The Emerald Rider (Book Four of the Dragoneer Saga)

by M. R. Mathias

  Chapter Eight

  The humongous beast seemed less like a bear now that it was there and clawing at him. Jenka decided it was more like a badger, for it was lightning quick and unafraid of the softly glowing Dour he radiated. He got a good slice in, and a good look in the thing’s eye, too. That’s when he grew concerned. Whatever this musky-smelling creature was, it wanted to kill him badly.

  This was no illusionary thing. It was real. It had probably been bound by Xaffer to this spell, which meant that Jenka had been transported to it, or the other way around. He couldn’t concern himself with whys or hows now, though, for the beast was coming in again.

  It turned its head one way, then another, and shook its gruff. The gesture was quite similar to a dog shaking off water, only this thing could bite a dog in half. Its first steps were misleading, for it was far quicker than it seemed. It lunged forward like a mouser on a rat. Its head came in straight at him, forcing him to choose a side to roll to. There was no time for deception, and the instant he committed to the left, the creature was there.

  Claws met Dour-saturated flesh, and the radiant power saved him from being ripped to ribbons, but it didn’t save him from having four claws rake across his skin. The pain kept Jenka from blasting at the thing, for he needed concentration to do that. Instead, he jabbed with his sword, forcing it to sidestep around him.

  A few moments of circling, followed by a heartbeat of watching the thing’s sheer frustration, and then it came at him again. Jenka had to jump up to avoid a set of finger-length clacking teeth. He ended up in a bad position and was forced to land in a heap on top of the creature’s body.

  It roared out and threw its neck back. Jenka went over it backward and was greeted with a hard thumping from its tail. One of the tail spikes punctured his shoulder, and when the beast turned, it stayed stuck in him, whipping him around to the floor, before coming free.

  Jenka tried to roll away as it pounced on him, but he wasn’t fast enough. He was pinned beneath two clawed forelimbs. A slavering snout opened as it made to eat his face. Jenka tried to roll away again, but it was wasted effort. Hot, rotten-smelling breath found his nostrils and threatened to make him gag, but he fought the urge. He reached deep into the Dour and did the one thing he hated to do most, and teleported himself away.

  He didn’t go far, but far enough to avoid those teeth was all he’d needed. He was fifteen paces away now and struggling to get to his feet.

  The beast’s mouth closed on air, and as it raised its head up to roar in confusion it saw him. It didn’t wait. It charged straight in again, but this time Jenka had an idea of what to do.

  As it closed the distance between them, Jenka feinted like he was diving to the left again. As soon as it leaned its bulk that way, Jenka spun the other direction and then pushed his sword deep into the monster’s vitals, just behind the foreleg.

  It roared out in pain and then went into a violent series of death throes, but by the time they subsided Jenka had found another brightly-painted red door set into the wall.

  He didn’t even bother to wipe the gore from his blade before he shouldered through it.

  ***

  Marcherion sensed something behind them, or rather Blaze sensed it and Marcherion just felt it through their link. He looked over his shoulder and saw a dark thing not far behind. It was oozing through the air, not flying. On a second glance he couldn’t spot it, but saw out of the corner of his eye another form revealed. He almost laughed at the idea of it. Some of those witches who had attacked the stronghold were following him.

  Put them behind us, Blaze, March said, knowing his wyrm could fly three times as fast as he was now.

  Nooo, Blaze responded. There is another behind them. Aikira and the old wyrm.

  He was just about to have Blaze circle back when Aikira called out to him.

  There is a faster way, she said, her tone and phrasing somehow pleasingly melodic to his ears. Golden knows a way.

  She is ancient, she may, Blaze told March.

  Be wary. There are some of those witches about, Marcherion warned. Blaze slowed down and circled once so that Golden could catch up to them.

  “A way to what?” he called over to Aikira when they were close, glad to speak out loud. He and Blaze had once flown for more than a hundred days without communication by voice. March would just as soon speak out loud all the time.

  “A way, a portal spell, or whatever it is.” Aikira clearly didn’t understand what it was. “If Crimzon and Jenka had only asked, she might have saved them the fli—”

  Blaze hissed. We only knowss where they are becausssse we can senssse Crimzon.

  And you will feed that destination into the weaving of the portal as I cast it into being, Golden joined the conversation. Her elderly ethereal voice was anything but matronly. She sounded as if she were taking control of the situation, though.

  Marcherion didn’t argue. If they could get there faster with a spell, then so be it.

  Chapter Nine

  “All this fargin’ magic creeps my crotch,” said Herald Kaljatig, High Commander of the Keepers. He wasn’t very pleased with the new name chosen for his King’s Rangers, but he couldn’t argue with the idea that they no longer served “The Kingdom” and needed a new designation. He also hated the idea of magic, and the great hall Zahrellion had him investigating stunk of the arcane.

  This was not the mildly upsetting, good kind of wizardry the Dragoneers and dragons used, either. This stuff was foul. This was the thick, blood-curdling type of witchery that Mysterian and those druids of Dou had thrown around, the kind Gravelbone and those fargin’ Sarax used.

  Herald wanted nothing more than to be out of there. Just being in the room made his missing eyeball itch. It was all he could do to keep from rubbing at the patch that covered the empty socket. It was only his fierce sense of duty that kept him at it.

  Jenka had healed him, practically saved him from death, before he ran off. Herald hobbled on a cane these days when he was feeling spry enough to get out of the rolling chair Rikky had made for him. Today was one of those days.

  “Herald, um, High Commander, I mean.” Rikky’s over-achieving attempt at being official was comical. He was trying to heal his pride, and Herald, understanding that, was humoring him. Seeing Rikky in his chair was disheartening. The boy usually had his peg leg on and was hopping around like the youthful man he really was. He’d crashed his dragon into an orchard, Herald had heard, or a group of ogres or something. Zahrellion said Rikky’s stump was purple and far too sore to wear his peg. He was rolling across the floor expertly, though, looking in his lap at notes he’d jotted in a journal. “Do we believe the man was, well, a man?”

  Herald looked at Rikky and shook his head. What was this do we believe stuff?

  “We believe that men have to know about it, boy.” Herald was losing his grip and tried not to snap too hard at the youngest Dragoneer. “We need to be shaking folks down on the other side of the wall. We need a ten-man… no twelve-man delegation to go over there and root these fargin’ troll turds right outta their arse holes. We need to—”

  Rikky’s sudden burst of giggling laughter made it hard for Herald to continue. “Did you say root those troll turds right out of their arse holes?”

  “It’s an expression, boy,” Herald defended, trying to remain deadpanned.

  “’Root those rats out of their hidey-holes’ is the expression.” Rikky was still giggling.

  Herald was glad to see it. The boy hadn’t been himself since Silva was wounded and Marcherion and Aikira flew off without him. They’d been gone barely a full day and Zahrellion had ordered him and Rikky to find the witches’ coven and bring them to justice. She and Lemmy were packing everything into Crystal’s riding saddle in preparation for their departure to Clover’s castle, where her son would be safe. Herald was glad for that, too. If he weren’t standing beside a thick, dark puddle of goo that may or may not have once been a man, he might have felt great.

  �
��Just an expression, boy,” Herald repeated. He’d spotted a lump of cloth just under an overturned pew and started for it.

  “It’s a doll,” Rikky said. His mirth faded, and he put his quill between his teeth so he could use his well-muscled arms to direct his rolling chair in that direction. “The witch came into the hall as a small girl.”

  Herald was leaning down to grab the raggedy thing.

  “It may be magicked,” Rikky said quickly. “If it is, it’ll do more than creep your crotch, I’d wager.”

  Herald stopped mid-grab and backed away. He’d had the hair shocked off his nards by a Sarax once. He had no desire to feel anything like that ever again. “Why didn’t you point it out, lad?” He cringed and hobbled a few steps back. “It almost got me.”

  Rikky was laughing now. He rolled over to the end of the pew and motioned for Herald to come help. Herald in turn motioned for one of the Keepers standing at the door to come do the lifting.

  Once the pews were spread apart far enough for Rikky to roll his chair in, he went over to the doll and jabbed it with his quill.

  “AAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGHHHH!” Rikky screamed and started waving his arms around crazily. Herald jumped back and must have had a terrified expression on his face for Rikky was holding his gut laughing at him now.

  “Why do you want to send me to my grave, boy?” Herald asked after he’d gathered himself.

  “Not your grave, to Mainsted.” Rikky was looking at the doll again. His mirth evaporated as quickly as it had formed. “I saw these dolls in a shop there. It was not long before Zahrellion and I slew the serpent. I’m certain the place is still there.”

  “I’ll order up a wagon team and have some mounted men start gearing up to escort us,” Herald said.

  “No. You and I will fly on Silva’s back. We have men loyal to the Rangers and Dragoneers there. We saved them from Gravelbone’s poison, after all.”

  What Rikky said next didn’t do much to quell Herald’s fear of riding on a dragon’s back, but it eased most of the concern Herald had been feeling about the current situation.

  “It’s best that it was me and Zahrellion who stayed here,” Rikky told him. “She and I have been through a lot. It’s best that it is March responding to Crimzon’s call as well. He and Blaze flew halfway across the world to join the battle against the thing we defeated. My pride will recover, and they are suited for it. It is Aikira that we should be worried about. I think she probably went to the Outlands, but she may have followed after March.”

  “Golden is the oldest of the wyrms,” Herald said. “Those two will be fine.”

  Zahrellion stepped between the Keepers at the door, and after two dignified strides into the hall her face scrunched up and she ran like a terrified girl with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “What have I done?” she sobbed as she hugged Herald tightly. Then she was holding Rikky’s head against her bosom, using the frame of his chair to keep herself upright. “I talked to her so terribly. I’m too horrible a person to be a queen. All I care about is keeping my son safe. I… I…”

  “It’s all right, lass.” Herald gave her a hug. “Give her time. She will forgive you, I’m sure of it.”

  “I wish Jenka was here,” Rikky blurted, before thinking.

  Herald sighed. He hated crying girls almost as much as he hated magic and riding on dragons. Zahrellion was like a daughter to him now, though, and Rikky’s comment had turned her into a sobbing mess of emotion. He stood there holding her until she was finished. It was the least he could do for the terrified girl.

  Chapter Ten

  Jade, Jenka’s mental voice called out calmly. I am in some sort of hedge maze now. This may take longer than I expected.

  Esssss. Jade showed in his tone that he wasn’t pleased with this. Sssshould I grow old waiting on you, like Crimzonssss for Cloversss?

  If you did, I’d hope we’d have friends as loyal as we are to come try to undo the magic keeping us apart. Jenka’s ethereal voice revealed displeasure as well.

  Yesss, Jade hissed an exasperated agreement. I shall feed on the mackerels schooling off of the coassst here while I wait, then.

  You can’t be hungry again already, Jenka laughed. It was the first time he’d done so in what seemed like ages, and Jade was pleased to hear it. You just filled your belly with seals two days ago.

  Four dayss ago, Jade corrected. We left the fire wyrm four dayss ago.

  Promise me that, no matter where you feed, you will return here to laze? Jenka asked.

  Yessss, I wills. I will be here with you, Jenka. I am always with you.

  With that, Jade leapt into the dusky sky and started winging his way toward one of the offshore reefs he’d found when flying high above the temple. Jade had seen larger fish gathering near the surface there and had been thinking of them ever since. When he saw the reef again, he grew excited. Toothy maw salivating for fresh meat, he banked around ever so slowly, searching the surface for a meal.

  It was windy, and the clear water they’d seen before was choppy now. Where the swells rolled over the reef, they turned into huge, curling waves. These were far larger than the waves that ended on the rocky prominence where Jenka was.

  It took a long time to spot a fish, but when he did, Jade was enthralled. It was perfectly sized. Small enough for him to lift from the water and large enough to be a tasty, juicy morsel.

  Jade set his wings back and dove on the shadowy form that was now easing back into the deep. He came down far harder than he normally would have, knowing that if he misjudged, water would be welcoming where earth was not. At the last second he leveled out and skimmed the wave tops, then he extended his long hind claws into the water and gripped the fish tightly. Trying desperately not to lose his forward momentum, he lifted his catch from the sea and found that it cost him a tremendous amount of energy just to carry it. He managed to rise and get going back toward the temple, but it was laborious at best. Then the long, slippery thing started wiggling frantically. First one claw lost its grip, then the fish was tumbling, only to splash into the sea and disappear in a swirling cloud of pink, bloody water.

  Jade was almost relieved at not having the burden, but he was twice as hungry now as before, having worked up his appetite. He felt a surge of luck as the fish bobbed to the surface a good distance down current. He glided over that direction, hoping to snatch up the thing now that it wasn’t moving, but he found that only the front half of his prey was there. Something must have eaten the tail end of it. The idea that something down there was big enough to take a bite out of him caused some of the gnawing in his belly to lessen, but only a fraction. He knew he could go check in on Crimzon and sate himself on plump sea lions. He would try to catch another fish first, this time one not so large as to be unmanageable.

  After all, he had nothing better to do while waiting on his bond-mate to traverse the wizard’s pitfalls.

  ***

  Jenka fought the nausea that consumed him when he used the Dour. He levitated so that he could see the whole of the maze from a bird’s eye view, and since he was used to flying, he found it wasn’t hard to will himself to glide a few feet over the head-high growth.

  The shrubs were thick, and the leaves had sharp little points on them. He’d tried dragging his hand on them, but the prickly stuff tore at his flesh. He then tried to hack through it with his blade, but that only frustrated him further. He decided that there might be a time when he had no choice but to ride the roaring flow of power, and maybe using the Dour a few times would better prepare him. Jade was probably right, but he disliked the unsettling roil the stuff left inside him. Feeling it now, as he hovered, had him questioning if he’d just rather wander around in the lanes below.

  There was a fountained courtyard at the center of the misleading complexity of ever-branching pathways. It looked like three leaping fish all holding up a platter where a mermaid spat water in a steady stream. The spray fell back on her human breasts and cascaded down the rest of her fishy for
m like trickling jewels.

  He shook his head, remembering to breathe, and thought of Zahrellion then. He missed her so much. He wanted this over and done with. He was a father. Well, he was supposed to be. He didn’t even know if it was a girl or a boy, or what its name was.

  It, ughhh, he growled into the ethereal. I want to know. I need her.

  Yesss, Jade responded. I am contemplatingss going to feeds with Crimzonsss.

  Sorry, I was thinking aloud, Jenka said. I am levitating with the Dour now. You’d be proud.

  Yesss, but don’t drift your mind ssso much. Keeps within yourself.

  Yesss, Jenka responded and chuckled as he heard himself sounding like his bond-mate again. He could also feel Jade’s hunger. Go feed with Crimzon, but return before you laze. I may need you soon enough.

  Yesss, Jade hissed, and then Jenka felt him divert his concentration as he leapt from his perch. He would be thinking of food until he fed. Such was the nature of the young, growing dragon.

  Jenka had to force another dreamy vision of Zahrellion away from his mind. He couldn’t lose himself again. He was very near the fountained courtyard now and made sure not to let the glittering water transfix his imagination again, too. He diverted his eyes as he let loose of the levitation spell and landed on the pavestones. He saw from the very corners of his vision the true nature of what was beneath him then, and he knew he’d made a mistake.

  He was falling. The illusion would have tricked him even had he been walking, for where the pavestones radiated out from the illusionary fountain there was really nothing but a pit. Luckily it wasn’t that deep, maybe twice as a man is tall. It was another battleground, and by the musty, briny way the place smelled he figured it was actually part of the temple’s underground structure.