his own protector, Lord Ridak of the Situ Clan, turns against Lord Marak, the young lord strikes a blow for a new culture. He creates his own clan, the Torak clan, and defies the norms by freeing his slaves. At the end of volume one, Lord Marak secretly controls five small clans on the frontier of Khadora.

  Star of Sakova introduces Lyra, a young mage student who is thrust into an unfamiliar world by an attack on her father’s magic academy. Running for her life, Lyra enters the dreaded Sakova, expecting death at every turn. Instead, she finds that the god Kaltara has chosen her to lead the Sakovan people. Young Lyra unravels the mystery of the attack on the magic academy and the kidnapping of her father, Master Malafar. During the struggle to save the Sakovan people from extinction, Lord Marak visits and discovers long lost ties between the Sakovans and the people of his Chula father. By the end of volume two of the Forgotten Legacy, Lyra displays magic talents that only Kaltara could have given her. She faces off against the false Katana Alazar and defeats him in a public display that eliminates the threat of war.

  Web of Deceit features a young villager from a remote area of Fakara. The story opens with the destruction of Rejji’s village and a chance meeting with Mistake, a young elf-like woman. Rejji and Mistake are captured by slavers and sold to a Khadoran estate where they befriend a young Fakaran with the rare ability to speak with animals. Lord Marak frees the trio from slavery as he seeks to learn more about the strange country of Fakara. When the trio returns to Rejji’s homeland, they become embroiled in a power struggle between the Jiadin tribe and the rest of the tribesmen, known as the Free Tribes. On a trip to the Sage of the Mountain, Rejji discovers that he is the long-awaited Astor of prophecy. He finds a painting in the ancient lost city of Angragar that depicts Lord Marak, Lyra, and himself. By the end of volume three, Rejji succeeds in uniting the Free Tribes under his banner and defeating the Jiadin. He immediately makes plans to rebuild his native country.

  Aakuta: the Dark Mage introduces a new mysterious figure. A powerful dark mage suddenly appears in a country devoid of male mages. The mage appears to have no allegiances in the growing struggle between Lord Marak and the forces of evil, but he has the habit of always showing up when conflict erupts. Meanwhile, Lord Marak tries to arouse Khadora into stopping an invasion by the Jiadin. Not only do the other lords refuse to help him, but they actively try to ruin him through attacks and assassinations attempts. The secret alliances long held by Lord Marak are eventually discovered as Marak first ascends to the Lords’ Council and eventually becomes Emperor of Khadora. At the conclusion of volume four, Emperor Marak is consolidating Khadora under his banner. His plan is to rally all of the armies to help him combat the coming invasion of evil.

  In Island of Darkness, a false Katana again rules Omunga. War is declared on the Sakovans as Vand’s people poison the food supply of Omunga. Emperor Marak guides Lyra as she attempts to win the war without inflicting too many casualties. She knows of the coming invasion and is forced to preserve as many of her enemy as possible. Meanwhile, Mistake and MistyTrail discover that they are sisters. They set out on a sea voyage and are shipwrecked off the Island of Darkness. As they search for a way to get home, the sisters discover elves, which were long thought to be extinct. In their bid for freedom, the sisters must rescue a pair of elves and get them off the island. During the rescues, the women discover many dark secrets of the evil enemy. At the end of volume five, Emperor Marak has ordered his people to deliver Mistake and her new friends to Khadoratung where he hopes to learn more about Vand and the lost nation of elves.

  In Elvangar, Eltor and Caldal, the young male elves rescued by Mistake and MistyTrail, learn the truth about the ancient relations between the humans and the elves. They witness the awakening of the ancient city of Angragar before escorting Mistake and MistyTrail to the hidden land of Elvangar. Mistake and MistyTrail find that Elvangar is not the utopia that they expected. The land is ruled by a moody queen who turns out to be their mother. Arrested for attempting to assassinate the queen, Mistake and MistyTrail escape from Elvangar and return to the Island of Darkness to rescue their father, Avalar, King of the Elves. The young females elves discover that they are the lost princesses, Alahara and Alastasia, and accompany Avalar back to Elvangar to reclaim his throne.

  Chapter 1
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  Raid on Duran

  The first hint of dawn was appearing over the ocean as the sky began to lighten somewhat, but the morning fog obscured everything at ground level. Kenda peered out of the small window next to his bed as his eyes glistened with anticipation. The boy crept out of bed and quickly dressed as silently as he could. He eased the door open and slid through it, placing each foot carefully to minimize the noise. Slowly, he made his way to the kitchen and took his pack off the hook on the wall. He stuffed two round loaves of bread into his sack and slipped it on.

  Returning to his room, he eased the door closed and then pulled his boots on. He was about to slip through the window, but he halted and got off the bed. He tiptoed to the chest at the foot of his bed. He opened the chest and extracted a length of rope, which he stuffed into his pack. He stood silently for a moment as if thinking about anything else he might need. Finally, he shook his head and shrugged. Kenda poked his head out of the window and gazed along the alley. There was no one in sight, so he climbed out the window and landed softly on the ground.

  Kenda walked briskly along the alley. The fog hung so thick in places that anyone not familiar with the city of Duran would be foolish to attempt moving about, but Kenda was no stranger to the city. He had lived in Duran all of his life. The boy reached the street and looked both ways before emerging from the alley. He heard the clomping of a horse somewhere off to his right, but he could not see anyone. He raced across the street and continued along the alley for a short distance.

  When he was well into the alley, he slowed down to avoid accidentally bumping into the supplies that Jackle’s father had stacked in the alleyway. He moved cautiously until the building materials came into view. Just beyond the stack of lumber and the pile of stones, Kenda moved close to the building and pulled himself up to peer through the window of his friend.

  “Let’s go, Jackle,” Kenda urged softly. “It’s perfect weather out this morning. The fog is thicker than usual. Let’s go.”

  “You sure this is a good idea?” Jackle asked as he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Your Pa will be mad when he finds out that you are gone.”

  “I doubt it,” countered Kenda. “Our fathers did the same thing when they were boys. I heard them laughing about it, but they never made it all the way. We are going to make it.”

  “If anyone can,” grinned Jackle as he threw off the cover and quickly dressed, “we can.”

  “That is the truth,” replied Kenda, “but if you are having second thoughts, we can call this off. This was your idea, after all.”

  “You’re just trying to get out of it,” taunted Jackle. “You said that you would come with me, and you are coming. We should take something to eat and drink.”

  “I have two loaves of bread,” offered Kenda. “We can fill our flasks at the well before we leave the city. Can you think of anything else we might need?”

  “We don’t need anything else,” shrugged Jackle as he laced his boots and scrambled out the window.

  The two boys stood in the alleyway silently for a moment.

  “I am so excited,” Jackle finally said. “I have wanted to do this for a long time, but I feel bad about getting you in trouble. Maybe I should go alone.”

  “I am not letting you go alone,” declared Kenda. “I think it would be wise to wait a year or two until we have developed more climbing skills, but I know that you can’t wait that long. I am going with you.”

  “Our climbing skills are fantastic,” retorted Jackle. “I can out climb my older brother already. Why should we wait?”

  “That is what I expected you to say,” chuckled Kenda. “Let’s get moving while the fog is still thick. I want to be well up the Wall of Mermidion before it burns off.”

  “The Wall of Mermidion,” Jackle replied with reverence in his voice. “The unscalable cliffs of Duran.”

  “Not exactly unscalable,” countered Kenda. “Some people have done it before.”

  “True,” nodded Jackle, “but they are all dead now. Besides the cliffs were never conquered by anyone our age. Our names will be famous when we return. How can anyone be angry with us then?”

  “Let’s worry about our fame when we return,” suggested Kenda. “Right now we need to get our water and get out of the city before someone sees us and tells our fathers.”

  “Right,” Jackle nodded vigorously. “Let’s go.”

  The two boys moved silently along the alley until they came to the street. Kenda peered out of the alley and saw no one. He led the way into the street as the boys moved swiftly towards the well. The dense fog muted the sounds of the city, but they could hear the fisherman making their way towards the coast. When they heard someone coming towards them, they darted into an alley until the person passed by. The fog was thick enough that they never did see the early morning citizen. When the sound receded, the boys continued their journey towards the well.

  They reached the well without running into anyone. The boys quickly filled their flasks and moved away from the well in case some early morning risers came to fetch water.

  “I bet the ships don’t leave port until this fog thins a bit,” stated Jackle. “It is much thicker than normal. I can hardly see more than a pace in front of me.”

  “It is early yet,” replied Kenda. “As soon as the sun rises, it will burn off quick enough.”

  The boys moved as quickly as possible through the streets of Duran. Several more times they had to hide while a citizen passed by, but they never actually saw anyone. Only the sounds alerted them to the presence of others. Within half an hour, the boys had left the city and were crossing the farms towards the Wall of Mermidion that separated Duran from the rest of the Sakova.

  Duran was unique in that it was the only Sakovan city that was inaccessible by land from any other part of the country. It occupied a small shelf of land between the Wall of Mermidion and the sea. The Wall of Mermidion itself was a towering range of cliffs that ran along the coast of the Sakova for hundreds of leagues. Duran was an isolated city, but most of the residents preferred it that way. They were a close-knit group that had little dealings with outsiders, even when they were part of Omunga. During the war, the city had been the first Omungan city to swear allegiance to the Sakova in exchange for the promise of food to feed the starving citizenry. Ever since, the Sakovans had sent shiploads of food to feed the people of Duran until they were once again self-sufficient.

  The boys reached the foot of the Wall of Mermidion and gazed upward. They could not see far through the fog.

  “We should have brought rope,” frowned Jackle.

  “Got it,” beamed Kenda. “Why don’t you go first? I will follow you up.”

  “Makes sense to me,” grinned Jackle. “I am the better climber. Just watch where I place my hands and feet and then follow me up.”

  Kenda smiled and nodded as Jackle began climbing. He wasn’t entirely sure that he agreed with Jackle’s assessment of their skills, but this was Jackle’s expedition, and Kenda had no intention of spoiling it for his friend. He watched as Jackle slowly faded upward into the fog and then started up the cliff himself.

  The cliffs were totally vertical, and the rock face was fairly smooth. There were few places to gain a firm purchase, so the technique the boys used the most was to find a narrow crevice and wedge his body into it. They would then move upward by keeping a firm pressure on each side of the crevice. It was an exhausting way to climb the cliffs, but both boys were excited to be doing it. They climbed for over an hour before Jackle found a spot where they could sit and rest.

  “This is harder than I thought,” exhaled Jackle. “How far up do you think we are? I can’t see anything below us or above us. The fog is still too thick.”

  “We have barely begun,” replied Kenda. “We will be lucky to reach the top before nightfall. We can still turn back if you want.”

  “Don’t mention that again,” scowled Jackle. “I am not stopping before I reach the top. I don’t care if it t
akes two days. I will never get this chance again.”

  “Alright,” shrugged Kenda, “but I want you to know that I will never think less of you if you decide to turn back. I guess what I mean is that it will be alright if we do.”

  “Are you scared?” retorted Jackle. “Is that why you keep bringing it up?”

  “I am scared a bit,” confessed Kenda, “but not so much of falling. I am afraid of doing something stupid, like refusing to quit when we are beaten by this cliff. There is no shame in understanding your limits and acting accordingly. I fear that you might not understand that.”

  “I don’t understand it because I refuse to accept failure,” declared Jackle. “This cliff is not going to defeat me. You can go back down when you get scared, but I am going all the way to the top.”

  Kenda sighed and stared off into the fog. He truly was not afraid of climbing the cliffs, but he was worried about his friend. He decided not to bring the subject up again.

  “I thought this fog would be burning off by now,” Kenda changed the subject of the conversation. “We haven’t had such a fog that I can ever remember. I wonder if the fishermen will even take their boats out today?”

  “I hope it clears soon,” replied Jackle. “The view of the city from up here must be fantastic. Let’s start climbing again. When the fog does lift, we will have an even better view.”

  Kenda nodded as Jackle rose and squeezed into the crevice. The boys continued upward for another two hours before stopping again. Kenda took a loaf of bread out of his pack and broke off a couple of pieces. He gave one piece to Jackle.

  “It still hasn’t lifted,” frowned Jackle as he munched on his bread. “Fog never lasts so late in the morning. Look towards the ocean. You can practically see the outline of the sun trying to break through the fog.”