The Cursed Lands

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

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  The battle was over. According to the captain who Sarzen had spoken to before the battle, most of the attacking Draymens had been killed off. Some had escaped, but given how roundly their forces had been trounced, it was unlikely that the Draymens would attack again anytime soon.

  Of the human fighters, five had been killed, while another ten had been wounded and required medical treatment, medical treatment that they were able to receive from the mages in Sarzen’s caravan. Of the human fighters who had been killed, they were all confirmed casualties of the Draymens; the dragon had not attacked or killed any of the humans, which confirmed Sarzen’s theory that the dragon had been an ally and not an enemy.

  As for where the dragon went, no one knew. Sarzen asked Mayor Ascarla—who had come to the gates after the battle to see how it had went—if he or anyone else in Sinmo had seen the dragon before, but Mayor Ascarla told him that no one had ever seen such a creature in Sinmo ever. That made its appearance even more inexplicable … and miraculous.

  Because that was what Sarzen was convinced it was: A miracle of the Dragon Gods. As he lay in his room in the inn, with his arm bandaged and the wounds on his neck already healed by the magic of one of his mages, Sarzen knew that the dragon had been a servant of the Dragon Gods.

  He knew this because the old legends stated that the Dragon Gods had many lesser dragons working for them as servants. Many of these lesser dragons were said to be the offspring of the Dragon Gods, though some were simply creations designed to carry out the will of the Dragon Gods. During his training as a Warrior Priest, Sarzen had heard many stories of the lesser dragons appearing miraculously to help turn the tide of battle for the Yoresians; in particular, he recalled the story of the First War, in which the Yoresians had to defend their newly-conquered land from the neighboring country of Maler. They had succeeded thanks only to the timely aid of the Dragon Gods’ servants.

  But it had been years since the last appearance of a lesser dragon. The last time a lesser dragon had come to the aid of the Yoresians was 500 years ago, just before the departure of the Dragon Gods. Most Warrior Priests believed that the age of miracles ended once the Dragon Gods left, which was why no lesser dragon had been seen since then.

  But maybe it isn’t, Sarzen thought excitedly. Maybe the Dragon Gods haven’t entirely abandoned Yores after all. Maybe this is a sign that our quest isn’t entirely fruitless. I wish High Priest Renuk was still alive to see this; he would have been praising the Dragon Gods all day and night for this obvious miracle.

  That was when Sarzen heard a sudden knock at the door to his room. He raised his head and said, “Yes? Who is it?”

  “It’s me,” said the familiar voice of Rothel on the other side. “Can you let me in? I heard you were injured.”

  Sarzen slowly rose from his bed and carefully made his way over to the door to his room, making sure not to move his arm too much. He opened the door and saw Rothel standing in the doorway, but Rothel looked a little different from how he usually did. He looked harried and worried, as if he had just awoken from a nap and was trying to catch up on all of the news he had missed while sleeping.

  When Rothel looked at Sarzen’s arm, he grimaced and said, “Ow. That looks bad.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” said Sarzen, shaking his head. He stepped aside and said, “Just come in. I didn’t see you after the battle.”

  Rothel stepped inside, allowing Sarzen to close the door as he said, “Yeah, sorry about that. I chased a Draymens away from the main battlefield and got lost in the darkness of the night before finding my way back to the town. Kind of embarrassing, I know.”

  Sarzen frowned as he walked back over to his bed and lay down on it. Resting his arm beside him, Sarzen said, “You mean you didn’t see the dragon?”

  “No, I didn’t,” said Rothel. “But I heard all about it. I heard it was as white as moonlight and that it slaughtered all of the Draymens.”

  “It didn’t kill all of them,” said Sarzen. “Some escaped. But yes, it did help us. I think that’s the only reason we won. If the dragon hadn’t intervened, the Draymens would have killed us instead and possibly destroyed Sinmo, too.”

  “That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” said Rothel. He shook his head. “Man, I wish I could have been there to see it. Where did it go?”

  “Uh, it flew into the moon,” said Sarzen, mimicking the dragon’s flight with his hand. “And disappeared. It’s like it became one with the moon.”

  “One with the moon?” Rothel repeated. “That sounds like something straight from a Dragon God story.”

  “That’s because I think it is from the Dragon Gods,” said Sarzen. “You might not know this, but the appearance of those lesser dragons was always a miracle in the old stories. They always appeared at the last moment to render aid to the Dragon Gods’ loyal followers in their darkest hour and their appearance always turned the tide in the favor of the Yoresians.”

  “So are you saying that a miracle happened tonight?” said Rothel.

  Sarzen nodded eagerly. “Yes. A genuine miracle, the kind that hasn’t been seen in Yores for five hundred years. And I was a witness to it; me, a mere Acolyte who isn’t even a full Warrior Priest yet.”

  “Lucky you,” said Rothel. “I wish I could have seen it. I bet it was amazing.”

  “It was,” said Sarzen. “I believe it is proof that the Dragon Gods know of our quest and want us to succeed. They sent one of their servants to aid us in battle. In the old stories, they only ever did that to their loyalest of followers, the ones they most wished to see succeed.”

  “So do you think we’re destined to succeed in finding the Dragon Gods, then?” said Rothel.

  “Absolutely,” said Sarzen. He sat up again, even though he shouldn’t have, because he was so excited that he couldn’t rest. “There’s no room for doubt anymore. The Dragon Gods clearly want us to find them. It is, if not our destiny, then at least our purpose.”

  Rothel, however, did not seem to share Sarzen’s excitement. He just leaned against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, a frown on his face, like he was thinking of something.

  “What’s the matter, Rothel?” said Sarzen. “Don’t you think this is great? Aren’t you glad to know that our quest isn’t going to be in vain after all?”

  “Yes, I am,” said Rothel, though his tone contradicted his words. “But … I’m still thinking about Misma’s murderer. I suppose we can definitely say it was a Draymens now, considering the Draymens attack happened after it.”

  “Yes, most likely,” said Sarzen. “But who cares? Her killer needs to be brought to justice, true, but we can do that after we find the Dragon Gods. Perhaps the Dragon Gods will even be able to help us; with their infinite knowledge and wisdom, they will most certainly be able to help us pinpoint the location and identity of her killer, assuming he wasn’t killed in tonight’s battle with his fellow Draymens.”

  “Maybe,” said Rothel. “But we still haven’t found her monkey, either.”

  “So what?” said Sarzen. “We can find it later. Who cares if we lost a stupid monkey? What matters is that we have been blessed by the Dragon Gods themselves. Isn’t that amazing?”

  “Yes, but at the same time, I think the monkey might be important,” said Rothel. “I just find it strange that it vanished on the same night that its owner was killed. I think that Misma’s killer probably stole the monkey.”

  “Maybe, but again, who cares?” said Sarzen. He glared at his bandaged arm. “I wish I was feeling better already, because then I’d get up and resume the quest right away.”

  “By yourself?” said Rothel skeptically.

  “You know what I mean,” said Sarzen. “I want to find the Dragon Gods now, not later. I wonder what they are doing right now. Do you think they are possibly watching us even as we speak?”

  “Perhaps,” said Rothel with a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m not much of an expert on the Dragon Gods, unlike you.”

  “Oh, I’m no expert, either
,” said Sarzen. “That’s why I’m still an Acolyte, after all. But we will find them and be able to ask them that question for ourselves soon enough.”

  “Yes,” said Rothel, who didn’t sound excited about that. “I cannot wait. It will be interesting.”

  Sarzen frowned. “Rothel, you don’t sound very excited about meeting the Dragon Gods, even after we have proof that they are aiding us. What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” said Rothel, though he didn’t meet Sarzen’s gaze. His shoulders slumped, as if he had just thought of something very depressing. “It’s nothing. I’m just tired from the battle tonight, that’s all.”

  “You shouldn’t be,” said Sarzen. He put a hand on his chest and looked up at the ceiling. “Think about it. Our quest is not futile after all. And this is even before we have entered the Cursed Lands; think of what awaits us in the same lands where the Dragon Gods are said to have traveled!”

  “Yes, it will be quite interesting, I’m sure,” said Rothel. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to retire to my room and rest. I have had a long day and would like to be up bright and early tomorrow morning.”

  “Good idea,” said Sarzen, “because we are leaving first thing after breakfast. I cannot wait to tell Helnia about it; I’m sure she will be interested to hear about the lesser dragon that helped us.”

  Although Rothel nodded, Sarzen could tell that his friend was still nowhere near as excited about this miracle as he. But before Sarzen could ask him what the problem was, Rothel left the room, closing the door behind him quickly.

  Sarzen frowned, but then shook his head. Oh, well. It doesn’t matter. Rothel is just tired, like all of us. I should get a good night’s sleep, too, so I will have plenty of energy for tomorrow.

  ***

  Chapter Fifteen

  Early in the morning, Helnia got up and, opening the door to her room, peeked out into the empty hallway. She looked up and down, but did not yet see anyone else in it. Of course, it was very dark due to the fact that the sun had yet to rise, but Helnia was still glad that no one else was up yet, because it meant that she would have all the time in the world to do what she wanted.

  She pushed open the door to her room slightly, just enough so that she could slip through. She wasn’t a very large woman, so she didn’t need to open her door very much.

  She tiptoed across the hallway to the door to Misma’s room. She jiggled the doorknob, which was, surprisingly enough, unlocked. Helnia had thought that the door would be locked in order to keep people from entering it, but perhaps the innkeeper had forgotten to lock it before he went to bed last night.

  Oh, well, Helnia thought with a smile as she opened the door just enough for her to sneak in. Looks like the luck of the Dragon Gods is on my side this morning.

  Helnia entered the room and closed the door behind her. Then she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She smelled Misma’s dry blood from last night, along with the smell of the chicken soup that Misma had had for dinner, but that wasn’t what Helnia was looking for. She was feeling for something, something she’d thought she’d sensed the night before, but hadn’t noticed or understood until just a few minutes ago when it suddenly clicked in her mind and forced her to get up.

  Where is it, where is it, where is it … Helnia thought.

  Suddenly, Helnia found it: A weak, but noticeable, trace of Raugus energy.

  Opening her eyes, Helnia looked around the room. She grimaced when she saw the dried blood on Misma’s writing desk, some of which covered the surface of the paper upon which Misma had been writing her letter to the Elect. The rest of the room, however, was almost entirely identical to Helnia’s.

  There was a reason Helnia had sneaked in here. Late last night, while she’d tried—and failed—to sleep, she’d had a dream. In that dream, she had seen Misma’s little pet monkey dancing around before it turned into pure Raugus energy and flew away. It had been a strange dream, one she didn’t understand until she remembered feeling a trace of Raugus energy in Misma’s room the night before, when she had entered it after Sarzen. The reason she remembered that was because it did not make sense.

  Raugus energy was not something that existed independently. It always existed in something else, whether that be in the earth, where it was naturally found, in the beads that Helnia and other mages wore, or in the Raugians. You could not simply feel it in the air unless it had been used recently.

  Therefore, Helnia had come to the conclusion that someone had used magic in Misma’s room; not just some, but a lot, because if Helnia could feel even a small trace of the stuff from the night before even now, then that meant that a lot of Raugus energy had been used.

  The reason it didn’t make sense to Helnia was because Misma certainly couldn’t have cast a spell, because she had been stabbed in the back of the head and dead before she could do that. Besides, the beads of Misma’s necklace were colored, not grayed, which was a sign that Misma had not cast any spells prior to her death.

  That begged the question: Who, then, had used the spell?

  Helnia’s current theory was that the spell had been cast, not by Misma, but by another mage. That meant that the murderer was a mage, because Draymens could not use Raugus and therefore could not cast spells.

  It was a grim thought, but it was the only logical explanation. She believed that a mage had broken into Misma’s room and killed her with a spell before fleeing before anyone could see her. The killer likely would have gotten away with it if Helnia had not sensed the trace Raugus energy in here.

  The only question is, who killed her? Helnia thought. And why? Why would a mage kill a fellow mage? We’re a small profession as is. It did not help anyone but maybe the Draymens, but no respectable mage would ever aid the Draymens.

  That was why Helnia had gotten up so early this morning. The question had been burning in her mind since the dream and she was not going to be able to rest until she got some answers. At the very least, she would try to find some evidence that might help her figure out what happened.

  Now she needed to pinpoint the trace of Raugus energy she’d sensed. Sensing Raugus energy was not something most people could do; even most mages struggled with it. But Helnia had always been able to do it easier than most, though she had never tried to sense a trace of Raugus energy that was this weak before. She hoped she would be able to find it.

  That was when Helnia felt it. It was coming from underneath Misma’s bed. That was odd, because it indicated that the attacker must have come from Misma’s bed. Rubbing the back of her neck, Helnia walked over to the bed, though she only carefully approached it, just in case it turned out to be a trap of some kind.

  Misma’s bed was still made up, with not even a pillow out of place. The Raugus energy was stronger here, so Helnia got on her hands and knees. She tried to look under the bed, but it was so dark that she couldn’t see a thing, so she tapped her beads and summoned a tiny ball of light in her hand; not big enough to illuminate the whole room, but large enough to illuminate the underside of the bed and let Helnia see what was underneath.

  Helnia caught a glimpse of white before something moved away and out from under the bed. Helnia jumped to her feet and tried to look over the side of the bed at the thing she’d seen, but then she heard scrambling across the floor and moved her light to her side of the bed, where she saw a long, white tail disappear just as she shone a light on it.

  Turning her light this way and that, Helnia tried to find the thing she’d heard moving around, but with the room so dark and the light so small, she was able to illuminate only a portion of the room at any one time. So Helnia reluctantly increased her light, making it brighter and brighter until it was large enough to illuminate the whole room quite easily.

  Finally, Helnia saw it. Hiding in the corner of the room, its eyes wide with a mixture of fear and confusion, its hands covering its small head, was none other than Icicle, Misma’s pet snow monkey. Its big, frightened eyes reflected Helnia’s light like a mirror,
but Helnia felt sorry for it.

  “Icicle?” said Helnia. She was whispering, even though she had no reason to. “Is that you? What are you still doing here? I thought you had disappeared.”

  Icicle didn’t respond. It was shivering, like it was cold or afraid; probably the latter, because it looked like it thought she might attack it.

  “You don’t need to be afraid,” said Helnia in a soft voice. She held out a hand. “I know you are probably scared and confused after the death of Misma, but you can trust me. I won’t hurt you. Promise.”

  Icicle didn’t come any closer to her, nor did it look any more reassured. If anything, it appeared even more skeptical and afraid than before.

  Helnia decided to get closer, so she took a step toward it. Just a simple, easy step; she didn’t want to make any sound moves and cause it to run away or even attack her.

  But apparently, even that simple, nonthreatening step was too much for Icicle, because he ran away behind the writing desk before Helnia even realized it.

  “Hey,” said Helnia. She tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice, but she found that difficult. “Don’t hide from me. Come here.”

  Helnia walked over to the writing desk and bent over to look around the corner. Icicle looked up at her suddenly, fear etched across its simian features.

  “Hey, little guy,” said Helnia. “There’s no need to hide. I know you’re scared, but I won’t hurt you. I just want to help find out who killed your master.”

  Helnia did not know if Icicle understood her words or not; she had heard that snow monkeys were some of the smartest animals in the world, almost as smart as humans. But she also knew that they couldn’t speak Yoresian or any other human language, so she didn’t expect it to respond. She hoped that it would understand her tone, at least.

  But then Icicle bared its teeth. They weren’t very big, but they were sharp. Helnia recalled learning, in her studies as a mage, that snow monkeys had razor sharp teeth, which they could use to tear out the throats of their captured prey.