“You say Memlatec sent you. How did that happen so fast?” Tournak asked, “Why didn’t Memlatec tell me at Hyemka?”
“Memlatec sent a hawk to find me in Hador. The bird delivered the message of your return. The old wizard requested I leave my watch on the border and hurry to meet you at Favriana. I nearly missed you, too.” Hendrel said. He laughed. “I wasn’t certain it was you. I started the fight with Bodrin, so as not to lose contact with you until I was certain. When Saxthor used Bodrin’s real name outside Favriana Fortress, I knew you were the men I was looking for.”
“Favriana Fortress!” Tournak’s high-pitched voice made Saxthor look to Bodrin. “No one said anything about the Favriana Fortress. Am I the last to know anything?”
“Sorry, Tournak,” Saxthor looked down, rubbing his scratches. “We thought it best not to bother you with it.”
“Bother me with it!”
“We bumped into this fellow on the docks and got into a scuffle. Before we knew it, the soldiers on the wharf dragged us to the fortress, where the sergeant released us if we promised to leave town within two days. Since we were leaving anyway, there was no need to mention it.”
“No need? What if someone identified you as the prince? What if they locked you up, and I didn’t know where you were, what if ...” Tournak stopped himself.
“But nothing did happen,” Bodrin said.
“I was watching them, Tournak.” Hendrel put his hand on Saxthor’s shoulder.
“Well, there you’re mistaken, because that thing in the water there didn’t follow us for nothing, nor did it pick Saxthor for no reason,” Tournak said. A silence fell over the group. “Someone knows who we are, and now they’re trying to kill Saxthor. And you Hendrel, if that’s your name, why didn’t Memlatec tell me you were coming?”
“He sent me to help out. He knows you. You’ve protected these boys for years.
“We’re not boys anymore,” Bodrin said. “So what do we do now?”
The wizards looked at each other, but Saxthor spoke. “We’ll sink the boat and leave the lake tomorrow. Instead of sailing to Botahar and traveling north, we’ll leave at the lake’s westernmost point and go overland to the Morass Mesas. It’ll take us longer to travel that way, but it’ll take our pursuers longer to discover we’ve left the lake.”
“There’s wisdom in the boy,” Hendrel said.
“Boy again, they’ll never see us as men, Saxthor.”
Tournak remained silent, thinking through all the revelations before speaking. “Your arm all right?”
“It’s OK, if rot doesn’t set in,” Saxthor said. His grin calmed his mentor. “We’ll post guards and rest tonight. We can move up the lake a safe distance, and get an early start in the morning.”
“You thought fast and decisively in the crisis,” Tournak said. He turned to the others. “As Saxthor commands, the overland route it will be.”
The next morning they rowed up the lake putting as much distance between themselves, and anyone following, as possible.
“It should be a while before the sender notices the medrax is missing, longer still before he or she can send another creature,” Tournak said. “Nevertheless, we must make the trail as difficult to follow as possible.”
* * *
Earwig shot upright, shocked when wizard-fire destroyed the medrax, and its energy trace disappeared. A searing pain went through her as the medrax dissolved. When she recovered, she stormed through the castilyernov, screaming foul curses on whoever had thwarted her plan. The servants hid in the cellars that night, trembling at the tempest that raged above.
“I’ll have to conjure again, and the thing I create will have to track the lost group once more.” Screaming obscenities shattered night’s dark mantle until the sunrise when the storm blew itself out.
4: The Morass Mesas of Sengenwha
Imperial Topaz of Sincerity
That evening, Saxthor’s troupe found a stream flowing into the lake and decided it was the spot to abandon the boat. Scrub bushes and small trees partially hid the shallow, rocky stream. A tiny cove separated the creek from the lake proper. The cove exposed the stream only when passing directly in front of it, and then for only a moment.
“Set the supplies and belongings on rocks. Stay in the streambed,” Tournak said. “We’ll put rocks in the boat to keep it submerged.”
Bodrin pushed the sinking boat out into deeper water where pursuing searchers wouldn't notice it. “If we come back this way, I can dive down and remove the stones. We may be able to float it again.”
“Be careful not to leave any trace of us,” Saxthor said.
They loaded the gear into their backpacks and headed upstream, stepping on stones in the current. By the time they’d traveled up stream less than half a mile, it diminished to a trickle. They were in Sengenwha’s dry interior. Ahead was desert.
“I’ll take the lead as the expedition’s senior member,” Tournak said.
I know best how to find a trail, and I need to lead in case of trouble, Tournak thought. Saxthor and Bodrin are my care. I don’t need Hendrel to look out for them.
“Hendrel, as the newest member, will take up the rear. Watch our backs and keep an eye out for anything following us.”
It took them another two days to slip through the scrub brush; then they moved along the eastern desert’s sand and rock. This was Saxthor and Bodrin first time seeing a desert. It fascinated them and they stopped frequently to take in the panoramic view. Once they passed through the stunted vegetation and into the open desert, the incredible vistas expanded before them to the horizon.
“Back home, we could see only for a short distance,” Saxthor said. “Trees block the view no matter where you stand. Here, it seems like you can see forever.”
Orange, purple, and blue flooded the sky around and in front of them to the west. The colors marbled together in long horizontal streaks above the ocher landscape.
“I’ve never seen anything so overwhelming, so beautiful,” Bodrin said. “The scale of those sunsets dwarfs everything. I feel insignificant in the scheme of things.”
About midday four days later, the hikers were picking their way through the long-spine cactus plants that dotted the sandy desert floor. When Tournak looked up through the sweltering blue haze, he was first to see the Morass Mesas.
“Look there in the distance,” Tournak pointed west-northwest.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Saxthor was spellbound.
“According to Memlatec, eons ago a great inland lake covered much of the peninsula. An earthquake cracked the natural dam. The resulting flood washed out Sengenwha’s soft soils, leaving the mesas of harder rock standing like huge pedestals in scale with the horizon.”
“You remember that Tournak? I didn’t know you were that old,” Bodrin said. Grinning, he glanced first at Saxthor. He turned to Tournak, whose frown dissolved his grin.
“Another quake years later sent rock crashing down the mountains northwest of Lake Pundar into the lake’s original breach. It changed the Pundar River’s channel, sending it into the present day course. That left the formerly flooded western plain a desert with its magnificent mesas as the mighty flood’s tombstones in the former lakebed.”
Cacti still infested their path with tall, branched cylinders encrusted with long spines poised to stab a leg. Clusters of short, round barrels with spines of every color and length also dotted the landscape. Some had clusters of small irritating needles around the long central one ending in a hook to snag anything that passed. The cacti were so sculptured, so colorful, and so ready to protect themselves. Other succulents, covered in silver fuzz to block the sun, speckled the landscape. Giant sculptural agaves sported thick, blue-gray leaves ending in spikes hard as bone.
“Be careful as you go,” Tournak warned. “The creatures here can’t afford to let rare prey escape or expend energy and water chasing them. Most are venomous. They lay in wait in the shade or in clumps of scrub brush and dead ca
ctus ribs. Horned vipers and big lizards lurk there. They wait patiently for the heat to subside before venturing out in the cooler evening in search of insects and rodents.”
Tournak dropped his sword when he stopped to re-tie the cloth he fashioned to protect his head from the sun. Delia came up to sit in his shade and suddenly jumped up.
“What’s bothering you, girl?”
Delia barked and backed up. She looked up at Tournak, barked again, stepped forward, and looked down.
Tournak looked at the mass of crumpled cactus ribs. Nothing seemed amiss. Delia stood still and barked again, but again Tournak looked and saw nothing. Heat and exhaustion dulled his senses. He bent down to pick up his sword. Delia grabbed his hand jerking it back.
“Don’t move Tournak,” Saxthor said.
Panting, Delia stared again at the cactus bones, looked back at Saxthor, and barked.
Tournak looked yet again. He saw the twitching, black-edged, rust color of a zigzag pattern atop a coiled, thick, gray body. A flicking tongue darted from the menacing head poised atop the coil. Its recessed, yellow eyes stared at his leg. His stomach turned. He froze.
“Fresh meat is fresh meat,” Bodrin said as he came up from behind Saxthor. “Looks like dinner to me.”
While the rest stood immobilized, their eyes on the snake, Bodrin thrust his staff through the pile of cactus ribs and pinned the great snake to the sand. He checked for another that might be hiding in the pile before reaching down and pulling out the writhing snake. Calm, Bodrin whipped out his hunting knife and lopped off the thrashing snake’s head.
“We’ll camp here tonight,” Bodrin said. He made a campfire of the cactus ribs and roasted the snake in the coals and hot ashes.
As the others enjoyed the fresh treat, Tournak petted Delia, and gave her part of his share. “I’ll appreciate you more from now on, Miss Delia.”
-
Disgusted, Twit would have none of it. People will eat anything, but the dog should know better.
-
The next day, given directions, Hendrel was trusted with the lead. The heat was oppressive, and each hiker was watching his steps with renewed caution. Hendrel stopped near midday in a cluster of large boulders. From behind a boulder and underneath a tall cactus came a deep red and blue lizard the length of a man’s forearm. It moved slowly, methodically tracking something in the sand.
“Lizards usually hide from the midday heat. This one’s hunting during the day,” Tournak said. “With those colors, it’s got to be poisonous.”
“Look at Twit all aflutter,” Bodrin said. “He looks at the lizard for a moment, then flutters and squawks in a frenzy over and over.”
“I’m afraid the old bird will have a stroke from the combination of heat and shock,” Saxthor said. “We need to keep moving.”
Bodrin was ready with his staff and hunting knife, but no one really wanted lizard for dinner.
The next morning, they reached the desert’s center, where the colossal mesas rose like great pylons supporting the sky. The massive rock columns, horizontally striped in rich earth- tone hues, rose up a thousand feet. They took center stage in the view.
“Tournak, have you ever been here before?” Saxthor asked. “I mean, are you familiar with these mesas?”
“There are so many massive pillars. Which one are you looking for, Saxthor?” Bodrin asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how all this works yet.”
“Sorry, Saxthor, I haven’t been through the Sengenwhan desert before,” Tournak said. “I’m afraid this is again up to you.”
The group settled in the shadow of a slender, towering rock needle for the morning meal. Saxthor went off by himself. He took off his necklace and held it out before him with the sun behind his back. Starting from the now-visible clasp, he moved the necklace to the second loop figuring he’d already found the first jewel, the Cobalt Blue Sapphire of Loyalty. Saxthor focused the light through his dragon ring’s gemstone, beaming it through the loop. A blue picture of a great mesa appeared as a hologram. Saxthor read the message that overlaid the vision:
The mesa tall with needle side,
Whose shadow casts its height to hide,
The rock beneath at base to show,
Where Topaz rests for you to know.
Closing the necklace back around his neck, Saxthor joined the others who were famished and eating. He said nothing, but took his food portion and ate in silence. After the meal, and some rest, Bodrin grew impatient.
“So where’s this jewel we’re looking for, Saxthor?”
“We’ll know soon. I’ll need to lead the journey’s next leg.”
“You’re in charge.”
“Well, I know where we’re going now.”
Bodrin looked at Tournak and Hendrel. Tournak said nothing, feeling at ease with Saxthor’s confidence. Bodrin shrugged and turned away.
The travelers followed Saxthor, who led by studying the mesas as they came into view. At dusk, he pointed to a medium-sized pillar with an unusual broken top and a towering rock needle standing not far from it. Pointing to the butte, Saxthor said, “That’s where we’re headed.”
They made camp for the night beneath some ancient cacti that formed a circle like columns around a gazebo. No one asked about how Saxthor knew where he was heading or the mesa’s significance.
They began their journey the next morning by hiking to the objective Saxthor had pointed out the evening before. Just past midday, they reached it and settled down to rest. Covering his face to nap, Saxthor lay down beside Bodrin.
“You’re in no hurry,” Bodrin said, then began pacing when Saxthor didn’t respond.
Eventually, Bodrin sat down again, but still Saxthor said nothing. Bodrin fidgeted, yet appeared to study the sky. A scorpion happened by and Saxthor flicked it over in front of Bodrin who exploded, jumped up, and smashed the creature repeatedly with the flat of his sword. He sat back down, much calmer.
“Saxthor, we don’t want to annoy you by questioning your judgment, but is everything all right?” Bodrin looked at Tournak and Hendrel for support, but they went about their own discussion.
“Everything is fine, thank you.” Saxthor looked up, patted Bodrin’s shoulder, then started to sharpen Sorblade with long, studied strokes. Bodrin fumed.
Waiting on Saxthor to give them direction that afternoon, the others repacked supplies and cleaned weapons. Saxthor just dozed.
“How long are we going to sit here?” Bodrin asked Tournak, who shrugged his shoulders. Bodrin kicked a small rock at a cactus.
When Saxthor awoke in midafternoon, he sat up. He watched the tall needle’s shadow moving across the valley floor. The shadow settled on a rock at the nearby mesa’s base, then disappeared after a moment, cut off by another shadow. Saxthor rushed to where the shadow last pointed, and located a rock perched on a column at the mesa’s base.
“Come over here and help me with this,” Saxthor called out. “Help me move this boulder.”
Happy to be doing something, anything at last, the others rushed to help. They took a large cactus rib and, using a rock for a fulcrum, nudged the boulder off its ancient resting-place.
“Wow, a rock in a cavity,” Bodrin said. “You knew this was between the big rock and its base? It’s a geode.” He picked it up
“Crack it open with another rock,” Saxthor said.
When the geode resisted the hard blows, the others tried without success. Tournak wondered if Saxthor had misunderstood the riddle. Was this the correct vessel?
Saxthor picked up the geode that warmed in his hands, as when he first picked up Sorblade. He looked puzzled, then again used the sun’s energy, focusing sunlight through the dragon ring’s blue topaz. The blue beam caused the geode to blossom into six, petal-like chunks. From among the geode’s pale amethyst crystals, the golden Imperial Topaz of Sincerity plopped into Saxthor’s lap.
The adventurers celebrated that night. They lit a campfire behind the mesa, where possible eyes on
their trail wouldn’t see the light.
“Thanks again to all of you for coming along with me on this trek. None of you had to come, and I know you’d rather have been somewhere else,” Saxthor’s initial serious tone melted into a laugh.
“Where else would we be, in the court school learning about protocol?” Bodrin said.
They all laughed.
Saxthor thought about Bodrin’s insistence on looking out for him even though he wouldn’t openly admit it. He smiled to support the humor, but the warmth he felt was deeper, more appreciative.
“Following you around is never dull,” Tournak said.
Hendrel chuckled. “It beats the Favriana Fortress dungeon.”
“Well, even so, I couldn’t have better friends or company than you, Delia, and Twit,” Saxthor looked at each companion and patted Delia’s head. He winked at the wren.
Twit recognized his name, but noted Saxthor mentioned it last. He raised his tired, old bones and hopped from his branch to Saxthor. True to his crusty humor, the bird dropped a poop pellet on Saxthor’s shoulder and hopped back up to the branch.
“Hey!” Saxthor jumped up and thumped off the black-white bead toward Twit, who casually dodged it.
“And where’re we off to tomorrow, oh wise sage?” Hendrel asked.
“Tomorrow we travel to Botahar north of Lake Pundar.” Saxthor was reluctant to say their destination aloud. From their reading Memlatec’s map, he felt Bodrin and Tournak knew the objective was most likely Lake Talok in the Neuyokkasin’s northern most province.
Unconcerned, Twit snatched a moth drawn to the fire, then joined the others in sleep.
5: Botahar and the Pundar River
King Ahkenspec of the Memtahhamin Elves
After packing up in the morning chill, the group headed back east to the hills above Lake Pundar that separated the lake from the desert. They chose a different route in case someone followed.
The Crystal Legacy (Book 2) Page 4